Infernal Father of Mine (17 page)

A glimmer of hope shone in the vampire's teary
eyes. "Help you?"

"Good idea." My father jammed the muzzle to the
vampire's forehead. "One wrong move and I will end your
insignificant life. Capisce?"

"I'll do anything," Timothy said.

By this point, Gloria Richardson looked like a
wax statue left in the hot sun too long. Despite the haze of pain,
I realized such a construct as this creature must require a great
deal of concentration to keep intact. How much concentration, I
didn't know. All I really wanted at that point was a painkiller.
Gritting my teeth, I concentrated on the nearby stores, and spotted
a pharmacy across the way as my father continued to talk to the
vampire.

After a moment, he jerked the other man to his
feet. Even without supernatural strength, my father seemed pretty
strong. He also seemed a little psychopathic with all the talk of
torturing the other guy to death. True, Timothy could have asked us
nicely for blood instead of threatening us with disemboweling by
dinosaur, and granted, I'd like to beat the guy to a pulp. But
torturing someone to death was going a little too far for my
tastes.

"I want you to tell your pet dino there to rip
open the metal door," David said.

Timothy looked at his raptor and groaned. "Oh,
Gloria, you look terrible."

"If the dino makes one false move, your brains
will be all over the Gloom." David pressed the barrel firmly to the
man's temple.

"It will take time for me to reconstitute
her."

David shook his head. "Her claws look intact.
If my reasoning is correct, all you need to do is tell what's left
of poor Gloria to do what I say." He tightened his fingers around
the vampire's throat. "Am I right?"

Timothy gulped. "Yes."

"Then do it."

The half-molten shape of Gloria Richardson
firmed up and walked to the door. With a few quick slashes of the
talons, the metal roll door crashed to the ground, and the glass
doors behind it shattered.

"Pharmacy," I wheezed, unable to move my arm to
point as fire seemed to burn in my back.

David directed the vampire's gaze to the store.
"Have her open that one up as well."

The headless raptor loped across the parking
deck and made short work of the entrance to the
pharmacy.

My father looked at me. "Can you walk on your
own, Justin?"

I nodded, unable to stop from wincing. Every
step was agonizing. It felt as if my back muscles were tearing with
every step. I let my father lead the way, his gun never straying
from the vampire's head.

"How do you create things in the Gloom?" he
asked the vampire.

"It's too difficult to explain."

David's grip squeezed the wound on the
vampire's arm. "Tell me or I'll blow off a kneecap."

Timothy howled in pain. "Stop it! I'll
talk!"

"Spit it out," David said, his hand releasing
the wounded arm.

"The Gloom responds to dreams." Timothy looked
at the flesh wound and winced. "You have to trick your mind into a
lucid dream state."

"Daydreams don't work?" I asked, unable to keep
the pain from my voice.

"I don't know how else to explain it. I used to
put myself into a trance with meditation so I could switch on that
part of my mind." Timothy shrugged. "Now I can do it without having
to think about it."

"How long does it take to make something?"
David asked.

"It used to take me a long time. Now I can do
it in twenty minutes."

"What about a car or a tank?" I
asked.

"I could make a tank, sure." The vampire looked
adoringly at the raptor where it stood across the parking deck from
us for safety. "But it wouldn't fire rounds. Whatever you make is
basically just animated aetherplasm."

"Ah, makes sense," David said. "The aether
condenses into a shape, and you simply pull the strings with your
mind."

Timothy nodded. "Something like
that."

We went inside the pharmacy. My father dug
around until he found some pills and bottled water. I gulped down
the medicine and hoped it worked fast.

David swept the counter clear of prescription
bags. "Lie down on the counter. I'm going to treat the wound."
David directed the vampire to pull supplies from the shelves. Once
everything was gathered, the vampire helped me onto the
counter.

Timothy drooled, his eyes gazing long and hard
at the blood soaking my shirt. David slammed the butt of the gun
into the back of the vampire's head, and Timothy went down in a
heap.

My father shrugged. "Can't have him running
around loose while I stitch you up."

A happy numbness crept over my entire body. I
smiled back. "Vampires are mean."

"Indeed they are," David said, threading a
hooked needle. "Hopefully, this won't hurt a bit."

I closed my eyes, and felt myself slipping in
and out of consciousness. Aside from a tugging sensation on my
skin, I didn't feel much else except a dark warmth.

I open my eyes and see three orbs
rotating in the air above me, one of brilliant white, another dark
ultraviolet, and the third a dull gray. "Make the choice," they
seem to whisper. "Choose." They repeat the words over and over
again, but I don't know what to do, or how to choose. I try to
respond but my mouth won't open.

My eyelids fluttered. I lay on a hard surface.
Hands gripped me and helped me rise to a sitting position. I was in
the pharmacy, I remembered. I felt pressure in my back, and tried
to reach around to see what was there.

My father intercepted my hand and shook his
head. "I sewed you up, but it won't take much to tear it back open.
I used some medical tape as well, but you need to take it easy. No
more heroics."

"Heroics?" I asked in a drunken
voice.

"You saved my life."

"Oh," I said in a dull voice. My lips didn't
seem to respond well to commands. I looked down and saw drool
hanging halfway to the floor.

"It's not the first time you've saved my life,"
David said. I saw him move to pat me on the back and stop
himself.

I remembered the strange dream with floating
orbs. I felt too tired to speak, but forced out the words anyway.
"I'm supposed to make a choice."

He tilted his head. "A choice?"

I told him about the vision I'd had upon first
entering the Gloom and the one I'd had while he was patching me up.
The painkillers made it hard to talk, but easier to
remember.

