CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
‡
Thomas was only partly sensible. Morgan rocked on his body as she brought herself to orgasm against his cock again and again, careful not to allow him to fully penetrate her. He didn’t know how many times she had cut him, but the Cup near his head was full and overflowing, and the slab beneath him was slippery with his blood. He had to hold out. The glow of the Talisman cases behind them and the smoky air from the torches made his senses swim. The chanting and the eerie music filled the echoing space. Was it time to start his fire? He hoped he had the strength to summon it. Jason and Duncan now stood by the elevator together, hooded. Jason was be positioned to escape if Thomas prevailed.
If he concentrated, he could feel Tammy. “Don’t come closer,” he muttered. Any closer and they might find her. What was she doing here? Morgan screamed and shuddered in orgasm above him and the rocking stopped for a moment. She drooped, then straightened.
“Open the doors,” she shouted.
Above him, the hangar’s ceiling creaked, then parted. The chanting became more urgent, the music louder. Black sky appeared and there, directly overhead, was the comet, and smaller around it the four stars of Ursus Major. It had passed through the bowl or body of the bear and was moments away from making a perfect Pentangle. Was he too late?
The slab beneath him jolted. At his head, the Cup sloshed more blood onto the slab. He thought for a moment that Morgan had stabbed him. The chanting faltered and stopped.
“What was that?” Morgan screamed. She whipped her head around, her chest still heaving. “Tremaines,” she hissed.
No! Were they attacking? They’d be killed and Tammy must be with them.
He turned his head, searching for Jason in the flickering shadows. Jason nodded at him in encouragement. He was saying it was time.
The elevator doors burst open. “There’s something out there.” It was the young man with the long greasy hair who could turn things to rust.
Thomas saw Jason go still for just a moment, and then breathe out and settle.
“Get down there, Rusty. That was some kind of artillery. Take it out.”
“I’ll go with him,” Jason called.
Another hit rocked the room. Jason nodded once, whether to Thomas or Morgan, Thomas wasn’t sure. Then he was gone.
Thomas glanced to the sky as he felt inside for his fire. It was but a glowing coal. He mustered his wits. No time for weakness now when Tammy’s life was at stake. Burn! he commanded. He stuffed all the concentration he had into fanning that flame. It built inside his stomach, in his loins, like the coals of the blacksmith at the monastery when Thomas worked the bellows for him. Burn! The pressure in his core made him feel like he was about to burst. But he held back the pressure, let it build and build.
Above him, he heard Morgan say, “How did they find us if we were Cloaked?”
Then her yellow eyes turned down to Thomas. Her eyebrows raised. Her eyes grew even harder. “They tracked you, didn’t they? The only way they could. You have a mate, you fucking traitor.” She glanced to the Cup. “Which means your blood isn’t as powerful as I thought.” She rolled her head up to look at the fast-forming Pentacle. “No matter.” She raised herself and pulled his penis up, then lowered herself in one motion until she was fully seated on him. “Blood and death and orgasm, all in one, will have to do.” She held her knife high.
Thomas readied himself. She was waiting only for the moment the Pentacle formed. She began chanting again and the others took that as their cue and joined her. She was staring up. It must be close. He let his fire go.
*
In the sites of Michael’s gun, the metal façade of the Clan compound suddenly appeared.
“Cloak’s down,” Senior yelled. The tank lurched forward toward the massive sheer wall of metal, rust-colored to match the surrounding terrain. There were two smoking holes, high and to the right of what looked like doors twenty feet tall.
Michael adjusted his range and his angle, and let another round go, straight at the doors.
A squeak sounded from Kee below as the tank lurched over a bolder at the moment he fired. Michael glanced down. She’d been thrown from her seat. She was getting up, but there was a good-sized cut on her scalp that was going to bleed like crazy.
“You okay, honey?” a worried Senior called.
“Fine, Daddy. Just keep going.”
