“Hey, not fair!” she balked. “If you had any idea how that stuff was made…”
I held my hand up to stop her. “In all fairness, I had planned to post for another bartender.”
She was right, the bar was getting busy, and Bogie hadn’t had a day off since the day I arrived in Blackbird. Just because he was a pain in my ass and a demon didn’t mean that I had the right to exploit him.
“You’re hired,” I said, holding out my hand to shake on the deal. “I’ll leave Bogie to hammer out the scheduling details…”
“Wait, that’s it? You don’t need me to prove I can make a drink or anything?”
“I’ll defer those decisions to the manager. Bogie, you just got a promotion to manager.”
“Gee, thanks Des. Does said promotion come with a raise?”
“Don’t push your luck,” I warned.
“I ain’t got no luck to push, big guy,” Bogie quipped. “So what was yous needin’ anyways?”
“I was curious,” I began, “and Donna, you might have some insight as well, as to whether or not a Discordant parent might cause some… unusual imbalances to a split soul.”
“You think your Guardians may be Nyx?” Donna asked.
“Nah, ain’t no way,” Bogie said, shaking his head. “I’da known if somethin’ was fishy with ‘em.”
“Bogie’s right, we’re pretty obvious,” Donna added. She had a point. Even though I didn’t know her full story when we first met, I could sense the difference immediately.
“Although,” Bogie said, screwing up his ugly face in thought. “It ain’t outta the realm of possibility that one of my kinds had somethin’ to do with the split.”
“Interesting. Why do you say that?”
“Well, fer one, I ain’t heard of no big coup on our side in the last many decades.”
“Speak English, boss,” Donna said with a frown, but I understood.
“Bogie is referring to the fact that souls split when we are in a deficit, which we aren’t. We haven’t lost more than a small handful of souls to the Discordant since the last world war ended.”
“Exactly,” Bogie said, punching the air for emphasis.
“But why would the Discordant want a split soul?” Donna asked.
“Same reason they wants anything, really,” Bogie said with a shrug. “Imbalances of all kinds give leverage to team Chaos. Them kids though,” he added, shaking his head. “I can’t see where theys is gonna be a benefit to Chaos what with Nai’s obsession.”
“That’s the problem,” I sighed. “We suspect that neither of them are bound by the traditional limits of Guardianship. If Nai ever finds out that she might be able to use-”
A sudden and unwelcome shiver ran down my spine. Warriors do not have what could be described as second sight, but at that moment, I knew that something big had happened that required my attention. Not even a second later, I received an emergency text from Jem.
“I may have just jinxed myself. I’ve got to go,” I said and ran out into the alley, leaving the demon and the witch to stare after me in confusion.
After a quick check to make sure no one was around, I slipped out of time, located Jem’s aura, and jumped back into the Cycle. I found him in a washroom, covered with blood. On the floor, hunched over a dead vampire, was his sister, also covered in blood, and pathetically trying to stop the flow of cursed blood from the vamp with bathroom tissue. My anger must have been evident because when she saw me, her eyes widened in fear, an emotion that until then, I was certain she was incapable of grasping.
Chapter 7
Mistakes
“I’m curious, Nai, what is with this tired cliché?” The Creator spun, taking in every angle of its current appearance in the ornate mirror that hung on the wall. A man in a sharp black suit with pale skin, colorless hair, and eyes of the lightest blue stared back. Dashing, yes, certainly dashing was a word one could use to describe the manifestation, but also dangerous, diabolic, and several other descriptive terms beginning with the letter D.
“Not sure myself,” Nai said with a bored shrug. “White guys are evil? I mean, that’s not really an unfair generalization in the grand scheme of things.”
“In the grand scheme of things, generalizations are always unfair,” the Creator corrected. “You are young and have much still to learn, but your cheek is forgiven at the moment.”
Nai bristled. “My cheek? You asked a question and I answered to the best of my knowledge. Besides, I’m not capable of being nice, so I can’t be faulted if I happen to say something you find offensive.”
