Blood Divine

by Greg Howard

  “There will come a time when you beg me to drink from you.”

  Cooper watched Randy across the street, searching up and down the sidewalks, his face flushed. He turned and spotted Cooper and Alexander, His eyes widened. Cooper’s heart surged in his chest. No. Not now. Randy moved toward them anyway with a determined and angry expression. A flurry of thick gray smoke encircled him before he stepped off the sidewalk, stopping him in his tracks. The dark cloud dissipated, and Stephen Parker materialized behind Randy. Cooper’s heart sank. God. Please. No. Stephen grabbed a handful of Randy’s hair and jerked his head back. Struggling to free himself, Randy elbowed and kicked at his captor. His efforts had absolutely no effect on Stephen.

  Cooper twisted his body, struggling to free himself of Alexander’s iron grip. “No!”

  With his free arm, he rammed his elbow into a rib cage of steel. Searing pain shot through his arm. Alexander pulled up on his pinned arm, and Cooper cried out. He was sure his arm would twist clean off his body at any moment.

  Alexander hissed into his ear, his icy lips tickling the edge of the lobe. “Perhaps next time we meet, you will be more cooperative.”

  Cooper stared across the street as Stephen Parker easily subdued Randy, the crook of his elbow wrapped tightly around Randy’s neck. The color quickly drained from Randy’s face, and the fight left his limbs. There was too much chaos and focus on the burning buildings for anyone to notice the attack.

  Cooper swallowed hard and whispered. He knew that even though a sea of noise separated them, Stephen could hear him. “Please. Don’t.”

  Stephen grinned at him. He wrapped his arm around Randy’s waist and dissolved back into a swirling mass of gray smoke. The whirlwind engulfed them both and rose into the darkened sky, disappearing from view. The sidewalk was empty. Alexander released his grip. Cooper dropped to his knees and hugged his numb arm, staring at the spot in front of the clock tower where Randy had stood just seconds before. Itchy tears stung the corners of his eyes, and his resolve solidified.

  Alexander moved in front of him with deliberate human speed. He looked down and dusted himself off, like Cooper’s Divinum essence had soiled his clothing. “Do the right thing, and you will be reunited with your man.” He narrowed his emerald eyes on Cooper, a sneer twisting his lips. “Don’t and I will drain him in front of you. That is a promise.”

  With that, in a shimmering ripple of color and light that shot up into the sky, Alexander Montgomery was gone.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Cooper leaned against the iron gate in front of Phipps House, out of breath, his chest pounding. He’d run all ten blocks down Front Street, haunted every step of the way by the look of panic on Randy’s face right before he disappeared. His legs were numb, and his lungs heavy with smoke. An ashy film coated his tongue. He stared up at the house, glowing against the dark backdrop of a starless sky. Light illuminated nearly every window, and the house buzzed with internal activity. Something was wrong. Concern for Lillie Mae spiked in his gut, and he sprinted up the walkway. Took the porch steps two at a time. The door swung open before he could touch the knob, and he stopped dead in his tracks.

  Betsy stood staring at him and holding the door open, her eyes filled with relief. “Cooper.”

  He pushed past her. “Lillie Mae—”

  Lillie Mae is fine. Lex drifted into the foyer and stopped in front of him. She’s safe and resting.

  A wave of relief spilled over Cooper, but he wasn’t sure if it was genuine or manufactured by Lex. Likely the latter. Betsy closed the door and stood in front of him with hands resting on her hips. She looked slightly different than the last time he saw her. She had more color in her face, and her eyes sparkled with life. The effects of the day sleep and a recent feeding, he supposed.

  She leaned into him. “Where the hell were you?”

  Cooper peeled off his coat and threw it on the coat rack. “I’m fine.”

  She crossed her arms. “Rafe and Odessa?”

  “I don’t know. We got separated in the tunnels when the changelings attacked.”

  Betsy’s face hardened. Her eyes clouded with anger. “Tunnels? Changelings?”

