The Divine Roses (Jake & Dean Investigations Book 3)

by Richard Amos

  A rose woman flew above, dropping a pod close by. It splattered and took on the dome shape of a normal pod, tiny rivulets spreading outward seconds later.

  Soph stared at me, tears rolling down her cheeks.

  “Please…”

  She took Lou out of my arms. I sagged in relief. “You had better follow us, Jake. You better get out of there.”

  “I will.”

  She went to leave, then stopped, Luuk’s hand resting on her spine. “How am I supposed to walk away from you? I can’t leave you there stuck. There’s pod coming for you. No. I need a better spell. There’s no reason for this to keep failing. Something else is going on.”

  “You’re right,” Parker Smith said from behind me.

  Soph stepped back into her husband, both of their eyes wide with terror.

  I glanced behind me. The knob head was smiling. “Should’ve known it was you.”

  “Obvious, right?” he retorted.

  I turned back to Soph. “Go.”

  “Yes, go,” Parker added. “Because if you don’t, the girl dies right here. I have business with Jake now. And I’m a reasonable guy.”

  The hell? He called this shit storm being reasonable?

  “I’ll let you go,” he added. “But only if you run now. Five seconds and you all die. Okay? Countdown begins…now.”

  They did run. Instantly. No hesitation, no looking back, carrying my girl away to safety.

  I hoped.

  I had to hope.

  “Now, Jake.”

  I went to twist to face him, but he walked around to face me.

  “Let’s get down to business.”

  “Why?” I asked. “Why did you do this? Why those women? What… What does this do? What’s the endgame?”

  “You, Jake. You’re the endgame. Everything has always been about you.” He looked behind him. “Valiant move there to save your daughter.”

  She’d have a good life with Soph and Luuk. I couldn’t ask for better people to be her parents.

  I wanted to see her grow up, see what she became. There was a wide, open road for her to travel, and I was all set to wait on the sidelines to watch her journey take place.

  I wouldn’t get that chance now.

  Giving up, eh? Gonna stand by and get killed?

  “I don’t get it,” I said. “Why those women?”

  “My Divine Roses. Aren’t they great?”

  “Answer me.”

  “I don’t want to.” He clapped his hands together. A burst of fae magic came from him, and the ground broke open beneath me.

  I didn’t fall far but did land hard on my side. Twisted ankle. Broken left arm, which had taken the impact. I clenched my teeth against the pain, a trembling groan released through them.

  Fuck. This.

  I rolled onto my back just clear of the hole above my head, the rain just missing my face. My spear dug into my spine, uncomfortably.

  “That’s better,” Parker said. “Too many prying eyes.” He loomed over me.

  With great pain, I managed to push myself up into a sitting position with my right hand, my legs stuck out in front of me. I slumped forward in agony, but at least I wasn’t on my back.

  Now to get out of this dark hole.

  I reached for my spear, fingers stroking the wood. No matter what, I had to draw it and fight this arsehole. Push through, stick it in his belly, and twist the shit out of it. Wouldn’t kill him, but I’d make sure it hurt good enough.

  “Gonna gut you—"

  “Oh, Jake. I wouldn’t touch that. Really.”

  With a magician’s sleight of hand, a red thermos flask appeared in Parker’s right hand. “Did you know this is the best way to transport pod?”

  Stopped me dead in my tracks.

  Thermoset was regarded as safe by the crazies who collected the colorful goop. I didn’t tell him I knew that. Too busy shitting myself. Parker with a thermos of pod was not a good mix.

  “What’re you doing?” I struggled,

  “I think you’re ready for the final test now. This is going to be great. The climax is here. I’ve been looking forward to this moment for so long, trying to find the perfect scenario. What better time than this?”

  What the frig did that mean?

  He unscrewed the thermos lid and threw pod in my face.

  Twenty-Five

  Dean

  A grand room of amber and gold walls, a four-poster bed of white, and a lush red carpet under my feet. Bookcases, a dressing table, balcony doors opened outward to a terrace overlooking the Rose Sea. The drapes billowed on the breeze as fresh, crisp autumn air drifted into the room.

