Sinister Seraphim of Mine (Overworld Chronicles Book 8) (13 page)

Supreme Commander Borathen, a man of few words, many stern looks, and the ability to frighten small children with his steely gaze, nodded at us. "Thank you for joining us."

Michael nodded at me. "Justin."

"Michael." I nodded back.
Keep it real, bro.
Elyssa's brother was similar in manner to his father. Like Elyssa and their mother, Leia, he had violet eyes, an attribute dhampyrs like Bella also shared. Unlike the others in his family, however, Michael was a slab of towering muscle.

"How are you, Commander Salazar?" Elyssa asked the dark-haired, olive skinned man to her father's right.

He smiled at her. "It is good to see you again, Sergeant Borathen." He shook our hands. It didn't seem so long ago his legion had been chasing me down after my accidental relocation to Colombia and misidentification as a clear and present danger.

"I am happy to see you," Nightliss said to him. "How are the new recruits performing?"

"Your enhancements have put them on par with those Daelissa gifted."

"I'm seeing similar results," Thomas said. "The results are promising." He faced the rest of us and indicated the chairs around the circular table. "Let's get started." After we sat, he spoke. "As you can see, Commander Salazar and I have shaded the Overworld map to indicate which Templar forces control which regions. Red for Synod, blue for us, and beige for neutral."

Christian pointed to the labels next to the legend. "We are now designating Templars under Synod command as simply Synod, whereas we are Templars."

"Thank goodness," Elyssa said. "I get so tired of saying Borathen Templars all the time. It's weird using my last name like that."

I noticed most of North America had blue and red stripes, whereas South America was divided into a blue northern and red southern region. "I assume the striped areas indicate a mixture of our troops and Synod."

"Precisely," Thomas said. "Not all their forces are comprised solely of Synod soldiers. We've included vampire numbers as well." He indicated South America. "Maximus's recruitment efforts were more successful than we thought. There are rumors a new vampire has taken the lead for Daelissa and is growing her army in Argentina. Now that the Red Syndicate has secretly signed onto the effort, we fear things are spiraling out of control."

Christian zoomed out the map and scrolled across the Atlantic Ocean. "Unfortunately, much of Western Europe remains neutral while Russia and parts of Eastern Europe and northern Asia have already proclaimed for Daelissa."

"Australia is leaning our way," Thomas added. "Even with them, however, the odds are greatly against us." He looked at Elyssa. "Even more dire is our lack of qualified leaders. Commander Salazar lost several top lieutenants during the vampire campaigns in the south. The Synod has targeted our leadership for removal as well."

I remembered one of the assassination attempts all too well. If Ivy hadn't shown up and warned me, I might have been killed along with Thomas, Christian, and other nearby leaders.

"Are you promoting me?" Elyssa asked.

"You've proven yourself time and time again in the field," Thomas said.

Nightliss nodded. "I have not been the Clarion long, but you have developed and executed several complex operations, all of which have gone well."

A smile touched Elyssa's lips, though a hint of worry showed in her eyes. "I'm flattered, but there are seasoned veterans who are more qualified."

"We have many great soldiers, but few great leaders," Thomas replied. "We need fresh lieutenants who have fought the enemy and know how they operate."

She looked at me. "But that means I'll be too busy here and won't be available to Justin."

"We're prepared to offer Justin a leadership role as well."

They want to offer me a role?
I had to choke back an indignant, immature response and took a few seconds to collect my thoughts instead of going on a rant. I'd learned the hard way losing my cool didn't help anything. "In other words, after all we've accomplished, you want me to become your subordinate." I kept my words calm and cold.

Thomas raised an eyebrow. "As I've told you before, you have excellent leadership qualities. Many of your operations, however, have been uncoordinated and imprecise."

"I agree," Christian said. "You also have friends with influence in other communities. You can help us create formal alliances with them. We believe structure would be greatly beneficial to the war effort."

I tried not to get defensive. "Explain."

"Traditionally, the Templars have acted as an independent, neutral force which policed disputes among the Overworld nations." Christian folded his arms. "The Synod essentially destroyed that role by allying with Daelissa. We must break tradition and create our own formal alliances."

