“Do you two have intentions to stand there all evening?” Washington asked us. “He’s waiting. We only have eternity.” He snickered at his own joke.

  Rosa and I exchanged cautious glares, but she didn’t move.

  “We’ve come this far,” I said.

  “I know… It’s just, what do I even say… to Judas…?”

  “You could start with ‘hello.’”

  “You can’t imagine how far from normal this is, James.”

  “Really? This is just an average Sunday.”

  I tried to keep things light. A playful wink. Wouldn’t you know it, she wasn’t in the mood for the jocose anymore. Things were starting to sink in for her now. Things I’d had decades to digest, which she’d learned to stomach in just a few short weeks. Getting her world flipped upside down was one thing. Now, the history she knew was joining the party.

  “If you wanna speak, speak,” I told her. “You don’t? Then don’t. I can handle him. I have before.”

  She agreed, and I took the lead. It was my deal with Chapelwaite that brought us here after all. With her tagging behind, I moved to Washington’s side. He inhaled deeply and he took on a wan countenance. His eyes went blank, completely white.

  The blood mirror rippled, and Washington’s reflection contorted until it was a different face entirely. Still cast in shades and scant detail, but I’d never forget that outline of a face. It was Judas who stared back through the reflection with similarly chalky eyes.

  “I had a feeling that would not be our last encounter, Hamsa.” His smooth, silky voice filtered through. Even as heavy as his accent was, every word was crisp. Refinement begot by centuries.

  “Yeah, well, you sure cut out like your poster got hung,” I said.

  “Secrecy is my trade, unlike some of my bastard children. You brought Heaven’s agent to my threshold. What would you expect?”

  “Courtesy.” I shrugged. “But you are the Betrayer after all.”

  “And you retained your unlife, did you not? Consider that a payment of respect few others have earned.”

  He had a point. Not that I’d let him know it, though. “Hello to you too, by the way. Couldn’t come on down yourself?”

  “There is a vast ocean between us, as it should be. Again, you lead the White Throne to one of my sanctums, and worse with them this time. End’s Horsemen have not been witnessed in centuries. What is it about you, I wonder, that rivets the attention of such powerful enemies?”

  My brow furrowed. “How do you know all that?”

  “The ears of my children are my own. I know what you seek. I know why you have come. Why she has come.”

  Rosa gasped. I spun to her, only to see her compelled to my side. Her hair fluttered from a gust of air, like Judas’ own breath summoned her. Blood mist shimmered in the firelight around her raised chin. Veins in her neck visibly pulsed.

  “How rare to be in the presence of something more ancient than me,” Judas said.

  “So, it is true…?” I asked, barely a whisper.

  “My disciples do not bear false witness.”

  Rosa’s head was wrenched upward. Her jaw quivered. Terror seized her being. No words came out as her eyes probed Judas’ sanguinary reflection while the blood mist did the same to her.

  “Now we know why you are, daughter of Lilith,” Judas continued. “But I can see you do not yet know who you are. You are lost, child. Your eyes reveal all.”

  Another gasp. She was released from his influence, sliding back a few feet on the stone, and catching the breath she’d been holding the entire time.

  “You alright?” I asked her.

  She didn’t respond, so struck she was by bewilderment.

  I turned back to Judas with balled fists. “Leave her alone!” I jabbed a finger at him. “You deal with me.”

  The reflection vacillated. Washington’s head slowly rotated until his blank eyes fixated on me. Dread swelled in my chest. He was looking right through me. Then he snapped back.

  Judas’ manifestation in the mirror flushed. “Ah, if only that I could. However, she is the reason we have gathered. Confusion can be manipulated. Doubt, transformed into death. Only the resolute may join my family. For just as strength binds us, weakness breaks us.”

  “She ain’t weak! And she doesn’t need to be one of your… kids. I’ve seen her power, Judas, as I know you’ve felt it. She’s an asset just as she is.”

  “Perhaps.” Again, he flickered. Washington head twisted stiffly toward Rosa, Judas’ voice coming through his lips this time. “Perhaps not.”

  Washington’s veins went inky black—not unlike all those men possessed by Chekoketh on the train. His body buckled to match the orientation of his neck and head. Eyes, filled in red with the mist, glared down upon Rosa, Judas now completely in control. She cowered, more petrified than I’d ever seen her before. In the span between breaths, all her power became insignificant.

  “You tell me, bratha,” he continued speaking through Washington. “Do you even wish to join with me? Would you accept my protection, and that of my kin, with all that comes with it.”

  “I… I… I don’t know,” Rosa stammered.

  “And yet, you are here. Escorted by this man, yet not of your own will.”

  “He… He didn’t force me to do anything.”

  “Did he not?”

  She hesitated. Why did she have to hesitate? My missing heart ached at her reaction. Of course she didn’t know what she wanted; her universe had been rocked. Even still, deep down, I knew this was the best of all the awful solutions.

