Eddie Lancaster Box Set 2, page 65
part #4 of Eddie Lancaster Series
‘Why? Tell me more.’ I grabbed one of the chairs and sat directly in front of him, looking into his eyes imploringly. If somebody wanted me dead the least they could do was explain why fully. ‘Wait. Were you the one manipulating Stephen and that sorcerer who lied to get me captured?’ The pieces snapped together in my mind. This sorry excuse for a werewolf was the mastermind behind my imprisonment in that bloody compound. Or, his people were at least.
He nodded. ‘We thought that we could detain you until your threat expired. Clearly, that didn’t work out.’
‘What threat?’ I was getting agitated by his lack of information. Would telling me his reasoning really affect things that much?
He chewed on his bottom lip, thinking about whether or not to tell me. His face twisted with indecision and then he nodded. ‘I’ll only tell you. Not her.’ He jerked his head rudely at Shirley.
‘This is my home and you are my prisoner. I’m not going anywhere,’ she told him firmly. She didn’t need to tell me because I would never have been daring enough to suggest that she leave the room.
‘I won’t say it in front of her,’ he said adamantly. It was all the power he had left, I respected him trying to maintain some kind of dignity. It was his only remaining card and he was really holding on to it.
‘Whisper it to me?’ I suggested. He considered for a second and then nodded.
I scooted my chair close and brought my ear to his lips. I know, stupid mistake. Never put your face close to a caged animal. He emitted a low snarl and then sharp teeth dug into my neck. I screamed like a child. The pain was literally unimaginable. I’d been bitten by a vampire before but that was nothing compared to the choppers on this werewolf. It felt like a hundred pins of acid had been pricked into my skin.
I acted instinctively. I whipped up my hand and slammed a magical attack into his chest. He yelped as my spell flung him off me. As he flew back I did too.
‘No!’ Shirley shouted angrily and strode forwards.
The werewolf’s chair toppled over and he plonked right off it doing a backward roly-poly before landing on his back. Smoke rose from the burning crater in his chest and the room filled with the stench of rotten eggs and burned chicken. I wasn’t sure why. I’d never burned a werewolf before.
I knelt on the floor staring stupidly at my handiwork. I shifted my gaze up to Shirley who was glaring murderously at me, her hands on her hips.
‘You bloody great nincompoop,’ she said scathingly. It was hard to take her anger seriously when she used words like nincompoop. I struggled to stifle a laugh. The pain in my neck helped. I pressed my hand to the wound and fresh blood came away.
‘Sorry, I acted on instinct! He was tearing a chunk out of my bloody neck!’
‘Why did you get so close? You idiot. He was my only way to find Katelyn.’ She looked down at the corpse with regret. I looked away, feeling a bit bad. I hadn’t meant to kill him but I had all the same and now she was going to have to start looking for Katelyn again. If whoever the werewolf worked for didn’t kill her in retaliation.
‘I’m sorry,’ I mumbled again. ‘I got bit by a bloody werewolf.’ I was glad he hadn’t been in wolf form otherwise I would be having a very uncomfortable full moon experience and I was pretty sure the full moon was tomorrow night which meant there was a very good chance I’d still be alive for it. I climbed to my feet and stood uselessly looking at Shirley, waiting for my telling off to continue.
‘It’s not the full moon. It won’t do you any harm,’ she said dismissively. She crossed the room and lowered herself into her armchair. She sat staring at the body ponderously.
I must’ve apologised about a hundred times on the walk out of the school. Shirley accepted each apologise I gave her and told me not to fret about it too much. She also told me not to expect an invite to her next interrogation. Before leaving, I promised to do everything I could to bring Katelyn home. She didn’t look convinced but she thanked me all the same.
By the time I got back to Maidstone, the wound on my neck had grown unbearable. The prickling had turned into a full burn and the side of my neck had swollen aggressively. I was sweating like a bodybuilder as I walked towards Lydia’s house. I was starting to worry that I had somehow been infected with the werewolf gene. That was all I needed. Spending my last day on all fours roaming the town like a beast. But werewolf bites didn’t do anything without a full moon. It was a fact. Unchangeable.
