Where All Souls Meet (8 page)

"Let me through," she said. "
Please
."

Why am I saying please to Satan Spawn?
Her brow furrowed as she heard the sound of running. Eden turned and saw the mist parting around Lamashtu like the ocean parted for Moses. A deep growling filled the night.

"In the name of the Lord our God,
let me through
," she demanded.

The Satan Spawn shivered at the name but continued to grasp hands. She should have known Raiders wouldn't be so simple to overthrow as she did not know if they really counted as demons. Finally, Lamashtu was upon her, and the Raiders disappeared into mist.

"You shall pay for your impudence, human," Lamashtu said.

"Like I'm scared of someone who hides as a
puddle
," she said, trying to buy time. She turned but the demon grabbed her arm.

"Do you know what I've done? I've poisoned nations left and right. Do. Not. Mock. Me." Lamashtu narrowed her eyes in anger.

Trembling, Eden knew there would be no way she could get away with Lamashtu so close. The lanterns grew closer now, close enough for her to make out Yuri among the front of the pack as her friends ran toward her.

"It's Lamashtu," Eden yelled. "Lamashtu is the one keeping me captive."

With a snarl, the demon seized Eden's hair and began to drag her back toward the prison.

Eden did not know how long she sat there — it could have been hours or days or even weeks — formulating a plan. Every second felt like an hour. She did not dare move from her spot on the floor, or else Lamashtu would charge
. I don't know how long I have until Agares gets back.
Brow furrowing, she frowned at her feet.
He isn't going to be happy when he finds out I broke through his hallucinations.

As Eden let out a long moan of frustration, she felt the ground beneath her shake; she grabbed the wall and shivered.
What is going on?
In the room next door, she heard Lamashtu give a loud hiss. The demon appeared at the threshold of the door with her eyes narrowed in anger.

"You," her captor shouted. "This is your doing."

Eden sat up. "How could this be
my
doing?"

"You have ways," Lamashtu said.

"I am still just a human," Eden said. "I didn't have anything to do with this."

There was the sound of more rumbling and an unearthly, evil scream filled the air. Eden yelped and was thrown against the wall. She stared up and saw Lamashtu's face had become, if possible, even angrier, and for once, the anger was not aimed at her.

"Pazuzu," Lamashtu said. "I would recognize her voice anywhere. Why is she here?"

"Pazuzu. Who is Pazuzu?" Eden asked, eyes wide. A new demon could mean trouble.

"Ha. You don't know her." Lamashtu smirked with pleasure. "A dog face. Weak, fanged creature. I'm much stronger."

Lamashtu spun and headed over to the window. Eden hesitated and then took the chance to sneak over to the threshold and halted there. Lamashtu stared out the window and into the endless night. Pazuzu screamed again outside of the dungeon, a loud, angry wail.

"
Her
," Lamashtu said. "She is here to mock me."

The demon turned around and stared Eden straight in the eye. Eden shivered, not sure of her fate.

"You…" Her captor sighed. "I cannot leave because of you."

Once again, Pazuzu roared. An idea sparked in Eden's head.

"She sounds pretty strong. I would be too scared to escape, if she was guarding me," she said. "I can hear it in her roar."

"I know," Lamashtu said. "If you weren't here right now, I'd…"

"You could take me outside with you," Eden said. "You could watch me
and
destroy her."

For a second, Lamashtu wrinkled her giant lion-muzzle.

"Why would you want me to destroy her?" Lamashtu asked. "You want to escape, don't you? Like I'd let it happen."

A deep, hoarse growl echoed throughout the room followed by the sound of banging down below. Eden heard odd clicking noises coming from outside of the building. She gripped the wall for support and glanced around. The shaking grew and then a deafening roar filled her ears. From over Lamashtu's shoulder, Eden saw bright orange flames lick part of the wall. Pazuzu had set the place ablaze. Lamashtu may have been able to survive flames, but Eden knew it would deplete her spirit energy, effectively ending her existence. Fearful, she stole a look at the stairs and then groaned.

