Welsh Road (The Depravity Chronicles) (20 page)

“I know I have
sinned against God, my son, but I will make up for all of them.”

William laughed,
and the sound was truly one of the most terrifying things Sam had ever heard.
And he had heard some seriously messed up shit.

“God?” William
repeated. “Who said anything about God? The sins of which I am speaking have
nothing to do with this God you speak of. You certainly never introduced me to
God when I was a child. Thank you for that gift.”

“Wh…what?
I…William?” Jackson was stumbling over his words, unable to speak clearly.

“Go ahead, my
child,” Nina said to William. “It is time.”

“You shall reap
what you have sewn, Father…in Hell.” William opened his mouth to reveal
impressively large – and sharp – incisors. He plunged his teeth into Jackson’s
neck, severing his carotid artery and feasting upon the river of blood that
flowed from the wound. William stood up, pulling his father’s body with him.
When he had drained Jackson’s body of his blood, William tossed him nearly ten
feet across the room. Then he turned his attention to Sam.

“Shit,” Sam
groaned.

He sprinted for
the door.

* * * * * *

2

“That was fun,”
Jena said, her voice thick with sarcasm, as she and the others watched the
demons burn. Every few seconds a large black flame would surge above the blaze.
“Do you think that’s the demon’s spirit trying to escape?”

“It is likely
that they have already gone to the Underworld,” Anish said, scratching his
chin.

“So in other
words you don’t know,” Jena countered. Anish just shrugged. She stared blankly
at the ashy remains of the Mantis Demons, hoping that something – anything –
would trigger her memory. She wanted desperately to remember what had happened
last night during her blackout.

“Are you sure
there isn’t anything else you can tell me about last night? You know, when you
found me wandering around in the woods?”

“Nothing that
would be helpful at this point,” Anish said.

“Why don’t you
let her be the judge of that,” Simon said.

“Is this really
the best time to take a trip down memory lane?” Anna asked, trying to push the
group forward. “I don’t mean to be rude, but the sun is setting and we still
need to find this farmhouse before anything happens to Nicholas.”

“I realize
that,” Jena said, an edge of frustration in her voice. “But if I can remember
how I singlehandedly sent a demon back to Hell, it might come in handy when we
face Nina.”

“Very well,”
Anish said. “Last night, when I was gathering wood, the spirits of Welsh Road
spoke of an accident. I would later discover, of course, that it was Nicholas’
Mustang. In any case, the air was thick with the presence of magic. It was a
strange combination of both darkness and light, as though there had been a
struggle of some kind.”

“Between me and
the Mantis Demon,” Jena said.

“Indeed,” Anish
answered. “I performed a brief incantation so that I could see the residual
energy that had been left behind by whatever battle had occurred. I wasn’t sure
it would work at first as I had no way of knowing where it had taken place.
Fortunately, when you left the scene of the accident, you walked directly
toward my house.”

“That was a
wonderful stroke of luck,” Matthew said. But he quickly shook his head. “Or,
perhaps it wasn’t luck at all.”

“What do you
mean?” Jena asked. Matthew gestured for Anish to continue.

“The trail of
energy led me to your location.”

“I guess I was
the lucky one, then, that you found me as I was moving around in the forest in
the middle of the night.”

“Well, that was
an untruth,” Anish said.

Jena just stared
at him.

“Okay, I’ll ask
then,” Trevor jumped in. “What do you mean, untruth?”

“You were not,
in fact, wandering around,” Anish said.

“Then why would
you say that I was?” Jena asked.

“For a few
reasons,” Anish responded. “First, it helped to explain why you ended up so far
away from the car. Second, it was better that I say you were wandering around
in a daze than to reveal what you were actually doing.”

“Oh, Jesus,”
Jena said. “Do I even want to know?”

“You were
engaged in some pretty serious magic,” Anish said. “As I was following the
proverbial breadcrumbs that led me to you, the breadcrumbs were getting larger
and much brighter. It was then I realized that although the battle may have
been over, someone was still performing magic. When I first saw you, you were
looking up at the sky and chanting in Latin. Energy was flowing from you in
massive blue waves.”

“Does any of
this sound familiar?” Simon asked.

“Shit, I didn’t
even know I knew Latin!” Jena said with a laugh. “Why do you think I was
staring at the sky?”

“Well, it wasn’t
the sky you were focusing on exactly,” Anish said. “When I got closer to where
you were standing, I realized that you were looking at something specific. The
Mantis Demon you had killed was hovering several feet above the ground,
enveloped in a brilliant blue light.”

“Wicked,” Trevor
said.

“What was I
doing?” Jena asked. None of this sounded even remotely familiar.

“To be honest, I
wasn’t entirely sure at first. That is, until I saw the Mantis Demon’s spirit
being drawn from its physical form.”

“You mean it was
still alive?” Simon asked.

“Indeed,” Anish
affirmed. “Once you fully separated it from its body, you trapped the spirit in
some form of bubble. Following that, you chanted a few more words and the
demon’s body exploded, covering you in blood and pieces of its innards.”

“Lovely,” Jena
said. “I bet the demon was pleased.”

“To say the
least,” Anish said. “Its spirit struggled to free itself when the vessel was
annihilated, but it could not break free of the magical cage in which you
imprisoned it. Then, without warning, you removed the barriers. The demon
attempted to possess you several times, but each time it got within a few
inches of your body it was deflected by a dazzling flash of light. You laughed,
then lifted your hands into the air and slowly began to spread them apart. As
you did, it stretched the spirit in unimaginable ways. More spectacular yet, a spinning
vortex appeared on the ground beneath the demon. Its spirit was pulled downward
into the pit, and as you slowly clapped your hands together, the portal closed
with a thunderous sound. The blast threw you backward several feet. You landed
unconscious at my feet. At that point I picked you up and carried you back to
my house. Then I took you to the hospital and, well, here we stand.”

