Retribution of Sins

by J. L. McCoy

  “So where did this girlfriend say Stanus was?”

  “She said she didn’t know, but I asked the top three places she thought he could be,” I answered, glancing over at Hagan. “When she didn’t want to cooperate, I stole them from her mind. She thinks he could be in Tierra del Fuego, Amsterdam, Izmir, or Budapest.”

  “Tierra del Fuego?” Corvus asked in disbelief. “That’s on the southernmost tip of Chile in South America, near the Magellan Straight.”

  “Where is Izmir?” I questioned as the elevator stopped and we got out.

  “Turkey,” Hagan provided.

  “So we have to travel to Chile, Turkey, Hungary, and the Netherlands?”

  “We are going to be very busy,” Corvus muttered as we passed a dock worker.

  As promised, he had a car waiting for us, and we all jumped in a second before the driver sped off like we’d robbed a damn bank.

  “Twenty-seven seconds to spare. Great job, guys,” I praised, happy that we’d made it out without being stopped. “Now, where to first?”

  Chapter Fifteen

  After boarding the plane, Hagan and I redressed in our leather gear and made sure our guns were locked and loaded and ready to rock should the occasion require. Corvus spent quite a few minutes on the phone with Atticus filling him in on the latest information we had on Stanus while Hagan and I discussed what had gone down in the bathroom with Ansa. He praised me for my tactic and line of questioning, and that made me practically glow. Any praise from Hagan was high praise indeed. He’d said he was proud of me for getting the four most probable locations Stanus could be hiding, and I almost grinned when I saw the beginnings of a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.

  I realized in that moment that in the short time I’d known Hagan, I’d really grown to love him. He was not only an amazing teacher, but he was also an amazing friend; always so supportive, patient, and, most importantly, truthful with me. He regularly called me on my shit and kept me in check, and I truly loved that about him. I only hoped I was as good a friend to him as he’d become to me.

  “I cross-referenced the cities with the papers we stole from Stanus’s safe, and we have addresses that match,” Corvus said tiredly, taking a seat beside Hagan and me at the conference table. “We’ll arrive at our first stop in Izmir in roughly four hours.”

  “We should all get a little shut-eye,” Hagan said in between a yawn.

  It had been an eventful evening, and I hadn’t slept in a while, so I agreed with Hagan. “I’m going to take a nap, too. Why don’t you get one in as well, Corvus?”

  “You don’t have to tell me twice, love.”

  We all got up and moved to the cushy seats at the front of the plane. I reclined mine as far as it could go, threw out a verbal goodnight, and was asleep in less than a minute.

  Burning, searing pain eclipsed my entire being. I felt like my whole body was on fire. The pain was excruciating, and all I wanted was for it to stop.

  “Nisiqtu,” Amun whispered, agony lacing every syllable. “Please. Come to me.”

  “It hurts,” I called out to him with tears in my eyes. “Why does it hurt so much?”

  “Damu, you must come to me. You are our only hope of salvation.”

  “I can’t,” I cried as I felt the walls close in on me suddenly. I was trapped in a box of some sort, unable to move. “Abum, I can’t.”

  “You must, child. You must,” he groaned, and his face was unexpectedly in front of mine all of the sudden. “They are hurting us.”

  Agony and immense suffering painted his tired, weathered face, and I was shocked at his condition. The Amun I had battled looked nothing like this tired old man in front of me.

  “They are going to kill us if you don’t come, Damu.”

  It felt like I were dying now as the burning ratcheted up a notch. As I watched my flesh char, I opened my mouth and screamed.

  I hit the ground hard, so hard all the air whooshed out of my lungs, and I struggled to take a breath in. For a full minute, I lay there on the unforgiving rock, fighting for every breath I took. When the breathing came easier, I noticed the air was cool and damp and smelled strongly of rich earth.

  Sitting up, I took my first good look at my surroundings and audibly gasped. I was surrounded by rock and appeared to be in a dimly lit cave. Last I remembered, I was on a plane bound for Izmir, and now I was only God knew where.

