Chapter Fourteen

Stairway to Hell

Jen braced herself as she heard the screech or the wyrm approaching. Never in her life had Jen seen a wyrm before but they were always talked about with great excitement by Hunters. She knew they were large Demons, blind and deaf, only able to see with their smell and taste. They weren’t Shifters or Possessors and were quite unintelligent. Usually they lived underground but some Demons and other Supernatural’s kept them around as guard dogs or even pets.

She remembered what her brother �"her real brother�" had told her about them. “Wyrm’s have a tough hide. The only thing you can penetrate it with is iron, because it burns them like any other demon.”

Jen looked down at the steel in her hand, but had no time to think about the consequences of using steel because there was a large crash and bricks from the wall Edmund and Tony had just climbed, collapsed.

The wyrm was uglier than she first thought. It looked exactly like an earth worms except a giant form with a large opening, she guessed was his mouth, which had nothing but rows and rows of teeth in it as far as the eye could see. Jen back further into graffiti lane and realised the dead end lane was probably not the best place to fight this creature.

On top of the wyrm was the troll she’d shot in the head at the Synagogue. “You!” he hissed. “I’m gonna have fun killing you.”

“Kill me and your boss isn’t going to be too happy.”

“I don’t work for him.” he cackled. “Mush!” The wyrm lunged forward and Jen kicked into action.

She ran at the closest wall and kicked off of it and then the wall next to her, jumping higher and higher. She wasn’t expecting the wyrm to tilt its head back and start following her up, so Jen lunged forward and landed on it’s back, behind Kollar, the Troll.

“Stop getting fancy, b***h.” Kollar jumped up and turned to face Jen. The back of the wyrm was like a solid cement ground. She knew there was no way the steel in her hand would kill the wyrm, but while on its back she didn’t have to think about that too much.

“I’m going to enjoy killing you again.” Jen ran across the wyrm’s back, charging at Kollar. He withdrew a sword from his side and lunged out at Jen. She easily dodged the attack and swiped out at him with one of the steel sheets. She nicked his side and it bled profusely, not stopping to heal. Kollar cried in pain and then glared at her, his inky eyes turning furious.

“You soaked it in urine, you disgusting Witch!”

Jen almost dropped the steel in disgust. “Don’t look at me, I just picked it up!” She then remembered ammonia was something all Trolls were weak too. “Wait, no. This is good.” She swiped out the steel again but almost caught the blade of Kollar’s sword.

He raised his sword again and Jen lifted her leg, catching the blade on the bottom of her leg and slamming it down to the ground, holding it under her foot. “Advantages of being tall.”

“I’m one of the tallest Troll’s my age.” He snarled, tugging at the sword. It started sliding from under Jen’s foot but she kicked Kollar in the head, sending him flying back. He gripped the side of the wyrm, thick dents on its skin but as he did, the wyrm reared backwards and Jen staggered back, trying to balance.

Without Kollar on his back... Someone has to steer!

Kollar was yelling at the wyrm although the creature was deaf. The wyrm was almost at a ninety-degree angle from the earth as Jen climbed up its back, using the deep grooves on its skin to lift herself up. She saw Kollar panicking as he too tried to climb up its back. She got to the head of the wyrm where Kollar had originally been sitting and found two deep groves on the back of its head. Following instinct, Jen slid her hands into the groves and before she could even figure what was going on, she was sharing a mind with the wyrm.

An onslaught of non-sequential and foreign thought consumed her mind and Jen couldn’t handle it. The wrym’s mind was vicious and ugly and as she held onto him, her sense of smell and taste increased tenfold.

The residue of the taste of honey-dew potion, a sleeping draught Jen was more than familiar was left on her tongue, as well as the taste of pizza she’d eaten the night of the attack. The smell of urine, alcohol and cigarettes made her nauseous and she felt as if she’d consumed it into her system.

In the distance, however, she could smell something else. Something familiar. Spicy aftershave and musk mixed with tobacco and gunpowder. It was up on the roof, high above the buildings. No! Stay away! But Jen couldn’t scream out at them and tell them that they were far from equipped to be facing such a hoard of Demons.

