Malevolenci Read online

  Owen watched as the Hoffman brothers went to help the younger cavali carry the bodies of their friends to the trucks. He saw Benja and Tank helping another group. One young man was kneeling on the ground, crying over a body.

  Ten dead. I always feel responsible, but tonight was especially my fault. I couldn’t get to them to help. What the hell were those crustacox doing? And why’d that one save me from the spindlox?

  Feeling unnerved, Owen told Loukas, “Ride back with my team, would you? I want to sort out whatever happened tonight.”

  “Yes, my lord.”

  As the big man moved off to tend to his men, Owen turned to Esme. She looked sadder than she had in a long time.

  It’s been a while since we’ve lost anyone. Not that we’ve forgotten. But we sure as hell weren’t expecting this. Those chiroptorx flew straight for Esme. The crustacox kept me alive… Good gods, what next?

  Esme swayed as the truck started off. Allowing herself a breath of relief, she looked at her palms. They were perfectly fine, without even a hint of redness or burns. Her leg, on the other hand, was freshly burned from the barrio she’d activated.

  It isn’t so bad that I need a healer. I’ll wrap it when I get home.

  Loukas, sitting beside her, leaned toward her to say, “I’ve never seen anything like that fire burst. Lexi’s right – you’re incredible.”

  Esme smiled at the big man. “Thanks.”

  Benja was used to Esme’s magic and not as amazed. But as she took off her helmet and pulled her braids over a shoulder, she looked truly freaked out, which was a rare expression for the jinn. “This was one of the worst attacks I’ve ever seen. For months the malevolenci were easy to stop, and now this?”

  Dax also looked rattled. “It’s like the malevolenci were waiting for us to get back here.”

  Max nodded and faced Esme. “And it was like those sneak attacks before the bentaforx. The chiroptorx went straight for you then too.”

  “Yeah.” Benja looked at Esme. “The second wave of spindlox focused on you too. They were after you.” Her gaze swung to the king. “Is it possible the malevolenci sense when an alterni is around? The demons know she can close their rifts, so do you think they’ve identified Esme as their biggest threat?”

  Esme looked at Owen. She wanted to beg him to tell the truth.

  To her shock, Owen answered without her prodding. “Yes, the demons know Esme’s a threat. What I’m about to say doesn’t leave this truck. Understood?”

  The team tensed but nodded back to the king, who hesitated a moment longer.

  Please, oh, please… Come on, Owen.

  Owen let out a breath. “You know the malevolenci have been acting weird since my reign. What you don’t know is why.” He paused and glanced at Esme. “The truth is, Esme is my last alterni. She’s the last version of herself in all the alt-worlds.”

  Each head turned to Esme in shock.

  “The malevolenci,” Owen continued before they could ask questions, “have known we were running out of alterni since at least my last few alt-Esmes. Now we’re pretty sure they know we’re down to our last one.”

  Benja recovered first. “If the demons take out Esme, we don’t have any more alterni to summono. We’d have no one here who could termino the rifts.”

  Owen nodded. “Precisely.”

  Loukas scowled in confusion. “If they’re hellbent on killing Esme, why aren’t they after you, my lord? I watched as a crustacox killed the spindlox that attacked you. The herd even cut you off from fighting with us. It was like the crustacox didn’t want to kill you.”

  “Yeah…” Owen rubbed his face. “That was something I didn’t expect either.”

  Benja narrowed her eyes at him. “But you know why they did it?”

  Owen paused and glanced at Esme. “Yes. Since Esme is the last alterni of my generation, they don’t want to kill me. If I die, that means the next king could summon from a whole new pool of alterni. The malevolenci would be forced to start all over, whereas right now they only have to kill Esme. So…yeah, the malevolenci don’t want me dead. That spindlox was maybe too stupid to get the memo, so the crustacox stopped it from killing me.”

  Esme nodded. She’d reached the same conclusion.

  The team sat silent and looked at each other as they realized the amount of shit they were in.

