by Mlyn Hurn
Less than five minutes earlier, when they had first entered the seedy bar, he had immediately seen Birdie wiping off one of the tables.
“Hello, Birdie. I guess I don’t need to look any further for my so-called ever devoted, faithful butler, do I?”
It was unfortunate that all of Birdie’s hands had been doing something. The tray holding two glasses became unbalanced and skidded in one direction. The handheld vacuum was accidentally switched on and unfortunately latched onto Birdie’s tail. The cleaning appliance sucked great, as evidenced by the loud yowl that came from Birdie’s throat. Meanwhile, the cloth had dropped to the floor.
That was just plain bad luck because Birdie tried to step away from the suction—no one had ever remarked on this bartender’s grace, balance or his ability to make a fancy drink like a performer. One huge foot, in a size twenty sneaker, slid on the rag. After that he flipped and landed flat on his back. Glasses tumbled to the floor and the only good thing was that the switch on the vacuum got turned off.
Simon walked over to the supine demon. Squatting, he gently pulled Birdie’s tail from the vacuum cleaner. “Nice to see you too, Birdie. I don’t imagine I’d be wrong in guessing that my son is here, would I?”
“Count! Uhm, my Master—” Birdie stammered until Simon interrupted him.
“Since when do you call Darien Master? What have you boys been doing down here? Is my long-lost prestidigitator hanging about as well?”
Simon tightened his grip on Dargon’s robes while he reached out with his free hand and snatched away the old man’s cap and wand. Pulling on Dargon’s robes, he pushed him more fully into the bedroom. What he saw didn’t relieve him, either. Taryn stood on the bed, Jordan was in his wheelchair and the carpet was smoking just a few feet from where the wheelchair was. He was pretty sure Taryn’s presence on the bed had nothing to do with his elder son and everything to do with Dargon.
Blue wasn’t waiting. She’d run across the room and crouched down beside her brother’s wheelchair. “Jordan, are you all right? I’ve been worried sick since I found your note. Thank God you left it.”
Simon watched as Blue tried to fuss over her brother but he shrugged away her concern.
“I’m fine, Blue. Nothing is wrong. In fact, Taryn was just getting ready to leave,” Jordan told his sister, his embarrassment obvious at being “mothered” by his sister.
“No, I was not. Blue! That old wizard there killed Lamenta. We need to call Pete, and he can get the police down here,” Taryn shouted from her perch on the bed.
“I didn’t kill anyone!” Dargon protested as he strained against Simon’s hold on his robes.
Simon had seen and heard enough. Things were not improving so he opened his mouth and shouted above the din, “Shut up! Everybody, just shut up!”
Slowly, everyone turned to look.
Glad he’d gotten their attention, he released the grip he’d had on Dargon’s robe. “Sit, Dargon.”
The wizard turned to glare, opening his mouth. Abruptly, he stopped as Simon lifted one finger, meeting his gaze head-on. “One sound, Dargon, even a little peep—” he reached out and jerked the amulet that had been hanging around the old man’s neck away in his hand, “—I’ll crush your precious charm under my heel. Now sit!”
Dargon glared, but he sat.
Simon looked around the room once again. “It appears you children have had a busy night.”
“Father, I am not a child,” Darien protested as he got to his feet.
Jordan shook his head in disagreement. “I just arrived a short time ago.”
Simon shifted his gaze to Taryn, who merely shrugged. Undoubtedly, she was as guilty as she appeared. “Well, it hasn’t been the whole night,” she offered up a moment later as her defense.
“No matter what time you arrived, I want to know what the hell is going on. Darien?”
Darien looked at his father in surprise. “Me? I don’t have the slightest idea what is going on. First, she shows up!” He pointed at Taryn. “She starts a fight with Dargon.”
“I did no such thing!” Taryn protested from the bed. “He attacked me, and you chained me to your bed.”
