Idell’s kind eyes didn’t let up, but pierced straight into him.
“There are those on the High Council that want to raise arms, to prepare for a wide-spread conflict,” she said, “and those that feel that to be an alarmist reaction to a merely minor threat.”
“Minor?” Joshua croaked.
Shaking her head, Idell silenced him. “I’m not one of them. As I said, certain members of the Order of Angels have been preparing. Already, over a hundred souls have been secreted away, fosterlings moved from their own potentially troubled lives, placed with families that will nurture them... help them grow strong. These souls are considered the Chosen, imbued with abilities that will elevate them above normal Mortality and give them the skills they need to lead both Mortal and Eternal in the coming conflict.”
“Forgive me, but this is a lot to take in at once,” Joshua protested.
Idell paused and her fierce eyes grew kind again.
“I know. I’m sorry, but I feel it necessary for you to know. There’s a high probability that you and your SoulChasers will be soldiers on the front lines, when the wave finally breaks. You must be able to withstand the onslaught... we must all.”
“Now seems like a terrible time to lose Kiah to the Guardians,” Joshua muttered.
Idell placed her hands over his. He hadn’t realized his were barely shaking until she stilled them.
“I trust you to keep this between us. I wouldn’t have shared it with you if I didn’t think you needed to know and could handle it.”
Normally, Joshua would have protested, but this time, the urge didn’t come. Instead, he paused for a moment to let more of the information sink in, then he said, “I understand. Thanks for trusting me.”
Idell patted his hands, then sat back in her seat. “I do thank you for bringing this to my attention. I will present it to the Council myself.” She gave him a reassuring smile.
Sensing that the visit was coming to a close, Joshua quickly finished his tea. She stepped with him to the brick walkway and he thanked her and departed.
Idell stood watching him go without really seeing him. Her attention had shifted to the churning thoughts in her mind. A determined expression crept onto her face and with purpose she turned and vanished inside.
Chapter 32
“Rogues In Hiding”
Dark Lady Angelique, in the body of Flight Attendant Sheila Grace, finished the latest entry in the homemade journal she carried with her, then sat back to look it over once more. Not her usual forte, she had taken to writing down the day’s events since their foray into Mortality. For some reason, it seemed important to her that the entire campaign be recorded, be it for posterity or to stroke her own ego, she didn’t care. Even simple lines such as, “Clovis tried to eat a live rat today. I recommended that he at least kill it, lest it bite him again,” could be critical later.
The heavy dark clouds outside limited the natural light coming into the old western textiles store. As a result, the group already made use of the hurricane lanterns that could be found all around The Old West. When Clovis had guided them to this defunct pleasure palace at the south end of the valley, she had felt dubious, at best. Very few of the old thrill rides had any power, including The Old West Village. The collection of fourteen old pioneer homes and service buildings lined a central street. The premise, she supposed, was to give modern day participants a chance to experience what life was like when their society was younger. Angelique didn’t see the merit, but she could appreciate the effort that went into restoring and updating the buildings. Abandoned along with the rest of the resort, it provided her team with a place to rest and adjust to their new host bodies away from prying eyes.
The last thing any of them needed right now was to be discovered by a curious local or even worse, a damn SoulChaser. The thirteen of them, not including Clovis who, she was sure, was losing his grip on reality, were essential to the overall plan. They couldn’t afford to lose even one of them to the SoulStar’s touch, so she kept everyone locked away, getting used to their hosts and preparing for the blood ritual that would start it all.
Angelique stood and walked from the small dressing room and into the adjoining sitting room. She stood tall and attractive with a lithe form, pale skin and rich brown hair down to her shoulders. Even though the body had fully healed when her soul took over, and was even imbued with a bit of Void energy, she had grown to appreciate this host’s effect on men.
Gathered around a sturdy wood table in the center of the room waited her core team: Masaal, the man who had been here before and therefore served as her guide; Linsay, a natural born killer that harbored no conscience to hold her back; Ba’al, who in his mortal life had been instrumental in obliterating an entire race of people in his home country; and Fortunato, a man that, in his own life, had sold a bound archangel to his enemies for the price of a whore’s kiss. These four were her lieutenants, the ones she trusted, as far as she trusted anyone. She valued them for their internal strength, evidenced by how well they had adapted to their host bodies. Only the vaguest tell-tale signs betrayed the fact that the souls within were not those the bodies were made for. Slightly pointed ears on Linsay, fingernails that had immediately shed and regrown in as thick as claws on Fortunato, but most easily noted were the eyes. None of them had colored eyes any longer, but a pure black iris in a sea of white. Among the limitless worlds, eyes had always been “a window to the soul”. Each of their souls were black as pitch. So, no eye color but black, for those that thought to look. The other members of her entourage lay in beds in a neighboring room, still trying to adjust to their human hosts. They had brought more identifiable traits with them from the Realm of Lost Souls: two different spiked tails, one set of prominent horns, and three that had scales for skin, among other demonic identifiers. Angelique still hoped they would be able to reconcile their host bodies and that the markers would fade. But she really only needed them for the summoning ritual, nothing more. Once the blood ritual was done, she would turn her followers loose to wreak their own individual havoc on the Earth.
