He didn't hide his disappointment--or was it relief? "Do you have any idea where I should look?"
Her smile was wry and rueful. "Well, I would say you should talk to Talia, but that would be impossible."
"Talia, the other Priestess? Why?"
"Talia is the Apiary Priestess. She is older than you or I, and comes originally from Clan Cypress, like Mellis."
"Cypress is one of the Clans that Neneva was investigating," Rowan remembered. "Why can't I speak to her?"
"She has taken a vow of silence. She too survived Clan Yew, more or less. She was one of the outcast at the time of the Council's fall. She never reclaimed her voice."
Rowan's heart ached at the thought of the Silent. He remembered few of their faces, except that of Lia, who now led Clan Ash; but they had taken care of him even after he had been the one to arrest and deliver them to the Council for torture. As far as he knew none of the Silent had blamed him, but still, he couldn't imagine what he would say to Talia, or how she would react to meeting him.
"Are she and Mellis friends?" he asked.
"They were acquainted but never close. Talia was a Wanderer for much of her youth, until she and the band she traveled with were attacked by humans. She was the only survivor, but witnessed the murder of her friends as well as her lover. She was brought, I believe, to Clan Oak; perhaps you met. It wasn't more than fifty years ago."
"Wait...has Talia always been her name?"
"No, I don't think so."
Rowan sat back, astounded by the sense of recognition that suddenly hit him. "I remember her. I remember when the Warriors found her barely alive and practically crawling to our territory. She was mostly unhurt, but exhausted and starving, and she barely spoke for months...until I was asked by the Healers to be her Rethla."
Deisa's mouth dropped open. "My goodness."
He nodded, the memory coming fast. "I worked with her for a couple of weeks before she discovered she was pregnant with her lover's child. She returned to Cypress and her family shortly thereafter. The last I heard of her she had a son."
Deisa smiled. "I had no idea you were her Rethla. We owe you a great debt, then. Talia spends most of her time with her bees, and she is the reason they give us so much honey."
Rowan smiled now, through the sadness of knowing what Talia had endured, glad that at the very least she had lived, and now had a safe home. She had survived the loss of two Clans, essentially--the Wanderers were the gypsies of the Elven world, and had in fact traveled with the Romani off and on throughout history, tight-knit family groups distrustful of outsiders but fiercely loyal to each other. It was the Wanderers who brought back fantastic tales of the world beyond the forests, tales that the Bards spun into song. Talia would have many, many stories...perhaps even something that would help him.
He had to find her. He wouldn’t press her for information but at the very least he wanted to see her well.
"Thank you, my lady," he said to Deisa, rising. "I'll let you get back to your work now. If you think of anything at all, please let me know."
"I will. Blessings, Rowan."
"And to you."
He left the Temple, stepping out into another beautiful morning where the sun was already warming the air. Strange how the weather here was so mild for Texas, though the Clan wasn't far enough away from Austin to warrant such a climate change. Come to think of it, few Clans ever had to deal with extreme weather, even those who lived in other countries; he had never really considered that the presence of the Elves might have as much an effect on the ecosystem as the ecosystem had on them.
He ran his hand back through his hair at the thought, wondering if more of it was green today, and set off along the path toward the outer edge of the village where he was pretty sure the hives were kept.
He didn't know much about beekeeping, but he knew that a large portion of the task had to do with keeping the bees safe from weather and predators, and making sure there were plenty of flowers for them to pollinate. Too little food meant the bees would migrate to greener pastures. The Apiary Priestess--always a woman, for reasons he wasn't privy to--worked in tandem with the Gardeners. She also kept the hives clean and harvested and purified the honey, rituals that few ever saw.
Rowan heard the hives long before he saw them; large Clans had half a dozen, but he doubted Clan Willow needed more than two. Honey was precious to his people, always taken in small amounts and only by the Priestess. Most of it was saved for the Beltaine season, but the Healers used some as they had for Sara, and the Bakers kept a stock for other holidays and special occasions. When a household was established the members were gifted with a jar, some of which was offered to Deity at the house blessing ritual.
