Rise of Cain (Immortal Mercenary Book 3) Read online

  A flash of light struck the wraith, knocking it backward and causing it to shriek.

  Instantly, it pulled its hands from me and, with another flash of light hitting its midsection, it rushed away, apparently afraid of whoever this voice belonged to.

  I still couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. All I could do was float as the person responsible for basically saving me came into view.

  I should have known, I thought as I took her in.

  Pearl, my dead ex wife and the woman who was almost singlehandedly responsible for saving Merry and taking out my mother the first time hovered over me.

  Shaking her spiritual head, she muttered. “See. I told you not to follow him.”

  13

  There was little doubt that, in my endlessly long life, I had been pretty lucky. I didn’t have innate magic of my own. Aside from the sevenfold curse and the fact that nothing in the entire world could kill me, I was reliant on the kindness of more magically inclined friends and acquaintances. That came particularly in handy when you consider that I had no real healing abilities of my own. I mean, sure, eventually bullet wounds would heal and third degree burns would become things of memory. But, left to my own devices, I’d have had a hell of a time walking off that bullet to the brain Andy had just served me.

  Thankfully, I was so rarely on my own. At no time was that truth clearer to me than it was right now. As I lay, disembodied in the Nexus, able to move or process what had just happened to me, I was thankful to see a familiar (and witchy) face.

  The last time I saw Pearl, she was inhabiting the body of our granddaughter. Mimi died in that battle and, as the light was flickering from her eyes, Pearl promised me she would take care of her. To me, that included making sure Mimi didn’t spend too long in this place.

  Pearl had already made this journey on her own. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to come back as a ghost. Rules of the Nexus, myself and that horrific creature who had blasted me aside, was that once in it, the only way out was through.

  The fact that Pearl was here now meant she would have to run through the gambit again. Of course, for someone like her; someone brave and kind, someone fierce and no nonsense, that wouldn’t be an issue. Still, it spoke to how dire the situation must have been. For her to come back here, Pearl must have known how much danger I was in.

  She closed her spirit eyes and whispered a Latin word; a spell that, in life, allowed her to wield magical energy and do things most normal people still think is nothing more than fantasy.

  Suddenly, the terror I felt, the one holding me in place, started to subside. As her magic weaved its way through my spirit, I began to feel lighter. Looking up at her, I felt my mouth curl up into a smile.

  “Good to see you too,” Pearl answered. “Though, judging by how little attention you paid to my warning, I can see you haven’t changed much since the last time we spoke.”

  “I didn’t know it was you,” I said, surprised that I could talk again.

  “Would it have changed anything?” she asked, winking at me. “it didn’t used to.”

  For the first time in decades, I was looking at a facsimile of my ex- wife’s face. It wasn’t her actual face, of course. That was buried with the rest of her in a graveyard somewhere. Still, this was as close as I’d gotten since the night I ran out on her, the night I let her down.

  “Probably not,” I admitted. “Though I reserve the right to pretend it would.”

  “You always did,” she said. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m better now,” I said, forcing myself upright and settling alongside Pearl. “Thank you for helping me. What was that thing anyway?”

  She blinked hard, her spirit self keeping the mannerisms of the body even after all these years. They must have been hard to shake, even after death.

  “I’m not sure I can answer that,” she admitted.

  “Try,” I said. “I don’t have a lot of experience with the afterlife, but I think I know enough to understand.”

  “No,” she answered, shaking her head. “It’s not that I don’t think you’d understand. I literally don’t think I can say. There are rules to being here, rules to coming back. It wasn’t easy and it’ll be even harder to get back out, but it was worth it. You needed help. You still need help. If I could give that to you, I had to, regardless of what it cost me.”

  A mountain of guilt slammed against my chest, which was impressive, seeing as how I wasn’t even inside my chest right now. When Pearl got sick, I hit pavement. For an immortal, I had never been the kind of person who could deal with goodbyes, and long goodbyes that included tears, cancer, and chemo were my particular hell.

  Hearing that she was still giving things up for me, even after her death, made me feel like the worst creature who had ever lived.

  “I appreciate that,” I said, trying to keep strong in the face of crumbling guilt.

  “I didn’t do it for your appreciation,” she answered quickly. “I did it because it’s the right thing to do. People think once you die, once you’ve drifted off into that eternal reward, that things like right and wrong don’t matter.” She shook her head. “Of course they do. Truth is truth, Callum, even if you’re not in your body anymore.” She took a beat. “Besides, Mimi wasn’t the only child I left behind. I still have people in that place, and I want them to live full, good lives.”

  I thought about the people she talked about; children, grandchildren, great grandchildren by this point. I had done all of them wrong when I left, but I had tried to do right since then.

  “I left them something, you know,” I said, blinking at her.

  “Your money?” she scoffed. “Save it, Callum. It didn’t mean anything to me then, and it doesn’t mean anything to me now. The only thing I care about when it comes to you is the only thing I’ve ever cared about. Your heart.” A slight smile trickled across her disembodied face. “And I’m happy to say it seems like that heart has taken a turn for the better.”

