♦ ♦ ♦
Sheila explained how things weren’t the same between them after my visit. How Robert had grown distant...uncaring, as she put it. A few weeks later, he broke it off, asking her to move out.
“It just wasn’t meant to be.”
I kept my mouth zipped shut. Bringing up my little compulsion didn’t seem like the smartest thing in the world. Even so, I felt bad knowing that, despite her beliefs, I had definitely screwed up something in her life.
“I think maybe he sensed I had unfinished business elsewhere.”
“Wait, what?”
She stepped forward, closing the gap between us. Then, before I could act like my typical self - aka puss out and find some interesting knickknack to look at on the wall - she reached out and took hold of both my hands.
I was sure they were sweaty enough to make the Creature from the Black Lagoon wince in disgust, but she didn’t even flinch.
“I think it’s time we cut the crap, Bill.”
“It is?” My voice registered in my ears, but to me, it was like I was talking from the other side of a bad telephone connection. I was barely aware I was saying anything at all.
“Yeah, we have a lot to talk about, and I don’t think either of us has any clue what the days ahead will bring, so I...”
And of course Tom picked that exact fucking moment to open Sally’s door and stick his head out. “Jeez, get a room, you two.”
I loved him like a brother, but right about then, I could have gladly gone all Cain on his Abel of an ass. “What the fuck do you want?” I hissed.
“Sally’s waking up. Come in here and say hi.”
I looked Sheila in the eye and she shrugged as if to say, “What are you gonna do?”
Yep, if that didn’t sum up the entirety of our relationship, I didn’t know what did.
♦ ♦ ♦
“How are you feeling?”
“Like shit. How the fuck do you think?”
“Sorry. What I meant to ask is do you remember anything new?”
We were standing in the small bedroom, pretty cramped now that all of us were gathered around the bed. Sally was sitting up on it, looking about as cranky as usual, but otherwise, she appeared to be in pretty good shape - physically, at least.
Tom stood next to Christy, but I had maneuvered so that Ed was between me and Sheila. In the back of my mind, I was telling myself it was because I didn’t want to get distracted from my friend’s plight, but a small part of me wasn’t sure. It was safe to say that, despite the aborted conversation from moments earlier, nothing was going to get sorted out for the time being.
“I remember lots of things, just not about any of you.”
“Oh.” I turned and saw my friends were all thinking the same thing. Fuck! This was not going to be easy.
“But I feel like I should,” she added.
“What?” Ed and I asked simultaneously.
“Dude, do that again and you’re buying me a beer,” he said. “What do you mean by that?”
“Exactly what I said, fleshwad,” she replied. “It’s like I don’t know who the fuck any of you are, but at the same time, I do. It’s hard to explain. All I know for sure is I could use a case of aspirin.”
“Let me guess,” I replied, “and a bottle of tequila to wash it down.”
She actually smiled at that. “Sounds like a plan. Just make sure it’s not the cheap shit.”
We all shared a chuckle at that, but then she got serious. “Hey, Freewill...”
“It’s Bill.”
“Whatever the fuck. I just wanted to say thanks for helping me out with Mark.”
“Not a problem. Making sure assholes get what they deserve is one of the small pleasures in life.”
“Mark?” Christy asked.
“Yeah, Sally’s ex. Real piece of work...”
“Wait,” she interrupted, holding up a hand. “He’s still alive?”
“Not after we were done...”
“Hold on,” Sally said. “You know Mark?”
“Yeah, from back when he took Kara...” She stopped midsentence, her head whipping toward Tom. “Cara...mel, I mean. That time he ordered his favorite drink, a caramel latte.”
“Mark didn’t like caramel...”
“Yes, he did!” Christy snapped at her. “He loved them. You just don’t remember.”
“O-kay.”
“Never trust a monster with a taste for shitty coffee,” Tom remarked, blissfully clueless.
