Reckoning

by Sonya Weiss

  I smoothed the shirt, not surprised to notice my hands shaking. I couldn’t let anyone else die horribly. I would bring Ide the president. After that, I would figure out a way to take back the crown. As king, I would then have the authority to destroy the NoG.

  After a tap on the door, Mallen stepped in. “I heard Ide has told you to bring him the president. What are you going to do?”

  “My duty. Our people will die if I don’t.”

  He thought on that for a second, then said gently, “I take it you’ve seen the Night of Grief demonstration. Are you all right, sir?”

  “Have you seen him do that before?”

  “Yes, and it’s horrifying. I was unable to eat for days afterward.”

  “He’s searching for Juliet’s sister. She’s probably with Gordon, and eventually Ide will figure that out. We can’t let him find her or any of other mixed-bloods.”

  “I’ve already taken care of that, sir. I’ve made anonymous phone calls to Command 47. That’s the military base where the humans are holding Supernatural prisoners. I told the humans where the Supernatural children are, and they’ve been rounding them up. Hopefully they’ll be okay.” Sorrow laced his tone.

  I put my hand on his shoulder. “You chose the lesser of two evils.”

  He nodded. “How else may I assist you, sir?”

  “Assemble those who are loyal to me. Have them camp in the woods near Command 47 and wait there until I arrive.”

  “Supernaturals spoke of your father as a hard man. His actions often cruel. I agree with that assessment. However, he was a brilliant strategist. His study of the humans, identifying their weakness during times of war was—”

  “I read it.”

  “War is difficult. There isn’t an ounce of cruelty in you. Some would say that might make you soft. Unable to make decisions that would—”

  “Enough!”

  Mallen blinked.

  “Your concerns are without merit. I may be young, but I am my father’s son.”

  “Your father did not love as you love. It’s inevitable Juliet will be chosen by the humans to protect the president. Your life will be at risk and I fear—”

  “I gave you an order. Assemble the ones who are loyal to me.” Though I cared about Mallen, I could not afford to tolerate any insubordination.

  The old Guard bowed low. “Forgive me, sir. I have allowed my love for the young boy you once were to override my sense of duty.” He backed from the room and closed the door behind him.

  I sat on the bed and pulled on my boots, then stood. It was time to dine with the devil. I made my way downstairs to find him.

  Foregoing the formal dining room, Ide had chosen to sit at a table in the rear of the kitchen. He noisily chewed on a chicken leg, smacking his lips and licking them. “You know what kills me about these humans?” Using his foot, he kicked out the chair to his left. “Sit down.

  “It’s the year 2034, and their technology is still light years behind ours. They’re too cautious. They have to carefully test everything, and one little mistake scraps an entire project. The flying cars they finally got off the ground? Shut down the project when too many of them fell and killed people.”

  He took a long drink out of a goblet. “Airplanes still crash, so what’s the big deal? They predicted future inventions and numerous advancements in their lives and technology, none of which have come to pass, and you know why? That caution again.” He paused. “Aren’t you going to eat?”

  “No.”

  Ide bit a chunk out of a roll. “It’s as easy to hate me on a full stomach as it is an empty one, Brother.” He wiped his mouth on a napkin. “The number one problem with humans is what keeps them inferior to us. They value lives.”

  “Lives aren’t to be valued? What about the lives of our people?”

  He shrugged. “One Supernatural dies, another is born. It evens out. Anyway, after you attend my wedding ceremony, you’re free to leave. I’ll give you three days to bring me the president.”

  “Wedding ceremony?”

  “I don’t know what idiot thought a king needed a royal union, but as I’ve discovered, that’s one law of ours I couldn’t break. The advisors failed to let me know this crucial information. They’re enjoying their time in the Void.”

  He smacked his hand on the table. “I tried to find a loophole in the law, but there isn’t one. I must wed today to retain the crown, so I’ve sent the Guards to bring me a girl.”

  “You don’t have to be what you are, Ide.”

  His eyebrows shot upward and he smiled. “What I am?”

