“Well if you ever need to talk more, my door’s always open. I have dozens of great sayings like that from our modern theologians.”
You do realize that if you try to fight these things with love, you’ll die and I’ll have failed in my duty, again.
Julia knew as much, but she also knew that what he said was true.
You don’t mean…
She was going to go out tonight to look for him.
You can’t be serious.
She needed the help of someone who loved humans so much that they would do anything for them.
You can’t trust him.
Someone who loved them too much.
* * *
“Now what,?” Gerard asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, now what do I do? I can’t just go back to looking at photos for small specks of light, not after all that.”
“You could try.”
“Professor!”
“Okay, okay, settle down. It’s not like you’re my first student to learn about…no wait, I think you are.”
“So?” Gerard drew out inquisitively, unsure where to go next.
“So I guess your real education should begin.”
“My ‘real education?’ Here I thought I only had two more years before I could take a break from school, and now I have so many new words to memorize. I’ll have to re-schedule everything I had planned.”
“Well you’re the one that wanted to know, stubborn little boy. I did my best to brush it aside, but you’d have none of it. What does your girlfriend think of this trait?”
“I don’t have a girlfriend professor.”
“What?” The professor looked confounded. “A good-looking young man like you with a proper head on his shoulders should have no trouble finding a girlfriend.”
“Well I haven’t found the right one yet, alright.”
“What about that one that came with you to the faculty party? She seemed nice.”
“She had freedom issues.”
“What was that? Was it contagious?”
“It was her wanting the freedom to get on with other guys without telling me, I guess you could say I’ve ‘quarantined’ her for the time being.”
“I’m sure you’ll find a nice girl sometime. There’s billions of them, so statistically you should be fine.”
“I don’t really want a statistic, professor. Why are we even talking about this?”
“I was finding out if anyone would notice if you suddenly started spending less time with them.”
“Superb. So what exactly am I going to learn now that will consume all my abundant time off?”
“You, my boy, will learn the workings of the worlds and the secrets of a Grigori.”
“Didn’t you get in trouble for that before?”
“Yes but that was teaching all humans our knowledge. One person won’t change humanity’s view as a whole like that, they’d all just think you were insane.”
“So any girl I do like will just think I’m mental. Wonderful.”
“Well no one said you’d have to tell her everything.”
“So keeping secrets will help build a solid relationship? I don’t think so professor, I can’t hide something so important from someone I really care about.”
“Good for you, and good luck. Then again it’s not like you couldn’t prove it to your theoretical girlfriend.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean…” The professor held out a hand and a small ball of golden light grew in his palm. “When you learn my secrets of the stars, you’ll be able to do many things to impress the ladies.”
* * *
The dark room was there to welcome me home. The small birdcage in the corner was silent. I approached it.
“Halleron, what is the purpose of the egg?” I ask.
The cage is silent.
“I’m fairly certain I didn’t stutter.”
“Go away, asshole,” a gruff little voice answers.
“Tell me what I want to know and maybe I will.”
“Let me out of here and I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”
“Right, would that be before or after you attach yourself to someone and try to ruin their life.”
“Hey! I give those bastards good advice!”
“How is abandoning everyone that cares about them ‘good advice,’ imp.”
“They need me to show them how to have a good time. This world is full of fun things to do, and most of them just sit there wasting their lives.”
“You’re avoiding my question.”
“Go suck on an egg, wingless wonder.”
“You aren’t being helpful, Halleron.”
“Like I care!”
“You should.”
“And why is that numb-nuts?”
“Because when you aren’t helpful, I have to convince you to cooperate.”
“Cooperate with this!” A small red arm extends past the wire bars with a rude hand gesture.
“As you wish.”
I grab the small arm and crush it in my grip, the imp screeches, not unlike an angry bird in a similar cage.
“Should I give you your arm back?”
“Oh no!” It says with false panic. “Please give me back my arm! I’ll talk, because you’re so mean you broke my arm.”
“Should I find another method of coercion?”
“Sure pal. You take all the time you want finding ways to make me talk. While you’re doing that, my master finishes what he’s doing and then comes here and skins your pretty hide till you look like me.” It smiles wickedly, knowing that I can’t spend all night on it.
“Very well.” I take a small metal cross I purchased from a street vendor out of my pocket.
“What? What’re you doing with that?” Halleron’s voice quakes.
“I think you know.”
“You, you can’t. He said you guys can’t do any of that stuff anymore.”
“He lied to you.”
“Bull!”
“Because your master would never lie? Because he’s a paragon of virtue?”
“He…he said…” It really is pathetic.
“He’s not here.” I begin lowering the cross into his cage. “I am.”
