by Steve McHugh
Kasey shook her head. “It’s fine. I was born into this life. Everything here is something I grew up knowing existed. I know it’s a lot to take in; I still find things hard to take in. Gods, goddesses, monsters, it’s a huge amount to get your head around. And you have spirits in yours vying for attention. I get that. I understand that accepting all of this must feel terrifying, but we’re trying to help. I promise you that.”
The lift stopped and the doors parted into an empty hallway. Kasey opened a door and led Layla into a second hallway that had several doors along each side with large windows showing the meeting rooms beyond.
At the end of the hallway was an intersection. Layla looked left and right, but saw nothing other than more doors leading to what were probably more meeting rooms. Directly in front of her was a door with a golden sign adorning it, which said “Director” in big, black letters.
Kasey knocked and pushed the door open, holding it so that Diana and Layla could go in first.
Layla followed Diana in, looking around the room as she walked. It was large, with a wall of glass opposite her. A desk sat over to one side, behind which sat a young woman with brown skin and dark red hair. Next to her stood Tommy, who smiled and walked over to Kasey, hugging her tightly.
“How’d it go?” he asked.
“Blood elves,” Kasey told him. “A fair few of them. I didn’t think they were able to come through to our realm.”
“Apparently Nergal and his people have managed to keep all kinds of secrets from us,” the woman behind the desk said as she got to her feet and walked over to Layla. “My name is Olivia Green. I’m the director of the LOA.”
Layla’s expression remained blank. “The same people who arrested my father? The ones who weren’t exactly forthcoming about who you actually are?”
“I’m sorry about that. If I’d been in charge of your father’s case, you would have known all about us.” She motioned for Layla to take a seat in one of the two large brown leather chairs in front of the desk.
Layla did as she was requested, hoping she might actually get the answers she wanted, rather than having to ask even more questions.
“I’ll see you later, Layla,” Kasey called out. “My parents will walk you through everything.”
Layla turned back to Diana and Kasey. “Thank you. Both of you.”
Diana walked over and grasped Layla by the shoulder. “You’re safe here, Layla. Nothing is going to happen to you.”
Layla’s small nod was to ensure that the uncertainties inside her mind didn’t spill out of her. The last thing she wanted was to make things worse by allowing her emotions to overwhelm her.
24
When Layla was alone with Olivia and Tommy, Olivia returned to her seat opposite Layla, and Tommy took the one beside her.
“Do you want me to go?” Tommy asked. “If you’d be more comfortable just with Olivia, I’m okay with that.”
“I’m fine,” Layla promised him. “I just want to know what’s happening and why I feel like Alice in Wonderland right now.”
“The LOA stands for Law of Avalon. We . . .” Olivia paused. “Let’s start at the beginning. With Avalon’s creation. With Merlin.”
“Merlin?” Layla asked. “The Merlin? Knights of the Round Table, King Arthur? That Merlin?”
Olivia nodded. “The mythology and reality are usually quite different. Merlin is . . . hard work. Many believe he took his authority too far, but many others feel that he hasn’t gone far enough. He’s a divisive figure.”
“And he’s your boss?”
“No. Merlin created Avalon, although he had help from many other people from mythology. The Greeks were the first to join, then the Romans, Egyptians, and so on and so forth. These days, most of the people from tales of myth either work for Avalon in some form or another or are dead. Few fall outside of those brackets.”
“So where does Avalon come from? What does it do? Who do you work for? How does it impact what’s happening to me?”
Olivia grinned. “Okay, each of those in turn. Avalon was created thousands of years ago after the Titan War between the Titans and the Olympian gods. Merlin, Zeus, and several others decided that it could never happen again. Merlin somehow managed to create it so that Avalon was in control of everything and changes were done through voting in a council.
“Over the years more pantheons came to work with Avalon, folding their power into Avalon’s. Things worked well until Merlin was forced to leave his position as head of Avalon, and it was passed over to Elaine Garlot. Although with Arthur wanting to take the reins back, things have become much more complicated than they’ve ever been before.”
“King Arthur?”
“Yep, the one and the same. He’s a really long story, but the short of it is: he was attacked and cursed to stay in a coma for a thousand years. Now he’s awake and wanting to resume where he left off. Most are happy about it, but some are fighting him. People don’t like change, even ones who live for millennia.
“Getting back to your questions. I work for Elaine. Only Elaine. I was the director of the south of England, and now I’m sort of still doing that job, which is why I have this office, but I unofficially give information to Elaine. There’s been too much uncertainty since Arthur returned. People are scared and concerned, and I want to make sure we’re doing things right. But none of that has anything to do with why you’re here.”
“So Avalon is like a large security force?”
“Not exactly. Avalon rules everything. The humans in charge of countries know we exist, and we mostly allow them to do as they please, so long as it doesn’t interfere with our plans and lives. Avalon is the real power behind the world and everyone in it. The LOA is the law-enforcement side: we monitor, investigate, and deal with crimes against humans committed by Avalon members, or crimes against Avalon members. We’re a little like Interpol or the FBI in terms of power within Avalon.”