  I stood up and brushed myself off, only then noticing the silver coffin in the middle of the room. My eyes widened as I realized where I was. I had somehow teleported and had ended up with Amun in Ireland. Gasping again, I flashed over to the coffin and listened intently.

  “Da...mu,” came a broken whisper.

  Wasting no time, I grabbed the side of the coffin lid and pulled it up, crying out as the pure silver burned my skin. What I saw inside absolutely turned my stomach and shocked me at the same time.

  In laid Amun, or what was left of him. He was wrapped in silver chains head to toe, and his skin was bubbling and charred where the silver touched him, which was everywhere. The coffin was lined in silver, and for the first time since the day I was reborn, I vomited.

  Amun had kidnapped Trey, threatened to murder anyone I loved, had chained me up and tortured me for three days, and was hell-bent on killing the Day Walker line I hailed from. He was incredibly dangerous and deserved to be locked up for an eternity, but he did not deserve this. This was sickening. This was cruel. This was incredibly wrong.

  Just then the light in the cave became blindingly bright, and I attempted to shield my eyes as I heard footsteps pour in.

  I knew An Dílis had discovered me, and I threw my hands up in the air in surrender.

  “I wasn’t letting him loose, I promise,” I called out as I was surrounded by roughly twenty men.

  “Morrison?” I heard someone call out and turned to the entrance of the cave to find Ruarc storming in. “What in the hell are you doing here? How did you find this place, and more importantly, how in the fuck did you get past my security?”

  “So this is real?” I questioned, not fully believing it. “This isn’t a dream?”

  “No, this isn’t some damn dream,” he answered exasperatedly. “Have you lost your mind?”

  “Shit!” I exclaimed, hoping against all hope that I was still asleep on the plane and not actually standing here.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked again, and I peeked at him through squinted eyes, my arms still raised in the air.

  “I-I think I teleported, sir.”

  “You teleported...”

  “I-I was dreaming of him, and the next thing I know, I’m in this cave.”

  Ruarc’s face wore a pissed-off expression, and his arms were crossed over his chest. I noticed for the first time that every man in the room had automatic weapons trained on me, and I swallowed hard; it was very unnerving.

  “Are you here to set him free?” Ruarc asked, and there was caution in his voice. I had no doubt that if I said yes, he’d do his very best to test the limits of my immortality.

  “No, sir. I am not. I swear it to you,” I answered earnestly. “I was dreaming, and he pulled me here. This was something that just happened. I didn’t try.”

  After a silent few moments of him studying me, he commanded his men to put their weapons away. “And put your damn arms down, Miss Morrison.”

  Breathing a sigh of relief, I did as he instructed and listened to him command his men to wait outside for us.

  Happy to be alone with him, I tried to explain everything that had been going on with my dreams.

  “It just happened, Ruarc, I swear. For some reason, the closer I was to him, the more I dreamed of him. He’s able to call out to me in my dreams.”

  “What do you mean the closer you are to him?” he asked, not understanding. “America is far enough away that you shouldn’t be having any issues.”

  I explained to him that even while I was in America I dreamed of him, then had to explain my globetrott
ing and the reason I dreamed of him every time I fell asleep.

  “You should not be doing the Dark’s dirty work, Miss Morrison. Your father is their enemy and what he did calls for punishment, however they see fit.”

  “He’s my father, Ruarc,” I said, shaking my head. “I can’t just let him die.”

  “You are dabbling in things that will have echoing consequences.” His voice was gentle as he tried to get me to see reason. “You shouldn’t want a hand in Stanus Octavious’s death either, no matter his sins. You go down that path... there’s no coming back from that.”

  “I’m already a murderer, sir,” I explained, bile rising in the back of my throat. “I killed dozens of men in that airfield, and sadly, I’d do it again if it meant saving those I loved.”

  “You are being forced to grow up so fast.” He sounded almost melancholily. “Most of An Dílis don’t take their first life for decades after joining. You’ve been forced to kill within days of awakening.”

  “I am the perfect weapon,” I said, quoting him.

  Sighing, he took a look around the cave and noticed that the lid to the silver coffin was raised, then took notice of the pile of bloody vomit next to it.

