The Beholder

by Connie Hall

  Is this man’s name Kane?

  I’ve heard the lion men call him that.

  Nina prayed Kane still lived and breathed. Where is the other person being tortured?

  In the old tunnels under the jail.

  Who’s hurting him?

  Don’t know. I’m not allowed to go down there. I smelled his blood down there, though.

  Please, help me get out of here.

  I’ll try.

  Who was the second seniph? Nina felt one of the shivers stop completely. A tight belt of fear clenched her chest and heart. Please, please let Kane be okay.

  Chapter 14

  Three hours later, Nina had all but given up hope on her escape. She could detect one creature still in trouble, but that signal was slowly fading as the other one had.

  She heard someone whistling an unintelligible tune. Then Clive walked toward the cell with a tray of food in his arms. Gabriel padded behind him.

  The scent of fried chicken wafted through the air, and Gabriel had his nose tipped up, scenting it with a doggy smile on his face.

  “Here’s your dinner, missy. Don’t know why we’re spending money to feed you. Gonna kill you anyway, but Carrie makes the best fried chicken this side of the Mississippi. It’s a fitting last meal.” He leered at Nina’s body.

  “Thanks.” She centered her gaze on the dog and kept the deputy talking. “How is Kane?”

  “Can’t tell you that. Orders are not to speak to you.”

  “Can’t you even tell me if he’s alive?”

  “Nope. Most can’t survive a second session with doom demons.”

  “Kane’s faced them before?”

  “Sure enough, the first time he let his brother go. He lived to tell about it, too, though he ain’t a bragger. Keeps to himself since Daphne’s death. It’s a shame. Poor guy’s had a bad run of luck most of his life. Seems to follow him.” Clive shook his bean-shaped head. “Good man, though. All the Van Cleaves were good people, save for Ethan. Tragic that one, yes, sir. Real shame for Kane that Ethan has lived as long as he has. Brought a lot of trouble on Kane, I can tell you. Kane’s rich as Croesus, but it ain’t helped him none. He takes good care of the pride, though. No one can fault him there. I’m thinking that’s why the council spared his life the first time. Don’t know what will happen this time. Suspect he’ll have to die.”

  Nina’s brow wrinkled at the lack of emotion in Clive’s voice as he spoke of Kane’s death. He could have been discussing the newest brand of toothpaste. “What are these doom demons?” she asked.

  “Nasty devils. Gotta knack for torturing the truth out of anybody and anything. You’ll find out soon enough.”

  Worry snarled inside Nina. “I just want to know if Kane’s okay.”

  “If he ain’t dead, he’ll die soon enough after the tribunal.” He seemed to realize he’d spoken too much and shoved the tray at her. “Here you go.”

  Nina and Gabriel shared a knowing look; then they both moved in unison.

  Nina tossed the tray up into Clive’s face.

  The dog attacked from behind.

  While Clive fought off the dog and flying food, he cursed the animal for being disloyal, then cursed Nina.

  She dodged the food and tray clattering to the floor as she wrestled his gun out of the holster. One quick blow, and she clonked him on the head with the butt end.

  He fell hard to the ground. Nina grabbed him now and gave him an order to sleep for a week. Then she pulled Clive back against her bunk.

  Gabriel gulped down the chicken leg and breast in three bites, then backed off.

  She shoved the deputy and the remnants of the tray and the plastic fork and spoon and paper plate under her bunk and covered it with the blanket.

  She touched Gabriel’s head. Nice job. Now let’s go find the two lion men.

  At the thought of Kane’s fate, her stomach clenched in fear.

  Nina skulked through the sheriff’s office, following Gabriel. The area was small, barely room for two desks and Arwan’s office, which was enclosed in glass walls. The shades were open. Arwan wasn’t at her desk. Clive’s screen saver flashed a rainbow of dots across his monitor. A police scanner squawked somewhere in the room. Her gaze shifted to the front door. Any second, someone might walk in.

  Nina touched Gabriel’s back. Where is everyone?

  Don’t know.

  Which way to solitary confinement?

  I’ll show you.

