That had been her concern during their initial descent into the Underworld, and the moment she heard Danny Ferrick scream, it became reality. When the demon boy crested the ridge ahead, the look of terror etched on his face forced Ceridwen to summon all of the strength and courage remaining to her.
It was precious little preparation for the sight that confronted her next. The three-headed dog scrabbled up the rocks in pursuit, grunting, eyes glistening crimson in the gloom. The weight of its three heads ought to have thrown off its balance, but its body was wide and built for that burden, and it was agile enough. The hound came to an abrupt halt the moment it saw that its prey was not alone.
'Cerberus,' Conan Doyle whispered at her side, obviously in awe of the gigantic beast that now regarded them with three sets of crimson eyes. Other than those few odd flutterings in the cave above them, it was the first real sign of life they’d seen since passing beyond the gates, but judging by the stink that radiated from the hound, she wondered if it was truly alive at all. The great dog reeked of death and decay, and she could see spots where the flesh was missing, exposing stringy sinew and yellow bone.
Danny ran toward Eve. She marched forward to meet him, the bottom of her brown leather coat flapping behind her in a sudden gust of sulfurous air from below.
'Stop running,' the vampire snapped.
The demon boy brought himself up short upon her command, moving to her side quickly, though his expression was dubious. 'Do you not see the dog?'
'Yeah. And me without a really big newspaper,' Eve sneered. 'There’s nowhere to run, kid. The only way to live is to win.'
They all remained perfectly still, allowing the dog to familiarize itself with their scents. It continued to growl threateningly as each of its heads paused to study them individually. Ceridwen assumed that now that it had more than one target, it was assessing their vulnerability, deciding which of them it would try to catch and eat first.
Then its growl turned to a high-pitched whine and it tensed upon its haunches, its hackles rising as it prepared to attack. She had already noted the fragile wall to the right of the dog, where it crouched on the ridge of steps leading up from the floor of the Underworld. Without a further thought she put her own pain and illness aside and began to call upon the elemental forces. Cut off from the elements of Faerie, or even the Blight, she was forced to tap into the elements of the Underworld.
Ceridwen screamed. Unimaginable pain wracked her body as the ugly nature of that realm fought her, for this was a place of death and it cared not for the requests of the living. Then, abruptly, tainted brackish water spun in a circle around the top of her staff and solidified into ice, and a sickly yellow flame sparked to life within. She cried out once again, her muscles tightening painfully as the connection was made, as the filth and death of the Underworld seeped into her flesh and bone. A putrid orange light crackled around her staff, and then elemental fire surged from the icy sphere atop it and struck at the cave wall.
A portion of the wall shattered and thousands of pounds of stone crashed down onto the ridge… but too late. Cerberus bounded toward them as the rock wall fell harmlessly behind the hound. There was an ancient, empty hunger in its eyes.
Nausea roiled in Ceridwen’s belly as she tried to summon the elements once more, but she was met with painful resistance. She slumped to the ground, sapped of strength, watching helplessly as Conan Doyle lunged forward to meet the giant dog’s attack.
'Heeeyahhhh!' he cried out, advancing toward the beast.
Cerberus paused, crouching low to the ground. But Conan Doyle showed no fear, glaring into its eyes.
'Back off, you damned fool!' Eve shouted, sprinting to his side.
Conan Doyle risked a quick glance toward the vampiress and the dog sensed its opportunity. With a snarl that came not only from each throat but from deep in their shared chest, Cerberus sprang at him. Ceridwen wanted to close her eyes, but she could not look away.
The mage was a man of quiet dignity and propriety, but in battle, he was fearsome indeed. He seemed almost to transform, bracing himself in a warrior’s pose, his right hand burning like the sun. He met the attack head-on and plunged his blazing fist into one of Cerberus’s open mouths. The other two heads cried in agony, but the one assaulted by the magickal fire burned horribly from within, its eyes boiling from their sockets as the flesh and fur of its wide, heavy head burned away to reveal its flaming skull.
Conan Doyle stumbled away from the beast, clutching his wrist and staring at his own smoldering hand in obvious pain. The spell had been a weapon of incredible power, and there was always danger in magick. He had burned himself badly.
But Cerberus was not going to give him time to recover. Its injuries were horrid to see, but the two surviving heads were driven only to greater madness. They frothed at their mouths, a yellow foam that stank worse than the beast itself. Where its body was dessicated and the bone and muscle showed through, fresh blood and pus flowed as it shook in fury. It had been deciding which of them to rend and tear, but now Conan Doyle was its only target.
'Arthur!' Ceridwen cried, damning herself for her weakness even as she summoned the strength to stand. She would be too late.
But Eve was there.
She pushed Conan Doyle out of harm’s way as the remaining two heads, driven to the brink of madness, lunged for him with utter ferocity. One of the still functioning heads snapped its jaws closed on Eve’s shoulder and she roared in pain, baring long fangs. She spun and pummeled its snout, but Cerberus flipped back its head, shaking her like a rag doll. Eve’s flailing feet caught the still smoldering third head and it exploded in a shower of blackened bone and red burning embers.
Danny was right behind her. The demon boy ran at Cerberus and leaped into the air with uncanny strength. He launched himself at the hound and sank his claws into its side. Where its flesh was rotting away, Danny began to tear at Cerberus. Blood and pus drooled out onto its fur as he tore strips of decaying flesh. Then he reached inside and clutched a yellowed rib. The bone snapped off in his hands.
Eve screamed as Cerberus bit down harder on her, shaking her still. Her own blood scattered the ground like scarlet rain.
Ceridwen climbed to her feet, ignoring the creeping numbness that permeated her body. She picked up her staff and stumbled forward. The growling of the dog’s heads and the screaming and cursing from Eve echoed through the cave.
'I can’t risk hitting them,' Arthur screamed over the ruckus, his hand again radiating an unearthly light, his body trembling with the effort.
'We’ve only just begun this. We’ll not die now,' Ceridwen replied. Mustering all her remaining strength, she brought the heel of her foot down on her staff, breaking the end so it now tapered to a jagged point. She hefted the broken staff and threw it like a javelin with all her strength, willing the wood — the only bit of nature from her own world in this horrid place — to fly true.
The spear pierced the thick muscle of the dog’s chest. The head holding Eve opened its jaws to yelp in pain, flinging her limp and bloody form into a broken heap at the edge of the ridge.
Ceridwen and Conan Doyle ran to Eve, but Cerberus was already on the move, the remains of Ceridwen’s staff protruding from its chest. Conan Doyle sketched a pattern into the air and from it a spiral of blue light erupted, rocketing at Cerberus. Danny still clung to its side, tearing at its flesh, but he was not in the immediate line of fire. The hound was badly injured but it still moved with uncanny speed and dodged that magickal attack, thundering toward them.
'Take her,' Conan Doyle ordered, moving between the women and the slavering monstrosity.
Ceridwen grabbed Eve beneath the arms and began to pull her away from the edge. She could hear Conan Doyle’s melodious voice beginning a new incantation when another sound filled the air.
Screaming.
'Enough! That’s just enough of that shit!' Danny Ferrick screamed.
Tearing into Cerberus’s body, he climbed the hound as though to saddle it, then he grappled with one of its heads, gouging at its eyes, scooping one of them out. The hound bucked and threw him forward. Danny landed, rolling, and then rose again. He screamed, shaking as he confronted the dog with such ferocity that it paused and took a step back. Danny seemed to be in the grip of madness.
'I’m not afraid of you!' the boy bellowed, then threw himself at the hound, claws flying, tearing and rending and pummeling its remaining heads, driving the animal back.
