by John Corwin
I heard a faint clicking noise and looked at David. He seemed as lost in thought as I was. I heard another click, and another. I wondered if a dreamscape had formed inside the garage and looked around for the source. My search revealed nothing except a mostly empty parking deck. I was just about to give up when I realized how familiar the clicking sounded—like claws on concrete.
"Oh, crap," I said an instant before Gloria Richardson burst around the corner.
Chapter 13
Elyssa
Unsure what to believe, Elyssa glared at Jeremiah Conroy, fear and anger forming a poisonous mixture in her stomach. "Daelissa told you where Justin is?"
He nodded. "She called not long ago."
"You tell me not to go after Justin because he has a purpose in the Gloom, but admit you're still friendly with Daelissa." Elyssa's hand itched to draw steel, but she knew it would be a futile gesture. "How can I believe a word you say?"
Jeremiah closed the door to the vault and walked down the hallway. "My relationship with her is far more complicated than you could imagine." He entered his office and picked up the glass of amber liquid. "I have no intention of divulging more about the subject, so you'll simply have to take my word for it."
"How can I take the word of a traitor to the human race?"
His hand visibly tightened on the glass. "Traitor?" For once, emotion colored his voice. "I will have you know I've done more for Eden than you could dream."
"Like how you helped Daelissa sway the Arcane Council to her side? Or armed vampires with weapons enchanted to penetrate Templar armor?" She folded her arms. "The list goes on and on, Jeremiah."
He seemed to regain control of his emotions and waved his hand as though her words didn't matter. "As I said, you know nothing."
"It sure sounds like something," Ivy said. She stood in the doorway, eyes narrowed. "You seem to do a lot of bad things. I know you've sprinkled some good in there, but why won't you tell me the truth?"
Jeremiah chuckled. "The truth, my dear?" He sat down as if the weight of the world suddenly rested on his shoulders. "The truth is a very difficult thing to pin down."
The girl shook her head. "Not really. Either you did something bad or you didn't. You want me to be your granddaughter again? Well stop lying to me!" Her last sentence was the shout of someone desperate to be heard. "You and Bigmomma—Eliza—and Daelissa told me all this stuff and then I find out from my brother that you were using me! I hate the lies and I hate being used. I'll never be your little girl again unless you stop lying!" Ivy's fists clenched, eyes blazing with white fire.
Elyssa sensed a catastrophe might be brewing if Ivy didn't calm down.
Jeremiah nodded. "Very well, Ivy. The truth is Daelissa killed someone very special to me a long time ago. I have been treading a delicate line between pretending to assist her and plotting my revenge."
"Why did my parents give me to you?" she asked, the glow fading from her eyes.
"Your mother, Alysea, was nearly killed in the Desecration. Leyworms saved her, in a sense, rebirthing her as an infant."
"Like the leyworms in the El Dorado way station?" Elyssa asked. She'd seen leyworms swallow husked angels and spit them back out some time later as baby angels. Jeremiah had found out about it, or possibly knew about it all along.
"Precisely," he said. "I have something of a relationship with some of the leyworms. They delivered her to me, and I cared for her."
"That still doesn't answer my question," Ivy said in a stern voice.
"When you were born, Alysea still didn't have full control or knowledge of her abilities." He sighed. "Daelissa wanted to keep her in the dark, going so far as to white out Alysea's memories as they emerged. The two of them were once friends, but fought on opposite sides of the war."
Ivy nodded. "Mom told me that."
"Yes, well, as a result, Alysea couldn't teach you what you needed to know. Daelissa saw you as her protégé—her right hand." Jeremiah swirled the liquid in his glass. "She wanted to control you in the hopes you would one day be able to help her repair the Grand Nexus."
"What did you see me as?" Ivy asked.
He smiled gently. "My granddaughter. I wanted you to learn how to use your powers. With my guidance, I tried to keep Daelissa from completely controlling you."
"That's not the whole truth, is it?" Elyssa asked. "You wanted something else out of the arrangement."
