"You're working for Daelissa?" Shelton said, his confusion turning to a look of pure horror. "But the Conroys are her frigging lapdogs, and you hate them!"
His father sighed. "I had no choice."
"You always have a choice, you stupid bastard!" Shelton lunged. I caught him by the arm before he could land a punch. He strained against me. "What did they do? Promise you'd get to remain Primus so long as you did what they said? Or did they just give you money? Is that how they got you in their pocket?"
Sager's eyes dropped to the floor. "No."
Shelton fought against me like a wild animal. "Then why?"
His father looked up, eyes sad, and full of an emotion I could easily identify with. Regret. "They promised not to kill you."
Shelton's eyes went wide, the struggle to break free suddenly forgotten. "You're lying."
"I'm not." Sager stood. "Daelissa killed your brother, Martin, as an example. I couldn't risk losing you. That's why I've always been so distant. I hoped they would leave you alone."
Shelton sagged. "No," he said in a weak voice. "You're lying."
"We need to go," I said. "He's working for them."
"Justin is right," Sager said. "You need to go. I won't breathe a word of this to anyone."
As if we can believe him.
His forehead wrinkled. "I honestly didn't know where the rune was. Either Ezzek Moore decided not to pass on the information, or the knowledge was lost. Is it really about to explode?"
I nodded. "We have to stop it, or everyone here could die. You need to order an evacuation."
Sager cursed. "How long do we have?"
"Until this Saturday."
"Impossible. There are simply too many people here for the Grand Melee." He stood and paced. "The logistics are completely wrong."
"Even if everyone doesn't make it, some will."
He looked up, fingers moving as if running calculations, all the while shaking his head. "It probably won't save everyone, but I'll deliver an emergency evacuation order immediately."
"We plan to remove the rune from the arch," I said in a confident voice. Then, in a slightly less confident tone I told him, "There's a chance it might explode and turn everyone into shadow creatures the second it comes from the arch."
Sager gave a wry laugh. "Wonderful. Not only will I be remembered for a war with the vampires, but for the annihilation of the university and Queens Gate."
My mind took a trip down memory lane, back to the beginning of this mess. "Did the Conroys repair the smaller arches so they could take them into Thunder Rock?"
Sager's gaze snapped to me. "How do you know so much?" His eyes moved to Shelton, and understanding lit. "Ah, yes. Harry is an excellent detective." He nodded. "The plan is to send a team to take the Alabaster Arch back to the Grand Nexus, wherever it may be. From what I've gleaned, Daelissa's memory was damaged from the Desecration. She can't remember where it is."
"Have they already taken the Alabaster Arch?" I asked.
He shook his head. "Too many Seraphim husks in the way, not to mention several Flark husks."
I shuddered at the thought of the infantile cherubs, all that remained of angels caught in the blast of the Grand Nexus when the Cyrinthian Rune was removed from it. "Flark husks?" I said.
Sager's lip curled with disgust. "The things look like animated oil."
I flashed back to the cold water beneath Thunder Rock. To swimming for escape until a black tentacle took me into the underground caverns filled with husks. Had that thing been a Flark husk? I shook my head clean of the disturbing memory. "Can't Daelissa get rid of the husks?"
"Ah, but she can't." A slow smile spread across his face. "If she gets anywhere close to one of those things, she can hardly stand up. They don't even have to touch her."
Maximus had kept a captive husk in his Colombian hideout. I wondered if it was to keep Daelissa away, or for some other nefarious purpose. "She has a weakness," I said, feeling suddenly confident. "But why does it affect her and not—" I almost said "me" before stopping myself. I was part angel, but the husks hadn't affected me in the same way. Was it thanks to my Daemos side, or something else?
"And not what?" Sager asked.
"Never mind." Questioning Shelton's father for hours on end was a temptation we couldn't afford.
"Son." Sager turned to Shelton, a hint of pain in his voice. "You need to get out of here. Daelissa will find out I've told you this. It's impossible to hide things from her. You don't know the torment she's put me through over the years. But I want you to know that I—" He broke off, voice overcome with emotion. "I failed Martin. I was arrogant. I thought I could bluster my way out of any situation. When Daelissa told me she would kill someone I cared about if I didn't do as she said, I thought I would call her bluff." Pain flashed through his face, and a single tear gathered in his eye. He pounded the desk with both fists, eyes filled with torment and rage.
