Det.
Williams entered the room where Cody was being held. Cody sat next to a state appointed
representative. Cody was crying. Williams sat on the hard metal chair across
from Cody and looked at him. This was
the Angel of Death. Williams was certain
of that. The boy that sat across from
him had killed more than sixty people.
Williams pressed his lips together as he looked over at one of the
officers in the room. “Has he been read
his rights?” Williams asked.
“Yes,”
the officer said.
“Excellent.” Williams looked over at the boy. He didn’t look like much of a murderer. He was short, chubby, and had a certain
innocence about him, but Williams had learned long ago that you could never
judge a man by his appearance.
“Hello
Cody,” Williams said, “how are you?”
“My
client will not be answering any questions,” the lawyer said.
“I
think that’s his decision to make,” Williams said. He smiled.
“Tell me Cody, how are you? I’m
sure this whole ordeal has been hard on you.”
Cody
looked down, but didn’t speak. Williams
leaned over the table, closer to Cody.
“Tell me Cody, am I right to think that you need to kill in order to
live?” Cody looked up at Williams. His eyes widened. That was all the confirmation Williams
needed.
“That’s
an absolutely outrageous accusation,” the lawyer said.
“Shut
up,” Williams said. “I’m speaking with
your client, not you.” Williams fixed
his gaze back on Cody. “Tell me,”
Williams said, “can I expect to see a killing from you tonight? You’ll be locked up in here, so there’ll be
no way for you to escape to kill anyone.
I don’t think a jury will need any more proof than that to convict you,
especially after we keep you here all the way to trial, and not a single murder
occurs. It’s not like you’ll be able to
afford bail.” Cody’s crying
intensified. This boy was worse than
average at hiding his emotions.
“Think about it
Cody. You can either force us to try you
for murder, a trial which you’ll have no serious prospects of winning, or you
can confess to everything you’ve done right here and right now, and again when
your arraignment comes.” Cody put his
hand over his face. Williams leaned
further over the desk, bringing his head closer to Cody’s. “I know you want to do good, Cody. I know you’re trying to do what’s right. That’s obvious from your actions. You’ve been cursed somehow with the need and
power to kill. Am I right about that? Well, think of everything to be gained, by
you and by the human race, if you were to submit yourself for analysis. I have no doubt there’s at least one other
creature like you, the one that killed Latoya Stevenson, as well as Cherie’s
neighbors, and several others. I’d
imagine there are several more creatures like you, too. You could help safeguard humanity against all
of them. A lot of people won’t be killed
by creatures like you if you tell us everything you’ve done. I’m sure everyone who knows you will
understand if you confess.”
Cody’s
crying intensified again, but he was trying to hide it. Williams softened his voice. “Look, I feel sorry for you. I doubt you chose this, and I know you’ve
tried to do everything you could right after what happened to you. But sometimes, situations come up where we
have to do something hard even when we don’t want to. You seem like a nice young man from everything
I’ve heard. What if it’s possible for
you to find a way for you not to kill?
Wouldn’t you like to learn about it if there were?”
Cody
looked down and away from Williams and wiped away another tear.
“Look,”
Williams said, “even if it’s not possible, wouldn’t you like to go down helping
people?”
“Detective,”
the lawyer said, “are you seriously accusing my client of being some kind of
monster with magical powers? Do you even
realize the absolute outrageousness of the accusations you’re making?”
Williams
looked up at the lawyer. “Considering
that we know someone with eight or so abnormal powers is running about, I don’t
think it’s any less likely to be him than anyone else,” Williams turned back
toward Cody. “In fact, I’m sure it’s
him,” Williams pressed his lips together, “and after you miss a killing tonight
or tomorrow, the world will be just as sure as I am.” Williams sat back. “There’s no way out of this Cody, so why not
spare your community the expense of a trial?
Anything that’ll happen as a result of a confession will happen
eventually once you’re convicted of more than sixty counts of first degree
murder, so why not speed up the process?
After all, if it is possible to arrange that you don’t need to kill, you’ll
want to get started on trying to find a way as soon as possible, given that
you’ll certainly never manage to kill again.
Wouldn’t you like that?”
