by John Corwin
Wicked War of Mine
Book Nine of the Overworld Chronicles
John Corwin
Copyright © 2014 by John Corwin.
Digital eBook Edition.
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The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
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TIME FOR PAYBACK
Daelissa's attack on Queens Gate dealt Justin and the resistance a serious blow. The loss of his home and one of their strongest allies seems to mean certain defeat.
Justin isn't about to give up. He embarks on a mission to bring the houses of Daemos to his side and seeks help from Fjoeruss, Mr. Gray himself, even if the odds of success are slim.
As if the pressure isn't already high enough, Justin discovers something even more troubling. Daelissa is already in Seraphina. One silver lining remains: Justin might be able to end the war in one blow if his forces can disable the Grand Nexus before she returns with a Seraphim army.
If the good guys can't shut down the Grand Nexus in time, Daelissa will unleash a can of whoop-ass on Eden the likes of which has never been seen.
To my wonderful support group:
Alana Rock
Karen Stansbury
Pat Owens
My amazing editors:
Annetta Ribken
Jennifer Wingard
My awesome cover artist:
Regina Wamba
Thanks so much for all your help and input!
Chapter 1
The clock on my phone struck midnight for a time zone halfway around the world from me. The Overworld New Year had just begun, and I had a wedding to stop.
Elyssa stepped inside the silver circle around the omniarch. "Justin, we're ready on your signal."
I glanced at the two Templar squads flanked by my mother, Alysea, and my sister, Ivy. Mom's blue eyes glowed as she looked at me. I almost felt sorry for my father's bride-to-be, Kassallandra. Then again, she'd betrayed us and summoned crawlers, scorps, and other demon spawn to help Daelissa.
Time for payback.
I raised an arm and lowered it. Portals flickered to life in the air between the columns of the two arches. Cold air and snowflakes drifted through the portal from the other side. Elyssa and I stepped through with a complement of Templars and into a thick drift of the white stuff. The boots of my Templar snow armor adjusted to the unsure footing and lengthened into short skis.
We stood atop a mountain in the Swiss Alps. Far below us and nestled between our slope and another, lights from a sprawling mansion glowed beneath a star-dusted sky. The way was steep with a scattering of rocks and boulders jutting from beneath the thick blanket of snow. The slope ended in a sheer drop. Even with my supernatural reflexes, it was enough to make me gulp. I had never been skiing, and this was a few levels above beginner. Unfortunately, the front entrance was heavily guarded and we had no pictures of the mansion interior to use with the omniarch.
Gotta do this the hard way.
Elyssa's gloved hand squeezed mine. "Just remember to hockey stop and you'll be fine."
"I never played hockey," I said. "I'm from Atlanta, not Toronto."
She touched a small tab of cloth near my armpit. "If you don't think you can land the jump at the drop-off, pull this and use the parachute."
I nodded. "Got it." I looked at the slope on the other side of the plateau and spotted the silhouettes of my mother and her squad. "Let's do this." I touched the communication pendant on the collar of my armor. "Go." Taking a deep breath, I stepped to the edge of the slope. My breath crystallized in the freezing air. A cold wind howled, blowing snow into my face. I touched the collar of the armor and it grew over my head, cutting off the cold.
A HUD—heads-up display—blinked on. A series of lines spread across the terrain in front of me, some of them dark red, and others a lighter shade of red. It highlighted the protruding rocks and gave me a recommended course to take. I adjusted my skis to the suggested angle, said a quick prayer, and let gravity take me.
I went from zero to terminal velocity in a heartbeat. The HUD flashed a warning as I careened toward a jagged rock. Resisting the urge to scream and throw up my arms, I leaned left. The skis bit into the snow and I whooshed past the rock. The next series of winding turns were easier to manage, and before long, I had the basics down. I glanced back and saw the rest of my squad following in single file. We threaded through a small forest of evergreens. Thick snow dragged on my skis, but I was going too fast for it to slow me much.
My HUD blinked as we emerged back onto a bare patch of slope. Sheer drop ahead. Recommended course of action: Stop.
"Gee, you think?" I snapped. My guts knotted and my butt clenched. "'Let's go skiing,' they said. 'It'll be fun,' they said." My skis grated against bare rock as I hit the edge of the cliff. The world dropped out beneath me.
I looked down and spotted the thick snowbank at the foot of the cliff. It was probably about thirty feet below, but from this vantage point, it seemed more like a hundred. I bent my knees and leaned slightly forward like Elyssa had told me to do while the scaredy-cat inside screamed for me to pull the parachute tab. If I did that, there was a risk the wind would catch me and carry me way off target, plus I'd look like a wimp to all the Templar badasses right behind me.
I'd wanted to use flying carpets, but apparently, this area was warded to detect magical aircraft.
The snow rushed to meet me. I angled my skis and clenched my teeth so I wouldn't accidentally bite off my tongue. My feet hit. I sank up to my waist in the snow before bursting free and sliding face-first down the remaining twenty feet to the plateau. I lay on my back in the snow and looked up at the sky through the pine trees. Then I made a snow angel.
