Color of Angels' Souls (29 page)

Flint gave Jeremy a sarcastic grin, as if he could read his thoughts.

“My home is your home,” he said serenely. “If you want to stay, you're more than welcome. I'm going to help Allison in her noble quest. And if you would rather live somewhere else, I'll still help her. You don't have to stay here in order for me to help you. I want to make that perfectly clear.”

He paused to let his words sink in. Jeremy didn't know how to react now that Flint was being so magnanimous.

That was when Lili interrupted him, saying something very strange.

“Flint, if they leave, we must tell them about the Chimeras!”

“No,” Flint grimaced. “What's the use? They have about one chance in a million of running into a Chimera.”

He didn't look too thrilled that Lili had brought up the subject. Jeremy had read about Chimeras, mythological creatures with the body of a goat, the head of a lion, and a snake's tail. But he couldn't imagine for the life of him what a Chimera could possibly have to do with the afterlife. Especially since there were no animals here.

“A
what
?” he asked, none too politely.

Flint sighed.

“It's another aspect of our world that remains … a mystery. Humans spend enough of their lives having to deal with fear, death, illness, the loss of a loved one, and who knows what else without having to keep on fretting in the afterlife.”

But Lili interjected: “It's out of the question that you let them leave without telling them about it, Flint,” she said firmly. “If you don't, then I will!”

Flint scowled with resignation and threw up his hands.

“All right then. You're quite right, Lili. Well then … If one day you have the misfortune of running into a Chimera, you'll of course have to know how to protect yourselves. We're going to tell you how—no, better yet, we'll show you. A combat is going to be held tonight!”

Jeremy and Allison exchanged a glance, both completely lost. All of a sudden, Jeremy got the feeling they were in
Fight Club
. But despite their pleading, Flint wouldn't say another word about it. He told them he couldn't go along on their quest to hunt down Ventousi, as he had some business to take care of, but they all agreed to meet at the “combat” later that evening.

Flint was still troubled by the attack of the previous evening, and only gave the two young Angels permission to leave under escort from Lili, who seemed amused by the idea of acting as their bodyguard. She made herself two long swords, a set of knives, a tight pair of shorts just like Lara Croft's that took Jeremy's breath away for a full minute, and a pair of black, low-cut boots with steel toes. She wove her thick hair into a heavy braid and declared that she was ready to go. A biker's fantasy come true.

Lili seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself, which really irked Allison because, as far as she was concerned, this was an important mission and not some joyride. She was excited to get going, convinced that she was finally taking her life by the horns again (or her afterlife, anyway). The trio set off in pursuit of their prey: one Arthur Ventousi. Allison had found his home address during one of her Internet searches, but she wanted to spy on him while he was at work. She was hoping they would overhear him talking about his miracle drug again.

Lili offered to fly them to his office, but Allison adamantly refused. She didn't want anyone carrying her, nor did she like flying. At all. That being said, getting around town in human vehicles was no piece of cake either. Allison was having a lot of trouble dematerializing. At one point, after she watched Jeremy hop into a car without the slightest problem, Allison complained to Lili when she slammed into the door. Lili took the occasion to heap praise on Jeremy, saying it was remarkable how quickly he had adapted. He really was exceptional, she repeated. Her words made Jeremy uneasy. He didn't want to be exceptional. He just wanted Allison to fall in love with him! Oh yeah, and for the two of them to live happily ever after together.

In phase one of their plan, the “Ventousi trackers” passed through the wall of a pharmacy to find the address of the company that bore his name. Then they went to the research center and found the scientist at his lab on the sixth floor.

Allison froze when she found herself face-to-face with the man behind her murder. At first glance, Arthur Ventousi hardly looked like an egotistical monster. He actually looked rather elegant in his white laboratory jacket—nothing like the mad scientist you see in the movies. But there was an unhealthy gleam in his brown eyes that quickly gave him away. You could tell the man had made a major discovery, that he was burning with impatience to announce it to the entire world. In exchange for heaps of money.

