Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten - word count 2532 - Download PDF
10. Gabriel sat cross-legged on the carpet of his bedroom, his hands relaxed and palms up on his knees. His usual leather was missing, instead he wore a soft black cotton pants that made the golden skin tone of his bare chest that much more striking. He breathed in deeply through his nose and expelled the breath in a short sharp burst through his mouth. Right now meditation was the only thing that could bring him a measure of calm. Ever since Namara had given him these cursed god powers he’d been buzzing. His skin felt like there were insects crawling under it and he had a tension between his shoulder blades that would not ease. It was worse at night, tonight was the worst he’d had to endure so far. The power flowed through his blood causing a burn and ache that was driving Gabriel slowly mad. He had to find some way to deal with the power, some way to channel it. Gabriel was taking strain, but he had to keep it together, he had no choice. The mythos of this compound relied on him for direction and leadership, and if he got all wiggy because of a power he hadn’t asked for, he’d be letting them down. Then there was Kyle. Gods - the Lycos had more faith in Gabriel than Gabe had in himself. How the hell was he going to find a way to get Kyle back in his body and breathing. Gabe had known when Kyle died, some part of him had suspected that Kyle wasn’t gone. That was why Gabriel had laid the stasis on Kyle’s lifeless body. If Gabriel could figure out a way to put Kyle back, he would be as he had been fifty years ago. How the hell was he going to do it? Gabriel rolled his head back, stretching his neck muscles and shifted his legs a little to get more comfortable. He drew in another deep breath and tried to concentrate on a black void. It wasn’t working, there was a golden glow in the void. Gabriel wiped the image from his mind and started again. Soothing black, nothingness, peace. Fuck it! There was the golden glow again, a spark in the center of the image. Gabriel tensed, his senses instantly bursting into a heightened mode, he wasn’t alone, there was someone in his bedroom. He snapped his eyes open, moving fluidly out of his cross-legged position and into a fighting crouch, all in one movement. “Impressive.” The man stood in the center of Gabriel’s room, completely at ease. Gods the man is massive, Gabriel thought, and he was right, at six foot eight the newcomer had a couple of inches on Gabe, he was broad across the shoulders, and though the coal black leather coat her wore hid it to a certain degree, Gabriel could see the man was built for war. His muscles stretched the leather of his coat as he raised his hand to his face so he could inspect a fingernail. “Who the fuck are you?” Gabriel spoke in a low voice with deadly intent. The man pinned Gabriel with impossibly green eyes, they had to be contacts you don’t get green like that in natures eye colors. “Not in your world’s eye colors, but my eyes are the ones I was born with I don’t wear contacts.” “Get out of my fucking head, and answer my question.” The stranger tusked. “You should take pride in your language Gabriel, not curse like a common street punk, you are a god after all.” Gabriel felt the power in his blood flow swifter building tension as a cold feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. How the hell had this man known what Gabriel was? “Let me answer your question. My name is Ra’gerious, but you can call me Rage. Why not, everyone else does.” Something flashed in Rage’s eyes, making Gabriel think Rage was more than a nickname, it was a state of mind for this man. “You are right about the name, but wrong about the other part, I’m not a man.” Rage moved over to the chair and sat down. “I’m a god, like you, and I’m here to help you.” Gabriel rose from his fighting crouch, it didn’t look like Rage was here looking for a fight. “I’ve never heard of a god called Ra’gerious.” “No, you wouldn’t have, I come from another dimension, my whole pantheon does. Have you heard of the Unnamed?” Gabriel had. For a long time there had been whispers among the higher echelons of mythos, whispers about an entire pantheon that had fled to earth, they were called the Unnamed. No one could say why, or from what they had fled. “We didn’t flee, we chose exile, rather than see our dimension ripped apart by a war too evenly matched to ever be won by either side.” Rage’s eyes flashed again, he’d been insulted by the thought. “Stay out of my head.” “Stop thinking so loudly.” Rage lifted a hand to move his long black hair away from his eyes. “So how are you going to help me?” “The god powers you carry are from my pantheon. From one we