by Frankie Rose
Tess screaming.
Oliver shaking.
My mother, face down, dead, in the water.
Fumbling hands—mine—bleached white against a steering wheel.
Lights, so many lights.
Streetlights tracing by in a blur.
A cell phone, lit against a dark interior.
Red and blue in the rearview.
Red and blue.
Red and blue…
but not for us.
My mother, face down, dead, in the water
A hospital approaching.
Oliver: Get her out of the car!
A black SUV.
Two
My mother, face down, dead, in the water.
Hands, rough hands,
pulling and pulling.
Concrete.
Dirt.
Silence.
My mother…face down…
My head was ringing. There was an actual sound, too high pitched to be associated with real pain, which cut through my consciousness. Adrift, it seemed as though my thoughts would never consolidate into cohesive memories. Perhaps it was just my body taking its time to ease me back into the world. But a distant version of me, one who was privy to the events of the last four hours, was observing my struggle with some interest. That distant version of me warned not to prod too much at the fragments that came flashing back, or I might be in real danger of piecing it all back together. The distant me didn’t think I would like that.
The cycle started over with the look of horror on Tess’ face. Why did she look so scared? Something… something had happened. Tess was… bitten. Tess was bitten.
I coughed, sending a shooting spasm of pain through my whole body. Before I could respond to the all-consuming depths of the pain, hands were on me, lifting me from the floor.
It was a sensation so familiar, so safe, that part of me crumpled in on itself instantly, and I abandoned all attempts to piece myself back together. I was in his arms, after all, and there couldn’t be a safer place in the world to fall apart. For the second time in my life, I buried my face into Daniel’s chest and cried.
“Shhh. It’s okay. It’s okay,” he whispered into my hair. I could feel the pressure of his lips on my head, on the skin of my temple. I clung to him, refusing to let go. There was nothing in the realms of my imagination that could ever make me let him go.
Except…
“Touching. Very touching, indeed. I suppose I should take more of an interest in the boys my daughter fraternizes with in future.”
…that.
The sound of Elliot’s voice was enough to turn my stomach to ice. I shrank away from it, looking up and seeing Daniel first. There was a cut above his eyebrow and dried blood streaked his face. In the low light his hair was darker than any conceivable black, made even darker by the ashen, sick coloring of his skin. A deep furrow creased his brow. He was an echo of the tortured Daniel that had fallen to his knees on the steps of the British Museum, but now he wasn’t staring after his brother. He was staring at me.
“Daniel…”
He recoiled at the sound of his name. His hands tightened around me, as though I’d slapped him. “Don’t—”
“That’s right, Farley. Don’t,” Elliot called, “Don’t put your faith in this boy.”
Daniel jolted, and I finally turned to face my father. I found him seated on a high platform in front of me, beside Tobin and Jacob, just as he had been in my dream. There was a look of mild amusement in his eyes. He smiled a thin smile and crossed his legs.
“Go on. Ask me why,” he said. “Ask me why you shouldn’t put your faith in him.”
I could feel Daniel’s heart beating against me, could feel his hands holding me to him tight. “I’m not asking you anything,” I hissed.
“Stubborn little thing, aren’t you?” His cane lay across his lap. He picked it up and gestured to Daniel with a murderous glint in his eye. “I wanted to gloat over how he has betrayed you. News like that deserves taking some time over. You shouldn’t just come out with it. Delivery is so important in these situations, don’t you think?”
I narrowed my eyes at Elliot. “I think you’re crazy. And evil. And probably insane.”
Daniel’s grip around me tightened. I turned back to look up at him. He was still staring down at me, as though he hadn’t heard a word Elliot said. But he had.
“He’s right. I did betray you.” His voice was full of hurt, full of grief.
“What do you mean?” He couldn’t have. He would never hurt me.
Daniel swallowed. “I—”
“He made a deal, daughter. He’s been making deals with the Quorum all along.”
The expression on Daniel’s face confirmed it was true. He set me down on the ground. The room was spinning like a merry-go-round and I couldn’t seem to get off. “I had to,” he whispered.
“Had to. Wanted to. Such a fine line,” called Elliot. “See, Daniel here could have told the Quorum to go to hell. He could have taken you and simply disappeared. You two could have been happy. We wouldn’t have pursued you if we truly believed that you would do us no harm.”
Daniel shook his head. “He’s twisting everything, Farley. If I thought for a second that was true, then I would have taken that option. I would have done everything I could to keep the Quorum away from you.” His words were firm but he looked defeated, as though trying to convince me of his best intentions was an impossible task.