  A tear ran down her cheek as the vampire’s adjudicating glower bored through her. She looked… shattered. Like they were having a whole silent, awful conversation without me.

  “You see, bratha?” Judas said. “You would be the end of my vision. You would make my death complete.”

  “You don’t know that!” I gripped Washington and violently spun him around. Both he and Judas flashed back into place, the former standing blankly before the mirror, the latter reflected in blood.

  “I know more than you ever can or will,” Judas countered, speaking through the mirror again.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “But not the future,” I protested.

  “The future is merely the past rewritten. One who has persevered as long as I has seen every path life takes.”

  “Yeah, but you said it yourself. What’s in Rosa is older than you. You’ve got no clue what she’s capable of.”

  “Spoken like a man blinded by his feelings.”

  I growled. “Better blind than an arrogant ancient prick.”

  Judas’ reflection darkened. In fact, the entire room did. “If you came here to cast aspersions, then perhaps, this time, I will not make the mistake of sparing you.”

  All the rage in me boiled, but I bottled it up in my throat and held back. Setting my jaw, I clasped the table before the mirror and leaned in. “You know damn well why I’m here.”

  “Then make your intended query.”

  I met his pale, lifeless eyes. My forehead creased in anger and frustration. “I came to beg you to take her under your wing. To help teach her to control the powers that I know are tearing her apart inside. And even more, to keep her out of Heaven or Hell’s hands so they don’t make of her what she never wanted to be.”

  “No.” The word sat in a holster on his side, and he was a quick shot.

  Talk about taking the wind out of my sails. I sank back. It wasn’t even the word as much as the way he said it. So matter-of-factly, like this wasn’t ever a consideration at all. Like I’d just wasted all this time, when, yeah, maybe we could’ve spent a few decent weeks hiding out in the forest, living a fantasy until the bell chimed.

  “You know what?” I said. “I don’t accept that.”

  “Then you will leave disappointed,” Judas replied.

  “I ain’t leaving!” I slammed on the table. “You aren’t saying no because of destiny or visions or any of that bullshit. You’re just chickenshit. The Betrayer…” I scoffed. “What a fucking joke.”

  I couldn’t be sucked through a mirror—not that I was aware of—but its blood enveloped me. My world closed in, and I was suddenly floating in a sea of crimson.

  Darkness engulfed me, and I stared directly into the eyes of immortal rage itself. It was just me and him, all remnants of the room I’d just occupied, gone in a flash. No Washington. No Rosa.

  Good. Let him swallow me whole.

  “Do you truly believe you possess any power here?” His voice boomed like a thunderclap, and the blood that ebbed and flowed all around us rippled.

  “I don’t give two flying shits about me,” I barked back. “I care about why you’re such a goddamned pussy.”

  His eyes had been full of fury before, and now, they were like the icy pits of Hell, ready to explode with fury.

  “You insolent fool!” The weight of his presence crushed over me, and he disappeared. There was no face, only darkness.

  “What’s the plan, Judas?” I struck on as if nothing happened. The bastard was surely still there, just playing games like Shar always had. “Spend another thousand years without making a move? Rosa’s lost? Scared? No shit. You were too when the angels hauled you out of the dirt and brought you back. And I have half a mind to believe that ain’t changed since.”

  Silence responded to me, so I just kept on talking.

  “You think I like this—bringing her to you? I just thought maybe you, of all, might understand what it’s like to be unique. Because before your family and your servants, and your ‘vision,’ that’s what you were too. The first and only vampire…

  “And trust me, I get it. You’re addicted to this world. To being here in whatever state you can manage, because anything has to be better than nothing. But look at your children. Running Crescent City. Founding countries. And you punish them for it? Aren’t you tired of hiding, Judas? Tired of bearing the weight of all these worlds? I know I am.”

  I was just about to consider that I’d been abandoned for real, left in this place all alone, never to return. Then the gravity of his presence returned. Elements of his face reformed.

  He spoke. His voice was soft and elegant, quiet like a brook. “You have no idea.”

  That was it. Four words. I pressed on.

  “History knows you as the Betrayer. You can stand for something other than yourself. Look outside, Judas—at what man is capable of. Humanity has harnessed lightning itself. We don’t need them anymore or their eternal scuffling. We can be our own thing here on Earth, just like you are. Something in between.”

  While he didn’t speak, I could tell he was listening. His eyes and features returned in full, ripe with focus.

  “And here I am, trusting that someone called the Betrayer won’t turn Rosa into a weapon like the others wish to,” I said. “But, if you help her find herself, find her place, maybe you’ll wind up with an ally worth having. You take her in, and maybe then those above and below will know that it’s time our shackles come off because we can stand against them. Maybe then, you can finally rest.”

  In that moment, with no mirror of blood or dark sanctum, I could picture Judas’ very human-looking face. We were two immortals, speaking man-to-man. I’d gotten so hung up on dealing with the monstrous, I think I’d forgotten that in all beings like us, the human part never leaves. It may get forgotten from time to time, but it’s always there.

