Curse of the Fallen - 8. Chapter Eight: Failure

Chapter Eight: Failure

Sitting on a gilded Louis the XIV chair as if it were a throne Talia Balthazar watched as her servants gave Chase’s brother another taste of the whip. With each crack of the leather her face would twitch into a brief smile.

Those whipping Ben were none other than mutated Talents known as Nulls. Nulls, with their immunity to all other forms of Talent were employed as the perfect assassins to kill members of the Elected.

Due to how effective they were, the Nulls were marked for extermination at the end of the last war. Not all were killed however. Captured and imprisoned the survivors were handed over to the Order’s scientists. They broke their will to disobey and stripped them of their human frame. If they had been deadly during the last war the mutated lizard like humanoids were ten times worse. Only one part of them was left untouched, their human minds, without which they might lose their Null Talent.

After she felt Ben had gotten the message she signaled her monstrous servants to step aside. Leaving her chair she walked to where Chase’s stepbrother was chained to the floor. With each step she took her steel stiletto heels tapped on the bare concrete floor.

When she reached him she saw that the whips had ripped his clothes to shreds and were soaked with blood. She slammed her left heel into the back of his head. The force slammed his head against the stone. There was an audible crack of his nose breaking.

“My poor, poor friend… when will you ever learn. It is not often that a failure is given a second chance. Remind me, what were your orders?” She removed he shoe so he could speak.

“I… I was to get the brat to join the Order.”

“So you do remember. How strange given you did everything you could not to follow them.” She kick him in the side, breaking a few ribs.

“I tried my mistress but you were wrong.”

“How was I wrong?” She felt tempted to snap his neck but held back.

“You told me he was nothing but a weak mix. He wasn’t.”

Talia felt her left eyebrow involuntarily arch. “Do you have proof of this?”

“I don’t have definitive proof but I do know that no matter how hard I focus I couldn’t possess him. He was also somehow able to break my hold over the President’s son.”

“I see… Interesting but not good. Not knowing what his Talent is made bringing him in more vital but you sent a sniper to kill him.”

“But he knew who I was. If I let him get away then he and his friends would have gone after my father. You know he knows things you don’t want anyone outside the Order to know about.”

“He knows things I would rather I only know. It doesn’t matter. My pets will deal with him. As for you, well, just be grateful I don’t hand you over to them. I would hate to have someone so pretty end up as another Null.”

“Thank you mistress.” If he didn’t cry while he was being tortured he did so now.

“You’re most welcome. As for your future, well, there is your stepbrother to contend with. Do you think you can have him conditioned by the time we move on to the next phase?”

“Most certainly mistress. I will make certain he will do whatever I tell him to do. I was his first lover.”

“Be sure that he does. I will not tolerate another failure. As the saying goes three strikes you’re out.” Talia snapped her fingers.

From the sides of the room two potent physical Talents entered. They unchained Chase’s brother. They then used their Talent to heal his wounds. They would not heal all of them. Talia wanted to make sure he carried physical reminders of what she would do to him if he failed her again.

As for Aaron and the nature of his Talent, that mystery could wait for another time. Even if Ben failed to capture him she had other ways to bring her ex fiancé to heel.

After Mr. Welford was gone Talia felt the presence of her master. Turning around she saw her seated on her throne. Her mistress was hooded and cloaked. In her right hand he held a red crystal goblet. In her left was an ebony cane topped with a white hooded cobra carved from ivory. Its eyes were a pair of blood red rubies. “Explain.” Her mistress asked in vibrating voice that shook inside Talia’s skull.

“I continue to see that your will is done my mistress.”

“You failed.” The Shadow Puppeteer replied.

Talia felt a heavy weight bring her to her knees. “Not my fault.”

“Who’s?” The cloaked figure demanded.

“It’s those fools in the Order. I tell them not to screw up and what will happen if they do but they remain incompetent.”

“You.” The Mistress pointed at Talia.

“Me?” Talia knew whatever she said next could cost or save her life. “Forgive me. It was not my intent to fail you. I will try harder. If that means turning half the Order into Nulls to get them to understand the cost of failure I will do exactly that.”

“Mays?” The Shadow Puppeteer asked.

Talia felt the weight lessen. Her mistress had never told Talia why she wanted Mays a part of the Order. It was a question Talia dare not ask. For her own reasons the Shadow Puppeteer wanted Talia’s ex-fiancé join the Council of the Puppet Masters. With Aaron unwillingness to join the Order, that was proving harder than Talia first assumed. That Ben had her people try to kill Aaron did not help matters. “Forgive me but what do you want me to do? I sent one of my strongest mentalists to bring him in but Mays was somehow able to resist. If I were to have a better understanding of his Talent I might be able to select an agent better capable of dealing with him.”

