by Ramy Vance
“So,” she said, “here’s the part where I bribe and threaten you.”
“Oh, I’m waiting with bated breath.”
“Give me the venom and I’ll let you all go. New identities, a fresh start. Or you can join us—”
“Why would I do something like—”
“I read your profile. I know who you are better than you know yourself,” she said. “I know that you want nothing more than to take up the mantle you inherited from your father.”
“What I want,” I growled, “is to live a normal life like a normal girl.”
Mergen grimaced.
“Shut up, Mergen,” I spat. “You’re not helping, and you’re not always right.”
To that, the Avatar of Truth was surprisingly neutral.
“He’s right,” Serena offered. “And so am I. You say you want a normal life, but yet you dress up like a Divine Cherub—for what? Because you’re bored. They’re not your problem, and yet you constantly make them your problem. You want to be your father’s daughter. You want to make up for killing him, and you think becoming a Cherub will do exactly that.”
Those last words did it for me. True or not, I’d heard enough. “And what about you? You want to save your son at what expense? The lives of others … all destroyed because of one little boy. How fucking selfish of you. How fucking—”
Serena stood. “I’d burn down the world to save him. Do you hear me? I’d kill everyone and everything if it meant fixing him. And that means you and your friends. Everyone you love. Everything you have. Give me the anti-venom or face my wrath.”
Mergen groaned with satisfaction at her rage. And that was when I saw my chance.
I stood, too, my restraints not giving me full mobility, but still enough for me to move. “And I’d do whatever I can to stop you … and not because I love Justin, but because what you are doing is wrong. You want the truth. You want my truth … You’re right. I don’t want to be normal. I don’t want to be human. I want to pick up my father’s mantle. I want to become a Divine Cherub with the power and means to save the fucking world from assholes like you. But that’s not the whole truth. There is one more piece to it…”
I let my words hang, holding Serena’s gaze before I said the one thing that I had never admitted to anyone, myself most of all.
I screamed my deepest truth.
I screamed the one truth that meant more to me than anything else.
“I don’t want to make up for killing my father. I want to become him. Become the good, selfless badass muthafu—”
That was all I needed to say, because as soon as those words came out of me, the van carriage burst open, freeing us.
Such is the power of my truth.
FACING OUR DEMONS
O K, my words didn’t have the power to crack open the steel carriage, but the meal that Mergen was eating off them did.
Mergen ballooned up like the Michelin Man on steroids, at first pushing us against the steel walls. But Mergen knew what I was trying to do and had put his arm against the wall, bracing himself so that he could push the van wall.
Seemed the truth not only let him grow, it also made him stronger, too.
We popped out of that van as the tires burst under Mergen’s increased weight.
Within seconds, I was outside, although I was still chained to the metal bench.
Good. After all, a metal bench could be used as a club.
A club I used against the soldier who was stupid enough to come after me.
Him down, I jumped onto Mergen’s back (with the bench still awkwardly attached) and rode the giant avatar as he ran downtown. I must have looked like the blonde being kidnapped by some albino King Kong.
I turned just long enough to see Serena Russo’s cold eyes glare at me as we ran away. Whatever humanity I’d seen in those eyes was gone, replaced by the hardness that comes from someone who will stop at nothing to complete her mission.
I could relate. Seems that Serena and I were cut from the same cloth.
Fine by me, I thought as I mirrored her cold stare.
↔
HELICOPTERS FILLED the sky faster than I thought logistically possible. Seems Serena had them on standby for something like this.
She was the kind of person who had contingency after contingency, and such foresight made her more formidable than most beasts I’d faced before.
Mergen cradled me like some messed-up bride as he looked for the threshold he could lift me over to safety.
“OK, Mergen, I think we can do this. Head for the cross and—”
“No. Too many.”
“So we keep running until we find an opening. Maybe if we head to a garage or—”
“Too many,” he repeated, and I saw a look in his eye I’d seen too many times before. He was going to do something stupid. “Thank you, Katrina Darling, daughter of Eoughan MacMahon, friend of Mergen the once Avatar of Truth. You are his daughter. You are him. No more hiding from that truth. Promise me.”
“That sounds a hell of lot like goodbye,” I screamed.
He smacked his lips. “Promise me.”
“Mergen—”
“Promise me,” he repeated.
“Fine, I promise. Now you promise me … no hero shit,” I yelled. “I need you to survive this. I need you to live.”
Mergen’s gaze trained on the sky as it filled with more and more helicopters, their spotlights shining on us.
“I need you to live,” I repeated. “Please.” We were passing the alley behind the McGill Bookstore. It was narrow, but also filled with huge garbage cans, big enough to hide my small frame.
I saw what he was about to do.
“I need you to live,” I said, my eyes blurring with tears.
Mergen looked down at me with soft eyes as a sad smile painted his face. He yanked the bench free of me with one tug, leaving me with just the chain around my wrist.
Then he did something I didn’t know he could. He lied. “I will,” he said, as he jumped over the first cans, dropping me inside.
