"Before Dawn"

Chapter 20: Et Oblinito Ianuam

Dawn lowers her center of gravity, careful not to cue Mortifer that she's up to something. She readies her blades so that one—if not both of them—will strike their targets. She sees the interest in Mortifer's body-language as he comes closer...closer...closer. Now he's danger-close. The hellhound opens his frothing muzzle of jagged teeth and lunges at her.

Time slows down for Dawn as she goes airborne and leaps out of harm's way. She feels suspended in mid-air as she absorbs every detail in her sight. She sees every ripple of muscle in Mortifer's elongated form in the amber light, feels the heat of his massive frame engulfing her entire existence. His fires paws burn with a mesmerizing flare of hypnotic beauty. And his eyes—the luminescent, glowing white eyes—the captivating targets of her wakizashis. Gracefully and powerfully, Dawn jabs at Mortifer's eyes with the tips of her blades. She takes a hit from Mortifer's shoulder for her troubles and goes sailing backwards. She hits the ground and naturally rolls into a crouch to deflect any follow up attacks from her foe, quick to asses if her tactic has worked—or not.

What she sees brings a wide smile to her face. Mortifer is thrashing in wild circles as if he's a bronco in a rodeo, bucking hard to throw an annoying cowboy off his back. As he bucks around and around, Dawn only sees one of his white eyes. The hellhound is pawing at the other one—the wounded one—and eliciting whimpers of pain that belie his awesome presence as lava-like blood oozes from it. Suddenly, he runs away, stumbling over tombstones in a desperate attempt to escape.

He's going for the portal to escape to his plane-of-existence!

Dawn feels a surge of renewed energy surge through her body, erasing the fatigue that had hampered her. She bites down and gives chase, gripping the handles of her wakizashis the tightest she'd ever held them. She wants to slay Mortifer and not merely seal his escape route.

Mortifer is weaving around gravestones, stumbling under weeping willows, and bumping into tombs. He's creating distance and wailing in pain as Dawn tries to keep up with the hellhound. Dawn stops only to easily deflect, duck, or dodge the fiery barbs coming her way. She understands that the projectiles were not meant to strike her, only to slow her down. Mortifer's tactic works. She begins to lose sight of him. No matter. The ground is polluted with a bloody lava-trail, leaving no mystery as to his direction of travel. She follows the trail until it stops at the side of a tomb covered in the darkest of shadows.

It's a trap!

Dawn whirls around, ready to strike with her wakizashis. She scans the darkness as best as her night vision will allow. There is no sign of the hellhound but she's still uneasy. Her enemy is intelligent and cunning. Maintaining her guard, Dawn surveys where his blood trail ends. She sees a few splotches of his blood on the concrete wall of the tomb. Mortifer's scent is in the air, too. Dawn—as if the wall is covered in spiders—cautiously moves closer toward the wall. She sheathes one of her swords, and palms the wall. The immense heat stings her hand, and it takes everything for her not to scream. This is it—the portal—and he made it through. Damn.

Oh, well. It-is-what-it-is.

Dawn pulls the can of black spray paint from her cargo pocket. It only takes her a moment to expertly paint the seal—an intricate design of Latin letters, numbers, and graphic. It's the incantation in Latin that must come from her lips that she's not so confident about, and far from being an expert. Her father, Bishop, and 'ol Martha had gotten her to speak decent Latin, but this will be the first time she'll need to be accurate as hell, no room for error. Otherwise, this whole thing will have meant absolutely nothing.