Murdoc looked a bit conflicted, and a lot uncomfortable, by the request. I could see that there was a genuine dislike of what he asked for, possibly Rufus as well. Would that matter? I didn’t know them enough, or their laws, to know if that would make a difference.
“Caden, do you have any response?”
“Carl had it coming,” he looked directly to Rufus for his next words. “You’ll be next if you think you are leaving with her.”
“You’re not giving us much to work with,” Murdoc interjected, clearly displeased at Caden threatening Rufus in their court.
“We all know what he’s been up to. I shouldn’t have to explain something that every person on this board is fully aware of. He’s stepped over the line countless times. I’m fed up. Carl had it coming.”
I raised my hand as if I was in a classroom. I was trying to be respectful to whatever traditions they had.
“Alexandria? Did you need to add something?” Murdoc asked.
“Carl abducted me, and then tried to force himself on me. Doesn’t that count for anything?”
“I understand how our laws might be confusing to you, as you are so new to our ways, but it’s a complicated matter. What he did to you was wrong, but I’m not sure it outweighs his death. Our laws are in place to secure our survival. That is the most important purpose we have on this council,” he spoke to me like I was an idiot. Any hopes of things being resolved today were slipping quickly.
“What about my personal rights?”
“I understand your complaints. The board is going to discuss this. We will return in a moment,” and as quick as that, I was dismissed.
My hands were sweating as I looked at the crowd around us. Panic was starting to take hold. I was on the verge of hyperventilating at what I was afraid was about to happen. I watched Caden watching everyone else as if we were in a shark tank. He didn’t look panicked. He looked fierce. I took Caden’s hand in a death grip, and he looked down at me. He looked a bit shocked. I’d never seen a shocked look on Caden’s face ever, so it alarmed me even more.
“What?”
“You need to calm down. NOW.”
“I can’t. I’m too nervous.”
He raised my hand up to my face and I saw what was upsetting him. I was glowing again.
“Why are you doing that?”
“I’m not trying to! How do I make it stop?”
“How should I know? I don’t glow.”
That stumped me completely. “You mean this isn’t a Drauth Demon thing?”
“No. No self respecting Drauth or demon would walk around lit up like a lightning bug.”
“You wish you could light up!”
“No, I don’t. You look ridiculous. And everybody is noticing. You need to turn it off because you’re now broadcasting I’m special to every freak here.”
I looked up and saw that he was right; the room was staring at me, or more precisely, my glow.
The idea that I did have some sort of defense that was starting to kick in gave me enough reassurance that I was able to get my breathing under control and I watched the glow slowly subside. I’d just gotten it back to normal when the board came back in. They took their seats. They wouldn’t look at me, and I knew it wasn’t going to be good.
“The board has decided, that although provoking, Rufus had not broken any laws. You Caden, have. We therefore have decided that you must forfeit one of your own. Rufus is inclined toward taking her, and because of the severity of the act, we have decided to grant him this.”
“No,” he said with a calm strength. I decided to handle it another way, in a total rant.
“You can’t just give me to him. I’m a person. Who do you people think you are?” I was glowing again, and so brightly, that I could see it without even looking down at my hands.
“What are you?” Murdoc asked from the bench, leaning forward to get a better view of me. “We’ve never had a female Drauth,” he said as he shook his head. “Why are you glowing? Do you do this often?” he asked, but I had no answer.
“Yes, I’m glowing, but I’m still a person. You have no right to ‘give me away.’ You have nothing to give.”
Caden stood silently by my side, not saying much and not having to. He was my silent strength. I knew no one wanted to approach me, partly because I was glowing like nothing anyone had ever seen, and partly because Caden looked like he would rip them apart if they tried.
“Someone needs to collect her for me! You said she was mine!” Rufus started yelling from the side, pointing at me.
The board was looking at each other and no one seemed to know what to do. Apparently they weren’t used to anyone disregarding there decrees.
