Edge of Pathos (Book 4 of The Conjurors Series)

Chapter 26

Kanti left to find Henry on Earth, and Valerie searched the Black Castle to see if any Fractus remained from Reaper's original force, but all she found were bones. Whether they were soldiers of the Fist, or prisoners Reaper had executed, she'd never know. But the castle was abandoned.

She knew that she was delaying the inevitable. Chisisi and Skye would be awaiting her direction, and Thai needed to know what had happened to his brother.

Valerie looked over the throne room one last time and turned when she heard footsteps. Sanguina walked over to Zunya's remains and paused.

"Artificial," Sanguina said, nudging Zunya's hand, which was the only part of him that hadn't disintegrated, with her toe. "Reaper took his real hand as punishment. Later, he gave Zunya a fake hand and animated it with his magic, but Zunya always rubbed it, and I'm sure Reaper made it hurt as a reminder never to betray him."

"Are you sorry he's dead?" Valerie asked. She couldn't summon up any regret in her own heart for the man who'd made her life hell from the time she was a child.

Sanguina's face twisted. "He turned me into a vampyre. My only regret is that he didn't die by my hand."

"And that his death didn't give Henry any peace," Valerie said.

"Kanti is with your brother now, but he is a shell. Even she cannot penetrate the fog of his pain," Sanguina said.

"I don't think anyone can," Valerie said.

"I know something about being lost in your guilt, tortured by decisions made that cannot be undone," Sanguina said. "And I know that it is possible to find your way back to yourself."

Valerie couldn't speak, not wanting to let her emotions escape the tight rein she had on them. But she gripped Sanguina in a brief, tight hug.

"You have my forgiveness, and my friendship," she said.

Chisisi was in a safe house in India when Valerie found him at last, but he wasn't alone. Crammed into the tiny space were at least twenty people, many of them shouting.

"You will be heard, but only if everyone stops talking at once," Chisisi said, and the crowd quieted slightly.

"Why should we show the Fractus mercy when they give us none?" Elisabeth asked, and the murmuring that followed her words sounded like agreement.

"Because we're trying to create a better world than the one the Fractus are forcing upon us," Valerie replied.

All of the heads in the room swiveled to look at her, and now the quiet in the room was complete.

"I know what it is to have the Fractus attack you and kill the people you love. My father was killed by Reaper, as was one of my closest friends only a few months ago. I have the ability to kill my enemies on the battlefield, and even though sometimes I'm so overwhelmed by rage that I could choke, I choose to stay my hand. I do it to make the world a little better, so that one less child loses a parent, or sister loses a brother, or husband loses a wife. And so far, I don't regret that decision."

"Are you asking us to be martyrs?" Elisabeth asked.

"No! I know that some Fractus will die when we fight them, and though we grieve, we have to move on," Valerie said. "But when we can, let's capture them. It will mean that both Earth and the Globe will heal faster when all of this is over."

"I've seen too much death in my line of work." Dr. Freeman's deep voice calmed Valerie's heart, like it always had when he'd taken care of her at the hospital. "I, for one, will follow Valerie's lead in this."