The Company of Darkness (24 page)

Disappointed to hear him start out on that tone, she gave him a sour smile.  “Nice to see you too.  I missed you.”

“I need to know what happened.”

“Since you blew me off?”

“Cady… it’s really not the time.”

“I’m sorry, but it’s the sort of thing a girl doesn’t get over all that quickly.”  That first kiss inside the cabin helped, but he ruined it by not following up with another now that they had some privacy.  Still, she could understand his need for the facts, and maybe he’d spot something she’d missed to help her fill in the blank spots. 

Cady told him everything she remembered from the time Rikard first forced her up to her apartment to when he’d entered Alma’s office, including the bizarre montage of scenes with the dreamer, though she still wasn’t sure how much of that was real.  He didn’t say much as she spoke, walking along beside her. 

“How did you get here, did they take you too?” she asked when he didn’t offer any comment.

“They called me and I came in.”

“Are you in trouble?”

“That depends on your definition of trouble.  I haven’t been disciplined yet, but we’re definitely in hot water.”

“She didn’t seem all that mad by what they found out.  In fact, she seemed sorta happy to have me here.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

“She offered me a free ride, any college I want.” 

“Nothing’s ever free with them.  Don’t kid yourself into believing they’ll send you off on your merry way without an agenda behind it.  She didn’t say
when
you’d be free to pursue that academic career either, did she?”

“No… we didn’t get to that part yet.”

“They won’t let you go until they’re good and ready.  You’re like a puzzle to them and Alma likes a good puzzle above all else.”

“Why?  What’s so special about me?”

Ethan stopped walking, his head shaking slowly.  “You don’t get it do you?”

Cady threw her hands up in frustration.  “No, I really don’t.  Please explain why everybody’s so gung ho on making me a convert all of a sudden.  I thought they didn’t want me knowing about any of this.”

“You resisted not only Asherik’s compulsion, but also Rikard’s spells.  That droning chant you heard when you woke up in the holding cell?  That was an entire pod of casters, weaving a truth spell so thick you shouldn’t have been able to resist it and instead you shoved a song down their throats,” he laughed, looking up at the sky.  “Whether it’s from Ash’s blood or some other natural ability, you can do things normal people can’t.  Alma doesn’t give a damn about you and furthering your education, she’s just trying to figure out the best way to exploit it.”

“She said I can leave whenever I want to.”

“And you believed her?” he scoffed. 

“Well… yes.  She also said they’d strip my memories of all of this, even of you.”

“That’s your best bet,” Ethan allowed, and she couldn’t tell if he truly believed that or not. 

“Is that what you want me to do?”

He stepped closer, hands coming up to graze the sides of her arms before pulling them deliberately away, as if he was afraid to touch her.  “It would be the safer thing for you to do.”

“What about you?  What will they do to you if I don’t stay on?”

“There will be consequences for my actions either way, but that’s for me to bear.  I’m the one who broke protocol.”

“Only because I practically forced you to.”

“You didn’t make me do anything I didn’t want to,” Ethan said, breaking down enough to touch her cheek.  “No matter what I have to pay, I wouldn’t change the time we had together.  Except I might make it less demonic,” he added with a half smile.

“I think that might be the most romantic thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“Might as well get all that mushy stuff out now since you probably won’t remember any of it past tomorrow, right?”

Cady frowned at that, not quite ready to throw in the towel yet.  “What’s to stop us from walking out of here with my memories intact?” 

“It’s not that simple.”

“Why not?”  As far as she could tell they’d been left alone, otherwise he wouldn’t let them talk so freely. 

“For one, they seem pretty keen on you sticking around for now.”

“So?  Let’s circle around and hike to the road.  Or you can steal us a car, can’t you?”

“We’re spellwarded in, this whole complex is.  Nobody comes in or out without their permission.  It’s not because of you, it’s always like this.  It’s the most secure facility on the west coast.”

Undaunted, Cady forged ahead.  “Then how do we break through it?”

“It’s not that easy.  I can’t do it on my own, the spell is too powerful.” 

“Then we need to find someone here to help us.”  It was a safe bet Rikard wouldn’t be much use, and a random guard probably wouldn’t have the juice to offer if they could somehow turn one.  “What about the dreamer girl?  She seemed nice enough.  Maybe if I can explain to her that we’re being kept against our will…”

Ethan was already shaking his head.  “Virginie won’t do it, she’s completely under their thumb.  I’m not sure she understands what’s real and what’s the dream anymore.”

