CHAPTER TWO.

Sacred Flame.

My destination turned out to be the Diamonds, a residential section of town where the upwardly mobile citizens of Gardenia who were wealthy but not at the level of nobility, made their homes far from the impoverished commoners they pretended they were superior to.

Here, outside an expensive looking brownstone where the lawn was valued more highly than the lives of the men who maintained it, were armed troops blocking access to the building. When I exited the A-ART, I soon discovered Elphie Cross dressed in her imposing white armor, patiently awaiting my arrival.

It was a rare thing to see Elphie fully kitted out in her battle gear. The Valkyries usually wore a matching set of white uniforms with gold embellishment, topped off with a short cape that bore the sigil of the Regent. Tonight, however, she looked as though she was prepared to lay siege to an enemy fortress.

After using my [Appraisal] skill to check out her gear, I gave a low whistle of appreciation. Her white enameled armor was covered with powerful physical enhancement spells that boosted her strength and reaction time to superhuman levels. No wonder she was carrying that large Warhammer slung across her back as easily as a willow reed. When you combined that gear with her formidable Geomancer abilities, Cross would be a nightmare to face in open battle. A one-woman army.

I couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for whoever it was that she’d gotten all dressed up for. They were bound to have an unpleasant evening once she caught up to them.

“Welcome to the circus,” she said after we greeted each other. Then she paused and gave me a quick once-over with her eyes. Cross had let her hair grow a little longer since the last time I’d seen her, but it was still shorter than how most women kept theirs; a stylish looking, multilayered mess that blurred the line between pixie and punk, with lilac highlights. If she weren’t wearing such impressive equipment, most people would probably dismiss her as another vapid member of the aristocracy. But one sharp look from her unsettlingly intelligent eyes would quickly correct any such misunderstanding.

I looked around myself with an exaggerated expression of confusion as though wondering what she was looking at with such intensity. Then I turned back toward her and asked, “Is there something wrong?”

“I was just thinking,” she said.

“About?” I asked.

“Well, it’s weird,” Cross murmured. “I recognized you right away and I suddenly thought to myself…why hasn’t this idiot aged in the seven years since we first met?”

“Stop exaggerating. We’ve only known each other for four years,” I said dismissively.

“Seven years, Kyler,” she insisted. “I’ve never really thought about it before, but seeing you in the flesh again, it’s so obvious. I think you could still pass as a student at the academy if you wanted.”

“Has it really been seven years?” I asked. “No, that can’t be right.”

“It absolutely is,” replied Cross.

Despite my protests, I knew Cross was telling the truth. This was a common problem for immortals back in the reality that I originally hailed from. Like I said to Rachel, time doesn’t exist for vampires in the same way that it does for living beings. It’s a meaningless concept when you’re undead and it’s very easy for us not to notice its passing. Sunrise and sunset are the only markers of the day that we acknowledge.

Slip ups like this grow more common the older one becomes. It seems I might soon need the assistance of a human servant to help minimize such blunders. Someone who could keep tabs on father time for me. In the meanwhile, I would need to make some alterations to my appearance to avoid more awkward conversations in the future. I’d need to age up my skin a tad and add a little muscle mass. Nothing too elaborate, just a few subtle changes to ease any suspicious minds.

And speaking of suspicious minds…

“Cross, you’re thinking too much about this,” I assured her. “Just let it go.”

“Excuse me?” she replied, put off a bit by my dismissiveness. “Why should I?”

In response, I made eye contact with her and used [Mesmerize] to gently invade her mind. “Because I told you to. There’s nothing strange about my appearance. You won’t be curious about this in the future. If others mention it, you’ll ask if they need glasses or make a similar such jest. The subject is closed.”

“The subject is closed,” Cross said with an agreeable nod. “Huh. I guess I was just seeing something that wasn’t there. That’s not good. Long nights are bad enough without hallucinating.”

“Maybe you just wanted an excuse to stare at my face?” I suggested.

“Ha, no,” she snorted. “My gold star stays right where it is, thank you very much.”

“It’s your loss,” I said.

“I can live with it. So, are you curious why I brought you in?”

“You didn’t bring me in. I’m volunteering my services,” I said as I followed her inside the home. “And I’m guessing it’s because something unfortunate happened to whoever owns this place.”