Cody
was no longer trying to hide his tears.
“Look,”
Williams said, “like I said I’m genuinely sorry for what’s happened to you, and
I want to help, but in order for me, or the community to help you, you need to
admit what you’ve done and promise us your cooperation. At worst, your sacrifice might help save
countless lives.” Cody looked down. Williams leaned in closer. “At best, your condition might be curable. Even if it seems to you like there’s no hope,
ask yourself, do you really know that for sure?”
Cody’s
crying intensified. Williams looked down
for a second before snapping back up. He
looked at Cody for a few minutes. Based
on his reaction, the boy clearly believed his condition to be incurable. Perhaps it was. Cody was in more of a position to know than
Williams was, and it was entirely possible that he’d gotten some reliable
assurance that there was nothing to be done.
Indeed,
the prospect of letting himself die seemed to elicit a reaction, as though that
might be impossible as well.
Williams
looked at Cody. “Tell me Cody, is there
some reason you can’t let yourself suffer the consequences of not killing; more
than just it being unpleasant or even fatal to you?”
Cody
looked down and to the left. This was an
expression of shame and sadness, clearly, but what caused it? Was he ashamed that he had to do what he did
and sad that he couldn’t avoid it, or ashamed that he did it despite not strictly
having to, and sad that he was too weak to avoid it?
Williams
tried to think of a question which would elicit a different reaction in each of
those scenarios. He thought of one. “Cody, if there’s nothing you can do about
it, it’s alright. No one will blame you
for what you’ve done, especially since you and I both know that you only killed
the criminals.”
Cody
shed another tear. If there truly was
nothing he could do about it, those words ought to have lifted him out of his
sadness somewhat. Williams sat back up
in his chair. “Look, even if you didn’t strictly
have to kill, people will understand if your urge was too powerful to resist.”
Cody
covered his forehead with his hand as tears streamed down his. More shame and sadness. So it was an urge, not a need.
*****
Bavandersloth
lay back in his mansion reading a book.
Not his usual fair of historical documents, but a book on
government. As he read, enjoying the
warmth of his fireplace, one of his souls approached him.
When
he noticed the soul, Bavandersloth closed his book, marking his place with his
finger. He looked up at the soul. “What is it?” he asked.
“Odelarch
has been arrested,” the soul said.
Bavandersloth’s
eyes widened. He sat up, closing his
book and setting it down. “What happened?”
“Williams
seems to have figured out his identity.
He’s interrogating him right now.
Odelarch hasn’t spoken yet, but Williams seems to be figuring quite a
bit out from just how he’s reacting to things.
He plans to hold him for a few days.”
Bavandersloth
looked forward and thought. He looked up
at the soul. “Go back and resume
monitoring him. If anything new happens,
come tell me. If it becomes necessary,
reveal yourself to Odelarch. I’d rather
him know I’m keeping tabs on him than have him give something up thinking that
there’s no escape on the way.”
“Yes,
master.”
Bavandersloth
sat back and thought. He couldn’t just
post bail. It would look too suspicious
for Cody’s inexplicably wealthy school librarian to bail him out, and it would
be a temporary solution anyway. He had
to think of something that would free Cody without implicating him. He wracked his brain, trying to think of a
plan.
*****
Williams
leaned back over the table. “Cody, I
empathize with you. What’s happened to
you is tragic, and if your urge to kill is as strong as it seems to be, I don’t
blame you even one bit for what you’ve done.” Williams fought a tear of his own. “I mean that.
You’ve been given a terrible curse--” Cody looked away. Williams’ eyebrow rose. Had he been cursed? That’s what Williams had assumed, but that
reaction indicated he blamed himself somehow.
Of
course, just because he blamed himself didn’t mean it was really his fault. “Cody, what made you into what you are?” Cody lowered his head, still crying. “Did someone else do this to you?” Cody turned his head away. Shame, indicating that he’d done this
himself.
“Did
you know you’d end up with the urge to kill?” Williams asked. Cody shed another tear, indicating the answer
was yes. “Did you think you’d be able to
control it?” Cody’s head sank
deeper. Williams wasn’t sure what that
meant. “Cody, if it’s just an urge, it’s
possible that you’ll learn to control it.