“No,” Talia’s mistress hissed.

“No? You demand I bring him to you yet you won’t let me use the Nulls. If you will let me use a few of them I am certain I could…”

The Shadow Puppeteer’s voice boomed. “No!” Without any effort she tripled the weight pressing down on her servant.

“Of course my Mistress, your pardon. It is not my place to question your orders.” With the pressure pressing her flat on the ground it was all Talia to do to breathe.

“True.” The Shadow Puppeteer stood and walked towards her servant. As she moved his cloak and robes remained still. It created the illusion of her floating above the floor. “Rise.” She demanded when she reached Talia.

Talia attempted to rise but the weight still pressing down on her. She was about to give up when the Shadow Puppeteer offered her the goblet. She tried to peer into what it was filled with but her head was pressed too far down for her to look over the rim.

Not knowing what else she could do, she took it. Drinking from it was harder. On its base the cup was level with her brow. Since she could not raise her head more than two inches between her chin and the concrete, she had to tilt the cup far on its side for the rim to reach her lips. As she tilted the goblet she feared most of it would pour out but not a drop did however. As she parted her lips to drink, the contents in the cup moved on its own. As if it had a life of its own it forced its way down her throat and into her body. It had a salty sweet taste and had the constancy of mercury.

Panicked Talia threw the glass away. It did no good. Where the glass fell its remaining contents gathered into a single pool. Like an amoeba, it moved towards her. Talia screamed in horror and attempted to get back onto her feet as it oozed closer to her. The Shadow Puppeteer would have none of it. Sliding her hold on the cane down to the base she pressed the ivory carved cobra at the cleft beneath her nose. She felt something wet brush against her lips as the snake came to life.

Talia could feel her heart racing at an incredible pace as the snake sharp fangs bit her in the lip. The spot where the venom struck burned liked a raging wildfire. With a knee jerk response she opened her mouth wide. When it was at its widest, her jaw locked in place.

The distraction of the snake had let Talia forget about the living red mercury that had been slowing oozing towards her. She didn’t remember the true threat until the liquid started flowing up from her chin. Unable to close her mouth because of the venom she could only scream and gurgle as the living fluid poured in.

After the last drop had flowed down her throat the Shadow Puppeteer released the pressing weight that kept Talia pinned to the floor. Talia jumped to her feet and stumbled about. She had to lean against leaned against the wall so she would not fall. Once she had caught her breath she begged to know what he had done to her.

The Shadow Puppeteer removed her hood and let Talia see her face and gaze into her silver eyes. There was no warmth in those two shiny orbs. They had the unblinking coldness of a drowned woman. Her gaze might reflect death but his body was more than alive.

As she watched Talia her lips curved into the shape of a grin that only the most sadistic show when they cause others to suffer. She said three words to her before leaving. “Mays” was the first. “Mountain” was the second. “Mother,” was the last word she said.

Talia knew exactly what her mistress wanted. It all made sense. Aaron would be of no better use than in the abandoned mines beneath the Appalachian Mountains and the monstrosities held there. Knowing what was to come caused her to explode with hysterical laugher. Aaron could have married her but that ship had sailed. The Mistress had a better use for him and that suited Talia fine.

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Greg Balthazar looked at himself in the mirror and tried his best not to look upset. It had been this face that still remained so foreign to him that he had to wake up to and shave each morning. He understood why Landon had done what he had done to him but he would not forgive him easily for it. With his blond hair and blue eyes and sun kissed skin Greg looked no different than any high ranking member of the Coven. He however wasn’t a Convert or even a potential inductee of the Coven. Landon had only had his surgeons give him the physical appearance of one to aid in him infiltrating those parts of the Coven Landon could not himself take notice of.

When Greg had woken up he found he had been unconscious for three months since the day of his reported death. All the extensive plastic surgery that needed to be done for his disguise had been completed and fully healed. In addition to the physical changes which included the addition of two inches of height all physical markings that could link him to his old life had been either removed or destroyed. His finger and hand prints had been permanently altered as had been enough of his jaw and teeth to make identification through old records impossible. While his DNA could not be altered significantly enough to hide his identity, a cleating agent had been injected into his system that, with regular doses, would made PCR testing impossible. All his hair had been removed. The blond hair on his head was really a form of thin strands of memory metal that had been soldered to the titanium metal that now enameled most of the bones in his body. The only reason he even pretended to shave was in case he was being watched. Even his eyes were no longer his own but synthetic constructs that looked like eyes, from having the same vein patterns and optical fluid of a real eye but with the rods and cones of a pair of mirco-engineered light and heat detection sensors.

