by James Somers
“They are not Lycans,” she said. “However, once my ancestors realized their particular abilities, they were offered high positions as architects within the kingdom. They are handsomely rewarded for their talents.”
“I’ll bet that power makes them great fighters.”
“Most enjoy this work better,” Sophia observed. “However, we do have several Movers that have honed their skills to become assassins for my father.”
“Could I talk to any of them?” I asked, desiring to know more about their special abilities from the source.
“We mustn’t interrupt them while they are building,” Sophia said. “If they were to lose their concentration while moving the great stones lives might be endangered. The building might even collapse.”
“Of course, Princess,” I said, feeling guilty for even asking. “I wasn’t thinking.”
Sophia touched my shoulder then. “I didn’t mean to insinuate any wrong on your part, Brody.”
I smiled at her and she returned the gesture.
“Thank you for showing me around, by the way,” I said. “I’m really enjoying my time with you.”
“Perhaps you would like to see our library? My father will expect us for dinner, but we still have some time.”
“I would love to,” I said eagerly. “Please lead the way.”
Reconnaissance
Charlotte remained upon her perch in the form of a raven, watching the dark street for more Breed activity. She knew she was taking a risk of being discovered, but as far as she was concerned, Black had not been fooled by their escape during the fire. Below her, several pedestrians stood beneath a gas lamp smoking, discussing grievances with their work situation. A bit further down, slightly obscured by fog, a local bobby walked his beat, whistling a little tune. A shop owner could be seen in his storefront, putting away merchandise and preparing to close up for the evening.
She had not simply happened by this particular spot tonight. Charlotte had caught the scent of her kind. They were somewhere nearby and for some dark purpose other than feeding. She had spotted many more dolls recently in London than she might have expected. Still, no reports had been printed in the newspapers.
Oliver had warned of Black’s masterful methods early on. He would takeover in government and law enforcement and media before the dolls worked on the general population. Otherwise, an alarm would be sounded to the public at large. This way, even if people managed to escape and make reports to the police or reporters, those reports would go nowhere. London’s demise would come as quietly as a cancer, consuming in silence until it was too late to do anything to stop it.
Then she spotted them.
Three rats were loitering near a trash can at the mouth of an alleyway that ran between the shop and the adjacent building. They appeared as rodents, but Charlotte knew their true forms. These were Breed warriors and they appeared to be waiting for something to happen.
Out of the corner of her eye, Charlotte noticed the shop owner turn suddenly, facing something unseen that had surprised him from behind. The man screamed bloody murder. The two men standing beneath the street lamp started toward the shop. The policeman heard the scream and broke into a run.
Charlotte watched through the storefront window as one of Black’s dolls hoisted the man off of the ground by his shirt, its belly opening in preparation to devour him. He was still screaming loudly, attracting the attention of these other men. The rats didn’t appear to be concerned. They simply watched as the two men and then the policeman arrived at the front of the store.
When the men saw what was transpiring inside, they immediately jerked the door open, allowing the policeman to push through into the front of the storeroom. The doll did not react to them. But the Breed warriors did.
Scurrying to the doorway, they waited there. The policeman attempted to rescue the shop owner, beating the creature with his baton to no avail. Suddenly three more dolls came into the room with them. Chains shot from the dolls, trying to ensnare the men. The policeman was taken quickly, while the other two ran for the door. The rats resumed their true forms as vampires, rising before the men, tossing them back into the waiting arms of their respective dolls.
Charlotte watched the efficiency of it all. They had managed to draw in and capture four men without anyone else taking notice. If they were doing that here, how many other abductions were taking place night after night?
Black’s voice came to her from behind. “I trust you’re enjoying the view.”
Charlotte turned her raven’s head to find Black standing behind her, poised upon a beam as easily as a gymnast. She leaped into the air, taking flight. Black’s laughter followed her into the sky. She had been discovered!
The raven ducked down among the streets again, beating a hasty retreat, hoping to put obstacles between her and Black. Charlotte had no illusions about her chances fighting against a fallen angel. After nearly ten minutes of flight and miles of distance from the shop where the abduction had just taken place, she lighted in a dark alley. Returning to her vampire form, Charlotte tested the air, hoping to find no one following her.
She could detect no one around. Only the scent of humans came to her keen senses.
“So, you’re alive after all,” Black said behind her.
Charlotte whirled with one of her blades in hand, slashing at the figure behind her. The reaching hand was lopped off. Black only laughed as another formed instantly to replace the appendage. He then stepped forward, using that same hand, smashing her across the face.
Charlotte flew backward, striking the wall so hard that brick and mortar crumbled beneath her. She was dazed, seeing two Black’s approaching gingerly from the dark. He was confident in his power, which was palpable in the alley between them. Charlotte felt real fear in his presence. She had no hope of fighting him off—none at all.
Her eyes darted around the alley, looking for something she could use, some way of escape, anything.
“Where is the boy?” Black asked.
Charlotte felt the angel’s mind pressing upon her, trying to bend her to his will.
“Why do you want him?”
“To destroy him, of course,” Black said.
