Conduit (12 page)

            He forced open his eyes, looking for
anything to help him, but there was nothing.  He hadn’t taken a weapon, which had
been a mistake.  Then again, he hadn’t been exactly awake when Elizabeth had
called him away—if it had even been her at all.

            He’d been blind and stupid, and now he was
done for.

            The pain suddenly seemed to surge through
him with renewed force, and Lev screamed.  His eyes lowered uncontrollably, but
before they’d closed completely he saw a brilliant light rush behind the
woman.  In a flash, that glow shoved her hands from Lev, breaking the contact.

            Although the intensity of the pain
diminished considerably once the woman no longer touched him, Lev still reeled
from it, so much so that even though he fought to keep his eyes open, he
couldn’t, and suddenly his stomach rebelled. He rolled to one side as much as
he could and vomited.

            Lev was only dimly aware of the battle
raging around him.  The sounds of it seeped into his head, stirring up more
pain, so he covered his ears, trying desperately to block everything out.

            A thick sheen of sweat filmed his skin,
and now, in the night air, he shivered, his teeth chattering noisily.  He willed
them to stop, but his body wasn’t listening.

            The battle seemed to go on forever, and in
so doing Lev, grateful, slipped into darkness.

            “Lev?  Can you hear me?” an urgent female
voice called distantly.  Lev wanted to push it away but couldn’t, and even
before he moved he sensed the waiting pain, envisioned a massive black crow
sitting near at hand, flexing its sharp talons as it waited for him to open his
eyes before it plucked them out.

            He groaned at the thought.

            “I think he’s coming around,” that same
voice said.  It had to be Celia.

            “He was stupid to go off by himself like
that.”

            Lev didn’t even have to open his eyes to
know that voice—Riley’s.  Just as cocky as ever.  Lev felt his fingers tighten into
fists.

            “We don’t know what drew him out here,”
another voice said—Evan’s.  How nice.  Lev’s humiliation was now complete.

            A stab of pain made him inhale sharply. 
His head ached furiously, and when he opened his eyes he saw three of
everything—including Riley.  As if one weren’t enough.

            “Easy.”  Celia leaned over him and tried
to help as Lev rolled to one side, his body trying to compact itself as if doing
so would dull the pain.

            “How long have I been out?” he managed
through clenched teeth, part of him wanting nothing more than to plunge himself
back to that blessed darkness in which he’d felt absolutely nothing.

            “Only a few minutes,” Celia said.  “We
need to get you back to the house.”  At that, she wrapped her arm around Lev
and helped him upright.

            “Can he walk?” Riley asked, his voice
condescending as he gave Lev a doubtful once-over, which told Lev just how
useless Riley felt he was.

            “Yes, I can!” Lev averted his gaze.  This
was probably the first time he’d ever wished to return to having wings just so
as to put himself back on par with another angel, one who deserved to be taken
down a few notches and put in his place, and while Lev would’ve liked to have
believed the desire came from his human side, he tended to think it came from
elsewhere—some place deeper and far more fundamental.  Even had he still been
an angel, Lev would’ve had serious issues with Riley.  There was just no way
this was all on Lev, not by a long shot.

            “Then by all means, how about we put it in
gear and get back to shelter before more
dybbuks
appear and we fail to
save your skin?”

            Although Lev wanted to shrug off Celia’s
supporting hands and prove his independence, he knew he needed her help.  While
he might be stubborn, that stubbornness wouldn’t keep him on his feet.

            “You might want to go easy on him until we
find out what happened,” Evan suggested, stepping between Lev and Riley.

            Riley sighed in frustration. “What
happened is that he went out alone without a weapon, and if Celia hadn’t sensed
something amiss, he’d now either be dead or missing.” 

            “Sorry to be such a freaking inconvenience
to you,” Lev spat, stumbling.  He would’ve fallen if not for Celia’s unwavering
support, but his sister had never let him down, and she wasn’t about to start. 

            “So don’t do it again,” Riley snapped.  As
they walked, he fell back, and Lev wondered if he sensed more
dybbuks
. 
The way things had gone thus far, that would be just their luck.

            Celia half carried Lev back to the house,
and more than once cast a worried glance in his direction.