  Gabriel padded over to a door near Arwan’s office. Nina opened it and heard Arwan’s loud bawl. “You left them alone with Kane?”

  “Grimel told me to stay out,” Jake said.

  “Now we’ll have to pay a fine. The procurator will be angry he’s lost two of his best doom demons. And who will torture the human now? The procurator won’t be as accommodating since we killed the best inquisitors he has. I’m surrounded by incompetence! Get the bodies out of here. And don’t take them through the front door. That’s all I need, for the council to see this. Take them out the back and incinerate the bodies. I’ve already called Elmer and Chris for backup. They’ll be here any minute. Don’t leave this cell until they get here. Nobody gets in or out. No more screwups, do you hear me?” Arwan’s voice warmed to match her anger. “And make sure you put the crystals in the right place. We pay wizard engineers a hundred thousand dollars for an impenetrable magic cell that can hold Hercules, and what the hell happens? We let two demons get killed in it.” She was screaming now. “Can’t anyone do their job around here? I’m living in freakin’ Mayberry. Where the hell is Clive?”

  “Feeding the prisoner. What do you wanna do about Kane?”

  “I’ll get the healer.”

  Nina heaved a sigh of relief. At least Kane was still alive. He must have passed out, and that’s why she couldn’t make a mental connection. Footsteps thumped toward her. She told Gabriel to stay, then ran back through the office and quickly slipped back into her cell.

  Arwan poked her head into the cell-block area and eyed Nina. “You been fed?”

  “No.”

  Arwan’s perfect face, still livid with ire, scrunched up in a frown; then she rolled her eyes and threw up her hands.

  “Trouble?” Nina asked, innocently.

  “Yeah, and its name is Clive.” Arwan turned and stomped away, ordering Gabriel to find Clive.

  “He was looking at porn on the internet before he left,” Nina called out, hoping Gabriel took her on a wild-goose chase.

  “If he’s over at the drug store looking at dirty magazines on duty again, I’ll fire his butt, then I’ll kill him,” Arwan said more to herself, though she was furious enough that her voice carried back to Nina’s cell.

  Nina heard voices; then two men ran past the office, toward solitary confinement. Elmer and Chris? Nina wanted to help Kane escape, but he was passed out, and, with the added guards and special cell they held him in, she thought it impossible.

  One lone sensation still pulsed inside Nina, the chill of the pain putting ice in her veins. This must be the second lion man Gabriel had told her about. It seemed the sensations were stronger here in the cell block. Maybe coming from below her. She made sure Jake wasn’t around; then she unlocked her cell and slipped out, locking it back. The severity of the shivers led her to several large bookcases standing against a wall. This was crazy. The shivers were stronger on the other side of this wall.

  Nina ran her hand along the bookcase, pulling out books. She tapped on the back. It rang hollow. She shoved forward on both bookcases. Nothing.

  She then pushed on the sides. One rolled aside, hiding a bricked entrance. The smell of dry, stale air, mold and mildew wafted through the entrance. She went through and pulled the bookcase back over the opening. Flames burned in sconces on the wall, throwing eerie shadows along the cobwebs floating from the staircase’s ceiling.

  Halfway down, faint moaning, deep and throaty, drifted toward her. She’d heard that hollow bass-drum voice before. The gleaner? Here? The hairs on the b
ack of her neck stood straight up, but she forced herself to continue down the stairs.

  She reached a bricked tunnel that split into two paths. The moaning came from the left side. Her entire body trembled now as she turned that way. She gulped past the lump in her throat and walked the length of the tunnel.

  A room opened up before her, and she paused. Shackles dangled along the walls. She spotted Ethan. Six crystals surrounded him, their red magical rays shooting up to the ceiling. Gleaner containment, thought Nina ruefully. He was in human form, his head and body slumped forward. The iron chains around his feet and hands held him up. He’d been stripped down to a loincloth, his body covered in welts and cuts. A nasty-looking bullwhip lay coiled on the floor near his feet. She had to look away from his battered body. No one should be treated that way. She could only imagine what Kane must look like. A sick feeling coiled in her gut.