“No!” It squirms to avoid the small piece of metal, its arm still in my grasp. “Damn you Caskus! You lying sack of…”
“Thank you, Halleron.” I retract the cross and release its arm.
“What?”
“I needed to know about the egg, or at least the name of someone who does. Now I can go looking for Caskus, maybe they’ll tell me more.” I walk to the open window while it screeches.
“Yeah, you go looking for him, you son of a whore. I hope you do find him. He’ll eat your entrails in front of you!”
“Halleron, I don’t have a mother. I only have a Father.” I leap from the building but can hear its last retort.
“I just hope I’m there to see it!”
Chapter 10
This is a bad idea.
This was a good idea. Or at least the best she had.
We should try something else.
Julia couldn’t think of anything else.
You know what happened the last time we were in this part of town. You don’t even have an automo-car or whatever to get out of here quickly if things go bad.
While this was true, and it frightened her, ,Julia knew that the best way to find the Watcher would be to go to a place he watched.
They are called Grigori now, they are The Fallen.
The Fallen sounded so ominous to her ears. He certainly wasn’t ominous. How could he be evil if he saved her life?
Okay, so they didn’t fall as far as some, but they still fell. They can’t go back to the Shining City.
While not knowing what the Shining City was, it really just sounded to Julia like they were stranded or something. Maybe like refugees.
Refugees don’t do anything to have to leave their home. The Gri
gori did.
Either way, they needed his help.
You do realize that I have to leave soon? I’ll just stick around long enough to make sure you’re safe.
Julia was shocked by this revelation.
Well I did say that I mostly just needed a place to hide and recover. I’ve recovered, so I shouldn’t stay much longer.
She guessed it couldn’t last forever, but she had been getting used to having Luriel in her mind these past few days.
I’ll miss you too Julia.
Not wanting to waste time, Julia continued down the dark street. After a while, she stopped at an old bench to rest her feet. She had gotten off the bus several blocks away hoping to avoid getting any closer to where the madness had all begun. As she sat under a streetlight and the moon, she wondered where he was.
He’s not going to show up if he thinks we’re looking for him.
She looked down the street, the way she had come. Was it possible that he wasn’t watching the area as closely as she had thought?
They are always letting people down.
Julia had to wonder why Luriel despised them so much. Could it be something personal?
What? No! Why would you think that?
Someone was being highly defensive. She must have been on the right track.
They just don’t live up to anyone’s expectations.
“Luriel,” she said out loud. “Did you know any of them before it all happened?”
There was only silence in the night.
“I’m sorry if I’m prying too much.” She must have struck a sore spot.
I thought I knew them.
“What happened?”
I was wrong.
Julia continued to think about ways to attract the Watcher. She turned back to look further up the road the way she intended to travel.
A dark figure was suddenly standing in front of her in the middle of the street.
It’s him!
He approached slowly and sat down on the bench, keeping his distance.
“You’re the one who helped me the other night, aren’t you?” Julia asked cautiously.
“Yes.”
“Thank you. My name is…”
“Julia DeBourne, from 127 West Jefferson Street, who goes to Rankin High School, and enjoys Rock and Roll music.”
“You have to help me fight them.”
“Help you fight them? ”
“Yes.”
“You don’t fight them.”
“Why does everyone keep saying that?”
“Luriel is correct about this matter. Speaking of Luriel,” he looked into Julia’s eyes but was no longer speaking to her“isn’t it past time you vacated her body?”
…He’s right about that, but when I leave, I have to go back to where I came from. I won’t see you for a while, so you have to be careful.
“I promise I will. Goodbye, Luriel.”
I’m trusting you to look after Julia until I get back, Variel. Don’t let anything happen to her.
“Perish the thought,” he consented, apparently capable of hearing anything Luriel said.
Julia felt a warmth grow in her chest. It lifted her from the bench. Before long, she was several feet in the air. Suddenly, and with a bright flash of light, it, Luriel, was gone.
Without the light to support her, she fell.
Strong arms caught her. She opened her eyes and saw Variel’s perfect face looking back with a tinge of concern. He held her for a moment before gently returning her to her feet.
She pulled a few strands of hair that had fallen in front of her face back over her ear. “Thank you.”
“Yes, well.” He scratched the back of his head gingerly. “You are welcome.”
“Why is it you’re always there to help me when I’m in trouble.”
“I wouldn’t say always. You afforded yourself quite nicely with that Derrick boy without any of my assistance.”
“You saw that?”
“Um, yes. I can’t really not see things within a certain range. I’m a Watcher.”
“I thought you were called Grigori now.”
“We are.” He cleared his throat. “But we can still perform our mission if we choose. We just have to do so within our means.”
