Back from the Brink

Time was meaningless for Mike as he slipped back and forth into consciousness. Though no longer on the edge of death, his limbs were heavy with pain. He would sometimes close his eyes for a second only to open them and see that the occupants of the room had changed.

Yuki was a constant presence, either changing his bandages or fussing over him. He saw Quetzalli only briefly; the dragon looked like she had fallen ill. Abella sometimes watched through the window, and actually came in a couple of times to sit with him. Of Dana and Bigfoot, there was no sign.

And then there was Velvet. She fed him soup when he was awake, encouraging him softly with her words. She was a constant presence, both when he was awake and in the Dreamscape. His weakness chased him even there, and she would hold him on the beach while he rested. Trapped in a state of perpetual exhaustion, he clung to her presence like moss to a rock.

Velvet was helping him eat some beef stew when he heard a loud crash, followed by banging. Yuki left the room with a worried look on her face.

“What is that?” he asked. It occurred to him now that he had heard the same noise numerous times during the day. His mind was finally clear enough to ask about it.

The Arachne sighed and put down the can of soup. “That would be Dana,” she explained. “She’s going feral. Yuki has been using magic to freeze her in place so that she doesn’t break out of the pantry.”

There was a loud bang, followed by screams of panic. Something heavy thudded against the wall, and he heard Abella swearing.

“I should go help,” he muttered, but even he didn’t believe the words. His legs were like jelly. From the brief moments he had seen his own body when the blankets were lifted, he looked slightly emaciated. Much of it was from water loss, his fever had caused him to sweat so much that the sheets had been changed multiple times.

The rest was pure calorie loss. Yuki had stuffed him full of every curative potion that Zel had sent with him. His body had fought to regenerate tissue damaged by the poison, and the process required energy. Though his bond with Tink had given him resistance to poison, it apparently wasn’t strong enough to just brush aside the toxin that the Nirumbi used. The wound from the arrow had also managed to nick a lung, which made breathing in deep more than a little painful.

“Abella has it under control,” Velvet explained. “She’s the only one that can’t get scratched or bit.”

At least we hope so, Mike thought. The idea of Abella turning into a zombie was a terrifying thought.

The cabin went quiet. Eventually, Yuki came back in, her face twisted into a mask of anguish. When she plopped down next to the bed, she let out a sigh and then leaned forward onto the bed.

“That bad?” he asked.

“Eating the Nirumbi triggered something in her,” she stated. “Shortly after the battle, she was mostly herself, but the poison was still doing its thing. She’s crazy strong right now, it’s almost like feeding on living tissue caused her to bulk up. We think that if we can get her some of her usual food, she may revert, but...” Yuki gestured at him. “You’re in absolutely no condition, and likely won’t be for days.”

He sighed. Maybe his magic could get him up, but he definitely couldn’t participate while barely able to move. Sometimes staying awake was too much of a chore for him.

After a bit more soup, he shared what he had learned from Titania with the others. Yuki went pale and left for a while with Bigfoot to check out the perimeter of the barrier. Velvet and Quetzalli took turns giving him food and water as his strength returned. He could finally raise his arms a little, but the effort left him exhausted.

When Yuki and Bigfoot returned, they came and sat down next to Mike. The Sasquatch’s face was serious, which was a rather frightening sight.

“How bad are we fucked?” Mike asked.

“We are trapped.” Yuki had taken out her tarot cards and was flipping through them. “It’s a powerful spell that took quite some time to set up. It could be disrupted from the outside, but we can’t get word out.”

“Can’t we just use my phone?” he asked.

“No.” Yuki frowned while fidgeting with her tarot cards. “It was broken when Leeds attacked Abella in the woods. We checked already. And Dana’s is missing. We think it was in her pocket when she ran out into the woods.”

“Shit.” Mike closed his eyes. What options were left to them?

“I feel...” Bigfoot said, breaking the silence. “That I owe a massive apology to everyone here.”

“How so?” Mike opened his eyes. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Bigfoot groaned and leaned against the wall, his arms folded across his massive torso. “I did, actually. I am fairly certain that I am the reason that Leeds is here in the first place. He and I have a rather sordid history, and he holds a grudge better than anyone I’ve ever known.”

