Empower

Chapter 21

‘… in Heaven and in Earth, are a double Nature; in Heaven they are unchangeable and incorruptible; but on Earth they are changeable and corruptible.’

Hermes Trismegistus

Decima’s brief appearance and inspiring speech left even fewer Academy Grigori pleased about my presence. I wanted to point out to them that while she might have stated that I couldn’t win, she didn’t suggest any of them could either, but it was probably time to keep quiet.

I waited for whatever was coming. Drenson was smiling, which meant he had more cards to play. But before he had a chance to speak, Lincoln walked towards me and stopped at my side, turning his attention back to the Assembly.

If it were possible, the tension in the room immediately went up a notch. I sent him a sideways glance. ‘You don’t have to do this,’ I said under my breath.

He didn’t respond, but I knew he’d heard.

Lincoln was making a stand. By my side. And it felt like a knife wound to my heart. Even after I’d walked away and left him, he was still willing to stay beside me as my partner. He was loved and respected within the Academy and he was a tool of the Assembly. His support could not go unnoticed.

‘I can speak for myself,’ I insisted.

He sighed, but only handed me a piece of paper.

I glanced down to see the list of names of the proposed team. It showed almost everyone I would have wanted, including Phoenix. I wondered why Mia’s name was missing then put it together that it must be because she was partnerless. There were also a few names I didn’t recognise.

As if reading my mind, Lincoln said, ‘Shadu and his partner are tech experts. You met the conductors on Santorini, and the others you don’t know are unquestionably loyal to the cause and strong fighters. They will follow you as much as me.’

I believed him.

‘What about Chloe?’ She had a right to go after her partner.

Lincoln smiled softly. ‘She’s a given, Violet.’

I nodded, absorbing this. ‘I have three Rogues who will meet us at the airport. They won’t answer to you and they don’t answer to me either. But they have their own set of skills and Gray will probably be able to keep them in line.’

‘Probably?’ he echoed, eyebrow raised.

‘They’re good fighters, Lincoln.’

He nodded, taking the list from me and handing it to Josephine. ‘This is the lead team we will take, plus three others who will meet us at the airport. I’d also ask that those who are not assigned to other duties be ready to step in. We have planes on standby worldwide to transport Grigori at short notice once we have a pinpoint on Sammael’s whereabouts and have Spence in our possession.’

‘Are you requesting an army, Lincoln? A little much, don’t you think?’

I glanced in Phoenix’s direction while Lincoln considered the question. It was clear by the intent glare Phoenix had fixed on Josephine and the hard set of his jaw that he didn’t think an army was too much at all. As I watched, he took a few sly steps closer to where the Assembly members sat.

We wanted to get into New Orleans on our own terms, which was why we weren’t taking more people, but after everything we’d just heard from Decima I was starting to think it wouldn’t be long before reinforcements would be necessary.

‘Yes, Josephine. I’m requesting that we be fully mobilised in the event that aid is needed,’ Lincoln answered.

Josephine held his look for a moment, her gaze curiously drifting in Phoenix’s direction before settling on me as she responded. ‘If that is your standing, you have our support.’

After leaving Josephine to dish out the orders and Drenson to sulk, Lincoln and I left the hall, followed by Steph, Phoenix, Gray and Mia.

‘I’ll have to stop by Ascension and get my things,’ I said.

‘Let me grab my bag and I’ll go with you,’ Steph said. ‘I want to pick up some books and talk to Dapper. I’m going to stay in Manhattan for now and see what else I can find out about Sammael. I’ll catch a later plane,’ she added.

Lincoln nodded, looking at Steph briefly. ‘Thank you, Steph. Sal and Zoe will keep you up to date, no doubt.’ He took a breath. ‘Feel free to contact me with any new information.’

Steph’s eyes widened.

‘What?’ he asked cautiously.

She bit back a smile. ‘Nothing. It’s just been so long since you’ve looked at me, I’d forgotten how green your eyes are.’

When Lincoln looked like he’d rather take a knife to himself than be stuck in that conversation, Gray saved him.

‘I’ll head to the airport to meet the other Rogues and we’ll join you there. Escort me out of the building, love, so no one tries to lock me up?’ he asked Steph.

