Infernal Father of Mine (33 page)

Dad's body reached the apex of its upward
trajectory. I shot another strand at him, and snatched him from the
grasp of another Nazdal. I didn't have any choice but to burn more
energy, so I jerked the aetherial rope upward and caught Dad around
the waist. At the same time, I saw Maloreck, bigger than ever,
scampering up the cliff wall, his claws digging gouges in the
rock.

My body cried out with pain. My magical muscles
were ready to give out. We had so far to go. I felt raw hunger
tearing at my stomach. I needed to feed. I considered firing a
volley of energy at Maloreck, but knew it would cost me too much.
Every ounce of strength left had to go toward getting us up the
cliff. I climbed past a chunk of rock jutting from the cliff wall.
It shuddered when I put my foot on it. I wondered if I could kick
it loose and take out a few Nazdal below.

I could make a giant magical
slingshot and take them out.

A slightly less suicidal idea ricocheted off
the original thought and gave me a much needed dose of hope.
Balancing Dad on my aching shoulder, I attached a strand of energy
to the boulder, and kicked it. It shifted from its precarious
perch. I heard the crumbling of rock and felt the small ledge
holding the big rock give way. "Here goes nothing." I willed the
strand of energy anchoring me to the cliff wall to become
elastic.

The boulder fell and we were in freefall. I
heard a screech as the boulder knocked loose a Nazdal. Its claws
grasped at us but fell just short. Air whooshed when we passed
other pursuers climbing the cliff. I felt tension in the rope
anchoring us to the rock face. The falling Nazdal's gurgles faded
as he continued his plunge. The tension in the anchor grew tighter,
tighter, and tighter still. We slowed to a crawl as the weight of
the boulder carried us at least a hundred feet below our
attackers.

I released the rope connected to the boulder.
We flew up like a shot. I felt the anchor go slack as we passed the
point where it connected to the cliff. I saw the railing atop the
cliff beckoning, and shot another rope of Murk toward it. It
connected just beneath the ledge. With all the strength I had left,
I jerked hard on the magical rope and gained another twenty
feet.

Still holding Dad in one arm, I jerked hard on
the rope with the other, climbing a few inches at a time until we
were just below the ledge. I looked down and felt sick with
vertigo. We were so far up, the Nazdal looked like insects below
us. Holding onto my father, I couldn't reach the railing, so I
connected him to the cliff with another rope. Muscles burning with
fatigue, I pulled myself over the ledge. Tears formed in my eyes as
I fought the pain. I looked below and saw Dad dangling in free air
like a spider's next meal. I gripped the cord and pulled him up. I
heard murmuring and cries of surprise as I pulled him over the
railing.

I staggered backward. Felt someone catch
me.

"Are you okay?" I heard someone ask with an
Australian accent.

"Where did they come from?" someone else
asked.

I heard someone else cry out in fear. I looked
as a Nazdal crested the rise and leapt on a man taking a picture.
The man screamed as the disfigured creature dug a claw into his
stomach and ripped out his intestines.

Pandemonium erupted. People scrambled to escape
as more Nazdal clambered over the railing and set their sights on
an all-they-could-eat buffet. A Nazdal leapt on a woman as she
tried to video the event on her cell phone. Her scream cut off
abruptly as the attacker tore out her throat with jagged teeth. The
phone slid across the pavement and stopped near my feet. I was too
tired to fight. My muscles were fried. My magic was fizzling. I had
only one thing left to do.

I took a picture of a kiosk, and texted it to a
number I'd long ago memorized. The phone rang.

"Who is this?" asked Elyssa.

"Baby, I need your help now!"

"Justin? Oh my god, I've been—"

"No time. I'm about to die. Take the portal and
get me!"

"I'm not at the mansion. Hold tight, baby, I'll
save you." The phone went dead.

I looked as Nazdal tore into tourists left and
right, not differentiating between man, woman, or child. I felt
sick. I'd led these creatures here, and I couldn't stop
them.