By the time Kollar ripped her off of the back of the wyrm, Jen was out of it. She felt sick and tilted over, throwing up bile onto the back of the wyrm. “Human’s can’t control wyrm’s.” Kollar sneered at her from above. He dragged her roughly against the wyrm’s hide, causing long grazes to run up and down her legs and arms. “They’re only for Faeries twisted enough and Demons. You’ll be asleep for a while though so it’s okay.” He grabbed her by her face, pulled her up and cracked the back of her head against the wyrm.

Again, Jen found herself unconscious to the world, just when it needed her most.

******

Edmund and Tony snuck through the classrooms, following nothing but Edmund’s sense for Wiccan’s. Tony walked backwards most of the time, highly aware that from any direction a Demon could fly at them. “Hey man, do you know how to get the Demons out of Zeke and Tobias if we see them?”

Edmund shook his head but as Tony was looking away he couldn’t see. “Edmund?” he whispered.

Again Edmund shook his head, still not looking at Tony. “Man, answer me.”

This time Edmund stopped and turned to see Tony walking backwards and into him. Tony stopped and looked at Edmund with a frown. “Why’d you stop?”

Edmund shook his head angrily and then pressed his hand over his mouth. “Oh yeah.” Tony looked sheepish. “I forgot about that. Sorry.”

There was a growling sound from above them and a long black sticky substance hit Tony in the head and slid down his face. Tony hissed and flicked it off of him, his skin red where it hit. He wiped his hand against his shirt which disintegrated slightly where the acid touched.

Slowly, both boys looked up above their heads to see a small brown dog-like creature with a rocky-hide, no eyes and a wide grinning mouth. It stood upside down on the ceiling like a lizard and from its mouth dripped the longest piece of black drool either boy had ever seen.

Neither of them moved a muscle as the thing looked left and right then tilted its head back to look down at Edmund and Tony. Afraid to move, they both just watched the thing. It inhaled deeply then dropped to the ground, right between the boys. It started sniffing around their feet, smelling them curiously.

Tony looked at Edmund, panic in his eyes and Edmund had no idea what to do. Feeling daring, Tony bent down and reached out to the creature as if he was reaching out to a vicious dog. Curiously, the thing sniffed at Tony’s hand, then withdrew its tongue and licked him. A long thick glob of the black spit burnt Tony and he pulled away crying out in pain.

The thing growled, backing away from Tony who was wiping his hand against his shirt again then pulling it off an throwing it to the ground. Edmund watched curiously as it barked then relaxed and pattered toward Tony and wrapped itself around his leg. “Get away from me!” Tony hissed, backing away.

Again, the thing barked, this time snapping at Tony’s feet. Tony jumped up into the air and the thing but backed away. Tony pulled his blade out of the front of his pants and went to attack but Edmund put his hand out and stopped him. He stared at Tony, conveying his message with his eyes. “You can’t be serious.” Tony whispered. “It’s a Demon.”

Edmund kept staring at him and eventually, Tony relented. “Fine.” He knelt down and then looked up at Edmund unsurely. He patted his legs unsurely then said, “Here boy. Come here.” He reached his hand out and clicked his fingers. “Come here.”

Unsurely, the thing sniffed the air around him and then walked towards the sound of Tony’s clicking fingers. “Come on, you ugly thing.” When it was close enough, Tony rubbed the back of its rocky head. “Yeah, that’s a good boy.” His hands were chaffing as he did so. “That’s right, come here to Uncle Tony.”

Edmund chuckled at the last part then looked around, still on guard. “What are we doing with this, this... thing?” Tony asked as the thing climbed into his lap and started rubbing against his bare torso. It felt to Tony as if a piece of sandpaper was attempting to cuddle him.

He smirked and nodded his head. Tony stood up and patted his leg. “Come on, Thing.” It followed Tony obediently, content with having him as a Master.  “I have no idea as to why you’re keeping this around.”

Edmund looked over his shoulder with a smile as if to say ‘trust me’ and Tony did. They wandered down the hall and eventually came to a crossroads of hallways. Edmund leant down and gently stroked his fingers over the back of the Demonic Beasts head. He patted the thing on the head and then pointed straight as quickly as he could. “Um, I think he’s blind.” Tony said but the Demon dog started running forward, its tail wagging from side to side. “Or maybe not...”

Edmund stood up, pointing at the creature then at his nose. “He smelt your instructions. Yeah right. How’d you even know that he could do that?”

