The Watchers (37 page)

I hugged my arms to my chest as I thought
about it. Not only was it darker than night in this place, but it
was colder. I couldn’t tell if it was a natural result of the
structure being exposed to the elements or if it had air
conditioning, but it had the dramatic effect of being extremely
unnerving. I imagined it was what a crypt felt like. I hoped I
would never find out if I was right.

Pushing aside my fear, I stepped towards the
stairway. There was no turning back – Cassandra would just force me
to do what she wanted. I didn’t turn back for another reason. Part
of me, the part that knew Daniel, knew he was here. I could feel
him. The same beating in my chest I had felt for Susan was
intensified by a thousand. It was so intense I actually shook. He
was here and he was alive.

At the bottom stair, I paused in surprise.
Far from being a dim cave or a gloomy morgue, the room was elegant
and classic. A chandelier hung from the ceiling and rich, lavish
carpets decorated every square inch of the floor. Large tapestries
hung from walls, which stretched back a lot further than what the
upstairs had led me to believe. And, standing in the middle of this
opulent room, playing with an old fashioned, evil-looking, sword
was someone I hadn’t been expecting.

Chapter 19

It was Sheriff Cobb.

I stared at him trying to understand how he
fit into the puzzle. He stared back, his intelligent eyes crinkling
with fatherly laughter. I hovered near the stairs, my arms hugging
my body.

“Hello, Clare.” I didn’t reply. “You don’t
understand what’s happening here, do you?” he asked in his thick
southern drawl.

“No.”

The sword in his hands was covered in strange
etchings and gleamed with silver malice as he twirled it. He walked
towards a small table piled with delicious looking food, the sword
adding gravity to his steps. “Would you like something to eat? An
apple or an orange? A date perhaps?”

I shook my head reminded of the story of
Persephone. She had been trapped in hell by eating food offered to
her by Hades. I wasn’t about to go there.

Cobb placed the sword on the table and sat.
Picking up a piece of fruit, he regarded it for a moment before he
popped it into his thin, lined mouth. “At least come and join me.
An old man hates to eat alone, especially when he has a pretty girl
so near to talk to.”

“I think I’ll stand,” I said with rebellion
in my voice.

“My, my, what a mouth! He told me you were
stubborn. He told me quite a lot about you.”

“He?” I asked.

“Yes, my dear, recently departed, cousin has
been observing you for a while now.”

He ripped apart a plum, his hawk-like hands
tearing into the fruit easily. Frustrated at not understanding what
he was saying, I concentrated. His thoughts were blocked. He was
the first person beyond Daniel and his family who could block me. I
wondered how he did it, remembering that Amanda’s father had the
same talent.

Stymied I asked, “Your cousin?”

“Yes. A redneck if there ever was one.”

Cobb shook his head and smiled paternally at
my confused expression. He snapped his fingers, and the dark-headed
Seeker stepped out of the shadows. I jumped, not having noticed him
standing there. My body tense, I waited for him to attack me,
figuring this was the reason I had been sent down here. He didn’t.
Instead, the Seeker threw something to the floor. It rolled and
bounced in my direction. I took a step closer, fixated, unable to
look away. I wanted to understand the oddness of the shape, why
they were so intent I see the shape. Blank eyes stared up at me. I
gagged when my brain registered what my eyes were seeing. It was a
severed human head. Was that who I thought it was?

“Yes, that’s my cousin.” Cobb’s eyes searched
my face, looking for fear. “Gavin Nichols. He got in our way today.
Spewing some sentimental nonsense about how we couldn’t use Amanda.
That we had to leave her alone. That our plan was flawed. You do
know Amanda, right?”

I looked away from the head. Cobb was trying
to scare me, unbalance me for whatever he had planned next. I
wouldn’t let him do it. He had used Amanda’s circumstances, her
suicide attempt, to draw me out and distract the others. Could he
have planned that? Had they killed Mr. Nichols, because he had been
trying to save his daughter after all? I almost looked back at the
head, wondering if his love had gotten him killed, but I focused on
Cobb instead.

