“Jillian, my dear, when you're rested enough could you please come upstairs to get cleaned up? I've laid out a black dress for you in my bathroom. The dress is yours to keep if you would like it. We acquired it on our last shopping trip among some other clothes you may be interested in,” Thorn explained, smiling over Jack’s shoulder. “We don’t have any other ladies here so you’re welcome to whatever is there.”
“Yes, please,” Jillian said, smiling brightly as if she wanted to get up and run to the clothes.
“Caleo, may I speak with to you for a moment … in private?” Thorn stepped out into the hallway. When Caleo reluctantly joined him, Thorn looked back into the room to make sure Jack hadn’t followed before saying, “Since you're the Angel, it's time you took your place as head of the Blessed, we are yours to command and I'll be here as your advisor.”
“Okay,” Caleo said, raising an eyebrow, knowing that there was more to this conversation coming.
“Well, as the Angel I want your first job to be to punish Nolan for his crime.”
“What?” Caleo said, panic setting in. “I can’t do that, I don’t even—” Caleo protested, but stopped when Thorn started laughing.
“Don’t worry, I will be here to help you.” Thorn placed his hand on Caleo’s shoulder. “We also need to find a safe place for your family to stay.”
Surprised, Caleo looked at him. “They are staying with me,” Caleo said firmly, shrugging off Thorn’s hand. “They are my family.”
“I am your family,” Thorn countered, his coolness replaced with a hint of anger. “You're the last of my blood line; you and your grandmother were all I had left. Once a man becomes a Leech, we can no longer reproduce. Back in my day that wasn’t a problem. We had families young. Nowadays, well, you kids don’t marry as young as we did back then,” Thorn said. “So as you can see, I have more invested in your life than you know.”
“You mean I can’t have kids?” Caleo asked, changing the subject because he knew he wasn’t planning on staying anyway.
“No, you can. When I said Leeches can’t, I meant normal Leeches can’t. You keep forgetting you’re a breed of your own. Well, you can, once … You know, this would be a lot easier in the Library of Atlantis,” Thorn explained.
“Atlantis?” Caleo said in wonder more than a question.
“Not Atlantis, the Library of Atlantis. The library is real, the island on the other hand … well, I always thought of it as a joke, but some of the older Leeches, even older than me, believe that we're the decedents of the people of the Island of Atlantis.”
“Really?” Caleo asked.
“Well, it’s something some of us believe,” Thorn said. Then as he saw a man hurrying toward him from down the hall. “I better make sure that everything is prepared,” Thorn said calmly, walking away from Caleo before turning and saying, “Tell Gabriel to carry Jillian up to my room and let her get a shower. You and Jack get ready. I had your dress clothes put in my room, too.”
“Thank you,” Caleo said and went back into the room.
Not long after they were in Thorn’s room, waiting while Jillian showered. “It feels so good to be clean,” she yelled from behind the beach print shower curtain in Thorn’s master bathroom. Jack had convinced her leave the door open so he could run in there if she needed him.
“Just hurry up, okay?” Jack said impatiently as he watched Stinky slowly creeping towards the bathroom from under a dresser. “You know I’m going to kick you if you go in there,” Jack said and Stinky looked up at him. “Yeah, I’m talking to you, fur ball.”
Stinky flopped down in his tracks and watched Jack carefully, flicking his tail in irritation. Caleo rolled his eyes as he left the room and went into the kitchen. After a quick check to make sure no one was around Caleo opened the nearest cupboard and found it full of canned goods and closed it.
“If you're looking for food, he keeps his secret stash of snack cakes in that one over there.” Caleo jumped at the sound of Nolan’s voice.
“I wasn’t looking for the snacks,” Caleo snapped, turning to face him.
“I wanted you to know I didn’t mean to hurt your sister,” Nolan said softly.
“Oh, but you meant to kill Jack?” Caleo retorted.
“Kill? No,” Nolan said with a smile. “Maybe just hold his head underwater until he passed out. But in my defense, he did attack me first.”
