“Another what, Cain?” I asked, frowning.
My last question snapped him out of it. He closed his mouth, breathing through his nose. I folded my arms, waiting. Seeing I wasn’t going to drop it, he finally let out a long, uneasy breath. “Sibling,” he all but whispered, staring down at his feet. “I was going to say I will not lose another sibling. I know we aren’t blood, but I guess I kind of see you as—”
I tackled him hard enough to make him grunt since he hadn’t been looking up to see me coming. We hit the mats and I planted a big, fat kiss on his forehead, blinking back my tears.
Not because he had called me sibling. He’d said that casually at the café. But this time, he had said it with significance, meaning it so strongly that it had caused him to react in a storm of rage.
And that was very important to me. It had meaning.
It meant he had unshouldered his lifetime baggage over his brother, Abel. Abandoned his guilt, truly, not just on the surface. He never would have reacted like that without coming to some internal decision that he was now ready to have a sibling again. A real sibling. Not a friend he had promoted to sis or bro.
Which was a huge fucking leap, people. Imagine that. From his shoes.
And per Dr. Michael, I also needed a family. Maybe I needed Cain as much as he needed me right now.
Cain struggled instinctively until I gave him another wet kiss on the forehead. Then I squeezed him into a tight hug, and he finally let out a hesitant sigh. When I felt him squeeze me back, I knew I had broken through the last of his defenses. That my gesture had welded a little bit of his soul back together—given him that reassurance he needed.
A sibling’s hug. A sister’s hug.
He had needed that hug for millennia, folks, but had never let anyone close enough to offer it. To grant him forgiveness for his past crime with Abel.
I climbed back to my feet and stared down at him, wiping away my tears and sniffling. He propped himself up on his elbows, grinning happily.
Then I kicked his elbow out from under him, knocking him onto his back. He gasped in surprise, glaring up at me in confusion.
“Sisters suck, Cain. You just made the biggest mistake of your life.” Then I grinned at him, before rounding on Fabrizio. “My brother is coming with me, Meatball. Deal with it.”
Fabrizio was watching Cain in amazement, picking up on the deeper meaning in what had just happened. I snapped my fingers to catch his attention.
He visibly started, looking embarrassed. “Right. The Cursed Doors… they started appearing the night you were found on the steps of the church.”
Chapter 24
I realized I had sat down. I didn’t remember doing it, but Cain was kneeling beside me, glaring at the Shepherd. He also had a hand on my shoulder. Fabrizio seemed oblivious, his eyes distant as he shook his head, murmuring to himself.
“Hey!” Cain snapped angrily. “This isn’t a monologue.”
Fabrizio froze, looking down at us with a frown. “Sorry. It’s just…I can’t help but wonder if this is fate…” he said softly. “That if you hadn’t gone to Rome, I never would have met you. If Roland hadn’t become a vampire, I never would have become First Shepherd, and I never would have been sent here.” He met my eyes. “I wouldn’t have been here to tell you the truth about the Doors. And I wouldn’t have been here for Father David to confess his strange secret.”
I felt goosebumps on my arms, wondering what the hell he was talking about.
“I’ll try to tell it all in a way that makes sense. Bear with me, because I’m only just now seeing it in its entirety,” he said, seeming to gather his thoughts.
I leaned into Cain as he sat down beside me, and we waited for Fabrizio to speak.
“Like all good stories, there was a storm,” the First Shepherd said, smiling sadly. “And those Heavenly labor pains gave Abundant Angel her first child. You. Father David was battening down the hatches for the surprise storm when he heard a baby’s cry and a banging on the front door of the church. He opened it to find you.”
“I was there, along with two other Shepherds. Three Wise Men, as it were,” he chuckled sarcastically. “We were passing through on an assignment, chasing down a dark wizard.” I kept my face neutral but felt like I had just been slapped. Was he talking of my mother?
“You were here? You saw…me?” I whispered, my fingers shaking.
