I clutched my throbbing arm as I tried to push myself away from the edge of the breaking ice. Cracks in the surface splintered out with horrifying speed as shriveled gray hands broke through the ice in the weakest spots. The surface I was laying on began to tip as it broke off from the rest of the ice, causing one edge to dip into the frigged water. Skeletal hands emerged to reach towards me, finger bones breaking through the thin decaying flesh of their hands as they clawed at me, trying to drag the ice under the water and me with it. I was quickly losing traction as the slab tilted further into the water, and I started to slide towards the grasping hands. Right before my boots could hit the water I was gripped and pulled backwards with a gust of wind that kicked up an eye-stinging flurry of snow. The black garbed arms that had securely wrapped around my waist and the familiar accompanying smell left no doubt that the one who had grabbed me was Crowley. He pulled me onto my feet, making sure I was stable before letting go.
"Stay back." He told me firmly as he placed himself between me and the hole in the ice that continued to grow larger by the second. A deep crack raced across the surface straight towards me and right between Crowley's feet. We both leaped aside simultaneously, and just in time to avoid the ice as it burst upwards. A huge hand made from the twisted, convulsing forms of the corpses reached through the broken ice and slapped down towards me, but narrowly missed. I struggled to keep my balance on the ice as I tried to get further away, but the hand began to drag itself out of the water revealing a larger form that had yet to breach the surface. No matter which way I moved the cracks in the ice followed me, and it was becoming very clear that I was the main target of these creatures.
"Well, what did I bring you for?" Crowley snapped at the six demons who were standing as if just waiting for instructions. At Crowley's word they leaped into action, each brandishing a weapon of some sort and began hacking at the corpses that were making their way out of the water. Two of the bigger demons came over to flank Crowley.
"Push it back!" He ordered, referring to the large grasping hand still straining to reach me. The demons began slicing away at the hand but they only seemed to be aggravating it. With each chop a piece of corpse would be cut loose but almost as quickly a new piece would take its place. There seemed to be no end to the bodies, they probably filled this whole lake. Crowley slowly backed away, glancing back towards the far shore, probably trying to judge how far we had yet to go until relative safety. Daisy had appeared by my legs, growling menacingly and snapping at any corpses that had managed to crawl out of the lake. I grabbed my knife from my waist and held it at the ready even though one of my arms felt almost completely numb. The demons attempted to drive the creatures back under the ice but no headway was being made, in fact, we were slowly getting pushed back as more ice broke up allowing more corpses through.
Crowley, becoming visibly more agitated, rolled his shoulders and finally stepped in mumbling something under his breath. He squared off sideways and threw his hand forward and with a snap of his fingers sent a wave of energy forward that obliterated the corpses in its path with brutal efficiency. For a moment the surface was cleared as bits of bodies splashed back into the water, and I held my breath in anticipation. Now that nothing was pushing at the surface anymore the ice was quickly starting to solidify, and given enough time the holes would close back up, trapping the bodies once again under the water.
I was about to let out a sigh of relief when I began to hear a strange gurgling noise coming from bellow the surface. There was still a sizable hole that hadn't yet had time to freeze over, and in the middle I could see something was bubbling under the water. Crowley was the first to move as he quickly closed the distance to me.
"Get on Daisy's back, now!" he shouted as he took off his overcoat and threw it over the protruding bones of Daisy's spine. I put away my knife and scrambled on as Daisy immediately dug her claws into the ice and started racing for the shoreline. The two demons that had flanked Crowley were now on either side of us, both keeping up with surprising swiftness. I looked back just in time to catch a glimpse of Crowley signaling to the four other demons who began to run outwards in different directions.
With geyser like force an enormous fist burst up through the hole in the lake, sending chunks of ice and freezing water flying in all directions. The arm extended high into the air above our heads, its claw like fingers opening up before beginning to fall straight towards me. Daisy must have known it was coming because she darted to the side just in time to avoid the arm as it crashed down between us and one of the demons. Almost as soon as it had hit the ice it was sweeping sideways trying to grab us before we could outrun its reach. The enormous open palm swatted at us and I thought for a moment we were dead for sure, but with a tremendous upwards heave that made my stomach drop Daisy leaped over the hand. It flew by underneath us and instead snatched one of the demons. With a sickening pop the hand clenched the demon tightly enough to cause their body to burst.
