I Am Not Junco Omnibus: Books Four - Six (60 page)

I have not been on the Bridge in years. I sent the boys up alone to get their recent gifts. I was not going to see Him again. I was going to be strong and defiant.

But here I am.

I am back begging.

Ashur brought Junco up here once to see the stars when she first arrived on Amelia. I’m glad she saw the Bridge, even if it was inactive and she had no idea what she was stepping on, because it’s where she comes from.

It’s not inactive now and I know exactly what I’m stepping on.

At least He granted my request.

I step forward and begin the climb up the invisible incline. For a few moments I can still see the rest of the Amelia Tori. The spaceport is empty, there are no ships coming and going, there are no lights on now, save for the periodic luminaries used for emergency backup. But with each step the Universe outside this Bridge fades and the nothingness takes its place.

When the Bridge is active there are no stars. It’s just blackness. It’s nowhere and everywhere all at once. I continue my climb and it feels like it takes forever to make progress. How much time has passed back on Amelia? I might be cutting it close.

Eventually I see a light ahead.

He came.

I continue to walk and the light shines brighter and brighter, until I’m standing in the White Room.

Crage stands with his back to me, but he does not turn when he speaks. “This is dangerous.”

I hold down a huff or irritation. “Of course it is. Everything I do is dangerous. You need to get out more, Uncle.”

“Why did you summon me?”

“I came to beg.”

He turns and his eyes rest on my Amelia’s limp body. They find me when he’s done studying her. “You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, I am, Crage. I’m very, very serious. I gave you three of my boys already, I’m giving you my one true son. I want a favor.”

His laugh comes out as a bellow. “You want a favor? Lucan, allowing those boys of yours to exist in between worlds is the favor. I’m saving you!”

“No,” I say, shaking my head. “I’m saving
you
. Let’s just get that straight right now. I’m saving
you
. And I want you to save her.” I nod down at Amelia.

“How? Keep her? I can’t, I—”

“No, not keep her. Fix her. I want her back. I want to come out the other end of this deal and know that I have this one gift waiting for me. I want her to live.”

“She’s a machine.”

“No.” I shake my head again. “She has a soul. I made her so perfect, she came with a soul.”

He looks at me like I’m insane. And that’s OK, I realize this is unheard of. Souls can’t be made. They can be taken, stolen, manipulated, dissipated, transcended, and put in stasis. But they cannot be created. “I made her a soul, Crage. She’s irreplaceable. It does not matter that I could make thousands of copies just like her, none of them would be
her
. She has a soul and I want that soul back in the end.”

He stares at me again, only this time his incredulous look morphs into anger as I watch. “You took Junco, and now you want me to save this thing?”

“If Amelia is a thing, then so is your daughter. And I never took Junco. I never did any of those claiming morphs on her. I gifted her once, with your blessing. Tier gave her his one and only gift to ease the pain of having two fingers bitten off by wild dogs. Tier morphed her into an avian so he could keep her alive and make this moment you want so badly happen. And Inanna, your bitch of a wife, is the one who turned her Archer and activated her High Order status without permission. I never claimed Junco, I tried to make her turn away from this path. I gave her choices. I asked for her help. I never took anything from Junco and I certainly never claimed her as my own.”

His anger seeps from his body like sweat, but I continue.

“I rescued her from Inanna’s wrath. Did you know that Inanna leveled her up to Archer status with no virtual? For two years, my Junco was subjected to pain and torture at the hands of your
wife
. All because you deserted Inanna and left her with me. I never wanted her, but you were so worried I’d be the one to cross this Bridge first and take over that realm, you left her behind jus to spite me. Everything that happened to Junco is your own damn fault. And you don’t even deserve her. You’re evil, you’re the Devil she’s afraid of. You’re the one who left her to slowly go insane. You’re the one commanding Subjack behind the scenes, telling him to walk away.”

My anger is building so I stop to temper it while Crage takes in my words.

“You’re wrong, Lucan. I made her perfect. It was Earth that messed her up. I sent her a family, other men to watch over her. I gifted her skills to excel and be strong.”

“Well.” I laugh as I shift Amelia’s body in my arms. “Yes, she is strong. Very strong, very skilled. And also very insane. Gideon left her, Crage. Her father left her. Aren left her. And almost everyone else was killed.”

“That was you!” he bellows. “You twined her to Isten!”

“No, Isten asked her to twine, she agreed. I did none of this to Junco. From the moment she set foot on my worlds I have been Junco’s advocate. I never forced her to do anything. I protected her, I made sure she survived, I
loved
her, for fuck’s sake! I gave her everything she needed. And now I want you to do the same for me. For the one I love. I want you to fix my Amelia and I want you to give her back to me as a gift when I finally end your brother.”

He’s silent for a moment as he thinks. “You’re very confident.”

“I trust Junco. I’m putting all my faith in her love for me. Just like I trust Tier and have put all my faith in him.”

“It’s wrong, you know. You say you love Junco but you’ll ask her to complete this job.”

“It was your idea!”