“On the contrary, Nai. Just because you are the dark half of a newly split soul does not absolve you from consequence for your actions. Even though you feel a compulsion toward dark behavior, you still know the difference between right and wrong. Order requires balance, meaning that all actions will have consequences, right or wrong.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning that I am still the Creator, Nai. While I may have no influence over the actions within the Cycle, I am still the ultimate authority. In matters pertaining to Order, my word is law and my decisions final, including the decision to retire you if you are incapable of growth.”
“Retire me?” Nai asked with a sinking sensation.
“Oblivion, Nai,” the Creator barked sharply, using the commanding presence of its manifestation to drive the point home. “I can have you removed from existence in the blink of an eye. However,” its expression softened, “I am perhaps a soft and sentimental old fool who wishes not to see any of my creations end in such a harsh and permanent manner. Take that to heart. Shape your darkness, Nai. Do not succumb to it.”
As the Creator spoke, its appearance shifted. The white hair and blue eyes both turned raven black. Likewise, its sharp black suit was replaced by soft robes of flowing white. Though its appearance changed, the new manifestation was nothing but a different take on the same cliché that good and evil were absolute concepts. This was not lost on Nai and she bristled. In her mind, none of what the Creator said was fair. She didn’t choose to be the way she was and she certainly didn’t feel that she should be held responsible for what was beyond her control.
“Now then, let’s get on with it. Several weeks have passed since our first meeting, Nai. I sense within you a conflict. What have you learned?”
Stunned, it took Nai a moment to compose herself and gather her thoughts. “I don’t know why a place like Blackbird is allowed to exist,” she answered honestly. “It’s like a massive Discordant magnet. Jem and I haven’t been able to make any actual progress. Every time we send someone on their way back to the path, something else pops up and they’re lost again. Can’t you just like, I don’t know, create a massive natural disaster and wipe the place out?”
The Creator chuckled. “The path of least resistance? Oh Nai, and here I was hoping for a fresh perspective on our problem. Yes, in extreme circumstances I have destroyed entire civilizations rather than see them fall to Chaos. However, this is not without consequence.”
“It was worth a shot,” Nai muttered, sighing in frustration.
“I sense a hesitation. There is something you are not telling me, Nai,” the Creator said, arcing one perfect eyebrow.
“Well,” Nai squirmed. It was useless to hold information back from an all knowing and all seeing entity, but she tried nonetheless. “I just have to wonder if Jem and I aren’t… Well, if maybe we shouldn’t have been made Guardians. I mean, we’re clearly not very good at it.”
“Ah ha,” the Creator said with a smile of sympathy that seemed foreign on the sinister face it wore. “Self-doubt is not an uncommon emotion, even among the most veteran of agents. Fear not, Nai. From what I have observed, both you and your brother are competent and capable Guardians, even if some of your methods are rather… unconventional.”
“But everyone we save just gets lost again,” Nai argued.
“That may be true,” the Creator conceded. “But if I am to understand correctly
, Blackbird is facing a most challenging and mysterious foe.”
“Yeah, but I’m pretty sure we figured out who that is and still Desmond won’t do anything. If I were to-”
“Have faith, Nai,” the Creator interrupted. “Have faith in your team, have faith in me, and most of all, have faith in yourself. I know this is a concept you find difficult to embrace, but do try. The fates speak of an advantage in favor of Order. What you see as your weakness may in time become your greatest strength.”
“What does that mean, exactly?”
“I am afraid I cannot say at present,” the Creator stated.
“Well that’s helpful.” Nai didn’t bother to hide her sarcasm.
“That is faith,” countered the Creator, stepping closer to the mirror. “It is now time to bid you a farewell, Nai. This place is beyond the time stream of the Cycle. You are welcome to stay and reflect for as long as you need.” With that, the Creator stepped through the mirror and out of sight.
