by Kellett, Ann
“Stay on the path here and you’ll be fine,” Dax said. “Try not to touch anything.”
“You mean I can go in farther?” Meredith said.
“Absolutely. Come on,” he said, taking her hand.
“There’s a lot of writing on the walls, too,” she said. “What’s this?”
“That’s the symbol melkranos in the ancient demonic hieroglyphics,” Dax said. “Means circular or whole. The energy that starts the cycle all over again, for better or worse.”
“What an interesting shape. It reminds me of a marking on my pendant. In fact, it’s exactly the same. I’m sure of it!” Meredith said.
“Really? I don’t think that’s likely,” Dax said. “When I met you yesterday, I was hoping against hope that the stone in your necklace was the piece that went missing all those years ago. But it can’t be. Your pendant has a square shape, and what we’re looking for is round.”
“Dax, listen. I have worn that pendant for years. Who are you to tell me that I don’t know what it looks like? That symbol is on the opposite side of another marking. That one right there,” she said, pointing. “What is that?”
“That’s the symbol for fire,” Dax said.
“That one is on a tiny flat plate that is smooth, without any other markings. There’s got to be some kind of connection.”
She moved her hand to her chest. “Oh! I can’t believe it! I forgot all about it this morning. It’s still back at the house. You can buy me dinner when I prove you wrong.”
“Fine,” he said. “Now let’s get out of here. I want to show you how this portal connects to this section of the cavern. It’s actually very close to what you described in your book.”
Dax said little as he led the rest of the way. Finding the scepter missing had rattled him. Brought to mind that damned missing portion that had occupied the last 200 years of his time and Randy’s. The space it fit on the scepter was the diameter of a quarter, and round. What could it be? And where in the world was it?
He racked his brain for the millionth time. The one thing he despised about his human side was the fact that it controlled his memory. He had a hard time remembering the details about events that happened centuries earlier. He refused to contemplate what might lie ahead because of his human imperfections.
“That must be the light at the end of the tunnel,” Meredith said.
“Yes,” Dax said. “You’ve now seen the whole thing. My whole reason for existence. What do you think?”
“It’s amazing,” Meredith said. “There are no words to describe it. And I’ve been thinking about something else, too.”
“What?”
“The fact that I want to be with you,” she said. “Whatever it takes.”
“Don’t say that, Meredith,” he said. “It’s too risky. I’m just a half-breed. The only way I can be a human—the man you deserve—is to defeat the demons. That won’t happen unless we can make the scepter fully functional again. That’s what we’ve been working on for nearly 250 years. And we’ve gotten nowhere. You’re better off without me, at least until this thing is settled.”
“It’s what I want. To be with you,” Meredith said in a soft voice.
“It’s what I want, too. But it’s an all-or-nothing proposition. I either become fully human and we can be together, or I don’t, and the demons take over. We would be separated forever. That’s the best I can offer.”
Meredith opened her mouth as if to speak, but said nothing. They moved from the mouth of the cave into full sunlight.
“We can talk it about it later,” Dax said. “What this means for both of us. For now, we have another hurdle to cross—the meeting with the Warrior Council. They’ll want to know all about you.” He looked at his Rolex. “We have plenty of time. I should have realized that you already knew a lot of this information because you wrote about it in your book.”
His heart was breaking, but he couldn’t make promises he couldn’t keep. He took the backpack off, unzipped it, and pulled out two bottles of water and a small quilt. A walkie-talkie fell to the ground. “Let’s enjoy the sunshine before we go back in.”
Meredith smiled. “This is the same meadow I’ve dreamed about for years,” she said. Moving closer, she pushed the sterling silver tip of Dax’s belt back through its buckle. “We can talk later. For now, let’s enjoy more than the sunshine.”
