Jackson straightened himself, put his shoulder back, and stood to his full height. “You said before the Endet Hibernis service that God had imprisoned some piece of evil when He formed the earth.”
Part of me was amazed he even paid attention to the things I said, much less remembered them a couple days after. “Yes. I also said that meant the world was all poisoned to its core, right from the beginning.” I was content to use this to bolster my earlier conclusion that this was a worthless world full of worthless people. Wouldn’t it be easier, if that was the case, for Jackson just to embrace our side?
“A prison for evil,” he said, looking at the same people across the street, but evidently seeing something far different than me. “Maybe then good men are put here as prison guards.”
“Not sure I follow.”
“Wouldn’t expect you to,” he said. “I don’t know what the right answer is. If I’ve already set things in motion, or not—if killing myself would save the world or just mean I won’t be around to help fight come Ragnarok. I do know, though, that there are things out there worth fighting regardless if it’ll help delay the Three Sons from coming true. Doing that seems like a good use of whatever time I have remaining. Anyway, it would beat the hell out of dumb, passive surveillance.”
I didn’t like this commitment to fighting for good, but I have to admit, there is something enticing about a man on a mission. “What do you have in mind?”
“Killing those vampire priests seems like a good place to start.”
6
An Audience with the Oracle
The first problem was finding them. This wasn’t like the Catholic Church where there were massive cathedrals you couldn’t miss.
Jackson had an idea. “Find the girl from the ceremony—the one that marked me as one of the Sons. Holly, her name was.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Whatever had possessed her left some of its knowledge in her. It’s why she knew the high priest’s name was Erasmus. Maybe it also left his home address with her.”
“What makes you think she’d help even if she knew?”
“She stopped the high priest from trying to kill me then and there. I’d say that’s a sign she likes me,” he said.
Holly had disappeared shortly after the ceremony—I’d turned at one point only to see her walking alone into the woods. Raised in a ceremony like this, she wouldn’t have a sire—being possessed by Demarrkad at her birth would sever that kinship. Wherever she was, I explained to Jackson, she’d be solo.
“She’ll also be hungry. The bars would be an obvious target for her,” Jackson said.
“Maybe,” I said, but didn’t think so. “Really, she could be anywhere. She might not even be in Echo Valley anymore. We’d be able to find her faster if we split up. Give me your keys, and I’ll check some places out.”
“Where are you going to be looking that you don’t want me with you?”
It wasn’t about him not knowing where I was looking. It was about the conversation that might be had once I found her that I didn’t want him to hear. “Does it matter if I turn out to be right?” I asked.
After making me say, “please”, he gave me the keys.
Jackson’s logic on finding her made sense. She was young enough to blend in at the bars, pretty enough to get attention and isolate her prey. It made sense she’d be trawling the bars looking for a meal.
The thing was, Holly had been held in the grip of something powerful. More accurately, it had been inside her. It had even left some pieces of it with her.
Imagine how intimate that was.
It made me think of my first kiss. I’d been twelve, and there had been a creek that ran behind our neighborhood. We had been sitting on a boulder with our feet in the water, so cooling in that Virginian summer heat. Our friends had walked further down the river, ostensibly to look for a better place to swim, but really to leave the two of us alone.
There, beneath oak trees so high they could have been a cathedral’s ceiling, and to a chorus of cicada, he leaned into me, and placed his lips on mine.
An electric memory, so much so that in the years between then and my death, I’d return to the boulder whenever I needed to think, or to muse on a simpler, seemingly more magical time.
If it had been that way for me with something so small, how much greater the pull of memory for what Holly had experienced? She would want to remain as close to it as possible. To be near those fissures in the earth when the evil that had once penetrated her might still seep and vent.
I drove up to the forest Jackson and I had made our way through the night before. Once in the clearing, I found her. Holly lounged on the cold altar on which she’d been born to undeath as though it were a maharajah’s silk-lined bed.
There was no moon, but her blonde hair was nonetheless incandescent in the starlight. As I approached, I saw what was left of her evening’s meal. Five deer. I could only tell because she’d piled their heads one on top of the other by the boulder’s base. The individual bodies were indiscernible, the entrails and gutted body of one running in a red rush into the others. The ground I walked on was soaked in their blood.
She had lost the diaphanous material she’d been wrapped in for the ceremony. Now the only thing covering her breasts and pelvis were her own bloody handprints.
“I knew you’d come,” she said.
“Demarrkad told you that too?” I asked.
“He didn’t have to. His touch alone has left me able to see things clearly. I saw how you looked at the Son. I know your agenda.”
“What agenda?”
“Him as ruler. You at his side.” I said nothing. A smile grew wide on her face. “Don’t be upset. You hide it pretty well. It was easier to piece together since Demarrkad had shared something key to me.”
“What’s that?”
“That Jackson Wheel is still human.”
I’d suspected that she knew, but hearing it said aloud with such bluntness still shocked me.
“It also takes no special knowledge to guess you’re thinking how you can kill me now,” Holly said. “You needn’t worry. I have no intention of telling anyone.”
“Why not?”
