by Jason Wilcox
“He stayed behind to keep looking for-” The demon’s voice stopped. Tagen heard the ground crunch as a demon walked over to him. Crap. He tried to breathe normally, keeping his eyes closed to look like he was still unconscious.
“He’s awake. Wait, he’s the one I ran into when we left the woods. The one that gave me these pretty scars.” The demon chuckled with a rumble. “Shall I kill this pathetic creature before I go back to Kaz?”
The witch took a moment to respond. “No, I have a better idea. Let his own kind deal with him. It will send Triaad a message.”
She’s up to something. A hard blow to his head cut off Tagen’s thoughts.
When Tagen woke the second time, he could feel claws digging into his back. The ground was a couple of feet below him, and he realized that he was being carried. Struggling, he turned his head and looked up. It was the same demon that had chased him into the ancient forest. His pitch-black skin and white tattoos shimmered in the sunlight.
Each large step the demon took sent pain throughout Tagen’s battered body. He let his body go limp. A large leg with three white tattoos on it came up into his face as the demon stepped up a small hill. Tagen made his move and bit down into the strong flesh.
Feeling the intense strength of the demon, Tagen couldn’t hold his bite. The demon slammed him into a nearby tree. Tagen’s strength was spent.
“If I wasn’t ordered to hand you back over, I would kill you right now.”
Tagen could barely move his limbs as he was hurled into the cave that he knew all too well—home and soon to be his death. Brush crunched as the demon walked back into the woods chuckling. Tagen tried to move his arms and legs but was unable to move any part of his body. He lay there, bleeding, waiting for the inevitable. If Snyp was there or one of the older dark souls, Tagen would be okay, but the younglings that sat at the opening of the cave were ruthless.
The first noise Tagen heard was sniffing. He blacked out for a moment but was brought back to his senses when he heard his name being called. Only one of his eyes opened. He saw three, dark shadowy figures standing in front of him. They were younglings, all eager to have Tagen to themselves. With all the energy he had left, Tagen tried to move and call out, but it was useless. His body was noncompliant, and most of his head and face were smashed in.
The creatures quickly made their way to Tagen, but suddenly a fight broke out, a common occurrence with younglings. One of them escaped from the brawl and started crawling toward Tagen. The shadowy creature slipped over a boulder that Tagen’s body was thrown against. His claws clicked across the hard surface.
Tagen understood that their desire to eat him was just in their nature. It was an eat-or-be-eaten world. If they had the opportunity to gobble up a dark soul before they died, even better for them. Being no stranger to that life—he had done the same a couple times himself—Tagen prepared to die.
The creature bit into Tagen’s foot sending pain through his body as he felt teeth slowly rip into his flesh. Not wanting to feel the pain, Tagen tried to relax and let go.
There was no use in fighting. His life had at one time been something great. One of Triaad’s top servants until he messed up, now he was going to die as a low-grade servant for Snyp, a conniving traitor out to overthrow Triaad.
As the dark soul took its second bite, something pulled the youngling off and the creature was thrown against a wall.
A voice boomed. “You greedy wretched things. Do I not feed you enough?” Snyp stood on top of the boulder that Tagen’s body was against. Oddly, his voice brought a sense of comfort, even if Tagen didn’t fully trust him.
“I need him alive. You don’t eat just any dark soul without my permission.” Snyp jumped off the rock and hovered over the creature that he had thrown against the wall. Through the small slits of his barely open eyes, Tagen watched the whole scene. Get ‘em Snyp, kill ‘em.
“No. Please, no. Snyp, no.” The creature groveled on the floor. Snyp grabbed the creature and within seconds killed him, biting into his neck with deadly black teeth. The other two younglings tried to make their escape but were stopped by five other dark souls to Tagen’s glee.
