Dread Nemesis of Mine (19 page)

"We really don't have time for this," Felicia
said in a low hiss. "I'll go draw the guards off the cellar door.
Follow me in fifteen minutes, and I'll meet you at the dumpsters. I
doubt anyone will be back there. The odor is awful, especially with
a supernatural sense of smell."

"They haven't been dumping bodies there have
they?" I asked, horror constricting my chest at the thought of what
all the vampires had been feeding on.

Felicia shook her head. "No, even Maximus
isn't stupid enough to let his followers drain the locals. All the
noms who want to be vampires have to let the others feed off them
in the meantime. Otherwise, we'd have the cops busting down our
doors." She checked the time on her phone and showed it to us.
"Fifteen minutes, then you follow, okay?"

I nodded. Katie and I watched Felicia climb
the spiral stairs and leave. Katie took my hand and gripped it
tight.

"I'm nervous." Sweat dampened her palm.

I gave her a sideways hug. "We'll be fine." I
sniffed my armpits. "Eww. I can't wait to take a proper
shower."

"Oh, man," I said as a thought hit me.

"What's wrong?" Sweat dampened Katie's blonde
hair. She tied it back to keep it out of her face.

I checked the time. Ten minutes to go. "Wait
here. I'll be right back." I jogged into the room where Maximus
held me prisoner. A panicked sense of claustrophobia struck me full
on at the sight of my table. Taking a deep breath, I surveyed the
room, looking at the long rows of tables. In a far, dark corner, I
saw a shadowy hump atop one and strode to it. In the dim light, I
made out the form of a man, still fully dressed in a suit, lying on
the surface.

He stared blankly into space. I snapped my
fingers and he jerked. My blue-tinged night vision hadn't come on
yet, so I couldn't make out his features, just his general
outlines.

"You will help me?" he said.

"Are you a vampire?"

"I am still unsure of my designation."

Whatever was wrong with this guy might slow
me down, but my conscience told me it would be wrong to leave a
poor, lobotomized dude tied down like this. Touching the straps
restraining him didn't do anything, so I had to run back across the
room to retrieve the bloody tissue Felicia had used to free me. I
brushed it against each strap and they parted. The man sat up.
Pivoted and set his feet on the ground. He stood in one fluid
motion and looked at me.

"Thank you." His voice remained dull and
almost without inflection.

"You're welcome. Want to escape with us?"

He nodded. "It seems the next prudent
move."

Man, I really had some questions for this
guy. Maximus must have given him electro-shock therapy or really
strong drugs. I didn't understand how his vocabulary could be so
good with such obvious brain damage, though. I motioned him to
follow me, walking around the outside edge of the room. My
night-vision kicked on and off as I looked around the half-lit
room.

Katie came in and hit something on the wall.
The lights in my section flicked on.

"What are you doing?" she said. "It's almost
time."

I came to an abrupt halt as the flickering
light revealed a heap of arms, legs, hands, and heads. A sick
feeling came over me. Good god, it was a pile of bodies!

Maximus, you sick bastard.

I spun to warn my former roommate. Shock
froze me in place. I fumbled at the sword, but the girls had
strapped it on at such an awkward angle, I couldn't get it out of
the scabbard on my back in time.

"What is wrong?" asked the man I'd just
rescued.

Except he wasn't a man at all. He was a
golem. A gray man.

Elyssa

A klaxon wailed in the Templar compound.

"Crap, crap, crap!" Elyssa said as she and
the others left the officers' quarters. "Why are they sounding the
assembly?"

Fausta shook her head. "No idea. But maybe
it's a good thing. We need to warn Christian."

And I need to tell Underborn about our
discovery,
Elyssa thought. But would it do any good to tell him
every Templar was a potential spy?

"Is Healer Delgado stationed on this base?"
Bella asked Fausta.

The Italian woman nodded. "Yes. Why?"

"I want to consult her patient file on
Lieutenant Martinez. Perhaps something in there will shed light on
matters."

"Why don't you ask her yourself?"

Bella shrugged. "It would probably be faster
if we continued our criminal activities."

