THE CHILDREN OF THE SPIDER, Part 10

If you are a child of the First Spider, there is a sure understanding that you carry with you from birth to death. It's the knowledge that the First Spider is watching over you, and will warn you of any impending threat. Even the Blood, with their keen senses, aren't aware of the presence of danger in the same way as the Spider-Folk.

The Spider-Folk find it astounding that other races live without that kind of reassurance. What must it be like to not absolutely know that your great ancestor is always with you? Wouldn't that be an incredibly cold and empty existence?

Venom and I are the living violation of the First Spider's blessing. There are many reasons we are such a nightmare to the Spider-Folk, but the greatest is that they cannot sense our menace. The Dark Spider is the deadliest weapon that House Parker wields against enemies of the Spider-Folk - and against the other Spider families and clans. We are the undetectable infiltrator, the unstoppable assassin, the shadowy creature that can only be seen once it is far too late.

Our very existence is a nerve-wracking threat and a terrifying deterrent.

The Parker's have always had a Dark Warrior... or rather, that's what they believe and that's close enough to the truth. Our alien-half is so old that it remembers the First Spider as something akin to a long-lost love. Our current human-half is just another flicker of light in a cascade of mortal lives who have found themselves bound to the symbiote, and yet he is cherished.

But our human-half utterly hates us. And he hates his family for making him a part of us.

Or at least, that's what he tells himself.

*Theeey didn't lieee to you*

*Close enough*

*Youuu were warnnned that it wasss a sssacrificcce*

*They didn't tell me how much*

*You love thisss*

*No, I don't*

*I love youuu*

*I hate you*

*Whennn you arrre most lllonely, do you think of your wifffe? Or dooo you thhhink of usss?*

*Nnnothing to sssay?*

*Yeah - go fuck yourself*

*We'vvve donnne thattt*

A brilliant bolt of lightning turned the world white. It was followed almost immediately by thunder so loud that it seemed to vibrate the gigantic building to which we clung.

For a dizzy moment, I came to my senses. I was no longer 'us' or 'we'. I was Benjamin Steven Parker, fourth in line to the mastery of House Parker, and the chosen Dark Spider of the Spider-Folk. Estranged from my family by their words and deeds, I long ago abandoned them and left Nyack. In my last conversation with my father, I said unforgivable things. The last time I fought in the Legion, I disguised myself as a common house-sergeant rather than admit to my true lineage and rank.

Eventually, I found a home as a samurai for a Blood Lord. I loved that deeply, but was recently forced to leave even that behind.

My wife is not of my kind and most of my family despises her. I love her, yet I am haunted by the thought that there is something I love more than her.

A seaborne squall was drenching the towers of Nyack, and the moon was covered by rain-clouds. I was climbing the Chryse tower, using the architecture to conceal myself in a way that few could. I knew the tower. I knew the guard-posts. I knew that my brethren couldn't sense what I was or what I intended.

In the sudden flicker of light, I could see a lone Spider guardsman clinging dejectedly to the rain-soaked wall. He was huddled underneath some sparse architectural cover as he watched his part of the tower exterior. Once upon a time, I spent many a night doing the same. My father felt it would build character. I suppose he was correct.

I didn't want to kill the guardsman. There was no need for that.

I wanted to kill the guardsman. It would be fun.

"Stop it," I whispered.

*Weee are freeee,* Venom crooned in my head.

"Stop it," I whispered again. "Keep to the mission."

I felt a familiar prickling sensation - like an itch that couldn't be scratched. It was Ed the Lockjaw. He was looking for me, using his strange senses. Venom resists that sort of thing, but the thunder had knocked Venom askew. For a moment, I could be detected.

Ed and Jonah were obviously worried about me.

In another, more distant, flash of lightning, I caught a glimpse of myself reflected in the window next to me. My face - my human face - was partially visible. I could see one eye, a cheek, part of my forehead, and a shock of brown hair. The rest of me was solid black, except for the ancient and white spider-symbol of the Parker's on my chest. As I watched, worm-like tendrils of darkness writhed over the exposed part of my face, covering it again.

