Chapter 5 #2
Caemorn was very still as he stared hard into the fire. He spoke very softly as he said, “Not a Childe.”
Balthazar’s frown grew. “Not a Childe so a Grandchilde or–”
“No,” Caemorn cut Balthazar off. He pinched the top of his nose before turning to face them all. “I believed I had retrieved all the slices of myself.”
“Yes, you brought them all back months ago,” Christian said, though he was sitting up more alertly on the couch.
Caemorn’s silver eyes were shadowed. “Yes, but there is one, at least one, that is… missing. I thought it was one that I simply did not wish to confront considering…”
Balthazar stared at him in confusion, but Ryder so that confusion turn to shock then horror. Then the Eyros Vampire shot to his feet.
“I killed him! I killed Roan Tithe!” Balthazar spat out.
Grayson’s lips parted in confusion.
Ryder leaned over and whispered, “Roan Tithe was a Kaly slice. He inhabited an Eyros Vampire’s body and turned Balthazar. He was sadistic… horrible. Balthazar killed him to save his House. But then… then he came back. And Balthazar faced him again, but… but, evidently, he still lives somehow.”
Grayson nodded in understanding as his eyes flickered from one person to another.
“I do not die,” Caemorn reminded him sadly. “Not that way.”
“No! No! NO!” Balthazar shouted.
He was pale-faced and shaking. Christian rose up to take his arm. He stroked it.
“Are you saying that the slice of you that was inhabiting Balthazar’s Master is still out there? Working with the Sect?” Julian asked. He gripped the back of the sofa so hard that the wood creaked.
“I have searched my memories for our time together, Balthazar. I wanted to know…” Caemorn scrubbed a hand through his pale hand.
“I wanted to know what I’d done. So I could somehow make amends to you and to–to avoid any triggers.
I worried that even saying I was–what I was–am–to Balthazar would cause him pain, but… ” His voice drifted off.
“So you have no memories of that slice and that is the reason you think Roan tithe is not absorbed?” Grayson asked carefully.
“I don’t. Which makes no sense. I have some as Roan, but not those.
And the work in the structure. I sense myself in it.
And also a master of the Eyros gift,” Caemorn explained explained.
“Roan Tithe was a War Childe made in the early days of the conflict between all of us. I had no other slices in that Bloodline for anywhere near that duration.”
“That’s why everyone thought Balthazar must be Eyros reborn,” Fiona whispered softly as she looked upon Balthazar’s haggard face. “Roan was so very strong and yet a Vampire with hardly a few hundred years on it, killed him.”
“Yes, I thought that Balthazar had played a trick to do it, but I knew that could not be so,” Caemorn admitted sadly. “I was so jealous of him. I couldn’t imagine how he could take down a Vampire like Tithe who seemed to be Artemis’ equal.”
“You have all of Artemis’ memories though, don’t you?” Christian asked softly. “He was your Master, but he was so cruel to you. And you know every bit of it.”
Caemorn frowned. “I think I do, but… there are holes in my memory. Ones that I am not purposefully avoiding. My… my weakness brought us all to this terrible point. If I had but eliminated Artemis earlier and–”
“You couldn’t have! Not until you were older and stronger!” Fiona cried. “Caemorn, without you, we could never have defeated them at all. Everything would have been lost. So don’t blame yourself for not acting sooner.”
“I don’t. Not exactly.” Caemorn gazed upon Balthazar’s bowed head.
“I think of what I should have done for others. I think of what I could have done. Everything worked out, but it still seems to have done so in spite of me, Fiona. And so much damage was done as I dithered. Now, I fear there will be more with Tithe still out there.”
“I killed him!” Balthazar cried, his head snapping up, his cheeks flush with blood then paling.
“You don’t understand, Caemorn! He is dead and gone and…
You are not him!” Then with a ravaged look, his hands pulling at the front of his shirt, he asked, “But is that only because you haven’t absorbed that part of yourself? Or… or all of Tithe? I…”
Caemorn shook his head violently. His expression was haunted.
“No! No, I… Balthazar, I would never… No, that is not true.” He covered his face with his hands for a moment.
More emotion there than Ryder had ever seen him emote.
“We all know what I am capable of. But returning that piece of me would not change me back into him. It would only remind me more keenly how little right I have to any peace or happiness, let alone your friendship–”
“If he’s still out there–or part of him is–then we’re not safe. We’re none of us… Christian and all of my House and all of the Eyros…” Balthazar started to hyperventilate.
