Chapter 24
Tuesday Evening, January 11th
Dinah sat in the back seat of Mr. McCallister’s large SUV as it moved along the snow-covered road. Cole and Jason sat next to her, while Larry sat in front with Mr. McCallister. She looked out the window at the snow that continued to fall heavily, and which kept them from driving any faster than ten miles per hour. They had already been driving for nearly half an hour and still hadn’t reached the turnoff to the Ambrose driveway. Dinah knew that she wasn’t the only one in the car who felt restless and helpless at the same time. Every minute it took them to reach the others who had gone through the woods was another minute that they could be in danger. But the worst thing about the delay was that it could mean that Billie and Louis had already been taken and that they were too late.
Cole suddenly sat forward from his seat next to her and pointed out the windshield. “There’s the driveway,” he said urgently.
Dinah leaned forward to look between the front seats, but couldn’t see what Cole was talking about. All she could see was a sheet of blowing white snow beyond the headlights that tried without success to pierce it.
“I don’t see anything, Cole,” she told her brother. “Are you sure?”
“It’s just ahead,” Cole replied confidently.
“There it is!” James confirmed as he finally saw the driveway on their left and carefully turned the car onto it.
Dinah looked at her brother and smiled. She had seen the driveway at the same time that Mr. McCallister had. It still surprised her to see how superhumanly-sharpened her older brother’s senses were. Cole smiled back shyly, but didn’t say anything. She knew that he had heard her thoughts as loudly as if she had spoken them.
Cole returned his gaze to the front of the vehicle as it turned onto his family’s driveway. He spotted movement through the snow, but at first couldn’t figure out what it was. When the large shape finally resolved itself in his vision, he nearly wasn’t quick enough to avert disaster.
“Look out!” he shouted as he pointed straight ahead. When Mr. McCallister didn’t do anything, Cole shouted, “Turn left now!”
James listened immediately and pulled the steering wheel to the left just as he saw the shape of the large black SUV that was barreling toward them without its lights on. He pulled harder on the wheel and just managed to move out of the charging vehicle as it flew past. There was a loud scraping noise and everyone felt the McCallister SUV nudged along its side as the other car brushed along the rear quarter, pushing it off the driveway before disappearing behind them.
James felt the driver’s side of the car tilt down sharply and knew that the vehicle had left the snow-covered pavement of the driveway. And then he felt the car hit something hard, but yielding at the same time. He and the others were thrown forward as the car stopped moving, and he released the gas pedal and slammed on the brake, not wanting the car to get stuck in the snowdrift that he was sure they had hit.
There was a moment of stunned silence as everyone processed the brush with the other vehicle and how much more serious their situation would have been had it hit them head-on.
Dinah remembered something she had seen as the car had flown past. “Billie and Louis were in the back seat of that car,” she said somberly to the rest of the group as she remembered the twin sets of frightened eyes that she had seen.
“Are you sure?” Cole asked with concern. “I didn’t see them.”
“I saw them too,” Larry said as he unbuckled his seat belt and looked over at James. “Can you get us back on the driveway?” he asked.
James put the car in reverse and tried to move the car backward, but the only thing that happened was the spinning of wheels as the engine revved to its maximum. James shook his head and said, “We’re stuck.”
“Alright,” Larry said with barely-masked frustration. “Let’s get out and see what we’re working with.” He stepped out of the vehicle and shook his head. “I swear this driveway and I just don’t get along,” he murmured as he thought of the accident he and Jerry had gotten into the night before just a few yards further down the driveway.
Jason and Cole got out on the same side as Larry, and Dinah got out on the opposite side with James. Dinah stood next to the older man as he looked at the front tire that was hanging a few feet above the ground.
“This isn’t good,” James murmured as he kneeled down to get a closer look. “I have no idea how we’re going to get this back on the road,” he added with obvious frustration. He stood back up and looked around as the snow continued to fall. “Maybe we can find some branches or something that we can use for traction.”
Larry looked around him to try to get his bearings. They had only been on the driveway for a short distance before the run-in with the other car, so he knew that they were still pretty far from the remains of the Ambrose house. He looked at his watch and realized that it had been nearly half an hour since they had left the McCallister house. He didn’t see any sign of the others who had gone through the woods, and was suddenly worried that they had run into trouble.
Larry turned to Cole and Jason and told them, “We’d better go see if we can find the others. Cole, you come with me. Jason, see if you can help James and Dinah figure out a way to free the car.”
“We’ve got to go after Billie and Louis!” Cole said with frustration. “Whoever that was in the car is getting away!”
“Cole, we’re not going anywhere until we can get the car free,” Larry said soothingly as he put his hand on Cole’s arm. “And we can’t leave your dad and the others out in the cold. We don’t even know if they’re okay.”