When I was young, I was told that Venom was a blessing and that I should be honored to join with him. Soon, covered in the blood of my House's enemies, I knew him for the obscenity that he really is.

Sensing something wrong, the guardsman clinging to the wall suddenly began looking around. However, he still couldn't precisely detect me.

Then Venom concealed my face. He and I became one again. The odd sensation that was Ed's psychic search vanished.

The guardsman shook his head and relaxed

After a few moments, we resumed climbing. Below us, the Spider guardsman had no idea how close he had come to death.

Grandfather doesn't live at the very top of the Chryse tower, but his domicile occupies all of the seventy-sixth floor.

Usually, there are ways in and out of even the tallest floors of the Nyack towers. After all, Spiders don't fear heights and love to wander the exteriors of even their tallest homes.

Also, there are wind-swept cables suspended from great bolts set into the towers. Spiders use them to swing across the faces of the buildings, transiting from opening to opening in the tower walls. Newcomers to Nyack gawk in horror when they see us do that. The part where we leap from cable to cable, while hundreds of feet above ground, has been known to cause fainting.

Of course, Venom and I didn't need those cables. There is a memory within us. A memory of long ago when our First Spider could produce his own webbing. That remains a part of us, and we can still do it.

Perhaps the Spider-Folk trust their special senses too much. Actually, as long as some guard doesn't intercept you, there are few places in the towers that a Spider can't reach. Avoiding the guards was childishly simple for us. Getting up to the seventy-sixth floor - even in a storm - was easy enough. Getting into the personal chambers of my human-half's grandfather was as easy as opening a latch of one of the Chryse towers' strangely triangular windows and climbing inside.

Of course, most people can't open interior latches by extruding a black tendril, squeezing it through a structural window-frame, and using it as something akin to a tentacle.

Silently drifting out of the access room, we found ourselves in the room being used by one of grampa's aides. We vaguely recognized her. She was an elderly and dark-skinned Wilder dressed in a simple and conservative style that was years out of fashion. At the moment, she was working at a desk.

We knew the aide's face, but not her name. She'd been at my grandfather's side for decades. She was an anti-psi - a useful breed of Wilder. They have the ability to project a field about themselves that blocks the powers of telepaths and other mentalists, yet they themselves cannot read minds. They are a necessary companion for a powerful person. Especially a powerful person with secrets - and don't power and secrets seem to go together?

When we opened the door to her chamber, a puff of cold air stirred the aide's hair and the papers on her writing desk. The aide began to glance in our direction, but her reactions were slow. After all, what did she have to fear? It was probably just another member of the staff...

Before she finished turning her head in our direction, we were standing next to her. Putting a massive hand over her mouth, we used the other to grab her by the hair and crack her forehead against the desk. That actually made very little noise.

The aide sat unmoving in her chair, slumped forward onto the desk. Her white hair was a halo around her head as a trickle of blood leaked from her forehead. The scent of her blood made us hungry.

*Damn it!*

*Sheee doesssn't mattter*

We put a little finger against the great vein in her neck. There was a pulse.

*She needs help*

*Sheee doesssn't mattter*

For some reason, we picked up the blood-splattered note that the aide had just finished. It was the second of two attempts, the other being incomplete and obviously abandoned. The subject was the same on both of them - she had decided to leave the service of my human-half's grandfather. The finished note said it was because of her advanced age and a desire to spend her last years with family. The other note more bravely complained about certain "outrages and crimes" she'd seen in grandfather's service. She felt they were getting worse and worse.

The aide had apparently made the decision she couldn't finish that particular note. Then she wrote something that was more moderate and hopefully less suicidal.

That made us smile. Oddly enough, it would have been better for her if she'd finished the first note and then left immediately. That way, she wouldn't have met us.

Of course, she probably would have been killed anyway. Her kind of job - working for that kind of master - is for life. We were surprised that she didn't know that.

We crept out of the aide's chamber, just another shadow within shadows as we drifted from room to room. There didn't seem to be any other guards or servants on the seventy-sixth floor. However, we could sense others on the floors below.

However, we could feel Carnage. He was within our human-half's grandfather. There was a time when Carnage could hide himself from us, but he apparently didn't know of our presence.

