Soul Taker's Redemption

by A. S. Hamilton

  'I can deal with an attack in any location. A therilgalen tried to take a child in an Envoy apartment recently, if I can deal with a threat there, I can deal with one at Jayden's apartment.'

  'Well, our plan was to leave two guards on duty there. I can get a couple of shape-shifters for day duties and have clan members in the evening. Jay's been very accommodating, so we do not believe she'd object to their presence.'

  Therion agreed. 'Jayden is practical.'

  'If we leave Leya here with Em, she can watch over the place during the day and we can have a clan member here at night, just in case.'

  'The matagot will be willing. She has met Em, who, like Jay, welcomed her warmly.'

  'That being the case, I'll take your blood and then we can go talk to Jay.'

  We reached the high bank of a river. The incline down was steep, but we stopped on the edge. Therion sat, lifting his wings and holding his swords out of the way as he did. I joined him, placing the attaché Amelia had given me between us. Designed to transport blood, it could hold vials of varying sizes and maintain a steady temperature. The seal hissed softly as I released the catches. I set about removing the items I needed to take his blood— although, calling it blood was like calling fine wine, grape juice. Liquid silk that tasted, as near as I could describe, like sunshine and fire was more accurate.

  We had agreed that if Therion had to leave for any reason, we would need stores of his blood to maintain the heightened strength and senses we'd need to protect Jay. To this end, Amelia had been collecting his blood at each visit so we could build up sufficient supplies. Thomas insisted that we take Therion's blood out of Jay's sight. He still believed that human women were sensitive creatures who needed to be treated with due consideration. It wasn't entirely his fault, he grew up in an age when society taught him that this was what he should believe, and at least he recognised he needed to update his views. As I had lived with, and experienced, a wide variety of cultures, I learned long ago that gender didn't determine intelligence or capability, sometimes to my embarrassment.

  Although Thomas is gradually revising his understanding of women, watching Jay astonish him is an amusement I quite enjoy. Somehow she manages to shock him with just a simple statement. The most memorable so far was in response to Thomas assuring her that with sentries she wouldn't have to worry about intruders. To which Jay had casually replied, 'If I have to deal with an intruder, I just take out his knees with a baseball bat'. The look on Thomas's face had almost crippled me with laughter.

  'How do you feel since we started taking your blood?' I asked as I looked for a vein.

  'I do not feel any weakness.'

  We were silent as I did it. I carefully placed each vial in the clasps designed to hold them. His blood looked like melted gold. I found I needed very little to maintain my strength. When I took my daily share, I was careful to only take as much as necessary because if the worst-case scenario played out, I would have to make every drop count.

  'Thomas and I discussed it, we think if something should occur, he will take Jay and I will be the one to fight.'

  'That makes sense,' Therion said. 'By 'take' you mean he intends to planes-shift with her?'

  'I know it makes humans very ill to planes-shift, but I think she would rather be sick than lose her soul if I fail to win the battle.'

  Therion nodded. 'It is the more practical decision. If it turns out as I fear, and I cannot be here, I want you, Bastien, to be not just her guardian but... her friend. That is, if you think you can accede to such a request.' He frowned and looked away. After a long pause, he continued, 'The day I came back, I could see there was an immediate and natural rapport between you, she will need that.'

  I scrutinized his face for a moment. If I read between the lines, I was certain there was something he wasn't saying. Something I should know. Therion met my gaze impassively, the gold eyes betraying nothing as the glittering stars in his irises swirled languidly about his narrow pupils. I decided to turn my attention to the question instead.

  My immediate response was to agree, but rather than answer straight away I gave the request the consideration it was due. Could I make such a promise? Would I mind in a couple of decades? Would I regret the vow? It was hard staying by a human's side for their natural life. Just the closeness of such an act brought about a bond that was heart-breaking when they died. Add to that the care needed in their later years and the intimacy that kind of care created and I can assure you that a vampire does not take the commitment to a human partner lightly. And what was Therion dancing about... there was something there, something unsaid. Why did he fear a negative outcome? He said as much on the first night after all the fighting was over. That wasn't like him. But then I would never have anticipated that Therion would start an intimate relationship, either.

  'Have you discussed with Jay what will happen if Ceri-talen gets her?' I asked, watching his expression intently.

  'I have prepared her as much as I can for all outcomes— if I become her guardian, if another becomes her guardian, if I die, or if Ceri-talen takes me, and, of course, if he takes her. She has asked that one of us kill her if it looks like Ceri-talen will succeed. I explained to her that they will kill her eventually. They prefer to take her alive at first to separate spirit from vessel while she is living, but they may kill her if things get desperate. In that case, it is the moment after her death that she is most vulnerable, when a soul taker can take her spirit before it reaches the ether. I have explained that in the event she dies, we will do everything we can to ensure her spirit escapes.'

  I finished taking the blood and started placing the equipment back in the case.

  'You managed to get out of promising to kill her. Considering she is, as far as I can tell, what the elvan call a truth-seer, that's pretty impressive.'

