Baleful Betrayal (14 page)

"Ah, yes." Her eyes brightened. "The incarnate form of demons. I heard about them during the First Eden War, but never met one."

"You took no part in the war at all?" Elyssa asked.

"No." Kaelissa's gaze retreated inward. "The ancients believed it a mad quest driven by bored youth. That was before Daelissa returned, her powers magnified enormously by mortal souls, and killed the Trivectus." Her chin rose slightly. "My daughter ruled the Brightlings."

"Murder isn't something to be proud of," Elyssa said. "Even if she killed Brightlings."

"The ancients were a different breed," Kaelissa said. "They were neither Brightling nor Darkling, but perfectly balanced, able to channel both forces equally. It was not until after the Sundering that their offspring manifested affinities to one force or the other. Many believed it a curse from the Apocryphan."

I swished the wine in my glass. "Fjoeruss is the only pure Seraphim I know who can channel both forces equally."

Light blazed in Kaelissa's eyes. "How do you know of him?"

I frowned and exchanged a glance with Elyssa. "He was one of Daelissa's companions."

"How very interesting," Kaelissa said. "An ancient helping one who killed so many of his own."

"Fjoeruss is an ancient?" I nearly jumped from my seat. "That's not possible. My mother said he was about her age."

"It makes sense," the sera said in a quiet voice. "The trickster still lives though we all thought him dead."

"Who else knew he was an ancient?" I asked.

"Unless another of his generation lives, I am perhaps the last who knew most ancients." Kaelissa plucked a quinto from the bowl and rolled it in her fingers. "Fjoeruss is not truly his first name—it was Ussor. His greatest love and adversary was Seaa, the golden ruler of the Seraphim."

"What happened to her?" I asked.

"Fjoeruss tried to defeat the Apocryphan by trickery while Seaa resorted to diplomacy." Kaelissa took a bite of the quinto, chewed and swallowed. "Kathazal discovered the trickery and blamed Seaa. He imprisoned and later executed her, thus sparking the Apocryphan War. Fjoeruss went mad with anger. He hid their children in the farthest reaches of the world and only brought them back after the war ended."

"I have a hard time imagining Fjoeruss as a father," I said. "He's kind of an ass."

"He was a father to two children," Kaelissa said. "His daughter bore him a granddaughter who bore him a great-granddaughter, who birthed a great-great-granddaughter—"

I held up a hand. "Okay, okay, I get it. He begat some kids who begat over and over again for thousands of years. I have a family tree too."

"Yes, but his great-great-granddaughter is very important to you. As with many sera, her mother chose to keep her matriarchal lineage and named her—" Kaelissa paused to take another bite of quinto while I waited.

"There's no drama to milk here," I explained. "I really don't care what her name is."

"Alysea," Kaelissa finished, a glint of pleasure shining in her eyes when she delivered that blow.

Fjoeruss was my great-great-great grand-pappy.

Chapter 13

"Say what?" Elyssa shouted.

I shook my head. "No way. Fjoeruss is not my pop-pop."

"Perhaps you should ask Ussor the next time you see him," Kaelissa said. "Perhaps this is why he helped you"—her voice grew very quiet—"end my daughter."

I heard shouts echoing from the village above. Djola raced onto the deck, face white. "Mother, we are under attack."

My brain booted out confusion and invited fear and adrenalin over for dinner. I raced upstairs to the street and stopped dead in my tracks when I saw what was coming into the valley. A massive flock of mutants riding the skyway burst into flight when they reached the end of it, and circled high into the air.

"Must be fifty of them," Elyssa said in a hard voice.

Another group of soldiers further behind the fliers lifted off from the skyway on a cloudlet.

"They followed us," Elyssa said. "Cephus hasn't given up yet."

"Is there a village on the other side of the valley?" I asked Kaelissa as she emerged outside.

"Not for several miles," she said.

"In other words, they're coming straight here," I muttered.

Flava led her troops onto the street and barked orders to them. She turned to me. "We are still exhausted from fighting and traveling. How can we defeat fresh troops?"

Nailan decided to pile on with another dire warning. "There are only twenty-eight of us and nowhere to run."

"I have faced worse odds." Lanaeia brushed a lock of silver hair from her face. "Elyssa, what should we do?"