  Cooper paced the width of the foyer, rubbing his forehead. “Odessa, Rafe, and I. And then Randy showed up. We went looking for the changeling nest. Odessa said if we destroyed the nest, Jericho would be able to get to Alexander.” He scratched the back of his head. “Well, we found the nest all right, and a shit ton of those nasty bastards. We had to split up. Barely made it out. And then… Randy…” His voice cracked, and he swallowed it back. He looked up into Betsy’s eyes. “Alexander took him.”

  Betsy’s face softened just a little. “Montgomery has Randy?”

  Cooper nodded. “He said he’d kill him and unleash those monsters on the town if I don’t surrender myself to him.”

  Betsy turned her back to him and cursed under her breath. “I knew he would use that boy against you.” She turned on her heel and faced him, her nostrils flaring. “I told you that, Cooper. I told you not to get him involved.”

  Cooper took a step toward her. “You think I wanted this? You think I wanted him involved in any of this?”

  Betsy looked away and slung her raven mane over her right shoulder but did not respond.

  Cooper held his ground. “I am going back to Warfield to find him.”

  “The Manheeg will never allow that.”

  Cooper rounded on her, jabbing a finger in her face. “I don’t give a shit what your Manheeg says. I won’t play with Randy’s life. So either help me get him back or stay the hell out of my way.”

  He turned and crashed squarely into a wall of girth and hard muscle. Massive hands gripped his shoulders and steadied him. Momentarily dazed, Cooper stared up into ancient black eyes. The man’s dark skin was smooth and oddly flawless. A pattern of geometric lines had been shaven into his buzzed hair, and a close-trimmed goatee framed his sculpted face. Standing more than a head taller, the man peered down at him. Cooper’s Divinum reflexes reacted to the man’s Anakim nature before his brain did.

  He backed away and squared his shoulders. “Who the hell is this? He’s—”

  “Anakim. Yes. That I am.” The man’s accent wasn’t easily placed. Certainly not American South. Hell, not even American-American. Middle Eastern, perhaps, peppered with a hint of British sophistication.

  Betsy placed a hand on Cooper’s shoulder from behind. “Cooper, this is the Manheeg.”

  The Anakim giant looked Cooper up and down, his right eye twitching and the corner of his mouth pulled tight. He finally offered his hand with a slight grunt. “I have heard much about you, Cooper. I am glad we finally meet. I am Joshua.”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Cooper stared down at the broad hand before he finally accepted it, the cylinders of his brain firing in all directions. Joshua. The Joshua. He appraised the much-lauded Manheeg with a bit of wonder and a healthy dose of suspicion. The guy had to be pushing seven feet tall, and he was as solid as a brick wall. His eyes were unreadable, a trait that Cooper did not appreciate in this fucked-up new world he’d been sucked into, where he wasn’t altogether sure who he could trust.

  “Come, Cooper. You should meet the others.” The voice was deep and round, soothing and dangerous all at once. “We have much to discuss.”

  “I don’t have time for a social visit.” Cooper kept his voice even and stared up into Joshua’s blank eyes. “My friend has been taken by a blood-sucking psychopath. One of you.”

  Without another word, Joshua turned and walked down the hall, disappearing into the sitting room.

  Cooper turned on his heel and faced Betsy. “The Joshua?”

  She crinkled her eyes and nodded.

  Cooper shook his head. “But he’s Anakim. Like Alexander. Like you—no offense.”

  Betsy nudged him toward the sitting room with a hand on his back. “He is here to help and has come a very long way to meet you.”

  Cooper walked down
the hall toward the sitting room. “Yeah. Around three thousand years, by my calculations.”

  When he entered the room, over a dozen eclectic strangers looked up at him and extinguished their hushed conversations. The crowd was mostly Divinum with a few Anakim sprinkled in. A variety of ages, sizes, and colors were represented, all sporting serious expressions. Eunice and Eudora sat side-by-side on the sofa, holding court. Eudora smiled warmly at their unexpected guests. Eunice openly scowled at them.

  Eudora beamed and slapped her hands on her lap when she spotted Cooper standing in the doorway. “Oh, thank heavens you’re all right. We were all so worried.”

  Cooper looked around the room again. He doubted all of them were so worried about him.

  Eunice rolled her eyes at her sister. “God’s balls, Dora! He’s not a lost puppy, for Christ’s sake. He’s a Phipps man and perfectly capable of taking care of himself.”