Reaching over our shoulders, I silently drew the two short-swords that our human-half uses to express himself. Even they were touched by our inhuman-half. The blades were black and glistening, while the hilts were textured for a surer grip. Spikes protruded from the back of eacb hilt.

It was going to be tremendous surprise when we met Carnage-Grandpa.

We love surprises.

Carnage is more powerful than us. Definitely, stronger and more durable. Perhaps faster. Once, we had the advantage of experience, but after centuries of time that edge has obviously been blunted.

Our best chance was to kill the eldest Parker - Grampa - before he could manifest Carnage...

*Maybe Grampa doesn't deserve that,* my human-half suddenly said.

*Shhhutttup*

*Maybe everything he's done is because of Carnage!*

*Shhhutttup*

*Maybe we can save him...*

*SHHHUTTTUP!*

The windows flared with bright, white, light. The thunder was immediate. A lightning bolt had struck the tower.

I gasped and leaned against the nearest wall in order to keep my balance. My ears were ringing.

My hands were mine. In a nearby window, I could see my face - it was back to normal. Venom had been driven into submission by that howl of thunder. He was still with me, hiding beneath my clothes and armor, but I was in charge.

"Benjamin?" someone said.

I looked up. The person who'd spoken to me was on the other end of the hallway. He was standing in a doorway, back-lit by the lanterns of his most private chamber.

Yes, it was my grandfather.

Of course I had found him at the worst possible time.

He hadn't aged much since I'd last seen him. He was medium height, with a slender yet muscular build, white and short-cropped hair that was longer than I remembered, and a face that was only faintly lined. Back at Lock, I'd seen a vision of the First Spider. My grandfather's resemblance to him was eerily close.

We'd lost the element of surprise against Carnage. That wasn't good.

"Hello, grampa," I said.

He let out a long sigh as he shook his head. "You're in a lot of trouble, boy. What would your father say?"

I shrugged and began slowly walking towards him. I had to close the distance between us. "Does father know what you really are?"

A brief smile came over his face. "I suppose I could deny everything and act surprised and puzzled, but why bother? You've taken the Dark. And you made it clear with all your whining and complaining how much you hate that. There's only one reason you would voluntarily join with Venom and come here. You know what I am."

"You didn't answer my question," I continued stubbornly. "What about father?"

He shrugged. "He thinks I've gone mad, but he doesn't know everything. He's been planning a coup for some time now, but he's being careful because he doesn't want to trigger a full-blown civil war within the family. So he's taking his time. Too much time, I'd say."

Then grampa smiled as Carnage - blood red and ominous - appeared at his neck and wrists and began sliding over the exposed parts of his body.

"I'll put your father's head up on a pole, Benjamin," he told me - his face now almost covered by the red mask of Carnage. "After that, the only perssson who might be able to ssstop me is Gwennn. Killing herrr will be a problem sssince she's a priestessss, but therrre arrre waysss."

I could feel Venom reassert himself over me. He really doesn't like his child. I could understand that.

We understood that.

"And I reeeally ssshould get rid of Jonnnah," Carnage added thoughtfully. "Who knnnowsss what you've told him? And he'sss beginning to ssshow some disturbing sssignsss of independent thought. Perhapsss he should die while he isss on a distant missssion for the family."

We hissed angrily. We were fully joined again.

"Hello, fffather," Carnage replied.

"Kill youuu, ssson," we promised.

Then, whirling like whips, we lashed out at each other.

Tangled up in a whirling snarl of limbs, swords, spikes, tongues, claws, and teeth, we smashed through a window. Shattered glass, raindrops, blood, and splashed fragments of our symbiote-selves spun around us as we fell. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of one of the exterior guard-Spiders. His head followed our downward trajectory, his mouth open in surprise.

We and Carnage tore and cut at each other as we tumbled downward. Carnage was using his claws, we were using Benjamin's swords. Our fall was more-or-less as we'd planned. We had redirected Carnage's throw so we hit a window. Then we hooked his ankles with our webbing and dragged him out of the building with us.

Come to think of it, Carnage fell for that trick more than once way back when our beloved Peter was still with us. Carnage has a problem - he's too strong. He doesn't have to think about his fights, so he doesn't always learn from his mistakes.