The can fell over and I helplessly watched as he continued to run, cradling his arms as if I were still in them. I watched, and in that moment I swore I would never hide from the truth again.
Ever.
↔
I WAITED until I could no longer hear the helicopters. From the sound of it, Mergen had lured them away from me, up the hill, toward the cross. I suspected it was by the cross that he planned to make his stand. The Avatar of Truth and warrior poet … he was going to fight them for as long as he could so that … what?
So that I could live.
I crawled out of the can, determined to make his sacrifice mean something.
↔
I BROKE into the bookstore and stole a McGill hoodie and wool hat. I looked like the poster child for the university. Not that I cared. It was cold and I needed to get to the others.
Making my way to McGill’s Science Building, I was careful to avoid the main roads. The good thing about Montreal in the winter … it was so cold that everyone walked like they were on a mission, head down and covered in bulky clothes.
I fit right in.
When I got close to the building, Egya, Isa and Deirdre appeared from the shadows. I fully expected Egya to start cackling and make some joke about college spirit or something, but instead he just hugged me, and I could sense the fear in him.
He was trembling. Actually trembling.
“Oh thank the GoneGods, girl. I thought you were done for. But then we heard reports about a giant white ghost rampaging through downtown and, well, here you are.” He wiped away a tear.
“What’s going on?” I asked, eyeing him carefully.
“Ahh, nothing,” he said. “I was just worried.” He tried to hide his eyes.
And that wouldn’t do. Not one bit.
I grabbed his cheeks and did something I should have done a long, long time ago. I kissed him. Hard. In all my time here at McGill, Egya was the one person who truly understood
me. Ex-immortal, ex-hunter … he embraced his past and future in equal measure and tried to guide me to do the same.
He was my friend, but he was always more than that. He was the mirror I needed to see who I was.
And now I was starting to understand that. Understand myself … and well, here we are.
At first he was taken aback by my move, almost pulling away, but as soon as he clued in that this wasn’t a joke, but something for real, he leaned into the kiss, holding me tight.
By the GoneGods, he held me tight.
I don’t know how long we embraced, but it must have been quite a while. “Ahem,” I heard the encantado say. If the encantado, mistress of seduction and hopeless romantic was interrupting us, then I guessed we probably were carrying on a wee bit too long.
We pulled apart. “What was that?” Egya asked.
“Me finally accepting who I am and who I was,” I answered.
Deirdre clapped, walking in close and saying, “I shall fell a mighty tree and build you both a yurt for your wedding. I will decorate it with—”
“We’re not getting married,” I said. “How about we date first?”
“I don’t know. I kind of want a yurt,” Egya said.
I rolled my eyes and looked up the mountain, where all the helicopters circled the cross. The battle between Mergen and the World Army had begun. He was a badass warrior. He’d hold them off for a while.
He was buying us time.
He was sacrificing himself so that we could stop them.
I turned to my Scooby Gang composed of a shapeshifter, a changeling and an ex-were hyena. “OK folks, it’s time to get to work. We have an army to take down and only a few hours to get it done in.”
KAT’S TO-DO LIST
By now, stopping—or rather, killing—me was clearly number one on Serena’s To-Do list.
That was fine, because we had a To-Do list, too –
1: Plant bombs around the World Army headquarters – CHECK,
2: Isa gets Serena’s pass so we can infiltrate the facilities and then pretends to be me so Serena will chase after her – CHECK,
3: While that’s going on, call in a very real bomb threat so that said facilities will be evacuated – CHECK,
4: Isa downloads any and all useful information – CHECK,
5: I find Justin – CHECK.
GoneGodDamn, I thought as Isa and I finally got into the room where Justin was resting, we’re doing it, ladies and gents.
I rushed to Justin’s side, pulling the IVs out of his arm. He groaned with an abandoned pain as the needles left him and almost immediately, the greenish tinge started to leave him.
“Justin,” I said, shaking him.
He groaned, but didn’t move.
“Justin, come on. Wake up.”
Nothing.
Taking the syringe that Isa had prepared out of my bag, I started to inject him.
But before I could plunge it down, he woke. “What? What are you doing?”
“This is anti-venom, Justin. This will cure you.”
“Is there more?”
I was taken aback by this. This was the absolutely last thing I expected to hear from this drugged, dying man.
“What did you say?” I asked, seeking to confirm what I thought I’d heard.
“I heard them speaking … about how this is all there is. About who else needs it. Is there more of the anti-venom?”
I shook my head.
“Then give me half.”
By now Isa was by his side. “No, you need it all. Half will—”
“Buy me time while we find a way. Half. Save half for the others.”
So there it was. Justin was sacrificing himself and a guaranteed cure for the sake of others. I knew why I had loved him. A man whose soul was so pure that he’d face death for others … that was a quality in short supply in the GoneGod World.
“Will half do it?” I asked Isa.
Isa’s eyes fluttered as she muttered some calculations in her head. “Yes. He’s right, it will buy him time by keeping the poison at bay. But it will eventually come back unless—”
“Unless you find a way.” He took her hand in his. “And you will find a way.”
