Copula Chronicles: The Complete Collection: Origin, Descend, Ascend, Legacy

by Venessa Kimball

  Onawah’s audible voice mirrors my chain of thoughts directed at my own mother. “Sacrifice, like death? She couldn’t have died. If she did, our bloodline would have died with her. She had to have survived, lived, married and had children to carry on the bloodline so that I’d be born to fulfill the legacy.”

  My mother’s voice rings true as the woman’s mouth moves again. “There are many forms of sacrifice, Jesca. Hers was not death.”

  Would mine be death? Is that why mother is visiting me now from beyond?

  A strong breeze suddenly rustles a small whirlwind of dirt through the doorway and along the floor of the hut. Along with it, I hear a native call carry from a distance. The dirt settles and I see that the sunlight coming through the door has dulled since entering the hut. I hear the sound of horses’ hooves pounding past the open doorway and look out through the opening. The shaman, my mother and I rise just as the uniformed man rushes to the doorway.

  I try to send my thoughts to my mother, “Wait! Is my sacrifice death?”

  No response.

  I think again, “Mom!”

  No response. She is gone.

  He looks out and calls to the shaman in tribal prose. The shaman rushes to the door just as I hear the screaming villagers.

  It is the attack Sebastian told us about from his vision! The one led by Michael Sanderson’s ancestors. Just like Michael has pursued me to prevent the legacy, his ancestors held the same warped mission, to stop Onawah and the tribe from initiating the legacy. I want to rush to the door and help, but I’m still held captive, standing next to Onawah’s mother in the middle of the room. The shaman looks at my mother, speaking urgently. Suddenly, he runs out into the village. The uniformed man motions to my mother and me and speaks in English urgently, “Hurry! I’ll lead you there!”

  The sensation of myself being peeled from Onawah’s flesh and bone is clear as day when her form moves away from me and toward the man at the door, her mother guiding her by the hand.

  All of a sudden, I’m rising, literally lifting off the ground, an inch, then another. What is happening?

  The sound of pounding horses and yelling natives suddenly deadens. Pressure builds in my ears quickly from the deafening silence. In one swift motion, the weight of my body returns and I drop to the ground with such force that my legs crumble beneath me and my head strikes the dirt, sending a sharp pain from the back of my head to the front. I will myself to sit up, but it feels like my head is being forced to the ground. Then, a constant high-pitched ring accompanies the pressurized deafness as I lay in darkness. My eyes must be pinched closed. The ring blossoms exponentially into a crashing, then crunching sound. As it blossoms, it becomes distinguishable.

  The sound of crushing metal.

  CHAPTER 30: BLINDSIDED

  Jesca

  I tell myself that keeping my eyes closed is safer. On the contrary, the feeling of hard, cold steel against my back and the pressure of a body lying across my chest scares me and I tell myself I have to open them. I open them partially at first, being kind to the pounding headache I have. I must have hit my head here like I did in the vision.

  My eyes wide open now; I’m looking at heavy, slate-gray clouds lined with amber and darkness through fractured glass, metallic glass to be exact. My eyes dart to the empty seats under the glass panel. The safety straps are hanging down, swaying in the light breeze.

  We have been in an accident.

  Ezra is right next to me lying on his back. I breathe a sigh of relief when I see the rise and fall of his chest; he is just unconscious. I look down at the weight on the lower half of my body; Nate. His head is a mere inch from my face. I put my hand to his parted lips, feeling for his breath. I feel the warmth pour from his mouth, sign of life and again feel my chest loosen with relief.

  A weak, shaky voice breaks up the silence in the truck. “Jesca, wake up—please.”

  Eagerly following the breathy and weak sound of the small voice, I look to my right and see Tessa, her eyes pinched closed. She is pinned in two strong arms wrapped around her like a cocoon, Xander’s arms.

  I try to speak to let her know I’m here, but the thickness in my throat keeps the words from passing my lips. I clear my throat and swallow, tasting metal; blood. I don’t dwell on it as I call to her, “Tessa, I’m here. I’m awake.”

