Piper looked at Owen. “When my ancestors joined the Order long ago, they agreed that each woman is free to make her own choice. I expect my choice will mean I’ll be cut off from our sisterhood.” Her eyes filled with sadness. “But right is right, and I happily step down from my throne.”
Another round of murmured surprise ran through the room.
Owen swallowed and looked past Piper at the rest of the fairies. “As with any race who decides to abstain from this war, you may go in peace. No one shall persecute you for your choice. However, in accordance with the oath your ancestors took when joining the Order, you’ll lose your right to have a say in Order affairs. You’ll no longer receive Order funds, Order support, or specific Order protection beyond that which we provide for un-initiated civilians.”
The other races shuffled as they realized the full ramifications of the decision they themselves were weighing.
I hate to think it, but losing the fairies isn’t a huge loss. Maybe it’ll be a lesson to the more powerful races that I need on my side.
“And,” Owen added with a serious look at each fairy, “when we win this war, don’t expect to be welcomed back with open arms. If you come crawling back only after the rest of us have fought, bled, and lost brethren, you might be ostracized as cowards and traitors. You’ll be readmitted to the Order, but don’t think for a second that anyone will love you for it.” He paused. “Are you certain you wish to leave us?”
The fairies behind Piper looked at each other, then gave him angry nods.
“So be it. Tell your sisters that anyone who chooses to return to the Order to help us win this war will be welcomed. Like Piper, they’ll retain their status and privileges. Now, you are free to go.”
A fairy lifted a defiant middle finger. “Happy to! Wouldn’t want to be with a bunch of liars anyway!”
“Out!” Piper shouted. “That is my final order as your queen. Get out of my sight!”
The fairies turned on their stilettos and pushed their way to the exit.
Once they left, Owen looked at the thinned crowd. “Anyone else?”
Oliver Leaflen lifted a hand over his heart. “The elves have served the Order since the first day we stood on this world’s soil. We fought with elven alterni like Elaine, Gabris, and Llyr. We stand with the king always. The elves won’t fail you now, alterni.”
Esme smiled at him. “Thank you, friend.”
Gil lit a cigar. “I’ll explain everything to the goblin committee. But I’m confident they’ll agree with me when I say you have our support, my lord. We’ll adjust the budget for war.”
“Thank you, Gil.”
Marybeth gave Owen a frown. “The trolls will back you, my lord.”
“Thank you.”
Joe saluted from his side of the table. “And the nymphs, as always.”
“Thanks, Joe.”
The vampire sire bowed his head. “My lord, the vampires under my guidance are at your service.” He lifted his head, his red eyes narrowing. “But I can’t speak for all of my kind. A few younger covens have rebelled against my rule, and I fear they may cause trouble.”
Owen exchanged a glance with Joe.
Yeah, I’ve heard what the young vamps are up to. Hopefully they’ll chill out and I can deal with this anti-slavery movement later.
“As for our ancients,” said Rylet, “they went feral centuries ago and live in seclusion, paying no mind to our covens’ concerns. I’m afraid I can only promise the aid of my direct line, those covens I guide and trust most. We number eight hundred and twelve, scattered around the globe. I’ll contact their coven elders as soon as we’re finished here.”
Esme perked up. “Is it true you elders have telepathy? I’m sorry if it’s a rude question, but you’re the oldest vampire I’ve met. Do you communicate telepathically?”
“No. Only our ancients are telepathic.” Rylet’s lips curled into a smirk, exposing a fang. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone, which he held up for Esme to see. “The rest of us are on a family plan.”
“Oh.” Esme shrank in her seat and blushed.
Ha! thought Owen as he held back a grin. She’s always so disappointed whenever she finds out the paranormals are a little more normal than…para. It’s kinda cute.
Owen stayed focused. This wasn’t over yet, and his gaze swung to the group of jinn.
Ali muttered to himself, “Smoke me…” He flopped his arms and nodded to Owen. “If even the vamps are signing up for this suicide mission, we jinn might as well too.”
