Call of the Siren(87)

He’d only wanted to get some comfort from her. Even though he knew better, he’d snuck up beside her while she was occupied and tried to hold her hand, but it had set her off. Anything and everything seemed to set her off. But he’d just wanted to touch her, to love her. For just one brief moment.

No, Mommy…no.

“Fuck.” He let out a scream of fury that shocked the infant into a hiccupping silence. Clutching his head, Rage forced the unwanted images from his mind. The last thing he needed was to be thinking of that bitch right now. He’d sworn when she died that he would never let her dominate his thoughts again.

The baby let out another soft hiccup. His teary gaze landed on Rage, and something deep and unfamiliar unfurled in his chest. Those damn eyes…they looked so much like his in their unglamoured state.

“Ga ga,” the infant said, releasing the fist in his mouth and clumsily punching those wet fingers toward him.

Oh, hell. Rage had seen a lot of sick, twisted shit in his life. More than half the time, it had been him doing it. But this—what Belpheg was doing to this infant—was truly twisted. It made him sick to his stomach.

“Ga?” The baby sucked his knuckles back into his mouth, shooting Rage a glance that he could have sworn looked hopeful.

“Fuck me,” Rage breathed. He momentarily shut his eyes, giving into the inevitable.

He couldn’t leave this child here alone.

Even as he knew he was signing his own death warrant, he bent down to scoop up the infant, blanket and all. The child made a startled noise and his slobbery fists landed on Rage’s chest, snatching the tight fabric of his black shirt into his tiny hands.

“There, there.” Awkwardly, he patted the infant on the back. Even though he felt stupid doing that, it seemed to calm the little guy. “You’re okay.”

Rage pulled back to meet the infant’s gaze. The baby stared steadily up at him.

“You’re going to be the death of me, you know.” His heart gave a tight squeeze when a toothless grin transformed the kid’s face.

“Ah, eff it. My soul was doomed to hell anyway.”

From the moment he was born. Why prolong the inevitable?

Turning, he raced up the stairs with the baby tight in his grasp.

It was pandemonium on the ground floor. Though the earth had stopped trembling, the screams and cries of Belpheg’s ishtari henchmen echoed all the way back here.

Unable to help himself, he headed toward the sound at the front of the castle. Yeah, probably stupid given that he had the baby in his arms, but he would find no escape from the rear of the property at any rate. The moat surrounding the castle prevented him from skulking into the forest, and on top of that, the impenetrable barrier kept him firmly ensconced within the castle grounds. Besides, he was banking on Belpheg and Mammon being completely focused on whatever the hell was going on out there.

He passed several of Belpheg’s household staff as he made his way down the corridor, but they didn’t even notice him. They were much too busy screaming and running away in panic.

What the hell is happening out there?

The terrified expressions on the servants’ faces was enough to fill even the boldest man with caution. If he was sane, he’d turn around and run the other way. But since any sanity he’d once held had long ago been beaten out of him, he pushed forward.

As Rage reached the threshold, he stopped cold at the sight before him. It was fresh out of one of those horror movies humans seemed to favor so much. He’d seen a lot of crazy shit back in his home world, and even here on earth, but this was…wow.

A small army of skeletons descended on them, spilling out of the dense forest surrounding the massive, manicured front lawn. Their spread-out location indicated that Belpheg’s invisible barrier had somehow come down. Either that or someone had made quick work of tearing a wide hole with that sword Belpheg had told him the Detainors carried.

Most of the advancing corpses lacked any flesh, but as he watched, one of the ishtari guards flew over a group of three skeletons on the outer edge of the property, attempting to slice them in half with the sword in his grasp. He missed. One of the zombies reached up and grabbed him by the wing, knocking him to the ground. The three skeletons were on him before the ishtari could do more than let out a few petrified screams. They ripped and gnawed at his flesh, devouring him within moments. As they ate, their bodies began to flesh out, gory sinew modeling itself over the bones.

“Fucking awesome,” Rage breathed.

Belpheg, who stood several feet from the base of the stairs leading down to the lawn, turned to the twelve men who’d lined up at his right side. “Do something. Use your powers!”