Obsidian Flame

Greaves appeared to jerk and took a step backward. “No,” he said very quietly. He shook his head. “That’s not possible. You must be mistaken. Not pure vision.”

Casimir was on his feet now and approached Stannett. Two pairs of deadly eyes stared down at him. “You’re saying that the reason the warriors got into the Convent was because the Seer Marguerite achieved pure vision? You’re lying. That’s just not possible. No Seer that I know of, even on Fourth, can achieve pure vision.”

“While I labored in the future streams, just as we planned, muddying the waters of the vision, I felt her. I was blocking the future, that peculiar ability that I possess, so that the efforts to slay Leto could not be seen, but I began to feel a disruption. The harder I worked to counter it, the less effective I became. I had no power to withstand what occurred. The only thing I can tell you is that she didn’t do this alone.”

“What do you mean?” Greaves asked. “Did you sense the presence of an Upper ascender in this fiasco?”

“No. An average vampire, a Seer. I saw the color of her ribbon and I pursued her future, but that, too, was clouded as though the combining of their forces created exponential power.”

Greaves drew a deep breath but seemed to hold it. After a long moment, he released a hissing stream of air. “So let me understand what you are saying. Marguerite combined her power with another Seer and not only achieved pure vision, but also blocked your power in the future streams?”

Stannett nodded. His head fell but at least with the telling, some of his trembling had subsided. Thank God for that.

Greaves moved to stand directly in front of him. “I can see your despair. Indeed, I can taste it like a sharp metallic bite on my tongue.”

“Why wouldn’t I despair?” he asked, looking up at Greaves.

“Because I have the potential to counter this ability.”

At that, something inside Stannett grew very still. He searched Greaves’s eyes. He wanted to understand exactly what the Commander was saying. Nothing with Darian Greaves was simple, nothing to be taken at surface value.

Greaves continued. “You have great power, Owen. I have felt it from you for decades now, ever since COPASS gave you the right to prevent Endelle from entering the Superstition Fortress. But we have a job to do, together, one that you must do for me, one that only you can do. And when this is accomplished, you will have your heart’s desire.” He paused, and it was this break in the flow of his speech that disturbed Stannett the most. Greaves continued, “In fact, I have a post in mind for you, one that I believe you are extremely well suited to fill.”

“But not with autonomy.”

Greaves shook his head. “No, my friend, not entirely. Those days are gone, I’m afraid. They ended last night and I know you understand because you do despair. But I would allow you autonomy within the various facilities.”

Stannett nodded. A little flame of hope began to burn within his mind. “Autonomy in the facilities.”

“Yes.” Greaves then set out to explain the creation of five major Seer palaces as well as his plan to bind the Seers together in order to achieve pure vision.

Stannett sat up straighter. Seers bound together. He liked the sound of it, the feel of it in his mind. He was a Seer of power and he could intuit that Greaves’s plan would work, perhaps in the same way that Marguerite, through joining with the other Seer, had achieved pure vision.

He also thought that he could continue his genetic experiment.

Greaves moved very close and settled his hand on Stannett’s shoulder. “You would certainly be free to continue your scientific experiments. And of course, as you already know, I always reward my servants. Amply.”

Yes, Stannett did know since a good deal of his personal wealth had come as Greaves had built up his fortune over the past century. “What would you have me do now, master?”

Greaves smiled, which gave those round eyes an even more youthful appearance. He removed his hand and took a slight step backward, turning in order to include Casimir in the discussion. “I think we need to shift our focus and put a rather large piece of bait into my now empty tiger’s cage. But in order to do that, the focus must be on the bait and not on our super-powerful Seer. Otherwise I’m convinced that she will know what the future holds.”

“And to what bait do you refer?” Stannett asked.

“To Thorne’s sister, of course.”

The mention of Grace, however, caused Casimir to emit a gasp, which turned into a ragged series of coughs.

* * *

Casimir had started feeling much better about the entire interview. He had not communicated with Stannett about the failed attack at the Convent because it hadn’t occurred to him that the failure had been a result of emerging Seer power. He had assumed that Warrior Thorne and his band of merry vampires had somehow discovered a clever way to breach a kind of mist that was supposedly impregnable.

But now it all made sense: the timing of the warriors’ arrival, that they knew where to battle the death vampires who should have overwhelmed Leto within the first fifteen seconds of the operation, even that Marguerite had found her way into the Convent at exactly the same time.

