Chapter 12
AS I OPENED the door, a breath of stale air rushed out. There was a hush that seemed to come with it, as with all abandoned buildings left to fester on their own. But I couldn’t feel any ghosts inside. Not from here.
We entered into one large, open room. From where we stood, I could see the hangar bay doors to our right. Toward the back of the room, a spiral staircase led to the second level. On the other side of the room, a door against the right wall had the words stairs stenciled on it, and probably led to the basement. Another door, flush against the opposite wall, most likely led to the front of the building. The room was lit with a series of fluorescent lights that hung from the ceiling, bare-bulbed and flickering with age. Dilapidated pallets were scattered around the room, which was about as large as a good-size high school gymnasium.
There was no sign of movement, except for a stray rat that I spotted across the room. I restrained myself from chasing after it, which was my natural inclination. Roz shut the door quietly behind us and we gathered near the wall, trying to figure out what to do next. I had half expected Yerghan the Blade to be waiting for us, but he wasn’t, which meant we had to decide our next step.
I glanced over at Shade. “Up or down?” I asked softly.
He cocked his head, listening, as did Menolly. After a moment, Shade shook his head but Menolly pointed up toward the ceiling.
“You hear something?” Shade whispered.
She nodded. “Scuffling, and it’s not mice.” A hard look entered her eyes, and her fangs descended. Her predator was awake, which meant she sensed something.
I straightened my shoulders, slowly withdrawing my blade. I could feel it now, the sense that we weren’t alone in the building. Yerghan the Blade had spent thousands of years growing into his power, and life in the Sub-Realms had to have groomed him. He was evil when he was sent there to begin with, but I couldn’t imagine what he was like now, or how ruthless he had become.
“If we go up that spiral staircase, we’ll be sitting ducks, and he’ll be able to pick us off one at a time. Is there another way in? Through the roof, perhaps?” While the room we were in was at least fifteen feet high, it didn’t show us the state of the roof, given there was an upstairs.
Shade motioned for us to head back out the door. Once we were standing out on the hangar bay, he leaned against the door to keep it shut.
“Delilah’s right, If we go upstairs, he’ll have a clean shot at us, one at a time. And we have no clue whether he has any distance weapons.” He glanced over at Smoky. “You can’t go through the Ionyc Seas, can you?”
Smoky shook his head. “I have no clue where I’m going, so it wouldn’t be safe.”
Now would be the perfect time, I thought, for Shade to have his Stradolan powers back. They would allow him to go through as a shadow, filtering up the staircase without really being seen. But I wasn’t about to say anything, because I didn’t want to trigger off his insecurities again. And it would do no good, anyway. If Vanzir had been able to come with us, he could probably travel through on the astral realm. As it was, we had to make up our minds soon. We couldn’t just sit out here until Yerghan decided to go get himself a hamburger.
“Is there any way to head up to the roof?” I asked.
“Yes, and I will be the one to do it.” Menolly stepped to the side. “I can fly up there and take a look around. Meanwhile, I suggest that at least two of you go around front to make certain that our burly soldier doesn’t decide to take off through the front door.” And with that, she turned into a bat, and began to fly toward the roof.
Smoky motioned to Trytian. “Come on, we’ll watch the front.”
Trytian looked as though that was the last thing he wanted to do, given Smoky had threatened him numerous times about harassing Camille, but he followed the dragon without saying a word. The rest of us kept an eye on the back.
About ten minutes later, Menolly returned, quickly shifting back into herself. She had gotten really good with transforming into her bat shape, and with flying, thanks to Roman’s coaching.
She shook her head, her eyes gleaming. “There’s no way you’re getting through the roof. I looked everywhere there and couldn’t find any holes or trapdoors or anything of the sort. Whoever runs this building is going to have solid protection from the rain, I’ll tell you that.”
“Then I guess it’s the staircase.” I pulled out my phone and texted Smoky, telling him and Trytian to come back around to the alley.
we’re headed in, I texted.
we’ll come in the front door so that he doesn’t have the chance to escape at all.