“What happened?” Mike asked.

“We were very close friends for many, many years. His behavior toward humans was never friendly to begin with, but I was forced to act when I found out that he was tormenting and killing humans in secret. We fought for many days, and I finally crushed him under a large rock. I didn’t know it at the time, but he can’t be killed. Two days later, he ambushed me in the middle of the night. He almost killed me, but the forest came to my aid by sending a massive buck to tackle him and break his concentration. I snapped Leed’s neck, and he was mist once more.”

“So, he always comes back?”

Bigfoot nodded. “Always. He went missing for a while, and I discovered later that he was able to take over the Pine Barrens. The land and its creatures were no longer on my side, so I fled to the west coast. We’ve avoided each other ever since, but I suspect that I may be the main reason he came. I have no idea how he learned that I was here.”

Yuki groaned. “I do. Years back, when Emily and I first met him, she asked if he would be interested in moving somewhere safe for cryptids.”

“And Emily told him about me?” Bigfoot pulled at some tangled strands of hair that hung from his face.

“She told him about the house first. When he didn’t seem interested, she mentioned the cabin. Said that if it was good enough for Bigfoot, then he would be right at home.”

“What did he do?” asked Mike.

“That’s when he trapped us in the Everglades. Emily tried to jump us out using magic trees, but we learned later that he could read our thoughts. He stayed ahead of us and chopped down any of the trees we could use. There weren’t many to begin with. Every time we got to the edge of the Everglades, the shadows would push us back in.” Yuki looked at a card and then shook her head before tucking it back up her sleeve. “One day, we wandered out. It was like he had gotten bored, or something.”

“How do you defeat someone who can read your thoughts?” asked Mike.

“You either act without thinking or do something he can’t avoid.” Bigfoot mimed stomping on the floor. “He was distracted while fighting you, so I got the drop on him. What I can’t understand is how he got the Nirumbi to team up with him. He is well known, but not well-liked.”

Based on his brief experience with Leeds, Mike wasn’t surprised to hear this at all. Leeds had mentioned taking the cabin and its land away from him. Maybe it was as simple as offering them a private sanctuary if they helped him take it by force. But more than just the Nirumbi had gotten involved. There was the Wendigo and the snake thing that Abella had encountered. If all of these creatures were so powerful, why follow Leeds in the first place?

Thinking back on their fight, the devil had been fairly uninvolved for most of it. He was mainly content to disrupt and allow his troops to do the dirty work. Did he have low magic reserves? Was he just a big pussy? There was a missing piece to the puzzle, and Mike really wanted to discover it.

There was another loud bang, but this one was accompanied by the sound of things falling to the floor. Bigfoot jumped up and left, followed by Yuki. There was a lot of screaming shortly after, followed by the temperature of the cabin dropping dramatically.

Curious, Mike tried to slide his legs off the bed and take a peek, but he couldn’t even lift his hips off the mattress using his arms. Frustrated, he had to sit and listen as everyone shouted at each other. Emery bolted into the room, a worried expression on his face.

“Is everything okay?” Mike asked.

“Dana has broken down the door of the cupboard,” he explained. “They are chasing her through the cabin right now. It’s my job to protect you in case she shows up.”

Mike grimaced. The little imp looked like he would struggle to fight his way out of a mouse trap, but he had learned long ago that he shouldn’t judge based on appearances.

Dana crashed through the doorway and landed on the floor, her features frozen in a snarl. She looked up at him and hissed.

“Eep,” Mike whispered. He saw that she was missing her pants.

Emery dive-bombed Dana, and she swatted at him with frightening speed. Velvet’s torso came through the door and grabbed the zombie by the ankles after tossing down a shredded pair of pants. Velvet yanked and threw Dana back into the living room. There were several more crashes before he heard Abella join the fight.

“She is quite strong,” Emery muttered, fidgeting with his hands like an overgrown fly.

“Apparently.” He didn’t realize that Dana was capable of such a display.

“Hold her!” shouted Quetzalli, and there was a crackle of electricity, followed by Bigfoot howling in pain. The smell of burnt hair flooded the cabin. “Sorry!”

After another crash, the house went quiet. Yuki walked through the door, her hair disheveled and her shirt torn.

