by John Corwin
Running to the side of the building, I jumped, my hands seeking purchase on the stone blocks so I could scale the building. My hands slipped as though the building were coated with grease. How in the hell am I supposed to get on top of this place? I had no choice but to run for the front of the assembly and warn them. Then I saw a dark figure positioning himself. Saw several others rise from behind the parapet, aiming more guns. I might be able to stop one of them with magic, but not all of them.
If only I could—I pause mid-thought and remembered my accidental blink across the arch room. I could do it again. I had to. I looked at the nearest assassin. I focused on that spot with all my might, and imagined opening a portal there. The world vanished in a puff of black. When it reappeared, I saw blue sky for an instant before I fell, crashing on top of someone who let out a muffled cry of surprise.
Dizziness washed over me, and I felt my gorge rising. I looked and saw several masked figures staring at me, each one holding a sniper rifle that could probably stop a charging rhino.
I am so screwed.
The figure closest to me slammed the butt of his gun into the side of my head. I saw stars, and felt the stone roof smack my face.
"Execute your orders!" one of the men shouted. "Kill Slade afterward."
I heard the guns cock. Heard the man say something in a calm voice, though my ears felt as if they were stuffed with cotton. I gritted my teeth, fought off the fog. Opened my eyes, and saw fingers pulling on triggers.
I raised my hand, and shouted, "No!"
A brilliant fireball burst from my hand, detonating above the heads of the assassins. Shots exploded. I heard the sound of ricocheting bullets and a cry go up from the crowd. Then I saw one of the figures aiming the huge barrel of a gun at my head. A brilliant bolt of ultraviolet light speared through his chest. His mouth opened wide as if trying to scream though his lungs had charred to ash.
I crawled, watching other bodies crumpling nearby, some full of the silver Lancer darts used to incapacitate. One of the figures ducked low, tugging a lever on his gun, apparently trying to fix it. Templars raced from the door on the roof toward him. I managed to gain my feet, sucking in deep breaths to ward off the dizziness and nausea threatening to overwhelm me.
The masked figure looked at the Templars. He snatched a device with a switch from the belt at his side. It was then I noticed the large backpack at his feet, and even more importantly, the bricks of explosives and wires spilling out of it. He had a detonator!
"Die you demonic son of a bitch," the man behind the mask said, and flicked the switch on the detonator.
I didn't think. I acted by pure instinct, and threw myself off the building.
A tremendous boom went up from the roof. Heat washed over my skin as a shockwave flipped me through the air, end over end. I bounced off the roof of the house. Rolled over the peak, and slid down the other side. My fingers caught on the gutter before I plummeted three stories to hard concrete and the promise of broken legs and agony. I shimmied to the side and gripped a sturdy downspout, braced my feet to the sides, and slid down.
The Templars had formed ranks around the podium, and I saw the bluish tint of a shield in place. Other Templars herded guests into an underground bunker facility, while teams of black-clad soldiers fanned across the area, probably looking for more intruders. Still choking back the urge to vomit and staggering, I weaved through the crowd to the front. Two grim-faced Templars parted ranks to let me inside the protective circle. What I saw made me even sicker.
Two of the commanders lay dead, a fact made more obvious by the complete mess the huge sniper rifles had made of their heads. I saw Thomas Borathen on the ground nearby, a gaping hole in his shoulder being tended by healers. Christian Salazar looked unhurt, as did the other commanders.
Arms wrapped tight around me. I looked into Elyssa's worried eyes. She kissed my cheek, my lips, my forehead. "Oh, god, I saw you up there. I tried to get to you but there were too many people in the way."
"It's okay," I said, brushing back her hair with my hand. "I'm okay." I looked at Thomas. "How's your father?"
"He'll be fine," she said, relaxing her embrace. "Whatever you did up there saved his life."
