Grimly, Asmodeus said, “He knows we’re involved. He’ll be expecting us to do something.”
It was something Ash had already considered. He nodded. “I know.”
Instinctively, Ash’s free arm closed more tightly around Miri as she ate. If he could have left her behind where she was safe, he would have. As capable as she was at taking care of herself, taking her with him into so much danger still went against the grain. Even so he forked food into his mouth between questions. He suspected that he might need all the sustenance he could get.
“But,” Ba’al said, “without Miri, how much can Templeton do?”
Like all of them Ba’al was tall, his features sharp and lean, with hollows beneath the cheekbones. His skin was the color of highly polished ebony, chased with flashes of red, like banked coals. It suited him, there was a tension in him, a sense of a deep, slow-burning anger that simply waited for the right tinder, the right moment, to explode into wildfire.
“There is that,” Mal interjected, his eyes on Ash and Miri.
With a glance at Asmodeus Ash said, “In this time, this place, Ba’al, the man is like a king. Gordon Templeton owns property across the world, has more gold than even Croesus could dream of. He can do a great deal. In a matter of hours, he called up a private army and set them on us. Helicopters, cars. A lot of manpower. Doubtless they’re still searching.”
All the Daemonae looked at him.
Asmodeus glanced up at the sky.
They all felt him call their brothers down out of the sky.
“It’s too great a risk,” Asmodeus said, “to leave them up there if Templeton is actively searching, even my glamour won’t stand against scrutiny for long.”
Most of those who glanced up at the sky above their valley saw only the familiar forms of turkey buzzards, common enough here, thanks to his magic.
Gabriel glanced at Miri, then Ash and Asmodeus before she said, “Miri, are you the only one with this talent? It seems unlikely.”
“There have to be others,” Miri said between bites of food, “Some have to be sane, or give the appearance of it. I can’t have been the only one. Some will undoubtedly be in asylums being treated for schizophrenia or something very like it if they’ve talked about what they’ve seen and some… Well, depending on what they’ve seen or how daring they’ve been, some might very well be crazy. Not all those who ventured into the other planes will have been driven insane and some won’t appear to be, but are. Then there
are the others.”
She tightened a hand on Ash’s arms and looked around at the other Daemonae.
“Not everything on the other planes is benevolent and in fact, as in life, most aren’t. There were evolutionary paths taken that we couldn’t even imagine. Some of what is there aren’t even recognizable as sentient in a way we can understand. Some don’t have a physical form. But they can take one that already exists.”
Ash said, his voice grim, “We know Templeton is still searching for the Book or he wouldn’t have been looking for Miri, for someone who can open the ethereal planes.”
Shaking her head, Gabriel said, “Templeton is too meticulous. He may be insane, he’s certainly psychotic, but he’s still meticulous. He’ll believe in redundancy.”
Ash nodded, “We can’t take the chance he hasn’t found another like her and I won’t. Not with our lives, our freedom at stake.”
They’d just found this place. For some of the younger ones it was the first time in memory they’d set foot on this plane. For Ba’al and Mal it was a return to something they barely remembered. An idyllic place they’d only known as children…until the soldiers had come. He looked at Gabriel. Her child wouldn’t grow up to know that.
Ash looked at Asmodeus as his own memories stirred once again. That particular fear now haunted them both.
“We have to reach the Book before he does. We can’t let it fall into the hands of Templeton or someone like him, or none of us will be safe.”
Looking up into Ash’s eyes as his pain echoed through her, Miri tightened her hands around his forearms.
Ash dropped a kiss on her forehead to reassure her.
There was something in his voice though that alerted both Asmodeus and Gabriel, and both straightened.
Over millennia, it was difficult to keep anything from those who knew you so very well. Add empathy, telepathy and there were few secrets. Even so, there had been a tacit agreement that they wouldn’t speak of it, of the times Ash went off alone, of the nightmares that dogged him for centuries later, of the rages that sometimes overtook him. No one asked about the scars that laced his body and everyone took care not to come up on him unexpectedly.
Seeing the look they exchanged, Ash took a breath, intending to explain.
Shaking his head, Asmodeus said, “There’s no need, my friend.”
Ash knew his Prince had a far better understanding now of what he’d suffered after Asmodeus’s own experiences at Templeton’s hands. He now had his own share of memories, scars…and nightmares, which he shared with Gabriel. He was lucky in that. As Ash now was as well.
With a small shrug, Gabriel said, not unkindly, “We’ve experienced something similar in this time, too, Ash. I’ve had my own issues with it. Given everything you’ve been through these last few days, it’s no surprise your memories were…awakened…by recent events. It’s not even uncommon. You let your guard down here where it’s safe, with Miri, so you could allow yourself to deal with and face the fear.”
Changing the subject, Asmodeus said, looking at them all, his mouth tightening, “The Book has to be recovered, if Templeton is making a concerted effort to find it. We must move and quickly. If he hasn’t found it yet, he’s certainly drawing closer. We have no choice and we don’t have much time. I won’t have any of us living with that hanging over our heads. We have to find the Book before he does.”
