“Let him come then! Let him try to challenge us! We have his friends! We have his prized possessions! We have everything he ever had to use against him! He comes knocking at our door, then we slit Nina Gould's throat! He tries to attack us, we send him Jean-Luc Gerard's head! He persists, we send him pieces of his butler! He will not have this! He will not win!”
Everyone in the room stood silently and didn't make eye contact with him. They kept their distance as well, keeping away so they would not be set ablaze by the fury that was enshrouding him. He was fuming with vile, murderous intent. Part of him wanted to kill everyone there just to get his anger out of his system. He wanted to lash out, but knew enough that it wouldn't be helpful. He needed to take his wrath and focus it on the one person who caused it. He wanted David Purdue erased, never to return again.
Julian grew quieter, but his anger was still seeping from his mouth. “The Order of the Black Sun will not be toppled by one man who refuses to die. We will not.”
Galen nodded and so did Oniel.
They were going to kill David Purdue and this time, David Purdue was going to stay dead.
EPILOGUE – THE BLIND SPOT
Unknown to Julian Corvus, Galen, and this mute man they had taken in, one more of the Order of the Black Sun's members was hidden outside the door to the chamber—Sasha. She listened intently to the whole conversation and watched as Julian discovered the truth about David Purdue's survival. His explosive reaction was expected, but she hoped that the news would not reach the Black Sun for a long time still. This was bad. Very, very bad for her plans.
Sasha had worked too hard for things to fall apart now. She had pulled Purdue from that fire and encouraged him to stay hidden and dead while he formulated a way to stop Julian. She never expected that some man without a tongue would show up on their doorstep with the truth spilling out of his mouth.
This changed everything. It was only a matter of time before Julian figured out what happened that night at Purdue's when the fire was devouring that mansion. Purdue had slipped past someone, and there were only a handful of people who had been guarding the perimeter. There was no way Purdue made it out without help. She knew she would be questioned and she had to be prepared to answer those questions when the time came.
Julian Corvus wasn't a fool. He was a dangerous madman with far more power than he ever should have been allowed to get. And now, if what she had heard from some of the others was true, he was also impossible to kill. All of her hopes that David Purdue could swoop in and get rid of him were fading away by the second. No matter what schemes Purdue was hatching to get his friends back, he wouldn't be able to stop Julian now. He wouldn't stand a chance, at all.
Sasha had to think of alternative strategies and she had to think fast. First of all, she needed to keep herself alive by playing as innocent as she could. If Julian discovered that she was the one who helped Purdue survive and then later kept Sam Cleave from being their prisoner, he wouldn't just kill her for the betrayal. Julian would torture her far worse than he was treating his current prisoners. There was no limit to that man's vile imagination. She had to avoid being butchered by him, and she needed to find a way to warn Purdue.
Julian would go after Purdue immediately. He wanted to squash that threat as soon as possible before the rest of the Order of the Black Sun learned about his survival. After all, so many only sided with Julian because they thought he was the one who finally got rid of Purdue. With Purdue still in the picture, Julian didn't look like quite as much of a savior as he had before. She could use that to her advantage. She just needed to keep Purdue alive for the time being, and not let Julian's mess get scrubbed away.
Sasha crept away from the corridor, making sure that her footsteps weren't too loud as Julian continued his screaming and shouting. As angry as he was, his outburst was giving her a good enough cover to sneak away from there before being discovered. She ran up the steps, glancing back to make sure she wasn't being followed.
Suddenly, she felt her body hit something hard and she stumbled backward from the impact. There was someone in the dark, standing in her way and blocking her escape route.
Elijah Dane.
He looked at her curiously from behind his glasses. One of the lenses was still cracked and it gave his eyes a strange appearance in the dark.
“What are you doing?” Elijah asked.
Sasha had never been close with Elijah Dane. They had always been so very different, even more than her and Galen. He wasn't sadistic like Julian or delusional like Galen but he was a different kind of creature altogether. He reminded Sasha of a snake, keeping still and just waiting for the right chance to lash out and dig its poisonous fangs into something. He was too quiet all the time, too still, like he was barely there at all—but he was ... and that's what scared her. Particularly now, as he stood in her path, having appeared from the shadows. There was no way she could trust someone who was inhumanely quiet and unassuming. There had to be more to it; there had to be more to him. She didn't believe a man could be a blank slate but that's practically what he was.
She remembered him when he was a prisoner and then a fresh recruit. She'd never quite been able to figure out where his loyalties really lied. Could someone who was a prisoner really be so devoted to the Black Sun? She could never quite get a read on him and even now, couldn't figure out what he was thinking. His expression was always so passive that it was downright impossible to read.
“Are you alright?” he asked, but there was no real compassion in his voice. “What's going on, Sasha?”
“I'm leaving,” she said, but realized how suspicious it sounded. She came up with an excuse as fast as she could. “I have an assignment I have to get to. Immediately.”
