Sword and Shadow (32 page)

“Maybe. I’m going to repeat a question I asked you before. If I could offer you immortality, would you take it?”

“I don’t want to be a vampire, Raven.”

“That’s not what I’m suggesting. I think Jaz has a way to make immortals. I want to petition the Court first, but if it’s denied, I’m going to ask Jaz. I want to know if you’ll accept.”

She nodded. “I’ll accept.”

“Good. One more question. Your telekinetic talents have grown tremendously…have any of the others?”

She nodded. “I’m having to keep myself behind pretty strong shields to avoid reading just about every mortal I come across.”

306

www.samhainpublishing.com

Sword and Shadow

“That’s what I thought. I think I have a way for you to learn all the medical stuff you need to know in record time. Especially if you become immortal.”

She caught his drift and felt her eyes grow wide. “Will that work?”

“It just might. We’ll have to wait and see.”

www.samhainpublishing.com 307

Saje Williams

Chapter Thirty-five

Val shifted her weight around and laid her head on Raven’s chest, sighing contentedly. The last twenty four hours or so had gone amazingly well, all things considered, and she was feeling better about things than she had in a long time. They were no longer personally embroiled in a war against a world’s major power, and the Cen agenda had been tripped up once again.

Her credit was much better than she’d been worried it was—

apparently Athena
hadn’t
frozen her assets—and Artificer was more than happy to replace her PCD with something even more non-descript than the one she’d worn on assignment. He’d even suggested she wait a few months and purchase one of the next generation, since they’d be relying on symsuit technology rather than the old, clunky digital variety. She’d decided to go with the tried and true, however, since she needed to be able to communicate effectively
now,
not three months from now.

Raven had managed to arrange for a whole suite rather than the general rooms typically available to most agents in between assignments.

Even here on Starhaven he had far more influence than she’d realized.

Not because he was a hero of the War on Earth, but because he was a rather high-ranking Sash agent.

She’d never asked him
how
high, exactly, but figured he was probably only a couple of slots down from Fenris himself.

She felt his fingers drag through her hair and moaned a little, snuggling closer even as sleep fell farther away. Her brain had shifted into wakefulness now, and only laziness and comfort could keep her abed when there were things to get done.

308

www.samhainpublishing.com

Sword and Shadow

Though there was something to be said at this moment for both laziness
and
comfort.

Then the door buzzer did its thing and she sat up with a mild curse.

She nudged Raven, who turned his head and grinned at her. “Tell ’em to go away,” he said. “And we’ll spend a few more hours in bed.”

“Just because you’re indefatigable doesn’t mean
I
am,” she replied.

“Besides, maybe it’s important.”

“How important can it be?” he grumbled, but sat up.

She let her eyes linger on his pale, muscular chest for a moment before turning to grab a robe off the back of a closet door. “Would you put a robe on, please?”

“Modesty is
such
a ridiculous concept,” he retorted with a wink. But she noticed as her hand edged toward the control panel he moved a little quicker toward the other robe. By the time it slid open he was as clothed as she was.

Standing in the doorway were Morrigan and Bryon, and they weren’t alone. Cerberus and Bridget were with them. “Can we come in?”

Morrigan asked. She didn’t look happy and that pretty much soured Val’s good mood on the spot.

“Of course,” she replied, stepping out of the way. “What’s going on?”

“The Court meets tonight at eighteen-hundred hours. Athena already approached me, and suggested that if I get in her way, she’ll get me banned from Starhaven permanently. She means to go after both of you.”

“C’mon in,” Val told her, feeling her initial good mood evaporating.

“Want some coffee or breakfast? This unit’s got a top-of-the-line autochef.”

“Already ate,” the immortal replied. “But thanks anyway.”

“How are the injured hybrids?” Raven asked, coming out of the adjoining bathroom. “And did you find anything out about the android?”

“Just that he showed up about a month ago and had everyone eating out of the palm of his hand within minutes. No one knows much more than that.”

“What does a vampire do in a bathroom?” Bryon asked, following Morrigan through the door and regarding Raven curiously.

www.samhainpublishing.com 309

Saje Williams

“That’s quite the personal question,” Raven said pointedly, shaking his head. “One I’m not going to answer. So, tell me, how do you like Starhaven so far?”

