Angel Of Solace (22 page)

Kronn sighed and did as he was ordered. Aside from their two to one advantage, these men had probably twenty years on him. Fighting had never exactly been his strong point, but at the moment he didn’t care. He had to do
something
, even if that something ended up getting him killed.

The agent reached his arms up to pat Kronn down, and he made his move. It wasn’t much: a twirl and an attempted elbow to the face. The blow connected, and Kronn reached down for his hidden holster, knowing he had only seconds to pull the weapon free—

He didn’t even get close. The second man had already lashed out with a shock stick, and as the butt of the weapon pressed into Kronn’s side, he screeched and collapsed to the ground in an agonized ball. He heard startled gasps from some of the pedestrians in the street but knew even a little spectacle wouldn’t save him. If these men wanted, they could call in the local police to scatter everyone anyway.

The wounded thug brought himself up and rubbed at his nose. It didn’t seem to have suffered any real damage. “Not bad for a doctor,” he grunted. “But you know that’s going to cost you later.”

As the shock slowly left his muscles, Kronn did his best to roll over and glance up at his assailants. “Portis ordered the attack before we even met, didn’t he?”

The agent holding the stick raised an eyebrow. “Attack?”

“You know exactly wha—” Kronn trailed off. The agent could have just been messing with his head, but he didn’t think so. No, it meant it wasn’t ESI who was attacking the compound…

It was the Covenant.

The first man grunted. “Get up and get back on the wall. Now.”

Kronn shook his head, the possibilities racing through his mind as he started to pull himself up. If it was the Covenant attacking, perhaps he could convince Portis to help. It wouldn’t have been much of an improvement, but perhaps it was something. He had no other options—

He had just brought himself to his feet when a pulse blast whined from the street and the first agent tumbled over. A second shot followed almost immediately after, dropping the second man before he could spin. Shrieks of terror came from the pedestrians in the street as they all started fleeing for their lives, and standing in the middle of it was a blonde woman with a pistol at the edge of the alleyway.

“Shyrah?” he gasped.

“You have no idea how tempting it is to pull the trigger again,” Shyrah whispered, walking forward slowly, apparently unconcerned with the chaos in the street unfolding behind her.

He sighed, and it felt like all of his strength had suddenly just drained out of him. So he had been right earlier—Corin had somehow caught his transmission, and he had naturally told Shyrah. She knew, and she had followed him here to prove it.

“We trusted you,” she continued coldly. “You were a doctor. A
doctor
. And you’ve just been fucking with us this whole time, haven’t you?”

“Shyrah—”

“No!” she screamed, firing a shot into the wall next to him. A chunk of rock exploded and sprayed bits of smoldering debris across his cheek. “I don’t think you get to explain.”

Kronn balled his hands into fists. He wouldn’t have blamed her for gunning him down right there, but there was more at stake than his betrayal or her revenge right now.

“The Covenant is attacking the compound,” he told her as calmly as he could. “I tried to call Corin and he didn’t respond.”

Her hand shook even as she leveled the gun at him. “Maybe he’s just ignoring you.”

“Do you believe that?” he asked. “It’s not ESI—I know that much. But they’ll be coming soon. Either way we need to get back and do what we can to help them escape.”

“As if you give a shit,” she hissed.

“You know I do,” he replied softly. “Kill me if you want, but if you’re going to shoot, do it now. Do it while you still have a chance to get over there and help.”

For a long, drawn-out moment, he actually thought she might fire. In the end, it might have been the best choice for both of them. At least if he was dead he wouldn’t have to try to pick up the mess he had created. At least he wouldn’t have to face up to the consequences of what he had done.

Shyrah slowly lowered her gun. “Fine,” she muttered. “And if you’re wrong, I’ll just let the others tear you apart.”

He nodded and leaned down to pick up his phone. “All right. Let’s get moving, and I’ll try and get a hold of someone.”

Chapter Fourteen

No one ever considered life at a Covenant temple glamorous—but then, it wasn’t supposed to be. Serving the Lord was a hallowed, life-long duty, not an idle flight of fancy. Still, amidst the mundane ceremonies and rote prayers—and even amidst the combat training and pain rituals—there had been powerful certainty within that day-to-day life, a clarity of purpose that kept the mind at ease. 

Now that was gone, and Avrick hadn’t realized how much he would miss it. He ran his hand through his short hair as he paced about his cell, trying desperately to find something, anything, to grab onto. He had heard the old axiom “upstream without a paddle” many times, but never really understood what it meant until just now. In only a few days, his life had gone from absolute certainty to absolute chaos. He was a fugitive from the Covenant and a prisoner of the Asurans.

