Vesik 04 - This Broken World (26 page)

“Hell,” Zola said, exhaling sharply. “It is hell.”

The voices grew louder around us as my aura burned. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, closing my necromancy off beneath a deeper layer of my aura.

“I can’t talk to Happy in this mess, can I?”

“No, you have to open your aura to locate him. You would go mad, boy. It’s worse than Ah expected.” She frowned.

I slung a bandolier, filled with speed loaders for the pepperbox, over my shoulder. Combined with the speed loaders laced into my vest, there was a lot of ammo to go around. The backpack followed, and I carried my staff in my left hand.

Foster unsheathed his sword as soon as he stepped out of the car. Another crack of thunder sounded in the distance. He pointed to the northeast and said, “There.”

We all followed his lead. He stayed on the outside of the woods, tracing the edge off to our right. The sun was sinking, turning the sky into a rolling, blood-red cloudbank that reflected across Foster’s blade.

The sun couldn’t set fast enough, as far as I was concerned.

The trees gave way to another field that climbed a hill to our east. We continued north. Sam stayed at my side and Zola trailed behind us. I thought I’d be fast enough to throw a shield around her, if it really came to it.

Grass reached the top of my ankles as we followed a sparse line of trees toward another section of woods. A well-defined crop flanked our left. I thought it might be soybeans, but I wasn’t really sure.

Another thunderclap echoed around us. This time I could see a thin, blinding lance of power strike down from the sky.

“Edgar,” Zola said. “Move. They’re at Witmer Farm. Ah know it.”

Foster picked up the pace until we were jogging. We crossed through another small field of grass and straight through a line of trees. Foster slowed to a stop as we stepped out the other side of the woods.

“Nudd be damned,” Foster said. He let his sword hang loosely at his side as the four of us gaped at the scene unfolding before us.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

I
’d never seen anything like what the Watchers were fighting. The creature stood twenty feet tall. Its red, cracked flesh looked like chunks of stone had been glued onto a bulky skeleton. Fire streamed from the eye sockets in its bony skull, and burst through its flesh when it moved, as if the fire itself propelled it into motion.

The dead roared all around us. Every step the creature took seemed to ignite something in the dead. I tried to focus, tried to step toward the thing … attack it … something … but I could barely keep myself upright.

The creature made contact with one of the Watchers, and the young woman screamed as her clothes ignited and her body took to the air. I didn’t know if anyone could survive a hit like that. She was still screaming as she arced through the air in our general direction.

“No,” Foster said. “No.” He moved fast.

Zola raised her cane.
“Minas Ventusatto.”
A blast of air slammed into the young woman and knocked most of the flames away.

Foster grunted as he caught her. Her face was burned and blistered. Her left arm hung limply at her side, swollen and purple and ruined. Foster laid his hands to either side of her head.
“Socius Sanation.”
A flash of power turned the field around them white, and silenced the dead around us.

That was … odd.

The Watcher gasped beneath Foster’s spell as her face slowly pulled itself back together and her arm began to look more like an arm. Then she screamed as Foster’s power spiked and everything in her body snapped back into place.

“Who …” she said in a shaky voice. “Who are you?”

“Eddie didn’t tell you?” I said after a deep breath. “We’re the backup.”

She stared at me wide-eyed. “Vesik.” She glanced at Zola. “Addanaya. He was right about you all along.”

I looked back to the battle. Edgar made several gestures and the men and women around him moved with blinding speed. Two were caught up in a single sweep of the monster’s arm.

“Edgar said it’s after an artifact. At the farm.” The young woman closed her eyes and then pushed herself away from Foster. “I have to help.”

“It’s after the bloodstone,” Zola said. “It
has
to be. We cannot let that happen. Don’t engage that … thing. Sam, how fast can you move?”

She blurred into motion and nodded. “Pretty fast. Not as fast as I’d like. Sun needs to go down more.”

“Demon of the Abyss,” Foster said, his voice rising as he stepped toward the fighting. “That should not be here. The Seals aren’t broken. It can’t be here!”

“The Unseelie Court brought it,” the Watcher said.

Foster’s face turned murderous. Something crashed through the woods behind us. Two wisp-thin Fae stepped out.

