CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED SIXTY

Shadow and Flame, Part 1

At that moment, if someone living in Hell’s Kitchen looked out at the night sky from their apartment window, they would have seen a strange sight; a man floating in the cloudy night sky with his silhouette set against the flashes of lightning that danced in the clouds reaching up to catch a falling star that burned bright and red in the darkness. And that would have been Herculean’s big debut.

Sam had more important things to worry about than whether or not he would appear on the nine o’clock news though.

He caught Bloodfyre’s prison of molten rock easily enough as it was far too conspicuous to miss even for him. He did, however, find it surprising that his hands didn’t burn when his palms made contact with the stone’s scorching surface.

[Elemental Ward (β)] combined with [Fire Proof] have made you highly resistant to fire damage.]

“Good to know,” Sam replied.

[However, the system still recommends you don’t hold onto the object for too long or you will eventually suffer burn damage.]

“Thanks for the heads up.” Sam glanced down past his feet. “Gods, please don’t let me drop this thing.”

Maybe you should pray for wings too, kid… you’re falling pretty fast, Chiron suggested.

“Actually”—despite the great height, Sam was smirking—“I’ve got an idea about that.”

He could see the devastation below and knew none of Bloodfyre’s frozen branches could break his fall because what remained of her Blood Tree that Dr. Hearthstone hadn’t smashed through was already beginning to break apart as if the power that gave them form no longer held sway over the blood.

Sam couldn’t rely on his friends either as they were all scattered around and doing their own thing. It was up to him to make sure he wouldn’t crash onto the warehouse’s cement floor—and he thought up a creative way to do it too.

No, he didn’t use his new and improved grappling hooks. His hands were busy keeping Bloodfyre’s cage up. Instead, Sam was falling, falling, falling—right into a six-foot teal-tinge wall he just conjured into the air that was angled horizontally to act like a slide for him and his package.

“Imagination is greater than knowledge,” Sam whispered.

Who do you think taught Einstein that? Chiron boasted.

Sam also managed to frown at the air as he slid off this first wall and into another glowing wall that was tilted in the opposite direction from the first one. “You can’t claim to be—”

The wall tilted at a five o’clock angle slowed his descent enough that Sam had time to conjure up a third glowing wall below him that was tilted at a four o’clock angle.

“—be everyone’s teacher. It’s just not—”

A fourth and final wall—tilted at five o’clock once again—appeared beneath Sam’s feet just as he ran out of his current wall to slide on.

“—believable!”

I ain’t lying, lame-brain, Chiron neighed in annoyance. Ask your girlfriend. She knows Mr. Saturnday has the secret sauce to true success.

Sadly, Sam was too busy sliding off that final wall to point out that speaking of one’s self in the third person wasn’t cool.

“And~~d”—he took that last bit of footing to jump off his conjured wall and land feet-first onto the warehouse floor with his package still intact over his head—“perfect landing!”

“Not really, but points for creativity,” Thunder replied.

She was standing close by, which was a good thing as it turned out, because Sam, having overused Bulwark in rapid succession, had drained himself too quickly of life force that he became woozy from just the effort of standing. He dropped the poorly-made statue of Bloodfyre onto the floor and then stumbled forward into Thunder’s arms.

“Are you okay?” she asked while keeping Sam on his feet.

“Just need to… catch my breath and… regenerate,” he grunted.

“I guess making a pinball machine in the air would burn a lot of energy out of you, huh.” She was glancing up at the last of the faintly glowing walls Sam had conjured just as it began to disappear back into the ether. “Where’d you think that up?”

“Mr. Moonday had one… in his workshop,” Sam said. “…thought it might work.”

“Good job.” Thunder let Sam lean on her for a while longer before gently pulling away from him. “So, how do we get Bloodfyre out of that cage without allowing her to fight back?”

“Um, I don’t think that’s… going to be our problem,” Sam whispered in a worrying tone.

He was eyeing the molten prison and caught the moment when the glowing red veins running along its surface winked out suddenly. Then a new crack formed along the chunk of stone that covered the area that was Bloodfyre’s face, and the sound of it sent a chill up Sam’s spine.

The other heroes were just beginning to gather around Sam and Thunder, but they were ordered back by Crow-Man who eyed the statuesque-like prison from his perch at the top of what remained of the steel shelf Bloodfyre’s tree had sprouted out of.