Wouldn’t you like to be able to do that?” Cody covered his face.
“Don’t
be so quick to assume that that’s not possible,” Williams said. “Perhaps it gets easier for creatures like
you over time? If that’s even possible,
don’t you want to try to make it happen?”
Cody’s crying intensified.
Perhaps he did have a good reason to think it wasn’t possible. Indeed, it seemed that he did. Either way, he was still guilty, and the
state probably wouldn’t care how truly morally responsible he was, given how
dangerous his abilities made him.
Well
that was it then. The lack of killings
for two nights in a row would be enough for the prosecutor to charge him, and
his failure to commit any murders while he was behind bars, or else the obvious
signs of his means of escape if his urge overpowered him, would be enough to
see him convicted. And perhaps, if it
was possible, helped.
Williams
sat back in his chair and crossed his legs.
“We’re going to take you to your cell now, Cody,” he said. “Any time you want to confess, or tell us
anything, simply ask for a guard.”
Cody
nodded as he looked down and cried.
*****
The
police officers led Cody to his cell.
Cody stepped in. Cody heard a
metallic bang as the door slammed behind him.
He turned around. He saw the
officers walking away. He sat down on
the bed and cried for several minutes. Williams
was right. There was no way out of this
without exposing himself.
Cody
lay back on the bed. He thought. He had to
feed. There was no way around that. He also had to get to Cherie in time to heal
her. Since he’d be exposed either way,
he had to escape.
Cody
put his head down. Of course, if he did
just take on his true form and blast his way out, Bavandersloth would kill him
for violating the first convention. Cody
looked back up. His mouth widened. Bavandersloth was his way out of this. If Bavandersloth killed criminals while he
was locked up, there wouldn’t be sufficient basis to charge Cody, and Williams
would have to let him go. He’d miss two
meals, but that wouldn’t be a problem.
Now
all Cody needed to do was think of a way to get his message to
Bavandersloth. Cody put his head
down. He’d have to use a soul. Cody clinched his fist. His family was still in danger as long as Valthakar
was about. If it was the only way to
protect them, it was what Cody had to do.
Cody’s
eyes widened. Either way, he realized,
he’d probably not get out in time to heal Cherie. She would still die. Cody lay back, and sobbed. Valthakar was right. Everything he’d done, all of it, had been
pointless. Cherie would die nearly as
soon as she would have otherwise.
After
a few minutes, Cody forced himself to sit up and look around. He had to focus. There were more people than her who he had to
protect. He couldn’t see any cameras
around. It was safe to summon a
soul. Cody took a deep breath and
summoned a soul he’d not used before.
The soul appeared in front of him.
He looked at Cody. “What is it, Master?”
he asked.
Cody
fought through his tears. “Go contact
Bavandersloth. Tell him I’m trapped in
here, and that I need him to feed as I do so it won’t look like I’m guilty. I also need him to keep Valthakar from
killing my family.” Cody gave the soul
Bavandersloth’s address.
“Yes,
Master,” the soul said. He flew
off. Cody lay back down. He was all cried out.
*****
Bavandersloth retained
his invisibility as he ran up to the police station. He had a plan. He smiled.
He looked around for a door.
Eventually, he found one. He sent
a soul inside the building to make sure there was no one around. When the coast was clear, Bavandersloth
rotted the lock off of the door and went inside. After searching for a while, he was able to
find a basement. He went down. There was only one human down there. Bavandersloth approached him, still
invisible. He scythed and ate the man’s
soul, then summoned another soul to reanimate the human’s body.
Bavandersloth walked over
to a metal box which contained the building’s breakers. He called one soul for each wire, and
commanded each of them to follow theirs.
When they were done, the souls reported back to Bavandersloth, who
severed the wires connected to the smoke detectors.
Bavandersloth went back
upstairs. After a while, he found the
break room. He looked inside. There were two people in the room, a man and
a woman. Bavandersloth ordered a few of
his souls to keep watch nearby.
Bavandersloth entered
the room. He put his hands on both of
the officers and killed them with a thought.