Joe frowned at him. “Don’t sound so excited.”
Ali glared at the nymph. “We fight for the king,” he said as he faced Owen again.
“And I fight for you,” said Owen, knowing this was a jinn statement of respect.
Ali looked calmer.
Everyone in the room seemed relieved. Owen glanced first at Esme, then at his mother, and suspected each had been holding their breath.
We only lost the fairies. Could’ve been a lot worse…
Piper looked truly sad, but she was eager to prove herself. “What do you need from us, my lord?”
Owen turned to Esme. “It’s what she needs that’s important.”
Esme took a breath. “Like I said, I need to discover how to defeat the malevolenci.”
“No shit.” Ali snickered. He smiled at Esme, though, suggesting he meant no ill will, for once.
She accepted this. “Anything you paranormals know about the malevolenci could help.”
Benja raised her hand. “I’m not sure if this helps or not, but what about the Bermuda Triangles? I remember hearing as a kid that they’re the one place that connects the alt-worlds.”
“Yes,” said Oliver. “I’ve read accounts of explorers who stumbled into the Triangle of this world and saw all kinds of strange things from other worlds.”
Benja looked at Esme. “The Bermuda Triangles connect the alt-worlds. Could that help us defeat the malevolenci? I mean, could we use it to learn about their world?”
Esme glanced at Owen like she wanted permission to explain.
He nodded and waved a hand. “Yeah, tell them.”
Esme let out a breath. “I think the Bermuda Triangles play more into the malevolenci’s strengths than their weaknesses. You see, they use the Bermuda Triangles now to get into the other worlds.”
“Wait…” Piper made a face of confusion. “I thought this world is the only one malevolenci can invade. That’s why they need our world, right? If they conquer here, then they can use this world’s magic to invade the alt-worlds. That’s what you said.”
“Yes, that’s right,” Esme explained. “But there’s one species of malevolenci that can get into other worlds now. They use the Bermuda Triangles to do it, since the Triangles are points of connection between all the worlds, like Benja says.”
“Then are we doomed?” asked Gil. “If the malevolenci can already–”
“They can’t get out again, though,” said Esme. She scooted forward in her chair and continued, “The sixth species of malevolenci can enter other worlds, but they’re significantly weakened. It’s not as if they can pop into other worlds and take over – at least not yet. That’s why they need our magic. If they control this world’s magic, then they can fully invade, at full strength, and create rifts to come and go from every alt-world as they please.”
Tank frowned. “What is this sixth species?”
Esme shook her head, her expression saddening. “We don’t know. The Master Conjuri have hidden everything about them for centuries.”
“Why?” Ali raised an eyebrow, perhaps thinking the fairies were right.
Esme took a second. “Because the sixth species only goes into the alt-worlds to kill alterni.”
Several sets of eyes widened.
“They sacrifice themselves,” Esme continued, “since they can’t get out of the alt-worlds once they cross the Bermuda Triangles. Once a new king summons an origini, the sixth species of malevolenci goes t
o work – they enter the alt-worlds to kill every version of that origini. If they get rid of every alterni of that cycle, the king runs out of alterni to defend this world.”
“And that’s what’s happened with your alterni?” asked Joe.
Esme nodded. “The sixth species, once in an alt-world, senses the alterni in that world much like alterni in this world sense a rift – they’re drawn to them. Then they hunt the alterni down and kill them.”
“But after that,” asked Brun, “they’re stuck in the alt-worlds?”
Esme nodded. “The Master Conjuri have hidden everything about the sixth species because they didn’t want the Order to know about alterni endi. If you’d known there were malevolenci who could cross into alt-worlds and destroy your best chance at fighting them in this world…”
“Panic and hopelessness,” finished Oliver.
Esme nodded.
“So we need to find a way to stop the sixth species,” said Piper.