“My father worked for Avalon?”
“No, but he was a special case. Umbra have been kept hidden from the majority of people for a long time, only recently coming to light. Your father’s abilities were kept largely secret, until three years ago, when umbras came to the forefront of Avalon’s investigations. Essentially, we discovered that there were a lot of umbras running around, and we had never heard of them. We didn’t even know if umbras could pass their powers on to their children, which is one reason why Tommy had Chloe keep an eye on you. Most powers for nonhumans don’t start until they’ve reached their teens, and with your mother dead, we needed to make sure you weren’t about to turn into a bomb or something.
“Turns out, they can’t, but you still became an umbra anyway. Not even Elaine knew that umbras existed until Chloe became one. I assure you, the fact that Tabitha and the LOA office she works for kept umbras a secret did not go down well. Your father is one of three umbras currently under lock and key. There are approximately five thousand in this world right now. And that’s just a best-case guess.”
“And, Tommy, you work for Avalon too?”
“I used to work for the SOA,” Tommy said. “They’re the . . .”
“Shield of Avalon,” Layla interrupted. “Sorry, the spirits’ memories bleed over into mine. The SOA is essentially Avalon’s MI5 and MI6 combined into one, yes?”
Tommy nodded. “I left a long time ago. Like I told you before, I run my own firm now. I’m completely separate, but obviously still have friends in Avalon.”
“Why’d you leave?”
“Things weren’t going in a way I was happy with. I wanted distance from the organization and the people who were trying to grab power for themselves. Avalon is like any large-scale organization: people—be they human or werewolf—still allow power to corrupt them. I decided to get out before I needed to deal with those who were attempting to use that power to further their own aims.”
“So, what you’re saying is that people are assholes everywhere, no matter what their species is.”
Tommy lau
ghed. “That’s essentially it, yes.”
“So, if you don’t work for Avalon, why are you here? Why have Chloe—specifically her, instead of someone from Avalon—watch me?”
Tommy shared a look with Olivia that Layla couldn’t quite read, but it didn’t appear to be a good one. “I’m here because we don’t trust certain people in Avalon to deal with this situation. Chloe was given the job because I trust her. Olivia is here to give support. Officially, Avalon knows nothing about you, your abilities, or what’s happened.”
“Which means what?”
“It means you don’t exist on their radar, and I’d like to keep it that way. There aren’t many people who know that you exist, let alone that you’re the child of an umbra.”
“You said before that being an umbra child means nothing. I inherited nothing from my father’s power.”
“Doesn’t mean someone out there won’t try to find that out for themselves. Some people will think you’re lying, or we’re covering it up. Or they’ll want your power to help them do something crazy. I imagine if your father wasn’t on lockdown somewhere, more people would be trying to find out the truth about him too. His power is something many groups would like to get their hands on.”
“You told me my father could find anyone anywhere on earth. Do you want to use him to do that?”
“What makes you ask that?” Olivia asked.
“I just want to know. I don’t want to be here, helping you, and then when it’s over with Elias, you end up wanting me to do the same thing he did. You saved my life, so I owe you one, but I want to be upfront about everything.”
Tommy shook his head. “Look, I told you I’d be honest with you. Your father’s power could help us track people; it could help us find bad people.”
“That’s if he even decided to help. I told Elias the same thing. He might say no. He doesn’t really care about me. Only himself. Elias told me that it isn’t true. That my father loves me.”
Olivia removed a USB stick from her desk drawer and passed it over to Layla. “This contains transcripts from every conversation the LOA have had with your father. I contacted Tabitha and told her about you, and she made sure we had them. She told me to send you her love. She said you were a good kid.”
“I liked her,” Layla said, taking hold of the USB drive. It felt much heavier in her hand than it had any physical right to.
“You can use my laptop to read what’s on there. Your father is not a good man, but he really did think he was doing the right thing. Read what’s on there if you want to know what he really thinks of you. Or don’t. It’s your choice.”
“But if I can get him to help, he could save lives.”
“Yes,” Tommy said. “That’s the plan, anyway.”
Layla placed the drive in her pocket. “I can’t be distracted right now. There’s too much at stake. I’ll read it all later, but when this is over, and if I can convince him to help, I will.” She breathed out slowly, feeling as if she’d just made a monumental decision. “One condition: he can’t be allowed out of that jail. Not now, not ever.”
“Your father hunted down twenty-seven serial killers during his time,” Tommy said. “That’s twenty-seven that no one knew existed. Between them, they killed over seventy people in a decade. Your father stopped that, but there’s no way we’re going to allow him to continue killing people. He’s not going anywhere.”
“I’ve been thinking, did the demon . . . sorry, the drenik, tell him to do it? Did my father allow the drenik to control him?”
“Not according to what Tabitha transcribed,” Olivia said. “Your father did it because he says it needed doing. No other reason. Your father is . . .”
“My father is the Punisher,” Layla interrupted. “And however cool that character is in fiction, in real life it’s pretty damn horrific.”
