Sunrise(Pact Arcanum 2) (21 page)

Rory, Nemesis, and Take calmly regarded the legions of massed Nightwalkers before them. The Luscian forces advanced cautiously. Behind the Triumvirate, the air rippled as the great shroud of invisibility dropped, revealing rank upon rank of Armistice forces. The two armies hesitated, awaiting the order to attack.

Rory spoke, his AI amplifying his voice so everyone present could hear it. “My friend is dead, murdered before my eyes for Luscian’s amusement. Who will come forward to avenge my honor?” Behind him, the assembled vampires roared their challenge, Nightwalker and Daywalker alike.

“Brothers and sisters,” said Take, his voice echoing across the two armies as he drew his katana and raised it over his head. “The last of the Firstborn awaits us. Who will help me smite him down?” The Sentinels screamed in support.

Nemesis raised her own sword and pointed it forward at the Nightwalkers who blocked their way. “No mercy,” she said. “Let us begin.”

The Fire Sentinels struck first, their magic lashing out at the front rank of the Luscian army as the vampire sorcerers attempted to block their spells and counterattack. The air shivered with magic as the spellcasters continued to destroy each other from range while the rest engaged in close combat. A small block of elite Armistice forces surrounded Rory, Nemesis, and Take, holding their attackers at bay while the Triumvirate followed their advancing army. They focused their combined magical attacks on the enemy officers, striking at anyone seen giving orders.

Luscian’s troops were forced back under the assault and the Triumvirate forces pursued them into the castle. Room by room, the Armistice soldiers fought their way forward, down the wide halls toward the base of the central spire.

Take held his swords at the ready, waiting impatiently and occasionally supplying Rory and Nemesis with targets to eliminate as he analyzed the defenders’ strategy and pinpointed enemy commanders. Finally, he heard his AI speak to him over his com implants, its voice sounding in his ears by bone conduction.

“Takeshi, the linked AIs have decoded the jumper blocks surrounding the High Tower.”

“Group transit, Shuriken.”

In seconds, the Triumvirate and their defenders appeared atop the battlements of the High Tower. Luscian’s vampires surrounded them in ranks three deep, but they held their line, awaiting the order to attack. Luscian stood in a cleared space before them. He had discarded his casual clothing in favor of a midnight blue suit, his black sword Reaper in his right hand. The Eldest’s eyes shone lividly in the light of the azure flames enshrouding the blade, making him look every inch the denizen of hell who had masterminded the war from its inception, the architect of all their misery.

“The jumper block frequencies have rotated,” said Take’s AI. “We will require a significant amount of time to recalculate the new codes.”

“Keep working on it, Shuriken,” Take subvocalized.

Rory strode forward to confront the other vampire lord. “Luscian Firstborn,” he commanded, “raise your circle, and we will finish this.”

Luscian smiled. “Patience, Traveler. I wish to savor this moment: the day I finally put your pathetic Armistice to rest for good.” He raised Reaper and the blue flames hissed angrily as he leered at Rory. “Your boy Nicholas was a tasty morsel, although neither my spies nor his own memories were able to tell me exactly what your relationship was. Tell me, what were your plans for him? Were you going to turn him yourself? Or did you plan to take him as your lover first?”

Rory screamed in rage and leapt forward to strike, forgetting the ritual combat circle to prevent outside interference.

Luscian laughed as he blocked Rory’s attack. “You should have waited for the circle, Sean.” Then he triggered the spell that lay waiting around them.

Feeling the tangle of magic close around the two duelists, Take tried desperately to reach Rory, but he had barely taken two steps forward before Rory and Luscian vanished in a flare of light. Then he was too busy to do anything but fight as Luscian’s scions attacked.

Elsewhere

His sword still poised for battle, Rory searched the empty white mist that surrounded him for his enemy until he eventually made out the other vampire watching him calmly. A soft red aura surrounded Luscian’s body and a bright white light shone from his chest. Rory looked down to find a similar glow surrounding him, the same light shining from his chest.

“Okay, I’ll bite.” He gestured to the light. “What did you do?”

Luscian chuckled. “I brought us to another plane, slightly removed from our own.”

Rory gaped at him. “That’s impossible. All knowledge of planar travel was lost, wiped out along with the Pact Arcanum.”

