Page 24 of Chaos Demons

Melinoe crumpled to the floor.

“Take that, bitch!” I spat the words at her. “He’s mine! And he’s also your brother so… just… ewww!”

Melinoe didn’t move, limp, but breathing.

I didn’t think I’d hit herthathard. Kneeling, I checked her pulse, which was still strong. Apparently, I’d hit her hard enough to knock her out. I hadn’t known I had it in me.

The visions were fading around me. Grey groaned as he seemed to come out of his madness. He looked at me and his sister. His gaze kept shifting between the two of us as he sighed heavily.

“You’re right, she can’t stay,” he said, though he sounded a bit defeated.

“We’ll find some other way to help you get your void back… when you want it.” I smiled at him, hoping that would help cheer him up, but he just nodded slowly.

We dressed quickly, and Grey carried Melinoe up to her room. We packed the few things she’d brought so she’d be ready to leave when she woke. I didn’t know how willing she’d be, but we’d find some way to make her get out.

Grey returned with me to my room. My door was still broken, but we propped it in place and hoped that would keep everyone out. I tried to tease him into continuing what we’d started earlier, but we were both exhausted. In the end, we just held each other as we succumbed to sleep.

IN CALVARY CEMETERY

Nari draws deep breaths,filled with power. This is it. His time has finally come! The corpses around him are rousing, rising, and their strength lends him power. He hasn’t felt this strong in several generations of those pitiful humans. Finally, the other daemons and gods will listen to him, will see and heed his power and grant him the place he deserves among them, no longer shunned, but respected.

“Rise, my minions,” he hisses, raising his arms out to the sides, feeling their power combine with his, reaching a crescendo as some distant clock finishes the chime for midnight. It’s now All Hallows Eve, and his power is paramount.

There’s no sign at first, the graves are still. Yet Nari can feel the corpses moving, breaking free of their coffins and beginning their desperate dig to join him.

“Rise!” he calls out, as the earth over several plots begins to churn and sink, displaced by the emptiness below. From the distance comes the sound of crashing stone as mausoleum doors and covers are broken.

The first few sets of hands break the surface, soon followed by the remainder of their bodies. Nari has tended them well. Some have been here for more than a hundred and fifty years, but they are intact and strong, a gruesome facsimile of life. No souls linger in these bodies. They’re driven by the mystical energies of this day and the connection to the realm beyond seeping through the veil between worlds.

The first few bodies climb clear of the soil, as others, farther out, begin to break free.

“Rise!” Nari shouts, exultant, his rasping voice echoing into the night.

These millions of minions feed his aspect and he, in turn, bolsters them, a reciprocal relationship, feeding off each other and building a cycle of power that spirals to ascendant heights.

The dead rise, breaking free of their confines be that earth or stone, and walk once again. They swarm into the city, seeking the warmth of the living, driven to consume their blood. They have no minds of their own but are controlled by Nari, who is lost to his own power.

Some of the dead spread out into Queens, but many… most… head for Manhattan. There, Nari sends them. There… his brethren will witness his power. There, millions of humans will die only to strengthen his army. For every body that falls will rise again under his power. There will be no stopping the dead. For on this day, augmented by his minions… Nari has exceeded his strength as a daemon.

Today… Nari is a god!

RAMSEY

I could feel chaos mounting.Things were escalating quickly.

Anubis and I had been out seeking the source of the restless dead since I’d found him waiting outside my apartment that evening.

Anubis had given me the message that Ana had stopped by and said she was sorry. I had been happy to hear it and had wanted to go see her that instant… but Anubis had convinced me this mission was far more urgent and important than my love life.

Love…

After our first time together, I’d told Ana I loved her. The words had spilled from my lips before my mind had reeled them in. My heart had opened and gushed out through my mouth and stunned us both. Luckily, she’d played off my admission as:I loved fucking her, and I’d run with that because I couldn’t believe I was truly in love.

I was the Lord of Strife.

I didn’t love.

I fought.

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