  I watched the waves, the horizon. It was a sunny day, the air thick with a fragrance I couldn’t place, but put it somewhere close to cinnamon.

  Pounding on the door, screaming my lungs out, had achieved nothing. Only a sore throat and a thumping headache. There was no way out. I’d tried everything, even contemplating climbing for my freedom. But I was in a high point in one of the towers, nothing but a sheer drop below me into the city. The tower was too smooth to climb down.

  I wasn’t dying to leave my daughter at the mercy of Orla.

  So I watched the sea, trying to figure out a way to escape, feeling like a complete failure. A fool. I never should have contacted Dad.

  He’d betrayed me. The bastard.

  What was it about Louise that made her the key to the pods? How was that even possible?

  Another hour passed before the bedroom door opened, Orla striding in wrapped in a white robe.

  “Hello,” she said, joining me on the balcony.

  I could throw her over the edge.

  “How are you finding the room?”

  I didn’t answer her.

  “I know. It isn’t great. I loathe the amber. Too tied to the past. I am working on an overhaul of the entire look. You’ll see. In fact, you can help me with the colors if you like. Really have an input.”

  “Orla. Please. Tell me what you know about my daughter.”

  She looked across to the sea. “Do you know I dream of you most nights?” She shook her head. “I know you think I’m evil. Ridiculous. Insane. Maybe I am. But you did this to me. You wormed your way into my heart, and there is no cure for it. Only to have you near, to have you as mine.” She leaned over the balustrade.

  Easy to push right now.

  “It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Why wouldn’t you want to live here, to witness each sunrise and sunset with this view?”

  Still didn’t answer.

  She was in her own world, anyway. “With me? Can you imagine it with me?”

  “Orla…”

  Tears. “Please don’t say it. Please don’t tell me you’d rather be with him.” She faced me. “How can he make you so happy? I don’t understand. What is it about him? Please don’t answer that. Actually, maybe I need to hear it to get a sense of it. Is there a spell he has you under? He has goddess blood, doesn’t he?”

  She was right. Jake did have me under his spell, with me the willing guy who reveled in its magic.

  “We could have everything, be the greatest couple to rule Faerie,” she said. “Is that not something you want? Think of the stories, the tales they would tell of the half-breed fae who rose to the top. You would inspire millions, be a voice for those out there who don’t feel good enough.”

  Good enough? I didn’t care if I was seen as not worthy of being fae. My half-blood nature had never stopped me from getting what I wanted, but apparently, it was a bad thing for her and those who thought the way she did. Bigots on Earth, bigots here too.

  And I didn’t care a damn about any of it. I just wanted to know what she knew about my daughter.

  “Louise,” she finally said, “is special. “Her blood is your blood, connected to a greater power when she was in her mother’s womb. Now exposed to the world of pods. Your father and others believe her power isn’t really about the freezing, but connected to the world at large. The Weed of Tine revealed all to
Evander, confirmed his suspicions. Yes, he lied to you. Louise’s power needs to be awakened fully to work, which, it seems, will somehow undo the pods. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?” She turned, so her back was resting on the balustrade. “I have forbidden your father from figuring out the spell to awaken that power, though.”

  This was too much to take in. “Who are the others?”

  “Now, Dean. Don’t be so greedy.”

  I hid my fury. “I thought you liked my daughter.”

  “I do. She’s sweet. But there are other things at play here.”

  “Like what?”

  “Hush now.” She came closer. “Don’t be troubled. I will keep Louise as she is for now. She’ll be fine. I can’t tell you anymore, so stop fishing.” A laugh and a wag of her finger. “Naughty boy. You have to be patient. Comply, and she will be safe.”

  Louise was the key to the pods. And my father knew. He kept… He kept that from me.

  He lied. All along, he knew this. Came into my life again and—

  “I can see you’re hurt. I’ll leave you be for now. To cool off. I’ll be back with some food.”

  Comply. Sell your own lie. “Orla?”

