by Jeff Hale
“You don’t want to know. They deserved it though,” Dave muttered. “And my cousin was involved.”
“Your cousin?” Kat asked, confused.
“Yeah, my cousin, Travis. I didn’t even know he was Purity. No way am I getting involved with them now,” Dave said resolutely.
“Wait. That abusive pricktard Travis is your cousin? And you were going to get involved with those fascist bigots?” Kat yelled, incensed.
“Yeah, but not like this.” Dave waved his hand at the room. “Not like Travis. I was just going to do peaceful protests, stuff like that. See if I could get petitions and get certain laws passed. You know, for the bad supernaturals. That sort of thing. Nothing like this.” Dave looked dismayed.
“Okay, you guys see what you can find. Dave and I need to head to the Flame,” I said, handing Kat one of my business cards with my cell phone number on it and grabbing Dave by the hand. I led him out to the car and we left.
“Purity? Really, Dave?” I asked once we were on our way. “And with Aerick being your best friend? What were you thinking?”
“I don’t know. I saw a few things online, about making sure humans could protect themselves if they needed to. That’s all I was interested in. Not all the supernaturals can be like you, or Aerick, or Kat.”
I sighed. He was right. There were plenty of Aetherics out there who didn’t give a rat’s ass about humans, but the Purity Movement was not the way to help with that. “Purity isn’t the answer, Dave. They don’t want to protect humans from bad Aetherics. They want to destroy all Aetherics. There’s a big difference. Back there at the house? What they did to Serena? They’ll hurt humans just to get to Aetherics.”
“Yeah, I see that. Sorry,” Dave said guiltily. We were both silent for several moments, then he asked, “What was that device you found?”
“Something made from some substance from Purgatory unless I miss my guess.” It was the only thing that made sense for the strange cube. I should have paid better attention to some of Merlin’s lectures, but they could get so boring at times. “Lucien might know a bit more about it. I tended to zone out during my Aetheric Metallurgy lessons.”
“Where did you go to school at?”
“Same school you went to, you know that.”
“I mean after that,” Dave clarified.
“Oh. Merlin taught me stuff.”
“I thought Rick was just pulling my chain about Merlin. I thought he was using that as some weird code word for where he actually learned about what he was.”
“Nope, Merlin’s real. Rick was telling you the truth.” I laughed a little.
“Well, fuck me.”
I patted his arm. “Not while you’re driving, sweetie. Might cause an accident, and we don’t have time for that.”
“Wait, I wasn’t… or I could’ve been if you wanted… I mean…”
“I was messing with you. Don’t take it too seriously.” I laughed again and I saw him blush, although in other circumstances I might have just told him to pull the car over and then dragged him into the back seat. Priorities, though. Still, it was a heady feeling, the effect that I tended to have on men, and women too sometimes.
We pulled into the parking garage of the Velvet Flame and headed inside. The place was almost completely empty and the guards let us in once they recognized me. When we entered the club proper I could see Lucien directing traffic as he moved the furniture in his club around.
“Ah, Valencia. What can I do for you?” Lucien asked, walking over to us.
“Aerick’s in trouble.” I explained the whole situation to him.
“That is most unfortunate. I doubt he will be reasonable if he gets out of wherever they have him holed up. Chances are he will search high and low for Travis and Serena and kill anyone or anything that gets in his way.”
“I wouldn’t know. I kind of knew him before, but now...” I shrugged. I didn’t know how much Aerick might have changed in the year plus since I’d last seen him. I’d kept tabs on him, scrying every now and then, but it didn’t let me in on the person inside.
“Our efforts should be on finding him first.”
I shook my head. “I think we should go after Serena. She’s suffering.”
“No. While I don’t like the idea of that poor girl suffering any longer than she has to, things won’t go well if the Purity Movement has Aerick. The longer they have him, the more damage they can do.”
“Why?” Dave asked from where he sat at the nearby bar. “What are they doing?”
“Genetic experiments are just the tip of the iceberg. They’re trying to make themselves immune to Aetheric powers while studying Aetherics for any weaknesses they can find,” Lucien explained.
