by John Corwin
He snorted. "Try not to think about it. We've been cleared by the Lady of the Pond."
"Is she related to the Lady of the Lake?"
He shrugged. "Might be cousins. I dunno." Shelton's gaze took in the thick woods to either side of us. "Just don't go off the path. You're not supposed to do that."
Tiny flashes of light sparkled in the dark, but did nothing to reveal the lurkers in the woods. My hearing picked up the faint pitter-patter of countless feet pacing through the trees on a course parallel to ours. More feminine giggles echoed from either sides of the path. I knew women were dangerous, but these chicks were downright creepy. After a few more minutes, we finally emerged from the forest. The path continued through a wide green lawn with bushes grown into all sorts of fantastic shapes and sizes. I didn't have time to take it all in before Shelton marched up to the front door and yanked on a string attached to a bell.
A brass golem immediately opened the door, its neat black and white suit indicating without a doubt it was a butler. "He is expecting you," the golem said, waving us into the foyer without another word of explanation. "Would you like a drink while you wait? Tea, perhaps?"
"Nah," Shelton said, following the brass construct into a slightly larger room with benches and chairs. It reminded me of a doctor's waiting room. He dropped into a seat, and grabbed an Arcane Daily scroll off the table. The butler performed a concise bow, and wandered off.
"Did the lady tell him we were coming?" I asked.
"Yup." Shelton unrolled the parchment, looking for all the world like a man doing some light bathroom reading, just without the accompanying odor.
A brass golem in a French maid outfit wandered through, dusting the furniture, and singing in an admittedly pretty voice.
After a good fifteen minutes, during which I felt certain the Primus was probably drumming his fingers on a table, and making us wait in the name of bureaucracy, the butler returned. "Right this way, good sirs."
We followed it down a wood-paneled hallway lined with lush red carpet, and into an office furnished with intricately carved bookshelves, tables, and a huge desk. Jarrod Sager sat behind the desk, and motioned to two red leather chairs facing him.
"Please sit."
"If that will be all, sir?" the butler asked.
"Yes, thank you," the Primus replied.
Shelton regarded the chair for a few seconds, as if deciding whether he wanted to spite his old man by not sitting. A shake of his head accompanied an audible sigh, and he dropped into the seat. "Let me start by saying I don't want to be here." Sager opened his mouth to respond, but Shelton shut him up with a backhanded wave. "I don't want to hear it," he growled. "If it weren't important, I wouldn't have come."
"I understand," Sager said, his voice sounding a little strained. "However, there are proper channels to go through for official business." He put an emphasis on the word.
"Yeah? Well, this can't wait." He nodded to me. "Go ahead and tell him."
My mouth wouldn't work for a moment, frankly because I'd expected Shelton to tell him. My brain also couldn't decide what to say first, and decided a question might be in order. "What is the Gloom Initiative?"
Sager's eyes darted between me and Shelton. "I'm sure if you went to the library and looked over newspaper archives, you could answer that question."
Shelton leaned forward. "We don't want to hear the crap you fed to the masses. We know there was more to it, or you wouldn't have used me to find and arrest people who opposed you."
His father's eyes flared. "I believe I've heard enough of this nonsense. You should go. Now."
"I ain't leaving until you tell me," Shelton said, standing, his hand clenching and unclenching by his side. "Because I ain't too happy about it. In fact, all that crap with Aerianas broke something inside me. Maybe my sanity. Maybe I'll just take out that anger on you right here and now."
Sager stood, a worried look on his face. "Leave this instant!"
"Not without saying what I came here to say, you lying sack of gerbil droppings!" Shelton thundered. "You used me to railroad people into prison without a trial for that stupid Gloom Initiative. Well, guess what? You don't even have to tell us what it's for. We know it's so you can hide the friggin Cyrinthian Rune from Daelissa. We know about the arch holding the rune, and we know it's about to blow Queens Gate to kingdom come. That's why you wanted your project to succeed, so you could hide it." He stood panting, as if it had cost him strength to force the words from his mouth, and then said one more thing in a calm sad voice. "That's the reason you tooled your son and threw him away when you were done."
