Hellgate London - Exodus Part 30

"I'll be careful," Naomi said. "I mean no disrespect to the dead, but I'm far more capable of what we're about to do than Edith and Jonas were. This is my area of expertise." She placed her hand on Warren's forehead. "Rest. Just close your eyes and I'll guide you through the rest of it."

Despite his heart hammering and flooding his body with adrenaline, Warren felt the warm la.s.situde spread throughout his body. Tension drained from him.

"Close your eyes." Naomi leaned over toward him and pressed her fingertips against his eyelids, keeping his eyes shut.

Momentary panic spurted through Warren. He had to fight the urge to sit up and knock her hand away.

In his mind, he could see shadows uncoiling from the wall and coming toward him. "Relax," Naomi said. "Breathe."

Warren did, opening his lungs and filling them with effort.

"There's a connection between you and the demon," Naomi said. "He built it for his own reasons, but we can use it."

The pull of that connection grew stronger inside Warren. The more it pulled, the more he became afraid.

He withdrew from it and tried to find some way of building a wall between him and that dark force. "Don't fight it," Naomi whispered. "Go with it."

"I can't," Warren gasped. "I'm afraid."

"Fear is good. It can give us more strength than we can achieve on our own. Embrace your fear and use it, but don't give in to it. Breathe." Naomi paused to let him. "Again." Warren drew in his breath at her command, and let it out as well. "Good. You're doing good."

Finding the rhythm she wanted, Warren relaxed a little more. Then the blackness trapped inside his mind seemed to open up and swallow him whole.

Warren stared down at the dark expanse of the River Thames. He stood at the middle of a bridge. Gazing around, he realized that he was on London Bridge.

Scores of stalled cars filled the bridges. Some of them were overturned and more were charred ruins. Bits of wreckage from an army helicopter lay scattered nearby, creaking as the wind moved it. A dead man hung from a safety harness halfway out the door. Another was embedded in the Plexiglas nose.

Sensing movement to his right, Warren faced in that direction. At least twenty demons milled there. They were frightful creatures with guttural voices.

Cautiously, staying within the shadows as much as he could, Warren turned to look for Naomi, only to find that she wasn't there. Feeling his heart slamming inside his chest, he looked for an escape route.

I'm not here,he told himself.All I have to do is open my eyes and wake up. I'll be back in the caves. I've just got to wake up.

But he didn't wake up. He remained trapped in the dream. Gazing over the side of the bridge, he wondered what his chances of surviving a leap into the river would be.

You don't need to jump,a powerful voice told Warren. The words exploded in his mind and he knew at once who was talking to him.They won't see you as long as I don't want them to.

Thirty-Four.

Warren looked behind him, finding Merihim there this time when he hadn't been there only a moment ago. The demon towered over him, full of threat and arrogance.

Don't be afraid,Merihim told him. A grim smile pulled at the scaled face.I didn't allow you to live just so these insects could have you. He gestured at the demons moving restlessly through the stalled vehicles.

None of them even looked in Warren's direction.I have far grander plans for you than that.

Warren felt certain those plans included torture and dismemberment at some point. But if he could forestall that moment, he had time to think and plan.

Laughter rumbled from Merihim.No. Death and dismemberment would be...diverting. But I want you for another use. I can make you a leader within my own army. You know the people we hunt, and you know this place. Either of those things could be invaluable.

Warren tried desperately to wake up, but couldn't.

"Wait." Naomi's soft voice reached him from a distance. "He can't hurt you in this place. I can protect you here."

Uneasily, and only because he had no other choice, Warren stood his ground. If both Merihim and Naomi told him they could protect him, someone was lying- "Demons lie," Naomi told him.

-but Warren didn't know who it was. He guessed that both of them would lie to him for their own reasons.

The demon's gaze fell onto Warren's arm. Dressed in a black t-s.h.i.+rt, the arm was in plain view. The reptilian scales seemed to reflect a glow that came from the demon himself.

I see my gift has taken root. What do you think of it? I was very generous. "Why did you do this to me?" Warren asked.

