Sunset (Pact Arcanum)

by Arshad Ahsanuddin

  The silence at the table stretched on until Ana entered the banquet hall. Making her way to the fixed-point gateway across from the main entrance, she spoke into the air. “Security, bring the teleport gateway online.” The eight pillars began to glow blue, and the lines of the star design flared brightly. A swirling black mist appeared in the center of the symbol, followed by a flash of white light. When the light faded, Nick and Scott stood in the center of the design.

  * * *

  “Welcome back, guys,” said Ana. “Were the negotiations a success?”

  “Yes. They agreed to the new security restrictions eventually, in return for some minor concessions to save face. Their delegation will be arriving from the Castle Night gateway right after sunset.” Nick yawned. “Damn. We’ve got the whole night ahead of us and I’m already tired. Anything happen here while we were gone?”

  “Yes.” Ana sighed. “One of the President’s security detail was Earth latent. He kindled as soon as he stepped inside.”

  They stared at her in shock until Scott eventually broke the silence. “That’s impossible. I screened all four of them myself. None of them had even a trace of the Gift.”

  “One of the prescreened agents was in a car accident. They sent someone else in his place and didn’t notify us, or I would have stopped them on the curb for testing.”

  Nick touched her shoulder. “It’s not your fault, Ana.”

  “I know.” Ana looked at the Luscian table at the end of the hall. “I wish we had told them why we wanted to screen them. Maybe we could have prevented this.”

  “You know why we didn’t.” Scott’s voice was firm. “If we told them which of their own people were latent, they could have tried to use them to isolate the genetic markers of the Gift. They might even have succeeded. We couldn’t give them that kind of weapon to use against us.”

  “What did you do with the agent?” asked Nick.

  “Put him in an interview room under guard until he opens his eyes. Then we can see about training him to control himself.”

  “Good.” Nick nodded. “That’s the best we can do for him now. When he comes through the Test of Reason, maybe you can forward him on to Armistice Security. They might like to get their hands on a new recruit with Secret Service training enough to be on Presidential protection.”

  Ana raised an eyebrow. “That’s kind of cold, isn’t it, Nick?”

  Nick shrugged. “It’s the work he’s used to doing. Maybe it’ll cushion the blow of us tearing his life apart.”

  “Oh.” Ana looked chagrined. “Maybe.”

  Nick glanced over at the Luscian table. “Shall we join them?”

  They walked to the Luscian table and The President and First Lady both stood at their approach. Sike stood too, grabbing another couple of chairs from the Jiao-long table and then taking his seat in a free spot next to Ana.

  “Welcome to the embassy, Mr. President, Madam First Lady.” Nick shook the President’s hand but his gaze flickered with interest to the three Secret Service agents standing across from them. “Ana has informed me of the unfortunate incident when you arrived. I apologize for the grief we caused your agent.”

  President Daniels shook his head. “It seems we both failed there, Ambassador. You didn’t impress on us the importance of your precautions, and we didn’t follow your instructions. In the end, I have lost the services of a good man, and you have gained an unwilling conscript.”

  “We hope that, someday, such sacrifices will no longer be necessary.”

  “The Great Work.”

  Nick’s left eyebrow twitched upward. “Exactly. I wasn’t aware you knew the term.”

  President Daniels glanced over his shoulder at Jeremy. “Your Leshir has been instructing me.”

  Nick grinned. “That’s his job, Mr. President. Thank you for letting him do it.”

  Bowing to the First Lady, he motioned for them to sit. As Nick moved to his place at the table, he locked eyes with Jeremy and hesitated briefly, just enough that only his friends noticed. Jeremy stood and wrapped his arms around Nick, who settled into his embrace.

  “Missed you.” Nick inhaled deeply, savoring Jeremy’s scent.

  Jeremy let go of him and smiled. “Come sit down.”

  “So, you told them about the Great Work.” Nick sat in the head chair with Jeremy to his right. “What else have you been telling them?”

  “Oddly enough, we’ve been talking mostly about you.”