Kaelissa's brow furrowed. "You are no Darkling, child."

Lanaeia's nose twitched. "How could you possibly know?"

"Your hair, child." Kaelissa said. "Only those touched with the fire of Brilliance will bear such silvery locks." She sighed. "Even my Daelissa would be envious."

Lanaeia's lips curled with distaste.

Elyssa bit her lower lip, a sign she was furiously thinking through our options.

Though aether was plentiful, I'd stretched myself to the limits to destroy the crystoid. Revving my engine that high came with a cost that only sleep or feeding could help. Sleep was better, but human soul essence would do in a pinch. The only human available was right next to me.

I gripped Elyssa's hand. "Babe, I'm gonna need a boost."

"Do you have time?" she asked.

"Maybe." I looked around. "Have you thought of anything?"

"My dad's the military genius, not me," she hissed.

"We cannot flee to the north or west over barren land because the fliers will see us," Flava said. "Our only hope is taking cover in the trees around the village."

Elyssa frowned and turned to Kaelissa "How strong are these houses?"

"They were made to withstand Brightling attacks," the sera replied.

Elyssa's eyes narrowed. "That gives me an idea." She splayed the fingers on her hands. "Justin, start feeding."

I spread my fingers and felt my Seraphim side straining for the soul essence freely offered. White energy trickled from Elyssa's right hand, and ultraviolet from her left, flowing into my fingers and replenishing my energy reserves. Though Seraphim didn't have to feed from others to survive, Daelissa had discovered long ago that feeding from mortal soul essence amped our powers exponentially.

As I fed, Elyssa quickly outlined a plan that sounded just crazy enough to work. There was a dreamy quality to her voice, a side-effect of our connection. Feeding my Seraphim side was tame compared to the sexual lust my inner demon aroused.

We put the plan in motion, racing from house to house and evacuating the villagers. I went first to the boot-shaped abode and sent a jolt of Murk into the gem outside—ringing the doorbell, so to speak—and a weary looking sera appeared a moment later.

"Hostile soldiers are coming," I explained to her in Cyrinthian. "You need to evacuate to the communal hall on the other end of town."

She looked as if she wanted to argue about it, but her eyes locked onto something behind me and went wide with terror. I assumed it was the sight of other Darklings fleeing down the street, but when I turned, Kaelissa's hard stare met me.

"Children, come at once! We're under attack!" The sera ran inside and returned with a toddler in each arm and a stream of kids in tow.

"Is this a nursery?" I asked, but the sera cast another frightened look at Kaelissa and led her young troops away.

A haggard-faced seraph emerged last, dragging a screaming boy. The seraph looked up at the skies and hesitated, possibly considering which was the worst fate—dying or dealing with so many kids. He apparently decided to live and trotted off after the sera, the boy still screaming incoherently.

She really is the old woman in the shoe.

I turned to ask Kaelissa what that was all about but she'd gone back to her house.

Djola ran up to me, panting. "Everyone is evacuated."

"You should join them," I told her.

She looked over at Kaelissa's house, a pained looked in her eyes. "I cannot. I am already a burden to Mother's honor and will not shame her further by running like a coward."

I couldn't imagine how hard it must be for this poor daughter, living in the shadow of a dead sister she'd never known. Daelissa had been insane, but Kaelissa only saw the beautiful Brightling daughter who'd once ruled Eden and Seraphina. Thanks to the Desecration, all of her other children would age and die—all would be inferior, mere shadows of the only child that mattered.

"Why do you live with her?" I asked. "Why not go out and make a life of your own?"

"She is the oldest among us," Djola said with reverence in her voice. "It is an honor to be by her side." Her chin lifted slightly. "I am a child of Kaelissa."

I repressed a groan.
The crazies must run in this family.
"Maybe you should strive to be more like your sister, Nightliss."

"Why should I?" Djola shuddered. "Naelissa forsook her name and betrayed our family's honor." She shivered once more for emphasis and stalked toward her living idol.

"And I thought my daddy issues were bad," I muttered.

Elyssa appeared by my side. "Is it just me, or do you have a bad feeling about Kaelissa?"

"I'm beginning to think Nightliss was the only normal one in that family." I looked around and noticed most of our people were out of sight. "We should get into position."

