Aftermath (20 page)

I suspected I still knew more than he did about the worlds beyond but he was likely right about God returning. If He and Lucifer came back it would only be because the Aliterean Consortium brought the war to Earth and they were swept along with it. He certainly wouldn’t be returning to pardon some rogue angel for being an asshole.

“Instead of waiting for Him, however, I decided that Heaven and Earth should be returned to its rightful master, the first of the gods here before the Father came and planted his flag.” He gestured to Marduk who nodded majestically. “And he in turn will reward the faithful for returning him to power. It seems to be the prudent thing to do. Isn’t that right,
my lord
?”

“Tetragrammaton stole into our world like a thief in the night and took from us everything. In His absence I will reclaim what is rightfully mine, then bring about a return of my reign, resurrecting those of my companions who are the most malleable, the most suited for rebirth,” Marduk said, sounding like a politician bestowing favors.

His voice flowed over me like warm honey and it all made sense right then. Gabriel was using the guy. He wanted revenge against Heaven but there was no way he could achieve it on his own. Marduk was the key to it all. A match for Lucifer, the old god could tear down any defense Heaven mounted against him. With the Nephilim and rogue angels and demons backing his play there was no one who could stand against him. And as soon as he conquered Heaven and Earth it was a guarantee he’d take over Hell too, just for shits and giggles. Who knew what else he would get up to?

“That sounds wonderful and all but I’m really thinking we can do without the hostile takeover. We’d have to change the National Anthem and reprint all the currency and you would totally crush the delusions of a bunch of Creationists. The Bible business slump alone would decimate the economy.”

Gabriel grinned. “You say this as though you have a choice, Triggaltheron.”

I seriously wished he’d quit calling me that.

“Humanity will regret its decision to cast aside the old gods in favor of
the Father
.” The way he said his name was venomous. “Heaven has come to an end and Marduk will usher in the return of a golden age.”

“How about we compromise,” I offered. “All of you lie down and die and we let the Earth keep on keeping on? Sound fair?”

“Always with the jokes, Triggaltheron, but you have made your last. Make peace with your failure, Spawn of Lucifer, for today begins a new world order. One where devils like you no longer exist.” Gabriel spun away, ducking behind the fire giant. “Kill them Clintalvulaðrskol and bring glory to your people in the new age ahead.”

Clint roared and ducked low, shielding Gabriel and his flunkies from our gunfire. That didn’t stop us from shooting, of course, but it sure did fuck things up.

The giant stomped forward and showed us how he’d kept his pimp hand strong all those years in prison. He slapped at us and sent the whole lot tumbling backward, everyone scrambling to keep from falling over. The Nephilim, angels, and demons spilled out from behind him, taking aim. Shots rang out and I knew we were in deep shit. There was no cover anywhere on the ledge.

Kit returned fire with mechanical precision, standing tall and advancing without fear. While Gabriel’s people had single-shot rifles, Kit was packing auto-fire. I saw a bullet
thump
against her vest, kicking up dust, but her hand never left the trigger. She sprayed the bad guys and taught them a lesson or twelve in superior firepower. At least until Clint reached over and knocked the shit out of her. She went flying and slammed into the mountainside with a bone-jarring
crunch
, then slid limply to the ground. Poe ran to her side.

“Didn’t your mama teach you to never hit a woman?” I asked, moving around in front of him so he would be between the remaining soldiers and us in Gabriel’s army. I was grateful he didn’t know me well enough to call me on my hypocrisy.

“I’ll hit you instead,” he shouted, his fist hurtling toward me.

Having been on the receiving end of said fist a couple times already, I dodged as it crashed into the ground, kicking up shards of stone. Then I shot him in his knuckles. Blood splattered and he screamed while yanking his hand back.

“I bet Thor would have taken that like a man.”

The giant shook his hand, sending crimson flying everywhere, and came at me again. Shaw met him coming in with a burst of lead right in the face. He swatted at the bullets as though they were flies but the onslaught slowed him down.

“Use the beast as cover,” she shouted and Grace and Styg did just that.

