Demon Evolution (26 page)

If he gave himself willingly, with no
struggle, would Dionysus really release them? There was certainly
no guarantee. Dionysus would probably just take all of the Knights
into custody: one big family reunion.

The hike having refreshed and focused him,
Gabriel’s mind started to make the connections quickly, taking a
similar path to the one that Sampson had earlier that day.

They won’t release my family, regardless
of whether I cooperate.
That much was clear to him now. But if
he fought back, wouldn’t they kill his family immediately?
Not
likely, because then they wouldn’t have anything to bargain
with.
It was he who Dionysus was after, not his family. On the
other hand, they might kill
one
of his family members—make
an example of one of them to prove to him that they were not
bluffing, that they were serious. That way, they would still have
their bait,
and
force him to cooperate. What would he do if
they killed Peter, say, or Teddy, or heaven forbid, his mother?
They could do it right in front of him, while he was fighting to
protect them.

“What
would
I do?” he said aloud,
trying to get his mind around the question. Something told him that
the answer to this question was of the utmost importance, but for
some reason he couldn’t seem to think straight. It was like taking
a test and suddenly going blank, or going to the store and
forgetting what you wanted to buy. He slapped himself hard in the
face to try to snap himself out of his stupor.

“ARGHHHH!” he roared at the top of his lungs.
Breathe
, just breathe.
Calm down
, he thought. Try
another technique. Like……………what?

Just think about something else and maybe
the answer will come to you.
He remembered his dad telling him
this once when he was upset as a young boy. One of his favorite
toys was missing and he remembered playing with it, but not where
he had put it afterwards. It was a Nerf Turbo football, he
remembered now. His dad had said, “Son, sometimes your mind just
needs to be distracted. So go somewhere else and just think about
something else and maybe the answer will come to you.”

At the time he thought it ridiculous. How
could thinking about something else make you think about what you
wanted to think of in the first place? Even the question sounded
crazy. But he listened to his wise father and went to watch TV.
There he was, being blitzed by colorful, manic advertisements about
why he should buy the newest Super Soaker water gun and how much
fun the rides were at Geronimo Amusement Park. That’s when it hit
him. He knew exactly where that darn football was. As clear as day,
he could remember bringing it back in the house, taking it up the
stairs, and kicking it into the closet. It was not a place he would
normally store it, but for some reason he did.
And he
remembered.

Now, with no other choice, Gabriel decided to
try to employ the same technique to figure out the answer to his
question, to know with a certainty what he would do if someone from
his family were killed in front of him. He still didn’t fully
understand why this question felt so important, but he trusted that
his instincts were guiding him to some vital truth.

Gabriel turned his mind to the other most
important person in his life—Taylor. If he closed his eyes and
thought about it hard enough, he could almost feel her hand on his
back, her lips on his own—he could even detect the smell of her
hair. While he would die for his family in a second if he had to,
it would be a great sacrifice indeed. He would not just be giving
up his life, but rather, he would be giving up his life
with
her.

And they had the chance for a real future
together. A future filled with love and joy and family and friends
and laughter. A good life. A life worth living.

Even as Gabriel tried to picture how his life
would be after the War was won and Dionysus was defeated, his mind
released the information he had been seeking.
He would
fight.
If Dionysus killed someone in his family, he would not
cooperate, he would fight. Pain, hatred, honor, strength: He could
feel it searing through him, piercing him to the core of his
existence. He would not go quietly and trade himself for his
family. Gabriel Knight would not only rescue his family, but he
would rescue himself. He would live!

Immediately, he knew that it was not
selfishness that led him to this decision. Of course, he wanted a
life with Taylor more than anything, but that’s not what drove his
decision to fight. Somewhere within his skull a decision was made
that defied all logic, which on the face of it appeared to be
reckless and dangerous, but which he somehow knew was the right
decision. He knew this without a doubt in his mind, by some
leadership instinct he had been blessed with.

It was time to find a place to wait that was
a bit closer to the action.

“N
ice shot, Taylor,”
Sam said sarcastically.

“Damn,” Taylor said. The white cue ball had
jumped off the table and nearly drilled Chris in the knee.

Chris retrieved the ball and handed it back
to Taylor. “You know, jumping the ball is actually a pretty
advanced technique, Taylor. I’m impressed,” Chris joked.

“Yeah, but I think it’s supposed to stay on
the table,” Taylor mused.

Taylor was trying to laugh and have fun with
her friends, but the dark thoughts in the back of her mind kept
creeping out, pressing their icy fingers and toes into the front of
her mind. Gabriel was out there all alone. There was no one to hold
him or to tell him that everything would be okay. Sure, he was
tough and macho and brave and all of those very impressive things
that she loved about him, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t need
support.

If only he wasn’t so damn stubborn
,
she thought. She could have gone with him, even if only to keep him
company until the meeting. But then she wouldn’t be going on the
mission to save him. Maybe it was better that she hadn’t gone with
him.
Maybe it was better this way
, she thought. Surprising
him. Not like “Surprise! Happy Birthday!” More like “Surprise!
Let’s kill an Archangel, save your family, not die, and get the
hell out of here!” Taylor laughed out loud at her thoughts.

“That’s the first real laugh I’ve heard from
you all day, Tay,” Samantha noted. “I didn’t think my shot was bad
enough to laugh at.”

Taylor looked at Sam blankly. Lost in her
thoughts, she had forgotten they were playing pool. “What? I wasn’t
laughing at your shot.”