He summoned two more of his souls to animate their bodies. Next, he went into a bathroom and found a
rag. He covered it in hand sanitizer
from the counter. He took the coffee pot
off of the coffee maker, and set the rag in its place. He left the maker on.
Bavandersloth left the
room, and then the station. He sent one
of his souls to alert Cody to escape.
*****
Cody
was still lying in his cell. Despite his
best efforts, his thoughts wandered, over and over, back to Cherie, unconscious
on a hospital bed as doctors tried and failed to heal her.
As
he lay, Cody heard someone calling to him.
“Odelarch,” they said. Cody
turned his head. “Odelarch,”
Bavandersloth sent me. The building is
on fire.
Cody’s
eyes widened. “What?” He rose to his feet.
“One
of my friends is animating one of the guards.
He should be here in a moment to unlock your cell. When he arrives, take your true form, cast
your cloud, and run straight through the door I lead you to.”
Cody
nodded.
It
was only a few seconds before the guard showed up. She unlocked the cell. Cody changed forms and darted out, following
the soul outside. As he ran, he passed
other prisoners. They shouted at him. He closed his eyes and looked down.
“Is
the fire department coming?” Cody asked.
“Probably,”
the soul said, “but they’ll most likely be too late to save the building, or
anyone too deep in it. My master has
made sure exit is as difficult as possible.
The only ways out that aren’t blocked are the front door, which couldn’t
be blocked discretely, and the one I’m leading you too.”
“So
all of these people are going to burn to death?”
“Most
likely.”
Cody
took a deep breath. He shed a tear. He couldn’t let any of them out. Any method of doing so would make it too
obvious that the Angel had been here. As
he ran down the hall, he took any opportunity he could to stop and use his
powers on someone, especially someone in another jail cell. He inflicted lethal burns, often right in
front of other screaming, and doomed, prisoners. Those burns would have been agonizing had
they been delivered by fire, but Cody inflicted the whole process of burning to
death in an instant, too quickly for it to cause any pain. Occasionally, Cody would shed a tear when he
had to leave someone alive for the coming flames. Soon, the fire spread close enough that Cody
could hear pained screams.
Eventually,
the soul led Cody to the door. Cody retook
his human form, and burst out through it.
He found himself in an alley.
“What
do I do now?” he asked the soul.
“Stand
out in front of the police station. Stay
far enough away that you’re in no danger, but no farther.”
Cody
nodded.
*****
Pretty
Pink Ponytails sat in her cell, singing.
“Pretty Pink Ponytails leaves a lot of bloody trails. Bones crack at my attack. It brings a smile that never fails. Pretty Pink Ponytails--”
“Hey,
can you knock that off?” the woman in the next cell yelled.
As
Pretty Pink Ponytails reached through the bars to make her to bye-bye, she smelled
smoke. She smiled. Fire would be more painful than anything she
could do without her toys, which were back at her playroom.
She
turned around and looked up. She saw a
window near the ceiling. It was too thin
and too high up for most people, but not for her. She stepped up onto a bench in her cell and
jumped up to the window, punching it out.
It took her three tries to get enough glass cleared. After that, she jumped up one final time, and
grabbed the ledge. She pulled herself
up. As she crawled through the window,
she found it a tight fit, and felt shards of broken glass dig into her. She was able to get out, though.
She
jumped down to the ground on the other side, bleeding from her stomach with some
shards of glass embedded. She ran off,
looking to find her brother. As she ran,
she felt light headed. She recognized
the feeling. She knew it wasn’t from
blood loss. Her eyes widened. She rushed home as soon as she could. Nita might be coming out, and she needed her
big brother to lock her up.
*****
Detective
Williams sat in his office with Donna.
As he shuffled some papers around, he heard someone shout. “Fire!”
He
stood up. He and Donna ran for the
door. He couldn’t smell any smoke, so he
was sure the knob would be cool enough to touch. He tried to open it. He couldn’t.
Something was blocking it. He and
Donna pushed as hard as they could, but they couldn’t make the door budge. Williams got down. He looked underneath the door. He could see the bottom of something large
blocking the doorway. He couldn’t tell
what it was, but could tell it was a piece of furniture, not anything that fell
down from above. This had been
deliberate.