“She’s leaving with me. It can be with your cooperation or not. I’ve got no problem stepping over your dead bodies on the way out.”
“Caden, why did you come here tonight if you weren’t going to honor our decision?” Murdoc asked.
“We’ve known each other a long time. When you asked me to come, I felt it was the right thing to do. I’ve lived by these laws because I believed they kept the peace and order. I no longer believe in them. I came here, and I heard you out. I disagree. Now I’m doing things my way.”
Murdoc looked like he was tongue-tied. I guess they weren’t use to people doing their own thing. A small stout middle-aged man to Murdoc’s left spoke up when it was clear Murdoc wouldn’t. “Compliance is not optional. You must honor our decision.”
“No, Arnold, I don’t,” Caden said with a shrug.
Yes, Arnold seemed like the right name for him. His face was getting redder by the second. In another minute, he’d be full on fuchsia and match my toenails.
“You might make it out of here but we will come with reinforcements and our decision will be honored,” stout little Arnold threatened.
I did a mental head count of how many were in the room. Then I looked at Caden. How many people did they think they needed to take him? We had to be out numbered twenty to one, and they didn’t think that was enough? Did we really have a shot of making it out at these odds?
One of the guards quickly made a grab for me. Before I could react, he screamed in pain and backed off.
“What did you do?” Caden was looking at me, trying to gauge how I’d managed to hurt the guard, while not even moving.
“I think I might have shocked him. I’m not really sure. I’m just guessing because I felt this weird fizzy type of feeling when his hand touched me.”
“Good to know.”
Several more men came in and went for Caden this time. It was like watching him fight toddlers. I knew these men were skilled, I could see it in their movements, but Caden’s speed and strength so outmatched them it wasn’t what you could call a fair fight.
“No more,” a voice spoke from behind, and I instantly recognized it. It was Jack. Whether I had the right to be or not, I was mad at him. I didn’t even feel like acknowledging him. He could’ve gotten me killed. What was he doing here anyway?
He came prancing into the middle of the room. Flowing black cape and cane with a top hat to boot. He looked like something out of the seventeenth century. I looked around the room and he had everybody’s rapt attention. How could he not? He was prancing around as if he was on a Broadway stage.
“Really Jack? You just always have to put on a show,” Caden said.
“Who is this Caden?” Murdoc asked.
“He’s the top dog Murdoc. He outranks even you,” Caden replied.
“You mean….him?” Murdoc asked.
“Yes, him,” Caden confirmed. A hush spread over the room.
“What are you saying? Who’s him? That’s Jack,” I said to Caden.
“Jack is his informal name. He has others. You would be more familiar with the name Luci...”
“No, no! I don’t care for that name. It’s Jack!” Jack interrupted. “That other name has been nothing but a cage my entire existence. You can’t even begin to imagine the stigma attached to it, and s
o unfair, by the way. I’m not all that is wrong with the world! Every time something goes wrong, I get the blame. Can you imagine going through life like that? Horrible, I tell you! Just horrible!”
“How are you involved in this situation, um, Jack?” Arnold asked in a rather polite tone.
“Not that I need to explain myself to you, but she’s mine.” “We thought she was Caden’s?”
“She’s my child. She’s just been staying at Caden’s.”
My jaw dropped to the floor. My head was instantly reeling from the implications. I looked to Caden, expecting him to be shocked, and he didn’t seem to have any reaction. He’d known!
“How long did you know?” I asked and punched him in the arm.
“Never knew, simply suspected. And don’t start asking why I didn’t tell you. That’s not something you say to someone unless you are one hundred percent sure.”
“She’s still one of us though isn’t she?” Arnold asked. “Just because you are her maker, well, we were all made by demons. She should still fall under our domain.” That stout little Arnold really had some big balls for a short little stubby guy. Jack just said he was the devil. Who argues with the devil?
