Noah saw my signal and raised his arm outside the passenger window and shot the flare gun straight into the air. As it whistled into the sky, smoke billowed off the flare.
Noah’s aunt shot off like bullet, burning rubber, in the opposite direction from what was about to be ground zero.
At first it came as a rumble. Then the volume began to raise as hundreds of cries rose into the air.
From the east, another group spilled onto the street, joining the already battling Orders. Krystan and Travis were at the forefront, while countless people trailed out behind them. Two hundred, then almost five hundred people spilled onto the streets or opened the windows of buildings lining the streets, raising their fists and yelling out battle cries.
The roar of people was almost deafening. People had come with books, pictures of families, religious symbols and tokens from every imaginable faith. There was even the occasional skillet. Several people were openly singing or praying out loud. The variety of symbols of faith people had come armed with was astounding. I could feel the energy pulsating through them all, similar to what my Chevalier brothers and I channeled.
Another half showed up with guns, machetes, and all manner of makeshift weapons.
Emma turned her focus on Krystan and Travis.
“Guess you should have checked your Facebook page, babe,” Krystan said with a grunt as she smacked back a demon dog with Batman.
“Made an Order all our own,” Travis said, raising a fist in the air. “We call it the Metal Order of Suck It.” He wore his favorite Metallica T-shirt and a helmet. I caught sight of the frizzy haired teenager, his demon dog at his side. At the Lucas’s command, the dog took off running before jumping and sailing into the air, his jaws clamping down on the wing of one of the crib.
A woman in a cardigan wearing an oversized cross, ran past Krystan with a bible to throw holy water on a demon dog before smacking it with the large bible she clutched in her hand. The flesh of the demon sizzled and it yelped before turning and running.
Three Wiccan girls walked down the street in black clothes decorated with moons and stars, holding hands, and chanting a spell. A faint glow emanated around them. A She demon, face covered with long scraggly hair paused as she was about to rip the throat out of the downed soldier she sat atop of. Staring at the wiccan girls, she was transfixed for a moment before slinking off her almost victim and backing away from them.
More and more demonic beings poured out of the mist and the cloud behind Emma steadily reduced in size.
Emma raised he hands and numerous dark spirits shot into the sky then dove toward the people on the street. Screams of pain mingled in the air with all the war cries and singing. Blood and viscera splashed against the pavement as both sides took heavy loses. The soldiers did their best to hold the front lines while many of Krystan and Travis’ people created wards. Krystan and Travis were in the blood battle, swinging their weapons and working in tandem like a choregraphed team.
Even from a distance, I could see Emma’s eyes narrow in frustration. She reached her hand out, pointed at me and Snarp. I threw up my own powers as a shield. Snarp let out a terrified screech and series of whistles but to his credit, he stayed on my shoulder.
Gritting my teeth, I took on the brunt of her attack. She was so much stronger even after releasing so many dark creatures from her energetic field. I remembered last time how her power felt like going up against a white-hot plate of metal. Now it felt like a burning building crashing down me. Snarp’s whistles increased in fervor.
“I….can’t…hold…her,” I managed to get out through gritted teeth. Snarp’s claws dug into my shoulder as Emma broke through my energetic ward. My flesh tore under Snarp’s hold as he was ripped from my shoulder. He whistled through the air, a flying football, careening past the bloodbath until he landed in Emma’s hand, I yelled out. “Did you want the bird, or did you want this?” I asked, holding up the small piece of jade that had been part of the book of Luxis. We’d eventually found it at the bottom of Snarp’s cage. After a thorough cleaning, I’d pocketed the gem.
Holding the stone up, I swallowed it myself, then held my arms open.
Emma would have to come for me now, and I knew she would do it herself.
The many voices cried out in anger, filling the sky as thickly as the clouds. Emma began walking toward me, and I started on the same path toward her. As fighting, cries, and death surrounding us, we seemed to be untouchable in our own private bubbles, walking toward each other. Her feet still did not touch the ground, but her mantle of dark power had all but dissipated until she only carried the tentacles of the ancient spirits from the Reckoning.
When we got within six yards of each other, she reached out toward me. My stomach lurched violently and I doubled over, coughing. Something hard raked up my throat.
No.
I tried to stop it, willing it back down. My body betrayed me with uncontrollable, violent, coughing I couldn’t stop until the piece of stone finally dropped out of my mouth and onto the ground with a clink. At the same time I lunged for the piece, it flew across the short distance to land in Emma’s hand. Her white fingers closed around the last piece of the book of Luxis. As her grip tightened, a pulse of power shot out from her hand. When she unfurled her fingers showing me her palm, dust sprinkled to the ground.
It was done. There was nothing stopping her from bringing about hell on Earth.
The air around Emma shimmered and her head dropped back as she stretched out her arms with a look of concentrated ecstasy on her face. I could feel it—the thinning of the dimensional wall separating us from the Stygian. Shadows began to appear all around us. I could sense their hunger and anticipation. The creatures of the Stygian knew their time was coming, and they were ready to feast on souls and flesh.
A hand grabbed my arm, whipping me around. I met the cloudy eyes of my former Master.
“I’m sorry to do this.” Ylang’s forehead wrinkled, and his lips tightened at the corners. Before I could say anything in response, Ylang jabbed his knife into my chest.
When Emma had stabbed me in the gut it had hurt like hell, but she’d purposefully missed my vital organs. She attacked me in a way she knew I would recover. Ylang’s strike was meant to be fatal.
My body jerked as he yanked the blade back out. The pain was excruciating. I tried to breathe in but the agony cut my oxygen short. There was something eerie and liquid about how time moved around me, knowing I would die soon.
An ear shattering cry echoed through the city. The ground shook, and though I was losing blood fast, it was Ylang’s face that paled.
Grabbing his shoulder, I tried to stay upright, but stumbled. Ylang held onto my elbows, keeping me up. “You were always a son to me. I need you to know that.”
