Portals

by Wilson, Maer

  “Even if that puts our own people at risk? You would have more of us die in this war of revenge. Is that what you want?”

  “That is the price of war, Dhavenbahtek.”

  “We have finally rebuilt our numbers again and you would risk our people for things done thousands of years ago. It is time we set it aside.”

  “I shall never set it aside. I shall continue until the day I die. You fool! If you stand in my way, then I shall kill you as well.”

  There was no doubt that the creature was completely insane. I was very grateful that Jones kept her immobilized because I had no doubt that she would make good on her threat. Neither did Jones as his next words proved.

  “It is a death sentence to threaten me, Satorah.” That deep, velvet voice of his was full of menace and more frightening for how calm and soft it was.

  “You call me insane? I want our people to live free from fear of invasion.”

  Jones sighed. “We have not been invaded for thousands of years. Yes, you are mad. Your plans are mad.”

  Satorah must have been slowly gathering her strength because suddenly she was free of the spell and free of her captors. She started for Jones, her fingers hooked into claws.

  “They killed her! They slaughtered my child!” She reached out for Jones, but he slammed some spell into her. Her body jerked abruptly back and she collapsed to the floor.

  Jones's voice was so soft I might have missed it, except for the sudden, stunned silence in the room.

  “She was my child, too,” he whispered, his voice as cold as ice.

  Chapter 5

  No one moved or said anything for a long time. Finally, Jones nodded toward Satorah's inert body as he spoke to the two men.

  “Look for a room that will hold her. I want her and the other two secured. Put her humans into a separate room after I question them. I will deal with them later. Also check to see who else might be down here.”

  The two men immediately went through double doors. I glimpsed a hallway beyond. Sloane found a bank of light switches and turned on more lights.

  Jones went to one of the immobilized men and partially reversed the spell as he had with Satorah. The man looked around groggily. His head was shaved and his features had an Asian cast to them. He was one of Grant’s humans. The blood drained from his face as he realized that Sarah Grant and the others were immobilized and that Jones stood over him.

  “What is your position with the Grant Corporation?” asked Jones.

  “I'm a personal aide to Ms. Grant.”

  “And that means what exactly?”

  “I'm usually with her. I look after her and carry out her wishes.”

  “I see,” said Jones smoothly. “And what wishes did you carry out down here?”

  The man looked away, obviously not wanting to reveal anymore. He looked again at Grant, immobile on the floor, and around at the rest of us.

  Jones looked at Reo. “Can you read his mind?”

  “There's a lot of chaos in it at the moment.” Reo frowned with concentration as he closed his eyes. “He was definitely one of the two who tortured the Light One child. Yes, the other was that man there.” He pointed to the other human before turning his attention back to the first one. “He's not one of the good guys, that's for sure. He took pleasure in hurting that baby.”

  Reo suddenly opened his eyes in horror. “There was another child. A human child.” He stared into the man's eyes, revulsion in every line of his body. His voice dropped to a whisper. “The boy is still here!” He looked away from the man and was already moving as he called over one shoulder. “Sloane?”

  Reo ran from the room, followed by Sloane.

  I didn't know about Thulu, but I felt useless. He moved and put one arm around me.

  Jones turned his attention back to the man, whose face was purple from the strain of trying to move. He was only human though, and didn't have the ability to throw off the remainder of the spell as Satorah had. He was trapped and knew it and stopped, his face relaxing, his head falling back in defeat.

  Jones once more immobilized the man.

  “I have no idea if he has anything else to tell us, but it can wait. This place disgusts me.” Jones's face was tight. Lips set in a firm line.

  Reo and Sloane returned a few minutes later. Sloane carried a small boy, about five years old and covered in blood. The child was apparently asleep. Sloane carried him to a sink and began to rinse the blood off of him, while Reo explained.

  “There are four other people already dead. This boy was the only one left alive. He wouldn’t have lasted much longer.” Reo shook his head, his eyes haunted by what he'd see before Sloane had healed the child.

