Apep formed a discus of brilliant white energy in his hand and flung it at Jackson. Jackson went to dash out of the way, but Ahnvil was there, placing his body between Jackson and the strike. The discus hit him hard and flung his stone body back into Jackson. The two men went tumbling head over heels into the dirt.
“Who else wants the power of a god shoved down their throats?”
“We do!” the Phoenixes cried in unison.
Here it was. The beginning of their plan to engage Apep. Only Kamen had been so busy protecting Viève that he hadn’t drawn his circle yet. Jackson shoved his way out from under the dead weight of Ahnvil and shouted out.
“Kamen, get ready!”
Kamen heard the cry and suddenly remembered what he was supposed to be doing. He pulled back, leaving Viève exposed, hoping she knew what she was doing. He landed not too far away and began to burn the grass in a circle and pentacle pattern.
Cordo lassoed Apep in a ring of fire while Ceara threw balls of flame at him. Apep lobbed them all back with frightening ease, sending them screaming back at her. She was hit hard by the impact, but the fire itself could not burn her.
Noah saw how ineffective their attack was and he moved up to the forefront. The plan wasn’t that they were to defeat Apep in this way, merely distract him so that Felix could get behind him and touch him.
Only Felix was nowhere to be found.
At first.
Then Viève saw him. She saw him reach out and touch one of the Body Demons, the Demon crumpling to the ground.
“No!” she cried.
Felix heard her and turned to her.
“Yes, little fool,” he hissed at her. “Apep is our master. You had better get used to the idea. He’s going to rule this whole sorry world! Then finally the Wraiths won’t have to hide away in their little cells. We’ll be free to roam everywhere and anywhere we desire!”
That was when she saw the Wraiths. A small army of them, rushing forward into the fray from Apep’s side. Clearly they had been in the house with Apep. It suddenly dawned on Viève that Felix and the other Wraiths Kane had brought had probably warned the god about their surprise attack. But it had to have been a recent development, or wouldn’t Mena have noticed them and reported their presence? Felix turned to Apep and said, “Master! Do not be distracted! They mean to push you from this world!”
“Thank you for the warning, Wraith, but they are no match for me.” Apep built a discus of power in his hand and flung it at Noah. Noah ducked and the discus flew past him and struck Cordo full in the chest. The Phoenix screamed as his flesh was seared off his bones and his soul was ripped out of his body. Cordo’s lifeless body fell to the ground, smoldering. His female counterpart screamed.
“Focus, Ceara!” Jackson demanded of her, knowing by her body language that she wanted to go to her fallen comrade.
“There’s nothing we can do!” she cried. “He’s too strong!”
Jackson turned to find Kat, who was kneeling beside her fallen mate, tears tracking down her face. When he had been knocked unconscious Ahnvil had reverted to his flesh state and there was a huge burn on his chest from where Apep had struck him. It was deep and bloody and right over his heart, half cauterized by the searing heat of the strike that had taken him down, half bleeding heavily.
“Kat! We need you!”
Kat swallowed, rage building inside of her so fiercely she could taste the bile of it. She left her lover on the ground and grabbed the amulet in her hand. She tapped into the power she felt emanating from it. She had more powerful niks. One a bracelet she was wearing on her wrist even now, but she did not draw energy from that at all. The written passage had been clear. It was Adoma’s Amulet that would have the power to make a god fall to his knees. She only prayed that she was Djynn enough to do it.
That was when Felix came out of nowhere and lunged for Kat. She was so focused on what she was doing that she didn’t even see him. But just as Felix was about to lay hands on her, Noah sent a fireball full of fury screaming against him. It hit and Felix was thrown off his feet, back away from Kat. Set on fire, Felix was consumed by the flames until his screams could no longer be heard.
Viève realized that Felix’s betrayal had an even more deadly aspect to it than his attack on his fellow Nightwalkers. It meant a key part of Jackson’s plan to capture Apep now had a huge hole in it. A hole she would need to fill. But she hadn’t even gotten a chance to touch a single person! She didn’t even know if she was even capable of a deathtouch.