  “A murdering monster.”

  He scratched his jaw. “The favored son, passing judgment on the bastard brother. While you lived in glory with all the privileges afforded a king, I was raised to fight for every morsel of food, for every scrap of warmth.”

  “You could have told me who you really were.”

  “Who I am, Brother? The product of our dear father’s affair with a human woman, one of the despised mixed-bloods. He was horrified to learn his moment of weakness resulted in the birth of a half-human child. He hoped his decree to kill all mixed-bloods would erase my existence.”

  “Who is your mother?”

  “She’s dead.” His eyes flickered with rage.

  The way he said the words, with a cunning smile playing about his lips, made me suspect he lied. “If you had to struggle to survive as a child, then your mother was poor?”

  He shook his head. “On the contrary. She was wealthy, but she didn’t keep me. I suppose I should be grateful she gave me life if nothing else. But then, she threw me away. Left me in the woods to die. When the pathetic people who raised me blurted out the tale of my birth during one of their drunken rants, I knew then my purpose in life.”

  “Taking the crown away from the man who wanted you dead.”

  “Precisely. I was the epitome of self-control while I waited for the opportunity to take what I wanted. I expected Juliet to kill you during training and planned to make my move then. When that didn’t happen, I allied myself with her, letting her think I could be trusted.”

  “She did trust you.”

  “Her mistake.” He checked his watch. “The Guards should be back by now. Shall we?”

  I followed Ide from the kitchen and up the stairs to the royal suite, my mind spinning with what he’d told me.

  We entered the room that had once belonged to my father. I’d always hated this room. The black walls with angry slashes of red twirls woven throughout seemed to shimmer with an evil undercurrent. The heavy drapes were designed to prevent light from entering. It was almost as if my father knew if he stood in the light, his inner wreckage would be exposed. Standing in the middle of the room was a teenage Supernatural who appeared terrified when she saw us.

  Ide tapped his chin as he studied her. “A little on the plain side, but I suppose that can’t be helped on such short notice. Bring the union banner.”

  A Guard opened a case and withdrew a purple sash trimmed with gold. Across the front of the sash were words inscribed in the language of Shimea Prime, blessing the union.

  “Here, girl, don’t be shy. What’s your name?” Ide held out his hand.

  “I…I…Sada. It means good luck.” She put her hand in his, her eyes pleading with me. She couldn’t have been more than seventeen.

  The royal unifier, from a Supernatural mediator bloodline, stepped forward and placed the sash across Ide and Sada. He began reciting the union, weaving the girl’s life with Ide’s. When he was done, he stepped back and bowed his head. Supernaturals didn’t share a kiss at the end of a union ceremony as humans did, so I was surprised when Ide pulled Sada against him. He put his hand between them and his power arced. I saw the girl jerk, gasp, and go limp.

  When Ide moved back, the girl fell to the floor, a hole burned through her clothes and into her life force. Ide grinned at me. “The law stated I had to enter the union. It didn’t say she had to survive afterward. Guess she was wrongly
named.” He stepped over her dead body. “See you in three days, and if I don’t, I’ll release the Night of Grief.” He tapped his watch. “The clock is ticking. The world is in your hands, Brother.”

  Chapter 9

  JULIET

  The ride to the base was slow and tedious. As we traveled, explosions boomed in the distance on either side of the ambulance. I wondered if Gordon, a human who’d been my best friend since elementary school, was still alive. If I could locate him, he could help me find Stone. The three of us could take the children somewhere safe.

  The interior of the ambulance filled with light when it stopped. I looked through the back windows. We were at the entry gate of a military compound. The place looked like a fortress. A high fence surrounded dozens of buildings. Loops of barbed wire stretched across the top of the fence.

  A guard dressed in Army fatigues walked around the perimeter of the ambulance with a German Shepherd on a leash. The dog sniffed cautiously as it moved. Then the guard opened the doors and blinked in surprise at the sight of me. He didn’t look much older than my own seventeen years. He stared at me for a second, then closed the doors, and the ambulance moved forward again.

