by Rose O'Brien
Rising to his feet, he stumbled along. How had he ended up here? What was going on?
A flash of silver among the bodies caught his eye and something within him compelled his feet to move in that direction.
It was hair. Platinum blonde hair. Some of it had been stained red with blood. The woman wore shimmering black armor made of dragon scales. Her indigo eyes were open and starting to go cloudy in death.
Her belly was slightly swollen under her armor.
An agonized moan slipped from his lips as he sank to his knees beside the body.
“Alayna,” he cried.
Reaching out, he found she was solid. This was real.
She hadn’t died easy. Her body was covered in blood, she’d lost an arm below the elbow and half her face was gone. But it was her.
Beside her lay Alex, the love of her life. He’d been shot through the neck, his blood a dark pool around him. Looking around, Theron could see others. Dumeril lay on his back with his entrails spilling on the pavement. Lu, the shapeshifter, was mostly naked, lying on her side a few feet away having shifted back to her human form in death. A small body, the size of a child’s, lay face down covered by her cloak, her daggers laying near her outstretched hands. That was Ellie, the gnome.
This is coming, and there is nothing you can do to stop it because you’re not strong enough.
Theron shook his head and put his arms around what was left of his sister. She was heavy in death, he noted, as he pulled her head into his lap and stroked her hair.
You might as well take that pistol on your hip and put a bullet through your head. You’re worthless and they’d all be better off without you.
Theron eyed the .50 cal on his hip. He’d never thought about suicide before. It had always seemed like such a waste, but maybe the voice had a point. Maybe he could save everyone a lot of pain if he just ended it now.
His right hand caressed the weapon. This would be easier than the crushing failure he was going to face. He wasn’t strong enough.
Suddenly, a hot wind blew across the back of his neck, and he raised his head, the crushing fear of failure dissipating for a moment. A sensation like wet, rough rock scraped along the side of his face and he recoiled. There was nothing there! What was going on?
Staring back down at his sister’s body, the image blinked, twisted, faded. For a second, he saw nothing but rock and dust before him. Blinking and shaking his head, he tried to focus. The wet stone sensation hit his face again, dragging up his cheek. Ugh, what was that?
The burning city around him began to fade in and out again. Another voice was in his head now.
WAKE UP, MAGE!
In the blink of an eye, the burning city was gone and he sat on his knees in the dust, Sparky beside him licking his face with a tongue that was like a hot, wet pumice stone.
Recoiling, Theron backed up against the stone wall and ran a shaking hand over his face.
“What the fuck just happened?” His voice shook as badly as his hands.
“Agramon, the demon of fear,” Sparky said. “These are the Mountains of Terror, his domain.”
“Why didn’t you tell me we were going through the territory of the fear demon?”
“You seem a brave creature,” Sparky said. The hound shook himself slightly and it looked for all the world like a shrug. “And this is by far the easiest route. Fear can be overcome. There are other demons out there who are not so easily defeated.”
Theron’s head snapped up. Where was Xander?
A few minutes of searching and he located his brother curled in a ball on his side staring into the far distance, trembling like a leaf in the wind.
Theron didn’t know what Xander was seeing, but he knew he had to snap him out of it. Taking a page from Sparky’s book and using physical stimuli to dissipate the illusion, Theron drew his hand back and slapped his big brother across the face hard enough to leave a red handprint on his cheek.
With a cry, Xander brought his hand to his face, his eyes darting about in confusion before landing on Theron.
“What the hell just happened?”
“Hell. Hell just literally happened. We both got mind fucked by some fear demon.”
“For real?”
Theron nodded.
“What did you see?” Xander asked.
“What’s going to happen if we don’t stop this invasion. Trust me, it wasn’t pretty,” he replied. “What did you see?”
Xander was silent for moment, looking everywhere and nowhere at once.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” he said finally.
“Fuckin’ fine. Let’s just get moving.”
Catching up to Sparky and shouldering his pack again, Theron thanked the hound for snapping him out of the vision, or whatever that was.
“I said I would protect you.”
“But you must have been getting a negative emotion feast during that little episode,” Theron said, wondering why the hound hadn’t taken the opportunity to gorge himself.
“I was already full,” Sparky replied.
Better to drop the conversation, Theron decided, as he fell into step beside the creature.
“You think that demon will take another run at us?”
“Oh, definitely,” Sparky said, his tone matter-of-fact.
***
After what seemed like days, but was probably closer to a few hours, their little band had reached the summit of the peak, and Theron reluctantly called a halt for the “night.” It had been a hard climb, especially given that they had no climbing equipment, but they’d been able to do it.
The three of them had stumbled on an outcropping that created a nice little shelter and put solid rock around them on three sides. Sparky sat at attention near the opening to their little cave and stared out at the rocks lit by the blue fire of the volcanic craters around them.
“Still not entirely sure about that hound, but you two seem to have taken to each other,” Xander said, tearing into a protein bar.