He leaned forward. "It pains me to say this, Ivy, but I also had selfish reasons for raising you. I wanted you to help me avenge my beloved wife."
Ivy's forehead wrinkled. "But, isn't Eliza your wife?"
"She is, but it is an arrangement," he said with a sigh. "I'm sorry—"
"Sorry doesn't cut it!" Ivy shouted. "You used me. Daelissa used me. Everyone wants to use me but my Mom and Justin."
"The truth is painful," Jeremiah said, shoulders slumping. His eyes looked tired. "It is a terrible burden, child."
A tear ran down Ivy's cheek. "Do you know how awful it is to find out people you love are bad guys?"
A bell chimed. Jeremiah waved a hand at the wall, and the image of a limousine pulling up the long winding driveway appeared. "Why is Eliza back already?" he said, as if to himself. The limo reached the end of the driveway. The rear door opened.
Elyssa's heart stopped. "Daelissa!"
"You must leave this instant," Jeremiah said.
"The portal is upstairs," she said. "We have to pass the front door to get there."
Elyssa heard the front door open and shut. Jeremiah drew a symbol on the wall to his right and a small compartment appeared behind an illusionary panel.
"There's only room for one," he said. "Hide, Miss Borathen. Ivy will be fine. Daelissa doesn't know she isn't living here anymore."
Elyssa didn't have time to argue. She ducked into the small compartment.
Jeremiah made a motion with his hand. "The illusion is in place. She cannot see you." He turned to the girl. "Ivy, you must not tell her you've gone to live with your brother. Do you understand?"
Ivy looked a little stunned by the quick developments, but nodded. As if it were an afterthought, Jeremiah grabbed a lollipop from a jar on his desk and gave an orange one to Ivy.
She regarded it dubiously. "I don't like orange."
"They let him escape!" Daelissa said, coming into the office without so much as a by-your-leave. "I delivered him into their hands, and the fools could not find him."
"I assume you're speaking of Justin Slade," Jeremiah said.
"Of course I am!"
Elyssa was able to see Daelissa clearly through the illusionary wall. Having certain death only inches from her should have terrified her. Instead, she worried desperately about Ivy. The girl sat on the divan across from Jeremiah's desk, licking the orange sucker.
Daelissa suddenly seemed to realize Ivy was there, and knelt. "Your demon spawn brother is an evil little nuisance."
"What happened?" Ivy asked, her eyes flashing dangerously.
Please don't try to kill Daelissa, Elyssa thought.
"Is that not always the question, child?" Daelissa ruffled the girl's hair. "It is an important question to ask when someone has failed you. A good leader listens to their miserable excuses patiently. Once they have explained their incompetence, it is important to set an example for the others."
"Don't give them lollipops?" Ivy asked.
A girlish laugh escaped Daelissa. "You are precious as ever, my sweet." She shook her head, and flicked her forefinger out as if pointing at something. A thin blade of white light formed at the end. "I prefer severing their limbs with Brilliance." She smiled sweetly. "Sometimes, burning out an eye is also very useful."
"I think you told me this once," Ivy said. "Wasn't it when you were teaching me how to be a good leader?"
"Why, so it was," Daelissa said. The shard of Brilliance puffed away. She stood and turned to Jeremiah. "The Colombian front has engaged the rebel Templars."
"Do you think the vampires are u
p for the fight?" Jeremiah asked.
She pshawed. "Most of them are drug lords or slave runners, not warriors. They are rats, chipping away at the rebels, nothing more."
"Maximus certainly created quite a network," he said. "It was a great loss when the Slade boy took him out of the fight."
"It is almost as if the universe wishes to torture me," Daelissa said with pouting lips. "I had hoped I could use the boy."
"You told me that earlier," he said. "What is he helping you with?"
The angel smiled. "When Darkwater was clearing the husks from Thunder Rock, they made some most startling discoveries."
"To which discoveries are you referring?"
"Let us save it for a surprise," she said. Daelissa turned to Ivy again. "Darling, have you been practicing your singing?"
"Of course," she said, and began to sing. "Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream."
