Rise of Cain (Immortal Mercenary Book 3)

by Conner Kressley

  I would never find out what was behind that wall, because I dodged the trip wire altogether as well as the second and third that followed. Clint must have had similar luck, because I didn’t hear any ruckus coming from the other end of the house.

  I saw a door in the floor before me, obviously leading down toward the basement. As I settled in front of it, I saw the thing was fitted with an electronic lock. It had a keypad, but I didn’t have the combination. I stuck the charmed knife into the thing, slicing a hole into the door, and jumped back quickly.

  Bullets flew from the hole, as I imagined they would, whizzing by me and barely missing my face. It was a trap. Putting in the combination would have disarmed the door. Since I didn’t have it, I had earned myself some lead. Luckily for me, this wasn’t my first rodeo, and I expected it.

  Once the gun had been fired, I slid through the hole and down the dark staircase that followed. Unfortunately, the bullets weren’t the only assault I’d triggered. As I ran, an axe fell toward me from some place in the darkness. I dove out of the way, but it still grazed my shoulder as I fell, slicing right into my left arm and back.

  I yelled in pain and, losing my balance, rolled down the rest of the stairs until I crashed onto the dirt floor below. My body hurt and I could feel blood against my back, but I didn’t have time to deal with it.

  In front of me, propped in the far corner of the room, was a steel box with a glowing keypad of its own.

  That was it. The safe room. If Amber and Kyle were here, they were in that place. All I had to do was get into it. I stood, feeling woozy and nearly sick. Running anyway, I made my way toward the room.

  Or, at least, I thought I was.

  Instead, as I ran, the box didn’t get any closer. The more I ran, the more I saw how fruitless an endeavor it was. The box wasn’t getting any closer. In fact, the faster I ran, the further away it got.

  “Don’t bother,” a voice came from behind me. “it’s too late for all that.”

  I turned to meet the voice, but I didn’t need to see who it was coming from to know. I would recognize that voice anywhere, in any time.

  There, floating before me, drowning in a sea of magic, was Abel.

  “I’m afraid this is where it ends, Brother.”

  26

  “Is that where she is?” Abel asked, still floating before me. “Is that what it’s come down to? After all your plotting and scheming, a simple shell of metal is all that stands between me and the girl you’re so intent on saving? Well, that and your wolf, but I ejected him from this house when I entered it. I also put a protective field over it so Mother and the others wouldn’t bother us.”

  “You need to stop this,” I warned, breathing heavy and looking up at my baby brother. I remembered when he was born. I remembered how pink and scrawny he was, waling at the heavens with shut eyes and wet hair. My father made me swear to look out for him then. He told me he was smaller than me. He told me he would need protecting, that he would need teaching and guiding. I had let my father down on so many levels. Killing Abel was enough but, as I stared at him now, I couldn’t help but realize that I had also failed to teach. I had failed to guide. I had failed to be a big brother, and this was my punishment for that.

  “I’m about to stop this, Brother,” Abel answered, his voice thick with energy. “I’m about to stop it once and for all.”

  “Don’t make me hurt you, Abe,” I said, surprised to find tears in my eyes. I didn’t want this. More than anything, all I wanted was for my brother to be at peace. I thought about what my mother had said though. I thought about everything I had stolen from my brother by killing him. I couldn’t let him lose peace too. I wouldn’t. Even if it meant killing him all over again.

  “Hurt me?” Abel asked, fluttering down to the ground like a feather on the wind. “You’ve already hurt me, Brother. We’ve been through that. I forgave you. Have you forgotten. How many times do I have to tell you I’m doing this for you? How much must I explain?”

  “More than you have if you expect me to let you murder a child,” I answered. It was a lie. Nothing he could tell me would ever justify him killing Amber. I didn’t care if she was destined to singlehandedly thrust the earth into the center of the sun. She hadn’t done anything yet and, in my book, that made her innocent.”