“Everything turned out for the best, though,”
he said in that grandpa voice. He regarded me for a moment, and
picked up another piece of fruit. “You have no idea how much work
it took to get you here, my dear.” He shook his head with a smile.
“Your grandfather is a stubborn, prideful man. He came so close to
ruining everything.” What could my grandfather have to do with any
of this? He saw the question on my face. “Yes. I knew Roger
Michaels. We were very close…knew each other since childhood. I was
there when he got married. I was there when his daughter was born.
When Ellen ran away and he was heartbroken, I was there. When he
knew the cancer was terminal and he only had months to live, I was
there. Why not convince him to change the will and give his
daughter everything? Why not let his final act be an act of
reconciliation? He was eager to agree. You see, he regretted not
talking to your mother for all those years. He only did so because
of your grandmother – another prideful soul. He was never the same;
broken you might say.” He gestured at the Seeker. “My friends were
pleased when I told them I had a way of drawing you out. All I had
to do was play on your mother’s emotions, her desire to make amends
for some of the hurt she’d caused her parents. It was actually
quite easy. If those others,” his thin lips hardened, “hadn’t
interfered, we would have had you within days of you moving here.
But what’s a slight delay in the grand scheme of things, eh?”

At least, I now understood why we had the
house. At least, I knew my grandfather regretted something. If I
got out of here alive, I would have to tell Ellen.

I found my sarcasm, unwilling to let him
unnerve me, particularly when I felt so exposed. “What a horrible
cliché,” I said. “It’s never a good idea to tell your whole plan to
your victim, Cobb. It’s tacky, very tacky.”

“I don’t understand…”

“Go ahead and tell me what I’m doing here,” I
said. “I know you’re just dying to.”

The Seeker started laughing at my tone. His
black eyes bored into my grey ones with grim delight. There was no
pity there. Just a barely tempered rage.

Cobb laughed as well. “Marcus was right about
her. She’s pretty strong willed, isn’t she?” He stood. “It will
make this more difficult.”

The Seeker shrugged indifferently. “They’re
all breakable….so very breakable. Can we get on with this?” He
sounded bored. I wondered how many deaths he had seen, how many
deaths he had been responsible for. I hoped to never be that
callous. If I lived through tonight…

“Yes, Thomas, we will. Just a moment
more.”

Cobb walked over to me. I met his eyes in
hate and fear. His brown eyes held a burning purpose. It went
beyond intelligence or thought. It was obsession. Could I use it
against him? I frowned and tried to break through his mental
shield, but it was like a fortress.

“What’s going to happen next can happen
willingly, or by force. I prefer willingly. It will be better for
both of us,” Cobb said.

“Spit it out,” I said through clenched teeth.
I didn’t like to be threatened.

“Your blood, my dear. Give me your blood
willingly.”

He stepped closer. I smelled the typical
person smells but also something else. Something foreign.
Desperation? Could a person smell of desperation?

“You and I are going to be a grand
experiment. If we are right, if Marcus is right, then it will be a
new beginning. Together, we will be Adam and Eve. A new dawn for
man and angel.”

My stomach dropped. He was crazy. He had
super humans doing his bidding, and he was crazy. I didn’t know
what he meant, but none of it sounded good. I didn’t want a new
dawn or a new beginning, and I definitely didn’t want him to be my
Adam. Gross.

“Over my dead body,” I spat.

At my words the Seeker, Thomas, started
forward. “With pleasure.”

Cobb put a hand out. “We will do it the other
way first. Remember, she has to agree to it.”

“Whatever. But after?”

“She’s not to be touched if it works.”

“What about the other one?”

“You can have him.” Cobb’s cold eyes met
mine. “In fact, why don’t you call him in here?”

Thomas grinned, his boredom fading. In a
voice barely above a whisper, he said, “Bring him in.” It sounded
deafening to my ears.

A large metal door banged against the
opposite wall and a dog-like figure appeared. I took a shallow
breath, terrified at having a Nightstalker so near. It surged
across the room in restless movement. I looked beyond its evil
appearance trying to understand the movement. Why it was so
agitated? I focused again and realized it was fighting with
something, rolling it in its massive paws. The creature snapped at
the form and growled with a deafening sound that filled the large
room. A second Nightstalker barged through the door to help control
the smaller creature, which was obviously much stronger than its
size suggested. I tried to recognize what they were fighting with.
It was difficult around the movement. I finally recognized what I
was seeing.