  “Care to tell me why the coffin is open?” he questioned, his eyes slightly angry.

  “He’s suffering,” I explained, then lifted my arm to show him the charred markings that now resided on my body as well. “As he suffers, so do I. At first, I just felt the burning in my dreams. But now... the closer I am to him, the more I suffer as he does.”

  Looking over my shoulder, I took in the coffin, then turned back to Ruarc and pled with him. “You can’t do this to us. You shouldn’t even be doing this to him. I understand the danger he poses better than anyone, but this... this treatment is wrong. Have you even looked at him lately? Truly looked at him?”

  Ruarc shook his head no.

  “Go look. See for yourself what that coffin is doing to him.”

  My eyes followed him as he walked over to the coffin. As soon as his eyes befell Amun, he blanched and turned his head.

  I lifted my other arm and then raised my leather tank to show him the new burns on my body. They had appeared within the last few seconds and hurt fiercely. “Do you see this?” I winced. “This is excruciating, Ruarc. As he burns, I burn. There has to be another way. There just has to be. Until this is fixed, Amun will keep calling out to me. He feels as if he is dying a thousand deaths every single second of his time in that coffin. I know, because I feel it. I started feeling it right before my Sacred Vow ceremony, though I thought it was just a bad dream at the time.”

  “This is the most secure way,” he explained, looking rather horrified by my burned flesh.

  “Can you not layer the cave in silver? Build a large silver cage maybe?” I asked. “At least that way he can be free, but still contained. I fear if you don’t, his torture will become my life.”

  “Nis-iqu-tu,” Amun whispered, and Ruarc startled, immediately drawing his dagger.

  “Put that away,” I said, shaking my head. “He can barely even speak. He is no threat to you any longer.”

  Cautiously, I walked over to the coffin and reluctantly peered inside. The burning on my stomach intensified, and I doubled over in pain. “Amun, please... make it stop. I’m doing the best I can.”

  “Can’t... stop it. We are... linked. You will feel... as I feel.”

  “There has to be a way, Abum,” I whispered tenderly, my heart strangely aching. Somehow, deep down, I knew Abum meant “father,” and seeing him, the other half of my soul, was immensely comforting. The other half of me that was Skye Morrison didn’t like this crazy bullshit one damn bit.

  “Your face,” Ruarc gasped, and I shook my head, not understanding.

  “Your face is burning.”

  Reaching up, I felt the bubbled, raised flesh and screamed out in horror.

  “Make it stop, Damu. Make them stop... hurting us.”

  “We’ve got to get you out of here,” Ruarc said, grabbing my charred arm and shutting the silver lid. Amun cried out then, and I did as well. It felt like Ruarc were trying to rip me in two, and I wailed with the fear and loss I felt.

  “Morrison, get it together” he commanded, almost fearfully when we were finally outside in the daylight. My entire body quaked as I sobbed uncontrollably.

  “You have to end our suffering,” I cried. “You have to get him out of that coffin.”

  Ruarc grabbed me by the shoulders and made me look at him. “I swear to you I will find a way, Skye. But you have to help me here. Take a deep breath.”

  I felt unable to, and Ruarc finally understood that the closer my proximity was to Amun, the worse my condition was. He flashed us north to The Faithful’s headquarters and wrapped me up tight in the first coat he could find.

  Slowly, I felt my face begin to heal, and I was able to breathe easier. My crying had stopped and so did the burning of my flesh. A few minutes had passed, and I was finally able to look at my surroundings. We were in a tiny makeshift hospital of sorts, and there were two beds and a small cabinet filled with supplies. I sat in the chair by the cabinet, and Ruarc sat on the bed in front of me. I didn’t miss the uncertain fear in his eyes as he took me in. He was watching with a sort of weird fascination as my wounds healed.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, immediately turning my face away from him. I was incredibly embarrassed by what he’d just witnessed. I had completely fallen apart. Not only that, but he saw the tender moment Amun and I shared. I was ashamed and self-conscious... and oddly sad.

  “Don’t be sorry,” he replied softly, and the compassion in his voice made me turn back and look at him. His brow was furrowed, but his eyes were kind. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Ruarc was concerned about me.

