Velos raised an arm, causing a section of the cloud of black energy to rise behind him. If Cade really was back there, he had just lost his chance at a second shot.
“I agree,” I said, observing the black nimbus fight the rift energy—and fail. “Doesn’t look like your sword is dealing well with that wound.”
“This is just a scratch,” Velos said with a grunt that made it clear he was lying. “I will eliminate your gunman once I’m done with you. Perhaps I’ll end his pitiful life with Perdition—that would be a fitting end.”
“Sepia, get away from him,” Calisto said. “He’s too dangerous.”
“That’s why I have to stop him,” I said. “He’s too dangerous to live. I’m going to end him, here and now.”
“You’re going to end me?” Velos mocked. “You have an overinflated estimate of your abilities. I’ve killed two Hunters. Adding one more will be simplicity itself.”
“You just made your first and last mistake,” I said.
“Really?” Velos asked, unleashing more of his black nimbus around us. “Do share.”
“You think I’m a Hunter.”
I closed the distance with a thrust to his chest. He parried with Retribution, but it was sloppy. He wasn’t used to fighting with his off-hand. I needed to capitalize on this advantage before he healed. The green energy in his wound was still somewhat visible, but I could see it diminishing.
I was running out of time.
I slid to the side, and right into a pocket of his energy nimbus.
“Like I said,” I heard him say as the black cloud closed in on me. “Simplicity itself.”
“You think you’ve won?” I said, letting the rage loose inside. “If you think I’m going to allow you to kill more Hunters—you…are…mistaken.”
I slammed Perdition into the ground with a roar. Green light exploded from my blade, shredding the black nimbus around me and dispersing it.
“How did you…?” Velos began as he backpedaled. “Impossible.”
I moved, faster than I had ever moved in my life. I drove a fist into his chest, launching him across the grass. More tendrils of black energy shot my way, and I sliced through them with Perdition as I closed on him. I missed the tendril behind me as he motioned with a swing of his arm.
The tendril punched into my back, knocking me off balance. The look of shock on his face told me that was not the desired effect he was looking for.
He raced at me with Retribution at his side.
I quickly regained my balance and reached inward for the cold of Perdition. Green flames erupted around my body, engulfing me and my sword, as a calm descended over me.
“Submit, Velos,” I said as my voice reverberated throughout the Park with deeper undertones. “I promise to make your end swift and painless—a mercy you do not deserve.”
“Die, you bitch!” Velos screamed, thrusting forward with Retribution as he tried to surround me with black energy again. “I will have my Retribution!”
I stepped in, dodging his attack and slashing downward, bringing Perdition down on his sword hand, and removing it from his body. Retribution vanished from sight. His scream filled the Park as he formed his blade again and grabbed his severed hand from the ground. I sidestepped around, ending up behind him. I wrapped an arm around his neck and pulled him close to me in chokehold.
He struggled but couldn’t break free. I was too strong for him.
“You should have been focused on me, Velos,” I whispered into his ear, my voice still blended with a deep bass tone. “This is for Cesca and Red Jen.”
Velos started laughing.
“You think I’m the threat you face?” he asked. “Death is coming for you, Sepia. For everyone you love and everything you cherish in your life. Chimera is coming and he wields the Nameless.”
“No, Sepia!” Calisto called out. “Not like this. Don’t do this. Don’t surrender to the darkness of the blade.”
I turned to focus on Calisto as Velos broke my grip.
He plunged Retribution into his abdomen with a grunt as black tendrils shot out from the sword and arced back into his body. I took several steps back.
“What the hell?”
“Hell,” Velos said, “is exactly where I’m sending you.”
I held Perdition in front of me in a defensive stance. The black energy completely covered Velos’ body as he fell to his knees. More black tendrils shot out, but I held my ground.
“Calisto?” I asked without looking away. “What did he do?”
“You need to get back in the circle, now,” Calisto said. “He merged with the sword. That’s not Velos any longer. It’s a shell for Retribution.”
“I have to stop him—it,” I said. “If he gets out of the Park—”
“You’re not strong enough to stop that,” Calisto said. “Get back into the circle.”
“Maybe not alone,” I said. “But I’m not letting this thing get away.”
I ran over to Velos-Retribution and buried Perdition in his chest. The green flames that surrounded my body engulfed Velos.
He screamed and clawed at Perdition.
Cade, if you’re really out there, a headshot would be perfect right about now.
Velos got to his feet and grabbed the blade of Perdition, pulling himself forward along its length.
“I told you,” Velos hissed, his face inches away from mine. “I’m taking you to hell with—”
He never finished his sentence as his head exploded in a burst of green energy. Velos slumped forward, sliding off Perdition as the nimbus of black energy coalesced around him, forming Retribution on the ground beside his corpse.
I looked in the distance and saw my gunman.
