Before his meeting later with Gabriella, he had to talk with Crow. Everything was happening fast now, and he needed to stay a step ahead of his enemies. After reading the letter, it was apparent that Danforth had joined the Creeper on his most wanted list.
But where was Crow in this huge house? With no phone, there was no way to contact him. His satellite phone appeared on the table. Nick smiled. He was getting the hang of how things worked around there.
He dismissed the phone as unnecessary. Why phone when he could talk to the real McCoy? He wished it, and a bewildered Crow materialized beside the window.
“What’s going on around here?” he grumbled.
Nick grinned. “I needed to see you.”
Crow’s expression reflected his grandfather’s stubbornness. “You didn’t have to kidnap me. A simple request would’ve sufficed.”
Nick quickly explained how the house worked.
“I’ve heard of the ‘reach out and touch someone’ slogan, but this certainly adds a new twist,” Crow said, brightening.
Nick laughed. “I need to pick your brain about locating Thomas.”
“You mean the Creeper?”
“Right.”
Crow sniffed. “A piece of cake, white man.”
Nick’s temperature spiked. “You’re kidding me? You’ve known where he is and didn’t tell me?”
“Hold on,” Crow pleaded. “I didn’t say that. I meant that I know how to find him.”
“Okay, shoot.”
“I’d rather show you on my notebook computer, but it’s in my room and I don’t know where the hell my room is.
His notebook computer suddenly appeared on the table.
“I’ll be damned!” Crow whistled.
“See. Now show me,” Nick prompted.
First, Crow described the unusual radio message that Geronimo received just minutes before the Creeper showed up at Blue Lick Springs and destroyed the facility.
Then he typed an interface command that linked the laptop to Geronimo.
“Geronimo monitored this broadcast a few hours ago because it was relevant to our investigation,” the Indian explained, as the computer displayed a replay of the news report regarding the gruesome deaths outside Manchester, Ohio.
Nick watched it twice. “The Reverend Elias Curtis. That’s pretty clever. He stays on the move and nobody suspects a heavenly miracle man.”
“Yeah, but what I don’t understand is why he warned us with that first broadcast,” Crow said.
“Simple. For the same reason he rescued me on the plane. Thomas needed me alive back then, and he didn’t realize that I’d left Blue Lick Springs. He gave me a chance to escape before he leveled the facility.”
“But why destroy the facility in the first place?”
“To slow down our investigation. Geronimo uncovered too much about Mortal Eclipse, so he decided to shut it down.”
“Same old story. If Indians get in the white man’s way, he either moves or kills them.”
“Thomas isn’t a white man,” Nick reminded him.
“Yeah, but who made him?”
“Touché.”
“You want me to find the Reverend Curtis, right?”
“You and Geronimo. Have your trusted sidekick send an FBI e-mail to the law enforcement agencies within seventy-five miles of here. I don’t believe Thomas would travel any further than that, because he needs to stay close to the action, and the action is in Duneden. Include your phone number in the e-mail, and if any cops spot Curtis, have them call you immediately. You might want to warn them to stand down on Curtis and just observe. Caution them that he’s extremely dangerous,” Nick directed.
“Will do. In the meantime, what’ll you be up to?”
“Having a little heart-to-heart with Gabriella.”
“She’s a real knockout.”
“A real unpredictable knockout,” he corrected Crow.
“That’s a dangerous trait in a squaw.”
Nick just smiled wanly.
All Nick had to do was think he was ready to meet Gabriella, and the house instantly whisked him to her. She was sitting in front of a crackling fire when he appeared in yet another study. The scent of burning oak filled the room as he observed the nautical instruments and ship ornaments adorning the teak paneling.
“This is my father’s not-so-secret study where he entertained friends and businessmen,” Gabriella explained with a wave of a hand. “You were expecting a David Copperfield look, perhaps?”
Nick nodded. “Something like that.”
She wheeled out from behind the desk and parked beside him. She wore a thin, white silk and lace gown and an equally thin jacket. “Now what’s on your mind, Nick?”
It was difficult to resist her physical charms. Gabriella was beautiful, but he’d met and dated beautiful girls in his past and hadn’t felt like this. Her beauty, alone, wasn’t what aroused him. There was something amazing about her that reached deep into his soul and stirred his emotions. Something familiar, and not merely from his childhood. Again, he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
After an awkward silence, Nick regrouped, repeated Jill’s perplexing comments, and asked Gabriella to explain them.
“I can’t,” she said straightforwardly.
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Can’t.”
“You’ll excuse me if I don’t quite believe you,” Nick said.
“That’s your prerogative, Nick, or should I call you Mark?”
She’s good at lying, Nick thought. What a poker face! She didn’t even blink or break eye contact.
“Nick’ll do.” He stood. “That’s all I have. Now if you’ll beam me to my room, I could use some shut-eye.”
“Sit down.” Her voice developed a hard edge.
“Why, so you can lie to me some more? I don’t think so.”
Her voice softened. “Please sit. I have much to tell you.”
“After Bustillo and Joe Sandlin, how much more can there be?”
“You’re in serious danger.”
“No kidding.”
