Chapter 60

'So you're the one controlling my husband,' Catilin stared at the Teen, determined to keep her cool. 'What do you want with my baby girl?'

'She's a Dorsoma, what I want should be obvious,' his voice was calm and cool.

'You know Dorsoma can only temporarily copy powers, right? And she's too little to be able to understand how that works.'

'Are you sure about that?'

'Of course I am, I know my own daughter, don't I?'

'You didn't know she was a Dorsoma,' Duke's treachery instantly stung Catilin.

'Neither did you, till he told you,' she tried her best not to pout.

'Look, she can copy specialised and immortal powers,' the Teen appeared to enjoy his position, 'and, as I have a couple of gods and a Hateling tracking me, I'd say that ability would come in more then handy, wouldn't you?'

'She's too little to know how…'

'No she's not and you're going to show her.'

'I'm not working for you.'

'You make it sound like you have a choice,' he moved himself swiftly over to where Duke was standing and held a knife to his throat. 'Now I know you're not exactly seeing eye to eye with your husband right now, but I somehow doubt you want to see him dead any time soon. So either you show that little daughter of yours what to do or you can say bye-bye to the love of your life.'

'You wouldn't,' Catilin shook her head, 'you… you need him.'

'Are you sure about that?'

She was about to say she was, when she hesitated. He was right, she couldn't be sure how much the Teen needed Duke and if she got it wrong…

'Daddy,' Kasey suddenly wailed, clearly aware something was wrong, even if she wasn't entirely sure what.

'So kitty-cat,' the Teen taunted, 'what's it going to be?'

'Fine,' she hung her head miserably, 'I'll get her to use her gift. But only if you promise me you won't get her to…'

'Oh, I can't promise that. After all, the whole point of her learning is to attack those who are after me.'

'You can't, please, she's just a baby.'

'But she's your daughter, oh great Ashmar, and we all remember what you were like when you were just a baby.'

'That's different, I was…'

'You were what? A few sticks short of a bonfire?'

'Now you're just being mean.'

'No I'm not,' the Teen laughed. 'Just like I'm not being mean when I tell you I hold the key to you being committed right here,' he tapped the knife against Duke, who barely flinched as he did.

'What… what do you mean?'

'He means that if I wanted to, I could have you sectioned,' Duke's voice was low. 'You're mental health is unstable enough and it would be easy to get people to back me up on this one.'

'You wouldn't,' she stared at Duke in horror, 'you know I hate doctors.'

'I still don't think you get the fact I don't have a choice here,' he gave a heavy sigh. 'You're still acting as though I could suddenly break free of him and start trying to take him down. But I can't. He controls me. He controls everything I do and everything I say. I am powerless against him.'

'He's making you feel worthless,' Catilin took a step back as her Calicaccu senses flooded her system, 'that's how he's controlling you. He's draining out your self-respect and making you feel worthless.'

'I am worthless, because I am weak. Weak enough to allow myself to help him take down Jo.'

'Weak enough to hurt me?'

'Heck,' Duke's face filled with a pained smile, 'in a few hours I'll be weak enough to betray Crovell.'

'But you could never hurt him.'

'Couldn't I?'

'No, you couldn't Duke. I know you, I know…'

'You know nothing Catilin,' he cut her off. 'You always think you do, but you don't. If you did, then you would have stopped this from happening.'

'I didn't know this was going to happen,' she shook her head, 'you can't blame me for something I didn't know was going to happen.'

'Can't I?'

'Duke…'

'Save it Catilin, I don't want to know.'

'But…'

'I said save it,' he turned his gaze away from her. 'Save it and show our daughter how to use her gift, now, before it's too late.'

'Too late for what?'

'Don't you know,' he lowered his gaze, 'because you should.'

It was slow progress, but they were winning, that much at least Taylor could be sure of. What he couldn't be sure of was how or why they were winning. Something about the situation was beginning to feel too easy. At least on Ni's part. Ni appeared to be holding back or at least that was the feeling Taylor got. And since Helen wasn't fighting at all, the majority of the attacks came from the Veronsen-Vii, who were fairing less and less well against them.

They weren't beat yet, that much Taylor knew for sure. But it wasn't going to be much longer until they were. Especially since SK was on his way to rescuing CiCi and Damon already. In fact, the more Taylor thought about it, the more he realised the battle would be decided not by a power won victory, but by who ended up with the kids. It was like an odd version of capture the flag, only they were playing for slightly higher stakes.

Just as Taylor managed to land a direct hit on Mokuba with one of more potent vials, he spotted the crumbling gargoyle heading towards them. After SK had gone off in search of the kids, he'd attempted to will a new message to his living stone creation and clearly that message had gotten through. Soon it would be close enough to the field to launch its attack and when it was the Veronsen-Vii wouldn't know what hit them.