****
Dax’s mouth groped for hers as they dropped to their knees. Before, he had been deliciously slow, letting her savor every moment, building with excitement until she burst. Now he was hungry, ready to claim her body as his. Sunlight warmed her to the core as she moved under his weight, reaching the brink of ecstasy and pulling back again. After what seemed like hours, she let go, wrapping herself around him in tidal waves of blissful relief. He thrust inside her once more, then moaned as he gave himself fully to her.
Apparently, he was not worried about being seen.
Meredith laughed as she rolled onto her back. “I’ve never been naked like this outdoors,” she said. “It feels great!”
“You look great,” Dax said as they got dressed.
“I still feel naked without my pendant, though,” Meredith said as she slipped on her shoes. “Plus, they might want to see it. I’m going to run back and get it—ten minutes, tops. Don’t go anywhere. I’m not sure I could find the meeting room again on my own.”
Chapter Six
A few minutes later, Meredith bounded up the stairs to the porch and turned the knob of the door that led into the den. It was unlocked, as she assumed it would be. People who lived in the country were entirely too trusting.
The house was dark, with various appliances humming. And an unusual gurgling sound.
“Cara?” Meredith said, going into the dining room. The noise grew louder. She felt something under her foot. A diamond stud earring, missing its back. She put it in the front pocket of her jeans.
Meredith turned the corner into the kitchen and froze.
A sandy-haired young man lay writhing on the floor. He was wearing faded jeans and brown cowboy boots.
His shirt was more difficult to make out. It was the color of blood.
An ornately engraved silver object, about a foot long, lay bloodied beside him. The scepter.
“Randy!” she cried. “I’m Meredith Stone. You’re going to be all right. Just hang on. I’ll call an ambulance.”
“I’m all right,” Randy said faintly. His eyes pulsed a dull, matte bronze. “I don’t know...”
“Don’t talk! You can tell me all about it later,” Meredith said.
Was his attacker still there? She got a knife from a wood block on the kitchen counter. Adrenaline surged through her body as she tiptoed to each of the two doorways and looked into the adjacent rooms. Nothing was out of place.
If the attacker were here, he had to be upstairs in the loft on the other side of the cabin or below, in the pantry and connecting caves. Either would be a trap.
Randy moaned.
She had to get help. Meredith scanned the kitchen for a landline telephone. Nothing. She ran into the den. No sign of a phone. She knew there wasn’t one in the section of the loft where she had slept. Was there one by the computer she had used in Dax’s office? Damn it, think!
She raced back into the kitchen. “Randy—tell me where I can find a phone. We’ve got to call an ambulance.”
Randy said nothing. Just as Meredith was about to repeat the question, he calmly moved to a sitting position. Blood made a squishing sound against his clothing. His eyes pulsed. “The stone is round,” he said firmly.
“What? No—focus, Randy! The phone!”
Randy looked into her eyes, penetrating her mind. The glow in his eyes was stronger. He opened his mouth. “The stone is round!” He slumped backward onto the floor.
Meredith despaired as the seconds ticked by. She and Dax would have to put Randy in her car and take him to the hospital.
Meredith ran as fast as she could back to Dax. Sh
e shouted as she got closer, gasping out the words between labored breaths. “It’s Randy. In the kitchen. Attacked. Blood everywhere. He’s got the scepter. We need an ambulance.”
Dax’s eyes grew wide, a sheen of gold flowing across them. “Follow me.”
They sprinted into the cave and down the narrow corridor that led to the Warrior Council’s meeting room.
At the door, Dax hesitated before reaching for the latch. He grabbed Meredith by the shoulders. “You’ll be safe here. I’ll be back as soon as I can. The others will get here any second, if they’re not here already. Do whatever they tell you.”
Dax lifted the latch and opened the door about half-way. “Oh, no!” he said, slamming the door against the stone wall and rushing in. Fine, chalky dust drifted downward.
Meredith took in the gruesome scene. Closed her eyes tight against the carnage.
Five bodies lay at haphazard angles around the room. Five men, mostly young, in jeans and cowboy boots. Some still grasped summer-weight Stetsons with their bluish hands. Wide eyes gaped in permanent horror. Drops of blood echoed as they dripped from the rim of one straw hat. The stench of death and sulfur filled her lungs.
