Chapter 12
“Are you certain?” Uriel stopped pacing across the Persian rug laid over the living room’s wooden floor. With his gaze on Tina he crossed his arms. “Really, really certain?”
“Yes, I am.” Tina, who sat on the yellow couch, furrowed her brows. “I couldn’t believe it either, so I checked at least four times. It was Damon and he was hiding under some kind of mask, spell or something. I could only see his features here and there, but I was the only one who seemed to notice him.” She played with the edge of her shirt. “Now, what are we going to do?”
“I don’t know. I would prefer to do nothing, but... if you noticed him, there’s a high chance somebody else will notice him, too. And if that happens, with the restriction spells binding this estate, Damon might not be able to use his powers to defend himself or escape.” Uriel ran his fingers through the black strands of his hair. “And after his capture -- the first thing Prva would want to know what is so important that Damon would walk into the wasps’ nest -- and, of course, we don’t want Prva to know about you.”
“No, we don’t.” Haniel, sitting beside Tina, leaned forward. “She’s too interested in you already.”
“Yeah.” Muriel, who sat on the other side of Tina, nodded.
“It’s a shame that I can’t say Damon’s not our problem. He sneaked in here on his own; he’s a big boy, he should get out of here on his own, too. ”
“Uriel!” Muriel narrowed his eyes at Uriel.
“Yes, I know.” Uriel grimaced. He focused on Tina. “He’s looking for you, of course, following you. And that probably means that he’s near the house as we speak.” He sighed. “Since we don’t know what kind of plan he has or if he has any backup with him, I say we observe him until we learn whether or not he’s alone.”
“Let’s just grab him,” Haniel said. “The longer he’s on the loose the greater the chances that he will get noticed.”
“And then what?” Tina jumped in. “Keep him locked in the basement or something?”
“I like that idea.” Uriel went to the sofa, sat down, leaned one arm on the back of the sofa and crossed his legs.
“We could put him into Sarniikzi,” Haniel suggested. “I bet he hasn’t slept in decades; we would probably get rid of him for at least a year or two.”
“What are you talking about?” Tina asked. “Do Lost need sleep? As I remember Damon didn’t sleep when I was with him. And you don’t sleep either...” Then she remembered finding Muriel dozing on the couch one morning. “Well, except here and there.”
“Our bodies need rest too.” Muriel’s green eyes looked at her. “We sleep too, sort of, we fall into a sort of hibernation. We don't need as much rest as Mamaels, and we can stay awake for quite a long time: for a month, a year, a decade or even a century; but the longer we are awake, the longer we need to hibernate.”
“That means if I’m awake for one year, when I decide to use Sarniikzi, I’ll hibernate for around two months,” Haniel said.
“Is that what those steel boxes in the basement are for? And the one I had to sleep in at Prva’s house?” Tina frowned, her gaze shifting between Haniel and Muriel. She remembered that when she had complained that she wanted a bed instead of that thing, they had explained to her that that thing had regeneration powers, something about its combination of metals and stones, and if she rested in it with a closed lid she would need less sleep and wake up more refreshed. As tempted as she had been to find out if they were telling the truth, the claustrophobia and the fear that she might not be able to get out were too overwhelming to test their statement.
“Yes,” Muriel nodded.
“Can I be awake for such a long time, too?”
“We are not sure,” Uriel said. “Aradma can, but only for six months. You should try it, even though, with the way you complained about the Sarniikzi in London, I don't believe it's a good idea. For Sarniikzi to work, the lid has to be closed, remember, or otherwise the hibernating time triples. And if the box stays open it makes you too vulnerable, too exposed. That's another reason for lids. Before Sarniikzi, Bloodeaters used sarcophagi in fear that somebody or something might wander along while their ‘servants’ weren’t nearby and, well, do something to them, like severing their heads.”
“That had to be a pain to get out of.” Haniel grimaced.
“Indeed.” Uriel smoothed a wrinkle on his black pants. “Now, can we return to our problem, please?”
“Damon,” Muriel said.
“Yes.” Uriel leaned forward, rested his elbows on his knees and laced his fingers. “First, we should find out his location. Muriel, why don't you use one of your little friends to look around the house for Damon?”
Muriel nodded, stood up and went toward the window.
Tina leaned sideways to see Muriel better. She expected Muriel to use some weird noises to call animals, but when Muriel opened the window, three small birds already waited on the windowsill. They tilted their little heads, their small eyes blinking at Muriel, who just intently stared at them for a few seconds and then the birds flew away.
“Are you even listening to me?” Uriel waved his hand before Tina’s face.
“When did you -- ” Oh, it didn’t really matter. “What is it?”
“He proposed we use you as bait.” Haniel crossed his arms over his chest. “And I don’t agree.”