“I’m not saying I don’t want you to do it. I’m just saying it’s wrong to put them together like this and then rip them apart.”

“They put themselves together, Crage. Tier started all this on his own. I ordered him to kill her. He disobeyed.”

“And you let him live.”

“She killed herself to fucking save him! How do I stop that? How?”

He turns away from me. “I can’t help this machine, Lucan.”

“Amelia’s not a machine. She has a body, she has a soul and that soul is still inside. Just claim her, fix her, keep her safe, and send her back. You sent Selia back, for fuck’s sake, and she’s a fucking
human
!”

“Caleb wanted her.”

“Selia belongs to Ashur, Caleb knows that.”

He turns back. “Caleb wants Selia, Lucan. And since Caleb will never cross the Bridge again, I gave her to him as a gift.”

“So my sons mean nothing to you? Even though it is
my sons
who fight for you now, using
my name
as their battle cry? My wife means nothing? Your daughter means nothing? How are you the just and righteous God and I am forever the Devil? How?”

“You are the Devil’s spawn. You have it in your blood.”

“And he’s your brother, so let’s not hide behind semantics.”

“I won the right to this kingdom. Your father lost. Thus, you defer to me and I refuse to allow this thing to cross my Bridge and be saved. Salvation is reserved only for the most righteous.”

“She is righteous. She spent the last three thousand Earth years committed to the habitat that Sera abandoned.”

“Yet another one who belongs to you.”

I laugh at this, a true outburst overflowing with indignation. “Me? Once again, that was
your wife
! I am Sera’s complement in engineering only, I never twined with her.
Inanna
was the one controlling her!”

He stops. Just stops. There’s no defiance in him, no expression of anger, or hate.

But I recognize something.

Something I’ve seen before.

Something I’ve seen before on Inanna.

Jealousy.

He gave Inanna up to cross the Bridge. And all this time I thought he had no regrets. But this expression tells me otherwise. “I’m going to end her, you know,” I say. “Inanna. I’m going to end her myself. Just like I’ll end my father. And I hope it hurts you to know that. Because it hurts me to know you could save the only good thing I’ve ever had and you refuse.”

“It’s too risky to allow your machine to cross.”

“Why? She’s not High Order like Inanna. She’s not a threat. She’s a simple soul, and nothing more.”

“If you want to end Inanna, fine. But just remember, I will have your one true son.”

I smile an evil smile at that. “You might. You might not.”

His expression changes. “So you will throw away all our plans for this one woman?”

“At least you admit she’s a woman now. And yes, I will keep my one true son if it means I win this battle here today.” And then, before he can respond again, I throw in something else. “I’ll make sure Selia stays here. I’ll protect her. I will give Caleb a perfect gift. To ease his pain, the pain that comes with knowing his life is expendable.
I will make this promise to you, and you will save my Amelia and deliver her to me at the end.”

“Say it, then.”

“I will gift your son Caleb and I will spare Inanna’s life, if you will only save the soul inside this woman, Amelia, my wife.”

“And Junco?”

I almost snort at this. The nerve of this god. “Junco is a given. I would never let her drift. Never. If you want her back, I’m sure she’d be happy to go. Just say the word and I’ll bring her to you.”

“No, she’s High Order. She must not cross. Ever.”

I shrug the way Junco would, if she was here cutting this deal herself. “Your loss then.”

He holds out his arms and I step forward with Amelia. I lean my head down one more time and kiss her nose. “I love you and I’ll see you soon.” I place her in Crage’s arms and turn on my heel to make the journey back.

“Do not cross me, Lucan,” Crage calls after me. “I will make you pay if you cross me.”

I turn and speak clearly, just so there’s no misunderstanding later. “I promise to gift your son Caleb with his most sincere desire and spare the life of Inanna. And as you well know, I never break a promise.”

When the darkness fades back into the view of the other Amelia Tori I laugh.

I laugh, and laugh, and laugh.

Never in my life has it ever felt so good to laugh.

Of course, it’s an insane laugh that would make Junco proud. God, I miss Junco. I must see to her, because she was so right when she made that walk to her Pillar…
You can’t ever trust the mind-reading skills of these aliens.

When I get to the elevator I push the button and the door whooshes open. Once it’s engaged on the Bridge floor, there is no way to enter. There can be no contamination between the Bridge and my Universe. We have this precaution in place to prevent unauthorized entry. And even if one did manage to gain access to the Bridge without my authorization, it would look like it does now. Like it did for Ashur and Junco when they came to look at the stars. Inactive.

Both sides of the Bridge must engage to activate it.

The elevator decelerates and then stops and I wait for the door to open. It does with a sweet ding and I step out.

Rikan is lying prone on the floor, his breathing coming in fits and gasps as blood spills out of his torso and mouth.

My father stands over him, the knives of his feet piercing Rikan through the back, his fangs out, his eyes red. “My son,” he growls in his demon voice. “It’s been a long time.”

My own lip snarls as I make the change, my talons come out, my fangs protrude, and the light of my eyes matches his. I stand still after it completes and give him my standard response. “Not nearly long enough.”

Chapter Four—TIER