Blackthorne (The Brotherhood of the Gate Book 1) (37 page)

“Come, my pets,” he screamed to the sky as he sprinted for the gate.

“You have to hold them off,” Rhi called to Pearl as she turned and desperately began to run her hands over the gate, looking for an unseen niche.

“What the
hell
are you doing?” Pearl demanded as she deftly cut the head off the first demon to appear directly in front of them.

“To destroy the gate, it has to be opened.” There. The niche was under her fingertips, disguised in the ornate carvings of the gate. The skull would be a perfect fit.

“Did you
see
what is on the other side of that thing?” Pearl demanded, as she stood against Rhi’s back in a defensive stance. “You do know that I haven’t a shot in hell against the rush of Manius Blackthorne, one of the greatest knights ever trained by the Brotherhood? I knew I should have taken more fencing lessons.”

“Trust me.”

Ellie Mae leaped at Manius’ face as Pearl parried his first blow and her sword shattered. The man brushed aside the dog with a contemptuous wave of his hand, the red sparks from his movement singeing the animal’s fur. The great hound flew across the room and hit the wall with a yelp of pain. She collapsed to the floor, stunned.

The greatest madam west of the Mississippi stood weaponless between Manius and his prey. Rhi heard her dog’s yelp of pain but dared not look back. She read the runes inscribed on the skull slowly, watching the crystal begin to glow with the same sullen red glow as the gate itself.

As a demons poured over the sides of the newly opened pit like cockroaches, Manius raised his sword above the auburn haired woman to strike. “Pearl, you have no idea how much this is going to hurt me. First your sister, now you.”

Closing her eyes, Pearl braced herself for the blow, knowing her power was enough to stop a bullet but not enough to stop the spelled blade. She gathered her essence up anyway, balling her energies into her heart and glowing blue eyes. The explosion from her death might not fry the bastard but it would at least sauté him a bit.

A deafening clang forced Pearl to look up.

Blackthorne’s great sword was above her head and he was there, catching her deathblow on his blade. He shoved his brother away with a surge of power that succeeded in throwing the other man across the room.

“You left this,” he said gruffly. Her ornate little sword dropped onto the ground beside her. “Take care of Rhi for me.” He glanced back at the girl, who stood with her back to him, oblivious to everyone and everything but the skull in her hands. “Goodbye, Raven.”

In a crouch, Manius awaited his brother’s charge. He swung his sword to and fro, the sharp blade glittering in the dull light of the gate. Behind him, the knights of the Brotherhood dropped into the pit to engage the demons, swords flashing. “Is it finally time for you to try to kill me, Blackie? Did you get permission?” he taunted. His eyes burned red with hatred as he rose into the air to surge forward again. Blackthorne rose as well, his sword flaming to blue.

Roaring, with mindless fury, the brothers met in a shower of sparks. They hacked at each other with the blinding speed of those who have tasted the blood of a demon.

In front of the gate, Pearl held back the tide, joined by Molay and two of his knights. Rhi could hear the clash of their blades but could do nothing. There was a roar as the green dragon dove into the pit again with Pam on its back, alone. She was armed to the teeth and she landed in a fury of gunfire, destroying a dozen of the fiends climbing down the wall. She leaped off the dragon to join Rhi at the door and dumped the backpack and the saber beside her friend.

Rhi, not breaking the flow of her chanting, reached down to retrieve the backpack and slid its heavy weight onto a shoulder. She completed her spell, slid the skull into place with a click and reached down for her sword.

“Pam, get the hell out of here…and get my dog please,” she snapped at her friend as an ominous creak rattled through the nerves of all of the humans and semi-humans in the pit. A hairpin crack appeared in the gate.

“I’m not leaving you,” the other woman screamed into the hot wind that blew over them.

“I’m no longer human, I can take the fire. You can’t.” Pulling the skull from its slot and stuffing it in the backpack, Rhi grabbed Pearl by the arm where she was fighting and pulled her back. “Pearl, get Pam and everyone you can out of here.”

The realization that the gate was slowly opening rolled over all those present in that moment. Understanding the danger immediately, Pearl grabbed Pam and pushed her onto the back of the dragon, climbing up behind her.

“I’m not leaving her!”

