Nightwalker

by Jacquelyn Frank

  But the glyphs showed no explanation as to how the twelve were able to coordinate an attack against the god. Hieroglyphs were notoriously open to interpretation and could only get across the most rudimentary of ideas. It wasn’t as though you could glean great philosophical discussions from them.

  He gingerly touched the aged papyrus. Simple they may be, those few succinct images were the closest they had gotten to some kind of history or explanation or suggestion as to how to end all of this. He put a marker in the page and continued on in search of more, but he went through all the other scrolls and found no hint of further explanation.

  Twelve nations, working together.

  It was worth considering at least. And it wasn’t his place to agree or disagree with the concept. His only role was to report what he learned.

  And so when dusk fell, that was what he would do.

  Chapter 2

  Isabella Russ, known simply as Bella or Bella the Enforcer, had found herself living in New Mexico for the better part of seven months now. It was necessary for her to be there in order to work closely with Kamenwati, the Bodywalkers’ most learned man. So she had moved and, with great reluctance, brought her children to the compound as well. The god Apep knew where the compound was and had already made an attack on it. It was dangerous to have them there.

  But living apart from them for days at a time? Unacceptable. She would not be a ghost in her children’s lives during the most important years of their development. True, Leah was ten now and more than capable of being independent of her mother for short stretches of time, but her son was not. He was just exiting his toddler years, having only recently learned all the basics of walking and potty training and other such milestones for a child of three going on four.

  But she struggled constantly with the idea of them being potentially in the line of fire. Luckily their father was there and he had always been able to protect them. And several of their friends from the other Nightwalkers in the First Faction were there as well. There were Sagan and Valera, the former Shadowdweller priest and his natural Witch wife; Jasmine and Adam, the Vampire prince’s most trusted aide and her Demon husband; Windsong, one of the Mistral leaders; and Jinaeri, a Lycanthrope scholar.

  Together it meant that every member of the First Faction was represented. As for the Second Faction, so far there were numerous Bodywalkers, a Night Angel named Faith and her human husband, Leo, who often acted as a translator and who came with some mercenary skills of his own. There was a Djynn named Kat and her Gargoyle husband—although the Gargoyles were not technically members of the Second Faction because they were the scions of the Bodywalkers. She’d learned that Gargoyles had been created by Templars to be used as slaves. Other than that, there was no representation of the Mysticals, no one from the Phoenixes and no one from the Wraiths…although to hear the Second Faction tell it, this was a good thing.

  But Bella couldn’t escape the thought that they needed to have the Phoenixes and Mysticals there. As she got dressed for the night she thought about it more and more. If they were going to get out of this mess they needed all hands on deck.

  An idea that was supported only an hour later when she met up with Kamen and he revealed his discovery, via Leo who was interpreting between the two.

  “But if what you’re saying is true, then we have to get the Phoenixes and Mysticals on board. And the Wraiths.”

  “We’ll have to do this without the Wraiths. Trust me, they are too deadly to be dealt with.”

  “Well, we’ll have to deal with at least one of them according to this. I think it means we need a party of twelve to defeat Apep,” Bella said.

  “Surely you aren’t thinking of sending just twelve people to fight a god?” Kamen was aghast.

  “Of course not! But we have to have at least twelve. One from each nation. That means you have to make nice with a Wraith.”

  Kamen thought about this a moment. “Then it seems it’s clear what we have to do here. We have to make contact with each of these groups and get representatives from each to come here.”

  “And who are you going to get to do that?” Leo asked. “The last time we met up with Wraiths they almost killed Faith and me.”

  “I don’t know, but someone has to try,” Kamen said.

  “We should start with the Phoenixes and Mysticals first. Begin with the easy ones,” Bella said.

  “Easy? We’ve been trying to contact them and get them to cooperate for months now. They aren’t all that interested,” Kamen said.

  “Well then, we need to send someone to make it interesting for them,” Bella said.

  Kamen grew quiet then said, “It should be me.”

