Foreboding Skies (The Skybreaker Saga Book 1) (15 page)

“Second. The ritual needs to be performed during a night with no moon for the best results. The moon’s magic interferes with the ritual. The next moonless night is tomorrow night. We have until then to prepare. We need to begin preparing for a fight right flippin now. We will be in touch. So… get moving! Go team!” Aslan scowled at me but left the room striding with great purpose to rally his troops. Kovo tried to conceal her longing as Caleb followed his alpha. Alewyn nodded to me then took Gousie by the hand saying something about ‘accessorizing for slaughter’. Fashion designers. I looked for Kovo, but she once again avoided detection. Then there were two.

“You have many questions.” I nodded even though it was a statement and not a question. I did have lots to ask. I was also having trouble properly wording what I wanted to say. Without another word he strode to an unassuming wall panel and moved his finger across it in an intricate pattern. It seemed to fold in on itself until a passage way was revealed. “This isn’t the place for this conversation.” He sounded like a parent dreading having to tell their child that Santa wasn’t real. He entered the passageway trusting that I would follow him. I did follow him. But I didn’t trust him completely. My friend knew something important about me for how long? And he was still reluctant to tell me even though he knew that I knew. Without any other options I followed a sneaky bastard into a secret tunnel. 

              Through what I suspected was a deliberately confusing maze of identical subterranean tunnels we finally came upon our destination. This must have been a private sanctuary for my friend. I wondered what was behind the other ancient door I’d seen earlier. I wondered how long it had been since anyone other than Vladimir came this way, if anyone else ever had. It reeked of solemn solitude. A hand carved door opened up into a small lightly furnished room. There were two plush chairs with a card table in between. All of this sitting in front of a simple brick fire place. The walls were adorned with various momentous spanning the centuries of his life. He motioned for me to sit while he prepared some kind of drink. It smelled familiar but I couldn’t pinpoint it. I sat down in one of the chairs. It was a decadently comfortable chair. I knew I had to have it.

              Vladimir set two glasses of the drink on the table before taking his seat. The whole environment was welcoming, familiar. We stayed like that for a while. Whatever this drink was it was magnificent. I found myself asking for seconds. Vladimir nodded and brought the bottle to us with one word. I was again reminded that Vlad had been a powerful mage before becoming a powerful Vampire. He always enjoyed letting people know he could speak a few words of power. We continued to drink in silence until he felt compelled to shatter the mood.

              “When did you injure your lung?” Dammit. I hoped he hadn’t been paying that much attention to my breathing. But he always noticed the little things. It was the little things that killed you in the end. I gave him an unedited version of my fight. He didn’t appear to be any more impressed by this telling than the last one. I wished I could go over what happened at the warehouse. “You need serious training to correct your many deficiencies.” Dick. But he was a correct dick. I should be far more proficient with my spirits than I currently was. “The fact that you bound two spirits in such a short amount of time and the highly unusual manner in which you gained the second has contributed heavily to your problems.  But your attitude and work ethic certainly doesn’t help. Of course, there is also your inability to utilize all of the core emotions.” Dick. But again, correct. A dedicated training regimen wasn’t something that I ever really considered until then, and as for my issue with core emotions I would sooner chew my arm off to escape than have that conversation. The last several days harshly showed me my limits. I wasn’t foolish enough to think I could continue on same as before.

              “Let’s say I agree with that opinion. What can we do now? Who would even train me? Tomorrow night is our deadline.”  Unless someone produced a hyperbolic time chamber we didn’t have the time to make meaningful progress. Plus, the nearest Shaman was hundreds of miles away.

              “I will train you when we have more time. However, there is something that we can do right now to improve your odds of success.” Well that was good news at least. “This task is as dangerous as any you have faced yet.” Or not. “I believe that I have found a way to temporarily seal off the spiritual parasite threatening you.”

“What parasite?”

“The parasite that is responsible for your memory loss and contributed to your odd behavior of late.” Parasites always won the ick factor and this was no exception. I couldn’t suppress a shudder at the thought of one inside of me. Then I processed the rest of what he said.

              “You believe? Temporarily?” I felt like a patient lying in a hospital bed listening to the doctor struggle not to say that I was screwed.

              “We will need to deal with it at a later date. However, you are not ready for that yet…and of course we lack time.” That sounded a lot like thunder voice said. Was thunder voice the parasite? But why would the parasite warn me? “I can help you achieve the proper state of mind to confront the parasite as well as the magic needed to suppress it.”