She frowned, wheeled herself to the mantle, and pointed to a long straight dagger. “This will save your life one day.”
“What is it?” He joined Gabriella and scrutinized the weapon. He didn’t recognize the moss-green metal or the red-orange, opal-like jewels that decorated the thick handle.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” he declared.
“Of course you haven’t. It’s not of this earth, as you know it. It’s called the Duneden Dirk,” she said mysteriously. “Still want to go to bed?” she asked, a sly smile creeping across her face.
He sat. “ ‘Not of this earth.’ You mind explaining that?”
“I don’t know if I should. You’re a hard-line skeptic, Nick.”
He bent forward and spread his arms. “Hey, I believed in the Creeper when everyone else thought I was nuts. I’ve been on the other side of that skepticism thing, too.”
“You made your point,” she agreed. “What I’m about to tell you is the truth, but you might find it hard to believe. All I ask is that you let me finish without interruption. Agreed?”
He raised a hand. “Agreed.”
Her eyelids dropped. “There are many dimensions in this world like there are rooms in this house. If you have the right key, you can move beyond locked doors and explore the other rooms. My ancestors came from another room in the Earth’s house that has the identical geographical features as this one.
“Thousands of years ago when the Neanderthals ruled your dimension, a meteor shower unseen in these skies rained down on my ancestors’ dimension and somehow tore through the barrier’s energy fabric into the dimension you and I are sitting in right now. Many of my ancestors were swept into your dimension and were unable to return. Most survived, but others died of disease and other typical causes.
“Faced with the reality of a strange new world, they attempted to live peacefully with the Neanderthals and even b
red with them, but eventually the brutes felt threatened and declared war on us. Eventually we prevailed, and they became extinct.
“A small number of the dimensional refugees refused to cross-breed with the Neanderthals, and their family lines were referred to as purebloods, while the half-breeds became known as humans. Throughout the centuries, the pureblood population declined as many of the future generations procreated with the half-breeds. The Wolfe family is pureblood.
“Unfortunately, there was another type of life form swept into your dimension because of the meteors. An amoral, murderous being that was controllable in the other dimension, but not in this one. They were also skilled in mind control. Most were hunted and killed with Duneden Dirks in your dimension, but a few escaped and went into hiding. Danforth is a descendent of those beings. Translated into English, they are known as destroyers. They would love nothing more than to see the purebloods and humans wiped off the face of this dimension of Earth.
“The purebloods and destroyers discovered long ago that if they inhabited an area close to one of the crashed meteorites, the radiating energy waves gave them - us - the ability to cross between our two dimensional barriers with ease. This magic made humans believe that we could vanish, make objects materialize out of thin air and teleport humans, when all we did was move through the other dimension or grab an object from here or there.
“We also have the capability of transporting other creatures here from our old world for a brief time, such as dragons, demons, Big-foot, and the Loch Ness serpents, among others, and we can displace people with life forms from the other dimension. If I wanted to transform you into a frog, I would move you to the other dimension and move a frog into this one. The down side to dimension hopping is that we can never return home. Neither the purebloods nor the destroyers can remain in our old dimension very long without dying. We have no explanation for the cause of these deaths, but my father theorized that the meteorites changed our molecular structure over the generations, making our bodies unable to withstand the energy patterns of our old dimension.
“Turning to our problem, it’s extremely difficult to kill a destroyer. They are crafty and deadly quick. The Duneden Dirks are forged from a metal found in the other dimension that is lethal to a destroyer if someone with roots to the other dimension wields it. They’ll die within seconds. If a human uses the dirk, the destroyer will become extremely ill, but it won’t die no matter how many times it’s stabbed.”
Gabriella exhaled sharply. “Another sticky problem is to get the destroyer to stand still long enough to run them through.”
Her eyelids fluttered open. “Well?”
“Whew! That’s a lot to absorb in one sitting,” he admitted. “Is that the truth?”
“I’m afraid so. You and I are the victims of that meteor shower long ago.”
“Question. Magicians and witches often use chants or magic words to perform their tricks. Why?”
Gabriella chuckled. “Amateurs use magic words and gestures to add mystery and distraction to simple slight-of-hand tricks. We use them to focus our minds on the barrier and call forth whatever object or being’s on the other side,” she explained.
“Then those words are from the other-side language?”
“Yes.”
“One more question.”
“Ask away. You’re doing fine.”
“Whenever we caught Thomas on video, whether he had shape-shifted to another’s form or was invisible, he was recorded as a blur.”
“Hmm, that’s beyond me, unless he’s somehow drawing energy from the barrier field, and that energy interferes with your video recordings,” she ventured. “Purebloods and destroyers can shape-shift without drawing from that energy.”
Nick was taken-aback. “You mean I could be sitting with a three-hundred pound eighty-year-old now, instead of a beautiful woman?”
She blushed. “It’s possible, but I can assure you that what you’re seeing is what you’ve got.” She blushed. “Thanks for the compliment. It’s been a long time.”
“You’re . . . welcome,” he replied and cleared his throat. “So how do we nail Danforth with the dagger?” Nick asked.
Her blush faded. “I have a plan, but it’ll keep for tomorrow. You’ve absorbed enough for one night.”
