Chapter Twenty-Eight
FIELDING FEIGNED indifference. “Your mind-control tricks won’t work on me. I can shut you out.”
Jake arched his eyebrows. “You can try. Some of your scientists at the camp tried that too. Want to know how that went? And while we’re on the subject… mind control ? Seriously?” He rolled his eyes. “Why would I even want to do something like that?” He leaned in closer until his face was barely an inch from Fielding’s. “No, my specialties are psychometry and clairvoyance, although I do have other skills.” He smiled. “You know what psychometry is, don’t you, Fielding? Of course you do. And you’re about to get firsthand experience of it.” Jake glanced at Saul and Horvan. “Hold him still, please.”
They moved to either side of Fielding’s chair and grabbed his arms, although he struggled to free himself. Jake placed his fingers on Fielding’s temples.
Fielding glared at him. “It won’t work. What makes you think I’m going to cooperate?”
“You really don’t know how this works, do you? Who says I need your cooperation, anyway?” Jake narrowed his gaze. “Do I need to gag you? It’s bad enough that I have to be this close to you.” He closed his eyes, and a surge of emotion assaulted his senses, so strong he could almost smell it.
Interesting .
“He’s afraid.”
“What’s he afraid of?” Aelryn asked.
Jake concentrated. “Me… and….” He opened his eyes. “Who’s Theron?” Fielding’s gasp mingled with Aelryn’s, and Jake grinned. “I think I just hit a nerve.”
“You’re on the right track,” Aelryn confirmed. “Theron is a person of interest.”
Jake closed his eyes, shutting out the sight of Fielding’s contorted features. “I can see him. He’s… old. But there’s nothing frail about this guy. Power rolls off him in waves.”
“Where is he?” Horvan demanded.
Jake frowned. “He’s in a long room with a vaulted ceiling, like it’s underground someplace. Somewhere old. Can’t see much except….” He scowled. “Try and kick me out of this memory all you want, Fielding. It won’t do you any good. You can’t hide from me.”
Fielding’s muted whimper told Jake he knew it too.
Jake walked through the hallways of Fielding’s mind. “I’m in another room. Same place, I think. There’s a bed but little else. Someone’s sitting on it. A boy.” Jake stared at him. “Such a blank expression.” It sent a chill coursing through him. “Green eyes, bronze-brown hair.” Those eyes….
“Looks as if he’s maybe ten?” Saul asked.
“Yes. Wait—no. He’s older than that. He could be in his teens. Who is he?” Except he already knew, and the knowledge gripped his heart in an icy hand.
Saul let out a sigh. “You’re seeing your grandson, Alec. And if you’re right, then… he’s aged since I saw him.”
Jake froze. “But if he’s Dellan’s son, and taking into account how long the Gerans had him imprisoned in that cage…” It didn’t compute.
In real terms, he couldn’t be more than two years old. What the fuck did they do to him? More importantly, how could they do that to a child ? Scrap that—he had to have been still little more than a baby when they did whatever they did. Jake wanted to grab Alec and cradle him, to run with him as far away from that bland room as they could get.
A calm voice in his head dragged him back on task. Later. There’s stuff you need to discover.
Jake took a deep breath, forcing himself to think clearly.
“I don’t know where he is. Not yet.” Then he was walking back to that first room.
Something important in here.
“Can you see Vic?” Jake couldn’t miss the anxious edge to Saul’s voice.
He sighed. “There are limits to what I can see. If it’s not in Fielding’s memory, then no.” And right then, Fielding’s memory was fixated on a door.
So what’s in there?
“The room has a walled-off section with a door in it. Walls of glass. I can see stone caskets.” He stilled. Familiar caskets…. Jake pulled back and looked Fielding in the eye. “You know about the Missal of Godwin, don’t you? Theron saw it at the archives.”
Fielding froze. “No. Get out of there.”
“What’s that?” Horvan asked.
Without breaking eye contact, Jake answered him. “The oldest document we have about shifters—well, to date at any rate. It was written in 1050. I saw it in the archives in Rome. It mentions the brothers. I also saw other artifacts, but that was where things got interesting.” Fielding moaned, and Jake moved in closer, his fingers pushing into the flesh of Fielding’s temples. “You don’t like me looking at this, do you? Why does Theron keep these caskets from prying eyes? What do they contain? More forgeries?” He stilled. “Or maybe not. Maybe they’re the real thing.”
