A Glimmer of Hope

by Steve McHugh

Point taken, Layla conceded.

  “Just relax and feel your mind slipping, feel it shifting slightly.”

  Layla jolted. “I felt it,” she said aloud.

  “Felt what?” Chloe asked.

  “Umm . . . Rosa, my spirit, told me to shift my consciousness. I felt it.”

  “Ah, you’re finally using your spirits to learn on a regular basis. That’s a large portion of how we learn. It’s also why you gain so much power once you’re bonded fully with them. Try again.”

  Layla nodded, now enthusiastic to try. She concentrated on the pin and did as Rosa had instructed, and began to move her consciousness to think of Rosa. The pin began to spin, slowly at first, but it soon gathered speed, moving faster and faster until it was a blur of motion. Layla pushed a fraction harder and the pin shot out of the bottom of the wooden bench, imbedding itself in the concrete slab beneath it.

  Chloe switched off the music, and Layla stopped concentrating. She looked under the bench at the concrete, which had a neat hole where the pin had burrowed in. Chloe reached down and picked up the third of the pin still showing, pulling it out of the concrete. It looked pristine. She touched the point to her finger and it bled.

  “You sharpened it,” Chloe said, sticking her finger in her mouth. “Also, ouch.”

  “Yeah . . . not really sure about that one.”

  “I’m impressed. Honestly. I half expected you to shoot the pin out the side of the bench and into the wall behind us. This is some serious progress, Layla. You should be proud.”

  “This will help with keeping Terhal at bay until I can accept them all?”

  “I hope so.”

  “Because I want to accept them. But then Terhal makes me think that accepting her really will bring about some sort of apocalypse, and I just can’t.”

  “I know it’s difficult. Jared had trouble too. You keep up your training, though, and I’m certain you’ll be able to keep Terhal in check.”

  Layla didn’t feel so sure, but it was nice to feel like she was getting somewhere. “You know, we haven’t really spoken about everything since Grayson had to help me the other day. We’ve been so busy practicing all of this that we’ve barely had time to talk properly.”

  “I know, it’s all a bit crazy at the moment.”

  “I don’t want it to feel awkward between us. I get why you did what you did, I really do.”

  She was about to say more when Kasey came over.

  “Sorry to interrupt, but my dad wants to see Chloe.”

  Layla cursed Kasey’s bad timing, but Chloe assured her they’d talk once she was back, and she went off with Kasey, leaving Layla alone.

  “Long day?” Harry asked as he sat down beside her.

  “Something like that, yes. I can’t believe it wasn’t that long ago I was just thinking about finishing up at uni and trying to find a job. Now I’m fighting monsters and learning how to deal with spirits that live in my head.”

  “When you put it like that, it just sounds weird.”

  Layla spent a few hours with Harry. They hadn’t really had the time to chat since coming to the mansion, at least not beyond both being driven to an early grave by Diana.

  “You think you can control this Terhal?” Harry asked.

  “So far, I’ve been trying to, yes. If I can keep my emotions under control, she has less chance of doing anything to hurt me. Or anyone else for that matter. It can’t go on indefinitely, though. I need to figure out a way to accept her without thinking she’s going to use me to destroy everyone.”

  Layla and Harry got up and walked into the mansion, where they met Tommy, who was walking back to his office with a large plate of food.

  “All of this still weird?” Tommy asked after Harry had left.

  “Getting less and less so every day.”

  “Yeah, I understand. Lots to take on board. I’m not sorry I had Chloe lie to you about what she was and who she was. She needed to be safe too, and there are people out there who would use people like Chloe to get to me. She’s been through a lot of training in the last three years, and more intensively than most people her age. Hell, even the LOA don’t accept recruits under thirty.”

  Layla understood that. She hoped she could put everything behind her and move forward with her friendships. “It looks like you’re building an army.”

  “I know, that’s why we’ve been careful with our numbers and who we accept. Anyway, that’s not why you’re here. I wanted you to know we did a full sweep of the compound they kept you in. I was going to tell you earlier, but it’s been one thing after another since Elias arrived. We found a lot of traces of them, but don’t know where they’ve gone.”

