Alliance

by S. C. Mitchell

  She excused herself, leaving Geoffrey and Nathan eating and conversing at her kitchen table. A hot shower and a change of clothes did wonders to clear her mind and allow her to digest everything that had happened over the past day.

  Still, by the time she was dressed, Kelly had a ball of anger boiling inside her. The soft denim jeans and flannel shirt she threw on did little to soften the rage she’d worked herself into. Nathan Gray had betrayed the Arcanists…he’d betrayed her! And he didn’t appear the least bit contrite about it.

  If they’d discovered his duplicity, it was no wonder the Arcanists had attacked him. How could he have done this? Nathan had been in the upper echelons of the organization. Kelly also considered him one of her most trusted friends.

  This hurt.

  After everything else, that was what it all boiled down to…betrayal.

  Kelly stormed back into the kitchen, plunked herself down on a chair at the table across from Nathan, and leveled her cold gaze right on him.

  He simply smiled back.

  Ugh.

  “Alright Nathan,” she said, trying her hardest to keep her voice even, “who or what are you?”

  He raised his eyebrows and cocked his head to the side, but did not appear surprised by her question. “Ah, child, I suppose there is really no point in trying to hide it from you any longer.”

  He took a sip of coffee. “Where to start? A bit of ancient history first, I think. Something you both need to hear anyway. Something I would have told you before, but our Arcanist friends showed up earlier than I predicted.”

  Kelly settled herself, bracing for whatever was to come. A chill ran up her spine. She’d always known Nathan was a powerful sorcerer. Was there something more to him? Kelly had a suspicion she wasn’t going to like what she was about to hear.

  “At the beginning of time, the High Lord and the Earth Mother were partners, you know, working together to build the world around us. They were beings of great power, and still are, but back then they worked side by side. They loved the world they were creating and the things they brought to life in it, but they especially delighted in the child they’d created together. And the child loved them and worshiped them.”

  Nothing Kelly had ever read hinted at this revelation. Was the old man just making things up? He spoke as if this ancient mythology were fact. Where could he have unearthed this information?

  “But worship is like a drug to the gods,” Nathan continued. “The more they get, the more they want. So, they created people to worship them. Soon Gaia and the High Lord were competing over their worshipers. Friendly competition changed over the millennium to open warfare and their love for each other turned to anger.”

  “Their child, seeing the destruction that was being wrought upon creation, turned from his parents and worshiped them no more. Nor did he seek worshipers of his own. This, of course, angered Gaia and the High Lord even more. They disowned their child and openly warred with each other.”

  He wove an interesting story, but what did this have to do with anything? Kelly opened her mouth to interrupt the tale but a mere look from Nathan made the words stick in her throat.

  “In her arrogance,” Nathan continued, “Gaia sought out the aid of a god from another dimension. The Demon Lord, Shoth, promised Her complete domination over the earth. All She had to do was create a gateway between their worlds and He would send her an army of demons. Together the demons and her followers would murder all those who worshiped the High Lord. Without followers, the High Lord would be powerless. Gaia could then destroy Him and take Her seat as the supreme goddess of this world.”

  This description didn’t gel with the image Kelly had always held of the Earth Mother. The Arcanists were tied closely with Gaia and worshiped her as a benevolent and loving deity.

  “She had the portal built, as Shoth instructed, but of course he betrayed Her, as was always his intention. Shoth desired to expand his own influence into our world and unseat both Gaia and the High Lord. Over the ages he’s developed a strong foothold here. His demons, following his will, are the source of so many of this world’s ills.”

  Kelly glanced over at Geoffrey. A suspicion was beginning to crawl up her spine. Nathan’s tale rang true, yet there was really only one-way Kelly could think of that Nathan Gray could know this story. The knight gave her a half smile and a nod. Could it really be?

