“We’ve been at this for over two hours, I’ve been driving all day, let’s just call it a night.”
“One more try. This is the accelerated version of the eighth measure. If that prophecy is true and it all pertains to us, then we need you as potent as possible.” Acheron is remarkably patient for a demoness. Lyric thought. “Not so much, Lover, but when you’ve been around for thousands and thousands of years, some things occur naturally. Let’s get on with it.”
Lyric stood up, automatically assumed the posture drilled into him over the last several years and focused on his breathing. Ignoring the swirling power that longed to travel across their tie and fill him he concentrated on the ideal placement of his tone and again closing his eyes he began to sing his soul song. Immediately he felt light and free. This was what he needed, he knew instinctively, just the song. The edges of his consciousness not absorbed in singing registered the truth of his voice teacher Lomong's exhortation: it should be easy, son, all the effort should be in your legs and stomach. Let the song float on the air and dance from your lips. Your heart and everything above it should be relaxed and free. Any song correctly sung is released, never forced.
As he released the song, he reveled in the exhilaration that came with proper vocal production. As is the case with muscle memory, his body adjusted to carry and support the music manufactured somewhere between his throat and heaven. He once again found himself overwhelmed with a sense of humble gratitude that the Composer would trust him with such a precious gift. As his mind wandered this thought pattern he immediately felt flooded by bitterness and resentment. Bitterness that this gift of light and goodness should be tainted by the foulness of a demon. Resentment that a creature of filth and death should be allowed to share his gift. He should have tied a verger! Anger heated his blood and turned to boiling fury as the beauty of his song clashed with the ugliness in his heart. Discord suddenly surged from the tie and soured his song. Opening his eyes in shock, he found himself once again flying through the air to slam into the wall. He barely registered the violet flames that engulfed Acheron and burned her skin to ash exposing the muscle and tendons beneath before he plunged into blackness.
* * *
Lyric’s eyes opened to an unfamiliar dark ceiling. Car. As he cast about for familiarity, he saw Cadence’s profile in the driver’s seat, her face glowing orange and watching something intently. Slowly he sat up, groaning involuntarily as his body suddenly reminded him it had just been put halfway through a wall. Cadence looked at him in the rearview mirror in concern.
“Are we in Keylac’s car?” He asked quietly, holding his throbbing head.
His protector assessed him for a moment then nodded, looking back out the windshield. Lyric followed her gaze and saw in shock a building a block away engulfed in flames. Opening the door, he stepped out of the car and looked around trying to get his bearings. He noticed the sign for their motel was in front of the inferno. Remembering the explosion in the motel, he put two and two together with a feeling of dread. Opening the passenger side door, he got in and stared in silence as firefighters tried to bring the blaze under control. Finally, he turned to look at her.
“Is that our motel?”
Cadence nodded without looking at him.
“Did you get me out of there?” She met his gaze and nodded again.
“Did you see Acheron?”
Nod.
“Is she dead?”
Cadence shrugged.
Lyric felt an odd mixture of shame and hope. Another thought occurred to him.
“Do you know if everyone else made it out of the building?”
Cadence shook her head.
Guilt sat in his stomach like a cold boulder. He was responsible for the deaths of more innocents. Lyric closed his eyes and tentatively turned his focus toward his tie to Acheron. It was still there. Exploring it carefully he felt a burning sensation cover his body and a voice in his head screamed at him to stop.
Jerking back from the tie he opened his eyes to see Cadence looking at him with a troubled expression.
“She’s not dead,” he said. “I don’t know where she is but she’s hurt and it’s my fault. All of it's my fault. I remember what happened before I blacked out. I pulled together a tremendous amount of power with my soul song and lost control. She shielded me like she did at the jam, but for some reason this time it burned her. I didn’t mean to...” looking out the windshield at the motel he fell silent, the hope inside of him died and he was left with the coldness of shame and guilt.
A small hand found his own and he looked back at Cadence. For the first time he noticed her left arm was bare. It was as he saw when he had the sight, only slightly different. The violet streak that ran down her neck continued down her shoulder and wrapped around her arm to terminate in an ugly blackened scar on her wrist that looked like a hand, as though someone had grabbed her.
“What happened to you?” Lyric asked in alarm. Cadence followed his gaze and jerked her right hand away from his to cover her wrist. Tears filled her eyes as she shrugged.
“You don’t know?” He asked incredulously. “How can you not know? Did Acheron do that to you when you saved me?”
Cadence shook her head.
“Let me look at it,” he reached for her arm but she held it against herself and shook her head vehemently. Sitting back in the seat, he laid his head against the seat rest, trying to come up with a way to conquer the communication barrier with his protector. Cursing himself for not thinking of it sooner, he opened the glove box of the Keylac’s car, looking for paper and pen. As luck would have it, there was a pen with the name of a local car dealership emblazoned on the side. The only paper he could find was the folder that held the title, registration and proof of insurance. Handing them to her, he gestured at her wrist.