“As for you two,” Snyp said to the creatures, “you shall be Tagen’s dinner tonight.” They screamed down the cave as they were taken away. Scream boys, it only makes me more excited to eat you. It had been years since Tagen had been able to rejuvenate with a tasty youngling. He was never allowed to eat this much; normally he was given rare, small morsels.
Snyp bent down beside Tagen. “You had me worried when you left here. I wasn’t sure if I could trust you, but I’ll never question your loyalty again. You’ve definitely proven it. Now, brother, let’s get you fixed up.” With a rare gentleness, Snyp slowly picked up Tagen’s broken body. Not fully buying Snyp’s positive attention, Tagen tensed. The cave was beautifully dark as Snyp carried him into their home. He whispered into Tagen’s bleeding ear, “Did you find him?”
With a lot of effort, Tagen shook his head, no. Snyp narrowed his eyes and tightened his jaw, but continued walking without looking at Tagen.
“For now we’re going to have to let that go. With this demon situation getting worse, Lord Triaad is coming, and I want to make sure Triaad isn’t here long enough to find out about Mauldrin.”
The news was music to Tagen’s ears. It will be so much easier to bring Mauldrin’s dead body to Triaad if he’s here. I won’t have to try to bypass Snyp to get to him. Now all I have to do is find him and kill him. Tagen’s eyes widened. If he’s coming here, he needs to know about Domblin.
“Domblin’s here…Witch said so…” Tagen gasped between words. He hoped Snyp would report it to Triaad.
“I’ll have to tell Triaad. There are some…”
Tagen didn’t have the energy to listen any longer.
CHAPTER 9
The taxi pulled up to a large, plain looking building with small dark windows. It often looked like a factory to Caden or more like a prison. It was intended that way to discourage people from investigating.
To get to the building, Caden had to pass through a large metal gate with sharp posts sticking out of the top. Wanting to get to bed, Caden started heading toward the gate in the cool, dark air of the night. The slightly overcast moon made it harder to see.
A very quiet noise came from behind him; it sounded like footsteps. He stopped, and sure enough, someone was walking towards him from behind.
Acting normally, Caden kept walking but turned slightly to see who was there. The person was an older man with a beard and gray hair.
Caden had seen him before, but never this clearly and not in many years. The first time he saw him, years ago, Caden thought he was an agent from another country. The sightings were usually quick glimpses and were always strange. He reported the man to Robert, and after an intensive investigation, Robert theorized the sightings were hallucinations from stress.
After that conversation, Caden was mandated into counseling and ordered to stay out of the field for a while, situations he didn’t tell his men. He was given a number of psychological tests and diagnosed with PTSD, which the counselor said caused the stress-induced hallucinations. Ever since then, they did more research and saw no action. Caden worried at times that the incident hurt his standing with Robert and the company, but Robert had assured him it didn’t.
Caden had never been able to confirm if the man was real, but now he had the chance. The man was actually walking up to him. It was time to find out if the man really existed.
Caden turned abruptly. “Stop. Close enough.” Without any acknowledgment, the man kept walking. Moving with moderate speed, Caden gripped the cold handle of his gun. This is going to look bad if this guy’s some crazy hallucination and someone sees this.
“Stop.” Caden pulled his gun. The stranger was only six feet away.
“You’re going to shoot me?” the unknown man responded, but only slowed down. Caden prepared to fire.
“Stop toying, boy, we onl
y have a moment before they notice us.”
Without another thought, Caden pulled the trigger, aiming at the man’s right arm. Nothing. The gun wouldn’t shoot, even as he pulled the trigger again.
“Put the thing down. I’m not here to harm you.” The man stopped only a foot away. His eyes were soft blue and familiar somehow, like Caden knew him from somewhere.
“Who are you and what do you want?” Caden’s muscles tensed, ready to strike. He positioned his right foot back a smidge, in a ready stance.
“Up tight, aren’t we?” the man spoke with a smile. “My name is Domblin. I’m the one who restored your life, brought you back.”
