“The White Rose should always trust herself,” he said, softly. “She has good instincts.”
I grunted. “Doesn’t feel that way sometimes. And you just missed the slow pitch chance to say I could trust you. If this was a Hallmark Christmas movie, you would have just ruined the plot.”
He took another drink of the bottle, pondering my words. “This is not a Hallmark Christmas movie,” he finally said with a rather disgusted look on his face.
I frowned, shaking my head. Apparently, Ryuu and I would never be watching cheesy romance movies together. However, digging deeper…it was actually an incredibly sweet thing to say to me. I often did judge myself too harshly and second guess my actions, but I couldn’t let him know that. “That was actually a worse thing to say,” I told him. “The only thing you forgot to do was buy me a bouquet of flowers and then stomp on them rather than giving them to me.”
He chuckled. “I would rather empower you than give you a crutch to lean on—even if that crutch is me. You don’t need to look to someone else to fight your battles. You need to fight your own, trust your instincts, and know that you have what it takes to save yourself. These qualities are priceless.”
I sighed, snatching the bottle from him. I lifted the bottle to my lips and began to drink.
“For everything else, there’s Ryuu,” he added in a low, foreboding growl, drawing his black blade a few inches. I choked on the sake, spewing it out in a mist of alcohol. I glanced over at him, wiping my lips with my sleeve. “The screams of your foes dying will almost be as loud as your followers cheering,” he assured me with a cool smile. “And you can always trust me, Callie Penrose.”
Phix chuckled wickedly, lazily digging her claws into the grass and tearing up furrows in the hard ground.
Ryuu’s phone chirped and he glanced down with a frown. He stared at the screen for a few moments and let out a soft breath. When he looked up, his eyes were hard and brittle like a frozen pond. “One of my men was found dead. Jin. He had an angelic rune carved into his forehead.”
I clenched my fist and let out a growl. “Eae was right. They’re sending a message. How quickly can your men get him to Aala’s rebirth pool?”
Ryuu shook his head. “Jin’s severed head was sitting atop a wooden chest of ashes. His own ashes.”
13
I let out a furious hiss, rising to my feet as my vision tunneled with rage. “So much for them being the good guys.”
Ryuu shook his head. “They think we are the bad guys. All is fair in love and war. Men often commit violence in direct proportion to their level of fear. I would say they are very, very frightened of you and my men,” he said with an almost feral smirk. “I will show them the true depths of fear. We are safe at Xuanwu’s but not when out in the streets. My men will have to be more vigilant—they’ve grown sloppy in their duties. Jin was not vigilant. Now, the Nephilim will have to be vigilant of me because it is considered rude not to reply to a message that they spent so much time crafting. My response will be…poetic,” he vowed.
I wrapped my arms around him in a tight hug, resting my forehead against his. “We will avenge him, Ryuu.” I hadn’t meant for it to be a romantic gesture; more of a camaraderie for the fallen. But the tension between us suddenly ratcheted up at warp speed, our pulses doubling within seconds as I noticed I could taste his breath. Phix’s purring grew significantly louder and I quickly pulled away, embarrassed. I scowled at her for good measure, but she wasn’t looking at us. Maybe she’d felt our pulses speed up, too. What was causing my newfound awareness of heartbeats?
There was one obvious answer, but I knew I wasn’t a vampire, so I forcefully dismissed that fear.
I frowned, noticing a symbol on Phix’s rump. “Hey! Is that a fucking tattoo?”
Phix lifted her head to look back at me, blinked lazily, and then nodded. “I am now a creature of darkness, fighting the light.”
I arched an eyebrow, sputtering incoherently. “Pardon?” I finally managed.
“Grimm was adamant that there is a conspiracy afoot. A group working behind the scenes that no one even knows exists. He calls it Rainbowgate, and he thinks they are the real power behind the Masters.”
I blinked, trying not to laugh. Then I leaned forward, inspecting the symbol. It appeared to be a rainbow with a lightning bolt bisecting it and shattering the peak like it was a bridge of glass. It also looked crude, more of a brand than a tattoo. “Did, um, anyone else get these…badges of honor, or just you?” I asked, fearing that she was the victim of one of Nate’s unicorn’s frequent pranks.
