“What the hell happened to the two of you?” Mike’s voice was harsh.
“How long have you been listening?” Galen asked.
“Since they started slicing on your brother. My god.” Mike swallowed. “He was… You were only thirteen.” Mike looked at Rob.
“Yes,” Rob said softly, pushing past the doctor. Galen smiled at Mike and followed his brother into the main room of the apartment.
“But, Galen?” Mike followed them. “You were hurt, but not…Is this when?”
“When what?” Galen asked with a weary sigh. “Drop it for a minute.”
Mike must have caught something in the tone of his voice, he looked at Galen for a long moment and then smiled. “I’m starving.”
Galen laughed and wandered into the kitchen. He listened to the conversation Mike struck up with Rob. Mike was singing the praises of The Urban Werewolves to his brother. Galen grinned. It sounded like his friend was trying to convince Rob he should stay. Galen chuckled under his breath as he rummaged in the refrigerator for food for the three of them. “Okay, come and get it,” he said a few minutes later. Rob came over and smiled, looking at the food. “Sorry, no meat,” Galen said with a shrug.
“I can’t stand the smell of it either,” Rob smiled.
Mike looked from one to the other. “You, too? Did it happen at the same time?”
“Not during dinner, Mike,” Galen said as he walked over to the table with his plate.
Rob sat across from him and looked at the doctor. “How’d you meet Galen?”
“It was about seven years ago,” Galen started. “Dad and Uncle Bobby were…” He saw Mike lean forward waiting for the explanation of how it happened. Galen had very carefully not mentioned the nature of the thing that had nearly killed his father. “Working.” Mike snorted in disgust and Rob raised his eyebrows.
“Working?” his brother asked. “Something…?”
“Yeah, exactly,” Galen smirked at Mike. “I was at school that day.” He paused.
“They brought Parry into the ER,” Mike picked up the story, noticing Galen’s hesitation. “He was a mess, blood everywhere, more dead than alive. Bobby was upset. He kept trying to get to Parry, but we needed to keep him back so we could work on him.”
“Bobby called, I was in class and the phone rang, the prof was pissed, but I knew he wouldn’t call unless it was bad. And it was, Dad was…” Galen stopped, remembering the call. “Parry’s dying, I need you here, Galen. Now. Please. He’s dying.”
“Bobby kept saying he was dying,” Mike said. “He said he needed to help him. We told him Parry wasn’t dying.”
“He was, though, Mike, and Bobby could see it,” Galen said softly. “I ran out of class and headed straight for the hospital.” Galen sighed, remembering the scene that met him, Bobby frantic, his father nearly gone and the hospital staff trying to keep them away.
“When Galen got there,” Mike continued, “well, it was too late, or so we told him. We were trying, but we were sure we were going to lose Parry by then. Bobby was still trying to get to him. When Galen ran in, Bobby grabbed me and hauled me away. Before security could get there, before anything could happen I saw…” He swallowed.
“You healed Dad?” Rob asked.
“Not all the way, but enough to stabilize him. Like Dad did with us,” he added with a grim smile. “Dad was there a couple of days. I stayed with him that night and the next day, helping as much as I could. Bobby wouldn’t let me…”
“Let you what? Heal him all the way? Because of what you did? Galen?” Rob’s voice was a little angry. “Galen?”
Galen looked at his brother, weighing what he should say. “He was worried.”
“Why?” Mike asked.
Galen didn’t take his eyes from his brother. “I take risks with the family I don’t take with anyone else. Once I…” He swallowed, shoving it away, knowing it wouldn’t stay gone. Galen knew they’d have to talk about it eventually.
“You what?” Mike said softly.
“He went too far,” Rob said with no emotion in his voice. “He went too damn far trying to save someone.”
“What?” Mike was incredulous. “Too far implies…”
“Yeah,” Rob’s voice was flat. “He…and the other…the one…”
“Rob?” Galen reached out to put his hand on Rob’s arm to get a sense of what was happening, what was going through his brother’s mind. Rob snatched his arm away. “Rob?”
“No.” Rob pushed himself away from the table, and walked to the window looking out at the street.