“She has her dragon to slay and we have ours, girlfriend,” Pearl said grimly as the dragon took again to the sky.

It was only after they had flown out of the pit that Pam realized that she had not retrieved the dog, and by then it was too late.

Below, Molay and his knights held off the encroaching demons, their backs to the heat of the opening gate.

“This is madness but whatever you are going to do, child, do it quickly before the Gate is fully opened,” Molay called back. Rhi waited patiently for the gate to open wide enough to allow her to squeeze through. Reddened hands and faces appeared in the crack, and she shuddered at the thought of their touch.

The Blackthorne brothers circled each other in the center of the pit, both beaten, cut, and bruised.

“You’re a bit rusty, brother,” Blackthorne said, holding his sword in a defensive position.

“It’s this age I’m afraid,” replied Manius. “Channel surfing does seem to have the effect of making one’s behind a bit soft.” He stepped into his brother’s boundaries, unleashing a series of strokes that bit into the other man in several places between the plates of his modern armor.

A flaming demon flew past them, having squeezed its way out of the gate. It streamed past Rhi and the knights guarding her.

“What’s she doing?” He took his attention off his opponent for a split second to try to see her through the chaos.

“She is doing exactly what I wanted her to do, Blackie,” screamed his brother in triumph as he rushed at him.

Blackthorne felt a sudden, biting pain in his upper chest and was forced to release his sword, dropping to his knees.

“Damn. That is the second time in two days that I’ve ruined a perfectly good uniform,” he said in amazement to nobody in particular as he fell onto his side. Behind him, one of the huge, horned man-demons that had fought its way past the other knights kicked its sword free of his body and raised its weapon to strike again.

“No. I want this my way.” Manius crouched beside his brother and clutched his arm. “Watch her, Jack. She’ll open the gate for me and then, after the skull is infused with the power of Hell itself, I’ll take it. And being the noble little girl we all know and love, she will close the door for me, Jack, locking herself in Hell and away from you forever.”

Blackthorne turned his head toward the gate. He had a clear view of Rhi fighting her way into it.

“No.” He tried to call to her but his words came out in a whisper.

“That’s my girl.” Manius yelled triumphantly, looking down at Blackthorne lying on the floor.

“Who’s the winner now, great knight?” he asked as he turned his back on his brother to run toward the gate, the huge demon lord joining him at his side.

∙
•
∙

The pit was filled with various pitched battles between the knights and the demons Manius had called up from the earth. But the only battle he was interested in was the one at the front of the gate, where Jacques De Molay and two of his men protected Rhiannon Brennan’s back. He called his creatures to himself as he sprinted across the floor and tore into the knights in a flash of red light and steel.

The ferocity of Manius’ attack on Rhi’s protectors and the fall of Blackthorne enabled him to get behind their line. He made a beeline toward Rhi, who was shouldering her way into the gate, past scores of panicked demons and sprits of the damned. The escaped demonic horde poured out of the widening crack and up the walls of the cavern like a lightning fast fungus. Manius beat and battled his way toward her as she got close enough to slip inside.

The plans of Manius Blackthorne were about to come to fruition. For decades he had planned and plotted. Roaming the world in spirit form, he had gathered enough knowledge of the skull to empower the relic and open the gate himself. But he didn’t fancy closing it from the other side.

»»•««

From above, the light of the streetlamps illuminated the streets enough for Pam to observe that the battle for the town was going badly. Manius’ black dragon, wings tattered from some variation of attack, was performing strafing runs on the buildings, succeeding only in catching the rooftops on fire. Pam grinned. In the rebuilding of Cripple Creek after the Great Fire, fireproof brick had been the rule of the day.

“Got any ideas?” Pearl shouted in her ear.

“Yes, I do,” she yelled and patted the gun that hung over her shoulder. “It looks like that bad boy has been hit once and I think I can get lucky. I’m gonna let you off to make hay in the street while I take a shot at it. Is that sword of yours sharp and possibly magically endowed? I’m going to try something I saw in a movie once.”

Pearl grimaced and handed her the small sword. “You watch way too many movies.”

The dragon they rode on flew low, close enough for Pearl to gracefully jump to the ground with her gun in hand. She instantly began to shout orders at the Cripple Creek regulars battling demons in the street as Pam and her mount took once more to the sky.

