Chapter 12

 

Vladrakov and his demons were so far back from the fight that Alice had to focus on a path to reach them. She tried not to think too deeply about what she was going to do, lest she lose her nerve and run back to the others. But what on Earth did she have to lose, anyway? Death at the hands of Vladrakov – or death at the hands of that maniacal child of Necronis!

Both, she was sure, would be equally as violent and painful.

She ran as fast as she could, and pins and needles started to prickle in her extremities. All that spell-casting had really taken it out of her. Fortunately she’d packed a couple of chocolate bars for energy and pulled one from a pocket now. It tasted like old ashes. She gulped and looked up. She wished she hadn’t. The little she’d just eaten squirmed uncomfortably in her belly. She gulped again. Stay down! I need you!

The Demon Lord Vladrakov loomed over her, almost as large as Oradhur. But where Oradhur had been a huge, gaseous cloud that hadn’t quite seemed real, Vladrakov was completely solid. His huge green body rippled with tentacles, not black and covered with suckers like Oradhur’s, but thick and slimy and shifting endlessly around his bulbous body. He smelled like a garbage truck. His huge round eyes were as big as cars, and his mouth wide enough to park the aforementioned truck in. Several rows of sharp teeth were revealed as he noticed the tiny figure approaching, and smiled wickedly down at her.

Surrounding him were lots of medium-sized and large demons – those strong enough to resist Necronis’ orders and stick with the evil they knew. They started to wriggle and gibber in excitement. One or two made darting moves towards Alice. Then a three metre-long caterpillar-shaped creature gave a screech of excitement and scuttled forward on its numerous limbs. Alice hefted Madam Nocturna’s staff, preparing to thumb a banishment rune. Then Vladrakov slammed down one of his enormous froglike hands on the creature, squashing it flat with a loud squelch. Alice winced and her guts churned some more.

“To what do we owe this pleasure, little morsel?” Vladrakov rumbled, clearly amused.

“My name is Alice, Vladrakov. You once tried to take me over at the Old Cider Factory. I was also there at the Russian Academy when Abraxas was destroyed.” She lifted her staff. “I’m not a morsel. I am a human being and I have something very important to say to you.”

“I gathered that,” Vladrakov drawled, still clearly amused. “You wouldn’t have just run up here to attack me with Madam Nocturna’s piddling little toothpick. Go on. I’m listening.” He lifted a huge hand and cupped it behind his head. Being a giant toad he didn’t actually have any ears.

“I’ve noticed that you’ve been sitting here a while, watching … what’s going on.” She gestured over her shoulder at the rift with the giant glowing pentagram inscribed over it. “You don’t want Necronis to come out, do you?”

Vladrakov’s amused grin faded. “You’re right – I do not. As soon as he emerges he’ll rip the Immaterium apart and try to destroy the entire universe. Can you imagine all the work that’ll mean for beings like us?” He spread his enormous fat arms. “All that rampant destruction we’ll be expected to undertake in his name? I’ve never been big on chaos for the sake of chaos. Don’t get me wrong - I like a few hosts every now and then, a bloody rampage or two, some power and control, fear and intimidation. The simple things in life. But I also like time to sit back, put my flippers up and get pampered. Just like Abraxas did.”

“Abraxas sat in that crumbling old school like he was king of the roost, getting supernaturals to fan him and throw him bits of meat. He was completely insane.”

“He most certainly was, but his titanic butt did serve as a very large doorstop.”

Alice couldn’t believe this was happening. Here she was, having a very chummy conversation with a major Demon Lord!

“Now he’s gone there is nothing to stop the Dark God. Let’s say that fancy pentagram over there does heal the breach. It might stay closed for a little while, but any Necronite who’s taken the Vow of Darkness will be able to tear it back open with a single human sacrifice.”

“Yes Vladrakov – I know. That’s why I’m here. We need another titanic butt to hold the door closed, and I’m looking at one right now.”

The Demon Lord stared intently at her. Alice fully expected him to swat her one for her impertinence. But then time was of the essence and he had called her “morsel”. He even lifted an enormous and curled it in a fist. But then he dropped it by his side. “You … you want me to take Abraxas’ place?” the Demon Lord asked in surprise.