I pocketed my phone and pulled up my dagger. “Smoky and Trytian will meet us in there just in case Yerghan decides to head out in the next couple of minutes.” And with that, I yanked open the door and headed in. “It occurs to me if we make enough noise he’ll come down.”
“It’s a calculated risk, but go ahead.” Shade looked around, then picked up a broken piece of a wooden pallet and slammed it against the metal staircase. The reverberation echoed through the room. We heard a cursing from upstairs, and spread out around the staircase just as Smoky and Trytian joined us from the front.
Menolly quickly turned back into a bat, and I wondered what she was doing. But as she flew toward the spiral staircase, I realized that she was getting into position, a surprise of sorts.
“What the hell is that racket down there? You’d better have my dinner, you scumbag.” The man’s voice bellowed through the room as footsteps echoed from the metal staircase. A few seconds later, we saw Yerghan there, pausing halfway down the staircase, his jaw hanging open.
Within a blink, Menolly turned back into herself, leaping directly down on the staircase where she blocked Yerghan from heading back up the steps.
“Oh, we have your dinner, all right,” Menolly said, giving him a massive shove so that he fell over the edge of the railing, hitting on the floor in front of us. She leapt over the side, landing beside him, in a crouch.
Yerghan rolled to his feet, surprisingly unhurt. But then again, a couple thousand years in the Sub-Realms had to have toughened him up.
I glanced at his side. No sword, but he did have at least one dagger that I could see. But instead of reaching for his blade, he reached inside his coat, and before we could do anything, he threw something on the ground in front of us.
“I suggest you take a moment to think about what you’re doing.” Even as he spoke, I knew something was wrong.
As the smoke billowed out from whatever charm he had used, I tried to move but found myself frozen. It was like playing statues as a child. I tried to speak and found I couldn’t move my mouth either. Terrified, I wondered if my lungs were working, but then I felt myself draw a very slow, shallow breath of air. I was at least getting enough oxygen to keep from suffocating.
I tried to look around, but I couldn’t even move my eyes from side to side. From what little I could see, nobody else was moving, either. Except Trytian.
Trytian closed in on Yerghan. They were directly in front of me, so I could see them. The daemon had a long blade out, a gleaming, wicked-sharp blade that looked to be made of obsidian, glassy and shining with a black sheen.
“You’re not getting away that easy,” Trytian said, cautiously approaching the warrior.
“Don’t bet on it,” Yerghan said. He pulled out his dagger, and looked straight at me.
Panicking, I realized that if he managed to reach my side—or Menolly’s—he could finish two-thirds of his task right here. And there was nothing we could do. I couldn’t see Menolly, so I couldn’t tell whether she had been affected by the paralysis spell as well.
Trytian must have noticed Yerghan’s focus, because he darted to the side, standing in front of me, between me and the brute.
“You have to go through me first,” he said, swinging with his blade. The obsidian landed against Yerghan’s arm, slicing deep. I could almost hear the sound of flesh rending.
Yerghan let out a loud curse as blood began to spill from his arm, spurting out so fast that it looked like Trytian had cut into a major artery. The gash looked deep and ugly.
Yerghan growled and once again reached in his pocket. This time, I wasn’t able to see what he withdrew, but he slapped it against the bloody gash and instantly, the wound stopped bleeding. It didn’t heal, from what I could tell, but the blood flow had stopped.
Meanwhile, Trytian darted in, slashing at him again. This time his sword met Yerghan’s leather armor, cleaving through it, and sending another fountain of blood spraying out of Yerghan’s side.
I felt my nose itch, and wriggled it, suddenly aware that I was starting to pull out of the paralysis. I tried to move my fingers, but they weren’t free yet. However, the next moment, Menolly darted past my line of vision, slamming herself against Yerghan and knocking him down. He managed to throw her off, and she went sailing across the floor, a look of astonishment in her eyes.
At that moment, Smoky broke free, but there was a sound behind us, and Smoky turned, his eyes growing wide. I could move my arms now, and then my head, so I glanced over my shoulder just in time to see several demons enter the room.