  Cooper nodded their way, hopelessness gnawing away at his insides. If this was the extent of the famed Jericho army, the world was in deep shit.

  “Everyone.” Joshua’s resonant voice quieted the room in an instant. “This is Cooper Causey, the carrier of the mutation.”

  Cooper cocked his head at Joshua. “Really? You’re calling me the mutant here?” He scanned the room and got a dozen chilly stares and few audible grumbles.

  Betsy cleared her throat, silencing them.

  Joshua continued. “Cooper is the last of the Phipps line.”

  The weight of those words knocked the breath right out of Cooper. Lex had said Lillie Mae was safe.

  Joshua looked over at him and raised an eyebrow. “I am sorry, Cooper. I misspoke. Your grandmother still lives. For the moment.”

  Cooper left the room. He didn’t have time for this. He needed to see Lillie Mae. In the hallway, Lex touched him on the small of the back, but it didn’t startle him. Raw magical energy sizzled through the fibers of his shirt where the pure-blood touched him, sending waves of comfort through his skin and down to his core. He assumed that was Lex’s intention, and he didn’t mind it at all.

  She has visitors. A holy man and her friend.

  Cooper stopped in front of Lillie Mae’s door and stared up at Lex. “Lillie Mae doesn’t have any friends. And she hasn’t set foot in a church since my mom’s funeral twenty years ago.”

  Lex opened the door for Cooper but did not follow him in.

  The holy man was Wayne Johnson. That made more sense. Wayne practically grew up with Cooper’s parents, and he adored Lillie Mae. He sat in the Boston rocker by the window, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees, eyes full of worry. He nodded once at Cooper and then looked down. He’d likely seen and heard more in one evening than his well-educated brain could process.

  An elderly woman sat on the edge of the bed holding Lillie Mae’s hand. She wore a pale blue antebellum-era apron gown with a white lace collar and cuffs. She tucked stray strands of silver hair up into the bun pinned at the back of her head and looked like she had stepped right out of the pages of Gone with the Wind. Her face was familiar, but he couldn’t readily place her.

  Wayne rose and walked over to Cooper, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I came a little while ago. I’ve been sitting here with Miss Ida and Aunt Mae. She’s been asking for you.”

  Miss Ida, of Miss Ida’s Ghost Tours. Of course. She lived a few doors down, though Cooper never knew she and Lillie Mae were friends. He studied the rector’s weary eyes. Wayne’s faith had either been fortified tonight or shaken to its very core. Cooper could relate.

  “Thanks for coming, Wayne. Are you okay?” He nodded toward the door. “With all that out there?”

  Wayne’s brow furrowed even more. Before he could answer, Lillie Mae called out in a broken voice. “Cooper? Is that you?”

  Miss Ida gave him a warm smile and stood, motioning for him to take her place.

  He sat, took Lillie Mae’s hand, and cupped it in his own. Her crackled skin was cool to the touch and her bones brittle in his grip. “I’m here now.”

  Lillie Mae relaxed and smiled. She squeezed his hand with failing strength.

  “How are you feeling?”

  She coughed and then cleared her throat. “I ain’t dead yet, son. Lex and Ida have been taking real good care of me. And Wayne came to see me.”

  “I see that.” Cooper looked over his shoulder at Miss Ida standing at the foot of the bed. She beamed at Lillie Mae, her eyes sparkling with affection. He was still a little puzzled by her presence.

  Ida smiled at him. “You’ll have to forgive my attire, Cooper. I gave a tour earlier today and came over right after.”

  Lillie Mae patted his hand. “Ida is my dearest friend in the world.” She craned her head toward the door. “Is Randy here?”

  Cooper looked down at Lillie Mae’s hand. He didn’t want her to see the tears pooling in his eyes. He brushed them away with the back of his hand. “They took him. The Anakim.”

  When he looked back at Lillie Mae, the dark circles around her eyes had deepened. “That demon will do anything to get to you, Cooper. Once I’m gone, my wards on you and this house will be broken. He’ll just take you. Like he took my Charlotte when she was just a child.”

