The Seven (Fist of Light Series) (41 page)

“
He can manipulate Darkness, in every shape and form. Become shadow, invisible to those around him
.”

“He can manipulate Darkness?!” My voice rose to a shout. “Don’t you think this would have been pertinent information when we were attacked by hounds formed from Darkness?” I slapped the steering wheel angrily.

“
I was not at liberty to speak at that time. And he has never had the ability to shape Darkness to that extent. There have always been limitations. I believe it has something to do with the dimensional being that he summoned to this world. The Fist of Darkness is a resourceful, implacable fellow. He would not be content with a powerful being akin to his own power, running rampant in what he believes to be his world. No, I believe he transported the being to this world because of the compatibility between their powers. It was unfettered, in the beginning, and reckless. But the killings have stopped, and there is only one possible explanation.”

“Well, get on with it,” I urged impatiently.

“
It is probable that the beast is no more, its essence, soul, and power consumed, as Aurelia alluded to. What he has gained is unknown to me, however, we know he can tamper with the minds and characteristics of animals, manipulate them and force them into Darkness. What could be the limit to power such as this
?
And what fuels his abilities now
?
What you are facing is not merely a Fist of Darkness. Do you not hear an off
-
tone clamoring in your head, boy
?
The Call is tainted, like it has never been before. Nature’s intent has been tampered with
.”

“We are
so
screwed.” Jas dropped his face into his hands.

“Well that’s no way to think, or talk.” I slapped Jas on the back of the head. “We have children in the car.”

The GPS informed me of our imminent route change, and I prepared to get onto 101 South. We were around a quarter-way through our journey, and it appeared that it was going to be a long one. If Jeeves was right, I was racing toward someone who had been originally equal to my stature in power, but who also had a veritable army at his command. At this point in time, it was obvious that he had become much more. Insane, but possessing genius, and no genius I knew would recklessly throw any chance of success away by a frontal assault, with no logic behind the move. No, he had been spreading fear throughout the city for the past few days, and that provided him with power. I was sure of it.

That fear would in turn spawn mass panic and chaos, which would compound upon itself until Kasper had all the power he needed to implement his manic designs. The world would be at its knees, and I would be eradicated off the face of this earth. Swerving erratically with sweat beading my face, I took the ramp that would direct us toward our final destination. So far, our luck had held, despite the fact that I had learned we were probably driving to our ultimate demise. Kasper wouldn’t even have to come find us, we were coming to him, and likely, he had planned for that eventuality all along. But how could I not? If I refused to act, the end result would have turned out worse than my current plan; I would be alive and kicking when he came for me, and he would be an unstoppable powerhouse by that time. No other course besides the one already decided upon presented itself. There was no other viable alternative.

Car horns blared on every side, and I found they were really starting to get on my nerves. Checking behind me, I made sure that the rest of the team was still keeping up and was reassured to see that they were. It seemed I would have some additional information to explain to them when we made it to our destination. I couldn’t just let them walk into an augmented level of danger without any warning. Somehow, my thought processes and logical reasoning had been overridden and I was flying by the seat of my pants into the most dangerous situation I had ever had the displeasure of being embroiled in. When I searched within myself, however, I found only satisfaction with my decision, despite all the dangers. No doubt I was becoming a suicidal, masochistic person. I should probably have turned the car around and headed for the nearest shrink. But one thing was certain: the rest of the team had to be briefed, for we could not proceed without allowing them to weigh every risk.

I wasn’t surprised to find the level of performance from the Shelby was more than adequate. Having pushed the car relentlessly in the 120s throughout the span of our trip, I expected some kind of failing. There were none to be found, and with each leg of the journey, I became increasingly anxious to arrive at our target. That incessant clamoring in the back of my head could no longer be ignored. Jeeves had relayed to me that there was always a Call, one that urged The Seven to converge and decide where the balance will tip. Except this one was fragmented, and I was becoming more and more certain that it was because of the imbalance of the scales that Nature herself had directed. All bets were off.

Considering I didn’t possess much experience in my field yet, I couldn’t decide whether that was really, really bad, or need-new-underwear kind of bad. Most likely, I wouldn’t have to dwell upon that question for very long.

Zack and Simon were too curious to have waited for me to fill them in, and so I respected their wishes and enlightened them. As one would expect, that put quite a damper on small talk. We weren’t thirty minutes from our objective, and there could be no mistake as to what awaited us: a supernatural bloodbath of epic proportions. A blinker flashed, and I was forced off to the side of the road in order to maneuver around the obstacle. Another horn blared, and I winced at the harsh noise, which pummeled the inside of my skull with the ferocity of a pro linebacker.

Realistically, I should have expected what followed, but was too distracted to take notice until it was too late. Flashing red and blue lights became visible at the next exit as a police car entered the freeway and prepared to chase us down. The sun was only scarcely above the horizon, and my gut told me that shit would get real when there was no more natural illumination to light the scene.

“
Cop
!” Simon pointed, his finger extending backward.

I put the pedal to the metal. “Nice spot, I’ve got him in my sights. It seems things are about to get a whole lot more complicated.”

“Don’t you think we should stop?” Jas twitched, fiddling with his seat belt.

