experienced a vision through Sydney’s eyes once before,” he clarifies.
“It can be overwhelming,” Jake says, as if reading my mind. Then he looks pointedly
at me. “But I wouldna have chosen you, or the others, had you not been capable of
comprehending. As for the souls . . . the Jodís take the victim’s heart. Literally.
Take it straight to the Fallen.”
“Damn,” I say, and I say it again to myself.
Damn.
“That’s brutal.”
“Aye. It is.”
I meet Jake’s gaze. “I can handle it.”
His eyes smile. “I know that.”
“The only way to kill a Jodís or a Black Fallen is by beheading them,” Gabriel announces.
I groan out loud.
Several chuckles fill the room.
“Not to worry,” Gabriel adds. “Part of your training will be on the handling of a
broadsword.”
“What’s the other part of training?” Noah asks, all too excitedly.
“How to keep it concealed,” Sydney finishes. “Not as easy as you might think.”
“Back to the tome,” Darius continues. “In order to find the Seiagh and vanquish it
forever, there are three ancient relics that must be found. Before the Celtae were
killed we . . . extracted some information from them. Not everything, but enough.”
I shudder to think of what that extraction consisted of. Torture. The Celtae must’ve
been some hard asses.
Darius gives me a slight nod, proving my assumption. “Each is encrypted with a verse
that, when all three are combined, will lead to the physical location of the dark
tome. Once the tome is found, only Sydney—and the Black Fallen—can read the incantations.
There is only one that will disintegrate the Seiagh.”
“So, basically, it’s a race to get the book first,” Victorian says. “Why don’t we
simply kill the Fallen?”
“As long as the Seiagh exists, mankind is in danger. It has to be destroyed, as well
as the Fallen,” Gabriel says. “Unfortunately, we will have to lure them. And they
want Ms. Maspeth almost as badly as they want the Seiagh.”
Jake crosses his arms over his chest. “We’ve become more than just slayers of otherworldly
beings.” He sweeps us all with a stealthy glance. “We have to keep as many innocents
alive as possible. And Ms. Poe has certain . . . gifts no one else possesses.”
“Yeah,” Noah says. “Like she can fight like unholy Hell? And she’s mean as shit?”
I grab a piece of thigh muscle through Noah’s jeans and pinch. Hard.
His face actually turns red.
“She does have dominant mind control now,” Eli says. His voice is low, tinged with
unease. “Let me guess. She’s going to be used as bait.” He glances down at me. “She’ll
be more than up for it, unfortunately.”
Jake rubs his jaw. “Her skills, aye, they’ll certainly come in handy. Her mind control
is indeed a major factor, as well. We do have one small advantage,” he continues.
“Whatever spell they use to create the Jodís exhausts them. It takes three to four
consecutive days for the Fallen to regenerate. We know this to be accurate, as the
last two batches of Jodís Gabriel and Sydney have vanquished did not regenerate until
the appropriate amount of time had passed.”
Sydney nods. “The spell drains the Black Fallen, so it must be a pretty potent one.”
“Indeed,” Jake continues. “The Fallen have names.” He looks at me. “Canthor. Danu.
And the youngest, Athios. Two have been condemned for some time. But we know very
little about the youngest one, Athios.”
I have to wonder which of the three appeared in my dream earlier.
“So, how are we to find them?” Ginger asks. “They’re undetectable, right?”
Jake, Gabriel, and Darius share a look, then turn their stares to me. “That’s where
Ms. Poe comes in,” Gabriel says.
“We have to infiltrate their circle,” Jake continues. “They might be undetectable
to look upon and pick out of a crowd,” he says. “At first. But then, so are
Rebecca Hamilton, Conner Kressley