18. EDGE

EDGE

" R oan," Balthazar said his Master's name softly, but it still had a bitter taste. "It would be him. Of course, it would be him."

"Fiona… Kaly has got her, Balthazar!" Arcius said and his lips writhed back from his teeth, the old Berserker rage coming to the front at the danger to his love.

"We don't know that. Do we?" Christian asked, his gaze snapping between Arcius and Balthazar. "Maybe she's just having problems locating him!"

"Only one way to find out," Balthazar said.

He closed his eyes and concentrated on Fiona's mind. She wasn't just not in Nightvallen, she also wasn't on Earth, but in another part of the Ever Dark entirely so reaching her would be difficult. His brain wanted to say that this was too much distance! That it would be impossible to reach her when she was so very far away. But there really was no physical distance at all between one mind and another.

He thought of the click and clack of the beads in Fiona's hair. He imagined her turning her head to look at him and how the beads would click and clack . He pictured it again and again. The sounds filled his ears. Finally, he saw her silver eyes. He pictured them meeting his own. Her head turned. The click and clack . Her eyes would fix on his. Her lips would then form the location of where she was and if she was in danger. Head turned. Click. Clack . Silver eyes. Lips moving. Balthazar's eyelids flew open.

"Destiny," Balthazar breathed. "Kaly has her in Destiny."

"The Eyros city in the Ever Dark," Caemorn stated, informing those there that didn't know.

The hair on the back of Balthazar's neck lifted. He thought of the arrogance of naming his own city Destiny . And yet, here they were, in the endgame and destiny was calling them.

Could it really have ended any other way?

"But any gate to Destiny has been lost since the War!" Arcius cried, his eyes sparking. "How did Kaly get there?"

"It was not lost to the Immortals, Arcius, only to Vampires who were not born at that time," Seeyr reminded him, but then her head turned towards Balthazar, "at least not those whose minds were fully their own with memories intact."

"How is he keeping her there?" Julian asked, eyes shadowed. "She should just be able to teleport away from him, shouldn't she?"

"This final form is another Eyros Vampire," Balthazar said as he felt the brief touch of Roan-Kaly's mind. It was as familiar to him as his own. He suddenly swallowed metallic tasting saliva.

"Who did Kaly take over?" Arcius looked ready to chew through rocks. "I can't believe that we wouldn't know them! Do we?"

Balthazar gave a sharp laugh. "No one we know, Arcius. No one who has ever stood out. No one of any importance. At least not to my mind."

The Kaly slice's final form was that of a man in his late twenties or early thirties. He had mousy brown hair and a rather pallid complexion with a spray of freckles across his nose. He was only 5'7" in height with a narrow body that bent forward as if he needed to peer ahead to ascertain that every step he took was safe. He was the type that shrank away from loud voices and kept to himself on the edge of parties. He watched and chewed his fingernails to the quick. He was unremarkable. Completely unforgettable.

But that was only on the surface .

"Well, he's bloody important now that he has Fiona!" Arcius cried.

"It's not your fault that you didn't know, Balthazar, who he really was," Christian told him, intuiting the blame he was placing upon himself.

"I don't know him at all, my darling, yet I should have. He passed by me many times. I vaguely remember his face, but I thought him to be of no consequence. In my great wisdom , I saw only what he wanted me to see," Balthazar said bitterly. "All this time, Roan was still alive. Roan was Kaly. My bastard maker. And I didn't know at all! All this power and yet none at all."

He stared down at his hands that he lifted up before them. He had been having fun taking down the Kaly slices. He had actually thought himself clever and powerful, actually Eyros again, and now…

Am I the Master?

Or the slave?

Daemon should do this. I should step back. Ask Daemon to take charge. I can't do this.

Arcius' hands were suddenly grabbing his shoulders and shaking him. "Balthazar, Fiona needs you!" He focused on his friend. "You beat him before when you were barely a babe out of the woods in Vampire terms. You can do it again!"

Could he? Or would he fail again? Like he had so many times before.

"Balthazar," Daemon's voice was soft, but it had the effect of a whip crack in his ears.

The Vampire King was dressed all in black except for his beloved long fur coat. He stood up, his imposing frame alone would have made him unforgettable. He did not hide who or what he was. He was the king. He spoke and Balthazar acted.

"You are Eyros, Balthazar," Daemon said in that same soft, unhurried tone that yet seared the ideas into his mind. "Destiny is your city. You need to take it back and fully assume the mantle of leadership of your Bloodline."

"You handled over half a dozen of me at once, Balthazar," Caemorn reminded him. "You can handle this last remaining part. Roan-Kaly just wants you to believe you can't. But objective reality says otherwise."