Remembering the day Asmodeus had simply vanished from amongst them as he and others had before him, Ash grew grim. Some of these, the younger ones, hadn’t been able to imagine it, save it had happened to their Prince.
Asmodeus could. He remembered. It had taken him.
Heads nodded.
Looking to his old friend, Asmodeus tilted his head to him and said, “Ash.”
Effectively, in that one word, he passed the baton of command to his General.
Ash looked at each of them. “We can’t take the chance Templeton hasn’t found another like Miri. Templeton hasn’t given up on hunting her, either. He can’t take the chance we’ll find and use her first. That gives him even more incentive to reach the Book before us, to forestall us. We have to go after it now, it’s a race whether we like it or not. There’s no choice.”
Almost unconsciously, his tail slid around Miri’s hips to pull her closer and to stroke, an indication of his concern and agitation.
Templeton threatened everything they’d built in their one short year.
With the Book it was perfectly within Templeton’s capabilities to summon Asmodeus once again, although it would be harder now that Ash and some of the others had layered protections and wards around the house, but Asmodeus couldn’t stay inside them forever. Nor was Templeton restricted to just Asmodeus, as Ba’al had said, it could be any of them.
“With that danger in mind,” Ash said, “With your permission, my Prince, I’d like to take Ba’al and Mal with us.”
Both would be invaluable. Thanks to his magic Ba’al was quick and capable, for all his volatility he followed orders, but it would be Mal who would be their ace in the hole. His ability to turn invisible would be priceless against their adversaries. And Mal would be there to restrain and mollify Ba’al’s more volatile nature. They were the perfect foil to each other, for all they bickered.
Ash held up a hand to forestall a protest from the others.
“Too many will draw attention,” he said, “that Templeton and his people couldn’t ignore. With just the three of us and Miri, it should be enough.”
Most Daemonae were easily a match for most men and more as he’d shown the day he found Miri.
He also remembered her quickness, her skill.
Mal, his gaze steady, looked to his more volatile friend as Ba’al lifted his chin, his eyes sharp, his mouth and jaw tight.
If they weren’t enough, more wouldn’t matter.
With a glance to their Prince for permission, both Daemonae nodded.
Ash looked to Gabriel. “So, where do we need to go?”
Looking at him levelly, Gabriel nodded.
She called up the map on her tablet computer.
“Here,” she said. “It’s in the middle of nowhere in Ohio, to the north of here by several hours. There’s literally nothing around it. It’s completely open. No cover at all.”
She’d gone back after the building had been condemned to look at it. It hadn’t been pleasant.
Mal, opening the cabinets to reveal the display again, said, “Shoot me the address, Gabriel…”
“Done,” Gabriel said.
With a few deft gestures, Mal had a street view display on the screen.
Studying it, Ash shook his head.
Gabriel was right. It was in the middle of nowhere surrounded by nothing but highways and cornfields. A large sign outside the building advertised it as For Sale.
“He can’t sell the building,” Gabriel commented with a glance at the sign in the picture, “He passed it off as a gas leak. That made a lot of people nervous, now no one will buy it.”
“And that’s where we have to go?” Ash asked, walking toward the screen to study the image on it.
Gabriel nodded.
Ash looked at Miri.
She met his gaze levelly and shrugged.
What choice did they have? If that was where they had to go, that was where they would go.
Ash looked to Ba’al and Mal, who both saw the difficulties, the limitations and yet they nodded, Ba’al lifting an eyebrow not in question but comment. It was what it was.
Ash looked from one to the other, satisfied.
“All right,” he said, nodding slowly. “Then we go.”
They sat down and sketched out a plan of sorts, all of them knowing that whatever plans they made would only last until they faced the enemy.
Then all bets were off.
Neither Ash nor Miri glanced at the two motorcyclists who pulled into the gas station as Ash gassed up Gabriel’s car. Repainted and redone, the car no longer resembled the police cruiser it had once been but retained the modifications to both the engine and structural integrity, save for addition of a convertible top and roll bar.
Just looking at them made Ash smile a little, despite the circumstances. He shook his head in amusement. Only Gabriel would do such a thing.
With luck, the change of vehicles would work in their favor. Templeton wouldn’t be looking for a modified silver Crown Vic circa the last century.
Once Miri saw the car, she’d insisted on leaving the roof open despite the coolness of the air so she could look at the trees – all of which were at the height of their fall color. The drive through and over the mountains had been spectacular. It seemed as if the hills had been aflame the colors had been so bright. The air had been crisp and clean, full of the scents of autumn – the dry smell of aging leaves, the sharp tang of burning ones.
Ash found he couldn’t regret it.
The only thing that rivaled the trees was Miri’s brilliant hair dancing in the wind of their passage, the sun sparking red and gold highlights from it. Her green eyes had been misty, soft as she looked up at the trees and the sky.