  Urgently she opens her eyes and begins to pant and whimper from hearing my voice. I take hold of Nate’s shoulders with my hands and roll him over onto his back. The sound of crunching glass follows his reposition and I silently hope the glass hasn’t caused more harm to him. I sit up too quickly and my head feels like it is going to split open. I close my eyes for a moment to stop the spinning. When I open them again, I notice the position of the truck; it is on its side. That is why I was seeing sky through the metallic glass. I look up at the empty seats under the glass panel above me again. Everyone on that side of the truck must have fallen when we wrecked. As I look around me, I see the bodies of the guardians lying there, scattered and motionless. My heart plummets wondering if any of them are not breathing. I hear movement in the far corner, by the front panel. Sebastian pushes up on one hand to sit and reaches his other to Elisabeth, resting his hand on her neck; he is checking her pulse. He drops his hand, looks at me and mumbles listlessly, “She’s alive.”

  He releases a deep sigh of relief and lets his head fall back.

  I hear crunching glass next to me now and turn to see Ezra rising off his stomach. It is obvious he is in pain as it is written all over his face.

  He squeezes out through clenched teeth, “Jes.”

  I notice the dark wetness on the front of his black shirt; he is bleeding! I reach for him to help him sit up. “You’re hurt.”

  Ezra winces as he rises up to sit. More movement stirs behind him; it’s Nick. As he opens his eyes and looks around, he groans, “What the hell was that?”

  Elicia winces as she sits up. “We flipped on our side. Must have hit something.”

  Tessa’s cry has stopped. I look over at her and see Xander sitting up, rocking her gently now.

  The sound of more crunching metal and the jarring of the entire truck bring the rest of the truck to consciousness.

  Abruptly, the back doors are unhinged and sent flying back. Ira pokes his head through the opening and calls for me. “Jesca!”

  “I’m here. I’m okay,” I answer him.

  Ira’s concerned eyes land on me, “Is everyone—alive?”

  I look around more closely now. Everyone is moving now, just not fully alert. “Yes.”

  I notice Nate reaching behind me. I turn to see what he is reaching for.

  He has laid his hand on Ezra’s shoulder. I look back over my shoulder at Nate’s face. His eyes are closed and his brow has furrowed in concentration.

  He is trying to heal him.

  I whip back around to look at Ezra. His pained face suddenly relaxes and his breathing loosens, becoming less ragged.

  “My God. He is healing him. His Latrosis has returned,” says Daniel, announcing what I’m witnessing.

  “They are returning. I knew they would,” says Ms. Olivia proudly.

  Nate’s hand slides from Ezra’s shoulder suddenly and I turn just in time to catch him from falling forward on his face. “Nate!”

  His hand quickly finds ground to keep from toppling over. He looks at me sideways and asks, “Are you hurt?”

  I shake my head, denying it even though the pain in my head is still sharp.

  I notice Tessa wiggling in Xander’s arms until he releases her. She rushes to me and wraps her arms around my neck.

  Nate leans over to Xander and rests his hand on his shoulder. No words are exchanged, but words aren’t necessary now that their ability to communicate telepathically has returned.

  I glance at Elisabeth; Sebastian is helping her to sit up. Before the
accident, when I thought she said my name, I was reading her mind. My ability is coming back! I try reaching Nate and Xander telepathically, see if I can hear their thoughts. I’m denied, met with internal silence. Why is that?

  I’m about to ask Elisabeth why, when Ira peeks into the truck and yells, “Everyone needs to get out.”

  I notice him peering over the roof of the truck cautiously, then back in at us; he is watching for Dwellers. Concerned by his expression, I lift Tessa in my arms as I rise and head for the doorway. With a duffle bag in each of his hands, Nick leads Elicia out ahead of Tessa and me.

  “What hit us?” Nick questions Ira in bewilderment as they exit.

  With no answer from Ira or the other Rephaim, we all file out to see if there is any evidence of what would have caused the truck to flip on its side.

