Page 107 of How To Take Down A Cult At The End Of The World
“I’m fucking coming for you,” I scream as I run down the hallway, my voice echoes into the dark before it dies, so I scream again. I want her to know I’m coming.
“Do you hear me? I’m coming for you, Eri!”
Chapter Forty Two
It’s not that hard to find Eri. It’s surprisingly easy in fact. Just a few minutes down the pitch black tunnel and the outline of a door appears. I wouldn’t be able to see it if I wasn’t supercharged. Earlier when we fought Mort when Jaak was hurt, so was I, but this is all different. Whatever magic came to me as a witch feels like it’s doubled, tripled, the soul-bonding from Jaak might have died on one side but it’s not gone. Everything I shared with Jaak is still here, it exists in me, but now it’s all mine.
The power is bittersweet, a reminder of Jaak, but I welcome it all the same. Every victory, every lesson, every mistake Jaak ever made in battle unfolds in front of me like a movie. Every part of me from my fingertips to my toes, feels electric. It’s not the smartest idea to run after a god in the dark when said god wants to destroy your world but I don’t care.
That’s why I don’t stop when I see the faint outline of light around the edges of the door at the end of the hallway. I don’t bother to open it and announce to Eri that I’m here. She already knows I am. No sense in giving her a chance to get the jump on me. I lower my shoulder and slam into the door at full speed.
It flies off and sadly doesn’t hit Eri but it gets close. She’s standing in the middle of the room with a man at her feet, her hands on his head. Eri leans over him like she’s about to whisper to him.
“Time for an upgrade, lover.”
I hear the words she whispered to Jaak. She’s trying to make another demon, someone else to do her dirty work, another soul to rule.
I cross the room in three steps and launch myself at Eri. I don’t need a weapon or any special moves at the speed I’m moving, I’m more than enough to get the job done. Eri doesn’t realize what I intend to do until I’m already airborne.
“No! You cunt!”
I laugh as I tackle her. We both go flying. We roll together, bounce off the ground and I swing on Eri. My punch lands so I hit again and again. When we come to a stop I’m on top of her and punch her again. This one breaks her nose and snaps her head back to hit the ground.
“Get off of me!” Eri grabs me and throws me. She’s strong, I’ll give her that. I end up rolling to a stop on the opposite side of the room. “You dare touch a god! You’re insane, mortal.”
I get to my feet. “I’d rather be insane than a pathetic excuse for a god.” I point at the man still kneeling. He’s definitely Clyde, I remember him from the restaurant. “Is this the only way you can get followers? By forcing them?”
Eri gets to her feet with a toss of her hair. “He wants this. I can offer him the universe. More power than he can dream of will be his to command in service of me.”
I shake my head. “Fuck power. He doesn’t want this. He loves someone else but you know that, don’t you? Is that the thrill, Eri? Forcing someone to leave the ones they love for you?” I advance on her and the god’s face goes pale as I keep speaking.
“I am a god. Why shouldn’t I have the adoration I deserve?”
“Did you convince yourself in some twisted way they’re choosing you? That they want you? They don’t. They choose you to save the one they love. They do it to protect them, not to worshipyou. The saddest part of all is that you can’t even tell the difference anymore.”
Rage fills Eri’s eyes. It’s that rage that I zero in on in the fraction of a second before she tries to hit me with a fireball. She misses, the magic goes horribly offtrack when I slap it away. It almost hits Clyde, though. Not good.
“Get out of here!” I yell at him.
“He belongs to me!”
Clyde looks between us, eyes uncertain but he does get to his feet. Eri fires off another round of magic at me so I do the only sane thing and punch her. She twists, tries to get away from me but I catch her in the jaw and slam an elbow into her chest. She screams in frustration and swings wildly at me, once, twice, three times. Each swing is easier to dodge than the last. I roll right with her last punch and dart forward, catching her with a body shot. Eri staggers forward, giving me an opening that I make the most of with a heavy punch to the side of her head. The hit drops her to a knee. I grab her hair and slam my knee into her beautifully perfect face. I throw a chunk of her hair onto the ground beside where Eri falls facedown.
I watch her for a second to make sure she doesn’t get up before I run to Clyde. “T-thank you,” he stammers, eyes on Eri’s prone form. “I didn’t know what was going on. They came to the diner this morning. They threatened Dina, those people in robes an-and they took me. I tried to fight them off but there were too many. I only went with them to get them away from Dina.That woman, there’s something wrong with her, she’s not human.”
The woman he means is Eri. Guess she was damn good at playing little old Eleanor.
“I know. I’m going to handle her,” I tell him. “You’re safe now. Go to Dina,”
“My Dina?” He looks around like he thinks she’s going to appear from thin air. “Is she okay? She said I had to give her my soul or they were going to take Dina too. I couldn't let her do it.”
“Yes, your Dina is just fine.” I turn him to the door leading back to the others. “Go down that hallway. There’s no light but just keep going straight, you’ll get to her and when you do, youhaveto keep going. Don’t let her stay here, get her out of this building, do you understand me?”
“What? Why?”
“Because it’s going to collapse.”
For as thrown into the deep end as Clyde is, he doesn’t go. He looks back at me with concern in his eyes. “What? You can’t stay then. Come with me.”
