I walked toward the fire without feeling any of the heat, I wasn’t sure how long I would have before the magic particles started to reappear, and I didn’t want to be in the middle of an inferno when it happened. But I also couldn’t rush it. Running through the fire meant using more magic to ensure the shield stayed in place, and I didn’t want to use any more magic than I had to. Instead, I took one step inside the fire and breathed in deeply, before taking another.
Simon turned and ran back toward the realm gate as I slowly and surely continued walking through the twenty feet of hell. When I was about halfway, I tried something very stupid. I coated my throat and lungs in fire magic and then used the shield to draw some of the heat into my mouth and down into my lungs. It meant having to hold my breath as I continued my journey, but I hoped it would help me in the long run.
As I reached the other side, the fire was dying down and I felt the surge of power that would start forcing my magic to go out of control. I continued walking toward the eighteen men, with the shield extended about ten feet. Every one of the men had eyes upon me, waiting, eager for a fight. Then I breathed out, mixing the heat I’d gathered inside me with my own magic.
I’d planned on it being a little stream of fire, just something that would jolt them into thinking twice about picking a fight with me. Give me an edge. Instead, I breathed a ten-foot-long jet of flame along the ground. The shock caused me to shout, which came out like a roar, making the fire buck and twist as if I were trying to ignite everything before me.
When it was finished, I unintentionally exhaled steam and smoke through my nose. I tried very hard not to let anyone know that I hadn’t meant to do any of it, and when I looked up at the men, they bolted. They dropped whatever weapons had been in their hands and sprinted around the flames and back toward the city as if the fires of hell were directly behind them.
I continued unobstructed and walked up to the realm gate, where one solitary man stood brandishing a knife. He was shaking like a leaf. “You’re from the town of Stratford,” I said.
He nodded. “I saw what you did. That ain’t normal.”
“No, it’s not. Wanna guess what I’m going to do to you if you don’t activate that gate for me?”
“Not a damn thing,” he said and walked over to his side, dragging Fern out from behind an overturned table. He held a serrated knife to her throat, and his eyes told me he’d be happy to use it.
“You think you can hide behind her?”
“You have two options, you turn and leave, or I kill her.”
“Actually it’s you with the options. See, you can either open that gate and I’ll take Fern back with me. Or you hurt her and then I make you open that gate for me, after which I tear your throat out and let you bleed to death in this place. Either way, you’re gonna be opening that portal.”
“You can’t force me to do shit,” he said.
Using magic now that the particles were back in the air would kill both him and Fern, and that wouldn’t help me get the realm gate open.
Fern made the decision for me by cracking the back of her skull against the nose of the man. She threw herself forward and I darted forward as fast as possible, grabbing the man’s wrist, breaking it as I forced him to drop the knife.
“You don’t need both of your hands to do this,” I explained and picked up the knife. “But if you test me again, we’ll see just how many bits of you I can cut off before you can’t open the gate.” To make a point, I placed his bad hand on the nearest table and drilled the point of the knife through his little finger, removing it entirely.
“Wanna go for something bigger?” I asked as he bucked and twisted in my grip. I pulled the knife free and raised it again.
“I’ll do it,” he said and I released him.
He staggered over to the realm gate and opened it.
“See, that wasn’t so hard,” I said. I punched him in the stomach, doubling him over, and then snapped his neck before dropping him to the ground.
Fern spat on his body, “No one threatens me,” she told the dead man and grabbed his knife for herself before we both ran through the portal.
CHAPTER 38
Father Patterson was the only person waiting for us on the other side of the realm gate. He was up against the far wall of the room.
“I assume Simon came through here,” I said.
“I tried to stop him,” Father Patterson said. “It’s nice that I’m immortal when near the gate, but it does little to stop me feeling pain.”
“Where did he go?”
Father Patterson pointed toward the door. “He said you should go find him at the house. The evil little bastard will be waiting for you. I’m sorry I couldn’t slow him down.”
“That’s okay, you did more than you could have possibly been expected to do. He’s an experienced killer, you’re a priest. They’re sort of polar opposites.”
“I’m staying here,” Fern said. “You don’t need me, but he does.”
“That’s fine,” I told her. “Thanks for your help back there.”
She glanced down at the dagger, as if hypnotized by the blade. “I’m glad he’s dead.”
“Did someone hurt you?” Father Patterson asked.
Fern shook her head.
“Take care,” I told them and ran off, making my way back upstairs and through the ruined wall to the graveyard outside. If what Simon had told Father Patterson was true, he would be waiting for me. Which, in and of itself was insane; the last time we fought I nearly beat him to death and when we were in his cell, he showed me nothing to think that any return match wouldn’t have a similar ending.
I found Caitlin’s truck where she’d left it, outside the church, which certainly added to the feeling that Simon was goading me into going after him on his level. It was either a trap or he had a plan that I just couldn’t see. Either way, I didn’t care, I was going to break him in half and nothing he could place in my path was going to stop me.
I got the car moving and drove at legal speeds toward the House of Silent Screams. If Simon wanted me to come get him, he could damn well wait. I wasn’t going to do anything on his timetable.