Williams
thought. There was no way out of
here. Who would do this? He had plenty of enemies, but there were far
better ways to kill him than by trapping him in a burning police station.
It
was absurd to think that someone would move that piece of furniture in front of
his door in the middle of a fire, so it must have been moved before, which
meant whoever had done this had set the fire.
It couldn’t have been the Angel of Death. He knew from Pretty Pink Ponytails’ testimony
that he was afraid of fire. At the same
time, it had to be him. He must have
still more powers that Williams didn’t know about.
No,
even if he could do this, he wouldn’t, nor would the other creature like him
likely have any reason to do this. You
don’t go to all of the trouble of framing someone just to let them out. Wait, there was one possibility. Now that Cody was in prison, setting the
place on fire would force him to reveal himself, or be killed. But why trap him? Williams’ eyes widened. He was the only one who knew that there were
multiple Angels.
Williams
turned around. He saw Donna crouching
down next to him. They both lay down on
their stomachs. They looked at each
other.
“So
this is it then,” Donna said.
“Most
likely. No one will notice that we’re
not coming out until it’s too late, and if the two of us together couldn’t move
that thing away it’s probably heavy enough for moving it to take at least two,
more likely three people; more than will stop to move it in the middle of a
fire.”
Donna
took a deep breath. She looked over at
her desk, at a picture of her parents.
She shed a tear. She looked back
at Williams. She put out her hand. She smiled.
“It’s been a pleasure working with you,” she said.
Williams
took her hand. He nodded. “Same.”
As
Williams predicted, no one came to rescue them as they lay. Eventually, they smelled smoke. They backed away from the door. They felt the heat of the fire as they saw it
come into their room. Soon, the entire
room was ablaze. The walls, the ceiling,
the floor, Williams’ desk, containing everything he knew about the Angel of
Death case, and recordings of all of the deductions no one else would likely
make, all of it was bright and hot. Soon, Williams and Donna were bright and hot
too. They screamed as the flames
consumed their cloths, and then caught on their flesh. Williams reached out for Donna’s burning
form. Neither of them could help
screaming as their flesh melted and burned.
They both closed their eyes.
After a few minutes, Williams no longer heard Donna’s screaming. “Donna…” he mouthed, falling to the ground.
*****
Cody
stood outside of the police station, waiting.
He assumed Bavandersloth had more planned. As he stood, Cody watched ambulances arrive.
A
few minutes after Cody ran out, a police officer saw him. She did a double take, and ran over. Cody put his hands up when he saw her
approaching. The officer got out her
baton. “How’d you get out?” she asked.
Cody
looked up at her. “One of the guards was
going around opening cells.”
The
officer looked at him and raised an eyebrow.
She put away her baton. “I see.”
The
officer got out her radio. “Johnson, one
of the prisoners got out.”
“Really?”
Cody heard.
“Yeah. In fact I think this was Williams’ Angel
suspect.”
Cody’s
eyes widened.
“Really? Well, won’t he be relieved. For now, I guess you should take him to your
cruiser.”
“Roger.”
Cody allowed her to cuff him and bring him to
her car. He sat in the back. After a minute, he spoke to her. “Um… Excuse me, officer, what did the guy you
were talking to mean about me being relieved?”
The
officer put her feet up. “The prosecutor’s
not gonna charge you with anything. The
real Angel healed your girlfriend about half an hour before the fire started,
while you were in your cell.”
Cody’s
eyes widened. Bavandersloth didn’t have
healing powers, and he’d told Cody that he didn’t have any friends that did
either. Had he lied? Wait a second. Cody smiled.
Cherry was okay. She’d live. She was out of danger, at least for now. He needed to talk to Bavandersloth about
taking care of Valthakar permanently, but if Bavandersloth was able to pull
this off, there might just be a chance.
Cody
turned to his side as he heard a siren.
He saw a burned body being rushed out of the station by paramedics. He looked down. “How many people survived the fire?” Cody
asked.
“Not
too many. The smoke detectors didn’t go
off, so a lot of people probably got trapped inside before knowing to run out.”
“Including
Det. Williams?”
The
officer took a deep breath. “Possibly.”
