by Frank Morin
While Sarah and Quentin ate, Gregorios and Eirene discussed the ongoing repairs to the headquarters and the unsuccessful search for the remaining members of the heka cell.
Tomas joined them just as the conversation turned to Mai Luan and the final events of that deadly struggle. He wore jeans and a white t-shirt, the look Sarah loved the most. She kissed him when he sat beside her.
Gregorios pointed at Tomas with a sausage he’d just speared with his knife. “All the evidence we’ve found supports what Zhu told you. That web he triggered had been pre-staged via additional runes marked into the machines.”
“What do we know of those runes?” Tomas asked. “I’ve never experienced such a powerful web.”
“Very little,” Eirene said. “The machines were badly damaged, but Alter’s working on them.”
“I bet,” Tomas said. “He’ll send every one of those runes back to his family.”
“A small price to pay,” Gregorios said. “We might actually get back onto almost cordial terms with the hunters.”
“That would be a nice change,” Eirene agreed.
“What exactly are these webs you’re talking about?” Sarah asked.
“The most advanced spells enchanters can prepare,” Tomas explained. “High level stuff. Rare to find an enchanter who’s learned enough to master even basic ones.”
“We haven’t seen this level of sophistication since the fourth crusade,” Eirene added.
“What a mess that was,” Gregorios muttered.
Such casual references to long-ago historical periods still rattled Sarah. She planned to spend some quality time with Eirene soon and just talk. There was so much she wanted to know, although she was beginning to worry about what she’d learn. She’d seen enough to realize history as mortals knew it wasn’t exactly right.
She needed to know, though. It left her feeling a bit lost, like a boat drifting on the ocean without a tether. History connected people to the world, helped make sense of things. She couldn’t make sense of the world or her place in it if her only references were lies.
“Clever chap, that enchanter,” Quentin said. “That rune blast was as effective as high explosives, but the security sweep couldn’t pick it up.”
“He powered it with those soulmasks,” Tomas said.
“And probably by Mia Luan’s master rune,” Eirene added. “I need to ask Alter about that.”
“It was crazy,” Tomas said. “We had no defense against it. Just drained everything and dragged us down to the floor, helpless as kittens.”
“Brilliant plan,” Gregorios admitted. “Once she woke up, she could’ve taken the soulmasks of every enforcer and assumed control over the headquarters in one fell swoop.”
“Any idea yet what broke it?” Tomas asked.
“Sarah,” Gregorios said. “She cut Mai Luan’s face, broke the master rune.”
“I’m still amazed that worked,” Eirene said thoughtfully. “Usually a simple cut across a rune won’t affect its properties.”
“Maybe because it was a master rune?” Sarah suggested.
“Perhaps.”
Tomas squeezed her hand. “You saved my life, Sarah.”
“Saved everyone,” Gregorios said, gesturing with a fork-full of melon. “That move corrupted the web, broke Zhu’s enchantments.”
“And you removed him before he could recover,” Quentin said.
“I still wish you’d taken him alive,” Gregorios said.
“He did the right thing,” Quentin said. “Zhu was too dangerous to leave alive without a full containment team.”
“I know, but I can still wish, can’t I?” Gregorios asked.
“We’ll track down the surviving heka from Mai Luan’s cell,” Tomas assured him. “We may yet learn something useful from them.”
Tomas turned back to Sarah. “I wish I’d been in the memory with you.”
“No you don’t,” she said with a shudder. “It was a nightmare.”
“You performed brilliantly,” Gregorios said. “Turned out to be a lucky break that Tomas ended up in the headquarters and you in the memory. He shot Mai Luan and you finished her off.”
“We make a pretty good team,” Sarah agreed. Tomas had insisted on a detailed report of everything that had happened in the memory. Sarah hadn’t wanted to revisit the terrifying ordeal, but talking through it had actually helped ease some of her nightmares. Mai Luan should have destroyed her, and yet somehow she’d survived.
She still struggled with the feeling of lingering guilt to think she’d survived while so many others had died. They’d stopped Mai Luan, but at a terrible cost.
“Mai Luan was one twisted woman,” Tomas said.
“No doubt about it,” Sarah said. “But I wonder how she might have turned out if she hadn’t felt driven to prove herself and hadn’t felt so unappreciated.”
Tomas shook his head. “Everyone needs to feel validated, but she took it to psycho extremes.”
“She nearly succeeded,” Quentin said.
Eirene nodded. “Even in death, she destroyed four council members.”
“What triggered that final explosion?” Tomas asked. “At least Shahrokh and Meryem were still alive until then.”
“The best we can figure is when Mai Luan died, the backlash from all the power she’d concentrated through that master rune did it,” Eirene said. “Nothing short of that would have overpowered the council members. They were old, but their nevra cores were still potent.”
“Made a mess,” Gregorios agreed. “Although most of them would’ve had to be put down anyway.”
“Couldn’t they have used the machine to restore themselves?” Sarah asked.
“No,” Gregorios said, his expression grim. “They endangered the entire world order with their stupid alliance with Mai Luan. That crime’s unpardonable.”
Eirene took his hand. “Well now you’re in charge, and we can set things right again.”
“We do have a lot to do,” Gregorios agreed. “Speaking of which, I need you to respond to the queen of England today. She’s looking for assurances that we’ll be ready for her next transfer.”
The two of them began discussing operational matters, so Sarah rose and pulled Tomas to his feet. She still felt uneasy about some aspects of the facetaker activities, but she didn’t want to deal with any of that today.
“We’ll catch up with you later,” she said. “Tomas and I are heading into the city.” She was thrilled to finally get a chance to visit the sights without worrying about Mai Luan chasing them down, or heka assassins attacking without warning. It would be so nice to just be a tourist for a day.