Ali frowned. “No need. They’ve already killed all versions of our alterni but this one.” He looked at Esme with new appreciation.
Piper sucked in air and turned wide eyes to Esme. “What if they come for you on this world? We don’t even know what they are, but it might only take one of them to… If the malevolenci are aware we’re down to an alterni endi, won’t they send their assassins here to take her out?”
“Cat balls.” Max looked worried. “I didn’t think of that.”
Shit. Neither did I.
Esme sat back. “Well, good thing I have a bodyguard and a new roommate sworn to keep me safe.” She tried to smile at Owen.
He reached for her hand under the table again.
“Okay,” said Benja, clearly trying to move on from scaring Esme. “So the Bermuda Triangles probably aren’t our answer. But they are a point of connection between our worlds, so maybe that has something to do with how each alt-world knows things about the others.”
Rylet apparently understood where she was going with this. “If the malevolenci have used the Bermuda Triangles to breach the alt-worlds, that would further suggest some alt-world has stories about them.”
Benja nodded. “Exactly. One of our paranormal worlds must’ve known something about the malevolenci.”
“That’s what I’ve been thinking,” said Esme, “but I’ve talked to people from every paranormal race. Nobody seems to know anything. If your alt-worlds knew about malevolenci, those stories must be so old that few remember anymore.” She paused. “Then again, all the stories our worlds knew about each other were really old. We shared stories about vampires and their original curse, although time distorted the true details. We knew about the werewolves and Nyctimus–” here she smiled at Max “–and we had tons of stories about trolls and bridges, fairies and magic, jinn and the luck they bring, etc. None of the stories that bled from world to world have been recent. So, maybe we need to look at the earliest stories.”
Rylet had a hand to his chin like he was thinking. “We need to re-examine the origin myth.”
Mirth nodded. “The most popular myth says this world was the first. It makes sense, since this world’s magic seems to work with all your paranormal magic. Legend claims that whoever ruled here in the beginning copied this world and created different versions. In many of the new worlds, they didn’t infuse any magic. But they created alt-worlds specifically for different paranormals, each with different kinds of magic.”
Gil nodded, mouthing his cigar. “They were all originally from this world.”
Ali looked confused. “What’s your point?”
Owen wasn’t sure either.
“I think I follow.” Piper turned to Mirth. “If this world was the first and its rulers created every other world, one of them created the malevolenci world. If we focus on the creation myths…”
Now Ali understood. “We might find stories about the creation of the malevolenci world.”
Esme nodded. “We need to go back to the beginning.”
Oliver pulled out his phone. “I’ll contact our scribes in New York and see what they can dig up.”
Rylet rested a forearm on the table. “I might have a suggestion.”
Owen motioned for him to continue.
“My kind live the longest of any race in the Order. Our ancients were the original vampires summoned to this world. And as you know, when a vampire drinks the blood of another person, we see that person’s memories.”
Owen glanced at Joe, knowing this was how he came by a lot of his information.
“Therefore,” Rylet continued, “our ancients have witnessed centuries and centuries. The blood memories they carry are from thousands of people from every race, era, and land. If anyone has undocumented knowledge of the alt-worlds’ origins, it might be them.”
Owen saw Esme shiver.
She’s always been a little creeped out by vampires. Not the healers, but… Rylet said the ancients went feral. That can’t mean anything pleasant.
To her credit, Esme spoke first. “Where can we find your ancients?”
“They moved years ago to the caverns in Meramec.”
“What?!” Esme gaped at the vampire. “Meramec?”
“Yes. The ancients have always hidden in whatever caves are closest to the reigning king’s Capiti. I don’t know why. As I said, the ancients seclude themselves and refuse to interact with even us elders, but we do keep track of them. When King Daniel moved to Missouri, the ancients came here.”
Esme gaped. “Why have I never heard about this? There’s nothing in the Capiti library about your ancients moving to Meramec.”