"Pazuzu," Lamashtu said. "Our lord is going to be unhappy if his plan is bungled because of her. Maybe she'll even be strung up by her fangs for two hundred years. Come with me, human."

Lamashtu appeared in front of Eden in a flash and then began to drag her down the stairs. Eden's arm burned where the demoness gripped her and heat came pouring in from all sides. The stairs groaned under foot and she wondered whether it would be the last thing she would ever hear.

Lamashtu yanked Eden toward the door at the bottom of the stairs, which was already aflame, and slammed her fist against the door. The smoldering wood crumbled beneath her demonic blow. A moment later, Lamashtu hauled Eden out into the perpetual night. In the distance, Eden could make out the glow of lanterns and saw figures holding them. She dragged her eyes away from the lanterns when a black blur came from the right. A figure began to morph from the darkness, becoming larger and larger. The darkness fell away like a cloak, revealing a monstrous being beneath. The figure was hideous, even more hideous than Lamashtu.

Twelve foot tall Pazuzu had the panting head of a pit bull with two red-rimmed eyes that bulged like billiards from her head, a long scorpion's tail, and four greasy black bat wings. She let out an angry growl when she saw them. Her whip-like tail snapped the air. A horrible stench surrounded the demon, similar, yet different at the same time, to what Eden had smelled on other demons.

When Eden was eight, she had visited her next-door neighbor, Cecile, in the hospital when she got cancer. She remembered the pungent scent in Cecile's room. It was the smell of illness, the same smell draped around Pazuzu. A red mist floated around her new nemesis, and Eden had not doubt that had she been alive, she would have been struck with plague, her skin festering with boils. Eden was surprised Pazuzu and Asag had not formed an alliance.

"Hello, Lamashtu," Pazuzu said, her voice deep and resonating.

"What are you doing here?" Lamashtu demanded. "Shouldn't you be up on Earth spreading disease?"

"I was summoned here," Pazuzu said. "I heard you were doing something important, and you know how I love to show you just how
inferior
you are."

The growl Eden heard caused a chill to run up her back. She wanted to run away, but Lamashtu still had a firm hand on her arm.

"I am not inferior," Lamashtu said, then broke out into a string of curses.

The ground shook beneath Pazuzu's feet and her bulging black eyes began to glow red. A long, snake-like tongue flipped from her mouth.

"Prove it," Pazuzu said.

Lamashtu stared at Eden for just a second and tightened her grip.

"You," Lamashtu said. "Do not move, do you understand me?"

Eden didn't say a word. With a grunt, Lamashtu turned and hurled herself at Pazuzu. The demon tackled her to the ground, leaving a dent in the earth. Meanwhile, Eden searched around desperately for her friends' lamps in the distance and discovered they weren't there anymore. Her stomach sunk with disappointment. If she moved now, the Raiders would stop her. She needed a lamp in order to make it to safety.

Eden watched Pazuzu hit Lamashtu across the face with her lion's claws; Lamashtu did the same in return. Bloody scratch marks covered Lamashtu's cheek and a piece of fur hung down. Lamashtu panted and then dissolved in a puddle of green sludge on the ground. Pazuzu found her at once and kicked her, splattering liquid everywhere. A moment later, Lamashtu re-formed and stood up, shaking in anger.

"You," Lamashtu said, completely focused on Pazuzu.

Eden took a step back and saw a flicker of light. It wasn't from the orange fires which devoured the demons' fortress. Turning around, she saw somebody lingering beyond the enflamed building some distance from her. A familiar face appeared from beyond the lamp. It was Yuri and, beside him, Thema.

"Eden, come on," Yuri said. "We've come for you."

Nodding, Eden sprinted toward him; the light from his anti-Raider lamp shrouded her and blocked out the mist. There was the sound of booming as Lamashtu and Pazuzu continued to wrestle each other.

"Run," Yuri said.

