Vanity of the Whisperer

  Vanity of the Whisperer

  Light of Adua, Book III

  Brien Feathers

  Brien Feathers

  Copyright © 2022 by Brien Feathers

  All rights reserved.

  No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

  Contents

  Houses of the Realms

  Elders of High Council

  1. The Commander’s Wife

  2. Weeping Angel

  3. Karl’s Antique and Jewelry

  4. Mama’s Boy

  5. One Less

  6. Pride and Honor

  7. World of Need

  8. Healer of Tanzania

  9. Predator of Serengeti

  10. Hyena Cried

  11. Gingerbread Hag

  12. The Ayasu Children

  13. In Flight Entertainment

  14. Not Merida

  15. Feed Intoxication

  16. Knighted in the Light

  17. The Red of Pain

  18. I Am War

  19. I Have No Fear

  20. Life Well Lived

  21. Infection at Court Oak

  22. A Death Lullaby

  23. Anti-Creation

  24. Liar

  25. Elsa

  26. Goodbye, Home

  27. A Bad Child

  28. The Prince and the Guardian

  29. Vanity of the Whisperer

  30. He Never Left

  31. The Loss of Two

  Blood for the Snow, Book 4

  The Courtesan

  From the Author

  Houses of the Realms

  House of Mind, Ka- telepaths and telekinetics both belong here.

  House of Strength, Djed- are shifters.

  House of Death, Osairi- are necromancers, and are called Puppet Masters.

  House of Soul, Suns- are empaths who read and evoke emotions.

  House of Realm, Zhai- realm benders are teleporters.

  House of Fire, Ignis- has an ability to ignite and manipulate fire.

  House of Air, Aeria- can control airflow.

  House of Mirrors, Kage- can cloak (make an object invisible), and project illusions.

  House of Light, Hikari- a fallen House of healers and spell masters.

  Elders of High Council

  Ayasu Sasuke, a Creator from House of Mind, he’s a telepath with the ability to construct a telepathic arena to host a consciousness of another. Such a space is called a Cellar.

  Giselle Lavigne, a teleporter from House of Realm, she’s the wife of Ayasu Sasuke.

  Ayasu Drake, telekinetic from House of Mind, is the soul of the fire prince Lucretius Ignis.

  Ayka Lenkov, a Whisperer from House of Mind, can issue a telepathic command to override human free will.

  Souleymane son of Khan, also known as Souley, is a werewolf shifter of House of Strength.

  Shen Zhao, the record keeper of the Council, is a shifter from House of Strength.

  Dalila Sauda, an empath from House of Soul, can manipulate emotions in humans and Elders alike.

  Marcus Annius Verus, House of Air, is the most powerful Aerian of the realm.

  Kostya Kowalczyk, light bender from House of Mirrors, is the only civilian Elder to be seated at the council.

  Crawford of House of Mirrors is deceased, killed by Ayasu Sasuke.

  Nailah of House of Soul is deceased, killed by Ayasu Sasuke

  Chapter one

  The Commander’s Wife

  A four-star general, a reasonable-looking man with a gold watch and wedding band, rested his elbows on the oak table of the great library. Through his gritted teeth and downward curving mouth, droopy cheeks like a French bulldog, this reasonable-looking man had been taking an unreasonable tone with an Elder commander.

  Because of the wedding band, Giselle assumed he had a wife. Because of his human age, she assumed he had children, even grandchildren, and felt sad for them all as this man was failing a test. This would not end well for him.

  A young soldier stood by the door at ease, the military stance with the hands held crossed behind the back. On his chest, a patch said ‘U.S Army’ on one side and ‘Owens’ on the other. There was another soldier just outside the closed door, standing also at ease—that one’s patch said ‘Camden’.

  Jefferson, another general who brought this unreasonable man, sat watching Sasuke play with a red rubber ball, bouncing and catching it. Her husband’s mind was restless, that was why he fidgeted. Had he been with friends only, Sasuke would get up and pace back and forth when he was agitated so. But he wasn’t among friends, so he would fiddle with a rubber ball, appearing dismissive and obnoxious rather than anxious. It was intentional.