I realised the truth too late. Rachel used to do little experiments on the creatures she captured. Werewolves had venom glands like snakes do. When they bite a person on the full moon the venom travels through their teeth into the wound. The rest of the month the venom sacks are empty, they don’t produce venom until the night of the full moon. Rachel found that she could inject whatever she wanted into the venom sacks and if the werewolf bit someone, even in their human form, the agent would be carried through the teeth and into the wound.
Whoever that werewolf was working for had known there was a possibility Shirley would call me rather than killing me and they’d prepared for it. The werewolf had poisoned me. No matter what Shirley did they’d planned for me to die.
Clever shits, was the last thing I thought before the poison hit my heart and I died for the third time.
Chapter Thirty
I woke up in the same waiting room that I was starting to become quite familiar with. It really could do with a fresh coat of paint or something to smarten it up a bit. It was far too similar to a rundown doctor’s surgery. If I was lord of the Dead Realm then I would want the entrance to my domain to look a little more snazzy than this place. Not that I was ever going to tell Lucifer that. That guy had a nasty old temper problem.
I was called through to one of the offices where Malek was standing waiting for me. His small, angular face was snarling with rage.
‘Tell me, Lancaster, how exactly did you survive for twenty-seven years without getting killed when you cannot even last a single day after being resurrected?’ he demanded.
‘Well, in my defence—’
He held up his hand to cut me off and my voice cut out abruptly. I hadn’t planned on falling silent but he literally stole the sound from my throat. I abandoned my attempts at a defence and waited for him to continue his lecture. ‘Lydia has informed me that you’ve made little to no progress so far. Each step you take seems to complicate things further for yourself and those you associate with. Tell me how I can press upon you the importance of this task?’
I hadn’t been in a school for a long, long time, and I had a hard time taking lectures like this one from the teachers back then. Adulthood had not made things any easier for me. I stood in the dingy office with my hands balled into fists. I was glaring at Malek coldly enough to turn him to ice. It took more restraint than I knew I had to stop myself from laying into him. His mouth twisted into a sneer at the sight of my subdued annoyance.
That was all it took.
‘You’re the one who doesn’t understand how important this is!’ I shouted, breaking through whatever spell he had over my voice. The smirk fell from his face like dead leaves in winter on a windy day. ‘I’m doing everything I can to find this fucking dagger whilst you do nothing but fucking criticise me. I mean, you’re a fucking angel! Surely you can do something to help locate this dagger. You lot put me up to this in the first place and yet you’ve done nothing to help me whatsoever!’
I finished my rant with an aggressive sigh. As soon as the silence fell over the room I regretted opening the floodgates on Malek. He could just revoke the deal and send me off to be judged right now. He could torture me here in this very room. He could probably do anything he wanted and I could do nothing. He was an angel and I was a human. A dead human. He had all the power and I had none.
‘Nothing,’ he said in a cold whisper. I felt a chill emanating from him, creeping over the whole room. An icy tingle ran down my spine. ‘Nothing.’ He was saying the word slowly, carefully, as if he’d only just learned it and was trying to get a feel for it. ‘You think I’ve done nothing? I resurrected you. Twice. I sent my own daughter to aid you. I have ensured that the necromancers, whom you upset, will leave you alone for the remainder of your time in the Living Realm. So, Edward Lancaster, please tell me how I have done nothing to help you?’
I wanted so badly to ask him about the necromancers and how he had managed to get them to leave me alone. What did he have over them? How did they know him? But I couldn’t. I was getting a telling off and interrogating him would only piss him off further. Especially because it wasn’t exactly salient to the task he’d set me. One thing was clear now though, the necromancers weren’t on the run from him.
‘Surely you must have some inkling as to where it is, though?’ I said sheepishly. I kept my gaze low, avoiding eye contact. I could feel the arctic stare he was giving me and knew that looking would only make things worse.
‘When would I have acquired such knowledge? I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I am in a separate realm to the Ambrotos Dagger.’
