The Veritas

by Wendy Saunders

  ‘Well we would have had time for breakfast if you hadn’t distracted me,’ Roni flushed, placing another couple of chairs at the table.

  Jake looked up at her and just grinned. ‘Totally worth it.’

  ‘Not in front of the children you two,’ Olivia sighed.

  ‘They don’t understand,’ Jake glanced down at Theia and pulled a funny face, which sent her into helpless gales of laughter.

  ‘You haven’t had anything to eat yet Scarlett,’ Theo interrupted. ‘What can I get you?’

  ‘Oh um…’ she frowned.

  ‘You should have something filling,’ Olivia added, ‘you’re still recovering. Theo have we got any of that bacon left.’

  ‘Sure,’ Theo climbed to his feet. Tommy dropped off a delivery from the store yesterday while you were busy with Scarlett. ‘You want eggs with your bacon Scarlett?’ he asked.

  ‘Well… I…’

  ‘I’ll take bacon and eggs if it’s on offer,’ Jake glanced up.

  ‘You don’t have time,’ Roni reminded him, ‘you’re supposed to be down at the station soon.’

  ‘There’s always time for bacon,’ Jake told her seriously, ‘besides Mac called me. He’s running late this morning.’

  ‘Is anything wrong?’ Roni frowned.

  ‘He didn’t say,’ Jake shook his head. ‘Are you going to stand there staring Theo, or are you going to get me a coffee? I’m dying here.’

  ‘I’ll get it,’ Roni rolled her eyes, ‘pay no attention to him Theo.’

  ‘I never do,’ Theo grinned.

  ‘Hey,’ Jake replied, ‘you’re my best man, you’re supposed to be on my side.’

  ‘No,’ Theo placed a clean mug down in front of Jake and then one in front of Scarlett, ‘I’m supposed to turn up at the altar and make sure you don’t faint or run away.’

  ‘Like I’d do that,’ he smiled up at Roni as she reached over and poured him a coffee.

  ‘Anyone else want a refill?’

  Julien, Issac and Davis held up their cups.

  ‘I’ll take some bacon too, if you’re making it Theo,’ Davis added.

  ‘Anyone else?’ Theo asked.

  ‘Me,’ Julien raised his hand.

  ‘Me too,’ Issac added.

  ‘Olivia?’ Theo asked.

  ‘Hang on,’ she shifted Logan, preparing to stand, ‘I’ll come and help you.’

  ‘It’s okay,’ Roni held up her hand as she finished filling Scarlett’s coffee cup, ‘I’m up. I’ll help him.’

  She set the coffee pot back down and pulled an apron on, tying it carefully over her work clothes.

  Theo leaned into the refrigerator and retrieved two large packs of bacon and a carton of eggs. Standing up he blinked as strange curved writing seemed to swirl in front of his eyes, the same as it had in the bathroom that time. He closed his eyes briefly for a second and when he opened them the strange writing was once again gone.

  ‘Are you okay Theo?’ Roni asked quietly.

  ‘I’m fine,’ he forced a smile, turning away quickly and retrieving the frying pan.

  ‘So, you two are….?’ Jake looked pointedly across the table. ‘Davis I know.’

  ‘Julien,’ Olivia answered for them, ‘and Issac. Sentinel, same race and friend of Sam’s,’ she pointed at Julien; ‘Sentinel and kick ass healer,’ she pointed to Issac, who acknowledged her weird compliment with a bow of his head and an amused smile. Then she reached Scarlett.

  ‘Sorry sweetheart,’ she apologized, ‘they already know you’re an angel.’

  ‘Are there no secrets in this house?’ Scarlett frowned in annoyance.

  ‘Not really,’ Olivia shrugged. ‘Jake’ she scolded, ‘get your hand out of there. If you want cereal put it in a bowl or wait for your bacon…’ she switched her attention back to Scarlett as smoothly as changing gears. ‘Look I know all this is a bit strange, but everyone around this table knows the truth and we need to have each other’s backs.’

  ‘And it doesn’t bother you?’ Scarlett turned to Jake, ‘that they’re not human? That I’m not human.’

  Jake shrugged and continued to shovel dry cereal into his mouth.

  ‘What he means to say,’ Roni slid a plate in front of Scarlett heaped with fresh toast, bacon and eggs, ‘is that once you’ve met the God of the Underworld the shock kind of wears off.’

