Darkness Unknown

by Alexis Morgan

  “Yeah, I guess.” Chase leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. “I feel like I should take notes in case there’s a test.”

  Jarvis chuckled. “I promise no pop quizzes. So, here it is in a nutshell. You probably know that Missouri is chock-full of caves, and this installation is parked right on top of one of the biggest. It’s not on any maps, and we work hard to keep it that way. What makes it special is that there’s an energy barrier that runs through it that separates our world from another one.”

  Chase’s jaw dropped and then his eyes narrowed, clearly not buying what he heard. It was a typical reaction by those who hadn’t been raised around their Paladin fathers.

  “I know it sounds crazy, but I’m not asking you to accept everything on faith. I’ll go over the basics, we’ll eat something, and then we’ll take a tour. Once you see the barrier and talk to some of the rest of the guys around here, you’ll find this all easier to accept.”

  Jake arrived with a tray piled high with food. As he set it down on Jarvis’s desk, he grinned at Chase.

  “Judging by the look on your face, he told you about the barrier and the world on the other side of it. Do you feel like you wandered onto the set of The X-Files?”

  “Kind of.”

  Jake tossed him a can of pop. “And the Paladins’ world only gets weirder.” He took the other chair and grabbed a sandwich.

  Chase opened a bag of chips. “What’s a Paladin?”

  “They’re some of the toughest sons of bitches on this planet. Paladins are natural-born warriors, and damn near impossible to kill.” Jarvis bit into his apple, giving Chase a chance to absorb that much. After swallowing, he added, “And just like me and Jake, that’s what you are.”

  His pronouncement startled Chase into choking. Jake slapped him on the back and handed him the pop he’d set down.

  “You following me so far?”

  Chase took another drink and nodded. His voice sounded rough when he spoke. “Let’s see. There’s a cave below us that backs up on another world, and we’re natural-born warriors and the toughest sons of bitches around.”

  Jake beamed with approval. “Nice summary, kid.”

  Jarvis dropped his boots back to the ground as he unwrapped his sandwich. “The barrier isn’t always stable, and waiting right on the other side is a bunch of crazed killers we call the Others, although they call themselves the Kalith. Every time there’s an earthquake, the barrier gets weaker and weaker until it fails completely. Then the crazies come charging over. Our job is to shove ’em back across to their world, or kill the ones who insist on staying on our side.”

  Chase drained his pop and set it aside. “And how long has this been going on?”

  The kid was holding up better than Jarvis had expected.

  “Good question. Wish I had an answer for you. The Regents, who are like a board of directors over our organization, have records going back for several centuries. Chances are, there were Others leaking over into our world for a helluva long time before that.”

  “And where did the Paladins come from?”

  “As far as we can tell, Kalith have occasionally managed to come across and jump into the human gene pool. We’re the result. I forgot to mention that the Others are a humanoid species, capable of mating with Homo sapiens and producing viable young. They’ve left a mark on the Paladin genetic makeup, passing along a few of their traits, although some of our abilities seem to be unique to us.”

  “Why do they want to come here?”

  “We’ve learned more about that in the past few months. Seems their sun is dying, so their world is getting darker. The ones who can’t tolerate that go nuts and try to fight their way into our world for the light.”

  Jarvis thought of Barak q’Young, the first Other to become a part of the Paladin organization. He still thought Devlin Bane was nuts for letting the bastard live, but the rumor was that he was no longer the only one of his kind attached to the Seattle Paladins.

  Chase brought him back to the moment. “So besides healing fast, what other superpowers do we have? I hope it doesn’t involve tights and a cape.”

  “Nope, no spandex or big red P on your chest.” He admired the boy’s ability to roll with the punches. “But all of your senses are better than the average human’s. When you fill out to fit that frame of yours, you’ll be stronger, too. And when I said Paladins were hard to kill, what I really meant is that even if someone does manage to kill one of us, we don’t usually stay that way.”

