Chapter 52 Ghost 1
Callin lay on his back, staring up into the murky darkness above his bed. The moonlight streaming in through the tall, double windows by his bed had little power to push back the shadows, instead painting the world in a faint ghostly glow that let Callin see minute detail as easily as if it were daylight. How many nights had he lain here, staring up at his ceiling, dreading sleep?
And yet, now, he was not dreading the weakness of sleep, where his memories would have free rein to shape nightmares to rip and rend him. He was going to walk the halls of his memories tonight, when the mansion was quiet, sleeping.
He was going to walk the halls of his memories by choice. Not as a helpless victim of his dream-mind.
It had been a week since the Torn had come and gone, leaving chaos in their wake. He had been living in a dream since then, hiding from the depth of the memories of his past that were now fully available to him. Memories no longer chained and misdirected by blocks in his mind.
Now, he was ready to face them. But he wanted time alone, time to think about who he had been in the past. Time to think about who he was now.
He quietly pulled on blue jeans and a black T shirt and padded out of the room, his bare feet soundless on the hardwood floor. The hall of the mansion outside his room was rich with scents. A tapestry so saturated with information that he could shut his eyes and bury himself in it for tens of minutes and still not have gathered all that there was to learn. As his instincts guided his nose, he let them analyze the air for any threat, or anything of immediate interest.
The air currents in the hall shifted slightly, bringing new scents to him. He narrowed his eyes as he realized Raina wasn't in her room. Her room was just down the hall from his. Her scent should be relatively fresh here in the hall, just like the scents were for the others who had bedrooms in this hall. What was Raina doing out of her room at 3 AM?
He padded down the hall on silent cats feet, instinctively shying away from the evenly spaced night lights, holding to the shadows. Moving like a hunter, unaware of how thoroughly his instincts were guiding him. He stopped at the hall intersection, his head up as he scented left, then right. He was expecting to catch her scent to the left, as that way led to the living room and kitchen. Maybe she was up for a late night snack, or couldn't sleep and was watching TV?
His nose surprised him when he caught her scent to the right. He followed it, not sure what he was doing but glad to be doing something for the moment. Not yet really ready to face his memories. He wondered if he ever really would be, or if he would continue to find reasons to do something else. Some other minor distraction that didn't concern him, something that he could latch onto and keep his mind occupied. To keep running.
He prowled up and down halls for a bit, until he realized she was not in this wing of the mansion. He stalked through the shadows, hunters' eyes reflecting the pale moonlight, not letting his thoughts linger on any one thing for more than the barest of moments.
In the hall where Jacob and Ahleena's rooms were, he paused. Her scent was stronger here. Then, as he stood there, he heard footsteps approaching from within Ahleena's room.
The door to Ahleena's bedroom opened slowly. Carefully. As if whoever was coming out was moving as stealthily as possible.
Callin stood still, deep in the shadows, watching. To his surprise, Raina slipped out of the doorway, furtively glancing up and down the hall before gently pushing the door shut. Not noticing him in the shadows, as her eyes were not suited for the darkness. Her clothes were rumpled, her short, black hair standing out in clusters, and her cheeks were flushed, her eyes bright and constantly, nervously roving.
Then the air currents shifted again, and he caught her scent. It was filled with misery and fear. Before he could process what this meant, she spotted him in the shadows and gasped, her hand flying up over her mouth.
"Callin! What are you doing here?! You scared me half to death!" She whispered fiercely a moment later.
"Just out for a midnight stroll. What are you doing, Raina? Are you ok?" He asked, careful to keep his emotions under tight control, aware of how damaging being near others could be to the sensitive empath.
Raina opened her mouth but Jacob's mental voice interrupted her, echoing throughout the minds of everyone in the mansion at once.
"My perimeter just detected movement on three quadrants. Everybody to the center hall right now!" His sending thundered through their running thoughts, dominating everything for an instant. It left no room for discussion. Only action would satisfy that command.
Callin understood. Jacob was taking no chances after that veritable army of Flayers and Davin's team had attacked them a week ago. He was on battle alert, and now, at the influence of his telepathic command, so was everybody else.
Callin spun and sprinted towards the center hall, his claws already beginning to burn in their sockets as he readied for battle. What was approaching the mansion now, in the dead of night?
