Disclaimer: i only own Lily
Chapter 29: Learning
Billy the Kid darted from one side of the hall to the other, looking into the cells at the menagerie of sleeping creatures. "I mean, I've lived on this earth for a very long time, and I've never seen anything like that." He was looking at a muscular blue-skinned man with a mass of wiry black hair and two curled horns growing out of his head. "Have you?" he asked Niccolò Machiavelli.
Machiavelli glanced quickly into the cell. "It's an oni," he said. "A Japanese demon," he added, before Billy could ask. "The blue-skinned ones are very unpleasant, but the red-skinned ones are even worse." The Italian continued down the grim prison corridors, hands clasped behind his back, cold gray eyes fixed directly ahead of him.
"You're having those deep thoughts, those dark thoughts again," Billy said, lowering his voice as he fell into step alongside the dark-suited immortal.
"So you're a mind reader now."
"A body reader. Staying alive in the Old West meant watching how people stood and moved, interpreting their little twitches and looks, knowing who was likely to pull a gun and who'd back down. I was very good at it," the American said proudly. "And I always knew when someone was going to do something stupid," he added very softly.
"I'm not going to do anything stupid," Machiavelli said quietly. "I have given my master my word, and I will stick to that: I will awaken the beasts and loose them on the city."
"But you're not happy about it, are you?"
Machiavelli flashed a quick look at Billy.
"I mean, seeing what's in these cells, I'm not sure I want them wandering free in any city," the Kid said, his voice little more than a whisper. "These are all carnivores and blood drinkers, aren't they?"
"Never met a vegetarian monster," Machiavelli said. "But yes, most of these are flesh eaters. Some of the most human-looking, however, feed off the dark energy of dreams and nightmares."
"Do you want them free in San Francisco?" Billy asked quietly.
Machiavelli remained silent, but he shook his head slightly, and his lips formed a word he did not speak aloud. No.
"You're cooking up something, though, I can tell," Billy added.
"How can you tell?" Machiavelli asked with a faint smile.
"Easy." The American immortal's blue eyes sparkled in the gloom. "You're just a bit too obvious. You'd never have survived in the West."
Machiavelli blinked in surprise. "I have survived more dangerous places than your nineteenth-century America, and I've done it by keeping my face expressionless and my opinions to myself."
"Ah, but that's where you're making your mistake, Mr. Machiavelli."
"Call me Niccolò. Educate me, young man."
Billy grinned delightedly, showing his prominent teeth. "Never thought I'd have something to teach you."
"The day we stop learning is the day we die."
Billy rubbed his hands together briskly. "So I think I'd be right in saying that you're a curious man-correct, Mr. Machiavelli?"
"Always have been. It is one of the many traits that Dee and I share. We are both intensely curious. I have always believed that curiosity is one of man's greatest strengths."
Billy nodded. "I've always been curious too. Got me into a lot of trouble," he added. "Now, if you take a quick look behind you ..."
Machiavelli glanced over his shoulder, where Josh, Lily, Dee and Dare followed.
"The boy is obviously astonished and scared ..." Billy was still staring straight ahead.
Josh Newman was following the two immortals in a daze, his eyes and mouth opening wider as they passed cell after cell and each new creature was revealed. He was frightened-that was clear. Tendrils of gold smoke curled off his hair and seeped from his ears and nostrils, and both hands were locked into golden-gloved fists.
"Dee's not interested in the creatures, because he gathered them and knows what's here," Billy continued, "and Virginia is not interested either, because she's either fought them in the past or knows that her Elder flute will protect her." He cocked his head to one side, considering. "Or maybe because she knows that she's more dangerous than they are."
"I only know her by reputation," Machiavelli said. "Is she as bad as they say she is?"
"Worse," Billy said, nodding eagerly, "much, much worse. Don't ever make the mistake of trusting her."
Dee and Dare took up the rear. Machiavelli noted that Dee was deep in conversation with the woman. Her face was an inscrutable mask, her gray eyes the same color as the stones making up the floor and walls. She spotted Niccolò looking at her and raised a hand in acknowledgment. Dee looked up and glared, the odor of rotten eggs briefly filling the cellblock, stronger even than the stench of the sleeping beasts. Machiavelli looked away before Dee could see his smile. It amused him to know that he still frightened the English Magician.