She didn't need to be told twice.

Shuddering, Eden locked hands with Yuri. Thema ran by their side. Every once in a while, Eden tossed a look over her shoulder and glanced at the two demons still immersed in the heat of battle. Lamashtu and Pazuzu's screams were audible to the human souls even as they fled into the darkened woods.

"Talk about good luck," Eden said. "I never thought I'd be happy to see a demon. Pazuzu saved me."

"It wasn't luck, idiot," Thema said. "We brought her here. People in the old days did it all the time. Pazuzu saved babies from Lamashtu."

"That's… nice." Eden frowned.

"No, it isn't," Thema said. "She doesn't do it to be nice. She does it because she's a demon and hates Lamashtu. Most of the times she gives the child pestilence when she steals them from Lamashtu who just would have devoured them. It's why we've got to get your out of here before she decides she wants to be on you too."

"And there's something else," Yuri said gently.

"Something else?" Eden groaned. "What is it? Are the dead trees turning into Satan Spawn or is the world going to implode within twenty-four hours? It just might with my luck."

Yuri slowed his pace and frowned. "Eden, we found your mom while you were away. We were looking for somebody to help us summon Pazuzu and, well, we ran into her in Gabriel."

A wall of knee-crumbling emotions hit Eden. She had no choice but to slow down as her mind spun.
Mom. They found my mom?
She had been looking for her for so long that she could hardly fathom the thought of actually knowing where she was. It didn't even matter that they weren't far enough away from Lamashtu and Pazuzu to suit her liking. She saw her mom's face in her head and felt happiness, confusion, and fear. She remembered the dark truth that Agares had seen in the darkness of her heart.

A groan escaped Eden's throat.

Thema stared at her, frowning. "I… don't understand. You've been searching for your mom ever since you came here. Aren't you happy? Don't you want to see her right away?"

She had yet another flashback to the most awful moment of her life, the moment when her mom had abandoned her.

"You were going to abandon me," Eden yelled. "You were going to leave me here."

Her mom stared at her with wide eyes. "You would be much better off with your father. He can take care of you."

"You are so full of it." Eden grabbed a fistful of bed sheets in her hand and balled it in her fist. "Admit it. You are just too selfish—"

"Eden, come on."

"—and too immature to bring me along." Eden's eyes narrowed. "You were always like that. You've always made it perfectly clear you've never wanted me. Well, guess what? Maybe I don't want you either."

The air in the room grew cold. Her mom seized the suitcase on the bed and forced the top down with a loud thud. Eden was still too angry and couldn't contain her emotions. Her mom, the selfish witch, was abandoning her. She followed her mom as she headed to the stairs.

Eden followed her mom to the stairway. As her mother descended, Eden watched.. Her mom seized the front door and opened it, and Eden felt more of her angry mutant feelings bubble inside of her.

"I hate you," Eden yelled. "I hope you die."

Eden dropped to her knees and shook her head.

"Eden?" Yuri asked, grabbing her shoulder. "Are you… all right?"

"I have faced demons, Satan himself, and monsters beyond my wildest imagination," Eden said. "I never thought the hardest thing I would ever have to do is face my life's biggest mistake."

A confused expression crossed Thema's face, but Yuri's eyes were filled with knowing as he offered Eden his hand. She realized this was her chance to wipe the slate clean with her mom, no matter how she responded. She was conflicted; she wanted desperately to see her mom, and yet, she was afraid. She just couldn't believe the moment was finally here.

"Take me to her," Eden said.

Yuri paused for a second and then embraced her, his lips pressing gently down on hers. Shock filled her as she tasted his sweet mouth. Normally, his kiss would have filled her with overwhelming electricity, but now all she could think about was the dilemma she faced with her mother. A moment later, he pulled away.

"You are the bravest girl I have ever met," Yuri said. "Don't forget it. No matter what happens with your mom."

"Thanks, Yuri."
Though right now, I don't feel like it's true.