Crystal Fire

by Jordan Dane

  She had a body to dispose of.

  Since it took hours to do the job proper, he had an agreement with the doctor to give him a heads-up by scheduling body dumps ahead of time. That allowed him to manage his day better. Because she hadn’t given him the usual notice, it made him wonder what was up. When he got to Haven Hills, he parked at the rear entrance until he checked things out firsthand. If the doctor wasn’t ready for him, he wouldn’t waste time waiting around. He’d bag the pickup and leave it for his boss, O’Dell, to deal with. The guy was a real desk jockey. He’d figure it out and send someone else.

  “I’ll be in and out. Watch my ride, will ya?” he told the security guard standing at the door. The guy recognized him and nodded.

  Boelens rushed through the automatic doors and hit the head before he did anything else. In the hospital lobby, he didn’t have to go far. A private elevator, marked for restricted access, was located behind a small chapel. He swiped his ID badge into the security reader, punched the down button and paced until his ride came.

  At this hour the main floor had few people. Anything that moved caught his eye. Being alert paid off in his line of work. When he saw a kid in a hoodie on the mezzanine, Boelens did a double take. He recognized the boy’s face. He’d know Lucas Darby anywhere.

  “Holy shit.”

  The mind freak hadn’t seen him yet. The kid was looking for something. His eyes searched the lobby as he walked. Boelens looked for a place to hide, but it was too late. The little bastard spotted him and ran. On instinct, Boelens felt for his weapon and took off after the boy, with a smirk on his face. He ran up the moving escalator, taking it three steps at a time.

  “Stupid. Real stupid, kid.”

  Darby had returned to the Believers’ stronghold, a mental hospital that had him locked away for years. Boelens would make him regret that decision.

  * * *

  Gabriel and his uncle had been in the gift shop with Rayne, waiting for Lucas to tell them how to get to Ward 8. They had kept a low profile while they waited, pretending to be visitors. But with visiting hours nearly ended, the small shop had made another closing announcement.

  Gabriel held Rayne’s hand as he glanced at his uncle. He didn’t need to send a telepathic message. He saw in one glance that Uncle Reginald was worried as they headed for the gift shop exit.

  “Come on. We gotta...” Gabe stopped when he heard Kendra’s message about Boelens and saw her and the twins heading toward the store.

  They had run out of time.

  “Shit. Boelens is here,” Gabe told Rayne.

  “What?” She gripped his hand harder and looked over his shoulder into the lobby.

  Gabriel intended to warn her to stay calm and not draw attention, but all bets were off when he saw a man bounding up an escalator to the mezzanine outside the store. Boelens had spotted Lucas and was chasing him.

  Oh God. Luke.

  Gabriel didn’t think twice and he didn’t wait for his uncle and Rayne to catch on. He went after Boelens when he saw the bastard close in on Luke. His anger fueled his adrenaline. No way he’d let the guy hurt him. Gabe kept his eyes on Rayne’s brother to see which direction he’d turn on the next level up, but he slid to an abrupt stop when Luke vanished before his eyes.

  His body shrank to a pinpoint and disappeared with an ear-punishing zap that left Gabriel standing at the base of the escalator, dumbfounded. A night-crew janitor took an interest in his sudden change of heart and an older woman in a walker smiled at him, but nothing looked out of the ordinary. Visiting hours were over and stragglers were heading out the main entrance. No one looked alarmed.

  “What the hell?”

  Gabe turned where he stood and searched the hospital lobby for any signs of a commotion. Everything looked quiet and he’d lost track of Boelens. He didn’t hear running. No one looked startled, except for him. His uncle shrugged and headed toward him and Rayne looked confused.

  What happened, Gabriel?

  Where’s Lucas?

  Uncle Reginald and Kendra had questions.

  So did Rayne. “You freaked me out. Why’d you run? Did you see Boelens?”