“So where is Aerick?” I asked.
“By your description, some sort of makeshift holding facility.” Lucien pointed towards a corner as one of the workers asked him about a table.
“Well, where is it?”
“I haven’t the slightest. For once. The Purity Movement is uncannily good at hiding themselves from all forms of Aetheric scrying.” Lucien shook his head.
“Kat and Alex are searching for him as we speak,” I told him.
“Good, shifters are good at tracking, maybe they will turn something up where I could not.”
But I still wasn’t sure about leaving Serena to suffer any longer. Lucien hadn’t seen what they had done to her. “I still think I should look for Serena. Maybe I can find her by the time Kat and Alex find Aerick. You can’t honestly think that Aerick knowing she’s hurt out there will have any less of a damaging effect on him than Purity’s experiments?”
Lucien considered for a few moments, then nodded at me. “I see Merlin has instilled some wisdom in you. You are right. Waiting around here would gain Aerick nothing. Do whatever you can to find her, Valencia. Please bring her back here when you have,” Lucien said, going back to directing the workers.
I watched him for a moment, wondering at how he could be so dismissive, but then decided that it wasn’t my business. He was The Phoenix and he had his own ways. Maybe he was coping with worry by trying to continue on with his work.
I looked over to where Dave was sitting at the bar, his attention on the television behind it. There was a special report about some werewolf named Grimm making a grab for power in Germany. I knew better. His name was Fenris, and he was an extremely old creature. He was trying to reclaim land he thought rightfully belonged to him.
“Dave. Travis is your cousin, any ideas as to where he might have taken Serena?” I asked.
“I don’t know… wait… there used to be a place.”
“Where?”
“He used to take girls out to this cabin at Mount Charleston. He might be there.”
“A cabin. In the mountains? Being used to hold a girl prisoner while some madman tortures her? Sounds horribly cliché,” I said, thinking to myself how this stuff never happens in real life. Guess I was wrong. But then again, there were lots of things that didn’t happen in real life happening these days.
“Here.” Dave wrote the address on a napkin. “If he’s there, be careful, my uncle kept a lot of guns up there.”
“Thanks, call me if anything happens,” I said, leaving.
Once in my car, I put the address into my GPS and followed the instructions. Eventually, as I got closer to Mount Charleston, I took a left onto the road that led up into the mountains. The sagebrush and Joshua trees gave way to pines and firs. I rolled down the window and breathed in the air. I had always loved the air here. It was fresher and cleaner than down in the city. It was refreshingly cool up here too, compared to the arid heat back in town.
I finally pulled onto what barely amounted to a goat trail, let alone a road, and after a few minutes I stopped the car. Just up the road was supposedly where the cabin was. I didn’t want to approach any closer in my car, for fear of him hearing the engine.
I got out, and closed the door softly, then made my way into the forest line on the side
of the road. I approached swiftly, but cautiously, using the shadows to teleport short distances where I could. All I needed was to step on a stick and have him be outside and hear it. Sound traveled like nothing else in this environment.
After a few minutes of creeping through the brush, I came upon a large clearing with a two-story cabin sitting in the middle of it. It looked like something an upper-class family would summer in. A well-manicured lawn and trees led up to the well maintained wooden structure that had plenty of large windows to look out into the wilderness while staying safely confined indoors. All the windows were covered at the moment. Travis’s pickup was in the driveway. I was in luck. They were here.
I crept up to the door, and when I got close enough I disintegrated the doorknob, lock and all. I pushed the door open just enough for me to peek inside. It was dimly lit, the blocked daylight barely lighting up the huge entry area. I opened the door a bit further, expecting an attack at any moment. I snuck inside, and slowly closed the door behind me. Staying in a crouch, I surveyed the area. It was large and open, with a polished wooden staircase that led to the upper level. Guns hung on display on the wall next to the stairs, some of them old, some of them newer. Off to my right was the dining room, which had huge windows that I knew overlooked the cliff-side that the cabin sat above.
