“I’m aware,” Rafael said. “This is a special case.”
“Then I noticed his ink,” Deborah said, pointing again to Gan’s neck. “The part that looks like yours.”
“Could be a coincidence,” Rafael said. “Plenty of people in the Order are inked, not just the Hunters.”
“Director,” Deb said, putting her hands on her waist, “I was born at night, but it wasn’t last night. You bear the same ink—similar designs with slight variations. You both belong to the Iron Sect.”
“The Iron Sect doesn’t exist,” Rafael said flatly. “Those were made-up stories from the war.”
“Not any more, it doesn’t,” Deb said, reaching over to pull one of Gan’s hands. “The training was deemed too extreme even for the Order, and the sect was disbanded.”
“Sounds like a great story.”
“You know, I thought it was strange we were performing a recall procedure on a John Doe,” Deb said, holding up Gan’s hands. “Judging from the calluses on your old friend’s hands, I would say he’s into bare-handed ditch digging. That would be an odd hobby for the leader of the Gray, wouldn’t you think?”
Rafael narrowed his eyes and gave Deborah a small smile.
“It strikes me,” Rafael started, “that underestimating you would be dangerous.”
“Happens all the time,” Deb said, waving his words away. “Just tell me what you need me to do.”
“Let’s entertain the theory that this is really the leader of the Gray, and that he was at one point a member of the now non-existent Iron Sect,” Rafael said. “Can I count on your discretion?”
Deborah gave Rafael a cold stare.
“I do not divulge the details of my patients or the affairs of the Order,” Deb said, clipping her words. “I never have and never will.”
Rafael knew this. In fact, one of the reasons Deb, along with Doctor Huu, were allowed to perform the recall procedure was their high level of integrity regarding Order affairs.
“I needed to ask,” Rafael said. “This is indeed Ganriel, leader of the Gray, and he was at one point a member of the Iron Sect.”
“Like you,” Deb said with certainty. “You were both in the Iron Sect.”
“Something like that,” Rafael said. “My involvement with them was a little more…complicated.”
“Don’t mince words,” Deb told him. “Either you were or you weren’t.”
Rafael was liking Deb more by the moment. Her no-nonsense manner of being was refreshing after dealing with the daily political machinations of Regional and the Order. Only Pira was as straightforward and frank as Deb when it came to dealing with the Director.
“I was, but that’s not the issue here,” Rafael admitted. “I need to disrupt his energy cycle.”
“Disrupt his energy…that could kill him,” Deborah said. “Do you know what you’re doing?”
“Gan is in a defensive stasis,” Rafael said, looking over to where Gan lay. “It’s a method of dealing with catastrophic injury.”
“The flatlines,” Deb said. “He induced them?”
“Yes, but he should have regained consciousness by now.”
“Do you think the recall procedure did this?” Deb said, glancing at Gan.
“No. Most likely it was his way of trying to deal with the effects of the mindswipe,” Rafael answered. “I think he overcompensated. I think—I fear—he may have gone too deep and can’t get back. At least not on his own.”
“Then we help him,” Deb said.
TWENTY-FIVE
Wake stepped back and tried to process what she had just heard and seen. They were on the roof across the street from where an old man had just confronted Velos and defeated him easily, with a cane.
A cane.
“Who was that?” Jas asked as she stepped back from the edge of the roof with a shiver. “He felt wrong.”
“He said his name was Smith. I’ve never heard of him. What I do know is that he’s powerful, and Velos gave him a sword.”
“He pushed that cloud of black energy away like it was nothing,” Jas said, fear gripping her voice. “It even covered him, and…nothing. What can do that? He looked like an old man but—”
“He read like much more,” Wake finished. “I know. Whoever he was, Velos was scared of him. Did you see how the old man stopped his sword?”
“Like it was a toy,” Jas answered. “Do you think he was Unholy?”
Wake nodded.
“Probably one of the more obscure types,” Wake said, dreading what she knew to be the truth. They had just witnessed a Nightmare Lord, or something close to it. “One we haven’t encountered. We need to tell Anna.”
