Revenant (11 page)

“I’m only interested in getting a little
payback. Just a little justice for my
kinfolk
,”
Caleb whispered in my ear.

The burning
stopped,
and I collapsed against him in relief. But almost immediately he put his hand
on another area of unburned skin, digging his fingers deep into the flesh of my
leg. Hot flame burned me, and the pain seared through my brain. I shrieked again,
but his palm muffled my screams.

When I thought I could no longer take it and
would pass out, he pulled away. He removed his hand from my mouth, and a sob
escaped my lips. His fingers were no longer on my thigh, but it felt like they
were. My leg was still on fire, still burning.

“I thought it was time to give you a little
reminder of what you did to my people. Something you can take with you wherever
you go.” His face was inches from mine. “I know you won’t be saying anything to
Gage about this. How do I know?
Because I spend
a lot of time guarding your boyfriend.
You breathe one word of what I’ve
done, and I’ll make sure to take lover boy out permanently.” He leaned back and
fished a blade from his back pocket, flashing it in front of my eyes.

And then he was dragging me back toward the
house, the hellhounds stalking us as we went. When we were a few dozen feet
from the house, they stopped as though they’d hit an invisible barrier. Even
though they were no longer trailing us, their eyes watched our every move.

Once inside, Caleb threw me to the floor, then
turned and walked slowly out the door. Tears streamed down my face. I pulled up
my ruined gown and saw two red handprints burned into my flesh, blisters
already forming where the tips of his fingers had touched me.

* * *

I woke to Sonja’s voice
cheerfully calling
out, “Good
morning.”
She opened the bedroom door and came into the room, trailed by a young girl
carrying a silver tray.

I was laying on the bed, still dressed in the
gown. I sat up and quickly arranged my skirt so it covered the burn marks on my
leg.

“Didn’t you see the
nightgowns
hanging in the closet?” She sounded annoyed, but there
was a smile plastered on her face. She walked over and yanked open the closet
door. She reached in and pulled out a black silk-and-lace nightgown. “There’s
an assortment of them in here.”

I lowered my eyes and muttered, “I was too
tired last night to look.”
I can’t tell
her what happened.
I didn’t doubt for a second that Caleb would do what he
promised.

Sonja waved her hand and the girl brought the
tray forward, placing it on the nightstand.
The platter
was piled high with French toast and a large glass of orange juice.
In
the corner, a single pink rose sat nestled in a glass vase.

“Gage thought you might like breakfast in
bed.” When I didn’t
respond,
she reached
over and picked up the rose.
“He can be so
thoughtful.”
She gave the rose a sniff and then put it back into the
vase.

Caleb came into the room carrying a bag. Without
a word, he put it down on the floor and left.

Sonja gestured toward the bag. “Gage was very
specific about what he wanted you to wear today. You’ll find everything you
need in there.”

I started to ask her questions, but she held
up her hand and interrupted me. “You have thirty
minutes
before Caleb will be back to fetch you.” She pulled out a
silver bell from her pocket and put it down on the bed next to me. “I almost
forgot. When
you’re done
with breakfast,
just ring and someone will be in to clear away the dishes. It’s a special bell—enchanted.
They can hear it”—she pointed toward the floor—“down below. You’ll
get nothing but
five-star
service while you’re
here with us. Boss’s orders.” She looked away, and when she looked back at me
all of her fake smiles and cheerfulness were gone. She wiggled those long red
fingernails and gave me a look that left no doubt—she would rather tear
me limb from limb than serve
me
breakfast. She spun on her heels and left the room with
the young
girl trailing after her.

I forced myself to eat—I knew that, whatever
was going to happen, I needed to keep my strength up. When I finished, I stood
and winced, pulling up my skirt. The burn marks were red and ugly against my
white skin, puckered with painful blisters, and I knew more were forming. I
gingerly touched the edge of one of the burns and flinched as the pain hit me. Caleb
burned me. What’s stopping him from doing it again tonight?

