Queen of the Fallen (Second Death Book 2)

by Brian Rella

  Titus paused. “We need help, and I won’t lead incompetent men to their death again. I can’t do this alone. She’s too powerful.”

  The General sighed. “Come on in. We’ll talk about it.”

  30

  JESSIE

  October 28, 2015

  Grand Canyon, Arizona

  Jessie moaned in His embrace. He cradled her, enwrapping her in His thick limbs, and she floated like a feather on a gentle breeze. His lifeblood coursed through her, numbing her pain like a morphine drip. She wore Him like a fitted glove, and His touch found places in her that she never knew existed before He revealed them to her. But then He withdrew from her and—

  The wind caught Jessie’s hair in a trail behind her. She was suddenly awake and clutching Pasmet’s neck with all her strength, righting herself before she fell from his back. The world was put right in her mind.

  In the air, on Pasmet…

  Attacked…

  Watcher…

  She felt for her wounds. They were raw and rough, but better. She had begun healing. Thank you, my King. A wicked line curled up her cheek.

  The usurpers’ feeble attempt had failed. A human army and one Watcher had no chance against her. No one can stop me. No one. I shall bring back Nalsuu and together we shall rule—

  Something stabbed her in the side and a screaming pain ripped through her. She nearly lost her grip on Pasmet. The beast roared and rolled to keep her from falling off. Gunfire cut through the howling wind and black night. She touched her side and her hand came away wet and red. Her side was on fire, her ribs shattered, driving into her lung. She held on to Pasmet with all her strength, and through the pain the realization came to her in a flash of anger and rage: The usurpers were still attacking.

  She clutched close to Pasmet’s neck, struggling to maintain her hold on the beast as he dodged across the night sky, trying to protect Jessie and keep her alive.

  Summon Arraziel, Jessie. He can deal with them!

  Yes, my King.

  Jessie called forth the demon, and Arraziel appeared next to her. “Destroy them, Arraziel. Leave not one of them alive!”

  Arraziel snorted fire and smoke and turned, searching the starlit sky for the attacking airships. Jessie heard the report of more gunfire and Arraziel stood between her and the bullets, shielding her from any more harm.

  “Closer,” he growled. Pasmet roared in response. He made a wide arcing turn, and flew head-on at the fighter jet. The space between the beast and the jet closed quickly. Arraziel stood on Pasmet’s back, and hurled himself through the air.

  Wincing at the pain, holding her side as the blood seeped through her fingertips, Jessie watched her demon soar through the air, a smoldering shadow against the night. She squinted, waiting for some sign that Arraziel had hit his target.

  The roar of the jet engine drew closer, and the light of the moon glinted off the approaching plane. The jet’s gun muzzles flashed and she hugged Pasmet’s neck.

  A clang of metal in the distance. She glanced up from Pasmet’s neck. Arraziel’s silhouette was on the wing of the fast approaching plane. The jet wobbled in the air with his weight. Sparks flew and metal screeched as Arraziel tore at the wing with his claws. Explosions and a dying whine reached her ears. The wing caught fire, flashing glimpses of her Fallen champion on the wing of the plane as it fell into a flat spin. Jessie sneered, unable to muster the strength to do much else.

  Below her, sparks lit up the cockpit as the pilot tried to eject. Arraziel’s eyes gleamed and he grabbed hold of the ejecting pilot’s chair and held him in the air. He pulled the man down, and as the plane spiraled out of control to the ground below them, she was mesmerized by Arraziel sucking the life force out of the pilot in mid-air.

  Pasmet swooped low, shadowing the plane, and Jessie clung to him. Arraziel tossed the half-dead man into the night and leaped onto Pasmet, still holding a piece of the plane. The ruined hunk of metal smashed into the desert beneath them, exploding in a long, fiery line across the ground, sending a plume of warmth, fire, and smoke into the air.