lost to the war, we were pleased when they were given to you. But we can’t leave you to learn on your own, the powers are strong enough to rip you apart if you aren’t taught to control them. So I have been asked to teach you how to use them. But to do that you have to come with me.” “Why should I trust you?” Rage rose from the chair and walked over to Gabriel, keeping his hands visible. “I’m going to touch your forehead, I’m not going to hurt you. Understood?” Gabriel nodded. Rage lifted a hand and placed his palm over Gabriel’s forehead. Instantly images started flashing in Gabriel’s head and it all became clear. In the three seconds it took for the images to explode in his mind he knew the whole history of the Unnamed, he understood about the war that had ravaged in their dimension and how the Unnamed had chosen to leave to save what was left of their world. They’d done it in secret and the other pantheon still hunted them, sending assassins whenever they could find a way through the dimensions. Gabriel realized that he needed the knowledge that Rage could give him that the power he had been given was from one of their most powerful and without the ability to channel it, the abilities would tear him apart. When Rage stepped back Gabriel nodded, his face a little pale. “Fine, I’ll come with you so you can teach me, but I need to tell my brother that I’m leaving and why.” Rage nodded. “That’s fine.” Gabriel though of Jesse and suddenly he was in Jesse’s room. He reeled from the shock of teleportation. “Shit! Who’d have thought I could do that? Did I do that?” He muttered. There was a soft feminine shriek. “Damn it Gabriel, can’t you knock?” Jesse cursed as he sat up in bed. His thigh length hair flowed around him, mussed as if someone hand been dragging their hands through it. “Crap! Sorry Jess, sorry Meg.” He apologized to the woman who had dived under the sheet when Gabriel had abruptly appeared. He heard her mutter. “Oh my god, Gabriel is in the room.” Jesse got out of bed, grabbing a pair of jeans off the floor he slipped them over his hips to cover his nakedness. Gabriel opened a channel to his brother. I didn’t know you and Meg were a couple. We aren’t. Jesse’s voice was clear in Gabriel’s head. When did you start having one night stands? Jesse grinned at Gabriel, before he sent the thought. You are so wrapped up in being boss you wouldn’t notice if I were having sex in your bed Gabe. When I itch, I scratch. Gabriel had to laugh, seems he’d underestimated his brothers ability to draw the ladies. “Is Gabriel gone?” Meg’s voice came from under the sheet. “No I’m still here.” Gabriel spoke out loud. “Listen Jess, sorry my popping in here was accidental. I just came to tell you I’m going to be gone for a while. I need you to keep an eye on things for me. Specially the Omega, they’ve got a new member and I think something big is going down with the missing Psy.’ Jesse nodded. “Will do, but where are you going?” “Honestly, I couldn’t tell you, or how long I’m going to be gone, but I need someone I trust keeping things together.” Gabe spoke into his brother’s mind again. I’m leaving with a god called Ra’gerious, he’s going to teach me how to use my abilities, but I don’t know where I’m going or when I’ll be back. Jesse understood, Gabriel didn’t want Meg to hear the full details of what was going on. “Not a problem. I’ll watch over the place.” “Thanks – this really was an accident. I’m sorry for interrupting.” Gabriel told the lump hiding under the sheets before he closed his eyes and thought of his room, when he opened them again he was standing in front of Rage. “Did you do that?” Rage shook his head. “I see I have a lot to teach you. You did that yourself. Lets get going.” The room shimmered and they were gone. Murdock took about ten minutes before he came out of the back room holding out a sheet of paper. It was a photostat copy, obviously copied from a very old book on herb lore. He handed it to Seth. “I wish you all the best of luck getting this. The mythos that be controlling that land is very adamant that no one get that herb.” “Don’t worry, we have an ace up our sleeve. I’ll get back to you as soon as we have the herb.” “That’ll be fine, thank you.” They said their goodbyes and left, the bell above the door tinkling merrily as they walked out. “Darius might be South African, but who says he knows the man who has control over the area.” Ross asked. “If he doesn’t know this mythos, then he’ll know someone who does, Dar is well connected in South Africa. I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.” Seth answered. They walked towards the car as they discussed it. An unexpected tension flickered through the group. “Someone is watching us.” Seth made the