Council of Peacocks (37 page)

Jessica looked up at David and narrowed her
eyes. “Do I look like a doctor? I know nothing about head trauma.
Maybe it’s all been too much for him. All this stuff about his
connection to the Edimmu and now it turns out Elaine shot his
mother. Maybe his mind just shut down. Maybe it won’t let him wake
up until he’s processed it all.”

Sitting at the dining table, Garnet poured a
glass of red wine – her third so far. “Well, I can’t speak for
Josh, but I can say this is all too much for me. I can’t believe
how ‘full circle’ this whole thing is. It’s like we stepped into
the third act of a trilogy without all the Jedi and hobbits.”

Todd nodded. “Actually, you could kind of say
we’re like the Jedi. And, you know, Jessica is basically a
hobbit.”

Jessica kicked him in the shin and walked
toward the bathroom.

Todd winced at the pain but kept smiling. He
sat down at the table next to Garnet and leaned back in his chair.
He folded his arms across his chest, the smile fading. “What can
you tell us? Why did Wisdom want Josh’s father killed?”

For a moment Garnet said nothing. Then, after
a large swig of her wine, she spoke. “Elaine was right about one
thing. It really should come from Wisdom. But seeing as how he’s
all coma-like and we’re being chased by reptoids from the center of
the earth, what the heck. Josh’s father, well, he’s not exactly
what you would call an innocent bystander. If he’s the one Elaine
was told to kill in Lebanon, he works for the Canadian branch of an
organization called Candleworks. They’re a quasi-military group
whose sole purpose is to catalogue and eliminate non-humans on
Earth. You already know about the Edimmu. There are a surprising
number of other species on the planet. This group, Candleworks, was
investigating Wisdom. They caused him some inconveniences. He
wanted to send a message.”

“So,” Todd said, slowly nodding. “Wisdom
really isn’t human, is he?”

Garnet looked at him over the rim of her wine
glass. “Did you hit your head? Of course he isn’t human. Hell,
technically we’re not even human. You know that. I don’t know all
the details. I was new at the time and Wisdom only gave me limited
information. From what I gather, this group Candleworks was
investigating the same kind of events Wisdom was. Meaning us. I
think there was some sort of recruiting competition, like
Candleworks wanted the Anomalies to work for them. Obviously,
Wisdom wanted them for himself. I’m not sure exactly. That we’ll
have to ask the big guy.”

“So if he’s not human, what is he?” David bit
his nails, his eyes darting quickly between Garnet and Todd.

Garnet took a sip of wine and held it in her
mouth for a long time. She chewed the wine, a physical
manifestation of the thoughts running through her mind.

“I don’t know if there’s a name for what he
is. I know he’s very old. From what I’ve learned, he’s
from…somewhere else. Some people, mostly his enemies, have called
him a demon, but I don’t think he is. He’s not inherently evil and
he’s not out to steal souls. But he’s definitely not some sort of
angelic presence here to save us from ourselves, either. I do know
that there is no one else like him on this planet. That’s part of
the reason he has so many enemies. Most people that know about him
want him to go away. A few others seem to think they can use him
for their own purposes.”

“Excellent,” David said sarcastically. “Clear
as mud. You should go into politics. What does all this have to do
with me? With us?”

“Long story.” Garnet took another drink of
wine. “Wisdom’s fed us a few different stories, about who we are
and
why
we are. About a year after they’re recruited,
Newbies are told a story about evolution and how the human genome
is affected by background radiation, forcing it to adapt. Stuff
like that. It’s all complete crap. Well, maybe not complete crap
from a scientific standpoint, but it has nothing to do with us.
About year three you hear a slightly different story. That’s the
one everyone here has heard.”

“You mean that wasn’t true, either?” Jessica
came back into the room and stood in front of Garnet with her hands
in her pockets. “That stuff about our parents?”

“What about our parents?” David had a
flashback to something Elaine had said earlier. “Elaine said
something about how I didn’t know as much about my parents as I
thought. Are you saying my parents did something to me?”

“No.”

David jumped at the sound of Elaine’s
voice.

