Beasts and Burdens (32 page)

“I need your help,” Belus asked humbly, but she could tell he hated having to. “Everything you said about Efrat’s personality is right. He doesn’t listen to me. He fights me every step of the way, and I can’t figure out why. In case you haven’t noticed, he listens to you.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Cori shoved a plate in front of each of them.

“Maybe, but it’s true.” Belus frowned at his meal, but picked up a fork to taste it. “I need you to put your anger aside and go back to sympathizing with his situation.”

“I only sympathized with his situation, because I was…” Cori shook her head vigorously. “She—Dr. Frank was in love with his best friend. Without those memories…he’s just some asshole that tried to kill me.”

“I don’t believe that for a second. You put my life in his hands long before any memories of Dr. Frank came along. You brought out his gooey inside just like you do for every man you meet.”

“Gooey? Don’t you mean hard?” Daniel smirked at her, but she was too distracted by the
gooey
comment to react.

“I need you to draw him out again, so we can make some progress.” Belus continued ignoring Daniel as well. “And I need you to do it before the auditors come.”

“Auditors?” Cori still wasn’t finished compiling the demands he was making on her goodness, but she needed to keep up or lose her place in the conversation altogether.

“I know Danato would have danced around this for another few months, but I don’t see the point. We will be audited at the end of the year. Our loss of income with the military has hit us hard, and they are going to start weeding out unnecessary expenses.”

“What are they going to do, take away my cookie allowance? It’s not like I’m getting paid.”

“Living expenses, medical expenses, liabilities incurred. Everyone will be under investigation, from the breakfast cereal they eat, to the amount of toilet paper they wipe their ass with. However, given that your heroic act of benevolence has caused us to go deep into the red, you will be under particular scrutiny.”

“Shit,” Cori whispered.

“I…” Belus cleared his throat. “I appreciate your loyalty, Cori. I really do, but I need you to grow a very thick skin and prepare yourself for a lot of very hard fights coming up. Danato and I are both in agreement that you are not going anywhere.”

“Why, where would they send me?”

“There are a few small operations in the America’s that deal with minor vampiric attacks.”

“Hunters?” Cori scrunched her nose. She couldn’t imagine herself being any good at that.

“They’re more like dog catchers.” Daniel shook his head. “They’re amateurs and hicks. She’s not going there.” Daniel gave Belus a stern look, causing him to narrow his eyes in annoyance.

“As I was saying, we will fight to keep you here, but you have to make it hard for them to dismiss your actions as self-serving. And honestly, the only way you can do that, is by making Efrat the most important asset to this prison we have.” 

“And how do I do that?” Cori shrugged no longer fighting her duties.

“You need to get his powers under control, so we can recruit him as a guard.”

Cori’s eyes widened, but she restrained the cuss words that she wanted to offer her mentor. She glanced at Daniel who was cringing in preparation for her reaction. She glanced down at her plateful of food, that she had already lost her appetite for. When she looked back to Belus, he too was waiting for her sarcastic, impetuous response. “When do I start?” She said resigning herself to her duties. 

86

Ethan had attempted to calculate how many hours it took to get back home and what day that put him on, but somewhere in the intense mental challenge, he concluded that it was…night. It could have been an hour after dinner, or an hour until breakfast. It didn’t matter. He was home.

He stepped off the docks vaguely wondering how many more steps he could take before he was officially sleep walking. He wanted to go straight home and crawl into bed with his wife, but he decided to take a detour while the prison was still mostly empty.

He pulled the lever to the hanger door containing Penelope, their resident dragon. The metal squawked and groaned as it rose. He expected to see the scaly beast sleeping, but she was sitting on her haunches staring at him, as if she was waiting for him to arrive.

He didn’t bother asking the obvious questions. He checked outside the door for observers and approached her. “How is she?”

Adrianna will survive. We owe you a great debt, as does she. It will not be forgotten.

“I don’t care about debts. I just want to know that what we did was the right thing.”

It was. When there is an imbalance in nature, it must be corrected.

“We nearly killed her.”

Nearly is not dead. Her capacity to heal is intact. She will awaken when the powers within her are balanced.

“How long will that be?”

As long as is required.

“That’s a nice evasive answer. I take it your only psychic when you want to be.” Ethan gripped his hair, trying not to be mad at the dragon for something he knowingly agreed to do. “Annette will never forgive me. You should have let me explain your part in this.”

Annette does not seek knowledge unless it pleases or benefits her. Her forgiveness and approval is unnecessary for our purposes.

“Are you going to tell me what your purpose is?”

We have been guardians of the earth long before man walked in stride and we have been the guardians long after. When a time arises that we are required to protect it, we will do so, by the means of enlightened forethought.

“What the hell does that mean?”

It means that we can see further ahead than you, and one day you will be grateful for the preparations we have made.

“Fine. Good enough. I trust that I shouldn’t mention to anyone that I can talk to you guys.”

Your silence is not required, but it is most assuredly preferred and appreciated.

“I can’t blame you. Being around hundreds of years, I’m sure conversation lost its appeal decades ago.” Ethan jogged back to the front of the gym.

Ethan.

“Yes, Penelope,” he said almost mockingly, but he smiled to let the dragon know that he meant no offense.

I am obliged to prevent you from learning too much about the future. The future we predict. However, the offering of a name to my kind, is something very special. It should be rewarded.

