Once everything was packed up, Julian stepped back into the study, holding the dagger in his hand. It was one of the oldest artifacts he'd ever had the pleasure of holding. It was hard to believe it had been one of the weapons that killed Caesar himself—and now it was his.
“Do you know much about this knife?” Julian asked him. Robert nodded. Of course he did. He had a passion for all the world's most famous assassinations. “They were friends, you know. Caesar trusted him but Brutus drove this blade into him anyway. It's a horrible thing. Disagreements that can only be resolved with bloodshed. Truly tragic. How did Shakespeare interpret the scene? Et tu Brutus?”
Robert gave a trembling nod of confirmation. “Y-yes that was the-the line.”
“This is a wonderful find. Remarkable that you managed to acquire it. Thank you for your generosity, Mr. Funk. You've done a service for your family and for the Order of the Black Sun.”
“Th-the what?” Robert asked, his tear-filled eyes wide with confusion.
Julian thanked him one last time by jamming the dagger into Robert Funk's throat. The man died almost instantly, his whole face contorted with horror as he bled out. Julian watched the blood spill from Funk's body and his gray eyes never looked away.
Beatrice let out a scream from the balcony before containing herself. She hissed at him, “Why did you just murder him? There was no need! He cooperated!”
“He knew the name of the Black Sun. We can't let that information get around.”
“Only because you told him it!” She snapped.
“Doesn't matter,” Julian said. “He heard it. He has to die. That's how it is. Do you really disagree? Because if so, you would be disobeying the order's creeds.”
“You've made another mess, Mr. Corvus,” Beatrice said, seething with anger. “An unnecessary mess that didn't need to be made at all! Your love of violence is staining our society. We take drastic measures when we have to but we don't revel in it.”
Julian left the knife wedged into the late Robert Funk and walked toward the balcony. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and started wiping some of the blood off of his hands. The cool air was refreshing when he stepped onto the balcony; a nice change from the mustiness in the study. Soon enough the study would start to permeate with an unpleasant stench as well.
“I know, I know,” Julian said nonchalantly. “You don't like the way I do things. I don't like the way you do things. It's slow. It's ineffective. It's boring. My way is rewarding...” He turned toward the bloody corpse in the chair and the boxes of artifacts that he'd taken. “And my way is quick. If we'd done this like you wanted to, it would have taken days. You'd make threat after threat and maybe eventually, follow through and take someone out. With me, I give them a warning, and I follow through with that. I told him initially that if he didn't tell me where it was, I would kill him. He didn't tell me for quite some time. It was only after some more prodding that he did. Mr. Funk chose his end the moment he resisted by initial requests. Like I said, I follow through. I mean what I say.”
Beatrice leaned against the railing, looking baffled by his logic. Her eyes examined him like she was seeing something not entirely human. Or maybe something that was human but was missing some parts. “You had no need to kill him, you imbecile. It was all just a game to satiate your blood lust. You're just a mad dog that likes his chew toys. The order will hear all about this.”
“Wasn't I just talking about threats and warnings?” Julian said, his expression darkening. “Let me give you another example then since you clearly missed the first. You insult me again, Beatrice ... you threaten me again, and I will throw you to your death. That's your warning.”
Beatrice let out a cackle like Julian was the best comedian in town, then she looked back at him with that leathery, reptilian face of hers.
“You wouldn't dare do such a thing,” she said pompously. “All you're showing me is that you're not nearly as scary as everyone says you are. You just like to make messes so we'll take more notice of you. Really sad little cries for attention. That's all you do. That's all this is.” She pointed to the body in the study. “You're a deviant boy desperate for recognition. We all know it. And after this debacle, they will have enough reason to be done with you for good, you maniac.”
Without another word, Julian put his hands on Beatrice's shoulders and pushed her. She flipped over the railing backward, releasing a high pitched shriek as she plummeted from the balcony. She smashed against the ground below and her screams fell silent. She'd never have power over him again.
Julian stared down at her splattered corpse and took in the feeling of it. It felt good to rid the order of a fool who was helping stifle the Black Sun's growth.
If only he could do that for the rest of them.
When he returned from his mission, it was obvious that the Order of the Black Sun knew what Julian had done to Beatrice. They didn't know the details but they understood what it meant when she didn't return with him. No matter what his story had been: she'd been thrown from the balcony when they entered the house. The owner, Robert Funk, had killed her when he thought his home was being invaded. Julian had avenged her death and also acquired a number of new artifacts for the collection.
The Black Sun accepted his relics happily, but they didn't ask any more questions about Beatrice's death. They already understood the real ramifications of the event. Julian was one of their most effective members, but he had also just murdered one of their own. Even the lowliest in the organization never took a shot at another member. They had too many other enemies to worry about and missions to complete.
But Julian, he was making changes to Black Sun that they never asked for. They couldn't expel him from the order. Too many of his supporters would leave with him. He had accomplished too much and made too strong of a name for himself. They didn't even have sufficient evidence to incriminate him in Beatrice's death. And while he had lost her on his mission, he had brought back what he had been sent for and far more.
