The Black Madonna (The Mystique Trilogy) (12 page)

‘Mia,
please
…’ Albray urged me to hear him out, bursting to clear his conscience.

‘I know what you’re going to say,’ I told him, for in my heart I did know. ‘I know what she demanded of you, and, unless you did it by choice, we have nothing to discuss but the state of your well-being.’ I brushed back his long, dark fringe to see the relief upon his face. ‘Are you okay?’ I asked.

‘I’m fine
now.
’ Obviously his own well-being had been the last thing on his mind. ‘Honestly, I don’t remember a thing.’

‘Well, if neither of us remembers the event, we can pretend it never happened—’

Albray shook his head and reaching inside his jacket, he produced a sheaf of handwritten papers. ‘Unfortunately, Tamar witnessed most of it.’

My eyes welled with tears as I sensed my husband’s shame.

‘She was surprisingly mature about the whole thing,’ he said with a heavy sigh. ‘She even managed to make me feel a little better about the episode.’ Then his expression changed from shame to annoyance. ‘What I don’t feel good about, however, is the fact that Tamar is falling for Killian Labontè, and as he’s the only one, apart from our staff, who knew I’d been set up, chances are he set you up too.’

‘Not good,’ I agreed, confused by the events I’d witnessed this day. ‘So where does Emmett fit into all this? I got the impression that Emmett and Killian don’t get along. Was that an act, like Killian’s hatred of his parents? Are they all in on it? And what about Emmett’s father, Dr Rich? I didn’t find anything even slightly suspect about his light-body, nor Emmett’s for that matter. If their bodies were shielded by the Nefilim’s new auric simulator, I sure as hell didn’t notice it.’

I was distracted by Zalman striding past us into the Hall of Records.

‘We need to take some prisoners and carry out some serious telepathic interrogation,’ Albray said, and we both turned to follow Zalman and discover the reason for his haste.

‘I have traced the various family lines that sprang from Miss Koriche’s gene pool,’ Zalman informed us. ‘She currently has twenty-six living male descendants, from twenty-five different branches of her family tree, and they are spread all over the world.’

‘Bugger,’ said Polaris.

‘Why are we tracing Miss Koriche’s family?’ I asked, puzzled.

Polaris filled Albray and me in on the breakthrough they’d had regarding the identification of Mathu’s current earthly embodiment, via a pendant he had left with Miss Koriche to pass onto her sons.

‘Killian Labontè is one of those descendants,’ Zalman advised us, and the shock was visible on every face around him.

‘Are you telling me Tamar might be right about him being an innocent victim?’ Albray said; my husband didn’t like to think his instincts might be failing him.

‘Sabine knew you’d been set up,’ I pointed out. ‘Perhaps she set me up too.’

‘But Sabine didn’t know that Polaris knew I’d been set up,’ Albray said. ‘So she couldn’t have advised anyone of his involvement, nor his appearance to enable one of the Nefilim to assume his form to deceive you.’

‘Are you defending her?’ I folded my arms, suspicious that he might have remembered more than he was telling.

‘
No
,’ he stressed. ‘I’m just trying to narrow down the possibilities—’

‘To Killian Labontè,’ I cut in. I believed his fatherly instincts were interfering with his reasoning ability.

Zalman spoke up over the interruptions: ‘However, the family most likely to be in possession of the pendant at this time is that of Dr Colin Rich.’

I gasped. ‘Emmett?’

I looked up to the dome, where the golden slab that had replaced the pool of liquid light at the heart of Meridan station was still visible. Emmett was no longer in the control centre, however. Perhaps he’d gone in search of an escape route. I wondered how long it would be before he figured out that he was trapped in there until I released him.

‘Surely he cannot be Mathu?’ I said. ‘Why would Mathu do this?’

‘The being who disabled your porthole is obviously not the real Emmett Rich,’ Denera pointed out. ‘Merely one of the Nefilim posing as him.’

‘The Nefilim kill those whose identity they assume,’ Polaris added, ‘so the real Emmett Rich is most likely dead.’

‘For all our sakes, I hope not,’ Denera said.

I disagreed with Polaris too. ‘No, I suspect this identity takeover was a last-minute counterplan.’

‘What makes you say that?’ Albray asked, curious.

