Page 17 of Gates of Rapture (The Guardians of Ascension #6)
Jealousy casts a wide net,
But who gets caught in the web?
— Collected Proverbs, Beatrice of Fourth
Endelle levitated just at the top of the tree line on the western side of the forest. She wore tight black leather pants and a forest-green embroidered bustier but kept herself cloaked in her own private mist. She had intended just to check in for a moment, to see what the colony had put together for this worldwide event.
She wore the same necklace of miniature pinecones, adorned with preserved monarch butterflies. This was her nod to the natural surroundings even if she’d had the insects’ wings dipped in resin to keep them from busting apart.
But it was her stilettos that claimed the prize.
She had worked diligently to attach wires to various parts of the shoes; at the end of each wire was a black-and-yellow bumblebee.
The wires came to various heights so that it looked as though a cloud of bees buzzed around her.
Her design even included shields that kept the bees from getting all tangled up.
Of course the whole ensemble was more frivolous than serious, but given the homespun nature of the event, she thought she fit right in.
The air rippled beside her. She might have been worried, but she felt the flavor of a Fourth ascender. Maybe Beatrice had come to watch the festivities.
However, as she turned in the direction of the moving air, who should appear but that worthless piece of shit, Casimir. Only he looked really different. “Holy hell, what the fuck happened to you?”
Casimir wore a white robe and was completely bald. She moved in close, still levitating, but scooted up higher in the air and put both her hands on his head. She read the names inked on his skull. “These your kids?”
“My sons, yes.”
“Imagine you having children.”
“I was shocked myself.”
“So, you slumming it or what?”
His gaze took in the the fair-like atmosphere. “I take it these are the warrior games.”
“If you’re looking for Grace, she’s in the stands with Leto, but I suspect he won’t give you much of a welcome. He lost it when Grace left and went through some kind of change none of us has figured out.”
Casimir glanced at her. She couldn’t get used to what he looked like without all his long curly hair. He was still a handsome bastard, though.
“How has Leto changed?”
“Bigger at times, then not.”
“Cryptic.”
“You can see for yourself if you stick around long enough. So, did you come here hoping to bust up my latest power couple?”
He shook his head. “No, but I have a feeling that my being here won’t exactly be welcomed or understood.”
“Now who’s being cryptic? Cut the shit, Caz. What’s going on?”
“I’m here to serve as a Guardian of Ascension to one of your warriors. This particular warrior, it would seem, is ascending to Third Earth.”
“What?” Endelle had always had a good sense of things, especially when a major ascension was in progress. “Who the hell is ascending to Third?”
He swept a hand in the direction of the grandstands. “Why, Leto, of course.”
Even the air around her seemed to slow to a halt. Her mind got stuck in neutral and wouldn’t budge. She just kept staring at Casimir. Finally, she said, “That make no sense at all.”
“Are you sure? You said Leto has gone through a change. Could it be Third Earth–related?”
She frowned because certain things started making sense. Was that why Leto could change into something that resembled Greaves’s Third Earth death vampires? Maybe Leto’s ability to shift into an über-warrior wasn’t about his former addiction to dying blood after all.
But if he was ascending to Third, what about Grace? Usually, if an ascender was married, his or her better half emerged with new powers at the same time. Unless of course you counted obsidian flame as a power matching Leto’s ability to morph into Leto-the-Hulk.
A sudden loud thumping drew her attention to the south.
“Fireworks,” Casimir said. “How nice.”
“Sweet Christ, if you intend to start showing some manners, I might just puke.”
Casimir met her gaze and smiled.
At the distant end of the valley, fireworks shot into the air. These were not quite as high or as magnificent as the usual display, probably because they had to be contained within the dome of Diallo’s mist.
However, the effect wasn’t diminished in the slightest. Music blared through a number of loudspeakers, a kind of brisk Sousa march, and sure enough, at least a hundred DNA-altered swans and geese took to the skies in strict formation, guided by their handlers.
Instead of flying straight over, however, they flew in spirals, around and around, in order to draw out the moment.
At the same time, all those equally well-trained teens began climbing the poles and lighting the massive bowls of wood.
Before long, the field was lit in a startling amount of fire-based light.
It might have been home-spun spectacle, but damn, it worked.
She knew Leto and Diallo had cooked something up as a competition for all the hard training the hidden colonies’ warriors had done all around the globe.