Both stepped out from behind him and fired a volley at Gabriel’s remaining people, cutting them down nicely. Styg took a shot to the arm and hit the dirt but Rachelle filled the space and did an impressive job. Her upper lip was peeled back in a perfect rendition of Elvis’s sneer as she swept the AR-15 side to side, ripping apart the Nephilim who tried to stand their ground. She’d clearly used a machine gun before. That was one for trivia night.

Rahim hovered beside her—actually, almost in front of her like he’d planned to take a bullet for her if need be—and helped her mow down Gabriel’s men. Bullets were zinging everywhere but panic had taken hold and all but the staunchest of the bad guys were being driven back and taken out. They’d stopped aiming altogether and were just hitting the trigger as fast as they could. They, however, were the least of our concerns.

I heard Rala’s dragon form shriek somewhere behind me, and then saw her shadow flit over us. She dipped down and barreled into Gabriel’s soldiers, snatching one up and shooting straight into the sky before dropping him and returning to do the same thing again. It was rather majestic watching her wing her way skyward but there was too much going on for me to pay attention to it for long.

Thud provided me with his own brand of entertainment. Always a genius, he dropped his gun and charged the giant. He ducked in beneath Shaw’s deadly hail and laid into Clint with a flurry of vicious body blows and it hit me what he was trying to do. I felt bad for calling him an idiot as the giant dropped his hands to defend against the blows only to catch the full effect of Shaw’s bursts to his face. He staggered back, swiping Thud aside. The demon tumbled away but hopped right back to his feet next to Shaw. He didn’t get a chance to engage again, however.

Clint ducked with a speed I hadn’t expected of him and he slammed his shoulder into Shaw and Thud with a single, crushing motion. They crumpled beneath him, Thud on top, Shaw’s face colliding with the stone shelf under the weight of both of them. She lay there unmoving while Thud groaned, stunned. The giant went to pummel them into eternal sleep but Lance sidled up and stuck his sword in the way of the blow. The blade impaled Clint, ripping through the meat of his finger and bursting out of the back of his hand.

Lance didn’t linger. He yanked the blade sideways and tore it loose, cleaving through the giant’s bones as if they were made of paper, but he didn’t stop there. A quick twist of his wrist hacked the giant’s pinky off. It hit the ground with a wet
thump
and made Clint reel backward, his shrieks echoing across the mountaintop and setting my ears to ringing. The whole volcano seemed to shake along with him.

He was pissed.

I glanced past the frothing giant where the last of Gabriel’s men were retreating but there was no sign of their boss or his cohorts. And that was when I felt it. The portal.

An otherworldly energy pulsed through me, vibrating my bones and setting the hair on the back of my neck standing at attention. It hit me with wave after wave and there was no mistaking the fact that Gabriel was prying the worlds open. My gaze leapt to the space above where the mosaic rested and shimmers of green and red whirled in the sky, devouring the dimensional walls.

We were out of time.

Lance and Clint circled each other, the giant’s hands dancing with fiery magic. For all his injuries the big guy still looked scrappy, no hint of lying down and quitting in his furious expression. He lashed out, sending a column of fire at Lance. The Father sidestepped it—barely—deflecting what remained with Excalibur, tongues of flame exploding outward as though they’d been caught by a stiff wind. The bitter stink of ash filled the air, and I realize the giant had just shifted the odds back in his favor.

Before I could talk myself out of being stupid I holstered my guns and dove at Clint just as he started after Lance. I slipped under his lifted leg and grabbed ahold of his ankle, bursting upright as if I were squatting the weight of the world. It was probably damn close. The bastard weighed a ton.

“You seriously need to go on a diet, fat ass,” I told him as I strained. “No more honey mead for you.”

Clint stumbled, straining for balance, but Lance wasn’t gonna let him find it. The Father jumped at him, slamming his foot into the giant’s chest and sending him reeling. I pushed harder, helping gravity topple big boy, and moved out of the way as soon as he started falling. He hit the ground hard, the shelf jumping beneath our feet at the impact.