Galen smiled sadly at Mike, and with a shrug, got up and gathered the dishes. He tried to ignore his brother, still standing at the window. Galen could sense the confusion and hurt radiating off of Rob. He put the dishes in the sink and grabbed a mug to get a cup of coffee. As he set the pot down, the scar woke up, twisting violently, and with it came the voice. Whispering to him. The cup slipped out of his hand. He heard it hit the floor, the sound muffled like it was coming from a long way off. Galen grabbed the counter, trying to steady himself as the old wound ground into his heart.
Keeper,” the voice whispered. “Hear me?” Sick laughter filled his head. He was falling, vaguely aware hands caught him before he hit the floor. “Keeper, you let me in, you touched the girl, my child, at the hospital, and now I am here.”
“Galen?” Rob’s voice came from somewhere removed from him.
“Galen?” Mike sounded frantic. Galen thought he felt someone’s hand on his wrist.
“You stopped me, you thought you ended it. It has just begun,” the voice continued. Galen groaned a denial.
“Galen?” Rob’s voice was calm, determined.
Light stabbed into his brain. Mike had lifted an eyelid. Galen groaned again.
“Not yet, they can’t have you yet,” the voice said. “I have something for you.”
Pain drove into him, he heard his own voice cry out. His mind was pulled away from his control as It violated his awareness. He was watching, the world unfolding like a movie. A man stood in a circle of stone. He was dressed in a tunic and hose. Galen recognized the sword of a Keeper in his hands, it sparkled in the light of a bonfire. The sword looked nearly new. Something terrifying was standing before him, laughing at him. The man was bleeding, his brother lay dead on the ground at his feet. The terrifying darkness was afraid of the man, the Keeper, afraid of what he could do. It tried to laugh, It ended in a scream.
The vision shifted. Rob was hanging from the tree, blood pouring from his wounds. The thing came towards Galen and touched him, the claws tracing a path through his body. He screamed, he heard his voice, he was aware of Rob’s hands holding him before he was pulled away again. Rob was on the altar, It had Its hands on Rob. Suddenly Rob changed, no longer the thirteen-year-old, but as he was now. Galen looked down at his brother’s blood-stained body. Then looked in horror at his own hands, covered in what he knew what his brother’s blood.
“Galen!” Rob was shouting his name.
“We have to call 911,” Galen heard Mike’s voice filtering down through the visions. “He’s having another seizure.”
“It’s not a seizure,” his brother snapped.
“We will kill him, you and I, we will finish it, finally, and we will become,” the voice whispered.
“Help me,” Rob’s voice was firm, demanding obedience. “Hold him.” Galen felt himself shifted. One of Rob’s hands rested on the back of his head, the other over his heart.
“He can’t help,” the laughter filled his mind, trying to pull his sanity away, trying to take his humanity.
“I’m going to put you out,” Rob’s voice was urgent, “listen, Galen, focus.”
“He can’t help.”
Warmth flowed from his brother’s hands as the sound of a heartbeat filled his mind, shutting out the laughter, shutting out the voice until there was nothing but the beat of the heart and the warmth of Rob’s hands and then there was nothing at all. Galen sank gratefull
y into darkness.
* * * * *
“We need to get him to the hospital.” Mike’s voice penetrated the dark. “He had a seizure. We need to find out what’s happening.”
“It wasn’t a seizure,” Rob answered.
“He had a seizure, and now he’s unconscious.” Mike’s voice was gruff but Galen could hear the worry under the harsh tone.
“He’s unconscious because…” Rob hesitated. “I did it.”
“What?” Mike said, surprised.
“It’s the one healing any Keeper can do. We can help someone sleep, away from pain, and we can help ease the end.” Rob stopped. Galen felt the tiny shudder that ran through his brother’s body.
“I still think…”
“It wasn’t a seizure,” Galen said softly. He opened his eyes, he was still propped against Rob. Mike had his wrist in a firm grip.
“Galen,” Rob sighed in relief. Galen felt his brother sag.
“You remembered.” Galen looked at Rob.