They all turned to look at her. She stood at
the top of the stairway. The submachine gun was no longer strapped
across her front.

“Elaine…” Garnet started to stand.

“Sit down, Garnet,” she said. “I’ll tell
them. There are things even you don’t know, so you might get it
wrong. I’ll tell you the truth. Wisdom might skin me alive if – no,
when – he gets up, but I think you’re right. We can’t afford to
play by the same rules anymore. David, your parents didn’t do
anything to you, not in the way you are thinking. The truth is the
people you call your parents aren’t really your true parents at
all.”

“What?” David felt something wash through his
body. It was hard to breathe, but he could not pinpoint the
emotion. “Of course they are. I…”

“If you want the truth, shut up and listen!
Your mother did give birth to you, physically, but you weren’t
conceived like a normal child. Like a human child. Oh, I know that
look. You’re wondering how they could have kept something like that
from you. The reason they kept it from you is because they have no
idea. They have no clue that you are anything other than their
child.

“This part Garnet knows already. There are
forces in this world some would call demons. For all I know, that’s
exactly what they are. Some call them Nephilim, but it's doubtful
they are the creatures from myth. Today, they’re normally called
Orpheans. How they got that name is a story for another day. They
live in a dark twisted place called the Black Sea and they do not
want to stay there. Their only pleasure in life is to screw with
people’s heads. Make them do bad things. But they like to do it in
sneaky ways. See, if it’s obvious that an external force created
all the havoc on earth, people would rally together and fight them.
Like they did in the Middle Ages. So they only appear for certain
people. Usually, weak people. Crazy people. Sometimes they just
drive them nuts, make them see and hear things that just drive them
over the edge. And sometimes, thankfully not all that often, they
step into the world and do secret things themselves.

“If each of you asked your parents, they
would all have this one story in common. They would all remember a
very vivid dream where they changed into monsters and had really
incredible sex. If you don’t believe me, ask them. Although, being
all parent-like, they might not want to discuss their sexual
fantasies with you. What these demon-things do, the Orpheans, is
kind of take possession of the human body and…”

“You have got to be kidding.”

“No David, I’m not kidding. And don’t
interrupt me again. They slip into human bodies and take over. They
do weird, violent, fetish-type stuff that is meant to be anything
but pleasurable. It usually leaves the victims so physically messed
up they can’t have sex for months. Naturally, this type of sex with
all the blood and decadence doesn’t normally result in pregnancy.
Every once in a while, though, accidents happen and – voila! We
have an Anomaly.”

“But,” Jessica chewed the fingernail on her
thumb, her eyes focused on something no one else could see. “But
don’t these things know they created children? And, if they did,
wouldn’t they keep in contact or something? Try to, I don’t know,
use them or take custody or something.”

Elaine shook her head. “They can’t exactly
take custody. They’re in a different dimension, remember? They’re
not really physical in the same way we are. And they can’t take you
back to where they come from for the same reason. As far as I
understand it, they know what they’ve done and that’s good enough
for them. They’ve put a bit more chaos into the world. They
probably figure having a bunch of kids running around that can kill
at will and blow things up with their mind is about as evil as you
can get. Truth to tell, God only knows what you guys would become
if Wisdom just let you wander around on your own.”

David laughed, his body shaking as he held
his head. “This is too much. I mean, demons? There is no way that’s
the reason. I mean, there has to be another explanation. There just
has to be. There’s no such thing as demons anyway, so…”

“Listen up, pretty boy,” Elaine said. “I
don’t really give a hoot if you believe me or not. What I’ve told
you is the truth. You’re all hybrids: part-demon, part-human.
That’s how you can do the things you can do. The reason you exist
is to do evil things. That’s the truth. Now you can choose to
accept it or you can make up some other story that will help you
sleep at night. It won’t change a goddamn thing. Each one of you
was born a monster, made for one thing and one thing only. Wisdom
wants to help you, for reasons I cannot even begin to understand.
If you let him, he’ll show you a different way.”

“What about me?” Everyone turned, surprised
to hear Josh’s voice. He sat up on the couch holding a hand to his
head. His eyes were unfocused but looked in the direction of
Elaine. “What about my father? My
human
father. Does he know
what I am?”