  Seated to the right of Sasuke was Ayka, who’d just returned from her mission in Mexico. Giselle herself sat to the left of her husband, and both generals had seated themselves across the table. On the other side of the soldier at ease, Drake stood with ease, leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets.

  In the opposite wing of the plantation, Shen held a conference call with the civilian command. Elder command gathered at the back of the plantation. They were still missing a few arriving from further away, but Souley would brief them on the current situation… of Constantine returning. Some knowledge such as how the dead Whisperer had obtained a resurrection spell would be withheld, but manipulation of available information, even to one’s own side, was typical during a war.

  “You will give me the names of each and every one of your kind,” said the unreasonable man, pulling phlegm to the back of his throat, picking up a crystal glass from the council table, and spitting disgusting green goo into it. “You’ll be kept under watch, and I swear, if I find you to be a menace to this country or her people, I will bag and tag every last one of you.”

  The comment made Sasuke scoff. He caught the rubber ball. Sasuke had been looking at the floor and the ball, but now he turned his gaze straight. Observing the unreasonable man, Sasuke grimaced and clicked his tongue—he was displeased.

  “It’s always the same with men like you,” Sasuke said now looking directly at him. “I give you a chance to cooperate, work together, be friendly, but you come to threaten me.”

  “There is no cooperation between men and monsters.”

  “Indeed,” said Sasuke to no one in particular, but asked from the solider at ease with a name patch of ‘Owens’, “Duke, are you at capacity?”

  “I am, Commander,” answered the soldier. It surprised the four-star general and his neck snapped to look at ‘Owens’.

  “How about Leon?” asked Sasuke. That was the name of the soldier outside the door, one with the ‘Camden’ patch.

  “He is also fully booked, Commander,” said the soldier.

  Both soldiers were Whisperers and could keep a preset number of Obedients. When the limit was reached, a Whisperer was fully booked, as the boys liked to call it. It meant they couldn’t whisper to another without opening a slot by discarding one of their Obedients.

  The opening of a slot was by either killing or freeing an Obedient, but freeing made a mess if the Obedient had been in service for a while, and the killing… her husband always tried to be stringent with the killing—that was his Ren.

  Looking snappy in his dark green uniform and three gold stars, Jefferson, the other general, was a Ka. Known as Forger, he was a telepath who could erase and forge human memory. Not a friend, Forger was the reason Sasuke chose to be bouncing a ball rather than be pacing around the room.

  It’d been some decades ago that Forger was given autonomy in dealings with the human military, but that autonomy had grown into an ambition that thoug
ht himself an equal to Sasuke, a commander in his own right.

  Deep sunken eyes and ash tone to his dark skin, along with his greying curly hair, gave Forger the benefit of appearing older. Even so, he was far too young looking to have achieved the rank of general. Drawing less attention to himself, he could have settled for a lesser rank but much was the ambition of the Elder known as Forger. He’d become unreasonable himself.

  “What was that?” demanded the human general from Duke with the ‘Owens’ patch and in receiving no answer from the Whisperer, he turned to Forger and barked, “What is this?”

  Forger slid on the gaudy gold ring he’d been polishing with a cloth and patted the general on the shoulder with the ring hand.

  “Here’s how it is, Anderson,” said Forger, looking at Sasuke, “I’ve been telling my colleague here that you are a threat. Digging into the Texas incident too deep, you are a dog with a bone. You’ve become a thorn in my side, child.” Forger would call a fifty-year-old man a child because he was over five centuries old.

  “I’d deal with you myself,” said Forger. “But rules still dictate I get permission for my dealings. It’s an issue I mean to raise at the council today. Seeing as how we’re at war, procedures shouldn’t be so tedious, right Sasuke?”

  “Indeed,” Sasuke said and bounced a ball off the table. “Ayka, take him. We haven’t arrived at killing human commanders yet.”