“I like that you catch on quick,” Cross said.

The interior of the home was surprisingly empty. Being that this was the diamond district, one would expect there to be all manner of expensive furnishings cluttering the place up. This house didn’t even have any carpeting. The walls were as bare as the floor, and the only thing that suggested it was an inhabited space was the small shrine maintained in the living room, and the fresh groceries kept in the fridge.

I helped myself to a box of apple tarts left on the counter, tasted one for poison, and after finding none in it, discretely switched to my human form so I could devour it in a few greedy bites, before grabbing another one. Cross frowned at me as I ate, but I paid her disapproval no mind. She was the one who’d interrupted my dinner after all. Besides, it would have been wasteful to let these wonderful treats rot away.

Their owner was unlikely to care.

“So, this is where my caller lived?” I asked once I’d finished the box.

Cross nodded without saying anything.

“It takes a lot of money to live in this area,” I said. “But this place is so spartan, isn’t it? Either he wasn’t home very often, or he possessed simple aesthetics. Probably both. Warriors like to travel light, don’t they?”

“What are you trying to say?” Cross eventually asked.

Instead of replying, I began opening random kitchen drawers and rummaged through them until I found one filled with stacks of old bills and envelopes.

“Isn’t it funny, Cross?” I mused. “No matter how clean someone insists on keeping their living space, people still wind up with a kitchen drawer filled with old bills. Rich or poor, it’s always the same. Old paperwork always finds itself discarded inside a kitchen drawer.”

I took note of the old envelopes with their billing addresses that matched the numbers on the property. All addressed to a Brian Smith.

“Brian Smith…” I murmured to myself. “Hmm. That feels like a lie.”

“What makes you say that?” Cross asked.

“It’s so generic,” I replied as I began wandering around the house. “There are no members of the great houses who use Smith as a surname.”

“And why would that matter?”

“Because you’re here. Elphie Cross, second in command of the Valkyries. You’re a big deal, Elphie. You’re a very big deal. But even if this Brian Smith were a member of one of the houses, you white capes fill a very specific role in the hierarchy of power. You answer to the Regent. Only to the Regent. And the only reason you’d be out here would be if Brian False Name were connected to the old man as well. What’s upstairs?”

I could hear her men moving around in the next room over, speaking quietly. I wondered if Cross had prepared an ambush for me. That wouldn’t have ended very well.

For them.

“Why did he call you?” Cross suddenly asked.

“I don’t know. Who was he?”

“No one you’ve ever met,” Cross said grimly. “Which begs the question of why your number would be programmed into his mobile comm. You’ve never interacted with each other, Kyler. Why did he call you?”

“I spent some time last week handing out fliers for my services,” I said with a shrug. “If I knew what he looked like, perhaps I could confirm giving him one?”

“Impossible. You haven’t left that decrepit neighborhood you’ve been slumming in for the last sixty days. There’s no way you directly crossed paths with each other.”

“You’re really certain of that, aren’t you?” I asked. “This guy must have been under intense scrutiny for you to be so sure.”

I must have been as well if they’d been keeping track of my whereabout for the last two months. The more I thought about it, the more it began to displease me. Why was I being spied upon? Was the Regent trying to make me angry? If so, how dare he!

I’ve been a quiet citizen for the last four…er seven years. I’ve done nothing to deserve such scrutiny. I’d rarely even left the Velas estate! I’d been content to laze about and enjoy a splendid life of rich plentitude.

At least until that thing with Anikka happened.

Did they know anything about that too?

These silly, spoiled children. Didn’t they know how easy it was to tear flesh from bone? To turn laughter into screams?

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

If he kept offending me like this, the arrogant Regent would be the first to learn.

“What do you want to do with him?” asked the distorted voice of another Valkyrie as she stepped into the room. Unlike Cross, she wore the helmet that came with her armor, which masked her features entirely. Instead of a hammer, she wielded a large, ornate staff, which meant she was a caster of some type.

Cross kept staring at me, weighing her options. Then she said, “We may as well let him have a look.”

“The Regent wouldn’t like that,” the masked woman said.