Simon had noticed the restraints on the bed but had thought it best to ignore them. It was now clear that wouldn’t be possible. He walked over to the padded seat at the foot of the bed, looking at the cuffs. Extending his hand towards Taryn, he assisted her off the bed. “Good. Now we are all on an even playing field,” Simon murmured. As he turned away, he caught the look in Blue’s eyes. It surprised him to see that she was smiling. He crossed towards her, speaking softly, “I’m glad that at least one person can see some humor in all of this.”
Blue nodded, and then she leaned towards him, kissing his cheek. After the heated night they’d spent together after leaving Jordan last evening, the tender gesture had even greater meaning to Simon. Blue must feel comfortable enough with him, and what they were developing, to reveal the blossoming relationship to her brother and cousin.
“I can guess why Taryn came here. The name was on our list, but she decided to exceed her fair share of the work.” Simon looked away from the perturbed look on the young woman’s face. “But why Jordan found it necessary to get up at the crack of dawn, worry his sister and come here is what I don’t understand. Care to enlighten us, Jordan?”
“Yeah, well.” Jordan moved his wheelchair away from his sister and crossed to where Darien stood.
“This is all your fault, Simon!” Dargon called out from his position of banishment in the corner of the room.
“My fault! How in hell is any of this my fault?” Simon felt his anger growing as he looked at the wizard he’d known for more than a century.
“You were the one who made me do it in the first place… once I started, well… I couldn’t stop,” Dargon’s voice broke as he replied.
“That’s bull crap, Dargon, and you know it. Now—” Simon stopped abruptly. He looked down at the amulet in his hand and noticed for the first time that it wasn’t glowing. “What have you been doing, Dargon? You can’t use the energy and it isn’t in here.” He held the dull gold amulet up for the light to shine through. “Darien?”
Darien crossed his arms over his chest, facing his father.
Simon saw the defiance fade after a few seconds and slowly shook his head. “I thought you understood, Darien, about how dangerous this could be.”
“It is like an addiction, but I’ve licked it, Father. I’m fine now.” Darien lifted his right hand, showing the gem on his ring finger. The stone in the ring looked dark. “But, well, we did screw up. Dargon thinks we caused some kind of rift between here and the Arcturian corridor.”
“And since it is within the third dimension where separation occurs between matter and spirituality, light and dark, that by having this rift opening into the fifth dimension—” Jordan’s explanation was interrupted by Dargon.
“Where the Illuminati Emaculatus exists without separation.”
“So, with the corridor constantly open and spillage occurring, the darkness is overflowing into our dimension,” Darien finished the jumbled explanation.
Simon hesitated, turning to see Blue’s face. He hated to admit it, but obviously he was part of the problem she had set out to solve. What started as a way to explore and study the world, led to his finding an energy source, similar to the psychic kind Iain used to ultimately subvert his sanguineous needs.
“Illuminati? Arcturian hallways?” Blue put her hands on her hips. “What have you boys been smoking because I think you’ve fried your brains?”
Taryn laughed. “I have to agree, but I’m starting to think it’s a vampire thing.”
Jordan shook his head. “No, that’s what I was telling you last night, Blue. Or at least I started to, anyway. You see, there will be a balancing within the corridor, as it will literally shift dimensions. In fact, in the exact moment of this occurrence, there will be a brief but powerful alignment of all the dimensional realms. All of the dimensi
onal doorways will be in perfect alignment.”
Darien put his hand on Jordan’s shoulder as he listened to the younger man. When the blond man finished, Darien spoke. “As the energies intensify, it will be doing a cosmic ‘flip-flop’, as if this area of the Universe is shifting consciousness, rebalancing, clarifying, and intensifying. If you were able to see this event, it would appear as if the Arcturian Corridor were twisting and folding upon itself, and thereby creating a figure eight, or infinity symbol.”
Jordan nodded his head enthusiastically. “Precisely. With this perfect alignment comes the opening of a gateway, between stars and, well, other places, which has been in place beyond eons and opens only with the dimensional alignments. This gate, or passageway, is recognized within your DNA structure, as you are encoded for this moment in time. This door contains within it the harmonic resonance of that which is, and has been, since the Beginning.”
