Daywalker chronicles com.., p.60
Daywalker Chronicles Complete Series Boxed Set, page 60
My right hand broke through the material. One of the springs scraped my right hand. I was probably bleeding. I didn’t care.
Footsteps approached from the hall.
“Go away!” I shouted.
“What happened?” Father Albert asked.
I stilled, taking deep shaky breaths. I couldn’t hyperventilate. I didn’t need to breathe, but it was all I could do—exist, breathe, and cry. The only other thing I could do was scream. I didn’t have the energy.
A hand touched my back. A part of me wanted to grab the priest’s wrist, sink in my fangs, and drain him dry. He wasn’t the enemy, though. I just wanted to take out my rage on something—and he was there.
It was all I could do to restrain myself. “They killed Dracula. They took Dylan and the wolves…”
“The demons?” Father Albert asked, his hand rubbing up and down my spine.
I shook my head. “Not exactly. I got rid of most of them. They have Sloth and Wrath. They raised Babylon.”
“They raised Babylon?”
“Nebuchadnezzar in the fucking flesh. Thousands of dead soldiers. Even the city. They raised it all. The Van Helsings shot Enkidu and now he’s with them which means so are Dylan and his pack. I lost everything.”
I heard the schoolhouse doors open and close. Footsteps approached from down the hall. I turned to see Alexander and Reginald, their faces devoid of expression and flush of color.
“Why did you two shoot Enkidu?” I cried.
Alexander sighed. “We thought he was going to kill you.”
“He was helping us! You knew the plan!”
“We thought he was Marduk,” Reginald muttered. “He looked just like him.”
The schoolhouse doors opened again. This time, I didn’t hear footsteps. Morty was supposed to meet us there but he’d probably use his cloak and either walk in or take a portal.
I sprung out of my bed and pushed my way past the Van Helsings. I gasped when I saw them.
Dylan, Logan, and Ian. All three were naked and in human form.
I ran to them and hugged Dylan. “How did you—”
“He released us.”
“What do you mean, he released you?”
Dylan shook his head. “I felt the power leave my body. We aren’t werewolves anymore. He sent us away and just like that, we were back in the city, naked.”
“You’re sure he cured you? He commanded the wolf out of you?”
“Pretty sure. My senses are dull. I can’t hear like I did before. My sense of smell is like it used to be when I was human.”
“It might just be temporary,” Ian added. “Can Enkidu really cure werewolves?”
I shook my head. “Supposedly, he can. I don’t know and I don’t care. I’m just glad you’re here.”
I held onto Dylan as tight as I could. With my ear against his chest, I could hear his heartbeat. If it was anyone else, the sound might have made me thirsty. Dylan’s heart warmed mine. “I thought I lost you.”
A bright light flashed in the room. I knew what it was. There was nothing else that cast that same golden hue.
“We should probably get dressed,” Dylan said.
I nodded at him and kissed his cheek. I turned to Morty, who stood next to my bed.
“Are you going to get the last two demons or not?” Morty asked.
I shook my head. “I can’t go astral. That damn crystal shocked me back into the real world.”
Morty grinned. “The crystal is tapped out. They used all the power they had to raise the city. At least one of the demons is in Nebuchadnezzar. I’m pretty sure it’s Wrath.”
“What about Sloth?” I asked.
“I saw his form enter Enkidu. The werewolf isn’t a god. He can’t dominate a demon.”
“You’re saying that Sloth was the one who used Enkidu’s power to free Dylan and the other wolves?”
Morty nodded. “From what I could see, I’m pretty sure that’s what happened.”
I took a deep breath. “He didn’t betray us after all.”
“It might not be long before they recharge that crystal. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think leaving Wrath in the control of a Babylonian king who has visions of raising his old empire to prominence again is a good idea.”
“How can we help?” Reginald asked.
I shook my head. “You did enough.”
“Are you sure it’s Sloth in Enkidu?” Alexander asked. “I thought Wrath was within him before.”
Morty nodded. “Wrath left Enkidu. I saw it with my own eyes. Nebuchadnezzar released Sloth and they switched places.”