“You do?” Elijah pushed his glasses up his nose like he always did. “That's odd. I saw some of the assignments myself and I didn't see you on there at this time. So why are you in such a hurry?”
Sasha was tempted to just punch through him, but then there would be no chance of trying to play innocent. She would have to make a clean break and never return. There had to be another option, a more viable one that she could take.
“I just spoke with Julian and he gave it to me,” Sasha tried but knew it sounded like a weak excuse. “A totem ... no, a talisman over in India. I forget the specifics but I'm sure you will love it when I bring it back. Now please get out of my way.”
Voices echoed up the stairwell as Julian and Galen were approaching from down in the interrogation room. Sasha looked back frantically. There would be no way she could explain this to them without looking incredibly suspicious. If Elijah didn't get out of her way, she would have no choice but to use force to escape. She wanted to avoid that so badly though. Her whole life was the Order of the Black Sun. She couldn't throw it away. She needed to still be part of it for whenever she was able to get rid of Julian.
Elijah looked past her with his glasses glowing in the light, obstructing his real eyes. He listened and heard who it was coming up the stairs. Thankfully, they were moving rather slow because of Galen's crippled leg.
“Elijah...” Sasha tried a different tactic. It was risky, but she had to try. She looked back down the stairs and then back to her obstruction. “You need to move. Right now.”
“...Why?”
This was it. She heard Julian's steps and Galen's walking stick coming ever closer. She was just about out of options. The only things left to try were either violence or the truth.
“David Purdue is alive,” she whispered frantically. “He is alive. And I need to get to him before Julian does.”
Elijah opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. He looked completely shocked and stammered to find words. “What are you—?”
“You need to move,” Sasha pleaded. “He is the only one who can stop Julian. You know that. Move. Now.”
The footsteps were so close now. They would turn the corner of the stairwell and see her and Elijah standing there. They would see how afraid she
was and Julian would know exactly what was happening. He would know the truth about her and would make sure she suffered for it.
Elijah stared at her with that same passive face. She couldn't see into his eyes behind those gleaming shards of glass. Finally, he let out a sigh and took them off, and she saw understanding in his gaze. He stepped aside and gave a firm nod of his head. She had never trusted Elijah before, but for the first time ever, she knew that they were both on the same page.
Sasha didn't hesitate to sprint past him.
She ran through the facility, thankful that most of her fellow members of the Order of the Black Sun were sound asleep in their beds. No one else saw her. No one else got in her way. No one was chasing her. She burst through the door and found herself out in the world.
Julian would launch a strike force to go after Purdue immediately. He couldn't risk the rest of the order seeing that blight on his record. He would send everything he had at the former billionaire. Enforcers. Soldiers. Assassins. Mercenaries. He may even use the arsenal of relics they had at their disposal to end him. There would be restraints on that particular mission. It had to be swift and decisive, effective enough that it would seem to have never happened at all.
Wherever David Purdue was now, she hoped he was well hidden, where not even the Order of the Black Sun's best hunters could track him down. Now that they knew he was alive, they would search each and every crevice on the planet until they found him. And thanks to that mute man they found, they already had a general idea of where to start their search—the seas. Hopefully, Purdue had covered his tracks and was careful. All it would take would be one mistake to expose him and bring the full force of the Black Sun down on him.
She would need to find him and get to him long before that if there was any hope that he would survive. All she could now was believe that Elijah had kept quiet about what he saw. If he did, then there was a real possibility of making it out of this. If he didn't, then Julian Corvus was already hunting her just like he was hunting David Purdue.
Whatever horrible things she had done in the past, Sasha was nothing compared to Julian. In his short time as leader, he had already warped the Order of the Black Sun into something even worse than it already was. Sasha was tired of letting sociopaths and now psychopaths run the order when they could otherwise be doing so much good in the world. Julian always preached about there needing to be a change to their secret society and proclaimed that he was the change. That was a lie. He didn't change anything. He just made what was already there worse.
Sasha wanted to actually change the Order of the Black Sun—even if it meant working together with one of the order's greatest enemies to do it.
Julian Corvus was not the savior who he professed himself to be. He wasn't the leader who their society deserved. He wasn't the hero who so many members of the order looked at him as. He was a monster who had wormed his way into absolute power. They all knew it deep down but had chosen to believe the lie. Sasha refused to play along. She knew exactly what kind of man he was.
Julian Corvus was not the change that the Order of the Black Sun needed. It didn't matter how many times he came back from certain death. It didn't matter how many victories he gave their order. It didn't matter how many people he silenced and tormented. It didn't matter how much control he had over the rest of them. The facts would never change, no matter how hard Julian tried to rewrite them, no matter how much he tried to pretend that they didn't matter.
Julian Corvus could never be the change that the Order of the Black Sun was in desperate need of because David Purdue was that change.
And Sasha was going to make sure that David Purdue changed it for the better.
No matter what it took.
