I took Nightliss aside before things got underway and asked her, "Are you sure you're up to being the new Divinity—err Clarion? You don't look like you're back to full strength yet."
"I'm much better, Justin," she said, touching my arm with a dainty hand. "It isn't easy, but I need this. I need to feel useful."
"Have you remembered enough to teach me how to unlock my angel abilities?" At this point I was desperate to make my angel magic more reliable instead of something I couldn't count on.
"I only know how I feel when I want something to happen," she said. "I don't know how to teach it."
"You need to figure it out," I said, a little testily. "If you hadn't noticed, I need the help." I looked away and sighed. Met her eyes again. "Just try. It's all I ask."
"Please don't be angry, Justin," she said. "I will do my best. How, exactly, I do not know."
"At this point, anything would be useful." I ran a hand down my face as if it would wash away the fatigue plaguing me from the earlier fights and injuries. "When?"
"I will make time," she said. Her hand pressed against my chest. "Everything you need is locked in your heart, Justin. You must simply discover how to ignite it."
Relying on Elyssa's shock scrolls certainly wasn't the answer I needed. Neither was waiting until I was in a dangerous situation and relying on instinct. "I'll be by soon," I said. "This can't wait any longer."
Thomas called the meeting to order a few minutes later and asked for reports from the Templars investigating the crime scene atop the church. Even the building's magical protection hadn't been enough to prevent part of the sanctuary from collapsing, and the Templar Chapel where Daelissa had once given initiates their "gifts" and then wiped their minds of the entire incident, was in ruins.
"The remains were difficult to identify, sir," the Templar in charge of cleanup said. "We believe this was a suicide mission from the start. They each planned to fire a round into a commander, and then blow the church. We believe the destruction of the chapel was intentional. Probably a message from Daelissa."
Thomas frowned. "Comb the ruins. I want to know who these assassins were."
"I'm almost certain they were Synod Templars, sir," the young man replied.
"Almost isn't good enough, lieutenant," Thomas said. "Collect blood and have the healers reconstruct images."
"The bodies were all but vaporized, sir," the man said, sounding a little nervous now. "The bomb was of nom design. It charred tissue and blood to ash. There may be nothing for the healers to find. The perpetrators weren't wearing armor, just black outfits which resembled nightingale armor, making it easier to destroy all forensic evidence."
I shuddered at the thought someone's body parts reduced to mere evidence. Those assassins had been insane. Then again, Daelissa might have controlled them somehow.
The arcphone in a case on the lieutenant's side buzzed. He flicked on the screen and looked at it for a moment. "Sir, they've found something."
"What is it?" Thomas said.
"The healers found bone fragments with undamaged marrow inside belonging to a human Templar." He projected a holographic image from his phone, depicting a young man with brown hair. "This is what the man probably looked like. We're running his image through our records to see if there's a match."
"Anything else?" Thomas asked.
The man's face grew pensive. "I'm afraid the second finding is even more troubling." The image of a yellowed tooth popped from the phone. He didn't have to explain why the image might give us cause for concern.
The tooth was quite clearly a vampire fang.
Chapter 19
"Oh, crap," I said.
Elyssa gripped my arm. "The covert meeting at the Grotto between the leaders must have been about this," she said.
"Earlier, I thought we were jumping to conclusions about there even being a meeting," I said. "But in this case, I think you're spot on."
"Commander, we have more information," Elyssa said to her father. She told him about the suspected meeting and the attendees.
"What an unholy alliance," Christian Salazar said, lips peeled back in a grimace. "Renegade Templars, Vampires, and possibly Arcanes?"
"If Cyphanis wins the Arcanus Primus special election, there's no telling what he'll direct the Arcane Council to do," said one of the other commanders.
"The council doesn't have nearly the kind of control over Arcanes that the Red Syndicate has over vampires," Thomas said.
"If they declare us outlaws, it won't exactly be helpful," Christian said.
I raised my hand, forgetting for a moment I wasn't in class, and spoke. "How many Templars do we have compared to the Synod?"