  “Sloane healed him, wiped his memory and kept him asleep. We need to find out who he is, though, and return him to his parents.”

  The other two men returned. “We moved the bodies to one room. Do you want to dispose of them?” one of the men asked Jones.

  Jones nodded and frowned as he caught the look on my face. “I suppose you want me to try to identify them?” he asked sarcastically.

  “Why, yes, Jones, how thoughtful of you. That would be lovely. Thank you.” I said, sweetly.

  The look I got in return was nothing short of a glare, but he ordered the men to attempt to find some identification on the other victims after they locked Grant and her companions up.

  Jones materialized clean clothes for the boy. I stayed away. I didn't want that kid's face haunting me. Even though I knew he wouldn’t remember anything, I wouldn’t soon forget the enormous amount of blood that had covered him. And the haunted expression on Reo's face told me I didn't want to know anymore. My imagination was far too vivid as it was.

  Jones did another partial reversal of the spell on the Asian man and found where they’d kidnapped the boy. He'd been playing in the yard at a foster home in Chicago. No adults were present when he'd been simply carried away.

  Grant and her people were locked away, secured by spells and a locked room. We turned our attention to the boy.

  Jones created another portal and he and Sloane reconnoitered the home where the child lived, since they could stay invisible. They took the boy's memory back to playing in the yard and left it there. However, during the connection Sloane discovered that the foster parents were abusive. He saw pictures in the child’s mind and insisted that the boy be taken to a police station instead of being returned to the foster home.

  Jones said nothing, but closed the portal leading to the foster home and opened another. He made another adjustment to the child’s memory. I insisted that Jones wait after the boy was dropped off and make sure the boy made it inside safely. Jones actually did as I asked. He assured me that once inside the child told a cop that he was lost, but had left home because he was afraid. The fact that Jones did it all without complaint rather surprised me.

  Once the child was safe and Jones had returned to us, he made a portal for us to return home. Thulu, Reo, Sloane and I used it. Jones said he had a few things to do before going back to his own home. I was pretty sure I didn't want to know what those things were.

  As we stepped back into our own living room, I breathed a sigh of relief. I hadn't realized just how foul that place smelled until it was gone and I was home.

  “I'm going upstairs and take a shower before we go pick up Carter,” I said. I wanted to wash the smell of that place off my skin and get out of those clothes. I felt contaminated.

  “Actually, I'll go get him while you shower,” said Thulu.

  “I need one as well,” Reo said. His and Sloane's clothes were bloody. Yeah, probably not a good idea to go anywhere looking like they did. Sloane took Reo’s hand and they teleported out.

  I went upstairs and through our bedroom into our master bathroom at the back of the house. I loved our bathroom; we'd spent a lot of time and effort creating it. We'd installed ultra-modern touch fixtures. Black marble and porcelain dominated the room which included a large Roman tub. Large plants created the
feeling of a forest clearing. Our wonderful shower, complete with numerous showerheads and a waterfall, often washed away more than dirt. It helped clear my mind, since I could hide behind the waterfall on a recessed seat and let the sound of the water soothe me.

  I didn't linger that day, though, and it wasn't long before I went back downstairs, squeaky clean from head to toe and dressed in sweats, but still feeling the effects of that horrible room.

  Thulu was back already and headed up for his own shower, while I chatted with Carter about his time with his grandfather.

  Reo and Sloane returned within minutes after Thulu came back downstairs. Everyone may have had showers, but the memories weren’t as easy to wash away. We sat around the family room speculating about what we thought Jones was going to do. Which of course was silly because who knew what Jones was going to do at any given moment? But it helped pass the time and gave us some distance from the events of the afternoon.

  Parker and Jenna came home and the three kids went upstairs to play in Carter's room. Parker was teaching Carter how to play checkers, just as he had taught Jenna before.

