by G Mottram
‘Hot,’ Jason gasped. It felt like a furnace door had opened and a wave of heat rolled out over him and away.
Dad breathed slowly out – he obviously had felt the heat as well. ‘That was Nazahirim – when a demon that strong burns in sunlight all the Gifted within miles of it get a blast. The more powerful you are, the more you feel it.’
He smiled thinly. ‘It’s a lot worse if you’re closer – Brash will be flat out for the next few minutes.’
‘Good,’ Jason said. ‘I hope he fried. Let’s find Miranda before he gets up again.’
Dad smiled and led the way towards the river through the trees at the side of their house. He stopped in the shadows before reaching the back lawn.
For long moments they both stared at the watermill. Nothing moved that they could see. Jason hoped Miranda really was in there somewhere.
‘Right,’ Dad said, finally, ‘whether it’s the Brethren or Brash’s lot in there they know we’re coming so there’s no sense in trying to surprise them. As neither of them want us dead, I think we’ll just walk in through the front door and see what happens. Stay close.’
Dad took a breath then stretched both hands up and brought them down in an arc, palms out. A solid air hemisphere formed around the two of them.
He glanced at Jason and winked. ‘Just in case I’m wrong about the ‘not wanting us dead’ bit.’
‘Great,’ Jason said, shaking his head.
They started walking down the gently sloping lawn. A couple of metres before the wheelhouse Dad lashed out an air-kick right through their shield and blew the doors in.
At the far end of the room, slashed with rays of dawn-light cutting in through the boarded windows, Miranda waited for them.
Jason swallowed hard. Miranda’s lips trembled into a tight smile as she blink away the dust from the shattered doors. She moved forward to meet them as Dad nudged in front of Jason and stepped inside.
‘DAD IT’S A TRAP.’ Miranda shouted and lunged forward.
From nowhere, a bone white hand lashed around her eyes, pulling her head back as a knife flashed up to her throat.
‘Don’t move or she’s dead.’
Jason and Dad froze mid-step.
Half of Cadaveril’s skeletal face peered from behind Miranda’s head. ‘Slowly, throw your weapons over to me,’ he said, his voice hardly more than a whisper.
Dad carefully lowered the Kalashnikov, one wrist brushing the small walkie-talkie at his belt. Holding the weapon’s grip between finger and thumb, he flipped on the safety catch then tossed it at Miranda’s feet. She stood just four steps away from them.
Jason followed Dad’s lead and threw his pistol to the ground.
‘The pistol and Katana as well, if you don’t mind, Rich’ old son,’’ Cadaveril said, his blade rock-steady against Miranda’s throat but his eyes constantly flitting over the shadows.
Without a word, Dad threw his pistol down and slowly pulled out the blade from behind his head. He threw it to one side of Miranda.
Dad spoke quietly and calmly, his stare never leaving the one eye Cadaveril showed from behind Miranda’s head. ‘Just stay perfectly still, Miranda. This man, Cadaveril, is a Ghost – an assassin. With that knife at your throat he can kill you before any of us could move. Don’t try anything.’
Miranda made a small, strangled squeak. Jason felt his stomach begin to burn. If Cadaveril so much as…
‘Good advice, Rich’ – let’s hope everyone here follows it,’ Cadaveril said, this time not in a whisper but making his voice carry through the building and outside.
Jason concentrated on not chewing his lip. Cadaveril must suspect someone else was out there, someone with his own stealth skills – Marakoff.
‘Arsen, Milos,’ Cadaveril shouted, ‘come down ‘ere and cover the door. Jonas – sit over the hatch and give Mr Brash a call – tell him it’s fine to fly in now. I’ve got it all sorted.’
There was a scraping above them and two burly security guards appeared in the open trap door and started climbing down the ladder.
‘Surely you don’t need three big gunmen to look after you, Cadaveril – you’re holding a knife to my daughter’s throat, after all?’
Jason winced inside but kept his face calm. It seemed so obvious to him that Dad was trying to pass information out to someone. Then it clicked – perhaps Dad wanted Cadaveril unsettled - his attention divided between watching them and looking for Marakoff.