“He said Sepia is in the Keep,” Jas said. “Do you think that’s true?”
“She’s not on the streets patrolling, and it makes sense Calisto would take her there,” Wake answered. “I don’t know. It also seems insane to take her into the middle of the Park where all of the Unholy are.”
“It’s what I would do,” Jas said. “Hide in plain sight.”
“I need to call Anna,” Wake said. “She will know more. We need to get off the streets.”
“I’m afraid your lives end tonight,” Tekt said as he climbed over the edge of the roof. “My lord wishes it to be so, and so it shall be done.”
“Jas,” Wake said, backing up under her breath, “run.”
“There’s nowhere you can go where I won’t find you,” Tekt said. “Face your death like the warriors you are.”
“Jas, you need to go to Anna,” Wake said. “Tell her where Sepia is.”
“No,” Jas said, pulling out her gun. “I’m not leaving you alone here with that thing.”
“Fine, you can stay, but keep back,” Wake said, backing up even farther until Jas was on the edge of the roof. “Make sure it doesn’t hit you. Can you do that?”
“If you keep shoving me back, I won’t have to worry about it hitting me,” Jas hissed. “What are you doing?”
“This Unholy is a drinker,” Wake said. “I’m making sure you stay safe.”
“We can take it,” Jas said, taking aim. “There’s only one.”
“Please do try,” Tekt said with a small bow. “That will at least make it entertaining.”
“We aren’t doing anything,” Wake said, unleashing a back kick and sending Jas over the edge. “Tell Anna what you saw tonight. I’ll deal with the Unholy.”
Jas sailed over the edge and landed on the street below with a grunt.
“Wake! No!” Jas yelled. “Don’t do this!”
“Go!” Wake answered. “I’ll deal with this. You need to go help Sepia.”
“Do you really think you can face me?” Tekt asked as he drew a blade. “Shall we make this interesting, or do you prefer to die immediately?”
Wake drew her gun and fired.
Nothing happened.
The bullets impacted Tekt’s body with no effect.
“Immediately, then,” Tekt said, unleashing black globules at Wake. “Goodbye.”
Wake dodged the globules and drew her blade as she closed the distance.
“Not going to be that easy,” Wake said, slashing at Tekt as he parried and stepped sideways. “You’re going to have to do better than that.”
“I see,” Tekt said, dodging another slash followed by a thrust. “Good. I hope your assistant has this much spirit. It will make taking her life a delicious experience.”
“You stay away from her, you bastard,” Wake said, attacking in an intricate figure-eight pattern which forced Tekt back. “You will not touch her.”
“Oh, I will touch her,” Tekt answered. “After I drink your life from your withered body, she will be next.”
Tekt rolled to the side and unleashed a swarm of black globules at Wake. She avoided all of them but one, which grazed her arm, burning through her armor, down to the skin.
Wake grunted with pain as she stepped back, putting distance between them.
“I barely felt that,” Wake said wi
th a grimace as she circled around Tekt. “Is that the best you have?”
“The best? No,” Tekt asked, sniffing the air. “I’m just getting started. Your pain smells exquisite, and I want to savor your death.”
Wake knew the odds were against her. Drinkers were dangerous Unholy. She may have had the training of a Hunter, but she didn’t carry the sword of one. Her gun was useless, and getting in close to use her blade had proven potentially lethal.
Still, she needed to buy Jas time to get away.
“You say that like you’re leaving this fight alive,” Wake said, throwing a knife at Tekt. “Only one of us is seeing the sunrise, Unholy.”
As Tekt dodged the knife, Wake backflipped off the roof, landing silently on the street below. A few seconds later, Tekt landed with a crash, destroying the concrete beneath him.
Wake had another weapon to use. It was dangerous, and meant she needed to get in proximity to the Unholy—close enough to touch his skin. She made as if to run, tripping and falling in the process as she held her ankle.