“That’s so sad,” Cady frowned, she seemed so young.  “Okay then, I’ll help you.  You can show me how, the way you did with the protection spell.”

“It would take too long to teach you.”

“Do you have any better ideas?”

He let out a long breath.  “Not really, no.  And I need to stick around at least as long as it takes to get rid of Ash.”  His face twisted with something akin to pain and he muttered something she couldn’t catch under his breath.

“Are you alright?  What’s wrong?”

“It’s him, he doesn’t like it when I talk about getting rid of him.  But I
will
get rid of him if it’s the last thing I do.”

“He doesn’t like it how?  Like… you can feel what he feels?”

“No, like the bastard won’t shut up.  I can hear him all the time now, yammering on like a damn DVD commentary on my life.  Especially with you here.”

“He’s talking to you right now?” Cady gasped.  When had Ash become so strong?

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“Is that why you keep pulling away from me?  Because of him?”

“That’s part of it.  I think it makes him stronger the closer I am to you.  Plus, you have no idea how distracting it is to hear him gushing about how soft your skin is when I’m touching you.”

“Ick…” Cady took a step backward, her skin crawling at the thought of Ash not only listening in but experiencing it for himself every time she kissed Ethan. 

“Tell me about it.”

“How can you stand it?  That would drive me kazoo.”

“I’m… living with it.”  His teeth ground together for a moment before he snapped irritably.  “No, I won’t, she doesn’t care.”

It was disconcerting to watch him address thin air.  “Are you talking to him right now?”

“He wanted you to know how much he misses you,” he admitted with a resigned shake of the head and Cady got an idea.

“Ask him if he can feel the other demons in there and talk to them too.”

“I’d rather not encourage him.”

“Yeah, but he’s there whether you like it or not, right?  Might as well find out what we can about it.”

“She does
not
want to talk to you,” he growled, and she tensed at the anger in his voice.

“I’m sorry, maybe you’re right, we should ignore him.”

“Easier said than done.”

Cady tried changing the subject, hoping to ease some of his discomfort.  “If we’re going to be here for even another day we have to try and get word back to Ian, he must be going nuts.  Did they let you keep your phone?”

Instead of soothing him, the new topic only seemed to make Ethan even more uncomfortable.  “I have it, but that won’t be necessary.”

“Why not?  Did you talk to him before you came up here?”

“I don’t know how to tell you this…”

He wouldn’t look at her and that sent her nerves into overdrive.  “Okay, now you’re freaking me out.  Did something happen to Ian?”

“In a way.”

“Is he alright?  Did Rikard hurt him when he took me?  Jesus, that’s what happened, isn’t it?  How bad is it?”

His hands came up, but he made no move to touch her.  “No, nothing like that, calm down.”

“Then tell me, damn it, what’s wrong with Ian?”

“He was recruited by the Company.”

“What?”  She had to have heard him wrong.  Of all the things he could’ve said, that thought hadn’t once occurred to her. 

“It’s true.”  Ethan looked at the ground, his boot tracing patterns in the soft dirt.  “We sort of got into it when I came to see you.”

“You came to see me?  When was that?”

“After you were taken.  I had the strongest feeling something bad had happened to you.  Or maybe Ash did, it’s hard to say,” he shrugged.

“Okay, then you got into what?  An argument and he told you he was with the Company?”  She couldn’t believe Ian would blurt out something like that to Ethan of all people. 

“No, we fought, and he definitely wasn’t the pushover I expected.”

“So, that doesn’t mean anything.  He beats people up for a living, he’s not some goober you can push around.”

Ethan looked up, blue eyes hooded.  “I saw the glyph myself after I knocked him out.  He’s got a demon bound to him right enough,” he said, lips pressing into a grim line. 

“That’s crazy.  He couldn’t have a demon tattoo, I would’ve seen it.”

“Maybe he kept it hidden, or maybe it was very recent. I didn’t stop to ask him about it, but I know what I saw.  He’s a Company man now and we have to assume his new job is part of his cover.”

“But… why wouldn’t he tell me?”  It didn’t make sense.  If Ian knew that she knew, why not bring it all out into the open?

“He wouldn’t tell you anything he wasn’t ordered to.”