“This is a cosmic wake-up call! It will instigate within your genetic structuring your remembering and abilities for inter-dimensional communications and travel.” Darien completed the explanation, almost as if they had had this discussion before, and more than once.
Blue shook her head. “This has nothing to do with being a vampire, or a demon.” She paused to look at Dargon. “It has everything to do with testosterone. Give me a break, boys! I’m not buying the Hope Diamond for a dime or oceanfront property in Arizona. What does any of this sci-fi hooey-blooey have to do this? Have you all read too many comic books?”
“Sci-fi?” Jordan asked his sister, his spine stiffening and tilting his chin at her words.
Dargon jumped to his feet, wagging his finger at Blue. “This is not hooey anything, madam. Between you and this irritating witchie pipsqueak, it’s no wonder I swore off women centuries ago.”
Taryn scoffed loudly. “Swore off? More like your begging and pleading hasn’t even allowed you to buy it!”
“Aaaarrrrggghhhhh!” Dargon yelled, pointing at Taryn now. “That does it!” Dargon was surprisingly swift and agile as he darted past them all. He grabbed the amulet out of Simon’s lax grip, breaking the seal. In the next second, he crushed the stone in his hand and then blew the dust at Taryn.
The others watched, completely helpless, as Taryn disappeared.
Blue stepped over to the now empty spot, lifting her hands to rub her temples. “Oh shit! I am so screwed when my parents find out.”
Chapter Eleven
Blue couldn’t stop pacing back and forth across the roof. She had been walking for more than an hour. Simon had given her the time to be alone once she completed the telephone call to her parents. While she worried up here in his private, glass-enclosed nest, Simon had gone to talk to Damon, who still had no idea what had happened. Blue still wasn’t completely sure that she knew for absolute certainty what she witnessed a short time earlier, and most alarming was Taryn’s location.
Remembering how she had reacted, she was grateful Simon’s reflexes were so fast. In one quick flash, she pulled out her knife and tackled the wizard. With her knife pressed to his throat, she’d barked her orders. “Bring her back now, or you will take your last breath before you can disappear.”
Simon’s hand had covered hers, not moving or doing anything as he spoke. “Blue, sweetheart, you can’t kill him… yet. We have to discover where Taryn is and how to get her back.”
“I don’t trust him not to lie and trick us.”
“Don’t worry, my love. I have a few tricks of my own. Let me have the knife, and we’ll let Dargon get up.”
Blue recalled how her fingers had slowly relaxed under Simon’s gentle touch until he could take the blade from her grasp. Looking out at the dark night beyond the special glass, she knew facing her Uncle Hunter was going to be hard, but it was her Aunt Tatiana who would be even more difficult. Many times, it had been just the two of them, following Tatiana’s marriage. Tatiana had always continued to give Blue special attention, even after her own child came along.
Blue felt totally responsible. She was the older and if she hadn’t been so distracted by Simon, she might have been able to stop Dargon, or defused the tension between the two of them. And she couldn’t blame Simon. It wasn’t his fault she was so balled-up inside over him that she’d been unable to function. Her love for him was something that had existed inside her for so long, even though she dared not acknowledge it on any level but the deepest subconscious, she thought she should be able to handle it. After all, what was the big deal? People all over the world fell in and out of love each and every day. Why should she be any different?
Of course, the future, if she and Simon dared to think along those lines, was something that was now on hold. There was no way that she could possibly consider a life with him until she had rescued Taryn. Only then would she be able to move forward. In the back of her mind, she kept replaying the accident that had damaged Jordan so irreparably, changing all of their lives. She refused to even let the thought form in her brain, what if Taryn were lost forever?
* * * * *
Damon walked into his living room and was surprised to find his father seated on the sofa. The situation struck him as odd for two reasons. First, his father had not sought him out in the club, and second, the overwhelming sense of something portentous had hit him the moment he had walked into the room.