“No, we keep the ancients’ location secret, under normal circumstances. When they first joined the Order, the conjuri at the time treated them poorly, to say the least. In the centuries since, the ancients have chosen to avoid life in the Order. They prefer their privacy, although I would argue they’ve gone insane from their isolation.” Rylet’s red eyes turned to Owen. “Does it mean something to you that they’re in Meramec, my lord?”
Owen glanced at his mother, but he answered the waiting room. “My father’s origini left a message… He told us to go to Meramec if ever I found myself with an alterni endi.”
Max clapped in excitement. “That’s gotta be a good sign.”
Esme nodded, thinking to herself.
Owen felt a chill of excitement.
This can’t be a coincidence. Meramec…
He blew out his lips and rose to stand over the table. “Alright, everyone. Thank you. I can never express my gratitude adequately, but your support means more to me than you know.”
All around the room, he received bows.
Owen bowed back in honest respect. “While we figure this out, the malevolenci will keep pressing their attack, so everyone keep sharp and report anything unusual. Those of you in charge of scouts, warn them that the malevolenci are bound to be active. Those in the cavali, stay strong and work together. Those in the conjuri, make sure you respond to calls quickly so we can hide the rifts from the public. Those in the PD, do whatever Lexi tells you, same as always.”
This received a few chuckles.
“I’m already encouraged that you paranormals will find the key to ending this war. Please, investigate to find out anything your scholars might know about the malevolenci – their world’s creation, their sixth species that might’ve infiltrated your worlds, whatever. Nothing is too trivial. Report anything you find to Hakim.”
The group nodded, and Owen noted that, for once, Ali looked proud Hakim was involved.
Owen looked around at the members of his personal team. “If we can get through tonight without a rift opening, we’ll be lucky. But even if we’re up all night fighting, we need to leave for Meramec at first daylight.”
“Yes, my lord,” answered Benja, Tank, and the Hoffman brothers.
Owen gave the room a nod. “May we have the luck of the jinn and the sharpness of a goblin counting his pennies.”
This got another chuckle, and
everyone began to shuffle toward the exit.
Holy shit. This might actually work out.
A few came to shake Esme’s hand or bow to Owen personally, but the lengthy meeting and the significance of what they’d learned left many eager to get home. Hopefully they’d spread the word to investigate their ancient histories for hints of malevolenci. Soon the restaurant was down to only Owen’s team, his mother, and a few others.
Piper stepped forward. She looked nervous, and her translucent wings flickered against her body. “My lord, I’m so sorry for my sisters–”
“It’s not your fault, Piper.” Esme reached out and pulled the taller woman into a hug.
When standing alone again, Piper’s eyes were watering. “My lord, I know it’s a lot to ask, but I was wondering about the open space on your team. You haven’t filled Davis’s position after he died, and I …” She looked truly lost. “I have nothing else.”
“Are you sure, Piper? Being a member of my cavali team will put you in the most danger you could possibly be in.”
“I know, my lord.” Piper looked around at the king’s team. “But you have a jinn, troll, and werewolves. I’d be honored to represent the fairies as a member of this historic team. In the future, maybe my sisters will be proud I was a part of this and decide to rejoin the Order.”
Owen exchanged quick glances with his team, and he received a nod from each.
Good group.
He smiled at the fairy. “Welcome aboard.”
Piper let out a shaky sigh. “Thank you, my lord.”
“Go to the Capiti and get yourself a cavali uniform – they make them with holes for fairy wings.” He tried not to look her up and down where her wings folded over her otherwise naked body. “We’ll meet you at the Capiti in the morning before we head for Meramec. That’ll be your first mission.”
“Okay. Thank you so much.” Piper, a relieved smile on her beautiful face, bowed to him before turning to the door.
Dax grinned at his brother. “A sparkly on our cavali team. Never thought I’d see the day.”
Owen saluted the Hoffman pair as they followed Piper out.
Benja was next to depart, and Tank went to help Marybeth clean up.
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