Cole was quiet for a moment as he looked back at the entrance of the driveway, where he had seen a strange vehicle pull away with his two youngest siblings inside. He hated the thought of any delay in going after them, hated the thought of Billie and Louis sitting there, afraid and wondering if anyone was going to come after them. But Larry was right. They had to find his dad and the others and figure out how to free the car before they could do anything.
“Okay, let’s go look for them,” Cole finally said with a nod.
Jason moved around to the other side of the car while Cole started walking down the driveway with Larry. Jason was worried about Tina and silently berated himself for letting her go with the others in the first place. He didn’t like the thought of Louis and Billie being carried off either, and not being able to do anything about either situation made him feel agitated. But if they were going to do anything about it, they had to have a plan. And Larry had taken charge of their situation and come up with that plan, and Jason was going to do whatever he could to help that plan along.
Larry and Cole searched the woods around them as they walked quickly through the snow toward where their house used to stand. Cole felt another pang of sadness at the thought that he and his family were homeless, but quickly pushed it aside.
“Let me know if you see anything,” Larry said to Cole as they walked along the driveway. His body was hunched against the cold, but Cole could barely feel it.
“I will,” Cole answered as he watched the trees for signs of movement. He felt a presence brush against his mind suddenly, but didn’t recognize it at first.
Cole, I need you.
Cole stopped suddenly as he realized that the voice in his head was Cody’s. He looked around him in surprise for signs of the dog, but didn’t see anything.
“What is it?” Larry asked as he pulled his gun from his holster and stepped in front of Cole protectively.
“It’s Cody,” Cole answered as he continued to look for signs of the dog.
Finally, Cole spotted the dog in the distance, walking toward the spot where he and Larry stood. Cole could see immediately that the dog was injured and limping. Without a word to Larry, Cole ran toward the injured dog, though he heard Larry following behind him as quickly as he could.
He reached the dog and fell to his knees
, holding out his hands as Cody reached him. His coat was covered in blood, but Cole couldn’t see any blood flowing freely. And when he checked his fur for signs of injury, he found only the spots where the blood had already caked over. Cody’s wounds had healed. But Cole could still feel the pain coming from the dog.
I’ll be fine, Cole, Cody told him. But the others…some of them are injured…badly. You must come with me.
“What is he saying?” Larry said as he caught up with Cole. He was already breathing hard, though they had only come a short distance in the snow.
“He said the others are up ahead,” Cole answered him as he stood. “And some of them are hurt badly. He’ll take us to them.”
Larry nodded, but didn’t say anything. Cole could tell that he was having a hard time breathing, and was worried about the large man who was like a second father to him and his siblings. But he knew that he might need help with the others, so he couldn’t tell him to stay behind.
“Let’s go,” Cole said to Cody.
The dog stood up and started walking back along the way he had come, with Cole and Larry following closely behind. Neither of them knew what they were going to find when they reached the others, though they both said a silent prayer that they would find everyone alive.
Dinah looked at the tire again as Mr. McCallister wedged a large tree branch beneath it. She didn’t think the branch stood any more of a chance than the previous two had, but she didn’t say anything. She could see the frustration on Mr. McCallister’s face and didn’t want to add to it. She couldn’t think of any better way to free their stuck vehicle, and her frustration was building nearly as quickly as her neighbor’s was. Cole and Larry had gone off in search of their father and the others, but had already been gone for nearly ten minutes, and she was starting to worry about them, too.
“They’ve been gone a while,” Jason said softly to her, echoing her thoughts. “Maybe I should go after them.”
Dinah shook her head as she continued to stare down at the tire. “The last thing we need is for everyone to start splitting up,” Dinah told him. “Once the car is ready and Cole and Larry come back with the others, we’re leaving to go after Billie and Louis.”
“Right,” Jason responded without emotion. He was anxious for any kind of word from Tina, but knew that Dinah was right. If they split up, it would only take longer to get everyone together again to go after the little ones. Jason felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up in surprise to see Dinah staring back at him with sympathy.
“I’m worried about them too,” she told him. “But if anyone can find them, it’s Cole.” She tried to put as much reassurance in her voice as she could, even if she didn’t completely believe it herself.
Jason looked into her eyes for a moment before nodding and smiling slightly. He was surprised by the maturity that he saw in all of the Ambrose children – well, maybe not Louis, but definitely the rest of them. His smile widened as he thought of Louis and his off-color sense of humor that frequently landed him in trouble. The thought of such a happy soul being held captive by the likes of the demons and their allies was not something that Jason liked to think about.
“Let’s try this again,” James said suddenly, dispelling Jason’s thoughts of Louis.
James climbed into the driver’s seat as Dinah and Jason moved away from the car. He checked to be sure that the four-wheel drive was still engaged, and then pressed on the accelerator. The car moved slightly as the front tire climbed over the branch that he had placed beneath it. But once it had rolled over the branch, the car stopped moving. He heard the high-pitched squealing noise of a freely-spinning wheel and swore in frustration. They were still stuck.
