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A TOTAL FLOP
Cardinal Hsia’s living room no longer had sofas, or coffee and side tables. Instead, long dining tables were lined up at right angles to form a rectangle, leaving space in the center. On one side of the rectangle were piles of pizza and breadstick boxes from a local pizza shop; the rest of the tables had place settings for about sixty people.
There were lots of psi energies downstairs and a classical piano tune drifted upstairs. It was verbally quiet, but telepathically loud.
“That’s a lot of Cardinals,” I mumbled.
“Other sectors have two or three Cardinals with the same power,” Bran explained.
“How come we’re shortchanged?”
“That’s an insult. You have the senior Cardinals and me.” He wiggled his brow.
“Show-off.”
“Guess how many Water Cardinals there are in total?” he asked.
Water powers were rare. “One? You?”
“Three including me.”
We headed downstairs, where the Cardinals were having pre-dinner drinks and mingling. Not your normal party by the looks of things. But then again, “normal” and “Guardians” didn’t exactly go together.
The dress code was typical Guardian dark hunting clothes—pants and shirts, trench coats and boots, which meant weapons were hidden in sheaths and inner pockets in case of an attack. Our team dressed the way they normally did when we had a formal dinner—Remy in his signature preppy polo shirt and dressy pants, and Sykes in frayed jeans and a t-shirt with Size Matters written under an energy ball, while Kim and Izzy wore fashionable dresses with knee-length boots, their makeup flawless. No coats, but they were packing. They always did, no matter what they wore.
Bran and I moved from group to group. There was no warmth. No welcome. No attempt to say anything besides name, abilities, and sector. They all knew about my infamous father, but after L.A. and meeting with the archangels, I didn’t care. I had more things to worry about.
The two Cardinal Water Guardians Bran had mentioned were fresh out of high school and wanted to know about his adventures with the senior Cardinals. All their sentences began with, “Is it true you…”
You stay, I’ll mingle, I telepathed Bran.
You sure?
I could tell he wanted to stay and share his exploits. Even he wasn’t immune to hero-worshipping. I’ll be fine.
I looked around and smiled when my gaze connected with Solaris. She smiled stiffly back. Yeah, right back at you, lady. I assumed the Guardians beside her were from her sector. Going by their unsmiling expressions, she must have mouthed off to them about what happened in L.A.
Lifting my chin, I walked over and introduced myself. The false smiles set my teeth on edge, but I learned something. Each team gravitated toward the familiar, namely their teammates.
Like water, time ability was rare. Actually, it was even rarer, but Izzy found one, a super-hot guy with tawny eyes and bronze hair. The two hugged the wall, lost in their own little world. From the look in his eyes, Izzy walked on water.
“You mean you took them all at once?” he was saying just as I reached them.
“The energy surge from the Kris Dagger helped of course, but yes,” Izzy said with a saucy grin.
“I wish I’d seen that.”
I cleared my throat, but they didn’t hear me. I did the next best thing and pinged Izzy to get her attention. She turned.
“Oh, Lil. You guys finally made it. This is Solomon, Time Guardian, Northeast. Sol, Lil.”
“Lil doesn’t need introduction. Everyone calls me Sol.” His was the first genuine smile I’d seen, but his interest was in Izzy and their conversation.
I took one step away from them and Sykes slid in by my side. “Nice party.”
“If you like people staring at you like you’re the devil’s spawn.”
“You are the devil’s spawn,” he teased.
“And you are a jackass.”
Sykes laughed. “Hey, I’m getting frostbite from this lively bunch too and I’m a home-grown hero.” He glanced behind us. “Bran, on the other hand, found groupies and ditched you.”
I ignored the dig. “Where are yours?”
“Have you met Lunaris and Solaris?” He shuddered. “Energy Cardinals are supposed to be fun. They suck fun from the air and spit on it.”
He soon found a girl he knew from home and I continued to mingle until Esras asked people to head upstairs.
