“Who is inside?” Sepia asked. “Do they hold a named blade as well?”
“We are waiting for Izumi, daughter of Fuma and an exceptional Inkmaster in her own right,” Calisto answered. “I think you will recognize some of her work. She will want to test your ink first. It’s just her way.”
“Test my ink?”
Calisto nodded. “She has a certain way about her, but we need the information she has,” she said. “When she arrives, let me do the speaking.”
“How do you know she’s even here?” Sepia asked and closed her eyes for a few seconds, letting her senses expand. “This place feels empty.”
“You won’t be able to sense her that way,” Calisto said. “Izumi is a skilled Inkmaster. They are good at hiding, but she is here.”
“Can’t we just ask her where her dad is?”
“We can…and she will refuse to answer,” Calisto said. “She is similar to you—obstinate to a fault.”
“But she will share after she tests my ink, whatever that means?” Sepia said. “Fine, let her test away, and when she’s done we get the information so I can get this mask off my face.”
“We will, if you pass the test.”
“What do you mean if?” Sepia asked. “What kind of test is this?” Sepia asked. “How is she testing my ink?”
“Don’t try and use your weapon,” Calisto said. “It won’t work with the mask on.”
“Wait, why would I need my sword?”
“Why indeed,” said a voice from behind them. “Hello, Calisto. How did you find me?”
They turned to face a young woman who was dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt. Her long black hair was tied in a braid and her pale skin glistened. White designs comprised of intricate lines covered every inch of visible skin except her face. A small smile crossed her lips as she padded over, barefoot, to where they stood.
“Hello, Izumi,” Calisto said and gave her a slight bow. “I never lost you.”
“Her ink is exquisite,” Izumi said, looking at Sepia. “It looks like the hand of Master Zanshin.”
She can tell that just from looking? thought Sepia.
“I believe it is,” Calisto said. “This is Emiko’s daughter. We need information. We need to find your father.”
“Emiko’s daughter?” Izumi said to herself as she stepped close to examine the tattoos on Sepia’s arms. “She wouldn’t let anyone but Zanshin work on her daughter.”
“Do you know where he is?” Calisto asked. “This is urgent.”
“Of course I know where he is—he’s my father,” Izumi replied and smiled. “You can find him the same way you found me.”
“I can’t,” Calisto answered. “He’s hiding, but you can tell me where he is.”
“I can’t just hand you this information. You know Father and his privacy.”
Calisto nodded. “Fuma can only be found if he wants to be.”
“And right now he doesn’t,” Izumi replied. “What do you need him for?”
“She needs to remove this mask, before the change,” Calisto replied, gesturing to Sepia. “Only he has the wards for this.”
“The change…I understand,” Izumi said as she stepped closer to Sepia and put a hand on the mask covering her face and gave a slight gasp. “You are interesting.” She turned to Calisto. “If she’s really Emiko’s daughter this shouldn’t pose a problem. She only needs to manifest her named sword and remove the mask.”
How does she know about my sword?
Izumi looked at the question in Sepia’s eye and chuckled.
“The entrance wards told me,” she whispered and turned to Calisto. “Does she know how to summon the demon?”
“She can’t,” Calisto said. “The wards on the mask prevent it.”
“Do they now?” Izumi said, looking closer at the mask. “Did you tell her yet? Does she know?”
Calisto’s face was a stone mask.
“No,” Calisto answered. “There is nothing for her to know—yet.”
“Demon?” Sepia asked. “Which demon?”
“It appears it’s not quite the time to share,” Izumi said. “There is too much power in her. The change will kill her—or worse, turn her. It would be better if it killed her.”
“Which is why we need your father,” Calisto said. “Allow her to take the test.”
“The test?” Izumi asked, cocking her head to one side and tracing the wards on the mask. “The test may kill her. Why did you really bring her here, Calisto?”
“She wields Perdition.”
“I see,” Izumi said. “Then this would be a fitting graveyard, if she fails.”