statement as he extended his claws quietly. Sorcha felt Kyle tense as well and looked down to his hand. His fingers had extended into long wickedly sharp looking claws. The air around them shimmered as robed and hooded figures stepped out of the flickering night to surround the Omega. They were uniform, all wearing the same dirty brown robes, not a glimpse of face or skin showed. “The shit is about to hit the fan, stay close to me Sorcha.” Kyle told her. “You have something we want.” The voice was a weird melding of many voices, coming from every person around them. There was no discrepancy in timing, every word was uttered at exactly the right moment. A cold shiver ran up Sorcha’s spine. “Oh?” Seth said glibly. “And what is that?” “They Psy Walker, she is ours, give her to us, she must become part of the whole.” They had to be talking about Sorcha, the only ‘she’ with them. How the hell had they known Sorcha was a Psy Walker? Seth was worried, they were out numbered three to one and it looked like these beings were going to be major bad-asses. “Forget it.” Dante growled. “We will take her.” The weird multi-voice was giving Sorcha the hebies. Ross lifted his clawed hands curling his clawed fingers and hissed. “Bring it!” As one the creatures moved forward. With precision and complete silence they attacked. The Omega were hard pressed to keep them back. Claws slashed accompanied by war cries as the creatures collapsed, never making a sound, but no sooner had one fallen then an eerie yellow glow would pulse and the creature would rise again. Someone pushed Sorcha to the center as the Omega formed a tight circle around her. “Damn it! Throw up a shimmer Ross.” Seth yelled as he saw some normals had noticed the combat. He lunged and ran his claws over the hood of one of the creature, the material tore. There was no one in it, just a sickly yellow glow. Ross struggled to concentrate on keeping the illusion he’d created tight, and sending the normals the thought that they’d seen a flash of light nothing more, as he fought next to a now invisible Kyle. “Who the fuck is that?” Dante yelled as someone somersaulted off the rooftop of the building they were nearest. The man landed behind the tightening circle of creatures. He was dressed all in black, a hoddy pulled up to hide his face. He reached behind his back and unsheathed two wicked looking blades, they glimmered as the street lights hit the polished surfaces, the ivory of the grips glowed with their own pale light. The blades had a soft curve, like a Katana sword, but they were shorter by five inches. “To Panic and Torture.” He growled in a deep voice then attacked moving like something surreal. Forcing the creatures to turn and fight as his lethal blades bit into them time after time. A creature would lunge and he’s float, as if gravity had no hold on him, moving in arcs so beautiful it looked like ballet. Ross groaned as a creature sunk a blade into his side, collapsing to his knees. That’s what you get when you get distracted, he thought. His illusion flickered, then stabilized as someone else reinforced it. Ross looked up as the stranger nodded, looking down at Ross, before jumping up and somersaulting in the opposite direction. Sorcha was terrified, she’d never seen real combat before, let alone been in the middle of a fight. She tried to think what she could do to help, but her mind kept drawing a blank. All she could think of was that Kyle was fighting and that put him in danger. She tried to remind herself that he was already dead, nothing here could hurt him but even though her head knew that she was terrified anyway. So she concentrated on sending power into him. If she could send enough power he’d be safe. Kyle felt the extra strength and looked over his shoulder. Sorcha had her eyes fixed on him. He didn’t know how she was doing it, but she was feeding him power and that power was giving his ghost abilities way more kick. He grinned at her and went back to tearing holes in the creatures. The distraction of feeding her power into Kyle cost Sorcha, because a creature saw the gap cause by Ross falling to his knees. The creature lunged forward and grabbed Sorcha. Holding her tightly it stepped back into the protection of its group.

Chapter Ten - word count 2532 - Download PDF

10.
      Gabriel sat cross-legged on the carpet of his bedroom, his hands relaxed and palms up on his knees.  His usual leather was missing, instead he wore a soft black cotton pants that made the golden skin tone of his bare chest that much more striking.
      He breathed in deeply through his nose and expelled the breath in a short sharp burst through his mouth.  Right now meditation was the only thing that could bring him a measure of calm.