“They’re here!” the Fae on the right said.

Foster screamed and lunged at the Unseelie Fae. They didn’t so much as get a shield up before his strike removed their heads. He picked up one head by its hair and threw it back into the woods. The other he stomped on until it exploded. “More mercy than you deserve.” The nearest ley lines siphoned the flesh away from the bodies.

Even without their heads, the Fae screamed.

“Foster, help the wounded,” Zola said. “Sam. There is a cross behind the barn. Take Damian with you and find it. Ah’ll help Foster. Now go!”

I didn’t get a word in before Sam picked me up and started running flat out.

I could briefly make out Edgar. I thought I heard him say, “Go,” as he pointed toward the red barn across the road.

Sam passed the battle, skirting around the western edge and a low cinder block wall. A red brick two-story farmhouse was on our left. I made out a white balcony before I blinked and it was gone. Sam curved to the right and slid to a stop behind the red barn.

An emaciated gray Fae, much like those Edgar was facing in the other field, looked up at us from the hole he was digging. He raised his hand. I grabbed the rune on my staff to call a shield. A bolt of power as dark as the sun is bright leapt from his hand and swarmed over my shield. Slowly, it began to eat through the barrier.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I said as Sam set me down. “Jump when I say jump.”

Sam nodded.

“Now!” I released the shield and we both dove to either side. The dark power dissolving the shield fell to the earth and sizzled.

The Fae grinned at me with knife-like teeth. I grinned back and aimed my pepperbox at his head. He collapsed when the bullet tore through his brains.

“Where’s the cross?” Sam asked.

I pulled a knee up and pushed myself onto my feet. “I don’t know.” I looked around, surveying the ground where the Fae had been digging. There were several holes already.

My eyes trailed up to the back of the barn, and then across the other, smaller buildings in the area. My gaze snapped back to a pile of old stone.

“Shit.” I pointed to one of the stones. Part of a Celtic cross was etched into a broken piece.

“Guessing that’s not where it’s always been,” Sam said.

“Yeah.” A massive crack of thunder shook the ground. “I’m going to see if I can sense it.”

“Necromancy?” Sam asked. “Zola said not to do that.”

“I know,” I said. “I don’t see a real choice. Watch my ass.”

“I’d rather not,” Sam said flatly.

I laughed softly.

“Be careful.”

I nodded and unlocked my aura. The flood of voices took my breath away. It felt like the entire world was talking at once, their voices shaking my head to pieces. I fell to one knee and gritted my teeth.

It looked like Sam was saying something, but I couldn’t hear her. I couldn’t hear anything. I pushed my aura out, seeking the darkness within the bloodstone. Ghosts flickered into being around me. Some roamed the grounds freely. Others stared at me, their gray forms unmoving. Souls peered back from their lost eyes.

My aura continued crawling through the wreck of what I now realized had been a battlefield in its own right. Small, yes, but terror and blood were in the earth all around me, except for one small area of relative calm. My head snapped up and I stared over my left shoulder.

“The house. The cornerstone,” I said. “It’s inside of it.” Sam ran over to the home as I locked down my aura once more. I stood up on shaky legs and walked over to stand behind her.

The sun was almost gone now, and a small section of the stone came away easily under Sam’s increased strength.

She peered into the hole in the cornerstone. “It’s hollow. It’s here.” Her arm fit in up to her elbow. She pulled back a small packet of what I imagine must have been wool at some point in time. It crumbled as she unwrapped it.

In the fading light, the small stone looked black, with a band of blood-red color running through it. Sam shivered and handed it to me.

I slid it into a small pocket on the side of my vest and snapped it closed. “Come on,” I said. Let’s get back to the others.

As soon as we cleared the edge of the farmhouse, I could see Zola dragging an injured Watcher back to Foster. The fairy’s sword was sheathed and he was entirely focused on healing.

The towering creature took a quick step and slammed its foot into the ground, sending a shockwave of fire out in a circle all around it. The Watchers leapt and shielded and avoided the worst of the blast. Zola raised a shield around the makeshift infirmary as the fire swept past them, igniting the drier grass all around us.

The creature turned away from us, and Sam and I took our chance to run to Zola and Foster.

