“The only one that comes close would be your dad.” She held up her hands. “But if anyone gets the honor of naming a baby Gregory, it’s you.”
A car horn blared. We turned to see a robed figure standing in the middle of the road. A near featureless, gray face with two slits for nostrils stared at me with blood red eyes.
Othanos.
I jumped up, sending my chair flying backward. I pulled the Kurki from my purse, effortlessly sliding it from its leather sheath. Othanos raised his hands and opened his robes, and a swarm of flies emerged. People on the streets and nearby diners screamed, knocking over tables in their hurry to get away. Othanos stared at me with an unerring, bulging gaze that reminded me of a lizard.
I tried to ignore the thrill of excitement that went through me. All those nights looking for him, and now he was here, in broad daylight, and I was prepared. I was always prepared.
“It is time, Propheros, to bring the dark overlords into power.” Though he did not yell out, his words reached me as clearly as if he’d been standing right next to me—they came out raspy like someone had cut his throat and it never healed properly. I’d sure like to be the one to cut his throat. Anything to stop him from killing more innocent people, and maybe I’d finally get a decent night’s sleep.
The bastard was here to make the sacrifice, just like the Ururu had said.
Krystan somehow managed to get her feet and wobbled to my side, aiming a handgun at him. “You’re packing now?”
She shrugged. “Long range weapons are a friend to the pregnant lady.” Before I could say anything else, she cocked the gun, aimed it at Othanos’s head, and pulled the trigger. The gun went off with a jarring crack. Othanos held up a hand and jerked, his long, fingers closing into a fist. He didn’t fall. Uncurling his fingers, Othanos looked directly at us as the bullet dropped to the pavement with a clink.
“Shit,” Krystan breathed.
“Yeah, I don’t care for that magic trick either.” Fear crawled under my skin, but I took a deep breath, intent on staying in control of my instincts. “We need to get you and the bean out of here.”
“We’re not the ones he wants to sacrifice to bring his dark overlords to the party,” she said, a stubborn edge in her voice. I loved my friend but sometimes I wanted to smack sense into her. Smacking pregnant women was frowned upon, I reminded myself.
A woman ran screaming into the street, a cloud of flies attacking her head. She didn’t notice she was running straight for Othanos until he grabbed her, plucking her as she ran by as if it were a choreographed dance. He held her against his body and pressed a wavy bladed knife against her throat.
Reaching out with my senses, I sought to take his essence—absorb him until there was nothing left of him, like I’d done with the Ururu. But the late nights had caught up to me, and my energies felt too depleted to extend the thirty feet between us. I’d have to get closer if I wanted to try to absorb him, and even then I wasn’t sure it would work.
“Come to me, or I will take this worm’s life,” he said.
“Emma,” Krystan said, a warning in her voice but I was already hopping the low fence of the patio. When I stopped, only ten feet separated us.
“Let her go,” I said, “this is between you and me.”
His lipless mouth turned up in the corners as he pushed the woman away. She ran off crying hysterically but free of the flies. “Truer words have ne’re been spoken.”
I missed believing that all the Stygian burped up was thoughtless creatures driven on instinct. There was something too human about Othanos.
Othanos tipped his head to me, urging me forward. Now that he’d let go of the woman, I calculated my odds of getting away. I wasn’t stupid. The dude had caught a bullet midair. Who knew what else he was capable of. Krystan and I needed to beat a hasty retreat, but I was still buying time for the rest of the bystanders to get away.
I took one step back. Othanos waved and my knife flew out of my hand, despite the grip Regina had gone on about.
Dammit. The Kurki was getting a two out of five stars the next time I could get online.
“Emma, run,” Krystan yelled.
Othanos moved faster than I expected. His long, hot and dry fingers were around my throat in an instant, squeezing the life out of me. Panic overwhelmed me and I couldn’t remember how to use my powers to destroy him. It normally came to me so naturally I was barely aware I was doing it. Did I have to visualize absorbing his being? Was there a secret phrase I said to myself? I couldn’t remember. Clawing at his hand, I couldn't get his freakishly strong grip to loosen.
Staring into those bulbous red orbs, I saw little pieces of dark matter floating in them as if they were filled with blood and ash.
“It is time to make the sacrifice,” he said, his eyes closing in what looked like reverence.
Instead of killing me, Othanos dropped me with a cry of pain. I used the momentum of my fall to roll away several feet. When I got up, I backed up quickly.
Calan was standing outside the Whack A Ghoul van Travis had stopped in the middle of the road behind two abandoned cars.
They were coming to pick us up for a job after lunch.
Calan strode forward. His hands lit up in white light.
