"I reject my offspring when they choose to abuse the powers they are given," Cronus argued.
"Abuse is such a dirty word," Blake commented. He stood and walked around the corner of the table. "I prefer the word 'utilize,' which is exactly what I'm doing with these 'gifts' my lineage has given me." His grin was ever on us as he stepped off the platform and strode over to our group. He stopped in front of Cronus and stood so close their noses almost touched. "But you are hardly the person to scold me about abusing my power. Isn't it you who forsook God's commandment and soiled yourself with human women?"
Cronus stood tall and his steady eyes studied his son. "You are correct to say I am hardly one to scold another for sin, but as a Fallen I know the evils and goodness of man. You have none of his goodness and all of his greed and avarice."
Blake stepped back and laughed. "Perhaps you're right, but what should I care?" His bright blue eyes fell on me and his sly grin widened. "But perhaps you care about this new bit of information. With our sharing a father that would make us half-siblings."
"Are you sure you're not adopted?" I quipped.
He chuckled. "Quite sure, as I am sure this conversation has come to an end. I don't wish to kill any of you." His eyes flickered to Ian. "Even a measly creature as a werewolf. You all have your uses, but I must insist on your being bound."
Ian looked to Cronus and jerked his head towards Blake. "You didn't give this kid enough spankings when he was young."
"My dear father was rather an absent parent, but the bindings must be done," Blake insisted.
"We will submit to them," Cronus agreed.
Keres stepped forward. Blake held onto the three other ropes while she roughly bound Ian's hands behind his back.
"I hope you know what you're doing," Ian commented to Cronus.
"He is using his countless years of experience to know you are in a tight spot, and resistance would only lead to death," Blake spoke up.
"And going along with this?" Ian asked him.
"You get to live long enough to see my plans come to fruition," Blake explained.
We three were duly tied. I felt a strange sense of fatigue the moment the ropes were wrapped around my wrists. The limited vision in my blue eye completely vanished. Keres finished my tying and pushed me towards Cronus and Ian. The lack of sight meant I stumbled. Ian slipped beside me and caught me with his shoulder.
"You okay?" he whispered.
I shook my head. I was weak, but all right.
"Now let us see the end of this play," Blake announced. "To the final act!"
CHAPTER 7
Keres and Sebastian flanked us as Blake led us through the door through which his minions had come. It led to a long hallway, and on either side of us was a multitude of office doors. The place was eerily quiet except for the clack of our feet on the linoleum floor. Lilith and Germain brought up the rear.
"So why'd you knock off the Council?" Ian spoke up.
"They were an inept group, but they might have spoiled my plans," Blake admitted. "The Council's own secretive nature and paranoia assisted me in eliminating them all without anyone being the wiser."
"What are these plans?" Cronus questioned him.
Blake glanced over his shoulder and smiled at us. "That would be telling, Father, and I would much rather show you. A son does appreciate showing his achievement to his father."
Cronus narrowed his eyes. "If you wish to gain my approval-"
"Whether I gain your approval or not will not sway me from my intentions," Blake assured him.
At the end of the hall was a large elevator. We were taken to the underground car garage where several black cars awaited us. Whisperers with their Phantoms covered the perimeter and acted as drivers for the cars.
"Separate them. We wouldn't any attempts at escape like earlier this evening," Blake ordered his men. His eyes fell on me. "But she comes with me."
Cronus, Ian and I were pulled into separate cars. I was the unfortunate occupant of Blake's black sedan. Keres also occupied the vehicle. The car was large enough to have two seats in the rear that faced on another. Keres and I took the seat closer to the front while Blake occupied the one opposite us.
He crossed his legs and settled his hands in his lap. His blue eyes studied my body. "You needn't follow our father so blindly into damnation."
"Don't want to be lonely?" I quipped.
He chuckled. "Perhaps, but we Nephilim are so few that we must stay close or risk being completely wiped out of existence."
"If more of us are like you then that wouldn't be such a bad idea," I retorted.