To me it seemed like common sense, though I could see how people immersed in the ways of the Templars probably saw it as a betrayal to their true purpose. "I want to address the assertion that my friends and I are disorganized when it comes to fighting the enemy. I will agree that, at first, our operations were reactionary. After all, we didn't always know what we were getting into." Before they could respond, I continued. "However, the Battle of Bellwood Quarry was not only our idea, but it proved successful."
Thanks to Elyssa's skillz.

"Agreed," Thomas said. "As you'll remember, our forces contributed."

"In other words, you allied with us to accomplish goals for the greater good." I rubbed my chin, trying to think of the best way to phrase my next words. "We already have a strong alliance and common cause. What we need is an overall battle plan all can agree on and go from there, keeping our units autonomous instead of forcing everyone into one monolithic structure. Daelissa has been one step ahead of us all this time. She has a goal and a plan for achieving the goal. It's time we did the same."

"I agree with Justin," Elyssa said. "We don't lack talent or structure so much as we lack a coherent plan of attack designed to weaken Daelissa's forces while adding to our own numbers. We've already drawn up plans, which should significantly contribute to that cause."

Thomas and Christian exchanged glances.

Michael pursed his lips and nodded. "I also see the value in Justin's idea."

It took an effort not to smile. Michael and I weren't exactly friends, but I respected him, and hopefully he respected me. There had been a time when he'd wanted to snap my neck for dating his sister, though he'd eventually come to accept it.

Thomas released a long breath. "Please elaborate."

Elyssa retrieved the ASE from our sojourn into enemy territory and began playing back the contents.

"Pause," Thomas said when the recording showed Jeremiah.

Elyssa stopped the footage.

"Who is that man?"

"Jeremiah Conroy," I said and recounted how we'd rescued him from Daelissa and who he really was.

Thomas and Christian exchanged surprised looks.

"This," Thomas said, "is why we need structure. We should have known this yesterday."

"Having Ezzek Moore himself on our side could also prove invaluable in wooing more allies," Christian said.

"Timely information sharing is vital." Michael nodded at the frozen image of Jeremiah. "We could have helped with your mission at Kobol considering the Templar archives probably have detailed blueprints of the entire facility, including secret corridors and other means of ingress."

I hadn't even thought about asking Thomas for help, but it made sense the Overworld cops would know a lot more about a prison than we would.

"I think it's time we got down to negotiations," Elyssa said. "In my estimation, we have high-value personnel with great potential for achieving positive outcomes. I propose an alliance that keeps the current hierarchies intact, but provides for access to each other's assets, provided, of course, said assets are willing to participate within mission parameters."

I realized I was staring with my mouth open at Elyssa. She'd gone full-blown military in the space of two seconds, and it took my brain a few seconds to catch up. Thomas and Christian betrayed subtle hints of surprise, though they were good at keeping poker faces.

"Are you asking for a power sharing agreement?" Thomas asked.

"No," Elyssa replied. "As I said, our forces remain separate. While we have powerful assets like Alysea Slade and Jeremiah Conroy, we cannot guarantee they'll agree to subject themselves to your command. What I propose is asset sharing as we've done in the past. This simply formalizes it and unifies our mission goals."

"And there lies the rub," Thomas said. "We need to determine overarching goals we can agree on."

"Precisely," Elyssa said. She rubbed her hands together and smiled.

I had a feeling this meeting just got a whole lot longer.

By the time we finished a couple of hours later, I'd learned way more about military jargon and logic than I'd ever wanted to. On the bright side, we'd formalized an asset sharing agreement that I felt gave me and my friends a strong hand in securing quick Templar support. When we'd wanted to wipe out Daelissa's army of Nazdal in the Gloom and take out the Exorcist church, we'd had to wait as Templars executed separate campaigns against vampires in Colombia and Synod forces in Atlanta.