  The general jerked from the table and jumped up, but he had nowhere to go. Taking an unreasonable tone hadn’t failed him the test, but in threatening Elders with his ‘bagging and tagging,’ the general had failed his test. Now he would lose his free will.

  “Anderson,” said Ayka, making the general freeze in his tracks, “go stand in the corner.”

  “Yes, Mistress!” The four-star general saluted Ayka, then went to stand in the corner facing the wall as a child at penalty.

  “Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk.” Forger shook his head and hissed Sasuke’s name through his teeth, “Sasuke, this is a mess. First Texas, now Constantine… you’ve lost grip of your command.”

  Sasuke bounced a ball off the table and caught it. “Unfortunately, anti-creation is not under my command, neither is Constantine.”

  “How?” asked Forger. “How? He’s dead!”

  “I don’t know.” Her husband bounced a ball and lied. “Magic from the Guardian Realm, I suppose.”

  “Is it not your business to know?” said Forger.

  “I’m not God, Forger, and watch your tone,” said Sasuke. “With a hostile Whisperer in the realm, you will follow protocol to keep human weapons safe. Why are your Whisperers fully booked? Free them.”

  “We’re at capacity, Sasuke. Have you noticed, we’ve been dealing with a dark phenomenon? Too many questions, too many eyes, too much intel leaking out because you’re not holding up your end of the bargain.”

  “There’s no bargain, soldier,” said Sasuke. “Just do as you’re told.”

  “We need Suns, Commander Sasuke. Will you supply them or is that another thing I must do by myself?”

  “You will have them,” lied her husband and got up. “Now, I have Council. You may take your leave, soldier.”

  “I want to be present at the council,” said Forger.

  “You’re not on the council, soldier. You’re dismissed.”

  Forger would get up, flick a speck off his uniform, and hiss even, but that would be the extent of his displeasure because Drake stood by the door.

  Drake with his ease, smiled and waved a bye at Forger who in return gave a nod and said, “First Lieutenant.” Having lived through the Elder War, Forger knew Drake.

  Appearing as a redheaded child in his early twenties, or even younger, Drake had been one of the most prominent figures of war three centuries old. He’d saved the lives of many, including Forger’s own. Respect would be due to Drake for that alone, yet the ambitious such as Forger would acknowledge Drake first as a danger, for the loyalty of this Elder, whose Talent was beyond all others, had always belonged to Sasuke. It was not wise to displease the commander in the presence of his first lieutenant.

  Forger would check his ambition, fold it for now, and tucking it into the front pocket of his star-studded uniform, he would leave with a nod, taking his men along.

  After Forger was out sight, her husband sighed and tossed the ball aside without bouncing it.

  “Ayka,” Sasuke said.

  “Yes, Commander.”

  “I’ll see if I can find another to unload that Obedient. In the meantime, you will remember what we’ve discussed many times before?”

  “Yes, Commander.”

  “Good.” Sasuke patted the girl’s head and she smiled.

  When Ayka said commander, she always meant father. She was a loving girl and a daughter to him and Giselle. Referred to as his children, Ayka and Drake were Sasuke’s love and kindness. Whispering was a dark Talent and giving an Obedient to his daughter had displeased him. That had been the reason for the sigh.

  He liked to tread lightly with Ayka’s Talent. Catch and release, they called it, whispering on the passing but not keeping long-term Obedients. Sasuke hadn’t wanted the unreasonable general in Ayka’s Ka, but he didn’t want to take a human life—there was his displeasure.

  Sasuke made a face, and Giselle smiled because that expression of wrinkling his nose and tightening his lips was his cursing face. Knowing he’d be ranting inside in old Japanese was endearing to her.

  When Giselle went outside, Forger was leaving but hadn’t left.

  “Where is Maroney?” asked Giselle from Duke with the ‘Owens’ patch.

  “Heart attack, ma’am. He died last spring.”

  “Oh, that’s too bad.”