“So this is the creep that had us killed,” Jeremy growled.

He remembered the time back at Allison's apartment, when she told Clark she had overheard Ventousi talking to someone. Now Jeremy was curious to learn more about how she had discovered Ventousi's scheme.

“I never asked you, Allison,” he said. “How did you ever find out what Ventousi was up to?”

“I gave private lessons to his son, Peter. One day, I was waiting for the boy in the library next to his father's office. The door wasn't closed, but he couldn't see me from the next room, and I didn't make any noise when I walked in because I didn't want to disturb him. After a few minutes, I heard him talking on the telephone about his miracle drug to cure cancer, and how he didn't want to reveal the formula because it wasn't the right moment yet. I was petrified, horrified by what he was saying. I told myself that I must have misunderstood. When Peter finally came into the room, he was happy to see me and started talking excitedly. I tried to hush him up, but it was too late. Ventousi must have realized that I had heard the entire conversation, and it didn't take long for him to take action. A few days later, he had one of his colleagues killed. I guess she probably knew about his discovery. Then you.” Allison took a deep breath. “Then me.”

Jeremy tried to console her: “The police will catch up with him; I'm sure they will. Ventousi probably thought he was being clever by having us murdered in such a spectacular way, because it would make the investigators think they were dealing with a serial killer. But they'll quickly make the connection between his son, Peter, who's in the same class as my little sister, you, me, and his colleague!”

“No, they won't!” Allison replied firmly. “They'll make the connection between you and his colleague, obviously, because you were both killed in the same way. But when the police investigate my death, they won't find any transactions between me and Ventousi: He paid me in cash. Plus I only gave Peter a couple of private lessons, and I never told anyone about it. Even Mrs. March, Peter's teacher at school, didn't know about it. And they won't question the kids anyway. The cops will just ask the routine questions: ‘Did you see anything out of the ordinary? Any strangers in the neighborhood?' And I'll bet you a million dollars that Ventousi told his son not to tell anyone about our lessons. They won't find anything.”

While they were talking, Arthur Ventousi pulled his cell phone from beneath his white laboratory coat and made a call, complaining the whole time: “Shit, Khan, pick up! What the hell's going on? You said you'd take care of all the dirty work without any hassles, and then all of a sudden you drop off the face of the Earth!”

Jeremy, Allison, and Lili were all taken aback by his words. Then the gorgeous redhead lightly touched Allison's hand and giggled.

“My dear Cherubs, the murderer is now in your hands! With my help, you're going to make him pay for what he's done!”

Jeremy's blood was boiling over, but he somehow managed to keep in check a ferocious desire to wring Ventousi's neck. Allison, on the other hand, walked slowly around the man, like a shark waiting to pounce on its prey, and without warning suddenly lunged at the murderer and began pummeling him, screaming out insults while her fists passed through him. Jeremy felt the same sickening feelings as when he had seen his father at his funeral. It was the same uncontrollable fury. He hurried over to Allison and grabbed her arms.

“Hey, hey,” he said softly, surprised by how forcefully she resisted. “Calm down, take a deep breath. It's no use!”

For just a moment, he got the impression that her eyes had turned red. She finally went limp in his arms and began sobbing. Moved by her distress, Jeremy held her in his arms. Lili came over and wrapped her arms around the two of them, giving them a maternal hug. For the first time, Jeremy wasn't overcome with desire for the red-haired Angel, as he was too worried about Allison.

After a few minutes, she freed herself from his grasp, accepted a handkerchief from Lili, and wiped away her tears. She turned her back on Ventousi to avoid the temptation of attacking him again.

“Lili,” she said, her voice still trembling. “If you talked to Ventousi, do you think he would listen to you? That he would do what you say?”

“We shall soon find out, my dear!”