  A lightness seemed to settle over me then. Something about knowing that she saw some good in me, even from the other side of the Nexus, made me feel like I might make it through this.

  ‘So much is going on, Pearl,” I said, swallowing hard. “My brother is back. My damn mother is back again, and this. Apparently the energy from a dead mystical line is enough to screw with my curse. Abel did something to me. For whatever reason, he wanted to make it possible to throw me out of my own body.”

  “Or it was a side effect,” Pearl said.

  “What?” I asked.

  “I hear talk, Callum. I’ve always heard talk, and the mystical grapevine tells me that your brother might not be playing to some great end.” She shook her head. “Like everything else, there are sides here. I’m not exactly sure why the love of your life’s daughter is so important or what about her makes her the only person in the world who can destroy it, but I do know there are powerful forces working on each side. Some are working to make it happen. Others, like yourself, are trying to stop it. I hear your brother came back so he could play a different game altogether.”

  This piqued both my interest and my concern. “What sort of game, Pearl.”

  “Don’t know,” she admitted. “Even the dead like to keep things close to the vest, it seems.”

  ‘What about the Big Guy?” I asked. “What side of all of this is he on?”

  “Well, given the fact that He created this world, I very much doubt that He wants to see it destroyed. Still, he’s all about free will. So I doubt His moves are going to be too overt, even if it does mean the end of things as we know them.” She had a point there. The Big Guy was very into the whole ‘make your own mistakes and learn from them’ kind of thing. I shouldn’t have been surprised that he was going to effectively sit this one out. Still, a heavenly helping hand would have been awesome right about now.

  “I’ve had a long life, you know,” I said, glancing up at Pearl before looking away quickly. “I’d say I’ve had more than one love of it.”r />
  “Oh sweetheart,” she chuckled loudly. “Do you think that was me being jealous? Callum, that couldn’t be further from the truth. I know what we had was special, and I don’t hold any ill will toward you. I don’t hold any feelings either. I really am at peace about all of it. Still, as special as what we had was, I’ve never seen you look at anyone the way you looked at her back in that maze. Certainly not me.” She smiled again. “Maybe that’s the point of it though. Maybe that love is what you need to push you. Maybe it’s what you need in order to be the person who saves the whole damn world.” She shrugged. “Whatever the reason, I’m happy you have it. Everyone should.”

  I blinked at her. She really was at peace. But was everyone?

  “Mimi-”

  “Is doing just fine. I told you I’d care for her and I did. Besides, she lived a good life. She didn’t have anything to worry about,” Pearl said, cutting me off.

  Something like joy filled me as she spoke. If I couldn’t find the peace that came with the next life, I was at least glad Mimi did. She deserved it so damn much.

  “I wish you could come back with me,” I said, looking at my ex-wife. “I was always so much steadier when you were with me.” I shook my head. “Can’t you find a medium or something? I know you’re at peace, but couldn’t you just come out of retirement one more time. For old time’s sake.”

  “You’ve still got that charm, don’t you?” Pearl asked, her voice almost wistful. “You say it like it’s easy. Mediums aren’t movie theatres. I can’t find one on every corner. Their rare and, even if I did manage to contact one, there’s no guarantee they’d even let me in. Mimi was a stroke of luck. A medium in the family. It’s better than winning the lottery.”

  “Just promise me you’ll try?” I asked, looking her over. “I could really use you.”

  “I’ll bet you could,” she responded. “Fine, Callum. I’ll try, but no promises.” She pursed her lips at me. “If I can’t, you’re going to have to learn to trust the people around you. Even if the people include your mother.”

  “Her motivations are too suspect,” I shot back.

  “Her motivations are like any mother’s. She wants to protect her children. The only difference is, in her case, her children are nearly every person walking this earth.”

  “Nearly?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at her.

  “Sorry. There are rules,” she repeated. “Just like now. You need to get going, Callum. Time is different here and, if you don’t get back to your body soon, you might find yourself becoming twisted like one of those wraiths. And where would you be then?”

  I shuddered to consider the answer to that question.

  “I don’t know how to get back,” I admitted. “This place is so strange.”

  “Don’t say I never did anything for you,” Pearl said. Placing her hand on my chest, she gave it a shove.

  The Nexus disappeared into a pool of light. When it subsided, I found myself lying on my back, thrust into my body. Pain rushed through me, new and chilling. A heaviness rested on my chest and, as the world blinked into view, I saw a monster peering back at me.

  Spider eyes, green skin, oblong face, and fangs dripping with moisture.

  “Oh no,” I choked out. “This can’t be good.”

  “You got that right,” the monster answered in a surprisingly human voice. Then his claws moved toward my neck.

  14

  Jumping into action, I threw my hands forward, pushing the monster back with enough force to send him flying off me and into the air.

  As he landed hard against the floor of a room I didn’t recognize, I realized how small he was.

  The little bugger did a somersault and crouched into a fighting stance as he looked over at me. I was already on my feet, still in pain and doing the best I could to make sense of where I’d found myself.

