“I don’t say it enough, Golden, but I’m really very proud of you. You drew the short straw, yet you have handled it all so well. None of us could do what you’ve done and still be alive. Just know...I love you very much, and I pray for you every day.”
“I love you, too, Sterling. Talk soon.”
“Come home, little sister. You and our family demon come home.”
Denny hung up and watched the quiet countryside slide silently by.
Boy, had her life changed. Not just hers, either. All this time she thought Sterling was just an uptight nun. Who would have thought Sterling had drawn the attention of cardinals and was a force to be reckoned with?
The phone suddenly vibrated in her lap. It was Lauren.
“Hey you.”
“Okay. No one knows what that fucking picture is of...but...are you ready for this? One guy says he thinks the third piece is the corner of a desk.”
Denny pulled the file from her backpack and studied the blown up version. “Hmm. I guess I can see that.”
“Do you see that little white triangle jutting out of the torn area?”
Denny peered closer. “Yes.”
“He thinks there might be writing on it, but we’ve not been able to bring it into focus. We’ll have more of what appears to be a note once I do. We are just waiting for the okay from our tech guys for the technology to be available.”
“You are brilliant. You deserve a raise.”
“Yeah, yeah. Next time, bring me to Europe with you.”
“You’d hate this. We’re blowing through countries like an Indy racer running red lights.”
“Rush came to see me. Says the house has been quiet since those thugs came. I still think you need to pay for a huge upgrade in security equipment.”
“I’ll do that. You just stay put in the dorms until I get back.”
“Are you kidding me? Pat and Victor are practically guarding the door. I couldn’t leave alone even if I wanted.”
“Good. I have one last thing to ask you.” Denny outlined for Lauren what she needed and where to send everything. When she finished, she sighed into the phone. “You’re a great friend. You know that, right?”
“Damn right I am, Skippy. I’ll make sure to craft the best letter in the world and get it sent to every major European paper, as well as every Facebook page I can hack into. I got this.”
“Thank you. And Lauren? I love you, you know?”
“Shut the fuck up. What are you doing? Don’t you know in horror movies there are three things you don’t say: I’ll be right back...what’s that noise...and the ill-placed love sentiment.”
Denny laughed.
“I love you back, Denny Silver. Come home soon.”
When Denny hung up, she went to call Brianna, but instead of pressing the green call button, she just stared at the phone. What was there to say?
“We’re here, ma’am.”
Denny put her phone in her pocket, paid him, and got out. The sleek white plane sat alone on the small runway.
As she mounted the stairs, she stopped. A supernatural presence tickled her spine, sending out a warning.
Slowly pulling Epée from her vest, she weighed her options. The interior was no place for close-in fighting. She could not use either Epée or Fouet in such close quarters. She was just going to have to enter and use her fists.
Before she did so, she allowed the Hanta to become more than a passenger. “Come on, big guy. Let’s go kick some ass.”
When she entered the plane, she saw an older gentleman wearing a suit right off the James Bond rack sitting in one of the seats and swirling amber liquid over ice in a glass.
“Golden Silver.”
“Yeah. Who the fuck are you, and why are you in my plane?”
He smiled and sipped his drink. “I see Ames trained you well. You’ve been trying to figure out the best place to fight. Cramped quarters, no swing room. You’ve ascertained the chances of winning against me, attacking me before I can stand. You’ve calculated every possible angle up to this moment. Bravo.”
“Don’t make me ask again.”
“Ah, yes. Ever the get-to-the-point American. I’m Cadbury. Ames sent me to be of assistance. I have a smidgen of supernatural energy, which you no doubt felt upon your arrival, but that is not the kind of assistance you need.”
“You’re a trainer.”
“Yes. And, if I must say so myself, quite adept with a crossbow, bow, sniper rifle, multiple models of handguns, dart gun, nunchucks—”
“Nunchucks?”
“Yes. Black belt in multiple Eastern Asian martial arts.”
“No wonder you’re dressed like Double-Oh-Seven.”
He glanced down at his black suit and red tie. “I learned from my father—also a trainer—that people do not fear the well-groomed man. Class is not associated with the ability to rearrange one’s face or gut them with chopsticks.”
Denny grinned. “I like you, Cadbury, but your name is too long. What do your people call you?”
“Uh. Well...my brother calls me Egg.”
Denny laughed. She couldn’t remember the last time she did that. “I hate to ask. What do you call him?”
“I call him Ames.”
Denny’s eyebrows leaned forward. “You’re kidding me. You’re his brother?”
Cadbury nodded. “Indeed. Cadbury Walker here. I am the elder, though after he lost his son and dove into the bottle, he aged prematurely and often looks older.”
“Why didn’t he tell me he was sending you?”
“Why else? You would have said no. It is what your mother would have done.”
“You know my mother?”
“I do. We met several times during the course of her training as a hunter. I am the one who was called in to teach her physical combat before she moved to Savannah. Lovely woman, your mother. My brother has always been quite fond of her. It is my intent to help you get your mother back safely. To that end, nothing else matters.”
Denny smiled. “Well, come on, Egg, we’ve got some faces to rearrange.”
