Seven. The divine number of completion.
The completion of an unholy circle.
“So we,” Truebell went on, “sent to protect humankind from darkness, actually succumbed to it ourselves. With every transgression, our light diminishes. Weakened, bankrupt of light, we can become wholly dark.”
The last Saturday, a new Dark Bearer will be born.
“The transformation Parker told me about.”
“Yes.”
Zach frowned. “So our perpetrator, the one who abducted Miller and Putnam, is a Light Keeper?”
“Was,” Lester corrected. “He has been completely corrupted by the Beast, all but the last of his light force extinguished.”
Zach looked at Parker. “And you believe all this Creator and Guardian crap?”
“I do. It’s real, Zach.”
He shook his head, pulse pounding in his temples, quickly becoming a headache. “No.”
“Why is it so hard to believe this is the truth? You’ve accepted there’s a dark entity with the ability to kill. That it killed our sister Brite, that it tried to kill you. That it’s behind the abduction of Gwen Miller and Patricia Putnam. Why do you doubt this?”
He flexed his fingers. “Because I can feel his energy and I saw him murder Knight.”
“You asked me,” Parker murmured, “how the Dark Bearer killed her. It stole her light. Sucked it out, fed on it. And her heart stopped.”
The wound on her shoulder, Zach thought, picturing it. And then it had been gone.
He shook his head. “This is crazy.”
“Is there night without the day, dark without the light?” He folded his hands on the table in front of him. Zach noticed how small and soft they looked. “Good and evil are just two sides of the same coin. All beings of intelligence and free will have the capacity for both. You, me. Parker, Eli.”
Zach held his gaze. “Suspending disbelief for a moment, what does this have to do with me or Sixers?”
“We created Sixers to help us find and train powerful Half Lights. Like you, Zachary.”
“Why?” He moved his gaze between them. “What do you need me for?”
“Our numbers have been decimated. Half Lights like you are our last hope.”
Half Lights. Like me.
Several things they’d said clicked into place: That they were Light Keepers, but somehow he wasn’t. He was a Half Light. Less than. Powerful for what he was, but still less than. Even so, they thought he could be of use to them.
“A Half Light,” he asked, “what exactly is that…compared to you, Professor? And, I’m guessing, Eli and Brite Knight and—” he looked at Parker “—and even my good buddy here?”
“You’re correct, we are fully Light Keeper. Brite was also. You, and many others, are the product of a Light Keeper mating with a human.”
“A big no-no, I presume?” He saw by their expressions that ‘no-no didn’t quite cover it. “I see. But hey, maybe they loved each other.”
He heard the edge in his voice and it was obvious they did, too.
“Try to understand, Zachary. We were sent to live among humans but remain separate from them, recognizable by our light. Messengers, protectors, and witnesses. Not to mingle our species and become human.”
“Mingle our species,” he repeated. “So, I’m neither a human nor Light Keeper, but some by-product of cross breeding?”
“I’m not trying to offend you.”
“But you’re doing such a good job of it.” Zach narrowed his gaze, moving it between the three men. “You’re saying, your pure race has been decimated. But not from war with the bad guys. By losing the battle with your libido. Brilliant.”
“The battle with our humanity,” Eli said. “We’re mortal angels, Zach. With a capital M.”
“Dark Bearers remain our biggest threat,” Parker said. “They hunt us. They turn us. They spread fear, distrust, and hatred across the globe.”
Truebell continued. “The products of Light Keeper and human unions have weakened light. With each generation, their light grows dimmer. Our gifts are mutated. They become unpredictable, volatile. All but useless against Dark Bearers.”
“Oh, even better.” Zach folded his arms across his chest. “From a half-breed to a mutation?”
“There are thousands upon thousands of you, all with varying degrees of abilities. Ones we were certain could be cultivated and honed.”
“Enter Sixers.”
“Yes. We needed a way to facilitate the large scale, coordinated training of Half Lights. The FBI seemed the perfect choice; Parker was already an agent and had access. He designed the Sixer program as you know it, presented and implemented it.”