Welsh Road (The Depravity Chronicles) (34 page)

“That explains
the purpose the victims served,” Sam said. “She cut out their hearts. No wonder
there was so much blood.”

“Why didn’t you
put a heart in my bucket?” Simon asked.

Nina ignored Sam
and Simon, focusing intensely on the ritual. She began placing various animal
and human organs into each cauldron, but Simon’s continued to stand empty.
Reaching under the table where she had retrieved the cauldrons, she lifted a
large ten gallon bucket and set it on the table.

“I don’t even
want to know what’s in that,” Anna said.

“Probably not,”
Nina said, giggling. Using the soup ladle, Nina scooped what looked like tar
from the bucket. As she dumped the sticky substance into each cauldron, black
smoke began to bellow out. Nina lifted one of the cauldrons, chanting as she
held it above her head. Then she walked up to the fire pit and dumped the
contents of the cauldron into the flames.

SWOOSH!

Black flames
spewed from the pit and began to circle the fire. When the fourth cauldron was
added, several clusters of dark smoke darted around the room. Horrible,
menacing shrieks rattled the windows and pierced their ears.

“Isn’t it beautiful?”
Nina asked, basking in the sounds of torture and misery.

“Are you setting
these shades free?” Anish asked. It was the first time since any of them had
met Anish that he looked visibly frightened.

“Of course not,”
Nina said, as if Anish was talking crazy. Then she grinned. “Well, define
‘free.’ They are assisting me in my task.”

“Shades do
not
help unless they are receiving something in return,” Anish added.

“I never said I
wasn’t giving them something,” Nina answered. “How many shades do you see?”

Anish counted
slowly, trying to get a fix on them as they ricocheted off the walls like a
pinball. “Seven. There are seven shades.”

“Oh, shit,”
Matthew said.

“Yep,” Nina
said.

“Okay, I don’t
like the sound of that,” Anna said. “Are they going to possess us? What the
hell is a shade?”

“No, Anna,”
Anish said. “They are not going to possess us.”

“You’re a
terrible liar, Anish.” Anna shivered as chills traveled down her spine. She
would rather be dead than have her body and soul possessed by something that
sounds like window treatments. “What’s a shade?”

“A disembodied
spirit, often a shadow in the Underworld,” Anish answered.

Nina then turned
to the last cauldron, the one with Simon’s blood. “We need to add something
here,” she said, tapping her chin with her finger. “Ah, but of course.”

Nina knelt
beside Constantine, taking a moment to admire what she believed was a
magnificent creature. She grabbed his jacket and the oxford shirt underneath, ripping
them open and revealing his bare chest. Nina caressed his abs and pecs with her
long fingernails, but then abruptly sliced him open from stem to sternum.

A collective
groan sounded across the room.

“The final
ingredient,” Nina said as she lifted his heart above her head, black blood
still dripping from the organ. “The heart of an angel.”

“You bitch!”
Simon shouted.

Nina laughed.
“You don’t mean to tell me that you’re upset I killed your daddy?”

“I need
answers,” Simon demanded.

Nina shook her
head. “Honey, you don’t need answers. You’ll be dead soon and it won’t matter
anymore.”

When Nina placed
the heart in the cauldron, it smoked, sizzled, and crackled.

“I can only
imagine what will happen when she throws that into the fire,” Matthew said to
no one in particular.

Nina walked up
to the fire, and instead of dumping just the contents into the pit, she threw
the entire cauldron. The black flames grew in intensity and height, rising
higher and higher until it struck the twenty foot ceiling. Anna was dumbfounded
by the fact that the fire was not burning anything it touched, nor did the room
temperature change. If anything, it was getting colder. Much, much colder. One
of the shades honed in on Anna’s fear, and began to circle her. It whispered
unthinkable things in her ear, trying to drive her mad.

“Don’t listen to
them, Mom,” Trevor said. “We are going to get out of this.”

Shrieks of
laughter filled the room, along with the sounds of moaning and groaning. “Do
you hear the calls of my children?” Nina asked, acting as if it was some kind
of soothing, classical music. “They should play this in the elevators at the
mall.”

“You seriously
need to die,” Anna said.

