The Seven (Fist of Light Series) (22 page)

My Air proficiency improved as time passed. Jeeves still mixed in non-aggressive combatants along with those who would do me harm. It just emphasized the point that supernatural beings didn’t just fall into the easy categories of
good
or
evil
. They, like their human prey, allies, or enemies, possess the same flaws and redeeming qualities of Man. That realization wasn’t a very happy one, however. I knew that people were capable of cruelty, evil, and spite, as easily as kindness, compassion, and love. I expected nothing different from beings that live in such close proximity with humanity.

I regained my footing once more. The vampires were quick, giving me trouble in keeping up with their movements. Not because my vision was occluded by sparkles, not that. I was vaguely disappointed, thinking that any competent vampire would sparkle. I propelled squares of Air outwards in the place of blocking maneuvers. When a non-sparkly, bone white hand shot out in a left uppercut, my response was a downward thrust of Air. I was starting to get the hang of it, but still slightly shaky. One in three tries usually ended with repeated pummeling by a violently enraged vampire. From what little Jeeves had told me, these were an expendable class of vampires, and, despite the power they possessed, were on the bottom of the food chain when juxtaposed against their royal counterparts.

With the Air powering and speeding my every move, I stayed one step ahead of my opponents and their sharp fangs. Having already experienced the not-so-caressing bite of these vampires, there were no urges to date them, nor stop for a chat. All the popular vampire books were full of lies.

I jumped over a series of lightning fast punches, vaulting up into the sky, borne upon the Air. Giddy laughter escaped my throat. Though only a teenager, I’d already soared higher than any corporate giant. After landing on the balls of my feet, I allowed my momentum to carry me forward into a roll. The vampires were all arrayed behind me at this point, and so I let them have it. Gathering more power from my storage tank, while pulling one arm backwards, as if to wind up for a mega-slap.

A razor-thin boomerang launched out from my hand as I flung forward. I felt the drain immediately as well as the mental strain. The boomerang, trailing a wickedly macho purple tracery, was imbued with an excess of power. The width of the attack caused the vampires to be taken down no matter which direction they ran. One more intelligent male, however, jumped over the obstruction in the nick of time.

The last one came at me with a snarl of rage, and not much in the way of planned thought or action. He threw an unrefined right cross at my face, and it was an easy matter to deflect his blow with Air. His body wheeled in a complete circle from the strength of my counter. I delivered a straightforward palm, bringing my elbow back down immediately following my contact. He was dead, well more dead anyway, or unconscious by the time he reached the forest floor. I looked around the carnage. I had not gotten used to it.

These imaginary encounters were as good as the real thing. The pilfered blood seeping out of vanishing vampire bodies was real enough for me, and their hits were solid enough when they landed upon my body. For all practical purposes, I was embroiled in fights to the death, but, rather like a video game, my lives weren’t limited to the change in my pocket. Sighing, I realized that there was a fatal flaw with that reasoning. In a video game, you were psychologically and physically removed from the action that was occurring.

I realized, finally, that the training was not merely to get me used to fighting members of the supernatural community or recognizing when one meant me no harm. It was to toughen up my psyche, so that when embroiled in a real-life encounter and only possessed a solitary life, I was ready. There would be no coming back from any disembowelment, the foul thought cascaded through my mind.

“You have done well these past few days,” Jeeves admitted reluctantly, startling me from my internal ruminations. “Successfully attaining and holding the correct frame of mind in a confrontation is a vital aspect of training. You have harnessed Air to a satisfactory, if rudimentary, level. Now, you must acknowledge your instincts and utilize imagination to guide you the rest of the way. There is little basic application remaining to be learned about this particular element.”

“What about flying? I was really looking forward to getting my pilot’s license.”

Jeeves shook his head sadly, as if dealing with a lost cause. “This is your mind, Caleb.” He paused. “Well, to be exact, this is my domain within your cognizance, but the end product is unchanged.” He paused. “I am maintaining this,” he flourished his hand expansively, “with my will, and enforcing the laws of nature as you are accustomed. But…” he paused dramatically. “It is not necessary to have these restrictions in effect.”

The landscape morphed around us and the glade disappeared in a shower of glimmering motes of light. I tilted my head up in amazement as the world around me
changed
. We weren’t in Kansas anymore, that’s for sure. The sky, which was most definitely supposed to be blue in color, was a vibrant green. The stars twinkled merrily, and they were large enough for me to consider backing up a few steps in order to conform with safety regulations. A blue, pitted moon shone down upon the landscape, while the sun was still out. When I got around to looking down, I was again awestruck.

Standing ten feet above viscous green liquid, I came to the conclusion that it was an ocean. No land was visible upon the horizon, though dark shapes lurked under the surface. Colossal waves crashed amid the ocean with deafening finality, spewing droplets high in the air. I suddenly had the feeling that there wasn’t anything in this ocean that you’d want to meet, if you preferred all your body parts unblemished. Jeeves’ mind was no doubt a treacherous place.

“The world around us is shaped by my will, and it can be anything within the realm of imagination,” he said, with more than a little smugness. “And so, something like flying inside your mind is largely superfluous.” He grinned. “Because things like gravity are relative, subjective, and easily turned to your enemy’s cause.” He grin widened.