Elyssa stood over me and smiled. "Pretty good for your first time." She offered me a hand.
"Take me to the bunny slope." I took her hand and she pulled me to my feet.
Orchestral music drifted through the forest from the direction of the estate. I oriented myself and sniffed the air. Only the faintest hint of brimstone reach my nostrils. Either there were no infernal creatures guarding this forest, or they were doing a good job concealing their presence from me.
I twirled a finger in the air and pointed left toward the rally point where we'd meet my mother and the others. Swords drawn and senses alert, we made our way through the forest and found Mom waiting for us. Joss and Otaleon, two Darkling recruits we'd rescued from Daelissa's clutches, flanked her. Ivy busied herself making snowballs. The three Templars in Mom's squad faded into view as they stepped from concealment behind trees.
"Sense anything, Justin?" Mom asked.
"Nothing close," I said. "I'm positive there's something nasty lurking around here, though."
She nodded. "I agree. Kassallandra would never leave her flank open."
"Even though she has no idea we know about her betrayal?" Joss asked. Within a week of rescuing him, he and Otaleon had physically aged from that of teenage boys to young men in their twenties. The Darklings' memories of the Seraphim War had begun to return along with some of their fighting skills.
"All her enemies could be dead and she would still keep up her guard," Mom replied.
I listened to the faint sounds of violins for a moment. "I still don't get the midnight wedding ceremony."
"Daemos society is bound to ritual." Mom looked at me. "We are relying on those very rituals to salvage the situation."
I shuddered and prayed it didn't come to that. "Let's go."
We stalked forward. The forest floor had only a light covering of snow thanks to the thick canopy provided by the trees. I kept my nostrils peeled for any signs of danger as the wedding music grew louder.
My next step splashed into something that wasn't melted snow. Greenish goop the color and texture of rancid slime hung from the bottom of my boot like a giant-sized booger. I smelled the faintest hint of brimstone coming from the mess. Only certain kinds of dead creatures left remains like this behind—crawlers, scorps, and hellhounds. In other words, this had to be the corpse of a low-level demon spawn.
"Eww, gross." Ivy squatted next to me and poked a stick into the goo.
I held up my hand to stop the others and sniffed the air. "This explains why the brimstone odor is so faint." I knelt. "Someone killed a crawler here."
"What makes you think it was a crawler?" Elyssa asked.
I pointed to the slimy mess. "Scorps usually travel in groups, and I only see one set of remains." I looked at the trunk of the tree next to the slime and noticed a wet trail down the bark. A bit of green slime was caked to a tree branch a little way up. "It was lying in wait up there when it was killed. Hellhounds don't climb trees. Besides, Kassallandra treats her hellhounds like family and keeps them close to her for protection."
"Nice deductions." Elyssa examined the slime for a moment. "I guess this means we're not alone. Someone else had to kill this crawler."
Otaleon channeled a glowing ball of violet Murk in his hand and held it over the remains. "Who else would be out here besides us?"
"Daelissa?" Joss said, a glimmer of fear in his eyes.
As Otaleon's light moved across the dead crawler, I noticed a burned patch of earth. I created a small globe of light in my hand and ran it across the black marks. They were in the shape of a hand. I found similar scorch marks running up the side of the tree. A smile stretched my lips.
"My father did this." I pointed out the burn marks. "He taught me how to summon a flaming hand from the ground."
"It definitely looks like his handiwork," Mom said. "But he doesn't know we're coming."
We'd been unable to contact my father or his sister, Vallaena, to warn either of them about Kassallandra's betrayal. Before Dad had gone with Kassallandra, he'd left a wedding invitation in my bedroom. Knowing his twisted sense of humor, I figured it had to be a joke. I was certain he didn't want any of his real family showing up while he was forced to marry the head of House Assad to keep her from defecting to Daelissa's side. The invitation had been our only clue where to find him.
"I don't know how he knows, but it's the only thing that makes sense." I stood as Otaleon extinguished the ball of light. "There's a good chance all of Kassallandra's demonic defenses are down thanks to him. Let's make the most of it."
We reached the tall stone walls guarding the estate. Yellow light glowed from the other side of the barrier, and I thought I heard a bird chirp. I cupped my hands. Elyssa put a foot inside, and I catapulted her to the top of the wall. She landed lightly on her feet, crouched, and scanned the area. A moment later, she dropped a cord down the wall. It unfolded into a stiff rope ladder. I climbed up first and looked into a lush garden filled with fruit trees and flowering bushes.
I looked over my shoulder at the snowy surroundings, and back to the greenery. My forehead pinched. Elyssa pointed to a flake of snow drifting from the sky. When it reached the air above the garden, it melted and fell as liquid water to the earth. Large wooden lanterns with amber glass hung from wooden poles lining a brick pathway. Each shone with a gentle glow. I reached a hand toward the closest one. The second my hand entered its light, I felt warmth creeping up it.
