No one came to this part of the world to indulge in beach tourism. In fact, very few came to this part of the world at all, as most of the land for almost a thousand miles belonged to a handful of private owners who did not encourage visitors of any kind.
The town, in most respects, was not dissimilar to the previous peasant, or campesino village that had once been situated outside those gates. The previous landowner had lived a few hundred years earlier, but the relationships remained almost the same as those of the original colonials...or even as it did during the middle ages in Europe’s own history. In this part of the world, such an arrangement had once formed the keystone of the hacienda system. Servants and workers of a particular patron would cluster outside his gates, pretending a kind of freedom and loyalty that grew more out of the disparity in class distinctions and interdependence than anything else.
In Europe, it was called feudalism.
Still, the servant knew the arrangement was not terrible for those in the village, either. In the modern day, it fed their families, and gave them a sense of belonging they might not otherwise have enjoyed. It also freed them from many of the worst excesses of city life. Here, the barter system remained intact, although those on both sides of the stone gates used modern currencies, as well. Headsets and feed terminals were in short supply in the township, but the world remained accessible in all ways inside the gates of the chateau and its guest compartments.
More importantly, they would be safe here. They would survive the coming storm.
As none of the humans were permitted to tend to the personal needs or bodies of either the patron or his guests, the servant felt little about this. He knew none of the villagers personally. Well, apart from the occasional whore sent up for a business partner, but those rarely remained in his presence other than to exchange one or two words.
He, himself, had been trained at a much higher level than his current position might suggest to an untrained eye. His loyalty to the six ancient seers in the room made the position an honor, however. Further, and more importantly, the servant knew they meant it as such.
They proved it every day, by not censoring their conversations around him.
The servant, having spent most of his life masquerading as a human, knew the value of discretion. He had been forced to hide his true race not only from his human cousins, but also from other seers...which had been difficult at times, to say the least, particularly around his more highly-ranked brothers and sisters. Still, he'd had help...and help of the most expert kind. He managed to go years undetected with the help of his patrons, including the four ancient seers now in the room, as well as those others who served them.
The servant's success at such a difficult task, given the years involved, had earned him a honored place under his patrons. He could not help but be proud of that place...nor did he fail to appreciate the perks and privileges associated with it.
He listened to them now, he knew, as a result of what he had earned for himself over those years. Much of their conversation, of course, occurred elsewhere in the Barrier’s folds. The construct over the estate and its grounds housed so many layers and mini-constructs that it constituted more of a maze than the underground caverns and catacombs beneath the aboveground structures on the same lands.
Still, words leaked out, here and there.
They switched back and forth, and he caught enough to understand.
“...It will be soon, sister,” the youngest of the six said, answering a question that likely originated in one of those high currents. His eyes flashed as the lamps around them ignited, responding to the light-level cue written into the sensors living in the organic walls.
“...We must wait for the right moment. We have discussed this...”
“...Is the message being sent?” the oldest of the females asked. Turning to another, she raised an eyebrow, her face unsmiling. “We can count on her, can we not?"
"She has agreed," another affirmed, from his corner by the wall. "She will approach the Sword directly, once they reach their final destination..."
“They cannot know what is coming,” another murmured, his narrow body encased in a forest green chair. “We should do it now, before they begin to suspect what we have. It was sloppy, letting them know that a sample of the virus would remain. It would have been better, if they thought all of it was destroyed...that the operation came off clean...”
The servant heard the rebuke in these words and winced, even though the seer did not look at him, or change expression.
The others did not seem to notice.
“It is important to get the time right,” the first one intoned a second time. “...Even if it means delay.”
“But why delay?” the eldest female questioned again. “They are off balance now. They have no forces to speak of...a rabble of untrained refugees along with a handful of ranked infiltrators, and now the Lao Hu tracking them, seeking vengeance. Most of her followers still want her dead. The humans will soon be after her, as well...and him, too, once they know he is alive. Further, they know they are vulnerable. The fear itself could work to our advantage...”
“We need more than that, sister,” the other cautioned.
“Will we try again to retrieve them both?” the quietest of the six asked. "What if she comes with him? Will we try to bring them both with us...?"
“We have our people on the inside...”
“But none of that will likely be enough, to bring him here," the old female insisted. "Raven must convince him. She must convince him of the truth...”
"Will it matter to him, if she does?" another male asked, his voice containing doubt. "Do they not have a history of fighting over the female...or rivalry, even apart from this...?"