  “Yes, Kelly, your suspicions are correct. You must trust your instincts. And now, so must I,” Nathan said looking at her as if he could read her soul. “So, I will leave you and Geoffrey for a time to go to meet with my parents, though I doubt it will do any good. I suppose, as any child of a divorce, I constantly hope for my parents to reconcile. Still, there is an opportunity now we have not had in the past. Perhaps, because of that, they will listen to reason.”

  Could he really be a—? Gooseflesh crept up her arms.

  “Look after each other while I’m gone.” Nathan looked thoughtful for a moment then snapped his fingers. “Oh, and Geoffrey, stop and talk to Ryan Chamberlain at the old Episcopal church on seventh street. Kelly can take you there. Tell him the time has come.”

  Before Kelly could ask any of the hundred questions rushing through her mind, Nathan Gray was gone. One moment he was sitting with them at the table. An instant later he just wasn’t there.

  When I was a young man, I prayed that I could be more like God. Now that I am an old man, I pray that God is more like me. - Diasophicles, 2nd century philosopher

  Chapter 5

  “A god? Nathan Gray is a god?” Kelly had finally been able to put into words the concept that flew through her mind.

  “That is as near an explanation as I have been able to come up with,” Geoffrey said. “I’ve known him for many centuries, so I suspected something. At first, I thought he was cursed, like me, but his powers...”

  “And that’s another thing.” Kelly rounded on the knight. “I’m just supposed to accept that you are a Templar Knight from the thirteenth century—over seven-hundred freaking years old?”

  “I am actually over nine hundred years old. I was born in the year of our Lord 1074.”

  Well, the man looked pretty good for being older than Methuselah. Kelly wondered what kind of curse had kept the knight alive and…so well preserved?

  “And you’ve been hanging around with a god for the past few centuries?”

  Kelly wanted to know everything, and Geoffrey seemed to be forthcoming with information, so she probed deeper, eager to find out everything she could. She may never have a better time to learn about the Templars in general, and specifically about this Templar.

  “I first met Nathan Gray when I was a young man,” Geoffrey offered. “He looked much the same as he does now. He was a cobbler back then, if you can believe that. Nathan made the best boots in all of Paris.”

  Geoffrey’s eyes glazed over, as if he was lost in thought…lost in another time. Was it difficult to remember so long ago?

  “Nine hundred years is a long time,” Kelly said. “In all that time you must have learned a lot about Nathan.”

  His aura darkened. “For most of that time I was technically dead. Nathan would visit me in purgatory occasionally. I really didn’t start to understand what he was, until after I’d been dead quite a while. I’ve always known he was different. I just didn’t realize how different.”

  His intense eyes never looked away, which could have indicated a lie, but stayed locked confidently on hers.

  She didn’t doubt his tale, however incredible it seemed, though she couldn’t figure out why. There was just something about him. “Okay.” She shrugged. “I guess I can accept that.”

  He smiled—a genuine, warm smile. “Just like that, you accept such an incredible story? Kelly Grant, you are without a doubt the most unique woman I have ever met.”

  His brows relaxed. His aura lightened.

  Why was it she enjoyed his company so much? Certainly, it had been a while since she’d spent this amount of time tal
king with any man. Her work at the library and with the Arcanists usually had her spending her evenings with her nose in a book. “Well, as an Arcanist I have dedicated my life to studying and accepting things most people would find unbelievable.”

  How had she become so comfortable talking and sharing with this man who was technically her enemy. He was certainly not a demon, but she had been taught from an early age that the Templars were almost as bad. Maybe it was time to revise her opinions.

  Geoffrey nodded. “You know, in light of what Nathan told us, we are really not as different as I would have thought. The Templars and Arcanists are not so much opposites as…” He seemed to be groping for a concept.

  “Two sides of the same coin?” Kelly furnished. She’d been thinking along those same lines.

  “Exactly! If we could get both sides to stop fighting each other and work together, we would have a much better chance of defeating the demons and destroying the Demon Gate. That must have been what they were trying to do during the Renaissance.”