“I don’t think we’re going anywhere unless we can either push or tow this car back onto the driveway,” James said as he rubbed his forehead in frustration. “It’s just stuck in that snow too deep.”
Dinah looked at the car and then at the driveway. The car had only moved a few yards from the driveway, and only the front wheels had completely left it. The back tires were both still on fairly firm ground, even though one of them wasn’t actually touching the driveway due to the tilt of the vehicle. She wondered how heavy such a large car was, and decided that it didn’t matter. The only way she would know if she was strong enough to lift the car was if she tried.
“I have an idea,” Dinah said as Mr. McCallister shut the engine off and stepped back outside.
“Okay,” James answered skeptically. He had already tried everything he could think of, and he had grown up in Colorado. He had removed vehicles from snow drifts dozens of times, and was sure that the only way to free the car now was to have another vehicle push or pull it from the snowdrift. And he knew that there was no other vehicle nearby that could do such a thing. “What’s your idea?” he asked Dinah as he watched her move to the front of the car.
She looked back at him for a moment as she thought of what to say. Finally, she just smiled and told him, “I’m going to try something. I don’t know if it will work, but just in case it doesn’t, I’d like you and Mr. Holt to stand off to the side a bit.”
James and Jason looked at each other in confusion, both of them having no idea what Dinah was planning. James didn’t think that whatever Dinah had planned would work, but he figured there was no harm in letting her try.
Dinah stood before the front bumper of the SUV and looked down at it, wondering if she had regained enough strength from her injuries to even try lifting something so heavy. There was a good chance that she would hurt herself and fail to even move the vehicle at all. But it was a risk she was willing to take. She knew that there was no other way to get their vehicle free. Mr. McCallister had said as much, and she believed him.
She took a deep breath and then looked briefly at where Mr. McCallister and Mr. Holt stood, looking at her in undisguised confusion. Well, she thought. Here goes nothing.
She took another deep breath and then reached down and grasped the underside of the bumper as she flexed her knees and prepared to lift the vehicle. She took one final breath and then pushed up with her legs.
Dinah was prepared for the car not to move, so she was surprised when it lifted easily in her hands. She slowly straightened her legs until she was completely standing, the front of the car held securely in her hands, though it was balanced at a slight angle. She glanced over at the two teachers and saw the twin expressions of shock on both of their faces as they watched her.
As she held the front bumper up, she looked over at her destination and started slowly walking the car toward it. As soon as her legs started moving, she felt the strain of carrying the full weight of the vehicle. The muscles in her thighs started to burn a moment before those in her arms. She ignored the pain as best she could, and continued to move toward the driveway.
As she climbed the slight incline near the edge of the pavement, her foot slipped briefly. She nearly dropped the vehicle, which would have been disastrous, but managed to regain her footing and stabilize its weight before continuing to slowly walk it back to level ground.
Finally, just when she thought she couldn’t carry the SUV another step, she cleared the edge of the driveway. She took a quick breath and then moved it over two more steps to ensure that it wouldn’t get stuck again. She slowly lowered it back to the ground as her legs began to shake. When all four tires were on level ground again, she released her grip on the bumper and collapsed backward in the snow, gasping for air. Sweat had formed on her forehead, and the wintry air was chilling it to the point that it was uncomfortable. She brushed it away with her sleeve and looked over at the two teachers again.
James and Jason were both stunned by what they had seen. Dinah had picked up the front of the car and walked it through the snow, up an incline and back onto the driveway. James knew that it would have been difficult, if not impossible, for several people to reproduce what she had done alone.
Jason finally broke
their momentary inaction by running over to where Dinah lay in the snow, trying to catch her breath. James quickly followed behind him and they both leaned down and asked Dinah if she was okay.
“I’ll…be fine…in a minute,” she said with a smile as she waved them off. “That…was harder than…I thought it would be!”
“How did you do that?” James asked with disbelief. He looked over at Jason and saw his own amazement mirrored on the younger teacher’s face. Neither of them had seen Dinah fight against the demons, and so had no idea of her superhuman strength.
But before Dinah could answer, she heard a familiar voice in her head.
Dinah, we’re nearly back with the others, Cole said to her. They’ve been hurt badly. We need help.
Dinah quickly relayed the message to the two teachers. She pushed aside her fatigue with great effort and stood up. Jason followed her as she headed down the driveway and James stayed behind to start the car. He turned the heater on its highest setting, hoping to warm the vehicle as much as possible before their injured companions arrived. He knew that someone going into shock could be dangerous, and even more so in the cold of winter.