  “They would have had a back-up plan. Elias wanted to get me on a plane to America.”

  “Yes, Nergal is there. Where, we don’t know, but I’m sure he’d take great delight in having you help him. The ogre went too. We found his cage. Wherever they are, the ogre will need to be kept secure, otherwise it’ll just do what it wants, and usually that’s destroying things.

  “Also, we looked into your ex-boyfriend’s murder, along with that of his new partner. You were right: Elias framed another man for those crimes. A man he also killed. Unfortunately, that went to the human police, and Olivia tells me that reopening the investigation as an Avalon case will cause no end of trouble. Turns out Robert, the man Elias framed, was a nasty little toad at the best of times, and had managed to walk away from two serious assaults in the last few years. It’s not ideal, but he’s going to have to stay the killer.”

  “I don’t understand Avalon politics. Human crimes are dealt with by humans. But this isn’t a human crime.”

  “That’s true, but in this case we had no idea it wasn’t a human crime until you told us. By that time the police were actively investigating. Avalon involving themselves at that stage just to change the killer from one piece of crap to another isn’t something they’d bother doing. If Rob had been a saint, or at least a good person, they might have, but he was a nasty little man, so Avalon doesn’t care. It’s not exactly ideal, but we will get Elias, I promise you that.”

  “He doesn’t strike me as an easy person to get.”

  “No, he’s a slippery little devil. Been after him for a while now, and his boss Nergal since what happened in London three years ago.”

  “The dragon landing on the Millennium Bridge? Chloe told us.”

  “Yes, well, Nergal was involved in the whole mess. Had been for centuries leading up to it. No one even knew he existed, and that’s the way he likes it. So the fact that we found him and went after him is something that he finds most vexing. We have no idea where he actually is, and America is a big place, but we’ll find him. Eventually. Hopefully before whatever insanity he calls a plan comes to fruition. But one step at a time, and Elias comes first.”

  “When you go after him, I want in.”

  Tommy paused, before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “That’s a bad idea. You haven’t even accepted your spirits yet. You could go off and hurt people. You could go off and hurt yourself.”

  “I need to look him in the eyes and tell him he will never hurt anyone I care about ever again.”

  “You’ll get your chance, but leave the actual capture to us. We’ve been at this a long time and we know what we’re doing.”

  The two chatted for a while longer, although they stayed away from conversations about powers and monsters, sticking to more pleasant topics.

  Suddenly, Grayson burst through the front door, half carrying a heavily bleeding Jared, with Kasey following.

  “What happened?” Tommy asked, dropping his plate of food on the floor and helping Grayson carry Jared into the medical room.

  “Where are Chloe and the others?” Kasey asked.

  “In a minute, Kasey,” Doc Grayson told her, moving Jared onto a bed before beginning an examination.

  “What happened?” Kasey asked, aware that Tommy had just asked the same thing, but needing answers.r />
  Grayson cut through Jared’s bloody shirt, revealing a dozen puncture wounds. “He’s been badly cut,” he said. “Silver blade, judging from the burns around the wound.”

  “What happened?” Kasey demanded again, shouting.

  “Leave if you can’t keep your cool,” Tommy told her. “We have more important things to do.”

  “I asked Grayson a question,” Kasey snapped. “I want to know what happened.”

  “Leave. Now.” Tommy’s words were spoken with complete authority and were to be obeyed without question. Kasey stared at her dad in disbelief, before turning and storming from the room.

  “They found us,” Jared managed to say. “They found us.”

  “Goddamn it,” Tommy snapped.

  “Don’t you bloody well start,” Grayson told him, his voice cold.

  “I don’t know how. We were on the motorway, when we got shunted, spun around. Kate was driving. She . . .”

  “Where’s Kate?”

  “Dead.”

  There was a moment of silence in the room at the news that one of their own had died. Layla hadn’t spoken to Kate much, but the short, blonde woman had always appeared to be happy and easy to talk to.