Cadaveril grinned. ‘Well I did want a bit of cannon fodder in case you decided to come in through the attic like us.’ He glanced at the smashed-in door. ‘But then subtlety ain’t really what you almighty Gifted do, is it?’
Dad just stared at him.
Cadaveril seemed to relax a little as the two Kalashnikov toting guards positioned themselves to either side of the doorway and another one appeared in the hatch above.
Jason stared at the guards. The open attic and the door were both covered now and boards sealed every window but no one seemed to be interested in the small door leading to the waterwheel. Marakoff could get in that way.
‘Nice try…’ Cadaveril’s harsh East London tones cut into his thoughts, ‘- nailing up your pretty daughter in here with no cameras and mics. But you really should have guessed we’d have someone watching the place.’
Dad shrugged. ‘I was trying to keep her safe from the Brethren, not the abbey. I didn’t know your boss had turned into a demon-summoning traitor.’
‘Talk of the devil…’ Cadaveril grinned and nodded towards the door.
Outside the faint drone of rotor blades reached them.
This was it. If Brash landed with more men they would never get out. Jason moved a step to the right, drawing Cadaveril’s eye further away from the waterwheel door.
‘If you hurt her, I swear I’ll crush every bone in your body,’ Jason said, taking another step forward. ‘I’ll give you pain like you wouldn’t believe.’
Dad shot out a hand to grab his arm just as Cadaveril eased his knife into Miranda’s skin. Her eyes went wide but she didn’t flinch.
‘Possibly, my little ‘ero,’ Cadaveril said, ‘- but your pretty sister will be dead because of you.’
Jason’s eyes locked with Miranda’s. What could he do – what could anyone do?
A spotlight swept across the lawn and blazed into the room as Brash’s helicopter landed on the grass. No one moved as the rotor blades slowed then finally cut out.
A few moments later, silhouetted by the helicopter’s searchlight, Alan Brash made his entrance.
‘My goodness,’ he said, his voice somehow thinner than usual, ‘I could cut the atmosphere in here with a knife.’
He strolled passed Dad and into the centre of the room. Others passed in through the doorway still blazing bright in the helicopter searchlight – Anna, Eddie and Alicia Sirensong. Finally, clothed in a hooded black boiler-suit, Violet dashed into the shadows.
‘What’s this Alan, just the four of you and your pet demon,’ Dad said, ‘or did you bring Jason’s favourite mentor, Mr Schmidt, along in your six-seater Eurocopter as well? Left him lurking around outside, have you?’
Jason forced down a wince – more obvious information giving.
Standing half in shadow, Brash frowned. He ran his eyes over Dad and found the walkie-talkie on his belt. He shot a vicious glance at Cadaveril then flicked a single finger at Dad’s waist and blasted the radio apart.
Dad didn’t even flinch.
Brash turned to Jason. ‘To be honest with you, Jason, Sensei Schmidt has taken quite a shine to you – I wasn’t sure how reliable he would have been coming to hunt you down. So it’s your friend, Lance Van Garde, who’s out there. He’d rather die than let anyone… unfriendly get inside and I’m sure you don’t want any more deaths on your conscience, do you?’
Jason didn’t answer and Brash finally let out a slow breath and smiled briefly. He shook his head like a kind uncle about to admonish a mischievous nephew for snaffling some biscui
ts. ‘Enough of this posturing – we’re all on the same side, after all… even though you did leave me in quite a pickle at the abbey.’
He stepped a little further forward and turned his hidden cheek into a thin shaft of sunlight. Jason gasped. An angry, red slash burned across Brash’s face. The wound was made even more vivid by the fact the rest of his skin was as pale as mist. He wasn’t standing like he usually did either – tall and powerful. He was bent somehow, drained of vitality.
‘You dissolved Nazahirim’s prison too early?’ Dad asked.
Brash nodded and smiled thinly. His skin crinkled into ridges along the welt and he winced.
‘A slight miscalculation. Nazahirim was boiling away very nicely but I was a little tired from holding him for such a long time and Violet was… testing my control somewhat. I took a chance Nazahirim was finished but there was just enough left of him to lash out a little demon-fire before he burst into flame himself.’
