Nemesis - Legacy Book 5 (Legacy Series) Read online

  Alan Greede held the heart reverently in front of him and gave a quick nod.

  Three Lizardmen jackknifed forwards, each holding the black statuesque man. Finally, one of them, shorter, stubbier, with an amputated tail and serrated claws, traced a sigil on the creature’s chest. The black bone material parted, revealing a deep dark hole were the chest should have been. Greede was chanting in a language I did not understand and pressed the angel’s dripping heart into the cavity. Upon contact the black bone material snapped shut; Greede only managed to pull his hand out in time.

  The black man began shaking, undulating forward and back, side to side. Veins of gold spread from his chest all way around his body, covering him with a golden net of what I presumed to be ichor.

  A ringing went off inside my head, like a dog whistle that was slowly stabbing at my brain. Everyone in the cage with me was experiencing a similar effect, demon or human. We had our hands to our ears and heads, as if that was doing any good against an attack that was clearly psychic. Even Abi, the only one of us who should have been able to shield herself from the onslaught, was rolling on the ground, seemingly twice as affected. I looked over and saw Ishtar in a similar position. Whatever psychic entity Greede had summoned via his vile experiments had affected them the worst.

  Just like that, it stopped. The ringing faded along with the golden light. A sheen of gold permeated the jet black material of the creature, as if it there was a layer of gold beneath the skin.

  The black man snapped his eyes open and screamed. Granite and mortar shattered. Everything began ripping, cracking, bending. There was no fury — whatever was in there was frightened and panicked.

  And in so much pain.

  Greede rushed by its side, placating it with a pat on the arm that inoculated it full of magic. The creature suddenly stopped and regarded Greede with blank curiosity. The featureless black bone face could not properly convey facial expressions but the non verbal cues were all there: the psychic entity was recognizing its father.

  “There, there, my child,” Greede cooed.

  “F… Fa…” The creature struggled to get its first words out.

  “Father,” Greede supplied.

  “Father,” it repeated in near-perfect English. “Father.”

  Oh, good. The psychic entity was also super smart — or at least it had to be, to pick up a language that fast.

  The creature turned its head to us. “Enemies of Father.” It looked at Ishtar. “Unknown intent towards Father.”

  Greede smiled and swivelled towards Ishtar who was still recovering from the psychic burst.

  “Oh, I know her intentions all right,” Greede said. “She keeps looking for ways to stab me in the back, but she’s too much of a coward to actually hurt me.” He knelt by her and offered her a hand.

  Ishtar took it.

  “Her self-preservation instincts tell her that whatever she tries, I’ll see,” Greede said. “Then I’ll punish her. And she really doesn’t want that, does she?”

  Ishtar lowered her gaze. “No, sir.”

  “There, you see?” Greede mulled over his creation, taking in every detail. “You are perfect, Omega. You really are marvelous.”

  Omega remained silent, but its eyes darted all over the room.

  “Now then,” Greede said, turning his attention back to us. “I need to retire back to my lab and get Omega here strapped up. He’s gonna have a whole bunch of brothers and sisters. In the meanwhile-” Greede nodded at the Lizardmen “-I’m sure my subordinates will keep you company.”

  The shorter Lizardman propped up against the barrier, slamming his smaller snout against it. It was no larger than five feet but that didn’t mean this guy couldn’t rip me apart.

  The Lizardman snarled at me.

  “Ah, yes,” Greede said. “He seems to recognize you.”

  I stared back at the Lizardman with a vendetta against me. There were details on his physique that were vaguely familiar. The signs of mutation were clear. Greede no doubt messed with this guy, stunting his growth in exchange for some kind of memory, intelligence, and those serrated claws. Lizardmen were already equipped with all the natural weapons they needed — the serrations were clearly hand-made, as if this stubby guy spent some time thinking of ways to improve himself.

  I suddenly remembered where I’d seen him. I remembered those claws jutting out of my chest. I remember the darkness spell, an exact replica used also at that time.

  “You,” I said. “You were the one who got away, four years ago.”

