Sunrise(Pact Arcanum 2) (45 page)

“Can I see that?”

Nick looked up to see that everyone had cleared out with the exception of Jeremy and Scott. “Sorry, what?”

“Can I read the letter?” Scott asked, again. “If you don’t mind.”

Nick looked down at the narrow Arcolin pictograms and felt numb. “Sure, Scotty. Take a look.”

Scott flipped through the pages, then handed them to Jeremy who settled in to read. “Your father was a smart man.”

Nick lifted his head to stare at his best friend and dyad brother in amazement. “How do you figure that? He kept us in the dark his entire life.”

“He tried to protect you both, even though he knew he would fail. For the longest time, I thought I could protect my family from my job as a Sentinel. You remember the lengths I went to in order to deceive them about what I actually do. Then you outed us all at Los Angeles and everything changed.” Scott sighed. “My son used to call me the Music Man, a place in his life I built for myself, something to be proud of. Now he calls me the Wolfman, and I think it’s his way of trying to be less afraid of me.”

Nick squeezed Scott’s arm. “You’re a good father, in an impossible situation.”

“But if it weren’t for Los Angeles, Peter might have been the one reading this letter after I died. What you’re feeling now is the reaction he would have had, learning of my double life. I doubt I’d come off as a very sympathetic figure.”

“All of that is over, now, Scotty. You can tell him the truth, as much as he can handle.”

“And what do I say to my next child? Do I tell her my secrets from the beginning, or try to shield her as long as I can from the horror that’s part of what we are?”

“That’s a tough one, but it’s not something you have to think about right now.”

“Michelle is pregnant.”

“Oh.”

“Forgive your father for lying, Nick. Otherwise, how am I going to sleep at night knowing that this is what I have to look forward to?” Scott walked back to the teleport gateway in the living room, skirting the broken glass, and jumped away.

Nick sighed and turned to Jeremy. “Do you agree with him? Am I being childish?”

Jeremy folded the letter up and slid it back into its envelope. “Nicholas, ask yourself what you were thinking, the first time you accepted honor combat without telling me that I was the challenged party.”

Nick closed his eyes and slumped in his chair. “That I would do anything it took to protect your life, even if it cost me your love in the end.”

“Sound familiar?”

Nick slowly exhaled a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, and felt some of his tension ease. “I wish I had known. So many things could have been different between us if I had truly understood what he was trying to protect me from.”

“Magic requires sacrifice. He let that part of your relationship go to raise you as a human child. That was a choice, which he made for you. But not a blind choice. This letter just goes to show he knew it would all come back to him in the end, and it sounds like he was prepared to accept the consequences, even if you ended up hating him.”

“I don’t hate him,” Nick said. He lifted his head to meet Jeremy’s gaze, and his eyes were bright red with unshed tears of blood. “I miss him so much.”

Jeremy stood from his chair and came to stand next to Nick. “You can argue his choices, but you can’t argue that he made them with your welfare in mind. So you were ignorant of much of what he could have taught you. At least you had the part of him that he could safely share with you, and you were a family. Some people will never have that.” Jeremy spun his wedding band on his left ring finger. “I never had that, growing up.”

“Leshir, I’m sorry. I know you grew up alone.”

“That’s not the point, Nick. I was alone in every sense until the day you touched the focus in my hand, and I realized everything I had ever wanted was right in front of me, just out of reach. I never dreamed that you would ever love me back.”

Nick reached out and enfolded his lover in his arms. “Jeremy Kenneth Harkness Jameson, you have a family now. We may be a bunch of psychopaths on occasion, but we all love you. You’ll never have to be alone again.”

“I know. But I also know you very well, and I can say with some degree of confidence that if it was your son who was growing up latent, you would have done exactly the same thing.”

Nick said nothing, merely stood, and held his hand out to Jeremy. Jeremy clasped his hand, and the Daywalker jumped them away, back to their residence in Anchorpoint City.

Behind them, unnoticed, the letter lay on the table where Jeremy had left it.

Forgotten and forgiven.

SACRIFICE

DEDICATION

To the Lord of Daybreak, for giving me inspiration and a modicum of talent. To my family and friends, without whom I would not be here. To Jerry, for his constant criticism and support as I wrote it all down, and for badgering me into making the attempt to get the story published.

GLOSSARY

THE RACES:

Humans:
The Children of the Day: the most populous race, born with the least magic

Nightwalkers
: The Children of Darkness: the vampires, soulless and immortal greater undead

Sentinels:
The Children of Twilight: mystical soldiers genetically programmed to defeat the Nightwalkers

THE SENTINEL HIERARCHY:

The Four Winds: Leaders of the Sentinel race

The Wind of Earth: Weapon-based physical combat, blademaster

The Wind of Water: Adaptive physical combat, shapeshifter

The Wind of Fire: Energy-based combat, magician

The Wind of Air: Psychic combat, tactician

THE GREAT POWERS:

The Pact Arcanum:
A ritual that allows a being of the material plane to bargain for power with beings from other planes

The Red Wind:
A demonic power of the lower planes, creator of the Nightwalkers via the Pact Arcanum

The White Wind:
An angelic power of the higher planes, creator of the Sentinels and the Daywalkers via the Pact Arcanum

