Loki said, “I will let you go if Eldritch will stand against me now. In combat.”
“Not happening, freak,” the Aegis guy squandered his one chance to live and squeezed off a couple of shots that kicked up gravel an inch from Loki’s right arm. Loki fired the Glock with a sneer of disdain, laughing when he saw the bullet smash a hole through the Aegis guy’s forehead, snapping him back against the Hummer in a spray of bone and blood.
Aegis employed so many amateurs.
Matt Black was standing alone now, and terrified, fully aware he was the focus of Loki’s steady sights. In all probability the guy didn’t understand what was happening. Loki wondered what Black’s powers would have amounted to. The man looked like a lawyer.
He hesitated. His intelligence people had told him they had a mole inside Aegis. Maybe Matt Black was the one. But no, that was stupid. The traitor was deeply embedded- he had given them Blacks location, and Tristran’s, and the site of the fabled Aegis library, in addition to the ultimate snippet of information- the location of the house in England. Those issues would be acted upon shortly, but for now Loki enjoyed Matt Black’s terror for one more second.
Then he squeezed the trigger.
Eldritch, moving faster than thought, almost taking the bullet in the chest, but the long-haired elf was half a second too slow. The bullet ripped through his jacket, leaving a smoking hole, then crashed into Matt Black’s chest and destroyed his heart. Black was dead before his body hit the ground.
Eldritch stopped, staring aghast at the dead body, then turned to face Loki.
The Destroyer made a quick decision. His goal was accomplished. Glory was assured. Vices one, two and three would be heaped upon him in abundance.
He might as well enjoy them for a while.
“Until next time,” he said to Eldritch, then swung a leg over the Harley, tweaked the throttle and roared away, leaving the elf and the human world to their new and desperate misery.
25
YORK, ENGLAND
We had begun our training.
Eleanor appraised us, appearing shy and reclusive but with a look of resolve on her angular features. It was only seven hours ago that we had learned one of the great Elven secrets.
Their species could communicate through telepathy.
Thus, Eleanor had passed on the terrible news that filled us all with dread.
Matt Black, from L.A., one of the Eight, had been murdered by Loki. Before any of us could dwell on what this meant, Myleene had asked Eleanor to begin our training in the garden. We were all that remained, she said. The world would crumble or stand through our competence.
I had tried to hide the flinch that would betray my uncertainty.
Now I paused as Eleanor held up a hand. “Relax.” her face was expressionless. “Meditate."
I stood with my arms by my sides. Something prodded at my mind, invading my thoughts. Eleanor was trying to coax something inside me to reveal itself, gently probing and searching.
“Lose yourself in paradise,” she said to us all. “Think of something you cherish or a place you love.”
On my wall back home, the one opposite our Victory Wall, I had hung a four-thousand dollar painting by the marine artist, Christian Reese Lassen. Called Escape it depicted a scene in paradise, with the vibrant skies, the perfect surf and the cliff-hugging waterfalls that signified the artist’s trademark work. I thought of that painting now, trying to put myself in the shack that nestled at one of the cliff faces, staring out the window at the perfect sea and the pounding waves.
Again the invasive prod jolted my mind. A voice whispered don’t fight it, try to accept it. I closed my eyes, wondering how Lysette was handling someone reading her mind. Lysette had already promised never to try and read anyone inside the sanctuary of the house.
My thoughts were being cast aside as if someone was searching for a particular tome in a library. Images struck me briefly as Eleanor as sifted through them. The cherished memory of my wife. The life-altering anguish I felt at her disappearance. The ulcer-inducing stress I’d endured every night as I trawled through the Internet looking at pictures of missing persons. Looking for something I knew I’d never find.
One day I would know the truth.
I found Felicia down there, the feelings clouded and unsure. Deeper still I found Belinda and suddenly my eyes flew open.
Was this my terror? That I might find someone new only to lose them again, whether by force or by choice?
