by Tina Folsom
Deirdre lifted her chin, every inch of her still the council member that wielded power. “I did what was right for our community.”
“We voted otherwise,” Primus disagreed.
“Because you couldn’t see what was right in front of you.” She turned to point her finger at Leila. “She was endangering us and the entire human race. She had to be stopped. You were wrong to protect her. The demons are still after her, are they not? What makes you think they won’t get her after all? I still say we eliminate her.”
Aiden felt anger surge, his chest moving as he expelled an angry breath. Next to him, Leila put a hand on his arm, calming him. When he looked at her, she shook her head silently, indicating he should not interfere in the interrogation.
“You had no right to make this decision on your own. You had your vote, just as the rest of us did. We can’t simply take matters into our own hands when we don’t like how the council decides.”
Deirdre’s look softened. “Primus, I did this so we wouldn’t lose our own once more. I did it to keep us all safe, just as I would have given anything to keep Julia safe. Can’t you see that? I don’t hate this human, but the danger she represents should she ever fall into the hands of the demons, is too great. How many of our children will die because of it?”
Primus locked eyes with her for a moment, and Aiden saw the war that raged within his father. It was true, Deirdre had loved Julia like the daughter she never had, and had been devastated by her death. But did that give her the right to unilaterally condemn another human to death? Odd, Aiden had once thought so too, but he understood now that he couldn’t blame one human for the deeds of another.
Primus gave a slow nod. “We’ll see to it that it doesn’t happen. However, sadly, that is not one of your concerns anymore. You have broken our laws. Therefore, my suggestion to the council is to incarcerate you in a lead cell for the period of one year and one day, upon which you’ll be released into the human world never to return to us. Council, how do you vote?”
Deirdre gasped. “You can’t do that! My powers ... you can’t do that to me!”
Aiden heard the desperation in Deirdre’s voice and felt how Leila drew closer, whispering in his ear. “What does she mean? A year isn’t very long for attempted murder.”
“It’s not the length of time, but what the lead cell will do to her.”
He heard the council members one by one giving their votes on the punishment.
Leila gave him a questioning look, so he continued his explanation. “A year in a lead cell will mean that all of Deirdre’s powers will have been drained from her body. The change will be permanent. She won’t ever be able to make herself invisible anymore; she won’t walk through walls again; and her preternatural strength, her superior senses will have vanished never to return. She will be human, not Cloak Warrior.”
It was a harsh punishment, one nobody wanted to issue. Losing one of their own in a time when every Cloak Warrior was needed desperately was painful.
“No!”
Aiden jolted at suddenly hearing Leila call out her disagreement to the council. He pulled on her hand, trying to hold her back, but she twisted away from him and approached the table.
“Please, don’t do this to her.”
His father’s eyebrows rose in utter surprise.
“You have no right to interrupt council proceedings,” Geoffrey reprimanded.
Primus raised his hand. “Let her speak.” He gave Leila an expectant look. “I’m curious why you should want to defend her, Dr. Cruickshank. After all, it was you she wanted to kill.”
“I understand, but I can also see her side. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, because I didn’t trust Aiden at first. I lied to him about the existence of another copy of my research data. It could have very easily ended with me in the hands of the demons. And then, in hindsight, wouldn’t you have rather seen Deirdre succeed?” She paused for a moment, then turned her head to look back at Aiden.
“Even you wanted me dead at some point.”
Her statement sliced through his heart. “No, I—”
“Please don’t deny it. I don’t blame you.” She turned back to the council. “I don’t blame any of you for what happened. Everybody did what they thought was best. I don’t want to be the reason why you’ll lose another one of your race. Wasn’t Finlay’s death enough? I’m not interested in revenge.”
With every word Leila spoke, Aiden’s heart expanded for her. She had so much generosity in herself, and she handed it out with grace. He admired her for the strength she showed, because it took strength to overcome one’s own sentiments about an issue and make a decision that benefited all. In many ways she reminded him of Julia, and in other ways she was so different from her. And he loved her for both.
“It still leaves the fact that she acted against the council’s orders,” Primus conceded.
Leila gave a quick nod. “I understand, and I don’t want to interfere with your laws, but surely there is a less harsh punishment you could decide on, one that would not destroy her powers.”
“You mean a slap on the wrist?”
“Something like that. Maybe a different location, another project, community service so to speak.”
“Very well.” Primus motioned her to return to Aiden’s side. “Council, a word.” He stood and the others did likewise, huddling around him, talking in hushed voices.
As Leila returned to him, Aiden pressed a quick kiss on her cheek, hoping none of the council members saw him. “I’m proud of you.”
“It’s the right thing to do. When Zoltan comes back, you’ll need every Cloak Warrior you’ve got.”
He caught Hamish’s look. “Leila is right. And Zoltan will be back. I’ve never seen anybody so determined. You said yourself that he’ll be a new leader, stronger, smarter, and more lethal. We’ll have to be prepared.”
Aiden couldn’t agree more. “He won’t give up.”
“The council has come to a decision,” his father’s voice suddenly sounded in the chamber.