“We need to talk about our zombie problem,” she said and sat down on the bed with a sigh. “I thought it could wait, but that was really bad. I’m worried that she is slipping away. For a bit, she was at least cognizant, but now? I really don’t know.”

He nodded. “I know what you want, but...” He waved his hand at his legs. How was he supposed to help feed her if he could barely move? “I’m not in any sort of condition to ... produce.”

“I’ve got some ideas, but they’re unconventional.” She made a face. “But I’m afraid unconventional is the story of my life.”

“Whatever your idea is, let’s try it. We need Dana on our side again.”

Yuki stood and brushed herself off. “Let me talk to the others. We’ll see you shortly.”

When she left, he looked at the imp, who still hovered over the bed. “Are you as nervous about this as I am?”

Emery squeaked in response.

They had taken up residence in the office and the study next to it. Tink slept on one of the couches next to the window, her slumbering form watched over by Kisa and a statue of Anubis. Cecilia hovered in the office proper—they brought Death inside to bring the banshee down where they could keep an eye on her.

Beth sat in the only chair, her gaze constantly flicking to the large plastic tub they had dragged down from Yuki’s room for the slime girl. It had been used to store paint, and now acted as a container to keep the slime together. On her trip down the stairs to warn everyone, she had left a considerable amount of mass behind her and was apparently unable to reincorporate it.

They had let Death question her. The slime claimed that she had been busy brainstorming ideas for mediation when she heard a bizarre clicking sound from the bedroom. It had been followed by a flash of light, and she had watched as Cecilia’s body floated by the tub and then through the wall. Death pronounced the slime’s innocence with a degree of finality that brooked no argument.

He also declared that he had decided to name her Opal.

“Why Opal?” Lily had asked.

“Because she is precious to me and she changes color,” he answered. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have no way to heat my tea and must find a suitable cold brew.”

He returned moments later to reveal the sleeping form of Carmina in one of his teacups. The fairy was moved to a small plate and now sat on the desk like a morbid snack. Beth had covered her up with a washrag. The house was colder than ever, causing her to wear a sweater and wrap herself in a blanket.

Opal was motionless in her tub. After her talk with Death, she had settled into her new home and flattened out, apparently exhausted. Her surface had turned a dark purple, highlighting her color-shifting abilities.

Beth’s stomach growled. She had eaten a sandwich earlier, but it wasn’t enough. The food in the fridge wasn’t going to stay cold much longer and without a means to cook it, it was eventually going to go bad. Death had somehow coaxed the last of the water out of the pipes for his tea, which meant Beth was left drinking milk to stay hydrated.

She hated milk.

“These ideas are good.” Lily broke the silence, her hands on a small stack of papers. It was a bulleted list of Opal’s ideas, and the white fibers were stained in different shades of blue. Beth had given it to her after reading it herself. “Mellow jello over there has some solid predictions.”

“Her name is Opal. And yes, she does. But I don’t know how we’re supposed to combat some of them.” She could see the list in her mind. The horsemen wanted to raise havoc and have their full-blown Apocalypse. There wasn’t a middle ground for something like that.

“I’m a personal fan of the rotating block.” Lily pulled one of the sheets out. “Each incarnation gets to run around for four months, then swaps out. If Famine takes the harvesting season, you all are fucked.”

“Don’t you mean we?”

Lily smirked. “Nah, I’ll still have plenty to eat.”

“You’re being bitchy.” Beth opened up her desk drawer and pulled out a candy bar. She threw it at Lily, who swatted it out of the air with her tail. “It’s all that dick you suck.”

“In all seriousness” —Lily picked up the candy bar and stuffed it into her cleavage— “she thought of what the horsemen would want. None of it is good. Anything we can remotely counter-offer isn’t going to be enough to satisfy them. If even one of them gets to stay on Earth, everything goes to shit.”

“So what do you suggest?”

Lily tilted her head forward. “We shouldn’t be prepared for mediation. We should be ready to make war, instead.”

“How are we supposed to fight three horsemen and an angel?”

The succubus leaned back in thought. “You should see what the Grimoire says. It’s caused us enough trouble, maybe we should be the ones who dish it out for a change.”

