by Richard Amos
“Yes. That is what I ask in return for this favor.”
“Favor, yeah?” Another step. “And you’ll stop me, will you?”
“Jake.” Dean’s voiced washed over me.
Damn. I was heading into pissing contest territory. It was a natural reaction when it came to beasts.
I shrugged, cooling it. “How did you get it in here?”
The beast priest stepped back. “A complex network of locks and chambers which aid to lower the beast here, the bowels of the palace. They—”
I lifted a hand to shut him up. “I don’t need to hear the technicalities.”
“Very well.”
“Thanks for helping me out. Nice plan.” That stung to admit.
“There was no other choice.”
I took a breath. “So, you want Lilisian dead too?”
“Yes, she is not deserving of her claim to power.”
“Oh? I thought she was a Supreme beast.”
“Those days are gone. We do not accept her rise, nor her desire to rule. The curse placed on her by your people was superb. It should never have been broken.”
“Yeah, well, blame those shadow twins.”
“An unfortunate situation.”
I wanted to punch him. “Where a lot of people lost their lives, including Luke. Remember him? He was one of you, but actually a good bloke.”
“Yes.”
“Yes what?”
“Yes, that is what transpired.”
“Care to explain what comes next when she’s dead?”
“No, he doesn’t,” the white eye guy interjected.
“Who’s the successor? Him?” I jutted a finger at my nemesis posing as a helping hand. “Oh, wait … he’s not a beast. What’s this priesthood about? Who do you worship? What’s your goal? Want to help me out? Kind of pissing me off sitting in the dark.”
“You will see when it is time,” Brother Bennett replied.
“So your bestie keeps saying.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” the white eye guy added.
“I don’t care.”
“Then shut up.”
I flipped him the bird as I addressed the priest. “Where’s the other priests, then? Must be a few of ya.”
He didn’t answer.
“I could just kill you and …” I trailed off, shaking my head. Not now, not here. Lilisian was the enemy we all had in common. Once she was dead, though, I was gonna be grilling the hell out of him, the other priests and the white eye guy. Their time of silence was coming to a close. I wanted answers.
But first …
“How do we get out of here?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
A doorway appeared in the wall, the stone sliding away to reveal a stairwell carved from the same stone. More torches lit the way.
Brother Bennett took point and led us out of the room, the white eye guy on his heels.
Cannot see, the goddess whispered in my head. Cannot see him, cannot see his purpose.
I watched his black robes sweep the stairs, trying not to let myself think. But how could I do anything else? This beast was part of the priesthood, a massive ‘what?’ that we could never get any lead on. Floyd was no help. But the white eye guy was involved with them. There was a connection there somewhere. What was it? Why would a non-beast be working with a whole gaggle of beast priests?
Gah! My brain couldn’t stand it! So many poxy questions. The white eye guy was wrapped in more shadows than those shadow twins.
Gift …
Yeah, I replied to Hecate, thanks for reminding me.
They see you as a gift …
I think we’ve fully established that.
Gift …
You just keep on trying to see from your end, and I’ll do my bit from here …
She didn’t answer that.
The stairs came to an end at a hallway. Brother Bennett swept down it, taking us all the way to the other end where an elevator waited.
If you could call it that. It was more of a platform with a really big chain bursting out of it, disappearing up a shaft. There was plenty of room for all of us, a lever in the left corner.
“Step aboard.”
In silence, we all gathered on the black platform. The beast priest pulled the lever and we went up.
“I take it the rocket launcher went toodles?” I asked Greg. He was launcher and ammo free.
“Yeah. Used all the rockets and used the launcher to batter some owl fuckers until a tree snagged it out of my hand.”
“That’s a shame.”
“I know, mate. I was starting to take a shine to it.”
The contraption stopped under a torch, an identical corridor waiting to be walked down ahead of us.
“We must move as quickly as possible if we are to strike the throne room,” Brother Bennett said.
I could see the same type of lift down at the other end. What a boring bit of design this was. Lilisian clearly had some basic taste—or was that just because this area was the bowel part of the palace? No need to polish a turd, save the best stuff for upstairs.
“How many of these do we need to use?” I asked.
“Just this one,” Nay replied. “Then we hit some hidden tunnel. Need to go down again to go up.”
“Observant, Naomi,” the white eye guy drawled.
“It is the secret way,” Brother Bennett offered over his shoulder. “It is the best way. We will be taking the other turning once when we reach the junction, to reach Lilisian. This shaft is the deepest.”
“You’ll see when we get there,” Nay said.
“Does Lilisian know about these hidden tunnels?” I asked.
“Yes,” the beast priest said. “She knows every inch of the palace. This has been her home for a long time. But her eye is currently turned, thanks to a distraction my brothers have concocted.”
We reached the elevator.
“Is she part of some sort of dynasty?”
Bennett pulled the lever. “You mean a royal family similar to what you have?”
“Yeah.”
“What you have to understand is that beasts are born very differently to a human.”
“How so?” I may as well be told while we went up.
