Amber by Dan-Dwayne Spencer (e book reader .TXT) 📕

It towered over me while the spider-demon went ape-crazy, flaying and clawing everything in reach. Its claws gashed into the legs of the giant demon-creature, making it bellow in pain. In a frenzy, the demons began ripping each other apart. Blood and pieces of rotting flesh splattered on my shirt, vest, and face.

Behind the gory skirmish, more demons advanced. With a roar, the giant pierced the insect-demon in the chest. Its massive claws opened cavernous wounds, and the five armed hellspawn fell limp. A horde of tiny bugs emerged from the wounds and scurried up the giant’s legs and torso. They found their way into its mouth and slowly crawled down its gullet. The victorious demon’s eyes flamed with yellow fire, and a deafening roar erupted from its gaping mouth. It shook like a wet hound before turning on me.

There I stood in solid form, with no idea where my friends had gone—all alone facing this fortified giant from hell.

Chapter Twenty-two

Purgatory

There I stood. I had followed Dark’s instructions and sent my friends away. Where didn’t matter. Anywhere was better than them being ripped apart by the berserk minions of Ishtar. I felt Mr. Dark’s presence fading. I pleaded, “Don’t leave. This thing will kill us.”

“I can’t keep the connection. They are pulling me away. Do something.”

The giant shadow demon picked us both up and squeezed. I could hardly breathe.

I reached into my consciousness and found the painful trigger. I didn’t have anyone to reach out to, so I focused only on the trigger. The pain became intense, so sensitive my mental-pass caused me agony. I hesitated, not knowing what would happen if I touched it without reaching out to someone.

“You better make it quick. Remember, you die and I die too. If they drag me away, then I can’t protect you. I feel our connection tearing. They’re ripping me apart.”

Before Dark finished talking, I pressed the trigger, and the world shook. My vision blurred. I closed my eyes. The clatter of the crowd and the roar of the demons faded to silence.

I felt like something tore me apart, and while I was still conscious, it glued me back together. A hot, searing pain ran over my skin and I found myself gripping the edge of the van’s middle seat and staring at a road sign. It read: Welcome to Blue Eye, Mo. Population one hundred and twenty.

I glanced around. Everyone was accounted for and in the van exactly where they were supposed to be. Stoney had it pulled over onto the side of the road. He leaned over onto the steering column and Flower sat wide-eyed in the shotgun seat. Roger, covered in mud, sat beside me and Jimmy huddled, legs to his chest, in the far back. An eerie silence filled the car.

I quietly focused my thoughts, “Dark, are you there?”

No reply—silence echoed from the recess of my mind where his voice usually came from.

Finally, I spoke, “I think I had another vision, but this one was—” I stopped short as I looked at Roger, then down at my arm. Three scratches, not yet completely healed by Flower’s touch, seeped blood from my ripped flesh. I looked from person to person who sat staring back at me. I glanced down at my stained clothes splattered with demon guts. “I thought it was a dream.”

Flower spoke up, “I don’t exactly know what it was, but it wasn’t a dream. We all experienced the same things.”

“No dream—I’d compare it with a visit to purgatory,” Stoney said.

“Where?” I asked.

Stoney replied, “It’s a place neither in Heaven nor Hell. Some people, like the writer Dante, consider it a spiritual mountain with ten levels or towns, each noted for a specific sin, but no one knows where it exists. Still, I seriously think we were there.”

I insisted, “It felt like one of my dreams.”

Roger pulled a piece of demon meat off my fringed leather vest, and said, “No, it actually happened. Don’t ask me how, but it did.”

Jimmy had the most horrified expression on his face. “Dude, I kissed a demon. A butt ugly, French kissing demon with two tongues.”

Stoney replied, “Buck up. You survived and surviving is everything right now.”

Jimmy’s eyes were wide and scared. “I’ve seen some freaky shit in the last couple of days, but that was sick.”

Flower said, “The power of minions or demons didn’t make us experience a physical realm. This took nothing less than high angelic prowess, possibly an archangel.”

“You’re right,” Stoney agreed. “Even though she is very capable of wreaking death and destruction on this mortal plain, transfiguring us to an alternate reality is beyond anything I’ve ever heard of. Ishtar couldn’t do something like that on her own. She must have channeled her master Lucifer to perform a superior kind of supernatural phenomenon.”

“It didn’t have to be Lucifer,” I said. “It could have been another angel—two or three, maybe.”

Flower got a faraway look, “Ishtar really doesn’t want us to get to Blue Eye. We must be on the right track.”

“It doesn’t matter what the winged witch wants, it’s too late—we’re here,” I said.

“Okay, we’re here. But where do we start?” Jimmy asked.

Stoney suggested, “How about the library. It’s as good a place as any to look for something, and they should have maps of the town going back generations.”

Flower agreed, “Then the library it is.”

I stripped off my shirt and vest before tossing them under the seat. Thankfully, I was wearing my Bruce Lee T-shirt underneath the shiny one and my pants weren’t too gross. I certainly looked more presentable than muddy Roger. There was nothing he could do without a good sink and some clean water. I moved to the edge of the seat to keep from getting slimed; if Roger didn’t get antsy, I’d be