I wasn’t sure how much time had passed. Gage
was waiting for me to get ready. I didn’t know what was going to happen next,
but I knew that Gage would not be happy if I kept him waiting. He was playing
at being nice. Taking great pleasure in acting like a welcoming host, but how
long would this new act last? Every time he raised his voice or looked upset,
the people around him visibly cowered. Those who worked for him had hearts full
of
darkness,
and they were capable of
murder, as the field full of bodies proved. What black magic was Gage capable
of that would frighten even these people?

I forced myself to my feet and began to go
through the bags. I pulled out a pair of black jeans, a black T-shirt, and
black boots. Wherever we were going, it wasn’t to another fancy ball. I
struggled into the jeans, moaning as the material slid over my fresh burns.

Once dressed, I made my way to the kitchen.
Caleb hadn’t returned. I didn’t know how long I had before he showed up. I
quickly began rummaging through all the drawers and cupboards, looking for some
kind of
weapon. I found a small knife.
Unfortunately, the edge wasn’t as sharp as the dagger Caleb had pulled on me
last night, but it was sharp enough. I tried it on my thumb and watched with
satisfaction as a drop of blood slid down my skin.
Perfect
.

“The big man’s waiting. You know he doesn’t
like that.”

I heard Caleb’s voice, but my back was to the
door. I didn’t move.

“Have you suddenly gone deaf? Time to get
going.” I heard heavy footsteps and then Caleb’s hand came down hard on my
shoulder.

I spun around and swung the knife at him.

He was fast—but not fast enough. He
flung himself back just as the knife slid across his cheek.

A thin red gash now marred his skin.

“Son of a—” He reached out, grabbing
for me, but I scurried
back,
knife held
high.

“Easy now, you don’t want to lose your temper
and do something you’ll regret.” I gave him a cold grin. “I don’t think Gage
would like it if I showed up with bruises.”

That stopped him. He stood glaring at me. His
hand went up to his face, and when it came
away
there was a smear of blood on his palm. He looked at it and then back at me
with
murder
in his eyes.

“You touch me again and I
will
kill you,” I promised. “I don’t
have to use magic to get it done.” I raised the knife to eye level, and then
tossed it across the floor. “I was raised a healer. I learned all the
properties of plants and herbs. I can make a potion
to heal
just as easily as I can make one to harm. Gage’s mummy room
has plenty of plants in it. I was there last night. Your boss was too busy
gloating over his operation to notice that I took something. How hard do you
think it would be for me to slip that little something into your drink during
the next party he throws?”

He gave me a hard stare. “You’re threatening
me?”

It was a lie—I hadn’t taken anything
with me from the mummy room. But I had the feeling Caleb would keep trying to
hurt me unless I found a way to make him back off. I could feel the raw skin on
my burned thighs chafing against my jeans. Every time I moved, I felt the pain
where his hand had been on me.

He burned me last night. He held me against
my will and tortured me
.
I could feel
the anger coursing my body, roaring through my blood. I wanted to hurt him like
he had hurt me. I wanted to watch him suffer. I had
magic
of my own. I was not a helpless healer anymore.

But
if you use your magic, Luke will be vanquished to the in between
,
said a small voice in my mind. The words echoed through my head and splashed
over me like cold water.

I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders,
and raised my chin. “I’m warning you. Touch me
once
more,
and I will see you dead. If not by my hand, then by your
boss’s
. He wants to please me. If I tell him I
want your head, do you really think he’ll say no?”

That got him. He
watched
me for a few seconds before a slow grin spread across his
face. “Whenever you’re ready, your chariot awaits.” And without another word,
he walked out of the room.

Caleb had backed down for now, but he still
had the advantage—I was a prisoner. Wendy said that Gage wouldn’t always
be around to protect me, and she was right. What was stopping Caleb from
entering our place again when the sun went down and
dragging
me out into the night?
I
know he wants to kill me. I heard it in his voice…saw it in his eyes.

