The Stone Warriors: Nicodemus

by D. B. Reynolds

  “We should go inside,” Nick said. Despite the new security measures and his total confidence in Abe and his team, he disliked hanging around outside. And he probably would until that bastard Sotiris was not only dead, but chopped into pieces, and scattered over the globe.

  Lili waited inside for them, still uneasy about going outdoors in daylight. Nick had assured her over and over again that the spell he’d cast to “cure” her vampirism had made sunlight safe, but he doubted she’d ever be completely comfortable. It had taken years for him to persuade her to leave the house even at night, and then only when absolutely necessary.

  The first thing Nick did once he and Antonia were inside was to tug Lili out of the dining area where she was holding back from all the traffic—what with luggage coming in, and people going out and now coming in again. Taking her hand, he led her to Antonia and said, “And this is Lilia, who’s been with me since Paris. I told Antonia all about you,” he said to Lili. “I don’t know what I’d have done without my Lili all these years. She knows more about my business than I do, but she’s far more important to me than that. She’s a dear friend, and I love her as the sister I never had.”

  Lili blushed at the effusive praise, but that didn’t stop her from saying, “He’s right. I do know more about the business than he does, but I love my work.” She glanced up at Nick, and added, “And the people I work with.”

  “That sounds like Nico,” Antonia confided. “He was never one for paperwork.”

  Lili’s chiming laughter seemed to sparkle in the air for a moment, before she turned to Nick and said, “Maeve just called. She was feeling a bit “car-sick”. That’s what she called it, but I think we all know it’s morning sickness, even though she insists it can’t be. For such a scientific and intelligent woman, she’s being awfully stubborn about this. I don’t know why it matters. Anyway, they stopped for a rest, and they’re just getting back on the road. So they’ll probably arrive an hour or two later than planned, depending on traffic.

  “Also, I set up a video conference for later tonight. Kato and Grace will be driving over to Raphael’s estate, so everyone on the west coast can be in one room. And we’ll all be in the conference room here, so that will make conversation easier than zooming everyone in.”

  “Noisier, you mean,” Nick commented. “No mute buttons.”

  “Well, yes, but still easier.”

  “Depends on who chimes in from the other coast,” he said sourly.

  “Oh, get over it, Nick. We have Antonia, and she knows more about Sotiris than anyone, so I’m sure she’ll do most of the talking.”

  “Oh, I don’t know about that,” Antonia demurred. “When it comes to battles or strategy, I know very little. Although yes, I probably do know Sotiris better.”

  Damian gave her an even look and asked quietly, “Are you married to him still, or—?”

  “Good goddess, no!” she said, giving him a startled look. “He’s my father!”

  Damian’s brow shot up in surprise. “Fuck me. Did anyone else know that?”

  “Well, I sure as hell did,” Nick said.

  “And my mother certainly did,” Antonia added, her mouth now twitching in amusement. “She was his wife, by the way, though they stopped living together when I was still a small child. It wasn’t until my magic became too strong to ignore that she arranged for Sotiris to visit her estate, and provide me with suitable instruction. But when I turned sixteen, he insisted they change the arrangements. He wanted me to live with him for a time, so he could provide more advanced training. Mother wasn’t thrilled at the idea, but all I saw was that the great sorcerer Sotiris wanted to tutor me. Lucky me, or so I thought at the time. The idea of parental duty never crossed my mind. It wasn’t important to me that he was my father. I had no feelings of affection for him. I just wanted to study with him.”

  She shrugged, as if unsure what else she could say. And Damian appeared half-apologetic and half-awkward, as if he’d said something taboo. Nick broke the silence. “We’re tired from the flight, after the time we spent getting Antonia’s house and affairs ready for leaving Chicago. And I need her to help me with some research before we tele-conference with the west coast.”

  The door opened before he could continue, and Abe Putin walked in. Lili’s face brightened with joy when he walked over, and without hesitation bent down to place a lingering kiss on her mouth. Lili blushed charmingly, but since her cheeks were already warm with happiness, it barely showed.

