Chapter 3 #4
“Is it your opinion then, Master Kennedy, that she bears no fault in the Rosenhaven incident?” Julius asked.
“It is. Whatever happened in Texas, she is not to blame. In light of her gift, I believe we should all be thankful she escaped the situation, and as you’ve said, her particular talents haven’t been seen in over a generation.”
“Three,” Clarice said. “Three generations.” Her eyes shifted left to Aasiyah who made eye contact with her and eventually glanced away.
Julius cleared his throat. “There are several among us who view you as a threat, Emmaleigh, so you must understand our deliberation resulted in a hung verdict. Four have voted for your demise, four for you to survive.” The old Roman steepled his fingers and leaned forward. “I am the deciding vote.”
Emma’s knees trembled. She’d missed the narrow window to run for her life and had no recourse now but to await his ruling.
“But I do not seek your blood this day, child. I desire a compromise between us,” Julius said.
“A solution to satisfy all in attendance without the need for bloodshed. As Masters Brennan and Adrian say, your death would be a sad, unnecessary waste, so I have decided you may perform a task for the council.”
“Or we will execute you here,” Aasiyah said.
“I’ll perform the task.”
A wry smile came to Julius’s face. “You will not hear the task before you accept it?”
“Anything is better than dying right now.”
“Very well then. An item of great value recently resurfaced in the Smithsonian, donated by a private collector. Overseers were dispatched to retrieve it, but it was stolen prior to their arrival.”
“Do we know by who?” she asked him.
“By hunters belonging to an organization called the Order of Radiant Light. They raided the Smithsonian and took only this object.”
“When did they take it? What did they take?”
“A month ago. Have you ever heard of the Eye of Sariel?” Clarice asked.
Emmaleigh shook her head, but beside her, Adrian stiffened and clenched his jaw. “No, I haven’t.”
“Not surprising. You are very young, and the stone dates back to antiquity. The gemstone once crowned the staff of a warlock and contains the soul of a major demonic entity. A real demon, not the creature the hunters believe us to be, but a true fallen being once an inhabitant of heaven. This is not a thing that should be in any human’s hands, let alone those set on destroying our kind. ”
“I don’t understand why the hunters would want it.”
“Neither do we. We have set many Overseers to the task, but they’ve failed to find any leads,” Chancellor Margaret said.
Her heart sank. The task they’d assigned her seemed impossible, a cruel taunt to punish her for atrocities she hadn’t participated in. If the Overseers had nothing, how could they expect her to have a shot in hell at recovering it?
“Is that not satisfactory?” Margaret asked.
“I—no, it isn’t that,” Emma replied. “How could I possibly retrieve this from the hunters? I don’t know where to begin looking.”
Aasiyah leaned forward with a small, tight smile on her face. It was hard and gloating, the elder pleased with only herself. “With a gift such as yours, it should be easy.”
Jealous bitch, she thought before she could rein in her thoughts. An elder envied her—an elder with more power in her pinky finger than Emma had in all her body.
“You wonder why we’ve chosen you,” Julius said. Reluctant to offend them, Emma remained quiet until the elder smiled. “I can see it in your face. While we of the council do demand your respect, we will never ask for blind obedience, Adept Whittaker.”
“Then yes, I want to know why me.”
“Simple,” Clarice said. “Your psychic power is raw and untrained. Precognition is only the precursor to what you will be able to do, and in time, you’ll develop even greater gifts. It must be honed through activity and practice. Sink or swim, you will learn to control it.”
“Or die in the process,” Mordecai rumbled in a thoughtful baritone. “Prove yourself to us all.”
“Since the outcome of this trial concerns Master Kennedy, we have decided to assign him as your champion until the completion of your mission,” Clarice said.
The other elders nodded in approval, but Adrian flinched as if struck. Despite his apparent discontent, he didn’t utter a word of dissent.
Emma couldn’t blame him. They had tasked him, a master vampire, with the role of guarding someone far below his station. He’d be expected to lay his life on the line for hers if necessary during the pursuit of the mission.
The eyes of a quieter man—a Japanese vampire with piercing scarlet eyes and a neatly trimmed beard—bored through her. He must have been on the side wanting her death. Supposedly Chancellor Yoshisuke had once been a samurai.
For what?
What was so great about her gift that they had been divided about killing her before she could even develop it?
For the first time in years, she thought back on the night she’d been turned and wished she could remember, wished that her sire hadn’t abandoned her to find her way alone.
Clarice rose from her seat, and Julius stood beside her. “Dawn approaches soon, and it would be unwise to leave at this hour. Enjoy the hospitality of our home for the day,” she said.
“Thank you, Chancellor.” Emma managed to get the words past her tight throat and dipped into a curtsy. Adrian bowed, and together they retreated from the audience chamber. He moved with a stiff spine while clenching his jaw so hard Emma heard his teeth grinding.
Despite his apparent fury, he escorted her all the way to her door before withdrawing his arm.
“We should discuss—”
“No,” Emma interrupted. “Not right now. I just want to go to sleep.”
“As you wish. I’ll be ready to go at sunset.” Adrian bowed then disappeared into his room.
And Emma was left to her own worries until faint beams of muted sunlight slanted through the windows. Sometime after dawn, she fell into a deep, troubled sleep, haunted by the promises of what her failure would bring.
After all, she’d lied to the council. The odd moments of insight had been with Emma throughout even her human life—weaker and less frequent but present.
And the one time she hadn’t received a warning of danger ahead, had been the night she’d been intercepted by an immortal while hurrying home after a girls’ evening out with friends.
Her gift, her little flashes of insight, had been strangely quiet then.
Nothing about her life made sense anymore, and something told her things were bound to get worse before they improved.