  It was an interesting experiment that I'd watched when Parker first had the idea. With Jenna, he'd materialized a board and the two of them played. With Carter, it was a whole new thing. In the past, Parker wasn't able to exert much control over things in the physical world. But I noticed his control was becoming stronger, as he managed to find a way to move the checkers.

  Usually the dead required some sort of strong emotional attachment to have any effect on the physical world. Parker had been able to control things like the volume on the TV, the power switch, that sort of thing for a long time. He thought it had to do with being able to control electrical currents, far easier than dealing with the physical realm. But his control was more pronounced, perhaps due to interacting with Carter on a regular basis. I wondered just how far Parker would be able to take it.

  It wasn’t long before everyone was ready for dinner, so we moved to the kitchen to start preparing.

  The rain had finally let up, but the late afternoon was still gray and overcast. Sloane must have ducked out to Avalon at some point because he took over the center island with some fruits and vegetables I didn't recognize.

  Thulu lined up his herbs and worked on the halibut. Reo sat at the breakfast nook, sipping a glass of wine and occasionally throwing out suggestions at them.

  My phone sang its ring-tone to me, and I picked it up when I saw Jones's name.

  He asked if we were busy, and I told him we were just getting dinner ready.

  “May Stuart and I come over if we bring wine?” Jones asked. He sounded better, his usual self-assurance coming through.

  “You can come over, even if you don't bring wine,” I said. “But wine is always welcome.”

  We had a modest wine cellar, but Jones's put ours to shame. Of course, he'd had centuries to build his, but it was still an intimidating collection. He could always be counted on to bring something particularly spectacular and delicious.

  I told the others that we would have more guests, and Thulu added more halibut filets to defrost in the bowl of water in the sink.

  Jones's estate was outside of San Francisco, overlooking the ocean. We passed the time in mostly useless speculation until he and Stuart arrived.

  I went to answer the knock on the door when it sounded. Jones and Stuart followed me back to the kitchen, and Stuart set the bottles of wine on the table in the breakfast nook. Reo looked at the bottles and gave a whistle.

  “Wow, Jones, you must want a really big favor to be parting with these,” said Reo, as he read the label of one of the wine bottles.

  He showed one of the bottles to Thulu, who gave his own appreciative whistle. “Bouchard Pere et Fils Montrachet. 1836.” He dimpled at me.

  “1836? I'm assuming that's a good year?” I said.

  Thulu, Reo and Jones exchanged pitying looks.

  “By the by, I am not parting with anything. I am sharing something I enjoy with my dearest friends,” said Jones airily. He picked up another bottle. “I also brought this, since I was not sure which you would prefer.”

  Reo looked at the bottle closer and his expression said he'd died and gone to heaven.

  “Oh my god, Jones, DRC? Really?” He gave Sloane a look before turning back to Jones. “You know, if you ever decide you prefer men, I could always throw over the elf.”

  Everyone laughed, including the elf. We all knew Reo would never willingly part from Sloane, even after so short a time together. Fancy-schmancy wine or no.

  Jones gave a slight bow in Reo's direction. “I shall keep that in mind, but just being able to share these with those who will appreciate them is a treat. Did you see the Yquem? I haven’t tried this vintage in nearly fifty years, but they never fade. I think even La Fi will be able to truly savor that one.”

  Jones smiled sweetly at the look on my face. I ignored him and pulled out the good china, silver and crystal and began to set the dining room table. Reo even took a break from admiring the wine bottles to help.

  I called Carter downstairs and fixed a plate for him. He wasn't much of a picky eater, for which I was very grateful. He particularly liked one of the elven vegetables, a pale blue tuber that reminded me mostly of sweet potato, but different.

  Dinner was delicious and different, with the addition of the elven fruits and vegetables. I like trying new things and I enjoyed them. Some of them almost reminded me of familiar fruits and vegetables, but they weren’t quite the same. Just a teasing of taste that eluded me just when I thought I had it identified. They also brought out the flavors of the halibut and enhanced it quite differently from anything I’d had before.