Dinah spotted Larry walking toward her with something brown and furry in his arms. She quickly realized that it was Aidan, and that the dog wasn’t moving. Behind him walked Cole, with the limp form of Vaughan in his arms. Dinah gasped as she saw her injured brother and ran to help Cole. She saw her father limp up behind Cole and was relieved to see that his injuries didn’t appear to be serious. And then Harper walked up with Tina held in his arms. She wasn’t moving either, and Dinah heard Jason gasp as he saw her. He ran up to Harper and then walked beside him, holding one of Tina’s limp hands in his as they walked up to the running SUV. They moved around to the back where James had put down the seats to make room to lay Vaughan, Tina and Aidan down.
Harper leaned over each of them and murmured something under his breath as his body began to glow. Aidan stirred and then quickly sat up in the back of the vehicle, but Tina and Vaughan still didn’t move. Aidan leaned over each of them briefly, sniffing at both of their faces and whining softly. She looked over at Harper for a moment and then jumped from the backseat of the car and moved to sit next to Cody, where both of them watched Harper intently.
Dinah noticed for the first time that her uncle was covered in blood and the black fluid that she recognized as the blood of the demons. The way he moved, she could tell that he was still in some pain, but he was at least moving. Vaughan and Tina still hadn’t moved and Harper had stopped whatever he had been doing. The only sign of life in either of them was the shallow rise and fall of their chests.
Harper pushed his hair back from his forehead and everyone could see the obvious exhaustion on his face. His normally bright blue eyes were dulled and dark circles had formed beneath both of them.
“How are they doing?” Jerry asked softly as he leaned against the car. A large bruise was forming on the side of his face, and dried blood covered his top lip.
Harper looked at his brother-in-law briefly, and then down at the ground. “They’re dying,” he said so softly that he could barely be heard over the low growl of the engine. His voice had been filled with despair as he spoke, and Dinah suddenly realized that it wasn’t only exhaustion that had caused the change to his eyes. It was also grief.
“What are you talking about?” Jason asked as he stared at Harper. “How can they be dying? They don’t even look like they’re hurt!”
“Harper, why do you think they’re dying?” Jerry asked his brother-in-law earnestly as he moved to sit next to him on the bumper.
“I don’t think it, brother,” Harper answered as he met Jerry’s stare. “I can feel it. I’ve healed what small physical wounds they had, but what’s killing them is far worse.” He took a deep breath before explaining, “They were both assaulted by powerful dark magic, and that is what is killing them.”
“Can’t you stop it?” Jason asked with a sob. He was wringing his hands as he looked at the still form of Tina.
“I would give my life to save either of them,” Harper answered as he looked at Jason. “But I do not have the strength required to save even one of them. My battle with the demon took too much from me.” He looked miserable as he admitted his inability to heal Vaughan and Tina. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly.
“That’s it, then?” Jason asked, his despair rising. He heard the note of hysteria in his voice, but didn’t care. The thought that Tina was dying was unbearable. “There’s got to be something else you can do! You can’t just let her die. I mean, let them die.”
“Believe me, Jason,” Harper said to him, trying to catch his gaze, but Jason refused to look away from Tina. “If there was anything else I could do, I would do it.”
Jerry sat on the bumper next to Harper, and stared down at his hands in shock. He was too numb to say anything, and was surprised that he couldn’t even cry. His son was dying. And there was nothing he could do about it. It had been one of his greatest fears throughout his encounters with the demons – the fear that he would lose one or more of his children. He had only recently rebuilt his relationship with Vaughan, and now he was going to lose him again.
And then Jerry thought about Tina Waverly. The small, pretty young woman had been a mere acquaintance just a day ago, and now he felt a bond with her that made the thought of her dying nearly as devastating as the thought of the loss of his son. Her amazing strength and the protective nature that he had seen her show toward his children reminded him so much of his late wife. And when he looked at the despondence on Jason’s face, he felt a kinship with the young man. Even though Jason had not begun an actual relationship with Tina, Jerry could see that the young man was in love. And he knew what it was like to lose someone that you loved in that way.
Jerry looked at where Vaughan and Tina laid next to each other and finally felt a sob escape his lips. Tears started flowing freely and when he looked over at Dinah and Cole, he saw them holding each other, crying quietly in the falling snow. Even Larry had tears falling down his cheeks as he looked at the two sleeping forms in the back of the SUV. But when Jerry looked over at James McCallister, the expression he saw on the teacher’s face surprised him. He didn’t look upset or saddened by what Harper had said. If Jerry had to guess what his expression was, he would have said that James looked thoughtful.
James could tell that Harper was keeping something from them, and he wondered what it was. He walked over to the rear bumper of the car and stood in front of the Aes Sidhe, looking down at him in silence for a moment. Harper stared up at him in confusion, but he was too exhausted and emotionally drained to say anything to him.
“There’s another way,” James said quietly to Harper. “Something you’re not telling us.”
Harper’s eyes narrowed as he stared up at the teacher. He still didn’t trust the man completely, but Harper had to grudgingly admit that James was right. There was another way, but Harper had purposely kept it to himself, because he not only doubted that it was possible, he was sure that it was far too dangerous to attempt.
