What Following Brings (12 page)

“
I, I don
'
t know,
”
Eden said.

The Raider
sighed
and put both of her hands on Eden
'
s shoulders. She stared into Eden
'
s eyes with a hard, cold, stare. Eden felt c
hilled
a
s
stared into blank eyes.
She
heard the sound of loud yelling
behind her and the Raiders
.

“
If I let them go, then you won
'
t attack me,
”
Eden said.
“
There are others on this floor. If I release all of you, then…
”

Releasing her, the Raider stepped back. Eden realized this was a
“
yes.
”
At least, she thought it was. The Raider disappeared into a faint mist at her feet as Eden reached up and grabbed the cold bottles from the cupboard just as five Demon soldiers rounded the corner and unsheathed their swords.

“
You
'
re in for it now,
”
one of the Demon soldiers said, stepping forward with his sword
pointed at Eden
.

The Raider
re-
formed again with a breath of air and appeared next to Eden
.
The
Demon
who
had been so cocky swore and took a step
back but
his escape was stopped by his four other frozen comrades. Eden dropped the Raider bottles on the
floor and fine mist and g
lass coated the
stone
. White faces, pale and emotionless, appeared around her and then began to condense and gain bodies. A Raider placed a cold hand on Eden
'
s shoulder and whipped her around
.
Eden cursed herself.

Then the first Raider, the original Raider
who had demanded she free her brethren
, whispered something inaudible to Eden
. The
one which held her
released her, staring at her with cold, empty eyes. The Demon soldier swore again.

“
They
'
re on her side,
”
the Demon soldier said.
“
Run.
”

All
Raiders
,
except the original one
,
moved back into a fine mist and followed after the soldiers. Eden shut her eyes as she heard the sound of screaming in the hallway
when
their energy was stolen, and she knew
it
was her fault. She g
r
asped her
chest
, which hurt. At least the
soldiers
would only be in pain.
Raiders
only gave souls Morsus. They didn
'
t
cause them to reincarnate
.

Eden felt cold again, unusual for a soul, and opened her eyes. The main Raider hovered before her
.
Fear filled Eden
. She
didn
'
t like standing before such a Satan Spawn with the goal
of
help
ing
it.

“
You will relea
se the others,
”
the Raider said
coldly.
“
You will also break
those hideous lamps on the outside walls so we may be free.
”

“
Keep
your friends
from attacking me and the prisoners and we have a deal,
”
Eden said.

“
As long as the soldiers
who
imprisoned me are mine,
”
the Raider said,
“
then you and your foolish humans may pass us by.
”

“
Okay,
”
Eden said.
“
We have a deal.
”

“
Fine.
”
The Raider reached forward and touched Eden
'
s forehead
. She
felt it burn fire hot.

“
Ouch,
”
Eden said, eyes widening in surprise.

The Raider surveyed Eden for a moment, a glowing white ghost with pale hair and
a
blank
face, and then she disappeared into a fine mist on the floor. Eden opened the cabinet and grabbed more of the red sludge, just in case. She prayed she would never have to use it.

I hope Yuri will be okay
during all this. He won
'
t be protected by my alliance
.
Then she imagined his strong, defiant face and knew he would be.

As she attempted to close the cabinet, one of the little imps pressed his face against the glass of his vile and stared at her with glowing red eyes.
These are Satan Spawn. You don
'
t want them released. You don
'
t even know what this one can do.
Yet, as the creature stared at
her, she felt horrible leaving
him
in the bottle.
Even for an evil creature, it was inhumane.

“
If I let you out, you won
'
t hurt me or the other prisoners?
”
Eden asked.

The imp shook
his
head.

“
You swear?
”
Eden asked.

The imp shook
his
head again.

Eden dropped the vial on the ground where it shattered into a million pieces and the small imp flailed around like a fish out of water. Bending down, Eden examined the small creature and then touched
his
horned head.
His
head was surprisingly hot.

“
You okay, little guy?
”

The imp wobbled to
his
feet and then gave her an evil grin.