  From the east, there was the sound of another approaching jet. Arraziel blew on the piece of metal he held with his fiery breath, and molded it into a blazing ball of molten steel. He threw the fiery ball of metal with a grunt, his arm flexing in the wind. Jessie tracked the fireball through the air and, finding its target, it exploded when it crashed into the approaching plane a few hundred yards away. Pasmet swooped, getting back on course, and Arraziel disappeared into the night.

  Jessie hugged Pasmet’s neck, adrenaline and her King’s voice the only things keeping her awake.

  Princess, you are hurt and must get to safety. Pasmet will fly you to the great river, and I will heal you.

  Yes, my King.

  Jessie pressed herself to Pasmet as he glided through the air, her body in agony. Ready to pass out, she willed herself to hold on, her mind swimming with thoughts of being in Nalsuu’s embrace, healing with Him. Finally, Pasmet began to descend. He glided down between walls of rock—but there was no river. He landed. Jessie held tight to his back, barely conscious, her blood leaving scarlet trails down his glowing green side. She heard the trickle of water behind her.

  The canyon wall, princess. You are almost there.

  She spoke to Pasmet with her mind, telling him to move toward the rock wall fifty yards away.

  Her mind swirled with questions as he carried along. She glimpsed the snow-dusted ground. Where am I? Where is the huge river from the book?

  Her eyes caught a sign next to some buildings and a path. Phantom Ranch, Grand Canyon. She was at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. No wonder there was no river.

  A little farther, princess.

  Jessie groaned and struggled to hold on. She could not see anything but rock in front of her. The world swam in front of her eyes and then she saw the glow of an entrance cut into the wall of rock.

  Her breathing was short. The bullet in her side was deep, and with every movement Pasmet made, she felt something tearing at her insides. She tasted copper and coughed blood. She wheezed the words of the spell to reveal the entrance. “A’nacre,” she said, and an enormous crevice in the wall opened. The world began to go black and she felt faint as Pasmet lumbered into the crevice in the rock wall of the canyon.

  Her eyes fluttered as the crevice she had exposed began to close. Darkness enveloped her, and the world went black.

  31

  ROY

  October 28, 2015

  Chicago, Illinois

  Flurries floated in front of the gold-plated sign at the entrance. Please excuse our appearance, the sign read.

  “Welcome to the Four Seasons, sir.” The doorman was dressed formally with a top hat, tie, and long wool coat. Winter had already arrived in Chicago. Roy held the door to the taxi, gazing at the scaffolding going up the side of the building.

  “This way, sir,” the doorman said again.

  Roy glanced at him. The man cast a nervous eye back at Roy, and held the door. “Almost as good as New York, but not quite,” he said, stepping through the threshold.

  The Four Seasons Hotel. The scaffolding up the side told him exactly where the little bitch had gone after she left Louisiana. Roy felt giddy. Getting closer. Won’t be long now.

  Inside the ground floor entranceway, he pushed the button to go up to the main-floor lobby. From there, he would go up to the rooms and have a look at the site where Arraziel had apparently begun his rampage through the city.

  The elevator dinged open and Roy stepped inside. Classical music played as Roy was gently lifted up. The doors opened, and Roy stepped out into the luxurious lobby of the Four Seasons Chicago. He glanced around, unsure where the other set of elevators were to take him up to the hotel’s rooms. Wandering into the posh waiting area, Legion whispered into his ear.

  A servant of Nalsuu, master. There.

  Legion directed Roy’s attention to the check-in desk where a woman stood behind the counter tapping away at
a keyboard. Her dark brown hair had been pulled back tight, accentuating her high cheekbones and beak-like nose. “An attractive bird,” Roy said aloud in a poorly done British accent. His shoulders shook as he stifled a giggle.

  Roy moved to the sitting area where ornate lamps lit a regally carpeted floor and plush leather sofas were arranged for small gatherings. He sat down, angling himself to see the woman, and took a newspaper from the coffee table in front of him, pretending to read. I’ll just wait here for you, pretty bird.

  For the next hour, Roy sat reading the paper as the woman checked people in and out of the hotel. Finally, he watched her speak to a male colleague, and then come out from behind the counter. Her heels clicked softly on the polished marble floor as she walked past Roy toward the wood-paneled wall at the back of the lobby. Roy dropped the newspaper and followed her.

