Revelations: Book One of the Lalassu

by Lewis, Jennifer Carole

  “That’s the best you can do? You’re a god!” She’d hoped for a more detailed plan that would let them evade all the dangers.

  I see, but cannot interfere directly on the mortal plain. All gods need to work through mortals. You are all blessed, or cursed, with free will. Even if we know what is to come, we cannot do more than provide suggestions and the occasional nudge. The Goddess reclined on a low couch that appeared under her as she leaned back.

  “There are more of you?” Michael asked eagerly.

  The Goddess smiled fondly at him, raising Dani’s jealous hackles. A large number of us take an interest in your world. But that is a topic for another time. I have done my best to guide you both to this exact circumstance and moment, the best chance of survival for my people.

  “Both of us? Michael, too?” He’d been dragged into all of this because of her. His strong fingers squeezed her hand, reminding her not to underestimate him.

  The Goddess focused on Michael. I do regret the pain. There was only a thin sliver of opportunity to reach you. I needed to be forceful to ensure the messages came through.

  “My flashes,” Michael nodded slowly. “The developmental therapy classes, meeting Joe, following Dani. It was all you.”

  Now that you’ve been here, it should be easier on you. Her elongated eyes focused on Dani. You were much more difficult. I began with your parents, guiding them to each other. A time of great darkness is coming. I needed a different kind of High Priestess, one who could be a warrior. I found a line of ferals with great power to blend with your mother’s bloodline.

  “So my parents’ marriage is all a manipulation by you?” Dani felt sickeningly responsible.

  Not at all. I merely provided an opportunity for them to fall in love. I told you, Danielle. I do not directly interfere. Harsh irritation marred the Goddess’s serenity. If I could have, I would have prevented your father’s injury. Your mother begged me for his life and I granted it, knowing you would need both parents to face what was coming. The conduit was severed that night by the energy I sent through it. I crossed a line and lost the connection because of it. Left without a way to communicate to soothe your fears, I watched, helpless, as the Huntress became a vicious and cruel monster instead of a connection between us. As the time for the ritual binding approached, I knew it had become too dangerous.

  I sent a message to your sister through the dead to prevent you from doing the ritual. I hoped it would not take much persuasion for you to flee. You needed to find a way past the fear, find a connection with another person as an equal. The Goddess paused to examine Dani carefully. You haven’t quite achieved it. Fear and anger run too deep in you to trust easily. I can only hope you find your trust in time to fight the darkness.

  “Did you tell Gwen I needed to do the ritual now?” Dani demanded. She felt like a pawn on a chessboard, and she didn’t like it one bit.

  I did. I didn’t think you would open yourself any other way. Your love and trust for Michael has done much to soothe the Huntress. Your willingness to face your fears has done even more.

  “That’s why the Huntress was quiet in the forest when we kissed,” Michael guessed.

  The Goddess nodded, still focused on Dani. It is not the traditional route, but you have found your way to me. Are you willing to accept your role?

  “Do I still have to do the ritual?” Dani asked.

  The ritual is designed to open your mind to me, to establish the connection properly. You are already here. All that remains is the testing. The Goddess flickered, vanishing from the couch to reappear standing in front of Dani. Her cheeks tingled as the Goddess cupped them with ephemeral hands. Are you ready to wake up?

  Dani wanted to refuse. She’d spent her life trying to ignore the parts of herself she didn’t like.

  Michael moved to stand behind her, his hands resting warmly on her shoulder and waist. “You can do this. You’re stronger than you’ve ever believed.”

  His faith warmed her as much as his touch. “Bring it on.”

  The Goddess smiled, revealing sharp fangs behind her parted lips. Her eyes flashed bright red and her echoing voice took on a harsh scraping hiss. You are familiar and comfortable with the darkness. But how do you fare in the light?

  Molten sunlight burst out of Dani’s skin, blinding her to everything around her. She screamed, jerking away from Michael, terrified he would be burned. The liquid light charred her skin into blistering agony. She would have screamed if there had been any unsinged air left in her lungs. All the pain she’d ever caused in her lifetime came home to scrape along her nerve endings.