“Yeah…” Rob swallowed. “I haven’t much since then.” Galen watched as his brother struggled to get control of himself. “Yeah, I remembered.”
“How long?” he said, pushing himself up and shifting so he could lean against the cupboard doors. Rob kept a hand on him, steadying him for a moment.
“Not long, a couple of minutes,” Rob said, his eyes searching Galen’s. “What happened? I saw…”
“What?” Galen snapped, then smiled. “Sorry. You saw It?” Rob nodded. “It said that when I touched the girl at the hospital…”
“It found a way in?” Rob paled.
“It showed me…” Galen stopped, the vision of his hands covered in Rob’s blood causing bile to rise in his throat. He swallowed, trying to keep the nausea down, it wasn’t working. “It showed me…” Galen started trembling.
“Come on.” Rob hauled him to his feet and pulled Galen’s arm over his shoulder. He was vaguely aware when Rob pushed him through the door in the bathroom and down on the floor. Rob’s hand was on his back as the reaction set in and he vomited. A cool cloth was pressed against his forehead. “It’s okay,” his brother said soothingly.
“Sorry,” Galen muttered. He stayed, trembling, on hands and knees for another minute before shifting to look at Rob, crouched beside him. “Sorry,” he repeated.
“Nothing to worry about.” Rob grinned at him. “I lived in the dorms, so I saw it a lot in college. It was me, once or twice.” He chuckled at a memory. Galen saw it flash in his brother’s eyes. “Think you can get up?”
Galen nodded and Rob pulled him back on his feet, steering him carefully towards the couch. His brother helped him sit down and then hovered in front of him. “I’m okay.” He smiled at Rob and then looked over at Mike. The doctor had a shocked expression on his face. “I’m okay, Mike.”
“Not in any way are you okay. You had a seizure, two actually. I thought…” Mike glowered at him. “And now you’re barfing your guts out? Not okay.” Galen noticed his brother nodding along with the last statement.
“For the last time, it wasn’t a seizure.”
“Then what was it?” Mike was angry. “Galen? Well? You were seizing. Your heart stopped earlier today.”
“What?” Galen looked up at the doctor. “You said…”
“I might’ve lied a little.”
“Uh… Might want to mention that kind of thing, Mike.”
“Shut up, Galen,” the doctor said with a frown.
“Do you think that has something to do with…?” Rob asked.
“I don’t know, Rob.”
“Would you two please stop that?” Mike asked.
“What?” Rob said, looking from Galen to the doctor.
“You know. That starting to say something and then trailing off. Some of us have no damn clue what you’re talking about. And some of us are your doctor and really need to know what the hell is going on.” The last sentence had increased in volume so that the last word came out as a shout.
Galen grinned sheepishly at the doctor. “Sorry, Mike. We’re trying to figure it out, too.”
“I don’t get it,” the doctor said, shaking his head. He bent over Galen to look in his eyes and check his pulse.
“What?” Galen asked, looking at his friend.
“You two. Just like your damn father and uncle. Cryptic talk, nearly dead before my eyes, all those looks. You two are as bad as Parry and Bobby, maybe worse. Already,” Mike grumbled.
Galen laughed softly. “Oh?”
“And I do need to know, Galen. All joking aside, something’s going on.” Mike met his eyes. “It has something to do with what happened ten years ago?” He paused. “And…Does it have something to do with what happened five years ago? When Parry and Bobby were killed? Galen?”
As Galen opened his mouth to reply, the downstairs door banged open. Galen froze looking at his brother.
“It’s me!” Rhiannon shouted. She stormed up the stairs sounding like a charging elephant and burst into the room. Her face was red. She looked at the three of them and then walked over towards the couch. She had something in her hands. “What’s going on?” she asked, frowning at Galen. “Never mind, I have a good idea.” Mike sighed audibly. “What’s your problem?” She turned on him and then shrugged. “Got here as soon as I could.”
“Well?” Galen asked, looking at her.
“I called Greg and some others to let them know we were going to need help,” she said, dropping on the couch beside Galen. She looked at him, her eyes anxious.
“What did you find?” Her gruff exterior didn’t fool Galen, he saw worry and fear in her eyes. He knew something was seriously wrong without a touch.
