That was, until right then. I really need to pay more attention.
I growled as I spun, leveling my pistols. The fiend was faster, a trend I was getting real tired of, let me tell you. Its claws sunk into the meat of my side and a split second later, its shoulder rammed into my chest. The wind knocked from me, I sucked in a gasping breath as I was lifted into the air and slammed onto my back.
My left hand struck the ground hard and the pistol in it popped loose, to bounce out of reach. I clutched tighter to the other one as the fiend dropped down on my chest, its taloned hand clutching at my arm to keep me from putting my gun to use.
It leaned in toward me with its snarling mouth just inches from my face, its yellowish quills quivering even closer. I managed to slide my free arm in between us, pressing against its neck to keep it away some. It was too little space to give me much comfort and it was too strong for me to hold it for long. It tore at my defending arm, ripping open bubbling wounds that oozed black blood. I could feel my arm weakening beneath the assault. It wouldn’t be long before it failed me altogether.
Its rancid breath curled my nose hairs as it snorted and huffed, trying to bite my face off. Droplets of rank spittle rained down over me. I did my best to not think about what kind of cooties I could catch from it. While the least of my worries at that particular moment, I couldn’t help but think about it while gnashing rows of rotten teeth clacked together above me in a rhythmic tattoo, like lines of dark soldiers marching off to war. With every passing second, ravaging and horribly stinky death inched closer.
I struggled beneath the fiend, casting a quick glance to see if my companions had seen my predicament. My heart dropped when I saw they also were close to being overrun. There’d be no help from them.
Desperate, I thrashed from side to side, trying my hardest to delay the seemingly inevitable. The fiend held tight, its claws digging deeper into my arm, the other shredding what remained of my left. Its foul stench struck me like a fist as its gaping mouth pressed closer to my eyes, its bony quills jabbing into my cheeks and forehead. Looking up into the maw of the fiend, its rows of shark-like teeth and dripping putrescence, I knew that wasn’t how I wanted to go out. Give me a good old-fashioned heart attack any day.
Frantic, I bucked my hips up and just managed to get my legs beneath it before it settled its weight back down. Not wasting a second, considering how few I had left, I spread my legs and set my feet on the inside of the fiend’s hips. I mustered all my strength and kicked my legs out, pushing as best I could with my wounded arm. Caught off guard, the fiend’s lower body was lifted into the air and shoved back about a foot as I yanked my right arm in the opposite direction. It caught its balance and dropped its weight back onto me but not before its restraining hand had slipped free of my arm. Its oval eyes went wide when it realized what I’d done. I could see the reflection of the gun barrel in them as I brought it to bear. I squeezed my eyes shut and hunkered down as I tapped the trigger repeatedly, the gun hovering just above my nose. I could feel the heat from its report, the smoking hot casings raining down over me. The. 45’s vicious bark was like music to my deafened ears. The fiend’s screeches like a symphony of base satisfaction.
The seven silver deaths struck in rapid succession, each leaving behind a little less of the fiend’s ugly face than the last, all wreaking destruction in their wake. Its warm and gooey blood rained down on me, tiny droplets of gross. I could taste the fetid sickness in my mouth and smell its putrid scent in my nose. It was real hard not to vomit.
The screams ended and I felt a moist splash on my chest as the fiend collapsed, the remnants of its head like a shattered pumpkin oozing down my ribs. I shuddered and kicked the thing off of me, wiping at my face to clear my eyes before I opened them. I didn’t want any of that vile nastiness in them. I managed to get most of the goop off, but there was nothing I could do about the reeking funk that lingered like an unwelcome house guest.
Knowing I had more important things to worry about, I fumbled at my ammo belt with my one good hand, my left arm hanging lifeless at my side, and looked to see where we stood in the battle. I should have kept my eyes closed.
Separated from Katon, Rahim was caught between the two angels, both doing their damndest to kill him in close quarters. It was enough apparently. As Rahim spun to deflect the first angel’s blow, Urtel slipped behind him and drove his glowing fist into the wizard’s back just above the hips. Twenty yards away, I heard the crack of Rahim’s spine snapping. My stomach reeled as the wizard cried out and crumpled to the ground in a broken heap.
Rage tunneled my vision as I wriggled the cartridge into the gun with my one good hand and slammed it home against my leg. I chambered the first round with my teeth and ran off after the angels, my. 45 leading the way. Distracted by their victory, the two batting Rahim back and forth between them like kittens, adding insult to injury, they didn’t see me coming. Big mistake.
I stepped up behind Urtel and rammed my gun hard into his back. “An eye for an eye,” I shouted as I squeezed the trigger.
The report was even more satisfying than when I’d shot the fiend. The first bullet ripped into Urtel and shattered his spine in much the same way he had Rahim’s, a fountain of golden blood springing up in its wake. The second and third rounds finished the job. He died in silence.
I felt cheated he’d died so quickly. I wanted the bastard to suffer.
Malis would have to suffer for him.
I shouldered the still-standing corpse out of my way and turned my gun on the remaining angel. There was fear in his eyes.
He had good reason to be afraid.
There are horrors so vile, so blasphemous, lurking in the depths of Hell that even Clive Barker would be hard pressed to imagine. What I intended to do to Malis made those horrors pale in comparison. But even with the best laid plans, reality has a way of intruding. Once again, in the heat of combat, I’d forgotten about the soul transfer. My hand shook as I raised my pistol, a flood of warmth dancing across my nerves. I moaned as the blood in my veins ignited, my eyes fluttering closed in response to the orgasmic rush. I heard a shuffle of feet moving toward me and sighed, knowing my involuntary hesitation had cost me my shot at retribution. Still in the throes of the transfer, I waited to get hit.
I wasn’t disappointed.
I felt the tell-tale wave of heat an instant before the blast struck. Like a tennis ball smacked by a racket, I was flung backward, my arms and legs trailing out in front of me. My eyes opened to see wisps of black smoke curling away from me as I flew through the air, the room whipping by. The only comfort I had was it didn’t hurt. The essence of Urtel’s soul was still in flux inside my system. That was a good thing because I didn’t feel the barn wall as I smashed through it or the hard ground that rushed up to meet me at the end of my flight. After the impact, I rolled end over end until I came to a stop in the knee-high grass outside, broken pieces of the red wooden wall scattered all around me. A trail of flattened greenery and scarred earth marked my passage from landing point to final destination. Once the majority of the transfer had subsided, I got to my feet, my body tingling. I was relieved to see my left arm had regained its motion, its strength returned. I was even more thrilled to find I still had my gun. I’d gotten off lucky. That wasn’t true for all of us. Reminded of Rahim and what I’d been doing before being sent on a ride, I gritted my teeth. With vengeance on my mind, I stalked back to the barn. As I neared it, I heard a scrabbling of claws on wood and looked up to see a Dread Fiend crouched in the hole where I’d smashed through the wall. He howled a gravelly challenge to me as I approached. I answered his bark with a bite, four of them, to be precise. Without hesitation I emptied what remained in the clip into the fiend’s snarling mouth.