by Sam Cheever
Finally he pulled the straw from his lips and the glass disappeared. His bed rotated so he could look at me without craning his neck. “I said...” he scraped sandpaper over the rock again and swallowed as if his throat hurt, “that half the army is down with the plague and it’s claiming dozens more every day.”
I groaned. “Please tell me you’re exaggerating, Flick.”
He glared at me. “I don’t exaggerate, Astra.”
I just barely resisted the impulse to roll my eyes. He did exaggerate, at every opportunity. Which meant that things were probably not quite as bad as he said they were. But they were probably still pretty bad.
And if the other guardians were as big a mess as Flick, my only chance to slow the twisted veil was a non-starter.
Shit!
“What is it, Astra?”
I lifted my mug to take a sip but it disappeared from my hands. I glared at Flick. Unfortunately the thought to make things happen in a cloud could come from anybody. I thought it back into my hands and frowned at him from behind it.
He flopped back to his cloud bed with a groan. “Stop stalling and just tell me so I can go back to sleep.”
I sighed and set the mug on a table that hadn’t been there a thought earlier. “I need to engage the guardians. This magic veil thing is feeding off the humans’ violent inclinations and I need to slow it down until I can figure out how to stop it.”
Flick stared at me for a few beats through squinted eyes. Then he nodded. “That makes sense. Contact Myra and have her engage as many guardians as possible.”
I brightened. “Myra’s not sick?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know but if she is she’ll just have to send you to someone else.”
I stood up to leave, sighing. Obviously he was simply pushing the obligation onto someone else’s cloud so he could go back to sleep. Considering how sick he was that was all right by me. I wasn’t going to get anything useful out of him anyway.
I reached for my cross to leave but a sudden thought occurred and I dropped it. Walking over to stand beside him I reached down and, overcoming my revulsion, placed a hand on his pale, soggy forehead. I pulled my power forward and almost fell over at the intensity of the result. Power surged through me and shot out of my hand with unaccustomed violence.
Apparently my power worked more efficiently in the clouds.
Flick’s torso shot upward as the power raged into it and I jerked my hand away. His eyes rolled back in his head and he slipped bonelessly back onto his bed, obviously unconscious.
Wrestling the power back under my control, I laid both hands on Flick, one on his forehead and one on his chest. I sent the healing power into him and felt resistance there, like a thin wall of steel. I increased the power I was injecting into him to no avail. The resistance didn’t waver or soften. I finally gave up with a shrug and reached for the cross around my neck.
After a final look at Flick to see that he was sleeping peacefully, I placed the cross on my forehead and thought her name.
Myra appeared after only a few seconds.
“Hello angel.” I said with a smile.
She cocked a cranky eyebrow. “What’s up, Astra. I’m really busy.”
I nodded. “I’ll just bet you are, with Devil’s Plague running rampant up here. But I need your help with the mess down there.” I jerked my head toward Earth.
She sighed and placed a hand on my shoulder. Immediately I was locked in the sphere between time and space.
We landed in my office and I headed directly toward the drink valet for coffee. I figured we could discuss what needed to be discussed better if we both had a hot, black cuppa in our hands.
Myra was much more amenable when she had coffee.
She sat at the small table in my food prep area and accepted the hot mug with a small smile. “You know we’re down to about fifty percent capacity.”
I frowned. “Damn. Isn’t there anything anybody can do to stop it?”
She shook her head. “Devil’s Plague is one of the few illnesses that’s immune to light magic. Believe me, if there was anything we could do we’d do it.”
I nodded. I knew that, of course but it never hurt to ask. “I need to engage the guardians to help with the humans. The veil is making them violent and depressed.”
Myra thought about it. “It will seriously stress the guardians who aren’t sick to cover all of the humans.”
“I know. Can we engage any of the hopefuls on this?”
The hopefuls were those who waited between Heaven and Hell for their placement to be decided. Some humans’ lives are easily judged and they are either dropped unceremoniously into the circles of Hell or are ushered directly through the beautiful gates to the Big House. However, some, in fact most, require a period of evaluation before they can be judged. These often work for the celestial army, performing unimportant but necessary tasks to bide their time and prove their worthiness.
Myra frowned, thinking. “It’s a thought. I’ll look into it. But I wouldn’t place too much hope in that area, Astra. They haven’t been trained.”
“Can you think of any other options?”
Myra nodded. “Actually I can. Some humans, like my charge for example, have special... I don’t want to call it magic but in a way it is... Let’s call them characteristics, that insulate them from the veil. If we can figure out why it might help us.”
My eyes widened. Suddenly I understood why Myra had been taken from me to protect the young girl she currently watched over. “What kind of characteristics are we talking about here?”
“I’m not really supposed to talk about it.”
I dropped my butt into the chair across from her. “But this is a special circumstance so you will right?”
She stared at me, her perfect face just the slightest bit pink in the cheeks, and gave me a slight smile. “Just between you and me?”
I nodded.
Myra stood up to get more coffee.
I waited patiently.
When she’d seated herself across from me again she looked as if she’d made up her mind.