The old female smiled thinly, her eyes sharp as they flashed to their leader on the balcony. "It will matter to him, brother," she said softly. "Believe me, it will matter. He is a seer. Intermediary or not, this will matter to him a great deal, no matter what their past history..."
“In any case, the male will be harder to control now...”
“Perhaps,” said the other female, who had been quiet up until then. Her voice was thoughtful, her light picking impressions off the others as she spoke. "...But perhaps not. We can still use her to get to him. They are as vulnerable together as they are apart..."
“They are still Intermediaries...”
“We do not even know if they will survive the virus,” another male reminded them. “We have only tested it on Sarks...”
"They will survive it...she was in Hong Kong during the demonstration..."
"Indoors," the first male clarified. "Not in the kill zone..."
As the other five of them spoke, the servant felt their attention remain primarily on the eldest standing at the railing of the stone balcony, who had not yet said a word. Each of them connected to him in some way, touching his light, waiting for him to end the disagreement, or to make a statement that would change the direction of their discussion. The servant watched him, too, listening to the others in a different part of his light.
“...He still can be found. He will always have our mark on him...”
“But will it matter now, if he is under her protection? She might sense a trap. She might not let him come here...not alone. There is also the Adhipan leader, as well as the old man. They will help her. The old man still has a hold on him, too...”
At this, the leader finally turned his head.
They all fell silent, looking at him, waiting for him to speak. His eyes stood in shadow from the encroaching darkness outside, but they all could see them somehow, shining from the depths of a skull-like face.
“The elder will not last much longer,” the leader commented softly. “We have nothing to fear in the Council, my friends. Once the elder is dead, they will cease to be...”
All of them paused on this, thinking over his words.
As per usual, it was his second who spoke first into the silence.
"And what of he
r? She will not want him to come here...not for any reason."
The elder smiled. "She will not fight him. Not on this. Once he has spoken to Raven, the rest will fall into place...I promise you. He will come here, and then I will speak with him..."
“When, sir?” she said. “When will the next phase begin?”
Thinking for a moment, he nodded to his second-in-command before he looked around at the others. “You are correct, sister. We must not wait. We must do it now. Before they organize. Once this has begun, and the ramifications are clear to all of them, Raven will approach him. She will bring him here. If the virus is already active, it will give him added incentive...”
“And the female, sir?” another asked, his voice cautiously reverent.
The eyes swiveled to his, boring into his face.
“That can wait," he said. "We must diminish their numbers first. They must be isolated...even more than they are now. We must ensure the alliances are all broken...” He smiled at them, but it was an odd expression on that face, pulling the skin higher around his angular forehead. “...They are halfway there already, even without our intervention.”
“Then you no longer want him with us?” another asked, his voice also cautious.
The elder turned, meeting his gaze. A fire shone in his eyes, cold and utterly without compromise.
“We will never abandon our intermediary to the enemy," he said. "Never.”
“But to let his light be manipulated and changed by those kneelers,” another said, his voice openly contemptuous. “It is not fitting, for a creature of his stature...”
The second in command never took her eyes off the elder.
“What will we do with him...if he will not change?”
The elder smiled, but it didn’t touch more than his pale lips. “Then we will kill him, my beloved sister. Allow him another life to serve those who truly love him..." He gave a regretful shrug with one hand. "Sadly, it would be the only gift left for us to give.”
“Will that not kill her, as well?” the youngest said.
The elder gestured dismissively. “What need have we of the Bridge? Are we not making our own evolutionary stand? Creating our own futures?”
He paused, looking over at the rest of them.
“...But for that, too, we must wait,” he added. “There is one more thing our Intermediaries can give us, I think, before we send them back to the lands of their Ancestors...” That flicker of a smile returned, even as he held out his hands in a gesture of supplication. "But friends...brothers and sisters...I have not given up on him yet. I would advise you not to do the same. And she may yet be willing to follow, if we provide her enough incentive..."
Silence fell over the other five. It was the female again who broke it.
“Where?” she said, her eyes sharp as they stared into his. “Once the ground is laid, how would you have us deploy the sickness, father...and where? Do you intend that we deploy globally at the outset, to prevent them from redesigning a cure? Or would you rather start in a few key cities first...?”
His voice grew thoughtful. "A cure is not a viable option for them. Not anymore." He glanced at her. "I think...I think we will start in a single location."
“In the land of our ancestors?” she said. “If it works as we had planned, it will spread quickly. Quick enough that we will no longer need to work with the humans in Beijing...”
