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Samuel tried to figure out what would have caused a vampire like Merl to have given up his fortune, his occupation, the life he’d built on Third Earth, to come here and live, literally, off the grid. He wanted to think the worst of Merl, that he was some kind of psychotic outlaw, but he sensed that Merl possessed a warrior’s honorable core, despite his interest in Vela.
Merl sat down in a low-chair angled from the corner of the room. “All right you two, have a seat and I’ll tell you what’s going on, or what I think is going on. ” He sighed heavily. “Well, it was a nice five- decade run. Fuck. ” Vela crossed to the couch opposite the entry wall. She sat down, shoving the left mass of her hair over her right shoulder. Somewhere along the way, she’d set her martini glass down.
Samuel remained where he was. “I’ll stand. ” He reached down near Merl’s chair, picked up the terry robe and threw it at Merl’s bare, muscled chest.
Merl laughed, waved the hand with the cigarette, and the terry was once more wrapped around him. But he smirked.
“Probably a good idea you don’t sit down,” Merl said. “You’d mess up my furniture, with that black smoke that leaks out of you. It’s called grayle, by the way. ” He even spelled it. “And rare on Third.
Not the grayle, just the color of it. ”
“How so?”
“Those gifted with this kind of power, like me, can release just about any shade of grayle from light gray to white.
But not that charcoal shit. You’ve got tremendous latent power because of it. ” Recalling the way his power had streamed and killed those men, Samuel had to agree. He quickly repressed the guilt that was always about an inch away.
Merl glanced between the two of them and frowned. He did
n’t speak right away, but the line of his lips tightened.
Finally, he said, “All right, I want to hear this from the beginning then I’ll answer your questions. How the hell did you end up in the darkening grid that connects Second and Third Earth?”
Chapter Four
Vela reeled from the recent scrapping match between the men. She’d never seen anything like it, or at least not to this degree. She’d witnessed similar antics when her husband and other Militia Warriors would gather in a knot around the BBQ and do some proverbial chest- thumping.
In this case, however, Samuel had looked ready to tear Merl apart.
Fortunately, the Third ascender out- powered Samuel with his own Third ability, otherwise the men would probably have battled for hours.
She’d therefore done the only thing she could think of, which had actually worked, when she’d rained a series of about twenty fireworks down from the ceiling until each stopped his caveman posturing.
Of course, it would have helped more if she’d actually disliked that Samuel had gone caveman on her. At the very least, the breh-hedden had a strong sexual component and watching the warrior exhibit all that possessive behavior had worked her libido like throwing a match on a gasoline-soaked campfire.
Poof, instant blaze.
She knew what had been going on and that Merl had been putting out his own feelers, though she thought his intentions ranged on the side of riling Samuel up.
The discussion had turned, just as it should, to their current predicament, and since her power had led her here, straight to Merl, who lived in some kind of reclusive state on Second, she told him all that she knew, including what she’d seen of Duncan’s horrific imprisonment.
Merl had started out intrigued by what had brought them into his house, but by the end of her narrative, he’d slumped in his chair, took the last drag of his cigarette before folding it away, then released a heavy sigh.
“Well, fuck,” he said succinctly.
Samuel crossed his arms over his chest. “Not helping. But damn if I don’t think you know exactly what’s going on. ” Merl slid his gaze in Samuel’s direction and the men exchanged a long look until Merl finally dipped his chin. “In part. But I’ll begin here. The fact that the two of you were able to engage the darkening grid, and travel between dimensions, tells me that certain warring factions of Third Earth have begun an infiltration of this dimension. Someone’s on the prowl, looking to utilize whatever power Second has to offer, maybe even to take over, who the hell knows. ”
“But what does that have to do with us? Why Vela and me?” Merl shrugged.
“I’ve always believed that forces are constantly at work to sustain balance in our dimensional world, and I don’t mean Upper Dimension forces, but something outside our comprehension. Call it the Creator or the Universe, whatever. ” Samuel snorted. “You’re talking metaphysical bullshit. ” Merl met his gaze. “If that idea doesn’t appeal, think of it as genetic intervention, that certain ascenders have genetic markers that get ticked when elements or stressors arise, like war. Then powers emerge, like yours and Vela’s, to counter other darker, more chaotic energies. ” Vela twined a thick lock of her hair around her finger and turned toward Samuel. He’d said that his power had taken hold while he’d been bound by ropes and tortured. And hers had emerged at a time when three rogue generals were about to plunge Second Earth into a new round of war and misery. Maybe Merl was onto something.
She released the lock of hair. “Well, setting philosophy aside, tell us about Third Earth, what’s going on up there?”
“Nasty war. Much worse than Second. You don’t want to get drawn into their conflict but it looks like you just might. The trouble with Third is that there are several factions vying for supremacy right now, not just one. ”
“What’s at the heart of the war?” Samuel asked. “Territorial disputes?”
“Vast disputes, going back millennia. ”