Cross straightened her posture immediately at those words, with narrowed eyes. It didn’t seem she appreciated being reminded of her duties by a junior underling.

“I’m sure he wouldn’t, so let’s be sure not to mention it to him,” Cross said as she gestured for me to follow her up the stairs.

“Careful, Elphie,” I said with a sly smirk as I joined her. “This one seems ambitious. If you’re not careful she’ll be the new second in command before you realize it.”

“I’m not worried about it, but thank you so much for your concern,” Cross grunted as we climbed the stairs to the second floor.

“Keep your opinions to yourself, Evans,” the other woman said angrily.

“It’s Velas now, actually,” I replied.

In response to that, her grip on her staff tightened.

She did not like hearing that.

“Cross, we should just bring him in for questioning,” the newcomer continued. “He’s hiding something, I’m sure of it. Just give me some time alone with him and he’ll talk. They always talk when I’m through with them…”

Goodness, what an eager little soldier this woman was. So aggressive! I wondered what I’d done to make her so upset with me. Her body language was pure hostility. As if my mere presence was enough to elicit her hatred.

Although her mask disguised her voice with some manner of voice filtration device, I recognized something familiar about the cadence with which she spoke. A moment later I took a look at her using [Appraisal] and had my suspicion confirmed.

“He’s been of service to the Norus family in the past,” Cross said impatiently. “I’m certain you recall the incident that occurred with Lady Emily. Lord Velas here was the one who rescued her. Lady Emily remains grateful for his intervention and in turn, so do we. Remember that.”

“This bastard is not Lord Velas,” the masked woman said sullenly.

“The courts say otherwise, Thalia,” I said with a mocking tone of sympathy. “One would think you’d have learned to accept it by now.”

The masked woman stared at my smirking face, startled that I knew. Then, realizing the game was up, she removed her helm, revealing an attractive face with features like Anikka’s. Her golden hair was tied back in a tight bun, and the expression she wore was severe.

She was Thalia Velas. My brother’s former fiancé and technically my older sister by adoption. She’d once tried to murder me with a lightning strike and I in turn had vowed to disembowel her using my fingernails. I’d have done it by now too, but Anikka couldn’t bear the thought of her sister dying by my hand, the loving child that she was. So, I let the roach scurry away, content to mock her by taking away everything that mattered to her. Her name, her home, her wealth.

I still really wanted to kill her, though.

She was the one who started it.

“Sup, sis? How’s tricks?” I asked. “I see you have a new job. Congrats on finding employment in this market.”

“Don’t call me that,” Thalia growled.

“What? Employed? Don’t be embarrassed, sis. Government work is nothing to be ashamed of. The benefits must be wonderful.”

“I’m not your sister!” she seethed.

“Hey, now, keep calm!” I said as I raised my hands in placation. “Remember, behaving like this is why you weren’t invited to your father’s funeral.”

“Because I know you were the one that killed him!”

“No, it was the pavement beneath the balcony that did that. My only fault was being too slow to stop him.”

Well, that and telling him to jump in the first place, but she didn’t need to hear that part. Although she clearly suspected it.

“Thalia, whatever your prior grievances with this man, we’re here in service to the Regent,” Cross said, interrupting our discussion. “Please set your dispute aside and focus on your duty.”

“That’s exactly what I’m doing,” Thalia said heatedly. “I’m telling you, if Evans is involved, then Evans is the cause! One need only look at his checkered past! Do you honestly believe that Lord Alexis would willingly make contact with a known equalist?”

“Lord Alexis?” I asked in surprise. That was yet another familiar sounding name.

I turned to face Cross who in turn was glaring at Thalia with a thunderous expression on her face, clearly furious with the other woman for spoiling the surprise she’d been preparing for me. Then I remembered where I’d heard the name Alexis before. It’d been just before I met the Regent, years ago when I first met Cross and the leader of the Valkyries, Alvidia Brask…

Alexis Norus. The only son of the Regent. His heir, and the first S-Rank class holder to be born in Gardenia since Conrad Vandal, the founder of Vandal academy. Allegedly, a very powerful young man.

“The Regent’s son?” I asked Cross in disbelief. “That’s who Brian Smith is? Or perhaps I should say, was, due to how all of you are behaving? Oh, this is ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. What the hell have you got me mixed up in, Elphie?”

