by Sasha White
Merl puffed on his cigarette again. “But swords are different than wrecker weapons.”
Vela waved a hand dismissively. “Let’s say we get hold of a weapon, and we can alter the identification, what next? You’ve operated one, how do you use it?”
Merl frowned at her, his brows pinching together. “You’re serious.”
“I think it’s a place to begin. So unless you have a better idea?”
“Fine. I suppose if wrecker technology hasn’t changed all that much in fifty years, you just pull the trigger while releasing a jolt of your own personal power. But I think you’re out of your mind to even consider doing this. So why are you?”
“It’s simple. I know Duncan, and Rachel is my friend.”
“Who’s Rachel?” He took another drag, his elbow on the arm of the chair.
“Duncan’s on-again, off-again girlfriend. Mostly off. So, let’s just say that I believe it’s my duty to do everything I can to help Duncan. His plight came to me in a darkening vision and that’s all that needs to be said anymore. I go where I’m called, just as I came here when we were being pursued by wreckers.”
Merl shifted his gaze to the toe of his boot. “You’re an idealist.”
Vela laughed. “No, I’m not. Far from it, and I do understand the hopelessness of this situation. But I don’t intend to give up.”
He met her gaze once more. “Even it means dying in the process?”
Vela didn’t shift her gaze from Merl. “Yes, even if it means dying.”
“Well, fuck.”
Chapter Six
Vela heard the words come out of her mouth, but she still didn’t quite believe that she’d become this person, where her new darkening power was concerned. Yet there seemed no alternate response to the truth that her power had brought her to Duncan’s cell. Responsibility for him had descended on her; and she would see this through, even in the face of death.
Samuel worked his molars again. “I think we need to bring Alison and Fiona in on this.”
Vela frowned. “I can understand Alison, but why Fiona?”
“Because she has the ability to enhance power. If the four of us were in the darkening, and figured out a way to draw one of the wreckers close enough, I could use my dark power and force the weapon away from the wrecker. Then Alison could do her thing.”
“Can she even reconfigure a weapon like that?”
“Well, we’d know soon enough. Then once we had the weapon, we could go after Duncan.”
“It won’t work.” Merl rested his jaw on his curved hand, his fingers holding the lit cigarette away from his face.
“Which part?” Vela turned to Samuel because they’d each said the same thing at the same time. She smiled and his lips curved. He nodded.
“Well, first,” Merl said, “wreckers never work alone. They patrol in squads of three, so you’re talking about battling three Third Earth, very powerful warriors, each with an identified weapon. But let’s say the whole thing with Alison and Fiona works and you gain possession of at least one of the weapons, without dying, by then the grid monitors would have already detected a point of chaos. Add that to a loss of contact with the wreckers and the monitors would have already sent in another squad after you. Before you even figured out how to fire the damn thing, they’d be up your ass.”
“Then we get the weapon and come back here,” Samuel said. “Simple.”
“Simple, huh? For a Militia Warrior, you’ve got balls.”
“Is that a compliment, Merl?”
Merl puffed on his cigarette, eye squinting. “Just commenting on your general stupidity,” he countered, holding back the smoke then blowing it out in a quick stream. “All right, let’s break it down. How do you plan on facing-off three Third Earth wreckers, each with a weapon that could blow your ass into a million pieces?”
“We get Thorne in on this and Warrior Leto after he’s morphed into his beast-state.” Leto had developed a new power in that he could increase his size and strength by just a thought.
With the addition of two of the most powerful vampires on Second Earth, Vela felt confident that the plan could work, although they had one more step to take.
She turned toward Samuel. “Despite Merl’s objections, I think this is a good place to start, but we’re going to need Madame Endelle in on this. She’s got to be informed every step of the way because this is about Third Earth. If she has a new threat on her hands, she’ll need all the details we can provide. Besides, I’m pretty sure that she won’t give us Leto and Thorne without some convincing.”
Merl sat forward in his chair and stubbed out his cigarette in an ashtray at his elbow. “Yeah, you should definitely include Endelle.”
