Ascendancy Origins Trilogy

by Bradford Bates

  I started to pack my tools back into my case, and once it was full, I placed it back on the ground by the door. I could tell Sam wasn’t sure about what I was doing. Or maybe he thought in some small way he had gained a victory.

  “I can always get those out again if I need to.”

  I walked over to the chair and started undoing the straps that held him in place. “I’m going to turn around so you can put your clothes back on. If at any time you try and attack me, I will tie you back down and freeze one of your toes off before I even start to ask questions. Then the next questions I ask will be to your daughter.” I had no intention of ever harming a child, but the mental side of torture was so much more important than the physical pain.

  I had never been forced to actually harm an innocent to get information, and often times I did not even need to hurt my subject. Everything I did was cold and calculated to produce a result with the least amount of lasting harm. I could hear Sam buttoning his shirt, so I turned around.

  “Let’s go somewhere a little more comfortable for the both of us.”

  I led him out the door and outside the building we were in. We walked across a small garden that was set up in the middle of our compound to a table set up in the shade of a tree. I called out to one of the guards to bring us a press and some water for coffee. Once the coffee was poured, I looked over at Sam and smiled. Not the executioner’s grin I tried to wear in the interrogation room, but a genuine heartfelt smile. I always preferred to just sit and talk with someone instead of having to cut the truth from them.

  I could tell Sam was still nervous, his hand shaking slightly as he brought the coffee to his lips. I did not want that feeling to go away until we were done. “Sam, I am going to ask you a few questions about some things we want to know about your employers. Then we are going to give you and your family a room for the night here with us. In the morning, we are going to put you on a train anywhere you want to go with enough money to buy new clothes and start a new life somewhere else. We know by helping us you are taking a big risk, but we can’t afford for you not to help us. One way or the other, we need to know what you do.”

  Sam put his cup of coffee down and looked me straight in the eyes. “I’ll answer your questions and take the money to get my family out of here, but do not think for one moment that you are any better than them.”

  I looked at him with pity in my eyes. “That is where you are wrong, Sam. We are better than them. With them, you wouldn’t have even had a chance to talk. You would just be food for the beast.”

  I could see the shock in his face as my words registered with him. He knew deep down that what I had said was true. Sam nodded at me as the full weight of what was happening and what could have happened hit him. “It’s not like we had a choice when they came in and took over. After the first couple of guys spoke out, it wasn’t long before they stopped showing up at work, and their families disappeared. One by one, the next day another person who voiced descent was just gone. We stopped by their houses, and everything they owned was still inside. What else could we have done?”

  Sam looked at me, pleading with his eyes. Wanting me to tell him that what he had done was all right. When I didn’t say anything, he continued. “The hours were better, the money was better, and hell, even the work was easier. We all knew something was wrong, but if anyone talked or stepped out of line, they disappeared. After a while, we didn’t even ask questions anymore. We just came in and left when they told us to. We all reaped the benefits, and none of us ever thought about leaving.”

  Sam looked up at me, and I could see the guilt rolling off of him as he unburdened himself. I nodded to him to keep going. “We all could have left or maybe done something together, but we were scared, and frankly, all of us wanted the money.”

  Sam took another sip of his coffee. It seemed to give him the strength to continue. “Everything we had already grown accustomed to started to change again about six months ago. We were still getting paid but hadn’t had a shipment come through the docks for some time. We mostly sat around the warehouse and played cards. It was a great job: just drink and gamble the day away. We even started to a do a little business on the side. Then he showed up.” I watched Sam visibly shiver.

  “We called him Mr. Frost for two reasons. He had the palest skin we had ever seen. He made some of those Irish lads working for me look real tan. Get it? He also talked to us with zero emotion. It was like as soon as he walked into the room, all the life was sucked out of it. That is when we started to know what real fear was. Before, it had all been speculation. No one had really told us they killed those guys and their families, but we all knew. But Mr. Frost came right out and said it. If we stepped out of line or did anything wrong, the next day, we would be gone. He made sure to tell us what gone would entail for us and our families. He told us that from that day forward, we would work one shipment during the day and one shipment at night. For that, we would earn double our current pay. Mind you, we were already being overpaid for what we did. I’m not going to lie; me and most of the boys let out a little whoop of joy when he said that, but in the back of our minds, we knew it felt wrong. No one pays that much for a bunch of scrubs to move a few boxes around.”

  I looked at Sam and could see he was in the moment. I did not want to interrupt him, but I had to ask. “This Mr. Frost, did you ever see him during the day or only at night?”

  Sam took a second to think about it and then said, “Funny, now that you mention it, he did only come by after hours. Sometimes, darn near right at sunset, but never during the day. Is that important?”

  I waved my hand in a non-committal way and motioned for him to continue his tale.

  Sam looked at me like he was still trying to figure out why I had asked him that question, but he continued to tell me his story anyway. “There really is not that much else to tell. We have been working just as he said, one load during the day and one load at night. We have been working that way pretty much nonstop for the last month or so.”

  I only had a couple more questions for him, and then it would be time to reunite him with his family. “Sam, who was it that paid you at the docks last night?”