“Oh look, here comes the performance,” sneered Thalia. “He’s so good at making his lies look convincing.”

“Shut up, you electric cow,” I scowled in reply, unwilling to put up with her any longer.

The blood drained from Thalia’s face as she glared at me with murderous intensity. “Watch what you say to me, Evans. I’m not someone you can push around whenever you like anymore! I’m a Valkyrie now! Just one call from me, and you’ll vanish into the night, never to be seen again. You think I can’t do it? Watch me, bastard! Just watch me.”

Before I could reply, verbally or physically, Cross intervened. Which was annoying at that moment, but in hindsight probably saved a life. “Thalia, go supervise the men outside, please. Make sure everything is, I don’t know…up to code or whatever?”

“Why? I haven’t done anything wrong—” Thalia began to say before being interrupted.

“You have. You’re doing it right now. You’re annoying me,” Cross said with ill humor. “Just go outside and look important, will you? That would be far more useful than what you’re doing now. No speaking back, just go! Thank yooou.”

With no choice other than to obey, Thalia sullenly placed her helmet back on and stomped unhappily back down the stairs and out the front door. Cross gave an exaggerated sigh of relief at her exit and began leaning against a wall while she sparked up a cigarette.

“You’re smoking again,” I observed.

“She’s driven me to it,” Cross lamented. “It’s an alchemical herbal mix. Non-cancerous but ridiculously addictive. It’ll take me years to kick the habit again. That hateful little brat.”

“So, she’s really a Valkyrie,” I said. “How desperate are you lot if you’re accepting someone like her into the club?”

“There was no choice,” Cross grunted. “We lost Mitzy during a fracture break south of the highland reclamation. Did you ever meet Mitzy? God, we all loved her. A simple girl who was stronger than a hundred men. She had the sweetest personality of anyone I ever knew but was an absolute berserker when her blood was up. This was originally her hammer.”

She pointed at the weapon she now wielded.

“What happened to her?” I asked.

“She went down fighting. That’s all I’ll say. Saved all our lives, though,” Cross said sadly. “It was a horrible fucking death, but she didn’t hesitate. Not for a moment.”

“Was it worth it?” I asked.

“Gardenia’s still standing, isn’t it?”

“But now the city’s lost its only S-rank,” I said.

“One of them, actually,” Cross said, correcting me. “Lord Tybalt finally had his breakthrough.”

“Tybalt’s an S-rank now?” I snickered. “Good for him, the officious prick.”

“Is there anyone in authority that you actually like?” Cross pondered sarcastically.

“There most certainly is,” I said, as I thought fondly of Alpha. “But she’s far too good for this ungrateful world. By the way, are there any other new members of the Valkyries you’d like to warn me about before I suffer another unpleasant surprise like earlier? I’m asking as a friend.”

Cross hesitated for a long moment before taking a deep breath. Then she said, “Cassie Wells became an A-rank healer and was selected to join us at the same time as Thalia.”

“Ah,” I said while keeping a remarkably calm exterior. “And…did she accept the offer?”

“She did,” Cross confirmed. “She evolved her class from Cleric to Saint. I don’t need to tell you how difficult that must have been to achieve. We had to have her, Kyler. A talent like that can’t be allowed to wander freely.”

“Great,” I muttered to myself.

Absolutely perfect.

Cassie Wells. The daughter of a slain enemy who was someone who had every reason in the world to despise me. Even better, she also knew about my bloody little secret. She was someone else I would have ordinarily killed to protect my interests, but Rachel had insisted that I spare her life. And now, thanks to that misguided mercy, Cassie, (who’d been dangerous enough to begin with due to her holy immunity to vampirism and mind control), had now apparently achieved an entirely new level of power while undoubtedly still hating me ferociously.

Great call there, Rachel.

“Keep them under control,” I said after giving the matter some thought. “I’m serious, Cross. They may be your teammates, but they’re nothing to me. If they cross me, they’ll regret it.”

“Threatening them in front of me is far from the best play to make,” Cross said as she eyed me up and down.

“I’m being straight with you,” I replied. “You’ve always been honest with me so I’m reciprocating. If those two tried something stupid, Rachel wouldn’t like it if you were caught in my reprisal.”

