Corruption

by Jennifer Blackstream

  Evelyn’s blue face remained serene, free of any doubt. She gave Laurie a small smile. “Don’t worry, Laurie. I will get the truth. Your mind may be fragmented and contaminated with the demon’s thoughts.” She turned to Jack. “But his aren’t.”

  Tension seized Laurie’s body, a reaction she couldn’t hide, impressive liar though she was. Jack lay on the ground, still cradling his stomach, but at Evelyn’s words he shoved himself to a sitting position, his face white.

  “I’m not giving you permission to read my mind,” he said quickly. “You can’t do it without my permission.”

  Oksana scoffed. “Says who?”

  “But… But you’re the police,” Jack sputtered. “You can’t just invade someone’s mind like that.”

  “You are a witness,” Evelyn said gently. “That gives me the grounds to read your thoughts.” Her smile turned sad. “But I did not need to look inside your mind. You’re still thinking about it. The memory plays over and over in your head. You love Lorelei, and you are loyal to her. But you know what Laurie did was wrong.”

  Jack was shaking his head, over and over. “No. No, she doesn’t deserve to be locked up for this.”

  “Laurie or Lorelei?” Oksana asked.

  “We are one and the same!” Laurie said desperately. “You cannot punish one without the other.”

  “Lorelei has deserved punishment for a millennium.” Evelyn narrowed her eyes and took a step closer to Laurie, staring into her eyes as if she could force the former paladin to confess with the force of her anger alone. “You were the only one standing between that demon and the justice she deserved.” She clenched her teeth and shook her head. “Never would I have imagined it would be your own sin that condemned the demon. And I certainly never would have imagined you were capable of worse than the demon.”

  “It is not a sin to want to live.”

  “She’s not going to admit it, Evelyn,” I said quietly. “She’s gone too far. I think it’s much more likely she’ll give herself over to the demon completely.”

  “It is never too late to beg God’s forgiveness.” This time when Evelyn looked at the former paladin, it was with a stiff determination in her spine, a ferocity in her eyes. “God is waiting for you, Laurie. And when you’re ready to come home, He will welcome you back.”

  “Then let Him forgive her now.” Nina looked at Evelyn. “Please. You can’t take her.”

  I shared a look with Peasblossom. I didn’t know enough about the Ministry of Deliverance, or Evelyn in particular, to know the requirements for forgiveness as they related to the Vanguard’s justice system. I knew they believed God would forgive anything, if forgiveness was sought with an honest heart.

  But I wasn’t sure the Vanguard would let her off as easy as God.

  As it turned out, it didn’t matter. Laurie’s body jerked, and her eyes burned with a sudden red flame. Her body lost the stiffness of Laurie’s rebellious denial, her shoulders drooping and her stance relaxing as Lorelei found herself suddenly and unexpectedly in control. She took in her surroundings with a disoriented air, agitation in every movement.

  “What is going on?” she demanded. “Why am I bound?” She flinched and bowed her head, probably a reaction to the celestial energy in the restraints.

  “She couldn’t even bring herself to ask for forgiveness,” Peasblossom said sadly. “That’s not a good sign, is it?”

  “There is always hope with God,” Evelyn insisted. She met Lorelei’s eyes, and some tension crept into her shoulders as she prepared for the demon’s reaction to her new circumstances. “It seems Laurie has lost her courage. She’s left you to deal with the repercussions of her crime.”

  “Her crime?” Lorelei forced her head up, jutting out her chin. “What crime?”

  “Lorelei.” Jack shoved himself off the ground, swaying unsteadily on his feet. “I’m sorry.”

  The demon frowned, looking around and studying the faces of the Vanguard and her own Acolytes. Her eyes widened. “No. No, she— No!”

  Stacey and Kelly chose that moment to pull into the driveway. Kelly was behind the wheel, and she jerked the car into park, leaving the keys inside as she fled the car. Stacey didn’t even wait for it to come to a complete stop, but was out her door and across the driveway in a flash, her face twisted in panic.

  “What’s going on?” Stacey demanded. “Jack, I got your text. What’s happening?”

  “They’re arresting Lorelei,” Nina said, her voice trembling.

