The Game of Gods: Series Box Set

by Lana Pecherczyk

  I turned to Cash and nodded Marc’s way.

  Cash tilted low to speak in my ear. “I’ll nab him before we finish.”

  I nodded and let Cash lead me to an empty seat. He stood behind me while the last remaining Watchers trickled in and took their seats. In the end, the room was filled to capacity. Everyone had turned up to this meeting. Whatever had happened must be dire. Cash’s steady grip on my shoulder and his cynical gaze over the gathering, had me believe he thought the same thing. One of these people was a traitor.

  Chapter 33

  “Thank you all for coming,” Jacine said, taking the lead. Today she wore a long, dark woolen cowl-necked dress that hugged her figure. The pink was fading from her impeccable hair to reveal a white washed color. She sent a meaningful look my way before speaking. “I’m sure most of you have heard the news, but I’ll repeat it for the sake of latecomers.”

  I sunk a little lower in my seat. She redirected her glance to the end of the room where Marc tittered with the red-head as she gestured at the old-school phone handset. All eyes in the room moved to follow Jacine’s gaze. Still, Marc had no clue, or didn’t care that we all waited for him. I reached with my power and lifted the phone clear out of the girl’s hands to float high above their head. An instant scowl crossed Marc’s face as he fronted on us.

  “You ready to join us?” I asked.

  Marc’s eyebrows lifted sky-high as he noted the attention on him. “Didn’t see you there, love, what with all that glow about you. Finally deigned to join us, then?”

  A smile battled a scowl on my face as I watched him saunter over. He gave Cash a wink and then stood next to him, facing the table. “Right. I’ve got my glad rags on, ready for action.”

  “Not just yet, Marc, we have to be in consensus that’s the right course of action.” Jacine indicated to the table, garnering nods from all of them.

  “No consensus needed. The sod has broken the terms of the Game, the terms of the banishment, and well, the bloody terms of life. By the power vested in me, I’m ready to exterminate the lot of them. This is what I’ve been put here for. Just let me go and do my job.”

  “I’m sorry, did you say exterminate?” I swung to look at Marc.

  “Nobody’s going anywhere until we know what’s happened,” Cash said, interrupting. “Jacine?”

  Jacine opened her mouth to speak, but Marc beat her to it. “He’s gone and massacred an entire airport full of innocents.”

  The blood seeped from my face. “Where?”

  “Brazil,” Jacine added. “It appears he’s heading back to the gate, this time with an army decimating anything in his path.”

  “Why is he going to the gate? I thought it was useless without my blood?”

  “He must know something we don’t,” Cato said. “The Gamekeeper is right. We can’t afford to stand by and let this happen.”

  “Are you implying I’ve been doing nothing to stop Urser?” I was shocked at his tone.

  “He doesn’t need to imply,” Zebedee replied. “It’s the truth.”

  Cash let go of my shoulder and glared at each of them. “Do I need to remind you all that the course of action we’ve taken so far has been of our own devising? Roo’s recovery as such has given her little say in our directives. In fact, the moment she was strong enough, she took it upon herself to start purging the souls—your House souls—from the darkness.”

  “I’m afraid it’s too late. Her actions have directly caused Urser’s current course,” Zebedee added. “It’s obvious. He was placated until she poked her nose into the business.”

  My stomach rolled with the realization that he spoke the truth. Innocent people were alive until I jumped to Margaret River with a drunken God complex and the desire to prove my worth. Cash said Urser had pulled all the darklings out of their occupied countries and I thought I’d won. I thought I’d scared him off and he’d run away with his tail between his legs, but I was wrong.

  “He wanted this all along,” I said quietly. “And I’ve walked us all directly into his path. He lured me out to my home town, threatening to hurt them all. Think about it. He systematically threatened the occupants of multiple countries, and when I didn’t move, he made for Margaret River. It was a test, to see if I would come. And I did. Now, he’s killing people, he knows I’ll come.” I met Jacine in the eye. “He wants me at the gate, doesn’t he?”

  “No,” Cash said before Jacine had a chance to speak. “You’re not going.”

  “Like I said,” Marc added, “I’m free to waste them all.”

  “Those people are only breaking the rules because Urser has forced them. They’re not in control of their minds. Will you damn their souls to finality because of Urser?” I said.

  “Love, I can be there in an instant.”

  I stood up. “So can I.”

  “So come.”

  “We’ll all go,” Cato said, standing too. “If there were any a moment that we all need to show a united front, it’s now.”

  “I agree,” Zebedee said, rising. “With all of us there, we can surely take him out with the least amount of casualties possible. Cut the head off, and the beast will wither and die.”

  “Right.” Marc pointed at him. “I’ll go and get it done. You chaps can join in when you get there.”

  “Hold your horses, Marc,” Cash said. “I have sleeper security teams dispersed around the gate. We planned for this. I’ll redirect them to join the local authorities in their efforts to stop Urser.” He looked at Jacine. “So, has it just been the airport?”

  “No. They’re leaving a trail of destruction, heading back into the Amazon, toward the gate.”

  “Do you have an ETA?”

  “A couple of hours.”