“No, I hardly think now is the time to be pulled off the side of the road, when San Francisco is about to become a present-day ruin and mass gravesite.” My fingers flexed on the wheel, and my hand latched possessively onto the gear-shift.

Zack acted as the voice of reason. “You can’t outrun radios.”

“Maybe not forever,” I said grimly. “But we only have another twenty miles to go. Stop now, and we’ll be wasting valuable time that we no longer have. Trust me.” I winced, massaging my temple.

“You okay, Caleb?” Jas asked.

“I’m fine. You wouldn’t understand.” I softened the blow somewhat.

Jas looked hurt. “Try me.”

I rubbernecked, looking back over my shoulder as the police car entered the flow of traffic and its operator gave the vehicle its all in order to catch us. “There’s a Call that each Seven hears, which points them in the direction they’re supposed to go. Jeeves explained it to me. Razor and Hailey were compelled to find me, and I’m similarly urged, so that my path coincides with that of the Fist of Darkness. The whole thing’s gone to hell, since Kasper the not-so-friendly ghost decided to inhale the essence of a dark and incredibly tainted being from another dimension.”

Jas’ mouth formed a perfect oval. “Oh. You were right, that went right over my head, except for that last bit.”

Now, the cops might not have been too happy with me if they caught up to us in the city, but I had high hopes for Noah’s ability to alleviate any legal complications that arose from our escapade, if we survived the night. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the Ferrari dip back in traffic and grinned despite the gravity of the situation.

“Can’t you blow his tires to smithereens or something?” Zack was peering out the window, which provided an unadulterated view of our pursuer.

“I don’t think I’ll be needing to
do
anything,” I replied cryptically.

The policeman pulled parallel to Razor. “PULL OVER! I REPEAT, PULL OVER!” the intercom blared.

I extended my senses out in order to discern the implementation. I hoped Razor and Hailey wouldn’t resort to blowing anyone to smithereens, as Zack had suggested, but we would benefit greatly if there was no one to give away our position to any cop in the vicinity. If we could just create a fifteen-minute window, we would be able to escape relatively unmolested. As I weaved through honking cars and disgruntled commuters, I felt a change in the Air and Fire warmed the back of my neck. Two largely different powers were working in concert to superheat the Air within the tires of the police car. Razor and Hailey were quite the team. Such cooperation was no doubt difficult in the extreme; I hadn’t the faintest idea how to go about it.

Two of the tires, both oriented on the right side of the vehicle, went
kaboom
. The police car narrowly avoided crashing into a retaining wall and then came to rest on the side of the road, where it remained immobile. The slamming of brakes was readily audible to my hypersensitive ears, and I winced as I anticipated a multiple-car crash, but it never came. In the middle distance, a storm cloud dark as night was visible, hanging like an angel of death over the city.

“Nice!” Simon shared a high-five with Zack, and I grinned conspiratorially.

“Well, I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that one.” Jas smirked. “But I’m sure he’s called for backup by now, if he hadn’t already. We’re in for an old-fashioned chase scene, with a supernatural twist!”

“I think we need more police cars for that to be applicable,” Simon said.

“Jas,” I prodded.

“What’s up?” He cocked his head to one side.

“I never got the chance to tell you before, and things started getting pretty crazy after that. Remember when I found you, and we repelled off that cliff face? I stumbled across a way to utilize our bond to find each other. In case we get separated, I think it’s an important element to have up our sleeves.” I quickly outlined how to follow the metaphysical line stretched between us, and ride it into each other’s consciousness.

“Holy crap,” he said. He transported his mind within my own and saw himself through my eyes. Weird.

“Quite,” I said. “Anyways, I just thought it was a good time to bring this to the table, before it was too late. It’s going to get hectic out there.”

Jas nodded his head morosely. “We have quite a challenge before us.”

Yeah, we only had to stop the First of Darkness from destroying the world.

N
ot surprisingly, there wasn’t a single pursuer on our tail throughout the remainder of our journey. It was likely the cops were tied up with more imperative dilemmas and couldn’t spare the time to chase down some juvenile street racers. Still, our sports cars painted us as targets the minute we got off the freeway, so I didn’t respect anything regarding streetlights. If I had stopped for more than a brief moment, the fear-crazed citizens would have been on us. There were some insurmountable odds likely to challenge us in the venue of the common man, and I wasn’t prepared to do harm to those who had gone bonkers during a very credible crisis. Despite that, I wasn’t going to allow anyone to distract me from getting to Union Square, so it was decided that we would stop currently and leg it from here.

I hoped Noah possessed a plethora of well-maintained auto insurance. His monthly premium was about to skyrocket. We pulled into a parking structure, carefully avoiding a few others that looked to be in a state of disrepair and experiencing technical difficulties. I gave a reassuring pat to my Mustang, wishing her luck in the coming hours. She would need it, if the news wasn’t exaggerating the crisis, as they tend to do with most everything. No one was to be seen in the parking complex, which was reassuring, although there was some evidence of those who had passed through. Exhibit A was a Beamer that had been crashed into a wall and then abandoned. Exhibit B was a burned-out trashcan, although I had no idea what had possessed anyone do to such a thing.