            “Asshole,” Lev muttered, feeling a wave of
weakness wash over him.  His steps seemed to slow, and he thought about
stopping, just falling back to earth and lying back and lying there until he’d
been able to breathe without his head aching beyond measure.  It had been
pierced through with a billion shards of broken glass.  That would be easier. 
Unfortunately, his doing so would result in Celia or one of the other angels having
to pick him up and carry him, and he couldn’t let that happen, especially not
in front of Riley.

            “While he may be an asshole,” she whispered,
nodding, “he has a point, and if you’d listened to him and taken the threat of
dybbuks
seriously, you might not have gotten hurt.”

            “I’m fine,” he muttered.  Yeah, that
sounded stupid even to his ears—a response he could probably blame on his human
side.

            “So fine you can barely stand,” Celia
challenged.  “What in heaven’s name were you thinking?”

            “It wasn’t anything in heaven’s name,” he
managed as a sharp wave of pain gripped him, tensing his whole body until it
passed, leaving him sweating again. “Not even close.”

            “You know what I mean,” she hissed.  “Why
were you so foolish?”

            “I heard Elizabeth calling me.”  He
exhaled slowly as the pain released him.  He had to focus on taking each step,
hoping he could just keep going.  He was exhausted, and the pain only seemed to
grow worse with each step.  “She told me I needed to go to her—that she was
badly hurt.”

            “And you didn’t think to take any of us,
or even to grab a weapon?”

            “There wasn’t time,” he replied, grimacing
with the effort it took just to keep moving.  At least now he could see the
house, which gave him hope the pain might end once he was able to lie down and
close his eyes.

            “
It would’ve taken a few seconds to get me. That’s it,”
Celia sighed.  “Unless of course you were just trying to slip away so no one would
ever know you’d gone.  That would explain everything, actually.”

            Lev took a deep breath,
well aware that since he’d been caught, there was no point in lying.  Celia
would get around to the truth at some point.  “She told me to come alone.”

            “Of course she did.  She
said it was an emergency and that you needed to come alone.  That you got
jumped by a
dybbuk
makes perfect sense.”  She let out a strangled huff
of air.  “Lev, when are you going to get your head in the game and focus?”

            “What’s that supposed to
mean?” he yelled indignantly as they finally reached the porch.  Walking with
Celia’s help had been humiliating enough, but now he had to rely on her
completely to get him up the steps.

            “That you should’ve seen
it for what it was—a trap.”

            “What trap?” Evan asked,
focusing on Celia as Riley came jogging up, pulling up the rear.

            “The
dybbuks
used
his connection with Elizabeth to draw him out.”

            “Thanks for the
conspiracy theory,” Lev muttered, leaning to open the door.  While he had to
admit that Riley might be onto something, the fact that it came from Riley
immediately made Lev hate the idea.  The sooner he got inside, the better.  The
world was starting to tilt at odd angles, making him nauseated.  Once inside,
he hobbled to the couch and fell onto it, though to his disappointment and
frustration, lying down didn’t stop the pain. Still, maybe shutting his eyes would
help.

            “It’s not as far-fetched
as you might think,” Evan warned.  “Obviously, whoever took her knew she was
special, that she had an ability no other mortal had.  It is possible that he
or she also recognized you are special, too.”

            Lev couldn’t stop himself
from laughing at such a ridiculous idea.  “Special?  I’m just a human, and not
a very good one.”

            “I’ll say,” Riley agreed,
closing the door. 

            “It’s easy for you to be
smug, but I don’t think you’d fare as well,” Celia argued, giving Riley a look
that screamed, “Shut up!”

            “An interesting
challenge, I have to admit,” Riley muttered and sank into one of the chairs. 
“Not that I’d be interested in such nonsense.”

            “Of course you aren’t,”
Lev whispered, thinking he would just try to sleep.  Celia, however, tugged at
his t-shirt.

            “Take this off. I need to
see your wound—and stop arguing with Riley.”

            “Bossy much?”  Lev glared
at her, not wanting to get up, but he could tell she wasn’t going to just let
him be.  She expected compliance, and she was going to get it one way or
another.

