by Ursula Bauer
Chapter Twelve
Gideon made a complete search of Stan Liebers’ house and found nothing other than questionable financial dealings. There was no magic, not a single thing to link him to the artifact, or hint at its whereabouts. Gideon’s frustration level at another failure spiked dangerously. He wanted to trash the place, destroy the pretentious modern furniture and precious art, all bought at the expense of one woman’s life. Gideon had found all manner of purchase receipts for these things, obtained after the arrival of the artifact. Liebers was the missing link, Gideon was certain of it, and he was ready to take the guy to the mat to get the answers he needed.
He swallowed his fury, maintained discipline and left the house as he’d found it. He cut through the backyard, keeping to the darkness and shadows, emerging on another street. Meg waited around the corner in the car, parked just beyond the radius of light. The last hours in her company hit him in a hard rush. They’d talked through the journey, and she’d taken it all from him, every scrap of detail of his past, every bit of who he’d been, and who he’d become since then. He wanted to keep it back, but he felt he owed her that much, since he couldn’t offer her anything else. Somehow, instead of feeling worse, he’d felt lighter at the end. She never judged him, just listened, questioned, and considered as the story of him poured out.
She didn’t ask him about tomorrow or long term, she didn’t ask him about what he couldn’t give her. In all his centuries he’d never met someone like her, never wanted to have what was forbidden to him.
Gideon gave a quick look around, got in the car and fired it up. “I didn’t find anything.”
“I didn’t think you would. Stan is a typical addict, a master at compartmentalization and secrecy.”
“We need to make the call. Are you ready?”
Her lips compressed into a thin line. “Never more.” She had her cell in her hand, flipped it open, and dialed. “Hi Stan, it’s me Meg. Don’t talk, just listen. I want the artifact. I know you have it. No more games. Get back to Troy. Now.”
She fell silent for a moment, then her eyes narrowed. “I don’t care about Pharmetrica, and don’t throw the kids at me. This isn’t about them. If you don’t meet me I’m coming after you. Gideon’s coming with me. Trust me, you won’t like what he has in mind for you.”
She paused. “You need to get it? How long will that take?”
She chewed her lower lip for a moment. “Fine. The office. Ten-thirty tomorrow night.”
She snapped the cell closed and looked at Gideon. Her eyes were wild with anger. “Do you believe he tried to guilt me with the kids to buy more time? He had the nerve to tell me that if he didn’t meet with the executives tomorrow, they’d yank the study and the kids would suffer. Bastard.”
Gideon put the SUV into drive and headed out. “Why can’t we meet tonight?”
“He has the thing stashed somewhere for safe-keeping. It will take him that long to get his hands on it and get back. He heard about the demon attack on me and got spooked. He doesn’t want the mage and his cronies chasing him down.”
Gideon didn’t like that answer. There was too much time between now and then, too much time to set up an ambush. Then again, it did make sense, keeping the thing on ice. Particularly after what happened to Meg. “At least we know the mage doesn’t have it yet.”
“What if Stan double-crosses us and doesn’t bring it?”
“Leave Stan to me, Meg. This is my game, my field of expertise. He’ll hand it over.”
She turned to look out the window as he drove through the sleepy town. “I don’t suppose we can spend the night at my place?”
“I was going to head back up to the Pine Motor Lodge.”
“I know. It’s silly, right? My cape isn’t exactly a safe haven.”
“It’s too dangerous. We’re so close now, I don’t want to take any unnecessary risks. Once it’s over you can go back.”
But even as the words left his mouth, he recognized them for a lie. She couldn’t go back to her home or her normal life, no more than he could go back to what passed for his home or normal life. Too much had gone on between them, too much had happened to reclaim the peace offered by the past.
For the first time, Gideon really contemplated living minutes, hours, days, without Meg. He could scarce imagine a moment without her, let alone eternity. He felt an eruption of pain start in his chest and spread into his veins and finally his soul. The profound sense of loss was paralyzing and terrifying. He gripped the steering wheel, holding on for support, and waited for the worst of the physical sensations to pass. In its wake, his blood ran cold and his eyes saw his future: empty, bleak, meaningless. Even the heat of the scorching, erotic bliss they shared last night failed to warm him this time.