Sager face-palmed, and dropped into his chair. "Damn it, son." He groaned. "You're right. I fed the public a lie—or at least the truth blended with a lie. The project was twofold. It was publicly commissioned to find alternate travel methods to the arch network. However, the secret objective was to open a rift between here and the Seraphim realm. Only after the initiative was underway did I think it could be used to hide the rune, provided I could find it."
"The Seraphim realm?" Shelton said, his expression growing confused.
I didn't need to have detective skills to realize in a split instant what Sager's words meant. Sager and Vadaemos hadn't worked together exclusively. They'd been working for someone else all along. I grabbed Shelton's arm. "We've got to go now!"
"You're working for Daelissa?" Shelton said, his confusion turning to a look of pure horror. "But the Conroys are her frigging lapdogs, and you hate them!"
His father sighed. "I had no choice."
"You always have a choice, you stupid bastard!" Shelton lunged. I caught him by the arm before he could land a punch. He strained against me. "What did they do? Promise you'd get to remain Primus so long as you did what they said? Or did they just give you money? Is that how they got you in their pocket?"
Sager's eyes dropped to the floor. "No."
Shelton fought against me like a wild animal. "Then why?"
His father looked up, eyes sad, and full of an emotion I could easily identify with. Regret. "They promised not to kill you."
Shelton's eyes went wide, the struggle to break free suddenly forgotten. "You're lying."
"I'm not." Sager stood. "Daelissa killed your brother, Martin, as an example. I couldn't risk losing you. That's why I've always been so distant. I hoped they would leave you alone."
Shelton sagged. "No," he said in a weak voice. "You're lying."
"We need to go," I said. "He's working for them."
"Justin is right," Sager said. "You need to go. I won't breathe a word of this to anyone."
As if we can believe him.
His forehead wrinkled. "I honestly didn't know where the rune was. Either Ezzek Moore decided not to pass on the information, or the knowledge was lost. Is it really about to explode?"
I nodded. "We have to stop it, or everyone here could die. You need to order an evacuation."
Sager cursed. "How long do we have?"
"Until this Saturday."
"Impossible. There are simply too many people here for the Grand Melee." He stood and paced. "The logistics are completely wrong."
"Even if everyone doesn't make it, some will."
He looked up, fingers moving as if running calculations, all the while shaking his head. "It probably won't save everyone, but I'll deliver an emergency evacuation order immediately."
"We plan to remove the rune from the arch," I said in a confident voice. Then, in a slightly less confident tone I told him, "There's a chance it might explode and turn everyone into shadow creatures the second it comes from the arch."
Sager gave a wry laugh. "Wonderful. Not only will I be remembered for a war with the vampires, but for the annihilation of the university and Queens Gate."
My mind took a trip down memory lane, back to the beginning of this mess. "Did the Conroys repair the smaller arches so they could take them into Thunder Rock?"
Sager's gaze snapped to me. "How do you know so much?" His eyes moved
to Shelton, and understanding lit. "Ah, yes. Harry is an excellent detective." He nodded. "The plan is to send a team to take the Alabaster Arch back to the Grand Nexus, wherever it may be. From what I've gleaned, Daelissa's memory was damaged from the Desecration. She can't remember where it is."
"Have they already taken the Alabaster Arch?" I asked.
He shook his head. "Too many Seraphim husks in the way, not to mention several Flark husks."
I shuddered at the thought of the infantile cherubs, all that remained of angels caught in the blast of the Grand Nexus when the Cyrinthian Rune was removed from it. "Flark husks?" I said.
Sager's lip curled with disgust. "The things look like animated oil."
I flashed back to the cold water beneath Thunder Rock. To swimming for escape until a black tentacle took me into the underground caverns filled with husks. Had that thing been a Flark husk? I shook my head clean of the disturbing memory. "Can't Daelissa get rid of the husks?"
"Ah, but she can't." A slow smile spread across his face. "If she gets anywhere close to one of those things, she can hardly stand up. They don't even have to touch her."