Isa nodded, her resolve clear.
“And”—his eyes met mine—“burn this place to the ground.”
I gave him a single nod. “On it.”
He sighed and lowered his head.
“OK, so that’s settled,” I said, plunging the needle into his arm. I gave him a wee bit more than half, but still left enough behind for … well, for Serena to do the right thing with it.
Then I left the vial for the evil, mad scientist to find.
I promised myself, in that moment, that I wouldn’t tell Isa about Serena’s son and how sick he was. There was no point to it. She didn’t need to know why Serena was doing what she was doing—it was hard enough, given how much Isa loved Justin.
As soon as the green liquid entered his system, the scales started to flake off like someone had descaled a fish on his bed. His skin turned back to human flesh color as the green undertones that had previously painted his body faded away.
He was turning back to normal, just like Isa had promised he would.
You go girl.
“Excuse me?”
“Nothing,” I muttered. “The serum is working, that’s all.”
“Good. That’s very good.” I heard her breathe a sigh of relief. “And it’s taking its toll, too. Look. He’s gone under again.”
I gave Justin a shake. Nothing. He was out, and from the way he didn’t respond to me, I could tell he’d be out for a while. “No,” I yelled back.
“Makes sense. It will be hours until the serum makes it way through his body. He will be asleep for some time.”
Looking at his limp body, I groaned. No way we could carry him out of here. He was simply too big.
But what’s the expression: when the GoneGods don’t give you the physical strength you need, they give you four wheels.
Something like that.
Nothing’s ever easy, I thought, unlocking the hospital bed wheels. Looks like I’m going to have to cart you out of here.
“Did you say something?” Isa called from the other room.
“Nothing—just thinking out loud,” I called back as I started to push the bed out of the room. Where was Egya? Once he got here, he’d be strong enough to lift Justin.
Under the rush of clicking keystrokes, she giggled. “Yeah, you do that.”
Another rush of clicks as I pushed the bed out of the restricted room and Isa was up on her feet, holding a flash drive in her hand.
OK, so that went smoothly.
The far door clicked open and Russo entered, a look of utter shock crossing her face when she saw us.
Smooth like sandpaper.
↔
“ISA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Serena asked. “Your oath.”
Isa shook her head. “You broke your promise to me, Serena. You are not trying to make this world better. You are not trying to unite us. You are trying to destroy us.”
“No, that’s not true. Our mission … my mission is to heal—”
“Put a lid on it, lady. The gig is up.” Hey, I know it’s antiquated tough-guy talk, but when you’ve lived through the era, you still get to use it.
“You!” She pointed a finger at me. “You are the cause of all this.”
I did a curtsy, circa 1800s-Scotland style.
“Don’t you see? We’re trying to fix things. Make things better.” Her eyes fixated on the flash drive in Isa’s hand. “And I cannot let you leave with that.”
Isa cupped the flash drive in her hands, and a soft glow emanated from them. When she opened her hands, the flash drive was gone. Best magic trick ever. Except it wasn’t a magic trick. It was just magic.
“The information is part of me now, along with all my other research. You’ll have to kill me if you want to stop me from having it.”
“Neat trick
, girl,” I said, channeling my inner Egya.
Russo shook her head with mounting frustration. She grabbed the phone on the wall. “Security. I need you in Main Room 1, now.”
“Not to ruin your already totally ruined day, but no one is coming to help you. This place has been evacuated.”
“What? Why?”
“Protocol. That’s what you do when something is about to go boom,” I said. “Turns out that making explosives is way easier than you’d think. Especially if you have a scientist like Isa here. So unless you think you can take on an encantado with a mean right hook and an ex-vampire with a dirk, I suggest you run.”
I could see the wheels turning in Russo’s head as she assessed the situation. She was sunk. The facility was going, and there was no way she could stop us alone.
A single tear rolled down her cheek as she realized that her life’s work was about to be destroyed. That her one mission was about to be lost for all time.
I sensed genuine pain in her, and I almost felt sorry for her.
Then Justin moaned, and any empathy I had for her evaporated with that moan.
“You don’t know what you’ve done to me,” she said. “To my family.”
“The cadets were never your family,” I said. “They were just kids that you took advantage of … That you used.” I pointed at the vial sitting on the counter. “Look, we even left half for you. Not like you’ll use it on the cadets, will you, Russo?”
Isa seemed confused, but said nothing.
Russo shot me a look of hate so sharp it could have felled a Red Cedar. She grabbed the vial of remaining anti-venom off the counter—enough, probably, to keep her son going for a little while. “You are a menace, and this GoneGod World will be better off without you.”
“Tough words for an unarmed scientist standing alone.”
“Oh, my dear Kat, I may be unarmed, but I am never alone.” She took two large steps toward one of the consoles and typed a string of letters. With her last stroke, the second Restricted Area doors opened, and the largest centaur I’d ever seen came trotting out.
So the rest of our To-Do list went like this:
6: Inject Justin with anti-venom – CHECK,
7: Escape – OK, this last one was proving to be quite difficult—and finally,