Casper pouted. “Fine. I’ll go to the museum and look at the stupid statue and ask around.”
“That museum is where the masks came from,” said Noah. “Someone bought them and they were shipped to New Orleans from there.”
Felix looked at Casper. “Talk to the manager and find out who bought those masks if you can.”
“Yes, yes. I’ll do all of that,” said Casper with a wave of his hand.
Saul said, “I’ll go to the festival in La Loupe.”
“I’ll go with you,” said Olivia.
“There is an occult museum in Brussels,” said Felix. “Gretchen said she was going to Brussels before we lost contact with her. This museum will be featuring Hecate in honor of the upcoming feast day, which is Sunday. However, the museum is not open on Sundays, so they will be doing this tomorrow.”
“Leigh and I can go,” said Noah. He looked at me and raised his eyebrows in question, as if to ask if that was okay with me. I nodded.
“Good,” said Felix. “As for you two,” He nodded toward the twins.
“We’re all ears,” said Oscar.
“Do you have to get back to the States anytime soon?”
“No,” they said in unison.
“Can you pay a visit to Professor Juliette Alexandre at Université d’Orléans? She specializes in classical Greek studies. She can tell you all about Hecate.”
“Fun, fun,” said Alex.
Oscar nudged him in the ribs with his elbow and scowled at him. He looked at Felix. “Yeah. We’ll be glad to.”
“Good,” said Felix. “Everyone exchange phone numbers and keep in contact. I’ll book all of your flights, and you can all leave tomorrow. Saul and Olivia, you’ll have to drive, but I have a car for you.”
“I only fly first class,” said Casper.
Felix glared at him. “If you want first class, you’ll have to pay the upgrade fee.”
Casper huffed, and then we all left the chamber.
Heading back toward the rave room, the smoke in the tunnels grew thicker. The smell of weed was slowly replaced by another odor that Noah noticed first. He stopped and grabbed my hand.
“Wait up, guys,” he said to our group.
Everyone stopped.
The smoke intensified, but now I realized what I smelled: damp earth, the same as the fog at Clothilde’s house the night of the attack.
“What’s wrong, Noah?” said Felix.
“There’re here,” he answered. “The witches.”
“Where?” said Saul.
“I don’t know. Everyone stay together. They’ll try to separate—”
He was cut off by the sound of screaming and the thunder of a stampede, people running away from us, toward the exit. There was also the sound of growling like a dozen dogs dashing through the tunnels, in and out of the chambers, coming closer to us.
“Stay close to me,” Noah murmured in my ear, and squeezed my hand.
“If that’s the witches, those are demon hounds coming at us,” said Felix. “Everybody make your way to the rave room! It’s a straight shot from here. Everyone move! Now!”
We made a dash to the large alcove where the music was still spinning, but the room was in utter chaos. People were getting trampled trying to escape. In the midst of the crowd, I saw bodies being tossed around, and I spotted in the center of the room some kind of beast I had never seen. It was hulking and bent over with the hind legs of a wolf and the front legs of a mountain lion. Its face looked more human, if you could call it that, but its eyes were solid silver and its ears were short and pointed. Its skin was the darkest shade of red, almost black, and it covered its bare, muscled body which seemed grotesquely human, except for its ferocious teeth and the small razor spikes on its spine.
And there were a dozen or so more of them.
The other paladins wasted no time in attacking the demon hounds. Felix electrocuted one, while Alex fried another. Oscar raised his hands, causing an icy wind to blow over another. It froze solid. To my right, I saw Olivia with her hands raised. The strobe lights were still going, producing flickering shadows, but it was enough for her to grab on to. Two of the demon hound shadows conjoined and moved away from them, pulling their bodies with the gliding black mass, dragging them into deep shadow where they disappeared.
Noah and Aimee tackled two of them. I focused my energy and drained the life force of one of them just enough for Noah to get the upper hand. He killed it with his bare hands and then looked at me for a second with surprise in his eyes.
