Dark Illumination Read online

  Eli grabbed my arm. His face was grim and set in a deep frown. His eyes reflected a fear I had never seen in them before.

  “We need to go,” he told me.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  I hadn’t had to face Cerebus the first time. I’d been trapped in a circle facing Chiron. Facing him now didn’t seem like a good idea, but there weren’t many options.

  Eli and I joined the others. They were definitely taking a beating. Levi and Lucifer were both bleeding and missing horns. Lucifer was missing a hand. My sister was currently blowing fire at Cerebus. Cerebus seemed to be ignoring her as he attempted to munch on Ba’al.

  Ba’al looked like the wyvern had gotten the best of him. Fenrir was riding on Cerebus’s back, claws and teeth sunk in as deep as they would go. There wasn’t a wyvern to be found. I was willing to bet Cerebus had eaten them all.

  “Bren, Eli,” Samuel yelled as we came around the corner.

  “Yep,” I yelled back as Cerebus took another snap at Ba’al.

  “Do something!” Samuel ordered us.

  “Why do people keep saying that to me?” I whispered to Eli as I threw a protection spell up around Ba’al. Cerebus hit the circle and his jaws bounced off. He shook his head in confusion. I threw another around Fenrir. Eli followed my lead and cast one at Livi.

  Nick picked up on it; he cast a circle around himself and pulled Samuel into it. Lucifer, missing hand and all, threw himself at the rampaging hell hound.

  “Papa,” I shouted to him. If he heard, he ignored me.

  Eli cast a spell and Cerebus’s head snapped back. Fenrir used the moment to sink his claws into the side of Cerebus’s neck. Blood began to pour from the wound.

  Lacking the spells that Eli and my siblings had, I tossed myself at the giant. I caught hold of his back leg. Using my clawed feet and Cerebus’s hair, I scampered my way up to his back. Fenrir growled at me, but seemed relieved. I remembered something they had told me before, Cerebus would leave if we did enough damage.

  Damage I could do. I grabbed hold of his back and shoved as much magic as I had left into him. I felt the bones snap, his organs crush, under the weight of it. It was an unnatural gift. I could take the wounds I had received and force them onto another with enough magic.

  His skin began to tear under with the magic. Slashes and cuts appeared, blood ran thicker, faster, darker. I continued to force magic into him. He reared up. Only Fenrir sinking fangs into my leg, kept me from falling off.

  I reached into one of the wounds that had formed around his spine. My hands met with gooey wetness and I closed my eyes. I felt his bone under my bare fingers and pulled as hard as I could. The vertebra came out of his spine, pulled through the hole and was in my hand when I opened my eyes. It was twice as big as my head.

  Cerebus went limp. His body crashed to the ground. He whimpered in pain.

  Fenrir and I climbed off. Lucifer struggled out from under him. His eyes were still open, they looked wet. I wondered if the Hell Hound could cry. I felt sorry for him despite him trying to eat Ba’al.

  “That was not the ending I expected,” Levi said after a few moments.

  “We still have the Witch. He’s at the motel. Maybe that will give you the ending you were hoping for.” I took a step towards Cerebus.

  “Bren, don’t heal him. He’ll just try to eat us again.” Lucifer told me.

  “I’m not, but doesn’t anyone feel just a little bit bad for him?”

  “No,” came a resounding chorus.

  “He’ll heal without a problem,” Lucifer told me.

  “Nothing ever ends the way I expect with you,” Levi continued.

  “What did you expect?” I finally asked him.

  “I don’t know, not that. How did you do all that?”

  “I can transfer injuries I’ve healed onto others.”

  “Sonnellion could do that,” Levi told me.

  “I’m beginning to feel like maybe Sonnellion and I are closer blood relations than Lucifer and I.” The moment I said it, I wanted to take it back.

  Lucifer whipped his head towards me. His body vibrated with anger. His skin glowed red.

  “What did you…” He began to say, his voice vibrating in my chest.

  “No papa, that is not what I meant.” I backed up a step. “I just meant that in the last day, I’ve been told I have Sonnellion’s eyes and now I have his ability to transfer wounds. I find it unsettling.”