I pinched my chin. “I touched Enkidu before. Back in Hades, Dracula and I rode him back to the boatman. My power didn’t affect Wrath.”
“That’s probably because your lunar power is based on the moon.”
I clenched my fists. “We aren’t going to exorcise Sloth. If he’s really controlling Enkidu, does that mean that Wrath was controlling him before?”
Morty shrugged. “There’s no way to know. It’s possible.”
“I told you!” Reginald piped up. “He looked like he was about to attack you. That’s why we shot him.”
“But Sloth is controlling him now. Why wouldn’t he use Dylan and his pack to fight?”
“Maybe he was saving them,” Morty suggested. “He saw Dracula fall. Sloth knew how much Dylan and the wolves meant to you.”
“A demon had compassion?” Father Albert laughed and shook his head as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Just when you thought you’d seen it all.”
“Sloth might be the closest thing we have to someone on the inside. Let’s exorcise Wrath from Nebuchadnezzar.”
“If you have to get close enough to touch Nebuchadnezzar, isn’t that also close enough to kill him?” Alexander mused.
I nodded. “It should be. Marduk and other gods are still in New Babylon.”
Morty chuckled. “New Babylon?”
“Have a better name for it? The point is that if Marduk is there, and he brought back Nebuchadnezzar once, he’ll probably do it again.”
Morty pinched his chin. “Not necessarily. I’ll reap his soul. So long as I have him, Marduk can’t take him back.”
“I thought you couldn’t reap souls that weren’t on your schedule.”
Morty shrugged. “My scythe still works. When I go back to get Zoey I’ll bring back an Archeus crystal. I can’t give Nebuchadnezzar to the boatman. We can deposit his soul in another golem. Keep him prisoner. Interrogate him. Find out what you can about how to stop the Babylonian gods, how to defeat his soldiers.”
I took a deep breath. “This isn’t going to be easy. I can go astral and punch out the golem’s heart.”
“And I can reap Nebuchadnezzar the second you do.”
“It should exorcise Wrath at the same time. Presuming that Wrath is still possessing him.”
“How can we help?” Reginald asked.
I shook my head. “Maybe you shouldn’t.”
“Bullshit,” Alexander said. “At the very least, we can create a distraction. Maybe we did the right thing before, maybe we didn’t. But we want to stop Babylon as much as you do.”
I nodded. “Fine. Draw out as many soldiers as you can. I only need a few seconds to kill Nebuchadnezzar so I can go astral again.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Going into a fight without Dracula felt weird. It was like it used to feel when I first came to New Orleans and had to go to battle without Zoey at my side. I still had Morty. I had the Van Helsings who, until recently, were my enemies. Father Albert was nice but wasn’t the fighting type.
Dylan, Logan, and Ian couldn’t fight this time. If they were really human again, totally free of their werewolf curse, they were as vulnerable as anyone. They had to stay at the schoolhouse.
My head was swirling. Talk about a swing of emotions. Total grief to elation when Dylan and the wolves returned. Then, the sober realization that Dracula was still dead. He was really gone…
It didn’t feel like he was gone. I expected him to come walking through those schoolhouse doors at any moment, crack a bad joke, and pop open a bottle of blood. It wasn’t going to happen. I knew it wouldn’t. I saw Dracula turn to ash. Still, in my world, where dead kings and empires could return from the dead maybe Dracula could, too.
Then again, Dracula was a vampire. He’d probably gone to Hades. In the past, I’d seen a dead vampire or two make their way back to the land of the living. When the undead became undead again, are they un-undead?
It was a vain hope, but it was hope, no less. When your best friends are reapers, death feels different. Maybe I’d still have to mourn—eventually. For now, though, I had to bury my emotions. There was a time to mourn. I clung to hope and rage. That was the unlikely combination I needed to go after Nebuchadnezzar and Wrath.
The Van Helsings headed out first in their large four-wheel-drive truck. The waters were too deep in the swamp for them to drive across, but if they could fire some shots into Babylon from a distance, enough to draw attention, it might be enough to give me the two-to-three seconds I’d need to get to Nebuchadnezzar in the astral plane and do my thing. Morty could handle the soul abduction. That was his thing. I was about breaking hearts—literally punching them out of a dead man’s golem’s chest.