His smile faltered. "I thought to save you from your stupidity, but I see you have the same failing as our father."
I snorted. "Yeah. I don't like to hurt people."
"Yes, you do care far too much what happens to worthless mortals," he agreed. I noticed Keres stiffened by my side. He leaned back and sighed. "But I suppose I am wasting my words on an unbeliever."
"Amen," I quipped.
He closed his eyes and his smile slipped back onto his lips. "Perhaps you will regret your decision. At the end, that is."
The car ride took ten minutes. The vehicle stopped and the door opened on an alley near a familiar street. We had arrived at the Four Horsemen. Lilith took charge of our company and led us down the rear stairs into her office.
We didn't stop there, though. Once everyone was inside, she stood beside her desk and smiled at Ian.
"It's a pity that cute nose of yours didn't pick up on this," she commented.
She brushed her hand beneath the front lip of her desk. The stairs we just used raised into the ceiling and revealed a hidden flight of steps that led into the depths of the earth. A strange odor floated up from its bowels. I took a whiff and shivered. It smelled like rotten eggs.
Blake stepped to the opening and turned to us. "Please don't mind the sulfur smell too badly. Hell is the least of your worries."
He led our group down the stairs. The steps wound around a long column of jagged earth for a hundred yards before we reached the bottom. There was a small room hewn from the solid rock of the earth, and three yards from the bottom of the stairs was a large door with a rounded top.
The smell of sulfur permeated the air and clung to my nostrils. I wrinkled and twitched my nose, but nothing kept the scent from invading my sniffing sense. Cronus sidled up to me and his dark eyes studied my face.
"Focus on something other than the smell," he whispered.
I snorted. That made the smell worse. "It's kind of hard when that's all there is down here."
"Not quite, my dear sister," Blake spoke up. He stood beside the door and opened it with the palm of one hand. "Welcome to my work room."
The open door revealed a large natural cavern that was cleared of all its stalagmites and stalactites. The ceiling rose some hundred feet above us and curved into a dome. The only source of light were the dozens of electric lamps hammered into the smooth walls that circled the area.
What really caught my attention, however, were the dozens of mystics who sat on the ground. They were chained to one another via neck clasps. Their hands were bound behind their back and they sat on their knees. The people were lined up in neat rows twelve deep with openings down which Whisperers and their Phantoms patrolled. Stared straight ahead with vacant eyes and stiff postures. Energy flowed from their bodies in the form of white mist. The ethereal glow floated over their heads and to the rear of the area.
At the far end of the large cavern was a short platform hewn from the rock. Against the wall at the back of the platform was a swirling black hole. The opening was fifteen feet across and the same height. Its color was the color of complete, terrifying darkness. The center broke the spiraling monotony by twisting and turning in every direction.
Part of the center stretched itself outward like half-solidified ooze. The strange, slimy arm snatched the white energy and curled back into itself as though it fed a bottomless mouth.
I shuddered. The vibe off the black hole felt like somebody dumped a bucket of ice water over me.
Blake smiled and swept his hand towards the hole. "What do you think of my Gate?"
Cronus' eyes narrowed on the blackness before they flickered to Blake. "You intend to open a door to Purgatory."
Blake laughed. "I should have known better than to surprise you, dear Father. Yes, it is a door to Purgatory, but for the benefit of your friends it's not what's pictured in the movies." He walked ahead of us and turned to face our little group. "Purgatory is where all the monstrous souls are trapped. Those spirits that are too damned for Heaven and too powerful for Hell to contain remain for eternity within its confines. Or at least that was the plan." He half-turned to the portal. "I intend to harness that power by bringing forth one of the strongest of the Phantoms to do my bidding."
"You are a fool to believe you will not also be consumed," Cronus told him.
Blake smirked and shrugged. "Perhaps, but only time will tell, and the time is nearly upon us." He swept his hands over the mystics. "Thanks to the efforts of the witches, a group more foolish than I, I have my mystics. I learned only within the last decade that their abilities to destroy Phantoms can also summon them, and their energies have nearly finished opening the Gate to summon a great Phantom."
