Axiom Theory: Book Four of the Shadow Series (13 page)

Retaining her submissive charade, Ashley took the bullet from her brother and dropped it to the floor. “I told you, we have a common enemy,” she replied. “Not all of our kind are like Test. He will be the death of us all—humans and,” she looked to Casper and contained the sarcastic tone that she so desperately wanted to set free. Looking back to Dawson, she continued. “Ghosts—if that is what you call us?”

Dawson’s body trembled and his mouth had gone dry. He nodded his head. “What do you call yourselves?” he asked nervously.

“We are called Shadows among our kind,” replied Ashley. She looked to Casper who stood wide-eyed and
with mouth agape at her announcement. Turning away from her brother, she slowly walked around the couch to stand next to Dawson, though he retreated to the side several steps to for each step forward that she took. “Like you humans, we are not all equal in our desire to live peacefully. Those who choose to live with little to no regard for human life are called Reapers.”

“That’s great,” blurted Dawson with sweat and spittle spraying as he spoke. “It’s like some fuckin’ biker movie then, right—the good club and the bad club? You’re all pieces of shit as far as I’m concerned. God-damned freaks, every one of you.”

Never before had either of the twins endured such abuse without acting upon it, but
in order for their mission to succeed, they needed Dawson.

“I’m sorry that your experience with our kind has shaped your opinion in this way,” said Ashley in a sickeningly sweet voice. “I assure you that there are those
like us,” she motioned with her hand between Casper and herself, “that have lived peacefully among you for hundreds of years or more.”

Dawson’s face crumpled in disgust. “Bullshit again!” he shouted.

“It’s true,” replied Casper. He looked to his sister who glared at him with a ‘don’t screw this up’ sort of look. He nodded and continued speaking to Dawson. “For example, my sister and I are each seventy-two years old. Have you known of our existence before this moment?”

With a skeptical look, Dawson huffed. “
You’re seventy-two years old?” he asked.

“Yes,” replied both twins in unison.

As she watched Dawson continue to shake, Ashley reached out her right hand and allowed her power to remove the pistol from Dawson’s hand. Instead of bringing it to her, she rested it on the couch in front of him.

“What can we do to ease your mind?” she asked.

Shaken even more by the removal of his weapon (more the manner in which it was removed than the act itself), Dawson replied. “You can start by knocking that shit off!”

Casper allowed his lip to curl up with pleasure,
but quickly wiped it away as Dawson glanced to him. Bowing his head, he opted to let his sister carry the remainder of the conversation.

“I do apologize,” said Ashley. “It won’t happen again.”

Dawson eyed her with great skepticism. His life had been altered by the appearance of the “Ghosts” in his life, and it would take an act of God to get him to change his mind.

“What do you want from me?” he asked gruffly, retrieving a cigarette and frantically trying to light it. With a quick inhale, a plume of smoke exited his mouth in a
single stream as he blew out forcefully. “You’re the one with the powers. What do you need me for?”

Motioning to the couch and then to a rocking chair that resided on the other side of the room, Ashley spoke. “How about we all take a seat and I’ll explain everything to you?”
She looked to Casper and motioned for him to take the rocking chair and then turned her attention back to Dawson. “May I?” she asked as she walked around to the side of the couch.

“Sure,” replied Dawson blandly as he took another, more serious drag from his cigarette.

Ashley took a seat and motioned for Dawson to sit opposite her. Reluctantly, he obliged, reaching across the coffee table to get his glass of whiskey in the process.

As Dawson chugged his drink, Ashley began. “You are correct, we do have powers, but Test Davis is special for our kind. He can do things that no one has ever seen before. We are not strong enough to defeat him.”

Dawson took a cube of ice into his mouth and began to crush it with his teeth as he grunted. Sounding as though he had a mouth full of marbles, he replied. “Neither was I. And I had an army behind me.”