  This could go bad. They could throw a fit about not being told sooner. They might tell the rest of the Order and cause a panic… They might even throw Owen and me under the bus to reset the cycle and get a new king and alterni.

  Despite these fears, deep down Esme trusted her team.

  Max looked at Esme with sadness in his eyes. “I’m so sorry. This sucks cat’s balls.”

  A short laugh escaped with Esme’s relief. “Thanks.”

  Benja faced the king. “But why have the malevolenci been so docile for months?”

  After a moment, Owen looked at Dax. “You said it was like they were waiting for us to get back here…” He turned on his seat to face Esme, clearly having a breakthrough. “We might’ve been wrong about them regrouping and taking time to strategize. What if when we left to close the other rifts, they lost track of you?”

  Esme thought on this. “We moved from city to city so fast that they couldn’t keep up.”

  Loukas frowned. “And maybe you only encountered the smaller species because the malevolenci knew you’d come back to the Capiti. The big guns abandoned the old rifts and left only spindlox and chiroptorx behind.”

  Dax’s eyes widened. “You think the malevolenci are bringing their whole army here?”

  Loukas put his hands on his knees and leaned forward. “Well, that’s kind of how they work anyway, right? Look at our history. Throughout the ages, malevolenci have concentrated their attacks in different locations. In the beginning, they concentrated on the old world until the first kings worked out strategies to beat them. When that happened, the demons moved to Europe and focused their attack there during the Dark Ages. Eventually the kings and alterni stopped them again. Then the demons tried Asia. More recently, America. Since Owen’s father’s reign, they’ve centered on Kansas City.”

  Esme had a thought and blurted out, “It’s like they’re playing Battleship.”

  Beside her, Owen seemed to understand what she was saying. “They test out different points of attack. When they find our weak spots, they hammer there in hopes of wiping out our defenses.”

  Benja looked at Esme with concern. “You alterni are our greatest defense. The malevolenci know that you alone can sense the rifts opening, and only you can perform the termino. When the kings move their Capiti to where malevolenci are worst, it’s like moving our battleship to where the demons are bombing the board.”

  Loukas nodded. “The kings bring the alterni right to them.”

  These cavali aren’t stupid.

  Esme took a breath. “Unfortunately, we alterni have to be where the action is worst. It’s a catch-22. We put ourselves at risk by being in the danger zone, but if we’re not there the malevolenci would wipe everyone else in the area off the map anyway.”

  Benja frowned at her. “You need to be careful. While we’re here in KC, you shouldn’t fight alone. Ever.”

  Owen nodded in agreement. “You stick right by my side from now on, alterni.”

  Esme rolled her eyes to the roof in exasperation. “What, you want to carry me around to protect me? Ride piggyback?”

  He didn’t appear to agree this was ridiculous. “If they’re not going to touch me, riding piggyback isn’t the worst thing you could do.”

  “But it limits my ability to cast!”

  Esme noticed Benja and the Hoffman brothers exchange a look at this outburst. They were used to Esme’s lack of reverence for the king by now, but they never seemed sure who to side with.

  She tried to calm down, and she pointed at the burned barrio on her thigh. “Guys, I can protect myself. You’ve all seen what I can do. I know I need to be careful, but I’m
not defenseless.”

  Loukas changed the subject. “This still doesn’t explain how the malevolenci sense when Esme’s here.”

  Esme sighed and wiped sooty hair from her face. “Actually, it does. What if a rift’s closing tips them off?”

  Dax blinked in realization. “Since only alterni can close the rifts, when a rift closes, they know you’re there.”

  “Yeah,” added Max. “And whenever the demons have launched an attack directly at you, it’s been right after you closed a rift. Remember that time you closed one and three opened right behind you? Or with the bentaforx, you closed the first rift and immediately a huge one opened in the sky.”

  Benja nodded. “They’re setting traps. They watch the open rifts, and when you close one, they spring an attack.”

  Dax scowled. “But why didn’t they do that when we were traveling to other rifts?”