Fabrizio grunted affirmatively. “Yes. A bawling, white-haired babe. But we were Shepherds, not babysitters. Much too serious to give you anything more than a passing glance. We were more concerned with the bolt of lightning that Father David swore struck the church and killed the power,” he said, mocking his younger self. “We went off in search of the circuit breakers and made a discovery. Father David had told us to enter the only door on the right side of the hallway to find the circuit breaker. But we found two doors on the right side of the hallway.” he said, pointing in the direction of the door we had used to enter this very basement. My eyes widened in disbelief and he nodded slowly. “We explored this new door while Father David cared for the bawling babe.”
He looked up at me apologetically, and I realized I was breathing faster. Cain placed an arm over my shoulders, squeezing tightly.
“Neither that door, nor the levels below the church, existed before that night…” he whispered, holding his hands up to display the training room around us. “We, of course, assumed it had just been missed—the church built atop ruins that had somehow been overlooked, but Father David was adamant about it. Finding a broken wall that led to a secret level was one thing, but finding a perfectly-functioning door that no one had never seen before?”
He shook his head and I found myself—against the impossibility of it all—nodding my agreement.
“That’s when we found the lower cavern with the Doors. There were only three, then, one for each of us. We debated back and forth and ultimately decided to enter one. My fellow Shepherd, Anthony, stepped through one of the Doors and we waited to see what he found on the other side.” He paused, his throat dry. “We waited a full day, but he never returned. My second brother decided to go after him, to save him. I waited three days, but neither returned. And every time I stepped away to sleep or eat, a new Door appeared until the cavern contained a dozen of them. I locked the place down and instantly called the Conclave to investigate—to update the prison cells we had found below, just in case. We spent weeks fortifying this place from attack, warding it from whatever occupied the other sides of the Doors. We sent more volunteers through the Doors, trying all of them. Some volunteers were armed to the teeth, some naked, some were wizards, some Regulars, some were women, some men. We tried everything.” He met my eyes, his own haunted. “None ever returned.”
I realized Cain was actually supporting my weight, now.
“We locked the area down for years, accepting our losses and hoping to find answers back in Rome in the Vatican archives. By then, you had been adopted, and no one ever connected your arrival with the phenomenon, so transfixed with the Doors and secret lower levels that a baby on the steps of the church was dismissed over the supernatural danger below.”
“As above, so below…” Cain murmured under his breath, sounding shaken.
“To this day, no one has connected you to the Doors. But they also do not know about your lineage, your relation to Solomon.”
“I’m not following,” Cain said.
Fabrizio leaned closer as if he’d been waiting for it. “Before I went searching for the circuit breaker, I was out patrolling for that dark wizard in the rain. But I glimpsed something else entirely—reminding me of a drunken bishop’s wild story I’d once heard and hadn’t believed. That Solomon’s Temple was guarded by a fearsome white nightmare with blue eyes of fire. I saw proof of it that night outside of Abundant Angel. It had no interest in me and vanished mere moments after I saw it. But the three aspects are now clear to me. The Last Breath had come to Kansas City. The same night as the Doors. The same night as
you, Callie…”
I was shivering. Not in fear, but entirely overwhelmed. It was…impossible.
Cain cleared his throat. “You mentioned Father David telling you a story about that night…”
Fabrizio nodded uncertainly. “I do not know exactly how it fits in, so I left it for last. Father David kept this secret close to his heart for your entire life, Callie. He feared that, with all the hubbub about the Doors, and the Conclave and Shepherds running around the church in a panic, his story very likely could have brought you to harm. Even if just from fear. But seeing me—one who had been there that very night—back in Kansas City again after so many years reminded him of his lie of omission. He made me swear on my eternal soul that I would not tell anyone but you. If I thought you could handle it…”
I nodded, feeling numb.
