This is why I told you up front: I’m no good.
Because of me, the Pure Ones lost three of the Dozen from their original ranks. It’s amazing they haven’t executed or at least tortured me for my crimes by now. Idiot do-gooders.
They’re missing one more, but I wasn’t directly involved in his capture. Credit for that belongs to Medusa’s other henchman and mad scientist—Wan’er. Except I suppose she’s been promoted to my second Mistress now. Which is yet another reason I’m not as eager as I should be to leave the Pure Ones’ hospitality.
Back to Valerius. The silent, broody warrior was a Roman gladiator in his human life. He fights with precision and power, every move designed to kill, or maim, so that his opponent will stay down for the eventual kill. His favorite weapon is the chained scythe. It’s a thing of beauty. I’ve often fantasized about his using it to grant me a quick, painless death. But when have my dreams ever come true?
Both Cloud and Valerius are distance fighters, which is why they are always paired up. Moreover, their abilities are several notches above even the two ancient Akkadians newly added to the Elite ranks (not including Tal-Telal)—Inanna and Gabriel.
Though they’re both Dark Ones, the former Angel of Death and her human-turned-vampire Mate have decided to join the Pure Ones in recent years. Probably because Jade Cicada, the most powerful vampire queen in modern history, abdicated her throne to Mate the Pure Ones’ Consul, Seth Tremaine. And because Tal-Telal happens to be Inanna’s father, and he’s as Pure as they come.
In fact, the General’s blood is what’s keeping me alive.
I watch Tal-Telal more than anyone else. He’s blind and scarred (a condition that is almost impossible for an immortal, given our healing abilities; it’s physical proof of the unfathomable tortures the male endured at the hands of my Mistress for thousands of years), his body resembling that of an imperfect human, a casualty of war.
But his will is perhaps the strongest of them all. He has a palpable aura of strength and conviction. Righteousness. Goodness. Selflessness.
I’d use these adjectives as insults with any other being, and once upon a time, I used them derisively with him. But over the last few weeks, I’ve developed a strange kind of hero-worship of Tal-Telal. Maybe it’s the purity of his blood in my veins, encapsulating my Mistress’s venom and poison, neutralizing her effect on me.
I feel…healed.
Or healing. I can breathe easier. My mind doesn’t feel as fractured as before.
I’m humbled by this male as I watch him hone his fighting skills with the human Chevalier. Sometimes, Inanna and Gabriel join the pair. He doesn’t hold back, and neither do his opponents, despite his disability. He fights like a seeing man, but he is still not as strong in body as the other immortals. They knock him down, bloody him up, but he never gives in.
And everyday, he grows stronger, despite the countless new and old skirmish wounds. Everyday, his eyes shine brighter, even though they still swirl with milky clouds.
Secretly, I cheer him on.
Before you start thinking that I’m getting “soft,” let me remind you that it’s his blood flowing in my veins. It’s only natural that I want the source of my strength to become stronger.
And then, yesterday, I did more than watch him. I decided to follow him out of the training hall. But I did it in the guise of his daughter Inanna, just to see what it’s like to live in one of the Pure Ones’ skins for a little while. (And because I finally kicked myself in the ass to get some nefarious infiltration going).
Inanna and Gabriel had showered in the bath hall adjacent to the training room and left the area from a rear exit. I overheard them talking about taking Benjamin (my sunny, brilliant, beautiful son! Not that anyone knows it) out for ice-cream with Sophia. They wouldn’t be back for a couple hours at least, so I had a bit of time to play with, assuming Inanna’s identity.
“Wait for me, papa,” I called out to the General in Inanna’s sultry voice, lengthening my strides to catch up to him. “Where are you headed? Perhaps I can join you.”
The warrior stopped but didn’t turn around, his back and shoulders stiffening subtly.
I wouldn’t have caught it if I hadn’t been watching him so closely, but I’m extremely sensitive to everything Tal-Telal. I thought for a panicked moment that he somehow discovered my ploy.
But then he turned his head to the side and said, “I am meeting Rain for my weekly health check. It will not be very interesting, but you are welcome to join.”
I came abreast of him and took one of his arms with both of mine, the way I’d seen Inanna do, leaning slightly into him in a gesture of affection and support.
“Of course I want to come, papa. I want to hear for myself how much better you’re getting.”
His head still turned in my direction, his blind eyes scanned me up and down as if he could actually see me. He didn’t say anything as we started walking together down the corridors toward the healing chamber, but he briefly squeezed my hand on his arm with his.
I barely restrained a shudder of pleasure from coursing through my body at that small token of affection. It was nothing but a little squeeze, a slight touch. Tal-Telal doesn’t like to touch others, and doesn’t like to be touched, except by his daughter, his Mate (of whom I have yet to catch a glimpse) and Benjamin. But that quick squeeze of his hand conveyed such unconditional love that I burned with envy of Inanna.
If only this pretense could be real. If only someone as beautiful inside-out as Tal-Telal could love me too. The real me under my innumerable disguises.
And then I clamped my teeth together and told myself to cut that useless dreaming shit right out.
We didn’t chitchat as we walked together down the corridors to the healing chamber. I was still reeling from my churning emotions, and the General had never been a chatterbox. The silence was somehow soothing, not in the least awkward. I leaned closer into his side and laid my head upon his shoulder, involuntarily sighing with contentment.
He smells so good, this male. Comforting. Safe. True. I feel…protected whenever I’m near him.
Soon, we arrived at the Healer, Rain’s, formal chambers. Though she no longer possesses the Gift she used to have as the most powerful healer in the history of the Pure Ones, she is still extremely effective at what she does. At the very least, she retained the Gift of her zhen, the individual living strands of her hair—the same confounding instruments that constructed my silken prison when I first arrived at the Shield.
Besides the long, white-diamond hair that trails halfway to the back of her knees, she has paper-white skin, and the only color on her face are the sleek black eyebrows, exotic dark eyes and small red mouth. She’s always looked like a Japanese kabuki doll to me. So unnerving.
I didn’t suppress the shudder that went through me this time upon seeing her. Ugh.
“Are you all right, my child?” Tal-Telal asked quietly.
I couldn’t help a beaming smile at his phrase “my child.”
“Just a little chilly, papa,” I answered, relishing more than I should how I got to call him that, how easily it flowed from my evil, forked tongue.
His full lips curved slightly in that sexy quirk, what I call the squirk. I have one just like it, but nowhere near as charismatic.