If my allies and I helped the Templars during similar campaigns, it would free them for major assaults we needed. In other words, everybody won. Elyssa had also formally named the group of people I generally referred to as friends as the Cataclyst Coalition. It sounded pretentious, but I liked it. I just had to hope the others didn't think I'd gone off the deep end and was turning into a pop star with a posse.

The group had also outlined a battle plan utilizing smaller strike forces to weaken the Synod and vampire forces in order to avoid fighting larger battles which, given our smaller numbers, we would likely lose. The details were tentative, but would be fleshed out once I spoke to the others and listened to their input.

"I need to speak to my father," Elyssa said as we adjourned. She looked at Michael. "I'd like you and mother present as well."

Thomas nodded and looked at me. "I've sent word that you're granted access to interrogate Maulin Kassus."

"I appreciate it," I said. "Jeremiah will be joining me."

"Moses," Christian said, a note of wonder in his voice. "History is a powerful teacher when it comes to warfare. I think we'd benefit greatly by listening to him."

"My parents also fought in the Seraphim War," I said. "Unfortunately, it seems most of their battles were old-school clashes of thousands—none of this guerrilla warfare."

"All the knowledge in the world won't be of much help if Daelissa resurrects her army," Thomas said.

I felt my lips flatten into a grim look. "I'm all too aware of that." I told Elyssa goodbye and called Jeremiah. He arrived via portal a few minutes later and walked with me to the holding cells deep beneath the Templar compound. We passed Templar Arcanes carving huge spaces out of the granite bedrock, and others installing levitators—magical elevators—in newly hollowed shafts leading deeper down. Thomas had obviously foreseen the need for more prison space without Synod resources at their disposal. I didn't envy his position one bit.

When we reached a long stretch of empty corridor, Jeremiah stopped. "I think it's time we cleared the air."

"What an ironic choice of words." I gave him a sarcastic grin. "After all, you tried to suffocate me once. I'm also still a little peeved about the time you told Ivy to let me die." I knew showing a little magnanimousness wouldn't kill me, but the cold-hearted way he'd tried to end my life on two occasions made it really hard to just forgive and forget.

"I was different then," he said simply. "I let hubris and revenge control my life for too long. To see centuries of work dissipate in the blink of an eye was humbling. I knew Daelissa might eventually discover my subterfuge, but I had thought by then my vengeance would be complete."

"You were her lover once, for god's sake. There are plenty of times you could have killed her, but you didn't." I had the feeling simply killing Daelissa wasn't enough for the man. He'd had something else in mind. "What was your end game, Jeremiah?"

His dark eyes lost focus, as if looking into the distance despite the enclosed tunnel. "You're correct." He looked at me. "I believe that's what I find most irritating about you."

I tried not to smirk. "Because I'm thousands of years younger and a smartass?"

"Yes, though those are personal reasons." Jeremiah leaned on his staff as if all those centuries had finally caught up with him. "What we call the Cyrinthian Rune is, in truth, named the Chalon. It is a relic of Juranthemon, though few beings know this truth."

"Wait, you're telling me the rune—the Chalon—is somehow related to the Key and Map of Juranthemon?" The map could be used to create portals between doorways anywhere in the world that only the key could access. I'd once used it to transport an army from Colombia to Atlanta so we could take out Maximus. Unfortunately, I'd later had to make a deal with the devil in order to save the life of Felicia Nosti before she succumbed to a curse which would turn her into a zombie vampire. I'd given the key and map to Underborn, the Overworld's most notorious assassin.

Jeremiah seemed surprised at my knowledge. "Indeed. My sources told me Underborn was in possession of the key."

"He has the map, too," I said. "Now, back to the Chalon. What did you plan to do with it?"

Jeremiah regarded me as a teacher might a student. "The key and map are analogues. They appear to us as we perceive them and are anything but what we think they are. While they allow travel to almost anywhere within a realm, the Chalon facilitates a stable gateway
between
realms." His lips pressed tight. "What I am about to tell you next is known by only me and perhaps Fjoeruss."

I found myself leaning forward in anticipation. "I'm listening."

"It is vital you not tell anyone, lest our enemies find out."

"I will tell Elyssa no matter what."