Chapter Forty-Three

He thought about staying where he was but instead Frederick Whitaker charged with his army toward the approaching mass of demons. As he ran he realized that he had no weapon and this sudden realization worried him as he could smell the closest Dreamkillers breath.

The creature flung a large arm around and Frederick ducked his head, turned back and jumped on the creature's back. When he approached them, James smiled at the courage the old mortal had and quickly drove his blade through the beast’s belly – slicing it in half. Frederick dropped to the ground and when he regained his footing, he realized that several of his army were lying on the ground already dead.

He watched as the Dreamkillers were ripping the guardians to shreds. He watched, too, as the guardians killed a couple of Dreamkillers, but Frederick could do the math. At the rate they were going, the Dreamkillers would defeat them in a matter of an hour or so. Bodies fell, but the guardians fell more and more quickly.

The sorrow engulfed him as he watched the slaughter. Yes, James had said that the guardians had come back to battle the Dreamkillers and would die again once the war was over. But he was sure that if they had been resurrected, then they could surely feel pain; and wasn’t he the one who had summoned them? It was his fault that these men were dying again.

Limbs – human and beast alike – were falling onto the street and all Frederick could think about was what if someone saw this while peering out their window? What would they tell their children? Hell, what would they tell the cops?

At this point, it didn’t matter what anyone would tell. If the guardians lost this war, then they could pretty well be certain that no one would be left alive to tell anyone anyway. He looked down and saw a sword – bloodied in various colors – lying near his feet and he bent down and picked it up. Swinging the sword, he had managed to have sliced one beast straight up its back.

As he fought and killed, he saw three more appear in the one’s place. And as he fought, other wonders crept into his mind. He had not thought that the Dreamkillers could become a unified battalion without their master. He wondered what Orion was getting after sending his army out into the streets. What was in it for Orion?

Other creatures and humans fell and the answer hit him. Decoy. The war wasn’t to be fought in the streets of England after all. The war was to be fought at Darvon Keep and he bet he would find Tracy and Rick together again.

* * *

“There’s only one way – up!” Orion screamed to his mother as he watched her stagger up the wet steps of the tower. He didn’t know why she was heading up the steps; as he had told her already, there was only one direction and no escape. While he walked over to her, he began to caution himself with her tactics. She was trying to get closer to the heavens – where her source of electric power comes from; it is raining after all. If she reached the top, did she think she would be stronger?

And then he smiled. But still, the chase would be fun, he thought. He slammed the spike down onto the first step and she quickly turned and saw her son so close to her. In fact he was only three steps behind her. He picked up the spike again and brought it crashing down on a closer step. She felt the sparks hit her thigh.

Orion wasn’t prepared for what had happened next. Nanaac turned and sent a blast into the wall which knocked him onto his knees but he did not fall from the steps as she had hoped. Instead he stood erect with an irate face. “I wouldn’t try those tricks again, Mother. They’re starting to piss me off.”

She turned and crawled up five more steps and again she felt the vibration of the steel spike come down near her feet. At this point Nanaac wasn’t sure how much farther she could go. If she could just make it to the top, she just might have enough power left to throw her son over the side. Again, she turned and caused more of the wall to collapse next to Orion.

Orion was knocked off balance but he did not fall as hoped. When he stood up he shook his head. “I’m getting too old for these little tricks. If you’re going to do something, do it right,” he said and with his mind caused several of the steps above Nanaac to collapse – along with several under her as well – causing her to lose whatever footing she had and slide down toward her son.

Fear erupted in her eyes. Orion raised his spike behind triumph. And then he underestimated what he had done. She raised her legs and as they met, she kicked him and grabbed onto the next solid step. Orion flew down the remainder of the steps spiraling as he did so.

Now it was her turn to feel triumphant, even though she knew she had not won, and she turned and dragged herself up the remaining steps and reached the top of the tower.

Once at the landing, she painfully stood up; her blood was still flowing, and she looked down at her son. She watched him stand and look straight up at her behind fire in his eyes. He raised both fists into the air and screamed in outrage. And when the screams erupted, large fires erupted from the ground. He was viciously satisfied that these fires rose to the top of the tower. He glided up the stones and he reached the top of the landing several moments after his mother.

* * *

Emily tried to ignore the destruction as she drove the Saab through the streets heading west in the direction Frederick had given her. Bodies lying dead in the gutters or dangling lifeless from windows in buildings. Cars and other vehicles overturned or burnt. And as she drove she did not see any of the Dreamkillers dead with these human beings.

And then she saw it – the tall gates guarding Darvon Keep. Emily glanced up and saw the fires on the hillside surrounding what looked like a watchtower. That sickening feeling crept back in her gut and she floored the accelerator and pushed through the gates without opening them.