I must have distracted the shooters enough to hurt their aim. But what if Ivy hadn't warned me? Would I have still been up on the podium? Would my head look like a pulverized tomato? I felt relief and, despite the terrible circumstance, happiness my sister had risked so much to help me.
It only reinforced my determination to rescue Mom and get Ivy out of there. If she was starting to see Daelissa's bad side, maybe it wouldn't be hard to convince her. On the other hand, she still adored Jeremiah Conroy, and his argument with Daelissa over attacking the Templars might have only reinforced her feelings for the crotchety old bastard. She wouldn't betray the people she thought were her grandparents, even though I knew by now they had no relation to us at all.
I watched Nightliss as she helped with a wounded initiate. Anger flared in her eyes. She looked at me, lips pressed tight. I knew she wanted to punch Daelissa in the throat as badly as I did. Unfortunately, during her last confrontation with the other angel, she'd nearly died. Despite her recovery, she couldn't solo Daelissa—not a chance.
Thomas held a meeting with the surviving commanders in his underground war room despite the healer's recommendation he rest for the remainder of the day. Even with the supernatural protection granted him by Daelissa centuries ago, it would take time for the large wound in his shoulder to heal. The only reason I knew about the meeting was because, for some unknown reason, Thomas had invited me. Elyssa and her brother, Michael, were also present, along with Nightliss.
I took Nightliss aside before things got underway and asked her, "Are you sure you're up to being the new Divinity—err Clarion? You don't look like you're back to full strength yet."
"I'm much better, Justin," she said, touching my arm with a dainty hand. "It isn't easy, but I need this. I need to feel useful."
"Have you remembered enough to teach me how to unlock my angel abilities?" At this point I was desperate to make my angel magic more reliable instead of something I couldn't count on.
"I only know how I feel when I want something to happen," she said. "I don't know how to teach it."
"You need to figure it out," I said, a little testily. "If you hadn't noticed, I need the help." I looked away and sighed. Met her eyes again. "Just try. It's all I ask."
"Please don't be angry, Justin," she said. "I will do my best. How, exactly, I do not know."
"At this point, anything would be useful." I ran a hand down my face as if it would wash away the fatigue plaguing me from the earlier fights and injuries. "When?"
"I will make time," she said. Her hand pressed against my chest. "Everything you need is locked in your heart, Justin. You must simply discover how to ignite it."
Relying on Elyssa's shock scrolls certainly wasn't the answer I needed. Neither was waiting until I was in a dangerous situation and relying on instinct. "I'll be by soon," I said. "This can't wait any longer."
Thomas called the meeting to order a few minutes later and asked for reports from the Templars investigating the crime scene atop the church. Even the building's magical protection hadn't been enough to prevent part of the sanctuary from collapsing, and the Templar Chapel where Daelissa had once given initiates their "gifts" and then wiped their minds of the entire incident, was in ruins.
"The remains were difficult to identify, sir," the Templar in charge of cleanup said. "We believe this was a suicide mission from the start. They each planned to fire a round into a commander, and then blow the church. We believe the destruction of the chapel was intentional. Probably a message from Daelissa."
Thomas frowned. "Comb the ruins. I want to know who these assassins were."
"I'm almost certain they were Synod Templars, sir," the young man replied.
"Almost isn't good enough, lieutenant," Thomas said. "Collect blood and have the healers reco
nstruct images."
"The bodies were all but vaporized, sir," the man said, sounding a little nervous now. "The bomb was of nom design. It charred tissue and blood to ash. There may be nothing for the healers to find. The perpetrators weren't wearing armor, just black outfits which resembled nightingale armor, making it easier to destroy all forensic evidence."
I shuddered at the thought someone's body parts reduced to mere evidence. Those assassins had been insane. Then again, Daelissa might have controlled them somehow.
The arcphone in a case on the lieutenant's side buzzed. He flicked on the screen and looked at it for a moment. "Sir, they've found something."
"What is it?" Thomas said.