Cody
took a deep breath. Maybe Bavandersloth was
able to get the help of another healing lich at the last minute.
After
a few hours, Cody was released. The
prosecutor decided not to charge him for breaking out of jail, and allowed him
to go home.
*****
That
night, Cody snuck out of his house to feed earlier than he usually would. Once he had had his meal, he went out to
Bavandersloth’s mansion. He knocked on
the door. Bavandersloth opened it. “Oh, greetings Odelarch,” Bavandersloth
said. “What brings you here?”
“Well,
I’m wondering how you healed Cherie.”
“Ah,
I was going to come see you in the morning about this. Please, come inside.”
Cody
did. He sat in Bavandersloth’s great
room. As he sat, he heard a voice
upstairs. It sounded like it belonged to
someone around ten years old. He
couldn’t make out what it said.
“Excuse
me,” Bavandersloth said. He went
upstairs. Cody raised an eyebrow. After about a minute, Bavandersloth came back
down.
“Who
was that?” Cody asked.
Bavandersloth
put his feet up. “That was the lich who
healed Cherie.”
Cody’s eyes widened. “What?”
“Please,
Odelarch, don’t be so upset.”
Cody
looked at Bavandersloth. “You brought a
kid into this.”
“You’re
a kid.”
“Yeah,
but like, a young kid. He sounded, what,
ten?”
“He’s
eleven.”
“And
you made him into a soul eating monster?”
“He
said the chant of his own free will. I
just gave him the book and told him what powers he needed to make sure he’d
get.”
Cody
stood up. “But he’s just a little kid.” Cody noticed something out of the corner of
his eye. He looked up. He saw the child standing at the top of the
stairs. Bavandersloth turned around.
“Come
down, Justin” Bavandersloth said.
“Introduce yourself to the Angel of Death.”
Cody
was silent. The child walked down the
stairs of the mansion. He sat down in
front of Cody. “Hi,” he said, holding
out his hand, “I’m Justin, Justin Cooper.”
Cody
grabbed Justin’s hand and shook it. “I’m
Cody Giles.”
“I
understand if you don’t think I’m ready.”
“Oh,
um--”
“Bavandersloth
told me what I’d have to do once I got these powers, but I’m not worried. I just have to keep killing bad guys and
helping people every night, right, like you do?”
“Well,
yeah, but--”
“But
what? I’m going to be saving people. Plus, I won’t just fight criminals. I’ll also fight evil liches, like you did with
that Nazi.”
Cody
started to speak, but Bavandersloth interrupted him. “Speaking of which, tomorrow, we’re going to
take out Valthakar.”
“What? I thought you said he couldn’t be--”
“Not
without me,” Justin said, grinning.
“When
I gave him the book, I told him to intend two things when he became a lich,
healing Cherie, and getting Valthakar’s Phylactery. Hence, he’s gotten a special power. If he’s close enough to a lich, any lich, he
can make their Phylactery appear in his hand.”
“I
see,” Cody said, taking a deep breath, “but why would he go along with this?”
Justin
put his head down, and as a tear formed in the corner of his eye. Cody looked at him. “What is it?” he asked.
Justin cried. “Earlier tonight,” he said, “Valthakar…” He was silent for a moment.
“Valthakar
killed his parents,” Bavandersloth said.
Justin
nodded. “Bavandersloth was barely able
to get me out of the house in time,” he added through light sobs.
Cody’s
eyes widened. He looked at
Bavandersloth, and then back at Justin.
He put his hand on Justin’s shoulder.
“Justin
wants to keep as many people from being hurt by liches as possible,”
Bavandersloth said. “He’s a lot like you
in a way.”
“I
know it’ll be hard,” Justin said, “but I’m ready to do what I have to do to
help people.”
Cody
took a deep breath. “Alright,” he said.
Bavandersloth
looked up at the clock. “You know,
something occurs to me.”
Cody
looked at him. “What?”
“It’s
not even midnight yet. If we wanted to,
we could go take care of Valthakar now.”
Justin
looked up. “Yes. Let’s do it.”
Cody
looked at him, then up at Bavandersloth.