Brash tentatively ran one finger along his burn. ‘Still, my lovely Alicia was on hand to patch me up.’ He turned to Alicia and held out a hand.
Strong, poised and confident, she stepped out of the partial shadow to join him. The sun-shaft glinted off her overly bright eyes. Had she been Touched?
Jason shot a look at Anna, then Eddie. The searing red bullet path across Anna’s forehead had been smothered in some sort of cream and Eddie had a clot of blood where Marakoff had knocked him out but apart from that, they both looked normal. They stared back at him – their faces unreadable. Were they all his enemies now?
Dad broke the silence. ‘There’s no need for Cadaveril to keep that knife at Miranda’s throat,’ He glanced at Anna. ‘I let your daughter go unharmed, after all.’
Brash kept his voice soft. ‘Only because Jason insisted you release her, I believe. The knife stays where it is.’
Miranda’s eyes, scared but in control, stayed focused on Dad who nodded calmly then turned back to Brash.
‘What do you want, Alan?’
‘You know what I want, Richard,’ Brash replied ‘I want Jason... and you as well, if possible, fighting by my side and not running from me as if I was some sort of…’
‘Demon summoner?’ Dad cut in.
Brash gave a tight smile. ‘I will do whatever it takes to destroy the Brethren.’
‘Including killing us?’ Dad asked, his voice so matter of fact that he could have been asking about the weather.
‘If I’d wanted you and yours dead I could have made it happen any time over the past twenty years. All I wanted throughout those years was for you and Jason to join with me… to see that my methods are the only way we are ever going to win this war.’
‘Your methods have left your ward screaming inside her own body, desperate to die,’ Dad pointed to the darkest corner where Violet lurked, sucking on something that looked like a bone.
‘Don’t start lecturing me,’ Brash shouted across him. ‘This is the only way.’
‘The Watch will hunt you down,’ Dad said.
‘I hardly think so.’ Brash said. ‘They need me too much. I’ve been busy while you’ve been hiding yourself away. I’ve trained and now run a quarter of the Gifted teams operating in the world today. Drunken Abbot sales account for thirty percent of the Watch’s income and thanks to Violet’s predecessors, I’ve been slowly addicting half the North’s pub-going public to my brews over the last couple of years.’
‘You’ve mixed demon essence into your ale?’ Dad said coldly.
‘Only a little teeny-weeny bit,’ Brash answered, squeezing his finger and thumb together. ‘Just enough to give a tiny boost and build up a little yearning for the next pint.’
‘You’re a sick, power-crazed, control freak,’ Dad said.
Brash shrugged. ‘Sticks and stones…’ He turned to Jason and drew in a slow breath. ‘Jason – this is your last chance to join us. Think of those friends who’ve died to keep you alive so you can fight the Brethren. Only these two survived, and they’re both still desperate for you to join us.’ He lifted a hand to either side, gesturing towards Eddie and Anna. Anna dropped her eyes, looking uncomfortable but Eddie met Jason’s eye, nodding.
Jason stared back. ‘You think it’s right, do you, Eddie - what he’s done to Violet?’
‘Whatever it takes to win,’ Eddie said. ‘Your mate, Marakoff, knocked me out and shot Anna to get his way or had you forgotten that? Those Brethren bastards slaughtered Ollie, Erin… everyone in that armoury and we would have been next.’
‘But it was Brash who brought the Brethren down on us,’ Jason began, ‘- he’s the reason Oliver and Erin are dead…’
‘They’d have found us at some point anyway and you were the perfect bait to draw them all in when we were ready for them. We just didn’t realise how many…’
‘Thank you, Eddie,’ Brash held up one hand and Eddie stopped mid-sentence. ‘Now, Jason… we have a knife at your sister’s throat and half the abbey security forces are motoring their way down here as we speak. You need to save everyone a lot of pain and do your duty… help us save the World.’
Brash made one of his usual arm waving flourishes but Jason was looking at Anna – had she really known about her father summoning demons, possessing people even before he revealed Violet to everyone?
