A Night of Redemption
The Redemption Saga
Kristen Banet
Contents
Glossary
1. Sawyer
2. Elijah
3. Sawyer
4. Jasper
5. Sawyer
6. Sawyer
7. Zander
8. Sawyer
9. Quinn
10. Sawyer
11. Vincent
12. Sawyer
13. Sawyer
14. Sawyer
15. Jasper
16. Sawyer
17. Elijah
18. Sawyer
19. Quinn
20. Sawyer
21. Zander
22. Vincent
23. Sawyer
24. Sawyer
25. Sawyer
26. Jasper
27. Sawyer
28. Axel
29. Sawyer
30. Quinn
31. Zander
32. Sawyer
33. Jasper
34. Elijah
35. Vincent
36. Sawyer
37. Sawyer
Dear Reader,
About the Author
Also by Kristen Banet
Abilities
IMPO and IMAS
Copyright © 2019 by Kristen Banet
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Created with Vellum
Overcome those who would see you fail.
Those who don’t know you.
Those who do.
Even yourself.
Don’t give up hope.
You are brave.
You are strong.
You are not alone.
Glossary
General Terms
Ability Rankings - Common, Uncommon, Rare, Mythic. A simple system created to judge how rare abilities are among the Magi.
Burnout - When a Magi uses all their magical energy and must consume life force to continue.
Doppelganger - Magi with the sole ability to shape-shift into other human beings. (Legend)
Doppler – Slang for Doppelganger
Druids - Female Magi with a plethora of natural abilities. They take over large areas of uninhabited land as caretakers. (Legend)
Imp - Derogatory term for agents with the IMPO.
International Magi Armed Services (IMAS) – The Magi’s military in case of war against non-Magi or an uprising against the WMC.
International Magi Police Organization (IMPO) – The Magi’s organization for tracking down Magi criminals across the globe.
Legend – A unique groupings of Magi. They are of equal power and have the same abilities per group. Incredibly rare. Many non-Magi legends have their roots in these Magi.
Magi - Humans with magic. They have anywhere from 1 to 5 abilities and a magical Source.
Reading - A ceremony after a Magi comes into their magic, where a Magi who can ‘read’ (see Ability Glossary), discovers all the Magi’s abilities. This information is then recorded for the Registrar.
Registrar - A documentation system for recording all Magi and their powers during their teenage years. Viewing a Registrar entry requires approval by the WMC. Magi are required to submit to having a Registrar entry made via a Reading. There are lists Magi can join for public use, such as lists of healers in case of a global crisis, also kept with the Registrar.
Source - The well of magical power inside a Magi. It’s two-fold in how it can be measured—strength and depth. How powerful a Magi is versus how much magic they can do before running out of energy.
Vampyr - Magi with the sole ability “borrow” abilities from others. They can also become immortal by “feeding” off a non-Magi’s life force. (Legend)
The World Magi Council (WMC) – The governing body over Magi. A group of 15 individuals voted into power every ten years.
1
Sawyer
It was sunny that day. At odds with the mood, the sun made people squint as it tried to warm up the cold December day and glared off the fresh snow. It made Christmas decorations around the city seem to shine and glow.
It made the city seem beautiful.
She would have enjoyed it if it weren’t the day it was. If there wasn’t a shadow over her heart. If it didn’t feel like somehow she’d gotten dragged into an eternal night with no chance for a dawn.
“Sawyer, we need to get inside.” A steady palm ran over her back, but the voice was shaking. Just a little. Just a tiny bit that made it obvious the man wasn’t ready for this.
Sawyer nodded. It was time.
As she walked into the chapel, she felt a bead of unease form in her chest. She’d never been to a funeral before. She certainly hadn’t thought there would be one she had to attend this trip to New York.
Assassins, corrupt politicians, fire, and blood. Those, she expected. She hadn’t expected to be saying goodbye to a man who gave her a chance. Not once, but twice.
“I barely knew him,” she mumbled to herself, hoping it would help deaden the grief.
“It’s okay,” Jasper told her softly, leading her further down the center aisle.
They found the rest of the team in the front row, reserved for family. Apparently James didn’t have any, so his will had said the team was his family. She was positive he wrote it long before she joined, but it still touched her.
She had barely ever seen him, hardly knew him, but she could feel how deeply and genuinely he cared for the guys. And that’s what made it all hurt so bad. They were reeling, cracking under the weight of not having him anymore.
She sat down next to Zander, Jasper taking the spot on her other side. At the end of their row, Quinn was with Elijah, who was still wheelchair-bound from his injuries. He could use crutches for short times, but none of them wanted to take the chance with how long this would be. Vincent sat next to Thompson, towards the main aisle. He was expected to get up and say a few words during the affair.