Of course, we had a problem of our own with Benjamin. He wasn't used to web-casting. He was having a problem integrating that ability with his swords. However, he was catching on.

Really, the Spider-Folk have fallen a bit since the good old days.

Carnage fired a web-line at the spinning wall of the Chryse tower. He snagged it and yanked hard, swinging us towards the building. His plan was to smash us against it. I lashed out with my tongue and cut the webbing strand. We did hit the wall, but it was only a glancing blow that scraped us against the smoothed and wet stone. Then we bounced away and back into thin air. Carnage was so surprised that we were able to put a foot against his chest and kick him loose.

Then we fell independently from each other. There was a tall structure across the street, I snagged it with a line of webbing and swung in that direction.

"Fffolllowww meee!" we mockingly called out to Carnage.

He did just that. The chase was on.

Several blocks away, and much closer to street-level, we caught a glimpse of two figures leaping from rooftop to rooftop, roughly paralleling our route. The way they moved suggested that they were either Elves or Spiders. At that moment, we assumed they were just somebody far too curious for their own good.

Then Carnage caught us in a flying tackle. We'd forgotten how far he could leap if he used a web-swing for added momentum.

In a flash of lightning, we crashed onto a rooftop. Carnage had us from behind, in what would soon be a death-grip when he got his teeth into the back of our neck.

Spikes popped out from our back, but Carnage forced his body onto them as he searched for my neck with his jaws. More blood spurted. However, that was just a distraction on our part.

We swung our swords over our shoulders and then thrust backwards. Really, that was merely a modification of what Benjamin does every time he sheaths or unsheathes his blades.

One blade skittered off Carnage's shoulder blade, but the other slid deep into Carnage's chest. Carnage roared in pain, spraying the back of our head with blood and Carnage-fluid, and released us.

We pivoted in an effort to bring out weapons to bear for a finishing combination, but Carnage unleased a kick that caught us under the chin and threw us across the rooftop. There were bright flashes of light before our eyes as we bounced and splashed away. We came to a halt near the entrance to the stairs that entered the building interior.

Rain pelted us as we slowly crawled to our feet. Then we finally noticed a pair of Folk youngsters who were cowering nearby. The were covered with a tattered poncho.

Apparently they'd come up to the roof in order to watch the storm. Then they found themselves in the middle of a deadly fight.

Blasted kids. They were in the way.

We lifted a sword...

No. No. That wasn't necessary.

For a moment, we were frozen in indecision.

On the other side of the roof, Carnage was staggering to his feet, blood and rain drizzling from his body. We'd hurt him badly, but he was recovering with the speed of our kind.

Then our human-half intervened and we pivot-kicked the stairwell door off its hinges. It clattered down the stairs and ended up leaning against a wall on the landing below.

"Getttt out of hhheere!" we growled at the youngsters.

After that, we turned and began advancing towards Carnage. Behind us, the two kids bolted for the door. We knew we should run, but we had to keep Carnage busy for a few seconds. He has a tendency to get distracted when there are easy kills around.

There was a stanchion of some kind next to Carnage. It looked like part of an old I-beam that had been embedded in concrete. It was about five foot long, rusted and pitted with age.

Carnage tore it out of the roof in a spray of broken concrete. He hefted it experimentally and gave us a jagged smile that almost split his head in two.

We positioned ourselves in a guard-threat position, our right-hand sword pointing at our foe, our left-hand sword in an armoring position over that forearm.

Carnage took a a single step towards us, his foot splashing through a puddle of water...

We tried to web Carnage's eyes. He sensed it coming and ducked his head to the side.

Then he froze. His head was cocked quizzically.

It was Gwen and Jonah. They'd appeared on the roof behind Carnage.

Jonah pulled out his short-swords. Gwen unsheathed a long katana and graceful slipped into a fighting stance.

"What the hell?" Jonah gasped. He was staring at Carnage.

"No..." Gwen whispered. Unlike Jonah, she knew what she was looking at. The priestesses of the First Spider know many secrets.

"It'sss grampa," we told them.

Then we began to laugh. Really, the expressions on their faces were too much.