Maximus had kept a captive husk in his Colombian hideout. I wondered if it was to keep Daelissa away, or for some other nefarious purpose. "She has a weakness," I said, feeling suddenly confident. "But why does it affect her and not—" I almost said "me" before stopping myself. I was part angel, but the husks hadn't affected me in the same way. Was it thanks to my Daemos side, or something else?
"And not what?" Sager asked.
"Never mind." Questioning Shelton's father for hours on end was a temptation we couldn't afford.
"Son." Sager turned to Shelton, a hint of pain in his voice. "You need to get out of here. Daelissa will find out I've told you this. It's impossible to hide things from her. You don't know the torment she's put me through over the years. But I want you to know that I—" He broke off, voice overcome with emotion. "I failed Martin. I was arrogant. I thought I could bluster my way out of any situation. When Daelissa told me she would kill someone I cared about if I didn't do as she said, I thought I would call her bluff." Pain flashed through his face, and a single tear gathered in his eye. He pounded the desk with both fists, eyes filled with torment and rage.
At least I knew where the Shelton temper came from.
Sager sagged. "I tried so hard," he said in a weak, tired voice. "God knows I tried." His defeated eyes met Shelton's. "Whatever happens, I want you to know I tried to keep you safe. They made me use you. But the queen bitch from hell always knew I'd do whatever it took to protect you."
"I'm just your adopted son," Shelton said in a low voice. "You used me to lure my real parents. Don't even pretend you care about me."
"It wasn't me who used you to capture them," Sager said. "Someone on the council found out who you really were, and betrayed your secret. I didn't know until it was too late."
"Stop trying to cover your ass," Shelton growled.
"I'm not." The pain in Sager's eyes looked genuine. "No matter what you think, Harry, you're my son. You're family. I wish I'd had the strength to fight Daelissa, but I didn't. I did what I could to protect you. Martin loved you as only a brother could. I wish I could have been more of a father, but Daelissa took the choice from me."
A war seemed to rage behind Shelton's disbelieving eyes. His lips compressed to thin white lines, and I couldn't tell if he was suppressing anger or some other emotion. He finally spoke. "Did you have anything to do with Meghan Andretti's father or Adam Nosti's parents?"
Sager shook his head. "Daelissa tried to make them work for her, but they wouldn't. She had them killed." He opened a desk drawer and, after fiddling around with something, popped open a hidden compartment, and removed an ASE. "Take this. It's the least I can do."
"What is it?" Shelton asked.
Sager winced. "My confession."
Shelton pocketed it. "And you're trusting me with this? What makes you think I won't ruin your career over this?"
His father looked down. "If you do, I probably deserve it."
"Why are the Conroys helping Daelissa?" I asked. "Don't they realize what will happen if the Seraphim return?"
"I have no idea." Sager's eyebrows pinched. "Jeremiah Conroy has never cared about political office or power, so far as I know. But he is absolutely obsessed with helping Daelissa."
Shelton heaved a great sigh, and came around the desk to his father's side. He placed a hand on the man's shoulder, face grim. "For what it's worth, I believe you." The tension eased in his body, shoulders loosening. "And—" he paused for a long moment, the next words obviously very hard for him to say. "I forgive you."
Sager's face tightened for an instant before smoothing. He stood, and held out his hand. Shelton took it. "I'm proud to be your father, Harry."
The double doors to the office burst open, and a lone figure stood in the richly appointed hallway, his hands coming together in a very slow clap. "How lovely," Bigglesworth said. "Nothing like a family reunion to bring a tear to me eye."
"You," I said, hate boiling up from my stomach. I didn't waste a moment, uncaging my demon just enough to manifest to the point where I could barely keep control. My body swelled, clothes stretching and tearing. Tears of pain sizzled in my eyes as horns erupted from my forehead, curling upward until they brushed the chandeliers.
"My, my, look how big you've grown," Bigglesworth said. "Guess it means there's more for me." His stomach swelled grotesquely until it hung like a fleshy sac from his body. "I'm gonna have to let me belt out a notch."
Two streams of white-hot energy sizzled through the air, and splashed harmlessly off the Flark. I turned and saw Shelton and Sager both holding staffs out, confused looks on their faces.