“Are you trying to say you’re my dad?” Caden asked. The orphanage had never been able to locate his mother or father. He had never been able to find anything out about them, either.
Domblin just smiled. “Not necessarily your dad.” He looked over at the gate and back to Caden as his eyes narrowed. “I don’t have time to talk right now. Someone’s coming. Don’t go any further with your Dead Time project. It’s already had detrimental effects, and will only cause more.”
“How do you…” A flashlight lit the area in their direction, and Caden looked at the security guard behind the gate.
“What are you doing out there?” the guard asked. His eyes focused on Caden’s gun. The guard’s free hand was on the handle of his own.
“Just talking,” Caden said in a calm tone while putting his gun away. Even though this Domblin guy is odd, at least now I know he’s real. I’m not crazy.
“To whom?” The guard unsnapped his gun holster and pulled his gun out slightly.
“To…” Caden turned as he spoke, but found no one there. He blinked a number of times and rubbed his tired eyes, but still no one was there. Closing his eyes tightly, he took in and let out a deep breath. Stress induced hallucination, at least that’s what his counselor says. He shook his head. They’re going to throw me in the mental unit soon. I have to get this under control, but not until he found out what was going on with his project.
If this Domblin wasn’t real, the hallucinations not only were coming back, but were getting worse. The man had never before communicated with him. After the trip was over, he would have to get in to the counselor again.
Could Domblin’s vague response mean he was Caden’s father? Is my brain making this guy up to fill a void that I’ve always felt not knowing my real father? He looked over at the security guard. There just has to be another explanation, I can’t be seeing things.
“I have identification.” Caden changed the topic as he headed towards the gate. The guard cautiously drew his gun and pointed it at Caden.
“Just a warning so there won’t be any funny business.”
“There you go.” Handing the small black card over, Caden stepped back to give the guard some room.
After glancing at the card, he looked back at Caden. “Sorry about that. I guess I didn’t recognize you in this darkness. And I’ll admit you were acting rather strange with your gun drawn and talking to yourself.” The guard held the card out to Caden. With a forced smile, Caden took the card and the gates opened.
“Just to let you know, Robert’s ordered you and your men to head to the medical unit as soon as you get here.” He put his gun away as he spoke to Caden.
Medical unit? I just want to go to bed. Don’t they realize what time it is? Being polite, Caden smiled and headed into the building.
He made quick work getting to the lab and getting through a number of tests, but the seat grew comfortable and before he knew it, he fell asleep. Something or someone hit him, and Caden’s reflexes took over. He grabbed the intruder.
“You can let go now,” a pinched voice spoke in pain. “Didn’t mean to scare…”
Caden realized he had Allen, the head scientist, by the throat. “Oh, sorry about that,” Caden said with a yawn and let go. “Do we have any more tests?”
“No, we just finished,” Allen said, rubbing his neck. A red mark was beginning to show from Caden’s grip. “You fell asleep on me at the end, so I gave you a good slap on the back to wake you up. That was a mistake.” He chuckled as he spoke. His white lab coat tightened as he put his hands in his pockets.
“So, we’re done then?” Caden asked ready for the softness of a bed.
“Done as we’ll ever be. I’m not sure why we do these tests. It’s not like they show us much.” Allen leaned his tall body against the white walls. “It didn’t help anything when the Burton team went in.”
“The Burton team already went in?” Caden snapped his head in the direction of Allen.
“Didn’t you know?” Allen asked, but Caden just stared at him. “I guess not. They went in just a little while before you got here. It was a complete success unlike the other attempt, which put Steven into the mental unit. I was told you heard about that one. Good. Either way, I made a couple of modifications that I think you’ll be impressed with when I show you.” The conversation was waking Caden up. Between the frustration that the Burton team already gone in and the reminder of Steven, he was feeling more energy as anger set in. The mere mention of Steven’s name prodded Caden to pay him a visit.
“Thanks, Allen,” Caden said, changing topics. “I’m going to head to bed now.”
