Stone Guardian (21 page)

“What?”

“People are watching me.”

“My friend already assumed that. I’ve got it covered. Just be waiting in the lobby.”

“I’ll be there,” said Larissa, hanging up the phone even as she went to her bureau for shirt and pants.

Gods, it would be so good to get some answers. If she knew the why, maybe Terak…

Terak.

His name brought her up short. What should she do? Who knew if he was guarding her? Maybe he left with his
In-ten-ded
.

She winced. Who knew her subconscious could be so bitchy?

She sat down on the bed, wasting time she didn’t have but needing a minute. If she had gotten two hours of sleep she was lucky, and even that short time was filled with unremembered but unsettling dreams, the type that sour your mood the next day even when you can’t remember a single detail about them.

This needed to be put to rest inside her, fast. She didn’t have the luxury of acting all Junior High School, pouting because the boy she liked didn’t like her back and taking it out on the world.

She liked Terak.

There. She admitted it. Damn Junior High.

Maybe more than like, or within easy distance of that thought. But even if he didn’t have an Intended – not like that was a small issue – they still could never be together. He was a leader who was dragging his Clan into this new world and dealing with the consequences of those actions. And she was a human who once this finished would go back to teaching kids and pretending everything outside the city gates didn’t exist.

Right?

No.

No. It was loud and clear and certain. No, she wouldn’t be going back to that life.

She could picture clear as day the look on dad’s face as he worried over Michael, the only child who had ever left the nest.

She loved her father, but for the first time, the thought of that look wasn’t enough to have her backing down.

No, when this was over, it was time to explore this world, to learn all the things she wanted to learn but denied herself out of the fear of hurting her father. It was time to make her place. It was time to cut the strings and leave the nest. She fooled herself in thinking moving out of the house was the only step she needed to take to make that happen, but she wouldn’t make that mistake again.

A lightness hollowed out her chest, and she couldn’t breathe deep enough to fill it. Tears and laughter were threatening in equal measure, and it would be really nice if her mind would choose a more appropriate time to make known these little revelations. She had ten minutes before she had to leave to meet someone who might know what’s going on.

Which brought her back to Terak.

And any more revelations would be for later. Right now, she would leave it at she needed him near and by her side. He was the only one she could trust.

Dressed, teeth and hair brushed, shoes on with five minutes to spare, and she went out to the balcony, waving her arms and jumping up and down. If he wasn’t near the silver ball was stashed in her pocket and she’d call him while on the road.

Within moments Terak landed in front of her. Relief and a whole slew of emotions she threw into her mental lockbox ran through her. “You’re here.”

“Where else would I be?”

“I have some news. My friend Olivia knows someone she thinks might be able to help us. She called me and is on her way here to pick me up.”

Terak stilled, his claws flexing at this unexpected piece of news. Damn, she should have told him about this possibility earlier, but so much had happened and she forgot all about it. “Who is she taking you to see?”

Larissa shook her head. “I have no clue. Olivia wouldn’t say, but from what I gather he is a difficult man to talk to. He’s in hiding from something, I don’t know what.”

Terak was already shaking his head. “I do not like this. I do not want you going to an unknown.”

She wasn’t thrilled about the thought either. She was still shaky from earlier – both of the night’s surprises. There was nothing to be done though. “In this case, I don’t think we have a choice. The chance to learn something supersedes the fact we’re flying blind.”

Terak snarled, but Larissa paid it no mind. It was aimed at the situation, not her. “This Olivia, you are sure she is trustworthy?”

Talk about echoes in conversation. Larissa could only answer the same way she had earlier. “Yes, I’m sure. Of course, I don’t know him so I’m not trusting him. That’s why I want you to come with me.”

Surprise crossed his features at that. “You are not going to fight me on this?”