Anna stared back at him now with a tight, perhaps apologetic, set to her lips.
Jason turned back to Brash. ‘If I join you, will you…’ he struggled to remember the correct term, ‘redeem Violet - kill the demon and never summon them again?’
Violet’s head popped out from the shadows, an almost comical look of surprise on her face. Then a snarl contorted her lips and the eyes blazed red.
Brash made a shooing motion with his hand, frowned in concentration and after a moment, Violet stepped back into the dark and carried on sucking her bone.
‘There aren’t enough Gifted, Jason. We need to use the demons.’
‘Then I can’t join you,’ Jason said.
Dad placed one hand on his shoulder and squeezed.
Brash sagged a little. He still looked exhausted and pale. ‘Well then, that leaves me with a small problem, I’m afraid. You see, I still have many powerful friends on the Council and the rest would most likely come around to my way of thinking eventually. However, if a couple of exceedingly Gifted types decided to spearhead a little rebellion against me, things may not go so well. Also, I really need a Triple Six on my side… one way or another.’
Jason frowned. Was that a threat to Touch or even possess him?
Anna shot a look at her father then turned to Jason and shook her head - it seemed she hadn’t known about this particular plan.
Cadaveril tightened the knife on Miranda’s throat. It was clear to everyone that negotiations were coming to an end.
‘So here’s the choice, Richard…’ Brash continued, ‘you leave peacefully with Miranda and disappear – forget the Watch as you have tried to do for the past twenty years. Jason stays with me to train in his Gift and act as insurance against you stirring up opposition.’
‘And the other option?’ Dad said, his head lowered and his voice starting to quaver a little.
‘The other option is not so nice.’ Brash said, straightening up. ‘Cadaveril slits Miranda’s throat, we kill you and take Jason anyway.’
‘Stop this,’ Anna said, stepping between her father and Cadaveril. As she moved she gave the tiniest of nods to Jason. ‘You can’t force anyone to join us. Just let them all go – and tell Bonehead to put his bloody knife away.’ As she said this she grabbed Cadaveril’s knife hand.
The instant Anna’s fingers closed on Cadaveril, Dad punched out faster than Jason had ever seen him move before. Cadaveril hurtled backwards just as two bullets zinged through the space where his head had been and the ghost crumpled against the wall.
Marakoff, head and shoulder appearing through the waterwheel door, shot the two guards by the door even as Dad punched both fists at Brash and felled him instantly.
Miranda rolled for Dad’s Kalashnikov, stopped on her back and pulled the trigger at the hatchway above.
Nothing happened but Marakoff was already on it. Two more shots felled the security guard and he fell across the hatch. Something silver flashed from Dad’s hand and ripped through a second guard appearing over the hook-hole above.
Then Dad staggered backwards, taking three air-blows in the chest in less than a second.
Fast Eddie.
Jason lashed out with a fan of five finger-darts but Eddie leapt to one side, landing unbalanced for an instant next to Miranda who was still lying on the floor.
She smashed one foot into the side of Eddie’s knee, flipped to her feet as he dropped and knocked him out with the butt off her Kalashnikov.
‘Thanks, Sis,’ Jason grinned, ‘even easier if you could find the safety catch,’
Miranda started fiddling with the weapon but there was no one else moving.
‘Where’s Violet,’ Dad snapped flicking up his Katana with his foot.
But Violet had disappeared.
‘She shot up the ladder, away from the light,’ Marakoff said. Somehow he’d moved unseen over to the main door and was stripping the security guards of their Kalashnikovs and ammunition while keeping one pistol trained on the far wall.
Anna crouched down protectively over her father with Cadaveril still unconscious behind them both. She stared at Dad. ‘You all need to get out of here – he’s coming round and there’s loads more security on their way.’
‘Too right, we’re going,’ Miranda said, shoving Dad’s Kalashnikov in front of Jason. ‘Now - how the hell do I use this?’
Jason flicked off the safety catch and pointed to the trigger. ‘Point and pull. Short bursts. Press this to change the mag…’
Brash’s eyes flicked open. ‘Violet – take them,’ he gurgled through a mouth half filled with blood from his broken nose.