Feros and the Underworld Prince (41 page)

“
Nagi, I need you to help me out by telling Cheza to take Ryuji, Naia, and Natasha to the house and tell her to stay there with them. If you could help keep them safe, I’d appreciate it.” I ask of her.

“
Sure Cole, but what’s going on?” Nagi inquires.

“
Addie’s been kidnapped and I’m going to rescue her, but I’m afraid that the same people will go after anyone I care about. I’m not too worried about Cheza because she can protect herself, but the others are fair game.” I quickly reply.

(Master, I’ve located Addie)

“
Where is she?”

(Head that way)

I hear this little ping in my head like sonar coming from the right.

“
Thanks Nagi.” I say and take off at full speed in the direction of the ping.

Chapter 36: Nightmares Do Come True

Two minutes later, I’m across the campus, nearing the edge of the lake on the north-east side and the ping goes off rapidly. The ping suddenly swerves around behind me and I turn to see a hollowed out tree. I touch the hollowed tree and I’m a little surprised when my hand goes through it, causing a ripple in the tree. I engage my helmet and walk through the tree to find a concrete staircase leading down.

“
Welcome Feros. You are earlier than I was expecting. Our messenger that delivered the ransom letter hasn’t even returned from your dorm yet. Your dear wife should be joining us shortly, if those two assholes can manage not to screw it up.” Ryan Ericson, the wizard vice president of the fight club, says as I walk down the steps. I’m not at all worried about Cheza; whoever they sent don’t stand a chance against her and Nagi.

“
DADDY!” Addie calls out to me with tears in her eyes.

“
Everything is going to be alright, sweetie.” I tell her reassuringly.

Addie’s standing next to Ryan as he holds a Beretta 92 9mm handgun to her right temple at the back of the room. I see Jessica standing near Ryan, looking at him with an expression of admiration on her face. There are roughly fifty enhanced supers armed with melee weapons in the room, twenty of which I recognize from the fight club; I don’t see any of the freshman or Jeremy here, but I spot David Bese, the senior captain, standing near the back of the room. I also see the wizard, wood elf, and snow elf from the incident in the café last week, and they all seem to be freshly enhanced. All the pieces just clicked into place; Jessica must’ve called those three to set the stage for my rescue after we ordered our drinks last week. Since rescuing people is not something Feros is known for, Ryan knows me on a different level than what is based on rumors, or the person pulling the strings does.

I’m contemplating my ability to get across the room before Ryan can pull the trigger… I could try port to the spot behind him, but he’s definitely within a range of one hundred meters; What good is it to reach the spot if I get cut in half in the process? Worst rescue ever.

“
Surely you’ve realized that you cannot make it across this room before I can pull the trigger. With my enhancements, I can pull the trigger before you make it halfway. Oh, and don’t even think about porting; if you disappear, the first thing I’m doing is pulling the trigger.” Ryan says.

“
So here’s what’s going to happen: You are going to get in that electrified cage made especially for you, and once you are securely inside the cage, I’ll let the girl go.” Ryan explains while gesturing to the Plexiglas cage to my right.

Seeing no other options, I trundle over to the cage and step inside. A vampire walks over and locks the cage.

“
Alright, I’m in the cage; Let Adelaide go.” I tell him.

“
Yes, but you are not secure!” Ryan exclaims.

“
Electrificatus-way Ohercitus-cay.” Ryan says as his aura flares. My legs suddenly give out from beneath me as a strong electrical current passes through them.

“
DADDY!” Addie screams.

“
Let. Her. Go!” I grunt out.

“
Yeah, about that… I’ve changed my mind.” Ryan smirks.

“
NO!” I scream.

I look into Addie’s frightened ice blue eyes and watch helplessly as Ryan’s finger squeezes the trigger. Addie’s body collapses onto her left side as her permanently open eyes glaze over and the pool of blood beneath her head slowly expands.

“
Daddy! Daddy. DADDY! Daddy… Daddy? DADDY!? Daddy. Daddy! Daddy? Daddy. Daddy! Daddy? DADDY! Daddy. Daddy? Daddy! Daddy. Daddy? DADDY! Daddy. Daddy!…
I love you too, Daddy.
”
Memories of Addie’s voice echo through my head.

Tears roll down my face as I realize that I will never hear that voice again…

She will never call me daddy again…

I hear a demonic roar reverberating from deep within me. My Drive has nothing to do with it; just like it has nothing to do with the overwhelming urge that tells me that everyone in this room is going to die.

“
You’re dead… You’re all dead… Slow, agonizing, and fearful… that is how you are all going to DIE!” I scream and slam my blackened left hand into the ground.

The cage evaporates around me. The fluorescent lights in the ceiling explode in a wave from my position to the back of the room. Tendrils that behave in a snake-like manner, but look like black vector arrows, shred my bandages and seep out of the holes in my left arm.

Screams of terror erupt in the room as the tendrils quickly slither forward, disconnected from my arm. Everyone scrambles to get as far away from me as possible, but considering that I’m blocking the only exit, there is no escape. I expect that these tendrils might cause everyone to evaporate, like what happened with the Templars in the park, but what they actually do is far more terrifying… and far more satisfying. Each tendril that makes contact with one of the enhanced supers causes their skin to disintegrate while leaving them alive. It’s like my blood knows exactly what I was planning on doing to each and every one of them, and has decided to expedite the process for me.