  “You would surrender up your soul for her, wouldn’t you?” Judas asked.

  My mind was instantly transported back to that mountaintop, when Wendigo asked that same question. Once again, I didn’t hesitate. “In a heartbeat.”

  He released a contemplative sigh. “What a feeling to know. I am impressed, James Crowley. You have done something few others have managed to accomplish in my many centuries.”

  “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

  “You have swayed my mind.”

  I couldn’t get weak in the knees, but I sure felt like I was gonna collapse. I wanted to reach out and embrace him. My whole life, I’d solved squabbles with fists or guns first. In Wendigo’s words, I was a weapon. This was a new sort of victory for me, and man, was it sweet.

  “You’ll help her?” I could barely get the words out.

  “Against all my better judgment, I will,” Judas replied. “Bring her to me, and I will help her claim her power. I will teach her to be free… if it’s not already too late.”

  A bright light shone, making me temporarily blind. When my vision returned, I stood in the dark sanctum once more. I gathered my wits and turned around. “You hear that, Rosa? Rosa?”

  She was gone. Every inch of the sanctum was visible from my position, and Rosa was nowhere to be seen. Only the husk of President Washington remained. He didn’t move—not even a blinking eye.

  “Where did she go?” I asked, seizing the former president by the lapels.

  His dead eyes just stared back at me, no emotion or hint of life left in them.

  Turning back to the table, I found Judas absent as well. And not just him. The mirror of blood had evaporated into fine mist.

  Washington gasped, the color returning to his bewildered eyes and cheeks. He shook out his head and wagged his tongue like he was eschewing a foul taste.

  “Oh, how I hate that.” He retched.

  I seized him again, this time by the shoulders, and yelled, “Where did she go?” which only seemed to stun him more.

  “How in liberty’s name would I know?”

  I looked around frantically. “Help me find her!”

  He groaned and slid down to the floor, rubbing his temples between his thumb and index finger.

  “Could you hear us? Did you hear your Maker?”

  Washington nodded. “I did. So find her.”

  “Don’t you know what’s after her, you old fool?”

  He glanced up at me with complete disregard and shrugged. Then he skulked on his hands and knees toward his blood pool.

  I’m not sure what sort of energy it took for him to channel his maker from so far away, but he appeared utterly sapped. Or, maybe the idea of inviting another powerful person under Judas’ influence wasn’t overly appealing.

  Children. Only obedient when it suits them.

  “I never would have taken you—the great and mighty George goddamn Washington—for a coward,” I spat.

  He sighed. “I already won my revolution.”

  I left him behind as he slumped over the blood pool and scooped handfuls into his mouth. What a fool I was, letting her out of my sight. Did someone follow us? Did Ace sneak in and snag Rosa just to get under my skin?

  I raced down the passage. A soft patter of motion drew my attention and aim. I slid to a stop to find a black cat mewing harmlessly, regarding me with eyes that weren’t there. The same scarred-up feline from earlier. It purred loudly as it rubbed against my leg.

  “Out of the way!” I hissed.

  Louder still.

  “Move!”

  Pushing it aside with my boot, I continued down the long hall until finally I reached the lift. The lantern flickered, half broken on the floor. Chapelwaite lay outside the elevator tower, nursing a wounded leg.

  “There you are,” he groaned.

  I hurried to him. I was no doctor, but his ankle looked out of sorts. A sprain at least. Maybe a break. And the grate wall of the lift behind him had a big old Chapelwaite-sized dent in it.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “I tried to stop her…”

  “Who?”

  “Rosa.” He winced. “She said she was done ruining lives.”

  “But he agreed to help her. Judas did. Said he’d show her the ropes, keep her safe.” I was panicked, speaking too fast, my mouth barely able to keep up with my mind.

  “It didn’t seem like she thought so.”

  “Shit! Where did she go?” I shook him.

  He winced, and pointed up the shaft. “Goddammit, Crowley. Up. Damn. She went up.”

  I frantically slapped at the buttons repeatedly to summon the elevator.

  “She jammed it at the very top,” Chapelwaite said. “I don’t think she wants anyone following.”

  “Damn that cat, slowing me down!”

  His eyes went wide. He gripped my ankle to stop me going by. “What cat?”

  “That scruffy black one with no fucking eyes.”

  He cursed. “The Demon Cat is no cat. It’s a scout for the agents of Hell in the capital. If you saw that—”

  I cursed even louder. Without giving it a second thought, I bolted to the grated wall and started to climb. I was a short way up when I paused to look back at Chapelwaite. He’d pulled himself upright and was tearing his shirt to tie the injury.

  “You’ll make it?” I asked. Not even sure why I cared.

  “I’ll be fine,” he said. “Go to her, Crowley. It’s the will of the Maker.”