Davis: Blood Brotherhood (10 page)

“Ward and Dolin.” Hector nodded at Jarvis. “They did something on their end, something to the malefactors, which took this control from you. I’m assuming that’s why you’re here working with us.”

“I had suspected it…by the time I realized what they had done it was too late for me to control the situation. I tried. There were…I found a way to kill off many of them, the malefactors…change them in a way that no human would see their bodies. But that too was changed. I don’t know how they managed it; neither Dolin nor Ward have that much knowledge of what is going on. But it happened, and since I have no idea how they did it, I cannot reverse it. But I did find that if a malefactor is returned to our realm, they do not survive. Daily I have been sending as many back as I can. But it is draining.” Hector looked at Rembrandt. “Then there was you.”

“Me?” The big man stood up, his wings spread wide. It was a stance he’d seen him use when he was upset or fighting. It was a proud moment for Hector to see it. Scary too, but he knew that he had to tell it all. “You changed me without my permission. Everyone here has been changed by you without their consent. Why?”

“Because you are good men. Better men than anyone on this planet.” He brought up the pictures of the other men, the ones that would join them. “Leonard has joined us, of course, but Leo did things for his students that no one else would. Giving them money when they had none for food or books. Class trips were often paid for by him. Coats were purchased with his—”

“That does not make me a good man. It makes me human.”

Hector smiled and moved to the next picture. “Christopher Alexander. A man of all men. He is an honest man in a place where honesty is not common. When he said that he would help, he did. When things were down and nearly broken, he would rally all his men, who looked up to him, to bring things back to a place where they needed to be.” Hector looked at the picture as he continued, “And never once did his name or picture grace the papers. He never took the credit where it was so richly deserved.”

“And these men? Why did they not turn into what the malefactors are? Are you saying it was because of our hearts? That because we did what was needed and not what was expected of us, that made us not change?” Hector nodded at Leo. “I don’t believe that. There had to be more than that.”

“There is. There was. You were all dying, and had no one left to grieve for you.” The next picture flashed on the wall behind him. “Richard Harmon was harder to find. He had…he had taken it upon himself to hide from all that were there to help him. Had I not…he was ready to take his own life when I found him. And when he gets here you should know that his chip is larger than that of Leonard. This man will be harder to convince that he is needed than even Rembrandt, with all his pain, was to bring over. Then there is Nathaniel Livingston. A man…Nathaniel, like the rest of you, was not human when I found him. He is a shifter with some special abilities. The man will bring it all together when he comes to his own.”

“Who are the rest of them?” Vicki asked him as she stood up, her wings just as dark and spread as Rembrandt’s had been. “I was told there were twelve of us. Twelve men to take this war on and win. Who are the other six men?”

“I never said they were men. I only…you believe that they are coming? More men are coming to join you?” She nodded. “I assure you that your combined powers, none of which I have given you, will be more than enough to take care of the malefactors. But you must come to your own.”

“Six men. Just six of them are going to be victorious in all this? You expect six men, all of which have their own burden to bear, will be able to help in all of this?” Ann stood up as she continued. “I’m sorry, Mr. Hector, but I just don’t see that it could happen. No offense to the rest of them, but they don’t seem to know what they’re doing most of the time. I’ve heard them say so. And to have them come here, mostly against their will and with nothing more than the little magic you give them, is not going to work.”

“It’s their mates.” Everyone looked at him. “You…you will each have a mate to bring you to your own. A woman that will not just be…Rembrandt? Are you not stronger for having Skylar in your life? And you, Davis, since Vicki came to you, have you not…evolved as well? I will tell you that I had no idea that it would be as such. I assumed…I really assumed that they would be there for you to help you, but not on the scale that they have. And your new powers? I’ve been as amazed with them as you. None of what has happened since then has been anything that any of us have thought of. Nothing that I could have ever hoped for, but you have it all and then some.”

“You’re saying that because of our mates, the way that they…I don’t know, complete us in some way…this is going to make us stronger?” Hector nodded at Leo, smiling. “Well, I guess we’ll be one man out. I have no desire to have a mate in my life. I’ve been down that road, and it’s one that I will never travel again.”

Leonard got up and left the room. No one said anything for several minutes, and all Hector could think about was the poor man. He had really lost more than the rest of them. It was…he looked at Rembrandt when he cleared his throat.