Carnage exploded into a whirlwind of violence.

Gwen was almost crushed by Carnage's first swing of his improvised weapon. However, she fell to her knees, leaned back until her shoulders touched the roof, and avoided the attack. Then she swung her long blade. It clipped both of Carnage's thighs.

Spinning off to the side, Jonah performed a slow slash that was intended to distract - and then followed it up with a lightning-fast thrust. Carnage moved just enough to avoid being pierced through the chest, but the point of Jonah's left-hand sword dug deep into Carnage's arm.

We sprung at Carnage, hoping to catch him from behind. However, Carnage turned his attack on Gwen into a spinning rotation and lashed out at us with his club. We had to turn our jump into a high flip to avoid the attack. We ended up behind Gwen, but as we somersaulted over Carnage, we clipped the side of his head with one of our weapons.

Gwen rolled to her feet as Jonah tried to maneuver behind Carnage. Carnage knew he couldn't allow that. He switched his grip on the beam he was carrying so that he was holding it in the middle - like a short and massive quarterstaff. Then he faked a point attack at Gwen, but at the last moment pulled back and slammed the other end into Jonah.

I could hear bone crack - and then Jonah was reeling backwards, desperately trying to keep on his feet. One of his swords was gone and he had an obviously broken left arm.

Gwen dashed past Carnage, performing a side-sweep with her weapon. Carnage avoided that adroitly, but ran into our right-hand blade. We and Carnage actually slammed into each other, but we staggered back several steps as our sword pulled loose. Carnage then fooled us all by not going for us - we were by far the logical target - and instead took a short, but vicious, backwards thrust at Gwen. He hit her in the upper body and she bounced across the rooftop in a spray of rainwater.

Carnage expected us to use the opportunity to attack high, going for his head, throat, or heart. Instead, we dropped low and double-chopped our blades into one of his knees.

He howled and kicked us away again, almost sending us off the roof. By then, the question of who was faster was settled. He was.

Jonah refused to make the mistake of standing and fighting against Carnage. Instead, he tried to buy time by dancing in and out of range, weaving his one remaining sword in an dizzying pattern. It reminded us of a snake seeking the opportunity to strike.

Carnage grabbed Jonah's sword, freezing it into place, and then swung at Jonah with his club. Fortunately, Carnage's grip on his club wasn't very sure. Jonah got away, but he had to let go of his sword to do that.

Carnage pitched Jonah's blade off the rooftop. Then he shifted in a way to block any attempt by Jonah to retrieve his other blade.

There was a long list of things Jonah could do at that time. A rather unexpected one was to flip straight back, pull out a heavy throwing dagger in mid-air, and pitch it into Carnage's balls.

I think they could hear Carnage's scream all the way across the river.

By then Gwen was back on her feet. She and we tried to follow up while Carnage was distracted.

Carnage reacted with insane speed. Gwen got the tip of her sword into Carnage's face and almost took out one of his eyes, but he pulled his head back in time, taking a nasty cut that almost chopped his cheek loose. We went for one of his kidney's, but missed by a hand's breadth. Gwen ducked Carnage's sweeping response, but we were caught. We felt ribs crack and fell to our knees, gasping for breath.

Carnage was healing from the damage we'd inflicted. So were we, but we were slower. Gwen and Jonah were far slower.

Carnage was winning the fight.

Gwen went for Carnage's face again. She was trying to buy the rest of us time to recover. Once a big sister, always a big sister.

Carnage slipped past Gwen's attack and hammered her midsection with a short blow from his weapon. I could see that Gwen's lower ribs were deformed as she staggered back and collapsed.

Still on our knees, we leaned all the way back, and then lurched forward, slamming our fists and forearms into the rooftop at Carnage's feet.

The roof collapsed underneath Carnage. Entangled in rebar-studded debris, he fell to the floor below.

"Go! Gooo!" we yelled, pointing in a not-random direction. Below us, Carnage roared in anger as he dug his way out of concrete debris.

Jonah painfully grabbed Gwen. Then the three of us fled the rooftop. Off in the distance, thunder seem to rumble in amusement.

