Welsh Road (The Depravity Chronicles) (18 page)

“So she’s a
demon then?” Jena said, trying desperately to classify their enemy.

“I wouldn’t be
so sure of that,” Anish interjected. “I think we need to reserve our assessment
for when we actually engage her.”

“That sounded
very military-like,” Jena said softly.

“Well, this
is
a war,” Trevor said matter-of-factly. “An eternal war.” He waited for Jena to
make eye contact with him so he could drive home his point. But before he could
drive anything anywhere, Trevor walked directly into Anish’s backpack.

“A little
warning would have helped,” Trevor said.

“Shh,” Anish
ordered. He stood at attention, his right hand still in the air after gesturing
for the group to come to a halt.

“Why did we
stop?” Jena asked, clearly irritated with their pace.

“
Shh
,”
Anish repeated.

“Your shushing
is louder than our talking,” Jena mumbled.

Trevor listened
to the sounds around him. He had exceptionally good hearing, along with
spectacular vision. Hell, he was custom made for this line of work. He noticed
the problem immediately. The woods were eerily void of any sound.

“It’s quiet,”
Matthew said.

“Too quiet,”
Trevor agreed.

At that moment a
massive shadow fell from the trees about thirty yards in front of them. It hit
the ground with a disconcerting
Thud!

Then the shadow
disappeared.

* * * * * *

3

Matthew strained
to see what had plummeted from the tree about fifty yards in front of them. One
moment it was there, lying in a heap on ground. The next moment it was gone.
The priest squeezed his eyes shut, counted to three, and opened them again.

Nothing.

Next, he rubbed
his eyes and then opened them as hard as he could, just like they do in the
movies. He almost expected someone – or some
thing
– to be standing
directly in front of him when he opened his eyes. But alas, they were still
alone.

“Anyone want to
take a guess as to what the hell just happened?” Anna asked.

“Did you see the
size of that thing?” Trevor asked in amazement. “It was the size of a black
bear!”  

“Whatever it
was, it’s gone now,” Anish said.

Thud!

“Shit!” Simon
called, looking over his shoulder toward the sound. “That came from behind us!”

Thud!

“That one was
over there,” Matthew said as he pointed to their left. “How much do you wanna
bet a fourth one is going to fall over there,” he said, pointing to their
right.

Everyone waited.

Nothing
happened.

They scanned the
area as best they could. There was still too much sunlight for a flashlight to
be useful, yet not quite bright enough to be able to see clearly with the naked
eye. To make things worse, the trees were casting ominous shadows, bringing the
ground to life with bizarre shapes.

“The forest is
alive with dark energy,” Anish said.

“I hate it when
you say stuff like that,” Anna complained.

Thud!

They waited for
the other proverbial shoe to drop, but nothing happened.

“We’ve been
surrounded,” Matthew whispered. “We’re flanked now on the four corners.”

“Everyone, back
against back!” Anish ordered.

Jena began
shaking, overcome with a terror so complete and consuming that her knees began
to shake. How could she defend herself if she had to focus just to remain
standing? Simon put his arm around her, pressing his forehead against hers.
Matthew reached behind his back and took Jena’s hand in his own.

“We didn’t come
this far to die now,” Matthew said. As he spoke, they were quickly surrounded
by the sound of leaves rustling under heavy footsteps. A bloodcurdling scream
pierced the woods, followed by another, and another, and yet another.

“I know that
scream,” Jena said. “It’s the
exact
same sound I heard last night.” She
paused after that last thought, running her fingers through her hair. “God, is
it really possible that happened only last night? It hasn’t even been 24 hours.
It feels like a week has passed.”

“Mantis Demons,”
Simon said, turning Jena’s attention back to the current crisis. “Fighting one
is difficult enough, but four…”

“Are we sure
there are actually four?” Matthew asked. “As fast as they are, it might just be
one trying to make us think there’s more of him than there really is.”

“Good call,
Father,” Trevor said. “Uh, Jena…you know, now would be a good time for you to
remember how you killed that bastard last night.”

“Don’t you think
I would if I could?” Jena barked. “Acting like an asshole isn’t going to jog my
memory, genius.”

As they waited,
each of them grabbed a weapon from their bags. Trevor and Simon armed
themselves with two Berettas each, while Anna and Matthew had Winchesters at
the ready. Anish and Jena decided to use magic.

“Are you sure
you’re ready to use your powers?” Matthew asked, noticing that Jena had no
firepower.

Jena wasn’t sure
how to tell the group that she absolutely despised guns. “Anish will help me,”
Jena said. “Won’t you?”

Anish nodded.
Somehow that didn’t make Matthew feel any better. Another five minutes passed without
incident. Without movement. Without sound.

“The forest got
quiet again,” Trevor observed. “I’m not sure how I’m supposed to feel about
that. I can’t imagine it’s a good omen.”

Anish grabbed a
talisman that was hanging from his neck and began speaking in an ancient
dialect. Matthew recognized it as some form of Anish’s native Ojibwa language.
As he spoke, several miniature moons appeared above them and began to spread
out in the four cardinal directions.

“That looks
eerily familiar,” Anna said, remembering the last time Anish harnessed the
power of the moon. They had been under the Brickton Estate inside the Wendigo’s
lair.

POW!

POW!

“Hold your
fire!” Anish yelled. Matthew grabbed Trevor’s arm and pushed it down, hoping
that he wouldn’t fire his gun again.

“What are you
even shooting at?” Anna demanded.

“I see it,” Jena
said, pointing to something lying on the ground not far from where they were
standing.