“And who do you think designed the Pact Arcanum?” Luscian sneered at him. “Your Founders may have destroyed the knowledge of the artifacts I used to create the ritual, but I have not forgotten the secrets I discovered to form its basis.” He pointed his sword at the light emanating from Rory’s chest. “So you still have your soul. A true Firstborn. Who knew Jiao-long could be so ambitious?”

Rory shook himself mentally and then raised his sword. “It changes nothing. I’m still going to kill you.”

Luscian laughed out loud. “You were beaten the moment I brought you here, Sean. This plane is astrally contiguous with our own, so I can still summon all of my children forth through the bloodline to serve me.” The white light in his chest flared red, and a network of filaments branched from it in all directions, creating a spiderweb of brilliant vermilion energy around them both. At each intersection, a semi-transparent figure outlined in ruby light appeared. In an instant, Rory was surrounded on all sides by the vampires of House Luscian.

“You see?” Luscian said in triumph. “They are all here with me, but you have no scions to call to your aid because of your precious moral choice to create no new servants. If I wish it, they will tear you apart, over and over again, even as your body repairs itself.”

Rory swallowed, his mouth dry. “So why don’t you?”

“You have lost, Traveler.” Luscian glared at him. “The only question is whether you will submit gracefully to your fate.” He strode forward to stand directly in front of Rory. “I have analyzed the nature of your power. It will not work on me because I have retained my soul. But I see that you cannot be physically harmed or killed while your soul remains to you. My victory will not be complete until you are removed from the field of play. So, I offer you a choice, Redeemer. You may resist, and I will have my scions torment you forever in this place, bound to life until the end of time by your bargain with the White Wind.”

“Or?” asked Rory.

Luscian raised Reaper before him. “Or kneel before me, and I will strike you down. My sword will sever your soul from your body and bind it into my Crown of Souls, where you will serve me for eternity.”

Rory laughed. “Those are my choices? Eternal torture or eternal slavery?”

Luscian gave him a predatory smile. “Welcome to hell, Sean. Choose your resting place.”

Rory contemplated the waiting vampires around him and then silently knelt at Luscian’s feet.

Luscian grinned as he raised Reaper high above his head. Then he brought the sword down in a blur of blue flames toward Rory’s outstretched neck.

Rory rolled to the side, leaping to his feet in a single smooth movement as Luscian’s sword hacked into the misty ground where he had knelt only a moment before. The younger Firstborn slammed his hand forward, talons extended to rend, and buried his fingers in the Eldest’s chest. Clenching his fist around the crimson light of Luscian’s soul, which was still flush with the power of the bloodline, he raised his gaze to meet the other Nightwalker’s before Luscian could recover his balance and pull away. Rory’s voice reverberated deafeningly in the silence as the scions of House Luscian watched in shock.

“I FORGIVE YOU ALL!”

The red glow of the bloodline was obscured by the actinic white light of the Grace, which blasted out along the scarlet web of Luscian’s power, consuming scion after scion as it passed. Rory staggered backward, ripping his hand from the other vampire’s chest. He clutched his fists to his head and fell to his knees, surrounded on all sides by the wailing of the bloodline in the grip of the Pure Draw. Their lives exploded into his mind, one after the other, all their sins laid bare before him. Behind him, Luscian screamed and desperately cast a spell to escape the carnage as the world dissolved in white fire.

CHAPTER 27

Castle Night, French Alps

Take struck at Luscian’s Primogenitor with his katana then followed with his wakizashi, but the Nightwalker dodged easily to the side, avoiding both attacks. Lining up to block the vampire’s counterstrike, Take was taken aback as his opponent shuddered and collapsed to the stone floor. As he watched, the rest of the enemy combatants toppled, the Armistice forces peering around in confusion.

“What the hell?” Take asked in the sudden silence.

Nemesis staggered next to him, her eyes unfocused. “So many…”

Take shook her arm. “Layla, what happened?”

“Death is come,” she whispered, her expression a mask of terror. “The angels have unleashed their wrath.”

“What are you talking about?” demanded Anaba.

“The Grace has descended to strike them down,” one of the other Daywalkers answered, his voice choked with horror. “We can feel them dying. All of them.”

Take swallowed. “All of them?”

