Awakening: The Elder Chronicles, Volume 1 Page 15

  Yes. Some can reanimate dead human tissue and control it. A number of the higher generation Daimones developed strange abilities when they were infected with the plague. It warped their mental skills, took their latent powers, and changed them. All of the myths about zombies, necromancy, vampires, and ghouls actually have some stray strand of truth to them. But we really don't have time to get into it now. Suffice it to say there are some really dangerous Daimones out there who would stop at nothing to see you dead.

  Alec gently poked his head out of the cargo doors. Elena had been so wrapped up in the conversation she hadn't even noticed the train rolled to a stop. The sudden squeal of the brakes and the jerking of the train cars hitting their bumpers nailed the point home.

  Alec spun around quickly and slammed the cargo doors shut. Dammit! he exclaimed. There are six Daimones flying around out there.

  Elena stopped dead in her tracks, spun, and gawked at him. Wait. Are you sure? she asked fearfully. How come I couldn't hear them?

  Yeah, I'm sure, he seemed perturbed by her first question. I can see them flying around. Maybe you can't hear them because they're not speaking with each other telepathically.

  Elena scanned the interior of the freight car. The large sliding door in the roof of the car could be slid aside if necessary. From there they could fly out of the car and try to evade their stalkers. The problem was Alec would have to carry her.

  Elena locked eyes with Alec. I think we may have to split up, she told him. You cannot carry me and still move fast enough to outrun so many pursuers. I may be able to run and hide for a little while if you can provide a distraction. Then...

  Alec shook his head before she finished mouthing the suggestion. No! He began sliding the skylight open, inching it along very slowly. They are smarter than you give them credit. They won't follow me for long if they don't see you with me.

  He paused and walked over to her. As he reached out to place a hand on her shoulder, she pulled away. We'll have to make a break for it. Considering how much your strength has grown, I think we may be able to hold our own if it came down to a fight.

  Elena didn't say anything, but walked over to the sliding double-doors. As she watched through the small crack between them, all of the Daimones circling the freight car flew either higher up into the night sky or farther away from their location. Something did not feel quite right about it. The Opposition had her and Alec right where they wanted them. Why weren't they swooping in for the kill?

  A series of spotlights painted the side of the freight car in blinding white light as the night sky lit up with flashing red and blue strobes. The blare of sirens echoed through the freight car. It all made sense to her. The Opposition backed away so the human authorities could do the dirty work.

  Alec, we have to go.

  Elena reached out, grabbed his hand, and before she could say more, they launched upward through the closed skylight, sending a rain of splinters into the night sky. She couldn't believe how fast they were moving. Alec carried them far faster than when they were on the run in Canada.

  She peered below them briefly as they moved. The freight car in which they had been riding was surrounded by police and military vehicles perched and ready for an assault. It did not appear they were willing to take prisoners, either. They ascended even faster, tearing upward through the night sky.

  Elena! Stop! he yelled. You've gone far enough!

  What do you mean?

  He hung from her hand like a child's teddy bear. His shirt was still on; his wings had not opened. But then, how were they flying upward? She searched to her left and to her right, but did not see any wings behind her.

  Alec, you're kidding me, right? she asked. I don't have any wings. I can't fly. When he didn't answer, she barked at him, How are you doing this?

  I'm not! he cried in exasperation. You're doing this. Now, please let me go!

  How can I be flying? She asked him, her voice filling with panic. You're doing this, aren't you? Please tell me you're doing this.

  He tried fruitlessly to pry himself from her grasp grunting, Elena. Let. Me. Go.

  She let go of his wrist and he fell a few feet before his shirt tore away from his body as his great wings spread behind him. In the few moments it took for him to fly back up to meet her, the realization came upon her she floated in the air high above the railroad car. Alec?! she yelped with panic. How am I doing this? And then, she fell.

  She plummeted at least a couple of hundred feet before Alec finally caught her and stopped her fall.

