by Steve McHugh
“And you know who that is?”
“I’ve told Lucie dozens of times there was no one else involved,” I said, and cursed inwardly at the lie as it slid easily over my lips. I’d told it so many times it was like second nature now. Lucie didn’t need to know about what happened. Sometimes the truth really is worse than the lie.
“And she doesn’t believe you?”
“She thinks I framed her brother and allowed the real murderer to escape justice. She thinks the real killer was someone I was told to protect, so I let them go.”
Selene didn’t ask if I’d ever do such a thing; she was fully aware I wouldn’t. “How do you know Lucie?”
“She works for Hades. Her family worked for him too.”
“Why doesn’t she believe it was her brother?”
“Robin, her brother, manipulated Lucie into believing him innocent. She told the police she didn’t know where he would go, and that allowed him to continue killing people. Twenty-six people died before I found him. Hades took Lucie in after that and gave her a job working at his compound. She’s always maintained her brother’s innocence.”
“Any chance he is innocent?” Selene asked.
“None,” I promised. “I caught him as he butchered a young girl. He was trying out different runes on his victims, trying to see what effects they had. He carved them into their flesh as they were still alive and then watched them die slowly and painfully as the rune took effect.”
“What did the runes do?”
“Various things. Mostly cause pain and suffering. He said he couldn’t stop even if he wanted to. He had a notebook detailing all of the killings and what he’d discovered.”
“How can Lucie deny what happened if she’s seen it?”
“She believes her brother was forced to write the notebook. It didn’t change her mind.”
“What would?”
I shrugged. “Probably nothing. So she hates me with a fire that can’t be extinguished. She’s cocooned herself into a world where her brother was her idol, and admitting that he went out and committed horrific crimes would mean she would have to admit that he manipulated her and played her for a fool. It means tainting his memory.”
“It doesn’t bother you that she hates you?” Selene’s tone showed her shock.
I stood and walked toward the door, turning my back on Selene and Kurt. When I’d taken a few steps, I stopped and turned back. “Why should it? People I care about more than her have managed it, and I’m still here, still functioning. One more person hating me doesn’t really make much of a difference.”
At that moment, Lucie stormed into the library and walked up to me, radiating anger, followed by Petra, who appeared to look concerned. The knuckles on one of Lucie’s hands were red from where she’d punched something. “I don’t trust you,” she said, her voice quiet, as if she were forcing herself to remain calm.
“Okay,” I said.
“But this is more important than my personal feelings.”
“I’m glad you agree.”
“But one day, you’ll tell me the truth about what happened. About who killed my family and why you framed my brother.”
“Lucie—” I started.
She raised her hand to my chest and shook her head. “Don’t you dare deny what I know. My brother was not a murderer; he was not responsible for what happened to my family. Nothing you say can change those facts. But you either know who is and allowed them to flee or they beat you, and you framed my brother to cover your incompetence. Either way, we both know you’re hiding the truth. And you’ll either tell it to me, or I’ll beat it out of you.”
“Lucie,” my voice was calm and soft. I noticed Selene step around beside me, tension in her shoulders as she readied herself to stop whatever I was about to do. I breathed in deeply and slowly exhaled. “You have no idea who I am. No clue of what I’ve done in my life and no clue of what happened the night I found your brother. Nothing will change what he did.”
I stepped past her and headed for the door, opening it as Petra stepped aside without a word. I paused and turned back to Lucie. “Just one thing: you can hate me for whatever injustice you believe I committed, but the next time you threaten me will be the last time.” And I stepped through the door, closing it behind me.
CHAPTER 14
Dresden, Germany. 1936.
It took nearly twenty-four hours for Kurt’s friends in the police force to get a lead on the Martins, which basically left me spending a day avoiding Selene and Lucie as much as possible. I didn’t want to row with Lucie, and quite frankly, I still wasn’t sure about the feelings for Selene that were rattling around my brain.
I was exceptionally happy when Kurt announced they had a lead and asked if I’d like to join them. Unfortunately, they’d also asked Lucie and Selene, so I found myself back driving the stolen Bugatti with Selene beside me, while Kurt, Petra, and Lucie took their red BMW 315.
I followed the BMW out of central Dresden to a small old farmhouse a few miles away, and after driving up a dirt driveway, stopped outside a large barn that had been painted white and red. The roof was made of some kind of metal, and I was certain it would turn the barn into a giant oven on hot days like today.
I exited the car, shielding my eyes from the intense sunshine that glinted off some old machinery that had been dumped at one side of the barn, and looked around. Once the surrounding fields has been used to plant crops, but now sat empty. There was the start of a small patch of woodland on the far end of the several acres of downwardly slopped land, but between here and there were several hundred meters of open land. I was certain that if anyone were at home, they’d already be aware of our presence.
Kurt had parked the BMW outside the front of the large two-story house that sat near the barn. At some point it had been painted white, although the paint had long since started to crack and peel.
Petra wandered off with Lucie to have a look around while Selene and I joined Kurt.
“You sure this is the place?” Selene asked.