He left the main path, angling toward the left and into the woods, toward the low hum that grew louder with each step. Now and then a bee or two zipped past him like a tiny helicopter. He was thankful Sara wasn't with him; she was terrified of insects.
Rowan stepped off the path and moved behind a large tree as the clearing came into view. He could sense Talia's presence and didn't want to startle her or her charges.
She moved between the two white wood cabinets, wearing only a sleeveless white shift that was barely visible in the cloud of buzzing striped creatures that surrounded her. Her unbound hair was darker than most of the Clan's, though it was still run through with a dozen colors, including a few strands of yellow. She wore no jewelry, no shoes, and she was as tiny as Deisa was tall.
Bees droned all around her, a hundred or more landing on her at a time, the sight leaving Rowan's stomach a little queasy even though he wasn't afraid of bees in theory. Bee stings were very rare in Elves, mostly because of how highly the little creatures were regarded. Killing a bee was as great a taboo as naming an unborn child.
He wasn't sure what the Priestess was doing, but he watched her, hypnotized, as she lifted the cover off one of the hives and dipped her arm down into the teeming mass of insects. When she drew her hand back, one finger was sticky and golden, and she held it up to the light, inspecting the honey with a critical eye. Nodding to herself, she carefully replaced the lid and went on to repeat the procedure with the second hive.
As she was lidding the hive, she paused and looked back over her shoulder. Just then Rowan heard movement coming from another arm of the path that also ended at the clearing, and another Elf emerged from the forest.
Rowan frowned. What...
Talia stepped gracefully away from the hives, and almost in a single movement the bees fell from her body, returning to their homes and leaving her skin bare, if dusted with pollen.
She smiled.
The second Elf came forward and put his arms around her. "Mother," he said, keeping his voice low. "How are you today?"
Talia stood up on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek. A single bee landed on his ear, and he chuckled, waiting patiently until it flew away to move again. Talia, still smiling, took the Elf's hand and led him away from the hives, toward a small building where she probably processed honey and wax.
Rowan stared after them: Talia, the beekeeper...and her son, Aven.
Part Seven
Lex followed Jason through the labyrinth of identical halls that made up the hive of the Shadow Agency base. He couldn't fathom how anyone learned to navigate the place, and it was starting to make him feel claustrophobic. He thought back to the days he'd spent here, confined to a single room too small to fully open his wings, and was doubly thankful--and wistful--for his aerie and the freedom of the high air.
"Here," Jason said, pausing outside a door. They'd barely spoken since leaving the conference room, but Lex felt the Agent's eyes on him frequently as they walked, and he wondered what Jason was thinking.
The Agent ran his badge over the door lock, and it beeped, the light turning green. "Remember what Ness said," Jason reminded him. "Keep it simple."
Lex nodded, holding back any sort of acerbic retort, and followed the Agent into the room.
Déjà
vu--it could have been the same room where Lex had stayed, adjacent to the infirmary. He knew they were in a different part of the building, but it was identical, down to the desk and chair.
A young man sat on the edge of the bed, reading a Bible, which he looked up from at their entry. He smiled.
"Agent Adams," he said pleasantly. "I must say I'm surprised to..."
The smile faded from his face as he saw whom the vampire had brought.
The boy let the Bible slide out of his lap onto the bed, one hand shaking slightly as he closed the book, and he pushed himself off the bed and onto his knees, face white as a ghost.
Jason rolled his eyes, but Lex pushed past him into the room and went to the boy, saying, "No, no...Joshua, please, don't do that."
Joshua looked up, eyes wide and full of tears. In that moment Lex's senses went into overdrive--and so did the boy's, it seemed. The edges of their thoughts touched lightly, seeking reassurance, and finding it. The human knew, now, what he'd seen was real; the Seraph knew that the boy was most definitely not insane. Somehow it was a vast relief to them both, and Lex smiled.
"I am a servant of the Lord," Joshua said, smiling back.
