“Collect our family and friends,” I instructed quietly, even though the courtyard’s calm sent my voice echoing off the walls. I reached back for Jocelyn’s hand and breathed a sigh of relief when her fingers settled over mine. “We need to prepare.”
A hesitant voice from the crowd asked the question on everyone else’s mind. “For-for what?”
I sighed, harboring no illusions on what was headed our way.
“For who,” I corrected. “For Sartorius…”
19
LINEAGE
JOCELYN HEALED THE WOUNDED ON OUR return trip to New Orleans. Once there, the mood over the village grew somber. Only intermittent clashes of swords and small explosions as objects burst into flames or cracked under ice broke the silence. The thick cypress trees surrounding us were silent, unmoving, sitting in judgment like elders on a council. It was the quiet before the storm.
While some honed their skills, the rest of us watched the sky. I positioned guards in various locations to signal when our guests had arrived. It wasn’t long before one of them dropped to the dock where I was meeting with Theleo, Lester, and Isabella. He didn’t bother knocking or cowering from his announcement. That just wasn’t like Aidan.
The door to my parent’s shack slammed open and he strolled in. “We have company, but it’s not who you’re expecting.”
“Who are they?” Isabella asked on behalf of the rest of us.
He shrugged. “They’re wearing skull necklaces and coming by canoe.”
That wasn’t exactly what we needed from him, so I stood and went to look for myself. By the time I stepped outside, the first of them were appearing around the bend, from the direction of the village’s undeclared entrance. True to Aidan’s observation, some did wear bone jewelry, including necklaces. Others wore top hats and black suits.
“Voodoos…,” Theleo whispered behind me.
I chuckled. “Scared, Theleo?”
He snickered confidently, but I knew the truth. Vires didn’t have much experience with voodoo. They were instructed to avoid voodoo practitioners at all costs. The Sevens didn’t understand their ways, but they were clear enough about their powers, having taken seven voodoo practitioners against their will centuries ago and forcing them to write the prophecy. None of The Sevens felt powerful enough to defeat them, at least not until now.
They rowed in without a sound, a single line of canoes filled with voodoo priests, priestesses, and practitioners. Their heads were held high and their faces were stern as they passed the crowd of spectators on the docks.
If the village wasn’t completely quiet before, it was definitely stunned into silence now. A profound sense of respect was engraved on the faces I saw around the village, and with good reason. The Voodoo remained on the periphery of our world for generations, and therefore they had seemed immune to The Sevens’ destruction. There were only two exceptions, the abduction of the first channelers and now Miss Mabelle and Miss Celia.
“Are they here for revenge?” Aidan’s gruff voice asked, as he appeared beside me. Another one of my cousins stepped up beside him and then another. They reminded me of their own small army within our large one.
“No,” I said. “They don’t take revenge. They’re too judicious for it.”
“But they look ready to fight,” he pointed out. “So what are they doing here?”
“I’m thinking it’s to make sure what happened to their sisters doesn’t happen again.”
Mrs. LeClaire, being at the front of the head canoe, reached us first. She climbed to the dock and approached me.
“We are here because the seventh is coming.”
Understanding her reference to Sartorius, I remarked, “We could use the help.”
“We know,” she replied simply.
I tried not to take this as an insult.
“Is Ms. Veilleux and the rest of the coven with you? I didn’t notice them come in.”
“They’re gone,” she replied without emotion.
“What do you mean…gone?”
“Gone,” she retorted. “Disbanded, took to flight.” She wiggled her fingers in the air simulating wings lifting off. “Gone.”
“Where?” I asked. Voodoo practitioners arrive to help us and they leave us in our time of need? This made no sense to me.
Apparently, it didn’t to Mrs. LeClaire, either. “How should I know?” she snapped.
Aidan raised his eyebrows at me, which I was going to respond to when I saw Gershom on the next dock over.