“I don’t know if I can believe this.”  She fell back against a redwood tree, more sapped by the news than from the walk.  “Maybe they only told him part of it?  I find it hard to believe he sold me out for a cushy job and some new ink.” 

“Hopefully you can ask him soon.”  Ethan’s voice was gentle, almost tender, but he still wouldn’t touch her.  “We’d better get back.”

They tromped back to the cabin in silence, each lost to their own thoughts.  Cady couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable knowing they were being monitored, and that Ash was up front and center for any conversation she had with Ethan.  When supper time came, she begged off, deciding to take a nap instead.  Ethan brought her back a few snacky foods in case she got hungry later, but whatever peace she found from the brief rest dissipated as soon as she woke. 

There was no TV, not even a radio and Cady went to bed early after taking a lukewarm shower.  Only she couldn’t fall asleep with Ethan lying beside her, too worried about meeting Ash again in her dreams.  Lying still so as not to disturb his rest, she mulled over the events of the day, trying to make some sense of it. 

For the time being she’d cooperate, answer their questions and see what she could learn as well.  The big thing would be getting Ash out of Ethan, especially now that they shared his headspace.  She rolled over, surprised to find his eyes open, regarding her thoughtfully. 

“You can’t sleep either?” she whispered.

“Nope.”

Her hand reached out to touch his face, but she stopped when she caught the faint shake of his head. 

“It’ll be okay, Cady, we’ll figure this out,” he said softly.  Before she could respond, he rose from the bed, padding out to the living room and she heard the creak of springs as he settled onto the small sofa.  Rolling onto the warmth from his spot before it faded, she closed her eyes against the tears that gathered there. 

“I sure hope so.” 

Despair.

Asherik had never tasted despair before, but he did now as surely as if he had his own tongue.  There she lay, so close and yet denied to him thanks to the stubborn body that trapped him.  If only the reaper would give in to the desire that surged through him with no prompting from Ash at all, but he kept them at arm’s length.  At least Ash could look his fill of her for now through Ethan’s eyes. 

Even now, as they gazed down at her beauty, Ethan was hardly aware of his actions, his mind curiously blank as Ash urged them closer.  Who was the puppet now?  Ash raised their hand to brush a lock of fiery hair from her brow only to have Ethan stop, clenching his hand into a fist as he became aware of his actions. 

“Just let me feel her skin,”
Ash pleaded, his voice taking on a wheedling tone. 
“I won’t touch her inappropriately, I only want to feel her skin.”

“I won’t let you have her,” Ethan growled, reasserting control over his own body as he realized where they were.  Stomping out of the bedroom, he shoved his feet into boots, lacing them tight.  “I won’t let either of us have her if that’s what it takes to keep her safe.”

“You don’t think I’d ever hurt her, do you?”

“What do you think it does to her to be around you?  You don’t have to physically harm someone to hurt them.”

“But she cares for me, I know she does.  I’ve felt it.”

It was something that had bothered him for a long time – the idea that on some level, Cady had feelings for the demon too.  Ethan shoved those thoughts away, but not before Ash seized upon them with glee.

“See… I told you.  We’re linked together, she and I.”

“You’d better hope not, or they’ll end up using her to get to you.”  Darting a last look to the bedroom but not going any closer to it lest he give Ash what he wanted, Ethan left the cabin, trying not to think about the woman who’d changed his life. 

“You didn’t have a life, not before you met her.  Neither did I.”

“I’ll agree with you there, all you did was take life.”  It was easier to hold the conversation in his head, but every once in a while Ethan spoke aloud.  As he got closer to the main house he made a conscious effort not to blurt his part of the conversation out loud.

“It’s all I knew until she showed me something brighter.” 

“Look, you might think you’re capable of love, but when push comes to shove you react with violence.  That’s what scares her and that’s why I have to keep us away from her.  If you’d really learned something about love and life you wouldn’t have those impulses.  So spare me the gushing poems for once and let me go take care of this debriefing without you jabbering away in my head, okay?”

“You don’t like my poems?”

It was like talking to a sullen child.  “Just stay out of this as much as possible.  The less they know about you the better.”

“Or, they might be able to provide some answers.”

“Or they might decide you’re too dangerous to stick around and try to exorcise you instead of keeping you bound.  I can guarantee you won’t like that.”  It wouldn’t be fun for him either. 

“It seems unlikely they would let power of any kind slip through their fingers.”

