Valor: The Custos Saga

by Jessica Tastet

  Simone glared at him. “You will make an enemy of Madame Lulu and our people.”

  Rex motioned to the men holding Arneaux, and they forced him back in the storeroom. The echo of fist hitting ribs reached their ears.

  “Soon we will all know a common enemy and alliances will be formed for survival. Madame Lulu has always understood the value of a truce.”

  Simone struggled as the soldiers moved her forward. “What about your son? How will he be as your enemy?”

  Rex smiled. “He made himself my adversary. All is fair in war. He knows this.”

  She glared at him without response.

  “Now sleep,” Rex said, entering her mind and within moments knocking her unconscious.

  Painless.

  He grew soft in old age, but she possessed potential as a bargaining chip. Completely abandoning his son wasn’t his intentions yet. He needed his son to lose right now, and in the loss, to become complacent. This was a win-win for Rex.

  And then he had to consider the potential of Simone herself. A powerful seer in his possession could change the upcoming outcome in the direction he wanted. With a little encouragement and time, Simone might prove useful. He simply needed to take the time to turn the future in his favor.

  After he retrieved the book, he’d have the time to consider the Reckoning.

  But for now, the time for getting The Book of Shadow Souls back approached.

  Fifty-One

  Angelica squinted against the sunlight to get her first glimpse of Reximortum’s southern home. Peering out the dusty window the sun tricked her imagination, and the house of butter flickered to its once majestic white, an upstairs window gleamed whole under the glare, and broken wood siding seemed seamless. She could squint her eyes a certain way and imagine it the way Lily must have loved it once.

  Griffen had collaborated with Landon and came up with the home Rex had bought for Lily when they’d run off to get married. Rex had abandoned it thirteen years ago. Most had believed it was because he’d disappeared in Europe to study the ancient Custos legends, but Angelica would bet it had to do with him being unable to live within the walls of Lily’s home. Angelica knew this was the exact place she needed to have a connection and break through this block of the future.

  Roxy’s car came to a grinding stop on the crunching shells, and Angelica stepped out. Angelica suspected that Roxy only agreed to bring her out to spy on her, but it made no difference to Angelica. She didn’t have her driver’s license, and her last teacher had told her to invest in bus tokens, so she didn’t expect to have it any time soon.

  She scanned the grounds, lingering on overgrown shrubs and a forest marching to seize the house’s remains as its own. The only sound echoing in the stillness was the crunch of Roxy’s, Griffen’s, and Gabney’s footsteps on the shells.

  Roxy snorted. “It’s abandoned. I don’t know what you expect to find.”

  Griffen kicked at the shells, propelling them in all directions. Angelica could feel his frustration. He thought he’d test the waters with Gabney a bit in the car ride over, but he’d failed to bring up anything of significance.

  Angelica smiled. Those two needed to get on with it already.

  Angelica heard his footsteps before she could distinguish him from the dying brush. His gray overalls blended into the trees, and his face and hair attempted the color. She noticed his eyes were the color of a cypress leaf.

  “Can I help you folks?”

  Angelica greeted him with a smile.

  “We were interested in taking a look at this beautiful, old home. Are you its owner, sir?”

  The man’s smile revealed graying gums. “Why no sha, I never afford a home like dis. I look after de grounds. I’s don’t ‘ave a key though.”

  She stared into his eyes, feeling his protective guard ease.

  “The grounds are beautiful. You do a magnificent job.” Angelica gave her best contrite smile. “Would you mind terribly if we walked around a bit? We’ve driven such a long distance.”

  His cheeks darkened. “Well, I reckon that’d be ahright. Don’t have much visitors here. Can’t even git the real ‘state woman to come anymore.”

  Angelica gave him one more of her dazzling smiles before turning and strolling toward the house. The others followed her in silence. Angelica could feel their thoughts, which ranged from that was easy (Gabney) to what a con artist (Roxy). At least she wasn’t stealing from him. She’d only made a tiny suggestion that he could trust them. She could have used her abilities for far worse.

