Nancy K. Duplechain - Dark Trilogy 03 - Dark Legacy (7 page)

Noah jumped onto
the roof of the car and yelled to the angel, “What are you waiting for?!”

The angel flew
toward him, stopping in front of the headlights. “You know who I am.”

“Yeah, I know
who you are, and I know what you did.”

“Then you know
who
you
are.”

“What the hell
do you want with me?”

“The others said
you are special, that you have something none of them have. They can smell it
on you. I smell it, too, underneath that concoction that’s supposed to protect
you.”

“Not just for
protection. To get rid of the wings, too.”

The angel smirked.
“You hate us that much, do you? But do you realize how powerful you could be? A
nephil with paladin blood could be a strong force to aid us. You could be a
ruler some day.”

“You’re all
disgusting and evil, and I will
never
join you.”

The angel
considered him for a moment. “How is your mother?”

Noah’s jaw tightened,
and a vein in his neck throbbed.

“She still looks
as beautiful as the last time I saw her,” he continued.

“You stay away
from her!”

“Join me, and
you have my word that no one will touch her.” He looked at Nadia in the car.
“Or your little friend in there.”

Noah leaped off
the car, almost tackling the angel, who dodged him at the last second, spun
around, and grabbed Noah, lifting him up fifty feet in the air.

Nadia jumped out
of the car and looked up at the sky. “Noah!”

The angel held
him by his upper arms and stared into his eyes. “Think it over. When you’re
ready to join me, meet me at the pier where you found Arcelia. I’d tell you to
come alone, but it really doesn’t matter who you bring. There are more of us
than there are of you. Don’t take too long to think about it. I know where you
live. And don’t be foolish enough to think that a protection spell around your
house is going to keep me out.”

He released his
grip, and Noah fell to the bridge with barely enough time to reposition himself
for a steady landing. It still hurt his legs. He groaned and sat on the asphalt
with his head between his knees. Nadia rushed over to him.

“Are you okay?”
she said.

“I need to take
you to the convent, and then I need to get home and warn my mom. Tomorrow, I’m
going to go see Miles. We need to take this guy out. Fast.”

***

Noah dropped
Nadia off at the convent and apologized to Sister Alice. He said Nadia had been
with him at his house, and she could call his mother if she didn’t believe him.
The nun was still not happy with Nadia running off, but held her tongue.

When Noah got
home, he found Selena in the kitchen. She was on the phone, and he was
surprised to see her smiling.

He leaned
against the door frame to the kitchen. She grinned at him. For the first time
in a long time, she had a light in her eyes.

“Yes,” she said,
nodding with the receiver to her ear. “I can do that. I’ll see you tomorrow.
Thank you again. Goodbye.” As soon as she hung up, she jumped up and squealed.
She wrapped her arms around Noah and danced with him. Despite the night he had,
he couldn’t help but smile. It was good to see her happy.

“Are you going
to tell me?” he said.

She went to the
refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of peach wine. “That was the principal at St.
Sebastian’s! I applied there a couple of weeks ago. She wants me to meet her tomorrow
afternoon. Their first grade teacher’s husband got transferred to Atlanta, and
they need someone to take her place right away.” She opened the cabinet doors,
searching. “Where are the wine glasses?” she muttered to herself and then
checked the dishwasher.

“That’s great.
You think you’re gonna get it?”

“It looks really
good, baby.
Really
good.” She grabbed a couple of plastic cups from the
cupboard and poured the wine, handing Noah a cup. “I’m only giving you a
little, okay? Don’t tell anyone.” She giggled and touched her cup to his.
“Bottoms up!”

After they
downed their cups, she said, “I really feel like things are looking up.”

He didn’t have
the heart to dash her hopes.

“We have to
protect her!”

“We will. I
think if we follow the trail of the grimoire—”

“Screw the damn
book! This is my mother we’re talking about!”

Miles maintained
his calm demeanor. “I’m doing everything I can.”

“Well it’s not
enough!” Noah punched the wall near the door frame, leaving a small dent. “It’s
not enough, Miles!”