  “We can’t wait,” I said. “Marc and I can be there instantly. You can send your men to catch up with us, Cash, and then the rest of you can join.”

  “You’ll be walking into a trap.” The disbelief on Cash’s face said it all. “You think dying is the worst thing he can do to you? The darkness he spreads can infect Seraphim too. The fact that he hasn’t done this already only speaks to an ulterior motive.”

  A flash of Urser’s rotten power decimating that plant at the lab entered my mind. Cash was right. He’s had this destructive power for a long time. I was almost too afraid to ask, “And what is that?”

  “If he infects Seraphim as well as Nephilim, he’ll burn through his allies on this planet. But what if he gets the gate open? He won’t need allies once he’s reunited with the rest of his war planet. He won’t give a shit who he infects after he’s got a free path home. Am I the only one who remembers why he agreed to come to Earth in the first place? It wasn’t to be among the first pioneers in the new life. It wasn’t even to test the safety for his people. It was to discredit everything the queen was doing. Does no one remember his scathing reports back to the Empire’s Board of Safety?”

  Around the table, people shuffled, shrugged and murmured.

  “What are you talking about?” Cato asked.

  Cash opened his mouth to elaborate, but Lena spoke instead. “I remember,” she started as the memories came to her. “The heads of Houses had to write efficiency and safety reports. The intention was to have an independent body assess the reliability of the Earth project before allowing Seraphim to visit.”

  “That’s right,” Cash added. “Urser had never hidden the fact he disapproved of the project, in fact, he took every opportunity to tell anyone who listened that he hated the queen acceding the throne after his brother died. And now he’ll be armed with a weapon that’s been tried and tested, ready to use of his own volition. I think his ploy had never been about control of this Earth, but of the Empire.” He turned to me. “This is a trap. After you proved you could teleport on your own, he knows only you and Marc can come in time to save the people he threatens. Once he has the two most powerful beings on this planet in his grasp, it’s no big step in logic to see he’ll convert you to darkling so he can control y
ou.”

  “So I’m supposed to let all these people die because of me?” Tears burned my eyes.

  “I might have something,” Jesop said from his spot behind Lena. He pulled a plastic vial from the front pocket of his hoodie and placed it on the table. “This is the vaccine I’ve been working on. It’s only been tested on Lena, and we’ve only had one round of exposure to measure against, but as you can see, she’s doing fine. She’s not infected.”

  “How are we supposed to tell?” Thurstan shot. “We can’t see her eyes to see if they’re dark.”

  Lena’s head made a move, as if she were rolling her eyes. “I’m sure the Gamekeeper and the queen can attest to my soul’s purity.”

  “She looks fine to me.” Marc gestured for Jesop to roll him the vial for a look-see. “Where do I sign up?”

  “Anyone wishing to vaccinate can meet Jesop in the medical lab after this meeting,” I said.

  And then, a funny thing happened. Everyone made to move as if my word was final. They’d seen my test of power and now they deferred to my instruction. My chin jutted in pride and for once I felt as though I knew what I was doing, and then Cash burst my bubble when he raised his voice, “Sit down, everyone. We’re not done yet.”

  I frowned at him.

  He gave me a look I couldn’t decipher and then surveyed the room. “So, to be clear, we all agree we travel to Brazil as a united front. All of us together.”

  “Except Marc and me,” I added, knowing full well he was trying to avoid that exact thing. His flared nostrils, and crease between his brows proved me right. I met the eyes of everyone else at the table. “Is anyone opposed to Marc and I heading in first?”

  A few uncertain glances flittered around the room and I could feel the weight of Cash’s eyes boring into me. Jacine was the one to speak. “You are Queen. You are free to do as you please.”

  “Right. Good. Well, that’s settled. Marc and I will go to the medical lab to be the first vaccinated. After that, we’ll head to South America. The rest is up to Cash to coordinate.”

  “Roo.” Cash grabbed my arm as I made to leave. “Don’t.”

  “We’ll talk about it at the lab.”

  “There’s another matter we need to discuss while everyone is here.”

  My insides tightened. Please don’t make a big deal, Cash. Let me go.

  Then he spoke, proving me wrong: “I think we should all submit to an aura integrity check before the vaccine is administered.”

  “Are you doubting me?” Lena’s hand fluttered to her throat. “Do you think the vaccine hasn’t worked, because I can assure you, Jesop and I have been working tirelessly on it, and I would never have submitted myself to it without being certain it was ready for testing.”

  “No, Lena, it’s not you,” I said.

  “It’s come to our attention,” Cash said, “that one of you is a traitor, and we mean to find out who.”

  Collective gasps sounded around the room. Confusion, wariness and surprise broke out amongst the expressions at the table. Each person looked to the left or right of them, caution creeping over their features. Tension expanded, blanketing us all. Even the lesser gods near the phones weren’t immune. With Marc’s help, we’d screen them all.

  “Cash, please man the door. Anyone attempting to leave without submitting to a check will be reprimanded and make no mistake, if you are the person we’re looking for, there will be no mercy. Marc, please join me with the inspection.”

  “Love, don’t you think this is a little overboard? I think I’d know if anyone had been keeping things.”

