Sentinels of Creation

by Robert W. Ross

  Michael shifted slightly against the couch, sitting more upright. “I made that portal, Soulborn of Order. There was just no way you could—”

  Kellan winced as Michael’s head twisted violently to one side in reaction to Shannon’s fist driving into his jaw. She stood, shaking her hand from the blow and pointed to Kellan with the other. He flashed an innocent look and pointed back to Michael.

  “I told him someone was going to get punched in the face for that. I’m just glad it wasn’t me.”

  Chapter 8

  A Wizard of Legend

  “Kellan Caufield Thorne, what are you doing in there. We are going to be late! Again.”

  “Sentinel-Kellan,” came the clipped British voice in Kellan’s head as he fiddled with the second contact lens. The young Sentinel let out an exasperated breath and gave an expectant stare to himself in the bathroom mirror. “Why did Shannon add your middle name to her summons?”

  Kellan smirked. “I thought you were a super genius? Figure it out. I’m busy putting in your contact lens. By the way, have you gotten the results from that blood I gave you.”

  “No, not yet. I sacrificed time for security because I wanted there to be no way to trace the sample back to you. Now, to your other point, you lost the bet, thus you must wear the contacts tonight.”

  “I know that Jarvis. It was a bullshit bet anyway, but I don’t welch out which is why I am doing it. I hate putting them in ok. Touching my eyes makes my stomach twist. I told you that.”

  “Such a response seems not in keeping with your rather impressive abilities. To be brought low by a simple touch on the cornea—”

  “There,” Kellan exclaimed triumphantly as the right contact nestled into place. “Now what were you going on about. My cornea?”

  “It just seems an odd weakness for one such as you to have. What if you were captured and tortured with cornea touching. You would give them whatever they sought.”

  Kellan stared at himself in disbelief, noting the slight luminescence that indicated the contacts were active. “Jarvis, STFU, really. No one is going to threaten me with a tap to the cornea. They generally, stab me, try to set me on fire, crush me, or in some other way mutilate me beyond the point of life. Oh, and sometimes, they shoot me. Like in the chest two times and once in the head. Do you remember that?”

  There was a momentary pause which Kellan knew was a veritable lifetime in Jarvis world, then the AI spoke with what Kellan detected was a slightly embarrassed tone. “Yes, well, to my point Kellan. While you rightly describe me as a super-genius, I am far less adept in the area of human interactions, hence my query.” Kellan placed his hands together to capture a bit of warm water, bent down, and scooped it over his head. He ran his fingers through the damp hair with his naturally dark waves taking on a slightly more managed look. “I assume she believed adding your middle name would cause you to move with alacrity. Is that not so? If it is so, why would its use cause such a reaction?”

  “She’s pissed, Jarvis. She wants me to know she’s pissed and using my full name makes that abundantly clear. This is known.”

  “It is known,” Jarvis repeated solemnly.

  “Yes, it is hard-coded into the XX chromosome. Mother’s do it, girlfriends do it, wives do it. Dude, women do it. That’s just the way of things.”

  “I understand, thank you. So she is, as you say, pissed because you are late for your engagement with the Lady Juliet and master Glenn.”

  “Please don’t call them that,” Kellan groaned as he tucked in his light gray t-shirt and synched up his belt. He quickly confirmed it was still using the fourth hole and slid into a blue flannel shirt. Kellan gave himself a quick nod in the mirror, then swept on an exceptionally well worn leather jacket and clicked off the bathroom light.

  “Coming babe,” he yelled, “just putting on my shoes.”

  “Why should I not address them as such?” the AI asked, refusing to let the subject drop.

  “Because it makes you sound like an idiot, Jarvis.”

  Another pause “But, Kellan, Lady Juliet asked me to use that honorific and now you are telling me that to do so is wrong. I cannot both address her as such and not address her.” Jarvis’ voice began to convey distress and Kellan felt his jaw tighten as he pulled on a sneaker.

  “Don’t do this Jarvis,” he said, voice rising.

  “Must—call—Lady Juliet—cannot call—I have developed a fault.”

  “Jarvis,” Kellan said through gritted teeth.

