by Robert Ross
“Woah,” said Kellan. “That would freak the shit out of me.”
Ah’Anon chuckled softly, “A bit more colorful that how Longinus describes his reaction, but essentially the same. Regardless, he’s immortal. Very immortal. Probably the most immortal of anyone. He’s been burned, beheaded, drowned, and crushed. Nothing sticks. He’s really, quite—“
“Fucked,” said Shannon sadly.
“In a word,” said Ah’Anon, “Yes, especially because he is continually drawn to a life of a soldier as well. I will get a message to him and ask that he speak with you about the spear. I’m sure he will do it, although he will, no-doubt, extract something for the favor.”
“Great,” said Kellan, “something to look forward to.”
The four of them were now standing in the alley and Ah’Anon embraced each in turn. “Farewell Sentinel of Order, Soulborn, and Juliet. Do not fail in your task. I am sure we will meet again soon.”
With that, the ancient vampire tilted his head staring up at the late afternoon sky, closed his eyes, and shot skyward.
“Holy shit!” Yelled Kellan. “He can fly? He can use telekinesis? I can’t do either one. This is total bullshit. I’m a god and I can’t fly.”
Shannon punched him on the arm. “You are NOT a god, Kellan Thorne. You are not even a demigod. Trust me on that.”
“Juliet,” said Juliet sadly.
Shannon and Kellan turned to her questioningly.
The young woman tried to mimic Ah’Anon’s clipped accent, “Farewell, Sentinel of Order. Farewell, Soulborn. Farewell, Juliet. Just Juliet. You have to admit, that’s a little demoralizing.”
The Sentinel and his Soulborn stared at her dumfounded, then all three started laughing.
Chapter 5
Out of Time
The front door to Kellan’s home banged open, causing him to jump and spill the bourbon he had been pouring. The young Sentinel closed his eyes and mentally counted to three, then spoke with a slight lilt, “Shannon, babe, can you please, please, for the love of all that is holy, stop kicking that door open. It’s nearly two hundred and fifty years old from colonial Pennsylvania.” He turned to find her glaring at him, two pizza boxes in her hands.
“And I am almost 750 years old, Kellan Thorne, and hungry. How else am I supposed to get the bloody door open? Bump it with my arse?”
“I’m sure the door would appreciate your lovely bum as much as I do. You also caused me to spill my bourbon.”
She set the pizza boxes down on the rough hewn trestle table and walked over to Kellan as he held up the glass. Shannon leaned in and he brought it to her lips and tilted. “Mmmm, that is good. Is that the product of another one of your inappropriate time travels.”
“No!” replied Kellan indignantly, “I only did that once and that was over a year ago, for the Scotch.”
She snatched the glass from his hand. “Hey, that’s mine.” Shannon ignored him and moved to a small painting in the corner of the living room. She leaned against the wall, tilted her head toward the painting and said, “What about that?”
“What about that?” Kellan replied innocently.
“Meghan told me.”
“God damn it! You two need to stop talking about me.”
“That’s just not going to happen, sweetie, so you best learn to keep your lies straight. Soooooo?”
“Ok, fine, but it’s just one painting. And I paid for it.”
“Where did you get it, Kellan?”
“France.”
“When in France, Kellan?”
“I don’t remember.”
Shannon took a long pull from her glass and started to walk back toward Kellan, a wolfish smile spreading across her face. “Oh, Kellan, you remember everything, but let me help you. Was it perhaps 1888 or 1889?”
“Maybe.”
“Let’s just say it was. And from whom did you get in France, Kellan?” Kellan mumbled something. “What was that?” She asked softly, having crossed the distance between them, and purred into his ear. “I didn’t quite catch the name. Here, if you are shy about it, just whisper to me.” She pulled back a lock of flaming red hair and tilted her head toward Kellan placing her ear next to his lips. He bit her. “Ow,” she cried but Kellan immediately knew he was in trouble as she whipped her head around, eyes blazing bright green.