“You need it.” Allen patted Caden on the back and walked away.
The Burton team! I’m sick of the problems they cause.They’re all about themselves and being in the spot light. In fact, that was partly why both teams were at such odds with each other. They were on a mission together that had started out rocky and had almost gotten James killed. Towards the end of the mission, a huge glitch came up. Caden could feel his chest tighten as he thought back to the experience.
Bain, head of the Burton team, stared down a dark hallway, his tall body a shadow on the wall. Palmer, one of his men, had already cut the power to the building and everything was pitch-black with help from the overcast night’s sky. All the guards in the hallway had been killed. Flashlights could be seen moving around in the room they were going to, and footsteps were heard behind the door. Bain made a sign for Caden’s team to move through the doors.
With a nod, Caden led the way. He adjusted his night vision lenses and pulled out a small instrument to look through the wall to see what they were facing. Three men stood on the other side with semiautomatic guns. Caden held up three fingers, his hand and body were covered in black bulletproof armor. He used his hand to mark the general direction where the men were located. James moved fast, kicked down the door, and dove to the ground. Three quick shots ended the problem.
“You could let others help you once in a while,” Matt said into his mic while walking into the room behind James. As he finished speaking, an explosion went off behind them knocking over anyone that was still in the hallway. Caden grabbed Palmer and pushed him through the doorway where Bain and Mike had already run. Bullets were flying around them.
Palmer let out a yelp as one of the bullets pierced his armor. “They aren’t using regular bullets.”
“James, take lead,” Bain ordered. James didn’t budge, watching Caden who was using the instrument to look through a wall.
“Too many,” Caden said. “We need to find an exit and get out of here. They’re setting up something big, and it doesn’t look pretty. This is a trap.”
“Nonsense,” Bain said, holding guns in both hands. “James, take lead. Let’s take these guys out.”
“We’re not entering that fight,” Caden demanded. “It’s time to find a way out of here before they finish setting that weapon up or we’re toast.”
“I’m in charge, and I’m sending James out in front,” Bain ordered. “We’ll take them out before they can set up the weapon. Now move, James.” Bain pushed James in the back. With a quick movement, James turned and landed his fist in Bain’s face, knocking him to the ground. A fight broke out, but it was short lived. An explosion broke it up. Caden had blown a hole in one of the exterior walls. Caden’
s team made their escape, with the Burton team not far behind. Before they could get across the front lot, the room they were standing in disintegrated. The escape wasn’t the prettiest, with a verbal fight going on all the way to the office, but at least they were alive.
Caden stopped, quickly coming out of his thoughts after almost running into a garbage can. From a doorway behind him, he heard a deep voice call out his name. He turned and saw Bain sitting in the game room with a newspaper open on his lap. “It’s been a long time,” Caden said while entering the room and sitting down next to him. The man himself. I need to talk to him anyway before seeing Steven.
Bain smiled. “It has been a long time.” He closed his paper. “How have things been going for you?”
“I’m doing okay, a little tired. How about you?”
“I can’t complain,” Bain said as he leaned back in his brown-leather chair. “I heard through the grapevine that you arrived. Was it an okay trip?”
There was a level of smugness and Caden knew why, but he wasn’t going to be sucked into drama. “I heard your team went into Dead Time. How was it?”
“Yeah, we did, but we were only there for a minute. Robert wanted our visit to be quick.” Bain shifted in his seat. “Robert ordered us to go in. He wanted us to go first, to make sure it was safe for your team. He was worried that if you went in and something bad happened, then he wouldn’t have you to fix it.”
“Good to know,” Caden responded, feeling a little better about the situation, but still frustrated that Bain’s team went before him. Why didn’t Robert just explain that to him in the first place?
“I’ll tell you what, Caden, Dead Time is something else,” Bain spoke more naturally, as if he was no longer guarded. “It’s the most surreal experience you’ll ever have.”
“What made it surreal?”