"He's immune to direct magic," I said. "But you can hurt him indirectly."
"Good luck with that," Bigglesworth said with a derisive giggle. His body stretched and snapped like a rubber band. His swollen stomach detached, a glob flying and smacking onto Sager's face.
The Primus tripped backward, falling onto his desk, hands grappling with the fleshy substance, muffled screams coming from within.
"Dad!" Shelton yelled. He grabbed the suffocating mass, and cried out, jerking his hands away.
"His skin burns you," I told him, my voice unnaturally deep. I didn't know what else to do, and didn't have a chance to think before Bigglesworth flung himself at me like a slingshot. I dodged, and the Flark smacked against a bookshelf, sticking to it like a glob of wet toilet paper. A leering face formed in the spherical mass. It sprang with terrifying speed at my face again.
I reached up and jerked the chandeliers, tearing them from the ceiling in cloud of plaster dust and sparks. I swung them. Smacked Bigglesworth. His booger-like form splatted all over the light fixture. I turned to the huge fireplace on the far wall. Focusing my anger, I launched a fireball at the wood inside. The logs burst into flame, and I hurled the chandelier into the fire.
Horrific screeches came from the creature as it fought to disentangle itself from the baubles and gems of the chandeliers while fire roared around it.
I turned back to Shelton. A constant roar of pain ripped from his lungs as he tried vainly to free his father from the deadly mass on his face. Sager's eyes were wide and his face dark red. He grabbed Shelton's hands, and gave him a look full of regret, pleading, and so much more I couldn't identify all within a fleeting moment. He pulled his son's hands free of the blob, and shook his head.
I remembered MacLean's cattle prod, and wished I'd gotten one. My eyes locked on the wires dangling from the ceiling where the chandelier had been. I tugged on them, pulling more slack from the ceiling. "Hold him higher!" I yelled.
Shelton tilted his struggling father's torso higher. Wasting no time, I pressed the bare wires into the squirming white mass suffocating Sager. Nothing happened. My eyes flicked to the other chandelier in the office, and I saw with horror the light was off. I must have short-circuited the outlet. I remembered what
Lina had told me about these places using aether—magic—to power the utilities. And magic didn't affect Flarks.
I roared with frustration. "I'm sorry," I said, my deep demonic voice sounding surprisingly sad.
Dark purple mottled Sager's face. His eyes flashed wide. A final spasm clenched his muscles, and he went limp.
Jarrod Sager, the Arcanus Primus and Shelton's father, was dead.
Chapter 39
"No!" Shelton roared, face suffused with absolute fury.
"Oh, is he dead? So sorry," said Bigglesworth, now free of the fire but slightly smaller than he had been before. He cavorted from one foot to the other. "Now it's your turn, boy."
Shelton whirled, grabbed his father's staff in his other hand, and slammed both of them against the floor at the same time, bellowing a word that ignited the ends of both staffs with seething orange light. He offered the Flark a smile that might have terrified any mortal. "Go to hell, you sorry sack of pus." He aimed the staffs at the creature.
"You can't hurt me, mate," Bigglesworth said, leering.
"Wanna bet?" Shelton flicked the aim of the staffs high and low, and shouted a word. Shafts of rippling light plowed into the ceiling and floor. The room exploded and a blast of heat slammed against me. The last thing I saw was a blue-tinged shield spring to life around Shelton before I felt my huge body smash through a window, fly through open air, and after a brief second of terror, smack into the earth outside. One of my horns caught in the dirt and flipped me hard onto my back.
I pushed myself up, shaking my head, and saw Shelton on the ground nearby, unscathed from what I could tell. He still had both staffs in hand, and planted them into the ground. Two roiling suns of death the size of his head formed atop the staffs. He aimed the staffs at the house, roaring, and unleashed them. They dropped off the ends of the staffs, rolling like boulders, and charring everything in their path. Whatever they burned only seemed to fuel them, and each inferno grew larger. They plowed through the house like meteors, rolling through the structure and razing it to the ground.
