Reports also indicated a new threat, as if we did not have enough already. There was an underground marketplace in our city, under the very nose of the Ascendancy. The market’s success undermined the very foundation of what we were building. If the reports could be believed, the things being sold there broke the Accord several times over. Demonic objects, magical ingredients, blood, humans, and weapons were just a few of the things being sold there. The problem was, try as we might, I had yet to have an agent that could worm his way in.
A knock at my door snapped me out of the darker thoughts I had been contemplating. Before answering, I positioned myself back behind my desk to receive my visitors. “Show them in, Henry.”
The office door opened, and Henry ushered in a very clean and refreshed-looking couple. The last time I had seen them, they had been covered from head to toe in blood and some kind of demonic essence. “Thank you, Henry, that will be all.” The door to my office closed, and I turned my attention back to the couple sitting in front of me.
I could already tell that Sarah was doing much better; in fact, she looked to be fully recovered, although her cheekbones and shoulders were still all sharp angles. Nothing some food and rest would not be able to cure over time. It looked as if John had gotten exactly what he had bargained for, and something about that made me worry even more.
While Sarah had come in dressed and looking professional, John was back to his normal, messy self. It looked as though he had just crawled out of bed; his shirt was wrinkled under the vest he wore, and his hair was a disaster. The bags under his eyes let me know that he hadn’t slept as much as he needed to. His desperation to save Sarah had driven him to the point of exhaustion. It seemed I could forgive his sloppy dress, if just for one day. I wished to tell him that the worry he was feeling over her return to health would go away, but I knew that he would be thinking about it daily. Would this be the day the potion wore off? How could you not have dark thoughts when you made a deal with a Demon?
Both of them were now staring intently at me. I had taken too long again in my musing and had made them uncomfortable. It was time to break the ice. “Sarah, how are you feeling?”
She quickly glanced at John, and when her eyes returned to me, they held fire in them. “I am doing better than expected. As far as I know, I am fully recovered. Thank you for asking.”
I was a little taken aback by the formality of her response and her dry tone. “Sarah, I want you to know that I only want what is best for you. Tell me what is eating away at you today?”
She looked down for a moment, and then met my eyes. She was burning with fierce intensity. It was a look that could kill. “How could you force John to make that choice, Adam? To be forced to decide alone if I was going to live or die. It was an impossible burden to place on him, yet if you held my fate, I would be dead now!” Acid and bitterness dripped from her voice as she finished.
In truth, I had not considered all of the repercussions of my actions when I had told John to let Sarah die. At the time, it seemed as though it had been the only logical choice. Had I been surrounded by death for so long, that the thought of someone dying no longer affected me at all? Would this burden that I placed upon them destroy our relationship going forward? Looking back on that moment, I could see just how wrong I had been. Neither of them would be able to live without the other.
Over the years, I had grown a thick skin over my emotions. The people that worked for me had only been pawns in a larger game I was playing against things they would never understand. I had left Europe and come here to try and change things, to change myself. Now I found myself falling into the same old patterns, placing my goals above the lives of others. I felt a sense of joy that John had ignored my warnings and saved her against my wishes. It would take time, but I hoped to become the man they needed me to be.
I had done it again, slipped off into my own little world. Such is the burden of age. Sometimes, you forget how fast the young truly move. Sarah was still staring at me, as though, if she looked hard enough, her gaze could bore right through me. John just looked tired. A great weight had been placed on him, and that would take time to come to grips with.
“I owe both of you an apology. What I did yesterday was wrong. There never should have been any doubt about what course of action to take. I see that now. I was only thinking of the risk these decisions could have on our future, and the risks of not taking them never even entered my thoughts.” There was more to it than that, but the words would not come so easily. If John had left after Sarah died, the Ascendancy might have crumbled into ash. These two were the glue that held us all together, the key to our future, and I had risked that for my pride.
“I know what I am telling you now will not make up for my actions, but I hope with time I can earn your trust again.” I watched them intently as they thought about what I had said. Sarah still had a hard edge to her, but John seemed slightly disinterested in the entire process. He just kept glancing at Sarah to make sure she had gotten whatever she needed out of this meeting. I waited for one of them to speak.
Sarah broke the silence. “I know you care about the Ascendancy, Adam, but it is time that you realized the people in it are what make it special, not its purpose. We are all here because we believe in you and what the Ascendancy is doing. Now it is your turn to believe in us.”
There was no answer for what she had said; I knew that she was right, that I had let them down. I felt tears start to form, and I crushed them and locked them away. There would be a time for that but not now, not while they were here. The people who worked for me were more than pawns; they had a greater purpose than to live or die at my whim. What we had built here together was special, and it was time that I recognized that. We had built it, not I, and the people that worked for me deserved better.
John finally joined the conversation. “I understand what you were trying to do, but I would have never let her die. Even if the deal had required my life to save hers, I would have taken it, and smiled to pay that price.” John looked over at Sarah, and I could see the love that he had for her in his eyes. “So what is our plan now? I carry a debt now that makes me a liability.”