The younger vamp shrugged. “It’s okay. Not nearly as creepy as that other world where you took me. But I don’t think I want to stay. Things are still unsettled at home, and I should be there helping to tear down the Church.”

“It could use all the opposition it could get,” Raven agreed. “We can send you home now, Bryon, but you might want to wait until after the Court meets. We might be able to send you back with some extra resources.”

“Extra resources are good,” Bryon said with an exaggerated shrug. “I can wait a few more hours.”

“Something just occurred to me, Raven,” Val broke in. She was actually a bit surprised that none of them had realized this earlier.

“Didn’t you say Shea’s doppelganger wanted you to kill someone, and then pitted you against an android? What if this ArchAngel was the one you were supposed to kill?”

He gave her an odd look. “What could Shea’s doppelganger possibly have against him?”

“That’s the big question now, isn’t it? I suppose we might find out come eighteen-hundred hours.”

“That we might. How is your pack doing, Bridget?”

“Good,” she said. “Morrigan helped us get settled in spare housing.

I’ll say it’s a lot different from where we came from.”

“That’s a good thing, right?”

“You have no idea.”

The door slid shut as Raven motioned for them to find someplace to sit. Morrigan took a seat in an over-stuffed chair, Bridget pulled up a stool, and Bryon dropped to a lotus position on the deep azure carpet next to Cerberus, who stretched out to have his belly scratched.

The door buzzed again. Since Raven was now the closest to the door, he went to answer it. The door slid open, revealing a pair of figures in 310

www.samhainpublishing.com

Sword and Shadow

what looked like bright white symsuit armor with a stylized phoenix emblazoned across the breast.

They might have been twins, so similar was their appearance. Both were elves, with the sharp, vulpine features, upswept ears, and golden hair of their kind. “Raven?”

“That’s me. What can I do for you?” he asked warily.

“Lord ArchAngel requests that you attend him in his office,” the elf on the right answered.

“
Lord
ArchAngel? Since when was this a fucking monarchy?” he growled in response.

They flinched, and glanced at one another. Val walked over to stand beside him and laid a hand on his arm. “Maybe you should go see what he has to say.”

“ArchAngel isn’t a
he,
” Raven spat. “ArchAngel is an
it.
Androids are not living beings, and they sure as hell can’t be male or female, all cosmetic appearance to the contrary.”

“Fine. Then go talk to
it.
I don’t know how ArchAngel managed to acquire so much authority in such a short time, but we’re going to need his—
its—
goodwill if we’re going to get what we want out of the Court.”

She watched as her words sank in and he seemed to relax slightly.

“You’re right. Okay. I assume you mean now?” he asked the elves.

They nodded in unison. “Fine. Wait here while I put some clothes on.”

Raven wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but this wasn’t it.

ArchAngel’s ‘office,’ as it were, was a small, non-descript room not far from the chamber where the Court met around a large oak table. The room was sparsely furnished with a desk, a couple of chairs, and a view screen currently showing a image of a waterfall in a rainforest somewhere, the sound of rushing water from the speakers barely audible even to Raven.

ArchAngel looked up as the two elven warriors ushered him inside, dismissing them with a curt nod. He—
it!
—motioned to the chair on the other side of the desk and Raven reluctantly took a seat.

www.samhainpublishing.com 311

Saje Williams

Raven didn’t like it, but even he seemed unable to consider this creature an it, especially sitting here in front of him. He looked too much like his old friend and former commanding officer, and something about his demeanor made it impossible to think of him as simply a manufactured
thing,
as much as he wanted to.

ArchAngel didn’t bother with a preamble. He met Raven’s gaze squarely and said, in a voice as natural as any man’s, “I imagine you have a lot of questions.”

Raven suppressed his first reaction, which was to respond with a smartass remark, and shrugged. “I’ve got a few.”

ArchAngel nodded. “Of course. But before you ask them, would you mind if I told you a little story?”

A story? What is this, kindergarten?
He shrugged again. “It’s your office. Your rules.”

ArchAngel chuckled, an astoundingly normal sound. Even in the few brief moments he’d been here, Raven had begun to realize that this was no ordinary android. Whoever had created him had been a remarkable engineer. “I suppose I’ll start at the beginning. That’s usually the best place to begin.

