Upon waking from her nap, Ariel felt refreshed. Looking out the window, she realized she had slept longer than she planned. The sun was setting and casting long shadows through her apartment. As she stood, she noticed one of the shadows seemed out of place. There was nothing that could have cast the shadow, but it was steadily growing with the rest of them. As Ariel focused on it, it seemed to grow darker than all of the others, and it continued to grow larger. Finally, it formed a roughly humanoid shape on the far wall and two softly glowing blue orbs appeared within the head of the shadowy figure. They seemed to stare at the angel as she summoned her spear to her side. The holy weapon materialized in her hand from thin air, and she brought it forward to defend herself.
“There is no need for that, Ariel,” came a disembodied voice from the shadowy shape on the wall. The voice seemed familiar to her, but she could not quite place it.
“Who are you?” she asked. “Why are you in my home?”
“This isn’t your home,” the voice said. “At least, not your true home.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” she growled as she raised her spear threateningly.
“And what do you think you will do with that?” the voice asked in amusement. “I’m just a shadow, and I’m not even really here. I’m elsewhere at the moment, dealing with more than I can handle. I am Death, and I am here to give you a warning. You need to be careful. You upset the balance of the universe by living through the war. The imbalance was not so bad up until you helped Adrian. By helping him, you set him on a path that further upset the balance. He was meant for other things, and your involvement caused a small tear in the fabric of reality that is creating areas of dead magic. You will not come to harm yourself for what you have done, however. In fact, you sped up his destiny. My warning is this: if you continue to help him, your own destiny will come to be fulfilled that much faster.” With that, the shadow dissipated until it was nothing more than a figment of Ariel’s imagination. She blinked and could still see the afterimage of the glowing orbs floating in her vision. Setting her spear down, Ariel felt along the wall where the shadow was, searching for any traces of magic. She felt nothing more than the rough paint on the wall. It was not surprising, seeing as she had just been visited by the being who ruled over the entire mortal realm. She decided to ponder the words of Death while she made herself some dinner. It was not often one was given a personal warning by the Reaper himself.
Jake and Sara walked through the gardens in Miami one last time, hand in hand. They enjoyed the brightly arranged flowers and trees with their autumn colors. As they meandered, Jake thought to himself. He marveled at the vast improvement Sara was making by learning more than just how to kill. She was learning everything she could, and had spent the majority of her spare time with her nose buried in books. The chimeric woman was definitely gifted with a brilliant, creative mind, and it warmed Jake’s heart to see her so engrossed in gaining more knowledge. All thoughts of the vampires’ plans for her seemed to have been thrown from her mind, replaced by hopes and dreams for the future. She barely said anything to him about what Artemis had shown her, but she said that there was only one specific event that needed to come to pass. The rest of it was up to her. She was free to live her life as she chose, and Jake was glad to be a part of it. He loved how her emerald eyes would light up whenever she learned something new, whether it was interesting to others or not. With the vast collection of knowledge in Montgomery’s home, Jake knew that Sara could be happy there for years. As much as he would have liked to see that, however, he was beginning to feel homesick. New Rome was calling him, pulling at his heartstrings.
His family had a plot of land in what used to be Rome, but was buried under the rubble of the old city when the bombs began to fall. After the smoke cleared, what was left of the family home was destroyed. When he set fire to the manor, the outer walls and frame were still intact, but the falling bombs destroyed the rest of it. The manor was rebuilt after the war, and when New Rome was founded, Jake’s family home lay just outside the outskirts of the city. It was built with the same blueprints of the original house, and was redecorated with what was left in storage since before the fire. He wanted it to be what it was before the war, but most of what he wanted was no longer in existence. Still, it was Jake’s home, and he wanted to go back to it. It would be much more welcoming if Sara was at his side.
“What are you thinking about?” Sara asked suddenly.
“Hmm?” was all Jake could manage, slowly coming out of his deep thought.
“You looked like you were thinking pretty hard about something,” Sara stated. She led him to a bench under a large oak tree and they sat down.
“Oh, it’s not that serious,” Jake offered. “I was just thinking about home.”
“Home,” Sara said wistfully. “I take it this place isn’t your home?”
Jake shook his head, remembering that Sara had only ever seen the gardens as a home. “I suppose I haven’t really talked about my home much, have I?”
“No, you haven’t,” Sara replied. “Then again, there hasn’t been much time between all of the meetings you’ve had with the Firstborn and all the traveling we’ve been doing.”
“Right,” Jake sighed. “I guess I’ve just been missing my home after all of this. Learning all that I have about my father and what he’s actually been a part of makes me rethink everything I’ve ever known. It also gives me new perspective on my family in general, and more and more things make so much more sense to me. I already think of my home differently now, and I feel like I’d be able to learn even more about myself by going home again.”
“And do you plan to leave soon?” Sara asked slowly. “Do you plan to stay once you get there?”
Jake nodded. “I’d like to head home soon. Obviously, I don’t want to force you to travel again so soon, but I do want to leave.”