The smoke that had started to thicken in the tunnel made its way to the rave room. It lost its yellowish tint and turned translucent white and grew denser by the second to near total opaqueness. Most of the crowd was gone at this point, except for the casualties who lay torn and battered around the alcove and in the tunnels.
I saw a demon hound tear out of the rave room and into the tunnel. Noah took off after it, despite the growing thickness of the fog.
“Wait!” I said, going after him.
The battle continued in the rave room, but I followed Noah down the tunnel until I could no longer see where I was going, and the steady thump of the music faded to silence. My nostrils were filled with the rotted earth smell.
“Noah!”
I was alone.
I hugged the walls, the rough limestone scratching my fingertips until I touched empty space. I had come to one of the chambers. If I went in, I’d be trapped. I worried about Noah, but the safest thing to do would be to make my way back to the others.
I turned to head back toward the rave room, but there was something coming toward me. It was a writhing shadow that slinked along the wall, a fluid pallet of ink in the shape of a woman, just as I had seen that night at Clothilde’s.
Pulling from my core, I tried to drain its life. As soon as I tried, its silhouette changed from a woman to a giant, black snake. It stopped in front of me, staring me down.
“Leigh! Get out of the way!” It was Noah. He was behind the snake.
When it heard his voice, it darted into the chamber next to me. Noah caught up to me, and the fog began to disappear. We looked into the chamber, but the snake wasn’t there.
“Are you okay?” he said.
I half nodded, still looking around the chamber.
“Leigh?”
“Yeah, I’m fi—” I stopped short when I saw the blood oozing through his shirt on his right side. He looked pale. I lifted the shirt and put my hand on his waist where there were deep claw marks. My hand heated up quickly, and he sucked air in through his teeth, in momentary pain, but closed his eyes, the tension leaving his body.
He opened them again while I was finishing up. He let out a long, slow breath and smiled. “I like it so much better when you heal me than when Miles does.”
I felt myself blush a little, and maybe my hand lingered on his waist longer than it should have as our eyes locked for a moment.
“We need to get back to the others. I think you’ll need to heal a few people.”
I did. Random clubbers needed tending to, and so did Casper, Aimee and Felix, though only Casper’s injuries were life-threatening. I was sure the Guardians would come for him any minute, but he hung in there long enough for me to make him whole again. I saw it in his eyes that he was grateful, though he would never admit it. His thanks would be in actions, not in words.
When we made it out of the catacombs, Felix made an anonymous call to the police to say there was a mass killing in the catacombs. The demon hounds had either disappeared or turned to dust after they were killed, so there was no evidence that something supernatural had occurred there, though who knows what idiots stopped to film anything on their phones or take pictures in the middle of such an attack.
Noah and I returned to Charmagne’s where we explained to her and Miles everything that happened. We also told them of Felix’s plan to follow up on the Hecate lead. The only thing Noah didn’t mention was that I was able to drain a life force now. I was relieved
and grateful that he left that out.
9
In the Deep
I was getting ready for bed when I heard a soft knock on the door. It was Noah.
“Just making sure you’re okay.”
“I’m fine.”
“I was talking to Miles about our plans for tomorrow. He, um, said he just wants it to be me and him.”
“That figures. He asks me to come here, but doesn’t want me to do anything.”
“After tonight, he’s just being protective. I kind of agree with him.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “We’ve been doing this for a long time. You’re just getting your feet wet. It’s nothing personal.”
“You saw what I can do. I’m a lot stronger now.”
“Yeah, that was pretty cool.” He smiled.
“Believe me, with him it’s personal. He’s trying to be my dad all of a sudden.”
“That such a bad thing?”
I remembered what Carrie told me before I left. “I guess not, but I wish he’d have a little more faith in me.”
“Well, I just wanted to let you down easily. Night.”
“Thanks. Night.”
