DEMONS OF EDEN SERIES - UPON THIS ROCK - Chapter 5

Urvashi refused to let me out of her sight for even a minute. “You’re staying with me at the Embassy Suites, no more argument. This is not a negotiation. We fly to Rome tomorrow. I’m only waiting for reinforcements to arrive. Mithra asked for protection, and I take my responsibilities seriously. There is more he hasn’t said, yet. I sense other disturbances in the world … things I have not felt in a long time.”

“I’ll stay right here tonight.” I flung my hand out towards my modest living room. “This is where I live, where my bed is … was.” I couldn’t help but look to the bedroom I didn’t sleep in anymore and yearn for my comfy mattress. That toasted futon was the most expensive furniture I’d ever owned, a five hundred dollar investment in Ikea. I was still paying for it, with interest.

My clinical trial started in two days. I’d miss it. The rent! This trip would have me evicted.

“I need four thousand dollars for two months’ bills and then I’ll stay wherever you want, here or Rome. I can’t leave my apartment and all my stuff until the rent’s paid. The manager gave me a late notice yesterday.”

Urvashi squinted at me with her ferocious look, but it didn’t feel as scary as the first couple of times she’d used it on me. After a terse moment of silence where I almost retracted my demand, she spoke slow and deliberate. “I’ll pay your rent for the rest of the year if you stop arguing with me.”

“Deal!” I couldn’t help but squee a little at my good fortune.

Nicholas coughed for attention. “I need to stop by my apartment and grab some stuff. If we’re really going to Rome, I need my passport and a few other things. I’m not asking for rent money, but I might need help with travel expenses.”

We both looked at him, wondering why he wanted to go. Any sane person would have hit the road when Urvashi did the crouching-badass-floating-dragon in my living room.

The wicked Apsara pointed a finger glowing with golden power at the fool. “You’re not staying in my suite.”

Nicholas looked at me like I was the crazy one. “What? I’m going wherever she goes. I’m in, all the way in. I’m so deep in this…”

“Nicholas, you heard what was said. I’m channeling Mithra, I’m on a mission for the gate … whatever that means. This is probably dangerous. Mithra’s been stalking me for years, preparing me for this journey. Whether I want to or not, I have to do this. You don’t have to do anything.” I reached out to put a hand on his shoulder. “I appreciate the gesture, but I’m not your responsibility.”

“Call me Nick. You sound like my mother.” He stepped in closer and I backed up, keeping my little bit of personal space as personal as possible. “Ashley, I’m not leaving you alone. That was the deal, remember? I promised. You called me looking for answers. We’re going to get those answers. Together.”

I looked into Nick’s eyes and found someone I thought I could trust … maybe. I knew what this meant to him. The big discovery. The Alien Question. I guess this was his journey too, sort of. Urvashi watched him, and her aura flickered with something like curiosity.

She dismissed Nick with a shrug. “If you stay in my suite you’re sleeping on the floor.” Her eyes took on a serious note. “Whatever you do, don’t sleep with Ashley. You saw what happened to her bed.”

Bitch.

Her head snapped around and pinned me with a look. Oh god, she read my thoughts!

It never occurred to me she might be psychic or telepathic, but it made sense. She’d believed me from the start, even when I told her ridiculous things that made no logical sense. Because she knew I wasn’t lying.

Damn.

* * * *

Urvashi gave us the abbreviated tour of her hotel as we followed past the front desk and through the hallway to her room. “Pool and hot tub on the ground floor. Workout center on the third floor, and I’m covering Ashley’s meal ticket, but not yours.” She looked pointedly at Nick as she swiped her room access card and opened the door to a massive suite complete with living room, two bathrooms, two queen beds in a one bedroom, a king-sized bed in a master bedroom … and a wetbar.

The place had to cost at least five hundred a night.

Nick looked around and eyeballed one of the queen beds in the second bedroom with a slight smile. He shrugged. “I got a credit card. As long as there’s a continental breakfast in the morning, I’m good.”

I snorted at his flippant acceptance, then sensed something strange moving nearby, out in the hallway. Someone approached our room, and it was not a normal person. I sensed teeth and claws … a feral intelligence. I backed away from the suite door and shot an alarmed look in Urvashi’s direction. “Someone’s here! He’s … I don’t know what he is!”

Urvashi ignored me.

The door clicked open and in walked a short, trim, muscular man in his fifties. He wore a charcoal business suit and had tight-cut curls of mahogany hair with sharp eyes. His aura streaked with strange color combinations I’d never seen before … dark, hungry tones. I caught flashing images of a large black dog with wicked rows of teeth. The animal ripped through flesh with alarming efficiency. Glossy red blood coated its black muzzle as it crunched and gnashed its grinding teeth at something meaty.

I backed up until I hit the wall. “Get away from me!”

He stopped and looked at me like I was the freak.

Urvashi cleared her throat with amusement in her eyes. “This my manservant, Renault. He won’t hurt you, Ashley. But if you push him, he might bite.” She winked as if it was all a big joke, the fact she employed this wolf-beast-man. A creature that delighted in shredding its victims, crushing their bones in its teeth – eating raw, bloody flesh.

His dark aura spiked with irritation. He looked to Urvashi. “Une autre retarde?”

She shook her head with a mischievous smile. “She is nothing like Aaron. Ashley’s gifted. She sees things. Have patience, Renault. Give her space. She knows what you are and it’s upsetting.”

“What is he?” Nick finally caught on to the issue.

