Fallen Angel of Mine (12 page)

Elyssa tried once more to reason with him.
"Treason against whom? You or the Templars? Because there's nothing
in our rules—"

"I'll hear no more of this," Thomas said,
waving a dismissive hand at her. "You will take the White.
Thankfully, you've known this Justin Slade for no more than a month
or two and it won't wipe away much training or other essential
experiences."

Elyssa swept a foot from beneath the Templar
holding her right arm. Whipped a knee into the gut of the one on
the left. A back flip twisted her arms completely from their grips
and landed her behind the guards. She was one step closer to the
river and freedom which lay a hundred feet or so behind.

Thomas caught her arm. She spun on her heels,
using his grip like a hinge and drove her elbow at his temple. He
ducked. Planted a fist in her ribs. She grunted but used the force
of his blow to pivot the opposite way, aiming her elbow once again
at his head. He leaned his head back rather than ducking, playing
right into her feint. Her leg swept his from beneath
him.

Before his back hit the ground, he turned the
momentum into a back handspring and vaulted to his feet. Elyssa
ran. Thomas blurred from behind and performed a sliding kick,
upending her. She barely caught the ground with her hands before
her face plowed into the hard rocky soil near the riverbank.
Thomas's foot lashed out at her stomach. Still standing on her
hands, she twisted sideways and felt the wind of his kick's
passage. Before he could pull his foot back, she swung her legs
forward and clamped his between her thighs. Spun away from him and
came down on her side. With his leg in her grip, Thomas's body had
no choice but to follow. He hit the ground with what Elyssa thought
was a very satisfying smack before she drove an elbow into his
spine.

By then, however, she was surrounded by the
rest of the Templars and the river was no closer than it had been a
moment ago. The only thing she'd gained from this escape attempt
was a really pissed-off father.

Kassallandra rested a perfectly manicured hand
on Malkesh's huge head and smiled. "Impressive, Templaras Borathen.
You are a credit to your house."

Elyssa clenched her fists and stared at the
other Templars, anonymous thanks to the night-camo masks they wore.
One of them stepped forward and pressed a finger to his neck. The
mask detached from the collar and flowed from his face in a wave of
black.

"Elyssa, how could you?" Despite his size, the
man's voice had no trace of cruelty or roughness to it. Elyssa
would have known him simply by his voice.

"Jack?"

He nodded. "Commander Borathen is doing what
must be done to preserve our just cause, little sister."

"Why don't you call him Father, Jack? Or are
you as brainwashed as Michael?"

Thomas stood and brushed himself off. A trickle
of blood from his nose quickly stanched as the supernatural healing
granted by the Divinity kicked in. Instead of anger, however, pride
shined bright. "You're an amazingly talented fighter, Elyssa. The
best I've seen in ages." The smiling lines on his face drooped back
into a mask of disappointment. "Taking the White will give you a
chance to redeem your reputation and reclaim yourself. You may hate
me now but believe me, Daughter, when I tell you erasing the harm
caused by these hell-born creatures will cleanse your soul and
bring you back to the light."

Jack approached and put an arm around Elyssa's
shoulder. "You know I would never do anything to harm you, Elyssa.
Please, listen to Commander—to Father, and do what he
says."

All the fury in her body melted into helpless
frustration. She couldn't escape. And even if she did, they still
had Kassallandra, a very important Daemas from House Assad. If
Thomas did anything to harm her, it would mean war between the
Templars and the spawn. Both sides would suffer immensely, leaving
a power vacuum and possibly toppling the entire Overworld into
chaos.

Why do I worry about these
things?

Less than two months ago, before
Justin had come into her life, she'd thought of little else but
passing the Cho'kai and advancing from Templar recruit to a
full-fledged member. She'd been assigned to Edenfield High due to
reports of vampires mingling with the student population, some of
them decades older than the students. Vampires with such tastes
might be fine and dandy in the land of make-believe, but in the
real world, it didn't matter how young a super
looked
, they were still a creepy
pedophile if they wanted to date a teenager.

Then she'd met Justin. Trouble followed him
like a lost puppy with a rocket launcher. And ever since
discovering Foreseeance 4311 from Vallaena Slade, Justin's aunt,
her mind seemed to tune into things on a much larger scale. For
instance, worrying about whether the Overworld Conclave was falling
apart as opposed to busting a single pedophile vampire. Elyssa had
never felt particularly brilliant. But something in her had
changed. Made her see the big picture. Taking the White would
probably kill off that part of her along with every last memory of
the one she loved.

An ache gripped her heart with all the force of
a roundhouse kick to the chest. She fought against tears as she
realized the love she felt for Justin was more magical than
anything she'd ever known in her life.

"Death cannot stop true love," Justin would
probably say, quoting the Princess Bride.

But a mind wipe probably could.

Jack and two other Templars escorted her into
the back of a panel van. She didn't know what Thomas planned for
Kassallandra and her hellhounds or, for that matter, why the Daemas
hadn't simply escaped while she'd had the chance. Elyssa had given
the woman plenty of time by giving herself up to her
father.

"Others have taken the White," Jack said as the
van lurched into motion and bumped down a rutted dirt road. "In all
cases, it's helped purge the ignoble parts of those who are
troubled and bring them back into pure clarity of
thought."

"Jack, you know I love you. But how can tearing
memories from someone's mind help?" And what had happened to her
brother? He was five years older than her, putting him at
twenty-three. The last time she'd seen him, he'd been so excited to
have finally passed the Cho'kai and gone on full duty. But his
exuberance had apparently morphed into a pedantic
self-righteousness, making her want to slap him so hard he saw
stars.

"I agree, it doesn't sound pleasant, but this
is for the greater good. Spawn exist only to corrupt. You know
this, or you should if you paid attention in class."

