Warrior from the Shadowland (25 page)

Her
mouth firmed.  “You’re just wasting time, now.  Go!”

“I’m
going.  And there’s no need to thank me for saving your cute little ass from
the Reprisal.  Really.  Your heartfelt appreciation is just overwhelming.”  He
went sweeping over to Cross.  “Welcome to my team.  Try not to embarrass me.”

“You
screw me over on this and I’ll kill you along with everyone else in the
universe.”  Cross reported.  The very flatness of the warning, combined with
the echo of Shadows in his voice, had Gion glancing at him.

“Relax. 
This isn’t the first apocalypse I’ve been to, you know.  Of course, you caused
the last one, too, so it might all count as one
big
end of the world,
right?”  Gion didn’t wait for Cross’ response to that.  Grabbing hold of Cross’
arm, he instantly jumped them both to the Magnet Kingdom.

Then
I cursed the elements

Edgar
Allen Poe-
“Silence- A Fable”

Chason
felt a constant, deep and abiding fury at the universe at large.  But, seeing
Abel’s hands on Nia’s body, he experienced an entirely different kind of
anger.  Chason was past caring about everything except revenge, now.  But,
there was still enough of the man who’d Phazed with Mara buried inside of him
that he wouldn’t tolerate any of his soldiers abusing a woman.  Some of his
soldiers
were
women, for Gaia’s sake.  The Reprisal was dedicated to a
cause, not to wanton barbarism.  There was a difference between justified
vengeance and mindless brutality.  Chason might kill Nia to find the
Quintessence, but she wasn’t going to be raped, first.

“Abel,
let her go.”  He ordered.

Nia
was still frozen by the Stone Phase’s solidifying power.  The men had followed
orders and taken her directly to Chason’s study when they returned to the
Magnet Fortress.  Their losses in the human realm had been high.  Chason could
see it in the blood stained uniforms and haggard expressions of the soldiers.

Or
most of the soldiers, anyway.

Abel
looked delighted as he fondled Nia through her clothing.  His hand was actually
working on the buttons of her top.  “She’s softer than I thought she’d be.”

Lansing
looked disgusted.

“Let
her go.”  Chason repeated.  “
Now.
”

The
force of his voice actually got through to Abel.  “What?”  He turned to stare
at Chason.  “But…”

“I
want her unfrozen, so I can question her and then I want you and the rest of
the men out of here.”  Chason interrupted.  “And, later, you and I are going to
talk about this.”

Abel
stared at him and Chason could see the barely suppressed fury in his gaze.

Lansing
reached for his sword, when Abel hesitated.  So, did a lot of the other
soldiers.

Abel
let out a hissing breath of frustration and released his hold on Nia.  His
energy surged out and she blinked, coming back from her statue-like state of suspended
animation.  Chason wasn’t sure how aware someone remained in a Stone Phase
trance, but Nia had to remember
something
.  Furious turquoise eyes fixed
on Abel and there was a gigantic swell of power.

“Oh
shit.”  Lansing breathed as Nia let loose with the force of her rage.

Abel
barely had time to scream as the Water energy, lifted him right off the
ground.  It slammed into him like a wrecking ball, sending him flying into the
wall ten feet away.  He hit it so hard his skull made a sickening “thwack”
sound against the gray stone.  Abel slid down and fell first face to the floor,
unconscious.

Chason
arched a brow.  “Is he dead?”

“He’ll
live.”  Nia spat out.  “For now.”  Her expression reflected utter revulsion. 
“That’s the kind of Phase you recruit, now?  And you still have the audacity to
think you’re so much nobler than the rest of us?  God.”  She wiped at her body
like she was trying to remove Abel’s fingerprints.

“I
apologize.”  Chason said, because she was actually right.  “That won’t happen
again.”

“Abel
only touched you for a moment, Princess Nia.  Chason stopped him right away.” 
Lansing put-in, loyally.

“Really? 
Well, everything’s fine, then.”  Nia sneered.  “I guess I’ll just forget that
you
kidnapped
me, too.”  She glared over at Chason.  “Seriously,
kidnapping
? 
I mean, do you stay up at night thinking of ways to be a bigger cliché?”

Chason
ignored that.  “Leave us.”  He told his men and gestured towards the chair
across from his desk.  “Have a seat, Nia.”

The
soldiers filed out the door, abandoning Abel on the ground.