“Search his memories for Berengar,” Aelryn suggested.
Fielding jerked beneath his fingertips, and Jake smiled. “Jackpot. Who is Berengar?”
“An ancient shifter whose tomb was recently discovered. Whatever they found in it, the Gerans want it to remain hidden.”
The fear Jake had sensed when he first touched Fielding had blossomed, creeping through his body like corruption.
“You’re afraid of Theron, aren’t you?” Jake said softly. “Whatever Theron is hiding, he’s not just keeping it from the Fridans, but the Gerans as well. He doesn’t want anyone seeing it.” Then Jake froze as the memory of a conversation came to him, as clear as if he’d been present at the time. “You asked Theron why he hadn’t destroyed whatever’s in there when they were first discovered.”
Fielding’s eyes widened.
Jake nodded. “He told you they may yet prove useful.” Then he recited Theron’s reply, word for word.
I can understand your confusion. Why keep something that would lead to peace when we wish to sow nothing but discord and chaos? But the day will come when we have won this war. The Fridans will be nothing but a memory, and all shifters will be bereft. Then it will be time to ‘discover’ these artifacts. Then we’ll tell everyone that we never knew. How could we? The truth had lain hidden, undisturbed for centuries. Can’t you just hear the words? ‘But now we can see that all shifters and humans must work together, as they were meant to. We must strive to forget what has passed and live in peace and harmony.’ After all the bloodshed and heartache, such words will ensure no one seeks to resurrect the past, and we shall live out our days the way we always intended—as the rulers of all.
Fielding stared at him openmouthed, his upper lip curling back, his face twisted in a grimace.
“Now I really want to see what Theron is hiding,” Aelryn murmured.
Saul’s voice broke through. “Fielding said wherever Alec is, Vic is there too.”
Jake removed his fingers, straightened, and glanced at Seth. “I think a little Remote Viewing is called for.”
Seth nodded, his eyes bright. “I need something of Vic’s. Something personal.”
“I’m on it.” Saul glanced at Aelryn. “Can you take over here?”
Aelryn grabbed hold of Fielding’s arm, and Saul was out of there.
Jake resumed his task, taking a moment to retrace his steps in Fielding’s mind. “I saw some of your handiwork at the archive. Well, not yours, but I’m sure it was a Geran who produced it.” When Fielding didn’t react, Jake cocked his head to one side. “Surely you haven’t forgotten? Ansger’s comments to Ansfrid about what would come of mixing with humans? Because I haven’t. Those words are burned into my brain.” He closed his eyes and recited the text Orsini had read to him more than thirty years ago.
For so long as you choose to mix the blood of humans and versipelli, my brother, you will bring about our destruction. Mankind is weak, but we are strong. Mankind’s place is beneath our feet, but our destiny is to rule. Mankind has tried to eliminate us already, and your weakness for their company would bring us to the brink of extinction. You have chosen your path, my brother, and I have chosen mine. Peace is not the answer, only war. And if you continue along this path, then my war will be against not only mankind, but against you, and any who choose to follow your example.
Horvan made a choking sound. “Oh gods.” Then he paused. “Wait—what do you mean, handiwork?”
“They produced an artifact, one that supported the tale of the brothers’ split. Except it wasn’t real.” He glanced at Horvan. “What I just read to you wasn’t real. I was able to tell Orsini that much. The last thing he said when I left him was that he would get it dated.”
“Orsini spoke of this,” Aelryn confirmed. “And you were correct. The document dates back to the early nineteen hundreds.”
Jake blinked and jerked his head in Aelryn’s direction. “Is he still alive?”
Aelryn smiled. “Yes. And he’s still the archivist.”
“Then we’re going to need him. If we can get him to leave the archive.” There was a mystery to be solved in those stone caskets—wherever they were—and Orsini would be key to cracking it.
Aelryn frowned. “Can you search for any memory of Valmer Cooper?”
Fielding twitched again, and Jake chuckled. “He knows that name too. Who is he?”
“A Geran. He might even be a leader.”