  This was an apartment. Judging by the messy nature of it, I’d wager to guess it was a dude’s apartment. Though, in all fairness, the mess might have been due to the fight I’d found myself waking up in the middle of. There were wards on the walls, painted in either blood or red paint meant to symbolize blood and- if my Latin was correct- they were protective in nature. Strong too, meaning whoever put the there did so in order to keep something strong in or to keep something scary out.

  I really hoped it was the former because, judging by the fact that I was already on the inside, the latter would have been a failure of spectacular proportions.

  My eyes moved back down to the creature. Finally getting a chance to take it in, I made an educated guess as to what I was dealing with.

  “Imp,” I muttered. “You’re an imp.”

  “And you’re a dickhead,” he answered, teeth bore. “If we’re done with stating the obvious, I’d like to get back to kicking your immortal ass.”

  He knew who I was, but did he know what had just happened, that I wasn't responsible for whatever my body had just done?

  Maybe not, or maybe he was. Maybe that was the point. Imps were notorious henchmen. They practically swore their allegiance to anyone willing to feed, clothe, or save their troublesome asses. What if this particular imp was in league with the strange being who took over my body? What if his job was to ‘kill’ me again, send me back to the Nexus so that thing could take free reign?

  I couldn’t allow that to happen, though.

  Still, where was my group? When Andy shot me in the skull, it was with the express directions that my mother had placed me in mystical captivity. I wasn’t supposed to be able to get out. I should have woken up in the same place, in that Southern house with the people I cared about (and my mother) surrounding me.

  The fact that I wasn’t meant one of two things had happened. Either there was a problem with my mother’s spell, or the wench had proven me right and turned on us.

  Either way, I could only hope that my team wasn’t hurt, and that I hadn’t done too much damage while not in control of my body.

  “I’m not who you think I am,” I said, watching as the imp maneuvered around the room, his spider eyes taking in everything about the way I moved. For the most part, people think imps are harmless. They’re small, they lack any magical abilities, and they’re not exactly legendarily destructive. What those people don’t know, what they’d learn the hard way if they ever came face to face with one of these ugly bastards, was that they’re as deadly as diabetes and even more pervasive.

  These green monsters are so scary that they even have a weird sort of camouflaging technique. If you don’t know they exist, then you can’t see them. How’s that for convenience?

  Luckily for me, I’d run across more than a few of them in my day, and I wasn’t about to let myself get caught off guard.

  “I don’t mean you any harm,” I said. I raised my hand as if to show him I was unarmed and willing to talk this through, but a blinding blue sword jutted up from my wrist. It whished as it popped into view, glistening with power.

  “The Blade of the Divine?” I muttered, narrowing my eyes and recognizing the relic. Forged in the 5th century, this thing was capable of piercing a person’s soul, and I can tell you from personal experience, that hurts like a mother.

  “I can see that,” the imp grumbled sarcastically and leapt toward me, fangs and claws at the ready.

  I didn’t want to use this thing. Cutting into a creature’s soul could have long last consequences. It was like tearing into someone’s mind and leaving a gash there. Nightmares, memory loss. Hell, if the wound was deep and severe enough, it would cause a rift so great inside a person that it would literally drive them crazy.

  I didn’t know if the rules were the same for imps but, since they had souls too, I figured it was a pretty safe bet.

  I spun, lowering my hand and forcing the blade to revert back to its passive position. Though I had no idea where or even how I’d gotten it, this wasn’t my first encounter with the weapon. I wore it for a long period of time during the Dark Ages. I only parted with it after a particularly vex
ing sorceress vanished with it after we shared a ill advised night of fun. I had hoped it had gone the way of so many mystical artifacts of that time and been destroyed. I could see now that I hadn’t gotten that lucky.

  The imp slid as he missed me and hit the ground, he spun back toward me and I kept my eyes on him. Though, as I did that, I took a moment to look over the apartment I found myself in. In addition to being messy and stained with protective runes, this place was also sort of normal looking.

  The television was on in the background, with a couple on House Hunters complaining about the size of a perspective home’s kitchen, and toys lined up against the wall.

  Kids were here.

  The idea of that sent spears of anxiety through me. What if I’d killed those kids? What if the imp, working for whoever was possessing my body, killed them?

  Oh no! What if it was Amber? What if this was where they were keeping her and the thing inside of me somehow found her? It wouldn’t have been the first time. The last time I went out, I nearly got to merry and Amber. If not for Kyle’s luck, then I’d have probably taken her out.

  “I’m going to blind you, you son of a bitch!” the imp screamed.

  He wasn’t listening to me. I was going to have to do it. Though I didn’t want to, I was going to have to tear into this thing’s soul. If I didn’t, there was too great a chance of him hurting me enough to bring forth whatever was possessing me, and I couldn’t allow that. I had lost too much time already.

  The imp reared back, growling as it leapt into the air. I lifted my arm and willed the Blade of the Divine to pull itself out, jutting from an age old cuff blessed and imbued with power well over a thousand years ago.

  Gritting my teeth, I prepared to drive the blade into the imp, but then he stopped.

  That’s right, the little green guy stopped right in midair.

  “What the hell?” I asked. It was like he’d hit a wall or, more aptly, like he’d frozen in place. He sat there, his face still a snarl, his spider eyes still glaring at me.