You were too weak as you were. You would never have stood the rigors of this world on your own. The burns that you suffered alone were enough to have killed you if I hadn't aided you.Merihim rolled Warren's head from side to side with the trident. The metal was so cold it burned.You've come far, but you've farther yet to go.

"I didn't ask for this." The anger, for a moment, surmounted the fear that cascaded inside Warren.

I'm not in the habit of granting wishes,the demon replied.If you'd asked for anything, I would have killed you on the spot.

The anger inside Warren melted and left only the fear. For a moment, though, he wondered if dying would have been easier.

Merihim c.o.c.ked his head and looked at Warren.Would you have rather died? There are others out there who would preserve their lives and serve me.

The need for self-preservation pushed away Warren's fear and indecision. "No."

That's right. You wanted to live. You still do.A smile twisted Merihim's lips.Tell me, then. Tell me that you're glad you're still alive.

Warren suddenly loathed himself more than he ever had. He remembered how he'd felt when he'd seen his mother killed in front of him, and had commanded his stepfather to take his own life, knowing with certainty that his stepfather had no choice, and knowing that he could have stopped the suicide before it happened by simply telling his stepfather to sleep instead of die.

For weeks after the deaths of his mother and stepfather, Warren had blamed himself. Not just for his stepfather's death, but for his mother's as well. He'd always come up in their arguments, and he'd always been a source of friction between them. He didn't know exactly how it was his fault that they were dead, but he was certain it was. Back then when he'd been in the hospital recovering from the gunshot wound, he'd often thought that it would have been better if he would have died, too.

Then, when no one had ever adopted him after they'd discovered his personal tragedy, Warren had blamed himself again. He'd been worthless, a cursed child, and everyone that had come through the orphanage had seen that in him.

Youwereworthless, Merihim said.I have changed that. I have changed you. You have value now. I elevated you. Do you think that your new friends would be so interested in you if I hadn't taken care of you?

Warren knew that was true. The Cabalists wouldn't have been looking for him if he hadn't survived that fire.

"We were already looking for you," Naomi reminded him, "before the fire that night."

The truth of that helped a little, but then Warren realized that Merihim knew that he was among the Cabalists.

Children playing with shadows of things they've never seen,Merihim scoffed.Misled to visions of grandeur by the paltry bit they've been able to ferret out.

Arrogance?Warren wondered.Or truth? He didn't know.

"Steady," Naomi said. "Every moment you have the demon's attention, we're learning something." Merihim's gaze erupted in baleful black fire that streamed from his eyes.Tell me now that you're glad to be alive or I will kill you where you stand.

"Warren." Naomi's voice was tense and anxious. "Do what he says. Do what he says or he's going to kill you."

Warren had never felt so helpless in all his life. No matter what he said, no matter what he did, he was doomed. There was no escape.

"You don't know that. We can help you. But you have to save yourself till we can."

"I'm glad to be alive," Warren breathed out in a ragged sob. Hot tears cooled on his cheeks, and they felt like so many he'd shed while in foster care. He knew he was telling the truth, and he knew that if Merihim had sensed he was lying the demon would have slain him before he could take his next breath. "Good. Everything's going to be okay."

Warren didn't say anything, but he didn't feel like anything was going to be okay. He just wanted off the bridge and away from the demon.

Merihim smiled and preened. Then he regarded Warren.How did you find me?

"I don't know," Warren replied. Since he didn't know how Naomi had sent him on his journey or how she had traced his link back to the demon, Warren hoped that was close enough to the truth. "I went to sleep and you were there."

Merihim considered that.Perhaps the bond between us is stronger than I thought.

Warren wondered if that made the demon somehow more vulnerable. Or if Merihim thought it did. Either case could prove disastrous for him.

And why did you come to me?

"I didn't want to." That wasdefinitely the truth. Yet here you are.

"Hold on to him. Let me see what I can find out."

Warren wanted to tell her no, that he was going to be the one who paid the price for the chances she took.