  “What about me?”

  “This and that.” Jeremy grinned. “I told them a little about us.”

  “What about us?”

  “Nick, who exactly have you told that we’re together?”

  Nick frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “Who did you tell? Specifically.”

  Nick glanced at Toby. A huge grin was pasted across his brother’s face. “Well, I told Mom, Toby, and Faith. Why?”

  “And in the human media?”

  “Well, no one, specifically. You’re pretty much persona non grata out there, Jeremy. I just asked Scott to bury an announcement in one of our press releases.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Scott stiffen in his chair. “But I never actually saw it, not that I can remember. No one ever brought it up in any of the briefings, so I assumed that either no one cared or they were trying to be polite.”

  “Um…Nick,” Scott stammered.

  “Scott! Don’t tell me that this is your fault.” His wife berated.

  Scott’s face turned crimson. “That was the week Peter came down with the flu. We were kind of distracted, remember?”

  “You forgot.” Nick rolled his eyes.

  “I forgot.” Scott flushed. “Sorry, Nick.”

  Nick turned to Jeremy. “So this is our coming out party?” He said with a lopsided grin. Looking up at the setting sun, half-hidden by the horizon, he added, “Nice night for it.”

  “Every night is nice when you’re not off saving the world.” Jeremy tried to choke off the bitterness in his voice—too late.

  Nick’s grin faded. “What’s wrong? You’re upset about something.”

  “It’s nothing.”

  “Tell me.”

  “It’s just that, now that the humans know, there’s another bunch of people who have reason to hate us both.” His gaze flickered up for a second, then dropped. “It’s tiring sometimes.”

  “Not our problem, Jer. It’s their problem.”

  Jeremy looked up angrily. “But how many of them are going to make it our problem? How many duels have you fought now? Five? Ten? I stopped keeping track.”

  Toby spoke quietly. “Eleven.”

  Nick’s eyes snapped to meet his brother’s. “You’re not helping, Toby.” He placed a hand on Jeremy’s arm. “None of them could hold a candle to me, Jer. They might as well have been committing suicide.”

  “I know. But it only takes one of them to get lucky.” Jeremy’s words caught in his throat. “Every time I see you draw a sword and walk out the door, I’m left wondering if it will be the time you don’t come back to me.”

  Nick sighed. “That won’t happen.”

  “If the Court of Shadows wasn’t putting all that effort into their smear campaign against you two, things would just die down after a while, but they keep things heated up.” Toby grumbled.

  “Will you shut up, Toby?” Nick yelled. “So I fought eleven duels! That’s the way it is. Getting obnoxious about it is not going to change anything.”

  Toby grimaced. “Fine.”

  Jeremy slammed his fist down on the table, his eyes fixed on Nick. Everyone jumped. “Ladies and Gentlemen, can you excuse us for a moment? I need a word with my Magister.” He stood. “Toby and Scott, could you come with us?”

  Scott glanced at Toby, who shrugged as the both stood and followed Jeremy out of the room, back to the atrium.

  “Seal the door, Grendel,” Jeremy ordered.

  As the metal door closed silently behind them, Nick asked. “What is it?”

  �
�Have I ever told you that you always tighten up the inner ring of your psychic shields when you lie?” Jeremy’s tone was icy. “It’s invisible to everyone else, because they can’t see beyond the outer ring, but I know the shape of your mind very well. You always do that when you’re trying to deceive someone. Always. Without exception.”

  Nick stared at his lover. “Jeremy, I—”

  “Just stop. You lied to your brother when you said you’d fought eleven duels. Now, tell me why it was a lie.”

  Nick clenched his teeth. “No.”

  “Don’t make me go looking for answers, Nick.” Jeremy said. “You won’t like it if I do.”

  “Are you actually threatening to violate my mind, Jeremy?”

  “If you don’t tell me the truth.”

  Nick’s eyes shone red and his forehead creased in anger. “Is your word worth so little?”

  “Is yours?” Jeremy appeared completely calm. “You swore you would never lie to me.”

