The Pentagram Child: Part 2 (Afterlife Saga Book 5) (21 page)

“So what do we do now?” I asked like one of those annoying sidekicks that ended up being more of a hindrance than any help. However even knowing this I still couldn’t help from asking the irritating question, the poor guy.

“Hell fire and horse feathers!” He said ignoring my ‘Uh?’ and continuing on,

“First thing is to get out of this Shindig little lady.” He reached out his gloved hand for me to take as he helped me over the rest of the broken limbs on the floor.

A short time later and I had seriously hit my limit of playing the lamb and following blindly behind people I either didn’t like or didn’t know. Wild Bill Hickok had been quiet for most of the endless walk through Tartarus and for the most part we came across no one. I did notice though that when we arrived at some doors, Bill stopped me so he could listen to what I gathered was whether or not the coast was clear. There had only been one incident where Bill had to take care of, and when I mean take care of I actually mean spear through the chest with his sword.

The creature he dispatched looked like a guard of some kind as he was clearly wearing a uniform, one that hid his face from view. I had to admit I was glad if some of the creatures in the prison cell I was locked in with were to go by.

I nearly asked at one point if all cowboys had swords as he was the first I knew of. Ok, so my Wild West trivia was lacking at best but really, a sword? Unless he was at some point part of the Cavalry, speaking of which it would have been nice to see Tartarus stormed by the Afterlife crew but I guess I couldn’t complain considering I was still alive thanks to Wyatt Earp here.

As we walked I started to notice even more about him and that included the poker hand he had attached to his hat.

“Are you any good?” I asked nodding to his hat that held a pair of black aces and a pair of black eights that looked slightly blood stained. He smiled down at me as he held open a door for me that led into a massive spiral staircase which was half covered by the biggest looking thorns I had ever seen!

“The dead man’s hand.”  He said and my frown was all he needed before he continued.

“That’s what it’s known as, the dead man’s hand, on account of the fact that I died holding that hand.” I almost tripped up on my step and tumbled down the neck breaking fall.

“You died playing poker?!” I shouted in my shock. I mean it was true, I didn’t know the guy but still hearing how someone died from that living breathing person’s mouth was a shocker for anyone.

“I did and when I was winning too that dang boot-licker but look at me I could yarn the hours away, you be careful of the soulweed little Miss.” He said pulling me a step further away from the deadly looking thorns that looked like spears desperate to feel blood at their tips. I took his advice and started to concentrate on my footing in this giant tunnel going straight down. Being in this place I didn’t think we could actually get any further down but here we were and from the looks of things, we were heading deeper into the pit that was Hell.

“I thought we were trying to get out of here?”  I had to say after stewing on the silent questions I had for too long.

“We surely are but there is only…wait.” He said breaking off what he started saying when a shadow fell over us and we both looked up at the same time.

“Well Butter my Butt and call me Biscuit. That’s a lot of bad plums I’m gonna need.”

“I really need to learn how to fire a gun” I said after Bill’s comment about needing bullets and his response had me laughing in the face of danger,

“Well darlin you’re in luck, because here comes your target practice!”

“You’re darn straight!” I said making sure not to swear but taking one of his guns from him and trying to act confident with it. Because there above us was a swarm of Harpies by the hundreds…

And they were pissed!

Chapter 64 –

Spinning Under Control.

You could have dropped a double decker bus down the centre of the staircase and it wouldn’t even have touched the sides. Which meant it was unfortunately big enough for Harpies by the hundreds to come flying at us from above. Wild Bill held his guns up ready and I did the same but he looked like he was having second thoughts. He looked to the centre of the staircase with one raised eyebrow like he was calculating his next move.

I couldn’t believe how calm he seemed in the face of such danger and it helped settle my own nerves. There was just something that drew you in around Bill that made you trust him and his judgement…well that was until he grabbed me around the waist, pulled me close and said,

“Trust me Little Bean.” The endearing nickname made me nod but my eyes widened as he walked us backwards to the edge of the stairs, closer to the immense drop. I found myself now with two dangers to whip my head between and now I was the one calculating which was going to be worse…Falling to my death or being torn apart by ugly bat women!

“I want you to stick to me like a grey back, you got me?”

“Uh not really. But I will hold on if that’s what you mean.” I said having no clue what a grey back was. He winked at me before he reached my arms up to hook them around his neck…

Then we fell.

He had walked us backwards off the edge together and I screamed as we fell down the centre. His long jacket tails flapped up around us and with Bill’s arms extended straight up he fired shot after shot up at the Harpies. I turned my head to try and see what was happening and just saw Harpies dropping like flies and spiralling out of control, crashing into the sides of the staircase. I would have liked to have asked what was going to happen when we hit the bottom but I thought now wasn’t a great time seeing as he needed his wits about him.