“This was in the front seat of Rob’s jeep,” she said gently. She held out the object, a hospital gown. Rob grabbed it before Galen could put a hand out. “Rob? Honey?” Rhiannon’s voice was soft.
Galen looked at his brother. If possible, Rob was even whiter than before. He held the gown, youth-seized and covered in the remains of dried blood. One finger was toying with a small hole in the arm of the gown. “Rob?” When his brother didn’t answer Galen stood and put his hand over his brothers. “Rob?”
“It is back. Coming for us. We’re missing something, Galen. Something that happened then,” Rob whispered.
“Rob? What is it?”
“Don’t you recognize it?” Rob frowned. “No, you might not. But Galen, this gown, it’s mine. It’s the one I had on in the hospital after the ritual in the clearing. It’s the one I had on when it…”
“What?” Mike demanded. “When what?”
“When it all began again,” Rob said softly.
Chapter Twelve
The room was quiet, they were all looking at Rob. “When what began again?” Mike asked.
“Rob?” Galen said softly, giving his brother a gentle shake. Rob looked up at Galen.
“I tried to tell them, but there was something wrong, I tried, Galen, I tried.” Rob suddenly sounded thirteen again. “There was something wrong with Dad and Uncle Bobby.”
“I know.” Galen tried to gage the wave of emotion flowing from his brother, he could sense the fear, the terror the thirteen-year-old had experienced, but there was an undercurrent of something else.
“And whatever was wrong with them let it happen.”
“Let what happen?” Mike demanded.
“They came for me in the hospital…”
Past
Ten Years Before
Day four to Day five-Rob
Rob was warm. There was something soft under his head. For the first time in what seemed like a lifetime he was not in pain. Something was wrapped, tight, around his chest and his arms. It smelled like a doctor’s office. He heard something beside him.
“Galen?”
“Rob?” his father answered him. Rob felt a hand on his shoulder. “Rob?” Gentle warmth flowed out from the touch.
Rob opened his eyes. His father was standing beside his bed. “Dad? Where’s Ga
len?”
“He’s down the hall, in a different room. That way his snoring wouldn’t keep you awake,” his father said with a smile. “Bobby’s with him.”
“Down the hall?”
“He’s just in a different room, Rob, that’s all.”
Rob reached out for his brother and caught the soft feeling of his sleeping brother. “He does snore pretty loud,” Rob said, smiling at his father.
“Yeah,” Parry smiled back. “Bobby can snore, too, so I understand. Even closed doors can’t shut out the sound at times.”
“I remember when we went camping last summer and I got up before Galen. I was sitting outside the tent and thought it was a bear growling,” Rob chuckled, a band of pain tightened across his chest. “He’s okay, though, right, Dad?”
“He’ll be fine. Bobby’s sitting with him so he doesn’t just leap up and come racing down the hall when he wakes up.”
“And he would,” Rob said with a sigh. The pain was back. “Dad? Can I sleep a little longer?”
“Of course, Rob,” Parry said, putting his hand on Rob’s head. The warmth flowed from his father’s touch, Rob felt himself starting to drift. “You need to rest. When you wake up, if your brother is up, we can all go home.”
“Thanks, Dad,” he said sleepily and let himself drift away.
Someone was moving quietly around in the room. “The poor dear, he went through so much,” a soft voice said.
“I did hear the doctor say he would recover, though, and the scarring shouldn’t be too bad,” another voice answered. Rob wondered if they were talking about him.
“They said his brother saved him.”
“Yes.” There was something in the way the voice said that—it worried Rob. “Yes, he did, but at what a cost. I heard that he…”
“Galen?” Rob said opening his eyes. It was hard to focus his eyes. He guessed they’d given him something for the pain, he wondered why his father had let them. He could help at least this much. A nurse was beside the bed, Rob looked at her. There was something not quite right in the way she looked.
She looked over at the other woman. “Get his father, please. He stepped down to talk to the doctor.” She patted Rob’s hand. “Your Dad will be right here, sweetheart. Just a second.”
The Legacy: A Custodes Noctis Book Page 15