Accession of the Stone Born: The Vigiles Urbani Chronicles (31 page)

Kimberly blinked at the words, slowly nodding her head. “That’s true, but you have to admit,” she waved a hand at my chest, “whatever that was is weird.”

What could I say? Hell yes, it was weird, and I didn’t have an explanation for it. “You’ll get no argument from me.” Tapping my temple, I continued. “Even the denarius knows that I’m not a siphon. But it isn’t sure what I am other than a stone born.”

Kimberly was alert and she looked between Andrew and myself. “You can speak with it?”

“Of course.” For the life of me I couldn’t figure out what I’d said that rated the shock they wore.

Andrew looked confused. “I knew it was a warehouse of knowledge much like my own coin, but I’ve never heard of anyone being able to communicate with it.”

I had the sudden feeling that I’d just told the room I had an imaginary friend. “Maybe the others haven’t ever actually voiced it. I mean it sounds a little peculiar….”

Kimberly’s face was hard yet somehow more welcoming. She gestured at my right arm. “Andrew tells me that isn’t the only unusual thing about your bond with the coin.”

The Aquila…one more item in a long list of eccentricities. Pulling up the sleeve high enough for her to see it, I said, “I suppose it isn’t.”

Kimberly got to her feet and for the first time since my chest was covered in ash she got close enough to touch me, running a finger around the scar tissue. “Could it be?”

Andrew was on his feet and next to her nearly instantly. “Like I said earlier, I really don’t think so.”

The way she ran her finger around the symbol was almost reverent in nature. “Well, I do.”

Her words hit Andrew hard enough to make his body slump. “It couldn’t be.”

With a jerk of my sleeve I covered the mark. This whole talking about me like I wasn’t in the room really pissed me off. “I hate coming in late on a conversation because I miss all the important shit, like the context in which any of your words make sense.”

Andrew looked worried, but kept his eyes fixated on the sleeve of my shirt. “I’ll look into it.” In an afterthought he brought his gaze up to mine. “She believes that you wear Caesar’s seal.” He looked at her pointedly. “If that were the case, Lazarus would’ve been here by now.”

Kimberly collapsed into her chair with a sigh. “Who says he isn’t on the way?”

Andrew’s annoyance was getting the better of him, and he raised his voice. “Let’s start with the fact that Europe hasn’t lost their shit. Seriously, if he so much as moved a toe outside the Vatican, people would be shouting about it. Secondly, there hasn’t been a
vigiles
strong enough to take over for Naevius since his death at the Battle of Hastings, and you somehow think that my nephew is going to walk in and suddenly pick up the mantel?”

Kimberly was ready for the argument and pointed at me again. “He wears the Aquila, and I’ve never heard of another vigiles having such a mark. You really need to accept the fact that Gavin isn’t normal by any stretch of the imagination.”

While this was fascinating, I had things to do and sitting here wasn’t getting it done. I got to my feet and let out a long breath. “Thank you for the compliment, but none of that is really important right now. Let Andrew dig into the mark if you want, but right now I’ve got to go.”

Quickly saying my goodbyes, I hastened off to my room in an effort to get my head around the possibilities. If Lazarus did show up it would only complicate things, and I didn’t need that right now. I found it curious that the denarius was choosing now to be silent on the matter. Great, even my imaginary friend wasn’t talking to me. I needed to go to Elmwood and check on Gabriel, and maybe if I were lucky, I’d find something helpful on Walter in the process.

Chapter 24

Cooler temperatures were ushered in by the setting of the sun. It was dark by the time I reached Elmwood. The denarius did it’s best to alleviate my concerns about siphons. While they were dangerous to all life, they were especially so to those who wielded magic. There was no recorded occurrence of such a creature, but the tale had been passed down in legend from one generation to the next. From what I could gather it was the magical world’s version of a Krampus, something told to children to ensure they behaved.

According to the myth, their power was such they’d drained the very life from the land they lived on, creating the great deserts of the world. They were destroyers of entire civilizations, and their bones continued to take life even after their death. I, on the other hand, was limited to absorbing magic and perhaps the souls of the dead.

It occurred to me to ask the denarius about the peculiarity of our ability to communicate with one another. At first it was quiet, but after a few seconds it spoke.

I’ve been silent for more than a thousand years
.

Since Naevius
? I asked.

I felt the denarius bristle at the name.
Naevius was the last to hear me speak, but I stopped talking with him hundreds of years before his death. He was an unworthy choice, one that I vowed never to make again
.

That made me pause. This being, person, creature, had waited for more than a thousand years to choose someone worthy.
Why me
?

The denarius laughed joyfully as it flitted around my mind.
You are more powerful than you know. A part of your soul is ancient, and the blood that runs through your veins is of the gods above
!

That made me chuckle at the absurdity of the comment.
Whatever you say
. I paused.
What do I call you
?