“How did you get that scar?”
Reluctantly Cadence accepted the pen and folder and looked at him, perplexed.
“Why can’t I look at your arm?”
She just shook her head
"Can't you write?"
Cadence nodded and rapidly scribbled beautiful flowing characters that in no way resembled English.
“I have no idea what that is. I'm concerned about your arm, are you okay? Should I get you to a hospital?"
Cadence shook her head. Lyric sighed in resignation and rubbed his eyes during the headache he felt coming.
"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I won’t bother you about the scar again.”
He watched the flames at the motel, mercilessly shoving aside shame and guilt so he could make an intelligent decision.
“I believe our best bet is to hit the road and get this thing delivered. Wherever Acheron disappeared to, she’ll find us when she’s ready. She’s hurt and angry, but if she were planning to punish me, I’d feel it in the tie. Right now it’s just... dormant. It’s there but not active.”
“You got us here, are you comfortable driving this car?” Cadence shrugged while nodding, which didn't exactly inspire confidence in Lyric. On the other hand, the Singer's injuries had him in a state of discomfort and exhaustion. The best thing for him was to sleep, but they were on a tight schedule. Lyric pulled out his phone and punched the address into his navigation app. “Follow this and we’ll get there. Red signs and lights mean stop. Listen to the voice in the phone and you'll be fine. I’ll sleep for a few hours and take over so you can sleep.”
Cadence started the car and pulled away from the curb by which she’d parked. The car drove smoothly and quietly. Lyric felt a momentary pang of jealousy as he compared it to his own vehicle, but smothered it mercilessly. With everything else he was doing wrong, he didn’t need to start desiring luxury cars. Tilting the ridiculously comfortable seat back, he fell asleep quickly.
* * *
Lyric woke to the smell of wood smoke and lilacs. Dawn was crawling across the sky and Cadence looked tired. Seeing he was awake, she smiled at him and gestured with her head to the back seat. Looking over hi
s shoulder, he saw Acheron sitting in the back seat behind Cadence. She was flawless as ever and smiled at Lyric.
"Hello Lover, your ball and chain has returned." She greeted him as though she'd merely stepped out to pick up milk.
"Acheron, I'm sorry for hurting you and grateful that you saved me yet again."
A dark look briefly flashed across her beautiful features.
"Don't be sorry, my Love, at least not for that. It was a risk I understood far better than you. I told you I'm impossible to kill. If you want to be sorry about something, feel free to be sorry about what you were thinking when you blew me up."
Lyric's shame must have been apparent because Acheron laughed.
"Sucks to not have any secrets from a loathsome monster like me, huh? Don't worry, I don't judge."
Lyric didn't know how to respond, so he didn't. Instead, he turned back around and looked at Cadence. She needed a break.
"We're almost in Amarillo, let's get something to eat, then I can drive and you can sleep."
They pulled into the parking lot of a small diner that boasted the world's best pancakes. As they got out of the car, Lyric decided Texas was offensively hot to someone accustomed to the climate of Boston.
All conversation ceased as they stepped through the front door. Lyric had grown accustomed to this phenomenon as he traveled with Acheron and Cadence, both women being the stop and stare type. For the most part, he was invisible wherever they went, which suited him fine considering how dangerous it was turning out to be being known as the "demon singer".
They sat down at a table that afforded them a view of the Keylac's car. Slowly the murmur of voices filled the room as the other patrons resumed their conversations.
A dumpy waitress whose blouse looked to be stained with samples of the entire menu came over to deliver silverware and placemats. Carefully, she ignored the women and focused on Lyric. The Singer asked for a coffee for himself, an orange juice for Cadence and a large chocolate milkshake with extra whipped cream and a cherry for Acheron. The waitress twitched at the last order, finally looking at Acheron and taking in her perfect physique. Lyric assumed by the thinly veiled disgust on the woman's face that her thoughts toward the demoness were less than complimentary. She assured them their drinks would be out directly as she turned and disappeared behind the waitress aisle.
Lyric noticed Acheron seemed overly interested in their fellow customers and Cadence looked tense.
"What's up?" He asked them. Cadence shrugged and Acheron didn't reply. He waved his hand in front of her face. "Hello? What's wrong?" Acheron looked at him briefly and continued her appraisal as she answered.
"It's hard to pin down, which can't be good. The thing that got my attention was the complete lack of lust in this room."
"Are you kidding? Every eye in here gave you and Cadence the once over twice when we walked in."
"Indeed," the demoness said distractedly. "But I can sense sin like you can see light, and while this joint is plenty dark, none of your normal sinful thoughts seem to be present. It's as if a great big blanket were covering these people. I can tell there's something underneath, but don't know what."
Cadence touched Acheron's arm and mimed putting on a hat. Acheron looked around again.
"Your pet is right; everyone in here is wearing a hat."
At that moment, their waitress appeared with their drinks and left again without taking their order. Cadence's eyes narrowed and she put her hand over Lyric's cup before he could drink. Acheron was smelling her milkshake and suddenly smiled.