Daelissa's smile flattened. "Still too young." She sprang to her feet. "We should find that horrible mother of yours. Traitor. Bitch. Demon lover!" Her eyes flashed to Jeremiah. "I need her now more than ever. I must task you with finding her."
"Why now?" Jeremiah asked. "Has something recently changed?"
The angel laughed. "Everything has changed, but I lack the tool to fix it."
"You realize I can't help you if you don't tell me what you're trying to fix." He rose and poured himself another glass of alcohol. "Besides, you don't need Alysea. All that tampering you did with her mind made her forget how to attune the Cyrinthian Rune, which, I might add, we still haven't found. Are you sure it wasn't destroyed in the Desecration?"
Daelissa stared vacantly for a long moment. She blinked slowly, as if waking up. "I lost myself again, Jeremiah. It is happening more frequently."
"You blacked out again?" he asked.
A tear trickled down the woman's cheek. "Yes. I was talking about something—was it singing?"
"You were telling me about a surprise Darkwater found," he said.
She snapped her fingers. "Ah, yes. I will show you when I'm ready." Daelissa looked down at Ivy. "You are the most precious possession I have left, child. Your mother abandoned me again. Promise never to leave your dear aunt."
Ivy visibly swallowed. "I promise, Aunt Daelissa."
The woman hugged Ivy tight and kissed her on the head. "The Synod has things well in hand here. Now, I must run to Colombia for a time. Continue your studies, and perhaps I will take you and your grandparents to see something wonderful."
"Be careful," Ivy said.
Daelissa burst into laughter. "You are too sweet, child." She kissed Ivy on the cheek. "Farewell." Without even saying goodbye to Jeremiah, she left as quickly as she'd come.
Elyssa didn't dare come out until Jeremiah gave her the all clear. "Is it my imagination, or is Daelissa absolutely crazy?"
Jeremiah's gaze settled on her. "She is quite insane at times, though lucidity returns after feeding."
"Why don't we just let her go insane then?" Elyssa asked.
"You do not want that," he said. "You might as well let a nuclear bomb go off."
"I think I understand why you wanted to kill the vampires now," Ivy said. She stuck out her tongue and threw the orange lollipop in the garbage. "Daelissa is using them to build an army. You were trying to stop her."
"Yes," Jeremiah said, a smile creeping across his face. "Very insightful, my dear."
"Not all vampires are bad, though. Just Maximus and his master were bad." She frowned. "Justin fixed things so the vampires only lost their powers instead of killing all the good ones with the bad."
"To remove a greater evil, one must sometimes sacrifice the innocent," Jeremiah said.
"You're talking about killing dozens of innocents just to exterminate a few bad apples," Elyssa said.
"Daelissa would merely have found new leaders among these innocents you speak of," he replied.
"You're almost good," Ivy said. "I think you need to keep working on it, Jeremiah. When I think you're good enough, maybe then we can talk about you rejoining the family." She stood. "Let's go, Elyssa. I'm done talking with him."
As they left the room, Elyssa glanced at Jeremiah. For the first time, he looked old and very tired. She couldn't imagine how harsh a toll playing double agent exacted on someone, but it was very evident in his posture and voice.
"Remember, Miss Borathen, there is nothing you can do to stop the boy's destiny." Jeremiah drew in a long breath. "I would advise you to wait."
Elyssa didn't reply. She knew Justin and his father were at least not prisoners of Daelissa, even though being trapped in the Gloom was no laughing matter. Finding them would be nearly impossible, at least until she had a way into the Gloom. She needed the Exorcist church for that, but the Borathen Templars were too busy fending off Daelissa's advances in Atlanta and Colombia to help. It meant she had little choice but to wait, or search for alternate ways into the Gloom.
She would never rest easy until Justin was back.
Chapter 14
I shoved David out of the way as the raptor leapt. Pain seared across my back as the raptor claw raked my skin. Despite the pain, I managed to roll away as the dinosaur skidded to a stop on the concrete.
Timothy leered down at me. "Surprise."
"Surprise this, bitch." My father fired his pistol.