  Lillie Mae looked over to the wall, and she went quiet, fading away for a moment. “The Jericho soldiers came back. They can help you save Randy, if they will.” She looked back at him. She reached out and touched his face. Her skin was dry and clammy, but he relished her gentle touch. “I know you won’t leave now without him. I wouldn’t ask you to.”

  Cooper shook his head and looked into her eyes. “He’s too important to me. Now more than ever.”

  Lillie Mae looked at Ida and smiled. “I understand completely, dear.”

  Cooper picked at a fraying seam in the quilt. He didn’t think she did. Not really. And he didn’t want her to die with secrets left between them. He had chosen to shut her out all those years, assuming she wouldn’t accept him without giving her a chance to prove him wrong. He’d wasted years hiding who he was from her. He tried to formulate just the right words. Lillie Mae beat him to it.

  “I remember how you used to look at him when you were just children.”

  Cooper’s breath stalled in his throat and stared down at her, stunned.

  Her eyes softened. “Nobody chooses who they love, son, especially not a child that young. He just loves, natural and pure. As everyone should.”

  Cooper adjusted the pillow under her head. “I had no idea you knew.”

  “And all those times Randy asked after you, I could see it in his eyes, too. He was lost without you. You two were always meant to be together.”

  He smoothed out the quilt square he’d been picking at and returned her smile. “I never in a million years thought Randy felt the same way, or that he even could feel the same way. But he does.”

  Lillie Mae squeezed his hand. “You hold that love in your heart, son. You are going to need it now more than ever.”

  Though he wasn’t completely sure of their meaning, her words resonated inside him.

  Lillie Mae reached up and touched his cheek. “Don’t waste another second being apart. You’ll never get those years back, son. Trust me. I know all too well.”

  Her eyes were moist. Ida eased around to the opposite side of the bed and sat, taking Lillie Mae’s free hand in hers. The two women stared at each other for several quiet moments, like Cooper wasn’t even in the room.

  Lillie Mae took his hand again. “I am just so happy that the two great loves of my life are here with me now.”

  If he didn’t know better, he’d think he was hearing things. He glanced over at Wayne, who just smiled at him like he was amused it took Cooper so long to figure things out.

  He turned back to Lillie Mae. “You? And Miss Ida’s Ghost Tours?”

  Miss Ida chuckled, and Lillie Mae coughed up a laugh.

  Cooper cocked his head at Lillie Mae. “But you were married to Grandpa Joe for fifty years.” He couldn’t
believe the ignorant-ass words came out of his mouth. He, more than most, should’ve understood.

  “I loved your grandfather for every one of those fifty years. Ida came into my life before I met Joe. But I was afraid. Thought I had to be a certain way to make it in this world. She, on the other hand, waited for me for all those years. Never married, no family.”

  Cooper shifted on the mattress, tucking his leg underneath him. He could not have been more surprised by the revelation. He was also sad for Lillie Mae and the love she sacrificed. Sad for Miss Ida, a lonely old woman living just a stone’s throw away, watching her one true love raise a family with someone else.

  “Don’t feel sorry for me,” Lillie Mae said. “My regrets pale in comparison to the overwhelming joy in my life. I have known great love, and it’s your love for Randy that will save him. That and your divine gifts.”

  Cooper looked down at his hands. “My power has proved less than reliable. Besides, Wayne said the Anakim are immortal.”

  Lillie Mae’s eyelids drooped. She needed to rest. He squeezed her hand and stood, but she didn’t let go. “Even immortality has its limits, son. But you have to convince them to help you. I just hope it’s not too late.”

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Cooper stepped out into the hallway and into a rumble of agitated voices echoing from the foyer. Rafe and Odessa stood surrounded by Joshua, Lex, and Betsy, and he was even more relieved to see them than he expected. Clothes soiled, hair askew, and eyes weary, they looked very different from the picture of perfection he’d first met. But they’d made it out alive. A haze of tension hovered over the group of warriors, so thick you could almost see it. He eased down the hall, his steps light and his back hugging the wall.

  “We acted on the day soldier’s information.” Odessa’s tone was sharp and defensive. “But it was one of the largest nests I’ve ever seen. There were too many of them. We were not able to exterminate them all.”