My words were even. “You think she knew she was risking our entire world by getting us out of the Stygian?”
Licking her lips, she nodded. Her eyes were tight with strain, and I got the sense she was worried I was going to lash out at her. Turning to better face her, I said, “I believe you. And that’s exactly what I’m counting on.”
I was called away before she could ask me any more questions. No one would believe my theory anyway. Even Travis and Krystan hadn’t been so sure. The only one who understood my interpretation was Emma’s mother, but we agreed it was best to not share with anyone we didn’t have to.
Walking into the kitchen, where Snarp was surrounded, I said, “Would you share a Twinkie with me?” The bird flapped his wings, whistling and bobbing his head.
“Good because I’ve got a special mission for you, and there is a mountain of snack cakes on the line.”
27
We stood on Colfax, midday, waiting. For hours there were reports of a massive storm rolling toward Denver. The scale of the storm escalated until the news finally got cameras on what was coming. It was no storm, it was Emma, and the trajectory she was on was leading her straight to us, to Snarp. Emma was ready to tear our dimension apart and let in the Stygian.
We’d run out of time and had taken to the streets to make our last stand. Anyone with an affiliation to the Order had shown up to fight. We were three hundred strong and filled the sun-soaked streets. Snarp was perched on my shoulder, nervously pecking at his feathers.
Earlier I’d watched Travis and Krystan kiss their baby boy before putting him in their neighbor’s arms to watch while they went to war. I told them they could stay with Tristan, but Travis explained there wouldn’t be a world for Tristan if they didn’t do something about it. Krystan pretended not to wipe tears away as she glibly accused me of wanting to deprive them of a front seat to the showdown.
Next to me, Travis squinted into the bright daylight. “Here she comes.” I heard his sharp inhale.
Following his gaze, I saw Emma walking as if in slow motion toward us, except her feet were at least six feet off the ground. Her hair flowed around her in a wavy halo as if she were underwater. A tidal wave of smoky darkness swept out behind her, a massive energetic cloak swallowing up three blocks on either side of her and everything behind her. A shadow fell over Denver as she approached.
“Are you sure this is going to work, golden boy?” Gatsby asked behind me, his words clipped with doubt.
“I don’t know, but I believe,” I said, keeping my eyes trained on the dark goddess coming for all of our souls.
“We will follow your lead, son,” Gregory said with a nod.
I responded with a nod of my own, sending the silent message I was honored to have him by my side. We turned our attention forward as death and destruction moved toward us in the form of Emma.
When she was a little over a block away, Krystan and Travis disappeared from my side.
“This is our world,” I yelled the words, but it was the High Priestess who amplified the sound so it bellowed through the city to be heard by all. “We will not allow the darkness to swallow us whole. We stand together and it ends here, now.”
The echo of Emma’s voice equally boomed through the city. “We are here to purify your world. The Stygian will be your salvation.” Three resounding booms, like canons firing, sounded from the black cloud stretched out behind her. Red lit up inside the black clouds.
Silence fell over the city. Everything became deadly still, even the spring breeze died in its tracks.
“You think you can defeat us?” the many voices said. From the darkness behind her, a line of demon dogs stepped forward.
From the west, Phillip and Regina marched forward with the Order of Veritas. They were armed to the gills, a military force unto themselves.
Another group walked alongside the Veritas. Not the private guard Phillip and Regina had hired, this was an official military outfit. Their weapons were military grade, and the military trained soldiers had glyphs painted over their bodies and carried symbols of faith provided by the Veritas. It’s what Regina and Phillip had been doing in DC. They were working with the government on making a special unit to fight the Stygian and Gregory had gone with them to help with training.
The demon dogs bounded forward, gnarled demonic beasts of all sizes with blood-stained claws and fangs burst forth from the smoke running straight for the agents of Veritas. The crib flew out and misty, incorporeal soul eaters followed. The small army crashed into the beasts. Demon dogs were met with gunfire and flame throwers. Leonidas and Gatsby had run into the fray to protect the soldiers as best they could from the soul eaters.
I wanted to join them, launch myself into the battle zone where soliders dropped, empty husks, their souls devoured. The carcasses of monsters began to pile up next to the gutted, and then Astrid appeared with the Order of Tenebrae behind her. A hundred or so of them ran into the fray. In plainclothes, the thing that separated from Krystan and Travis’ people was they wore different jewelry pieces that lit up in bright greens, turquoise, and fuchsia. The pieces of power had been returned to them by the Luxis.
Ylang had trained them on how to better utilize the objects to harness power like she had done for me and the other Chevalier.
Astrid’s people used their powers to subdue creatures so the soldiers could beat the creatures into a bloody pulp. Even the High Priestess found a car to sit cross legged on top of. She sent her will out through one of the gem topped staffs from the Luxis to bind the dark spirits that streaked toward me and Snarp. White light snaked out from the staff, wrapping around the dark spirits, encasing them like a spider web until they dissolved into nothingness.
“You are few and weak.” Emma’s voice became many. Ancient evil reverberated through my bones as their words reached my ears.
They were gaining ground, pushing our ranks back.
“You sure about that?” I asked, tension coiled throughout all my muscles.
I nodded at Noah. Sophie’s brother sat in a car nearby, facing the opposite direction, his aunt at the wheel. Clenching and unfurling her fingers around the steering wheel, Lisa kept checking her back and side mirrors. They had insisted on helping.
