Hero's Curse (43 page)

I regained control of my body when I got off the highway. I pulled into the gas station where we’d stopped before and called Father Mallory. He picked up on the third ring. “Hello.”

“It’s Victor Paladin.”

His voice became cautious. “Yes.”

“Signe Ericsdottir, the Jotunn leader just kidnapped my fiancé. They’re in a stolen silver 2009 Subaru WRX sedan and I suspect they’re headed north. The Salt Lake City Police have an APB out on her vehicle. Do you have a way to monitor police communications?”

Mallory thought for a few seconds before he answered. I knew he wanted to tell me to take a flying fuck, but he answered, “Yes.” I guess in the end he was either a good guy or he was worried what I’d do to him and his if he said no.

I would have destroyed him if he had given me the wrong answer, but I was grateful when he said yes. I let it show in my voice, “Great, I’d like you to keep an ear on the police radio and to also have someone checking on all the news outlets to see if there’s any information on Signe. I really appreciate the help.” I gave him Drew’s cell phone number and told him to keep Drew updated.

It took eighteen minutes and fourteen seconds for Drew and Tim to pull up to the gas station where I was pacing. I jumped in the van as soon as they stopped. “Tim, did you explain to Drew how the sleep spell works?”

“Yes.”

“Has the Etch A Sketch been modified to look for thirteen rather than nineteen Jotunn?”

Drew answered, “Yeah and he also set it up to look for Mina. If she’s within fifty miles, she’ll show up. That’s what took us so long.”

As I went into the back row and buckled on my seat belt I told Drew, “Head north. Except for Signe, none of the Jotunn are going to be within a hundred miles of Salt Lake City.”

“What gear did you bring?”

Tim ticked off a list, “We brought two M24s, the M85, and the two LAW rockets. We have six thermite 300 Win Mag Rounds, two hundred regular 300 Win Mag Rounds, and five hundred 50 BMG rounds linked one-in-five tracer. The Swensons took all of our shotguns, but we brought 300 Jotunn killing shotgun rounds so you could use them in Sanguinis.”

He then twisted in his seat to face me. “Also, Master Aidan initially designed the Etch A Sketch to look for groups of heartbeats. He’s since modified it to also look for breath sounds and the weak electromagnetic field put out by all living fauna. I’ve been working with Master Aidan for close to eighty years and he still amazes me. The orientation, size, and location of the electromagnetic field can distinguish between quadrupeds, bipeds, and birds in flight. He’s set it to look for groups of twelve to thirteen bipeds that are at least six feet tall.

“He used several of Mina’s belongings and the principle of contagion to make the Etch A Sketch detect her location. He’s used the bikes we brought from Idaho and our jolly green infant to sensitize it to the Jotunn, but they may have counter-spells that block this kind of contagion based location spell.”

We rode in silence until we were a few miles from the northern border of Salt Lake City. I told Drew, “Wake me up at the ninety-eight mile mark.” I put myself to sleep.

I woke up to agonizing pain. I was being burned alive. I opened my eyes expecting to be trapped in twisted, burning wreckage. There weren’t any flames and the van was fine. I could hear Tim screaming in the front passenger seat. He was writhing in pain too.

The only thing that mattered was finding Mina. I could handle this. Pain is just weakness leaving the body. I forced my body still and took a deep breath through my nose. I knew if I unclenched my teeth, I’d start screaming too. I needed to find out what was going on.

Tim gasped between shrieks, “Drew, please turn around, turn around, TURN AROUND!”

The pain was making it too hard to think. It was taking everything I had to just stay still. I was no good to Mina this way. Tim was right. We had to turn around.

Drew swerved our minivan into the center median of the highway and made a U-turn. We were just a few hundred feet from the Salt Lake City border. As soon as we crossed the border, the excruciating pain went away. When Tim stopped crying, Drew pulled off to the side of the highway. He asked, “What the HELL is this shit?”