Ashley crossed
her legs and spoke in a flirtatious tone. “I’m going to admit something to you. We’ve done a little research on your career.” She watched Dawson’s eyes grow wide at first, but then they drew to slits as his anger began to swell. “We know,” she continued, “that you were on the right path. You were doing something—the only thing—that would enable you to defeat Test and the rest of the Reapers.” From the back of the room, Casper giggled and, though she wanted to send him flying through the wall, she remained focused on Dawson. “I know that you were working on creating clones of Test.” She paused for dramatic affect. “I know that you succeeded.”

With an eruption of spit and liquor coming from his mouth, Dawson slammed his glass on the coffee table. “How the fuck could you know that?” he shouted.

In an attempt to show that she was intimidated, Ashley replied as she clasped her hands in her lap and lowered her head. “Because we’ve seen it ourselves. We were in the lab.”

Dawson stared at her in disbelief, trying to process what her words meant. Suddenly, it became clear.

“You did it, didn’t you?” he asked. “You stole PG15!”

With a submissive nod of her head, Ashley replied. “Yes, but we did it with all of our best interests in mind.” She raised her eyes to meet Dawson’s and pleaded. “Please believe me; we only did it to keep Test from taking him. Can you imagine what would happen if
he
took the child?”

Standing from the couch, Dawson removed his glasses and rubbed his face vigorously. “You know what I can imagine? I can imagine me still being employed! I can imagine me still be
ing respected! I can imagine that my life would be a whole hell of a lot better had you…”

“Please!” shouted Ashley, cutting him off and inadvertently letting a glimpse of her power flash down her arms. She quickly rubbed her biceps as if dusting off a bit of powder and watched as Dawson immediately withdrew his verbal attack. “If we were the bad guys, why would we be here now?
We could have killed you before you even knew we were here.” Though it was truthful, she winced inside at her last remark, hoping that it wasn’t perceived as a threat.

Dawson retrieved his glass once more and tipped it back, only to find that it was empty. Plopping back
down onto the couch, Dawson took two quick puffs of his smoke. “I don’t know,” he replied. Taking the final drag of his cigarette, he leaned across the coffee table and stuffed the butt into the overflowing ashtray. “Why don’t
you
tell
me
?”

Settling herself, Ashley tried to recall the plan in her mind. “As you well know from the events in Kansas City, Test has assembled somewhat of an Army.”

Dawson shook his head. “There wasn’t much that we could recover from the security footage. I counted two, maybe three others.”

“It was actually ten,” replied Ashley. Though she knew Test had only brought three other Shadows with him, she also now knew that Dawson didn’t. Better to increase the risk artificially than to underplay the lie. “Not only that, he has enlisted the help of spirits; that’s how he was able to destroy our father that day.”

Dawson brow furrowed. “What?” he asked.

Try as she might, Ashley was unsuccessful in producing a tear. “It’s true. Though Isaac wasn’t our real father, we thought of him as such. Isaac was very powerful and Test felt threatened by his existence. That’s why Test was there that day.

“The three of us went to Union Station for a pleasant afternoon, not knowing that we were walking into an ambush. Isaac knew of Test through all of the media attention given to him after his careless actions in Nebraska.” She watched as the scowl on Dawson’s face intensified. She knew that the hook had been set. “In his attack, he enlisted the help of many spirits; his power gave them the strength to come through into solid form and hold Casper and I back.” She hid her face in her hands, continuing the charade in earnest, and pressed her fingers into her eyes as she attempted to bring tears to them. After a moment, she looked up, eyes glassy, and continued. “We were forced to stand there; forced to watch as our father was destroyed.”

With her story over, she sat patiently as she wiped the bottoms of her eyes free of tears that were barely there.

“Where’s he at?” asked Dawson after a long and tense silence.

“Test?” asked Ashley. “We don’t know.”

“Not Davis; the boy—where’s PG15?”

A proud grin appeared on Ashley’s lips. “My little Destin?” she replied. Though the words were
meant to be artificial, she felt warm inside as she spoke them. “Would you like to meet him? He’s changed so much since you’ve seen him last.”