  “Why?” Kelly gasped.

  “Laurie arranged the murders,” Jack said, his voice tight. “She decided she didn’t want to die.”

  Kelly stared at Oksana and Evelyn before looking at me. “So she fought for her life. That’s not a crime, is it?”

  Evelyn’s iridescent black eyes focused on Kelly, pinning the thirteen year old in place. “Murder is a crime, yes. But if it puts your mind at ease, there will be a trial. Laurie will have a chance to give her side.”

  “Do not attempt to fool her, you self-important Smurf,” Lorelei seethed. “Her eyes are open to the truth of the world. She knows what a mockery the justice system—any justice system—makes of the truth.”

  I stiffened, suddenly wary of the glint in Lorelei’s eyes. I’d thought the demon would protect her cult, but something about her tone made me doubt. The Vanguard would take her away, and we both knew what the result of the trial would be. Would the demon sacrifice her Acolytes to save herself?

  Lorelei straightened her spine, looking at each of her Acolytes in turn. “Don’t let them take me.”

  “Blood and bone,” I cursed.

  The reaction from the Acolytes was instantaneous. Kelly flung her arms out at the blue-skinned paladin holding Lorelei by the shoulder. A surge of energy swept down her limbs, and black shapes rolled out of the ground. Three enormous centipedes surged forward, venomous mandibles clacking as they headed for their prey.

  Stacey moved in tandem with the older girl, using her own corruption to create a swarm of bats. She flung the swarm toward Oksana, and the chittering black cloud surged forward.

  “You can’t have her!” Grant yelled.

  My stomach rolled at the memory of the young man’s power, but before I could summon a spell to counter his nauseating cloud, Oksana laughed. The strix bared teeth that looked unnaturally white in the darkness, and her laugh grew louder as she beat her wings. With a wingspan easily over twelve feet, and the muscles of a warrior who routinely detained and defeated the worst the Otherworld had to offer, the wind generated by her wings beat back Grant’s cloud, simultaneously knocking many of the bats out of the air. On top of that, the strix’s shrieking laugh reached deep into her enemies, plucking at instincts deep inside every animal with a natural predator.

  The centipedes froze in their tracks, hesitating in the shadow of the great winged warrior laughing maniacally, even as bats screeched and scratched and bit at her flesh, drawing blood with tooth and claw.

  Andy took a step forward---to do what, I had no idea. I put my arm out to stop him. “This is the Vanguard,” I said grimly. “Trust me, they don’t need—or want—our hel—” A squeak of surprise cut me off as I abruptly found myself falling—upward.

  Andy grunted as both of us rose in the air to hover ten feet off the ground. I didn’t need to see Jack to know it had been him, and I growled my frustration. I wasn’t even in this fight.

  Below me, Jerome took on his gaseous form, leaving his clothes behind in a pile as he floated toward the strix. I shook my head, not bothering to fight the effect of Jack’s corruption as I watched the teenage-cloud drift toward Oksana. I guessed what he intended to do, but it wouldn’t work.

  As expected, the wind from her wings held him back, pushing away the cloud with the same ease she’d held off Grant’s corruption. Jerome landed in a naked pile of limbs on the grass, punching the ground in frustration.

  Evelyn stepped forward, raising her hands at the crowd of Acolytes. Nina gritted her teeth and stepp
ed forward, pointing at the aasimar’s sword with one hand.

  “She’s going to heat the sword,” Andy shouted.

  “It’s all right. Trust me.” I pointed at Evelyn as I spoke. Andy followed the gesture, though his shoulders betrayed his tension.

  “Ex timore coronam!” The paladin’s voice boomed over the lawn, magic pulsing outward with a force that made my bones ache. A fiery halo blossomed into life over Evelyn’s head. She drew her sword, and red beams of light that had nothing to do with heat arced outward from the movement. She took a step forward, swung the sword, and chopped one of the giant centipedes in two.

  The insect never had the chance to scream before its gelatinous insides sprayed over the grass in a foul smelling mess. The magic of the paladin’s spell followed in the wake of the violent execution, and even as her ally, I felt a small taste of the holy terror aimed at the Acolytes.

