So, they bent the knee or they hid in caves. That suited me. For now. Until I instituted the military draft for the Omega War. That would likely cause some peaceful protesting.
I made my way towards the main doors to Solomon’s Temple, smiling at the giant columns, marble floors, hanging ferns and flowers, and occasional statues featuring too many civilizations to count. A half-naked, buff Asian man jumped out from behind a column, his eyes flickering with blue light until he recognized it was me. “Callie!” Richard shouted, and then he was squeezing me against his chest in a death hug. I smiled, hugging him back, briefly, before extracting myself.
Richard could shift into a deadly white lion known as Last Breath. He was one of the supernatural world’s most frightening legends. Their boogeyman. He killed his targets in impossible situations in impossible ways and hardly anyone ever saw anything other than his glowing blue eyes, a white blur, and fog.
When not murdering large groups of people or high value targets, he worked for King Solomon as a librarian. He’d been here with Solomon for as close to forever as one could get without becoming forgetful. He and Solomon knew more about human, monster, angelic, and demonic creatures and their histories than anyone else I could think of.
They had also loved my mother dearly, even though she had never told them she was pregnant with me. Twenty-some-odd years later, they put the pieces together and found me, setting me on a grueling obstacle course through the Doors to prove I was worthy to claim my inheritance.
Solomon’s Temple, and all its secrets. But I didn’t have time for that any time soon. Especially not right now.
“Hey, Richard,” I said with a warm smile. “How have you been?” I asked, suddenly feeling a little awkward. At some point, I felt I needed to talk to him about me choosing Phix to be my ride as a Horseman. I had said a few things to or near Richard that might have led him to believe the job would be his. That could have all been in my head, but I knew I would feel better if I came clean. Just…
Not right now, or I was liable to have a stress-induced panic attack. It was easier to ignore this topic since he wasn’t currently in his lion form.
He shrugged, took me by the hand, and led me to a pair of lawn chairs overlooking a splendorous hanging garden made of trellises that climbed thirty-feet-high and almost reached the foot of our balcony. We sat down and he crossed his ankles before folding his hands behind his head. “I’ve been good. Bored, but good. Spend a lot of time reading and staring at the eyesore of our once elegant neighborhood,” he said with a roguish grin.
I rolled my eyes. “Have they been breaking the homeowners association’s regulations? Letting their grass grow too long? Parking their cars outside the walls and playing their loud music at all hours of the night—” I grinned. “Oh, wait. It’s always night.”
He chuckled good naturedly. “There hasn’t been a single issue. In fact, I’d love a tour. You mentioned they have a Coliseum and that you wanted to open it back up for gladiatorial events, right?” he asked in an almost feverish tone.
I nodded. “They used to use it to kill thousands of abducted prisoners from the Earthly realm,” I said in a grim tone. “But the Minotaur and King Midas in St. Louis have a successful Fight Club tied to a pocket dimension where the combatants can’t actually die. Nate Temple even fought Mordred there with the help of the Biblical Four Horsemen. From what I hear, they didn’t hold back in the slightest.”
Richard sat up straighter. “You think you could bring that here?” he asked, stunned. He licked his lips hungrily, likely imagining the opportunity where he could also cut loose and murder monsters without permanent repercussions.
I shrugged. “With the right magic, I don’t see why I couldn’t link that realm to Castle Dracula for specific events. I still need to hammer out the details with Asterion and Midas.” And by that, I meant the pursuit of all evil.
Scrilla, cheddah, benjies, hundos.
Money. King Midas was the world’s most successful investor. Ever. Period. Mostly because he was savvy, but also because he cheated when necessary. If he bet on the wrong horse, he would touch the horse with his pinky finger and turn it into solid gold. The Midas Touch legend was very, very real.
“And Dorian Gray has a huge following for grandiose events. Remember when he filmed me fighting that demon, streaming it to the entire supernatural world?”