“
You’re little Destin
?” asked Dawson. The bitterness lingered in his voice.

Ashley nodded her head bashfully. “Yes,” she replied. “He’s the son I’ve always wanted.”

Over Dawson’s shoulder, she could see Casper acting as though he were going to vomit. Returning her attention to Dawson, she began to stand from the couch. “Would you like to meet him?”

Reaching for another smoke, Dawson replied with a whiske
y grin. “Sure, why the hell not?” Before he could even get his cigarette lit, Ashley disappeared from the room in a flash of blinding white light. “Son of a bitch!” he shouted as the cigarette hung stuck to his bottom lip. He quickly turned to Casper who simply shrugged his shoulders as he spoke.

“What can I say? We’re Ghosts—right? Can’t ask a duck not to quack.”

Dawson stood and walked to the kitchen where he promptly returned with a half-emptied fifth of whiskey. Taking a swig directly from the bottle, he winced as the liquid burned his throat. With a cough, he looked to Casper and pointed with the bottle in his hand.

“Your sister, she seems alright,” he said. “You, on the other hand, I’m not so sure about.”

With a chuckle, Casper leaned forward, pulled the sleeves of his black shirt up to his wrists, and ignited the energy within, allowing a gentle blue glow to emanate from his hands. “No need to be sure of me,” he replied. “I’m harmless as a shrew.”

“
Try telling a worm that a shrew’s harmless,” said Dawson.

“Are you calling yourself a worm?” asked Casper.

Taking another swig from the bottle, Dawson pointed to Casper once more as he choked down the whiskey. With the bottle clanking on his front teeth as he pulled it away, he replied. “I’m gonna keep my eye on you.”

As if on cue
, he was immediately blinded by the return of Ashley. Trying to squint away the dark spot in his vision, he could see that there was a young boy standing next to her. With her arm wrapped around his shoulders, she appeared to be holding him up.

“Who’s this?” he asked.

Giving Destin a shake, Ashley replied. “This is Destin.” She grinned as the boy wiped his eyes and looked around the room. “I told you that you wouldn’t recognize him.”

Dawson stared in awe as he spoke
with an ever increasing slur. “I’ll be damned—that growth stuff really worked.”

“Yeah,” replied Casper as he stood from the rocker. Speaking as though mocking Dawson’s drunken speech, he continued. “We have to get new clothes for him damn near every week.”

Without noticing Casper at all, Dawson stepped forward to examine the boy.

“Does he…,” began Dawson.

“Have our gifts?” finished Ashley. She watched as Dawson’s eyes snapped to hers. “Yes,” she replied.

Lifting the bottle to his lips once more, Dawson tipped it back and took several hard swallows.
Growling at the burn it caused in his chest, he studied the boy intently.

“You never answered my question,” he said, his speech suddenly losing its drunken slur. Lifting his gaze to Ashley, he continued. “What do you need from me?”

Alyssa played quietly with Aiden just inside the trees behind their home. The walk with Lauren had not gone as planned and she regretted her outburst of excitement. She wanted nothing more than to comfort Lauren, to help her with her troubles. Unfortunately, it was obvious that Lauren didn’t share her own excitement about the fact that she was pregnant.

Without the presence of a Shadow to provide
the energy they needed to take on a solid form, play time consisted of little more than telling jokes. She had been able to remain engaged for the first couple of jokes that Aiden tried to make up, but had lost focus and, though she watched his lips move, she didn’t hear a word.

“Alyssa,” said Aiden, raising his hands over his head.

Snapping to, Alyssa blinked a couple of times and apologized. “I’m sorry, buddy. I got kind of lost there for a minute.

From ten fee
t away, lying peacefully on his back, Cliff spoke. “Where’d you get lost to?”

Nearly forgetting he was nearby, Alyssa turned a
nd replied hesitantly. “Nowhere—just thinking about things.”