Authors: S. E. Campbell

What Following Brings (22 page)

BOOK: What Following Brings

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Chapter Fourteen

Dark. Sheer dark. Danielle was now not alone. Many people surrounded Second Beast, who paced in front of the crowd, back and forth. His eyes
appeared a bright and violent red
and
he had a smirk
which
appeared strange on a bear
'
s face. He continued to pace in front of the people for
several minutes
, silent and unspeaking.

“
My lord will be pleased with this,
”
Second Beast said.
“
Very pleased.
”

Some people murmured but most were silent and followed Second Beast with their eyes
.

“
Let us go and greet him,
”
Second Beast said.
“
Let us meet my lord.
”

There was yet more murmuring of agreement. Second
Beast growled
and began to pa
d back through the city
. The crowd, like a bunch of still-living zombies, began to follow Second Beast down
the path. First Beast appeared out of an alley
,
his flesh and fangs coated in
rust from his latest prey
.
When Second Beast made it to the edge of the city, he stopped. The crowd stopped too.
First Beast
stared
at
the crowd
with all fourteen eyes gazing at
them
unblinkingly.

“
There are forty-seven,
”
First Beast said, though he made
no apparent effort to count the people.
“
We need more.
”

“
Sixty-six people to spill their own blood to awaken the two million
horsemen
locked away by God,
”
Second Beast drawled.
“
I am aware of this, brother.
Lead them to the meeting place
and I will go in search of the rest. We shall have our ceremony by
sundown
today. The mind
s
of humans melt beneath my words. They will be no match for me.
”

“
And the people
who
speak ill?
”
First Beast asked, licking his chops.
“
Who shall devour them for you?
”

“
You have feasted on twenty,
”
Second Beast said.
“
You wish for more?
”

“
I always
wish
for more.
”

Second Beast
'
s evil smirk widened.
“
Then more you shall have.
”

Eden blinked the Morsus away from her eyes and realized she was once again lying on her stomach beside Yuri, trembling from fear. Yuri had his hand on h
er back and he kept rubbing it
as if she was a small child he was trying to burp but he wasn
'
t sure how to go about it. When their eyes met, he
frowned
at her sadly.

“
You okay?
”
Yuri asked.

“
The demons are getting stronger,
”
Eden said.
“
I do not think Morsus is to blame for what I
'
m seeing. I think Satan is making sure I know exactly what I
'
m up against. He
'
s trying to scare me.
”

“
He
'
s evil,
”
Yuri said.
“
That
'
s his job.
”

Both of them were silent for a moment
.
Yuri hesitated and then pushed a
lock of
hair out of her face
, tucking
the strand
behind her ear
. If she could have, then she would have blushed.

“
Why is it I always want to protect you?
”
Yuri asked.
“
I am supposed to want to get rid of you. It
'
s because of that I am now in trouble.
”

“
Yuri, about the kissâ¦
”
Eden wasn
'
t sure what she wanted to say, but she felt she had to bring it up.

There was the sound of roaring
;
both of them
looked
up and then glanced at each other.
Now was not the time to discuss their first kiss.
Yuri
'
s touch
had
befuddled her brain almost as much as the Morsus did. She shook her head, wondering why being dead did not clear up all of these confusing emotions, and began to glance down hopefully at the city below
her
.

“
Do you think we should move on
or stay here and wait?
”
Eden asked.
“
A soul is more likely to be destroyed in a populated area.
”

She paused. No response.

“
Yuri?
”
Eden
turned
and saw Yuri
'
s eyes were glazed again
. He
could give her no answer.
“
Stay here it is, thenâ¦
”

She began to wait.
Sometimes doing nothing was the hardest thing a person could do.

****

Eden laid her hands on her head, trying to fight down the despair so she could focus. It was like attempting to get rid of a wild tiger climbing into her brain and gnawing at it. Once again, Yuri had his hand on her back, though this time his fingers
were
in her hair, running through the golden strands.

