Blood Brothers: An Alastair Stone Urban Fantasy Novel (Alastair Stone Chronicles Book 22)

by R. L. King

  “It’s in here?” Verity asked, looking around.

  Amber was already sniffing. “I can smell him. Jason, too. They were here, and not long ago.” Before Whitworth could move, she’d zeroed in on the refrigerator. “I think it’s here. The scent’s strongest in this area.”

  “What are you?” Whitworth asked, astonished. “You aren’t a mage, but yet—”

  “I don’t need to be a mage. And you don’t need to know what I am. Just show us how to get past the illusion.”

  “I think not,” said a voice.

  32

  Stone didn’t spin this time. “Oh, bloody hell, that trick again?” he asked, slowly turning to face the TV up in the corner. As he was sure to be the case, it had lit up with the familiar image. “Your brother’s right—you’ve got the imagination of a bog roll.”

  Melvin Whitworth didn’t seem offended by the insult. Instead, he looked disappointed as his gaze fell on his brother. “Julius…? What are you doing here? Why are you with these people?”

  Julius couldn’t have looked more miserable. “It’s over, Melvin. It’s done. Please—just let their friend go and come up here.”

  Melvin’s brow furrowed. “Wait. You’re…not a prisoner? They didn’t force you to bring them here?”

  “They found me at my house. Imagine my surprise when they told me what you’d done. Melvin, please—just…stop it. It’s not worth it. None of this is worth it. You’ve already killed one person, and tried to kill another. You left Caden unattended, when anything could have happened to him. Please don’t add to this by hurting Jason.”

  “Julius…I don’t believe what I’m hearing.” Now, Melvin’s eyes went to narrow slits. “You’re telling me you…brought them here of your own free will? You helped them get inside?”

  Stone scanned the area behind Melvin as he talked. The camera was pulled back farther than it had been before, revealing a laboratory brimming with both mundane and magical equipment. Behind him, barely visible to the left side of the scene, a shadowy, still figure lay on a bed. “Give it up, Whitworth. We know everything now. You won’t get out of here alive if you do anything to harm Jason.”

  “Harm him? I had no intention of harming him.” Melvin’s gaze settled briefly on Stone before returning to his brother. “Don’t you understand? I’ve made a breakthrough! Finally, after all these years, success is within my grasp! And I have you, Dr. Stone, to thank for it.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Amber demanded, glaring between Stone and the screen.

  He smiled. It was more fatherly than unwholesome, but Stone didn’t miss the odd gleam in his eyes. Something wasn’t entirely right in Melvin Whitworth’s head tonight. “I’m glad to see you’re still alive, Dr. Stone. Truly I am. It was never my intention to kill anyone—not even Roy Darner. Sadly, in his case it was necessary, but I regretted what I had to do in yours. The loss of a mage of your stature is truly unfortunate. But what I don’t regret is that you provided me with something amazing. Something that rocketed my research to levels I’d never thought possible. With it, I’ve made more progress in the last two weeks than I have in the last ten years.”

  “What are you on about?” Stone wasn’t sure the man wasn’t simply raving at this point, and one look at Julius told him his brother was having the same thoughts. “What could I possibly have provided you with?”

  Melvin began to pace, and the camera followed him. When he stopped, he stood next to the bed Stone had spotted in the background. Now that he was closer, it was obvious the unconscious figure on it was Jason. “When I sent my associates to deal with you at the roadhouse, I gave them some rather specific instructions about what to do with you before disposing of you.”

  Stone’s whole body went cold. “You took my blood.”

  “Yes. Your power is truly impressive, Dr. Stone. I know my talent is nothing to speak of, not when compared to someone like you. But it only recently occurred to me that perhaps that was the problem—that the genetic material I provided was simply not powerful enough for its magical potential to assert itself when used to create the embryos. My hypothesis was that perhaps something stronger was required.”

