Valor: The Custos Saga

by Jessica Tastet

  His dinner partner on the other hand was the Vindica council leach, and Rex suspected he wouldn’t be missed much. Larkin Luke desired to be on the council, yet he’d never reach that destination. He’d gained support among those who feared certainly, but little else. He could serve a purpose in the future, so Rex allowed him to work his oily skills among the people.

  Frederick stood to leave as Larkin Luke answered his cell phone. His head was down so he didn’t notice Rex standing, waiting for him, until he’d turned left in the direction of Landon House.

  He stopped moving and his face darkened.

  Rex grinned. “Relax, I haven’t come to kill you. With your lack of attention, I could have done that already.”

  “Even you wouldn’t dare this close to Landon House and on the street.”

  Rex straightened. “Risks are taken during war.”

  “What do you want?”

  Frederick’s voice was harsh and impatient, but his quick glance at the front of Landon House hinted at something else.

  Rex shrugged. “I have a message to deliver. I thought you’d be the best candidate to receive it.”

  Frederick lit a cigarette. Rex could tell it was anger scorching through him right now. He wanted so much to inflict pain on Rex.

  “Have you decided to surrender?”

  Rex smiled. “No, just to let you know that if you name Valor tomorrow night, the girls will stop being killed.”

  Frederick’s eyes narrowed, and he flicked the cigarette from his fingers. “We don’t make deals with you.”

  Rex rocked back on his heels. Sometimes he had to remind himself that his abilities didn’t help in the long run, though it would make him feel better to strangle him with just a flick of his mind.

  “No deal,” Rex said. “Just a fair warning between adversaries.”

  “Frederick,” Larkin Luke called coming out the restaurant doors. “Reginald will be here.”

  Larkin glanced toward Rex finally and paled.

  “Luke.” Rex nodded. “I’m sure you’ll make sure Valor is named tomorrow night. I’d hate for you to have had the opportunity to save those poor girls and not have taken it.”

  Luke looked to Frederick, who now glared at Rex with such fierce intensity that Rex could imagine their battle on Charters Street.

  Rex tipped his head. “Good evening, gentlemen. I look forward to our next meeting.”

  Rex turned and rounded the corner. He felt particularly satisfied, as that had worked better than planned. It would take Frederick time to take action, but Luke would have the news around the Vindica. Fear was an excellent tool in pushing the Vindica into a decision, although some still possessed courage like Frederick.

  Rex liked to respect his adversary, and Frederick was courageous and intelligent. Two great qualities that deserved recognition.

  Twenty-Eight

  The noise below roared as though they sat on top of an engine. Angelica pulled the cloak around her middle tighter.

  “I think the Vindica could use a fashion designer.”

  Gabney laughed. “It’s just a cloak. The inner circle wear red and the rest of us wear purple. If you’re named Valor tonight, you can change the fashion.”

  Angelica sneaked a peek at Gabney to assess that she wasn’t serious. Angelica was worried about that detail now, and she’d rather it not be spoken aloud.

  “Hey, do you think Serena will be named Valor tonight?”

  Gabney grimaced. “Lord, I hope not.”

  Angelica laughed, and Gabney’s eyes widened.

  “I didn’t mean that… she’s worked for it for the last five years. It’s been her obsession. She thinks it will happen tonight. It is her birthday, after all.”

  “Yes, but I’m sure you meant what you said before, too.”

  Gabney laughed. “Don’t tell her that. She may lock me in my room again or make me think my bedroom is haunted like last year.”

  Okay, so Serena was meaner than Angelica had given her credit for.

  Lysander opened the door. “Are you two ready?”

  Gabney eased out of her center seat among her books spread across her bed. “The Vindica could have scheduled this around my midterms.”

  “We can control the full moon?” Angelica asked, smiling.

  Gabney attempted to frown but ended up laughing anyway. “I suppose not. Let’s hope it’s quick so I don’t have to repeat this anatomy class.”