Fausta looked toward the brightly lit
assembly area, a large paved area as big as a football field. "I'm
going to warn Christian first. Maybe he'll check into it
himself."

Elyssa wasn't all that sure how Christian
would react upon hearing their report. What if he didn't believe
them? What if he had them arrested? They
had
to convince
him. Find evidence to support their claim. "I'm going with
Bella."

"Me too," said Adam, face grim.

"I can't go tell Christian one of his
lieutenants is a mole all by myself," Fausta grumbled. "I'll look
like an idiot."

"I'll go with Fausta," Meghan said. "I'm a
healer, after all. Perhaps I can run a diagnostic on Gigi and find
out how vulnerable we are to Daelissa." Her lips tightened. "I did
not
join the Templars to be used for evil."

The two groups set off in opposite
directions. Healer Delgado's office was located just outside the
center of the compound next to the armory. The building was dark,
but Bella detected no wards guarding the door. Elyssa looked around
the deserted area, assuming everyone had responded to the assembly
signal.

Bella unlocked the door within a few seconds.
They filed inside and looked through the building until Elyssa
found the door with Delgado's name on it. The room was devoid of
filing cabinets or any paperwork for that matter. A quick search
revealed a complete lack of such mundane things.

Adam found a slim tablet on the Healer's desk
and turned it on. An orange logo appeared, but a flick of his
finger to peel it met with an error.

Warning: This device is property of Healer
Delgado and cannot be accessed without her permission. Any further
attempts to access this device will be met with unpleasant
countermeasures.

Elyssa cursed.

Bella looked the device over and gave a
helpless shake of her head. "I'm not so good with these fancy
gadgets."

"Just happens to be my specialty," Adam said,
pushing thick glasses up his generous nose. He pulled out an
arcphone and held it next to the tablet. "It uses a face print," he
said after a moment. He looked around the desk and found a picture
frame lying flat on the surface. He touched the edge and a
holographic image, presumably of Healer Delgado and her family,
flickered on above the frame. Adam smiled. "Perfect."

He activated a spell on his arcphone. A pale
light wrapped around the three-dimensional holograph of Delgado's
head, taking in her auburn hair, brown eyes, and fair skin. He
stared at his phone for a moment, and grunted. Elyssa forced
herself to remain patient, though she couldn't help stalking back
and forth while he worked. After that failed to keep her anxiety at
bay, she pulled out Gigi's journal and read more of the entries to
see if anything else stood out to her. Bella watched over Adam's
shoulder, apparently fascinated with his process as she oohed and
aahed.

Adam sat in the chair before the desk. He
said a few words, closed his eyes, brow furrowed in concentration,
and drew his fingers in a wavy pattern across the surface of his
arcphone. A beam of light speared from the phone and struck him in
the head. His face screwed up in what Elyssa guessed might be pain,
though he didn't scream or shout. The blinding light from the phone
covered his face in a red glow then faded, leaving spots in
Elyssa's vision.

She hoped nobody had happened to look at the
office over the past few minutes. They'd have to be blind not to
have seen the glow coming from the spell. The dancing colors in her
eyes faded and Elyssa sucked in a breath as Healer Delgado looked
back at her and smiled.

"Adam?"

He nodded. "Hang on. This effect won't last
long, and it hurts like hell." He flicked the tablet on.

"Good evening, Healer Delgado," the tablet
said in a soothing female voice. "How can I help you?"

"Grant full privileges to Bella—uh, what's
your last name?"

The Arcane smiled at him. "Bella will do just
fine."

"Are you sure you'd like to add Bella Will Do
Just Fine to your list of administrators?" the tablet said.

"Yes," Adam said, his face tightening and
twitching.

An orb of light spun from the tablet screen
and settled around Bella's face. "Welcome, Bella Will Do Just Fine.
I am now yours to command."

Adam lurched from the chair and ran down the
hall, hands pressed tight against his face. Elyssa stared after him
in alarm.

"It's a side effect of the spell, dear,"
Bella said. She motioned Elyssa closer. "Let's see what we have
here." She held up the tablet. "Computer, please show me all files
on Gigi Martinez."