I still couldn’t see the floor and couldn’t express how happy this made me that was until I felt a Harpie get close enough to dig her talons in my leg.

“AHHH!” I screamed as I felt the tips of claws dig in my flesh and through my jeans.

“Eat lead Varmint!” Bill said and just as the Harpie raised her head to snarl at him he shot her in the face blowing most of her jaw off. Then a swift kick to the head and she finally let go.

“Hold on!” Bill shouted and I knew without looking we had reached the end. I closed my eyes and heard the whoosh instead of the last sound I thought to hear which would be our landing on solid ground. Instead the noise I heard was one I could never forget and one I used to dream about whenever I was far from Draven…

It was the sound of wings.

I opened my eyes and looked to see two massive copper coloured wings that were incredible. They were made up from what looked like thousands of knitted wire feathers that looked far too delicate to take on the strain of keeping two bodies in the air but that was what they were doing. He had unleashed them at just the right moment to save us from breaking every bone in our bodies from the landing. He brought us upright and I looked up to see Harpies still continuing to travel down at us in a spiral pattern.

I heard the raining of bullet shells and for both our sakes wished he was one of these new age cowboys that was packing a semi-automatic from the movies that never ran out of bullets!

“We gotta move!” He said clicking his revolver back and firing at the closest grey bodies that looked to be dive bombing us. I looked all around the round empty space that was mostly covered by the thickest roots of what he called soulweed but managed to spot a door.

“There’s a door!” I shouted over the sounds of bullets flying hoping his amazing skills at shooting things extended to his ability to hear frantic screaming.

“GO!” He shouted back and I frowned at his back as he cocked the hammer back with his palm for a quicker fire.

“I’m not leaving you!” I shouted back and he shot me a look of disbelief over his shoulder.

“Dang Loco She stock!” He said shaking his head before firing off another two rounds before swapping to his other loaded gun.

“Run and I will cover you as I follow!” I nodded for no reason as he couldn’t see me anyway but I did as I was told and ran for the door. I winced and covered my head with my arms as one of the Harpies snuck through and came for me. It was just about to reach out but then after a brief look of horror on its snarling face it fell to the ground. As it fell the sight of Bill stood there behind it with a smoking barrel aimed right at us. He nodded to the door and then turned just in time to get one between the eyes. There was no doubt about it the man had skills with a gun that was for sure.

There was no door handle on the arched door so I pushed it with all the measly strength and I jumped when an arm came from behind me and pushed along with me. I like to think it was our combined strength that made the door open but really who was I kidding, it was all from the demon at my back.

We almost fell into the room and as I was stumbling forward trying to catch myself Bill was already slamming the door behind me. I turned just as he was fitting a large plank across the door slotting it into the iron holders to keep it locked. All I could think was to thank any God that was listening for it not being locked before we came through it.

I leant over putting my hands on my knees to catch my breath not from running but from the massive adrenaline rush I had received through being chased through the air. I was by no means an adrenaline junkie which was funny considering the amount of crazy shit I had no choice but to do!

“Bloody Supernaturals with wings.”
I muttered making Bill laugh, which I had to admit wasn’t a bad sound to be hearing right now. It seemed to relax my shattered nerves and after another deep breath I was back to normal. It was one of those deep belly laughs that he actually needed to throw his head back to let it out.

I smiled but hid it by pulling up my jeans to check out the cuts on my leg from the now dead Harpie. Thankfully it wasn’t too deep and had already stopped bleeding. 

“So what now, cowboy?” And before he could say it I beat him to it,

“Sorry, I meant Lawman.” He nodded behind me and I turned from his smirk to find an opening.

“And do we know what’s through there?” I asked just as the banging started from the other side making me jump.

“Not sure but I’m reckonin’ there ain’t no Harpies in there.”

“And how do you know that?” I asked trying not to jump again at the sound of them trying to break the door down.

“Because every one of those she devils are
out
there trying to get
in
here.” Ok so he had a good point and this became emphasized even more when the first cracks started to appear in the door.

“Ok let’s go!” I shouted.

“Good choice little Miss.” He agreed and stormed past me grabbing my hand and pulling me through the opening. We jogged on through the dark passageway and I was glad he kept hold of my hand so it was easier for me to keep up when he half pulled me. We were nearly through to the other side when we heard the echo of a door being smashed through. The light at the end was bright enough to give me hope as it lit up the fact we didn’t have much farther to run.

We burst through the opening and only one thing escaped me,

“Oh Hell no!” This of course was in response to the river of fire that cut off any means of escape. The space we walked into was a huge cavern like an underground air pocket in the mountain. I couldn’t actually tell what the river was but at least it wasn’t lava. The liquid looked like black water and was covered by a fluttering of blueish flames dancing on the surface. It was almost like there was an invisible layer of gas feeding the fire. I looked around and counted at least ten holes in the rock face where the dark water poured from and cascaded down into the river below.