      Ever since Namara had given him these cursed god powers he’d been buzzing.  His skin felt like there were insects crawling under it and he had a tension between his shoulder blades that would not ease.  It was worse at night, tonight was the worst he’d had to endure so far.
      The power flowed through his blood causing a burn and ache that was driving Gabriel slowly mad.  He had to find some way to deal with the power, some way to channel it.
      Gabriel was taking strain, but he had to keep it together, he had no choice.  The mythos of this compound relied on him for direction and leadership, and if he got all wiggy because of a power he hadn’t asked for, he’d be letting them down.
      Then there was Kyle.  Gods - the Lycos had more faith in Gabriel than Gabe had in himself.  How the hell was he going to find a way to get Kyle back in his body and breathing.
      Gabe had known when Kyle died, some part of him had suspected that Kyle wasn’t gone.  That was why Gabriel had laid the stasis on Kyle’s lifeless body.  If Gabriel could figure out a way to put Kyle back, he would be as he had been fifty years ago.
      How the hell was he going to do it?
      Gabriel rolled his head back, stretching his neck muscles and shifted his legs a little to get more comfortable.  He drew in another deep breath and tried to concentrate on a black void.  It wasn’t working, there was a golden glow in the void.  Gabriel wiped the image from his mind and started again.  Soothing black, nothingness, peace.
      Fuck it!  There was the golden glow again, a spark in the center of the image.
      Gabriel tensed, his senses instantly bursting into a heightened mode, he wasn’t alone, there was someone in his bedroom.  He snapped his eyes open, moving fluidly out of his cross-legged position and into a fighting crouch, all in one movement.
      “Impressive.”  The man stood in the center of Gabriel’s room, completely at ease.
      Gods the man is massive, Gabriel thought, and he was right, at six foot eight the newcomer had a couple of inches on Gabe, he was broad across the shoulders, and though the coal black leather coat her wore hid it to a certain degree, Gabriel could see the man was built for war.  His muscles stretched the leather of his coat as he raised his hand to his face so he could inspect a fingernail.
      “Who the fuck are you?”  Gabriel spoke in a low voice with deadly intent.
      The man pinned Gabriel with impossibly green eyes, they had to be contacts you don’t get green like that in natures eye colors.
      “Not in your world’s eye colors, but my eyes are the ones I was born with I don’t wear contacts.”
      “Get out of my fucking head, and answer my question.”
      The stranger tusked.  “You should take pride in your language Gabriel, not curse like a common street punk, you are a god after all.”
      Gabriel felt the power in his blood flow swifter building tension as a cold feeling settled in the pit of his stomach.
      How the hell had this man known what Gabriel was?
      “Let me answer your question.  My name is Ra’gerious, but you can call me Rage.  Why not, everyone else does.”  Something flashed in Rage’s eyes, making Gabriel think Rage was more than a nickname, it was a state of mind for this man.
      “You are right about the name, but wrong about the other part, I’m not a man.”  Rage moved over to the chair and sat down.
      “I’m a god, like you, and I’m here to help you.”
      Gabriel rose from his fighting crouch, it didn’t look like Rage was here looking for a fight.
      “I’ve never heard of a god called Ra’gerious.”
      “No, you wouldn’t have, I come from another dimension, my whole pantheon does.  Have you heard of the Unnamed?”
      Gabriel had.   For a long time there had been whispers among the higher echelons of mythos, whispers about an entire pantheon that had fled to earth, they were called the Unnamed.  No one could say why, or from what they had fled.
      “We didn’t flee, we chose exile, rather than see our dimension ripped apart by a war too evenly matched to ever be won by either side.”  Rage’s eyes flashed again, he’d been insulted by the thought.
      “Stay out of my head.”
      “Stop thinking so loudly.”  Rage lifted a hand to move his long black hair away from his eyes.
      “So how are you going to help me?”
      “The god powers you carry are from my pantheon.  From one we lost to the war, we were pleased when they were given to you.  But we can’t leave you to learn on your own, the powers are strong enough to rip you apart if you aren’t taught to control them.  So I have been asked to teach you how to use them.  But to do that you have to come with me.”