James kneeled down and placed his hand on Harper’s arm. “I’m sure you have your reasons for keeping it from us,” he said quietly to Harper as he now looked up into his blue eyes. James was sympathetic as he added, “But if there’s another way, no matter how dangerous, we must know.”
Harper stared down for a moment in silence at the man who seemed to know more than he should. At first, he was angry that James was asking him such a thing. Harper worried that even mentioning the option that he knew stood almost no chance of working would give everyone false hope. But as he stared into the earnest face of the man who had repeatedly risked his life for the safety of Harper’s family, he felt a measure of respect for James. He knew as well as Harper did that giving false hope under such circumstances could only cause more damage to Jerry and the others if Vaughan and Tina ultimately died.
But he was right – they deserved to know of every option, no matter the risk.
“It’s very dangerous,” Harper said quietly as he looked down at James. “I’ve never done such a thing before, and have no idea if it would even work. I’ve only seen it done once, and that was long ago.” His eyes narrowed as he added softly, “You have no idea what you’re asking, James McCallister.”
“Harper, please,” Jerry said as he gently grabbed his brother-in-law’s hand. “If there’s anything you can do…anything at all, please.”
Harper looked into the eyes of the man who his sister had chosen as more than just a mate. She had chosen to share her life with him, had chosen him as the father of her children, had given up everything she had known. It was a choice that he hadn’t understood for many years, a choice that had made him angry with her for throwing her life away. His anger with her was because she had made such a foolish choice. But Harper had come to realize in the past few days that he had been the fool all along, not his sister. The man who had become his brother was a good man. And the children that he had fathered with Arianna were now a part of Harper too. Losing any of the Ambrose children would be like losing a part of himself. James McCallister was right.
Harper looked down at his brother-in-law’s hand, which held his own. The dark skin that was barely starting to wrinkle with age, contrasted against the smooth white flesh of Harper’s hand, but in many other ways they were nearly identical. It was not the first time that he had noticed the striking similarities between humans and Aes Sidhe. But his growing distrust of humans had caused him to think of them as inferior, as lesser creatures than his people. Again, he had come to realize that he had been a fool to think such things.
“Life energy can be harnessed,” Harper said quietly as he continued to look down at his hands. And then he looked up at each of them one at a time as he continued, “In much the same way that the Solas can use the energy of living things, this energy can be used to heal. But unlike the Solas, I cannot take this energy. It must be freely given.”
“Take mine,” Jason said as he kneeled in front of Harper. “I’ll give it to you willingly!”
“You don’t understand,” Harper explained as he looked down at Jason with pity. He had seen the naked love for Tina in Jason’s eyes and sympathized. “I don’t know if I can control how much of the energy I take. And if I take too much, the giver of the energy will die.” Harper was quiet for a moment before he added, “The one time I saw this kind of magic used, one of my people ended up giving his life to save a human child. Is it fair to save one life by taking another?”
“Couldn’t you take a little from each of us?” James asked. “That way, the risk will be shared, and the chance that one of us gives too much would diminish.”
Harper stared at James in shocked silence for a moment as he considered what he had said. “I suppose that might work,” he finally answered. “It’s still very dangerous, though. As I said, I’ve only seen it done. I know how to do it in theory alone.”
“I’ll do it,” Jerry answered resolutely.
“So will I,” Jason said as he stood up.
As Harper looked around at the others, each of them volunteered to share a portion of their life force to heal Vaughan and Tina. He was quiet for a moment as he considered what they wanted to do. He didn’t like the idea, thought it was too dangerous. But he could think of no other alternative, and he wasn’t ready to give up on Vaughan and Tina.
“Very well,” Harper said as he released Jerry’s hand and stood up. “Let’s begin.”
Harper had everyone stand in a semi-circle, facing the open back of the SUV. “Take the hand of the person next to you,” he told them as he took the hand of Jerry on one side and James on the other. He could feel the tension and anxiety pouring from each of them, but as he reached out with his mind, he was surprised to see that none of them were afraid. All of their thoughts were of saving Vaughan and Tina. Harper hoped that it was a sign that they would succeed.
He sent his consciousness along the joined hands around him, linking with each of the others one at a time. He felt the anxiety again and was surprised to realize that it was coming from him. He thought of the only time that he had seen what he was going to try to do. He remembered the lines of power running from the two Aes Sidhe and into the injured human. The human boy had risked his life to warn the Aes Sidhe of the betrayal of the Roman legion, and had been struck down by powerful dark magic. When the healing had finished, the human’s life had been restored, but one of the Aes Sidhe had lain dead on the ground. Harper prayed that such a sacrifice would not be needed this time.