“I won’t fail,” Sepia said, and Calisto glared at her to remain silent.
Izumi gave a small laugh devoid of mirth and looked hard at Sepia.
“It’s not you who will be tested, Hunter, but your ink,” Izumi said. “I truly hope Zanshin was your Inkmaster or you will die here today, despite your sword and the power that lies dormant in you.”
“If she fails, the sword will remain unbound and in the Hall,” Calisto said, “until a suitable wielder is found. As the precepts dictate.”
“Are you threatening me, Calisto?” Izumi asked. Her voice was full of quiet menace as she walked to one of the side doors. “You forget I was there when the precepts were written.”
“I didn’t forget,” Calisto said as she let her power fill the room. Several of the marble stones around her feet cracked and liquefied. “I’m merely reminding you that I was there as well.”
“Please follow me, Sepia,” Izumi said and opened the door. “You’ll have to remain here, witch. The Hall won’t allow you to proceed into the testing chamber.”
Calisto clenched her jaw and bowed, remaining where she stood. Izumi led Sepia out of the foyer and into the testing chamber. It was a smaller, cylindrical room roughly forty feet wide and twice as tall. The floor was covered in the same designs that covered the table outside. All the stone in the chamber matched the pink marble that surrounded the courtyard. Aside from the wards on the floor, the room was empty.
“She hates being called that,” Sepia said as she opened her coat and tightened her holsters. “You like living dangerously.”
“I know,” said Izumi and smiled. “She is quite a force to be reckoned with, but I can’t help teasing her.”
“You tease her?” Sepia asked, incredulous. “Do you have a deathwish? She just melted marble.”
“She used to do that all the time,” Izumi replied. “She may be scary, but I’m older. Trust me, I’m scarier.”
Izumi stood in a defensive stance, placed a fist inside an open palm, and bowed.
“It is my honor,” she said. “Please feel free to use any weapon at your disposal, including your sword.”
Calisto told me not to use Perdition.
Sepia returned the bow. “The honor is mine, thank you,” Sepia replied, entering a defensive stance and drawing her guns.
Izumi gave a short nod of approval and disappeared.
What the hell?
The first blow knocked Sepia off her feet and sent her crashing into the side of the chamber. Her ink flushed with heat as it dealt with the damage. Sepia looked down and saw her coat and shirt were shredded. A large bruise formed on her forearm.
I don’t feel her at all.
She shrugged off her coat and let her senses expand. Inside she felt the power tug at her, asking for release. She tapped into the power without allowing it to break free. Izumi struck from behind. Sepia grunted in pain as she fell forward, gasping for breath.
“You are using the wrong senses,” Izumi said, her voice filling the room. “Let the power free. Let it guide you.”
I don’t think so.
Sepia pulled the power tight and forced it under control. She moved to the center of the floor and closed her eyes. She felt the thrum of the wards beneath her feet and in a moment of realization understood their purpose. She placed a hand on the mask covering her face, allowing the power to flow throug
h her again. Her right eye began to glow as the outline of Izumi came into focus.
She raised her guns to shoot, but Izumi was a blur. Both guns flew across the chamber as her body was peppered with blows. Sepia rolled back and away from the attack, stumbling to the floor. Her breath came in short gasps as her ink flared. She stood shakily and put her back to a wall as she focused on the flickering outline of Izumi, and drew her blades.
“You can see me now—good,” Izumi said. “You are bypassing the wards of the mask. If you release your weapon you can remove it.”
Can’t…let…it…loose.
Izumi closed in and drove a fist into Sepia’s midsection. Sepia doubled over with a grunt. Izumi brought a hand down to crush her neck but missed. Sepia slid to the side and drove her blade into her thigh. Izumi looked down at the blade and pulled it out of her leg, tossing it to the side.
“Very few have been able to do what you just did,” Izumi said and materialized before a staggering Sepia. “This test is over, but you aren’t finished.”
