Chapter Twenty Three
Rome; early twenty- first century; September
As he entered the apartment he could hear raised voices, so David quietly shut the door and tried to creep to his room without drawing attention to himself. But Tully saw him almost immediately.
“Hello, David. Did anyone actually come today?” the older Roman called out.
Realising that he couldn’t get away, David turned back and saw that Tully was sitting on the sofa against the window and Marcus, though still in his suit, was already shoeless and leaning on the sofa opposite. But there was another man sitting in one of the armchairs. The stranger was heavy-set and older than Tully, with grey hair that seemed to sit on his head like a helmet.
Marcus turned around and smiled faintly, as if assuring him that it was all right to speak. “No one,” David answered, ready to continue to his room, but a voice from the kitchen summoned him.
“Do you want your usual pot of tea?” Nadia called out as she prepared the dinner. Over the last few days she’d taken to making him a pot of tea when he finished for the day because she’d read somewhere that it was an English custom. David made his way over to her now.
“Yes, please,” he answered and noticed that on the wooden dining table there was an English paper.
She saw him looking at it. “One of them got it for you, I think it’s yesterday’s, but it’s still a little piece of home for you. Sit down, I’ll bring the tea.”
David smiled at her, pulled out a chair and began to read the paper, noticing as he did so that the men by the windows were now poring over a map, which covered the coffee table. He couldn’t understand a word they were saying, as they were speaking in that strange Latin again.
Nadia popped the tea down, then whispered in his ear. “I made some cakes, but you’ll have to wait until Marcus has gone; if he realises, he’ll eat them all. I made them today when he was out and opened the windows so he won’t be able to smell them. He’s a devil for sniffing things out, got the nose of a truffle pig. They’re hidden now. Three sealed containers.”
David grinned, already looking forward to sampling some of Nadia’s delicious baking. “Thank you,” he said.
She tapped her nose in response and shuffled back into the kitchen.
For a while, David had a pleasant time reading the paper and drinking tea, whilst deliberately ignoring the debate taking place on the other side of the room. Suddenly, all three men got to their feet and left the apartment. David glanced up in surprise, then turned to Nadia, who was humming away to herself whilst she peeled some vegetables. The Italian matriarch hadn’t even noticed they’d gone, so he settled back to reading.
Tully and Marcus returned a short while later, but without the other man and their conversation was still quite animated. David kept his head down and continued to read, but was aware that they’d gone back to the map on the coffee table and were still having some debate about it.
“David, you remember we had a chat last week? Well, I was wondering if you’d still be willing to cover for me?” Marcus asked as he approached the dining table. Tully was following and glowering with annoyance.
“Yes, of course,” David replied but could see that the older Roman wasn’t happy.
“Marcus, you don’t have to go. We agreed that Paul would go to Prague and if he needed any support, he’d tell us and one of the others would go.”
“They’re busy, Tully. It makes sense if I go,” Marcus replied reasonably turning to face his friend.
“You’re needed here, Marcus, the others aren’t doing anything that can’t wait and I simply don’t have your persuasive tongue when it comes to the important people.”
“That’s not true and you know it. Look, I want to go. Crazy as it seems, I actually enjoy a bit danger in my boring life occasionally.”
Tully stared at the younger man and his look made David wince, he’d never seen any real animosity between the two men before, but he could see that Tully was genuinely annoyed with Marcus.
“How can you even offer when you know what’s due soon? I’m sorry that your life is boring at the moment, but I’m sure that in the next few months it’ll become much for exciting. In the meantime, you know as well as I do that you’re unreliable and too much of a liability to go out on field work. Your presence would put Paul at risk, because there’s no knowing when you’ll decide to absolve yourself from your duties and responsibilities and disappear off with your friends to have fun whilst we’re left to pick up the slack for you.”
Tully finished but continued to stare at Marcus as if daring him to respond. But the younger Roman didn’t deign to reply, he simply turned away and sauntered across the apartment, picked up his shoes and left. Tully shook his head then he stalked out of the living space and disappeared in the direction of his study.
David and Nadia were left alone, but neither spoke until after a few moments, when the Italian matriarch broke the silence.
“David, would you like to eat with me tonight in my rooms?”
Much later David returned to the flat after spending the evening watching the television with Nadia and admiring pictures of her grandchildren. At first he was convinced that both men were out as it was quiet and dark, but as he entered the older section where his room was, he noticed that there was light emanating from under Tully’s study door and he could hear the man’s low tones as he spoke to someone on the phone. David felt a surge of relief that at least one of the custodians was still there, but decided to do some reading before he tried to sleep tonight.
Dacia; Newest Province of the Roman Empire
In the First Year of the Reign of Publius Aelius Hadrianus Augustus.
They closed the gate before sunset, but they continued to make their preparations inside the fort. Marius had ordered the men to get ready for a siege, so they’d set about gathering supplies and making repairs in anticipation of a long night ahead.
The Thracians were to be stationed on the battlements because they were skilled archers and amongst them were men of the XIII Gemina. They would throw long wooden stakes at the attacking Kin and at set intervals along the wooden walkway there were spare bundles of pilums within easy reach of any man who needed them.
After much discussion it was decided that there would be cauldrons of pitch on the battlements, so that the archers could fire flame arrows at the Kin. It was a risk, but one that Marius was prepared to take. Fire was deadly to them and as the creatures didn’t have any weapons themselves, there was little chance of them knocking over one of these precious containers in the attack. They’d also removed all the remains of the Kin inside the fort and now the residents of the settlement had been quartered inside the freshly cleaned barracks.