I have to try.

I lay Dad on the ground, drew in a breath to
steady myself, and channeled aether. A Nazdal pounced toward a
screaming child, his short legs pumping in vain to escape. I
directed a jagged pulse of Murk. It knocked the predator off
course, causing it to smack into a large metal map
display.

Another Nazdal hissed a cloud of red mist
toward a group of teenage tourists who were taking as many pictures
as possible. One of the girls shrieked as the disgusting spray blew
across her face. Everyone it touched dropped to their knees. They
tried crawling away, but the poison, or whatever it was, seemed to
inhibit muscle movement. The attacker's eyes gleamed. I directed
another pulse of energy toward it. It was just enough to send the
creature reeling backward as if it had been sucker punched, but
that only delayed it.

My target glared at me. I noticed the other
Nazdal focusing on me as the greatest threat.

"Come get me, you ugly sons of bitches," I
growled. I aimed another blast at the closest Nazdal. Instead of
blistering heat, a beam of light about as powerful as a flashlight
momentarily blinded it. I had plenty of aether to use, but
something inside me was weak from the overuse. My knees felt like
gelatin. I wobbled. Maybe I could manifest. Maybe I could scream
like a girl and run, possibly lead these things away from the other
people and Dad.

Maybe I can die.

My future looked shorter than a midget in a
meat grinder.

A Nazdal leapt for me.

Goodbye cruel world.

A fireball caught the creature in midair.
Charred remains hit me low in the legs and knocked me on my butt. A
spear of violet sliced the head off another Nazdal. A blazing
meteor the size of a car crushed a group of them. Screams and cries
went up from the injured and dying Nazdal.

I caught sight of Maloreck. He was huge,
muscles swelling larger with every death. He leapt to the railing
and looked at me. "You have given me many lives today, warrior. If
you defeat the bright one, we will be your devoted."

"You have a funny way of showing it," I said,
trying to shout, but managing only a hoarse whisper.

"I go now to become the master of my tribe," he
said. "We will see each other again." With that, he vanished over
the side.

I gave up trying to regain my feet and flopped
onto my back. I saw Shelton and Bella looking down at
me.

"The Australian government must hate you,"
Shelton said with a shake of his head. "This is the second time
you've torn up their country."

"What, may I ask, was that thing?" Bella
asked.

I was too tired to respond.

"Is that your Dad?" Shelton knelt down and felt
my father's pulse.

"Help the poor boy stand, Harry." Bella lifted
my father, tossing him like a sack of potatoes over one shoulder.
Despite her petite frame, she was pretty freaking strong, due to
her being a dhampyr.

Shelton, on the other hand, was a plain-Jane
Arcane. Hs slung my arm over his neck and help me stagger next to
him.

"This is horrific," Bella said, tears forming
in her eyes as she looked over the massacre. The photographers had
managed to get away, but there were at least a dozen people dead.
It was hard to tell with all the body parts and internal organs
strewn around. I felt sick. Dad and I could have led the Nazdal
away from people. Instead, we'd led the creatures right to helpless
noms.

"Let the Custodians handle it," Shelton said.
"We need to get these two back to the mansion, pronto."

"Okay," Bella said. They headed behind a kiosk
where a portal shimmered in the air. Through it, I saw the mansion
cellar. They stepped through, hauling us with them. The portal
within the omniarch winked out.

"Where is Elyssa?" I asked.

"She's at The Ranch," Bella said.

"The Templar compound in Atlanta?" I
asked.

"Yes. Things have been quite eventful since
your disappearance." She shifted Dad to the other shoulder. "Meghan
is gathering supplies so she can look at you, but I need to come
back down here and open portals for her and Elyssa."

"I can't wait to hear the story behind this,"
Shelton said with a grim sigh. "First thing I heard you were going
to talk to your dad. Next thing I know, Elyssa's got us tracking
down the long-lost tribe of Templar Exorcists and paying visits to
Jeremiah Conroy."