It was quiet. Considering the hundreds of people in the chapel, it was so quiet. Not even the sound of anyone crying. No, the chapel was full of hardened IMPO agents, politicians, and soldiers.
It broke her heart a little more.
She had barely known him, but he’d only had his work. He’d only had the guys and Thompson, who she’d learned was an old teammate of his. He’d only had her, too, in a strange way. Her interactions with the men who answered to him peppered their history, giving them an invisible connection.
Sawyer would have thought it was her fault. Again, a game, assassins, and somewhere in the background, Axel. Again, a dead body. But this time, blame was the furthest thing from her mind. As music began to play, serene and gentle, something angry curled in her chest. No, this wasn’t her fault. This wasn’t Vincent’s fault, or Thompson’s. It wasn’t D’Angelo’s. It wasn’t even Naseem’s, though Sawyer considered making it his fault several times over the last few days.
This was Axel’s fault.
Just his name brought a rush of extreme hate that she hadn’t known she was capable of. It happened every time his name came up. A rage that boiled and bubbled and festered would rise in her chest, as if it h
ad always been there.
“Sawyer,” Jasper whispered harshly in her ear.
She pushed it down, the rage and hate. Now wasn’t the time for her fury. She hadn’t noticed how cold it had gotten around her until it began to warm up again. Whispers were breaking out around her. The men of her team, the ones who filled her heart with every breath they took, were staring at her patiently. They knew. They had dealt with this for a few days now.
Ever since the WMC laid down their last order to her, the rage would boil up to the surface. Kill Axel. Become the executioner and deliver the justice the WMC had sentenced. There was no reason to catch him again. His life was forfeit.
Be the assassin they all knew she was. Assassinate the man who made her what she was.
She had known it was coming the moment she’d come to terms with him having escaped. Nothing prepared her for the feelings the order had given her.
“Sorry.” She looked down at her hands, tucked in her lap, hoping she didn’t lose it again. Not today. Not during this. Her rage could come tomorrow.
“It’s okay,” Zander mumbled, taking her hand and holding it tightly. Jasper took her other arm, tucking it into his. Lifelines, grounding her, bringing her back to the present.
They understood.
A priest began to talk shortly after that, silencing everyone’s whispers. They hadn’t been all about her. Some whispered how much they wished they knew James better. Some had whispered about the placement of the team and Thompson, wondering where James’ family was. Some just missed him.
The priest quoted scripture of a dozen religions, even some things not from any religion. Just well-written passages from books that moved people, probably ones chosen by Vincent or Thompson. Magi weren’t a religious group. With magic, they all found it somewhat difficult to fall into one belief or faith like non-Magi. Because of that, she knew the funeral was probably strange to any non-Magi in the room. She’d never been to a funeral, but she knew this was normal for her people.
The priest, thankfully, didn’t act uncomfortable with the strange reading he’d probably been asked to do. She stared at him in deep thought, trying to ignore the lamenting words of grief. The longer she stared, the more she realized he was probably a Magi as well. It would make sense.
She didn’t know why she was even thinking about that. Maybe it was avoidance of why they were there, why she was sitting in the front row for a funeral.
Finally, Director Thompson was called up. She nearly jumped, not expecting him to stand up. Everything had been so still until that moment.
He wasn’t crying. Stony-faced, he stared down at the paper he put on the podium, and she had a feeling he’d grieved privately. Now he just needed to get through this.
“James was my oldest friend. He was a passionate soul that dedicated himself wholeheartedly to a goal. The goal was always the same, tied to the one thing he wanted to defeat more than anything else: injustice. He couldn’t tolerate it. He’d never been able to. The first moment we met in the IMPO Academy, I could tell he would either be the best agent in the world or the worst, and I told him as much. We were sitting next to each other for an Internal Affairs and Investigations class, the perfect place to talk about how he was going to treat everyone equal, from criminals to his fellow future coworkers. Let’s just say he didn’t make a good impression on many with that speech.”
A round of chuckles. Even Sawyer couldn’t resist snorting, covering her mouth to stop from getting too loud.
“But it struck a chord with me, and it turned into one of the most important things I’ll remember about the man. Everyone deserves a chance, a fair shake. Everyone deserved to meet justice on a level playing field. No one got special privileges with him. We’re all Magi, and therefore equal. I would always remind him it’s much more complicated than that. Politics, power, lifestyles, and so many other things contribute to the world we live in, but none of that ever colored the way he approached the world and the people in it. If he met two wildly different people on the same day, he met them both with the same open mind, ready to hear their side and draw his own conclusions.”
