The Awakening (53 page)

Both bullets burst out of my skin with a loud pop and settled in his hands. As I watched him throw them away, I had to resist the urge to vomit.

I opened my eyes and stared as my skin started to knit itself back together. After a few seconds the skin was smooth. There was no evidence I had ever been shot, apart from the blood and the two holes in my jacket and t-shirt.

We ran inside and dived behind the next set of blockades. Peering out, I saw that the fight was dying down. There were a lot of dead Alliance, but the number of red cloaked bodies far outweighed them. A blood stained Isiodore stabbed at the fallen bodies to ensure they were dead.

We’re going to win!
I thought with a sudden rush of hope.

I tempted fate.

As soon as the notion had formed in my mind, a set of doors were wrenched open and the Devil stormed through, followed by a score of SOS. Including Dakin.

I stood up quickly and unsheathed the Crimson Twins. The others jumped to their feet and we threw ourselves into hand to hand combat. We were joined by half a dozen Golems, who charged down the steps and into the battle.

The Devil came straight for me. His hooded cloak was down and his animalistic face was slick with blood. He bared his teeth. “To hell with the Sorrow, you’re mine,” he snarled and lashed out with his sword. I parried it and spun out of his reach. His robes swished around him as he swung again. This time the edge of the blade caught my skin. I winced as it cut through the leather, creating a thin red line.

He hissed as he dodged a counter lunge from me. I spun out of the way of another attack. He pounced at me, butting me with his horns. All the air rushed from my lungs as I was propelled backwards into a Golem. It caught me and set me back on my feet just in time for me to dive out of the way of a downward attack from the Devil. The blade connected with the top of the Golem’s head, splitting it in two. I felt a twinge of guilt as it collapsed, crosier clattering to the floor. But I reacted fast, pivoting and bringing a blade down on the Umbra’s back. Where it connected, a plume of black smoke billowed up. He roared in pain and spun around, slashing wildly with a claw. It threw him off balance and I swiped up and out with both blades, severing his horns. Two jets of black blood spewed from the wounds. Instinctively the beast raised his hands to stem the flow. I charged forward, sinking both swords into his chest and carried him with me. I didn’t stop until his back slammed against the far wall, creating a huge crack. The swords pinned him there. Plumes of thick smoke hissed from his wounds. I pressed my foot against his stomach and wrenched one of the blades free. He growled as dark blood spilled from his cracked lips and took a final swipe with his sword. I had to duck for fear of losing my head. As I uncoiled, I drove the sword into his solar plexus. He let out a roar, which turned into a gurgle and his body started to dissolve. Soon there was nothing except a pile of what looked like compost and a scorched shadow on the wall. Panting, I turned around.

Midnight appeared in the doorway, dragging a struggling Imp and Vampire in his arms. The air was sucked out of the entrance hall as his form wavered and then disappeared - taking his two hostages along for the ride. Their screams sank into the void with him. When he reappeared, in exactly the same spot, the enemies were rag dolls in his arms. He let them go, and they sank to the floor. Without stopping for a breath, he ripped a Bloodseeker away from Delagio by its neck. He tossed it aside, like an unwanted toy. The shocked Vampire flew through the front doors and smashed down on the gravel, sliding several yards in a shower of gravel.

“Midnight, watch out!” yelled Gabriella.

Instinctively he jumped to the side just in time to avoid a dagger thrown by Dakin. It whirled past him and stuck into a banister. Gabriella ran at the Bloodling and unleashed a spinning kick to his head. He fell to one knee, and then caught her leg as she tried to deliver a second. Her scream jolted my stomach as he began to crush her kneecap.

Midnight had his hands full with the Bloodseeker he’d thrown outside. The flesh had been flayed from one side of its face and it had come back with a grudge.I tried to reach her, but was sent sprawling by a Skinshifter. My swords spiralled out of my hands. As I wrestled with the giant dog, I watched in horror as Dakin used his free hand to strangle my soulmate.

“Help her!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

I saw Sage Etorre run from his position at the top of the stairs and vault into the air. He landed hard on Dakin and the two went careering along the marble floor. Gabriella took the opportunity to limp away.

“Get off me!” I raged, attention back with the shifter that was trying its best to consume my face. I used the crook of my elbow to get his muzzle into a sort of headlock position. Using all of my strength against the bucking hellhound, I dragged us both towards the nearest Crimson Twin. The wrong end was closest to me. I ignored the searing pain as I closed my hand around the sharp edge and slid it towards me. Wrapping both hands around the hilt, I rotated the sword and forced the blade into the shifter’s mouth. It clamped its jaw together and its teeth screeched against the blade. I pushed with all of my strength and felt it connect with something soft. I twisted the sword. The beast made a strange coughing sound and collapsed. I withdrew the blade, which sent a wet spray of blood across my face. The bitter metallic taste filled my mouth. I spat it out and pushed the creature off me.

I grabbed the Crimson Twins and scanned for Gabriella. She was hobbling her way towards me. I grabbed her hand and closed my eyes. I felt the waves rush through me. When I opened them again, she tested her leg and nodded with a smile. I looked down at my previously wounded hand.
Good as new.

I hadn’t seen what had happened between Dakin and Sage Etorre, but the Vampire was nowhere to be seen. Etorre was badly hurt. He stumbled his way back up the stairs, clutching his side. I wanted to go and help him, but I didn’t get the chance.