Denny slept on the short flight. When they landed, Cadbury tapped her knee and Denny opened her eyes, looking out the window at the misty tarmac “Well, Egg, are you ready?”
“I believe I am, Ms. Silver. We are in Kramer territory. Step lively.”
“Indeed we are. We need two more pieces, and then this bad mamma-jamma is gonna get downright ugly. You sure you want to get your patent leather shoes bloody?”
He smiled. He looked just like Pierce Brosnan, only with grey hair. “Won’t be the first time. Shall we?”
Denny knew they’d have to fight their way to the Speyer Cathedral. She was also certain that if they could get just one more piece, she’d have the answer she needed. By not going to the final cathedral, she might just live though this.
Absentmindedly, she touched her lips and thought of Cassandra’s lips on hers. Had she really told the witch she loved her?
She had.
But did she?
Denny did not need to look deep inside to realize she did, indeed, love the edgy witch. At first, she had just figured it was the Hanta. His lust was clear cut and marrow-deep.
But this was far more than lust.
Time and time again, Cassandra had stood by her side, risking her life, risking everything to insure Denny’s safety. They were an odd coupling, to be sure, but she loved Cassandra. Not just the sex, but all of her. Warts and all. Maybe that was why she never seemed to make the connection with Brianna. Maybe Denny was the reason they kept missing each other.
Whatever the reason, her heart had never belonged to Brianna the way it did Cassandra. For better or worse, Denny had spoken her truth to Cassandra.
And she was just fine with that.
As they climbed into a Mercedes for the trek to Speyer Cathedral, Denny studied her notes before looking up to find Cadbury staring at her. “Yes?”
“I apologize. It’s just...you are so very young.”
“Indeed he is. He has trained any number of Legacies. My father trained us both.”
Denny set her notes aside. “That’s what you said.”
“Oh yes. My father was once the greatest trainer in the whole of Her Majesty’s kingdom.”
“How did he die?”
“Oh, he is very much alive. Retired to the Hebrides and is raising sheep.”
“Got out while he could, eh?”
“Lost his left arm. He just never recovered.”
“Oh. I’m sorry to hear it.”
Cadbury looked out the window. “We all enter this world knowing the risks involved. We just hope our loved ones survive our choices.”
Seeing the open door, Denny dove through it. “Ames told me what happened with his wife and son.”
“Oh yes. Oh dear, such a tragedy, really.”
“She was a witch?”
“A very powerful one, yes. She made some very poor choices that cost them their only son. Poor Ames has had to live with that loss for too long. I doubt he will ever get over it.”
“That’s what he said, and yet, he never went after him?”
“He couldn’t. It ruined him for a long time. Spent months afterward drinking himself to sleep. Finally took himself to alcohol rehab, but I’m sure you know the story.”
Denny thought about Ames having a drink at the bar. “I know enough, I suppose.”
“He never lost faith in you, Ms. Silver.”
Denny frowned. “When I went rogue?”
“It happens to the best Legacies. I had one go on a rampage for a year and a half. I never thought we’d get him back, or be able to put the genie back in the bottle.”
“A year and a half. Wow. How did you manage to get him back?”
Cadbury jutted his chin out. “Your mother. She used the Saugen. Sucked the Legacy out. Gave him his life back.”
Denny sat up. “What? No. That’s impossible. I have one. I know all about them. The Saugen can’t pull out Legacies…only run-of-the-mill demons.”
“Not true. The Saugen can take out any demon not strong enough to fight off the effects of it. Your mother sat with him for a month and starved the Hanta. It had gorged so much on so many demons, it was...well...addicted is the best way to describe it. She starved it, and then destroyed it. Saved his life.”
“Wow. Mom was that good?”
“Your mother was a legend.”
“Happy ending?”
Cadbury looked at her. “Would that were true. He eventually committed suicide.”
“Seriously? Why?”
“Once a person walks around with a Legacy demon, once they heal quickly, once they see better, once they have carnal relations...well, to be without one is gray. Boring. Your once sharp edges are dulled. You are neither strong nor powerful. Your whole life feels mundane. He fell into a deep depression. Hanged himself.”
Denny thought about Peyton, her Legacy friend in New Orleans, who’d tried to have hers removed. Peyton was slowly going crazy and thought death the only way to get around the problem.
“The Saugen is the most powerful weapon in your family legacy, Ms. Silver. Whereas the other weapons kill or maim, it is the only weapon you have that can give life back to people. Your mother understood that.”
“Ames will seldom talk about her.”
“He has always been a very private person. He may not speak of your mother, but my brother has high aspirations for you, Ms. Silver. He knew that first rainy day you stumbled in asking for help after your rampage that you were the one.”
“The one?”
“To find the treatise. It has been eight hundred and fifty years since it disappeared, and it was rediscovered only once in all that time.”
Denny waited as the car slowed several hundred yards from the cathedral.
“The evil that swept this planet under the Nazi regime killed over twelve million people. The demonic population had found a slit in the fabric of our world, and they found beings more than willing to house their vile nature and perpetrate crimes against humanity.”
“And now, we’re back to the Germans.”