He was looking at the sky. His mouth drew tight before muttering, “They’re coming.”
Maggie, who stood next to him, groaned. “Coming? They’re already here,” she stated with a rub to the back of her neck.
“How do you know?” I called out.
Without taking her eyes from the sky, she explained, “Gershom’s gift is the same as my curse. We can feel our enemies.”
I needed no more forewarning.
“Jocelyn?”
“I’m with you.”
“Good.”
“Lester?” I shifted to face him. “Is everyone in place?”
“Yes.”
“Excellent.”
One last effort needed to be made, but we were running out of time.
I stepped up to the edge of the dock, making myself visible to those lining the village waterway. The sound of the Vires began to be heard now, a persistent, growing drone.
“To all you here…,” I bellowed.
Faces, which were initially pointed toward the sky, lowered to me. In them I saw anticipation…and fear.
“I am Jameson Caldwell. I’m also known as the Nobilis. And I see a broad army collected here to stand in defiance against corruption and oppression. Here and now you are free. But will you preserve it? Or will you give it back?
“I am one of you…and I have lived as one of them. And from personal experience, I know our strength far surpasses the power some believe they hold. That power is false! It is manufactured…a product of brainwashing by their leaders. It did not grow in them from birth, as it has with us. It did not lead them here today, as it has with us. And it will not persevere as it will with us! This is your chance, your one chance, to tell our enemies that they do not…they will not…ever…own us…again!”
Howls and whoops sounded out then, vibrating through the trees and across the water. Shouts of resolve and defiance, followed as they turned, just as our enemies crested the tree tops.
The massive black blur in the otherwise blue sky didn’t target us immediately. Instead, they circled from above, creating a wide ring around the village. Pausing, they stared down at us, inspecting us as if we were animals in a cage.
To my sides and across the water, our people shifted their stances, readying for the assault.
Everything else around us went motionless, even the glassy bayou perfectly reflected our enemies hovering above.
I wondered if Sartorius might show himself, but I didn’t wait to find out. Bending forward, I roared through the bayou. Aidan picked up on my lead, showing his fervor for the fight. Another one of my cousins joined in. From there, the rest of us on the ground, created a rousing, chest-rattling sound that made the Vires stir.
“Elementals!” I shouted, and as we had preplanned, every shack in the village became encased in ice. From them, Levitators broke off long, sharp icicles, their crackling filling the air, as they waited for my command.
I didn’t hesitate.
“Launch!”
And the icy arrows were sent directly at the Vires. Some dodged the attack, but most hits were true to their aim, and the bodies of black uniforms plunged to the earth, some tumbling into the dark, murky water.
A second later, the first Vire descended, the rest followed, and the bayou became a battleground.
Trees snapped and were sent hurdling through the crowd. Bodies flew into shacks. Fire engulfed the docks. Incantations screamed through the air. Voodoo chants hummed beneath them.
A gro
up of Vires came directly for Jocelyn and me, but before they could reach us, Aidan and the rest of my cousins intervened. I took advantage of the opportunity and grabbed Jocelyn.
“I’m getting you out of here,” I said, sweeping my arm below her knees and lifting her into a cradle.
“No! Jameson, I’m needed here! We talked about this.”
“I changed my mind.” The uneasy sound in my voice made me angry.
Get a hold of yourself, I said, Jocelyn will be fine once she’s safe.
“I’m fine now!” she shouted, after reading my thought. “Put me down.”
“No!”
We were breaching the treetops by this point, where the conflict was being carried into the air. Vires fought off Dissidents and winged Alterums as I used Jocelyn’s ability to levitate her out of harm’s way. This sight only increased my desire to get her out of here.
And then something slammed into us, shooting us back to earth. The trees blurred as we passed, the wind whipped in our ears, but it was the arms encircling us that had me more concerned.
We crashed on the muddy embankment just outside the village. My head snapped up in search of our attacker, and I caught a glimpse of the battle raging through the trees.