“
Never trust a Satan Spawn,
”
the imp said in a, demonic growl.
“
We know no loyalty except to our Dark Lord.
”

The
imp was no longer small. He began to grow larger and larger
;
Eden screamed and backed up against the wall as she was suddenly pinned in an examination room with a twenty foot tall monster with large horns and a pronged tail. Eden recognized this Satan Spawn.
He
was the same type of spawn she had encountered in the fields the night Adanna and Thema
, Adanna
'
s little sister,
had been captured.

As Eden quivered, a horrible smell filled her nostrils. Like blood and burning fire. Eden dug around in her
pockets
and brought out a jar of the red sludge and hurled it at the Satan Spawn
.
The
imp
let out a dark, evil
,
cackle and spread his arms as the fire licked him.

“
The
fire belongs to us, human,
”
the imp said and then he seized her neck and held her up against the wall.
“
You cannot extinguish a fire with more heat.
You are foolish, just like the rest of your race.
”

Fire. Got to get rid of him. I can
'
t let it end here.
Eden dug around in her pockets and found a vial of holy water she had kept to save herself. She hurled it at the Satan Spawn and the
vile
cracked and spilled around him. The
water worked like acid on his face and the imp screamed and released her.

Eden
shoved her hand in her pants
pocket
, grabbed the rest of her vials, and hurled them at the imp one by one. The bottles shattered and burned his skin and black smog surrounded his body, as if the water lit him aflame like the red sludge should have done. Clutching his face, the imp began to grow smaller and smaller as his deep voice grew higher and higher. Soon he was nothing more than a burned midget upon the ground.

The imp rocked back and forth on the floor in his pain, and Eden didn
'
t take any second chances with him. She realized the imp was like a bug. She slammed her foot down upon him and heard an awful crunching
noise
which
made her cringe.

I
'
m not letting anymore of them out.
Eden raced out of the room and took to the hallway. She entered the room to her right
and opened the cabinet. She pulled out all of the
vials of
holy water and stashed them in her
pockets
.
Then
she seized all of the bottles of Raiders and shattered
them on the floor.

A fine mist coated the ground and then white faces appeared all around her, glowing. All
of the faces
became
“
white ladies,
”
glowing
beings
of white with long, winding hair and Victorian style dresses
which
wrapped around them and flowed
in
an invisible wind. One of them glided forward and put her hands on Eden
'
s shoulders.

“
Wait
,
”
Eden said.
“
I
'
m releasing the other Raiders. You need me
.
”

The Raider leaned downward and then Eden felt pain fill her forehead again. She cried out and the Raider
stared
at her forehead with yet again no emotion. Eden expected this Raider to say something, as the
original
Raider had done, but instead all ten of the glowing white women disappeared into white faces and then, finally,
a
fine mist upon the ground. The mist left her and disappeared.

Eden repeated these steps in each room she came to.
After Eden left th
e
fourth room
, she heard the sound of running feet on the stairs.
She
had a hard time seeing around the white mist
which
surrounded her. She saw that somebody parted the mist like Moses parted the sea. She tried to focus and saw it was Yuri
. He
held
a glowing white lantern
to keep
the mist at bay.

“
Yuri,
”
Eden said.

Behind Yuri, Eden saw another person. A familiar person. It was Aaron, holding a lantern.

“
So it
'
s you
who is
doing this,
”
Yuri said.
“
A week in this prison and you
'
ve destroyed i
t.
How is that even possible?
”

“
Yuri, you should get out of here,
”
Eden said.
“
Just leave the prison. It won
'
t be here when this is all over.
”

“
You humiliated me,
”
Yuri said, unsheathing his sword.
“
I don
'
t know why the Raiders aren
'
t touching you, but I won
'
t let you go.
”

Eden stole a frightened look at Aaron, who still lingered behind
Yuri
.

“
Don
'
t do this, Yuri,
”
Eden said.
“
Just go.
”

“
Keep the light aloft, Colonel,
”
Yuri said, passing the lantern to Aaron.

“
Yes, sir.
”

The
moment Aaron had the lantern in his hands, he placed it on the ground and tackled Yuri from behind, wrestling him to the ground. Yuri swore in surprise and confusion, but he managed to flip Aaron onto his back. Behind them the Raiders began to form and Eden ran forward
to
seize the lantern, shining it on the fighting pair. Eden knew without that, they would not be protected. She had bought freedom only for herself and the other prisoners. At least, for now.