  That gave Kelly something else to ponder and took her thoughts on a track she’d been trying hard not to follow.

  Not only was she starting to like him, but she found herself attracted to Geoffrey on a completely different level. His combination of rugged, handsome, and sexy, hit her on a visceral level that took her brain out of the equation.

  The Arcanist men that she’d met had all seemed self-centered and totally absorbed by their magical studies. Well, to be honest, so did many of the women. The quest for arcane power became a driving force in one’s life, leaving little room for family, friends…love. Sure, occasionally two Arcanists married, or just moved in together, but it was, more times than not, just a convenience—a way for the two of them to acquire more power than they could alone. Love was rarely a part of the picture.

  Yes, her friends Anna and Jack Hughes were both Arcanists and they were passionately in love—so in love it almost hurt Kelly to be with them—but theirs was a unique situation. Truly unique. Jack hadn’t been an Arcanist when they’d fallen in love. And Jack’s whole life had been anything but normal.

  A normal man…well, that hadn’t worked out for Kelly either. How would she even begin to tell him about her secret life and the magic spells she could cast? It wasn’t the kind of thing you just sprung on someone. She’d tried that once and it had been a disaster. Thank goodness she’d been able to weave the right spells to make Adam forget.

  But keeping a part of her life secret from the man she loved just wasn’t the answer either. Honesty was important in a loving relationship, at least the relationship she was looking for, so she’d accepted that she would probably go through life alone, as so many of her fellow Arcanists did.

  Still, she found herself wondering what her life would be like with Geoffrey le Court in it.

  There was no doubt she’d been attracted to him from the start. Looking at their positions as two sides of the same coin, instead of mortal enemies, certainly could change one’s perspective…but a relationship? That was something she would have to think about. Right now, she had a few other questions she needed him to answer.

  “So, how did you end up dead and then not so dead?”

  Though a grim smile crossed Geoffrey’s lips, she could clearly see the pain in his aura.

  “Ah yes, I suppose that does take some explaining,” he answered. She noticed that he scrunched his forehead and pursed his mouth as he thought about how to answer. Kelly found the expression cute for some reason.

  “It really was a case of me not being careful what I asked for,” he finally answered. “After taking control of the Demon Gate, I felt a growing sense of responsibility for it. It had been at my order the Atlantean sorcerers were slain. I had unleashed the demons on Jerusalem. So many people had died because of my rash actions. After that, I dedicated my life to guarding the Demon Gate and seeking a way to destroy it.”

  Kelly could only imagine the guilt and pain that Geoffrey had suffered. His eyes glazed over and she could tell that the knight was more than just telling the tale. He was reliving the past.

  “We took the Demon Gate to France and built a special castle to house it, with a thick vault to contain it and keep it secure. For years, I studied it, but I could never find a way to unmake it. No hammer would put a dent in it, no fire would melt it. The gate stood, impervious to anything we threw at it.”

  “I prayed constantly for wisdom and once, in frustration, I asked God to grant me whatever time needed to see the end of the Demon Gate. For some reason the High Lord granted my prayer. Nathan told me once the High Lord only did it to pass the responsibility for the gate on to me. One less thing the High Lord had to dwell on. In any case, I stopped aging, I never got sick, and I was able to devote my full attention to the gate. At the time I felt blessed with this charge.”

  Kelley took a moment to refill their cups with hot coffee.

  “Thank you.” Geoffrey took a sip. “We did not have this brew, back then. I am finding that I quite enjoy it.”

  Kelly had never known a time without the smell and taste of coffee. She couldn’t imagine starting the day without it.

  She realized that it wasn’t only the big things—cars, buildings, airplanes—but the myriad of little things—changes that had come about in the past seven hundred years. Geoffrey was having to adjust to those changes in rapid succession. Light switches, running water, refrigerators…

  How is he handling it?

