Emergence (The Infernal Guard Book 1)

by SGD Singh

  She finally brought her eyes to his.

  Janu sat perfectly still for a long moment, his tea put aside.

  “Can you speak to her?” he asked, his voice still kind.

  Asha flinched. She felt the blood drain from her face as she realized the implications of his question.

  “I… never tried to.”

  “And are you willing to try?”

  She didn't want to ask. She wanted to hang onto the denial even as it slipped from her grasp. “Are you saying… she… that I'm somehow seeing something that's actually happening?”

  Janu looked at Asha for a long minute.

  “Seers' Talents are… varied. Some can read the future. Some can find anyone. Some, like myself, know when a person is lying, or if something they're saying is… wrong. Still others can see what that something is. And a thousand other so-called psychic abilities. There are Seers with just one, or a combination of these various abilities.”

  “But I'm a Healer,” Asha said. “Everyone has only one Talent, right? That's what the books say.”

  Kairav sat next to her on the grass, putting a large mug of tea into Asha's hands.

  “Some,” she bowed her head, “have no Talent at all.”

  Asha looked at her in surprise as she continued. “There are legends of people with more than one Talent. It hasn't happened in a very long time… but it would certainly explain the Underworlders' interest in you. Their Witches perform spells that allow them to see things.”

  “We won't know unless you train to master your Talents,” added Janu. “I can tell you that since the attack on Miami, there have been three more attacks on Headquarters. In every instance, a Seer was killed and their rings were taken. The same kind of Dänav was used in each attack.”

  Asha looked at the large emerald surrounded by other stones that Janu wore, his Seer ring, and felt the ground tilt beneath her. “I don't understand. If they can see the future, how can a Seer be killed? How can they allow these attacks to happen?”

  Janu looked at her with a sad smile. “It doesn't work that way, Asha. Seers are not all-knowing. They get… flashes of realization, sudden certainties of knowledge, the same way we know the sky is above us without feeling one way or another about it. It's not easy to explain.”

  Asha looked into his strange eyes. Seer eyes. Like mine. Like my mother's.

  She turned to Kairav. “Did you know my mother?”

  Glancing at her in surprise, Kairav nodded. “Yes. Yes, I knew her, and your father. We trained together at Colombia Headquarters in Cartagena. Avinash, too. Your mother was the most talented Seer I've ever met. She could find anyone. All she needed was the smallest thing to connect her to them—clothing, jewelry, even just someone who knew them to think about them. We used to make a game of it, try to get her to make a mistake…” Kairav trailed off, tears shining in her dark eyes. “You have her eyes and her expressions.”

  Asha looked up at the cherry tree. A breeze from somewhere rustled through its branches, adding to the illusion of being outdoors, and a few leaves spiraled into her lap.

  Janu touched her shoulder. “We will be right here, ready to put the necklace back on you. I'll know when to do it, I promise.”

  Asha ran a hand across the yellow, straw-like grass.

  “All right,” she said, reaching under her collar and unclasping the necklace. She placed it carefully into Janu's outstretched hand. “Now what?”

  Janu and Kairav smiled at each other. Janu said, “If what I think is correct, you don't have to be asleep to See this person, Asha. Just focus your mind. Actually, it's probably a good idea to lay down… just in case.”

  Asha glanced at him in alarm, but she straightened out on the grass, making sure she was mostly on the already dead spot, and closed her eyes, focusing her mind.

  In an instant, the repulsive darkness of her nightmares surrounded her with tangible horror, closing around her, squeezing.

  Asha opened her eyes with a gasp.

  Janu was beaming at her. He turned to Kairav triumphantly. “See? I told you she had more than one Talent. Very exciting times!”

  “Are you okay to keep trying, Asha?” Kairav said, putting a hand on Asha's shoulder. “You can think about it, and come back tomorrow.”

  “No… no, I'll try again.”

  Asha closed her eyes.

  Darkness. The sound of pleading voices.

  Please, no more crying. No more laughter. Please—

  “Hello, Asha! Long time.”

  The black stone walls opened onto a furnished room, lit by the flickering light of a large fireplace.