“I’ll miss the library here,” Sara smirked.
With a smirk of his own, Jake said, “My library is bigger. This place focuses more on these gardens than books. My family home boasts a huge library. You’ll love it. Before the place burned down, we moved all of our important belongings out, so all of our old books are still intact.”
Sara’s face split into a wide, happy grin, and she squeezed Jake’s hands in hers. “In that case, I suppose I can leave with you.”
Within two weeks, Jake and Sara finished their work with the Firstborn and left Miami. Montgomery promised to keep in touch with the couple whenever anything interesting came up. Jake was happy to be a part of the group that called his father friend, and was even happier to know that he finally knew exactly what and who he was. With Sara at his side, he felt as if he was able to handle anything. The flight back to New Rome was boring and Sara slept with her head resting comfortably on Jake’s shoulder. Once they had landed, she looked around with wide, excited eyes. It was the first time Sara had been to Italy and she was excited to see the sights. They spent some time enjoying the local scenery and made their way to Jake’s family home. Sara was completely enamored with the place as soon as she laid her eyes on it. The look of excitement on her face melted Jake’s heart. It was a large, castle like Victorian building, two stories tall and centered on the grounds amid large gardens. He guided her through the front door, where a servant was waiting to take their bags. She stepped inside and was immediately in love with her new home. The entryway opened into the grand vestibule, with a pair of French doors that lead into the central hall. A statue stood in each of the four corners of the room, each depicting a different well-dressed individual.
“On the right are the servants’ section of the house,” Jake explained. “The left side of the house is where we will live.” He motioned toward a single oak door on their left and guided Sara on a tour of the house. Through the door, they came to the breakfast room, adorned with portraits of previous occupants and a big table with enough seats for ten people. A huge fireplace took up the wall between two windows on their right that looked
out over the courtyard. Four more windows on the left offered a view of the gardens in front of the house. Through the far door, Jake and Sara came into the music room, dominated by an antique grand piano placed in the center of the floor. A comfortable looking couch sat against the right hand wall, and a warm hearth to the left. Sara’s eyes brightened further when she saw the piano and could not help running her fingers over the dark wood and plinked a couple of the ivory keys. Her grin upon hearing the notes ring out was pure bliss. Jake could tell she would be excited to learn how to play and made a mental note to have his butler - an old concert pianist from before the war - give her lessons.
“My mother used to play that all the time.” Jake said. “When I was a child, her music would flow throughout the house”
They continued through the next door into a corridor. Directly to their left was one door, and another stood across from them. Sara could see five more further down the hall. Jake started left, but stopped, instead guiding Sara right. When he saw her questioning look, he said, “We’ll save those for later.” They walked down the hall and stopped at the first doors on either side of them. On the left was the billiards room, with a large fireplace and pool table. Comfortable chairs and couches sat on either end of the room. The other door led to the gaming room, where a pair of poker tables sat with four chairs around each. The next door on the left opened into a gun room, where guns of all kinds were hung on the wall, from simple flintlock muskets to prewar assault rifles.
“This was my father’s collection, passed down to me,” Jake said. “I don’t come in here much, but I like to keep it to remind me of my father.”
Across from that room was the sitting room, where several chairs and a couch were placed around the outer edges of the cozy space with the intent of good conversation. They exited and went through the door at the end of the hall, entering into the main dining room. There was a giant table set for twelve people. A statue stood in each corner, and windows lined the outer walls, overlooking the grounds to the rear of the house. Through one window, Sara could see an enormous, three story tower connected to the back of the house.
“What’s in there?” she asked.
Jake looked over her shoulder and said, “That’ll be the last stop on our tour.” He gently guided Sara back into the corridor and down to the first two rooms they skipped. Through the door on their right, they found a small library brimming with books. Sara gasped in glee and ran into the room. Every inch of the wall was covered in bookshelves and there was no empty space left on them. After the initial influx of joy, Sara turned to Jake and said, “I thought you said your library was bigger than Montgomery’s?”
Her wry smile faded into a look of disbelief when Jake simply smirked and walked toward the other door in the corridor. He opened the door and motioned for Sara to enter. At first, all she saw were the large windows forming the outer wall looking out into the gardens at the front of the house. When she turned around to ask Jake what he was smirking about, she noticed the vaulted ceiling and the two story tall bookshelves lining the wall. Wheeled ladders were connected to rails to allow for the perusal of the books near the top. Sara’s smile widened, but she still gave Jake a teasing smile. He simply continued to smirk, and motioned for her to follow him. Sara was beginning to realize he was saving the best room for last and was growing more and more excited to see it.
They went back down the hall and through the sitting room to enter the trophy room. The walls were adorned with taxidermy heads and pelts of various creatures, ranging from the mundane, such as deer or elk, to more exotic beasts. Sara could identify the claws of a roc, a gargantuan bird of legend she had read about, and hanging on one wall was a pelt she did not recognize.
“What’s that one?” she asked, pointing at the fur.