Steph nodded, her eyes sparkling with humour. As soon as they turned the corner, Lincoln let out a breath and Mia, who’d been standing by quietly with her head down, offered to show Phoenix where he could get some fresh clothes and supplies.

As they turned to leave, I grabbed Phoenix’s arm. ‘You influenced Josephine, didn’t you?’ When he just stared at me blankly, I pushed. ‘When she asked about needing an army, I saw you move closer to her. What did you do to her emotions?’

His chocolate eyes bored into mine. ‘I gave her a touch of insight into a possible future for this world and what that would feel like.’

I swallowed, suddenly unsure. ‘And what was that?’

‘Fear,’ he said, stepping back and away from me. He gave Lincoln a curt nod before turning on his heel to follow Mia.

‘He knows more than he’s saying,’ Lincoln said, watching them walk around the corner.

‘Yeah. But he’ll tell us when he’s ready,’ I said, knowing it was true. Then, suddenly aware that Lincoln and I were now alone, I added, ‘I should get going, too.’

Lincoln stepped into my space, and despite every intention of doing so I failed to move away.

His thumb smudged across my cheekbone in a way that was so familiar it made my breath hitch, and my memory plagued me with a reminder of all the other things he could do when his hands were on me.

How have I survived without his touch?

I stared at him, lost in the moment. He must have sensed my uncertainty because he inched closer, his thumb repeating the motion, then moving down to my lips. Suddenly his shoulders dropped forward, and his forehead rested against mine.

‘Come back to me,’ he whispered.

‘I’m right here,’ I said, my chest unbearably tight.

‘No. You’re not.’

He was right.

‘I miss you.’ His fingers curled around the nape of my neck and into my hair.

I closed my eyes for one more second, drinking him in. But a second was already too much, too dangerous. ‘I can’t do this,’ I said, stepping back and looking anywhere but into the green. ‘Steph will be waiting for me,’ I mumbled, already hurrying down the corridor.

Lincoln didn’t follow. But I could feel his eyes on me, watching me walk away.

I crossed over one of the Academy’s walkways and turned the corner, almost bumping into Mia who was leaving a room.

‘Oh,’ she said when she dodged me. ‘Sorry.’

‘My fault,’ I said. ‘Phoenix?’

She nodded. ‘I just left him to get what he needed.’

‘Oh. Okay,’ I said, quickly moving on.

‘I was coming to look for you, actually,’ she said before I’d made it two steps.

I bit my lip hard and turned around with a small smile. I guess if she was going to do this it would be better to stake her claim on Lincoln in private rather than rip me apart in front of an audience.

‘Should we get some fresh air?’ she asked, gesturing to a side door.

I nodded, following her outside onto a large covered balcony, its floor littered with pot plants and its ceiling overhung with trailing ivy. We walked to the railing, and looked out over the bustling Manhattan streets.

‘I’m sure you’ve heard the rumours, and I thought we should talk,’ she said.

‘It isn’t necessary,’ I replied.

What do you want me to say? ‘Yes, I’ve heard you’ve grown close to my soulmate. I wish you both the best.’

‘Josephine pushed us to consider being partners but I think she knew that Lincoln would never be interested, and that I was still grieving for Hiro and not ready.’

I nodded, feeling terrible for her loss. ‘Mia, you don’t need to explain this to me.’

‘But I do,’ she said, her tone now adamant. ‘I care about Lincoln, a lot. We’ve grown close and I think he liked that I was separate from all … your mutual friends. I think he was able to relax a bit with me.’

‘I get it,’ I said quickly, hoping she would stop speaking soon. Even with my emotions locked down this was becoming too much.

‘No, you don’t. I know there are rumours that we’re together. Lincoln knows too. But there has never been anything like that between us. I mean, I admit there was a time I might’ve had a bit of a crush on him, but that was years ago. Way before you came along.’

I looked up to see Mia’s sincere expression.

She shrugged. ‘We don’t want to be partners. Lincoln would never consider it even if I could. He already has a partner and in his eyes that has never changed. But he didn’t want to keep explaining to people why he made the choices he did. People watched him and doubted his strength because they only saw him as the Grigori who lost his soulmate and wouldn’t let her go.’

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

‘Violet, he just figured that if people thought—’

‘That you two were together it would solve both problems,’ I finished for her.