  At the back entrance of the base hospital, I was unloaded. The stretcher hit the ground with a hard bump, but the EMTs didn’t care that it jolted my leg. A trio of humans dressed in green scrubs waited for me. Their expressions were easy to define. Fear and loathing.

  One of them held a wide metal band like Henry wore and tried to grab my hand to put it on me, but I resisted.

  Rick took the band from him. “Juliet, this is for our safety.” With a quick upward movement, he sent the ends of the prongs into my skin, locking it in place.

  I grimaced. “How does it disrupt my power?”

  “The prongs contain Void rock.” Rick took out a small device and scanned the side of the band where a series of small numbers were engraved. When he was done, he lowered my hand.

  “How did you learn what the Void can do to us?”

  “We have our ways.” He patted my shoulder. “Now you need to concentrate on getting better.”

  The humans in green scrubs closed in on me again. I couldn’t stand the thought of them operating on me. Before Rick walked off, I said, “Wait. The humans can’t treat me. My biological makeup is different. I need a Supernatural doctor. A human one could do more harm than good by attempting to help me.”

  “I know. That’s why I brought Henry.” Rick waved the old man forward.

  Henry raised his chin. “I’m the only Supernatural doctor in captivity.”

  “And?” Rick made an impatient go on gesture.

  “I refuse to treat her unless you remove this.” He held up his wrist and indicated his metal band.

  “If you refuse to help her, Juliet loses. You said she’d die without treatment.”

  Henry smiled a crafty smile and leaned in closer to Rick. “You’re not the only one with an agenda, my friend. The powers that be won’t be very happy if they found out you let the one who’s supposed to save them die, now would they?”

  One of the green-scrubbed humans said, “We could force him to treat her.”

  “You could,” Henry said with another smile. “But hundreds of people accidentally die during surgery. I’m an old man. Under duress, who knows what kind of mistakes I could make?”

  Rick looked ready to punch something. He and Henry stared at each other for a long moment.

  “The leverage you humans had over me died in his prison cell. I have nothing to lose by refusing and you have everything.” Henry crossed his arms.

  “Leverage? What’s he talking about?” I asked.

  Everyone ignored me.

  One of the EMTs said, “Sir, if you take off his band, he could use his power to kill us all and free the girl.”

  “If I wanted you dead, I would have broken your neck already,” Henry said, then smiled like the thought held appeal.

  Rick choked off a curse, then snapped his fingers at a soldier. “Take off his band.”

  The soldier stepped forward with a long wand and waved it over the sensor on the side of the metal. The hinge snapped open and the soldier removed it, then stepped back.

  Two small holes appeared on Henry’s wrist where the prongs had been. He wiped away the dots of blood, rubbed his wrist, and waved the stretcher forward. “Take her to the OR.” He walked beside me, patting my hand, and it took me a second to realize he was spelling out a message. Kill him.

  “Kill who?” I mouthed, wondering if he was talking about the humans getting ready to treat me. One of the orderlies gave me a suspicious glare, and I looked away from Henry, directing my attention up to the rectangular florescent lights lining the ceiling. I counted eight of them before the stretcher took a sharp left turn through a set of massive steel doors that slid open, then closed immediately behind us. The room was cold, but no one paid any attention to my shivering.

  The anesthesiologist reluctantly consulted with Henry about which medication to give me. After he told the woman, Henry patted my shoulder and said loudly, “You’ll be fine.” Dropping a surgical tool on the floor near my head, he leaned down to pick it up and as he bent over, he whispered, “You have to kill Riley to save us.”

  * * * *

  When I woke up, it was morning and my leg was no longer throbbing with pain. The area where the crocogon had attacked me was swathed in thick, white bandages. The muscles were weak but not having a decent meal in days could contribute to that. The room I was in reeked of dampness and cleaning solution. Everything in it was white. The lack of color hurt my eyes. I closed them again, only to bolt upright in the bed when I remembered Henry’s words. Henry was Riley’s friend, almost like a father figure. He must know what I had to do, and that made it more real. I lowered my head to my hands, mentally begging for a way out of the nightmare. My shoulders shook with repressed sobs. “Please,” I begged out loud, to who I didn’t know. “Please, I don’t want to have to do this to Riley.”

