Bad day at the office

"Work can kill"

Chapter 10: Of Blood and Fire

Creatures ran screaming from the living inferno before them. It was not Montrellan's anger that was unleashed upon the room. He gave no mercy. There was no gate this time. The flames were an extension of his will. He saw the monster with four arms. It ceased cowering under the table and began to attack him in the last bid to do something. It truly was his last bid as a smattering of ash was all that touched Jack. The others, seeing what had happened to their friend, were filled with rage and followed in the attack.

Jack said nothing. He had not been taken over by Montrellan, but by a much darker and violent part of himself that had not seen the light of day for a very long time. It craved destruction and blood. The fire in his hands disappeared as he took to bludgeoning the oncoming demons with his fists. Each blow carried an unnatural strength found only with pure rage. His countenance had changed to that of a madman as he hit and broke bones left, right and center. His intent was clear. He was there to lay waste to every demonic presence in that room. Tess saw this and decided that her retrieval job was one that was best achieved with the maximum amount of speed available.

She grabbed the hair of the little girl swallowing Patricia and pulled its jaws further apart. That split second of give was all the light box creature needed. It pulled as hard as it could on Patricia, dragging her body towards its casing and the skeleton already trapped inside. Tess grabbed as hard as she could but it was obvious that she had underestimated it's strength. The light box monster flicked its tongue and pulled Tess off her feet with the force of the tug. The envelope monster bit down hard on Tess, feeling more than a little put out that it had lost the tug of war due to this impertinent human. Tess shrieked in pain as she released Patricia to deal with the envelope monster. It didn't want to take any chances that she would do something to harm it so it cleanly bit her in half and opened its maw to swallow the top half that was currently falling towards the monster in a delightfully gory shower of blood and unidentifiable organs.

Jack was still satisfying his bloodlust and was laughing as he snapped the neck of a spinefant. Montrellan spoke quickly to bring Jack back to reality when he saw a bloodied Patricia getting dragged into the light box by a long, purple tongue.

'If you are finished killing children perhaps you could tend to the girl?' Jack stopped dead, coming to his senses. Cynthia was hitting him hard although he couldn't feel it right then. He absent-mindedly swept her aside like a child's doll. She cracked her head off the wall and hit the ground hard.

Jack knew what he was becoming and knew that he had to stop it now before it became too late. He raced over to the bloodied and unconscious girl hanging from the ceiling. He thanked God for small mercies that the light box took a long time to digest its meals. Jack clenched his fist and simply willed a jet of fire to flow into the light box. The tentacles inside snapped and released the girl, as the monster silently burned in agony. Pain was nothing new to the creature but this was deeper. This was pain that brought the fear of being completely seared from existence.

Jack walked quickly to her making footprints in the ashes. He knelt down and wiped the blood from her face. A look of shock passed across his own.

"Patricia?" She was still unconscious.

Montrellan broke the relative silence. 'You know her?'

"No. I just met her today. Frankly I'm surprised that she is still alive in a place like this."

'Fate is a strange thing is it not?'

Jack nodded. "I suppose it is at that." He cast a cold glance at the gallows.

'Familiar?' Montrellan asked, a certain masked laughter barely disguised behind his voice. Jack didn't like the way his new ally was picking up on his thoughts.

"Too familiar. It's a place in time that I don't intend to revisit any time soon."

'Then don't.' Montrellan sounded detached again. 'Its as simple as that. There is always an answer to the problem and I'm afraid I will not allow you to take the easy path out.'

"I don't intend to." Jack said through gritted teeth.

'Good. Wake the girl. Gently though, she has been through a lot.'

"Familiar?" Jack chided back.

Montrellan said nothing. Jack turned his attention back to Patricia. He brushed the hair from her face.

"Come on kid. Time to go." Her eyes opened slowly as if it were taking a great effort to do so.

"Daddy?"

Jack flinched. "No. I'm sorry. You might not remember me. It's Jack…from this morning. Come on. We really have to go."

The shock of awareness hit her like a bucket of cold water. "Aaaagh."

Jack jumped, taken unawares by her scream.

"Where am I? Am I safe? I was having the worst nightmare."

"I would love to tell you different but you are still in it. The good news is that it isn't far to go before we can leave this place."

"Oh no. oh no."

"Listen its ok Patricia. I'll help you out of this but I need you to come with me now."

"Who are you?"

Realizing she mustn't have been fully aware when he introduced himself. He repeated himself.