‘Good point,’ I mumbled.
‘Next time you come here you’re staying here,’ he shot the words at me like arrows and then strode for the door.
We went back to the portal room. It was exactly the same as I remembered it. Clean white walls, sentries along the sides and a giant translucent window. Only this time there was somebody else here.
A white-haired woman turned from the window to see who had interrupted whatever she’d been doing.
“Malek,’ she said with surprise. She turned fully to face us. ‘I didn’t realise you needed the room.’ There was judgement lurking beneath her words.
‘I wasn’t planning on using it, Alarya. This one is a fan of the surprise death.’ He waved his hand gracefully my way. Alarya turned her disapproving gaze my way and pursed her lips.
‘I’ve heard you’ve been using the gateway rather frequently of late. You do know that only Lucifer can allow a soul to return to the Living Realm?’
‘Of course, I know that,’ Malek snapped at her. ‘I am Lucifer’s lieutenant. I act out his will. I do not send back anybody he has not instructed me to. Not that I need to explain myself to you.’
He stepped to the side and motioned his hand swiftly towards the door. Alarya got the message.
‘Hmph,’ she said and then strode past us, chin held high. Clearly, Malek was good at rubbing angels up the wrong way too.
Malek turned my way and his features softened slightly. ‘Since you are so lost as to what to do next I shall give you the pointer you so desperately require. There is a man called the Heavenly clerk. If anybody is likely to know the whereabouts of the Ambrotos Dagger then it is he. Ask Lydia to take you to his doorway. She will be unable to visit him with you but she can show you the way.’
Before I had a chance to even think about asking a question Malek grabbed my shoulder and flung me back through the barrier.
Angels are rude.
Chapter Thirty-One
I woke up on Lydia’s sofa. I didn’t know how I got there but I was glad to be there and not out on the street where I’d died.
‘Look who’s back,’ Lydia said. I looked over and saw her sitting in the armchair. She had her trademark bored expression on her face but I could see a tiny smile underneath it. She was happy to see me. Probably just because it meant she hadn’t failed.
‘Your dad is pissed with me,’ I said groggily as I pulled myself into a sitting position.
‘Pissed is his default setting,’ she said. ‘He’ll be pissed with me too for letting you die. Again. From now on you don’t leave my sight.’
Zeke came into the room and snorted when he saw I was alive again. This was my third resurrection in a couple of days, I think I deserved more than a snort. Hell, even Jesus only did it once.
‘Want to tell us how you died?’ He chose not to sit next to me and instead sat on the floor in front of the electric fireplace. I pretended not to be offended and told them all about the poisonous werewolf. I didn’t linger on the topic because Malek had made a good point. I was getting distracted by other matters. Matters that would not mean a thing to me after I died. The only concern I had was ensuring that I did not endure an eternity of torment. Everything else could wait. Once I had the dagger in my possession I could help Shirley and get Zeke’s ring back.
‘I’ve never heard of a Heavenly clerk. Sounds like nonsense to me,’ Zeke said.
‘Malek would hardly make something up,’ I replied, giving him a derisive look. It was nice to throw one his way for once, he was usually doing it to me.
‘The Heavenly clerk is a being employed by Heaven,’ Lydia explained.
‘Another angel?’ I asked. She shook her head.
‘No. They choose someone who is already in this realm. It could be any being, though. Their job is to record as much as possible about what’s going on in the supernatural community.’
‘You’re telling me there is a person who just sits there recording history?’ I said in disbelief.
‘Not just one. They have one in each country. The clerks have agents who gather the info for them.’
‘Why is Heaven only interested in the supernatural?’ asked Zeke. The question was on my mind too.
‘I don’t know. They’re pretty secretive in Heaven about their motives. God works in mysterious ways and all that. Malek believes they keep an eye on the supernatural in case Lucifer has some secret plan with those in the Living Realm. Those in Heaven believe that when he finally attacks Heaven he will do so from this realm rather than his own.’