He was, in his opinion, an abomination, but one designed for a purpose. His old life as Dr. Balthazar, headmaster, and CEO of his own security firm was over. He was now Greg Simms, special Inquisitor of the Coven. It was his task to hunt down those who planned to betray Landon and stop both the Coven and the Order from using Taint and other bioweapons against mankind in the coming war.

To help him succeed, Greg had been given his own team. Trey and Tracy, the twin siblings of Fred and Frank, were two of them. They had supposedly died when their life support was terminated after they has suffered server brain trauma when their dorm had collapsed on top of them. It had been an attempt by their brothers, Fred and Frank to kill Aaron whom they feared would help their sibling join him at the Lakes School for the Gifted. It was an honor Fred and Frank had been denied. Aaron hadn’t been home at the time when the house collapsed so he escaped harm. Until recently however Greg and everyone from Lakes had assumed all four siblings were dead.

Landon had saved Trey and Tracy for two reasons. First, and the lesser of the two, he felt he owed it to his brother to save the lives of two of the first friends he had ever had. The main reason however was he saw the pair as the perfect test subjects for one of his own research projects. It had been their successful outcomes that had led to Landon having Greg so greatly physically altered and in Greg’s opinion, enhanced.

Another addition to the team was the meta-mental Talent Joshua. Considered the greatest mental Talent since the last Talent War, he had been captured by the Coven and Converted. It had only been through the power of his incredible mental Talent that he had managed to escape the Master’s all-consuming control. In the process however it had cost him much of his ability to feel empathy towards. Cutting oneself from all emotions is the only way anyone can fully un-convert. That was because it was the Masters penultimate power and mastery of empathic Talent which gave him unbending control of his followers. Such disconnect from one’s emotions was near impossible and the few who had achieved it rarely lived very long but Joshua’s will to live and need for revenge was so great that he would not do like the others and take his own life.

A fourth member of the team was Sam. As Jon’s best friend he had been the one who kept a lid on Jon’s and Andrew’s infamous volatile rivalry over Aaron. With his strong empathic abilities he had quickly decided to focus his post-Lakes years on become a doctor. Having grown up in the ghetto section of South Chicago he had only been able to afford to go to Lakes and later medical school by doing the same thing Aaron had been forced to do. Both boys worked for the pimp Gordon Graft. Unlike Aaron, Sam had been less resentful of what the Graft had forced him to do to earn enough money to pay his tuition. Most of that was due to his mastery of empathic Talent which gave him complete emotional control over his johns. For the last few years he had been living with a rich businessman who had been paying his tuition at John Hopkins Medical School. Now that he had finished earning his Ph.MD, he was ready to earn money without having to sell his body. However, as everyone who worked for the Graft knew… what the Graft owns he keeps, and he owned both Aaron and Sam lock stock and barrel. Being contracted out to Greg to take care of any physical mechanical malfunctions he and the twins might develop was for Sam a job he would have agreed to do without the Graft’s insistence. That he was being paid a hundred grand a month for the pleasure of aiding his friends was just icing on the cake.

The rest of the time was made up of four individuals. Two, David Delgado and Felix Emory, were two of Landon’s Coven Prefects. They would handle any problems the team might develop in dealing with rebel elements within the Coven. Two others were Karl and William. They were the scions of two powerful families loyal to the Order. Their jobs were similar to David and Felix’s except they were to help Greg infiltrate the Order.

Since today Greg was to visit a Coven controlled research facility, he kept his hair and eyes the same color. If he were visiting the Order he could have changed both with the injection of a mixture of designer electrolytes Sam could produce in a jiffy.

Once he was done with his morning bathroom ritual Greg went down stairs to meet the others in the adjoining warehouse.

“Moring Doc.” Sam said he saw Greg walk down the steps from the converted portion of the warehouse complex.

“Morning to you too Doc.” Greg replied.

Sam eyes went wide. “Wow… didn’t see that one coming. Thanks.” He still hadn’t gotten use to the fact that he and Dr. Balthazar were near equals now. It had been Balthazar who had gotten Sam away from his abusive life in foster care so he could live at Lakes. Just like with Aaron, Sam being a Blip did not make him automatically popular but his easy going style and wise use of his talent had changed all that. It made Sam angry knowing that the Elected had practically forced Dr. Balthazar out of the headmaster’s post for allowing Blips like him get a proper education on how to master their Talents. Sam hoped that whatever Landon was planning he would make sure that Blips like him would stop being treated like second class among the Elected.

Seeing the Coven Prefects looking over a map, Greg went over to them to see what they were up to.

