Page 138 of Gates of Rapture
James made the rest of the ceremony very simple.He offered a brief prayer to the Creator, wishing many blessings for Leto in the coming decades.He then placed his hands on the sides of Leto’s head and essentially installed the mind-link.
***
Leto felt the weight of his new responsibility, but for some reason he didn’t feel burdened as he had in times past.Instead, something inside him now rose to the challenge.He glanced at Grace and smiled.She had done this for him, her acceptance of him and her belief in him.Her love had made all things possible.
James ended the ceremony by extending his arms into the air to encompass everyone in the room.“And may the Creator grant each of you strength in the coming hours to fulfill each given destiny.So be it.”
“So be it” passed around the group, and a moment of silence rested upon the rotunda.
After at least a minute had passed, Endelle asked James what was next on the agenda.
James went straight to Alison and took her hands.“The time has come to open the portal to Third.”
Leto glanced at the woman he had fought in the Tolleson Two arena.And now both of them had a connection to the portal.
“With Stannett out of the way,” Endelle began, “we have a slight advantage in the future streams.I want to see a block set up, on Alison’s behalf, so that as much of the opening of the portal as possible will be kept shielded from Greaves.We know that he’s had some of the best Seers in the world under his command.I don’t want to assume that just because Stannett is gone, we’re home free.”
“Agreed,” Thorne added.He glanced hisbreh.
Marguerite smiled.“I’ll get on it.”She reached within her flight suit pocket and withdrew her phone.Leto heard her make the arrangements with her Seer teams.
Everything seemed to be coming together, except for one small thing.Leto felt sure that Greaves had something else up his sleeve, something unexpected that could still turn the tide of war against Endelle.However, he kept that suspicion to himself.Even if it was true, what could anyone do about it at this late hour?
He turned to James.“So what’s our timing here?Do you know?”
James smiled.“You’ll leave for White Lake in fifteen minutes.”His gaze slid over the group.“Warriors will want to change into flight battle gear.Obsidian flame will serve in support of Alison.”He turned to Thorne.“You’ll want to have Colonel Seriffe shut down all the hotels and gardens for the morning.Declare a state of emergency.”
Thorne immediately whipped his phone from his tunic pocket.Turning away from the group, he let Seriffe know what was happening.
To Endelle, James said, “I’m not allowed to be present, but I will be watching.”
***
Endelle retired to her sitting room for a few minutes just to gather her thoughts, even to savor what was happening.My God, it looked like everything was all but settled, or would be within the next few hours, especially since Greaves would be denied his Third Earth death vampires.
After all these centuries, everything was moving so fast and at each step along the way, over the past few days, Greaves has steadily lost ground.Half his army was gone, and he’d failed to destroy either the colonies or obsidian flame.With the breach repaired, he would lose another part of his strategy as well.
Yet even as she wanted to exult in this turn of events, this narrowing down of Greaves’s chances to actually win this war, she couldn’t.The bastard had never fought fair, not one day of his fucking ambitious life.What if he’d saved his best for last, something unknown and therefore unpredicted.
Still, her adrenaline was flowing.
The end truly was near—or at the very least a major battle that would change the face of things on Second Earth.
She heard the door to her suite close.
She turned and there was Braulio, the vampire who had been her lover a few millennia ago, who had served once as the leader of the Warriors of the Blood and who had supposedly died in her arms but magically returned to chap her ass over the past few months.He was somehow connected with James in this whole mess with Greaves and more than once had tormented her by sinking his tongue into her mouth, which made her want him to sink other things as well.
He wore a dark blue silk shirt and tailored slacks.His belt had a silver buckle with a scorpion detail.
She smiled.An homage, no doubt.She rose to her feet.
He moved toward her, looking her up and down.“I thought you’d be wearing squid tentacles or clamshells today.”
“Sorry to disappoint.”
His smile was crooked and all male.“A snug black-leather flight suit becomes you.”
She reached up and touched the scars at the back of her neck.She saw his gaze follow the movement, and she got a sick-gut feeling.“Aw shit,” she said.“You’re here to tell me what you did to me.”