  “What are you talking about, Erik?” Gil demanded.

  “It was four years ago, a couple days before I met Abi, before I was aware of the Sins,” I explained. “Roland called me about a school situation: Lizardmen had taken some students hostage. There was a darkness spell that kept everyone non-magical outside. I remember killing all of them. Except one, who killed me instead and ran away.”

  The reptile hissed and roared for a long time, before its sickly green tongue rolled around.

  “Kill,” it hissed.

  That threw me. Since when can Lizardmen speak? The mutations, I thought.

  “Kill. Man. Kill. Man.”

  Okay, so not the most articulate of beings, but the sentiment was there. I was a man, and I was to be killed.

  “Zero here had a grudge against you ever since you killed his mates,” Greede said.

  “Mates?” I repeated. “You mean those were all his…”

  “His harem, yes,” Greede said. “One alpha male to — what was it — six, seven female Lizardmen. Or Lizard-women, I should say.”

  “Four years,” I said, my mind spinning. “But he was already mutated when I first met him…”

  Greede laughed. “Ah, he finally gets it. That’s right, Mr. Ashendale. I was the one who sent Zero and his gal pals to that school. I was the one that made it impossible for anyone other than you to access that school. I was the one who nudged Lilith into acting against her own self-interest. Did you really think a demoness would show up at a random party? I had to practically push her off my helicopter into that pool party where Miss Abigale was attending.”

  “You sent her after me?” Abi spat.

  “I did,” Greede said. “Because I knew you would mutate into what you are now. And because I knew Jehudiel would descend onto Mr. Ashendale’s doorstep.” He laughed again. “Isn’t it all beautiful? All that hard work, all that scheming. I watched you grow powerful, Mr. Ashendale. You have ways to go, sure, but you have become so powerful. I am so proud.” He glanced at the Lizardman. “Oh, and he’s named Zero, because he was Patient Zero in the whole scheme. The first of many plays I have made in order to get you to where I wanted.”

  Even when he stopped talking, I remained frozen on the spot. Nothing like hearing someone tell you that they played you like a marionette for four years to really stun you to your core.

  Every decision I made, every action I thought was heroic — it was all according to Alan Greede’s will.

  “Fuck you.”

  The voice was distant and foreign, and I only realized it was my own because I felt air leave my lungs.

  I raised my head.

  “Greede, you may have planned it all, but this isn’t in the script,” I said. “You couldn’t have dictated every action I made, not the way you think. You said it yourself that there are some players right here that you did not foresee.” I grinned defiantly. “You tried to break me, to isolate me, but you didn’t count on my family and friends stepping in to help me.”

  Greede’s smile ebbed.

  “You’re right,” he admitted. “I am not omniscient. But so what, Mr. Ashendale? You’re here right now. The endgame is still the same. And if your friends are so important, why don’t I kill them right here in front of you, one by one?”

  He must have seen my shocked face because his grin returned. “Maybe later,” he said. “Right now, I have to go make some more children.” He paused. “That didn’t sound right.”

&
nbsp; Greede stepped next to Ishtar and the black creature, far from the barrier holding us.

  I nodded towards Gil. It was time to act.

  Everyone had caught onto it: Amaymon, Gil, Abi, Jack, Akasha, Jared and myself — a small fracture along the barrier. It appeared when Omega began screaming and remained there, like a gaping wound.

  Judging from the magic we’d already seen within the barrier, it was self-repairing, but it hadn’t caught up to the fracture yet. The magic must have been stunted. Which meant that as soon as we forced it open and passed through, the self-repair would be triggered and the fracture sealed.

  Our only chance was Amaymon. Only the demon could pass unhindered and then physically strong enough to tear the barrier open the rest of the way.

  I gave everyone a signal and mentally locked onto my contract with Amaymon. Against my usual instincts, I undid every restriction, giving the demon his full powers. The ruby pendant Amaymon wore pulsated and glowed steadily. He tucked it into his shirt.

  Gil was still looking at Greede’s departing figure when she held up three fingers, before lowering one.