“No, you idiot, I mean she’s actually mine. She’s not one of you pathetic mutated humans.” Jack came over and slung his arm around my shoulders, my glowing halo not fazing him at all. “You’re telling me you can’t see the resemblance? Seriously? She’s my spitting image!”
I finally looked at him. “We are going to need to talk.”
“Darling, of course.” He gave me the most charismatic smile I’d ever seen.
Caden made a choking noise next to me. “She’s not going with you. She’s coming back with me.”
“You were trying to ship her off,” Jack said accusatorily.
“She can’t stay with you. She’s not ready for the vultures you have around you.”
“Hmmm, yes, that is a good point. Okay, she can stay with you. Until she’s ready, that is. Then she comes with me.”
“We’ll talk,” Caden said.
“Talk, talk, talk. You people are getting tedious. Anyway, nice to meet you all, we need to go.”
Jack waved his cane in farewell, grabbed my hand, and we disappeared into haze. When it became clear again, we were in a large penthouse, decorated in wall-to-wall white. Massive windows overlooking the city showed we must have been fifty stories up, at least.
“Where’s Caden? You can’t leave him there alone!”
“Caden’s fine. Trust me.”
“How can I trust you?”
“I have no reason to lie.”
“How would I know? Maybe you do?”
“I could bring you back there to see, but he’s already left back for the bar.”
“Are you sure?”
“Completely. I don’t know why he even stuck around as long as he did. He could have blown out of there at any time. Why even listen to those bores droll on and on.”
“Where are we?” I asked Jack as I looked around at the opulence.
“It’s my place. I like to keep one in the city.”
“It’s beautiful,” I remarked.
“You’re shocked aren’t you? Were you expecting some sort of dark cave? Some blood red furniture and such? Maybe even some screaming gargoyles in the corner?”
“Kind of?” It was a tad uncomfortable to admit such a thought.
“See! This is what I have to deal with constantly,” he said throwing his hands up in the air.
“Isn’t it sort of a natural assumption? With you being who you are and all? Aren’t you the one responsible for a lot of bad things that happen?”
“Caden is the same as me. Just because he went to go play nice with humans, I look like the bad guy.”
“Caden isn’t the dev-,” I started to reason with him, but I was cut off.
“Please, call me Jack. Yes, I might be the TDIC, top demon in charge, but he’s a demon too. I just took front stage while he wanted to go play nice with humans.”
I wanted to be surprised, but I’d seen the differences between Caden and the guys. I had known on some level he was different. None of the other guys could compete with his strength. None of them had that weird way of making absolutely no noise. The other guys were quiet, but not silent. The way he could travel in the strange mist, the list went on and on. I realized I had suspected the whole time; I just hadn’t wanted to know. I’d been too overwhelmed.
“Humans didn’t get all the details correct when they wrote down their varying religions. It’s like a game of telephone. By time it got written down, it was completely butchered. That’s why there are so many versions. The reality is a little of this and a little of that, and then a whole bunch of stuff that never even made it into the books. There wasn’t just one angel that defected. There were fifty of us. And we didn’t leave because we had a disagreement with the big guy. There wasn’t any banishment. They made this whole big eviction story up that is so over the top!”
“So then you are all demons? Or fallen angels? Why did you leave?”
“God, or Frank to those of us that know him really well, didn’t cast anyone out. It’s really not his style. He’s never kicked anyone out. A bunch of us just wanted to branch out and do our own thing, but you know how reporters are, always dreaming up some sort of scandal.” He waived his hands in the air accentuating the word scandal. “I’ve taken a lead role being the strongest and that seemed to have given me a bad reputation, but I don’t want anyone murdered. I certainly don’t do all those crazy things people say I do. Every time someone does something bad, everyone shouts the devil made him do it! I didn’t do anything! It was the stupid idiot with the gun that did it! The only thing I’m guilty of is liking the good life. I like to drink, and gamble, and oh boy do I love sex. And yes, I will occasionally encourage others to partake in the enjoyment with me. Is that so horrible?” He had his palms out and shoulders hunched looking at me, waiting for validation.
