Authors: Nicholas Kaufmann
Francisco stepped out of the shadows. He was holding the dragon-painted crossbow from Arkwright’s artifact collection. Shit. I’d lost track of Francisco in the pandemonium. He must have snuck away as soon as Philip showed up, then waited for the right moment to attack.
This wasn’t good. The shape inside the pillar of light was solidifying. Behemoth was almost here. Gabrielle and Bethany had their hands full with the demons. Philip was down. I turned to Isaac.
“Go,” he croaked hoarsely. “I’ll be all right. Kill Arkwright. It’s the only way to end this.”
He didn’t have to tell me twice. I stuffed the hilt of the fire sword into my pocket and started running. I kept to the shadows, moving unseen along one side of the flight deck. Unfortunately, I was on the ship’s port side, and the island where Arkwright had taken refuge was on the starboard side. Between us was an army of lesser demons. At some point I was going to have to cross the deck in the open.
As I grew closer, I heard Francisco call to Philip, “I told you we weren’t finished, vampire! It’s time to settle up!”
Philip stood up between the fighter jets, patting out tiny, smoldering patches of fire on his clothes. He tossed the smoking remains of his coat to the floor. The right half of his shirt, including the sleeve, had been entirely burned away. The skin beneath it was streaked with ash but otherwise appeared unharmed. I knew vampire flesh was a lot stronger than human flesh—I’d seen swords break rather than cut him—but I was still impressed.
“You’ve got seriously bad timing, asshole,” Philip said.
Francisco sneered at him. “You humiliated me, vampire. In front of my employer. In front of my partner. I can’t let that stand. You made me look like a bitch.”
“If the shoe fits,” Philip said.
Francisco leveled the crossbow at him. The bow pulled back on its own, cocking itself. A fiery bolt materialized within it. Francisco pulled the trigger, and the bolt flew right for Philip. But the vampire was gone before it hit him, striking the empty steel deck instead. The bolt exploded into a pool of flame that spread much too fast for the fire to be anything but magical. It didn’t seem to need any accelerant or fuel.
I ducked behind a fighter jet for cover. Philip was a blur streaking across the deck toward Francisco. The baby-faced thug panicked, desperately loosing bolt after bolt but missing Philip each time. The bolts lit fires all over the deck and on several of the aircraft. We were lucky their gas tanks had been emptied long ago.
Philip barreled into Francisco without slowing down. The two of them rolled and skidded across the flight deck. They disappeared under the canvas wall of the huge aircraft restoration tent at the foot of the island.
Now was my chance. I bolted across the flight deck toward the island, already thinking about what to do when I got to vulture’s row at the top. My Plan B.
I was only halfway across the deck when the aircraft carrier tipped suddenly beneath my feet. The bow lifted into the air above Twelfth Avenue, while the stern sank toward the river’s waterline. The chains holding some of the aircraft in place snapped. Jets and helicopters, some still burning from the crossbow bolts, slid haphazardly across the deck. Some tumbled off the side and splashed into the water below. I dropped to the floor and lay spread-eagled on my stomach, trying to not slide off the ship, too. I glanced over to see if Isaac was okay. The fighter jet was still chained to the deck, though it had slid out of place. Isaac had moved to the railing along the deck’s edge and was holding on for dear life with his good arm.
The ship leveled out again. The bow came crashing down, splashing into the river and sending an enormous wave across Twelfth Avenue. Cars screeched and honked. Pedestrians screamed in alarm. Damn. The cops would be coming now. Probably EMTs, too. The last thing we needed were more people in the line of fire.
I got back to my feet and saw Bethany and Gabrielle had recovered their balance, too. They stared past me, openmouthed, to the stern of the ship. The remaining lesser demons had stopped fighting and were staring, too. I heard something breathe at my back. A blast of hot air hit me. Something was behind me. Something whose sudden, extra weight had caused the ship to tip off-balance momentarily. I turned slowly.
The rift still burned brightly in the sky, but the colossal pillar of light was gone. In its place stood a creature that towered seventy feet above me. Thick, ropy muscles flexed beneath an intricately patterned, purple-and-black hide. His bare torso, arms, and bald, horned head were vaguely humanlike, but from the waist down he resembled a centipede. Six rounded, armored segments stretched behind him, each sporting two pointed, articulated legs. He balled his hands into fists, threw back his head, and let out a terrifying, bestial roar.