I watched her carefully.
Finally she sighed. “There’s a small subset of the human population that is spectrally sensitive.”
I frowned, “What exactly does that mean?”
“It means they can read magic and things in the spectral world. They understand it instinctively. How it works, what its weaknesses and strengths are, what it can do. Over the centuries humans have called them sensitives, clairvoyants, mediums...basically they’ve been recognized as humans with special powers but the full scope of their abilities has not been recognized or explored.”
I thought of Raoul telling me how he’d recognized the veil and its properties. “Can they help us figure out how to stop the veil?” I asked hopefully.
“Maybe.” She said with a frown. “It’s something we’ve been working on.”
I nodded, feeling hope for the first time since the veil started to invade my world.
Myra went on. “Along with this sensitivity to magic comes other sensitivities. These humans read moods and feelings like you and I read words. They have a highly enhanced set of instincts and an inherent ability to sense things that others can’t sense. We have several of them working closely with us but we’ve only been able to scratch the surface of their abilities.”
“And you think these humans might be able to help us fight the veil?”
Myra nodded, “Eventually but for now, I’m fairly certain we can train them to help us with this new aggressiveness in the human population.”
“That sounds promising. In the meantime, we’ll just have to do the best we can with what we have. At least maybe we can slow this thing down.”
She nodded, sipping thoughtfully at her quickly cooling coffee.
CHAPTER EIGHT
A New Employee
Her sister showed up at her door, a frown upon her face,
Her goal to kick the dark side’s ass and leave wit
hout a trace.
I was sitting in my office studying up on my next vanquish target when the door opened. Expecting to see Emo standing there, I was understandably surprised to see my sister.
Darma’s appearance gave me a bit of a jolt. Her coloring was usually on the pale side, from her predominantly angelic genes, where mine was more golden from my royal devil DNA, but following her recent injury she looked downright pasty. She moved as if she still had pain in her stomach, which was actually very likely, given the extent of that wound. I stood up and started toward her, reaching out a hand to help her to a chair.
She waved me off with a moue of distaste. “I’m fully capable of walking, Astra. How do you think I got here?” She lowered herself carefully into the chair on the other side of my desk. I sat down again, watching her for signs of weakness.
Darma scowled, “Stop staring at me as if I’m gonna wilt away, Astra. You’re as bad as Torre.”
I gave her a rather sick smile. The weakened, damaged Darma before me was someone I wasn’t sure how to deal with. I’d always dealt fairly successfully with pushy, obnoxious Darma. The woman glaring at me from across my desk was an enigma to me. “So. How are you feeling?”
“I’m just peachy, Astra.”
I threw my hands up in the air and flopped back in my chair.
Her reaction was so unexpected all I could do was sit there and stare at her.
She burst into tears.
I sat helplessly, waiting. I knew she wouldn’t appreciate my patting her on the back and saying, “There, there”.
After a few minutes she finally wound down. I threw my bottle of nose drying spray to her and she used it, sniffing loudly. “I’m sorry to be such a bitch. Have you seen the digital news today?”
I nodded, “Just for a few minutes. I couldn’t watch for long. I got overwhelmed by all the death and destruction.”
She stopped in mid swipe as she was drying her cheeks on her sleeve and cocked her blonde head at me. “Really? I always thought you thrived on death and destruction.”
I made a sour face. “Har!”
“Well, you probably missed the brutal murder of Sari James then?”
I frowned, the name was familiar. “Someone you knew?”
She nodded, a fresh batch of tears glistening in her eyes, “One of my really good friends. I’ve known her since pre-ed, we used to do play group together.”
A memory of Darma cutting it up with a small, dark haired girl with crooked teeth swept over me. “Oh shit, Darma. I’m sorry. I do remember her now. What happened?”
Her pretty face colored in anger, ironically making her look more healthy. “Demon attack. She didn’t have a chance. He was just walking past and slammed a fist into the side of her face. It crushed her skull.”
I closed my eyes and leaned my head back on my chair, saying a silent prayer for the sweet young girl of my memories. “I’m so sick of all of this.”
She nodded sitting silently for a few minutes before opening her mouth and jarring my world. “I’m done being a victim, Astra.”
My eyes jerked open. “What do you mean?”
“I want to help you here.”
I almost smiled. “Are you sure?”
“I’ve never been more sure of anything.”
I nodded. “Okay. As soon as you’re healed we’ll start training.”
She shook her head. “No. I want to start now.”
I laughed, “You can barely walk.”
“Astra, I’m starting my training now, with or without your help.”
And pushy, obnoxious Darma was back.
Knowing she wouldn’t back down once she’d made up her mind, I considered our options. Obviously the more physical types of training were out for a while. But I decided we could work on some stuff. “All right. Let’s go into the outer office.”
Her pale eyebrows rose. “Right now?”
I nodded, heading for the door with a smug smile. I couldn’t help myself. “You said you wanted to start now.” Stopping at the door, I waited while she levered herself up out of the chair. “I’m a very literal person.”
“I’m sensing that.” She followed me into the outer office, moving slowly and carefully.