“This brings me to another point. You said you’re my father? How can that be?”
I watched him walk over to the couch and recline back propping his expensive looking shoes on the coffee table. He flicked his fingers and lit the fireplace for us.
“Do you like it?” he asked. “It’s an Italian marble mantle.”
“It’s beautiful,” I said as I walked over and waited for him to start explaining.
“I can see you’re impatient for answers. You definitely took some work, that’s for sure. I’ve been tinkering in your family tree for generations, trying to get just the right combination of genes that would be able to take that leap. It didn’t happen easily. I tried with your great grandmother back in the thirties. I thought I had it then, but I just still couldn’t get it to take. Then your mother came along, and I knew she was the one. It all fell into place after that.”
“You’ve been having affairs with the women in my family for generations?” My stomach did a little flip-flop at the idea.
“Yes and no. I was having an affair with them, but they didn’t know they were having sex with me. They thought I was their husbands. I didn’t come to them like this.” He quickly changed appearance and looked like my father.
I gasped and stepped back looking at him in shock. He quickly shaped back to his normal form.
“I’ve known you your whole life. I’ve been around you since you were in the womb. Do you remember when that little ugly Nancy girl stole your crayons in the first grade? Then she wouldn’t give them back so you tripped her and took them after she fell? When the principal called, I was the one that came and picked you up. I know you were young, but didn’t you think it was weird how every time you needed money for something, someone would give you a scratch off card that would win? And really, how many seventeen year olds win a corvette on their birthday? Hate to tell you this, but you aren’t any luckier than the next Joe.”
“Why didn’t you come to me before now and tell me?”
“I didn
’t know what to do with a kid. Plus, please don’t be insulted, but it really would’ve cramped my lifestyle.” He stood up and walked over to the bar on the side of the room, and lit a cigarette. “Care for one?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“It’s okay. You can’t get cancer. Your teeth will never yellow either. I’m why you don’t get cavities too.” He smiled as if he was patting himself on the back for that one.
“So what part of me is human? What exactly am I?”
“That gets a bit tricky. Nobody has ever been able to do this. I mean a demon that is. I’m the first. We are flying blind to an extent. I know what you are now, kind of anyway, but I don’t know what’s to come. You might live forever, or you might just live a couple hundred thousand years. I’m just not sure yet.”
“What really bothers me is if I’m your daughter that you’ve been trying to create for centuries, than why would you almost let me die in that crazy demon soul place?” I stood up and placed both palms leaning on the bar across from him, waiting for my answer.
“You need to understand from my point of view. I’d been waiting and waiting for you to start coming around. I was getting a bit impatient. Completely understandable, I think. Let’s face it, you aren’t exactly a quick learner.” He raised his eyebrows, and rolled his eyes slightly, trying to emphasize his point.
“I might have died?” It was crazy how cavalier he was acting about my possible death.
“Relax, you didn’t die. I put a lot of work into making you. I wouldn’t have actually let that go to waste. Worst-case scenario was, you would’ve been possessed for a bit. Maybe got a little whacky, but I don’t think it would have completely killed your body. I would have fixed you somehow.”
“Not that that sounds good, but you told me that day I could die?”
“I might have been a little dramatic. It would have killed a regular human for sure, but I figured you’d probably make it. Demons can’t inhabit a human body for long. They wear them out and kill them. But you’re made stronger than that.”
I wasn’t sure what to think anymore, my reality had just been upended again. I thought back to Caden’s words the other day, and I saw the wisdom in them now that I hadn’t understood then. “What’s happening around you can’t change who you are or you’ll always be adrift. You decide who you are, and that is how you go on. It’s in here,” he said as he had pointed to my heart. “It’s all that matters.”
Obsidian Souls (Soul Series) Page 20