But that meant their camouflage was likely gone. Didn’t matter. His last shot had hit the doors directly. They bowed inward. Michael took aim again.
That’s when he saw a gangly guy crawl through the hole in the doors. Didn’t he see the tank bearing down on him? The guy held out a hand. Michael gritted his teeth. He didn’t like to mow down a single man with a tank shell. But he didn’t like that extended hand. Beside him, Kemble had taken up the machine gun controls and sprayed bullets across the doors. The tracers…disappeared. Kemble pulled the trigger again. Nothing happened. Malfunction? He flipped the switch and pushed down the release pedal on the big gun. Nothing.
“What the…?” he heard Senior called, puzzled.
Then Michael saw what he meant. The gun turret was…was dissolving around him. The whole thing was collapsing into…into flakes of rust, it looked like.
“Bail, everybody!” Senior shouted.
Tris jumped out the top hatch. Michael pushed Kemble up toward it. By the time Kemble got there, the turret was gone. Kemble just flung himself off of what was fast becoming a disappearing tank. Michael glanced down to see Senior had grabbed Kee and was shoving her up. He pulled Kee up past him, but now they were standing on an open platform.
“Jump, Kee,” Michael commanded and then he didn’t wait but just grabbed her and took her with him. They hit the ground, Michael taking the brunt of the impact. Michael pushed her off him unceremoniously. “Run for those rocks!” he yelled, pointing. He lunged back to what was left of the tank and dragged Senior out of a cloud of metal dust being carried off in the breeze. They ran.
Michael felt the zipper on his jeans pop. The gun in his hand dissolved and blew away. Shit! What kind of power was this? He and Senior dove for the rocks. Apparently, the rocks shielded them from whatever was dissolving metal. Tris still had his watch, though Michael’s was gone. His wedding ring too. Senior’s belt buckle had dissolved, leaving his belt hanging. Michael looked down to examine himself. Even the metal grommets in his boots were gone.
“What the fuck was that?” Tris asked.
Senior was feeling around in his mouth. “A power we haven’t encountered. I think I lost some fillings that were the old, metal kind. Everybody okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Fine.”
Senior took out a pocket handkerchief. Of course he’d have a handkerchief. He applied pressure to Kee’s scalp wound. Blood had soiled the shoulder of her artful camo shirt. Kemble peered around the edge of their rock pile.
“What’s going on?” Marrec growled in his ear from the mesa above them.
“Some guy who can rust metal just dissolved our tank,” Michael said.
“What do we do now?”
“Just hang on. We’re not dead yet,” Kemble muttered. Unfortunate turn of phrase.
“A hangar just appeared in front of us, open to the sky. Tammy says Thomas is there.”
“Is he still alive?” Michael asked, dreading the answer.
“Yes,” Marrec said, his tinny voice through the earpiece sounding grim. “But hurry.”
“Don’t do anything until we can get the security systems down.”
“Tammy!” Marrec shouted.
That was predictable. If they were torturing Thomas, Tammy wasn’t going to wait.
Kemble whirled. “Security’s down.”
“Marrec,” Michael hissed. “Go after her.”
“You disabled it?” Tris asked Kemble, incredulous.
“Didn’t you see the access panel to the right of the doors?”
That would be enough for Kemble to get in, these days. His power had really come along.
“I just changed the code in the master panel, so the whole place is open.”
“Marrec’s on the way in,” Michael said. “We’ll meet in the hangar,” he said to Marrec.
“We…we don’t have any weapons,” Kee said in a small voice.
“Yeah, there’s the small matter of Rust Boy.”
“I’ve still got my gun,” Tris said. “I was first to the rocks.” He moved to the edge of the rocks. “It should be Maggie here. She’s a better shot than I am.” But when he got there, he lowered his gun.
“Hurry,” Senior said.
“No need,” Tris said. “That guy just took Rust Boy out. He’s waving us in.”
Michael peered out. The guy at the door put his hood back. It was Morgan’s right hand man, Jason. Would wonders never cease?