Morty raised his hood and I touched my brooch. We ran on the astral plane back to the swamp. The towers, fortresses, and walls of Babylon now stood where the marsh had before. It was probably three or four times larger than it was when I left. I didn’t know an Archeus crystal could do something like that. If the celestial Babylon was pure energy, I suppose it made sense. All Marduk had to do was a magical copy and paste. Or, in this case, a cut and paste. That was why the celestial Babylon was missing when we were in the void. Marduk had channeled its energies along with the spirits that resided there into his crystal.
I needed this to work. Exorcising Wrath and abducting Nebuchadnezzar might not be total victory. New Babylon would still be there. We’d have to contend with an empire with aspirations of world domination sooner rather than later. Still, this was a necessary step. It meant I could avenge Dracula’s death and deal a serious blow to Babylon. Cut off the head, right? Nebuchadnezzar was a king. Maybe he wasn’t the only one. But he was a pivotal player.
Morty and I moved through the city. It was striking how magnificent a city forged from the crystal could be. It was complete with the Hanging Gardens, tall towers, and temples. If a god could be invoked through a temple, and Babylon had worshippers, it was only a matter of time before any Babylonian gods who weren’t already in New Babylon would arrive.
I still had connections with the President. He was a vampire, after all. Maybe I could convince him to nuke the place. That was a battle for another day. Seeing the city up close, and all the soldiers who still held their javelins was both impressive and terrifying. They’d need to upgrade to modern weaponry if they really had aspirations for taking over the world. Javelins might be deadly to vampires. They weren’t any match for modern artillery. Then again, there was no telling what powers the Babylonian gods brought to the table. I suspected I’d find out sooner rather than later.
It didn’t take long to find Nebuchadnezzar. After we passed through the Ishtar Gate, we found him in his gold brocade robe standing on top of Babylon’s tallest tower. He was surrounded by soldiers.
Gunshots were fired in the distance. The soldiers in the city moved out. That was the plan. The Van Helsings couldn’t take down an entire golem army, but the soldiers around Nebuchadnezzar also mobilized. He sent them out to rally his army. There were still a few bodyguards around the ancient king. It didn’t matter. I only needed a couple of seconds. I’d finish off Wrath and Nebuchadnezzar before the imperial guard even knew what had happened.
I glanced at Morty. He stood in his astral form with his scythe ready.
I plunged my fist into Nebuchadnezzar’s chest. He didn’t react. I was still astral. I squeezed my hand around where his heart was supposed to be. Even a golem needed a heart I supposed. If it didn’t, well, this was going to be messy regardless.
I touched my brooch and clutched onto the throbbing muscle that must have been Nebuchadnezzar’s heart. I yanked my hand out through his rib cage even as the lunar power flowed from my hand to exorcise the demon.
“Take that, motherfuckers!”
Nebuchadnezzar gasped. The soldiers surrounding us screamed in a language I didn’t know. I tapped my brooch just in time to see Morty swipe his scythe across the golem’s body, and the light that blasted from Nebuchadnezzar’s eyes as Wrath was cast into the void.
Morty’s scythe glowed with the golden energy that indicated he’d harvested a human soul.
“Let’s get out of here,” I urged. “Before they’re keen to what’s happening and can fire up that Archeus crystal again.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Morty chuckled.
He took off, and I followed. We ran back past the Van Helsings, who were hauling ass back to their truck. When they shot at Babylon it was like poking a beehive. There wasn’t much I could do to help them. Thankfully, ancient Babylonians didn’t have automobiles. These golems were faster than regular humans, but not as fast as those possessed by the gods before. They couldn’t outrun a truck.
I still held the golem’s heart in my hand. When we got back to the schoolhouse, I rematerialized in my bedroom. Dylan was there along with the priest. Dylan was putting new sheets on my bed. He was a sweetheart like that.
“Is that what I think it is?” Dylan asked.
