The Black Knights

by Matilda Reyes

  “Depends on what that entails. My rule is simple. If he hurts you, I will end him.”

  “No, no, and no. If he hurts my feelings, I’ll deal with it. You will say and do nothing.”

  He gave me an aggrieved look. “Oh, come on. That’s not fair. You’re shackling me. Serving and protecting you mean more than just keeping you away from bullets.”

  “I don’t have the energy to argue with you. We have a Circle meeting, and we need to figure out what to do with the information Brett gave us. We need a plan of action.”

  “I have three. Aren’t you going to acknowledge what I said?”

  I chose my words with care. “I understand, Jordan, that you’ll do anything for me. But you can’t keep me in a bubble. If you want me to be the gods damn Black Knight, let me fight my own battles, the personal ones.”

  We stared at each other for a long moment. I stood and gathered my belongings. Jordan followed. Before we walked through the door, I turned around to speak and stared at his chest. He’d been a step behind me.

  “What’s wrong?” he rumbled.

  “Nothing.” I stretched up and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “For the kick in the ass and for your faith in me.”

  “Always.”

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  “Mikael,” I called from the depths of my office toward his desk.

  He hurried in with a pen and a pad of paper. His tie was crooked and his uncombed hair stuck out at odd angles. His pale skin was flushed red, and the zipper on his pants was undone. “Did I forget something?”

  I gestured toward his crotch. “A lot, apparently. What’s wrong?”

  “Visions,” he said with a grimace as he zipped up his pants before taking a seat across from me. “I have a hard time focusing right now.”

  “What do you see?”

  “A beach on a cloudy day.” He ran a hand through his hair and made the problem worse. “But the clouds are not normal. It is a darkness that I cannot describe. It taints the people on the beach. Infects them.”

  “Like the demon infection?”

  “No, not like your demon. This is bigger, more ominous because it touches more people. Innocents. I also see secrets behind locked doors. Enemies made friends.” He shrugged and held up his hands, palms up. “I cannot explain more than that.”

  “I think I understand. If you can wait until the Circle meeting, I will explain. I’d just rather not repeat myself.”

  He grunted in acknowledgment. “Why did you call me?”

  “Do you think I’m qualified for this job?”

  Mikael hesitated. “Yes and no. You could be, but you are afraid of failing. You believe you are always coming up short and you project such perceived weakness.”

  Pursing my lips together, I stared down at my manicure. I’d never admitted that Jordan had a point or that Nicholas may have had a more significant influence than I’d realized. “When I started this job, I thought I could take on the world and handle it all. But little by little, I feel like I’m losing my grip on everything. No matter how hard I work, it will never be enough. I’ll never be enough.”

  Mikael popped up out of the chair, circled around my desk, and hugged me. “You are enough. I say that not as your friend or your brother, but as someone who has seen you in action as a boss and as an assassin. Believe in yourself. I do.”

  “Thank you,” I whispered as I leaned into him. “I needed to hear that more than I realized.”

  He grinned and sat back down. “You just had to ask.”

  §

  Nicholas showed up at my office as I prepared to walk to the Circle’s conference room. I stifled the urge to roll my eyes as he handed me a bouquet.

  “For the pretty lady,” he said with a tentative smile. “I figured you wouldn’t rest at home any longer, but there’s no reason for you to go without recovery flowers.”

  I buried my face in the armful of hydrangeas and roses and inhaled. The flowers would fit into the vase that I kept behind my desk for such deliveries from him.

  “Thank you,” I murmured. “They’re lovely.”

  “I hope you don’t mind that I showed up to walk with you. Your office is on my way there and, well, I missed you.” He ducked his head and looked at me from beneath his lashes with one of his boyish smiles.

  Damn him. It had been easy enough to stand behind my pride and hurt feelings with a solid door between us. I’d had no compunctions about eating his offerings or reading the trashy magazines he’d left because I didn’t have to face him. Now, seeing him with that smile, the shirt that was carelessly buttoned, and that messy hair, my willpower to stay furious melted. I hadn’t missed the jerk I’d been dealing with, but I had missed my boyfriend, the guy who made me feel mushy inside. Two nights ago, I’d woken up crying from a nightmare and had turned toward him for comfort, only to find myself alone. My heart had broken all over again.