“I know you weren’t, I was just kidding. I
could tell you were a million miles away. Thinking about him?”

“Sort of.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll save him.”

Taylor flinched, startled by her friend’s
remark. She had expected her to say, “The guys will save him,” or
“Chris will get him out.”

“How could I save him?” Taylor asked. She
waited for a sign. Maybe Samantha had a vision in a dream or
Taylor’s face had appeared to her in the gravy on her mashed
potatoes at lunch. She got neither.

“I don’t know. I’m not sure why I said that.
It just felt like the right thing to say.”

Taylor nodded, not understanding at all.
After all, she would merely be a decoy in whatever transpired later
that day. It was possible that her presence would be one of the
many factors leading to the successful completion of the mission,
but surely she would not be ultimately responsible for saving
Gabriel’s life.

Sampson and Kiren entered the room, returning
with five drinks.

Suddenly, Taylor felt the tingling in her
toes. Panicking, she said, “Uh, I gotta go to the bathroom. Kiren,
play for me?”

“Sure, Tay.”

“Is everything alright? Do you want me to go
with you?” Sam asked.

“I don’t need an escort to the bathroom like
some high-heeled, drunk off her ass chick. I’ll be right back.”
Taylor hoped she had kept an honest face and that her voice wasn’t
too shaky. She was so focused on the warm sensation—which had moved
up her legs—to tell what she was saying or how she was sounding.
Luckily, the rec room had a bathroom.

All the stalls were empty and she was barely
able to stumble into one and latch the door before the tingling had
covered her from head to toe. “Wow,” she panted. It felt like all
the good emotions in life had been torn up and scattered throughout
her body, like confetti, covering every inch, every fiber. Even her
freckles could feel it. Laughter, happiness, love, attraction,
friendship, kindness, goodness, physical contact, eating,
sleeping—the gamut of emotions and pleasant feelings far exceeded
what her mortal brain was able to comprehend. But she didn’t care,
it felt wonderful.

Then the glowing began.
Like the night
before, she radiated light seemingly from within her, like her aura
was saying hello to the world, or trying to get out of her, or
something.
Or something.
Her mind immediately guessed the
worst. What if she was dying and had cancer or some rare disease
usually found only in monkeys? Or maybe she was just becoming a
human light bulb, and would be studied by scientists for the rest
of her life, while residing in a perfectly livable, perfectly round
plastic bubble.

Taylor realized she was laughing
hysterically—partially because of her crazy thoughts, and partially
because of how good she felt. Thankfully, no one had come into the
bathroom yet, or she would likely have been dragged out and
committed to a place with much softer walls than she was used
to.

“Get a hold of yourself,” she said, still
laughing through gritted teeth.

As quickly as it had come on, the feeling
passed. Her inner glow worm was switched off, and she was just
normal, unglowing Taylor again. Well, as normal as the human girl
with the most powerful aura in the world could be, anyway. “Whew,”
she breathed, still trying to catch her breath from all the
laughing. “What is happening to me?” she asked out loud. No one
answered.
That was good
, she thought. At least she wasn’t
hearing voices…yet.

As she staggered out of the stall, she
wondered whether she should tell someone what was happening to her.
If she had to tell someone, she would rather it be Gabriel. It
would have to be later though, once Gabriel was safe again. Looking
at her face in the mirror, she looked refreshed, the dark circles
under her eyes from the previous night’s lack of sleep having
mysteriously disappeared. The makeover was miraculous. She
remembered looking at herself in the mirror in Chris’s bathroom and
seeing a tired, rundown, distraught girl. Now, she looked like
herself again. No…It was more than that…She looked like a
better
version of herself.

Afraid of all the questions she would get
from Sam if she delayed much longer, Taylor left the bathroom to
rejoin her friends.

“Sorry, Tay. I lost,” Kiren said, handling
the pool stick back to Taylor as she approached.

“Damn.”

“What took you so long?” Sam hissed in her
ear. Despite the fact that Taylor didn’t linger very long in the
ladies room—she couldn’t have been in there for more than five
minutes—Sam knew her friend too well. Taylor was always very quick
in the bathroom. As a rule, she never preened, primped, applied
make up, vomited her lunch into the toilet, or stared at herself in
the mirror.

“I had to go number two,” she said
bluntly.

Samantha eyed her friend suspiciously.
“Right, if you say so. Well, you do look a lot better. You looked
like death before.”

“Thanks,” Taylor said sarcastically.

“Well, you did.”

“Glad to know I’m looking closer to life
now,” Taylor joked.

Sam smiled. “I was worried about you. Still
am.”

“Don’t worry. Like you said, I’ll save
Gabriel. And then I’ll come home and whip your butt in pool.”

“If that happened, then I would know for sure
that the world was ending!” Sam laughed.

They resumed their game of pool, playing four
at a time with the fifth player rotating in after each game was
over.

They were just killing time.

There was just one hour to go before the
mission.

A
fter the strategy
session, Lucas knew he needed to spend some time with David. He had
seen the boy’s face when he heard the nature of the mission, and
while they seemed like they were able to convince him to support
the cause, he was still concerned that David would change his mind
in the heat of the moment. Unlocking his apartment door, he said,
“This is my place, David.”

He pushed the door open and the boy cried out
with glee upon seeing the size of the space. Relative to his own
room it was massive, at more than 2,500 square feet. Complete with
marble floors, brilliantly lit walls and ceilings, and brand new
leather furniture, the apartment was big enough to house an entire
family.