“It’s just Damon.” Tina put her hand on Haniel’s shoulder. “Aren’t you being a little too protective? He won’t hurt me, you know.”
“You never know what can happen, and I hate for you to be in any kind of danger.” Haniel pressed his lips in a narrow line. “Or that he might take you away.”
Muriel sat down beside Haniel. “I agree.”
“Come on guys. You are taking this too far; I do have my speed thing and, besides, like Uriel said before, because of all the precautions because of the Gathering, he probably can’t use his powers.”
“We don’t know that for sure,” Muriel objected.
Tina’s gaze found Uriel’s. Muriel and Haniel were making such a big fuss over such a small thing; what would they do if she told them that she was thinking about being bait for Angelica? She sighed.
#
Tina sat on the bench beside the tall, brick wall that framed the estate, enjoying the small sounds and the fresh scent of Muriel's fairytale-like garden. She was acting as bait despite Muriel and Haniel's disapproval. Those two treated her like she was a rare flower that would break under the slightest breeze. They exaggerated, and she had told them that in much a louder voice than she had at first intended. She shook her head, not believing that they’d had their first quarrel.
He's near you now.
She could hear Muriel's sullen voice in her head. She focused on Muriel's image just as he had taught her and let him know that she had heard him. In this last week, with meditation and practice, they had finally managed to establish a strong, permanent link between them that could be opened as soon as she thought of Muriel. But that hadn't meant that the mental tutoring was over, it just meant that now she had a new goal, which Muriel set for her: to establish a link through him with Haniel and Uriel. Which wouldn't happen anytime soon, since according to Muriel her telepathic powers were one of her weakest points. She closed her eyes and lifted her face to the evening sun, half-hidden behind the clouds. All she needed to do was to wait until Damon showed himself and did what he intended to do. And she was not afraid, no she was not, or at least that was what she tried to tell herself.
The minutes ticked away, and Tina already thought that Damon had changed his mind. Her hand touched the book that lay on the wood beside her, she wrapped her fingers around it and lifted it.
I can’t see him anymore, Muriel’s voice echoed in her mind. The animals still feel him, but I can’t see him... I knew that something like that would happen.
Stop being paranoid, Tina focused on Muriel. I’m still here, unharmed and -- something touched her neck. Something warm. She looked over her shoulder. It was just the wall there. Nothing -- no, from the corner of her eye she caught a glimmer.
Damon. Suddenly the fear that had lingered, hidden, in the pit of her stomach rose, a moment of panic, before it burst like a bubble and she felt surprisingly calm. He wouldn’t harm her, no matter how angry he was at her for zapping him.
Tina!
She turned forward and closed her eyes; just for a moment she imagined Muriel before her. It’s fine, I’m okay. But be ready, he’s here.
“How have you been?” Damon’s velvet voice caressed Tina’s ear.
“Fine. You?” Tina couldn’t help but smile. She was probably insane, because as much as she had been dreading this encounter it was so good to hear Damon’s voice again, it gave her the feeling of reuniting with an old friend. “I didn’t know you could make yourself intangible.”
“Just temporary, Irene’s doing.”
“I see.” Tina stared ahead, her shoulders tense. “Are you angry with me?”
“A little.” Damon’s fingers cupped Tina’s neck. “Are you ready to go home?”
“I can’t go with you, my home is by their side now.”
“Their?” Damon’s form shimmered, looking as if he were becoming solid. He stepped before Tina. “You don’t mean those three. They are nothing but the result of Angelica’s experiment on my son, on the son she killed.” His mouth curled in a snarl. “They don’t deserve to live.”
He didn’t mean that. He couldn’t. “It’s not their fault.” Tina’s brows furrowed, the corner of her mouth turned downward and her hands curled. “Do you think they wanted for their soul to be separated?”
Tina!
Tina ignored Muriel. “Do you think that they wanted to be experimented on by Angelica? You could have saved them, but you turned your back on them. How could you?” She could feel the anger bubbling inside her. Now!
She sped up her heartbeat, as Damon’s eyes slowly dilated, she pulled from the pocket a small, silver ball Uriel had given her. She pressed on an imprinted sign, the ball opened and revealed two wires forming an upside down V. She aimed the tip at Damon and pressed the imprinted sign again. The ropes of electricity shoot out and wrapped around Damon.
Time sped up, and Damon, with a scowl on his forehead, pushed his elbows out, fighting the restraint, but new ropes aimed from three other directions circled his body and held his arms against his body.
“How degrading to be caught by the likes of you three.” Damon's eyes became thin lines as Uriel, Haniel and Muriel came closer. His gaze fell on Tina. “I suspected it was a trap, but I underestimated you. Helping them, that's not something I thought you would do. How sneaky you have become.”