Fabrizio took a deep breath, as if hesitant to continue. “Father David swears on the Bible that a Demon attacked the front door of the church the night you were found. And that, more than anything in the world, it wanted you. It screamed, and railed, and demanded to see you, scratching at the door and clawing at the steps. But it never entered, and when Father David checked the next morning, there were only faint scratches on the doors and steps, deep enough to be attributed to a stick in the storm, but definitely not a Demon. He even believed that it could have all been in his head, that fear overtook him as a result of the night’s many other surprises. That is why he confessed to me. He did not know if what he heard was real or an imagined fear. But he repeated one thing several times, his reason for keeping this secret.” He took a breath. “No child should ever feel alone. He thought the Shepherds would turn on you for the mere coincidence of it all, and so he refused to tell a soul. And back then…we were so afraid…I’m not sure he was wrong…” Fabrizio admitted with a guilty look.
I didn’t respond. I didn’t even look at either of them. I just sat there feeling numb. Long enough that I started to feel a faint flicker of fire inside me. A growing hatred. The beginning of a storm. And I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do with it. So, I nurtured it in silence, focusing on my breathing.
Cain spoke, sounding eager. “Fuck the Demon. Can’t even claw a door properly.”
I turned to him and smiled, feeling suddenly anxious to move. To do anything but sit still. “Thank you.”
He nodded matter-of-factly, turning back to Fabrizio. “If that Last Breath guards Solomon’s Temple and appeared when these Doors did, the same night a descendant of Solomon is left on the steps of this very church…”
Fabrizio nodded, speaking the thought that had just entered my mind. “You might have your path to Solomon’s Temple…”
I wasn’t sure if it was the path of the mind, or the path of the Earth, but I knew it was one of them. “Show me these Doors.” I eyed the weapons on the walls. “I think it’s time we arm ourselves.”
Cain was nodding. “And if Fabrizio can guard access to the Doors from the church, we don’t have to worry about the Sons of Solomon chasing after us.”
Fabrizio nodded, but held up a finger. “There is the question of why they hunt you. They should have more pressing matters to attend with the trial in play. Unless they know of your lineage, or think you have something they need. Knowing that answer may give you what you need.”
I thought about it, frowning. The Seal of Solomon in my coat suddenly felt like a mental lead weight. I held it up for them to see. “Maybe they need this?”
The two men stared at the Seal for a time. Cain finally shrugged. “I mean, it makes sense, but if they know you have it, why wouldn’t Cleo have asked for it when we were at the park?”
“She must not have known,” I said, shrugging.
“Back to the original question, then. Why hunt us down?”
We considered it in silence for a few moments. Finally, I shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter, does it? All that matters, is that they want to kill us, and Last Breath wants to kill everyone playing the game. Which makes no sense, by the way. If he works for the Temple—which is hosting this whole trial—why kill the participants?”
“Maybe he is protecting the one participant who matters,” Fabrizio offered gently.
Cain frowned thoughtfully. “That actually makes a lot of sense. He didn’t kill us this morning. He could have, but he didn’t.”
“Let’s consider that a happy ending, but plan for the worst,” I said, eyeing the walls of weapons all around us.
Fabrizio smiled at my interest. “Perhaps the Seal of Solomon will grant you some protection, but I always like to have a good knife, or seven, on me.” He snapped his finger at a new thought. “Oh, natural items only. We tried sending a video camera through and it exploded. The equivalent of an incendiary grenade,” he added meaningfully.
I shrugged. “Magic is fine, right?”
“As far as we can tell. The wizards didn’t burst into flame.”
“They just never returned,” Cain added grimly. “Perhaps their explosions were on the other side.”
I scowled at him. “Gee. Thanks for that lovely image.”
He shrugged, not looking the least bit ashamed. “Call ‘em like I see ’em. We’re very likely committing suicide by stepping through. No use in sugarcoating it. And your magic was wonky this morning.”
“No one is killing me but myself,” I said defiantly. “That will show them.”
Cain grinned. “Word.” I checked myself to make sure I had no electronics on me. I set Roland’s phone down, realizing I was embarrassingly low-tech. Othello would have been ashamed.