  Right up to that point, Chase had been liking what he was hearing. “Bullshit! What happens then? Do we turn into zombies?”

  Jake said, “He’s telling the truth, Chase. Remember the night your sister found Jarvis out in your woods? He’d been tracking down an escaped Other by himself. Normally we hunt in pairs, but the fighting had been brutal. I couldn’t back him up because I was dead. I had two broken legs and a fatal stab wound.”

  He pulled up his shirt to show Chase the faint trace of a scar that ran from the center of his stomach around to his left side. “It’s not the first time I’ve died, and it won’t be the last. We don’t exactly keep score, but Jarvis rates as a legend around here.”

  Damn, Jarvis wished Jake wouldn’t say things like that. Even if the younger Paladins felt that way about him, that didn’t mean he liked being reminded of it. When a Paladin had been around long enough to become a legend, he was probably running out of the ability to come back from the abyss intact. Jarvis’s chances for surviving death anymore were running from slim to none—but now wasn’t the time to share that with Chase. He had enough to assimilate without knowing the nightmare his life would become one of these days.

  “And my father, he was a Paladin, too?”

  “Yes, he was. Harvey Fletcher lived and fought in this area. From what I’ve been able to find out, he must have died shortly after your mother got pregnant. My guess is that no one in the organization knew about her, so she was never notified of his death. I’m truly sorry about that.” He reached in his drawer and pulled out copies of the pictures he’d given to Gwen.

  He held them out to Chase. “You look a lot like him.”

  The boy’s hands were unsteady as he studied his father’s face for the first time. “Does my sister know about this?”

  Jarvis nodded and tried to choose his words carefully. “She wasn’t sure whether or not to show you.”

  Chase’s knuckles went white as he held the papers in a death grip. “She should have given them to me as soon as she had them. Why didn’t one of you two show them to me, especially when it became clear she wasn’t going to?”

  “Because until yesterday, she was your legal guardian. Now that you’re eighteen, you can make more of your own decisions.” And because Jarvis didn’t want to lose her one minute before he had to, but that was his problem and not Chase’s.

  “Later you can look at the file that Jake assembled for you. Right now, I’d like to introduce you to some people before heading down to the barrier.” He wadded up the wrappers from the sandwiches and tossed them in the trash, while Chase and Jake did the same.

  “Why don’t we start in the gym and go from there?”

  Chase followed his two friends, trying his best to act like he fit in. But holy crap, it was hard to know what to think about everything Jarvis had told him. At first he’d been convinced the man was jerking his chain, but something in Jarvis’s expression said he was down-to-the-bone serious about aliens and other worlds and dying but not dying. And Jake had confirmed every word Jarvis had said.

  They were currently walking down a hallway carved out of limestone in an underground chamber located beneath an unmarked building. Memories of the armed guards and the coils of bright, shiny barbed wire were all too clear. If they were pulling a fast one on him, they’d sure gone through a lot of trouble for a joke.

  They hadn’t crossed paths with anyone else since they’d entered the building. They were supposedly on their way to meet with some other Paladin
s, but if there were any around, they were sure making themselves scarce. What the heck was a Paladin, anyway? The word had something to do with knights. Was that why Jarvis and Jake carried swords?

  The silence was getting on his nerves, so he decided to ask, “Do you use swords because the word ‘Paladin’ means some kind of knight?”

  It was Jake who answered. “I’ve always suspected that we’re called Paladins because the original ones were knights of some kind. But the reason we use swords more than guns is because bullets can damage the barrier. We can control blades better than bullets that miss their targets. Besides, we often fight in close formation. We’d end up shooting each other as often as the enemy.”

  How could they be so matter-of-fact about killing and fighting? And if they were right about him being one of them, is that how he would sound in a few years? The shiver that went through him had nothing to do with the chill of the underground cave.

  Then the muffled sound of voices and the clang of metal on metal echoed down the hallway. Finally, he was going to see some action.