“I believe you,” I said.
Daniel flinched. “I don’t deserve the trust you have in me.”
“Finally! The truth!” Elliot shouted. He stood up and sauntered down the steps from the platform until he was less than a few feet away. “Instead of running away, tell my daughter what you vowed, dear Daniel. See how trusting she is of you then.”
Confusion welled up inside me, but I calmed my nerves and focused on Daniel. He looked lost. Whatever it was couldn’t be that bad. I tried to tell him that with my eyes, but he wouldn’t look at me.
“I vowed to let the Quorum take you. That they could have you when the time came.”
The room fell silent. The crowd of men, women and children that surrounded us held their collective breath. I began to feel as though my stomach were filled with battery acid.
“And they wanted to kill her, didn’t they?” Elliott continued. “They wanted to sacrifice her to Aldan and get rid of her once and for all.”
I shot Daniel a confused look. “They… they wanted to kill me? Is that true?”
“It’s not that simple.” He was staring at his feet. His chest rose and fell quickly. “I made them promise to look for another way to—,”
“Semantics!” Elliot cried. He made his way closer and stood before me. He tilted my chin towards him with the top of his cane, the same way he had done the first time we’d met in my dreams. “The fine print of such a deal is exactly that: fine print, often ignored or agreed upon to placate the other party. Daniel knew what he was agreeing to when he told Nevoi she could have you. Tell me, what kind of person would do such a thing?”
He was too close to ignore now, and Elliot’s cold eyes bored into me, pressing me into the floor. I bit back the urge to call him something really terrible and stepped away.
“If he says there was no other way, then I believe him.”
“Oh? You really are under the impression that Daniel does everything out of your best interests? What about letting me inside your head? That was completely avoidable. Don’t think for a second he didn’t sanction that little escapade.”
“That…that was different,” I stammered.
“How so? I could have killed you if I had wanted to. He knew that, and yet he still risked your life in order to accomplish some half-baked plan. Yes, that’s right. We know all about the talisman. What and who it is.”
For the first time, I realized what Elliot was trying to do. It was going to take a lot more than that to drive a wedge between us. “Daniel only let you in becau
se he didn’t know you could hurt me. He’s not like you,” I spat. I reached out and found Daniel’s hand, threading my fingers through his. It was a moment before he responded, clutching hold of me tight. I gave him a sidelong look to find him staring at me with shining eyes. He looked overwhelmed. “You can stop with the mind games now. There’s nothing you can do or say that will make me believe you,” I told my father.
“That’s a pity,” Elliot sneered. “It would have been better to avoid bloodshed before the judgment seats.”
“ENOUGH!”
The shout even startled Elliott, and everyone in the room turned to face Tobin. He stood on the dais with a furious look carved into his face, and he was staring at my father. “This farce is at an end. Return to us now!” he cried.
Elliot blanched but did as he was told. His shoulders were stiff as he climbed the steps to the dais. I saw straight through the defiant look on his face as he turned to seat himself in his chair. It was clear he had no other option but to submit to Tobin’s will, and that fact made him boil with rage.
“Now that this touching reunion is complete, it is time to hand over the talisman, Daniel. It is time,” Tobin said.
Daniel closed his eyes. There’s no way you’re getting the talisman without a fight, I thought. I knew him. He’d rather die than give them what they wanted. He opened his eyes and gave me a lingering look, filled with determination and steel. I was right. He was going to attack. My skin was already prickling, and the hairs on my arms stood on end. The energy inside him was building, ready to burst forth. The memory of being in Aldan’s room—the pressure, the light, struggling to breathe—was still so fresh. I took a deep breath and braced myself.
“What makes you think that you’re worthy of the life that Aldan gave me?” Daniel’s voice rang out in the chamber, arousing a low hiss from the crowd.
I looked on as he faced the three men, sitting on their judgment seats like crownless, pitiless kings. They looked back down upon him with mild entertainment. Tobin flashed him a crooked smile, and then looked to either side of the platform where guards had taken positions. They stood to attention, awaiting Tobin’s orders. He gave Daniel a sly look.
“We are Immortal. We are never-ending. Of course we are worthy. You are trash that was plucked out of the gutter and given something that doesn’t belong to you. It’s time you died, as you should have done all those years ago.”