Nemesis stared straight ahead at nothing. “All of them. Everywhere. All across the world, House Luscian is burning.” She finally focused her gaze on Take. “I was wrong, Takeshi. This is not war. Not justice. This is genocide.”

Behind them, a flash of white lit up the battlements as Luscian and Rory reappeared. Luscian climbed to his knees, brandishing his sword as he glared at Rory’s still form on the stone floor before him. “Devil Child!” he screamed. “I will rend your soul!” He swung Reaper in an arc of blue flame toward Rory’s head. A mere foot away from his target it jarred to a halt, stopped by a sharp length of spellworked steel. Luscian glowered down Takeshi’s katana to meet the eyes of the Wind of Earth. “Will you defend him even now, Shadowhunter?” he growled.

“Always,” Take said grimly. “No matter what.” He slapped Luscian’s sword to the side with his katana and struck out at Luscian with his other sword.

In a single fluid movement, Luscian rolled away from the wakizashi and regained his footing. “This is honor combat, Sentinel,” he sneered. “You have no place coming between me and the Traveler.”

Take smiled at him. “If you wanted to keep me out of it, you should have waited for the circle, too.” He raised his swords. “Shall we begin?”

Luscian snarled, showing his fangs. “By all means, let us dance.”

Elsewhere

Rory lay huddled on the ground, his eyes closed against the screams and the visions until they mercifully trickled to a stop. Eventually, he tried to collect his thoughts, wondering how many deaths he had just been responsible for. Tens of thousands? Hundreds? A million? No one was sure exactly how many vampires Luscian had under his command, but the cold numbers meant nothing next to the reality of each life that had flared and burned as he watched, helpless to break the chain of events he had set in motion.

Slowly, carefully, he pulled himself to his hands and knees. Looking around, he was unsurprised to see only empty white mist, devoid of survivors. Glancing down at the white light of the cross brands on his hands, quiescent now that their terrible work was complete, he realized that he had become as insubstantial as Luscian’s scions had been.

“I think your body is back in the real world, with Luscian.”

Rory spun toward the voice then froze in shock at the spectre standing before him. “Nick?”

Nick smiled at him, the light of his soul shining from his chest, his body sheathed in a white glow. He wore white sweatpants and a T-shirt with the Journeymen logo, just as he had in death, but now they were intact and he was clean of the wounds that had marred his flesh in the physical world. “Hi, Rory.” He waved vaguely into the distance. “I was kind of way out in the cheap seats, or I would have been down here sooner.”

Rory wordlessly wrapped Nick in his embrace. “Nick,” he breathed, unable to say anything else as he clutched his friend to him. He felt Nick’s arms come up to hold him and they stood there silently in each other’s arms.

Finally, Nick pulled away. He regarded the Nightwalker with a crooked grin. “So,” he said, “you’re a vampire.”

Rory swallowed. “I wanted to tell you so many times.”

Nick shrugged. “So tell me now. I heard the story from Luscian as he was having his fun, but I want to hear your side of it. I guess we have plenty of time.” His eyes unfocused. “At least until Take finishes kicking his ass.”

Rory blinked. “What?”

“I can see through Luscian’s eyes if I concentrate. He’s fighting Take, who is wickedly cool with those swords, by the way.” Nick smiled. “I’m no judge, but I think he’s winning.”

“Oh, God, no.” Rory whirled around, searching the empty white mists surrounding them before turning to Nick again. “Nick,” he said urgently, “did any of the others survive?”

Nick raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think so. Why?”

Rory, his eyes wide, put his hands on Nick’s shoulders. “They call him Soulkiller for a reason. When his body dies, he can download his soul into another member of his bloodline, destroying the scion’s soul in the process as he binds the new body to his own soul.”

Nick swallowed in fear. “But there aren’t any other scions. There’s just me.”

“Take must not know that or he’d have just taken Luscian prisoner. He probably thinks all the scions are dead, so if he kills Luscian’s host, he will die for real.” Rory squeezed his shoulders tightly. “I won’t let him take you, Nick. I swear I will find a way to stop him.”

“What if Take kills him first?” Nick said in terror.

Rory bit his lip, trying to think. “You’re a Daywalker now,” he said, gesturing to the light of Nick’s soul shining from his chest, “Your soul is bound to your body again. He can’t just walk in and set up shop like he could with a Nightwalker. He’ll probably have to fight you for ownership of your body.”