  “I’ll want you in on the video meet later,” Nick told Abe. “We’re definitely going to war. The only question is where and when.”

  “I’ll bring him up to speed,” Lili said, then turned and with Abe’s hand on the small of her back, the two of them retreated to her office down the hall.

  “Is that new?” Damian asked, staring after them.

  “Not really,” Nick answered. “They just decided to go public, I guess. Since it wasn’t much of a secret anymore. Not to me anyway, since I live here.” The truth was, he’d suspected something was going on with those two, probably longer than they’d admitted it to themselves. Their respective positions with Nick had inevitably brought them together, sometimes several times a day when they’d first been getting the new compound wired and up to speed. And for all Lili’s shyness, she was fiercely intelligent. When it came to her work, she didn’t tolerate fools, nor hesitate to argue when she knew she was right.

  For his part, Abe had been more than a little surprised to discover that the tiny mouse, who could barely meet his eyes when introduced, argued with him like a politician, or someone who knew what the hell she was talking about and could talk circles around anyone who didn’t. He’d mentioned it to Nick with such admiration, while also complimenting her sweet side, telling him how she’d been so helpful and friendly, so kind to the workman who’d cut his hand severely, and had been in danger of fainting, before Lili had stepped in and fucking mothered him.

  Nick had known then that Abe was a goner, but it was the first time he’d seen them having lunch together that he’d known Lili was falling, too. Abe had been so gentle and old-fashioned in the way he’d treated Lili, while she’d poured his tea—even though he drank coffee—and brought over cookies on a plate, instead of just plopping the bag on the table. But Abe had realized something even Nick had missed—that Lili was still a young woman at heart, and a woman of her time. She needed to be courted, and to court in return, in the way gentlewomen of her time did.

  That made Nick wonder about himself. How the hell had he missed that about Lili? That part of her unwillingness to leave the house was more than being a vampire. It was fear of the outside world, which was foreign to anything she knew. Sure, this house and her computers were not of her time, but this place was her haven. It was hers in a way that it wasn’t even Nick’s.

  Abe had courted Lili, and she’d responded. It had nothing to do with his size or how well he could shoot—which was damn good—but it was his kindness and his intellect, which matched her own when it came to computerized security or communication.

  Nick’s only puzzlement was why they’d bothered to conceal it. Why would he care, much less object? Abe was a good, responsible man, who obviously cared for Lili. And it was about time she had some love in her life. Since arriving in North America with him so long ago, she’d devoted herself to the smooth running of his household, and then his business. It was long past time for her to find some happiness of her own.

  “Fuck,” Damian complained still staring down the hallway where Lili and Abe had disappeared. “I feel like I’m living in a parallel world, where everyone knows everyone else’s secrets except me.”

  “That’s okay, big guy,” Casey said, patting his arm in sympathy. “I didn’t know about Antonia and Sotiris, either.”

  “Oh. Wait! So, you did know about Lili and Abe? Why didn’t you tell me?”r />
  “Well, I wasn’t sure, and you being a god of war and all, I just figured you’d already noticed the same things I did.” She gave him a toothy, and terribly insincere, smile.

  “Nice. My own woman holding out on me,” he grumbled. “Come on, I’m hungry. You can at least do your wifely duty and fix me a sandwich.”

  Nick watched in bemusement as the couple headed for the big kitchen.

  “You’ve made a family here,” Antonia said quietly, leaning into his side and wrapping her arm around his waist.

  Yeah, he had. Or they had. It had taken all of them to make it happen. “You’re right,” he said thoughtfully, then hugged her close. “And now, you’re the most important part of it.”

