Bound (The Divine, Book Four)

by Forbes, M. R.

  She put her hand up into the same shelf one more time. It was above her head, but she seemed to know exactly where everything was placed. She took down a brown leather glove that looked too big for her tiny hands. Stitching of demonic runes twisted and turned all around it. She slipped it on, and it looked as if it shrunk to fit her. "It can glamour anything it touches."

  She made her way over to another drawer on the south wall, bending down to pull it open. It was filled with all kinds of throwing blades. There were two distinct rows, one for seraph and one for demons. She took a half dozen knives from each side, and tucked them into pockets sewn inside her boots.

  Then she went to a third drawer and removed three more of the red crystals that had exploded into hellfire. "Father is going to be pissed at me for taking these," she said.

  "More pissed than for taking the sword?"

  She laughed. "Not a chance. Just one more thing to collect."

  She made her way back to the front, and opened a shelf near the door.

  "One of our newest additions. Landon destroyed most of them, so they are incredibly rare."

  She reached into the back and lifted a silver chain. As it became taut, it pulled its attachment out and left it swaying in front of her. A crystal amulet filled with a red, viscous smoke. I had seen it before, when Merov had put it around my neck as a birthday present.

  "Why do you have this?" I asked. The amulet was made for demons, not humans.

  "It's an insurance policy. When a human breaks the crystal and drinks the blood, they're able to regenerate for a short time. A few hours. At least, that's what my brother Kelvin said. He's our top researcher."

  "You haven't tried it?"

  She put the chain over her head, and tucked the amulet below her cami. "Like I said, it's very rare. We can't go wasting it just to see if we're right. Kelvin has a lot of experience. I trust his opinion."

  Seeing one of them again made me uneasy. It was a reminder of a different place, a different time, when I had betrayed Landon after he had been so kind to me, all in my lust for power.

  Elyse checked her other gear one more time, making sure she wasn't missing anything, and then went back to the door. She had to run her finger and eyes through it to get out too. She backed away as the door swung in.

  Joe was standing behind it.

  "Didn't I tell you to go to bed?" he asked.

  I could feel Elyse's heart rate increase, and she lunged forward and threw a heavy punch into her father's face. He was caught off-guard, and he stumbled backwards, giving her time to pull an ordinary knife I didn't even know she had and press it to his neck.

  "Elle?" Joe was confused, but not afraid.

  "I'm sorry, father," she said. "Your way is going to ruin this world. I'm going on my own. Now, tell me what you know about Sarah."

  Joe shook his head. "You always were stubborn," he said. "Fine. I'll tell you." He let his body relax, and Elyse started to relax with him.

  "No," I said, all too familiar with this trick.

  Elyse was strong, but she was young. Joe's shove sent her backwards, where she hit hard against the wall, the knife clattering to the floor. He was on her in an instant, his own fists pummeling her body with sharp blows that threatened to break her ribs.

  "I won't kill you," he said, "but you need to learn a little more respect."

  I didn't ask her for control. I took it. All at once I became flooded with her memories. It was my second time through them, and so they didn't cause much pain. Within an instant I could feel my heart beating, and the blood flowing through living veins.

  Joe's next punch came in, and I angled my forearm to push it aside, into the solid wall. I had always been fast, and in a body like Elyse's, I was even faster. I caught the blow from the other side and turned my arms, wrapping his up and twisting it at the elbow until it threatened to break. He grunted and wrinkled his forehead in pain and anger.

  "I don't know what's gotten into you," he said. He backed up a step and threw a foot. I let go of his arm and sidestepped, and then moving in and smacking him hard in the chest, knocking the wind out of him.

  "Sarah," I said. I could feel Elyse observing, but there was nothing she could do. She could see spirits, but she could only protect herself from the outside.

  "Elle, the Box has the power to destroy all of the Divine. We can put an end to them, a total end." He coughed and choked between the words, slumping down against the wall, accepting his defeat. He held his arm across his chest, keeping weight off it.