“Really?” Ethan crossed his arms and waited for the nugget of information about to be revealed.

I choose to tell you that your wife will betray you.

“Say again.” Ethan furrowed his brow and stepped forward.

However, you must trust her regardless of the duplicity. Sometimes the wrong answer is the right answer…when it is the only answer offered.

“What kind of betrayal?”

I cannot say more.

“Is she going to shoot one of us…again? Is she going to cheat on me? What?”

Enough talk, it’s time to go meet your son.

“My son?” Ethan’s mouth dropped open. “You mean she’s already had the baby? I have a son!” He flounced back and forth trying to figure out what to do, but soon enough he dove on the hanger door lever and ran out of the gym toward his home, and his family—plus one.

74
½

Cori took the pink champagne from a passing waiter and drank it down. Once again she was surprised by the pungent taste that did nothing to quench her thirst. She looked down at the evening gown she was wearing. It was white and clingy—two things she would never choose for her body structure.

She caught sight of herself in a wall mirror and saw that she was still in a t-shirt and jeans in the reflection. She shook her head and tossed her champagne flute toward the nearest condescending trophy wife. She ignored the pretentious gasps that followed as she pushed on to find Cleos.

She wasn’t sure which version she wanted to find, but she was relieved to see the friendly leer of his unconscious-self leaning on the mantel of the fireplace. She wondered if that was where he always stood, or if it was just the image he wanted to portray. The suave, sexy, businessman. It was a cliché of course, but so was Cleos, or at least that was what he wanted her to believe.

She knew Belus was right about him. He was just another tycoon that used his personality, money, and influence to get more money, influence, and
personalities
. The fact that he used psychic power, didn’t make him different, it just made him better at it.

“You look nice.” Cleos’s eyes traveled her body. “You must be getting more comfortable with the surroundings.”

“Why am I here?” She asked.

“I presume you are unconscious.”

“But I’m hundreds of miles away from you,” she objected and plopped on his tufted sofa. She expected the man already sitting on the sofa to leave, but he just ogled her tight cut dress and the cleavage it provided.

“If only that mattered.” Cleos moved to the man near her and turned his chin to face him. “No.” The man seemed confused, but left the couch, opening a place for Cleos to lounge next to her.

“So, no matter where I am, or what I’m doing. If I’m not awake, you’ll be there.”

“Unconscious, yes. Asleep, no.”

“Great, forever in the mind of a man who hates me,” she grumbled.

Cleos moved closer, but didn’t touch her. “There, there, Corinthia. Don’t let his bluster hurt you. He’s more afraid of you than you are of him.”

“I doubt that,” she mumbled. She noticed a young woman sitting across from them in a similar tufted leather arm chair. She was staring intently at Cori. She shifted to keep the blonde out of her line of sight. “He’s going to leave the prison you know.”

Cleos shrugged. “Yes, I suppose they’ll let him go. Now that they know his intentions were not malicious.”

“You don’t sound very pleased with that. Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Cleos always gets what he wants in the end.”

“And what does he want?” she asked glancing across to the glassy brown eyes that were starting to unsettle her like Daniel’s usually did.

Cleos sighed and brushed the back of his hand along her cheek. “I think he has good intentions…for once.”

“Who is that?” Cori whispered and motioned with her eyes to the overly curious female sitting across from them.

Cleos looked over at her and smiled. “That, my dear, is your house entity.”

“What?” Cori jumped up prepared to fight to the death, but the woman only observed her movement. Cleos however, grabbed her and tucked her arms to her side in a strong sideways hug.

“Easy, girl.”

“You took her in?” she fumed staring at the woman with a new found concern. The creep factor was blooming into full blown fight or flight. She didn’t want her unconscious anywhere near her.

“I told you I would.”

“Cleos she isn’t a human! She’s a freaking…she isn’t human. You can’t just take part of her as a trophy!”

“It’s just a sliver. She’s a great deal more than I anticipated I admit, but she is contained.”

“Cleos, she could take over your mind!”

“Hush now, your insulting me,” he scolded soothingly.

“This is insane.” She turned and whispered as if the creature three feet away couldn’t hear them.

He turned to look at her. His face was so close she could feel his breath on her face. “This is what I do, Cori. I explore the minds of others. Sampling bits and pieces here and there.”

“You can’t take a bit or a piece. She isn’t a fragmented human psyche! She…her mind is all she is. You didn’t take in part of her personality. You took in part of her.”

“A benign part,” he assured her.

“There is no benign part!” She hissed and glanced at the woman again. “Cleos, please, listen to me. You are putting yourself
and me
at risk. It is going to start pulling your strings like a marionette and consequently me too.”

His eyes flickered over hers. “You underestimate me.”

“You are underestimating her.”

“I think I hear your exit coming,” he said dryly, as if he were bored of her company.

“Damn it Cleos,” she grabbed his tuxedo jacket and forced him to face her. “I won’t remember this, so you have to listen to me! You have to tell Cleos what I’ve told you. She isn’t benign. She is a very powerful being from another dimension that will do anything to get a grip on a mind in this dimension. She will make you her possessed vessel. I know your mind is vast, but that just gives her a spacious interior for the ride. You have to tell Cleos to let her go! Promise me you will tell him!”

Cleos’s eyes floated to the entity behind her. She yanked on his collar, but he didn’t have a chance to make his promise before she woke again.
 

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