Savior (17 page)

Theleo and my mother ended up on opposite ends of the dock, neither speaking a word as he levitated us into the air.

Typically, Theleo would lead with Jameson and me in the back, allowing us some measure of privacy. This time, he put Jameson beside him and kept my mother and me a good distance back.

During the short time we were in the air, I remained silent, attempting to control my anger. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, it finally became too much to bear.

“Do you think you could go easy on Theleo? Just a little?”

She didn't respond, making her intentions clear.

“He’s doing everything he can not to be contentious, you know. He virtually never speaks, lives on the very edge of the village like an outcast, and has done everything we’ve asked of him. He’s even working with Uncle Lester to prepare everyone for the next time the Vires invade the village, which we all know will happen. There’s no reason for him to do all of this, but he does it anyway."

With a sharp edge to her voice, she retorted, “Do you recall that he’s a Vire, and as such, has taken lives?”

“Do you know that he has saved my life? More than once?” I asked frankly.

My mother opened her mouth only to clamp it shut again, apparently thinking better about what she was going to say.

And then the reason for her animosity became clear. I had been so ignorant! Of course, she would have trouble accepting him. Suddenly, my anger ebbed away.

“You know, don’t you?” I asked, so concerned about her reaction I could barely choke out the words.

“I know what?” she replied, keeping her eyes straight ahead, evading mine.

“You do.” I could tell by the way she was avoiding discussing it. “That’s why you can’t control your anger around him.” I forced the air from my lungs in an exaggerated huff, but she refused to acknowledge me. “He didn’t…it wasn’t intentional.”

She scoffed, confirming the truth.

“So you do know he killed my father,” I stated as softly as possible.

I watched my mother's face twist with rage before settling in sorrow. I had never witnessed so much grief - so much emotion - coming from her. It was telling of what she had gone through all these years, living close to the person who took the man she loved and, yet, being unable to right the wrong in any way. To convince The Sevens of her ignorance on the issue, she wouldn’t even have been able to risk a sour expression in his direction. And it had annihilated her inside.

There are some times when words fail. This was one of them. So, I took her hand and held it the rest of our time in the air.

She had already given Theleo directions, so they didn’t interact as we landed on a vacant street of brownstone houses. We had left New Orleans at dusk and it was now dawn here, the first rays of filtered light streaming through the trees and across the quiet stretch of homes. It was surreal, both because the day was just starting again and because this peaceful street didn’t look at all like the scene of a Vire attack.

Seeking out a particular home, my mother climbed the steps two at a time, reaching the porch before the rest of us. She didn’t bother knocking, opening the door and entering without an announcement of any kind.

The first thing I noticed, in the shadowy hallway beyond, was the chair on its side, tossed against the wall. The next was Theleo’s hand, silently motioning us to stay back. He’d sensed something.

Immediately, Jameson moved in front of me, trying to protect me. From the porch, I could hear my mother's footsteps as she walked through the house, but suddenly, I heard something else, a sound that will haunt me forever…her body violently slamming against the wall. Theleo sprinted into the house, and Jameson followed directly behind him. They must have thought I’d remain safely behind since that was what I’d been doing during every other altercation with the Vires.

Not this time.

In those seconds it took for me to reach the far end of the house, I caught glimpses of the rooms I passed. A ritual had been set up in the living room but it didn't look like it had ever been completed; the extinguished candles still stood in their silver holders, and symbols made of yarn were stretched across the wood floor, held in place with tacks. Evidence of a struggle was everywhere, with furniture overturned and blood splattered across the walls.

The end of the house boasted a long, dim hallway to the right. From the other end came an onslaught of Vires, their faces scowling, testament to the one purpose they had in mind: to kill. In the middle, stood my mother, struggling against the first Vire to reach her, his hands squeezing her neck so tightly that the thin skin along her neck became stretched beneath them.

They weren’t bothering with casts. There wasn’t enough time. Instead, they were using the weapons we are all born with…hands and fists.