  Gabe didn’t know what to say. When nothing looked dodgy, he suddenly knew what had happened and felt rather foolish. Rayne’s brother had created an illusion for Boelens to chase. He’d apparently stretched it to include him, most likely a payback for the pond incident.

  Very clever, Lucas.

  He heard a guy clear his throat on the mezzanine level above him and looked up to see Luke staring down at him from a railing. He didn’t gloat. He looked...grateful.

  Thanks to Boelens, I found the right elevator, Luke told him. It’s behind the chapel and it looks like you’ll need the ID badge to operate it. I’ll meet you there.

  What did you do with Boelens?

  He’s chasing me to the front parking lot. We won’t have much time.

  Gabriel nodded. Lucas would keep Boelens busy with an illusion that would have him chasing his own tail—at least for as long as he could. He hoped it would be enough.

  “We gotta go. Now.” He grabbed Rayne’s hand. “Our timetable just got shorter.”

  As they headed for the elevator, his uncle asked, “Did our Lucas pull a rabbit out of his Indigo hat?”

  “I would say he learned a valuable lesson at Mother’s pond. Never underestimate the influence of a heaping pile of elephant excrement.”

  “Ah.” His uncle winked. “Truer words have never been said.”

  * * *

  The minute Gabriel got off the elevator and stepped into the basement that would lead them to Ward 8, he stared into narrow corridors that snaked through the shadows with old machinery and ductwork in every direction. If Oliver hadn’t been firm on which way to go, they would’ve wasted valuable time searching.

  Oliver sent him abrupt messages that sounded more like orders. Gabe counted his steps and turned where Oliver told him.

  What about surveillance cameras? Lucas asked.

  Got it covered, Gabe told him without breaking stride.

  Before Gabe had gotten off the elevator, he’d taken care of any surveillance cameras by using his affinity with animals and insects. He conjured his power and enlisted the help of a few well-chosen friends to mess with any security guards watching the recording live. Roaches and mice found every lens a curiosity and blocked the view with their sudden infestation. He counted on his vermin army keeping hospital security repulsed long enough for them to get in and out. He hoped it would buy them time.

  Although Uncle Reginald had been keen on the idea of his revolting distraction, something different bothered him more.

  “Are you sure you should have your eyes closed? It’s unnerving and you look positively nutters.”

  Despite the tension, Gabriel smiled at his uncle.

  “Oliver says keeping my eyes closed helps him,” he whispered. “He had a hood on, remember?”

  “Why are you whispering? It looks like we’re alone...except for you know who,” his uncle said.

  “Shh. You know who is counting.” Gabe felt another telepathic nudge inside him and pointed. “Oliver says make a turn here.”

  “Good Lord, this is most peculiar.”

  “He says we’re close,” Gabe said. “Keep an eye out for—”

  Uncle Reginald stuck his arm out to stop him and finished his thought. “A red-and-white sign?”

  Gabe opened his eyes and looked up. “We’re here.”

  Lucas stood at his shoulder and stared at the sign that had haunted both of them. No one spoke, not even his uncle. The Ward 8 sign had triggered the cold grip of every nightmare. Seeing it sent a shudder through Gabe. There had been a piece of him that wished this place didn’t exist, that it had all been bad dreams, but he couldn’t hope for that now. The real
Ward 8 was a reminder that everything he and Lucas dreamed had been true. Those nightmare visions could be happening to Rafael. It made him sick to imagine it.

  Soon they would all know what the Believers did to innocent Indigos behind these doors.

  17

  Ward 8

  Gabriel held Dr. Fiona’s security badge in his hand as he stood outside the entrance to the ward. Every failed attempt to find Rafael had deflated him. Kendra and the others counted on him. They were feeling the tension and the frustration of coming up empty. Rafe had to be here, but after seeing the horrors in his visions, he wasn’t sure that wishing the guy would be here was a good thing.

  He didn’t know what lay beyond these doors, but his war against his father and the Believers had to start here—the source of his nightmare visions.

  You gotta find Caila. Oliver’s low voice jolted him with adrenaline. It sounded as if the guy had yelled in his ear.