  There she was, the girl of Asha's nightmares, standing in the middle of the room on a tattered Oriental rug, her long dress flowing around her like a dark purple cloud as she turned to face Asha. The sharp end of her silver staff stuck up behind one shoulder, held with cords of shining silk around her slender waist. Asha's stomach turned as she counted five rings glinting against it.

  Three strikingly handsome pale men sat on a sofa in front of her. Vampires.

  As the girl spoke, they looked around in confusion. They, at least, couldn't see her.

  Asha gathered her courage. “Who are you?”

  The hairs on Asha's arms stood up as the familiar laughter filled the stone room. “I'm sorry. Where are my manners?” She bowed low, grinning up at Asha through strands of dark hair. “You can call me Ranya.”

  Ranya. Battle.

  Asha shivered.

  “Why are you doing… what you do?”

  Another laugh. She held up one finger. Curved, claw-like nail guards, like the noble women of the Qing Dynasty wore, shone in the firelight. She gave Asha a wicked grin from behind them.

  “I have a little business to attend to first,” she said, clicking her nails together, and wiggling her eyebrows.

  Faster than Asha's eyes could follow, Ranya pulled the staff over her head and drove it through all three Vampires. Placing a foot against the closest Vampire, she yanked the staff out of them and it made a sickening suction sound.

  “Never send a filthy Strigoi to do a Witch's work,” she snapped, then giggled. Running a metal nail along the gore-covered staff, she licked it.

  The Vampires began struggling to rise as their wounds healed.

  Ranya clucked her tongue irritably and pointed the staff at them. The Vampires' expressions turned to terror, and the next instant they burst into flame.

  Turning her glowing, bloodshot eyes on Asha, Ranya said, “So, where were we? Oh, yes. You wanted to know my plans for world domination so you and your pathetic little friends can try to stop me.”

  Asha stared, and Ranya cackled louder.

  “I… want to know about the babies—”

  “The babies! The babies!” Ranya whined. “You humans are hilarious. You should see the disgust in your eyes right now. Disgust for me. Me! While you're the plague that destroys everything with your disease and filth. Killing every living creature, every plant, even each other for your own sport and appetites. Your consumption knows no bounds, your greed is a bottomless pit… and yet, the babies!” She shrieked, advancing toward Asha, hate blazing within her glowing eyes, and Asha stumbled back against the wall.

  “Don't worry. When I cleanse this rotted realm of you filthy parasitic humans, there will be no babies left to cry over!” She howled with horrible, high pitched laughter.

  Asha's anger overpowered her fear, and she longed to smash the Witch's teeth in.

  “Ooooh,” Ranya sang. “That's the spirit!”

  With one quick movement, she wrapped her fingers around Asha's wrist and pulled her hand up. Ranya's grip was like iron, and Asha felt blood trickle down her arm as the Witch's metal nails dug into her skin.

  Ranya studied Asha's ringless right hand. With a hiss, she shoved Asha away in disgust. “They haven't even figured out what you are, you useless bitch!”

  And before Asha could blink, the bloodied staff hit her hard in the chest. She spun and fell, spr
awling across the stone floor, coughing.

  They looked at each other in silence.

  Asha met Ranya's hate-filled eyes. “What happened to you?” she whispered.

  Screeching hysterically, pointing the razor sharp end of her gore-covered staff at Asha, she lunged—

  Asha opened her eyes, gasping up at the cherry tree.

  “Nice timing, Janu,” she said, grimacing, rubbing her wrist. Her necklace was back on, and with Ranya's scream of rage still echoing in her ears, Asha thought it could stay there forever as far as she was concerned.

  Kairav handed her another large mug of tea. It tasted horrible, and when Asha made a face, she explained, “Nerve tonic. Ginger juice, lobelia seed, valerian root, wild yam root… skullcap root, etcetera. Drink all of it.”

  They watched her drink in silence, and then Asha took a deep breath and told them what she had seen.

  “She's collecting the dead Seers' rings on that horrible spear of hers.”

  Janu looked pale. “I'll talk to Dhevan about that. And she has the same kind of healing Talent that you have? I've never heard of Witches that could…”

  Asha nodded. “Except she's more powerful. She didn't touch those Vampires. She just… sucked the life out of them from across the room. Assuming that any of this is actually real…”

  Janu frowned. He seemed distracted. “Why don't you go and rest now, you—”

  “No, I've rested enough.” Asha rose, dusting off her clothes. “What time is it?”