Being an assassin, he was always looking for the knife in the dark, the sudden but inevitable betrayal. He could count on one hand the number of people Xander trusted in this world, but luckily Theron was on that list. As distrustful as he was, Xander would likely keep his daggers in their sheaths. For now.
“What’s our next move?” Xander asked.
“Rest, refuel, and find the tallest vantage point we can to get the lay of the land. With any luck, we’ll find some indication of where Jen is.”
“You’re telling me you didn’t tag this chick?”
“Protection wards only, no tracking wards. I’ve got this,” he said, pulling the tracking crystal from a pocket. “It’s keyed into her DNA. But it’s been dark since we got here.”
He’d checked the thing as soon as they’d landed on this side of the portal. The crystal being dark could mean a few things. They might be too far away. The demons holding her could be jamming the magick. Maybe his magick didn’t work right here. Or she was dead.
He refused to think about the last one.
“This girl must be pretty special,” Xander said.
Theron didn’t answer, not sure what to say, unable to put into words how special she was.
“Because you look like shit, man.”
“Is that why you’re here, Xander? Because I’m falling apart?”
Xander was silent for a while as he chewed through his protein bar. When he finally spoke, his voice was quiet.
“Look little brother, you’re the only ray of sunshine in this dark, fucked-up family of ours. It’s pretty obvious how you feel about this woman. I’m afraid we’re going to lose you if we don’t get her back.”
“How do you know so much? We barely speak.” Theron said, trying to keep the note of accusation out of his voice.
“I’ve known you from your first moments of life. I also know that you only managed to survive Jas and Bren’s deaths by the skin of your teeth.” He paused for a long moment. “I’m not here because you
’re falling apart. I’m here because I’ve done a lot of really terrible things. There’s a lot of blood on my hands. There’s been so many times when our family needed me, and I wasn’t there.” He paused and took a deep breath. “I can’t redeem myself, but maybe I can keep you from ending up like me.”
Theron sat in shocked silence for a long minute, not knowing what to say.
Xander saved him from answering. He put his back to a rock wall, tipped his head forward to rest on his knees and shut his eyes.
“You can take first watch,” Xander said.
***
Theron was absolutely exhausted. He still had hours left on his watch. But his eyes were so heavy, and Sparky could keep watch. The Hellhound would wake them if anything happened. Yeah.
He closed his eyes, just for a moment, just to rest them, but he found himself drifting in a grey, dreamless fog. The sound of footsteps jerked him from sleep and into wakefulness in a split second.
The sound of boot treads on the rough black dust that covered the obsidian rock was unmistakable. Two sets of footsteps. Theron waited, his hand on his .50 cal. He didn’t see Sparky around. Where had the hound gone? He couldn’t see Xander either. How long had he been out?
He couldn’t spare another thought for them as two figures emerged from the darkness, walking side by side. Theron couldn’t see their faces, but after a moment, his heart skipped a beat. He knew the walk, the movement of each man like he knew his own.
His breath came hard and fast as they emerged from the shadows and he saw their faces. Their horribly burned faces.
Jas. Bren. His best friends. Who had died because of him.
Chapter 18
Bile rose in Theron’s throat at the sight of what had once been his friends, burning. Unlike the fire that had left him untouched as it consumed his friends.
“Guys?” Theron’s voice shook as he rose to his feet. His legs were a little unsteady as he looked at the two of them. “Is this real?”
“As real as you are, T,” Bren responded. HIs red hair was gone, burned away.
“Why are you here? You don’t belong here,” Theron said.
“Are you so sure about that? We killed a lot of people. Some of them didn’t deserve what happened to them,” Jas said. The skin of his handsome face was mostly gone, leaving charred muscle and bone behind. For some reason, his eyes were as sharp and clear as they’d ever been in life.
“We didn’t deserve what happened to us,” Bren said, moving closer.
“We trusted you, T,” Jas said, taking another step. Theron was backed up to the rock wall now and they were still coming.
“We thought you were our friend, our brother,” Bren said. Another step and they’d be within arm’s reach.
“But we were wrong, and we paid the price,” Jas said, reaching toward him.
Theron bit back a scream as their skeletal hands landed on each of his shoulders, gripping with inhuman strength.
“And now it’s time to make it right,” the voices of his dead friends said in unison as darkness pulled him down.
The next thing he knew, he was back in that warehouse a year ago. Looking around him, he saw Jas and Bren moving on either side of him, suddenly whole and healthy.
They moved silently, weapons at the ready as they moved through the warehouse where they’d tracked the rogue mage. The bastard had already left a trail of bodies in his wake, it was time to take him down.
He and Jas and Bren moved like the well-oiled machine they were, checking and clearing rooms with practiced speed. As they reached the open warehouse floor, they knew their target had to be here. Popping out from cover, they took aim and began firing.
The rogue was an air mage and used wind currents to send their bullets off course. They pressed forward.
That’s when Theron heard the twang of a tripwire snapping and Bren curse in the same instant. He sensed the grenade igniting beside them, just inches from where Bren stood. In a split second, Theron put every ounce of strength into directing the fire of that blast away from them.