  “Yes?”

  “I’ll comply.”

  My words surprised her. “As easy as that?”

  “Yes.”

  “What are you up to, Dean?”

  “Trying to save my daughter.” Who might save the world…

  “You would submit to me, to us? You’d give up everything because of—”

  “My little girl.”

  She rushed at me, grabbed my face, her nails digging into my skin. “Your little girl? Not for me? Not to see what life would be like with me?”

  “My—”

  She shoved me back, the balustrade digging into my spine. “Never for me, is it? Not Orla. No. Dean Tseng, the man sacrificing his happiness for his child. How admirable.” More tears. “It breaks my heart you would see me as punishment. Do you know how many men would kill to be in your position right now? Thousands. Millions! And all you see me as is some demon? You’re vile and cruel. This is about a new love, a second chance—for something better. For you, for me.”

  I did something I rarely do, especially when it’s the worst thing to do.

  I snapped.

  “You’ll never have me or your pathetic dreams. What planet do you live on? How can you say you love me when you don’t even know me? You’re in love with a memory. That’s all it will ever be. Gone. You’re back there when I’m over here now. I love Jake, not you. And I’ll destroy you. Mark my words. No one comes for my family.”

  Wrong move. She had Louise in the palm of her hand.

  Idiot!

  Yes, there was the grin of triumph. “Oh, Dean. Dear sweet Dean. Crossed the line then, didn’t you? Comply, he says. Liar. Pig. User.”

  “Orla, I’m sorry.” Too late for that now.

  “I bet you are.” She clapped her hands together. “Guard!”

  A burly guy barreled into the room. “My Lady?”

  “I want you to show Dean the thing.”

  “With pleasure, My Lady.”

  The guard came at me, his strength overpowering me quickly, and threw me off the balcony.

  Twenty-Six

  Jake

  I collapsed onto my back, grabbing at my face as the pod made contact. It spread over me quickly, cold ooze getting under my clothes, into my hair, under my skin. Everywhere. Even my bones.

  It sucked my breath away. It leeched at my energy. All I could do was lie there and wait for whatever was gonna come, what creature I was gonna be.

  If I didn’t die.

  But it felt…empty.

  “The world is waiting with bated breath,” Parker said.

  Correction: He was waiting with bated breath. He was the one who’d just lobbed pod in my face. He was the one who was fascinated with me, treated me like I was some experiment, thinking I was something I wasn’t. The goddess blood that was in me now was watered down to the point of nothing. Residual power. I wasn’t the weapon anymore. I was Jake. Not being able to touch weapons apart from the spear was just an aftereffect. Same as the white smoke that appeared every time I held my pointy friend.

  Man, had this dick got it so wrong.

  Now I was paying the price.

  Unless he wasn’t wrong. Unless residual was all that was needed. Oh, shit! What if I was about to transform into some super hell beast and go stomping around the city?

  That was it. He was right. He knew what he was doing, had planned this, and now I was about to be public enemy number one. The vessel of death and destruction. Jake 3.0. The final version. The version to end all versions. I’d have to be put down or locked up.

  Oh, bollocks!

  I waited for the change to take hold of me, for my body to do something, rolling onto my side. Dizzy. That was a sign, right? Dizziness. The first step.

  The world wailed around me, and Parker waited. I waited.

  There was pain, but nothing else.

  “Nothing. You’re nothing.” He tapped me with his boot. “Weak.” The tap became a heavy kick in the ribs. “Get up! Get up and be the glorious creature I know you are!” Another kick. “This shouldn’t take so long. You should be up and about right now. Get up! Get up!”

  I spat blood at him. “Bollocks… I ain’t doing shit for you.”

  I braced myself for another kick. It didn’t come.

  “Nothing…” he whispered. “He’s nothing. You’re supposed to be something, Jake Winter. Rise from the pod to be a god. Claim the Roses as your own, take them into war. But you’re…nothing. Sickly. Weak. Dying. Where is the goddess blood?”

  “Why don’t you look up your arse?”