Aiden clasped Leila’s hand, then focused his attention back on the proceedings.
“Deirdre, your punishment will be two-fold: you will be staging Dr. Cruikshank’s death in a way so the demons will believe it to be real. I leave the details up to you.”
Leila pulled in a quick breath, making Aiden slide his arm around her waist, steadying her. This measure was necessary; otherwise the demons would never stop looking for her.
“Your seat on the council is permanently lost to you. Do you accept your punishment?”
Deirdre nodded. “Yes, Primus. Thank you, you won’t regret it.”
Before she turned toward the door, Primus continued, “And make sure the demons buy it. If they don’t, don’t bother ever coming back.”
“You can rely on me. I swear it by the memory of your daughter.”
A moment later, she left the chambers, her head held high.
“One more thing then.” His father looked at him and Leila. “The data. We will destroy it now.” He lifted the pendant and showed it to everybody in the room.
“Allow me,” Leila said and walked toward him. When she reached him, he handed her the piece of jewelry.
Aiden approached, watching how Leila’s nimble fingers opened the diamond crusted pendant and removed a USB drive from its interior.
“May I keep the pendant?” she asked, lifting her eyes to face Primus.
“You may.”
Aiden reached for the USB drive. “I’ll destroy it for you.”
She smiled at him. “No, I’ll have to do it myself. You see, it’s time to let go of my dream. I’m the only one who can do that.”
He felt his heart clench at the obvious pain in her voice. “You’re strong,” he whispered.
When she looked up, his father pointed at the large flat stone boulder to one side of the chamber. On it lay a hammer. “There.”
The council members rose to follow her as she laid the electronic device containing
her data onto the flat surface. Aiden noticed how her hand shook slightly when she took the hammer, closing her palm around it.
“I’m proud of you,” he murmured, locking eyes with her for a moment.
Then she slammed the hammer down on the USB drive, once, twice, three times, until it had shattered into a hundred little pieces, a solitary tear escaping from her eye and running down her cheek. As the tiny particles scattered on the boulder, Aiden caught her look and saw the sadness in her eyes as she watched her dreams vanish.
As the council dispersed, Aiden felt his father’s hand on his shoulder and turned to him.
“There’s still one issue that remains. The council has left it up to me how to handle it,” his father said ominously. “Excuse us for a moment,” he said to Leila and led him a few steps away.
“And that would be?”
“You brought a human to your compound. As you know that’s against the rules.”
Aiden’s heartbeat kicked up. “You know I had no choice. It was the only safe place.”
His father patted his shoulder. “I understand that, but that doesn’t change the rules. There’s only one set of circumstances under which a human would ever be allowed at a compound. And the council has asked me to inquire about your intentions regarding this particular circumstance.”
Aiden felt certainty about his intentions fill his heart. “Tell the council that the answer is yes.”
His father pulled him into a hug. “I’m very happy to hear that, son. Very happy.”
FORTY
After nearly a week at the compound during which Aiden had rarely left her side, it was finally time for Leila to step outside her safe haven.
“It’s time to see your parents,” Aiden said.
Leila gave a bittersweet smile. This would be the last time they saw her—if they even recognized her this time.
“You can do this.”
Pushing back the rising tears, she pasted another smile onto her lips. “I can do this.”
The things she’d been through since that fateful night when she’d met Aiden had shown her that she was stronger than she believed. She’d survived several attacks by demons and two attempts of murder by a Cloak Warrior. Somehow she would survive this too, as much as it would break her heart. But she understood the importance of this and knew that for everybody’s sake—the world’s sake—she had to make this sacrifice. The wellbeing of billions of humans was at stake, and if giving them a fighting chance to resist the influence of the demons meant she had to take this step, then she would do it. She had no right to be selfish.
By the time they pulled up in front of her parents’ house in Aiden’s car, she and Aiden had gone through everything that would happen that day. She reached for the door handle when he clasped his hand over hers.
She looked back at him.
“You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever met.”
Leila smiled, his admission warming her heart. “Because you make me strong.”
As they got out of the car and walked up the driveway hand in hand, she felt a prickling sensation at her back and tensed.
“Don’t turn around,” he murmured under his breath.
“Are they watching us?”
“Yes. Are you afraid?”
“Yes,” she answered. There was no need to lie. Fear was good, Aiden had told her. It would keep her on her toes and ultimately safe.
When she reached the door, she didn’t have a chance to even ring the bell. The door was torn open, and Nancy greeted her enthusiastically.
“Leila! My dear! We were all so worried about what we saw on TV. Are you all right?”
Leila forced a charming smile and gave the housekeeper a quick hug before squeezing past her into the house.
“No worries, Nancy. It was all a big misunderstanding. I’m sure the news will report in a few hours that I had nothing to do with what happened at Inter Pharma.”
“Ah, that’s a relief!” Nancy said as she eyed Aiden who now closed the entrance door and stood in the hallway.
“Oh, sorry, this is my boyfriend, Aiden. Aiden, this is Nancy, my parents’ caregiver.” She knew that half of the introduction wasn’t necessary. Aiden already knew everything there was to know about Nancy.