  “You? Why you? We need you here, researching how to break this curse.”

  “I have to do this,” Kamen said firmly. “I have to do something other than study books. You can take over doing it just as easily as I can for now. Let me go to the courts of the other three Nightwalkers.”

  “So you’re going to reach out to the Wraiths?”

  “We have to at least try to approach them. They might surprise us.”

  “Or they might kill you. No way. No way are you going alone. At the very least you should take Leo. He’s human and immune to their deathtouch.”

  “Or so we believe,” Kamen retorted. “There’s no proof of that.”

  “You can’t go alone. It would be suicide.”

  “It’s homicide to risk more than one life…and it will look less threatening if one is sent as opposed to a cadre of Nightwalkers showing up on their doorstep.”

  “He has a point,” Leo added. “One trained man can get in a lot better than six. I just don’t know if I’d call Kamen a trained man.”

  “I can take care of myself,” Kamen said harshly. “I was second only to Odjit when it came to Templar power. I can keep the Wraiths off me long enough to get them to talk and I can escape more quickly than anyone else. It would be better if I didn’t have anyone else to worry about in the process.”

  “I’m convinced,” Leo said. “I just don’t think you’re going to convince Jackson.”

  “If you want to convince the leader of the Politic Bodywalkers to let you do this,” Bella said, “you better meet with him alone. There are too many people here who think the worst of you and will shoot you down before you can say boo about it.”

  “I am aware of that,” Kamen said grimly. “But getting Jackson alone will not be an easy trick for me.”

  “It would be for me,” Leo said. “He’s my best friend after all. If I ask him to meet me alone, he’ll come alone. Bella, you can stay here and work,” Leo said, indicating the mounds of books that had been brought into the library for her and Kamen to go through together.

  She nodded and let them go. She crossed her fingers though. There were too many variables that made it a bad idea all around. But she had a feeling Kamen was going to convince Jackson…or die trying.

  —

  When Jackson entered Leo’s rooms, answering a summons to meet him alone, he was extremely curious. He was surprised to find Kamen there with Leo. As they laid out their plan and the reasoning behind it, Jackson found himself agreeing with them.

  “So, you think it’s a good idea?” Leo asked, shocked it had been so easy. For Jackson to trust Kamenwati…well, they had barely let the man leave the property since he had defected.

  “Actually, I think it’s a great idea—one a long time coming. Time is growing short, I think we all feel that. We have to convince these other Nightwalkers it’s in their best interest to join us. Who better than the man who created the problem and who understands it better than any of us?”

  “Well, when you put it that way,” Kamen said wryly.

  “It’s the truth isn’t it?”

  “Very much so,” Kamen admitted readily. “I know where my responsibilities lie. I have all along. It’s why I came here in the first place. I am aware I have a lot to atone for…and not just this crime. Allow me to do it.”

&n
bsp; “All right, you have a deal. But take one of the house cellphones with you and check in every couple of hours like clockwork. This way we’ll know if you’ve been wasted by the Wraiths as soon as possible and can start concocting a plan B. Actually, I think we’ll concoct one anyway, just in case you fail at any aspect of this.”

  Kamen nodded in agreement.

  Jackson continued. “So, we’re straight then? Start with the Wraiths…they’ll be the toughest and most deadly. Then you can go to Brazil and handle the Phoenixes. They’re the farthest away. Then, while you’re doing that, we’ll get in touch with Grey. Last I checked he had a Mystical Pegasus in his stable. Maybe she can point us to where the leader of her people is.”

  “As I understand it, she is the leader of her people,” Leo said. “At least I think that’s what Grey said. Anyway, he went to a lot of trouble to rescue her from the Wraiths. She must be very important. That’s provided she can be persuaded to change out of her Mystical form and into that of a speaking being. I know Grey’s been trying to do exactly that but last I heard he wasn’t having much luck. She doesn’t seem to trust all that easily. Then again, would you if you’d been taken prisoner by the Wraiths? Grey’s been treating her like gold ever since he organized that rescue, so hopefully that will count for something.”