"So you can what? Take over the world?" I retorted.
He smiled and shook his head. "No. That's far too cliched. Besides, what would I do with the world when I can take Heaven and Hell for myself?"
"You can't!"
Cronus leapt forward, but the Whisperer behind him yanked him back. My father squirmed in their grasp, but the bindings held. Blake stepped up to Cronus and leaned down so he caught Cronus' gaze.
"What's this? Do you still feel something for your old home?" Blake mocked him.
"You would destroy everything so you could rule nothing?" Cronus snarled.
Blake laughed. "Destroy everything? I have no intention of destroying anything. I will merely rule everyone who has been, and those who will be, with a firm but gentle grasp."
"Just like every other psychotic dictator," I quipped.
Blake's eyes flickered to me. He stepped to one side so he stood before me. One of his hands grasped my chin between his fingers and raised my eyes to his. His voice was soft and deadly.
"My dear sister, don't presume that because we have shared blood that I won't punish you for your forked tongue," he whispered.
I wrenched myself from his grasp and spat in his face. He cried out and stumbled back. "There's a little incentive for you!" I snapped.
Blake caught himself and wiped my spittle off his face. His face twisted with rage. He pulled back his hand and slapped the back across my cheek.
Ian growled and lunged forward, but like Cronus he couldn't transform and free himself.
Blake ignored him. "Stupid little bitch," he hissed at me. His eyes glowed with an otherworldly light that surrounded his whole body as an aura. "I should-" He paused. A sly smile slid across his lips, and he half-turned to the portal. His eyes flickered from the blackness to me. "But perhaps I have a more fitting punishment for you."
Cronus strained against his captor and bindings. "Let her alone!" he commanded.
Blake laughed. "You no longer have control over me, Father. It is I who controls." He grabbed my arm and yanked me towards the Gate. I stumbled along just behind him as we strode up the aisle between the controlled mystics. "You won't have to wait for the mystics to finish their task to witness what lies in Purgatory, though I must warn you that the only rule within such a place is the strongest survives, and the weakest are tortured."
"Enid!" Ian roared.
I looked over my shoulder at my father and my crush with pleading eyes. I thought it would be my last view of them. Turns out it was just my last view of them for a few moments.
Lights shut off. Can only see things because of glow from mystics and Gate. Lots of yelling from guard Whisperers.
"Be quiet, you cowards!" Keres yelled.
Commotion around friends. Pink flashes of light from Keres aimed at some of the shadows that moved. I saw a flash of blue light that lit up a familiar, and short, person.
"Cecilia!" I cried out.
"One sec!" she shouted.
I wrenched myself from Blake's grip and stumbled back down the aisle. He lunged at me and grabbed my bindings, but the shove made me fall and I took him with me. We collapsed into a tangled mess of limbs. He clawed at me while I kicked and bit him. A pair of strong arms grabbed me under the armpits and separated me from Blake. The person worked at my cords.
"You okay?" Ian whispered to me. It was he who held me.
I caught my breath and nodded. "I think so."
Blake, too, was pulled to his feet. He glared at me with his disheveled appearance. The lights flicked back on and revealed a change in conditions. The Whisperers lay on the ground. Their Phantoms were piles of dust. Keres and Germain had their hands bound by the bindings once worn by Ian and Cronus. Lilith stood beside them with a sullen look on her face. Sebastian lay on his back on the ground and sported a growing black right eye, courtesy of Ian.
Behind them stood Quinn, Cecilia, and-
"Ruthven?" I commented.
He actually showed off a smile. Ian clapped his hand on Ruthven's shoulder. "I knew you couldn't resist following the money in my coat."
"And you owe me a great deal more for this favor," Ruthven warned him.
Ian winced. "You're hard on a guy who just wants to save the world."
Cecilia broke off from our little group and moved over to the rear line of mystics. She shook one of their shoulders. There was no reaction. "If you want to save the world then shut your trap and wake these people up," she told him.
