Cain (50 page)

Moving furiously
Soloman dropped the slide to chamber another round as the monstrosity erupted fully from the stairs to hit him hard in the chest and send him back into the room.

Soloman
fell on his back and rolled over, using the momentum to hit Cain again and again. Cain scattered blood with a roar as he viciously struck the pistol from Soloman's hand and Soloman head-butted, stunned by the brutal impact. He expected Cain to recover far faster and the giant did, grasping him by the shirt to twist violently, hurling him over rotten timber.

Even before
Soloman landed he tactically planned his reaction and when he rolled to the floor he came up hard, a grenade tight in his hand. He pulled the ring before Cain could close the gap, tossing it on the far side of the beam, immediately throwing himself prone.

The blast went over him like a wave of fire and
Soloman didn't even take time to find out if he'd been hit. He was instantly on his feet, running for the stairway and snatching up the shotgun as he heard the thunderous approach. He spun, falling to his back to fire the massive .10-gauge round that carried Cain over his head, thrown by the brutal force of the blast.

Cain hit the wall with a roar and fell to the floor as
Soloman leaped for the tunnel, knowing that gravity alone wouldn't allow Cain to pursue any faster than he could fall.

He descended for almost the full flight and then Force Recon training took over as he hit and rolled to gain his feet, alive with fighting reflex. He didn't even look to see if he was being pursued because he was out of options.

Running full-out through the corridors, hearing with every step the horrifying and horrific approach, Soloman found a path through the shattered maze and angled instantly toward the dungeon.

Speed, speed, speed was his only hope and
Soloman ran with all his strength, hurling himself low and close over shattered stone with the shotgun tight as he saw a distant circle of torches approaching.

And a fanged roar overcame him.

***

Maggie spun frantically in the gate, seeing the warlock.

Leaping, the black shape struck, the blade flickering white through starlight as Maggie twisted away. But Amy screamed at the impact and Maggie knew her daughter had been hit.

Together they fell to the smoldering stones, the remains of burned bones and devastated flesh, and Maggie struggled to fight, to concentrate. She roughly pushed Amy away as she staggered to her feet, glaring at the cryptic form.

"Come on!" she screamed, backing.

The warlock advanced, laughing.

Maggie backed up, not even looking at Amy until the warlock had passed her, and then she saw that her child had staggered to her feet and was bleeding blackly from her arm in the moonlight. Step by step Maggie retreated into the inner ward and searched for a weapon, any weapon at all that would give her a faint fighting chance against this ... this ...

The long blade rose, tight in a hand.

Bending instantly, Maggie snatched up a piece of rotten timber and swung with vicious strength, the shaft shattering on a cloaked arm.

There was a pause as the warlock grinned from within the hood. Thenhe threw out a hard hand to strike her in the chest, smashing her to the
ground.

Horror made her recover fast and Maggie twisted, staring up. Whatever she held truest was spoken in the moment, all hope gone as the terrifying shape stood over her. Her words were a promise.

"Soloman will kill you for this," she whispered.

A scornful laugh. "
Soloman is already dead," he said.

Maggie spat.

He raised the blade and bent to—

A herculean arm grabbed him from behind, seizing the moment and
movement with gigantic strength. Instantly the warlock attempted to whirl and Maggie saw the reflection of a white collar.

"
Marcelle
!"

In a staggering, grotesque stranglehold of arms and legs they stumbled
across the ward, the warlock striking wildly at the massive force that held him, Marcelle roaring from his wounds. They moved into the middle of the starlit square, strength against strength, and Maggie heard a sharp whine burst suddenly from the warlock's throat as he fell to his knees.

Then with a gigantic effort Marcelle bent over him. And she knew the fight wasn't over as the priest hunched, shoulders spreading broadly in a tremendous effort of will and strength, and she heard a devastating crack echo across the yard.

Silence.

Exhausted stillness.

Marcelle released the body, and it fell to the ground.

"Marcelle!" she cried out, rising to her feet. She rushed forward to find him fallen to his knees over the body. He gasped, raising his head to the sky, breathless from the conflict. He leaned his head far back, gazing into the stars, his face submerged in pain.

"I came up," he whispered. "Heard an explosion ... in the gate. Now we must find Soloman."

"Oh, Marcelle ..."

He shook his head, glancing at Amy. "It is finished," he said. "Whatever price paid tonight is by ... the will of God. Someone must ... stop this beast. And we are all ... that remain."

Maggie helped him to his feet.

"Come," he said. "We must find Soloman."

***

Soloman dropped a grenade when he was twenty feet from the dungeon and then he threw another, and another, and another. He rounded the corner as the first exploded in a succession of blasts that bathed the tunnel, sending a river of flame from the portal.

The roar was deafening, unendurable, and
Soloman heard himself screaming in the holocaust as the terrific explosions hurled white wave after white wave to superheat the air. But he didn't have time for thought or pain; he had to move. At the last explosion he leaped toward the day-pack knowing Cain would be coming fast through the flames to—

Cain catapulted from the tunnel like a thunderbolt.

As they collided Soloman twisted to take it savagely to the ground, the battle entering the last, savage domain. Frantic thought was lost in the whirlwind of violence that carried them across the cavern floor, cursing and snarling as each struck with desperate strength, taking it to the death.

And
Soloman knew nothing more, had forgotten everything in the vicious, blinding exchange of brutal blows that forged them together in hate and revolving wounds through darkness, red rage, blood, and pain.