  Easy, Romeo. We have to find your body first. This is where you get off, remember?

  The power stirred inside him and Gabe felt the burn in his belly as he swiped Dr. Fiona’s badge through the reader. The door buzzed a warning and he yanked it open, before he handed the passkey to his uncle.

  Please tell me the minute you find Rafael. Use this to free him, Caila and any others. I’ve got a long-overdue rendezvous to meet Oliver.

  Gabriel walked through the door and down a corridor until he noticed activity ahead. A nurses’ station served as a hub, with signs pointing to a surgical wing, patient exam rooms and the ICU. He saw enough of the remaining wing to know there’d be locked cells where the Indigo children would be held against their will.

  They would have to split up.

  But when he got to the end of the hallway, he came face-to-face with three uniformed women who stood behind the counter of the nurses’ station, glaring at him. A security guard had noticed the commotion and came running.

  “Stop right there,” the uniformed man yelled. “How did you get in here?”

  “Who are you?” a nurse asked.

  Gabriel felt Uncle Reginald at his side. Lucas, Kendra and Rayne fanned out. When the Effin twins shoved their way through to stand in front of him, he put his hands on the boys’ shoulders. He drew from the power of their blue aura burning in him—and he felt sure these people had never seen the likes of them.

  “Sorry for the intrusion. I suppose it would be rude of me not to make introductions. My name is Gabriel.” With a sweep of his hand, he beckoned his faithful companion and said, “And this is my dog, Hellboy.”

  When his phantom dog materialized from thin air and crept through a portal of glowing mist that now swirled at his feet, he snarled and bristled and bared his teeth. One nurse cried and made the sign of the cross and the guard swallowed, hard. He approached with more caution, his hand on the butt of his weapon.

  “You can’t have a...uh...dog in here,” the guard stammered. “Hospital rules.”

  “I’m pretty sure dead dogs are the one exception. Look it up.”

  Gabriel narrowed his eyes and stared into each of their faces. None of them looked him in the eye.

  They knew what he was.

  “Look at you, in your pristine uniforms, pretending to be caregivers. You think you’re normal, law-abiding citizens who pay your taxes and contribute to society, but what you do for a paycheck is drug and torture children.” He shifted his gaze to each face. “Well, for you, that will end here. You’ve drawn the short straw.”

  Gabriel conjured every nightmare he had—the most vile and disgusting—and amassed it inside him. Like a fast-acting poison, it made him sick, but he didn’t care.

  “You’ve been the source of my worst nightmares. I’m here to return the favor.”

  When he stepped forward with Hellboy, the Effin brothers wouldn’t let him go alone. They came with him, like the many times they had trained. He looked into the intense blue eyes of the small boys and understood what they wanted.

  They were done hiding and wanted to be seen.

  After Gabriel nodded, the twins raised their thin arms—in slow unison—and pointed their small index fingers at the guard. The man looked sick and took a step back, but didn’t take his eyes off the boys. The simple act of pointing their fingers had spooked the man into believing they were evil demon children.

  “Stay where you are. You’re not authorized to be here,” the guard threatened.

  “But we would have your permission if you abducted us off the streets and brought us here in shackles against our will? Is that how it works?” Gabe yelled. “Where is Rafael Santana? I’ll spare the first one to tell me.”

  When no one spoke up, Gabriel thought he knew why.

  “Do you even know their names...these children that you torture, mutilate and kill?” He shook his head. “You are all cowards...and bloody criminals.”

  Gabe saw the fear in their eyes, but these people wouldn’t understand the power of the Indigo soul without a demonstration. The only experience they had came from their dominance over scared children who didn’t realize what they could do to defend themselves. Many Indigos were like Lucas. They were quiet by nature and intelligent, peace-loving human beings. But because of his mother, Gabriel had evolved from an Indigo warrior to become a powerful Crystal child.

  It was time the Believers met another breed of Indigo.