  “Your shoelaces are untied,” I blurted.

  One day, you’ll stop being awkward, She said, the smirk in her voice plain.

  He dropped to one knee and tied his laces. “Thanks. Can I carry your bags? You’re favoring your injured side.”

  Mikael popped into my office, the smile sliding off his face as he saw Nicholas reaching for my belongings. “How did you get by me?”

  Nicholas shrugged and piled my gym bag on top of the other two he already carried. “You were away from your desk.”

  “It’s not a big deal,” I said to Mikael. “Walk with us to the meeting.” Please, I begged silently. Seeing Nicholas was throwing me off-kilter and I’d do something stupid if left to my own devices, like tell him that I missed him, too.

  Ugh. Breakups were awful.

  Mikael glowered for a long moment. He spun on his heel, snatched up his bag, and placed himself at my side, leaving Nicholas to trail us.

  “Have you been taking it easy this week? Or have you returned to the gym?” asked Nicholas.

  “That is none of your business,” Mikael snapped.

  I put a restraining hand on his arm. “Stop it,” I warned.

  “We may not be together, but that doesn’t mean I will stop caring. I worry about you,” said Nicholas, inching Mikael out of the way.

  “You shouldn’t,” I said, the frost around my heart thawing even more. “Dr. Cardoza gave me permission to resume exercising.”

  “I’m just looking out for you,” he said. “Do you have plans tonight?”

  I snorted before I could help myself. “Slow down. The flowers are wonderful, but we’re not going out.”

  He flashed me that charming smile again. “Can’t blame me for trying, which I’ll keep doing. Trying, I mean.”

  A precious few yards were all that stood between me and a few moments to think without Nicholas scrambling my senses. The door opened, and Danny stuck his head out, peering toward us.

  “There you are,” he said. “Hurry.”

  For once, we were the last ones to arrive. Nicholas and Jordan glared at each other, so we sat as far away from Jordan as possible. Esai gave me a knowing look although I had no idea what he was thinking. We hadn’t bonded since his return from London, but he wasn’t attacking me anymore. Progress, I guessed.

  Danny and Cecilia were glowing. She’d emailed me to say that she was in the midst of wedding planning and would welcome my opinions when I was free. I smiled at her and promised to see her over the weekend.

  Dakarai tapped his watch and gave me a withering look. “You are ten minutes late for a meeting you requested. Talk.”

  I apologized and cleared my throat. “Yesterday, Jordan, Voss, and I interrogated the five captured cult members.”

  Esai’s eyebrows arched into his hairline. “You, torturing again? How did it feel?”

  Jordan elbowed him and whispered for him to shut up. “Go on,” he said.

  “Carlo is behind it all.”

  Dakarai swallowed hard and hid his shaking hands beneath the table. “No
. I had believed him to have been kidnapped. Not Carlo.”

  Jordan leaned forward. “I’m sorry. I know you were close to him, but he’s behind all of this. He has been fostering the other factions to meet his aim.”

  “He wants to create enough chaos to get the attention of God and the Devil. He wants them to fight it out, making us irrelevant.”

  “Why? He was so committed to us. He taught me,” said Dakarai. He placed his head in his hands and shuddered. “He was good.”

  “Maybe he thinks he is doing what is right, bringing God and the Devil back,” said Mikael. “Yes, that makes us irrelevant, but I can imagine how he would see it as the restoration of the natural order of things.”

  “We are part of the natural order,” said Cecilia. “We have existed since the beginning of time. We have always had a role in the Cosmic Balance.”

  Dakarai shook his head. “There must be a mistake. Bring me to him. He will explain.”

  “No,” said Jordan. “It is too dangerous. Your part has yet to come.”

  “Brett, the prisoner, said that only people in Carlo’s inner circle know how to get to him. We know he’s in Los Angeles with his true cult members, the ones who understand his real plan. Stopping him will be near impossible,” I said. “Brett suggested that we release him and let him work for us.”