"The healers found bone fragments with undamaged marrow inside belonging to a human Templar." He projected a holographic image from his phone, depicting a young man with brown hair. "This is what the man probably looked like. We're running his image through our records to see if there's a match."
"Anything else?" Thomas asked.
The man's face grew pensive. "I'm afraid the second finding is even more troubling." The image of a yellowed tooth popped from the phone. He didn't have to explain why the image might give us cause for concern.
The tooth was quite clearly a vampire fang.
Chapter 19
"Oh, crap," I said.
Elyssa gripped my arm. "The covert meeting at the Grotto between the leaders must have been about this," she said.
"Earlier, I thought we were jumping to conclusions about there even being a meeting," I said. "But in this case, I think you're spot on."
"Commander, we have more information," Elyssa said to her father. She told him about the suspected meeting and the attendees.
"What an unholy alliance," Christian Salazar said, lips peeled back in a grimace. "Renegade Templars, Vampires, and possibly Arcanes?"
"If Cyphanis wins the Arcanus Primus special election, there's no telling what he'll direct the Arcane Council to do," said one of the other commanders.
"The council doesn't have nearly the kind of control over Arcanes that the Red Syndicate has over vampires," Thomas said.
"If they declare us outlaws, it won't exactly be helpful," Christian said.
I raised my hand, forgetting for a moment I wasn't in class, and spoke. "How many Templars do we have compared to the Synod?"
"There are twenty-seven legions worldwide," Christian said. "Thirteen joined with us. Ten remained loyal to the Synod and Daelissa. The smallest four legions took neutral stances with no indication which way they might eventually swing."
"There are many individuals from both sides who have left their legions to stand with the side they believe is right in this," Thomas said. "Unfortunately, the Synod received the majority of those defectors."
"So they have the numbers advantage," I said.
He nodded. "But I highly doubt it will come down to a battle of legions," he said. "The Templars have drastically changed over the centuries from a military institution specializing in large-scale battles to smaller units dedicated to quick response and covert action."
"What they did today is a perfect example of Templar evolution," Christian said. "It means we'll have to be even more vigilant."
"How did those men get into the church?" Thomas asked the lieutenant.
The man flicked his arcphone off. "We believe they infiltrated one of our legions by posing as defectors a month or so ago. This made it easy for them to be assigned guard duty to the church."
Thomas cursed. "We can't even trust our own people?"
"We haven't had time to vet them," one of the other commanders said. "We don't have enough Arcanes in our ranks, especially those with truth-saying abilities."
"We need to make vetting a priority," Thomas said. "Outsource if you must."
"Can we trust non-Templar Arcanes?" the man asked.
"I can help with that, sir," Meghan Andretti said. She was the chief Arcane healer in Thomas's legion. "I know several truthsayers we can rely on."
"Thank you, Healer Andretti," Thomas said, some of the tension in his face easing. "We will get through this crisis, people."
"Commander, we thought this could wait," Christian said. "But it's obvious it can't any longer. We"—he indicated the other with his hand commanders—"have voted unanimously to elect you as Supreme Commander of the Templar forces."
Thomas regarded them with his trademark stony face. Some of the younger commanders actually gulped under his glare. Finally, he responded. "I am, unfortunately, the most qualified here to lead our combined forces. I will serve in this capacity until unable to do so." He regarded the commanders for a moment. "We have rewritten the rules, people, but this doesn't make us any less Templars than we were before the Synod abandoned the rule of law. Speak with Healer Andretti about truthsayers, and start vetting your people immediately. I'm sure we'll find out soon enough who the other traitors are."
"We should do the same to them," said one of the younger commanders. "Assassinate their leaders, and let them see how it feels. We should go after Bara Nagal first."
Thomas shook his head. "Retaliation is warranted, but not yet. They've shown their hand, perhaps squandered the ace in their deck on this failed assassination attempt." He motioned vaguely at me. "Thanks, yet again, to Mr. Slade, most of us survived."
"My sister warned me," I said. "If not for her, we might all be dead."
