Chronicles of the Underworld - Soul Eater

10 - Deadly Magic

Quiet now. We're close.

The elevator door opened and an eerie silence laid across the hallway. Alexandria gave Salem a nod. He entered the hallway first.

Last apartment on the left, she said.

I can sense it.

She felt something in her tightening, moving by itself: her instincts. A cold hand had grabbed her guts and the times that had happened before could be counted on one. She felt the presence of something immense, something dark. Something Evil.

That's not the soul eater, is it?, she whispered.

It's a big one.

Alexandria stared past him down the hallway. Splintered wood laid everywhere, was stuck in the wall.

Something was off.

-

They came.

"Fucking hell.", Aurel muttered when he saw the endless stream of canine bodies entering the hall.

Columbia raised her hands. "Change of plans."

"What?"
She let loose a scream and yellow light burst from her hands. A deep rumble filled the air and something in the atmosphere changed. The hairy bodies started to float above ground. She opened her clenched fists, and the bodies broke into the walls, the witch sinking to her knees.
A high-pitched tone filled the hall.

"Grace bless me.", she mumbled. "I hope you've seen that. Because I'm probably not going to do it again."

He helped her to her feet. Her bronzed face had lost a great deal of colour. The spell must have cost her a lot of strength.

Columbia leaned against the wall. "Why are there so many? That's not a pack. That's a fucking army."

"You say it. You good?"

"Yeah."
She was out of breath and grabbed the rifle from her shoulders. Aurel did the same. It was quiet – too quiet.

"Was that all?", he whispered. His instincts told him something else.

The witch shook her head. "Second wave."

Something was waiting for them.

-

They entered the apartment. The door had either been torn out or exploded throughout the hallway. The final result did not make a considerable difference.

They moved without a sound through the entrance area and stopped before the passage to the living room. To the right there was a hallway leading through the kitchen and from there to the living room as well.

Wait here. I'm going in. You hear a sound and it's not me proclaiming victory, you put on the blindfold, alright?

Alright.
Salem moved past her into the hallway.

She heard breathing.

-

"What the fuck is going on?!"

They stood on the scaffolding, discharging, screaming and being unable to comprehend the flood of bodies streaming into the factory hall. Their view reminded Aurel of rats slithering out of a flooded sewage drainer.

"Where are they coming from?"

"I don't know!", Columbia yelled back.

Her eyes were gleaming, and he saw panic settling in them, aimed with his rifle at the bodies moving into her direction. The werewolves were trying to climb the scaffolding and it was shaking.

"Why..."
He observed the stream of bodies. They seemed to ignore his presence.

"Why are they moving towards you?", he yelled.

"I don't know..."

Columbia knocked one of the wolves off the scaffolding with her boot and sent a row of flames down the hall. The smell of burning hair and flesh filled their noses.
"They're coming from the roof.", she said. "I can hear them. And no way they're hiding somewhere in the area. I feel like I'm in the middle of fucking London."

London – the city the werewolves held. Just like Mortimer was a soldier king reigning over the City of Fallen Angels, a werewolf was the head of London.

"They shouldn't even be here.", Aurel said. "They are way too many."

The scaffolding started to shake more violently. Something burst. It started leaning forward, a long-torn sound of aching wood filled the air.

"Columbia?"

"I know."

"Give me your hand."

They locked fingers and he felt strength streaming from his body into hers. As much as she needed to perform the deadly magic a second time.

"We're going to fall.", he said to her, whilst some colour moved back into her face.

"I know.", she said. "We all do."

"Can you do it?"

"As often as I have to."

He grabbed her arm and they jumped, just when the scaffolding collapsed.

Yellow light filled the hall.

-

Fulgor hurried across the roofs of Prague. He was following a track, the track of a vampire, one of his kind, and he had been doing so for the past hours.

The lord he was chasing was a tough one. He was playing tricks on him, making him follow him through the entire city. His scent laid in the air, was everywhere and nowhere at a time. It was confusing to him. Nobody had ever confused him as much. Only...

Only his triad. His family.

When he stopped being Columbia's closest. When she replaced him.

He thought of Salem's different coloured eyes. She had fallen for him.

After all those years.

After those years of her being his sister and Salem being his brother, they had decided to betray him. They had left him behind.

So he had decided to betray them as well.

Without them, he was nothing. He didn't even have himself left to lose.