This time he’d just hurt me, but would I be
so lucky next time? I had no doubt there would be a next time. I’d threatened
him
and he backed down, but I didn’t believe
for a moment that he
was finished
with me.

I
killed his mother and he wants revenge
. I had once been full of
the same kind of hatred. I’d had the same urge to kill the ones responsible for
my family’s death. At the time, nothing would have stopped me from seeing Macaven
and his men pay for what they had done—not even the threat of death.
Caleb was feeling the same way now. He had hatred coursing in his veins and it
was focused entirely on me. I was the villain in his story.

He
won’t stop until I pay for what I did.

Another thought crept in, never far off:
Maybe he’s right—maybe I deserve to
pay.

Three black SUVs
were parked
with their motors running. As Caleb and I approached, a door swung open and
Gage waved at me from the backseat to
get
in
. I obeyed, and Caleb slid into the
passenger seat.

As
I settled, Gage leaned forward and examined the shallow cut on Caleb’s cheek.
He asked, “What happened to you?”

When
Caleb didn’t answer, I said in a quiet voice. “It was just a…misunderstanding.”

Gage
laughed out loud. “So, the kitten has claws.” He reached out and grabbed my
arm. “He hasn’t been bothering you, has he?”

Caleb
was sitting in the seat directly in front of me. I could see his hand go still
against the doorframe.

I
took my time answering. “Caleb…” I paused for a long moment. I could tell Gage
all about the torture. I could show him proof—the burn marks on my leg.
But if I did that, Caleb promised he’d hurt Luke. Even if Gage believed me and
punished Caleb, there was still the chance that Caleb could somehow get to
Luke.

As
long as Luke was alone and held prisoner by either of the brothers, he wasn’t
safe. “He’s been nothing but civil to me.” The lie slid smoothly from my mouth.

Gage
patted my hand. “You let me know if anyone bothers you. No one is as important
to me right now as you are.” Gage signaled the driver and the SUV started down
the road. “I thought you might like to get out and about.” He saw me look back
at the house as we drove off. “Don’t worry, your friends will be fine. Dean is
up and around. I sent him in to keep Wendy
company
.”

“Where
are we going?” I asked.

“I've
got a little errand to run,” he answered before turning his head and staring
out the window.

It
was no use asking more questions.
The mood he’d
settled into was one of cold silence.
He seemed to fluctuate between
giving out lavish attention and then showing utter indifference.

I
wasn’t about to chat up Caleb or the driver, so we drove in silence. I
occasionally looked behind us. The other two SUVs trailed us the whole time.

After
what must have been about an hour, Gage turned back to me. I’d spun around and
was checking on our entourage.

Gage
followed my gaze. “Not to worry, I brought reinforcements. Your safety is
paramount.
They’re
still hunting you.”

He’s talking about Darla and the
Phoenix Guild,
I
realized.

Gage
lowered his voice. “They came close to catching up to you at the asylum. They
were only minutes behind us. Luckily, I rescued you in the nick of time.”

“
Rescued
me?” I spat out.

My
reaction made him laugh. “But of course. I’ve only your best interests at
heart. I wish you’d believe me.” He put his hand out as if to cover mine, but I
quickly pulled away.

“I
really
wish you would come to trust me,” he
said in a gentle voice.

The
driver pulled over and turned off the engine without warning or comment. I
looked out the window. The SUV sat in front of a line of shops.

“We
need a few more bodies,” Gage said.

The
way he said it—in a completely normal, level voice, as though saying we
needed to stop and buy a gallon of milk—threw me. For a moment, I didn’t
comprehend what he’d said. When his words finally sunk in, I turned at stared
at him in dismay.

His
expression didn’t change. He didn’t look upset or angry, just slightly bored. “The
mummification is going well, but my people need more practice getting it right.
Theory and
action
are entirely different
things,
I’m learning.” Gage opened the door and
got out. He motioned for me to follow. “I thought you should come along and see
how we go about harvesting the bodies.”

I
didn’t move. “You mean how you and your followers go about killing innocent
people.” I searched his face for any sign of human empathy or mercy. There were
none.

