“Tell me to enter! You need totell me!” Decker snarled, the boundary shuddering against his nails prying into the fabric.
Laurie cast a glance at him, wild-eyed and tight-lipped. He backed further away.
You’re not the son of God, you’re just a man. Please.
Venom dripped from the serpent's fangs and sizzled against the floor as it reared back in a poised coil. The Prophet’s arms vibrated with excitement, robes cutting through the thick fog of incense. His voice rumbled and swelled with the tenor of an off-key choir. “You are led astray. You will be cleansed—”
“Stop.” Laurie’s shaken command was little more than a whisper fallen from pale lips. “Stop all of this and you can have me. I” —his determination wavered— “I am the evil here, not them. I was led astray by my own mind.”
The sacrificial lamb, bleating lies all the way to its slaughter.
The idiot. The foolish, selfless, perfect, idiot.
“Laurie, please.” Decker’s voice didn’t sound like his own. His eyes met Laurie’s gaze, beseeching.
Begging.
His distraction was deadly.
Scales sang as the serpent struck.
Rotted wood gave way under Laurie and he lost his footing, crying out as fangs sunk into his trapped leg and dragged him back. Laurie’s hands scrabbled against slick scales as they tightened, coiling around him until his arms pinned to his sides.
Decker slammed his hands against the veil, again and again and again, invisible sparks burning through his shirt and blistering his arms.
Faith scrawled across Laurie’s face like splattered ink and Decker knew he would trade his life before letting him in. There was no plan, just pure, foolish, desperate sacrifice.
Laurie struggled against the serpent, unintelligible words crushed from him, praying and begging and pleading and yet, not a single permissive word towards him.
“Say it!” Decker’s hands shook, the barrier straining against him.
Laurie’s bones snapped. A scream ripped from him, wet and horrible.
But it wasenough.
The barrier dropped with his broken permission and Decker sprang at the serpent, nails tearing and teeth snapping as he dragged it down. Rage lashed out as he did, and he was a venom-drenched blur, eyes blazing red.
Elias was gone, but the choking, enveloping incense remained like a ghost.
Laurie slumped to the side of the fray as if he was a rag doll, limp and washed out and ragged.
Fangs clattered to the floor and a rumbling hiss burst from the serpent, lashing out at him with a gaping maw of broken teeth.
Missed me.
It struck again. Catching its snapping jaw, he hissed when shattered teeth cut into his palms and pierced them through. Decker braced himself in front of Laurie’s broken body.
The serpent forced him back, forked tongue lashing against him. Venom smoked on Decker’s arms, curling and twisting into hisskin. He staggered, the hiss of decaying breath hot in his face, and Decker snarled back.
This can’t be how we end.
Strength flooded him with the might of a man between pillars, and he tore his hands apart. Skin and scale and sinew stretched, resisting, snapping.
The serpent's terrible face rolled to the floor, its dangling jaw ripped in two.
Laurie’s broken fingers twitched, reaching for him.