  Stone glared as another wrenching chill went through him. “But blood isn’t exactly the sort of ‘genetic material’ you were dealing with. Dear gods, Whitworth, you didn’t—”

  Melvin shook his head, raising his hands as if warding off the force of Stone’s rage. “No, no. I didn’t harvest that material. For one thing, I wouldn’t have trusted my associates to do such a thing. They are rather…limited in their scope, and it was too dangerous to bring you to me. But in any case, I didn’t need to. With your blood, I was able, using a combination of mundane and alchemical techniques, to finally create a compound that shows great promise for catalyzing magical talent in a fully mature adult.”

  “Wait.” Amber strode forward and thrust her face at the screen. “You tested this on Jason?”

  “I did, yes. Earlier this evening. He’s a nearly identical candidate—possessed of magical heritage without expressing it himself. The only thing that would have been better was if his magical parent was his father rather than his mother, but he is only an initial step. I’m not expecting much, honestly—this is only my first trial. But even the smallest sign of magical awakening will prove I’m on the right track.”

  He looked past Amber to Julius. “Don’t you see, Jules? This is what we were searching for! Finally, after all these years, all these failures, I’ll soon be able to keep my promise to you.” His brow furrowed again, and he frowned in confusion. “Julius?”

  “You make me sick, Melvin.”

  Even Stone turned, surprised by the level of disgust in Julius Whitworth’s voice. It was fully mirrored on the man’s face.

  “Julius, I—”

  “Stop it!” Julius strode forward and pushed Amber out of the way. “Don’t you see? I don’t even want this anymore. You’re doing all of this to give me magic—but I don’t want it!”

  “You do.” A pleading tone slipped into Melvin’s voice as he leaned forward, almost as if trying to touch his brother. “I know you do! You wouldn’t have worked so hard alongside me all these years if you didn’t—”

  “I thought I did.” Julius shook his head. “A long time ago, I thought I did. I got caught up in your dream—and it was your dream, Melvin, not mine—because I thought if we succeeded then I could join your world, and finally understand the things you tried to describe to me. But look at me.” He spread his arms, baring himself to the camera. “I’m an old man. I’m tired, Mel. I was willing to look the other way until you started killing people. I was willing to pretend we weren’t doing years’ worth of unethical medical experiments to feed your selfish need to do something for me that I didn’t even care about. And now—look at us. Look where it’s got us. We’re brothers, Mel. Twins. Old men, even though I’m feeling that a lot more than you are lately. We’ve had our time. We should be resting.”

  Stone focused on Melvin’s face as his brother spoke, watching it go through a series of emotions: shock, surprise, disappointment—and finally settle on cold anger.

  “I don’t believe this,” Melvin said, his voice shaking and his fists clenched. “I don’t believe any of this. My…own…brother! Shame on you, Julius! After everything we’ve been through together, everything I’ve done for you, you’re betraying me when we’re on the verge of success?”

  “Let him go, Mel.” Julius bore his brother’s words like bullets. “Please, for the love of God, let this end before you kill anyone else. Let Jason go and come up here. We’ll bear the punishment together. Even after all this, I still love you. We’ll be together, just like we always have.”

  “Listen to your brother, Mr. Whitworth,” Stone said gently. “You can’t hide any longer. Don’t make things worse by adding another murder to your slate. There’s still a way forward for you, both of you, if you make the right decision.”

  Melvin Whitworth’s burnin
g gaze fell on Stone. “You should be proud,” he said, a harsh, shaking edge to his voice. “You should be proud to be part of this. But I can see it now. You’re all against me. Even my own brother. I’m devastated, Julius. I can’t believe you’d do this to me. But if that’s the way it has to be, then so be it. I didn’t want to do this—it was never meant as anything but a last resort, to keep my research out of the wrong hands—but you’ve left me no choice. Just remember, this is on you. All of you.”

  He leaned in and flipped a switch.

  “No!” Stone yelled, lunging forward. He had no idea what the man had done, but the expression on his face told him everything he needed to know.

  Beneath the building, something began to rumble. The floor shook. The microwave toppled off its stand and crashed to the floor.

  “Oh, God!” Verity yelled. “What’s he doing? Jason!”

  Stone hadn’t stopped watching the screen. The instant before it went black, he saw one thing and heard another:

  A bright flash of light, and a thundering “No!” that he was certain hadn’t come from Melvin Whitworth.

