Veridian Shores

Chapter 25 - Where Loyalty Lies

Guiding herself over the seething, pounding urban mass, she zeroed in on the central, sun-like aura that marked out the gathered Aspects of the Baelock clan. A tremor of apprehension rippled through her as she plunged towards it. She'd never attempted something like this before – it wasn't something that was easily tested. She just had to hope that Baelock, like every other clan in the city, had left behind the disciplines of their ancestors long behind them.

Relief blossomed through her Aspect when she found the Baelock estate free of any barrier to her presence. She swooped in on its vast grounds, flying over the ocean of Aspects; guards, thralls, Elder-Bloods and Elders alike, all boiling together in a tantalizing mass. Below them all she could sense the searing brightness of the relic room, and more than one guard Aspect within it. That meant Baelock had discovered the theft, and probably the ashen remains of the dead cleric too.

As she approached the monumental main doors again, Gliss gnawed over which of the twins to tackle. She didn't dare take on one of the Baelock Elders. Deliberately exposing her mind to something so powerful would be beyond dangerous. If she startled one, the violent outpouring of an Elder's Aspect energy could be lethal whether they meant it to be or not. Arcil and Vandel were the two most influential vampires in the clan that she could safely tackle.

In theory.

Burying her apprehension, she plunged through the structure of the door, feeling the age-old wood and steel claw at her as her presence passed through it. She swept through the baroque corridors, searching for her quarry. As she went she tried to make a decision. Arcil, the sane one, probably could carry more of his peers with him, a proud individual who would not take an insult to his clan lying down. But Vandel guaranteed a violent reaction because he was completely out of control – she'd already proved that much.

It wasn't a choice she relished, but the logical part of her brain told her that if she really wanted a diversion, she needed to light one enormous firework. Arcil would be that firework. Recent events made in unlikely that Vandel could bring the support he'd need to be sufficient diversion. He was a loose cannon – too unpredictable. His twin, however, presented a level head. If he believed something, Baelock vampires would flock to support him.

So she searched. Her disembodied presence glided through the halls she'd walked less than a day ago, weaving around the dim Aspects of Baelock's lower orders and steering well clear of the huge, sun-like glare of the Elders ensconced deep within the building. Gliss twisted and rolled, swerving around the Baelock vampires storming through the halls, and she could already sense their tension. Dark expressions and hushed, harsh voices echoed through the halls like ghostly shimmers, only visible to her as a kind of mirage. Only if she stopped her motion and focused her energies would she be able to pick out full sentences from the gentle whorl of noise.

But she had yet to see the face she needed. It took several more minutes of following rogue, powerful presences through the estates passages before she eventually tracked Arcil down. She found him not far from the vault, spitting acid words at a trio of unlucky guards, his fury easy to see in the wild churn of his Aspect.

Gliss hovered several meters away until Arcil finished his tirade and the guards slunk away, dutifully and deservedly chastened. It struck her that when his temper rose the Baelock Elder-Blood had almost as potent an Aspect as Capper. He stood there for a moment, shaking his head in disgust, the gears of his mind turning as he tried to figure out who had breached his clan's security.

But she knew he would never act unless he knew who to target. His clan could never announce the theft to the city without admitting their vulnerability. No, he would need to figure it out and make an example of them. That was something Gliss would help him with.

Gently, like a leaf touching the surface of a pond, she brushed her Aspect against his.

Instantly she gained a vivid window into his thoughts. At first the sensation was a maelstrom of anger, frustration and shock, as though he still couldn't believe the audacity of those who had invaded the sanctity of their vault. She wondered distantly, if he really knew what the Keystone could do. It seemed unlikely somehow. Its true worth would surely be concealed from all but the highest echelons of the clan Elders.

But whether he knew or not, Arcil still wanted it back. She summoned her energies and stroked Arcil's Aspect, provoking a select set of recent memories to come to the centre of his mind. She followed him there, a disembodied ghostly figure drifting in his wake as he was taken back to the debating chamber.

Voices raged in the memory, and she sensed the hint of smug superiority permeating through Arcil's mind. She pressed herself closer to his memory.

Her ghostly presence whispered in his ear.

"Where is Capper?" it said. "Where is Gliss?"

Arcil flinched and she felt his Aspect ripple dangerously. He might not have had the potency of a full Elder, but he was still strong. She needed to tread carefully.

"Where are they?" Her voice echoed through the memory, her energy faintly warping Arcil's recollection of events, making him notice something he had not at the time. "Look closely." His eyes narrowed as he scanned the opposite benches, his stare sweeping across the Glaive vampires in a fruitless search. But he found nothing. No sign of Capper, and no sign of her. They hadn't been there, and now he would remember not seeing them.

It was simple really, almost too easy. When the Synod had been in full swing Arcil had been too preoccupied with what was being said to take a headcount. Only now, when Gliss shunted his mind in the right direction, did he realise the solution, and crucially, he would feel as though he'd figured it out all by himself. Two people had been missing from the debate, two people who he had seen and talked to earlier that night. And that same night, murder and theft had occurred in the Baelock mansion. His natural hatred for Clan Glaive did the rest.

Gliss pulled her presence away from his, her task accomplished. She watched Arcil's features twist with feral rage, his eyes narrowing and shifting to reveal the predator that lay beneath his aristocratic facade. Then the words that confirmed her success tumbled in a guttural curse from his lips.

"Capper, you bastard!"

She'd stayed long enough. Relieved, Gliss flung her presence away from the Baelock estate, up as straight as a bird, plunging through rock and wood until she burst into the skies of Veridian Shores. The dull crimson-yellow glow lit up the world beneath her as she directed her Aspect home again. Gratefully, she retraced her path back to the relative safety of the Glaive estate, plunging back down into her body like a hawk swooping on its prey.

A few minutes passed while she remained sitting on the floor of her chamber. Her breathing slowly rose back to its normal rate and she felt the strength and feeling returning to her limbs.

Then someone knocked.

She opened her eyes, quickly scrambling to her feet. Smoothing down her jacket and making sure no trace of blood remained on her fingers, she looked to the door.

"Who is it?"

"It's Capper. Can I come in?"

A sadness welled up in her throat and she swallowed hard, before painting a superficial smile onto her face. "It's your house."

The door swung open, and in walked Capper, blissfully unaware that she had just stabbed him in the back.