by Karen Mead
He considered her, closing one eye, then the other. He was so close, she could feel his hot breath on her face. “Hmm, that’s funny. You certainly look like you’re still in this reality.”
With that, he dropped back into a sitting position and Cassie started breathing again.
“How did you know I was gone?” Cassie asked.
Sammael was picking at the grass next to him, like a little boy. “Because unlike my idiot son, I notice when one of my familiars simply stops existing for a while. Then again, at the time, he was rather preoccupied with his most recent global time freeze,” he looked up at her then, expression somewhere between amused and livid. “And by the way, good fucking luck explaining that one in court! Jesus H. Christ.”
“What’s going on?” asked Miri in a shaky voice. She looked scared and seeing her that way felt wrong; the vampire was always brave, even in the face of lethal danger.
Sammael seemed to notice Miri for the first time. “Did you bring me a present, Cassie? How thoughtful of you!”
“She’s my bodyguard. Leave her alone,” said Cassie quickly. “You didn’t hurt Serenus, did you?”
He smirked at that. “Honestly, I wasn’t going to. I rather like that guy. I can bitch about my wife to anyone, but he’s the only one who really understands, you know what I’m saying?”
Cassie sighed. “Then why don’t you just leave and you two can have a grand old tea party—”
In that instant, he was up in her face again, holding her neck. Miri tried to extricate her, but Sammael swatted the vampire away with his free hand. Cassie winced as she heard the vampire’s small body slam into a fence, far away.
“Tell me what happened to you today, now,” said Sammael. “You know I like you, but there are limits.”
For a terrifying second, Cassie’s mind went blank. It wasn’t that she’d forgotten what happened, but she had no idea how to organize the whole bizarre experience into words. Somehow, her mouth found the answer before her brain had caught up.
“I met your granddaughter today,” she said quietly. “One that hasn’t been born yet.”
For a moment, the demon didn’t react. Then he released his hold on her neck, his face an impassive mask.
“Give me the long version,” he said hoarsely. “Tell me everything.”
So she did. Everything from being pulled out of time by Corianne, to seeing her future husband, to the way Sam had very nearly kept her there. At some point while she was talking, Sammael got up and sat on one of the swings, where she joined him. By the end of her story, they were both sitting on the swings, looking up at the stars.
After she was finished, he was silent for a while; entire minutes passed. “She warned me about this almost 30 years ago,” he finally said, quietly.
Cassie didn’t respond, waiting for him to continue. She didn’t need to ask who “she” was.
“She said our children, and our children’s children, would have powers I couldn’t even begin to conceive of. I told her that she must be smoking crack. Her little brats, stronger than me? Ridiculous.” He stood up and took a few steps forward, still looking at the sky. “But I can’t do what that little girl did today.”
Cassie stopped swinging abruptly. “You can’t pull someone out of the past?”
He gritted his teeth; she had no doubt it pained him to admit his limitations. “No. Sure, I can go to the past,” he said, gesturing as though it was all trivial. “Or at least witness it. What I’m really doing is revisiting my memories of it, which are always perfect, I should note,” he continued. “But to pull someone out of the past, to tamper with the very nature of cause and effect…that’s…”
He seemed to struggle for the right word for a long time. “That’s blasphemy.”
It was strange, hearing him use that word. Cassie had known, academically, that he must have been an angel before he had become a demon. But this was the first time she had ever really believed it.
Cassie stole a glance at Miri’s prone body, hundreds of feet away. She was pretty sure the vampire was conscious but playing dead. Good decision; if Miri was around, Sammael might toy with her for the hell of it. But he didn’t care about her enough to bother with her if she was keeping out of his sight.
“So…what happens now?” asked Cassie.
“I don’t know. Despite my intellect being superior to yours in every other way, I conceive of cause and effect in the same way your limited human mind does; I was designed that way,” he said, sounding peeved. “I’m not any more prepared to live in a world where those rules no longer apply than you are.”
Cassie gulped down a mouthful of bile. This was bad. It wasn’t that she enjoyed him lording his superiority over her and acting like he was God’s gift to the universe (which, technically, she supposed he was), but it was what she expected. For him to come out and admit that he was just as clueless…well, that was downright terrifying.
“I may have to tell the others about this,” Sammael said quietly. “I’ve been coy about my son and his oh-so-miraculous destiny, but I can’t keep this quiet anymore. If the very fabric of existence is coming undone, they must be made aware.”
Seemingly filled with renewed purpose, he turned to her. “Don’t tell anyone what you’ve told me. And if that cursed child should pull you into the future again, do everything in your power to get back. And…”
Cassie stood up. “And?”
“I’m sorry I threatened your friend. I have no idea what Asmodeus even wants with him, but I’ll try to keep him in one piece.” And with that, he was gone.
Chapter Twenty-One
Sam was still asleep when Miri arrived, his face half-buried the pillow while Vladmira flew back and forth above the bed in grand, sweeping arcs. Miri smiled; asleep, he almost looked like a little boy.
She plopped down on the side of his bed and rubbed his back. “Wake up, Sam. We need to talk.” There were other ways she could have woken him up, and she was tempted, but it didn’t seem like the time.
