Execution (The Divine Book 6) (24 page)

Both of those images sucked.

I pulled time ahead of me and pushed it behind. As I stepped forward, I appeared directly in front of Hearst, reaching out for the Riftstone while still trying to fight against Abaddon's power. It wasn't my intention to stay anywhere near the demon. I just wanted the damn rock.

I got my hand on it, too, before the combination of Hearst and Abaddon's power slowed me down. Rebecca yanked her hand away, and a solid punch to my midriff sent me bouncing off a piston. I fell onto my stomach, coughing up blood.

"Landon," Rebecca said. "That was a nice move."
 

She dropped the Riftstone onto the floor, mouthing the incantation that opened it. Then she started walking toward me.
 

I tried to pull myself up, slow to recover from the hit. I wanted to heal, but the timewalk had weakened me, and I was struggling to resist Abaddon's power. I was barely on my knees when Rebecca approached.

"I'm sorry it had to be this way," she said, holding her hand up, claws extended and dripping with Abaddon's poison.

For the second time in an hour, Bradford fell from the sky. His feet slammed into Rebecca, knocking her back and away from me as he landing on his rear.
 

"You," she said with a hiss, planting her feet and pouncing at him.

"What did you think of that move, bitch?" Bradford asked, catching Rebecca and turning, throwing her hard against the side of an engine. She landed on her feet; teeth bared, her eyes wide in confusion.

Bradford's shirt had a claw-shaped tear straight down the center. There was no blood. No decay. His immunity was obvious.
 

Could Rebecca take him in a straight-up fight?
 

Maybe.
 

Maybe not.

"Abelard, we're leaving," she said, deciding not to try. "Landon, a little parting gift for you. Have fun with Randolph two-point-oh." She smiled and then vacated the premises. I couldn't see her in ghost form, but Bradford could, and his head turned to watch her go.
 

She and Abaddon entered the Rift and vanished.

I struggled to get to my feet, my body and mind exhausted from the time walk. I kept my eyes on Hearst, who was regaining his consciousness after Rebecca's possession.

"Landon?" he said, his white eyes locking on me. He looked truly scary in the dim lighting of the engine room.

"Randolph," I replied, putting up my hands. "I don't want to fight you."

Hearst looked past me, toward the compartment where Abaddon had been stored.

"What the hell happened?" he asked.

"Rebecca possessed you."

"Where's Abaddon?"

"Gone. She took him."

"Son of a... I knew I couldn't trust that bitch; that's why I brought Abaddon out here. How the hell did she know where to find me?"

I looked back at Bradford, who shrugged in response.
 

"She followed me," I said. "I was looking for Rose."

"Rose? Who's Rose?"

"The girl from the deli," I said, getting angry.

He thought for a second. "This high, big tits?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes."

"Dammit. I told Rebecca to get her, too, but she refused."

"You killed Elyse," I said. "She was a friend of mine."

"If you cared that much, you would have kept your part of our agreement."

I heard a few light taps on the floor behind us. I glanced back to see that Hearst's goons had joined the party.

"You knew I wasn't going to just let you run around with Abaddon. I told you I would keep out of whatever you were doing, not that I wouldn't try to find a way to stop it."

"Now you sound like a demon."

I kept one eye forward, and the other on the approaching vampires. Bradford was watching them too, staying close to me.

"Rebecca just ran off with Abaddon," I said. "What are you going to do about it, Hearst?"

He flashed a dark, toothy smile. "First, I'm going to kill you. Then I'm going to find Rebecca, and I'm going to kill her. Simple."

I was afraid he was going to say that. I barely rolled away from him as he leaped toward me, landing amidst his henchmen and spinning on his heels. I was tired and weak, and he was super-powered.
 

It wasn't going to be pretty.

I couldn't do this on my own. Not where I was right now. Bradford was immune, but he wouldn't survive being choked out or having his neck snapped.

"Come on, Landon. You can do better than this."

He waited for me to get up. He even kept his subordinates back. Bradford was standing in the middle of it, trying to decide what to do.

"I recommend getting out of the way," I said to him.
 

He shook his head and pounced on one of the vampires. I took that as my cue to go on the offense, throwing my power out at Hearst. It hit him hard and knocked him back a few steps, but he recovered too fast, hissing and coming at me again. I caught his arm in mine, turning him and pushing him away. He was fast, he was strong, and he didn't really know how to fight. It was my one hope of winning.

I heard the fracas to the left as Bradford did his own damage, killing one of the vampires before he was tackled by two others. I needed him alive to help me see Rebecca, so I backed away from Hearst, grabbing them by the neck and throwing them away from the Nicht Creidem.
 

"Damn it, Bradford. Get the hell out of here."

"Dude, you can't fight them all alone."

"We can't fight them together, either," I said.
 

They were forming up again, and I could tell Hearst had no intent of coming in solo a third time. I pulled my power in, feeding it into my lungs.
 

"Alllyyyxxx," I shouted, extra loudly. It echoed off the surrounding steel, loud enough that the vampires grabbed at their ears.

I took advantage of the opportunity, taking the stone from my pocket at throwing it at the closest vamp. It changed into the spatha as it flew, embedded itself deep into the demon's neck.
 

