by John Corwin
His jaw went tight. "Yeah. We did." Shelton shook his head like a dog shedding water. "We were ambushed. Somehow, that slimy pile of butt droppings knew we were coming. Some kind of demon spawn creatures sucked Hooch's soul out of his mouth. Turned him into a dried husk of skin right in front of me. I ran. Holy hell, did I run. Used every spell in the book to get myself out of there. But when I looked back at it later—much later—I knew for a certainty escape from those things should have been impossible. Something or someone held them back, and let me go."
"What makes you think that?" I asked.
His eyes focused on me. "You had to be there. Those things were lightning fast, man. Hooch was one of the trickiest Arcanes I have ever known. He wasn't the most powerful, but he made up for it by being crazy like a fox. He always warded himself, and had a shield spell ready to turn on in a heartbeat. His precautions saved our hides more times than I can count. Those spawn went through his shield like it was thin air. Poor bastard didn't have a chance. And there were enough of them to take us both down at the same time. But they didn't."
I pursed my lips. "Sounds like the same creatures that ambushed the Templars and Daemos at Thunder Rock."
"They make hellhounds look like puppies." Shelton shuddered. "Anyway, I took a break from the business. It wasn't a good time for me. And then I met Aerianas." An almost dreamy look overcame his face. "She came to me, and asked me to help her find a fugitive who'd killed a little boy's parents. I didn't usually do freelance for individuals, but she was so smoking hot I couldn't resist. So, I did the job, and my prize was her."
"Slut," Bella said under her breath.
Shelton didn't seem to hear her. "She told me she knew people in the tribunal court, and could tell me about contracts before they went public so I could get a head start. She told me I was the best, and it would be a shame if I stopped bounty hunting." He sighed. "That's how I got Zagg's girlfriend, and Morgana's parents."
"I imagine they were easy targets," I said.
His forehead pinched. "Are you kidding me? Zagg and his pals hid his girlfriend, Kayla, so well it took me a month to track her down. Morgana's parents, the Findelays, were hiding in the Swiss Alps. They triggered an avalanche that nearly took me out." He looked skyward, as if wondering how he'd survived. "But Hooch taught me well, and I always got my man."
"Didn't he teach you to question things?" I asked. "To find out why you were hunting people?"
Shelton showed a rueful grin. "He tried. Hooch was a different breed of bounty hunter. He always demanded proof before a hunt. Even after he caught his targets, he'd question them like he was the sheriff. He once told me a friend of his had been wrongly accused, and he never wanted to take in an innocent person."
"I guess those lessons didn't stick with you," I said, and I couldn't help the disapproving note in my voice.
"Guess not. I didn't care about that stuff. I just wanted the money and the glory." He looked away.
"What do you mean?" Bella asked.
"One of the jobs Aerianas landed me involved apprehending an Arcane accused of selling magic to noms. I took him in, got my payout, and when I went back to the guy's house to recover supplies I'd dropped during the bust, I just happened to stumble across evidence that completely exonerated him. I—" Shelton blinked. "I decided it wasn't my job to do anything about it. So I just let it lie."
"Harry!" Bella looked aghast.
"I didn't want Aerianas to get in trouble. I was young and stupid. I was so blindly in love with her, I would have—I did anything she asked."
"You kept doing jobs even though you had suspicions." I said in an accusing voice.
He nodded. "But my conscience really started bugging me."
I raised both eyebrows.
Shelton held up his hands defensively. "Yeah, yeah. I actually have a little cricket that nags the hell out of me when I'm doing something bad." He exhaled a long sigh. "I secretly checked out the evidence against the next few targets Aerianas tipped me off about. Each case looked like a complete slam dunk. If Hooch ever taught me anything, it's that if the evidence looks too neat, it's probably a load of bull."
I threw in a guess. "Those people were set up."
He nodded. "I decided to dig a little deeper." A look of remorse or perhaps regret pinched his face. "It didn't take me long to figure out what tied most of them together, once I knew what to look for." He drew in a deep breath as if steeling himself, and looked at us. "My father."