  “Daisy, Daisy, Give me your answer true—”

  “I’m going to take these contacts out if you don’t stop your HAL 9000 imitation right now.” Kellan pulled on his other shoe and headed for the bedroom door. “Look, Juliet wants to play Lady Capulet and that’s fine. Just know that her request is anachronistic at best. At worst, she’s nuts, but I love her so it’s ok. Now shut up and don’t distract me during dinner. You wanted an excursion out to see how humans interact socially so I’m giving it to you. No-one knows I’m doing it and I don’t need any weirdness, so, again, shut up.” Kellan paused as he turned the corner into the living room. Shannon poked her head around the kitchen corner and glared. He held up one finger, turned slightly aside and growled, “Jarvis, did you hear me? Jarvis?”

  “You said to shut up, Kellan, so that was me, shutting up.”

  “Ok,” Kellan whispered, “in addition to shutting up, you can now completely fuck off.”

  “Don’t take one more step, Kellan,” said Shannon dangerously and Kellan thought his uninvited artificially intelligent guest had been discovered. He froze in place.

  “Not stepping,” he said, then added, “ Why am I not stepping, exactly?”

  “Because, you daft man, I have something to show you. That’s why I was getting dressed in here.”

  “Uh, you were. I thought you were going to wear what you had on when Satan and the Angels were here?” A second later he added, “Babe, does that sound as ludicrous to you as it just did to me.”

  “Prolly not, Sweetie, but then I did think going out to dinner wearing a torn old pair of jeans and one of your shirts would be ludicrous, so maybe I’m not the best one to ask. Now close your eyes. Are they closed?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Alright. You may open them.”

  Kellan did and felt his mouth drop slightly. Shannon did a quick spin and spread out her arms, then affected a slight curtsey.

  “Wow!” said Kellan.

  “You like it then?”

  “Wow,” said Kellan again, “you look like a girl and everything. No knives or kevlar or even leather.”

  She winked at him. “These boots are leather, but I know what you mean.”

  Kellan walked toward her. “Juliet did this?” Shannon nodded. The young Sentinel took it all in. Shannon wore a long sleeved white, button-down, shirt that opened at the neck where she displayed the time-locket Lucifer had given her. On top of that was a mossy green v-neck sweater which was tucked into an impressively short tartan skirt. “Aren’t you going to be cold. I mean it is a week before Christmas.”

  “Don’t you worry about that Kellan. First of all, these boots are lined and they go well enough above my knee that there isn’t much skin exposed.”

  “Uh,” said Kellan, “there’s enough skin exposed that I might need to fight people off.”

  She grinned at him, but continued as she pointed both fingers to her face, “Secondly, Scottish—and not that weak twenty-first century Scottish either. Genuine, thirteenth century, Highlander Scottish. I laugh at Atlanta and its so called winter. By-the-way, I checked, and winter starts on Thursday. Oh, and I’m also wearing this.” She held up a maroon hourglass leather jacket with a distinctive teardrop zipper pull.

  “Hey,” said Kellan, “that looks just like—”

  Shannon beamed. “It is. Juliet found it on Ebay. It’s Martha’s jacket from Doctor Who.”

  Kellan had unconsciously moved his hands to his hips while nodding appreciatively. “Screw Ade
le’s, babe. Let’s just stay home and I’ll watch you walk around for three hours.”

  She closed the distance between them draped her arms over his shoulders and gave him a short, but well executed, kiss. “No, sweetie, we don’t want to disappoint Juliet and Glenn. I just wanted to make sure you had an appetite and it seems you do now.” She raised up on her toes and slid her face past his until her lips were right next to his ear. “Oh, and sweetie, I do have a couple knives hidden away. You know, just in case.” She pulled away, gave a sharp turn toward the door causing the skirt to float slightly, and slipped on the jacket.

  Kellan gave his head a slight shake. “What, really?” He looked her over again. “Where on earth could you be hiding a knife, let alone two?”

  She gave him a predatory grin, “Maybe after dinner we can play find the knives together and you will see.”

  Kellan shook his head as he opened the door and made a sweeping gesture with his left arm. “And that sentence, ladies and gents, sums up our relationship. My Highlander Soulborn’s idea of sex play has to do with finding weapons of death.”

