Gates of Rapture (The Guardians of Ascension) (16 page)

Leto folded back to the landing platforms. He was the only one at that location. The grounds were quiet, as they should be. The hour had to be near two in the morning.

He was about to fold when he sensed something behind him. He turned around and watched a large shimmering appear in the desert. He drew his sword into his hand and was about to sound the alarm all over again when Greaves appeared with a contingent of ten Third Earth death vampires. On top of that, Greaves held both hands out in front of him. Leto could feel the hand-blast gearing up.

He saw his death in this moment as sure as Greaves was standing there. He couldn’t legally kill Leto, but he could wound him as near to fatal as he could get, then order his death vamps to finish him off.

Leto had only one thought:
But Grace just got back
.

Like hell, however, he would take this lying down. He lowered his chin and built up his shields as fast as he could. He drew a dagger from his weapons harness.

Greaves just smiled. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for months now.” He let loose with a hand-blast that roared at Leto like a freight train.

Leto’s shields buckled, and he was thrown off the platform and rolled downhill. The whole time, he worked at rebuilding his shields, but it was as though they’d been melted. Still, he had to try.

He glanced in Gideon’s direction, but he couldn’t see him. Greaves had put a mist around the battle. Of course.

Leto had just gained his feet when another blast hit, but to his surprise, it didn’t even touch him.

Another shimmering brought a new entity between Leto and Greaves. He was tall and bald but with writing on his skull—tattoos, maybe.

“Casimir,” Greaves called out. “What are you doing here?”

“Making sure Leto stays alive.”

This was Casimir? And he was here to defend Leto? What the hell?

What Leto saw next was a shower of energy that met in the middle between both men. Light and sparks flew up into the sky.

“I can do this for hours, Darian, and I have permission from Endelle to engage however I can to protect Leto. I suggest you get the hell out of here and take your pretty-boys with you before I blast your mist to hell and the rest of the Militia Warriors below decide to take on your men. What do you say?”

When he finished this speech with a flick of his wrist that sent a wave of energy piercing Greaves’s shoulder, Greaves waved his arm. Just like that, he and his death vamps were gone.

Leto had too much adrenaline in his system. He held his sword in a tight fist, and his whole arm shook. He’d faced death and would have died just now except for the aid of the one vampire he despised the most: Casimir.

The bastard turned around and faced Leto. He looked so different without his long hair. But there was something more. His dark eyes held a light Leto had never seen before.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Leto asked. “And what do you mean you’re here to protect me?”

Casimir’s smile quirked. “Is that any way to address the vampire who just saved your ass?” He looked Leto up and down. “Like the new look you’re sporting. Bigger.”

Leto took two deep breaths. “Grace is mine.”

At that, something of the old Casimir showed through. He rubbed the top of his head. “We’ll see about that. I think she should have a choice.”

Leto would have launched on him, but Casimir just held up his hand and Leto couldn’t move, which made him mad as hell. He roared.

“Relax, beast-man. I’m here as your Guardian of Ascension. That’s all. I relinquished Grace months ago. She’s yours.”

Leto had no reason to believe Casimir. “Shut it, asshole, and please just return to Fourth Earth.”

“No can do. Greaves wants your ass in a sling—or did you not notice that he outpowers you about a hundred-to-one?”

Leto noticed.

“Yeah,” Casimir drawled. “I think he was a little ticked off that you oh-so-easily dispatched the other Third Earth vampires he’d sent to get this job done. Oh, and maybe because you defected back to Endelle’s side.”

Leto knew many definitions for the word
nightmare,
but right now, this situation in which Leto owed Casimir his life, had just created a new meaning. “What about Grace? Are you here to guard her as well?”

“Nope. Just you.”

Yep, nightmare. Leto was many things, but he wasn’t a fool. If Greaves had targeted him and had staked Leto out in order to finish him off, Leto was in for it.

He needed Casimir. Nothing could have put a fire on his nerves worse than that.

“You’re not staying in my house.”

