by Platt, Sean
A familiar voice beckoned: “John?”
John turned to the barred doorway and saw Caleb, battered and torn, but alive.
“Caleb!” John ran to the door.
His brother smiled, reaching through the bars, stroking John’s face. “It feels so good to see you again, Brother.”
John looked at Raina. “Can you open the door, please?”
Raina shook her head. “I’m sorry.”
“Just let me in,” Caleb said, turning to Raina.
“I can’t open the door until Prophet Malachi returns.”
Caleb turned to Raina, his brow furrowed. “Just open the door, bitch.”
Her eyes went wide. “What?”
Then John saw Caleb’s blade, moving swiftly, piercing Raina’s neck.
John screamed.
Talani’s scream was a whimpering echo.
Raina dropped to the ground, then Caleb turned his attention on the young guard, fumbling with his sword.
Kero was too late.
Caleb grabbed him by the neck and began to suck his life away.
Oh God, Jacob turned him!
Caleb dropped the spasming, burning boy to the ground, then turned back to the door.
“You fucker!” Talani screamed, reaching through the bars, trying to claw at him.
Caleb stepped back, laughing. “Oh boy, Brother, you’ve got a live one there, eh? Better in the sack than Hope?”
Something was wrong.
The man in front of him looked and sounded like Caleb, but it wasn’t his way of speaking.
“Jacob?”
Caleb’s smile faltered. He pouted, then sarcastically said, “Never could pull one over on you, Johnny Boy. But you’ve gotta love this amulet’s little tricks.”
Caleb tugged at a necklace, pulling it out of his shirt to reveal a glowing red amulet — the crystals formed into the shape of a heart.
Wisps of darkness moved over Caleb’s face, then parted. Jacob smiled. “Hello, Brother.”
John gritted his teeth. “You.”
Suddenly, screams behind John.
He turned to see two portals opening, with Valkoer and other monstrosities pouring forth.
John couldn’t go to war, so Jacob had brought it to him.
Sixty-Four
Hope
At least a dozen men dressed in black armor spilled through the portals, black swords drawn. Behind them, three tall, spindly creatures — inky black, with long limbs, claws for hands, and hollowed-out eye sockets — twitched into the room. Their mouths were open maws of blackened razor-sharp teeth as they shrieked, heads bobbing, as if using sound to search for prey.
No one moved as the men, whom she assumed to be Valkoer, surrounded Hope and her friends. Neither the Valkoer nor the monstrosities were striking, obviously waiting for Jacob’s order.
“Do I have your attention, ladies and gentlemen?” Jacob asked them.
“What do you want?” John shouted.
Hope exchanged glances with Talani, who was standing in front of Abigail protectively. She looked at her mother, frozen behind Gerald.
John and Jonah were at the gate, waiting to hear Jacob’s answer.
He finally spoke: “I want you to come home. There’s a place in my kingdom for you and your friends. Simply accept me as your Master.”
“Never!” Abalena screamed.
Hope turned to beg her mother’s silence before something silenced her.
Too late.
One of the black creatures charged, thrusting a clawed arm through her chest.
Hope screamed and raced toward her mother, without even knowing how she could help.
The creature turned its empty eyes to Hope as she neared it, opened its maw and hissed. It swiftly withdrew its claws from Abalena, leaving her guts splashing out of her body and onto the floor.
Hope froze again, meeting her mother’s wide eyes. Time turned to ice as her mom mouthed something incomprehensible, then collapsed to the ground.
Hope couldn’t move.
Movement to her side told Hope what her mother was trying to say:
Look out!
She turned to see the other monster barreling toward her.
Hope braced for impact, but none came.
Instead, Gerald thrust himself between her and the creature. But his blade was no match for the monster’s hook.
A claw ripped through his stomach and drilled out through Gerald’s back.
Then all hell broke loose.
Sixty-Five
John
John spun around when he saw the wraith chasing Hope, and threw himself toward her.
Gerald got there first, and lost his life because of it.
Hope was frozen, shrieking as she stared at Gerald and her mother’s bodies.
Larry grabbed Hope and pulled her back toward the front door with Jonah, who had somehow managed to kill two knights already. Larry and Hope picked up the fallen soldiers’ swords as more knights surrounded them.
Talani launched herself at the Valkoer Knights, with Abigail right behind her. Talani had no weapon that John could see, but Abigail did — a black Valkoer-killing blade.
Talani managed to turn one of the men’s swords against his companion, then wrested it out of his hands and turned it on its owner.
She’s right — she can fight.
The murdering wraith turned its attention to John, sockets staring hard as it opened its mouth wide, shrieking blades into his ears.
John wasn’t sure where the other two wraiths were but hoped that Larry was protecting Hope — if he could protect her from the monsters.