Simultaneously offended and startled, I bellowed, “Damn you, Jeeves!” before plunging into the depths below.

Colliding with the very real water, my clothes soaked through instantly, and I began to splutter and claw my way to the surface from my submerged position. Air bubbles floated lazily, trailing behind my headlong flight as if in no hurry to reach the surface. Sensing a current glide past me, I redoubled my efforts. I struggled to the surface gasping greedily for breath. I was… back in the glade at the mansion. Damn it all!

Jeeves flashed on the right and I skipped a rock toward him. It would have worked as planned if it didn’t just pass harmlessly through his body rather than strike him. Narrowing my eyes at him, there was a momentary standoff, where both waited for a turn of the phrase. If there were no such action taken, my rights as described in section 5 subsection 12 of the Man Rulebook would be necessitated.

“Do not believe that you get off with such minimal effort, Caleb.” He grinned even more widely than before. “There are four additional elements to be introduced, and only one of them will be as simple fare as rudimentary knowledge in Air was garnered.”

My jaw tightened. “Well, what a sweet transition into our next encroachment into the world of fantasy, teach.”

He waved off my displeasure, unaffected. “There was no harm done, young buck. And yes, Water is the element where your tribulations will begin anew. It is the element you have a secondary propensity, behind Air.”

Curiosity piqued, my hostile mood melted away. “How do you know what my strengths shall be, when we haven’t invoked any elements, excepting Air? And about the lightning? Hmm?”

Jeeves appeared flustered for a few short moments and I savored every second, locking it within the vaults of my long-term memory for later amusement. “I am privy to much knowledge pertaining to you. How I have acquired the information is of trivial importance compared to other, more pressing matters. Survival is infinitely more important than details regarding my collective stores of knowledge.”

“Lightning,” he continued, rather obstinately and irrationally, “is not considered an element. And you will have little need of my help in teaching you about its intricacies.”

I threw up my hands in disgust, an immediate reflex brought on by these incessant shadow games. Was it so difficult to speak plainly?

The night’s dinner, much like most others, was a modest affair for the Franklin family, prepared by their very own chef who both lived and worked in the mansion. My thoughts strayed to my parents and their whereabouts, and prompted an obvious question had been postponed up to this point. The atmosphere had remained light and jovial throughout the evening, ideally suited to taking the chance, while it still remained within grasp.

Through the midst of a mouthful of beef soup, I acted to tentatively broach the subject. “I was wondering.” My eyes surveyed Jas. “About your mom. Is she… Did she…?”

Noah took the matter out of my hands almost immediately after its instigation. “That is not a subject which has been discussed in many a years. The painful memory has been set in a vault under lock and key.” He looked to Jas inquisitively.

He had frozen up at the mention of his mother, but nodded. “He has a right to know.”

Being that both men at the table were tight lipped and irresolute regarding the outcome, I realized that we were in uncharted territory. My eyes wandered as I awaited Noah’s response and they spotted the ghoul, sitting comfortably in a corner eating a humongous slab of beef, then refocused my attention on the table.

“Celeste was a jewel,” Noah began, visibly reacquainting himself with his wife’s name. There was sorrow in his eyes, and I instantly regretted bringing up the subject. “There was no one who matched her beauty, and her intelligence, was
unparalleled
. Her eyes, the stars of my world, and I revolved around her, whichever direction she chose. We fell deeply in love against all established customs, married, and soon Jas entered the world. For some years, our life was uncomplicated: we raised our child, strove to be parents that Jas here would admire in the future.” His gaze darkened. “But Celeste had enemies from her past, and I was woefully ignorant of their existence. They ghosted within our halls that day with a solitary purpose when I wasn’t there to protect her, while she was vulnerable. Upon my return, her blood had seeped into the stone of our entry hall, and the assailants had fled the scene with nary a mark of their passing. Every vestige of my power was enlisted to locate the smallest connection, to bridge the gap of ignorance, but the trail had ran cold years past, my hands empty. Jas was but a child, and they left him unharmed in his crib, yet too young to lament his mother’s passing.”

Dredging up the shades of his past had clearly taking a toll on the man. When I first looked upon him, he was a figure of strength, a cliff face unaltered by millennia of surf that wished to erode his carefully constructed walls. But now the fracture within his soul was visible; Noah’s eyes were sunken and lifeless. There was a long period of time where the table subsisted upon the modest fare in silence. I polished off the rest of my meal, even the greens, which was most unlike me.

The tension finally eased when Jas broke wind. “Sorry,” he said, feigning a contrite expression.

I was content with the knowledge gained throughout the course of the evening. It went a long way to explain the closeness between Jas and I; we shared a disturbingly similar traumatic experience. I rubbed my palm where the bond had been instigated, a habitual movement.

M
y understanding of the lengths others would go when confronted with a raging thirst in the midst of a desert was deepened considerably throughout the course of the next day. Jeeves had continued my lessons, but this time he wanted me to establish the playing field, within my own little spherical sun. I got cold feet when approaching the orb, dreading the thought of being deep-fried down to my imaginary shoes by hot lava. When I neared it, however, there was only pulsating warmth that ran the length of my body. The nexus of my power had grown exponentially in intensity and power since my initiation into the world of the supernatural had been solidified.