“That’s one of mine,” Jake said with a slight swelling of pride. “The rest of it belonged to my father, but that one is one that I took down. That’s the fur from a wolf in Alaska, named Amarok. I was asked by a werewolf friend to help him hunt down this beast. We got separated and I was resting when I saw the wolf. I was a tough fight, but I took him down. He almost killed me.” He could see that Sara was listening politely, but was also bored with the story, so Jake left it at that while leading her through the far door. They entered the salon, a room reserved for parties before the war. Now, the room served as Jake’s study. There were rows of bookshelves on the walls, but most of the space was taken up by family heirlooms and personal journals. A large mahogany desk sat in one corner with a comfortable chair next to it. The desk was piled with neatly stacked paperwork and manuscripts silently calling for Jake’s attention. As Sara approached the desk, she spotted some documents concerning land trades and newspaper deals. Atop one pile was a letter thanking Jake for his generous donation to an asylum. Her attention was torn from the desk by Jake gently clearing his throat. She looked up and saw him at a pair of French doors that could only have led to the round room she had spotted earlier.
“Now, I’ll show you something truly great,” he smiled. He flung the doors open and bright sunlight poured through them. Sara slowly walked forward, entering the brightly lit room. As she entered and her eyes adjusted from the low light of the rest of the house, she looked around. The walls of the three story tower were lined with bookshelves and large windows, and the shelves were filled with thousands of books of all types. The second and third floors were simple rings around the outer perimeter, allowing anyone in the library to more easily reach the books on those levels. Looking up, Sara saw the domed ceiling was in fact a huge stained glass piece depicting the battle of Beowulf and Draca. Sara was breathless as she looked around the room. She looked at Jake, who smiled at her, and she beamed.
“My father says this is a collection of knowledge dating back to before Humans came to exist on Earth. I haven’t been able to decipher most of the books in this room, and I have tried hard over the years. With the news of who I am, and who my father was, I now have a renewed respect for my father and what he did. Plus, I bet I can get these books translated by the Firstborn. All the knowledge in this room is now ours to devour.”
Sara took another look around the grand library and rushed back to Jake to wrap her arms around him. She held onto him tighter than she ever had before, and he returned her embrace with equal passion.
“I’m gonna be busy reading for a while,” Sara laughed.
Jake grinned and nodded. “I know, love. I know.”
As the days wore on, Jake and Sara settled in to life in New Rome. The family home was larger than either of them needed, but the various servants kept them company. On occasion, members of the Firstborn would come to visit them and check in on how things were going for the couple. During each visit, Sara would sit at the piano and play for them all, showing great improvement every day. Jake was proud of the progress she had made since they found her at Globe Tech. Where once stood a ruthless killer was now a beautiful woman with an insatiable craving for knowledge and the arts. Even the other Firstborn were noticing how much she had changed, especially Montgomery. The visits were always short, but any time another dragon came to see them was as if a beloved family member was coming out to see them. On one visit, Montgomery pulled Jake aside to talk to him privately. They went to the second story balcony overlooking the great library at the back of the house while Sara busied herself with her studies.
“She’s certainly changed a lot since we met her,” Montgomery commented as they watched her pick out another book from the shelves. She moved toward a table piled with books with a sizable stack in her arms. “What is she doing, anyway?”
“She’s researching ancient legends and comparing the human versions to our own records. Ever since Fafnir taught us both the draconic language, we’ve been diving head first into the books I’ve never before been able to read. Sara’s absolutely fascinated by the folklore and mythology of the humans, and she’s shown a great interest in history, as well. She says the vampires never taught her anything u
seful for living a life outside of murder, so she’s soaking up as much as she can get.”
Montgomery smiled. “Rare to see such a young beauty so eager for knowledge. Usually, someone as pretty as her can get by on her looks and have everything handed to her. Imagine my surprise when I see her helping the gardeners on my last visit.”
“She does like to put in an honest day’s work,” Jake nodded. “She’s also taught herself to paint. She’s really good at it, too.”
“That woman is quite impressive,” Montgomery said. “She’s not the killer we met at Globe Tech, that’s for sure.”
“I think she was somewhere locked deep inside the murderous facade,” Jake mentioned. “I suppose we can thank Artemis for opening that door for her.”
Montgomery nodded and kept his eyes on Sara, but Jake could see that there was something else bothering the man. Though his gaze was fixed on Sara, his eyes did not see her. His mind was elsewhere. “Do you remember what was said about reality falling apart?” Montgomery finally asked. “And the areas of dead magic?”
Jake nodded. “I do. Why?”
“Things are slowly getting worse,” the older dragon said. “There are more and more dead zones popping up all over the world. We’ve been trying to find a pattern to their locations and timing.”
“Have you learned anything,” Jake asked.
“Nothing that’ll tell us where the next one will be,” Montgomery replied with a sigh. “But, we did find something odd about the dead zone in the Yellowstone crater.”
The Assassin and the Knight Page 38