  When he felt the rising heat of his connection to the Effin brothers, it was as if they’d plugged him into an electrical socket. The twins juiced him up and turned their abilities over to him.

  “Now it’s my turn.”

  Gabriel flung his arms and hurled the worst of his fury. He shot a fireball at the guard and it blasted his body. The force of it smashed him against a wall. In shock, the man shrieked as if he were on fire. He collapsed to the floor and clutched his arms and legs into the fetal position, swatting at the blue flames that fed off him.

  One nurse screamed at the sight of the armed guard fighting demons she couldn’t see. Another woman cowered behind the counter, but none of them would escape. Using the gifts of the twins, Gabe attacked the hypothalamus, the gland in the human brain that controlled every human being’s base instinct. He made these people desperate to run, yet they were too afraid to move. For good measure, he filled them with insatiable hunger and confused them by making them horny. The next time they craved pizza or felt the urge to have sex, they would be reminded of their sins.

  Being able to use the power of both Effin brothers and magnify it made these Believers puppets in Gabriel’s hands. He drew from his psychic attack on Dr. Fiona and gave them each a taste of the nightmare he had concocted especially for the doctor. They all deserved a share. They would feel what they’d done to every child, and that memory would plague their nights forever.

  “What you’re doing to naive children, you don’t deserve mercy.” Gabriel hesitated long enough for them to wonder what he’d do to them. “But I don’t want to kill you and you don’t want to end up on the wrong side of dead. Cooperate and no one will get hurt.”

  Gabriel thought he would feel better about shutting down Ward 8, but destroying it was only walls and locked cells and the patient files of blameless children who had died to satisfy the Believer’s cruel vision of the future. The real evil still existed in the minds and malicious hearts of those who had conceived and built the ward.

  All he felt was an aching emptiness and a grief that would always be a part of him.

  Lucas had been right. Killing for the sake of killing wasn’t the answer and revenge wouldn’t bring back his mother, or Benny, or any other child who had died at the hands of the Believers—and starting a war might never bring Rafael back. If there was any hope for a future where Indigo children could live as equals, Gabriel had to find a different way to stop the bloodshed and the genocide.

&nb
sp; Destroying the ward meant no more nightmares would come from this place. He’d have to settle for that.

  Minutes later

  With the situation contained and relatively stable, Gabriel sent Hellboy away. The presence of a ghost dog might scare any new Indigos they might find, and Hellboy wasn’t meant for stealth.

  “Lock the Believers in one cell and tell me the minute you find Rafael...if he’s here,” Gabe said. “Free any Indigos and tell ’em we’ll get them out of here. We won’t leave anyone behind.”

  At the mention of Rafael’s name, Kendra’s eyes flared in anger, but she stayed in control. She and Rayne grabbed ID badges off the nurses and ushered them down the hall while Uncle Reginald went looking for Caila. Lucas had already taken care of the guard and confiscated his gun, but the twins wouldn’t be denied. They stayed with him because they were too curious about Oliver.

  “I know what you want. Come on,” he told the twins.

  When Gabriel set eyes on Oliver Blue, lying unconscious on a bed in ICU 4, he looked better than he had expected. He had color to his cheeks and he breathed on his own, without a respirator. It wouldn’t take much to unplug him. The beeping equipment and the leads coming off his body that fed data into machines to monitor his heart and operate the brain scanner didn’t intimidate the twins. It was as if they knew he was in there and all right, playing a mad game of hide-and-seek.

  The boys ran up to Oliver, poked his arms and giggled. One of them squeezed his nose shut until Oliver’s body gasped for air.

  “I wouldn’t piss him off, boys. Have you seen the size of this guy?” When Gabe looked at Oliver, he smiled and said, “Time to wake up and carry your own weight, Sleeping Beauty.”

  Gabe knew he wouldn’t have to ask twice. Oliver had every intention of seeing Caila with his own eyes, but when the Indigo boy stirred inside him, it felt as if his internal organs were being rearranged.