  “Hi, Kel,” said Juliet with a smile. He opened his arms and she gave a short skip toward him. Kellan wrapped her up in a good hug, then pushed back slightly and kissed her forehead.

  “You look great, Lady Juliet,” he said and she gave him a knowing wink. He glanced over and Glenn was just releasing Shannon from his similar greeting. The young Sentinel walked over and extended his hand. Glenn grasped it warmly and smiled.

  “How ya doing Kellan? Been up to anything interesting lately?”

  Kellan released his grip and looked up as if in thought, “Hmm, interesting? Nope, not too much. Well, Satan shared a hot tub with Shannon if that counts and if he hadn’t left when he did there probably would have been some kind of scuffle between him and the Archangel Michael. But, other than that, nope, nada.”

  Juliet blanched and looked to Shannon. She shrugged and leaned close to the younger woman. Juliet’s eyes widened and then she playfully slapped Shannon while the both looked at Kellan and tried to suppress their amusement.

  Damnit, thought Kellan, What are they making fun of now?

  Glenn had been oblivious to the entire exchange so simply laughed politely and said, “Yeah, that would have been quite the celestial scuffle. So, you guys want inside or out?”

  “I’d like to be outside,” said Shannon.

  “Me too,” added Juliet.

  “As long as we’re under one of those heaters, I’m good,” said Kellan.

  “No problem,” replied Glenn as he started up the nearby stairs. “They already have our reservation so I’ll get them to setup an outside table near a heater.”

  “He hates the cold,” said Juliet softly.

  “Oh, I know, Juliet,” answered Shannon, “he'd never survive in the Highlands. He must have three layers of blanket on his side of the bed.”

  “Once again,” said Kellan in exasperation, “I’m right here. Please talk about me when I’m not around, or at least talk softer so I cannot hear.”

  “They’ve got it ready,” called Glenn and the four of them made their way to one of the round iron tables that were arranged throughout Adele’s outdoor deck area.

  Only a few minutes past before a server came by carrying a tray. He spread the glasses of water around to each and placed a basket of bread in the center.

  “Hi guys. I’m Jake and I’ll be taking care of you tonight. Have y’all been with us before?”

  “We have,” began Juliet and indicating herself, Kellan and Shannon, “but my boyfriend hasn’t so we want him to hear everything.”

  “Good deal,” said Jake, “well, to start with the bread there is flown in from New Orleans. It’s from the Leidenheimer Baking Co and we use it for all our poboys as well.”

  Kellan was fiddling absently with the camera settings on his phone and added, “Yeah, the bread’s amazing. Most folks think George Leidenheimer founded it in 1904, but that’s just when he moved production to Simon Bolivar Avenue. It was really founded in 1896. Of course they didn’t start providing bread for Po-boys until the early 1920s when a streetcar conductors strike left the strikers unable to afford food. When they would come in to the French Quarter sandwich shop hoping for a freebie, the call went out, ‘here comes another poboy.’” Kellan looked up triumphant, “There, found out how to turn off the stupid flash.” Juliet, Shannon, Glenn, and Jake all stared at him. “What?” asked Kellan.

  Juliet smiled, “Please ignore my Uncle Kellan. He’s a bit of an idiot savant with an emphasis on the idiot part. Are there any specials you want to tell us about?”

  The four spent the next several minutes just catching up on various mundane happenings while Kellan would intermittently demand everyone pose for pictures. He was in the middle of snapping a selfie with Shannon when their appetizers arrived. Jake placed a platter of Big Green Egg smoked oysters in the center of the table and cups of steaming gumbo in front of each of them. The group dug in with gusto.

  Some time later a middle-aged man sporting bright multicolored pajama pants and dark blue crocs wandered over. Kellan brightened at his approach. “Hey Marc, how ya doing?”

  The older man returned the smile and said, “Can’t complain, Kellan. How was everything tonight?”

  “Perfect,” said Juliet and Shannon together. Kellan just motioned to the women in a there you go expression.

  “Glad to hear it,” said Marc as he waved to one of his staff who had been standing several paces behind him. Now the young woman came forward carrying cafe au lait, beignets, and a large portion of bourbon glazed bread pudding.