The Gift:
The Sentinel inheritance of supernatural abilities that lies dormant until exposure to Nightwalkers, roughly patterned upon aspects of the four elements: Earth, Water, Air, and Fire

The Crown of Souls:
A spiritual prison created by Luscian Firstborn via the Pact Arcanum that permanently enslaves the souls of beings killed by the artifact sword Reaper in order to augment the wielder’s mystical strength

THE NIGHTWALKER HIERARCHY:

The Court of Shadows: Leaders of the Nightwalker Race

Imperator: Adjudicator between Houses, called the Huntmaster

Night’s Herald: Spymaster, leader of the Inquisition

Magister: Leader of a House, called the Prince (gender neutral)

Leshir: Mate to a Magister, called the Prince Consort (gender neutral)

Primogenitor: Second-in-Command

Consul: Senior Councilor

Praetor: Senior Diplomat

Notable Houses and Territories:

House Talizered: Russia

House Jiao-long: Western United States, China

House Curallorn: Eastern United States

House Luscian: France, Ukraine

House Daviroquir: United Kingdom, excluding Ireland

House Diluthical: Ireland

House Tervilant: Spain, Portugal

House Sojosten: Japan

THE PRINCIPAL CAST

The Mortals:

Antonio Martinez: The Wind of Fire

Edgar Jameson: Fire Sentinel

Takeshi Nakamura (Nightfall)

Anaba Nizhoni (Nightfall)

Sean Rory Brennigan (Nightfall)

Nicholas Jameson (The Journeymen): Elder son of Edgar Jameson

Tobias Jameson: Younger son of Edgar Jameson

Scott Phillips (The Journeymen)

The Immortals:

Aleksei Magister Talizered: The Prince of Vengeance

Liang Primogenitor Jiao-long

Layla Magister Curallorn: Nemesis, the Prince of Wrath

Jiao-long Firstborn: The Serpent, the Prince of Sorrows

Imperator Luscian Firstborn: Soulkiller, the Eldest, the Prince of Nightmares, Founder of the Court of Shadows

Lorcan Consul Diluthical

Kukiko Consul Sojosten

TIMELINE

1504    Lorcan born

1525    Lorcan turned

1601    Connor dies

1993    Rory, Takeshi, Anaba born

2001    Scott born

2003    Nick born

2008    Sentinel assault on Court of Shadows defeated

2015    Nightfall kindles

2016    Toby born

2020    Rory turned by Jiao-long Firstborn, the Pact Arcanum

2021    Armistice Declaration signed

2023    Anaba develops recursion drive, Armistice space program established

2024    North American coastal defense barrier established

2026    The Citadel founded

2030    Spacer Guild established

2032    Nick and Rory meet at Christmas party and renew friendship

2033    Nick turned by Luscian Firstborn, the Burning

2034    Scott kindles, Nick meets Lorcan

2038    Lorcan appointed Court Ambassador to the Triumvirate Council

2039    Nick appointed Triumvirate Ambassador to the Court of Shadows

2040    Los Angeles incident

POST A REVIEW!

If this book made a strong impression on you, whether positive or negative, consider writing a review. Alternatively, if you wish to express yourself privately, you can contact me directly through
http://pactarcanum.com/contact/
.

Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Sunrise-Pact-Arcanum-ebook/dp/B005SMWXK0

Goodreads:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11120368-sunrise

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you to those who made this fourth edition possible, with advice, criticism and encouragement. I especially want to thank my editors, Greg Ioannou, Karlyn Thayer, Erin Roof, and Karin Cox for their comments, as well as my beta readers, Jerry, Eric, Karul, and Katy. Thank you also to Jason, Juniper, and Jessica for their proofreading skills. And of course, props to Craig Payst for his great illustrations.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Arshad Ahsanuddin is a practicing hematopathologist, a physician specializing in the diagnosis of diseases of blood, bone marrow, and lymph nodes using laboratory data and microscopic evaluation of tissue biopsies. Yes, he’s a blood doctor writing a series of vampire novels. The irony isn’t lost on him. If you enjoyed this story, or if you have questions about the Pact Arcanum saga, check out his website at http://pactarcanum.com and leave him some feedback.

Website: 

http://pactarcanum.com

Amazon: 

http://www.amazon.com/author/pactarcanum

Facebook: 

http://facebook.com/pactarcanum

Goodreads: 

http://www.goodreads.com/pactarcanum

Twitter: 

http://twitter.com/pactarcanum

OTHER WORKS

Fiction

THE PACT ARCANUM SAGA

Sunset (Book One)

Sunrise (Book Two)

Moonlight (Book Three)

Starlight (Book Four)

Cathedral of the Sky

Non-Fiction

First Words: 13 Short Essays on Writing from a Neophyte Author’s Perspective

Stepwise: eBook and Print-on-Demand Formatting using Word 2010

COPYRIGHT

First Edition: February 2011

Second Edition: March 2012

Third Edition: April 2012

Fourth Edition: October 2012

Text © 2012 by Arshad Ahsanuddin. 

“Sacrifice” artwork incorporates licensed stock images © iStockphoto.com/Ivan Demyanov and Daniel Brunner

All other interior artwork © 2010 by Arshad Ahsanuddin

Includes material previously published as
Sunrise: Pact Arcanum Book Two
, and
Radiant Burn: Pact Arcanum 2.5

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.