Chapter 33
“The Slow Gears of Administration”
Eldress Idell walked down one of the many wide corridors within the executive center that housed the Afterlife administrators she reported to on a regular basis. Given the large number of others hurrying to and from their destinations, Eldress Idell made pretty good time navigating the river of humanity. Even here, after a person’s time in Mortality, there was still bureaucracy one had to deal with to get anything done.
Her footfalls were silent on the thick pale green carpet. Trees only a head taller than she grew out of the floor every few feet along each wall. The light blue ceiling far above looked vaguely like the clear sky from her own Mortality, a memory that brought on a moment of wistfulness.
Idell came to a stop in front of a set of blond wood double-doors that reached more than halfway to that sky blue ceiling. She paused, since there were not any latches or locks that would allow her to open the doors from her side. Expecting them to open from within, she patiently stood and waited. After nearly a full minute of inactivity, no one joined her and the doors remained resolutely shut, she finally reached up to knock.
“Ida!” a man’s voice called from off to her right.
Her hand froze mid-knock as she glanced over and spotted an old friend who appeared to be sticking his head out of one of the tree trunks.
“Caleb?” she asked, her brow wrinkled in confusion.
The man waved her his direction and she walked over to him, discovering when she got closer that he actually leaned out an open door she couldn’t see on the other side of the tree trunk.
“It’s good to see you,” Caleb said as he guided her through a set of doors she was unfamiliar with.
“You, too. How have you been?” Idell asked. Looking around, she expected to see the typic
al ultra-high arched ceiling spanning a vast room, with a raised podium at the far end, behind which a handful of administrators would wait. It surprised her how normal the sculpted ceiling looked, still plenty high, but not intimidatingly so. Comfortable pale blue plush carpet muffled her slippered feet to near silence. Ahead of her, a small group of six men and women sat around a large, polished wood table – the type often found in well-appointed conference rooms.
“Eldress Idell,” the woman at the right-hand end of the table greeted them and stood. Smiling, she held out her hand.
Idell accepted the greeting, noticing how warm and soft the woman’s coffee-colored skin felt in her hands.
“I’m Eldress Weaver. Please, take a seat,” the woman motioned to one of two empty seats on the far side of the wide table.
“Thanks,” Idell said, taking a seat behind a youngish-looking man, white-haired and with a short Vandyke beard. He introduced himself as Belemon, which triggered a pattern of everyone to the person’s right introducing themselves.
Rather than trying to remember each of them, Idell just nodded with each introduction, making eye contact, as well.
“I assume you’ve already been made aware of the situation?”
Eldress Weaver, two seats down from Idell, said, “Yes, there have been rumblings from a number of different sources. Under normal circumstances, not much concern is paid to them, but since Eden is under your watchful care, we thought it worth exploring.”
“And I appreciate that,” Idell said.
“As you know,” the man named Felix said from across the table, “Eden is the youngest of all the inhabited worlds. As a result, it is the closest geographically to the Realm of Lost Souls and the Great Void.”
Nodding, Idell said, “Correct, which is why it experiences a higher than normal amount of spiritual activity. Usually, it’s mitigated by the SoulChasers, Guardians, all of which you already know.” Surprisingly, she found the modestly appointed room more comfortable than she had expected and the relating of Joshua and her own speculations came easily.
It didn’t take long to cover all of the known details, with the retelling only delayed once when Idell noticed the young woman acting as transcriber, off to the left, almost against the wall. She sat at a small desk, a transparent dome cap on her head, which extended from the nape of her neck, up, around and down to the bridge of her nose. Despite the covering, Idell could see the woman’s face easily, noticing that her lips moved in tandem with a slight murmur that Idell could hear if she concentrated.
With the retelling completed, Idell felt relief pour through her, the burden of responsibility lifted from her shoulders.
That relief ended a moment later, when Felix said, “Thank you, Eldress Idell, for sharing this information with us. We will take it under advisement.”
Eldress Idell sat in stunned silence as each of the others at the round table set their gazes upon her.
Rarely at a loss for words, after about half a minute, she said, “There seems to be a sense of urgency among those on the front lines.”
Belemon chuckled. “You know as well as we that you can’t trust the words of anyone that escapes from the Realm or the Abyss. Criminals will say anything to gain the upper hand.”
“Yes, I know, but I have a very reliable Mentor that has come to me about–”
“Thank you, Eldress,” Felix said, the dismissal undeniable.
Idell glanced from Caleb, who looked awkward, then over to Eldress Weaver, who had a neutral expression on her face. No support from there, Idell decided. With a final look around at the administrators, she silently stood up and left the council room.
The superbly balanced council room doors didn’t even give the Eldress the satisfaction of slamming behind her, as she stalked up the busy hallway in frustration.
“Ida!” Caleb’s voice carried up to her.