  Lysander reached out and grasped Angelica’s arm as she passed him. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

  Angelica looked up. She tingled from the intensity of his gaze. “What? Are we dancing naked under the full moon?”

  Gabney called back as she reached the stairs. “We save nudity for All Hallow’s Eve.”

  Angelica blanched, wondering if this was true, until she heard Gabney’s laughter bubbling up the stairs.

  “I’m serious,” Lysander said. “What will you do if the ceremony names you?”

  “I’ll pretend I wasn’t called.” Angelica grinned, but his eyes darkened.

  She reached out and touched his arm. “I’ll do what I need to, but I’m not Valor.”

  The crinkles at his eyes softened. “Good, I’ll meet you outside. I need to get something upstairs for Landon.”

  Angelica smiled and went down the stairs. She was excited about the ceremony. Witnessing an old Vindica ceremony appealed to the side of her that was searching for the truth behind this organization. The possibility of being named Valor only put a small damper on her interest.

  It wasn’t that she didn’t think she could do the job, but a month ago her biggest problem was studying for an exam and heading into a career she didn’t want. A week ago she set out to find out about her mother’s past and therefore her own history. Being Valor felt like a derailment of her plan since she’d pretended to be someone else and no one had divulged any information yet.

  At the bottom of the staircase, she stopped as two voices rose from the tearoom. The bottom floor had emptied. Angelica supposed they’d gone outside for the ritual.

  A nasally, high pitched voice whined. “Benjamin will not allow it. We cannot name Valor tonight.”

  “So we watch more die.” A deep, anger-filled voice replied.

  Angelica eyed the corner she’d have to turn and judged weather she could make it without being spotted. The size of the opening meant probably not.

  Nasal voice said, “It is only you and I here, we do not have the authority, and we do not want to give into him.”

  “So we’ll die for him.”

  A gentleman hurried out the room, and Angelica’s body heat raised a notch. He nodded toward her and rushed passed.

  Angelica took the last step down the stairs and nearly collided with gentleman number two.

  “Excuse me,” she said automatically.

  “I apologize.” He nodded, studying her. “Why aren’t you outside?”

  “I was on my way.” She smiled and tilted her head. “I didn’t want to interrupt, but then I didn’t want to eavesdrop. Quite the conundrum.”

  He smiled, but still studied her. “I don’t believe we’ve met.”

  “Angelica Acacia,” she said, holding her hand out. She didn’t even flinch anymore. She’d practiced.

  “John’s mentioned you.” He studied her. Angelica felt him trying to peer into her mind, see who she was. “We’ll talk later. Right now we have a ceremony to get to.”

  A deep earth smell filled the room, and Angelica looked around for a source. She couldn’t see any.

  She stepped toward the back hall, and he followed. The nearer they came to the back door, the stronger the smell filled each cavity of her body. It must be coming from the ritual.

  She opened the back door, blinking against the contrast between the heavy darkness and the shooting flame from an open fire pit.

  Seven red cloaks in the center caught her attention, and the intoxicating smell from an iron bowl consumed her. A strange beating swept throu
gh her, vibrating her body, but the mumbling from the circle entranced her.

  She focused in on their chanting, their faces flickering in the licking fire. She tried to make out the words, but it sounded foreign, ancient, not a language she recognized.

  She came back from the chant and stared into the eyes of a hunched man in a tattered cloak. She stepped back, glancing around the inner circle where she now stood. She didn’t remember walking here. Her breath caught as the man’s eyes rolled white, and his jerking hand grabbed an altar knife. Angelica leaned her head back as the knife pushed against her throat.

  His eyes rolled brown then white. Numbness swept through her and then a slow current twitched through her spine.

  Someone was controlling him.

  Strong arms wrapped around her middle, jerking her back. The brown of his eyes flickered back briefly and fear overflowed. His eyes watered as he strained his body to look around for his puppet master.