“Do we trust him?” Kemble asked.
“It’s a risk. But it looks to me like Morgan has made a few enemies in her own ranks.”
They came out from behind the rocks, Senior taking Kee’s hand as they broke into a run. “And then there’s the fact that we have so little choice,” Senior said.
*
Tammy didn’t have to see through Edgar’s eyes to feel Thomas’s pain and desperation. She darted across the open ground to the yawning maw of the hangar doors. She didn’t care if the security wasn’t off. Maybe if the Clan were all involved in the ceremony, they wouldn’t be paying attention anyway. It didn’t matter. She couldn’t stand by and let them kill Thomas. The sound of chanting and weird music rose from the pit, along with…fire. She peered down into the chaos. Luc came running up behind her and grabbed her arm before she could see Thomas.
“Over here,” he said, pointing to a trap door, like a cellar door or something. As they watched, it clicked open.
Thank you, Kemble. She scrambled over to it. Luc pulled it open as the others came running up. Dev and Lan each had one of Jane’s arms. Jane was looking gray but determined.
And then they felt it.
As one, they looked up. It seemed as though there was a flash of light, though Tammy couldn’t tell for certain. The comet formed the Pentacle with the Big Dipper. If you drew five lines between the stars and the comet, it would make a perfect star. Power seemed to cascade out of the air. Shouts from the abyss of the hanger cried, “It’s formed!”
“Time to go, mes petits,” Luc murmured as he plunged into the dark stairwell. Tammy lunged behind him.
“Remember,” her mother called. “Together. If we get in trouble, band together.”
If they got in trouble? Thomas was already in trouble. Tammy could feel it in her bones and her belly. They clattered down the metal stairs. There was no time for stealth.
At the bottom of the second flight, Luc continued down. “No,” Tammy hissed. “Thomas is through here.” She put her hand flat on the wall. It was hot from the flames.
Luc took the steps back up two at a time and grabbed the door. The others piled up on the stairs above Tammy. She knew Luc could feel the heat. “Back,” he said. “When I open the door, the flames may rush in.”
“Not with the hangar doors open,” Lan shouted down.
“I’m ready to call water,” Dev said. He didn’t know water didn’t work on Thomas’s fire.
Luc took a breath. All this magic stuff was still new. But he jerked open the door.
The hangar was a vision of hell from this angle. Clan members rushed everywhere. One had the hangar fire hose and was trying to put out the flames. Doing nothing, of course. Tammy peered through the fire and the melee and the smoke. There was only one thing she wanted to see. Talismans stood in their glowing cases, though one appeared empty. Power hummed in the air. And beyond was the huge stone altar. Morgan sat naked, astride an equally naked Thomas. He was covered in blood. Morgan held a wicked-looking knife aloft. Tammy darted forward, pushing robed figures out of the way. Luc begin firing behind her.
Morgan chanted something Celtic-sounding and the words rang out with an echo of power that gave them an unearthly resonance. And then the knife came down.
“No!” Tammy yelled. “Thomas!”
His body convulsed around the knife in his belly as Morgan continued her resonant incantation. But he turned his head toward Tammy. His lips formed the words “Tammy, no,” though she couldn’t hear them. Morgan hadn’t stopped grinding herself on top of Thomas. She held up what Tammy recognized as the Chalice.
Suddenly, Tammy collapsed to her knees in pain. A tall, robed figure had turned. Hardwick pointed at her. It began to rain inside the hangar. Rhiannon was trying to put the fire out. It wouldn’t work, unless Thomas couldn’t hold it. Unless he was…Tammy doubled over. She couldn’t see the others, except Luc, who had come up beside her. The hand that held the gun began to rot before her very eyes as he grunted in pain. Somebody in the Clan could cause rot? Behind her, Jane or Greta screamed.
“Together!” Mom shouted. Her mom took Luc’s rotted hand, and grabbed for hers. Maggie took Tammy’s other hand.