I bent over and made to pick up Retribution.
“No!” Calisto said, unleashing a blast of white energy at me. “Don’t touch that!”
The blast caught me off-guard and catapulted me away from Velos and the dark blade. I sailed through the air, wondering, Why didn’t she unleash all this energy when I was facing off against Velos?
I turned in time to see the ground rush up and punch me solidly in the face.
Everything after that was darkness.
THIRTY-ONE
I opened my eyes and saw one of Mercy’s blue drinks of death on the side table next to me. Drinking that poison was the last thing I was going to attempt in my lifetime. I looked around and found myself in a state-of-the-art medical room. This was a world away from the stone rooms of the Hunter’s Keep.
“You’re going to have to drink it, Blueberry. Even if it tastes like warmed-over vomit.”
It was Gan.
He was sitting in a chair just out of sight and stepped into my view as I tried to turn toward his voice. He wore a loose-fitting robe and looked a little worn, like he hadn’t slept in days.
“How long have I been out?”
“Not too long,” he answered. “How do you feel?”
“Like someone decided to use my head as a punching bag.”
He pointed to the glass holding the blue concoction of pain.
“That should help.”
“Is that really you?” I asked. “Or am I having a really lucid nightmare?”
“Ouch,” Gan said, stepping close and clasping my hand. “It’s really me, and you still have to drink that thing. Don’t even think of trying to get out of it.”
“What happened? Where am I? This isn’t the Keep.”
“This is a Sisters Med Station,” Gan said, looking around. “The Park is not conducive to your well-being right now, and Anna insisted.”
“She can be pretty convincing.”
“That, and you’re technically still a Sister,” Gan said. “Something she wanted to make sure was clear to all parties involved.”
“Retribution,” I said with a start. “It’s still out there in the Park. If the Unholy get it, we need—”
I made to get out of the hospital bed.
“You need to recover,” Gan said, pushing me back into the bed.
“We have the dark blade. Calisto tells me you tried to grab it?”
“I couldn’t leave it out there,” I said. “Not after what it did to Velos. It was too dangerous.”
“Did you stop to consider what it would’ve done to you?”
“To me? What do you mean?”
“This is why the dark blades were removed from action,” Gan said, looking away. “Prolonged use of a dark blade turned the first Hunters to use them. Eventually, they succumbed to the power and were transformed into—”
“Unholy?” I asked. “Is that what happened?”
“No, not entirely,” Gan said, looking at me again. “The Unholy are products of overexposure to the rift energy. The dark blades were catalysts, at first. Some of them, though…”
“Chimera?”
Gan nodded.
“Chimera is a different case,” he said. “He’s a bit more complicated.”
“He has the Nameless,” I said. “Velos told me.”
“I wouldn’t place much trust in the words of that madman.”
“You know it’s true,” I said. “I have to stop him.”
“You can’t. If you try to face him now, he’ll end you.”
“If I don’t, he’ll end everything,” I told him. “He wants to destroy the wards and free the Unholy.”
“That’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
“What?” I said, confused. “You’re going to do what?”
“Chimera wants a war,” Gan said. “We’re going to give him a war to end all wars.”
“You’re going to free the Unholy? Are you insane?”
“It’s the only way to end this threat once and for all,” Gan said. “We give them what they want—freedom.”
“What about, oh, the rest of humanity?”
“Let us worry about that,” Gan said, patting me on the shoulder. “Drink your medicine and recover.”
“You just told me we’re going to war, and you want me to lay down and recover?”
“I expect you to make a full recovery,” Gan answered with an edge. “If you don’t, Mercy will not discharge you. Even I can’t help you there.”
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“Pretty much everything of relevance,” Gan said with a small smile. “Rest, Blueberry. We’re going to need the Jade Demon.”
He walked out of the room and left me alone with my thoughts.
THE END
Author Notes
Thank you for reading this story and jumping back into the Sepia Blue World.
It’s been four years since the last Sepia Blue book was released (Sepia Blue Nightmare Nov. 2016). I want to express my deepest and most humble thanks to all the Sepia Blue readers who waited patiently for this book to be written. I truly apologize for M&S hijacking my brain in the middle of Sepia’s series and pushing me to write their stories as Sepia waited patiently.
It was quite a process coming back to this story after such a long break. I had to do plenty of research, and realized I had grown and changed as a writer. The author Orlando who wrote the initial 3 books is not the same author who sits before you today. I’d like to think I’ve learned a bit in four years, and have been able to write a better story.
I had a few concerns, Sepia is written in third person mostly, unless it was Sepia’s chapter and that was challenging. I’m fairly comfortable writing in first person these days, it seems more natural to me, and I enjoy having the reader get close to the main character during the story.
For the next, and final Sepia book, I have been considering writing it in first person, since it’s the culmination of her story. We’ll see, it’s an idea I have been tossing around. In either case, I will do my best to tell the best story I can.