Holy crap. Yerghan had managed call for backup somehow.
As Trytian took on Yerghan again, Menolly went racing past toward the demons, followed by Smoky. I was finally able to move, and I followed them, Lysanthra out and ready, as the demons descended on us. They were the same type we had met at the house, so I knew just how tough they were.
By then, everyone was free of the paralysis. Shade was helping Trytian, while Nerissa, Trillian, and Morio joined Smoky and Menolly and me.
As we engaged, Nerissa and I took on one of the demons, while Trillian, Morio, and Smoky each took on another, and the sounds of combat filled the room. Nerissa and I looked at each other and nodded, thinking the same thing. We both sheathed our weapons and shifted form, she into her puma self and me into Panther. We were much more effective in combat this way, and we both leapt on the demon, knocking him down with our weight.
As she stood on his chest, her claws digging deep into his stomach, I pounced on his head, holding him down with one paw, as with the other I began slashing through his throat. I grabbed hold of one of his horns, shaking my head this way and that, using my strength to try to break his neck. Nerissa held him fast, digging in deep, while I lunged for his throat, bit deep, and then began to hack away.
The sound of rending flesh filled my ears and the smell of blood rose thickly as his skull broke away from his spine and the edges of his skin began to rip from his shoulders. And then I was standing there, the demon’s head hanging from my mouth. Disgusted, I shook my head again, letting go of the head, sending it rolling across the floor.
Nerissa and I turned to see that Smoky had eviscerated his demon, the entrails splashing across the floor. Morio was in his youkai form, eight feet tall and engaged in a wrestling match. Trillian was having trouble, however.
Before I could move, Nerissa had joined the fray, launching herself onto Trillian’s demon from the side. She managed to knock him down. Trillian plunged his blade through the demon’s head, cursing as the tip of his sword broke against the concrete floor. But it had done its job. The demon thrashed, then lay still.
Panting, Nerissa pulled back, as Trillian tossed her a quick Thank-you.
I turned, intent on helping Trytian, just in time to see Yerghan plunge his blade through Trytian’s heart. The daemon let out a cry as Yerghan twisted the dagger, and then Trytian fell to the floor. Yerghan yanked his blade out of Trytian’s body and looked over at us, a smug smile on his face.
A dark fury filled my soul, and I felt the power of Hi’ran rise up in me as I bounded across the floor, launching myself onto Yerghan, knocking him down. I focused my attention into his eyes, forcing myself into his soul.
Ten thousand deaths weighed heavy on his conscience. Ten thousand screams of pain, and more—there were so many victims lined up, throughout his memory, to the point where they became legion, and then, a blur, and then, they faded into a whisper and a joke for him to laugh at.
The images flashed past.
Yerghan, a young and idealistic soldier, wanting only for a better world. And then came Telazhar, who promised him a new order, in which magic and might would rule hand in hand. Images of a bright future loomed large, filled with flame and drive and passion. But the brilliance promised turned into darkness. An ocean of blood descended as Telazhar and Yerghan drove the purifying flames ahead of them, purging the land of all that was fruitful and growing.
And Yerghan the idealist became Yerghan the Blade, became Yerghan the executioner, became Yerghan whose only hunger was for power and strength. It was at the tip of their fingers, right within their grasp until the opposition struck, driving them down.
And then he became Yerghan the enslaved when he and Telazhar were cast into the Sub-Realms, where Shadow Wing the Unraveller loomed like a hope and scourge in the night, and his will became their will.
The screams of ten thousand more voices blended into one cry in my ears, surrounding me like ghosts in the night, and I could feel their pain and Yerghan’s joy as he destroyed them.
A little girl stared up at me, or rather Yerghan, as I looked through his eyes. Her mother lay on the ground beside her, dead. The girl couldn’t have been more than five years old. And then Yerghan raised his blade, and as her eyes widened, he swung, cleaving her head from her shoulders.
No more, I whispered.
No more deaths. No more anger. No more terror. No more victims. No more existence.