But she hadn’t expected to find fairly grand spectacle and some goddam righteous oratory at the games as well.
Leto had somehow reached into the hearts of every ascended vampire present, caught their souls in his hands, and squeezed hard until cries of near-ecstasy filled the valley.
Even she had been moved by his speech, ready to take up arms, or to do whatever she could against Greaves. Leto had moved her, had made her believe that they would win, somehow, and that it rested not on the might of an army, but on the convictions and lives of the average, everyday ascender.
Leto had spoken the truth as well, more than even he knew.
War was close.
The flying squadrons of geese and swans, and a smaller one of ducks, were opposite her now.
The music had changed to something by Debussy so that the flying spirals had taken almost elegant and certainly more complicated patterns.
Even the fireworks had slowed to match the music.
A series of red whales swam in blue-and-gold fireworks off to the south. Magnificent.
And now Leto. My God, was Casimir right? Was he really ascending to Third?
As she extended her gaze to Grace and the crown of silver stars over her long blond hair, she wondered if obsidian flame would be enough, or Thorne’s army, or the secret colonial militia that Leto had built.
She spun in the air to face Casimir. “So, you’re here to protect Leto until he ascends to Third, have I got that right?”
He nodded.
She looked him up and down. “In a weird-ass, Fourth Earth white robe? You know most of my Guardians know how to use a sword.”
“I have other powers. Hand-blast is my specialty.”
“And you’re going to need it because if you get anywhere near Grace, I have no doubt Leto will aim to kill.”
But Casimir didn’t rise to the bait. Instead, he remained silent and turned in his newly acquired serene manner to watch the fireworks.
“You know, you’re kinda freakin’ me out here.” Then it dawned on her. “Holy hell, Caz, did you enter Beatrice’s redemption program?”
“Her lake of fire? Yes, I did. But I didn’t complete it.”
“Then there’s still time for you to become a more normal version of yourself.”
But he merely smiled. “When the hell was I ever normal?”
She exaggerated a big sigh of relief. “That’s more like it. You had me shaking in my stilettos for a minute there.”
At that he turned to her. “Endelle, never have I known you to shake in your stilettos or boots or anything you’ve ever worn in your nine thousand years of vampire life.”
Endelle grinned, “Damn straight. I’m not the Supreme High Administrator of Second Earth for nothing.”
“I believe protocol demands that I request permission from you to serve as Leto’s Guardian of Ascension. Do I have that permission?”
Endelle couldn’t help but smile. “Never did I think to see the day that you would either serve as a guardian or ask my permission for anything.”
Casimir chuckled. “Ditto. So, is that a yes?”
“Hells, yeah! Guard away. And if you have a chance to blast Greaves’s testicles off his cock-stalk, don’t debate the issue, just do it.”
Casimir laughed. “Don’t ever change.”
“Don’t plan to.”
He then gestured with a sweep of his hand over the contest grounds. “Are you joining in the fun?”
She shook her head. “Nope. Just came to see the kickoff. I’m setting up a command HQ at the palace. I take it I’ll be seeing more of you.”
He nodded.
Endelle couldn’t believe this strange turn of events: Leto ascending to Third and Casimir, of all vampires, serving as his Guardian of Ascension.
Well, she had her own issues to deal with right now, like setting up an HQ for what might just turn out to be one helluva showdown with Greaves.
“Later,” she murmured, then folded back to her palace.
***
Grace thought Leto’s speech was absolutely perfect. She was proud to be seated beside him. She had her arm hooked around his and had begun to feel a little more at ease.
He leaned forward, his gaze fixed on the runners in the mile-long race that ran in an oval around the entire field.
He never let his eyes leave the field as he leaned down and spoke to Grace.
“The man in the lead is from the Republic of Chad Two. A powerful Seer. He’s very fast and one of our best swordsmen.
Jean-Pierre thinks that with a little work, and some of Jean-Pierre’s power, he could be brought up to WhatBee status. ”
So this was the world Leto had built since she’d left. Yes, everything had changed.
All those months ago, he had been near-death because of his refusal to take dying blood anymore. He’d also been severely depressed.
Now he was a different man, a new man.
And at times, a beast-man.
She glanced at Fiona to her right. Jean-Pierre had his long fingers massaging the back of Fiona’s neck and he was kissing her and murmuring things in her ear that sounded like French. They were so in love.