Casimir just lifted a brow. “I’m not staying anywhere on Second Earth.” With that, he vanished, though Leto could sense he hadn’t dematerialized. As a Fourth ascender, he had powers that Leto couldn’t relate to, like going invisible—which he was pretty sure Casimir had just done.

Leto turned in a circle. He still held his sword in his hand. He focused and sure enough, he could sense Casimir’s presence.

Don’t be an idiot,
Casimir sent.
You need me right now, and I’m sticking around. I owe Grace at least that much, to keep you alive.
Adios
.
At least for now.

This time, Leto knew that Casimir had gone. So had Greaves’s mist. He glanced down in Gideon’s direction, but no one seemed the wiser about what had just happened.

He let out a heavy sigh and headed back up the hill. Once at the landing platform, he folded to the Seattle Colony’s landing area then headed to HQ. The Militia Warriors on duty reported that the colonists were all in their homes; no lights were on anywhere since they were still on high alert. The warriors folding back from battle were immediately sent home to clean up and recoup.

He glanced out the window at the contest grounds, visible beyond the empty tents.

“Have all the competitors returned to their continents?”

“Diallo gave the order shortly after the last of the Militia Warriors folded to Nazca.”

Leto nodded, but his heart was heavy. So much for the warrior games.

He wasn’t under the illusion that Greaves had actually started the war, not by attacking one insignificant colony on Mortal Earth. Greaves had probably been testing the waters. But whatever this attack had been, it was just the beginning. The transmitters had been all around Nazca, one small colony in a relatively insignificant corner of the world. That meant that Greaves was probably tracking all the colonies.

He sent out a telepathic thread toward Grace.
Where are you?

Leto? Are you back?

Yes.

He heard her sigh, or at least he thought he did.

Thank God. When you’re done with all your duties, I’m at the cabin, having a glass of a very nice German wine I found in your fridge.

Listen, I’m going to fold straight to the shower, but I don’t want you to join me. I don’t want you to see me like this because I’ve been battling.

Well, I confess you won’t have to twist my arm on this one. But, Leto, when you get here, I really need you to break open my obsidian flame power. I’m done with these headaches, and as I told you before, I’m done holding back from my role in the triad.

He felt a jolt go through him, an awareness that what Grace had just said to him was no small thing. Grace was staying. That’s what went through his mind. If she meant to embrace her obsidian flame power, it meant she was staying.

Something in his chest opened up, and he released a deep sigh. Relief washed through him. Grace was staying. He wouldn’t have to bid her good-bye anytime soon. Maybe things weren’t completely settled between them, but until this moment he had felt she could easily walk away.

On the other hand, would Casimir’s sudden return have an effect on her? Would the
breh
return? Jesus H. Christ, a Guardian of Ascension. What exactly did that mean? He wasn’t, that is, he couldn’t possibly be in a call to ascension to Third Earth, could he?

Battle fatigue had started settling in, however. He set aside this new development in his bizarre life and focused on Grace.

I’ll fold there after I’ve taken care of a couple of things.

Okay. I’ll be waiting.

He left orders that HQ was to contact him at his cabin if he was needed for anything. When he felt confident that the situation was stable, he thought the thought. The next moment he was washing blood and debris down the drain of his shower.

But as he washed his hair, and had to bend to get beneath the spray of water because he was still in his beast-state, he rose upright and looked at his arms and hands.

He wondered. In the midst of battle, he had so easily morphed into this state—and what do you know, he hadn’t passed out. And another thing, he’d folded without any repercussion.

As he thought about the situation, he realized that the major difference had been his level of acceptance. He’d wanted his beast to come, he’d focused on the change, and the next moment he’d become his beast-form. But could he return as easily?

He relaxed every muscle of his body, and as the hot water beat on his skin, he focused on his normal vampire state.

In stages, he felt the change come, a gradual reduction, an easing into his regular body. He held his hands and arms up and watched the transformation. This couldn’t just be a condition of having once been a death vampire—and what had the Third Earth pretty-boy said about morphing like a Third Earth warrior?

Not a Third Earth death vamp, but a Third Earth warrior.

Huh.