That was a close one. On top of everything else, I wasn’t quite ready to spill the beans on his sister.
“Shitty or not, I could go for a cup,” Sheila commented.
“We might have some upstairs,” Tom replied. When I glanced sidelong at him, he grinned. “What? I never claimed I didn’t like the occasional shitty beverage.”
“Sounds good to me,” Sheila said.
“Okay, why don’t you all go get some,” Christy suggested. “I’m going to work with Sally for a little while longer, then I think we all need some rest.”
There were nods of consent all around. A cup of overly sugared Joe, a long shower, and then passing out for several hours sounded like heaven to me after the past few days.
“Honey, would you mind bringing me down a cup?” Christy added.
Tom shrugged as if to say “whatever.” He was apparently used to being an errand boy to satisfy his girlfriend’s needs.
“One for me too, meatbag,” Sally said, smiling.
I grinned. It was only a matter of time before she tried becoming master of this little makeshift coven.
The others left the room, but I hesitated for a moment, my grin faltering. Thoughts of both Village and Pandora covens swam through my head, including what we’d lost. Starlight was gone. James was a shell of his former self. Dave was missing. Tom’s sister was thousands of miles away - her fate in the hands of someone I hoped Sally was right to trust.
The truth was I’d had more than enough. I didn’t want to lose anyone else, especially someone I really cared for. What Alex had done to Sally ate at me, for him to so casually erase what she and I had - and to do it for no reason other than to spite me.
Christy must have read my face, probably not needing any magic to do so. She smiled at me before sitting down at Sally’s side. “It’ll be okay, Bill. I swear by the White Mother I will do everything I can.”
“I know you will.” I turned away, wanting to believe she’d succeed.
I was just closing the bedroom door behind me when something she said struck a chord - stopping me in my tracks.
“I’ll be up in a bit,” I said to the others as I turned back.
“Don’t be too long.” Something in Sheila’s tone made me silently vow not to be. God, just to share a cup of coffee with her again without something blowing up between us...
First things first, though, before I forgot again - not that I was likely to forget my adventures in the sewers beneath Vegas anytime soon.
“Listen,” Sally said with an eye roll as I reentered the room, “just because I want my memories back doesn’t mean I’m inviting you in for a threesome.”
Christy’s eyebrows shot up at that.
“Relax, bitchzilla.” I turned to Christy. “Remember how I told you that symbol on my arm looked familiar?”
“The Enochian, yeah?”
“Angelic script?” Sally asked.
“Ancient Magi, actually,” Christy corrected.
“Whatever,” I said. “Anyway, that thing you just said about the white chick...”
“The White Mother.”
“Yeah, her. It reminded me where I’d seen that stuff before.” I reached into the front pocket of my body armor, where I’d deposited my phone while still underground and...and pulled out a piece of charred plastic. “Fuck.”
Sally smirked. “Offhand, I’d say you’re due for an upgrade.”
“Real funny. Christy
, do you have a cell phone with you?”
“It’s in the other room.”
“Could you go get it?”
“Why?”
“Hold that thought and I’ll tell you.” I extended my claws and began to tear apart the melted device, peeling away first plastic and then the metal inside. “Come on...yes!” I was in luck. Though the outside of the phone was toast, the SD card inside appeared to be intact.
Christy, in the meantime, had come back holding an intact phone in her hands. She handed it over to me and I was happy to see it was an upgradable model. I pried the back off and installed the card. “Fingers crossed,” I muttered, turning on the photo app.
“For what?”
“For this.” I handed her the device, the series of photos from the Jahabich cave queued up on it. “This is where I saw it.”
Christy stared at it for a few moments, casually flipping through the photos at first, but then slowing down as she began to study them.
“The witch who came with us - her name was Miranda. She said she thought there might have been a spell written on the wall, but she hadn’t studied your history enough to know what it was. So I was hoping maybe you’d have a...”
“Is this a joke?” Christy asked, wide-eyed.