“You first,”
Nina said.

She had added
all of the blood, all of the ingredients. Anish noticed that Nina seemed
hesitant, as if nervous about what might happen. He thought she might even be frightened.
Anish took full advantage of the moment. He screamed as loudly as he could, a
bloodcurdling scream that scared the living shit out of everyone in the
room…including Nina.

This brief yet
critical distraction was exactly what he needed to break the immobilization
spell she had cast on them.

* * * * * *

2

Anish was the
first to be struck down by Nina’s sudden burst of power. Recognizing that her
immobilization spell had dissipated, Nina wasted no time in taking out who she
viewed as her biggest threat. The Shaman.

“Anish!” Trevor
shouted, running over to kneel beside him. Blood poured from the side of
Anish’s head, matting his silver-streaked hair with the color of crimson.

“We can move!”
Anna shouted, reaching for her Beretta. She pulled it on Nina and fired all
rounds in the chamber. Each hit their mark. The first two in Nina’s head, the
last four in her chest. Anna smiled, believing they had finally rid themselves
of a most unnatural pest.

She was wrong.

For a few
seconds, Nina looked stunned. She even wavered a bit, nearly falling to the
floor. That didn’t last long. Howling with laughter, Nina shook her finger at
Anna. She then used her forefingers to dig into her forehead to retrieve the
bullets. Bullets dropped to the floor, along with Anna’s heart and stomach. She
looked at Trevor and Simon, knowing this would be the last time she would be
able to see them alive.

It didn’t take
long before Nina once again cast her immobilization spell. Trevor was still on
his knees, his fingers on Anish’s neck, searching for life.

“Is he alive?”
Sam asked.

“I’m not sure,”
Trevor said. The brutal truth was too difficult for him to say aloud. Anish had
no pulse. Could it be possible that the man who seemed invincible was lying
dead in some haunted farmhouse?

You know what to
do
,
a voice said to Jena. She frantically scanned the room, trying to locate the
source of the sound. It was definitely
not
coming from inside her mind.

“What are you
doing?” Nina asked, walking up to Jena and eying her nervously.

“I’m looking for
my mother.” Jena wasn’t sure what else to say.

“Poor child,”
Nina laughed as she walked back toward the fire pit. “You stay there and grieve
while I finish my work.”

Do it. Do it now
.

I don’t know
what the hell you’re talking about
, Jena cursed. Who was talking to her,
and what did they want her to do? The voice was weird, as if it were a man and
woman speaking at the same time.

Yes, Jena. We
can do this. Together.

Suddenly it hit
her. Jena knew what she had to do. But she had only done it once, and she
wasn’t entirely sure she would be able to hide it from Nina. As old and
powerful as Nina was, wouldn’t she know? And if she discovered what Jena was up
to, she would certainly kill her. Nina already had her blood, so why would she
still need Jena alive? It didn’t matter. None of it did. She had to take this
risk if any of them were going to get out of this damned place alive.

Jena closed her
eyes and concentrated. She imagined herself drifting from her body, floating
across the room to be with her mother. Immediately there was a heaviness
pushing against her senses, nearly causing her to pass out. She figured it was
one of Nina’s protective barriers. The harder she focused on releasing her spirit
from her body, the more her senses seemed to dull. In a last second decision,
Jena decided to split her focus. Perhaps if she could pull the barrier in
opposite directions, it would open a tear in the magical wall and allow her to
pass through it.

Still unsure how
she even managed to do it, Jena split her mind into two separate wholes. On the
one hand, she envisioned herself holding her mother’s hand on the opposite side
of the room. On the other hand, Jena imagined that she was hopelessly struggling
against Nina’s magic, unable to separate her spirit from her vessel.

Somehow,
miraculously, it worked. Jena left her body and began moving toward her mother.
Her instincts told her not to look back, though her fear was screaming at her
to make sure her body didn’t look weird. If it did, Nina would be tipped off
and that would be the end of it. Jena was pretty confident that Nina could
permanently separate her from her physical body if she wanted. She had said as
much when Jena had astral projected the first time.

Uh oh. Nina can
see astral projections. Jena decided to move forward anyway, hoping against
hope that Nina would remain distracted by her ritual.