Sepia took a step forward and collapsed.
SIX
“Where did they go?” Gan asked, barely containing his anger. “How could she move her? Doesn’t she know the risks? Where the hell is Reed?”
“I sent him away, since he was more of a distraction than anything else,” Mercy said.
“You did what?” Gan said. “He could have stopped her.”
“He would have been in the same condition as this one,” Mercy said and pointed at Wake. “She is too strong.”
“She doesn’t know the danger,” he said.
“She knows,” Mercy answered. “She also thinks this is what’s best.”
“Mercy, where did Calisto take her?”
“She took her to the Hall,” Mercy said. “She is looking for Fuma.”
“Fuma?” he said. “Now I know she’s lost her mind. He hasn’t been seen in decades! Fuma would never be in the Hall. He hated that place.”
“That is where she took her,” Mercy replied. “What do you intend to do?”
Gan rubbed his face and looked at the sleeping form of Wake, who lay in the bed.
“What happened to her?” he asked, continuing to stare.
“Sepia happened,” Mercy said. “She has grown stronger and the mask will not hold her for long. She destroyed the warded straps and sent this one” —she indicated Wake’s sleeping form—“flying across the room.”
“If she gets that mask off…” he started.
“The transformation will accelerate,” Mercy finished. “You can’t let that happen, Gan.”
“I don’t know if I can stop it,” he said. “She needs to keep that mask on until I can figure this out.”
“They will try and capture her,” Mercy said. “Or kill her.”
“Or both,” Gan said. “Regional has unleashed the Guard to retrieve the artifact. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were in the city right now. They released Velos and he is leading a fist.”
“Velos will bring much death,” Mercy whispered. “His mind and body have been twisted. He is more machine than man.”
“A dark blade,” Gan said. “Regional gave him a dark blade. They’re as crazy as he is.”
“If you don’t stop him, he’ll destroy us all,” Mercy whispered. “If he gets to Sepia, he’ll try to take her.”
“He’ll have to kill me first.”
SEVEN
Jas felt her heart racing as Velos pulled the chair over and sat at the foot of her bed. She could track most of the hardware he possessed and realized that parts of his body were made entirely of tech.
What is he?
“I just need to ask you a few questions,” Velos said. “I hope you don’t mind”—he looked down at his notes—“Jasmine Desant, is it?”
Jas nodded. “Yes,” she said and coughed to clear her throat.
“Desant?” he asked. “Is your mother Erica Desant? The Hunter who held the line singlehandedly against a swarm of Unholy?”
“Yes, that’s her,” she said. “And no, I’m not a Hunter. I didn’t make it past the tests.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” he said. “You and your parents must have been disappointed.”
“We don’t really talk about it,” she said. “We don’t really talk—period.”
“I see…that is sad, family is so important,” he said in a soothing voice. He smiled again and for a brief moment, she felt at ease, until she looked into his eyes. A scream had formed in her throat and was trying to claw its way out of her as she locked eyes with him.
He patted her leg gently as he broke eye contact, and she gasped, trying to catch her breath.
How did he do that? she wondered.
“Who are you?” she asked, her voice full of fear. “What are you?”
He gave her another smile and patted her leg again. She pulled it away.
“Who am I?” he said. “I’m the one tasked with getting back the artifact stolen by Sepia. As for what I am—that is a fascinating question. Let me give you the short answer. I am the check-and-balance to unfettered power and it’s past time the Hunters of the Order were held accountable.”
“You need to leave—now,” Jas said. “I don’t know where she is.”
Velos stood and made to leave. He stopped at the door and spoke without turning.
“I understand you must’ve had a traumatic experience, and allow me to express my apologies for disturbing you while you’re recovering,” he said. “I’d like for you to pass on a message from me to her when you speak to her.”
“What is it?” Jas asked, her voice cracking.
He turned and looked at Jas, but she was ready this time. The overwhelming fear washed over her but didn’t take hold.
