1
Bravo Shaw, hands on hips, stood beneath the brilliant Maltese sun. He was atop the highest point of the headland, the better to give him perspective on the site of the castle of the Knights of St. Clement. Of the castle itself, ancient and holiest of holies to the Knights, there was no longer the slightest sign. And, after the former head of the Knights’ Circle Council, Lilith Swan, to prove her love for Bravo’s sister, Emma, and her newfound loyalty to the Gnostic Observatines, had given Emma the electronic keys to the Knights’ main server and thus the means to destroy them, the Knights themselves were scattered to the four winds, leaderless, penniless, without hope.
Over the protestations of some, Bravo had taken in a number of former Knights, after he and his sister Emma had vetted them properly. Currently, they were being used as guards, but in the longer run he felt their perspective could prove useful to the Gnostic Observatines in the war to come. One of those—a young woman he had newly recruited into the Knights—was Lilith’s younger sister, Molly. He had initially sent Molly to Ethiopia, to learn as an assistant to one of the archivists working diligently on deciphering ancient codices, before summoning her to Malta. The two sisters hadn’t seen each other for many years. Bravo did not know why: Lilith wouldn’t speak of it, even to Emma, her lover. And as for Molly, she turned stony and nonresponsive when Bravo had queried her on the matter. At first, his motivation for bringing her aboard was simply to effect a reconciliation between them, but after vetting her he had begun to formulate another idea. In any event, Molly’s presence had served only to infuriate Lilith. Molly was here now, helping him and Ayla supervise the construction of the Observatines’ headquarters. As for Lilith, she was in Addis Ababa, the Order’s previous headquarters, directing the huge and complex move to this group of new buildings on the headland of Malta. Emma was scheduled to join her tomorrow.
In the months since the Order had taken over this acreage, the burned-down castle had been completely razed, the basement excavated and exorcised by giant machinery that broke the concrete apart, lifted the pieces, and ground them to a fine powder that was trucked away. A new basement had been designed and poured; the stones, bricks, steel beams, and wooden rafters brought in and erected. Belgian blocks were set, repurposed wooden paneling scavenged from shipwrecks nailed in place, and winding staircases up to the second and third floors installed with Arabic filigreed balusters and newel posts, Moroccan tile risers, and pecan wood treads. The glazed tile roof shone green or blue depending on the angle of the sun. On clear nights, it glowed indigo beneath the full moon, and in storms it rippled like mercury unleashed.
There was still work being done on the western wing of the main building, as well as a number of the outbuildings that would house personnel, equipment, stores, and the like.
The largest of the outbuildings—quartering the staff soon to arrive from Addis Ababa, housing the various labs, study areas, seminar spaces for the newbies from the Knights, meeting rooms, and sheds to store maintenance equipment—were nearly finished.
Emma Shaw did not turn when Bravo came up beside her. She was staring beyond the cliff face, at the sea. The wind pulled her hair back from her face.
“About Lilith…” She turned to him. “She’s very special.”
“I believe you.”
“I wouldn’t have made it all the way to Arwad without her.”
Bravo touched her shoulder. “Emma, you don’t need my blessing.”
“Need has nothing to do with it.”
He nodded. “I know. I misspoke.”
“It’s true that she’s been with the Knights of St. Clement, our erstwhile enemy, but she’s proved herself by allowing us into their servers, by handing what’s left of them to us on a silver platter. They’re scattered, all but finished forever. Because of her. We could not have a better, more loyal ally. I very much want you to like her.”
Bravo’s heart melted. Why, he wondered, did it take a near-death experience for him to realize how precious she was to him? “I don’t even know her.” He stroked her arm, lightly. “But once I do I have no doubt I will.”
That brought a smile to her face. “This is very important to me.”
“Nothing could be more apparent, I assure you.”
The moon, full and blazing with a cool, bluish light, highlighted her neck and cheeks, threw her eyes into shadow.
“So, Lilith aside, how are you doing?” he said softly. “Really.”
She shrugged. “I wish I knew. This shameful episode in our family history … Great-great-grandmother, Chynna, mating with the Seraph, Leviathan.” She turned her head away momentarily. “It’s unspeakable.”
Bravo let some time pass. “I meant you. Inside you. With all that’s happened.”
“I feel as if I’ve been hollowed out.”
“How so?”
For some time, Emma stayed silent, staring out to sea, not meeting his gaze.
“Emma, what is it? Please tell me.”
She sighed. “All right. If you really want to know I keep thinking about Beleth.” She meant the Fallen angel who had invaded her.
