The Company of Darkness (31 page)

“That’s all you can say, interesting?  Can I have a tissue or something?”

“That’ll be all for now.  Take it easy today, we’ll continue the tests tonight with Virginie before we declare this a complete failure.”

“Awesome.”  Cady got out of there before she gave in to the urge to grab that letter opener and stab Alma in the perfect face with it.  Anger gave her the fuel to propel herself down the stairs and out of the building entirely, not stopping until she reached bungalow three. 

Ethan looked up from the table, which was liberally covered in gun pieces, his expression darkening as soon as he saw the bloody gash on her arm.  “What happened?”

“Alma decided I might be faking the other tests, so she gave me a new one.” 

“Here, let me see it.”  Guiding her to the sink, he held it under the stream of water, gently prying at the edges once the worst of the blood was washed away.  “It doesn’t look too bad.”

“Easy for you to say, you’re not the one who got cut,” Cady grumbled, though it really didn’t hurt much more than a sting anymore.  He pressed a paper towel to her arm, holding her gently with his other hand. 

“There… it’s not bad at all, it’s already stopped bleeding, see?”  He dabbed at it a couple more times, but he was right – not only was it done bleeding, but the cut seemed shorter. 

“Wait, look, it’s…”

Ethan cut her off before she said anything else, turning the water back on to mask the sound of their voices and Cady remembered about the bugs in the cabin.  While they watched, her skin knit itself together until there was only the faintest line.  Not only that, Cady felt better than she had all morning, much more like her old self. 

“Did you do that?” she whispered.

“I don’t think so.  I’ve never been able to before.”

“Have you ever tried to before?” 

“Well, no,” he admitted with a slow shake of the head. 

“Was it Ash?”

He was silent for a moment before he nodded, speaking very close to her ear.  “He says yes.  He could feel your hunger crying out to him, and he gladly lent you his strength.”

“My hunger?” 
Ick
.  That didn’t sound good.  “Did you know he could do that?”

“No, I had no idea.  Listen, why don’t we let him give you a bit more?” 

“No.”  Cady pulled her arm away from him, drying her hand off on her jeans. 

“You’re weak and…”

“No, I don’t want anything he has to give.  I’d rather heal the old fashioned way, scars and all.” 

Ethan stepped closer, not ready to let it go.  “Cady, you’re being ridiculous, we only want to help you.”

“We?  And that there,
that’s
why I don’t want your help.  There shouldn’t be a
we
unless it’s
us
.”

“You’re not making sense.”

“It’s perfectly clear to me,” she said, pressing her lips together, signaling the end of the conversation.  She’d rather be bleeding out her eyeballs than have Ash’s energy swirling around inside of her. 

Cady wasn’t sure what to expect when she showed up at the dreaming room that night, but found Virginie in high spirits, giddy almost.  She seemed no worse for wear for having lost a demon, and when Cady questioned her, Virginie said she never noticed any periods of fatigue or weakness after she first got the glyph that Cady now wore. 

What took place next was a series of jumps, for lack of a better word.  With Virginie’s assistance, they hopped in and out of dreams, always starting with Cady’s own bedroom or home base as the dreamer called it.  After getting their feet wet, Virginie let Cady take over and she found it surprisingly easy to navigate the currents.  She had only to fix the person’s name in her mind and let go, trusting the stream to take her where she needed to go.  Soon enough she was in the target’s consciousness, provided that person was actually asleep. 

For comparison, she tried to get into Alma’s head once, knowing she wouldn’t be going to sleep until after they made it out of the session, but all it did was pop them back to home base again.  None of the jumps fatigued her in the slightest, and she emerged much more awake than when she’d risen that morning.  It was also important to note that she’d only taken half the meds prescribed again, palming the other pill and slipping it into her pocket.

Alma was much more pleased with that round of tests and promised a chance to sharpen those skills the next night.  With a pat on the head and a drink of water, Cady was sent off to bed.  She chose to sleep in the main house rather than disturbing Ethan out at the cabin.  If she was being honest, she could admit she wasn’t ready to be alone with him again in bed.  The idea that Ethan had started to accept Ash as a part of him bothered her more than she liked.  Plus after spending hours jumping in and out of people’s heads, the last thing she wanted to do was wrestle with Ash in dreamland.  

But as she lay there in the dark, Cady started to think about getting a few answers on her own without Virginie playing piggyback.  It was easy enough to drift off to her home base, and Cady spared a moment to wonder how long the apartment would be theirs with no one around to pay the rent.  Or was that a minor detail being handled by the Company now? 