Richard nodded, even though we hadn’t known each other then. “That was when we first started hearing about a girl in Kansas City. We never expected her to be Constance’s daughter,” he said, warmly. “Best surprise ever.” He reached over and squeezed my hand with a genuine smile. “Dorian can bring the audience and showmanship as the host of the event, Asterion can provide the magical aspect to eliminate the possibility of death, and you can provide the most spectacular venue in the entire world,” he said, pointing at Castle Dracula. “A damned Coliseum at Castle Dracula! Tickets would sell just so Freaks could tell their friends they visited such a famous place! It will be like the Super Bowl on steroids. That would be…truly magical,” he whispered, looking like a kid on Christmas morning as he stared out at Castle Dracula.
I nodded thoughtfully. It really was a good idea. A unifying idea. I even envisioned inviting various supernatural factions to such an event as an olive branch between us. A gesture of goodwill. There were more benefits than risks. But there were a lot of other things I needed to do at Castle Dracula before focusing on entertainment.
Primarily, defense. Because Archangels and Archdemons could enter Castle Dracula with impunity.
I needed to find a way to put an end to that. Now.
Aphrodite had warned me that Darling and Dear were shacking up at Castle Dracula, and that I needed to get them to help me get the forges of the Infernal Armory roaring to make weapons of war with the mysterious Eternal Metal—the same metal that made my claws, my time-distorting vision, Sanguina’s eyes, the Seal of Solomon…possibly even my new vampire fangs and the Nephilim claws. I didn’t want to think about my fangs, especially when I didn’t notice any strange hankerings for blood or any significant mood swings. The only times it had impacted me were when I’d been in mortal danger, facing an angel or a demon.
But why had it never happened before this morning? I shook off the thought.
It was baffling to think that all of these events or connections between Eternal Metal were coincidences. Were we really all tied together and no one had known it?
Well, my mother had obviously known something. She had set my life up to knock down these seemingly unrelated dominos, and now I was finding all the connections between us. The Eternal Metal also helped heal Xylo’s bones. I felt the weight of responsibility in my pocket and let out a sigh. I pulled out the two Nephilim cuffs and handed them to Richard, telling him about recent events. Like Xuanwu, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I could trust him. I shared an unbreakable blood bond with him.
There were no secrets between us and no questions about loyalty.
Richard and Solomon were the only family I had left.
28
Richard inspected the cuffs, pensively, holding them up to the light and twisting them in his hands to study every angle of the golden jewelry. “I can look into it, but I can tell you up front that I’ve never heard about the Nephilim being anything other than what we all thought they were—offspring of angels and warriors for Heaven.”
“Maybe Solomon knows something?” I asked. “Where is he, anyway?”
Richard smirked, “Sleeping in like a bum.” He set the cuffs down on a side table next to a journal that was half full of scribbled notes. I must have interrupted him with my visit. “Do you need my help?” he asked in a concerned tone, and I realized that he’d been staring at me. “You look stressed out. Exhausted.”
I shook my head, firmly. “The biggest help would be you finding out everything you can on those cuffs. Anything on the Nephilim actually being brain-washed slaves forced to work for the very people their instincts
tell them to hunt and eat. Angels.”
Richard pursed his lips, troubled. “It almost sounds too crazy to believe. So, Eae and Adrian are safely locked up with Xuanwu, but what about this other Nephilim? Quentin the boob man,” he said with a mild grin. “I haven’t heard that name for a saint before,” he mused, scratching at his chin.
I frowned. “What?”
“The Nephilim often adopt the names of patron saints, much like the Pope in the Vatican. It isn’t necessarily required, but strongly encouraged,” he said with a shrug. “Old tradition.”
I nodded angrily, clenching a fist at his casual reminder of my oversight with Quentin. “I’m not entirely sure. I thought he was dead, but circumstantial evidence seems to imply that the angels either took him back and know about my discovery of the cuffs, or he’s wandering the streets of Kansas City all by himself.”
He grunted. “A Nephilim with a newfound need to kill and drink angel blood when you say angels and Nephilim are stalking the streets to murder your allies. That sounds like a terrible combination. Or…perhaps a fortuitous accident. Maybe he will be so upset at his years of imprisonment that he will kill all your hunters for you?”
