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Vitae
I folded Wuthering Heights closed and laid it in my lap. A melancholy pierced my heart. The knife always sank into my heart and twisted when I finished Mare’s favorite book. Unlike her replacement, Mare had always been well read. Some of her tastes were more pedestrian than my own, focusing on epic romances she claimed gave her better insights into our charges. We’d spent many hours in my study, reading in companionable silence with only the antique side table between us.
Gentle, intelligent Mare. If only the changing wafer world hadn’t seduced her away. We lost so much time...for reading, of course.
Before the seduction, our Shield had stood for something better, a higher purpose, a duty. It would again if I had anything to say about it.
Scurith stepped away from the room’s shadows. “Forgive me, Master. I’d never bother you, save you seem finished with your reading.”
“What is it?”
“The dwarves have finished the new fountain.”
I turned more fully toward him. The diminutive, brown and grey canid retreated two steps, ears pressed against his head. “That was faster than I expected.”
“Making slower and seditious dwarf workman subjects of your experiments left quite an impression, Master.”
A chuckle escaped me.
Many of my prisoners had volunteered themselves to help build my sanctum just to escape my cages. A few had tried rebellion or escape. None had succeeded.
Fear, subjugation and brutality were the only things the Sidhe understood. Subjugation became easier as my experiments exhausted greater amounts of Sidhe blood in my rebirths, but I’d been all too happy to take out Mare’s True Death on the creatures that had taken her from me.
I set Mare’s copy of Wuthering Heights on my side table and followed Scurith out onto the balcony overlooking the hotel’s foyer. My faerie servants had procured enough marble to replace the aged flooring. The construction team had inlaid an unblemished ring of white granite fourteen feet across in the center between the curves of twin stairs bracketing the foyer.
The oracle pool we’d had in the Shield had only stretched seven feet, but there’d been no way to view it from above—short of flight. From my perch, the larger pool would enhance viewing the condition of my domain.
While I had authored a guide to nests, I’d never studied the oracle pools. There’d been no need to know more about them until I’d found ours replaced in a single night with the technological abomination thrust on us.
I’d never participated in creating an oracle. Vilicangelus and his predecessor had seen to the carvings and once carved, an oracle inhabited the pool. The only thing I knew was that I needed at least some essence from an Aqua.
A pure Aqua who knows her duty, not Aquaylae, though I’m unsure where I will come by such a thing.
Still, there were books boxed in my library upstairs yet to catalog. The tomes saved from my library before the Sidhe ravaged it might contain the information I needed to create the artifact. If not, I would have to reach out to other Shieldhearts.
“Scurith, what are the chances Aqua essence is available in the Goblin Market?”
“None at all, Master. None would dare trade with any shield after you murdered Dolumii and Gherrian in the Sidhe council grounds.”
I kept the anger from reaching my features. “Has my thrall returned?”
“Not yet, Master.”
A perfunctory nod dismissed Scurith. I spun on my heel and headed toward my library. I needed to finish the oracle, and I needed to figure out a way to seed Atlanta so that I could track faerie movements enough to take the fight to them.
Quayla
To say the lack of response for all my efforts was disheartening was to compare a planter box to a farm. I fought the wind, keeping the cloud and its shape as best I could. I kept up the light show too, just in case Caelum hadn’t noticed me yet.
Much as I hated to think about it, I had to face the very real possibility that Caelum had no way to respond without triggering whatever leverage Dunham held against him.
I was about to surrender to the inevitable when the tornado funnel jogged forward and back several times. From above, it looked like he was backing up to ram the church, but that made no sense. Caelum was tearing down the church with the sheering force of hundred-plus-mile-an-hour wind. Ramming the church that way wouldn’t add any more damage.
A flicker of lightning illuminated the back side of the storm. Just beyond, bricks started to collect in a haphazard pile. After several moments, the pile took on an upside-down T shape. My heart skipped a beat. Caelum was trying to spell out a message only I could see. I couldn’t even imagine the amount of control it took for him to seize debris as he tore it away from the church and assemble it into a message without it looking intentional.
They’re all so much better at their skills, even Caelum.
The arms of the T shifted. I stopped everything but keeping the cloud around me for cover and waited with bated breath for the next letter. When the bricks stopped moving, I just stared, not understanding what letter Caelum was trying to form.
It hit me like a brick in the forehead. He wasn’t trying to make a T or other letters, but a much simpler message. An arrow of brick pointed up Central Avenue.
Caelum needs to meet me en route somewhere.
I lashed what remained of my cloud with a burst of energy and then let the wind sweep us away. I hated leaving him, but I needed to be in position whenever he escaped the scene of his assault.