“We all begin from aquatic copulation.”
“You what?”
“Within every home, and throughout the realm in the glorious outdoors, there are fertile pools. The water is special, swimming with tiny life, little nurses if you will, awaiting the arrival of an egg for them to nurture.”
What the actual hell?
He continued. “A male and a female beast can enjoy intercourse outside of a pool as and when they please, with no result in pregnancy. There is no such thing as pregnancy for a female beast. She provides the eggs, the male provides the semen to fertilize the egg. If outside a pool, the egg will not respond to the sperm. However, should intercourse take place within the pool, then the egg will accept the sperm and leave the female’s body once love-making is complete.”
As much as my jaw dropped open, it was fascinating. “Then what?”
“Then the tiny nurses take care of the egg while the parents wait six months for a fully formed beast to come out of the pool, sometimes even as twins, or more than two. Every species of beast is born this way, their status of Lesser, Gentry or Regal, or indeed Supreme in rare cases, determined by the mother and father. There is no infant stage. Water-dwelling beasts have access to these pools too, through underwater tunnels.”
“And where are Lilisian’s mum and dad? I know I haven’t killed them, so they’ve got to be somewhere.”
He was silent for a good minute. “In your facility.”
Oh. “Okay. No one’s ever said they were.”
“They’re best left in there,” Dean added, “never spoken about. Trust me, Jake. I met them once while I worked there. Nasty pieces of work. The mother is suspended in ice to freeze her mind control. She popped the head off seven guards before we could subdue her.”
>
“Shit. So, she is part of a dynasty?”
“That family is not the true power,” Bennett said.
He wasn’t gonna elaborate, so I didn’t bother responding to him. Anyway, I had my big grill warming up for a later date.
The lift stopped at another corridor. Everything looked the same as before, but this time there was something a little different. It was barely visible, a cut in the floor.
Brother Bennett opened the hatch. Considering the weapon that could destroy him was only feet away, he was as cool as anything. Too cool, as if he knew he was completely safe. Sure, he was … for now. Still, I didn’t like being out in the rain without a way into the cabin. I was supposed to be saving all this for the big grilling, but it was bugging the hell out of me.
I kept my lips zipped.
There was a ladder, which the beast priest went down first, swallowed by the dark.
I went between Dean and Nay, with Greg going last. It was pitch black, my sparks casting white light on the metal rungs.
Once I reached the bottom, the beast priest held up the smallest lantern I’d ever seen. It was about the size and shape of a fifty-pence piece, dangling on a metal chain before him, casting a pretty nifty beam straight through the darkness.
“Lilisian has one more ritual to go,” the beast priest said. “It is being prepared and will commence on Sunday when everything is in place, before the clock strikes midnight.”
“And then—”
“She is fully restored,” he replied, cutting me off. “So, you must kill her before then. If you die, she will take your world.”
“And what will you take if I do kill her?”
“Nice try, Jacob.” The white eye guy stepped in.
“Pretty obvious you and your fellow brothers want my world too, eh? You can’t tell me you’re happy being locked in Coldharbour.”
“Jacob, you’re a riot.”
“Stop butting in!” I snapped.
“Then stop talking crap.”
“How is that crap, knob head? It’s all a blurry mess of bullshit.”
“For now.”
“Oh, piss off.”
“Charming, Jacob.”
“And stop calling me Jacob! It’s Jake. J-A-K-E. Get that through your thick skull, you twat!”
“I told you he was a sensitive little thing, Bennett.”
The beast priest said nothing.
A hand on my shoulder. “Don’t let him get to you,” Dean whispered. It made my breath catch.
“I’m trying,” I whispered back.
“You don’t have to whisper,” the white eye guy whispered mockingly.
“Fuck off,” Dean spat.
That made me grin. “Don’t let him get to you, Dean.”
Greg snorted.
“It’s not the white eye guy’s fault,” Nay added. “Bless him, he can’t bear going two minutes without hearing the sound of his own voice.”
“I enjoy it more than having to suffer hearing yours, Naomi.”
“Is that the best you can come back with?” Nay sniped. “Pathetic.”
The white-eyed knob head found that hilarious, saying nothing else. His laugh grated on me, bringing to life the desire to go and attempt ripping his heart out of his chest and feeding it to him. Let’s see if he’d be laughing then!
Ah! The violent image made me feel so much better.
“Be wary, be on your guard,” Bennett said. “Fully restored or not, she has magical power at her disposal.”
Didn’t I know it!
Eventually, we came to a junction.
“We came down that way.” Nay pointed into the dark down the left tunnel.
“Now we go right,” Brother Bennett added. “At the end of this tunnel will be the throne room. I hope you’re ready.”
“Better now than never, right?” I said.
He nodded and led the way.
Here we go.
Nay rubbed my arm. “We’ve got this, babe.”
There was no other choice. Still didn’t stop my stomach from doing flips.
“I really need a fag.”
“No, you don’t, babe.”
“I know, but I do.”