“Are we sure he’s ready? Has he
even had his first meal yet?”
“It’s
best to take care of Valthakar as soon as possible, and I’m sure he’s ready.”
Cody
looked down. He sighed. “Alright.”
He looked back up.
Justin
looked at Cody. “Don’t worry,” he said,
“I’m ready.”
Cody
took a deep breath. “If you say so.”
“So
how do we find Valthakar anyway?” Cody asked.
“I
have one of my souls tracking him,” Bavandersloth said.
Cody took a deep breath. “We’ll take your car then, I guess?”
Bavandersloth
nodded. “Yes.”
The
three walked out. They got into
Bavandersloth’s car.
*****
Bavandersloth’s
car raced toward Valthakar’s neighborhood.
According to Bavandersloth’s soul, he was in a house he’d taken.
Bavandersloth
took a drink of soda as he drove.
“How
far are we?” Justin asked.
“Not
far,” Bavandersloth said. “Only a few minutes.”
Justin
took a deep breath. He put his hand in
his pocket. Bavandersloth reached the
gate that guarded Valthakar’s neighborhood.
He stopped in front of a guard at a booth. “Hello sir, what business do you have here?”
the guard asked.
Bavandersloth
took off his seat belt, and took his true form.
It was nearly naked, with only a loin cloth to cover itself. From its wrists and ankles dangled rusty
chains. Bavandersloth looked at the
guard. “You should let us in,” he
said. “Also, you did not see, are not
seeing, and will not see anything out of the ordinary tonight to do with us.”
The
guard was dazed. He nodded, not saying a
word. He pressed a button and opened the
gate. Bavandersloth drove the car
inside.
“Valthakar
probably knows we’re coming,” Cody said.
“I
know,” Bavandersloth said. “He’s waiting
for us. He also probably knows about
Justin, and his powers. It shouldn’t
matter. I’ve stacked the deck in my
favor. All that Justin must do is will
himself to acquire Valthakar’s phylactery, and then hand it to me.”
Cody
raised an eyebrow. “Wait, why hand it to
you? Why not just smash it?”
“There
is a spell I want to cast on it, one that might allow me to prevent things like
this, like Valthakar I mean, from happening in the future. Valthakar isn’t the only lich old enough that
policing him is a difficult task.”
Cody
looked at Bavandersloth. He tilted his
head.
There
was a light fog in the air as they pulled up to Valthakar’s house. The three got out of their car and looked
around. No one was outside. “Time to take our true forms.”
Cody
nodded and transformed.
Justin
nodded. “Right.” Justin took a deep breath and
transformed. His true form was as tall
as Cody’s and Bavandersloth’s. It was
clothed in silky white garb. The outfit
seemed to be one piece, but there was elastic evident around the waste. The outfit was pure white, save for two
bright red stains; one on the front, which was round and about one foot in diameter
and, as Cody saw when Justin walked in front of him, one in back, which was an
oval about a yard high and two feet wide, eclipsing a good deal of the garment.
The
three approached Valthakar’s house.
Bavandersloth called his soul and ordered it to give him a report. Valthakar was waiting right inside for the
three to open the door. He was ready to
fire a shot at them. Bavandersloth sent
the soul back in. He turned to the
others. “Stand clear of the door,” he
said. The children nodded, and each
stood to the side. Bavandersloth ripped
the door off, stepping to the side with it.
A fireball came out from inside.
The three heard Valthakar’s voice.
“Hello,”
he said. “You’re free to come on in if
you want; especially little Tkoralkiarch.”
Justin grabbed a rock and threw it in front of
the door. A fireball was shot at it.
“I see you’re not in
the visiting mood,” Valthakar said.
“That’s too bad. I was hoping I
could have another talk with Odelarch. If
you’re unwilling though, I suppose there’s no way to force you. Of course, there’s really no way for Tkoralkiarch
to use his powers without coming in here.
The tome is a snitch that way. It
told me just how far away I needed to be, so I made sure he’d have to be well
inside here to get my phylactery.
Really, you might as well leave.”
Justin gritted his
teeth. He turned to the others. “Any ideas?”
Cody thought for a moment. He turned to Bavandersloth. “Will our magical shields be able to stop his
shots?”
