The Summoning (Custodes Noctis) (6 page)

“That’s how my dreams were at first. Last night I tried to guide it, and for the first time, I saw more, a landscape, a path. I could see with my Gift there.”

“Are you sure it was your Gift?”

“It felt like it.” Rob sighed and got up. Galen tensed and both ravens rustled their wings. “Coffee. I am just getting coffee. Then I am going to walk over there,” he pointed at the table by the bookshelves, “and I am going to see if I can find out anything more.”

“Hey!” The downstairs door banged open. “I’m here!” Flash stomped up the stairs and looked into the room. “I stopped by the stand. Becci said no one had been by this morning. She was worried.”

“He what? You what?” Flash looked from Galen to Rob. “Right. So, things are worse than I thought. Okay. Right. Here’s your mocha. I’ll go open the shop. No flying down stairs,” he said to Rob. “And you two leave my car the hell alone.”

“
Who, us?”
Dera said, cocking his head to the side.
“You’re helping today, the car is off limits.”

“Yeah, well it fucking well better be.” Flash headed downstairs.

“
I didn’t say anything else was,”
Dera said, dropping off the shelf and flying down the stairs.

The raven nodded. Rob waited until Galen was gone before opening the book again. It was early to start in on the ancient text, sometimes it was harder to get his brain to switch on and read the older languages. It usually happened when he was tired. He grabbed the Latin translation of the work and looked at the passage, there was a word he was sure was wrong, so he dragged the modern work over as well, Barry had used the Latin and had the same word,
Satan
, and that wasn’t right. Rob turned back to the original and stared at the vellum, carefully going through the entire page.

“
Come to me.”
The page began to blur, the words becoming the oily black shimmering path. He tried to shake it off, but the harder he concentrated, the clearer the path became. Somewhere far away, he thought he heard the concerned call of a raven. The path bid him to follow, the landscape rolling towards a great cliff, he could see it clearly now. It was huge, dark against the rest of the surrounding hills, the scent of the land filled his senses.
“Come to me.”
There was no denying the summons. Rob could only answer.

Pain suddenly cascaded through his body, jarring him, pulling him away from that dark land. Rob tried to struggle up through the pain, he could hear Galen shouting his name, but his brother’s voice seemed to be coming from a distance. Something was running over his face, soft droplets of warmth. The harsh call of the ravens was there as well, and he could hear Flash’s panicked swearing in the background.

“Rob, what the hell?” Galen said from beside him.

“Galen?” Rob asked, confused. He had no idea where he was, all he knew was pain, everywhere, there were sharp pains and a dull, throbbing ache. There was a small warmth of the healing easing through him, enough to stop what he thought might be the beginning of shock, but he could sense Galen was having trouble.

“I’m going to put you out before I move you.”

“Move me? What happened?”

“You went out the window, Rob.” Galen’s voice was completely calm. Warmth and the sound of a heartbeat filled Rob and he was carried away into a silent, soft darkness.

Galen

Galen hadn’t seen it coming, had never suspected the attack to come in broad daylight. He felt a tiny
something,
he would never be sure what it was, but something buzzed through the bond, and he was moving towards the back of the shop at a full run before the sound of breaking glass shattered the silence of the Apothecary, cursing himself the whole time for leaving his brother at all.

* * * *

He’d been sure it was safe, he’d made sure Rob was settled with his books, and headed down the stairs. The curtain that led into the front of the shop was partially open and Galen could see Flash bend over, sweeping something into a dustpan. Dera was sitting on a stool just inside the door, watching intently. He gave Galen a little shrug, then turned back to his observation of Flash. Sometimes Galen wondered how his friend managed to break something every time he was in the store, but he did, without fail. Of course he always paid for it, and it was usually nothing important, in fact, Flash had an uncanny ability to break replaceable items, which was a relief.

He was glad he’d called Flash, and not just because he knew the Apothecary was in relatively good hands if he needed to be elsewhere. He’d met Flash when they’d both auditioned for a band, decided they didn’t like the other members and set out to form their own. Once they’d found Pete Miles who played drums and his cousin Sean who played keyboard and rhythm guitar, The Urban Werewolves had been born. Over the last few years, they’d been slowly been making their way up the local scene, and playing better venues. The night of the accident, they’d been on the way home from a gig at Hell’s Half Acre, one of the most popular spots in town.

But Flash was more than a bass player, lead vocalist and Galen’s closest friend. He’d faced the Old One and nearly died. His face and neck still showed the purple scars left by the minions of the creature, and the year before he had calmly faced the armies of the
feorhbealu
. Knowing Flash was there relieved some of the tension that was tightening the muscles in Galen’s back.

Whatever was going after his brother was powerful, more powerful than he’d ever dreamed. When he’d called his father the night before, Parry had been unable to come, so Galen had actually performed the Calling, a formal ritual designed to call former Keepers back to serve, and none of them, not even the most powerful, The First Emrys, could get through. It was enough to make Galen begin to panic. If the bond had been functioning, he wouldn’t be as worried, he’d have a better grasp of what was going on, and honestly, the muted bond was hard to live with. The energy it took to keep even the small spark there was exhausting and he needed it as much as his brother did.