Bradford followed close behind it, grabbing the hilt a moment later and wrenching it free. He put his arm out to deflect a claw, swept his leg to knock the vampire over, and brought the sword down in its belly.

Hearst roared and leaped at me again. I brought my power up ahead of me like a shield, but he was stronger than I was right now and it served only to slow him. I fell away, barely escaping a poisonous claw before he embedded Abaddon's decay inside me.

I scrambled to my feet, barely avoiding his next attack. Had Alyx heard me from all the way down here? I could only hope so.

"I had everything planned out," Hearst said, stalking me. "I was using Rebecca to drum up support down below. You know, they don't take me seriously in Hell. I'm just a blood counter to them. I've always been the second fiddle. The nerd."

He came at me again. I batted his hands away. He caught me with an elbow, and I fell back a dozen feet, landing hard.
 

"Do you know what it's like to be so close to the power, but never drink it?" he asked. "To watch everyone around you become something more while you're still just you?"

"No," I replied.

The answer incensed him even more. He came at me a fifth time, launching an attack with a speed and fury I couldn't match. Maybe Alyx hadn't heard me, and now I was going to die.

I did everything I could to deflect his attacks until I just couldn't keep up anymore. In a last ditch effort to save myself, I used my power on my shirt, changing its structure and letting his claws bounce off the hardened material. It was a delaying tactic, nothing more.
 

I continued to backpedal, searching for Bradford behind Hearst. The Nicht Creidem had to get away. He had to get to Dante and Alyx and Rose and tell them what had happened. I knew they wouldn't give up even if I didn't make it. They would find Rebecca and Abaddon.

I finally spotted him. He was on the ground; his knife buried in his chest.

He wasn't moving.

Shit.

My anger flared. Or maybe it was a renewed sense of desperation. I caught Hearst's next blow, holding his wrist tight. He tried to dislodge me with his other hand, and I caught that one, too, my arms folded over one another, gripping him in a tight cross. He struggled against me, his strength immense. I refused to let go. The two remaining vampires were done with Bradford, and they started coming our way, seeing their boss in trouble. I had to do something, quick.

I let Hearst go. He was pulling against me so hard he stumbled backward, bouncing into his cronies and falling to the ground. I clenched my teeth, reaching out with my power, wrapping it around one of the massive engines beside me. Could I move that much weight?
 

It was do or die, and I didn't want to die.

A horrible groan preceded the block of steel as it shifted its position, lifting into the air and rotating. Hearst bounced to his feet, ready to charge me again. I released the engine and threw my power out, knocking him over and at the same time pushing Bradford well beyond the landing zone.

"Hold this for me, will you?" I said, action-hero style, as gravity regained the humongous turbine, bringing it down on top of the three vampires.

They vanished beneath it, a spreading pool of blood that sizzled and turned to ash the only sign of their passing.

I wanted to check on Bradford. Instead, I fell to the ground, completely exhausted. A moment later, Dante appeared directly in front of me, his hand on Alyx and Rose's shoulders.

"Landon," Alyx said, running over and kneeling beside me.

"Landon, are you okay?" Rose asked.
 

"You're late," I said, glaring at Dante. "Really, really late."

"My apologies, Signore. We ran into some trouble on the deck."

I looked at Alyx. "You ran into trouble?"

"More of Hearst's vampires. I had to be careful they didn't touch me."

I nodded. I was happy she was safe.

"What happened down here?" Dante asked.

"Rebecca took Abaddon. She had a Riftstone. I don't know where they went. Hearst was under there."

"You're saying Abaddon is gone?"

"Yeah. He broke the bond. He doesn't want me to destroy him anymore. He thinks Rebecca is his dead wife."

"Why would he think that?" Rose asked.

"Because she told him, she was, and he believed it. Alyx, can you help me up?"

"Of course."
 

She put her arm under my shoulder and lifted me easily to my feet. She helped me walk slowly around the engine to where Bradford was resting. I fell to my knees, leaning over him.

"He's dead," Alyx said.

Damn. I was afraid of that.

"He thought he was invincible because he was immune to Divine power," I said, checking him. It wasn't the knife that had killed him. They had broken his neck, just like I had worried they would.

"Did you say immune?" Dante asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"That isn't possible, Signore."

"I tested it out myself. Nothing Divine could hurt him. He didn't even feel it."

Dante stared down at the dead man. "Do you know if he had children?"

"He said the Nicht Creidem used him as a stud for a while until he fizzled out. He said some of the kids survived, but most of them didn't make it. Is there a point?"

Dante looked thoughtful and distant. "Probably not," he said at last. "It is of little concern right now."

"He was the only one who could see Rebecca," I said. "I don't know how we'll ever find her now."

"That should be easy," Rose said. "Find Abaddon."

"Yes, but I mean when she tries to run. She's too dangerous to be having her way with the mortal world."
 

I looked at the third-eye on Bradford's forehead. "Dante, do you know where to find a ring or a necklace or anything that has the third-eye on it?"

"Not offhand. I can consult with Alichino."

"Yeah. Go and do that. Make sure you write it down. He's been worried about you, you know."

"The demon? He simply tolerates me."