“So you choose to keep watching humanity?”
“Yes.”
“So you wouldn’t have stepped in if things got uglier?”
“No.”
“No?” she repeated in disbelief.
“I’m a Watcher. I watch. I don’t interfere.”
“Why not!”
He looked away. “The last time I did…I became Grigori.”
“But you helped me escape from that monster!”
“That doesn’t count. It was not a human threat.”
“So?”
“So…” He returned his gaze to the street. “It doesn’t count.”
An alarming thought came to her mind.
“It’s not still around here, is it? I mean, we’re not in danger, right?”
“I destroyed it. Theoretically there could be more, but I don’t sense any right now.”
Julia was relieved to hear it but was still concerned.
“Then what about that egg? It’s definitely not a ‘human threat.’ That’s for sure.”
“I’m already trying to do something about it. I was looking for some information when you two showed up.”
“Oh really?”
“Yes.”
“And what would you do if you got this information?”
“I would pass it along to those with the power to make use of it.”
“You wouldn’t act on it?”
“No.”
“What if you were the only one who could do something about it in time? What would you do then?”
“Then,” he struggled, “I don’t know what I’d do.”
“Why are you so afraid to fight when you obviously can?”
Silence hung in the air.
“I don’t want to die.”
“Nobody wants to die.”
“It’s not the same.”
“Why not?’
“Because if you die, you know where you’re going.”
“And you don’t?”
“If I die, I’m gone.”
“Gone?”
“Gone, I think.”
“You think?”
“‘Like ash on the wind’”
“What?”
“Those five words are the only clues I have. I think it means I will cease to exist.”
“It could mean something else.”
“If it does then I have yet to discover it.”
“That doesn’t mean there isn’t another answer.”
“If you know of one, please enlighten me.”
“Okay,” she thought for a moment. “Where does ash go on the wind?”
“I don’t know, and that is what scares me.”
* * *
“What do you mean the shipment never arrived!” Dorian Black was livid. His office was on the forty-seventh floor of his company’s building, the top floor. He hadn’t gotten there by accepting failure. He had spent the better part of the last hour listening to projections and profit margins, but now God had gone and thrown a wrench in his plans again.
“There seems to have been some kind of accident, the driver…”
“I don’t care about the driver!” He shouted at his young secretary.
“Yes, Mr. Black.”
“Do we have enough of the stuff from the other trucks?”
She consulted a document. “R&D says they can proceed with what they have but they can’t guarantee the project will be completed in time without more samples.”
The man standing near the window decided to enter the conversation. “What about the samples? Was there anything left?”
“Even if there were,” she consulted the document again, “they wouldn’t be viable for the…”
“Forget the samples! What about the evide
nce!” Dorian interrupted.
“No, Mr. Black. Everything was destroyed by the fire and the commissioner sends his appreciation for your contribution to the annual police and firefighters’ ball.”
Dorian Black relaxed in his tall-backed leather chair. “Good, now get out of here.”
“Yes, Mr. Black.” She turned to leave
“Wait!”
“Yes, Mr. Black?”
“Call my wife, tell her I’ll be working late.”
“Yes, Mr. Black.”
He sized her up with his eyes. “You’ll be working late too.”
“Yes, Mr. Black.”
“That’s all.”
She closed the door as she left the room, leaving the two men to discuss the problem at hand.
“How am I supposed to get anything done with such idiots working for me?” Dorian asked rhetorically as he poured himself a glass of brandy.
The man by the window looked to the door. “I don’t know, they have their uses.”
“Hah!” Dorian drank deeply. “That’s all that one’s good for.”
“She seems capable of reading reports.”
“So?” Dorian hated it when he was cryptic like this.
“Capable of growing a conscience if she reads something on one she doesn’t like. Capable of causing trouble if she doesn’t want to do something.”
“Her?”
“She could pose a threat to our plans.”
Dorian laughed. “If she had the slightest degree of self-respect do you think she’d let me yell at her like that? Or do to her what I’ll be doing to her in an hour or so?”
“I’m so pleased she has your…disdain.”
“Hah, you always know just what to say, buddy.”
“If you’re done being amused, we need to arrange another shipment.”
“Another shipment?”
“Yes, the project must be completed on schedule.”
“Do you have any idea how hard it was to collect those samples? Do you understand what it’ll take to get more?”
“Why yes, I do in fact. I’m the one that told you how to get them.”
“It’s out of the question. We barely got away with the three we did get. There’s no way we can get more”
The man grabbed Dorian by his collar and lifted him from his seat with startling speed and strength. “I decide what we can and can’t do.”
Eyes of the Watchers (Codex Grigori Book 1) Page 5