Legacy First Trilogy Box Set: Books 1-3 of the Legacy Series Page 12

  But damn, was it powerful.

  "Is that why I'm here?" I asked. "Is that what this place is?"

  Dark Erik's form shifted and he looked around, as if seeing the place for the first time.

  "It's a good thing that you are able to come here," he said. "This place is called Ashura and it's our realm, created by our magic. It is our magic."

  Huh?

  "You mean to tell me that I have an entire world's worth of power?" I asked incredulously.

  Dark Erik let out a chuckle; my chuckle.

  "I told you," he said. "I am very powerful."

  "So, what am I supposed to do now?"

  Dark Erik tapped me on the shoulder and we were suddenly beneath the tree. Its long, thick roots snaked all around us, shielding us like a giant mangrove cocoon.

  Accept me, Erik Ashendale. The voice reverberated from the roots themselves.

  "I am more powerful than the Sin," Dark Erik said. "This power is now yours, but you will be unable to use it unless you acknowledge it. Unless it becomes a part of you."

  "What happens if I can't?" I asked.

  Dark Erik remained silent.

  We both knew the answer. Nothing would happen. I would probably dissolve into nothing and be truly gone. I would never feel the warmth of the sun or get to go home again.

  I would never have another pointless conversation with Amaymon. The cat was the only true family I had. Our relationship had evolved from a strained partnership to the point where now I can actually trust him. It took a lot of time and a lot of cases, but we finally got there.

  I would never see Abigail again. I would break the promise I made to her and she would die before her powers even awakened. She would never get to live a full life and would probably die with a lot of questions still unanswered. Maybe, just maybe, I was considering taking her as a student and showing her the ropes. She might be of some help during certain cases and it would prevent her from going ballistic on some poor, horny schmuck.

  And Gil—I had hoped that we would mend our relationship before one of us died. I had hoped we could be like before, back when we were close siblings trying to understand the ups and downs of magic. Before I killed our father. Before she decided to run the whole Warlock gig and made it her priority. I had hoped we could find a way to peacefully coexist. Who knows, maybe even invite each other out to lunch sometime.

  Now, all of that was down the crapper and I was dead.

  I felt tears running down my cheek.

  I wanted to live. I never realized until now just how much I wanted to be alive and make things better.

  The laughter, the hangovers, the messed up relationships; I wanted all of them back. I even wanted to continue seeing all of those things that made others go insane. I wanted to experience the true magic of life—waking up and enjoying another day in a world filled with assholes and the occasional decent person. I wanted to take on more cases like Gracie's and solve them. I wanted to bring some peace to people's hearts.

  Sure, I led a life that would drive anyone off a cliff. My only upside—the magic—had so many restraints and conditions it might as well have been a legal contract.

  And sure, my life was a veritable lightning rod for life's crap.

  But it had been my choice, my own destiny. It had always been all my choice and I have never regretted it, not even now that I was dead.

  I found myself smiling—Erik Ashendale wasn't dead, not by a long shot.

  "You already know what's gonna happen," I told Dark Erik. "You're me, my subconscious or whatever. Point is, you know me better than anyone else."

  I reached out and grabbed a small seedling attached to a mangrove root. Viscous, dark sap ran in between my fingers.

  "This is my power." I put my fingers in my mouth and drank the disgusting black goo.

  It was like drinking electricity. My body visibly glowed and I felt like screaming in pure ecstasy.

  "And I think it's about time I use it."

  Because lives were at stake. Because it was time to grow up. Because no one, not Gil, not Lilith, not the angels, not even God—no one will harm the ones I care about.

  Period.

  I felt Dark Erik shift again and he placed his hand on my shoulder. I had to accept him. So, I closed the distance and embraced him. My power, my bane—I accepted it all.

  Dark Erik's heart glowed until there was a small explosion of light. His body melted into thick, black colored liquid. It spread around my body and settled like a second skin.