“I can’t do this,” Caleo said, the disappointment in his voice making it barely above a whisper.
“You don’t have to do anything,” Nolan said plainly. “I told you I'll follow you no matter what you choose to do.”
“But Jack—” Caleo said softly.
“He doesn’t understand what your life is going to be like. You're one of us. We're immortal, we don’t age. In thirty years they will be old and we'll be the same. He's just afraid and doesn’t understand.”
“What does he not understand?” Thorn’s voice asked calmly behind Nolan.
“I was explaining—” Nolan started to say, but was interrupted by a man bursting through the front door.
“They are dead … the guards are dead … they found us!” the man said between breaths.
“Lock down the base! Everyone protects the Angel. Get him to the underground,” Thorn ordered the man, then turned to Nolan. “Get the kids out and then get the book; take them through the walls while the others distract them. Go protect him. Whatever it takes, keep him safe or we're all done.”
Nolan grabbed Caleo by his shirt, pulling him down the hall to Thorn’s room. “Jack. Get your sister now! We have to go!”
“Who the hell let you out?” Jack asked, standing ready to fight in his slacks and white dress shirt.
“Jack, the Blessed are outside, we have to go!” Caleo said urgently as he pushed past Nolan
“Jillian, get out here. We have to go now!” Jack yelled in the door. “They found us!” Jillian appeared holding a towel tightly to her chest as she ran for the dress laid out on the bed.
She slid it over her head while letting the towel fall to the floor as Jack dragged her away.
“If this is some sort of joke, I'm so going to kill you,” Jillian said, her hair dripping wet as she tried to straighten the dress down over her legs.
“This way, now!”
Nolan shoved Caleo out the door and down towards the stairs, but stopped him a few feet short of the first step and pushed on the wall. A one foot panel hinged inward making a skinny door.
“Inside quickly and keep going,” Nolan said, pushing Caleo inside followed by Jillian who jerked away at his touch.
“You’re not going to fit in here,” Jack said, looking at Nolan as he slid sideways through the door.
“I’m going another way. I'll meet up with you at the end. First left, then stay on the path, and hold onto these,” Nolan took off down the steps as Jack pushed the wall back into place. They scooted down the narrow passageway, their chests scraping against the wall, studs every sixteen inches.
“Something just touched my foot,” Jack whispered.
“Meow.”
“Stinky, you stupid cat. Keep your voice down, you'll get us killed!” Jack whispered, but couldn't see him inside the dark passage. “Caleo,” Jack whispered.
“I’m up ahead, keep coming. I think we're between the walls of the bedroom and the kitchen,” Caleo whispered. “Hey, there's a split up ahead. Which way do we, go left or right?”
“Do you see any light?” Jack whispered.
“No.”
“Jack, something touched my leg,” Jillian whispered in an almost whimper.
“It’s just your stupid cat,” Jack hissed.
There was some muffled commotion on the other side of the wall and everyone froze in place for a moment as they heard Thorn greet the intruder from the other side of the wall in front of them.
“Go left, away from them,” Jack said, doing his best to help Jillian along as they went. “You've to keep going. I'll carry you when we get ou
t of here,” Jack whispered.
“Where is the boy?” the intruder’s voice echoed through the wall.
“He's safe. Now would you like to tell me why you have barged into my home unannounced and killed five of my guests without warning?”
“Alix has been informed of your scam and has ordered the capture of you and the boy, and the extermination of anyone who may believe these lies about him being the Angel,” the intruder said angrily.
“Caleo wait, they are talking about you,” Jack whispered, and they all put their ear as close to the wall as they could.
“But, as you yourself have seen the proof, back when you killed my kin a few days back, he's the Angel,” Thorn said, his pleasant demeanor never wavering. “Alix has died and a new Angel is born.”
“I've seen nothing of the sort, for all I know he may just be powerful. Besides, I'm no Angel and he didn’t out match my power.”