She narrowed her eyes. “Do not patronize me, woman.” There were so many things wrong with that comment that I decided to let it go. “Grimm also had one. As did Ratatouille.”
I grunted. “Who the fuck is Ratatouille?”
She gave me a slow grin. “Oh, you will see.”
“Why do you need a tattoo? Doesn’t that let everyone know you know?” I asked. “What is this group called?”
Phix glanced left and right, looking suspicious. “Promise not to repeat what I am about to tell you?” I nodded. Rather than speaking out loud, she spoke directly into my mind, hijacking my thoughts. The Rainbownatti. We are Legion.
I was silent for about five whole seconds. Had Grimm really roped her into one of his crazy conspiracies, turning his hatred for rainbows into a form of the Illuminati? “You can’t say we are Legion anymore. It’s hyperbolic. The real Legion is here in Kansas City. It’s identity theft.” She frowned, pensively. Then she shrugged. I folded my arms. “And it’s ridiculous. I think Grimm is pranking you.”
“That’s what one of them would say,” Phix said, with a suspicious glare.
I rolled my eyes, turning back to Ryuu. “Let’s get out of here. I need to talk to Lucky about his two families. We need a solution to this madness.”
“Who is Lucky?” Phix asked, standing up behind me.
I sighed and quickly caught her up on the high points of my recent adventures. She stared at me, looking stunned. Then she glanced past me at Ryuu. “I’m holding you responsible for this. I thought I was leaving her in capable hands when I left for work. All you had to do was babysit her.”
“Hey!” I snapped. “You joined a cult and got a tattoo! You want to lecture Ryuu on responsibility?”
“I was training for my job and I discovered the true evil plot behind the Omega War. You broke into Purgatory and essentially murdered Archangel Michael and Archdemon Pride by making this…Anghellian—which is an incredibly ridiculous name. It’s not a real thing. Wake up, Neo.”
I flung my hands up in the air at her trying to out-pop-culture me with a Matrix quote. “Of course it’s a real thing! I was there—HEY! Don’t you dare walk away from me, young lady!” I hissed, glaring as she did exactly what I told her not to do. Did Nate have these kinds of problems with Grimm? Weren’t they supposed to work for the Horsemen, not boss them around?
“I’m suddenly very interested in the naked man over by the angel fountain,” Phix said from over her shoulder. “You should be, too.”
“What?!” I demanded. “Why is there a naked man in a public park? And stop walking away from me while I’m talking to you!” Ryuu calmly began gathering up our gear, realizing that we were leaving one way or another, whether by Phix’s command or mine. I snapped my fingers. “Put that down. We’re not going anywhere. You don’t take orders from a pissy cat.”
He froze, his eyes widening. I heard Phix’s purr change to something decidedly less friendly. “Pussy cat?” she asked in a warning tone.
“Pissy, as in, being a real bitch to her boss, the Horsewoman of Despair, when she’s stressed out of her mind, crabby, angsty, worried sick about more of her friends getting killed when she can’t tell her friends from her foes—”
I was suddenly tackled to the ground and smothered by a weighted blanket of sleek, hot fur. A gentle, massive paw clamped over my mouth and I looked up to see Phix looming over me. She gave me an affectionate s
mile, her purring threatening to recalibrate my pulse as she shifted her paw to cup my cheek. “You need to cut loose. Let off some steam.” Her purple eyes shifted to Ryuu and she smirked wolfishly. “Might I suggest you take the ninja and—”
I screamed, letting out a full-bodied shriek that emptied my lungs and echoed throughout the park. Phix smiled even wider, purred louder, and waited for me to finish.
“You mentioned saving two Divines from the Neverwas—a white tiger and a red phoenix,” she said in a soft voice.
“Get off me. Now. Or I will personally remove your stupid tattoo with a rusty scalpel,” I warned.
She ignored my threat, pinning me down with her massive weight. “The naked man at the nearby angel fountain had a white tiger and a fiery bird on leashes.”
I froze, gawking up at her. “Lucky,” I breathed.