  "We'll become the Divine," I said, knowing what she would say. "It's already started happening. That isn't why we're here."

  "We'll have the power of the Divine," he replied. "Isn't that what we've always been after? Isn't that why we collect all of their artifacts? You can't deny that they are superior to us in every way."

  I stopped and stood there, not sure how to respond.

  "The vampire changelings, they don't need to drink human blood to survive. They feel the compulsion because of the way their genes change, but it can be controlled. In exchange they get increased stamina, strength, longevity, intellect. Who wouldn't want that?"

  "They aren't human," I said, my voice little more than a whisper. "Isn't that enough?" Humans were inferior, but there was something to that inferiority that was appealing. So few resources to work with, and yet they still managed to thrive.

  "No," he said. "It isn't."

  I bent down and picked up the knife. "Tell me what you know about Sarah," I said. In the past it would have been a Command, but my Commands didn't work anymore.

  "Fine," he said. "I'll tell you because I think you can get to her, but keep an eye on your back Elle. Once you have the Box, I'll do whatever it takes to get it back from you."

  "You're welcome to try," I said. I stood over him, holding the knife and waiting.

  "New York. She's in New York. Montauk. She's living like a mortal, and keeping her signature disguised. The only reason we found her is because she slipped up in her web browsing, of all things. Our sister in the NSA caught an encoded and encrypted message on a Tor message forum. She's been in communication with Ulnyx, the Great Were that the diuscrucis befriended."

  That was an interesting development. I had assumed the Were would catch up to her. What I hadn't considered is that they would work together. "You're sure it's her?"

  He nodded. "We don't have a precise location, but the IP address block was Montauk. You want to find her, be my guest. I'll deal with your insolence after I get the Box."

  For just a moment, the idea to kill him crossed my mind. Reyka would have done it and not cared. Reyka was dead, lost in the power of God's Blade. Joe was defenseless, unarmed, and not threatening. Besides, he was Elyse's problem.

  "I'll deal with you after I get the Box," I said. I leaned in and kissed his cheek. I figured it was what Elyse would have done. Then I turned and walked away.

  He didn't try to stop me.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Rebecca

  It was a long flight from Kyoto to New York. We touched down nearly twenty eight hours after the confrontation with Joe. I had given Elyse control back for some of the trip, so that we could discuss all of the various tools, markings, and scars she was wearing. I had her memories, but trying to sift through them for details was a dull waste of time. It was easier to just have her explain what she was capable of.

  Quite a lot, it seemed. She wasn't invincible, and she certainly couldn't withstand damage the way a Divine could, but she had a laundry list of tricks up her sleeve that would come in handy more than once, I was sure. She had one trick that was naturally born into her, because she was fully mortal; Divine couldn't See her.

  It made it a lot easier to get into and out of the airports, where there were always Divine stationed to keep an eye on one another. It was true I could have managed it on my own in my ghost form, but Elyse's body fit me like a tailored glove, her lithe strength and balance superior to any of the forms I had taken before. S
he was the best shell I could have wanted, and I was grateful to have succeeded on that front.

  We traveled light, carrying a single backpack filled with the items that wouldn't make it through security, most of which were sharp. I had used the glove on them before we'd gone through, so while the machines had shown the truth of our cargo, the humans watching them had no idea. All they'd seen were a bunch of metal figurines. I was a collector, after all.

  Once we landed, I wandered through the parking garage for a while, until I spotted a valet parking a red Porsche that looked like it wanted to be driven. I asked Him for forgiveness as I approached the attendant, a young man with an acne scarred face and straw hair.

  "Excuse me," I said, trying to sound sexy instead of threatening. I could see him shake, clearly startled, before he turned around.

  "Can I help you?" he asked. His face turned red, and his eyes made their way up and down Elyse's body. I couldn't blame him, even the most pious seraph would have trouble ignoring it.