Edmund pointed at his eyes and carefully started following the creature. Tony followed behind, withdrawing his pieces of steel from his pockets, prepared to fight.

 At the end of the hall, the dog turned right and started barking. “What do you want, you stupid rock?” they both heard a Demon growl from around the corner. The creature kept barking and growling while Edmund and Tony ran for the closest wall and leant against it. “What? Why are you barking?”

Tony ran his hand over his neck a few times, as fast as he could and the thing stopped barking and ran back to Tony, jumping in his arms. “No, you stupid mutt.” Tony whispered as he tried to keep the Demonic saliva away from his face. “No, go back.”

The footsteps of the Demon were heard down the hall and Edmund withdrew both the stainless steel swords and got up, marching forward with a confidence Tony had never seen in him before. He pushed the rock-dog from off of him and stood up, bracing himself for a fight too.

As the Demon turned around the corner, both boys almost dropped their weapons.

Standing in the same yellow jumper, blue jeans and black beanie and leather jacket they’d left him in the previous week was non-other than Zekehill Jonas. His brown hair, as usual just escaped the confines of his beanie and went over his eyes, but instead of them being topaz, they were dark inky black, all the way through to the whites.

The Demon recognised them and must have felt Zeke’s inner recognition. “Oh, this should be fun.” He ran at Tony and disappeared, reappearing behind him as he knocked one of the swords from his hand. Tony swiped out with his other arm but soon that arm too was disarmed. The Demon grabbed Tony from a grip lock from behind and locked his legs in between Tony’s so he could move at all.

Edmund stood there, his eyes wide and furious as Tony was forced to struggle within the Demons arms. “What’s the time Mr Witch?” The Demon laughed. “Dinner time?” he leant forward and grabbed Tony’s ear in his mouth.

He was about to bite down but Edmund raised his arm up quickly and The Demon stopped. “What? Don’t want to watch your friend munching on your other friend?” he grinned.

“Not many people want to see that.” Tony replied for Edmund, still struggling out of the hold the Demon had him in. “Unless you’re into that sort of thing which I am sure Ed is not.”

As Tony talked, the Demon watched him with curiosity and Edmund inched forward. The Demonic dog was jumping around Tony’s feet, thinking this was nothing more than a game he wished to be a part of. Edmund flicked his wrist, pointing at the Demon and the dog paused, looking around confused. Edmund repeated the action, moving forward a little more as Tony continued to talk about various sexual interests he found out about on Wikipedia such as voyeurism and bondage.

“...I think that this situation right here is a little bit of both. I mean, you’ve kind of bound me up, having you? And now you’re trying to eat me while Ed watches. Although, I never Wiki’d cannibalism as a fetish. That’s kind of Silence of the Lambs crap, isn’t it?”

Edmund was glad the Demon had a short attention span and that Tony, if he should find the need, could talk on endlessly without point or reason. He repeated the action for the third time to the dog who relented and obeyed. He went after the Demons leg, biting through Zeke’s pants and spilling acidic saliva everywhere.

The Demon howled and let go of Tony who spun around and kicked him in the head. “Sorry Zeke.” He said then darting his fist out, knocking him in the ribs. Edmund winced because he knew Zeke had a weak spot there after many years of watching him fight. “Really sorry for that one, Zeke.” Tony kicked him again, this time squarely in the chest, sending him flying back. “And that was just for good measure against the Demon, nothing on you man.”

Edmund grabbed Tony’s shoulders, tugging him back. Tony picked up his weapons again and Edmund and Tony started running away. “Sorry Zeke!” Tony called out again before he darted around the corner, looking and the moaning and groaning Demon down the hall. “We’ll come back for you bud.”

The rock-dog followed the boys as they made their way into the classroom in the next hallway. They threw open the door then closed it again, in horror and disgust. “Oh my f*****g Lord in the high heavens above.” Tony leant back against the door, swallowing down his vomit as Edmund did the same. “What the f**k was that?”

“Blood.” Both boys looked down the hallway to where Germanicus was standing, inside of Edmund’s fathers body with Kollar beside him and a woman in chains, beside both of them.

“Mum.” Edmund took a step towards his mother but Germanicus tugged on the chain, tightening it around her throat and she fell to the ground.

