Imperium (Caulborn) (15 page)

It was well past six when the Doc came over and handed me a slim leatherette case. “There are two syringes of antitoxin in there for you, Vincent. Just in case you get bitten again and don’t have time to wait things out.” I thanked him and he clapped me on the shoulder. “Go home, Corinthos.” He smiled. “You heal almost as fast as a gremlin, you know.”

I said my goodbyes and caught a cab home.

As I entered my apartment, I could hear voices coming from the living room. One of them was Gearstripper’s. The other was Petra. I smiled, walked into the living room and got my first look at her in two weeks. Her dark brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail and her skin was so perfect it gleamed in the light. She was wearing an old pair of sweats and a Patriots jersey. She saw me and her face lit up with a smile brighter than you can imagine. She was across the kitchen in a flash and lifted me into an embrace.

Petra’s almost six and a half feet tall, which puts her a good eight inches taller than me. Going by normal standards and the laws of physics, her slender frame shouldn’t be able to lift me a foot off the ground and swing me around like a rag doll. But Petra’s not flesh and blood. She’s living stone. She was created by Pygmalion and given life by Aphrodite after Galatia was destroyed. It’s a long story, but the upshot is that Petra’s super strong, nearly indestructible, and has some insecurity issues.

She kissed me full on the lips. She might be rock, but she felt real enough. “I missed you,” she whispered. Her voice was soft and her eyes were inviting.

“Aw, come on, no mushy stuff, Petra. You promised we could watch Serenity.” I turned my head and found Gearstripper standing on the counter in front of us, his arms folded indignantly across his small chest. You can always count on a gremlin to ruin the mood. Just the same, it was good to see Gears smiling again. He was always happy when Petra’s around.

Petra set me down and patted Gears on the head. A timer went off on the oven and she opened the oven door. She reached in, without using potholders, I might add, and took out a tray of nachos that was close to a foot tall. She pulled off a chip loaded with cheese and meat and popped it into her mouth.

Since she was made out of rock, Petra’s physical form couldn’t change. There were some drawbacks to that. For example, she couldn’t ever get her hair cut, and her skin couldn’t tan. But there were plenty of benefits as well. She didn’t need to sleep, she didn’t age, and she couldn’t gain weight. Technically, she didn’t even need to eat, but she loved to. In fact, this was a light snack compared to some of the things I’ve seen her and Gearstripper make. Then I noticed they had four or five pounds of Hershey bars to go with the nachos. Judging by the empty Cheetos bags I saw in the trash, they’d been munching while they cooked.

I’m not sure where Gears puts it all. In fact, I’m probably better off not knowing.

We chatted for a while as we munched. Petra told us about the shoot she’d been on and the places she’d seen. She finished talking about the sights in Antigua and pulled a cookbook from the shelf. “So, anything exciting been going on while I was away?”

“I’ll say,” Gears piped up. “Miguel and a bunch of people have gone missing, Vinnie’s got a new partner named Megan and they’ve been investigating the disappearances.”

“Miguel is missing?” Petra’s eyebrows rose and she put a hand to her mouth.

I told her everything that wasn’t classified. “We’re dealing with something that’s abducting paranormals, Petra. Strong paranormals like werewolves and warrior fae. It’s pretty bad.”

“Do you think the thing we found at Axle’s workshop has anything to do with it, Vinnie?”

“Yeah, I do, Gears.” Then I remembered what I’d heard the gremlins chanting in my Glimpse earlier. I’d been so distracted that I’d forgotten to ask Megan, and apparently Gears could speak German, so I figured I’d ask him. “Gears, what does ‘
Schneiden Sie die Drähte, lassen Sie das Flugzeug abstürzen
’ mean?”

Gears dropped the chip he’d scooped up and began shaking. His legs gave out and he dropped to the counter surface, his green skin paling. “You’ve been talking to the Mother, haven’t you?” he whispered. Petra scooped Gears up and held him like a child.

“Jesus, Gears,” I said. “Are you all right?”

Gears shook against Petra’s body. “
Schneiden Sie die Drähte, lassen Sie das Flugzeug abstürzen
,” Gears repeated with a perfect German accent. “‘Cut the wires, crash the planes.’ It’s what the Mother drilled into us. Kill the allies, break their vehicles, steal their bullets.” He chattered in German for a moment.