Unconsciously, one hand stroked Beleth’s talon. It hung around her neck by a gold chain she had purchased in Cyprus on their way across the eastern Mediterranean. She had bored a small hole near the top of the talon with a small bronze-bladed knife she had found where they had made their successful stand against the Fallen, deep within the bowels of the Arwad, the island off the coast of Syria. Nothing, not even diamond drill bits, could make a mark on the talon, but the Fallen were susceptible to bronze. The point of the blade punctured the talon without difficulty.
She shot him a sideways look. “It might sound strange, but in a way I miss him.”
“That is strange.” Bravo’s brow furrowed. “And, frankly, worrisome.”
Emma tossed her head. “I knew you’d react that way.”
“Is there any other realistic way for me to react?”
“While Beleth was inside me, he changed.” She rounded on him, her eyes flaring. “I changed him. Me. Not you, Bravo, but me, Emma Shaw.”
“I thought we had hashed this all out.”
“This power thing between us isn’t so simple, Bravo.” She tossed her head. “Sometimes I feel like a child around you.”
“You’re on the wrong track.” Bravo shook his head. “Listen to me: It’s your fixation on Beleth I object to. He wasn’t your friend, Emma. Beleth was a Second Sphere Power. A warrior, in every sense of the word. Evil doesn’t change. It’s monolithic in its thinking.”
“Now you’re spouting Church doctrine.” Sometimes searching his face was like looking at a rock wall. You saw the crevasses, but they didn’t reveal the way forward. “Beleth wasn’t evil, but I can see you don’t believe me.”
“I’d like to, Emma, but I can’t.”
“You mean you won’t.” She tossed her head. “You don’t know. You can’t know. He was inside me. I saw into his soul.”
“Fallen angels don’t have souls.” The hint of a sardonic smile wreathed his lips. “Ah, yes, more Church doctrine.”
“You have to trust me,” Emma said firmly.
“Normally…” He shook his head. “Forgive me, but my concern is that with all you’ve been through your judgement might be a wee bit skewed—”
“So you don’t trust me.”
“Right now I don’t trust your reaction to the trauma with Beleth. We stopped Leviathan from transforming you. By the skin of our teeth. You seem to have forgotten how close you came to being transformed by Beleth into one of them.”
She laughed bitterly. “Nope. It was the other way around. You don’t get it at all. But that’s okay. I’m on my way to Lilith tomorrow morning, which means I don’t have to see you for a while.” The edge of sarcasm in her voice was unmistakable.
“Emma.”
She shook off his offering as too little, too late. “I mean this family—our history.” She shuddered. “In the bigger picture what you don’t get is that no matter what we do or say, we’re Shaws. We can’t escape the fact that we have a Seraph’s venom in our blood. We are steeped in ancient sin, murderous impulse, and treachery. We’re damned, Bravo, and that’s the truth of it.”
Behind them the air was filled with shouts and the grinding of machinery as the Order’s new headquarters was being constructed. Overhead gulls swooped and cried, skimming the air, then down the cliffside to the thrashing sea.
Bravo drew her to him. “Emma, believe me when I tell you that what we’ve just gone through has made us stronger. The past is the past. We can’t change it, that’s true enough. But what’s important is how we handle things going forward.”
She bristled: “It’s too late, Bravo. You’ve said it over and over.” She broke away from him. “A few chosen Fallen have already found their way into this realm through the Rift; and Leviathan’s master must be close to opening the Rift completely. That will begin their final assault on Heaven, and surely our world’s destruction.”
“If you have a suggestion now’s the time to voice it.”
She stared at him for a long moment. Somewhere in the back of her mind a small voice was wondering why she had become so hostile. But a far louder voice, one she’d been holding down during years of frustration and resentment sent the small voice packing. “I’m going to find one of the Fallen, one like Beleth, cull it out of the group.”
But Bravo was already shaking his head. “Absolutely out of the question.”
“You didn’t even hear me out.”
“I don’t have to. It’s far too dangerous.”
“Yes, of course. My judgement is a wee bit skewed.”
“Put such suicide missions out of your mind, Emma. I need you in Addis Ababa, supervising the laboratory’s move here.”
“No, Bravo. You want me there.”
“Parse it any way you want. The simple fact is I don’t trust anyone else to do it.” He raised a hand at her protest. “In any event, what you propose is too fraught with peril.”
“But don’t you see? I can get through to these demons.”
Copyright © 2019 by Eric Van Lustbader