  “I told you I could not elaborate,” he said. “I told you that the Other in your body would find a way to gleam the knowledge. He would be unstoppable then, but I suppose it doesn’t matter. The girl in in that box. I can feel her. I can hear her troubled heartbeat. The least I can do is explain to why this is happening.”

  He was about to explain things to me, but he had already given me all the information I needed. Amber was in that room. I didn’t care why it was going on now. I had to stop my brother right now, before he had a chance to strike.

  My arm had been cut and was still throbbing, but I went with the pain. I rushed toward my brother, calling forth the Blade of the Divine. It jutted from the cuff on my arm but, no sooner had it made its appearance, that my body flew backward, slamming against the safe room and sticking there.

  “You still wish to harm me?” Abel asked. “Perhaps you will think differently once you learn the truth.”

  “Abel,” I growled. “Nothing you say could ever-”

  “When you were young you were foolish, Cain. We all know that,” Abel said, cutting into my words. “You did many foolish things. Only one rivaled murdering your own brother though. Do you have any idea which that was?”

  I blinked at him wordlessly, trying reach for my knife to cut through whatever magic he was using to hold me here.

  “Fine. I’ll tell you. In your hubris, you wanted to reach He Who Made Us. You wanted to build a bridge to Him, to chastise Him for His treatment of you. And that bridge came in the form of a tower.”

  “The Tower of Babel,” I answered. “I remember.” Of course I remembered. None of us knew how the world worked then. I knew that the Big Guy seemed to come from the clouds. So I thought that, if I could convince some of my parents’ descendants to help me build a tower that reached the heavens, I might be able to get to the Big Guy and convince Him to talk to me again, maybe even get Him to change His mind.

  He wasn’t a fan of the idea though and, even though his crib isn’t just straight up in the air, He kind of scourged us for our lack of humility. I was used to that, but the others weren’t. He knocked the tower down and scrambled their languages up, made it so they couldn’t understand each other anymore, made it so I couldn’t understand them. I guess he didn’t want me stirring up trouble anymore, and it worked. It took me generations to learn all the different languages He’d set up. By that time, I had kind of lost my drive to get up there. Still, I had no idea what that had to o with anything.

  “It’s gone, Abel,” I said, twisting my hand slowly so the knife in it could touch the magic and start to carve away. I had to be careful though, Any overt moves would draw attention from my brother. So I needed to go slow and steady while also keeping his attention elsewhere. “The tower fell.”

  “It did,” he assured me. “Every brick and stone, every room.” His eyes lost their magic, and I saw him for who he was now; just my little brother. “All but one.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked, still carving away at the magic.

  “You built a room for yourself, Brother,” Abel said. “You built a room just for you and encased it with more magic than anything the world had ever known up to that point. The first witches did it for you, and their powers were sacred. You tied it to yourself and called it your throne room.”

  “I remember, Abe,” I said, not wishing to go back to that point in my life, a point when I was less selfless and more cunning than I was now. “It was destroyed too.”

  “Except it wasn’t,” Abel said. “When He Who Made Us caused the Tower to fall, he allowed that room to stand. He used it and the magic encasing it to hold the most dangerous creature this world has ever known. He Who
Made Us trapped her inside and held the room where it sat among the clouds. To this day, she sits there and, given the fact that your blood was tied to the room, only your blood can open it.”

  “I don’t understand what this has to do with anything,” I admitted, having almost freed my entire arm now. When the time was right, I could perform one slash and be free. I just needed to get his attention turned first. “What does that have to do with Amber?”

  “It had nothing to do with her, Brother,” Abel said. “Until you changed that.”

  “What?” I asked, my heart skipping a beat. “What did I do?”

  “You took her sickness,” he answered. “You used the energy Gabriel gave you and took the sickness killing her. What the angel didn’t tell you, and the reason you saw her future when you touched her, was that you also altered her DNA. In taking her sickness on, you shared your own cellular structure. She is of you now, Brother. She is biologically yours, your child by everything but action.” He blinked at me. “She is yours by blood, and because of that blood-”

  “She can open the room,” I said, swallowing hard. This was insane. Why would Gabriel trick me into actually creating someone capable of helping destroy the world? How was this even possible?