“I figured she wouldn’t go down that easily,” Thunder said.

She and Sam shuffled back too, although they were both close enough to see more cracks appear on the stone that hid Bloodfyre’s face. These cracks grew quickly, racing across its surface like spider limbs dancing on stone.

“I was kind of hoping that imprisoning her in molten rock was enough to make her give up,” Sam admitted. Luckily, his health and fatigue healed enough that he was no longer panting for air.

“Hope for the best”—Thunder cocked her arm and summoned a lightning bolt into her hand—“but be ready for the worst.”

“Words to live by,” Sam sighed.

Chunks of rock began crumbling to the ground, leaving a hole in Bloodfyre’s prison that, weirdly enough, showed no sign of the vampire’s angry visage within. Instead, this face-sized hole in the rock opened up into darkness that no light could penetrate. It was a sight that reminded Sam of the shadows he’d fought over and over again these last few months, and that would have been worrying enough, but then he saw the single crimson eye staring back at him from deep within the gloom. It was a monstrous eye wreathed in flame.

“Holy Zeus…” Try as he might, Sam couldn’t repress the shivering in his arms. “What is—”

Something fiery and red lanced out of the hole. It moved so quickly that it would have struck Sam in the chest if Thunder didn’t push him aside at the last second. However, that meant the blow meant for him struck her instead, and Thunder screamed as four deep gashes appeared on her shoulder.

“Thunder!” Sam was quick to catch her as she fell. It was a mistake that Triple-A pointed out too late.

ALERT! Thunder has been infected with [Blood Maledict]. It is a powerful curse that drains her of health whenever she uses her gift and then transfers that stolen health over to the one who cursed her. ALERT! A mortal affected by [Blood Maledict] can also contract [Vampiric Taint], a temporary debilitating condition where the infected’s blood can be wielded by the corrupting vampire to attack nearby companions!

It was just like Sam to ignore Triple-A’s warnings when he should have heeded them, but he was too busy worrying over Thunder’s injury to defend himself against the blood that gushed out of her wounds. They splashed onto him like buckshot fired from a shotgun at close range.

“Agh!” Sam grunted.

If it weren’t for his new armor, Sam’s throat and chest might have been peppered with holes and his life would be at risk. Still, the power of Bloodfyre’s surprise attack was such that even the Armor of the Odyssey couldn’t protect him completely from those bullet-like impacts, and it was sheer willpower that kept him from falling over while Thunder writhed in pain in his arms.

Cries of “Sam!” reached his ears, but the pain lancing up his brain dulled Sam’s senses so that he wasn’t sure which of his friends was rushing to help him. All he could think of was to heal Thunder as quickly as possible while Regeneration went to work on his bruised chest.

“Healing Ha—”

Something flashed in Sam’s peripheral, drawing his gaze toward it.

It was the thing that had struck Thunder in the one part of her body that her new indestructible armor didn’t completely cover. A clawed hand was slinking back into the hole it had somehow stretched out from, and it lacked the smooth, manicured appearance of the hand that had grasped Sam’s neck earlier. This one was gray and hairy and—

“Sam, I could… use some healing here,” Thunder gasped. “It’s like… my blood’s boiling. Ugh.”

Her pained face—the way she bit at her lower lip to keep from screaming some more—sobered Sam up. “I’ve got you,” he promised.

“I know,” she managed.

Sam’s life force seeped out of him, flowed through the tips of his fingers, and into the four garish wounds that raked across Thunder’s shoulder. Thankfully, her blood was no longer hostile to his touch, and soon enough her wounds closed up, leaving only a pale scar as a reminder of the pain she earned for rescuing him.

This is my fault, Sam thought. If I was more careful—

Then you’d be injured and one of your team’s two healers would be out of the fight, Chiron countered. Thunder chose right this time.

“Herculean~~n,” whispered a voice more terrible than any Sam had heard before. Even more than the giant’s shadow that liked to haunt his dreams from time to time.

Most of the rock that held her prisoner had crumbled away by now, but the beautiful woman he’d fought earlier was gone. In her place was a creature from a child’s worst nightmares.

Styx, Sam thought, to which Chiron replied, Better sharpen your stake, kid. This monster will be an even tougher fight than Apex.