The lesser demons gibbered in terror. Ignoring Bethany and Gabrielle, they ran for the stairs, retreating up the island to vulture’s row. They knew a greater demon when they saw one.
I stared up at Behemoth, brother of Nahash-Dred, Lord of Ruination. I didn’t have Nightclaw. I didn’t have the Codex Goetia. I didn’t know any binding or banishing spells.
There was no Plan B for this.
Thirty-Nine
Behemoth’s eyes were filled with fury. He extended one enormous hand above me, palm down. Suddenly, it was like the world had turned upside down, as if gravity had changed direction. I fell upward off the flight deck toward Behemoth’s hand. Bethany and Gabrielle watched in horror from the deck, unaffected by the shift in gravity. It was only me. Behemoth had trapped me in some kind of a gravity field. I tumbled upward toward his enormous hand. His fingers looked as thick as tree trunks, capable of crushing me to dust. But then Behemoth hesitated. My upward fall stopped. I floated in the air before him like a fly caught in amber. He studied me closely, and a change came over his face. He lowered me back to the flight deck and released me from the gravity field.
I didn’t understand. I stood rooted in place, not taking my eyes off the towering demon. Behemoth watched me with just as much interest. I’d been given a chance to run, but I didn’t move. It wasn’t just fear that kept me there. It was curiosity. Behemoth had spared me for a reason. I wanted to know why.
The silence was shattered by Francisco bursting out of the aircraft restoration tent. His clothes were on fire. He ran screaming across the flight deck. Behemoth let loose another deafening roar and extended his hand again. Francisco, caught in a gravity field, was lifted off the deck and into the air. He floated before Behemoth, screaming and burning. Behemoth closed his empty hand into a fist. In the air before him, Francisco’s body crushed in on itself. The flames extinguished instantly. The screams stopped. I heard Francisco’s bones snap as his body compressed down to a small, lumpy object. Then Behemoth released it from the gravity field, and what was left of Francisco fell to the deck in front of me. An unrecognizable mass of bone and tissue, it looked like something that had come out of a car crusher in a junkyard.
Jesus. I tried to swallow, but my throat was too tight.
Philip charged out of the tent with Francisco’s crossbow, unloading fiery bolts at Behemoth. The demon swatted at them, but the tactic backfired. They exploded on impact, their magical fire spreading over Behemoth’s hands and arms.
The sight of this titanic demon half on fire was finally enough to get my legs moving. I ran over to Bethany and Gabrielle.
“Are you all right?” Bethany asked me. The sword blade retracted into her bracelet.
“I’m fine,” I said. “Behemoth let me go. I don’t know why.”
I looked back. Behemoth didn’t seem bothered by the fire from the crossbow bolts. He didn’t appear to be in pain, and the flames died out quickly on his hide. Philip loosed more bolts to keep the demon distracted. But damn it, why wasn’t he using Nightclaw? The dagger could end this now.
“Where’s Isaac?” Gabrielle asked.
“Right here,” the mage said, limping toward us. Bethany and Gabrielle saw he was missing a hand and ran over to him. “It was the infection,” he told them. “I didn’t have a choice.”
“But how…?” Gabrielle demanded.
“There’s no time to explain,” he said. “Listen to me. We can’t let Behemoth off this ship. If he gets out into the city, it’ll be catastrophic.”
Behemoth let loose a deafening roar then. He pushed out one massive hand, and Philip, dozens of feet away, was repelled backward by a gravity field. He soared through the air, slammed into the side of the island, and then slid down to the flight deck. We ran over and found him slumped against the island wall. He was conscious and wasn’t bleeding. No bones appeared to be broken. If he’d been human, he would have been killed by the impact. Being a vampire, he was just a little banged up. The crossbow wasn’t as fortunate. It lay in a broken heap beside him.
“Son of a bitch can manipulate gravity,” Philip growled, straightening his mirrored sunglasses.
“Sorry, I should have warned you,” I said. I reached down to help him up.
He waved me off and stood on his own. “I’m fine.”
“Where’s Nightclaw?” Isaac asked. “We have to put Behemoth down before this goes any further.”
“Damned if I know,” Philip said. “I dropped Nightclaw when Francisco attacked me. I have no idea where it is now.”
“We have to find it,” Bethany said. “We can’t kill Behemoth without it.”
Philip glared at her. “Thank you, Captain Obvious.”
“Can that thing even
be
killed?” I asked.