I rose in front of him in my Death Maiden persona, cloaked in a flowing gown the color of the night sky. The crescent blazed on my forehead, brilliant against my skin. I caught hold of his soul and dragged him into the stars, into the space between worlds where his fate would be decided.
He stared at me, finally looking frightened for the first time. A swirl of mist rolled around us, and we were in that land that hangs between the balance, the land where I was at my full power, where I could easily destroy his soul forever and wipe him out of existence, sending him spiraling into the primal pool of energy, to erase his presence forever. Where I could consign him into an existence as mere energy to be used again, clean and clear, with no trace left of the corroded soul he had been. It was cold here, bone chilling cold, and it seeped through every cell in my body, every fiber of my being. I could see he felt it, too.
He was shivering as he fell to his knees.
“Who are you? What do you want?” His voice echoed through my mind, and I knew he wasn’t really speaking, but I could catch his thoughts as easily as I could catch my own.
“I am your end. I am handmaiden to the Autumn Lord, a servant of the Harvestmen. I claim your soul for the sins you have perpetuated against the innocent. I come to destroy you, Yerghan the Blade, to un-make you. I come to forever obliterate you from this world, or any world. I consign you to the emptiness, I consign you to the depths of the universe, I consign you to oblivion. It is the only fitting punishment for the crimes you have committed.”
I was towering over him now, so tall that I could barely see him from where he groveled below me. Around me, the stars wheeled in a spiraling gyre. I could feel Greta near, but she did not interfere.
Yerghan the Blade stared up at me defiantly, holding his arms out at his sides.
“Then be done with it. Be done with it and have it over.”
I caught another wisp of his thoughts.
He was tired. He was so tired of the never-ending blood and gore and battle, but he didn’t realize it. He didn’t know that he was done. He had been going through the motions like an automaton, a puppet on a string, so numb to the world around him that he was numb to even himself. Nothing mattered anymore to him, not freedom, not glory, not even life itself.
“A change is as good as a rest,” I said softly.
I didn’t feel sorry for him, but a part of me understood his weariness, and I was grateful for it. It made my job easier. As I was about to send him into oblivion, I paused, realizing that I could look into his mind and find out what I needed to know about Shadow Wing. We wouldn’t have to question him. I could find out everything I needed to know right here.
I reached out, plunging my mind into his, ignoring his shriek of pain as I intruded into his thoughts. I didn’t care. He had inflicted so much anguish over the millennia that he could handle a little himself. I tore through his thoughts, sifting through his memory as I searched for any mention or vision of Shadow Wing. And there it was. Or rather, there he was.
Shadow Wing. In all his vile glory.
THE DEMON LORD rose up in front of me, complete with wings and horns that spiraled into the sky. Shadow Wing the Unraveller, Shadow Wing the Corrupter.
He was massive, terrifying in his size, and yet his eyes were more fearsome than his muscles or talons or magic. Because his eyes held nothing but madness, a spiral of insanity.
How he hated, hated everything that he could not touch or corrupt. There was no reasoning with this creature, for he was just that—a creature, not a being with whom we could reason or use logic. His hunger was a wound so deep that there was no filling it up. He was the pit and the void, a black hole embodied, sucking in everything that was good or caring, then spitting it out as a tainted version of itself.
Shadow Wing the Unraveller stood there, laughing at Yerghan as the warrior groveled on the ground before him. He lashed out with whip and flame, scarring Yerghan’s back, sneering as he kicked the soldier in the ribs so hard that they were permanently deformed.
I forced myself to watch as Shadow Wing used Yerghan as a toy, for his pleasure, whispering in his ear that if he behaved, if he willingly gave Shadow Wing whatever he wanted, Shadow Wing would make him his right hand when he broke through the portals. That together, they would rule. And Yerghan believed, because he had no other option. I began to understand Shadow Wing’s followers and their devotion.
If they had not given into Shadow Wing, thrown themselves in with his lot, it would have meant unending torture, with no hope for escape. And all beings needed hope to survive. So the hope that he offered them, even as he mocked them, was that of power and fame and fortune, and their choice of the spoils. And even though they knew it would never happen, they chose to believe in order to survive.