Beth frowned, but Lily was right. Even if the others hadn’t been put to sleep, there wasn’t anything they could do to battle the intruders out front. She had debated using it to find a counterspell to wake the others up, but Lily had cautioned her against it. Without knowing what kind of sorcery had put them under, any spell cast could have serious repercussions.

She stuck her hand in Tick Tock’s mouth. The mimic was stored under the desk, and she felt around in the extra-dimensional space for a few seconds before her hand touched the spine of the book.

“What do you think I should even look up?” Beth asked.

“Angels. If you can get rid of Big Brother, maybe the horsemen will be unsummoned.”

Beth ran her fingers along the edge of the Grimoire and focused hard on spells related to angels. Her fingertips tingled and, when she opened the book, silver letters appeared on the paper within.

“Well?” Lily asked.

Beth frowned. Instead of a spell, she found herself reading what looked like a diary entry.

“On the subject of angels,” she read. “I have found considerable difficulty in my research. Such beings are rare to interact with and are protected by a divine aura. They are immune to all known forms of spellcraft, which leaves expulsion by force (ala exorcism) or Words of Creation. I have been unable to learn the correct sequence of these words to dismiss an angel.”

“Great. Even the great Grimoire can’t help us now.” Lily toyed with the pendant she wore around her neck. Beth had seen her wearing it more than once, it seemed to be the one mainstay of the succubus’ many outfits.

“What’s a Word of Creation?” Beth closed the book and got ready to open it again, but Lily leapt across the room to stop her.

“Don’t. Not from the book.” Her face was serious, and flames had sprouted in the corners of her eyes.

“Why not?” Beth let go of the book, and Lily set it on the table.

“Words of Creation are whispered about by demons of the highest order. You know that whole ‘in the beginning’ bullshit?”

“Let there be light?”

“A single Word of Creation was used to create everything. Everything. It’s the magic of the true gods, shit that has existed since before our reality. The hard code of the universe, the thing that holds atoms together. You definitely aren’t ready to look at them, much less contemplate their meaning.”

Beth frowned. “That sounds more like science than magic.”

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. I know you’ve heard that one before. Creation level magic is terrifying, the last non-gods I knew of who could command it were the upper djinn. You have to be painfully specific with them, otherwise, the results are catastrophic. One Word created everything, but it took lots of Words and billions of years to get everything in any sort of order that made sense.”

“Kind of like a legal document? You know, I’m quite good at saying very little with a ton of words.” If what Lily said was true, a few Words of Creation could easily solve all their problems. Besides, what was the harm in knowing a couple?

“No.” Lily put her hands on the table and stood, her horns appearing. “Do you know why they are called Words? Because your simple mind can’t handle what they actually are. They are concepts, raw and powerful. If you taught yourself the Word for Destroy, you may utter it in an attempt to blow up an angel, only to destroy all of them, or maybe to disintegrate the air between you, or maybe even generate a giant, cosmic ripple that incinerates everything.”

That didn’t sound possible. “You’re saying I could destroy everything with a random sound? That doesn’t even make sense. This sounds like the magical equivalent of a conspiracy theory.”

“Not sounds. Words. Shit, I forgot that you can’t actually hear what I’m saying. This is geas level magic here, but I need you to understand that when I say Words of Creation, I am not saying words of creation.” Lily snatched the book off the table and sat down. “You’d better fucking appreciate this.”

Beth watched in fascination as Lily closed one eye and squinted the other, then cracked open the book. There was a flash of golden light and Lily let out a roar. Golden light streamed from her mouth and eyes as she tilted her head back, scorching the ceiling of the room with the beams. She fell to the ground and twitched, the book falling out of her hands.

“Lily!” Beth knelt down by the succubus, horrified. “What did you do?!?”

The succubus moaned, revealing that her tongue had been burnt out of her mouth. She held up a hand and mimed writing, then opened her eyes to reveal that they had been scorched out as well. Dark ash marks lined her temples, making her look like a cartoon that had smoked an exploding cigar.

Beth brought Lily a pen and paper. Smoke continued to pour out of Lily’s face as she started writing.

Looked one up, she wrote in tiny letters. Knew this was the only way to convince you.

