Children of Enochia

by Luke R. Mitchell

  I sank deeper into my extended senses instead, surveying the drunken inhabitants of the Dark Star Tavern and trying not to give over to the bitterness eating slowly at my insides.

  Even when I’d been on the run with Carlisle, and all of Enochia had thought us apostate terrorists of the highest order, I’d never felt so hunted and on guard. Back then, we’d been frightening criminals—an unpleasant sideshow thought that would undoubtedly be handled by the authorities sooner or later. But now...

  Now we were Alpha-damned demons, and all it would take was one unlucky glance and a few alarmed cries before half of the good people of Humility took to the streets and flooded into this alleyway after us with whatever crude weapons they could find.

  Even getting picked up from Oasis that night had felt like a tremendous risk, what with the thousands upon thousands of Auckus’ twitchy legionnaires gathering for the siege out there, watching Glenbark’s base through Alpha only knew how many different scanners, scopes, and good old-fashioned eyeballs.

  Under the cover of nightfall, though, Parker had seemed confident enough that his ship was capable of making the pickup without detection. And given that they hadn’t been hounded down by an entire armada of Auckus’ fighters within thirty seconds of takeoff, it appeared that the raknoth had indeed been correct.

  Unless we were still being followed.

  It seemed impossible. We’d taken every possible precaution, including an extra orbit around Enochia and a liberal use of Siren’s propensity for arcane camouflage. But you never really knew for certain. Especially not when the entire planet was on the lookout for you and your friends.

  I frowned over at Siren and Garrett, whose silhouettes were meshing together rather closely in the dark now, and lamented having even thought the word. Friends? Friends with the people who’d tried to kill me? And not just tried, but tried emphatically? Somehow, with the exception of Elise, Johnny, and the others, that was about all I had left on this Alpha-cursed planet right now.

  “If you two can’t keep your hands to yourselves for a single mission...” I started, before promptly realizing I had no idea what exactly I had left to threaten the two swive fiends with.

  I’d already dragged them out here, after all.

  Not that “dragged” was really the right word for it. Once I’d clued the ex-Seekers in on the plan back at Oasis—or, more specifically, the moment I’d mentioned the name, Burton Kovaks—Garrett had been rather insistent on coming. Insistent to an extent that had only raised my initial hesitation to the idea all the more. Adding more volatile variables to this walking firebomb of a plan had hardly seemed a smart move. Moreover, Garrett hadn’t exactly been forthcoming about his interest in meeting Kovaks—only that he had something important to tell the man. Something personal.

  None of it helped quell the nervous wriggling in my stomach. But the ex-Seekers were our allies now, no matter how I wanted to look at it, and Elise’s messages had specifically indicated that I should bring two of them along.

  If that was what the keepers of the Emmútari remnant had decreed, who was I to tell them how to do their jobs?

  “She’s close,” Parker said quietly, breaking the tense silence.

  I pulled my mind back to the present and swept our surroundings. There was no immediate sign of Elise’s presence, but on closer inspection, I could feel the trace hints of her—the faintest trail of her scent and her warmth, caught through my extended senses rather than from the embrace of my arms, as I would have preferred. Like catching the first smell of home, I couldn’t help but think.

  So maybe Garrett wasn’t the only mushy one out here. But that was just fine, I decided, as Elise dialed her cloaking field out further and enabled me to bask in the welcome comfort of her approaching presence.

  “Three Shapers and a raknoth walk into a tavern...” came her voice in my mind.

  My lips quirked in a grin. “Pretty sure Garrett’s dying to hear the rest of this one.”

  She said nothing, but I knew her mental touch well enough to recognize the ebb of fading humor. So maybe I hadn’t been the only one with reservations about bringing two ex-Seekers and a raknoth along. But we were well past the point of no return now. The sight of Elise’s lithe silhouette sliding into the alleyway ahead swept all the negative thoughts aside for the moment. Right up until the moment a second shadow ghosted into the alleyway behind her—the lanky, hawk-nosed shadow that could only be Burton Kovaks.