He shook Nancy’s hand, flashing a boyish grin. “So pleased to meet you. Leila talks about you all the time. You take such good care of her parents.”
Nancy blushed and made a dismissive hand movement. “Oh, they’re so easy to work for.”
“Where are they?” Leila looked down the hallway, listening for their voices.
“In the den. Your dad is reading the paper, and your mother is watching TV.”
The walk down the hallway felt longer than ever before. Would they recognize her today? Her father maybe. He often seemed more lucid than her mother. Would she know today that her daughter was visiting, or would it be like it was when she’d called from the massage parlor? Leila prayed that this was a good day for both of them.
“I’ll make us some tea,” Nancy chirped and headed for the kitchen.
“We can’t stay long,” Leila called after the caregiver.
“Your parents are due their tea anyway. It’s no bother.” Then she disappeared into the kitchen.
Aiden squeezed her hand in reassurance. She nodded at him, then slowly walked into the den. Her mother sat on the couch, staring at the TV, a soap blaring from it. Her father sat in his favorite armchair, folding a newspaper and putting it on a side table. He looked up and straight at her.
For a moment she stood there frozen in place, waiting. She searched her father’s blue eyes for a sign of recognition.
“Leila?” he suddenly said and rose hesitantly.
She ran toward him and threw her arms around him. He hugged her to him.
“Thank you, thank you,” she whispered. “Oh, Dad, it’s so good to see you.” She raised her head to look at him.
“You haven’t visited in a long time,” he admonished.
She decided not to tell him that she’d spent half a day with him and her mother only two weeks earlier. “I know, Dad. I’m sorry.”
“Well, at least you’re here now.” Then he looked past her, releasing her from his embrace. “You brought a friend?”
Leila turned. “That’s Aiden, Dad.”
Her father nodded. “Hello.”
“Sir, it’s a pleasure meeting you.”
“How is Mom?” Leila asked and cast a look at her mother who was still staring into the TV as if she hadn’t even heard the conversation that was taking place not five feet away from her.
Her father shrugged. “Fine, I guess.”
Leila took a few tentative steps toward the couch, then crouched down in front of her.
“Hi, Mom.”
Her mother stared back at her, then moved to the side to look past her at the TV.
“Mom, it’s Leila, I’m here to visit.”
She gave Leila an inquisitive glance before training her eyes back onto her TV show. Leila took her hand and squeezed it, trying to hold back the tears that started to well up in her eyes.
“They said Leila disappeared,” her mother suddenly said. “The TV said it.”
Leila let out a sigh, half relief, half pain. At least her mother’s words meant that she still grasped something. “Leila is here, Mom, I’ve come back. The TV was wrong.”
Her mother turned her head fully back to her. “Leila is back?”
Stifling her tears, she answered, “Yes, Mom, Leila is back, and she loves you very much.”
“Why doesn’t she come and visit then?” Her mother’s eyes stared right at her, but still there was no recognition in them.
“She will, Mom, she will very soon. Your daughter loves you. She wants you to know that.”
“I love her too.”
Leila released her hands and rose, turning away in order not to show her tears. Aiden put a comforting hand on her forearm.
“She might not know who you are, but she
knows you love her. Isn’t that most important?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yes. It will have to be enough.”
When she turned back to her father, he was sitting in his chair again, reading the paper.
“Dad?”
He didn’t look up this time, almost as if he was in his own world, too engrossed to hear anything else.
“I have to go,” she whispered, knowing he didn’t even hear her.
As they left the house only moments later, saying their goodbyes to Nancy, Aiden took her arm and led her back to the car. She lowered the window all the way and waved at the caregiver from inside the car, making sure Nancy would later recognize the fancy Ferrari.
Leila reached for the seatbelt out of habit, but Aiden’s hand stopped her.
“Maybe it’s better that way,” she mused, looking at Aiden who put the car in gear and drove off. “Maybe she’ll never find out that I died today.”
At the next intersection, the light was red.
“Time to go, baby,” Aiden instructed. “Hamish is waiting on the sidewalk for you. You’ll be cloaked all the way.”
She nodded and heaved herself out of the car window as they’d practiced the entire week. Then she gave Aiden another look. “Be careful.”
When the light turned green, he took off like a rocket. There was no other traffic. The Cloak Warriors had made sure of that. She watched as Aiden’s car ran a red light at the next intersection.
The crash could be heard in the entire neighborhood. Moments later, it was followed by an explosion. Aiden’s car had crashed into a gas truck that had come from the right. Everything went up in flames, the gas from the truck spilling everywhere, spreading the fire to engulf the entire intersection, incinerating Aiden’s sports car.
“Be safe,” she whispered. “Please be safe.”
“He can’t be killed by fire,” Hamish murmured behind her.
“Where is he? I can’t see him.” Nervousness crept up her spine. What if Hamish was wrong? What if an explosion could kill a Cloak Warrior after all?
“He would have dematerialized at impact and emerged behind the gas truck,” Hamish tried to calm her. “At worst he would have gotten singed a little.”