"There are twenty-seven legions worldwide," Christian said. "Thirteen joined with us. Ten remained loyal to the Synod and Daelissa. The smallest four legions took neutral stances with no indication which way they might eventually swing."
"There are many individuals from both sides who have left their legions to stand with the side they believe is right in this," Thomas said. "Unfortunately, the Synod received the majority of those defectors."
"So they have the numbers advantage," I said.
He nodded. "But I highly doubt it will come down to a battle of legions," he said. "The Templars have drastically changed over the centuries from a military institution specializing in large-scale battles to smaller units dedicated to quick response and covert action."
"What they did today is a perfect example of Templar evolution," Christian said. "It means we'll have to be even more vigilant."
"How did those men get into the church?" Thomas asked the lieutenant.
The man flicked his arcphone off. "We believe they infiltrated one of our legions by posing as defectors a month or so ago. This made it easy for them to be assigned guard duty to the church."
Thomas cursed. "We can't even trust our own people?"
"We haven't had time to vet them," one of the other commanders said. "We don't have enough Arcanes in our ranks, especially those with truth-saying abilities."
"We need to make vetting a priority," Thomas said. "Outsource if you must."
"Can we trust non-Templar Arcanes?" the man asked.
"I can help with that, sir," Meghan Andretti said. She was the chief Arcane healer in Thomas's legion. "I know several truthsayers we can rely on."
"Thank you, Healer Andretti," Thomas said, some of the tension in his face easing. "We will get through this crisis, people."
"Commander, we thought this could wait," Christian said. "But it's obvious it can't any longer. We"—he indicated the other with his hand commanders—"have voted unanimously to elect you as Supreme Commander of the Templar forces."
Thomas regarded them with his trademark stony face. Some of the younger commanders actually gulped under his glare. Finally, he responded. "I am, unfortunately, the most qualified here to lead our combined forces. I will serve in this capacity until unable to do so." He regarded the commanders for a moment. "We have rewritten the rules, people, but this doesn't make us any less Templars than we were before the Synod abandoned the rule of law. Speak with Healer Andretti about truthsayers, and start vetting your people immediately. I'm sure we'll find out soon enough who the other traitors are."
"We should do the same to them," said one of the younger commanders. "Assassinate their leaders, and let them see how it feels. We should go after Bara Nagal first."
Thomas shook his head. "Retaliation is warranted, but not yet. They've shown their hand, perhaps squandered the ace in their deck on this failed assassination attempt." He motioned vaguely at me. "Thanks, yet again, to Mr. Slade, most of us survived."
"My sister warned me," I said. "If not for her, we might all be dead."
Thomas spoke about a few more internal matters, doling out responsibilities to the other commanders, and dismissed everyone. I was on the way out, when he motioned to me. Elyssa paused, but a look from her father sent her from the room as well. This man had nearly taken my head off in a sword fight once. Later, he'd actually apologized to me. Regardless, he still made me very uneasy.
"You impressed me, Justin," he said, his rare use of my first name falling strangely on my ears. "I saw the commotion before the first shot was fired. I believe the bullet which hit me was aimed for Nightliss, because it hit me when I dove for her."
"They were going for a clean sweep," I said, feeling sick to my stomach over the idea of Nightliss's head exploding like a watermelon.
He nodded. "You usually act in an unorthodox capacity with very little planning, sowing nearly as much chaos as you do order."
"It's not like I do this for a living," I said, trying not to sound too defensive.
"I understand. I would ask you to sit in on officer training so you could learn the value of discipline and solid planning, but I have a sense such classes would only hinder you."
I felt my eyes widen at this admission. "You think I should rush in willy-nilly?"
"No." He winced as he tried to move his injured shoulder. "You have the makings of a natural-born leader. You have good instincts and intuition. I've discovered when people with your skillset try to overthink matters, they botch it. I've been around long enough to know. I've seen natural leaders in action. I've learned much from them." He took in a deep breath. "I was not born a leader," he said. "I had to learn the hard way. Even now, I still struggle to see the best path despite all my experience." His eyes seemed to focus on the past for a moment. "Experience will serve you well, but for now, follow your gut and your heart."