“Whoa,” was all
Jena could manage to say at first.

“I wonder where
you sent the demon,” Trevor said.

“I wonder why
you don’t remember,” Simon added.

“Is there any
way you can
make
me remember?” Jena asked.

“I don’t know if
that’s a good idea,” Anish said. “You may have blocked it for a reason. And I
have a feeling that at the moment when you need it the most, everything will
come flooding back to you.”

“That’s what I’m
afraid of,” Jena whispered, more to herself than anyone in particular. “Do you
have any idea how I did all of that?”

“I have seen
many things,” Anish said soberly. “But I have not seen anything like that.”

“We need to get
moving,” Anna said.

“I think that’s
a good idea,” Anish agreed.

“Let’s hope we
don’t have any other distractions,” Matthew said.

“True that,”
Trevor seconded.

The moment
Trevor said that, they heard something running toward them.

“So much for
that,” Simon said as he lifted the Berettas and aimed toward the sound of
crunching leaves and twigs.

POW!

“Jesus, Trevor!”
Anna cried. “What have I told you about shooting first and asking questions
later?”

“Jesus Christ!
Don’t shoot!” a male voice hollered in the distance.

“That voice
sounds familiar,” Matthew said.

“That’s because
we know him!” Anna cried, lowering her Winchester and squinting into the
twilight of the trees. She could barely make out a figure sprinting through two
massive tree trunks. “Sam?”

Before he could
respond, Sam got swept up in a hunting net and was unexpectedly fifty feet
above the forest floor. The group ran to help him.

Could anything
else go wrong?
Jena
thought to herself.

Not a good
question to ask
,
a voice said in her head. Believing it was Anish, she turned to glare at him.
It totally irritated her when he invaded her thoughts. She was, however,
impressed that he could speak to her telepathically. The only problem was that
Anish was trying to assist the others in getting Sam down from the net.

This time, when
Jena spoke in her mind, she attempted to project it toward Anish.
Anish, is
that you?

No
. This time the
voice was crystal clear, but it didn’t sound like Anish. It sounded remarkably like
her own. But then again, don’t the voices in your head always sound like your
own?

Oh, Christ. How
bad a sign is it that I’m debating what the voices in my head should sound
like? I’m, like, totally losing my shit.

No, you’re
thinking quite clearly
, the voice said to her in a soothing tone.
I’ve
been speaking to you for many years. It is only now, as you come into your
power, that you can hear me.

Jena felt
mentally naked and completely violated. Was this person able to read every
thought she had? Was it possible to somehow block it?

You mustn’t
attempt to block me
,
the voice said.
Your life may depend on me.

Who are you?
Jena demanded.

What a silly
question
,
the voice responded with a bright, clear laugh.
Who am I? I am you.

* * * * * *

3

“Let him go,”
Nina said to William as she watched Sam King bolt out the front door.

“But…” William
complained, but she quickly cut him off.

“Do you recall
what happened the last time you whined?” she hissed. “If you’re going to be of
any use to me, I need you to focus.”

Nina rarely
questioned herself, but she may have gotten carried away. The pure beauty and
joy she experienced by having a son kill his father was just too fabulous to
pass up. But the timing downright sucked. There was too much at stake to
jeopardize the success of her plans. She decided to shrug it off. If William
became a liability, she would simply decommission him. It wouldn’t be the first
time she had to euthanize one of her pets.

“Wake the boy,”
Nina said. She found that she liked Nicholas’ spunk. It was understandable that
Jena would be attracted to him, and vice versa. It was critical that Jena not access
her powers prior to the initiation of the ritual. That could destroy any chance
Nina had of achieving her goals. She had waited far too long to fuck it up now.
Out of the blue, Nina heard something that sounded like a child slurping soup
from a giant spoon.

“This is
so
good,”
William said as he feasted on one of the corpses by the altar.

“Are you
freaking kidding me?” Nina moaned. With a flick of her wrist, William flew
through the air and crashed into the wall opposite the altar. Rather than
falling to the floor, Nina held him against the wall. He struggled to free
himself from her telekinetic grasp.

“Let me go,
witch!” William screamed.

Nina grinned as
she twisted her hand, in turn breaking William’s wrist. Bone pierced the
surface of his skin, causing him to wail in pain.

“Well, at least
you woke our guest of honor,” Nina said as Nicholas began to stir. “Now,
William. Can I trust you to behave yourself? Or do I need to kill you and be
done with it?”

“I will obey,
Master,” William promised.

“None of this
‘Master’ bullshit,” Nina said. “I’ve found that only people who lack
self-confidence need titles. Now, go fetch me some animals from that bedroom
over there.” William crashed to the floor and quickly crawled across the room
to do as he was told.

“Would it be too
much to ask for you to stop knocking me out?” Nicholas asked as he tried to
stand. “It’s getting really old.”

“You’ve got
spirit kid, I’ll give you that,” Nina said with a smile.

“What happened to
him?” Nicholas asked as he stumbled across the body of Commissioner Jackson.

“There were some
fatal flaws in his family dynamic,” Nina said. “Talk about putting the fun in
dys
fun
ctional.”