Risen: The Demontouched Saga (Book 6) Read online

  “Tsk, Tsk,” he says. “Attack a man with his back turned.” He raises the handle of his black spear, sending me to my knees, screaming in pain. With a laugh he thrusts the spear forward, pinning me into the ground. “Now you can watch me kill all of your friends. You, I’ll save for my brother.”

  I would ask him what brother, but I assume he is talking about Lucifer. The only reason I can see them going through all this trouble to open the portal would be to bring him back on the earth. He is the one being that can truly handle Michael, without teamwork and a healthy dose of luck anyways.

  I try to force myself to my feet, but the shadowy spear creates a set of barbs that pierce my skin the more I move. Without any other open I watch the fight unfold.

  With all of us out of commission, Uriel goes on the offensive, opting to create another spear instead of relying on her shields. Without needing to create the shields, she is really fast with the weapons, but Samael easily matches her blow for blow. Two minutes in, she finds her opening.

  After a pair of vicious swings to her upper body, Uriel drops to her knees while using her spear to sweep his legs out from underneath him. She takes another swing at the demon on the way down that narrowly misses.

  Uriel is back on her feet by the time he hits the ground.

  “Yield,” she says, holding her white spear to the demon’s throat.

  He laughs. “Never.” He moves his sword arm at a speed I never believed was possible. Swinging his blade upward, he cuts Uriel’s arm from her shoulder. She cries out as she collapses to the ground, clutching the wound.

  “The queen of angels, bested by a lowly demon,” Samael says as he gets to his feet. “So close to her victory, yet still fell in defeat.”

  “You think this is over?” I say. “I’ve killed much better people than you.”

  “Have you now?”

  I nod. “And now I’m going to kill you.”

  With the demon standing still, I focus my power on the knife stuck in his leg. Lifting my arm in the air, the blade slices up his side, only stopping when it hits his rib cage. With a final move, I push my arms forward, sending the knife the rest of the way into his body.

  Samael howls in agony while the knife does its thing. I look over at the portal and see the red center slowly widening to fill the gap. On the other side I see a large crimson face with two black horns on his head grinning widely.

  I can see why they made this portal bigger. He would have had one hell of a time crawling under the arch. He’s going to have enough trouble getting through this one.

  Samael’s body, finally giving up on life, drops to the ground. The spear pinning me to the ground fade shortly after. I feel my shoulder where it once pierced my skin only to find it unharmed.

  Now free, Azrael runs over to Uriel, bleeding on the ground.

  “We can’t stop the portal,” he says, holding her up. “It was all for nothing.”

  Uriel opens her eyes and looks over at me. “Use your power,” she says.

  “I can’t move that much metal,” I say. “It’s way too heavy.”

  “Not that one. Your light.”

  “I can only use that on an exorcism.”

  She smiles. “You have always had that power. Just open your heart.”

  Azrael looks over at me, determination in his eyes. “You can do it.”

  I don’t know if I agree, but I have to try.

  I stand on the altar and face the portal. My heart races as image creeps towards the side. There isn’t going to be much time to get this right.

  I hold my hands forward, trying to will the white light into existence. Forcing the issue doesn’t help me much either.

  “A little help here,” I say.

  “Think of something special to you,” Az says. “Try Sara.”

  I close my eyes and immediately picture her sitting on the couch, hair pulled back a pony tail as we watch the Matrix for the umpteenth time. I never cared much for the movie, but I loved spending time with her.

  Right when Morpheus is about to sacrifice himself to save Neo, I hear a knock on the door.

  “Who’s that?” Sara says, sitting up.

  “I’ll see.”

  I open the door but don’t see anyone outside.

  “Who is that honey?” Sara says, watching.

  “Nobody. Just a ghost.” I turn around to shut the door when I see him. “Jack?”

  “Hi Daddy,” he says, brown eyes open wide with a smile on his face. He looks the same as the last time I saw him. The same short brown hair on his head. The same blue jeans and red tee shirt.

  “What are you doing here?” I ask. “I thought you were gone.” I fighting to hold back the tears, but fight to stay strong in front of my son.