I gasped. I hadn’t thought anything could
hurt him. I had thought him steel and metal, untouchable by evil. I
was wrong. The first creature reached out and slammed Daniel to the
ground with a paw into his stomach. The sound of crunching bone
danced across the space. Another swipe along his arm tore into his
shirt. I cried out in pain as I watched Daniel’s blood, which was
surprisingly silver, spill onto the expensive carpet.

Daniel stopped struggling when he heard my
gasp, giving the second demon time to pin him down. He strained his
neck to look at me, his eyes widening with fear. I tried to tell
him not to give up fighting, but he was frozen with shock. The
Nightstalker on top of him grunted happily, and its lips curled
back in satisfaction over gleaming white teeth.

I took a step forward to help Daniel, to do
anything, but Cobb stopped me with a hand on my arm. “You can do
what I ask, and your friend dies peacefully, or you can refuse, and
we make it more painful.”

Thomas walked over to Daniel and bent down.
He reached out and grabbed Daniel’s hand. Daniel struggled with
Thomas, but the Nightstalker on his chest pressed harder. I saw
pain ignite the coolness of his green eyes. Daniel kept his hand
shut and focused his eyes on me. Adrenaline and fear surged through
my veins in response. I could shove Cobb off, but that wouldn’t
stop the demons on top of Daniel. They would kill him before I
could do anything – not that I could do much.

Thomas peeled back Daniel’s fingers and
looked over at me playfully. He jerked one finger backward and the
bone snapped. Daniel shut his eyes, mutely refusing to cry out. I
realized what they were doing. Watchers still felt pain even though
they healed from most wounds. Daniel could still feel pain. They
would make him hurt, torture him, until they got what they were
after. Until they got my blood.

My blood pressure rose as Daniel reopened his
eyes. His eyes pleaded with me to run. He told me to leave him and
get out. The look tore at my heart. I couldn’t give in and let him
die, but I couldn’t run either. I wouldn’t leave him to this.

“Choose Clare,” the old man said.

Another pop of bone.

“Choose. It’s just a drop of blood.”

Another and another. Snap! Snap! I jumped
with each pop.

Cobb’s sleepy drawl turned the blood in my
veins to ice. “Choose…”

I focused on Daniel, absorbing his strong
features. I ignored the way his hand was becoming unrecognizable
and focused on the good things. I etched the perfect lines of his
face into my brain. Was I saying goodbye? Was I trying to remember
his features for later? Were we both about to die?

I had told him only last night that I would
prefer to die fighting for a cause, fighting for the person I
loved. If we were going to die, I would make sure I hurt someone
first. I wouldn’t just go peacefully into the night. I would take
someone with me.

My necklace started glowing. Cobb released my
arm and jumped back as the light intensified. My anger crept
towards the boiling point. I saw red. No…I saw white.

Power surged into my body. I suddenly felt
stronger than I ever had. My body started to shake from the power.
I knew I had to act to dispel the energy, before I exploded.
Looking to my right, I saw Cobb. I didn’t understand what his part
was in all this, but the others listened to him. He was a threat. I
reached out and took hold of his throat, easily raising him off the
ground. “Release, Daniel.”

“Gahhh!” he choked.

I looked over at Thomas. “Release him.”

My eyes trained on Thomas, I waited to see if
he would do what I commanded. He didn’t move, frozen with surprise.
A second that felt like eons, passed. Cobb kept struggling, but his
struggles barely registered against my newfound strength.

The first Nightstalker snarled at me, foamy
drool falling from its mouth onto Daniel. It burned away his shirt
and scorched his skin. My jaw tightened in response. I shifted my
focus as the second Nightstalker crept towards me, taking careful
steps as it maneuvered.

“Stop,” I commanded. The Nightstalker kept
moving, ignoring me. “Stop,” I repeated.

This time I held my free hand up, palm out.
The demon snarled in response. Feeling I had given ample warning, I
released the energy I had been restraining. Fire poured from my
hand. It boiled out and completely engulfed the Nightstalker. My
surprise at the act wasn’t enough to stop the fire. It lashed
against the creature, tearing into its scaly flesh.