It was the same vision Ashka had hurled at me. Of Belinda captured by Demons, the last hope of mankind crawling through human debris whilst being taunted by a being of utter evil. Tears sprang from my eyes. Eleanor locked her gaze with mine, deliberately flinging the vision aside and crushing it as I watched, trying to imbue me with her determination and will.
“Enough,” Eleanor’s voice filled my mind, spoken both within and without. The bond between us snapped, and I felt the power slip away with a gulp of regret.
“It must come slowly,” Eleanor said to us all. “For you Devon, and Lysette, we are seeking to expand what you are already capable of. Don’t fight it. Don’t think you’re already at your limits.”
Drained, I listened as the elf gave her advice. Then, not really believing I was capable of gaining any real kind of power I tuned her out, and watched as the wind started to ripple through the trees.
A few minutes later we filed through the patio door and into the kitchen. Lucy was already there with Ceriden, Belinda and Myleene. My heart lifted to see Lucy smiling and chatting with confidence.
“Hey Luce,” I said. “How long now ‘til you’re sixteen?”
I was rewarded with a hand-wave that declared me insignificant. I noticed that the telltale bandage bulge beneath her long-sleeved sweatshirt was gone. Draining a glass of coke I wiped sweat off my brow just as the kitchen door opened and a well-built man with wild blonde hair and a big smile walked in. Being the sudden centre of attention didn’t faze him at all; in fact his smile appeared to grow wider.
“Hey, dudes and dudettes,” he said loudly. “I’m Ken Hamilton. Can someone please direct me to the beer?”
I pretended not to be fazed when Belinda, Devon, Lysette and Felicia-who all appeared from nowhere- descended on Ken, but soon made my exit and trotted upstairs for a shower. On my way out I also noticed Giles look up from his laptop long enough to frown at the new boy, and then at Lysette. I saw Lysette glance over her shoulder at Giles and then smile even wider at Ken. Grinning, I climbed the stairs, hoping those two could forge something good. Lysette seemed okay, if a little distant, and Giles was a good guy.
As for Ken Hamilton, I thought. Let them have him. At least the guy who’d brought him here, Ryan- an Oxford graduate if ever I saw one- had taken the thunder out of Ken’s appearance by confirming the previously-unimagined existence of Dementia, some crazy demon-woman from a distant hell dimension. Well, I thought, she’s sure come at the right time.
After a ten minute shower and a change of clothes I was heading back down to the big conference room in response to Myleene’s message that another video-call had been scheduled Myleene wanted everyone present.
I entered the big, airy room to find everyone seated. I ignored Belinda’s questioning look and seated myself between the vampire, Mai, on one side and Lucy on the other.
“Daughter,” I said by way of greeting.
“Father,” she said in the same deep tone. “Ceriden has been made king vamp,” she whispered. “They’re gonna announce it soon.”
My instant reaction was to ask her how she knew. But then I remembered Mai was seated to my right. Lucy seemed to be getting awful close to Ceriden and the fang-gang these days.
“Lucy, I’ve been meaning to ask you-”
“My arms are fine.”
“No. I didn’t mean that.”
“What then?”
I flicked at the chair arm. “Don’t get too close to Ceriden, darling. He may be a laugh, but he’s still a vampire.”
“How observant of you.”
“Don’t get mad, Luce,” I dared not look at her because I thought she might see it as a challenge.
“Please, Luce. Be careful.”
“I am! He’s okay. We just talk. They’re all okay. They know really cool stuff.”
“I just want you to remember who you are. And what they are. And that one day soon this will be over, and then we’ll go back to things like school, and work, and, well, our lives.”
Lucy fixed her gaze ahead, locking onto the video screens and refusing to look at me.
I put my hand over her arm. “You’ve been through enough. It’s time for something normal.”
In classic contradiction Myleene then got to her feet. She flicked a remote at the video screens and we were once again looking at Cheyne the Witch Queen, and Eldritch, king of the elves.