  He seemed relieved at the question. “Oh, that was Mr. Rasmuson. We have continued to bring in a few extra loads of cargo on the side since we have so much free time. He just has us moving in a few shipments of liquor for him. Not that we need the extra money, not with what Mr. Frost is paying us, but it would have looked out of place if we just stopped taking his business. Mr. Frost never asked about it, and well, we did not go out of our way to tell him. If you know what I mean.”

  I had to sit back and think about what Sam had told me. I had one more question, but I thought I already knew the answer to it. I was thinking now of how we could get all those workers out of there before Mr. Frost came back. After last night’s attack, I was sure the Fallen would be looking to clean up shop. “Sam, any idea what was in the boxes you moved for Mr. Frost?”

  He looked up at me and answered right away. “No idea.”

  He then seemed to think about it for a minute. “You know what, that isn’t true. There were a couple of times early on when a box or two dropped. One of the boxes we dropped during the day cracked just a bit and a little dirt leaked out of the side. We all thought it was weird to pack a box with dirt, but hey, we weren’t paid to ask questions. Then one night, one of our new guys, Danny, dropped a box, and it broke. I had the guys make a new box and repackaged the contents, but not before we saw Danny swipe a golden cross off the floor. We never saw Danny again, and I told our guys not to talk about it.”

  Just then, a high-pitched squeal broke my thoughts. “Dadddyyyyy!”

  The cutest little girl dove at her father as he stood up, and she wrapped herself tightly around him. I looked up to find Sarah walking across the courtyard toward us with Mrs. Wakefield by her side. Sam looked over at me, obviously not sure what I was going to do now that his daughter was there.

  I gave h
im a smile again. “Thank you for all your help, Mr. Wakefield. We know it has been a great inconvenience for you and your family.”

  He smiled back at me. “Thank you for helping us.”

  I reached out and patted his daughter on the head. “Your dad did a brave thing today, and we are all in his debt.”

  She smiled up at me. “My daddy is the bestest.”

  Sam and I started to laugh just as the women walked up to join us.

  Sarah poked me and asked, “What’s so funny?”

  I laughed again and said, “I’ll tell you later.”

  I called one of the guards over and asked him to take Mr. and Mrs. Wakefield over to their room. Sam reached out and shook my hand, and that was the last time I ever saw him.

  7

  John

  As Sarah and I walked across the courtyard back toward Adam’s office, she glanced over at me. “How are you holding up?”

  I let a weak smile crease my features. “I’m doing okay. Happy that the questioning went the way it did.”

  She reached over and grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze. “Me, too.”

  I had the feeling then that I was the luckiest man in the world. I was not proud of all the things I had done in the name of the Ascendancy. For her to be able to love me in spite of knowing some of the things I’ve done, in spite of what had been done to her family… Sarah was my greatest joy. Without her, the world would be a darker place.

  We made it to Adam’s building, and I realized we had just walked across the entire courtyard holding hands. If it was a secret before, it certainly was not one now. She had found the easiest way in the world to let people know how we felt about each other. One less thing we had to worry about going forward.

  We were going to be considered something of a progressive couple by all accounts. The Gifted and Lycans were still learning how to navigate their tenuous truce, and the idea of a mixed-race relationship wasn’t going to be well received by most. Our actions would be scrutinized, and we had to be sure we set an example, beyond reproach.

  Adam had known for some time that the Lycans would be our best bet as an ally against the Demons. As the head of the Council, he had been trying to restore our relationships with them for over a hundred years. When the Council continued to refuse to budge, he started his own group here in America. Though Adam continued to maintain his leadership seat at the Council table, he’d lost a great deal of his influence since coming to America. The Ascendancy was born from Adam’s vision of both the Lycan and Gifted working together, but the Council had never shared that vision. Sarah and I were two of the Ascendancy’s youngest leaders, and it was up to us to forge a path for others to follow.

  Outside of the Ascendancy, we were looked down upon. The Gifted and the Lycans both shunned us, but neither of them could argue with our continued success. We had killed more Demons and fought more witches than most warriors three times our age. The Ascendancy’s success was unheard of in many ways. We blended the magic of the Gifted with the unmatched physical brutality of the Lycans. Being able to take advantage of our combined strengths while minimizing our individual weaknesses was the strongest part of what the Ascendancy accomplished. Over the last fifty years, we had grown from being at each other’s throats to becoming great friends. The Ascendancy by all accounts was becoming a greater success than ever imagined.

  We were rising in power and influence in the world, which brought us some unwanted attention from those that felt they were being displaced. It was a dangerous line to walk. We had to continue to battle the rising tide of Demons, but we had to do it without making enemies of the Council. Our leaders in the Council were divided on whether anything good could come from dealing with the Lycans, regardless of the success we had. Some had even outright threatened to kill us if we did not stop working with the Lycans. They saw it as a betrayal of our race to muddy our blood with an animal, or for that matter, any of the Pretenders. It was something that would not change quickly, if at all, but it was something we believed in even if it cost us our lives.

