CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED SIXTY

Shadow and Flame, Part 2

Back when Sam was in high school, a fad had started about young vampires with beautiful faces stealing away teenage girls and boys from their mundane classrooms, and taking them out for a night on the town. More often than not, these strange encounters ended with these teens coming home feeling fatigued and heartbroken, but alive despite the pint or two of blood they’d lost to their erstwhile dates.

The vampires who’d started the fad weren’t hunted down by the authorities as they were children of diplomats hailing from the one nation on Earth who worshipped Hades as their main patron and were therefore protected by the veil of diplomatic immunity.

Of course, the PTA and heads of local school districts couldn’t allow such predation to continue, and so a social campaign against vampirism took root in New York City. That meant mandatory sessions of anti-vampire propaganda for all of Queens’ high school students. This is why Sam and his social studies class were forced to watch a documentary about vampires that explained and illustrated in graphic detail the change a vampire undergoes during a fit of bloodlust; the alluring, dark-eyed youths of every teenage girl’s and boy’s dreams transformed into a vile thing that was both bat and man—a creature from the dark corners of the Underworld.

The adults hoped that seeing such monstrous depictions would curtail the lust teenagers had for vampires, but that didn’t happen. The propaganda just made vampires more mysterious and weirdly relatable to the eyes of angsty teens, and therefore, more desirable.

Sam himself had lost his first kiss to a vampire girl who’d taken a liking to him despite his uncool status in high school. Although he’d mostly forgotten that encounter as she and her fellow youths were shipped off to their home country soon afterward to help diminish the growing resentment New Yorkers had for their nation of the damned.

Why was Sam remembering this now? Well, because he recalled those creatures he’d seen in the documentary, and they were nothing like the monster glaring daggers at him from only a few feet away.

This abomination had grown to at least twice Bloodfyre’s original size with wings of leather and fire sprouting from its broad back. More flames and shadows burst from these wings as they stretched out in full, giving off the perception of a swelling physique.

“Master, what am I looking at exactly?” Sam asked, bewildered.

The appearance of a demon with crimson eyes and twin horns protruding from her brow to curve above burning hair smiled fang-filled teeth at Sam.

Looks like Bloodfyre’s not just any vampire, Chiron replied. Look at her legs. See it?

It was admittedly hard to stare away from that demonic face, but Sam managed it with some effort. “What in Hades…?”

While the demon’s torso retained human-like proportions, her lower half was a strange mix of a hairy goat’s leg and one that seemed to be made entirely of metal.

“Copper,” Thunder said as she pulled away from Sam’s embrace. “Her other leg’s made of copper.”

That copper leg’s the mark of an empousa, a nasty kind of greater vampire that’s been around since the days of Jason and the first Argonauts.

In its right hand, the empousa carried a sword of flame. While in its left hand, it held a burning whip that cracked against the cement floor.

“Okay, so how do we kill an empousa?” Sam asked.

“Weren’t we going to interrogate her first?” Thunder reminded him.

“Yeah, well, I don’t think it wants to talk,” Sam reasoned. “Duck!”

They both ducked as the empousa swung its sword at their heads and barely dodged the flaming blade as it whisked over them.

“Hephaestus’ flaming balls, this thing’s fast!” Sam complained.

“Over here!” Farsight yelled. “Hurry!”

With her arrows providing them cover, Sam and Thunder managed to retreat from the empousa’s melee range.

“Okay, first we beat her up to the point of death, and then we get her to talk,” Thunder growled.

Now that he’d healed her of Blood Maledict—a feat that Sam’s Healing Hand did surprisingly easily, suggesting that it was finally nearing its evolution to beta-level—Thunder seemed more irked than hurt, and she was raring to return the favor.

Her oval shield materialized in her left hand—which annoyed Sam a little too—while Thunder raised her right hand toward the hole in the roof. A second later and a lightning bolt bigger than anything she’d summoned that night sliced the sky in twain as it landed on Thunder’s waiting palm.

Sam shut his eyes to the glaring white light, and when he opened his eyelid moments later, he saw the pure-white spear in Thunder’s right hand.

“You’re going all out,” Sam noted.

“She hurt me and spat on the armor Mr. Moonday forged from a piece of myth you were decent enough to share with me,” Thunder growled. “You’re damn right going all out.