"You're the Cataclyst," he said. "We've all
been waiting a long time for this."

"How do I know which is the right
choice?"

"You're a brave man. A good man. I think you'll
know when the time is right." He rested a hand on my shoulder. "Can
you walk?"

It was an effort just to nod, but I steeled
myself. "I think so."

"Good." David reached down and grabbed Timothy
by the foot with one hand, then guided me out of the pharmacy with
his other arm while dragging the unconscious vampire
unceremoniously behind.

"What are you?" I asked, the question slipping
out.

"I hate to disappoint you, son, but I'm one of
the bad guys."

I might have felt a shock of surprise if I
hadn't been so doped up. Instead, I felt strangely calm. "Oh. I
guess people think that about demon spawn."

"Yeah." He looked back at Timothy and smiled
when the vampire's head bounced off the curb. "Technically, I'm not
really demon spawn."

"Oh." My mind fumbled over this new information
and failed to come up with a response.
I'm so stoned right
now.

My father laughed. "I could probably tell you
I'm Satan himself right now and you'd have the same
response."

I tried to raise an eyebrow and only managed to
cross my eyes. "Maybe." I tried to clear the clutter from my head
and failed. "Are you Satan?"

"Nope. Far as I know there isn't anyone by that
name in the demon realm." We reached the sidewalk in front of
Chuck's Sporting Goods. David jerked Timothy up over the curb and
dropped his leg. My father regarded me for a long moment. "Maybe
you're not ready for the truth, but I think you've earned
it."

I tried to smile, or maybe I just imagined
trying to smile. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." David directed me toward
the store entrance. "You're funny when you're high." He looked down
at the vampire. "I don't feel like lugging him around inside. Maybe
we can find something to tie him up."

We went inside and looked around.

I heard running footsteps and looked back to
see Timothy sprinting with a staggered gait across the parking
deck. My father didn't seem too concerned with the
escape.

"Let's get our gear," he said.

"But—"

"Don't worry about him right now. Besides, I
can't keep tabs on him and you at the same time."

"Oh."

He pursed his lips. "Probably should have
killed him."

Any other time, his remark would have bothered
me, but I chuckled instead.

I didn't do much shopping because it was hard
enough for me to stay upright much less pick out trendy sports
underwear. David grabbed some fresh clothes for me, and I just
followed him around as he filled a shopping cart with equipment. He
tossed in a grappling hook, flares, something that looked like a
spear gun, and a wide variety of other items, including metal
weight plates and rope. I wondered if the items would go missing in
the real world, or if it was all replicated here.

"We should have just stolen a car," I
mumbled.

"I never could find one with the keys in it,"
he said.

We headed through an emergency exit in the back
of the building since it was shorter than going back through the
parking deck. The alarm wailed for a moment before fading to
silence. We crossed the road and made our way to the Phipps Plaza
parking deck. I knew I should be concerned about an angry vampire
on his raptor, but kept forgetting to be vigilant.

One constant on my mind was Elyssa. I really
wished she was here. She'd know exactly how to escape from this
mess. I could see her so clearly—her long black hair, fair skin,
full lips, violet eyes. I knew every curve of her body. So clear
was her image that I could literally see my girlfriend standing in
front of me, the hilts of her signature sai swords poking
diagonally up from sheathes on her back.

"Did you do that?" David asked me, looking at
my imaginary Elyssa.

"Do what?" I asked.

"Make your girlfriend."

"Huh?" I reached out and touched Elyssa. She
felt cold and waxy. I recoiled in disgust—the first genuine emotion
I recalled since taking the pills. A shock of pain ran down my
back. Apparently, the drugs were wearing off, and my girlfriend
melted before my eyes. "No, Elyssa."

The melting stopped, and her skin began to
reform.

"Whoa."

David chuckled. "Do you have the munchies?
Should I get you some cheesy poofs?"

"Wow. I made my girlfriend in the Gloom." I
reached out to touch her, remembered how icky the doppelganger
felt, and pulled back my hand. "Wait 'til I tell her."

"She's a beautiful woman." He regarded her for
a moment. "Maybe we should keep going."

I nodded and thought of Elyssa walking along
side me. Her limbs jerked robotically. I imagined her grace and how
she moved in real life, and the replica began to walk more
naturally. "This isn't so tough," I said, and wiped my mouth. "I
wonder if I can make her fight."

She and I had sparred plenty of times, so it
wasn't difficult to direct the fake Elyssa into a flurry of quick
moves. Her swords flashed and whirled. She spun, ducked, and did a
forward flip, finishing with a stylish three-point landing, one
sword raised high behind her.

"Having fun?" David said as he negotiated a
tall curb with the laden shopping cart.

"This is so cool."

We walked back down the ramp into the Grotto
way station, my replicated girlfriend walking by my side. Once we
reached the bottom, David set up some battery-operated lanterns on
tripods around the center of the ring where the Obsidian Arch
loomed, and began unfurling the rope.

"I wish I knew the odds of a Gloom fracture
forming."

I'd only seen them form on a couple of
occasions, though that had been when Darkwater, a company owned by
Jeremiah Conroy, had been experimenting with the smaller arches
located in the hidden control room behind the stables. "I wonder if
any of the other arches in the control room look different," I
said.

"We should check," David said, and grabbed a
flashlight.

I directed the clone of my girlfriend to follow
us, and we went behind the stables. The illusion hiding the control
room door in the real world wasn't there, so we simply went inside.
The arches sat in their usual places, though something about each
one seemed different. A large world map occupied the front wall
above a platform. A pedestal sat in the center, and on it, a gray
orb the size of my head.