“Rachel doesn’t care about me,” Cross said forlornly. “I don’t think she ever did.”

“She does,” I said. “I’m the one that can barely stand you. Rachel just decided it was better to be friends for now. No offense, but you did come on a little strong when you were together.”

“I don’t want to talk about that with you,” she said tersely.

“Good. I don’t want to either,” I said in agreement. “But when she circles back around to give you another chance, take it easier. Be less clingy and give her some space to breathe. No one likes a pushy lover.”

“All right, already,” Cross said crankily. “Anything else to add while you’re at it, dad?”

“I’m just giving you some useful advice, you insolent brat,” I replied. “Take it or leave it, it’s your call. Just don’t come whining to me when you blow it again, you gold star studmuffin, you.”

“I’m starting to remember why we haven’t spoken in three years,” said Cross.

“Has it been that long?” I asked. “It feels like only yesterday since you were breaking our glassware and running out the front door in tears.”

“I’d prefer you say I left to mend my wounded pride,” said Cross.

“You were still sobbing like a child,” I smirked.

“Why are you always such an asshole?”

“Life’s been hard. I have to keep my defenses up or everyone will realize what a softie I am on the inside.”

“You should know that God hates liars as much as he hates murderers,” Cross said warningly.

“What’s his opinion on lying murderers?” I asked as I held out a hand and demanded one of her smokes. After a moment of hesitation, she grudgingly passed one over.

__

The door was locked from the inside when we arrived,” Cross said as we stepped into the master bedroom. “So were the windows. There was no other way out. So, apparently, he called your office, spoke to you for a time, and then proceeded to do this to himself.”

“And your people arrived within ten minutes?” I asked. “How did you know to come?”

Cross hesitated to answer. Then admitted, “We were given a tip.”

“From whom?”

“I don’t know.”

“You know you’re being played, right?” I asked her. “It’s getting a little obvious at this point.”

“Say whatever you like,” Cross said irritably. “But first tell me why he did this?”

She then gestured to the ceiling where Lord Alexis Norus, the S-Ranked Paladin and future Regent of the Allied Kingdom hung from a beam. His eerie stillness would have been indicative enough of his status as a corpse, but the young man had also been thoroughly scoured in flame. Burned so completely that not an inch of the outer layers of his skin had been spared.

Below his dangling toes was a wooden chair.

His scent was…smokey.

“His hands aren’t bound,” I noted. “Nor his legs. At first glance my first guess would be that he was already burned before being strung up. But look at the floor. No burn marks on the carpet. No drag marks either from the door or the window. Not so much as a sliver of roasted fat or crisped skin.”

“Which means the hanging came first,” Cross said. “He strung himself up and then someone else lit the flame.”

“No,” I said.

“No?” she asked.

“I smell you. I smell Thalia. I obviously smell him. But I don’t smell the presence of anyone else. You kept your men out of this room, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” Cross nodded. “Alvidia’s orders. Only you, me, and Thalia know this man’s identity.”

“Smart call,” I said. “Control the flow of information so that no one causes a panic.”

“Which will happen anyway once word gets out,” Cross said. “But until then, we’ll delay it for as long as possible."

“It’s going to get messy once the public learns,” I said. “This kid had a reputation for heroics, didn’t he? He wasn’t just their prince; he was a man of the people. Loved and admired.”

“Which is why we’re going to have a suspect in custody by the time we announce what’s happened,” Cross said with a shadowed expression on her face.

“And does it matter if that suspect actually committed the crime?” I wondered.

“I think you already know that it doesn’t, Kyler,” she said frankly. “So, for your own sake, and I can’t emphasize enough that it’s for your own sake…help me find the bastard who did this. If the killer strikes again, the next life you save could be your own.”

“It seems that I’ve just been conscripted,” I said bitterly.

“More like involuntarily committed to the cause,” Cross said brightly.

“This is going to cost you greatly,” I warned her. “I’m going to ransack the kingdom’s treasury. I might even have my office floor paved with the Regent’s gold.”

“I thought you offered your services for free to worthy causes?” Cross said.

“When have politics ever been a worthy cause?" I scoffed in reply.