  Angelica did a quick survey of the grounds, and her first assessment was no one had lived here for at least a decade. Necessary repairs had slipped and the humidity was rotting the house. Holly leaves were yellow and grass was splattered with brown patches.

  She turned left onto the dirt path beckoning to the backyard. There was a layer of dust on the windows, but empty rooms could still be seen through them.

  Gabney stepped closer. “Do you feel that? What is it?”

  Angelica frowned. She’d tuned it out, but Gabney was vulnerable with her lack of defense. “It’s lingering pain, horror. Spirits live here now.”

  Roxy grumbled. “What exactly are we looking for outside? There’s nothing here.”

  Angelica felt her quick onset of fear. She was afraid the ghosts were real. Strange. Roxy didn’t seem the type to be afraid.

  “I need to find a connection to Reximortum.” Angelica smiled. “You could always wait by your car.”

  Roxy laughed, echoing in the silence. “I’ve watched too many horror movies for that.”

  The house ended with a great expanse of lawn. Two hundred feet away there were three crumbling buildings. A wave of despair emanated from those buildings, and Angelica shivered as it swirled around her bones. Evil things had happened in there. She hoped to avoid connections involving torture.

  Roxy’s frustration seeped into her head. Gabney stood behind her, trembling with fear, and Griffen’s curiosity drank in their surroundings.

  Three different emotions drowning her concentration.

  She closed her eyes and forced them out, then she opened her mental picture of her surroundings. Wisps of people floated around the grounds, their agony lingering in every crevice. She tried to push past the horror of the place’s past, searching for something tangible. A past collection of the life lived here. Maybe a connection with Lily and Rex both. A happy one. Those must have existed.

  To her left, a solid fixture began to grow within the dense shrubbery and trees. Her breath caught as people stronger than a wisp formed in the shadows. As if they were there now.

  She darted toward the fixture, unsure of her purpose. Logically, she told herself no one could be there, but she’d felt their presence.

  The shrubbery assaulted her at first scratch. Her arms stung as it clawed at her, but she pushed through. She stumbled upon a moss wrapped stepping stone, caught herself on a low branch, and continued toward the fixture from her mental map.

  She stopped suddenly as she reached a clearing of deadness. The vines were brown, dirt covered the surface, and weathered columns reached up to the trees. The gazebo structure was empty. She’d felt spirits from the past.

  Gabney burst out the bushes behind her, panting. “What’s wrong?”

  Frustration throbbed. Failure was worse when you had to admit to it. “I thought… I thought I saw people… well, it doesn’t matter, I was wrong.”

  Roxy tore through the bushes, gasping for breath with Griffen on her heels. “What the hell?”

  Angelica rubbed the back of her neck and winced at the burning in her arms. Driving herself should have been an option. She needed to rethink giving up on that skill.

  “It must have been the past, but it felt like it was happening now.”

  Angelica studied the ornate structure and then glanced back toward a distinct entrance. This was hidden away, kept secret. More than likely, Lily hadn’t known about this place.

  She stepped f
orward, ignoring the buzzing of physic energy. The others were rooted to the ground, unable to look away from the structure.

  Griffen removed his camera lens cover. “What is this place?”

  Angelica stepped closer, but it was as though a heavy wind pushed her back.

  “Reximortum’s altar.”

  Gabney whistled as her breath drew in. “Should we be here?”

  Angelica took a deep breath as if plunging into the deep end of a pool, and she stepped inside the structure. She glanced down and saw her foot had landed on a red symbol. The floor was circled with symbols. One she recognized as a rune symbolizing power. She knelt down to study it closer. She ran her fingers over the grit, but she couldn’t tell if it were written in paint or blood.

  Griffen’s camera snapping interrupted the ominous silence.

  She continued to feel the surface. What horrors had Rex done here? Her fingers brushed against something smooth. She inched closer and tugged it gently from the crack it was lodged in.

  Under the sunlight filtering in from the top, she made out a dainty tarnished bracelet.