Bran materialized beside me and we headed upstairs. Sector Cardinals grouped together except Sol, Izzy’s time buddy, who sat beside her and Bran’s water duo. The pizzas had cooled down, but Esras’ energy guys warmed them up, then the Cardinal Psis floated the boxes around the table so we could select steaming slices and breadsticks.
“Have you guys had a tough time dealing with humans here in the Northwest?” Esras asked and glanced over at our table.
Heads turned and eyes focused on us.
“I’m talking about Damned Humans whose souls we were trying to restore before the Tribe attacked,” he added.
“We have,” Remy said. “Some didn’t want their souls back. Others went into hiding rather than make the decision.”
“Humans are so unpredictable,” another Cardinal said.
“Impossible to deal with.”
“Always looking for an easy way out.”
Their anecdotes about human encounters were many and varied. Others were amused. Some sympathetic, but the majority were haters. I refused to be drawn into human bashing. Guardians’ lives were mapped out for them. The ones with powers over elements became Cardinals. The ones with moderate powers became part of the Civilian support team and ran the High Councils, owned businesses in various towns and provided Cardinals with support in other ways. The rest stayed back in Xenith. Humans couldn’t live like that because they had free will. Free to do whatever they want, within societal norms, however stupid or mundane, and live with the consequences of their actions.
“Aren’t you going to jump in and defend your friends?” Kim asked.
I shrugged. “No. The Cardinals are entitled to their opinions.”
“Are your humans losing their memories or going into comas after being attacked, too?” Bran asked, redirecting the conversation.
Esras nodded. “When we left, we didn’t know the ‘Tribe’ was behind the attack.” Esras looked at me. “Perhaps you can tell us what happened to you on the island, Cardinal Lil. We really only learned that one of them attacked you.”
All eyes zeroed in on me. Usually I would have felt self-conscious at the attention, but not after that afternoon. Facing an archangel, even though I hadn’t fought him, changed my perception of things. I didn’t need to impress or be intimidated by these Guardians even though most of them were older than I was.
Combining what my team had told me, my dreams, and what I recalled, I explained what I saw and heard.
“We,” I glanced left and right to include my friends, “concluded they’re doing to the humans exactly what they did to me, except I survived the excessive surge of despair. Humans are more fragile, so their minds shut down. Did anyone survive the attacks in your sectors?”
Esras and the twins shook their heads.
“We have two survivors,” I said. “A woman and an old man.”
“Can we talk to them?” someone asked.
“Maybe they could describe their attackers,” another added.
“Or we could retrieve their memories,” another chimed in. “It is hard to prepare to fight an enemy you know nothing about.”
My gaze connected with Esras, then Solaris and Lunaris. You didn’t tell them?
Master Haziel told us not to, Esras answered.
You told yours? Solaris asked accusingly.
Sheesh, why did she always believe the worst of me? Of course not.
“Lil already tried retrieval,” Bran explained. “Mrs. Watts’ memories were wiped clean.”
“And the old man is in a
mental hospital,” Remy said. “We couldn’t get inside to see him.”
“Don’t you use glamour or power of persuasion to get past humans?” a bearded older psi asked in a condescending tone.
Remy shrugged. “We do, but Lil wasn’t with us.”
“Your team splits up when you are on missions?” a Cardinal at the opposite table asked.
“If we have to,” Remy answered. “But with the contracts, there was no danger of a serious attack, so we came up with a strategy that worked. Sometimes we worked together, sometimes we split.”
“The Senior Cardinals approved of this practice?” someone asked.
Remy chuckled. “I don’t know. They tend to give us a mission, then let us accomplish it without looking over our shoulders.”
“Are you saying the Senior Cardinals weren’t involved in the canceling of your contracts?” Esras asked.
“Of course not,” Remy said impatiently. “It was our mission.”
Silence followed.
At our table, we looked at each other and shrugged. I didn’t need to hear their thoughts to know what they were thinking. They outnumbered us three to one in some sectors, yet we were way ahead of them on the number of human souls we’d restored.