Nai paused, taking in her surroundings. The room was an exact replica of her father’s library, a place where she had spent much of her free time as a child. She wondered if she had been responsible for the setting, or if the Creator had chosen a place familiar to her. She moved to a set of shelves beyond her father’s desk. She didn’t even have to scan the shelf as her hand automatically reached for an ancient tome on Greek mythology. As a child, she had read the entire book, cover to cover, skipping only the one tale that hit too painfully close to home. Now, as she stood outside of time, Nai flipped open the book, only to find disappointment. The pages were blank. She closed the book and looked at the cover. The images were there, but the title might as well have been written in an alien language.
She moved to another shelf and began pulling books down one by one. Each held the same blank pages. Wondering what the point was, Nai threw each to the ground in frustration. She was about to re-enter the Cycle when she noticed a book on the desk that she did not remember seeing in her father’s study. The Ultimate Truth, read the title. Picking it up, Nai frowned. Inside was written the law of Order, the wisdom of all creation that was imparted to her and her brother when they became agents of Order, but was forbidden to those within the Cycle. Obviously, the Creator put it there to remind her of her station, yet as Nai read the words, the words of law that were ingrained into who she was, she had to wonder again if the universe hadn’t made a mistake.
* * *
“Oh my cow! What is this, some sort of a bloody joke?”
I glared over at the middle table where nearly all of the girls in the senior class were crowded, trying to catch the attention of the mysterious boy with dark hair and pale skin, wearing a leather jacket and sunglasses, despite the weather being both warm and overcast. It was as if all of the worst parts of teen paranormal romance were wrapped up into one package.
“Bloody joke, nice one. There’s hope for you yet, sis.”
“What? Dammit, Jem, this is serious,” I said pointing to the vamp. “How pathetic do they have to be? He’s not even hot!”
“To you, but they have no idea he’s a vamp,” my brother said with a shrug.
“Yeah, but we do,” I countered. “And it’s not fair that we can’t do anything about it.”
“I already texted Desmond. He’s going to take care of it.”
“When? He’s got the other one to deal with and he told us to keep an eye out for Discordant. What if this guy goes nuts and starts biting girls?” I asked. Jem gave me a flat look.
“You know he’s not going to do anything here in school and besides, all you want to do is kill him. You don’t actually care about these girls. You’d probably laugh and say they deserved it if they were bit. Let Des do his job and let’s get on with ours.”
Okay, so he had me. I really didn’t care one lick about the twittering idiots fawning over the vampire, but that didn’t mean I wanted him hanging around. Discordants messed with everyone’s head and I didn’t feel like cleaning up the mess, even if that was my job.
“Okay, Des said to get him outside. How about we-”
“I’m on it,” I muttered and sent my influence out, directing all of my energy on the blonde cheerleader who was practically in the vamp’s lap. For the sake of trying to not act like a psycho, I told myself that I picked her because she was the prettiest, but if I was being honest, I picked her because if something went wrong, she was the one I wanted to see bitten. I hated that bitch.
Like a robot, blondie got up, winked at the vamp, and went out the side door. Of course, the vamp followed, much to the disappointment of the other bimbos.
“Good job, sis,” Jem said and sent a message off to Desmond just as the bell rang. “Des says that’s the last one he senses, but to keep our eyes open.”
“I know, Jem,” I said, whipping out my phone. “I’m getting the same messages you are.”
“Oh yeah! Duh.”
Honestly, the only explanation for Jem’s academic proficiency was that he was some kind of idiot savant.
My next period was open, so I decided to head over to the library. On the way, I passed the office and shuddered as the dark energy found me. Desmond promised to tell us what he learned when we got home, but I had a feeling he was hiding something. I was so focused on the energy that I didn’t notice the student leaving the office until she walked into me. It was the chick from the first day of school. I couldn’t remember her name, despite saving her worthless soul at least four times since. No surprise, she was lost again.
“Sorry…oh, it’s you.” Her voice held a note of disgust that I was used to.