“Remember when I told you I’m not stupid and won’t go into situations alone I have no business in to try to prove something? This is what we call a case in point. But you can’t come as a gargoyle. You are going to need to switch into human.” Terak’s mouth tightened and his tail twitched. Time for some charm. “You can protect me, I know you can, no matter what form you wear. And you can switch if it becomes necessary. But like you said, we’re walking into an unknown, and they don’t need to know I have a gargoyle watching over me. The less information we give them the better. So please, trust me?”

*****

In his human form, Terak rode in the backseat of the car as it travelled outside of the city limits. Larissa was at his side and her friend Olivia drove the vehicle. Olivia kept glancing at him via the rearview mirror, but didn’t say anything about the man who had unexpectedly joined the trip.

He wore a shirt that belonged to one of Larissa’s brothers. It was small, but not so much that he could not move in it. He wished that one of the brother’s had left their human weapons at her home. He flexed his hand, despising the flimsy fingernails where claws should be. Yes, he could change, but what if those moments were the moments that decided Larissa’s fate?

They stopped in front of a large building, no decoration on the outside and no other buildings around it. It was a unique location, giving the impression of being completely insular, but in reality only minutes away from the bustle of the outer metropolis.

Upon entering, Larissa exclaimed, “I was not expecting this from the outside.”

He believed humans called this a bar, a gathering place for celebrations. But even without personal experience, he could see this was a place the very powerful and important would inhabit. Everything gleamed in rich tones and sumptuous fabrics, and one could almost feel the wealth that had went into creating it.

“Right on time.”

Terak zeroed in on the voice that came from a door on the side. It was a human adult male, but he stood no taller than a youngling who had not yet reached majority. His brown hair hung in a careless fashion around his face, but his green eyes did not project carelessness – they were lit with intelligence and an edge that Terak ground his teeth against, and he fought his instinct to step closer to Larissa and give anything away to this man.

Olivia motioned between everyone. “Rhaum, this is my friend Larissa and her friend, Terak.”

Rhaum’s eyes flickered between them. “Pleasure to meet you both.”

“Where is Simon?”

Rhaum answered Olivia’s question with a movement of his head, motioning to stairs across from them.

“Thanks,” said Olivia. Turning to them, she said, “Let’s go.”

Terak’s impression of wealth only intensified as they walked up the stairs and toward a hidden room in the corner. This was an important place, and that man – Rhaum – was not one to be disregarded.

Olivia reached the door first, opening it and going inside. When Larissa made to follow her Terak held her back, placing her behind him. Her mouth tightened but she did not gainsay him.

He entered only scant inches, enough to take in the room and the lone male inhabitant.

“What trickery is this?”
Olivia had betrayed them. He would tear her limb from limb to inflict the same hurt upon her she had visited upon Larissa.

“No! No, I promise, it’s not what you think!” Olivia’s wails were entwined with Larissa’s scared, confused words behind him. “Terak? Terak! What’s happening,
please
.”

“So you know what I am, do you?”

The male’s steady, even voice cut through the confusion. He didn’t look up. Instead, his concentration was on the vials and beakers before him, all filled with a multitude of bubbling and colorful concoctions.

Terak felt Larissa’s chin graze his arm as she looked around him into the room. She gasped, and he knew then she saw the man as well. His skin was sallow with a flaky appearance. His hair was thinning, dandruff thick on his scalp. He was thin but bloated.

He looked up from a purple concoction, zeroing in on Larissa. “Hello young lady. Do you understand your protector’s worry now?”

Terak knew she nodded by the scrape of her chin against his arm “You’re a zombie, aren’t you?”

“Manner of speaking,” Simon said. “Most zombies don’t have their original thoughts left and were created to mindlessly follow the orders of their master. That was not the case for me, which is why I’m not aligned with bad guys and am hanging here.”

Larissa was pushing against Terak, without words telling him to move and let her in the room. Olivia was standing on the side, her eyes begging him to believe this was not a trap.

He had thought he had prepared for every possible situation, but this… this was beyond his comprehension. Before him was an abomination, the culmination of a necromancer’s lust for death and destruction. He spoke to the creature. “Why would they create one such as you? I have never heard of any like you before.”

