Give the Devil His Due (The Sanheim Chronicles, Book Three) (33 page)

“What’s he like with you?” Quinn asked, realizing it was a topic he’d been dying to explore.

“I’ve only met him a couple times,” Janus said. “I mouthed off the first time and he put me in a cage with these giant rats for two days. I had to fight them off with my bare hands to keep them from biting me. I stopped mouthing off after that.”

“That’s hard to imagine.”

“I know, right?” Janus said. “Hard for me too. My tongue was bleeding from all the times I bit it. Mostly he just asked questions about you.”

Janus looked away for a minute.

“What kind of questions?”

“Everything, mate,” he said. “It was harmless stuff at first, but eventually it was everything. What you ate, how long you slept, your dating history. There wasn’t anything he didn’t want to know. I’m sorry. I tried to fight it at first, but…”

“The rats were just the beginning?” Quinn said. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

“It wasn’t like that all the time,” Janus said. “And it hasn’t been as long as you think. I know you said it was a whole year, but it really doesn’t feel like that. Most of the time, Sanheim left me alone. He let all of his ‘prizes,’ the ones he wanted to keep close to him, roam around this castle as long as we didn’t try to burn it down or anything. There were a few of us. I even, uh, met someone.”

“You did?” Quinn asked, surprised. “You go, dog. That’s what you meant when you said you were off the market?”

“Yeah,” Janus said. “I know it’s crazy.”

“Who is she? What’s she like?”

“She’s… uh…,” Janus faltered. He seemed to be lost for words and avoiding eye contact.

“Is she like a giant spider or something?” Quinn asked. “Is this going to be something gross?”

“No, no,” Janus laughed. “Nothing like that. She’s human.”

“And she’s back at the castle?” Quinn asked.

“Hope so,” Janus said. “I didn’t have time to tell her anything before Sanheim sent me to find you. He didn’t give me a lot of options.”

“Thanks,” Quinn said. “For coming to get me, even if it meant leaving her behind. Trust me, I know how painful that is.”

“Sure,” Janus said. “You know what the Marines say, ‘Bros before hoes.’”

Quinn burst out laughing.

“Pretty sure they don’t actually say that, Janus.”

“That’s what Bill used to say,” Janus replied, but he was smiling. “Seriously, was that whole photo department lost without me or what? I bet Bill couldn’t shoot his way out of a paper bag.”

“It was never the same after you were gone,” Quinn said. “No more lunches at La Villa Roma, no more last minute crazy business assignments from Buzz. Hell, sometimes I missed Kyle’s recount of the latest wrestling match.”

“Yeah, when Kyle wasn’t trying to kill all of us, he was a barrel of laughs,” Janus said.

“I miss it,” Quinn said. “I miss the
Loudoun Chronicle
, what it was like in those days before the murders started. I miss Leesburg and the stupid HOA meetings in Ashburn. This place… look at it. I guess it’s near Halloween back home, but does it feel like that to you? I miss the orange and red leaves, the smell of autumn. I miss Virginia. I miss everything.”

“Well, if Carol’s right, maybe you’ll get to go back,” Janus said. “Kate will show up and take you home.”

Quinn gave him a long, searching look.

“You really think I could do that?” he asked. “You heard what Parker said. If I don’t defeat Sanheim, everything ends.”

“Come on, Quinn,” Janus said. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to believe everything strange spider people tell you? Carol says you can’t defeat Sanheim. Don’t be a martyr, mate. If you get the chance to go home, take it.”

“And leave you behind?” Quinn asked. “I’m not going to do that. I should have saved you the first time, Janus.”

“It wasn’t…”

“It was my fault!” Quinn interrupted. “Kyle was mad at me. He wanted you dead because of me.”

“Oh please,” Janus said. “That asshole was always going to get around to killing me sometime. I think we both know that.”

