Number of the Beast (Paladin Cycle, Book One)

by Lita Stone

  Carmen stood at the end of the bed as the doctor checked Amy’s heart monitor.

  “Are you in any pain?” he asked.

  Amy shook her head. “What happened to me?”

  Carmen and the doctor exchanged a quick look. He turned back to Amy and smiled. “That’s an excellent question. We were hoping you could tell us.”

  Tears pricked at the back of Amy’s eyes. She looked to Carmen, hoping Carmen knew something.

  The doctor said, “It is likely your memory will return. Try not to worry yourself. The good news is that you are in excellent physical shape.”

  “And the bad news?” Amy asked.

  The doctor sat on the side of the bed. He reached for the lapels of Amy’s hospital gown. Amy resisted a cringe and nodded at the doctor to continue his examination. He smiled and gently lowered the neckline of her gown, stopping short of revealing her breasts.

  A light shimmered and Amy looked at her own chest. A gasp took her breath as she saw a reddish stone embedded into her skin. She sat up. Using her hands she opened her gown further, all modesty gone. With a shaky finger, she touched the stone. A blistering sting bit at her fingertips. She jerked her hand away, letting out a cry.

  Looking up, she frowned at the doctor, then at Carmen. “What is it?”

  The doctor said, “We just don’t know.”

  #

  His head thick with haze, Shane opened his eyes. He lay on a stiff mattress. Crisp, thin hospital sheets covered his legs. No one else appeared to be in the dark hospital room. How long had he been out of commission? Where was Amy? Was she okay? Hadn’t the doctor said that she’d be fine?

  How could he have lost it like that? The woman he loved lay critically wounded while he pitched a fit like a snot-nosed child. Shane ran a hand down his face, mind still bleary from the tranq.

  He tore the blood pressure cuff from his arm and swung his legs over the side of the bed. The obnoxious fumes of disinfectant seeped and bled from the hospital walls and the odor made Shane want to whisk Amy home and get this whole damn day behind them. He strode down the hospital corridor. The taunting stench followed.

  He came to an intersection of winding hallways. As he scanned for a sign pointing toward ICU, he spotted Birch and Abe sitting in the waiting room.

  Birch approached. “Sensei Baker need to think happy thoughts and Amy-girl be just fine.” He clasped praying hands beneath his chin.

  Shane allowed himself a smile, before turning and heading for room 156.

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Freya jumped on the game table then pounced on Scooter, knocking the phone from his grip and to the floor. He scrambled and put to his ear. “Zack? You still there?”

  “Swear on your soul!”

  A beep resounded. Call waiting. “Gotta go. Another call. Might be news about Amy.”

  “Swear on your goddamn soul!”

  Unnerved by Zack’s throaty tone and talk of Scooter’s soul, he hung up and picked up the other call. “Hello?”

  “Amy’s alright,” Shane said. “Thought you’d want to know.”

  Somewhere outside, Alamo barked. A long whiny howl.

  “Yeah,” Scooter said. “Thanks. That’s great news.”

  Alamo howled again.

  And again.

  Three howls.

  “Be home soon,” Shane said.

  According to Amy’s superstitious beliefs, three howls from a dog means a death is imminent. “Yeah. Yeah. Good.”

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  #

  When Shane entered Amy’s room Carmen was standing next to the bed. Seeing the fresh tear stains on her cheeks caused an uncomfortable lump in his throat; it was a familiar lump that he’d known a few times before, back while he was in the desert when he watched grown ass soldiers lose their wits.

  He folded his arms over his chest.

  Carmen wiped at the corner of her eye, her lower lip quivering. “She’s going to be fine. I know she is.”

  He gave a curt nod toward the door. “I need the room.”

  She tried to smile, but it didn’t hold. Carmen threw her arms around him, her warm face buried into his shoulder. “I used to constantly warn that crazy ass girl about you. I told her you were going to love and leave her. She was going to end up another notch in your belt.” Carmen pulled away. She wiped fresh tears from her eyes. “But I was wrong. I know how much you love her. And I damn well know how much that girl loves you.”

  Shane inhaled. “Look, bubbletits, I really need you to get the fuck out of here with all this sappy shit.”

  Carmen gave him a playful slug on one shoulder. “No problem, cockbrain.”

  After Carmen left, Shane crossed the room and stood over Amy. A teardrop escaped his eye and rolled halfway down his cheek. “I’m here, baby.”

  Amy’s eyes fluttered. She groggily spoke, “Shane...you’re Shane...”

  “I’m here.”

  “I-I want to go home.” Her eyes opened wider.

  “They’re going to bring in a specialist next week to reexamine the abnormality on your chest, but ‘til then I’m free to get you the fuck home, babe.”

  Sitting on the bed, Shane swallowed hard, pushing that lingering knot further into his gut. “I’m going to fix you the biggest bowl of mac’ n’ cheese with all the fixings. Even real bacon.”