  A second later, she retracted the last finger.

  Now!

  Jared shoved past me before I could take the first step and barreled into the fracture, leaping free. The barrier spasmed and instantly healed, trapping us in it once again.

  “No!” I raged. “Goddamn you, Jared.”

  “Jared!” Akasha spat angrily.

  Everyone was now looking at the escaped prisoner who straightened up and adjusted his stupid fucking vest and his stupid fucking hair.

  “Alan Greede, this charade is over,” he said, summoning his magic. “Salamandra!”

  The mastodonic lizard appeared, made out of living fire. It was easily four times the size he had used previously, with the top of its head brushing against the ceiling. Fluorescent light burst and showered everyone below. Fire alarms blared.

  Everyone retreated except for Greede, Ishtar and the black creature, who were right in Salamandra’s path. It opened its maw and swallowed them whole.

  A burst of magic.

  Salamandra’s mouth was torn open. Omega had his hands on each of its jaws and wrestled the creature down like it was nothing. He beat it until it fell limp.

  Greede squealed in delight. “An Elementalist,” he said. “How lovely. How rare!”

  The Necronomicon appeared in his hands and he flipped to an empty page, before turning the book so that the pages were touching Salamandra. The lizard screamed and its fire swirled, creating a vortex that was absorbed by the Necronomicon.

  A second later, a drawing of Salamandra appeared on the blank page.

  “Mine now,” Greede said, grinning at Jared’s horrified expression. “You can summon Nature’s Avatars — one for Earth, Wind, Water and Fire — but you can’t really control them. It’s a symbiosis, right? Partnership and all that. Which means that you gotta stay there while I take your creatures one by one.”

  Jared’s expression went from shocked to terrified. I could see his eyes wide open, hear his ragged breath. The man was shaking. His magic was all over the place, completely out of his control.

  “Sil-”

  He never finished his summoning.

  Omega blurred with speed and appeared in front of him. His hands flashed, and a second later Jared’s head spun with a sickening crunch. His agape face was now facing his back, staring at us.

  Jared, third rank of the Grigori and third most powerful magic-user on the planet, fell face-forwards, his horror-struck visage looking at the ceiling.

  Chapter 25

  Zero hissed in pleasure. The other Lizardmen quivered with excitement. He stepped over Jared’s dead body, kicking him away.

  “Lord Greede,” he began. “Want death.” His reptilian snout swivelled to meet each of us in the eye before his vile expression finally rested on me. “Want make Man suffer.”

  “Then take this barrier down,” I said. My hand gripped Djinn’s handle.

  Zero make a clicking sound. The others mimicked him.

  They’re laughing, I realized. They’re fucking laughing.

  “Not Man,” Zero said. “Man watch. Man learn. Man feel Death.”

  He stepped back. The other Lizardmen hissed, excited. They gave Zero his space. One of them produced a bundle of clothing and laid it before his feet. Zero put on a tunic and tied it all with a length of rope. A battered leather pouch hung on his hip. Zero reached inside the pouch, pulling out a single nearly-tied scroll, which he then unwrapped and hissed at. The robe he wore came to life, digging into his body. Patches of blood soaked it, as if the cloth itself was some kind of vampiric creature.

  The sigils on the scroll came to life, and I felt magic take effect.

  The barrier shifted once more, light blinding us, and when the luminescence died down I frantically searched for whomever was missing.

  I needn’t have bothered. In front of us, surrounded by the four Lizardmen, was Akasha.

  She remained stalwart, even as Zero hissed in delight. The other Lizardmen produced primitive weapons from the walls: an assortment of sharpened sticks and stone blades.

  “Woman mate of Man,” Zero said, looking directly at me. He was hunched over in pain. Whatever magic he was using was not natural. Lizardmen were incapable of magic. Which meant that all he could do was activate prepared spells, a one shot deal. That explained the scrolls.

  And the blood? That was the key to activating the spells. Zero was using his own life to use magic. To regular humans that was suicidal, but I guess genetically modified reptiles don’t give that much of a shit about longevity so long as they fed and sated themselves in the present.