“You tell her I’m bringing the days of the Hunters to an end,” he said. “And I’m starting with her.”
EIGHT
“The daughter of the Jade Demon possesses the keystone, Master,” Onyx said. “This was an unforeseen event.”
“Unforeseen?” Chimera said. “Are you offering me excuses or pleading for your life?”
Onyx went down on one knee and bowed his head.
“My life is yours, Master.”
Chimera stood motionless looking out of the floor-to-ceiling windows. The sun hovered over the park as night approached and cast the large green expanse in the center of the city into shadows.
The room was the lower level of a duplex that sat in one of the three distinctive octagonal copper-capped towers that overlooked Central Park West. The building, once known as the Beresford, was one of the most prestigious addresses in the city. It had been abandoned decades earlier when the residents began disappearing.
“This prison has held us for centuries,” he said. “They thought we would be content—that we would be satisfied being kept like dogs in a pen.”
“The wards are weakening and we are now in the position to destroy their prison,” Onyx said. “We can be free.”
“Free?” Chimera said. “As long as the Order exists we can never know freedom. We must destroy our jailers and everything they cherish. Only then can we truly be free.”
“We must remove the Hunters, as they are our chief obstacle,” Onyx said. “With them gone we can seal our victory.”
“Fool,” Chimera replied. “It isn’t the Hunters you must fear, but their blades. That is the chief obstacle we face. Without the Hunters the Order is hindered, but they will simply reassign new ones to stand against us. If you strip them of their blades they will be defenseless and at our mercy.”
“We must get back the keystone,” Onyx said. “We must stop her.”
“She also possesses her dark blade,” Chimera said. “The power of the keystone with that sword—she must be eliminated before the change.”
“Yes, Master,” Onyx replied. “Shall I release the shadows?”
Chimera extended an arm to the side. Green flames enveloped his hand. Onyx’s body was immediately surrounded by the flame
s and lifted into the air. The smell of burned flesh filled the room.
“Master?” he said through the pain. “Have I displeased you?”
“You only exist because of your role in my return,” Chimera whispered. “Eliminate her before she turns or I will make sure to strip the flesh from your bones inch by inch before I feed you to Fang and his pack.”
Chimera turned and faced the still-floating Onyx. His glowing eyes flared green as he turned to leave the room. He snuffed out the flames around his hand and Onyx dropped to the floor.
“Your next failure will be your last,” Chimera said. “Find those she cares for, those closest to her, and use them against her. She will try to protect them and then you can bring her to me. Once her blade and the keystone are mine, the destruction of the Order will follow.”
“Yes, Master,” came the muffled reply. “Thank you, Master.”
“Bring her to me and your place is secured by my side,” Chimera said. “Once this transformation is complete I will be free to remove the Order once and for all. Until then you will carry out my instructions.”
“I live to serve, Master,” Onyx said.
Chimera left the room. Onyx got to his feet slowly. His suit still smoldered and his raw, exposed flesh could be seen through the material where the flames had burned him.
He traced a ward into his hand as he grimaced in pain. The ward flared for a second and disappeared. The next moment a small green flame materialized in the center of his palm. He made a fist, extinguishing the flame as he furtively looked around.
“We’ll see whose place is secure, Master.”
NINE
“She’s too powerful,” Izumi said. “Better if I kill her now.”
Sepia lay in a makeshift bed. The wards on the mask glowed green with power and pulsed every few seconds. Around her, the walls were inscribed with wards of every kind. Most of them were designed to inhibit pain. Some even induced sleep.
“No,” Calisto said and sighed. “Not that you could. Everything is not black and white, Izu.”
Izumi raised an eyebrow. “You think she wields that much power?”
Izumi walked over to the unconscious Sepia, placed a hand over her chest, and closed her eyes. She quickly withdrew it as if burned.
Sepia Blue- Nightmare: A Sepia Blue Novel- Book 3 Page 3