  Nick’s voice was faint as his eyes returned to blue. “I haven’t lied to you.”

  “No, you lied to Toby. You haven’t had to lie to me because I didn’t ask the right question.” He sat down, his eyes still trained on Nick. “So tell me, how many duels have you fought?”

  Nick said nothing.

  “Answer me, Nicholas.”

  “Can’t you just trust me?”

  “Not this time.”

  “Jer, I—” Nick stiffened. “You just went over my shields and touched my mind. You’re not usually that blatant.”

  “I wanted you to know that I was there. It’s a light touch, not enough to read your thoughts but enough that I will know immediately if you lie to me, even if you try to control the shape of your inner shields. Now answer my question.”

  Nick stared at him in impotent fury, his eyes blazing red.

  “Forty-seven.” Everyone turned to look at Scott. “There have been forty-seven duels.”

  CHAPTER 36

  Jeremy’s head snapped back and he stared accusingly at his lover. “Forty-seven?” Toby was speechless.

  “It was killing you to watch, so I stopped telling you.” Nick paced nervously. “I moved them to the embassy here, or to the ones in Canada and Mexico.”

  “How could you keep this from me?” Jeremy yelled.

  “The embassies are isolated. I could control the information flow, swear the staff to secrecy—whatever it took to keep anyone from finding out.”

  “No, no, no,” Jeremy sputtered. “I meant, why would you keep this from me?”

  “It had to be done, and I couldn’t tell you,” Nick muttered.

  “Why not, for Christ’s sake?”

  “I couldn’t tell you,” said Nick, his face resigned, “because you would have wanted to fight the duels yourself.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense. A vampire duel can only be fought by the challenged party or by a designated Champion of higher rank in his house. You’re the Magister. I don’t outrank you. I can’t fight a challenge made to you.”

  “No, you can’t,” Nick admitted, sitting on one of the couches and putting his head in his hands. “But I can fight a challenge made to you.”

  “Oh, my God,” said Toby.

  “Me?” Jeremy said numbly. “They’ve been challenging me? And you didn’t say anything?”

  “Yes.”

  “How many?”

  “Most of them. After the first seven or eight duels, they got smarter. You’re not as strong a challenger, and killing you would hurt me more than attacking me directly. They figured that eventually I wouldn’t be able to intercept all of the challenges, and you’d be too proud to let me take the hit for you. So I got smarter, too. And now they’re dead, and you’re still safe.”

  “No,” said Jeremy, getting to his feet and pointing angrily at Nick. “No fucking way. You can’t do this to me, Nick.”

  “It’s done, Leshir.”

  “Well, undo it! I can fight my own battles.”

  “No, you can’t!” They were both shouting now, oblivious to the others’ discomfort.

  “I am the strongest telepath in the world. You think I can’t take out a fucking Nightwalker?”

  “Even if you’re strong enough to knock them out or kill them, they’ll find a way to kill you before you can attack!”

  “You think they can move faster than I can think?”

  “Of course they can! You only have human reaction time.”

  “This discussion is over. The next challenge that comes my way goes right to me, understand?”

  “No! I won’t let you!” Jumping up, Nick grabbed Jeremy’s arm

  “You won’t let me?” Jeremy shrugged him off. “What makes you think you can stop me?”

  Grabbing Jeremy’s lapels, Nick pulled him closer, grasping him not with fingers but with claws. His face inches away from Jeremy’s, his eyes burning red, his fangs sharp and gleaming, he screamed, “BECAUSE YOU’RE MINE! NO ONE THREATENS WHAT’S MINE AND WALKS AWAY!” His growl rumbled through the room, ratcheting down into the subsonic. “I WILL BURN DOWN WHOLE ARMIES BEFORE I LET THEM TAKE YOU FROM ME!”

  Jeremy’s eyes radiated cold fury, but his voice was deceptively calm. “Let go, Nicholas. Right now.”

