Nancy K. Duplechain - Dark Trilogy 03 - Dark Legacy (16 page)

“Oh, no. You’re fine, thank you,” I said, forcing a smile.

“So,” said Miles to Charmagne, “Have you heard from Gretchen
and Felix since they returned? They were both very helpful to us in Argentina.”

The atmosphere in the room became tense and quiet. Even the
soft clatter of forks-to-plates ceased, and most everyone averted their eyes to
the table cloth.

“I hated to tell you this after you just got here, but
Gretchen is missing.”

Miles and Noah looked at her. “Since when?” said Miles.

“Since last night. She and Felix were going to stay here and
welcome you all. We were all going to have dinner together tonight. He and I
have been calling her all day. He went to her apartment, but she wasn’t there.
The whole situation has been quite trying for us. Gretchen is a very dear
friend of the family.”

“Just one day?” said Noah. “I guess it’s not like her to ignore
phone calls, but I wouldn’t jump to any conclusions.”

Charmagne looked down at the table. “There is something I
need to tell you. For the past two months, we’ve been trying to hunt down a
turned coven somewhere in the area. Yesterday, Gretchen called to tell us that
she may have found a connection in Brussels. It’s so far away from where we
were looking. I told her she must be mistaken, but she was persistent. She said
she was driving there to check it out and if she found out anything, she’d tell
us and we could take care of it together. She called last night, but … there
was something very different about her. She said not to worry about the coven
anymore, that we were wrong. She said everything was going to be fine now.” Her
eyes lifted from the table and looked at us. “We think … she has made a
terrible decision.”

After a few moments of stunned silence, Noah said, “Forgive
me, but I find it very hard to believe that Gretchen would turn.”

Charmagne’s eyes subtly glinted with annoyance, but she
quickly recovered with sympathy in her voice. “Please don’t misunderstand me,
Noah. I do not mean to say that Gretchen took it upon herself to betray us, but
rather this coven has somehow …
conditioned
her.”

“You believe she’s been brainwashed?” said Miles.

“Either that or strongly under their influence. We believe
they are the ones controlling our dreams, like the ones you said you’ve been
having. Felix has been searching for Gretchen today, but he’s come up with
nothing so far.”

“And do you know
anything about this coven? Who their leader is, where they practice?” said Miles.

Charmagne shook
her head. “There have been several deaths in the area in the last few months.
All of them are the work of dark magic.”

Danielle stole a
quick, uneasy glance at Ridge. He remained stone-faced, staring at the table
cloth. A few beads of sweat clung to her skin, just over her brows, and her
eyes were unfocused with fatigue.

“As you are
aware,” said Charmagne, “the number of Nephilim is quite alarming. You have
managed to wipe out the rest of the Watchers, but their children are many. We
know they are still planning an uprising. We’re trying to get any and all
paladins to help as we can. Felix and Gretchen were helping to recruit for our
side when they stumbled upon the damage this coven has done.”

“How many Nephilim
do you suspect in this region?” said Miles.

Charmagne
shrugged. “Hundreds, no doubt. Add that to everything else we battle and it’s
overwhelming. That’s why we are thankful for any who come to our side, even if
it is a nephil.” She gestured toward Ridge. “Danielle calls him her guardian
angel. He’s very much like you, Noah.”

Noah’s jaw
clinched, and so did Ridge’s. Danielle looked pale, and more beads of sweat had
formed on her forehead.

“Are you okay?”
I asked Danielle.

She seemed
embarrassed. Charmagne answered for her. “She’s been a little ill lately. She’s
recovering from a virus. Now, as I was saying, Ridge is a pure nephil. He does
not have the paladin blood you have, Noah. He is quite effective, though. Very
strong, and he flies very fast. More importantly, he has provided us with more
information on the gathering Nephilim. If they knew he was on our side, they
would no doubt tear him to pieces.”

Ridge continued
to stare at the table cloth, but I could see the field of tension around him.
He looked like he just wanted her to shut up, but he also stole worried glances
at Danielle.

“Tomorrow I’d
like to get together with Felix and see what we can come up with,” said Miles.
“I’m sure he’s doing a good job of looking for her, but we might find some
things he’s missed.”

“I don’t see how
that would be a problem,” said Charmagne. “I’ll phone him tonight. He actually
wanted to be here tonight to greet all of you, but between looking for Gretchen
and recruiting, it just wasn’t in the cards. I believe he and Gretchen have
found some beneficial paladins who will join forces with us. Even an old friend
of yours, Noah. You remember Aimee, no?”

Noah seemed
caught off guard for a moment, and a hint of a smile twitched in the corner of
his mouth.

Charmagne
continued: “I hope to have them all over for dinner one night while you are
still here.”

“Splendid,” said
Miles.

“If you’ll
excuse me,” said Danielle, her voice meek and shallow, “I think I’ll get ready
for bed now.” She pushed her chair back and, as soon as she stood, she
collapsed to the dining room floor. Ridge scooped her up quickly and rushed her
upstairs to her bedroom.

We all followed
and arrived in time to see him place her under the covers and tuck her in.
Charmagne sat on the bed beside her, stroked her hair and whispered, “Ma belle
fille.”

“What virus did
she have? Was it the flu?” said Noah.

Charmagne sadly
shook her head, got up from the bed, and beckoned us into the hallway. Ridge
stayed behind, kneeling at her bedside, and held her hand as Charmagne gently
closed the door behind her.

“I didn’t want
to say this in front of Danielle at the dinner table,” said Charmagne in a
hushed voice. “I told her she had the flu, but I believe she’s been cursed.”

“Cursed?” said
Miles. “Who would do such a thing to a child?”