  Joy.

  I forced myself to take a breath, resisting the urge to sweep my senses over the man and risk triggering that silver-gilded knockout wand of his, and whatever defensive runes had shut me down the last time we’d met. Instead, I focused on the sight of Elise moving to me at a dignified but crisp pace. Dignified, that was, until she drew close enough that we both broke down and dashed forward into a rough hug.

  Alpha, did it feel good to hold her in my arms. So good that it seemed a little obscene in the moment that I could ever even consider letting her go again—especially out here in this mad world of ours. If ever there was a reason to recommend a nice near-death experience to someone, I’m pretty sure there’s something to be said about the sheer magnitude of relief and gratitude one might experience after the fact, upon being reunited with the one they love.

  In that moment, I could have died happy.

  In that moment, I kind of wished we would have, together. Because I knew that the moment was leaving, just as soon as it came. And because I knew what lay on the other side of it.

  “You didn’t say you were bringing him,” came Burton Kovak’s haggard voice.

  I didn’t have to look to know who he was referring to. I glanced around anyway, and was unsurprised to see Kovaks staring at Alton Parker with wary loathing.

  Alton was supremely unperturbed by the tangible ill will.

  “I figured it was kind of implied,” I said, reluctantly parting from Elise, “seeing as there was no way we were getting out of Oasis otherwise.”

  “Then you shouldn’t have come at all,” Kovaks said. “Especially not you, Raish. Not after—”

  “I think that’s enough posturing,” Elise cut in, firm but somehow still amicable. Every bit the daughter of Francesco Fields. “We’re all here because we want the same thing. What we should be focusing on is getting off the streets before a band of merry do-gooders happens by and recognizes one of us.”

  As if to punctuate her statement, a pack of overly rambunctious tavern-goers shambled past the mouth of the alleyway, singing a disjointed chorus of an old tavern classic. They might not have noticed us at a glance—especially not with how quickly we all scurried into the shadows like Garrett’s frightened rodents—but it was more than enough to drive the point home.

  More than enough for most of us, at least.

  “Not a chance,” Kovaks said when the civilians had passed, shaking his head emphatically. “We’re not taking the raknoth. And we shouldn’t even be—”

  A sharp slam sounded right behind us. I whirled in time to see the Dark Star’s shoddy back door fly fully open and smack into the wall with another unpleasantly attention-grabbing crack. A drunken belch poured out of the open doorway, shortly followed by a shuffling mountain of a man who had the clear look of a drunkard looking for a place to empty his bladder.

  Instead, he stumbled out into the alleyway and found himself a shadowy congregation of six illegals.

  He froze, drunken eyes squinting at us in the dim light of the door, trying to decide if he was indeed seeing what he thought he was.

  I felt Alton Parker ghosting forward, preparing to pounce. I reached out, thinking to stop him. Then the mountainous drunkard collapsed in front of us—strings cut like magic. He hit the ground hard. I glanced back at Kovaks, expecting to see that arcane wand of his in hand, but he looked just as surprised as I felt. Then I looked back to our unlucky intruder, and understood.

  Siren had materialized from the darkness just behind him, her hand still raised to the spot where
his head had been, her nose wrinkled in disdain as she surveyed the undignified heap of a man at her feet.

  For a few seconds, we were all frozen too.

  Then Garrett rounded back on Kovaks. “And how about now?”

  Kovaks shook his head again, his dark scowl just barely visible in the dim light. “Not a chance, Garrett Fellwood.” He glanced at Siren. “Alexia Arkova.”

  They both bristled at the brazen use of their names, but Kovaks pushed on before they could say a thing.

  “Much as I would like to say I appreciate your change of heart, I can’t let anyone—especially a pair of Shaper killers—see the way in until they’ve cleared the test. Which, honestly, I’m kind of doubting either of you ever could, considering, but I guess that goes to show you just how far we’ve fallen.”