  Man, my ribs hurt like crazy, my head a swamp, skin prickling with dull pain.

  Fucking pods.

  “Don’t try and be funny with me.”

  No kick again. Blimey. Must have struck lucky.

  “Please get up,” he said.

  What the hell?

  He laughed. “Oh, I get it. You’re playing around. Leaving me in suspense. I like it. Brilliant. You had me there. Well? Come on. Think I’ve had enough now. Get up and go. Show me what a pod god you are!” He roared with laughter, then roared in anger.

  He wasn’t Parker anymore.

  He was Elijah.

  I rolled onto my back again, body really having a number done on it. There was bubbling under my skin. Actually bubbling. Ripples spreading up and down my arms, though the pain levels didn’t creep up. Stayed at that one note ache.

  Nothing else. I wasn’t transforming. I was…dying. And had I just seen Parker change to Elijah? For real?

  “What the…hell,” I said to the other twin.

  “My brother is a fool. Look at the mess he’s made.”

  Yeah. That was Elijah.

  He turned back to Parker in a split second. “Don’t listen to what he says. He doesn’t know anything.”

  Elijah again. Made my head spin.

  The same body…

  They were sharing the same friggin’ body!

  Get up. My turn to order myself. Get up and run.

  There was no way I was getting up. The tips of my fingers were shining with the same red as the pod, balls of crimson jelly on my fingernails.

  I was fucked, but I had to try and do something. To get to Lou.

  “To think I loved you once, brother.”

  Parker again. “Get over it, Ronan!”

  Ta-dah! There was the real name. Elijah was Ronan. Parker was Oisin.

  The slip between faces was so fast.

  A wave of sickness and bubbling at the same time dragged a sound out of me that had Elijah tilting his head like a curious dog.

  “He’s fading.”

  Parker. “Because he’s useless. He’s so disappointing. What a waste of my time this has been.” He looked up through the hole above as a terrifying boom added to the violent chorus beyond this bubble. “Oh, it looks lik
e the Roses are going to Faerie.”

  Elijah’s turn, the body spinning round, the face furious. “How could you do this to our daughter? You—”

  Back to Parker. “Please, like I’m bothered about that sniveling brat. Probably not ours anyway. You know how much of a slut her mom was.”

  Elijah. “Don’t speak of Aoife like that. I loved her! You loved her!”

  Parker. “Look where that love got us.”

  Daughter? What the hell? They’d had a daughter, yeah. But that was ages ago.

  Poxy pod and body!

  Elijah was back. “She freed us, and this is how you repay her?”

  Parker. “Then why didn’t you stop me?”

  Elijah. “You’re insane! Our daughter will be hurt!”

  Parker. “What do you care?”

  Elijah. “She is mine.”

  Parker. “Ours. And she’ll only try and takeover. I don’t trust the bitch.”

  Elijah. “How can you say that?”

  Parker again, coughing and laughing at the same time. “Really? She’s the apple that doesn’t rot far from the tree. You’ve seen how unhinged she is. But your mind is polluted by Aoife. Let the Roses go over there. Let’s see what our daughter can do. And don’t play innocent. You knew I wanted to make these creatures, what my plans were. But you were too caught up in being some leader of some ridiculous church, too weak to actually have fun. You always were the feeble one. You’ll never change.”

  Elijah. “I wanted better for us.”

  Parker. “You think burning Jake makes things better?”

  Elijah. “What if it does?”

  Parker, shrugging. “You’re welcome to him. Burn him. He’s better off as kindle now anyway. Might be a mercy.” He stayed longer than he had, no quick shift back to his brother yet. “Like listening to that, did you?”

  My lips were numb, my tongue too. I tried to speak. Failed.

  “Plenty of answers for you that mean nothing now.” He crouched down, inspecting me but not touching me.

  The knob head had been manipulating pod. I just couldn’t… This bloke should’ve been shot, him or Elijah, when the police had arrested him/them. No questions asked. Fuck the law. Fuck protocol. Pull gun, pop head. Done. Over. Then none of this would’ve happened.