The Doorknob Society (The Doorknob Society Saga) (33 page)

Guild members pulled out their own keys and the tavern filled with chaotic energy as gremlins poured in and Guilders battled them. Jess screamed as a gremlin was slammed into the wall right beside her.

Caleb stood calmly in front of our table, the chaos raging on around him and yet he remained untouched by it. His thin lips sat in a straight line as he leaned in close to me.

“Give me the artifact or you and your friends die.”

I stared at him clueless as what to do or say. It was one of the few times I can remember being at such a loss. It always seemed I had an answer or an instant reaction to everything... not so now. The chaos raged around us and it seemed as if we were already beaten. We didn’t have the artifact and once Caleb realized it, he wouldn’t hesitate... he’d kill every one of us.

The building rocked as an explosion ripped a hole near the front door. Smoked poured from the gaping wound and standing in the middle of it was a man holding his hand high and it appeared to sparkle?

“This is the HVO!” Emory’s voice bellowed over the battle.

A gremlin sped toward him and Emory’s hand swung down, a band of silver energy snaked out snatching the beast off the ground and sending it crashing into the bar splitting it in two.

Caleb grabbed my arm twisting it behind my back and shoving me up against him to rest his sunken eyes close to mine. “Give it to me now!”

He raised his free hand and though I didn’t see it I felt the power of its energy rain down on me and I knew this was it; I wasn’t getting out of this mess.

Suddenly, a fist came flying out of nowhere and smashed into the side of Caleb’s face sending him sprawling to the floor, a burst of blood spewing from his mouth. I turned, ever so happy, to see Nightshade standing beside me. He smiled and blew on his bloody fist. I laughed at his humorous show of victory and grasped the doorknob in my pocket. Blue energy rushed out wrapping protectively around us.

Nightshade remained by my side while Jess hurried to my other side. Bands of red power began flowing from their hands as we each fully activated our powers. The HVO and the Guilders continued to fight off the gremlins over running the building. Our combined energy and no doubt Caleb’s close presence kept them away from us.

It was time to leave like... now.

“This time, boy, I’ll make sure you’re dead,” Caleb said, settling a murderous glare on Nightshade as he wiped the back of his hand across his bloody lip.

“What did you say?” James demanded as if shocked by Caleb’s remark.

“James,” Jess said reaching out to tug at his arm.

I could hear a note of fear in Jess’ voice and I knew I was missing something, but I didn’t know what.

“You know exactly what I mean,
James Nightshade
,” Caleb said and spat blood to the floor as he got to his feet. The level of power radiating off him was so intense that I was certain it made everyone tremble.

“This time I’ll make sure you’re dead just like your little friend.” A wicked smile played across Caleb’s thin lips.

A rage so raw exploded through Nightshade that before I could stop him, he launched himself at Caleb. Huge orbs of energy surrounded his fisted-hands as Nightshade lashed out landing punch after punch. Caleb stumbled stunned by the fury of the blows. He swung his hands up creating blue shields of energy that James shattered easily one after the other.

Jess rushed forward to help Nightshade, blasting Caleb with everything she had. I didn’t hesitate to join them. I focused my energy and instead of opening a portal I tapped it and pinpointed it at Caleb attacking him with pure waves of focused power.

Caleb gritted his teeth and dropped to one knee as his power began to wane. We took advantage of his weakened condition and hit him with everything we had.

James was so centered on obliterating Caleb that he didn’t notice the huge gremlin racing toward him. The rotund green monster lumbered with unusual speed and it wouldn’t be long before he had Nightshade in his clutches. I spun transferring my energy away from Darker to open a portal beside Nightshade. The gremlin tried too late to change direction, he stumbled, rolled and catapulted through the portal. I yanked my hand back slamming the door closed and locking the gremlin away.

“Chloe!”

I turned to see Slade across the room, a massive wrench in his hand that he used as a weapon to ward off an attacking gremlin.

A scream from behind me forced me to spin around. Nightshade and Caleb were locked in a deadly battle while Jessica was pinned against the back wall, her lip bloody and her cheek bruised as a gremlin stood slobbering over her, his thick arm raised high in the air ready to deliver the final blow.

