The Veritas

by Wendy Saunders

  ‘No, he didn’t,’ she sighed softly. ‘I wish you could’ve known the man I did. You only looked at the surface and drew your own conclusions. Yes, I changed my name, but it was my choice and for my own protection. He protected me, and he loved me for who I was. He never made me give anything up. I chose not to live without him. We have lived so many lifetimes beyond that which is natural, mon frère. I would rather have lived one lifetime with him than a dozen more without him. You and Cora have your own paths, mine was always meant to end here, on the shores of the lake, in the town I chose for my home, with the man I love waiting for me.’

  ‘I miss you so much, ma soeur,’ Armand whispered.

  ‘I know,’ she replied in sympathy, ‘but you know as well as I that death is not the end. It is merely a transition. Our souls can never be unmade, can never cease to be, they simply move from one state of being to another. We will meet again, maybe not for a long, long time, but we will meet. Our souls are bound to one another, we are part of the same circle.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Armand finally admitted. ‘I’m sorry for the things I said, sorry for forcing you to choose and I’m sorry I wasn’t there at the end to say goodbye.’

  ‘But it’s not goodbye, is it?’ Clea smiled. ‘The days of prophecy are upon you, mon frère, and both you and Cora have your parts to play. My part is done for now.’

  ‘How do you know about that?’

  ‘I know things,’ she smiled enigmatically as she turned back to Olivia. ‘You must return now; neither of you belong here and the longer you stay the more it upsets the balance.’

  Olivia nodded, watching as the little woman turned and embraced her brother once more. He squeezed her tightly not wanting to let her go and Olivia once again shifted uncomfortably, knowing that he would not want her to witness him in such an unguarded moment.

  ‘I forgive you Armand,’ Clea whispered, ‘and I’ll be waiting when your time comes.’

  He squeezed her, closing his eyes tightly before finally letting her go. Casting one last glance at her he stepped closer to Olivia and took her hand. Lifting the compass once again Olivia looked up when she heard Clea call her name.

  ‘A word of warning Olivia,’ her eyes flashed darkly. ‘Beware the man in black. He may wear a different face, but he is an old enemy and he is coming for you and everyone you love.’

  Before Olivia could open her mouth to question her further, the woods swirled and shifted, disappearing before her eyes.

  13

  ‘Damn it.’ Olivia blinked as the world stopped spinning and she once again found herself standing in Armand’s house. ‘What did she mean?’

  Olivia turned to face Armand, ignoring the curious looks of Davis and Issac.

  ‘Armand,’ she gripped his arm, ‘what did she mean? He wears a different face?’

  ‘I…I don’t know,’ he frowned pulling away sharply.

  She could see the encounter with his sister had shaken him greatly. She watched as his expression darkened, his sudden anger masking any trace of vulnerability.

  ‘You have what you came for,’ he snapped, turning swiftly. ‘Now leave.’

  Olivia pulled in a soft resigned breath; she knew she wasn’t going to get much out of Armand in his current state of mind. She also knew firsthand how it could screw with your equilibrium when suddenly faced with someone you love who has been long since dead.

  Their conversation was by no means over, but it didn’t mean she couldn’t cut the guy some slack. She would speak with him again, she would make sure of it, but for now, she needed to return home. Theo would be starting to worry.

  ‘Come on,’ she beckoned Davis and Issac to join her. ‘It’s time to go.’

  ‘Thank you, Armand,’ Olivia told him softly. Although his back was still to her and he didn’t respond, she saw his tense shoulders relax slightly.

  Olivia turned and headed back to the curtain they’d entered through. Once again it folded itself neatly to the side, allowing them to pass under its threadbare tassels.

  ‘What’s his problem?’ Davis whispered as they headed back down the dark corridor toward the door.

  Olivia shook her head. ‘I think it comes under the heading of, be careful what you wish for.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘It was hard for him to see his sister,’ Olivia answered softly.

  Davis nodded, deciding not to question her any further. They approached the door and stepped through into the warm night air. Olivia looked around slightly confused.

  ‘I thought that was the door we came in?’