When he turned to leave, I saw a peculiar blood stain pattern on the back of his shirt. “Are you okay?” I said, reaching out to touch his back.
“Hmm?”
“Your back …”
He pulled away from me, grimacing. “Yeah. I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not. What is that? Did I miss that from earlier?”
“No. I’m fine, okay?”
He headed for the door again, and this time it dawned on me that the pattern was at his shoulder blades and had a definite shape. “Oh my God,” I whispered in awe. “Are those your wings?”
He didn’t turn around, but stayed in the doorway, facing the hall. Neither of us spoke for a moment, but he finally nodded.
“I thought you—”
“I did,” he said, frustration and defeat on the edge of his voice.
“Then …”
He turned around, stared at me for a moment with a little sadness behind his eyes, and he quietly closed the door. “Please don’t tell anyone,” he whispered. “Especially Miles.”
I nodded. “I … I understand why you don’t want them. I really do, but maybe you can hang on to them this time? I mean, they don’t have to define who you are. They can be like … I don’t know. Like a symbol or something.”
He narrowed his brows, questioning.
“Sort of a battle flag for you. Something to show the Nephilim that you won’t be corrupted. Like you’re telling them, ‘Hey, I can do anything you can do, but I’m not going to follow you.’ Kind of like an in-your-face thing.” I smiled, hoping that would lighten the moment.
He seemed to be turning the idea over in his mind. I was relieved when he smiled a little, too. “Can I ask you something personal?”
“Sure,” I said, even though I hated it when someone asked me that.
“Where do you see yourself in the future? I mean, do you have hopes and dreams?”
I chuckled. “I’m kind of a day-to-day person, but yeah, I suppose I do.”
“Like what?”
“Well,” I started, but had a hard time thinking of something. “I think what I want most of all is for my niece to have a normal life.”
“But what about you? What do you want for you? Anything you’ve always dreamed of doing? Ever wanted to get married and start a family?”
“I have a family. It’s not a big one, but I can’t see my life without them.”
He smiled. “It’s good to have a family.”
“Do you have one? Aunts or uncles or cousins?”
He shook his head. “Our little Pally club is it for me.”
“Oh,” I whispered.
“Your friend Lucas, are you and he …?” He trailed off, but I knew what he meant.
“Oh, no! It’s … complicated. I hate it when people say that, but that’s what it is.”
He nodded, understanding. “Nadia and I used to be together a long time ago.”
“I know.”
He furrowed his brows.
“She mentioned there was someone once. She didn’t say who, but I had the feeling it was you.”
He smiled sadly. “It was so long ago. And it took a while, but I knew that that part of our relationship was over, but we really did stay great friends.” His smile faded. “After she was killed, I was very angry, and I didn’t mean to take it out on you.”
“It’s okay,” I started, but he held up his hand to stop me.
“And I’m sorry if I was out of line by kissing you and in any way hurting your relationship with Lucas. I just haven’t felt this way about someone in a long time. About you, that is.”
Lucas … my light in this dark world. But I couldn’t be with him. I’d get him hurt or killed. Noah and I stared at each other for a moment. He and I were the same. We were both dark, both damned. We understood each other. I didn’t have to be afraid of getting close to him. He was used to the danger. I found my body moved before my mind did. I leaned in and brushed my lips against his.
He pulled back and shook his head. “You don’t have to,” he whispered.
“I want to,” I breathed, and kissed him again. This time he let me, and we stayed like that for what seemed a small eternity, our bodies flushing with warmth, our skin electrified.
