Evil - Chapter 34
It was silent as we traversed the streets of Hjitew, Risyl, in the car that President Achel provided for us.
This is a portal fantasy series with mythological roots and action-adventure tendencies. You can search through all my work on my website.
It's not easy being the Antichrist.
Anjelica’s mother never told her that she was a demon. Now, all she wants is her old life back, but that’s not possible for her. Not after what she’s seen.
Anjelica used to be a popular cheerleader with an awesome life, but that was before an evil cult of demons tried to use her blood to open a portal to Hell and start the Apocalypse.
She was rescued from that fate, barely, and because of the imminent threat to her life, her saviors ripped her from Los Angeles and brought her to a safe house in the middle of nowhere.
They said it was for her own good, but she would rather be dead than stuck in boring, old Bronard, Missouri. She was from the big city, so a sleepy, rural life wasn’t for her.
She longed for excitement.
So, when she met a young witch with a mysterious past who promised to show her everything she knew about opening portals and traveling between distant lands, they bonded immediately
I mean, what’s the worst that could happen, right?
It’s not like they would open an intergalactic gateway to another planet and get thrown into a brand, new world with no way to get back to Earth, right?
Join Anjelica in her own solo adventure and find out what happened to her immediately after the events in Magic.
It wasn’t as fancy as a limo, and we had to drive ourselves, but it was a small kindness. Director Frente booked us a hotel on the outskirts of town in the eventuality that her plan would be acceptable to the president.
Anger bubbled up in my stomach as we drove. It started as mild irritation at the director’s involvement with the king, but in the hour after our meeting, that irritation increased to ire, and that ire grew to anger, anger that surfaced after she had finished her phone call with Jasper to confirm the extraction.
“We’ll have a team in place by tomorrow morning,” she said with a smile as she hung up the phone, unaware of my festering rage. “Jasper has been laying out the logistics. It seems like—”
“How could you work with him?” I growled. “How could you say you’re for freedom but then spend time working with that horrible, horrible man?”
She sighed. “I was hoping you would just let that go.”
“Even if she did,” Margaret said, “I wouldn’t. What kind of rebellion leader fought for the enemy? You helped him conquer cities. You are at least partially responsible for this whole thing.”
I broke in again, “Sindra—Volkim—they are from the outlying cities…did you help conquer their towns? Did you raze their cities?”
“I don’t know, okay?” Director Frente took a breath to calm down. “I don’t know. You have to understand—there is a powerful magnetism around the king, around the royal family. While I was coming up, we were all hypnotized by him.” Her eyes dipped to the floor. “I’m not proud of it, but I desperately wanted to bring peace to the world…and that’s what he said we were doing—spreading peace. He said we were prosperous and that other countries deserved as much. We were a shining example for the world. I thought we were doing good…for so long, I thought we were doing good. I joined the military after school and rose up the ranks.”
She bit her lip. “I’m a very good tactician. The best, maybe, that they had. I planned a lot of their most successful battles…plans they probably still use today. It wasn’t until years later that I realized—the places we conquered—they weren’t getting any better. Then, I grasped the truth: we were stealing their resources to feed our prosperity. We weren’t bringing them freedom. We were making them slaves.”
She looked over at me. “You have to believe that I didn’t want any of that. None of us wanted that—my friend and I—well, he went to confront the king…and his head ended up on a pike outside the castle. When they came for me, I was able to escape into the underground, and I have been spending every day since repenting for what I’ve done.” She started crying. “I have only told that story a few times before, but you deserve to know the truth.”
“Goddamn it,” I said. “I really wanna be mad at you, but I guess you are trying to redeem yourself, aren’t you?”
“I really am,” she said with a smile. “Life is really hard, girls. I know you already know that, but it just gets harder over time, and every one of your mistakes compounds on the others. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to make up for the pain I caused, but if I can pull out the weed, root, and branch, that will be a start.”
“That’s a hell of a penance,” Margaret said.
“Yeah.” Director Frente wiped the tears from her eyes. “Hey, don’t tell anyone you saw me cry, okay? I have a reputation to maintain.”
“My lips are sealed,” I said.