Next, he gauged the strength of those around him. He needed to have an idea of the amount of energy he could safely take from each of them. The first person that he gauged was James McCallister. Harper was surprised at the strength that he saw there. It was one of the strongest life forces that he had ever seen in a human. He reached for the energy that flowed through James and felt it reach out to him in return. Their energies merged and Harper could feel the strength that came from the joining of both of their life forces. The feeling was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. He felt bare and exposed to this human he barely knew and hadn’t yet decided if he trusted. Harper allowed a few moments to let himself grow accustomed to the feeling of having joined with another being and then moved on to Cole, who stood next to James.
Harper had always been afraid to view the life forces of his sister’s children. He had been afraid of seeing the frailty there that he saw in all humans. But Cole’s life force burned brightly, far brighter than any human being, and only a fraction less so than an Aes Sidhe. When Harper moved on to Dinah, he saw the same strength there as he had in Cole. Harper was surprised that his niece’s strength had recovered so quickly. It strengthened his hope that what they were trying to do would work. He merged the energy the shared energy with Cole and then Dinah. The growth in power was exponential, and his confidence surged.
His senses moved on to Larry next, but what he found there nearly caused him to drop his connection to the others. Where the life force in the others was strong and steady, Larry’s was weak and seemed to flicker dimly. Harper recognized instantly the signs of disease and it filled him with sadness. He followed the weakness to its source and saw the diminished energy around Larry’s heart. He decided that he would take nothing from Larry. He had grown to care deeply for the strange human and refused to be the cause of his death. Harper passed over Larry and moved on to Jason, where he could feel the anguish flowing from the young teacher’s mind.
The sense of turmoil didn’t surprise Harper, but the strength of Jason’s life force did. It was nearly as strong as James McCallister’s. Harper joined with the life force coming from the teacher and sent soothing thoughts along the newly-established connection. He felt an acknowledgement and then gratitude flow back to him from Jason, who managed a wan smile when Harper looked over at him.
Finally, Harper moved on to his brother-in-law. He felt the steady strength that he knew would be there, the same strength that Harper realized he had come to rely on. He also sensed something in Jerry that he nearly didn’t notice at first. It was familiar, but at first he couldn’t figure out why. And then he realized that he had felt the same feeling, a kind of connection to something bigger in Jason. He didn’t know what the connection meant, or why both Jason and Jerry would have it, when the others didn’t. But he knew that now wasn’t the time to try to figure it out.
With the joined energies of the others, Harper reached out toward Vaughan. He felt a sudden, brief resistance and stopped in surprise until he realized that it was Jason who had hesitated. When Harper looked over at him, the young teacher looked embarrassed. Harper knew that he had resisted healing Vaughan first, but that such a reaction had been almost instinctive, his love and concern for Tina being so strong. Jason looked at Harper and nodded resolutely, and Har
per returned his attention to Vaughan.
He reached out with the joined energy and inspected Vaughan’s body. Immediately, he saw the roiling dark energy that flowed throughout his nephew’s body. He felt everyone recoil as they felt the sense of chaos and aggression coming from it. It seemed to have a mind of its own as it tried to move toward Vaughan’s heart and brain. As Harper moved closer to see what it was doing, he felt a strange sensation that he didn’t want to admit. But he knew it was true. The darkness knew they were there, and it knew they were there to try to stop it.
Vaughan’s life force was stronger than any human’s, and it had managed to hold the dark magic at bay, though barely. Harper could sense the fatigue in his nephew’s body, and knew that the wounds that he had suffered in battle with the demon had brought his body to the point where it was now difficult for him to keep the darkness from overwhelming him. He could also feel that Vaughan was trying to push the magic back, but simply didn’t have the strength.
Vaughan, Harper spoke to his nephew’s mind. We’re here to help you. Can you focus on holding the darkness at bay while we force it from your body?
I’ll try, Vaughan answered, though Harper could hear the struggle in his nephew’s voice.
Harper gathered the shared energy and threw it at the dark magic, hoping to push it from Vaughan’s body with a single blow. But the dark magic was stronger. It sensed what Harper was trying to do as soon as he did it. It abandoned its slow assault on Vaughan, but clung fiercely to the space that it had already gained. And its counterassault against the power wielded by Harper was both fierce and powerful. Harper nearly buckled from the sheer force of the dark magic and nearly felt his grip on the shared life energy of those around him slip away. He did not know what would happen to the others if he were to lose his hold on the life force that they had given him, but he didn’t think it would be good.
But as soon as the dark magic had hit them, he had felt a wall of strength behind him. He sent a note of thanks along the shared connection, and felt the wall behind him grow stronger as the others supported him. Harper drew on this strength and hurled it at the dark magic, pushing it against the wall that Vaughan’s own life force had formed. The darkness pushed against the joined forces of Harper and the others, but their strength was greater. Vaughan strengthened his own wall and the dark magic was caught between a hammer and an anvil. It struggled between the opposing forces, trying to escape. But Harper used the shared life energy at his control to hold it fast as he pushed it from Vaughan’s body.