Ian opened his mouth, but didn't get a chance to speak before the ground beneath our feet shook. Small rocks fell from the ceiling, and dust crumbled into our hair and atop our shoulders. The mists from the mystics stopped and, as a group, they collapsed onto the ground.
"What the hell is that?" Quinn spoke up.
Blake's maniacal laughter broke in on the chaos. "Now who's the fool, Ramiel? You and your friends are too late to stop my Gate, and I'm the only one who can control anything that comes through!"
CHAPTER 8
The cavern was shaken by another burst of earthquakes. I looked to the Gate. Its serpentine center expanded so that all the hole twisted and rolled over itself in large, black slathers of grotesque squid limbs. The limbs pushed out and inward like a steady heartbeat. A black mist flowed out of the darkness and spilled onto the platform.
Cronus stepped to the front of our little group and turned to his son who stood to his left.
"Perhaps you can control it, but you are not the only one capable of destroying the threat," Cronus returned.
Blake smile dropped off his face and his face twisted with fury. He strained against Ian's hold. "Let it alone! It's mine! You can't-" Ian swung a fist and connected with Blake's face. The psycho dropped to the ground unconscious.
Cronus looked down with pity at his son and shook his head. "Such a fool, but he is my son. Please take him with you when you leave."
Ian grabbed Cronus' arm and shook his head. "You can't do anything right now, remember?"
"I can do enough to collapse this cavern and seal the Gate," Cronus argued. He nodded at the mystics. "You need only evacuate them."
"I'm not going to leave you to die here alone," Ian argued.
Cronus coyly smiled. It was the first time I'd seen such a happy, mischievous look on his face. "I will not die."
Ian frowned. "I know what you're talking about, and that's worse than you being dead."
I glanced from one to the other. "What's he talking about?"
"Nothing that need concern you," Cronus assured me. It didn't work.
Ian narrowed his eyes. "You're talking about getting your body destroyed, and the only place left for Fallen is Hell."
"What the hell? Tha
t's lame," Quinn spoke up.
Cecilia stepped forward and whacked Cronus hard on the head. He winced and she glared at him. "That's not happening. I might not know you too well, but like hell I'm going to let you get yourself sent to Hell."
"One of my forms of payment is information regarding the Fallen," Ruthven spoke up.
I put my hands on my hips and glared at Cronus. "And like hell I'm going to stand back and see you go there."
The ground shook. More ceiling fell on top of us. I felt a strange push of air and turned towards the Gate. The center chaos pushed out past the platform. A dark shape pushed through the blackness and stretched itself towards us. My eyes widened when I realized it was a clawed hand.
Something was coming through.
Cronus spun around and met Ian's gaze. "Do you have any other plan?"
Ian pursed his lips and shook his head. "No." He reluctantly let go of Cronus' arm. "But for the record I think yours stinks."
Cronus nodded. "Duly noted."
Cronus turned away, but I slid around him to stand between him and the Gate. I stretched out my arms on either side of me and glared at him. "I'm not going to let you do this."
"There is no choice," he insisted.
"Really? Let's see if there isn't," I challenged him.
I spun around and stalked down the aisle towards the Gate. The hand was now joined by its arm and another hand. The two hands grasped either side of the slim funnel and pulled open the Gate. A creature like a Phantom, but with black horns and a skeleton-like face, pushed its heads out. Its red eyes glared at us and its gaze fell on me.
"Enid!" Cronus shouted.
I stopped ten feet short of the beast and stared it down. The creature snarled and snapped its jaws at me. Its body strained to free the rest of itself from its dark prison and it succeeded in pulling its torso from the portal.
I took a deep breath and raised my palm at its hideous face. "All right, Ugly, playtime's over. It's time to go back."
I focused all my energy on my palm. A bright light broke was expelled my skin and flew as a beam at the creature. The light hit it square in the head. The creature reared back its head and released a terrible howl of agony and fury.
The light from my hand was agonizingly hot. I clasped my wrist with my free hand to keep myself steady as the pain traveled down my arm.