The beast flapped its wings once and was airborne. In its wake, a strong gust of wind nearly knocked Brianna and Ethan off their feet.
In silence, they stared up as Gaspard flew high above the city but stayed low enough that it didn’t vanish off into the sea of smog.
“I think my plan might have backfired,” Brianna finally said.
“You think?” Ethan retorted.
A cannon-shot resounded from the heavens as an airship came into view from the fog. Gaspard turned and caught the piping hot iron sphere as if it was a baseball. He then threw it back at the airship taking out half of its galley. Opening his mouth, he spewed a sea of fire, which enshrouded the ship in flames. There was a sound of multiple explosions from the craft as it fell from the sky in a ball of fire. It crash landed miles away, but the result of the impact could be heard from Ethan and Brianna’s position. A pillar of fiery smoke and dust arose from where the ship had crashed.
Overhead a series of blue-white flashes broke out along with the resounds of cannon-fire and explosions. Soon a constellation of huge fireballs, varicolored, spread throughout the sky like christmas lights, and airships plummeted from the sky like the one before. Gaspard emerged from the cloud of pollution. Mouth agape, he released a volley of massive fireballs. They punched different zones of the city, triggering a series of flashes, lifting and spreading the luminous harmful vapors, and then a great stream of flames arose. Multiple fountains of hot ash and flowing rocks gushed upward, sending some of the hot debris raining near the two teens.
“How long do we have to wait till he turns into a worm,” Ethan shouted. “Because we might not survive one of his fireballs if he aims at us.”
He watched Gaspard spew out another shower of meteors.
“We have to wait him out,” Brianna answered. There was an uncertainty in her voice.
And Ethan wondered if it was a good idea to let Gaspard transform. He looked away from the sky and towards Brianna.
She stared at the ground as if her brain was fighting to formulate a new solution.
Ethan watched her with curiosity.
How is she so calm?
Brianna then gasped.
“He needs to fight someone or something as equally or as more powerful than he is...,” she gasped. “I’ve got an idea...step back.”
Ethan did as he was asked. Brianna’s wand became a dagger again and she administered a small cut to her hand. The dagger transmuted back into a wand. Brianna dipped the tip of it into the freshly drawn blood on her palm and held the wand and her bleeding palm towards the heavens. Eyes closed she recited
“Lords of the sky,
The ones who make my enemies flee
Please do not deny
But hear my plea
Unto thee
I offer a part of me”
A bolt of green lightning broke the utter blackness cleaving the clouds of pollutions apart. In that violent illumination, the sound of thunder roared with untamed power. Brianna lowered her hands and opened her eyes as a massive winged serpent emerged from the lightning. It landed in front of Brianna and Ethan, causing the terrain to quake as it touched down.
Ethan figured he shouldn’t have been surprised after everything he had seen the past few days but with each passing moment, things kept getting weirder. He let out a raspy breath of air, “I-it’s a freaking dragon...you summoned a dragon.”
Enormous ember colored eyes sat far within the creature’s hard and narrow skull. Several central horns sat atop its head, above its small feline-like ears, tendril-like structures ran down the sides of its jawline. Steam blew from its oval nostrils, as it slightly opened its mouth to reveal rolls of sharp teeth. A huge neck ran from its head and into a muscular body with ebony scales and four mighty limbs, each ending in long claws seemingly made of onyx.
It reared back on its hind legs, reached with one of its front claw-like hands and scooped up Brianna and Ethan like dolls. The dragon lifted them to its face and Ethan screamed, fearing they were about to become its snack. The creature positioned them safely in the palm of its hand away from its mouth.
I AM MORIGANNA, WHY HAVE YOU SUMMONED ME? A female voiced boomed inside Ethan’s head.
He slapped himself and blinked hard, “did you hear that?”
Brianna nodded, “she’s talking to us through telepathy.”
“Oh, I see,” Ethan said as if this was everyday life for him.
“I’m in need of your help with a pesky problem,” Brianna shouted.
