Infernal Father of Mine (32 page)

For all I knew, the sensation was perfectly
normal. On the other hand, I didn't want to die the instant the
portal opened, so I willed the connection to shift to another
Alabaster Arch.

"What are you doing?" Serena shouted over the
hum of the arch. "I promised Daelissa she would be the first one to
open the arch to Seraphina!"

"Why does she get first dibs?" I said, stalling
as I felt the arch continue to search for a suitable destination.
Impressions of a dark room filled my mind. I heard Serena shouting
commands.

"Sentinels," Dad said. "They're coming into the
circle."

We couldn't wait any longer. I sent the command
to the arch.
Open!
A wave of white static crossed the arch.
An image flickered and stabilized. It looked like an arch control
room. I didn't see any cherubs waiting and felt a flood of relief.
I looked at the rune.
I can't take it without causing a
backlash.
I didn't like leaving it in the arch, but unless
Serena could attune it, she couldn't remove it either. For now, the
rune was linked to Eden, and the Shadow Nexus couldn't be used to
connect to other realms.

"Go," I said, risking a look over my shoulder.
A dozen sentinels raced across the space between us.

Dad ran through. I followed. The sentinels were
almost upon us. I turned to close the portal. A sentinel ran
through and puffed into vapor the instant it crossed into the real
world. It was followed by another and another, but their
dreamcasted forms couldn't survive outside the Gloom.

"Na-na na-na boo-boo," I stuck out my tongue at
Serena. "Stick your head in doo-doo!"

The door behind her burst open, and a horde of
Nazdal loped into the room, their crooked gait deceptively fast.
Their voices gurgled with excitement, their eyes glowed red with
hunger.

"Goodbye, creepazoids," I said, and willed the
portal closed.

The gateway vanished. We had
escaped.

"Holy Mary," I shouted. My legs were shaking,
and sweat dripped down my face.

"I need a drink," Dad said.

We looked at each other and burst into crazed
laughter. When the laughter died down, I took stock of our
location. It was definitely an arch control room with an Alabaster
Arch. Judging from the size of the structure, it was not the Grand
Nexus.

"I have no clue where we are," I
said.

"I don't care." Dad made a fist and bared his
teeth. "I feel strong again. I guess that means we're really back
in Eden."

"Well, we're certainly not in the
Gloom."

"Can Serena use the arch to send Nazdal after
us?" Dad asked.

I'd been so busy celebrating our escape, I
hadn't given it much thought. "Yikes. We better go now, just in
case."

"What about these other arches here?" He waved
a hand at the rows of black arches in the control room. "Can we use
one to get out of here?"

I glanced at the rows of other arches.
"Possibly, but I don't want to chance using a damaged one and end
up dead." I jogged toward the front of the room and out the door.
"All we need is a phone so I can call Elyssa. She'll be able to
open a portal using the omniarch in the mansion."

We ran up a long tunnel with a ramp. It only
took me a few seconds to realize where we were. "We're in Australia
at the Three Sisters control room," I said. "I was just here not
long ago."

"What brought you here?"

I told him the short version of how I'd rescued
Mom from Maulin Kassus and his band of battle mages as we ran up
the tunnel.

"I don't know how you do it, Justin." Dad shook
his head. "All this time you've been saving the world, and I
thought I was doing my duty by keeping the Houses of Daemos glued
together by any means necessary."

"I understand why you're marrying Kassallandra,
Dad." My stomach knotted. "I don't like it, but I understand. If
she goes to the Seraphim, there's no way we'll win. It'll be tough
even with her support."

"Especially if Daelissa uses the Nazdal," Dad
said.

We reached the top of the ramp and pushed
through a thicket of vines. A jungle waited outside. I groaned,
because it wasn't a short walk back to civilization. Elyssa and I
had chased Kassus on a flying carpet for several miles before
reaching the Three Sisters, a popular tourist attraction in these
parts.