  ‘The God of the Underworld?’ Scarlett repeated.

  ‘Hades likes to stop by from time to time,’ Olivia replied easily.

  ‘That’s only because he enjoys arguing with you,’ Jake grinned.

  ‘No, he loves me,’ Olivia replied innocently.

  ‘Hades?’ Scarlett blinked… ‘THE Hades? But he hasn’t walked the Earth in thousands of years, not since the rest of the Gods exiled themselves to Mount Olympus.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Olivia replied, ‘Zeus really wasn’t happy about that.’

  ‘Zeus?’ Scarlett repeated slowly, ‘You’ve met Zeus too?’

  ‘Our paths have crossed,’ Olivia replied evasively. ‘He doesn’t care much for me and I have to say the feeling is mutual.’

  ‘You should have been here for their wedding,’ Jake laughed loudly.

  ‘Don’t remind me of that night,’ Davis grimaced.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Jake slapped him on the shoulder, ‘your secret is safe with me.’

  ‘What happened?’ Julien asked, unable to contain his curiosity.

  ‘Don’t you dare,’ Davis warned Jake.

  ‘I wasn’t going to say anything,’ he winked at Davis, ‘but let’s just say it went down in the town’s history. No one is ever going to forget Olivia and Theo’s wedding.’

  ‘Why?’ Scarlett leaned forward intrigued.

  ‘Half the Underworld emptied out to help them celebrate; Hades was there, so were the furies. Damn they sure can eat. Eris was there; seriously if you ever cross paths with her and she offers you an apple, SAY NO. Hephaestus was there, he brought the wine. You have never partied until you’ve partied on Hephaestus’s booze. Man,’ he chuckled, ‘it got pretty wild.’

  ‘Okay who wants bacon?’ As Roni brought over a huge platter of steaming meat, there was a lot of shuffling and plates being passed back and forth across the table.

  ‘Sorry,’ Olivia apologized to Scarlett with a good-natured roll of her eyes, ‘sometimes it’s like feeding time at the zoo around here.’

  Roni passed the almost empty plate back to Theo and took a seat at the table, her gaze softening and a small smile tugging at her lips as she watched Jake carefully cut his bacon into tiny pieces. With his fork he patiently picked them up one by one, blowing on them so they weren’t too hot and feeding them sweetly to Theia, who bounced happily in his lap as she chewed.

  ‘Roni, are you okay?’ Davis asked in amusement, ‘you look like you’re overdosing on pheromones or hormones or something.’

  ‘No, but I think my uterus just went into spasms,’ she murmured. ‘Anyway, there is actually a reason we stopped by this morning,’ she turned to Olivia.

  ‘Oh?’ Olivia asked as Logan leaned back against her, sucking his thumb and twirling a lock of her dark hair in his little hand.

  ‘I’ve managed to confirm that Elias Black is the owner of the Black Orchid Co. He has a silent partner, but I haven’t been able to confirm their identity.’

  Scarlett watched them silently as she began to eat. If this Elias Black was the same Mr Black from Vegas then she had a pretty good idea who the partner was, but still unsure about the dynamic of this chaotic little group she wasn’t about to volunteer any information until she knew what the hell was going on.

  ‘And there’s still no evidence tying him back to the Veritas?’ Olivia asked.

  Roni shook her head, ‘maybe there is no connection.’

  ‘Maybe,’ Olivia mused. ‘I just think it’s a little strange that the minute the mysterious Elias Black moves into town, the Veritas start making an appearance.’

  ‘The Veritas,’ Julien snorted in disgust, ‘bottom
feeders.’

  ‘You are familiar with them?’ Olivia asked.

  ‘I’m a collector,’ Julien replied, ‘of sorts. I procure magical objects for various people for a price.’

  ‘Uh-huh,’ Olivia replied suspiciously.

  ‘It’s all above board. I make a fair offer, if they’re not interested in selling, I walk away. Unlike the representatives of the Veritas. From my experience they don’t like to take no for an answer. I’ve crossed paths with them several times. What’s your interest in them?’

  ‘I don’t have an interest in them,’ Olivia replied. ‘Unfortunately, they seem to have taken an unhealthy interest in me and my family.’

  ‘Of course, they would,’ Julien replied unsurprised, ‘a Guardian and her children, who I can only assume are as magically gifted as their mother. You’d be like all their Christmas’s come at once.’

  ‘It’s more than that though,’ Olivia chewed her lip deciding on how much she should tell them.