With a final push, the dark magic was hurled from Vaughan’s body and into the open air. As it left the body it had invaded, it became a swirling mass of black smoke that curled in upon itself with a wailing sound until it had disappeared completely.
Harper felt the sense of triumph from the others, but he also felt the exhaustion coming from each of them. Cleansing Vaughan’s body of the dark magic had taken far more of their energy than Harper had expected. He worried that they wouldn’t have enough energy to heal Tina, even with their combined strength.
He briefly looked through Vaughan’s body for any signs of remaining dark magic, but found none. Vaughan’s life energy had already started to rebound and was now pulsing stronger than it had when the dark magic had still been there.
Harper moved their combined energy to the slumbering form of Tina, and his fears that they would not have enough energy were justified. The dark magic coursing through the young teacher’s body was even more powerful than the darkness that had invaded Vaughan. And Tina did not have the strength that Vaughan had. She did not have the strength of Aes Sidhe blood flowing through her veins. The only thing keeping the darkness from consuming her completely was the magical strength of the bracelet that Jason had made for her. But even this bulwark was slowly losing its struggle, and the darkness had moved to occupy most of her body. Her own life force flickered weakly, and looked like nothing more than a candle in the darkness to Harper.
The evil magic in Tina sensed Harper and the others, but made no move to oppose them. It knew as well as Harper did that it didn’t have to. Even the combined strength of Harper and the others was not enough to fight against it. And if Harper tried to pull even a little more strength from any one of them, he knew that the additional drain would kill someone. He tried to gauge the strength that he alone had remaining and knew immediately that it would not be enough to save Tina. He would give his life for the brave young teacher, but it still wouldn’t be enough. And then he felt an even greater horror as he looked at the darkness within her.
The magic that was working its way through her body had a different purpose than the darkness that had filled Vaughan’s body. That magic had been trying to destroy Vaughan, to snuff out his life force completely. But the magic in Tina was trying to change her. It was working its way to her mind, and Harper could sense what it would do if it reached it. The dark magic would change Tina into a pawn of the demons. It would strip her mind of its ability to make decisions completely. She would become a puppet, under the constant control of the demons. But the magic would leave enough of her consciousness that Tina would be aware the entire time of what she was doing. She would live through the horrors of what she did as an agent of the darkness, but be powerless to stop it. The dark magic painted this picture in Harper’s mind and laughed at his revulsion. This magic had a mind of its own and Harper could do nothing to stop it.
Harper felt the horror coming from the others and knew that he wasn’t the only one that had been shown the magic’s objective. A wave of anguish suddenly hit him and he nearly fell to his knees from the strength of the emotion. He looked over at Jason and knew that the anguish had been his.
Take my life, Harper! Jason screamed in Harper’s mind. I’ll give it to you!
Harper felt the strength of Jason’s life, which at the moment was even stronger than Harper’s. It felt like it would be enough to push the darkness from Tina’s body, but Harper couldn’t be certain that Jason would be giving his life for nothing. Harper was torn, and didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to abandon Tina to a fate worse than death, but the thought of taking the life of another human to do it was just as bad. And he had no idea if he would succeed.
And then the choice was taken from him.
Harper felt control of the shared energy suddenly taken from him. He tried to seize it back, but couldn’t. And then something happened that amazed him. The energy that had been given by the others was gathered together, but the connection to each of the people who had given it was suddenly cut off. One at a time, the connection with the others was severed, but the energy they had freely given remained in the control of the person who had taken control of it from Harper – James McCallister.
What do you think you are doing? Harper asked him, immediately suspicious of the man.
I’m doing what needs to be done, Harper, James answered him.
Harper looked over at the human and saw him smile serenely. It was at that moment that Harper knew what James was doing.
It’s too powerful, James, Harper said to the man, trying to convince him that he was doing was foolish. You can’t defeat it by yourself.
Harper tried again to seize the power from James, but he didn’t have the strength to overpower the human. At that moment, James was more powerful than he was, and somehow he knew how to control the power. He had somehow managed to keep the life energy that had already been given to him by the others, but free them from the joining that Harper had used to heal Vaughan. All of his suspicions of James and his motives disappeared as Harper realized what the strange man was doing.
I’ve had a long life…for a human, I mean, James said to Harper as he looked over at him. I won’t let Tina be taken by those things, and never have the chance to feel the love between her and Jason grow. I know what it’s like to love someone that way. And you’ll need Tina’s strength more than you’ll need some old man
holding you back.
The smiling face of a beautiful black human woman suddenly appeared in Harper’s mind, and he realized that the picture was of James McCallister’s wife. Harper was still linked to the mind of James, and he could feel the love that the man had felt for his wife, the love that he still felt for her. And he felt the loss that James had felt every day since she had been gone. He heard the woman’s name said with the same sense of love and loss that he had felt coming from James.
Elaine.