"I haven't smelled this poison in centuries," she smiled nostalgically. "I wonder where they found it."
Lyric noticed the diner was suddenly very quiet and every single pair of eyes was fixed on their table.
Acheron locked eyes with Lyric and flashed her dazzling smile.
"Maybe let's try not to burn this place down, huh lover? I kinda dig its folksy vibe."
Cadence stood up from the table, two long knives in her hands.
"Maybe you should shut up," Lyric replied sourly. "I think I can handle a bunch of ordinary humans."
"Yes you can, Lover!" she nodded encouragingly as she took a long pull off her poisoned milkshake. "These aren't humans."
"What do you want from us?" Lyric asked the waitress who stood nearby with a decidedly hostile expression.
"We want the demon singer dead," the woman snarled. As if from nowhere, a familiar looking black blade was in her hand. Lyric began to ask why when a voice cried out. "The veil will fall!" And all hell broke loose.
The diners suddenly displayed a variety of ugly weapons and intent to use them. Cadence, swift as thought, engaged and dispatched two large men and a woman who were heading straight for Lyric.
Acheron leapt from her seat and was making a mess of their attackers, a gleeful expression on her face. Abruptly her eyes registered surprise and she began moving as if she was swimming in honey.
Lyric noticed this and looked around for the cause as he concentrated on one of the songs he'd been preparing from Mistress Holt's book since the vampire attack. As he began to sing all the diners within twenty feet of him went flying through the air as though swatted by a very large hand. Those on the periphery tried to advance but as soon as they entered the blast zone, they were treated the way their comrades were. Cadence took the opportunity to wipe her knives off and clean blood from her face.
Lyric kept singing, wondering what had happened to Acheron, who was moving even slower than before. She looked to be trying to get closer to him, so he stepped toward her, beckoning Cadence to stay close. He watched in fascination as he approached their attackers with his repellant song and they immediately flew away from him.
He knew he couldn't keep up the song indefinitely and needed to switch to something more offensive than defensive. As he was considering the possibilities, a hole in the effectiveness of his current plan became evident. Even though they couldn't approach there was nothing stopping the attackers from hurling their weapons at the trio.
Cadence became a whirlwind of steel, knocking the projectiles out of the air as they came. Lyric was again astonished at her skill as he hurriedly flipped mentally through his repertoire.
Our tie dumbass
Acheron's thought reached him the same time he came up with the same idea. Any guilt he might feel was heavily tempered by the fact these people were doing their level best to turn him and his companions to pudding.
Focusing on the tie, he felt the power, eager and seductive, seeking to be unleashed. Forcing down his revulsion he tapped into it and channeled it into his repulsion song. The results were remarkable. Though there was no visible explosion, the result was the same. Everyone in the diner not protected by his will was picked up like pieces of straw and hurled violently through the air to land in various piles of brokenness.
Cadence stopped and calmly walked to Acheron's side, carefully examining the demoness who was now moving so slowly it was barely perceptible.
"What's going on with you?" Lyric asked, surveying the wreckage around them. Their tie fluttered inside and he listened to it.
Old magic. Someone cast a spell on me. These bastards have magic and poison that shouldn't exist anymore. Look out!
Lyric turned just in time to present his left side as a lovely target for the man who'd just hurled the knife at him. He found it surprising how much it hurt. At the same time, he heard two screams, one familiar and one strange. Looking down at the blade buried to the hilt in his left side he decided it didn't belong there and so pulled it out. His surprise deepened as the fiery agony of removing the knife caused his legs to buckle and abruptly he was in a heap on the floor. It was with guilty satisfaction he noted the man who threw the blade was also on the floor, one of Cadence's blades sprouting from his throat. The woman was on her knees at his side examining his wound. The knife he still held in his hand was familiar. With a sinking feeling, he realized what it was, the waitress' banishing blade.
&nbs
p; "Oh shit," he heard Acheron exclaim and looked over to see her crumple to the ground. Turning her head weakly she said to him, "you suck." Her eyes closed and she disappeared.
17 THE GRAY ANGEL
Lyric felt for the tie and found it there but barely a flicker came from it. Confident Acheron was still living, Lyric let Cadence help him up. He looked around at the bodies scattered all over as the warrior assisted him to the car.
"We've got to get out of here." He told her. "If you can drive for a little while so I can try to stop the bleeding, I'll drive us the rest of the way to Albuquerque."
Cadence looked at him in consternation and pointed to a hospital sign on the side of the road.
"Yes, I should go to the hospital, but since we just got attacked by an entire restaurant I think it's safer to wait till we get to our destination."
Cadence considered this for a moment then nodded grimly and pressed down on the accelerator. The luxury car took off like a shot and Lyric's self-proclaimed protector maneuvered it easily around slower vehicles. Apparently, she intended to break some land speed records. Lyric concentrated on his wound and began singing.
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