  “Hopefully,” Jackson said, before turning back to Kamen. “Do you know how you’ll find the Phoenixes?”

  “Their main colony is in Brazil, as you said, though no one really seems to know where,” Kamen said. “But I have a locator spell that should allow me streak right to them. Or reasonably close. It takes me to a place with a high content of power located in one area. It was often how we located your Politic cell houses.”

  “Nice,” Jackson said. “I wondered how you were able to do that. It seemed no matter where we moved you still found us.”

  “It only works for high concentrations of power. Phoenixes have a lot of power. I’m hoping that finding the colony will help lead me to the leaders.”

  “It should. So far we’ve had no luck getting to them. You’ll have your work cut out for you.”

  “I’m not afraid of a little work.”

  “But you should be afraid of the Wraiths. They can phase right through you, wrap their hands around your heart and solidify, touching you from the inside out. Even without that, all it takes is a brush against your skin and you’re done for. That deathtouch of theirs…there’s no avoiding it.”

  “I am aware of the risks, Leo, thank you.”

  Leo frowned. “Just watch your back. Honestly, I don’t see you succeeding here. I kind of think it’s a death wish. But hey, you do what you feel you need to do. I’m not going to stop you on the off chance this crazy idea works. My wife is going to be on the front lines of this if and when it comes to an all-out battle. Her ability to shield and deflect is so powerful, it already hurt Apep once when she deflected his own power back on him. And so far it’s the only thing that has hurt him. I don’t see anyone else around here with the power of a god so we better come up with a game plan and fast.”

  “This is the game plan. When we get everyone else on board then we’ll come up with the next stage. Meanwhile, I’m going to keep running our people through battle drills like we’ve been doing these past seven months. I want everyone battle ready,” Jackson said.

  “I think we are battle ready. The trouble is coordinating our attack with the attacks of a group of people you can’t even see,” Leo said.

  “That means depending on humans to relay between the two sides and frankly, I don’t want weak humans anywhere near that thing when it comes.”

  “Hey!” Leo said, taking offense at his best friend’s words.

  “You’re a mercenary, Leo, which makes you good against human targets. The best even. But Apep isn’t human. And if you think he is coming alone, you’re wrong. He won’t make that mistake twice. He’s going to bring followers, and a lot of them.”

  “We’ll need more Nightwalkers if that’s the case,” Leo said. “And the main house is already packed to the brim.”

  “We’ve got the two other houses on the property. They’re much smaller, but they’ll hold a few people. Leo, talk with the First Faction and see who else they can bring in. We’ll fill one of the houses with First Faction and the other with Second Faction. Here’s hoping we don’t confuse the hell out of each other in the process.”

  “Between Max, Jackson’s human assistant; myself; and Angelina, Marissa’s human sister, you’ve got three interpreters going at all times. I can see if the First Faction has any humans they know of that can help as well. Anyone they trust.”

  “Good. We all know our tasks? Then let’s get to it,” Jackson said.

  —

  Kamen came away from the meeting feeling good about the choices he had made. Was it suicidal? Yes. Was it suicidal to not go? Yes. At least this way they had a chance, however remote it might be. Doing nothing guaranteed failure. At least he was doing something. He went to his rooms, frowning as he crossed the threshold. He had spent far too much time in these rooms since he had arrived at the compound nearly a year ago. He was tired of them. He was glad to be leaving, even if it did mean risking his life in the process. He had died before and would die again. He was not afraid of death. If he died his soul would simply go into the Ether for a hundred years, then he would be reborn again. But he was afraid of dying and leaving a mess behind, of having thousands of deaths on his conscience. And he made no mistake about it, there were going to be thousands if not hundreds of thousands of lives sacrificed to this god.

  Maybe even more. Maybe even the majority of the human race.