She was surprised by his candor. But she realized it was simply his vanity. Black had no fear she could discern. He simply wanted the boy dead and he didn’t care to tell her so.
“Give him to me, and I might consider giving you a death free of pain.”
“I don’t mind pain,” she said, matching his bravado.
Black smiled. Charlotte felt her body pulled off the ground and through the air toward him. His fist smashed across her jaw again, sending her back into the wall even harder than before. She seemed to bounce as his will pulled her back. Then he knocked her back against the wall again and again, like a yo-yo, until she lost consciousness.
I sat on one side of a long dining table within King Lycean’s palace in the city of Tidus. Stately pillars surrounded the room, supporting the structure while also giving a panoramic view of the city. Marble and gold surrounded us in this lavish room while a huge banquet sat before us on the stone table.
I adjusted the cushion I was sitting on. Glancing up, I found Sophia watching me with a little smirk on her face. I wasn’t used to sitting on the floor to have dinner and I thought I might roll off of the pillow onto the floor at any moment.
Neither Oliver nor King Lycean appeared to notice. Servants surrounded the table, standing at attention with trays ready to take away empty plates and glasses as well bringing new ones already filled. This kind of luxury was completely foreign to me. My parents had been moderately poor, but nothing we needed had ever seemed to be missing from our lives.
The conversation at the table tended toward the political, talking about the war—things I already knew by now. I found myself staring at my crystal glass, at the kaleidoscope of light coming through. I could see tiny images of Lycean, Oliver and Sophia, as well as various Lycan soldiers who were also sitting
at the table.
I thought of the Movers and Shapers transporting the great blocks of stone in order to construct the memorial temples of Tidus. What an interesting ability they possessed. I pictured their movements, the concentration written on their faces as they worked together to manipulate and move stones weighing hundreds of tons.
I wondered how a Mover assassin might do battle, his style resembling the Asian acrobats and monks I had seen doing exhibitions while I was still in America. I played with the movements, manipulating my fingers and hands as though striking the glass. I concentrated upon the crystal as the Movers had the stone. The glass shattered before me.
Sophia had been quietly laughing at me. She gasped when the crystal goblet shattered, scattering pieces across the table toward her. I hadn’t expected that to happen. Now, everyone at the table, from Lycean and Oliver on one end to the soldiers and Kron on the other end, were staring at me.
Sophia placed her hand over her mouth. “Brody, you’re a Mover?”
I looked at Oliver. His eyes moved from the shards of crystal scattered across the tabletop to me. His right eyebrow cocked up with amusement. Oliver turned to Lycean then.
“Perhaps, we might stay another day before going to Tartarus,” he said. “I think Brody might benefit from a little training with Helios.”
Masterful
A stinging blow woke Charlotte violently from her unconsciousness. The last thing she had remembered was the fallen angel, Black, smashing her repeatedly between his fist and a brick wall. She attempted to emerge swinging. Had she been in manacles, a transformation to her raven form would have freed her. Unfortunately, her wrists, shoulders, neck and ankles had been bound with strong chords.
When her eyes focused, she saw Black standing before her. The room had the appearance of a dungeon and the smell of death. A dim torch burned within an iron sconce upon the wall. Fortunately, Charlotte’s eyes required only minimal light to see a threat.
Her body ached from the beating she had taken from the angel, though she couldn’t tell how long it had been. Likely, not long. Still, down in this pit of despair, she had no idea if it was even day or night.
“Why am I alive?” Charlotte asked when Black did not speak.
Black smiled. “An appropriate question,” he replied. “Your brother is still useful to me. I would like to keep him that way while I’m working in London.”
“He’s your slave,” Charlotte spat.
“Which is useful, as I’ve said. Even you are useful to me.”
“In what way could I possibly be useful to you?” Charlotte asked bitterly.
Black raised his hands suddenly. Torches all along the wall burst with flame, brightening the room considerably. The very first thing to come to her attention was the bodies fastened to the wall of the cylindrical chamber. Mutilated corpses, all of them human, hung by chains. The smell of death had been correct. Only it was far more grisly than she might have imagined.
“What have you done?” Charlotte asked.
Black surveyed his handiwork. “I’d say I’ve just made a gruesome discovery,” he said. “Could this actually be the lair of the infamous Ripper all of London fears? And who would have suspected that that individual would turn out to be a woman and one of the vampires of legend?”
He grinned at her, waiting for his words to sink in.
“You would reveal us to the humans?” she asked. The very idea was shocking to her. “But why? To what end could that possibly serve you?”
“Plans within plans, my dear. However, should for any reason my designs upon London go unfulfilled, a letter will be delivered to the authorities, and they will come to this place to find you with all of the evidence they’ll need.”
Charlotte laughed. “Is that the best you can do?” she said. “So what if the humans do find me here? They’ll kill me and be done with it.”
Black smiled, and it unnerved her. “I’m not sure your father would see it that way.”
Charlotte suddenly understood. “You would start a war,” she said with as much certainty as she had ever felt. She knew her father and his feelings for her. If ever a father could be called doting, it was Tiberius. He had been the Lord of Vampires for nearly a century. And he loved his many children, but perhaps Charlotte the most.