“Yes.”

“You realise what you’re asking, don’t you? If I do this you won’t be able to attack me. At all. Ever.”

“If you poke your head out into the Materium, rest assured you will be attacked. But we won’t be able to attack you here.”

Vladrakov lifted a hand and played with his thick, rubbery lips. “Are you in any position to give me your world, Alice?”

She drew herself up. “I happen to be very good friends with a certain Professor Abbacus.”

Vladrakov narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth at the mention of the Professor’s name. “And you can convince him to leave me and mine alone here in the Immaterium?”

“Yes,” Alice said with more confidence than she felt. “Will you do it, Vladrakov? Will you help us? Necronis has sent out his own son against us, and he’s pretty tough. He’s … he’s already wiped out two of us completely. We need help to defeat him. I think he has the power to break the Pentagram.”

Around Vladrakov his demons chattered and hissed at her. But the massive Demon Lord remained perfectly still, considering Alice’s offer. “Are you also in a position to organise me a palace? I want what Abraxas had, but not old and tumbledown. A real, solid dwelling I can relax in, and be waited on hand and foot by my minions.”

“A … a … a palace?” Alice spluttered. “Where the hell am I going to get you an entire palace?”

“Don’t act so indignant. There are spells that create dwellings. Professor Abbacus has the power to do it.” Vladrakov grinned wickedly, clearly amused by the thought of Abbacus building him a castle.

Alice rubbed her forehead, mainly to try and keep her head from spinning. “A palace,” she said again.

“All kings need palaces.”

Alice lifted her hands. “Alright – I’ll see what I can do.” Dear Lord, I just made a deal with a demon! If we ever get out of this alive, Professor Abbacus is going to kill me!

Vladrakov bared his fangs in another evil grin. “Then we have a deal. I’ll help you defeat the Son of Necronis, and you allow me to become the new king of the Immaterium and get me a palace of my own.” He extended his giant slimy hand to Alice.

She stared at it, grimaced, and stuck out her own hand. The Demon Lord grasped her entire arm and shook it up and down. Then he released her and hunkered down, as though settling for a nap. Then, suddenly, he sprang, launching himself high into the air and flying over her head. His many demonic minions followed; some fluttering into the air to join him, others scuttling along the ground.

Alice stared at her slime-covered arm, grimaced and then wiped it on her skirt. But the stain on her soul would take a lot longer to come out.

She followed the demon horde back to the breach.

 

Rhys’ Pentagram had pulled the rift half-way closed. But Ansharedan the Nightbringer looked very much like gaining the upper hand. He blasted one of his brilliant blue disintegrate spell at Professor McDingley, catching him before he could dodge. The weresnake was so long the energy only destroyed his back half, but the force of the blast hurled him many metres. He wasn’t sure if even his phenomenal were regeneration could help him to recover.

Dr Ashe, Dr Primus, Malcolm and Kim fired spells whenever they saw an opportunity, but they weren’t sure how much longer they could keep up such a punishing pace. They were rapidly running out of energy. Whatever damage they did to Ansharedan regenerated almost instantly.

At the celestials Professor Longenfang recovered enough from the Nightbringer’s death-blast sufficiently to charge back into battle. As he ran he happened to pass by the smouldering remains of two bodies. At first he paid them no need, just wanting to get back into the fight and defeat the enemy. But then something clicked in his brain and he realised they could only belong to two of his friends. Demons always dissipated when destroyed.

He looked up, searching the group up above, trying to work out who’d been killed. Carla seemed to be the only fighter left, although Toby was hanging off to one side, playing with his jaw, trying to crack it back into place. Then he flew back into the fight. Down below four mages blasted spells. He couldn’t see Alice either. Or Vulpina for that matter.

A sick feeling churned in Longenfang’s stomach as he approached the bodies. One was either Alice’s … or Vulpina’s.

