Rain Dancer slammed his fist into Malcolm’s face, tearing a cut into his cheek. He set his hand on Malcolm’s chest and roared as he blasted electricity through him. Malcolm didn’t have enough breath left to scream. He felt his eyes rolling up into the back of his head, his body seizing from the intensity of the current.
I tried. I even came close. I’ll die… but the story won’t end here. I have a Second Wind.
CHAPTER 40
Malcolm blinked his eyes open, struggling to remember what was going on. He was lying on the grass. More importantly, he was still alive, and Rain Dancer was no longer on top of him.
A fire burned a few feet away from him, smoldering grass and a nearby bush. Malcolm slowly turned his attention back in the direction of the church. He saw Rain Dancer, his face bloody and contorted into a furious expression. Across from him was Danny, hands set on his hips, standing in between Malcolm and Rain Dancer like a superhero enforcing a mandate of protection.
“You think I’ll let you kill my fucking brother?” asked Danny. “Has all of that lightning melted your fucking brain cells?”
“This doesn’t concern you,” said Rain Dancer.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” said Danny. “Prepare to die, Rain Fucker.”
Rain Dancer roared and unleashed his lightning. A glance at the intensity of it was enough to momentarily blind Malcolm and confirm that the electric demon had been holding back against him.
Danny dodged and unleashed a burst of fire. Rain Dancer only barely managed to roll away from it, letting it strike the church behind him, instead. Malcolm briefly thought of Rose and Shield Maiden, still inside what was now a death trap.
The entire area is going to be destroyed if these two fight for too much longer!
As if confirming his fear, Rain Dancer blasted electricity at Danny, missing him by a few feet and striking the building behind him with enough force to explode one of its walls.
“Bro!” shouted Danny. “I got him! Get the fuck out of here!”
“Danny!” Malcolm gritted his teeth. “I can’t. I… have to stay.”
He felt resolve take hold in his chest. It wasn’t just about ensuring that Rain Dancer wasn’t left alive and able to hurt the people he loved. It was about Danny, too. Malcolm was a champion, and a battle between two demons capable of doing as much damage as each of them wasn’t something he could run away from.
He pushed up into the air, getting high enough to scan the area for any civilians in danger. He couldn’t see any, and figured it was either due to the remoteness of the church, or the early hour.
Rain Dancer and Danny were advancing on each other, attacking with unbridled ferocity. Rain Dancer looked to be on the defense, with Danny’s fire powers doing more damage to him than he gave in return with his lightning.
Malcolm dropped in behind them. He tried to launch some debris at Rain Dancer with the wind, but the electric demon was quick enough to blast them away from him with his powers. The attack only resulted in drawing Rain Dancer’s attention back to him, a slow smile spreading across his face as he realized what Danny’s true weakness was.
Rain Dancer held one hand up in Danny’s direction, as though to blast more lightning at him. With the other, he reached into his waistband and pulled out a small pistol.
Danny reacted faster than Malcolm did, throwing himself in the way of the gun as several shots rang out. Malcolm blinked, watching in disbelief as his brother staggered backward and collapsed on the grass in front of him.
If he’d reacted faster, Malcolm could have knocked the gun out of Rain Dancer’s hand with the wind. He could have deflected the bullets with a targeted wind shield. He could have yelled out to Danny, told him to surge his heat powers outward to melt the bullets before they hit him.
He thought about all those things as he fell to his knees over his older brother. Danny’s face looked placid, perhaps a little irritated, but not contorted by pain, as Malcolm had been expecting.
“Hey!” shouted Malcolm. “You’ll be okay! I’ve seen you get shot before. You’re a tough demon, right?”
Danny groaned. Malcolm squeezed his hand, and then decided to put his hands over the bullet wounds and apply pressure, instead.
“Not… this time,” said Danny. “He got me in the fucking vitals.”
Danny put his hands over Malcolm’s and locked eyes with him.
“Take my power, bro,” he said, weakly. “Do it. I’ve… fucking… seen you do it, before.”
“Danny…” Malcolm felt the tingling run up his hands. He slowly nodded.
“Now….” Danny’s voice was barely a whisper. “Take… my… heat…”
Malcolm felt a sudden surge of intense heat energy, as though someone had just turned on the hottest electric heater in existence and pointed it at him, full in the face. He felt the heat leaving Danny, all of it, until his brother’s hands felt ice cold in comparison to his.
“Touching,” said Rain Dancer. “It’s truly sad, you know? But now…it’s your turn to join him in death.”
He had the pistol raised already. This time, Malcolm had the wind shield up. The bullet went wide, along with the one after it. Malcolm slowly shook his head.
“You had so many chances to kill me,” he said. “You should have seen this coming.”
He reached for Danny’s power, channeling all the heat energy he’d been gifted in his brother’s dying breath into a single, massive blast. He launched it at Rain Dancer without any preamble, using his wind manipulation to feed it even more oxygen and expand the ball of flames into a rolling mass of spherical inferno.
Rain Dancer seemed to think he could dodge out of the way in time, as he’d done with Danny’s attacks. He couldn’t. The fire hit him before he realized what was happening, consuming the flesh of his body in an instant.
Rain Dancer’s charred skeleton was all that remained of him. It stood in place for a moment like a Halloween animatronic, and then crumbled to the ground. Malcolm stared at what was left of the demon, half expecting it to coalesce and reform. Nothing happened.
Danny was dead. Malcolm knelt next to his corpse, cradling his head and trying not to be overwhelmed by the sense of loss he felt. He thought that he’d already let go of him, having believed him dead once before, at his own hand.
He’s my brother. He was trying to do better, and I guess in the end… he did.
“Malcolm…” Rose came up behind him, slowly. Shield Maiden stood a few feet back. Malcolm looked at them and shook his head.
“The fight’s over,” he said, to Shield Maiden. “If you leave now, I won’t try to stop you.”
“You killed someone I love,” said Shield Maiden. Her voice sounded confused, rather than angry.
“Yeah, well, he killed someone I loved,” said Malcolm. “Join the club.”
Shield Maiden turned around and left without another word. Malcolm almost thought that Rose was going to follow in her wake, but instead, she dropped to the ground next to him, pulling him into a hug.
“You’re… incredible,” she said. “I don’t even know what to say.”
Malcolm shook his head. He was tired.
“There’s nothing to be said. I did what I had to. And the only reason I survived was because of…”
He swallowed hard and closed his eyes. There was a lump in his throat the size of a golf ball, and his eyes felt hot.
“I’m so sorry,” said Rose. “For everything. I wish… I could have helped you more.”
“It’s not your fault,” said Malcolm.
Emergency sirens sounded in the distance, drawing closer by the second. Malcolm set a hand on Rose’s shoulder, looking away from his brother’s body.