by James Somers
This farce had to be stopped somehow. The only way I could think to do that was to warn the President. And I had to warn him before he built Grayson Stone up anymore than he already had. I would have to go to the White House in Washington D.C.
Grayson had just finished refining his attire for the evening. He wore a black dinner suit without tails after a new style becoming popular at the time. He straightened his cuffs and adjusted his tie. He was not in a good mood, despite the party he was about to attend in his honor.
“Perhaps, tonight is not the best night for this to happen,” Lux suggested. She was dressed in an evening gown of crimson silk chiffon with a fitted bodice and puffed sleeves. Her very blond hair was currently up in a bun. Long black gloves extended up her arms, accenting her gown.
Grayson turned to her. “The party?”
“The President,” she clarified. “It’s too soon for this.”
“There isn’t time to wait,” Grayson said, adjusting his tie again. “I must capitalize on today’s progress. Even without Southresh’s appearance, it was a success. The people will receive me, just as the President has.”
“And when he dies tonight?” Lux asked. “How will that look on you?”
“I will be among those who mourn his loss,” Grayson said. “How could we know anything about the troubles that drive a man to commit suicide. After all, his feelings of inadequacy might have gotten the better of him. A president who must rely on another to save his nation? Not much of a leader.”
“I just think waiting might be prudent,” she said.
“Your opinion is duly noted, Lux,” Grayson said. “However, we will proceed as planned. The fact that Southresh has gone missing is of considerable concern to me.”
“He’s not called the mad god for nothing,” Lux noted.
“No, he’s up to something,” Grayson said. “Insanity doesn’t make him a fool.”
Lux considered the matter. “Why not return him to Tartarus?”
“Unfortunately, I still need his services,” Grayson said. “The citizens of Philadelphia have seen him. They know that I did not defeat the leader of those ghouls today. They might hail me as a hero tonight, but without that public victory, they’ll soon wonder if I’m really the savior they so desperately need.”
“All the more reason to not go ahead with this presidential assassination,” Lux whispered, despite the spell upon the room.
Grayson glanced at her. “On the contrary, this is exactly what is needed to strengthen their faith in me as a leader. When the shepherd of the sheep is smitten, the sheep will more easily look to a new shepherd for the promise of safety and security.”
I had not been invited to the party that evening. However, I came just the same. Only, I was not seen as Brody West. In fact, I came disguised as former President Grover Cleveland, a large man with thinning hair and a thick mustache like a whisk broom.
The real Grover Cleveland had been forced to remain at home. He had developed a sudden case of food poisoning due to some bad clams. I happened to know exactly how he came by eating them. At any rate, he would not be here tonight. I had to be here to warn the President of Stone’s game.
I spotted Grayson Stone almost immediately with the sprite, Luxana, on his arm. Since meeting her, I had learned exactly who I had been dealing with that night. Her reputation as a deadly assassin was well known throughout the Descendant clans.
They mingled with the two hundred other guests who had been invited to this gala event. Dinner would be served within the hour. In the meantime, hors d’oeuvres circulated throughout the room on silver trays.
In a different room there was dancing. When President Harrison saw Lux, the reaction was immediate. He asked if she might do him the honor, and she accepted with a slight curtsey. They retired to the room where the other guests were enjoying a waltz that I did not recognize. Grayson remained in the company of Mrs. Harrison and several other society ladies who were all quite taken with him.
I had brought no one with me and had no time to acquaint myself in order to gain a dance partner. However, I reasoned that whatever purpose involved Grayson bringing Luxana to this party must also involve mind control. It made sense that since she was now dancing with the President, his life might be in danger.
Sprites were especially known for causing others to take their own lives. But what good might that do? If the President took his own life tonight, then the country would be in disarray. However, Grayson was now also in an excellent position to offer his leadership—especially after what the people had seen in Philadelphia.
To the crowds, this had been a great miracle. They had witnessed a god come down from the heavens to save them from evil. They were praising his name at that moment throughout the streets of every city where those witnessing the events lived. And this would only grow as Grayson provided more miracles for the people to devour.
Lux and the President were now waltzing together. She couldn’t have him do it in public. Would they stoop so far? Had it been me, I wouldn’t have risked this. Grayson would need to be seen among the people, while the President retired to some place secluded where he could perform the deed. That way no one would be able to stop him from his entranced directive.
His office, I surmised. That might also contain a weapon with which to commit the act. But where was his office? Was it on this floor?
The next dance had already started. Lux was smiling and speaking to him. When the pair rotated my way, I could see on Harrison’s face the look of a man who is completely oblivious to what he is doing. He was taking in her words. His mind belonged to her.
Suddenly, President Harrison released Lux. The dance was over, but the music was still playing. Why had he decided to leave now, if not for the purpose I had guessed? He turned to come back to the room where I was with the other guests. However, he veered away toward a hall at the far end. He regarded no one on his way.
I had no time to second guess my plan. I teleported into the hall, appearing behind the President. A door stood at the end of the hall. Clearly this was his destination. I had to stop him somehow.
