The Legacy: A Custodes Noctis Book (7 page)

“Yes and no,” Galen said quietly.

“Yes and no? What the hell does that mean? Who is he?” Mike demanded.

“My brother, Mike. He’s my brother.”

Chapter Four

The room was silent except for the hiss of oxygen and the soft beeping of the heart monitor. Galen could hear his own breathing, it sounded harsh in the quiet room. He idly wondered if Mike could hear the pounding of his heart.

“What?” Mike asked.

“My brother, Mike. Robert Emrys. You can change the paperwork and bring in whatever I need to sign, okay?” He still hadn’t moved, standing just inside the door, unsure, thinking if he moved the spell would be broken and it would be someone else on the bed. The truth was there, he knew it was Rob, he could feel his brother’s pain radiating across the room to where he stood by the door.
Something happened. The block is gone.

“Your brother? You have a brother?”

“Yeah.” Galen tore his eyes away from the bed and looked at Mike, the doctor had a shocked expression on his face. “Kid brother, five years younger. Same birthday.”

“Like your Dad and uncle?”

“Exactly like them,” Galen said, forcing his feet to approach the bed. He looked down at the still form of his brother,  bruises covering his head. “I guess that explains the headache I couldn’t get rid of.
How bad?” he asked, as he did he laid a hand his brother’s arm “feeling” what was there. Pain shot up from the touch, exploding behind his eyes, stronger than any reaction he’d had in years.

“Galen!” Mike caught him as he started to fall.

“Sorry.” Galen steadied himself and stood up straight. “I forgot.” He smiled sadly. “You wouldn’t think I would, would you?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Mike said, looking into his eyes, one hand against Galen’s wrist checking his pulse.

“Family, it hits you harder. And brothers, well, the Gift’s designed for them more than anyone else.” Galen sighed, aware of the throbbing pain in his head.
Rob? Is it really…
He stopped himself.
No, I can’t deny it. It is you, isn’t it?
The bond that had been broken, hidden away, was suddenly there again, pounding in his chest like a slowly healing wound.

“It’d be nice to know what you are talking about sometimes. You get that funny look in your eye and I lose you.”

“Thanks, I think.” Galen snorted. “And as bad as it normally is for brothers, it’s worse for Rob and I. Something happened when we were younger, but even before that the bond was much stronger between us. We could…Usually it takes years for the bond to form, it was always stronger in us, I think even more than Dad and Uncle Bobby, even before…when we were kids and then after…” Galen swallowed. “After…Well, the bond was…We had to break it after…” He stopped, unsure how much more he should share with Mike.

“After whatever it was that happened that you never told me about, that your Dad was silent about, that left those scars on your body? The ones that look like symbols, the ones that look a little like you were…”

“Yeah.”

“He has them, too. I noticed when I examined him. It’s not something you all have?”

“No.” Galen heard the bitter tone in his laugh. “No, we’re special, Rob and me.” He stopped himself. “Can I stay?” Galen ran his eyes over his brother. “Is this a mistake? Letting him know I’m here?” he said softly, more to himself. “No. Something tells me my death is over. I’m tired of being dead, I want life. I hope he can forgive me someday. I…It’s too late anyway. He probably knows I’m here.”

“What did you just say?” Mike asked.

“He probably knows I’m here already.”

“No, before that.”

“Did I say something?” Galen looked at the doctor.

“Are you okay, Galen?”

“I’m not really sure. Can I stay?” Galen repeated.

“So you can do whatever it is that brings people back from the dead?”

“I can’t do that, damn it,” Galen snapped, then laughed a little. “Yeah, so I can do that thing I do, but I want to be here when he wakes up, too.”

“How long has it been, Galen?” Mike said, putting a hand on his shoulder and giving him a gentle squeeze.

“Ten years.”

“I’ll let the nurses know, so they don’t try and chase you out later. I’ll be around for a few more hours. I’ll check on you before I leave.”

“Thanks, Mike.” His friend gave him a quick slap on the back and left the room. Galen turned back to the figure in the bed. His brother’s hair was curly
.
Galen smiled, remembering long-winded complaints about the natural curls in the brown hair, half a shade darker than his own.
He’s tall. I told him he’d be tall. He was always so worried that he wouldn’t grow.

His smile faded as he looked at his brother. Rob’s face was bruised, there was a gash in his forehead. Galen could feel some of his brother’s pain, radiating off Rob in a wave.
He looks terrible. I need to know how bad it is.
He laid a gentle hand on his brother’s head, “feeling” a little more this time, bracing himself against the flash of pain long enough to get the impression of broken blood vessels, pressure and agonizing pain. Something else was simmering there too, an undercurrent that, even unconscious, flowed through Rob’s body. “The nightmare this morning, I thought it felt like you for a moment. It must have been you after all,” Galen said quietly.

 
What had remained of the bond between the two had let him know over the years when Rob had been seriously ill or injured. Knowing how serious it had to be to get through the break, it had been all Galen could do to keep his promise to stay away. Once, before his father died, Parry had gone to heal Rob. After his father was gone, it had been more difficult, knowing Rob was ill, and being unable to help.

“It was so hard to stay away, Rob,” Galen said as he dragged the chair over to the bed. “Once I couldn’t. It was after that car wreck three years ago…” He carefully lowered the rail on the bed. “I knew how bad it was, you were…I knew…” he sighed. “So I came, how could I not? I waited until everyone was gone from the ICU and slipped in. I’ve always wondered if you knew I was there.”