She placed her mouth next to Ventousi's ear and began to whisper: “You would love to get some sleep. You're exhausted, and who cares if the others catch you napping? It doesn't matter. With everything you've got on your mind, it's only normal that you should be so tired.”

They looked anxiously at Ventousi, but he was too busy trying to contact his hit man and hadn't been paying attention.

“Well, that was a waste of time!” snapped Allison, curling her lip.

Lili gave her a steely look. Without a word, she stormed off through the glass wall separating them from another part of the laboratory, where she whispered in the ear of a man looking into a microscope. He started yawning after a few seconds, pushed back his chair, crossed his arms on the table, and dropped off to sleep. Jeremy couldn't help but think that, if red Angels were playing those sorts of tricks on drivers, he could understand why there were so many traffic accidents.

Lili came back into the office, her eyes gleaming triumphantly.

“Well?”

Allison admitted grudgingly that it had worked.

“But it didn't work on Ventousi.”

Lili grimaced slightly, unable to do any more.

“I'm sorry, we truly thought we could help the two of you, because we do have the power to influence humans. But when you're dealing with so much greed, fear, and avarice all bundled up together … I must admit that it won't work. He doesn't hear me. He's not listening. He's much too preoccupied with all his dirty dealings and his fortune. You would have to be a very powerful Red to be able to manipulate him, and even then I'm not sure it would work!”

Allison's head quickly snapped around toward her.

“Why a Red and not a Blue? I thought it was the same thing?!”

Actually, so did Jeremy. Especially after what the two old Angels had done to the red Angel who had been torturing his sister. They'd blown him out like a birthday candle.

Lili's face grew even darker.

“Unfortunately, that's not quite true. The more negative the emotions are, the more there is for the red Angels to eat, which then makes them even more powerful—especially when the negative emotions are so strong. Some of the oldest red Angels are absolutely terrifying. You'll be able to see it for yourself at the duel this evening.”

Jeremy shuddered just at the thought of it, especially since the word “Chimera” called to mind mythological beasts that he would be just as happy to avoid. Had the Angels managed to recreate the circus games, like the Romans? With gladiators and fantastic creatures?

But for the time being, he was much more worried about Allison. She was becoming obsessed, and there was no way he would let her turn into a Poltergeist.

He took her by the hand. It was trembling. He felt terrible for her, but did his best to hide it. Lili gave him an inquisitive look with her green eyes. He could see she was worried about Allison too.

They spied on Ventousi the rest of the day, driven by Allison's relentless quest for vengeance, then followed him home that evening. Allison groaned when she saw Peter, the murderer's little boy, run into his father's arms, his eyes still red from crying. At school that day, they had gently broken the news about Allison's death. Lili took her by the hand, but Allison almost lost it when she saw Ventousi being so kind and considerate with his son, doing his best to console him.

“She's up in heaven already,” he whispered, holding his son tightly in his arms. “She didn't suffer, and now she's watching over you, like a guardian angel. I know that she liked you a lot; I could tell right away. I'm sure that she'll miss you just as much as you miss her.”

So even horrible monsters could have feelings of love. It took Jeremy by surprise. It didn't seem fair to him that people like Ventousi could be loving, attentive parents. But for Allison it was just more hypocrisy and deceit, even though the Mist emanating from the man was pure blue.

Peter was only ten, but already watched a lot of television when his father was away. He unwittingly told Ventousi some vitally important news: “It was the same guy who killed that man and woman with the sword, Dad, but Allison put up a fight! She killed the guy before she died!”

Ventousi shuddered. “What? What did you say?”

“The policemen who came to our school didn't tell us what happened. But they talked about it on the news. I saw it on TV at lunch. They said that she electrocuted the killer when she was trying to defend herself. She sure showed him!”

The dark brown Mist that began pouring out of Ventousi showed how frightened he was. He did his best to console his son, but his thoughts were clearly elsewhere. Thick clouds of it were pouring out of him as he tried to figure out how this latest news would affect his plans.