This morning he’d told himself he needed to push her away, that it was the right thing to do for her. She broke down every wall he threw up. She owned his soul. She completed him. And she would leave him. She’d have no choice. He’d have no choice. His mouth went dry with fear. He’d become obsessed with her, so completely obsessed that he barely cared about the conspiracy, barely cared that the world hung in the balance. His focus was her, and when she was gone, he would be nothing.
———
Stan’s hands trembled as he waited through rings across a distant line. After an eternity, the line connected and the answering machine beeped.
“She called. We’re on for tomorrow night. Ten-thirty. My office. Don’t be late. That guy she’s running around with is a freaking monster. No telling what he’ll try when it goes down.”
He hung up and began to pace. He had so much to do. He couldn’t believe this was happening. He forced himself to still and took a drink of bland hotel water from the glass pitcher. When that didn’t work, he popped a valium and chased it with a shot of gin from the mini-bar.
He lay back on the king-sized bed and stared at the shadows on his ceiling. His heart pounded like a jackhammer. By this time tomorrow, he’d be done with all the bullshit. He’d be free and rich beyond his wildest dreams. All he had to do was hold it together for the next twenty-four hours.
———
Meg cleaned up in the horrid little motel bathroom and changed into her single set of pajamas. The light blue cotton was a far cry from the jeweled silk of the night before. Everything seemed so distant from that one moment in time. The talk with Gideon was surprising, cleansing, and frightening. Knowing the mortal man as well as the immortal soldier didn’t change her feelings, only confirmed them. His mortality, his failings, made him approachable and real, gave her hope that somehow they could make it work once the worst of this trial had passed.
She dried her face with the harsh towel and stared at herself in the mirror. The fluorescent lighting gave her skin a ghoulish cast. Jack’s necklace glowed an eerie dusky pink, full of a life all its own. This will all pass. Whatever was inside of her, that crazy desert hermit Jack would pull it out of her. Gideon would catch the bad guy. There would be a happily ever after for them. If she’d learned one thing fighting the battle against cancer, faith mattered. Those patients with a positive attitude and belief in a good outcome had far better responses to treatment, and far better chances of survival. She would survive. She didn’t just find the man of her dreams only to lose him to some cosmic battle between ancient Gods and crazed wizards. Love was within her grasp, she’d be damned if she’d let it go.
She stepped out into the chilly air of the small, dated motel room. This wasn’t the unit they had that first night, but it was identically decorated and reinforced the feeling of coming full circle.
Gideon sat on the bed, cleaning one of his numerous guns. His exotic scent filled the tiny room. Meg took a deep breath, recalling in vivid detail how that scent mixed so well with the musk of sex. He looked up at her, his sharp features drawn and tight, his dark eyes haunted. Silently she went to him, took the gun from his hands, and pushed him back onto the bed. He offered her no resistance as she stripped him bare and m
ade love to him. She followed an aggressive, erotic, driving need, straddling him and riding him wildly until he cried out her name and came undone beneath her touch. Her own release was next: quick, volcanic, transforming. She’d marked him as hers, as surely as he’d made his mark upon her last night.
She looked down upon him through a mist of passion, but her mind and heart were clear as day. “I love you.”
“Meg—”
He made to speak but she laid a finger across his lips. “I know you think you can’t. I don’t care. I told you, heart enough for both of us. Don’t forget.”
Chapter Thirteen
Gideon watched the parking lot of the Russell Clinic as darkness settled over the city. A hard rain fell from a sky full of angry clouds. One by one, cars left the lot, until the only one remaining belonged to the security guard on duty. There was only one way in and out of the lot, so it made his job easy. It didn’t account for all the non-traditional methods of egress and entry into a place, but it was something.
Meg sat in silence beside him in the SUV, sipping strong black coffee. “Looks like everyone’s left today.”
