Prophecy (Residue Series #4) (32 page)

If it hadn’t been for the shift in Stalwart’s stance I would never have seen what was coming. But by then, it was too late. The blindingly fast movement of wings, sweeping downward in an arch along the ground, came to a halt less than a second later, directly behind Stalwart. Before Jocelyn or I could warn him, the dull tip of a cane emerged on our side of his body, directly through his chest.

Jocelyn went for him, but I held her back. He was already gone. His face was slack and his eyes were glossed over by the time he slid forward.

At the end of the cane, holding on to the moldavite stone at the top, was its owner. Sartorius watched us intently as his wings ruffled back into place behind him and the odd translucent skin covering his body slipped across his muscles from their pull.

“Taking my granddaughter away from me?” he asked with mock astonishment. “You should know better, Jameson.”

Before I could respond, Jocelyn spat. “You are no family of mine.”

“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice in the matter,” he replied casually.

“It is my choice. We can choose our family.”

“That may be, if you consider that cultural hyperbole, but I’m referring to something deeper, something more real.”

“There is nothing real about you, Sartorius,” she said in loathing.

“My blood is,” he replied, “and it runs through you.”

He drew the cane back to his side and asked, “Has it ever occurred to you, Jocelyn, why you, of all people, would be gifted as the Relicuum? The person capable of taking on others’ residue? Your power comes from me. It is my lineage that gave you life, and the ability to absorb others. And thus…it is mine to use as I wish.”

“Absorb?” I said, barely audible. “You absorb others?”

“Like my dead associates, we arrived here with certain talents,” confirmed Sartorius. “And that is mine.”

I turned to Jocelyn. “The bowl, Mrs. LeClaire’s bowl. It was empty, wasn’t it?”

Sartorius chuckled. “Oh, I can assure you that I am everything but empty. I am a sponge.”

I could see her expression change as she began to understand what I meant. “Empty,” she reiterated, “so he could take in whatever came his way.”

“You pick up other’s abilities,” I stated, having already concluded it.

“For short durations, yes. I’ve needed something to make it last, to make my ability
survive
. And as I understand it, Jocelyn has now picked up the last residue, control over the elements. Isn’t that correct, dear granddaughter?”

She remained silent, in disgust.

Sartorius stared at her with true wickedness in his eyes. “Now, with you at my side,” he continued with a sickening grin, “nothing will stop me.”

“I’m not at your side,” she seethed.

“But you will be shortly,” he said with a tip of his head.

And I turned just in time to see the Vires coming up behind us.

20
UNBREAKABLE BOND

I
DIDN’T GIVE THE ADVANCING
V
IRES
a chance to assault us. Stepping forward to meet them head on, I planted a fist in each of their guts while sending a surge of emotions through them. They stumbled back, surprised, giving me enough time to take on the next two coming at us. Unfortunately, one of them was a Levitator so I never got the chance to attack. My feet slipped out from beneath me and I was flung backwards, landing against a tree hard enough to knock the air from my lungs. This didn’t stop me. I went back for them until I saw Sartorius’ cane pinned to Jocelyn’s neck.

Sartorius observed me, pulling the cane tighter against her skin, while shaking his head in wonderment. “Why do you fight?”

“Because I have the choice,” I said, working to catch my breath. “That, Sartorius, you will never take from me.”

“Hmm,” he replied thoughtfully. “I think you’ll find yourself questioning that statement in just a few minutes.” To the Vires, he instructed, deepening his voice with the command, “Restrain him.”

This time I didn’t fight, not with Sartorius’ weapon at Jocelyn’s throat. While it was unlikely he’d use it against her, his delusions might make him think he was powerful enough that his army alone might do the job.

Once I was properly under control, he handed Jocelyn to one of his lackeys, whose own dagger came up to Jocelyn’s neck, and led us through the small jut of land behind the shacks toward the waterway.

“You’re going to die for this,” I said. “Every one of you.”

The Vires, having been trained to show no personal reactions, didn’t respond. But the quake of Sartorius’ shoulders as he laughed under his breath told me that he had heard.

As we drew closer to the village, I noticed with some measure of hope that the fight continued to rage on. Someone resembling Nolan flew by with his feet and arms dangling behind him as if he’d been kicked in the chest. A voodoo practitioner slammed into the corner of my parent’s shack, slumped to the ground, and sat unmoving. I watched as his hand came to the bones around his neck. He plucked one off, spoke to it, curled it inside his fist, hauled himself up and ran in the direction he had come. In the background, water spouts and balls of fire flew by. Overhead, cries erupted, both in pain and in triumph.

Jocelyn, however, didn’t seem to notice. She had something else on her mind.

“You have everything you want,” Jocelyn said, making me wonder about her intentions. “You need me, Sartorius, but you don’t need Jameson. Let him go.”

Ah, that’s what she was thinking…

“Jocelyn,” I warned her, but she ignored me.

Sartorius did the same. “Not
everything
, my dear granddaughter.”

“You do,” she insisted. “You said you wanted the Sevens dead. They are. You said you wanted the army under your command. You have it. You said you wanted me. You got me. You have everything. Let him go.”

“Jocelyn,” I started again, but Sartorius cut me off.

Coming to a halt, he twisted his head around to face her. “The prophecy,” he hissed. “You haven’t fulfilled your destiny yet. He must die, so we will live.”

And this was what I was trying to keep her from hearing, because I knew one final step must be made for Sartorius to preserve his destiny, and because I knew the reaction she would have when hearing it.

Hopelessness set in as her face went still, the muscles in her body tensed, and her breathing stopped. The only visible movement about her was the tear making its way down her cheek.

The resolve I felt was overpowering then.