“Shannon,” he said holding up his hands, “Shannon, wait.” Moving faster the he could track, she swept her foot outward knocking Kellan’s legs from beneath him and causing him to fly backward. He could feel her bending time has her hand caught him behind the head a fraction before it would have crashed to floor. She straddled him, her left hand flat against his chest, pressing him to the floor even as her right hand lanced outward to deftly catch the falling glass of bourbon she had thrown in the air. She leaned down and kissed him for what felt like years, then slowly pulled back and drained the rest of the bourbon. “Who’s painting, Kellan, she asked with a smile?”
Kellan sighed with equal parts contentment and resignation, “Van Gogh. I bought if from Van Gogh.”
She patted his cheek, swiveled her legs and hopped up. “See, was that so hard. I’m hungry. I brought Fix pizza. Oh, Jacamo says you owe him $200.”
“What? $200? How much pizza have you been buying and why does he give you pizza without paying?”
Shannon had opened a box and pulled out a slice. She glanced at Kellan and tossed her hair, “Oh, I have no idea why he might do that, Kellan.” Then took a bite.
“You are incorrigible!” The soulborn simply smiled as she leaned her chair back and watched Kellan scramble to his feet.
“Did you at least get me one with sausage?” Kellan watched the green fade from her eyes as she gestured to one of the boxes causing the lid to fly upward revealing a sausage and mushroom pizza. She grinned at him. “How the hell do you do that?” he yelled grabbing a slice for himself.
“What?”
“You know very well, what. That telekinesis. I’m the Sentinel here. You just use stolen power.”
“Borrowed.”
“Fine, borrowed. But still, I’m the Sentinel.”
She patted his hand reassuringly. “You are, sweetie. You are the Sentinel.”
“Oh shut up!”
She smiled at him. “I love you.”
Kellan narrowed his eyes at her then sighed again, “I love you too, but you drive me fucking nuts!”
“That’s what love is, Kellan. It’s spending your life with someone you want to kill but not doing so because you’d miss them.”
Kellan laughed. “I would miss you.”
“I know. Now, what have you decided to do about these Havilah folks?”
Kellan walked over to the the fridge and pulled out an Innis & Gunn beer. He glanced over his shoulder at Shannon questioningly. She nodded and he grabbed a second one, opened both and reseated himself at the table, sliding hers over. “I was going to ask Micah what he thought.”
Shannon shivered a little and Kellan knew she didn’t like seeing the old Sentinel’s avatar, but she nodded in agreement nonetheless. “Let’s finish dinner first ok?” she asked.
“Sure thing, Ginge, never interrupt a good meal by summoning your dead master, I always say.”
A half hour or so later Kellan walked back into the living room from his home office to find Shannon seated crosslegged in the large leather chair, bare feet pulled beneath her. He smiled at her reassuringly knowing that she always sat that way when she was nervous. He sank into the couch facing her and pulled out the warmly pulsing hexagonal crystal that served as Micah’s fetish stone.
“Ready?” he asked.
“No, but go ahead. I’m never ready”
Kellan took a deep breath and he’s eyes burst to light as he stared deep into the crystal. “Micah Ben Judah, first Sentinel of Creation, I summon you!” Almost instantly Micah appeared before them and Kellan saw Shannon flinch. He looked just as he had when they both last saw him: tall and strong, his wavy salt and peppe
r hair and full beard framing a face deeply lined with age. He wore the simple homespun robes that Kellan and Shannon both knew from Micah’s time in Glenn Ferry. Kellan was taken aback as he always was, by how lifelike he seemed, but this was just an artificial construct embedded in a crystal that Micah had fashioned to look like the one used by young Kal’El in the Superman movies of Kellan’s youth.
“Please state the nature of your medical emergency,” the avatar said with a deadpan expression, and Kellan burst out laughing. The avatar smiled and its eyes locked with Kellan’s. “I figured you would like that one,” it said.