“Our Dread Lord wants the Three Sons prophecy fulfilled. His command syncs with something you desire: Jackson as a king. Of course, there is the matter of who gets to be queen.”
“You want the slot,” I said.
“Of course. I’d say I’m actually in a better position to win. Do you think in the end he’ll want a woman, or a girl?”
“He’s a man. Probably both,” I said.
The smile dissolved. I guess that bit of truth was too much for her. “We’ll see. The pity is we can’t kill each other just yet.”
“Why not?” I asked. On the drive over here, I’d been open to jabbing a piece of wood through her corpse heart. Having spoken to her, that had expanded to shoving it into her orifices, too.
“You’re here by his request. If coming here had been your own idea, you would have attacked me already, not wasted time talking. So he must want to speak with me about something, and would be most displeased if I weren’t in any condition to answer his questions. Similarly, if I killed you, his only companion, he would consider me an enemy forever. The only way forward for either of us is to play nice.”
It pained me to admit it, even to myself, but she was right.
“For the time being,” I eventually said.
“Short may that time be,” Holly said. “Now, I don’t suppose you have a towel I can borrow? I wouldn’t mind cleaning up a bit before I see Sergeant Wheel again.”
7
The Priesthood Offer
I didn’t tell Jackson that she knew. I didn’t want him thinking there was anyone besides me that he could turn to. Also, if he found out on his own, he was that much more likely to kill her instantly.
I texted Jackson that I had found her, and drove her back into Echo Valley. I hadn’t a towel for Holly to borrow, and woul
dn’t have given it to her even if I did, so she arrived at Jackson’s place covered in gore. We talked behind his small bungalow as she used a hose to wash herself off.
His house was on the edge of town, his backyard right up against the mountains. No neighbors to see us hanging out with a girl hosing herself down with near-freezing water. The cold was making her nipples pop up like a pair of Jackson’s .45 rounds.
Well, maybe not quite that big, but still …
As we talked, Jackson’s eyes moved fluidly from Holly’s face, then to her body. Holly, for her part, wasn’t even pretending to be shy.
“You know where Erasmus and the other two priests are?” Jackson asked.
“I do,” she said. “You’re planning on killing them.”
“Problem with that?” Jackson asked.
“Not really. The two lesser priests—Brother Marc and Brother Matthew—abused me horribly before finally killing me so that I could be Nightfallen born. The only reason my corpse wasn’t obviously wounded at the ceremony was because they had licked my wounds, their saliva healing me. I still remember the crazed, pleased look in their eyes before I died. But I know others aren’t going to see it that way. Erasmus’s flock may turn to wolves after you kill their shepherds.”
“I know,” Jackson said, “which is why I wanted to offer you something. It only makes sense that Demarrkad’s worshipers are led by someone that truly knows him. You lead us to the priests and help us eliminate them, and we’ll set you up as the new, local high priestess.”
I looked at Jackson. He hadn’t told me this plan.
“You flatter me, First Son,” Holly said. “It seems to me, though, that one of Three Sons would have a greater claim on priesthood than even me. I will help you, but you will take the high priesthood, with me as your servant priestess. And Ginny, too, of course.”
“Not sure I’m worthy of such an honor,” Jackson said.
“If you weren’t, you wouldn’t have already been chosen, First Son,” Holly said.
“No, I don’t think that kind of responsibility is for me. I’m just a soldier. Will you help us anyway?”
She hid her disappointment well. “I will,” Holly said.
He invited us both to crash at his place, the sun soon to rise. Before joining Holly in his dank, windowless cellar for the day, we spoke briefly in his kitchen.
“Do you have any idea what you’re doing?” I whispered.
“Going on offense instead of just reacting. I’m tired of just watching evil—hell, pretending to happily work for it—and reporting on it to my bosses for them to do pretty much nothing about. It’s time to change the dynamic.”
“The strategy I admire, but trusting Holly? She’s dangerous.”
“How many have you killed? How many have I killed? We’re all dangerous here,” Jackson said.
“Maybe. But not dangerous enough for what you have planned. Erasmus and his priests—these are incredibly power beings you’re going after.”
“We’ve won fights we shouldn’t have before—remember we took out three King class vampires,” Jackson said.
He wasn’t getting it. “The lesser priests are strong because of their age, but otherwise they’re ordinary Matheson class vampires. The high priest, though, works magic. That glow you saw in Erasmus’s fists the other night? Just a thimbleful of a hell-fueled river he could dump on us. What help is Holly going to be against that? Whatever knowledge she gained during the ceremony, she’s just a newly risen Nightfallen. She’s weaker than us. Even her baseline powers probably haven’t fully manifested yet. Once we find the priests, we’re going to be in for the fight of our lives.”
“Maybe we could use some help,” Jackson said, taking out his cell phone and beginning to text.
“Setting up a drone strike?”
“Don’t be silly—you know USG has left me all alone out here. I think it’s time I touched base with new friends.”
8
Apostles
Vance, Zoe, and Ethan—he’d taken their numbers after the ceremony, but I’d thought he was just being nice. Maybe that’s all Jackson had meant it to be at the time. Things had changed.
“Why are we meeting them here?” Holly asked as we approached The Avid Reader.