Helen Williams was a woman with long blonde hair which seemed to frizz and curl all the way passed her shoulders. Her eyes were as silver as Edmund’s and her skin just as translucent. “Stay away from her.” Edmund warned.

Helen looked up as she heard her sons voice, her eyes watering. “Eddie?”

Tony grabbed Edmund’s shoulder from behind and pointed behind them. There stood the Demons in Tobias and Zeke’s body. The one inside of Zeke was doubled over in pain but still looked just as threatening as Tobias. “Put the weapons down son, or we will kill your mother.” Germanicus threatened.

Edmund tightened his fingers around the stainless steel blades for a second but then saw the fear in his mothers eyes. On a whim, he said, “God.” But as everyone else’s eyes turned inky black, his mothers stayed the same.

Blood seeped from his hands as let go of the steel weapons and let them drop to the floor. Tony sighed from behind him and he too let go of the weapons. “Good boys.” Germanicus let go of the chain to Helen and she crawled up off the floor and scuttled over to Edmund, wrapping her arms around his.

“Ed, how’d this happen? How’d you get here? Who’s possessing your father?”

Tony looked at Edmund, raising his eyebrow. “You mum’s on the down low?”

“My mother is the down low.” He explained, pulling Helen close. “She’s where I get my powers from.”

Helen turned and faced Germanicus, wiping her eyes. “Asim, if you can hear me, fight against him. Fight against the Demon, if only for our son.”

Germanicus smirked. “Oh, he can see you but Asim Willahke will never be able to hear you. Nor will he ever fight against me. See, I quench his most basic desire.” From the pocket of his pants, Germanicus pulled out a flask. Edmund rolled his eyes and looked away as he sculled most of the bottle. “Alcohol.”

Helen looked down at Edmund, her eyes filled with disappointment and Edmund just pulled out of her grips and turned to Germanicus. “Why don’t you just walk off?”

Germanicus became hypnotized and started to walk away from Edmund but Kollar stepped towards them. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. As soon as the guards downstairs sense Germy’s not quite right they will kill your girlfriend. The gates of hell are about to open up and if you’re not down there, we will just throw her in for all of those Demons and Unseelie Faeries to grab her. And trust me, a lot of people in there want a grab at the Emerald Hunter. I did, once upon a time and I’d only heard stories of her.”

Edmund watched as Germanicus turned the hall and then looked at Tony who had his lips set in a hard line as he nodded his head. “Forget what I said.” Edmund called out.

“Edmund!” Helen grabbed his arm and pulled her towards her. “Our lives are in danger.”

“So is Jen’s.” he murmured, pulling away from her.

“Jen? As in the Emerald Hunter, Jennifer Patience-Rae?” Helen took Edmund’s arm again. “It would be better if you had nothing to do with a daughter of Beryl Rae.”

“I don’t care about Wiccan lore.” Edmund pulled away from her and walked towards Germanicus who had returned with a smile. “What do you want me to do?”

“Simple really. Use those great powers you have over people and use it to break into Hael Prison and help us break our master out.”

“If I do this, will you let my friends go?” He asked. “Will you let them go alive?”

“Well I can’t promise you as much for the Belwink Twins.” Germanicus’ smirk grew and Tony looked over his shoulder at the classroom that had been splayed with blood. “But maybe the others, yes. Jennifer, Jeremiah, Chase, Zekehill, Tobias, Antonio and of course, Greg and Angelos once they’ve been caught. They’re playing Spiderman up on the roof at the moment. It will only take a few minutes to pull them down.”

Edmund looked back at his mother and then at Germanicus. “I want you out of my Dad’s body.”

Germanicus’ face contorted and he narrowed his eyes. “You’re in no place to bargain.”

Edmund knelt down and pulled the stainless steel blade up to his own throat. Tony darted forward but Helen held him back. “I can remove all your chances of breaking into Hael, if you don’t abide by my rules.”

Germanicus pressed his lips together and looked down at Kollar who shrugged his shoulders. Germanicus snarled out, “Fine.”

“Remember, Germanicus, my word is law and if you don’t abide it, you will kill yourself.” Edmund dropped the blade and walked towards Germanicus, his hands outstretched in front of him. The Demon in Zekehill grabbed Tony roughly, slamming him against a set of lockers as he approached him from behind.

