Gates of Rapture (Guardians of Ascension 6)

“What?”

“You stepped out of the shadows the moment you folded three dimensions and made love to a beast-man in the basement of the Cascades cabin. You’ve been out of the shadows at least that long. You just lack experience. So go. Make more experiences.”

Grace blinked. Had she moved out of the shadows? Was she more than a ghost?

And yet, as she thought about all that she’d done over the past four days, she realized she had never been that person before, taking charge, formulating enormous plans to alter Greaves’s ability to take over the world, then actually following through with the spectacle event and the mass fold of a million warriors. She was no longer the woman who’d lived in a convent for a century.

She was obsidian flame.

Which meant … that she already had the tools in her possession, had been learning them for the past several days, all that she would need to defeat the monster.

What came to her was so pure and so simple that she rose up in her apparition-form, kissed Beatrice on the cheek, then folded, not to the cabin but to the palace. This time, she wanted Endelle.

Beatrice had said she needed to make more experiences. Well, who had more experience than the scorpion queen?

Grace found her walking through the rotunda nearest her rooms, where she stopped and stared at Grace.

“So you can see me?” Grace asked.

“Of course I can see you. What the f**k are you doing here? I thought all you cared about was getting Leto to go beast for you.”

She told her about Greaves and how he had them both trapped and dying. Endelle put a hand to her forehead. “That bastard. Okay. What do you need me to do? I can try blasting through the shroud.”

Grace wasn’t convinced anything external could help at this point. “I need something from you.”

When Endelle once more suggested an assault, Grace said, “Just trust me right now to take care of this, Endelle. Please. I can do this. I just need something from your soul, and once I’ve acquired that ability, I’ll want you to bring the rest of obsidian flame here to the palace. And then, as soon as I can, I’ll bring Leto to you.”

Endelle became very still. She grew relaxed, her shoulders dropping. Opening her hands wide, she said, “Take whatever you need.” No more questions, or suggestions, no complaints, just take what you need.

And here was the truth about the hard-bitten ruler of Second Earth: Endelle always came through.

“I need to capture your skill of living out loud. I mean, I think I’m already getting the hang of it, but I’d like a booster just in case.”

Endelle laughed. “You sure you’re ready for that?”

“Oh, yeah. It’s time. It’s been time for two millennia.”

“Then hit me, baby.”

Grace pierced Endelle’s mind and once more sank deep toward the woman’s soul. She found the lock she needed all lit up and inserted her blue flame key. The lock gave way, the door opened, and it was as though all of Endelle’s life poured over her: all the ways she met every challenge head-on, all the ways she could be cunning, all the ways she manipulated with sarcasm.

Grace drank it in.

Street smarts. That’s what Endelle had. And courage, mountains and mountains of courage. But mostly, Endelle had experience, that which Grace lacked the most, experience dealing with Greaves.

She thanked Endelle telepathically and sped back to the cabin. She moved to stand in front of Greaves. He still couldn’t see her or even perceive that she was near him, and he still sat in that chair, as if he had all night to finish them off.

Good. Although in this moment, she had to resist a very Endelle-like desire to slap the bastard silly.

She smiled.

Then she looked around. She let all of Endelle’s experience flow through her mind. She picked up one strategy and threw it out. She picked up another and turned it over in her mind. She felt more substantial in herself, more weighted, more real, as though having all of Endelle’s experience backing her up had sharpened her focus.

She apparitioned across the room to stare down at Leto. She blinked. She needed to do something with him, but what?

* * *

Greaves sat in the chair near the head of Leto’s bed. He’d barely broken a sweat and two powerful vampires lay facing each other in a tangle of burned and broken limbs. Neither was dead yet, and he would need to bring in a few death vampires to get the job done, but not just yet.

He savored this precise moment in his life, in his long career, in the brilliant path of his ambitions, because with just a little patience, he would see this pair good and dead; obsidian flame would be eliminated as a threat, and he could at last allow his plans to unfold.

He leaned his head back and he smiled.

Life was good.

* * *

Leto wanted to lift a thumb to touch Grace’s cheek, but he didn’t think he could. He didn’t know exactly how many bones of his were broken, but the pain was staggering. He couldn’t move, couldn’t even lift a finger. Her eyes were open, but there was little life present, if any.

How had it come down to this? What had he done wrong? How had he failed to keep Grace safe?

He had known she was at risk. The fact that she had outmaneuvered Greaves had put her in danger.

However, during the past several days with her, it hadn’t occurred to him even once to share his experience with her, and now that he looked at the situation, he felt like a complete fool. What could Grace have become if he had said to her: Take what is mine, take all that is mine; all that I have experienced, I give to you freely and fully. Learn all that I have learned.

But maybe it wasn’t too late. He was a vampire of tremendous power and ability. More important, he could communicate all that to Grace, if there was even the smallest spark left inside her.

Grace, he sent. His voice sounded thin, even within his own head.

I’m here. I’m safe in my apparition-form. I’m not feeling any pain. But I need something from you, I’m just not sure what.

I think I know. I finally get it, how I held back from you. Grace, I have within me all that you need in terms of skill and experience, even power. Just glide within me and feast.

I think you’re right. In fact, I know you’re right, but you’re in so much pain.

Pain doesn’t matter. Pain means life. Come to me. Take me now.

He felt her slide against his mind, then drop in and down. She knew the way to his soul where all his abilities lived, where he held all the deepest memories of action and forward motion, of decision and analysis, of strategy.