  There was something else at stake as well. Presently, the Nightwalker species were secreted from the human race. Very few humans knew about the Demons or Bodywalkers or that there were actual Vampires. To be honest, he had found the Vampires, Lycanthropes, and Demons’ existence to be hard to believe and he was a Nightwalker. But once the humans found out these races indeed did exist…well it wasn’t hard to imagine what would happen. When a human being was afraid of something, it lashed out and destroyed it without trying to understand it. If he were a human learning Vampires were real—what with all the frightening fiction having been written about them—he might want to eliminate the threat they posed too.

  Well…maybe he wouldn’t. He had found the idea of Vampires being real a bit daunting at first, but that had been his ignorance of the situation kicking up dust. It hadn’t been easy learning to trust these new Nightwalkers. Nightwalkers they couldn’t feel or touch or read. There were no faces to show their expressions as they spoke, there was no body language to hint at whether or not they were lying. This was, in a nutshell, blind trust.

  But his other senses told him these races were worthy of his trust. Especially when the Demon King Noah had come clean about there being Vampire criminals killing Nightwalkers as a method of harvesting their power for themselves. That little bit of imperfection in their ranks made them a little more real. A little less saintly.

  What he found intriguing was that none of the First Faction of Nightwalkers could wield magic without turning “corrupt.” Magic blackened their souls and poisoned their minds—just as it did with humans who tried to wield it. He would have thought Nightwalkers of any breed strong enough to manage the power of magic. Apparently he was wrong. As it stood, the only races on their side of the factions that wielded magic were the Bodywalkers and the Djynn. Night Angels had a more inborn set of abilities that differed from one Angel to the next. The Wraith abilities all seemed to be uniformly innate, not magical, and the Phoenixes and Mysticals…well, they hardly knew anything about either of those species so he couldn’t speak to it.

  But none of this mattered at the present time. He had more important things to focus his attention on. He wondered at himself for insisting he go alone. Surely one other person wouldn’t seem an intimidating presence to a Nightwalker breed. But he wouldn’t risk anyone else. It was bad enough l
ives had already been lost and twisted because of him. He would avoid adding more deaths to his conscience wherever possible.

  And clearly, by letting him go on this death mission alone, they felt it was his just reward for having brought this down on their heads in the first place.

  Kamen packed a change of clothes in a backpack, along with some other essentials: his journal of spells, a few herbs and other components of more complex spell casting, and something to read and study up on in case he found himself with time on his hands. The journal of spells was not entirely necessary. Everything he needed to know was firmly entrenched in his memory. But the book he was reading might offer up some new spells and he liked to have a common place for them all to be as he familiarized himself with something new.

  Kamen shrugged the pack onto one shoulder and turned to leave the room. There was a mirror to his left and, as he passed, he caught sight of his reflection. He stopped and studied himself with a critical eye. If he was the lord of an alien culture, what would he make of this man before him?

  Kamen could only hope they would have no way of knowing the truth.

  Chapter 3

  Finding the Wraiths’ nearest stronghold was easier than it should have been. He would have thought that they would at least have some kind of safeguards in place to prevent their enemies from finding them.

  But they did not. To his fortune. He would have preferred to find where the head of the Wraiths’ political structure was, if indeed they had one, and go directly there, but he had no way of doing that, so he would have to satisfy himself with whatever was closest.

  Kamen could “streak”—a rapid-fire form of travel—from place to place using his magic. So combining the locator spell and the streak spell he was able to bring himself nearly to the Wraiths’ doorstep. It was night, of course, since daylight would paralyze him. But night also meant that whatever was inside of the house he stood before had the advantage. And all it would take was a single touch and he would be dead. But he had a shield spell, one that formed a bubble around him that things would bounce off of if they came into contact with it. It expended a great deal of energy and focus, but as long as he kept calm it should work. He cast the spell as he looked around. The house was remotely located, in the middle of what appeared to be farmland. There were fields in every direction. He took a moment to magically discover he was in the middle of Iowa. Corn country. Corn as far as the eye could see.