  ‘So did I,’ Davis glanced around frowning slightly.

  The door swung closed behind them and was no longer the purple door with the white flowers and the mark of the Baron, but a plain brown wooden door. They were also no longer on the main street but in a much quieter back street.

  ‘Come on,’ Davis started moving, ‘we need to get out of the city as quickly as possible.’

  They quickened their pace but after a few moments Davis stopped suddenly and frowned.

  ‘What is it?’ Olivia asked.

  ‘Julien is near.’

  ‘Like, how near?’ she turned to him. ‘He’s supposed to be leading the angels away from us.’

  But her question was soon answered when Julien emerged angrily from the shadows. ‘Where have you been? I’ve been looking everywhere for you; what took you so long?’

  ‘Long story,’ Olivia glanced at Issac.

  Julien followed her gaze, his eyes dropping to Issac’s hands, noting with satisfaction that they were no longer hooks.

  ‘You have your hands back,’ Julien nodded. ‘Is everything in working order?’

  ‘Kind of,’ Issac murmured.

  ‘What do you mean kind of?’ Julien demanded. ‘Never mind,’ he shook his head, ‘we need to move now! I don’t know if I managed to shake them.’

  ‘Getting rusty?’ Issac retorted.

  ‘No,’ Julien’s face darkened. ‘Thackery is leading them.’

  ‘Thackery?’ Issac scowled, ‘but he hates Earth. He hasn’t left Heaven since…’

  ‘Jerusalem,’ Julien nodded, ‘I know. They must be looking for Scarlett, there’s no other reason Azariel would send him here.’

  Julien started walking, glancing around nervously, beckoning for the others to follow.

  ‘Who is Thackery?’ Olivia jogged to catch up with him.

  ‘Somebody we don’t want to run into,’ Julien checked around the corner. ‘I can’t risk translocating us out while we’re within the city limits, in case they can track us. If we can get to one of my safe houses, they’ll smuggle us out of the city. Once beyond the outskirts I can take us anywhere without them noticing.’

  ‘What about this?’ Olivia pulled the compass from her shirt.

  Julien’s eyes widened.

  ‘Where did you get that?’ he whispered, his eyes round with shock.

  ‘That’s not important,’ she shook her head. ‘I can get us all out of the city.’

  ‘Except we’ve already found you,’ a new deeper, richer, colder voice spoke from the street in front of them.

  Julien turned sharply, pushing Olivia behind him to hide her from view. Issac and Davis moved to flank him on either side, effectively putting a wall between them and her. She almost rolled her eyes, but it was kind of sweet that they would try to protect her, if not a little archaic.

  ‘Thackery,’ Julien sneered.

  ‘Julien,’ he replied distastefully, ‘it’s been a long time.’

  ‘Not long enough.’

  ‘I heard you were banished,’ Thackery’s eyes narrowed as he studied Julien. ‘So, tell me, how is it you can bounce all over the city when you aren’t supposed to be able to translocate?’

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he shrugged innocently.

  Olivia peered around Julien to see a tall bulky man in a neat suit. She imagined his dark hair was supposed to be brushed back from his face, but seemingly wild a
nd untamable, it had fallen forward to frame his heavy brows. His equally dark eyes were deep set and close together, his jaw heavy and square. He looked like a thug; it was hard to believe he was supposed to be an angel of the Lord.

  He was surrounded by several more suited men, who looked similarly menacing, their skin glowing and their eyes burning. Behind them the humans continued to laugh and enjoy themselves, spilling out of bars and wandering along the streets chatting and laughing.

  Olivia was worried; the angels didn’t seem like they would concern themselves with collateral damage. Back home in Mercy, they tried really hard to keep the local population from witnessing anything supernatural. Sometimes it couldn’t be helped, but their safety and protection was always foremost in her mind.

  Now, standing partially emerging from an alley onto one of the main streets and surrounded by a host of angels that didn’t look too fluffy and friendly, she was nervous. All of the angels were glaring at Julien and Issac. Hades had warned her about the rivalry between angels and Sentinels, but standing there seeing it with her own eyes for the first time… seeing the naked hatred, it looked as if one wrong word and the angels would happily tear Julien and Issac to pieces in full view of the humans.