  Its residual energy pulsed through her fingertips, and her head swirled as the images reached her.

  They swirled faster and Angelica collapsed as they jumped in her head, as though age had forgotten its order. Three faces faded in and out. She couldn’t get a grasp of them, until Lily’s face, though thinner than she remembered, stared back at her. Angelica wanted to reach out and touch her cheek, but she couldn’t move.

  A dark haired, sky blue-eyed man glared down at the faces kneeling before him. She knew it was Reximortum by the set of his jaw and the calm craziness in his eyes. She’d seen his face in the visions of her childhood. She recognized the anger bouncing around him as well.

  Next to Lily the man kneeling resembled Rex in facial features, except for his helpless blue eyes gazing on Lily with despair. The man had the same pointy nose and cheek structure as Rex, although his flesh tugged more on the face.

  With Reximortum’s mind control, he squeezed the look-alike’s insides, and he howled in agony, folding over, kissing the altar floor. Angelica grasped for a breath, struggling to move toward them. She couldn’t just stand and watch.

  Rex stepped back, and the man lifted himself back to his knees with effort. Angelica could feel his quiet strength draining and something, intuition maybe, told her that at one time he’d been Rex’s match. But he didn’t fight back now.

  The faces before her swirled. She tried to close her eyes against the dizziness, but the images would not respond to her efforts. Finally, the swooshing in her ears stopped and the faces appeared again.

  It was another moment in time. Reximortum towered over them again. Tears streamed down Lily’s cheeks, but she did not fight Rex as he cut off her oxygen. Rex’s look-alike reached out with his fingertips to touch her, but his strength was drained. He could not reach her.

  Angelica watched Lily’s fingers reach towards the look-alike. With a jolt, complete blackness enveloped Angelica.

  Blinded against the sunlight streaming down on her, she felt a sharp pain jarring into her back. She sat up and three whitened faces stared down at her. Gabney, Griffen, and Roxy waited for a response.

  Gabney’s voice trembled. “Are you okay?”

  Angelica winced. “I saw…” She didn’t like the quiver in her voice. “I saw him torturing Lily and another man.”

  Roxy, levelheaded, but still shaken. “I think we should go now.”

  On trembling legs, Angelica stood and followed the others through the tangled brush. She noticed the stone she’d tripped on was one of many snaking a path through the brush. The cattails had claimed the path, but the stones remained beneath the overgrowth as a reminder of what had been.

  She hoped this one vision would be enough of a connection to force a premonition of the future. She’d hoped to have enough control to do it here, but the past weighed heavy with despair. Lily reaching out as red-hot pain seared through her had awaken Angelica at seven. Lily had cried out one last time before she’d collapsed and sank to the stones below, and Angelica had screamed out, knowing her mother had died. As a child, she hadn’t seen the look-alike man and all that had come before. Now she had more to puzzle over.

  Back near the front parking area, the old man limped toward them, flattening his hair down. “Did ya’ll enjoy de grounds?”

  Angelica smiled, some of the fuzziness evaporating with her attempt to focus on him. “It was beautiful.”

  “If ya’ll come back now, I sure da owner love to show da place off.”

  Angelica smiled, feeling the gears turn in her head. “Does he come down often?”

  The old man frowned. “Tell ya de truth, I only seen de man once.”

  “We may come back for that tour.” Angelica nodded. “It was real nice of you to let us walk around the grounds.”

  She ducked into the car, feeling Roxy’s disapproving grimace. Angelica wasn’t looking to score any points right now though.

  That ticking clock in her head told her that time was out. She needed to know what was around the corner, but all these unanswered questions brought her nowhere. On top of figuring out what had sparked the Reckoning, now she had to identify Reximortum’s mystery twin.

  Fifty-Two

  Leaning against the brick wall, Cain scanned the passing faces from beneath his ball cap. Tonight’s foot traffic was skinny for a Saturday night. With the murders being broadcasted all over the news channels today, many had stayed inside and out of harm’s way. His father had kept everyone in the dark about his actions, but the Dark Soldiers whispered that there was something to fear.

