Blackthorne (The Brotherhood of the Gate Book 1) (32 page)

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Her face, thinner, paler, and weaker stared at her.

“Only one who is pure of intent can open the gate or close it. And it must be closed from the inside.”

“From the inside?” Rhi opened her eyes to the familiar field of white lace that topped the bed in the guestroom of Pearl DeVere’s house.

“Rhi?” His voice was within a foot of her. Crap. “What did you say?”

“I said it hurts inside,” she managed to reply, clutching her stomach. Technically, she was not lying. It
did
hurt on the inside but she also carefully shielded her thoughts. From the inside. Once again, crap.

Her stomach felt like fresh ground hamburger and her joints were on fire. She could barely turn her head to examine the man who once again sat nearby, his socked feet propped on the bed. He was neatly dressed in jeans and a heather-colored Henley. The dreadful, gaping burns that had marked him before didn’t seem to be troubling him.

“Alive?”

“Barely. How come I’m the one who gets to pass out every five minutes in this scenario? I think it’s your turn or Pam’s,” she retorted. Her voice sounded terrible, reduced to a painful croak. “Pam. Houston. Oh my God, Pam.” She struggled to get up. She couldn’t manage to wedge an arm underneath herself to lift up her body. Ellie Mae’s head popped up over the side of the bed to nuzzle her leg, the dog’s tail wagging. Rhi tried to look the animal over for wounds but gave up as her pet, satisfied that her mistress was all right, turned to trot out the bedroom door and pad down the hall unconcernedly. Ellie seemed to feel at home in Pearl’s house, Rhi decided, watching the animal go.

“If you decide to take enough demon infected blood into yourself to change an army, prepare to be down for the count. You’re lucky to be alive.” The fury in Blackthorne’s voice was subdued this time. He knew Rhi had done what she had to do. “You do realize that we in the Brotherhood have no idea whether we are damned for taking the blood or not, don’t you? When we finally die or choose to die is when we get to find out the truth.”

She shrugged. “I didn’t know if I was Heaven bound before. Why should I get to know now? How long have I been out?” she asked as he helped her sit up. Every movement was agony. It was as if someone had turned her body inside out and back again.

“It is 9 p.m. You’ve been out all day.” He tentatively put an arm around her waist to support her. For a second, she rested her head on his shoulder and then immediately straightened.

“The next time you decide to do a demon blood exchange, you might want to talk to me first,” he said, not removing his arm. “The process of becoming a Changeling has outright killed many seasoned warriors. I was amazed that it didn’t kill Pearl and even more amazed it didn’t kill you.”

“Childbirth.”

“What?”

“Women are born with a built in tolerance for pain because they have to go through childbirth,” Rhi stated as she examined her bare legs, which didn’t have a scratch on them. She then noticed that she was wearing nothing but her underwear and a gigantic T-shirt. Blackthorne’s, she was sure. “We are probably better suited to the ‘Change’ than you pussies are. Now could you get me a robe or something? And where’s Pam? Where’s my Bible?”

“What?”

At that moment the door burst opened and Pam hustled through in full military regalia, followed by the biggest biker-type Rhi had ever seen. The man was at least six-foot-seven and, although lean as a wolf, had shoulders that looked as if they could move a barge. He was dressed in jeans, leather biker chaps, and a Notre Dame T-shirt. His face was the most remarkable part about him, however. He had features of a saint or a madman. His long gray/brown hair and beard gave him the look of a bodybuilding Jesus.

Red-faced with effort, she finally managed to stand and shuffle a few steps toward Pam, her hand outstretched. Blackthorne did not try to help her this time.

“Rhi, lie back down,” Pam barked.

“I can’t.”

“Look, it’s nine p.m. and game time is not until moonrise tomorrow night. According to Pearl, you’re the quarterback and you’ve got to be ready to play…I didn’t drive back up the hill with you lying in the backseat screaming like a banshee, Ellie Mae howling out the window of the passenger seat, and Houston’s body wrapped up in a sheet in the cargo space to let you croak on me now. At least, not before you save my daughter.” The other woman’s eyes glittered. “You
will
lie down and you
will
listen to me,” she finished and waved toward her companion. “And you stay out of this, de Molay.”