Shrugging off the feeling, he greeted his father nonchalantly. “Hello, Father. I thought you’d be spending the day with the attractive vampire hunter.” Without really looking at his father, Damon walked over to his desk, tossing down the receipts total. “I went to see Taryn, but she had already visited her target sites. Anyway, I came back here and went to bed.”
“Yes, well, Blue and I have already had a busy day, and it’s just past noon.”
Something in the tone of his voice didn’t seem quite right and Damon turned to his father. “Good for you both. Did you make some progress?”
“You could say so, I guess. Darien’s in New York, after all.” Simon told his son.
“Hmm, interesting.” Damon nodded, but walked over to the bar and opened the refrigerator. He’d had his suspicions Darien was much nearer than his phone calls or emails let on. It did surprise him that even though he was in the same city, Darien had not bothered to contact him. “Are you hungry? I have some fresh… if you’re interested?”
“Uh, no. Look, Damon, I’m not going to beat around the bush.” Simon came to his feet.
Damon was surprised at the nervousness he felt coming from his father. “That’s good. Let’s just get right to beating the bush itself,” he added, when his father didn’t continue right away.
“Darien’s here with Dargon, and they decided to fool around and test theories.”
Damon stopped mid-swallow of his “snack”. Just the thought of his brother, who had always been more of the egghead than he, doing anything serious with Dargon was enough to make him uneasy. “So, this is where Dargon ended up. I never connected Dargon’s disappearance with Darien’s sudden desire for independence. I hope he finally got new glasses. Couple of times, he nearly zapped something he shouldn’t have.”
Damon tossed the non-human blood packet into the trash before coming back around the bar. “That’s what happened to the old portrait in the main hall. Neither Darien or I wanted to take responsibility for his screw-up.”
“Funny that you should bring up Dargon’s mishaps,” Simon spoke quickly.
“Hell! Don’t tell me that he is somehow responsible for this mess? Great! That is just great… now she’ll blame me and we’ll never get together.” Damon reacted in anger to his father’s words. He didn’t need another barrier for Taryn to place between them, but no doubt, she would hold his family accountable. Today was quickly turning into a worse day than yesterday, which he had not thought possible last night.
“She who? Get together?” Simon asked, distracted by his son’s reaction.
Damon flopped down onto the sofa. “Never mind. Just tell me what got fucked up and
how I can fix it? I assume that is why we are talking at this point.”
Simon took a seat on the sofa opposite his son. “It’s the absorption of the energy that you and Darien learned from Dargon and me.”
“Yeah, yeah, the Sudden Death Factor. The idea sounds good in theory, but in practicality… opportunity can be severely lacking in most cases,” Damon pointed out to his father, wondering if his father still practiced this bizarre alchemy.
“You know the energy is there, Damon. I showed it to you on the small scale. But you experienced it yourself quite by accident on that September morning in 2001, remember? It was fate that put you in the World Trade Center that day.”
“I call it bad luck, and tragic,” Damon replied softly, memories of that day and the aftermath still able to haunt him.
“Yes, but by being at Ground Zero, and using what you’d been taught, you were able to absorb all that essence—all the unfinished business, the regret, anger and countless other emotions, plus the thoughts—of all those who died suddenly. That influx of power made you strong, Damon, and it doesn’t matter whether it was by design or fluke. It is that strength we need now.”
“It’s fading somewhat,” Damon felt compelled to point out, not wanting to reveal the true extent of his power, not even to his father.
“That’s natural. And that’s how Darien got into trouble. He and Dargon went looking for the force. Darien told me that in the beginning, he and Dargon traveled to war-torn regions, natural disasters and even got to the point of trying to arrive before whatever was due to arrive.”
Damon knew exactly what his father was talking about. That day in New York City on September eleventh in 2001, he had been conducting financial business in the World Trade Center when the first plane hit. The waves of energy stunned him as he rushed from the building with the others. He never knew why afterwards, but an instinct forced him to open up the fifth-dimensional planes within himself, preparing to receive and convert the essence as it rose from the ashes. Thinking back on it, he felt rather ghoulish, something he’d never experienced before.