  ‘You may as well tell them Olivia,’ Theo interrupted. ‘You know what they’re after and if the Veritas is as big and far reaching as we think we’re going to need all the help we can get.’

  ‘What’s going on?’ Davis asked in concern.

  ‘It has come to my attention recently that the demon sisters Sabine and Saffire have formed an alliance with the Veritas,’ Olivia told them.

  Scarlett scoffed in disgust.

  ‘I’m guessing you’re familiar with them?’ she asked.

  ‘Put it this way,’ Scarlett scowled, ‘the next time we cross paths I intend to peel the skin from their faces.’

  ‘A sentiment I can fully get behind,’ Olivia nodded, ‘however, that doesn’t help us right now. The Veritas on their own are bad enough but with demons on their payroll, we’re in for a rough ride.’

  ‘But why?’ Scarlett frowned, ‘they hate humans. Why ally themselves with them?’

  ‘Because they are trying to buy their way back into Lucifer’s good graces by giving him something he wants so, I suspect, he won’t peel the skin off their faces.’

  Scarlett swallowed hard to force the food in her mouth down her suddenly dry throat.

  ‘The Book of the Heavens,’ she whispered.

  ‘Yeah,’ Olivia frowned, ‘and as you can imagine I’m going to do everything I can to prevent that. The only thing worse than the book in the hands of a homicidal secret society, is it in the hands of a bunch of demons who intend to turn it over to Lucifer. If he gets his hands on the book, he’ll be able to break out of his prison in Hell, he’ll lay waste to Earth and be knocking at the pearly gates by Christmas.’

  ‘That can’t happen,’ Scarlett set her fork down and stared at Olivia. ‘No matter what happens, Lucifer cannot get his hands on the book.’

  ‘We won’t let that happen, but unfortunately I have to admit I’ve been a little lax since I became Guardian. We figured it was all over; we killed Nathaniel, we found the book and stopped it from falling into the wrong hands. Then the twins were born, and we were so preoccupied with them and with finding Sam, we missed what was going on right under our noses.’

  ‘Olivia,’ Theo spoke softly.

  ‘It’s true though,’ she frowned in frustration, ‘we were so hell bent on finding Sam we didn’t make the connection with the Veritas until they already had a massive head start on us. We’re still trying to play catch up and I don’t know how close they are to finding the book.’

  ‘They won’t be able to find it,’ Scarlett said quietly.

  ‘What?’ Olivia turned to her slowly, ‘how do you know?’

  ‘Because there is only one way to find the book,’ she blew out a breath. ‘There is a prophecy.’

  ‘A prophecy?’ Olivia whispered. ‘Hades… Hades told me we were entering the days of prophecy, but I didn’t know what he meant.’

  ‘There are some who believe that,’ Scarlett nodded. ‘This prophecy, I don’t know where it came from or exactly what it says, but Azariel, Thomas and many others believe in it absolutely. The prophecy is rumored to contain clues or instructions, kind of like a roadmap to lead the chosen one to the book. The prophecy is supposed to reveal the true Guardian of Caelum and it is said that the Guardian will have the power to bring peace to our people or…’

  ‘Or?’

  ‘Or to destroy Paradise,’ Scarlett replied.

  ‘Okay,’ Olivia nodded, ‘where do we find this prophecy?’

  ‘That’s the problem, there’s only one known copy in existence and until recently the elders believed it lost.’

  ‘But you know where it is, I’m guessing?’

  ‘I know where it was,’ Scarlett replied.

  ‘Where?’ Olivia asked.

  ‘It doesn’t matter,’ Scarlett shook her head, ‘it’s gone. You won’t be able to get it back.’

  ‘Scarlett, please, I know you don’t know us well and you don’t trust us yet but all we want to do is make sure Lucifer doesn’t get his hands on the book and that means stopping the Veritas. We are so far behind them right now; we could really use your help.’

  Scarlett hated to admit it, but she was right. No matter what, Lucifer could not be allowed to get his hands on the Book of the Heavens, even if it meant she had to trust these strangers. Sam was gone, she had no allies left. Even Julien she barely knew having only met him once in New Orleans, even though he’d spent the better part of the last two thousand years watching over her. Right now, she had a severe lack of options.

  ‘The prophecy was being kept in a secret room at the top of a Las Vegas casino,’ she finally admitted.