A bullet slammed into Timothy's arm. He spun off the back of the raptor with a shout of pain and surprise. The raptor stopped its attacks, freezing in place like a statue as the vampire writhed on the floor, screaming. David reached down a hand and pulled me to my feet.
"Turn around, son."
I was in too much pain to argue his use of the word, "son", and did as he asked.
He hissed. "We'll need to patch that up. The talon cut to the muscle."
I tried to nod, but a wave of nausea rolled through me. I leaned against a nearby support column and fought the urge to vomit. When I caught my breath, I looked up to see the velociraptor melting into gelatinous goo before my eyes. "What the heck?" I groaned.
David dropped to a knee, right on Timothy's chest. Air exploded from the vampire's mouth. My father gripped the vampire by the throat and shoved the gun to the other man's temple. "Well, well, well, Timothy Burkmeyer. Time to end your pathetic existence."
"No, please," the vampire begged, tears streaming down his face. "I'm desperate for fresh blood. Gotta have it. Don't kill me." He blubbered, saliva foaming at his mouth.
My father pistol-whipped him. The vampire's head lolled to the side. "I'm going to enjoy torturing you to death for what you've put me through, you pathetic germ. You puny speck. Do you have any idea who I am?"
Timothy shivered and drew in a deep breath. "N-no."
I sucked in a breath and spoke. "No torture."
David ignored me. "I'm the man who's going to give you a choice. Do you want me to torture you to death, or do you want to help us?"
A glimmer of hope shone in the vampire's teary eyes. "Help you?"
"Good idea." My father jammed the muzzle to the vampire's forehead. "One wrong move and I will end your insignificant life. Capisce?"
"I'll do anything," Timothy said.
By this point, Gloria Richardson looked like a wax statue left in the hot sun too long. Despite the haze of pain, I realized such a construct as this creature must require a great deal of concentration to keep intact. How much concentration, I didn't know. All I really wanted at that point was a painkiller. Gritting my teeth, I concentrated on the nearby stores, and spotted a pharmacy across the way as my father continued to talk to the vampire.
After a moment, he jerked the other man to his feet. Even without supernatural strength, my father seemed pretty strong. He also seemed a little psychopathic with all the talk of torturing the other guy to death. True, Timothy could have asked us nicely for blood instead of threatening us with disemboweling by dinosaur, and granted, I'd like to beat the guy to a pulp. But torturing someone to death was going a little too far for my tastes.<
br />
"I want you to tell your pet dino there to rip open the metal door," David said.
Timothy looked at his raptor and groaned. "Oh, Gloria, you look terrible."
"If the dino makes one false move, your brains will be all over the Gloom." David pressed the barrel firmly to the man's temple.
"It will take time for me to reconstitute her."
David shook his head. "Her claws look intact. If my reasoning is correct, all you need to do is tell what's left of poor Gloria to do what I say." He tightened his fingers around the vampire's throat. "Am I right?"
Timothy gulped. "Yes."
"Then do it."
The half-molten shape of Gloria Richardson firmed up and walked to the door. With a few quick slashes of the talons, the metal roll door crashed to the ground, and the glass doors behind it shattered.
"Pharmacy," I wheezed, unable to move my arm to point as fire seemed to burn in my back.
David directed the vampire's gaze to the store. "Have her open that one up as well."
The headless raptor loped across the parking deck and made short work of the entrance to the pharmacy.
My father looked at me. "Can you walk on your own, Justin?"
I nodded, unable to stop from wincing. Every step was agonizing. It felt as if my back muscles were tearing with every step. I let my father lead the way, his gun never straying from the vampire's head.
"How do you create things in the Gloom?" he asked the vampire.
"It's too difficult to explain."
David's grip squeezed the wound on the vampire's arm. "Tell me or I'll blow off a kneecap."
Timothy howled in pain. "Stop it! I'll talk!"
"Spit it out," David said, his hand releasing the wounded arm.
"The Gloom responds to dreams." Timothy looked at the flesh wound and winced. "You have to trick your mind into a lucid dream state."