“Tell Irene and Tristian to come out of hiding.” Uriel stepped before Damon.
Damon raised his brows.
“Don't pretend that they are not here.” Uriel pulled back the hand that held the ball and the rope around Damon tightened.
“You have been discovered, come out,” Damon said.
For a moment Tina believed that Damon had the same powers as Muriel, but then she noticed a small gadget in Damon’s ear.
Tristian jumped down from the tree a few steps away and Irene’s form shimmered to Muriel’s left until her body became solid.
“Now, tell them not to do anything stupid.” Uriel gestured for Muriel and Haniel to step closer.
“Or else?” Damon tensed his jaw.
Tina leaned back and because of her clammy fingers had to adjust her grip the ball.
“We are in the middle of Ceremony. If I alert the Damned to your presence, it would start a war and I doubt you would want that,” Uriel said.
“We are not afraid of a war.” Irene smoothed her blond hair as she came closer. She stopped behind Uriel, but when Haniel ordered her to move into Uriel’s line of sight, she stepped beside Damon. Tristian joined her.
“What about Prva finding out about Tina?” Haniel asked.
“I can exchange her for Abbas,” Damon said. “Now, release me.”
“Do you really believe Angelica would let Prva give Tina to you before she conducted some experiments?” Muriel butted in. “Do you really think that you will get her back unharmed once Angelica learns who she is?”
“What do you want?” Damon looked at Uriel.
“Leave.”
“I want her back.” Damon curled his hands and focused his eyes on Tina.
“You can’t have her.” Haniel stepped before Tina.
“I need to talk to her.” The electric-looking ropes crackled under flexing of Damon’s arms.
“No.” Muriel stepped beside Haniel.
Damon narrowed his eyes at them. “Do you think I care if you agree or not? You are not the head of your little family.” He looked at Uriel. “These restraints won’t be able to hold me long, so you better decide what you want to do quickly.”
Tina could see small threads of the light rope breaking and the tension in Tristian and Irene, as if they were watching every Damon’s move, waiting for a sign of how to proceed. Muriel and Haniel looked the same, their stance stiff and watchful. The only ones who seemed relaxed and at ease were Uriel and Damon, but even their relaxation seemed to be only skin-deep. They were measuring their strengths. They had to be with the way they were glaring at each other, and the way even the air seemed to sizzle between them. She had to do something and she had to do it fast.
She sped up her heartbeat, stood up and bypassed Muriel and Haniel, careful that the electricity coming from the balls wasn’t obstructed. It was easy to dodge Haniel’s hand that shot up and to step between Uriel and Damon, facing Damon. She relaxed and as time came back to normal, she spoke up. “You can stay, but only if you keep a low profile, behave, and stop being a nuisance to us. Of course, only you. Irene and Tristian have to leave the estate.”
Uriel put his hand on her shoulder. “What are you talking about?”
She looked at Uriel over her shoulder and decided to, for now, ignore Muriel’s questions echoing in her head. She knew that this wasn’t one of her brightest ideas, but she thought that maybe if they spent time together and got to know each other they might have a chance to... reconcile. “He wants” -- not her, but -- “Trinity and he won’t leave without her. So let him stay here, but under some rules.”
“Are you insane?” Haniel pulled the sword from the sheath tied across his back and surged forward. The ropes tying Damon sizzled as Haniel passed through them.
Damon widened his arms and the rest of the binding stretched before it disappeared with a crack. With a lifted hand he stopped Irene and Tristian, who looked ready to jump on Haniel and Uriel. “Why would I agree to something like that?”
“Please Haniel, put your sword down. You too, Uriel.” She looked over her shoulder at Uriel, whose sword tip already touched Damon's neck.
Uriel lowered his sword as did Haniel, and Muriel, who stood out of Tina's line of vision moved closer.
What are you trying to do? Muriel asked.
Give you a chance to get to know your father, Tina answered Muriel first, before she said to Damon: “Because you want to talk to Trinity and I can make that happen.”
“She's awake.” Damon's eyes widened as he lessened the distance between them on one step. “I should have known.” His eyes clouded, he reached out. “For how long? Before they kidnapped you?”
Uriel put his hand on Tina's shoulder and drew her back, her back against his chest. “We didn't kidnap her. We saved her.”
Tina's hands slightly trembled and she pushed them into the pockets of her jeans, her fingers played with the ball's engraved surface. She knew that Damon wasn’t going to like the truth, but she told him anyway. “She was awake before that.”
“Why didn’t you --” Damon ran his fingers through his short black hair, for a minute reminding Tina of Uriel, who seemed to use the same gesture quite often. “It doesn't matter now.” He crossed his arms and raised his brows. “A truce, then. Why not? What kind of rules did you have in mind?”