“I believe it is
the very witches who are responsible for Gretchen’s disappearance. They know I
am the leader of the paladins here, and they are trying to send a message. And
they are using my daughter to do it. I’ve tried healing her, but it cannot be
done. She grows weaker every day.” Her voice caught, and tears formed in her
eyes. “Miles,
please
help us. She is my only child. And Gretchen … she
is like a daughter to me as well. Danielle thinks of her as a big sister. We
are a family here, just as all of you are. We
must
find that coven and
destroy them.”

“We will,
Charmagne,” said Miles, putting his arm around her, and she wept into his
shoulder.

***

Later, I called
home to check on Clothilde. Cee Cee said she was fine and just about ready to
come out the hospital. Lyla was excited to hear about Paris. I told her I
mostly just saw the airport. She made me promise to eat a croissant for her. I
wanted to talk to Carrie, but she was in the shower. Later, I got an incoming
text from her in reply to the picture of the dining room I sent earlier:
What
a dump!
I giggled, used to her sarcasm.

Before bed, I
showered in the bathroom across the hall. When I came out, I saw the door opened
to Danielle’s room. A soft glow came from a little lamp on a night stand.
Charmagne sat beside the bed, holding Danielle’s hand, whispering something. I
tried to tip toe across the hall so as not to be intrusive, but she heard me anyway.

Charmagne craned
her neck around to see me. “Leigh. Come in, dear.” She gestured for me to sit
in a wingback chair near the balcony window.

For the first
time, I noticed how charming Danielle’s room was. She was a teenager, but her
room still echoed the magic of childhood with carousel horse figurines here and
there. The walls were papered in pastel blue with a hint of sparkle. A small
chandelier hung over the brass bed, and French doors opened onto a small
balcony. It was a room fit for a modern princess.

“How are you
feeling?” I asked her.

“Much better,
thank you,” said Danielle, smiling.

“She’s very
strong!” said Charmagne, holding her daughter’s hand tightly, beaming with
pride. “She will make a strong paladin, too.” She looked at me. “And you will,
as well! I hear you are quite the healer.”

“I’m not as good
as Miles.”

“Maybe not yet,
but you will be. Not just a healer, either.”

“What else,
then?”

“You have seen
Miles perform feats other than healing, no?”

I had to think
about it. “Once in battle. He raised his hand at one of the Watchers who was
coming toward him. It stopped and sort of … it’s hard to explain. It was like
…”

“Like all the
life left its body?”

I nodded.

Danielle,
uninterested, yawned and turned over in bed, pulling the covers over her head.

“That’s because
it did,” said Charmagne, eyes fixed on mine, waiting for my reaction. When she
saw the quizzical look on my face, she continued, “Miles drained the life from
the Watcher’s body.”

“How?”

“It is part of
our gift. That particular part of our ability lies dormant unless you become a dark
paladin. It is a war we are fighting. When you choose to fight on the front
lines, you get better weapons.”

“How do I learn
to do that?”

She smiled,
pleased. “I see that you are eager to learn. That is very good, but draining
someone’s life force is not as easy as you would think. And by that I mean you
can never fully prepare for what it does to you the first time. But if you wish
to learn, I will teach you.”

“I thought my
teacher had to be a male. My grandmother told me that was how it went, that
you’re supposed to be taught by the opposite sex.”

She smiled
politely but seemed to be amused at the same time. “That is an old superstition
in your part of the world, I’m afraid. It makes no difference if I teach you or
Miles. You are certainly free to ask him if you’d prefer that.” This time her
smile dared me to ask Miles. I got the feeling she knew I wouldn’t ask him.

“How long do you
think this will take?”

She shrugged her
gaunt shoulders. “That depends on you and how quickly you can pull the power
from inside of you and adjust to the feeling it brings.”

She reached over
to the small table next to us and lit a white candle. “Are you familiar with
Reiki?” I shook my head as she took my hands in hers. “Reiki, loosely means
‘life force energy.’ It is, essentially, what we do as healer paladins. Your
grandmother calls herself a Traiteur in your Cajun-Creole area. In the Far
East, it is Reiki, and if I am not mistaken, is becoming popular in your United
States. Certain witches practice the same thing, though instead of being
applauded in places such as Salem, they were murdered because the simple-minded
could not understand what a blessing it was to have these witches there to help
them. Of course, some of them turned bitter, performing curses on those who
persecuted them. They, unfortunately, became Dark Ones.”

She waved her
hand. “And here I am, rambling again. The point is that it does not matter how
you choose to heal. What you are doing is putting some of your life force into
the other person, giving them your energy. That is why we often feel drained
when you perform these tasks.” She leaned closer to me, her voice dropping
barely above a whisper. “In order to do what you saw Miles do, you must
pull
the life force from that other person and into yourself. You know the feeling
you get when you heal? How your hands heat up?”

“Yes,” I said.

“It is the polar
opposite of this, for you and the other person. Watch. I’ll show you.” She held
my hands tighter. “Now, I will drain a little of your energy.” I arched an
eyebrow, and she smiled. “Only a little. The worst side effect you will have is
probably a yawn or two.”

I nodded for her
to continue and then braced myself.

Her eyes focused
on mine, and a slight smile worked the corner of her mouth. Rather quickly, a
chill went through my body, like I had suddenly stood under a cold shower. That
would certainly wake someone up, but I became tired, and my arms went limp. I
felt like I had several glasses of wine in one shot—a feeling of falling into a
cold abyss. After closing my eyes and rolling back my head, Charmagne reversed
the process, putting her energy back into me, and it was like a quick shot of
caffeine and B-12.

All I could do
was stare at her in awe. She shook my hands and smiled. “Are you okay?” she said.

“I thought I was
going to pass out.”

“I’m sorry,” she
laughed. “It was a little more forceful than I had intended.”

“And this really
helps when we’re fighting the enemy?”