  Alexia straightened at that, puffing her chest out like she was about to fire back, and then some. But Garrett coaxed her down with a raised hand and a shake of his head. Maybe it was just the dim lighting to blame, but I could’ve sworn he almost looked guilty or apologetic as he turned back to Kovaks, silently inviting the grungy Emmútari envoy to continue if he pleased. It was odd. But not odd enough to make me miss Burton Kovaks reaching for a coat pocket.

  I tensed, expecting the worst, but instead of a wand, he only drew out a handful of metallic bracelets. “You three put these on,” he started, tossing one each to me, Garrett, and Siren. “And—”

  He cut off as I sidestepped my incoming bracelet and let it clatter to the alleyway floor.

  It had happened by reflex more than anything—reflex born of the dark, helpless memory of our last meeting, when I’d reached out to defend myself and promptly found myself face-planting into the permacrete, vision darkening, powerless to move.

  The pair of metallic clatters on my left flank told me Garrett and Siren had been paying attention when I’d warned them to be careful around Burton Kovaks’ hardware.

  For several long seconds, we all stared at each other, Elise hovering uncertainly beside me.

  “Put them on,” Kovaks said slowly. “Put them on, and the raknoth stays behind. Otherwise, this meeting is over.”

  I glanced suspiciously down at where the bracelet had landed. I could barely see the thing in the dark, and I wasn’t about to reach out to inspect it with my senses. Not after what’d happened last time. But either way, I didn’t trust the bracelet, and I had even less interest in finding out what would happen if I actually followed Kovaks’ instructions and put the thing on.

  “I can control the raknoth,” I said, looking back up at Kovaks. “And I’m not putting that thing on.”

  “Then you stay too,” he said flatly, turning away from me like I’d ceased to exist, and instead focusing his expectant stare on Garrett and Alexia. “What about the Seekers? Have you all come here just to waste our time tonight?”

  “I came to talk to you, actually,” Garrett said, earning himself an even more suspicious look from Kovaks.

  “Then put the bracelet on,” Kovaks said, “and demonstrate that you are safe to talk to.”

  Garrett glanced to the bracelet at his feet, seeming to consider it.

  “Or maybe I just scream demon right now instead,” Siren said, turning her frown from Garrett back to Kovaks. “You want to see how many of us make it safely back to our little hidey holes once that happens?”

  Beside me, I felt Elise’s impatience growing on pace with the tightness in Kovaks’ jaw. It made me wonder—not for the first time—exactly how much authority she’d been granted in this outfit now that she’d apparently joined up as head Shaper to Kovaks’ and Pasty’s creepy record-keeper act.

  “Your friends are being difficult, Herald,” Kovaks said, with a sideways glance at Elise.

  So maybe she had some clout. And maybe Kovaks even had a point, I decided, now that my nerves were beginning to settle. Because, much as I didn’t want to ever experience another round of arcane knockout, I also couldn’t believe that Elise and Franco would’ve both been taken in and fooled by men who truly intended to harm us. Alpha knew they were both better than me at reading people. So maybe it was time to stop arguing and put the first foot forward in this game of trust.

  I was opening my mouth to say as much when Elise raised a hand to silence me.

  “Our allies are being prudent, Keeper,” she countered Kovaks. “I don’t need to remind you how few of them we have in total, approved or not, so maybe we can afford to respect that prudence. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I really fancy the idea of trying to keep a low profile out there while leading three blinded—”

  Kovaks cut her off with a strangled noise somewhere between a growl and a hiss that I could only assume translated loosely into Shut your Alpha-damned mouth, girl, while also more or less confirming what those bracelets might do. And just like that, my goodwill evaporated, right along with the good sense that had made me think twice about smacking Kovaks’ grimy ass around with telekinesis. Before I could do that, though, and before Kovaks could even find the words to properly express his irritation at Elise’s openness, Garrett spoke up, taking us all by surprise.

  “I came here to talk about your brother,” he said, as if they’d never been interrupted earlier. He bent down to pluck the bracelet carefully from the ground, studied the shiny artifact delicately between thumb and forefinger, then finally tossed it back to its now slack-jawed owner. “I came here to tell you what I know about Andre Kovaks’ last days. If you’d like to hear it.”