Harper looked at the human and felt sympathy for such a loss. He had once loved someone in the same way and had lost that person through his own actions, and then finally lost them completely to death. It had been nearly ten years since that final loss, but the pain hadn’t diminished and so he knew the kind of loss that James continued to feel. And he knew the nobility of the sacrifice that James was planning to make. He would give his life so that two others could have a chance at feeling the love that he and his wife had felt.
There must be another way, Harper pleaded, though he knew there wasn’t.
James opened his mind to Harper at that moment and he saw everything. He saw that Elaine McCallister had also been a Sentinel, that she had given her life to save her husband’s so many years before. Harper saw that everything James had said about the human Sentinels had been true. And he saw the promise that James had made to his sister, Arianna. He had promised that he would help and protect her family in any way that he could. He had honored that promise many times over and Harper had answered his help with suspicion. For the third time that night, he realized that he had been a fool.
Get Louis and Billie back, James said to Harper. Protect those children from harm, Harper. You must promise me this.
Harper looked at James for a moment and then nodded. “I promise,” he said out loud.
And then Harper’s connection to James was severed, and he was thrown to the ground. He lay there for a moment, stunned. He looked around him and saw that the others had been thrown into the snow when their connection to each other had been cut. They were all staring up at James in shock.
James stood, facing the open cargo compartment of the SUV, where Vaughan and Tina still lay, looking like they were merely asleep. James glowed brightly, and a nimbus of white light surrounded him. It gave his face an angelic quality, though the look on his face was one of grim determination. In the back of the vehicle, a dark shape hovered over the prone form of Tina, seeming to guard the unconscious teacher jealously.
Harper reached out with his mind, trying to reestablish the connection with James. But the will of James was too strong, and Harper’s attempt was rebuffed. Harper stared up at James, helpless to do anything but watch.
James looked at Harper and smiled, and then the darkness around Tina seemed to reach out from her body and straight at James. The dark magic poured around the glowing form of James until it had enveloped him completely, leaving Tina’s body free of its hold. Harper cried out, and heard echoing cries from the others as they watched James be consumed.
But suddenly there was a blinding flash of white, so bright that Harper and the others all had to shield their eyes with their hands. When the light had finally cleared, Harper looked at where James McCallister had stood. What remained of the darkness was blowing away with the wind. Harper heard the same keening wail that he had heard from the dark magic as it left Vaughan’s body. The darkness dissipated, but James was no longer standing there.
Harper pulled himself to his feet and ran over to where James lay motionless in the snow. As he reached down to feel at James’ neck for a pulse, he knew that the gesture was futile. James was staring emptily up at the canopy of trees and his mouth was open in wordless shock. He was dead.
Dinah moved over from where she had fallen and kneeled in the snow before gently lifting her neighbor’s head and placing it in her lap as she closed his staring eyes and open mouth. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she thought of everything that he had done for her and her family. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Cole looking down at Mr. McCallister as tears filled his eyes. As she looked back down at her neighbor, the seriousness of their struggle against the demons suddenly hit her. Up until that point, their ordeal had had a surreal quality to it, one of adventure more than a life-or-death struggle against things that wanted to destroy them. But now a life had been taken by that struggle. And it wasn’t just any life. It was the life of someone who she had considered to be a friend. Dinah felt very small at that moment, and very frightened.
Aidan and Cody limped over and sat near James’ body before raising their heads and letting loose a mournful howl. They were joined by several howls from the trees around them, and Dinah and the others looked around in surprise to see the wolf pack sitting along the edge of the clearing, howling sadly with Cody and Aidan. After nearly a minute, the howling stopped, and the empty sounds of winter returned.
“What’s going on?” Vaughan asked suddenly as he sat up in the back of the vehicle.
Jerry looked over in surprise and saw Tina sitting up next to him, looking around her in confusion. He reached over and took the hands of both Tina and his son, as Jason took Tina’s other hand while tears of happiness streamed down his cheeks. Even Larry had tears in his eyes as he saw the smiling faces of two people that he had given up for dead.
Harper continued to look down at the man who had sacrificed his life to save another. James’ face had the serenity that many had in death, and Harper knew that this was not merely caused by the relaxing of muscles. The pain and loss that James had felt since the death of his wife were gone. He was finally at peace.
Something wet hit Harper’s wrist and he looked at it in confusion, wondering what could have caused it. He reached up to his face in surprise and realized that he was crying. It was the first time that he had cried since the death of Arianna. And it was the first time that he had cried over the death of a human in nearly two thousand years. He had been wrong about James McCallister. The man had made a promise to a dying woman and given his life to keep that promise.
Harper murmured the traditional words of his people as he looked down at James, words that wished him well on his journey and promised that they would meet again. Finally, he leaned down and kissed the forehead that was already beginning to grow cold.
“Good-bye, James,” he said before wiping away a fresh tear from his own cheek. “And thank you.”
The Ambrose Beacon Page 25