Samuel snorted. “Now why am I not surprised.”
“Fuck off.”
“Back atcha, asshole.”
“Are you two going to start that again?”
Merl glared at her. “Only if your boyfriend doesn’t shut the fuck up.”
She leveled her gaze at Samuel. Though he opened his mouth, his chin at a stubborn angle, he returned her stare, grimaced, then swallowed his retort.
Vela drew her phone from her pant pocket and called Jeannie at Central. “Hey, girl. Yeah, it’s me, smack dab in the middle of hell, carrying my hand-basket.”
“Heard it’s the breh-hedden?”
Vela tensed up then forced herself to relax. So it was now common knowledge. But after what had happened in the workout center, she could hardly expect anything different. “Yeah. It is.”
“You deserve it, Vela, that kind of love. And I wouldn’t say that to just anyone.”
“Thank you, Jeannie. You’re such a good friend.”
“You’re welcome. So what’s your breh like? Everyone, and I do mean everyone, is talking about Warrior Samuel. I heard a rumor he’s the next Warrior of the Blood. Do you think it’s possible?”
She glanced at Samuel whose lips were compressed as he tried to ignore Merl. Merl kept waving his fingers toward Samuel.
She interceded on a whisper. “Stop that.” Merl smirked, but he lowered his arm. “You’re worse than my brothers growing up.”
“Stop what and who’s worse?” Jeannie asked.
“Nothing and nobody. Listen, as soon as I’m out of this fix, let’s get coffee, okay?”
“You bet. Now how can I help?”
“I need a secure location, probably the palace, to bring over a Third ascender with a Peter Pan complex, myself, and Warrior Samuel.”
“A Third ascender?”
“You heard me right.”
Jeannie whistled. “I’ve already got orders from Her Supremeness to do whatever you wanted. I have the fold set. Tell me when.”
“Let me check.” She held her phone by her leg and asked if the men could stop posturing long enough to join Endelle at the palace.
But Samuel held his hand up for a moment, then waved it once over his body. Poof: flight battle gear, including that damn sexy leather kilt.
Vela may have weaved slightly on her feet. After swallowing hard, she asked, “Can I give Jeannie the word?”
Samuel nodded.
Merl did the same.
Bringing her phone back to her ear, she said, “Fold at will.”
Central had a lot of power and the sudden brisk ride through nether-space was smooth as silk. Some believed that the disappearing-reappearing power typical of all five Upper Dimensions wasn’t about dematerialization at all, but the folding of space, hence the term. The debate still raged in all the major universities, but it was one of those theories hard to prove.
Whatever it was, Vela had always enjoyed folding-travel.
And as before, the moment she started down the ramp, Samuel took her hand in his.
Merl glanced around. “Some digs. Ro-tun-das.” The sing-song way he spread the word out made Vela chuckle.
“White mar-ble,” he added.
More sing-song, more laughter.
She turned to smile at him, but Sa
muel caught her eye and glared. He’s flirting.
Now she smiled at Samuel. No he’s not. He’s just being himself and he’s funny.
What-the-fuck-ever.
She chuckled some more, but squeezed his hand. I think he wants to meet Endelle more than anything else.
Ya think?
Then you should stop worrying about his designs on me.
He’s the kind of man who has designs on every woman.
This time, she met his gaze as they moved into Thorne’s Command Center. And you don’t?
This time, his lips curved and he didn’t quite meet her in the eye as he said, Used to.
Just as I thought, though she squeezed his hand again.
Thorne left one of the nearest stations and led them once more to Endelle’s private suite explaining that Jeannie had already let him know what was happening and that Endelle was on her way.
Vela moved to the far end of the couch, but Samuel chose to stand near her off to the side of the adjacent purple chair. Samuel introduced Merl, who had planted his feet opposite the couch, his arms folded over his chest.
Thorne held Merl’s gaze forcefully, like he knew exactly what game Merl played. But Merl stared back unaffected. Given the stature of each, the stare lasted a long time.