"Greenhouse lanterns," Elyssa whispered.
Hummingbirds flitted from flower to flower. Rabbits hopped amongst the shrubbery. I even spotted a few deer nibbling on leaves. A hive of bees hung from the lower branches of a tree bearing green-leaved branches on its lower half while the barren top extended too far out of the greenhouse lanterns to bloom.
I shook my head. "Who does Kassallandra think she is, Snow White?"
"She is very fond of gardens," Mom said from beside me.
I flinched because I'd been too busy taking in the bizarre scenery to notice the others had come up behind me. "Kassallandra likes gardens?
She nodded. "She has quite a green thumb."
"I can't believe that cold, hard bi—" Ivy's eyes widened, so I hastily amended my language. "Uh, I can't believe that really mean woman likes to grow things. Maybe she likes having total control over plants and animals."
"The garden looks clear," Elyssa said. She pointed at two puddles of crawler remains on the ground below, and dropped a rope ladder into the interior.
Once we reached the bottom, a disturbing thought hit me. "When I summon demons, it feels like a stack of bricks is sitting on my brain." I looked at the two puddles of slime. "I assume Kassallandra feels the same thing. Wouldn't she know immediately if someone is killing off her spawn?"
Mom stood next to me. "David once told me experienced Daemos could tether their summonings with a rune. He said it didn't entirely remove the presence from your mind, but it lightened it immensely."
"In other words," I said, "she might not notice as much, especially since she's preoccupied with getting married."
"Exactly." Mom managed a smile. "I wish mine and David's wedding had been official."
I raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying you aren't properly married to my father?"
"Does that mean we're bastards?" Ivy asked.
Mom gave her a disturbed look. "Where did you hear that word?"
"I heard Shelton tell someone they were the bastard child of a two-bit tramp." She blinked her wide innocent eyes. "I asked him what a bastard was and he told me."
Mom's eyes narrowed. "I need to have a talk with that man."
Ivy crossed her arms. "So, are we bastards, Mom?"
"Not by nom standards," she said. "Your father and I got married in Vegas after we left our families."
I gave my mother a horrified look. "You always pick such inconvenient times to traumatize me with this kind of information."
"Not really the time to discuss this," Elyssa said as the orchestral music changed to a militaristic march that was the Daemos equivalent of a bridal chorus. To me, it sounded like the forces of darkness were leading the ceremony.
Elyssa scouted ahead and returned a moment later. We followed her past two unconscious men in black suits with Lancer darts sticking out of their necks. The strong odor of brimstone told me they were actually hellhounds posing as humans. We passed another set of knocked-out hellhound men and it occurred to me that Kassallandra wouldn't be the only Daemos here with a complement of hellhound bodyguards.
I heard the murmuring of guests beyond the vine-covered wall surrounding the garden. We pressed the pendants on our uniforms and activated the disguises magically programmed into the Templar body armor. My outfit morphed into a black-and-white tuxedo. Elyssa's lengthened into a form-fitting red dress. Mom and Ivy's outfits grew into silky white gowns while Joss and Otaleon's mimicked my formalwear.
The other Templars simply switched their uniforms to black to better blend into the scenery since there was no snow in the garden.
"Guard our flanks, but only engage if you hear my signal," Elyssa told them
.
They responded with precise salutes and melted into the shadows.
I peered around the corner and saw two large crowds. One was dressed mostly in various hues of blue while the other favored shades of red. The females wore long dresses with their hair worn up in elaborate weaves. The males wore suits or tuxedos that varied wildly in design. Some looked as though they were out of Victorian-era London, while others possessed a modern pizzazz. The one thing they all had in common were long robes in what I assumed were their house colors.
"We don't have robes." I looked at Otaleon and Joss. "And our tuxedos look too plain. We'll never fit in."
"The plan isn't to fit in," Mom said. "At least not for long."
A trumpet sounded and two black-suited hellhound men opened the large, oak double doors at the rear of the mansion. Kassallandra stepped outside.
"Ooh, pretty," Ivy said.
"Slut," Mom hissed, her eyes literally blazing with light.
The Maedras of House Assad wore the kind of red dress I imagined a demon princess would wear to her wedding. The top was tight and form fitting, giving ample view of her creamy cleavage. The lower part of the dress looked like layered silk with a long train held up by two little girls. Kassallandra's flame-red tresses were woven in tight braids to expose her long neck. I had to admit she looked gorgeous.
I heard someone clear their throat, and turned to see Elyssa giving me a questioning look. "Like what you see?"
I winked at her. "I like what I'm seeing now."
She smiled and rolled her eyes.
I heard a sharp intake of breath from Mom and followed her gaze. Dad exited the house behind the girls holding Kassallandra's train. He wore a dark blue suit with a fit tailored to his slim, muscular physique. His white shirt was open at the collar. He hadn't even worn a tie. His face looked sober, absent of his carefree smirk.