Clicking softly, he gestured in the negative with one pale hand.
“No,” he said softly. “I would like a more dramatic beginning, I think. The Western mind is more useful for this...the East handles things differently...”
“New York?” one of the seers suggested.
“Rio, father?” another said. “We could use Paris as well...their water supply would lend itself easily...”
“How about Rome?” another said.
“Berlin?”
The oldest seer smiled faintly, staring around at each of their faces, his own still in shadow from where he stood outside the ring of interior lights.
“No,” he said softly. “I think we will get the Bridge’s attention far more easily if we deploy the first wave where she is most likely to know at least a few rats in the lab...” He clicked gently at their expressions, pausing only on the knowing look from his second-in-command. “We will start it in her home town. It is fitting, do you not think?”
“San Francisco,” one of them breathed.
“America,” another said. “Yes. It is right. It is brilliant, father...perfect...”
His lieutenant did not speak. The servant could tell that she had already drawn the obvious conclusion the other four only reached following the elder’s words. But then, she, like the servant himself, had worked far more closely and directly with the Bridge and her mate than the other seers in the room.
The servant watched as the five lights coiled in odd tangents over their heads. Each of them thought through the implications of the elder’s words, and what it would mean for them personally in the coming months.
The servant knew in a sudden flash; this was a historic moment.
The world was changing once again. And this time, he had witnessed the very words that would set that change in motion.
* * *
CONTINUE READING WITH:
KNIGHT (ALLIE’S WAR BOOK FIVE)
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THE ALLIE’S WAR SERIES is a dark, unique and gritty psychic romance involving a young woman grappling with her role in bringing about the end of one world and the start of a new one. Follow Allie Taylor and her antihero partner in crime, Dehgoies Revik, as they fight terrifying enemies and one another in a passionate story spanning centuries, and filled unpredictable twists.
QUENTIN BLACK MYSTERY is a dark, gritty paranormal romance and mystery series starring brilliant and mysterious antihero Quentin R. Black, along with his partner, psychic forensic psychologist Miram Fox. For fans of Sherlock Holmes and paranormal romance, the series spans continents and dimensions as Black tries to redeem himself by making the world safe for his kind.
THE ALIEN APOCALYPSE SERIES is a dystopian new adult romance about a tough girl named Jet Tetsuo who grew up on Earth following an alien invasion. Forced into living among her conquerors, she has to navigate a treacherous world full of enemies who pose as friends, even as she becomes their most famous fighter in the Rings, a modern day version of the coliseum.
THE GATE SHIFTER SERIES is an unusual shifter romance centering on shifters from another world altogether, called morph. Earth humans remained blissfully ignorant of the existence of alternate dimensions until Nihkil Jamri tries to save private detective, Dakota Reyes, while he is surveying Earth. Part urban fantasy, part detective series, part paranormal romance, part science fiction adventure, the Gate Shifter series explores crime solving, interstellar warfare and alien romance with the least likely candidates imaginable.
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“Seeking Truth in Made-Up Worlds”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I’m a USA TODAY bestselling author who writes paranormal mystery, romance and science fiction, often with a sexy, metaphysical and apocalyptic bent. My work has been featured in anthologies, online literary, art and fiction magazines as well as print venues such as NY Press. I travel extensively and have lived abroad in Europe, Australia and Asia and from coast to coast in the continental United States, but currently I live and work full time in Bangkok, Thailand.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This is the first novel I’ve written entirely in India, working as a full-time writer, so I’d like to thank everyone who helped me get over here, including my good friends Sanja and Terri who gave me the most wonderful send-off I’ve ever received, as well as Tamela, Lizzy, Monica, Bryan, Dannie, KP, Cheryl, Niki, Emily, Jeannette, Gianina, Jennifer, Cindy, Susannah and Kara. Most of all, a huge thanks to my sister Kathy and my brother Steve and their families for helping me with the transition, and my parents for being so supportive even when my choices probably make them nuts. Thanks also to Cindie for providing me a buddy and fellow seeker almost upon arrival in the land of monkeys and Buddhas and stomping Lord Ganeshas.
Many thanks as well to Kathy, Amelia, Tamela and April for their genius minds in helping me edit and improve all of my books and the Oregon Writers Network folks for all of your wisdom, insights, knowledge and skills that have so vastly improved all aspects of my writing and publishing that the difference really can’t be calculated. Thanks especially to Kristine Kathyrn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith for all of their invaluable help and guidance.
Allie's War Season Two Page 122
