Dust + Ashes, page 32
“HEY, BEN. WAKE UP.”
It was late on the second night. Benjamin opened his eyes from a troubled doze to see Ray above him with a flashlight.
“Something’s up,” the Blackwing said. “Daggett and Val want all hands on deck.”
Benjamin struggled out of bed with a grunt of acknowledgment and tried to shake the dream he’d just awakened from as he dressed. The dream had involved an empty tower besieged by wolves snapping at its gates. From the tower, he’d watched a lonely boat pass by on the nearby river, wishing he, the last guardian of this dying city, could get to it, to escape or to plea for its occupants to help, while the gates crashed down, and the wolves came howling for his blood. He summoned up his mantra—keep quiet, do the job—to dispel the residual hopelessness the vision had imprinted on his psyche and followed Ray to the office.
Inside, Tia, also looking bedraggled, sat at the computer. Daggett, Valerie, Becky, and Nhilven waited for them by the door. Several of the other Crows, including Fox and Cyndee, stood anxiously in the hall outside.
“There he is,” Daggett said. “Wake up, Benji. It’s time to put the beast down.”
“What’s he doing?” Benjamin asked, glancing at the video feed.
“He started calling for help a few minutes ago, really distraught. Now, he’s laughing himself silly, apparently,” Tia said. Onscreen, at the center of the salt circles, Eddie seemed to be having some sort of fit.
“That can’t be good,” Becky said. She squinted at the monitor. “It doesn’t look like any of the wards are broken.”
“No,” Daggett said. “But I don’t like it. We need to investigate.” He gestured to Ray and Nhilven. “Guns ready. Benji, I want you to follow up the rear and be ready to cast. The rest of you stay on high alert if we need backup.”
Benjamin nodded. As he passed the desk, following the others downstairs, Tia grabbed the back of his shirt.
“Hey,” she said. “Be careful. I got a bad feeling, so... don’t do anything dumb.”
“I’m not gonna do anything dumb,” he said. “As much as I’d love for him to give me an excuse to use one of these...”
He hefted his shotgun. She bit her lip, studying his face. “Just... be careful.”
“Come on, Ben,” Daggett called. He led them downstairs to the bunker and to the end of the hall. Even through the cement walls of the warded room, Benjamin could hear music blaring inside. But no laughter. Daggett opened the cell door and waved everyone in before glancing back at Valerie, who had followed to seal the doors after them, and nodding. They entered the room, and the door shut behind them with a deep clunk.
Eddie was rigid in the chair, head back and eyes closed. He appeared to be sleeping, save for the slight movements of his lips. For a fearful instant, Benjamin thought he was uttering a spell. Then, he realized the viel was just singing along with the music. As they took up their positions around the room, Eddie’s eyes fluttered open.
“Can you feel it?” he asked.
“You know the drill,” Daggett said. He nodded to Benjamin, who lit a bundle of sage and moved around the outer circle of the room, lighting the bowls of saining herbs at each of the four corners. The smoke stung his sinuses as he wafted it around.
The viel sneezed. “Do you really have to do that? It reeks.”
“What’s going on, Edmund?” Daggett asked. “What did you feel? And remember: No lying.”
He motioned toward Ray, who nodded.
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Eddie said. He studied them, from Daggett to Ray and—Benjamin tried to stay quiet, unremarkable, as those green eyes passed over him—to Nhilven. Had those eyes lingered just a little too long on him? “Speaking of dreams... I just had quite a doozy of one. Would you care to hear about it?”
The viel’s gaze drifted back and stopped on Benjamin. The young man froze, feeling a sudden creeping realization. His dream. The boat, the tower, and the dead city. Sarah had reached London. “Oh, come now, Benji boy. Don’t you want to know what I dreamed? You’re always so glum when you come down here. Lighten up a little, eh?”
“You killed my grandfather. I will not lighten up, monster.” The words lashed out of him before he could think. To his surprise, Eddie looked as if he’d been slapped. Then, his expression turned somber, almost guilty.
“Old Fie... yeah. He was a good man. Too bad it turned out the way it did.”