“I could have…”

“Shut up,” Janus said. “Shut up and listen to me. You are not responsible for my death. You didn’t unleash Lord Halloween into the world. That’s on Kyle. I died. It wasn’t your fault, it just happened. Don’t stay here and wage a war you can’t win out of some misplaced sense of guilt. If you get a chance to go home, to live with Kate, just think about it.”

“Janus, I…”

“No, I said shut up,” Janus said. “Just think about it, okay? I’m not asking you to commit. I’m not saying you need to make up your mind. Just give it some thought. Because no matter what Spider-Man says, you don’t have a destiny written in stone. He doesn’t know the future any more than you do. His master thought you could save the universe. Well, goody for him, but his master died, Quinn. If he was so fucking prophetic, you’d think he could have avoided that.

“You’ve always been too damn serious, mate. Ever since your parents died, you walked around like the world was on your shoulders. But it didn’t have to be then and it doesn’t have to be now. Going home is an option. If Kate shows up, you can go and be happy. It might not last forever, but so what? Nothing good ever does. You take what you can get. Promise me you’ll at least think about it.”

Janus stared at Quinn with such intensity that all Quinn could do was nod his head.

“Good,” Janus said.

Buzz emerged from the cavern.

“You two done yapping?” he asked. “We have a fortress to assault.”

Quinn thought “assault” was a strong word, seeing as how it was only the six of them. But he was anxious to go just the same.

“Yes,” he said.

Janus ducked back into the cave before Quinn could say anything else. When he emerged, it was with Elyssa, Carol and Parker as well.

“Let’s go,” said Buzz.

*****

Dun Cumhacht stood out like a gigantic monolith against the dark sky.

Quinn had expected something closer to a castle. Instead, it just seemed to be a huge round wall made of rock sitting on top of a high plateau. He had a vague memory of seeing a similar structure on a documentary about prehistoric buildings. Quinn wondered if it was based on something real or if it was just the product of Sanheim’s twisted imagination.

As they walked across the wide open valley, Carol walked beside him.

“We still haven’t taken the time to get you some better clothes,” she said.

Quinn looked at Janus, who still wore some of his snow gear even though the mountain was far behind them. Quinn wondered if he was hot.

“Not sure I need them anymore,” he said.

“Maybe not,” she said. “But it’s still a good skill to know how to conjure something if you need it.”

“I get the theory,” Quinn said. “We are what we think we are, basically. The physical projection matches our inner view of ourselves. Nothing here is real, is it?”

He stared at the fortress ahead of them. It looked solid enough.

“I don’t know that I would go that far,” she said. “The mountain was real, Dun Cumhacht is real. Those are made by Sanheim, or maybe they predate him. As for the creatures that haunt this land…”

“They’re all just people,” Quinn said. “People who’ve put on a costume and become that costume. Like Parker. He was human once, and now he’s some kind of man-spider. Or like me and the Headless Horseman. Although if that’s true, why can’t I turn into him again?”

“We’ve been over this; you don’t have enough power,” she said. “Conjuring a jacket for yourself is one thing. Even a flashlight is relatively easy. But changing into a scarecrow took assistance, a transfer of power between Sanheim and Kyle, and then from Kyle to his followers.”

“So in order to turn people into creatures, you need power from Sanheim?”

“That’s my understanding,” Carol said. “Unless, of course, you are a Prince of Sanheim.”

“But I’m a…”

“A living Prince,” Carol said, correcting herself. “The Spider obviously worked outside of Sanheim’s abilities. He turned Parker into a creature like himself. It’s just a guess, but I assume that Princes have some of the same power as Sanheim.”

Quinn frowned. He understood what Carol said, but some part of him still felt like the Horseman. When he faced Dub and Dother, he fought like the phantom, even if he couldn’t change into him.

“So how do I make new clothes?” he asked.

“You said it yourself, honey. You just need to picture yourself as having them already. You should have seen Elyssa when she first tried it,” Carol rolled her eyes. “She put herself into some, uh, interesting outfits.”

“Why?”

“I think she was either trying to annoy me or make Janus drool,” Carol replied.