Never had I expected that it would be John that brought us back on track. He was always the one leading our conversations off on wild tangents. “I have spent most of the morning thinking about your contract with the warlock. It only stated that you had to grant it a favor at the time of its choosing. Nothing was said about keeping that favor a secret. As long as you can keep us in the loop, we should be able to minimize any fallout from it.”
For the first time since coming into my office, they both visibly relaxed. I was happy to have been able to put them at ease for the moment. If anything, they deserved a long vacation, but we still had problems that needed to be solved first. This entire experience had only strengthened the bond between them. That bond would need to be strong if these two were the ones the prophecy spoke about.
I pulled myself back from the thoughts of the future. It was time to focus on the here and now. “We will deal with the warlock problem when the time comes. For now, we have a more immediate issue to deal with. We have to find Edward and stop whatever plan he hatched with the Demons.”
When John spoke, I could hear the resignation in his voice. “It’s my fault that he got away. When Sarah did not show up behind him, I knew that something was wrong, and I had to find her.”
That had to be hard for him to say, but it had become apparent through the course of the morning that he had made the right choices. All we could do now was move forward. “When I first heard the news of his escape, I was bitterly disappointed. Edward is the most dangerous Gifted in all of North America.”
John started to speak, but I stilled him with a look. “The fact is you made the right call in the moment. You could not leave your partner in distress. Because of your choices, both of you are alive today. In my opinion, that only makes the Ascendancy stronger.”
John and Sarah both looked relieved. Sarah
reached over and picked up his hand cradling it against her. “Because of the wound from your sword, we should have at least a few days before he can act against us again. The wound you dealt to his pride will ensure that when he attacks next time, there will be nothing held back.”
Sarah gave John’s hand a final squeeze before saying, “Next time, we will be ready for him.”
John nodded and added, “I have taken his measure, and found him wanting. I can beat him again.”
I enjoyed watching them, back to normal, exuding the kind of confidence I would expect from my two finest warriors. I wanted them to be ready for more than they expected. “John, remember when you faced him, his power had been reduced from years in our prison. When he regains access to all of his power, he will be a formidable foe, indeed.”
Both of them bristled across from me. It seemed that I had poked the bear. Together, they should be more than a match for him, but what if he separated them again somehow. I wanted them to leave this office filled with the confidence that they could win. “When both of you work together, you are a greater force than anyone could stand against. Try not to become separated, and play to your strengths. Edward hates the Lycans with a passion. Use that to your advantage. Whatever you do, do not underestimate him. He has forged some kind of bond with the Demons, and it could be affecting him in ways we would never suspect.”
They shared a look with each other, and I could tell that they were already working up a plan. All I had to do now was step out of the way and let them go. “Before you leave, I have one more piece of news to share with you. Father Thomas contacted me and wanted to thank you for aiding in the recovery of the monastery’s lost relics. He said that if you ever need his assistance again to call on him.”
Both of them seemed to brush off what I said. I could see their minds were still too busy working on a plan to defeat Edward. We had a few days to work it out, but what I hadn’t told them yet was that Father Thomas had also sent them a gift. “Henry, can you bring in the package Father Thomas sent.”
Henry appeared in the door, struggling with a box before passing it off to John. He walked out, only to poke his head back in a second later. “Sarah, can you help me with this one? I hate to say it, but it’s a little too heavy for me.”
Sarah got up from her seat. I could tell that she was intrigued to find out what it was. She walked back into the room a moment later carrying a leather-wrapped bundle. I motioned for them to open the packages and then just sat back to see what the father had sent.
John opened his package first; he pulled out a beautiful sword. The blade glowed faintly gold in the light coming in from the window. I could see that silver had been woven into the steel. It was something that our finest enchanters would be hard pressed to match. The blade would be deadly against Demons and Pretenders alike; the Brotherhood’s holy scripture was etched all around the sword. John’s smile only grew wider as he put the sword back into the box and closed the lid.
Sarah unwrapped the leather bundle to reveal something unexpected. It was a custom-forged Katana. The blade held the same soft golden glow as John’s had, and the craftsmanship was superior to anything I had seen in the States. The blade was longer and thicker than a normal Katana; no doubt crafted to stand up to the awesome power Sarah could wield it with in her Lycan form. I wasn’t sure how she would carry it until she shifted. The blade was eight feet in length, and the hilt added another foot and a half. The steel forged with silver was over three inches thick at the base. I knew she had never worked with a sword like this before, but with a little practice, it would make her unstoppable.
The gifts were lavish and more than any of us could have expected. The Brotherhood was not known for their generosity when it came to the steel they crafted. Sending a gift to a Lycan and a Gifted was never done. Father Thomas was proving to be more of an ally than I had expected.
I smiled over at John and Sarah. “It would be nice if you put together a note of thanks for him. I can attach it to the generous donation I will be making to their church. The work they do for the people of this city has not gone unnoticed, and should be rewarded.