He
gave me a patient smile. “They are far from innocent, and their deaths are for
the greater
good.”

How did he overwhelm the death
dealers he killed?
I wondered again, still sitting, unmoving. Death dealers had some of the most
powerful magic of all the mage-born.

His
patience with me ran out. Gage signaled to Caleb, who got out of the car,
opened my door, and reached
in to
jerk me
roughly from my seat, forcing me out onto the street. He gave me a
shove,
and I s
tumbled
forward before catching my balance. The burns on my thighs screamed as my pants
rubbed against them. I looked up to see a
red
coiled serpent with horns
painted on the shop sign
in front of us.

I
watched four men get out of the SUVs that had been following us. They were all
dressed the same as Caleb and me: black jeans, black T-shirts, black boots.
Is this the official uniform?
If it was,
Gage was bucking the system. He wore, as usual, a shining black suit, and today
he had a burnt orange tie around his neck.

Gage
headed toward the door. He pushed it open and walked inside.

Caleb
was behind me. I knew if I didn’t follow I would be manhandled again and forced
in after Gage. I made my way reluctantly through the doorway. Inside the shop,
shelves lined each wall. There were freestanding glass cases full of colorful
bottles,
feathers,
and velvet pouches. It
was almost identical to Luke’s uncle’s magic shop.

A
woman in her thirties with short blond hair came out from
a back
room and stood at a long, polished
wooden counter. She was wearing a red T-shirt with a drawing in yellow of the
same serpent with horns as
the sign
for
the shop. “Can I help you?” she asked.

“I
understand
you’re having
a meeting
upstairs,” Gage said, giving the woman his most charming smile.

The
woman’s face took on a guarded look. “It’s a guild meeting, only for members.”

“Members of the
Guivre
Guild,” Gage said.

“Yes,” the woman
answered,
her gaze focused on the half-dozen men in black who’d entered
the store behind us. “What is it you want?” she demanded.

“Not to worry my dear, we aren’t
Redeemers,
” Gage answered. “We simply want to
talk to your guild leader.”

“Wait here a moment.” Concern filled her face
as she stepped away from the counter and headed into the back.

A few minutes later an older man in his
sixties entered the room followed by a half-dozen men and women.

The older man did not look amused. “You
wanted to speak to me?”

“No. I want something else entirely.” Gage’s
hand whipped out from his pocket, and he threw down a small glass vial. The
glass broke, and
black
liquid hit the
floor. A blue mist began to swirl up into the air.

Gage raised his hands, whispered some words,
and the blue mist began to move toward the older man.

The man lifted his hands and shouted. I saw
ghostly faces form in the air around him.
He’s
calling on banshees
.

“I’m afraid that won’t help you,” Gage said
in a calm voice.

The blue mist swirled and danced in the air
as it made its way toward the death dealers. Shock registered on their faces as
it surrounded them.

Gage
was going to kill them. I couldn’t just stand by and watch it happen. I started
to take a step forward, but Gage put out an arm and restrained me. “Nasty
stuff,” he said. “You don’t want to get near it. It makes them drown from the
inside out. Very effective. Unfortunately, I have only a small quantity of it
left. I hesitate to use too much of it.”

I
watched helplessly as the death dealers
grabbed at their throats as though they couldn’t breathe. They started
gasping for air an
d slowly, one after
another,
fell to their knees.

“You
have to stop this,” I pleaded.
He’s
killing them.

Gage
said in a cold voice, “Once I release the mist and cast
the spell,
there’s nothing I can do. Don’t worry my dear—it
won’t harm you as long as you are by my side.” There was no emotion on his face
as he watched the bodies fall to the floor.

This was
how he’d done it. Gage killed three hundred death dealers with this blue mist.
He dropped a whole town with this stuff. I had no
counterspells
against it, and if fully trained death dealers
couldn’t stop it… There was nothing I—or anyone—could
do
but watch in horror as these people died in
front of me.