"What?" I said, nearly losing my feet at the
shock of his last statement.

Shelton chuckled. "Sounds like we have some
good stories to swap."

"Can't wait." At the moment, it was all I could
do to stay awake. My knees gave way and Shelton grunted as he
struggled to keep me upright.

"I'm an Arcane, not a vampire, man. Use your
feet." Shelton gripped my waist and jerked me from my
knees.

We reached the second floor. Bella took Dad to
another room, and Shelton dropped me into my own bed. The room was
a mess. Elyssa usually kept everything spotless, probably thanks to
her Templar military upbringing, so I knew her mental state was way
out of whack if she'd allowed the room to deteriorate like this. I
couldn't wait to see Elyssa. Couldn't wait to kiss the real her
instead of a dreamcasted clone. I closed my eyes and imagined her
walking through the door.

And promptly fell asleep.

I woke and saw an arm across my chest. Elyssa
lay next to me, her head pressed into the crook of my arm, her leg
tossed over mine. I didn't know how she'd fallen asleep because I
had some serious body odor going on thanks to not showering over
the past two days. I kissed my girlfriend's forehead.

She moaned and blinked open her eyes. Before I
could say a word, she pressed her lips to mine and took my breath
away. She pulled back and leaned over me, a curtain of raven hair
hanging around her face. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," I said, and kissed her
again. "Sounds like you've had some adventures while I was
gone."

Elyssa smiled. "You did it, didn't
you?"

"Did what?"

"Made the choice."

I raised an eyebrow. "How do you know about
that?"

"Jeremiah Conroy told me it was why you had to
go into the Gloom."

I sucked in a breath. "You really went to see
him?"

"Ivy went with me."

"Do you realize how dangerous—"

She pressed a finger to my lips. "He told me
you had to go into the Gloom, and showed me part of Foreseeance
Forty-Three Eleven I'd never seen before."

I felt my forehead scrunch. "But I thought the
foreseeance was done and over with."

"It is now," she said. "I didn't realize it at
first, but when you chose, I felt it—everyone felt it."

"Dad said something similar," I said. "Geez, I
didn't realize it was such a big deal."

Elyssa smiled. "We were fighting vampires at
the compound. Whatever weirdness sent that wave, cleared the sky
and let the sun shine. Your choice won the battle."

I felt my eyebrows rise. "I saved you and
wasn't even in this plane of reality? I am a badass."

She snorted. "You certainly smell like
ass."

"Hasn't stopped you from kissing me." I winked.
"Why don't you help me clean up."

"Whatever his awesomeness requires." She bit
her bottom lip, eyelids heavy. "Just tell me where you want to get
clean…or dirty."

After a much-needed "shower", Elyssa and I went
downstairs. It was midafternoon, though it felt like morning. I'd
completely lost track of time in the Gloom, but apparently we'd
been gone a little more than forty-eight hours. Meghan Andretti, an
Arcane healer and friend, saw me coming down the stairs, and
motioned toward a chair.

"I need to give you a checkup," she
said.

"How's my dad?" I asked.

"Much better," he said, emerging from the
kitchen bearing plates piled high with pancakes, bacon and eggs. My
little hellhound, Cutsauce, jumped around his feet, yipping like
crazy. "I know it's not breakfast time, but my stomach doesn't
care."

"Me want pancakes," I said, mouth
watering.

"Grab the orange juice, and it's a deal." He
winked and dropped a piece of bacon. Cutsauce caught it before it
hit the floor, and raced away with his prize.

Grinning like a school boy, I ran into the
kitchen and grabbed two glasses filled with orange juice. When I
came back out, I caught a confused look from Elyssa. The last she'd
known, I was furious with Dad.

Meghan took out a wand and waved it down my
body. Numbers floated in the air to the side. I tried to ignore
them and made short work of a stack of pancakes. I couldn't stuff
them in my mouth fast enough.