  33

  “Jason!”

  Amber’s roar was deafening, echoing above the growing rumble as the building’s basement collapsed beneath them. Before Stone could react, she ran to the refrigerator, gripped it with both hands, and ripped it free with no more effort than Stone might use to lift a stack of books. She flung it, crashing, into the opposite wall and glared at the blank one in front of her.

  “You said it’s here!” she yelled, rounding on Stone. “Do something!”

  Around them, the ceiling was starting to come down. “Verity!” he barked, with no time for tact. “Shield!”

  Instantly, a bright shield flared around all four of them. “I don’t know how long I can hold it,” she said through gritted teeth as a light fixture slammed into it and bounced free. “Hurry!”

  Stone didn’t need the encouragement. Heart pounding, he fixed his attention on the blank wall where the refrigerator had stood. “You’re sure it’s here?” he demanded to Julius Whitworth.

  “Y-yes. I can see it! There’s a door!” Whitworth’s voice shook so hard his words were barely intelligible. “Can’t you see it?”

  Stone couldn’t see it—not yet. “Someone get him out of here,” he ordered.

  “Like hell,” Amber snapped. She pounded her fists on the wall, peppering it with loud thooms that punctuated the shaking all around them.

  “This building’s coming down.” Stone fought to concentrate, to punch through the illusion before it was too late. The lab was only two stories, but even if the basement hadn’t collapsed fully yet, having even one more floor crashing down on top of them could be deadly. The floor under his feet was cracking now, chunks of it coming loose as holes opened up.

  “Hurry, then!” Amber pounded harder, her fists driving divots into the wall.

  “Doc!” Verity yelled, wild-eyed. “The ceiling’s falling! We can’t—”

  On the other side of the room, a section of the upper story broke through and slammed into the floor, nearly knocking all of them off their feet. Tears streamed down her face as she struggled to keep the shield up. “Oh God, Jason—”

  Stone’s heart pounded even harder. Damn it, focus!

  This was one of the most skillful illusions he’d ever encountered. He knew he could break it—he’d never met one yet that he couldn’t, given time—but they didn’t have time. He jerked, trying to stay upright as another section of the upper floor came down only a few feet to their right, crushing the fallen refrigerator.

  Focus! You’ve got to get this, or—

  With sudden swiftness, as if some unseen observer had flipped a switch, a metal elevator door shimmered into existence in front of them.

  “Yes!” Amber yelled, pounding Stone’s back so hard she nearly knocked him over, then lunging forward to dig her fingers into the crack. “You got it!”

  But he hadn’t gotten it. Stone took a staggering step backward, shocked. Whatever had just happened, it hadn’t been his power that revealed the door. He’d barely managed to spot the corner of the illusion when it had faded away. “What the hell—”

  Another chunk of ceiling crashed down, followed by one end of a conference table. Both barely missed the shield.

  “Doc, I can’t—” Verity began.

  “It’s opening!” Amber yelled. As she’d tried to slip her fingers into the crack, it widened under her hands.

  Stone changed his focus instantly. He added his power to the shield, an instant before a larger section of the ceiling plummeted down and bounced off. Verity sagged as the feedback obliterated her own shield, and Stone snaked an arm around her to keep her upright.

  In front of them, the heavy metal elevator door flew open, revealing a small cubicle, and—

  “Jason!” Amber cried, surging forward.

  Jason hardly seemed to notice her. He was barely conscious, covered in dust and blood, clad only in a grime-smeared hospital gown. In his arms, he held a thin, bloody form. His wandering gaze lit on each of them in turn, and then he muttered, “I—” and pitched forward.

  Amber moved with frightening speed, grabbing him before he fell. “Let’s get the hell out of here!”

  “Melvin!” Julius, nearly forgotten, stumbled to catch his brother, still held in Jason’s failing grip.

  Another section of ceiling came down, this time with a crash of splintering glass.