As they shut the gate, Marius knew that he’d done the best he could in the circumstances and all the men, be they Roman or Thracian, had played their part. There was only one hole in his armour and that was the man standing on the wooden platform gazing down onto the valley as the sun was setting. Junius had brought seven people in who were Becoming and now they were safely locked up, but Marius wasn’t sure if it was his friend who posed the real threat to them tonight.
Marius walked up the wooden steps then slowly moved along the battlements to where Junius was leaning against the rail. He waited, knowing the Roman already knew he was there.
“Are you ready?” he asked eventually.
Marius took a step closer. “As much as we’ll ever be. Are they coming yet?”
Junius glanced over. “No, they’re still asleep. You’ll have some time after sundown. The caves and mine are only half a mile away, but they won’t hurry.”
“Sitting targets?”
“Something like that.”
“Why are you here, Junius? We’ve secured the fort, so there’s no reason for you to stay.”
Junius turned his back to the rail so that he was staring directly at him. Though his friend was in virtual silhouette, Marius could have sworn that h
is hair seemed darker and his eyes almost black.
“You still don’t trust me.” It was a statement, not a question.
“No, and nor would you in my position. You never answered me before: how human are you?”
Junius regarded him quietly for a moment, then gave a small sad smile. “I think less than I actually look.” Then he shrugged. “I don’t know, Marius. I assume time will tell.”
But Marius needed an answer. “I have to know, Junius. These men here are relying on me to keep them alive. I can’t let my friendship for you be their death. Will you turn on us tonight?”
“No, you have my word on that,” Junius replied, then gave an exasperated sigh. “By all the gods, Marius, that’s the truth. If I were about to turn, would I have come here to warn you and helped you get ready for tonight?”
Marius conceded the point. “No, probably not. So why are you really here then? What’s the truth?”
Junius watched him for a few moments then settled against the barrier. “Isher-Dan and the older Kin want to go east; they understand that we’ve no other choice. But they can’t leave the young ones behind, they’re Kin after all. So we decided that I would intercept and persuade you to secure the fort rather than kill them whilst they were sleeping. We need you to destroy the young ones for us, we can’t do it ourselves and we couldn’t let them know our plan. The Kin share thoughts, but they can’t hear mine yet, unless I send them out. Isher-Dan is my maker, he and I talked physically about this, so no one else knows.
“I couldn’t let you kill the Kin, because the old and new are mixed together in the mines, so I distracted you. Tonight, you’ll beat the young reckless ones who would destroy us, and Isher-Dan will lead the survivors to the east. It’s not that different from what I’ve already told you.”
Marius listened. It was true, it was very close to what Junius had already told him, the only thing he’d missed out was his deliberate distraction from the caves, but in truth, it had been sensible to concentrate on the fort. “And you? Are you working for the Kin or for Rome?”
His friend’s face remained blank. “You could see this as my last service to Rome, before I’m beyond her influence. By being here now, I hope to save the Kin and save my people.”
Marius could hear the finality in his friend’s voice. “You’ll go with them, even though you said it could become tedious?”
Junius dropped his gaze. “I don’t think I have much choice. I might walk in daylight and fool my family, but I suspect something’s changed deep down inside me. It’s been dormant, but it’s there waiting to spring into life. I can’t go on living like that. Maybe when I finally become Kin, the humanity will switch off and I’ll be content with endless nights of pleasure.”
Despite the situation, Marius smiled. “It doesn’t sound so bad.”
“Living it might be a little different. Remember, I’ll only have nights and nothing to break it up. Even a Roman Emperor would get bored. Or, I could lose my individuality and then I might not know any different.”
Marius considered his friend’s words. The way he spoke made it seem like a prison sentence or worse, an eternity without any personal identity.
“You don’t have to go with them, Junius. You can still fit in with people, you did before.”
His friend sighed. “Marius, part of me wants to go. You never felt it, but I did, right from the first night. Even though I resisted and fought, there was always a side of me that wanted to be like them.”
“You loved the girl, that’s why.”
“That’s part of it. She was my first maker.”
Suddenly Marius understood. “Do you love Isher–Dan because he’s your maker now?”
Junius turned away. “You know what the process of Becoming is like. It’s hard not to develop feelings.”
“But…” Marius was shocked; Junius had never shown any inclination for his own sex before. “You’ve never… You denied…”
“Becoming is different. The normal rules don’t apply. I want you to understand that. I’m going because I’ve done all I can for you; I don’t belong here anymore.”
Marius studied his friend, realising that he was about to leave. “You’re not staying with us?”
Junius looked out into the twilight. The sun was slipping below the mountains on the other side of the river and illuminating the valley with an orangey red light, which made the water glimmer like pink gold. The light caught his face, which showed that his skin was deathly pale and his eyes seemed darker than they had been earlier in the day.
“I think it’s time to go, you don’t fully trust me and I can see why. You have to believe that you’ll succeed tonight and you don’t need to be worrying about me.” He turned to look at Marius. “It’s true, isn’t it?”
“I would worry, yes, I’m sorry.”
Junius took a deep breath and stared back over the valley. “I’ll probably be more use to you outside, you know?”
Marius had to agree. “You might, and less of a threat.”
“Remember me well, Marius. Tell them I died in the fighting here. You burnt my body with the other fallen.” He stopped and pulled his family ring off his finger. “Take this as evidence. Give it to my father, he might actually care. Farewell, old friend,” he said and jumped in fluid movement onto the barrier, then dropped down and landed on the ground and immediately disappeared into the empty settlement.
Marius gaped in stunned disbelief. No one should have been able to jump from there and get up and walk away. But Junius hadn’t bat an eyelid about doing it, obviously knowing that he was more than capable of such a feat. If that was the case, then what else was had he been hiding? With that in mind, Marius decided that it was definitely for the best that he’d decided to leave tonight. It also made his decision to join the Kin much more understandable.