Droves of SOS poured through every door in every direction. All of the Golems were now fully involved in the fight. I swore under my breath.

“Guardians, back to back!” screamed Gabriella, who had re-entered the fray. Everyone on our side formed a circle in the middle of the entrance. The battle continued, but now we were on the losing side. Around us I watched as the Golems fell one by one, overpowered by sheer numbers. Their eyes winked out like dying embers. I went to bring my sword down on a Bloodling, but the tip of a blade pressed against my throat. I turned to see a second Bloodling.

“Don’t even think about it,” he warned. He nodded towards the floor. I let the swords drop. Around me, I could see that everyone else had been overpowered. We were outnumbered three to one. Outside I could still hear the battle raging on. I could only imagine that there was fighting in every part of the Warren. The mansion was alive with the sound of death. But right there, where it mattered, there was only about twelve of us left and three times as many SOS. I looked at all the bodies which littered the floor and my heart sank. At the top of the stairs I saw Faru leaning on his staff, watching the battle as if he were a judging in a boxing match. All of his clay effigies were lying in twisted piles around us. A final member of the SOS stepped through the doorway. His red robe rippled around his body. A hulking war hammer rested across his shoulders.

Sage Asmund.

“Faru,” he bellowed. “Maybe now you see just how powerful we are. Unseal the Veil and we will leave your Guardians alive. Do not condemn so many to death for the sake of one.”

“Don’t be a fool old man. He’s one boy,” Asmund shouted, walking forwards until he was at the base of the stairs. “Unseal the Veil, otherwise will kill everyone where they stand - including the boy - and I shall serve your soul to the Sorrow as a replacement!’

Faru exhaled. It was a long exaggerated sigh. “I believe that puts us in somewhat of a quandary. I do however, have an alternative proposition for you Asmund.”

The Vampire leaned forward, resting his chin on the base of his hammer. “Oh, this should be interesting. Please tell me what it is.”

“If you let everyone go now and withdraw the SOS, I will allow your followers to live.”

Asmund threw back his head and laughed. It was a shrill noise which defied his Viking-like appearance and made goosebumps shoot down my skin.

Confused, I glanced at Gabriella. She gave an almost imperceptible jerk of her head to the right. I strained to look and noticed a pile of Golems dissolving into dust.

Wait…

I glanced at Faru. He appeared to be growing younger by the second. Asmund worked out what was happening a second too late.

Faru moved so fast he was practically a blur. In a flash he’d descended the stairs. He came to me first and slammed an open palm into the Bloodling’s chest, launching him high into the air. Next a knee came into the back of the Succubus subduing Gabriella. Her sword was collected and Faru spun around, lobbing off the Umbra’s head. He drove the blade into the chest of the Pixie locking down Midnight. Then the blur moved around the circle, striking with his walking staff. He swept the legs of a Bloodseeker from underneath him and stamped the base down between the Vampire’s eyes. He then used it to uppercut a Goblin. The whirling blur kept sweeping around the circle, stabbing, crushing and severing his way through the SOS. The sword that had been at my neck had only just clattered to the ground by the time Faru came full circle. He grabbed a Crimson Twin from the ground and threw it at the still airborne Bloodling. It sliced through, causing him to burst into flaming dust and came to a wobbling rest in the wall above the doors.

He left Asmund for last. The ex-Sage barely had time to lift his hammer before Faru reached him. He grabbed the Vampire in his hands and closed his eyes. “Goodbye old friend.” A blue energy appeared between his fingers. It encased the Vampire. He screamed as his body became a skeletal x-ray and then dissolved into nothing.

My mouth fell open in awe. Faru had dispatched everyone in the room in a matter of seconds.

The energy had gone from the Sage. He looked like a worn, old man again. His expression was one of grief. Using his cane, he wobbled his way back up the stairs and re-joined Sage Etorre

The Vampire’s robe was ripped, his bloodied face twisted and barely recognisable. A knife was pressed against the little girl’s throat.

“Midnight!” I croaked.

He turned to look and froze.

“Faru!” shouted Dakin, holding against the struggling Sophia. “Listen to me! If you don’t open the Veil door, I will open her throat instead! I swear it!”

“Shut up bitch.” Dakin pointed his free hand at Faru. “Listen to me you pathetic old man. Do as I say unless you want to be responsible for her death.”

Faru looked at us each in turn. “Don’t move. Any of you,” he said, holding his gaze on Midnight the longest. I looked up at my friend. His expression had become oddly calm. His enormous chest was expanding and contracting very slowly.

Faru turned his back and began to press on the picture in various places. When he was done, he stood back and the picture began to shift, as it had done before. The staircase appeared and descended to his feet.

My chest tightened. “Midnight, don’t do anything stupid,” I pleaded, but knew it was too late. Already the air in the room was thickening. “I promise,” I whispered to empty space.

He reappeared behind Dakin, reaching his arms around the Vampire in an attempt to grab him. But Dakin was too quick. He shoved Sophia forward and spun around, sinking the blade into Midnight’s sternum.

Sophia screamed. A soul wrenching sound, that I knew would stay with me forever. Midnight blinked and stared down at the wound. Purple smoke rolled up from around the handle.