“That’s Grandma’s killer!” Caleo said out loud, slapping a hand over his mouth a moment too late to hold back his stupidity.
“You got rats or something in your walls, old man?” Will asked.
Moments later a fist came crashing through the drywall, dust and light flew through the hole. Will stuck his head through and looked around. A low moan made him look down and he noticed a little kitten looking up at him from under the hole before it hissed and took off running.
“I’m getting irritated, old man. I know he's here, and he can either show himself or I'll have to smoke him out,” Will said, placing his hand flat on the wall just above the hole as he turned and looked at Thorn who was still calmly sitting in his chair at the table. A thin line of smoke rose from under Will’s palm followed by the paint around it bubbling, then a ring went from white to yellow to brown. “We put a tracer in him when we found him stealing supplies the other day and have been tracking him since. He isn't going to get far. He's been really helpful, he led us to his base camp, then he helped us find you. Alix should have known all this trouble was caused by you. We should have killed you years ago.”
A tracer? Caleo couldn’t believe his ears. “They have been tracking me. This is all my fault,” Caleo whispered as he felt Jack trying to pull him away from the wall.
“Alix has been trying for decades now. I have a small question. By burning down my house, will it help you find him, or is your tracer lying in a pile of his ashes?” Thorn replied calmly.
Will smiled and said, “I've seen his power. He'll show himself or he will be the only thing left standing in this place.” Caleo watched a flame burst from the wall and race outward.
“Go, I'll catch up,” Caleo hissed as he scooted closer to the hole in the wall desperate to see Thorn kick Will’s butt.
“So, before you burn my house down,” Thorn got out of his chair and walked to the sink, “I would like to ask you just how you're planning on getting us both to come along willingly.” He plucked a leaf off a small mint plant on the counter top and rolled it into a ball between his fingers.
“After I find the boy, both of you will be sleeping in crates and will wake up only when Alix decides you should.”
“Ahh. But you don’t follow the Angel’s orders anymore, do you? I mean, being you're attacking the city’s people and killing defenseless old ladies. Come on, we both know Alix died and the boy is the new Angel.”
“Alix isn't dead!” Will screamed. “I've had enough of this! These lies are stupid. I've seen him with my own eyes.”
“I said died, not dead. He died seventeen years ago, passing his right to be Angel to the next in his blood line,” Thorn explained and in a quick motion flicked the rolled up mint at Will. A split second before the mint hit Will it exploded in size, growing a new plant from every crumbled piece, blocking Will’s view just long enough for Thorn to run out the front door, leaving it swinging on its hinges.
There was a loud pop of an air gun and Thorn fell to the ground convulsing as a cuff pulsed an electric current through his chest.
“Hit him again!” Will said, standing in the doorway looking down at him. “Then dose him out and move him to the truck. Get his ass out of here before his reinforcements get here. Move it!” he bellowed.
“Don’t even think about it,” Jack whispered in his ear. “You can’t help him, there are too many of them. Let’s go!” Jack pulled Caleo down the path and to the left where Jillian was waiting.
“Did we go the right way? How big is this house anyway?” Caleo asked.
“I don’t think we're in the house anymore,” Jack said, still sliding his way along the wall that had changed from wood and sheetrock, to smooth cold concrete, and was now natural stone. “We've been going in the same direction for about ten minutes now. We should have more than cleared the house.”
“Where do you think we're heading?” Jillian asked softly, almost in a whine. “I can’t see anything. I’m about to collapse and it’s freezing cold in here.”
“Just be happy you’re not in the lead. I keep running into cobwebs,” Caleo complained, awkwardly wiping cobwebs from his face since the walls were too close together for him to get his elbows in any position that he could wipe his face properly.
“Well, the cemetery is in the other direction, or at least I think it is. We haven’t been exactly going in a straight line so I’m not even sure anymore.” Jack paused for a moment to think, then continued, “Well there's the road on one side of the house. It goes down that steep hill. Then you have the woods and I think they stop at the cliff above the river, my guess is we're going deeper into the woods.”