I heard a creak above me, and realized that Travis was upstairs. There was a huge fireplace that took up most of the left hand wall, a couch facing it. I edged up to the couch and went still when I saw movement from under the stairs.
I squinted and saw the movement again. It was Serena. She was hanging by handcuffs from the supports that held the stairs from underneath, swinging slightly. She was naked, covered in bruises and cuts, and caked in blood. Her right arm was at an angle that suggested it was broken, her left leg looked like it might be shattered, and the other leg was twisted and bent in a way that left no doubt that it was useless. Her face was barely recognizable, it had been beaten in so badly.
My heart broke for this poor girl and the treatment and trauma she had obviously gone through. No one deserved this, except maybe someone who was capable of inflicting this on such an innocent girl. I stood up straight, activated my shield and my whip and headed for the stairs. As I looked up the stairs I saw Travis standing there in nothing but an open house-robe.
“What the fuck?” he yelled in surprise. He reached for the wall, for the nearest gun, and yanked it free just as my whip wrapped around his ankle. It was a rifle, and I could only hope that it wasn’t loaded. No such luck on my part. As he went down, he fired the weapon, and at this close a range, the bullet went right through my shield. I felt a burning pain in my leg as the bullet tore through it.
I collapsed but kept my grip on my whip. I pulled back as he tried in vain to climb up the stairs towards a small table at the top. There was probably more ammunition in that table.
I lashed out with my whip again and caught him around the waist. I enhanced my strength as much as I could with Aetheric energy and pulled with all my might. Travis went flying through the air to land with a crash onto the couch down on the first floor, the rifle sliding down the stairs. I hobbled to where he lay, keeping a wary eye on him. He was unconscious. I made a quick search of the dining room and the kitchen beyond and found some zip-ties, probably used for trussing up game.
I bound Travis hand and foot with zip-ties and then bound his hands to his feet using more. After he was all trussed up, I made my way to Serena. She was conscious, much to my surprise, tears wetting the puffy skin around her eyes and sliding over her swollen cheeks. She was making muffled noises and I realized that he had secured a ball gag in her mouth. I removed it and threw it away from me in distaste, then disintegrated her cuffs and brought her down as easily as possible.
As I guided her to the floor she passed out again and I used what little training I had in my primary element of water to discern how badly she was injured. I sucked a breath in through my teeth. Her skull was cracked, several of her ribs were broken, along with her legs and arm, and she was bleeding internally. She wouldn’t live out the night unless she was healed somehow; even emergency hospital care wouldn’t save her. He had left her to hang there and die, slowly and painfully.
Hopefully I could do enough to stabilize her and give her more time. My skill with healing was rudimentary at best, but it might be just enough. I touched the various wounds I knew I could heal and did what I could to insure that she would live just a bit longer. The pain in my leg increased and I felt myself getting a little lightheaded. Unfortunately, I couldn’t heal myself yet but the bleeding was slow and sluggish and I tore a strip from Travis’s robe to form a makeshift bandage.
I ran back to my car as fast as I could and brought it up to the cabin, then quickly gathered Travis up and threw him into the trunk, limping the whole time. I just hoped I didn’t get pulled over. I didn’t want to have to use magic on a police officer to make them forget about the bloody body in the car. Sometimes the results ended up leaving nasty aftereffects.
I went back and rooted around in the house and found some clothes that would get Serena decent so she wouldn’t flash the whole world as we drove through the city. I gingerly got her dressed and carried her out to the car, then buckled her in. She cringed as I leaned over her and I wanted to open the trunk and give this Travis guy a taste of his own work. Before I pulled away from the cabin, I checked my cell phone for missed calls. Nothing. I would try to call Kat to get an update but the last thing I wanted was to make her phone ring or vibrate if they were sneaking in somewhere.
Instead, I drove with undue haste back to the Flame. I parked out front, daring the singular security guard to question me, then I took Serena from the car and carried her inside. Travis was still in the trunk, but he could stay there and rot for all I cared.