The Director closed his eyes for a moment. She watched him tap fingers on the podium, his knuckles going white as he stopped and just clutched it. Signs he was breaking down.
Then they were gone. She watched Thompson collect himself and continue as if that moment never happened.
“And he passed it on to anyone he could. Two men were offered the position of Director: him and me. After all the things our own team had gone through, and as the last two members of it remaining in the IMPO, everyone thought he would take the job. When he passed and I stepped into the role, I asked him why. He said he wanted the chance to truly teach the next generation the ideals he and I hoped to instill in the IMPO, ones that had been lacking. He did that with the same wholehearted dedication he did everything else. And I would say he succeeded.”
She couldn’t listen anymore, tears flooding her eyes. She leaned over, knowing the next part of the speech was going to continue with the impact James left on the people around him, and particularly, the two teams he’d been handler for. The two teams that gave her chances. One team that stole her heart.
Oh, she knew the impact James had on the world. She knew better than most, even though she had never gotten to know the man well enough.
Sawyer regretted it. She should have spent more time with him. Talked to him on the phone about anything. Maybe even told him about the guys and her earlier. Something.
Sooner than she anticipated, Thompson was done and Vincent was given the podium. Jasper clutched her hand as he walked up.
Her heart broke with the first words out of his mouth.
“He was the father I never thought I would have.”
Next to her, Zander’s shoulders began to shake and she squeezed his hand tightly. Jasper’s fingers began to dig into her hand.
“He never forced himself into my life. I could rely on him without expectations, much like a son could blindly believe in a father in their youth. I know…” Vincent trailed off. Unlike Thompson, he wasn’t keeping himself under control as well. Vincent always had control – but not today. Not now. She knew it was eating him, tearing him apart. “I know my brothers…” He gestured to the team. “I know they feel the same.” Vincent took a deep breath before continuing. “I…James was a man who believed in people. He always saw the good, always saw how we could impact the world around us in a positive light, and guided us to do that. He always thought that the good a person could do would always outweigh the bad, if they put the effort into it. He knew what sort of team he had in me and these guys.” He waved back at the team. Elijah and Zander, the known worst troublemakers in the group, both chuckled. “He knew we’d break the rules to do what we thought was right. I would say he was proud of us for that, but we gave him a lot of paperwork in the process.”
More chuckles filled the room, a bright spot in the pain.
“And he let us make our own decisions and stood behind us.” Vincent’s dark, olive-green eyes fell on her and she couldn’t break the eye contact. “Even if those decisions would upset everyone around us. If we thought we could make the world better in the end, he followed us. A father supporting his sons in their endeavors, only offering a kind word and a warning. He let us take the risks and see what happened. He picked us up if we failed and he praised us when we succeeded. He was just that type of man.
“His impact will continue to be felt. He’ll forever be a guiding light in our lives, and, I hope, in the IMPO. I hope we can aspire to be him, to be like him. I hope we can continue to take everything he taught us and continue to make the world a better, more just place. A fairer place. A more equal place. A place where we can come from anything and try to do more, be more. He gave me the chance to fight against the family and life I had growing up. He gave my teammates, my brothers, chances to prove themselves in the world. I hope we continue to take that into the future. I know I will. I know my teamma
tes will.”
Vincent’s eyes stayed on her. She didn’t think he would say anything about her, but the message was clear. Not to her. She already knew. No, the message was to the onlookers, the grievers.
He continued for longer, but she was overloaded with it all. This was his last chance to say something about a man who had changed his life. It was too much for her. It was all too much.
The music came back as she and most of the guys stood up. Elijah rolled on his own, following them. She had offered to be pallbearer for him and he’d graciously accepted. It shocked several people to see her there, but she didn’t mind helping James and the guys with this. No, she could pull her weight. Thompson was the sixth person, and they walked it down the center aisle, ignoring the staring eyes and keeping the march to the beat of the somber music.
The coffin was loaded carefully. While the funeral was smack dab in the middle of the city, James was going to be buried in upstate New York. They had a drive ahead of them and they loaded into a limo for the second half of this sad journey.
There was a heavy silence when the trip started, but it didn’t last long.
“I’m upset James never had the chance to tell us a ton of outrageous stories about you,” Elijah said softly, looking at Thompson expectantly.
“Yeah, he knew some things,” Thompson mumbled. “I wish our last teammate could be here, but not even I could convince him. He doesn’t do the IMPO scene anymore. If it were smaller, maybe.”
A Night of Redemption (The Redemption Saga Book 5) Page 1