Simon had already turned back to his bubbling tubes. He was studying one, making notes. “They turned me because I am a being of exceptional brilliance.”

Larissa gave a small laugh behind him. “Not exactly modest.”

“I’m a man of science. I deal in truth, not obfuscation.” Simon finished his notes, then after lowering the heat on the tube, turned his attention back to them. “That truth was why they made me undead in the first place. Cancer would have killed me within six months and they didn’t want to lose me.”

“Who is your master?” Terak asked.

“Don’t have one,” Simon answered.

“Do not lie to me, creature. All of your kind has a master.”

Simon shook his head as a teacher would at an unruly student. “I don’t lie. A necromancer created me, yes, but he is not my master. No one controls me.”

“I have never heard of such a thing.”

“Yes, well, weren’t you the one who said you never heard of anything like me before?” The zombie motioned toward Larissa. “Can the young woman come in now? I understand she has questions for me.”

There was a poke in his ribs, no doubt from Larissa’s finger. She did indeed want in the room. With ill will he stepped in the room to let her enter, but when she made a move to stand in front of him he held his arm to the side, not letting her any further than his side. Again she gave that small huff, but she stayed put.

He might be willing to accept this was not a trap, but he would not let her nearer. No matter what the creature believed, a necromancer created him and a necromancer would always be master to him. “Why would a necromancer create one that had free will? It is counter to their interests.”

The zombie shrugged. “I’m a man of science and I don’t know the intricacies of necromantic magic. My understanding is if they had imprinted me, I would have lost my genius and been useless to them.”

“Then why are you not with your creator now?”

“As my free will and my genius remained, so did my morality. I may be a zombie, but I am in all other ways still the human male who existed before the Great Collision.” He motioned to himself with a sweep of his arm down the front of his body, and for the first time Terak detected emotion, a flicker of disgust at what was beheld. “Do you think I want others to become this? The necromancers to win? No, not at all. I want them defeated.”

“If they are defeated, you will cease to exist.” Cruel words, but truth. How would the zombie react?

The creature took the news as calmly as one would a situation that peace had been made with long ago. “I should have died seven years ago. Even if I expire this moment, I’ve gotten more than my share.”

Larissa’s hand touched Terak’s shoulder, giving his arm a small caress. “Do you know anything that can help me?”

Simon shook his head. “I don’t know any specifics about you. I’ve been away from them too long. But what I do know what their ultimate goal is, and with what Olivia has told me, I have to assume somehow you are mixed up in that.”

“Ultimate goal? You mean beyond the usual of bringing death and mayhem wherever they go?”

Simon’s face showed no response to Larissa’s attempt at levity. “They want to rip the Human Realm and the Magic Realm apart.”

“Impossible,” Terak breathed, unable to stop his head from shaking, unable to stop his body from backing away even as the gasps from both Olivia and Larissa sounded in his ears. “You speak of the impossible. The realms are forever entwined. All the great mages have proclaimed it.”

Simon’s eyes bore into his. “The realms can’t be separated in a way that won’t involve carnage and destruction on a scale unparalleled in the history of either realm. When has that ever been a deterrent to a necromancer?”

Terak thought back to the First Council after the Great Collision, where various leaders came together to understand how to proceed. His father had journeyed forth against the advice of many in the Clan, bringing him and his mother. He remembered how one – an elf? – asked if it was possible the realms could ever be separated.

The mage hesitated, then replied, “No spell is impossible, only the conditions which surround it.”

It was double-speak at the time, a way to say no without appearing less powerful, and he and his father, as well as the cadre of leaders, paid no mind to those words. But if this creature was correct? He asked Simon, “This separation of the realms? What would happen exactly?”

Simon shook his head. “I don’t know any specifics. I know we are entering a short period of time where it will be possible to rip the realms apart – planets in alignment and other mystical happenings. If they are able to make this happen, the Human Realm will be destroyed while the Magic Realm will revert back to the way it was before.”