I glanced at Bella. She looked just as confused as I felt. "Care to elaborate?"
"Daddy dearest, also known as the Arcanus Primus, was pushing his pet project, the Gloom Initiative back at that time."
Bella nodded. "I remember. It was very controversial, costing millions of tinsel. They wanted to explore the Gloom and see if it could be used for transportation like the Obsidian Arch network."
"Or see if it had anything to do with the way the arches worked, or find new creatures living there, and blah, blah, blah." Shelton grunted. "The opposition claimed it would cost lives, and possibly allow undesirable entities to enter our world."
"Like the minders?" I said.
He nodded. "Yeah, creepy critters like that."
"These people opposed your father, and he framed them for clear passage of the initiative?"
"Yes, again." Shelton twiddled his thumbs, gazing at them forlornly. "And I still kept right on bagging and tagging the poor bastards. I just couldn't force myself to leave Aerianas. I knew she had something to do with it, but I turned a blind eye. I wanted her so bad, I could hardly stand it, and the thought of losing her drove me crazy."
I wanted to blame Shelton for his misdeeds. Really I did. But I knew how love, real or imagined, could make anyone do stupid things. All I had to do was think back a few months to remember how idiotic I'd acted for Katie Johnson. "How long ago did all this happen?"
"It went on for about a year, and ended just before I met you." He didn't look up from the floor. "Look, I ain't perfect. I was kind of a jackass when I went to school here, and I didn't change much once I graduated. But I didn't go out of my way to intentionally hurt people."
"What was it that drove you out of Colombia when we went after Maximus?" I asked.
"Murderous relatives of someone I'd apprehended for—" He paused a moment. "For Aerianas. For my adoptive father." His lips curled in rage. "Sager used me to catch and kill my real parents. Then he used me again to put away his political enemies." Shelton bolted from his chair. Turned, and kicked it. As the chair skidded across the floor, he whipped out his wand, and with an angry word sent a bolt of white-hot energy into the defenseless object. Wood splintered, spraying across the room. He shouted again, and shards of light intercepted the splinters, reducing them to ash before they hit the floor.
"Madre de dios," Bella said under her breath. "Now I understand."
I, of course, was far more impressed with the display of wizardry than anything else, so it took a moment for her words to sink in. Shelton's soul was scarred. He'd been used by his father. Used by the woman he loved. No wonder he walled off his emotions. No wonder he never let anyone see the real him, his emotions, insecurities, and worst of all, the sense that nobody in this world really loved him. He had no family. How could I complain about my situation after knowing what Shelton had been through?
Shelton stood before the falling ash, his back to us, shoulders heaving. I couldn't let the questioning stop now. I still had to understand one more thing.
"Shelton—Harry. What did Meghan mean when she told me you worked with the spawn who killed her family?" I felt my chest tighten. "Is that true?"
He shook his head without turning to face me. "No. The Daemos who did that, as you well know, was Vadaemos. What happened to her parents was long before my time."
I felt myself relax, and saw Bella, hand to heart, breathe a sigh of relief.
Shelton turned to me, his eyes rimmed with red, face screwed up in pain. "She was almost right. I didn't work with V
adaemos, but I did work with someone close to him."
"Aerianas?" I said, taking a logical guess.
He nodded.
"How did she know Vadaemos?"
Shelton let out a shuddering sigh. "Aerianas is his daughter."
Chapter 34
"Holy macaroni," I muttered.
"Now it makes even more sense," Bella said, eyes lighting up. "Was she using her succubus powers on you, Harry?" The hopeful look on her face made my heart ache.
Shelton gave a grudging nod. "Yeah. Later, when I confronted her, she told me she really loved me, but was afraid I hated her." His lips curled up in an angry snarl. "She did something to me. Infected me with her succubus powers. To this day, I still think about her. I still miss her. Worst of all, it feels like I still love her, even though I know with every inch of my black heart I don't. I hate her for what she did to me. I hate myself for what I did to those people." He threw his wand across the room where it clattered against a bookshelf. "I don't want any of these feelings piled on my shoulders, man. I just want to forget them. I want the past to stay in the past and to leave me the hell alone."