“What do we do about Dolin and Ward? I’m assuming that by now they have gotten our message. I don’t understand the reference to the turquoise, but I’m assuming you do. We use it, yes. It cuts through a malefactor better than a blade without it. And we know that that will go a long way to keeping us safe.” Hector smiled widely and nodded. “I would like to know. I have…over the years I’ve figured out that the stone hold properties that kill the malefactors quickly, as I’ve said, but there is more I think. Much more that you’ve not told us. In fact, before we came in here, I put in an order for a large shipment of it. When it arrives, I plan to make small pellets of them and use them in our guns. But what did it have to do with Ward and Dolin?”

“It will kill us. Not quickly, as it does the malefactors.” He pointed to a picture of Ward’s home. “I have been going back and forth between the two worlds for weeks now. Setting up little things to make them think that someone is out for them. Not a lot of things, just moving things around. They are nothing if not paranoid. And I look for my notes. One of them has them. But the turquoise is part of the plan in that I put it on their person when I can, using the same principle that I did when I didn’t want humans seeing the monsters get in and out of their houses. But when I find my notes, all my books, I’ll be able to work out something that will destroy them all. I just need to find them first.”

“So you’re fucking with them.” Not a term he was comfortable with, but he nodded at Jarvis, who in turn laughed. “Good for you. And so you know, if you want me to help you, I don’t know, put in some cameras so you can keep an eye on them, I’m your man. I did that sort of thing all the time for a few banks and offices in the area. You’d be surprised what people will do when they think no one is watching them. I could tell you things that would—”

“Don’t. Please.” Ann stood up when she cautioned Jarvis. “Dinner will be in one hour. I have all the information that I need. But…I would like to say thank you to all of you. Had it not been for you all, I would be dead now. Not just the incident in the kitchen the other day, but with all of it. My daughter would have been…I just wanted to thank you all.”

She left before anyone could say anything to her, and Margarita left a few minutes later. The rest of them continued to ask questions, but none of them brought up Leonard. Hector wanted to go to the man, comfort him in some way. But he was sure, like he’d been when he’d saved Leonard for this, he’d be pushed away once again.

Leonard was a man that was hurting more than he’d thought. The woman—her name eluded him now—had done a grand job of making the young man distrust everyone, and especially women. Leo needed his mate, whoever she was, to make him whole again. But if he pushed her away, Hector feared for the man’s sanity. He surely did.

Chapter 10

Vicki, using her sword, cut through five more malefactors. Either she was getting much better at this or they were becoming stupider. She thought it was a little of both. As the last three were dispatched, she stepped over them to find Davis. He had gone in the opposite direction when she’d come to this part of the building. Vicki stopped moving when she heard the voices.

“I’m telling you as soon as I can find her, I’m gonna bring her to you. You won’t believe all the shit she can do.” Her brother. Pressing her body against the wall, she waited to see what else he had to say before she finally killed him. But the other person spoke first.

“I’ve no need for her. It’s you I wish to recruit. There are things that I can do to you that will amaze and astound you.” Randall asked if the women would like it. “Yes. I suppose they will. You’ll be much bigger, more muscle. I do believe the women of this realm will enjoy that.”

“Fucking fantastic.” Vicki started to show herself, but Davis came into her view. His finger to his lips had her shaking her head, but her brother spoke again. “When do you do this shit? Today? I’m so ready.”

“Yes, today. I will only need to do a few things to you before we set out.” When Davis nodded, she moved out of the shadows. He stayed behind and it made her feel good to know she had backup.

“Don’t do it, Randall.” She looked at the man. “Which one are you, Dolin or Ward? I’m assuming you’re here to change Randall into something more than he is now.”

“Neither, as a matter of fact. I only work for them. You must be the sister. He never told me that you were a warrior.” He looked at Randall. “How misinformed I’ve been. Why did you not mention that she was part of Rembrandt’s little army against us? Had I known that, things would have been…well, no matter now, I guess.”

“Rembrandt? You mean like the president?” Vicki rolled her eyes and said painter. “Whatever. I don’t know him or what kind of army he has. But she can do shit with her mind that will make you a millionaire in no time.”

“I’ve no need for money. Not any longer. But to have one of the warriors would make me a very high placed man in the new realm. Very high indeed.” He took a step toward her, and Vicki drew her sword. “There is no need for you to get nasty with me. I’m much stronger than you are any day of the week. But you will bow to my superior strength soon enough, woman, and then you’ll see what great things we have planned.”

“Leave my brother alone, whatever you are. He’s not worth you getting your ass killed over.” Randall told her to shut up. “Randall, listen to me. You have no idea what this bastard has in mind for you to do. You’ll be a monster.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

She looked at her brother and missed the movement of the man standing next to him. The long blade came out and was in Randall’s chest before she could react. Then he was gone. The little man was smiling at her even as Davis came to stand next to her.

