Chapter Two: Objects In The Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear
Cal woke up in darkness, mouth open wide in a silent scream. He came up thrashing and hit metal with his already sore hand. Bars of a cage pressed down on him, barely giving him room to lash out with his knife. Then he realized he was under a cheap motel bed, crowded under there with discarded condom wrappers, dust bunnies, and God knew what else. For a wild moment, Cal wondered where in the hell Niko was – why he didn't wake him up before the nightmare got this far. Then he remembered.
Niko was in New York. Too far away to help him.
Cal began shaking badly. Always his brother had been there to ground him, to pull him out of the worst of his 'states.' Flashes of the dream flickered in his mind's eye – auphe breath on his face, talons caressing, and silver eyes appearing out of the darkness. Cal knew on some level he was curled in a fetal position, helpless whimpers of a word escaping from his mouth. The word was auphe for 'stop.' There was no word in their language for 'please,' but he was begging nonetheless.
Cal dug fingers of his free hand into his other forearm and twisted viciously. The pain brought him around, helped him focus, and enabled him to stop keening. He rested under the bed for a long time, gathering his thoughts, taking in huge gulps of air. Focus, he told himself. Niko wasn't lost; they were just temporarily separated. And once Cal found Timur, he'd make everything right. There was no question of that.
Cal emerged from under the bed slowly, listening for whether his 'episode' had attracted the neighbors' attention. All he heard was distant traffic and the TV in the next room. He took a quick shower and then dressed in his damp clothes. He paused when he saw the deep purple & black bruise on his forearm. Cal touched it lightly & electric pain streaked up his arm.
"Shit. I'm more of a danger to myself than anyone else."
Cal had paid in advance for several days, so he went out in the Camaro to cruise the town and look for places where the less than human hung out. One Eyed Jack's wasn't in any phone book, so he had to assume it was underground. He found a promising, run-down neighborhood, parked, and took a stroll. There was a deli with the distinct smell of eau-de-werewolf wafting from the door. Cal glanced in past the 'Special today: lamb chops!' sandwich board. The owner was definitely on the hairy side. The meats displayed in the glass cases all looked like the usual deli fare, but the owner was currently ringing up a shady character in a large overcoat & hat pulled down low who had an amphibian sort of smell. Cal shuddered and kept moving before he could identify the contents of the white-papered package being handed over.
For the rest of the evening Cal went around asking after Timur and One Eyed Jack's. When the supernatural denizens realized what he was, most of them reacted with disgust or fear. But no one claimed to know anything about the pipsqueak. One owner of a bar told him how to get to Jack's, probably just to get rid of the aupheling before 'it' did any damage to his business. Wasn't it nice to be so popular?
Cal managed to find the neighborhood where Jack's was supposed to be and made his way through a run-down industrialized area. Then he felt a familiar, terror-inspiring tingle in his gut. Cal dropped into some shadows against a building, gun out. He glanced around; sniffing and scanning for the auphe he just felt gating in nearby.
A scream was cut short to his left. He glanced about, and then eased forward through the shadows. He made sure to be downwind from the sound, which he followed to a mechanic shop. Cal peeked in. The auphe was kneeling over a corpse of a vampire that was leaking fluids through a now shredded set of coveralls. The auphe was scooping out the vampire's innards, tearing into them and slurping happily.
Cal thought of Promise, and suddenly anger overrode disgust. He put the gun in his back belt and slipped up behind the auphe with a tire iron he picked up. It didn't notice him until the last second. It turned with a hiss, baring its bloody teeth and shooting up with lightning grace. Cal was prepared. He slammed the tire iron into its skull, sending the thing crashing to the floor. It writhed in pain, momentarily stunned. Cal grabbed its slick white hair and dragged it over to a wall, grabbing a handful of screwdrivers on the way. In rapid succession, he slammed each screwdriver into its arms, legs, & shoulders, pinning it to the wall like a bug. The auphe was fully awake again, screeching and snapping at Cal with razor sharp teeth.