“You don’t get to say that!” Benjamin snapped. “Not after what you did—”
“What? Shook him like a ragdoll till his neck snapped?” The guilt evaporated, and Eddie sneered. “Yeah. I did that. And I might feel worse about it if it weren’t for the fact that he’d just SHOT ME IN THE FACE. TWICE.”
“SHUT UP. YOU’RE A MURDERER. YOU KILLED GRAMPS AND YOU KILLED MY MOTHER.” An uneasy silence met this outburst as the Crows and Ray stared at him. “Or just as bad: you had her killed.”
Eddie blinked. This time, he looked appalled rather than somber. “I killed poor Fie, and that was out of self-defense, but don’t you dare lay Morrigan’s death on me.”
“You killed her,” Benjamin said.
The viel bristled. “Hate to break it to ya, kid, but your mom was a klepto, reprobate addict, sad as that may be. She died of an overdose. And yeah, maybe they found her busted into a friend of mine’s house, but that doesn’t mean I had anything to do with it. More like she couldn’t handle whatever illicit substances her sticky fingers got a hold of mid-heist.”
“You killed her,” Benjamin repeated. “Say it. I want to hear it from your own mouth, monster.”
“Benjamin,” Daggett warned. “Remember what Tia said. Don’t do anything stupid. Let’s just find out what—”
Benjamin ignored his former mentor. He needed this. “Liar. You’re the reason she’s dead. You’re the reason I was an orphan.”
“Ben,” Ray said. “For what it’s worth, he’s telling the truth.”
“Don’t do that, Blackwing,” Daggett said, softly. “The boy doesn’t need to hear that. Doesn’t need any more complication in the matter.”
Eddie puffed up, indignant. “Yes, he does. I won’t have this one on me. I had absolutely nothing to do with Morrigan’s death. None of my people did. Why would I? She. Died. Of. An. Overdose.”
All the anger and pain that had been percolating inside Benjamin was reaching its detonation point. From his pocket, he drew out the locket he’d found in the office and brandished it at the viel. The silver felt charged in his hands, causing the hair on his arms to rise. “This was hers. She wasn’t an addict! She was clean. She got clean for me. And you took her away! Made it look like an overdose. Revenge, because she helped Lilian take Sarah away from you. She showed mercy to your daughter, and you took revenge.”
Beside him, Daggett made an uneasy sound. “Don’t do this, Benjamin. Don’t engage with the—”
“You’re deluded, Benjamin Nash,” Eddie said. “Fine. If it helps you sleep at night, blame every misfortune you’ve ever suffered in your life on me. Go right ahead. God knows I’ve earned it, but I liked your mom if only because she was one of Lily’s friends. I grieved when I heard she’d passed.”
“YOU DON’T GET TO SAY THAT!” The bubble burst. Before he could stop himself, his arm flashed out—to strike Eddie, a good, old fashioned right cross to the jaw, or maybe he was casting a spell, he wasn’t exactly sure—guided by the anger surging through him. Whatever he meant to do though, he was abruptly no longer in the warded room.
He was standing on a dock. Around him, the rotting hulls of seafaring vessels were sinking into a mire of sargassum. He recognized the skyline as London, but it was all wrong, the buildings melted and twisted, overcome by corruption. He gasped, taking in the perversion of it all.
“You okay, kid?”
Glancing back at the viel leader, he was surprised to see Marcus instead, his dark eyes narrowed in concern.
“Just focusing.” The words came from his mouth, but it was Sarah’s voice he heard. “So they know we’ve arrived. The Crows need to get ready. It’ll be over soon.”
As abruptly as the vision had manifested, it dissolved, and Benjamin was again looking at the captive viel. For a wild moment, Eddie’s eyes seemed to reflect Marcus’s, narrowed in the same look of concern. Then, they widened, and he grinned.
“Did you see that?” He had the young man’s fist caught in his hands and was on his feet, his restraints shredded. Startled, Benjamin looked down and saw the salt circles around them had scattered as if by an outward blast. Had he done that?
“Let go,” he said and tried pulling away. The viel tightened his grip. Crushing pain radiated through Benjamin’s hand. Eddie’s sharky grin widened. Daggett, Ray, and Nhilven moved in with their shotguns.
“Let him go, Edmund,” Daggett said. “And sit back down.”