“Near as we can tell. That’s not saying much.”
She flashed a bemused grin. “We’ve been watching this place since dawn. And I’ve been on the inside. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.”
“Your boss wasn’t in today.”
“Bill? I told you, he was giving a lecture at Albany Medical College. Besides, it’s his day off.”
“He always stops in at the office, unless he’s out of town.”
“How would you know that?”
“It was in the file. And, I did surveillance for a while before we formally met.”
She had another sip of coffee. “One of these days you’re going to have to show me my ‘file’.”
One of these days meant in the future, a future he was certain they didn’t have. His hands flexed as the adrenaline circulated in his veins, mixing with lust and something else he couldn’t quite name. “Forget your file. The real thing is far more impressive.”
She shook her head and laughed lightly. “You immortals are awfully glib in the face of danger. Must be because you can’t die.”
“I can die. Just not in the traditional sense.”
She snorted. “So your God resurrects you, that’s not the big sleep.”
No, it wasn’t, but it hurt like hell and was a major pain in the ass. But it was better than the death they could suffer. Rare, it was, but final. No get out of jail free cards or resurrections. “We can be killed. Certain types of enchanted weapons, or very rare poisons can wipe me out. If I get hit with that, I wind up back where I started, facing the real death that was planned before Bast intervened.”
“The lake of fire thing? With Sokar the Snake Goddess?” Meg shivered and her eyes clouded with fear.
He realized his mistake immediately. She needed to believe he was invincible. He wanted to sometimes pretend he was a regular Joe. The two didn’t mix. “Don’t worry, Doc. They’re very rare, hard to obtain, even harder to use.”
“The magic I absorbed heals me, too,” she said in an offhanded manner.
Gideon swore. Just like Jack said. There were things that would happen to her he couldn’t predict, or couldn’t see on the surface. Signs the magic was escalating. Gods, he had to end this, and soon. His hands itched for a fight. “When did you figure this out?”
“I cut myself at Jack’s and I healed, the way you do when I touch your wounds.”
He gave this some thought. It could work in her favor. If she healed that rapidly, she had similar immortal powers. She’d have a better chance of surviving during any kind of attack. And he was certain they’d face another tonight, he just didn’t know when, or from whom. Liebers, the mage, both, or a player to be named later. It was anyone’s game at this point, the most dangerous odds of all. “Try to stay out of trouble, anyway. You don’t know how reliable the healing powers are, or how long they’ll work. The last thing you want it to suffer a fatal wound and not have enough juice left to fix it.”
“Good point.” She straightened in her seat. “That’s Liebers. The silver Volvo.”
Gideon’s gut tightened. Show time.
He glanced at the clock. It was just past nine. “He’s early. We told him ten-thirty.”
“Do we follow him in?”
“Give it a few minutes. We want to make sure no one else arrives. We go in too early, we could get caught short by someone riding up our six.”
Meg nodded silently, capped her coffee and put it in the drink holder. She folded her hands in her lap and chewed on her full lower lip. Gideon recognized the signs of her keyed up nerves. He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
“Don’t worry, Doc. Play it just like we discussed. I go in first. Any sings of trouble, you bail, call Matt. He’s got a team nearby.”
She nodded tightly. “I’ll be fine. So will you.”
“Right.”
Five more minutes passed in silence, then ten, and no other cars turned into the clinic lot. Gideon started the car, and drove the short distance to the clinic, parking out of camera range as he’d done the first night.
They used the side entrance and bypassed the security station without event. When she went for the private elevator, he stopped her.
“Stairs. The hall that leads to the elevator is a perfect ambush spot.”
She stayed close while they made the uneventful climb to the top floor. Once there, he had her wait while he turned to mist and filtered through the top floor. No one was there, including Liebers. His office was empty. He met her back on the stairs and motioned her inside.
“Liebers isn’t here,” he said softly. “Any idea where he might be?”
“We could try paging him. He doesn’t expect us until ten thirty. He could be anywhere in the building, checking labs, who knows.”