Jumping back into Sepia’s world was like visiting a foreign country. I had to do my homework, relearn how everything her world works, what motivated her and the Unholy and the rest of the characters in her world. Thankfully, it was all in my brain (and notes) and didn’t require too much jogging of the braincell.
Initially, the beginning was a bit of an uphill trek, (a four year pause will do that) but over the days, the story started to flow and Sepia & Crew began to get easier to write.
The next Sepia Blue book, Sepia Blue-DEMON will be written later this year. I don’t suggest taking long breaks between books, I’ve learned that the process of a series has a certain sense of immediacy to it. I’ve made a concerted effort to complete the short trilogies when I can and maintain my main series current whenever possible.
I want to take this moment to once again express my thanks to those of you that first discovered me through Sepia and stayed with me as I wrote everything else but Sepia. I truly hope this story is worthy of your incredible patience regarding her story.
I look forward to hearing from all of you.
Thank you again for jumping into this adventure with me!
Special Mentions
Larry & Tammy—The WOUF: Because even when you aren’t there…you’re there.
To all of the original Sepia Blue Readers: Thank you for your immense patience. I promise the next book won’t take four years…promise.
Orlando A. Sanchez
www.orlandoasanchez.com
Orlando has been writing ever since his teens when he was immersed in creating scenarios for playing Dungeons and Dragons with his friends every weekend.
The worlds of his books are urban settings with a twist of the paranormal lurking just behind the scenes and with generous doses of magic, martial arts, and mayhem.
He currently resides in Queens, NY with his wife and children.
Bitten Peaches Publishing
Thanks for Reading
If you enjoyed this book, would you please leave a review at the site you purchased it from? It doesn’t have to be long… just a line or two would be fantastic and it would really help me out.
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More books by Orlando A. Sanchez
The Warriors of the Way
The Karashihan*•The Spiritual Warriors•The Ascendants•The Fallen Warrior•The Warrior Ascendant•The Master Warrior
John Kane
The Deepest Cut*•Blur
Sepia Blue
The Last Dance*•Rise of the Night•Sisters•Nightmare•Nameless•Demon
Chronicles of the Modern Mystics
The Dark Flame•A Dream of Ashes
Montague & Strong Detective Agency Novels
Tombyards & Butterflies•Full Moon Howl•Blood is Thicker•Silver Clouds Dirty Sky•Homecoming•Dragons & Demigods•Bullets & Blades•Hell Hath No Fury•Reaping Wind•The Golem•Dark Glass•Walking the Razor
Montague & Strong Detective Agency Stories
No God is Safe•The Date•The War Mage•A Proper Hellhound•The Perfect Cup•Saving Mr. K
Brew & Chew Adventures
Hellhound Blues
Night Warden Novels
Wander•ShadowStrut
Division 13
The Operative•The Magekiller
Blackjack Chronicles
The Dread Warlock
The Assassin’s Apprentice
The Birth of Death
Gideon Shepherd Thrillers
Sheepdog
DAMNED
Aftermath
RULE OF THE COUNCIL
Blood Ascension•Blood Betrayal•Blood Rule
NYXIA WHITE
They Bite•They Rend•They Kill
*Books denoted with an asterisk are FREE via my website—www.orlandoasanchez.com
Acknowledgments
With each book, I realize that every time I learn something about this craft, it highlights so many things I still have to learn. Each book, each creative expression, has a large group of people behind it.
This book is no different.
Even though you see one name on the cover, it is with the knowledge that I am standing on the shoulders of the literary giants that informed my youth, and am supported by my generous readers who give of their time to jump into the adventures of my overactive imagination.
I would like to take a moment to express my most sincere thanks:
To Dolly: My wife and greatest support. You make all this possible each and every day. You keep me grounded when I get lost in the forest of ideas. Thank you for asking the right questions when needed, and listening intently when I go off on tangents. Thank you for who you are and the space you create—I love you.
To my Tribe: You are the reason I have stories to tell. You cannot possibly fathom how much and how deeply I love you all.
To Lee: Because you were the first audience I ever had. I love you, sis.
To the Logsdon Family: The words thank you are insufficient to describe the gratitude in my heart for each of you. JL, your support always demands I bring my best, my A-game, and produce the best story I can. Both you and Lorelei (my Uber Jeditor), and now, Audrey, are the reason I am where I am today. My thank you for the notes, challenges, corrections, advice, and laughter. Your patience is truly infinite. Arigatogozaimasu.
To the Montague & Strong Case Files Group—AKA the MoB (Mages of Badassery): When I wrote T&B there were fifty-five members in the MoB. As of this release, there are over one thousand three hundred members in the MoB. I am honored to be able to call you my MoB Family. Thank you for being part of this group and M&S.
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