Once Jena
reached her mother, she had hoped that Isabelle might be in the room with her.
That if luck were on her side, her mother would not yet have crossed over. No
such luck. That didn’t mean she wasn’t alone…she could feel several pairs of
eyes staring daggers into the back of her head. And it hurt like a bitch.

Slowly, Jena
turned back toward her body and the rest of the group. Nina was still off to
her right near the fire pit, and Jena wasn’t quite ballsy enough yet to take a
gander in that direction. But when she saw what was watching her, she figured
Nina would have been the safest bet.

The seven shades
that had been flying around the room were now standing not ten feet in front of
Jena. They no longer looked like dark flames of fire, or heavy smoke that took
the form of astral bodies. No, they looked much more real now. And ten times
scarier. Although Jena didn’t have much time to observe the spirits, they were
clearly human. Well, at least their bodies
appeared
human. Their eyes,
however, were black as menacing. Their faces were cratered with scars from
battles waged, though what kind of battles Jena couldn’t tell. They all seemed
to speak to her at once, though they made no audible sound. Her head became
filled with an enchanted chorus of magic, probably meant to blow her freaking
head off.

One other thing
was clear to Jena. These seven spirits had not only been human, they had been
some kind of magical creatures. There were four males and three females. Magic
flowed from them like the wind, howling and threatening. She didn’t think they
were witches, but something sinister. Dark magic. Black
magic. Just like
Nina.

Sorcery
.

These dark
shades were former sorcerers, and Nina was a thousand-year-old sorceress.

Sorcery.

The word rang in
her head over and over again. The seven shades smiled, revealing gnarly teeth
with no gums. It took less than one second for them to clear the distance
between them and Jena, and she knew they meant to kill her.

Quietly, and in
the blink of an eye, Jena said goodbye to her future.

1

Simon was increasingly
worried about Jena. She didn’t seem to be conscious, yet he felt he couldn’t
call out to her. He couldn’t pinpoint the voice that told him to keep quiet,
but he listened to his gut and kept mum.

Besides, he had
his own drama to deal with. A Nephilim? Seriously? He would come into power on
his 18
^th
birthday? What did that even mean? It didn’t seem likely he
would reach his 18
^th
birthday at this point, anyway. A lot of good
being the son of a freaking angel did him now. He needed power right this
second
,
dammit.

Simon closed his
eyes and called to his father, Constantine. If he truly was an angel, would
pulling out his heart actually kill him? That would be lame, considering the
power that angels supposedly had. Then again, Constantine was a Fallen angel, and
who knows what kind of juju God had cast upon them when He threw them out of
Heaven. Assuming, of course, that was the way things went down back in the day.
Who could he trust to know the truth?

Then Simon
thought about Anish. Was it really possible that he was dead? He was somewhat
grateful that Nina had immobilized them when she did. From this vantage point
he could see both Anish
and
keep an eye on Nina, though he didn’t think
he could do anything productive to stop her. But at least he could stare at her
and direct his considerable anger and hatred toward her.

Simon, it’s your
father
.

Holy shit. Was
this real?

Yes, it’s real
.

Simon struggled
to remain silent, both in sound and mind. He wasn’t sure now that he wanted to
talk to his absentee father, knowing that Constantine was probably just as
corrupted and evil as Nina.

Your mind is
unquiet, my son. I may be Fallen, but I am not Nina’s bitch.

Could’ve fooled
me
,
Simon said.
She conjured you. We all watched as you practically made out
with her.

Ah, yes. Well, I
had to get here somehow, didn’t I?

Simon wasn’t
sure if he should continue this train of thought, but at the same time, what
choice did they have? Nina was winning.

So you’re saying
you used Nina to get here on the physical plane? That’s a little hard to
believe. Why couldn’t you just come here on your own accord?

I’ve been in
Hell since you shot me. Returning to the surface requires time and connections.
Details. Quite boring, really.

Enlighten me.
I’m sure it’s more entertaining than you think. Besides, I’m not going
anywhere.

There isn’t time
for this, Simon. You contacted me, remember? If it is help you desire, it will
come at a price.