I felt it puff out in pride.
I am the denarius, for now at least
. It paused as if it were trying to recall something.
That’s all I remember of who I am for now, but once I’m fully awake and we tap into the others, my memory will be restored
.

The others
? I asked.

Yes, the other denarius. We are all separate, but we are all one
, the denarius said quietly.
It’s as if I’m cut off from parts of myself, but that’s changing now. Thanks to you
.

Something inside me told me the conversation was at an end. Just as well, because I was pulling into the parking spot outside the old DHL center, better known as the House of the Dead to Gabriel.

My questions about Lazarus were met with silence…the denarius refused to deny or confirm our connection. The one thing I felt from the coin was the fact that it wished to wrap this situation with Walter up as quickly as possible. In that we were in total agreement; the other things could wait until such time we had a moment to take a breath.

Even with the distraction of the denarius, I had a feeling of being followed. Traffic had been virtually nonexistent, and I doubted it was possible that I’d been physically tailed. Of course, with magic in the mix that may not have been necessary.

The business park was dead to the world at this time of day; even so, I gave the area a hard look before making my way to the door. Pausing, I looked around to ensure I was alone before I punched in the code, then waited for the click of the magnetic lock to disengage before stepping inside. Gabriel stepped through the double glass doors leading to the back, eating a sandwich with one hand while holding a Glock in the other.

Sucking something out of a tooth, he holstered the Glock. “Evening.”

With a wave of my bag, I asked, “How are things?”

He held the door open as I passed. “Everything’s fine here. You, on the other hand, look like you’ve had a rough day.”

That was a nice way of saying I looked like roadkill. “Yeah, it’s been a rough one.” Glancing over my shoulder, I took one more look at the doors.

Gabriel followed my gaze. “What?”

Frustrated, I shuddered. “I’m not sure. I had the sense someone was tailing me, but I never caught sight of them.”

Gabriel had an uneasy look on his face. “Let me grab some gear and I’ll make a pass of the grounds.”

Unable to fight off the sensation, I gave him the thumbs up. “Sure, I’ll be in the office.”

Gabriel turned on the spot and headed to the armory, sandwich in hand.

Setting the backpack on the desk, I shut the door and tugged on the first cabinet. It had no more than swung to the side when all hell broke loose. The lights went out and the place went dark. Pulling the cabinet into place, I stepped back to grab the wakizashi out of the pack. Emergency lights flickered into dim existence while gunshots rang through the facility. I didn’t need all my years of experience in gunfights to tell that there was only one shooter, most likely Gabriel.

I quickly made my way through the poorly lit halls, clearing rooms as I went. Rounding the corner, I found the source of the commotion. Two dozen specters were closing in on a glowing Gabriel. The man was surrounded by a brilliant white light that kept them at bay. Every time they pressed forward, his aura shrank by several inches. It would only be a matter of seconds before they were on him.

Remembering my previous encounter with the specters, I recalled with clarity how their claws punctured thousands of tiny holes throughout my body. No matter how strong Gabriel may be, I was sure he wouldn’t survive the encounter.

Picking up speed, I felt the pull of the beast deep inside me. Raising the wakizashi, I brought it down in a vicious angular slice, cleaving two of them in half. The remaining embers of the destroyed souls was all the beast needed to become manifest. I roared as the flowing robe swept over me, absorbing the last of their power. A wave of pain hit me hard and I felt my right hand transform itself into an onyx glove as the left elongated into a blue flaming gauntlet.

Sweeping the blade wide I caught two more. I spun and caught another in the face with the silver blade. There I could see my reflection in the glass door. The shadows wrapped themselves around me in a way that made me look like the mythical Grim Reaper. The robes appeared to be alive, swirling around me of their own accord. I thought I could see the souls of the damned bound to me in this tattered form. The hood was a ghastly thing that kept my face hidden in a pool of darkness. The only things visible under it were the glowing orange-red orbs where my eyes should’ve been.

With a shiver I turned back to the battle, but not before the first of the specters drove their hands deep into my back. Tearing myself free, I spun and cleaved the offender in two and pulled its power into my own.

Slamming my left hand into the specter speeding towards me, I stood there and watched it burn. Tendrils spread out from the billowing reaper’s cloak and tore apart the last of the specters in seconds, devouring even more power. I felt my aura expand and it flared when it touched the gleaming white light of Gabriel. The resulting discharge sent him hard into the wall, knocking him unconscious. At least it erased the look of fear and horror in his eyes. I had a feeling that he wasn’t taking this whole Grim thing very well.

With the specters gone the beast inside receded, leaving me to clean up the mess. Gabriel had punctuated their arrival with gunfire, and I’d ended their visit with a clash between light and darkness. Kneeling, I got my arms under the big guy, and to my amazement lifted him easily. I made for the armory and the large conference table, where I deposited him. Grabbing a Coke out of the nearby fridge, I popped the top with a crack and a hiss to wait for his return to the land of the living.