Then I made my way around the room, debating. I didn’t know what I would find on the other side, but it was smart to plan for the worst. I’d learned firsthand that mortal weapons were the great leveler. Using magic was cool and all, but most wizards never anticipated a dagger coming for their sclera while having a magical standoff. Like throwing dirt in someone’s eye in a knife fight. I also didn’t want to overburden myself in case we needed to move quickly.
I settled on a few wooden stakes with silver tips, and a gleaming katana. The blade had been designed to excel when victory depended heavily on rapid response times. The curved Japanese sword was just under two feet long, and the hilt was long enough to use with two hands for extra strength. I scooped up the belt-like sash, also known as an obi, and tied it around my waist. I tucked the katana through the sash with the sharpened edge of the sword facing up. The wakizashi that paired with the katana was identical in all aspects, merely shorter in length. Even though the two were typically worn in pairs like the ancient Samurai had done, I left the smaller blade on the stand, deciding to respect the fact that, traditionally, only Samurai had earned the honor of wearing them paired together—the daishō, they called it.
Samurai were honorable, noble men, devoting their life to being good. And right now, I didn’t feel like being honorable or noble. In fact, I was pretty pissed off. More secrets about my past, and an asshole assassin forcing me enter into a game, so he could try to kill me for entering. And the prize was something that had belonged to my ancestor, so why was I even competing for it in the first place? It should have just been handed to me as an inheritance.
I tucked a few wicked throwing knives into my boots for good measure.
I didn’t go overboard because I also had a new Big Brother to back me up, and he was formidable. An Incredible Cain. I turned to him, expecting to see a metal porcupine of death.
My hopes were dashed almost immediately.
He had chosen two long daggers. I noticed one sheath was empty on his belt. “At least grab one sword,” I chastised. “Haven’t you done this before? You’re going to embarrass me if we find ourselves in a sword fight.”
He smirked, holding up a finger. “I do have one more, now that you mention it.”
He knelt on the ground and closed his eyes as if praying. He began murmuring under his breath, and I shot a look at Fabrizio. The Shepherds shook his head curiously, watching Cain’s suddenly religio
us side come out of the closet.
Then Cain let out a deep breath and placed his right hand over his left forearm and squeezed. After a moment of intense pressure, I saw blood dripping from between his fingers. I gasped, taking a step back, resting my hand on the hilt of my katana.
Then Cain began to pull at something and I almost vomited as he withdrew a curved ivory bone from his very flesh. He gritted his teeth, grunting in pain as the blood flowed faster. Finally, he pulled out a curved bone dagger with a serrated edge.
I blinked. Was that…
Cain finally opened his eyes, letting out a forced breath. “This is my blade. There’s no other like it,” he said with a weak grin, climbing to his feet.
I stared. Wow. It was the blade he had used to kill his brother, Abel. Since we were about to potentially commit suicide and I had only gallows humor on the tip of my tongue, I risked an inappropriate observation. I turned to Fabrizio. “Maybe he’s born with it. But maybe it’s Abel-line.”
Fabrizio blanched, shaking his head at me.
Cain grunted. I risked a glance at him and found him fighting to hold back a smile. “Okay. That was pretty good,” he finally admitted. “And what the hell? If you can’t joke about it after this long, when can you?”
I grinned. “Let’s do this. Show us the Doors, Meatball.”
We followed Fabrizio into an elevator and Cain patted my shoulder. “Think this will work?”
I thought about it and finally let out a sigh. “It’s either this or wait for the Sons of Solomon to catch me outside. Or Samael. Or Last Breath.”
“And it does seem oddly coincidental about these Doors, almost like they were made for this very moment.”
I gave him a serious look. “That doesn’t mean we have a free pass. Otherwise there wouldn’t be a game, as you told me earlier. Like it or not, this is a challenge. We need to be ready for anything.”
Feathers and Fire Series Box Set 2 Page 42