  “Where’s Chloe?” Layla asked, her voice breaking.

  “They took her. I’m so sorry, Layla. They took her.”

  Elias had Chloe. Elias and his people had taken her friend. Elias and his people would hurt her, would do awful things to her. Anger built up inside of Layla the likes of which she’d never felt before; a fire of pure unadulterated rage. But when she spoke, her voice was calm and betrayed no hint of the emotion she was feeling. “Then we’d bloody well better get her back.”

  “We will,” Tommy assured her.

  “Why were you all out of the mansion?”

  “We needed supplies,” Jared said, before screaming in pain as Grayson began to cauterize the wounds in an effort to stop the effects of the silver poisoning.

  Tommy helped hold Jared down. “Silver kills most things,” he said. “Many die because they can’t stop bleeding. We need to stop it.”

  “Can I help?”

  “No,” Grayson said. His tone wasn’t unkind or sharp, but it was all business. “I need to save this young man’s life.”

  Layla left the medical room. “We’ll find her,” she told a pacing Kasey.

  “I know, and thanks.” Kasey hugged Layla, and Layla was grateful for the companionship.

  Tommy emerged a few minutes later and told anyone in the vicinity to leave, and that he would sort out going after Elias once he knew Jared’s condition.

  “We’re going now,” Layla said.

  “You’re not ready, Layla. You’ll get yourself killed.”

  “A monster has my friend. I need to go find her.”

  “Not today you don’t. Just go find something to keep yourself occupied. Chloe will be fine.”

  Layla wanted to believe him, but couldn’t. She ran upstairs to her room, stepped inside, and closed the door. “Rosa.”

  “What’s up?” Rosa asked as she appeared.

  “How do I accept you? All of you?”

  “You tell us, and if it’s true in your subconscious, we’ll permanently bond with you.”

  “Fine, I accept you all. Including the drenik.” Nothing happened.

  “You have to mean it, Layla,” Rosa explained, her voice soft. “You don’t.”

  “I do,” Layla shouted. “I mean it. I accept you all.”

  “Layla.”

  “I just want this done,” she shouted, releasing her frustration. “My father trained me my whole life to fight. And then when he was gone, I continued to train, but the first time I was in a situation where I could fight, I froze. Blake raised his hand, and I froze. And that’s something that even after all these months still gets to me. And now he’s dead. Then I fought a bunch of blood elves and there was no freezing, just me being lost in the moment of the fight. And it felt good.

  “But when I think I’m done hesitating and worrying, Terhal makes me watch as I murder everyone, and I’m back to being that scared girl who hid under the bed when the LOA came to arrest my father. And now my best friend has been kidnapped by a group of crazed psychos, and I can’t do a damn thing. I want to help here; I don’t want to sit around like a damsel in bloody distress while everyone else does the work. They’re protecting me, and I’m done with it. I need to help. I need to save my friend.”

  “All you can do is keep practicing, and hopefully you really will accept all of us one day soon.”

  Layla flung herself onto the bed, before sitting up. “This sucks. This both sucks and blows.”

  “Hello, Layla. Miss me?” Terhal said from the corner of the room.

  “I’d hoped you’d gone,” she said, getting up from the bed.

  “I can’t leave, Layla. I’m part of you. That . . . man, Grayson, just postponed the inevitable.” She came and stood in front of Layla. “You will be mine. One way or the other.”

  Layla walked toward her and took a swing, her fist going through Terhal, making Layla pitch forward and land on her knees as the drenik laughed.

  “Interesting choice of attack,” Terhal said. “Here’s mine.”

  The room burst into flame. The paint on the walls bubbled under the intense heat, and the bed exploded into an inferno. Layla scrambled back against the door, trying to avoid the flames as Terhal continued to laugh.

  Fire licked at Layla’s feet and she pulled them up toward her, hugging her knees against her chest.

  “Scared, Layla? Scared of dying, or burning alive?”