“I was going to say that he’s without remorse for those he’s killed. He thinks of them as cockroaches beneath his feet. He says they deserved it, each and every one of them. I’m not sure if the drenik inside the scroll broke his mind or not, but ninety-nine percent of the time, he’s completely ordinary. Then you ask him about a set of crimes, or a killer, and something inside of him changes.”
A horrible thought dawned on Layla. “His power to track people, can he see the lives of the people he tracks?”
“To a limited degree. He can see the action that gave him the evidence. So if he finds a footprint at a murder, he can tell whom that footprint belongs to, but also see them commit the crime.”
“So my father could be watching my life. He only has to think my name and . . .”
There was an uncomfortable silence in the room, and Layla instantly felt sick.
“Yes,” Olivia said eventually, her voice soft and understanding. “I’m sorry.”
Layla walked over to a window and pushed it open a few inches, feeling the powerful breeze this high above the ground.
“You okay?” Tommy asked.
Layla nodded. “That’s why Nergal wants him. He could use my father’s power to find people who agree with him, who would join him. He’s going to use my father to help him create an army, isn’t he?”
“We think that’s the plan, yes,” Olivia said. “Nergal has a large compound in America, and inside he forces humans to take the spirit scrolls so that he can see what powers they get. If they’re not useful to him, or they don’t deal well with the power given to them, they’re killed and the scroll is given to someone else. An endless cycle of pain and death. Nergal would like to find those umbras who already have powers, who already deal with their spirits and power on a daily basis. He wants people with exceptional abilities to join his cause.”
“And what cause is that?”
“He’s working with an organization that wants to bring down Avalon and place themselves as the rulers of all things.”
“But you implied that Avalon is partially corrupt.”
“And it is,” Tommy said. “But these people want to out us all to the world and ensure that humanity spends the rest of its time on earth bowing down to Nergal and his allies as slaves. Nearly six billion slaves for people who think nothing of ending life, human or otherwise.”
“Your people killed blood elves, isn’t that the same?”
“There’s a difference between killing people who are inherently evil, people who torture and kill and enjoy it, and killing people because it’s a Tuesday and they’re in your way. If your father had stuck to murdering psychopaths, I don’t think we’d be having this conversation about him, but he didn’t. He decided to kill criminals who stole or who sold drugs; he decided who should live or die. We kill to protect, or for self-defense; none of us would ever dream of going out and murdering people because we felt like it. Nergal and his people have no such compunction.”
Layla was taken aback by Tommy’s hard tone; she hadn’t expected it, and could tell that as far as he was concerned, those who murdered indiscriminately were as low as you could get.
“Nergal has tried to find your father for several years,” Olivia told her. “But your father is in a secure location that’s not directly acknowledged by Avalon. In fact, I don’t think any Avalon employees, except for the two we’re aware of, know his whereabouts. At least I hope not.”
“You really don’t trust your own people?”
“I spent several years hunting down people who claimed to be working with us when they started to try to murder my friends. So, no, I don’t trust anyone I haven’t known for a long time. Tommy only gets a pass because he’s my husband, and he’s too busy to take the time to try to bring down Avalon.”
“She has a point,” Tommy agreed, a smile spreading across his face.
“So, I’m staying here?”
Olivia shook her head. “Too many people might see you. We’re moving you to a secure location on the other side of Winchester. Tommy will be staying with you, along with several of his people. People he trusts.”
“I can never go back, c
an I?”
“To your old life?” Tommy asked. “No. I’m sorry. You can still live your life, though. Once this is over, there’s no forcing you to join Avalon, or work with me, but the days of living in ignorant bliss are over.”
“Elias will still find me. He seems to be good at it.”
“He might, but we’ll be waiting. He’s a dangerous person, as are those he works with.”
Layla thought about the dead blood elves back in the woods, and she realized for the first time that when she had fought them, she hadn’t worried about losing control. She hadn’t been shaky or had any voices telling her to hurt them. She’d felt good after, but never out of control. Maybe she was finally coming to grips with whatever had been telling her to hurt people; maybe the fact that she was fighting monsters meant she no longer had to worry about going too far when fighting them.
“They can’t have a lot of blood elves left,” Layla said eventually.
“We have no idea,” Tommy admitted. “The blood elves aren’t meant to be able to come to this realm. So that’s another mystery we need to look into.”
“At some point they’re going to use their ogre again. If it was ever released in a populated area . . .” Memories of her friends flickered to the front of her mind.
“I’m sorry about what happened to you and everyone at the depot,” Olivia said. “We’ll deal with the ogre. It’s why you’re being moved to somewhere more secure.”
“And less populated?”
Olivia nodded. “Winchester is not a massive city, but even one innocent person dying because of Elias and his people is one person too many.”
“Elias killed my ex-boyfriend.” Layla explained about what Elias had told her: that he’d murdered her ex and his new girlfriend, before killing her ex’s friend and framing him.
Olivia jotted it all down in a notebook. “I’ll look into it. Elias has been a problem for a great many years.”