“You have no idea how to stay out of trouble, do you?” a gruff voice snarled in my ear. His anger fit my expectations, but not his choice of words. He sounded as if he were defending us.
Jerking my head back, I found Stalwart, shoving himself off of us.
“Sartorius is up there, waiting for you,” he said with a frown, “and you’re headed right to him.” He glared at me and then shook his head in annoyance.
Ignoring him, I helped Jocelyn up and then stood myself. “Where can we put Jocelyn so she won’t be hurt?”
“I’m not hiding,” she seethed. “I’m needed here.”
Keeping my attention on Stalwart, he responded with a good answer. “I have a place.”
“I’m not hiding!” Jocelyn insisted.
“Where?” I asked.
“Come with me,” he said, starting to move around us.
Jocelyn exhaled loudly in disgust, but that wasn’t what caught my attention.
If it hadn’t been for the shift in Stalwart’s stance I would never have seen what was coming. But by then, it was too late. The blindingly fast movement of wings, sweeping downward in an arch along the ground, came to a halt less than a second later, directly behind Stalwart. Before Jocelyn or I could warn him, the dull tip of a cane emerged on our side of his body, directly through his chest.
Jocelyn went for him, but I held her back. He was already gone. His face was slack and his eyes were glossed over by the time he slid forward.
At the end of the cane, holding on to the moldavite stone at the top, was its owner. Sartorius watched us intently as his wings ruffled back into place behind him and the odd translucent skin covering his body slipped across his muscles from their pull.
“Taking my granddaughter away from me?” he asked with mock astonishment. “You should know better, Jameson.”
Before I could respond, Jocelyn spat. “You are no family of mine.”
“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice in the matter,” he replied casually.
“It is my choice. We can choose our family.”
“That may be, if you consider that cultural hyperbole, but I’m referring to something deeper, something more real.”
“There is nothing real about you, Sartorius,” she said in loathing.
“My blood is,” he replied, “and it runs through you.”
He drew the cane back to his side and asked, “Has it ever occurred to you, Jocelyn, why you, of all people, would be gifted as the Relicuum? The person capable of taking on others’ residue? Your power comes from me. It is my lineage that gave you life, and the ability to absorb others. And thus…it is mine to use as I wish.”
“Absorb?” I said, barely audible. “You absorb others?”
“Like my dead associates, we arrived here with certain talents,” confirmed Sartorius. “And that is mine.”
I turned to Jocelyn. “The bowl, Mrs. LeClaire’s bowl. It was empty, wasn’t it?”
Sartorius chuckled. “Oh, I can assure you that I am everything but empty. I am a sponge.”
I could see her expression change as she began to understand what I meant. “Empty,” she reiterated, “so he could take in whatever came his way.”
“You pick up other’s abilities,” I stated, having already concluded it.
“For short durations, yes. I’ve needed something to make it last, to make my ability survive. And as I understand it, Jocelyn has now picked up the last residue, control over the elements. Isn’t that correct, dear granddaughter?”
She remained silent, in disgust.
Sartorius stared at her with true wickedness in his eyes. “Now, with you at my side,” he continued with a sickening grin, “nothing will stop me.”
“I’m not at your side,” she seethed.
“But you will be shortly,” he said with a tip of his head.
And I turned just in time to see the Vires coming up behind us.
20
UNBREAKABLE BOND
I DIDN’T GIVE THE ADVANCING VIRES a chance to assault us. Stepping forward to meet them head on, I planted a fist in each of their guts while sending a surge of emotions through them. They stumbled back, surprised, giving me enough time to take on the next two coming at us. Unfortunately, one of them was a Levitator so I never got the chance to attack. My feet slipped out from beneath me and I was flung backwards, landing against a tree hard enough to knock the air from my lungs. This didn’t stop me. I went back for them until I saw Sartorius’ cane pinned to Jocelyn’s neck.
