7
Emma and I sat in the waiting room. She held my hand. She couldn’t seem to stop touching me. When I went to grab us some drinks, she insisted on coming with. It was as if she didn’t want me out of her sight. That was fine with me. As far as I was concerned, we would be joined at the hip until Othanos was dead. He’d almost had her, and my brain kept replaying that moment I saw his hand wrapped around her throat. I was right to regret making that promise.
He’d had Emma in his clutches, and I kept to my promise. Bound by my word, I stayed back even as I was overcome with a violence so urgent it nearly rocketed me forward to Othanos. My blood thundered in my ears, urging me to what I'd always done. Fight the dark.
I wanted to tear him to pieces, make sure he never touched Emma again.
After Emma shifted in her seat for the tenth time in five minutes, I murmured, “Are you alright?”
“I…saw things.” She seemed to struggle to find the words. “I don’t know if it was a vision of the future or if it was Othanos’s attempt to freak me out.” Her warm brown eyes turned up to meet mine. “You died. I watched it happen and I couldn’t stop it.”
I kissed the top of her head. “That’s not going to happen.”
Emma nodded and laid her head against my shoulder again, but I sensed she wasn’t convinced. “Thank you for keeping your promise” she said quietly.
I shut my mouth, not mentioning it had nearly killed me hold back.
Her gratitude only aggravated that part of me that wanted to walk out of this hospital and hunt him down. But I didn’t do that anymore. I was with Emma and we lived a normal life. I couldn’t drop everything to walk out the door and not return for weeks or even months to track down this evil.
My pocket vibrated. I pulled out my phone, careful to hit the right button as I was still not adept at using technology. For once, I managed to answer the call in time. “Hello?”
“Calan, it’s Phillip.”
I jerked the phone away from my ear, the volume far too loud. It was then I realized I’d accidently answered a video call.
Emma looked around the empty waiting room. Even the nurse at the desk had disappeared. She nodded, indicating it was alright to proceed via video.
My father was calling. Phillip had a pair of silver reading glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. “I got your message. We are still in Washington. What did you need that couldn’t wait?” They were likely on their private jet which made it easier for me to discuss such matters with him.
“I need your help eliminating a target.”
Emma’s eyes widened. I went on. “A demon by the name of Othanos. We’ve been tracking him at Whack A Ghoul for some time, but he keeps slipping through our grasp. There have been casualties.”
The quick taps of rapid typing came through the phone. “Give me a physical description and run down of his abilities.”
By the time I finished describing the demon, a line formed between Phillip’s eyebrows. “He doesn’t strike me as overly powerful unless you left something out. Is there a reason you can’t take him out yourself?” There was no accusation, only curiosity with underlying concern.
Should I mention the nightmares Emma had been having? The promise I made to her to not go near Othanos? My fear the demon would show up and I would be unable to protect Emma?
In the end I said, “We currently lack the resources to properly track him down and are also under a great deal of pressure.”
Another outraged scream could be heard. “I’m always breathing. If I weren’t breathing, I’d be dead, you idiot.”
“Krystan went into labor,” I explained.
Phillip nodded, pursing his lips against a rueful smile that told me he’d heard her. “Yes, between that, working such long hours, and the wedding, I imagine you both are spread quite thin.” There was a hanging question at the end of his words.
Phillip wouldn’t come out and say it again, but he’d offered to have us work for them at the Order of Veritas.
While the Luxis was in control of the most powerful relics and not one but two Order books, the Veritas had compensated by harvesting financial and political resources. They were now the largest Order and the only one visible to the civilian world. They fed information to the media on how to fight back and advised leaders on how to best deal with the new monsters.
We could choose our assignments, would be generously paid, and eventually groomed to lead the Veritas if it was a good fit. While Emma and I agreed there was a certain appeal to his offer, I wasn’t ready to give up my autonomy. Glancing at Emma, who was listening in and picking at her cuticles, Ylang’s words came back to me.
“There is another matter...” I said, brushing away the nagging thoughts my former master inspired.
Phillip straightened, a gleam in his eye.
I went on. “I wanted to formally request the assistance of Veritas. We would like to borrow the book of your Order, complete with translations.”