Theleo was busy deflecting an assault from two Vires, while Jameson pummeled the faces of another two emerging from the onslaught rushing toward us.

When I last saw Jameson in a struggle it terrified and amazed me. This time was no different. He fought with incredible speed, moving so fast his limbs became a blur.

My first instinct was to dislodge the hands from my mother’s neck, but when I conjured the force inside me to levitate the Vire, it didn’t even occur to me that I might be unable to, that my energy might still be depleted from the village. So when the Vire lifted off the ground and slammed into the ceiling above, I didn’t wait to be surprised. Focusing entirely on the bodies behind my mother, I lifted them into the air one by one and sent them upward until their heads met the plaster above. 

Still more advanced, even as we fought against them, their numbers seemed insurmountable. We began perspiring and our bodies began shaking from exhaustion. And then, I noticed something happening that didn’t make sense…none at all.

At the opposite end of the hallway, Vires began to fall, their heads either flying into the walls or their bodies collapsing out of sight.

I strained to see who was coming to our defense, but the movement and lack of light obscured any view until they were midway down the hall.

And then my heart came to a standstill.

It couldn’t be. I’m envisioning it, I reasoned. This…No…I…No.

My mind couldn’t come to terms with what it was processing because the idea of it was unbelievable. But sure enough, there they were…

Vires fighting Vires.

They moved through the remaining ones until only one remained.

Realizing he now stood alone, his head began whipping frantically from side to side, but there was no way out. His unit’s intended goal was becoming his outcome. He was the one surrounded.

I saw the understanding of it cross his face and then he swung around in a blind panic, extending his arm and directing it at my mother.

“Incantatio-” he screamed - his final word, the rest becoming a gurgle as blood flooded his mouth, his cast never coming to fruition.

As his shoulders slumped forward and his arm fell to his side, my mother was given a full view of the person who had saved her.

Theleo jerked his dagger from the man's throat, releasing the weight of his body and allowing it to slump to the ground. He didn’t wait for a thank you, instead, bending to wipe the blood from his blade across the man whose life he’d just taken.

My mother was stunned at what just happened, unable to speak until Theleo had stood upright and left her side.

“Th-Thank you,” she said, so low it was barely audible. And there it was. It was as audible as it could be. A dent had just been made in her armor.

Theleo heard it.

He paused, peering back over his shoulder on his way to speak with the Vires who had come to our rescue and who had wisely positioned themselves several feet back.

With a stoic expression, he gave her a slow nod before turning back to acknowledge the man in front of him.

“Eli….”

“Theleo,” replied the man, more hesitant than cordial.

We stood at a distance, evaluating them as they struggled to catch their breath. Aside from Theleo, they were the only Vires I had ever seen hurt their own kind. Part of me expected them to suddenly charge us.

“We didn’t know…" said Eli, still trying to control his breathing, his thick German accent nearly obscuring his words, “…that they stayed behind, too.”

The tension was thick and no one spoke for a very long time.

“Why did you?” Jameson asked, skeptically.

“Isn’t it obvious?” He looked up from his crouched position, genuinely surprised.

Confused, I assessed him closer, finding no moldavite stone on the collar of his uniform.

“We are defecting.”

In the silence that followed, as we accepted what appeared to be their true appeal for refuge, my mother abruptly turned, marching toward me on her way to the door.

Eli was quick, figuring out her actions and determining where she was heading. “Don’t bother with the rest of your friends,” he warned, his voice both compassionate and convincing.

My mother stopped suddenly, keeping her back to him, the tops of her shoulders rising slightly with worry. “Why?” she demanded.

“Because, Isabella, they are all dead.”

After hearing that news, my mother swiped the dagger from Theleo’s hand, marching toward Eli, and flattening the cold metal blade against his throat.

10  LEADERSHIP

The room became a quiet firestorm of constrained emotions, no one was moving through the palpable tension. It was noticeable in the frozen breaths and in the multitude of eyes locked on my mother’s hand.