Daniel listened to their words, expressionless. Only his eyes betrayed the scorn he felt for them. I followed his gaze and met my father’s eyes. Elliot twisted in his seat, apparently torn between who he hated the most—me, or the boy daring to challenge him.
My eyes flickered down, to find Oliver standing at the base of the dais just below Elliot’s chair. He shot me a mournful, apologetic look before fixing his eyes back on Daniel, watching to see what would happen next.
“Aldan gave me more than my life back,” Daniel said. “He gave me discipline and understanding that you would never be able to comprehend.”
Tobin sneered. “Well, that’s surprising to me, I have to say. From where I’m sitting, it looks like those particular attributes have failed you significantly. Maybe when I pull that little spark of life out of you, I’ll be able to see what qualities you were truly made up of. But right now, I’m willing to go out on a limb and say it isn’t discipline and understanding.”
Daniel stepped forwards and the guards sprang into action, running to place themselves between him and the other men. Anxiety tasted hot and bitter on my tongue, but Daniel remained focused.
“He gave me something else, too.” His voice rang out high and clear in the vaulted room, undeterred by the men standing in front of him. “He gave me every single soul that he had ever taken. He gave me the hundreds of people that died at his hand since he came into existence. He gave them back their voices and then he gave them to me. They are the talisman… and they want you dead.”
Tobin stared at Daniel for a moment in stunned silence, and then all three of the Reavers burst into hysterical laughter.
“Impossible… truly impossible,” Jacob gasped between breaths. “It would have driven him mad to allow them all to exist inside him.”
Daniel’s lips tightened into a hard line. He glared at Jacob. “He was stronger than any of you. He gave them their voices and lived alongside them for over a hundred and fifty years. And now they live inside me.”
The truth of his words rocked me. That was what had happened when Aldan passed all of that power to Daniel? It was the people...all the people that he had killed, passing from one into the other?
“You’re full of lies, boy. I should find a bigger box and throw you back in the ocean where you belong,” Jacob declared.
The words had barely left his lips when a fiercely bright light leapt from Daniel’s hands and chest like javelins of white fire. The air was thick with pressure in an instant, and the light snapped and coiled like jagged whips to strike Jacob where he sat. The chair was thrown onto its back with the force of the attack, and Jacob tumbled out of it and rolled onto the floor, convulsing in agony. I was unable to tear my eyes away. I watched as the light kept coming, slamming into his body.
The guards were slow to come forward, but when they were finally spurred into action, they raced towards Daniel from all directions. The two nearest to him reached out and were catapulted through the air to land at the feet of the two upright judgment seats, their bodies broken and unmoving. The other guards halted in their tracks, suddenly uncertain how to proceed.
Tobin growled and kicked the closest smoking corpse away. He got up out of his chair and took a step closer to Daniel. I went to scream out a warning but my voice jammed in my throat. Suddenly I was writhing on the floor in agony myself. The pain was blinding. All I could see was Tobin’s hands, which were wreathed in blue and green flames. They looked so cold. I could feel the reach of them inside my mind, though, and they were far from it. I was burning, every inch of me burning.
“Stop now, or I will put an end to your little girlfriend,” he yelled.
I bucked on the ground, trying to escape the pain, but it enveloped me, filling every part of my being. Daniel’s light went out in an instant, and Jacob’s body lay discarded on the floor.
“Let her go,” Daniel said.
“Gladly,” Tobin replied, breathing heavily. The sharp knives of pain withdrew from my mind. “It seems we have come to an impasse. I know you are unaffected by our powers, but she isn’t. If you refuse to cooperate, then I will make sure her death is as horrific as possible, and you will watch every last second of it.”
Daniel locked Tobin with a hate-filled gaze. The power crackled at his fingertips, desperate to be unleashed again. From the corner of my eye, I saw Oliver sidling across the base of the platform. He froze when he saw me look over to him and then inched back his suit jacket to reveal a large bowie knife tucked into the waistband of his belt.
It was one of the crude knives that the guards carried. He must have stolen it from one of the dead men when no one was looking. I shook my head at him, willing him not to do anything stupid.
A guard helped Jacob up. He pushed the Immundus away once he had gotten to his feet and staggered forwards, staring accusingly at Daniel.
“Boy…” he seethed, “you should know better. Nothing can kill us. Not you, not your stupid disgruntled spirits, not even her royal highness over there. Now hand yourself over. I’m going to make sure I have my retribution before Tobin strips you bare.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
A Burning Sword, A Burning Soul