Cal stood panting in front of it, fury roiling in his gut. "Do you know who I am?"
"You are meat. Worthless. I will flay your skin and eat it while you watch." The thing said through a wall of teeth. Bloody saliva dripped from its chin. Cal felt the familiar pull of a gate forming, and slammed the tire iron to its pinned shoulder.
"It's not like you can go anywhere," he sneered, showing his own teeth.
"Others will feel it. Others will come. We are legion. We will make you pay."
"Good point," grunted Cal. The vampire mechanic had been working on a car – the hood was up and jumper cables still dangling over the side. Cal started the engine, then grabbed the clamps on the cables and turned back to the auphe. It was trying to form a gate again. Cal jabbed both ends into its gut.
The thing shrieked and thrashed. The pungent smell of burnt auphe filled the air. Cal pulled away the pinchers. The misty precursor to the gate dissipated like smoke.
"Take a good look. Do you know me?" he snarled at the auphe.
It had stopped bucking against the pinions and instead hung limply. It coldy regarding him. It seemed – surprised. And thoughtful.
Cal leaned in a little. "Now I know pain doesn't mean shit to you, unless you're the one giving it, and death means even less. But maybe this will get your attention: tell me what I want to know and I'll kill you. Don't tell me, and I'll let you live, but I'll fry your brain until you can't gate anymore." He touched the cables briefly to make them spark. "You'll be meat for the others. I'll cut out your tongue and stick you back in Tumulus."
A slow grin spread over the auphe's face. "You are one of us. I can smell you, see it in your face. But we didn't know you. We have such plans for one like you." It was crooning, now. "Poor thing. All alone. Come back to your family. No one else will have you."
Cal couldn't suppress a shudder. "Been there, done that, got the lousy psychosis. Besides, I bet Darkling just up and disappeared on you, didn't he?"
It jerked furiously against the screwdrivers, almost pulling one out. Cal slammed it back in. The auphe was snarling, its teeth snapping inches away from a maniacally grinning Cal. "We will find you again, little brother. And when we do, we are going to do such things to you…" As the auphe started to describe the tortures they would devise for Cal, it was like a black shadow bloomed in his head. He jammed the jumper cables back in the auphe. Everything around him was shrouded in madness except the electricity arcing through the violently thrashing body of the monster. Its shriek was far away. Cal imagined it was his rage and hatred coursing through the metal, torturing the auphe, getting back at it for what they did to him. He felt powerful for once in his life, being able to hurt one of them instead of the other way around. It felt good. It felt like…like Darkling.
Cal cried out, dropping the cables and staggering back. He heard an echo of Niko's voice in his head, saying he didn't care what happened to the auphe. He cared about what this was doing to Cal.
Cal leaned against the car, wiping his face with his free hand.
Smoke hung in the air around the auphe, and the metal of the screwdrivers was hot. It hung limply, head down, blood trailing from its mouth, nose, ears, & even its eyes. A moment later, though, he heard a soft, hoarse laugh coming from it.
"Weak. Pathetic," it whispered. It lifted its head just enough to gaze at him with narrowed, blood red eyes. "This is what comes of tainting the bloodline. You have no stomach for this, little sheep. You may as well lie down and die."
Cal took out his knife, came over and decapitated the thing without another thought. He cleaned off the blade on an oil-stained rag. He then wiped down anything he may have touched. He shut off the car engine, turned out the lights, and hurried away. Cal made it a half a block before he had to lean against a building and be violently sick. He staggered further to a dark space by some steps and slumped into a seated position.
"Nik, I can't do this by myself," he whispered harshly. He had a strong urge to call his borther, even if it would just be to hear him say he didn't know him again. He needed a dose of sanity. Cal had never been on his own for this long. He took deep, slow breaths, using the calming exercises Niko always tried to make him do. It was a way of connecting – Cal imagined Niko kneeling beside him, talking him through the breaths and counting them out.