Dovetailed (18 page)

It took Michael longer than he expected to find Tawny. Her trail had been difficult to detect and even harder to follow. She didn’t leave telltale clues the way humans did; her movements were those of a Ferether, and he followed her by tracking those humans whose souls had been tasted. She’d killed two and permanently damaged several more.

There was nothing to be done to help them.

When he finally located Tawny, she was in a house. It was lit up like a Christmas tree. Every light in the house was on, like a beacon in the dark, begging someone to knock and enter.

Michael hovered in a tree across the street. He watched her a while, surprised. She sat in a rocking chair, feeding the child. As she rocked, she sang a song. It wasn’t one Michael was familiar with, but the baby girl seemed to like it. She stared up at Tawny with her trusting eyes.

If he had been just some passerby, the picture before him would’ve been sweet. She looked like the epitome of the perfect mother, and that was exactly what she wanted, Michael knew.

The Ferether was trying to blend into her surroundings; like a stick bug or a moth, she worked to be part of the world, just another human going about her life. In high school he hadn’t thought she was anything but a bully. Now he understood the truth.

Now that he knew what to look for it was easy to see that Tawny was a little too stiff, her singing the tiniest bit too rough, and he sensed her siphoning off the baby’s soul. In that moment he decided he would take the child back to Kelari with him. He would return her to Dervinias.

Of the two of them, he was the better option.

Not by much, though
, he thought, sliding from the tree and floating over to the window. He’d never liked Dervinias, even before he knew the guy was an alien. He’d always thought Dervinias was too cocky for his own damn good. But Chev’s pregnancy had changed him. Michael had seen with his own eyes the way he cared for Chev. It was obvious Dervinias loved her.

Without much thought he went through the window. Tawny saw him and froze. “What are you doing here, Ferether? In need of a friend?” she asked quietly, walking the baby over to a bassinet and laying her in it.

Michael returned to his corporeal form. “I need something from you.”

Tawny snorted softly. She walked past him, running a hand over his chest and shoulder before going over to the light switch and flipping it off. She walked into the kitchen, stuck the bottle in the sink, and flicked that light off as well. “You may need something, but I’m not in the business of giving anything unless it’s the kiss of death. Is that what you’re looking for?” Her face contorted. She turned off the bathroom light and moved to the hallway. The room was in total darkness.

And she suddenly stood in front of him… as Venus. She rubbed her hands over his back and down to his backside. Michael allowed it to happen. She had no idea who she was messing with.

“You think you make a better Venus?” He kept his voice low so as not betray his fury.

“Of course.” She leaned in and kissed his neck. “We are the same, you and I. Together we would be unstoppable.”

He knew that was true. The two of them could rule any world, but that wasn’t what he wanted. “We aren’t the same, Tawny. You are pretending to be something you’re not, while I…” he paused, shaking his head. “I don’t know what I am.” Michael placed one hand on her waist, drawing her in.

Tawny chuckled, running her fingers up and down his arms. “I could help you, Michael.”

She has no soul. You cannot sway her that way.

You must go Ferether against Ferether.

Break her
.

The Sistine Sisters had a point. He couldn’t control her. She was Ferether and only wore a false human body. But he had an idea. It’d taken a special knife to kill Ramien. He could create another one, morph his hand into the blade he needed. Michael knew that was the answer, but he resisted.

His thoughts were in turmoil.

It was the
idea
of killing. He knew Tawny deserved it, that she’d already spent lifetimes killing, and if he didn’t end her she would spend lifetimes doing more of the same. That was a fact, knowledge he’d seen with his own eyes. Tawny cared for nothing and no one. She even intended to raise the baby sleeping in the bassinet for the singular purpose of forcing the child give Tawny her soul.

Even knowing all that, he still struggled. Murder wasn’t in his nature.

You must annihilate her, Michael.

Create a weapon.

Extinguish
.

Michael understood what the Sisters were saying.
I know
, he hissed back, wishing they’d be quiet so he could think. Swallowing, he schooled his emotions, giving nothing away.

He thought about Venus and wondered what she would do. Without question she would end Tawny. It was the right thing to do.

Michael flexed his hand and thought about the blade he needed, the one he and Venus used to kill Ramien. As he pictured it in his mind, his hand transformed into the blade. It was a little freaky, experiencing his veins and sinews adapt to the new appendage. He’d watched the Terminator movies when he was younger. In one there’d been machines that could do what he did. They were soulless also. Michael wasn’t. His soul, every fiber within his body, experienced the change he’d created in his hand. The blade became part of him, part of his identity. “I know you could, Tawny. There’s one way…” his voice trailed off and she glanced up, meeting his eyes, searching for the answer.

Michael brought the hand that was now a knife from behind his back and, before he could debate his decision further, shoved it into her belly.

Pain radiated on Tawny’s face, followed quickly by rage. “What have you done? What have you done?”

Michael didn’t have an answer. One wasn’t necessary. “It’s your time to die, Tawny.” Sticky liquid surrounded his bladed hand. He pulled the Illeyse from his neck and touched it to the gaping wound in Tawny’s stomach.