"Yes, but not of me. I'm not God."
"But you are a child of God," Joshua insisted.
Lex shrugged, chuckled. "We all are, aren't we? That makes us all equals. Now, please, get up. I just want to talk."
The boy nodded and stood, looking a lot like he might pass out, so Lex took his arm to steady him and sat him down on the bed. When he pulled back his hand, Joshua stared at it, swallowing.
"You're real," the boy said, staring. "The last time, I was asleep--it was all a vision. I still had my doubts, even with everything that's happened. But seeing you...the Lord sent you to me, I know He did, to dispel my doubts and help strengthen my faith."
"Joshua..." Lex looked around helplessly for somewhere to sit.
Jason, who had shut the door behind them, took the chair from the corner and, with one quick decisive motion, broke the back off. Lex and Joshua both jumped at the sudden crack of the wood.
Wordlessly, Jason slid the chair toward Lex, dropping the back in the corner. Lex caught Joshua's eye and smiled as he sat, carefully, on what remained of the chair.
"My name is Lex," he said.
"You have a name?"
"Yes. Absolutely."
Joshua studied the Seraph, eyes narrowed, then said, "You aren't the same angel that visited me in my dream."
"No, I'm not. In fact...that's part of why I'm here." Lex had no idea how to approach the news; he knew the boy was emotionally invested in the idea of being chosen by God, but how was he going to feel when he found out what Lex had done?
Best, he supposed, to start at the beginning. "I'm what is called a Seraph," he said. "We're a kind of noncorporeal being that takes over a host body in order to exist on this plane. That means that your angel started out as a human being, an ordinary man, just like I did."
At the word "ordinary," Lex heard Jason snort softly. Lex ignored him and went on.
"We think that the Seraph who came to you was summoned here by someone using a very old ritual, one that dates back centuries. This summoner sacrificed a human to give the Seraph a host body. Then he sent the Seraph to you...and then to me."
Joshua was clearly confused, but he didn't ask any of the obvious questions. "Why to you?"
"He was sent to kill me."
The boy's eyes widened again. "But...why, if you are an angel too?"
"I don't know. He said it was the will of God, but if he was summoned by a human, it was a human's will."
"I don't understand. The angel said..."
"He wasn't an angel," Jason said sharply. "He was a mindless soldier obeying the orders of a murderer. Whatever he wanted with you, Joshua, it had nothing to do with saving the world."
Lex glared at Jason. "Agent 7, if you're going to be belligerent with our guest, I'm going to have to insist you wait outside."
Jason blinked, more shocked than Lex had ever seen him, though whether it was at the ice in Lex's tone or the fact that someone was bossing him around, Lex couldn't tell. The vampire fell silent and looked away.
Joshua was shaking his head. "This can't be. If you knew what I felt when he came to me--how could he awaken my healing gifts if he was just someone's hit man? I felt the presence of God. I knew what he was saying to me was true. How..."
Lex laid a hand on his arm. "Joshua, whatever Agent Adams might believe, and whatever the evidence may prove, you've done nothing wrong. And if you've been given the ability to help people, without asking anything for yourself, well, that sounds like grace to me. Wherever it came from, that doesn't invalidate it. You can still help people. Besides, we don't know everything that happened. I know in my heart there's more at work here than the actions of one man. I was hoping you could tell me more about your angel so that we could get to the bottom of this."
There were tears in the boy's eyes, but he nodded, and after a moment with his face in his hands, he said, "Thank you. I...I don't know what to tell you, really. He looked much like you, except with green eyes, and without..."
They stared at each other and Lex could sense he was searching for words. "He was empty," Joshua finally said, very quietly. "I couldn't feel his soul the way I can everyone else's. I thought it was because I wasn't awake yet, but now I wonder if there was anything there at all. You're very different. More alive. You shine, to my eyes, like moonlight. You feel like a night wind high above the city."
"I asked him who he was," Lex told him. "He either didn't remember or couldn't say."
"You met him? Where is he now?"
