I braced myself between Ray and the beast. Jerry and Rafe were by my side and held on to me when we were sprayed with a sickening sludge that stank of hell and worse.
"Duck, Glory." Jerry used his broadsword and the head that had pulled at Ray dropped to the rock floor.
"One down. We stay together. Go right." Rafe held on to me. Ray was on his feet now and the four of us linked arms to resist that insistent sucking determined to drag us in. Jerry's broadsword proved to be the only thing sharp and strong enough to take a head. The monster shuddered and screamed its outrage, slashing at us with teeth the size of my arm. We all fell back, but Jerry managed to get his sword under its neck and struck the killing blow again. Head two was on the floor.
"Now left." Jerry gripped the sword in both hands and I kept my arms around his waist as we slid toward the left and that last horrific head. This one seemed to gain strength as it did the work of its fallen sisters. It grew in size, doubling before our eyes. Its teeth were even bigger now; my legs weren't so long. And slits for eyes gleamed with the fires of hell itself. We couldn't even pretend to breathe in the fumes from the blood and haze of the miasma that had come out of the awful creature. Goddess. What a flattering word for such an abomination.
"Take her now, Blade." Rafe suddenly let go of our human chain and danced close to her as if to offer himself like a tasty treat. "Honoria! Like what you see?"
"Rafe, no!" I screamed and tried to get to him. "Don't let him do this!"
"Right!" Jerry ordered, then slashed with the sword as the thing took the bait, making a swipe at Rafe and getting a bite of his arm.
Rafe jerked loose and fell to the right, the head barely missing him as it fell to the floor with a noisy plop. Suddenly it was quiet in the cavern except for the sound of Rafe's labored breathing and my own moan at the sight of Rafe's bloody arm.
"Rafe!" I jerked free of Ray's grasp and slipped my way over to check on him.
"I'm okay, let's get the hell out of here. I think she's dead, but there are Energy Vampires up above scheduled to wake up and they won't be happy once they realize their powers just took a nosedive."
"No kidding." I helped him to his feet and turned to Jerry. "You were amazing." I looked at Ray. "All of you. Now let's get going. I may never feel clean again."
"Yeah, this was a hell of a job." Ray wiped his hand on his jeans.
"Ha. Ha." Rafe pulled off his shirt and wrapped it around his bleeding arm. "I mean it, let's hurry. And I do want to blow this place up. We can throw those explosives down the hole. Just to be on the safe side."
"Right you are." Jerry helped me get up the stairs, which seemed way steeper going up than they had coming down.
When we got to the top, Ray pulled out his package of explosives and a timer. "Ian said this has a ten-second delay. So I'm setting it now. Ready?" He looked around and we all nodded. "Go!"
We all ran outside, relieved that apparently we'd beat the clock as far as the EVs waking up, and shifted out of there. When we got safely into the woods, we landed under a tree and waited until we heard the explosion. The dome collapsed but the outbuildings were unharmed.
"Excellent planning. I guess Ian didn't want to blow up the entire countryside." I glanced at Jerry.
"It was wise of him. This way Destiny will still have his headquarters if he chooses to use them and there wasn't enough of a disturbance to alert authorities." Jerry nodded at Ray.
"I'm telling you, Blade. Ian's all right. He's going to be here awhile, so get used to him." Ray frowned down at his filthy clothes. "I'm going straight home to burn these. You okay now, Glory?"
"Yes, fine. Thanks, Ray." I kissed his cheek. "You were a champ down there."
"Not so much, but I didn't wimp out, did I?" He grinned and nodded to Jerry. "I'd say you kicked some goddess ass, Blade. Good job." He and Jerry bumped fists. Guess Ray had taught him that. "Valdez, hope this is the last