“He’s …”

Urvashi cut me off. “He is none of your business. He doesn’t concern you. Renault works for me. Anything he says is an extension of me.” She reached out to stroke her servant’s cheek. “Please leave us. I’ll call if I need you.”

The short man nodded, and devotion streaked through his aura. Regardless of his animalistic nature, he served his master loyally. Their auras intertwined in a powerful emotional connection. I sensed they’d worked together for a very long time.

* * * *

Sitri stepped up onto his perturbateur platform and activated encryption to assure a private connection. He recalled the few times he’d attended a gathering of this magnitude, not since those ancient days of the Operti Wars.

His holographic likeness materialized across the dimensions of space and time, standing in another world. Sitri recognized his surroundings from meetings long ago – Vassago’s war room. The last time he stood in this hall of cut stone, in secret talks with other Principe, Rome was still recovering from Nero’s psychotic reign, and the Operti Wars had reduced Sitri’s forces to a handful of loyal warriors. The whole Superum suffered under the strain of Isolationist insurrection, each world battling for access to the Pérasma.

In this room, all those centuries ago, the few surviving Principe had brokered a peace deal that allowed for limited travel between the worlds of the Superum. A far better alternative to the total closure of passage demanded by Isolationist rebels.

But the fragmented rulers of Eden did not participate in the negotiation. Rome cared not for matters of the Superum, and the Persians ruling over Babylon sided with the Isolationists. In attempt to win a war against the Roman Empire, the Persian Emperor ordered the gates of Eden permanently sealed.

Then they assassinated the Cardo to ensure the gate never opened again.

Now, once more in this room of war, the Principe assembled in secret to discuss passage to Eden, and the prospect of a newly opened Pérasma to the lost world.

The tall, imposing figure of Vassago stepped into the middle of their small assembly and held out his hands in a gesture of welcome. “If only the great Mithra would join us to see the Superum united under the banner of his cause. Galos has courted him many times. I personally sent missives and overtures. Invitations and gifts. His own Principe, Sitri, cannot gain his confidence. Yet we are all held hostage by his efforts, in thrall to his lonely sacrifices in the name of the lost Empress … may she rest in peace. And why should Mithra regulate access to the lush garden of Eden? He listens to no one, cooperates with no one, and accepts no counsel. He embodies similar ideals of the Isolationists, refusing to work in concert to find balance across the Superum, that all worlds may reap the rewards of unity. His Principe, joins us today. Sitri, what news have you of Mithra’s endeavors?”

Sitri rankled at Vassago’s manipulations and wished his Deva was more forthcoming. Mithra’s powerful movements across the aether attracted the attention of every Deva and Principe. Rumors had spread quickly among worlds of the Superum. Most believed Mithra would soon open the gates to Eden. Yet Sitri himself, the only one with direct access to Mithra, had nothing to report. Forced to spy on his own Deva, and slink through clandestine meetings, Sitri now suffered the dark schemes of the cambion Vassago.

He didn’t know what bothered him more, his frustration at Mithra’s refusal to cooperate, or the cold fury in his belly as he watched Vassago influence his supporters with half-truths and innuendos. Mithra fostered distrust when he shunned the help of his fellow Incarnate. Now Sitri navigated the festering waters of rumor Vassago had stirred.

Sitri eyed the small assembly and knew there was no way but forward. Mithra had created this mess, and the Deva would need Sitri’s help resolving it. “Mithra’s progress is unprecedented. Never before has he been so close to his goal. I gladly offer my full resources to meet his ends. As you all witnessed, his conjurings depleted my entire system, only to recharge moments later. I cannot say exactly what he did, but one thing is apparent. He completed the binding with an exceptional woman of potential, and his host exhibits the signs and aptitude of the Cardo. It would seem that Eden has a new gatekeeper, and she is under Mithra’s control.”

Ceres and Galos nodded while the other Principe expressed various noises of surprise.

Vassago held out his hands again, beseeching the group. “Is there any chance the great Mithra will give us audience? Would he consider aligning with our common cause?”

Sitri looked around the room, wishing there was another way, wishing he’d declined to attend the meeting. They were trying to turn him against his own Deva, and he hated them all for it. Mithra didn’t deserve this. Sitri had loved the man like a brother for centuries. Vassago’s twisted deceit set Sitri’s blood to boil – they shared no common cause. Mithra sought to reunite the Superum with Eden, to live up to the ancient ideals of a long-forgotten Empress. Vassago and his crowd of supporters sought a baser purpose … exploitation.

“There is no guarantee Mithra will join with the Principe. But I can try to make him see reason, once more. What I will not do is betray my Deva. I owe him allegiance, support … he is my friend.”

As several Principe chuckled, Sitri held up his hand to silence them. “In the play of politics among the Superum, there is little room for sentiment, I know. Aside from my personal feelings, I think it wise to delve deeper in your archives. The Mithra we know today was not always the calm, patient, self-sacrificing Deva working diligently towards unity. He long ago renounced the desire for conquest to focus on Vedic pursuits, and he is a powerful Deva, probably the most capable in all the Superum. Search the history of his Incarnations and you will find ancient records of a time when Mithra was once a member of Indra’s court and served under the Empress herself, centuries before the rise of Principe rule over the Superum. Mithra – the warlord – survived the fall of Atlantis. I ask the members of this assembly to consider the ancient Mithra, a dangerous and powerful adversary, a god of Assyria, Babylon, and Rome. I pray you do not make an enemy of my Deva, for his fury once laid low the nations of Eden.”