Jake closed his eyes, focusing once more. “He’s there, with Theron.” Jake frowned. “I don’t understand. If he’s a Geran, why have they had him beaten? Why are they holding him?”
“As leverage. He’s definitely there?”
“Yes.” Jake had a ton of questions, but they would have to wait. He delved a little deeper, aware of the fatigue crawling through him, making him ache.
I’ll have to stop soon.
Fielding had become very still, and Jake’s instinct went on alert.
What is it you don’t want me to see?
“You’ve killed many times for your master, haven’t you?” he murmured.
“Well, we know about Dellan’s stepbrother, Anson,” Horvan commented.
Fielding let out a whimper, and Jake saw what he’d tried so hard to hide. He froze, his limbs heavy as lead, pain lancing through his chest. “I ought to shift and tear you apart where you sit.”
A hand touched his shoulder, and Jake knew it was Aelryn. “Jake, what have you seen?”
Tears trickled down Jake’s cheeks, and he did nothing to impede them. “He killed my wife. Injected her with something. Then he stood there while she died.” He pushed the memory aside, unable to watch Miranda’s beautiful face as it contorted in agony.
Nicholas was right.
It was one thing to suspect it, but quite another to know it for certain.
Jake struggled to get back on track. “There’s another death. A scarred man with long gray hair and dark eyes.”
Aelryn’s breathing caught. “Is the scar on his neck?”
“Yes.”
“What can you glean about him?”
“He gave the Gerans information about your activities.” Jake stiffened. “He was the one who told them about me visiting the archive.”
“Raderan Milos, a Fridan leader. He committed suicide about twenty-eight years ago.”
Jake scowled. “That was no suicide.” Fielding shivered, and Jake gazed at him, seeing to the heart of his unrest. “You’re afraid of what Theron will do when he learns what you’ve revealed to us.”
“Theron is an important Geran leader,” Aelryn told him.
Jake shook his head. “I hate to contradict you, but he is the leader.” And suddenly he was out of energy. He broke contact with Fielding, shaking and beyond exhausted. Fielding slumped in his chair, his eyes closed.
“You need to rest.” Horvan’s voice was kind.
Jake managed to shake his head again. “Not yet. Have to find Theron’s residence. Because that’s where all the answers are.” Fielding chose that moment to open his eyes, and Jake recoiled from the look of stark hatred.
“I hope you’re proud of yourself,” Fielding said with a sneer. “You just mind-raped me. You say you’re all benevolent, but you’ll get dirty when the need suits you.”
Jake blinked, then recovered. “No, you’re wrong. A good man will do whatever he has to in order to protect what’s his. All this? It never would have happened if you’d been a normal person. But no , you had to be a murderer, killing people who got in your way, people you had no more use for. It wasn’t mind-rape. It was stopping a monster.” He snorted. “But I will say this. Thank you.”
Fielding’s eyes bulged. “For what? I did none of that willingly.” He sounded as tired as Jake.
“I’m not thanking you for that. I’m thanking you for thirty years of pushing me, testing me, trying to work out the limits of my abilities. Because it forced me to push the boundaries of those limits. My psychic talents were pretty good before you took me. Your treatment of me made me hone them, develop them.” Jake gestured to his body. “You made me into the psychic you see before you. And now? I’m going to be the engine of your undoing. Not just you— every Geran who believed the lies you spun.” Jake turned to Horvan. “Now get me away from this bastard. I’ve had about as much of him as I can stomach.”
How he got back to the cot bed Nicholas had procured for him, Jake had no idea, except that Horvan had had a hand in it somehow. Jake dropped like a stone onto the bed, arm thrown over his eyes.
“I can’t thank you enough.” That was Aelryn.
Jake huffed. “Don’t thank me yet. Save it for when you really have something to thank me for.”
“Are you okay?”
“No, but it’ll pass.” He swallowed. “Where’s Horvan?”
“I’m right here.”
Jake’s stomach clenched. “He was right, you know.”
“Fielding? Right about what?”
“What I did just now? It was cruel and unusual. I tortured him.”