  “Fifteen minutes until lunch,” said Kairav. “Come. I'll walk you out.”

  They moved through the Zen garden, back through the stone door to the Healing wing.

  Asha cleared her throat. “Could my mother… ?”

  “No. She just knew where someone was. They couldn't sense her.”

  “That seems much more useful, under the circumstances.”

  “It was great for Guards missing in combat, but for new threats…” Kairav laid a hand on Asha's shoulder. “With training, you don't know where this Talent will lead. I will speak to Uma. We'll start tomorrow, okay?”

  Asha nodded silently and turned to the stairs.

  When she emerged from the dark stairwell, she found Lexi and Nidhan pacing at the edge of the kitchen garden, clearly waiting for her, and she blinked away sudden tears of gratitude.

  Lexi jogged over, Nidhan close behind. “Asha! Is everything okay? You look… funny.”

  “I think I'll just eat fruit and bread in my room,” Asha said, starting up the stairs. “Weapons in two hours, right?”

  “We're coming with you,” Lexi said, giving Nidhan a warning look.

  “I'll meet you guys,” said Nidhan.

  Ten minutes later, they sat on her balcony, eating the food Nidhan brought from the mess hall, and Asha told them what happened with Janu and Kairav.

  Lexi paled. “So some psycho witch bitch wants to kill you, and they want you to visit her? I'm confused.”

  “Wait a minute, Lexi,” said Nidhan. “If this Ranya is actually killing babies, and Asha can find out where she is, she has to—”

  “What are you talking about? She can only go there alone. Maybe if the Witch didn't know Asha was there, but as it is… I mean, no way! I'll talk to Barindra myself! This can't be—”

  “Can't be what?” Asha said. “What do you think all this training is for, Lexi? Those rings were dead Seers' rings. Seers like my mother…” Asha closed her eyes and saw the Seers' rings shining in the firelight, the Vampires' blood dripping off the faceted stones. “If I can do something to stop this… this thing from doing whatever it is she plans on doing, then I will. And that's exactly what we do here!”

  Lexi slammed her cup onto the table and stood, looking at the forest beyond the fort wall.

  Nidhan studied his hands.

  “We figure out your Talent before you face that lunatic again,” Lexi said, her voice a dangerous growl. “We train, and we find a way to take her down together. Or else I get BapuJi over here tomorrow, and you know I can do it, Asha.”

  Lexi turned and faced Asha, her blonde hair blowing around her shoulders, a deadly intensity in her blue eyes. She looked like a Viking warrior.

  They glared at each other in silence, and then Asha nodded once. “Okay.”

  Nidhan exhaled loudly, rising. “Let's go to class.”

  Chapter 22

  Lexi cheered up as soon as they got to class. Weapons gleamed within seven boxes in the near-darkness, waiting to be collected. Avinash stood beside them.

  Asha hardly recognized the smoldering, ill-tempered instructor who glared and growled impatiently as the same man who had played the toombi for her the previous week. He barked at them to each take a box off the table and follow him, before stalking out.

  They filed into the target room, and Lexi beamed as she put her box on the long table and took out each weapon, turning them in the light.

  Each weapon shone with the same brushed mystery-steel as her revolver. She picked up a strange grenade-like weapon, felt its weight, and knew what Avinash would say before he said it.

  “You will wear all of these weapons from now on,” he growled. “The wrist guard shoots holy water. Wear it on your right wrist.” Asha put her hand through what looked like a fingerless glove. It covered almost her entire forearm in leather and shining metal. It was heavier but more comfortable than it looked. Asha pressed two fingers into a round groove at the base of her thumb, and water shot out of the top of it in a powerful stream, hitting the floor, and she felt some of its weight lift.

  Lexi grinned and did the same.

  “The habañero pepper grenades latch onto your weapons belt. You will wear four. The stake shooter hooks on the opposite side from your revolver. Strap the stakes around your legs in these holsters, four on each side. There are four knives which fit into your weapons belts on either side of your revolver and stake shooter. Make sure all of your weapons are accounted for and fully loaded before you leave Headquarters from now on.”

