Evil - Chapter 39
The rebellion hackers were able to break into Fleranox’s human resources system and find the names of Dr. Jortensur’s team, though any record of their projects had already been erased from the system.
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.
My gut said the king was trying to erase everything about the project they were working on, starting with the records and ending with anyone who might know how to stop it.
There were three assistants on the project’s core team, along with Dr. Jortensur. She was already dead. I hoped we could get to at least one of the others before the king finished the job. The first person on the list, Giudal Tery, lived on the third floor of an apartment complex close to the center of the city. Fire trucks were already at the scene, shooting water into a charred black hole on the third floor of the building. We didn’t even get out of the car to examine it further. We knew Giudal’s place was the one ablaze.
The second assistant was a grad student named Sysyn Nilt. She worked mostly from her office in the king’s university. Our driver let us out as close to her dorm as he could get, but we had to hoof it the final hundred yards. By the time we arrived, a small crowd was disbursing as an EMT crew loaded Sysyn’s dead, lifeless body onto a stretcher.
“Shit!” I screamed. “They’ve gotten all of them. Every single one.”
“Hey!” Kimberly said. “Calm down. We still have one assistant left, okay? Think positive. We’re going to figure this out, and if we can’t, then we’ll figure out something else.”
I didn’t have any of her optimism. The last months had stripped it from me, flaying me until there was no hope left inside of me, just a bitter husk left who didn’t much believe that good things would happen anymore.
Maybe I was cursed. If I went away, perhaps Kimberly would have better luck on her own. I could open the door and leave right now, just tuck and roll away and give her a fighting chance. I grabbed onto the metal door handle and tried to convince myself to open it, but as I gathered my nerve to leap, the car jerked to a stop in front of a little ranch house that must have belonged to Ingyr Borsti, the last of Dr. Jortensur’s assistants.
“Think good thoughts,” Kimberly said, not knowing that was an impossibility for me at the moment. Maybe ever again.
I got out of the car anyway and followed Kimberly to the door. It was already cracked open. Not a good sign. The smell of rotten eggs followed us through the house as we snaked our way to the kitchen, where we found the body of Ingyr Borsti, head in the oven. Kimberly turned off the gas.
“Well, crap.”
“What was that you were saying about positive mental thoughts?” I asked. “Can I spiral yet?”
“Yeah,” she said, kicking the wall. “Spiral away.”
That was quite enough adventure for one day. I could never see another dead body for the rest of my life, and I would be perfectly happy, thank you very much.
***
We arrived back to the base into a pandemonium, people skittering anxiously and heavy with panic. When I stepped onto the main floor, Volkim turned a corner so fast that she barreled into me, knocking papers into the air as we fell to the floor.
“Oh shit, I’m sorry,” she said, gathering the papers from around her. Kimberly and I helped her. “It’s been a little bit hectic around here since—well, all day, actually.”
“I heard the king,” I said once we’d successfully gathered the papers into a messy pile. “Is that what this is all about?”
“Pretty much.” She pointed down the hall. “The director wanted to see you in her office ASAP. She’s been locked in there most of the day on calls.”
“Fabulous.”
Kimberly and I made our way to the director’s office, where she was stacked elbows to ankles with Margaret, Madam Fantasmo, Commander Bivnol, and a bunch of other suits and soldiers. A voice I barely recognized as President Achel squawked at them from the phone on the desk.
“I can’t risk my country for one prisoner,” President Achel said. “You can either return him to us by midnight, or you will have made an enemy of Risyl.”
“No offense, Madam President,” Commander Bivnol said. “But your threats didn’t work two hours ago, and they aren’t going to work now. We are working on a plan to end this tonight, and if we don’t, then we’ll move on to plan B.”
“Wait,” I shouted, crowding into the room. “You can’t honestly be thinking of surrendering, are you?”
“Who is that? Is that somebody new?” President Achel said. “Whatever, it doesn’t matter. I’m giving you an hour to start fixing this, or you leave us no choice. Time to think outside the box, people.”
“Margaret is about to go on the air and deliver our response,” Madam Fantasmo said. “It’s going to be fantastic.”
“It better be,” President Achel snapped, and then the line disconnected.
Director Frente rubbed the bridge of her nose. “So nice of you to join us, Anjelica. Please tell me you have good news and that I haven’t been getting chewed out all day for nothing.”
I looked over at Kimberly, who nodded at me slightly. “Well, we have some good news…and some bad news.”
“Well, that’s better than us,” Margaret said. “We only have bad news.”
“Out with it,” the director barked.
“We know who built the device for the king, but…she’s dead.”
“Poisoned,” Kimberly added. “Along with her three assistants. And all their information has been wiped from their databases.”