"Oh, Harry," Bella said, walking toward him.
He threw out the palms of his hands. "No, Bella. I can't. Do you understand why? I'm a sack of maggots."
I stood rooted in place, stunned by what I was seeing. I could count on one hand the number of times I'd seen Shelton lower his gruff exterior and admit to having a genuine feeling. Yet, here he stood, naked and exposed. I didn't know what to feel. Part of me felt embarrassed to witness it. Another part wanted to help him, and didn't know how. It occurred to me that this time of crisis was a very bad time for him to have a mental breakdown, but I could lay the blame for that squarely on my shoulders. I'd pushed him into this. I'd demanded the truth. Now I had it.
And the truth might hurt us all.
Bella stood feet away from Shelton, tears pooling in her eyes. Her lower lip quivered. "I know you're a good man, Harry Shelton. I've seen your golden heart shine many times." Her voice lowered to a whisper. "It always gives me hope."
"Hope?" He said the word with a scoffing laugh. "Hope to feel like crap for the rest of my life?"
She took a hesitant step toward him. "Hope that maybe a brighter light can outshine the darkness around your heart."
"Nothing can fix me, damn it." A tear trickled down his cheek. He scraped it away with an angry swipe of his hand. "And what makes you think I'm worth fixing?"
Bella took his hand in both of hers, and smiled at him as tears sparkled like diamonds on her cheeks. "I have faith in you. I have hope." She kissed his hand. "Maybe it's silly of me. Maybe all these decades of life haven't taught me anything. But you make me feel young again. Being around you makes me appreciate life after all the darkness and terrible deeds I've seen."
"Me?" he said in a tiny voice filled with confused wonder.
She laughed and cried at the same time. "Yes, you. Can't you see why, you silly man?" Bella leaned up and kissed him. "The reason I know you're not an evil person is because I could never love someone like that." Her eyes met his and held them. "Harry, I love you."
My heart thudded, and I felt my own eyes watering up as I witnessed Shelton's stunned look. As I watched him touch the lip Bella had kissed. And it made me miss Elyssa so much I could hardly stand it.
Harry Shelton, gruff, uncaring, and a royal pain in the ass of good manners, took Bella in his arms and gave her a kiss that made the petite dhampyr melt into his arms.
I turned and ran from the room, closing the door behind me, heart pounding with a mixture of pain and joy.
I pulled out my phone and texted Elyssa. I love you and miss you. I didn't expect a response. I just had to send it, to let her know she was on my mind. Because things were getting uglier by the minute on this side of the world.
Shelton had thrown back the covers, revealing true evil and corruption. His father had framed innocent people. But his revelations about Aerianas's parentage also meant there may have been a connection between Vadaemos and Shelton's father, Jarrod Sager.
I felt certain Vadaemos had lured Hooch into that deadly ambush, and allowed Shelton to escape. Then he'd sent his daughter to manipulate my friend. Using my arcphone to create a holographic display on the table in the den, I told Nookli to display several names: Jarrod Sager, Vadaemos Slade, the Conroys, and Daelissa. Vadaemos had helped Daelissa at one point, until she'd turned everyone against him by framing him for the massacre at Thunder Rock. Vadaemos, in turn, had worked from the shadows for years, until he'd been driven to hide in El Dorado where Elyssa, Bella, and several others including me had eventually cornered and captured him. Daelissa had later tried to free him, resulting in the death of Elyssa's brother Jack.
If Vadaemos had worked for Daelissa, did that connect Sager to Daelissa? Why would Vadaemos, a narcissistic Daemos, help Sager? Did it have anything to do with the Gloom project?
My diagram helped me understand why Vadaemos and Sager used Shelton instead of someone else. Simply by looking at Shelton's track record, they knew he wouldn't question evidence. They knew he was young, driven by money and glory. Shelton possessed excellent bloodhound skills. He also unknowingly offered himself as a scapegoat, and a way to distance Sager from his targets. Most people might see Shelton's actions as those of a man trying to protect his father, should the truth about their innocence come to light.