“What do we do now?” I asked only to find him near the edge by a strange looking boat. It looked as if it was made of cast iron and held together by strips of metal and riveted together. It was bent, twisted and charred and there was absolutely no way I was getting in that thing!

It was a long, wide rowing boat and as I walked closer to Bill I was horrified by what I saw. There, mounted on the sides, were six mutilated bodies that had no legs. Each had all four limbs amputated above the joints with their arms removed for a purpose. On the sides of the boat closest to the water these poor souls had prosthetic contraptions that attached to the oars for rowing. And if that wasn’t torturous enough then they also had their eyelids and mouths sewn shut. It was disgustingly dreadful.

“Oh no! No, no, no I am not getting on that thing, for starters I remember my last boat trip in Hell and that was quite enough for one lifetime thank you very much.”

“I’ll grant ya it ain’t no Mississippi river boat…” At this my laugh interrupted him and I looked past him to the creature at the stern of the boat that obviously controlled the disfigured lackeys. She too was missing her limbs and also mounted in what looked like an iron chastity belt. The obvious difference was that not only was she a woman, if her large naked breasts were to go by but also attached to the metal stumps on her arms were long whips that were meant for only one purpose.

“You think?” I said in response to the Mississippi comment. He nodded behind me at the shadows of Harpie bodies making their way through the passageway as they were nearly here.

“Okey dokey, creepy ass boat it is!” I said walking past him to said creepy ass boat.

“I thought so.” He said in all smugness, one I would let slide in light of the killer horde that wanted to render me like the unfortunate limbless souls that were strapped to this boat. To be honest the balance of insanity only just tipped towards me getting on the boat and if my rock climbing had been any better then I might have taken my chances playing spider monkey.

Once on the boat Bill stepped up to what I presumed was called the captain creepo and I watched him pull a leather coin bag from his pocket. He then flipped her a coin which amazingly she caught in her mouth and then swallowed it. It kind of reminded me of the action of a sea lion and I wasn’t far wrong in thinking about this like a freak show. If that was the case then did that make Bill the ring master?

In the middle of the boat was a black worn chesterfield couch with an overly sized high back that curled over at the top. I sat down in it not knowing what else to do and half expected to be cast off this death ride for doing something wrong. Bill came to sit down next to me and we set off just in time as all the harpies had just burst through the opening at once.

“Won’t they just be able to fly and get us?” I asked looking frantic with worry we would be sitting ducks out here, ripe for the limb picking.

“You watch now, it will be like hazing a tenderfoot.”

“Uh…a what now?” I asked having no clue what a tenderfoot was. In the end the sight of them all stopping near the edge and snarling as we drifted further away from them caught my attention.

“Why won’t they fly…oh…eww” I cut myself off when I saw one try its luck and as soon as it flew over the water it caught alight and was burnt to ash in seconds.

“No don’t you go worrying that pretty little head of yours darlin’, anything in this boat is safe as long as it stays in the boat, you get me?”

“Oh yes, loud and clear.” I said thinking he was going to be hard pushed even getting me out of this damn thing once we got to wherever we were going. I let things settle in my mind or more like the racing of my heart calm down and I only accomplished this if I didn’t look at the gruesome creatures that were powering this boat. The sounds of the lash hitting flesh made me flinch every time she threw her whip and I got the feeling Bill wanted to comfort me but didn’t know how. However I did receive a pat on the leg and an ‘It’s alright little lady’.

For what felt a long time nothing was said and after giving my mind time to bombard myself with unanswered questions I had to speak out.

“So let me get this straight, Aurora somehow managed to close the Janus gate, the way we both came in?”

“I reckon so and she wouldn’t have done it alone either, I’d bet my whiskey on it.” He said patting a hip flask that was tucked into his leather waistcoat pocket. I couldn’t see what was written on it but I was sure it had a picture of the devil on it.

“Seth.” I said his name on a hiss knowing now they were in league with each other. It made me wonder if his fake concern for RJ had just been a ploy to stay at Afterlife for this reason and if so, what were they planning exactly? And another thing I couldn’t understand was why they needed me alive or more importantly
who
needed me alive?

“You think that’s the Boot-licker that helped the charlatan trick you down here?”

“She mentioned leaving to be with him so it all makes sense why he didn’t help us at the Temple until the very end.” I said looking out at the vast wasteland we had been travelling down for a while.

“Temple?” Bill asked and I turned back to him and offered him a small smile before saying,

“It’s a long story.” To which he nodded back to the wasteland and said,

“I think we got time Little Miss.”

I had to laugh and looking at the blue flames flickering in the line we travelled down as far as the eye could see I decided he was right, we certainly had time. So I said the one thing that was necessary if I was going to tell him all that had happened,