“The UNC guy suggested it,” Jackson said. “Said it would be safe. But stay sharp.”
Holly was with us. She had been too tall for my wardrobe, so it had fallen to me to buy her an outfit shortly after sunset.
I’d meant the plus-size, below-the-knee dress I’d gotten her to wear like a potato sack. Using an extended fang as a razor, though, she’d cut off the dress’s sleeves. She did the same to its hem, to the point where it was just below her ass. Using the excess material for a belt, cinching it in close to her body, it didn’t take her five minutes to look stylish, if only in an Eastern European peasant kind of way.
Bitch.
The Avid Reader was a used bookstore that took up almost half a block. I’d come here back when my sire was still alive, sometimes looking for a meal, sometimes actually looking for a cheap read. There were two levels—the main floor with high ceilings and bright lights, and then the claustrophobic basement. The place was on the edge of Dominion Street, not immediately close to the college. Even so, how they afforded the rent selling yellowing paperbacks for three or four dollars I had no idea.
The three of us entered, and I immediately noticed the salesgirl’s aura—she was maybe 20, but her life’s energy wasn’t leaping off her so brilliantly. She’d been drank from recently, not enough to kill her, but certainly enough so if she was someone’s Renfield, she wouldn’t last for more than a week on feedings like that.
She wasn’t really a Goth girl—her shirt was too bright—but her lack of emotion and bags under her eyes gave off that vibe.
“The ones you seek are in the basement,” the salesgirl said. “Metaphysical studies.”
“Of course,” I said.
The lower level was musty and dimly lit, the shelves crammed with books. It would probably have been a better haunt for the regal, high-drama Stoker class, but still, an appropriate enough hangout for any Nightfallen I guess.
We found Vance and Zoe looking at a book on tarot. Except for the drop of blood staining the collar of Zoe’s shirt, they looked like an ordinary SWPL couple in love.
When they saw Jackson, though, they almost snapped to attention. They saw that Holly was with him.
“The Oracle is on your side?” Vance asked fighting a losing battle not to sound overly impressed.
“This is a man and a cause I believe in,” Holly said. “You’ll want to listen closely.”
At this point, I may as well have been invisible.
“Where’s the older fella—Ethan?” Jackson asked them.
“Haven’t seen him yet,” Vance said.
“We made sure that the girl upstairs knows to send him our way,” Zoe said with a giggle.
“Let’s get started. Punctuality counts a lot with me,” Jackson whispered.
“With me too,” a voice said from a few stacks over. Ethan joined us, his vest and button-down shirt making him look sufficiently eccentric he could have been a college professor. There were a few books under his arms. “Got here a bit early to shop. Never had much use for junk science, though.”
Zoe gave him a look, still holding her tarot book in hand.
This was the corner of the basement stacks, buffered from more popular sections by rows of ancient and medieval history. No other customer was in earshot.
“You all said you wanted a purpose,” Jackson began. “I’m here to give you one.”
“To bring about the reign of the Three Sons?” Vance asked. It surprised me that he jumped in like that—he seemed more cool. But maybe it’s a young guy thing, being desperate for a mission.
“Yes. That’s going to mean finding the other Sons,” Jackson said.
“How can we do that?” Ethan asked.
“Replace the Demarrkad priests,” Jacks
on said.
“Replace?” Zoe asked.
“Kill,” Holly said.
All three of the potential apostles’ eyes widened at that.
“I’m sorry, but how is that going to help bring about the Three Sons prophecy?” Ethan asked.
“After Erasmus smashed in your ribs the other night, I’d have thought you’d be good with some payback,” I said.
“Mostly I’d be content with avoiding further injury,” he said.
“You saw their reaction when the Oracle identified me as one of the Sons. They’re afraid of the Three Sons. Who knows what they’re hiding? Maybe they even have some clues about where the other Sons are, and are suppressing it,” Jackson said.
“I don’t get it. Why would they try to hide something like that?” Zoe asked.
“Their power comes from the ability to speak to our Dread Lord, and channel his power,” Holly said. “Think of everything they get with that gig. Why would they want competition?”
Even with the Oracle herself saying so, they didn’t seem so open to the sacrilege. Time to appeal to naked self-interest: “On the other hand, think about what it’d be like if we had the priesthood. The power. The wealth. A pretty good bonus to the purpose that Jackson is offering,” I said.
“How would we find them?” Ethan asked, trying to seem skeptical, but markedly less so than he’d been just a moment before.
“Certain knowledge remains from when our Dread Lord possessed me. Where the priests hide is one of those secrets,” Holly said.
“So we go into their home base … and attack them?” Vance asked.
“That’s the bottom line, yes,” Jackson said.
“Look I want in on this. I really do. But dropping in on them like that? It’s suicidal,” Vance said.
“You looked like you were willing to stand off against Erasmus at the ceremony,” Jackson said.
“I was only risking myself. You’re asking I risk my girl too now.” Zoe put her arms around him. She’d have followed him anywhere, and Vance must have known that. Yet he valued her. I guess it was love. It had survived both of their deaths.
Nightfallen (Vol. 1): Books 1-4 Page 16
