Chris looked surprised. “Do I do that?”
I laughed. “Are you kidding? Ever since I was a kid, Chris.”
“You’re still a kid,” he rebutted.
I held my tongue and counted to ten before saying, “No. I’m not. I’m not a kid any more Chris, and I’ll tell you something else. I know I’m going to have regrets. But give me a choice between regretting what I’ve done and regretting what I haven’t? I’ll chose regretting what I’ve done any day. It’s not in my nature to sit on the sidelines. I’ve been encouraged to push the envelope my entire life. I couldn’t have become what I am, gotten to this place, without taking risks, stretching myself.”
“And where exactly are you, Dell? You going to tell me you think doing somebody else’s bidding, abandoning your father so that your could run off to be the errant wizard for some faceless organization is an accomplishment to be proud of?”
“No. But it was something I had to do.”
“Why?”
“So it could come to this. So we could all be here…now.”
“Bullshit.”
“Okay,” I said, holding up my hands in surrender. “You tell me… Why did I leave the Academy to go and work with the PSF?”
“Because you’re self-absorbed. Your entire life you’ve been the golden boy, but that was never enough. You always wanted to be the best and you couldn’t be. Not here. Not with your old man around. You’d never be a match for him, be as powerful, not even with the aid of magic. So you left to go someplace where you could be the top dog. He’s given you everything, everything your entire life and you couldn’t even manage to remain loyal to him.”
“Is that what you really think?” I asked, too stunned to react. Should I feel angry, hurt, indignant? I stood up and replaced the chair, then I turned back to face him.
“I am loyal to my father. I’ve always been loyal to him, because I love him and I believe in him. But I am my father’s son, so above all else, I follow my heart and my conscious. If you don’t know that, you don’t understand me at all.”
I grabbed the plate of pancakes, muttered a quick thanks to Luna, and headed for the exit but Chris couldn’t leave well enough alone.
“And what is your heart and conscious telling you about my daughter?” he called out, stopping me at the threshold.
I closed my eyes and swallowed. “My heart has chosen her, identified her as mine. My conscious reminds me that she’s yet to return or accept that claim. Think what you want of me, but I would never force Alex to do something she didn’t want to do, something she wasn’t ready for.”
“What if she thinks she’s ready, but she’s not?”
“We’d talk it over. If, in the end, it’s what she says she wants, I would trust her,” I replied.
“You seem to have all the answers,” he said snidely.
I smiled. “Truthfully? I’m just flying by the seat of my pants, like always.”
“Yeah? Well this time, if you crash, you take my daughter with you.”
Chapter Twenty-seven
I made it half way to the stairs when the sound of gunshots, firing from below, rang out.
I tossed the plate I was carrying onto the entry table.
“Alex?” I shouted.
“I heard,” she replied racing down the stairs. She threw me my pistol. I caught it in my right hand and switched off the safety. “Where’d they come from?”
All hell was breaking lose around the house. Chase, Lily, Mom, and Dad all flew into the upstairs hallway. My father and Chase began to race down the stairs. Lily and Mom following behind.
“You two need to go to the safe room. Now!” my father demanded.
“Status!” Chase was shouting into his earpiece. “Somebody down there give me a fucking status!”
Chris and Luna came from the direction of the kitchen just as I was answering her. “It came from down below, from—”
Before I finished my sentence the door flew open to reveal an Immortal that I’d never seen before. The weapon he was carrying I had. It was a Glock, just like Alex’s. Alex…
The sound of gunfire was almost deafening. There wasn’t enough time to shield her with magic, instead I tried to shield her with my body.
At times like this, everything seems to happen in slow motion, actions slowing down practically to the point of suspension.
It was going to take less then a fraction of a second for the bullet to travel through the air to its inevitable destination. My mind was clear, my focus singular, my purpose narrowed down to one thing, the need to absorb that bullet.
I launched myself into the air, stretching my body into an arch as I dove in front of it. At the same time I focused my energy on the intruder. He’d gotten off one round, he wasn’t going to fire another.
Elu Ezubu Arhis Sube’u. The ice-cold blast rose up within me, propelling itself outward just as the bullet grazed my side. It felt like a hot poker. Please. I thought as my hands touched the ground and I tucked myself into a ball, rolling to absorb the force of the fall. Please.
But the piercing scream told me that I’d been too late, that I’d missed my chance, that I’d failed.
I climbed to my feet, oblivious to anything around me but the site of Alex on the floor and the rapidly spreading circle of crimson blood.
“Towels!” I heard my mother yell. “Chase, quickly, get towels!”
I was the first to get to her. I peeled the t-shirt from my body then fell quickly to my knees and reached for her hand. Instinctively, she’d placed it over the wound, it was covered in blood. I didn’t care. I placed the shirt on her stomach. Mom took over, applying pressure.
