“No!Argh!”He bellowed so loud, and I watched in horror as he struggled to catch pieces of his sewn flesh as the sloughed off his face.The green mist that wafted over him from the vial leaked down his body, and more and more of his patches came loose, tumbling to the ground as he literally fell apart.
Holy fucking shit.
Temps and Caleb made it to me as a little pile of skin and fat and muscle piled up on the floor, still screaming about putting him back together.The suit of people this thing had made for himself was all in shambles, like discarded fabric on the floor.I gagged again, tasting bile at the back of my throat.
“I will never not see that in my head.”I shook, still reeling as Caleb grabbed me, still holding Temps, and threw us all through the door.
We hit the floor on the other side of the doorway, and it disappeared behind us.Fluffy, musty dust puffed up around us as we pulled ourselves to standing.We were in the main tent.Thankfully, we were off to the side, not in the center, and to our left, a row of cages sat next to a gap in the wooden stands.
“Caleb?”
He turned to a cage near the end of the short row, hurrying toward it as I pulled Temps into my arms.“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m…well, I’m right where you are.The shoulder is okay, sore but okay.”
As we looked back over at Caleb, he stood at one of the cages, gripping the bars in both hands.I took Temps’ hand and hurried that way, shocked to see that Dean Owens was inside.Her suit was a mess, torn and stained with blood from a wound that’d dried on her head and some I couldn’t see on her legs.
“You’re alive.Fucking hell, let’s get you out of there.”Caleb threw back his hand, his claws extending all the more, and he slashed down through the bars like they were butter.
The dean took a step forward, collapsing into his arms when she couldn’t walk.Temps and I helped to keep her upright as we all walked her over to the side of the tent, leaning her against the subtly moving fabric.
“Get our guests lined up in the center of the ring.”
A familiar voice called out from across the ring, and we pulled the dean into the shadows with us as we hid behind the stands, peering through the slim gaps between the slats of wood.The Ring Leader came out with that same pair of performers from the trapeze.The two of them held a line of chained people, all dressed up like black-and-white clowns with much newer-looking costumes.
They led the sacrifices—because that’s totally what they were—to the center of the ring, parading them in a line until they reached just in front of this massive rune that had been painted on the ground.The trapeze performers shoved them down to their knees, and I counted the people.
There were nine of them—the previously mentioned faithful who’d been chosen that morning.
“Excellent.”The Ring Leader walked to the center of the ring, standing in the middle of the rune.“We will begin.”
“Shit, Caleb, it’s starting.What the fuck do we do?”
I looked to him, Temps on his other side, and he shook his head, his expression grim.“I don’t know.I—Fuck, I’m not sure what’s supposed to stop him.We need to take out the Ring Leader, probably.Those trapeze people.”
“And how do we do that?He’s about to open up the portal!”I whisper-shouted, gesturing at the circle where the Ring Leader, one Jebediah Paine Junior, stood with his arms outstretched toward the sky.
“Which means he’ll be vulnerable.”The dean spoke in a pained whisper, pointing at the rune.“He’s going to channel the demiurge.Those sigils.He’s going to soul weave it.”
Like Caleb did.
I focused on the circle where Pastor Pricktips was chanting low.He needed to focus on the spell, concentrate, and when Caleb had done it, there was a brief window when he’d been completely gone to the spell, wrapped up in the magic.
“It could work.”Temps looked down as she thought, her eyes searching as she waved a hand in tiny, frantic gestures.“But we’ll need something to keep the sacrifices safe.If even one of them dies, it’ll trigger the spell to begin.”
“I can create a barrier.”Dean Owens grunted as she pulled herself to the edge of the stands, leaning on the wooden slat at her chest, his lids looking real damn heavy.“I’ll keep them protected for now.You three, or four, I guess, take out that piece of shit.”
“We have no choice.”Caleb looked between Temps and me, his body shifting again as Cerberus came to the surface completely, taking over.“Target your attacks.Focus on Paine.Call up the power in your blood, your ancestry.”
I took their hands, reaching into their heads because I couldn’t let the dean hear me.
I love you, weirdos.We do this, or we go down fighting.
They held my eyes, sending those messages back at me as the dean worked her fingers through the air, a shimmer of magic appearing around the chained group.
Here we fucking go.
Twenty-Seven- And Beneath The Waning Moon, The Being Of Darkness Shall Rise
