CHAPTER 36
Armaros had moved them all to the kitchen, which was about the center of the trailer. He explained to them that they would defend this position for as long as they could. It was as safe a place as there was in the mobile home.
Armaros and Basia had their swords unsheathed and at the ready. Father Lucas stood around calmly. Thane knew that his magic made him a formidable adversary for whatever they were up against. It was himself that Thane worried about. He had nothing. It hadn't bothered him until he realized that everybody else was armed in some way. He felt like a child. He was not accustomed to being the weak link.
Outside it remained calm. Thane likened it to being in the eye of a storm. Bad things were coming. He had seen the face of the big angel when Armaros came back inside earlier. The Watcher appeared unsettled. Thane was smart enough to let that worry him.
The deputy tried to catch a glimpse of what was coming to kill him by looking through the small window built into the back door. Armaros asked him to move back from the door and he did. He couldn't see anything anyways. It was still mostly dark outside. He was making his way back over to stand amongst the protection offered by his friends, when something struck the trailer.
The impact was terrible. To Thane it felt like a vehicle had rammed into it. The whole trailer moved. Cabinet doors opened to spill their contents, pictures flew off of walls, and water began to leak from somewhere beneath the kitchen sink. Thane and Father Mundy were knocked off their feet and landed in a heap on the kitchen floor with Thane landing on top of the priest. Basia managed to steady herself by grabbing the kitchen counter, and Armaros seemed unaffected. Just as Thane was picking himself up off of Father Lucas, it struck again.
This attack was different. The creature struck higher up on the exterior wall of the trailer instead of at the floor level. Here the walls were thin, and there was no steel frame to absorb the blow. When the thing struck, an entire section of trailer wall crumpled into the living room from the rear of the mobile home. The creature's head and shoulder came in with it. Thane got a good look at the beast, but immediately wished that he hadn't.
It looked more like a dog than anything else—an impossibly large dog with no ears or fur, only dull black skin. Its teeth were oversized and a dirty yellow color. Thick saliva dripped from its canines and wet the living room carpet. It was easily the worst thing Thane had ever seen. And it smelled horrible.
Either some part of the creature or the entire creature stank unmercifully. The inside of the trailer was filled with it. Thane held his breath and thought of rotting meat . . . burning. That's all he could come up with.
Its eyes were heavy with blood when it turned and looked at the group. It withdrew from the trailer quickly when Armaros raised his sword.
"Naberius," Armaros said. He walked over to the gaping hole in the trailer and then turned back to the group. "This changes things. Naberius is old. Older even than I am. I don't know how Azazel-"
The great dog attacked again: he launched his head back into the trailer in an attempt to bite Armaros. Thane was certain the creature had succeeded. Only after it withdrew from the hole did Thane see that Armaros was still with them. The big angel had moved fast. Too fast for Thane's eyes.
"Guard the boy," Armaros said. He then leapt through the hole in the trailer, apparently to go after the black dog. Mundy and Basia moved in front of Thane, then they all moved together in order to get a better look at what was going on outside. They stopped in front of the hole and Thane looked over the heads and shoulders of both Basia and Mundy in order to see out into the backyard.
Morning was almost upon them. The first hints of sunlight were changing the darkness to a heavy grey. Neither Armaros nor Naberius seemed to notice. Both were already busy trying to kill the other.
It was the fastest moving melee Thane had ever witnessed. The black dog, which Thane could now see was three-headed and the size of an elephant, was terrifying to behold and moved quicker than something its size should have been able to. All three of the monster's wretched muzzles snapped at Armaros with teeth the size of hunting knives. It continually circled the Watcher, trying to find a weakness in Armaros' defense.
There was no weakness. Armaros moved even faster than the great dog; his sword was a silver blur only. Thane knew he had to be. He was outnumbered three to one. At the moment Naberius was not allowing the big angel to launch an attack of his own, but Thane knew that if the great black dog ever tired, Armaros would take the advantage. The angel was incredibly skilled.
Thane heard Basia make a comment about Armaros' swordsmanship. There was awe in her voice. He started to say something of his own, but was cut short when the cursed humans attacked.
The first of the hellions to pounce at them was cut down in mid-air. Basia was fast with her blade too. Just not quite fast enough. The second ghoul made it into the trailer and slammed himself against all three of them before she could regain control of her sword. He was quickly followed by one, two, three, four more demons of the same ilk.
Thane was pushed backwards into the kitchen and then down a narrow hall. Father Lucas and Basia were pressed tightly against him by the mass of demon flesh giving chase. The close quarters within the trailer forced human and cursed human together as one roving mob of chaos. Basia used this to her advantage once she reached the end of the hall and knew Thane was safely behind her in the master bedroom. With one great push she managed to create some space between herself and the demons. It was enough distance for her to raise her sword and plunge it into the eye of the nearest denizen of Sheol.