He looked at Caemorn. As he had absorbed more of himself, Caemorn had become different. Not crazy or murderous or sociopathic. Well, not more than he already had been. Quieter though. More thoughtful. A little more remote . And Balthazar knew that was where Caemorn liked to be, because there was less noise and less chance for rejection in this distance. But he spoke up now, in a way denigrating his own power, which cost him to say.

"I thought I handled him before, but I was wrong," Balthazar said. "And I only did it by the skin of my teeth."

"No, you did not." Caemorn's lips formed a small smile. "Surely, you understood why what you did was so very frightening for all the older Vampires."

Balthazar frowned. "I killed my Master--"

"With ease ," Caemorn added. "It was the last part that gave me the leverage over them I needed to exile you. Roan was no one's favorite, Balthazar. He was almost universally loathed. Having you kill him was a good thing all around."

"Can't let fledglings go killing Masters and all that though," Balthazar said with faux amusement.

"Maybe. Maybe not. But the way I was able to move them to act so swiftly, instead of sweeping it under the rug, was that you shouldn't have been able to do what you did as easily as you did it," Caemorn told him. "You were too strong too soon. I told them that you would rule them all in no long time if they weren't careful. And, as always, I was right."

Balthazar snorted. "As always?"

"Yes. As always." Caemorn inclined his head. "And you, as always , will defeat me."

Balthazar stared at him. He couldn't mean that. Caemorn did not look away. He did mean that.

"I am more powerful than you, Balthazar," Caemorn said with no false modesty. "But you… you always defeat me, because you understand me better than I do myself. And no matter how much I know about you, you are still a mystery to me at your core. That is just as true, if not truer, for Roan-Kaly."

Click. Clack. Silver eyes locking on Balthazar's. Fiona mouthing the word, "Help. Destiny. Help."

No more delay. No more hesitation. He had to do something here.

"Daemon, can you open a gate to Destiny?" Balthazar asked.

Even before he had finished the sentence a gate blazed unanchored to anything but the floor. A blazing portal.

"That's new," Balthazar said as he tilted his head towards the gate. "You needed Fiona and the crew to go to Earth to access the other parts of the Ever Dark."

"Life is about change," Daemon said with a smile. "Continual change."

Balthazar could see Destiny through the gate and he froze. Time stood still then reversed. Like Lasting, Solace and Nightvallen, Destiny was made of that lovely, softly glowing white stone. The city curved around a silvery lake that reflected the twin moons above. Graceful towers speared the heavens. Each was lit with an eternal flame, blue-white and lovely.

"The light of the mind," Balthazar found himself saying.

Christian looped his arm through Balthazar's. "The flame in that tower is a different color than the rest."

Instead of the blue-white flames like in the other towers, this central tower had a purplish-black flame that was almost invisible against the night sky.

"The remaining part of me is there with Fiona," Caemorn said as he stepped to the other side of Balthazar.

Daemon offered his arm to Julian who jumped up from his throne. Sophia and Seeyr also rose up. Arcius was practically charging towards the gate, but stopped just short of going through it.

"Are you all coming?" Balthazar asked.

"Of course," Daemon said.

"We need to see the end. I've been picturing it for so very long." Seeyr touched the clean, silk bandage that covered her missing eyes.

"Go ahead, Balthazar. We will follow," Daemon told him.

Balthazar tightened his hold on Christian. He met his fledgling's gaze. Christian nodded and faith in him flowed over their bond. Balthazar strode forward with Christian and Caemorn followed briskly by Arcius. The moment he stepped foot in Destiny, Balthazar drew in a deep breath as if he finally could. Snow drifted down from the sky and his breath frosted the clear air.

"Beautiful," Christian murmured as he looked up at Destiny's towers.

"It will be even more so when I get that spider out of my attic," Balthazar said, glaring at the central tower with the purple flame.

There were two figures up there. Roan-Kaly and Fiona. The tower was over 100 feet tall. It was going to be a little anticlimactic if they had to climb up all the stairs or even if they jumped their way up. He should have asked one of the Wyvern Vampires to come right with them and--Between one moment and the next they were on top of the tower.

Thank you, King Daemon , Balthazar said.

Thank Julian. He was the one who did it. I wanted to see if he could teleport others without touching them, Daemon said.

I… that was… you've got a lot of confidence in him, Balthazar laughed.

I do. As I do in you, Daemon answered.

Aren't you joining us? Balthazar asked as he realized that neither Daemon or Julian were up on the tower with him, Christian, Caemorn and Arcius.

Don't wait on us. We're taking our time, Daemon told him.

"Fiona! Let her go, Roan!" Arcius roared and made to reach for an ax that wasn't there. He growled in fury when his hand came back empty.

He was screaming at Roan-Kaly who had Fiona in front of him, one arm around her neck, even though he had her mind. Using physical strength showed a lack of confidence. Weakness actually. Balthazar found himself smiling. At least until he saw the look of muted rage and fear and pain on Fiona's face. Sweat trailed down from her hairline as she struggled mentally to free herself. Wyvern was a creature of the air. Holding her in one place like this was wrong.

