“No…” breathed Gabriella.
“You mean The Sorrow is here?” I choked.
A dark grin appeared on Rachel’s face. “Not just here Alex… here. And you don’t have the Crimson Twins.”
More loud bangs hit the roof. It was followed by the sound of dozens of feet scrambling about. Then I heard the unmistakable scream of The Sorrow’s demented Unicorn. “Not long now,” said Rachel. I looked at Gabriella. She was still struggling with the clasp. “So you’re going to offer me up to get into Hades good books? Is that it? Very original Rachel.” I said sarcastically.
Rachel banged the gun against her head. “No, no no. You don’t understand! Hades is merely a means to an end. My end. I just needed him to trust me. I told him that if he gave me command of The Sorrow whilst it was on Earth, then not only would I get it to murder the boy Lafelei spoke of, I’d give it the hybrid baby that it missed the first time around.”
Gabriella’s jaw tightened. I could see she was trying not to lose her composure. She had also managed to get the clasp undone.
“So what’s the plan after we’re dead?”
Rachel turned to me. “That’s the beauty of it. I’m going to unleash The Sorrow on the Warren anyway. Then everyone will know it was me and that I was working directly for Hades.” She leaned forward with a huge smile on her face. “I’m going to start the war.”
“How could you?” shouted Gabriella. “People we care about died because of you! And you want to kill more? What about all the people who you’re betraying? Faru, Sophia…Delagio?”
The corners of Rachel’s mouth turned down. “I don’t want any of you to suffer, but this is the only way to get my revenge. You think I don’t care but I do.” She stared at us. “I care about all of you, but this is the only way.” I took a step forward and the gun was instantly aimed towards my head. “You’ve got funny way of showing it!” I shouted. “Stay back!” Rachel ordered. The howling grew louder. I could hear footsteps closing in from somewhere nearby. Each one sounded like the beat of a death drum. “Or what Rachel? We already know you’re going to have us killed. So go ahead!” “I said stay back!”
With a movement so quick it was barely perceptible; Gabriella threw the necklace at Rachel. It sliced across the Pixie’s cheek with a loud hiss.
“Bitch!” she screeched, clutching the side of her burning face. Sprinting forwards, we both dived for her at the same time. Connecting hard, we all slammed to the ground together. Gabriella pinned Rachel down and I prised the gun from her grip, throwing it to the other side of the room.
“NO!” Rachel screamed like a demented beast. She bucked, catching Gabriella unprepared and throwing her off. The frenzied Pixie kicked upwards with her leg, landing a crushing blow to the side of my head. Dazed, I collapsed to the floor. Through blurry vision I watched as Rachel sprang into a predatory crouch. She slipped the blood soaked dagger from its sheath. Behind her, Gabriella was still scrambling to her feet.
“I’m not going to let a Chosen kill me like you did my family,” she hissed.
“I’m not trying to kill you!” I insisted, but she wasn’t listening. I recoiled as she raised the blade above her head. The glow of the storm outside caught the edge and for a moment it winked red, like the eye of some demonic creature.
Bang!
The deafening sound made my ears ring. It was followed by a scream of agony. Rachel’s face became a contorted O of pain and shock. A little puff of smoke slipped out of a hole in her arm. Gabriella was standing next to a shocked looking Tim, who was holding the smoking gun. He dropped it as if it were on fire and looked at me with wide eyes.
“I–I shot her,” he stammered.
“You shot me!” Rachel hissed. “You little bastard!”
Before I had a chance to react, she threw the blade at my best friend.
It whirled through the air, heading straight for his jugular. It stopped a fraction from his throat, suspended in mid-air, as if hanging from invisible strings.
“I can’t believe I ever loved you.”
We all spun around to see Delagio appear in the doorway, his arm outstretched and wearing a sad expression. “All this time I thought you cared about us.”
Rachel gave Delagio a pleading look. “Del, I love you. Please don’t-”
Delagio closed his eyes and jerked his arm to the right. The blade sliced through the air and buried itself into Rachel’s throat. Her eyes went wide and she closed her fingers around the handle. I winced as with a rough movement, she pulled the blade out and stared at it. A jet of blood squirted from the wound. Rachel gave a simple nod of her head as if everything finally made sense, then crumbled to the floor and fell still.
Delagio was silent. He seemed stunned by his actions, like he couldn’t work out whether he’d done it or not.
I was about to speak, but a sudden thump on the outside wall stopped me. It was followed by another and another. Dozens of thuds, which made the walls shake. A sound similar to hundreds of crickets started up, but louder and harsher.
“Depraved,” breathed Gabriella, “We need to go now.”
Something crawled over the fire escape door. The windows were blocked out by mottled pink flesh. A stench of decay pervaded the room. I gagged. Delagio lifted Tim off his feet. We all sprinted out of the Gymnasium. Straight into the path of The Sorrow. Gabriella let out a bloodcurdling scream so horrifying, I shivered all the way down to my soul.
My heart stalled from the sheer horror of what I was witnessing. The Sorrow was far, far worse than I’d been able to capture in my nightmares. The soul-eater towered over ten feet in height; arching horns that jutted from its head grazed the ceiling. Amour the shade of dried blood and marked with unknowable symbols encased the creature. Long urchin like spines poked out from in-between each joint. A gruesome iron mask covered its face. The edges were studded and deep vertical slits filled the mouth plate. There were no eyes behind the mask, just hollow pits of pure darkness. The decaying mask was kept in place only by a set of fraying straps that locked around The Sorrow’s head.
When it saw us it lifted a hand and pointed. Its joints squealed like a tortured animal. Then it reached the same arm behind its back and unsheathed a sword which was easily as big as Sophia. It smashed into the floor, spraying up splintered tiles. The Sorrow started to walk forwards, the blade edge squealing and sparking as it trailed behind.
Gabriella had curled into a ball on the floor, hands covering her eyes. The confident, strong woman had disappeared, replaced by the terrified little girl from all those years ago.
Tim’s face had gone chalk white. He looked like he was going to have a heart attack.
“Help me get them back into the gym!” I screamed at Delagio.
Together we dragged the weeping Gabriella and dazed Tim away from the advancing Sorrow, back into the Gymnasium. I pulled her arms away from her face. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her teeth clenched together. She must have bitten her tongue, because blood dribbled from between her lips. “Ella snap out of it!” I shouted. She didn’t react. I could hear the thunderous boom of footsteps as The Sorrow drew closer. “Please snap out of it!” She made no indication that she could hear me.
I leaned in close and pressed my mouth against her ear. “ Please Gabriella, If you don’t snap out of this, The Sorrow is going to kill us both. I need you.”