Rhi was too tired to be shocked. “Jacques de Molay? No offense, but shouldn’t you be dead? And since the Catholic Church is responsible for burning you at the stake, don’t you think that a T-shirt advertising one of their colleges is in poor taste?”

The last grand master of the Templar Knights, functioning head of the Brotherhood of the Gate, who had been burned at the stake in 1314, raised an eyebrow in Rhi’s direction. “And I thought
this
was the spunky one. You sure can pick’em, Blackie.” He then addressed Rhi directly.

“I have never stopped being a Catholic and, aside from the unfortunate burning incident, have always gotten along well with the Church. But the attempted extermination of the Templars did convince us that the Brotherhood needed to go underground. People get nasty when they realize that you are going to live a much longer time than they are.” His distinct French accent was almost too Pepe Le Pew. He looked at her pale face sternly. “Since you insisted upon taking the blood without asking, you might want to remember that fact. You are not a member of the Brotherhood and have not taken the vows of secrecy.”

She returned his gaze with scorn. “Yeah, and I’ll bet those vows worked well with the Blackthorne brothers. One becomes a demon worshipper and the other gets married. I can’t wait to take them myself.”

“Who said you would be asked?”

“You don’t have to do me any favors, sweet cheeks.”

“You already know who he is?” Pam had the grace to look shocked for a moment before regaining her icy resolve. “Of course. You’re the bookworm from Hell.”

“Not only in this life but in the last life as well, I think,” Rhi replied as she eased her body back down on the bed beside Blackthorne, who was having a problem meeting her friend’s eyes. “Houston?”

A hint of moisture appeared in Pam’s red-rimmed eyes and her lips tightened. “We’ve got him laid out at the morgue. Pearl tried to give him the ‘gift’ before he died this morning but the stubborn little bastard wouldn’t take it. Said he wanted his
next
life so he could come back taller.”

Rhi was silent for a moment, reaching for the pain of loss, but something kept it from her. If she were lucky, there would be time to weep for her friend later. If she were lucky, Houston would be the only one to shed tears over.

“Pam…” Blackthorne said, his face a map of sorrow.

“Oh for Christ’s sake, Blackthorne, for the last time, I don’t blame you.” Pam plunked tiredly into the nearby chair and ran a hand through her frizzy hair, succeeding only in making it stand on end even more. “At least not right now. I need you too badly to kill you. Yet.” She then proceeded to make her report to Rhi, in a deadly, monotone voice that raised goose bumps on Rhi’s neck.

“Under Pearl’s direction, Bobby Wayne and I burned down most of the farm to cover up the battle, with Dad setting half the fires. The old bastard is amazing. He completely believed everything we told him and why it had to be kept under wraps. He’s hobbling around Bobby Wayne’s at this moment, sorting through weapons. Mom is in shock, I think, holed up at my house with Nate watching over her. She hasn’t said three words since we bugged out of what was left of the farm. Pearl put a hoodoo on the cops and firemen who showed up for the fire. They didn’t notice things like how beat up we were or the body in the truck. And they accepted the story of the housekeeper and my cousin dying in the fire.” Her composure showed a hairline crack for a split second before she recovered and continued her report. “The town is conveniently empty for some reason. There are skeleton crews at the casinos. The newscasters are forecasting a huge blizzard, the worst in a hundred years. Winterfest has been cancelled. Sheriff Boyd is rounding up reinforcements in case the beasties get into the town and Blackthorne’s fancy French boss and his buddies can’t keep them in line. Did you know Boyd is Pearl’s great grandson?”

“Whaa?”

“Yes, that’s what I said. Pearl had a son, before she ever became a Changeling, who lived with his father in St. Louis. He was a teenager when she was turned and when she finally worked up the nerve to contact him, he moved here. But he would never take the blood from her and neither would his son, or the son after, etc. They have this religious objection to it.” Pam reached over to pull the Bible from the pile of Rhi’s clothes near the bed, handing it to her. “And don’t you have something to get out of this thing? I need to know when are you gonna do it, because all hell will break loose when you do. By the way, Pearl told me where the gate is and I have to say…weird.”

The two men were looking at the book warily. Blackthorne’s face was the face of a man who had eaten a suspicious tasting oyster. Molay’s mouth opened and shut several times as if he were trying to say something. Pam had left it in the pile of clothes as if it were a half-read romance novel. They ignored or hadn’t heard Pam’s reference to the gate.