Thomas spoke about a few more internal matters, doling out responsibilities to the other commanders, and dismissed everyone. I was on the way out, when he motioned to me. Elyssa paused, but a look from her father sent her from the room as well. This man had nearly taken my head off in a sword fight once. Later, he'd actually apologized to me. Regardless, he still made me very uneasy.
"You impressed me, Justin," he said, his rare use of my first name falling strangely on my ears. "I saw the commotion before the first shot was fired. I believe the bullet which hit me was aimed for Nightliss, because it hit me when I dove for her."
"They were going for a clean sweep," I said, feeling sick to my stomach over the idea of Nightliss's head exploding like a watermelon.
He nodded. "You usually act in an unorthodox capacity with very little planning, sowing nearly as much chaos as you do order."
"It's not like I do this for a living," I said, trying not to sound too defensive.
"I understand. I would ask you to sit in on officer training so you could learn the value of discipline and solid planning, but I have a sense such classes would only hinder you."
I felt my eyes widen at this admission. "You think I should rush in willy-nilly?"
"No." He winced as he tried to move his injured shoulder. "You have the makings of a natural-born leader. You have good instincts and intuition. I've discovered when people with your skillset try to overthink matters, they botch it. I've been around long enough to know. I've seen natural leaders in action. I've learned much from them." He took in a deep breath. "I was not born a leader," he said. "I had to learn the hard way. Even now, I still struggle to see the best path despite all my experience." His eyes seemed to focus on the past for a moment. "Experience will serve you well, but for now, follow your gut and your heart."
"Um, maybe I should go to officer training," I said, not as confident about my abilities as he was.
He offered me the barest hint of a rare smile. "I haven't seen someone with such raw potential since the Revolutionary War," he said. "I think your time would be better spent honing other abilities." He motioned me toward the door. Apparently, the pep talk was over.
"Thanks," I said, and left, feeling a little weirded out by the whole thing. Thomas Borathen wasn't a man I'd heard praise people. Considering our rough history, such high compliments from him made me wonder if I'd somehow crossed into an alternate dimension, or if maybe my deodorant was doing a bang-up job.
Elyssa met me outside, her eyes worried. When I told her about the conversation, her face brightened. "I'm so happy," she said, her eyes
misting. "I think he's finally accepted you."
"I thought he already had," I said.
"I think he was tolerating you more than anything," she said, peppering my face with kisses. "And the recognition they gave you at the ceremony was amazing."
I still didn't know what to say about that. "They surprised the heck out of me," I said. "It felt nice to be recognized, but what does it mean?"
Elyssa took my hand and led me down the hall toward the mess hall where the much-delayed lunch was being served. Her eyes narrowed in concentration. "I think my father is setting you up as a leader," she said. "The recognition was one thing, but his talk with you indicates he has bigger plans."
"So he's manipulating me," I said.
She shrugged. "He's positioning a future asset."
I sighed. "You military people make it all sound so impersonal."
Elyssa shoved me against a wall and pressed her lips to mine, kissing me until I had to come up for air. "Was that personal enough?" she breathed.
"Oh, yes," I panted, partly from lack of oxygen, but mostly from desire.
Her face turned serious. "Did your sister tell you anything else while she was here?"
I nodded. "Told me Mom is being held in the basement of the Conroy's house, but even she can't get to her." A groan emerged from my throat. "There has to be some way."
"We'll find it," Elyssa said, gripping my hand tight. "Don't lose faith."
"Yeah, I know," I said, trying to melt the frustration away with a healthy dose of optimism. "Should we tell your dad about the cupids?" I asked. It was something I'd mulled over, but I didn't want a Templar invasion of El Dorado if he saw them as either a threat or another "future asset."
Elyssa pursed her lips, eyes distant. "It's possible he might see them as dangerous variables. I don't know if he'd try to exfil them from the cave or leave them there in the hopes they're currently contained."