  ‘And you Issac, another disgraced Sentinel,’ Thackery continued. ‘You know once banished you are both forbidden to have any contact with other members of your kind. Just for that infraction alone I could end you.’

  ‘I’d like to see you try Thackery,’ Julien’s eyes darkened, ‘or have you forgotten what happened during the uprising?’ His eyes flickered briefly across the assembled angels just itching to go for their weapons. ‘You should have brought more men if you want to take me down.’

  ‘You may have been that good once Julien, but your time on Earth has made you soft. You, a disgraced healer, a human witch,’ his eyes landed distastefully on Davis before noticing Olivia standing behind Julien, ‘and a girl?’

  ‘Alright,’ Olivia brushed Julien and Davis aside and stepped forward.

  ‘Thackery is it? I’m sure you love the sound of your own voice and you hate Julien, yada yada, yada, but you’re not going to throw down here in the middle of the city in front of all these witnesses.’

  ‘Insolent whore,’ he growled. ‘Who are you to address me; do you know what I am?’

  ‘You mean aside from being a gigantic asshole?’ Olivia replied dryly. ‘You don’t impress me sweetheart, and the truth is, I probably have bigger balls than you, so why don’t you just pack up your little hit squad here and be on your way.’

  Thackery’s lips peeled back and he snarled, a surprisingly animalistic sound.

  ‘You think I care about these stupid gluttonous pigs filling the streets? They are all so far beneath us they’re not worthy to lick our boots. I will kill every last one of them for your insolence and make you watch. Then when I’m done, I’m going to rip that smart tongue out of your mouth and…’

  Olivia yawned.

  ‘Sorry,’ she replied flatly, ‘is this going take long? I have somewhere I need to be.’

  Julien turned to stare at Olivia his eyes wide with shock.

  ‘She does this,’ Davis shrugged. ‘You do get used to it after a while.’

  Thackery’s eyes darkened to almost black and there was a vein in his forehead, which looked as if it were about to burst.

  ‘Kill the humans,’ he growled to the man standing next to him. ‘Slaughter them all and let that serve as a lesson.’

  The angels all withdrew their blades with a slow, menacing, steely hiss. They turned toward the people milling the street but stopped dead when they realized no one was moving. Everyone had frozen mid step, a wisp of litter hung motionless in the air and silence filled the street. One of the angels broke away and swung his blade but it merely disappeared through the nearest human and reappeared on the other side, as if he were as insubstantial as mist.

  Thackery turned back to Olivia furiously.

  ‘How are you doing this?’ he demanded.

  ‘Those ‘stupid gluttonous pigs’ are worth a hundred of you,’ she replied matter of factly, ‘and every single one of them is under my protection. You see, this is my world… my home and if you think I’ll allow you to come stomping in here and wipe your feet all over it, you can think again.’

  He opened his mouth to speak when his eyes suddenly locked on the compass hanging around her neck.

  ‘Where did you get that?’ he roared furiously. ‘How dare you touch such a sacred artefact. That is not yours.’

  ‘Yes, it is,’ she replied calmly.

  ‘Give it to me,’ he demanded.

  ‘No,’ she answered simply.

  Growling again he lunged forward. Julien moved to intercept him, but Davis grasped his arm, holding him back with surprising strength, shaking his head.

  ‘Leave her,’ he murmured against Julien’s ear, ‘she knows what she’s doing…watch.’

  Olivia lifted her hand and with barely any effort Thackery was thrust back by an invisible force so powerful his feet skidded along the ground.

  She stepped forward, her skin glowing even brighter than the angels. Her hair shone almost black, kicked up by an unseen wind as her eyes burned gold, and her voice when she spoke, although she did not shout, was loud enough to shake the glass in the surrounding windows. It was strangely choral, almost like it was vibrating with the same resonance as the magical energy running through the city.

  ‘You have no idea who you’re dealing with,’ her eyes flashed dangerously. ‘You think you can come down here? To my world? And throw your weight around making demands? Stalking our streets and treating the humans like they don’t matter… well think again.’