              “Earlier. At the warehouse and choosing to bring Hemmingway and Gousie and all the other parts I can’t remember. Was that because of the parasite?”

              “Indeed. It was trying to influence your decision making. For example. Why did you not contact me immediately? Why did you go to the warehouse at all in the condition you were in? And with two humans no less. And why were you able to get past the wards that Alewyn paid so much money for?” I didn’t have any answers for that. I didn’t even remember making said decisions in the first place, or dealing with any wards.

“Regardless, I believe that bringing those two along may work in our favor in the long run.” He had the look he got whenever he was planning a masterstroke. I suppose he was thinking about the inevitable reveal of the Community. The two hapless humans found a place in his schemes I suppose. On one hand it meant that he would protect them. It partially alleviated the guilt I still felt over getting them involved. On the other hand there would come a time when they would be forced to choose between serving the United States and serving Vladimir. The Red Thorn wasn’t fond of employees with split loyalties. “I wanted to discuss the talismans that you discovered. I’m sure you noticed how stealthy Kovo has suddenly become.” Mention of the talismans brought me back to the conversation.

              “The talisman?” Both the reaver and Downs were wearing them. And the ogre left scarcely a whiff of his kind’s normally overpowering stench. “They make you stealthier? Did you figure anything else out? And how did you get them anyway? I had them secured…in an enchanted lock box that you gave me.”

He smirked and continued, “It makes the wearer nearly unnoticeable. Like water off a duck’s back your attention slips from the wearer. More specifically these talismans seem to function in a similar way to your own cloaking abilities.” Ouch. I had been getting kicked around by my own trick. It wasn’t really my trick, but still. It put another hole in my already Swiss cheese like ego. “Unfortunately we have not been able to determine who created them. As Alewyn told you the Conclave representative that was sent to meet you was killed and replaced. We cannot not trust them or any information they would provide.” He paused for a moment. “I believe I found the original owner of that finger bone.”

“And who can we finger as the owner?” Ha. A pun and a double entendre. They say adversity brings out our best.

Like any good pun it didn’t get any laughs. It was subtle humor. “Moving on. The owner is one Chuck Jackson. He was in charge of the precinct that Downs operated from. He has dozens of complaints against him and has been involved in several lethal shootings, all unpunished of course. He hasn’t reported to work in two weeks. That is of secondary importance. How are you?”

“A little hungry and I….” His look told me to stop with the bullshit and give a serious answer. “The situation keeps getting worse all the time. The past few days have been immensely confusing and frustrating.” Dammit. I was going to go against masculinity and give voice to my…feelings. “The worst part has been my own inability to handle what I’ve faced. At every turn I have been getting my teeth kicked in. And now I have a mind controlling parasite trying to kill me or eat me or something. Oh yeah, I also pulled two innocent people into this disaster and one of them was set to be sacrificed tomorrow night. Gods only know what they are doing to him right now.” I let my face sink down to my waiting hands. I think it was the wine and fire, enticing me to indulge in a little self-pity. I certainly wouldn’t be able to later. He knew that I was venting and refrained from speaking. I appreciated that. “It means a lot to me that I can count on you.” Ooh. Should have kept that one inside.

“I know you have had an arduous day so I will let that go.”

“Thank you.” I really tried to savor my drink. It was a comforting brew. The whole atmosphere was peaceful. Soon I would have to leave it and face reality. The dream always had to end.

“I Believe.” He began before polishing off his drink. “That we should begin.” I knew what he was talking about, but I was still going to ask.

“Begin what?” It could be something else. We might be watching a movie.

He smiled without any mirth. “The ritual that will save you. Or doom you faster. As I said, this will be exceedingly dangerous.”

“You do keep mentioning that.” I downed the rest of my beverage. Deep breath. “Alright let us be on with this grim business.” I leapt from my seat and ripped open the door. With all the desperation I could muster I strode out into the darkness beyond.

“Do you even know where we need to go?” Vladimir said from beside me. Stupid super speed. Over short distances it was basically teleportation. And no, I didn’t know which way to go to reach our destination, or even what our destination even was. But I wasn’t going to trail behind him. My friend pretended he was stretching out his neck whenever we came to a cross roads and I pretended to know where I was going.

After a good ten minutes of walking we arrived at the same set of doors I encountered on my unguided tour. My curiosity would be satiated. Though from the context I could infer this was a room for performing big time magic. Strange that it wasn’t warded heavily in that case. My hand barely moved before Vlad threw his arm in front of me. “Do not touch these doors.”