  The fire disappeared, showing Layla that nothing had happened. “I’m getting stronger, little one. And soon your spirits will no longer be able to stop me from consuming your mind. I’m looking forward to it.” And she vanished.

  Layla sat there for several seconds, allowing the fear to drip away, before she got up and went to the bathroom to splash water on her face. She’d spent the last few days working with Diana and Chloe to increase her power, while trying to master Terhal’s influence over her mind. Considering she hadn’t seen Terhal since Grayson helped banish her, Layla had thought she’d been winning. But it seemed the more confident she got, the more powerful Terhal was. She was becoming more and more dangerous.

  She’d deal with that later, but first, Chloe. Because she was going to go after her whether Tommy liked it or not.

  29

  “They killed one of Tommy’s people,” Masako said, her voice full of anger. “I told you all not to do anything stupid. Killing his people is classified as stupid.”

  Masako and Elias were alone in one of the many rooms in the farmhouse. She’d stormed in there the second Shane and Reyes had returned with a semi-conscious Chloe.

  “It was a risk worth taking,” Elias said. “It’s better to have grabbed one of his people than storm the mansion. This way we have leverage.”

  “Leverage? Or is this just about getting revenge on Chloe for killing Dara?”

  Elias fought back the rage that exploded inside of him. “I am a professional. I don’t allow my personal feelings to get in the way of a job. I’d really like to skin the little bitch alive, but right now she’s useful.” He got up from behind the desk he’d been sitting at and walked around it toward Masako.

  “If this all goes to hell, Nergal will hear of it. That means my neck too, and I’d rather not make an enemy of the man unless forced.”

  “It will be fine. I’m going to go speak to Chloe right now and ensure that she knows how to behave.”

  “Do not kill her.”

  “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

  Elias left the room and walked to the far end of the farmhouse, where two blood elves stood guard outside of a white door.

  “Unlock it,” he told one of them, who did as commanded.

  There was a shriek from inside the room as the door was pushed open and Elias stepped into the doorway. He liked the little whimpering noises the inhabitants
made whenever he arrived.

  “How often are you given food and bathroom breaks?” Elias asked the fifteen men and women inside.

  No one answered.

  “I asked you all a question.”

  “Every six hours,” one of the captives said. Elias had made sure the windows were boarded up and there were no lights inside the room, so it was hard to say who had spoken.

  Elias turned to the blood elves. “Give them free rein of the bathroom opposite this one. They may go between the two as they wish.” He turned back to the group. “Take this act of kindness for granted, and you’ll be killed.”

  More whimpering. He looked back at the blood elves. “Grab two of them and come with me. I don’t care who.”

  The elves entered the room and dragged two people from it, as the remaining captives cried out in horror. Elias waited outside in the hallway for the two captives to be brought to him. He didn’t know their names, nor did he even care to know. It was information he didn’t need. As far as he was concerned, they were a man and woman. The man was older, probably mid-forties, and the woman early twenties.

  “One of you elves stay here, the other comes with me. Remember what I said about the bathroom. I’m not a monster.”

  The blood elf that remained behind nodded. The second elf followed Elias, occasionally pushing the two captives to keep them walking.

  At the opposite end of the farmhouse, where four more blood elves stood guard, Elias opened a second white door, although this one was considerably more faded in color. Chloe sat inside, chained to the wall by thick manacles. She got to her feet and glared a look of pure hatred at Elias.

  The room was sparsely decorated and consisted of one single bed with a dark blue quilt and several pillows, a small sink, and a toilet. Elias hadn’t wanted to risk Chloe being moved when she needed to use the loo.

  “Bring them in,” Elias said, stepping into the room. “Hello, Chloe. I’m sure you think you can escape from here at any time.”

  Chloe’s lip was bleeding and there was some swelling around one eye. Elias smiled; Reyes had told him that Chloe had been forcibly subdued.

  Chloe remained silent.

  Elias wasn’t deterred. “You probably think that you can run around here and build up enough power to force yourself free. I’m here to show you otherwise.”