“But there’s quite a few questions I’d like to run by you,” he persisted.
“Not tonight. It’s time for some pleasure. Remember, all work and no play . . . ” Gabriella quoted, then added, “There’s someone I know you’ve been dying to meet.”
That was certainly a surprise to him. “Who?”
“You’ll see. Trust me on this one,” she replied mysteriously. “I want you to follow Kamool through the back woods to a ceremonial circle, strip off all your clothes, and stand in the middle of that circle.” Right on cue, the white Persian cat appeared at his feet.
“Take off my clothes? Just what are you up to?” he laughed uneasily.
“Please, do as I ask.”
“This is insane. And in case you haven’t noticed, it’s raining cats and dogs out there,” he added.
“Please.” She smiled seductively.
His will wilted from that smile. “All right, but I want to walk out the back door. No more hocus-pocus, and presto, I’m there,” Nick requested.
“No hocus-pocus,” she said softly. “Just follow Kamool. He knows the spot, and he’ll protect you if there are any complications.”
“Like what?”
She shrugged. “One more thing.” She opened her arms and beckoned him to her. He stooped to her, and she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him long and hard.
When she released him, tears trickled down her cheeks. “Thank you.” A choking laugh erupted from her throat. “I’m not usually that easy.”
“Me either.” Nick heard someone reply, but he wasn’t positive it was his voice. He was floating somewhere between Earth and cloud nine, and he was enjoying that feeling.
“Good night.” Gabriella blew him a kiss and disappeared.
As Nick followed the cat through the house to the back door, he felt the urge for a cigarette. Her kiss had been the most sexually arousing experience he’d ever had.
Chapter 57
The path from the mansion curled into the dense woods and straightened as it cut through the trees. The stone pavers glistened with rain, but inexplicably the blowing rain never touched Nick and Kamool. Strange symbols were engraved into the stone pathway, but the rapid, intermittent flashes of lightning and blackness prevented him from examining them closer.
Kamool knew the route well for he never hesitated once. After ten minutes, Nick spied the ceremonial circle. It was completely dry despite the storm.
The white circle was etched onto a single, circular piece of black terrazzo twenty feet in diameter. A large white symbol that Nick regarded as an upside-down curved pitchfork filled the center. As he stripped off his clothes, anxiety knotted his stomach. What had he gotten himself into? Ever since his apartment mirror shattered, then reassembled itself, his life had been unbelievably bizarre. As bizarre as his childhood, it seemed.
Nick stepped into the circle. The stone was cold on his feet. The cat sat on the path with its back to him, keeping watch like a guard dog. Lightning continued to burst overhead like Fourth of July fireworks, and when it receded, he felt the absolute darkness close on him like a smothering hand.
His eyes moved northward and watched the reflections die on the misty lake. Except for the incessant thunder cracks, the wood was silent. He had never felt so alone.
A light breeze suddenly rippled his hair, and the aroma of fresh baking drifted into the circle. The darkness dimmed, then bleached gray before swelling to a dazzling, pristine white. The sights, sounds, and smells of the rainstorm ceased to be real. Nick jumped as a small, unseen hand slipped into his hand and squeezed.
“Oh God!” escaped his lips. He knew what this was. He’d experienced this at least a hundred times. It was similar to h
is White World dream, only he wasn’t dreaming now. It was real, and the young woman holding his hand was real, too.
“Nick.” Her voice was delicate and melodic. She spun around him like a ballerina, with her diaphanous gown and long, moonstone hair dancing in her wake. He beheld the grace of that silvery form, its delicious contours and sensuous movements.
He took her hands and pulled her close, his heartbeat throbbing against her ear. His hands slid across her silken skin, and she moaned faintly. Nick slid the airy gown from her shoulders and rubbed her bare shoulders and back, then moved down to explore the delicate lines of her waist and hips.
She arched her back and pressed her breasts and stomach against him. He became fully aroused, and she writhed beneath him, pulling him down on top of her. He slipped inside her and she gasped in delight. As he moved against the woman, her hands burned into his tingling flesh until his consciousness was adrift in ethereal bliss. Their bodies moved in an urgent, exotic harmony, each moaning from the exquisite pleasure. Finally, they cried out as their bodies exploded in glorious passion.
They lay beside each other, blanketed with contentment and peace. Nick had waited all those years to discover how the dream ended, and it was better than he could have imagined. Their bodies melded together, one with the White World, one with each other.
“I have to leave now.” The woman leaned close to his ear. “I love you, Nick,” she whispered and kissed him passionately.
Nick’s eyes widened as he realized the shocking truth. “Come back!” he shouted. “Come back to me!” His hands frantically groped for her in the blinding light, but she was gone.
“Come back! Come back!”
Nick awoke screaming and drenched in sweat. He lay in bed somewhere in the mansion, feeling hollow and incomplete, yearning for fulfillment. He longed for her return.
He sat up and absently massaged his raw throat; his eyes were swollen, red, and watery. Pale light from the dull, gray sky spilled through the windows, suggesting early morning, but Nick didn’t notice. He kept staring ahead, lost and alone. This was something that scotch couldn’t fix.
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