I shrugged and took a sip from the superior vena cava like a straw. The blood gurgled within the heart like the last of a soda at the bottom of a fountain drink.
I licked my lips. “Golem blood. Sort of like diet soda. Tastes almost like the original, but isn’t quite as satisfying.”
Dylan gulped. “Please use mouthwash and brush your fangs before you kiss me with that mouth.”
I smirked. “I always do.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Father Albert took care of Dylan, Logan, and Ian. He was making pancakes for them in the old schoolhouse basement. It was almost morning, after all. Morty offered to go back to Hades alone. All that he needed to do was tell Euryale that we were ready to bring Zoey back.
I considered it for about two seconds. That was all the time it took for me to realize that I needed to accompany him. I was the one who brought Zoey to New Orleans to help. It only felt right that I should be there when her body broke free from the gorgon. It had been a little while since we exorcised the demons. That meant Zoey had spent more time than she should have in the void. She was probably eager to get home to her baby girl. I couldn’t blame her. We might have an undead empire to contend with, but I couldn’t ask Zoey to stay in New Orleans.
There are some things more important than saving the world. Being a good mother was one of those things.
With Morty at my side, we didn’t get the same glares from the reapers that we endured the last time Drac and I strolled through the underworld. Not having a giant werewolf with us this time probably helped, too. Mostly, though, any stares we got this time were because Morty was the lord of the underworld. When the boss shows up, you stand up straight and act busy. People only stared for a half second before they started acting like busybodies.
We also didn’t earn any scorn when we hopped aboard Roy’s fishing boat, cutting in line in front of the other reapers.
“Is that a soul for me?” Roy asked.
Morty shook his head. “This one isn’t for harvest. I’ll hold on to this one for a while.”
“A snack?” Roy raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t eat souls, Roy. No matter what you might have heard.”
Roy shrugged. “Heard they tasted like chicken. I’ve always been curious, you know. Not that I’m a cannibal or anything. It’s just hard not to wonder what one’s own flavor is.”
I tilted my head. “It’s not that hard. I never once considered the taste of humans until I became a vampire. Now it’s just par for the course. And the flesh is just the wrapping. Doesn’t taste like much. It’s the juicy insides I’m after.”
Morty rolled his eyes. “That’s so gross.”
“Not for me! Nothing beats a good warm sip of O-negative on a cold winter’s day.”
I wasn’t really in the mood for small talk, but it beat the awkward silence that meant I’d have to think about Dracula and the looming threat of New Babylon.
Morty disembarked first. He extended his hand and helped me ashore then put two fingers in his mouth and whistled.
The next thing we knew, a buggy appeared. Where there should have been horses were demons. Six of them, all harnessed.
I clapped my hands. “I know you guys!”
One of them belched. That was gluttony. Another one had a hard-on and couldn’t take his eyes off my bosom. Probably lust. Could have been any dude who ever hit on me in the French Quarter if it wasn’t for the fact that he was one of the Seven Deadlies. I didn’t know which ones the others were, but they were back under Athena’s control. That was all that mattered.
We climbed into the back of the buggy. The wheels squeaked as the demons pulled us across the charred terrain of Hades. When the buggy stopped, we hopped out and crossed the bridge leading to Athena’s castle.
We entered the throne room, where I expected to find Athena.
Someone else was sitting in her massage chair as the mechanical fingers kneaded at his back.
“Dracula?”
Drac’s eyes widened. “Sienna! I suspected I’d see you here soon! I remembered our plan!”
I ran to him and hugged him as he allowed the chair to keep working on his back and extremities. “I knew you were probably here. I didn’t think I’d see you.”
Dracula closed his eyes. “Athena likes me. I think I’m going to spend eternity right here in this chair.”
I snorted and grabbed his hand. “Come on! All we need is a golem and you can come back home!”
Dracula pressed a button on a corded remote, stopping his chair. He stood and grabbed my shoulders. “I’ve lived long enough. My place is here. Besides, if you have to go to hell and the queen of the place takes a liking to you, you don’t turn that down. This isn’t hell. It’s my heaven.”
