Sinister Seraphim of Mine (Overworld Chronicles Book 8) (36 page)

I rose from my seat. "Do any of you actually feel one hundred percent confident this plan is the right course of action?"

"Justin," Jeremiah said in a calm voice. "We have reached an unfortunate inevitability. Perhaps if we had months we could turn the tide of propaganda, but it's far too late. Daelissa is less than a day from opening the way to Seraphina."

I felt my hand tighten into a fist. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but your misguided attempts at revenge led us down this terrible path. If you'd come out of the closet earlier, you could have consolidated the Arcanes and brought forces to bear against Daelissa that might have stopped her cold centuries ago."

Jeremiah's eyes hardened.

"Awkward," Shelton said just as the room went dead silent. Bella elbowed him.

I had a whole lot more I wanted to say, namely about his plans to unleash Armageddon on Seraphina and how embittered he'd become in his quest to avenge his long-dead wife, Thesha. I held my tongue. We needed Jeremiah, especially if we hoped to convince Arcanes to join us. Plus, even though he'd been misguided in the past, he'd helped us a lot. Just like anyone else, Jeremiah was a mix of good and bad. Even though I hated what he'd done, a part of me admired the man who'd saved Eden from Daelissa so long ago.

The anger in the old Arcane's eyes faded. He flicked off the hologram and dropped into his seat. "I know the truth when I hear it." He laced his fingers together and sat back. "Justin is right. I could have prevented this. If he believes I have the power to help him reverse the damage I have done, I will do what I can."

"Yay!" Ivy said and hugged him around his neck. "We're gonna totally win this."

Ash and Nyte whooped and clapped their hands. Katie joined in, her blue eyes bright as she looked at me. Nightliss seemed to sag with relief, while Zagg and others near him joined in the applause. I held up my hands for quiet.

Shelton groaned. "I sure hope this isn't one of those times where evil triumphs because good is dumb."

I saw Thomas Borathen meeting Elyssa's gaze. Behind him, Michael gave a brief nod of approval, though I couldn't tell if it was for me or his sister.

"Our timeline all hinges on one thing," I said. "If we can do something to prevent Daelissa from activating the Grand Nexus, we can buy the time we need."

"The only thing keeping her out are the cherubs," Nightliss said. "We know for sure Serena has the ability to attune the Chalon to the nexus, which means once the cherubs are gone, they can open the gateway at any time."

"It all boils down to logistics," I said. "That means we have to put a wrench in her plans."

"We could use the portal-blocking statues," Elyssa said. "Some of them block omniarch portals and some block Obsidian and Alabaster Arches."

I pounded a fist into my hand. "Exactly. Any of the Alabaster Arches can be used to travel to the Grand Nexus even if it can't open a way to another dimension without the Chalon. If we can block every sort of portal there, we interrupt her ability to clear the place of cherubs."

"That buys us time for Jeremiah to work his magic and woo some Arcanes," Shelton said with a grin.

"How, may I ask, do we appeal to the better nature of the Arcanes currently at Kobol Prison?" Thomas asked. "We can't simply walk in." He looked around the table. "There is also the important matter of convincing Synod soldiers we are not traitors."

Felicia Nosti squeezed between the hulking mass of Acworth and Zagg. "Don't forget the vampires. They're using compulsion on those kids to make them fight."

"We're gonna recruit vampires?" Acworth's nose wrinkled.

The petite woman gave him a fierce look. "I'm a vampire, you dolt. Do I look evil?" She showed him her fangs and gave him an evil grin.

He backed away a step. "I didn't know we had any vampires on our side."

Felicia shrugged. "Not a lot, but we have a few." She flashed a cute smile at me. "If Justin ever taught me anything, it's that just because a group has a few bad eggs, it doesn't mean they're all evil. Everyone has the potential to be good."

"Let's start with the Blue Cloaks," I said. "If Jeremiah can convince them to desert Daelissa's army, it might start a domino effect. Maybe Arcanes in the Synod forces will realize they're on the wrong side too."

"But how in the hell is Jeremiah gonna have a chance to talk to anyone at Kobol?" Shelton said.

Jeremiah rose. As he did, his facial features melted from the gray-haired visage of Jeremiah Conroy to the dark hair and olive skin of Moses. "I will simply disguise myself."