            Celia cocked an eyebrow,
which meant business.

            “Well?”

            “All right.  All right.” 
In spite of the nausea, Lev forced himself to sit up and jerk the t-shirt over
his head.  “Happy?” He leaned back, aching from the effort.

            “No.  I’d have been much
happier had you never left in the first place, but that’s neither here nor
there; the damage is done, and we’re no closer.”

            She stared at his chest
and inhaled sharply at what she saw.

            “What?” Lev, too, spotted
the massive bruises where the
dybbuk
’s fingers had touched him.

            “Crap,” he muttered. 
Celia touched the wounds gingerly, and new pain shot through him, reminding him
of what he’d just experienced.  He groaned, and his whole body stiffening.

            “Take it easy,” Celia
said.  “Let me see what I can do.”

            “I will, if you just stop
pushing there,” Lev said with a grimace.  He could barely breathe. Still, her fingers
lingered on, and with them came a warmth that spread through him, in which the
pain diminished, easing the tension in his muscles until he could at last
breathe normally.

            “Is that better?” Celia
asked, her eyes finding Lev’s.

            “Yes.  Much.”

            She nodded.  “Is there
anything you haven’t mentioned?”  Her eyes remained fixed.

            “No.”

            “You should probably
rest.”

            Lev didn’t know if Celia
used her powers to make him more tired or if he felt just that exhausted.  He
tended to think it was the latter, but either way it didn’t matter.  He felt
his eyes close before he could ask what would happen next.

            “Lev?” Celia whispered.

            “What?” he mumbled.

            “We’ll find her.  You
have to trust us.”

Chapter
Twelve

            “That was an incredibly
stupid thing to do,” Riley said, eyeing Lev to see if the Boy Wonder were
really sleeping.  No movement.

            “You don’t understand the
connection he feels,” Celia said, rising.  “I’ve never seen a stronger bond
between two souls.”

            “You’re right.  I don’t. 
She’s just a human, like him—or am I missing something?”

            “She’s a conduit,” Evan
replied, pacing.  “And whoever has her has flung the doors of her soul wide
open.”

            Riley shook his head. 
“Wait—you mean she was the human who had the triune up in arms?”

            “I told you this was
complicated,” Evan said quietly, sinking into one of the chairs near Lev.  “My
son nearly lost his life trying to save hers.  In the end, he became mortal,
and she finally shed the power of the dagger.”

            “As if that matters,”
Riley growled.  “She’s still marked by it, which has lured the
dybbuks
to her.”

            Celia looked at Riley
with hope growing in her eyes. “Can the mark be erased?” 

            “No. There’s no erasing
an eternal mark.”

            “Can it be hidden?” Evan
suggested, clasping his hands together.

            Riley shrugged.  “I do
not know. I’d have to spend some time examining Elizabeth to know.”

            Celia and Evan exchanged looks
before Evan finally spoke.  “We still don’t know how to find her.”

            Rile stepped to the
window and looked out. “Not true.” 

            “What do you mean?” 
Celia straightened, glancing back to make sure she hadn’t woken Lev.

            “Before dispatching the
dybbuk
,
I put a tracker on its essence.  Wherever it came from, that trail will lead us
back to its lair and hopefully Elizabeth, as well.”  Riley folded his arms
across his chest. He nodded to Lev.  “He’d best rest up tonight because
tomorrow we head out, and it’s going to be a tough trip.  We all need to get
focused.”

            Riley didn’t wait for a
response, though none was needed.  Instead, he strode down the hallway toward
one of the bedrooms, leaving Celia and Evan to watch Lev.

            “The human part of him is
getting worse, Evan.” Celia shook her head.  “You know, I really wanted to
believe his becoming mortal would be a good thing, but every day I see signs of
bad things happening—of things going terribly wrong.  His compass seems to just
spin in a circles.  If Elizabeth can’t be found or we can’t get her back, he’ll
never get over it.”

            Evan nodded. “I know. Part
of me thinks it’s neither in his best interest or ours to take him along, but
I’m guessing he’ll be worse—impossible, even—if we leave him behind.”

            Celia licked her lips and
slid a hand over her brother’s.  “So what do we do, then?  How can we make this
better?”