"Let me get my bearings," I said, and scrambled
up the trunk of the tallest tree in the vicinity. From the top, I
looked across the green canopy and spotted the trio of towering
cliffs known as the Three Sisters. It was nearly impossible to use
the sun for direction because once I was back on the ground, the
trees would shield much of the light. It was good having my
supernatural powers back, though. They made climbing the tree a
cinch.

I slid back down to the bottom, and brushed the
bark off my clothes. "We need to go that way," I said, and
pointed.

Dad was looking back toward the concealed
tunnel mouth leading back down to the arch. "While you were up in
the tree, I could have sworn I heard sounds coming from the arch
cavern."

"Serena might have reopened the gateway," I
said.

Dad looked around. "Let's get out of
here."

I hadn't taken more than a couple of steps when
something leapt from behind the vines covering the tunnel. The
sound of bubbling phlegm quickly told me it was a Nazdal. Its skin
blurred from the color of the tree to a normal pink hue just as it
slammed Dad in the chest. I flashed toward him, and kicked the
creature hard. It flew off and smacked into a tree. Several more of
the creatures jetted from the tunnel after us.

"Run!" I shouted.

Before I could move, red vapor shot the mouth
of one of the creatures. I held my breath, but it didn't matter.
The vapor dragged on my limbs, weighed them down like lead, and it
was all I could do to move. Dad seemed to be in similar
shape.

"No more Mr. Nice Guy!" Dad roared, and morphed
into demonic form. His muscles exploded to humongous size. His
clothes ripped and tore, and horns as thick as my arms grew from
his forehead. He caught the first Nazdal leaping at him, and
crushed the creature with one hand. His giant foot lashed out at
the next, and sent it ricocheting off the trunks of several trees
before coming to rest in a lifeless heap.

It occurred to me I had more than my demonic
origins to rely upon now, and instead of manifesting, drew upon my
Seraphim side. I hurled a ball of sizzling white at a Nazdal,
catching the thing in mid-air. The creature's gurgling scream cut
off as searing flames consumed it. Another Nazdal lunged toward me.
Its claws nearly reached my throat. I caught it by the neck at the
last second and summoned more destructive Brilliance.

The Nazdal howled, its crooked body flailing as
the heat cauterized its throat shut. I flung the body away. The
disfigured creatures prowled around us, eyes glowing brighter than
ever. They seemed to be growing in size, their muscles swelling
with every death of a comrade.

"Are you stronger than the bright ones?" said
Maloreck as he crawled from the shadows.

"I am," I said. "How many of you do we have to
kill to prove it?"

"We take the life of the fallen," Maloreck
said, his bones cracking as his body stretched and grew. "The blood
pact is an honor with any who fall before us. To waste the life is
wrong."

"Not good," Dad said, his voice deep and
guttural in demon form.

I did a quick headcount and estimated about
twenty more Nazdal. Those remaining had all grown, though not as
much as Maloreck. If they'd been absorbing life force from their
dead, it meant each survivor would be that much
stronger.

"What happens if you kill one of us?" I
asked.

"We will not waste your life, honored one."
Maloreck panted, as if his desire to sample my life force would be
the sweetest thing he'd ever tasted.

"My life force tastes like soot and poo," I
said. "You won't like it at all. I think it's a genetic
deformity."

"Soot and poo?" Maloreck asked.

I saw the other Nazdal closing in from the
other sides. My limbs lightened, and I felt the effects of the red
vapor wearing off.

"Let me explain," I said. "It's like—one, two,
three, run!" I said the last part really fast, but Dad caught on
without hesitation.

We needed a clear path. I summoned dark energy
and imagined what I wanted. A shockwave burst from my hands,
knocking the Nazdal in our way to all sides. One of them hissed the
red vapor, but the cloud narrowly missed us as we streaked
past.