You will die
, I thought,
every last one of you.

As our feet met the dock built around the side of my parent’s shack, I felt the rumble of the fight in front of us and overhead. The Dissidents and the Alterums were making a valiant effort, but they were heavily outnumbered now. The bodies of their comrades scattered the docks and littered the muddy embankment.

As Sartorius directed us to the edge of the dock, where we were most visible, gradually, the fighting slowed. Strangely, the Vires did not reengage with the Alterums or the Dissidents, which I reasoned came from an earlier command given by Sartorius, which made me realize the delusional idiot had a plan in mind for Jocelyn and me.

Maggie and Eran hovered close, three shacks away, but I was sure the dagger at Jocelyn’s throat kept them from launching their attack. The Caldwells saw it too, keeping them ready but at a distance.

Sartorius stood at the edge, back erect, head high. He looked confident, bold, in control…the epitome of a ruler. When he spoke, everyone present watched with apt concentration.

“I am quite certain these two individuals need no introduction. The Nobilis and the Relicuum have been admired, revered, and made notorious for centuries…as the couple in our world in which one lover will take the life of the other.”

While there had been heightened apprehension in the audience before, the tension became palpable now. I caught sight of several Caldwells and Weatherfords shifting, preparing for attack.

“This is the historical moment you have read about or have been told would happen all your lives, the one in which the Relicuum ends the life of the Nobilis! And you will all stand witness to this testament that the prophecy is correct! That I am the rightful ruler over this world and the next!” Without hesitation, as his agitation grew, he spun toward me and screamed, “BOW!”

When I didn’t move, his eyes floated to Jocelyn, making it clear who would pay the price if I didn’t.

Slowly, forcing my muscles into submission, I bent forward.

Once appeased, Sartorius continued, strolling beyond Jocelyn and me, to the inside of the dock. Staring directly, unwaveringly, at the crowd, as if we were nothing more than spectacles, he announced, “The Relicuum will now take the life of the Nobilis.”

Within seconds, I found myself surrounded by my family, and Jocelyn surrounded by hers. They encircled each of us, facing each other, leery, on edge, and determined to defend the life of those they were now surrounding. And from that, it became immediately clear that the Vires were no longer the primary risk.

The crowd waited, riveted by the sight of a legendary feud reaching its climax.

There was only one thing left to do now.

I stepped forward, stirring those of my family within eyesight. Rightfully, they were uncomfortable with my movement, because it was in the direction of Jocelyn. I continued my pace, undisturbed, even as I broke through the line my family had formed for my own protection.

“No,” my mother breathed, but I glanced at her, and she saw in my expression what she needed.

Resolve.

This was my decision. Not hers.

Still, her effort to get to me unnerved the Vires and they shuffled to subdue her, which caused both families to aggressively shift their stances.

I waited, making certain that she wouldn’t be harmed before continuing toward Jocelyn. When I met Isabella and Lester at the line of Caldwells shielding her, I stopped momentarily to redefine the situation for them.

Very slowly, I explained, “I am the one who will be hurt by approaching her.”

They blinked, determining for themselves that my statement was true, and stepped aside.

Before I even reached her, tears had soaked her cheeks and her head was drifting slowly back and forth, rejecting any notion of my death.

It was a good thing my beating heart would stop shortly, because I felt the painful rip left in it by the sight of her misery.

“I won’t do it,” she uttered. “I won’t do it.”

“Jocelyn,” I whispered, taking her face in my hands. “Beautiful, strong, capable, Jocelyn. I love you, you know that, right?”

She swallowed, struggling to speak. In the end, a nod was all she could manage.

“Beyond life itself, I love you.”

“And I love you,” she said, her voice hoarse from her crying.

This confession brought on another bout of tears, leaving her sobbing, unable to catch her breath. I gave her time, letting her overcome it.

When her heaving slowed and the tears lessened, I kissed her, softly, delicately, on her swollen, wet lips. They were entrancing, causing me to linger there longer than I should have, keeping me from moving away, from getting on with what needed to be done.

Then, very carefully, I pulled away, and took in every fine detail of her. The alternating shades of color in her eyes, the solid darkness of her hair falling over her ears, the curve of her lips, which I wanted to consume right now so incredibly badly.

But right now, words were what we needed, and with select words used to prevent Sartorius from detecting my plan, I began to explain. While I spoke, I realized that my plan might not work, and that these words may very well be the last ones I ever say to her, which left a dark hole of desperation in my chest.

Please, God, make her hear me…

Picking up on my thought, she acknowledged, “I’m listening…”

I smiled softly at her, hoping she would be.

“My life has been so good, so good, Jocelyn. I thought it was fulfilling, too…until you entered it. Then, it became incredible. Every second I spent with you was a miracle. Do you know why? You’re strong in ways you don’t even know yet. I’m not talking about acquiring all the elements, or that you are more powerful than anyone here. I’m saying that you have endured so much and still managed to find a way to rise above it all.”

“Not this,” she sobbed. “I can’t do this.”

“I can channel,” I said.

“It’s not enough,” she sobbed out loud, and I wiped away the tear her outburst had caused. “I want you here, with me.”

“What we do transcends time and space. We channel through to others, remember?”

She swallowed and gave me a hard look. She was catching on.

“The night in my shack?” I said tenderly. “That meant something, Jocelyn. It meant you loved me, truly loved me, because you gave yourself to me…entirely. And I did the same. But what I hadn’t expected was for it to surpass us. The Relicuum and the Nobilis coming together in a way no one, least of all us, could have expected? It was extraordinary. It was,” I paused, searching for the correct word. “It was miraculous. I know this because the next morning we weren’t the only ones who had changed. It was everyone around us.”