  Releasing him, Nick wearily fell back on one of the couches and he covered his face with his hands until he reverted to human form. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

  “Jesus, big brother,” said Toby. “I know vampires are territorial when it comes to their mates, but you’re way out in front for the possessive macho bullshit award.”

  Nick sighed. “I know. I’ve got to work on that.” He looked at Jeremy. “I’m sorry. That must have been insulting.”

  “It’s what you really think. You never have to hide that from me, Nicholas.” Jeremy smoothed the front of his jacket. “But are you sorry because you insulted me or because you’re afraid you might have finally clued me in to the rest of it?”

  Nick went still.

  “What?” asked Toby.

  “Remember what I said about Paris? You brother fights with honor when it’s his own neck on the line, but when he’s fighting for someone he loves, honor goes out the window.”

  “And he fights like a Sentinel,” Toby finished, his voice sharp with suspicion. “Sentinels don’t fight defensively. Identify the enemy. Isolate him from reinforcements. Eliminate the threat. Scorch the earth so that no one fucks with you ever again. That’s how Sentinels fight.”

  Nick swallowed, unable to look away from Jeremy’s piercing gaze. “Guys, if you follow this line of thought, you’re not going to like where it leads.”

  “We’re already there,” said Toby.

  Jeremy reached down to stroke his lover’s cheek. “Nick, I am still touching your mind, so don’t try to lie to me. Just tell me the truth.”

  “Don’t ask me. Please don’t.”

  “Nick, of those forty-seven duels, how many did you deliberately provoke?”

  Nick was silent for a time. When he finally spoke, he looked lost and defeated. “Thirty-three.” He met Jeremy’s incredulous eyes. “The others were idiots. Headstrong fools, hyped up on outrage and trying for a bit of glory. But the primary targets were smart, strong, and determined enough to get to you, and they were angry enough to try. I couldn’t let them take you from me, Jer. Not after everything we’ve been through.”

  Jeremy got down on his knees and wrapped his arms around Nick. “I’m still here, Nick. I’m not going anywhere.”

  Nick said nothing, just leaned into his shoulder.

  “You knew, didn’t you?” Toby asked Scott.

  “Of course. He’s my dyad brother. We’re bonded to each other, mind and spirit. He couldn’t orchestrate his own personal war without me knowing.”

  Toby nodded. “And members of any Sentinel grouping always watch each other’s backs.” He studied Scott’s expression. “Did you help?”

  “Yeah.” Scott shrugged at Toby’s look of surprise. “Nick is
a part of me. I couldn’t turn my back on him, no matter what he’s done.” He turned to look at Jeremy and Nick together. “As long as they’re together, Jeremy is part of me as well, in every way that matters. I had to protect him. He would have done it for me if it had been Michelle in danger.”

  “How did you help?” asked Toby.

  “Intelligence. Research. Target selection. Surveillance. Combat simulations. Everything up to the actual duels themselves. Nick was right; they couldn’t hold a candle to him, not against both of us. Nothing was left to chance. They were all dead as soon as we identified them as viable targets.”

  Nick let go of his lover, sat back in his seat, and sighed. “Any more questions, Jeremy?”

  “Just one.” Jeremy climbed to his feet. “How many are left on your list?”

  “What makes you think there are any left?”

  Jeremy rolled his eyes. “Don’t start this again, Nick. Just tell me.”

  “Eight. So far, they haven’t taken the bait. I’ll have to be more creative to get them to let down their guard.”

  “What would you do if I asked you to stop?”

  “No one threatens what’s mine and walks away, Leshir,” he said with a low growl. “Not even if it stops being mine any more.”

  Jeremy digested that. “All right,” he said, his features set in a grim mask, “here’s what we are going to do. You will never lie to me again. You will never try to trick me. You will never hide things from me for my own good.”

  Nick considered Jeremy’s words carefully for a moment. “Agreed.”

  Jeremy looked at the others. “Then we are all going to have a long and pointed discussion about trust.”

  “All right,” Scott said with an air of resignation.

  Jeremy turned back to Nick. “And then you’re going to send me copies of your files on the eight remaining targets.”