  "Yes. I think I locked my keys in my car. Can you help me?" I pointed down the row towards a random car.

  "Uh... Yeah, okay." He looked down at the fob for the Porsche, searching for the button to lock the doors.

  That was when I hit him in the temple. Hard, but not too hard. He crumpled to the ground like a bag of meat. I lifted him under the shoulders and leaned him up against the car next to us.

  "My apologies," I said, taking the keys from his hand and giving him a quick kiss on the lips. He was out cold, but maybe he could feel it in his subconscious.

  Sliding behind the wheel, I felt a sense of exhilaration to be able to drive again. It hadn't been that long in terms of time, but it felt like forever. I started the car and whipped it backwards, then peeled out through the parking lot. I almost careened right into an oncoming Mercedes, having to slam on the brakes and twist the wheel to avoid it. I had forgotten that I was as mortal, and nobody was going to move out of the way for me.

  The other thing I had forgotten, because I had never kept a shell too long, was that my body was human, and needed to rest. I couldn't keep going indefinitely without breaking down, and after an hour on the road that found me still on the west end of Long Island, I knew I needed to stop to sleep.

  I pulled the car off the highway and rode along the side streets until I happened upon a Holiday Inn. My eyes were feeling heavy, and my concentration was fading; both feelings I hadn't experienced in a long time. As a vampire, I would tire when I was hungry, or if I had to be out in the sun. Otherwise, I didn't waste time asleep.

  Getting out of the car, I had another sensation that I wasn't used to. I was hungry, and not for blood. There was a McDonald's across the street from the hotel, and I decided I would grab a bite to eat there right after I checked in.

  The woman at the desk was friendly enough, though she did give me a look because I had taken off the jacket. Swirls and scars ran down both arms to the cuff, in intricate patterns that any artist would have been amazed by. She just seemed disgusted.

  "Room 203," she said, handing back my credit card and the room key. One more crooked glance, and I was off to the room to drop off the jacket, and then head across the street. I checked a wall clock as I passed by. Eleven o'clock.

  I found the stairs, and then the room, using the card to get in. Once I had entered, I put the backpack down on the bed and unzipped it, returning the knives to their spots in the boots and putting the knife Elyse had used on Joe back into its compartment in the sleeve of the leather. That had been a great trick. Once I was re-armed, I went back out of the hotel and across to the burger place.

  I was a vampire. I had never eaten fast food before, though I knew about it from television. My most intimate knowledge of the place was to avoid the blood of humans who were regular patrons, because it would taste of their poor diet. Elyse's stomach was grumbling though, and there was nowhere else nearby to sate its hunger. At least I could cede control to her if I was that disgusted by the meal.

  It was quiet inside, the only patron another traveler who looked like he was resigned to the choice as well. He stared down at his burger, taking a bite, grabbing a few fries, and taking another bite. It was almost enough to make me turn around and walk out.

  I stayed because I needed Elyse, and more importantly I needed her body, even more than she needed my possession. I stepped up to the counter, set to order a meal large enough to keep us going for another twenty-four hours if needed. The cashier was talking to someone else in the back, and pointing to a spill on the floor. He turned to face me, and froze.

  The look was too frightened to be one of admiration. Could he see me? Did he know what I was? I didn't have much time to wonder, because I felt a wave of hot breath wash over the back of my neck.

  "You'll do," the voice said from behind me. A clawed hand grabbed my left wrist from behind.

  I took a deep breath and shook my head. "I recommend you let me go, dog. I'm hungry, and not in the mood to deal with a mongrel like you."

  Another huff of fetid air, followed by a soft growl. "Not scared of me, eh? Come on then sweetheart. Give it your best shot."

  The machismo was familiar. Another changeling? Or the real thing? There was an easy way to find out. I stepped backward, stomping the heavy riding boot down on the were's foot and being rewarded with the crunch of bone. He started to howl, but I used his grip on my wrist as leverage to turn myself around and slam him in the head with my elbow. The blow made him let go, and knocked him backwards. He fell to all fours and looked up at me, his damage already healing.