The doorbell
rang. Noah looked like he wanted to say more. He and Miles just stood there in
the foyer, facing each other.

“I
will
help you
and
your mother,” assured Miles.

Noah shook his
head, too angry to even speak. The only words his frustration would allow were “It
can’t wait.” He swung open the front door and saw an elderly priest on the
other side. He brushed past him, not even saying hello.

The priest
looked at Miles with questioning eyes.

“Hello, Ben,”
said Miles.

Ben looked over
his shoulder at Noah, who walked briskly toward the Charger in the driveway. Ben
went inside the house, and Miles closed the door behind them.

Almost back at
the car, Noah stopped midway. He realized who the priest was. It must have been
the paladin Miles and Sister Alice talked about. He snuck back toward the house
and peeked in through the living room window. There was too much condensation
on the glass, but he could hear every word spoken.

***

Miles could tell
right away Ben’s smile was fake because it did not show in the old man’s deep
and tired eyes. What did show was pain and sorrow just behind the mask.

“Hello, Miles,”
he said in his raspy voice. For the all the years he had been a priest at St. John’s
in Lafayette, he had insisted on not using a microphone, instead using his
commanding voice that echoed to the last pew and even made fidgety and
squirming children pay attention.

Miles looked
concerned. “Please come in.” He led him to the living room where they sat on
the leather sofa near the fireplace.

Ben looked
around the vast room and at the collection of leather-bound books stacked on
shelves that covered a whole wall. He took in the grandeur of the fireplace
with the stone lion face embedded in the mantle. He leaned back on the
comfortable cushion and smiled that fake smile again. “I should come here more
often if you would permit me. Not that I don’t care for the rectory, but it
would be nice to pretend I made it big sometimes.

Miles smiled
uncomfortably. “Can I get you anything to drink?”

Ben started to
say no, but changed his mind. “Scotch, if you have it.”

While Miles
poured the scotch from the little bar on the other side of the room, he noticed
Ben held a rosary in his hand, and he saw his lips silently moving as if in
prayer.

Ben thanked him
when he returned with his drink, and then he finished it in three swallows. “Have
you been able to relocate the grimoire?”

Miles shook his
head. “Unfortunately. That’s not what brings you to New Orleans now, is it?”
Miles asked this knowing it couldn’t be good news.

“Cee Cee wanted
to call you, but I felt it best to tell you in person. She’s still in
Abbeville.” He looked at Miles with reluctant, sad eyes, and then he said,
“We’ve lost Mary.”

Miles blinked,
already in denial about what that could possibly mean. “You’ve lost her? You
don’t mean …”

“She’s gone,
Miles. She was killed in battle yesterday. I’m so very sorry.”

Miles still
could not grasp what he was hearing. But then it finally registered that Mary
was no longer on this Earth. “No,” he whispered. “Oh, no. Not Mary.” He looked
away, putting his hand over his mouth, grief-stricken. “What … what happened?
What happened to her?”

“A Dark Paladin
who turned. His name was Walter Savoy.”

Tears slipped
from Miles’ eyes. “Oh, dear God!” he said, staring at the dying embers in the
fire place.

“I’m sorry,
Miles. He was too tough for us. Clothilde is beside herself with grief. We all
are.”

Miles was quiet
for a very long time, his face buried in his hands. Ben had an arm around his
shoulder, and he wiped away a few tears as well. At last, Miles said “Leigh? Is
she … I can’t imagine what she must be feeling.”

“The news was
understandably hard on the little girl. Her brother, too. And Mary’s husband.
Clothilde spent the night at their house to help comfort the children. I don’t
know how she does it, facing so much grief herself. She’s a very tough woman.”

Miles nodded
sadly.

“Cee Cee saw it
happen. She saw her go down. She tried to help her, but it was too late. Clovis
and I tried to convince her that there was nothing she could do, but … you know
Cee Cee.”

“When is the
funeral?”

“Day after
tomorrow. Visiting hours start tomorrow morning. Rosary at six tomorrow
evening.”

“I think I’d
like to go tomorrow and be there for the rosary. I’ll stay in the background.”