She’d keep the supercharged Taser Tomas had gifted to her in her handbag, though. Just in case.
“Have fun, kids,” Gregorios said.
I have not failed. I’ve discovered the great secret of a second life.
~Thomas Eddison
Chapter Seventy-Three
Sarah sat at an outdoor cafe with Tomas, truly relaxed for the first time since arriving in Rome. She leaned against his hand as he cupped her face in the same way Gregorios and Eirene did. It felt wonderful, and the deeper meaning of the simple gesture of affection thrilled her.
She eventually leaned back in her chair and gave him a dazzling smile. “You know, I’m still getting used to the new you.”
“Take whatever time you need,” he said. “I plan to stick with this life for a long time.”
“I know it’s not your first one,” she said. “How many lives have you had?”
“A few.” He looked nervous, but she kissed him.
“I don’t mind dating an older man, especially one who looks this good.”
He did look great. She was just glad neither of them would have to change bodies again.
Tomas leaned across the table for another kiss, and she met him half way.
They took their time getting the kiss just right.
Now that they had some time, she planned to get to know the rest of
this man she was seriously falling in love with. She didn’t know what tomorrow might hold, but after what they’d just survived, anything would be an improvement.
From an elevated vantage point just inside a third story window of a nearby building, Alter sighted on Tomas with a sniper rifle just as he kissed Sarah. Alter paused for a moment to watch her face. She was enjoying herself.
He’d spent much of the past week studying the charred remnants of the broken machines, hunting for runes and clues regarding the high-level enchantments that had been employed. He’d already sent several encrypted emails to his father, who was thrilled with the progress, but who expressed worry about what the demons could do with such knowledge.
Alter hadn’t shared the information he’d learned regarding Eirene being his great grandmother. He didn’t think his father would believe it. Even if he did, he wouldn’t receive the news with joy.
Alter didn’t want to trigger a new war between the hunters and the facetakers. The demons had suffered great loss, but he’d learned enough about their forces that he recognized his family would pay a terrible price should the two groups launch renewed hostilities.
That left him in a precarious position. He needed to get to know Eirene more, to explore this newfound relationship that connected them. And yet, the more time he spent with her, the more that relationship complicated his resolve to remove Gregorios.
Then there was Sarah. She was falling deeper into the demons’ world, led into the valley of death by Tomas. If only she’d allow Alter to help her see the truth. She was a special woman, and he would not leave her to this fate.
He allowed his finger to slip to the trigger.
Author’s Note
The entire concept of the Facetakers started as a really freaky dream. I awoke thinking, “Whoa, that was awesome!” The basic idea of the dream centered around the character who became Gregorios, the guy I still consider the ultimate facetaker.
That dream eventually spawned Face Lift, the short story prequel to Memory Hunter, featuring Gregorios. It won honorable mention in the Writers of the Future contest, which I thought was pretty cool. It’s still available as a free download on my website:
http://www.frankmorin.org/books/savingface/
It’s also available on Wattpad:
https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/32620757-face-lift
But there were so many other possibilities to explore with the concept, and eventually the character of Sarah stepped out of the shadows and demanded attention. Exploring the idea of selling body transfers to the public - sort of like Hertz rent-a-car meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers - led to the creating of Saving Face. The book was originally going to be another short story, but was too awesome to limit to such a short length, and it had to become a novel. You can find it on my website:
http://www.frankmorin.org/books/savingface/
But that wasn’t the heart of the story. The Facetakers couldn’t meet the full extent of their potential without exploring their alternate history. That led to the idea of the trilogy, which kicked off with Memory Hunter.
As I dug into the story, at first I was going to make it mostly Gregorios’ story, but it became clear as I worked through the first draft of Memory Hunter that it really belonged to Sarah. She was the one who grew the most, the one who had to be the center of the action. It’s not always easy to change directions, but in this case it was the right choice because Memory Hunter shines so much brighter with Sarah as the central protagonist.
We still get lots of Gregorios, as well as the rest of the excellent cast of characters, and they’ll return for an even wilder adventure in Rune Warrior, book two of The Facetakers, due out in October, 2015. Check for updates on my website (http://www.frankmorin.org/), as well as information on upcoming releases of my other series.
If you want to stay connected and get all the news about the books I’m writing, the cons I’ll be attending, book signings, etc, sign up for my newsletter:
http://www.frankmorin.org/newsletter-sign-up-page-generic/
You can find me on Twitter here:
https://twitter.com/morinwrites
And my facebook author page:
https://www.facebook.com/authorfrankmorin
Finally, if you enjoyed Memory Hunter, please consider leaving an honest review. Reviews are an essential benchmark that help get my stories greater visibility so other new fans can discover them:
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Other Titles by Frank Morin
More Facetakers
Saving Face
(Prequel)
Rune Warrior
Book Two – Release date in Q4 of 2015
Aeon Champion
Book Three – Release date in Q4 of 2015
The Petralist series: YA fantasy
Set in Stone
No Stone Unturned
Release date in September, 2015
More details on other projects and future book releases: www.frankmorin.org
About the Author
Frank grew up in Maine with a voracious appetite for reading. He consumed great stories in every form, from novels to movies to campfire tales. It was only natural that he start writing his own stories as a teen, but he got sidetracked into a computer programming career. Eventually the writing bug bit him again and he jumped back into writing with a passion.
Frank writes all types of fantasy, from urban fantasy thrillers, to YA fantasy, to this alternate history fantasy, to classic epic fantasy. He is publishing up to eight novels in 2015 to launch three separate series. Check his website for the latest updates: www.frankmorin.org.
Frank lives in Oregon with his family. In their home, storytelling is a cherished family tradition that keeps magic alive.
He is also part of the Fictorians, a group blog by writers for writers and fans of great writing. Check out their web site at www.fictorians.com.
