Darkness & Discovery (The Bespelled Trilogy #2) (14 page)

“Define incapacitated.”

“You’ll see.”

“You better not have left them defenseless.”

Bryn rolled his eyes. “The whole point was to keep them safe, not
to leave them vulnerable.”

“They’re going to be so ticked at you.”

“No they won’t. I’ll play the poor-emotionally-devastated-Bryn
card if I have to, and they won’t have the heart to yell at me.”

I glanced at him and asked, “How are you, anyway?”

“I am, in fact, emotionally devastated. But it feels good to be
out doing something useful. Gives me hope that maybe someday, I’ll no longer
feel like a semi-truck tore through my chest cavity, splattering my heart all
over the interstate.”

“Awesome mental imagery there, Bryn. It’s worthy of a
country-western song.”

Chapter Nine

It was
probably half an hour before we emerged onto a familiar two-lane paved road, and
I suddenly realized we were in the Santa Cruz mountains, not all that far from
where I’d grown up. And still we kept walking.

“You parked this far away?” I asked Bryn. “I didn’t know you could
teleport across such a big distance.”

“Oh, I didn’t teleport all the way in to you. I hiked in, and only
teleported the last few yards when I spotted you in that meadow. I
wish
I could teleport that far! This has all been more exercise than I’ve gotten in
decades. And let me tell you, I don’t care for it,” Bryn said.

We hiked down the road another ten minutes before reaching the
base of a small mountain that didn’t look familiar. “Here we are,” Bryn
announced. A big opening appeared in the side of the mountain, revealing
Alastair and Joey pacing anxiously inside. They were in a cave stuffed with
sports memorabilia and cushy furniture and lined with flatscreen TVs, all of
which were showing sporting events.

“You left them in a literal man cave,” I said with a grin.

“I wanted them to be cozy.”

A moment after they spotted us, Alastair had Athos in a choke
hold, driving him to his knees. “Allie, stop it! He’s with us!” I exclaimed,
and pulled on his arm to try to get him to loosen the literal death grip he had
on my companion.

Alastair looked up at me, not loosening his grip in the slightest.
“Are you ok, Lu?”

“I’m fine, but let go of Athos! He’s on our side. And I almost
killed him less than an hour ago, so choking him right now really isn’t good
for him.”

“What do you mean, he’s on our side?”

“I mean exactly what I said. And isn’t it obvious, given the fact
that he’s not fighting back at all?”

Alastair looked absolutely perplexed, but let go and stepped
between Athos and me, watching him for a long moment. Athos sat on the ground,
staring back at Alastair emotionlessly. And then Allie turned to me and asked,
“
You
almost killed him?”

“Watch the tone! It’s not that far-fetched,” I huffed.

“But this guy’s even bigger than I am,” Alastair persisted.

“You’re teetering on the brink of sexism here. Choose your next
words very carefully,” I told him.

He shot one more look at Athos, then took me in his arms. “Ok, I
choose these words: I was worried sick about you Luna, and I’m so glad you’re
ok. And I’m sorry I underestimated you. You’re a complete badass, and I bow
down to your mad skills.” He planted a kiss on my lips.

“That’s better. Though ‘mad skills’ sounds really funny with a
British accent.”

“But how’d you do it?” he asked.

“With that little snake-handled knife. Turns out Knifey is to
angels as chocolate is to dogs,” I told him. He stared at me blankly, and I
said, “Toxic! Chocolate kills dogs. That bespelled blade kills angels and
nephilim. Apparently one little nick and you’re a goner, so be really careful
around it, ok?”

“All news to me. But that’s good to know.”

Meanwhile, Joey was staring Bryn down with a dark expression on
his face, hands on his hips. “Don’t ever do that again,” he growled. “What
would have happened if you’d gotten yourself killed? We couldn’t bust our way
out of that cave. Believe me, we tried. If something had happened to you, we
would have been buried alive!”

“People always have so little faith in me. If I had died, this
would have happened,” Bryn said, and the entire mountain disappeared, revealing
the black town car parked behind it.

I let go of Alastair and went to Athos, who still sat cross-legged
on the ground. “Are you ok? Let me see your throat,” I said, and he tilted his
head to reveal the spot where I’d cut him. It was bleeding again, and I plucked
the cotton sweater from around my waist and pressed it to the wound. “So I
guess nephilim don’t have that insta-heal thing that vampires do.”

“We do heal fast, usually. But this wound was made with an
atypical weapon. Even though Bryn drew the poison out, the wound’s apparently
not just going to disappear.”

“So is this like, instant Stockholm Syndrome? You were only
missing for four and a half hours,” Joey said. “Did you seriously bond with
your captor in that length of time?”

I sighed and straightened up as Athos took over holding the cloth
to his throat. “No, Joey. That’s not what this is.”

“Ok, cool,” Joey said. “So hey, do you think your knife would let
me borrow it for a few minutes?”

“Maybe. Why do you want it?”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “I want to use it to kill this
Order scumbag that somehow slithered his way into your good graces.”

“I
mean you no harm, I swear,” said Athos.

“Yeah?
Well, I mean you nothing
but
harm,” Joey said, and took a step toward the
big warrior.

I
stopped Joey by splaying my hands out on his chest. Or rather, he
let me
stop him, since he was, of course, much stronger than me and could certainly
push past if he wanted to. “All of you need to learn to play nice, and fast,” I
said. “We have to get out of here. Both Alastair and Athos are now at the top
of the Order’s most wanted list, and they’re really close by.”

Joey
paused, grinding his teeth for a moment before finally conceding, “Yeah, we
really should get out of here.”

We
piled into the town car, Joey driving and Bryn riding shotgun, with me
sandwiched between Alastair and Athos in the back. After a few minutes,
Alastair said quietly, “Please explain to me why you trust this assassin.”