Eddie glanced at the Crow leader. His eyebrow twitched, and as if with some effort, he gave the slightest bow of his head. His grip loosened, but just as he released Benjamin’s hand, a searing heat flared through the young man’s skin where the viel’s fingers touched him. Instead of burning, however, the affected skin seemed to brighten and take on a scaly, raised pattern. Benjamin screamed and jerked back.
“What did you do to him?” Daggett bellowed. “What just happened?”
“I didn’t do anything,” Eddie said. “But Sarah did.”
IN THE OFFICE, TIA stared at the computer screen. The camera was askew, jostled by some force that had blown out the wards, and the image was sideways, without sound, and half cut-off. Her heart felt about to pound through her ribcage.
“Something’s very wrong,” she said. She glanced back at Valerie and Becky, who was loading her shotgun. “Eddie’s out of his restraints. He’s got Ben.”
A distraught call came from the lobby. “Valerie? Are you here?”
It was Briz. Frowning, Valerie glanced between the computer screen and the door. “In here.”
The Blackwing PA ran in, and Tia felt an uncomfortable déjà vu. Her expression matched the one she’d worn the night Danny Blackwing had died. “We need you upstairs. It’s Melanie.”
“This isn’t a good time, Blackwing. What’s wrong with her?” the older woman asked. Briz shook her head.
“You’d just better come. It’s bad. A fit or something.”
Swearing, Valerie started after her. She paused in the doorway and jabbed a finger at the monitor. “Keep an eye on that, and, Tia, stay in this room.”
She hurried out.
Tia looked from Becky back to the video feed, fear clenching her throat. She swallowed as, onscreen, Benjamin jerked back. Even on the crooked, pixelated video feed, she could see ripples of light flowing under his skin, like the wild, bioluminescent display of a deep-sea organism. They pulsed brighter and brighter up his arms and glowed under his shirt. Beneath the fabric, the center of his back blazed brightest of all.
“What’s happening to him?” Tia asked in alarm.
“Forget Benji,” Becky said. “Look!”
Eddie was growing, but in jerks and starts, shaking his head and gripping the chair as if for support. His mouth moved to the lyrics of the music, stretching but not quite changing into a shark-toothed maw. He’s fighting it, Tia thought and reached over to crank the volume of the music in the room—anything to help. Wordlessly, Ray and Nhilven were yelling, probably warnings, brandishing their weapons at the viel. But, to Tia’s horror, Daggett was not with them. He had his gun aimed at Benjamin instead, a look of mingled rage and betrayal plain on his face.
There came a muffled BANG, and the video feed went dead. Becky swore again and raced for the stairwell door. Tia started after her, but the woman put up a hand to stop her. As she did, brilliant sparks burst all around her head, causing Tia to wince.
“Stay here,” she commanded. “But be ready to run if anything not human comes through this door.”
She slipped into the stairwell and was gone. Tia stared at the space the ex-cop had just vacated, letting the after images of the sparks fade from her vision. The air in the office felt suddenly thick, as if something immense had just drawn in an anticipatory breath and left not enough oxygen for the rest of them. Trembling, she took a steadying breath and picked up Valerie’s shotgun. Checking it, she planted herself beside the desk and got ready for whatever might emerge from the chaos below.
BENJAMIN EXISTED INSIDE a hurricane. Magic, both primordial and natural, lashed all around him. Sarah’s psychic shield had diminished enough to allow that vision, and with it a storm wall had fallen. In that storm, he’d grasped a fistful of lightning. He was ready to direct it, but it was so much, and there was still more to be had, so much more that could be his, was his, and he was so, so angry. He couldn’t hold on to it for long. He had to do something—force Eddie back down into his restraints. Punish him. Or end him all together so that he would no longer be a threat. Benjamin’s long-suppressed rage urged to just do it. And, oh, how he wanted to. He could, he thought, take all that flashing lightning and obliterate the monster that had been the root of so much of his pain. He’d been in such a position before, but back then the power had nearly torn him apart. Now... now he was stronger, more resilient, and his control of it was far more precise. He was power, and the enemy, his enemy, was right in front of him...