Lucien and Dave met me inside, Lucien’s dark eyes immediately going to Serena. “She lives, but she is fading. Give her to me and I will mend her hurts.” He held his arms out for her.
I gave Serena over to him. Her green eyes sought out mine, almost in a panic, and I patted her hand. “It’s okay. This is Lucien, Aerick’s friend. He can help you feel better.”
She stared at me for a little longer, then nodded slightly, and Lucien took her through the dining area, disappearing with her through an alcove off to the right. I was still worried about her, and to distract myself as I waited anxiously for a call from Kat, I sat with Dave at the bar and the two of us chatted idly with Lily, the cute blonde bartender. Dave disappeared a couple times and I was pretty sure it was to go smoke a cigarette. I only wished that I had something like that to help with my nerves. The Sprite Lily had brought me didn’t do a whole lot. About an hour later my cell phone rang.
“Kat?” I asked anxiously.
“Yeah, we think we may have found him,” Kat said breathlessly over the phone.
“Where?”
“Some old abandoned hanger between Vegas and the Test Site. Alex and I don’t dare go in there. They have a veritable arsenal of…” Her phone went into static. It stayed that way for a couple of minutes but I didn’t dare hang up. I continued to say her name, not getting a response, and then the static suddenly cleared up.
“Kat?! Kat?! Are you there?! Hello?!” I repeated, worried.
“Oh. My. Fucking. God!” was all I heard before the phone went silent.
TWENTY-TWO
“Lucien!” I cried out, turning in my seat to look for him, but he hadn’t returned. I stood and, limping, made my way towards the alcove he had gone through, but before I could even reach it, he came through it towards me.
“Did you need me, Valencia?” he asked, no sense of urgency in his manner or voice.
“Yes! Kat called!”
“I get the idea that Katelyn and Alexander found what they were looking for?” Lucien said calmly, steering me back toward the bar. When his hand touched my arm, I felt a strange heat go through my arm that then dissipated throughout my body. My leg suddenly quit
hurting.
“Did you just heal me?” I blurted out.
“Yes. You were injured and it would hamper you.” He shrugged. “Katelyn and Alexander found Aerick?”
I nodded vigorously. “And I think they may be in trouble.”
“Give me a few moments to gather my energy. I had not expected to get directly involved. It takes a lot out of me to maintain the building, especially the dimensional pockets and portals, and I used quite a bit on our injured guest and the last on you a moment ago, so my energy is taxed at the moment unfortunately.” Lucien casually leaned against the bar and closed his eyes. I sipped from my Sprite and tried to relax but found I couldn’t. It was almost ten minutes later when Lucien touched my shoulder to get my attention.
“I’m ready,” he told me, “shall we go?”
“What about Travis?” I asked, a sudden thought occurring to me.
His dark eyes narrowed on me. “You only brought Serena in. I assumed you had killed Travis.”
I shook my head. “Nope. I, uh, kinda left him tied up in the trunk of my car. Should I get him? Or just leave him there?”
Lucien thought for a few moments, then sighed. “We might need him, as an appeasement.” He gripped my shoulder, the room spun a little, and then we were standing next to my car in the parking garage. I caught my balance, and then opened the trunk briefly, assuring myself that Travis was still there and breathing.
“Now what?” I asked Lucien. “They’re out by the test site, that’s gonna take us a little bit, even the way I drive.”
“Not to worry, my dear.” Lucien gave me an amused smile, then took my hand and placed it on the door of the car. This time the world didn’t just spin, it lurched, the parking garage disappearing in a shimmer as we appeared outside under the hot sun of the Mojave Desert, car and all.
Holy fuck, and I thought Merlin was powerful!
I leaned against my car, trying to get my balance back. Lucien was already twenty feet or so ahead of me, heading up a small hill. I noticed several large plumes of smoke billowing into the sky beyond that hill, and even from here I could feel an intense heat coming from that direction. I took a breath and scrambled up the hill to catch up to Lucien, stopping at the top next to him and just staring.