  Nick’s animated voice echoes in the night, “Holy mother of—”

  As soon as I step out of the back of the truck, I feel the crumbled and erupted road beneath my feet. Almost twisting an ankle, I look out across the sea of disturbed black turf, tangled and destroyed. I turn in a circle; the damage is surrounding the truck in all directions and as far as I can see in the direction, we are heading.

  Daniel’s voice mirrors my awestruck emotion as he hisses, “The road is destroyed, gone.”

  I stumble over chunks of asphalt and Ezra steadies me. “What happened? What did this?” I ask.

  “Briggs. Where is Briggs?” Daniel calls as he tries to run on the crushed concrete to the front of the truck.

  Nate and Xander follow him, but not before Xander turns to me and says, “Stay here. We will try and heal him if we can.”

  They disappear around the front of the truck as Monica and the other guardians approach me. With a duffle bag on each shoulder, they watch for a sign that Briggs is going to be all right. I notice Siobhan has a huge gash on her face. She must have hit one of the rods we have been holding onto in the crash.

  She notices me looking at her injury and tries to distract herself from my stare by calling out to the guys, “Hey, is he okay?”

  Nate is the first to come around the front of the truck. As the amber sunlight trying to slice through the darkened clouds strikes the side of his body, setting a shadow along the underside of the truck, he holds his hands up at a loss. “He isn’t there. Neither is his soldier.”

  Sam calls from behind me, “What do you mean?”

  Xander and Daniel come into view behind Nate as he responds to Sam, “Like disappeared.”

  Daniel surveys the woods bordering the chewed-up road on both sides as we all stand there silently. Could he have stumbled from the truck into the woods?

  Luke warns, “That is not a good sign.”

  Cale and Lathan suddenly appear in a blur behind Daniel, Xander and Nate. Lathan confesses, “We found a trail of blood, but no body.”

  Cale says, “The Dwellers could have taken him.”

  Seth’s body blurs into view from the edge of the woods on the right. “No sign of him.”

  Ira’s eyes narrow. “They are using him as a distraction. Trying to pull us in different directions.”

  Ira flicks his eyes, tips his chin to the right and says, “Shelter.”

  I follow his eyes to the shelter he is talking about. It is a white house seemingly vacant with the overgrowth of long grass covering the front yard.

  Ira and the other Rephaim stride toward the house. The only thought I have is what if the house isn’t vacant?

  CHAPTER 31: SAFE HOUSE

  Jesca

  Ira and the other Rephaim start shepherding us toward the house through the tall grass.

  As we walk on jagged asphalt, Daniel says, “This was the road that would have taken us to the entrance of the mounds.”

  I shake my head, still shocked by the damage. “How did they do this?”

  Sebastian replies, “It looks like they took a plow to the road.”

  Jake adds, “We are surrounded by farmland. That is completely possible.”

  As we walk up the drive, Sam asks, “What if someone is home?”

  Ira looks back at him curiously.

  Sam explains, “Dwellers. They could be occupying any of these houses, ready to trap us. They did this to the road to trap us.”

  Hearing Sam’s words, everyone suddenly slows to a halt before reaching the porch. I brace Tessa tighter to me just in case I need to run with her in my arms.

  Cale and Errol move around us and approach the front door. Cale asserts, “We will search it.”

  Nick reminds them of their size, “You won’t be able to get through the front door.”

  Cale leers at him. “You want to go in? Your weapons will do nothing to these beings.”

  Nick says nothing in return.

  Ignoring the discussion, Errol approaches the door with inspecting eyes. He touches the frame surrounding the door and says, “We will make do.”

  With one swift punch of Errol’s fist, the door is punctured with a hole the size of a watermelon. He reaches in and then pulls the entire door and frame off the front of the house.

  We all back up as he lifts the door over his head, carries it over our heads and then tosses it into the yard. As we watch him in awe, he stalks back to the house and walks in through the gaping hole in the front of the house.

  Siobhan chides, “Great, how are we going to keep Dwellers out now?”

  Following behind Errol, Cale turns to Siobhan and smiles. “That is why you have us.”

