Leviathan (Fist of Light Series) Read online

  by

  Derek Edgington

  Leviathan

  Fist of Light Series (Book 2)

  Copyright © 2012 by Derek Edgington

  mobi ISBN: 978-0-9850089-2-5

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted electronically or mechanically. Neither photocopying nor recording are permitted without permission of the author.

  Original cover art and design by Jordan Harris

  All the characters, names, and events in this book are fictional. Any resemblance to actual people or occurrences is purely coincidental.

  Digital Editions produced by BookNook.biz.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Epilogue

  — Chapter 1 —

  Fires raged across the city, belching thick clouds of smoke into the air. Copious amounts of rain released from an unrelenting storm brought an incessant hissing to my ears. Skyscrapers had been torn asunder, as if a giant hand had knocked them from their lofty perch. The once-glimmering ocean was blood-red, stained. Tumultuous waves crashed among the fallen remains of the Golden Gate Bridge. The scene before me relayed an evident message: a war had been fought here, and the victims were given no quarter. Innumerable bodies, which were strewn carelessly across the ashy ground, backed this hypothesis. A severe lack of humanity coupled with the nefarious designs of a sub-human entity had brought my city low. Growling under my breath, I shot a look behind me.

  Dilapidated structures surrounded me, eclipsing any view that might have been gleaned, any visual point of escape. My heavy breathing echoed through the night, a constant identifier that relayed my position to the pursuing party. Wet, bedraggled hair plastered itself across my face. My clothes were similarly affected by the weather. Cursing, I siphoned some more power from the nexus, calling Air to speed and quiet my passage through what remained of the streets. Although I wanted to take to the skies, flying would likely paint me as a target. Already there were pursuers on my six. Adding further complexity to the chase wasn't advisable. There were sure to be some exceedingly unsavory entities roaming the dank and dark thoroughfares. A thought surfaced and I maneuvered accordingly through unmoving traffic, over a fallen streetlight, then up a protrusion of rubble.

  A miasmic purplish aura encompassed my being, adding superhuman power to the leap. As my arcing trajectory steered me towards my target, I risked a glance behind to locate my pursuers. My keen eyes separated buildings and cars. I discerned leaping bodies amidst the unmoving traffic, tailing me without subtlety. My attention returned to my goal, and I landed lithely atop the housing structure. Keeping up a breakneck pace leeched energy from the core of my being. Another Air-fueled jump was required if I desired to cross the space separating the buildings. I didn’t undermine my confidence with thoughts of failure as Air powered my next leap, wind rushed by me, and rain stung my exposed extremities. As my shoes impacted the roof, I allowed my body to curl into a fluid roll, which dispersed my forward momentum.

  “It would be advisable to locate a defendable position amongst all this rubble, to better stand against their combined might,” Jeeves opined.

  “Has the smoke clouded your mind? That's what I've been running toward. There aren't any defensible positions in any of these burned out houses,” I grumbled between breaths.

  “Then it might be to your benefit to arrive at your destination with all due haste,” Jeeves countered calmly, despite the encroaching enemy.

  With a dramatically increased field of vision, it became clear the urban sprawl of the inner city was not so far removed as I previously thought. I entered into a reactive state and scanned the skies and streets, wary. There were no enemies. I briefly considered the possibility of an ambush. After discarding the idea out of hand, I ran assuredly atop the buildings, leaping over obstacles and gaping expanses as I came upon them. The row of houses I traversed paralleled my goal for a sequence of minutes, until finally the street came to a branching intersection. Waves of energy bounded in my wake, striking behind and downward, launching me into the open air. It was only moments before impact, with arms splayed wide and eyes focused intently on my landing area, I noticed the cavernous holes in the warehouse before me. The building was barely standing, charred remains just waiting for the right conditions before it fell to pieces.

  “Mother—” My body impacted the flimsy structure.

  A horrendous splintering reached my ears as fragile roofing met skin and bone. A wide section of roof caved in, sending a shower of splinters in every direction. I covered my eyes, protecting them against incoming shrapnel. This blinded me for a few precious seconds, barring sight of what lay below. I barely managed a graceless roll as the ground rushed up to meet me. With my recent luck, I should have guessed such a maneuver would only end in tragedy. My tumble took me straight into an extremely solid and uncompromising object, which, coupled with my jarring landing, knocked me for a good loop. Groaning, I rubbed dizzily at my aching forehead while making sure all my appendages were attached in the appropriate places. I stood groggily.

  “Nice flying, Ace,” Jeeves chuckled.

  “Thank you for flying Holden Airlines. Apologies for the unexpected bout of turbulence.” I swooned momentarily before regaining a tenuous hold on a balanced stance.

  Chances were my pursuers wouldn't take long to catch up to me now that I'd come to a graceless halt. Taking stock, I realized the warehouse contained rows upon rows of wooden pallets, stacked high with bags of concrete mix. I jumped and grasped for the topmost bag and hoisted myself up. The unstable compilation tilted alarmingly but righted itself after some quick repositioning.