She nodded, looking relieved. ‘Yeah. But we never added to the rumours or did anything to start them. We just agreed not to stop them.’

I rubbed my face, exhausted. Lincoln had used a mask relationship with Mia in much the same way I had with Gray. I could understand that. It was a survival issue.

‘Actually,’ Mia said, sounding sheepish. ‘I kind of like someone else.’

I raised my eyebrows. ‘Anyone I know?’

‘As a matter of fact, yes,’ she said, biting her lip.

I thought of her reaction to finding out Spence was still alive, and the careful way she had watched over everything to do with his rescue. I’d assumed it was to stick close to Lincoln, but …

‘Spence?’ I asked, my voice high.

She nodded, smiling. ‘I’d very much like to get him back soon. That’s the other reason I wanted to talk to you.’

Instantly, I knew what she wanted. Academy rules stated that partnerless Grigori were not permitted on missions. It had been the bane of Spence’s existence until I’d come along. But once Griffin knew I could heal him, Spence had been allowed to play his part.

I wondered fleetingly if Dapper had given some kind of assurance to the Assembly that he would heal Lincoln in my absence and if that was why he hadn’t been prevented from pursuing his role. I suspected, however, that it was more likely some arrangement he’d struck with Josephine.

I looked at Mia, her feelings for Spence now painted on her face. And though it was selfish, I couldn’t deny the relief I felt that they were not for Lincoln. She wanted to be there to get Spence back.

‘Get your stuff together and be on the plane.’

She nodded warily. ‘They won’t be happy.’

I half grinned. ‘Story of my life. I can heal you as well as any partner can. If you’re willing to endure the pain of being healed by me, I’ll be there to do it. As far as I’m concerned that solves the problem. I’ll see you at the airport.’

She threw her arms around me quickly before backing away, to my relief. ‘Thank you, Violet. And … I’m glad you’re here. For both of them.’

I looked beyond her, to the surrounding buildings. ‘I’m not staying,’ I said, not quite sure who I was trying to convince any more.

‘Well, you should. They both love you, and so do other people here. And love is worth fighting for.’

I glanced at her briefly before heading for the door. She didn’t realise that I did fight for it. Every day. I fought myself.

But then she surprised me. ‘And other times …’ she called out behind me. ‘It’s worth giving in.’

An hour later, Steph and I sat across from Onyx and Dapper in their apartment above Ascension. My flight was leaving soon and my bad feeling had already taken off. Everything was about to change, I just had no idea how much.

‘So, you just decided it would be a good idea to go marching into a universe of lost souls and pluck her out?’ Onyx asked, taking a deep drink of whatever was in his crystal tumbler.

‘Rainer plucked her out, I was just the taxi service,’ I explained, accepting the coffee Dapper passed me.

Onyx shook his head and took another – large – sip and I noticed how his shoulders dropped when Dapper placed a discreet hand on his back.

‘Rum?’ I asked, unimpressed.

‘Oh, don’t even,’ he snapped. ‘I brought you back here to get Spencer, not risk his life by endangering your own.’

I flinched.

‘Hey!’ Steph piped up, sitting forward now. ‘That’s not fair and you know it.’

Onyx glared at Steph and then back at me. ‘Isn’t it?’

‘Onyx, enough,’ Dapper chided. ‘How is Nyla doing?’ he asked me softly.

I pulled my eyes away from Onyx, who was staring daggers at me. He was such a contradiction.

‘Rainer’s watching over her until she wakes up. Only time will tell.’ I’d popped my head in the door quickly before leaving the Academy, but I was so conflicted about whether we’d done the right thing, I hadn’t been able to get out of there fast enough.

I tucked a few strands of hair behind my ear, keen to move on. ‘Dapper, do you know anything about an exile named Sammael?’

‘Not much, I’m afraid. Like you’ve been told, he’s supposedly the arch-enemy of the angel Michael. But no one knows what he’s been doing for the past several thousand years. Some thought he’d been killed, while others claimed he’d found some kind of land and made it his own. All we know for certain is that he’s a purist.’

‘In what way?’ Steph asked.

‘He’s an exile of light and he believes in their superiority over dark. He drives the war.’

‘The tournaments?’ I asked.