Cady let herself drift up into the stream, letting the current carry her, for how long, she wasn’t entirely sure.  All at once her thoughts coalesced to a single purpose and she spoke the name of her quarry in the stillness of her mind.  “Alma.”  There was no familiar pull, no sense of what direction she lay in at first, and Cady thought maybe the woman hadn’t gone to sleep yet.  Still, she searched for her, drifting along, growing more and more determined to crack into her dreams the longer it took.  Time ceased to have all meaning and a part of her mind wondered if they’d find her the next morning, trapped in the ether, unable to return to her own body for focusing too long on her goal. 

And then she slipped in without warning, blinking at the transition that found her sitting in Alma’s office, the blonde bent studiously over her desk.  This was what her secret dreams were like?  Talk about no imagination. 

“Hello, Alma,” Cady spoke, deciding to try simple conversation at first when she didn’t seem to notice her arrival. 

“I’ll be with you in a minute, sweetie,” Alma drawled, not even looking up. 

“That’s cool with me, I’ve got all the time in the world.”  Cady flexed her will and the office surroundings disappeared, plopping them both on Virginie’s favorite beach instead.  Alma blinked at the transformation, but didn’t speak, looking out over the water from under her floppy hat instead. 

“Do you like the beach?” Cady asked.

“I haven’t spent much time here myself,” she replied, entranced by the gentle waves breaking across the sand. 

“Why not?”

“I’m afraid too much work and no play has made Alma a dull girl,” she smiled faintly. 

“So change it.  Take a vacation, grab the gusto every once in a while.  Ian and I are poor as dirt but we still make it to the beach every summer at least twice.”  Maybe if the woman had a few hobbies, she’d be less of a hardass on the rest of them.

Alma’s lips curved into a speculative smile.  “Hmm, maybe I’ll have to ask that brother of yours to take me sometime.”

Ick
.  Definitely not what Cady had in mind.  “How about instead you tell me what you have planned for me?”

“The trials went real well, much better than I anticipated.  I’m thinking we’ll have you ready for the field in no time.”

“Out in the field?” Her jaw dropped at first, though she wasn’t quite sure why.  Of course they were grooming her for such a position, otherwise why put the demon into her in the first place?  “With Ethan?”

“No.  You’ll need a handler and he’s been compromised.”

That didn’t sound good.  How long would it be before she was reduced to a state like Virginie?  Being shuffled around from place to place by her so called handler in a constant fog?  Still, she didn’t like the sound of Ethan being compromised and what that might entail.  “What are you going to do with him then?”

“He’ll be kept at the campus to re-indoctrinate before he’s released to active duty again.”

Definitely didn’t sound so good.  Cady licked her lips, trying to decide which topic to tackle next.  “I’m not sure I understand the necessity for a dreamer out in the field.  I’m not stronger, tougher… won’t I slow a reaper down?”

“You won’t always be used in the pursuit of a subject, there are other ways to serve the Company.  Some that don’t require brawn to see you through them.”

“Ethan told me about some of the other things you hunt, but that’s not what this is about, is it?”  Cady started to see the truth behind the rumors of mercenary activity Detective Lucas had warned her about.  “I can see how talents like mine might fetch a pretty penny on the open market,” she ventured. 

“Aren’t you a clever thing?” Alma replied with something very much like admiration.  “You’re right, there are some very lucrative real world applications for talents such as we foster in the Company.  It’s not just a monster hunt by any means.”

“So that’s what you’re grooming me to do?  Spy for whoever pays top dollar?  Or do we have certain political leanings?”

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head about it.”  Alma smiled evenly.  “You do what you’re told and you’re paid handsomely for it.  That’s all you need to know.”

She had a few thoughts on that score, but chose to keep it to herself for the moment.  Something else was bugging her.  “What does re-indoctrinate mean?”

“That’s classified.”

That wasn’t good enough.  Maybe if they were really sitting together in her office or on the beach, but this was dreamland and Cady was the boss here.  “Show me.  Show me what it means for Ethan.”  Cady flexed her will, trying to match the tone Virginie used when she’d taken Foster back through his last mission.

They stood in a room very similar to the dreaming room, only there was a single chair bolted to the floor instead of the pair.  Ethan lay unconscious as they strapped him down, placing a bite guard in between his teeth. 

“What are you doing to him?” Cady asked, and Alma replied without looking in her direction.

“Resetting him.” 

“How far should we go back?” the technician asked, satisfied with the restraints, he started sticking electrodes onto Ethan’s chest.  Cady couldn’t tell if he was hurt or why exactly he was passed out, but there were less glyphs on his body.  The one on his shoulder was gone and so was the one from Ash.

“Set it back four years this time, the usual package deal.  This time let’s take him up north.  Maybe the Seattle area, there’s plenty of activity up there.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“What is he doing?  What does re-indoctrination mean?” Cady pressed.