“It would seem your fight ends here,” Tekt said, approaching her. “I would have preferred it lasted longer, but I still have another hunt this night.” He sniffed the air again. “Her scent is close and her fear is strong. I will find her.”
Wake knew Drinkers needed to claim their victims by touch. This was a dangerous ploy. If she waited too long, it would siphon her life—but if she acted too early, it would disengage and she would lose the element of surprise.
“You leave her alone,” Wake said, holding her blade in front of her as she slid back. “It’s me you want. Come end me, if you can.”
“You still don’t understand,” Tekt said. “Both of you will die tonight. You will only be the first of many. Soon, my lord will free us from our prison. We will roam these streets free to feast on your kind until we are sated.”
“Not while I’m still breathing,” Wake said.
“A situation I plan to rectify,” Tekt said, closing the distance and grabbing Wake by the neck. “Now you die.”
Wake felt the immediate pull on her life energy. She felt a heavy weight descend as the will to live was slowly siphoned from her mind. Her body and thoughts felt sluggish as she pulled another blade from a leg sheath and buried it in Tekt’s side. She was running out of time.
He laughed, ignoring the blade.
“Resistance is futile,” Tekt said, tightening his grip. “Your life is mine tonight. Your blade is useless against me.”
“Alone…maybe,” Wake said with a gasp. “Not when I do this.”
Wake traced a ward on Tekt’s face as her vision tunneled in. The blade in Tekt’s side bloomed with red energy and exploded. His face held an expression of surprise as he fell to one knee and looked down at the gaping wound in his side where the blade had been.
“I…I underestimated you,” Tekt said, still holding on to Wake. “No matter. Once I feed, your life energy will heal me. You have failed.”
A single shot rang out in the night.
Tekt’s head jerked back as his muscles contracted. The force of the bullet flung his body back, breaking his grip on Wake. She fell to the ground as he spun in place and fell several feet away before being reduced to dust.
Several minutes later, a figure stood over Wake.
She couldn’t make out who it was in the dim light, but it didn’t matter. Tekt had drained her to the point of near unconsciousness.
“Finish…finish it,” Wake said with a gasp. “Even if I fall tonight, we will never surrender to the Unholy.”
“Judging from your gear, you’re a Sister,” the figure said. “Gunmen don’t go around making a habit of killing Sisters.”
“If you’re a gunman, where is your Hunter?”
“One more step and I put a bullet through your skull,” Jas said from the darkness. “Put the rifle down.”
“Don’t think so,” the gunman said, looking at Wake. “She with you?”
“Yes,” Wake said with a slow nod. “Jas, put your weapon down. This gunman just saved me…and I thought I told you to get to Anna.”
“I wasn’t going to leave you to die,” Jas said, stepping out of the darkness and holstering her gun. “If you were planning on dying, I was going to stop you or die in the process.”
“I hope you’re not planning on dying,” the gunman said. “We’ve had plenty of that lately.”
“Wasn’t planning on it, but it was close there for a moment.”
Jas stepped close to Wake and slowly helped her get to her feet.
“Let’s try to postpone the dying for tonight,” the gunman said. “We’re going to need as much help as we can get.”
Wake narrowed her eyes and fought to stay conscious as she held on to Jas for support.
“You saved my life,” Wake said, peering into his face. “Who…who are you?”
“You saved yourself,” the gunman answered. “That Unholy was dead, he just didn’t know it.”
“It would have killed me in the process.”
“There was no way it was going to heal itself from that wound. Nice move with the exploding blade, by the way.”
“Thank you,” Wake said, remaining still as a wave of nausea washed over her. “Who are you?”
“I’m just a gunman, looking for my Hunter.”
“How does a gunman lose his Hunter?” Jas asked. “You must not be very good at your job.”
“I did manage to end the Unholy that was busy strangling your Sister.”
“Good point. Still, Jas is right—Hunters don’t lose their gunmen,” Wake said. “They are linked.”
“My Hunter has some issues with that. Not her fault. Her sword is too powerful.”