Lex took a deep breath. "He came to kill me, Joshua. I had to defend myself."
Joshua put his hand over his mouth, murmuring, "Oh, God."
To his credit, the boy didn't break down; he shut his eyes tightly for a moment, and asked, "Who summoned you?"
"What do you mean?"
"If this...Seraph...was summoned by someone, and took over a human body, doesn't that mean you did too?"
Lex sat back. "I don't know," he said truthfully. "As far as I can remember, the Seraph had always been living in this body, just waiting for the right time to emerge. Then I got sick, and was too weak to withstand the transformation."
"Yes," Joshua said, looking at him again, his eyes slightly out of focus. "Agent Adams saved you, and you changed. So if anyone summoned you, it was years and years ago. Why do that if they could just take someone over whenever they wanted?"
"I don't know. To tell you the truth, I'm as lost in all of this as you are. In a way, I'm glad you're here. Every clue I get tells me more about why this happened to me, and what I'm supposed to be doing now. It could have been someone else entirely who summoned me, and not every Seraph was summoned by a human--we don't know where they came from, just that they were guardians of important people."
"Like me," Joshua said, a bitter note entering his voice.
"Yes, like you. We're going to take care of you. I promise."
A nod, weary. "You'll try."
"We will. Me, the Agency, SA-7--we're going to keep you safe. And we're going to find the truth."
Joshua almost smiled as he glanced over at Jason. "I think SA-7 would prefer not to be included in that number."
Lex rolled his eyes. "He can get over himself," he said pointedly without looking at the vampire. "Sometimes he isn't all that bright."
Now, the boy did smile. "He's smart enough to love you," he replied. "That gives me hope."
*****
Jason waited until they were safely away from the boy's room, where it was unlikely his psychic talent would overhear, before turning to face Lex and hissing, "Don’t ever do that again."
The Seraph’s eyebrows shot up at the venom in the words. "What?"
"You may be some holy being, or you may just be a flying college kid, but here in this base, I outrank you. You're not an Agent, and you don't have any authority to s
ay what we will and won't do--and you sure as hell aren't going to have my balls in front of some crazy zealot who thinks he's Jesus Christ."
Lex stared at him, the edges of his irises turning silver. "I will do exactly what I feel called to do, Agent Adams. Your authority is damn near meaningless to me." The Seraph crossed his arms. "And also? I've about had it with your atheist bullshit. Believe or don't believe whatever you want to, but stop pissing on everyone else who lives for something besides bullets and blowjobs."
Jason started to retort, but Lex kept talking. "That boy isn't crazy and he isn't a zealot. He's an innocent human who was misled by someone who should be your target, but apparently isn't, because you already have someone to pick on. But you know what? If you're going to screw that boy's life up more than it already is, you're going to have to go through me."
Punctuating the last three words, Lex snapped his wings partway open, filling the space in the corridor and blocking out the fluorescent light.
Jason didn't back down, at least not physically, but mentally he quailed--the fierceness in Lex's face, and the swelling power around him, would have cowed any mortal, and most immortals as well. Jason's heart hammered, and he almost went for his gun before remembering that, for one thing, he wasn't armed, and for another, they were supposed to be on the same side.
They stood glaring into each other's eyes, both breathing hard, anger smoldering between them in the air-conditioned hallway.
Between one breath and the next, Jason crossed the few feet between them, seized the Seraph by the shoulders, and flung him back against the wall, his own body crashing into Lex's as their mouths fixed hard to each other's. Lex groaned into his mouth, and Jason could sense a moment of resistance before the Seraph's hands wrapped around his upper arms, wings enfolding them both.
They tore at each other, nails raking along skin, and suddenly there was nothing in the world Jason wanted more--nothing beyond pale silk and ruby-red blood, right here, and to hell with anyone seeing.
The Seraph pushed him back, and for a second Jason was terrified that he was going to call a halt to it, but Lex, breathless, asked, “How close are we to your room?”
The Agency, Volume IV Page 7