“Whatever you say scary doorman.” His reaction was peculiar. “Why am I never touching these doors?” Were these his special doors? There were many like it but this one is his?

“I am the only one who can open them. So much as touching them would cause you staggering agony.” I reexamined the doors. They still looked and smelled like ordinary oak doors, ancient doors, but not dangerous. I would still heed his advice. He pushed open his special doors. Revealing a, surprisingly mundane looking room lit by numerous candles. The only notable feature was a small table with a plain looking chalice. “What were you expecting?”

“I don’t know what I was expecting but it wasn’t this.”

“Have a seat in the middle of the room. Close your eyes and focus on your breathing. Calm yourself” I did as instructed. I tried to at least. I found any sense of calm elusive. “Don’t open your eyes. Deep breaths.” Bastard. He wasn’t the one who had a sinister conspiracy targeting him while simultaneously dealing with an insidious parasite. I kept breathing deeply. In and out. In and out. And when were we going to get started? I wasn’t eager to begin but waiting was worse. Just get it over with. Quick and hopefully painless. Breathe in and out. In and out.

Vladimir finished his preparations and slowly walked over to me. “You can open your eyes now.” He held out the chalice to me.

“Dare I ask what this brew is made of?”

“You do not dare. Now drink.”

“I will. But, I want it on the record that this sucks.” I took the chalice and drank deeply. It was sweet. The mystery brew went down real easy. I quickly emptied the chalice.

“It has been noted. My ritual will take you where you need to go, but you alone must subdue the parasite. Once you have successfully subdued the parasite I will pull you out. Then we must prepare for the trials ahead. This will be an incredible test of your endurance. You cannot afford to yield. Now. Close your eyes and take a deep breath.

              I was in a familiar place. Everything had been stripped away from leaving only a free floating bundle of being. Like softly falling snow pieces of my consciousness lowly piled up until I was whole again. Once everything felt like it was in working order I cautiously stood and took stock of my surroundings. It was damned depressing. Why did my mindscape have to be such a dismal place? Because I was a dismal person was the depressingly obvious answer. The place could stand a makeover.

              “You are an idiot.” A disembodied voice thundered at me. “You should not have come here.”

              “Here, is inside me. I get to come and go as I please! You are the one who doesn’t belong here!” Suck on that.

              “I stand corrected. You are astonishingly stupid.” It was bad enough I had to put up with people in the real world but now I was taking shit from a voice inside my head. “This place does not belong to you. Or me for that matter.” A door. A towering gothic monstrosity. It wasn’t a door. It was a gate. It materialized in front of my face. Show off. “If you are absolutely certain you must precede then do so at your own peril.”

              “I am absolutely sure that I must proceed.” Through this gate was the first of my many obstacles. Hold on. “If the parasite is in there…then what the hell are you thunder voice?”

              “Thunder voice? What are you? Five? That doesn’t matter. If you are going to do it then get on with it. Moron.” Dick. I would not stand to be belittled and insulted by a voice in my own damned head. Thunder voice was next on the eviction list. Once I figured out what he was. 

              “Fine. I will asshole.” I strutted confidently to the door. Thunder voice wouldn’t get to enjoy my terror.

              “Good one.” I placed a hand on each half of the gate. Just one push. “Need a little help?”

              “Fuck off thunder voice.” With my famous last words said I pushed through the gate.

              If thunder voice had any last barb to send my way I didn’t hear him. The only sound I heard was singing. A soothing melody rolled through the ceremonial hall. I walked through the doors into an ancient Germanic wooden hall. The doors were gone. No giving up now I suppose. I took stock of my new surroundings. It was decorated simply with wooden furniture draped with earthy colored blankets arranged around a central fire pit. I could smell nothing. No sign of any inhabitants at all. Glowing embers were the only sign this place was inhabited. That and the singing. I couldn’t understand the words, but I still felt I knew their meaning. It was a song of remembrance, of a long awaited reunion.  It set me on edge.

              Was there any point in stealth? If this was the parasites domain then wouldn’t it already know I was here? Better to look silly than be sorry. I slowly crept along the wall toward the far end of the hall. The voice was rolling in from the area beyond. I reached the far wall and peeked through the doorway. Outside was a beautiful landscape. Endless rolling hills sprinkled with the odd grove of trees. The nearest hill held a small but dense grove of oak trees. The singer was in that grove. The trees made it impossible to see into the grove’s interior.