“Yeah, it’s me, so maybe you should watch where you’re going,” I hissed. I knew I was getting a reputation as the class bitch and I really didn’t care.
“Maybe you should be nice,” she shot back, but it was more of a pathetic mumble.
“Maybe you should stop being nice,” I said with a tired sigh. “Maybe then people wouldn’t walk all over you.”
Here we go again. It was the same song and dance routine that I’d done countless times. Saving the lost was my job and I did it, but I did it with resentment. What no one else seemed to understand was that I received no satisfaction from saving a bunch of idiots who were just going to go and get themselves lost again. Maybe things will be different when whatever is possessing Mr. Marsden is finally killed, but until then, everything me and my brother did was pointless. And that was the reason I felt my time was better spent trying to find out how to get rid of the Discordant.
The encounter outside the office annoyed me so much that I skipped the library. I knew that I’d just run into the same lost souls that were there the day before and the day before that. In fact, when the bell rang, I skipped my next class as well. There was no point in going since it was one of the classes that I shared with Jem. Let him deal with it.
I found myself in one of the lesser used stairwells, trying to decide whether I wanted to go up to the roof or down to the basement, when I heard the door to the floor above me open. I looked up just in time to lock eyes with a vampire. He must have known what I was because with a curse, he turned around and went back out the door. I wasted no time hauling myself up the stairs after him.
The hall was empty, but I saw the door to the boys’ bathroom swing shut and counted my blessings. I laughed. The bathrooms on each floor were located in the middle corridor, which meant that they didn’t have windows. He was trapped. Using an incantation, I warded the room. It was time to prove that I was more than capable of getting rid of Discordant threats and I didn’t want anyone interrupting me.
Reaching into my purse, I wrapped my hand around my weapon; a silver letter opener that I’d imbued with holy water. I opened the door slowly, expecting an ambush, but there was no one there. From the other side of the partition I heard a soft rustling noise, followed by the sound of water hitting water, and realized, to my inappropriate amusement, that even vampires had to answer the call of nature. This was going to be too easy. Lif
ting my blade, I crept around the corner and brought it down right in the middle of his back.
I was not prepared for all the blood.
The vampire collapsed like a puppet that had its strings cut, but instead of disappearing in a cloud of ash, he began to convulse as blood, far more blood than should have been possible, seemed to explode from where I’d stabbed him. Something had gone very, very wrong. Even after the convulsing stopped and I was sure he was dead, the blood continued to flow.
“Nai! What the crap did you do?”
I felt my ward disintegrate as Jem came crashing into the bathroom. His eyes went wide as he came around the corner and slid on some of the blood.
“Shut the door and get some paper towels!” I barked, cursing myself for casting such a weak spell that my idiot brother went crashing right through it.
“From where? We only have hand dryers.”
“Dammit!” He was right. “Toilet paper then,” I improvised and reached into the nearest stall and yanked. “Make sure it doesn’t get under the door. We don’t need anyone asking questions.”
I don’t know what went wrong. I’d seen Desmond kill plenty of vampires and they all turned into ash. None of them turned into blood fountains. Seriously, there was no way anyone, human or Discordant, had this much blood in their body. I didn’t know what we were going to do and we had run out of toilet paper. Jem was pushing it toward the floor drain with his feet. The boys’ bathroom looked like a slaughterhouse and the damned vamp was still bleeding!
There was a loud crack and a string of curses that would have impressed me if they weren’t directed at me. I looked up to see Desmond standing over the body. His face was almost the same shade of red as all of the blood.
“Curse syphon,” he muttered into his jacket and pulled from his pocket a clear bulb with a long tube coming out one end. He squeezed the bulb end and told us to stand back. We did and he released the bulb. Somehow, it sucked up all of the blood. After that, he pulled a small corked bottle out and poured the contents over the corpse. It immediately began smoking and after a few minutes, disappeared completely. He then turned to me and held out his hand, palm up. “Hand it over.”
Rise of the Discordant: The Complete Five Book Series Page 27