Gage
watched the struggle of life and death before him indifferently. He said in a
quiet voice, “A mage made it a long time ago, back when all mages were at war
with each other. You won’t find writings about that war in the books your clan
lets you read. Back
then,
they had
powerful magic. Much more powerful than the magic we wield today. Take this
spell, for instance.
Incredible,
isn’t it?”

The
bodies on the floor stopped moving.

“You’re
a monster.” He was a
cold-hearted
,
black-souled monster no better than the demon he
worked for
.

He
looked at the dead bodies strewn across the floor, the smile still on his face.
“Colina, I’m pragmatic. I see what needs to
be
done
. I do the hard things no one else is willing to do. I should have
lived a hundred years ago—they would’ve
understood
.
They may have even
worshipped me
back
then. Those men were brave…daring. The things they did were legendary. The
creatures they released…” He looked back at me. “You know, that was when demons
were first let
loose
.”

I
had never heard of the war Gage
talked about
.
Mages
fighting mages? Was it true that
these mages had let demons loose in the name of war? To my knowledge, no one
knew much about how the demons had gotten out or the ones that had fought
against them.

Gage
was watching me intently. “If only the demon killers had realized what
magnificent creatures they had before them; what incredible power the demons
wield. So foolish to destroy them. But now you’ve brought one back to us.” He
put the vial back into his pocket and waved his hand in the air. “It’s just the
beginning, my dear. It’s the dawning of a new age. We will bring back all of
the long-forgotten wonders of that time.”

“Spells
that kill? Demons that destroy?” I spat between clenched teeth. I looked at the
pile of dead bodies. These people died for Gage’s entertainment. For his pet
project. All dead so Gage could create a zombie army. And now Gage was talking
about demons as though he wanted to bring them back. Could he?

Gage
looked at the bodies that now lay motionless on the floor and gave a loud sigh.
“The world was a much more interesting place back then.” He motioned to his
men. “Collect the bodies. We have mummies to make.”

* * *

We drove back, the bodies stacked in the back of the SUVs
following us. Gage had killed three hundred death dealers in his first attempt
at making
zombies,
and I had just watched
him kill another roomful of people. How many more would die at his hands?

Once he had his dark army, I knew the numbers of
dead would grow from the hundreds into the thousands. And what then?

It’s what they want to become…
Wendy’s words floated across my
mind. He was already a monster—evil already consumed his heart and mind.
What else did Gage want to become?

The
first round of zombies I’d made were slowly falling apart, which meant there
was little chance they could hurt anybody. Now Gage’s full attention was on the
mummification process. I had time. Time to come up with a way to escape. If I
got out of here before he forced me to lay hands on those mummies, I would ruin
his plans.

As
far as I knew, I was the only one who could raise the dead. Without me, Gage
had no project.

I
watched the scenery whiz past. The miles went by until we finally arrived back at
the mining town.

We
pulled in and I observed in silence as Gage’s henchmen unloaded the bodies and
carried them off. A part of me was thankful that I wouldn’t have to put my
hands on the corpses right away. Gage said it takes forty days to mummify the
bodies. It meant that I now had time, had some breathing room, to figure out
how to get out of here.

Caleb
escorted me back to the house, releasing me from Gage’s company.

I
walked down the dirt path leading back. A shiver ran down the back of my neck
as Caleb trailed close behind me.

When we reached the edge of
town,
I saw a half-dozen zombies digging a
trench. I wondered what it was for until I saw another
zombie
emerge from the mouth of a mining tunnel and walk toward the
trench carrying a black garbage bag.
The
bag tumbled from the zombie’s
hands,
and
its contents emptied onto the ground. It was a man—or, it used to be a
man. Someone Gage
killed,
who I’d made
walk the earth as an undead. The body
was badly rotted
away. There were only pieces now, strewn across the ground. Pieces that still
moved even though they were no longer part of
a
whole
body. I looked over at the trench and wondered,
How
many rotting zombies are in that hole? And how many souls
are still bound
in their rotting husks?