Elaine shrugged. Then she shook her head. “I
don’t know. I don’t see how he could, but working for Candleworks,
maybe he figured it out.”

Jessica walked back to the couch. “Josh, your
father must have known something, right? Those Edimmu seemed to
know him and all, but…Oh. Wait.”

Jessica’s face went lax and pale. She stared
at Josh, her left eye twitching.

Josh stared at Jessica. The two held their
stare for some time, as if they were holding their own silent
conversation. It was Josh who finally spoke.

“Maybe the Edimmu were talking about my other
father.”

Jessica nodded. “The one who wasn’t
human.”

“So these demons are in cahoots with the
Edimmu?” Todd asked. “I thought you said they were two separate
things.”

“They are,” Elaine said. “As far as I know,
they have nothing to do with each other. The Edimmu are just sort
of hired muscle the Council of Peacocks uses to do their dirty
work.”

Josh rubbed his head. “Maybe this Council of
Peacocks is aligned with these demons in some way. And if you don’t
know what the connection is, either Wisdom didn’t tell you or he
has not figured it out yet.”

Garnet walked over to Elaine. “Which is it?
Is Wisdom keeping something this big from us?”

“Why don’t you just ask me?”

Wisdom walked down the stairs. He wore a
white sheet draped around his body in a quasi-toga. It left several
of his bruises and cuts across his body very visible. Perhaps it
was the hunched-over weary way in which he was standing, but he
looked the very image of a gladiator.

“Wisdom!” Elaine rushed over to him, arms
outstretched in an offer of support. Wisdom shook his head and
waved her away.

“It’s okay, Elaine. I’m fine. Believe it or
not, I’ve been worse than this. Things are progressing faster than
expected. I need to get you up to speed quickly. So ask me whatever
you want. I’ll tell you whatever you need to know. But as soon as
that sun comes up, we’re heading to Greece.”

“Greece?” Elaine said the word as if it had
never crossed her lips before.

“Yes, Greece. It’s a country. In the
Mediterranean. Maybe you’ve heard of it. And no, I don’t know of
any connection between the Council and the demons. I didn’t think
anybody on the planet knew about the Orpheans except Candleworks
and the few I’ve told. If they are working together, something very
bad must be in the works. Garnet, why don’t you make us some
coffee? Elaine, can you see if there are any decent clothes here I
can put on? I’m far from modest, but parts of me are showing that
seem to be making Jessica sick to her stomach.”

Before either Elaine or Garnet could move, a
circle of light appeared by the windows, bringing everyone to a
standstill. When Echo stepped out of the circle, the temperature in
the room seemed to drop ten degrees. There was a wild look in her
eyes.

“Wisdom, we have to move,” she said. “Your
father is coming.”

***

“When did I get that?” Josh couldn’t stop
staring at his hands. There was a small cylindrical bulge on his
palm, like a piece of skin that had been pinched together and had
not fallen back into place yet. He rubbed it, but it did not move.
Was it a sign? Did the others have similar marks? He forced his
head up to look at the others in the room. They all looked so
normal. He couldn’t pick out anything about them that screamed
‘monster’. But they were demonspawn, things created for the sole
purpose of increasing evil in the world.

He thought back to the creature who had come
to him back in London: the one in the maggot suit. Was that thing
an Orphean? If so, was that his father?

“Get what?”

Josh looked up and found Wisdom staring at
him.

“It’s probably nothing,” he said. “Just this
thing on my hand.”

Wisdom glanced at Elaine. “Damn it. You said
he’d been checked.”

Elaine ran to Josh, grabbed his hand, and
held it up to her face. “How the hell did we miss this? I swear
I’ve never seen this before.”

“It’s probably been there since he was
taken,” Wisdom said. “We don’t have time to deal with it now. Echo,
close that portal already. You need to open another one. I’m still
not strong enough.”

“Where?” Echo took a few steps and then
flipped her wrist. The portal flashed away, leaving only an
afterimage on Josh’s eye. “Where are we going?”