Arcius balled his massive hands into pile-driver sized fists and rushed Roan-Kaly. He used his mental abilities as a shield that would knock Roan-Kaly back.

"Arcius, no!" Balthazar cried.

Attacking Roan-Kaly when he had such a hold of Fiona's mind could hurt her . Roan-Kaly could snap her sanity. But Arcius was beyond reason seeing his lover in the hands of their monstrous Master.

But Roan-Kaly didn't harm Fiona. He didn't have to. With a dry laugh, Roan-Kaly sent a wave of mental control at Arcius. The mental shield knocked most of it to the side, but not all. Arcius veered just slightly off course. A wobble. Just a little wobble. But it was enough.

Arcius let out a yell of rage as he barrelled right past Roan-Kaly and Fiona. He would have kept going, but for Balthazar returning control to him at the last moment. As it was, Arcius was able to stop his forward momentum, but he teetered on the edge of the tower. Christian moved like lightning and grabbed the back of Arcius' robes, pulling him firmly back onto the stone tower.

"That my Grand-Childe, yes?" Roan-Kaly asked about Christian.

Balthazar felt Caemorn watching to make sure that both Arcius and Christian were all right. They were. He'd already confirmed that or he would have acted himself. Balthazar realized, with a sense of amusement and warmth, that Caemorn was as protective of Christian as he was.

Roan-Kaly continued when he said nothing, "A Speaker to the Dead! They've always been mine. The special ones like that."

"Gods, even your voice is forgettable," Balthazar said with a sigh, wanting to stop him from speaking about Christian.

He knew that behaving as if Roan-Kaly did not matter, did not intimidate him, not even a little bit, would drive him crazy. It always had in the past. Roan-Kaly could be torturing him, beads of blood rolling down Balthazar's temples, and he'd still grin and crack jokes until he couldn't breathe and then he'd just grin. Memories of being on his back, naked, bound, bleeding, starving plucked at him. Things he wanted to forget, things he had forgotten, threatened to rush in and overwhelm him.

I can smell his mind. It's like something rotting under old leaves, Balthazar realized.

"And you still need others' help to come up against me!" Roan-Kaly sneered, the indifference like a match to gasoline.

He's hotter than usual. Out of control. Knows the game's up, Balthazar thought.

"Actually, not really," Balthazar said with a yawn. "Caemorn is here--oh, wait, I mean Kaly --is here to absorb you, which you will eagerly accept in a moment. Arcius and Christian are here for the show. And Daemon and Julian are just strolling around, looking at the city. You don't even warrant them coming up here."

Roan-Kaly's eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched. Fiona suddenly let out a cry of pain. Arcius' head lifted up like a maddened bull again. Christian was trying to calm him.

Balthazar, you can do this! Christian told him.

"Do you remember when I used to make you believe you were on fire, Balthazar? Kept you conscious through the whole experience, didn't I?" Roan-Kaly smiled fondly. "Shall I do that to Fiona here?"

A wave of revulsion went through Balthazar. He could almost feel the sizzle of flames against his skin, crisping the hair off his body, and then toasting his flesh. The memory of that agony washed through him.

With horror, he saw Christian react to his memories. Curl forward. Clutch his chest. Retch. Arcius was frantically holding Christian now, but Christian was screaming, thrashing… Caemorn shot him a look as if to say, "Fix this, Balthazar! What are you allowing to happen?"

What was he allowing to happen? Why couldn't he stop it? Why had he allowed Christian to see that? Experience that? He should have kept Christian away from here! Arcius, too! They weren't safe. It wasn't safe! He…

Be calm, Daemon's voice whispered through his mind.

Calm…

That meant first things first. That meant thinking instead of feeling.

Calm...

Balthazar winnowed the connection between them and pushed the memories back into the deep, dark hole they belonged in. Christian collapsed against Arcius. Balthazar felt a trickle of sweat run down his temple. He had hurt Christian. His foolishness...

He had to put a stop to this now. But getting a hold of Roan-Kaly's mind was much harder than the others. The shield he was using to protect himself from Balthazar was smooth as a glass dome. But there would be an edge. The tiniest edge, but it would be there.

"Or what about those times I had you thinking that I'd peeled every inch of your skin off?" Roan-Kaly continued with an almost fiendish glee.

Balthazar sought for that edge, that tiny edge, but everything was smooth and his mind slipped over that barrier. His nostrils flared. More sweat poured down his face as the memories rose in him, distracting him, battering against him.

"Or when I drowned you? Well, that was most definitely only in your mind. Vampires can't drown, but you knew what it felt like. Didn't you? I made you feel so many things, Balthazar," Roan-Kaly went on and on. He drew a finger down Fiona's cheek. "I can make her feel them. Do you feel them now, Fiona?"

