Blood in the Marsh (37 page)

“Police!” he yelled as he ran to the reception desk. “I need to use your phone. It’s an emergency!”

The woman at the desk stared at him wide-eyed as she slid the phone over to him. He dialed quickly. “This is Santera. I’m at the Cloisters. Send a chopper. There’s a kidnapping and attempted murder in progress. Also, send men to the old Ebo Landing in the marsh. You’ll find a group of people there. Arrest them all in connection with the disappearances and murder of those girls.”

He slammed down the phone and looked at the clerk behind the deck. “Do you think you could find something to cut these ropes with?”

She nodded mutely and picked up the phone. “Kitchen? Could you send a large knife to the front desk?… Yes, a large knife… No that’s all. Thank you.”

Off the Coast of Georgai

After several minutes, Lyra looked up at Leopold. “Where did you get this?” she asked, clutching the pages tightly.

“From your godfather,” he replied, and then smiled at her look of surprise. “Yes, I know Lucius, Lyra. We are very old friends.

“No.”

“Yes. We’ve long battled this Adversary.”

“Battle, my ass. You’re in cahoots with him.”

“That is what I needed everyone to believe. It was necessary for him to believe that I was his to command, that I would aid him in his quest.”

“Yeah, right.” Lyra didn’t think she could believe anyone at this point. Everyone had lied to her, from her mother to the old woman May-May.

“I know you feel as if no one can be trusted,” he said. “That you’re seeped in an ocean of lies, but what I am telling you is true.”

“What you were told by Ms. Carter —May-May—was true. But it was not her life she told you of, but that of Lucius’ family. It was his great grandmother’s life May-May spoke of. Not her own.

Lyra found herself paying attention. It made sense. But what is this was just another trick, another lie to gain her trust?

“That’s impossible!” she argued. “You’re trying to trick me! See, I know your secrets, too! I know you can’t join with me unless I give myself freely. And I’m not about to do that so you might as well kill me.”

“I have no desire to harm you, Lyra,” he said pleadingly. “Please, you must believe me. We had to make the Adversary believe in my loyalty. That’s why I became involved with Lexi. She’s been a devotee since before you were born. It was her devotion that caused your pa’ents' death. She paid someone to sabotage the plane and cause the crash, thinking she would inherit the family fortune and use it to aid her master.

“When you lived, at first she saw it as a misfortune, but later, when it was discovered that you were the one the Adversary sought, it elevated her position among his followers.

“The only way the Apologists could think to save you was for one of us to gain a place of importance among these followers. I was chosen to serve that role.”

“And obviously you fell victim as well.”

“No. Believe me. Every ritual I endured was a type of death for me as well. I cannot begin to describe my revulsion at what I have experienced. But I did it in an attempt to save you,a nd stop him.”

She shook her head and ran to the door. Leopold caught up with her and took her by the shoulders as she pulled the door open. “Please, Lyra, listen to me!”

“No!” She turned on him screaming.

“Please!” he implored. “You have to believe me!”

“Don’t believe him, Lyra,” Nick’s voice came from the doorway. “He’s trying to trick you.”

“Nick!” She whirled around then yelped in fear when Nick strode to her and took hold of her arm.

He smiled over her head at Leopold. “It looks like the game is over, Count. And you lose.”

Leopold backed away with a fearful expression on his face. Nick held Lyra at arm’s length and smiled down at her. “It’s okay now, Lyra. You’re safe. I’ll protect you. You know that, don’t you?”

Oh yes, she knew exactly what he felt and what he wanted. And the only chance she had of surviving his desire was to play along and not let him know she was on to him.

“I do now. Nick, I’m sorry. I thought you were going to sell me to him. I followed you to Lexi’s and heard you talking and I thought you were just using me as a way to get rich. Can you forgive me?”

“Yes, of course,” he said as he looked down into her eyes.

“I love you, Nick,” she whispered.

He smiled brightly. “Enough to be with me always?”

“Yes.”

“Will you swear that on your soul?” he asked.

Does a swear count as true if you’re lying through your teeth when you say it? She hoped not. “Yes.”

“Lyra, no!” Leopold gasped from behind her. “You don’t know what you’re saying!”

She turned around and faced him. “Oh, yes I do. I love him. More than you can even imagine and I’ll do anything for him.”

Leopold took a step toward her. “Please don’t say that. You don’t understand what you’re doing—what you’re committing to.”

“Stop it!” she barked. “Don’t you get it? It’s over. You’ve lost. I’ll never join with you. I hate you! You and all those like you! You’re a plague on humanity and I wish you were dead!”

“Lyra, it’s not me!” He reached out to her. “Please, try to listen for just one moment. I am not the Adversary!”

She snorted. “Yeah right! Then who is?”

“I am,” Nick said quietly.

Lyra felt her heart jump in her chest. Why would be admit to it? She whirled around to face him. “That’s not funny.”

“No, it wasn’t meant to be,” he said with a smile.

“Then why did you say it?”

“Because it’s the truth,” he replied nonchalantly.

Lyra shook her head and stepped back from him. Maybe he was playing her. She had to keep up the ruse. “No, this can’t be true!” she whispered hoarsely. “It can’t be you. It’s Leopold! I saw him at the grove. He was going to kill the girl. And what about what I heard at Lexi’s? I heard you talking. He offered you twenty million dollars!”

Nick laughed and shook his head. “It seems you were wrong,” he said then looked at Leo. “Just like you were. Did you think you could fool me? I knew you were with the Apologists long ago.”

Leopold looked at Nick in surprise. “But you took me in and…but what about South America? You let me see the transference take place!”

“What?” Lyra looked from Leopold to Nick.