We staggered through the rain-filled darkness, jumping from roof to roof. We didn't want to think what the impact of each landing cost Gwen in terms of pain.

"We could split up," Gwen gasped out. Our human-half went hollow at the sound of the obvious agony in her voice. Jonah has supporting her with his unbroken arm.

"He can't get us all," Gwen continued. "Whoever gets away can warn the family and the priestesses."

She was lying. As soon as we and Jonah took off, she'd turn and fight Carnage, trying to buy us time. That was just like her.

My human-half knew that because once a little brother, always a little brother.

"He'lll jussst ssstart a war withinnn the fffamilly," we countered. "It willl be thossse who belllieve usss againssst those who belllieve 'grandfatherrr'. The fffamily willl dessstroy itssself. And in the ennnd he willl essscape."

Gwen's face twisted in anger. She knew we were right. Then she looked desperately at Jonah.

Jonah looked skyward. "Ed!" he roared. "Dammit, Ed, we're in trouble and we need you!"

Ed appeared almost immediately. He seemed worried as he examined the three of us. He let out an interrogative and perhaps frightened whine.

We pointed down the street. "Twelvvve blocksss that wwway. Fffive morrre towardsss the rrriver."

Ed didn't even hesitate. We were gone in a flash of globular blue and white.

We appeared in front of the Sanctum Sanctorum. The rain was lighter than in the part of town we'd just fled from.

Gwen gave us a look that combined pain and smoldering anger. "Once this is done - assuming you and I are still alive - I want to know everything you know about Illayana's ascension to Sorceress Supreme."

We shrugged in response. Then we hammered a fist against the door. There was no need to be careful. There was no way we could damage that particular door.

Blaze opened the door. The demon still looked like a horribly mistreated and almost-broken Folk male - scarred, emaciated, and clothed in rags.

Ed's eyes went wide. With a whine, he backed away and hid behind the three of us. Since he outweighed us all, he really didn't do a very good job of hiding.

"Well, fuck," Blaze said contemplatively as he looked us over. Suddenly, there was fire and brimstone in the air. It contrasted with the scent of drizzling rain and wet stone.

Then he stared closely at me. Something red seemed to glint in Blaze's normally mud-brown eyes.

"Ben, is that you in there?" he asked. There was some amusement in his voice.

"Yesss," we replied. "Isss yourrr missstresss innn?"

"What do you want?" Blaze asked suspiciously.

"Carnage is loose in the city," Gwen told the demon flatly. "Let us in, Blaze. We need Illyana."

The question of how Gwen knew Blaze actually distracted both of our halves. Spider-priestesses apparently get around.

Blaze didn't move. "She's not here. Nobody's here but me. Get lost."

We mentally recalculated. "Fffine, thennn weee nnneed sssomething of hersss."

"I said 'get lost'," Blaze repeated ominously. In a few seconds, Carnage might quite possibly become the second worst thing we'd fought that night.

"Johnny Blaze, host of Zarathros," Jonah said suddenly. "We know your names. We know you are two become one. We know the cause you serve."

Gwen gasped and slapped a hand over Jonah's mouth. "No!" she yelped.

Jonah gently pried her hand away. We pulled Gwen away from Jonah. She was too hurt to fight us. "Sssshhh," we whispered in her ear. She slumped resignedly against us.

Blaze's eyes were focused on Jonah. They were definitely red now. The scent of fire and sulfur was now a stench. There was a flicker of fire in his hair. Raindrops sizzled as they hit him.

"Blaze and Zarathos," Jonah continued. "A creature is loose tonight who has murdered our kin. By right of blood, we call upon thee. By right of blood, we invoke thy power."

We shook our head in amazement. Oh, Jonah, where did you ever learn such an incantation? Just look at you: bedding Blood women, rebelling against grandfather, and now brushing up against Infernalism. You were breaking rules with insane abandon.

Our human half was trying to decide if he should laugh or panic.

"Blaze and Zarathos. We seek vengeance," Jonah intoned. "We call upon you to heed the call of your making. We call upon you in the name of he who created you. We call upon you in the name of he who led you against your creator."

Then Jonah stopped.

Blaze stared at Jonah for a long moment before speaking. "You haven't finished."