Merl appeared to enjoy pissing contests.
She wondered what Endelle would think of Merl.
* * * * * * * * *
Samuel thought Merl had probably jumped from the womb playing with fire because the moment Endelle entered the room, he turned the force of his flirtations on the leader of Second Earth.
Merl made a long speech, saying things about being humbled to meet She Who Would Live and that he’d looked forward to this moment for five decades. He took her hand, kissed her fingers.
Samuel had heard Endelle had hooked up with the Sixth ascender, Braulio, who, rumor had it, was also the Sixth ascender, James. Weird fucking times on Second Earth.
What the hell is he doing? Vela slipped into Samuel’s mind easily. And he liked it.
He glanced down at her, met her gaze, and shrugged. Hell if I know. But Braulio had better make an appearance pretty quick.
No, shit.
Samuel withheld a smile, but he met Thorne’s astonished gaze. Thorne shook his head as though he couldn’t figure Merl out either.
A moment later, Alison and Fiona entered, looking puffy-eyed but beautiful from being awakened in the middle of the night. At first, Samuel thought Merl might attempt to spread his charms in their direction, but he remained fixed on Endelle, a predatory glint in his eye.
Endelle, however, turned a shoulder to the interloper, made the introductions to Alison and Fiona, then had Vela lay out her plans.
The women listened quietly, eyes wide.
“Can you do this for us?” Vela asked.
“Of course,” Alison said.
Fiona nodded.
Vela addressed Alison. “And you think you could reconfigure one of the shotguns?”
“I’ll know as soon as I approach one.” Alison repressed a yawn and blinked a couple of times. She had a flying toddler at home and needed her sleep.
“We’ll want Leto as well,” Endelle said. “You three women need to work on these skills and see what you can figure out. We’ve got to get a wrecker weapon, one that will take down a darkening grid wall, so that we can pull Duncan out of his cell. Are we all clear on this?”
Nods and murmurs followed.
Samuel had to admit he felt oddly comfortable in this room, as though his dark power recognized the other ascenders. Which sparked other thoughts, not so pleasant, like his deepest fears that somewhere in this necessary exercise, his currently dormant streams of energy would hurt one of these people accidentally.
He corralled his thoughts, however, and focused on Vela. She appeared calm, but her foot bounced, not surprisingly. His role to support and defend was one thing, but Vela led the charge.
Endelle’s voice intruded. “All right, let’s give the women some space to work.”
Thorne led the way for the men and Endelle to leave the room. Once well into the next rotunda, he drew the party to a stop and asked for more details about the darkening grid, the explosions, and Duncan’s cell.
Samuel knew the drill and gave as many relational points as he could; length of travel time, dimension of the cell, the changing state of the floor as one location surpassed the next, the size of the grid tunnels, and anything else that came to mind. Merl added what he knew as well.
Thorne listened intently, his hazel eyes shifting between both men.
When Samuel finished his account, Thorne called out to Jeannie and requested Leto to join them right away. Leto had taken Thorne’s sister, Grace, as his breh, so that essentially they were brothers-in-law.
Leto arrived within the next few minutes but Endelle’s first words were, “We’ll need you in your beast-state. You, Thorne, and Samuel are headed to Third in the darkening.”
Leto’s brows rose and though he stared back from faintly astonished blue eyes, he merely nodded. With a blur of movement, he morphed into what he called his beast state, although he appeared exactly the same, just bigger. And taller.
Samuel hadn’t seen him this close up, but even he could agree the warrior looked like a god. “Fuck,” he drawled.
“Get used to it.” But the words came from both Merl and Leto at the same time.
“I take it this kind of thing is common on Third Earth?” Endelle pivoted toward Merl.
“It is.”
Endelle held his gaze. “So we’re really in this.”
His crooked smile spoke his compassion. “Looks like it.”
Endelle glanced at Samuel. “Bring Leto up to speed.”