We fell together on the bed as we pulled off each other’s clothes. I found myself once again attracted and overtaken by the raw power of his presence. The intensity of his very being frightened me and excited me at the same time. As our bodies moved together, my heated passion took a different turn as I felt a gradual coldness pierce my veins. Noah’s breathing quickened and became shallow. I kept my eyes shut and pulled him harder to me, wanting to take him all into me, wanting his life force to merge with mine, and how everything in me beseeched the deathly cold to consume my heart …
Noah let out a breathless, choked scream. My eyes flew open to see his gray eyes wide and frightened. I felt his heart slowing through his chest against my body. I pushed him off of me and staggered off the bed to stoop near the window. I held the curtain over my mouth to keep from screaming as Noah gasped for air. I wanted to rush to him, to help him, but I was too frightened of my power to even touch him.
And then his eyes closed, and he was still.
All I could do at first was shake my head. He couldn’t be dead, he just couldn’t be … Miles!
I grabbed my robe and put it on as I rushed out the door, stopping down the hall at his door. I knocked quickly a couple of times and then just opened it, went in and turned on the light.
“Miles!” I said in a loud whisper as I ran to his bed. I shook him. “Miles!”
He jolted from his sleep. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“It’s Noah. Please hurry!”
I waited for him in the hall as he stumbled out of bed, wearing his sleep shirt and shorts. He followed me to my bedroom, and I closed the door behind us. “Please help him!”
He looked down at Noah in his state of undress and then at me in my robe. He arched one eyebrow. “What were you doing before this happened?” he asked, feeling for a pulse.
“Does it matter?”
“Yes, it does. I need to know exactly what happened.”
“He’s not dead, is he? Please don’t tell me he’s dead.” I heard my voice catch and felt tears well up in my eyes.
“He’s alive, but barely.”
“It’s not too late. I don’t see the Guardians—”
“Leigh—”
“You can heal him, right?”
“Leigh! What happened?!”
“I … we … we were—”
“I can assume what the two of you were doing, but what were you, specifically, doing?”
“I can’t really explain it. I … sort of felt the life drain out of him and … into me. But it was so cold …”
He regarded
me with first curiosity and then with fury. “I’ll be right back,” he said, and he left the room. He returned right away carrying his black bag. He took out his holy water and began to pray and mark Noah’s head and chest with the water.
I sat on the chair in front of the vanity, nervously biting at the corner of my lip and silently praying to anyone who would hear me. It felt like I held my breath for the several minutes while he worked on Noah.
I finally exhaled with relief when he stirred and his chest softly rose and fell with each breath. His eyes fluttered open.
“All right now?” said Miles.
Noah tried to speak but could only make weak sounds. He tried to sit up, but Miles had him stay down. “Not yet,” he told him. “I want you to rest.”
Noah looked around the room, and his bewildered eyes found me in the corner. I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. Ashamed, I left the room and waited in the hall. I heard Miles tell him to rest again, and then he turned out the light and closed the door.
I had never seen Miles look so angry. He was so furious he couldn’t speak at first. He looked at me, opened his mouth and closed it again before going back to his room. I followed him and lingered in the doorway.
He put his bag on the chair near the window and said, “Come in and close the door. I don’t want to wake up anyone.”
I watched him pace the room for a bit and then said, “Is he going to be okay?”
He stopped and stared at me. “Yes, thank goodness. Do you have any idea what you did tonight?” He was fighting to keep his voice quiet.
“I’m sorry,” I said, unable to look at him.
“’Sorry.’ Yes, I know you’re very sorry for what just happened, but what about how you got to this point?”
I didn’t answer him, and he continued. “Charmagne’s been teaching you how to drain a life, hasn’t she?”
I nodded meekly.
“I told her before we came here and I did not want you learning this, not yet! It’s far too early and far too dangerous. You—you could have killed him!”
“Don’t you think I know that?!” I looked at him now, tears in my eyes.
His fury subsided, and his face softened to regret. “I think it was perhaps a mistake to bring you here. I had hoped that it would be easier to figure out what’s been going on with our dreams if all of the puzzle pieces were together, but it’s only leading to more confusion. And now this … this is just too much for you. It’s too much for me.”
Nancy K. Duplechain - Dark Trilogy 03 - Dark Legacy Page 18