We jogged inside Kaelissa's crib and transformed the door opening back into a solid wall. I charged the gem inside and imagined how I wanted the wall to change. Several sections misted into circular windows, leaving a thin barrier on the outside that operated like a two-way mirror, allowing us to see out, but to those outside, the house appeared windowless.

The cloudlet with Cephus's loyalist ground troops drifted over the trees and landed in the middle of town, a protective ring of mutants surrounding them. I recognized a seraph with a dozen or more symbols inscribed on his shiny black chest armor tilted his chin and glanced haughtily at the village.

"Tain Prahven again," I muttered. "Guess I didn't kick his ass hard enough the last time."

Kaelissa stepped outside and approached them. "What brings the protectors of Pjurna to our village?"

The commander looked her up and down. "I am Tain Prahven of the Imperial Legion. We seek a band of rebel fugitives who likely passed through here."

"
Tain
?" She raised an eyebrow. "I thought that title died long ago."

"We are reviving the old ways," he said in a pleased tone. "Not many remember them."

A genuine smile stretched across Kaelissa's face. "They do not remember or honor them as they should."

"I don't like how chummy Kaelissa is getting with this guy," I told Elyssa.

The corners of her eyes wrinkled with worry. "She's off script."

Prahven's expression tightened. "If this is true, sera, please honor me with an answer to my question. Have you seen the fugitives?"

Kaelissa paused way too long before answering that question. Her finger rose and pointed north. "I saw a large band of people leave the skyway and head west along the valley rim."

"None of them passed through here?" he asked.

"It has remained quiet as ever, Tain Prahven."

Prahven pursed his lips. "These fugitives seek passage to Kdosh. I find it unlikely they would not come here since the skyway is malfunctioning." A smirk tugged the corners of his lips. "The Mzodi are the only other means of reaching their goal. Do they not regularly call to port here, sera?"

Kaelissa's eyes flashed. "Do you call me a liar?"

Prahven stroked the back of his hand over her cheek. "And if I did, young sera, what would you do?"

Eyes glittering like diamonds, Kaelissa trembled with rage.

"Oh crap," I muttered. "Get ready to give the signal."

"Search the domiciles," Prahven commanded. "Blow them apart if you must, but find the fugitives!"

"I hope Flava can follow through," Elyssa said. "If she doesn't, we're dead."

"If she doesn't, I'm grabbing you and running for the hills." I gripped her hand. "We'll find another way home."

Everything rode on what happened next. The fliers might be brainwashed citizens, forced to do the will of Cephus, but they'd kill us in a heartbeat. Maybe they could be saved, but not at the cost of our own lives. Elyssa had drawn a line in the sand and told Flava and her soldiers they'd have to cross it if they wanted to survive.

The fliers split into squads, each one accompanied by loyalists. Elyssa waited and watched, giving the enemy a chance to spread out. The first squad reached the house across the street. When no one answered, they balled their fists and blasted the outside with Murk, raining blows like a sledgehammer, cracking the crystalline outside.

With Prahven facing away, Kaelissa morphed into her felix form and flew to safety.

Elyssa nodded. "Now."

I extended my forefinger, angled it up and fired off a little sparkle. The reaction to the signal was almost instantaneous.

Windows appeared in the houses, and inside them, twenty-something cornered legionnaires with nothing to lose. Slender needles of Murk caught the loyalists in their unprotected throats, spearing through them like icepicks. Blood spurted from ruptured arteries and bodies fell. The survivors screamed and ran.

Tain Prahven channeled a protective dome around himself and barked orders. The fliers channeled shields and threw themselves in front of the attacks. I caught sight of Flava across the road, pain etched into her face as she mowed down one of the mutants.

"I think she's all in," I said in relief.

Their assigned loyalists protected, the fliers struck out. A group of five linked together, and the center one hurled a massive orb of Murk at the boot house. The structure imploded like broken china, shattering and falling in on itself. The legionnaires trapped inside tried to run, but Mutants cut them down. I fired a torrent of Brilliance, but it splashed harmlessly off the enemy shields.

The linked fliers blew a hole in the next house. The soldiers inside shielded themselves and retreated into the undamaged section, but another blast from the linked fliers smashed through the other side.