And yet those life-changing events paled in comparison to what the Incubus had told all of them earlier. It changed everything. It shattered everything. There were no Angels, no Demons, and no Covenant—not really. They were all a lie. An
alien
lie.

Or Damien was lying. Or, perhaps, he had just been deceived. Those were both equally possible, it seemed, especially given that Avrick didn’t really understand how telepathy worked anyway. How could Damien really know these things? How could some invisible, parasitic creature really communicate with him? The more he thought about it, the more ridiculous it seemed.

Maybe it was all just a test. Some type of elaborate rouse from the Incubus. The Sacra’thar warned repeatedly of the dark machinations of Demons, and Avrick didn’t trust Damien at all. It bothered him even more that Sara did—not only trusted him, but had apparently…touched him.

Avrick closed his eyes and shook his head. That thought alone was enough to drive a man crazy. It certainly wasn’t doing him any favors right now.

The door to his room clicked, and Sariel stepped inside. In a way, he should have really felt insulted. The Asurans weren’t even bothering much with guards now. The base seemed empty. If he had really wanted to fight his way out of here, it wouldn’t have been that difficult.

“I wanted to see how you were doing,” she said, closing the door behind her and smiling faintly. “It’s…a lot to take in.”

He grunted and shook his head. “It’s impossible. I don’t care what that Demon says.”

She sighed softly and leaned against the far wall as he dropped onto his bed. He wanted her to reply, to try and defend Damien. He wanted to be able to yell and scream and fight to prove it was all a lie—and to prove to her the Incubus wasn’t to be trusted. None of them were. They couldn’t be.

 “There have always been detractors,” he said softly. “Even back to the first days after the Descent. People blamed the devastation on all sorts of things. Terrorists, a government conspiracy, a tragic fluke…” he shook his head. “Vaelen said it took decades for most to come around to the truth, and even then they had to actually see the Angels to believe it. Once people witnessed their power, there was no denying that they were the emissaries of the Lord.”

Again she didn’t reply; she just continued to appraise him with her dark eyes. In another time and place, it could have almost been a test, an Angel standing over him judging the strength of his faith and his convictions.

“Demons are drawn to our weakness and appetites,” he continued, “and they find their homes within those whose souls have gone dark. They are a test from the Lord. If we accept them, then we shall face another Reckoning. If we cast them down, then we shall find redemption.”

“Would it have changed anything?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

“If you had known what I was then,” she said. “Back at the temple when we were younger, what if you had known I was a Demon? What would you have done?”

Avrick closed his eyes and sighed. “I don’t know.”

“Would you have hurt me? Would you have turned me in?”

“I…” he trailed off and tried to choke back the pain.

 “What if you had learned later? Just before the Bonding?”

“I don’t know,” he whispered. “I might have told them.”

“Do you hate me for it?”

His eyes fluttered open, and he looked up at her. He had loved her for so long he couldn’t imagine it any other way. But what if she had told him? He would have been within his rights to kill her, and at the very least it would have been his duty to report her to the others. He couldn’t imagine harming her, but the thought of concealing it from the others…

Avrick was a man before he was a Chosen. The night he had spent in her arms had been the best of his life, and he would have given anything to be with her again. He probably
wouldn’t
have told anyone, and it actually made him sick.

Vaelen would insist it had all been a lie, a deception from a Demon, and Avrick had succumbed to it. He had violated his vows to be with her—a grievous enough sin had she simply been human. But to have made love with a Demon…that was unforgiveable. He would find no redemption in this life or the next.

And yet given the chance, he would do it all again.

“No,” he whispered, feeling the sting of wetness in his eyes. “Never.”

Sariel slid off the wall and knelt at the side of his bed, her hand wrapping in his. He desperately wished he could feel the empathic spark the others spoke of. Compared to that intimacy, he knew, his own skin must have been barely an echo.

“You have to let them go,” she told him. “For your own sake.”

With his left hand he wiped at his tears. Knowing something was true and accepting it were many kilometers apart, he realized. He had watched Marivean murder Vaelen before his eyes, but somehow a part of him was still holding onto the Covenant—to their clarity and purpose. Sitting here in his cell alone, he had almost managed to convince himself that Marivean was just some type of rebel or loose cannon. But no, he was a part of a greater evil, a player in a vast deception that had ensorcelled millions of people.

And he would pay for what he had done.

“We can make them help you,” he told her. “They have to know how to fix this.”

She lowered her eyes. “Maybe, but it’s too dangerous. I can’t risk these people just to help me.”

“Then don’t. We can do it, just the two of us.”

Her hand clenched more tightly around his. “Avrick…”

“It’s the only way,” he insisted. “I’m not just going to sit here while you…die. We can do it. I can do it.”

She leaned forward over him, placing her head on his chest. He felt the rage within him bubble up—and then there was nothing. Just tears for the only woman he had ever loved and the only life he had ever known.

