“No, but seeing as I can’t hardly breathe I assume…” I had to stop and catch my breath for a moment. “That it has something to do with my lungs.”
“You were shot,” the guy said blankly, the smile gone. “You were shot because you failed.”
“What?” I asked, beginning to feel a slight panic attack coming on. “I don’t remember.”
“You were supposed to kill that girl,” the guy said. “You were supposed to kill her and you failed. It’s not entirely your fault.” He crossed his legs and looked down in his lap, lacing his fingers. “I forced the corruption on you. I thought it would work but… well, we should have told Zac who you were.
If he had known, things would have worked out differently. But the thing is, your family is convicting my warrior. I need him. My people need him.”
I began to remember a little, but only bits and pieces. I sort of remembered being in a hotel, getting in a fight, getting shot. And I started to remember how much I loved Cami, how her friend had tried to keep us apart. How they bullied me.
“So you’re going to tell the truth,” Blaise said, his voice and expression hard. He was looking at me intently.
“You’re going to tell the truth or I will come back, and I will kill you. You are expendable. Do not ever forget that, assassin.”
The guy got up and left the room, leaving me confused and a little scared. I didn’t know what he was talking about, but he seemed serious – really serious, not crazy man serious.
My mother came into the room a few moments later and cried out upon seeing me awake. She threw her arms around me, hurting my chest and making it even harder for me to breathe.
“I’m sorry, honey,” she said. “When did you wake up? I wish I had been here, I only just stepped out!”
“It’s fine, Mom,” I said, trying to catch my breath again.
“Jacob, dear, I hate to do this to you but I have to get a police officer to take your statement,” my mother said. “You have to tell them everything. I never should have let you be a valet,” she added sadly.
“It’s not your fault,” I said.
“I should have seen the signs,” my mother whispered, squeezing my hand. She walked out of the room and came back ten seconds later with a cop. He smiled at me sadly.
“Hello, Jacob,” he said, sitting in the chair next to my bed. “I’m just going to ask you a few questions. Answer to the best of your knowledge.”
“Okay.”
“Do you remember what happened?”
“No, not really. I remember… I was returning something to Evan, I think. A bag, maybe? He left it at the valet station, probably. I don’t remember what was in it.”
“What happened when you got to the room?” the cop said, writing something down in a notebook.
“I knocked on the door,” I said, trying desperately to remember what had happened. “I think it was open because I remember walking inside. And then…”
I choked. I suddenly remembered the girl who got stabbed. She was bleeding on the bed…
With Mitch.
That’s what had happened. Evan had left a bag at the valet station and forgot about it, so I went to his hotel to return it. When I got there, the door was open, so I went inside and Mitch stabbed Samantha. I tried to help her, tried to take the knife out, but Mitch attacked me. Then Evan attacked me, and finally some other guy came out of nowhere and shot me.
I relayed this to the cop and he nodded at everything I said. “Thank you for your time,” the cop said when I finished. “I hope you get better soon.”
“They did this on purpose,” my mother said angrily, closing the door after the cop left. “Those sick children bullied you and then tried to kill you. They’re monsters!”
I didn’t answer, I just stared at my feet. My mother was right. They were monsters.
But who was that guy? He told me to tell the truth or he would kill me. I had told the truth.
Hadn’t I?
Blaise
April 2009
” Damn it! ” I shouted, slamming the door to my apartment. “Bloody fucking hell!”
I hesitated a moment before putting my fist through the nearest wall. The boy didn’t remember.
He didn’t fucking remember!
Lu would kill me if the Seeker went to prison.
That would be my biggest failure. The only thing worse would be letting the Seeker die before he even got his powers. I would be a joke.
I have to fix this.
If the boy remembered, I could easily convince him to take the fall – after all, he was the actually guilty one. But the memories of the Corruption were gone. His near-death experience had wiped his soul clean of the corruption – not even the Goddess could do that. Wiping the Corruption had also wiped his memories. His brain would create false memories to fill in the gaps – he’d be portrayed as the innocent victim, not the psychotic aggressor.
I contemplated killing the boy, but that would make Zac look even guiltier. All I could do was pull strings and hope I never had to tell Lu.
“I have an offer for you,” I said to James Lowe, the horridly wimpy looking lawyer who’d been hired to defend the Seeker.
“Uh, yes?” Lowe asked. Despite his wimpy appearance, Lowe was a decently aggressive man. He was one of those tiny kids who blew up when they caught you staring. I would probably need to put him in his place before long, but he had to know who he was dealing with.
“If you win this case, I can offer you your deepest wish,” I said. Lucifer had gleaned a little godly magic from killing Seth. He couldn’t move mountains or change the seasons, but he could grant anyone their wish.
Wishes often create chaos.
“Any wish? Okay, Genie, I’d like some proof before I accept this offer.”
“You don’t even know what I’m asking,” I said with a sly smile. Lowe shrugged.
“Getting some free proof can’t hurt. I’d like a million dollars in my bank account, right now.”
“Perhaps you’d like two? It’s going to be taxed heavily, you know,” I offered, attempting to appeal to the materialistic American nature. Lowe happily agreed. “Alright then,” I said after sending a text to Lu (we were very in with the times), “check your account.”
Lowe scoffed and began typing into his computer. A minute or two later, his face turned white.
“Did we add too much?” I asked. “Well, now that you see what we’re capable of, I would like to offer you a deal.
You keep Zachary Bell out of prison, and you get to keep this two million dollars, along with whatever wish you choose to make. If the Bell boy goes to prison, you not only lose that money but your life as well.”
“You could easily do this,” Lowe defended, standing up abruptly and glaring at me.
“Oh really? How? Do you see any record of a deposit in your account?”
“You have a hook up at the bank,” Lowe said defiantly.
“What bank? You never told me anything about your bank. How would I know?”
“You’ve been stalking me. Look, I don’t know what you want –”
“I want Zachary Bell to go free. You are his lawyer and you are going to set him free. If you don’t, you will die. We are offering you incentives. I’m not dropping idle threats.
I mean everything I say, you should see that.”
“I don’t take threats from bullies, even when they do offer rewards,” Lowe said, puffing out his chest and sticking
his chin at me. He looked like a little kid arguing for a cookie. I sighed.
“Then Lu is going to have to visit you. Trust me, you don’t want to visited by Lu.”
The next time I met with James Lowe, he was a frightened, timid man. I wasn’t sure what Lu had done or said, but it had been rather effective. Zac went free and I was able to start his training within a reasonable amount of time. At first I was worried he would uncover a few things he didn’t need to know, but when I realized he was in love with Bella I relaxed. I knew fr
om the moment they met she would distract him. And he distracted her, too. She quit asking me questions about Lu because she thought Zac believed me, and he quit asking questions because he thought Bella believed me.
Without her, Zac never would’ve killed the Sign.
She saved us.
She ended the reign of the Gods.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Epilogue
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter eleven
Night Prowler Part One Page 35