“Lack of supervision is why they bend the rules,” a familiar voice carried to us. Solaris. I’d recognize her malicious, nasal lilt anywhere.
“Why they were kidnapped and taken to Jarvis Island,” someone else added.
“Hey! We kicked ass on Jarvis,” Sykes protested.
“You got lucky,” someone else said.
“If we had a Time Cardinal and the Kris Dagger, we would have done exactly what you did,” a guy piped in.
Sykes laughed. “Don’t think so, dude. You’d still be choking on our dust.”
“That’s right, because it is not the dagger that matters,” Remy added in a mocking tone. “The wielder does, and we have the best. Besides, Izzy is not the only Time Guardian in this room.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Sol demanded. “Are you saying I’m not as good as she is?” Then he spoiled it by exchanging a grin with Izzy.
“It means we’re willing to take risks while you guys play it safe.”
The room erupted. Salvos flew back and forth. Izzy and Kim laughed and encouraged Remy and Sykes, who treated the entire exchange as a joke. The others didn’t think it was funny. Their anger level kept shooting up.
Do something, I telepathed Bran.
Let them get the jealousy and resentment out of their systems first.
“That’s not true,” a female Cardinal yelled. “We take risks every day.”
“Our record speaks for itself,” Sykes said.
The woman made a face. “You get the best assignments.”
“Have the best trainer,” another one added.
“You know why?” Sykes spread his arms and made the sign of horns with his fingers. “We rock!”
The shouting got worse. Anger swirled in the room and penetrated my shield. At first I thought I’d be okay, but I was dealing with Cardinals, and the more powerful the Guardians, the stronger the emotions. I pressed on my temple, trying to ease the pressure.
You okay? Bran asked.
No. Stop them or I will.
Bran teleported to the space the tables created in the middle of the room. The shouting went down a few decibels, then blissful silence. Bran walked in circles, looking at each Cardinal in the eye.
“This is pointless, Cardinals,” he said in a hard but calm voice. “It doesn’t matter who accomplished what or where. The greatest accomplishment of this century was the death of Coronis, the most powerful demoness since the beginning of time, and you were all a part of it. You fought valiantly, proving that the Cardinals can come together and accomplish anything. Everything else since then is just icing.”
The silence was deafening. Wide eyes followed Bran. He was only twenty, younger than half the Cardinals in the room but higher up in the Cardinal hierarchy because he hunted with the senior Cardinals.
“We are now facing a new pack of enemies, ones so powerful it made our leaders destroy the only portal in case we failed. We are on our own, Cardinals. That means we,” he indicated the occupants of the room with his finger, “must depend on each other, because failure is not an option. But if we keep fighting among ourselves, we won’t need the Tribe to destroy us. We’ll self-destruct from within. We are all the Guardians have. Start acting as a team, Cardinals. Start acting as one unit with one objective.”
The silence was eerie, but I wanted to cheer.
“Well said,” Grampa said, entering the room. Despite his calm, commanding tone, his dark eyes flashed furiously. The effect on the Cardinals was immediate. Everyone sat straighter.
Behind Grampa came the other senior Cardinals. From their ceremonial robes, they had just come back from their meeting with the CT in Xenith.
“The deplorable display we just witnessed here tonight tells us that you are not ready for anything,” Grampa said, his voice strangely calm. “You are not ready to fight, lead, or defend yourselves. So there’s no way you can be ready for the task our people and our leaders have entrusted you with—defending them.” Heads lowered around the table, the silence so deep it was spooky. I glanced at him from the corner of my eye as he walked forward and stopped before Esras.
“Dinner was a good idea, Esras, but as you can see they need a lot more than food to knock sense into their heads. It is time you all learned the truth.” He paused and studied our faces. “We want everyone to teleport to the foyer of the Academy and go to the pit. The SGs are already waiting. We are going to have a general meeting.”