  “If anyone holds that position, it’s you. You’re the reason we’re all here. Your warriors would never have met, much less joined together as brothers, if you hadn’t called them from lives they hated and given them something to fight for. They never fought for the freedom of people they’d never met, or not solely for that reason, anyway. Not even primarily. They fought for you and for each other. It’s been proven time after time that when it comes right down to it, in the heat of battle, when a soldier has to choose whether or not to risk his life, he does it for the guy next to him. You and your four saved a lot of defenseless people, gave them a chance to build new lives, better lives. But they were never more than an abstract when you stood on that line together and faced your enemy.

  “Admit it,” she added, digging a finger into his abdomen. “The thrill of battle and all that. You all loved to fight together.”

  He grabbed her finger. “It’s not that simple. I’ll admit that the adrenaline rush is damn intense, and it feels incredible when I’m seconds away from fighting for my life. And yeah, that includes the lives of my brother warriors. But that adrenaline rush is also what keeps me alive. It heightens my awareness, speeds up my reaction time. Without it, I’m a walking corpse waiting to be killed.” He shrugged. “Do I love war? I’m sure as hell looking forward to beating Sotiris to death once and for all. But does that mean I love all war? I don’t think so.”

  She studied him thoughtfully, hands to either side of his waist, head tilted back to better see his face, her dark eyes solemn. “I never thought of it like that. The closest I’ve ever been to war is on a high hill overlooking the battlefield. The fighters are faceless figures, then, and all you can see is the blood and death.”

  “Did you root for Sotiris to win?”

  “At first I did. As I said, I was thrilled to have him for a teacher, and was proud to be his daughter. But that didn’t last long. I used to hide in a closet next to the room where he met his generals, because I wanted to know what they said, how they put together a strategy. The closet didn’t open to his conference room, but the wall was thinner there, and I gouged a small hole, so I could hear better. I heard the way he spoke not only of the people he fought, but of his own soldiers. They were nothing to him. Weapons to be used and discarded in service of his ambition, which was to rule.”

  “To rule not only his territory, but everyone else’s, too.”

  “Yes! He wanted to rule our world and everyone in it. And he still does. He has this irrational idea that with you gone, he’ll possess enough power to rule this planet. Or at least the more interesting parts. I think he’s more than a little mad, to be honest.”

  “He talked about this with you?”

  “Oh, yes. The last year or so, once he saw that my magic was definitely getting stronger again, he decided I was supposed to join him, to use my magic to help him win at last.”

  “He honestly thought you’d go along with that?”

  “I was isolated here for a long time, alone and frequently confused, especially earlier. And for a long time, I didn’t know anyone but him, so I clung to that, to him. He was the only part of my life that was real. The only part that remained the same from day to day, or week to week. But as the years went on, my memories of this world began to stabilize. I still didn’t know how I’d gotten here, but he had an explanation for everything, and I believed him. He was my father. He told me that much, and I knew what a father was, and what he was supposed to be to me, as his child. So I trusted him.

  “Then, as I told you, the reality he’d planted in my memories as part of the curse that brought me here, began to fray. I pretended for quite a while in order to gather information, and later on, to get some idea of who his allies were.” She grimaced. “I learned a lot. But before I could discover his endgame, he asked me for help designing a devastating weapon. It was a magical bomb that would kill thousands if planted in a public place, like a big stadium, or I don’t know, a government building. And even if the authorities were warned, they wouldn’t know what to look for, and wouldn’t possess the sorcery necessary to detect it.”

  Nick jerked in reaction. “I know that device. He planted it in a stadium nearby, and you’re right. It would have killed tens of thousands if it had gone off.”

  “Why?” she whispered. “Why’d he do it?”

  “Like the Talisman, he was demonstrating its lethal potential to future buyers. But then he discovered that I had the hexagon, and he decided to kill two birds with one stone. He tried to distract me with the threat, so he could invade my home and steal it back. If I didn’t manage to disable the device before it went off, it would still be a great demonstration, and he could make a fortune selling it. Plus, as a bonus, if I and my people were still in the stadium trying to find or disable it, we’d be killed, too.”

