Page 2 of A Spark Of Revenge

My vision dims, and I shake my head a little, opening my mouth to say more, but then I gasp and yank my hand away from the door behind me as pain shoots from the cut in my hand up my arm and into my body. My legs shake and threaten to give out as something odd filters into the air around me, then a click of a lock sounds, and the old door to the church creaks open behind me.

“Meyer?” Lennox asks as he moves faster toward me, sounding almost worried. Ignoring him, I turn, my vision still swimming as I desperately slap my hands against the door, shove it open, and step into the dark church.

“Meyer, don’t you fucking dare!” Lennox roars as I look over my shoulder at him and flip him off.

“Fuck you!” I shout back at him, grinning as I slam the door shut in his face as he runs up the steps, Razar hot on his heels. It feels freaking amazing to finally tell him off like I’ve been dying to.

The sound of the lock re-engaging filters through the damp, musty air of the church just before the door shakes and pounding from outside begins. I take a step back, squinting a little. There is still a soft green glow around the door, but it slowly dims, and the tiny window next to the door is not big enough to let any of the moonlight in.

“Meyer! You little brat!” Lennox snarls as he pounds on the door so hard I hold my breath, my heart lodging in my throat.

Shit! What if he can break the door down?

But just as the thought crosses my mind, the fading green symbols glow brighter, and the air around me bursts to life. I shiver in response, the feeling of something foreign coursing over me right before I hear Lennox curse and then nothing.

The pounding suddenly stops, the angry Demon no longer shouting at the door or trying to get inside. Curious, I step over to the small window, and my eyes widen when I see Lennox rolling over on the snow covered ground. Whatever magic was on the door must have knocked him away from the church. Razar growls and paces in front of the steps, not sparing Lennox a single glance.

Hmm… I wonder if Demon Razar and Demon Lennox are friends? They aren't attacking each other, but Razar doesn't look very concerned for Lennox. And why is Razar one of those beasts while Lennox is different?

When the big, horned Demon prince finally comes to a stop, he curses and pushes himself up, his long hair tangled in his horns and falling over his face. A ragged laugh bursts from my chest. I'm not sure if it's from relief or the result of the stressful night, but I can't suppress the manic giggle fit I fall into. That is, until the black soulless eyes of Razar’s Demon lock onto mine through the small window.

I drop to my knees immediately, not wanting to test my luck with his Demon’s strength.

“Lennox, stop! What the hell?” Creed's voice filters into the old drafty church, making my heart crack a little more. “What happened? Where is Meyer?”

“I told you to stay at the Castle,” I hear Lennox snarl, and I press my back harder against that wall behind me. “Elaine will need help containing the other Rangers and putting them in cells until they can be interrogated.”

"I fucking told you not to shift. You don't think rationally when you’re in this form, idiot. What the hell were you thinking? Why chase her? You knew, Nox! You knew she would run, especially with Razar in his beast form!"

"I was thinking that the Seniors have gotten out of control and are now starting to kill themselves. Elaine’s husband is dead, Credence. Father was right. We should've had this finished and gone home long before now. And, of course, I knew she would run. Why do you think I stayed in this form? She needed the truth, and I was sick of handling her with kid gloves," Lennox snarls, his voice echoing through the windows and door of the old church in which I'm currently taking shelter.

“You know why we haven't done that, you fucking—”

“Stop!” Nox roars, and I gasp when the air around me shifts uncomfortably. Green light softly glows around the windows and doors of the church, and I shiver as whatever is in the air seems to thicken.

What the hell is happening now?

As I cast my worried gaze around the church, the cold from the frozen wooden floors under me makes goosebumps rise on my arms and my teeth chatter a little. I frown when I find what looks like three sarcophagi sitting in the middle of the long, weathered chapel. Massive wooden beams curve upwards on the ceiling, running the length of the room with an odd sort of forgotten elegance. A wall at the far end of the chapel is lifted and leaning, the roots of a thick pine tree pushing its way into the room; nature's way of taking back what has been forgotten.

There are broken, old pews pushed to the sides to make room for the large white stone sculptures, and I tilt my head to the side, my eyes narrowing in confusion. “What the hell?” I whisper to myself, leaning forward to try to see the sarcophagi better. The one on the far right appears to be open, its enormous lid shoved precariously to the side, while the center one and one to the left look sealed shut. I lift a hand to move some of my tangled hair away from my eyes, then wince when my fingers skim over the small gash on my forehead that i got when falling off the couch in Lennox’s office. Thankfully, it doesn't seem to be bleeding anymore.

A bone-aching dread slowly pools inside my chest as I realize my attempts to get to Valen were for nothing. I was hoping to find a room where the Seniors might be holding him, but I don't see any other door besides the one I just came through. There is what looks like a thrown together cell in the corner behind one of the pews, but it’s empty… No one is here!

The deep, bone-chilling howl of a Demon makes me jump and twist to look at the door in fear. Is Razar going to try to break through the door? Has he found a way to get inside? What if the weird green magic doesn't keep him out the way it seems to keep Nox away?

The silence that follows the howl sets me on edge as I carefully peer through the tiny window. My eyes widen as I see Nox rush to where Creed is now lying on the snow covered ground a few feet from the rickety steps of the building. Nox falls to his knees next to him, his enormous hands moving to help his brother up, his Demon bulk makes Creed appear small in comparison. Creed looks pale and dazed, and I hate the thread of worry that rushes through me as I bite my lip, my hands shaking at my sides.

Did Razor attack Creed? Or did Nox? I pull my eyes from where Creed and Nox are sitting, whispering to each other in low tones, making their words unintelligible as I search for Razar. Almost like a magnet, my eyes are pulled to the right, where they find the soulless black eyes from my nightmares.

My breath catches painfully in my chest as I stare into those voids, my heart rate picking up as Razar stands beside the window, much closer than Creed or Nox. His big, black, deformed head tilts to the side, and his claws dig into the wood under his feet. A wave of fear washes over me as I suddenly realize I’m stuck here. I may have been able to hide from the Demons outside, but there is no way out of the church other than the way I entered. I came in hopes of finding Valen, but there is nothing in this dirty old church but me and a few stone boxes.

“Shit, shit, shit,” I whisper, twisting away from the Demon I’d been staring at and walk further into the church, desperately hoping for a secret way out. “Maybe a secret door? Like behind a bookcase?” I muse, then frown. Yeah, I doubt anyone would bother putting a secret door behind a bookcase in a shithole like this.

I move as silently as I can through the church, trailing my fingertips through the cold, thick layer of dust on the sarcophagus closest to me. Its lid sits askew, and I can’t help but notice the beautiful yet terrifying carvings etched into the detailed design of the lid. There are roses of all different sizes twisting over the sides of the lid on thick, thorn-covered vines that fall down and continue on the side of the sarcophagus itself. But it's the monsters in the center, with taloned wings and horns, that make me freeze, and I lean forward.

The monster almost looks like Lennox… or rather, the monster Lennox has become. But it's smaller, less defined, and doesn't have as much bulk. It's also missing the rather enormous claws Lennox is currently sporting.

Frowning, I lean in further to study the dark, empty stone box under the lid and gasp when my eyes zero in on what looks like claw marks carved into the hard, stone sides. There are hundreds of marks moving up the sides of the box. I shake my head in confusion, then lean to the side, looking at the underside of the lid. More claw marks and what looks like rust-brown smears of dried blood reside there, and my stomach drops.

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