“Hey!” Edmund shouted but Germanicus pulled at Edmund’s arms, forcing him to walk ahead of him.

“You never said what state of living they had to be in.” he growled into Edmund’s ear as the Demon slammed Tony into a wall, purposefully. The Demon holding Helen was in Tobias’s body and didn’t toss her around as much but was snickering as his friend kept tossing Tony around. “Move.” He pushed Edmund forward and led him out of the building and towards the oval where even from the building, they could hear the choruses and shouts of Demons, ready to meet their master.

******

Jen was pushed to the ground and woke up with a sharp pain burning up her side. She felt blood in her mouth and could barely see from her right eye, it was so badly swollen. “Witchy, witchy, witchy �" Emerald!” someone was cackling over her head in a mantra and Jen felt a migraine build up in her temples.

She groaned and turned onto her back, looking up and finding more than two dozen Demons surrounding her. Their faces, a blur of Shifters and Possessors with Beast behind them, were all howling and heckling her. She groaned again and whispered quietly, “Jehovah.” They all reeled back from her, hissing angrily for a second but then cackling again as they realised she was attempting to save herself.

“Aw, the wee little Huntress is trying to keep away the big bad Demons.” one of the whined, whilst still another of the Shifters kept repeating their mantra.

“Maybe she wants Daddy’s help.” Another growled in a voice so low it sounded like metal grating against pavement. “Or maybe even Mummy’s.” There was another chorus of laughter and someone kicked Jen in the ribs.

She rolled over and spat blood out of her mouth, onto the grass of Blue Sky’s oval. “What if she wants her brother? Her big brother Eric? What did he call himself again? Why did you start calling yourself Emerald again?”

“Because Eric was the Deadly Hunter, wasn’t he?” something hissed into her ear. “He was called the Deadly Hunter and when he died, you took his place. But you didn’t want to be Deadly, did you? And Mummy called you her little Emerald, didn’t she?”

Jen turned her arm over, trying to swipe at the Demon. Instead she screamed as the thing clenched its teeth into her arm, drawing blood. She grabbed her arm and pulled it to her chest, doubling over. Someone kicked her in the head and she was sent back to the earth, lying flat on her back. “I wish all the time that Gettarak hadn’t been such an idiot and actually checked if you were dead that night, little Emerald.” This Demon’s voice sounded to Jen like a whistling wind. “Would have saved our kind years of hurt.”

“I only give you the same hurt you give my kind.” she wheezed, spitting up more blood as she did so.

Someone else kicked her in the back and Jen twisted over, falling flat on her face. There was more laughter and in the back of Jen’s head all she could hear was, “Witchy, witchy, witchy �" Emerald! Witchy, witchy, witchy �" Emerald!”

“Well at leassst she’sss going to be ussseful now.” Someone hissed. “Becaussse of Gettarak’sss missstake we can ussse her for food for Adra. I believe he mussst be ssstarving.”

“We have food for Adramalech, already.”

The crowd seemed to part like the red sea and there was a rumbling from below the ground. “It is almost time.” Jen looked up to see Germanicus, standing with Edmund by his side as well as Tony and a woman she didn’t recognise. Then she did recognise the Troll, Kollar and felt her inside squirm with anger she had no energy to possess.

It took a few seconds to realise Edmund wasn’t just by Germanicus’ side but tied to him by a rope.

“Jen!” Edmund lunged forward to grab her but Germanicus pulled the rope back.

“No, no, no. Not until after you comply.”

“Someone needs to see if she’s alive.”

It was only then did Jen realise she was barely moving. Germanicus tilted his head to the side and the Possessor Demon who embodied Zeke, pushed Tony to the ground beside Jen. He was battered and bruised too and lifted Jen up gently, mindful of her cuts and bruises. Alongside him was a Beast Demon also known as a Grounder who looked happy just to be beside Tony.

Carefully, Tony looked her over but was then hauled back. “Enough. She’s breathing. We need to get a move on.”

“Let Tony take care of her or I won’t help.” Edmund said.

Germanicus snarled. “You boy, are testing my patience.”

“Do it!”