Merihim stepped closer to Warren, dwarfing him immediately. The heat from the demon's body soaked into Warren and took away the chill of standing atop the bridge in the winter wind.

I can use you, though, so it's good that you showed up.

Fear rose in Warren again. He cursed himself for going with the Cabalists. If he wasn't there with them now, he wouldn't be here.

I want you to locate something for me,the demon stated. "What?"

Merihim grinned mirthlessly.You don't need to know. You only need to know that if you don't find it for me, I'll crush you.

Warren felt Naomi's power coursing through him, and he worried that if he could feel it surely the demon could, too. But Merihim gave no indication that he was aware of anything.

"I told you I was good at what I do." A trace of pride accompanied Naomi's words as they bounced inside Warren's skull.

Merihim hefted his trident and placed the tines across Warren's brow.You'll be my warhound in this matter. You'll run what I seek to ground. The humans are pursuing it as well, and I don't want them to succeed. The prize is mine, and mine alone. Find the thing that I desire and let me know when you do.

"How?"

You will be given the way. "How will I know what it is?" Because you will know.

Dark energy blazed through Warren's brain from the trident. He heard Naomi scream deep within his mind, then he didn't feel her anymore.

Go,Merihim commanded.Don't trouble me any further. Complete your a.s.signment as quickly as you can. I would have my prize before the next day breaks.

An incredible force slammed into Warren, knocking him over the side of the bridge hard enough to drive the wind from his lungs. He flew backward at least a hundred feet and-for a flicker of a moment-hung out over the long drop.

He fell toward the dark river where demons capered aboard burning boats and s.h.i.+ps. Stretching out his hand to try to turn his fall into a dive, he felt certain that he was about to be knocked senseless from the plummet.

Too late he saw that he wasn't going to hit the water at all. He fell directly toward a burning tanker s.h.i.+p that suddenly exploded. Flames reached up for him and he cried out in fear. He crossed his arms in front of his face as the heat rushed out to consume him- -and woke on the thin pad in Naomi's office gasping for air.

Hedgar Tulane stood just outside the circle. Concern tightened his features, but he wasn't looking at Warren. Instead, his gaze was locked on Naomi, who lay curled in a fetal position. "What happened to her?" Tulane demanded.

Trying to push through the fog that filled his head, only then noticing the pounding at his temples, Warren ignored the question. Out of breath and dizzy, feeling changed somehow, he pushed himself into a seated position and reached for Naomi.

"Hey," he called. "Hey. Wake up."

Gradually, she awakened. Pain etched hard lines on her face. She tried to sit up, then got sick immediately. She waved an arm and the candles all extinguished.

Tulane stepped across the circle then and helped her to her feet. He sent for a.s.sistance while Warren sat with his back to one of the walls, too weak to help.

Kelli stood across the room, staring at them. For a moment she looked afraid. Don't be afraid,Warren thought.

Kelli took a deep slow breath and the fear inside her dwindled. No emotion showed on her face. Help me.

Like an automaton, Kelli joined Warren. She looked less like herself than ever. Warren knew he should feel guilty, but the fear inside him outweighed whatever remorse he might have felt. Her hand was cold in his, but he didn't care about that, either. He just didn't want to be alone.

By the time the physician arrived and examined Naomi, she was feeling better. She waved Tulane's attentions away and walked unsteadily over to Warren.

"Your ties to the demon are stronger than I'd believed," she said.

"I know." Warren stood in front of her on trembling knees. He still didn't feel right. His stomach rolled threateningly.

Naomi gazed at him as if she could see through him. "Do you know what Merihim wants?" "No."

"Didn't he tell you?"

Warren felt anger within him and concentrated on seizing it instead of giving in to the fear that rattled through his bones. "You were there. Did you hear him say anything?"

Naomi reached up suddenly and laid her palm against his temple. Warren s.h.i.+fted, intending to knock her hand from his flesh, but then a blinding electrical pain surged through his brain and everything went black.

Thirty-Five.

What were you thinking?" Terrence Booth demanded. The High Seat's face was beet-red with emotion.

He paced back and forth in the debriefing room.