The location of the gate was, to say the least, insensitive. “Yes, Pam, my husband buried me on the threshold of Hell itself. Raven’s or rather
my
mausoleum leads back into the hill under the graveyard and to the gate itself.”

“It’s a very nice monument and I could check on the gate and visit her grave at the same time,” muttered Blackthorne. Her knight decided to save himself by looking outraged. “How long have you had
this
,” he demanded, pointing at the Bible.

“For a while, Blackthorne. How insensitive of me to not tell you that I have had it all of this time,” Rhi said as she considered her options for a moment. The toughest path would be the one they had to take. If Pam didn’t shoot her for asking to wait to save her child. “Not tonight, Pam. I have to wait until the last possible moment before I let this thing loose. In the morning, we’ll get set up to fight whatever pops up tomorrow night, working in some nice, comfortable daylight around the gate. He hasn’t done anything to Katie and won’t before tomorrow night. The Earth itself would cry out to me if he had touched her.” Rhi got up and placed a shaky, restraining hand on her friend’s arm.

Pam’s face crumpled for a moment and then hardened. “You aren’t shy about asking a lot, are you? What’s to keep me from walking out that door to my truck and going after her myself?”

The two women stood toe to toe, eyeballing each other. Rhi had to crane her head back to meet the taller woman’s glare but did not shrink away.

Molay cautiously stepped around them to examine the ferocious, tiny woman seemingly wearing nothing but a gigantic T-shirt and a scowl. He crossed his huge arms over his chest and looked at them thoughtfully. “It’s true. He has done nothing to the child, I am certain, because Rhi would definitely have felt it as she has felt a part of every other event that has taken place since her other self awoke. And that worries me more than anything else…why has he not at least terrorized the child? It is the kind of thing that would entertain him.”

“Maybe he knows what he’s in for if he does,” Rhi replied, knowing better. Manius did nothing without a motive and she had a crawling suspicion that she knew what this motive was. She didn’t bother to ask Molay how he knew about
that
particular part of her curse.
Know-it-all.

“Manius was able to block the sunlight this morning at the farm,” Pam pointed out. “I am not the most patient of women. The sooner I cut his gonads off, the better. But I do like to be prepared.”

“We are going to be facing a small army and a dragon, we have got to be ready.” Her voice turned pleading, begging Pam for time the other woman had no reason to give. “This time I know what he is up to, Pam, and hopefully I am powerful enough to hold his cloud cover off so we can get some stuff done out at the gate tomorrow. We have a better chance of getting Katie back in one piece if we wait, Pam.” She laid a still trembling hand on her friend’s arm. “Go get some rest. She’s going to need you to be in top form tomorrow night.”

The other woman nodded at her friend and wordlessly filed out of the room, Rhi knew, not to sleep but to sit up and prepare and to stare out the window into the mountains, wondering about the fate of her child.

“That’s where it is? After all of these years?” Blackthorne reached out to touch the cracked leather of the book. Rhi snatched it away, holding the Bible tightly to her chest. He stepped back from her, holding his hands up in supplication. “I couldn’t take it from you if I wanted to, Rhi.”

The Bible began to hum as a green light, tinged with red streaks, began to escape from the pages. Rhi thumped it irritably. “Oh shut up. Whoops, not you guys. Sorry.”

The book gave a little hiccup and shut down. Rhi carefully placed it in the drawer of the nightstand and shut it away firmly. “It’s sleeping now.”

Molay looked horrified. “You are not even thinking about bringing that thing anywhere near the gate tomorrow night?”

“Didn’t your own sages or truthsayers or whatever the heck say that I’ll destroy the gate with the help of the skull on the date of the original creation of this particular gate?”

He nodded wordlessly and dread colored his features.

“Tomorrow night’s the night and I am not only going to get Pam’s daughter back in one piece, I am going to make sure that this town never has to deal with this again, got it? We are going to do this my way, period. And I’ll tell you what you need to know when you need to know. You guys have not been that forthcoming with me so I don’t feel that I need to be that forthcoming with you.” Rhi turned wearily and toddled toward the bed. “Now if someone could get me a basin? I have to dry heave for a while. Then I’ll need to feed. I’ll need an accommodating human for an aura check.”