"You gotta teach me that trick," Shelton said. "I'm starting to get laugh wrinkles, and it'd be real handy to morph them out."

Some of the intense dread in my heart faded as I realized Jeremiah could do this. A surge of optimism blasted away the heavy feeling. "Commander Taylor, you have first-hand experience at the tactics the Synod is using against those who don't agree with them. Perhaps you could network with other commanders you know and present evidence that Thomas Borathen is not a traitor."

"With pleasure," the Australian commander said. "I believe many of them feel the same way I felt before my people were attacked. Templar commanders rely on ancient tradition and a strict chain of command. When Thomas Borathen broke with the Synod, many found it easier to stay with what they knew rather than risk everything to join someone who might be a traitor."

"Most of them didn't know about Daelissa's role as the Divinity," Thomas said. "We didn't have a chance to spread the word about her true nature before the Synod spread its lies."

"We might be able to corner a few commanders and convince them otherwise," Commander Taylor said. "I know of at least four commanders we can talk to, especially if we utilize this omniarch of yours to visit them. There's a Commander Olson, in particular, who I know took great issue with the Synod's tactics against the Borathen Templars."

"We should get started immediately," Thomas said. "I have one last item, however."

I motioned him to continue.

"We absolutely must secure the Obsidian Arch at the Grotto. I already have a plan in place to take it quickly and quietly." He projected the layout of the Grotto and the popular shopping mall above it. "This plan will enable us to sneak in without noms being any wiser. Once we have commenced operations, it should also cause Daelissa's forces to react, possibly creating a diversion during our operation to retrieve the cherubs."

I looked at the complex series of lines and symbols on the map and decided quickly I didn't have time to decipher them. Thomas Borathen knew what he was doing, and he was right, this might give us a nice diversion. "I agree."

He stood. "My forces are ready to execute. I will command them from here."

I waved a hand to get Shelton's attention. "You and Bella coordinate the use of the omniarch. It's going to have a lot of traffic tonight."

"Why me?" he said. "I was about to go make myself a sandwich."

Bella slapped him lightly on the shoulder. "We will be happy to do it, Justin."

I held up a hand for silence. "Just to make sure we're all on the same page, let's do a quick recap. Aided by omniarch portals from La Casona, Templars will evacuate as many cherubs as possible from Kobol Prison so Daelissa can't revive her army. Jeremiah will go with us and parley with the leader of the Blue Cloaks, hopefully persuading them to join our cause while Commander Taylor does the same with Synod leaders." I decided to throw Felicia a bone and looked at her. "Felicia, maybe you can figure out a way to help subjugated vampires."

She smiled brightly and nodded.

I glanced at the Templar section of the table. "As a diversion to the rescue operation, Thomas will attack the Obsidian Arch at the Grotto. Meanwhile, Elyssa and I will infiltrate the artifact room at Thunder Rock and steal more portal-blocking statues so we can hide them at the Grand Nexus and prevent Daelissa from opening a gateway to Seraphina." I took a breath and paused. "Any questions?"

"Yeah, can you say that five times real fast?" Shelton said with a smirk.

I grinned. "The meeting is adjourned. If you have ideas or questions, give them to Cinder."

Katie and Felicia immediately walked over to the golem and monopolized his attention.

We were taking an incredible gamble. If we failed to overcome the propaganda making us look like villains, we might lose the chance to crippled Daelissa's army. Our entire effort hung by thin threads.

Chapter 33

As the crowd in the war room grew noisier, I turned to Elyssa. "I guess we should get going."

She wrinkled her forehead. "To the artifact room?"

"Yep." I wasn't keen to rush off so soon, but Daelissa might repair the Grand Nexus within hours. We had to block its operations.

"What about the scorps?" she asked.

I cracked my knuckles. "Those dorpions will never know what hit them. I'll take Shelton's advice and use regular magic on them."

Elyssa pressed a hand to her forehead. "Heaven help me, you come up with the worst names."

I shrugged. "It's better than demonorpions."

We left the crowd in the war room, ran upstairs to our bedroom, and changed into Templar armor. I grabbed my wand, my staff, and made sure I had plenty of channeling rings in case of an interdiction field, and we made haste to the omniarch room.