“Shit, I’m cold… Okay, big guy. Let’s show this bastard what you can do,” Pam whispered as they rose into the air. Desperately holding on with one gloved hand, she took three useless shots at the other beast with her pistol. The bullets sparked off the dragon’s scales. “Come on, you pussy.”

Using her knees as guides, Pam steered her dragon toward the empty reaches of the backside of Pike’s Peak. Enraged by the bullets and seemingly understanding the insult, the other dragon roared and followed.

I wonder if NORAD in Cheyenne Mountain will pick up this critter?
Pam wondered to herself as she flew through the whirling clouds of snow. With a snort of disgust, her dragon avoided the periodic blasts of fire that originated from their pursuer. At the top of the peak and without prompting, the green dragon did an about face in midair. Pam let loose a barrage of bullets directly into the black dragon’s face. Overconfident and surprised, the black dragon did not throw up any kind of shield against the attack.

Roaring, it plummeted to the rocks below them, tearing at its steaming eyes.

The smaller green dragon alighted nearby and Pam leaped to the ground, Pearl’s sword in hand. Fire erupted from the wounded dragon’s mouth and scattered around them, lighting up the side of the mountain. Pam scampered between the claws of the beast and under its flailing head, as close to its serpentine neck as she dared. The gigantic claws stuck at her, ripping through the leg and arm of her battle fatigues. Bloody and weak, she painfully raised the sword over her head and brought it down with all of the force she could muster on the softer looking scales at its neck. Blue fire exploded out of the sword when it came into contact with the unshielded scales. It completely severed the head of the dragon in a second, something Pearl had not been able to do in the air above the Duncan Farm. She managed to leap back out of the reach of the dragon’s writhing death throes.

Pam slowly walked over to where her own dragon sat patiently waiting. She leaned against its wall of green scales to scratch her dragon’s head. “I think I’ll call you Jethro.”

»»•««

Rhi could hear the brothers battling behind her, over the riot of noise that assailed her ears at the gate. Blocking the clanging of the swords from her mind, she kicked and beat her way in between the damned and their more skittish keepers, all of whom were vigorously fleeing their incarceration.

“This is worse than a white sale at Dillard’s,” she muttered between clenched teeth after a huge, scaled claw raked across her thigh.

Use the skull, dummy.
A soft voice spoke in her head.

Raven? Are you in there?
Rhi asked in surprise.

Of course I’m in here. I’m you. Use the skull; it will control the demons and the damned.

A sudden realization shook her to the bone. Manius wanted
her
to open the gate. Not to let the forces of Hell loose, but to activate the skull. He had no problem raising the forces of darkness. He just had a problem controlling them. And he was arrogant enough to think that he would be able to take the skull from her and get her to graciously close the gate behind him while he made his escape. Jackass.

She yanked the skull back out of the pack and held it high.

“Burn, baby, burn.”

A flare of white light exploded from the skull, instantly frying every demon within a ten-foot diameter of it.

“Freeze. Don’t move.” she screamed the command to the demons in and around the pit. Unbeknownst to her, her voice carried for miles, borne on the power of the skull. The battles in downtown Cripple Creek, in the graveyard and in the pit came to a screeching halt as every demon stopped, frozen in their tracks. The Cripple Creek militia and the knights continued to hack at the frozen creatures, beheading them and gunning them down where they stood.

The sudden stillness was as horrific for Rhi. She could still hear the clang of steel behind her.

“Rhi, stop.” Blackthorne’s voice was weak. She could barely hear him. She choked back a sob and, not looking back, she shielded herself in the white light of the skull and walked into the depths of Hell itself.

The huge grotto on the other side of the gate was a nightmare of unending fire and despair. She was on a ledge at the edge of an endless pit of lava, fire, and the writhing bodies of the damned. She couldn’t see the other side, but lining the walls that she could see were a series of bridges and ledges, supporting a bizarre variety of buildings. Castles mixed with modern skyscrapers and suburban strip malls as the fiends of Hell went about the business of tormenting the wicked. Other gates could be glimpsed scattered over the wall, like bright windows looking into the realm of the living.