  She saw it coming. She yanked against the arms restraining her as his eyes rolled white again.

  His hand gripping the knife plunged into his abdomen as Angelica fought free.

  Screams came from far away as deep burgundy grew across the middle of his red cloak.

  His brown eyes widened, terror twitching through his arms and legs.

  Angelica lunged forward, and he fell into her. Gabney appeared beside her, helping to ease him to the patio stones. Thick, stickiness clung to Angelica’s hands. She avoided looking at it, knowing what clung to her flesh. His eyes stared into hers and his lips trembled. She could feel him trying to reach her, but she clung to the curtain separating their thoughts.

  Others jostled her from behind, and she was pushed aside. He coughed as his lips moved without sound. Jack tended to him as Angelica closed her eyes.

  She felt him slip away.

  Gabney cried out, and Angelica opened her eyes, searching her face. Gabney had felt him slip away. How?

  Jack turned on her, purple vein throbbing across his temple. “You are responsible for this.” He raised his head high and met the eyes of the crowd. “I demand punishment for this crime.”

  John Landon was suddenly in the middle. “Everyone needs to remain calm until we know what occurred here.”

  Angelica mumbled as she looked back down at the man again, his face frozen in pain. “He was being controlled by someone here. He couldn’t fight them off.”

  A skinny robe broke away from the circle. Angelica’s insides cringed as Serena’s voice scratched her ears. “This may not be Angelica’s fault, but if she were Valor she’d have been able to prevent this from happening. She’s a fraud at least.”

  Even with a man dead in front of them, Serena could still find a way to steer herself toward being Valor.

  A low hum vibrated through the crowds as the crowd glared at her.

  Jack met the eyes of the crowd again. “I said she was dangerous. Now one of us is dead because our mighty John Landon chooses to trust the wrong person again. When will you believe me? Must any more of us die?”

  Silence swept through the crowd. Some stared unabashed, mouths open.

  Jack had gone too far.

  But then the mood shifted. Their thoughts became frenzied. No one knew who she was. They couldn’t trust her.

  Angelica began to tremble, and she felt her control loosening. Screams and pleas bubbled inside of her, threatening to suffocate her. Failure. She’d failed Lily again.

  “I never claimed to be Valor.” Angelica looked to Landon, whose face was purple with anger. “I never said I wanted to be. I just want to find out what happened to my mother.”

  Landon reached out to grip her shoulder. “We’re all emotional right now. We need to handle the immediate situation and deal with this issue when we’ve calmed down.”

  “Why?” Serena asked. “Why do you keep letting her get away with things?”

  Anger burst though the numbness, and she shrugged Landon’s hand away. “What is wrong with you? Why must I keep defending myself to you?”

  Serena sneered. “You’ve never proved yourself to us in the first place.”

  Something exploded inside Angelica’s head, and Serena rose in the air before her. The crowd gasped, but they felt so far away from Angelica.

  “You want what I have. It burns you with jealousy. Do you feel the death of each Vindica member? I do. I experience each death with them. If you want all the glory, you must also taste the suffering.”

  Angelica lunged out and grabbed Serena’s arm. A shock ran through Angelica’s arm, but she held on.

  Each death traveled on a pulse through her touch. The young woman in the alley. The fortune teller’s assistant. Lewis on the stakes of the courtyard, and finally Lily’s death. Lily reaching out with outstretched arms to get away and then screaming in agony.

  Angelica pulled back before the other deaths transferred, feeling her anger and energy draining.

  “In order to be strong enough to protect them, you need to be able to watch them die. Are you ready for the real responsibility of Valor?”

  Serena sobbed, putting her face in her trembling hands. “It’s not fair. It’s not fair.”

  Seven deaths, now eight. Eight deaths she’d not prevented.

  Angelica searched his crumpled body. No sign of life. Eight deaths on her. Her fault.

  Angelica stumbled backwards. She couldn’t breath. Her chest squeezed in on itself. Was this what a panic attack felt like?