Maybe it was Caelum’s display of control. Maybe it was being unable to help Caelum save the Catholic Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Or maybe it was the death of the homeless man who’d needed an angel instead of a murderer. Whatever it was, I wanted to be better. I’d spent the last couple of years trying to prove myself good enough. Instead I should have just been trying to improve me for my Creator. Terrance had called my thinking lazy. He’d been right at the fire and maybe he’d been right about the rest of the time too.
The others always seemed to manage without drawing attention to themselves. Sure, some of them had ten times the experience, but I didn’t think of myself as stupid. Maybe it was time to prove it.
I didn’t want any attention on my return to the ground, but I really wasn’t interested in chancing a long, wingless drop and a last-minute attempt to transmogrify. There was no one else but me to protect Atlanta, and I needed to perform the job without the crutch of a divine rewriting reality when I screwed up.
It’s time I step up my effort level and stop screwing up.
When we transmogrified, we invariable transformed our clothes and belongings. When we changed back, we brought back those belongings. I couldn’t create something as complex as a cell phone whole cloth, but there was no reason I couldn’t alter the clothes I’d been wearing—even if it took a little more essence.
Figuring out and focusing on my desire took more time than I normally invested into the process, but reality had been hammering steel toes into my butt for some time. I never believed myself lazy, but whatever I was, it wasn’t enough to do the job.
‘Lazy’ Quayla needed to go.
I transmogrified, trading wings glowing in the thousand shades of water for a base-jumping wingsuit. I’d never used one before, but I doubted they worked so different that my flight experience couldn’t compensate.
Inexperience compensating for the suit’s lack of precision tail and wing left me juking and jerking like a new fledgling. Let’s just say I made it to the ground without breaking any bones, but with ample evidence that I needed more practice. I found an out-of-the-way corner and transmogrified into street clothes.
“Anima?”
“Yes, Quayla.”
“What’s the damage? How many people saw my ascent or the spectacle I made in the clouds?”
“The impact is quite minimal. I was able to blur photographic records, and the Isaac assures me I did a good enough job that you’ve been relegated as an alien space ship.”
I scowled. “How is that good news?”
“The people that generally believe in such things have questionable credibility,” Anima said. “I would like to compliment you on your solution for returning to the ground though. If you’d come down in your phoenix form, it would have been far harder to minimize the impact of your ascent.”
A warmth hit me with her words until my mind flashed back to the broken man on the highway.
Caelum jogged by at a casual lope, his neck on a swivel. His appearance distracted me from my guilt, at least for as long as it took me to catch up.
Caelum smiled when I came up abreast of him. “I can’t stop. I’m ordered to come directly back to Circlestone.”
“You can’t even stop on the way? What does he have over you?”
“You don’t understand...of course you don’t, you escaped before Dunham returned. Viviane is some kind of faerie.”
“She’s one of the Dark Trinity.”
“No shit?”
I drew an X across my heart.
“We’re in some deep shit then. He’s used a spell I think she provided. Wherever he came up with it, it enables him to control us through our eggs.”
My mind flashed back to the Lady telling me she’d broken my egg to protect me. Caelum’s revelation cemented Dunham as a threat to me personally, though I still hadn’t figured out why.
“Any idea why Dunham wants me?”
Caelum frowned at me. “I think this is a lot bigger than you, little sister.”
I punched his shoulder. “What did I tell you about calling me that?”
Caelum smirked.
Despite everything that had happened, that smirk gave me hope. “Don’t you remember what I told everyone about meeting...no, you wouldn’t. You were missing at the time. Then everything happened so fast. Summus had to go recuperate, the kudzu elemental attacked, Vitae tried to kill me, then—”
“Wait, Vitae tried to kill you?”
“Yeah. He gave me no choice but to kill him, then Dunham’s shill stabbed me in the heart and I ended up in that cage.”
Caelum shook his head, eyes fixed on the pavement. “You killed Vitae. Wow.”
“But he didn’t show up in Dunham’s cage, so he’s got another nest somewhere. That got me thinking, if I could build you a nest and you provided enough essence, we could get you free.”
“I don’t think it’ll work like that. I’ve always been drawn to my egg, but now I can feel it reeling me in like I’m a fish on a line.”
Fear caught in my throat. “We have to try. I can’t protect Atlanta all by myself.”
“You need to team up with Vitae,” Caelum said.
“He tried to kill me.”
“He’s still a shield.”
I shook my head. “I’ll just wait for Summus to return, and—”
“Dunham caged Summus in that center section you used to escape. I don’t think he can escape so long as Dunham has essence from all five of us.”
“He doesn’t have me or Vitae.”
“My nest was full with spare essence on hand, but the amount remaining beneath the basin contains enough for one rebirth at best. I don’t know how much he’s used, but Dunham is using our essence himself.”
“For what?”
“More power most likely.”
I cursed.
“Ani, can you think of anything to help us?”
Caelum brightened. “Ani?”