Simon tried to
shake his head, but was met with a painful sting in his neck muscles.
I’ll
pay any price to save my family. What do you want?

Now we’re
talking.

* * * * * *

2

Eleanor wasn’t
sure how much time had passed since she had been cast off the property of the
farmhouse. She should have been better prepared. Dark Magic, especially Old
Magic, is difficult to detect and even harder to overpower.

As she
approached the porch again, Eleanor chanted countercharms under her breath.
This Nina might be powerful, but with her entire ancestral line behind her,
Eleanor would prove to be a formidable opponent. At least that was her hope.

Eleanor noticed
that the front door had been blown from its hinges. She found it odd that she
encountered no magical barriers, moving freely up the stairs and into the
farmhouse. What she saw nearly knocked her onto a different plane. Her
granddaughter Isabelle was lying dead on the floor, and an astral Jena was
about to be attacked by seven seriously pissed off shades.

Just as the
shades were about to attack Jena, the most amazing thing happened. As Jena
lifted her hands in self-defense, she erected a magical shield of protection.
The shades pounded against it, but the shield held firm, protecting Jena.

Eleanor acted
quickly. She appeared beside Jena, adding her own magic to Jena’s. When one of
the male spirits struck the shield, it sent a kind of electrical shockwave
through him. There was a loud
BZZT!
sound, and his once solid form
became translucent. The others quickly backed away, searching for a way
through.

“Hi, Jena,”
Eleanor said with a wide smile.

“Holy crap,”
Jena whispered, almost inaudibly, but loud enough for great-grandmother to
hear.

“Such language,
Jena,” Eleanor chastised. “You get that from your mother. Certainly not from
me.”

“Great-grandma
Ellie?” Jena said, awestruck. “It’s so good to see you again.”

“Ellie. Wow. I
haven’t heard that name in quite some time.”

“Now is not the
time to get nostalgic,” a voice said from behind them.

Jena knew
immediately who it was. She turned and attempted to embrace her mother, but
moved through her instead. Her focus distracted, the shield fell and the shades
attacked.

* * * * * *

3

Nina knew something
was off. Though her ritual was moving along perfectly, there was a certain energy
in the room that had not been there earlier. It didn’t seem like a positive
force, but it definitely was not dark.

She strolled
over to her party guests, staring each of them down in an attempt to figure out
what was happening. “Something here is not like the others,” she teased,
smiling and trying to hide her discomfort. Last minute drama was something she
didn’t need, especially at this point in the game. There was too much at stake
to allow some novice to screw up her plans.

Anna was also
aware that something in the room had changed. She knew that Simon was one of
the people responsible. There was a certain glow around him that she had never
seen. The only question now is whether Nina would also recognize it. Anna had
the upper hand because she knew Simon and loved him like a son. Nina didn’t
know him from Adam. Just as Nina was approaching Simon, Anna acted quickly to
distract her.

“You don’t know
who you’re dealing with here,” Anna said, her voice strong and confident.

“So you
do
know
about your history,” Nina said, turning toward Anna. “I knew you were hiding
something.”

Anna had to
think of something, and fast. She had no idea what Nina was talking about when
she had said that Anna and her ancestors were Guardians. So it would be a
really bad idea to engage Nina in a conversation that would get her killed when
Nina realized how clueless Anna actually was. What she needed was a good old
fashioned distraction. One that would allow help to arrive, assuming that
someone in the room was working on making that happen.

“You are aware
of how this is going to end, right?” Anna asked, trying to sound boastful and
arrogant. She did her best to channel Jake, the asshole from her police force
that died in the battle last year.

“Oh, do tell
me,” Nina said, clasping her hands together. “I love a good story.”

“It will end
with your death,” Anna promised.

“Oh, silly
bitch,” Nina snorted. “I’m immortal. You cannot kill me.”

“No, but we can
send you to another plane,” Anna said.

Nina flinched,
even if only for a fraction of a second. Anna had been trained to notice the
unnoticeable. Sheriff Kelly had taught her well. Having three kids didn’t hurt
either, especially Trevor.

“Mom, what are
you doing?” Trevor asked.

Speaking of the
devil
,
Anna thought.

“Finishing
this,” Anna said.