  Suddenly there was a flash at Olivia’s shoulder, and it burst into bright multicolored flames, revealing Manny, no longer a firedrake but a small dragon, flames licking against his brightly glowing scales. His claws flexed against her shoulder as he spread his wings out wide and let out a defiant cry, belching a wall of flame.

  The angels stumbled back a step.

  Olivia lifted her hands drawing her fists apart slowly as her bow of fire burst into flames in her hands, a bolt of pure black fire edged in sapphire blue aimed directly at Thackery.

  ‘I am a Guardian,’ she told them flatly. ‘Go back and tell Azariel, and Thomas, that their authority extends no further than Heaven’s boundaries. This is my world; you want it, you’ll have to go through me first and I guarantee you won’t survive it.’

  Thackery twitched, his eyes dark and defiant, filled with fury, as he debated on whether or not to risk attacking her. One of the younger angels broke away and with a howl of defiance lunged toward Olivia.

  The bolt of fire hit him dead center of the chest with a loud and dull thud. His blade clattered to the ground and he looked down at the smoking, gaping hole in the middle of his torso. He looked back up at Olivia almost as if he couldn’t quite believe it, his mouth hanging open silently. His glowing skin faded and turned gray, cracks began to appear in his skin as if he were petrified stone, his whole body stiffened and then collapsed in on itself, no more than a pile of ash.

  Olivia turned her attention back to Thackery who was staring at her hatefully.

  ‘Go now,’ she ordered him, ‘and next time I suggest you think twice before crossing me.’

  Thackery took a step back, his gaze still murderous. His huge dirty gray feathered wings unfolded, and with one last menacing glare at Olivia and the others he launched himself into the air, leaving a burning comet-like trail behind him as he disappeared into the clouds, which rumbled with thunder. The rest of the angels spread their wings of varying colors before launching themselves up into the sky behind him.

  Once they were all gone Olivia stepped further out into the street and turned to face her companions.

  ‘I hope you know what you’re doing Chére,’ Julien stared at her with serious eyes. ‘You have just made a deadly enemy.’

  ‘It can’t be helped,’ she fr
owned, as Manny flapped his wings and kneaded his claws into her shoulder comfortingly. ‘The line has to be drawn somewhere. You said yourself there hasn’t been an angel presence of this magnitude on earth in thousands of years. They have to know they can’t treat it as their own personal sandbox, throwing a temper tantrum when they can’t get their own way.’

  ‘I’m beginning to think you have got bigger balls than the lot of us,’ Julien murmured.

  ‘I’m just doing what needs to be done,’ her mouth curved slowly, ‘and I’ll thank you to leave my balls out of it.’

  Julien barked out an unintentional laugh, loosening the knot of tension in his chest.

  ‘Look,’ Olivia told him in all seriousness, ‘the fact is, sooner or later they’re going to figure out Scarlett is under my protection and when they do I need them to be too scared to cross me, or at least worried enough to slow them down until we figure out what the hell to do.’

  ‘Fair enough,’ Julien looked up at Manny perched on her shoulder who was watching him with his huge orb like eyes. Julien’s gaze dropped back to Olivia as he studied the young woman with new found respect. After a moment he knelt before her, dropping to one knee, Issac did the same.

  ‘Guardian,’ Julien intoned formally, ‘it would be my honor to serve you and continue to protect Scarlett.’

  ‘Get up Julien,’ she frowned, ‘you’re just making it weird. We’re allies, let’s leave it at that. Besides, now you’ve had a glimpse of what I am capable of, I trust that you’ll think twice before you consider betraying me.’

  Julien nodded, rising to his feet, still watching her thoughtfully.

  ‘I don’t know about you but I’m ready to go home,’ Olivia glanced around at the still frozen residents of the Quarter. ‘You want to do the honors Julien or shall I?’

  ‘I don’t know where we’re going exactly,’ he replied.

  ‘I’ll do it then,’ she replied holding out her hand. Issac reached for her but she pulled her hand back sharply. ‘Uh, maybe not, no offence Issac but I’d rather keep all my bones intact.’