“Hello Shield Caelum. I am relieved you remain living.”
“You and me both,” Caelum said. “How’re we communicating with our automata while we run?”
I pulled the bronze statue from behind my belt. The little angel’s face was screwed up and one hand pinched its nose shut. “I took it off your motorcycle.”
“Genius. Ani, you have to get ahold of Vilicangelus.”
“I am trying,” Anima said. “He suffered a grievous injury before all this happened and hasn’t been in touch.”
Caelum cursed. “That’s blighted inconvenient...or maybe too convenient. Could Dunham be coordinating all of this?”
“Or the Lady has,” I said.
“I have reached out to the Isaac. We are trying to get some divine help, but with the two Courts fighting all over the world, resources are spread thin.”
“We’ll just have to make due,” I said. “That’s why I need you, Ignis and Terrance back.”
Caelum’s fine features bent in concentration. I grabbed his arm, jerking him to one side to avoid running into a parked car. He beamed, batted his lashes and raised his voice to a girlish tone. “Oh, my strong hero!”
“Knock it off. What were you thinking?”
“Ani, what about the first host? Surely some original angelic powers remain.”
Hope swelled. “Caelum, you’re a genius!”
The hesitation in Anima’s voice filled me with dread. “Yes, technically, but I doubt He’d dispatch any to help.”
“And why not?” I demanded.
“They’re no longer trusted to visit Creation,” Anima said.
I considered what I knew about the previous order charged with the defense of Creation. My initial training suggested many had served with flawless dedication—paragons of loyalty in service to the Creator. Others harbored jealousy toward the Creator, Creation or both.
They’d been cast out of Creation into a void, but over millennia they’d changed that void to suit themselves and made inroads back into Creation. They’d continued to manipulate mortal lives, but with a fresh eye to mischief and their own pleasure. Many prominent figures in mortal history had risen on the wings of the Fallen, their souls or service traded to one Court or another for power.
“Things look pretty bleak, Ani doll. Might be worth the risk.”
“No!” I hadn’t meant to snap, but a sudden gut-wrenching foreboding pushed the word out sharper than I intended. “No, Caelum. How many millennia have they been under house arrest, untrusted to do what they were created to do? How many long years were they forced to watch others fill the roles they were meant to serve?”
Caelum actually stopped running, searching my expression with genuine concern. He doubled over a moment later, screaming in pain.
Panic shot through me. I grabbed Caelum’s arm and hustled him back into motion. The pain seemed to recede enough for him to take over his forward motion.
“Thank you,” he gasped. Tears leaked down his cheeks. “I’m so sorry we let Vitae treat you like that.”
I refused to look at him. “It’s not your fault.”
“Quayla?” Concern dominated Anima’s question, but something of steel undercut it too. “I will speak to the Isaac about Caelum’s suggestion.”
“That’s not a good idea, Ani.”
“Perhaps not, but you cannot defend so many millions alone.”
The certainty in her conviction was hard to argue. I’d already recognized that I wasn’t enough, but I wasn’t about to stop doing my duty just because I wasn’t. Every mortal protected was a victory against the Sidhe.
“We’ll try it,” Caelum said.
I blinked at him, not at all trying to clear away tears of futility.
“Get some balloons.” Caelum said. “I’ll give you what essence I can. Maybe Ani can come up with a way to cut me off from my egg.”
“I’ll be right back,” I bore down on my exhausted body and demanded more speed. I had to get to a store, buy some balloons and get back before he reached Circlestone.
“Wait, Quayla. I don’t have any spare tonight, but there will be other opportunities. How are you set for equipment?”
“I fought my way into your headquarters stash, so I have hilts and a small amount of money.”
“I can’t help you with money, but let me list my other stashes, just in case.” Caelum listed the locations of his hidden caches throughout the city. “I’ve depleted many of them, but maybe what’s left will help.”
All too soon we were too close to Circlestone for me to continue running alongside him. Splitting off onto a side street felt like tearing away some of my essence. The ache of his absence, even only moments away, felt like a mortal wound. I was back on my own, but worse I was letting Caelum return to captivity without any idea what Dunham would do if he learned of our joint run.
“Run three more blocks then turn north,” Anima said.
I nodded, not questioning her directions. We’d started the evening tracking my Johammer. If she was taking me anywhere else, she’d have her reasons. It didn’t matter, nothing mattered. I was just too numb to care. One foot after the other, I jogged through Atlanta’s night.
I’d been running a long time when a QuikTrip came into view a little off of my path. Turning aside toward the convenience store, I came to a slow stop on the lit sidewalk. I’d been running so long that both my legs and brain felt like the world was moving past me far faster than they were.
I had to step around three guys shooting the bull on their car hoods. They seemed engrossed in their conversation and since I wasn’t female, I had less to worry about than normal—not that I couldn’t hand three mortals their literal asses even as tired as I was. Still, I loathed to relive killing the nameless homeless man.