“A boy was born to very extraordinary parents. The father was one of Earth’s richest men, and the mother a well-respected and influential law-enforcement officer. Neither of the parents were ordinary humans, and the pregnancy that arose came as a complete shock to those that knew them both. The father’s people were assumed to be infertile, but something about what had been done to change the mother had created a pairing that could produce children.”

Raven saw exactly where this was going, but he didn’t interrupt. The way he figured it, he might learn something he didn’t already know.

ArchAngel continued. “The boy was born with amazing gifts, the scope of which weren’t immediately apparent. He was astoundingly precocious, walking and talking before the age of a year. He also had a way about him that allowed him to charm just about anyone. He was reading by the age of two, and hunting information on his own by the time he was four.

312

www.samhainpublishing.com

Sword and Shadow

“Everyone recognized that he was gifted, but only his father and mother recognized exactly how much so the boy was. He could make things happen. He could not only influence people far beyond anything that had ever been seen before, but he could influence events as well.”

ArchAngel paused and leaned back in his chair. “There was once an episode of an old television program, before the advent of HD technology, called ‘The Twilight Zone.’ This particular episode featured a boy who could do wondrous things, but he used his gifts to gain power over others. The people in the small town in which he lived dared not utter one word of condemnation for anything he did—no matter
how
evil, cruel, or callous they were, for fear of being punished by the willful child.

“The boy I’m describing was very much like the child in this episode of this old show. He could do almost anything, even affect causality far in excess of anyone’s imagination. But his parents were good people, and they taught him right from wrong very early. And it didn’t take long for the boy to realize that to reveal the extent of his powers would make others fear him. So he hid these powers, and pretended to be a more or less normal child—gifted, yes, but nowhere near as powerful as he actually was.

“He strove to be as normal as possible in a world that was increasingly abnormal, and he surrounded himself with a variety of

‘freaks.’ People who were as different as he was, but who were never allowed to know his secret. As the child of extraordinary parents, he could reveal some of his abilities—his great strength, stamina, and dexterity, as well as his intellect, but he feared the repercussions should he actually show others exactly what he was capable of.

“Then a war came—his planet was invaded by some very dangerous creatures, and he was forced to put on the mantle of a military leader. He knew that he would be called upon to make a huge sacrifice sometime during the conflict. Seeing possible futures and their outcomes was part of the nature of his talent.

“He knew that by making this sacrifice, he would begin a chain reaction that would save his friends, his family, and his world. So he made it without hesitation.

www.samhainpublishing.com 313

Saje Williams

“He didn’t know whether he’d survive or not. In fact, in some ways, he didn’t survive, for the more or less human body he wore was utterly destroyed at the epicenter of a massive nuclear explosion. And, had he been more like other people, the story would have ended there.”

He paused, and searched Raven’s eyes with his own pale blue orbs.

“But it didn’t end there. The explosion freed him from the shackles of physical existence, but it did not kill him. He became a thing of mind, of spirit alone. Not a ghost, for no part of his essence fled to other realms.

He roamed the world to which he’d brought that engine of destruction for nearly twenty years—an observer and, through the exercise of the power he possessed, something of a beneficial influence as well.

“He found a way to communicate with those who were receptive, and began to generate dissent among those who didn’t agree with the war, with the practices of the god-like race that had controlled this other world for so long.

“He fostered a revolution of a sort. But even then his work was only beginning. He learned how to travel to other universes without the use of technology or magic. He learned how to leap between these worlds by will alone, and he traveled and learned. Years passed, and then decades. And then he came upon a dying Earth, where a remnant of society lived in seclusion, trying to eke out an existence in a world so hostile to life that it’s hard to describe.

“The remnant of humanity that existed there was made up of scientists and engineers—the cream of the crop who’d seen the approaching disaster and found a way to escape the worst of its wrath.

But they were dying as well. There were not enough of them for a viable gene pool, and many were too old to breed anyway.

“The traveler saved them by taking them and their installation to yet another universe, and giving them the chance to rejoin a functioning society. As a reward, one of the scientists—probably the most brilliant of them all, found a way to create a physical shell for the traveler to use. To inhabit. Energy became matter once again and the traveler found himself once again able to move among the living as if he were one of them. It 314