  Jones had also brought dessert, something chocolate and fluffy and sweet and utterly decadent, made by his chef, Raoul.

  By the time we were done with dinner it was almost Carter's bedtime. I gave him a small bit of dessert before I took him upstairs and filled the tub for his bath, making sure I had the right amount of bubbles that he liked. Before long, I had him dressed for bed and snuggled down with a stuffed toy. Thulu came upstairs and the two of us sat beside his bed as Thulu read a bedtime story to Carter. We each kissed him good night and went back downstairs.

  The others had been putting the food away and getting the dishes loaded into the dishwasher. By the time we came downstairs, everyone was ready to move to the family room to have our dessert and try the Yquem.

  Jones was right. It was absolutely wonderful, a honeyed apricot wine that was sublime. I sighed as I inhaled deeply and sipped my wine. I opened my eyes to see Jones with a self-satisfied smile on his face.

  “Okay, Jones, you can bring this every time you come to dinner.” I smiled contentedly at him.

  I thought he choked a little. “Very funny. Always the joker, La Fi.”

  That probably meant it was horribly expensive and he had a limited store. I made a mental note to ask Thulu later.

  Jones leaned back in his chair, took another sip of his wine and savored it before he said, “I have a proposal for you.”

  Thulu and I exchanged a glance, Reo raised an eyebrow and Sloane looked mildly interested. For Sloane that was a lot of expression.

  “I have no choice but to bring Satorah up on charges before our Royal court. However, I am not quite sure what the current feeling is back on my world. We have come a long way in rebuilding what we once had. My people are not as militant, nor as vengeful, as in times past. This does not mean that we are back completely to what we once were.

  “Our numbers were severely diminished by the wars with the Light Ones. Each time we would rebuild a little, only to go back to war and need to start over again. The process to rebuild our losses is a slow one. Also, we have never been a people who had many children. Being immortal comes with a price and our children are few and therefore cherished.

  “So, you can see why rebuilding our population would take time. Yet, we have rebuilt. We have undergone our own Renaissanc
e, as any people who have been oppressed will. In fact, we have gone through several.

  “We have not had open warfare with the Light Ones in almost a thousand years. The hostilities remain and there have been minor skirmishes, but not outright war and not on our home worlds. I had hoped with the news that Gabriel was gone, my people could relax for the first time. Michael is and always has been far easier to deal with. I have great hopes that we can put hostilities aside between our peoples once and for all.

  “But if Satorah is not an aberration, if she does represent an actual faction within our ruling class, then I must be prepared to deal with that.” Jones sipped at his wine thoughtfully for a moment.

  “Regardless of the situation there, I must return to my home world. After careful consideration, I have also decided to take the Light Ones who need to be returned to their own world with me.”

  There was a silence as we all took this in. I really hadn't expected Jones to do it. I fully expected him to leave the Light Ones to their own devices at best. Or put them out of their misery at worst. An altruistic Jones was something I didn't completely trust, but perhaps I was being unfair. After all, he had promised to cut back on the killing.

  Jones intrigued me, but his actions were unfathomable at times. No matter how human he appeared, he was not human. He was ancient, he was a killer and he could be ruthless. I'd also seen him be kind, generous and charming. Those were the times when I could see why the ancient Greeks had considered daemons to be benevolent beings.

  “Wow, Jones,” I said. “I have to tell you I really wasn't expecting that.”

  “I do enjoy being unpredictable,” he said smugly, with one eyebrow raised.

  Reo snorted. “So where do we come in, Jones?”

  “I spent some time speaking to Aurelia and Belus. They have confirmed that the only way into the Light Ones' world is through our portal. They have agreed to help organize an expedition to the world of the Light Ones via my home world.

  “I think if I bring other races, it will be safer for the Light Ones. Under the theory that there will be interest in meeting other races to dilute the presence of the Light Ones. I also want to back up my own testimony against Satorah with those who have less reason to be biased.