“We have to do
something
,” he whispered into her ear. “I have to do something.”

“You can help the others. There are hundreds of people here who need protection, and you can give it to them. You can keep them safe.”

“I don’t want to protect them,” he said. “I want to protect you.”

 “I know.”

She lifted her head from his chest, and he pressed a hand against her cheek. He remembered her eyes and hair as they used to be, a bright blue set against a raven black. He could almost feel her lips as they pressed against his, the last night of her humanity and the first of his manhood.

“I’ve missed you so much,” he breathed. “And now…”

She pressed a finger to his lips and then replaced it with her own. They were as warm and loving as before…but somehow it wasn’t the same. It was like a memory rather than the real thing, with the separation of a lifetime between them. It was less a kiss of love than one of remembrance, of a life that might have been but never could be.

Sariel pulled away, smiling, as she ran her fingers through his hair. Her expression was a mask of stoic acceptance, a measured calm in the face of the impossible.

“We should get some rest,” she told him. “At this point I think Kronn is willing to move you to the new compound and maybe even let you walk around. Either way, we’ll be able to figure out what we’re going to do next.”

He nodded. “All right.”

She squeezed his hand again and started to stand—

And an explosion thundered across the base. The shrill whine of pulse fire soon followed, and Avrick was on his feet in an instant. He glanced about, looking for anything he could potentially use as a weapon…

“The Covenant,” Sariel breathed, her eyes distant as she no doubt reached out with her senses. “Oh my God…”

She turned away from him in a wild spin, leaping for the door—and Avrick suddenly felt himself moving. He glanced down at his arms and body as they lunged towards her, wondering how they were moving without his volition…

With a fierce chop to the back of her head, Sariel fell unconscious. Avrick tried to scream, but there was no sound. He tried to stop himself, but there was no control. His body was moving in a blur of speed, catching the Angel’s now limp figure before it hit the ground.

The Lord has called upon you
, Chosen, a voice roared in his head.

Avrick tried to speak, but nothing more than a stifled creak escaped his lips. He could feel the presence inside his mind, crawling to the surface as if waking from a long slumber…and in a dark moment of clarity, he suddenly understood.

The memories after his failed ambush at the stadium—the real memories—washed back over him. Watching Vaelen die, trying helplessly to escape, and then feeling Marivean’s thoughts piercing into his skull. The Angel told him he could still serve a purpose, insisted that he could make up for his mistake at the stadium. Avrick could get close to Sariel and bring them to her…one way or another.

You are a Soldier of the Lord, his servant in life and death
, Marivean’s voice thundered in his head again.
And is time for you to find redemption
.

***

“Yeah, I’m not sure how well I’m going to sleep, either,” Corin murmured from across the room. Damien turned and raised an eyebrow at him, but the other man just shrugged. “I can tell by the way you’re looking at your bunk.”

Damien sighed and smiled tightly. He had been standing over the bed for probably a whole minute, his mind going a thousand different directions at once.

“It’s a lot to think about,” he said.

“You could say that,” Corin grunted. “Now imagine what happens when this goes public.”

“I don’t see that happening for a while. Possibly ever.”

Corin shrugged. “I guess that depends on what we decide to do, doesn’t it?”

And whether or not we save Sara,
Damien thought to himself. Despite what the alien had told him, Shyrah was right in pointing out they had precious little proof. They couldn’t just call up a local news station and blab it out on a colonial telecast. No, as profound as this discovery was, it was something that was going to take time to disseminate. He wondered idly how many other historical discoveries were just like this—or how many they didn’t even know about because the information had simply been lost.

“Kronn will figure something out, don’t worry,” Corin said. “A lot of the Demons we pick up have medical problems of one type or another related to their condition. He’s always found a way to get them healthy.”

“I hope so,” Damien replied softly, placing his hands on the bed. “He didn’t seem very confident.”

The man paused oddly, shuffling in his bunk. “He’ll have to adjust to this like the rest of us. Shyrah’s out with him now. Hopefully she’ll…help him calm down.”

Damien frowned and glanced up. “What does that mean?”

“Forget it, I’m just babbling,” Corin grunted. “All things considered we’re just pretty lucky you came along.”

As far as deflections went, it was pretty weak. Was something going on here Damien wasn’t aware of? Probably a hundred things given the nature of the Asurans. But Kronn and Shyrah had both been acting especially odd all afternoon.

“In a way, I suppose,” he muttered. “Mostly I think I just got lucky, both to be here and to find out what I did.”

“Well, I think you’ve earned your keep for the moment,” Corin said dryly. “Now just try and get some sleep. We’ll probably move to the other compound tomorrow and decide what the hell we’re going to do about all this.”