  “Like we said,” Loukas pointed out, “they were consolidating their army here. These aren’t dumb animals we’re fighting. They’ve used this strategy of hammering us in one place for centuries. This is where they’re concentrating for now, so…”

  Owen nodded, his jaw tense. “They knew we had to come back.” He looked at Esme.

  She took a breath. “And now that I’ve closed the rifts, they know I’m here. They were ready for me. More rifts will open around Kansas City, and every one of them will be a trap.”

  Max looked worried. “Isn’t there something we can do to protect you?”

  “Maybe you should leave again.” Loukas tried to give Esme a small smile. “Not that I wouldn’t appreciate the help around here.”

  She managed a short grin.

  Owen ruffled his hair and let out a breath. “No, I don’t think we should leave. The rifts abroad aren’t a real threat, and we have cavali teams in place to guard them. We know now why rifts elsewhere have died down – the malevolenci are bringing their troops here to take out our alterni endi.”

  Max scrunched his face. “Alterni endi?”

  Esme waved. “That’s what the ancient conjuri named the last alterni alive.”

  Those new to this information took a moment.

  “Anyway…” Owen gave Esme a look, suggesting he was still unsettled by telling them the truth. “We now know how the malevolenci are trying to get to Esme, so we should try to minimize the global damage by staying here.”

  Loukas frowned. “That might mean opening hell in Kansas City.”

  “I know.” Owen looked uncomfortable.

  He loves this place, thought Esme as she watched the king. Without knowing it, our being away protected this corner of the world for a while. But he’s right – if we traveled abroad, that might cause the malevolenci to widen their search for me, and that would make fighting them even harder. Hundreds across the globe might die. At least if they’re concentrated here…

  “If we fight them here,” she said aloud, “we keep them contained. And we know, at least vaguely, what to expect. Plus we can pool our best resources from the Capiti – cavali and conjuri.”

  Dax looked at her with respect. “Little good it does us if they sink our battleship. If they kill you, we’d never have a way to stop them.”

  Esme glanced at Owen.

  We shouldn’t tell them about the Oath of Kings. That’s too much. Too heavy.

  She couldn’t help a dark chuckle at that last thought.

  Like everything’s rainbows and sunshine otherwise.

  “What if we hid Esme?” asked Max.

  She smiled at him. “They’ll keep opening rifts. If I don’t close them…”

  Max nodded with a sigh. “Yeah, that’s not a great idea either.”

  They sat in silence a minute as the truck slowed, turned, and sped up again down a new road. From the speed, Esme guessed they were now on a highway.

  Loukas turned on his seat to face the king. “We should double or triple the number of cavali you take into the field. The coming battles are sure to be every bit as bad as this one.”

  “Agreed.”

  “Good thing your Master Cavali is awesome and has hundreds of new recruits ready for action.” Loukas grinned.

  Esme found a smile on her face.

  I like this guy. I can see why he’s perfect for Lexi… Oh, shit. Lexi. Well, maybe now Owen will agree to tell her.

  Benja rested her head against the truck. “Do we have a prayer of surviving? I’m with you to my dying breath, my lord, but–”

  “Hey, jinn.” Owen smirked at her. “You’re my good luck charm, right? Of course we’re going to survive.” He took a breath. “And not only that, we’re ending this war and destroying the malevolenci. I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of living every day wondering when demons will attack next. I’m sick of losing men in battle – some of those boys today were right out of school. This isn’t any way for our peoples to live. And these malevolenci are evil. It’s high time we ended them.”

  Esme felt her heart race as she studied Owen’s face.

  Does he really believe we can end the war? Gods, I hope so.

  Owen looked from cavali to cavali. “I won’t lie – we haven’t been as close to losing this war in our lifetime. But neither have we had an alterni as powerful as Esme. The malevolenci know she’s our last hope, but she’s a damn good last hope. They’ll come at us with everything they’ve got, but we’re up for this fight. We just have to stay strong, stay sharp, stay tough, stay together. We’ll find a way to end them.”

  Not his worst pep talk.

  Esme sat and watched her teammates as they took a moment.

  Finally, Owen sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “If you want to be transferred to another team now that you know all this, I’ll understand. But we sure as hell could use you guys. Are you with us?”