  “We’ve got to go!” Stone snapped. He pulled the unconscious Melvin from Julius and slung him over his shoulder, once again grateful he’d kept up his Calanarian physical training. He wouldn’t be able to carry him far, but he wouldn’t have to. Keeping the shield aloft over their heads, he shoved the others forward toward the way out.

  Amber went first, Jason in her arms, plowing forward through the dust. Her unerring senses led her down the hall to the door as Stone, Verity, and Julius struggled to follow her. When she reached it, she straight-armed it open so hard it slammed against the wall.

  “Hurry!” she yelled, setting Jason down and rushing back to shepherd the rest of them, coughing, out into the yard.

  Stone dropped to his knees, lowering Melvin’s still form to the ground, and Verity fell down next to him, panting so hard her back rose and fell. All of them watched as the building continued to shake and judder, the entire rear side of it crumbling until nothing remained but a pile of rubble and support beams sticking up at crazy angles.

  Still coughing, Stone staggered to his feet, taking in the scene. Amber bent over Jason, shaking him by his shoulders. Verity had crawled over to check Melvin, while Julius hovered over the two of them, dead pale and quivering with terror. So far, Stone didn’t hear any sirens in the distance. He hoped the building was far enough out of town and away from its neighbors that it would take a while for anyone to notice.

  “How…is he?” he rasped between coughs, leaving it intentionally ambiguous whether he was talking about Jason or Melvin Whitworth.

  “I think he’ll be okay,” Amber said grimly. Under her hand, Jason was already showing signs of stirring. “We should take him to the hospital so he can get checked out, but I’m not picking up anything life-threatening.”

  Stone glanced at Verity, and saw immediately that the news wouldn’t be as good. “Verity—”

  “He’s gone, Doc.” She let out a long sigh and looked at Julius. “I’m sorry. It looks like something hit him pretty hard in the head. There’s nothing I can do.”

  “Oh, Melvin…” Julius dropped to his knees, taking his brother’s thin form into his arms. “Why did you do all this? Why couldn’t you have left things the way God intended them?” Tears ran down his lined cheeks, tracing pale lines through the dust.

  Stone sagged back, shifting to magical sight. Verity was right: Melvin was beyond help, his aura already fading to nothing as he watched. Jason’s blue aura, on the other hand, was fundamentally strong and steady, with only occasional flashes of red i
ndicating any distress.

  He blinked as he watched, and focused his scrutiny tighter.

  Was he seeing things, or had Jason’s aura darkened ever so slightly?

  It had always been an even, solid medium blue—even though aura colors didn’t correlate to their owners’ personalities, Stone had always thought of it as the color of loyalty, of solidity, of the kind of steadfast person you could depend on no matter what. Now, though, the blue looked like it had grown deeper. Stone blinked again, several times. It was probably a trick of the light, or of his own exhaustion. He’d look at it again later, when things had calmed down.

  “We’ve got to get out of here,” he rasped. “Someone’s going to notice this place soon and call the authorities.”

  “Yeah…” Amber hefted Jason, who mumbled something under his breath. “I don’t think we’ll all fit in the car, though.”

  “Do you trust me?” Julius Whitworth asked. “Melvin’s car will be in the front parking lot. We can take that—one of you can go with me if you like.”

  Stone looked at him, then at the others. He tossed Amber the keys to his rental. “You take Jason to the hospital. Tell them he was in an accident. We’ll take the other car. Text us where you end up, and we’ll meet you there.”

  Amber hesitated, but then nodded. “Yeah. Okay. Don’t take too long. And don’t let him get away.” She jerked her chin toward Julius.

  When they’d left, Julius swallowed hard. “What about Melvin?”

  Stone considered. They couldn’t drive up to the hospital with a dead body in the trunk—the authorities would ask too many questions. “Julius…I hate to say this, but I think we’ve got to leave him here. Let the police find him inside the building.”

  Surprisingly, Julius didn’t argue. “I feared you’d say that. But I don’t see another alternative.” He bent over his brother, laying a hand across his bloody forehead. “I’m sorry it had to end this way, Mel. I truly am.” He rose with effort, hands on his knees. “All right. Do it. If you trust me, I’ll bring the car around. I don’t…really want to watch what you do.”