Nia
scowled, apparently debating the merits of ignoring Chason’s instructions. 
Finally, she stomped over to sit in the chair.  “You sent men with swords after
my family.  My brother and my cousin and my Match.  Explain to me why I
shouldn’t make the Magnet Kingdom into a Dust Bowl.  I have no trouble
controlling the Water here.”  She shot Abel a pointed look.  “See?”

“You
could create a drought.”  Chason agreed.  “Take all our water and dry us out. 
Kill the land.  But, I doubt that you will.  Water Phases don’t destroy
nature.  Besides, it would drain a lot of your power to do something that big
and you’ll need it for whatever futile escape plan you’re already trying to
concoct.”

“You’d
be surprised at what Water Phases will destroy when we get pissed enough.”  Nia
leaned forward.  “And I have plenty of power to steal your water
and
get
away from you nimrods.  Shall we test it?”

Chason
decided to change the subject.  She could ruin the Magnet Kingdom.  She had enough
energy to create a permanent and irreversible desert over his lands.  But, he
simply didn’t care.  “Where’s the Quintessence?”  It remained the only thing
that really mattered.

Nia
blinked as if she hadn’t been expecting that.  “How do you know about…”

Chason
cut her off.  “Where is it?  Just tell me, so I don’t have to hurt you.”

He
probably shouldn’t have been so blunt.  Nia’s gaze narrowed at the threat.

“Even
if I knew where it was, I
still
wouldn’t tell you.”  She declared in a
‘rot in hell’ tone.  She crossed her arms over her chest.  “As it happens, I don’t
get the fun of withholding it from you, though.  I don’t know where it is. 
That’s the truth.  We were looking for it and we hit a dead end.”

Chason
didn’t believe her.  “I don’t believe you.”

Nia
shrugged.  “Tough.”

Chason
watched her, thoughtfully.  “I could give you back to Abel.”  He remarked, even
though he wouldn’t.

“Yeah,
‘cause he did so well against me last time, right?”  Nia glanced over at Abel’s
sprawled form again.  “FYI, the threat will probably work better once he wakes
up from his fainting spell.”

Bringing
out the big guns, Chason nodded.  “Very well.  If you won’t tell me where the
Quintessence is, I’ll have to ask someone else.  The Reprisal can just go after
Ty, again.  Or Tharsis.  Maybe they would know.”  He’d known Nia for centuries. 
He knew how much she valued her family.  She wasn’t impressed with his vows to
hurt her, but just the promise of retaliation against Ty and Tharsis had her
jaw tightening.

“Or,”
Chason continued when she just glared at him, “I could pay Cross a visit and
see what he’ll tell me about the Quintessence.”

There
was a beat on tense silence.

Then,
Nia struck at his weakest point.  “It’s just too bad Mara isn’t here to see
you, Chase.”  She smiled with no humor.  “Your Match would be so proud of what
you’ve become.”

For
a second, Chason’s vision dimmed.

Nia
had said his Match’s name.

No
one said her name around him.  Not ever.  Even Chason avoided saying it out
loud, because the sound of it caused such agonizing pain.  “
Shut up
. 
You have no idea what it is to lose a Match!”  The words were torn out of him
and left bleeding craters.

“No,
but I know what it is to
have
a Match and you just threatened him!”  She
shouted back.  “You’re lucky I don’t know where the Quintessence is, because
I’d destroy it myself rather than
ever
give it to you, now!”

Properly
channeled, the berserker rage that filled him could have powered the entire
universe.  “You know
nothing.
”  Chason exploded out of his chair.  “She
was my
heart
.”  He thumped a fist against his chest.  “My soul.  My
light
. 
Everything that would have stopped me from hurting you, died with her.  I’m
warning you, Nia.  Just give it to me or…”

“I
don’t have it!”  She bellowed.  “If I did, I’d have already used it to fix
things.  To get back what the Fall stole from all of us.”

“It’s
too late for that.”  Chason struggled to reign in his breathing.  “Now, there
can only be justice.  I will have the Quintessence.   If it means killing you,
so be it.  Avenging my Match is worth your life.  Worth my life.  The
universe. 
Anything
.”

“Missing
her doesn’t make you special.  You think you’re the only one who suffered?” 
Nia swallowed.  “The only Phase who loved someone and had them taken?  Not all
of us want to finish what Parald started and burn the ashes of our world,
though.  It’s not right, Chason.  Your grief is blinding you.”