I waited in the middle of the open space where Emo and I did our physical training. First I want to check how you’re healing.”
She shook her head but I held up a hand. “Or I’m not doing this.”
Sighing, Darma opened her arms in surrender.
I placed one hand on her forehead and one on her stomach. She jumped as my power slid into her but forced herself to stand still and endure my magical probing.
There was a slight tenderness in the areas where she’d been savaged by the demon but they appeared to be completely healed. Pulling my power back I decided the pain she was feeling was probably phantom pain, born of her fear and feelings of helplessness. That was something I could help her with.
“Did I pass?” Her scowl told me more than anything how anxious she was about the training.
I grinned. “With flying colors.” Walking over to the televisual, I stood in front of it. “Contact Emo.” The machine bleeped and Emo’s handsome face swam on screen. “Hey, boss.”
“Hey yourself. I need your help at the office.”
His voice slid into my mind. Why the old fashioned communication?
Since Emo had been released from his ugly red body upon devil King Nerul’s death and returned to his pretty royal self, he and I had gotten used to communicating like a couple of Royals, telepathically. That I was using the televisual to contact him was unusual. But I was very conscious of Darma’s presence in my office and her lifelong aversion to all things magical.
Darma’s in the office with me. I didn’t want her to feel like we’re talking about her without her knowledge.
On screen he smiled. Got it. Then he said so Darma could hear, “What’s up?”
“You and I need to teach Darma to control her powers. She’s joining the firm.”
On screen his eyebrows rose just before his image disappeared. As the televisual bleeped into shut down, he shimmered into view between us. “We have a new partner?”
Darma strode toward him. I noticed she’d momentarily forgotten to be in pain. “Don’t worry, Emo. I’m not trying to take your place. I’m only going to stay long enough to kick the ass of this thing that’s causing all the turmoil.”
Emo and I shared a surprised look.
“You aren’t staying?” I hoped my voice didn’t sound as pathetic as I thought it did.
She shook her head. “You know as well as I do, Astra, that my strengths lie in healing rather than killing. I couldn’t possibly work here long-term.”
I resisted telling her that healing was a large part of my job. Albeit healing of another kind. The kind of healing I mostly engaged in involved emotional healing. When a rogue demon decides to harass or physically assault a human victim, the emotional damage is often as profound as the physical. By vanquishing those demons I give the human victim a sense that he isn’t powerless after all. That he has a resource for fighting back. It was what gave me satisfaction in my job and helped me justify all the destruction I engaged in.
I shrugged. “Whatever. I’ll take any help you can give me with this veil. If we can manage to destroy it I’ll happily let you go...if that’s what you still want to do.”
She slanted me a look. “Of course that’s what I’ll want to do, Astra. Don’t doubt it.”
Emo glanced back and forth between us. Then, being Emo and therefore eminently sensible, he shrugged and went to prepare for a training session, leaving me to deal with my sister.
~SC~
Darma’s training was slow, mainly because she really didn’t believe that she was capable of performing the magics I asked her to perform. Emo and I took her through a series of exercises that involved manipulating matter and moving it from one place to another. Then we tried to find a channel to communicate with her telepathically but eve
ry time we reached out to her that way we bumped against a barrier that we couldn’t get past.
She alternated between delight when she managed some small, harmless success and tearful anger when she failed at something I asked her to do. She had trouble lifting a small, wooden box off Emo’s desk but managed quite well to throw Emo a couple of feet when he surprised her with a testing power arrow.
I sensed an inordinate amount of power hiding in Darma’s complex depths but I was also aware of the thick wall of resistance which she’d built up over the years. It was going to take some time to chip away at that wall.
It was a very emotional couple of hours and, when Darma finally left, she was stooped in exhaustion.
At least I felt we’d made some progress. However small.
Emo left shortly after Darma to take care of a couple of ghouls which had escaped the cemetery and were chasing people down the street trying to rip off their limbs. I returned to my office to try to get my paperwork under control so I could hit the streets too.
After only a few minutes the air in my office changed and Flick shimmered into view. He looked almost human.
I grinned. “Hey!”
He grinned back. “Hey yourself. I just thought I’d check in. I’ve been kind of out of it lately.”
“That’s certainly one way of putting it. You’re looking much better though.”
He shrugged. “I feel a lot better. I thought I was gonna die there for a while.”
“Well you were in a good place for it if you did.”
To my amazement, he chuckled. His sense of humor had returned. That was a very good sign. “I see you’ve managed to stay alive while I was on my deathbed.”
“It’s what I do best.” I cocked my head. “Any chance you could check on the guardians for me? Myra promised to get them organized but I haven’t heard from her. I’d like to know if she’s had any success.”
Flick nodded almost eagerly. I suspected he was happy to be functioning again. “I’ll go there next. She’s got her hands full with Suzie O’Connell and the other sensitives. They’ve been trying to figure out how to stop this veil. Without a lot of success I’m afraid. They’ve put out an all points to the other guardians, looking for more sensitives. They’re hoping one of them can help find a weakness in the veil.”
