Dark Consequence

Elijah sat in the burned-out circle of his living room. Dried tears stained a face twisted in despair. Deidre’s head rested in his lap; her blond hair mussed but almost normal compared to the rest of her.

Cassie lay next to him, cold and unmoving like her mother. Like Deidre, her body was defiled with wicked symbols that had fueled some unknown ritual for power. The knife that had taken their lives lay between them, stained with blood and his symbol carved into the hilt.

Thaddeus. An acolyte of evil and sadist Elijah had been tracking for months.

He should’ve been here. His connection to Bael—one he didn’t understand —had warned him. Yet he’d refused the cosmic power the Outer Being offered Elijah to protect them.

And for that arrogance, his family was dead.

I spoke on these things, Bael murmured in his mind. Yet you did not heed me.

He had failed them. There was nothing left to live for. It would be so easy to pick up the knife and slit his own throat. His pain would end.

You cannot, Bael whispered. For Thaddeus tortures their spirits as we speak. The Outer Being’s words were accompanied by images of the atrocities his family now suffered even in the spirit realm.

A darkness of his own making filled Elijah. A rage only one thing could soothe.

“Yes,” he croaked. “Yes.”

A dam of alien energy exploded inside him and Elijah screamed. The pain was overwhelming; infinite. His body thrummed with Bael’s power and Elijah knew he would be able to save them. And Thaddeus would suffer like no other.

His anger deafened him to the sinister laughter of an entity whose millennia-long plans had finally been realized.