The Undead Pool

“Uh-huh.” I was so not surprised. I could set aside my dislike for him in order to see an end to this, but I didn’t know what he thought I could do.

“You talked to the Goddess,” he said, his eyes unable to hide his anger even as he tried.

Oh. That. “Who told you? Trent?” I asked, peeved. That was rather personal information, but perhaps, again in the name of seeing an end to this, he’d deemed it acceptable.

“I was wrong.” Landon’s gaze flicked to Bis when the kid took another tinkling bite of glass. “It isn’t blasphemy for you to commune with the Goddess. If it was, you wouldn’t be able to do it. I was jealous she chose to speak directly to you.” His lips twisted, and the scent of hospital drifted to me, a tantalizingly familiar scent of electronics and dust just under it. “You don’t even believe.”

Not trusting the soul-searching truth spilling from him, I leaned back with my cola. “Who told you I don’t believe?”

“Then maybe I don’t believe,” he said, but I wasn’t buying it. “It came too soon,” he said as Ivy scuffed to a halt in the hall, listening. “They want me to take his place. I can’t tell them I don’t even believe!” Angry now, he met my eyes. “Where do you get your faith!” he demanded. “This isn’t even your religion!”

This was not at all comfortable, and I looked at the night-mirrored windows as I picked my words. As much as I distrusted him, he was an elf skilled in a magic that I wasn’t familiar with. “She’s not a goddess,” I said, watching his mood evolve. “She’s a communal mind that ancient elves deified, like the Egyptians deified the sun. Even so, I’m not going to try to talk to her. Even when she’s all together, she’s insane.”

Insane wasn’t quite the right word. Oblivious to her impact on others, perhaps. Or adhering to a standard that didn’t apply to creatures of flesh and a limited life.

“But you have to!” Landon exclaimed, and I crossed my knees, tuning him out. Bis turned a threatening black, and Landon drew back, stymied. “Rachel, it’s your aura the straying mystics look for. It’s your amplified aura resonance they’re being lured into captivity with. You can talk to her. Please,” he said. “We have to stop this. If you can talk to her, the sane part, not the divided portion that broke Bancroft, maybe you can convince her to not send any more out through your line.”

It made sense, but seeing Bancroft crazy from just a splinter of her was a heavy warning. “No, I’m sorry,” I said, and he fell back into the cushions, looking not defeated but annoyed.

“Landon, can I call someone for you?” I said, wanting him out of my church. “Trent has a helicopter. He can get you out of the Hollows, wherever you want to go.”

“I can’t leave,” Landon said indignantly, and Ivy came to stand just inside the sanctuary like a soft and certain threat. Landon’s brow wrinkled and the hospital scent thickened as he became more determined. “You can end this. The waves, the sleeping undead, everything. If they wake up, your roommate and her girlfriend will be safe. Isn’t that what you want?”

Ivy’s tight expression made it obvious that that was what she wanted. She wouldn’t ask me to risk my sanity for it, but I might risk everything for her shot at happiness. No vampire should be afraid of the dark.

Something didn’t feel right, though. He was too eager and not enough afraid. Unsure, I looked at Bis, stray bits of glass that had fallen to his skin sparkling in the artificial light. “Let me call Trent,” I said, and Landon stiffened.

“No!” he said, then lowered both his voice and his eyes. “No,” he reiterated, easing back in the seat. “He’d interfere. Ruin it.”

Trent doesn’t know Landon is here. My eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“We don’t need him,” Landon said as he reached for that bag. “I can do the ceremony right here. I have everything I need.”

Even the goat? I wondered, but Ivy wouldn’t have let him in here with a knife.

Ivy slipped closer, her long hair draping down to almost touch me. “Want some help cleaning the living room, Rachel?”

I held my breath, not wanting to take in the pheromones she was kicking out. “You really think I can—” I started, and Landon pushed forward to the edge of the chair, eyes alight.

“Yes!” he exclaimed. “You’ve talked to her before. She recognizes you.”

His jealousy was obvious, and I felt a flash of pity. It was hard when someone achieves without apparent sacrifice or effort that which you’ve strived your entire existence for, doubly so when the person never even wanted it. “You think she’d listen to me?”