"I don't want to bind you," Jonah said with a shake of his head. "After all, you fought at my uncle's side - twice. We need your help, demon. And as I've just reminded you, what we want is within your purview. So quit screwing around and help us."

A crooked smile came over Blaze's face.

"Actually, you can't bind me," he told Jonah. "My mistress made sure of that. And I would have killed you if you'd actually tried."

Jonah gulped.

"So what is it you want?" Blaze asked curiously.

"We nnneeed sssomething that can kkkill Carnage," we told him.

Blaze considered that for a moment. Then he nodded his head.

The rain had stopped, but water was puddled in the streets. The dirt roads were mud. By mid-morning, wagon traffic would convert those roads into muck.

We paced down the middle of Yance street. We thought it best to be nowhere near the Sanctum Sanctorum. Carnage might assume we had sorcerous help and refuse to approach.

And we couldn't have that.

Benjamin's swords were in our hands. Off in the distance, we could hear singing coming from the bar Jonah and my human-half had visited earlier that night. We wondered if Jonah's tiger-striped girlfriend was thinking about him.

We knew Carnage was watching us. We couldn't sense him - he was using his ability to conceal himself from us. But we still knew that he was out there. As long as we were alive, he wouldn't be able to help himself.

Then Carnage leaped down from a nearby roof. He was still carrying that length of steel beam. Perhaps he had grown fond of it.

"You ssshould have kept rrruning," he told us.

Then he scanned the rooftops behind me. "I can sssense your nephew, but nnnot your sssister. Ssshe is defffinitely too hhhurt to hhhelp, but I think he'sss not mmmuch better. It was ssstupid to bringgg himmm."

We just shrugged and slipped into a guard position. If Carnage wanted to fight, he would have to come to us.

Carnage returned our shrug. "Dddie in sssilence then. Perhapsss you'll ssscream at the end."

Then he came at us.

We couldn't really parry Carnage's blows. His steel club was simply too massive. But dodging was second nature to us.

Of neccesity, our fight with Carnage was defensive. Both we and Carnage were recovered from our earlier injuries, so it was a blindingly fast display of attack, dodge, and leap. We scored a few minor cuts and punctures on Carnage that healed quickly. He grazed us with his weapon more than once, but couldn't land a solid blow.

However, we let him maneuver us back across the street. Carnage had every reason to believe that the fight would go his way. He was stronger, faster, and could take injury better than us. In the earlier fight, when we were helped by two Spider warriors, all we managed to do was escape.

"What isss your plannn?" Carnage asked contemptously. "Will yyyoung Jonnnah try to intervene? He'll jussst die wwwith you."

We chuckled. "He'll wwwin the fffight for mmme."

Then we dropped our blades and slammed into Carnage, wrapping our arms and legs around his chest and arms. Grappling was an insane move against someone as strong as Carnage. To say the least, it was unexpected.

Carnage made the only assumption he could. Our plan was obviously to immobilize him while Jonah attacked from behind. He had to throw us off, counter Jonah's immediate attack, and then bound away. Then he could kill us both at his leisure.

Jonah did his part. He landed behind Carnage, jumped over the inevitable back-kick, and wrapped his unbroken arm around Carnage's neck. We covered Carnage's face with webbing just to add to his confusion. He would tear that away in no time, but we needed every possible split-second.

With our legs still wrapped around Carnage's midsection, we reached up and grabbed the twirling, falling, weapon that Jonah had thrown high in the air just before he sprang down to street-level and grappled Carnage.

Off hand, we don't think Carnage realized what was happening until it was too late.

We disengaged from Carnage and kicked him away. Both he and Jonah fell to the street. Jonah screamed as his broken arm hit the cobblestones, but he was still ineffectually trying to strangle Carnage. More importantly, he had a leg hooked around Carnage's brutal weapon, trapping it against Carnage's side. Carnage cleared his eyes of my webbing, staggered upright, saw a blow coming his way, and tried to parry. He broke the steel beam loose from Jonah's grip, but by then it was too late.