“You will come with me as well.” He put out his hand as if she were really going to comply with him. “Come now and I will not harm your mate. I swear to you. You must trust me when I tell you it will be for your own good.”

“I fucking don’t think so. You killed my brother.” The man denied it. “I saw you. You stabbed him in the chest and killed him.”

“It is necessary for me to have given him near death to make this work. You will see once you are in the next realm. Glorious things are going to happen, and you will be a part of it as well. Now come along with me.” The step he took toward her had her raising her hands. “There is no reason for you to fight this. You will only injure yourself, and I will have to explain that to my master. And if you are injured, he will be most unhappy with me. Thrilled that I have you, but unhappy because I’ve had to harm you.”

“Your master can go fuck himself.” That confused him, and while he was trying to figure that out, she hit him with a blast of her magic. He staggered back but didn’t incinerate like the others had.

“You are no match for me, warrior.” He hit her with something powerful, and it took her breath away. Davis held her, his arms wrapped tightly around her or she might have fallen. “Come to me now, or I shall hurt you again.”

“Together.”

She looked up at Davis; her body was drained of everything, and she wasn’t sure she had much left in her. But when he put out his arm, the tatted one, she did the same. The surge of power ran over her, and she felt like she could do anything. Pointing her hand at the man, she was happy to see the look of fear in his face. Before he could do much more than utter the word no, they blasted him.

He didn’t die. The man did, however, shift and change. His body no longer looked even like a human, but a…well, she thought he looked lizard-like. Davis pulled out his cell phone and began taking pictures. He was still taking them when the creature seemed to curl into himself and disappear.

Vicki felt herself being lowered to the floor. Her body felt like it had been sucked dry and only the shell was left. Davis sat down next to her and played on his phone while she rested. All she could think about was her brother. And if he was really going to be changed, she had a whole new set of shit to think about.

“He was such an asshole. He was from the first moment I saw him, until…well, forever.” Davis asked her who. “Randall. All the time we were growing up he was the same. But when he hit about twelve he got into smoking pot, and then that progressed into heavier, stronger stuff. By the time I was in high school, he’d dropped out and become a dealer. By then Dad was gone and it was just me and Mom.”

“Did he spend any time in prison?” She told him he had. “I thought so. He has the look of a man who has done time. I’m assuming that he wasn’t in long. Or if he was, it was not as bad on him as it should have been.”

“Five years the first time, then more the second. I lost track after that. What with going to school and working, I just sort of left him alone. Then Mom got to where she could no longer pay the bills, not and have him robbing her all the time. She said she didn’t even know he was doing it until he’d already emptied her accounts and charged up her cards. He did that in less than two weeks. Christ, it was horrible.” Vicki sat up, feeling better already. “Then he started hitting me up for money, which I had none. I could have given him a couple of bucks and that would have been stretching it, but nothing more. I was paying student loans, paying on a car he’d wrecked, as well as trying to help Mom with all the debt he’d put her in. That was when the beatings started.”

“He should have had his ass kicked long ago. Was he like your father?” She nodded. “I’m sorry for that. Children are all we have to leave behind to remember us well, and most of the time…most of the kids I worked with didn’t have a clue who their father was. I always thought perhaps that was a good thing for most of them.”

“I knew my stepfather. Not well, but I knew him. He would knock my mom around, then get pissy when she had to spend time laid up. Or if she was in the hospital, he’d call me to come home and care for him. Like that was going to fucking happen. And he wasn’t any better than Randall.” She smiled at him when Davis stood up. “We’re leaving? Something happen?”

“I sent those pictures to Hector and the rest of the command center. They want us back now. I guess we’ve given them things that Hector thinks will help us a great deal. Oh, and did you know that we’re going to a party tonight?” She shook her head. “It’s little Reuben’s surprise. I’m not sure what that means, but he wants his family there. And that would include us.”

As they made their way out of the building and into the dark night, she noticed that there were no others around. Not a single malefactor. Surely they hadn’t killed them all? But when a man stepped from the shadows, she drew her gun and pointed it at him.

“I want to help. We want to help you with this battle.” She didn’t move and neither did Davis. She did notice that Remy was coming up to the man’s right and Skylar to the left. The man came more into the light, as if he knew he was making them nervous. “I’m from the other realm, the one where Hector and the monsters are from. There are…there are many of us that would help you. We’ve been…they think us all dead, and we have nowhere to go right now.”