All it would take was a flick of her wrist and Eli would be dead.

She stared him directly in the eyes, unblinking, her breathing deep and controlled, applying enough pressure to his neck that he tilted his jaw away from the angle of the blade.

At the first sign of her attack, Eli had motioned to the men behind him, stopping them before they could retaliate.

Now, it was between him and my mother.

Jameson was the first to move, glimpsing over his shoulder ensuring I was still directly behind him, and still protected should these Vires reconsider defecting. But it was Eli who broke the anxious silence.

“If you were to end my life here, I would not blame you or harbor ill will. You’ve seen enough to know what we deserve. But, before you spill my blood, just know that my unit and I were not the ones who took the lives of your friends."

“And what of the ones who did?” she hissed, giving him no credence.

He knew what she was asking. It wasn’t who they were or where they could be found. He accurately read into the deeper meaning behind her question. What she wanted to know is: Where precisely does your loyalty lie? “Look down…You’ll find them at your feet,” he replied, proving his allegiance in a way even my mother couldn’t refute, because we had all witnessed the slaughter for ourselves.

My mother dropped her defenses, swiftly extending the dagger back to Theleo, who eagerly removed it from my mother’s fingers.

I inherited several things from her: long legs, stubbornness, and sarcasm. She used all three while walking away from Eli.

“Your presence at the village will be as well received as a swarm of bees.” To amplify the insult, she added with a chuckle, “Welcome to our home….”

Ironically, the rest of us took this as a warning, because she was, in fact, telling the truth. Intentional or not, she had given them a stark reminder of their dire situation: Vires had not only been the reason for most Dissenters’ incarceration but had ensured their lives were miserable since arriving. Exchanging wary looks, we stood in uncomfortable silence until Jameson spoke.

He waited until my mother was out the door before addressing Theleo. “Isabella’s tough, but she’s right. We will run into problems.”

“They’ll reside outside the village boundary with me,” he replied, attempting to assuage any concern we harbored. “As it is, I need assistance securing the borders.”

Jameson curtly nodded. “Then it looks like your defecting is well-timed.”

The men glanced at Theleo, and I could see them questioning what a stocky teenager had to do with their future; but before they had a chance to openly question Jameson’s authority, Theleo introduced them. Eli was given the recognition of leading the Omega Unit, which excelled in element casting. This explained their preference for hand combat in the hallway, given that there were limited elements to work with in the contained space. On the contrary, Theleo simply described Jameson by his full name and nothing more. That was all it took and the men’s eyebrows rose.

“You are of particular interest to Sartorius," Eli stated before disclosing his recognition of who Jameson really was, “…Nobilis.”

After introducing me, Eli spoke for all his men. “Relicuum and Nobilis,” he said, his voice muted in reverie, “it is our honor and privilege.”

Once more, we found ourselves under the inquisitive attention of complete strangers. The same feeling of reverence washed over me, like it did when the first of the freed prisoners had bowed.

A quick glance at Jameson proved he felt no discomfort at being recognized. All along, he stood in the shadows as I dealt with the fame, each of us believing his true identity remained relatively anonymous; but word had spread beyond New Orleans, beyond the penal colonies, and he would no longer be able to relish his anonymity.

“Jameson,” I stated firmly, addressing him as one would a general. “What’s the plan?”

A curious look swept across his face and quickly disappeared, as if it had been carried off by the wind. He understood I was shifting authority directly to him in front of Eli and his men, a responsibility he accepted with poise.

Taking a look out the window, I noticed the sky was brightening from the advancing sun, confirming we had run out of time. Jameson saw this, too.

“It’s time to head out.”

In unison, we strode for the door, me taking the lead to meet up with my mother before the rest of the Vires could.

“So the rumor is true,” Eli mused out loud. “Weatherfords and Caldwells have united.”

Jameson paused briefly before answering, expressing the teasing humor in his attitude, “If not, I’d prepare yourself for her vengeance. Jocelyn has a mean right hook.”