  “I wish you hadn’t seen that,” I admitted, looking down at my hands in shame.

  “I’m glad I did, otherwise I never in a million years would have believed it.”

  “I’m not some science experiment, Ruarc.” I frowned, starting to get angry. My very soul had been exposed in that room, and I still felt raw from it.

  “No, you aren’t, Skye,” he said, carefully reaching out to put a comforting hand on my knee. “But you are incredible. What you just went through was inconceivable to me. I knew you two were linked, but never would I have imagined you linked to the extent you are.”

  Now mostly healed, I stood up and took the coat off. The kind, almost gentle way Ruarc was treating me made me uneasy. Hate I could handle, loathing I was used to, but concern coming from that man was completely foreign to me.

  “So what are you going to do to fix this?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest as I gazed down at him. “Amun will keep coming to me in my dreams for as long as we share a soul. I can’t change that, but I would like to change the whole suffering and burning thing. I can’t keep going through what I just went through. The pain is unimaginable, Ruarc. And he goes through that every fucking second of every fucking day. It’s wrong.”

  “Well, we can’t kill him without killing you, and I’m sure you enjoy breathing.”

  I felt the corner of my mouth tick up at his attempt to lighten the mood. It was so unlike him, and I wondered if I would ever get the opportunity to know the true Ruarc.

  “I do, thank you.”

  “I’ll reach out to some contacts I have to see if they have found a way to break the soul tie you two share. In the meantime, I will consult with Rioghan and see if we can come up with a solution to the silver coffin issue. After seeing him in there, I agree. No one and nothing deserves to fry twenty-four seven like that bastard was. His condition will probably haunt my dreams for the next decade.”

  “And you wonder why he was so pissed when he got loose the last time,” I remarked, shivering. “Can you even begin to imagine a thousand years of that?”

  “No,” he answered seriously. “I can’t. It explains why he’s absolutely mental, though. Anyone living through that would undoubted
ly lose their minds.”

  “Undoubtedly,” I agreed, thinking about the way Amun had unrelentingly pursued a romantic relationship with me. The love and affection he felt for me, and—though I never wanted to actually think about it or admit it—I for him, came from our soul tie.

  “Are you okay?” Ruarc asked, and it broke me out of my deep thoughts.

  “I’m fine.” Truth was, I was anything but fine. I’d managed to teleport thousands of miles away by accident, had come face-to-face with Amun, had almost been shot by Ruarc’s men, and experienced my flesh being burned to a crisp. So no... I wasn’t fine.

  “If there’s one thing I know about women, it’s that when they say they’re fine, they mean the exact opposite.”

  “That’s not true of all women,” I defended.

  “It’s true in your case, Miss Morrison.”

  What was he, a mind reader? “You know, you never told me what your Divine Power was.”

  “Why break tradition now?” He gave me a crooked smile.

  Just then we were interrupted by one of Ruarc’s soldiers. “Sir, you have a call.”

  “Take a message,” he commanded, folding his arms across his chest. “I’m busy.”

  “Sir, you need to take this. It’s Hagan, sir.”

  “Hagan?” I questioned, my brows shooting up in surprise.

  Sighing, Ruarc extended one hand for the phone, and the soldier unceremoniously dropped it in it.

  “Speak.”

  I heard muffled words of worry coming from Hagan, and Ruarc sighed again. “She is here, my son. No need to fear.”

  “Hi,” I called out to a no doubt upset Hagan.

  “Where are you?”

  I listened in as Hagan explained they were just now descending into Izmir.

  “He wants to speak with you,” Ruarc said, holding the phone out to me.

  Gratefully, I accepted it. I knew Hagan was concerned about me, and I wanted to alleviate that myself.

  “Hey.”

  “Jesus, Mary, and feckin’ Joseph, Morrison,” he exclaimed into the phone. “Just what in the actual fuck?”

  Holy shit, he sounded pissed... but mostly it was a relieved sort of pissed, and I knew I shouldn’t have, but I smiled. “Well, hello to you too, sir.”