  “Whoa,” said Kellan, “you didn’t have to do that. We hadn’t even gotten around to desert yet.”

  Marc chuckled, “Oh I didn’t Kellan, these are compliments of the gentleman at the bar there. He said he knew what you’d like and wanted to cap off your night with a sweet treat.” Kellan leaned back but didn’t see anyone he recognized, then turned back to Marc and shrugged in negation. “There,” Marc pointed, “that elderly man with the longish beard. He’s facing slightly away from us in that thick cabled sweater.”

  As if on cue the man turned toward them and raised a glass in greeting.

  Kellan’s blood ran cold. He could feel Shannon tense, having picked up his emotional shift and she moved one hand to the back of her skirt.

  Hmmm, how the hell did she stash a knife there without leaving a line, thought Kellan absently before focusing again on the man—the same man he had seen turn into a cloud of ravens just one day before.

  “Well, I’ll leave y’all to it then,” said Marc by way of a graceful exit. The new arrival leaned forward exchanging handshakes with everyone before settling down in the extra chair that had been brought.

  “So, Mr. Vatis, is it?” asked Juliet.

  “Merl is fine,” he said smoothly.

  “Merl. So, how do you know Kellan?”

  “Oh, we’re old friends, aren’t we Kellan. He, Shannon, and I all met in Scotland years ago.”

  Kellan gave a glance to Shannon who responded with an almost imperceptible shake of her head.

  “Wait,” said Glenn, “I though Kellan and Shannon just met a couple years ago.”

  “No,” answered Shannon smoothly, “that’s just when we started dating. I’ve known him ever since I was a teen lass. He was quite the corrupting force on my upbringing, I’ll tell you that for nothing.”

  Merl laughed amiably, “I don’t find that hard to believe at all, but I am also quite sure you gave as good as you got, Miss McLeod.”

  Shannon opened her mouth to respond when Kellan nudged her and tilted his head toward a nearby table. She looked where indicated and he heard her deep intake of breath. A diner had accidentally knocked her fork from the table and it hung suspended in air halfway to the ground. Everything became deathly quiet and none of the other patrons moved an inch or even blinked. A moment later there was a flutter of wings and the largest raven either of the
m had ever seen landed deftly on Merl’s shoulder. The black bird took a couple steadying steps, stared at Shannon, and cawed.

  Kellan felt power flood out from him and saw the emerald shields Shannon channeled snap into place around Juliet and Glenn even has he drew power to form one around his Soulborn and himself. Having fully embraced the power, the man before him took on an entirely different visage. Amber power radiated out from him in waves while massive black winged shadows were cast behind him. Despite all that, the man continued to smile. He lifted the plate of beignets and offered them to Kellan and Shannon. As he did so, the sleeve of his sweater rode up his right arm, and Kellan’s eye was drawn to something there.

  He gasped in surprise and looked back to the man in disbelief. Shannon’s gaze followed that of Kellan and she took in the image made by the time faded lines of a scar. It was unmistakably unique, a triangle in the center and three tentacle-like curling whips stretching out from each of the angles.

  Her eyes filled with tears as she leaped up from the table. “Oren? For the love of heaven. Oren, is that you?”

  “What do you mean, you’re Merlin?” asked Kellan.

  The bearded man shrugged nonchalantly. “You can call me Oren if you like, but no one has for centuries. Not since my sister died.” Kellan looked down and Merlin placed a reassuring hand on his. “No, it’s all right, Kellan, that was a very long time ago and while I still think of her often, I also know she is doing fine where she is.”

  “Merl Vatis,” said Shannon questioningly. “Merlin Vatis?”

  “Vatis mean Bard in Latin,” said Kellan. “Is that for your father, Taliesin? Not bad, that’s almost as good as—”

  “Seramai,” answered Merlin with a low chuckle.

  “You know Seramai,” they asked in unison.

  Merlin smiled, “Yes, I never knew him as Trajan, but do know him well as the Mantel of War. He has caused me quite a large amount of trouble in the past, but despite that, we are friends. He is an honorable man.”