“Don’t use your powers,” Mom yelled. “Just think about protecting each other.”
Struggling for breath, Tammy saw Lan and Greta race forward. Lan grabbed Maggie’s hand. Tammy began to feel power flowing through her, just like when Michael helped her see through Edgar’s eyes, only stronger. Way stronger. Drew joined the line and then Dev. Dev brought Jane in. Jane was sweating and obviously in pain, but her mouth was set and grim. The others lunged in to grab hands.
Power seemed to slosh over them, filling their circle and splashing outside. A blue glow slowly enveloped them and pulsed. Were they drawing on the power of the Pentacle too? She had no idea they could do something like that. Outside their circle was chaos. Clan members had fire extinguishers, as though they could stop Thomas’s fire. What appeared to be soldiers in full gear hunkered down to attack. Morgan was silhouetted over Thomas, the Chalice raised high as she stared up at the sky, rain pattering down on her.
Robed Clan members and soldiers exclaimed as the circle of blue widened and seemed to harden. Tammy’s pain eased. She straightened. Hardwick’s evil eyes widened in surprise that his power had been neutralized. Bullets from the soldier’s guns bounced away harmlessly. Marrec stared at his hand in wonder as the rot that had been crawling up his arm began to recede.
But Morgan had eyes only for the Pentacle above her. A channel of light broke through the rain and smoke and found her, making her figure gleam white and metallic gold where she had painted her body and her hair. She held aloft the Chalice with one hand and twisted the knife in Thomas’s belly with the other as she rocked on him. She was…the bitch was having an orgasm while she killed Thomas. Thomas’s head was turned, so that she could see the pain in his expression, the wavering consciousness in his eyes. Tammy shrieked, “Stop her, someone!”
On the other side of the great hall, a door burst open. But no one was there. Clan members stumbled and fell. Gunfire sounded. Several Clan members went down.
“Cloak,” Lan said. “Should I…?” He started forward.
“Use no powers,” Mom barked, grabbing his hand again. “Hold the shield.”
Tammy didn’t have time for this. She had to save Thomas. The Cloak was a Clan power and whatever it was concealing was moving toward Thomas. She could tell by the stumbling Clan members as they were pushed. She surged forward, but Luc pulled her back. “Do as she says,” he growled.
A wind came up in the cavernous hangar. The rain stopped abruptly. The wind whipped the flames into a frenzy. Tammy’s hair tangled in wild vortex. Her dilemma made it hard to breathe. But she had to trust her mother. Mom wouldn’t let Thomas die.
So she poured her power into the blue glow. Several Clan members were on fire, their robes like wicks for the flames. But the flames didn’t cross the Tremaines’ blue circle of light. In fact, they were flickering, dying. God, but she didn’t want to think what that meant.
The Cloak drew closer to the altar. Shield, Tammy thought. Don’t think about Thomas. Shield. Shield. Shield.
“Brian,” her mother called. Was Daddy here?
She gasped. The Cloak…could it be hiding…?
The channel of light illuminated the altar. Thomas and Morgan turned bright red. Morgan gave a sickening grin and pulled the knife from Thomas. Tammy thought she would burst with anguish. Morgan pointed the bloody knife at the far wall of the hangar and…and the channel of light bounced off the gleaming blade and was directed there. Morgan chanted one more phrase as she put the Cup to her lips…
And gulped. Blood splashed over the Cup and dribbled down her chin. Thomas’s blood. Please, please. Please don’t let him die.
Daddy burst into sight from nowhere and shoved Morgan off the altar, then stumbled himself. Morgan screamed in anger. The power in the air ramped up until it was difficult to breathe. There was a sort of roaring sound behind the shouting and the crackle of flames and the weird music that still played on. The Cloak flickered and died, revealing the entire party from the tank, and…and Jason, the Clan member who was Morgan’s Cloaker. They were staring at…
Tammy turned her gaze to the far wall. The roaring ramped up to an unbearable volume. Then the wall just split apart, revealing…what? Tammy could see only black vacancy, tinged with a glowing red. Drew’s vision! A stench of rotting flesh engulfed the room. The roar was so loud she couldn’t think.
