The Generator: The Succubae Seduction (59 page)

“So long as you stay loyal to him, and protect him, your hand will remain whole,” the man says, and then wearily sits back down. “Now go, you two. One of my dolphins will guide you. We’ll talk more when you return.” With a wave of his hand I feel something tug at my navel and have to blink as the world around me grows too bright.

“What just happened?” Brooke’s voice sounds to my right.

“I think we were dismissed,” I reply unhappily.

It takes me a few moments to clear my eyes enough to see in the bright outdoors, and another second to get used to the washed out colors. A small dolphin is swimming through the air in front of me and I have to admit that even after all I’ve seen in the last couple months, this strikes me as very wrong.

“I suppose he’s our guide.” Brooke’s words act as a catalyst, and the dolphin, no longer than two feet from nose to tail, begins to swim away. The creature looks completely natural as it moves through the air, that for a moment I get the crazy notion that the air is as thick as water, and have to stop myself from trying to swim after it.

I follow without hesitation, and I can hear Brooke coming up behind me.

“Lyden, wait. How do we know we can trust him?” I ascertain she’s referring to Shemhazau and not the dolphin.

“Do we have a choice?” I ask in all seriousness.

“Well, no, but you don’t understand what he’s put us up to. Commander Douglas is one of the best swordsmen I’ve ever heard of. He may claim that someone has walked away from him, but I’ve never heard of them.” Her newly reformed hand on my shoulder slows me, but I refuse to stop.  “We don’t stand a chance against him.”

“Do I have a choice?” I ask her again, without looking her way.

She’s silent for a while, before she says, “The amount of power he must have to fix my hand and dismiss us like that. . . . Lyden, I don’t know who that man is, but he is nearly as powerful as the one of the Pillars.”

“You want to know why he doesn’t come for this talisman himself,” I state, knowing where her mind is going. “I think it’s because he’s cursed by Masamune. He
can’t
come for it himself.”

“And how will you break his curse, so that you can use his sword to augment yours?” Her words are delivered softly, but I can hear the fear that drives them.

“I don’t think that will be a problem,” I tell her, ideas falling into place in my mind. “He said you had to protect me to keep your fingers, right? Why would he do that, if he meant me harm?” For some odd reason the paranoia this place engenders doesn’t seem to be affecting me when it comes to the crazy old man. Odd, since I’d been so suspicious of him earlier. Maybe I’m just finally willing to accept my fate.

That, or I’m too tired of the situation to care. I don’t like where that thought leads, and I shove it away. I’m not ready to lie down and accept fate yet.

She doesn’t respond to my statement, and we walk in silence for a bit until she says, “Maybe we can talk to Commander Douglas. I worked with him once, and—“

“He killed my parents,” I say, cutting her off.

“I had a hand in that too, remember? Do you plan on killing me?” her snide voice almost makes me turn on her, but after all that time trying to keep my emotions in check, and with Muramasa still remaining silent, I’m able to keep myself under control.

“You saved my life and have protected me since I was a child,” I tell her. Steel has more emotion in it than my voice does right now. “I love you, and will do everything in my power to keep you safe. What redeeming qualities does Douglas have?”

To my surprise, she actually laughs lightly. “Sorry,” she dissembles when I look at her questioningly. “It’s just . . . I’ve never heard anyone call him just Douglas. He’s always been Commander Douglas. It actually makes him seem less formidable.”

“How old are you?” I ask, suddenly more curious than cautious. Her eyes grow wide as she looks at me, caught off guard by the sudden change in subject. Thank you, Shemhazau for that trick. “Even when I was a kid, you looked as beautiful and young as you do now. The way you talked about your old commanding officer… it’s as if you’ve known him for a very long time.”

She looks forward again, and this time the silence that follows is almost palpable.

Giving the question up as lost, I try to enjoy the scenery and the unique experience of following a swimming dolphin through the air.

The porpoise stops suddenly, and Shemhazau’s voice pours from its open toothy mouth. “He keeps the talisman around his neck at all times, knowing it is something we both need to break our curse. He has long desired my death, and enjoys taunting me with how close he is, knowing that I can’t come for him. What you’re looking for looks like a pearl, but has striations of ivory and ebony throughout it.” Without any further warning, the small creature swims straight upwards, and is soon lost in the too bright sky.