  It was an extraordinary experience, as if a large weight had been lifted off of my chest. In a few seconds, Dark Erik and real Erik became one and the same. My skin was obsidian colored and red energy emanated from inside me.

  The mangroves began shifting. They snaked closer and closer, until they began constricting me. But this wasn't like Lilith's appendage. There was no pain or panic.

  The black mangrove roots were an extension of Dark Erik, just a different manifestation of the same power.

  I felt power surge throughout my body. It was the strangest feeling. I felt as rested as if I had slept for days but at the same time I felt as if I had been struck by lightning and every cell in my body became a nuclear reactor.

  I felt one with my power, finally understanding it.

  And in that understanding, I realized there was so much more. The top half of the tree, the part hidden behind very sky itself—that part remained foreign. In fact, it was as if there was a barrier and I could never cross it.

  But no matter. I had enough power right here and now. I felt one with the Ashura plane, and felt its pulse synch with my own, as the world and I became one.

  And with in my newfound power, I willed myself back to life.

  I felt a rush as I transcended dimensions and emerged from Ashura back to Earth.

  I was back in my body, still a bloody mess, and felt myself get up. The rush of sensations nearly overwhelmed me and for a long while I was frozen in place as my brain sorted through the barrage of signals it was getting.

  A mass of shadows covered my body like a second skin. My healing powers went ballistic and my injuries began healing in seconds. It happened so fast I didn't even feel the pain of my bones and tendons being reconstructed.

  I looked at the mirror and saw that I was fully clothed in a red shirt and black pants. My usual working attire. The shroud of shadows parted, revealing my leather trench coat underneath. Darkness trailed all over my body, covering me from head to toe and giving me a really ominous appearance.

  I felt a familiar pulse of magic—Djinn. A shadowy tendril wrapped around the sword and brought it to my hand. The blade glowed eagerly.

  I felt powerful, but still, I knew I had yet to reach the full potential of these new powers.

  I exhaled deeply. My magical senses picked up Lilith's not-so-subtle trail and I bolted after her.

  Time to show that goddess the true meaning of power.

  Chapter 21

  I followed Lilith's trail towards the dance hall only to find a barren room. There was no sign of a fight or supernatural activity.

  Nothing, not even so much as a scratch.

  And yet, my senses had led me here. I was not mistaken, this was the correct place. My power was enough to batter away any glamour or illusion, so that ruled out that possibility.

  I felt something vibrate in my coat and felt around for it. It was a small, outdated cellphone, the kind that looked like a bar of soap, had no camera, and was virtually indestructible.

  "Hello?" I said cautiously.

  There was a beeping noise.

  "Mr. Ashendale?" said a melodic voice on the other end.

  "Yeah."

  "Welcome back to the land of the living. Please, hold the line."

  And just like that the phone beeped again.

  "Wait, what the-"

  But it was too late. The automated female voice informed me that my call was being transferred and Stairway to Heaven began playing. I rolled my eyes. Angel
s—they should have put 'thou shalt not use obvious clichés' in their stone tablets.

  At least it wasn't Knocking on Heaven's Door.

  After a couple of minutes I heard some static and Amaymon's voice came through.

  "Who are you and what the fuck are you doin' in my head?"

  I could have hugged him right there and then.

  "Amaymon, it's me," I said.

  "Erik?" He didn't give me time to answer. "Where the fuck have you been? It's goddamn chaos out here."

  "I was sorta dead."

  "Them angels popped out and transported Lilith and the rest of us onto a different ship. They got us in a time loop so that we don't affect the rest of the world," he explained.

  So, that's what was going on. Damn sneaky angels.

  "How do I get there?" I asked.

  "I'll open up a portal for you. And haul ass over here ‘cause it ain't pretty."

  Before I put the phone away I heard him call out.

  "Hey, Erik. If you die on me again, I'll come find you in Hell and kick your dumb ass outta there."

  I smiled. Amaymon had his own way of caring.

  "Got it," I said.

  The line went dead and soon after the phone dissolved into nothing.