“The Allies?” Petra asked, her eyes wide in surprise. “As in World War Two allies?”

Gears gave an unsteady nod. “The Mother made us, and then sent us into the world.” Gearstripper’s yellow eyes were far away, and his voice was so soft I could barely hear him. I couldn’t believe it. That gremlin I’d seen in my Glimpse hadn’t been Gears’ grandfather, it had been Gears. “The Mother said that the Allies were coming to take our land away, to kill us in our sleep, to torture us for their amusement. She said the only way to protect ourselves was to sabotage their equipment. Cut the wires, crash the planes, crash the cars, crash the tanks,” he whimpered. Petra’s face was a mask of concern and she began stroking Gears’ back.

“We would hide on the planes, we were small, it wasn’t hard. Then, when the plane got high enough, we’d start ripping wires out.” He mimed the action with his hands. “I—” I lost the rest of the sentence as my Glimpse kicked on.

Gearstripper was nestled against the wing of a plane in flight. I watched as he snapped a bundle of wires; from what I know of old planes, he’d disabled the pilot’s ejection seat. The wind pinned his ears back against his head and frost had formed on his skin. He bared his teeth as he clawed his way across the wing and reached under the flap.

The pilot noticed Gears pulling on a bundle of cables and tried to shake Gears loose by tilting the plane back and forth. Gears’ eyes flashed yellow as he snarled something at the pilot in German, and anchored himself by driving the claws of his left hand into the wing. Liquid, gas by my best guess, began streaming out from the holes he’d made in wing. Then Gears deftly snapped the bundle of wires with his right hand.

The plane spiraled down. Gears clung to the wing as the plane fell, and it exploded in a ball of fire. The pilot hadn’t been able to eject and was a burned ruin. I could hear a tiny voice screaming nearby. As the smoke cleared, I could see Gearstripper, his body burned and blackened. His shrill cries continued, and before my eyes, he regenerated. The process was slow, and it looked excruciatingly painful, but Gears’ tiny body healed itself.

Dear God, I thought. How many times had he done that? Been burned to a crisp, or dismembered, then regenerated to do it again? No wonder he’d started shaking when I’d said that phrase.

“—do those things?” I had snapped back to the present, and Petra was asking Gears something.

Gears looked at her. He’d stopped shaking, but he was still pale. “The Mother told me to. If your mother told you that someone was going to hurt you, and you needed to protect yourself, wouldn’t you listen? She was the Mother. She trained us, she took care of us, gave us life. You’re supposed to listen to your mother. She’s supposed to…” Gears trailed off, tears welling in his huge eyes. Petra gave him a light squeeze.

“Easy there, pal,” I said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.” Gears swallowed and nodded. Then he gently removed himself from Petra’s grip.

“It’s all right, Vinnie. You didn’t know.” He idly picked at another chip. His ears were drooped, and his posture was slouched. I felt like a total ass, and it got worse when he looked up at me and asked, “Why were you talking with the Mother?”

“The creature we found at Axle’s garage is a new breed of gremlin. Galahad told Megan and me to go to your mother’s house and ask if she had created it.”

“Had she?”

“I don’t think so.” I told him what happened after we left.

“Dead?” Gears whispered. He plopped down on the counter, and put his head in his hands. He barked a short, mirthless laugh. “I wonder what she’d say if she knew what I did now.”

Petra moved over and patted Gears’ back. “What do you mean?”

“I was created to break things, Petra. Sabotage equipment, vehicles, anything mechanical. Destruction is in my nature, literally what I was made for. But I look back on what I did during the war and I feel horrible.” He sniffed and set his jaw. “So now I build things. I fix things. I create. What would she say if she knew one of her children had gone against everything she’d taught?”

Petra smiled down at him. “I think, given the circumstances, Gears, that she’d be proud of you.”

“Yeah, pal,” I said. “Millie came over to the Caulborn’s side in the end. I think she knew who the good guys were, and she’d be glad that you sided with us.”

Gears brightened a bit. “You think so?” Petra and I both nodded. “Okay, then.” Gears stood and rubbed his eyes. “What are we standing around here for? There are movies to watch!”

We watched a movie, Petra and Gears finished off all the food, and then Gears called Jake and got a ride back to HQ. Petra gave me a look that you’ll never see in the catalogs and we shut off the lights. An hour or so later, I laid in bed with Petra snuggled against me. I smiled at the ceiling and closed my eyes. I figured I wouldn’t have any trouble sleeping tonight.