  At the back wall, a door with a gold placard at eye level read Employees Only in engraved script. The woman tapped her badge on the security panel and stepped inside. Roy grabbed the handle just before the door closed and slipped in behind her.

  Behind the door, a white-walled corridor led back about two hundred feet. Five doors lined both sides of the corridor, three on one side and two on another, and at the very end of the hall was a glowing red sign above a metal door that read EXIT.

  The hallway was quiet except for the hum of the florescent lights above. “Find her,” Roy whispered through a snarl. The lights dimmed, and from behind him the tentacled torsos of Legion rose and spread down the hall. Roy followed slowly, his black sneakers squeaking on the polished floor. The swarm of Legion split into five smaller groups and swept through the air and down the hall, hissing and moaning, teeth chattering.

  The first group slipped under the first door to the right and came back out, dividing and joining the other four groups. The second door was on the left. Another horde slid under that door and then slid back out, dividing again and rejoining the other three groups.

  Roy gritted his teeth as his anticipation built. He clenched and unclenched his fists and muttered obscenities to himself as the demons made their way down the hall. His vision darkened as the third group reached the third door on the right and slid under.

  The lights in the hallway burst and showered the floor with sparks and glass. Roy’s eyes widened and he roared, running down the hall to the door, shards of glass crackling under his feet. Screams came from behind the door. He raised his foot to kick it open when Legion whispered to him, Not her, master.

  The last door on the left at the end of the hall flew open and crashed into the wall. The bird-faced woman bolted to the metal door at the end of the hall and pushed it open, slamming it behind her.

  “Kill them,” he said to Legion, pointing at the door in front of him. “And get her!” he snarled. Shouts and screams of agony echoed through the closed door and into the hallway. Roy turned and ran after the swarm of Legion that flew down the hall after the woman, his hulking figure wobbling in the dim light. The metal door burst open into the hallway, coming off its hinges when Legion crashed into it. Roy was right behind.

  Stairs led up and down. Roy glanced over the railing, and saw Legion sliding down the small space between the staircases after the woman. “Ready or not, here I come!” he shouted after her. He heard her gasp and moan as he hit the steps. Roy tried to take the stairs as fast as he could, but his girth got in the way, preventing him from closing the distance between them.

  He heard a screech and a grunt. The woman screamed and Roy tittered. He held the railing and slowed his steps down the flights of stairs, wheezing from the exertion of running. Several flights below him, the hall had grown dark as Legion had blocked out all the light with his oily blackness. The girl was suspended above the ground by the demon as its many mouths hissed and taunted her.

  “Found ya!” Roy gasped. He coughed heavily and doubled over, trying to catch his breath, alternating between gasping and coughing. Finally, he was able to suck in a deep breath, and he turned to face the woman.

  “I fucking hate running,” he sneered. “You made me run, but you won’t be running anymore,” he wheezed. “Now, let’s find somewhere we can talk, hmm?”

  Roy looked around. They were on a stairwell with doors opening to the floors above and below, spanning all the way from the bottom to the top of the building. He glanced at the woman and saw the vitriol in her eyes. “Let’s go to the roof, shall we? Seems like a private enough place to speak. Legion?”

  Roy glanced up the staircase and his shoulders slumped at the thought of walking back up those stairs.

  “I hate these fucking—”

  No more stairs, master.

  Legion divided and swelled into numerous oily black, bulbous heads. Hundreds of teeth chattered and opened wide before diving at Roy. Roy was placid, his expression inscrutable, as the dozens of mouths punctured Roy’s rotund body, wiggling and slithering deep inside of him. Roy’s skin bubbled. A black, cellophane-like mask covered his face, briefly morphing his features into a Legion-face, then bouncing back to the human form of Roy with an inhuman elasticity.

  Legion’s merger with Roy was complete—snake-like appendages grew out of Roy and grasped the girl, whose face had taken on a ghastly shocked grimace. Roy transformed into one of the demon horde and together with the rest of the black oily torsos, swarmed up the stairwell with the woman to the top of the building.