“
Do you really want to start that?”
Dera asked with a laugh.

“But he tried to walk down the stairs, he…” Galen stopped and swallowed. “He was up several times last night, trying to leave, he tripped over the end table once. Didn’t wake up. I called Dad, but they couldn’t get through at all.”

“Uh huh,” Flash said, raising his eyebrows. “And how do I start that conversation. ‘Excuse me, do you have the coverage for otherworldly, paranormal or acts of destruction not of this earth?’ If they did, the premiums would probably kill me.”

“Considering the number of speeding tickets you have, I seriously doubt the other would even put a dent in the rest of it.”

“Oh ha ha.” Flash frowned. “Now, you going to tell me?”

“I would tell you, Flash. I wish I had something
to
tell you.” Galen huffed in frustration. “I am at a loss. Rob finally admitted it’s been haunting him for days.”

“The Old One?!?” Flash almost shouted. “The Old One? As in the thing that…” He rubbed his neck, where the scars still marred his skin.

“Yes, that one, but he said not quite. He’s researching something right now about a war between the Old Powers. He was muttering about it last night in his sleep. I’m not exactly sure what he was talking about—more than half of it was in a language I didn’t understand. When he came out of the dream enough to be steered back to bed, he would talk about the Ancient Ones. It’s not much help.”

“Galen,” his friend said gently. “Rob’s been on edge since the wreck. I know the loss of his Gift has hurt him more than he lets on, could this be…?”

“What? A psychotic episode of some kind?” Galen growled. “I sincerely doubt Rob having a breakdown could stop Dad or the First Emrys from getting here, or that it would send Billy Hernandez into a panic.”

“Rob’s shaman friend?”

“Yeah. Whatever this is, Flash, it’s serious. And Rob has never been one for sleepwalking. He doesn’t sleep much, but when he does, he sleeps.”

“Right.” Flash nodded. “So, I’m here, you can leave the shop in my capable hands, and go figure this out.” He grinned.

“You make it sound so easy.”

“
And like there is nothing breakable left in the shop,”
Dera added.

“Shut up,” Flash told the raven. Dera cocked his head, obviously considering what to do.

Galen was just opening his mouth to reply when he felt something slither along the muted bond. He had his connection with Rob as open as possible, so he knew the instant whatever it was made contact. Without really thinking about it, Galen was running towards the back. He had just reached the stairs when the massive plate glass window that overlooked the parking lot shattered, and as he wrenched the back door open, he saw Rob hit the concrete. The sickening
thud
was followed by the tinkling of glass like the chiming of tiny bells.

He was beside his brother almost the same instant Rob hit the pavement. Flash was right behind him, swearing profusely. Dor was out the window and Dera landed beside Galen, both of them crying soft encouragement. “Rob, what the hell?” Galen asked, trying to keep his voice calm, all too aware of the pain rolling off his brother in a wave strong enough to make him dizzy.

“Galen?” Rob opened his eyes, the blue fogged, not just by pain, but by something else.

Laying a hand on Rob’s arm, Galen tried to get an idea of the extent of the injuries his brother had sustained. He swallowed. It was bad enough to be worrying, the drop had done a lot of damage. “I’m going to put you out before I move you,” he said softly. Dera leaned against his side, offering support. Galen closed his eyes and was already focusing the healing into his brother as he answered Rob’s questions about his fall. The words just flowed around him, it was a struggle to ease his brother into sleep before shock set in, something was fighting back. When Rob went limp, Galen wasn’t sure he was completely responsible for it.

“Help me move him,” Galen said, opening his eyes, surprised at how harsh his voice sounded.

“Is that smart? Shouldn’t we call 911?” Flash asked, even as he gently slid his hands under Rob’s legs.

“Let me see what’s going on first, we can always call Mike.” Galen carefully lifted Rob’s shoulders and they carried him inside the couch at the back of the shop.

Once his brother was settled, Galen knelt beside him and laid his hand on Rob’s head and chest, calling up the healing light and letting it flow down his arms. It was like running into a solid wall, it took all he had to keep his hands down and stay focused on what he needed to do. Whatever was there was fighting him, unwilling to let the light heal Rob. Taking a deep breath, Galen changed tactics. While still maintaining the healing, he tried to reach out and identify what was there, without letting on to his presence.

“
Come to me.”
The words—or call, maybe they weren’t actually words—were there almost immediately. There was something about the voice that sent a shiver of terror through Galen.
“Come to me,”
it repeated.

“
I can’t.”
Rob’s answer surprised him. “
Something’s wrong, I hurt. I was coming, but I had to stop.”

“
Come to me.”

“
I can’t, there is something wrong,”
Rob repeated.

Galen sensed a change and immediately pulled back, hiding as best he could. The owner of the voice was searching through Rob to see what was going on.