He made some noises, still half asleep. “I’m not on the schedule until 4:00. Go away.”
“It’s about Cassie, it’s important.”
As she predicted, that woke him up. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. Vladmira tried to settle on his shoulder, but he twisted his body so that she missed and settled on the bedpost instead.
“We need to trim your claws, lady,” he mumbled in the general direction of the bat, then turned at Miri for the first time. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be guarding Cassie.”
“Nyesha’s got it for me, just for an hour or two. She’s not in the school as a student, but she can sense all the kids from where she is.”
“…Oh. Then what’s so important that it couldn’t wait?”
Miri hesitated before she spoke. “Something happened last night. Cassie made me promise not to tell you. And I did promise her.” She took a deep breath she didn’t need. Sam’s eyes bored into her face; he was fully awake now.
“I hate betraying her like this,” she said, looking down. “She’s my friend, and I love her, but I know I don’t work for her—I work for you. I realized it was my responsibility to tell you.”
Sam knitted his brows for a moment, thinking. “Is she in danger? Because, if it’s not at that level of importance….”
“She is definitely in danger.”
He took a deep breath. “Then no matter how mad she gets at both of us, you need to tell me.”
“Okay,” said Miri, feeling dejected. It wasn’t just that she was betraying Cassie’s trust; it was the fact that she was acting like a servant, in this room. Normally she didn’t mind being a subordinate; after all, everyone had to be subordinate to someone, whether the hierarchy was explicit or not.
But in this room, at the very least, she had always been in charge. She had advised Sam on what to do and what not to do, and he had never failed to listen to her. Having to relinquish that authority hurt, more than she would have thought.
&nbs
p; Sam seemed to sense something of her discomfort; either that, or he was really hungry. “Come on. Let’s go to the kitchen and I’ll make you breakfast, and you can tell me all about the latest thing Cassie did that’s going to get us all killed.”
He threw on a pair of jeans and headed out, with her following close behind. “I can’t believe how much cooking you do now,” she said. “It’s adorable.”
“Having an actual kitchen will do that. One egg or two?”
“Two!” she chirped, plopping down at his kitchen table.
“Alright. Now, talk.”
Her budding good cheer quickly evaporated.
“Um, okay, so…where to start…” she said as Sam gathered things from his refrigerator. “Last night, when we got back from DG, Cassie ran out to the park and summoned a demon. I think it was your father.”
The sound of Sam sorting through ingredients in the refrigerator suddenly came to a halt. There was a pause, and Miri wondered if she’d handled this all wrong. Finally, he closed the refrigerator and sat down in the chair across from her, hands empty.
“I’ll cook later. Talk now.”
She told him all that she could; how it seemed like Cassie had summoned this demon before. How they had been talking about how Cassie had disappeared, or dropped out of reality somehow. Somewhere in the middle of that conversation, she had been thrown into a metal fence so hard that she blacked out for a while, but she still heard snippets of the conversation later on. It had been so aggravating, lying there and trying to listen, knowing she could do nothing to help Cassie if she had gotten up.
Sam just listened to her, motionless as a statue. She couldn’t read his expression at all.
“After he smacked me, I mostly just heard bits and pieces because I was so far away,” she continued. “He said something like, ‘I can’t do what that little girl did,’ and ‘I have to tell the others.”
“Anything else?”
She strained to remember, to make sense of the partial sentences she’d heard. “She didn’t say much, he was doing most of the talking. I think she said ‘What happens now?’ and he said he didn’t know.”
Sam balled his fists on the table. “You must have misheard. My father would never admit that there was anything he didn’t know.”
“I think that’s all I’ve got, though,” she said apologetically. “Maybe I should have tried to move closer once I woke up.”
“No,” he said quickly. “You were right to stay down. My father’s very dangerous. You may be Cassie’s bodyguard, but I don’t expect you to fight Lords of Hell.”
“I wish I knew what it all meant,” said Miri.
“Me too,” he said. His eyes were looking at something far away.
Miri scrunched up her face. “Are you angry at Cassie?”
He was too quiet, too still. “I don’t know. I think I’m just numb,” he said, then he sighed. “And I really wish I could talk to Serenus right now.”
“Oh!” Miri exclaimed, standing up. “I’m so sorry! That was the other thing I could hear. I almost forgot because it had nothing to do with anything else.”
“What?”
“He said something to her like, ‘I’m sorry I threatened him, I don’t know what Asmodeus wants from him.’ And I heard Ser’s name before I got hit, so I’m pretty sure they were talking about him.”
“Asmodeus has him?” Sam said, standing up as well. “That means he’s probably in Realm. I should go look for him.”
The very thought of that made Miri uncomfortable. “Are you sure that’s safe?” She knew that Sam’s father had given him the ability to travel to and from the demon Realm (better known as Hell), but she wasn’t aware that he’d ever gone back since the battle in North Carolina.
“It’s not safe, but I’m going to. I’m fumbling around in the dark without him right now,” said Sam. He leaned his weight on the back of the chair and looked to the side, obviously thinking. “I’ll need to drop by DG to get something before I go,” he said, then he turned to return to his bedroom and dress.