“Where to now?” I ask, looking around.

I spot the answer at the same time Brooke points, and we begin walking towards a light blue hut on the edge of a large pond.

“Let me do the talking,” Brooke says as we come up to the door.

“What do you plan to talk to me about?” a voice behind us startles us. We flip around to see an older man, sword held out and at the ready. We hadn’t seen anyone outside, and he’s caught us completely off guard.

When he sees Brooke’s face, his jaw goes slack and the point of his very sharp weapon dips slightly.

“I thought you were dead,” he mutters before his sharp eyes flicker to me along with the tip of his weapon. “Who are you?”

“He is mine,” Brooke says evenly, stepping in front of me. “What do you mean, you thought I was dead?”

He looks sharply back to the mermaid and shakes his head. “When you vanished after being promoted to full assassin, I assumed that that old bastard, Shemhazau, killed you.”

“Why—?” she asks, but is cut off when the strong man suddenly hugs her to him.

“You don’t know what it means to know our last mission together wasn’t the reason you. . . . But never mind that now, where have you been?” His curious gaze flickers from Brooke’s green eyes to me and back again, before he releases her and steps back suspiciously. “This is him, isn’t it? This is the child you swore you drowned.” His blade is up again, the point pressed against her throat. Anger suffuses his voice as he glares at Brooke. “All these years I assumed Shemhazau killed you when he escaped me. I mourned for your death, but the truth is, you were a traitor. Give me one good reason I shouldn’t give you a second mouth right now.”

“Because you’re a dead man if you do,” I announce. While the man had been talking, I’d slowly unbuckled Muramasa from my hip, and now I hold the cursed blade up, an inch of shiny metal peeking out from the sheath. I can almost hear the blades mantic cries to be fed, but it’s too easy to block out its weakened voice.

Douglas recognizes the blade. I can see genuine fear cross his face as he backs away. I get a good look at his weapon and see that it’s the twin of Brooke’s wavy blue sword.

“You’re working for
him
then?” Douglas spits off to the side as he glares at us. “All this time. . . . And you end up doing his dirty work.” With his left hand, he reaches into his shirt and pulls something out. A round object about as big as my thumb is attached to a leather thong with a piece of wire. White and black lines swirl through the object, making it look as if the thing is made of liquid as the lines aren’t stationary. “I suppose this is what you’re after? You’ll have to peel it from my cold dead hands, if you can. Come Traitor; let’s see how good you are with your betrayer’s blade.”

I can see that the man’s words hurt Brooke, and I feel true anger rise up in me that he would treat someone I care deeply for in such a manner. Keeping Muramasa sheathed, I step in, trying to knock his enchanted blade aside.

A loud
crack
resounds and my blade goes flying, sheath and all. Screaming in sudden pain, I drop to my knees cradling my broken wrist. How did he move so fast?

“Hmph,” Douglas grunts derisively. “I thought I would have more to fear from Masamune’s twin. Come Traitor, and test your blade against mine. Let’s see how much you remember of my training.”

My world splits into two portions, one focused on my excruciating pain, and the other on Brooke. She’d said no one was better than this man. She’d made it clear who she thought the victor would be if it came to blows.

Now they were about to fight.

My mermaid lover draws her sword. I notice that there is no sound when it clears the sheath. The two watery blue blades face each other, mere inches separating their incredibly sharp blades. Neither one moves for a moment, eyes locked on their opponent. Having held Muramasa out, I know how hard it can be to hold a blade entirely steady, but theirs could be attached to statues, they’re so still.

Brooke takes a step to her right, and Douglas smoothly follows suite. The redhead now stands between Douglas and me. I realize she’s protecting me.

I stand up, wanting to help out however I can. “No, stay back,” Brooke says without breaking eye contact. “This isn’t a fight you can help with.” Her voice is flat and emotionless as she commands me to stay put.

I think to change into a dragon, but the pain in my wrist stops me from concentrating enough to do so.

“I’m glad to see you can keep your emotions in check, Traitor. At least all of my training wasn’t lost on you.” I know he’s only trying to egg her on with his taunts, but they’re striking home in me.