“You know one of these ... Words now?”

Nope. Looked at from the corner of my eye. Forbidden knowledge. Protected.

“Wow.” Beth shook her head in disbelief. If these Words could kill, then how had the author learned them?

Be honest, Lily continued. How do I look?

“Like someone plugged a hotdog into an electrical outlet.” She helped Lily rise, and the succubus scribbled a big word on her sheet of paper and held it up.

Cunt.

Death appeared in the doorway, his bony features scowling at an empty mug. When he looked up, he tilted his head to one side in curiosity.

“I am unfamiliar with this word,” he informed them.

“And it will stay that way,” Beth replied, snatching the paper out of Lily’s hands. Dark ash flowed from around the room, filling in her sockets and allowing her eyes to regenerate. She sat down in Beth’s chair and grunted throughout the process.

When Beth picked up the Grimoire, it felt like holding a loaded gun but she didn’t know what direction to point it or how to pull the trigger. “So we can’t use this against the angel,” she said. “But what about the horsemen? Could we seal them off in their own dimension? Expel them?”

“That is a good question.” Death sat in a chair by the wall and adjusted the hem of his robes to cover his bony knees. “It would be possible, but I do not think the angel would be very happy with you. He would likely just call them back. So about that word...”

Beth ignored the Reaper. If she couldn’t fight the horsemen, and she couldn’t compromise with them, what did that leave? The running joke for a long time was that Mike either got lucky or fucked his way out of his problems, but she knew there was more to him than that.

What strategy would he apply? How would he approach the problem differently than she did? She sat in silence, the gears turning in her mind. He would probably do something unexpected, but what? She couldn’t risk antagonizing either the angel or the horsemen, so whatever she did would have to catch them off guard while also being by the book.

“Aaaaaaagh.” Lily stuck out her tongue, which was too large for her mouth. “Whath tha fackk?”

“Allow me.” Death crossed the room and used bony fingers to try and shove Lily’s tongue back into her head.

Distracted by the sight, Beth let out a laugh.

“Ith noth fanny,” Lily protested, then tried to bite Death’s fingers when they slid past her lips. She was now slapping her hands on Death’s bony skull while he scowled at her.

“You should stop being a cunt and hold still,” he told her. Her mouth dropped open in surprise, allowing him to successfully shove her tongue back inside.

“Death!” Beth just stared at the Reaper.

“I already knew what that word meant,” he explained. “If it’s a four-letter word, I’ve heard it from Tinker Radley.”

When the laughter came, Beth couldn’t stop. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes and she doubled over with her hands on her stomach. She leaned back on the desk and did her best to ignore the dirty look Lily was giving her.

“Impothible, both of hue.” She stormed out of the office but clipped the frame of the door with her shoulder. “Fack!”

“So impolite,” Death muttered. “Of everybody, she should appreciate a good stuffing the most.”

“Death!” Surprised to hear Death’s sass, Beth moved next to him. “Are you feeling okay?”

“No. No, I am not.” He glared at the sitting room, his gaze locked on the window to the front yard. “I find myself in an impossible situation that could determine the fate of not only the world but my friends as well. I have very much come to appreciate all that the mortal world has to offer. Your stories fascinate me, and I find our interactions delightful. My siblings would take all of this away from me, and I see no solution. I cannot leave, and they refuse to.”

“I’m sorry.” Despite knowing it would feel like smashing her funny bone, she put her hand firmly on his shoulder and felt her entire arm zing. “I wish I could help more.”

“It is not your fault, Viceroy Bethany. These are tough times, but the worst is yet to come.”

“You mean when we have no plan and they win?” She shivered at the thought, then added, “and I don’t like Viceroy.”

“No. If they win, it will be awful, but that isn’t the worst of it.” He walked over to the desk and picked up an empty cup. “I am almost out of tea. By my best estimates, the end of the world will come shortly after I run out. I will be forced to confront the horrors of the future with nary a drop to soothe my being.”

Beth groaned and sat in a nearby chair. “Honestly, you’re worried about tea? Everything else doesn’t bother you?”

