She released him at once, letting her hand fall to her side. She flexed her fingers several times but other than that, she didn’t move away from him. She felt a powerful need to remain close.
Everyone had left except Havily, Jean-Pierre, and Luken.
Luken then gave the orders. “Vela, we’d like you to go with Havily and talk this over with her, even take a couple of trips into the darkening and explore this power with her.” His gaze shifted to Samuel and he drew in a deep breath.
“I’ve persuaded Thorne and Endelle to back off a little. I reminded Thorne that when Marguerite left Second Earth he actually abandoned his post to follow her.
But we both agree on one thing, that you need to work with Jean-Pierre and get this power of yours figured out. You already know that one of Jean-Pierre’s gifts is facilitation, so will you at least agree to work with him?” Vela glanced up at Samuel. He met her gaze briefly, but his jaw looked pretty stiff. “I’ll do what I can,” he said, “but if I feel anyone’s in danger from the nature of my power, I’m out of here.” Warrior Luken opened his mouth to speak, but apparently rethought his words because he closed his mouth, nodded, then said, “We thought when Endelle defeated Greaves that we would enjoy a long period of peace, that, moving forward, our primary tasks would be to dismantle his army and pursue every last death vampire he created to the ends of the earth. Then our job would be done.
“We didn’t anticipate three generals off the grid with nearly a million warriors under their different commands. But that’s what we’ve got. One month after the battle at White Lake, and we’re in deeper than ever. You know this.”
“I do,” Samuel said.
Luken met his gaze squarely. “Do your best. No leader can ask for more.”
“I will.” Luken’s lips curved. “And you always have. Plus, I can think of more than one time you’ve had my back in the field over the past few months.” He glanced at Vela. “Will you do the same, Ascender Vela?”
“Yes, of course.” He smiled softly. “I knew your husband. He was a good man.”
“One of your finest,” Vela said, her throat closing up tight.
Luken nodded several times. “I have to go now. I have assignments to pass out at the Cave.” He glanced from Havily to Jean-Pierre. “If you’ll report in later, that would be great.” After both Jean-Pierre and Havily nodded their assents, Luken headed toward the doors and the long march to the landing platforms.
Havily met Vela’s gaze, her eyes full of compassion. “Why don’t we go to my office at Administrative HQ?” She inclined her head toward the same doors through which Luken had just disappeared. Vela agreed and put her feet in motion. But each step felt strange, like she was leaving something important behind, maybe the most important thing in her long ascended life.
Samuel’s head had finally cleared, but he was still reeling.
The breh-hedden.
He didn’t get it. Why him?
Jean-Pierre headed to the closest set of risers and waved Samuel forward to join him. Samuel followed.
Jean-Pierre sat down then stretched out his long, lean muscular frame by planting his elbows on the riser step behind him and crossing his feet at the ankles. “You must tell me what is going on with you, Samuel. I have learned something during these months of training so many different Militia Warriors. There are times when only drills and working hard will do, but right now I believe we must talk.” He jerked his head in the direction of the bench to his right.
Samuel knew this had to be done but he didn’t like it and he was definitely too tense to lean back like Jean-Pierre.
Instead, he sat forward, his forearms on his knees, his hands clasped together, his thoughts still full of Vela and the breh- hedden, of the last glimpse of her thick, wavy, unruly hair swaying behind her as she walked away.
He glanced at Jean-Pierre. He thought for sure that the strange vampire mate-bonding that had been making its way through the Warriors of the Blood, would have taken down another What-Bee this time, instead of his own f**ked up self. But then Gideon had been struck by the myth and he was still a mere Militia Warrior, although everyone agreed he fought at Warrior of the Blood status.
But Gideon deserved the accolade, the power. He’d been a leader among the Thunder God Warriors for a long time.
Samuel only served as support to another Section Leader, and part of that time he’d been roped up, tortured, and now endowed with some kind of power, a portion of which he couldn’t control. He scrubbed a hand over his face. He could have hurt Vela when he released his power. That he hadn’t seemed like some kind of miracle.
Jean-Pierre spoke forcefully. “Tell me about your dark power, mon ami. Tell me what you fear about its nature.”
“This power,” he began, his gaze dropping to the nearest black mat, “came out of my captivity, as a direct result of what I went through, how I survived.” His sense of rage and shame descended on him like a waterfall of remembered pain. The experience was a blur of hurt, blood- hunger, and food starvation. He’d blocked out a lot of it, but there were times, especially during the first few months of his release, when he woke up sweating and half out of his mind.
During the years of his captivity, his survival had required that he grow in strength, but what had come of it was a dark power that he couldn’t control. For the entire last year, while tortured, he’d released the smoky misty from his body, but up until the moment that Duncan showed up, his power had been benign.
Maybe seeing Duncan had jump- started the other part of his dark power, the uncontrolled part, but he’d never really know. Streams of energy had started to pour from him, in addition to the smoky mist, and through the Creator’s grace he’d been able to warn Duncan to fold the hell out of there. But the slaves, unable to leave the grounds, had perished to the last man and Samuel lived with the guilt of those undeserved deaths.
He’d always liked the Frenchman, trusted him. For that reason, he told Jean- Pierre everything, his voice low, the words flat as they left his mouth.
“Merde.” Jean-Pierre shook his head slowly back and forth. “And you say when you escaped, these streams of energy reached out and attacked those around you, without discrimination?”
“That’s the best way to explain it.”
“I understand now why you held back. I apologize for yelling at you.”
“You were just doing your job. The problem is that when I release the mist- based part of my power, I can never feel the streams, so I have no way of knowing what they are or what would cause them to appear.” Still leaning forward, he rubbed the back of his neck. “And now the breh- hedden.”