Much of Third Earth was a mystery, apparently even to the Upper Dimensions beyond Third. Third was cloaked in some kind of nearly impenetrable fog so it wasn’t clear what was going on in that world.

And here he was, having been described as a Third Earth warrior. He suddenly felt hopeful that his beast-like condition could mean something good for Second Earth. It certainly had in terms of battling Third Earth death vamps.

When he was dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved ribbed T-shirt, he made his way downstairs. Much to his surprise, Grace sat at the dining table with a meal she’d prepared for him. She had a platter of cheese, fruit, and some cold fried chicken piled on a plate.

And suddenly he was starved. He apologized as he dove in, but he hadn’t known he was hungry until he’d seen the food.

She smiled at him and laughed a couple of times. She leaned back in her chair and sipped her white wine. “I’m so glad you’re back. I was worried.”

He nodded, swallowed, wiped his mouth. “It must be hard sitting around waiting to get word on something like this.” He took a nice swig of wine.

Grace sipped and smiled some more. “Go ahead and eat.”

He took her at her word and made quick work of his meal.

When only a few bones remained, he sat back. “I forgot what it was like. I haven’t been in a battle like that in a while.” He looked at her and held out his hand. Shit. He would have to tell her about Casimir. The bastard.

She took his hand. “You okay?”

He hardly knew what to say. “What happened tonight is just the beginning. I think we’re in for it.”

“Was it as bad as I think it was?”

“Parts were, yes. But in reality we had very few casualties and we took care of a lot of death vampires tonight who will never again harm a mortal or an ascender.”

“Did we … did we lose many colonists tonight?”

“Gideon set the number at around twenty. But, Grace, if obsidian flame hadn’t acted, it would have meant complete devastation.”

“That’s what I thought.”

“But there’s something else, and I have no idea what it means or how you’re going to feel about this. I know I’m pissed as hell.” He fell silent thinking about what Casimir had just done for him and the announcement he’d made.

“Hey, don’t leave me hanging.”

He blinked at least once. “Sorry. I think I’m still in a state of shock. Casimir showed up. In Nazca.”

She leaned forward in her chair, but she was frowning. “He did?”

Leto nodded.

“What was he there for? I mean, did you get into a fight with him?”

“No.” He shook his head because he was still in disbelief. “Actually, he saved my life.” He told her about Greaves arriving armed with a large squad of Third Earth death vampires. Then he dropped the bomb. “I don’t know exactly what this means, but Casimir said he was now my Guardian of Ascension, that he had it all arranged with Endelle.”

“What?” She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. Her lips moved as though she was trying to form a few words. “I don’t understand. Casimir said he’s
your
Guardian of Ascension?”

Leto nodded. “Yeah.” He scrubbed his face with his hand. “I don’t know the why of it, but I do know if he hadn’t shown up when he did, I’d be toast.”

Her head bobbed, and she set her glass of wine on the table. “I guess this is real. I mean, I knew the war would heat up once I returned because of obsidian flame, but it never occurred to me that Greaves would go after you. I thought it was all about me.” Her mouth then fell open. “Leto, tell me you’re not in your call to ascension to Third Earth.”

He shook his head. “I can’t be. You just came back and usually couples ascend together, at least if they’ve been married awhile. This doesn’t make sense.” He paused then met her gaze squarely. “Except for one thing. While I was out battling tonight, a Third Earth death vampire said that I was morphing like a Third Earth warrior.”

Her shoulders fell. “Leto, no. You can’t be ascending.”

She rose, and before he knew what she meant to do, she crawled into his lap, slipped her arms around his neck, and held on. “Leto, I’m trying to be brave, I really am. But this is one of those moments when I wish I was like Thorne and Patience.” He felt her trembling so he held her tight. He kissed her neck. “I don’t want to lose you,” she said.

“Well, first, I don’t know if I am ascending. Second, you could come with me. I mean, if you could stay on Fourth, why not Third?”

She leaned back and looked at him. “But the portal’s closed. I couldn’t visit you on Third if I wanted to, which means you couldn’t return to the lower dimensions, either.”