  Kelly, Stacey, and Grant fled, screaming in terror. Fear pulled panicked screams from their throats, and their eyes bulged as they bolted for safety, driven into a state of pure fright by the red magic pulsing outward from the grim paladin.

  I gritted my teeth and gathered saliva in my mouth, infusing it with a spell. As Kelly ran underneath me, I spit the magic, sending a tacky blue web to tangle around her legs, dropping her into a scrambling mass of arms and legs as she fought to keep running.

  “Peasblossom, cat, stop them before they run into a neighbor’s house and get the cops called on us!”

  Peasblossom darted after Stacey, corralling her like a collie wrangling a panicked sheep. The black cat was busy with one of the giant centipedes, and I gritted my teeth and searched for Grant.

  I spotted the third frightened Acolyte moving very, very slowly. I frowned. He was literally running in slow motion. Which made no sense. Unless…

  I sighed as I spotted the kitten leaping around the Acolyte’s feet, batting at his shoelaces as he slow-ran. Chaos kitten struck again.

  Jack, Nina, and Jerome had resisted the push of the paladin’s spell enough to remain standing, but the trembling in their bodies betrayed the urge to flee.

  Oksana barely spared them a glance, her pearlescent eyes taking in the cat sith wrestling with the last of the giant centipedes. With a snort of amusement, she hurled herself after Grant, wrapping the slow-moving Acolyte in a bear hug. The bats that still swarmed around her began biting the young man as well, and my stomach rolled as he began screaming.

  Then the anti-gravity spell ended, spilling Andy and me onto the ground. Andy landed hard, and my heart constricted when he didn’t get up right away.

  “Are you all right?” I pushed myself to my feet and stumbled to his side, but he batted me away with one arm.

  “I’m fine.” His attention fixed on Stacey still running from the bobbing pink light that was Peasblossom. His jaw tightened and he heaved himself off the ground, running for the teenager.

  I left him to deal with the panicked girl and faced the paladin with the burning halo.

  I’d never seen a member of the Ministry of Deliverance in action. Not like this. I hadn’t even noticed when Lorelei fled, tried to run away with her hands still bound behind her back.

  Evelyn had noticed.

  There was a split second between when Evelyn raised the sword, and I realized when she intended to do. I jerked so hard I tripped, flinging out a hand as my knees hit the grass, spitting the spell before it was too late.

  “Nebula!”

  The fog started out like a small grey snowball hovering in the air, but blessedly expanded and thickened in time. A grey blanket filled the air between the Acolytes and the paladin closing in on the demon, blocking Lorelei from their view as Evelyn plunged the sword down toward the demon’s back.

  I scanned the yard, looking all around to make sure none of the demon’s emotional followers had seen more than they needed to. Andy held Stacey in a bear hug, his deep voice unintelligible as he murmured in her ear, trying to calm her down. She wasn’t fighting him anymore, but her body shook uncontrollably with the urge to keep fleeing, to run away from the paladin and her burning crown.

  Kelly lay on the ground, her struggles against my spell evident in the thousands of thin blue threads holding her immobile on the grass. The more she’d struggled, the more she’d ensnared herself, and now she just lay there whimpering.

  Jerome had put his clothes back on and gone to stand beside Nina, the two of them holding one another for support. They stared at the fog, and I wondered how much they’d seen before my spell took effect.

  The strix’s deep chuckle drew my attention as she strode up to my side and dropped Grant to the ground. His black, curly hair was matted to his head with blood from the bats’ scratches and bites, and he groaned when he hit the ground. He just lay there, and I didn’t know if he was too hurt to move, or if he just wanted to avoid any further attention from the strix.

  I glared at Oksana. “The children are sufficiently terrified. You can stop laughing now.”

  Oksana blinked, looking genuinely surprised by my rancor. Then she looked around, taking in the shaken Acolytes, their pale faces and miserable expressions. This fight might have been mere amusement for the strix, but for them it had been a fight for the life of their friend. And they’d lost.

  She wiped the post-battle joy from her face.