He had a point, but Ethan knew they weren’t averse to destroying their enemies.  “If they determine they can’t control you, they might decide to get rid of us both.”

“I won’t let that happen, I’ll keep you safe.”

“Thanks all the same, but I can handle this on my own.”

“My fate is tied to yours for the moment.  I’ll do what’s needed to preserve us.”

“Great, then shut it.  It’s going to be a long morning.”

The prediction proved true, as Ethan endured a thorough debriefing, answering the same questions over and over again.  It should’ve stung to have everything he said questioned like that, but he could understand their need for caution.  He’d been the one to keep them in the dark for so long and break protocols after all. 

As it was, he was late to lunch and grabbed something from the kitchens, hoping to catch up to Cady before she wandered off too far.  He knew she’d spent her morning talking to a “therapist” about her childhood, her family.  Taking a psych eval to determine her suitability.  It was all standard stuff he only vaguely remembered, and he wished he’d stuck around to talk to her about it before he’d left the cabin that morning, but he’d made the best decision he could with Ash in the mix. 

For his part, Ash remained fairly quiet through the questioning process, only muttering a word here or there or even prompting him when he forgot a salient point.  Ethan carried it off well, by his own reckoning, without any of the lapses into speaking to the air that would’ve warranted a whole new level of scrutiny he didn’t want from the Company. 

He caught up to Cady back at the cabin where she was deep in concentration, trying to untwist two pieces of a metal puzzle.

“Ugh, I give up,” she scowled, tossing them across the small table to skitter to the floor.  “It’s a trick, right?  To see how many hours I spend pulling the damn things apart and they don’t actually separate, do they?”

Ethan stooped to pick them up, turning them over in his hand, he pushed them closer together, twisted, and they slid apart. 

“Are you freaking kidding me?” she gaped, picking up the pieces.  “Show me how you did that.”

He linked them together again, but set it down without showing her how it was done.  “Nope, can’t show you the trick or it’ll skew your scores.  I guess you’ll have to flunk this one.”  Cady made a sputtering noise, her mouth falling open as she struggled to get out the right words, and
God
, Ethan wanted to kiss her so badly he lost the playful mood.  “Sorry, I can show you later,” he said, going to pour himself a glass of water. 

She noticed the shift in his mood and gave him a sad smile.  “That’s okay.  It’s probably better if I can crack it on my own anyway.  Just knowing it’s possible helps.  How did things go this morning?”

“About as expected,” he shrugged after drinking deep.  “How about you?”

“The same.”  Neither one of them felt like talking much with the bugs in the room. 

“Do you want to go for a walk?  Work the kinks out before you have to go back over and take more tests?”  He assumed they weren’t done with her for the day, at least.

“Sure, that sounds like fun.”

They didn’t really speak again until they were well within the treeline but Cady did take his hand, threading her fingers through his when he might’ve pulled away.  He shouldn’t have allowed it, but Ethan was weak where she was concerned.  Just as eager for her touch as Ash was, maybe more.  The three of them strolled in the dappled sunlight until he deemed it safe enough to talk. 

“Sorry I left this morning before you woke up.  I knew you had a rough time sleeping and I didn’t want to disturb you.  I figured Alma would send someone for you when she was ready.”

“Yes, she sent Rikard.  Why is he still here anyway?  I thought he was a fixer, not an errand boy.”

“I don’t know, maybe she’s keeping him handy in case I decide to go off book again.”  There were few close by who could take him out, especially with Ash’s strength, unless they sent for another reaper. 

“Have they said anything more to you about when you’re going to get Ash out?”

Ethan braced himself for a remark from the demon himself, but Ash remained silent.  “No, they didn’t mention it at all.  I’m starting to wonder if they’ll ever offload him at this point.”

“Maybe they’ll get done with their tests and decide I’m not a good candidate after all and return us to our lives.”

“Is that what you want?”

“Well, I was thinking.  As long as they don’t scrub
your
memories, we could make this work.”

He stopped walking, not following her logic.  “How do you figure that?”

“I mean, if they take Ash away from you, and take my memories, and you go back to fighting demons in the city and I go back to my life… who’s to say you can’t come and find me afterwards and tell me about all of this?”

“That…”  She made it sound simple, like showing up with a bunch of flowers and a simple explanation and they’d be right back where they started.  “I couldn’t do that.”