  'We call it true sight. Aurealis says that true sight allows yulari to identify each other, thus, it is not surprising that Jayden has a friend who can also see angels and her mother can see them too.'

  'That explains why I let my guard down with her, there's something about truth-seers that makes you trust them. And as far as this one is concerned, you want her to die a natural death... as in, live out the rest of her natural life?'

  Therion gave me a deep nod, his intense gaze meeting mine as his head came up.

  It was really quite amazing that a soul taker, a therilgalen, was sitting by my side and asking me to care for his lover. To be her protector, her comfort, her friend. Not one thought in his mind diverted to his own fate, not his possible death, nor his possible re-enslavement to a master he hated with an intensity that could burn through a soul. In my opinion, Aurealis should set him free.

  'I accede to your request. I will do my best to carry out your wishes and see Jay has as happy a life as she can.' I paused. 'There is one caveat,' I added. 'She is of an independent nature; I cannot vow to over-ride that independence.'

  This received another grave nod. 'That is understood. I meant not to infer otherwise. I have spoken to Jayden of all that we speak and gained her consent before putting this request to you.'

  I gave him a brief smile, of course he had. What was evident was that he was also saying that he didn't want to offer her the option we’d given other yulari in these circumstances. I hesitated, I sensed that asking the question would make him defensive, but if he wanted me to do this, I wanted to know why a previously acceptable option was no longer suitable. 'Why has it...' I started again, deciding to be more direct. 'Why don't we just offer to change her?'

  Therion's jaw tightened and he looked away.

  'It has been very effective in the past,' I argued. 'Thomas was once yulari and coveted by Ceri-talen, but as soon as I made him vampire, your former master lost all interest. We still don't understand exactly why, but why should Jay run and fear all her life when we—'

  'No!' Therion interjected. Upon seeing my surprise at his forceful response, he softened his voice. 'Not this time.'

  'I simply wa
nt to know why?'

  'With Thomas, it was different, he was destined to become vampire.'

  'And Svaneh? Not all the yulari we have changed were so destined.'

  'I will not take from her a chance to ascend naturally. Ceri-talen is a thief of the worst kind; he takes everything. I want Jayden to have the opportunity that was stolen from me.'

  It was a provocative statement. He was, essentially, telling me that being a vampire wasn't good enough for her, to which I could offer many arguments. But angering a therilgalen, even when you are friends, is an idiotic undertaking, so it was possibly wiser to let it go.

  Therion could see I was collecting questions and arguments in my mind and pre-empted them, 'This has nothing to do with whether vampires are lesser than her. In these cases, there are limited options, as you know. She can either adopt a guardian and run for the rest of her natural life, or she can take her life now. Both options are laden with risk as Ceri-talen still has a chance of capturing her soul. Then there is your option. Making her vampire...' He turned his gaze outwards across the river. 'That could kill her, too. You know this also. She may not live through the transformation and there again, Ceri-talen has a chance at her. If she survives, she will lose her freedom then, too. She will have to submit to a mentor until they deem her independent.' Therion looked back to me. 'I thought about killing her myself. Making it quick and painless. Ceri-talen would not expect it and Aurealis herself could escort her. My master wishes to avoid a war and loss of Jayden to Ceri-talen will most undoubtedly result in a war, for if Ceri-talen succeeds he will have the power he needs for another bid at taking full control of the earthly realm.'

  I snorted softly. 'You could never take her life.'

  His glance flicked away and back again. 'In all probability, you are right. I have felt her spirit, entwined my own with it. Jayden cherishes her freedom and independence. Making her subservient to any against her choice would be a torment. I chose Aurealis and still I resent my captivity. Thusly, I have conceived of a strategy that will allow her to live out her life until she will pass naturally to the ether. In order for me to succeed, I need you to heed my will.'

  I found myself nodding. If he had a way around all the obstacles, who was I to interfere? Something about his manner told me that as forthcoming as he was about his reasons for securing my promise to take care of Jay, he wasn't willing to impart the details of this strategy.

  I finished packing all the gear and checked that the temperature was set correctly. The silence was a companionable one. He would know I was curious about his strategy, but he also knew that I would respect his decision to keep it to himself. Having been in his position, I also understood why he thought it necessary.

  As I was about to close the case containing the blood, Therion said, 'Just a moment.'

  He pulled the bag he'd collected from the house around and opened it. I noticed it was a thermal bag, designed to keep the contents cool. Withdrawing something from the bag, Therion opened his hand to reveal three tiny cylinders filled with a clear substance. I raised my brows, inviting his explanation.

  'This is a transgenic construct. I had a friend, or more precisely one of the humans Aurealis had me save who is a scientist, isolate the protein that neutralises therilgalen venom. They then cloned it downstream of an inducible promoter and packaged that within a retrovirus. It must be administered—'

  I held up my hand. 'You may have worked with Ulyn on all sorts of wonderful sciency stuff. I, on the other hand, have no knowledge beyond a layman's understanding of genetics, this is about genetics, right?'