She let out a strangled gasp and her legs nearly went out from underneath her. But Roan-Kaly made her keep her knees locked so she'd stand upright. Suffering filled her silver eyes.

"Fiona! Gods, stop it, Roan! Stop it!" Arcius screamed even as he was as pale as milk and couldn't leave Christian.

Balthazar, Caemorn's use of his name was strong and insistent. What are you doing?

Don't distract me! Balthazar hissed.

Stop letting him play with you, Caemorn stated. You are not his Childe! He is not your Master!

But--

No, Balthazar, no buts. You are Eyros. The great Eyros. Make him know it! Caemorn insisted. I can't reach his soul until you do this!

At that same moment, he felt Christian reaching for him. Loving him. Wanting to give him strength even as the young man was still trembling from the experience of a few memories.

Memories… Roan is doing this… bringing them up… making them real again… except they weren't real then and they certainly aren't now. Balthazar's eyes narrowed. I have to make him angry. Make him lose control to find that edge.

"Did you know that Caemorn brought the Harrows back?" Balthazar asked, grinning. "It was quite a thing! Wasn't it?"

He asked this of Caemorn. Caemorn grunted and nodded.

"The power of the Kaly Palace is legendary so that's--"

"They're going to become Vampires. In fact, they're thinking of asking Caemorn here to be their Master," Balthazar said.

Caemorn's head snapped towards him, unable to hide his shock. Roan-Kaly's forehead furrowed.

"But we killed them. We kept them prisoner--"

"But they understand that you and Artemis aren't really Kaly. Caemorn is Kaly. The real Kaly. The core of Kaly," Balthazar said. "And they like him. Because he's nothing like you ."

"That's not true! I am the true Kaly! Not that neutered, pathetic wet wipe!" Roan-Kaly yelled. His face grew redder with every word.

"Wet wipe?" Balthazar repeated and lifted his eyebrows as he gave Caemorn a grin. "I really don't think that King Daemon would love a wet wipe."

"What? Love--"

"Oh, yeah, and Caemorn is Prince Julian's particular friend," Balthazar went on. "Both of them hugged him. Hugged! Can you believe it? I'm sure you can't. Nobody hugs you. Nobody ever would."

"I'll make you hug me. Bring you close and rip out your goddamn throat, Balthazar!" Roan-Kaly yelled.

And in that moment, when he switched his full attack from Fiona directly at him, Balthazar felt the edge. He smiled as he slipped underneath it and ripped it off. Roan-Kaly's eyes widened as he felt his mistake. He sent intimate memories of violence at Balthazar. Not the pain, but the way that Balthazar had begged Roan-Kaly to love him, to reveal that he still needed and wanted his love despite everything .

Rage suffused every ounce of Balthazar's being as he remembered being rebuffed. Again and again and again. Until he was bleeding out. His heart ripped out. The remains of it were in between Roan-Kaly's teeth.

No more. I am Eyros!

There was a visible wave of power that came off of him and struck Roan-Kaly. The creature was thrown back from Fiona and slammed against the ground. He skidded a few feet before going still. He was completely unconscious.

Fiona gasped and brought her hands up to her throat.

"It's--it's over? Yes, it's over," Fiona got out.

Arcius and Christian hobbled over to her. Balthazar pulled Christian into his arms. He kissed Christian fiercely.

"I'm sorry, Christian. I didn't mean to let you experience that. I--"

"Shhhh, it's all right. You were amazing. You stopped him. He did that to you over and over… and you were able to stop him," Christian murmured against his throat. "You ended it."

"He did more than that!" Arcius grinned. He and Fiona were embracing. "Can't you feel it? This whole place is saying hello to us. Hello to you, Balthazar. Oh, I'm sorry, Eyros ."

"Yes, yes, I am an Immortal. I am the great and powerful Eyros," Balthazar chuckled weakly. "Do not look at that man behind the curtain! Just gaze upon my heavenly glory!"

Caemorn stood over the unconscious Roan-Kaly. "We should finish this before he wakes again."

"It wouldn't matter if he did," Balthazar said. "The connection between him and I… well, it's gone."

Caemorn nodded. "Good. I hope you forget it. All of it."

Balthazar kissed Christian's temple. He hesitated before saying, "Do you really want this part back, Caemorn?"

Caemorn looked up at him. "You are worried that this part of me returning will make me want to do those things to you?"

"A little. I'd rather you didn't want to--"

"I won't. But this darkness is a part of me," Caemorn told him. "But I promise you that it will never touch you or Christian again."

Balthazar slowly nodded. He felt Christian agree with his decision.

"All right, I believe you. I trust you," Balthazar said. "Let's end this."