Ben was quiet
for a while, letting the initial shock subside, and then he said, “I have to
tell you something else, Miles. It’s about this boy, the nephil you saved.”

Miles looked at
him. “Cee Cee told you?”

“Yes. I need to
tell you that I had a vision of him in the future, just a few years from now.”
He paused, not sure how to soften the news. “He’s going to walk the line, and possibly
turn to the Dark Side.”

Miles shook his
head. “No. I don’t believe that. This boy is good. I can see it in him. He is a
paladin. He has more of that force in him than Grigori blood.”

“I saw it,
Miles,” he said softly. “He’s going to do something to go against God’s rules,
and he will turn.”

“What will he
do? What do you see?”

He smiled sadly.
“I don’t know. I’m not as sharp as I used to be. Gettin’ old now, and I can’t
see as far as I used to. I hate myself for not seeing what would happen to
Mary.” He closed his eyes and took a weary breath. “It’s just bits and pieces,
just a small glimpse of what happens. I see him carrying a young woman’s body
and then him cutting his arm with a knife. There’s darkness all around the
vision. I see no light.”

“He’ll become a
dark paladin, then.”

Ben shook his
head. “Not just a line walker, Miles.
Darker
.”

They were both
quiet. The fire snapped and crackled. “I’ll take every precaution I can with
him,” said Miles. “And I’ll see you tomorrow at the funeral home.”

***

Noah turned away
from the window and went back to the car. Miles was leaving tomorrow. He just
had to keep his mother safe until he returned. Gadriel left the ball in his
court. There was time. He told himself there was time, and he would prepare.

Instead of going
home, he crossed the bridge into Algiers. He knocked on Ruby’s door. She opened
it, looked over her shoulder quickly and then stepped outside with him.

“What are you
doing here?” she whispered.

“Did I come at a
bad time?”

She peered into
the window that looked into the kitchen. “My daddy doesn’t like boys showing up
for me.”

“Sorry. I don’t
mean to make trouble for you.”

“Well, you’re
here now. What you want?” She smirked. “You back for more sugar?”

Noah rubbed the
back of his neck. “Uh, not that. No. I was wondering if you had another one of
those gris gris bags. But maybe something with a little more kick?”

She looked him
up and down. “Yeah, I think I can help you.”

“What is this?”
Nadia lifted the medallion that was around Noah’s neck.

“It’s a talisman.
It’s for protection.”

“Cee Cee gave
that to you?”

“Um … no.”

“Who, then?”

He wavered.
“Ruby.”

She let the
talisman fall back onto his chest and put space between them. “Oh. When did you
see her?”

“I went to her
house last night, and I’m now realizing how that sounds, but I really did need
some help.”

“Help for what?”

He hesitated
longer.

“Help for
what
?”
When he didn’t answer, she said, “You’re not going to go after him by
yourself.”

He stared at the
floor of his bedroom, knowing that no matter what he said, he wouldn’t be able
to convince her.

“If you want to
get yourself killed, then you go right ahead.” She walked out of his room,
slamming the door.

He heard the
phone ring from down stairs. By the time he got to it, he saw Nadia closing the
front door behind her.

“Hello?”

“Have you made
your decision?” His father’s voice chilled him. When he didn’t answer, Gadriel
continued: “I got tired of waiting, so I thought I’d speed up your decision.”

The next voice
he heard was his mother’s. “Don’t come after me, Noah!”

“Mom!”

“Don’t you think
a job interview was a little too convenient?” said Gadriel.

Noah punched the
wall with his fist, cracking the sheetrock. “Don’t you hurt her!”

“Go to the
pier.”

The phone
clicked.

Noah hung up and
ran outside to his car. Nadia was getting into a cab down the block, but she
stopped when she saw his car peel out of the driveway.

***

As soon as Noah
parked the Charger on the pier, Nadia’s cab pulled up beside him. She told the
driver to wait as she ran out. Noah got out of his car.

“Go back!” he
told her.

“What’s going
on?!”