  I was snapped out of my thoughts as we reached Adam’s door. He must have been expecting us, because the door was open. But he was deep in thought as he reviewed some documents on his desk. He did not look up as we sat down, which wasn’t entirely unusual. We waited for him to finish whatever it was he was thinking about. I looked over at Sarah to find she was already looking at me. We both blushed a little and looked back toward Adam. Of course, he must have looked up and caught our little interaction, because he had a goofy smile on his face, which was highly unusual for him. He was normally all doom and gloom. More of a do-this-and-do-not-ask-questions-about-why type of guy.

  He made sure to make eye contact with both of us, and then with another look at his papers, proceeded to speak. “Before I get started, can you fill me in on what happened during your interrogation?”

  I spent the next five minutes recounting my conversation with Sam to Sarah and Adam. I ended my report by letting him know what I was thinking about. “I think the best course of action will be for us to head back to the warehouse and see if we can track down this Mr. Frost. Hopefully that will help us get to the bottom of this.”

  Adam slowly nodded his head before speaking. “That is exactly what I was thinking, but this time, I plan on sending a little backup with you just in case. I also have some new information for you. I spent this morning talking to Joseph and then Father Thomas of the Brotherhood. Joseph let me know of the attack he witnessed on the Brotherhood and what he was doing there in the first place. Father Thomas filled in the details of what Joseph had been delivering to them. The father had commissioned a new cross to come in from the holy land. It seems the Fallen have been stealing holy relics from them for some time, and this new cross was meant to replace some of their missing items. We need to find out why they are stealing holy relics. I could not think of any good reason for a Fallen to want them, so it must be important. Go back to the warehouse and get me some answers.”

  Sarah and I both stood up at the same time and made our way out of the office. We headed back to our room to change into our battle gear. Once we had dressed and were ready to go, it was time for a slight detour to the armory. I had my swords in getting sharpened and treated, and Sarah had some new armor to pick up.

  We had commissioned a new set of armor for Sarah from our enchanters. In this new armor, she would be able to wear it in her human form, and it would grow with her into her shifted form. It wasn’t cheap, and it took a ton of trial and error, but they had finally found a way to do it. We had taken it to the armorer to have the color changed from silver to pure black. The blackened armor would be a great benefit for our night missions, and it should be ready just in time for us to test it tonight. It was one thing to see a Lycan charging at you. It was another to see one charging when bullets and swords would just bounce off of them. She could heal almost instantly from most wounds, but the armor offered a small amount of magical protection as well. It would keep Sarah in the battle longer without the need to rest or heal during a fight. We thanked the armorer for our gear and head out to the staging area.

  This time, we were heading back to the warehouse in force. There would be sixteen of us going in. It seemed like a ridiculous number to me. With this many of the Gifted and the Lycan, we could wipe out a small army. The plan was to station some of our Gifted and Lycans around the perimeter, making sure we didn’t get any unwanted surprises. Then the rest of us would head inside to deal with whatever we found. There had to be a nest there or nearby, or else they would not watch it so closely. Our goal was to find it, and hopefully this Mr. Frost, so we could get more information on what was coming.

  Sarah and I waited for dusk with the rest of our soldiers. Then we loaded ourselves into the back of three wagons and started to head out into the city. It would be fully dark by the time we made it to the warehouse. Hopefully, that would encourage our Fallen friends to make another appearance. I could already feel the battle lust
creeping over me. The nervous energy of the battle to come sparked and hummed through my body.

  Sarah hit me in the leg, snapping me back to the present. “Save that energy for the Fallen.”

  We both laughed as I let go of the energy that I’d built up. I always forgot she could tell when I was getting wound up. She told me once it was as if I glowed when I was pulling power into myself. It happened so often that it just felt normal to me. I tended to forget other Gifted had to work at pulling that kind of power in. Some people thought I was showing off when I did it, but for me, it was second nature. Pulling magic into myself was like breathing. It was just something I did when my emotions started to flair.

  8

  John

  We had our tactical plans laid out before we made it to the warehouse. Three teams would guard and patrol the perimeter to make sure we had no unexpected visitors. Three teams would be dispatched to the docks and outside the warehouse buildings. Sarah and I plus the last team would head inside the building we had taken Sam from and start poking around. None of us were sure what to expect, which meant we planned for the worst-case scenario. If all the workers had been enthralled and there was a nest under the warehouse, then we could be in for a hell of a fight. I was hoping it would not come to slaying the workers, but we would if we had to.

  The problem with an enthralled human is they looked and acted totally normal, but at some point, they would have ingested the blood of an elder Fallen. When the Fallen commanded them to do something, they might be able to resist for a little bit, but eventually, they would break down and do whatever they were commanded to do. Over time and multiple commands, the enthralled would eventually not be able to resist any further orders issued by their master. Once the enthralled reached this stage, they would act out the Fallen’s commands without question, even if it led to their death. I would not be surprised if Mr. Frost had purchased a few cases of specially mixed alcohol and slipped it to the workers during their card games. They would have toasted their good luck at a bonus and been none the wiser to what they had ingested. After that and a little time, they would be totally compliant.