  Asha felt like a walking armory, more uncomfortable than she'd ever felt in her life, with the possible exception of being in a cramped airplane seat for fourteen hours. Even so, she realized her uniform had been specifically designed to accommodate and conceal the weapons.

  She joined the others in front of the target wall.

  Lexi slapped Asha on the shoulder in enthusiasm, and Asha cursed at her in Spanish, as she continued to adjust her belt.

  For the next two hours, they practiced. Loading and shooting stakes proved to be the most challenging for everyone except Lexi, who was a natural. Shaped like a small revolver with a bow welded to the barrel, it shot stakes like a powerful slingshot. Avinash grew more and more impatient, as the group worked on unhooking, loading, and shooting the stake shooter over and over again.

  He kept shouting, “Faster!” which didn't help at all. Asha kept dropping stakes while she tried to get them from the leg holster around her thigh and into the weapon.

  Finally, class was over, and as they drank ginger milk with saffron and turmeric Avinash growled at them to be back again the following night. He left through a back door.

  The weight of the added weapons made Asha's legs ache as they climbed the stairs and went outside to join the other groups for Spiritual Martial Arts. But it was Tanvir, not Javin who met them in the outdoor training arena. He was surrounded by wooden boxes, and Asha's heart sank. How many more weapons do we have to wear, for God's sake?

  Tanvir took his cap off, shaking his thick hair, and grinned at all of the Trainees who gathered around the circular lawn.

  Asha didn't see Aquila in the crowd. After the weekend at Nidhan's house, he seemed to have disappeared.

  Spinning his hat around, Tanvir jumped up three of the stone steps, and turned to them.

  “Okay, listen up!” He clapped his hands, his dark eyes shining with excitement. “Because you guys are the largest class in five hundred years or whatever, we finally got budget approval for a little
game I invented called Heroes and Villains. Applaud if you must,” he said, bowing.

  Ursala and Kelakha clapped and whistled while everyone else looked from them back to Tanvir.

  “Thank you. All right, Heroes and Villains is a never-before-played game that will give you practical combat experience while making training safe and fun. Since there are twenty of you, ten will be Heroes and ten will be Villains. We will pick your names randomly to decide the teams. The first name picked will be the Commander of the Heroes.” He cleared his throat and began pacing.

  “You can write this down if you want. Okay. The Heroes will have a safe zone, which will be this arena. That's the stands and the lawn. Villains cannot enter it, and Heroes have to bring any injured teammates here to be healed. Heroes must follow the orders of their Commander, while Villains can do whatever they want, except enter the safe zone. You will wear special gear, which senses ‘injuries’ and ‘fatalities’ A fatal wound lights your gear up red and means you're out, at which time you become a Civilian. Now. Civilians cannot do anything except scream, run away, and get killed. No exceptions.”

  Lexi and Nidhan looked at each other in horror, and Asha tried not to laugh at the thought of either of them screaming and running away.

  “A kill of the opposite team gets one point. A kill of a Civilian by a Villain gets one point, and a save of a Civilian by a Hero gets half a point. Heroes have replica versions of our weapons, and Villains, obviously, have safe versions of a few featured Underworlder powers. Let's see here…” Tanvir jumped onto the grass and dumped the contents of a box onto it. Everything was blue and silver.

  “This is the Heroes' gear. We have plastic swords and knives to trigger the neck kill shot on the Villain collars, we've got fake holy water shooters and darts, which have to be shot at the heart to trigger the Villains' disable feature for the kill shot. Unless the gear lights up red, you haven't delivered the fatal wound, okay?”

  Tanvir grabbed another box and tipped it over onto the grass. “This is the Villains' gear. As you see, black and green. Now. With a push of this button, it turns into the blue and silver of the Heroes' tunics, so remember who's on your team. Weapons include grabby wires and darkness grenades, which allow the Villain to disappear for five whole minutes. Four each. Villains can only be killed by ‘decapitation’ and can badly injure Heroes by touching them for more than five seconds, so keep your distance. Villains cannot shape shift. Heroes can. And… hold on, let me look at the paper…” he reached into the pocket of his long shorts and pulled out a rumpled paper covered with scrawled writing. He turned it around, squinting at it in the firelight. Finally, shaking his head, he stuffed the paper back into his pocket and Ursala and Kelakha laughed.