I shrugged. “Not with my luck. Which is why I need everything you can find. I’ll be back soon. I’m going to go get Ryuu and see if we can track down any of the Sins.”
“While avoiding demon and Nephilim assassins, you expect to just kidnap one of the Sins?” he asked, dryly.
I shrugged. “Do you have a better idea? Plus, if you can help me find a way to bring the Nephilim to my cause, I could castrate Heaven’s efforts to assassinate me. The angels will think twice about attacking if I have an army of their thirsty Nephilim standing by my side.”
“The angels might think twice, but not the Archangels,” he said in a foreboding tone.
I grunted. “Which is why I need you to find me answers. On the Sins and if any of them are tied to actual Archdemons—like how Pride was actually Lucifer. I also need to know about Archangel hierarchy, Eternal Metal, Anghellians, demon prophecy, and the Four Legendary Creatures. They might be referred to as the Divines or Daemons. Oh, and anything about a Trinity.”
He had started jotting down notes on his pad the moment I had started branching out well beyond my initial topic. “Anything else?” he asked, reading over his notes and tapping his pen against his lip.
I furrowed my brow, thinking. “There is a fifth Divine,” I said, recalling Xuanwu’s carved front door. “I saw a depiction of them all with their respective traits, qualities, and elements. In the center was a yellow dragon, but I can’t recall what it represented or if it was even real. No one ever talks about that one, only the Four Divines. Even Xuanwu and Qinglong don’t ever talk about the yellow dragon.”
Richard nodded, scribbling a few last-minute details. “I’ll get to work. Looks like I’m going to have to wake up the old man. Some of these topics are definitely going to be in different libraries in the temple,” he mused, scratching at his jaw. He glanced out at Castle Dracula in the distance and smiled faintly. “Nephilim vampires…maybe they could live here in the temple. It would be fitting to have them live next to their…extended family.”
I nodded at the strangely logical idea. “As long as they aren’t crazy psychopaths, of course. Then again, it’s probably a worse idea to move a bunch of Nephilim into Castle Dracula. Too many old habits and old enemies.”
Richard nodded. “Solomon’s Temple would be more appropriate, and there is plenty of room,” he added. “We have ties to Heaven, so they won’t feel so out of place. If it’s good enough for the man who was famous for trapping demons, the Nephilim should feel right at home. I won’t lie, the company would be nice, too,” he admitted. “Especially if you open up Fight Nights at the Coliseum!” he said with a boyish grin, staring out at Castle Dracula.
I rolled my eyes, unable to bite back my own smile. “Well, don’t make the beds yet. We need to learn more about them before we invite them to a sleepover.” I pointed at his notepad. “So get to researching, librarian lady.”
“Shhhhh!” he hissed in a dramatic stage whisper with one finger over his lips. “This is a library!”
I laughed, shaking my head as I climbed to my feet. “Work as fast as you can. Time is not our friend. I’ll be back as quickly as I can, but I have no idea when that will be.”
He nodded and pulled me in for another, longer hug. “I miss you, Callie. We miss you,” he said, gripping me by the shoulder as he took a step back. “You should visit us more. We already feel like we missed out on the entire first part of your life. Your family history is here, whispering in the halls, and written in millions of books. Your mother’s laboratory is a treasure trove of secrets. Don’t get so busy fighting out there that you forget to tend to your own roots. Your own history. Your mother’s secrets. Your only living ancestor and his pet cat,” he said, point his thumb at his own chest with a grin.
I nodded, blinking rapidly to prevent shedding tears from the raw passion in his voice. “Thanks for the guilt trip,” I whispered. “But you’re right.”
He grunted, shoving my shoulder playfully. “Not a guilt trip. A request. At least stop by for dinner once a week. Hell, invite your rowdy ass gang of friends here. I’ll lay out a feast so massive that your friends won’t even be able to put a dent in it. We have a dining room designed for dozens of guests and it’s never used. Let’s fill up every damned chair with all the lives you’ve changed. Those monsters you showed a new path—one where they could be honorable despite their bloody pasts, directing their violence towards their old masters. Demon godparents, vampire preachers, Dorian Gray…” he trailed off, gesturing wildly with his free hand. His eyes twinkled with excitement. “Just imagine how wonderful that would be, Callie. I can almost see it.”