“We already knew that,” Jasper said from the corner.
“Which means you have nothing,” Commander Bivnol said. “Swell.”
“It’s okay,” Margaret said. “We just fall back to Plan Moonbeam, then.”
“What’s that?” I said.
Margaret turned to me. “I offer an exchange. Me in place of the prince.”
“That’s crazy!” Kimberly shouted. “I mean, who would make that trade?”
She shrugged. “We don’t have many cards left to play. If nothing else, it might cause a distraction and buy us some time.”
“You can’t!”
Director Frente slammed her hands on the desk. “She can, she will, and she is. Now, everyone out. Madam Fantasmo, bring Margaret to the studio and get her on the air in five minutes. Let’s just hope this buys us some time.” The group disbursed. “Anjelica, Kimberly. You stay here for a minute, please.”
I didn’t like the tone of her voice. I slipped through the stream of soldiers as they passed, giving Margaret’s shoulder a squeeze before she left the room. When the last of them were gone, the door clicked closed.
“This isn’t going to work,” Director Frente said. “We’re just hoping for a stall, so it looks like we’re doing something, and hopefully, we can swing public opinion back to our side for a minute.”
“The president can’t possibly be thinking of surrender, can she?”
“I don’t know. She’s tough, and Risyl is strong, but this weapon he’s designing…I have no idea how to stop it and no idea how powerful it is. If the king can really harness the power of a god, then he might just be able to destroy the world while barely lifting a finger. There’s only one thing that brings me hope.”
“And what is that?”
Director Frente pressed her hands into her desk as she leaned against it. “If he had the power to use the weapon, he would have already done it.”
Kimberly nodded her head. “Which means either he doesn’t have the weapon or—”
“Or he’s waiting for something to perform the ritual,” I said, finishing Kimberly’s thought.
“Maybe not just something. Maybe he needs the timing to be right,” Kimberly replied, stroking her chin. “Lots of magic is dependent on certain times of day, or times of the year, to work.” She turned to Director Frente. “Is there anything significant about tonight?”
“Significant how?” She paused. “There’s a full moon tonight if I remember right.”
“That could be it,” Kimberly said. “I can’t believe I am saying this, but I think there’s a ritual he has to perform tonight to finalize the weapon, which gives us one more night to save the world before King Ulthar is unstoppable.”
“Then we have to attack tonight,” Director Frente said. “Prince Yimnit and I have agreed to terms. He will lead our team into the tunnels tonight.”
“And if he’s leading you into a trap?”
“Then it’s still the best chance we have.”
I had an idea. It was a daft idea, but maybe there was still a way to communicate with the dead. After all, I kind of had an in with Death.
I turned to Kimberly. “Can you get me some sleeping pills?”
***
After Director Frente released us, I stepped into the booth of the studio and watched Margaret psych herself up on the stage.
“I don’t like this,” I said to nobody specifically. A handful of other people in the room, including Madam Fantasmo, turned to me.
“None of us do, hon,” Madam Fantasmo said. “This is war, and in war, there are rarely good choices, just ones that stink less than others. Risking one person to save a country is a terrible trade, but it’s the best one we have.”
“We’re live in five,” a balding man in front of a bank of video monitors said into an earpiece. “Four, three, two, one…and we’re live.”
Red lights blinked on in the stage, and Margaret rolled herself forward. “Two days ago, we captured Prince Yimnit from the Capitol of Risyl. We worked alone with no help from President Achel or her people. It was a secret mission, and our men barely escaped with their lives. I know this to be true because I was on a diplomatic trip to Risyl, trying to get their support. They refused, despite the dire situation. However, we thought the reward was great enough that we decided to carry out our operation anyway—even without President Achel giving us the authority.”
She took a breath. She was a natural at this. Calm and cool on stage, even with the fate of the world on her shoulders. “One of the advantages of working outside of the law is that we do not have to abide by international treaties to fulfill our aims. I beg the king to understand that even though this abduction happened on foreign soil, it was conducted by our people and ours alone. However, we do have your son. And we will not give him up.”
She dipped her head for a moment, and I wondered if it was a natural move or rehearsed. “I’d like to offer you an exchange. The rebellion will retain Prince Yimnit, and you, in turn, will receive a hostage—me—as a promise we will not hurt him. You may do with me what you will, for you say you are a just and merciful king. I am willing to take you at your word and hope your words are truthful.”
The red lights turned off, and I realized I had been holding my breath since she started talking. I exhaled loudly just as the door to the studio opened. Kimberly held up a bottle of pills.
It was time to meet an old friend in the darkness and see if I could locate a soul in the abyss.
This is a portal fantasy series with mythological roots and action-adventure tendencies. You can search through all my work on my website.