The liquid smelled bitter, like rotting almonds. Even in the darkness he could see the blood was the color of sap and just as sticky. He scooped some into the Illeyse. The gem changed from yellow to burnt orange.

Tawny still watched him in shock. She didn’t move, but gasping sounds escaped her throat. “You’re just like your father,” she said between breaths. The body she’d used to be human aged rapidly, fell in chunks to the floor, and vanished. All that remained was the horrifying body of her true Ferether self. It seemed to ooze and fall apart. Then a gray mist swirled up around her and she vanished.

Michael was surprised. He looked down at his blade hand. It was clean. Disgusted, he changed it back, moving his fingers to make sure he had full range of motion.

It felt sick. Evil. The words Tawny said right before she died echoed in his mind.

Was he just like his father?

You are nothing like Ramien.

Not even the same species.

Hope.

As the Sisters spoke into his mind they appeared in front of him. Like apparitions, they swayed.

“What’s going on?” It was weird not having them in his mind. He felt lighter and emptier.

“We will take the child back to Kelari.”

“She’ll be safe with us.”

“Protect her.”

They glided over to the bassinet. The first lifted the baby into her arms. The child cooed softly, but didn’t wake.

“The last component is your blood.”

“You must hurry.”

“Indestructible.”

They made no sense but, before he could ask them what the Helker they were talking about, they disappeared, taking the child with them.

Michael stood still a moment, debating what to do. He felt utterly alone. The last time he’d felt this way had been near the stream right before he met Venus for the first time.

Thick depression washed over him, a dark evil he couldn’t fight or overcome. It seemed to bind him up and pull him down. He fell to the floor and then through the floor…

Down.

Down.

Down.

He was floating in nothingness.

The time had come to release the Leviathans on the world. King Antyon was almost giddy with excitement. He’d used Britorent to get to his facility. It was located in the exact center of Nimbus and was the tallest structure in the city. The building had been erected out of garanath and black glass in the shape of a corkscrew and stretched like a twisted beacon. The name of the building—Antyon Engineering—surrounded the top most section. Its holographic lettering could be read from all directions and even from space. He took the elevator to the top, entered his office, and glanced out the windows.

Clouds dotted the view but he could still see the buildings below.
Soon they will all be destroyed
, he thought with a malicious grin. Once the war was ended he would rebuild and create a city in the clouds worthy of him.
Worthy of a god
.

First he had some garbage to get rid of, namely the leaders of the country Veranath and its neighboring country of Reranath. Their borders connected with his country of Canaru. He’d gone to them second, after dealing with the King and Queen of Eloyinia. They’d been receptive to his plan. Many of his most exceptional scientists came from those countries but he’d recently discovered, thanks to his son Palmo, that King Hab of Veranath and Queen Gith of Reranath had been in contact with the leaders of Alayeah. The traitors had agreed to fracture their alliance with him if Alayeah promised to protect their lands. Palmo had also informed him that Ith and Aetha were gone and that their child reigned in their stead. To top it off, the leaders of Alayeah had crowned Amberlee queen. He knew the girl loved his son.

King Antyon rubbed his hands together. It would be so easy to destroy that country, as well as the rest. And once his newly engineered Leviathans finished off Kelari, he would send them to Earth.

The leaders there wouldn’t stand a chance.

“King Antyon, everyone’s in the conference room.”

He turned away from the window and glanced at his assistant. “Good. I’ll be right in.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” She bowed slightly and left.

King Antyon sat at his desk and pulled up the holographic monitor of his computer and located the cameras, then he pressed camera three. The conference room came into view. The first thing he noticed was that Tanith sat in his chair. The god was dressed in the robes of a king. He looked uncomfortable in all of the clothing, but haughty nonetheless. King Antyon wondered why the god had chosen to come. What was his purpose?

It was an answer he didn’t possess. The prospect sent a ripple of fear through him, but he pushed it back.

One thing at a time
, he told himself.

There were twelve leaders seated at the large oblong table. To the right of his empty chair at the head of the table was Irene, the Queen of Eloyinia. She looked divine in her midnight blue gown.

He studied each of the rest of the leaders’ faces. His assistant had placed each leader in a specified chair. The leaders of Veranath and Reranath were seated together on the left side and toward the other end.

King Antyon pushed the record button. He’d use the recorded feed to show every other country of Kelari what he was capable of, and the lengths he’d go to in order to ensure no one betrayed him.

He opened a drawer and pulled out a remote before made his way down to the conference room. When he arrived his assistant opened the door and he stepped inside.

“Welcome, everyone. Thank you for coming on such short notice.” His eyes glanced over Tanith. The god raised an eyebrow but said nothing. King Antyon cleared his throat and studied the faces of the others. Perhaps Tanith needed to see proof that King Antyon could do what he said he would, that he wasn’t a coward. “I wanted to give you a peek at the army we will be using. It’ll be good for you to see what our enemies are up against.”

“We’ve been wondering that ourselves,” King Cyn of Jath said.

Several others nodded.

King Antyon clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “Well then, let’s get right to it.” He turned to his assistant. “Fex, show them the Leviathans facility.”