Giles rose from a chair in front of me, dressed down in jeans and a t-shirt. “First of all,” he said, without preamble. “I know I speak for us all when I express my sympathies to the vampire race. Tristran was both a friend and a fine strategist. His expertise will be sorely missed,” Giles paused for a second before continuing. “I am sure everyone wishes Ceriden the best as he takes Tristran’s place, as King.”
Ceriden nodded, but didn’t rise.
The vampire beside me, the girl Mai, seemed so tense and sat so straight it seemed to me that she was almost bursting with excitement. Without seeing her move I suddenly noticed that her arm was resting atop my own.
“A position he has long deserved,” Mai whispered.
I gave her a tight-lipped smile.
Giles was saying, “Unfortunately Tristran’s death illustrates the probability of a high-level traitor among us.”
Now Giles paused a while longer, I’m guessing to let his candid statement sink in.
And judging by the absolute silence that filled the room it certainly did.
“Find this person,” Giles said, staring at me, at everyone in the room, at the monitors. “Before they betray our greatest secrets.”
I found myself re-evaluating everyone. The traitor could be any one of us, or someone at the Library.
Cheyne now said, “I’m afraid that I too have bad news. We are struggling here. All the Library’s resources haven’t turned up a single clue as to Gorgoroth’s origins.”
“It’s the most terrible evil in the world,” I said. “And no-one’s ever even heard of it?”
Cheyne looked humiliated. “What can I say? If we don’t come up with something soon I fear even my familiar will disown me.”
Lysette, seated two rows in front, said, “How can we destroy something if we don’t know anything about it?”
Cheyne shook her head. “We can’t.”
“We are asking all of you,” Giles filled the silence with a barrage of words. “For help. To try anything. Think outside the box, use any contact, ask your Great Grandma, whatever. We have nothing here.”
I wondered what Jack Bauer would do. “You should try capturing one of them,” I spoke up with a nervous catch in my voice. “One of the Destroyers, I mean. Then torture him, or something.”
“The Destroyers are practically ghosts,” Myleene answered from her position at the round table. “They pop up, they commit carnage, and disappear. Only Mena Gaines in Miami and Ashka here in York can be identified.”
“But if the chance presents itself…” Ceriden’s face was hard with anger. “The idea is sound.”
“Any news of the seventh Destroyer?” Lucy asked. “The Trickster?”
“Help us,” Cheyne said, speaking as if she hadn’t heard Lucy at all. “Time is running out. We need information. If we don’t stop Gorgoroth, he will have our world.”
The queen of the witches seemed at the end of her tether. After a few more minutes the meeting ended. I waited as Lucy scooted off without a word, and ignored Belinda. I had been expecting my daughter to flounce off and it suited my plans.
I laid a hand on the pale, thin arm of the woman next to me.
Mai, the vampire.
I said, “Tell me all about Shades.”
Later, I stood staring out my bedroom window into the night-filled garden and across the windswept grounds. I was alone with my thoughts. A gust of wind rattled the window and I focused on the one thing that had tiptoed past me over the last few days.
The change in my daughter.
My head was in a crazy place. It was impossible. Mai, in her respectful way, had actually explained more than I needed to know. A vampire’s shade, she told me, was a willing life-partner. One prepared to accept that the blood they shared with the vampire was much more than an impulse, or fun, or experiment, or for ecstasy. It was the exchange of pure life itself. Shared life. A vampire would create a blood-bond with his shade and be loyal to that bond throughout the shade’s entire life. A shade would always be aware that they would never become a vampire, but the union they shared with their life-partner was as deep as anything you could imagine. Pure love. Pure dependence. Pure existence.
And Lucy was fascinated by this? So it seemed.
I gritted my teeth in frustration. After a second I exited my room and walked a few steps down the hushed corridor. I knocked quietly on Lucy‘s door.
A muffled voice said, “Go away.”
“Lucy,” I said, trying to keep emotion from my voice. “I need to see you.”