“But you were right too.” Horvan’s tone was gentle. “You did what you had to do to stop a monster. You said it yourself. He would never have told us any of that, not in a million years. And we needed to know—to save lives.” There was a pause. “If you still feel the same way when this is all behind us? There’s always therapy. It’s saved me a few times. And maybe if I shared that with more people, they’d get help instead of carrying all that baggage around with them, weighing them down, dragging them deeper into some mental mire that seems inescapable.”
Jake peered at him. “Okay, I didn’t expect that.” He smiled. “My son got real lucky with his mates.”
Horvan returned his smile. “We’re the lucky ones.”
Crank stood at the foot of his bed, holding out a stainless-steel ring. Jake stared at it.
“What’s that?”
“It’s not important,” Crank replied with a cough. “Saul said you wanted something of Vic’s so Seth could do his thing.”
Saul appeared next to him. He rolled his eyes. “I said a cock ring wasn’t appropriate.”
“Hey, you said something personal. How much more personal can you get?”
Next to the bed, Horvan chuckled. “I’m dying to know what you’re doing with Vic’s cock ring, but you know what? I can live without knowing.”
Jake propped himself up on his elbows. “Anyone else want to join us? Should I sell tickets?” Then he saw Seth at the foot of the bed. “Okay, good. You’re supposed to be here. Your turn.”
Seth took the cock ring from Crank and held it in both hands, eyes closed. Silence fell, until all Jake could hear was the drone of a plane taking off in the distance.
Then Seth froze. “I see a man. He’s shortish, very slim… he seems very young.”
“That’s Vic. Has to be. He looks about twelve.” Crank’s breathing hitched. “He’s alive?”
“Yes. He’s locked in what appears to be a storeroom.” He paused. “He appears to be okay. Quite calm.”
Jake sat up. “Seth? Expand your horizon. See beyond the walls. You can do it.” His skin tingled and his heartbeat raced.
Seth frowned. “Wow. It’s… it looks like a castle. There’s a stream around it.”
“Are you talking about a moat?” Aelryn asked.
Seth nodded. “Yeah, that’s it.” He paused. “There are people working here. I can hear them talking, but… they sound a little strange.” He frowned. “I think they’re British, but it’s the weirdest accent. I’m having trouble understanding them.”
Jake gaped at him. “You tracked him all the way to the UK? You are awesome .”
Seth flushed. “I think that’s the farthest I’ve managed so far.”
Saul leaned forward. “Can you repeat what you’re hearing, exactly as you hear it?”
“I think so.”
Saul pulled his phone from his pocket and stabbed at the keyboard. “Eve? I want you to listen to Seth, then tell me where this UK accent is from.” He snorted. “No, I haven’t heard it. I’m just cutting out the middleman and coming directly to you. Putting Seth on now.” He held out the phone, and Seth repeated the strange-sounding words. When he finished, Saul brought the phone to his ear. “Well?” He listened for a moment, then grinned. “You beauty. Thank you.” He finished the call. “Okay, that narrows the field a bit. Eve says we should be looking in Lancashire, in the north of England. And if Vic is there, so is Alec.”
“And the contents of Berengar’s tomb,” Aelryn added.
Saul peered at Seth. “If we find photos of castles in Lancashire—”
“With a moat,” Crank interjected. “They gotta have a moat. Can’t be all that many of them, right?”
Saul speared him with a glance. “Okay, photos of castles in Lancashire—with a moat —you think you can identify the one you saw?”
Seth nodded, and Jake’s chest swelled with pride.
Saul met Horvan’s gaze. “Then it’s Google time.”
Aelryn gave Jake a sympathetic glance. “Get some rest. We’re going to need you.”
“We need Orsini too,” Jake reminded him. “Give me an hour to recharge my batteries and I’ll make the call.”
“And Fielding?” Horvan inclined his head toward the block where Fielding was stowed.
Aelryn smiled. “He’s going to be my guest a while longer. I don’t think he’ll be in any hurry to return to his master, do you?”
Judging by what Jake had felt while he’d crawled through Fielding’s mind during the last half hour, Aelryn had nailed it.
And speaking of crawling, Jake was in dire need of a shower after that. He felt soiled.
At least now they had a name. A target.
One line of that conversation gave him hope.
Theron is hiding something that could lead to peace.
Whatever it was, Jake was going to help bring it out of the darkness and into the light.