She stopped the car only yards from the closest bonfire and jumped out without bothering to close the door or turning the ignition. “Richard!” Deep down she prayed to God that she would not find her husband trapped in the circle of flames. But still, there was that powerful nag that kept telling her mind that she would indeed find him.

Emily reached the bottom step and looked up. She couldn’t get any clear view from where she stood, the steps counted at least two hundred or so, and so she decided on taking them two at a time running up. The horror she saw once she got to the top almost made her fall backward down the steps.

“Power won’t kill you, but damn you, my two hands will,” Orion said as he bent over his mother and coiled his hands around her neck.

Emily screamed and everyone looked in her direction. “Richard! What are you doing?” She ran over to them and attempted to pry her husband’s hands off the bleeding woman. “Stop!” She had no idea who was inside her husband or even this woman.

Orion’s breathing was heavy as he tried to hold onto the flesh he had inhabited. He has gone this far already, he didn’t need some small time bitch delaying the inevitable. He looked up at her and sneered. “She needs to die, Bitch,” he said.

Emily was struck by this. She looked down at Tracy who was in tears and shaking her head. She had no voice left to beg. All she could do was lip the word “help.”

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At last Emily pulled her husband free from the woman’s neck. And in that one-second movement, the lethal hands went from Nanaac over to Emily’s neck. Her eyes widened and she put her own hands up to try to free herself. “Richard,” she tried. “Why?”

Orion stood and picked Emily up three feet from the floor. There was no internal struggle; Orion had complete control over Rick now. “This war is nothing you will understand, Bitch.” He inched over to the side of the tower and looked down into the inviting flames. “You should never have come,” he said.

“Richard,” Emily cried out behind gasps of breath.

Rick felt his eyebrow twitch as he looked into his wife’s eyes. He tried to free his soul in an attempt to save her but the Dreamkiller had a hold on his body so strong he wasn’t sure anything could ever separate them. “Emily, I love you,” he cried out and closed his eyes so tight he saw red. “I’m so sorry.” And with one final grunt, Orion tossed her over the side into the awaiting flame.

* * *

The feeling came first.

Frederick stopped his battle and dropped to his knees. He had lost one of the children. He felt them slip away like dreams are killed by Orion’s Dreamkillers. The war was coming to a close. Orion was gaining the upper hand.

He glanced up from behind hot eyes and watched James battle two Dreamkillers at once. He watched the gracefulness the guardian processed, but then he saw the crudeness the demons had shown. James had sliced the head off one, but then the other had stripped James of his sword – leaving him defenseless.

Frederick knew that he owed James everything. James had summoned the guardians to battle the Dreamkillers no matter the cost. This was no way to repay him. He stood up and sprinted over to James, dodging blows which would have proved fatal if struck, and jumped in front of the guardian just as the demon lashed out his claws. As Frederick felt the full force of the claws slice his chest open, he still had that last ounce of strength and he swung his blade over and severed the beast’s head.

Frederick dropped to the ground and was dead before he hit the pavement, but that did not lessen the honor James felt for Frederick. If only Frederick had chosen to become a guardian then he would have had the power to relive like James did. James was, after all, split in two by Allen Corgan’s sword, only to relive just for this battle.

James looked up and he knew deep down that the war itself was at a close. He scanned the surrounding battles and discovered that there were only a dozen or so guardians left remaining. And there had to be at least a hundred Dreamkillers left to fight their battle.

James walked around and knelt down by several guardians and saw that they were indeed as dead as the afterlife would leave them. He lowered his head and shook it in sorrow and had made a decision that would hopefully save his remaining comrades. He stood up and waved his sword in the air. “Retreat! Retreat!”

The ones left alive ceased their attacks and looked at their general behind confusion. Then they too saw the aftermath of the war – saw their family slaughtered and left for dead in the street. They nodded without further mention and ran from their attackers in the direction of what they thought to have been safety – all twelve of them.

* * *

Deep in the chasm of darkness Rick saw his wife being pushed over the side of the tower into the belching flames. Did she die when she hit the ground or did she die from the flames instead? In fact, did her body even reach the earth? He saw Emily’s soft flesh ripple and burn and flake off its host only to somersault in the windy air. These questions and images sickened Rick.

Orion felt the pressure from his new body. Perhaps his control was getting weaker. Maybe it’s time to find someone else, he thought and grinned as he looked over at Nanaac. “Your time is up,” he said and turned his gaze out over the horizon. “My Dreamkillers are defeating your guardians – there’s no one left to guard the gate of Eden.”