“Do you have a name, gunman?” Wake asked.
“Maybe he lost it along with his Hunter?” Jas said. “He does look a little old to be gunman. Maybe his memory is going too?”
“I didn’t lose her…It’s complicated. The name is Cade.”
“I’m in your debt, Cade,” Wake said. “What do you need?”
“I’ve been tracking this male Hunter, one who wields a dangerous dark blade. His trail led me here.”
“You lost one Hunter and are tracking another?” Jas asked. “A male Hunter? Since when?”
“Since Regional was homicidal enough to give this Agent a dark blade.”
“This dark blade, it forms a nimbus of black energy around this Hunter?” Wake asked. “It almost seems sentient?”
“You’ve seen him?”
Wake and Jas nodded.
“Velos,” Wake said “He recently ran into someone wielding something stronger than his blade.”
“Much, much stronger,” Jas said. “Made his dark blade seem like a pocket knife in comparison.”
“This Velos has killed two Hunters,” Cade said. “I couldn’t stop him. His blade was too strong.”
“Whoever he faced tonight scared him,” Wake said. “It was a powerful Unholy.”
“That can’t be good,” Cade said. “Did you see which way Velos went? His trail went cold here.”
“No, but I do know where he’s going to be at sunrise,” Wake said. “He’s been given a specific task.”
“A specific task,” Cade said, looking down the street. “Maybe you two can help me. My Hunter recently became a Sister. I need to know where she is.”
“I’m in no condition to help anyone at the moment,” Wake said. “But we can certainly try. I owe you that much.”
“A Hunter who became a Sister?” Jas asked. “Does that usually happen?”
“Hunters don’t become Sisters,” Wake said. “At least not willingly. The Sisters have suffered severe casualties lately. What is your Hunter’s name?”
“Sepia. Her name is Sepia.”
“Sepia?” Jas asked. “You’re Sepia’s gunman?”
“Of course he is,” Wake said. “That makes perfect sense, given the circumstances.”
“Why do you say that?” Cade asked. “Do you know
where she is?”
“The specific task Velos was given was to eliminate Sepia,” Wake said. “He’s on his way to the Park to eliminate her at sunrise.”
“The Park?” Cade asked. “She’s in the Park? Alone? At night?”
“Apparently,” Wake said. “It does make sense.”
“I don’t know how any of that makes sense,” Cade said. “The Park alone is suicide at any hour.”
“You really need to get up to speed,” Jas said. “Calisto took her to the Park after Sepia went all dragon lizard.”
“Excuse me, she went what?”
“Sepia has started her transformation into the Jade Demon,” Wake said. “Fuma, a ward master, caused her to change. We’re not sure it’s still Sepia.”
“You faced her in this form?” Cade asked. “And survived?”
“Just barely,” Jas said. “Calisto was the one who stopped her. Sepia’s stronger now. Much stronger.”
“That’s why Calisto took her to the Park,” Cade said, making the connection. “I still think it’s too dangerous. The Park is a death sentence, particularly at night.”
“The Unholy I saw tonight only reinforced that,” Wake said. “He was stronger than anything I’ve ever seen. I would assume Calisto took her to the Keep.”
“I need to get going. Can you get to safety?” Cade asked. “I can’t call for backup, but I can get you some help. Give me a second.”
Cade stepped away, pulled out a phone and made a call. A few seconds later, he rejoined them.
“Why can’t you call for backup?” Jas asked. “I thought that was part of the deal with the Order. You get in deep shit, you call the cavalry to save your ass.”
“You’re TAG, aren’t you?” Wake said. “One of the Hunters Velos killed was yours, wasn’t it?”
“Red Jen,” Cade said, his voice low. “She never stood a chance. We didn’t know what we were facing until it was too late. If I go back now, it’s a review board and mandatory desk duty. Sepia is in danger. I can’t help her from a desk.”
“I understand,” Wake said. “Who did you call?”
Sepia Blue- Nameless: A Sepia Blue Novel- Book 4 Page 12