‘It would seem.’ Dapper began to flip through a book in front of him, pulling out some loose-leaf papers and handing them to me. ‘Take these with you. It will give you some of the history on New Orleans. I’ve been looking through them and it seems possible that this might be the land once spoken of.’

‘Why there, though? I mean, why America and not Europe or Asia?’ Steph asked.

He shrugged. ‘It’s a good question. Maybe he had foresight to know what America would become and saw the value in controlling a port city. Maybe it was something else. The land is some of the newest territory in the world – rising up out of the water only five or six thousand years ago. And now, it’s gradually sinking again, as if …’ he slowed, ruminatively.

‘What?’ I asked, dread building in me.

He shook his head, then changed tack. ‘Sammael found a way to cross the realms after he’d first exiled – did they tell you that?’

‘No.’

‘Most believe he only exiled because he knew the way to return.’

‘Why exile if he only planned to return?’ Steph asked.

‘Because he knew that once he assumed a physical form the angels would need to appear that way to him in the crossover as well.’

I nodded in understanding. The angels always appeared in human form when they saw me.

Sammael had wanted a physical fight.

‘Somehow, he opened a gateway and used his magic to summon a great dragon, riding it to a battlefield between the realms.’ I shivered when he mentioned the dragon, remembering my dreams. ‘He fought Michael and was defeated. Michael stripped part of Sammael’s power so he could never open the realms again, but Sammael escaped before he could be thrown into the pits, swearing he would rebuild the world, and man, in his image.’

‘What do you mean when you say “cross-over”?’ I asked, my voice tight.

He nodded, sagely. ‘I believe it would not be dissimilar to the cross-over you are able to create with the angels.’

At least he couldn’t do it any more. But then, that left him here, with us. And he had Spence. ‘So, even Michael couldn’t defeat him completely.’

Dapper smiled sadly, as if he too suspected what lay ahead: nothing good. And a lot of blood.

‘Sammael is said to be a magician with the ability to go beyond mere illusion to something much more tangible. It’s possible that this land he inhabits was never intended for this world.’

My mouth fell open. ‘You mean he made it?’

‘Unlikely. But perhaps he brought it up from beneath the sea.’

‘Why? Why there?’ Steph asked again.

‘Because it was so close to his slaves and worshippers.’ Even though Steph seemed to understand this, Dapper saw my complete lack of comprehension and elaborated. ‘Read the pages I gave you. But in short, New Orleans is just across the water from Haiti, where Voudon was born – a religion that worships the dead. There are some who argue that it was Sammael – the angel of death – who created the religion and brought it to New Orleans, turning it into Voodoo.’

‘Voodoo? Devil worship?’

He shrugged. ‘Like everything, there is both light and dark. Sammael would’ve seen it as appropriate – to create a religion to feed off the power of the dead. New Orleans has had a colourful history, changing hands more than once between the French, Spanish and Americans, but perhaps it is Sammael who has truly owned the city all this time.’

‘Do you know anything about this?’ I asked Onyx.

He looked away, as if embarrassed. ‘If I did, it’s gone from my mind. My memory conjures nothing but fury and fear every time I hear his name.’ Dispensing with sips, he settled instead for throwing back the rest of his drink. ‘When I think of New Orleans, I feel nothing but bloodlust.’

I stared at him.

Wow. Thanks so much for your contribution.

He shrugged, getting up to refill his glass while Dapper tracked his movements with a concerned expression.

I shook my head. ‘Why was he helping Lilith if he’s so adamant about the division between light and dark? Why would such a powerful exile stand by while Lilith made her power play, especially since she was the first dark exile?’

Dapper raised his eyebrows. ‘Lilith and Sammael have crossed paths more than once in human form. They formed a secret alliance, among other things. Phoenix will be able to tell you more. But it’s safe to say it was a volatile relationship based on keeping one’s enemy close.’

I nodded. ‘I’ll speak to him.’ I paused, looking up at Dapper. ‘What does Sammael want?’

He sighed and took off his glasses. ‘I don’t know. I’ve put word out to some of the other Patriarchs to see if they know anything else. But when all else fails, you can assume he’s after what the rest of them are, just on a bigger scale. Death, Doom and Destruction.’

I left shortly after, with one thought on my mind.

If Sammael just wants destruction, why did he take my blood?