  I'm not sure how you did it, he said to her, but you've got to figure out how to do it again real quick. He pointed ahead of them. Here they come.

  All of the Daimones who had flown out of the area were now converging on them. In a matter of seconds, they were surrounded. There were far more than the six they had seen earlier, and she still could not hear their telepathic communication. She could usually hear any mental voices talking nearby her, but could not hear these Daimones. As one of them approached, she figured out why.

  The Daimon man had a strange contraption attached to his throat. She had seen enough action movies to realize it was a microphone, which sat right above his vocal cords. They knew she could hear their minds when they were close, so they were not using telepathic communication. They were using walkie-talkies.

  She gasped, and her baser instincts took control. She sped through the air, flying blindly away.

  Elena, wait. Too fast. Alec's voice trailed off and disappeared from her mind very quickly.

  She scanned the skies, unable to see Alec anywhere.

  Oh, crap. Her heart raced as panic washed over her.

  She began to fall.

  She had to admit she did not like the feeling of uncontrolled freefall. Her stomach sat in her throat, her heart on the verge of stopping, while the earth rushed toward her. She tried to calm herself down, but found the freefall too distracting. Instead, she decided to focus her mind with internal monologue.

  Okay, I have done this on two occasions, now. But how? she asked. I didn't do it consciously. No! I merely did it. It is not a conscious thing.

  She focused her mind and focused on floating in air. Her freefall halted in an instant and she hovered hundreds of feet above the ground. Willing her body to move forward, it slid through space. Experimenting, she willed herself to move with astonishing speed and her body responded to the demand. In an instant, she moved so fast the entire earth rushed by.

  Elena, she heard Alec's voice in her head, faint but present. Where are you? he asked.

  She stopped instantly. And her sudden stop did not have the effect of inertia—like a car coming to a dead halt. Her body simply ceased movement. Surveying her surroundings, she realized she was lost, unsure from which direction she came.

  I don't know. She replied. Where are you?

  Alec responded, I am about three miles east of where we were. The other Daimones are behind me, and I am beginning to wear out. Oddly, she could hear the exhaustion in his mental voice. I can't keep this pace much longer. They are nearly as fast as I am.

  Elena thought for a few seconds. She needed to find Alec. Her heart started to race and her palms were sweaty. She began to panic. The idea of leaving him alone to have to fight all of those Daimones was unbearable. She needed him. She had to find him!

  She scanned the skies, but then realized she had moved so fast he could literally be miles away from her. Damn! How do I find him? she asked herself. What other things can I do?

  An idea occurred to her. She knew she could always find his mental voice no matter how far he may be. After all, she'd proven it. They were speaking. So, why couldn't she use the same mental connection to find him? After all, if she knew his voice, then she should be able to trace it back to him. Right?

  She focused on him and searched the skies but did not see much of anything. Alec, she called out to him mentally, where are you?

  I am almost four miles from the train now. She could hear th
e panic in his voice. The Opposition must be right on top of him.

  Barely visible against the sky, a translucent silvery thread floated in the air. As she focused her attention on the iridescent filament, it became increasingly clear to her from where it originated. It belonged to Alec and connected them mentally—a conduit along which their thoughts could pass between one another. And if it carried his thoughts to her, then it could lead her back to him.

  Okay, Alec, she said, I've got you. I'm coming.

  She focused on being by his side and moved through the air faster than even before, appearing in an instant right next to him.

  Alec jumped in his skin. How did you get here? he asked.

  I flew here, she replied. She could see both their mental threads as they wound between them. The threads were similar, but clearly distinct. Whereas his appeared about a finger's width in thickness and had an iridescent sheen, hers was as thick as her thigh and shone almost pure silver in color, casting a bright glowing halo.

  Whoa.

  Whoa what? Alec asked a little timidly, his wings beating the air forcefully.