“Mr. President?” I said.
He did not regard me.
Expectations
Lux appeared at Grayson’s side once again. This time she was alone. Mrs. Harrison inquired as to the whereabouts of her husband when he didn’t come back with the girl.
“He excused himself,” Lux said. “I believe he might not have been feeling well.” She looked into the woman’s eyes. “Perhaps you should give him a little time. Enjoy the party for now. Your husband will turn up soon enough.”
Mrs. Harrison nodded at this suggestion. She now saw no need for concern. She didn’t know why, but she was going to mingle with the other guests for a while. Benjamin would come back to the party when he was feeling better.
Lux took Grayson’s arm again, and they disengaged themselves from the women he had been speaking with. They walked through the room toward where the others were dancing. People saw them go, but they wouldn’t realize what had happened to them. As far as anyone knew, they would only remember seeing them dancing—and what a wonderful couple they made.
Meanwhile, Grayson and Lux had followed President Benjamin Harrison to his office on this floor. It was not locked when they came to the door. Harrison had gone through only minutes before.
When they opened the door and went inside, Harrison was standing behind his desk looking entirely bewildered. Grayson allowed Lux to come inside and then closed the door behind them. “Good,” he said. “I didn’t want to miss this.”
Lux glanced at Grayson. She wondered if this was her master, or Lucifer speaking through him now. She wasn’t entirely certain. Both of them were ruthless.
“He would not take his life if I had not commanded him to do so,” she whispered. “His mind belongs to me.”
Grayson smiled broadly. “Have him do it, before someone comes looking for him.”
“You’re sure?” she asked one last t
ime.
He examined her with cold fire in his eyes. She could sense the angel’s power upon him. Why did she keep questioning him?
“Don’t ask me again,” he replied.
He was staring at her. This was normal, but something seemed slightly off about him. Perhaps, it was just her nervousness about this evening. She had been troubled recently—conflicted. Still, she had a job to do.
“Benjamin, take the revolver from your drawer,” she said gently.
He obeyed instantly, opening the desk in order to retrieve the weapon. Pulling it out, he waited.
“Now, put the barrel to your temple,” Lux said.
President Harrison raised the revolver to his temple with adoration in his expression. This was the only thing that would make her happy. This was what had to be done. She knew what they were thinking. She had given them those thoughts to think in the absence of their own rationality. For the first time she could remember, Lux felt the slightest spark of guilt at what she was doing.
Beside her, Grayson grinned. “I love this part,” he said.
Lux swallowed against a gathering lump in her throat. Why did she feel this way now? What was happening to her? She had to get a handle on these emotions. She was a sprite and a calculated assassin—a cold-hearted killer.
She realized then that this one thought troubled her. Was that what she was? Emotionless? Uncaring?
“Do it,” Grayson demanded, growing impatient.
Lux nodded to Harrison. His finger twitched on the trigger. He fired the revolver. The shot hit Grayson Stone in the chest.
What had happened? In that last fraction of a second when the hammer cocked back and began its release, President Harrison had turned the gun away from himself toward Grayson. The shot had taken her master before he could react. Harrison’s arm was still extended toward the place where Grayson had been standing a moment ago.
And then Harrison’s appearance changed completely. In his place, Brody West stood behind the President’s desk holding the smoking gun. Where Harrison’s eyes had been stationed upon her own, Brody’s were squarely focused upon Grayson, keeping Lux safely in his peripheral vision. A glamour.
Grayson Stone had slammed into the door, cracking it. He was screaming and wailing. Lucifer was losing control of this mortal body and he didn’t like what was going on. The bullet, a .45 caliber slug, had done extensive damage. But he wasn’t dead, yet.
“You should go,” Brody said to Lux. He would not look at her, but he was addressing her.
Brody lowered his aim squarely upon Grayson’s bleeding form slumped against the door. He fired again, and again. However, Lucifer was not defenseless, despite these injuries to his host. An invisible barrier of his making deflected the bullets now.
Lucifer screamed out his rage, casting lightning at Brody. He received it upon his own extension barrier, countering the attack with one of his own. The entire office was washed in the bright white light of their mutual attacks. But neither of them seemed to gain the upper hand. Lux remained where she was against the wall, puzzled by what had happened.
She had been included behind Grayson’s shield. But she knew that, once again, Brody had showed her mercy. He might just as easily have killed her. Even after the initial shot, he had possessed the element of surprise. But he hadn’t done that. He had warned her to leave. He had attempted to let her escape harm.
A cane with a lion’s head came into Brody’s hand, changing into a mercurial sword.
“Malak-esh,” Grayson whispered.
Lucifer’s energy attacks were absorbed by the blade. Brody appeared to be just as surprised as anyone else in the room by that fact. He leaped upon the desk, meaning to cross it and drive the sword into Grayson’s shield and, if possible, through Grayson himself.