  She saw a parade of men’s faces: all the men she’d Hunted beginning with Husky and Beer Breath and ending with Josh. She experienced their terror as the Huntress devoured them. She couldn’t turn away from the sadness and worry of their families: parents, brothers, sisters, children, the same pattern over and over again. The blazing pain increased, branding the images deep into her scarred soul. She’d hurt them far worse than their crimes deserved. Every protective layer had been burned away, leaving her raw and open.

  This is what your fear created. This is what you cannot be allowed to forget, the Goddess’s hollow voice hissed in her mind. Her face replaced the victims’ faces. Can you live with your true self, Danielle?

  The words carried an implicit invitation. Dani could escape from the searing light, go back to the darkness and its promised oblivion. She could vanish into the void, never having to face what she’d done ever again. It would be the suicide she’d often thought she’d deserved.

  If she did that, her brothers and Bernie would die. And Michael would be alone. It would be the ultimate running away. She drew strength from Michael’s words. She couldn’t change the past, but she could choose better in the future. She could be the protector he believed she could be. Gritting her teeth, Dani found strength she wouldn’t have guessed she possessed a week ago and hissed back to her tormentor. “You think I’ve ever forgotten it for one damn minute of one damn day!”

  You would defy me? Glowing red eyes and fangs promised eternal torment.

  “I have already. Every step of the way,” Dani snarled. “I’m not close to being finished.”

  The pain and light vanished. Dani dropped to her knees and Michael dropped beside her, running his hands over her unblistered flesh. He looked up at the Goddess. “An illusion?”

  Illusion and reality are not far apart in this place. I regret your testing needed to be so harsh. It’s far more than any of my Chosen Priestesses have ever endured, though I fear it will seem mild compared to what is to come. But I needed to be certain you were not broken. You will have to be strong, not relying on anyone else, even me. But strength without love and compassion is tyranny.

  Dani reached out to entwine her fingers with Michael’s. The clean scent of his relief and pride swelled in the air between them. She knew he would feel her own determination and love through the contact.

  The corrupted Huntress has been cleansed, though it will always be vulnerable to further twisting. Be wary of it. The Goddess seemed tired, her form flickering between translucency and solidness. The temple around them began to fade into nothingness.

  It’s time. Go back and draw strength from each other. Let them all know the rules have changed. Her form began to dissolve, but her eyes hung gleaming red in the darkness like a demonic version of the Cheshire Cat. No one hunts my people with impunity. Wake them all.

  SUNDAY

  Chapter Forty

  “I’m hungry, Chuck,” Bernie whined. “I want lunch.”

  Chuck knew he should be more patient with her. She was his only friend, the only one who could see him now that he couldn’t get close to Gwen anymore. “You gotta find Eric now. He has to go see the soldier.”

  Soldiers were good. They got stuff done. Not like that mook, Michael. If he’d really wanted to get Bernie out, he’d have done it by now. But no, he was busy romancing a dame instead of keeping his promises. Chuck had wanted t
o be a soldier when he grew up, before he died.

  Bernie left her room to find Eric, Chuck trailing invisibly behind. As usual, Eric sat brooding in his suite. Another mook more interested in thinking about stuff than doing it.

  “Eric? Chuck says we have to go talk to the soldier,” Bernie explained. “He still can’t talk to Gwen.”

  “Is it safe?” Eric asked.

  Chuck stepped through the suite walls to check the hallway, popping back in to report. “Hall’s clear.”

  Bernie repeated what he said and Eric got to his feet. “We have to be back before Vincent wakes up.”

  “Chuck says the soldier will help us.” Bernie slid her hand into Eric’s, making Chuck unsteady with anger and jealousy. It wasn’t fair that she still got to touch people and have them talk to her. It wasn’t fair that she had people trying to save her and everyone forgot about him when he needed help.

  The world fuzzed and popped around him until he got his feelings back under control. It took a lot of concentration to stay in the mortal world, and if he got too mad, he started to get pulled out of it.