Kurt nodded and glanced around. “You know that anyone here is already aware of us.”
It was my turn to nod. “You got any weapons on you?”
“Why would I?” Kurt asked. “I’m a werebear; the only way I could be more dangerous is if I were juggling flaming chainsaws.”
There was a second of silence.
“Flaming chainsaws?” I questioned as we approached the steps to the house’s porch.
“It was a spur-of-the-moment decision.”
“Sounds very dangerous,” Selene said with a slight laugh. “Probably more for you, though.”
The laughter hid a current of anxiety that I felt among the three of us. Anytime Pandora was involved in something, things tended to go from bad to worse very quickly, and despite her relatively quick capture, her influence was still going to be felt in those she’d come into contact with.
Kurt knocked three times on the white door, waited a few seconds, and then knocked twice more. When there was still no answer, he tried the door handle, which didn’t budge. He had raised his foot to kick the door in, when it unlocked from inside and opened inward, leaving Kurt looking like he was about to start hopping.
He placed his foot back on the wooden floor and smiled slightly as a woman appeared in the doorway. She was around five feet tall, with pale brown hair that was scruffy. Her eyes were red, big bags under each. She had the appearance of someone who hadn’t slept in a while.
“Magali Martin?” Selene asked.
Magali nodded and rubbed her eyes. She wore long gloves that came up to her elbows, where they met the sleeves of her red blouse. Her black skirt covered down to her shins, and her feet were bare. Despite her obvious exhaustion, her clothes looked both expensive and immaculate.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
She glanced at me and nodded slightly. “Haven’t slept much for a few days. You’ll have to excuse my appearance; it’s been a long week.”
“May
we come in?” Selene asked. “We need to talk to you about Pandora.”
I was expecting Magali to object, or maybe even try to flee, but instead she opened the door wider and beckoned us all inside.
Magali led us along a dark hallway and into a room at the rear of the property. It was full of books, littering the floor, and a table had been placed in the center of the room. Paper and pencils cluttered the spaces where the books hadn’t encroached, and I had to step over a considerable pile of unused paper to get to the large window, which allowed for a lovely view of the fields behind the house.
“So, you’re here to talk to me about Pandora?” Magali asked once we were all inside the room.
“She handed herself in,” I said. “But she told me you were working with her. That you and your husband, Jean, were involved in trying to stop the Nazis.”
Magali ignored my words and watched me for a few heartbeats. “You’re Nathan Garrett, aren’t you?”
I nodded.
“Pandora told us that you were dangerous, that you would try to stop us, but that you were also her friend. She said we shouldn’t lie to you. That even with the truth, you couldn’t stop what was going to happen.”
“So, what’s the truth?” I asked.
“She came to us and asked for our help to infiltrate the Gestapo. We gave her the name of a soldier who was working with them.”
“He’s dead now. Pandora killed him.”
“Good,” she said with no trace of remorse. “He was a monster, like all of them are.”
“Why did she need to gain entry?” Kurt asked.
Magali turned to Kurt and pointed at me. “Only he gets answers,” She turned back to me before speaking, “Have you ever heard of nerve gas?”
Selene nodded. “The Germans created one called tabun early this year—although I’ve heard rumors that it was around for a while longer than their official records state. Hera was very interested in its workings.”
“What does this tabun do?” Petra asked.
“It kills people,” Selene told her. “Horribly and brutally murders anyone who comes into contact with it.”
A cold fear crept into my gut. “So, Pandora was after some?”
Magali shook her head. “No, not tabun. There’s a second strain, something that’s still being developed. It’s called sarin. The soldier that Pandora forced to help us told her that the Gestapo were busy trying to get the gas to work, that it was more potent and dangerous than anything anyone had ever seen. They had some working prototypes of missiles stored in a warehouse in Berlin. Enough sarin gas to kill a hundred thousand people. Pandora needed the location, so she had the soldier bring her to the Gestapo. She let them prod and poke her until she found someone who knew where the information was.”
“Captain Dehmel,” I said. “She was in that Gestapo headquarters to get the whereabouts of the sarin?”
Magali’s smile was creepy and unpleasant. “Partially, yes. He, and only he, knew where the weapons were kept. She dredged the information from his mind.”
“What do you mean, partially?” I asked.
“I don’t know. She didn’t tell me.”
“Why does Pandora want sarin gas?” Selene asked. “What was she going to use it for?”
Magali shrugged. “No idea. She went to look at it but didn’t think it was viable. Besides, she had a better idea.”
“Helios,” Selene whispered.
“Yes, Helios. He was her new plan. Or rather, she allowed him to do as he wished.”
“Do you know Helios’s plan?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said.
Everyone was silent for a moment. “Where’s Jean, your husband?” I asked.
“Dead.”
“How?” Selene asked.
“I put a bullet in his skull.” She delivered this fact with an utmost calm, as if she were describing pulling up weeds in the garden. “He couldn’t accept what was going to happen. Even under Pandora’s power, he struggled with the concept. Eventually it broke him, like it has others, and he had to be stopped before he hurt someone or had an adverse effect on the plan.”
