Page 46 of Claim the Twilight
“So she’s not allowing anyone’s destiny to unfold?” Merry asked.
Kaster smiled enigmatically. “We aren’t talking about destiny here. Merely paths of evil deeds. Loviator does not have the power to see someone’s destiny. Only a handful of godly beings have that ability. And a true destiny is rare. Not many people have one. Those that do will struggle to change it. The paths they choose will inevitably lead them to the prewritten conclusion.”
“Like evil?”
“Maybe, but Loviator doesn’t know that for certain. She doesn’t have the power to see if someone has a prewritten destiny that will lead them to evil. She merely sees possible routes to evil and bases her judgment on their existence.”
“So what happened with her faith warriors?” Padma asked.
“Loviator’s children, who’d grown fond of this world, slaughtered the zealots, leaving Loviator with no army, and the white wings locked her into a pocket of existence away from humanity.”
“The pocket that we breached?” Hemlock said softly.
“Yes.”
“And now she wants to finish what she started,” Kaster continued. “Build a world with no evil. Many innocents will die. Babies and children, anyone who may at some point be faced with a dark path. They will never have the chance to choose whether to walk it. And those few who have a destiny that tests them with darkness will never reach their prewritten conclusions.
“While the faith of the righteous fuels her foothold in this world, the souls of those she considers damned feed her power.”
My scalp prickled. “Wait…are you saying there’s an army of faith warriors in Dracul?”
“Yes. I’m certain that Christian and Micah will have formed one. We must find them and destroy them.”
“You want to kill a bunch of people?” Merry asked with a frown.
“Yes. Those people are part of her grip on this world. Their belief in her is helping her to punch holes in the walls of her prison.”
“Is that what you’ve been doing? Searching for this army?” Ezekiel asked.
“That and fielding cold one attacks.”
“How do you know her army is in Dracul?” Merry asked. “And how the heck would you identify them?”
“They’d be of no use to her outside of the Dracul wards. They would all carry a mark that connects them to the goddess. A special mark which allowed them to feed her. It wouldn’t function if they were outside of the territory wards.”
“Loviator had several marks and brands associated with her. Summoning marks and channeling ones. There was even one that she could use to control a person and see through their eyes. But we locked her away, weakening her ability to use her tricks. But now…the manner in which she’s able to create breaches and send her minions through…It’s clear she has faith warriors anchoring her. The obvious place to look was the House of Spirit and the Church of Blood Saints that Christian Constrange formed. But none of the vampires there carry the mark.”
“So we keep looking,” Ordell said.
Kaster nodded. “Precisely. Although…there could be more zealots outside the wards…the fire at Order HQ could have been their doing…”
“Basically, once the wards fall, we’re fucked,” Ordell said. “She’ll have a world of potential evildoers to feast on.”
“Yes, Holly explained about the taint in the soil,” Kaster said. “So we must work fast. Find the entity from the teapot and determine how it’s connected to Loviator. If Christian and Micah wanted it, then it must have some significance.”
“What about Loviator’s children?” Hemlock asked. “You said they helped subdue her once.”
“Their essence still lingers in this world, but they are gone,” Kaster said. “Moved on to other planes of existence as gods tend to do. Our only hope lies with this entity or finding the faith warriors and somehow removing the mark that allows them to feed Loviator.” He sighed. “And that’s everything I know. Everything I have to share with you.”
But it wasn’t. Not truly. “How about telling us how you became a vampire? And Laudon’s son?” It made no sense to me.
“Good point,” Ezekiel said. “How did Laudon end up with a white wing for a son?”
“He didn’t,” Kaster said. “Kaster Black wasn’t a white wing when I met him.”
My head hurt trying to wrap my head around that. “So you’renotKaster Black?”
“Let me explain,” he said. “I was stationed to watch over Dracul a long time ago. Punishment for my negligence in watching over Loviator. Laudon and I struck up a friendship. When his son Kaster was injured in the war of the houses, it looked as if he wouldn’t survive. Laudon begged me to intervene. Our celestial laws are clear. We can watch and report, but we cannot intervene in the fate of mankind unless that fate has been put into motion by an errant act on our part.”