The Eyros Vampire curled forward, drawing in shuddering breath as if unable to get enough air. Caemorn took a step towards him, but stopped himself at the last moment. Christian stroked Balthazar’s back. Julian stared at the shaking figure stricken. Grayson’s jaw clenched.
We called Kaly many things on the battlefield. One of them was Cruelty, Weryn whispered. Another was Death.
Fiona came over with a cup of blood-wine. She helped Christian get Balthazar back onto the couch. “We should never have let him hurt you and the others. Caemorn is not the only one who sat back and did nothing. Only Arcius saw what was happening clearly and moved to help.”
She spat the word “nothing” and Ryder guessed she shared quite a bit of that scorn for herself. She had been a Confessor of the Order, the Vampire religion that had demonized the Immortals, but had actually been just a front for Kaly to try to control everyone after the War.
“Arcius! I have to warn Arcius. I can’t seem to gather my thoughts to reach him though,” Balthazar admitted between gasps and sips of blood-wine.
He was rocking on the sofa. Ryder had never seen him so undone. Julian came up behind him and held his shoulders comfortingly.
“Daemon is not surprised by this revelation,” Julian said quietly. “I’ve just spoken mind to mind with him and… and he sounds sad, but not shocked.”
“Why the bloody hell did he not mention it earlier?!” Balthazar yelled then shook his head. “Oh, gods, I’m sorry, Julian! He does not know–not really–what it was like. He thinks of Tithe as just another Kaly slice to clean up, but… but…”
“It’s more than that,” Julian said and squeezed Balthazar’s shoulders. “I know. I do know that. And I’ll make him understand.”
“Our king does nothing without purpose,” Grayson said stiffly. “I know that is cold comfort right now, Balthazar. But this may aid in us ending this conflict with the Sect. As hideous as it is, Roan Tithe is a known quantity.”
Christian was suddenly nodding. “I found the others. I can find this slice, too. Caemorn can absorb him and–”
“Something must be different about him if some part of him is still out there and you didn’t sense him, Christian,” Balthazar protested. “Not that I would let you anywhere near Tithe even in spirit form!”
“I think the structures are the key,” Grayson said. He looked up at Caemorn. “They must block at least some thoughts. Otherwise, Balthazar would have heard Tithe’s evil intentions long ago.”
Caemorn nodded. “Tithe could have devised some way with his Kaly and Eyros gift to concoct something like that.”
“And he knows me! All my weaknesses!” Balthazar spat out.
“But he underestimates you, Balthazar,” Caemorn said with quiet conviction. “He sees the surface of you only.”
“He sees enough.” Balthazar hung his head. “I was able to defeat him before because he wasn’t expecting me to have the balls to do it, but now… now he will be more careful.”
“Maybe,” Grayson said. “But I bet he’s angry. And I bet he still thinks of himself as the Master and you as the Childe. But you aren’t his Childe.”
Balthazar lifted his head uncertainly. “But I am–”
“No, you heard Caemorn tonight. You are Kaly’s Childe. And he is standing right there, desperately wanting to hold you and make it all better.” Grayson gestured to Caemorn who held himself so stiffly.
Balthazar blinked. “Good grief, Caemorn, if you were any more rigid, you might shatter. Why are you standing over there like that while I’m a mess here? I need you with me! I don’t want to have to call Bone Bear to get a little of your affection. I already have enough bone dust on my clothes.”
For a moment, Ryder saw Caemorn’s face stripped of all of its masks.
Caemorn loved Balthazar as only Kaly could with full and utter devotion.
He had saved that purely for Daemon before.
But now, he clearly felt it for Balthazar.
No matter that he and Balthazar played the odd couple.
The mask was firmly back in place though before Caemorn went over and awkwardly sat on the other side of Balthazar from Christian on the couch, one hand gently patting his back.
“Eyros and Kaly together. Not a slice of one and a stolen bit of another,” Grayson said as he gazed upon both of them. “But both Bloodlines’ Immortals. Strong and true. I know that between the two of you, you can figure out the Sect’s game plan and undo any of Tithe’s tricks.”
Weryn’s voice drifted through Ryder’s mind then, This Tithe is but a shadow of the true Kaly. And Kaly and Eyros working together? He does not stand a chance. No one does.