  “This is hardly the ideal position to hold off a brood of bloodthirsty vampires.” Jeeves flashed into sight and regarded the pocketed roof with disdain.

  “I realize that, which is why we're leaving.” I put action to words, hopping from one stack to the next.

  As I progressed throughout the structure, pallets teetered and fell, the bags of concrete mix exploding in dense clouds of dust. It might have made me feel marginally guilty to watch the livelihood of some unknown person go up in smoke had the city not been demolished. As it was, I couldn't spare the time for another backwards glance at the exploding bags. My supernatural senses informed me of incoming bogies. The light at the end of the tunnel presented itself in the form of a door, left of a series of closed loading bays. A single, Air-enhanced bound brought me to a stumbling halt before the exit. I risked a glance beside me. A smile formed on my lips as the last few pallets, stacked high with concrete mix, acted as an absurd, coordinated set of dominos. Flurries of granulated powder exploded into the air in a veritable dust storm. Returning to the task at hand, I jiggled the handle, but found it to be barred and unusable, the locking mechanism stuck fast.

  “Dammit all!” I yelled loudly then released a stream of curses, but in a much more restrained tone. Wouldn't do me any good to broadcast my position for those behind. Let them stumble bli
ndly through the smoke for a while longer.

  “Might I offer a solution?” Jeeves enquired through our mental link, amused.

  “If you were so gracious, I might consider not beating your incorporeal ass into next week,” I aired out the mostly empty threat.

  A katana forged of unobtainium appeared in my hand. The curved blade shone with an unnatural gleam, illuminated from the inside and faintly crackling with electricity. Five bands of bursting color adorned the hilt, representing my rudimentary control over the five elements. I took the hint and went to work, sliding the sword in the gap above the locking mechanism.

  “With just the right amount...” My voice trailed off triumphantly as the lock gave way to the superior craftsmanship of the blade.

  I maneuvered the katana between my shoulder blades where a sheath appeared on its own accord. After adjusting the manifested shoulder strap, I patted reassuringly at my belt, which contained the tools of the trade I had recently been forced to learn by an uncompromising new teacher. Then I frowned, as it became clear there had been another way through this door than brute strength. Shrugging, I decided there wasn’t time for subtlety. My foot lashed out in a powerful front kick, the entire weight of my body behind the blow. The door burst open, screeching loudly in protest.

  “Well done,” Jeeves said. “Now, we must move quickly if you wish to retain your lead.”

  “Yes, sir, boss man, sir.” I saluted sarcastically before continuing onward in my flight through the urban sprawl.

  Barbwire fence loomed before me but presented no real obstacle to my passage. After boosting myself off a metal sidebar, I leapt upward, executing a roll while airborne and landing in a crouch on the sidewalk. Glancing along the ends of the street, I was happy there weren't any vampires blocking my flight. With a burst of speed with the aid of Air, I blurred down numerous side streets, approaching my destination. The cityscape was just beginning to blend into skyscrapers when I happened upon a gold mine. Stopping abruptly, I processed what was before me. The tectonic plates had shifted, revealing the cavernous depths of the Earth. A yawning expanse gaped, effectively stopping my progress down the street. The buildings beside me were around ten stories high, caked with grime and ash that was slowly being washed away by the rain. Thunder boomed and lightning flashed ominously.

  “I believe this will do,” Jeeves decided, stroking his incorporeal chin thoughtfully.

  “Won't it?” I smiled, pleased with myself.

  Jeeves rolled his eyes and scoffed at my expression. “You happened upon this place due to mere luck.”

  “Luck has given me the upper hand at the most crucial moments, though she tends to ignore my puny existence the rest of the time.” I nodded solemnly.

  Recently, I had taken to wearing a black leather jacket, which was modified with specially tailored pockets and sheaths in the interior for carrying numerous weapons. Kathryne had insisted on a more traditional black cloak, but I reminded her this was present-day America. In addition to adding an air of general badassery, the jacket provided an inconspicuous look amid the teeming masses of humanity. I turned and watched as water beaded and fell in slow motion, drawn inexorably toward the ground by gravity. I closed my eyes and readied myself for the battle to come, stuffing my emotions into a metaphysical cubbyhole.

  “Sense the balance between Water and Air. Find the appropriate quantities necessary for the working to properly integrate. Of course, the usual dangers remain, as always,” Jeeves said from his position beside me.

  I shook my head vigorously to clear it more thoroughly of lurking distractions, which flung some less clingy droplets of water outward. “This isn't going to work. It hasn't up to this point and barring divine intervention, that isn’t going to change.”

  “The process is far from instantaneous. You have come far from when we started, just months prior. Combination of disparate elements is no easy task.”