  I was too busy gaping to properly register that the bracelet hadn’t even stunned his ass into oblivion at first touch.

  Andre Kovaks... What in the scud did Garrett know about Andre Kovaks?

  The memory of the man’s final frantic moments at the gallows played through my mind, as they had so many times before. I didn’t have the faintest clue what Garrett knew. But I was pretty sure I’d just gotten my answer as to the nature of his personal business with Burton, here. And as much as I wanted to be irritated by the fact that he hadn’t thought to mention this secret knowledge to me in advance—or to Siren either, judging by the look on her face—I couldn’t deny that he seemed to have picked the perfect moment to reveal his intentions.

  Perfect, that is, or perfectly catastrophic.

  Burton Kovaks might’ve been a statue or a time bomb. Mouth ajar. Eyes dull and lifeless, and locked firmly on Garrett. He held the bracelet that the ex-Seeker had tossed him absentmindedly against his breast, where he’d reflexively caught it, and that infernal little wand of his had found its way into his right hand like it had been waiting right up his dark sleeve the whole time.

  For a long moment, no one spoke. Elise and I didn’t need telepathy to establish that neither one of us knew what Garrett was playing at, or whether we should try to intervene. But then Kovaks finally stirred, and the time to decide was past. He looked with those apathetic, dead eyes from Garrett to me, then to Alton Parker, and finally to Elise, who gave him a firm nod but refrained from words. Which, given the volatility in the air, was probably a wise choice.

  Kovaks stared at her for a few seconds, assessing, then finally blew out a bitter huff and shook his head. “Scud, what do I care? It’s your extinction, anyway.” His sneer hardened back into something dead serious. “But the raknoth stays.”

  Elise didn’t look like she particularly disagreed with that sentiment. I turned toward Parker, not quite sure what I thought myself, just in time to see the raknoth spring into a silent leap that carried him out of the alleyway and up onto the building across from the Dark Star. He effortlessly vaulted the rooftop lip and disappeared into the night without a backwards glance.

  “Go,” his voice came to me before I could reach out and ask him what the scud he was doing. “I will wait here, for a time.”

  I considered asking how long that time might be, and whether he would still be in for what we had in mind after I’d procured what help we needed. But it wasn’t like I could take him at his word. That was t
he Holy Rule of dealing with Alton Parker. And I sure as scud didn’t want to come across like I was actually worried about losing him as an ally. Aside from it being complete bullscud, that notion made me feel sick on multiple levels. But there were far more reasons than that to think twice about letting a raknoth wander off into the dark.

  “Don’t kill anyone,” I finally sent. It seemed to cover most of the bases.

  “Do not tarry,” he replied, “and I doubt I will have to.”

  Wonderful.

  What in demons’ depths had my world come to, that I could actually sit back and let a creature like Alton Parker roam freely in the heart of a civilian populace?

  I looked back down to the dark alleyway with an uneasy feeling in my gut, and realized everyone was watching me.

  “He’ll hide until we’re done,” I said, somewhat weakly.

  Kovaks’ frown darkened. “And you wonder why we’re wary of you,” he muttered, shaking his head.

  I looked to Elise, not really needing an explanation for Kovaks’ disgust, but kind of wanting one anyway—or at least some reassurance that I hadn’t completely lost my mind. She only shook her head, indicating I should drop it and count the win for now. I tensed reflexively as Kovaks reached for his pocket again, then remembered it hardly mattered anyway. The guy already had his weapon out, after all, following Garrett’s unexpected truth bomb.

  What Kovaks drew from his pocket looked to be little more than a smooth stone, small enough to sit easily in the palm of his hand. I doubted it was anything so simple, and indeed, he moved with deliberation, pausing only to pocket the bracelets from the ground, and give each of us a pointedly disdainful look as he did. He said nothing, though his gaze did linger especially long on Garrett—dark and distrustful, and more than a little angry beneath the surface.

  That done, he turned and walked a short distance down the alleyway, moving with specific purpose.