John clenched his fist until he felt a ball of energy filling it. He swung, unclenching as it neared the monster’s face. The blast of energy ripped a chunk from the wraith’s gnashing maw and sent it hurtling to the ground.
But the wraith wasn’t dead and scrambled to stand.
About to counter, John spotted a sword slicing the air, coming straight at his face. He fell back, swept with his feet on the way down, and managed to topple the attacking Valkoer Knight.
As the knight tumbled, John reached for his fallen sword.
The wraith met him instead, slamming into John and sending him flying backward.
The wraith fell to all fours and charged like a giant monstrous bull.
Sixty-Six
Abigail
Jacob’s men were wearing black armor to protect their bodies, but they weren’t wearing helmets. Abigail stabbed the first knight through his eye, driving the blade into the back of his skull as Talani took on two knights herself.
Blade still lodged in him, the dying knight took Abigail down with him as he fell backward.
As Abigail struggled to remove the knife stuck in his skull, she looked up to see John fighting a wraith. Behind him, Larry and Hope backed up against the door, Jacob smiling, watching the horror unfold from the rear. Raina lay dead like a broken toy on the ground outside.
Abigail wanted to kill him. For all he’d done to her and John, and Talani’s sister. She was glaring at Jacob, and he was glowering back. A cold wave rolled through her, and for a moment she was frozen.
The blade finally came free with a sickening plop.
Then a shriek behind her.
Abigail turned to see one of the monsters coming right at her, mouth wide open and screaming, claw swinging.
She had no time to move.
It was inches away, and she was still frozen.
Abigail closed her eyes.
She heard an unholy scream, followed by a thump, then looked up to see Talani standing over the creature, sword driven into its back, body twitching.
“Thank —” Abigail started.
But then one of the monsters grabbed Talani around the throat, pulling her back.
Abigail screamed, finally finding the will to move, and leaped to her feet, blade ready to murder anything that stood in her way.
Sixty-Seven
Hope
Hope and Larr
y stood back to back, swords drawn, fending off two knights on either side of them.
She wasn’t sure where Jonah had gone, and didn’t dare move her eyes from the man in front of her, a giant bushy-bearded beast who looked like he wanted to slice her from gut to neck with his blade.
“Don’t let them touch you,” Larry heaved over the clanging swords. “They’re all vampires.”
She could feel his back against hers. It was a comfort to have an ally literally at her back, and worrisome that if one of them was pushed too hard into the other, or if their feet got tangled, both would fall.
Hope had never fought with a sword, but was somehow managing to parry away the knight’s strikes, even if she’d yet to deliver a blow.
It felt fluid as she swung, her instincts like razors, and the blade’s hilt like a gift in her hands.
More memories poured forth: her as a child fencing with the wizard. And for the first time, she could see him: old and short but with surprisingly dark shaggy hair and piercing gray eyes. She could almost hear his voice telling her to concentrate.
And then, lost in the flashback, her real world was gone.
Her sword fell to the ground.
The knight’s eyes lit with opportunity.
He thrust his blade forward.
Hope dodged, and the sword missed her.
Only to find Larry’s back.
Sixty-Eight
Larry
Larry felt Hope fall away behind him.
Shit!
He thought she was hit, and was trying to think of a way to dodge the pecker in front of him while also turning to help her.
An explosion of pain pierced his back.
He screamed. Agony came in a flood.
His hand seized up, and he dropped his sword.
The knight in front of Larry thrust a blade through his gut.
Stabbed, front and back.
The men pulled their blades out at the same time. Larry fell to the ground, choking on blood and his final few breaths.
Sixty-Nine
Hope
Hope grabbed her blade and went after the knight who had stabbed Larry in the back, horrified to see a second knight pierce him from the front.
She screamed as something else took over her actions. Suddenly, her body just knew what to do. She swung the sword hard, lopping the closest knight’s head clean off.
She stared at the body as it staggered headless, blood spurting from its neck like some ghastly joke.
She looked away, only to see her mother’s corpse.
No, can’t think about that now. I can only avenge her.
She saw Larry crumpled, facedown on the floor, blood pooling beneath him.
She couldn’t tell if he was moving, or take the time to check as the other knight was coming straight at her.
Gripping her sword with both hands, she swung and met his blade. Their eyes clashed as a thunderous clang screamed through her hand and up her arms like lightning. But she wouldn’t drop her sword again.
They pulled away at the same time, eyes locked, engaged in a deadly pirouette of thrusts, countermoves, and feints.
Movement swirled around her, pained screams, clashing blades, and the shrieking of monsters, all threatening to dizzy her mind, as did the horrible truth that her friend was dying on the ground.
But she couldn’t lose focus. Not again.
The first time had nearly cost Hope her life.
It might be costing Larry his.
Seventy
John
John rolled out of the way as the wraith came at him, but not before it reached out and sliced at his left thigh.