  The door to the roof burst open. The wind howled, and the snow pounded at them. Legion thumped the girl to the ground, still holding its grip on her. Roy separated from the swarm and faced the woman. She squinted in the snow. Her tight hair had come undone in spots, and strands of hair blew wildly, caught in the wind.

  “Yeah!” he shouted, leaning into her face. “That was fucking amazing, huh?” He tapped her on the arm. “Huh? Huh?” His face grew dark and his voice gravelly, “Oh, you’re going to love it.

  “Now, tell me all about Ms. Jessie Hailey and the fucking King of the Fallen,” he said patiently.

  Her eyes smoothed and locked with his. She looked calm, serene even, as Legion unwrapped itself from around her mouth so that she could speak. She smiled at Roy. “I live to serve my King. If it is His will for me to die here, then I accept my fate and look forward to being by His side in the Second Death.”

  Roy laughed so hard he nearly fell over. The woman frowned, a worried crease splitting her forehead. Roy slapped himself in the face with both hands repeatedly, the audible slaps mixing with the howling wind. The woman, disturbed, trembled with panic and fright at the sight of him.

  Roy launched himself at her and sank his teeth into her nose. She shrieked. Her blood poured into his mouth and he heard the soft crunch of the cartilage in her nose. He bit down as hard as he could and shook his head violently from side to side, spitting and grunting through his clenching teeth. Harsh screams floated with the snowflakes as the last shreds of flesh and bone gave way, and her nose came off in his mouth. Blood streamed from the black hole in the center of her face. A gurgling noise mixed with her screeching, muffling it. Roy stepped back with her nose still between his teeth and grinned at her. He spat her nose into the wind and it landed at her feet.

  Her eyes were wild, her screams inhuman. Roy reached up and grabbed her chin, steadying her thrashing head. He covered her mouth with his hands, blood spurting from where her nose used to be.

  He leaned in close and she stopped thrashing as his eyes met hers and held her gaze. “You will never meet Him, whore,” he said calmly. “You will tell me what I want to know, and despite that, despite you telling me what I ask for, I am going to hurt you. Bad. And you will yearn for your master, that Cunt of the Fallen, but you will never see Him. You will never know Him. The only thing you will know is my will, and my will for you is pain.”

  He stepped back from her and licked her blood from his hand as she sobbed and shrieked intermittently. Roy threw his head back. His eyes narrowed and closed, his face glossed over in oily black, and his lips turned cri
mson, pulling back to reveal endless rows of teeth. Legion gathered around his victim, and the sounds of scattered high-pitched notes of suffering and distress drifted on the gales above Chicago.

  32

  FRANK

  October 28, 2015

  New York, New York

  Frank woke after a few hours of restless sleep. The covers were balled in the corner of the bed. A sweat stain of the outline of his body made the white sheet transparent and exposed the floral pattern of the bare mattress below. The grisly shadows of the Second Death had invaded his dreams last night, and he cleared the horrible scenes away with a swig of the flat beer from his nightstand.

  He shuffled to the bathroom and looked into his bleary eyes. Get the boys up to the Temple in Garrison, and start training Jack. But first, Brennan has to check Jack for the mark of Razmus.

  His plans for the day set, he splashed cold water on his face and checked his stubble, deciding he didn’t need to shave.

  He dressed quickly and knocked on the boys’ door. It was a little after 7:00 AM and the boys were already up and dressed, waiting on the edge of their beds when Frank opened the door.

  “Ready?” Frank asked.

  “We’re going to the hospital to see Mom, right?” Nic asked.

  Frank leaned against the door frame and folded his arms across his chest.

  “Brennan needs to speak to Jack, then we should really get going up to the Temple and start training.”

  “I want to see her,” Jack said softly.

  Frank sighed, and relented. “We can see her quickly, but this can’t be an all-day visit.” He looked from one boy to another. “She’s in good hands. My… My mother is there, too, so I know your mom will be looked after.”

  Jack looked up from under his locks. “What happened to her?”