Noah went around
to the driver of the cab, pulled out his wallet and gave the guy a
twenty-dollar bill. “Take her to St. Genevieve’s, across from City Park.”

“You got it.”

“No!” said
Nadia. “Not until you tell me what’s going on!”

Noah clinched
his jaw and pulled her aside. “He has my mom. That bastard has her!”

Her eyes
widened. “I’m sorry.”

“You need to go.
It’s not safe for you here. He threatened you, too, remember?”

“Noah …”

“Go, Nadia!”

“I …” She ran
her hand through his hair and caressed his cheek. Her other hand rested on his
chest.

He never felt so
close to anyone in his whole life. Her life force pulled him in.

The sun was
setting, and the world was gray with snow flurries and ice crystals that melted
on the pier.

She took a step
back and leaned against Noah’s car with her arms crossed, staring down at the disappearing
snow.

“You don’t
understand,” he said, his face drawn up in a scowl. “No one else can stop him.”

“What makes you
think
you
can?”

“I have these
abilities for a reason. I can take him down. I have to!”

After a tense
bit of silence from both of them, Nadia said, “I wish you would wait for Miles
to return.”

“Would you wait
if it was your mother?”

Her eyes sparked
with fire for a second but then softened. She cupped her hands to his face,
brought him closer to her, and kissed him softly at first then passionately, as
though it were the first and last time.

After, he held
her and watched the tiny snowflakes and ice crystals sparkle in her hair.
Neither knew how long they stood there holding each other, but both knew it
wasn’t long enough. She left in the cab, and Noah returned to his car as the
flurries grew heavier.

***

The sky was
black. The water of the Mississippi rippled with sleet. Other than the ice
patter, the
warehouse and pier were dead quiet with
not a soul about. Anchored near the dock were two large boats which cast their
enormous shadows onto the pier.
Nadia had left hours ago, and Noah
waited in his car as the tiny shadows of the sleet streaked down his windows and
danced across his face. He tried to prepare himself for what he would encounter.
The longer he waited, the steadier his anger and resolve grew, building up
inside of him, and he soon felt like a caged animal. He wondered if Gadriel
would ever arrive.

At last, he got
out of his car, turned his jacket collar up over his ears and walked to the
middle of the loading dock. “Come out and face me!” he yelled out into the night.

Something
stirred on the rooftop of a warehouse a little further down. Two silhouettes
stood erect, looking his way. They watched him for a moment.

“What are you
waiting for?!” he shouted to them. Black wings fanned out from their bodies,
and they flew across the river.

Noah waited. The
ice hitting the pier was the only sound he heard for several minutes. But then
he caught a scent in the air, something he recognized from the incident on the
bridge. The next sound he heard was the flapping of wings coming quickly toward
him. He jerked his head around in time to see Gadriel almost upon him, but the
angel stopped short, only a few feet away.

He wasted no
time. “Have you made your decision?”

“Fuck you.
That’s my decision.”

Gadriel shook
his head and smiled. Then he charged.

Noah jumped out
of the way and rolled. He rebounded quickly, and so did the angel. Gadriel
doubled back, landed on the pier and seized Noah, throwing him against the car.
Noah felt the rear passenger window crack against his back, and he groaned.

Gadriel rushed
at him, but Noah managed to get his legs up in time, and he pushed into the
angel’s gut, forcing him back and knocking him down. Noah jumped on top of him.
They rolled back and forth, each trying to overpower the other. Noah was able
to pin him for a second and then brought his fist up into the angel’s jaw.
Gadriel’s hands encased Noah’s head and began to squeeze.

Noah yelled in
agony and rolled off, holding his head.

Gadriel flew up
to the rooftop of the nearest warehouse and looked down at Noah and laughed. “You’re
as pathetic as your mother!”

This sent Noah
into a rage. He jumped up and charged the building, stopping short of hitting
the wall. He looked up at Gadriel, wanting him to descend even just a couple of
feet and then he could jump and bring him down.

“If you hadn’t
removed your wings you’d be able to reach me. Why you insist on being like
those humans I’ll never understand it! Maybe you have too much of a connection
to their world. Yes, I see it. The strongest connection is your mother.” He
grinned. “She can be removed. Or maybe I’ll just use her to make another one of
you.”