  She glanced over his shoulder and saw the other Daimones closing in on them fast. A few hundred yards separated them from Alec. She could see the expressions of sheer malice painted on their faces. They were going to hurt him! She couldn't let it happen.

  We have to get out of here, she urged, fast. We can talk later. Where do we need to go?

  Alec pointed in a direction. Elena grabbed him around the waist and moved with tremendous speed in one direction. After about five minutes, she stopped flying.

  "Can you tell where we are?" She asked him. As she did, she could see no mental thread pass between them. She understood how they were found so quickly. They had spent their entire train ride speaking to each other with their mental voices. If Mairya possessed as much power as Alec had suggested, then she could likely do as much, if not more, than Elena could do with her abilities. Either Mairya or one of her compatriots had tracked them by their telepathic connections. She didn't bother contemplating for long, and decided this was the way it happened. Something inside told her she had the right answer.

  "Before you answer, speak out loud. She can follow my mental thread."

  "Your what?" Alec asked.

  "I call it a mental thread," Elena replied. "It's how I found you. I can see your telepathic link as you mentally speak with me. I followed it back to its source...you. If Mairya or one of the others with her has abilities like mine, then it is likely they did the same to us while we were having our conversation on the train. I saw my own mental thread. It was so bright it would be very hard for anyone to miss. We have to remember to use our actual voices to communicate with each other. Otherwise, I fear we may leave ourselves open to detection again."

  Alec seemed confused, an unasked question on his face. He opened his mouth to ask her something, but then stopped, scanning their surroundings. "I don't recognize this place," he said at last. "Perhaps, we should set ourselves down some place where we'll be hidden so we can find out."

  She studied the ground below them. Nestled in a narrow east-west valley between two mountains, the place exhibited a densely populated grid arrangement. A river wound its way through the town like a snake, and an airport could be seen to the west, while a huge train yard occupied the center of the city, and farm fields lay to the east.

  From her vantage point above the small city, she dropped like a stone into a tight alley situated within a cluster of buildings in a small plaza surrounded by a square city block, hoping she had not caught anyone's attention. On their way down, Alec grabbed a flannel shirt to put on from a clothesline strung between two buildings. They stepped out onto the fairly deserted main street and were greeted by the sight of a large Roman-style stone gate with three arched openings.

  "We are in Innsbruck, Austria," Alec said as he stepped onto the main street.

  "How can you be sure?" she asked him.

  Alec pointed at the gate, "The Innsbruck Gate was constructed in 1765 by Empress Maria Theresa to commemorate the marriage of her son, Leopold II, Duke of Tuscany, and to mourn the death of Emperor Franz I, who died at the wedding." He turned and locked eyes, shock painted on his face. "Elena," he said, "we’re in the Tyrolean Alps. We traveled more than five hundred miles in a few minutes. We have to get to Budapest. There is a third generation Daimon there I have known for quite some time. He should be able to help us."

  Elena couldn't help but be skeptical of yet another of his trusted contacts. "Are you sure he will know where we need to go?" She paused, then added a little more firmly, "Are you sure we can trust him?"

  Alec replied with a laugh in his voice, "Yes, he should be able to help. And yes we can trust him. His family has served as the Elder's protectors for quite a long time."

  Her body ached with exhaustion. "I think we should find a place to rest for a few."

  "Dawn will be approaching fast," he said in agreement. "We will find a place to rest for the day." He added, "I think we should try to stick to traveling at night. Tomorrow night, if you don't mind, you can fly us to Budapest."

  Elena nodded weakly. "Don't we have to worry about being spotted?" she asked, barely able to get the question out. "I mean half of Europe's police agencies are searching for us, right?"

  Alec stopped for a second. "We'll have to stick to doing the tourist thing," he resolved. "I have some Euros handy still. It should get us a change of clothes. As far as the local police are concerned, I doubt anyone would have figured we could have traveled so far so fast. We have outrun the Daimones. It will take all night for them to catch up."