“That was Awesome!” cried Kellan as he glanced over to Shannon who stared back blankly. “Oh, Shannon, see there was this hologram doctor in Star Trek Voyager and I told Micah about it when we were in the Workroom. Anyway, whenever the hologram doctor appeared he always said the same thing.” Kellan paused and pointed to Micah.
“Please state the nature of your medical emergency,” said the avatar again.
“See,” said Kellan, “Isn’t that awesome!”
Shannon looked unimpressed. “That’s not what it said the last time you summoned it.”
“No, he says something different each time. It’s like an Easter egg from Micah. Do the one you did last time. That was great too.”
The avatar vanished and immediately reappeared. Micah stared at Kellan with heavy lidded eyes and said “All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz and I’m fine.”
“Spicoli!” Yelled Kellan at the avatar which smiled as his countenance returned to its normal state.
Shannon just shook her head. “How many of those sayings do you have in there,” she asked the avatar.
It turned to her but she would not meet its gaze. “Micah has embedded 624 unique greetings for Kellan, each designed to lift his spirits and remind him of their time together.”
“Something to look forward to,” said Kellan, rubbing his hands together. “Now, Micah, I have some questions. A vampire came into the book shop today.”
“That is not a question.”
“I know. I was getting to the question.”
“Did you destroy it?”
“What?”
“The vampire. Did you destroy it?”
“No, he was quite nice and polite. I don’t destroy people who are quite nice and polite.”
“He is not a person. He is a vampire. You should destroy him.”
“Stop.” The avatar normally performed micro-moments that gave the illusion of life. It would occasionally shift its apparent weight from foot to foot or scratch its beard and Kellan had even seen it yawn a few times. Now, it stood perfectly motionless, appearing all the world like a full color statue.
Shannon shook her head. “That thing creeps me out.”
Kellan sighed, “Creeps you out, huh? You’ve been spending too much time with Juliet. You are starting to sound like a GenZed’er.” He turned back to the avatar. “Resume.” The avatar locked eyes with Kellan and smiled. “Now focus, Micah. I don’t want lectures on why I need to destroy vampires. I told you that before.”
“No, you told me you didn’t want lectures on why you needed to destroy demons.”
“Same thing.”
“No, demons are—“
“Stop.”
Shannon looked over at Kellan. “Do you really think this thing is worth it?”
“It’s not a thing, it’s Micah. Well, kind of, and we’re still getting the hang of each other. He is getting better.”
She sniffed and mumbled something barely intelligible, “…nothing like Micah.”
“Resume. Micah, do not lecture me on things I should kill. vampires, djinn, demons, etc. Ok?”
“Ok.”
“Now, this vampire was named Ah’Anon and said he was from someplace called Havilah. Do you have any information on that him or that?”
The avatar furrowed its brow and rubbed its chin with one hand as it appeared to consider the question. “Only rumor, Kellan, no direct information or interaction. Would you like to hear about rumors and innuendo?”
“Yes.”
“The Council of Havilah is a loose confederation of unnatural creatures who appear to have benign intent. Few members have ever been involved in acts normally associated with their species. No exsanguination, possession, infection with lycanthropic virus, etc. It is really quite strange. What few examples there were of members committing such acts have resulted in the perpetrators being executed by the Council itself. Micah suspected this to be subterfuge of some kind, but never uncovered evidence to support his suspicion. “
“What about Ah’Anon?” Asked Kellan.
“Micah never met him. However, about two hundred years ago, he did receive a letter from the vampire asking to meet.”
“Really?” said Kellan raising his eyebrows and glancing over to Shannon. “See. He’s very helpful.” She simply frowned and stood up, heading back toward the kitchen to get another beer from the fridge.
“So, what happened at the meeting?”
The avatar looked surprised. “There was no meeting, Kellan. Micah did not meet with vampires. He destroyed vampires.”
Kellan groaned. “Fine, what did the letter say.”
“I can only impart information that Micah imparted to me. He did not provide the full text of the letter, likely because he didn’t recall it.”