            “I don’t know.  We’re
just going to have to try to hold everything together and pray we can see this
through, for both their sakes.

* * *

            “Lev, you need to wake
up.”

            A hand lightly jostled
his shoulder, and a dull ache filled him, reminding him of what he’d
experienced the previous night.

            Sluggish, Lev forced open
his eyes and immediately regretted it.  The dull florescent lighting made his
head ache, and he wanted nothing more than to drift back toward
unconsciousness.

            “What’s going on?” he
muttered, blinking as he forced himself into a sitting position.  As he
realized he wasn’t wearing his t-shirt, he stared at his chest and quickly
spotted a softball-sized bruise morphing into a mottled shade of greyish-purple
that made him never want to move again.  He didn’t even want to think about
something coming into contact with it and the wake of fiery pain it might
bring.

            “We’re going to be
hitting the road in a few minutes.  You need to get ready.”

            Disoriented and confused,
Lev frowned and ran his fingers through his hair.  “Where?”

            “To track the
dybbuks
and maybe find Elizabeth before you do anything else that’s stupid,” Riley said
as he sauntered into the room.

            “Perhaps you could lay
off him at least until noon,” Celia snapped, obviously out of patience.

            Riley rolled his eyes. “Whatever
you say, Princess. Just make sure he’s up and out front sooner rather than
later—that is, unless he wants to stay behind, which would suit me just fine.” 
Riley strode away.

            “One of these days, the
two of us are going to have some serious words,” Lev muttered, reaching for his
shirt.

            “Well, make it some other
day.  You look like crap.”  Celia handed him his bag and pointed to his shoes. 
“I’ve put a bag together for you.”

            “How is it Mr.
Testosterone doesn’t set you off?” Lev asked.  He struggled into his shirt and
tugged on his shoes.  Considering his vision was still just a little sleep-blurry,
tying his laces took most everything he had.

            “Who says he doesn’t?” She
pushed the hair from her face.

            “Then why do you trust
him?”  Lev found himself breathing with difficulty, as echoes of last night’s pain
yet lingered, reminding him.

            “He’s a jerk, but he’s
also Elizabeth’s best hope.”  She watched Lev carefully.  “How’re you feeling?”

            “Like I got the crap beaten
out of me.”  He sighed, suddenly consumed by the way hope seemed to fly from
him, leaving him empty.

            “We’re going to find
her,” Celia reassured him.  “But first we have to get you on your feet.”  She
stood and offered her hand, which he took.

            “There’s food in here.” 
Celia handed him the bag.  “And bottled water in case you get thirsty.”

            Reluctantly, Lev took
it.  “Sounds like you’ve thought of everything.”

            “Of course.  I’m still
your little sister.”

            “That you are.”

            The two stepped outside to
find the others waiting.  As soon as Griffin saw Lev, he frowned but wisely
kept his questions to himself.

             “All right,” Riley said.
“I guess this is it.  I’ve locked onto the location of the
dybbuks
who
attacked Lev.  It’s not too far, and we’ll attack at nightfall.  The last thing
we need is for someone driving by to notice something and step into the middle
of this, giving the
dybbuks
more bodies to occupy.  Griffin and Lev, you
have weapons in your bags.”  Riley focused on them.  “Stay with a partner, and
we’ll get through this.  For now, let’s just get underway.

             The small group divided
into two smaller parties—Celia and Lev climbing into the Jeep and the other
three following in Griffin’s vehicle.  Even as Lev eased behind the wheel, a
flood of memories rushed through him. This was her car, her place. How many
times had he seen her here, smiling at him through the open window, hair raven
black in the sun—eyes dazzling. Selfishly, he grabbed at them, those memories, but
they fled, leaving Lev more despondent than ever.  It was one thing never to know
what a person had to lose but another to know exactly.

            Lev and Celia watched
Griffin zoom past, obviously taking his cues from Riley. Lev pulled out after,
wondering just where the
dybbuks
might be holed up, not that it much mattered. 
The only thing Lev could hope was that the road ahead would lead him to
Elizabeth.  That was all he could think about.

            “You ready for this?”
Celia asked over the throaty purr of the Jeep’s engine.