  “Here we are.” Jarvis pushed open the double swinging doors. “Come on in.”

  Chase had been picturing the gym at the high school, with a basketball court surrounded by wooden bleachers. This place looked more like the health club that opened in the next town over. There were all kinds of muscle-building machines lining the walls, gym mats here and there on the floor, and a long rack of swords hanging at the far end. And were those really axes those two guys were swinging? Hot damn, they were!

  The clanging noise came from men who’d paired up for sword practice. Having a little experience now, he could only imagine how long these guys had been practicing to get that good.

  Jarvis stuck his fingers in his mouth and let out a shrill whistle that brought everything to an abrupt halt. Everybody immediately lowered their weapons or stepped off the equipment, turning their attention toward the three of them. Chase fought the urge to slide behind Jarvis and Jake to hide.

  Jarvis’s big hand clamped down on his shoulder, either in a show of his support or to keep him from bolting out the door. The touch gave Chase enough courage to stand up to the open curiosity coming at him in waves.

  “Gentlemen,” Jarvis announced, pitching his voice to carry to the far corners, “I’d like to introduce you all to my friend Chase Mosely. For those of you old enough to remember, his father was Harvey Fletcher.”

  That pronouncement brought several men to full attention. A couple of them immediately handed off their swords to their companions and started toward Chase with big smiles on their faces.

  The first one to reach him held out his hand and said, “Welcome to the clan, Chase. Your old man and I were good friends. It’s damn nice to meet you. My name is Court.”

  His companion followed suit. “I’m Terry. Harvey was a helluva Paladin, one of the best. He taught me how to fight when I first got here. You’re sure the spitting image of him.”

  “Thank you, sir.” A lump formed in his throat to hear these men’s obvious affection for his late father. He’d only just found out about Harvey, but their comments helped make the man in the faded pictures more real.

  Terry glanced at Jarvis and then back to Chase. “So are you here to stay, or only visiting?”

  “Visiting.” At least he assumed so. Jarvis hadn’t said anything about keeping him here.

  “Chase turned eighteen yesterday. Jake and I have been working with him at the farm he shares with his sister, but we thought it was time to give him a peek at our world.”

  “Great.” Terry yelled back over his shoulder. “Someone get this guy a sword. Let’s see what bad habits he’s picked up from these two. Knowing Jake’s lack of technique, we probably have our work cut out for us.”

  Jake snorted. “Go to hell, Terry. I’ll let Chase see how old men fight, then I’ll take over.”

  While the good-natured insults continued, Chase turned to Jarvis for guidance. “Should I?”

  “Go ahead, Chase. You’ll dazzle them.” He walked away, stripping off his shirt as Jake did the same. The two of them picked swords from the rack and started hacking away at each other.

  Even more than before, he felt like he’d been cut adrift from the normal world. He tossed his shirt over with the others and accepted the blade Terry held out to him.

  They saluted each other, and then the fight was on.

  The house felt empty. Gwen spent a lot of time alone, but it normally didn’t bother her. Today felt different, though she couldn’t put her finger on why. Maybe because Chase was normally home on Sundays during the school year. Other than the necessary chores, they always took it easier on Sundays, spending the day watching television while she knitted and he caught up on homework.

  But he’d gone charging out the door this morning as soon as Jarvis had pulled into the driveway, and the two of them had waved good-bye from the car. If she was honest, she’d admit that it had hurt her feelings a little that Jarvis hadn’t even taken the time to come in for a cup of coffee or a quick kiss. Instead, he’d looked more distracted than happy to see her standing on the porch to watch them leave.

  What was going on with him? Granted, it had been a while since they’d had more than a few minutes alone. She’d been planning to ask if he wanted to take an overnight trip together, but she’d never gotten him by himself long enough to ask. It was almost as if he didn’t want to be alone with her.