“You stay away
from her!”

Noah ran to the
alley between the warehouse and the next one over. He bounded onto the wall and
pivoted onto the other wall, pivoted off of that one, and reached the roof of
the opposite warehouse.

Gadriel watched
in amused interest as Noah took a running start and leaped onto the roof where
the angel hovered. Noah charged him, and the angel took flight, leading him
across the rooftops of four warehouses until they came to the last one.

Noah forced
himself to stop, slipping on the ice-slick roof, almost falling off as Gadriel
hovered far enough out of reach.

“I like the way
you fight! I think I’ll give you one more chance. But we’ll end it tonight. I
have your mother at Saint Louis Cathedral.” He smirked. “Your last chance if
you really want her back.” He flew off into the night, disappearing with the
shadows and the snow.

***

Noah parked down
the block from the cathedral. It was a quarter to 3:00, and the streets were
quiet and deserted. The homeless who usually camped out had found other shelter
to protect them from the accumulating ice and snow mixture. He scanned the sky
but saw nothing except the sleet hitting his face. He crept around to the back
and hid from a police car passing by.

When it was out
of sight, he scaled the wrought iron fence and landed on the other side,
skidding to a stop on the slick grass of St. Anthony Garden.

He saw movement
in the corner of his eye and looked up. Gadriel landed with Selena on the back
steps of the cathedral, standing in the enormous shadow of the Jesus statue
that darkened the doorstep of the church.

Noah bounded up
to the steps where the Watcher Angel held his mother captive. “Let her go!” he
demanded.

Gadriel smiled
wickedly. “Your last chance. Join us, and I’ll let her go.”

Selena’s eyes
pleaded with her son to not listen to him.

Noah thought it
over, wanting only to get his mother to safety, not caring about what happened
to himself. But while his mind raced, more than a few moments went by, and
Gadriel had had enough. He shot off the ground with Selena and crashed through
the window on the second floor. Noah got a running start and threw all of his
weight into the door, breaking it open.

He bounded up
the stairs and stopped short when he found himself on the balcony overlooking
the main floor of the church. Across the floor, on the opposite balcony, was
Gadriel, standing in front of the magnificent organ. Selena was not with him.

“Where is she?!”
Noah’s voice echoed throughout the cathedral.

“You should have
joined us!”

Noah sprinted
around the second floor toward the organ. By the time he made it to the organ,
Gadriel had flown toward the altar in the front. He hovered above the it,
staring at Noah, who was now in a position to see his mother’s body on the
altar, her chest pierced with a crucifix.

“Now,” said
Gadriel, “let’s see what you’re made of.”

Rage tore
through Noah. He leaped from the balcony and took off toward the altar. He
jumped onto a pew and pivoted into the air, latching onto a surprised Gadriel.
Noah tried to bring him down, but the angel was too strong. He flew up to the ceiling
as Noah clung to his throat.

They struggled
for a few moments. Gadriel flew toward the balcony, smashing Noah’s body up
against the railing. Noah cried out but did not let go. He wrapped his legs
around Gadriel’s and head-butted him, knocking the angel back some and causing
him to falter for a moment. Noah took this opportunity to remove his hands from
the neck and go for the wings. He reached around and yanked on each wing.

The angel roared
with agony, and they both fell toward the floor. Noah was prepared for it and
calculated the fall. He rolled off into the aisle as Gadriel crashed onto a
pew, his back breaking.

Noah went to the
nearest stained glass window, put his fist through it, and pulled out the
biggest shard of glass he could. His blood dripped down the sharp edges of his
makeshift dagger as he neared the fallen Gadriel. Standing over this immobile
creature who happened to be his father, Noah could only look with hatred into
its cold gray eyes.

It looked back
at him, at first with the shock of being defeated, and then a slight smile
crept upon its lips as Noah held the shard of purple glass above him. He plunged
the glassy blade as hard as he could into the heart of the winged man whose
eyes looked so much like his own.