  I hear the sound of breaking glass, a crash, then more breaking glass as the two Rephaim check the house for occupants. One of the suddenly yells in Aramaic. I worry until Lathan, Ira and Seth all chuckle under their breath.

  Ezra calls to them, “Is it clear to enter?”

  Cale’s face appears out of the shadowed hallway. “Yes.”

  Ezra and Daniel lead us in. The house is dim with little light finding its way through the haphazardly boarded windows. The click of a flashlight illuminates the entryway we stand in. Our shadows dance on the high walls, accompanying the rows of family photos. This family was either forced to leave, sought shelter in a facility, or were taken, occupied, and killed by Dwellers.

  I prefer to think they simply left to seek shelter.

  Monica holds the flashlight in one hand while she digs through the bag she is carrying. She frees a few more flashlights, handing them out one at a time.

  Elicia turns hers on and flashes it around. “Nice digs.”

  More lights come to life, brightening the darkened house.

  It also sheds light on the damage we all suffered from the crash. I get a good look at the other guardians. Sebastian holds Elisabeth up by the shoulder. I look down at her legs and notice she is standing on only one with the other tucked up high.

  I ask, “What happened?”

  Sebastian answers for her, “Knee, I think.”

  Corinna’s lip is swollen and bleeding. Sam’s eye is swelling and he has cuts along his arms. That isn’t even all the guardians. The light is pulled away deeper into the house.

  Daniel’s voice is farther in the house now. “In here.”

  Monica hands me a flashlight and I turn it on.

  We follow Daniel’s voice deeper into the house, passing an open doorway. I peer in and see an undisturbed desk, wooden chair, and large bookshelf, an office. The evidence of Cale and Errol’s journey into the house comes into view. The lamp on a table in the hallway is toppled over with milky, white glass shards scattered on the wooden floor.

  Tessa whispers uneasily into my ear, “Jesca?”

  I try to calm her. “It’s okay, Tessa. We’re safe.”

  The hallway opens to a larger room, a family room maybe and a kitchen off to the right. Daniel is opening all the cabinets in the kitchen when he says, “If you have a bag sit it on
the table over there. Get something to eat and drink. We may not have a chance again.”

  All the guardians huddle loosely in the open area of the family room and surrounding the kitchen table. With heads bowed due to the constraints of the house, Caleb and Errol fall back down the hallway toward what was the front door while Ira and Lathan stand hunched with us.

  I notice Nate walk over to Siobhan and point quickly to the gash above her eye. She settles her eyes shut as Nate lays his hand on her wound. He bows his head while concentrating on honing his ability. Within seconds, he pulls his hand away from her cheekbone, revealing a thin pink line of freshly healed skin.

  He looks around the room at all the guardians. I do as well. Almost everyone is injured except the Rephaim. With the implant, we heal quicker, but we needed everyone strong now, just in case we are attacked.

  Nate looks at Xander. “I could use your help, cousin.”

  I can tell Xander is doubtful that his ability to heal has returned. Xander turns to Elisabeth, still leaning against Sebastian for support. He kneels down before her and places his hand atop her knee. He closes his eyes and bows his head, attempting to summon his ability.

  I watch Elisabeth’s crinkled brow smooth as the pain slips away from her face. She lowers her drawn leg down to the ground now and opens her eyes.

  Xander rises slowly, obviously affected by using his ability. He looks at Elisabeth and asks, “Better?”

  She nods and smiles timidly. “Thank you.”

  The sound of hands clapping next to me alerts me to Siobhan rubbing her hands together slowly. She separates her palms and holds them up on either side of her body as begins to rise, levitating before us. Her excitement is evident. “My ability to levitate is back!”

  She lowers herself back to the ground just as Jake and Nick conjure their ability to draw fire from thin air, Pyrokinesis. Testing their abilities. Nick hoots loudly as he and Jake shoot flames of fire from their palms into the air, drawing the Rephaim back into the room. He holds his hands up in surrender as they move on him. “Sorry, sorry,” he snaps quickly.