"Let me take a practice shot first," I said, walking through the arch room and into the wide stone corridor adjacent. I took out my compact staff and snapped it to full length, took aim at the wall, and shouted, "
Hadouken
!" A fireball the size of my head blazed from my staff and slammed into the wall, leaving a molten divot in the stone.

"You still got it," Elyssa said. "Not much finesse, but that shouldn't matter against scorps."

I flicked my staff back to compact size and holstered it. "I'm gonna burn those little monsters to crispy bits."

Elyssa and I stepped into the silver circle around the omniarch. She pressed a finger to the silver and closed the magical circuit. I felt the static rush of aether concentrate in the air around us. Elyssa turned to the arch and narrowed her eyes in concentration. A portal split the air horizontally, displaying the shelf with statues used to block omniarch portals.

We stepped through. I grabbed several statues and tossed them through the portal. Keeping an ear open for the chittering noise of the scorps, I dashed across the aisle and filled my duffel bag with a few of each kind of statue while Elyssa did the same on another aisle.

A sulfuric scent built in my nose. Within seconds, I heard the chittering noise I'd learned to fear. Elyssa met me in the center aisle just as a black ball of death rolled our way. The cloud of scorpions was definitely smaller than the first time we'd seen them, which meant whoever had placed them here hadn't replenished their stock.

I took out my staff and launched a volley of fireballs at the oncoming mass. A chorus of shrieks erupted as the demon spawn boiled in their shiny black carapaces. A few of the creepy crawlers escaped into the shelves, leaving a mass of smoking carcasses behind. Green goo boiled from between the joints in the bugs' armor, and the smell of burnt ozone and rotten eggs formed an overwhelming stench even my incubus senses found hard to stomach.

Another chittering sound alerted me to the second swarm of scorps advancing quickly from the right. Elyssa reached into a pouch at her side and produced two silvery handfuls of razor-sharp throwing stars. Her arm blurred into motion as she sent the deadly blades into the boiling mass of infernal bugs. Scores of the creatures fell from the spherical formation, leaving a trail of green goo and twitching remains behind.

The swarm fell apart, leaving only one scorp skittering by its lonesome at the end. It faced us for a long second before turning around to look at its dead comrades behind it. The creature began to creep sideways, as if hoping we wouldn't realize it was sneaking away. Elyssa threw a sai sword and split the creature in half. She picked up her sword and wiped the goop off on the edge of a shelf. I scorched the trail of remains with a blast of fire.

"That was awesome," I said, holding up my hand for a high-five.

She slapped my palm and grinned. "I thought those shuriken might come in handy."

We paused, listening for further signs of enemy activity, but detected nothing. "I think we're clear to look around."

"We have all the different statues," Elyssa said. "Unless we plan to jam one of those arch cubes through the portal, I think we're done here."

I glanced around. The towering shelves were each filled with at least one kind of statue, as if whoever had made them wanted to be sure there were plenty to go around. "You're probably right." I raised a hand and channeled a beam of destruction at the closest statues on the shelf. There was no sense in leaving them behind since they could be used against us. The statue glowed white hot, but even after several seconds of enough energy to melt normal rock, it remained intact. "What the hell?"

Elyssa shook her head. "Must be made of the same material as the arches. Jeremiah said they were hard to destroy."

I bit my lip and thought. "We'll have to take them all eventually."

"No time now." Elyssa checked the time.

I pointed forward. "Let's take one last look at the cubes."

"Sure, but let's be quick." Elyssa tapped her wrist as if she wore a watch. "We have a lot to do."

The rows of cubes in the front looked much the same as before, each one too large to fit through the portal.

"Looks like some are missing," Elyssa said, pointing to blank spots where the floor was clear of dust.

I strode down the row of arch cubes. Each one was pure black, and aside from slight differences in size, looked identical to its neighbor.

"Look up there," Elyssa said, pointing to a gray cube at the very top of the first shelf.

The cube sat in the midst of several statues and was easy to miss if a person didn't have ninja eyesight like my girlfriend. I climbed the shelf and examined the cube. It was small enough to fit under my arm. I reached for it and noticed what looked like a small pile of black rocks. I shoved them into the small pouch on the leg of my Templar armor and sealed it.