Chapter 21

Washington D.C. two hours ago...

Sitting in a black Range Rover in President’s Park, Delgrious and Detective Angela Veris waited as the clock ticked down for their time to strike. Positioned in various spots around the White House and within a five block radius sat squads of Sanguine Consortium soldiers. When the clock struck zero, no amount of preparation or guard would be able to repel a strike on the president.

Angela strummed her fingers against the outside of the Range Rover’s door as she enjoyed the cool breeze as it fluttered in through the open window, blowing her hair back and over the seat. “What’s the chance of us having to get our hands dirty on this one?”

“Depends on whether or not Rururc or Imirur sense an attack on them, as well as the president,” Delgrious answered.

“You know, when Tancheres finds out we’re betraying him, all hell is going to break loose,” she said casually like it didn’t really matter.

“With Aurelia in our pocket, Tancheres doesn’t stand a chance at touching us,” he replied without even looking her way.

“Ah, now there is the real dilemma,” Angela said, pulling her hand in through the window as she shifted in her seat to fully face the Goji. “Once Aurelia has what she wants, she won’t need us anymore.”

A smile creased Delgrious’ face. “Then we promptly remove her from the equation.”

Angela burst out with laughter and when she didn’t get a reaction from the Goji, she stated, “You’re serious.”

“I haven’t survived all this time by playing games and if it takes the entire Sanguine Consortium to bring that bitch down then so be it.”

“That probably won’t make too many of our associates happy.”

“Considering the majority of them are petty humans with their petty agendas, I’m not at all concerned. And with the use of the Chimera Project, eternal life takes on an entirely new meaning,” he answered her with a very wicked grin. A slight bit of shock crossed her face, which caused the Goji’s grin to spread even further. “When my search for the power of the Shakti failed I had to find others means of power.”

“I don’t suppose Pierson just gave you the technology he used to resurrect you just for the hell of it,” she said with a load of sarcasm.

“No, but loyalties do run deep.”

“Oh? And how’s that?”

“Let me tell you a story...”

The campaign against Tancheres and his small empire he had built quickly turned into a war. The Black List initially sent two sisters to set the stage, followed by Natalya Rinehart.

Tancheres’ mistake then, as it is now, was in trusting in both Goji and humans. He has always insisted, unlike the rest of his Sura brethren, that others have to be trusted and used in order to succeed. Perhaps on some degree he is right, but when you toss the Sura, Goji and humans all into the mix it is all wrong.

Tancheres recruited Maltaus and me as his top two advisors and with his four horsemen, his newly established empire was destined to flourish. As a pharaoh, he was in the perfect position with the people already believing him a god, he’d pull the role off perfectly. The trouble was of course the trust issues of Goji and humans.

Maltaus worked quickly to take advantage of the two sisters and recruited them to his cause, leaving me with Natalya. Being naïve and young, she was the perfect apprentice. We had the Black List off our backs and nearly all of our eggs in our baskets. We decided to strike against Tancheres. For the Sura to rule over the Earth was an abomination that we refused to see happen.

Then unexpectedly Natalya uncharacteristically became the opportunist and caught the eye of Tancheres and positioned herself close to him. I soon found out from Maltaus he masterminded Natalya’s newfound initiative. Part of his plan was for me to remain loyal while he took the fall, knowing we wouldn’t kill Tancheres, but merely dethrone him.

And that’s when the Black List’s campaign turned into Maltaus’ war. The Horsemen were a force to be reckoned with and really the real worry of Tancheres’ army. Humans for the most part of weak and easily destroyed, but what makes the Horsemen so powerful is they are both Valkyrie and Sura. They alone nearly devastated Maltaus’ army until Natalya found a secret that she passed on to me.

I, like many others, believed the Horsemen to be heartless, even soulless bastards, incapable of any feelings other than death, destruction and the immediate loyalty to Tancheres, but Rahkar had a lover. It wasn’t long before I found her and endangered her life. Rahkar was made to believe Tancheres had found out about the human girl and thus sought her death as punishment. I quickly stepped in to save her life and as repayment sought his loyalty in exchange for keeping her safe. Not long after Maltaus’ army gained momentum and gained the upper hand in the war. The four Horsemen fell and soon Tancheres’ army and his empire. Of course trust and loyalty is a thin line. And though I didn’t fully grasp it with Tancheres, I didn’t with Maltaus either.