She nodded. “My thought as well.” Then she calmly extracted herself and turned away, waiting patiently.
I climbed to my feet, dusted off my pants, and then rounded on Ryuu, pointing at our training gear. “Pick that up. We’re going to the angel fountain to beat the holy hell out of an Anghellian.” He sighed, not bothering to point out that this conflicted with my order from ten seconds ago.
My phone rang so I answered it without looking. “White Rose. What do you want?”
Roland grunted on the other end of the line. “Not a good time?” he asked in a grim tone.
“I wouldn’t have answered like that if it was, Roland,” I said, thinking about Lucky and wondering why the hell he was here at all, let alone naked and walking the Divines on leashes. They were all supposed to be resting at Xuanwu’s, not wandering around in public. They’d all three been sleeping when Ryuu and I left to train this morning. What if Eae’s handlers had spotted him?
“Well,” Roland muttered, “sorry for inconveniencing you. If you’re too busy, perhaps I can schedule a meeting with your secretary to discuss the murdered remains of one of your vampires near my church,” he said in a frigid tone. “Oh, wait. You do not have a secretary.”
I clenched my jaw at his news and his tone, feeling like my temples were throbbing so hard they might explode. “Watch it, Roland. I’m in a mood today.”
“A category five bitch-icane,” Phix called out in a loud shout, ever so helpful.
I flipped her off and then turned away, focusing on Roland. “Let me guess. Severed head propped up on a wooden chest of ashes.”
The line was silent and I could practically see the shock on his face through the phone. “How did you—”
“Like I said, rough morning. I need you to round up every single vampire you can and get them to Castle Dracula. Now.”
“Of course,” he said, sounding troubled. “Who hit us?”
I hesitated. “Drive-by Catholicism,” I muttered, thinking of Lust and Eae’s eerily similar threats.
“What? The Vatican Shepherds?” he growled.
I shook my head. “No. Definitely not. Bad metaphor. This was an indirect consequence of…” I let out a frustrated breath, not trusting the privacy of our call, and I didn’t have time to turn it into a twenty-minute conversation. “Listen, Roland, just do as I ask. I don’t have time to chat right now. Ryuu and I are about to get Lucky and I’m fed up with interruptions.”
The other end of the line was completely silent and I almost glanced down to see if we’d been disconnected. “Well…” Roland said, sounding as if he was struggling to find the right words. I understood. One of ours had just been murdered and I was telling him to retreat. “I…will get everyone to the castle. Protect yourself, Callie,” he said, his words sounding awkward and stiff.
“I don’t need protection, Roland. He does. I’m going to make him scream. He’s already running around naked, so it’s high time I show him who’s boss.” Roland attempted to deter me, but I hung up the phone and slipped it into my pocket. “Let’s go get Lucky.”
Ryuu was frowning, thoughtfully, scratching at his jaw at some private thought. Phix began trotting away, leading us towards the fountain.
14
I strolled through the park, taking deep breaths of the scintillating scent of fresh growth riding the gentle breeze of early morning air. This time of day, the birds were singing delightedly, the park was relatively quiet, and the world could almost be seen as a calm, peaceful, tranquil place.
The world was not a calm, peaceful, tranquil place.
The homicidal, psycho, riddle-cat stalked through the park at a steady clip, doing her best to remain out of sight. Phix kept to the ground rather than flying where anyone and everyone could see her. I watched her slip through the woods like a jaguar, keeping her wings tucked close as she guided us towards where she had last seen Lucky and the two Divines—who should have still been recovering from their banishment in Purgatory.
The Neverwas. The Night Currents. I’d heard numerous names for the place, and each revelation had only caused me more consternation. Why was it called Purgatory—a Christian reference—if other entities were imprisoned there? And how had no one known that angels and demons stored their graces there for a rainy day? Correction—why had the angels and demons been ripped into thirds in the first place, and then had their memories of such trauma wiped? In my analysis, the only one high enough up on the food chain for such a decision was the Notorious G.O.D.