As much as I hated both Telazhar and Yerghan, a very small part of myself felt an empathy for them. They had met their match and failed.
I watched, steeling myself as I searched for any vulnerability.
Shadow Wing was definitely mad, so full of his own ego that he didn’t believe he could fail. And he hated us, I could hear it in his voice when he ordered Yerghan to destroy us to win his freedom. He hated us with every fiber of his being, because we had disrupted his plans.
I didn’t reach out to touch Shadow Wing himself because I couldn’t bring myself to, but I knew that, in this space, the Demon Lord couldn’t follow us. It was better than the best safe room we ever could offer, this space between worlds.
As the Demon Lord ranted away, Hi’ran suddenly stood by my side. I looked up at him, my heart racing as he slid his arm around my waist.
“Please don’t stop me,” I said. “I want to end Yerghan’s life. I want to end him forever—I don’t ever want his spirit to break free and return in any form or fashion.”
“Oh Delilah, my dearest, I’m not here to stop you.”
“You aren’t?” I was surprised.
“No. Although you’ve taken this on yourself, and in doing so, you fulfill my hope. You are worthy of being my mate. You withstand this brutality spreading out before you, while you search for answers that will help you to save others. Your actions are those of a queen. Your courage is that of a warrior. You have become everything I hoped and believed that you would be. I leave you to your task, but I would say this. Look for the source of Shadow Wing’s power. It may not be what you think it is. Find the source, and you can find a way to destroy him.”
He vanished, and I returned my attention to the Demon Lord.
I watched him through Yerghan’s eyes, and then as I tried to watch with a keen eye, I saw it. Or rather, I saw them.
Two jewels, embedded one to each side by the base of Shadow Wing’s horns. They glimmered. There was something about them that kept my attention. As I focused, I realized they reminded me of the spirit seals. And yet, they weren’t the same.
But they were magical, radiating a powerful force. And right then, I knew exactly where Shadow Wing sourced his power. Those jewels gave him the strength to command his armies. I forced Yerghan to look at them closely, and through his eyes I saw that they were a deep jet with a sparkling white center.
Yerghan tried to pull away. He didn’t want to look at Shadow Wing, just as he didn’t want to look at his own memories. But I forced him to concentrate as I reached out, trying to suss out just what the gems were. Yerghan screamed at that moment, and I felt him losing grasp of reality. He couldn’t look upon the Demon Lord for long without going mad.
Realizing that I had learned all I could, I loosened my grip and stood back. Yerghan cowered in front of me, his hands over his face.
“It’s time. We’re done. It’s over.”
I cut the cord, sending Yerghan’s soul into the depths of oblivion forever as I eliminated him from the wheel of life. He screamed once, and then disappeared, vanishing into the mist, vanishing into that primal pool that sources all life within the universe.
Yerghan the Blade would never again walk any world, in any form.
I let out a deep breath, and turned to leave. Hi’ran was there, and he pulled me into his arms. He kissed me deeply, and this time he didn’t suck my life out of me, but simply kissed me, sending every cell in my body into an orgasm. As he let go, holding my hand, he smiled.
“It’s nearly over. And our new life is about to begin. Yours, and mine, and Shade’s. Kiss him when you open your eyes. I’m sending him a gift through you.”
And then he was gone, and I left the realm of the dead.
SHADE WAS THERE by my side as I opened my eyes. Yerghan was dead on the floor, and I was in my two-legged form. “Are you all right? What did you do to him?”
Before I spoke, before I said a word, I pulled Shade into my arms and kissed him deeply. I could feel the transfer of energy through me, into Shade. I kissed him long and hard, a wave rushing through me into my love. Finally, whatever the Autumn Lord had sent to Shade was through and done. And as I stood back, Shade’s eyes widened, and he clutched my shoulders.
“What have you done to me?” The next moment, he vanished into a puff of smoke, into a wisp of shadow, and was gone.