“Michael and Samael decided they didn’t like paladins and Oath Brothers being able to leave their sandboxes.” It was B. He was sitting next to me. “Heaven usually takes forever to change a standing policy, but when you got major players like Michael and Samael pushing, things can move fast. They got rid of the sleep spell loophole a few hours after you left Boise. Vic, I just found out.”

The rear passenger door slid open. Drew caught my eye. “Out. Now. Vic, we’re wasting time. You, Tim, and Mr. Pretty get out now, go, go, GO!”

My mind was moving in slow motion. I couldn’t think—nothing registered. I had to run his words a couple times in my head before I understood. I stumbled out of the van. “Drew.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ll find her, Vic.”

Powerless, I watched Drew driving north, just like I’d watched Mina, Andi, and Ben drive away from the house earlier today. I don’t know how long Tim and I stood there, but eventually I realized B was still standing there next to me.

When I turned to face him, I didn’t see the cocky asshole I despised. As I stared at his face, I saw something I never expected to see: sorrow. There was no other emotion—no rage, glee, anger, or sarcasm. His voice was low as he said, “I’m sorry, Vic.” There was no hope or reassurance in his eyes—only sadness. I looked up to the sky and I screamed. It was worse than when I thought I was being burned, worse than any agony I’d felt before. I screamed and I screamed again.

Chapter 29: Waiting for the Word

I could feel the air push against me each time a car passed. I was kneeling on the edge of the hard surface of I-15. The last thing I remembered was screaming after B told me he was sorry. I had no idea how long I’d been there, but it had been long enough for the tears on my face to dry. My throat was scratchy and raw. It figured, I’d been screaming as loud as I could.

I saw Tim as I stood up. He was urgently waving me over to get further away from the highway. I was so close that the outside lane drivers were swerving away from me. I watched a guy in a truck give me the finger as he passed. I took three steps back toward Tim.

B was gone. My throat and mouth were completely dry. I had to swallow a couple times before I could get any words out. “Drew told me if I healed him, he’d become an Oath Brother. Why was he able to leave Salt Lake City?”

“He didn’t look younger. Did you reverse his age at all?”

“No, I took care of his lower back and knee problems.”

“Your magic exposure has to reach a certain threshold for the Oath to take effect. The healing spell alone wasn’t enough to do that. If you’d had made him younger, he wouldn’t have been able to leave.”

“Have you heard from Aidan?”

“No.”

I called Aidan.

As soon as he picked up, he asked, “Have you found Mina?”

“The rules for paladins and Oath Brothers have changed. We can’t use sleep spells to leave Salt Lake City. Drew’s gone up north by himself to look for her.”

“Ah, my son…”

I interrupted him before could say more, “How are Ben and Andi?”

His voice got quiet, “They didn’t have a chance.”

“When did they die? Was it at the scene or later?”

“They were dead before the paramedics arrived.”

I felt like I’d been kicked in the nuts. I should have said something—if only to tell Aidan I was going to hang up. I didn’t have the energy. I ended the call.

“Vic.” It was Tim. He had come closer while I was on the phone. “Your mount is meant for just one rider. I’ll have Master Aidan pick me up. Why don’t you go home?”

I mouthed my mount’s name and then rode her back to the house. I went up into my suite and put two glasses on my tiny kitchen nook table. I poured Glenfiddich into both of them. I sat down in one of the two chairs and quietly said, “B, I’d like to have a drink with you.” When I looked up, he was sitting across from me.

“Vic.”

I put up my hand. “I get it B. You can’t help me with Mina.” I saw relief on his face. “I’d like to ask you a few questions about my parents, but first, try the scotch. It’s my favorite single malt.”

I watched B take a sip then I asked, “Can you tell me if my parents are in heaven?”

He nodded, “I can’t help you with any of your active missions. A lot of the stuff your parents did and how and why they died are still classified. But I can tell you that they’re both dead and in heaven. I know this seems like penny ante bullshit—this need to know crap.” In disgust, he repeated, “IT IS CRAP. The guys who decide what I can and can’t tell you are morons. It sucks, but I don’t make the rules.”