The only course of action was to reward him for his efforts.
They gave Julian command of his own team within the order. A force that he would have complete dominion over, only having to answer to the Black Sun's inner circle. They even gave him most of his most vocal supporters to work with.
For the first time in a long time, Julian felt happy. Things were going his way. If this was what happened when he killed one of the order's highest ranking members, maybe he should get rid of a few more of them. A complete purge of the old to make way for the new.
It almost immediately became apparent though that his promotion was nothing of the sort. He and his team's assignments were the kind that no one else wanted to do. That were far too dangerous. Remote, uncharted waters. War zones. The peaks of the highest mountains. Undercover operations in the most secure facilities on the planet. They were being given the riskiest missions
It was clear what the Black Sun was trying to do. They were trying to kill Julian without having to lift a finger. His perfect record gave them every excuse to give him the hardest tasks, and many of them were thought to be impossible.
Fortunately, Julian had grown skilled in his work and his team was a good fit for him. They managed to make it out of several operations that they shouldn't have—and that they certainly weren't expected to.
They were an almost entirely isolated entity from Black Sun. While the order was traveling the world, racing billionaires like David Purdue to various treasures, Julian and his crew were fighting starvation, infection, and foreign enemies, trying to uncover secrets in a war-torn Middle East.
They'd been cast out without actually being excommunicated. Made it to be the branch of Black Sun that was most rotted, and most expendable.
Julian had just returned from another harrowing expedition when he first heard the term Eclipsed applied to him and his subordinates. They didn't just feel like outsiders anymore. They actually were. A different name, and only kept under Black Sun's wing by a single
feather.
Honestly, he was just waiting for the other shoe to drop and for the order to finally just kill him. It would probably save them a lot of trouble. But they were too cowardly. They couldn't make the messy decisions that he could.
For Julian, the Order of the Black Sun had the potential to run the world if they really wanted to. If they had the nerve to. They had the means, and the influence, yet they seemed content with how things had always been. They only ever set their sights higher occasionally and never for long. It was a waste of the talent they had accumulated into the group. It was a waste of the money they had spent on all of their various goals. It was also a complete waste of Julian's time.
He could see a better future for the order but no one else in the Black Sun seemed to share his vision, and many weren't even willing to look. They were caught up in the “way we always have done things” and not open to any new ideas or scenarios. Their stubborn devotion to their own codes of conduct was poisoning the entire order and was beginning to drive Julian mad. He couldn't stomach such negligence—such incompetence.
When he'd heard they lost the Grail, though, that was the last straw. He had uncovered a clue that might lead to the Spear of Destiny and brought it before the inner circle, arguing that a weapon like that could change everything. He didn't know if it was because of his well-known interest in Jesus Christ or that it seemed like a dangerous job, but the Black Sun agreed to allow him to try and find the spear.
Julian wanted to find it more than anything. The Spear of Destiny could be the key to finally unlocking his own destiny. With it in his hands and with the Eclipsed by his side, he could finally finish what he started with Beatrice, and remove the current leadership from the order. The world would wake up one morning and a new Black Sun would rise. A far more powerful one.
17
Home Is Where The Heart Is
“Here's how this is going to play out, Mr. Rosewell. Either you lead me to the spear or I will shoot your children right now. I heard how you backed off when they were threatened. So here's an actual threat from someone who fully intends to carry it out. You understand?”
Arthur looked over at his kids, with teary eyes. “You don't have to hurt them.”
“I know I don't. But I will if you don't cooperate. And believe me, I won't bat an eye. I've hurt far younger than them. They're practically adults now, aren't they? I won't even feel a little bad when they start screaming.”
Arthur Rosewell wanted to keep up the same stoic defense he had held against the questions of Purdue and Galen. But he knew, even in just these small moments, that Julian wasn't like them. He really would hurt his children. There wasn't any negotiating with him. It was submit or watch his children die. If that meant failing the family legacy ... none of that would matter if there was no family even left.
“Okay ...” Arthur said, rubbing his hands on his knees nervously. “I'll bring you to it.”
“See?” Julian looked to the bloody Purdue. “See how smoothly everything goes when everyone is on the same page? When people aren't stabbing you in the back or suddenly punching you in the face. This is what I like. Efficiency. We'll move forward immediately.”
“We can't just leave him here,” Nina said, waving her hand toward Maddox's corpse. “The cleaning crew will find him—”
“Rest assured that we have our own cleaner. He's cleaned up things far messier than this. He'll take care of the trash.”
While Nina hoped he was speaking in code, she knew he wasn't. That was really how Julian viewed Maddox. It was probably how he viewed everyone, even his own allies. Then again, with how brutal Julian was, he probably didn't even see them as trash, but rather nothing more than sacks filled with blood, ready to be spilled. That was fellow humans for him. Just flesh stitched together by bone.
“What are you going to do with him, though?” Nina asked. “The body. What do you mean? What's the cleaner going to do?”