“Nasty things.”
“Better than craving cocaine.”
“Babe, you’re above all that now. You got me and the lads right here. We’re better than any cigarette or line of cocaine. We’re all the vice you’ll ever need. Plus, we know how to kick arse.”
She made me smile. “And you’re awesome at it.”
“Thanks, babe.”
The air was warm in this tunnel. A pin of light waited in the distance.
“We will arrive at iron gates,” Bennett confirmed. “When we do, we will pass straight into the throne room. There will be no turning back.”
Yeah, obviously!
Ten minutes later, we stood at the iron gates.
With an audible sigh, the beast priest pushed them open.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The throne room was magnificent, an enormous hall bigger than any I’d ever seen in my life. Huge pillars rose up to a ceiling that seemed to get further away the longer I looked up at it. Everything was gold, just as the outside walls of the palace, absolutely everything. The golden floor sparkled under my feet, the whole place looked like it’d been touched by King Midas.
The elaborate throne of gold twists and curves sat on a huge dais flanked by two burly guards on each side, wearing white armor and wielding really big gold spears. The woman that occupied the throne wore a white cat suit with gold boots, her brown hair piled on top of her head with diamonds woven through the swept up tendrils.
She was radiant, her eyes sparkling with silver. I was looking into the face that used to belong to DI Williams, Lilisian looking right back.
She did not look happy, a dark cloud of anger the only thing to cast a shadow across her beauty.
I suppressed the urge to charge the throne and take her down.
On her knees, before the throne, was Purple, all dressed in her favorite color with a hateful expression on her stupid fucking face, her purple hair swept back.
“You’re proving to be incredibly annoying,” Lilisian said. “Why is it you refuse to die?”
“Because you’re still breathing.”
She cocked her head. “It is fascinating in many ways. What are you, an addict? Anything can make you its slave, but it was that white powder that made you fall the hardest.”
“Fuck you.”
“Don’t you dare swear at the Supreme One!” Purple hissed.
Lilisian wasn’t fazed one little bit. She just carried on running her mouth. “And yet the goddess chose you, made her weapon from a human man who should be dead. Interesting. What did she see in you?”
Million-pound question … I just threw my best glare at her.
“You should have been dead that first night.” She continued her little speech. “There was no way I was expecting you to ever be in my throne room.”
“Yeah, and I wasn’t expecting you in that body, but there you go.”
She smiled and turned her head to Dean. “Do you pine for this body? I feel you in and out still, the cravings she had that still linger. Not love, no. She didn’t see you as a husband, more of a good fuck. What do you think? Would you like another taste of her? I can promise you I’ll use this body in ways she never would have imagined. You’ll be mine for eternity after one dip.” She giggled.
“Say what you want,” Dean replied darkly. “You won’t be in there long.”
Her attention returned to me. “Jake Winter, here to kill me. Interesting. Jake Winter and his friends. You come into the belly of the beast Supreme and think you can take me down? Do you really think it’s that simple?”
“We’re here, aren’t we?”
“Indeed you are. But that just puts you in the firing line. I have you now, and I will finish the task so often failed since you came to plague this city.”
Stupid bitch. “Me
plague the city? Ha! You’re talking out of your arse. Coldharbour has a great big wall around it so you can’t go and infect my world. You’re the plague, the fucking disease I’m gonna burn away.”
She was still smiling. “You’re incredibly confident, Jake. Look around you. Do you see a way out of here? You’re a fool to follow this priest.” Her expression darkened to how it was when I’d first walked in the room, turning her attention to Brother Bennett. “You! The consequences for your treason will be severe.”
“You are no queen, Lilisian.”
The Supreme beast stood up. “I will see you kneel, traitor, before your sentence is passed.” She folded her arms across her chest, the darkness in her expression shifting once more to a smile—a cruel one. “Maybe Jake here can kill you. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”
“Do you ever stop talking?” I retorted.
“When I do, you die. Enjoy it while it lasts.”
“Then I can’t kill him if I’m dead, can I?”
She giggled at that.
“It will be you he kills.” Brother Bennett’s voice was soft, yet cold.
It seemed to push a button in Lilisian. She walked down the steps of the dais, wild rage all over her face. “Claec will not be rising, priest. Mark my words.”
Claec?
“You will suffer greatly for this.”
“Back off,” the white eye guy said, stepping in front of the priest.
“No!” Brother Bennett exclaimed, pulling him back and putting him behind him … defending the white-eyed bastard.
What the hell was this? The beast protecting the sort-of witch, or whatever he was? This made no sense. And who the frig was Claec?
Lilisian stopped. She was close, but not close enough for me to get the drop on her.
The guards had come down to flank her, Purple at her back and wielding a sword.
We could take them. There were four of them, and six of us. We could do this, she was vulnerable. The white eye guy had said now was the time to strike. What were we waiting for? We could take them. The Supreme beast was ranting away at Brother Bennett, making more threats about his impending doom.
I looked over to my friends, giving an eye signal I hoped they could read.