At least I knew where the Shelton temper came from.
Sager sagged. "I tried so hard," he said in a weak, tired voice. "God knows I tried." His defeated eyes met Shelton's. "Whatever happens, I want you to know I tried to keep you safe. They made me use you. But the queen bitch from hell always knew I'd do whatever it took to protect you."
"I'm just your adopted son," Shelton said in a low voice. "You used me to lure my real parents. Don't even pretend you care about me."
"It wasn't me who used you to capture them," Sager said. "Someone on the council found out who you really were, and betrayed your secret. I didn't know until it was too late."
"Stop trying to cover your ass," Shelton growled.
"I'm not." The pain in Sager's eyes looked genuine. "No matter what you think, Harry, you're my son. You're family. I wish I'd had the strength to fight Daelissa, but I didn't. I did what I could to protect you. Martin loved you as only a brother could. I wish I could have been more of a father, but Daelissa took the choice from me."
A war seemed to rage behind Shelton's disbelieving eyes. His lips compressed to thin white lines, and I couldn't tell if he was suppressing anger or some other emotion. He finally spoke. "Did you have anything to do with Meghan Andretti's father or Adam Nosti's parents?"
Sager shook his head. "Daelissa tried to make them work for her, but they wouldn't. She had them killed." He opened a desk drawer and, after fiddling around with something, popped open a hidden compartment, and removed an ASE. "Take this. It's the least I can do."
"What is it?" Shelton asked.
Sager winced. "My confession."
Shelton pocketed it. "And you're trusting me with this? What makes you think I won't ruin your career over this?"
His father looked down. "If you do, I probably deserve it."
"Why are the Conroys helping Daelissa?" I asked. "Don't they realize what will happen if the Seraphim return?"
"I have no idea." Sager's eyebrows pinched. "Jeremiah Conroy has never cared about political office or power, so far as I know. But he is absolutely obsessed with helping Daelissa."
Shelton heaved a great sigh, and came around the desk to his father's side. He placed a hand on the man's shoulder, face grim. "For what it's worth, I believe you." The tension eased in his body, shoulders loosening. "And—" he paused for a long moment, the next words obviously very hard for him to say. "I forgive you."
Sager's face tightened for an instant before smoothing. He stood, and held out his hand. Shelton took it. "I'm proud to be your father, Harry."
The double doors to the office burst open, and a lone figure stood in the richly appointed hallway, his hands coming together in a very slow clap. "How lovely," Bigglesworth said. "Nothing like a family reunion to bring a tear to me eye."
"You," I said, hate boiling up from my stomach. I didn't waste a moment, uncaging my demon just enough to manifest to the point where I could barely keep control. My body swelled, clothes stretching and tearing. Tears of pain sizzled in my eyes as horns erupted from my forehead, curling upward until they brushed the chandeliers.
"My, my, look how big you've grown," Bigglesworth said. "Guess it means there's more for me." His stomach swelled grotesquely until it hung like a fleshy sac from his body. "I'm gonna have to let me belt out a notch."
Two streams of white-hot energy sizzled through the air, and splashed harmlessly off the Flark. I turned and saw Shelton and Sager both holding staffs out, confused looks on their faces.
"He's immune to direct magic," I said. "But you can hurt him indirectly."
"Good luck with that," Bigglesworth said with a derisive giggle. His body stretched and snapped like a rubber band. His swollen stomach detached, a glob flying and smacking onto Sager's face.
The Primus tripped backward, falling onto his desk, hands grappling with the fleshy substance, muffled screams coming from within.
"Dad!" Shelton yelled. He grabbed the suffocating mass, and cried out, jerking his hands away.
"His skin burns you," I told him, my voice unnaturally deep. I didn't know what else to do, and didn't have a chance to think before Bigglesworth flung himself at me like a slingshot. I dodged, and the Flark smacked against a bookshelf, sticking to it like a glob of wet toilet paper. A leering face formed in the spherical mass. It sprang with terrifying speed at my face again.
I reached up and jerked the chandeliers, tearing them from the ceiling in cloud of plaster dust and sparks. I swung them. Smacked Bigglesworth. His booger-like form splatted all over the light fixture. I turned to the huge fireplace on the far wall. Focusing my anger, I launched a fireball at the wood inside. The logs burst into flame, and I hurled the chandelier into the fire.