But he wasn’t given the opportunity. Lux caught a last glance at Brody just before Lucifer’s final burst of power tore them away from the White House completely. Grayson’s body was in such bad condition that even the mighty Lucifer himself had not dared to delay escaping so that he might preserve what life was left in his host. Once that life was gone, only God had the power to restore it.
I stood in the President’s office holding his revolver in my right hand and Malak-esh in the other, staring at the place where Grayson Stone had fallen to the floor. I had come so close to ending him, but Lucifer wasn’t going to let that happen so easily. He had attempted a fight, but ultimately had fled when I revealed the sword. I suspected then that there must be more to Angel Fire than I had originally thought.
However, I had no time to consider the situation right now. People had come running down the corridor to the President’s office when they heard the gunfire. I turned behind me to the window. A single thought removed the invisible barrier I had used to cover the entranced President.
President Harrison was standing in a state of near catatonia in front of the window. Thankfully, my shield had rendered him invisible and had also prevented any harm to him during that brief fight.
I stepped around the desk and placed the revolver into his hand. He didn’t seem to take much notice of that. The President was still suffering the after-effects of a melding of minds between him and Luxana.
Looking him in the eyes, I decided I would leave him with the truth in the hope that it would make him free. “Mr. President, what you saw in Philadelphia was a hoax perpetrated by Grayson Stone. He attempted to kill you tonight. However, he was shot in return.”
Harrison seemed to hear the words, but registering the meaning had not come to him yet. But it would. I knew that first hand.
“Grayson Stone,” he mumbled.
“Yes, sir,” I said. “Grayson Stone fled this place wounded after trying to kill you and take over the presidency.”
The door was going to give way at any moment from the pounding it was taking. The party-goers would break through and find the evidence. I slapped President Harrison hard across the face to break the hold Lux had held on his mind.
When the door opened a second later, I was already gone. President Harrison stood blinking, holding a smoking revolver in his right hand. He stumbled into his desk chair as party-goers, including his wife, came into the room. They saw the damage that had been done, like a shooting spree had taken place.
Harrison looked up at his wife and the armed guards that had been stationed around the party in order to keep watch for suspicious characters. “Grayson Stone tried to assassinate me tonight,” he said. “He’s fled with the woman that was with him.”
There on the carpet, between the party guests, was a blood stain as large as a man’s head. “Search the entire house,” Harrison commanded. “And the grounds. I want that traitorous dog found.”
Vampiric
The cathedral shook as the spiritual and mortal planes converged. An entity of considerable power had arrived in Saint Petersburg. Hageddon narrowed his eyes. He still retained full control over his Romanov host. He wasn’t the kind to share power.
Hageddon considered dismissing his vampire worshippers from the cathedral. He knew who this entity was that was coming. That fact only made him dread his arrival. As far as he was concerned, there was never a good time to speak with Southresh. He loathed the mad god as much as any of his angelic brethren, if not more. His maniacal ways had always been tiresome in his opinion.
However, reconsidering the matter, Hageddon decided that he would like his admirers to be present when Southresh materialized. He enjoyed having them near, and his brother would no doubt be jealous that so many had come to honor him. Southresh, on the other hand, had only ever managed to keep demonic lackeys at his side. Not nearly so satisfying.
Hageddon glanced at Charlotte, his new consort, sitting beside his makeshift throne. She was very beautiful and obedient. He had not taken advantage of that loyalty yet, but the time would come when he would enjoy the pleasures of a mortal form again, when it was convenient for him.
“We have a guest,” he said.
She loo
ked up at him curiously, but she did not ask him who the visitor was. He liked that about her. She only seemed interested in being near him. Nothing more, nothing less.
A puff of smoke about the size of a man’s hand appeared on the floor within the cathedral dome. Vampires scattered, trying to get out of the way of whoever was coming. The smoke grew in size, quickly becoming a column. A gout of flame erupted through the middle and then passed. Southresh emerged, walking toward Hageddon’s throne.
“Brother,” Southresh said, acknowledging him.
Hageddon did not return the gesture.
“Before you complain, hear me out,” Southresh began. “Lucifer will soon dismiss us all back to our prison, but I have a plan to ensure our freedom.”
“You have a plan?” Hageddon said apathetically. “Perhaps, you would benefit from a bit of loyalty. Lucifer would be more likely to allow you to remain if would show deference to him.”
“I will be no one’s lapdog,” Southresh countered. “Besides, Lucifer has never cared for anything but his own machinations. We are a convenience right now, but soon our place will be to return to Tartarus, so that he is praised by the humans for our defeat.”
Hageddon remained quiet, fuming on his throne.
“Anubis agrees with me,” Southresh added.
Now his anger burned hot at the mention of Anubis. “I do not care for the opinion of that dog,” Hageddon bellowed. “I would have thought you wiser than that, to mention him to me. Do you really think I would partner with him?”
“For your freedom, you should,” Southresh said defiantly. “Black has a plan that will anchor us to this world. You can keep on with your Breed here in Russia, or wherever, if you like. At least, we would have a choice then. It’s to all our benefit, Hageddon.”