            “I wish I knew.”  Lev
leaned back, trying without success to get comfortable. 

            “If Riley can get us to
where we need to go, it’ll be worth it, won’t it?”

            “Of course.”  He noticed
Griffin following suit, figuring he was headed for the highway.  “How does
Griffin feel about him?  You seem to talk about everything these days, you and
Griffin, I mean.”

            A guilty flush crept into
Celia’s face, and she hastily looked away.  “Griffin doesn’t like him, either. 
He’s just less obvious about it than you.”

            Lev nodded and changed
the subject.  “Does Griffin know how you feel about him?”  He watched her out
of the corner of his eye, waiting for her to give something away.

            Celia glanced toward the
window, obviously trying to put an end to the conversation. 

“I don’t want to talk about this.” 

“Celia, you’re not fooling anyone, least of all me, and I’m
the one person who understands this situation better than anyone.  I’ve been
living it, remember?  So, tell me—does he know how you feel?”

            She swallowed hard. 
“Yes.”  The answer came out a strangled and vulnerably human whisper.

            “What’re you going to
do?”  He watched as, just ahead, Griffin merged onto the highway. 

            “There’s nothing to be
done.”

            Lev cocked one eyebrow. “So
I take it he doesn’t feel the same?” 

            “I didn’t say that.”  The
flush deepened.  “Look, can we just talk about something else?”  She leaned back,
still looking away.

            “And what good will that
do?  Whether we talk about it or not, it’s not going away, and how you feel
isn’t going to change.”

            “Which is why I should
stop things before they go too far.”  Her voice sounded tired.

            “You’re afraid, aren’t
you?” His voice sounded rough.  “You’ve seen how difficult it’s been, right?”

            “It’s not about you,
Lev.”  She chewed her bottom lip.  “This is about Griffin and me.”

            Lev let out a hard
laugh.  “I’ve never heard you lie before, Celia.  It doesn’t suit you.”

            “It can’t work, Lev. 
Look at what happened for you and Elizabeth—it’s been hard for both of you, and
now this!”

            “It doesn’t matter what’s
happening.  I’d not change a second of it.  Never.”

            Celia took a shaky
breath.  “Can we just stop talking about this?  Please.” 

            He glanced at her profile
and realized that no matter what he said, this was a battle she had to fight
and a choice she had to make.

            “All right,” he agreed. 
“If that’s what you want.”  Lev gritted his teeth and shut up.  Considering the
mistakes he’d made in the last few days, he knew he was in no position to offer
advice.  Maybe he might if he ever got this human head on straight, but not
now.

            “I’ll be so glad when this
is all over,” Celia murmured.  She rolled the window down to get some fresh
air.

            “That makes two of us. 
Any idea where we’re headed?”

            “At the moment toward
Knoxville,” she said, pointing to a passing road sign.  “Beyond that, I’ve no clue.”

            “And that doesn’t make
you just a little uneasy?”  He narrowed his eyes, trying to see just how much
faith she’d put in Riley to get them all through this mess.

            “Of course it does, but
there’re lots of things that do that, so I have to be particular about which
ones I give power.”

            Sensing he wasn’t going
to be able to push Celia into buying into his distrust of Riley, he chose not
to respond. What was there to say?  As he drove, he felt himself drifting
toward sleep once again, not that he hadn’t gotten plenty.  No, it probably had
more to do with the quality of said sleep and how all the stress had kept him
from letting everything go.  Still, as much as he wanted to give in, he
refused.  He’d just have to do his best.

             His best, under the circumstances,
ended up managing to stay awake for the next several hours and exiting off the
highway after Griffin.  The exit he’d taken was in the middle of nowhere, as
though everyone and everything had forgotten about it.

            “I’d love to know where
he’s dragging us to,” Lev muttered dryly.

            “I think you’re about to
get your wish,” Celia replied as they pulled into the tarmac of an old gas
station, one that hadn’t been in business a long time. Its weathered sign
offered gas for less than a dollar a gallon.

            “What do you mean?” Lev
asked, frowning at the building clearly not big enough to host the kind of
party he thought they’d be attending.  Had Riley dragged them on a wild goose
chase?