Durance by Lyn Gala Page 0,74
his breath.
Butler continued. “Bennu and Huitzilopochtli. Anzu remembers them vividly. He remembers how they turned Earth into their personal playground and then destroyed so much of it.” Thunder cracked overhead.
“Your guide inspired more death and war than these two,” Kavon said.
An itch built under Darren’s skin. His foot started to jiggle as he tried to resist the urge to fight. He wanted to punch Butler. The man had no right to say those things about Bennu. None.
“You know nothing,” Butler said. “Anzu never hurt anyone. Maybe some people couldn’t control their impulses, but that’s not his fault. But those monsters you’re choosing to align yourselves with killed thousands. Maybe tens of thousands. How does that fit with your reputation as serving justice? I believe in curiosity. I believe in research. Do you want to know what I’ve learned about the guides the Talent community reveres?”
“You’ve lost your credibility as a reliable source,” Kavon said.
Butler laughed like that was the best joke he had ever heard.
Kavon raised his hands. Protective power gathered around him. “Your guide and his friends corrupted the world with so much power that the human race had become monsters.”
“Listen to yourself,” Butler said with delight. “Do you think the NCCP needs the power of creatures from another reality to become corrupt? Did the witches burned in Europe or hanged in the United States actually have Talent? Did anyone in the Cambodian killing fields need magic to swing a machete? The human race is corrupt without the help of the old ones. But what do we call them? The ifrit. The demons.”
“Humans are capable of evil, but for every Hitler, we have a Mother Theresa,” Kavon said. Darren curled his fingers around Kavon’s waistband as he fought back a pounding in his head that drove him to attack. He recognized Bennu’s influence, but that didn’t make it any easier to fight the urge.
“You really are stupid,” Butler said. “Mother Theresa is the woman who said she saw something beautiful in seeing poor people accept their own suffering. She refused to give dying patients enough pain medicine because she believed that all they needed was God. Come on, Boucher. If you’re going to argue that the evil is from the old ones and not humans, you have to do better than that.”
“I don’t have to prove anything,” Kavon said. “You attacked a federal agent. Either you surrender and then we both have to explain a lot of difficult truths to the mundanes in charge of the government or I will kill your guide and leave you to suffer.”
“Agent Oberton, come out and talk to me. I’m tired of dealing with this idiot.”
Darren couldn’t stop himself from stepping to the side. Kavon’s bull trumpeted into the air, and Bennu flew up into the storm clouds. The sky darkened, and the first fat drops of rain fell on Darren’s head. “Your guide turned psychopaths into gods,” Darren said. He tried to step forward, but Kavon caught his arm. “I’m pretty sure Anzu turned them into psychopaths in the first place, but you don’t care. All you want is power. Isn’t that the myth of Anzu? He stole the book of destiny because he wanted to have the power to rewrite reality.”
Butler’s smile was lazy and dangerous and cold all at once. “At least one of you has done some research. But I promise you, your guide has far more blood on his hands.”
“Bennu and Pochi were trying to prevent more death.”
“Pochi? That makes him sound so cute,” Butler said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. “Huitzilopochtli is the monster who wants human sacrifice.”
“He never wanted that.” Darren knew that in the marrow of his bones. He had felt the guilt and pain both the guides projected when they remembered what they had done all those years ago. They had acted out of necessity and a sense of duty to put the Earth back the way they had found it.
“Is that what they told you? Breaking news, Agent Oberton, they lied. They wanted power, and Anzu disagreed. My guide is about expressing himself. He's a hippie. Your guide’s people are the Nazis trying to purify the world with their final solution. So, this time are they going to kill the millions of people affected by their power? Are they going to kill the tens of millions of their own children born on earth who have become these stunted guides?” Butler gestured toward Kavon’s bull who still guarded the field in his mastodon form.