“Wait! What about Cassie?” Miri asked.
He whipped back around. “What about her?”
“Are you going to…confront her about all of this?”
He grimaced, as though she’d reminded him of something he’d rather not address. “I haven’t decided yet. If I confront her and she refuses to tell me, I might have to make her tell me…and then, she’ll never forgive me. But I can’t just….” He trailed off, then looked at her. “What would you do?”
She was surprised that he would ask her opinion. Surprised, and a little gratified. “I would confront her. I think you have to keep her safe…even if it makes her hate you, and even if that hurts,” she said carefully. “Because nothing will hurt more than if you fail to keep her safe.”
He nodded, then went to the bedroom. She heard him dressing quickly, all whooshing fabric and zippers, then he quickly moved past her on his way out.
“Sorry. We’ll do breakfast another time.”
“I won’t believe you can actually make eggs until you do,” Miri quipped.
“You know, I’m getting a little tired of no one ever having any faith in my cooking ability,” he said as he left the apartment.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Dwight wasn’t in his office very often lately; he was needed up front too often. But with both Francesca and Khalil up front, he finally had some time to sit down and fill out some of the paperwork corporate had been hounding him about. He knew Khalil was only at partial effectiveness, considering how little sleep they’d all gotten last night, but even a half-functioning Khalil was still faster on the espresso bar than most people.
He was anticipating several peaceful, if dull hours alone, but Khalil ruined everything, as per usual. The door to his office swung open so suddenly that the sound made him jump. “You have to come see!”
“See what?” said Dwight, not turning around.
“It is literally the greatest thing that has ever happened.”
Dwight sighed and got up.
“This better be good.”
“I told you, it is literally the greatest thing that has ever—”
“Shut up.”
Khalil led Dwight to the break room, and quickly stepped aside so Dwight could take in the scene. It was Vladmira and Mr. Golding. The bat was trying to play with him, taking big, sweeping dives, while the little rat buried his head under his paws, trying to protect himself from her. Periodically, the rat would gather his courage and try to run for it, only for Vladmira to effortlessly chase him down, at which point he would guard his head and shake like a leaf again. The cycle kept repeating all over the furniture.
Dwight considered the sight for a few moments. “This is not the greatest thing.”
“Are you sure? It’s like we’re inside the ultimate Youtube video,” said Khalil with no small amount of reverence.
Dwight lifted his red-blond bangs off his face, still watching the rat scurry around. “Poor guy doesn’t deserve this. Maybe we should put him back in the cage to protect him, until Sam gets in and—”
At that, Sam entered the break room from the other door.
“Speak of the devil!” said Khalil. When Dwight and Sam both gave him dirty looks, he glared back at them. “Hey that wasn’t supposed to be a stupid pun or anything, it’s called a figure of speech.”
“We were just talking about you because we wanted you to do something about her,” said Dwight, gesturing to Vladmira. “She’s scaring the teacher half to death.”
“Stop it, you!” Sam yelled at the bat, and she whimpered and landed on the lockers, chastened. Dwight was pretty sure that normal bats couldn’t make whimpering sounds, but Vladmira seemed to have a much wider selection of vocalizations than your average bat.
Meanwhile, Mr. Golding was desperately trying to find a way out of the room. With his quick hands, Khalil grabbed the rodent before he could bolt out the door between his legs. “Hey, sorry man but we can’t
have you leaving here. What if you get lost?”
“Put him on the table,” said Sam, “I need him for something.” He pulled a sheet of paper out of a nearby drawer and began writing something down on it. Dwight and Khalil changed glances.
“Will this help change him back to a human?” Dwight asked.
“Technically, no,” said Sam, still writing furiously. “But it won’t hurt him in any way.”
Dwight shrugged at Khalil, and the latter put the rat on the table where Sam was writing. The fight seemed to have gone out of Mr. Golding, who didn’t move once Khalil had placed him.
What Sam was writing turned out to be the alphabet. He had filled the paper with all 26 letters in a clean, clinical hand. “John, I need your middle name. Point with your nose to the letter that your middle name starts with, then the next one, and so on.”
John looked about as defiant as a rat could look, then sat on his paws. He clearly did not wish to cooperate.
Sam gave him a tired look. “John, it’s either this or run around while Vladmira divebombs you again. Is this really a fight you want to pick?”
The rat twitched his whiskers, then slowly made his way towards the paper and started indicating letters.
“B…E…N….” Khalil followed out loud. “Benjamin?”
The rat nodded.
“John Benjamin Golding,” said Sam, sounding it out. “Nice name.”
Dwight crossed his arms. “Gotta say man, this isn’t right. It’s bad enough he’s stuck like this, don’t bully him on top of that.”
“Believe me, I know. He’ll be back to normal just as soon as I can manage.” He looked at the rat with a curious expression that Dwight couldn’t interpret. “I just need to borrow him for a few hours.”
Dwight and Khalil exchanged worried glances once again.
“You’re absolutely sure this won’t hurt him?” Khalil said, sounding unconvinced. “I mean, don’t give me the details because I don’t think I wanna know, but sure?”