WHY SHOULD I HELP YOU, WITCH? THE LAST TIME YOU SUMMONED ONE OF MY KIN, HE WAS KILLED.
“It’s a demon in its true form. He’s too much for us to handle on our own. But if you kill him you can devour his remains.”
There was radio silence for a moment. Unable to read minds; both Ethan and Brianna wondered what the dragon was thinking. Without communicating, Moriganna placed the teens safely onto the ground. Then looking skyward, the dragon spotted Gaspard circling the heavens.
YOU ARE LUCKY, I’M THE ONE WHO ANSWERED THE SUMMON, ESPECIALLY SINCE YOU DON’T HAVE A CONTRACT WITH THE KING.
With that said, Moriganna extended leathery colossal wings that grew from its shoulders and ended at the lower half of its shoulder blades.
I SHALL GRANT YOU THIS ONE REQUEST BRIANNA CORTES.
It blasted off creating a windstorm in its wake and knocking Ethan and Brianna onto their butts. From their new position, they watched as the titans engaged in primal combat.
“You summoned a freaking dragon,” Ethan said again in bewilderment.
She healed the cut on her hand. “I just hope it’s enough to defeat Gaspard.”
Ethan nodded.
“What did you two release upon the city?” a weak voice sounded from behind them.
Atticus wobbled his way over using his sheathed sword as a cane.
Brianna was the first to notice his wounds and rushed to his side. She held her wand toward his still bleeding injuries.
“Why aren’t your wounds self-healing?” she said pointing her wand towards his shoulder.
Ethan was next to them in a matter of seconds.
“They were dealt by an enchanted weapon,” Atticus answered as Brianna and Ethan guided him to the ground. He laid flat on his back, wounds bleeding profusely.
“I can’t replace the blood you lost, but I can close the lacerations,” Brianna offered.
Atticus waved her away. “Your magic won’t help this time little witch,” he said with a small smile. “Any damage dealt from my brother’s sword is permanent and not any kind of magic or medicine can save me now.” He sat upon the asphalt coughing harshly.
“Don’t worry,” Brianna reassured him. “We’re going to find a way to save you.”
Atticus chuckled. “Who says I want to be saved?”
Chapter-Thirty-Nine
The building before them was of Victorian architecture, with stained glasses, columns, and arches. Surrounded by a black iron gate, graceful gardens and statues of priests decorated the exterior.
Hayden and Kori slowly navigated through a sheltered walkway that bordered the main entrance of the cathedral. Kori loved the Greek columns that supported the shelter. Even with the mirthful gardens and well-groomed landscape, the entire grounds felt dreary and abandoned. In fact, she felt as if everything was off.
On their way to the cathedral they had lost sight of Brianna and Ethan and didn’t realize their mistake until they had reached roads that were either calm or empty. Instead of going back for them, Hayden insisted they proceed to the cathedral. She wasn’t so keen on the idea of waiting for Ethan and the others at the church, but they had reached it without any incident. It all felt too easy, and since arriving in purgatory nothing had been stress-free for them.
A sudden noise made her jump. It was a cluster of city dwellers running frantically across the cathedral’s campus. A few looked back at the two teens in their passing as if wanting to warn them of pending doom.
Kori stared back quizzicall
y, then looked at Hayden, “what are they running from?”
Then a roar from above so powerful, trembled her body. Curiosity getting the best of her, she bolted from underneath the roofing looking skyward. Her mouth dropped.
A gigantic, winged Minotaur was circling the sky firing a barrage of fireballs into the city below. The ground began to shake around her as if the meteors were getting closer to her location. She made a dash for the shelter only to be grabbed around the stomach and pulled out of the way of an oncoming fireball. The meteor slammed into the ground with an exploding earthquake. The next thing she knew, she was flying through something solid. The sound of glass shattering resonated, and her head slapped against a dense foundation. She almost blacked out from the impact, but Kori powered through the pain and the ringing in her ears. Her head whirled and she felt elusively nauseous, there was also a tangy taste of blood in her mouth. She rolled onto her back looking up at a high vault ceiling. The sound of commotion to her left prompted her to turn her head. There where ten people dressed in black hooded clergy robes: their faces barely visible within the shadows of the cloaks. They were circling around Hayden as if he was an escaped zoo animal. Not far from the group was a crumpled-up robe lying on the floor. Hayden held Delilah high, alternating his aim between each of the cloaked people. One of them reached for him, but he sidestepped and in one fluid motion pulled the hooded person’s arm behind their back, knocked him face-down onto the floor and placed the revolver’s tip on the back of his pending victim’s head.