  Eric found the soldier’s door without any help from Chuck. The man inside was huge, big muscles and shoulders. Chuck had wanted to look like that. But he moved weird, as though he didn’t know what to do with his body.

  “McBride?” Eric asked.

  “Who are you?” The soldier frowned suspiciously.

  Eric quickly explained, introducing himself and Bernie. McBride listened, brows pulling together in confusion. Bernie sat quietly in the corner and played with her doll. Chuck thought about telling her to do something else instead of moping like a girl, but McBride seemed to like her anyway.

  “Dalhard explained everything,” McBride said slowly. “He’s going to give me a chance to help people.”

  “He’s done something to you, to all of us—twisted our minds around so we can’t think of shi—” Eric sent a worried glance toward Bernie. “I mean, stuff he doesn’t want us to think about. He does it when he touches us. He’s not planning to help anyone but himself.” Eric told McBride about Dalhard’s “job interview” where he’d been forced to kill another man.

  “Rogers? I knew him,” McBride paled. “We were in a group together.”

  “He’s dead now. As part of a test,” Eric said grimly. “We have to get out of here.”

  “How?” McBride asked, and Chuck nearly sank out of existence with despair. Soldiers were supposed to know what to do. McBride was supposed to know how to save Bernie.

  “We have a chance tonight. Dalhard’s going to be distracted,” Eric explained. “With your help, we can get my brother and Bernie out while he’s not paying attention.”

  “Will your brother help?” McBride asked.

  “Dalhard’s got him hard under… whatever he does. I’ll have to knock him out and carry him,” Eric said. Chuck glared at him. How was this mook supposed to help Bernie if he was carrying his darn brother around? Good thing I stepped in or no one would be there to help her.

  He followed Bernie back to Eric’s room to watch TV. He’d have to keep a close eye on her until it came time to leave tonight. At least Eric seemed to realize they needed to stick together, too. He better not ask Chuck to go anywhere else today if he knew what was good for him.

  Karan replayed the surveillance tape, watching Eric and Bernie sneak into McBride’s room. Dalhard might have given up too easily on Eric with the Silver protocols. Dalhard still didn’t have his complete loyalty, no matter what the man thought.

  He would have to be careful not to let any of his smugness show. Dalhard would be annoyed enough at being told he was wrong. Any insult added to that injury might be enough to provoke a lethal response. Karan took a moment to compose himself before dialing. “Sir, we have a potential complication with our test subjects.”

  He explained what he had seen to Dalhard. “It is not the first time I’ve seen signs of Eric sneaking around.”

  A sharp exhalation swished harshly through the receiver. “Very well. But I don’t want to tip our hand to Mr. Harris quite yet. We need to know what his plans are without letting him know we suspect him of breaking ranks.” Karan could hear Dalhard’s fingers drumming against the glass desk. Then the thumping stopped and his boss laughed mirthlessly. “He’s made a fatal mistake. He might be resistant, but his companions are not. Bring me McBride.”

  Rough hands grabbed at him and Dani, shaking them. After their encounter with the Goddess, both of them had collapsed into a heavy, dreamless sleep, and now Michael struggled to shake off the remnants to face their attackers.

  “What did you do?” a shrill female voice demanded. Virginia.

  “Let them wake up,” Walter called up the stairs.

  “Virginia, I don’t think—oh my!” Laura Sturgis’s exclamation was interrupted abruptly with a solid crack of fist against flesh.

  Michael’s sleep-drugged mind finally caught up enough to start processing information from around him. Laura stood in the doorway, hand outstretched. Virginia struggled with Dani, who had leapt up naked from the covers, intent on doing battle.

  “Dani, it’s okay! We’re safe.” Grabbing a quilt for strategic cover, Michael reached between Dani and her mother, separating the two of them as they clawed at one another.

  Dani’s pupils slowly began to contract and her face softened out of its warlike mask. “Michael?”

  He pressed his forehead against hers, drinking in the intoxicating blend of love and affection from her. She wrapped her arms around him, breathing deeply, no doubt doing the same with his scent. He could have stayed in her embrace all day.