“You
have no idea what you’re even talking about.”  He snarled.  “Maybe other Phases
lost people who they loved during the Fall, but it’s not the same.  I loved her
more
.  I loved her with a love than was
more
than a…”

“That
was more than love.”  Nia finished.  “Yeah, I know.”

“Are
you mocking me?”  He demanded, furiously.

“No. 
It’s a human poem. 
Annabel Lee
by Edgar Allan Poe.  I used to read it
to Ty.  She liked it because it’s about a water kingdom.”  Nia frowned.  “You
never read it?  You’d appreciate it.  It was written by a man who’d lost his
wife.”

“Recite
this poem.”  Chason dared, not really buying it.  If Nia tried to jeer at the
memory of his Match, he really would kill her.

“Recite
the whole thing?”  Nia cringed like a kid called on to do a math problem on the
chalkboard.  “I can’t remember
all
of it.  I know part of it goes, ‘we
loved with a love that was more than love,’ and then there’s some other stuff
about how the angels were jealous of them and then it went:

And this was the
reason that, long ago,

In this kingdom
by the sea,

A wind blew out
of a cloud, chilling

My beautiful
Annabel Lee;”

“Wait,
Air
killed the human’s Match?”  That caught Chason’s attention.

“Um…” 
Nia shrugged.  “Yeah, I guess so.  Oh, wait.  I remember the end, now:

For the moon
never beams, without bringing me dreams

Of the beautiful
Annabel Lee;

And the stars
never rise, but I feel the bright eyes

Of the beautiful
Annabel Lee;

And so, all the
night-tide, I lie down by the side

Of my darling —
my darling — my life and my bride,

In her sepulchre
there by the sea,

In her tomb by
the sounding sea.”

“A
human wrote that?”  Chason hadn’t known they were that smart.  The poem was…
good.  Listening to it didn’t hurt, like music.  It just made him feel calmer
somehow.  Like someone else out in the universe really did understand what it
was to love beyond all reason and ache for what was gone.  Like someone, this
Poe human, would have approved of his mission. 

Chason
walked over to stare out his window, soaking in the slow decay of the Magnet
Kingdom like a balm.  “I can’t lay down with her, yet.”  He reported in a
quieter voice.  “Not until I avenge her.”

“So,
if you had the Quintessence --this wonderful Divine power-- all you could think
to do with it is kill more people.”

“Yes.” 
Chason said, honestly.

“That’s
pathetic.”  Nia pronounced.

“Possibly,
but you’re still going to give me the Quintessence.”  He turned to look at her,
again.  “You don’t have a choice.”

“I.
Don’t. Have. It.”  She repeated, carefully spacing each word.  “Break out the
rack and have the
Braveheart
guy rip out my intestines, if you want. 
But, the answer will still be the same.  Ty and I thought it was in Mayport
Beach.  It donated blood and we tracked it there.  But, it was a trick.”

“A
trick?”

“Yeah. 
A trick.  A dead end.  The Quintessence just led us there to show us something
else.”  She leaned forward, again.  “Chase, listen.  Phases can interbreed with
the humans.  We have proof. 
That’s
what this is really about.”

“What
are you talking about?”

“I’m
talking about saving Elementals from extinction and finding human Matches.  We
can interbreed with them.  I’ve seen the offspring to prove it.”

“That’s
impossible.”  Chason shook his head.  “Everyone knows that…”

“I’m
telling you, I’ve
seen
it.  Uriel’s Match is a human with Elemental
DNA.  She’s part Wood Phase.  The Quintessence left us a trail to follow so
we’d find her.  That’s why its blood popped up at Mayport Beach Hospital.”

Chason’s
eyes narrowed.  He actually believed Nia, now.  Water Phases were terrible
liars.  Plus, she was excited about this news.  As if it could actually make a
difference somehow.  Biological miracles meant nothing to Chason.  And the
Phases would be wiped out when he ended the universe anyway, so he wasn’t
worried about holding back extinction.

But,
he was now completely convinced that the Quintessence was real.  There was
blood evidence.  It had been in the human realm and, out of everywhere on the
planet, it deliberately selected that small Florida town.  If there was one
half-breed, there had to be more.  So, why would the Quintessence pick this
particular girl to show the Water House?  Just because she was Uriel’s?  Or
maybe
this
half-breed, in
this
town, was special somehow.