“Never,” Nanaac cried with what dignity she could muster. She stood up again and tried to remain strong before she collapsed again. “You will never gain access – no one shall.”

A nerve had been pricked and Orion reached out and grabbed her neck once again and lifted her body into the air – the orange-yellow flames danced behind her. His first instinct was to throw his mother over the side like he had done with Rick’s wife, but a pull from inside held him steadfast. The eyes of Rick found those of Tracy and they stared at one another for some time. “Tracy?” he found himself asking like a child just waking from a groggy dream.

Tracy nodded with tears in her eyes. “Rick,” she said and thought of something. “Go to St. Vincent – it’s the Grendel’s Keep. My son – you must look after him. Please promise me,” she said when all hope denied her of life. She knew Rick would find some way to be triumphant.

Orion was irate at not having any control. The channel was not open to him or his mother it appeared – only the children whose prophecy was being fulfilled at the top of the tower of Orion’s home.

Rick nodded. “Yeah, I promise,” he said and felt a jolt in the back of his head as Orion cut through with a vengeance.

“You will both perish!”

Nanaac winced and tried to pry his hands from her neck. “You need the girl. She is the only one who knows where the book is,” she tried and Orion smiled.

“I don’t care anymore. Without these two kids in my way, no one can stop me from finding it again.”

As with Tracy all hope left Nanaac as she saw the look in Rick’s eyes turn maniacal. His grip grew tighter and her face had become bluer. Sometime during her struggles, she gave up and closed her eyes and dropped her arms.

He held her motionless body for a while and then a bright light shone from inside Tracy’s body. The light terrified Orion and he threw her into the dancing flames and ran to watch his mother and Tracy burn to their death. But still, as they fell, the light did not fade.

Hands grabbing the edge of the tower, Orion laughed and turned his focus inward. “Now, how do I get rid of you? Victory is mine, and I don’t want your flesh near my celebrations,” he said.

He let his evil mind wander, trying to think of a way to rid himself of Rick forever, and was thrown to his knees as half of the tower exploded, shaking its foundation. He looked up and there rising above him was a new flame even brighter than the ones he had created.

The fallen angel, Satan himself, emerged from the new flame rising above everything. It spread its gigantic arms and extended its blackened leather-wings which were as large as the castle itself. Fear like nothing he had ever felt before engulfed Orion as he saw the devil lower its head to take a closer look at his prey.

All Rick could hear was Orion screaming “no” over and over as the winged demon reached down and wrapped its clawed hand around Orion. Once Orion was being lifted toward the devil, both he and Rick became separated again and Rick fell several yards down to the top of the tower.

Orion was brought to the devil’s face and Rick could only make out low music; it almost sounded like trumpets and harps. What he understood was very little, but knew it dealt with Orion escaping his prison and this was retribution made by the captor of sins.

With its other clawed hand, it reached out and sent flames out toward the horizon, far beyond Rick’s line of vision.

James and his battalion took up refuge inside a near-by motel and locked the door when they all entered. A heavy silence fell upon the guardians. Although they were more or less dead, they still had the feeling of fear of dying.

The demons were coming down the street toward them. James had to wince when he heard the Dreamkillers war cry. He dared to look through the curtained window to witness that their cries were not those of war; but those of fear and death.

James watched as twenty streaks of fire-demons flew at them, each brandishing long claws as they flew past them. Their blows were quick and precise – not one Dreamkiller was left standing when all the demons made their rounds, leaving the air to smell of burnt flesh.

He didn’t think too long about the fire creatures. At first he thought that they had another foe, but the creatures soon sped off in the opposite direction.

The flames came back to their master and nestled gently back in its clawed hand. Satisfied, the devil made one casual look down at its little cloaked puppet and withdrew back down into the earth, taking along with it a screaming Orion. As the ground swallowed them up, it closed quickly to allow no further escape.

Once he knew the Dreamkillers would not return, James smiled and wrapped his arm around Tracy’s shoulder. He still did not know where the fire demons came from – nor did he care. What mattered now was Tracy.

He found her as he made his journey back to deadness. She was waiting inside a kind of limbo, waiting for a new existence. And that was when he approached her and then asked her the question that would ultimately change her life and thus conclude her prophecy. “Will you take my place as Guardian?”

There was only a short pause of contemplation, but then Tracy smiled and accepted her position in life.

Once she had agreed their view opened before them and they could see the crumbling castle and then James turned back to Tracy.

“Thank you for taking over. We should leave before someone sees you.” They began walking down a hillside and he turned back to her. “You’ll need to move the gate. Every guardian must choose a new location.”

Tracy agreed and walked down the hill thinking how wonderful Ireland’s tall seaside cliffs are.