  “You are my daughter,” he bellowed, rage still pouring from him.

  “I know, papa,” I reminded him.

  “Then why would you think…”

  “Luc, I see what she means,” Levi whispered, his voice low and humble. “We keep telling her about Sonnellion and making comparisons to her.”

  “She is not Sonnellion’s,” my father turned on Levi.

  “We know that,” Levi answered.

  “Papa,” I touched his arm with my hand. I realized it still didn’t have skin.

  “What happened?” His voice changed, the anger leaked away.

  “Dark magic,” I shrugged it off. “Daniel is with Anubis, Gabriel and the Dark Witch. We should hurry to them.”

  “What about…” Levi hooked his thumb towards Cerebus.

  “Daniel is calling Pendragon. Where are the wyverns?” I asked.

  “Eaten, Cerebus should be full.” Livi told me.

  “And Gregorian?” I asked.

  “Not eaten,” Gregorian’s voice came into my head.

  “Where are you?” I asked the chimera.

  “Going home,” he answered.

  “He disappeared a few seconds before you showed up,” Livi shrugged. “He touched the potion and was gone.”

  “The potion sends them back as well?” I asked her.

  “Seems to,” she shrugged again.

  “Then help me push Cerebus into it,” I told her.

  “I’m not touching him.” She frowned at me.

  I rolled my eyes. I looked at Cerebus. He looked at me.

  “I’m going to send you back to the island, please don’t eat me,” I told me. I wasn’t sure he understood.

  He bellowed when I grabbed his tail and began pulling. He didn’t budge. I wasn’t going to be strong enough.

  “Someone help me, please!” I hollered to them.

  “Of course,” Levi stepped in front of Cerebus.

  Chapter Thirty

  Cerebus moved his bulky head. There was a loud snap. Livi screamed. Eli stood still, his face white as a sheet.

  “Holy shit!” Ba’al said.

  “Did he just eat Levi?” I asked.

  “Uh, yeah,” Nick answered.

  “Well do something,” I told him.

  “Like what?” Nick spread his arms wide.

  “I don’t know, cut him open, he’s immortal, he’ll heal.”

  “No,” Nick told me.

  “Oh good lord,” I grabbed the sword from the ground where I dropped it earlier and rammed it into Cerebus’s side.

  Cerebus howled. I ignored him. I cut into his flesh as deep as the sword would go. When I pulled it out, parts of him fell out the gash. Ba’al was beside me now. Fenrir with him.

  Fenrir nosed something that looked pink and horrid. It was larger than me by at least three times. I carefully stuck the sword in and cut a slit.

  Levi stuck his hand out. Ba’al grabbed hold and pulled him from the beast. Levi took a deep gasp of air and wiped his face.

  I couldn’t help it; I had a second to turn. I turned, knelt and threw up. Not magic.

  Cerebus howled again. The sound made me heave again. My stomach hurt. My eyes stung. My throat burnt. It was better than throwing up magic, but not by much.

  “Do something,” I gagged again, “about that.”

  I took a breath through my mouth and pointed behind me.

  “Like what?” Eli asked.

  “I don’t know, heal him, something,” I couldn’t look.

  “Don’t heal him,” Lucifer told us. />
  “Too late,” I gagged again. I couldn’t help it. The sight of him open was too much for me. I hadn’t been able to help it. Cerebus stood up.

  “Why did you, oh never mind,” Lucifer cried as Cerebus’s heavy foot hit the ground next to him.

  Cerebus suddenly stopped as I heaved again. The mighty beast stood for a moment, turned his head.

  “Oh peachy,” Ba’al said as I heard the giant hell hound throw up.

  “Get her out of here,” Levi told someone.

  “Don’t have to tell me twice,” I found my knees a little rubbery, but under me. I ran away.

  Fenrir caught up to me a few blocks away. I had stopped for air. I was leaning against a building.

  “That was interesting. Who knew the Hell Hound had a weakness? They just shoved him back through the potion. Luc and Levi are calling the fire department to clean up the mess,” he stopped. “Are you alright, you just turned an odd shade of pale purple.