  “Now we kill Man’s mate.”

  Akasha splayed her arms. A blast of chaotic magic escaped her. “Is that so?”

  The four Lizardmen retreated.

  “Well, come on then,” she said. None of them moved. “Or perhaps you require a little incentive.”

  A wave of entropic energy rolled towards one of the Lizardmen. It ran from beneath, rupturing the neat white tile and spidering up the Lizardman himself.

  Two seconds later, the reptile was reduced to a pile of wet ash and gore.

  “Oh,” Akasha said. “That was an interesting effect. It seems I am a tad more upset than I thought I was.” Her eyes locked onto Zero. “You killed my subordinate, as annoying as he was. Now you’re trying to kill me.”

  Zero hissed, his tone panicked. That was all the incentive the other reptiles needed. It was the lizard brain at work: fight or flight. Either run away, or hit the enemy before they can hit you.

  All three Lizardmen rushed Akasha. I was about to yell a warning, when all three fell down, knocked away by her power.

  That was when I saw her for who she really was.

  There’s a difference between knowing someone is strong, and then knowing. Sure, I heard stories about her. I had her history dug up. Akasha’s origins read like a black history biopic: born a Haitian native during a time when most of them were subjugated to slavery. She escaped, learned the magic of her people, came back to exact revenge. Ever since it was one badass story after the next.

  But it was just that, a story.

  Seeing her now, effortlessly taking down nightmarish creatures, was a different tune altogether.

  Zero hissed at her. He picked up a fresh scroll, activated its magic and a red fireball rocketed towards Akasha. The explosion billowed flames and smoke, and when it all died down, all three Lizardmen fell dead to the ground.

  “How?” Zero hissed.

  I’d seen how. Akasha’s magic had made a thaumaturgical connection between the three reptiles she had pounded with chaos magic, and herself. Beyond that, a little voodoo magic made them dance like literal puppets, jumping in front of her to shield her from the blast.

  One of the reptiles hissed, his body mostly intact.

  “Oh, good.” Akasha clawed her fingers along the air. A shiver ran down my spine. Th
is was not nice magic. She was literally dominating another creature — another living being — with her mind.

  And the reptile knew.

  It struggled and screamed, but the threads of chaos tightened around its limbs, drawing blood. The pain made it submit.

  “I truly hate losing my toys before I am thoroughly done with them,” she said.

  The Lizardman under her control jerked forwards towards Zero.

  “I am Akasha,” she said. “Second seat of the Grigori, most powerful witch on the face of the Earth, save only for one. I am the She who Commands Chaos. I am the Body-maker, the Puppet-master. Did you really think this was going to end well for you, you overgrown gecko?”

  The Lizardman lurched towards Zero and the two entangled in a vicious fight of claws and teeth. Zero had the advantage of serious natural weapons, but he was weak after using his magic. And the Lizardman under Akasha’s control did not care about his own safety. Even bloodied and gashed open, he kept hammering at Zero until both of them were on the ground.

  Akasha released her hold on her puppet. The Lizardman fell on the ground in pieces. Her magic extended towards Zero. The reptile screamed as his scales began blistering. Another wave of entropy punched into his gut, tuning part of his entrails inside out. Blood splattered all over her.

  Akasha walked away.

  “I shall find a way to revert this-”

  A serrated claw burst from her chest. Behind her, a fully healed Zero hissed in delight.

  “Woman not command the dead,” he said. “Because we are already dead.”

  On cue, the remains of the three Lizardmen Akasha had used to shield herself jerked back to life. Necromantic magic seeped around the atmosphere, tainting the air.

  Zero pulled out his hand. A shocked Akasha turned around to face him, blood oozing from the hole in her chest. Three Lizardmen jumped her, stabbing her over and over with their weapons.

  Finally, she fell dead.

  I stared, shocked. There were no words to be said. My brain couldn’t even form thoughts.

  They kicked away Akasha’s corpse. She joined Jared’s. Zero flicked his blueish tongue at me, like a snake.