He cheered inwardly as the fire sprayed away from them. In the space between heartbeats he realized he’d sent the fire directly into an old propane tank. He couldn’t react quickly enough. The tank exploded.
He remembered losing consciousness at this point. When this had happened a year ago, he’d regained consciousness in the field outside, having been thrown clear of the building by the blast.
Jas and Bren hadn’t been so lucky. He’d found their burned bodies inside. His friends had burned to death while he’d lain outside, safe and sound.
But this was not then. This was now. They’d said make it right. And he would.
He’d realized what was happening too late to stop the tripwire, but he directed the blast at where the rogue hid behind some metal crates, instead of into the propane tank. He turned, grabbing Jas and Bren by their tac vests and dragged them toward the window.
When this had happened before, he’d been blown through that window. Now, he was going to jump through it, with his friends alive by his side. This time, he would save them.
The window was in front of them, his boots pounding heavily across the wooden floorboards. One jump and they would be through.
An unseen force slammed into his knees, sending his world spinning. Impact. Disorientation. Pain. He was suddenly on his back, looking up, when he felt the crack of an invisible palm across his face.
What the hell?
Crack. Again, stinging pain bloomed along one side of his face and out of the shadows, Xander’s face swam into view.
“Where are they?” Theron said, his voice desperate as he tried to sit up. His hands were empty. His friends were gone. There was no window, only black dust and stone and the electric blue-purple glow of the sulfurous magma veins.
“Where are who?”
“Jas and Bren! I had them. We were almost clear—”
“You almost ran off a fucking cliff is what you did!” Xander told him, grabbing his chin and turning his head toward the drop off a mere six feet away.
The chasm yawned below them, impossibly deep, the mouth of an abyss that would have swallowed him. He went utterly still for a moment before tremors began to move quickly through his body. Something between a groan and a scream tore from his throat as he slammed his eyes shut.
“I had them,” he said, his voice a tortured thing.
Xander put his arms around him and pressed Theron’s face into his chest. There was some screaming and some cursing, and if Xander’s shirt was a little wet when Theron finally let go, neither was about to say anything about it.
***
Theron reached the peak with little difficulty, Sparky hot on his heals and Xander following slowly behind. After the latest encounter with the fear demon, they’d decided to continue, despite having gotten barely any sleep. It wasn’t like he was going to be falling asleep any time soon. Maybe not ever again if he could help it.
He’d had Jas and Bren with him and it had felt so damned real. He had been convinced he’d somehow gotten a second chance to save them. Instead, it had been an illusion designed so that he’d throw himself off a cliff.
Had that been what they’d meant when they said he had to make it right? He couldn’t save them...but he had to join them? Had those been the spirits of his friends or just a demon’s illusion? They’d known everything that had happened.
“Demons can read minds,” Sparky spoke in his head.
“Huh?”
“You didn’t see your friends. I would have seen them if they were there. The demon was manipulating you.”
“Think so?”
“Know so,” the hound said. “Agramon is crafty. He likes to play with his food. He’s trying to break you and he’s getting better at it. You couldn’t hear me when I tried to wake you.”
Theron nodded, but didn’t say anything.
“The demon was in your brother’s head, too,” Sparky said.
“Yeah?” Theron looke
d back at Xander. There was a dark, haunted look around his brother’s eyes. He’d attributed it to witnessing Theron almost throw himself off a cliff, but maybe Agramon had forced Xander to see something just as horrible as he’d seen.
Xander’s familiar, Katya, hovered a couple steps behind him. The spirit creature still made Theron uneasy, even after all these years.
She’d been a beautiful maiden once, living in turn-of-the-century Russia. She’d been raped and murdered, drowned in a river. Her thirst for vengeance had transformed her spirit into a rusalka, the terrifying river ghost of Russian legend. She could take flesh if she chose, either as the beautiful maiden she’d been or as a truly grotesque undead creature with wet black hair and skeletal limbs covered by soggy, white flesh. The empty black eye sockets were what really gave him the willies when he saw her like that.
Her spirit would have been released if she had ever found her murderer and drowned him in the same river. But she hadn’t, and the dude had most certainly died of old age by now. Xander had run across her on one of his missions just out of the Academy, and they’d bonded. Now, she was Xander’s familiar and took pleasure in draining the life from other murderers at his command.
Xander had been concerned for the spirit’s safety in this realm, convinced that she might become a snack for a demon or a hellhound, despite how powerful she was. She drifted in her semi-transparent form, her ghostly eyes on Xander.
Theron slowed his steps and let Xander move up beside him.
“Was it Katya that brought you out of the demon’s vision?” Theron asked as nonchalantly as he could.
Xander opened his mouth to speak and froze. His eyes slid to Theron’s and he closed his mouth.
“She’s hovering,” Theron continued.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Xander snapped.
“We need to compare notes if we’re going to understand what we’re up against.”
An exasperated sigh left Xander. “Fine. Yes. Katya was able to snap me out of it. That’s when I saw you running for the cliff. Had to do a flying tackle at your knees. You’re lucky I didn’t dislocate something.”