"I paid attention in class, thank you very
much. It sounds to me like you ran off and joined a seminary
though. Where did they assign you? Communist
kindergarten?"

A grin broke on his face. He still looked just
as young and dashing as ever, his square jaw and blue eyes enough
to make most females swoon. He definitely favored his father. Jack
was the only fully human of the three siblings, whereas Elyssa and
Michael were dhampyrs. As far as temperament, however, he wasn't
nearly as bold or headstrong as Thomas Borathen. Instead, Jack had
always been a bit soft at heart, though always willing to do his
duty.

"You always have a smart remark for everything,
don't you, sis?"

"I'm surprised you remember. I haven't heard
from you since you left on your last assignment. At least Michael
shoots me an email or calls on occasion."

His smile faltered. "The world is harsh.
Sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do in order to
keep the masses safe."

"What happened to the idealistic brother I used
to know?"

"He's still here. But my idealism has been
tempered by reality, Elyssa. Father is right in what he plans to
do. Once you've taken the White, you'll agree."

Elyssa grimaced and looked at the floor. Four
Templars, including her brother, sat closest to the back doors on
the quick-deployment bench seats along the sides of the van's cargo
bay. She could probably kick the doors open, but she'd have to get
past her Templar escorts first. Escape was out of the question for
now, so she bided her time, waiting for an opening.

An opening never came.

The van pulled up the long drive to the Templar
compound at Big Creek Ranch, a horse ranch near the edges of
Decatur, an urban extension of Atlanta. As they unloaded from the
back, Elyssa's shoulders slumped as hope drained from her heart.
There would be no escape. Not like last time when she'd knocked out
her mother. Jack and the others took her into the barn, down a set
of wooden stairs, and through a pair of thick titanium vault doors
guarding the brig, a high-security holding cell where prisoners
usually awaited transport before delivery to the Overworld Tribunal
Court. Except, she wasn't going anywhere. At least not until they'd
wiped her memories.

Cruel barbs of hopelessness gripped her heart
so tight she stumbled.

The other Templars, apparently taking this for
a feint preceding another escape attempt, tensed and watched her
until the vault doors slammed shut. The shiny metallic floor
reflected Elyssa's grief-stricken face. She stiffened her features,
ashamed at her weakness. They might wipe her mind, but she would
find a way to fight back. As Jack led her to the cell, one side of
his mouth curved up in a sad smile.

"I love you, sis." He gripped her hands as his
eyes misted up. "We'll get through this together."

"Thanks, big brother." She hugged him, feigning
gratitude and fighting the desperation coiling tight around her
guts.

The cell was much like the corridor outside, a
sterile titanium box with a windowless door embedded in the
reinforced frame. Titanium, in and of itself, wasn't strong enough
to contain some supers which was why each plate was also woven with
diamond fibers, the same material used to make nearly
indestructible diamond rope. Not even a sorcerer could melt through
them.

On the bright side, the room had no cameras,
only a bunk bed, a toilet, and sink, all made of the same material
as the cell. At least the mattress was normal. And the good thing
about no cameras meant nobody would see Elyssa attempt her last
desperate bid to keep her memories.

She pulled Jack's cell phone—which she'd stolen
during their hug—from the back pocket of her night-camo outfit and
was relieved to find he hadn't password-protected it. She put it
into airplane mode, which turned off the GPS and cell signals since
the walls blocked those signals. She needed all the battery life
she could squeeze from this thing. Flicking through the menu, she
opened the video camera app.

Rather than sleep, Elyssa spent the entire
night reciting history. How she'd felt the first time she'd met
Justin. What she'd done after finding out what he was. Who he
really was despite his half-incubus side. How, despite all her
fears and built-in prejudices, she’d been unable to deny the love
she felt for him.

"I know you don't remember this, but it's
important, not just for the sake of love, but for the survival of
us all. Trust Justin with your life. He may be half spawn, but he's
a hero to the core and will do anything for you." Tears clouded her
eyes and her voice choked on the lump in her throat. Deep breaths
didn't help overcome the despair. But she soldiered on, determined
to record every last thing she could remember before her cherished
memories were burned away like old photos in a house
fire.

She watched the video once more and
realized there was nothing more she could say. On a whim, she
turned on the video recorder a last time and said, "He is your
Westley, and you are his Buttercup. Death cannot stop true love."
If a quote from the
Princess Bride
couldn't shake up her memory, nothing
would.

After powering down the smartphone, she removed
the tiny memory card from the slot on the side and stared at it. It
was such a tiny fragile hope for all her memories to be riding on,
but it was all she had. The second part to her plan would be much
harder. She had to hide it somewhere she'd eventually look because
remembering she'd even made this recording wasn't an option. First,
she crushed the phone to tiny bits and flushed them down the
toilet.

The few places to hide such a tiny memory card
reliably were also unpleasant to think about. Before taking the
White, they would strip her and bathe her by hand in blessed water
as ancient custom dictated. Then they would dress her in a white
gown of silk and lead her into the chapel communionary where a
Templar would light the White Torch and bar her inside.

Beyond the ritual, nobody knew what happened
inside.

Every Templar compound had a chapel with a
White, Black, Novice, and Blessed Torch. The first wiped away
memories. The second took away life. The third was used to give
recruits a temporary blessing, while the fourth added the permanent
blessing of the Divinity, granting immortality and strength among
other abilities.

The problem with hiding the tiny chip on her
person would be the stripping and bathing. Her old clothes would be
burnt and she couldn't conceal the chip in her hands. This
particular card was weatherized to protect it from extreme
conditions since the phones they used were often subjected to
extreme situations. It might survive if she swallowed
it.