He smiled slightly. “Do not blame an entire nation for the demons who managed to wrest control of it. Always remember—”
“Power is the greatest elixir, the smoothest aphrodisiac, the most intoxicating drug.”
Cadbury grinned. “My brother has, indeed, given you many of our father’s best lessons. Yes. These men and women were quickly and easily overtaken. Your great-great-grandmother was the hunter who found the treatise and used it to destroy the demons possessing so many of those possessed not long after the war ended.”
Denny shook her head. “Cadbury, I’ve read every single one of my mom’s journals, but she never—not once—mentioned any of my ancestors.”
“It wouldn’t be in her journal. It would be in the Geschichte…the histories.”
Denny’s face dropped. “I’ve been meaning to get to those, but Goddamn, I’ve had no time. I’ve been putting out one fire after the next.”
The driver got out and opened the door.
“If you find the treatise, and are successful with it, you should have plenty of time. Evil will slow down, and possessions will crawl to a stop for a while.”
They both got out, and Denny felt the cold temperature of Germany’s climate. “Well then, there’s no time like the present.”
“That is correct. There is also no time present except for this time.”
Before Denny could reach her cylinders, someone stuck a needle into her neck and injected her with something that immediately made the world swim before her eyes.
The driver caught her before she could fall to the ground.
“Fuck you, you fucking...fuck...” were the last words Denny said before blacking out.
When Denny woke up, her head was pounding. Lights flickered all around her and she sat up slowly, still feeling the effects of whatever that bastard had shot in her neck. As she took several deep breaths, she reached for her weapons.
Gone.
“Motherfucker.” The Hanta rose within her immediately.
“At the risk of having you leap off that sarcophagus and attack me, rest assured, no harm will come to you if you act accordingly.”
It was Cadbury. He stood across what appeared to be a cave. Denny squinted. No, not a cave...a subterranean room of some sort, lit with electric candles that flickered like the real thing in a Hollywood movie.
The Hanta flared to life and all remnants of the drug wore off. “No harm may come to me, asshat, but too bad I can’t say the same about you. Brother or no brother, you’re a dead motherfucker.” Denny leapt off the table.
Cadbury spun around and hit her in the side with his heel, sending her flying backwards against the stone wall. She righted herself instantly, and took a fighting stance. “I’m going to enjoy ending your life.”
“I am not the enemy, Ms. Silver. If I had wanted you dead, you would be. You were brought here unconscious for a reason. Your weapons are right over there. I just didn’t want you reaching for them first.”
Denny straightened up, the Hanta ratcheting down a couple of notches.
Her weapons were just where he said, so she snatched them up and put Fouet back in her vest pocket. Epée, she kept out but unbidden. “Why am I here? Where the hell are we?”
“There are many subterranean caverns beneath the cities in Germany. The Nazis loved storing their stolen goods underground like rats storing nuts. Despicable, really, but brilliant.”
“Why are we here?”
“We heard they had eyes and ears everywhere, so we contacted Cardinal Kurtz, who directed us to this place. I apologize for sedating you, but the Cardinal was very nervous of your Hanta. Apparently, he has had contact with Hantas before, and he very much fears you and your kind.”
“Smart man.”
Cadbury nodded. “Indee
d. He will be down here in a moment to brief you.”
“How long have I—”
“Thirty minutes, give or take. The Kramers have blanketed the whole of Germany looking for you, for Valeria, for your people. They have ramped up the Neo Nazis, the Skinheads, the White Supremacists, the KKK, and many more low rent organizations to look for all of you.”
“Why do they think she would be here? We already suspect she’ll be in England.”
“I do not know how or what those plebians think. Valeria isn’t one to lie low for long. In all honesty, I cannot believe she has not yet come forward to help, but then I am reminded that everything she does right now is in what she believes to be the best interest of your mother. If she wants to end this, she’ll need to come out and fight with us.”
Denny shook her head. “She won’t leave my mom or put her at risk. I think she’s already shown where her allegiance lies.”
Cadbury tapped his chin. “But they don’t know that, do they?”
“I suppose not.”
“No, Valeria is trying to bring back to life the love of her own. Nothing else matters to her, and that is why the rest of us are in danger. If it weren’t so self-indulgent, it would be romantic.”
“Egg, this isn’t something my mother would want. I know it. And if she knew the danger we are all in because of it, she would have stopped it long ago.”
Suddenly, the cavern filled with more light and air as Cardinal Kurtz entered. He looked left and right, much like a frightened or beaten dog.
“The ring?” he asked, keeping his distance.
Denny showed it. She didn’t like this scared little man.
“Gut. Heir ist eine bild. Ich wunsche ihnen viel Gluck.” He handed Denny the envelope and slowly backed away.
Denny exchanged glances with Cadbury as the cardinal disappeared from the same direction he’d come.
Denny pulled the picture piece from the envelope.
Bingo.
It was the bottom right corner Lauren needed. Denny took a picture of it and sent it to Lauren just as a metallic ball bounced into the cavern.
“Grenade!” Cadbury yelled. He kicked the beeping metal ball in a perfect straight line down the tunnel in the direction from which it had come.
Coven Betrayed (The Silver Legacy Book 4) Page 16