“It…it hurts,” cried Alex.
“Shh, I know baby,” I told her, kissing her fingers. “It’s going to be all right.”
“Dell! Release the shield,” shouted Chase. “I can’t get out.”
I looked up towards the top of the stairs. Chase was unable to move past the edge of the hallway. I could feel it…magic…and it wasn’t mine. I stood up and walked over towards the intruder. The smell of the blood had driven my beast forth. The rage had boosted my powers. The air around me stirred as I moved, snapping and popping.
“Who are you?” I growled, reaching out, intent on probing his mind.
“Malcolm,” answered my father. “It’s Malcolm, Dell.”
Chris had picked up the gun he’d dropped. He was holding it in his left hand, he had his right hand wrapped around Malcolm’s throat and he was squeezing, hard. If I didn’t stop him, he was going to break Malcolm’s windpipe.”
“Let him go, Chris,” I told him.
“Let him go? Are you kidding me? He’s going to pay. He shot my daughter!” he shouted, his eyes filled with tears.
“We don’t have time for this!” cried out Mother. “We have to get Alex to a hospital.”
I placed my hand over Chris’ wrist and let the power crawl over him, not a lot, just a little.
“Don’t make me use force,” I whispered. “I’d rather not waste any of my energy on this.” I nodded towards Malcolm. “This one…he has no magical power. There’s someone else involved, someone strong enough to penetrate our shields without setting off any alarms and trap us in one of his own.”
The instant Chris released him, Malcolm started coughing and sputtering. He was still pinned to the wall, arms spread out, feet dangling in mid-air.
“Can I…can I have some water?”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” growled Chris, tossing the gun onto the entry table. He stomped over to the fireplace and picked up the wedge and hatchet that my father kept there to split logs. Within seconds he’d returned.
“Chris…” I warned.
He glared at me. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure he can still talk.”
“How’s Alex?” I asked.
Mom looked up at me. I could tell by the strain on her face that she was worried. “She’s conscious. There’s no exit wound, no way for me to know where the bul
let is or how much damage was done. I’m a psychiatrist, Dell. She needs a surgeon.”
“How much time do we have?”
“Not much,” she whispered.
“Fuck!” I growled.
“I’ll start with his toes, work my way up his legs, then move to his fingers,” suggested Chris.
Malcolm had enough sense to piss his pants. Chris was serious.
“If my daughter dies,” he continued, “I’m going to chop you up into twenty-five pieces, one for each year of her life. Then I’m going to box each of them up, encase them in cement, and bury them in the most remote locations I can find. Don’t worry, Dell, I’ll get him to talk.”
I didn’t need Malcolm to talk. Actually, it would have been really sweet if everyone would just shut the fuck up. I returned to Alex.
“You are not going to die,” I told her, relieving my mother and applying pressure to the wound, “not today.”
She gave me a watery smile. I could tell she was in pain and she’d lost a lot of blood. The normally golden glow of her skin was becoming more ashen by the second.
“Dell…I…”
“Shh,” I told her. “Save your strength.”
“Please,” I heard Malcolm plead. “The b-b-bullet wasn’t meant for your daughter. That was an accident. I’m sure the boy can fix things. Right?”
“It was meant for Violet,” said my father softly. He was quite a bit taller than Malcolm, so in his current state he was able to look him in the eye. “You came here to kill Violet, to kill me.”
“Can you break the shield?” Mom asked me. She wiped her brow with the back of her hand, leaving a streak of blood on her forehead that looked like war paint. It was fitting. No one understood…yet…but we were at war.
Behind us, my father was still wasting time with Malcolm. “You’ve known all these years and you’ve done nothing. Why now?”
“I am faithful to the Father. He told me to wait for instructions. I waited. I waited until I could wait no longer,” he said, his voice sounding tremulous.
“Malcolm is faithful to Malcolm,” my father spat. “If we hadn’t cleaned you out, you’d still be peddling drugs and whores for pocket money. Who is helping you?”
I knew who it was. Malcolm was inconsequential. He was nothing more than an excuse, a tool.
“Enough!” I shouted, staring down at the blood on my hands. “It’s Basta!” I looked up to meet my father’s gaze. “It’s Basta.”
“No!” he protested. “Dell, that makes no sense. Basta has loved you like a son. He helped raise you. He’s been a member of this family for—”
I shook my head. “A wizard can always penetrate his own shield.”
“But…why?” asked my mother who’d just removed the white linen table cloth from the entry table and was signaling me to swap it out for the soaked through t-shirt.
“Because he thinks if I lose everything that’s important to me, that I’ll turn to him. He didn’t work with me all those years for nothing. He’s getting old. His power may be endless, but his body isn’t. He needs a new vessel, a worthy vessel. He’s not merely looking to transfer his power, he wants to merge it, grow it.”