  “I can open the room too,” I answered, a fierce surge of protection running through me. “Whoever wants this doesn’t need her. She can just be a kid. She can be normal.”

  “If only,” Abel lamented. “You cannot be killed. So the danger you posed had to be dealt with in a different manner. I used the magic I acquired when extinguishing the mystical line to alter you as well. Much in the same way you changed Amber’s DNA, I changed yours. I distorted your blood, changing it. I didn’t know it would also alter your curse. I had no idea it would open a door for the Other to walk through. I apologize for that, but it had to be done. You can’t die, Brother. The threat would have always existed within you. Now it only exists in that girl and, when I kill her, the threat will die too.”

  I had heard enough. I couldn’t let this stand anymore.

  With a quick strike, I cut through the magic holding me and fell to the floor. Landing on my feet, I ran toward my brother, the Blade of the Divine glowing in my hand.

  He lifted his hands, but I was already there. I had caught him by surprise and I wasn’t going to waste it. I thrust the Blade toward him, but he shimmered out of existence. Reappearing a few feet back, he raised his hand and with it, also my body.

  I flew into the air and remained there.

  “I know you don’t want this, but the world does, Brother. Trust me. It’s for the best,” Abel said. “Now get her for me, won’t you? And try and help ease her pain. I don’t want the child’s final moments to be fearful.”

  “Fearful?” I spit, hanging in the air like a human puppet. “You son of a-”

  I flew backward, slamming against the door of the safe room so quickly that it flung open.

  I hit hard against the inside, sliding to the floor.

  “Callum? Callum? Are you okay? Is the man back?”

  Looking up, I saw Amber in front of me. She was crying, her eyes puffy and red. Behind her, with his arms wrapping her protectively, was Kyle. The doctor was obviously afraid too, though his face didn’t show it nearly as much.

  Looking at Amber, it occurred to me that she was, for all intents and purposes, my own daughter now. Sure, I hadn’t impregnated her mother, and I sure as hell hadn’t raised her. But she had my blood. She had my DNA, and I was willing to die for her. Wasn’t that enough?

  “Run!” I choked out.

  Without a word, Kyle scooped her up and turned toward the open door. He was too late though. No sooner had he turned that my brother came floating in, full of energy.

  Kyle spun back around and rushed for the far wall, pressing Amber against it and standing in front of her.

  “You should leave, Irishman,” my brother said, settling over me and resting on the floor, his power turning off for the moment. “My brother is hardheaded and refuses to listen to reason, but he is durable and will live through this. I cannot promise the same for you.”

  “I took an oath,” Kyle said, his eyes full of fire. “I swore to do no harm, and I swore to help those who needed it. This girl needs it, you monster. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to break my promises now.”

  “I am not the monster, Irishman,” Abel said. “And if she lives, you will not be the only person damned. That which resides in that room will tear through this world. It will reduce it to ashes, and it will be that girl’s fault. But if you insist on tying your fate to hers, I will no longer try to convince you otherwise.”

  I stood quickly, blood now pouring from my back wound, which was further aggravated by the little trip I just took.

  “Abel,” I said, pleading in my voice. I had failed in every way possible. All I could do now was plead and hope he would listen. “You don’t have to do this. I’ll protect her. I’ll make sure the room is never opened. I promise you, Brother. I promise you on our family. I promise you on my life.”

  “I would like to believe that, Brother,” he said, turning to me. “But your promises never meant much.”

  He raised his hand to me again and I flinched, ready to once again be tossed around like a rag doll.

  Strangely enough, nothing happened. I looked at my brother, whose eyes were wide and full of concern. He thrust his hand to me again but, again, nothing happened.

  “What is ha-”

  Quickly, Abel’s eyes turned to Kyle and I realized what was happening. Haircut. Stupid, brilliant, Irish, luck power having Haircut. Him being here had stopped Pearl and my mother from being able to enter this place, and it looked like it was also blocking Abel’s powers now.