“Mine, too,” Margaret added.
“Good, good.” She smiled at me. “Hey, who wants ice cream? We have a big day tomorrow. Least we can do is gorge on sugar to prepare.”
***
We ordered massive sundaes and ate while watching cheesy movies on television. It felt so much like home it was weird. Kimberly said that the gods only really know how to create things one way, but even given that, this planet was so much like my Earth that it was eerie. Maybe it was because they put so much stock in travelers, and it seemed, at least, like the king was from Earth, and maybe even America, and the ideas he brought with him permeated across the globe as he took city after country.
Eventually, my eyes grew heavy, and I fell into the inky blackness of sleep. This time, however, before I could fall into the lake of ooze, two hands caught me and dragged me to land, where Araphel sat waiting for me with a pot of tea. He poured some for me in a flowery cup and some for himself.
“Welcome again,” he said.
I slid into the seat. “So, am I going to keep falling into this stupid pit for the rest of my life, or are you just stalking me for a little while?”
“Stalking? That’s not a concept I understand. I have come to deliver a message.” He cleared his throat. “Your plan will fail unless you embrace your true nature.”
“Yes, you told me that before.”
“I did?” The light in his eyes dimmed slightly. “Oh dear, I must have forgotten. I have so many things on my mind these days.”
“I know that feeling.” I took a sip of tea. “Since you are here, though, you can expound on that bit. Do you mean I should be torturing people or cheating them out of their soul, cuz I’m not really into either of those things?”
If I didn’t know a skeleton couldn’t smile, I would have sworn a slight one grew on Araphel’s face. “That is not demon nature. That is a thing they do. Demons are impulse. They are fire. They are…hot-headed.” He pointed to where his stomach would be. “The inferno in their gut is where they get their power.” He pointed to his heart. “Angels get theirs from the heart.” He looked up. “Oh, my. It seems like our time is up. I do wish we had more time.”
He snapped his fingers, and my eyes fluttered open to the light of the morning creeping in. I heard the shower running, and Margaret was busy eating breakfast on the small table by the TV. A few moments later, Director Frente stepped out of the shower.
“Shower’s free, ladies. Hurry up. We have a timetable.”
We showered and ate a quick breakfast, then took the car across town, where we parked in an underground garage. When we exited the car, Commander Bivnol, Jasper, and seven other commandos dressed in black gear and carrying heavy guns stepped out from the shadows.
“Good to see you, commander,” Director Frente said. “Are we ready to go?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Commander Bivnol replied. “The consulate got word this morning of the prince’s route. He’ll be down this road in five minutes. We have a truck across the street that will box him in on either side, and then we’ll extract him in the panic. Four more snipers on the roof of each building and the van stationed a block away will bring us to the airport, where the plane is fueled and ready to go.”
“Wonderful,” she said. Then, she gestured at us. “Come, girls. We’re going to get a bird’s eye view.”
“Aren’t we going to stay down here?” I said.
“Are you kidding?” Jasper said with a snort. “This is way too dangerous. Stay with the director. She’ll keep you safe.”
“Hey!” Margaret said. “Don’t treat us like kids. We’ve seen stuff, okay? We’ve been in multiple firefights and just negotiated—”
“That’s enough!” Commander Bivnol’s shout echoed through the garage. “Take this key and wait for our signal. That’s an order.”
Director Frente nodded at Commander Bivnol and took the key. “Thank you.”
I pressed Margaret’s wheelchair forward and leaned in to whisper to her. “Don’t worry about them, Margaret. We’re totally badass, whether they know it or not.”
***
Director Frente took us up the ramp to the hotel above the parking garage. We took the elevator up to the third floor and entered a room with a perfect view of the street. I had to admit; I was happy not to be down on the ground floor. I had gone up against Prince Yimnit before and had no interest in doing it again. Knowing that he might be able to use magic made him all the more dangerous in my eyes, and he was already one of the most dangerous men I had ever met, below only his vicious father.
“They do realize we have magic, right?” Margaret said.
“All I know is that I’m perfectly happy not being in that firefight. And you should be, too.”