“Father Thomas did have some information for us, but you will not be glad to hear it. He told me that his brothers in Europe have confirmed sightings of the vampire Dimitre. It seems that for now, we have missed our chance with him. Something tells me that he won’t stay gone forever.”
I could see the hard looks they both had. Dimitre had been the cause of a lot of our recent suffering, and to have him so far out of reach was troubling. “Together, we can work through anything. I am counting on you to deal with Edward. Until that time comes, I think both of you have earned a few days off. Rest, eat, and take delight in each other’s company. I will call on you when you are needed.”
I did not look up from my desk as they left the office. My mind had already started to work on the next meeting I had scheduled. So much had happened since I had come to America. The world was changing around us faster than we ever thought possible. Learning to embrace the changes was something that was hard for me to do. I was mired in a history of slow progress. The youth that surrounded me kept pushing against my older pragmatism. We needed each other to win the coming war. If we succeeded, we could be entering a new Golden Age, and frankly, that scared the hell out of me.
Epilogue
Mathew
I’d never had the pleasure of being called to a meeting with Adam before. He had obviously heard about the great strides I had made with my studies. Hopefully, my distinction during training had earned me the right to be the first person from my class to go on a mission. So far, I had only been a part of several small-scale battles, but in those, I had been surrounded by my classmates. I was looking forward to getting the chance to stand on my own, to prove what I was truly capable of. It was the next step in becoming one of the Ascended.
Walking into Adam’s inner sanctuary gave me a slight tingle. I had always known I belonged here, meeting with legends, deciding the fate of the world. As I approached his door, a man sitting at a desk to the right of it addressed me.
“Where do you think you are going?”
I faltered for a moment. He had caught me off guard. Pretending as though I hadn’t heard him, I pushed my shoulders back and continued to the door. Unfortunately, it appeared I had given him enough time to get around his desk to block my path.
I tried to move around the man, but he stayed firmly in front of me. “I have an appointment with Adam.”
He pointed behind me to some chairs against the far wall. “I will call you when he is ready to see you.”
My first thought was to challenge him and push my way through. That seemed slightly ill advised, because Adam had obviously put some confidence in the man. I also would hate to make a bad first impression on the first of what was likely to be many trips to his office. It still irked me that this man thought he could get in my way. Who did he think he was, anyway? Without saying a word, I squared my shoulders and walked to the chairs he had indicated previously.
The man pulled at the bottom of his vest in a nervous gesture. “What is your name?”
I sized him up again, not caring at all for the way he looked at me. It’s too bad that he worked this close to Adam. I would have enjoyed wiping that look off of his face. “My name is Mathew Zaget. Adam sent for me.” I pulled the notice I had received from my pocket and waved it in the air.
He looked thoroughly unimpressed, unlike all of the men I had been training with that morning. “I am Henry, Adam’s personal assistant. In the future when you arrive in this office, you will come to my desk and check in with me before being seated. At present, Adam is in another meeting and cannot be disturbed.”
A slight thrust of my chin was all I gave to the man. That should be enough to let him know that I had heard what he said. The anger continued to build inside of me, still amazed that this man had treated me in such an undignified manner. A puffed up secretary. A man doing a woman’s work
. Pushing hard, I was able to suppress the rage enough to keep my face expressionless.
Upon hearing someone call for him from the office, Henry jumped to his feet and opened Adam’s door. Finally, now we were getting somewhere. He did not look in my direction. Returning to his desk, he started to struggle with a wooden box. Somehow, he managed to get it into the office without dropping it, the lazy oaf. I thought for a moment about helping him with the next package. Instead, I just sat back and enjoyed the show. When he couldn’t move it himself, he popped his head back into the office and was followed out by the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.
Could that really be Sarah Atsidii? The rumor around the base yesterday had been that she was lying on her deathbed. Watching her walk over to the large, leather-wrapped bundle, she looked fine to me, in fact better than fine. Putting her looks aside, which was hard for me to do, it was an honor to see her. She was the most decorated Lycan on our base and head of the pack here. She carried herself like a leader, a quiet confidence, but her body was always slightly tense as if she was ready to spring into action. A true killer.
I received a quick look from her, before I was dismissed as a non-threat. Before I could think to say anything, she was gone and the door was closed. I was left with a faint smell of flowers, and the pleasant image of her looking in my direction was etched into my mind. I had only been able to see her for a few moments, but now I knew what all the fuss was about. Her strong Native American features, accented by her waist-length, black hair. She hadn’t been what I expected. She was even better.
I was startled out of my daydream by a small cough. I looked up and caught Henry staring at me. The little cough had been a designed ploy to get me to look up and meet his eye. I looked away from him as soon as I could; I had been busted thinking of one of the most dangerous women on the planet in a not so flattering way. I knew it, and he knew it. There really wasn’t anything to say. I crossed one leg over my knee and decided to spend the time until my meeting staring at the wall.
Ascendancy Origins Trilogy Page 23