  “Hey,” Nina said, carefully standing behind the crystals.

  He started awake, fear of more torture in his flaming eyes. They seemed not as bright as when he’d first eaten. When he saw it was her, he almost looked relieved. “You. Come to kill me, too? Take a number.”

  “A gleaner with a sense of humor.” Seeing him in human form and hideously violated, she couldn’t help but pity him. “I’m glad you still have one.”

  “I try.” He shot her a look that was similar to one of Kane’s arrogant proud expressions, except for the scary red eyes. His hair was cut shorter than Kane’s but the same color. And he was a little smaller than Kane, but he had the same well-developed musculature as his brother. His resemblance to Kane was obvious.

  “Why didn’t you come to Kane for help?” she asked.

  “I didn’t want to get him in trouble. That’s why I stayed away.”

  “Why did you come home at all?”

  “I had business here.”

  “What, killing Emma Baldoon?”

  “No.” He bit the word out and actually looked contrite for a second. “That was pure survival. I came here for another reason.”

  “To plague Kane?”

  “You think I wanted to hurt him? He’s my brother.”

  “You didn’t give it much thought when you left the first time and he had to take the blame for letting you go.” She suspected there was a selfish streak in Ethan.

  He was silent for a moment, his expression battling old ghosts. “I admit, I used to resent him.”

  “Why?”

  “Kane could do no wrong in my father’s eyes—‘Can’t you do it like Kane? You’ll never be as good as Kane.’ At first I was glad Kane was getting punished for my escape.”

  “How did you learn of it after you’d left?”

  “Through Daphne.”

  His shame was transmitting to her loud and clear, and she said, “You loved her?”

  “I don’t know. I think I wanted her because Kane married her. I just wanted one thing he didn’t have. I flat-out seduced her, even before she married him.”

  “Weren’t you younger than she?”

  “I was seventeen. She was twenty-two. An older alpha. I thought I was hot stuff seducing her over the internet.”

  “How’d you meet?”

  “We had a couple of weekends in New York when I could get away. My mother had a sister in that pride, so I used that as an excuse to fly to New York. I tried to convince her to run away with me, but she married Kane anyway. Then I turned and had to leave. For a long time I hated Kane for not being the one who got sick. He had the vineyard and Daphne. He had everything. I was on the run in Africa. I was so young and dumb,” he said with self-loathing.

  “Did you stay in contact with her?”

  “She wrote to me in Botswana. Before my sickness got too bad, I came back to see her, right before she died.” He hung his head and shook it back and forth.

  “Did she care for Kane at all?”

  “More for his money. And the whole kid thing killed what feelings she had for him. She felt ashamed she couldn’t breed. I didn’t care or want kids. It was stupid of me to covet her. I’d like to blame my actions on the disease, but it was just plain envy. I know that now.” Ethan’s eyes glazed over and turned ruby red, the flames there visible for only a second.

  “Did he ever know about you and Daphne?”

  “No.”

  “He’s never stopped caring for you.” When she thought of the misfortune of both brothers, she felt a tug in her heart.

  “I know. The things I’ve done to him, I can never make reparations for.”

  “I think just knowing you’re okay will be enough.”

  “I hate my existence, the stalking, killing, hiding. I know exactly why my people kill monsters like me. In truth, I’m tired. I can’t live like this anymore, killing everything near me just to survive. I hate to think about the lives I’ve taken just to eat. My life was over the day this disease turned on inside me. I’ve got nothing to live for.”

  “You could help Kane.”

  “Gladly. I want to help him. He’s done so much for me I can never repay him.” Ethan hung his head.

  Nina could feel his remorse and shame and wanted to believe him. But it would destroy Kane if Ethan was put to death. Somehow she would have to find a solution to help them both. “Who did this to you?” she asked.

  “Our fine and upstanding sheriff.” A snarl pulled at one side of Ethan’s mouth.

  “She said she didn’t know where you were.” Nina felt her face grow hot with indignation. “She let Kane take the blame for hiding you. He was tortured to find out where you were. Oh my God! Is she that despicable?”