Nick shrugged. “The CIA was getting much to close for comfort. I couldn’t let them know that I was involved in the drug operation. Nor could I let them know of my affiliation with Rameriz. Also, the Apologists were sending in what they like to refer to as their little exterminators. It was necessary to give them what they were looking for and our friend here provided me with that opportunity.”

Lyra stumbled back, feeling suddenly very weak. Leo had been telling the truth. He wasn’t the Adversary. Nick was.

“Wait, you took Nick’s body while he was in South America?”

Nick shook his head. “No, that was done long ago.”

“Then what happened in South America and why is this Rameriz significant?”

He smiled indulgently at her. “Rameriz was a being such as me—a very ambitious man on top of that. Leo and his little friends led me to him. Oh yes, don’t look so surprised. You see, they have known for a long time that my kind is in competition, and since their mission is to eradicate us, they thought they had a perfect plan. Leo came to me and told me the location of several of my kind. Together, he and I eliminated them. Rameriz was one of those we disposed of. So, you see, they got their trophy and I eliminated one more obstacle from my way. Leo was afraid he would blow his cover, so he pretended to remain loyal to me and came here to hatch his little scheme. Only he and his people underestimated me. I knew all about their little schemes. But it fit so well into my plans that I let them think they were getting away with it.”

Lyra sat down on the bed and stared at him with her mouth hanging open. “I don’t understand. What about all those things you told me? And what about the murders on the ship and Michael’s wife? What about those people who were after me?”

“The incident in the marsh was orchestrated under my direction,” he said. “You see, I had to know if you were untouched, Lyra. The others were attempts to thwart my plans by my competitors. However, they have been dealt with permanently.”

He smiled at her then looked at Leo. “You have outlived your usefulness. Goodbye.”

Leo screamed as a fiery red energy shot from Nick’s eyes to envelope him.

Lyra screamed as she watched him writhe and fall to the floor. He looked like he was dissolving. His howls of agony filled the room and she turned away from the gruesome sight.

She felt a weight settle beside her and she looked up. Nick smiled at her In his hand was the pendant Leo had worn. She felt the pendant lying against her chest vibrate and energy spike from it to pierce her skin.

The pendants were either calling to one another or in contention. Which was it?

Nick smiled “Now, where were we? Ah, yes. You are confused. Let me clarify.

“You see, I first found this body when Austin was in the service. He was on leave in the West Indies when I spotted him. He seemed like a wonderful candidate so I took his body.

“It was quiet exciting, the life he led. And I filled his shoes quite well. You see, I am very good at killing and that is essentially what he was—a human killing machine. And it was no real loss for the world for the real Nick Austin to die. He was an unhappy, bitter man who could not come to terms with what he had become. In a way, I did him a favor.”

Lyra stared at him for a moment, trying to keep track of his story while wrestling with something fluttering softly at the edge of her mind. Something about the pendants. But what?

“So why did you kill that man on the ship? Was he like you?”

“Like me?” Nick raised his eyebrows. “Hardly. He was inferior. But essentially, he was a being like me. He thought he was strong enough to take me on. Obviously he was wrong.”

“And did you kill Michael’s wife?”

Nick shook his head. “No. She was killed as a kind of warning.”

“A warning?”

“Yes, you see, as you have learned, there are others like me, although not nearly so strong. And like me, they crave the power that comes to the victor—to the one of us who stands alone at the end.”

“Only one will remain.” Lyra said, feeling the pendant at her neck.

Nick smiled. “Yes, and thanks to you, that one will be me.” He ripped open the dark shirt he wore and she saw the glint of silver on his chest.

At the sight, something swelled in her mind, blinding her to everything around her. Images bombarded her mind, feelings overwhelmed her. It was chaos. It was…her dreams, she realized. Or parts of the dreams. But there was more, so much more. If only she could make sense of it, but it was too much to comprehend.

She felt Nick’s hand on the side of her face and his touch made her fell physically ill. Tears gathered in her eyes and spilled over. Nick brushed them away and pushed her back on the bed. “Tell me you love me, Lyra. Tell me that you are mine.”

His? Never. It’s what she’d spent lifetimes trying to avoid. That thought ripped through her with such force that a sob erupted from her throat. How did she know that? She put her hands over her face. “I don’t love you. You’re a monster and I hate you.”

“That’s not true,” he said as he pulled her hands away from her face. “You can’t hate me. You love me with every fiber of your being and you want me so much you ache for me.”

Lyra looked up into his dark eyes and saw him for what he was. She saw him in another time and place, another battle, one she had lost. She couldn’t lose again. But how was she going to defeat him? He started to part the robe she wore when there was a roar of an engine and the sound of gunfire outside. Both of them jumped. Men were shouting and screaming on deck.

Nick ran out of the stateroom and up the stairs with Lyra on his heels. The foredeck was littered with the bodies of the crew. A helicopter hovered above the yacht and Michael was perched on one of the runners with an M-16 in his hands.

Nick waved up at him and Michael smiled in relief then motioned for the pilot to lower him down. Nick stood watching as the cable lowered Michael to the deck. The helicopter rose up into the air and Michael gave them the thumbs-up to leave.

“God, am I glad to see you!” he exclaimed in relief. “How did you get here?”

Nick shrugged and Michael laughed. “I guess it doesn’t matter. What’s important is you’re here. Where’s Leo?”

“Dead,” Nick said shortly.

“Michael.” Lyra finally found her voice. The pieces were starting to come together to form a terrifying picture. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“I had to find you,” he said as he turned to her.

“But you don’t understand,” she cut a look at Nick. “You have to leave. Take the speedboat, it’s tied to the platform.”

He gave her a puzzled look and she stepped toward him. Nick grabbed her arm and pulled her back. “Michael, please,” she begged. “Please leave.”

“Lyra, what’s wrong?” He looked from her to Nick.