  I felt Amaymon's portal and followed the signal, which led me outside to the viewing decks. A portal swirled in front of me, three feet from the steel railing. Leave it to Amaymon to open a portal in midair, a hundred feet above sea level. I swung over the railing and held fast. The primal fear of heights that all humans possess sent me into a momentary panic.

  But that was human emotion, and whatever was inside of me was definitely not human. I could feel the shadows batting away any concern or fear with an ironclad determination, and one long breath later I was leaping into the swirling mass of color and magic.

  The portal spat me out into an empty tanker. It was a miracle this thing was still afloat. The metal was dented and rusty and there were grooves, burns and rips all over the place. Blood covered the floor and I realized I was stepping on human remains. It was a gore-splattered mess.

  And in the middle of it all was Lilith.

  She was no longer the immaculate beauty that glamoured me. Her body was a mass of scales and spines, constantly shifting. It was as if she had a million different bodies and couldn't decide which one to adopt. So, she mixed and matched different monsters together to create a bizarre, ever-shifting abomination.

  She had Abigail in the air, constricting her neck with just one hand, just like she had done with me.

  Amaymon bolted towards her and lashed out with his foot. Lilith caught the blow with her stomach and I heard something crunch. Ribs tore from her torso and splattered against the walls.

  But the Sin remained unfazed.

  Lilith's body sealed itself together in a disgusting series of squelches. Her free hand was a cross between a paw and a bird's leg. She swatted at Amaymon, batting the demon away from her.

  No wonder she messed me up so badly. Amaymon was a powerhouse; to swat him away so casually was no easy feat.

  Normally, I wouldn't stand a chance, but now I felt more powerful than the both of them combined.

  I could destroy her. I had to.

  "Hey, bitch!"

  My yell made everyone in the room freeze and look in my direction. I must have been quite the scene: a shadow-clad, trench coat wearing figure holding a glowing, blue sword.

  Admit it, that's damn cool.

  I channeled my power into the sword and slashed. A crescent-shaped energy beam streaked towards Lilith, three times the size of my previous versions. The attack was so fast it actually created a sonic boom and warped the space it passed through. The metal walls around us crunched as the attack shot forwards and into the Sin.

  The spell enveloped Lilith and sent her flying. The arm constricting Abigail was torn off. Abigail crouched and retched on the floor as she ripped away the dismembered arm from her neck.

  "Get your own succubus," I said, flipping the demoness off.

  Lilith emerged, every inch of her skin charred and steam hissing out of her.

  "You," she snarled. Her body began repairing itself. "I killed you once already."

  I shrugged. "No rest for the wicked. Or maybe it's you who's impotent."

  "Ouch. Nice burn," Amaymon said giving me a thumbs-up.

  "This time I'll make sure you stay dead," Lilith snarled. Her arm had regenerated into a weird tentacle with hooks at the end. They latched onto me, ensnaring into my flesh with impunity.

  I felt pressure around me. Lilith was trying to enter my mind again.

  Yeah, right. Like anyone could handle the power I had right then.

  I unleashed a burst of power and the shadows soared. Lilith was sent staggering.

  "Gonna have to try much harder than that," I said.

  "Watch your tongue, boy," she spat. Then she smiled cruelly. "Before I'll rip it off for you."

  She reached down and grasped the head of a dead man next to her. He looked like one of the passengers from the cruise ship. Maybe he was accidentally transported with Lilith when the angels did their swapping act. It's not as if those fluffy winged cretins gave a damn about the individual if their death served a higher purpose.

  Or maybe they just didn't bother cleaning up the ones that were already dead. Ironically, angels weren't that big on funerary rites.

  Lilith ripped the dead guy's head off and reached down into his neck cavity.

  I don't want to describe the next two seconds. It's bad enough I had to suffer through that nightmare. Trust me, I'm doing you a favor.

  Let's just say there was a lot of crunching, slurping and chewing. And once she was done, only a handful of hollow bones remained, which she just chucked away.