  What am I doing? This wasn’t the time to sit and cry. I needed a way out. I wiped a hand down my face. Henry would have answers.

  A cord leading to a nurse’s call button hung over one side of the bed railing. I pressed it and after a second, the door opened and a nurse wearing a military uniform entered. A soldier walked in beside her, his hand resting on the butt of the gun on his hip. Both of them stared at me without smiling, without blinking.

  “I want to see my doctor,” I said.

  The two shared a glance. “We’re not authorized to bring you any visitors.” The nurse didn’t look as if she cared one way or the other.

  I patted the bandaged area. “My leg hurts,” I lied. “Henry needs to check it.”

  Another shared glance. Then the nurse told the soldier to watch me, and she left. I studied the man. He was older than the ones I’d seen outside the hospital, maybe in his early fifties. He had cropped gray hair and dark blue eyes. His face was weathered, and he had a tough vibe, ready to spring into action if he needed to. From the expression on his face, he definitely wouldn’t mind if that action meant hurting me.

  The door swung open again, and a man I’d never seen before entered. His brown hair was cut unflatteringly short, making his ears look like cup handles on the side of his head. He wore a black suit, carried a briefcase, and had the coldest eyes I’d ever seen. Taking a chair from against the wall, he twisted it around, and straddled it, regarding me with the expression of an animal about to strike. “I’m Agent Davis, with the FBI’s Friendly Alien Division or FAD as you people call us. Rick Simon is my partner.” When I didn’t return the greeting, he went on. “The anesthesia wore off faster than it normally does.”

  “Is that right?”

  He gestured toward me. “What is it you want?”

  I was starving. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten a meal, but I wanted answers more than I wanted food right now, and I didn’t think I’d get those answers from this guy. “My leg hurts. I
need Henry.”

  His eyebrows rose when he glanced at my leg. “It hurts?” There was only a trace of disbelief in his voice, but I caught it.

  I gave him a sweet smile. “The anesthesia is wearing off too soon, I guess.”

  The disbelief became annoyance. “You and I both know this isn’t about your leg. Why don’t we have a little chat and lay all the cards on the table.”

  I crossed my arms and leaned back against the thin hospital pillow.

  My action irritated him further, and the intensity of his gaze was a little unnerving. I couldn’t shake the sense that though I’d never met this guy, I knew him, and that scared me. I’d ignored my sixth sense with Ide, and that hadn’t turned out well.

  The agent lifted the briefcase, snapped open the locks, and pulled out a file with my name on it. “Juliet Sawyer. Parents deceased. Aunt, uncle, and cousin deceased. Remaining relative, one younger sister who is currently a prisoner on the base.” He clicked his tongue. “Being related to you is dangerous.”

  Wait. They have Maisy? “Y-you have my sister?”

  “Yes.”

  I could have done cartwheels. Maisy was right here on base. I could get to her.

  He flipped to another page while I mentally celebrated. “I understand your father worked closely with Rick in an attempt to betray the Supernatural leaders?” He glanced at me.

  I clenched my hands at the word betrayed and waited for him to continue.

  “Your leaders found out about your father’s treason and rightfully killed him, yes?”

  “My father was not a traitor,” I burst out, then mentally kicked myself for letting the agent goad me.

  “You’ve lived under the cloud of your father’s actions since he led that failed rebellion attempt.”

  I remained silent so I wouldn’t lose my temper.

  “I can see your anger and your attempt to stay in control. It’s an illusion, you know. Being in control.” He smiled. “Everyone has a breaking point. The place within them where they cross a line and become what they think they’re not, what they hate.” His voice carried a ring of triumph. He slipped the file back into the briefcase and snapped it shut. I turned my head away from the smugness on his face.