  The crowd moved away from her as she scrambled toward the kitchen door. She needed to quiet the screams from all those deaths in her head. She needed their voices out. Her chest felt as though it would explode.

  She yanked the cloak off as she made it to the front door. She discarded it onto the floor, and threw the front door open telekinetically and slammed it behind her as she emerged onto the front sidewalk.

  The wind stung her face as she turned left toward the Mississippi river. The stinging gave way to numbness, and it began to travel through her, and the bad thoughts retreated.

  It was reckless to walk alone at night. She knew this.

  She continued her trek to the deep, muddy Mississippi.

  Twenty-Nine

  With a flick of his wrist, Rex silenced the bell’s jangle as he pushed the door open. Even with the stealthiness of his entrance, Madame Lulu looked up from the book behind the counter and looked straight at him.

  “Simone, go upstairs.”

  Her granddaughter emerged from the aisle. “I’m not finished the shelves yet.”

  “Tomorrow, Love.” Madame Lulu glared at Rex. He avoided angering Madame Lulu out of past experience. She possessed different abilities, which made her an unknown threat, and she’d built a reputation around this. Still, her skills could serve some use to him, and at times like this, the risk was worth it.

  Simone stared at him. Neither fear nor surprise shadowed her expression. Rex hadn’t paid much attention to her, but he glimpsed the potential now in her glare. He’d remember this for later.

  Her boots stomped off toward a back room, and Madame Lulu waited until a door slammed from the back before she heaved herself up from her bar stool.

  “I suppose you have a real good reason for dropping in on me after I’ve told you to leave my family out of your business.”

  “Sometimes you and I have the same business.”

  She regarded him with an intense fierceness that had certainly been a reason for her earning her reputation as a scary lady.

  She brought her arms across her chest. “What do you want with me today?”

  “There are those that say we are in the middle of a prophecy. The Reckoning.”

  Madame Lulu nodded affirmation.

  Rex grabbed a dried chicken foot from the shelf in front of him. Such odd objects to believe power could be derived. “Fear runs rampant at times like this however. People spread word based on fear instead of real visions. And even with these supposed glimpses into the future, no one knows what will cause The Re
ckoning. It’s all speculation at this point.”

  “What are you getting at?” Madame Lulu’s chin rose and the wrinkles at her eyes softened.

  “How many times has the end of the world been foretold? The end of us? Every time the prophetic ones have been wrong. Are they wrong now?”

  Madame Lulu studied him a moment, her big lips pursued tightly together. “You want to know if I’ve seen it?”

  “That,” Rex said, putting the chicken leg back into its place. “And how to stop it from coming to pass.”

  “Why?” Madame Lulu asked, glaring at him.

  “What would be the benefit to me for war to come and end our people or end the world as we know it?”

  “I figured you might have had something all planned out for when that happened.”

  Rex shook his head. “What I want is for our people to come together and return to the strength we once possessed. My methods may not be agreeable to all, but I have the interest of our people in mind.”

  “Your people aren’t interested in dead girls.”

  Rex nodded. People seldom understood sacrifice. Sometimes achieving goals required difficult decisions.

  “But still, if you could do something to stop the Reckoning, wouldn’t you want to know you’ve done all you can?”

  Madame Lulu studied him for a long time. He could feel the seconds ticking off as she contemplated what she would say, what she’d hold back. His abilities were powerless against such a powerful seer, so he must wait and depend on her generosity.

  Madame Lulu walked around the counter and pulled a rolled up parchment from somewhere deep in the bowels of the counter.

  “If you’d ever honed your skills of foretelling, you would know that premonition isn’t that simple. Several versions of the future exist at this moment; many have disappeared as choices have been made. Because no matter what your seer has said, people still possess free will. With each decision made since fear took hold…” At this, she glared at Rex reproachfully, “a noose has tightened on the future. If you want to change Rosemary’s prophecy, you need to consider carefully each decision that is made.”