  ‘The Black Orchid?’ Olivia’s eyes widened. ‘Scarlett, do you mean the Black Orchid Casino? The one that’s owned by Elias Black?’

  ‘Co-owned.’

  ‘The silent partner?’ Olivia replied slowly, ‘you know who it is, don’t you?’

  Scarlett blinked as she stared at Olivia.

  ‘It’s Sam,’ Scarlett sighed. ‘Sam owns the casino with Mr Black, but don’t ask me who he is. I don’t know, I never met him. I just know that the prophecy was in the casino that night…’

  ‘The night it exploded?’

  ‘It exploded?’ Scarlett frowned in confusion.

  ‘Well, the top couple of floors at least,’ Olivia mused. ‘I was there with Theo at street level, I saw the explosion. It looked like witch fire from where I was, which would make sense. Although I haven’t met Elias Black, I’ve sensed his magic; he’s an incredibly powerful witch.’

  ‘Scarlett,’ Theo interrupted, ‘you were there that night, we know you were. How did you not know about the explosion?’

  ‘I was… unconscious,’ she told them warily, she didn’t really want to admit that technically, she’d been dead at the time.

  ‘What aren’t you telling us Scarlett?’ Julien spoke up. He’d been watching carefully, and he knew there was something important she was holding back.

  ‘How did you know I was there?’ Scarlett ignored his question and turned to Theo.

  Theo rose silently from the chair. Crossing the kitchen and opening a drawer he retrieved something, which he wordlessly handed to Scarlett.

  ‘Where did you get this?’ she gasped as she looked up at him.

  In her hand she held a single tarot card, the card of the devil. It was dog-eared and smeared with dried blood but there was no mistaking it. It was the card that Armand Bachelier had given her when she’d made a deal with him to slow the poison in Sam’s blood.

  ‘I found it in amongst the rubble at the casino,’ Theo told her. ‘It was lying at the edge of a pool of blood; when I touched it, I saw you.’

  ‘You’re a seer?’ she realized.

  Theo nodded.

  ‘What happened that night Scarlett?’ Olivia asked.

  ‘Sam and I found the casino,’ she began reluctantly. ‘He’d lost all his memories and we were following a trail, trying to figure what was going on, where he’d been and how he’d lost his memories. When we arrived at the Blac
k Orchid, we realized Sam owned it. We went to the penthouse which was his private apartment apparently. It was there we discovered the hidden room and the prophecy.’

  ‘Then what happened?’ Julien asked.

  ‘It was then we’d discovered who’d abducted Sam, I’m guessing on the night of the awakening, if that’s when you say he first disappeared. He’d been tortured which had contributed to his memory loss, but his abductors had been tracking him. They used a summoning sigil which was activated the moment he set foot in that room. It was how they found us.’

  ‘Who?’ Julien’s eyes narrowed.

  ‘Ash,’ she whispered, as her eyes locked on his, ‘it was Ash.’

  ‘Ash is alive?’ Julien breathed heavily.

  Scarlett nodded, ‘Cyrus was with him.’

  ‘Who’s Ash?’ Olivia asked.

  Scarlett sat silently as she stared at Julien.

  ‘He’s her brother.’

  ‘Julien…’ she hissed.

  ‘No Scarlett they need to know, because if Ash is alive this goes back further than we thought.’

  ‘Fine,’ she ground out in humiliation, ‘Ash is my brother and he hates me. He faked his own death and framed me for his murder, that’s why I was arrested the first time. He believes he’s the true Guardian of the Book of the Heavens and he has the only copy of the prophecy. There’s no way to stop him. You think Lucifer having the book would be catastrophic? Well in Ash’s hands it would be just as bad. He’s going to kill the entire Sentinel race, mass genocide, with himself crowned king, sitting on a pile of bones.’

  She let out a bitter laugh as she turned to Theo.

  ‘You might want to find us something stronger to drink Theo, because right now…? Azariel, Thomas, The Veritas, Lucifer… or Ash, it doesn’t matter who gets to the book first, whatever way you look at it, we’re staring at the end of the world. And right now? I wish to God you’d never saved me.’

  18

  Tammy Burnett sat at her desk ignoring the untouched pile of work, choosing instead to stare at the room around her. She’d spent so many hours and long days in the past few years, shut away in her office. She’d loved her job, just as she’d loved the town of Mercy, the place she’d chosen to call her home after being pulled through time and dropped down in the 20th Century.