Behind him, he heard Raina curse and sprint the other way, even as he heard the sounds of Ahleena strapping on her swords. Whatever was trying to sneak into this mansion would meet a bloody end tonight.
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Raina dashed through the mansion, growling under her breath as she ran. She couldn't believe Callin had caught her sneaking out of Ahleena's room!
She wondered how she could explain to him what she had been doing there. In fact, she wondered how she had fallen asleep there in the first place, anyway. The last thing she remembered was a crushing fear of being swept away by the combined emotions of all the others in the mansion.
Then Ahleena had come back for her, her power once again forming that ice shield she so desperately needed, letting her remain herself in her own mind. What had happened next? She couldn't remember. It was frustrating, maddening, to have a section of your life just beyond your grasp. Had Ahleena done something to her memories for a little bit there?
She almost stumbled at this thought, then growled and clenched her fists, latching onto her growing anger to keep her mind busy. Using her anger to keep her as shielded as she could from all the others in the mansion as they violently, and confusedly, woke up and began to sprint towards the center hall. She wasn't obeying Jacob's command. She was running the opposite way as fast as possible.
Just the thought of being in the center hall with everybody all hyped up and ready for battle, was enough to make her sick with fear. She wouldn't be able to bear it.
She knew the psychic energy of who they all were during those first moments, that fiery, flowing storm of emotion and sensation, would crash over her. It would fracture the order of her mind and sweep away the pieces in the flood of confusion. She wondered how far that would have to go before she was lost forever. It was not a question she wanted to see the answer to.
In her panic, in her bewildered state, in the way she was running her anger back and forth in her mind, she didn't notice the shadows up ahead. She didn't notice that extra bit of darkness that lay waiting.
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Jacob's high intensity telepathic command rattled Carmen from the murky world of dreams and hurled her into the confusion of half-wakefulness. Before she was fully alert her body reacted to the command, with no grace or planning, spinning to roll out of the bed. She landed square on her butt on the floor hard enough to finish waking her up. It didn't bring pleasant thoughts to mind.
She growled darkly as she threw a silk robe on and ran towards the center hall. Whatever was trying to sneak into the mansion tonight was going to really regret waking her up like this! She heard the twins, Jen and Jesse, burst out of their room right behind her, and couldn't help but grin as she heard them both muttering under their breath.
The twins had adapted well to life at the mansion, after having been freed of Davin's merciless rule once he had been killed by Callin. Jacob had opened his home to them, offering peace and help with their powers. They had readily agreed, neither of them ready to face the world on their own. Carmen suspected their minds had been so badly scarred by telepaths at the lab, and by Davin himself, that it would take years of telepathic therapy with Ahleena and Jacob before they were ready to live on their own.
A door up ahead slammed open as an extremely disheveled, and equally furious Kevin came striding out, wearing only jeans and a scowl. He glanced at her as she hurriedly covered herself up, obviously aware that the silk robe was all that she was wearing.
"Nice robe." He said, one eyebrow waggling.
Behind her, Carmen heard the twins giggle. She rolled her eyes as she ran past him, not wanting to answer that.
"Maybe worry about what is out there, surrounding the mansion, instead of what I'm wearing." She called over her shoulder, hearing him fall into step with the twins, racing after her.
"I'm not worried about what's out there. We have a ninja and a telepath so powerful he can control an entire army or rip apart a building with just his mind." He said.
She couldn't argue with that. She wondered if tonight she would see what Jacob was really capable of. He had NOT sounded pleased about being surrounded.
They all blasted into the center hall and saw the others gathered there, most of them standing in a defensive circle. Jacob was sitting in a giant leather chair by the fireplace, eyes closed, body held perfectly still. He had an aura of lethal danger surrounding him despite his relaxed pose and closed eyes.
When a telepath was relaxed and concentrating was when they were most dangerous.
Ahleena stood apart from the group, back towards them, facing the main entry doors, her swords strapped across her back. She was wearing tight, black combat pants, and a loose-fitting red, silk shirt. Throwing knives glinted coldly at each hip, and the razor spikes on her forearm armor were an evil touch to her motionless outline.
"Dang..." Kevin whispered as he saw her. Carmen had to agree.