Felix was pointing to a specific point on the map and arguing with David. “No… I keep on telling you. We have to enter through the south gate.”

“I’ve been there before Felix. You have to go through the east gate.” David insisted.

“What are you two arguing about?” Greg demanded.

“You know we plan to visit that research complex owned by BioSign. You know the one that isn’t supposed to exist?” David said.

“Yes.” Greg nodded. He knew they were supposed to infiltrate the BioSign facility so they could try to figure out whether or not the Taint drug was being weaponized but he didn’t see what these two were fighting over.

“Well this fool keeps on insisting that you’re supposed to enter through the south gate when you need to enter through the east.”

“It’s the south gate we have to enter…” Felix signed as he rolled his eyes.

“Why does it matter which gate you’re supposed to enter?” Greg asked.

“Because if you enter the wrong one they’ll shoot you into tiny little bits and use the remains to make mince meat pies out of you, which is why I keep on telling this idiot you have to enter through the east gate.” David said.

“It’s the south gate idiot.” Felix countered.

“What did you call me?” David demanded.

“I think you know what I said idiot but maybe you’re too dumb to understand English. So let me tell you in Spanish, stupido! Mucho grande stupido. The biggest stupido in the whole god damn world.” Felix shouted.

“Keep saying that and I’ll shoot that loco cabeza of yours and see what you have to say then.” David reached for his gun.

“Get over here Sam and help me deal with these two idiots!” Greg shouted

“One step ahead of ya Doc.” Sam reached out with his empathic Talent to calm both men down. He then gave them a bad case of the giggles. “All taken care of.”

“Thanks… but can you tone down the happy juice. I still need to figure out what these two are arguing about.”

“Sure thing Doc. Any idea of what I should replace it with?”

“Calm with a hint of depression might work.”

“One rainy day special coming up.” Sam said before focusing his Talent on the giggling pair. After the laughing stop the two Coven members put on somber expressions.

David was the first to apologize. “Sorry about that sir.”

“Yeah… sorry. Wont’ happen again.” Felix said when it was his turn to apologize.

“Oh I don’t doubt you two will find another reason to kill each other soon enough. As members of the Coven your kind tend to be hot blooded by nature. But that’s why I am going to ask Sam to keep a close eye on the both of you.”

“You’re saddling me down with these two Coven freaks?” Sam whined.

“But think of all the fun you can have playing with the emotions of Twiddle Dumb and Twiddle Dee.”

Sam looked at the pair of Physical Talents appraisingly. “I guess they’re hot looking but how do I know they won’t try to take a bite out of me. They are Coven after all.”

“Landon has promised he has fixed their dietary issues. Isn’t that right you two?” Greg demanded. He was feeling quite tense at the moment. He would have to ask Sam to give him one of his chill pill specials if things got worse.

“We don’t eat people anymore.” Felix said a little sourly.

“We didn’t want to in the first place. That’s why we’re here, isn’t it? We want to put an end to all this cannibalism shit.” David added.

“Okay… then let’s go back to where we were before you two reached for your guns. How do we know which gate is the correct one?” Greg examined the map for a bit. “It appears to me that the east gate is the one coming off the main road.”

“That’s what I told him.” David said.

“That’s the public entrance.” Felix replied. “The place is supposed to be shut down… yes, but we know it’s not. If you go through the front entrance you’ll run into the gate and all the boarded up buildings and a bunch of no trespass signs. If you want to go where the action is you need to go through the south gate.” Felix pointed to a different road that went through a forested region and to the back of the property. “This is where all the action is… over here where it is out of sight.”

“And how do you know this?” Greg asked.

“Because, unlike David, who went there while the place was still official open, I talked to one of the people who makes deliveries there all the time.”

“He broke cover is what he did,” David pointed out childishly like a younger brother tattling on his older sibling.

“Did you?” Greg asked.”

“I might have paid a visit to one of the distribution centers owned by our old friends at Intervest.” Felix admitted.

“You should have cleared that kind of action with me first. I hope you made some attempt to disguise yourself because I would hate to lose you while you undergo another round of plastic surgery.”

“Believe me, the guy wouldn’t be able to point me out even if I was the Master himself.” Felix said. When he noticed that Greg didn’t look all that persuaded he continued; “I hadn’t scouted the place out, we might have gotten ourselves killed if we done things by the book.”

“It is not the end result I have issue with.” Greg pointed out. “It is the way you went about it. We could have sent anyone to get the information. It didn’t have to be a member of the team. Isn’t that correct Joshua?”