“
The Book of Eibon
says demons can die, just like everyone else,” Gabrielle said. She glanced at me. “Present company excluded. But yes, we can kill Behemoth with Nightclaw if we can get close enough. I’m sure of it.”
From vulture’s row atop the island, Arkwright shouted something. It wasn’t English, but whatever language it was, Behemoth understood it. The demon started moving toward the island, his huge centipede legs clanking loudly on the steel deck. We ran away from the island as Behemoth stamped toward us. A red-and-white F-14 Tomcat had come loose and rolled into the center of the flight deck. We ducked behind it and watched Arkwright hold the Codex Goetia before him like a shield. A bright light flickered from it, strobing in Behemoth’s eye. Arkwright began chanting.
“It’s the binding spell,” Bethany said. “If it works, Behemoth will be under his complete control.”
“And if he messes it up like last time?” I asked.
“Then Behemoth will kill us all,” she said. “Six of one, half a dozen of the other.”
I needed the binding spell to work. Then all I had to do was kill Arkwright and Behemoth would be sent back to his own dimension. Two birds, one stone. Except getting to Arkwright wasn’t going to be easy. In the meantime, we still had to deal with Behemoth.
We needed Nightclaw. But the dagger was out there on the flight deck somewhere, hidden among the bodies and the various aircraft that had slid out of place. I scanned the deck. Small fires burned everywhere, sending light into the shadows, but I couldn’t see Nightclaw.
“Isaac or Gabrielle, do either of you have a spell that can, I don’t know, teleport Nightclaw over to us?” I asked.
Isaac shook his head. “It doesn’t work like that. At the very least, I would need a clear line of sight to do something like that.”
“I might get a better view from the air,” Gabrielle said.
“Forget it,” Isaac said. “I don’t want you flying anywhere near Behemoth. You saw what he did to Francisco.”
Gabrielle rolled her eyes. “How much more do you need to see before you get it, Isaac? I can take care of myself.”
Philip turned to her. “You’re carrying magic.” It wasn’t a question.
“Figured that out on your own, did you?” Gabrielle said. “Don’t tell me you’ve got a problem with it, too.”
“Not yet,” he said.
“Good enough.” She glared pointedly at Isaac. “I’ve already got one mother who worries about me, I don’t need more.”
I continued scanning the deck around us. Nothing moved in the flickering light of the fires. Nothing, and no one.
“Nahash-Dred is here somewhere,” I said. “Arkwright said he was waiting, but I don’t think that’s what he’s doing at all. I think he’s hiding. I don’t think he wants any of this.”
“You can’t know that for sure,” Bethany said.
“If he doesn’t want this, why isn’t he doing something to stop it?” Philip demanded. “He’s a greater demon, too, just like his brother. He could probably stop Behemoth in the blink of an eye.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe he knows it’s a trap. Maybe he knows if he does anything, Arkwright will bind him.”
“Then he’s a coward,” Philip said.
I couldn’t argue. For all I knew, Nahash-Dred was long gone. And yet, somehow I sensed he wasn’t. He was still here, somewhere. I was certain.
The sound of helicopter blades chopping the air caught our attention. An NYPD helicopter came flying upriver toward the ship. Its powerful spotlight snapped on and swept the area. It found Behemoth and stayed on him. At the same time, another chopper came from the New Jersey side of the river. This one wasn’t the police. It was a news helicopter with the number 7 and the words
EYEWITNESS NEWS
painted on the cabin. It switched on its own spotlight and hit Behemoth with it.
Distracted by the bright lights, Behemoth turned away from Arkwright and the binding spell. He shielded his eyes with one massive arm and roared angrily at the helicopters.
Shit. The tidal wave that had hit Twelfth Avenue had brought both the police and the media. They had no idea what they were dealing with.
I jumped up, waving my arms. “Get out of here! Get the hell out of here!” I shouted.
It was already too late. Behemoth gestured, and the NYPD chopper stopped abruptly in midair, as if it had struck an invisible wall. The rotor blades bent and snapped. Then Behemoth crushed the helicopter just as he’d crushed Francisco. The demon sent it hurtling over the aircraft carrier. I ducked down as it passed overhead. The chopper crashed into the pedestrian bridge that spanned Twelfth Avenue and exploded. Fiery debris rained into the street below. Amid the screams, screeching tires, and crunching metal of panicked collisions, the pedestrian bridge itself began to crumble and fall.