I stopped the car on the road, away from the house, and made my way through the woods until I was crouched opposite the house’s open front door. Lights were on inside the building, but I couldn’t see anything or anyone.
After several minutes of walking through the woods to get as much of a look around the house as possible, I risked exposure and stepped out into the open. And nothing happened.
Nothing continued to happen as I made my way to the front door and risked stepping inside. There were no trip wires or devises that were designed to hurt me and give Simon an edge, so I took another step into the house. I stayed quiet, I didn’t want to give away my position if Simon was waiting, but I moved through the ground floor without interruption.
When it was apparent that the floor contained no one, I stepped out of the back door and used my thermal vision to prove to myself that there was no one waiting outside in the darkness either. A weird feeling came over me; nearly twenty-four hours had passed since I’d entered Shadow Falls, even if it felt like no time at all. Twenty-four hours since Rean had died and I’d been forced to leave his body in the basement. A warming anger filled me. Simon was here somewhere, and I would find him.
I removed my thermal vision and stepped back into the house. I didn’t want to search the basement until last. I was hoping that I’d be able to find Simon and then leave Rean alone until he was ready to be removed from the hellhole his body lay in.
Each of the stairs up to the first floor creaked loud enough to let anyone in the house know exactly where I was, but I still made it to the top without interruption. I walked the length of the hallway, opening each of the doors in turn, but every one of them revealed nothing. Except for the body of Bianca, which remained wh
ere she’d died, there wasn’t even a hint of anyone being there.
I was beginning to suspect that what Simon had told Father Patterson, was just a feint to get me to look away from where he was running.
I stood at the top of the stairs, looking down on the floor below, when a crystal landed at my feet. It exploded almost immediately, launching me down the stairs.
I slammed into several wooden steps on the way down, but managed to use my air magic to keep from being too badly injured. Simon had changed the staircase into a slide and was racing toward me. When he got close, I hit Simon in the chest with a blast of air, throwing him across the room and into the nearest wall. I managed to roll away and quickly checked myself for injuries, but found nothing too serious.
Simon touched the wall with his hands, and it exploded out toward me. Not even a shield of air stopped the thousands of pieces of wood, metal, and brick shrapnel. It left me with several lacerations and fragments of wall imbedded in my arms and legs.
I threw a plume of fire at him, turning it into a whip at the last moment to try and cleave Simon in two. Simon dove aside, allowing the fire to destroy the wall behind him, rending the remains to ash.
I drove a wall of air at Simon’s chest, throwing him back toward a dividing wall, which he crashed through, into the room beyond.
Simon appeared a moment later, blood oozing from a cut on his forehead. “Do you know how long I’ve waited for this?” Simon asked as he moved along the side of the landing, toward the front door. “Back in ’77, I never got a chance to fight back. I wasn’t expecting you to assault me, and by the time I knew what was happening, you’d already scored several hits. Then back in the prison, it took so much for me to let you think I was an easy opponent. I wanted to break your neck for what you did, for trying to humiliate me again. But I had to just let it go.”
“You’re an arrogant little prick,” I said as I removed a three-inch-long piece of wood from my bicep and threw it onto the floor. “You know, you may have managed to get away with all this, if you hadn’t involved me in the first place. If you hadn’t killed Bill.”
“Ah, Bill.” Simon grinned. “I heard he screamed in fury as they tore him apart, and then, after a while, he just screamed. Patricia so wanted you both dead, and I had to give in to that demand. Unfortunately, she fucked up and led you here before we were ready. Shame, really, but she was always going to die.”
“Why run? Why not stay and fight?”
“Because I wanted you here. I needed you here.” Simon placed his hands on the doorframe and it started to disintegrate as something inside it began to cover Simon’s skin.
I realized what he was doing too late. I threw a massive ball of fire at him, but as Simon stepped through the flame unharmed, I knew that I was going to have the fight of my life. Simon’s entire body, except for his face, was covered in a silver layer. It gleamed in the light of the fire at his feet, which he soon extinguished with a single stamp.
I’d let my anger and need for revenge cloud my judgment. As an alchemist, Simon could easily use any part of the house against me, but I’d assumed I’d be able to combat him with my own magic, able to beat him as I had before. But I was wrong. And I was certain I would pay for that mistake.
Simon sprinted toward me, and I tried to dodge aside, but the banister itself sprung toward me, catching me in the face and knocking me to the floor, where Simon punched me in the kidney as I tried to roll away. I rubbed my side as the pain made its way through my body and noticed that I was bleeding.
As if to make his point, Simon showed me his knuckles, which were raised sharply, almost spike-like.
“You can’t win this,” he said and darted forward, feinting a punch with his right, but instead going with a left jab to my side. It was a blow I saw coming a mile off, but with the silver, even blocking it hurt, the force of the blow burning the skin on my hands and arms.