Edgar kept his eyes on the creature while he brushed the flames off his charred suit.

The thing opened its palm and thrust its arm toward Edgar. A focused beam of fire leapt from its hand. Edgar barely got a shield up.

“Enough!” Edgar raised his arms to either side and floated away from the burning earth.

The monster’s eyes followed Edgar before it stepped toward him.

“That is enough.” An explosion erupted around Edgar, engulfing him in flames as bright as the sun. I squinted and my jaw dropped open as I realized it wasn’t flame. It was a solar art and, as it faded, Edgar was already streaking across the sky. The scream on his lips curdled my blood. The armor adorning his body was formed of golden fire, and it took little imagination to understand why he’d been worshipped as a god.

He flew forward with his right arm pulled back. The monster tried to move, but Edgar’s fist connected with the thing’s face. Edgar’s entire body followed his fist through the monster’s head in an eruption of flesh and bone and something like magma.

Edgar impacted the ground behind his target. He clenched both hands into fists at his waist as he stood up.

The massive body fell slowly at first, and picked up speed before it smashed into the roadway. Its fiery lifeblood continued pouring from its neck as the rest of the flesh dimmed.

Edgar jogged over to us. His calm, superior demeanor was cracked and broken. “Ezekiel sent that thing here for the bloodstone. He’s heading into the city.”

I tapped the pouch on my vest. “We got it.”

“Good,” Edgar said. “You didn’t see Ezekiel?”

“No,” Zola said. “But there are many dead in the city. The Fae and wolves are already engaged.”

Edgar nodded. “Hern has lost his goddamned mind. Bringing the Unseelie cavalry into this realm …” He shook his head.

Five men and women laid on the ground beside Foster. “I’ve done all I can,” the fairy said. “I think they’ll live.”

“Thank you,” Edgar said.

The brown-haired Watcher Foster and Zola had saved earlier walked up beside Edgar. “It’s dead.”

“Good,” Edgar said. “Thank you, Stacia.”

Stacia turned to Foster and Zola. “Thank you both.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t save more,” Foster said.

“There is always a cost in war,” Edgar said. “I only hope we can pay the price. The vampires will be here soon, but they have no clue what’s waiting for them. This isn’t the battle we were expecting. Stay close to the Old Man and look for an opportunity to strike Ezekiel. Our allies are unprepared for this. Assist where you can.”

“I’ll call Vik,” Sam said.

Edgar nodded.

“Cara and Aideen are with the Pit,” Zola said.

“They won’t be caught off guard with these creatures, then?” Edgar asked.

“No,” Foster said. “They’ll know what to do, and what to run from.”

“Hugh will be with the wolves,” Edgar said. “He’s seen far worse than this.”

“No one has seen worse than this,” Stacia said. She rubbed her forehead and it smeared soot across it. “We failed.”

Edgar looked at her, and then looked away. “Ezekiel is more disciplined than we remember, Addanaya. He makes for the ridge.”

Zola sighed. “It is a dark place.”

“Will you be able to function there?” Edgar asked.

Zola nodded. “Not at our best, but yes. The Old Man will be powerful there.” She turned to me with a small frown. “We must go back to Cemetery Ridge.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

S
am backed the car out of the woods and we headed toward the city. It didn’t take long before the old buildings rose up on either side of us once more. Foster was small again and sleeping on the dashboard. The mass healing had really taken it out of him.

“We won’t avoid using arts in this fight,” Zola said. “Don’t lose yourself in the noise.”

“Noise,” I said. “That’s a nice way of talking about the shit that will burn the brain out of your head.”

She laughed quietly. “There is much power to be had here.”

I nodded. In front of us, I could see a line of wolves. They had all shifted, and stood in their slightly hunched wolf-man forms. A building burned beside them, releasing a light shower of embers into their midst. A few wolves batted at their fur as the embers landed.

Zola pointed to the left. “Park there.”

Sam pulled into some kind of U-shaped bus station as she said, “Are they ours?”

“Ah think so.”

“Foster,” I tapped the dashboard. “Wake up.”

“Awake,” he said. “I’m awake.”

Sam held open a pocket on her vest. “Hop in, bug.”