“I just hope we get out of here soon, I’m really getting claustrophobic,” Jillian said, bumping into Caleo. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I think I see light,” Caleo said happily, continuing down the narrow tunnel increasing his speed the closer he got to freedom. He heard a meow and looked down to see Stinky speed past him towards the opening. “Stinky is just as excited about getting out of here as I am,” Caleo said to Jillian.
“Just be careful, we don’t know what might be waiting for us out there,” Jack reminded him. “We're trying to escape.”
“Let’s go, we got to get you out of here ASAP.”
The three of them stopped dead in their tracks as a man called to them from the opening, his figure silhouetted by the light shining in. After a long moment Caleo realized it was Nolan and continued to rush towards the opening. As they got near the opening Caleo could hear gun fire and commotion.
“Let’s go, let’s go!” Nolan pulled Caleo into the open air, blinding him momentarily as his eyes adjusted to the sunlight. “Watch your step, stay behind the rocks, and watch out for the cliff. Head to Gabriel, he's waiting straight ahead behind that brush. Stay low,” Nolan said sternly to each as he pulled them from the opening.
When Caleo’s eyes adjusted, he noticed that he was standing a foot from the edge of a cliff that dropped nearly seventy feet to the jagged rock bed of a small river below. A gunshot grabbed his attention and he turned to see a war zone, men in the same brown and tan uniforms as the Blessed he saw back at the store. They were all armed with guns and shooting at a bunch of men who were in slacks and button down shirts. Caleo guessed they were dressed for the funeral. Some of them were running while others were turned towards the Blessed soldiers, fighting the best they could with guns, knives, and their powers.
Caleo watched in awe as a man made purely of gray granite plowed through two of the uniformed men, knocking them to the ground and crushing them under his feet effortlessly; bullets sparked across his skin, sometimes taking chunks of him with them. Mesmerized, Caleo watched as two more men in dress clothes joined his side. One man’s form seemed out of focus, as if he was only partly there like a hologram or a mirage. He walked a few feet behind another man who shuffled his feet as he walked, throwing sand, dirt, and rocks behind him that joined in a whirlwind and swirled around his body shredding anything or anyone that got in his way. All three men looked to be ha
ving the time of their lives, smiles spread across their faces as they attacked the Blessed soldiers. Every few seconds one would falter for a few seconds and stagger, a look of pure ecstasy on their faces when the essence of a fallen comrade infused with his own in an overwhelming feeling of bliss and pain.
“Caleo, let’s go, move it,” Nolan said, pulling him along as he ran for the truck hidden behind a large pile of brush a few yards in front of them. “Don’t make their sacrifice be for nothing. They are only creating a distraction so we can get you out of here safely. They are to run as soon as we're clear.”
Caleo looked back just in time to see the man with the dust cloud get shot in the head and fall to the ground dead, his cloud of debris falling around him. Moments later the stone man howled in pure delight and rage for a moment. Then he surged forward, killing three more Blessed soldiers by running through them before picking another one up and smashing him face first into a tree trunk as thick as Caleo’s waist. Caleo turned his head as something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye.
“Jack, look out he’s behind you!” Caleo screamed, struggling to pull free of Nolan’s grip as he saw his grandmother’s killer running up right behind him. Jack whipped around just in time for Will to grab his head between the palms of his glowing, red hot hands. Jack screamed in pain as steam poured out from between Will’s fingers and Jack’s head. He punched Will in the gut in an effort to free himself from the pain, but Will only ripped his hands away from Jack’s face taking burnt flesh with it. Jack collapsed to the ground, where he lay screaming in pain covering his face with his hands.
“No!” Caleo screamed, desperately trying to free himself from Nolan’s grasp, but couldn't break free.
Nolan yelled something, but Caleo was too enraged to understand, so Nolan picked Caleo up with one arm and threw him through the air towards the truck. Caleo tried to climb to his feet only to be crushed as Jillian landed on top of him a few seconds later, screaming, tears streaming down her face.
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