No one spoke, verbally or telepathically, until we entered the pit, where there was a low buzz of conversation from the SGs. They appeared to have doubled in size since this morning and had taken up most seats, except the front row. The bleachers on the opposite side were still folded to create more floor space, some of which was taken up by a long table and seven chairs.
Once again, Cardinals from each sector gravitated toward their teams. The silence that followed as we waited was heavy with tension. It was as though everyone knew something big was about to happen.
When the Senior Cardinals entered, Grampa instructed Bran to sit with them then he propped his elbows on the table and leaned forward. For a moment, he didn’t speak, just studied us. The seat at the end of the table next to Cardinal Moira remained empty and I wondered if we were waiting for someone else.
“Some of you are already aware of the identity of the Tribe,” Grampa said, his voice echoing around the pit despite lack of microphone and speakers. “But there is more you need to know, things that are not stored in clairvoyant crystals or found in books and scrolls in Xenithian libraries.” He glanced to his right. “Cardinal Hsia will explain.”
Cardinal Hsia was the Time Guardian and the history guru. She leaned forward, the usual twinkle missing from her eyes. “When Goddess Xenia charged us with guarding humanity, she told us something else. From the beginning of time, it was decreed that for there to be good, there must be evil to balance it. One can’t exist without the other. Even before Coronis rebelled and started her Hermonite group, there were Nephilim left behind as demons. Her group just made things worse.”
She paused and looked at us.
“The Tribunal,” she glanced at me, “is a special court that convenes to discuss Nephilimic matters. They solve disputes between Guardians and demons. Disputes that impact the balance between good and evil. Their answer usually involves sending hunters to correct the problem. We didn’t summon the court this time, which means the demons did. The court ruled in their favor and sent a Tribe of archangels to correct the problem.”
There was a ripple of murmurs through the room. Some raised their hands.
“Silence, please,” Grampa bellowed. “I know you have questions and we will try and answer them in an orderly manner. Yes, the tribe we are dealing with is not made up of demons. T
hey are archangels, and their job is to correct what they presume are mistakes we have made. This is why the humans whose contracts you canceled are either dying or are in comas. This is also why they are hunting us. We don’t know why, but we’re sure we’ll learn the answer in due course. Any questions?”
This time, the ripple of conversation was telepathic and more hands shot up. Solaris leaned forward and glanced at me, then smiled. Her gaze not shifting, she raised her hand, too. She was going to tell them what Raphael had said—that I was the one they were after. I had planned to discuss it with Grampa first.
It’s okay, Bran reassured me telepathically.
Our gaze met and clung. It wasn’t okay. We should tell them what Raphael said.
Master Haziel said it was nonsense, Bran insisted. Let it go.
It was easy for them to dismiss everything. Their head wasn’t on the chopping block.
“Yes, Remy,” Cardinal Hsia said.
“What exactly have we done to make them think we could destroy the balance between good and evil, Cardinal?”
I didn’t bother to look at Solaris. I was sure her hand was still up, her butt barely touching the seat in her eagerness to respond.
“I’ll answer that,” Grampa said. “After conferring with the CT, we reached the conclusion that killing Coronis might have been a coup for us, but it was a major blow to the demons. Stopping their plans to select a leader, and acquiring Coronis’ list of damned souls scared the demons even more. They’ve lost hundreds of thousands of souls. Typical of them, they summoned the court and complained.”
“Yes, Solaris?” Cardinal Hsia asked.
I shrank back into my seat and waited.
“When we were in L.A. this morning with Cardinal Lil, we learned there might be more than one reason why they summoned the Tribunal,” Solaris said.
I held my breath and waited, my heart pounding with a mixture of dread and fury.
The senior Cardinals looked at each other, then me and scowled.
“What other reasons?” Grampa asked.
“The demons believe the Specials belong with them,” she said.
Bitch. Wasting my energy hating another Cardinal was wrong, but she made it so easy.
Hunted (The Guardian Legacy, #3) Page 25