“And the tools?” he asked.

“That takes a bit more work.”

Quinn kept walking. He didn’t want to slacken his pace for any reason if he could avoid it. But he closed his eyes and concentrated. He didn’t bother with clothes. It wasn’t snowing and he wasn’t cold. Instead he concentrated on the one instrument he wanted. If he couldn’t be the Horseman, at least if he had this, it might be almost as good.

He pictured it in his mind as he had held it in the mortal world. When he opened his eyes, there was nothing there.

“You can’t walk and chew gum at the same time, sugar,” Carol said with a wry look on her face. “For this, you need full concentration.”

Quinn waved for Janus to keep going ahead while he and Carol stopped. He saw Buzz and Parker saunter by. They seemed engrossed in conversation. Quinn was idly curious what they were talking about. He loved Buzz, but he had always found him quite intense. Then again, maybe Parker was the perfect companion. With his eight eyes and legs and his serious talk of destiny, he was a lot to handle as well.

“Focus,” Carol said.

Quinn focused. He forgot about the fortress in the distance, the red grass at his feet and the purple sky above. He closed his eyes. Not surprisingly, his first thought was of Kate. He pictured her on their last night together, her blond hair falling in her face as she kissed him. He thought about how her lips felt on his, how her body…

He suddenly felt a sharp jab in his shoulder.

“Get your mind out of the gutter, for God’s sake,” Carol said.

Quinn opened his eyes in alarm.

“You could see what I was thinking?” he asked.

“I’m still a psychic,” she said. “I had enough of a mental picture — and it wasn’t rated PG.”

“Sorry,” he said, looking chagrined.

“Daylight’s wasting, sugar,” Carol said. “Figure this out quickly.”

Quinn closed his eyes again. Instead of Kate, he pictured himself as the Headless Horseman, paying attention to every detail. He thought of the ragged and torn cloak, the decaying military uniform, and most especially the scabbard at his side. He remembered what the sword felt like in his hand, how it was an extension of him. He hadn’t learned to fight with it. When he was the Horseman, it was as easy as moving an arm or a leg.

When he opened his eyes, the sword lay in the grass. If Quinn couldn’t be the Horseman, at least he had the next best thing.

He bent down and picked it up. It felt perfect, like it had always been with him. He was unsurprised to find a scabbard and belt on him as well. He sheathed the blade and grinned at Carol.

“Not bad, eh?” he said.

Carol nodded.

“Just don’t get too many ideas,” she said. “That’s a mental projection, just like the flashlights were. They’ll work — you can fight with the sword — but don’t think you can conjure a dozen of them. The first one takes little effort, but the more you try to produce…”

“The weaker it gets,” Quinn said.

“And you,” Carol added. “You aren’t a battery with unlimited energy. Try to remember that.”

Quinn saw that Janus had stopped in the distance.

“Let’s get going,” he said.

Carol put a hand on his arm as he turned to go.

“There’s one more thing,” she said.

She was quiet as she spoke to him, even though there was nobody else within earshot.

“I could be wrong,” she said, “but Sanheim knew we were headed over that mountain.”

“Dub and Dother said as much.”

“How did he know?” Carol asked.

“Lucky guess?” Quinn asked.

“He knows what we’re up to, Quinn,” Carol said. “And he knew exactly where we were going.”

“Well, who told you about it?” Quinn asked. “How do you know Crowley is even there?”

“I don’t,” Carol said.

“That’s reassuring, seeing as how we’re betting our lives on finding him.”

“What I mean is it was just something I pieced together,” Carol said. “When I first arrived, I was more prepared than most. So I started collecting as much information as possible.”

“You couldn’t have been here much longer than me,” Quinn said.

Carol shook her head.

“No, I think you got held up or something,” she said. “I might have died close to when you did in the mortal world, but I’ve been here awhile. At any rate, I came across a few people who talked about this fort, even a couple who had been in there. They described all manner of creatures — but only one human. They said he was old, and given to chanting a strange rhyme.”