  “He’s almost as obsessed with money, as he is with power. They’re linked for him. He used to tell me all the time, back in our world, that if he was to be king, then he had to live like one.”

  “Yeah, well, apparently, he’s a well-known vendor in the criminal world.”

  “Wait,” she said, holding up a hand, palm out. “Did you say you had the hexagon? Do you still have it?”

  He grinned smugly. “I do.”

  She sputtered, unable to form words, then finally asked, “How?”

  “It’s a long story. We should sit somewhere. Are you tired? Do you want to rest before dinner?”

  “Are you kidding me? You say you have the hexagon, and you want to know if I’d like to rest? Then, to use what seems to be a favorite word around here, fuck no!”

  Nick had to laugh, and he wondered how long she’d have to hang around his people before she started cursing like the rest of them. “Can we at least sit?”

  “As long as it’s somewhere you’ll start talking, and preferably where I can see the hexagon, too.”

  “Your wish is my command, my lady. Come this way.”

  ANTONIA LOOPED her arm in his, and they walked down a long hall, past a room where Lili was talking and typing at the same time, the energy positively radiating off her. At the end of the hall was a closed door, wider than usual. Nico reached out with one hand, turned the knob and pushed the door open with the same motion, then stood back and gestured for her to enter ahead of him.

  She patted his chest as she walked by, and was about to tease him about his manners, when she was struck breathless by the sheer beauty of the office. No, not the office, which she barely saw, but the light and the view through a wall of windows. Stunned speechless, she crossed to those windows as if in a dream. Sunlight streamed in, warming her face and arms, despite the cool air blowing from somewhere near the ceiling. It was late afternoon, and the sun was behind them, but even so, there was a pristine quality to the light that she supposed came from being so much closer to the equator. She wanted to walk out onto one of the high balconies she’d seen on the house when they drove up, just so she could watch the sun set. It would be gorgeous. And maybe while they were in Florida, Nick would drive down with her to Key West, so she could see the famous green flash.

  After they dealt with Sotiris, she reminded hers
elf. Nico and the rest were all focused on one goal, and it wasn’t indulging her need to play tourist.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, turning to face him. “This is just so lovely. Is this Pompano Beach? It didn’t look like this on the map I studied on the plane.”

  “This is Lighthouse Point, hence the lighthouse you can see out there.”

  She turned back to the view. “It’s beautiful. Is it real?”

  “It’s very real, and thanks to a very expensive renovation, fully modernized and functioning.”

  “Nico, this house, these houses . . .” She gave him a worried look.

  “No, I haven’t taken up a life of crime, my love. I’ve had hundreds of years to see my ventures pay off, and it turns out, I’m rather good at picking investments.”

  “You’re not using your other skills, are you?”

  “I’m insulted that you think so little of my honor, and my intellect. No, I brought what I considered a reasonable amount of gold coin with me on my first transition out of our world, and into this one. I discovered that what we considered a reasonable amount, was a hell of a lot more here. Or rather there, since as I told you, I landed in Paris.” He shrugged. “And I built from there.”

  “Well, you chose well. This place is just stunning.”

  “Think you’d enjoy living here with me?” he asked with what anyone else would take as casual interest. But she knew him better.

  She crossed to stand in front of him. “I’d live with you anywhere on earth, Nicodemus Katsaros. I don’t care if it’s in a gorgeous estate like this, or in an ordinary house in a Chicago suburb. I’ll take you any way I can get you.”

  He pulled her against his chest and spoke against her hair. “That’s good, because I’m not letting you go.”

  They stood that way until the light dimmed enough that the automatic timers clicked on the landscape lights just outside the window, and the room began to cool enough that the air-conditioning ceased its persistent blowing. Nico apparently liked his rooms cold. It had never come up in their home world, for obvious reasons. But if they were going to share a bedroom, adjustments would need to be made. If not to the thermostat, then to the blankets on her half of the bed.