“Same thing we do when anyone starts to develop a conscience.  We reset ‘em back to a point in time when they didn’t have such worries.”

Cady gaped at her in horror.  She’d known they had the ability to mess with people’s memories, but she had no idea they were doing it to their own employees.  Were they really going to wipe his memories and stick him back out there like none of this had ever happened?  Was that why Virginie wasn’t sure how old she was anymore?  “How long have you been doing this for?”

“Long enough to get real good at it,” Alma smiled, only then seeming to notice who it was she spoke to for the first time.  “You’re not supposed to be in here for this.  You’re not cleared for this information.  Who let you in here?”

“You did,” Cady said, pulling herself out of the dream so fast it made her spin and swirl in the current for a while, completely losing her bearings.  It was harder than she’d thought to find her own body again, but eventually she looked down on herself lying there in the bed alone.  No matter what she tried, she couldn’t seem to get back into her body until she remembered, like an idiot, that she needed to get back to home base first. 

After that all it took was a simple shift and she reached the sanctuary of her own dreamspace.  Waking up was trickier, and she wasn’t entirely sure how much time had elapsed by the time she slipped out of bed and pulled her clothes on.  Sneaking out of the house, she flew out into the night, desperate to talk to Ethan about what she’d learned. 

She found him passed out on the lumpy bed, and shook his shoulder.  “Ethan!  Wake up, we need to talk.”

He immediately sat up, alert to the tone of danger in her voice.  “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t talk to you here.  Put some stuff on and come outside with me, quickly.”  Cady wasn’t sure if they were still monitoring them, but with the bugs in the room she didn’t want to take the chance.

Ethan didn’t stop to think why, he simply did as she asked, without question.  But by the time they got to the front door, Alma stood there, flanked by armed guards.  “You couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you?” she said with a slow shake of the head.  “Bring her on up to the house.  You best stay here if you know what’s good for you,” she added, jabbing a finger in Ethan’s direction.

“Ethan?” Cady darted a quick look to him but he only gave her a short nod.  Now wasn’t the time to resist. 

* * *

“How did you know?” Cady asked, plopping into her usual seat in Alma’s office once the guards left them alone.

“I’m asking the questions here.”  Alma’s steely gaze was designed to make her uncomfortable, but Cady could see how rattled the woman was over her infraction.

“Do you see this?  Do you know what it is?”  She pulled a chain out from beneath her blouse, a shiny, oblong shape like a dog tag suspended from the end. 

“Something your BFF gave you in junior high?”

Alma ignored the quip, letting the pendant fall from her grasp.  “This is supposed to keep you or anyone else from slipping into my thoughts, dreams or otherwise.”

“Looks like you should try and get your money back then, it doesn’t work for shit.”

A faint smile curved the woman’s lips as she sat back in her chair, some of the tension sliding out of her voice as she deliberately forced control over her nerves.  “You shouldn’t have been able to get in there.  How did you do it?”

“I don’t know. No one told me I couldn’t,” Cady shrugged.

“That’s all?  You just got in?  The same way you were able to resist Rikard’s compulsion spells?” 

“I don’t know what to tell you.  I looked for you in the stream and there you were.”

“Why?”  Her head canted to one side and it was Cady’s turn to shrug again.

“Partly to see if I could do it on my own and partly to get some answers.”

“All you had to do was ask.” 

“So if I’d come right out and asked you about Ethan, you would’ve told me you planned to reset him?”

A tight smile was her only answer at first.  “You seem to be full of surprises, darlin’.  I think maybe you’re ready for the next step in your education.”

Why did that not sound so good?  “What would that be?”

“As much as I like Virginie, I think perhaps she’s not the best person to train someone of your exceptional talents.  I’d like to send you to a special training facility to sharpen your skills a bit, but honestly, I don’t think you’ll need all that much before you’re ready to go out in the field.”

Send her away?  She’d already seen it as part of the eventual plan, but Cady figured she’d have time to act before it got put into play.  Had she forced Alma’s hand by her own stupid curiosity?  “What if I don’t want to go out into the field?”

Alma’s eyes glittered like wet stones, the dangerous smile returning to her lips.  “I thought your family meant more to you than that after all you’ve lost.”  Cady bristled at the threat, but Alma waved her away before she could speak.  “Don’t let’s start this venture on the wrong foot.  We don’t have to be adversaries here.”

“Too late, lady,” Cady all but growled.  If Alma actually thought they’d be anything but adversaries after continuing to threaten Ian, she had another thing coming.   

“Think of what you can gain.  Not only the education I touched on before and the chance to develop these exciting new abilities you’ve shown, there are other perks to sharing our resources.”

“You don’t have anything I want.”  Cady was tired of being jerked around, threatened, and then expected to jump on board with a smile on her face and a song in her heart.