              With great care I moved down the hill’s slope and started up the opposite side. The song felt like it would soon reach its conclusion. I didn’t like the timing. Just past the outer most trees the temperature plummeted. The trees looked dead. They hadn’t looked that way two feet ago. It had evil lair written all over it. It only took a few steps to reach a spot where I could see the singer. Their back was turned toward me. The figure appeared to be several inches taller than me and was clad in flowing black robes. The malevolence was palpable. My instincts simultaneously told me to attack with the element of surprise and to flee as quickly as possible.  My hesitation cost me a chance to strike. The ballad drifted to a soft end.

              “There is no need to be apprehensive. I have no desire to harm you.” Stealth had in fact been pointless. He, the figure was a he, turned to face me. Cold eyes observed me with detachment from a pale and lifeless face. A face that looked mismatched. The pieces didn’t fit together right. My first thought was that this man should have been in a morgue being pieced together in the aftermath of a horrible accident, or he was the spawn of a mad scientist who stitched the poor bastard together from scraps. His robes reflected his face. From a distance they appeared to be solid black. Up close I could see he was wearing dozens of mismatched pieces of black and grey silk stitched together. His entire appearance was…asymmetrical. It annoyed me. “Please have a seat.” He gestured toward two stumps. Stumps. He could simply think up legitimate furniture. Couldn’t he? I knew little about how the imaginary world actually worked.    

              “I prefer to stand when conducting important business. I believe you know what said business is?” He froze awkwardly for a moment before ‘smiling’ at me. Ugh. It was an affront to smiling. He was almost as heinous a smile offender as Goodwin. Almost. “This doesn’t have to be unpleasant.” The figure said.

              “You will leave without any trouble? Or rather agree to be subdued?” I asked skeptically. That would be lovely change of pace. I was somehow reluctant to believe this entity would agree to my demand of unconditional surrender.

              “Please do not be rash. I can be of great service to you.” He drawled, with that sickening grin still smeared across his “face” Here came all the reasons why I should let him be my co-pilot

              “With my power you will be able to defeat all those arrayed against you. You can protect all that you desire. I am unquestionably bound to you. If you fall I will as well. It is in my best interest to support you in any way that I can.” Like a lot of terrible ideas it sounded great on the surface. As with the Fae deal it would yield great dividends early but would doom me in the end. 

              “And let me guess, there are no side-effects whatsoever right? No explosive diarrhea or erectile dysfunction? What is your power anyway?” I asked. I doubted I would get an answer at all, much less an honest one. Whatever he said it would tell me something. 

              “My power is old. Older than this world. Older than light.” He intoned gravely.

              “Hang on. You are what? The darkness before there was light? That’s an unorthodox sales pitch.” I quipped. His face went blank. He went seamlessly from casual creep to full blown serial killing mass murderer in less than a second.

              “There was no darkness before the first light. Darkness is only defined by the light. Before the first light there was no divide. It simply was.” The parasite said as if speaking to a child. I didn’t know how to respond to that. I didn’t understand what he said. “My power is dominion over your foes. Prosperity for your allies. Peace for yourself.”  I was acutely aware of how battered I was in that moment. The accumulated physical and mental strain of years of fighting lopsided battles was making itself known.

              “I swear that I will do whatever is needed to support you in your, our struggle.” I believed him when he said our fates were bound. If I could establish a symbiotic relationship with him I would gain a powerful ally, an ally that needed me just as much as I needed him. But why would Vladimir tell me this creature was a threat and needed to be dealt with?

Maybe because he was afraid of what I would become. Of what I would be capable of if I took the strength being offered to me. He didn’t want me to step over him on the food chain. With the power my guest could give to me I wouldn’t need to go crawling down to his office to beg forgiveness. He would come to me. I rather liked the image of Vladimir forced to trek down to my studio apartment to beg for an audience. I wouldn’t need to worry about the Goodwin and the FBI, much less the council. I would be amongst the upper class of the Community, one of the true power brokers of the world. And then thunder exploded inside my skull. Déjà vu slugged my brain as it roiled trying to place the scene before me.

“If you are willing to do anything to support me then stand down. Allow yourself to be sealed.” Vlad hadn’t actually explained how we would do that. He explained almost nothing before drugging me. He only said to confront the parasite. Did that mean I had to kill it?

              Move. My body threw itself to the left. The patch of grass that I had been standing on was instantly reduced to a lifeless black spot. “I had thought there was something different about you this time. But you are just as infuriating now. I will rip from you your will to live!” Black mist enveloped his form and condensed into jagged black armor. Like the rest of him it was an asymmetric mess. It was random and haphazard. Spikes of varying lengths protruded at odd angles along his arms and back.