"Jack? Oh my God. Your eyes, what happened to you?"

"Cobb."

"Who?"

"Owner of this building. His picture is up in the front hall."

"That nice old guy?"

"Yeah. That's what I thought too until recent events changed my mind somewhat."

"How is your head on fire? Why are you not screaming?"

"The fire doesn't hurt. Its not the same as the type we are used to. Listen, I will tell you on the way down."

"Where are we going?"

"We are headed for the front hall. I just hope the stairs have learned their lesson."

"What?"

"Just come on."

"Uuugh." Patricia stumbled.

"Torture will do that to you. Here." He picked her up and let her lean on him. The two shambled towards the stairwell. They exchanged brief versions of each others stories as they walked.

Nate felt extremely confused when the bad feeling in his bones grew weaker.

"He's leaving? Matt I have a sneaking suspicion that the party is most definitely over. We should go check on the party guests."

Corn sat on his bed in a moment of deep thought. "Tess is probably dead then if what you told me about this Montrellan fellow is accurate." He said in a matter of fact tone.

"We have bigger things to worry about. The gatekeepers are together again. This should not be until the appointed time when the city is bathed in flames. I will go and talk to Cornelius while you tend to the remains of your party guests."

"Cynthia." Matt sighed with a heavy heart.

"Fine. Matt and I will check on the party. I trust you have a plan to separate the two."

"I have and with your Mother in her delicate condition I am sure Cornelius will be more than eager to separate them and have this be done with. As for myself I am anxious to meet this Samael of yours."

Nate's face was unreadable as they watched Corn draw up one of his magic doorways and leave.

Nate and Matt made for the elevator with Matt leading the way, anxious to see what had become of Cynthia. He knew it wasn't going to be good when he saw Sharon in the lift. The reflected girl was weeping silently. When the two got out they could hear the heads on the staircase howling. Nate frowned in deep concentration.

"Damn it. What is he up to?" Nate cursed himself for not knowing. Matt wasn't really paying attention to his master's mutterings. He saw the gaping hole that the fire had made in the entrance and rushed even faster. He saw Cynthia limp and still on the floor. A small trickle of blood was running from the back of her head.

Matt cried out in anger. Nate hurried over to him.

"Wait Matt let me look at her." He put a small hand over her neck, now slick with blood.

"She will be fine. I can fix her up later. For now this will have to do." He licked the wound and stopped the bleeding. He was cautious not to show just how much he enjoyed the taste.

"Thank you sire. Can you still feel Montrellan?"

"Yes. He is headed downstairs." With that Matt rushed out of the room in a fury.

"You're dead when I find you. You hear? I'LL CUT YOU TO PIECES YOU SON OF A BITCH."

Nate started to regret leaving Matt with a high percentage of humanity more than ever. He resigned himself to looking about the room. The walls were blackened an broken bodies lay on an ash covered carpet. The hangman was still swinging from his gallows, his face black and blue. Nate shook his head.

"Matt was right. You are a dead man." He saw the body of a spinefant strewn on the floor at an awkward angle, then another and another. None of them had been burned. A look of realization passed over Nate's face.

"Oh my Jack but you have been naughty haven't you." A plan started to form in Nate's head followed by an evil grin.

The stairs were exactly as Jack had expected. They kept contracting and expanding themselves to make the journey more difficult. The heads screamed loudly.

"God. Why won't they stop?" Patricia shouted.

"I don't know. Maybe they sense what is inside of me. Whatever it is there is a high possibility that they are showing us the right way."

"How?"

"They don't want us to reach our destination so the louder they get, the closer we are."

"We must be pretty damn close then." Jack nodded.

"Better than that. We're here." Silence. Jack opened the door to the front hall.

"We're on the home stretch now."

"Thank God. Oh no. What's that?"

Before them stood a large doorway covered with a silver web. Hiding but just about visible was a large purple mass with teeth. It was slightly reminiscent of a Venus flytrap except it had long, spindly legs. The web vibrated with each step they took.

"Montrellan we may need your help here." There was no answer. Jack suddenly became afraid.

"Montrellan?" Patricia watched as Jack attempted to have a conversation with the demon inside him. Had she not experienced the last couple of hours she would have just written Jack off as a crazy person.

Suddenly a shimmering drew her attention away from the web. She looked behind to see a door appear out of nowhere. Two men stepped through. One she recognized as Mr. Cobb the buildings owner. The other man she couldn't place until he spoke.