  “We were, Daddy. Mom said we could stop and see you today.”

  There’s no way he is talking about Linda.

  “Where is your mommy?”

  “I’m right here, Jack,” she says, walking around the side of the house.

  I run out the door and hug her tightly. “I looked all over for you.”

  “I tried to tell you we were OK, Daddy. But the angel said you couldn’t hear us.”

  I look over at Linda after giving up on the tears. “Is this true?”

  She nods. “I’m sorry. We didn’t want to leave.”

  “I missed you,” I say. “But I’m glad you didn’t have to see all this.”

  “I saw everything,” she says.

  I look back at the door and my heart sinks.

  “It’s fine,” she says, kissing me on the forehead. “I wanted you to move on.”

  “It doesn’t make me feel any better about it.”

  “It should,” she says.

  “Daddy, the angel says we need to leave soon. He says you have an important job to do.”

  “I don’t want you to go,” I say, picking him up in the air.

  “But we have to.” She walks up and joins in on the hug. “We will be together soon.”

  I try to muster a smile, but it just doesn’t happen. After a few minutes, Linda takes Jack out of my arms and walks away. I try to run after them, but my body won’t cooperate. I drop to the knees, crying into my hands as they walk away.

  “Mitch,” Linda says turning around. “The angel told me what you did for me. I just want to say thanks for giving me more time with Jack.”

  All I can do is nod while the two walk away, disappearing when they walk onto the street.

  I open my eyes to see a two foot wide white beam flowing out of my hands and into the portal.

  “There you go,” Az says. “Give it more!”

  I try to do what he says, but I can’t relive that dream again. Instead I try to think about seeing them one last time. It’s the only thing I have left to hold onto.

  “Keep it together, Princess,” Nal says, walking up from Abaddon’s car. “Looks like someone knew you were in the market for one of these.” He smiles, holding up a porcelain groom doll. Just like Sara was looking for.

  When I see him and the doll, the stream grows wider causing the portal to slow down some more.

  Nal walks over and places the doll at my feet. “That’ll do. I can help with the rest.”

  I look at him, confused as he stands by my side. He spreads his legs apart to his shoulders before placing his arms out in front of him, creating a white beam the same size as mine.

  “How are you doing that?” I ask.

  “Your friend from Chicago had to shed his vessel to fly over the river,” he says. “Seeing as how I was about to die, I wasn’t going to turn down his offer.”

  “What offer?”

  He looks over at me and smiles. “You aren’t the only one with a free ride.”

  With our combined beams, the center of the portal slowly fades. On the other side, Lucifer yells in torment as it closes in front of him. When the portal is finally gone we turn our beams onto the pillars. The structure whines and pops under our assault, eventually collapsing to the groun
d.

  “It’s over,” I say, collapsing to the ground.

  “Almost,” Nal says. He walks over to Uriel, stopping only to pick up her arm. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get here sooner, but your brother didn’t like not being in control.”

  She looks up at him weakly. “How did you get him to agree to that.”

  He puts the arm back on her body and fuses it back into place with his bright light. “I told him I would find him another suitable host.”

  Uriel stands up and swings her arm in a circle. “I think I know the perfect one.”

  - 13 -

  “You’re sure about this?” Nal asks.

  “Let’s see,” Ralph says. “I can live the rest of my life as a cripple and be a burden to you guys and my wife. Or I can let an angel take over my body and get a chance at some payback.”

  “How about you?” he says, asking Ralph’s wife.

  “I can’t stop him from turning down such a gift,” she says, giving him a kiss. “Just tell him to let me spend time with him every once in a while.”

  Nal stands there for a moment before answering. “Michael says it’s a deal.”

  I walk close to take the man by the hand. “It’s been an honor,” I say.

  “No. The honor is mine.”

  With a smile, I walk out of the room to give Nal a chance to do his thing. Having lived through what he is about to experience, I can’t say I envy the man. But if I had the same choice, I would make the same decision.

  “There you are,” Sara says, giving me a kiss.