  I took a deep breath then looked him in the eye. “Cash and I sensed the entity that followed you a few months ago.”

  He blinked rapidly. “No, that’s not possible. I killed it.”

  “I don’t know what to tell you other than it’s back.”

  “You’re sure?”

  I nodded.

  “Blimey.”

  “No, I’m sorry,” Zebedee said, standing up. He nudged the woman next to him. “But I want to hear more about this supposed traitor before I agree to any examination.”

  The Epsilon woman nodded. “I too would like more information.”

  “Marc?” I gestured to him.

  “Well, you see, it’s like this. Something dark and slippery followed me for the better part of weeks. Gods, I don’t know how long it had been watching, undetected. Jacine, you remember, don’t you love?”

  “You mean that thing you sensed at the London Ludus was actually a thing listening in on our conversation?” She was horrified to the point that I wondered what they’d been speaking about. “I thought you were just making an excuse to get out of there.”

  “It was real.”

  “Why are you only now telling us about this?” Cato narrowed his eyes at Marc.

  “Because I thought I killed it when I visited the witch, Eve.” Marc’s gaze went dark and distant as he recalled the situation. Suddenly, his blue eyes locked on mine and widened.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Eve controlled it, like a snake charmer. She told me the Dark Lord had sent it. Considering our dear hunter’s recently returned memories told us the prince died with him all those years ago, I thought she meant Urser. Either way, I took the entity through the in-between with me. When I returned, it was gone. I assumed its atoms entangled, or it was lost to time.”

  Pins and needles prickled my skin. “Marc. Didn’t you say the entity followed you through the in-between?” I asked. “That day you interrupted me shopping. You said it had followed you.”

  Marc failed to grasp my meaning. “And?”

  My head dropped into my palm as I sought the courage to speak. Silence expanded.

  “She means you didn’t kill it. It’s not like a normal soul. It’s atoms didn’t entangle when you let go.” Cash’s voice came from behind me and I knew he’d taken up a stance at the door, preventing anyone from escaping. “Whatever—whoever—followed you is still alive.”

  “That thing followed me for weeks. Possibly longer. I could only follow it after I became aware of it. What if it’s gotten better at hiding?” The understanding hit Marc squarely in the chest and he staggered. “You mean to tell me that bloody Urser could know everything, even this meeting?”

  “Yes, and going by the quality of the intel Urser has been receiving, the source of his knowledge must be in this room.”

  Chaos erupted, voices raised, as everyone stood to defend themselves. Watchers pointed fingers at each other. Cash had his eye firmly on Zebedee. Marc stepped back to the wall, looking despondent. And most of the people at the phone table crossed the room and stood behind a Watcher in a show of House support. All moved, except one.

  Jed.

  Jed sat back casually, arms folded, eyes on me.

  The raised voices of arguing Watchers faded to white noise as my whirring thoughts clicked together, puzzle pieces slotting and fitting in place. The walls closed in on me in warped focus.

  Jed with his black hair regrowth. It should have been blond, like the genetic anomaly in all other Players. Jed with his missing abilities. He said he was too insignificant for a large star-map, and we’d never fully checked. Now I realized, it was all so convenient. Coldness trickled down my spine when I thought of Jed being outside the cave, minutes after we’d chased the dark presence away. Oh, he had abilities all right, he was only hiding them. It was Jed all along, but I had been blind-sighted because he was my friend.

  The same friend whose lips curved in a secret smile, just for me, moments before blackness erupted out of him and the room disappeared into darkness.

  Chapter 34

  “What the hell was that?” Cash shouted, rushing to me as the shadows in the room dissipated, along with any trace of Jed.

  I ran to the spot Jed had sat in and groped the air, flailing, trying hopelessly to catch any sense that he was still there.

  “It was the presence,” Marc said, coming over.

  “Where�
��s Jed?” Cash asked, seeing my panic. “Was he taken?”

  I shook my head wildly. “It was him, Cash. He was the traitor.”

  “Jed?”

  “Who’s Jed,” someone said behind me the same time as another voice chimed in, “Did he just teleport?”

  “He’s gone, so I guess he did.” My voice came out in through a daze. I still couldn’t believe it. My mind groped for a reason my logic was wrong, but it had been there, right in front of my eyes. That smile. That connection. He knew I’d figured it out, and he smiled.

  “Are you telling me that someone else can travel through the in-between?” Jacine asked. “Marc? Is that possible?”

  “Well,” Marc replied, “Sephie, I get, but this other bloke… I have no idea who he is? What Ludus was he from?”

  “Australian,” Cash said.

  “What House?”

  “Ah.” Cash pinched the bridge between his nose as he tried to think. “I don’t remember. He always said he was too insignificant to come from a major House.”

  “So, nobody knows who the bleedin’ hell this man is, or where he’s from?”

  “You’re the Gamekeeper!” Jacine threw up her hands. “You tell us.”

  “I transport the souls. I don’t catalog them and record them!”

  “Guys, guys. Please.” I waved my hands in a downward motion. “Let’s just calm down a moment. He’s gone. He’s the traitor. That means he’s not listening.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Oh gods, he was in my castle!” Jacine cried. “The refuge is compromised.”