  Vampires were beginning to round the corner, stacking up in a milling and uncoordinated mass. They didn't seem to have gotten the memo about cute, sparkly vampires. With their skin in various states of flaky decay from pursuing me in the daytime, they were not easy on the eyes. They were ugly broads, to say the least, bloated on the blood of the innocent, yet still their appetite was not sated. No, it appeared they were looking for a second course, and I was it. Despite the sun being hidden behind the cloud cover, being out in the daytime was slowly killing them. Too bad they wouldn't just stand around and let the UV rays do my job for me.

  “Ah, a perfect opportunity to expand your knowledge of the supernatural community. Vampire type A, which you see here, are little more than frontrunner troops, lower-tier vampires to be discarded on the whims of their superior. Enthralled, their minds and lives are paired to their creator, destinies forever linked to a commander. Little humanity remains in them, although intelligence remains unaffected in the change. Their hearts have long stopped beating in their chests, the organ a mere specter of its original functionality. Sunlight is as a slow-acting poison. A few minutes exposure will see them truly dead. The medical doctors of this day would pinpoint the source of this poison as a mutation in how their bodies respond to vitamin D. As the sun’s rays beat down upon them, their own withered bodies produce a toxin that instigates a slow, painful demise, unless vast amounts of fresh blood are ingested in a timely fashion. However, even these type-A vampires are preternaturally agile and possessed of great strength, disproportionate to their flaky exteriors.”

  I struggled to file away every minute detail, assessing strengths and weaknesses. “Interesting. So if they no longer have a heartbeat, why do they need the blood?”

  “Blood fires the furnaces of the soul, boy. Each time a vampire feeds, it leeches a portion of the victim’s essence and absorbs it.”

  I made a face. “Ick. Could've done without clarification on that particular subject.”

  “I'm merely furthering your education in all fields of thought, rather than limiting you to bare essentials. First, you disparage me for not giving you all the pieces of the puzzle and now you pine after woeful ignorance?” Jeeves scoffed, an amused expression on his face.

  “Just tell me how to kill them,” I demanded.

  “Simple, really. Separate the head from their body or deplete them of enough pilfered blood that they can no longer continue functioning.”

  “Right then.” I tried to inject my voice with more confidence than I felt. “Simple stuff.”

  I narrowed my eyes and brought both hands together in a contemplative gesture. Extending my senses outwards, I locked onto a nearby water supply, engaging the unpressurized pipe system below. I extended a fist and commanded their contents to explode upward. Sewer drains and fire hydrants relinquished their stores, creating an out-of-place fountain. Frowning in intense concentration, I ignored the now advancing vamps entirely as the task at hand required my full attention. Combination of Air and Water was an irritatingly difficult equation, one that required exact quantities. Incorrect measurements had proven dangerous in every sense of the word. My unoccupied left hand was raised imploringly, beseeching Air to provide aid.

  “Carefully now, carefully,” Jeeves said, almost breaking my concentration entirely.

  I snarled and funneled more power into my construct, committing increasingly larger amounts of my being into the design. My eyes burst open, two azure lighthouses amid spiraling chaos. A cyclone had manifested around me, born of will and maintained by elemental power. Wind tore at my clothes, whipping them about in a noisy frenzy. I stood in the eye of the storm, a relatively peaceful safe haven when compared to the rest of my construct. My right hand tightened painfully, committing another component to my creation. Particles of Water coalesced into jagged pieces, frozen missiles that spun about indefinitely, waiting for the opportunity to bite into flesh and bone, rip it to shreds. As the vampires encroached upon my position, they were met with a miniature hurricane, populated with my sharp projectiles.

  “This, no doubt, is
forward progress. The fact that your combination has produced viable results ensures proximity to our goal.” Jeeves nodded.

  Primal fury arced through my blood and crackling, snarling lightning entered the mix, striking indiscriminately among the charging vamps. Their bodies were torn to shreds by my icy friends, whittled down to the bone, fractured, and exploded. The presence of water only amplified the effects of lightning. Unsatisfied, I filtered more power from the nexus and boosted the present currents of Air, sucking my enemies undeniably towards their collective doom. They hissed and cried out hoarsely but were silenced just as quickly. A grimace of pain and triumph crossed my face as the body count began to number more than half the assembled forces.

  Exhaustion followed close on the heels of my developing smugness. My vision dimmed and flickered, an uncertain thing liable to vanish in a fleeting moment. Even as the remaining few vampires came within inches of destruction, my construct wobbled and my legs turned to Jello. After falling to a knee under the enormous pressure bearing down on me, I attempted a final, feeble push but found my reserves insufficient. My anger surfaced at the realization, circling threateningly, ready to sink its teeth into something with a fleshy exterior. The quasi-hurricane exploded in a cloud of mist, disparate elements dissipating harmlessly, reverting to their natural tendencies. I stood and took in the destruction wrought by my lethal construct.

  Jeeves glanced around curiously, likely noting my boundaries and barriers for future reference. “That done well enough. Of course, you have failed to realize that this maneuver succeeded exactly as planned. Enter Vampire type B, the puppet master himself.” He indicated a figure rounding the street corner.