“No. None of us are powerful enough.” Bavandersloth thought for a moment. His eyes widened. “But I can think of one thing. Each time one of his shots breaks one of our
shields, its power will go down. It will
have to use a bit of its energy. If we
can surround Tkoralkiarch in all three of our shields, their combined force
might be able to render the resulting shot survivable.”
Valthakar laughed
inside the house. “Ha. That will never work. Need I remind you that I am ten-thousand
years old? Or that I have the power of
thirty-million souls on my side? Even
all three of your shields couldn’t stand up to a blast from me.”
“Bavandersloth, is that
true?” Justin asked.
“I don’t know. It’s the only thing I can think of to try
though. We’ll layer our shields. Justin, yours is the weakest, so it’ll be the
farthest away from you. Odelarch, yours
will come next. Mine will be last, and
it will hopefully bear the brunt of the blast.”
Justin looked down,
then took a deep breath and clinched his fists.
He nodded his head “Alright.”
Cody nodded too. He stood back, preparing to cast a shield.
“On my mark,”
Bavandersloth said.
“Three.”
“Two.”
“One.”
“Go.”
All three of the liches
cast their shields, and advanced so that they would surround Justin. Justin ran in, going a few feet into the
room. Valthakar fired a magical blast at
him. Cody closed his eyes, and
concentrated on keeping the shield up.
He heard Justin’s shield break, and then felt his fail. Almost immediately afterward, he heard Bavandersloth’s
shield fail. The blast of magical energy
knocked Justin out of the house. He was
unconscious, and shifted back to his human form. A large part of his torso was missing, the
entire middle third, save for a thin strip of flesh. Cody fought the urge to stare at the pleasing
image of the leaking entrails. He forced
himself to look over at Justin’s hand.
In it, there was a necklace.
Bavandersloth ran over
to the necklace. He grabbed it and
jumped back. Valthakar ran out, but
Bavandersloth closed his eyes and cast a spell.
As Valthakar emerged from his house, he stumbled, falling to the
ground. He looked up at Bavandersloth.
“Really?” Valthakar was stammering. He chuckled.
“A will binding spell? I didn’t
think even you would sink that low.”
Bavandersloth looked at
Valthakar. “Then you underestimated me.”
Valthakar fell
unconscious. Bavandersloth shifted back
to his true form, and advised Cody to do the same. He did.
“What did you just do?”
Cody asked.
“I cast a curse on
him. His soul is now affected by the
same magic as a devoured one. He cannot
help but obey my every command, and cannot bring himself to defy my will.”
Cody’s eyes
widened. He stepped back. “Oh, um, why didn’t you just kill him?”
“It’d be a waste of his
power. If I had killed him, he would be
gone. This way, the most powerful lich
on the earth is as my command, mine to use as I please.”
“Oh, uh, okay
then.” Bavandersloth picked Valthakar
up, and Cody picked up Justin. The small strip of flesh nearly broke as Cody
lifted it off the ground. He had to
catch the boy’s legs.
“By the way,” Cody
said, “there’s one thing I’ve been wondering.”
“What?”
“I’m just thinking,
wasn’t it quite the coincidence that you just happened to be around when
Valthakar was killing Justin’s parents?”
“I was tracking
Valthakar.”
“Well, yeah, but you
managed to get to that house just in time to save Justin when--”
Bavandersloth turned
around. “Cody, do you care about him?”
Cody stumbled back. His eyes widened. “What?”
“Do you care about
Justin?”
Cody took a deep
breath. He felt a bead of sweat fall
down his forehead. “Oh. I guess.”
“Then I’d like to
recommend against encouraging him to pursue any lines of thought that might
cause him to uncover truths about my actions that might require me to do
unpleasant things to him.”
Cody’s jaw dropped and
his eyes widened further.
Bavandersloth
smiled. “I’m glad you understand.”
Cody put his head down
as he carried Justin to the car and set the boy down. He got in on the other side and sat down. He buckled his seatbelt.
“How long will he be
out?” Cody asked.
“They’ll both wake in a
few hours,” Bavandersloth said. “He’ll
be healed in about ten days.”
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