“I am the manifestation of an entity with but one purpose,” he explained. “Please understand that it may make me one-dimensional at times, but I am growing. I like how it gives me warmth and comfort from within, for these are things I have never experienced on my own. Unlike my siblings, I have learned that there is value in the pursuit of experiences.”

She thought about his words for a moment as he pondered the empty mug. “Do you think we could convince them of the same?” she asked.

He shook his head. “I differ from them. You see, they thrive on human misery. You can not have war without misery, or famine without hunger. Pestilence is, at best, neutral in their feelings. I, however, am misunderstood.

“I am a bringer of peace. When I reap, it is to take away the pain and suffering. If I have any regret, it’s that I often leave sadness in my wake. Consider my relationship with my siblings. What they create is awful, and I am the one left to take it all away once they’re done. I think that some people understand, but it isn’t enough. The longer I’m here, the more I realize that I have been lonely.”

She nodded, then took her hand off his shoulder. Her entire arm was now numb.

“And do you know what’s really weird? I miss my friend. Mike Radley is my best friend. Do you know what he said to me when we met? He invited me, Death, into his home. Gave me tea and maps to enjoy. Treated me with kindness.” The molten flames inside of his skull dimmed. “Can I tell you something?”

“Sure.”

“While I was standing outside watching for my brothers, I got the feeling that he was standing by my side. I know he wasn’t, but it felt like I could reach out and touch him. Is that what it feels like for you? When someone is gone, I mean.”

She nodded.

“When the feeling faded, I felt alone again. It shouldn’t bother me, but it did. I have more feelings for one mortal than I do for my own siblings.” Death sighed, a dry sound that was reminiscent of nails on a chalkboard. “I have unloaded many burdens on you. Thank you for helping me carry them.”

“No problem.”

He tapped the side of his cup. “I don’t suppose you have any bottled water stashed away, do you? Even if I can’t heat it up, I can pretend it’s warm. Or maybe Lily can cook it with her magic.”

Beth chuckled. “You really are obsessive, aren’t you?”

Death nodded. “I prefer the term ‘goal-oriented.’ It is the one thing I have in common with my siblings. Our desires are so singular that we become blind to other possibilities. I am grateful that I have learned to think laterally, otherwise, I would still be stuck looking at maps.”

She smiled. Death’s map phase had definitely been her favorite. It had been a way for him to internalize all the places he had been while reaping souls, which was practically everywhere. The natural progression from there had been learning to read. If only she had a way to convince the other horsemen that fun could still be had without the Apocalypse.

Watching Death ponder his empty mug, something occurred to her. “Do you see mortals as beneath you?”

“Of course I do. They are mortals, I am the Grim Reaper.” He spoke with no trace of malice. “However, I no longer view them with indifference.”

“But if a mortal challenged you to a competition, would you believe they could beat you?”

He scoffed. “Haven’t you heard the stories about me? I used to let mortals challenge me to competitions in order to stay my hand. I did this more out of curiosity and boredom, but,” he shrugged, “I’m not proud to admit this, but I can’t actually stay my hand. I would often let them win and then reap them at the peak of happiness. It makes their souls shine so brightly before they cross over. I’m a force of nature, after all. Now, perhaps, maybe I could abstain, but I’m not sure.”

Excited, Beth moved over to her desk. Could the horsemen be challenged to a competition? In their dealings, they had seemed pretty full of themselves, so they may see it as an easy win and accept. And if they did accept, how could she trick them? The terms would have to be something everyone agreed to.

Who was the weakest of the group? She thought back to their interaction. It had to be War. The way he had run his mouth, he would be the best one to challenge. The others seemed to follow his lead, and the angel would enforce their deal.

But what to challenge him at? It needed to be something that War would want to do, but that she could actually win. It wasn’t like she could challenge him to target shooting or ripping peasants in half.

Frowning, she stared at the table. Seeing that she was deep in thought, Death wandered away into the sitting room.

Think, dammit! She put her head in her hands and pulled at her hair. There was a kernel of an idea here, and she needed the damn thing to pop already!

There was a clattering of plastic on wood out in the living room. Curious, she stood and walked to the door to see what was going on. Jenny and Reggie were at the table and at odds once more. This time they were playing The Game of Life. A few plastic cars were on the floor, and Jenny was holding her edge of the board.