We hadn’t seen many park-goers, but I’d seen a few joggers weaving in and out of sight on winding, distant trails. Hopefully, Lucky’s nudity hadn’t attracted a crowd or a local news channel reporter. More importantly, I hoped Eae and his cohorts hadn’t spotted him. As I thought about the numerous threats against me and my allies, I realized I had one more call to make.
I pulled out my phone and dialed as we followed Phix.
Fabrizio answered on the third ring. “Callie!” the First Shepherd of the Vatican death squad answered, sounding out of breath and suspicious. “Were your ears burning?”
I frowned, still scanning the park for Lucky or any sign of my hunters. “No. I wanted to warn you—”
Ryuu grunted, drawing my attention with a subtle shake of his head. “Careful. He works for his superiors, first. Not you,” he reminded me. “And his ultimate superiors are no longer your fans.”
I nodded, knowing full well that I was taking a big risk in calling him. I was no longer just Callie Penrose. Angels and Nephilim saw me as a threat because of the murdered Nephilim and Michael’s disappearance. I was also the Horseman of Despair with the Spear of Destiny in my possession. Last, but certainly not least, I was Count Dracula, and the Shepherds were in an eternal war with vampires.
But Fabrizio and those working at A2C2 were my friends. They might or might not be safe from Nephilim, but they certainly needed to know that demons were on the hunt in Kansas City. I wasn’t even sure if Fabrizio knew that the Seven Sins were in town. Would Eae have been permitted to tell him?
“Callie?” Fabrizio asked, sounding more concerned. “You still there? Warn me about what?”
“Yes. I’m here,” I assured him, reconsidering how much to say over the phone. “I wanted to get your take on a hypothetical. Can we meet up later today?” I asked, choosing to follow Ryuu’s advice.
The phone was silent for a few moments. “Um. Sure. I was going to call you to request a meeting as well,” he said in a guarded tone that instantly made the hair on the back of my neck rise up. I just couldn’t get a damned break today.
“Oh?” I asked. “Business or pleasure?” Eae had mentioned a change in management at the Vatican, so maybe Fabrizio was wading into the political swamp. That was a dangerous game for him to play because I was his friend and ex-colleague as a Shepherd, but I was also his enemy as the new Count Dracula.
Again, there was a long pause and I could have sworn I heard an audible gulp. “Both, actually,” he said in a tone that I couldn’t quite place. “If you are no longer…busy, I could meet you now.”
Ryuu had sensed my tension and was staring into my eyes with a dan
gerous look—silently asking me if I needed a blade in the dark for the First Shepherd. I shook my head at him in answer, trying to decipher Fabrizio’s strange behavior. “I’m actually still in the middle of—” I froze, suddenly suspicious. “Wait. How did you know I was busy right now?”
I heard a kerfuffle on the other end, and it sounded suspiciously like two grown men slapping and wrestling over the phone. “Oh. I was just chatting with Roland, and he might have told me—vaguely, of course—that you were…preoccupied. He wanted to make sure you had protection.”
I stopped walking, wary of his overly careful, clipped words. I mentally picked apart his statement, and began to wonder if he was speaking in code. Had Roland told him about Lucky? I almost had a panic attack at the thought. What if Fabrizio blabbed to Eae or his superiors in the Vatican? I took a calming breath. Or maybe Roland had warned him about the vampire killer. Of course, I couldn’t outright ask Fabrizio what he knew, because I didn’t know how secure the line was. My new life purpose was to get my ass out of this cursed park before someone else decided to drop in and pay me a visit. I decided to play it safe. Silence or hesitation would only make him suspicious and more concerned.
“Oh. He’s nothing I can’t handle,” I said, smiling at the fact that the two older men were being incredibly overprotective of me—as if I didn’t know how to handle myself in dangerous situations. He made a strangled sound on the other end and I hastily clarified in an effort to assuage his fear. “And for the record, I never leave home without protection these days,” I said, laughing as I saw Ryuu scowling at the phone. I waved a hand to let the ninja know he didn’t need to murder the two grumpy old priests. “You two need to stop acting like I’m a child and get over it. I’m a big girl now and, believe it or not, I am allowed, even encouraged, to make bad decisions all on my own. And stop gossiping.”
Trinity: Feathers and Fire Book 9 Page 8