Daisy landed roughly back on the ground nearly throwing me off over her head, but I managed to hold on and keep myself upright. Without breaking stride she kept on running, clearing the reach of the monster. Its hand now dripped with black ichor as it grasped at the ice once more, digging its fingers in, beginning to drag itself out of the water as another arm reached out to help. The broken ice buckled under its weight as it dragged more of its mass upwards. It was hard to keep an eye on things when Daisy beat forward, but I could see these huge arms made out of conjoined bodies were attached to an oblong mass that pulsated unnervingly. It was nearly able to haul itself out of the water towards me. Both arms now slammed down at me, smashing through the ice which caused huge sheets to be broken up. Daisy struggled to keep her footing as the ground bellow us was suddenly moving as if we were standing on a waterbed. The line of breakage that the arms caused encircled us, completely cutting us off from the shore. The creature, having destroyed the integrity of the ice, fell back down under the water causing a huge wave to go rolling outwards. That wave of freezing water came crashing towards us with frightening speed and I could feel as the ice we stood on was picked up by it.
I clutched Daisy as tightly as I could but as the wave sent us flying I lost my grip. I was sent head-over-heels as the water tossed me like a ragdoll, soaking into my clothes, blinding me, forcing its way into my nose and mouth. I could tell the second I fell down through the surface of the lake as all warmth was immediately sapped from my body. For a moment I was suspended motionless in the water. I opened my eyes as I held my breath and could see with astonishing clarity the hundreds of thousands of bodies that resided in the lake. Instinct kicked in as my arms and legs scrambled to take me back to the surface, but as I reached the top of the water I was unable to break through. It was as if I had fallen through a one way mirror, able to see and pass through into the depths of the lake but unable to get back out. I pounded my fists upwards trying to break through, feeling the oxygen seep out of my lungs as my heart raced, but my fists made no impact.
I tried not to panic but I knew I had to think of a way out quickly. The corpses had sensed my presence in the water and were starting to swarm me, the closest ones grabbed my feet in an attempt to drag me deeper. I kicked frantically because my life depended on it, pushing the palms of my hands against the surface of the water. There was a warmth in my chest that I knew was drawing these creatures to me, like moths to a flame, and I would use that to my advantage. Accessing the angelic essence at my core caused heat to radiate outwards, warming the water but also lighting me up like a beacon as my body exuded a visible brightness. I could feel the wings on my back slowly extending, pushing corpses back with a blinding light that was quickly beginning to cause the water to boil.
With one big heave I propelled myself upwards and through the surface of the water. I gasped for air as I rolled away from the open water, scrambling to get back on my feet. I was on a large chunk of ice that was being tossed around by the waves but I couldn't see much else and I had completely lost track of where Crowley and the other demons were.
I reoriented myself towards the far shore and began carefully moving in that direction, jumping from one piece of floating ice to another. I hadn't gotten very far when I heard a loud bark and looked around to see Daisy had managed to stay above the water and was making her way towards me. With a flash, Crowley was beside me out of breath with his suit jacket torn.
"Crow–" I began to speak but was cut off as he whistled so loudly it must have reached across the entire lake. Daisy stopped making her way towards us and began to run for the shore. Crowley then scooped me up and began running across the ice with inhuman haste until we were back on solid ice. He skidded to a halt and quickly put me back down again.
"Keep going." he huffed as he turned back to the lake where an enormous body was beginning to rise out of the water once more, this time bigger and more powerful then before. Even though I knew I should follow Daisy the rest of the way to the shore I couldn't tear my eyes off of Crowley's back. A howling wind was being whipped up all across the lake as an enormous amount of energy was being channeled through him. He extended his arms and etchings appeared in the ice that raced outwards in two arcs while two lines extended in front of him in a V shape. I saw in the distance the four other demons were spaced out in a wide circle around the lake and realized these etchings that Crowley was making were all connecting to create a pentagram that relied on the other demons to complete the five points of the star.
Demons using a devil's trap, certainly a scene I had never seen the likes of before.
Crowley yelled out in a language I had never heard before and the lines of the devil's trap lit up with green fire. The monster roared out and tried to swipe at Crowley, but he brought his hands together with a deafening thunderclap. Before it could even get close to us everything inside the trap was encased in a thick layer of ice and all was still once more. The green flames quickly went out as Crowley's energy sealed the trap.