Once inside I bought two of their largest coffee cups and filled them with a mix of hot chocolate and espresso. I bought two boxes of Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies, three Hershey bars, a cranberry orange muffin and a bag of ranch flavored sunflower seeds.
The cashier didn’t give me so much as a sideways look. It wasn’t like midnight convenience store runners prized healthy fare, but I still felt conspicuous on the verge of a stress binge.
I downed half of the too hot chocolate the moment I exited. Caffeine, warmth and chocolate reduced the ghosts haunting me. A silver cab pulled in to refuel. I couldn’t get an Uber to our destination without a phone and an online bank, but I could hire a regular taxi with cash. One of Caelum’s caches held several phone replacements, but once I had my Johammer, I could go anywhere I needed.
“Ani? I should have thought to ask you this earlier, but can you get the Isaac to move all my money onto a new set of IDs?”
Anima had the sense to keep her voice down, even so the three guys were eyeing me.
I am loaded down with junk and talking to myself.
“I am so sorry, Shield Quayla. I never even considered how much easier having replacements would make navigating Creation. I will contact him at once.”
“Great, can you give me an address for where we’re going?”
Anima provided an address on Lindbergh Drive. While she contacted the Isaac, I approached the cab driver. He was an older, black gentleman in a dress shirt and tie. “Pardon me, is there any chance I can persuade you to take me the rest of my way to a friend’s?”
He eyed me. “I’m off duty.”
“Could you call another taxi to take me?” I lowered my voice. “I have cash.”
“Why don’t you call one yourself?”
“Broke my phone.” I shrugged.
He sighed, shaking his head. “What’s the address?”
I gave it to him.
“Get in. I’ll take you, but I want to see the cash first.”
I got into the back of the cab and drew out the money. I offered him two twenties in advanced, but he told me to hold on to my money until we got there.
I fell back into the luxuriousness of his back seat, my chocolate and expresso binge holding off invading sleep.
He eyed me in the rear-view mirror several times, apparently too tired to be chatty. His scrutiny hardened when he pulled up in front of an old, condemned hotel. “Your friend’s?”
“Uh,” I scanned the ruin-dominated block. A few yellowed street lights half-heartedly illuminated the parking lot, but there were no lights on anywhere in the hotel itself. Toward the back, the glow of my pearl white jelly bean on wheels called to me. “Yeah, he’s putting on a haunt. I’m helping set up.”
“Twenty, be careful.”
I gave him forty anyway and flashed a smile less effective in a male body. None of the shields I’d met acted gender-fixed, but my default self-image remained female despite my body because that was how I’d been born first. I hadn’t had a male body in some time, and I hadn’t taken the time to adjust my paradigm.
I double-checked that I’d picked up all my trash and got out of his cab. “Thanks again.”
Once he departed, I turned back to the hotel. Behind my Johammer I saw Caelum’s bike, Ignis’s Camaro, and Terrance’s truck all parked in a row. A Mercedes, several SUVs and a limousine parked across from them under temporary carports.
“Ani? This isn’t an impound yard. What am I looking at?”
“This appears to be some kind of Sidhe nest based on the sentries, but I cannot penetrate the interior.”
“That’s Vitae’s Mercedes, isn’t it?”
“I believe so.”
“Why would Vitae be living inside a Sidhe nest?”
“Perhaps he is a prisoner,” Anima said.
A dreadful certainty grew into my consciousness like a mold. “What if Vitae lied when he said he got Sidhe blood on his robes? What if he’s...I don’t know, experimenting with Sidhe blood?”
“Why would a Shieldheart do such a thing?”
“I’m not sure, but Dylan acted bizarre around Vitae, and he admitted to being tainted during the fight in Shield Sanctum.”
“He admitted to the taint, Shield Quayla, even apologized—something I’ve grown to understand is difficult for him. I know he has treated neither of us well, but that is no reason to distrust him.”
“His attempt to stab me comes to mind. Plus, he wasn’t that upset about his nest being stolen from headquarters. When I killed him, he wasn’t reborn in Dunham’s trap. Both things suggest that he has another nest.”
“That seems a reasonable conjecture.”
“More, when I asked to use his book on nests, he put me off.”
“What should we do?” Anima asked.
I tucked my remaining feast in my duffel, stuffing trash into the empty coffee cup. “I’m too tired to fight him tonight. I’m going in there, wheeling my baby out and getting as far from this place as I can.”
“The sentries may be a problem.”
I nodded. “They’re Sidhe?”
“I’m unfamiliar with this species and unsure how to classify them.”
My brow furrowed. Anima knew everything there was to know about the faeries, or at least she always had up until that point.
How can she not know what these things are?