But as he glared at the beast, fixing all his magical Sight and focus on him, he Saw details that might otherwise have gone unnoticed. The stuttering growth spurts of the monster matched the pulses of power flashing just under his own skin. Eddie’s face was twisted with pain, not rage. He seemed stuck in the act of transforming, screaming along with the music (Liar by Queen, Benjamin noted, almost subconsciously) and gripping the chair’s armrests so that the metal rungs were crushed under his claw-like hands. It looked as if he were holding on for dear life. Holding back. Fighting it, Benjamin thought, like Tia said he would. Struggling, as Sarah had struggled.
With a gasp, he, too, struggled to release the lightning, the raging power, his anger. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t him. This wasn’t what his mother would do. Mercy. He had control, couldn’t give in to the cruel temptation, wouldn’t do something dumb. As he let go of his extra senses, he was dimly aware of Ray and Nhilven yelling for Eddie to sit back down.
“Benjamin...” Daggett’s graven tone demanded his attention, and Benjamin turned to see the bearded man gaping at him, a mixture of outrage and shock plastered on his shaggy face. His shotgun was aimed at Benjamin’s chest. “Oh, Benji. What did you do?”
“Wait,” Benjamin said, realizing what was about to happen. “Daggett, don’t—”
“Tarraing!”
The sucker-punch force slammed into him. He flew back and smashed into the wall of salt cubes. The whole room shuddered. In an instant, Daggett was on him, pressing his shotgun against his neck. “You little weasel...”
“Daggett, stop—” Benjamin choked. He tried to cry out a warning, but a feral intensity had entered Daggett’s expression as he singularly focused on the young man struggling beneath him. Behind him, Eddie bellowed. Simultaneously, Benjamin felt the thundering of the Greater’s presence stronger in his mind, battering down Sarah’s shield. The room had lost most of its mystical insulation.
Going full viel, Eddie swung a massive arm at Nhilven and Ray. The two men fired their weapons, and Benjamin winced at the deafening twin blasts. Hot rock salt grazed his cheek as fragments ricocheted off the wall above him. Daggett screamed in pain, reflexively squeezing the trigger of his own shotgun. It went off just beside Benjamin’s head before slipping from the bearded man’s grasp. Benjamin screamed, soundlessly, deafened, and looked around. The room was half-demolished. Ray and Nhilven were both down, crumpled against the opposite wall, their weapons knocked away.
His bones rattled as he felt more than heard—though he could hear something as loud as the grinding of a massive metal slab even over the ringing in his ears—Eddie peel the heavy, steel door from its frame. He turned in time to see the viel drop it aside and reel back, catching another volley of rock salt in the face from whoever was standing guard in the hall. The monster threw back his head and charged forward, disappearing from view. Get up, Benjamin willed himself. Stop him—
No. Stay down, lad. Stay still.
The command sizzled in his mind, a white-hot brand on his frontal lobe, and a looming horror dawned on him at the implication of it. The Greater. Sarah’s shield had failed. He couldn’t move. He had to obey that voice.
Someone grabbed his leg and pulled him roughly down. Daggett appeared, leaning over him, a scattershot wound in his shoulder bleeding through his flannel shirt. His muddy eyes flared with a familiar rage, glistening with angry tears. Benjamin saw himself reflected in those eyes, laying rigid on the salt-strewn floor. He saw his own eyes staring back at him, wide and terrified and so full of rage.
Daggett removed something from his pocket—a vial of valerian solution—and, reaching down, he grabbed Benjamin under the jaw and tilted the young man’s head toward him, forcing open his mouth. He spoke, almost inaudible over the ringing in Benjamin’s ears, and shook his head.
“I never thought I’d ever be more disappointed in one of my students or myself than when I discovered your mother experimenting with arcane drug and sex rituals. She so wanted to rediscover the Crows’ stolen power, and I allowed it because I wanted that, too. But here I am. And I won’t allow this. Not this. Not with you.”
Benjamin gagged as he tasted the pungent liquid pouring into his mouth. He bucked, throwing Daggett off so that the older man skidded backward across the floor, startled by his strength. Benjamin started to his feet but felt suddenly sluggish. His vision swam. It was hard to think. “Daggett, I can explain... it had to be done...”
Even as he fell, his legs turning to jelly, a terrible, uninvited cognizance budded in his mind as Daggett crawled back over him, pluck the locket from his hands, and gaze down at it at him.
And Benjamin saw his own eyes.