Sager knew his political enemies could stop him, and stop his pet project. By isolating them in prison, he maintained control. I had to find out more about the Gloom Initiative and why it was so important to him. It meant I had no choice but to ask Shelton to investigate his father. He might be the only person who could wrestle the truth from him. In the meantime, I had other errands to run.
I called Michael, and told him what I'd found out about Shelton's past.
"Figures," he said. "I knew the evidence looked too tight."
"Can you disprove it?"
"I don't need to. I just need to find who planted the evidence."
"You're the man with the plan," I said.
"Yes." He hung up.
My phone buzzed. A text message from Elyssa. My heart leapt.
I can't stop thinking about you. The trial is dragging on, but I think I'm near the end. Are you okay? I love you. MUAH!
I tapped back a message. MUAH, baby! I'm fine, but lots to talk about. Please call the minute you can after the trial. Love you!
My spirits soared just hearing from her. It felt so strange to have gone so long without seeing her, without kissing her, or telling her how much I loved her. She'd probably kill me once she found out the recent dangers I'd faced. But I wasn't about to ruin her chances at finishing the trial.
My thoughts returned to the conversation with Michael. I felt a strong urge to tell Zagg the good news, but realized there wasn't really any to tell, not yet. Sure, I could tell him someone planted the evidence. Tell him Shelton knew it was planted and arrested his girlfriend anyway. Zagg would probably round up the gang again to kill Shelton if I told him that. Since I didn't know when or if Michael would find the person who planted the evidence, I couldn't give Zagg false hope. Somehow, I had to bring the stack of lies crashing to the ground, even if it meant taking down the Primus himself. I made myself a to-do list on the phone, tacking "Take down the Arcanus Primus" at the bottom. My primary objective of "Make Ivy love me or unlock my inner angel" remained unchecked. "Save Nightliss" and "Save myself" depended wholly on the first.
As I entered first period the next day, Morgana looked up at me with big innocent eyes, and smiled. I took my seat next to her, and grinned back.
"Thank you again for standing up for me, Justin," she said. "I means ever so much to me."
"No problem," I said, feeling a little choked up. Though her words made me feel good, I also felt guilty. I had information indicating her parents might be innocent. Shouldn't I at least tell her that much? Or would it cause her more pain to know?
The
poor girl looked so exhausted. I had to at least find out where she was sleeping. She couldn't go on like this.
After Elementary Meditation class, in which Belinda made us stand on our heads against a wall until I was dizzy, I rushed to Zagg's classroom, hopeful he might have some news for me.
"Justin," he said, smiling broadly.
"Any luck?" I asked.
He chuckled. "We've barely begun, though I gotta say that golem of yours is amazing." He tilted his head. "How did you make him?"
"I didn't," I said, avoiding further details. "He's helpful?"
"More than helpful. He's downright curious about everything, and has been cataloguing my old scrolls for me. I showed him how to record stuff onto an ASE so we can index and search it more easily."
"Why not just give in and use an arctablet?"
"Look, I know it's lame, but if the administration found out I was using gadgets like that, I might end up out of a job."
I shrugged. "Get a job at the academy. At least they're forward thinking."
He shuddered. "All they think about is the future. They hate the past."
"They don't teach history there?"
"Of course they do, but it's almost all about technology. There aren't any awesome wizard battles, or castles, or damsels in distress." He grimaced like he'd just swallowed a toilet-flavored roach. "It's a bunch of dry, boring, science stuff." Zagg clapped a hand on my shoulder as students began filling the room. "Don't worry. The ASEs are amazing archival tools, and they're based on old magic."
I nodded, feeling a little placated, and took my seat. Morgana gave me a curious look.
"Do you want to be a history teacher someday?" she asked. "You spend a lot of time talking to the professor."
I chuckled. "No, I'm just interested in particular bits of history."
After class, we went to lunch, and took our usual table. I saw wolf-boy enter the dining hall. He took one wide-eyed look at us, and skirted the edge of the dining hall to avoid coming anywhere near us, even though Ivy wasn't present.