  Danny ran a hand through his hair and leaned back in his seat. “Someone needs to penetrate that inner circle and report back to us. Can you trust this Brett?”

  “I wouldn’t,” said Esai. “Who knows if he’s leading us back into a trap? Can’t we go to Los Angeles and smoke him out?”

  “How?” asked Mikael. “If he is as careful as this prisoner indicated, we could spend months on fruitless missions. Danny is correct. One of us should go.”

  “I’ll do it,” I said. “He doesn’t know me well, and everyone seems to want me anyway. I should be able to get close enough.”

  Mikael disagreed. “You are too valuable to fall into the wrong hands. What if he does something to you that turns you into a weapon? I’ll go.”

  “You can’t,” said Esai. “Look what happened in Amsterdam. I know you’ve proved yourself in the field before, but right now you’re injured and not at your best. You’re more likely to get captured, and we can’t afford to rescue you and go after Carlo.”

  Everyone looked to Jordan. He shook his head. “I can’t go. He must know what I did to Marcus by now. He’ll suspect that I am there to harm him and will either keep me far away or attack me.”

  Nicholas took a deep breath and squeezed my hand under the table. “Send me.”

  “What? No!” I cried. “You can’t.”

  He leveled me with a steady glare. “Yes, I can. Out of everyone here, I’m the best choice. The High Council was gone before my initiation. Carlo may know of me, but he has no idea of my motivations, desires, or abilities.”

  “Not a bad idea,” mused Jordan. “Unless he has spies within here, which I doubt, he won’t know that you’re of the Circle. I agree.”

  “No,” I said again. “Nicholas, you’re not trained for this kind of work. You do not understand what you’ll be up against. There may be spies, ritualists, assassins, and worse. Can you handle seeing the kidnapped Vespers? What if there’s someone you know?”

  “Sweetheart,” he said in a low voice, “I know you’re scared, but I can do this. Someone has to go, and it makes sense that it’s me. Esai’s been a troublemaker since he arrived. Danny and Cecilia aren’t believable. You, Jordan, and Mikael are out. Dakarai is too invested.”

  “Getting to Carlo will be difficult. The mission will require more than just brute force, Jasper,” said Danny. “Ingratiating into the group will be necessary, and I can’t think of anyone better than Nicholas for that job.”

  “Thanks,” said Nicholas dryly. “Danny’s right. They will want an acolyte, someone who wants to absorb it all and fawn all over them. I can do that and remain objective.”

  “How long will you be gone?” I asked in a small voice. This was a terrible idea, and no one else got that. Worse, no matter what I said, Nicholas had decided on this path.

  “I don’t know. As long as it takes to get close to Carlo and learn about his habits and plans. If I get the chance to take him out, I’ll do it.”

  “Don’t,” said Esai. “Just killing him won’t solve anything. We need a widespread cleansing of the cult.”

  “Cut off the head, and the rest will follow,” said Nicholas. He leaned forward and placed his hands on the table, palms up. “Killing him won’t be easy. I know that. But if the opportunity is there…”

  “Esai is right,” said Dakarai. “I would like to question Carlo to see if he knows of things that Ashor has spoken of to Jasper. Of Mikael’s visions. This is not our last battle.”

  “It is settled?” asked Mikael. “Nicholas will go with this Brett to Los Angeles and infiltrate the cult. Where will the team be?”

  “Monitoring him. We’ll have a team in place to extract him in LA and another team here reviewing every bit of information he passes our way,” said Jordan. “He can do this.”

  Nicholas smiled and leaned back with satisfaction.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  WATCHING NICHOLAS PACK WAS one of the most challenging things I’d had to do since moving to the Order. I’d trailed him home and tried to talk him out of this madness. He hadn’t listened. Excitement colored his every word and action while dread and fear tainted mine.

  “Don’t drink or eat anything that’s part of a ritual,” I said.

  “I know.”

  “And don’t take any substance that you can’t identify. The most innocuous objects may be possessed or poisoned.”