  But, before she even considered that, she needed to learn everything she could about their current situation.

  “Tell me more about the Demon Gate. There is so little written about it in our archive. How did you contain it?”

  Geoffrey grew somber. “We bricked it up in the walls of a specially made castle in France. When it was about to open, a high-pitched wail would fill the castle followed by the sounds of demons working on the walls, trying to get out. The space we left them was so small, only a few demons could come through. I would immediately start the ritual to close the portal. Still, there had to be a way the demons communicated across the vastness. At the moment the portal opened, there would be an attack on the castle from those demons already here. It took every Templar available to repulse it. Protecting and defending the Demon Gate became our calling—our purpose.”

  Kelly noted the pride reflected in his eyes. Her perspective was changing. The Templars cause had been noble. They’d been protecting the Earth from demons. The war between Templar and Arcanist was just an extension of the High Lord’s and the Earth Mother’s own personal conflict.

  “In the time-spans between gate openings,” he continued, “we dedicated ourselves to bringing the fight to the demons. I commanded an elite force of knights devoted to rooting out and destroying demon lairs. But over the centuries they’d firmly established themselves in our world. Using illusions, they walked among us as humans, reproduced, lived somewhat normal lives and moved into positions of power. So many of the evils we bear can be attributed to them. Inhuman greed and lust for power drove them. So, I hunted demons wherever I could find them, hoping to discover the information I needed to destroy the gate and drive them forever from our world.”

  “For almost two hundred years I fought them, my curse keeping me young and healthy. Generations of Templars fought and died, so many lives were lost in our war, but in the end the demons defeated me. They worked their way up the power structure in France and amassed enormous influence with King Philip. I suspect that the King himself may have been a demon, though I cannot be certain. I know most of his advisors were. Time was on their side. Ballor demons can live for centuries and only grow stronger as they age. When they were ready, they struck suddenly and with great force against us.”

  Kelly was familiar with the tale, at least the one the public was aware of. “Friday the thirteenth?”

  “Our day of doom.” Geoffrey’s gaze hit the table. “It was horrible. The inquisitors, mostly demons, took great delight in torturing and e
xecuting us. I was particularly targeted by the demons, for they knew me well by that point. I was captured almost immediately but at least I was able to use my capture to cover the escape of the knights that took the Demon Gate into hiding. After weeks of torture and interrogation I was chained to a tree and burned. That, from what I understand, is what began the conundrum.”

  “The conundrum?” Kelly asked.

  “That is what Nathan called it. You see at some point in the burning I had to die. Nathan told me once that there are universal laws that govern such things over which even the gods have no power. But because of my blessing I could not die until the Demon Gate was destroyed. Nathan has tried to explain it to me a number of times but I still only half understand.”

  Geoffrey took another sip of his coffee. His eyes darted around the room. Kelly wasn’t sure if he was avoiding looking at her or just taking in all the strangeness of his surroundings.

  “In any case, purgatory seems to have been created to handle those issues the universal powers do not want to deal with. They simply cast their problems into this abysmal place and forget about them. So, I ended up in purgatory, tree and all, and would be there still if not for Nathan. He would stop by, from time to time to say he was working on a way to free me from my prison. He gave me hope.”

  A warm golden glow built in Geoffrey’s aura as a slight smile crossed his lips.

  “A few weeks ago, he released me from purgatory and here I am. I’m still not sure what Nathan’s plan is, but I’m not complaining. As strange as this new world is to me, here is a much better place than there.”

  He reached across the table and took her hand. His firm callused fingers caressed her palm, sending a sensual chill through Kelly. “And I much prefer the company here, even though some are trying to kill me.”

  What it had been like in purgatory? There was so much Geoffrey could tell her of things completely unknown. Things that needed documenting, archiving for future generations. That had been her main focus for the past few years. Still, she had trouble concentrating. The contact with the knight’s hand was warm and electric.