“You killed my parents, and tried to kill an innocent baby,” I say. “At least she actually has a heart that beats in her chest.”

“A heart?” the other man snarls, losing his temper slightly. “After I killed your mother, brat, and your father escaped from me, do you know what he did? He murdered my wife and two daughters while they slept. Don’t talk to me about a heart.”

Brooke uses the man’s outburst as a chance to attack. The two blades strike against each other, sending sparks flying. For tense moments, both combatants face off against each other, the blue metal of their blades creating a cacophony in the bright air, ending when Douglas shoves Brooke away from him. Once again they stop and stare at each other.

So, call me dense, but it’s only now that I realize the true import of everything that’d been said. Shemhazau is my father. He had escaped from Commander Douglas, and the assassin must have claimed he’d killed both my parents when he reported back. My old man is going to have a lot of explaining to do when I return.

“You killed his wife,” I continue talking, hoping to set the man off again and give Brooke another opening. “You tried to kill his child, me. Do you want me to feel guilty that you failed? Ha!” I laugh loudly, using the pain in my right wrist to fuel my voice. The man doesn’t even blink as I speak, and I realize I’m going to have to go with low blows to set him off again. “I hope your family screamed out your name when my father killed them. Does it haunt you at night, knowing that the last person to see them alive was the man you most despise?”

“Shut your fucking mouth,” he snarls, and then has to concentrate on staying alive as Brooke presses the attack, bringing her blade in hard and fast. It’s barely deflected in time, but I still see a line of red open up on the man’s side.

“Maybe your wife offered to suck his cock to save your babies,” I continue, hating myself for speaking these words. I take no joy in what I’m saying, but I’ll do whatever it takes to help Brooke out. “Do you often wonder if he killed them quickly, or took his time? Or did he just kill them as you killed my mother, while she was screaming to save her child?”

Douglas’s temper finally seems to be completely under his control again as he only glares at Brooke. I open my mouth to continue, wracking my brain to come up with something even more vulgar to say, but Brooke interrupts me.

“Lyden, shut up.” Her words delivered without emotion make me obey more than anything else.

“At least you still have some honor,” Douglas states. I can tell he’s breathing heavier. Brooke by comparison is the essence of calm.

“I’m sorry you thought I was dead all these years,” she says to her opponent, her sword clanging as she knocks aside a thrust from him. “That was never my intent. I was a failure as an assassin, unable to complete my mission. I ran away, unable to bear the congratulations of my achievement, when I knew it was false.” As she talks in her flat tone, Brooke slowly begins to draw her blade back, switching hands and lifting it over her head, still pointing at her opponent. “I am truly sorry for your family. Melissa was always kind to me, and I always thought your daughters were cute.”

“Don’t speak her name, Traitor!” Douglas dashes forward and I watch in horror as my dearest friend and protector grabs his naked blade with her newly healed right hand and moves it only slightly, letting it sink into her gut, then holding it there with an iron grip. The tip of his blue steel pokes out her back, but Brooke doesn’t scream out in pain or even acknowledge the mortal wound. Quicker than my horrified eyes can follow, her left arm drops down and a second later the older man’s head is rolling across the ground.

My shock lasts only a second before I rush to her in time to catch my wounded lover with my wounded arm before she hits the ground. I grasp the other blade, but her grip on my arm is firm, stopping me. “Don’t pull it out. You’ll only make the wound worse.” She gasps, showing the pain she’s in for the first time. She looks at her right hand, and laughs for a moment, until the pain stops her. I follow her gaze, and see that her hand is unharmed. “He said that it would remain whole as long as . . . I was protecting you.” Her eyes meet mine, and she gives me a slight smile. “A hundred and forty-two.” I look at her confused, no idea what she’s talking about. “That’s how . . . old I am.” Talking is obviously getting harder for her. Tears sting my eyes as I realize I’m about to lose her.

“Hold on,” I tell her. “I’m going to save you.” Frantically I start racking my brain, trying to come up with some way to reverse the damage to her stomach. There isn’t enough time to sleep and enter her mind. “Shemhazau!” I scream, hoping to get his attention. Maybe he can heal her. “Father, I need you! I can’t lose her. Please, I’ll do anything, just don’t let her die!”