“I understand. Can I talk to my parents?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“It’s one of the things that changed when Jesus made his sacrifice. People used to be able to talk to the departed. There were even practitioners who specialized in it, Necromancers. In China in particular, it was a major part of ancestor worship.”

“Why did Jehovah stop it? Is there any way around the prohibition?”

I saw B figure out why I was asking these questions. I put up my hand again as he began to shake his head, “Please B, I’m just asking about my parents.” I drained my glass. “I’m just asking about stuff you’re allowed to talk about.”

We looked at each other for a long moment and then he gave a terse nod, “Vic, if you survive the Jotunn and recruit enough Oath Brothers to keep Salt Lake City safe in your absence, you’ll be able to leave Salt Lake City for weeks at a time. If you live long enough, you’ll visit other dimensions and get a chance to look around. Once you do, you’ll realize that the best dimension is right here. And the only reason for that is Jehovah. Whatever flaws we have, it’s better here than any other world. Jehovah can’t keep it together without a bureaucracy. Our universe is too complex for Him to run it by Himself.

“The official reason why the dead aren’t allowed to talk to the living? Both have jobs to do, and if they’re allowed to talk, they get distracted. Cultures based on ancestor worship tend to be less innovative and more stable technologically than those that aren’t. Heaven’s main goal is to increase the number of souls on Earth. For thousands of years there’s been a direct correlation between advances in technology and an increase in the population.

“That’s the official explanation. The real reason is that under every bureaucrat’s veneer of logic and reason, there’s a Mickey Mouse asshole who wants to tell you that you can’t do shit because,” he used his fingers to make quotes “it’s for your own good.” He picked up his glass and polished off his Glenfiddich.

“Thanks.”

Empty glass held in the air, B asked, “For what? I’ve been giving you nothing but bad news today.”

I met his eyes. “Thanks for letting me know what was going on as soon as you knew.” I tried my best to keep my voice from trembling as I said, “I owe you.” I poured more scotch into my glass. When I was done, B was gone.

I knew Ben and Andi were probably dead as soon as I saw the Mini’s smashed front end. But I had to hear it from Aidan’s lips before I could give up hope.

I doubted Samael was still in contact with Signe. She probably had no idea I couldn’t leave Salt Lake City.

I could only see two reasons why Signe would want to kidnap Mina. The first was to use Mina as a bargaining chip—to try to make me trade myself for my love. The second was bait—to make me so angry that I’d leave Salt Lake City to go after them. Either way, they’d want to be where I could easily find them.

Within the next fifteen minutes or so, if Mina was within a hundred miles of Salt Lake City, the Etch A Sketch should pinpoint her location.

I tried to have hope—to convince myself she was still alive, but B wouldn’t have said ‘I’m sorry’ if she was. The fact that Signe had used a kidnapping technique that was as likely to kill Mina as it was Ben and Andi confirmed that the bitch didn’t care if Mina was dead or alive. My love was a fighter. She wouldn’t just meekly accept being kidnapped, and it’s a lot easier to manage a corpse than it is a live, angry, uncooperative hostage.

I put my phone on the table and waited for Drew to tell me I was wrong.

I waited for an eternity. When my phone rang, I wanted to wait longer. The caller ID said it was Drew. I had to force myself to pick up the call.

“Yeah.”

“I’ve got bad news…” Drew paused as he tried to figure out the right words.

I already knew what he was trying to say. I’d been expecting it, but it still hurt. I made myself say, “The Etch A Sketch shows she’s dead.”

“She’s not breathing and she doesn’t have a heartbeat, Vic. I’ve also got thirteen six foot plus breathers with heartbeats near her. It doesn’t confirm that they’re Jotunn but that’s where the smart money would be. They’re just outside the Snowville city limits, a hundred and six miles out from Salt Lake City.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m in Brigham City.”

“Come back to the house.” After I ended the call, I began to laugh. I continued to laugh as tears ran down my face. It’s better to be lucky than good. Michael and Samael probably had no idea that they’d saved my life when they got rid of the sleep spell loophole.