The Detective Inspectors (The Doorknob Society Saga Book 4) (2 page)

“How have you been, Caleb?” Gavin stood his ground, his key glowing brightly.

“Gavin, I should have figured I would run into you.” He pointed to Emory lying injured on the couch. “You have something I want.”

“Too bad.” I nearly spit out the words. Darker turned to me, his eyes narrowed and his lip curled.

“So Gavin, you’re the one who’s been training the girl? This couldn’t have worked out better for me.” He grinned. “I’ve wanted you dead for years and as a bonus I finally get to send this irritating girl to the grave to join her father.”

I brought my whip up with a forceful swing. Darker’s eyes gleamed with anticipation as he activated his own powers and brought up a shield, but Gavin had taught me better than to let emotions rule in a fight. I flicked my wrist at the last moment and brought it across, catching Jasper in the stomach and knocking him backwards. Gavin took the signal and attacked Darker’s shield from the side, cracking it.

The other guard jumped forward ready to fight. I retracted my whip and concentrated on opening a portal underneath him. He moved quickly, narrowly avoiding a plunge into another dimension.

I circled around Gavin’s back as he battled Darker. The second guard came around with an energy whip of his own, snapping it out toward me. I dove forward hitting the ground and rolling up right at his feet. I brought my elbow up and jammed it into his abdomen. He grunted and bent in half, and I snapped my head up fast and hard. I not only felt his nose crack from the blow, I heard it. He stumbled back, bleeding and moaning. I spun in a circle and activated my whip, slapping it across his neck and face with enough force to flip him over.

Gavin attacked with multiple powers. It was an amazing sight to witness as were the sensations. From his one hand I sensed Skeleton Key Guild locks assaulting Darker while the other hand used DS portals. Darker was forced to back away, his shield crumbling under the barrage of dual powers.

I joined in, stepping forward and adding my own powers to the attack. I directed my senses at his shield, crawling over it, finding weak points, and attacking each of them.

“Where’s Edgar?” Gavin demanded as he kept Darker off balance with his repetitive attacks.

“You’ll get nothing from me.”

“Wrong, Darker, once we break your defenses, then we break your mind. I will find the boy; you can’t stop me.”

 Was that fear I saw in Darker’s eyes? They darted back and forth, searching for some way out or frightened of what he might see? What alarmed him more this time than other times? Did he fear the powers of a Polymorph or had it something more to do with Gavin?

“It’s too late; you can’t help the boy.” Darker gulped as he backpedaled.

“If that’s so, it’ll only be worse for you,” I warned as I used my Impossible Engineer abilities to find the weakest point in his shield. I highlighted it and stepped back, focusing all my strength on that one area.

“What’s she doing?”

Gavin laughed. “Finishing you off.”

“This isn’t possible,” Darker whispered.

“Like you said, Darker, I’ve been training her and she’s a quick learner.”

The room around me came alive with power. The multitude of currents raced through me alerting my senses to everyone’s location in the room, though my focus remained on Darker. It was how I sensed Jasper moving before he ever reached me. I raised my hand and the floor boards beneath me tore from their foundation and created a barrier. Jasper didn’t have enough time to stop; he smashed hard into it and slipped to the ground with a thud.

“Very good, child.” My mother’s voice seared my flesh like a red-hot branding iron and leaving yet another indelible mark. “Was that an Impossible Engineer ability?”

“Yes, Talia, it was,” I said never again intending to call her Mom. She didn’t deserve the honor; not after the horrific things she’d done.

She walked through where the door had been. Her long blonde hair fell softly around her pretty face, though her expression was cold and distant like one of those women in an old portrait that hung in a museum.

 “Talia? Not calling me Mom anymore?”

“My mother died a long time ago; you’re just the bitch who killed my father.”

“That’s no way to talk, young lady.” Power crackled around her.

“Ivan, get Emory out of here,” Gavin ordered amping up his own power.

The room was filling with so much energy that I could almost choke on it.

“By all means, Ivan, run along. I’d much rather kill these Polymorphs,” Mom said.