“Can you use your walkie-talkie to call an ambulance?” Meredith asked.
“We’re too late,” he said, facing her. He looked up at the rough stone ceiling, gathering his thoughts. “They are dead. Every last one of them,” he said, blinking quickly. “My brothers in arms. My friends. Gone.
“And it won’t do any good to call an ambulance. First, demons and anyone with demon-warrior blood has a different kind of body. When we die, our energy returns immediately to the universal matrix to be reformulated. Either reincarnated here on Earth or put to other uses. Our bodies disappear within a half hour. By the time an ambulance got here, there would be nothing left.”
He shook his head and squeezed his thumb and forefinger against the bridge of his nose. “Damn it, they left just when we need them most!” He turned to Meredith, his eyes liquid gold. “We have to get back to the house, to help Randy and get the scepter. This thing—whatever it is—has started.”
Dax tried to collect his thoughts as they ran. What Meredith saw earlier had been a previously unknown form of demon. He considered it nothing but a minor irritation at the time, but he was wrong. Now they were all alone, without the protection of the full Warrior Council, to fight whatever lay ahead.
Even getting the scepter wouldn’t help much. It was worthless without whatever object had been taken from it long ago.
****
They ran into the kitchen. No sign of Randy. Except for the blood smeared across the cabinets and pooled on the floor. “He was right here,” Meredith said, pointing. “I swear.” She felt like crying.
A noise in the loft drew their attention. Without a word, they ran most of the way up the stairs, then crouched at the point where they could see what was going on without being seen themselves.
Elena and Cara were seated side by side on the bed, focused on an object that Elena was tossing lightly from hand to hand—the pendant!
What was she doing here? Meredith, wide-eyed, started to speak. Dax held up an index finger to prevent her. He pointed to his office doorway to their right. Randy was hunched behind the doorframe, scepter in hand.
“Hurry, damn it!” Cara hissed. “We’ve got to figure out how to put this back in the scepter before they do.”
“I told you, it’s really stuck!” Elena said. “And you know as well as I do that I can only handle the silver part—not the stone itself.”
“What good are you if you’re that sensitive?” Cara said. “I knew I should have found someone else!”
“And risk losing this thing all over again?” Elena said, sneering. “You’re a bigger fool than I thought.”
Before Cara could respond, Randy leaped through the doorway.
He smashed the back of Elena’s head with the scepter, then fell against the wall and collapsed.
Elena slumped onto the bed, dazed but not bloodied.
The pendant fell to the floor. Cara took a step forward so that it was between her feet.
Dax ran up the stairs and picked up the scepter.
Meredith could stand it no longer. She rushed to her cousin’s side, shaking with confusion, anger and concern.
“What are you doing?” she said. “Why are you even here?”
“What a simpleton you are, little cousin,” Elena said. “What a poor, poor girl.”
“What are you talking about?”
“All the things I have put up with for more than two centuries,” Elena said, her voice low and controlled. “And in this life. How Grandmother always favored you. Giving you the best of everything, while I got the leftovers. Crumbs. But that wasn’t right. I’m older. I’m full-blooded Lipan Apache. My last name should be Stone, not yours!”
A white-hot hatred that Meredith had never seen before flooded Elena’s eyes.
Meredith was stunned. “What the hell are you talking about? I helped you in every way I could! You got rich because of the book that I wrote! Not you, me!”
“And that’s the whole problem,” Elena said. “The pendant should have been mine all along. You should have been chasing me all these centuries, not the other way around!”
“You’re insane!” Meredith screamed. “Get out and don’t come back! I never want to see you again!”
“The feeling is mutual, believe me,” Elena said as she ran down the stairs and out of the house, Meredith at her heels. She would be satisfied only after Elena was out of sight.