Dad's feet sounded like the pounding of timpani
drums. His stride was absolutely monstrous thanks to the extra few
feet he'd gained as an infernal creature. I didn't have the time to
manifest into demon form, but managed to keep up thanks to the path
he cleared through the thick foliage. I glanced back. The Nazdal
loped after us. Their stride looked ungainly, but the mere fact
they were keeping within sight meant they were faster than they
looked. Dad crushed a sapling, and leapt up an incline. I jumped
atop a boulder, slipped on the mossy surface, and scrambled back to
my feet. Roots and muddy ground made the terrain slick and
treacherous. The Nazdal with their claws were having no such
issues.

Then again, neither was Dad with his big demon
feet. I knew if I paused to manifest, the Nazdal would be on me.
Then again, why couldn't I just use magic to help me out?
Channeling Murk, I shot strands of dark energy from my hand. They
latched onto trees. I willed the energy to contract, and it shot me
forward like a rubber band.

Before my feet hit the ground, I shot more
strands of Murk, swinging myself along much faster than when I'd
been on the ground. I caught up with Dad. He gave me a surprised
look.

"You've read too many comic books," he said,
breathing heavily.

"Hey, it works doesn't it?" I yelped as my next
swing nearly carried me into a low-hanging branch. "Guess it could
use a little more work." I risked a glance back. The Nazdal were
nowhere in sight. Either we'd outdistanced them, or the trees and
foliage were hiding them. I hoped they'd given up because we were
closing in on the cliff wall ahead. We reached the base. I looked
up the sheer vertical wall of rock and a wave of vertigo made my
knees go weak.

Dad dug his claws into the rock and climbed. I
shot a strand of energy, and slingshotted myself upward. Just as my
upward momentum slowed, I shot another strand. Before long, we were
halfway up the cliff face.

I looked down and saw Nazdal climbing the cliff
behind us, their claws making them nimble as squirrels.

"I don't know if I can make it," Dad said. His
huge muscles trembled with fatigue. "Something in that red mist
drained my endurance."

I felt my own endurance flagging but wasn't
ready to give up. "I'll carry you, but you'll need to shrink to
normal size."

One of the Nazdal closed in and hissed out more
red vapor. The fringe touched my father's legs.

"Go, Justin. You're the important one." His
eyes rolled into the back of his head, and his body toppled
backward.

"No!" I shouted. I shot a strand of Murk around
his waist. His demon form was huge, and with my waning super
strength, it was all I could do to hold him up. In one hand I held
onto the rope of energy attached to the cliff. In my other hand, I
held my father's life.

The Nazdal lunged for him. I jerked my arm, and
swung Dad just out of reach. David's body shrank rapidly. His
weight diminished drastically. The Nazdal swiped at him again as
his body swung like a pendulum. I jerked up, and Dad just barely
sailed over the outstretched claw.

This wasn't going to work well, not with the
speed of our pursuers. Magic was wonderful, but I had to use
physics as well. I might be able to muscle Dad up to me, but I'd
need all my remaining strength to make it to the top of the cliff.
"Please help me science," I prayed. Holding the energy rope
anchored to the cliff, I ran sideways along the vertical cliff face
as fast as I could. I managed to run until I stood at a forty-five
degree angle from where my magical rope anchored me to the cliff.
Dad's body swung below me. Using the momentum, I jerked forward the
arm supporting him. His body swung perpendicular to mine. As it
swung back down, I timed, it, and pushed off the cliff. Our bodies
flew back the other way. The Nazdal had changed direction and were
coming for us. I extended my feet and booted the first one off the
cliff. One of the creatures grabbed the Murk rope connecting me to
my father.

My forward momentum slowed. Dad's body swung up
at a sharp angle, and the Nazdal lost its grip on the cliff. I
willed the energy strand to vanish, and our attacker plummeted down
the face, its gurgling wail fading. The other Nazdal watched it
fall, their eyes gleaming. Some of them raced down the cliff face
like roaches toward their fallen comrade. I imagined they wanted to
absorb the life from it.