  A young woman bundled in a black overcoat exited the shop, and Cain caught the door before it closed and slipped inside. Simone’s father stood behind the counter with a book in front of him.

  Damn. Simone was supposed to be working tonight.

  Mr. Auneaux hadn’t noticed him standing at the door. His eyes stared into space and his hands trembled. Cain had never known the man to be anything less than alert and had always seemed to sense Cain’s presence.

  Cain cleared his throat and stepped forward. “I’ve come to see Simone, Sir.”

  “You,” Mr. Auneaux stuttered, focusing on him finally. “Go away. Haven’t you done enough damage?”

  “Sir, I just want to talk to Simone.”

  Auneaux gripped the counter, his knuckles turning white. “They took her, said I’d get her back when it’s all over.” He swallowed, chocking on his tears. “So tell me, will I see my baby girl again?”

  Hot anger seared through Cain, for a moment his vision went white. “Who took her?”

  “Dark Soldiers.” He waved his arm in the air. “Reximortum, your father himself. I told her you’d only bring her grief. Dangerous to mix with your kind.”

  Anger ripped through him and exploded in his skull. His father. “Did they say where she’d be held?”

  The jars on the shelf near him rattled with the energy sparking from his uncontrollable anger.

  “No,” he said, trembling at the effect Cain’s anger was having on the shop. “Just to keep my mouth shut or I’d never see her again.”

  A small jar exploded near Cain and Auneaux flinched.

  “I will get her back.” Cain spit out through gritted teeth. “Did she know?”

  “What did she know?”

  “Did she know they were coming?”

  “Not soon enough.” Auneaux shook his head. “We tried to get her out, but it was too late.”

  Another jar exploded.

  Cain took a deep breath and forced the anger to tighten and focus.

  “I will be in touch with you,” Cain said as he turned for the door. He couldn’t risk blowing up the shop. He’d rather use this energy to retaliate against his father. “I will get her back.”

  Auneaux nodded. “Thank you.”

  Cain exited and headed into the darkness.

  His father had made a serious mistake. War
was no longer upon them, as far as Cain was concerned it had begun.

  Fifty-Three

  A bell jingled on a nearby door and a passerby dropped a latte cup as he passed near her. Angelica soothed the wrinkles of her jacket wishing she could sooth her jumpy nerves. She crossed the street and froze as a car horn honked at the corner. On edge, she couldn’t stop looking over her shoulder, waiting for someone to attack, even in daylight.

  Last night’s dream had left her rattled. After the exhausting connection at Rex’s old home, her mind had swirled in a bombardment of images throughout her attempts at sleep. The Gris Gris shop sign, Gabney’s watch, and mounds of purple velvet whirling in and out, and the feeling of being suffocated by darkness had plagued her all night.

  She’d hoped the vision from the gazebo would enter her dreams so she could see it again, analyze it, and try to piece the puzzle piece where it belonged. It only dwelled in her awakened state, and the details were slipping into oblivion. She couldn’t recall their faces or what they wore anymore.

  She turned and retraced her steps, having passed Landon House while lost in thought.

  Unlocking the door, she glanced around the deserted street. For once she hadn’t walked down a street listening for an ominous heartbeat. Was the fear of a heartbeat or the images in her head worse? She wasn’t sure.

  Inside, she walked toward the training room. A rather intense training session was scheduled to begin in an hour in anticipation that they all needed to be at their optimal performance. She’d come early to attempt to center her thoughts, so she didn’t make a fool of herself.

  From the doorway, she recognized Lysander’s backside in loose jeans and a gray t-shirt. He was shoving his training gear into a large duffel bag.

  Angelica stopped in the doorway. “Don’t you need those for training today?”

  He turned, gripping a faded green shirt she’d liked on him. “I’m clearing my things.”

  “Spring cleaning or tired of all the old things?”

  Lysander hadn’t returned to Landon House since she’d been named Valor. She’d given him his space as he’d asked, but so much had happened she hadn’t spent her time pining for him either.