“Yes Dr. Balthazar. I could have altered the mind of someone else to collect the information without having to expose my presence to the enemy. What Mr. Emory did was rash and foolish. He should be punished.” Joshua said in that cold emotionless tone he always used. “If you wish I could alter him so he would never do something so stupid like that again.” Joshua offered.

Greg might be wrong but there was a hint of glee in the way Joshua offered to correct the situation. Greg had a good idea how much Joshua hated the Coven but he didn’t know he would even hate those who were helping them bring the Master down. He hoped Joshua would not let his desire for revenge spin out of control because if that were to happen no one, not even Greg was strong enough to stop the meta-mental Talent from going on a bloody rampage. “There will be no need for that, Joshua… not yet at least.” Greg looked at Felix and saw the message had been heard and understood. If Felix did something that careless a second time Greg would not stop Joshua from correcting what Joshua probably saw as Felix’s mental flaws.

“I promise sir it will never happen again.” Felix swore to Greg even as his frightened eyes remained focused on Joshua.

“Good… now that is out of the way, I think we can agree that the south gate is probably the correct one. Is that correct Felix.”

“Yes sir… we will have to take a few back roads to get there but the south road is our best bet. We will of course not let them knew we are coming but that is why the Chosen gave you that false persona.”

“Ah yes… he wants me to pretend I’m a Coven Inquisitor.” Greg chuckled softly to himself. “Are we sure we’ll be able to fool them?”

“The disguise should work. It is in fact not even a disguise. For all practical purposes you really are an official Inquisitor of the Coven.”

“Except I am really not a member of the Coven, now am I.” Greg pointed out.

“I wouldn’t really know how to answer that one sir.” David said. “You did undergo the Entwining ritual with our Chosen so much of his blood does flow inside you. In the eyes of the Master and all his follower you would indeed be seen as a true member of the Coven… and a high ranking one at that.”

“But I am not loyal to the Coven.”

“But you are loyal to the Chosen. Do not tell me you are not, sir.” Joshua said as if he pitied his former headmaster, if only a little bit.”

“I… It’s not like that.” Shocked by the realization Greg could only manage to stutter. “He didn’t know how much the others knew about the complex triangle relationship involving him, Landon and Aadonr. To help protect Aaron, Landon had taken partial possession of Hal Mays. Hal had been the one to help Aaron escape the underground complex where Aaron had been kept prisoner since soon after he had been born. Hal had taken Aaron to his mother to a small coastal down in Newfoundland where he committed suicide but not before passing the bit of Landon inside him which had compelled him to protect Aaron at all cost. When Mary became possessed she had abandoned her family, including her son Tom, so she and Aaron could go into hiding in the U.S. city of Chicago under false identities. After the events of the night when Tom tried to kill his mother and Aaron out of revenge for having abandoned him to the Coven, Greg had taken over the role as Aaron’s protector. When Landon’s Talent tried to take possession of him however it effect had not fully taken complete control over him. It had however resulted in him and Landon becoming lovers.

Their bond back then however was nothing compared to how the Entwining ritual had change both of them. The Entwining was the only known way the Elected could permanently magnify their powers. Through the use of a blood sacrifice the powers of two Talents could be joined and increased several fold depending on how strong their individual Talents were in the beginning. In the case of Landon and Greg, who were among the most powerful Talents of their generation, the effect of the ritual had been stunning. Not only that, but by adding Greg’s former lover Ryan to the ritual Ryan had finally obtained that which he had longed for and that was the possession of potent Talent abilities of his own.

Greg knew agreeing to the Entwining had been a mistake. It had cost him whatever happy future he had hoped to have with his ex-boyfriend. It had also made him permanently tied to Landon. Whatever happened to the Chosen would now have a direct effect on Greg. IF Landon were to succeed and replaced the Master as head of the Coven, Greg would be the one to benefit the most. If Landon were to fail and once again find himself under the sway of the Master then Greg would quickly find himself full heartedly serving the Master at Landon’s side.

That is why Greg hated Landon almost as much as he loved him. With Joshua possessing a mental Talent so great that he didn’t even need to concentrate to read the minds of others he probably knew all about Greg and Landon’s stranger relationship and how it was tied to Aaron. “I am loyal to Landon only because of his desire to protect Aaron and to defeat the master and for no other reasons than those.” Greg told everyone. Since Joshua didn’t claim otherwise everyone seemed content to believe Greg. While what he said was true, Greg knew Joshua knew better than to believe that Greg’s motives were that simple.

It was quickly agreed that in two days’ time they would try to infiltrate the BioSign facility. Hopefully they would find the answers they were looking for would be waiting for them there. Greg didn’t want to remain in Joshua’s company for much longer… not given the young man’s habit of killing anyone connected to the Coven he felt deserved to face his wrath.