Nina placed her
forefinger on Anna’s temple, holding it there but not making any moves. “You do
understand that I can kill you right here, right now.”

“Then go ahead.
Make my day.” Clint Eastwood quotes always seemed to come in handy when you
were a cop.

Nina stared Anna
down, and Anna returned her gaze. “You know what, Anna? I like you.”

“You…what?” Anna
was surprised by Nina’s sudden change in expression and mood.
This bitch is
all kinds of crazy
, she thought.

“I’m not ready
to let you go yet,” Nina said. “Besides, I’ve already killed Jena’s mom here.
Plus Anish. I think that’s good for now. Like I said, I need witnesses.”

“For what?”
Trevor demanded.

“What do we have
here?” Nina asked, ignoring Trevor’s question and focusing instead on Jena. She
knocked on Jena’s forehead.

“Leave her
alone!” Anna shouted.

“Anyone home?”
Nina asked as she lifted Jena’s eyelids and stared into her eyes. Suddenly,
Nina backed away from Jena and began frantically scanning the room.

“I don’t like
playing games,” Nina hissed. She considered sicking her shades on Jena, but
they were already unpredictable. “Come out, come out, wherever you are!”

Jena remained
motionless. Nina was flustered. Why couldn’t she see the girl? She figured
someone must be cloaking her. But who?

“Fine, you
little witch,” Nina barked. “If that’s the way you want to play it, I will just
start killing your friends. If you know what’s good for them, and for you, you
will return your astral ass into your body this instant!”

After a few
seconds passed, Nina began laughing. “Suit yourself.”

“Wait!” Trevor
shouted, but Nina continued to ignore him.

“You two have
been awfully quiet,” Nina said, addressing Sam and Matthew. “Perhaps I should
permanently silence both of you. Two birds with one stone.”

“Burn in Hell,
you…” Sam began, but Nina slapped him hard across his face.

“I will count to
three, Jena. If you do not return to your body, then your priest and other
human will die.”

“One.”

Nina paused for
the sheer fabulousness of drama.

“Two.”

“Three.”

4

Simon knew he
was about to make a deal with a devil. Sure, it might not be
the
devil,
but a devil nonetheless. But he knew he had no other choice. With Anish dead,
Jena looking like a zombie, and the rest of the group non-magical, it was going
to be up to him to save them.

I said, what do
you want?
Simon
repeated. For a brief moment he panicked, worried that his father had once
again abandoned him.

I think you know
what I want,
Constantine
said, his voice loud and arrogant in Simon’s mind.

Fine, it’s
yours.

You understand
there is no turning back?

Just get it done
, Simon
commanded.
I need to know the plan. What are you going to do to help us?

There is no
‘us,’ Simon. I am helping you. It is up to you what you do with that help. If
you choose to save your pathetic excuses for friends, then so be it.

Simon had never
hated his father more than he did at this moment.
The best thing I ever did
was shoot you in the head.

Tisk, tisk, boy.
Do you want my help or don’t you?

Yes. Now, what’s
the plan?

You’ll know what
to do when the time comes. And if not, just wing it.

Simon nearly
laughed.
Seriously? Wing it?

Yes, and pun
intended.

Simon was
confused.
What pun? And how much time? I’m out of time!

Silence.

Father?
Constantine?

Still no
response.

Just when Simon
was about to lose faith that his father would actually remain true to his word,
he felt a terrible, shooting pain in his upper back. It felt like his shoulder
blades were pushing their way through his skin. He tried desperately to scream
in pain, but no sound would leave his mouth. Black spots clouded his vision,
and Simon wasn’t sure he could maintain consciousness.

Then the strangest
sensation came over him. First, he realized that he could move. That he
was
moving.
Second, and this was the strange part, he wasn’t moving any part of his body.
At least not any body part he had prior to coming to the farmhouse. He heard a
loud flapping noise directly behind him, like a giant bird was attempting to
fly.

“Uh, dude?”
Trevor said, staring at Simon, his jaw practically on the floor.

“What?” Simon
asked, still trying to make sense of the weird vibration in his shoulders. Not
to mention why he was now two feet off the ground.

“You totally
grew wings,” Trevor said, pointing toward Simon’s back.