Her long, silken black hair hung in loose rings down her back, her pale skin glowed softly in the faint light, and she stood poised in a balanced crouch that served to enhance her natural curves. She looked incredibly sexy, and undeniably dangerous.
"Where is Raina?" Ahleena asked, not turning around.
Carmen glanced at the others, who were all looking at her. Evidently the question was meant for her.
"I don't know." Carmen said.
Ahleena turned around to face them. Carmen rolled her eyes as she heard every male in the room suck in a sharp breath.
"She should be here." She stated flatly.
Carmen scowled at her, not sure where Ahleena was going with this or her tone.
"I agree. So why don't you use your power and tell her to come here?"
Ahleena looked away, but not before Carmen thought she saw a flash of pain in her frigid eyes.
"Ask Jacob where she is. I'm going hunting." She said, striding away from them, straight for the front doors.
"Do not open those doors." Jacob's voice rang out and Ahleena stopped short, one hand outstretched to push on the doors.
"There is...something out there. Right now, my wards are keeping it out. But if you open that door..." He didn't need to finish his sentence for everybody to understand the warning.
"Raina didn't come." Ahleena said, not facing them, her voice as flat and toneless as ever.
Carmen narrowed her eyes at that. Where was Raina?
Just then, a wave of terror and pain came crashing down into the minds of everybody in the room. It was so intense, so focused, that it ripped past any defenses and any control in all of their minds and put them writhing on the floor. All except Jacob and Ahleena.
"Raina." Ahleena stated, meeting Jacob's stormy gray eyes.
He didn't answer, instead pulling deep at his powers and stretching a shield outwards over everybody in the room. It offered everybody immediate respite, but it was power stretched very thin, as he was also trying to keep whatever was outside the mansion from entering.
He was being divided into too many directions, too much power required for each. Holding back an unfettered attack from an Alpha empath was no simple task. Ahleena understood he wouldn't be able to keep that up for long.
"Hold. I'll find her." She called over her shoulder as she sprinted from the room. Heading back towards her room. She didn't know where Raina was, but had decided to let her instincts guide her. Her instincts had never failed her in the past.
The dark halls flashed by, gleaming mahogany and cold marble, beauty tainted with an evil touch as the shadows everywhere seemed to slither and dance, seeking what they could devour. Ahleena could sense the cold rage in the air, could sense the pure hatred of whatever had invaded these halls. It was riding the waves of Raina's empath power, enhanced to blistering levels, soaking into the very structure of the mansion and preparing to pounce.
She couldn't understand the sensation in the air, couldn't trace it back to anything else she had ever seen, except for one thing. The Torn had suffered from a terrible duality. The Weaver and Flayer power tied into one, yet not. This seemed like that, except it was somehow much more complete, much stronger. As if whatever wielded this energy was truly a child of both worlds, able to fully tap into both.
She stopped in the hall to her bedroom, sensing movement up ahead. Something walking towards her, cloaked in unnatural shadows. Her swords appeared in her hands, their edges hissing viciously, her power sparking up and down the cutting edges, sharp enough to sever life-force itself. Black frost instantly appeared on the walls and floor about her as waves of frigid power cascaded off of her, dripping from her swords and running down her arms, forming tiny, jagged thorns along the points on her forearm armor.
Raina prowled into the light, allowing the blackness cloaking her to fall back, eyes fixed on Ahleena. Ahleena saw one of Raina's eyes was utterly black, looking like an infinitely empty hole. The other eye was her normal bright green, except now her pupil was slitted like a cats and glowing with an unnatural, inner light.
"Hello Rift Rent." She said, her tone and inflection so different that Ahleena knew immediately she was facing another in Raina's skin.
"Who are you?" Ahleena asked, standing balanced, ready.
Raina cocked her head, a wretched smile smearing across her lips, not touching her eyes.
"You don't recognize me, little jewel?"
At those words, at that nickname, Ahleena's jaw sagged open in total shock and her swords wavered, their edges losing the flickering power, her entire body beginning to tremble. As if something had reached into her very core and had begun to shake her apart.
"Ghost?" She choked out, tears beginning to stream from her eyes even as her swords slipped from her grip and clattered uselessly to the floor. Her legs gave way and she followed her swords, crumpling down to kneel.