In her annoyance, she took a few more steps, then stopped and sighed. It’s not his fault, she decided, then spun on her heel to face the man as he approached.
Caleb had held the position of Elder longer than Idell had as Eldress, but despite the added service time, he didn’t seem winded, as a man his age would likely be in the Mortal realm.
“I know it’s not your fault, Caleb,” Idell told him.
Her opening comment caught him by surprise and he stood, buffeted by the hall traffic, reassessing his thoughts.
“They’re too far removed from what is happening in Mortality. They don’t seem to care.”
Caleb held up his hands to calm her.
“I’ll continue working on them, and I’m sure Weaver will, as well.”
Idell smiled wanly, barely placated. “I appreciate that,” she told him.
“But,” he said, “the gears that power Eternity move slowly. You may not get a response or resolution in the timely manner you want.”
Idell nodded, not surprised.
A sneaky smirk crept onto Caleb’s face, just as a youngish looking man ran up and touched him on the shoulder. The Elder turned and the two of them exchanged several soft comments.
Eldress Idell had her own subordinates meant for carrying important messages and gave Caleb and his assistant the privacy they deserved. She cast her gaze out one of the tall windows. It looked out over the colored spires and towers of the Capital far enough that most of the distant city vanished into the white mists that permeated the Afterlife.
“Thank you,” Caleb said, returning his attention to Eldress Idell. “Get back to me as soon as you have a response,” he added over his shoulder.
The runner agreed, then headed off into the wide hall’s continuously moving traffic.
Idell squinted at Caleb with a knowing glare for a moment.
“Multiple irons in the fire?” she asked.
He didn’t blanch at her scrutiny.
“You’re getting a little long in the tooth for court intrigues,” she accused good naturedly.
Caleb shrugged. “Sometimes experience trumps youthful vigor,” he replied.
Idell couldn’t help laughing. Caleb always could lift my mood, she thought as he chuckled, as well.
“In all seriousness,” Caleb said, trying to interject a bit of gravitas into his voice. “Whatever you do, Idell, tread lightly. Eden’s already been through a lot.”
Idell smiled again with a great deal of affection and reached up to place her hand against his cheek.
“Let me know if you hear anything from the committee.”
Caleb nodded, as Eldress Idell joined the flow of traffic moving up the hallway.
Chapter 34
“More Chasers Arrive”
Ben Steele stood in the cold room, his attention on the wall-mounted control panel by the door. Ever since Joshua and Brenden had arrived the day before, he had meant to give the system a “once over” and set it up for the two replacement hosts that he now needed to go out and get. His mind wandered over which of his mortuary contacts he should trouble this time, as his trained eye watched the system feedback scroll up on the monitor. He had last procured host bodies from Ashe & Sons. Before that, it was Thompson Family Mortuary. He had to be careful not to call on his contacts in the underground world of body buying too often. He didn’t want to leave a trail or make any kind of lasting impression on anyone.
The faint sound of thunder drew Steele back from his wandering thoughts as the house rumbled up above and the display quivered for a moment, then cleared. One of the first things he had installed when building the cold room were the power fail-safes. With ten corpses in refrigerated stasis, he couldn’t risk any kind of power problems.
Satisfied that the system was bug-free, Steele closed the diagnostic program. He was about to begin the unpleasant task of cleaning the two vacant chambers, when thunder rattled the house again, this time causing the lights in
the cold room to go out, plunging the sealed room into utter blackness. As Steele glanced up at the failed fluorescent lights, the alert lights on the eight remaining sealed chambers began blinking and then each started their rejuvenation process.
Astonished, Steele backed away from the chambers, even as the sacred runes embossed into the shiny metal walls around him crackled with bright blue Heraldic energy. With the overhead lights blown out, the room’s only source of light came from the runes; the room seemed almost as bright as mid-day.
Ben could do nothing more than stare as eight adults, three men and five women, emerged from the chambers and gathered before him in their medical gowns.
This was unprecedented. In the years he’d acted as Caretaker, nothing even close to this had ever happened to Benjamin Steele. “Uh... hi,” he stammered.
Steele felt goose bumps all over and he doubted it was from the storm outside. The room crackled with the energy of the SoulChasers’ arrival.
The group gathered to face Steele, a tall blonde with the deepest green eyes, tan skin and a shapely hourglass figure, turned her attention to him and he felt like her gaze drilled right through to his core.
“I am Kathryn Healey and this is my team,” she said.
Her voice rang in his head like bells, but Steele shook off the effect. Clearheaded, he noticed now that the two of them stood eye-to-eye. He hadn’t realized she was so tall. Holding out his hand, he said, “Ben Steele, Caretaker.”
Kathryn smiled and her whole demeanor warmed, from her ears lifting a touch to her eyes seeming to dance as she shook his hand. “Thank you for your assistance, Caretaker Steele.”
Unaccustomed to being so nervous, Steele nodded to her and the others, all of whom seemed to relax when they heard his Calling.
“Well, there’s food and clothing in the next room. If you want to follow me...” He led the group through into the prep room.
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