END
The Templar Curse
Prologue
PROLOGUE- THE BLOODY CROSS
Swords clashed against shields. Arrows flew through the air in search of bodies to penetrate. Hundreds of men roared and screamed, fighting ferociously for the sake of their own survival. There was no speaking; the only communication was through metal clanging together and through spilled blood. It was utter carnage, and the sand of the desert was stained with red, but none of that blood was William's.
No blade touched his skin. No arrow pierced his flesh. Every foe he faced on the battlefield fell without ever coming close to harming him. They never even got a glimpse of what was inside of him. They would never see the life force running through his veins; he wouldn't let them. William had always been a capable warrior but now...now he was something else entirely. He cut through the opposing forces like they were nothing more than slabs of meat. He was a whirlwind among all of the combat around him. Anyone that came close was dead moments later.
He parried and thrust his weapon ahead of him, engaging his enemies for the honor of his holy order of knights. He was a proud Templar and wore the red cross on his robes with pride. He would represent his God in this fight and do the lord's justice. He would strike down the heathens that dared to stand against them.
Some of his fellow knights watched in stunned amazement. It was like they were watching God himself on the field of the battle. He couldn't be touched, and he destroyed his enemies with such precision that they might as well have been smitten by a divine being. The once ordinary William had become so powerful that he held in his hands the life of each and every man on that field. Just like God, he controlled who lived and who died.
William was stronger and faster than he had ever been; stronger than most people could ever even hope to be. It wasn't his own strength, though. He understood that, and he had no qualms with that. He knew where his newfound fighting prowess really came from—the sword he wielded.
It was known among the Templars as The Scarlet Sword. It was forged with the help of some of the highest members of the church, who had spent days locked in a chamber with the weapon, anointing it with holy water. After all those many hours of prayer and baptism, the blade had been blessed by the highest powers of God. It was the new secret weapon of the Templar Knights, to be used against all of the heretics that took arms against them. The Holy Spirit had grafted itself to the blade, giving the weapon's wielder more strength than any man living. As with all things, however, there was a price to be paid for such power. William had already accepted that price, and did so gladly. He would pay any price to have this power. With it, he could ensure his order's victory in this holy crusade.
Part of their oath as Templar was that none of their knights would retreat or surrender as long as a flag bearing their red cross was flying on the battlefield. Many of their banners were still swaying in the breeze thanks to William. There wouldn't even be the thought of surrender as long as he was on the battlefield, slaying as many enemies as he could. He would uphold his oath to the very end, and by extension would make sure his sworn brothers did the same, by ensuring their victory with his prowess.
William took off his helm and threw it to the ground in a display of courage. He was even tempted to remove the steel plate armor that protected so many other vulnerable parts of his body. With the Scarlet Sword's influence over his fighting abilities, he didn't exactly need much protection. The sword was the only thing he needed to protect himself. The rest of it might as well have just been for show.
“Face me!” He roared, signaling for nearby enemies to try their hand against him. He pointed the sword to each and every face he saw that wasn't currently engaged in combat. He wanted to see the limits of his holy weapon. What hope did any of these heathens have against a blade blessed by God? “Face me now, you cowards! Earn this holy land! Take it from us! Claim it! Claim it from me!”
His fellow Templar cheered loudly, raising their own swords into the air. His own borrowed power gave them their own kind of power. He inspired them to charge forth without any fear, knowing that they had a sword like his at their sides. They swung their own blades with more fervor and energy than they ever would have had without them, carving a path through their many enemies
with William at the front of their charge. They broke through their lines with ease, and William continued to antagonize the opposing forces.
“Let me send you to God! He will send you to burn! He will send you to the pits! I will show you to him! Who will I send first!? Who is brave enough!?”
Many of his enemies stumbled backward, away from his blade. They didn't know the Scarlet Sword's origins. They must have thought William had just been born as one of the greatest warriors of all time. It didn't matter to William. He didn't care what those heathens believed. The only glory that mattered to him was the glory of God.
“Face me then! Come! Come! Face me! You see my eyes now! Let me see yours!”
A particularly large enemy decided to accept his challenge. He pushed through his own soldiers and then charged at William with a spear. William ran at him head on, since he had nothing to worry about as long as he held the Scarlet Sword. He would easily avoid being skewered and would bring down this lumbering man with little effort. He avoided the spear as expected and cut through the shaft of the spear with one swipe. He didn't account for his enemy's reaction afterward. The man threw his arms out and batted William away, knocking him onto his back.
It was the first time William had been touched throughout the entire battle.
The Scarlet Sword had slipped out of his hands when he'd been hit, and he watched in terror as his enemy pick up his blessed blade. The man took the hilt in his large hand and looked over the gleam of the blade with interest. The Scarlet Sword was drenched in the blood of his fellow soldiers, and now he would turn it against the ones who forged it.
In that moment, William knew that he had lost. It didn't matter what happened next. He'd lost the sword that gave him so much power, and losing that blade was a death sentence. He said a silent prayer to God and waited for the end. He hoped the Almighty would understand when he met him in Heaven.
Order of the Black Sun Box Set 10 Page 18
