Infernal Father of Mine (30 page)

It reached a tentacle for me and touched my
forehead.
You look shorter in real life.

"Shorter?"

And you really need to lay off the
erotic dreams about Elyssa.

This minder was a complete smartass.

"Something wrong?" Dad asked.

I chuckled. "Not at all. This is definitely my
minder."

Yes, unfortunately.

"Fine, you don't have to lay on the sarcasm so
thick, buddy." I took a deep breath in an attempt to put my
thoughts back in order. "Why do you have such an attitude, but this
other minder is so short on words?"

His human is dead. We lose our
minds when that happens, or at least the personality.

"Is that why he doesn't understand free
will?"

We don't have free will like you
do. We are extensions of those in the mortal realm.

"You seem to know a lot."

Only because you do, and because
I'm connected to you. When I disconnect from you, I won't have
nearly the spark I do now.

"That stinks."

It's better this way.

"I have a silly question—"

You think I can help you
sing?

"That wasn't exactly what I was going to ask."
I noticed Dad giving me a strange look. He couldn't hear Minder
Justin's side of the conversation, so it looked like I was talking
to myself. "I need your help with something else."

The decision.

The second I heard the word, everything
suddenly felt right. "Exactly."

It's odd, but I feel like this is
destiny taking shape.

Calm settled over me. "I think you're
right."

Lie down, and we'll get started.
I'm curious to see what happens next.

"You and me both." I lay down on the floor.
"Here goes nothing," I said to Dad.

"With what?" he asked.

"The decision."

A look of concern flashed across his face. He
knelt and touched my arm. "Good luck, son."

The world vanished.

I stood on a small island. The black and white
suns hung halfway down the sky with the gray moon above them,
forming a triangle. Something caught the corner of my eye. I looked
right and saw a copy of me standing there. His eyes glowed white
instead of my normal blue.

"Weird," said another voice.

I looked left and saw another clone of me on
the other side. His eyes burned ultraviolet.

You have the freakiest visions,
said the
voice of my minder.

"Tell me about it," my two clones and I said at
the same time.

We looked at each other, our brows scrunched
with confusion.

I backed up and bumped into someone behind me.
I spun and saw yet another copy of myself, this one with gray eyes.
"Oh, I get it," I said, refusing to be surprised again.

"You do?" the other copies asked, eyes
hopeful.

"Yeah, your eyes are the same colors as the two
suns and the moon."

They looked at each other, and then up at the
sky. "Oh," they said, dragging out the O the way I did when finally
grasping the obvious.

I felt somewhat pleased I'd been the first me
to figure it out.

Any idea which one to choose?
my minder
asked.
I kind of like you with the gray eyes.

You don't know how to make the choice?
I
thought back to the minder, to avoid confusing my
clones.

Look to the eclipse.

I looked up and noticed the two suns moving
behind the moon as they had in the other vision. As before, the
heavenly bodies vanished where they aligned with each other until
only an invisible shimmer remained in the air.

Why are you waiting? You already
know the answer.

"But, what if I'm wrong?"

I don' think you are.

"I hope you're right." One last look at the
sky, and certainty filled me.

I'd say the choice is clear.
The minder
laughed in my head.

"Very clever." The heavenly bodies separated
once again, this time with the moon beneath them, and the white and
dark on reverse sides. "Now I understand the vision from the park."
It all made such sense. "Mr. Gray told me neither the Murk nor the
Brilliance is evil or good. They merely represent different kinds
of change."

"Sounds right," my clones chimed in
unison.

I continued. "His idea of balance is gray. I
mistakenly thought balance meant stasis. But there's no such thing
as true stasis. If something tries to remain exactly the same, it
almost always ends up deteriorating and falling apart."

Different states of being
, Minder Justin
sent.

"Exactly. Paper comes from a tree. Is it still
a tree, or something new? Was the tree destroyed to make the paper,
or was it simply recreated?"

Creation and destruction are the
same.

"They are simply two different ways of looking
at changing state," I said. "To build a house, you must first
destroy the original state of the trees."

In other words, the choice wasn't between the
light, the dark, or the gray. The choice was how I decided to use
the power associated with them. Combine the light, the dark, and
the gray, and the result was colorless, neutral. In other words,
the choice was clear.

I joined my left hand with my dark-eyed clone
and my right hand with my light-eyed clone. The three of us stepped
forward into the gray-eyed clone. My body expected a collision. My
mind felt certain something else would happen.

The clones vanished. I stood alone on the
island. Pressure built in my chest and an invisible shockwave
radiated out from me, consuming the suns and the moon. A calming
light suffused the air around me.

Warmth flared in my hands. I held the suns in
either palm. Almost by instinct, I cast a white sphere of energy
into the air. It orbited around my chest. I sent the ultraviolet
orb chasing its brother around me. With both hands, I conjured a
gray orb and sent it circling as well.

This is so awesome!
My minder shouted in
my head.

"Totally."

I channeled magic through the orbs. A
shimmering beam of invisible light speared into the sky. Fireworks
of every color bloomed overhead, their explosions shattering the
silent landscape. I channeled through the white orb, aiming a
destructive beam at the water. Steam rose from the ocean where it
touched. I channeled through the dark sphere, and turned the steam
into a cloud shaped like an elephant.

"I got this!" I shouted, pumping a fist into
the air.