“We are only worried about the both of you,” an elderly voice cried from underneath the hood. “We heard an explosion outside and then you two came crashing through that window.”
Kori sat up, sluggishly, staring at a shattered window in front of her. Black clouds of smoke from the outside bellowed through.
The stone walls were lined with alcoves, each having a statue of men dressed in armor and small altars. In the center were rows of wooden benches, and the wide-open space was a pulpit with a large statue of an elderly man clad in armor behind it. The smell of incense candles flowed through the air.
“He’s as hostile as the other one,” Kori heard one of the hooded people say.
She watched them with a mixture of puzzlement and concern.
Hayden eased off his captive and allowed Delilah to vanish from his hands. “Did a boy around my age come through here?”
The hooded person quickly stood and peeled back the hood to reveal an elderly man who would have made a great Santa.
“Yes, moments ago, demanding for one of us to take him to the Libitinari.”
Hayden scoffed, “did one of you take him?”
The elderly man’s face flushed and a look of shame appeared across his face. The others lowered their heads and a sense of guilt-filled the air along with awkward silence, until-
“These spineless bastards are pushovers,” a male’s voice echoed about the sanctum. “Despite the fact they carry out Giovanni’s will without question.”
Kori blinked and a man with stubbly cheeks appeared seemingly out of no-where. He looked around the room with a single sweep, his canine-like eyes settling on Kori.
He spoke with dispassion. “They hide safely within these walls while Elisium burns.”
The hooded crew slowly backed up, before scattering away like roaches leaving Hayden and Kori alone with the stranger.
Hayden eyed him, but the man’s focus remained on Kori.
“You’re Malek, head of security at my uncle’s company,” Hayden said.
The man nodded still staring at Kori, “yes we’ve actually met a few times...and I often wondered what it would be like to kill you.”
The stone beneath their feet rolled like the sea and the thunderous sound of monsters on the outside assaulted their ears from all sides.
“The vault is a safe place for me to kill you both,” he said.
Delilah appeared and Hayden aimed at Malek.
He sighed as if he’d seen the trick more times than he liked. Without acknowledging Hayden, he snapped his fingers and the next thing they knew the scenery had changed. They were standing in a snake like tunnel, curving underneath the cathedral. The walls were greyish black brick and loose rocks, dirt and mud made up the flooring. The aroma was like a stagnant pond, but with an undercurrent of sewage. Lights flickered from wall-mounted torches casting an ominous glow throughout the passage, causing shivers to ripple across Kori’s body.
“Here we are.” Malek’s heinous laughter echoed throughout the tunnel, rebounding off the crumbling walls. He pointed to an arched gravelly door that was built into the tunnel’s walls in front of them. From the looks of the massive entrance, nothing was going to budge it. The surface was flat, shiny and engraved in hieroglyphs, from top to base. There wasn’t a lock or handle or any conventional way of opening it.
“Welcome to your final resting place,” Malek said.
Hayden felt Kori gripping hold of his arm.
“Remember when you asked if I cared enough to protect you?” he said.
She nodded.
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you.” His words momentarily quenched her fears.
Then-
“How much further?” a familiar voice said.
An unfamiliar voice responded timidly, “the vault is right around this corner young sir.”
Rounding the corner at the far end of the tunnel was Dominic holding an elderly heavyset man dressed in a clergy robe at gunpoint.
They both froze.
Dominic’s hazel eyes spotted Hayden and Kori immediately. His guide, unlike the others they met previously, was not wearing a hood and they saw his eyes widen with fear once they happened upon Malek. Without an explanation, he shoved Dominic and ran back the way he came screaming.