She had no choice but to find out the hard way. She would be phased until the moment she actually touched Apep, so she wasn’t afraid he could hurt her. At least, she didn’t think he could hurt her. But he was a god. Anything was possible. She prayed she could do her part. If not, all would be lost. She watched as Apep began picking off Nightwalkers one by one with horrible savagery, sometimes incinerating them into ash. She knew this plan had to work. She had to make herself do her part.
“Listen! All of you!” Jackson boomed out into the fighting forces. “Templars! Do not fight against us! You do not fight for the Templar cause but for the whims of a maniacal god! Odjit is lost to you. She has been ever since Kamen defected to the Politic!”
“They know who they fight for!” Apep announced with a crazed laugh. “I told them they are graced with the presence of a supreme being just last night. They now know how blessed they are.”
“Do you feel blessed?” Jackson called out. “Or do you feel cursed? Cursed by the god who threatens you, who kills you based on whether or not he’s in a bad mood? How has he made your life easier? How has he made it better since he stole Odjit from you? I know the Templars and the Politic have had their differences, but we can see an end to that once and for all!”
“Puny! Insignificant! Did you really think my Templars and my Wraiths would betray me?” Apep threw another discus of energy at Jackson, who dodged it. Barely. Then he sent an explosion of fire radiating out around him where it rained down on the attacking forces and his own forces alike.
“See how he has no regard for you?” Jackson shouted out. “If you join us, fight against your master, unify the two halves of the Bodywalker race. You do not have to die tonight! This is your moment of choice. If you choose to fight with us, you will have safe haven with the Politic. Let us put our differences aside once and for all!”
There were screams of pain elevating all around Jackson as Templars and Nightwalkers from both sides were burned by Apep’s fire. Jasmine was one of its victims, her blouse having caught fire, burning on her body. But Adam was there instantly, turning his mass into a wave of water and washing over her. She was drenched from head to toe by the time he was done, but she was no longer on fire. He reshaped himself and wrapped his arms around her.
“Off!” she said, shrugging him off angrily. “I’m going to kick this fucker’s ass!”
“Jas!” He jerked her around so she was paying attention. “You can’t hurt him! Stick to doing what you know you can be successful at!”
Jasmine seemed to come to her senses and gave him a curt nod. “You’re right. I’m sorry. But someone better do something about him soon. We can’t take much more of that!”
Adam nodded grimly then tapped into the water in the soil and under the ground. He used his ability to manipulate it to send it misting up above the soil. The thick mist settled over the entire area, dousing any burning things or people, but also obscuring their vision. This debilitated both sides, so as soon as fire was doused, he lowered the mist back into the ground.
Viève looked for Kane. She saw him just as he saw her, and they ran to meet one another.
“Can you teleport me right behind him? It has to be lightning fast. I need to touch him before he can turn on me!”
“Will do,” Kane said. He looked for Kat and saw she was standing nearby, focusing all of her will onto Apep, he assumed. Kane waited to see what she could accomplish.
Apep held out his hands and the ground roiled beneath the feet of the la
nd-bound fighters on both sides. Huge fissures opened beneath them and bodies began to fall into the earth. All the while Apep laughed at his own destruction.
“This is actually quite fun!” he declared. “I didn’t realize just how bored I was. Thank you ever so!”
Jacob quickly tried to counter the earthly attack, sealing the fissures, using the softened earth to catch the falling bodies and return them to their feet aboveground. It was a massive undertaking, even for someone of Jacob’s skill and power. Bella protected him as he focused, leaping onto the back of a nearby necromancer who tried to stab him in the neck, snapping her neck with a quick, succinct movement and a crack of sound.
“That’s what you get for trying to touch my husband!” she spat at the corpse.
Suddenly Apep released a scream of outrage. As they all watched, he seemed to be struggling in mid-air. He couldn’t seem to lift his arms to cast his next bit of power.
“What is this?” he screamed shrilly. He struggled harder.
“It’s Kat!” Viève whispered harshly to Kane. Kane nodded and grabbed Viève, holding her close.