Germanicus had no choice but to obey and Tony was let go and able to lift Jen up onto her feet. She was leaning heavily on Tony and eventually he relented and just picked her up. Jen found it odd he was shirtless but had no energy to voice her concerns.

Two Demons walked to the edge of the oval, holding a cauldron filled with blood. Tony and Edmund both looked away as Possessor Demon walked onto the oval and split his arm open over the grass.

Black blood poured out and down his arm, mingling with the grass and causing the earth to shudder. Coming down to the oval was four more Demons, each of the holding a prisoner each. Edmund could only groan as he saw Chase, Jeremiah, Angel and Greg being led down, Greg and Angel looking worse for wear.

“You should have just told them all to kill themselves, Edmund.” He heard his mother whisper from beside him.

“If I do, they’ll kill us too. Some of them have been deafened, mother.” Edmund replied.

Germanicus pulled him closer, tightening the ropes that bound his hands. “Your son is right, Helen. Half of us have been deafened so we cannot hear your son’s words. If he tries anything funny, yourself and his friends will die before I place a bullet to my head.”

“It’s better than the world following the likeness of Adramalech.” Helen spat.

Germanicus slapped her, the sound of his palm against her skins ringing out. Edmund fought against his bonds until he knew it was no use. “If the Wiccan community is so against my Master rising, then why is it that those who are fighting against us are mainly human?”

Helen had no response as the ground started to split open. Jen woke from her semi-consciousness and wrapped her arms around Tony’s neck, burying her head away from the howling noise that erupted from the ground. He held her closer and swallowed, taking a step back fearfully but being pushed forward, closer to the quake.

On the other side of the oval, they could see Chase, Jeremiah, Greg and Angel looking fearfully as the ground forced its way deeper and deeper, creating a giant staircase that led into the earth.

Like a procession, Germanicus led Helen, Edmund and Tony to the opening to the earth, the Demons holding the cauldron of blood and Zeke and Tobias just behind them, with the Demons holding the four boys coming from the rear.

Jen clung to Tony, her pain turning into delirium as she felt the world blacking out slowly around her. “I can’t hold on.” she murmured into his neck and Tony held her tighter.

“If you want to come up good on your promise, Germanicus, you need to get Jen some help.” Tony warned.

Germanicus rolled his eyes. “Once we cross the threshold, into the earth, no one can die. It’s how Hael works. No one can die as death would be sweet relief to these people.”

“Trust me.” Kollar grumbled from beside Germanicus. “He’s right. We walk down those steps and your girlfriend will heal right up. But as soon as she steps out of the ground, well... Just call a hospital when you’re running back up the stairs, if you really care.”

Edmund looked behind him to see Chase listening carefully. He nodded his head once and Chase seemed to get the message. Take care of her.

I always have. Chase nodded back with a small smirk.

Germanicus pushed Edmund forwards first and he took the first steps onto the dirt staircase. Jen watched weakly, looking at the walls of packed dirt. Tony stepped after Germanicus and Kollar and instantly, Jen felt herself get a hell of a lot better.

She sat up in Tony’s arms, her strength coming back to her. She could see better, even through her swollen eye and although there was still pain, she felt her vitals working properly. On the packed dirt wall, she spotted a worm, wriggling through and out and then back into the dirt. Roots from the grass and trees were noticeable until ten or fifteen metres deep and then fossils started appearing on the walls.

About half way down the staircase, when the sky above was impossible to see, Tony put Jen down and the two of them held onto each other as they walked down blindly.

“Can we get torches?” Greg called out. “Cause I think we just lost Ang.”

“I’m here.” Angel said. “Tony?”

“I feel like singing the seven dwarves mining song.” Tony said, alerting Greg and Angel to his existence.

“If you don’t all shut up, right now I’ll kill you myself.” Kollar barked. “We’re almost there and we don’t want the Fae hearing your disgusting voices.”

“How am I supposed to help, if I can’t see?” Edmund’s voice hissed through all their ears and Jen gasped.

Without sight, his voice seemed to grow stronger, the power almost bringing them all to their knees. “Quiet you idiotic child.” They all heard a slap and then Edmund fall to the ground. Germanicus seemed furious. “When we reach the doorway light shall be provided by Hael. Do not worry for that.”

They kept walking down into the depths of Hael.

Author's Note

Spelling and Grammar? What have you thought of the action so far?