Sartorius observed me, pulling the cane tighter against her skin, while shaking his head in wonderment. “Why do you fight?”
“Because I have the choice,” I said, working to catch my breath. “That, Sartorius, you will never take from me.”
“Hmm,” he replied thoughtfully. “I think you’ll find yourself questioning that statement in just a few minutes.” To the Vires, he instructed, deepening his voice with the command, “Restrain him.”
This time I didn’t fight, not with Sartorius’ weapon at Jocelyn’s throat. While it was unlikely he’d use it against her, his delusions might make him think he was powerful enough that his army alone might do the job.
Once I was properly under control, he handed Jocelyn to one of his lackeys, whose own dagger came up to Jocelyn’s neck, and led us through the small jut of land behind the shacks toward the waterway.
“You’re going to die for this,” I said. “Every one of you.”
The Vires, having been trained to show no personal reactions, didn’t respond. But the quake of Sartorius’ shoulders as he laughed under his breath told me that he had heard.
As we drew closer to the village, I noticed with some measure of hope that the fight continued to rage on. Someone resembling Nolan flew by with his feet and arms dangling behind him as if he’d been kicked in the chest. A voodoo practitioner slammed into the corner of my parent’s shack, slumped to the ground, and sat unmoving. I watched as his hand came to the bones around his neck. He plucked one off, spoke to it, curled it inside his fist, hauled himself up and ran in the direction he had come. In the background, water spouts and balls of fire flew by. Overhead, cries erupted, both in pain and in triumph.
Jocelyn, however, didn’t seem to notice. She had something else on her mind.
“You have everything you want,” Jocelyn said, making me wonder about her intentions. “You need me, Sartorius, but you don’t need Jameson. Let him go.”
Ah, that’s what she was thinking…
“Jocelyn,” I warned her, but she ignored me.
Sartorius did the same. “Not everything, my dear granddaughter.”
“You do,” she insisted. “You said you wanted the Sevens dead. They are. You said you wanted the army under your command. You have it.
You said you wanted me. You got me. You have everything. Let him go.”
“Jocelyn,” I started again, but Sartorius cut me off.
Coming to a halt, he twisted his head around to face her. “The prophecy,” he hissed. “You haven’t fulfilled your destiny yet. He must die, so we will live.”
And this was what I was trying to keep her from hearing, because I knew one final step must be made for Sartorius to preserve his destiny, and because I knew the reaction she would have when hearing it.
Hopelessness set in as her face went still, the muscles in her body tensed, and her breathing stopped. The only visible movement about her was the tear making its way down her cheek.
The resolve I felt was overpowering then.
You will die, I thought, every last one of you.
As our feet met the dock built around the side of my parent’s shack, I felt the rumble of the fight in front of us and overhead. The Dissidents and the Alterums were making a valiant effort, but they were heavily outnumbered now. The bodies of their comrades scattered the docks and littered the muddy embankment.
As Sartorius directed us to the edge of the dock, where we were most visible, gradually, the fighting slowed. Strangely, the Vires did not reengage with the Alterums or the Dissidents, which I reasoned came from an earlier command given by Sartorius, which made me realize the delusional idiot had a plan in mind for Jocelyn and me.
Maggie and Eran hovered close, three shacks away, but I was sure the dagger at Jocelyn’s throat kept them from launching their attack. The Caldwells saw it too, keeping them ready but at a distance.
Sartorius stood at the edge, back erect, head high. He looked confident, bold, in control…the epitome of a ruler. When he spoke, everyone present watched with apt concentration.
“I am quite certain these two individuals need no introduction. The Nobilis and the Relicuum have been admired, revered, and made notorious for centuries…as the couple in our world in which one lover will take the life of the other.”
While there had been heightened apprehension in the audience before, the tension became palpable now. I caught sight of several Caldwells and Weatherfords shifting, preparing for attack.
Prophecy (Residue Series #4) Page 23