“
It
'
s okay,
”
Yuri soothed.

But it wasn
'
t. Eden felt the effect of the Morsus more in her mind this time. She could see distantly
crimson
stained ground, but she was not thrown into the image headfirst. Instead she felt unbearable guilt and anger
and had hopeless thoughts
. If she was faster, if she had
found
her five people
right away
, then maybe there would be less death on
E
arth. And even if she did manage to clear up the problems here by some sort of miracle, how many years wo
uld it take purgatory to straighten
itself
up
again? There were so many
souls waiting to reincarnate, s
o many that needed to find their place in the world again. And how many
people
on
E
ar
th had lost their lives? She did not know.

“
Yuri,
”
Eden whimpered.

“
You
'
re still here?
”
he
asked weakly, sounding surprised.
“
Usually, when your eyes get distant, I know Satan is
projecting
something in your mind.
”

“
Just the Morsus right now,
”
Eden said.
“
Can youâ¦
Can you say something comforting? All of these feelings are crashing down on me, and I hate the fact I feel so hopeless.
”

“
Don
'
t feel that way,
”
Yuri said,
and then
he grabbed her hand.
“
I don
'
t know half of what
'
s going on, but if anyone can save the world, it
'
s you.
”

“
Yuriâ¦
”
Eden gazed at him.

“
After thisâ¦
”
He stared at their intertwined hands and his jaw tightened.
“
You know how I said you made me want to protect you, which made me want to kick something because I never get that way?
”

She nodded.

“
I don
'
t know if this is comforting or not, but I
'
ve decided if we find our way out of here, I
'
ll come with you,
”
Yuri said.
“
I want to. I guess maybe
my change of heart is a
sign you are the person I am supposed to follow.
”

In her
sick mind
, the tingle of happiness she felt was buried underneath a crashing ocean of despair and melancholy.

“
I guess we
'
ll see what following brings,
”
Eden said.

“
Yeah, I guess we will,
”
Yuri said.

****

When Eden finally came out of her Morsus state, she heard the sound of movement behind her as well as
frustrated growling
. She knew then Asag was getting neare
r to them. She
stared
downward
at the city. She couldn
'
t believe she was thinking it, but she thought,
Please, please let somebody get into trouble and be forced to come up here.
It was awful and made her feel real guilt, not diseased soul guilt, but
those were her thoughts
all the same.

Just as she heard the sound of shuffling feet behind her again, her vision became blurry and she found herself fading out into a bad vision. She tried to fight it. After all, Yuri was not
aware anymore either
and she could not afford to have him get hurt, especially after he had promised her he would follow her.

When Eden
'
s vision flickered, she saw a crowd of people standing before First Beast and Second Beast. Satan stood beside them in his human form, a crooked and evil smile on his face. He
appeared
pleased. Evil happened when he
appeared
pleased. Second Beast continued to pad back and forth i
n front of the sixty-six people
and the people
swayed
with him, back and forth. At Second Beast
'
s side, First Beast stood,
drooling in hunger
. None of the human sacrifices appeared to notice, or if they did,
they didn
'
t
care about this
spectacle
.
Eden
'
s eyes, however, bulged, and she grasped her chest.
Oh no, no, no. Whose arm is that? Whose?
She glanced at the people, knowing they could b
e
next and should be afraid.
They just focused on First Beast with wide eyes.

Second Beast bent down and picked up a sharp
dagger
between his two teeth. He padded over to the woman in front. It was Danielle, the woman from earlier. Her eyes appeared even duller than they had before.

“
Lead the others into the plains,
”
Second Beast said.
“
Wait for my call and then
give your life over to me
. Each person in line should
do the same
.
”

For the first time, Danielle
gasped and her eyes bulged and
watered
in panic
. Second Beast
drew
close and spewed sour breath all over her
as Eden trembled and repeatedly shook her head.