He examined the remains, and soon recognised Marco the Hunter. He was burned horribly all over – in places his bones could be seen – but incredibly he was still alive! His chest was rising and falling unevenly and his breaths rasped in his throat! Did Longenfang dare hope the other victim still lived? He checked it out, but this one was definitely dead, little more than a heap of blackened bones. Curls of smoke still issued from the broken skull’s black eye-sockets.

He couldn’t tell who it belonged to.

Then he found one tuft of red hair, and that told him all he needed to know. It was Vulpina who’d been killed, the woman he was supposed to marry.

Professor Longenfang straightened up and flattened his ears against his head. He bared his teeth and narrowed his eyes.

He didn’t want to think anymore, so he let the beast out.

Ansharedan aimed a blast at the tiger girl that kept harassing him, but missed. She was very agile, and managed to dive under his aim and slash claws across his arm. Of course the wounds healed almost immediately, but he didn’t like the pain. It annoyed him. And the voice of his father bellowing constantly in the back of his mind for him to hurry up didn’t help, either. He knew the breach was closing, but these creatures were tough and hardy and sometimes, when he put them down, they got back up again!

He noticed the werebeardog thundering towards him at the very last second. The massive creature propelled itself into the air at him, all teeth, claws and blazing red eyes. He tried to direct a blast at it but at that precise moment the werewolf managed to snap its jaws around his pony-tail and yank his head back!

Hair-pulling? That was dirty fighting!

The werebeardog slammed into him before he could react, and suddenly its fangs and talons were ripping into him, during very real damage! The beast was truly enraged, and that gave it formidable power and speed. It was so strong and fast that it was inflicting more wounds than he could regenerate! Ansharedan punched it in the head. The same blow had shattered the werewolf’s jaw but this creature didn’t even notice. He had to do something else. So far he had relied on simple attacks; various energy blasts and brute strength. Time to do something a bit more drastic.

He managed to focus on the monster’s mind. It had some unexpectedly impressive mind-shields, but he still managed to overcome them. The mind beyond was berserk – no chance of influencing it whatsoever. And besides, this wasn’t the time for subtlety. He slammed with werebeardog with the strongest mental blow he could manage. Its eyes rolled back into its head and it fell from him, crashing to the ground. The tigress and the wolf came in again and he slammed them too, tearing through their thin, juvenile mind-shields like a hurricane and blowing their minds away.

Should have started with the mental attacks, he thought darkly, and in the back of his mind Necronis made some snide comment of agreement.

But Ansharedan had assumed his energy blasts would do far more damage than they had.

No matter. All the fighters had been killed or removed and he could now focus on those pesky mages who persisted in standing back and throwing their irritating spells at him! He bared his fangs at them in an evil hiss and flexed his fingers. He pointed at the wererat, as though to unleash an energy blast at him. The creature tensed, preparing to dodge. Ansharedan smiled, instead focussing on another mental blow. The rat’s shields were far stronger than the werebeardog’s, but the Nightbringer was a master mentalist. He could still smash through them and knock the creature unconscious.

The remaining three mages peppered him with spells, and although annoying, he managed to retain his concentration and take out the next biggest threat, the female with the incredible afro of curly brown hair. She slumped beside her rat companion.

The remaining pair; the curly haired youth and the black-haired woman, gaped at him in horror. They glanced around, as though they thought they could run. But there was nowhere to run.

Ansharedan narrowed his eyes, knocking out first the boy and then the girl. They fell beside the wererat and the curly-haired woman. He looked around, but no-one else remained in the immediate area. Odd, he thought. He was sure there had been another person, another skinny black-haired girl. But she was nowhere to be seen. No matter. If she returned he would make short work of her.

It’s about time you stopped playing around with those animals, Necronis rumbled in his mind. Now disrupt this Pentagram!

Ansharedan turned to see that the rip had closed even more, and only half of Necronis’ face could be seen. Both his hands still clutched the edges of the opening, but no matter how much effort the Dark God put in, he couldn’t reverse the process. Trapped, as he was in the Pit of Dark Flame, he lacked the strength.

Time to do something about that. Ansharedan cracked his knuckles.

 

* * * *