He let his arms fall loosely to his sides and exhaled heavily, his warm breath visible in the cold air. He tilted shakily as he started to turn around and I quickly stepped in and took his arm over my shoulders to steady him. We began to walk slowly and quietly to the shore line where Daisy waited for us. The four other demons that had survived the attack made there way after us. I could feel blood from Crowley's arm soak into my clothes and realized that I was no longer hurt or wet. I must have healed myself when I used that burst of energy to get through the ice. We finally all regrouped at the shore and Crowley took stock of our situation.
I was shaking from the cold and utterly exhausted but otherwise fine. Daisy looked unscathed as well. Some of the demons had cuts and gashes on them that oozed a black liquid, but they continued to stand silently as if they were totally unharmed. Crowley looked the worst, I had no idea how he got injured but his arm wasn't looking so great. In addition, his skin had taken on an ashen color with visible dark circles under his eyes.
"Are you alright?" I asked softly.
"I'm just drained," he sighed, "and exerting so much power through this body weakens it considerably."
"We should stop for a little while and catch our breath."
"Agreed, but not here, further in"
We left the frozen lake behind us and continued into a desolate region that was populated only by large boulders and jutting rocks. We made our way into a crevasse that sheltered us from the wind and gave us a defensible area to set up camp for a little while. Two demons were still wearing large packs on their back which they now took off to extract the supplies for a tent. Crowley grabbed a blanket and some first aid supplies from one of the packs and moved over to hand the stuff to me. I pulled the blanket around me and we both sat down against one of the rock walls. He took his suit jacket off and rolled up his torn sleeve as I got a needle and thread ready to stitch him up. Before I started I paused.
"I could probably just heal you, you know." I stated.
"You could, but it wouldn't make any sense to waste your energy on it. The cut is insignificant, I just need it to stop bleeding everywhere." his reasoning made sense, so I started to work on his arm.
"I'm sorry." I said after working for a little while in silence.
"Don't be, something was bound to happen on that lake, too many hungry souls."
"Except it was me they were after and it was my fault they were even able to get out in the first place."
"And it was my fault I didn't put an end to it before it got out of hand, so look, there's plenty of blame to go around! What we need to focus on now finding Eloa's cage and getting what I came here for."
"Wait, what you came here for?" I asked him as I started to wrap his arm. He paused for a moment before looking at me.
"Were you under the assumption I would come all the way out here into this hell hole just so you could visit a cage and then leave again?"
"What do you think you'll gain from this?" I asked as I began to feel increasingly uneasy.
"Whatever that angel has to offer. She's ancient and undoubtedly powerful, she could be an invaluable ally for hell."
"She's an angel, do you seriously think she's just going to side with a bunch of demons?"
"The bloody founder of Hell is an angel." he said with an exasperated tone, clearly not in the mood to argue about this. I finished securing the bandage around his arm and stood up, frustrated with Crowley for refusing to see the possibility of a positive outcome for Eloa.
The demons had erected a decent sized tent which Crowley motioned me into. Inside was almost warm and cut out the wind nearly entirely. It was dark at first because we didn't have anything to light the space, but my eyes quickly adjusted to the low light. There was only a blanket covering the ground but it was comfortable enough to sleep on.
"Alright, well I have to rest for a short while, I suggest to do the same." Crowley said as he stretched out on the ground with one arm behind his head and the other over his eyes. I sat down, making sure there was plenty of room between us, but I didn't feel the need to rest. I listened to Crowley's breathing and the faint howling of the wind outside and I thought about what he had told me. I was naive to think Crowley wouldn't have his own agenda in coming out here, but to want to use Eloa as a tool, a weapon for Hell's purposes? I couldn't let that happen.
I waited, listening to make sure Crowley was asleep, before I crept to the opening of the tent. I could feel the other half of me calling out, strongly pulling me towards her. I was very close, but I had to go the rest of the way alone now, I couldn't risk Crowley getting to her.
A/N: I wanted to address a question from the comments asking about Crowley's apparent lack of need for Ely's blood. He did stop using her blood but it's not necessarily because he doesn't want the blood anymore. There's a very good reason he stopped using Ely's which I will explain in a few chapters, but I just wanted to assure you all that I didn't just leave a huge plot hole in the story XD
Thank you for your continued support of this story!