  Amy pushed herself further up into the bed. “That sounds perfect.”

  He took her face in his hands and tapped his forehead against hers. “I love you. God, I love you.”

  Tears sprung from Amy’s eyes.

  He said, “I’m going to treasure every single moment of our lives together, and cherish every random gift you give me, and I’ll never, ever, ever get tired of your quirky superstitions; and you know, when I get you back home I’m going to arrange my boots under the bed right next to your shoes.” Shane wiped tears from his face with the tail of his shirt. “I’m sorry, baby. I’m not good at this…stuff.”

  She smiled. “You’re doing great.”

  “I just want to get us back home and get back to a normal life. At least more normal than these last couple days have been. We’re going to put all this behind us.” Shane leaned over the bed and kissed her lips.

  “Nothing will be the same as it was,” Amy said. “Our new lives are ahead of us.”

  Epilogue

  Elder Cai rested his hands upon the stone parapet of the Tower of Tribulations and met the gaze of the crescent moon hanging over the New Mexico desert. He tugged gulps of brandy from the flagon hanging around his neck. The lavender liquid scorched a somewhat painful but pleasant trail down his throat.

  “Elder,” came a stern voice from behind.

  Elder Cai stared at the moon and took another swig before turning to meet the Prefect and his rigid stance. “You summoned me here in this devilish hour, Cauldrick so get on with it.” A frigid desert breeze sifted through his long hair. Somewhere in the distant hills of Red Rock Bluff the mournful whines of a coyote crawled through the canyon walls.

  Prefect Cauldrick’s blood-red robe flapped as he strode across the gray stone tiles. “It appears my reservations concerning your pupil were unfortunately correct.”

  Elder Cai looked to the sky, before pinning Cauldrick with an annoyed glare. “Elaborate.”

  “Atticus has been arrested and placed in the custody of the Buckeye authorities. The Templars fear the Beast still lives, and has mated with the Female. And we still have no knowledge of the location of its lair.”

  “Get him released and let the warrior finish his mission. The decision is most simple.”

  Prefect shook his head and met Elder Cai’s gaze with cold green pupils. “Manipulation of the legal system would violate the Templar’s ethic codes.” He threw up his hands. “Atticus was to find the Beast. He failed. Now we will send in the Aconites to end the Beast. All of this will finally be behind us.”

  “All of it is before us. It has yet to begin.”
>
  Prefect Cauldrick scowled. “You speak nonsense and I lack the patience. Your pupil, your precious Twin warrior has obviously gone rogue.”

  Cai laughed, deep and long. “My Twin warrior? I have not always been alone in my confidence in him as one of the prophesized warriors.”

  “Your faith in Atticus is misplaced and unwarranted. You stand alone where he is concerned. I have to think about the people.”

  “From the pulpit? I thought we were Paladins, not Politicians.”

  “This is the 21st century. Crude swords are no match to the almighty pen.”

  “Tell me, Prefect.” He sipped from his flask. “How does it feel, leading the flock to the wolf’s den?”

  Cauldrick lifted his chin and turned on his heel, his long robe swaying about his nimble legs. As he neared the stone stairs, a gust of wind spiraled from the sky. The air wrapped around Cauldrick’s frail body, constricting him much like the coil of an Amazonian snake.

  As he struggled to get free, Elder Cai forced himself to call back the gust he’d summoned. He had let his emotions escape him. Frustrated with his impetuous behavior, Elder Cai sighed. With the speed of its assault, the wind retreated.

  “Atticus must be freed from incarceration!”

  Cauldrick turned toward Elder Cai. With long, confident strides, he approached, a scowl on his aged face. “Atticus is a mockery. To the outsiders, he has foretold of the Beast and the Paladins and of the Order.”

  “And who gives a blistered dillo’s tail? It is without reason that we hide in the sands of New Mexico and the jungles of New Guinea and the mountains around the world. The world deserves to know of the evil that is defeated with every rise and set of the sun.” Elder Cai gave a flick of his hand, a gesture of dismissal. “You arrogant, naive fool!”

  Prefect Cauldrick shook his head. The rigidness of his posture relaxed. A look of empathy reached his eyes. “The decision of the Order is final.”

  “What will happen to Atticus? Will the Court allow the outside to pass judgment on him?”

  “The Court will deny the validity of Atticus’ claims as a Paladin knight. We fear his sanity is not his own.”

  Elder Cai scoffed and pointed a narrow finger. “Then let the fate of all worlds be on your hands. May the angels of Heaven and Hell have mercy on your pompous souls.”

  “Cease,” Prefect shouted and held up a staff with a ruby jeweled head. “Your grip on your sanity is as threadbare as your pupil’s.” Prefect Cauldrick exhaled. “Effective immediately, Elder Rayden Cai, you are dismissed from your post as active Elder of the Order of Abel.”

  Elder Cai drew solemn eyes towards the reaching desert. “All is progressing as it should.”