  “You don’t know the half of it.”

  Nina made a decision. She found the iron keys to the shackles hanging on a hook. She grabbed them, then picked up the crystals and moved them aside. “Come on, you can tell me more while I get you out of here.”

  Later that night, Nina was back in her cell, reclining on her bunk. She tried not to worry too much about Kane, but she couldn’t help it. Every time she closed her eyes, all she saw was his gorgeous face.

  A piercing shriek split the air.

  Nina smiled. That must be Arwan throwing a tantrum at finding out her dungeon prisoner had vamoosed. After speaking with Ethan and learning all about Arwan, they formed a plan that would free Kane and take down Arwan. She needed to be stopped. The things that Ethan had imparted about Arwan gave new meaning to the words artfulness and cunning. Nina was willing to bet no one in the pride knew what their sheriff was capable of.

  Nina had helped Ethan drag Clive’s body down to the tunnels, and he promised to leave him tied up somewhere and not to harm him. Nina would have escaped, too, but she had to remain in order to carry out their plan. She wished she could get to Kane and warn him about Arwan, but he’d find out at the tribunal. Everyone would.

  Nina hoped she’d done the right thing in trusting Ethan. He had seemed sincere about helping to free Kane. She didn’t want Ethan to die, and they had avoided the uncomfortable subject, but she knew Ethan was sacrificing himself by carrying through their plan. He had agreed to come to the tribunal. There was no other way.

  Yes, there is. He doesn’t have to die, you know. Koda shimmered into her cell, his airy form yellow gold this time. He took up most of her squatty little cell.

  What? Nina frowned at him.

  Die. Koda repeated.

  After learning of Ethan’s contriteness and his willingness to help Kane, Nina had shared an unbreakable connection with him. She didn’t want Kane’s brother harmed, just his killing stopped. Koda in his infinite wisdom knew that.

  How can we save him?

  I can take him to Sehsola.

  Why didn’t I think of that?

  Because you’re not a spirit guide, and you’ve had your mind centered on getting yourself in trouble.

  I don’t need a lecture right now, thank you very much.

  Always a pleasure to help you. Koda’s tone was on the snide side.

  Nina rolled her eyes heavenward.
Tell me, is it allowed? Can you take Ethan there?

  If he agrees to go.

  I’ll have to convince him.

  Tell him he won’t be alone. There’ll be other outcasts there.

  Yes, you’re right.

  Sehsola was a magical dimension created to hold truculent supernatural beings who were a threat to earth’s inhabitants. Maiden Bear had created it long ago. All past Guardians had used it, if they took pity on a defiant enemy. Nina felt certain Fala would be using it, too.

  Thank you, Koda, you’ve been helpful.

  Aren’t I always? Koda rocked back on his hind legs and sniffed haughtily.

  Honestly, not really.

  He dissolved in a huffy poof.

  Come back. Tell me how Kane’s doing. Nothing.

  She hated when he disappeared like that. She curled into a ball on her cot and imagined Kane’s strong arms around her. That may never happen again. She chewed on her lower lip and felt a spasm of pain in her belly.

  Chapter 15

  The next morning, Nina walked beside Jake as he led her into the courthouse to the tribunal. She strode up the front steps, the links of her handcuffs rattling and blending with their footsteps. Snow had been removed from the portico, exposing solid gray granite stones. She passed the massive Romanesque columns and felt intimidated by them. A seniph with a squirrel face and squat body, clad in a yellow robe, stood at attention near the door. He was already opening the heavy oak door for them to enter.

  The hinges rasped out a solemn, haunting groan. The discordant sound went through Nina and made the lump in her throat tighten. Was Ethan already here? She prayed he’d been telling her the truth about wanting to help Kane. The snow-covered streets seemed deserted, all the businesses closed. Was the entire pride attending the tribunal?

  Jake led the way down a hall and paused at a second set of doors. The doorkeeper’s Beefeater expression never wavered as he avoided making eye contact. His yellow robe hissed softly as he opened one of the massive oak doors.

  They walked through.

  The door slammed and locked behind them.