Gods, she’s beautiful even when she’s mad… He pressed on the two nodes around his belt buckle and made both Gram and Onus materialize in his hands. “We go on three?”

He didn’t just say that for Thunder’s benefit because he noticed that Jackboot, Dr. Hearthstone, Ice Brand, Miracle Girl, and Raven Knight had all gathered behind him. However, Thunder didn’t seem willing to wait that long. She yelled, “Three!” like a war cry, and then charged.

‘That’s not what I meant!” Sam yelled after her.

With a shrug at Sam, and a cry of, “Two!” Jackboot followed after Thunder. Dr. Hearthstone and the others followed too, and they were all screaming “One!” at the empousa as they charged at her with gifts activated and weapons at the ready.

“Everyone’s a godsdamn joker these days,” Sam sighed.

“I told you before…” Crow-Man dropped to Sam’s side from the shelf above. “…the heroes starting to gather around you aren’t the kind to back away from the hard fights.”

“Gather around me?” Sam repeated, his brow furrowing. “What do you mean?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure yet.” He eyed Sam’s new armor with glowing purple eyes. “Only time will tell if Herculean can be the hero we all need you to be.”

Then, before Sam could ask him to clarify his words, Crow-Man was rushing forward, leaving Sam alone on the sidelines.

So, are you just going to stand there and watch, or are you planning to join the fight anytime soon? Chiron asked.

“Alright… I’m going, I’m going.” Then, in an uncommon sign of solidarity, Sam yelled, “Zero!” as he raced toward blood and flame.

It would have been a much tougher fight back in the first days of the Argo VII’s crew, but Sam and his friends had become a well-oiled machine since those early days, and now they had Crow-Man and his guys’ backing them up as well.

The empousa, however, proved a worthy opponent for their team-up. She was strong. Stronger even than a fully-formed Nemean Lion.

Her fearsome countenance alone sent dread streaking into their hearts, forcing the heroes to doubt themselves and weaken their resolves just enough for their attacks to fail at the most inopportune times.

It was Thunder who calmed their minds when this happened. Rather, it was her shield, Ancile, that helped to instill her friends with daring whenever they faltered.

“Find courage in the embrace of the god of war!” she chanted.

To Sam’s annoyance, the shield that Thunder had won from Ares carried with it a second function; an ‘Aura of Righteous Fury’ that Triple-A informed him instilled their party with righteous fervor, allowing them to fight harder against demons while ignoring a demon’s power to implant fear into the hearts of their enemies.

Combined with Miracle Girl’s ‘Radiance’—which Triple-A explained to Sam increased her allies’ natural healing abilities while making them resistant to mental attacks—and the empousa’s ‘Shroud of Terror’ quickly lost its hold on everyone, making it easier for the heroes to strike at a form made of shadow and flame.

“Has anyone else noticed how hard it is to hit this beast despite its size?” Jackboot asked after he somersaulted back into position behind Thunder who was now playing the role of the party’s tank. “She’s unbelievably thick-skinned, isn’t she?”

“An empousa’s half-spirit. Physical attacks hurt it less than one made with enchanted weapons,” Sam spoke Triple-A’s explanation.

“Well, not everyone has a bloody magical sword on hand,” Jackboot sighed. “Maybe I should get Mr. Moonday to give my boots some enchanted cleats…”

“Oh, speaking of enchanted items…” Freeing his hand momentarily of Gram, Sam pressed on another node in his belt. “Mr. Moonday asked me to deliver this to you.”

Part of Sam’s rewards from his battle against Apex was three thick ironbark splinters that had broken off from the fabled Club of Heracles. One of these splinters had been used to create the two items that had just materialized in Sam’s hand. They were a pair of tonfas similar to a police baton but far more intricate in their design than a simple wooden club.

“He thought you might need these.” Sam dropped the tonfas into Jackboot’s hands. “Sorry I forgot to give them to you earlier.”

Sam couldn’t see his friend’s face, but he guessed that Jackboot’s jaw had just dropped to the floor by the way he was staring quietly at his gift.

“They’re called Lion Fangs, and I’m betting that they pack a mean punch.” Sadly, its name was all the information he could relay to Jackboot as Triple-A’s inspection feature was once again thwarted by Mr. Moonday’s enchantments. “And now you have an excuse to use your hands too.”