Elena got into her convertible and revved the engine. She looked Meredith in the eye. “See you in hell, cousin. I alone will get my eternal reward.” The tires scorched the pavement as she sped away.
****
Every atom in Dax’s being fought the urge to follow Meredith. To never again let her out of sight. He sent up a silent prayer that she would return quickly. And unharmed.
For now, he had to focus on Randy and Cara. The scepter and the pendant. His eyes shifted to Randy, crumpled on the floor, motionless. Then to Cara, standing before him, equally motionless, eyes sparkling.
Meredith slammed the front door behind her and climbed the stairs three at a time, breathless. She dug the earring out of her pocket. She would think about Elena later.
“I believe you lost this,” she said to Cara. “It was on the floor downstairs.”
Meredith held it at arm’s length, forcing Cara to take step forward.
“Oh, what a relief, my dear!” she said, taking it. “Thank you. Dax gave these to me for my birthday several years ago. I won’t reveal my age by telling you which one! I have worn them every day since then. I would simply despair to be without them!”
Dax moved to Meredith’s side, shielding her. “Aunt Cara, would you also be so kind as to hand me the pendant?” He held out his hand.
“Whatever do you mean, dear?”
“The one there—just behind your left foot.” He held her gaze, then looked down. Her eyes automatically followed.
“Oh!” Cara said, her smile radiant. “What in the world is that? What a primitive design! Who would ever wear such a thing?”
“If you would just hand it to me, I would appreciate it,” Dax said.
“But I have been rather clumsy lately,” she said. “Even losing my diamond earring! And my shoes are a bit slippery on these hardwood floors. I would never forgive myself if I dropped something that means so much to you.”
With the force of a thousand lightning bolts, Dax knew that Cara wanted nothing more than to do just that. To split the pendant into its parts. To pry the silver casing from the stone.
“Meredith, would you please get it for me?” Dax said calmly. “And take this.” He handed her the scepter.
Meredith did as he asked.
Dax dangled the leather cord on one finger, swinging the pendant gently back and forth.
Cara winced.
Dax took a quick step forward. C
ara jumped back to avoid contact.
“What’s the matter, dear?” Dax said, eyes pulsing. “Demon got your tongue?”
“What’s going on?” Meredith said. “What...”
The air in the room was replaced with smoke and the acrid scent of burning sulfur. Meredith coughed.
“Hold on!” Dax said. “Don’t leave, Meredith!”
As quickly as it had materialized, the smoke cleared. The spot where Cara had been standing was filled with a massive beast. One with leathery gray skin and eyes like polished onyx. The creature made a bone-chilling cawing sound, then spread its wings, scraping bits of plaster from the walls.
Dax tightened his grip. Meredith’s pendant was the only thing keeping this evil at bay. For now. “Why, Cara?” Dax cried. “You were supposed to be one of us. The one my mother trusted. After father died, and after she knew she was dying. She trusted you to raise me as her own. Why did you betray us?”
The creature made a hoarse laughing sound.
“Your mother was pitiful,” Cara’s voice emerged from the beast. “Her love for you made her weak. She couldn’t keep her mouth shut. Saw that you were special—destined for battle, even though you’re a filthy half-breed. But she just couldn’t resist telling you our secrets. Secrets that we kept hidden for centuries—millennia! Secrets that got her killed back then. That will get you and this pretty little thing killed today.”
“This stone is round!” Dax said. “It’s the silver casing that makes it look square. And since you’re a demon, you can’t touch it. Had to call in some worthless expediter to help you, but that didn’t work out so well, either. Must be frustrating as hell.”
The creature cackled. “Hell is many things, my dear, but frustrating is not one of them.”
“Good-bye, Aunt Cara,” Dax said, spinning the pendant above his head and releasing it. The creature opened its mouth, but it was too late. The blow to the demon’s forehead stopped it cold.
It buckled into the space near the bed, next to Randy. The mark left by the contact with the stone turned black and smoldered, then burst into a bluish flame.