 He rubbed his hands together for a moment before taking a deep breath and putting one hand on Rob’s forehead and one over his heart, pain ran up his arms. He kept his hands in place this time, letting the light flow, feeling the familiar resonance of his brother. Dropping into a deeper state he guided the healing light through Rob’s body, then carefully layered in gentle sleep to finish the healing process. He pulled shaking hands away, leaning back in the chair, black spots dancing before his eyes. “I haven’t done anything quite like this for awhile. I take more risks with you. I always have,” he told his brother.

 
His headache was back full force, his hands were still shaking. He put a hand down on Rob’s arm, letting his thumb run along the deep scar in his brother’s forearm. Galen glanced down looking at the faint scars on his brother’s arms, ones that mimicked the scars on his own. “Ah, Rob. Ten years, and still the scars are here. I hoped they’d fade, after what I did. I’m so sorry.” He stopped. “That man today, my scar acting up more than usual and now you’re here. Rob? What does it mean?” Galen paused, realizing he was instinctively reaching out to his brother, speaking to him as if he were awake and able to hear.

He closed his eyes. The healing had left him vulnerable, memories were crowding back against him, from the moment he’d met Rhiannon and seen the pictures of her daughter, the overwhelming fear for his brother as he’d looked over the pictures of the child suddenly blending with the undercurrent of emotion radiating from Rob.
Megan had been…
He drifted off to sleep.

Past

Ten Years Before

Day Two

It was quiet in the parking lot, customers coming and going without noticing the two people sitting in the car parked at the back of the diner.

“Rhiannon,” she said with a smile. “I’m off shift, let’s not stay out here.”

“Good idea,” Galen said as he pulled the car back onto the road. “Where was your daughter found?”

“About six miles from here.” She looked at him. “Take the next left. You look pretty bad. Are you alright?”

“No. But I have to find my brother. Alright or not, no choice.” He took the turn. It was a single lane road, winding through the trees. “You said when they found her…” He stopped.

“She was cut up, mutilated, and had symbols drawn on her, yes. They were drawn in blood and something that looked like black ink. I…This is going to sound really strange, but I have the crime scene pictures in my purse. I have a friend who works at the daily paper and he got them for me.” She was looking out the window.

“Not strange, maybe a little weird, but if you’re looking for answers, it makes sense.”

“Here, pull over. I’ll show you where her…her…where they found her.”

Galen pulled over and turned the car off. “Would it be okay…Can I see the pictures?” He needed to get a good look at the symbols she was talking about. Maybe he could recognize them or be able to describe them to his father and uncle.

Rhiannon pulled an envelope out of her purse. “They aren’t pretty. I only looked once. I was going to take them to the university and see if anyone in the anthropology department could recognize the symbols.”

 
“You seem to be handling it okay.”

“Not really,” she said, looking at him. “I take a tiny bit of solace from the fact they said she hadn’t been sexually mistreated in any way. None of them had been, you know.”

“What do you mean?”

“None of the poor things were hurt that way. You know.”

“What?” Galen said, looking at her, she opened her mouth to say it all again and cut her off. “No, that actually had never occurred to me. What I meant was you said
them
. More than just your daughter?”

“Five others. My daughter made six.”

“And nothing’s been done?”

“We were all strangers, passing through town. I stayed after it happened because I had to know. I just needed to know—to find closure. That’s what everyone said, ‘find closure, it will heal you.’ But that’s not true and everything’s pretty much gone now, the grief, the tears. All that’s left is rage. White-hot rage. It will consume me, I’m sure, but for now I can keep it in check, most of the time.”

Galen nodded understanding and pulled the pictures out of the envelope. When he looked down at the first one his hands started shaking. “Oh, gods,” he whispered
.
He tried to get a good look at the symbols, he couldn’t see well so he flipped over the next picture, and the next. He didn’t realize he was crying until a tear dropped on the photo he was holding. He brushed the tears away and looked again. He concentrated, trying to memorize the symbols. He turned over the next photo. “Oh, no, I’m so sorry.”
He was pretty sure his heart stopped. It wasn’t just symbols. He looked at the photo again, at the small arm devoid of skin. He cleared his throat and handed the pictures back to Rhiannon.

“Let’s go,” Galen said, getting out of the car. He was unsteady on his feet and leaned against the car.

“Can I give you a hand?” she said, standing beside him. “You look terrible. It’s quite a hike from here.”

“I’m okay, at least for now.” He pushed himself off the car and followed her down a path. He had to grit his teeth to keep going. The sun was starting to set, bathing the forest in an eerie red glow.
That might be symbolic, and that doesn’t make me feel better.
She’d stopped in a ring of trees.

“They found her here. I don’t think this is where she was killed. The police didn’t say anything, but I have this feeling, you know?”

“Yeah, I understand,” he said as he started scouting around the small clearing. There was nothing there, nothing looked disturbed or had any evidence of a ritual being performed. Galen closed his eyes and focused on the resonance of the forest. “You’re  right, it wasn’t here, something dumped your daughter here.” He was just about to turn and leave when something stopped him dead in his tracks.

A scream carried across the forest. “No! Galen!” His brother’s voice was terrified, anguished.

“Rob!” Galen shouted. He turned to run in the direction of the shout. Trying to reach out and get a feeling for where Rob was, panic flowed back from his brother, panic that was quickly becoming terror. Rhiannon grabbed his arm, he turned on her in his desperation, reflected fear from Rob coloring his reactions. “Let me go!” he growled dangerously.

“It echoes here, you can’t know where that came from.”

“Please, let me go, please.” He ran out of the clearing in what he thought was the right direction. The forest was getting dark, and the path he was on ended abruptly. He turned back and tripped, going down hard. Galen just lay there, unable to get up, pretty sure he’d done some new injury to himself. A hand touched his back. “Rob sounded so scared. I have to find him,” Galen said, hearing the desperation in his voice.