Thane covered his ears. The ghoul let out a death cry unlike anything the young deputy had ever heard. It sounded to Thane like a dying cat, only amplified. Its scream ended abruptly when Basia removed her sword from the one eye and with one deft maneuver plunged it into the other one even deeper than before.
The ghoul collapsed in a heap on the floor. The four that remained behind him seemed hesitant to step over his twisted corpse and taste Basia's blade. Their moment of indecision created all the time Father Lucas needed. He didn't hesitate.
The priest stepped forward and raised his right hand over the girl's shoulder. The magic was coming. The lead ghoul knew it.
The creature charged and leapt at father Lucas in what amounted to a suicide mission. It was impaled upon Basia's blade just as the magic left the priest's hand. All three hellions in the hall crumpled, as did the lead ghoul. The priest's magic was potent as always. Thane was opening his mouth to thank them both when Father Lucas crumpled as well.
Thane caught the padre before he hit the floor. He sat the priest down on the bed and moved to see what was wrong. It wasn't hard to decipher.
Blood was soaking through the man's shirt at an alarming rate. The lead ghoul had managed to stick him with its steely claws before it succumbed to either the magic or the sword. Father Lucas pushed his good left hand against his injured right shoulder. "It's not that bad," he said. "Really it's not."
"You've been cut," Basia said. "Cut deep by a denizen of Sheol. A ghoul nonetheless. That's septic right now Mundy. You know that. We've got to get home where I can help you. And fast."
"What about those particles in you?" Thane asked them both. His voice was one of desperation. "The ones that Raphael gave you. Surely you can't be injured too badly with those in you?"
"We're not like Armaros," Basia answered. "We're not forever. Those particles of which you speak are the only things keeping him alive right now. If that ghoul would have struck you instead of Mundy, you would already be dead Thane. But the particles are in a fight they can't win. Eventually they will abandon his body."
"She has a way of making things seem rather dire doesn't she Brother Thane?" The priest tried to make light of things for the boy's sake. It didn't work. The thought of Father Lucas dying terrified Thane. Now was his chance to do something. He had to help.
"I'll get Armaros," he exclaimed. He hopped off the bed and headed for the hall. "He fixed me. He can
save you too Father Lucas." Thane heard them both yell for him to stop as he leapt out of the trailer and onto the grass outside. But he didn't. They needed help. They were just too stubborn to admit it. Thane knew the big angel would help. Armaros would fix it.
Nothing had changed outside except for the appearance of the first rays of the morning sun that were peeking over the tall pines beyond the mobile home. Thane found they helped him to see fairly well. He could plainly see that Armaros and Naberius were still going at it. He got as close as he could to the melee and then hollered Armaros' name.
He knew right away that he had messed up. He had been impetuous. The youthful tendencies that he had worked so hard to suppress while working at his civilian job had rushed to the surface and taken hold of him. He should not have rushed out here like he did. He was not invincible, and he was about to be reminded of that fact.
Naberius struck. It was purely instinctive on the great dog's part. Thane had startled him, and like a cornered animal the Marquis of Sheol attacked the young man with one of his three heads. The other two he kept trained on Armaros.
Nobody could stop it from happening. Basia, who had just managed to help Father Lucas up and walk him to the opening on the trailer wall, could only scream in horror as the attack unfolded. Father Lucas, himself gravely wounded, was trying hard to stay conscious. The septic poison from the ghoul strike was fighting to propagate itself deep within his tissues. And Armaros was busy trying to destroy one of the most ancient and powerful demons in all of existence. Thane was on his own.
He tried to jump out of the way. He had seen Armaros do it earlier, but Thane wasn't nearly as fast as Armaros. He had barely picked one foot up off the ground when he was taken into the terrible maw of Naberius.
It was a defensive strike. Naberius only bit the young man once and then released. But it was enough. The baneful teeth of the great black dog sunk deep into the chest of Thane Connally. Its canines went organ deep.
They pushed easily through the thick muscle of Thane's chest and hit both heart and lung. It was a killing bite. Thane knew it was, but he couldn't accept that. Not yet. He tried to call to Basia but his throat was filling with blood. He managed only a sort of gurgle. He needed to breathe, but his ruined lungs gathered no air. His feet were useless also. He couldn't get them to move. There would be no one to hold him. Again he thought of Basia. He managed to remain upright for a moment after Naberius released him, but he was dead before hitting the ground. The Child of Truth had received his final summons.