Julian looked irritated by the question and looked at her like she was a toddler asking stupid questions. “Make sure it's never found. Obviously. Erase it from the world so that it never existed at all. What body are we talking about?” A thin smile formed on his lips.
Sam spoke up. “And is that what you're going to do with us? Just scrub us out of existence?”
“We'll see. If you try to run again, pull another stunt like you did back on Rhodes ... then definitely.” There wasn't even a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Julian would make sure that none of them were ever seen again.
Nina doubted that it mattered. They were in Julian's web and they'd been stupid to think that they had actually escaped. It wasn't likely that they were going to escape alive.
Julian had compared Purdue to an insect—and now that's what they all were compared to him.
Julian turned back to Arthur Rosewell. “So, without further interruption, Mr. Rosewell—take me to the Spear of Destiny.”
They were all captive in the convoy of Eclipsed vehicles, split between three vans as they drove toward the Rosewell estate. They were moving down a flat, grassy road toward a house.
“It's hidden near our property,” Arthur told Julian. “It has been ever since Roysten left it there. A hidden spot in the middle of nowhere. A place where he could always keep an eye on it, keep it within arm's reach.”
Sasha sat across from Nina and Sam, smirking at them. They were all thinking about Maddox. And while Sam and Nina were silently feeling a little grief for the mercenary, Sasha was remembering his death very fondly.
“He was going to kill me, you know?” Sasha said. “In that courtyard, he had a gun in my face and he pulled the trigger. This was just me ensuring my future survival. Anyone would have done the same, wouldn't they?”
Nina thought back to Maddox's plans of getting revenge on Sasha. Now it was all gone, and she was still alive, now practically spitting on his grave and laughing in their faces. She truly was a horrible human being. But compared to Julian, a far lesser devil.
“You killed his friends,” Nina said. “You can't blame him for being upset.”
“Oh, I didn't,” Sasha said. “It was what I was hoping for when I let him live in Jerusalem. That he'd feel like now he had a second chance at life, while all his co-workers were dead in a ditch. Drove him crazy didn't it? That I was still sucking air while the rest of our squad was gone.”
Nina wanted to jump across the vehicle and start hitting Sasha but she knew there would be no point. She couldn't let her see that her taunts were actually getting to her. Nina didn't even like Maddox very much but he deserved better than what he got. He deserved a fighting chance. Instead he was shot by a bullet that he didn't even know was coming for him.
“You're despicable,” was all Nina could manage.
“Sticks and stones,” Sasha chuckled. “And soon spears.”
Purdue was fascinated by the burly Black Sun member sitting in the driver's seat. He could barely make his face from where he sat, but he recognized him all the same. How could he forget the shadows that had followed him and Nina all around the Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes? Although, he didn't look quite right without his partner. Most obviously, he had a large bandage pulled across a fractured nose. Purdue recalled Maddox throwing his empty gun at one of their pursuer's faces. “Is that you Dana?”
“It's Luther,” the driver said forcefully. “My name is Luther. I know you think you're funny but you beat that joke to death at Rhodes. It's high time you buried it.”
“Whatever you say, Dana. At least you can speak now. Were you too afraid to speak in front of Julian back on Rhodes? Where's my old pal Lindsay?”
“His name was Dalton and you pushed him off the roof of a castle, remember? We had to get rid of the body.”
“Shame,” Purdue said. “I'd feel terrible about it if he hadn't been holding us hostage. Made his own bed, as far as I'm concerned. Got exactly what he deserved.”
“He had a family, you know.” Luther said, glancing back in
the rear view mirror like he wanted to see Purdue get shaken up.
But Purdue, despite being admittedly surprised by that, kept his expression passive. “Who doesn't? I do hope the Black Sun offers their employees life insurance. Or maybe he should have picked a less dangerous occupation. Kidnappers have a low survival rate, I've heard.”
Luther—the minion formerly known as Dana—didn't say anything else after that. Purdue was okay with that. He was far less fun talking and using his real name than he had been as the almost mute brute with a much better name.
They pulled up to the Rosewell house and gathered out in the yard. It wasn't anything spectacular. Especially when compared to what Purdue and Galen were used to. There wasn't much around the home but more land, a mix of mud and grass, eventually leading to wetlands. A vast marsh. Arthur pointed out in that direction.
“Everything for a few miles that way is our property. My ancestor took the spear out in that direction until he found a good hiding spot for it. That's where it's been since he took it from Rhodes during the siege.”
Arthur was being very informative and very cooperative, now that his children's lives were on the line. He didn't look happy about any of it. In fact, he looked heartbroken that to protect his living family, he had to betray his dead ones.
“I don't want to walk in a damn swamp,” Galen groaned.
“You will if you want to see the spear,” Sasha said. “So suck it up.”
18
Marshes, Caverns, And Cripples
They moved slowly through the mud, barely managing to pull their feet from the thick muck with every step they took. It was cold, wet, and absolutely miserable. The swamp wasn't as exotic as many of the other places they had been, and that made it even more dreary.
Order of the Black Sun Box Set 9 Page 15