  “Don’t talk about it,” I told him.

  “Ok, let me help you back to the motel.”

  “Thanks, I need to walk,” I told him.

  “You look like hell.”

  “You guys say the sweetest things to me. It’s a wonder that I’m not swooning over you.” I retorted.

  “Would you rather me lie to you?”

  “Sometimes, yes, it would be nice.”

  “You are an interesting creature.”

  “Why would you lie about that?” We were nearly at the Sonic.

  “That was the truth. Telling you that you look pretty good would be a lie. You realize you are missing a good deal of skin?”

  “I figured as much. Something the Witch threw on me ate it off, left the muscle though.”

  “You can deal with that, but not Levi…”

  “Don’t go there,” I warned, feeling my stomach flop again.

  “Gotcha,” he wrapped an arm around me. “One day, Brenna Strachan, you will live a mostly normal life. It will be so boring.”

  “That was almost sweet, Fen, I’m impressed.”

  “What is that?” He stopped moving. I stopped with him.

  “That is fire,” I started running.

  The entire motel was engulfed in flames. Daniel, Anubis and Gabriel were standing outside. They didn’t look happy. They looked charbroiled.

  “Daniel, where’s the Witch?” I asked, my stomach flopping again.

  “Not in there,” he told me.

  “Then where?”

  “I don’t know exactly, but I think he is headed for Demonnation.”

  “Why do you think that?”

  “Because when he set us on fire, he said mom and the rest of the Demons were next.”

  “Mom is at my house, not at home,” this meant she was nowhere near Demonnation.

  “I don’t think he knows that.” Daniel finally turned to look at me.

  “You realize you don’t have a lot of skin on?” He asked, cocking his head to the side.

  “Probably not the most worrisome problem at the moment,” I told him.

  “It’s kind of cool,” Daniel smiled at me. “Think we should head home? Our Witch teleports.”

  “No one teleports, except Pendragon.” Lucifer joined the group.

  “She’s missing skin and you’re missing a hand. You two are quite the pair,” Daniel said to him.

  “How did he teleport, Daniel?” I asked, refocusing him.

  “With another potion. I finally saw inside his coat. He has about twenty bottles of the stuff. I don’t know what they are, but they seem to be a strong source of magic for him. You’re right, even with all the lights on in the room, I couldn’t see his face.”

  “My spell book!” I finally remembered Ezra.

  “I’m here,” something said. Anubis held it out to me. I took it from him.

  “Remember that spell I gave you ‘dark illumination’?”

  “Yes,” I answered.

  “It has a counterpart; it can be used to cloak yourself in shadow. There are side effects though. I don’t know anyone who would use it for that.”

  “What sort of side effects?”

  “Bad ones,” Ezra frowned.

  “Those two words strung together mean very little to me right now,” I also frowned.

  “Ew, don’t do that, you look weird enough without skin, frowning makes it worse.” Ezra told me.

  “What sort of side effects, Ezra?”

  “The things that move in the shadows eventually come to collect their debt, if you know what I mean.”

  “I don’t, but we’ll ignore it for now.” I took a deep breath. “I want a shower, some food and to be rid of this Witch.”

  Levi’s cell phone rang. He spoke quickly, in hushed tones. When he hung up, he looked at all of us.

  “It is a good thing you moved the family to your house,” he told me. “Lucifer, a dragon just burnt down your house. He got mine too.”

  “Fucking Witch,” I stamped my foot and made a small hole in the ground.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  “I recommend we leave, post haste,” Beezel said.

  I turned slowly and looked at him. I hadn’t seen him during the fight. All of my uncles were there. I remembered them showing up, but not seeing them during any of the time between then and now.

  The world seemed to tilt on its axis and slide a bit. Something was wrong with me. I could feel it. Had been feeling it for a couple of days.

  “Bren?” Eli asked.

  “Oh,” I didn’t know what to say. “Eli, remember how I said something was wrong?”

  “Of course,” he told me.

  “Have they been here the entire time?” I asked him.