Jarnbjorn was in our hands. It's quite the weapon - a massive broad-axe forged by Dwarven smiths and enchanted by Thor with a forbidden ritual. Before Thor became worthy enough to wield Mjolnir, Jarnbjorn was his weapon of choice. It now resided in the Sanctum Sanctorum. There probably wasn't a more brutally dangerous weapon on this earth.

It is said that Jarnbjorn can kill gods. My human-half had previously seen what it could do against accursed monstrosities when he helped battle a pack of Wendigo. And, after all, weren't we facing an accursed monster?

We aimed low to avoid Jonah. The axe-blade slammed into Carnage's lower chest.

Carnage couldn't scream, blood was pouring out of his mouth. Jonah, still riding on Carnage's back, immediately locked his feet around Carnage's knees and tripped him. They both fell to the ground once again. Carnage was scrabbling for his weapon, trying to bring it up to parry.

I raised Jarnbjorn and for a brief split-second my human-half considered intervening. Perhaps there was another way?

No. We could not allow that.

We were one.

We were Venom.

Jarnbjorn swept down. Flesh parted and blood spilled. We had severed Carnage's right arm. He wasn't regenerating. The enchantments on Jarnbjorn were simply too potent.

We kicked the arm away and it tumbled down the street. Carnage's weapon was laying in the gutter.

Carnage whirled around, trying to use Jonah to shield his back and head. Jonah - incredibly - was still on Carnage's back.

Jonah simply let go and rolled away.

The next blow of Jarnbjorn took Carnage in the lower back, severing his spine. Carnage tried to form itself around Jarnbjorn, trapping it in place and taking it out of our hands, but we yanked Jarnbjorn loose.

Then we raised the great axe once again...

The Carnage symbiote finally abandoned grandfather. It flopped away from grandfather's body and gathered itself into a shapeless blob. Looking like a puddle of bloody puke, it tried to slither towards the nearest sewer opening.

Not really sure if it would work, we slammed Jarnbjorn into the middle of our offspring. The huge axe let off a shower of sparks and dug deep into the cobblestones of the street. A ripple of strange energy - certainly mystical in nature - filled the area around us. Carnage, split in two and unable to rejoin, wailed and writhed spasmodically.

After a few frantic moments, the two halves stopped moving. Then they collapsed into the base components of our kind.

We felt our son die. We tried to tell ourselves that we did not care.

Jonah used his good arm to take grandfather's blood-soaked body into his lap. Then he rocked it gently back and forth as he sobbed over the death of a man he had once loved.

We - I - knelt next to my dying grandfather. The injuries we - I - had done to him were simply too great. There was no saving him.

I felt Venom slide away from my face.

He couldn't speak, but as my grandfather blearily looked up at me, he took my remaining hand in his and squeezed hard. I won't say that I saw anything in his eyes as his life drained away. There's too much of a chance that I was seeing something that I wanted to see.

Then he died.

Looking up at the cloud-covered sky, I felt Venom slip away. He slid down my body and hid under my armor.

The time of the Dark Spider was done. We were now I. And I closed my eyes and whispered a prayer for the dead.

Under my clothing, Venom lovingly hugged me. I paused in mid-prayer and forced down the urge of vomit.

Then the First Spider called a warning to me. Opening my eyes, I looked down the street. A good dozen figures were watching us.

One of them was my father. Gwen was leaning against him and he had an arm carefully hooked around her. She was still injured. The two of them were accompanied by a squad of Spider-Legionnaires.

"See?" Gwen said, pointing at what was left of Carnage. "It was the red terror! It had grandfather! It made him into a monster!"

How much of Gwen's distress was real and how much was a performance, I'll never know. But I do know that my father has a rather large blind-spot where Gwen is concerned. In the past, she's used it to great effect.

My father carefully pulled Gwen close, making sure he didn't jostle her. However, he was looking at me. His face was in shadow and I couldn't read it, but as his eyes met mine they reflected a distant light. They were bleak and cold.

Mostly using his unbroken arm, Jonah awkwardly picked up grandfather's body and carried it over to the others. He was still shaking with grief.

I nodded in my father's direction. He didn't respond.

Then I jumped high onto the wall of the nearest building. I gave Jonah, Gwen, and my father a last look, and then I slipped away.