"What about Lily?" Niccolò asked, curious as to why Billy hadn't mentioned her.
Billy smirked "I have no idea what she's feeling right now, she looks curius and is seeming interested in the cells, but she's got this look in her eyes that says she's not entirely here, she's a person I can never truly read"
Niccolò looked confused "It always seemed like Lily wore her expressions on her sleeve."
Billy snickered "Only if she's caught off guard, she's an amazing actress, she can pretend to be interested in a conversation, but really she's calculating how to sneak away."
Niccolò looked over his shoulder at Lily and saw that she did look curious, but he couldn't see the look in her eyes that Billy had.
"So, given your curiosity, you should be looking into the cells," Billy finished. "But you're not. Therefore, you're thinking of something much more important."
"Impressive," Machiavelli agreed. "And your logic is impeccable ... except for one thing."
"Which is?"
"Oddly shaped creatures and monstrous beasts long ago lost their ability to frighten me. In truth, it was really only mankind-and their close relatives, the Elders and Next Generation-that always had the capacity to terrify me." He nodded at the cells. "These poor beasts are driven solely by their need to survive and to feed. It is their nature, and their nature has made them predictable. But man, on the other hand, has the capacity to change his nature. Man is the only animal that can destroy the world. Beasts live only in the present, but humans have the capacity to live for the future, to lay down plans for their children and grandchildren, plans that can take years, decades, even centuries, to mature."
"I've heard that sort of planning is your specialty," Billy said.
"It is." Machiavelli waved a hand toward a cell holding a trio of sleeping hairy domovoi, each one more hideous than the other. "So these do not frighten or even interest me."
"You sound as arrogant as Dee," Billy snapped, a touch of steel edging his voice. "And I'm sure the people living in San Francisco are not going to agree with you."
"True," Machiavelli conceded.
Billy drew in a deep breath. "If these creatures reach the shores, there will be ..." He paused, hunting for a word. "Chaos. Mayhem."
"Now who is having deep dark thoughts?" Machiavelli asked lightly. "Who would have thought it-an outlaw with a conscience."
"Probably the same deep dark thoughts you were having, maybe even the same as the thoughts Lily is having." Billy murmured. "I'll admit I'm not comfortable releasing these monsters on my people."
"Your people?" Machiavelli teased.
"My people. I know they're not yours, they're not Italians ...," Billy began.
"They're humans," Machiavelli said, "and that makes them my people too."
Billy the Kid looked quickly at Niccolò. "When I first met you, I thought you were just like Dee ... now I'm not so sure."
Machiavelli's lips moved in the tiniest of smiles. "Dee and I are similar in many ways-don't tell him that, though. He'd be insulted. Where we differ is that Dee will do whatever is necessary to achieve his ends. I have watched him follow his master's orders even when it meant the destruction of entire cities and tens of thousands of lives. I have never done that. The price of my immortality was my service, but not my soul. I am now, and I have always been, human."
"I hear you," Billy the Kid murmured.
The corridor ended at a metal door. Machiavelli pushed it open, blinked in the afternoon sunlight and hurried down the concrete steps that led to the exercise yard. The Italian breathed deeply, drawing in the rich salt air, dispelling the musky, fetid animal odor that permeated the cellblocks. He waited for Billy to join him. He turned while the Kid was still on the last step, so that their faces were level. "I gave my word to my master and to Quetzalcoatl that I would unleash the creatures on the city. I cannot go back on my word."
"Cannot or will not?"
"Cannot," Machiavelli said firmly. "I will not become waerloga-an oath breaker."
Billy nodded. "I respect a man who keeps his word. Just make sure you're keeping it for the right reason."
Machiavelli leaned forward, and his iron-hard fingers bit into Billy's shoulder. The Italian fixed his eyes on Billy's. "No, you must make sure you're breaking it for the right reason!"
Billy looked back into Machiavelli's eyes and whispered "I don't have anything to lose Niccolò, you might."
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