My wait wasn’t a long one, maybe fifteen minutes…time I spent checking the facility to insure we hadn’t missed any of our guests. The last five minutes were the longest by far, waiting for the man to stir. And stir he did! His eyes popped open and he frantically looked around the room as he did a crab crawl backwards, falling off the table, punctuated by screams of terror.

After nearly a minute of him cowering in the corner, he straightened up and got to his feet, nervously looking around for unseen enemies. His voice was hoarse and it cracked with each syllable. “We were attacked!” Gabriel looked at me with fear in his eyes. “How did you survive the reaper? It tore the souls apart, and I thought I was next….” He paused, searching for words. “A fucking reaper! Why am I still alive? They aren’t even supposed to exist!” He paused and looked at me again. “How are you even here?”

A reaper? What the fuck! I could feel the denarius become alert before vanishing from my senses. Great time for it to suddenly want a vacation.

Taking a drink of the dark bubbly overly sweet liquid, I shook my head. “If they aren’t supposed to exist, how do you know it was a reaper?”

Gabriel staggered. “Part of my heritage…. The angel side of my parentage has an innate ability to recognize such a creature. That’s all it screamed in my head when I saw it, and then I was down. I was sure it was going to kill me.” He looked at me curiously again. “You haven’t told me how you survived the creature.”

Grabbing a clean glass off the counter, I moved over to the refrigerator and opened the freezer. I pulled out a chilled bottle of vodka I’d seen earlier and poured him a very healthy glass and handed it to him. “You should have a couple of drinks and sit for this.”

Gabriel hesitantly took the glass and fell into his chair. “Why?”

If the denarius wasn’t going to help, then I’d need to get the information the old fashioned way and ask someone who knew more about the subject than I did. “Tell me about the reapers.”

Gabriel took a large gulp before grabbing the bottle and topping himself off. “Reapers are myth…well, I thought they were mythical, but now I’m not so sure.”

Trying to keep the impatience out of my voice, I urged him to continue. “That doesn’t really tell me about them.”

Gabriel took another hit and then let out a long breath. “I don’t know much.” He must’ve seen the irritation on my face, so he continued. “They are brutal, terrible creatures that show up every so often throughout history when the dead walk the earth. They serve as some sort of barrier between the living and the dead.”

I leaned forward, suddenly more interested. “Could they show up because of a single powerful necromancer?”

Gabriel shook his head. “I don’t know, but that doesn’t feel right. It would take an army of necromancers raising the dead to bring forth a reaper.”

I tried to remain calm but I felt panic in the recesses of my mind. An army? That wasn’t good. “Gabriel, I need you to remain very calm. Think you can handle that?”

Gabriel didn’t look so good and he pounded back a bit more vodka. “Probably, but I’m not promising anything if The Reaper shows up.”

That kind of sucked considering what I was about to say. “I’m not sure how you saw the fight, but if you think about it carefully, you’ll notice that ‘The Reaper’ kept the specters from killing you. You might even say he saved your life.”

Gabriel scoffed at me and slammed down the last of the vodka. He paused before pouring himself another drink, his face turning sour. “You weren’t there…it was only me and The Reaper. Even if you had been there, what makes you think it was there to save me?”

Keeping calm, I waved a hand for him to continue. “Think it through a bit further. You didn’t see me but you saw The Reaper, and yet I saw the fight.”

Gabriel upended the bottle and swallowed several times. Bringing it down, he looked me in the eyes. “That was you, wasn’t it?”

“It was,” I said calmly.

He took another drink from the bottle and then poured some into the glass. “No, that’s not possible. I’ve shook your hand, for God’s sake. I would’ve known. Hell, I’m still breathing. No. It’s not possible. You’re lying.”

Huh? The man clearly didn’t want to believe me. “What reason do I have to lie? And how would you know from shaking my hand?”

His speech was slurred and the laugh was dark. “Angels and nephilim are life, but reapers are our exact opposite. They bring death. We cannot touch without hurting one another by our nature.”

“Perhaps the information you have is wrong, because I assure you that was me. Think about it, Gabriel. Think back to the fight, The Reaper. I was using the wakizashi,” I said as I patted the sword.

He looked at the sword, then me, and then the sword. “Holy shit!” He jumped to his feet. “You’re a goddamn reaper.”

I shook my head. “I’m a stone born. It seems that I have the abilities of the creatures you call a reaper, but I’m nothing to fear. If I were the creature you described, why would I bring you here and wait for you to wake up, only to try and kill you?”

Gabriel thought about it for a long while, keeping his grip on the pistol. Finally, after nearly a minute, he took his hand off the grip and collapsed into his chair. “You may be a stone born, but I promise you that you’re a reaper as well. The fear of you is instinctual but one I can get past. As you pointed out, you did save my life. That’s twice now, and for that I owe you my loyalty and my respect.”

This could’ve gone very differently, but it hadn’t and now I had more information than I’d previously possessed, and Gabriel was still willing to serve as centurion. I would count that in the win column.