“
Do you have a problem with that?
”
Second Beast asked, and then his eyes flickered toward First Beast,
who glared back at him with large, hungry eyes. He ran his pink tongue over his lips, his angry eyes glowing bright. White, deadly fangs flashed.

“
As much blood spilled as possible,
”
Danielle
repeated
.

She began to lumber toward the field. When she reached it, she stood in the middle of the dead plains as the others followed behind her. Everyone lined up, one by one. The other demons, still in their human form, surrounded the plains and gazed upon the crowd with excited looks upon their faces. A
byzou
appeared
especially excited
and quivered like a fish
that
had been taken out of the water, making her appear like she belonged in the ocean even more than ever.

“
You have done well,
”
Satan said,
turning toward Second Beast.
“
Sixty-six people, just like I ordered
.
”

“
Thank you, Lord,
”
Second Beast said.

“
I sense you have something you want to tell me,
”
Satan said.
“
Speak.
”

“
Thank you, Lord,
”
Second Beast said.
“
The girl. I sense you bring her he
re
to watch this, but I also senseâ¦
her escape.
”

“
Asag will stop her,
”
Satan said calmly.
“
She will not leave the other world in time. The fact she has hope amuses me
.
I will crush it from her.
”

Once again, Second Beast
glanced
at his paws.

“
Speak, Second Beast,
”
Satan said, his voice losing its
calmness
and becoming demonic and angry.

“
Do you trust Asag again
st her power
when she...
”
Then Second Beast gulped.

“
When she, what?
”
Satan asked.
“
When she got away from me? Do you think you can do better th
an me
at capturing a human girl
,
your master
?
”

With a cry of anguish, Second Beast shook his head. Satan lost his humanity and
the sound of skin ripping filled the air. The skin fell away from Satan like cloth and five demented heads appeared
.
His
shriveled
head gazed upon Second Beast with anger.
The ground beneath him quaked
and the smell of sulfur filled the air. Satan grabbed Second Beast by his throat and held him up in the air and squeezed. With Second Beast appearing larger than Satan, the scene appeared disturbingly unbalanced. Second Beast began to scream in pain and s
quirmed
, but he did not try to get away.

“
How dare you mock me
!
”
Satan boomed.
“
You think your power is greater than mine? You cannot even escape my grip, not like she did.
”

“
Masterâ¦
”
Second Beast said.

Satan
opened his hand
and Second Beast fell and rolled. First Beast
hovered
over the scene and gazed
, wordlessly,
at Second Beast on the ground. Second Beast panted, still breathing, but his eyes
appeared
blue instead of red and foam combined with pink poured from his mouth and spilled
on
the ground. Satan stepped forward and placed one of his cloven hooves
on the dirt
. His anger caused his a
ura to grow an ugly
scarlet
red
and his face twisted as he gazed at the crowd.

“
Hurry up and recover, you imbecile,
”
Satan hissed, as Second Beast made a strangled, pained
whimper
.
“
I have waited long enough for this. And do not think this is the only price you shall pay for your insult, beast.
”

The darkness cleared and Eden came out of her Morsus
; she
pressed her hand to her mouth, feeling
sick
.
I wish I could stop those people from dying. I wish I could
find
my two other fated souls
and lead them to Gabriel before any of
the humans had to die
.
The
way Satan had attacked his own
follower
so heartlessly
shocked her, even though she knew how evil he was
.

Of course he doesn
'
t have mercy. He is who he is.
Sadness, anger, and despair filled her, making her tighten her fists into balls.
She wished she could make it out of here before those people
ended their own lives
. She had a feeling seeing that scene would be worse than watch
ing
the gates of heaven close.

“
Eden, are you here?
”
Yuri asked.

“
Yes,
”
Eden said, struggling to her feet.
“
It
'
s getting worse. Every image.
”

“
Mine
too,
”
Yuri said.
“
And when I woke u
p, I
saw
something. And I heard Asag. I heard his voice. He
'
s
nearby
â¦
at
the river. I don
'
t think we have more than a few minutes to get away.
”