  Maroney had been a human general also, but a reasonable man who didn’t make threats of bagging and tagging. He had liked his grandchildren and hoped to see them graduate high school. But he didn’t make it, Giselle supposed. The last time they spoke, the grandchildren had just started school, and it hadn’t been that long ago. Giselle couldn’t recall if it’d been a couple of years ago or several but certainly not a decade.

  “So, what’s the plan here?” asked Forger. They were on the driveway.

  The four-star general sat quietly in a back seat of a black SUV, but the three-star Forger stood on the lawn squinting up at the breaking dawn. He put a cigarette in his mouth and Duke struck a lighter for him. Smoking was a curious habit for an Elder… or a human. Forger stood blowing out smoke and staring down Giselle because she hadn’t answered his question.

  “The guardian is looking for his vessel,” said Giselle. It was better to give Forger something for he was a dog with a bone as well. “Shen assumes that since Constantine’s body was destroyed, the priest would probably resurrect in a human vessel. The prophecy came from a Seeker, his resurrection is certain. But if we can locate the vessel before he…”

  “Resurrects, we can wait for him and kill as soon as he arrives,” said Forger, cutting her off but giving a nod of approval. “Why does he shut me out?”

  Because your ambition irritates him.

  “Oh, he’s just had a lot to do deal with recently,” said Giselle.

  “I suppose.” Forger flicked a lit cigarette onto Souley’s lawn, blew out smoke, and shook Giselle’s hand. “Nice seeing you again. You take care now.”

  Giselle smiled, nodded. “You also, Forger.”

  She saw them drive off, waved, then turned back to the house and sighed. Three Elders and an Obedient had left. Now there was a house full of equally ambitious Elders and a stock market full of even worse humans remained for her husband to deal with—all before breakfast time.

  Giselle was making her husband tea in the kitchen when Adeleke came in wearing a jean jacket and carrying a colorful purse.

  “Is there anything else, Giselle?”

  “No, just make sure everyone else leaves as well,” Giselle smiled, “and don’t return unless you’re called back.”

  “I know,” Adele
ke said. “Souley made it plenty clear anyone approaching will be killed on sight. Don’t forget your things, the man says,” —shaking her head— “God help us all.”

  Ah, god does nothing, Giselle thought, no help at all. Yet she smiled, nodded, and waved goodbye. She’d been doing a lot of smiling, nodding, and waving all morning. Being the commander’s wife, hospitality was a part of her role.

  After boiling the water, Giselle poured it into the kyusu, and waited for the tea to steep. Absent an empath, a Suns Sister who could scan for Odedients, all humans would be assumed hostile because Constantine was a Whisperer.

  Elder headquarters would now only have Elders. Only exceptions would be mediums such as Reginald, psychics, and prophets—channeling Elder Ka made their mind inaccessible to a whisper command. And Ana, of course, her guardianship protected her from all Ka harm.

  Giselle cleaned the sink, rinsed the pot, and wiped the countertop, tidying up after herself. Sasuke would need to call Dalila, she ran the House of Suns. Giselle would speak to him about it, but later, because he was in a meeting with Elder command. For now, she would just make him tea. Souley could get his own damn tea, Giselle hated honey. Also, she didn’t make tea for those who weren’t her husband.

  Before the Elder command meeting, there had been an Elder council meeting. And as the council, they decided collectively not to mention the known source of Constantine’s resurrection: the Grace of Life spell Drake had traded for Sasuke’s life.

  Shen being Shen, a stickler for the rules, didn’t like it, of course. But unlike Forger, the scribe checked often to make certain his own thoughts and preferences didn’t supersede the needs of the realm. Elders were ambitious, and as such, undermining the morality of the commander or his first lieutenant during wartime would be in disservice of the realm—which Shen knew.

  No one knew how Drake would possess such a thing as a resurrection spell to surrender. Perhaps not no one, Giselle suspected Ana lied when she said, “I don’t know. Maybe it was inherited by him for being a prince.”