“Hold on. Do what you do but make it fast!”
Viève didn’t know if she could do what they were counting on her to do, and she didn’t know if it would even have any effect on a god if she could.
“Make sure you let go of me right away.”
“You’ll fall!” Kane argued.
“Not if I’m holding on to him I won’t. I don’t want you anywhere near me when I go to deathtouch him. I’m not sure if I can focus it just to my hands. It might go all over my skin.”
“Gotcha. Let’s do this!”
Kamen watched as Kane grabbed her and they disappeared from the ground. When they reappeared they were in mid-air right at Apep’s back. Viève leapt out of Kane’s hold, latched onto Apep, and wrapped her hands around the god’s throat. Trapped as he was, he couldn’t fight, couldn’t throw her off. From the ground Kamen could see the focus on her face.
Apep’s struggles weakened considerably. It was working! It could all be over right then. Apep was in the body of a mortal Nightwalker, after all. Viève’s deathtouch could potentially kill his host’s body.
Tears were streaming down Apep’s face as he fought for breath, fought for life, fought against the fury of his helpless situation. Finally he seemed to wrest free of Kat’s mental hold on him. Kat collapsed onto the ground, all of her magical energy from the amulet depleted. Apep shrugged off Viève, turning on her with a snarl.
“You traitorous bitch! I’ll see you dead!”
Viève phased out of instinct, but Apep could barely move, weakness infusing every molecule of his body.
“Grey! Now!”
Now it was Grey’s turn. He appeared in mid-air behind Apep and used powerful magic to bind him once more. Then he teleported him down to the circle where Kamen was standing.
“You!” Apep snarled when he recognized Kamen’s face. “You brought me into this world!”
“And I shall take you right back out of it,” Kamen vowed.
Apep’s scream was shrill and full of fury. “Wraiths! Come to me! I command you!”
But the Wraiths were all occupied elsewhere and could not attend to their struggling master.
Using the power of his mind to compensate where his body was weak, the god began to fling things at Kamen to try and disrupt his concentration as he began to recite the spell. Viève saw this and hastened to her lover’s side.
She reached to phase him so that objects might pass through him instead of hitting him, but he quickly shook his head. His meaning was clear. He didn’t think he could effectively cast the spell if he wasn’t physically there. A large wooden crate came barreling toward Kamen, but just before it hit him it burst into flame and a wall of ash was left in its place, dousing Kamen in the warm gray dust. Viève looked up at the male Fire Demon gratefully. Noah nodded his head.
Jackson took over from there, using his telekinetic ability to protect Kamen from any further flying debris. Kamen spoke the spell as cleanly and as quickly as he could, his hours of practice and memorization serving him well. He couldn’t forget a single word. And he didn’t. He was a master at what he did.
Apep screamed in frustration and fury. He tried to fight against Grey’s power, but the Djynn was too much for him in his weakened state.
In the end, it was a rather simple finale. Bursts of energy slammed into Viève, knocking her back on her butt, and Apep screamed one last time.
Odjit’s body went limp in Grey’s hold.
Kamen opened his eyes and Grey looked at him questioningly. Had it worked? Or was Apep simply playing possum? Kamen came forward and reached out two fingers to touch Apep’s throat. There was no sign of a pulse. Apep and all the souls trapped in Odjit’s body had been banished to another realm. What realm was anybody’s guess, but as long as it was not there on Earth, it didn’t matter.
“Are you sure he’s gone? What if he just jumped bodies?” Grey asked skeptically.
“He’s gone. If he had jumped bodies Odjit and her host would still be intact. I sent everything inside of her to another realm. It worked.”
“As long as you’re sure…” Grey said.
Kamen nodded. Grey released his hold and Odjit’s body collapsed bonelessly to the ground.
“That seemed almost too eas—”
Grey broke off with a gasp and Viève and Kamen looked up from Odjit’s body to see a Wraith wrapping its hands around Grey’s throat.