“Whatever, just give me the highlights.”
“Very well. Ah’Anon believed there was a group forming with the intent to destroy creation by shattering a foundational pillar.”
“What is a foundational pillar?”
“The vampire did not include that information in the letter.”
Kellan sighed deeply, “Which is why it’s always good to meet people.”
The avatar cocked its head slightly. “Vampires are not people. They are sentient human corpses animated by the fragmented spiritual essence of—“
Kellan interrupted. “Micah, what are examples of foundational pillars?”
“Time, Matter, Energy Conservation, and Light-speed.”
Kellan heard the pop, hiss, click, of Shannon’s beer opening and the cap being caught by the a magnet attached to the opener, but didn’t spare her a glance. He leaned forward.
“Now, that’s interesting,” he said to the avatar. “How do you even know about those things? Micah couldn’t rip time and I doubt he had any concept of the theory of relativity.”
“Raphael joined Micah briefly when this avatar was being created. Micah thought you might have need of this information and knew his understanding was lacking.”
“Hmmm, well, I’ve already mucked around with Time and Matter without destroying all of creation.”
The avatar laughed and it seemed so natural and lifelike that Kellan was taken aback. “Creation is not so fragile as to be undone by a young, half-trained, Sentinel bumping into principles he barely understands.”
Kellan narrowed his eyes. “Hey, that sounds a lot more like Raphael or Michael than you.”
The avatar smirked, “You caught me. But to your underlying question, the foundational pillars are quite resilient. It would take specific intent, incredible power, and artifacts of focus to even begin to crack, let alone, shatter a foundational pillar.”
“Artifacts?” Asked Shannon from behind Kellan, as he felt her fingers begin to comb through his hair in an absently intimate way. “Artifacts like the Spear of Destiny or Seal of Solomon?”
“Yes, exactly like that,” said the avatar, its gaze shifting to Shannon. It paused, staring at her then seemed to shimmer, judder, and shake, stabilizing a moment later.
“What’s it doing? Is it broken?” Asked Shannon.
“No,” Kellan began glancing back at Shannon, “He does that sometimes when the conversation takes an unexpected turn. Give him a second.” The young Sentinel turned fully around. “Shannon, your nose is bleeding again.”
She reached up, fingers coming back stained bright red and she tasted blood as
she felt it trickle down to the corner of her mouth.
The avatar’s eyes focused on Shannon and it looked concerned. “Shannon McLeod, how long have you been outside your native timeline?”
Kellan felt his stomach twist as he pulled a tissue from the small box that was sitting on the end-table and handed it to Shannon. She dabbed her nose in annoyance. “My native time-what?”
“She’s been absent from the Glenn Ferry timeline for about a year and a half,” said Kellan anxiously.
The avatars face registered alarm. “Kellan, she must return home immediately!”
“Home?” Said Shannon angrily, “I am home, you stupid doll. This is my home. Tell him Kellan. Tell him this is my home.”
Kellan looked into her pale brown eyes, reached up and she grabbed hold of his offered hand. He knew that look. She was scared to the point of anger. He pulled her hand leading her around the couch as he stood to hug her. “It’ll be ok Shannon. We’ll figure this out.”
“No Kellan, it will not be ok,” said the avatar. “If she does not return to her native timeline immediately, she will die.”
The young Sentinel felt her tense in his embrace and begin to tremble. He pulled back and lifted her chin up with a finger, placing a soft kiss on her lips. Very few things scared Shannon McLeod and this was one of them. He locked his gaze with hers while holding up a hand, index finger extended toward the avatar. “Shannon. I tell you three times. It will be ok. We will figure this out.”
She barked a frantic half laugh. “Ok, my Kvothe. I tell you three times. We damn well better figure it out. I told you that I didn’t give my heart easily and you accepted it.”
“I did and I do, Shannon,” then helping her sit back down he turned his attention back to the avatar which appeared to be anxiously shifting its weight back and forth. “Explain.”