I was wrong.

Chapter 13

I stood in the center of the Urisk city, basking in the glory of my followers. A light rain began to fall from a cloudless sky. The rain drops struck harder and faster, and I realized they were fragments of crystal. The fragments began striking the Urisk down, blowing through their bodies like bullets. I raised my arms and wove shields, but the crystalline rain only drove faster; it was like my shield was a magnet to them. Everywhere I turned, Urisk were dying, screaming in pain, pleading for me to save them. I summoned all the power I could and willed them to be safe, yet despite all my strength, the city exploded and I watched my followers die.

I sat up, covered in a cold sweat. The red numbers of the clock on the nightstand said it was just past six. Petra lay beside me, her perfectly still form wrapped in the blanket. She slept like a rock, too. After that nightmare, I knew I wasn’t getting back to sleep, so I decided to get a jump on the day’s events. I took a shower, shaved and got dressed in my usual button-up shirt and jeans. That done, I prepared to receive prayers.

I opened my mind to my followers and began answering prayers. As I progressed, the prayers began taking on an uneasy tone. More and more requests for protection and safety came through. Then their voices were calling for me, for help. Lotholio’s voice suddenly exploded in my mind. “Lord,” he called. “We need you.” I closed my eyes and focused on my priest.

“What’s wrong, Loth?”

“We are under attack again,” he responded. “The creatures are too strong for us.”

I scrawled a hasty note for Petra and put it on the fridge. “Creatures? More goblins and trolls?” I was already out the door and heading for my car. It was a twenty minute drive to the Children’s Museum.

“Not goblins and trolls, Lord,” he replied. “Something else.” Lotholio sent an image to my mind. I saw a towering man made completely out of white crystal. A red rune was etched in his chest.

“I see it, Loth. Do you know what the symbol on his chest means?”

“No, Lord. But the creatures shrug off telekinesis, pyrokinesis and physical blows.”

“I’m on my way,” I said. “Pull everyone back behind the wall, I’ll be there as soon as I can.” I slid behind the wheel of my Nissan and peeled out of the parking lot.

Despite the fact I was driving at over seventy miles per hour, the car felt like it was in slow motion. I reached out to my followers, blessing them, healing their injuries, bolstering their confidence. I could feel their faith in me swelling. I listened to their prayers, heard their fears. It was an odd mix of feelings that I sensed from them. They were both terrified of the invaders, but confident in me. They knew I’d make everything all right once I got there.

I parked on one of the streets adjacent to the museum and let the early morning pedestrian traffic guide me. I was still focused on my followers, trying to keep them calm and assure them that I was coming. Traffic zipped by on the street and I was only partially aware of my surroundings. I sent out a blanket message to all my followers. Everything’s going to be all right, I’m almost there.

And that’s when someone pushed me into the path of an oncoming truck.

Chapter 14

To: Robert Maxwell
The information provided re: golem creation has been most useful. Our latest batch is much stronger and faster than the previous generation. The book of imbuements was most helpful, as now we better understand how to get the golems to discern paranormals from regular people. Our current generation can only pick out paranormals if they’re close, perhaps sixty or seventy feet away. This new generation will be able to detect paranormals within a half mile radius. This will dramatically improve the rate at which we can obtain new test subjects and recruits for Herrscher’s future army.
-Email message recovered from Kira Leevan’s computer

There was no way the truck’s driver could stop in time. If he swerved, the truck would probably jackknife and crush me, along with everyone else on the sidewalk. Even bolstered as I was, I wouldn’t be able to telekinetically stop the truck at this distance. So I used my telekinesis and pushed as hard as I could on the ground beneath me. I shot up into the air like a rocket and the truck passed beneath me. I pushed again as I came down, slowing my descent. I landed in a heap on the sidewalk.

A crowd had gathered around me. People were concerned, asking if I was all right. Their faces were a blur to me. The truck had been leaning on its horn and its brakes were still squealing. The acrid scent of burning rubber and sulfur burned my nose and cars crunched as they slammed into the truck’s trailer. Glass glittered and tinkled as it rained down on the pavement. I got to my feet and tried to get away from the crowd. I needed to get to the Bright Side. Maybe later I could use my Glimpse to see who pushed me, but my followers needed my help now.