She did not have to ask why Black would do such a thing. It was in his nature to cause destruction and devastation to the humans in whatever way possible. However, where he sought subversion and control by replacing the humans with dolls, a war with the Breed would simply kill the city. Inevitably, that event would not happen in secret. Other humans would join that fight, escalating it until either the Breed or the humans were destroyed.
Charlotte struggled uselessly against her bonds. She hung her head finally. “You’re a monster.”
Black grinned devilishly, backing toward the wall as his form vanished. “My dear, you’ve no idea.”
Sophia had been eager to assure Oliver that she could escort me to Master Helios. “You and Father can continue your visit,” she had said. “I know that he misses your conversations, even if he won’t admit it.”
Oliver had released me to her care with a wink and a smirk intended for my benefit.
To my surprise, this master assassin also dwelt in the palace, according to Sophia. We came to a courtyard surrounded by a garden, complete with fountains of water. Strangely, the courtyard itself was made entirely of sand—several large mounds of it in fact. A tall thin man with dark skin and no hair stood in the midst of the courtyard, waiting for us.
He never took his eyes off of me, even when Sophia made introductions. She turned to me before leaving. “Good luck, Brody. I’ll be watching.”
She walked away, attempting to suppress a smile. I wasn’t sure why, but I thought maybe she knew something about the training I was about to receive that I didn’t. Sophia made her way to the other side of one of the decorative fountains and sat upon the ledge there, watching as she had promised.
As soon as I turned my attention back to Helios, a handful of sand hit me in the face. I just managed to close my eyes, however my mouth had been open about to speak. I staggered backward, spluttering, spitting sand out of my mouth.
“What was that for?” I asked.
Helios smiled slightly, then he picked up another handful of sand and threw it at me. I was prepared this time, but still not happy that this man was throwing sand at me. I started to protest again, but he threw another handful at me, only harder this time.
Now, admittedly, I was angry. I picked up a handful of sand for myself, hauled back and let it fly. My sand wad came close to Helios then rebounded, hitting me in the face again. My mouth had been open that time also. I spit the grit out immediately and heard the not-too-distant laughter of Sophia by the fountain. I glanced at her in between my gagging. It was at least enough to calm her down a bit, but not completely. Helios’s composure remained unchanged.
“Kinesis is more than simply pushing on an object, young man,” he said. “It should be a total manipulation in any direction. A master Mover can manipulate objects and their parts with greater care than even the human hand.”
To illustrate his point, Helios called a lute to his hand that I had not even seen sitting nearby. The wooden stringed instrument came to him, flying obediently through the air as if by magic. I asked him as much.
“This is not magic, but a manipulation by the power of my mind. If that is magic then perhaps you’re right, but it would not be my definition.”
The lute hovered next to him and then began to play. Helios observed the instrument, but he never touched it. Still, even apart from the hands needed to press upon the strings and pluck them, a sweet melody emerged from the instrument. I walked closer, examining the lute, watching invisible fingers fret each note in succession, strumming out chords and arpeggios effortlessly.
I stammered for words, but could only come up with one question. “How?”
Helios smiled. “A lifetime of pra
ctice, Brody. And, as I understand it, you have considerably less time before you are due to depart.”
“Will you teach me the basics of this power, at least?” I begged.”
He placed a hand upon my shoulder and smiled, as the lute stopped playing. “We’ll see what we can do.”
Helios spent the majority of that evening putting me through a rigorous pace of mental exercises that wore me out. When I was finally allowed to sleep, I didn’t even take the time to leave his home. The closest sofa I could find inside his modest domicile would have to suffice.
Oliver was waking me after what seemed like only mere moments. I felt exhausted, but a bit more confident in my newfound abilities than I had before coming to Tidus. Oliver seemed refreshed by a good night’s sleep and a filling breakfast. I was famished and disheveled looking, as though I might have spent the night wedged beneath a rock.
However, a tray of food was soon wheeled in on a cart, along with a new suit of clothes. Helios met with us while I wolfed down the eggs, bacon and biscuits with jam.
“I did what I could, given the limited time,” Helios said to Oliver.
“I’m sure what you’ve imparted will prove sufficient,” Oliver replied.
Helios regarded me as he continued. “I do believe he has the makings of a fine Kinetic, with ample time and training under the appropriate master. Do you expect to bring him back to Tidus?”
Oliver smiled. “Are you so wanting for a pupil, Master Helios?”
“No,” Helios said. “I’m merely curious about the prospect of a Kinetic warrior who possesses the other abilities I’ve heard mentioned. Intriguing.”
“Well, if we manage to make it back from where we’re going in one piece, I’ll see to it that he’s brought to you straightaway for further instruction.”
Helios nodded, shaking Oliver’s hand. He turned to me as I stood up from my tray. To my surprise, he held out his hand to me also. I took it eagerly.
“Thank you, Master Helios,” I said. “I’ll practice the exercises you’ve shown me every day.”