I glanced at Sally, but her face shown only confusion - the memory of our encounter down below obviously amongst those buried in her head like the Ark of the Covenant in the fucking well of souls.
“No,”
Christy stepped to the bedroom door and shut it, clicking the lock.
I was about to ask her what she was doing. Don’t get me wrong; I normally wouldn’t mind being locked in a bedroom with two attractive chicks, but one was mind-fucked and the other heavily pregnant. I’m sure some dudes would have been all over that fetish, but it wasn’t one of mine.
I started to joke as such, but it died in my throat when she turned back around - an angry red glow erupting from her.
♦ ♦ ♦
My first thought was to step in front of Sally. It wasn’t so much to protect her as it was to keep things from escalating out of hand. Memories or not, she wasn’t the type to take a threat lightly. Sure enough, a glance back confirmed her eyes had turned black.
“Where did you get this?” Christy snapped.
“Okay, can we all calm down for a moment?”
“I said, where did you get this?” Energy crackled around her, and red fire filled her eyes.
What the fuck? What the hell had set her off so? Pointing a finger at Sally, I said, “Stay!”
“You tell me where...”
“Okay, I heard you the first time,” I snapped at Christy, hoping I wasn’t about to be disintegrated. “We found it deep underground. It was in this big cave full of those fucking rock monsters. I think it was their home, or maybe their prison.”
“That can’t be.”
“I think it was. There was this weird cave leading to it - looked like it had been melted open and...”
“No.” The red glow began to dissipate and she slumped against the door, suddenly looking very tired. “The White Mother.”
“Yeah. You said that earlier. It’s what made me remember. Those goddamned weirdos had a statue that was...”
I trailed off as Christy reached into the top of her maternity blouse. She pulled out a pendent of sorts, hung by a chain around her neck. I stepped closer to take a look.
“What’s going on?”
“Not now, Sally.” I took in the shape. The pure white color, the outstretched arms, and the semblance of a dress...it was the same figure the statue had depicted - the same thing on the walls of the cave. “What the fuck?”
“It’s the White Mother,” Christy replied softly.
“Who...”
“One of the first of us...the best of us. She lived thousands of years ago. Legend says she was the first of the Magi to truly harness magic in ways other than hunting or waging war. She was the first to understand how it worked and how to use it to be in harmony with nature. Everything we hold dear is descended from her teachings. She is revered as a scholar, the first Mentor, the mother of kindness and knowledge.”
“Okay...” I replied, not really understanding.
“Don’t you get it?” she asked, tears now fully streaming down her face. “This thing...this abomination?” She threw the phone across the room where it hit the wall and shattered into pieces.
I slowly stepped toward her, mindful that she was a witch with enough power to blow a bowling-ball-sized hole through me. Carefully, I knelt by her side and placed a hand on her shoulder. “What is it?”
“The pictograph,” she sobbed. “It says that she created those things. She called them forth from nothing, created life where there was none.”
“So she...”
“It’s a heresy! A crime against nature. The symbols tell of how she stole the souls of other living creatures and infused them into these...freaks!”
Whoa. That sure as shit sounded like a match with what we saw down below - creatures reborn as Jahabich soldiers.
“It’s all a lie,” she muttered, putting her face into her hands.
“So what?” Sally asked from where she sat. “So a long-dead witch fucked with nature. It doesn’t mean...”
“Yes, it does!” Christy snapped, but this time when she looked up, I saw not anger or sorrow in her eyes, but fear. “Don’t you understand? The matriarch of my people created those things. As far as both sides of this war are concerned, that will mean the Magi are responsible for them.”
“That’s stupid, they won’t...”
Her eyes grew ever wider as she spoke. “We’ve lived for thousands of years under a guise of neutrality, but it’s all been a lie. Those things not only attacked the vampire First Coven, they somehow allied themselves with that monster in Boston.”
“Vehron?”