  "Not bad," he said. "You'll be a fun one."

  He didn't back down, so I was going to assume he was the real thing. Even so, he was being incredibly brazen. I reached into the pocket of the jeans, finding the black stone and taking it out. It grew warm in my hand, and when I thought about the spatha, it materialized in place. The were was on his way, claws aiming to take me apart, leaving me almost no time to react. I ducked and twisted, using the weapon to smack his hands away. He crashed into the counter and over, sending the cashier running.

  I had the blade ready by the time he came again, and he lost his left hand on the way by. He shrieked in pain, and watched it begin to steam.

  "What the hell?" he asked. "You aren't a seraph. That isn't a seraph's sword." His eyes were wide. He knew what would happen. It was inevitable.

  "It's better than that," I replied. "Well, worse for you. Better for me." I walked up to him and kicked him in the head. He tumbled over, howled one last time, and turned to dust. I was right, he had been the real thing.

  I turned back to the counter, rendered into nothing but splinters after the were had gone through it. The employees had fled, so I returned the sword to wherever, and then grabbed a few burgers and some fries from the rack. I had my eye on the door when I remembered I would need some hydration, so I took a cup and filled it with soda. I walked out without looking back, giving a small wave to the other diner when I passed him. He was crouched under the table, a puddle of urine pooling around his leg.

  "You're safe now," I said.

  I was going to get a good night's sleep.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Landon

  We were in a jungle. At least, I think it was a jungle. Dense vegetation surrounded us, thick canopies of trees hid us from the sunlight, and it was raining. Even if it wasn't a jungle, it sure felt like one.

  "Do you think we lost him?" Charis asked.

  We were sitting together behind the massive trunk of some tree or other, trying to catch our breath. We had managed to slip the wolves he had sent after us when we had fallen into a river and let it wash us downstream. I could still hear them howling in the night. I could hear him whistling.

  "For a minute, maybe," I said. "But this is all part of the game. He's been toying with us for how long now?" I had lost track of how many times we had died. It had to be in the hundreds. At first, I had thought I would remember each one, but now I only remembered the pain, and
the fear.

  "I don't know. I've lost track." She sighed. "I don't want him to catch us again."

  It didn't matter. We both knew he would. Maybe that was the point of this. Keep chasing us, keep catching us, keep killing us until we were nothing but broken souls. He wasn't just out for revenge, he wanted to destroy us - in heart, soul, body, and spirit.

  "What do you remember?" I asked. We had done this every time, recapping what we could capture from our previous go-rounds in the Box. The memories had been coming faster for a while, but just when I thought we had them, they would ricochet away like a rubber band.

  "I remember Clara," she said. "He gave us a daughter to torture us with."

  That was the first memory. Somehow, he had discovered how much it had hurt me, and so Clara had been coming back, subjected to more suffering and agony, tortured in front of both of us. Watching someone torture a child was beyond disturbing. When it was your own, even if it wasn't real, it was the truest form of anguish I could imagine.

  Charis was crying, her body shaking from her sobs. "I underestimated everything about this," she said. I could feel my own tears welling up, mirroring hers. We were both trying to be strong for the other, but the truth was that his efforts were succeeding.

  We were breaking.

  "What else? Think Charis. We put him in here. We're holding him in here. How? How can he have all of the control, if we're keeping him trapped?"

  Those were the questions we tried to commit to our minds, to ask one another every time we came back. I knew there had to be an answer, that we should be able to do something against him. It didn't make sense that his power could be absolute, because if it was he would be able to escape.

  She wiped her eyes and set her jaw. "Our power was his power. We don't have anything on our own."

  "That can't be true. We're Divine. Diuscrucis. We have the blood of angels, demons, and humans in our veins. That has to count for something."