Gideon didn’t like the idea, but he didn’t want to conduct a search of the entire building either. That would leave them vulnerable to ambush. “Fine. Do it from the internal phone system.”
They went around the two corners to the reception desk. Meg dialed the beeper number, hit a few more numbers and hung up. “He’ll call to the switchboard. If he uses an in-house line, I can tell where he is. If he responds with his cell, we won’t know.”
Moments passed in tense silence. Meg’s brow furrowed and she touched Gideon’s arm. “Did you hear that?”
He listened to the silence, but his acute hearing picked up nothing out of the ordinary. “No.”
“I think I hear something beeping.” She started to walk down the hall to the small break room. As she did, she scratched her arm. “All this cloak and dagger is giving me hives.”
After a few feet Gideon detected the soft beeping sound Meg had picked up. He stepped in front of her and into the break room. The light from the microwave flashed twelve as if the power had been cut and restarted. Gideon summoned his blade and hit the light. He sniffed the air, detecting the gathering scent of spilled blood.
“Stay alert, Doc. We’re hot.”
He zeroed in on the scent and sound coming from behind the door to the small pantry. When he pulled it open a headless body fell out.
Meg screamed. Gideon took a step back, all his senses on alert. “Go, Meg. We’ve been compromised.”
They ran into the hall, and the elevator doors ground open with a metallic screech. His blood began to hum. A Keeper and a first guard demon rushed into the hall, followed by an entire squad.
“Run.” With his free hand he pulled out the glock. Thank the Gods he’d packed it with full-strength vampiric acid loads. It wouldn’t stop the Keeper and the first guard, but it would kill the others dead. “Get to the stairs. Call Matt.”
Gideon fired a few rounds softening up the ranks, and backed down the hall, drawing them up the narrow corridor so they wouldn’t surround him. He was aware of Meg, still at his back.
“Go, Meg. I’ll be right behind you.�
�
Gideon came alive with sword blows and bullets, all the while moving steadily back. Meg hit the speed dial on the phone as she raced around the corner of the office and down the hall towards the stairs. “Help! Demons! Fourth Floor,” she screamed into the line as she ran. “Hurry!”
The door was within her reach. Gideon battled the Keeper, and she watched in horror as he discarded the now empty gun and pulled out the shotgun. He hit the larger thing in the gut, and sent it flying back into the others, buying enough time to back further towards her.
“Come on, Gideon! Run!”
She pushed the door to the stairs open, ran through, and slammed into Bill Russell.
She bounced off him and fell to the floor. “Bill! Get out of here. You’re going to get killed.”
He smiled benignly at her, grabbed her by the elbow and wrenched her roughly to her feet. Too late she saw the syringe in his other hand.
“I’ll be fine, Meg.” It was in her before she could jerk free. “You were going to rule by my side, Meg. Imagine my surprise, learning the artifact had transferred its energy into your body. Luckily, the vessel doesn’t matter, only the power. I hate to lose you, but it’s fitting somehow, you giving your life so others may live.”
The fast-acting sedative turned her limbs to spaghetti, making it impossible to fight. Bill’s crazy words echoed in her head like a chorus of a thousand. She sagged in his arms. “Let me go.” Her tongue was thick, making it hard to speak. “You don’t want to do this Bill.”
He laughed maniacally. “I’ve been waiting thirteen years for this very moment. There’s nothing in this world or any other I want to do more.”
Meg tried to speak again but the words were a confused torrent in her brain, and her mouth, along with the rest of her body, had ceased to answer to her commands.
Russell dragged her out into the hall. Gideon howled with rage and lunged towards them. The Keeper got up and tackled him, then Meg’s vision dimmed and she blacked out.
———
Venice, Italy
Salazar emerged from his study. His white shirt was stained red with blood and yellow with gore, his hands similarly marked. He stopped briefly in the half bath beneath the stairs to wash off what he could, knowing the real stains, the ones that blackened his old soul, would forever remain.