  “Oksana.” Evelyn’s voice pierced the fog a split second before she appeared. Her halo was gone, but the red blood spray on her arms and chest were enough to keep the terror going. Nina clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle another sob, her eyes bright with new tears.

  The paladin’s shoulders slumped, but she kept her chin held high. “Oksana, if you would be so kind as to carry Lorelei to the van and get her settled?”

  I tensed, not wanting the Acolytes to be further traumatized. I shouldn’t have worried.

  “Look at me,” Evelyn said softly. “Look at me, and be at peace.”

  They didn’t want to listen to her. I could feel their hatred, their misery like a tangible cloud. But the paladin was stronger, and they’d been weakened by their attempt to save Lorelei. The paladin’s power washed over them, smoothing the lines from their faces. Their shoulders fell, and they let out deep exhales as if all the negativity, all the fear and sadness escaped on that one breath. It wouldn’t last, but it would make the journey to the Vanguard easier for them.

  Andy came to stand beside me as the paladin led the serene Acolytes to the van. “What did she do to them?”

  “It’s a minor enchantment,” I answered. “Just to keep them calm.”

  “What happens when it wears off?”

  I rubbed the bridge of my nose. “They’ll be upset. But they’ll be in more comfortable surroundings, with people to explain what’s happening to them.”

  “Will they be arrested? For being corrupted?”

  I shook my head. “It’s not illegal to be corrupted. They made a choice, and I think the Vanguard will find it was an informed choice. They’ll be trained in how to manage their abilities, educated about the laws that govern their use, and they’ll be monitored for a probationary period.”

  “Can they cure the corruption?” Andy asked.

  “No. Corruption isn’t like a possession or an affliction, or even a curse. A corruption reaches into an individual and amplifies something that was already there, something that was already a part of them. Only the corrupted individual can choose to overcome it. And it’s not easy.”

  “So they can’t help them.” Andy’s tone grew flat, and he stared after the kids as if he weren’t really seeing them.

  “That’s the insidious part of a corruption, it gets into who you are. It finds the part of you that wants it, that wants the power it can offer.” I sighed. “They don’t seem inclined to fight it anyway. Especially not now that they have so much anger inside them.”

  Andy shook his head. “This doesn’t feel like a win.”

  Peasblossom landed on my shoulder and hugged my neck. I patted her on the
back between her wings with one finger. “No,” I admitted quietly. “It doesn’t.”

  Chapter 21

  “It’s not that I’m not grateful,” I said, attempting a calm and reasonable tone. “I am. Very grateful. For all the help you’ve given me. It’s just, this is my office. My place of business. I’m not saying you can’t visit me, but…” I sighed and dropped my hands into my lap, my desk chair squeaking as I slumped back. “Please, you can’t be here.”

  The giant black cat continued to stare at me. Sitting in front of my desk, as if it were a potential client, the beast’s head was as high as mine. It had come in as I was finishing up the fifty pages of paperwork that came from completing a case that required the Vanguard. Witness statements, sworn statements regarding what magic I’d used since stepping on the premises, my familiar-dictated request for help. Oksana hadn’t eaten Laurie or Jack, but I was beginning to suspect it might have been less work if she had.

  I glanced out the windows that lined the front wall of my office. The sun had set ten minutes ago, and the sky still held a memory of the day. I’d really, really wanted to get home before dark. That was out of the question now, but with any luck, I could still walk home sans giant beast.

  “It’s not that I don’t want you here,” I continued. “Of course I would welcome you here. But I have this landlord. And he’s rather touchy on the subject of cats in the office.” I pointed across the room to the bookcase where Majesty was sleeping on top of the files from last week’s caseload. “I’m paying an extra fifty dollars a month because he caught Majesty here. Try to imagine what he would charge me if he saw you.”

  The door to my office swung open. In a moment that reaffirmed my belief that sometimes the gods got bored and had nothing better to do than have fun with me, Declan Grey strode in. My landlord wore his usual battered black clothes that gave the impression of a down-on-his-luck chimney sweep, and the dark eyes of a soulless doll. He pointed at the shelf, his mouth opened, and I could already hear him raising my rent, the inevitable speech about what a rubbish businesswoman I was, how I couldn’t follow the simplest of rules.