“Okay, we move
as a group,” Anish said. They took small steps as they approached the body.

“That is one ugly
bastard,” Jena noted as she studied the body of the Mantis Demon. “And it is
the spitting image of the one that tried to kill us last night.”

Another terrible
howl pierced the air, forcing them to cover their ears. One of the three
remaining demons must have used it to cover the sound of the other two as they
charged the group.

POW!

POW! POW!

BOOM! BOOM!

Another demon
was brought down by Anna’s Winchester, hitting the ground and sliding to a halt
at her feet. The other demon, however, had turned away from the gunshots and
disappeared from view.

A demon screamed
yet again.

“Above us!”
Matthew yelled. Something in his gut told him to look up, and sure enough, the
demon had climbed a tree and was descending upon them, attacking from above.

“I don’t think
so!” Jena yelled, holding up her right hand. To everyone’s amazement,
especially her own, the Mantis Demon froze in the air not two feet above
Matthew’s head.

“Holy shit!”
Trevor exclaimed, his voice filled with awe and excitement.

“Watch out!”
Simon shouted to Anish as the fourth demon jumped to the ground from a nearby
tree.

“I’ve got it,”
Anish said with a grin. He clutched his talisman and began chanting. The four
moons merged together to form an impressive sphere of silver light, only inches
from Anish’s hand. It was now the only thing separating him from the demon.

Anna raised her
rifle and was about to shoot, but Anish held up his free hand and gestured for
her to hold fire.

“Why isn’t the
demon doing anything?” Trevor asked. The demon was staring at Anish, but was
also stealing glimpses of his brother demon who was still stuck in the air by
Jena’s telekinetic power.

“I would imagine
he is weighing his options,” Matthew said.

“Why can’t I
just shoot it?” Anna asked.

As if on cue,
the large silver moon jettisoned from Anish’s hand and struck the demon in the
center of his chest. For a brief moment, the Mantis Demon’s entire body became
illuminated by the magic moon, burning so brightly it was almost impossible to
look at it. Then, without warning, the demon exploded. All that remained in its
place was the large moon. Anish opened his hand and the apparition of the moon returned
to his talisman.

“Yuck!” Jena
complained as she used her free hand to wipe demon guts from her hair. “Did you
have to do something so…so messy?”

“That was
freaking awesome, dude!” Trevor said proudly.

“I would not
celebrate quite yet, if I were you,” the last demon said darkly.

“Did I say you
could talk?” Jena hissed. She twisted her fingers and everyone shuddered as
they heard the demon’s arms and legs shattering. It cried out in pain. Jena
dropped her hand, releasing the hold she had over the demon. It crashed to the
ground, grunting and panting.

“You were
saying?” Trevor said as he kicked the demon in the stomach.

The demon spat
blood from its mouth and began to laugh, stopping to cough several times.

“You are on your
deathbed, demon,” Jena reminded it. “If I were you, I would not be laughing.”

“I am weak and
no match for the likes of you,” the demon said, looking at Anish and Jena.

“No shit,
Sherlock,” Jena quipped. This only caused the demon to laugh that much harder.

“Before the
night is through, all but one of you will be dead. As for me, I will be reborn
in the Pit. Unlike your weak, pathetic vessels, I am
eternal
.”

“All but one of
us?” Trevor repeated. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“My master needs
only one to fulfill the prophecy. The rest of you will die a most horrible
death.”

“Not likely,”
Jena said. “Tell me, oh smelly Mantis Moron, which one of us does she need?”

When the demon
was silent, Jena twisted her hand and crushed more of its bones.

“I think it’s in
your best interest to talk to us,” Simon suggested. Again, the demon laughed.

“Fine, have it
your way,” Jena said. She lifted her hand to torture the demon again, but Anish
pushed her hand down.

“I have another
way to make the demon speak,” Anish said. “This behavior is beneath us.”

Anish opened his
bag, but before he could pull anything out, the demon cried out in pain as it
moved its hand to its neck.

“What the…” Jena
began, but was cut off by the demon slicing open its own throat with one of its
talons. Blood spurted in all directions. As the demon’s throat began to make
gurgling sounds, it managed to let out one last laugh before it died.

“You didn’t
really expect that thing to talk to us, did you?” Anna asked.

“There are ways
to make even the darkest creatures sing,” Anish answered.

“Why am I not
surprised by that?” Anna asked with a humorless laugh.

“What now?” Jena
asked.

“We keep
moving,” Anish answered. “The Demon Master is not far now.”

“What a pleasure
it will be to meet that bitch,” Jena mumbled. “And kill her.”

Matthew reached
into his bag and retrieved a small Windex bottle.

“What’s that
for?” Trevor asked. “I realize we’ve left a bit of a mess, but I think we’ve
found one purpose that makes the All Purpose cleaner not so all purpose.”

“Yeah, that made
sense,” Simon grinned.

“It’s lighter
fluid, genius,” Matthew said. “We need to burn the bodies.”

“Right,” Trevor
said. “I knew that. I was just joking.”

“Sure you were,”
Jena said with a smile.

“Allow me,” Anna
said. She pulled a book of matches from her pocket and, one by one, set the
four demons aflame.

“You always
carry matches, do you?” Trevor asked.

Anna smiled and
patted her pocket.

“Let’s get
going,” Anish said as they watched the demons burn to ember and ash. “I’d
prefer to make it there before the sun fully sets.”

“Amen to that,”
Jena agreed.

As the group
picked up the pace and headed toward the home of the Demon Master, Matthew said
a prayer that they would have no further distractions before they arrived.