“How many of you are there?” She didn’t look at Remy when he asked. His voice was hard and very unforgiving. “And what the fuck are you doing walking around a place where you might get your ass killed? You have to know what’s going on around here if you’ve come to help us. You can’t be that stupid.”

“I’m not. I’m just a man who needed to provide for my family.” The man pulled a box from behind him. “I worked for Dolin in the labs for a time. Until I saw what he was about. He’s…you have to believe me when I tell you, those men are evil. This belongs to Hector. I took it before I left, and I’d like for you to give it to him. If you trust me after this, then I’ll be back here in two days.”

“And what if that’s something we don’t want to open? What if it’s full of something that will harm us all?” The man knelt down and opened the box at Skylar’s question. Nothing seemed to be moving out of it, and he reached in. “Stop right there.”

She moved closer to the man and looked inside the box. When she nodded, he took out a large thick notebook and laid it on the ground. No one touched it, but it didn’t look all that dangerous to her.

“It’s his notes on the lab experiences. Dolin thinks he has them. But I had my daughter, who is seven, write in her best penmanship a bunch of things that she’s taken from other books and magazines. It no more makes sense than us having to die for them.” He stood up and backed from the box. “There are over two hundred of us here now. And more arriving daily. We have to go slowly, bringing over only five or six at a time. We can’t be caught doing it or it’s certain death to those we would leave behind. Like I said, they think we’re dying off, and we want to keep it that way.”

“Are you dying?” Vicki watched the man’s face when she asked. There was pain there and a great deal of it. “How many have you lost? In your family…how many of your family have you lost to this madness?”

“My wife, a daughter, and one son. I have a son with me, but he’d been ill and I feared him dying before we could make the trip. But since coming here, all of us are getting better. I think—we all think—that we’re being poisoned for some reason. In that box is a list. I got it from Ward’s house. It’s a list of the people that we think are going to serve them. The ones that haven’t been sick or have lost any family members. They are not with us because we weren’t sure if we could trust them.” The man looked at Remy. “You’re the leader. We’ve heard so much about you. Hardly any of it good coming from them, but we’re…we want to help. We’re able to help you.”

Remy looked at them. It was one of the things she liked most about him…he never made a decision that would involve them all without talking it over. Vicki nodded once, then Skylar. Vicki could only assume that Davis nodded because Remy looked at the man.

“Your name?” The man told him. “All right, Hank. I’ll be back in two nights at this time to talk to you if Hector says it’s all right.”

The man nodded. When he looked behind him, Vicki did as well. There was a boy there, small and weak, hanging on the arm of someone else. She just knew it was his son and that he was worried about his dad.

“I would request one thing.” Remy didn’t say anything, and the man smiled. “If you can see your way to knock out the other machines, I’d be very grateful. It’s draining us as well as the monsters. We’ll get stronger faster without them.”

“Others? You know where they are?” Hank nodded and told him that there were seven of them total. He knew where they were because he’d been on the crew that set them up.

After getting directions to where they were, Remy and the rest of them watched the man slide back into the shadows. If he was nearby, they couldn’t tell. And Vicki wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. They made their way to the open parking lot.

“I’m going back through the air.” Vicki nodded at Remy when he spoke. “I would like to suggest that we all go back that way. If the man is having us followed, we know it will be next to impossible for him to track us. The car will lead him right to us.”

“Good idea.” She nodded when Davis spoke. “I sent some pictures ahead too, as you know. Hopefully we can get some answers then. I think that Randall is going to be the next big weapon they put against us. I’m thinking that…they took him to the other realm for a reason. I think they plan to change him into whatever Benton is…or was.”

Vicki spread her wings when they did and only hesitated for a minute to leave. Hank, with the young boy at his side, came out of the shadows to watch her. She turned to look at him when he didn’t speak.

“If this is a trick, I will hunt you down and kill you.” He promised her that it wasn’t. “Remy and the others are good men. I won’t let you drag them into anything. We’ll help you if we can but not at the risk of being hurt ourselves. We’ll kill you all if it comes to that.”

“I swear to you this this not a trick. We’re in need of help and we want to help you. If we can stay here after this is over, then that would be good too, but we can’t go back so long as Ward and Dolin are there. They’ll slaughter us.” He looked at the boy, then at her again. “If he doesn’t believe it’s me or the stuff in the box, tell him January seventh. Tell him the date and that I said I’m still feeling it.”

She nodded and took to the sky. As she landed on the ground near the house, she saw that Davis had waited. Leaning into him, she let him hold her.