‘Fascinating. So where is this historian?’ Heavenly Historian would actually sound better. It had alliteration and everything. Maybe if I ever met an angel of Heaven I’d make the suggestion.
‘I’m not sure about that. The actual location is like a pocket realm in a place between the other realms. There are several entrances. I only know of the one in Ashford.’
‘Malek said you wouldn’t be able to come with us?’ I said. Had she pissed off the historian and got herself barred?
‘I’m descended from an exiled angel. The exiles, their offspring, and any race created by them are forbidden from entering the chambers of the clerk. We can’t even see the entrances.’ She said it as if it was a ridiculous rule. Personally, I thought it was bloody good not to let your potential enemy have a look at all your records.
‘How are you going to show us the door then?’ Zeke asked.
‘I know where it is. I just can’t see it. I’ve been told it’s there.’
‘Let’s get going then,’ I said urgently. I really was running out of time. I looked at my arm and saw that the hourglass was almost down to a third. I had barely more than a day, if that, before my time was up.
It turned out the doorway was inside a building currently occupied by an optician. We were just heading for Lydia’s front door when the letterbox opened and a small pink card flapped through. It floated down to the floor neatly where Lydia snatched it up. Her saucer-like eyes wandered over the text and her mouth tightened with chagrin. She looked up at me nervously and then thrust her arm out, offering the card to me.
‘What?’ I asked. I was reluctant to take the card. I didn’t want to see whatever it was that was going to ruin the plan. I needed to go to the clerk and that card was definitely going to sidetrack me. I didn’t have time for distractions. She wasn’t going to let me ignore it though so I snatched the card from her grip and absorbed the words written in neat calligraphy. The words forced my heart to sink faster than the Titanic had.
Dear Eddie Lancaster,
I hope this finds you well. Since you have surpassed our numerous attempts to halt your world-threatening schemes we have had to take drastic steps. We have Katelyn Demelza in our custody and now we have added Gabriel Westford to our collection. I can assure you that both are being treated with the utmost respect and dignity, however, if you do not attend a meeting at Power Hub Business Centre, then we will have no choice but to end their lives. Please attend no later than 4 pm.
Sincerely.
Julia Saffron
PSWCEPA
I handed the card to Zeke in silence. I was too stunned to know what to say to that. Gabe was back and had been captured probably without the faintest clue as to why. He didn’t even know I was alive. Unless they’d told him. The note said he was being treated well so surely they’d explained why he’d been taken. Then again the note could be lying.
I pulled out my phone and glanced at the time. 3 pm. Where had the time gone? I wanted to ignore the card. I wanted so badly to pretend I hadn’t seen it and just go and find the dagger. If we’d left the house just a minute sooner I would never have seen the card. But then Gabe and Katelyn would have been killed when I failed to attend. I couldn’t live with that on my conscience. It would eat me alive for eternity. It would be worse torture than anything Lucifer or Malek could come up with.
I let out the longest sigh of my life and then I told Zeke to take us to the Power Hub Business Centre. We had people to rescue.
‘Who is this Gabe?’ Zeke asked on the drive to Power Hub. He was concentrating on the road but his brow was furrowed with interest. ‘Judging from the way you looked at that letter I’d say he’s pretty important to you. There was definitely love in your eyes.’
I turned his way and scrutinised his expression, looking for signs that I was being mocked. It was the sort of juvenile mockery you got from people who think if one man loves another it must be gay. They can’t get their heads around the idea of other kinds of love. It was odd considering even those juvenile morons must have people of the same gender in their lives that they loved in a non-sexual way. I couldn’t see any mockery on Zeke’s expression, he was just curious about who Gabe was and how we’d come to be so close.
‘He helped me keep things in order. He was my right-hand man and he was bloody good at it.’ I thought of Malek being Lucifer’s right-hand man and how he didn’t seem to be very good at the job at all. I got the impression that Malek wanted me to fail which was not what Lucifer wanted. Then again, Lucifer didn’t really deserve a good right-hand man. He had been the right-hand to God, or whoever Lucifer said he was, and Lucifer had betrayed him. What goes around comes around.