  I realized what we were to her: spare parts. That's how she fueled her transformations. She sucked out minerals, chemicals and tissue from her victims and transmuted that into whatever she needed.

  Must be how she created demons.

  But that power was also Life magic; and no one can use Life magic. No one can just create things. It's one of the rules of our universe—we can change energy from one form into another but never create it out of thin air.

  And yet, there she was, using magic privy to gods. Was she really a goddess?

  A sudden movement snapped me out of my haze.

  Lilith appeared a few feet away from me. I took a step backwards and lifted my sword. Her arm shot out and a pair of oversized jaws clamped down on my shoulder. The shadows absorbed the brunt of the damage and I managed to dodge away nearly unscathed.

  I flicked Djinn and severed her arm, but Lilith gave no quarter. She morphed her other arm into a pair of long, curved claws and swung at my face.

  Amaymon threw panel of metal between the claws and my eye, and hit Lilith squarely in the face. At the same time, I slashed with an enhanced Djinn and the blast threw Lilith backwards. Her body smashed against the wall, leaving a human shaped dent.

  Amaymon appeared to my right. " ‘Sup?"

  "Oh, nothin' much," I replied. "Died, had a life changing revelation, and came back even more awesome than before."

  Amaymon raised his eyebrows. "Sounds like a lot of work. Meet anyone down there?"

  "Nah. I may have hugged my subconscious, though."

  "You're so gay."

  Lilith was back up. "How dare you jest in the middle of our confrontation?"

  " ‘Cause you're a joke," Amaymon replied.

  We bumped fists and smirked at each other. Lilith let out a shriek of frustration and her body exploded into a different shape. It was as if there was a cage fight going on underneath her skin.

  "You got a plan?" whispered my familiar.

  "We hit it hard and fast. Your priority is to get the girl out of here. Then come back to help me out."

  Amaymon grinned wickedly. "Hard and fast. Just the way I like it."

  The demon blurred as he rushed at Lilith. He swiped at her legs, causing her to s
tumble to one side.

  A goat leg shot out and kept her from falling. The Sin spun and a crocodile tail whipped at Amaymon. He jumped above the tail and both his hands smashed into the side of her head. Lilith's ears became ram horns but Amaymon's raw strength was just too great. He clapped her head, crushing those horns and comically flattening her head.

  But Lilith wasn't down just yet.

  A thick rhino's horn grew from her forehead and she stabbed forwards.

  I was at her side and grabbed the horn, pulling her upwards and bringing Djinn down on her neck. I gave a violent twist and heard her neck break. At the same time I drove her to the ground and kicked her side. Djinn's blade elongated to the size of a broadsword and I stabbed downwards.

  She rolled away, trailing blood and guts.

  I looked around and saw that Amaymon had disappeared together with Abigail.

  "Just you and me now, Bridezilla," I snarked at Lilith.

  The Sin snarled and lunged for another dead body. But I wasn't just going to let her resupply. I took a step and Lilith fell face forwards. Her fingers morphed into a nest of snakes and I hacked them away but it was too late. She was inches away from the body.

  I instinctively reached out with my free hand and grabbed. A shadow hand shot out and grabbed her outstretched arm. I jerked her away from the body and the shadows followed the motion, wrenching Lilith away from the corpse. I sent an energy wave at the poor dead bastard, reducing the body to ash.

  "No meal breaks for you," I said.

  She snarled in response and raced towards me.

  "Surround it!"

  Gil's shrill order was accompanied by two bulky rockets of light. The two angels grabbed Lilith savagely. Light and sound exploded like a million flash bang grenades going off at once. The angels began massacring Lilith piece by piece, scorching her with light and fire. Parts of her body began falling off, and were reduced to ash before they hit the ground.

  They were winning. The angels were kicking ass in an awesome display of angelic badassery.

  "Not like this," she screamed. Darkness rose from Lilith and it began surrounding the angels.