“No!” I screamed and released every ounce of energy I could muster slamming it into the beast and crashing it into a bunch of tables and chairs. The stunned creature stumbled and shook its head, fighting to right itself. I rushed at it grabbing a barstool as I ran. Swinging it with all my strength, I cracked it over the gremlin’s head and with a sickening snap the stool shattered and the gremlin crumbled to the ground.

I hurried to a fallen Jess kneeling beside her, brushing aside her hair and examining the deep gash along the hairline of her right temple. I patted the blood away with one of the dozens of paper napkins scattered on the ground and leaned in close.

“Jess, you have to be okay,” I whispered to her. “Come on, Cuz, please.” It wasn’t fair to be reunited with her only to have her taken from me. We had been the best of friends when we were little and we had shared so many hopes and dreams for the future. I wanted what we once shared. I didn’t want to lose her; I couldn’t.

“Chloe.” She barely creaked out my name. “James?”

Damn, how could I have forgotten him? But then Nightshade could take care of himself. He was a survivor much like myself.

I turned to see him struggling with Caleb in front of a portal that Caleb no doubt had opened. The two exchanged blasts of energy, James taking the worse of the blows. His strength was fading at an alarming rate while Caleb seemed to garner more power at every turn.

Emory and the HVO agents were busy cleaning up the last of the gremlins and Slade rushed toward me.

“Are you guys okay?” Slade’s eyes betrayed his concern for me.

“Take care of Jess,” I yelled and ran past him, my doorknob in hand. I focused my thoughts centering my power and aiming all I had into my doorknob, though not choosing a destination. I wanted to gather as much concentrated power as possible. I had only one shot at this... and I took it.

I released everything I had directly at Caleb. My powers surged like a roaring tsunami racing towards him and the portal behind. With his focus so intent on destroying James, he realized too late what I had done. My contained energy slammed into him like a battling ram tossing him back only inches from the portal. His delayed and feeble reaction caused him to err and he dropped his energy shield.

Nightshade didn’t waste a second. He let out a gut-wrenching scream and with his last ounce of strength swung one last blow sending Caleb hurdling through the portal with such force that Nightshade collapsed on the ground. Spent myself, I dropped down on my knees beside him.

I watched as the portal door was about to swing closed but I was too weak to stop it. I wanted to cry. Once it closed, Caleb would be lost to us; we’d have no way of finding my dad.

James came to the rescue once again. I didn’t think he had a miniscule of power left, but he did. He tossed his key in the air, it glowed red, floated to the door and stopped it from closing.

I struggled to my feet and helped Nightshade to his. He leaned on me, he needed to; he was drained, his limbs weak and his breathing labored. I wasn’t feeling so hot myself and I was relieved to see that Slade had looked after Jess, her head wound no longer bled. Emory stood near a group of HVO agents whose bands of silver energy were cuffing the last of the gremlins.

“You have a lot of explaining to do,” Emory said as he started walking toward us.

“We have to run,” Nightshade whispered.

“We can’t.”

He hurried his words at Emory’s approach. “Our only chance of finding your dad is to follow Darker through that portal.”

Slade stared at me, his look anxious. He must have realized what I was thinking since he shook his head most vigorously.

“You and me, Masters.
We
gotta do this.” Nightshade stepped away from me. Emory halted in his steps, his hand hovering over his Silver Star badge on his belt. “Nightshade, don’t do it.”

James smiled, spun, and dove into the portal grabbing his key as he went. The portal door began closing. I had no time to decide only react. I swore beneath my breath and dove through, hearing Slade and Emory both yell my name as I disappeared into the portal.

Chapter 30

Status: Even jerks have a backstory.

I landed on a cold stone floor and rolled to a stop against a wall. I groaned as I unfurled myself and heard the portal door slam shut behind me. My body protested with aches and a knee pop as I pushed myself up and looked around at a bare bones room in what appeared to be a castle. The stone floors and walls kind of gave it away. I checked to make sure I still had my doorknob, even though I was drained and doubted I was up to a fight, I felt safer knowing I had it. There was only one exit from the room and I headed for it. The arched door opened on to a hallway and I proceeded cautiously down it.