However, he couldn’t quite bring himself to give a rat’s ass about anything right now, except a certain scent that had bored a hole into his brain and kept his cock in an uproar. He hadn’t been able to face the men for a long time because his erection was throbbing. He had a perpetual hard-on. Even the memory of Grace’s meadow-wildflower scent was for him a triple dose of Viagra.

From the time that Marguerite had slammed that stool down on his head, then folded Grace out of the Convent, Casimir’s thoughts had been all about how to bring Grace under his control.

She was his. She belonged to no one else, despite some significant evidence that Leto was under the same weighty need and drive. Which begged the question: How the hell had the breh-hedden split off and decided that Grace was to have two brehs? That she felt an attraction to him was very clear. But she also had need of Leto.

The next question, however, was much more difficult to answer. What the hell was he supposed to do with this whole ridiculous situation? On a very deep level, he’d hoped that Grace would somehow end up dead; then he wouldn’t be faced with his need for her. That she had lived changed everything for him. With each minute that passed, his need to possess her grew stronger.

Worse, when Greaves discovered that she was obsidian flame, the third leg of the triad, he would stop at nothing to destroy her.

And that, he simply could not have.

Grace at all costs must live and he must complete the breh-hedden with her before Leto did, because she must come entirely under his control. Nothing else mattered.

Greaves addressed Stannett. “I want you to dip into the future streams right now and see if you can find Grace in the immediate future, within the next few hours.”

“As wish you, master.”

Stannett closed his eyes. Seers often did so.

Stannett’s eyes rolled back and forth beneath his eyelids. He was breathing hard, maybe even pushing into the future streams. He looked to be in pain.

Finally, his eyes popped open, and he stared at Greaves.

Casimir felt uneasy.

Stannett rose to his feet. He seemed calmer now, perhaps even hopeful. “I saw the devotiate, Grace, walking alone in the villa garden, in one of the garden rooms, the one with all the white blossoms. She was weeping.”

“Which day and at what hour?” Greaves asked.

“Tomorrow morning, at the villa, before dawn. And at that hour, this one arrives.” He jerked his thumb in Casimir’s direction.

Caz recoiled. He even took a step backward. He didn’t want Greaves to guess at what this was all about. He worked at calming his heart.

“And what does Casimir do?” Greaves asked.

“He holds her in his arms and comforts her. Then together they vanish.”

Greaves turned to Casimir and smiled. “You must be very good at what you do, since apparently in this vision you have the capacity to slip through Endelle’s mist, which still covers the villa. I am most impressed. It would also seem that our path is clear. You must abduct Thorne’s sister.”

“Yes.” The fewer words he spoke, the better.

“When you have her, you will fold her to me.”

Casimir turned toward Greaves. “I have a request, one that I insist must be fulfilled if you wish me to do as you’ve said.”

Greaves grew very still, but he said, “Go on.”

“I want the woman. I want her to live with me in Paris.”

“Indeed?”

“Yes. I’ve developed a need for her.”

Greaves remained still.

Casimir waited as the Commander searched his eyes. His shields were powerful enough to keep Greaves out, so he had that going in his favor.

Finally, Greaves smiled. “I suppose in your perverted world, taking a devotiate would be the ultimate adventure. Well, I see no harm in the plan. You have my … blessing.”

Casimir didn’t smile as he responded, “Thank you. I will do as you have said.”

Greaves turned toward Stannett. “Please return to Mexico City. I would ask only that you work in the future streams to conceal Casimir’s movements. That way, if the enemy should decide to look into our activities, at least we’ll have this layer of concealment. Even if Marguerite is able to achieve pure vision, let’s make her work for it.” He glanced from one to the other. “You may both leave now.”

Casimir didn’t need a second invitation. He lifted his arm and vanished.

A brotherhood forges a powerful foundation,

But a sisterhood pushes, with fervor and necessity, all outmoded boundaries.

—Collected Proverbs, Beatrice of Fourth

Chapter 19

At five o’clock, Thorne held Marguerite close as he folded them both to Medichi’s villa on the east side of the White Tank Mountains. As he touched down in the large central foyer and he gave Marguerite a one-armed hug, he wanted to feel at ease, but he couldn’t. So much had changed for him, as well as for the woman beside him, that coming back to Second Earth wasn’t going to be easy. Nor was it a plus that this was essentially a social evening with the warriors and with those women bonded to Kerrick, Marcus, Jean-Pierre, and Medichi. Marguerite was all but gritting her teeth.