              “I think I know why Vladimir didn’t bother telling me how to seal you away peacefully. Tell me. Had I accepted your deal, how long were you planning on waiting before you betrayed me?”

              “You would not have left this place at all.” He smiled as if struck by an amusing thought. “Of course, you still won’t leave here.”  He then proceeded to cackle. Actually cackle. I think that he was indeed trying to be repulsive. Time to resort to the oldest form of dispute resolution. Horrendous violence. I was certain that I needed to avoid close quarters combat. The ground where he was standing tuned black. There was a trail of black footsteps leading to his current position. I didn’t want to be those black spots.

              He lunched forward. Forcing me to dash back through the trees. He simply went through them. They rotted away to nothing on contact. Moron. He should have kept his deadly touch hidden. I pondered how vegetation could be dying in my mind. A streaking black bolt thrown in my direction reminded me of more immediate concerns.

From his point of view why should he bother hiding anything? It wouldn’t make a difference. A wind assisted jump took me sailing past the last of the trees and across the narrow valley to the original hill. He was getting impatient now. “I will not have you deny me my freedom any longer!” He leapt. I hoped he couldn’t disintegrate air. I knocked him farther up in the air and jumped up after him. I wanted to smash him with a giant hammer or a fist. Or a hammer in the shape of a fist. My essence streaked out to take the form of my will.

              I swung my air fist hammer, hammer fist? Hammer fist sounded better. I swung my hammer fist at him with enough force to crater him into the hillside. As soon as my fist hammer connected with him I felt my essence being devoured. I immediately pulled back, robbing my blow of its full power. It was still a rough hit but he did not end up in a crater. He landed with a mild thud. I quickly began my decent as he recovered. I was hesitant to launch anymore attacks.

              He could absorb my soul. The dead patches and now this. Was this guy the antithesis to life? Was he?? My mind reeled, even as I reeled within my mind. Seven black bolts in a staggered pattern tore through the air toward me. I was still a few feet off the ground making dodging more difficult. I couldn’t deflect them. I shoved myself down to the earth and sprang to the side. I only had to hop over a low flying outlier. How was I going to attack him? “The red mage did not tell you about me did he?” Red msge. Probably Vladimir. And no he didn’t. Regardless. I sent several air blasts his way, each in fused with a portion of my essence. He absorbed my essence before the air impacted him, once again robbing my blow of its strength.

              “Shut the fuck up you asymmetrical gothic bastard.” I had a zero tolerance policy on engaging psychopaths in conversations designed to derail me in the middle of a fight. I wanted to kill the bastard dead without having to listen to his tirade of rancid bullshit. I didn’t think that was too much to ask. I just had to figure out how to kill him. I didn’t imagine my claws would do any good against his corrosive aura and wind attacks were clearly ineffective. He didn’t give me long to come up with a strategy.

              The parasite leapt across the valley and I retreated toward the hall and it soon dawned on me that I was up to something tricky. It was time to get dirty. Once inside the door I grabbed a chair, ripped off its legs and started cutting away at them. I made it a little less than halfway across the hall before he thundered in. The impromptu projectiles were powered by enough essence to tear through any armor, if it could get past his shield.

              Almost. The hard sharpened wood disintegrated within an inch of parasite’s face. He actually stepped back in shock. It didn’t last long. His next salvo had me hopping like mad, dodging certain death at every turn. He was firing wildly, punching holes in any potential cover. And the support beams. The wooden supports were beginning to fail. I needed to heed the groaning sound coming from above and get out. My adversary seemed utterly unconcerned with the impending collapse.

              That is until a falling stone block impacted against his shoulder. He was staggered by the blow. I slid behind the stone fire pit while he recovered. Hopefully it would last longer. It was relatively undamaged. No. It was completely unscathed. Stone. The falling stone hurt him.

The common theme of everything that he disintegrated and or absorbed was that it was alive, or had been at one point. Essence fell into that category. It meant he would be immune to all types of magic. Most magic functioned in the same way. You took excess life energy and shove it out into the world.

              It became obvious that my only option was to heroically throw rocks at him while running away. He would be on me shortly. I started cutting away at the fire pit. I quickly carved out seven small stone missiles. He was on the move again and so was I. I surged forward with all my might. The building belched out its death rattle and began its final bow. I tumbled out the door to relative safety. My roll turned into a run. I needed distance. A lot of distance. Space was necessary to whittle away at him. The endless hills would work in my favor.