‘Emmett confronted me about Tamar’s association with Killian today, right before I entered the labyrinth. I’m sure his concern about her was real emotion, which is the one thing the Nefilim can’t fake…
that’s what made me suspect that a Nefilim was impersonating Albray, and then I discovered the auric irregularity.’

‘Let us find out. I’ll need a memory reference to pinpoint the event,’ Denera said. She approached me, placed a hand either side of my head and told me to relax. ‘Think back to that confrontation with Emmett,’ she instructed.

I did, and Denera released me. ‘Very good,’ she said, and stepped up onto the circular platform before the control station. The light-tube closed around her and its liquid-light walls relayed images of the event. The almost completely circular room and the dome overhead made it seem as if we were standing right in the middle of the action.

‘
All you history hunters are alike!
’ Emmett yelled down the stairwell after me. ‘
Why do you think the past is so much more important than the present? Nothing is more important than the present—it’s the only reality that actually exists! Where we can have an effect!
’

‘Sounds like something Mathu would say,’ Polaris commented to Albray, who nodded; it seemed they both liked this candidate for our missing team member more than Killian Labontè.

Emmett gave up on the argument with me and walked straight past the bag I’d dropped without noticing it, back up to the site camp. The figure of Dr Rich emerged from the shadows to claim the bag, then transformed his appearance into that of his son to pursue me.

‘It appears Meridan’s hunch was correct,’ Denera commented as the telepathic control tube retracted. ‘Go and fetch Emmett Rich to safety, but remember, we are still not sure he is Mathu.’

As she finished speaking, Levi entered the Hall of Records loaded with weaponry. ‘Heard about all the commotion,’ he said.

‘Now that one’s got my name on it,’ Castor commented, referring to a sub-machine-gun-sized liquid-light gun, like the smaller one Tamar carried.

‘I don’t think so.’ Polaris stepped forward to relieve Levi of the coveted weapon, but Levi steered clear of all the drooling men, my husband among them, and said, ‘This is for Meridan.’ He handed it to me, ignoring the protests of the menfolk. It was surprisingly light.

‘Not only will it take out our enemies ten times faster than the handgun, but it has a stream function.’ Levi turned the weapon on its
side to show me the switch. ‘And that ought to dissolve that Orme coating on your porthole fairly efficiently.’

‘Oh my goddess, you are a genius!’ I said. I hadn’t even considered the possibility of being able to reverse the disaster, and I kissed Levi for being so brilliant.

‘There is nothing you can do that we cannot undo,’ Polaris said, reminding me of his earlier claim as he accepted a handgun from Levi. ‘Now all we have to do is arrive at Montségur at the precise time you opened the secret passage through to Meridan station…’

‘Twelve-fourteen in the afternoon on 29 March 2017.’ Denera relayed the numbers as recorded by the Hall of Records and the Signet Map.

‘…and take the station back,’ Polaris concluded. He holstered his new weapon on his belt alongside the many others he’d collected in his travels.

‘And save the prince,’ I added. ‘Both of them.’

Albray and Polaris looked at me as if I was kidding.

‘Until we’re certain which of them our missing teammate is unconsciously residing within, we must protect both Emmett and Killian,’ I explained.

They opened their mouths to argue the issue.

‘However,’ I cut in, ‘I must say it’s awfully nice to see you two agreeing on something for a change.’

‘Well, that alone ought to tell you something,’ Albray said, and Polaris backed him up with an ‘Indeed’.

Castor lost patience with the three of us. ‘We are on a bit of a tight schedule, people, so if you wouldn’t mind?’ He motioned us towards the door.

As the priority of the day was to ensure the safety of Emmett Rich, the
Klieo
, skippered by Levi for this mission, dropped our party off in the middle of the site camp.

The site office proved deserted, so the next place we looked for Emmett was in the quarters he shared with his father, Dr Rich. Before we’d even entered we spied the thick red substance oozing from under the door. The smell of death made my blood run cold with apprehension of what lay beyond.

‘We’re too late,’ I feared.

Albray pulled me aside and kicked the door wide open. The room’s walls, ceiling and furniture were splattered with blood and shredded human remains.

‘Dear goddess!’ Even Castor was straining his imagination to envisage what kind of killing technique had been used. ‘This is high-level carnage, even for the Dracon; it must be the Nefilim’s handiwork.’

‘Is it Emmett?’ Some warrior I was: I couldn’t bring myself to check.

The men entered gingerly, wary that the killer might still be present and of how easily they could slip on the gooey remains coating the floor.