The door opened. Lucy stood there, eyes red, looking more vulnerable that I’d seen her since that night in the hospital bed.
I didn’t know where to start, or what to say. It was one of those moments when you needed the absolute perfect words but I couldn’t find a single one.
“I love you, Lucy,” I said and my heart rate tripled.
“Don’t leave me,” she said. “Just please don’t ever leave me.”
I fixed her with a stare and a promise. “I am not your mother, Lucy. I will never leave you, kid.”
“I’m not a kid,” she snuffled, and I knew I’d got through to her.
“I know,” I said. “I know. When’s your birthday again? I forget.”
Amidst the banter, and the next hour of father-daughter fun I managed to put aside the intensifying demands on both our lives and our relationship.
It almost felt like we were a family again.
26
YORK, ENGLAND
Our training intensified now to an exhausting level. Even Ken Hamilton stopped the wisecracks. When we broke for lunch I chose to eat in the garden, sitting on one of the wooden benches with my new friend, Eleanor
“What do you make of it?” I said, around a mouthful of sandwich.
She had noticed a change in me.
“I believe you are blessed with a linked power. In other words, there is another you can link to, and the bond created will hold colossal power. Apart, you are quite strong; together you would complement each other and create. . . catastrophic magic. The linked ones have enormous potential, power like the Old Ones once had. The magic to work wonders, to create and destroy. You two- will be our vanguard.”
Catastrophic magic? Jesus.
I almost asked with whom? But the awe in Eleanor’s eyes stopped me. Clearly it was one of the Eight still out there. I hoped and prayed it hadn’t been Matt Black.
It also struck deep when I realised I would be letting so many people down badly. I turned away, embarrassed, and noticed Lysette seated on a bench across the garden. Unsurprisingly, Giles was by her side. They seemed deep in conversation and were almost, almost, touching.
Eleanor had said a little more. “I think that with this other’s arrival your complementary powers will be unleashed.” she smiled. “It is a very interesting time.”
I shook my head. I looked around the garden, at Ken using his surfer-dude dialogue to impress Belinda, at Kisami standing alone in the midst of a group, unable to communicate, and I thought if we don’t all join together, we will all die apart. And I meant everyone, not only the Chosen. Everyone.
27
YORK, ENGLAND
And still more training. More scouring of my inhibitions. By the time we finished for the day the sky was turning from russet gold to patchy black, and the limited power inside me was almost available on tap.
Almost.
And it didn’t change anything, I thought. It’s like the rookie cop who emulates every precinct record on the practice range. You put that rookie face to face with a desperate criminal on a stormy night in a filthy alley, alone and tired. Then talk to me about your records.
So far, I couldn’t conjure anything by will alone. It had to be forced out of me by making me upset, or angry. Eleanor pointed out it might take a true life-or-death situation to ignite the fire within me.
Lucy had joined the training session when it became more physical, much to my surprise and grudging approval. Eleanor had insisted that we needed to be able to handle ourselves in physical combat. It made sense. Lucy seemed to enjoy herself, and grinned at me whilst she trained. I had so far refused to take her to a boxing gym. Revenge, I thought, made her smile that much sweeter.
Now, as the sun went down and the day died, Lucy, Belinda, Felicia, and Holly sat around the table as I struggled to make enough peach and pear smoothie to serve us all. Then Myleene walked into the kitchen. Her crisp business suit looked uncharacteristically rumpled and her hair was all over the place. We all smiled at each other, but I don’t think our sharply dressed leader even noticed.
“Conference room in ten minutes,” she said. “Belinda. Felicia. And you Logan. No one else.”
Myleene backed out, leaving us blinking and staring after her in confusion.
****
Ten minutes later I was sat on the back row, facing the video screens. We were like a bunch of people gathered to watch a movie. All we needed was a heap of butter popcorn and a large diet coke. A few others joined us, including Ceriden, Lysette, Devon Summers and Geoffrey Giles.
Chosen (The Chosen Few Trilogy #1) Page 10