“Don’t let him up,” I shouted and ran off, aiming toward the secret entryway to the mosaic. Rala screeched an affirmative, her voice growing closer. That and the renewed sound of gunfire was music to my ears as I knew Rahim and the others had joined in to put Clint away permanently. I hoped they were up to the task or we were screwed. Still, I couldn’t think about that right then. There were other, more important things to take care of. Like stopping Marduk from returning to Earth and taking over. If that happened it didn’t matter how many of us died here and now.

I slipped through the invisible wall hiding the mosaic from the world and ran headlong into a demon who’d been set to guard the stairs to the portal. I’m not sure which of us was more surprised but I had momentum on my side. He stumbled back, raising his rifle and that gave me just enough time to realize I’d put my damn guns away. The demon fired and punched a hole in me, vest and all. That close it just couldn’t hold up. Fire burned through my chest and bile welled in the back of my throat, the hint of copper in there.

The demon grinned. “Not so tough now, huh?”

I clenched my teeth, blood leaking through my teeth where I’d apparently bit my tongue, and snarled. Guess he didn’t know who I was.

“I’ve been shot before,” I told him. “How about you?” Then I charged.

He got off another shot and a searing heat, which trailed across my biceps, told me he’d only grazed me, but that was all the opportunities I was gonna give him. My forehead crashed into his cheek. The resulting
crack
rang through my skull as his orbital bone gave way. I rode him to the ground, slamming my skull into his again and again, smashing his nose and driving his cheekbone into the well of his mouth. He gurgled and batted at me pathetically to knock me aside. Another headbutt ended his resistance and I stood up, hovering over him. That was when I pulled an
American History X
and curb stomped the fucker’s skull into the stairs.

No time to gloat, I ran up the stairs and came out atop the makeshift dais where the mosaic sat. Judas stood there fumbling with the cipher, trying to yank it from the device, while the portal swirled above. Beyond it was a whirl of gray clouds defined by the silhouettes of Gabriel and his companions as they stepped into the world on the other side. It was already too late.

Judas’s head snapped around at hearing me and he cursed. Then, like a rabbit, he bolted for the portal, getting ready to leap across and join his buddies.

“None of that now, Benedict,” I told him, yanking a pistol free from it holster. He scrambled to get airborne and I blasted his kneecap out from under him.

Judas crashed against the mosaic and went down hard, screaming, thrashing near the edge of the platform as he tried to get back to his feet.

“Not gonna make it that easy, asshole.”

I went over to him and put my foot on his shattered knee. He shrieked and squirmed and I just increased the pressure until his screams turned into a wet gurgle. Movement in my peripheral vision drew my attention away, and I spotted a gaggle of Soul Devourers floating in the pool of energy beneath the portal, piranha waiting for scraps. I grinned and decided I’d give them a snack. Wasn’t like I could have Judas hanging out in front of the control panel.

“Say hello to my little friends,” I told him in my best Scarface voice, and then I punted him over the edge. His eyes went wide as he realized what I’d done but shock set in before he hit the ground. The devourers never gave him the chance to find his voice. They swarmed over him and went to work, mouths gnashing. They’d be chewing on his ass forever.

Nothing left to do but grab a front row seat to the end of the world, I drew back a ways and ran as fast as I could, leaping through the portal.

Sure wished I had some popcorn.

Chapter Eighteen

I landed on the other side and rolled to my feet. Gabriel stood near Marduk about twenty feet away. Morgan stood off to his side, Abaddon swaying mindlessly as she held his hand, a golden dagger in her other hand.
Mike sure did a number on him.

Marduk stared around and I could feel his power building against my senses, the hold of the prison world slowly releasing both of us. Then he spoke, his words catching my attention.

“Has Earth changed so much?” He spun in a slow circle, his arms wide as he surveilled his soon-to-be kingdom.

My gaze followed and the gray clouds I’d seen from the other side remained, murky and choking the world from view. It all seemed so familiar, and then it hit me. We weren’t on Earth but in Limbo instead.

Gabriel grinned. “It hasn’t changed much at all, actually.” He reached out and Morgan set the golden blade in his hand. My brain shifted gears as I realized what he intended but there was no time to stop it, nor was I even sure I wanted to.

Marduk started to turn toward Gabriel but the archangel drove the dagger into the base of the old god’s skull, seating it all the way to the hilt with a
thunk
.