“I… I don’t know what to say,” Jackboot whispered.

“How about you try using them?” Farsight had just finished firing her last arrow when she butted into their conversation. “Bludgeoning a demon’s face sounds like a good way to break your new toys in.”

“You know, you do have some good ideas from time to time.” Jackboot twirled his tonfas around. “Let’s give it a try.”

Jackboot hopped forward but Sam stayed by Farsight’s side because he’d noticed how tired she looked.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Sweat dripped down Farsight’s brow. She was out of breath too.

“Probability shots are tiring me out.” Farsight’s fatigue didn’t stop her from grinning at Jackboot’s flailing attempt to use his new weapons though. “You think he’ll actually hit her?”

“Maybe.” Sam shrugged. “He doesn’t use his arms enough.”

“You think he knows that his wallet’s about to get lighter?” Farsight asked. “Moonday’s custom gear isn’t cheap.”

“Isn’t he an heir or something?” Sam reminded her.

“You’re an heir too, Sam, and you still struggled to pay last month’s rent,” Farsight fired back.

“Touche,” Sam sighed. “Um, gotta go, um, help, Jack.”

It seemed Sam preferred to run headlong into the barbed tip of the empousa’s whip rather than face Farsight’s barbed tongue. Thankfully, Jackboot managed to finally land a hit with his tonfa. He parried the burning whip away from Sam’s approach, allowing Sam to charge straight in and strike the empousa’s copper leg with Onus combined with, “Herculean!” and its new upper limit.

[Herculean (Γ)] is now active. Your current strength is temporarily quintupled based on probability and threat assessment calculations [1,035].

As the hammer struck the copper leg, a resounding boom echoed throughout the Warehouse floor while accompanied by a shockwave that was nearly as powerful as Sam’s Clapper. It was, as Farsight would later note, the sound of a bell tolling and signaling the beginning of the end for Bloodfyre.

Onus had struck the empousa’s leg with such force that he bent the metal just above the shin, forcing the demon to fall onto its knees. It wasn’t down yet though. Shadow and flame rose from its body in a defensive way that forced the other heroes back. All except for Sam whose improved elemental defenses made even demon fire tolerable.

“That tickles,” Sam taunted.

He stepped into range and drove Gram into the empousa’s gut, causing the demon to let loose a deathly wail that forced Sam to stumble backward.

WARNING! You have been [Stunned] for three seconds!

Three seconds would have been enough for the empousa to lash out at Sam with her sword of flame, but the weapon froze up just before Bloodfyre could swing it down on Sam’s head. By the time its fire counteracted the frost, Sam was already backing away.

The hero who just saved Sam’s bacon was standing on top of a metal crate with his eyes fixed on his recorder bot’s lens.

“That’s right, my icicles,” he gave the camera a thumbs up, “my Winter’s Breath can even freeze a demon’s fire.”

Ice Brand winking to his ‘icicles’ was interrupted by the shadowy hands that yanked him off the metal crate and out of the reach of the empousa’s flaming whip as it snapped toward him.

“I’ve said this a few times now, but you people don’t have any sense of danger or urgency,” Raven Knight complained as she materialized behind the empousa as if she’d been spit out of the shadows on the ground.

She stabbed the empousa right between its shoulder blades, causing the demon tremendous pain while drawing its attention away from Crow-Man who snuck underneath Bloodfyre to plant two more daggers into her goat leg.

Once again, the empousa toppled over, and, with both its legs badly damaged, the demon was slow to get back up. Slow enough for Thunder to hammer the final nail into Bloodfyre’s coffin.

Thunder drove Skyfang deep into its chest and used the white spear’s cleansing power to purge Bloodfyre of demonic energy so that the empousa’s form dwindled back into the now unconscious vampire who’d made the mistake of making Thunder angry.

As for Sam, he watched Thunder’s victory with a wide smile. It was a smile that was quick to turn upside down thanks to the strange notification that popped up suddenly.

You leveled up! You leveled up! Hades, Lord of the Underworld, has noticed your victory over one of his chosen champions. In retribution, he has placed the [Mark of Hector] on you so that all the dead will know your name and be hostile to you wherever you encounter them.

“Styx,” Sam gulped. “But I didn’t even land the final blow?!”