He followed up with a huge right, which rocked my head, sending dark spots into my vision. I tried to get away, but my legs wouldn’t move and I realized that the floor had literally swallowed me up, pinning my arms behind me and forcing my head and neck forward. Then he removed most of the silver from himself, covering the wood that surrounded me in the substance.
“I saw what you did to Bianca,” Simon said, and I noticed his hands still had the silver on them. “Saw the burn marks on her mouth. Stupid cow didn’t realize that you could use magic without your hands, I assume.” He punched me in the jaw with another right and then a left, leaving me disorientated. I saw his knee come up, but could do little about it as it connected with my nose, breaking it.
“Am I right? You should answer me!”
I nodded weakly, although I had no idea why I was letting him know he was right. But then, I barely knew where I was or even my own name.
Simon took a few steps to the side of me and then ran back at me, kicking me in the head as he passed. If I’d been a football, I would have sailed across the field with ease, instead I think I blacked out momentarily.
“I’ve got something for you,” he said with enthusiasm and ran into the nearest room, returning a second later with half a dozen small crystals. He touched the silver by my chest, which moved apart. “I just want to see what happens. I was going to bring loads with me and sell them to the highest bidder, but using them here, that’s just more fun.” He used alchemy on the crystals and quickly stuffed them against my chest before resealing the silver.
The explosion tore into my body as if it were made of paper. They crystals were too small to kill me, but the pain overwhelmed every part of me.
“That must hurt,” Simon said, cupping my face in his cold hands and forcing me to look at him. “Does it hurt?”
I muttered something, but my mouth was full of blood and the words just came out in a cough of gore.
“I think you’ve lost a tooth when I kicked you,” Simon said, picking up one of the white molars that I’d spat onto the floor. “I’ve always wondered, do you grow new ones? I know your kind can heal well, but can you grow teeth? Maybe we should check?”
He punched me over and over again, and I felt another tooth give way. I spat it onto the floor to join the first one.
Simon sat beside me. “I think your face is fucked. It’s all puffy and broken. I think I smashed your jaw pretty good with that last blow.” He opened the silver again. “And your chest looks like raw hamburger. Do you feel like the big man now? For beating me nearly to death? Did you feel good for doing it? How does it feel now? You feel like saying sorry?”
I mumbled something unintelligible.
“Is that an apology? What the fuck kind of apology was that?” Simon got back to his feet, raging at me. “You think you can mumble some shit and I just buy it, what kind of fucking idiot do you take me for?”
I mumbled something else. My brain was beginning to clear, but with that came the pain from the shattered bones and broken skin that used to be my body. I sucked it down and tried to figure out a way to escape. I had to get away from Simon, that was my only option. Well, that or being beaten to death. I closed my eyes, or eye considering one of them was already shut, and it hurt to keep them open.
“Fuck me, you can’t die yet.” Simon said his slapped me. But the silver had gone, there was no damage done to my face. I stayed silent and kept my eyes closed, hoping that Simon was just that revenge obsessed. That he wouldn’t let me die until he said so.
I was right.
The prison holding me tight vanished and I slumped to the floor. I didn’t need to pretend that I was unable to stop myself from hitting the floorboards, I was pretty certain that even with full vision I wouldn’t have been able to do a damn thing.
“Are you dead, you fucking dick?” Simon said and pushed me onto my back.
I felt him kneeling down by my head. He started tapping my cheeks.
“Well, if you’re just
going to lie there,” he said and moved. A few seconds later, I heard the unmistakable sound of trousers being unzipped. “I could use a piss break.”
With the tiniest movement of my hand, I shot fire up toward where I thought Simon was, and he launched himself back at the last second, the smell of burning hair hanging all around me.
“Fuck,” he said and started patting down his head.
I rolled onto my side with the greatest of effort and managed to get onto my feet. I was surprised to find that both my eyes opened, although the pain in the rest of my body was still substantial.
“Not gonna be that easy,” I told him.
Simon crouched down and once again the floor around me changed, rising up to trap me. But like before, I’d noticed something about Simon. When he used his alchemy, he had to remove the silver amour from his body; he couldn’t concentrate on both at once. I threw a blast of air at him, knocking him sideways, and jumped over the splintered floorboards, which had stopped moving in mid-air. I ran at Simon as he tried in vain to get the silver back in place.
It covered up to his waist when I reached him and punched him in the nose. The blow broke bone and blood began to flow freely down his chin, at the same time he lost control of his concentration and the silver ebbed away, pooling on the floor beneath us.
“My turn,” I said and grabbed him by the back of the neck and brought him toward me, head-butting him as hard as I could. I followed up with an air-assisted punch to his side and then another to his stomach, both of which hurt me as much as him. He staggered back, slightly dazed from the attack, and tried to punch back. I deflected his arm and stepped around him, sweeping his legs as I moved and cracking him in the side of his head with my knee when he fell back.
Simon rolled away, desperate to get some distance between us, but I grabbed his ankle, wrapping my legs around it. I held on tight as I twisted it sharply, applying pressure to his Achilles tendon, until I felt the muscle snap, his foot going limp and useless. Simon screamed in agony and I released his leg, rolling back to my feet.