Chapter Forty-Two
Echo
Three days had passed since New Year’s Day, and Seahill had not recovered.
The press had a field day with the news of Robert and Nathan, that their mission had been to destroy Seahill by pitting its residents against each other. While the riots and chaos had subsided, there was still a current of unrest in the streets. People were still scared but were swallowing it down, for now.
It was only a matter of time before people would revolt.
But we would be there. Everyone went back to their normal routine and protecting the people when they needed it. Asher worked at his bar at night and spent some of his days helping the Society out when he could.
I’d been temporarily put on paid leave until Seahill Police could figure out if having someone like me on the force was going to be a problem. Chief tried to fight the orders, especially after me bringing in Nathan, but the city council decided they needed to debate the subject.
So I’d been relaxing, which was weird. And unable to completely give up working on cases, I jumped back into the journal connected to Janie’s kidnapping.
Delphi had run into his archenemy, the favorite son and his companion. A man who had special gifts. Delphi had been living a boring life for the few weeks of his entries, until that moment. Jealousy and hatred flooded the words until the last journal entry.
Delphi murdered the companions of his brother without him discovering it was him. A silent killer in the night. His hope was that his brother would never find happiness and would fail at the job his parents had given him.
Part of him regretted killing those companions and the ones before them, but his hatred for his brother was stronger than the remorse.
It was a strange way to end the journal. I scrolled down to the final page and saw nothing at first, but then my eyes caught a small font at the bottom.
Chaos of the mind, my only solace from a hell created in paradise.
The words Nathan had said were his final gift to me, when he thought he was going to die. I couldn’t explain what the words meant in this scenario to Janie’s kidnapping. Besides the last page, there was nothing important about this journal, particularly nothing that was worth potentially killing a young woman. Especially since these murders had taken place centuries ago.
Wanting to talk to Janie about the book, I put on my clothes and left Asher’s apartment, heading toward the Hero Society.
AJ said she was in the kitchen, but when I checked, she wasn’t there.
Sounds from the medical room had me walking to the room next door. Maybe she was testing her knowledge about medical supplies.
I opened the door and stood there in confusion.
“Dr. Dorian?”
“Ms. Cross. I was just cleaning up.” He gave me a slight smile and went about moving items on the counter next to the exam table. His fingers toying with the blood samples Esme had taken from us so she could test our blood for abnormalities because of our powers.
“Phillip thought it would be wise to have another medical professional besides Esme to help with your Society,” he added, and that made sense.
“Sounds like a plan,” I agreed and then turned to leave, but then I remembered he had helped us a lot.
“Before I forget, thank you for helping with Amanda’s case. I’m sorry Nathan was affiliated with your hospital. He was a madman.” I knew the hospital was taking a hit for having a serial killer as their head psychologist.
Dorian shrugged and placed the samples into a small metal box.
“Chaos of the mind, my only solace from a hell created in paradise.”
My whole body stopped moving away and stood there, eyes wide at the man before me.
“I take it you finished that wretched journal, from your tense posture.” He turned and faced me with a look so at odds from the usual indifferent mask I’d become accustomed to.
“You?” I felt my heart hammering in my chest.
“I am Delphi, and my work is not done. I will not fail as I have before. His blood was the key all along. And thank you for getting rid of Nathan for me. Couldn’t have him killing off all of my potential recruits.” He smiled, which strangely made him seem devilishly handsome, in an evil villain sort of way. Then, in a flash of light, he was gone. Along with our blood samples.
I ran into the computer room, where no one was sitting. I hit a button that would call everyone here immediately.
Within ten minutes everyone was sitting in the chill room waiting for me to tell them what the emergency was. I stood and looked everyone in the eyes.
“The book Janie gave me led to your ultimate bad guy. His name is Delphi. He’d continuously hunted those his brother had cared for and killed them to stop the favored brother from succeeding in his in mission given to him by his parents. The journal was old, dating back to the fifteen hundreds, but I ran into Delphi tonight, and he isn’t done.” I looked straight at Draco, having figured out Dorian’s words before they all arrived.
“Dr. Dorian is Delphi, and he’s been stopping Draco from bringing heroes into the light since the beginning.”
Draco’s body froze, and everyone else’s shocked face turned toward his.
“How do you know?” His voice shook, and I knew he was connecting dots like I had.
“When Nathan thought he was going to die, he gave me a parting gift. A quote that I read in Delphi’s journal, and then Dorian said it out loud today. He was just in our medical room, and he stole the blood samples Esme had taken. He disappeared in a flash of light before I even knew what had happened.” I knew his flash of light departure would seal the deal with him being the bad guy they had been searching for, but nothing could have prepared them for the fact that he’d been hiding in plain sight. Hell, he had even helped us.
“I’m going to kill him.” Draco stood, shaking with rage.
“You can’t just kill Seahill’s chief physician of their world-renowned hospital. I want him gone too, but we can’t touch him right now, and he knows it.” Phillip got up and stood in Draco’s way. Draco stared down the man and then stormed off.
“He won’t do anything tonight, but this hits him hard,” Rose commented while staring at the door that Draco had passed through.
“So, what do we do now?” Leon asked, and Lilith leaned into his shoulder. Everyone felt what I was feeling: betrayal and self-doubt. Dorian had fooled us all, and we were reeling in that knowledge.
Phillip looked at everyone, and for the first time in his life, he had nothing to say. Mina looked like she wanted to comfort him but stayed sitting next to her brother, who was taking the intruder coming in without his knowledge just as hard as the reveal of the bad guy.
Asher was the one to open his mouth first.
“Everything will come to pass in due time. We can’t touch him, but we can prepare for what he has planned.”
I walked over and sat in his lap, kissing his lips quickly for knowing just what to say.
“He’s right. It’s what we always do. Just like the last time and the time before that. We keep fighting, we keep protecting mankind, and we ready ourselves for the upcoming battle of night. The shadows are now gone, and darkness is coming for us all.”
Rose gave us hope in her words, and I felt them seep into my soul. We would prepare, like she said, because she was right: night was coming.
Asher hugged me tight, and I knew that as long as we had each other in the starless future, we would spark and light up the darkness.
Because we were Heroes.
The End