“No!” Viève cried, leaping forward to try to touch Grey, to phase him away, but Grey disappeared before her eyes, leaving the Wraith to fall forward. Kamen blasted out the Curse of Ra against him and he was incinerated.
“What happened to Grey? Is he dead? Do Djynn just disappear when they die?” Viève asked, her tone panicked.
“I don’t know. But come, this fight isn’t over yet. Go see to it Kat’s protected. She’s helpless out there on the field. I’ll come back for you once this is over.”
“It’s done!” Jackson shouted. “Your leader is dead! Stop fighting us or die by his side!”
Half of the field had already pulled out of the fight, not acting against the Nightwalkers any longer, but not acting with them either. When they realized what Jackson was saying was true, they began to kneel on the ground, one by one, and put their hands in the air.
The Wraiths screamed in fury.
“Cowards!” a Wraith cried. “Fight them! Come on and fight them! Do you want to live under their boot heels for the rest of your lives?”
“It’s over!” Jackson said harshly. “Your master is dead. Unless the Wraiths want a war with the rest of the Nightwalker clans I’d call a halt if I were you.”
“Maybe I’ll just kill you and be done with you!” The Wraith phased and launched himself at Jackson. Jackson tensed, but suddenly Viève was in front of him, blocking his path. She grabbed hold of him, one phased Wraith grappling with another.
“Don’t be stubborn!” Viève grunted. “Can’t you see it’s over?”
“Get your hands off me, you filthy little mongrel!”
There was a crack of sound as Viève hauled back and punched the Wraith in the face. He snapped back and fell to the ground, unphasing as he hit the dirt, unconscious.
“Call me a mongrel again!” Viève hissed. “I dare you!”
Then she phased back into solid form and went looking for Kat. She found her kneeling next to Ahnvil.
“If he just wakes up and turns to stone, he could heal,” she said in a small voice. “Do you think he’ll wake up?”
Viève looked down at the Gargoyle and the huge chunk of flesh that had been taken out of his chest. She had serious doubts, but the Gargoyle was still breathing and that was all that mattered right then. Maybe one of the Body Demons could help heal him. It was hard to say. She had heard that the Body Demons had trouble healing others outside their own species, except for humans. But as she understood it the Gargoyles had been human
before they were forged. Maybe that meant they could be healed?
With Apep gone, the fight went out of the remaining Templars. Some who were die-hard met their ends the hard way. Gideon, the Body Demon, reached out and stopped the heart of one…then two…right in their chests. In the end Templar bodies were as fragile as any human’s. They were susceptible to injury and even death. In spite of the havoc and death they had wrought, the Wraiths realized they were outnumbered and began to flee the scene, but not after taking a few more lives, including that of the Phoenix Ceara and a pair of the Mystical dragons. But the damage they caused before leaving was breathtaking. Many lives had been lost with just a touch.
The battle was won. They had taken heavy casualties, but the Templars had taken worse. The Templars that had given up came willingly to kneel before Jackson.
“Listen, all of you,” he said vehemently to them. “This war is over. There will no longer be Templar and Politic sides. There will only be a Bodywalker side. Trust must be earned, but if you truly want to be part of a cohesive whole, you will earn it. And over time you may be forgiven the egregious sins you have committed. All you have to do is look to Kamen for your role model and your guidance. You looked to him as leader in the past, look to him now as you will look to me. He has worked hard to earn his forgiveness, and you must work even harder. It will not come easy, but it will come.”
Kamen looked to Jackson in surprise. The idea of forgiveness from someone like Jackson, to whom he had committed so many ills, was shocking to him. He had not been looking for forgiveness, nor had he expected it. He had simply done what he felt was necessary to make things right.
Kamen didn’t know what to feel. He still felt undeserving of such a thing. Defeating Apep had made it better, but that didn’t change the fact that he had created the problem in the first place. He had made so many mistakes, caused so much pain. As he looked around at all the wounded and dead he knew he was responsible for all of it.
Viève walked toward him, her steps hurrying as she watched the tight play of emotions crossing his face. She reached for his hands, caught them up into hers, and squeezed them tightly.
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