Darker circled around behind my mother, dropping his shields his power ebbed. If Mom hadn’t shown up, he would have been in real trouble. He would only need a short time to recoup, and then things would get nasty.

Ivan hefted an unconscious Emory over his shoulder and hurried up the stairs behind us.

“Where’s Edgar?” I stared at the woman who gave birth to me and felt only hatred.

“Your little friend is my guest just like Nightshade was until you stole him from me.” She smiled all too sweetly and all I could see was the image of her torturing Nightshade to get to me. “By the way, how is he? Does he remember you at all?”

Gavin moved closer and leaned in to whisper, “Chloe, we gain nothing from this fight.”

He was right. Even if we won this go around, it wouldn’t get us closer to finding Edgar. As much as I wanted revenge for my father’s death, this wasn’t the time. I took a step back and Talia stepped forward.

Her Skeleton Key illuminated the room as she directed a bolt of crimson energy straight at me. I flicked my wrist with little effort, my energy whip blocking the attack. But it was a ruse. She circled and was on me quickly, her hand at my throat like a vise. I brought my forearm up and tried to dislodge her but she held firm.

Gavin tried to intervene, but Darker attacked and the two of them disappeared in a haze of crimson energy. While struggling for air, I could not believe the cold deadly look in my mother’s eyes, and a pain gripped my heart wondering if that was what my dad had seen when she had turned on him.

I fought to dislodge her grip that was slowly squeezing the life from me, but damn if I could budge her hold. If I didn’t do something soon, it would be too late. I struggled to release my weapon, my limbs turning weak and after much effort and my sight turning foggy, I activated a portal. Mom’s eyes popped wide as she realized too late what I was doing. We both dropped like dead weight through the open portal.

Status: Family vacation anyone?

My feet hit sand and Mom’s fingers were jolted off my throat as we sprawled to the ground. I pushed backward with my feet and elbows putting some distance between us and regaining my breath before I scrambled to stand. My hand went for my Doorknob and found nothing. I scanned the area and spotted it laying several feet away. I sent Mom a quick glance and saw that she was doing the same, searching for her Skeleton Key and spotting it just before she turned and met my eyes.

“It seems we’re both at a disadvantage.”

 She watched me like a cat waiting to devour a mouse. She was an idiot if she thought I’d play cat and mouse with her. I raised a clenched fist. “Speak for yourself.”

 “You don’t give up do you?”

“My father taught me that that was not an option.” Mom’s eyes glazed over for a brief moment and the coldness fell away, yet when she blinked the ice queen quickly returned.

“You’re as much of a fool as he was.”

“Good, at least I take after the one parent I care about.”

“I offered you the world. You could be with us when we achieve victory over the Old Kind.”

“Just who are
us
?”

“The First Kind of course.”

 “That’s not what I hear.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Word I’ve been hearing is that you’re the lapdog for someone bigger.”

“And where did you hear that, your friends?” She hadn’t moved or attempted to go for her Skelton Key.

 “Actually no... yours.”

“What?”

“Ms. True shared that bit of news with me when she offered me the truce.”

 “Did she now?”

 Her cool exterior cracked for a moment and I could almost see her mind racing. She hadn’t known about my meeting with True and that appeared to worry her.

“Seems like someone is leaving you out of the loop.”

“An oversight I will resolve shortly.” She smiled, cold and confident. “Now back to our current situation, daughter. I give you credit for the escape, but it won’t help. I’ve given you too many opportunities as it is and I need this resolved.”

“Upper management getting on you about me?” I started moving again, very slowly in the direction of my Doorknob.

“I answer to no one!” she yelled.

“Right, of course.”

“Enough of this, I don’t have the time for nonsense.” With a dismissive wave of her hand at me, she looked around. The beach stretched out in front of us, waves crashing only a few yards away “Where are we?”

Her voice wavered for a moment and I took the opportunity. “The Bahamas... our beach.” We’d come here all the time when I was young. It was one of the few family memories that always stuck with me. I could almost see myself building sand castles while Mom and Dad lounged on beach chairs.