  “They pushed Cerebus back through the potion portal when he started getting sick,” Eli told me.

  “I don’t remember them,” my knees buckled, they crashed to the pavement.

  “Bren?” The concern in my father’s voice when he said my name, spoke volumes.

  “I need a moment,” I closed my eyes. I didn’t remember them being here. How could that be?

  “Brenna,” Mammon carefully touched my shoulder. The world swam a bit more.

  “Get away, everyone get away from me,” I screamed at them. My eyes were still closed, but I could feel all of them. I could feel their concern and their fear. It was too much. I couldn’t deal with it and figure out what was wrong with me.

  Panic was rising in my own throat, a hard knot that made it hard to swallow. I searched my mind, grasping for memories. I remembered my uncles arriving. Going in as bait, the Witch, the spell, the shadows, the wyverns, even Cerebus, but I didn’t remember my uncles being with us during that time. How could that be?

  “Brenna,” Daniel’s voice cut into me, it heightened the panic.

  “Daniel, I think I’m going crazy.” I told him.

  “No, you’re not.” He touched my face. The fog lifted from my brain. They were there now, Mammon grabbing a wyvern and tearing off a wing, then tossing the entire thing to Cerebus. Beezel helping me to heal the Hell Hound. All of them. I sighed, thankful.

  Daniel let go. The memories faded away. I tried to grab them, but they were gone. I began to cry and rock back and forth on the pavement.

  “What is wrong with me?” I pleaded.

  “Nothing that a little magic won’t fix,” Daniel assured me, “but first we must get you home, away from this place.”

  “This place?” I looked around. The motel was burning. Had it been burning before? A fire truck was in the parking lot, a hose strung along the ground, trying to put out the blaze.

  “Brenna,” Eli’s voice, I looked at him. “Come on, let’s get you home.”

  “Ok,” I let him help me stand.

  Something grabbed hold of me. The talons dug into my shoulders, I could feel streams of blood begin to flow. I looked up. The tail and legs of the light colored wyvern was all I could see in the darkened sky. The rest was lost to the dark. Below I could hear my name being shouted.
r />   In my pocket, I felt for a knife. It was made of obsidian; Gabriel had given it to me for my Maturing. I found it.

  The motion was quick. With one hand, I slashed through the small part of the wyvern’s feet, what I assumed was the ankle. One talon tightened, the other let go. I was falling.

  Levi always said nothing ever ended the way he expected with me. Maybe he was right, maybe I was a game changer. My body crashed to the pavement. The world should have gone black.

  It didn’t. I could feel everything. My skull fractured upon impact. My spine felt like it had turned to a fine, powdery dust. I wasn’t sure if there was a bone that didn’t break. Even my internal organs hurt.

  “Holy hell,” I wheezed out.

  “Oh my god, you’re not unconscious,” Levi said.

  “This really hurts,” I whispered.

  “Brothers!” Levi shouted.

  “I think we need more Demons,” I whispered again.

  “Don’t talk Brenna, please don’t talk. You shouldn’t be able to, you shouldn’t be awake. What the fuck is going on in this place?”

  “It's hell, we even had the hound to prove it,” I gave a wry chuckle that hurt from my hair to my feet.

  “Please stop talking,” Levi whimpered.

  “And you thought I looked bad with some flesh gone, I imagine I look awful now,” I told him.

  “Brenna,” Lucifer swam into view.

  “This is why I don’t like flying, papa. It isn’t the flying that bothers me, it’s the crashing to the ground that I don’t like.” I took a breath and it hurt. If I stopped talking, I wouldn’t need to breathe.

  “Why is she talking?” Mammon asked. “Making jokes at that.”

  “Too much pain, her mind can’t process everything that hurts,” Beezel told him. “I know I talked after being tossed out of that tornado.”

  Eli came into my line of vision.

  “Don’t you dare touch me,” I told him.

  “What?” He gave me a look.

  “You’re about to heal me. I know. If I were you, I’d do the same thing. But so help me god, if you lay one finger on me, I will kick your ass when I get better.”