Now you need to do it in the real
world.

My heart sank. In the Gloom, I'd have no way of
doing magic.
I might as well enjoy it while I'm here.
I
channeled through the gray orb, and the elephant cloud held its
shape instead of drifting apart.

I felt so different. So alive. Something
stirred inside me, and I felt the demonic part of my soul for the
first time since the ripper had torn a hole in the portal from the
real world. It seemed somewhat happy to sense me again. But there
was something else there as well, as if another presence had
suddenly found me for the first time.

Great, now you have another voice inside
your head
, my minder said.

"No, this is different," I said. "It's like a
window opened, and a fresh spring breeze hit me in the face. I
don't know what it is."

It's your Seraphim side finally connecting
with you
.

I felt my jaw drop. "At last."

Tell me about it. How do you think
everyone else feels about you taking so long to grow some hair on
that chest of yours?

"Welcome home, Seraphim Justin." I smiled from
ear to ear, and tried not to think about how powerless I'd be when
I woke up from this dream. Right now, it felt like I'd opened a
window to the various parts of my soul, and we were all meeting and
greeting for the first time, sans name tags. If only I could do
that in the Gloom.

Maybe you already are.

I jolted to an upright sitting position. The
island was gone. I was back in the arch room of the
fortress.

Dad was sitting up and staring at me, white
faced. "What was that?"

"What was what?"

"It felt like a wave swept over me." His eyes
went wide. "You did it, didn't you?"

"I did it," I said, beaming from ear to ear. "I
did it!"

He gripped me in a firm hug and we whooped like
we'd just won the Superbowl.

I had made the decision. Now I just had to
survive to play my part with destiny.

Elyssa

The forecast had been for a sunny day, but
thick stormy clouds rolled in over the Templar compound in Decatur,
blotting out the sun, and obscuring what little of the Atlanta
skyline Elyssa could see from the top deck of the house. She'd been
waiting and hoping her father's campaign would go well against the
Synod Templars as they attempted to chip away at her father's
forces.

So far, she'd heard no word.

Ivy had returned to Jeremiah's to find out more
about Daelissa and her plans. Elyssa hoped she could squeeze more
out of the old man than she had.

She sighed. Her heart felt heavy.
Where is
Justin? Is he still alive?
She had no answers and no obvious
way to go after him until the Borathen Templars could spare
soldiers to take the Exorcists' church. She'd even offered to help
her father, but he'd consigned her to guarding the compound along
with about a hundred other Templars at the horse ranch which served
as headquarters.

So far the Synod had raided only safe houses
and other assets held by the Borathen Templars, but it might be
just a matter of time before they attempted a strike here at the
seat of power.

A wolf howled. Elyssa tensed at the sound. It
was one of the lycans assigned to patrol the perimeter. Using a
pair of binoculars, she scanned the area. Her arcphone dinged as
security wards around the outlying area warned of intruders. She
looked at the map and saw the location of the wards in question.
Multiple icons blinked red to the east, behind the house. She
redirected her gaze to the area in question. The skeletal branches
of the trees allowed her to spot movement rustling the
bushes.

Dark forms rushed toward the compound. She
zoomed in and saw the face and fangs of the enemy.
Vampires!

Vampires wouldn't usually be effective during a
daytime assault, but the thick clouds overhead prevented the sun
from weakening them and burning their vulnerable skin. Elyssa
swiped a finger, setting off the general alert. The vampires
emerged from the trees, heading across the open pastureland around
the buildings. Gloating leers flickered across their faces as they
saw an enemy fortress unguarded. She counted about fifty intruders.
As they closed in, Elyssa pressed another icon on her arcphone and
sprung the trap.

Templars burst from illusion-concealed
trapdoors in the ground behind and in front of the enemy in the
east pasture. Silver darts flew from lancers attached to soldiers'
wrists, immobilizing dozens of vampires before they could react.
Vampires leapt at defenders. Some aimed pistols, no doubt using
cursed ammunition, which penetrated Templar armor.

Bowmen atop the chapel to the side of the house
rose from behind the crenellated walls, nocked arrows, and let them
fly while Templar Arcanes aimed bolts of energy at the gun-wielding
enemies.

Steel flashed as Templars swordsmen engaged the
vampires who hadn't fallen from lancer darts. Elyssa itched to be
down there in the thick of the action, but knew her role as
coordinator was far more important. Within minutes, the vampire
force was neutralized with minimal Templar casualties.

The soldiers bound the unconscious forms of
vampires and checked for signs of life from those who hadn't been
incapacitated in the first volley. A crew of Custodians, Templars
who usually served to keep noms unaware of supernatural events,
emerged from within the house with floating platforms designed to
carry heavy loads. They helped the soldiers pile the vampires on
the platforms so they could carry them to underground holding cells
until Commander Borathen decided what to do with them.

Elyssa breathed a sigh of relief.
That was
easy.
She took out her phone so she could reset the perimeter
wards when she noticed something strange. There were blank spaces
where several icons for wards had been. Another icon vanished,
followed by another, this one on the west side. As the wards
disappeared, a realization suddenly hit her. The first wave had
been a feint to see what the Templar response would be.

She scrolled through a list of names on her
phone and touched one. "Lieutenant Hutchins, perimeter is not
secure. I repeat, perimeter is not secure."