  “I love your Irish ass,” I said quickly. Then, turning to my brother, I slammed my fist against his face. He stumbled backward, right out of the safe room.

  “Amber,” I said quickly. “Get to the staircase and stay there. Do not go up under any circumstances. Haircut,” I said, looking at Kyle. “Stay close.”

  I ran out to my brother, hitting him again and again with fist after fist. Abel had never been much of a fighter, at least not when it came to hand to hand stuff. Now, without the use of his powers, this was over, and not in the way I originally thought it would be.

  “Brother,” he said, blood pouring from his nose. “Brother, listen to me.”

  He fell to his knees and, when I punched him again, he fell to the floor on his side. I nudged him onto his back, and he looked up at me, breathing heavy and blinking back tears.

  I lifted my hand, forcing the Blade of the Divine out again.

  ‘How can I fix it, Abe?” I asked, looking down at him. “What sin did you connect this to? How do I undo what you did to me?”

  If I did that, not only would it stop that thing from being able to overtake my body, but it would change everything back. Sure, Amber would still have my blood, but I would have my blood too. She wouldn’t be the only game in town anymore, and that would make her at least marginally safer.

  “You can’t, Brother,” Abel said, and this time there was pleading in his voice. “Please. If you do this to me, if you eject my soul from this body, I won’t be able to stop this. The sin I connected your curse to; it’s the thing inside the room. It’s the thing I’m trying to stop.”

  “What?” I asked. “What connection could I possibly have to it?”

  “It’s not the connection you have to it. It’s the connection you have to her. She is the first victim of this world. The first lost to shadow,” he said.

  “Her?” I asked.

  My brother didn’t answer. Instead, he tried to throw himself upright, no doubt to run to Amber.

  I kicked him back down, resting on his chest with my knee.

  “Don’t you see, Brother,” Abel said, crying openly now. “If the world ends because of something you did, because of a girl you basically created, it will be your fault. All the work you’ve done, all the go
od you’ve done; it will have been for nothing. You’ll just be a killer again, and you deserve better than that. You deserve to be saved, Brother. Let me do this. Let me save you.”

  I was crying too now. My baby brother. He was so lost.

  “You deserve peace, Abe,” I said, my tears falling down on his chest. “I love you so much. Please, baby brother. Please find peace.”

  And, with that, I slammed the Blade of the Divine into his chest.

  I felt his soul give way and then fly from his body. As that body began to glow, disintegrating as the magic consumed its now soulless form, I said a prayer. It was the first I had said in eons, the first I had said since the day in the field, the first time I killed my brother.

  “We haven’t spoken in a very long time,” I muttered. “But you’ve put me through a lot. You forgive him. Do you hear me? You forgive him, and you give him peace. Do that, and I’ll fix this mess.”

  I looked up, but there was no answer. There was never an answer.

  Standing, I wiped tears from my eyes and marched up to Amber.

  “It’s okay,” I said, shaking my head and picking her up. “I promise you, it’ll be okay.”

  Kyle, Amber, and I made our way out of the house, careful to miss the traps.

  When we made it out to the front lawn, and Merry saw us, she broke down and cried.

  Warmth filled me as I watched Amber throw herself from my arms and rush out into the yard, running for her mother.

  Oh no. She was running through that minefield.

  I jumped to attention, rushing toward her. I grabbed the girl just as her foot fell on a mine. Throwing her upright and into the air, I fell onto the thing. I felt it explode under me, blowing a hole into my stomach and knocking me backward.

  I found myself on my back, looking up at the sky.

  Magic lifted me and pulled me away from the field. It sat me on the ground, surrounded by the people I had come to see as family. Well, them and my mother. I felt the warmth seeping out of me. I felt myself dying. Oh no. I was going to go back to the Nexus and, this time, Pearl wouldn’t be there to help me. What’s more, that thing would be in my body.