“I
just do,” I said. “He left the Order, and took some sort of awkward vow to
protect me after I asked Bryn to save his life. I really don’t think he’ll try
to harm any of us.”

“You
really believe he suddenly up and left the Order? Why would he do that?”

I
looked at Athos. “You want to field that question?”

“When
I joined the Order four months ago I thought it was about making a difference, about
keeping innocents safe from vampires. But there’s so much more to it than that.
You were right Lu, when you mentioned religious zealotry. They really do think
they’re on a divine mission, and that killing enough vampires will somehow earn
them a place in heaven. Which is insane, of course. Anyone who’s ever read the
Bible knows the nephilim are damned. We’re no more welcome in heaven than
demons. And no good deeds will ever change that,” Athos said quietly.

“Anyway,
once I realized how deeply misguided the Order is, I wanted to find a way out,”
he continued, “even though it’s supposed to be a lifelong commitment. And when
Lu asked Bryn to save me, I knew this was the right time to walk away, no
matter the consequences. I owe both of them my life, and I intend to make sure
they’re safe. With the Order right on our heels, that’s going to be
challenging. But I know I can help them.”

“You
hate Alastair though,” I pointed out. “So there’s an obvious conflict of
interest.”

“It’s
not a question of hating him. He’s a vampire, so he’s not to be trusted. And I
still maintain that you need to be careful around him.” He shot a look at
Alastair over my shoulder.

After
a few moments, Alastair said quietly, “He can stay with us for now. We’ll take
him to Las Vegas, and then part ways. The Order will be gunning for him in a
big way now that he’s a deserter, and this will at least put a little distance
between him and his former comrades, give him a fighting chance at survival.”

Athos
looked surprised as he said, “Thank you.”

It was the middle of
the night by the time we made it to the airport. But the cool thing about
chartering your own plane (besides
chartering your own plane!
) was the
fact that you really couldn’t miss your flight.

Our
pilot had been on stand-by and met us at the terminal, and in just a few
minutes the flight crew announced we were ready to board. I started to head for
the little aircraft. But Alastair held back.

“So,
um, yeah…I really can’t get on that thing,” he told me when I came up to him.
“I’ll just drive there and meet you in Las Vegas tomorrow night.”

“As
if I’d leave you behind. If you’re driving, then I am too,” I told him.

“That’s
silly. Why should you miss out on travelling first class, just because I’m being
a coward?”

I
rested my hands on his waist. “As if I care about travelling first class.”

“Still.”

Bryn
had been nearby during our conversation, and he strolled up to us now and said,
“You’re not afraid of flying, Allie.”

“I’m
not?”

“You
didn’t like airplanes when they were a new mode of transportation. You didn’t
trust them. But you overcame that distrust by getting your pilot’s license,”
Bryn told him.

“You’re
joking.”

“It’s
a control thing,” Bryn said. “You don’t like being a passenger because you’re not
in control. But you like piloting a plane just fine.”

Alastair
smiled weakly. “Think the pilot might hand over the controls to an amnesiac?”

“Nope.
But
I
will. Come on,” Bryn said.

“What
are you talking about?”

“You’ll
see.”

We
boarded the plane and Bryn led a more than a little reluctant Alastair up to
the cockpit, whispering something to the two flight attendants on the way past.
They both smiled and left the plane. I followed Alastair, and hung back at the
door of the little cockpit as Bryn leaned in and whispered something in the
pilot’s and then the co-pilot’s ear.

The
pilot smiled and got out of his seat. “Have a nice flight,” he said. And both
pilots brushed past me as they too left the plane.

“What
did you do to get them to leave?” I wanted to know.

“I
bespelled them. Just temporarily. Told everyone to go home and have a nice cup
of cocoa and relax.”

Bryn
slid into the co-pilot’s seat and patted the recently vacated pilot’s chair.
“Hop on up here, mate,” he said to Alastair.

“Why?”
Alastair asked.

“So
you can fly the plane, of course.”

“You’re
certifiable. I can’t fly this!”

“Sure
you can. You can drive a car without your memories by simply doing it and not thinking
about it. I guarantee flying will be the same way,” Bryn told him.

“I’m
telling you, it’s impossible.”

Bryn
sat cross-legged on the seat and rested his hands palms-up on his knees, middle
finger touching thumb. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, and said, “
Be
the airplane.”

“Yeah,
not bloody likely,” Alastair exclaimed. “I don’t even know where to begin.”

Bryn
sat up in the seat and put on a pair of headphones. “Ok, I’ll get you started,”
he said. And then he turned to the incredibly complex control panel before him
and began flipping switches. He actually looked like he knew what he was doing.

“Are
you qualified to fly a plane?” Alastair asked him.

“Of
course! Just like you. Lu, be a dear and make sure everyone’s all buckled up
back there, will you?”

Joey
and Athos were sitting as far from one another as was possible in the main
cabin. Joey had a menacing scowl on his face and sat glaring at Athos, while
the nephilim was back to doing his statue imitation, gazing back emotionlessly.

When
Joey saw me he asked, “Where’d the crew go?”

“Um…Bryn
sent them away.”

“So
why are we sitting here like this if we don’t have a pilot?” Joey wanted to
know.

“Because
Bryn’s going to fly us to Vegas.”

“Bryn?”

“And
Alastair.”

“Are
they nuts?” Joey jumped up and rushed to the cockpit.

I
went over to Athos and said, “So, this is an odd request, but do you want to
trade me your t-shirt for your jacket? My luggage is down in the cargo hold,
and I’m absolutely roasting in this huge thing.”

“Not
a problem.” He shucked off his black t-shirt and handed it to me, and then
pivoted away in his chair as I took his jacket off, only turning back around
when I’d pulled the shirt on.