“Okay! Okay!” I growled, shoving him back with a laugh. “We’ll do it soon. Once I know everyone is relatively safe. Maybe in a few days? Might even work for a rehearsal dinner for Samael and Lilith’s wedding,” I mused.
He nodded excitedly. “I’ll have to go pick from the gardens and get some meat. I know some incredible recipes that no living mortal even remembers. Meals from centuries ago,” he laughed, grinning like an idiot. “It will be the greatest meal ever. Laughter and joy and love will echo in these halls once again. Food will bring us together.”
I smiled, infected with his enthusiasm. We really did deserve a celebration. To set our weapons down for a minute and take a breather. “Deal. But only after you get me answers,” I said, pointing at his notepad.
He laughed, shaking his head. “Of course. I’ll go get Solomon now,” he said, spinning on a heel and jogging towards the entrance of the temple. “Solomon! Get your wrinkly ass up! We’ve got work to do and a feast to plan!”
I sighed, shaking my head at his unbridled joy.
Then I pulled out my phone and called Ryuu. The phone continued to ring and I started tapping my foot nervously. Why wasn’t he answering? Maybe they had followed Legion and actually found one of the Sins. What if they were hiding and couldn’t make a noise for fear of being detected? I hung up quickly, not wanting to cause their capture. Instead, I closed my eyes and focused on my connection to Xylo, searching for his location. I hadn’t tried it from this great of a distance before. I wasn’t even sure it would work.
Silence answered me. I frowned, nervously. What if…they had been caught?
I shook my head clear of the thought, focusing harder on our Blood Bond. I felt sweat pop out on my forehead and my lips and fingers begin to tingle. I extended my silver claws and pricked the tip of my finger, hoping fresh blood might strengthen the connection. I touched the drop of blood to my forehead, focusing on the bone beneath my flesh and imagining it physically connected to Xylo. I felt Sanguina in the Keep at Castle Dracula, but I muted her presence, focusing harder on Xylo as I imagined that the fresh blood on my finger was a third eye. I called up a mental map of Kansas City, searching for an echo of my magical phone
call.
I saw a faint blip near a familiar spot and I frowned. I let out a breath, opening my eyes. I spotted a pile of folded towels on a nearby wicker table. They were placed there because continuing down that area of the balcony would eventually take you to a set of stairs that opened up on the numerous pools of Solomon’s Temple. I snatched up one of the towels and wiped the sweat and blood off my forehead as I retracted my claws.
Then I Shadow Walked to Abundant Angel Catholic Church, wondering what the hell Xylo was doing there with Lucky and Ryuu. Had Legion led them there?
29
I appeared in the alley behind the church, my hand on the hilt of my katana, wary of an ambush. The gloomy alley was silent. I frowned, spinning in a slow circle. I could see nothing concerning. Maybe they were inside. The sky was still dark, cloudy, and overcast, so there was a good chance Roland was still in Kansas City. I intended to have a long talk with him about gossiping with his pal, Fabrizio, about my personal love life, and a stern reminder that vampires would die if he didn’t get his ass in gear and start rounding up the Sanguine Council. The Nephilim had supposedly killed two, but I hadn’t heard of any demon attacks on my allies yet—just on me and Fabrizio.
I kept my eyes moving, scanning my surroundings for any sign of danger, even using my boots to try and identify any demonic presence like I’d encountered earlier with Fabrizio. Nothing. With a weary sigh, I made my way to the parking lot around the corner, thinking I might be able to sneak inside without encountering bulldog Greta. In my current mood, I was open to the idea of murder. Maybe I would even taunt her about a fictional conversation I’d just had with her grandson, Yahn.
Trinity: Feathers and Fire Book 9 Page 16