  Therion frowned. 'My apologies. Ulyn expected me to keep up with such things as I assisted her with her experiments, if I was fortunate enough not to be the focus of them. She was, well, still is, I presume, very interested in genetics. What I am trying to say is that if you if add this,' he held up a cylinder, 'to a syringe and administer it intramuscularly— into a muscle, like your thigh— you will essentially be uploading my capability to neutralise therilgalen venom to your DNA.'

  I froze for a moment; did he just say what I thought he'd said?

  'I can become immune to therilgalen venom?'

  Therion nodded. 'There's enough here for you, Thomas, and Amelia. I have already seen to Jayden.'

  I grinned. 'That is absolutely brilliant.' Then frowning, I asked, 'I gather it occurred to you to do this because of your work with Ulyn?'

  'It did,' he confirmed.

  'Why, then, have no other therilgalen figured this out? You're not the only one to assist Ulyn in the lab. Indeed, why has Ulyn not given herself immunity? Or, has she?'

  'I do not believe so. That is why it is imperative that you do not tell anyone I have given you this or what it is. If it has not occurred to Ulyn, I do not want it to. Also, you must keep it in your case,' he gestured to the temperature-controlled case I kept the blood in. 'It needs to be in that little section you showed me where you can set the temperature to a different one from the rest of the case.'

  He'd made it a statement, but there was a questioning tone in his voice, so I nodded confirmation. 'For when we collect centaur blood, it keeps better at a different temperature than shifter blood, which is what we normally use it for— when dealing in blood trade an innocuous-looking case like this draws less attention.'

  Therion grunted softly. 'Set it to minus twenty. When you are about to use it, just warm it up in your hands. Be careful with it. I cannot get more. Indeed, I saw to it.'

  I could certainly understand why, if it became widely known that there was a means to get immunity from therilgalen venom, Therion would lose one of his most effective defences in fighting Dark Realm creatures.

  'I will keep this to myself. Thomas and Amelia trust me enough to allow me to just assure them it is an inoculation they need without telling them what it is.' I paused, then added with deep sincerity, 'Thank you for supplying enough for them, and giving me this rare gift.'

  I reset the temperature of the smaller compartment and carefully secured two of the three cylinders. Then I withdrew a clean syringe and filled it with the contents of the remaining cylinder.

  Seeing what I was about to do, Therion said, 'Warm it in your hands first.'

  I nodded a thanks for the reminder and held the syringe between my hands for a few minutes before pulling up my t-shirt and injecting myself. By the time the sun next rose, I'd have administered it to Thomas and Amelia, too.

  Once I finished putting everything away, we rose and started to head back to the house, but Therion did not keep his usual quick pace and I suspected he wanted to ask me something.

  'You have a question?' I prompted.

  'It is of a personal nature...'

  I raised my eyebrows. 'I have taken blood directly from you, not much can get more personal. We have shared more than that, Therion. I call you friend. I gather this is regarding your intimacy with Jay…'

  'Do you still partake of it?' he asked.

  'Sex? On occasion. As you know, my kind, my particular kind, do not reproduce in the manner humans do, so I have no need for sex. But my kind also adapts to the environment they are in and sex works well to lure humans and keep them off guard. For some kinds of vampires there's an emotional and magical element to feeding, which sex sometimes intensifies. While sex is pleasurable, it does not produce the highs of my own form of reproduction.'

  'You get nothing from sex with humans?'

  I tried to think of how to explain it properly. 'As I said, sex is pleasurable, but not essential. It is the emotional element that draws me in. The imparting of pleasure to one you care about. There are times when I feel enough of a connection to indulge in intimacy with another, and when I do, I enjoy it thoroughly.'

  He laughed, relaxing. 'It is not unusual, then, to feel this way?'

  I shook my head. 'A very basic and natural instinct, actually. Why? Does it bother you?'

  He shrugged again. 'I am not used to feeling attached to another. I am not afraid for myself but…'<
br />
  'You fear for her. Not in the way that you fear failure of an assignment or the chastisement of a master, but as if any harm to her will cause harm to you.'

  He nodded slowly. 'Irrationally so.'

  'It is something we all face to a degree. I can offer you no consolation, just this advice, cherish every moment with her, so that in her absence, you at least have memories in which you might find a fraction of comfort.' I paused and then added light-heartedly, 'Now you can better understand that incident in London.'

  He thought the comment over. 'Elenai, the witch over whom you made every effort to impress?'

  I grunted. 'Very diplomatically put. I made a bloody fool of myself, trying to cross the river entirely on that wire just above the bridge.'

  Therion smiled. 'If not for your frequent glances at her, you would have succeeded effortlessly.'

  'You could have caught me before I hit the water,' I grumbled in mock resentment.

  'I think you made a bigger impression the way it turned out.'

  'A bigger splash, you mean,' I retorted and laughed. Elenai had, after all, insisted on taking me home and getting me dry.

  Em

  My phone vibrated against the desk and I picked it up.

  It was a text from Thomas: Following from discussion, Jay moving back to apartment to give café more attention. Will post two bodyguards. Update when transition complete.

  I texted back: Thx. Appreciate it.

  My phone buzzed again, I thought it was Thomas replying, but it was Jay.