  “Always, my lord,” answered Dax without hesitation.

  “Count on me,” said Max.

  Benja paused. “My lord, I think you should make the truth of our situation known to the Order.”

  Owen blew out his lips. Apparently he’d been holding his breath. “That might not be a good idea. Knowing we only have one alterni might cause panic–”

  “Or it might unite us,” Benja countered. “Some in the Order are on the verge of rebellion, my lord. More than ever, we need something to unite the paranormals and give them a common fight.”

  “And what if they turn that fight on me?” Owen lifted an eyebrow. “The fairies already believe the Order lies to them. You think it’d help for them to learn we’ve been keeping this secret?”

  Loukas wore a scowl. “My lord, Benja might be right. The Order has grown far too used to this war. It’s this horrible constant thing that many people have learned to live with. And that means the paranormals grumble about other, far less important things. If they knew how close we are to losing this war, they’d get a shot of reality and take this war seriously again. They’d rally and fight against our common enemy.”

  Esme tried not to nod along, knowing it was ultimately Owen’s decision.

  “Although,” said Dax with a frown, “I’d leave out the part about a new king getting new alterni if you die. The most rebellious paranormals might find a very treacherous way to be heroes.”

  Owen grunted in agreement and put his head in his hands.

  The rest of them sat in silence as the truck bumped along the highway.

  Owen sat back. “For now, we keep this to ourselves. I need to weigh our options. If I tell the Order about alterni endi, that’ll mean bucking thousands of years of Order tradition. I know Roman would tell me to keep my mouth shut. I’d like to seek alternate counsel before I make this decision.”

  His mother, Esme suspected. From what I’ve heard, Mirth Lord is almost as versed in Order history as Roman. But Owen seems to think she’d disagree with Roman. Cat balls, I hope so.

  Benja smiled at the king and bowed her head, crossing an arm over her chest in salute. “We’re with you, my lord.”

  Max, Dax, and even Loukas
copied her gesture.

  “Thank you.” Owen glanced at Esme with a small smile.

  The truck slowed, and they all leaned in their seats as Tank took an exit. Esme had ridden this route so many times that she recognized the bumps, and she knew they were almost back to the Capiti.

  Owen sighed. “Alright. The sun will be up soon, so the malevolenci probably won’t try anything more tonight. Hopefully we can get one decent day’s sleep, but I think we should expect to be active every night from now on.”

  They nodded in acceptance as the truck drove downhill. From the sounds outside, Esme knew they’d arrived at the Capiti’s garage. Soon the truck pulled to a stop, and the team gathered their things before climbing out.

  As soon as they stood in the lights of the parking garage, Tank came around from the driver’s side and looked at them wide-eyed. “Hey, guys, I couldn’t hear everything you were talking about. Did someone say Esme is–”

  “We’ll explain,” said Benja. She slapped a hand on the troll’s back. “Come on, let’s get cleaned up, big guy.” She turned to lead Tank to the elevator.

  Dax rolled his eyes behind Tank’s back before he and Max trailed after the jinn and troll.

  Loukas held his helmet against his side. He sighed and turned to Owen. “My lord, I don’t want to take advantage of the hundreds of favors you owe me, but…”

  Owen snorted a laugh. “What do you need? More funds for supplies?”

  “Nah, we’re all set for this war. What I’m wondering is, even if you decide not to announce the truth to the whole Order… Well, Lexi and I… I mean, she’s in charge of our forces just as much as I am. It’ll be hard to work with her in the days ahead if she doesn’t know–”

  “It’s okay. Tell her everything. I should’ve let Esme tell her months ago.” Owen looked over at Esme and smiled.

  She smiled back at him, then looked up at Loukas. “After you tell Lexi, please have her call me. I want her to know it’s been killing me not to say anything, but I was under orders from his royal lordship.” She gave Loukas a smile that she knew Owen saw.

  Loukas looked from her to Owen and smirked. “I’ll tell her.” He bowed to the king, winked at Esme, and turned to head for the elevator.