“Fuck!” John screamed through gritted teeth.
He couldn’t be certain of the wound’s depth, but his pants were ripped and blood was spilling.
The monster quickly turned back on him as John clambered back to standing, shrieking as it charged again.
John threw up his hand and shot a blast of energy, this time hitting the wraith in its gut.
It fell back howling, a hole blown through its insides.
The wraith was down.
John looked around, surveying the chaos, heart sinking at the sight of Larry lying facedown in a pool of blood.
And Hope fending off a Valkoer Knight, wielding a blade like a seasoned swordsman.
He was about to help her when Abigail cried out behind him.
John turned to see a wraith dragging Talani into the portal.
Abigail screamed, “No!” then ran in after her.
Fuck!
John took another quick glance to find Jonah fending off two remaining Valkoer, and a wraith. He could probably use help, but given that all the rest of the Valkoer were dead or dying, perhaps the old man could finish them off.
Something was missing from the scene.
Then John saw the empty hall outside the barred doorway. Jacob wasn’t there.
Where the hell is —
He felt the blade at his neck, and Jacob’s voice in his ear.
“Hello, Brother.”
Seventy-One
Hope
Hope was blocking the knight’s every strike, but he was pushing her back against the wall with every attack.
She tried to push him back, but couldn’t manage.
The wall was closing in behind her, but she didn’t dare look.
What will I do when he gets my back to the wall? How can I counter or dodge him then? I’ll have nowhere to go.
Her heart was a bomb, seconds from detonation. Every sense was focused on the beast of a man before her. His rusty eyes, scarred face, and yellow teeth practically champing to end her. She imagined him licking his lips, eager to feast on her flesh.
She could feel more memories stirring, bubbling to the surface. Visions commanding her sight, voices demanding her ears.
No. I must focus.
Jonah fell to the ground, then two Valkoer pounced and fed.
Her stomach was an elevator in free fall.
Focus on your enemy!
The knight swung again. Hope parried, and again stepped back.
She slipped on blood.
Her foot gave way.
She fell on her back.
The knight charged in with his sword.
“Stop!” a man bellowed.
The knight froze above her, as if a force compelled him against his will. Hope stared at the man, his eyes wide in their sockets, seeming confused.
He looked behind Hope, toward the command, eyes darting back and forth as if desperate to resume what he was doing.
But his sword was frozen overhead, his body still.
Jacob was standing behind John, a blade to his neck.
Her stomach finally found the floor.
She wanted to vomit.
Jacob grinned. “So, now that we got all that out of the way …”
Seventy-Two
Abigail
Abigail chased Talani into the portal, and found herself back in the In-Between.
It was slightly different this time — even colder, with black sand on the ground in every direction. The sky was ink and stars, some blotted out by the horrible floating things.
In the distance she saw one of the monsters who had taken Talani, now carrying the girl over its shoulder instead of holding her by the throat.
Abigail wanted to scream for her return, but didn’t want to alert the monster. So she ran, cursing the sand for slowing her, and pushing herself to run harder.
But the monster was faster.
Abigail didn’t know where it was taking Talani, but she could feel that wherever it was, she could never catch up.
“Hey!”
The monster stopped.
Abigail kept running.
It was nearly fifty feet away, and as she drew closer, Abigail remembered what Judith had said: The monsters can’t hurt you in the In-Between. At least not physically.
If that were true, could she hurt it?
Abigail was about to find
out.
Ten feet away, the monster dropped Talani to the sand.
Talani’s eyes were closed.
Abigail hoped she was passed out rather than dead.
“Get away from her!” Abigail yelled, waving her knife at the monster, trying to scare it away.
The monster stood seven feet away, looking down at her with its wide empty sockets.
Can it see me without eyes?
She held her breath, and stopped waving the knife to see its response — maybe it saw movement or sound. Maybe staying still would make her invisible.
It was even more hideous up close. Its black skin was wet and slimy. Its clawed hand looked like some sort of sharp black bone jutting out from its flesh.
The monster continued to stand there, staring down at Abigail.
She looked down at Talani at its feet. Abigail could see her chest and stomach rising and falling, still breathing.
She had to reach Talani and get her away from the monster.
Abigail inched closer.
The monster stayed frozen, staring ahead.
She moved a bit to her left, slowly to avoid all sound, and waited to see if its head followed.
Still, nothing.
It can’t sense me.
I can do this.
Abigail inched closer.
Three feet away.
She’d bend down, slowly gather Talani in relative silence, then tiptoe away, assuming she could carry her friend who was bigger and weighed more than Abigail.
I can do this. I’ve got vampire strength!
Inches to go.
Not having a sheath, she bit down on the hilt of the blade as she squatted, sliding her hands under Talani, keeping her eyes on the monster.