  Nicholas rolled his eyes. “Possession again? I thought you agreed to let that go for the foreseeable future, like forever.”

  “The cult members will make you prove your worth, so you might have to do things you find morally objectionable. Just don’t kill people. If you kidnap someone, we’ll return them.”

  “Jas, I’m not killing anyone.”

  “Do you have your burner phone?”

  “Yes, mother,” he said, exasperated. He zipped his suitcase shut and sat on his bed next to me. “The numbers programmed into the phone are memorized just in case they take it away. Want me to recite them for you?”

  I squeezed my eyes shut and held his hand. “I wish you’d change your mind.”

  “Not happening. I gotta be honest. Your lack of trust is offensive.”

  My eyes snapped open and my temper, which had already been simmering, came dangerously close to the surface. “Like your lack of trust in me when I went to Amsterdam? I will only be in Los Angeles a short time, and two women are staying out there to watch you. You don’t hear me asking about sleeping arrangements and questioning your movements.”

  “You’re ridiculous. Look at what happened to you. Had you listened and stayed behind, maybe none of that would have happened. Maybe Kosuke would still be alive.”

  I recoiled and put a hand to my chest. A shot to the heart would have hurt less. “How dare you?” I hissed.

  Nicholas put his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “Esai told me that you held them up by tagging along. If you’d been faster, or not injured, maybe Esai and Mikael could have overpowered the guy. You may not like what I’m saying, but it doesn’t make it any less true.”

  I couldn’t even muster up anger amid my self-loathing and recriminations. Struggling not to cry, I backed away from him.

  “Jasper, sweetheart,” he said, “don’t take it the wrong way. You’re great. But maybe it’s time to hand the reins back over to Jordan. As much as I hate to admit it, as much as you hate to admit it, he’s better than you at this stuff. Become his protégé again. Take a step back and let someone else make the hard calls.”

  “Screw you,” I spat. “You’ve spent the last couple of months saying how I’m not good enough for this job, for my calling, Nicholas. It’s my purpose in life.”
>
  His face twisted into an ugly scowl. “Just like you’re telling me that I’m not good enough for this mission.”

  “You’re inexperienced,” I corrected, “and naïve. You’ve never killed anyone. That one moment when you take a life changes you. We can’t afford for you to have a mental breakdown in the middle of a mission. You could get killed. Other people could get hurt.”

  “Before Jordan came back—”

  “You were worried that I’d die because he’s reckless, which he’s not.”

  Nicholas held up a hand to silence me. “Before he came back, I wasn’t as worried about you because you weren’t taking on such significant missions. You went on plenty, but they were quick rescues—you were gone a day or two at most. You had Hernandez and other experienced people by your side. Now that he’s back, you’re convinced that you’re a dynamic duo, or trio with Mikael like you’re invincible. You’re not. You’re young and inexperienced. Jordan should have never thrown you into that role.”

  “Ashor said —”

  “Screw Ashor! We still don’t know if he’s a figment of your imagination or some leftover hallucination from your time in the liminal plane. What has he taught you that’s relevant? How have these visions helped you? Us?”

  “A figment of my imagination?” I repeated. “A hallucination? If you think that I’m such a pitiful lunatic, why were we together?”

  He sighed and reached out for me, scowling when I jerked away from his embrace. “When you’re not obsessing about this job or these hallucinations, you’re the sweetest, funniest, kindest woman I’ve ever met. You’re supportive and lovely. I want that Jasper back. Leave all that other shit behind. You don’t need it. They don’t need you. I need you.”

  “I am more than the person you think I am,” I said, my legs shaking and struggling to hold me up. “I am vicious and violent. I am smart, cold, and calculating. I am capable of torture. I am a creature that craves an outlet for my overwhelming energy and nerves. I am the Black Knight, the chosen one to lead the assassins. If you can’t embrace that, then you can’t accept me.”

  “Jas, I don’t want to fight, not now. Not when I’m leaving for who knows how long. Promise me you’ll think about what I’ve said. Just consider the possibility of stepping down and what that will mean for your well-being.”