As Cain drew back to strike
Soloman hit him hard in the chest, bringing a grunt: He's weakening!

In an exultant moment,
Soloman felt the giant's strength diminishing, and it gave him wild hope. Soloman hit again and again, hurling a straight right that struck the monstrous face, and he leaped to press the attack, sensing Cain's endurance fading degree by degree as well.

Blow after blow fell like rain, moves perfected from years of merciless training in the desert, and
Soloman knew Cain was stunned by the onslaught; the rounds and grenades had taken something from him, had reduced that unearthly strength.

Enraged at the pain Cain roared as he violen
tly backhanded Soloman across the face, spinning him away. But as Soloman took the stunning impact his hand closed on the tanto at his waist, snapping the blade clear.

He returned the blow with vengeance.

With the hilt tight in his fist Soloman gave himself to it and the sweeping black blade struck true, slashing Cain's throat through and through to send a scarlet trail into smoking black air.

Cain's reaction was incredible.

Staggering back, eyes wide in shock, the taloned hands clutched his throat as if to halt the spiraling flood of blood. Then he raised his hands before his face, staring at the scarlet stain as if he'd lost an irredeemable treasure. And the unearthly eyes narrowed in ageless wrath, an indescribable curse bellowing through his fangs.

He leaped forward with a roar to grab
Soloman and viciously flung him through the smoke and dust and destruction. Soloman struck hard against a wall, then fell face-down on the stone.

Soloman
didn't even feel the pain, so consumed was he with the conflict, and he rolled with effort to his feet. He glared bloody defiance in the face of the inhuman strength, the matchless power. Staring in hate, moving on instinct alone, he saw that Cain was mortally wounded, was struggling violently to draw breath through a severed throat that failed to heal. With a savage grimace Soloman mercilessly jacked another round in the shotgun, staggering away.

A last move to make ...

Bring this place down
!

He reached the daypack in three strides,
instantly raising the barrel to the fuse, and pulled the trigger. The blast ignited it and it burned toward the dynamite and napalm with vicious speed. Then Soloman slammed another round and turned, leveling the shotgun in the face of Cain's wrath.

Cain glared spitefully at the daypack. Understood.

Six seconds.

"You're dead,"
Soloman said.

Cain took a faltering step, shook his head in frustration.

"But it will kill you, too!"

Five
...

Soloman
laughed.

"It's worth it... to see you die."

Four
...

Like a lion, Cain roared and leaped.

Three
...

Soloman
fired the shotgun to hit point-blank, the round impacting in a shower of blood that sent Cain back a last time. Then Soloman hurled himself desperately into the tunnel, a frantic move to place the thick stone wall between himself and the heart of the explosion.

Two
...

"
Soloman
!" Cain shouted.

Soloman
spun and stared.

Cain roared, "I will be free!"

Soloman smiled.

One
...

***

A volcanic eruption rushed up the stairs, engulfing Marcelle and Maggie in a white-hot holocaust. Wind heated by the subterranean roar engulfed them and they fell back together, screaming in terror.

As the flames passed over them, Maggie clutched Amy tigh
tly to her chest, praying for life. She never knew how long it lasted, finally sensed Marcelle staggering to his feet. He lifted her with a bloody arm and she stood, holding her child tightly.

"We must
descend," Marcelle groaned, leaning against a wall. "It may not yet be finished!"

Maggie supported him, bearing
his prodigious weight as they staggered together down the stairs. They almost fell as they reached the threshold, the entire dungeon alive with a roaring white light that cast spectral shadows across the walls, shadows of the living and dead. The roof was half-shattered, flaming stone scattered across the floor.

"Wait," Marcelle gasped. "I will go first
..."

He staggered into the surreal light and Maggie saw a humanlike shape fully ablaze. Screaming hideously, the monstrous form fled toward the cell where Amy had been held, finally falling at the entrance to crawl slowly through the door, screaming Amy's name.

Cain
!

He was completely consumed by flame from whatever
Soloman had done to him. Then she saw a second figure stumbling on the far side of the cavern. Staggering, rising slowly, he limply held a shotgun. She rushed forward past Marcelle.

Soloman
saw her approach.

"Maggie!" he cried, raising a hand. "Stay back!"

At the far end of the chamber Cain was rolling to extinguish the flames, leaving spiraling flame behind him that fell away degree by degree. Then suddenly he lay still in a smoking black cloud, growling. He raised a fist high in the air, slammed it against the floor with thunderous force, and began to lift himself from the stones.

They stared together as he rose, and as he reached his feet he turned
slowly, glaring. His flesh was blackened, hideously disfigured by the bomb. It appeared that he barely had the strength to stand.

"
Soloman!" Maggie's voice pierced the roar of flame. "Can you walk? Can you walk? Talk to me! Sol! Get on your feet!"

Staggering,
Soloman cursed weakly as he fell to the side. Whatever was in him had been exhausted by the battle and he tried to resurrect it but it was claimed by the force of a war gone on far, far too long, a war he'd waged with all his love and life. His body abandoned him as he lay against the heated floor; hot stones burning with the savage cost of this fight.

Maggie was screaming. "
Soloman! Get up!
Cain’s coming
!"

She twisted to see Cain's hideous black eyes glaring. And as he began
a slow approach she spun with a shout. "Soloman! Dear God, we've got to get out of here! Right now! Get on your feet, baby! Get on your feet!"