I stared out the window, watching as a string of black limos with diplomatic plates turned up the street. As they neared the hotel, a big truck pulled back into the street from a loading dock on the other side of it. The limo parade stopped, and two Jackboot officers emerged, stomping up to the truck. Moments later, gunfire exploded from the truck, and the Jackboots fell. The limos tried to turn back, but another truck pulled up the side of the street and blocked their way out. Commander Bivnol’s troops rushed out of the parking garage and surrounded the cars as the doors opened and both sides opened fire.
“On second thought, you’re right. I’m really glad we’re not down there,” Margaret said.
“Duh,” I replied, peering out the window. “Oh, I think they got him.”
Sure enough, Commander Bivnol rushed through the downed officers and pulled Prince Yimnit out of the car, his big fur coat flowing behind him as he screamed at the extraction team.
“We did it—” Director Frente started, but then a shockwave exploded the windows all around us and shook the building, sending us backward to the floor.
I recovered and pushed myself to my feet, rushing back to the window to see the prince surrounded by a ball of blue fire. The extraction team was either lying on the ground or stumbling in retreat. There was no doubt now. Prince Yimnit was a magic user.
“We have to help them!” I shouted. The words Araphel said to me echoed through my head. Your plan will fail unless you embrace your true nature.
What did that mean? He told me to trust my gut, but that couldn’t have been right because my gut was saying to leap out of the window and take on the prince one on one. That would be suicide, even if I could survive the fall.
Two of Commander Bivnol’s soldiers rushed forward to engage, and Prince Yimnit threw a torrent of blue fire at them, evaporating them where they stood.
“NO!” I screamed.
Instinct. Rely on instinct. Or we would fail. My instinct was telling me I needed to get down there…fast.
I took a step back and then leaped into the air when I reached the broken window, pulling myself into a tight ball to avoid the shards of glass along its edges. And then I fell. I fell and I fell until I landed with a crash into the ground between Commander Bivnol and Prince Yimnit with a crater cracked into the ground where the road absorbed my impact.
I stood, and to my great shock, I felt…fine. Absolutely fine. In fact, I felt better than fine. A fire burned in my belly and flowed through my legs and arms, giving me a jolt of energy.
“The traveler,” Prince Yimnit growled. “I’m not surprised you have powers, little one, but I have been dealing with your kind for years.”
He circled around me, and I countered his movements. “Oh, you have never met anyone like me. I’m sure of that.”
“What are you, elf, dragon-born, halfling, sorcerer?”
“I’m afraid you’ll have to beat me to find out,” I said with a smile. Where had all this confidence come from? Moments ago, I was terrified, and now I brimmed over with unearned bravado.
“Gladly,” he said with a grin, and he unleashed another torrent of blue fire. I didn’t think. I didn’t second guess myself. I acted on instinct. Holding my hand out in front of me, I pulled the fire toward me. It swirled around my body, warming my face. I took my other hand and clasped them together.
The fire swirling around me shot forward toward Prince Yimnit, detonating around him and sending him flying backward into the wall of the hotel. He fell to the ground and slumped over as his fire dissipated into nothing.
Commander Bivnol rose to her feet and stared at me, wide-eyed. “What just happened?”
Sirens screeched in the distance.
“We can talk about it later. Right now, we have to get out of here if we don’t want to get arrested.”
I could see her processing everything—the fire that nearly killed her, me leaping out of a building, the sirens coming—and finally, she nodded and ran toward Prince Yimnit’s unconscious body. “Let’s go, everybody!”
Director Frente and Margaret rushed out of the building toward the parking garage. “That means us, too.”
A frantic rush ensued as the remaining members of the extraction team grabbed Prince Yimnit and carried him toward the getaway van. We leaped into the car, bolting down the street and turning the corner just as multiple police cars arrived on the scene.
We had made it out by the hair of our chinny chin chins, and I finally exhaled. I was the only one who felt any sense of relief, though. The other eyes in the car were filled with tense fear as to the power they had just witnessed. A small part of me—a very small part—fed on that fear and loved it.
This is a portal fantasy series with mythological roots and action-adventure tendencies. You can search through all my work on my website.