"Hello Jack. Hello Patricia." It was Robert Corn. The tension in the air could be cut with a knife.

Cornelius spoke. "You have one destiny to fulfill. One. How hard can it be to follow such a simple path? If the prophecy was more detailed this could have been a lot easier on both of you."

Robert interrupted. "What my friend here is trying to say is that you shouldn't be here and by coming here you have forced our hands to chastise you yet again."

Patricia backed away from the advancing Corn.

"Jack? What are you doing?" Jack stood motionless, listening for the footsteps.

"He isn't answering. I'm blind for the moment."

"Oh great." Patricia quickly ran forward, grabbed Jacks arm and dragged him towards the staircase. Robert raised a knife, showing it to be dipped in a black substance. He moved like a cobra striking its prey, making a light and precise cut in the back of both the gatekeepers legs.

"Damn it." Jack cursed. "Montrellan. Where are you?"

Corn's eyes narrowed. "What did you say?"

Before he could utter another word Jack passed out, dragging Patricia down with him.

"Oh no. Don't do this please. Ahh." Her scream died on her lips as she fell crashing into the darkness of unconsciousness.

The reason for her scream had just burst through the entrance to the stairs. It was Matt and he was ready to tear the two gatekeepers to shreds.

"Stop. What is the meaning of this madness?" Matt saw that it was Cornelius talking and immediately stood to attention.

"The Allfather. My apologies. This man owes me a blood debt."

Corn interrupted "Actually it is the beast within the man. This gatekeeper has a guardian inside him."

"How can that be? I know destruction of the guardians is not an option but were they not bound?"

Corn nodded. "They were but it seems that this particular one is good at finding his way out. I have no idea how many are possibly out there but this one was freed and someone," he looked at Cobb, "didn't notice."

Cobb held his hands up in defense. "I had the room filled with fog and Josephine needed the eye. I didn't exactly stop to take in the scenery."

Matt tried to stop the argument before it escalated. "I think you are missing the heart of the matter…"

"Well?"

"I was pausing for effect. The real question is what are you going to do with them? Not who is to blame."

Cobb turned to his associate. "He has a point."

"You would say that. Fine. We are splitting them up yes?"

"Agreed. I suggest you take Jack as he knows what I can do."

"Fine. You take the girl and I will handle hotshot here."

"Excellent. Matt give me a hand will you?"

"Certainly Allfather." Matt scooped up Patricia's fragile frame in his tentacles before following Cornelius into the lift.

Robert Corn looked down at the limp body before him and smirked.

"Oh Jack I do apologize. This occasion was meant to be so much more." There was not a little disappointment in his voice.

"It seems that some things just don't turn out as you expect. Nevertheless what must be done must be done. I'm sure you will afford me some small measure of forgiveness for this. After all this is ultimately your sin as well. You need to address your inner demons and I'm not talking about that sniveling coward either." Corn started dragging the unconscious Jack towards the spider's web.

"That's right. I know you are listening and I know you will more then likely report back to the mortal whenever I am done with him. He's not pure. You know that don't you. He can never serve as the host you so desperately seek. In fact you'll be lucky if you survive in there with him and his darkness. No matter how bright the flame. One candle cannot hope to destroy the night. Hup."

He hefted Jack onto his shoulder before bringing him down on the web. Thin, purple tendrils snaked along the fine silver lines holding the web together. Robert stood there watching intently. A voice drifted down to him.

"Uncle Robbie. I need you in the party room now." A brief frown drifted across Robert's face.

"Be right there. Au revoir for now Jack. I do hope that you have awakened when next we meet." Corn drew a door in the air. It promptly materialized. He left the room. The door disappeared as soon as it clicked on closing.

Light flickered in Jack's dead eyes.

"Well this isn't quite the escape I had envisioned. All he had to do was get past this challenge. It's not like those two are invincible like proper wizards. More like children who think they know everything once they taste a drop of magic." A faint vibration started to make the strands of web beside Jack quiver.

"Hmm that can't be good. Better call in the reinforcements. Mmmph." A dark tentacle covered his face before he could say another word.

"I would advise you not to resist." The voice came from a slender woman in white.

"He has to do this before Samael can get a better grip on him. Right now he's closer to the edge then you think." Montrellan relented and let the darkness take both of them. The woman in white sat in the security guard's chair and sat back to wait the revelations out.

End of Chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. I am pushing to finish putting this story up soon so please R&R.
Cheers
Wolf