“Sure you could,” she smiled, warming to the subject.  “All you’d have to do is tell me a few things you know about me that no one else could possibly know.  That, plus the fact that you’re you should keep me interested to start with and before too long I’m sure I’d fall in love with you all over again.”

Ethan picked up her other hand, needing her to listen close and leave that fantasy behind.  “No, I meant I won’t do that.  If they do scrub your memory and set you free, I have to let you stay free.”

“You don’t want to be with me back in the world again?”

“It’s not about what I want, it’s about what’s best for you.”  It was all he could hope for of the future, because he didn’t dare dream of a future with her in it anymore. 

Cady shook her head but must have thought better about what she was going to say.  “Then maybe we’d better get going on those lessons, okay?  Because I’d rather we didn’t have to come to this decision at all.”

“Alright,” he smiled, giving her hands one last squeeze before letting them go, ignoring Ash’s surge of disappointment in that act.  “Let’s start with the sigils we’ll need to cut through the barrier.”  They spent the better part of an hour tracing the sigils in the dirt with fallen branches and he wasn’t surprised to see how quickly she caught on to them this time.   

“Hey, maybe I can get them to teach me some stuff too?” Cady mused aloud, brushing the dirt smooth with the bottom of her shoe before beginning again.  “Let them think I’m all ready to join up and see if I can get them to show me a thing or two?”

Ethan couldn’t help the instant frown that tugged at his lips.  “I think that would be a bad idea of epic proportions.”

“But we’re trapped here anyway.  Why not make the best of it?  Knowledge is power.”

She was so naïve, but he had to tread carefully so as not to prick her temper, he’d learned that much, at least.  “Some knowledge is, but some is a burden.”

“But you’re teaching me…”

“Protection sigils, symbols to circumvent a spell already in place.  Nothing too dark.” 

Cady dropped the stick, turning to face him squarely.  “Ethan, they’ve been nothing but nice so far.  Why are you making this out to be some big thing?”

“Because I don’t want to see you pulled into my world.  I never did.  You’ve spent your whole life in the light, you don’t know what it means to be drawn to darkness.”

“I’ve spent plenty of time in the shadows myself.  My life hasn’t been all rainbows and unicorns, you know.  I can take care of myself.”

The scary thing was that she believed that.  “You have no idea what you’re saying.”

“She’s not going to like that,”
Ash interjected. 

Sure enough, Cady’s face closed off, arms wrapping around themselves.  “Wow, could you be a bit more condescending please?”

“Told you so.”

“Shut up,” Ethan barked at Ash, but unfortunately Cady took it the wrong way.

“Yeah, that was way mature,” she grumbled, stalking off down the path to the cabins. 

“Cady, wait…”

“Let her go, it’s best to let her cool off.”

“Because you’re such an expert with women?” Ethan snorted.

“Yes, actually, but I’m more of an expert with a temper.  She won’t hear a word you have to say until she’s had a chance to relax.”

“And when do I get a chance to relax, huh?”

* * *

“When can I get Subject Q offloaded?”  Ethan refused to use Ash’s name, more than a little annoyed with his smug advice.  Alma leaned back in her chair, a single brow raised until Ethan took a seat across from her, his knee bobbing with excess energy.  After she’d made him wait a full minute, she finally spoke.

“That’s been suspended for the moment, but you can get the previous two removed if you like.”

This was bad.  Very bad.  “Why?”  He’d never once asked the reasons behind an edict before, but he’d never had such a personal stake in them either.

“We’re not done exploring the subject’s unique properties.  No bound demon has ever shown so much consciousness after being bound.”

“With all due respect, that’s what makes him so dangerous.  The sooner we get him out of me and into someone with less power at his disposal, the safer we’ll all be.”

“I thought you had him under control.”  Her steely gaze met his and Ethan swallowed, managing not to squirm through rigid self control.

“I do.  It’s just… the more time he’s exposed to Cady, the stronger he gets.” 

“So shouldn’t the better question be, how long should you stay here alongside her?  What if we transferred you instead?  That would solve your problem.”  She smiled as though the idea was made of sheer brilliance and Ethan stared at her, at a loss for words.  That wasn’t what he wanted at all.  “Relax, I’m just messing with you, Shaw.  We’re not interested in separating you, more like the opposite.  We’ll want her to try and establish contact with Subject Q, to see if she can reach him instead of the other way around.  First through dreams and then through conscious meditation.  It should be an interesting round of experiments.”