"There are ten recordings, ranging from two
hours in length, to thirty minutes. Which would you like to see?" A
holographic list sprang into the air in front of Bella's face. She
jerked back and almost dropped the tablet.

Elyssa took the device and laid it flat on
the desk so she could see the list. Bella gave her a sheepish
grin.

"Did Healer Delgado come to a conclusion or
guess as to what was wrong with Gigi?" Elyssa said.

"Bella, would you like me to answer the
question from
Unauthorized Individual
?" The disembodied
voice spoke the last two words in a robotic monotone.

"Please answer all of her questions," Bella
said.

"Very well. Here are excerpts from recordings
made by Healer Delgado as to the cause of Lieutenant Martinez's
medical issue."

Delgado's face flickered on in place of the
holographic list. "In conclusion," she said, "I prescribed her a
potion from the apothecary made up of fish oil and green tea, and
recommended a series of treatments with Healer Arroyo, who
specializes in treating dysfunctions of the mind. I do not think
this issue will persist. It's likely caused by stress."

The image vanished to be replaced by another.
"Lieutenant Martinez's issue has persisted for quite some time.
According to Healer Arroyo, his many sessions with her have failed
to pinpoint any specific trauma, save for one. When she was still a
raw recruit, she escorted a group of Arcanes into El Dorado to map
out the caverns beneath the cursed city. Lieutenant Martinez was
one of two survivors of the expedition and was so scarred by the
experience, she requested the White from then Commander Anise
Pratt, who, with great reluctance, granted this request."

Healer Delgado looked down, as if consulting
something and then back up. "I can only assume the trauma from this
scarring event continues to haunt the officer despite taking the
White. Since we know so little about what happens in the
communionary, or the effects of taking the White, I can only
theorize it did not completely wipe away her memories. Healer
Arroyo observed a much greater gap in Lieutenant Martinez's memory
than just the expedition, however. Indeed, she was missing almost
two months' worth of memories. For now, I have no easy answer to
this issue, but maintain Lieutenant Martinez is still fit for duty
as these dreams have not, so far, affected her exemplary
performance."

They watched through the remaining excerpts,
but the healer had no further clues as to the cause of Gigi's
dreams. Elyssa, however, had a sinking feeling she knew what caused
it. The White. It was a rare ritual, but using it for Gigi's
purpose—to forget a traumatic experience—was not unheard of. Elyssa
had no idea how many people had taken it. She wasn't even sure if
the Templars kept records on such a thing. Daelissa obviously
tampered with the memories of anyone who underwent the rituals,
even the Blessed or Novice, because nobody remembered a thing about
what happened during them. Elyssa was an exception, thanks to
Nightliss, the dark angel and friend of Justin’s, who opposed
Daelissa.

But the memory gaps so typical after rituals
were short, hours at most as opposed to months. If the nightmares
Gigi had were indicative of Daelissa's probes for information,
Elyssa could ask her father or Christian to have anyone who'd
experienced such dreams to step forward. But maybe Daelissa
couldn't invade just anyone's dreams. She might be powerful, but
she wasn't omnipotent. What if she could spy on the thoughts of
those people whose long-term memory she'd affected? That meant
anyone who'd taken the White was susceptible. It meant Elyssa was
susceptible.

Not good.

She shuddered. Good news, bad news. Either
way, she was far more informed than she had been an hour ago. Even
if it meant she could no longer be a Templar, at least the vast
majority of her comrades would be safe from the rogue angel's
touch.

Adam returned. His face had returned to its
normal gawky appearance, though his skin glowed sunburn red. "Now I
remember why I hate using that spell unless I really, really need
to."

"You must bring me up to date on these
gadgets," Bella said. "It makes me feel like an old ninny when I
have to look up something on my arcphone. Sad to say, I use the
gizmo mostly for phone calls and pinning pictures on social media
instead of using it for magic."

He offered her a strained smile. "Any
time."

Elyssa grabbed the tablet off the desk. "We
have to get this information to my father and Christian."

"You saw something incriminating?" Bella
asked.