I revel in my victim’s agony as I get blindsided from the left by a partially transformed David. He slams me into the wall and starts tearing the shit out of my torso with his paws, basically turning it to mush, but I can barely feel it; my body is completely numb. I backhand David with my left hand, forcing him to drop me. After delivering a left uppercut to his jaw, I slip around behind him and get him in an armlock. I grab his left paw with my left arm, wrench it back, place my right knee between his shoulder blades, and rip his left paw off. As he howls in pain, I swing the massive clawed-paw at his stomach, effectively eviscerating him. One of my ‘snakes’ attacks David as his body hits the ground, and flays him.

I slowly walk over to where Ryan and Jessica are holding each other and cowering in the corner beneath the only remaining fluorescent light, surrounded by my ‘snakes’ that are reared back and coiled, daring Ryan and Jessica to move.

(They’ve been shown fear… now show them anguish)

I disengage my helmet and wait for the minute that it takes for all of the screams to die out from blood loss, just staring at Ryan and Jessica. I see a glint on the ground about five feet away. I walk over and pick up the Beretta 92F that has ten rounds remaining in the magazine; four of the five spent rounds had been fired into the floor, presumably in an attempt to shoot the ‘snakes’. As for the other one…

I walk back to Jessica and Ryan, grab Jessica by her hair, and drag her away. Ryan tries to follow after her, but the ‘snakes’ keep him in place. I place Jessica on her knees about six feet away, facing her towards Ryan.

“
Go ahead. Lie to her. Tell her that everything is going to be fine.” I order Ryan. “Look into her eyes… as I pull the trigger.”

The bullet travels through Jessica’s brain and splatters gore across Ryan’s face. Ryan winces as tears form in his eyes; his emotional anguish is incredibly satisfying.

“
I’ll make a deal with you. If you tell me who has been backing you and where you got these extra forces, I will make your death quick and painless.” I offer to Ryan. He stares at me defiantly in response.

“
Let me clarify. I consider the deaths that everyone in this room got, to be quick. Usually, I take a much more hands on approach when flaying my enemies.” I smile devilishly at him.

In a room full of blood; surrounded by dead bodies; after splattering his girlfriend’s brains all over his face; yeah, ‘devilish’ fits. Ryan’s defiant face starts to break.

“
Usually, I go through, strip by strip, peeling the flesh from my enemies. And I presume you’ve heard the story about how I dripped some of my blood into a snow elf’s mouth and used that blood to make his stomach burst outward. Those pale in comparison to what I have planned for you… provided that you don’t cooperate.” I add with my devilish grin.

“
HORUS! It was Horus! He was providing the drug for the enhancements and he had the extra forces brought in by his assistant, who goes to the university, for this plot! He was the one that ordered me to kill the girl regardless!” Ryan spills almost faster than I can keep up.

“
Who was this assistant?” I inquire.

“
It was a chick with purple hair, eyes, wings, and tail! I didn’t catch her name!” Ryan scrambles to answer. Naia…

“
Thank you for your cooperation.” I tell him.

I let my ‘snakes’ evaporate as I walk past them to get to Ryan’s quivering form. I hover over him for a moment before I spear my left hand into his mouth. While supporting his head up with my right hand, I forcefully wrench my left hand down and snap his jaw. Ryan starts howling as the bottom portion of his mouth dangles from his skull

“
Are you referring to how I said I’d give you a quick and painless death?” I ask with a devilish smile in response to his screaming.

“
I changed my mind.”

I pierce Ryan’s abdomen with my left hand, grab a handful of his small intestines and pull them out. That handful goes into Ryan’s open mouth and down his throat, as do the six other handfuls it takes for Ryan to choke to death.

I stand up and walk through the lake of blood to Addie’s body. My knees splash as they hit the floor. I close Addie’s eyes, scoop her up, and cradle her body.

“
I’m sorry Addie… I’m so sorry.” I cry as I hold her to my chest. “I promised you that I’d never let anything happen to you… but I failed… Kita was right… I should have done this a long time ago…”

(You cannot rest just yet. There are still those who must answer for this)

“
He will pay… when I’m through with him, Horus will be so utterly destroyed that he’ll be wiped from the fucking history books.” I say as my tone drips with malicious intent.

“
But first, I need to see Naia… and make arrangements for your body.” I say while I brush the hair out of Addie’s face and a tear splashes on her cheek.

(Return her to the Void)

“
Will this affect her going to the Underworld?”

(Beings such as her and Cheza do not go to the Underworld when they die)

“
What do you mean?”

(Return her to the Void)

I caress her left cheek and then Addie’s body loses density as she turns into a cloud of smoke. I start frantically grasping at the smoke as it disperses, but my hands just flow through it; my efforts futile as tears return to my cheeks. After sitting there for a while, I slowly stand and trundle past the bodies and up the steps.

It’s time to go see Naia.

Chapter 37: A Truth Revealed

“
Cole! Are you alright?” Cheza asks when I port into the living room of the house. Cheza’s face falls, no doubt my expression revealing to her a truth that has yet to be said.

“
Whe… Where’s Ada?” Cheza inquires as I see Naia walk into the room.

I flash forward towards the wall, grabbing Naia by the neck as I pass, and proceed to slam her into it.