My eyes glued to the ground at the doorway, I noted several faint bloody footprints heading away from the accommodation. ‘Tracks!’ I advised my company.

Albray was happy to come outside to take a look. ‘It’s hard to tell, but I don’t think Emmett’s here,’ he said.

‘Then who was that?’ I motioned back to where I dared not look.

‘I’m afraid we’re down an anthropologist,’ Albray said gently.

‘Dr Rich!’ I was shocked, but it made sense: the being that had followed me into the caves with my bag earlier today had been wearing Dr Rich’s persona before it transformed into Emmett. ‘They killed an innocent, brilliant man to get to me,’ I realised and my heart sank.

‘Can we go back in time and prevent this?’ I called out to Polaris, who was still inside the room.

‘We’ve just about exhausted our windows of opportunity in these twenty-four hours,’ he replied. ‘We can’t run the risk of bumping into ourselves. That could cause a catastrophic quantum anomaly, the science of which is far too complicated to go into right now.’

‘Hey!’ A voice hailed us from the other side of the camp. André. ‘What’s going on?’ he yelled as he made his way towards us.

‘Oh crap!’ Albray said. We didn’t have time to explain this mess, nor our mysterious guests. Luckily, both Polaris and Castor were still inside the room and out of André’s line of vision.

‘Your modern English is getting better,’ I commented to Albray, hiding my huge weapon behind his back. ‘I’ll take care of this.’

I was careful not to step on the footprint tracks as I met André halfway and steered him towards the canteen.

‘Why are you poking around in Dr Rich’s quarters?’ André demanded as we entered the empty eating area.

‘I was looking for Emmett actually. Have you seen him?’

‘I only just got back from town,’ he explained and then frowned. ‘Is something amiss?’

I guessed he was wondering why I was seeking an office boy of no consequence. I vagued out a little as I considered what to do about André, and my third-eye vision kicked in, as it often did at such times, and I spied the fluid irregularity in the Frenchman’s aura. This was not André. How stupid of me not to have checked his light-body. How ridiculous that I’d left my weapon with my husband! One scream would bring my male company running, but by the time they got here, I would be dead.

‘Oh well, not to worry,’ I said and backed away towards the door. ‘I’m sure he’s around here somewhere. I’ll find him.’

My companion knew that he’d been had and grinned at my feeble attempt to depart. ‘I don’t think so,’ he said, and transformed into a huge demon-like being, more human in appearance than the Dracon, but with leathery orange-hued skin, black almond-shaped eyes, pointed ears, and horns protruding from either side of his forehead.

‘You are Nefilim.’ I stated the obvious in the hope of getting some information out of him before he tried to kill me.

‘They call me the Smiter,’ he said, and a metal spike shot out of the metal band on his wrist. ‘I have an aptitude for war and plague.’ And he moved in on me.

I sidestepped, my heart pumping twelve to the dozen.
I am the greatest etheric architect in this universe,
I told myself as the creature and I circled one another.
Ether is the basis of all matter on every plane of existence, and thus I can manipulate it here as easily as I did on Aramatena.

‘I am a master of creation,’ I challenged him, instilling the fact into my own head in the process. ‘Let us see which force is greater.’

The creature took a flying leap at me; my knee-jerk reaction was to will the cement floor to rise like a barricade between us. The Nefilim hit the obstacle with all the force one would imagine from an unexpected airborne collision with a cement wall, then fell to the floor, hard. The surface enfolded him and held him fast, as per my mental instruction, then hardened, leaving nothing but my adversary’s face exposed.

‘Good goddess,’ exclaimed Albray. He and my other male companions had arrived in the doorway in time to witness the end of the confrontation.

I grinned, having rather amazed myself, and turned to my husband. ‘Honey, I’m home,’ I announced.

‘You certainly are!’ Polaris laughed, astonished. ‘And I still haven’t worked out what my superhuman talent is!’

‘Me either,’ Arcturus said with a frown.

‘But what about—’ Polaris cut himself short.

‘What about what?’ Arcturus prompted but Polaris waved it off as not important.

‘My Lady du Lac never ceases to amaze,’ Castor said.

This was the first time in my living memory that anyone had referred to me as the Lady du Lac and I realised that the title didn’t refer to any single woman. Once a Grail princess stepped into her power, she was the Lady du Lac.