“My God,” gasped my father, the gravity of what I was saying finally dawning on him.
“You refused him?” asked Chris.
“Of course I refused him!” I shouted.
“Dell, can you break the shield?” my mother asked again.
“That’s not the answer,” I told her. “Is it?” I shouted up to the heavens. “Is it you sanctimonious bastard?”
“Whatever it is, Dell. Do it!” begged Chris. “Do it!”
My heart was pounding, my eyes burning from tears I refused to let fall. I needed to remind myself to breathe, think. I needed to be in control.
“I can’t lose you,” I whispered to Alex, pushing down my beast and locking it firmly away. Then I lifted one hand into the air. “Alka,” I commanded and the spell book appeared, breaking through the shield just like I knew it would.
“Dell, no!” Alex whimpered. “Please. You don’t want to loose yourself either.”
“There’s no other way,” I told her.
“You…you said it yourself. There’s always another way,” she countered.
“What’s going on?” asked Mom.
Alex reached for her. “Don’t…let him…do it. It’s dark magic. Basta’s tempting him so that he’ll give in…give up. Don’t...” She was tiring now, her breathing becoming more labored, her vital signs slowing. “Don’t let him…”
My mother’s eyes met mine across Alex’s body. She’d loved me my entire life, always believing in me, her faith unwavering. I watched a shadow of doubt appear, then vanish.
“You sure about this?” she asked.
“Yes.”
I’d never been so sure about anything in my life.
“I love you.”
“Love you too, Mom,” I told her, then I stood up prepared to do what was necessary.
“Dell!” I heard my father cry out, but it was too late. I was done talking, done listening. I opened the book and held it out in front of me.
“Elu,” I whispered, releasing the book. I stepped back spreading my arms wide. A wind rose up inside of me, and I embraced it like a lover, coaxing it, encouraging it. My skin itched, stretched, and still I held on, drawing in the power, taking it from where I could. I was limited to the contents of the shield. I started with Chase, Chris, Luna, Malcolm, and my father. They were the strongest, the ones that could most easily heal. I started with them, but they wouldn’t be enough to finish it. Basta knew that and I knew that.
The house began to shake from beneath; it started as an almost imperceptible tremor.
“Alla Xul. Ati Me Peta Babka,” I shouted.
Chase dropped to his knees.
“What’s wrong?” Lily cried out, trying to grab hold of him.
“Do…whatever you need to do,” ground out Chris, leaning on Luna for support. He fell before she did. Her energy was borrowed, but the power at the base of it was very old.
Luna dropped then I turned to Malcolm.
“No!” He shook his head.
As soon as he felt the intrusion he realized he wasn’t strong enough to guard against it and his eyes widened from fear. He should have been afraid, he should have been very afraid. I was. His power was tasty, tempting, and I let if flow into me.
“Help me!” Malcolm gasped, stumbling backwards until his shoulder slammed into the wall.
“You have no friends here, Dominie,” I spat.
Malcolm’s eyes were darting about the room, searching…hoping.
The power continued to flow. I closed my eyes and rode it, wave after wave, like a vast ocean. It seemed endless. Laughter bubbled up in my throat. But I pushed it back down.
When my eyes opened again I saw that Malcolm had fallen. I turned to my father. He was waiting. He knew what I needed and he gave it to me, without thought, without question. “Remember whose son you truly are,” he said. Then he unlocked the door for me, exposing himself. His energy slammed into me cascading down almost faster than I could absorb it. The walls were shaking, the ceiling above cracked and bits of plaster began to rain down.
“Usella Mituti Ikkalu Baltuti!” I cried out. I was close to the point of bursting. The energy crawled over me, tiny pinpoints of light leaking through the pours of my flesh.
I delved into her, my mind taking her mind, my body now her body, blood, sinew, bones, searching, seeking, feeling.
It’s not enough, I heard him hiss. You are going to have to choose. He was here, somewhere, watching, witnessing my struggle, wanting to see me choose. He was here, just like I knew he would be.
“Usella Mituti Ikkalu Baltuti!” I shouted out again over the din. The timbers of the house were being stressed beyond measure. I held my hands out over Alex. I could feel it. I could feel everything. The light bulbs around the house began to explode, one following the other in quick succession. Mirr
ors shattered. Windows burst out showering us with shards of broken glass.
My hand closed around it, hot and scalding, it burned into my palm and still I held on. There was damage to her liver and intestine, extensive damage. Stomach acids were spilling into her body, infection spreading. Her pressure was dropping, her heart rate irregular. She was going into shock.
Samantha Sommersby - [Forbidden 03] Page 17