  "Okay," she agreed. "But the first inkling of trouble, and we are out of here. I don't care if it's midnight or broad daylight. We will be flashing through the skies before you can say buh-bye." Elena forced a smile. "Also, we have to remember not to use our telepathy. If Mairya is as powerful as I think she is, then she will be able to find us with little effort. If that happens, then we're really screwed."

  Chapter Sixteen

  "Good morning," he whispered into her ear. His breath on the side of her neck made her heart skip. "Did you sleep well?"

  She couldn't speak with the memory of her dreams too fresh in her mind. The feeling of his bare skin pressed against hers, the caress of his lips on her flesh, the scent of his sweat, and the taste of his tongue in her mouth all lingered into her consciousness. The dreams had seemed so real, so life-like. Absorbing her surroundings, it was apparent she'd spent the whole night wrapped in his arms. Standing, she clapped her arms around herself as the brisk morning air stung her exposed skin. Her coat had been left at the pub in London. She would have curled back up to him for warmth, but due to the persistent memory of her dreams decided she needed to put distance between their bodies.

  "Ahem," Alec cleared his throat loudly and repeated his question. "Did you sleep well?"

  Elena nodded as she paced around the small alleyway. "Yeah," she replied, avoiding his gaze.

  Alec's brow furrowed. "What's wrong?" he asked.

  "Nothing," Elena sniped. She glanced at him for an instant, avoiding eye contact, and then stepped out onto the main street. "Let's go find some food and warm clothing."

  Turning back, the sight of him burned into her mind. He stood alone, and seemed sad. Was it because he no longer held her body so close to his? But then the memory of her dream returned. It took all she could muster to put the dream aside. She needed to focus on the here and now. By "here" she meant cold, and by "now," hungry.

  They found breakfast at a small café a few blocks away, and cold-weather clothing at a shop down the road. Hoping to remain unnoticed by the authorities, Elena kept her clothing choices practical and unremarkable in style and color.

  After their purchases, they spent the rest of the day visiting the town. From time to time she caught him stealing the occasional glance when he believed she looked the other way. She couldn't help but think maybe there could be more to their relati
onship than its formality. At least she hoped as much. In spite of how much his words had hurt her she still couldn't help her attraction to and growing feelings for him.

  As they made their way through the city they saw no evidence they'd been recognized from their mug shots and she'd been thankful to see their photos were not plastered all over the news here yet. Even so, the European law enforcement agencies would soon enough cast their nets wider in their effort to find the fugitives wanted for the London terrorist attack.

  By evening, they had a satisfying dinner of roast duck and venison before the sun settled over the mountains. Having learned the effect of alcohol on Daimones, Elena made sure they steered clear of wine or schnapps. They needed to remain sharp.

  Around midnight they managed to find a secluded alleyway and were aloft again. Elena couldn't help but chuckle at the one piece of irony in the past week's happenings. She had begun believing she was a mere human under the protection of her own personal guardian angel, and now found herself dragging the same guardian angel around the skies because he simply couldn't keep up with her.

  "Okay," Alec said, "what are you laughing at?"

  Elena glanced down at him and admired the most beautiful man she'd ever met. "Nothing," she said with certainty. Then, under her breath she muttered, "Slowpoke."

  "I heard that," came his muffled reply.

  She laughed louder.

  They had flown northeast and followed the Danube. Within ten minutes, they were floating above Budapest. Alec pointed out a location on the east side of the river, above a once heavily industrial zone. They floated down amidst the rusting hulks and iron ghosts of an abandoned factory yard.

  "He is here," Alec said as their feet touched the hard earth. "This has been his land for many centuries. Aden lived here before the proto-Celtic tribes first settled this area to extract and refine its nearby ores." He sighed, scanning the buildings, "I need to find him."

  Friend. The deep baritone timbre of an unfamiliar mental voice weighed heavy on Elena. Why have you not called out to me? I sense you are near. It has been so long.