“The one and the same. That makes us an enemy of your people. That makes us an enemy to everyone.”
“Nobody is going to believe that.”
“You don’t know how these things work, Bill. They snowball, spiral out of control. The souls corrupted by these things will want vengeance. They’ll find a way. Soon the world will know of our part in this.”
“I doubt that,” Sally said casually. “Once we get finished with this Vehron asshole...well, dead vamps tell no tales.”
“You just don’t get it, do you? The Icon...she’s coming with us. It’s not just her destiny to face the Freewill. She’s destined to destroy my kind as well.” She put her hands protectively around her stomach.
“Sheila wouldn’t...”
“She doesn’t want to, but she will. She’ll find out and it will turn her against us. She’ll realize that if one of us can do this - can set forth these abominations against the world - then others can too. I don’t know how it will happen, but it will happen. It’s fate. I’m fated to die at her hand and so is...so is my baby.”
She tried to say more, but the rest was lost to her sobs. I wanted to comfort her, but it wasn’t exactly my strong suit. What was there to say? “There, there, I’m sure Sheila won’t chop you to pieces with her flaming white sword”?
“Fuck fate.”
“Huh?” I turned around.
Sally stood up and stepped forward. “You heard me. I don’t remember either of you for shit, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know myself.”
She knelt down on one knee and gently took hold of Christy’s hands. Whoa. It was...almost human of her.
Christy looked up, her eyes shining with tears as Sally spoke. “You don’t know how many times I’ve wanted to give up. I’ve faced disappointment, betrayal, violence, all of it. More than once, I’ve resigned myself to fate - to be a failure in my father’s eyes, to be little more than a whore, to be a slave to Night Razor...”
On that last one, her eyes flashed black and her fangs descended. She gritted her teeth and I saw a thin trickle of blood r
un down the side of her lips. Obviously, the memory of Jeff was a potent one. She opened her mouth, perhaps to say more, but then a violent tremor shook her.
Christy reached out, but I was faster - using my vampire reflexes to reach Sally’s side and steady her. After a moment, the spasm subsided.
She blinked a few times, shook her head, and looked up at me. “You were there, weren’t you?”
“What?”
“At Jeff’s death.”
“You remember?”
“Vaguely...almost.” I was about to say more, but she held up a hand. “Doesn’t matter.”
“The hell it doesn’t.”
“You’re wrong,” she said before turning back to Christy. “What matters is that each and every time, I refused to accept my fate. I told destiny to go fuck itself, that I’d make my own. If I can do it, you can too.”
Christy and Sally stared hard at each other for several seconds. Finally, Christy broke contact to glance up at me, her eyes asking a question.
“Don’t look at me,” I said. “I’ve been telling the powers that be to go take a flying leap since I got bitten.”
“So what do you say?” Sally stood up and offered a hand.
Christy looked at it for a moment, then grabbed hold as my partner pulled her up to her feet. “I’ve always been taught to respect destiny - that accepting it was the path to true happiness. But if what I thought I knew about the White Mother is false, then maybe that is too.”
“You never know.”
“But if we’re wrong...”
I held up a hand. “We’re going to be walking into a lion’s den. You won’t be able to throw a rock without hitting an enemy. If we’re wrong, we’re all dead anyway.”
“You’re not doing a very good job of making me feel better.”
“But if we’re right,” I continued, “then who knows what awaits us in the end? I think we need to find out together. What do you say?”
Christy hesitated for a moment, but then she nodded, forcing a smile.
“I’m in. What the hell?” Sally said. “Beats the fuck out of being Alex’s slave or, even worse, Colin’s.”
“You remember that asshole too?”
“Unfortunately.”
I laughed at that and soon both of them joined in.
Fate could indeed go fuck itself.
The Tome of Bill Series: Books 5-8 (Goddamned Freaky Monsters, Half A Prayer, The Wicked Dead, The Last Coven) Page 75