      “Why should I trust you?”
      Rage rose from the chair and walked over to Gabriel, keeping his hands visible.
      “I’m going to touch your forehead, I’m not going to hurt you.  Understood?”
      Gabriel nodded.
      Rage lifted a hand and placed his palm over Gabriel’s forehead.
      Instantly images started flashing in Gabriel’s head and it all became clear.  In the three seconds it took for the images to explode in his mind he knew the whole history of the Unnamed, he understood about the war that had ravaged in their dimension and how the Unnamed had chosen to leave to save what was left of their world.  They’d done it in secret and the other pantheon still hunted them, sending assassins whenever they could find a way through the dimensions.  Gabriel realized that he needed the knowledge that Rage could give him that the power he had been given was from one of their most powerful and without the ability to channel it, the abilities would tear him apart.
      When Rage stepped back Gabriel nodded, his face a little pale.
      “Fine, I’ll come with you so you can teach me, but I need to tell my brother that I’m leaving and why.”
      Rage nodded.  “That’s fine.”
      Gabriel though of Jesse and suddenly he was in Jesse’s room.
      He reeled from the shock of teleportation.
      “Shit!  Who’d have thought I could do that?  Did I do that?”  He muttered.
      There was a soft feminine shriek.
      “Damn it Gabriel, can’t you knock?”  Jesse cursed as he sat up in bed.  His thigh length hair flowed around him, mussed as if someone hand been dragging their hands through it.
      “Crap!  Sorry Jess, sorry Meg.”  He apologized to the woman who had dived under the sheet when Gabriel had abruptly appeared.
      He heard her mutter. “Oh my god, Gabriel is in the room.”
      Jesse got out of bed, grabbing a pair of jeans off the floor he slipped them over his hips to cover his nakedness.
      Gabriel opened a channel to his brother.
      I didn’t know you and Meg were a couple.
      We aren’t.
      Jesse’s voice was clear in Gabriel’s head.
      When did you start having one night stands?
      Jesse grinned at Gabriel, before he sent the thought.
      You are so wrapped up in being boss you wouldn’t notice if I were having sex in your bed Gabe.  When I itch, I scratch.
      Gabriel had to laugh, seems he’d underestimated his brothers ability to draw the ladies.
      “Is Gabriel gone?”  Meg’s voice came from under the sheet.
      “No I’m still here.” Gabriel spoke out loud.  “Listen Jess, sorry my popping in here was accidental.  I just came to tell you I’m going to be gone for a while.  I need you to keep an eye on things for me.  Specially the Omega, they’ve got a new member and I think something big is going down with the missing Psy.’
      Jesse nodded. “Will do, but where are you going?”
      “Honestly, I couldn’t tell you, or how long I’m going to be gone, but I need someone I trust keeping things together.”
      Gabe spoke into his brother’s mind again.
      I’m leaving with a god called Ra’gerious, he’s going to teach me how to use my abilities, but I don’t know where I’m going or when I’ll be back.
      Jesse understood, Gabriel didn’t want Meg to hear the full details of what was going on.
      “Not a problem.  I’ll watch over the place.”
      “Thanks – this really was an accident.  I’m sorry for interrupting.”  Gabriel told the lump hiding under the sheets before he closed his eyes and thought of his room, when he opened them again he was standing in front of Rage.
      “Did you do that?”
      Rage shook his head. “I see I have a lot to teach you.  You did that yourself.  Lets get going.”
      The room shimmered and they were gone.

      Murdock took about ten minutes before he came out of the back room holding out a sheet of paper.  It was a photostat copy, obviously copied from a very old book on herb lore.  He handed it to Seth.
      “I wish you all the best of luck getting this.  The mythos that be controlling that land is very adamant that no one get that herb.”
      “Don’t worry, we have an ace up our sleeve.  I’ll get back to you as soon as we have the herb.”
      “That’ll be fine, thank you.”
      They said their goodbyes and left, the bell above the door tinkling merrily as they walked out.
      “Darius might be South African, but who says he knows the man who has control over the area.” Ross asked.