  Except for the audience. Michael reluctantly broke apart from Dani to ask. “Virginia? Are you okay?”

  “She’ll be fine,” Laura replied quietly, staring at Dani’s mother. “She should know better than to surprise a feral at her age.”

  “How? How did you do it?” Virginia demanded, her knuckles whitened in her clenched hands. “What did you do?”

  “What are you talking about?” Dani growled, her hands starting to curl into fists.

  “The statue! The ritual!” Virginia snapped, as if those four words explained everything.

  “I think we should all take a moment,” Michael said, drawing on years of experience to keep calm. He could feel a blush creeping along his neck and shoulders, and he hastened to add, “Dani and I will get dressed and join you in the kitchen. Then maybe you can explain what has you all so worried.”

  “An excellent idea.” Laura said.

  Virginia looked as if she wanted to object, but Laura led her out before she could do more than pause long enough to give Michael a furious maternal glare. Her clouded eyes made it even more unsettling, but he could honestly say that being glared at by a blind mother after being found naked with her daughter was starting to feel like the most normal part of his life.

  “That all really happened last night, didn’t it?” Dani sank onto the bed, staring at her hands as if expecting to see claws burst out. “Everything feels different. The Huntress… I can still feel her, but it’s changed. She’s not hungry, not sleeping, just there, in the back of my mind. Kind of shimmering, like a rainbow.”

  “It really happened,” Michael agreed, tugging on his pants. “And I wouldn’t change it for anything. I was so afraid I was going to lose you. And now, I feel like I’m being handed everything I could ever have dreamed of.”

  “There’s still the rescue tonight,” Dani cautioned.

  “We’ll get through it.” He leaned down to kiss her, sliding his tongue between her lips. He loved the moment when her anxiety combusted into shimmering lust. He loved even more that he was the one who provoked it.

  Unfortunately, they didn’t have time to indulge unless they wanted another audience and rough awakening.

  A discreet interval later, they were adequately dressed and standing in front of the kitchen table, staring at the cause of all the fuss. The Queen of the Night statue had changed from anci
ent and crumbling pale clay into a sleek, rich terra cotta figurine that could have emerged from the kiln that morning. Michael practically had to push against the tension in the atmosphere to get to the table. The friendly celebration of the night before vanished as if it never existed.

  Virginia stabbed an accusing finger at the statue, her milky eyes bright with rage. “The idol only renews with the initiation of the High Priestess. You didn’t do the ritual. What did you do?”

  “I didn’t have to do the ritual.” Dani explained a rough outline of what the Goddess had said, the irritation clear in her rough voice and narrowed eyes.

  Virginia’s disbelief met it gesture for gesture, arms crossed over her chest and pursed lips. “Every generation has done the ritual properly and somehow you get to skip it?”

  Michael could feel the fear pushing at Virginia’s mask of anger. He guessed that being surprised would unsettle her as both a clairvoyant and as someone who liked to be in control. But her misplaced fury couldn’t be allowed to derail their focus. He opened his mouth to say so, but Walter beat him to it.

  “We’ve never had the ritual go so late,” Walter said, countering his wife’s suspicions. “We’ve also never had a priestess use the Huntress as an offensive weapon. We’ve also never had a gap with no conduit. If Dani’s initiation was beyond the norm, it makes sense.” Michael could have applauded.

  “The connection is there and strong,” Laura confirmed, her oversized eyes blinking in slow motion as she studied Dani.

  “But—” Virginia wasn’t quite finished objecting.

  “It’s done. However it happened.” Dani cut off further debate. “We need to focus on the rescue tonight. She said to go after sunset and not to go alone. But that’s not much of a plan.”

  Michael felt the increase in clarity and precision in Dani’s mind as she began to lay out plans. He felt a surge of approval from Walter and guessed that this was the result of the conduit. Dani was definitely displaying more tactical thinking than she’d ever done before. She called Vapor on speakerphone to ask about the blueprints.