Crash Morph: Gate Shifter Book Two (48 page)
Read Crash Morph: Gate Shifter Book Two Online
Authors: JC Andrijeski
Humor lived there, but also a denser understanding, one so complete, Revik had to fight not to yell at him. The compassion there threatened to pull more words out of him briefly, too, even as his own reactions sickened him, bringing a surge of self-hate strong enough that he had to fight not to yell at the other male again.
Patience, brother Revik,
the male sent softly.
You are too hard on yourself.
And if I stab one of you in the throat, my good brother?
Revik sent back bitterly.
Will you think the same charitable thoughts of me then, I wonder?
You will not.
You cannot know that,
Revik retorted.
I’ve done it before. Many times.
Not here.
What difference does that make, brother? Do you think me so religious that I wouldn’t kill a man of the cloth? Because believe me, I would. I’ve done that before, too...
The truth was, though, Revik hadn’t.
Not that he could remember, anyway.
Something in hearing the lie in his own words caused him to relax, if only a little.
The old monk’s blue eyes sharpened, even as a faint smile touched his lips.
In point of fact, brother, you are doing far better now, to express these thoughts where we can see them. It is progress, although it may not feel like it...
Revik let out a short laugh, nearly choked on it.
He clicked at the other male sharply, but the monk only smiled.
While thoughts are powerful with seers, it is true,
the monk added, that humor still in his light, even as he bowed politely.
...Thoughts are still not
actions,
brother. Not even in a seer of your training and stature. Thoughts carry karmic repercussions of their own, it is true...but do not make them equivalent in your mind. Just because you think something, or have an impulse, you should not treat that impulse as something you have done already...
And if I
want
to do it?
Revik sent, still not looking up.
What then?
The old monk clicked at him that time, though, if softly.
Do not worry what you may or may not do based on passing impulses alone.
He made an eloquent calming gesture, using his light.
As I say, we fear you far less now than we did before, brother...when you would not express any feeling in front of us at all. When you refused to talk to us about anything going on inside your light...
Revik shook his head, but did not attempt to answer.
The monk’s smile teased higher on his lips.
Anyway, brother, I somehow doubt that it is violence that truly motivates you at the moment. At least not violence of the sort you seem to imagine. I think if I was more your type in other respects, the impulse might have struck you somewhat differently...
At that, Revik gave another short laugh.
That one was almost real.
He still didn’t look directly at the other male, though.
When the silence stretched, he conceded the monk’s point with a gesture of his own, then backed deeper into the room when the monk walked towards him. Rather than maintaining the distance between them, Revik doubled it, one of his arms folded tightly over his own chest. He felt the gesture as protective, but he couldn’t quite tell at that point if he was protecting himself from the other seer, or the reverse.
You are too hard on yourself, brother,
the monk repeated gently.
Do not beat yourself up for feeling. The karmic repercussions of our thoughts are quite heavy enough.
Revik nodded.
Truthfully, though, he wasn’t really listening.
He only listened to about half of their words, even now.
He fought to push away the part of him that was tired of this, that wanted to sink into a different kind of depression, one based in a heavier futility.
The silence between them stretched.
“Are you ready, brother?” the seer asked aloud.
Revik nodded, but made no effort to move.
It is time,
the other seer said to him, his voice gentler still.
Without waiting that time, the monk turned smoothly on his bare heel and left out the only door into Revik’s room. That painted wooden door opened out to a rough-hewn corridor, which itself grew into the larger maze of passageways that crossed and splinted up and down countless floors inside the rock fortress that made up this part of the old city.
The monastery was the oldest such enclave in the Pamir, Revik knew, and not even simply the oldest of those still in existence. It had been constructed as part of the original plans for the old city, to be housed directly opposite of where the famed Adhipan had trained since the group’s inception.
Revik found it sort of ironic that, as a boy, he’d fantasized about living here, but on the opposite side of that dyad protecting the city’s light.
Even so, he knew it was a privilege to be here, to be allowed inside these rock walls.
It still felt like a prison.
Watching the old monk leave his chambers, Revik felt a whisper of defeat go through his light again, almost in spite of himself...and in spite of the fact that he knew the other male probably felt that, too. He never would have thought a bunch of kneeler monks would wear him down to a nub, to a pale ghost of what he had been.
It turned out the patience of the Ancestors could outlast even his own.
Walking over to the bookshelf, Revik leaned down to switch off the small cassette player, right as “Paint it Black” started playing.
He couldn’t help but find that fitting, too.
END SAMPLE
For the rest of
BIRTH: ALLIE’S WAR EARLY YEARS
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I write contemporary and urban fantasy, dystopian, paranormal romance and science fiction. Current works include the gritty, epic and apocalyptic series,
Allie’s War,
which follows Allie Taylor and her antihero partner, Revik, in their attempts to save the world from a dark, psychic force bent on controlling Earth. I also have a new adult dystopian series,
Alien Apocalypse
about Jet Tetsuo, survivor and slave under alien conquerors, and the
Gate Shifter
series, about a shape-shifting alien and a tough-girl PI.
I also write crime fiction, children’s and some literary under a few different names, although my first love will always be of the supernatural, especially when it involves kick-ass superpowers and people fighting for the light and against their own inner demons.
I’m hesitant to name a final resting place at this point, but I travel pretty extensively and have lived abroad in Europe, Australia and Asia, and from coast to coast in the continental United States.
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GATE SHIFTER SERIES
The Morph (Gate Shifter Book 1)
Crash Morph (Gate Shifter Book 2)
THE ALLIE’S WAR SERIES
MAIN SERIES
Bridge: Allie’s War Book Seven
Prophet: Allie’s War Book Eight
PREQUEL NOVELS
New York: Allie's War Early Years
Revik: Allie’s War Early Years