Darkness hugged the corridor and with no windows I couldn’t be sure if it was night or day where the portal had deposited me. I crept down the hall keeping as close to the wall as possible where the shadows were thicker and I’d less likely be discovered. At the end of the hall I came to an intersection where four corridors met. I chose the one that was lighted assuming it was the one most traveled and started down it. After passing several closed door I heard voices and followed. They came from further down and I snuck as quietly as I could until I reached the end and then I cautiously peeked around the corner.

A set of wide stairs curved down into a large foyer where two men stood arguing.

“What the hell happened?” the man demanded.

From my vantage point I couldn’t see his face. I could only see that he was dressed in a suit.

“I failed to get the artifact.”

I recognized Caleb’s voice and had to clench my fists so I didn’t shudder.

“Failed spectacularly I would say, not only did you not get the artifact you let the girl get away. And you may have made our presence known to the societies!”

“They have no idea about us. They’ll assume it’s some rogue member as usual, the HVO is clueless.”

“Don’t underestimate them. We foolishly did that with Masters and he found the artifact before us.”

“She’s nothing more than a wiseass teenager. We’ll get the artifact and dispose of her.”

I suppose I should have shivered in fear hearing that he intended to murder me, but I didn’t, I got angry. He spoke so casually of my demise and was so dismissive of me in general. The man was right though, they not only underestimated my dad; they underestimated me and my friends.

“You know that she is not going to be happy about this turn of events,” the suited man said.

Who was
she
? The boss? I sure hoped they would say her name.

The suited man continued his tone noticeably harsher. “She’s already angry that it has taken this long and is getting impatient for the artifact.”

“We still have Elijah. I think we need to use him as leverage once again.”

“We’ll have to convince
her
of that. It’s time for me to go and see if I can clean up your mess.”

The suited man walked out of my line of vision and I heard a door slam. Darker stood there for a moment and then pulled a phone from his pocket and tapped in a number.

“Hello, I’m calling with a request regarding Elijah Masters.” He walked from the room his voice fading.

I cursed my luck, waited a moment, then was about to creep around the corner, head down the stairs and follow him when a hand slid over my mouth and another went around my waist yanking me back clear off the ground.

The arm around my waist was like a steel band. I couldn’t break free. I was carried into one of the rooms along the corridor and dropped on a chair. I fisted my hands ready to fight my kidnapper but stopped and smiled relieved to see Nightshade.

“Are you crazy?” Nightshade shook his head. “You can’t go rushing down the stairs after him.”

“Good to see you too, Nightshade.”

He smiled though continued shaking his head. “Glad you decided to join the party, Masters. I’ve been sneaking around this place and it’s fairly big, though I’ve only spotted a few people.” He shrugged. “Not overwhelming odds for us. But something odd is going on for sure. I found a cartographers room filled with old maps and a couple of bookworms pouring over stuff. So far I’ve counted two mapmakers, two DS and even a Guilder.”

“Every group is in on this? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“I know that is what’s freaking me out. With the truces breaking down there is no way all the groups would work together like this. Something isn’t right.”

“I heard them talking about my dad. They intend to use him as leverage, though actually it’s bait they’re using him as since they intend to get rid of me and no doubt him once they have the artifact.”

“I won’t let them hurt you,” Nightshade said.

There was such conviction in his voice that I felt he would lay down his life for me if necessary and there was no way I would have that. He shot another question at me not giving me a chance to remind him that I could take care of myself. But I would first chance I got.

“Do you think they have your dad here?”

“They didn’t say, though they do know where he is. That’s why I wanted to follow Darker. I hoped he would lead me to him.”

Nightshade took on a bitter expression as he went to the door and peeked out. Satisfied no one was about he returned to my side, his expression darker than I had ever seen.

I was done with secrets and wanted to know what the hell was going on with him. “Are you going to tell me why you’re helping me?”