Samuel laid it out, all that had happened as well as the current plan. But it was Merl who picked up the thread and gave the missing details about the wrecking squads. He explained what the warriors would be up against, how quickly the squads could move, how powerful they were, the nature of the weapons, and the odds looked pretty bad.
“What about you, Merl?” Endelle said, breaking the theme of this can’t really be done, with, “You gonna help out with this party? You got a pair of balls in those snug leathers of yours, or are you just a handsome face and all talk.”
“Wish I could, but I’ve got a grid death warrant on my head put there by every faction involved. You’d have several squads after you the moment my signature lit up the darkening.”
Alison appeared at the doorway and called to them. “Please come back. We’ve got something going on in here. Vela’s feeling a call to the Illinois Seers Palace?”
Samuel moved fast and found Vela trembling as she stood near the glass coffee table. “What’s going on?”
“Another call.”
As soon as the rest of the party entered the room, however, she addressed Endelle. “Something’s going on and it’s big and it involves the Seers Palace, the one that Greaves built.”
“We shut it down.”
“Are you sure?”
Endelle took on her best scorpion look, ready, apparently, to take Vela apart for questioning her, but one of Thorne’s assistants arrived and spoke in a low voice to him.
“All right,” he murmured. He stood very still for a moment, his gaze stricken. Finally, he said, “I have to check on something. I’ll be right back.”
“Thorne, what the hell is it?”
“Let me find out what’s going on.” He disappeared into the hall beyond.
The entire room fell silent, tense, waiting.
No one spoke.
* * * * * * * * *
Vela gripped Samuel’s arm. This can’t be good.
No.
He sent nothing more, just a flat ‘no’ that echoed through her mind.
She kept her gaze fixed on the doorway, as did everyone else, but grew even more anxious when Thorne’s footsteps sounded in the rotunda beyond.
She pulled the top corners of her sweater togethe
r with her free hand.
Thorne arrived on the threshold, his lips in a tight, grim line.
“Okay, what the fuck is going on?” Endelle asked.
Thorne just stared at her.
“Did one of Greaves’s former generals attack?” Endelle’s chest rose and fell, the seashells clattering softly.
“All three of them. Looks like it was a coordinated, planned assault.”
“How many Militia Warriors did we lose?”
“Over two thousand.”
“Aw, Jesus.” She shaded her face with her hand.
Vela gasped.
Samuel murmured a low, “Oh, God, no."
Leto shook his head, but glanced at Thorne. “And we knew nothing about it? How is this possible?”
“I just spoke with Marguerite. Her crew, who works the Future Streams twenty-four-seven, saw nothing. Not a hint, a whisper, nothing.”
“Jesus. What the fuck does this mean?”
“Marguerite took a few seconds to dive in to take a look at the Illinois Two Seers Palace and she couldn’t get a reading.”
“What the hell?” Endelle’s voice carried a bit of resonance and that made Fiona groan. Fiona really couldn’t handle resonance.
Vela knew that the Illinois Seers Palace had been one of Greaves’s primary tools against Madame Endelle. Owen Stannett had harnessed Seers together and provided unparalleled information until he lost himself in the pleasure of the experience and Greaves got rid of him.
Her instincts began to thrum heavily as she thought about the Palace. The call returned, a kind of strong pull of her entire body into the darkening.
“Let me take a look,” she said, drawing all eyes to her.
“Go,” Endelle said.
She heard Samuel setting up a protest, but she knew this would be quick and easy, very different from a jaunt to Third.
She flowed straight back into the grid and began hurtling through the tunnels but not in the direction of Third Earth.
Suddenly, she reached her destination and knew she was deep inside the Illinois Seers Palace.
She remained very still, something her instincts told her would buy her some time.
She looked around. The chamber was made of black marble tile, with a viewing platform that looked down into a sort of pit. Seven chaise-longues were set in a row and reclining in the middle was a man she’d never seen before, but he had three braids on either side of his head looped into a clasp with the rest of his long hair. He had a prominent nose and a carefully trimmed black goatee. She knew this was the man who’d hurt Samuel: Sharav.