Mom looked around, as if searching for something. Or was that confusion? I didn’t wait to see. I jumped forward rolling along the sand and snatched up my Doorknob. My forward roll brought me to my feet and I snapped my hand out bringing my energy whip to life. I spun snaking it toward Mom, but she was gone.

 I didn’t see the bolt. It caught me so hard in the side that it sent me flipping through the air and landed me smack into the tumbling waves. I sputtered and spit out water as I struggled to stand and grimaced when my side exploded in pain.

“Did you think bringing me here would stop me?” She rushed into the water, her Skeleton Key glowing brightly.

 She brought it around in an arc, creating an energy whip of her own and with one crack caught my shoulder. I scrambled away from her toward the beach, covering my retreat by spinning my whip to block any attacks.

“I know you want to kill me, Talia, just like you did Dad. But that’s not going to happen; I’m going to get you first.” I snapped my whip out and nearly caught her, but she sidestepped at the last moment.

“Finally you’ve got the killer instinct.” She smiled and it filled me with unrelenting anger. “I was starting to think you weren’t my daughter.”

Her power rose like a mighty hand ready to lash out at me and I backed away. She was in pure fight mode— I wasn’t—my side was on fire and I knew the best thing was to get the hell out of there if I had any chance of saving Edgar.

Naturally, I couldn’t leave without saying a few loving words. “Kiss my ass.”

 Then I quickly feigned an attack and when her shield came up, I ran toward the water. I let my whip dissolve and twisted my knob opening a portal into the waves and dove through. The water rushed in along with me as I made my escape through the opening.

The strong current tried to devour me and I held my breath as I fought my way to the surface. I grasped for much needed air as I cleared the water before settling into an easy tread. I spied the beachfront and it didn’t take me long to recognize the familiar setting. It was a beach I frequented in Cape May.

 I yanked off my hoodie and let it float away as I turned my knob opening another portal and swam through it. I’d been chased often enough to know that one jump wasn’t going to get her off my tail. Plus, I figured it couldn’t hurt to see if Mom was still a good swimmer.

My next stop was a beach in Italy that Dad and I had stayed at a few years back when he was touring. I kicked my boots off and continued leaving my breadcrumb trail to see how far Mom would go.

As I ducked under a wave the faint outline of a crimson portal shimmered in the water and I swam though my own before it coalesced. I pushed ahead through two more beaches and into a river before I came up for air. Being the daughter of a magician had its benefits. I could hold my breath for close to five minutes. That was after years of practice. I doubted Mom kept up on her swimming, being too busy with her nefarious activities, but I wasn’t taking any chances.

I pulled myself out of the river and hurried away. My hands shivered, the waters I had swam through not exactly tropical island seas, but it had helped increase my chances of losing her.

I could hardly feel the knob in my hands, my fingers were so numb, but I activated it one more time opening a portal home. A doorway sprang to life glowing bright blue and I pushed my Doorknob into it and turned the knob.

“Very clever.”

 I half turned when I felt the bolt of energy hit my chest. It catapulted me through the portal and I crashed to the floor in the hallway of my house. I shook my head to clear my vision and turned to see Mom on the other side glaring at me. She hurried forward ready to enter the portal... ready to attack me in my own home.

 My Doorknob was lying on the floor just out of reach. My arms were numb from the cold and the stinging pain in my chest and side weren’t helping much either.

 “Let’s end this now,” she said more determined than ever.

 She was close to the portal entrance. In a moment she would step through and I was damned if I was going to let her get me like she did Dad. Pain or no pain, I stretched my arm out, my nails scrapping the floor as I struggled to inch closer to my knob.

A bolt of crimson energy shot over my head and slammed into the portal, the blue outline replaced by a deep red. Footsteps rushed up from behind me and I was never so glad to see Gran come to a stop beside me. She shot me a quick are-you-alright-look and I nodded that I was okay. She walked over to the frozen portal and stood mere inches from my mother... her daughter.

“What happened to you, Talia?” Gran’s voice was filled with sadness, disappointment, and a hint of anger.

“I grew up,” she sneered.

“This isn’t how I raised you and your brother.”

“Don’t you bring up Thomas to me.” Her lips turned down at the corners at the mention of my uncle. “
Mother
.”