  “Nal wanted me to be there when he talked to Ralph.”

  “Did he take the offer?”

  I nod. “They were both for it.”

  I take her hand and we walk down the streets of the compound. For the first time in months, the people here look at ease.

  “There he is,” Stevens says, rolling up in a wheelchair. “The hero of the day.”

  “I’m just a grunt,” I say. “You and your crew are the real heroes.”

  He laughs. “I doubt that. We couldn’t make any headway until you showed up.”

  “What’d the doc say about your legs?”

  “I got lucky. They broke clean. Uriel said she can take care of me later today, but I told her to take care of the others.” He looks up at me and smiles. “Besides, I could use some time off.”

  I pat the man on the back before continuing our walk.

  “Does it ever get old?” Sara asks.

  “Old?”

  “You are like a celebrity here. I don’t think I could stand having everyone look up to me like that.”

  “You get used to it after a while.” If it was up to me, I would have gladly let someone else take all the credit. Shit, I tried to pass it on to Nal the whole time. If he hadn’t started the fight, they may have had the portal up long before I got there. All I had to do was finish what they started.

  “There they are,” Nal says flagging us down. “You two left fast.”

  “Thought it would take more time.”

  Nal shakes his head. “Couple of minutes.”

  “What’s going on?” I ask.

  “Just wondering when we are going to get that wedding. The people need a reason to celebrate. I figure that’s a good enough reason.”

  I look over at Sara. “What do you think?”

  She blushes when I look into her eyes. “You never got me a ring.”

  “I got that covered,” Nal says. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a beautiful golden ring with a diamond large enough to choke a mule.

  “I can’t take that,” I say, pushing his hand back.

  “Nonsense. It’s practically worthless now,” he says, placing the ring in my hand. “Besides. It’s the least I can do.”

  Throwing the man card out the window, I give Nal the biggest hug I’ve ever given another man. When it’s over we both look around to see if anyone else was watching before playing it off like nothing happened.

  “Well?” Nal says.

  I can feel my cheeks redden when I look over at her. Her eyes flutter when our gaze meets, making my heart go haywire. Wanting to cool it off, I do it the only way I know how.

  “Sara,” I say, taking a knee. “Will you marry me?”

  I look up to see the tears in her eyes, followed by the biggest smile I’ve ever seen.

  “Yes,” she says.

  I place the ring on her finger and leap up, lifting her into the air. When the rush is finally over, I bring her back to the ground and we kiss.

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  Follow Mitch as he fights to keep humanity out of the hands of demonkind.

  Demontouched

  The Demontouched Saga Book 1

  Fallen

  The Demontouched Saga Book 2

  Reaper

  The Demontouched Saga Book 3

  Vessel

  The Demontouched Saga Book 4

  Sacrifice

  The Demontouched Saga Book 5

  Risen

  The Demontouched Saga Book 6

  The Demontouched Saga

  Demontouched - Book 1

  Fallen - Book 2

  Reaper - Book 3

  Vessel - Book 4

  Sacrifice - Book 5

  Risen - Book 6

  The Nephalem Files

  Spark of Life

  Vampire for Hire
>
  Thank you again for reading my book. I spent countless hours writing and editing my book to make it the best I could. I then sent the book to an editor in order to catch the things that I may have missed.

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  Thank you for helping me make the books better for those who read it after you.

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  I can remember the first fantasy book I read as a kid. It was Dragons of Autumn Twilight and the rest of the Dragonlance Chronicles. Raistlin, Tas, Tanis, and the rest of the cast had me putting my name on the list to borrow the book at least once a year at my school library. From the first read I fell in love.

  From there my love of fantasy turned into a love of gaming. Dungeons and Dragons, Rift, and Shadowrun firmly had my attention throughout my teenage years. There was hardly a week… a day when my friends and I didn’t sit down to play something. Even when we weren’t playing, we had a blast just creating characters or talking about the settings.

  Eventually, I taught myself how to be a dungeon master of the games. This allowed me to come up with scenarios and stories for my friends to play through. I didn’t need any preparation beforehand, everything I needed came from my head.