Kori glared at Dominic, and she squealed with frustration.
Dominic scoffed with annoyance and folded both arms. He didn’t fear Kori in the least, but when she drew near, he was on a fast track to changing that outlook. Her balled fist collided with his cheekbone whipping his neck backward like a willow caught in the breeze. As he stumbled, he nearly tripped over his own two feet. Rubbing his sore cheek, he glared at her with a look of surprise.
“Wow!” he cried, regaining his balance. “You definitely hit harder than Ethan that’s for-.”
“Shut up! Why are you so determined to risk not only your own life but your families as well?” she paused searching for an answer in Dominic’s stunned face.
Silence pursued, with all eyes on Kori.
Then Malek began a slow clap and gradually speeding up the applauds.
“Was that his eulogy?”
Dominic eyed Malek suspiciously, “how did any of you beat me here.”
Malek smirked, “perks of being an archdemon.”
Hayden and Dominic swore underneath their breath, leaving Kori to speculate what the big deal was.
“Yes, unlike Betty, Johann, and Reinhard, I’m an archdemon. Gaspard, although powerful in his own right is only a purebred. But Giovanni and the other three were once human.”
Hayden shook his head. “That’s impossible, humans can’t become demons.”
Malek exploded with laughter. “Demons have been experimenting on humans for eons. ... Where do you think vampires and werewolves came from,” Malek said knowledgeably. “Now boys put away your guns before I have to disarm you...literally.”
Hayden and Dominic didn’t comply but instead trained their respective handguns on Malek.
He flashed them with a genuine smile of delight, turned and placed both hands on the large door, whispering a phrase in an ancient tongue. Within a matter of seconds, the hieroglyphs began to glow a deep pink.
The sounds of mechanical hums echoed as the enormous entrance opened like elevator doors.
Inside was a wide-open space, the walls were made of rock, bones and lined with skulls. Except for flickering lights from unseen sources, the room was void of any kind of furnishing.
Hayden dragged his hand across the wall, picking up dust and grime. He paused, his eyes falling upon a stone altar located in the center of the chamber.
Hovering above it was a dark purple ball of energy the size of a bus and floating inside it was the Libitinari, an ebony-colored longsword. The blade was double-edged with the backward-facing edge curving outward to form a guard that was scarlet and extended only over the back of the blade, before morphing into a rapier’s handguard that coiled around the spiral grip. And the pommel housed a scarlet round gem. He and Dominic approached the altar.
Dominic’s eyes lit up as he reached for the sword. However, a pair of hands gripped him by his shirt collar from behind. Hoisted into the air he was chucked several feet away. Hayden summoned Delilah and took aim at Malek.
“Touching that thing causes insta-death,” he said laughing. “And all of you are my kill.”
Dominic groaned as he got to his feet. “We’re not dying.”
Then they charged one another. Malek swung first throwing numerous punches in swift succession. Dominic’s agile movements were far too slow. A sudden barrage of pain jolted throughout his body. His stomach ached, arms lost tension and his legs wobbled from weakness. Dominic stumbled backward not quite sure where Malek had hit him. All he knew was that he was winded; his tongue soaked in blood and hurting all over. He clasped to his knees.
Malek laughed. “This time, the witch and Atticus aren’t going to save you.”
He pulled back his fist and thrust it forward. Kori looked away, and Hayden flinched, ready to go in for the save-when Dominic leaned to his right narrowly dodging Malek’s attack. He then launched himself upward so that the top of his head collided into Malek’s chin. The strength whipped Malek’s neck back like a spring. Fully on his feet Dominic gripped his opponent by the middle of his shirt, pulled him forward and pressed the barrels of Jezebel into Malek’s abdomen. He wasted little time pumping him with several rounds.
His eyes widened as blood cascaded from his mouth. He raised his right foot and with a front kick to Dominic’s chest, the young teen was flung backward nearly colliding into Hayden and Kori.
LAMENT OF PURGATORY (ASHWOOD CHRONICLES #1) Page 28