  Which really hurt. Worse yet, she’d found herself resenting the time he was spending with Chase. It was an awful thing to be jealous of her own brother, but she was. Did that make her a rotten sister? She suspected it did.

  Dozer whined in his sleep, his feet twitching as he chased varmints in his dreams. She smiled as she stepped over him, and he lifted his head long enough to blink before going back to sleep. Even Larry was content to lie in the shade of a bush. The day wasn’t all that hot, but there wasn’t even a breath of a breeze.

  She sought out the sanctuary of her workshop. After flipping on the light switch and the overhead fan to stir the air, she propped the door open in case the dogs wanted to join her. Pulling out her desk chair, she sat down to boot up her computer. Her in-box had a satisfying number of new orders for yarn and patterns. If her small Internet business continued to expand, she’d soon have enough money for a down payment on a new truck.

  It wasn’t much of a cushion, but it felt good to have that much without having to sell off any of her herd. Of course, she might need the money for Chase’s schooling next fall. So far she hadn’t been able to talk him into registering for the local community college; he told her he wanted to get a job and work for a while before he decided what he wanted to do with his life.

  It didn’t seem like all that long ago that she’d been his age, with a world of possibilities open to her. Then her mother had died and all those choices had narrowed down to one. Although she’d never regretted her decision, she wanted more for him.

  Dozer stuck his nose in the door and whined as he waited for a formal invitation. She pulled a doggy treat out of the bag she kept in the desk drawer and held it out. He crossed the floor to take it from her fingers then settled under the ceiling fan before crunching down on his prize.

  She counted off the seconds, figuring Larry would need about twenty from the sound of the first crunch to come charging in to get his fair share. He made it in nineteen. Thank goodness for their undemanding company.

  Now that they were settled in, she started printing out the orders and the shipping labels. Paperwork was her least favorite part of the business, so she always got it out of the way before rewarding herself with spinning wool or designing new patterns.

  Anything to keep her hands and mind occupied and off Jarvis and her brother, but it was hard. Instead of heeding Jarvis’s warnings about how he wasn’t a forever kind of guy, she’d let herself get used to him being a part of her life. There was something about him being around that felt so right.

  Maybe that
had more to do with the lack of eligible men in her social circle, but she didn’t think so. From that first night when she’d dragged him home half dead and bloody, she’d felt a special connection to him. Even if it was because she’d helped save his life, he’d taken up residence in her heart. That he was such a positive influence over her brother just earned him bonus points.

  Drat, there she went again. Mooning over the man and not getting anything done. Maybe music would help. She put in a couple of CDs and hummed along with the songs as she started filling the orders so she could ship them first thing in the morning.

  As long as she kept busy, maybe she wouldn’t feel like she was rattling around in an empty cage. Darn Jarvis for making her feel lonely, instead of just alone.

  Chase collapsed on a stack of mats and leaned his elbows on his knees, hoping his heart wouldn’t give out before his lungs caught up on oxygen. He thought he’d done well enough with his sword work not to be a complete embarrassment to Jarvis and Jake. But judging by the bruises on his arms and back, he still had a long way to go before he caught up to Paladin standards.

  He watched Jarvis take on two Paladins at once, his moves so smooth and fast that it was hard to follow them. Every so often he’d call a halt to the proceedings to repeat a maneuver for the other two, going in slow motion so that they could duplicate it. Then he’d show them how to counter it as well. Chase tried to memorize the instructions so he could try out a few of the moves next time he got a chance.

  Jake joined him on the mat and watched the match for a few seconds before speaking. “No matter how hard I try, I can’t duplicate his moves. The only one I’ve seen come close is his buddy Trahern, one of the Seattle Paladins who was here awhile back. Everybody always stopped what they were doing to watch the two of them go at it. Then the bastards challenged all of us at the same time, and they still came out on top.”

  “I’d like to have seen that.”

  “It was amazing—though I try not to bolster Jarvis’s ego any more than I have to.”