Morgan rose, shrieking with otherworldly laughter. “You are too late, Tremaines,” she screamed. She stalked forward toward the rift, which had grown wider like a tear in the fabric of the world. Tammy swayed. It seemed like everything might tumble into the abyss and be lost. “I summoned you for one purpose,” Morgan yelled into the rift. “I will have my immortality.”
Daddy got to his feet and staggered around the altar, followed by Tris, Kemble, Michael and Kee. As Morgan walked forward, the Tremaine circle joined hands with the newcomers. Jason stood behind the altar, a look of such affliction on his face that Tammy almost felt sorry for him. Daddy took Tammy’s hand and Maggie’s. “Come on, Jason,” he yelled.
Jason turned for a single moment. “Kid,” Brian yelled. “Now or never.” A figure crouched by the elevator doors sprang forward. Jason looked at Daddy, who nodded and made room, and suddenly Tammy was holding hands with Jason and Daddy held on to the newcomer.
“You don’t need me,” Luc yelled, as he broke the circle and joined the hands of Mom and Daddy. “I don’t have power. I’ll get the kid.” He started for the altar.
Brina shouted over the roar of the slit that drew Morgan forward. “Pour all the love you’ve ever had into that Cup. It must hold the power of the Pentacle. I’ll brace the shield.”
Jason, beside her, looked startled. Probably he thought he didn’t have any love to give. Then his face turned anguished and finally determined. He’d known love once. Tammy would bet her life on it. Maybe she was doing just that. All concentrated on the Cup, now discarded next to Thomas’s limp form.
But Thomas and Luc were outside the blue glow.
Tammy yelled, “Thomas!” and pulled the circle forward. At first Jason and the newcomer resisted, but then they got the idea, and that idea passed hand-to-hand around the circle. They all moved forward with Tammy.
The edge of the circle reached Thomas and Luc, who stood over him. He was still chained to the altar. She wouldn’t think about how badly he was injured or how much blood was seeping into the grooves around the edges of the stone. Did they dare break their contact to surround the altar? Luc stood at the edge, gesturing helplessly to the shackles. Tris broke his hold long enough to toss him the only gun they had now. Luc gave a sharp nod and calmly shot the locks of the shackles. He picked Thomas up in a fireman’s carry. Immediately his shirt soaked with blood.
“Let me!” Mom pushed her hands out in front of her, and the circle bulged forward around the altar, the Cup, Thomas and Luc. Tammy felt tears course down her cheek. Thomas was protected, even if he was outside the circle of their clasped hands. She glanced to Morgan who stood, naked and triumphant, her arms raised in front of the hellish rift in the universe, or the dimension, or whatever it was. Were those distant screams coming from the blackness? And it was glowing more redly. Suddenly, the rift belched lava, torn with black rivulets.
“I have let you free,” Morgan shouted. “You owe me immortality!”
A huge, thin black arm, hinged in too many places, with a confusion of too many sticklike fingers, each with a lethal barb at the end, plunged out of the red, boiling stench. As the arm pushed into the hangar, the boiling lava-like goo surged into the room. The hand (or whatever it was) grabbed Morgan, the barbed fingers piercing her body. She screamed in anguish as the arm snatched her back through the crack. Clan members and soldiers alike shrieked as the lava engulfed them. Several more robes burst into flame. Others fell, screaming, into the goo. It heaved up around the outside of the blue dome of light the family had created and sloshed back. How long could Mom hold it at bay?
Tammy glanced to the rift that still bulged in the far wall. Yes, it still had the black emptiness. But she realized what Drew’s last vision meant. Behind the gash that now spread outside the hangar and into the desert air, there were other somethings moving in the darkness. Somethings shadowy and stick-like with bulging bodies that made her shudder.