When he turned to walk back out, a Cabalist blocked his way. He recognized him as the man he’d cut the hand off four years ago. The one that had been in league with the demon.
“Warren,” Leah said hoarsely.
“You know him?” Simon asked.
“Yes. I visited him in his dreams. He was one of those, like you, that I was able to communicate with.”
Simon held his defensive stance at the ready, standing in front of Leah to protect her. His sword glinted.
“Leah?” the Cabalist said.
“Yes,” Leah replied.
“You’re with the Templar?” Warren sounded as though he couldn’t believe it.
Simon respected the man’s spear. In the tight confines of the tunnel, the spear gave the Cabalist reach and speed.
“No,” Leah answered. “But Simon and I know each other.”
“I see.” Warren sounded disappointed. He focused on Simon. “Four years ago, you cut off my hand.”
“Four years ago, you were with a demon that was trying to kill us,” Simon replied. “I’ve heard you haven’t kept much better company since.”
“He is tonight,” Leah pointed out. “Maybe we could all have this discussion somewhere else. Where we might not get attacked by demons. And there are a lot of other people to get out of here.”
“We’ll talk later?” Simon asked.
Grudgingly, Warren nodded.
Then they started freeing the other people trapped in the machine.
For a moment, Warren thought they were free. Although the building still remained dangerous, the combined might of the Cabalists and Templar had driven the Darkspawn back.
The Templar took control of the people who’d been held captive in the machine. Only fourteen of them had been left alive. Seventeen other cubicles only held corpses of people who were only hours dead.
Simon Cross gave orders for the Templar to plant explosive charges on the machine. They worked quickly in tandem, slapping preshaped packages on the machine.
“Get your people clear,” Simon told Warren. “When this goes off, the building probably won’t be left standing.”
Warren gave the orders, but he didn’t leave the Templar. Naomi stayed with him.
Merihim appeared in a blasting wind that knocked everyone down. Even the Templar fell and skidded across the floor.
The demon stood eight feet tall before adding in the horns. He was massive and muscular. Red scales covered his body. His harsh, blunt face always reminded Warren of a lizard. Merihim wore blue-green armor and carried a green metal trident.
“Well, worm,” Merihim addressed Warren, “I see you’ve decided to try your luck.”
Heart pounding, fear filling him, Warren stood on shaking knees. He thought about heroes and how they were always witty during battles like this. But that wasn’t him. He wasn’t a hero or brave or witty.
“You shouldn’t have come here,” Merihim said. He drew back his trident and drove it toward Warren’s chest.
A sword knocked the trident aside. Then Simon stepped in front of Warren. The Templar held his sword in both hands.
“If you want to kill him,” Simon declared, “you’re going to have to go through me.”
Merihim smiled. “Very well.” He gestured and Simon lifted from the ground, held in an invisible grip.
The Templar grabbed his Spike Bolter with his free hand and opened fire. Wounds opened up on the demon. Merihim growled angrily.
In the next moment, two more Templar attacked the demon from behind. Merihim flailed at them with his trident. Warren blocked the swing with a shield he summoned.
Simon fought the power that held him and finally won. He didn’t know if his freedom was caused by his own efforts or through that of Nathan, Danielle, Leah, and the Cabalists who had remained behind.
As soon as his feet hit the ground, Simon gripped his sword in both hands and ran forward. He never broke stride as he lunged to attack. The demon tried to bring his trident back around, but Warren blocked his efforts again with his shield.
With the demon’s wide-open chest as a target, Simon sank his sword into Merihim’s flesh. The palladium-edged blade sank deeply into the demon’s body and grated off bone. Simon’s weight and momentum knocked Merihim backward off his feet. He crashed to the floor and started struggling immediately. Simon held the sword fast, but the floor pushed it back at him.
“Watch him!” a woman’s voice yelled. “He’ll try to escape this place with his magic.”
From the corner of his eye, Simon saw a beautiful, black-haired woman standing only a few feet away. He didn’t know where she’d come from.
In the next minute, Warren shoved an obsidian spear through the demon’s head. Merihim quivered and shook. With his dying last gasp he cursed them all.
“I’ll see you again,” the demon promised as his strength left him. “When I climb back out of the Well of Midnight, I’ll come looking for you.”
The black-haired woman walked over to Merihim and placed her hands on each side of his head. She mouthed words that Simon couldn’t understand. Blue haze drifted up from Merihim, and she breathed it all in. When she finished, she showed a huge grin, then Merihim’s body burst into flames.
Simon gave the orders to plant the charges one more time, and they got out of the building. He watched from across the street as the detonations occurred and shook the building down to the ground.
By then, more demons started to gather. They had no choice but to flee. Maybe the machine was destroyed, as was the demon that had midwifed it, but the Hellgate remained open and the Burn continued changing all of London.
EPILOGUE
What are you going to do now?” Leah asked.
Simon stood with her atop one of the hills near the redoubt. The sun was setting in the west, and a beautiful panorama of color spread up from it.
“We’re going to have to leave,” he said. “There’s no choice. The demons are spreading out from London. Sooner or later they’ll find us.”
“But you have the Node technology now.”
“No. We