      “If he doesn’t know this mythos, then he’ll know someone who does, Dar is well connected in South Africa.  I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”  Seth answered.
      They walked towards the car as they discussed it.  An unexpected tension flickered through the group.
      “Someone is watching us.”  Seth made the statement as he extended his claws quietly.  Sorcha felt Kyle tense as well and looked down to his hand.  His fingers had extended into long wickedly sharp looking claws.
      The air around them shimmered as robed and hooded figures stepped out of the flickering night to surround the Omega.  They were uniform, all wearing the same dirty brown robes, not a glimpse of face or skin showed.
      “The shit is about to hit the fan, stay close to me Sorcha.”  Kyle told her.
      “You have something we want.”  The voice was a weird melding of many voices, coming from every person around them.  There was no discrepancy in timing, every word was uttered at exactly the right moment.  A cold shiver ran up Sorcha’s spine.
      “Oh?” Seth said glibly. “And what is that?”
      “They Psy Walker, she is ours, give her to us, she must become part of the whole.”
      They had to be talking about Sorcha, the only ‘she’ with them. How the hell had they known Sorcha was a Psy Walker?  Seth was worried, they were out numbered three to one and it looked like these beings were going to be major bad-asses.
      “Forget it.”  Dante growled.
      “We will take her.”  The weird multi-voice was giving Sorcha the hebies.
      Ross lifted his clawed hands curling his clawed fingers and hissed. “Bring it!”
      As one the creatures moved forward.  With precision and complete silence they attacked.  The Omega were hard pressed to keep them back.
      Claws slashed accompanied by war cries as the creatures collapsed, never making a sound, but no sooner had one fallen then an eerie yellow glow would pulse and the creature would rise again.  Someone pushed Sorcha to the center as the Omega formed a tight circle around her.
      “Damn it!  Throw up a shimmer Ross.”  Seth yelled as he saw some normals had noticed the combat.  He lunged and ran his claws over the hood of one of the creature, the material tore.  There was no one in it, just a sickly yellow glow.
      Ross struggled to concentrate on keeping the illusion he’d created tight, and sending the normals the thought that they’d seen a flash of light nothing more, as he fought next to a now invisible Kyle.
      “Who the fuck is that?”  Dante yelled as someone somersaulted off the rooftop of the building they were nearest.  The man landed behind the tightening circle of creatures.  He was dressed all in black, a hoddy pulled up to hide his face.  He reached behind his back and unsheathed two wicked looking blades, they glimmered as the street lights hit the polished surfaces, the ivory of the grips glowed with their own pale light.  The blades had a soft curve, like a Katana sword, but they were shorter by five inches.
      “To Panic and Torture.”  He growled in a deep voice then attacked moving like something surreal.  Forcing the creatures to turn and fight as his lethal blades bit into them time after time.
      A creature would lunge and he’s float, as if gravity had no hold on him, moving in arcs so beautiful it looked like ballet.
      Ross groaned as a creature sunk a blade into his side, collapsing to his knees.  That’s what you get when you get distracted, he thought.
      His illusion flickered, then stabilized as someone else reinforced it.  Ross looked up as the stranger nodded, looking down at Ross, before jumping up and somersaulting in the opposite direction.
      Sorcha was terrified, she’d never seen real combat before, let alone been in the middle of a fight.  She tried to think what she could do to help, but her mind kept drawing a blank.  All she could think of was that Kyle was fighting and that put him in danger.  She tried to remind herself that he was already dead, nothing here could hurt him but even though her head knew that she was terrified anyway.  So she concentrated on sending power into him.  If she could send enough power he’d be safe.
      Kyle felt the extra strength and looked over his shoulder.  Sorcha had her eyes fixed on him.  He didn’t know how she was doing it, but she was feeding him power and that power was giving his ghost abilities way more kick.  He grinned at her and went back to tearing holes in the creatures.
      The distraction of feeding her power into Kyle cost Sorcha, because a creature saw the gap cause by Ross falling to his knees.  The creature lunged forward and grabbed Sorcha.  Holding her tightly it stepped back into the protection of its group.

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