A shiver crept up my spine. “What is the plan?” I asked again.
“I loved my husband,” she said, ignoring another question she didn’t want to answer. “We grew up together in Paris, became married at eighteen, and were inseparable. It was a great burden for me to end his life. But we will be reunited in the afterlife, whatever that might be.”
“I thought Pandora told you to answer my questions.”
Magali shook her head. “That is true, but she also said we were to follow Helios’s orders, and he doesn’t want anyone to talk about his plan.”
“Could you make her talk?” Kurt asked me.
Magali didn’t even look fazed that I’d been asked if I could torture the information out of her. I didn’t even have to think about the answer. “No amount of persuasion or torture will get the information from her. Pandora’s influence will let her mind be torn asunder before she tells us anything she doesn’t want to. As she says, she has to tell the truth, because she’s been ordered to, but only as far as her own involvement is concerned. Helios is in charge now.”
“Then we need to search the house,” Selene said. “Can you keep her occupied?” she asked Petra, who nodded. “We’ll turn the house upside down if we need to—the barn too.”
I glanced over at the table and noticed a book that sat on top of some paper. I moved the book aside and found myself reading the blueprints for the Olympic stadium. I glanced up at everyone else in the room to find them all looking at me, except for Magali, who had turned her back to us all and was staring at the wall.
“What is this?” I asked. “What is Helios’s plan for the Olympics?”
Magali turned back to us, removed her gloves, and dropped them to the ground. Lucie was the first to react, as the runes tattooed on the arms of Magali were visible for all to see.
“Enchanter,” Lucie yelled and dove at the Frenchwoman, but she was too slow.
Magali placed one hand against her forearm, covering a large black rune tattoo and smiled before exploding.
Magali’s entire body turned into a cloud of blood and gore. I’d managed to place a shield of dense air between her and us. The blast hit Lucie first. She was blown backward into Kurt and Petra, and they all crashed to the floor. The explosion drove me to my knees as I tried to keep the shield active. It robbed the blast of its potency, thankfully, leaving all of us hurt but alive. The wall behind Magali and the ceiling above were the biggest casualties, with both vanishing from the blast.
As I stood, I felt a sharp pain in my side and looked down to see part of a bone sticking out of my stomach. I fell back to the floor as smoke and dust filled the room.
Selene was by my side in an instant. “Are you okay?”
“She turned herself into human shrapnel,” I said. “Hurts like hell.”
She grabbed the bone, causing me to shout, and pulled it out in one motion. Both pain and relief washed through me as my magic set about healing the wound. A burning feeling still blazed inside my stomach, but I had little time to consider the implications.
“Everyone else okay?” I asked.
“Lucie’s unconscious,” Kurt shouted.
“Other than that, we’re okay,” Petra continued.
“What about you?” I asked Selene.
“I’m good. You managed to stop her from killing us—or at the very least, making our day much worse.”
“Shame I couldn’t stop it all, though,” I said through gritted teeth as Selene helped me back to my feet. “Exactly what was the point of blowing herself up?”
No one had time to answer as more explosions rocked through the room, tearing walls and the ceiling apart and spraying us with wood, plaster, and pieces of metal.
“Fuck!” Kurt shouted out as a something passed through his arm and embedded itself in the wall beside him. “She’s put fucking nails in the walls and ceiling. She’s
turned this whole place into a damn bomb.”
Several more of the tiny missiles shot around the room as Petra dragged Lucie over to us, and Kurt crashed to the floor beside me. I created a second wall of air, determined to stop the vicious nastiness that Magali had prepared. The pain in my side made it difficult for me to concentrate enough to stop all of the fast-moving pieces of metal, and when one went through the palm of my hand, my magic ceased.
More explosions sounded from above, and the ceiling caved in. Selene stopped it from covering us with a blast of ice from her open mouth. She created a thick igloo, encasing the five of us in its protective shell as the sounds of collapsing wood and brick created a cacophony of noise in the relatively small, enclosed space.
Selene’s eyes had gone reptile orange, and her now scaly skin was the color of silver. Her fingers had elongated, her nails forming razor-sharp talons that could carve through steel as easily as it if were paper.
“I won’t be able to redo any of the ice once it starts to crack. The night is too far away,” she said. Her voice hadn’t changed; it never did, which was always one of the things I found strange about her kind.
Selene was dragon-kin. Long ago dragons roamed the world; enormous and dangerous, they were capable of changing into humanlike form. The resulting offspring of humans and dragons were named dragon-kin. They couldn’t change into the huge monstrosities as their ancestors had, but they had inherited a host of their ancestors’ strengths and weaknesses. The main one was that dragons and their kin gained their strength and power according to a particular time of day. Some were stronger during the daylight hours; these gained the ability to breathe fire; others, such as Selene, used the night.
Selene couldn’t have gone full dragon-kin; the sun was far too strong during the midday, and she’d probably used her reserves of power just creating the dome of ice. But she was strong enough to have saved all of us from having a building crush us.