Sunrisepact arcanum 2, p.35
Sunrise(Pact Arcanum 2), page 35
“He tried to protect you both, even though he knew he would fail. For the longest time, I thought I could protect my family from my job as a Sentinel. You remember the lengths I went to in order to deceive them about what I actually do. Then you outed us all at Los Angeles and everything changed.” Scott sighed. “My son used to call me the Music Man, a place in his life I built for myself, something to be proud of. Now he calls me the Wolfman, and I think it’s his way of trying to be less afraid of me.”
Nick squeezed Scott’s arm. “You’re a good father, in an impossible situation.”
“But if it weren’t for Los Angeles, Peter might have been the one reading this letter after I died. What you’re feeling now is the reaction he would have had, learning of my double life. I doubt I’d come off as a very sympathetic figure.”
“All of that is over, now, Scotty. You can tell him the truth, as much as he can handle.”
“And what do I say to my next child? Do I tell her my secrets from the beginning, or try to shield her as long as I can from the horror that’s part of what we are?”
“That’s a tough one, but it’s not something you have to think about right now.”
“Michelle is pregnant.”
“Oh.”
“Forgive your father for lying, Nick. Otherwise, how am I going to sleep at night knowing that this is what I have to look forward to?” Scott walked back to the teleport gateway in the living room, skirting the broken glass, and jumped away.
Nick sighed and turned to Jeremy. “Do you agree with him? Am I being childish?”
Jeremy folded the letter up and slid it back into its envelope. “Nicholas, ask yourself what you were thinking, the first time you accepted honor combat without telling me that I was the challenged party.”
Nick closed his eyes and slumped in his chair. “That I would do anything it took to protect your life, even if it cost me your love in the end.”
“Sound familiar?”
Nick slowly exhaled a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, and felt some of his tension ease. “I wish I had known. So many things could have been different between us if I had truly understood what he was trying to protect me from.”
“Magic requires sacrifice. He let that part of your relationship go to raise you as a human child. That was a choice, which he made for you. But not a blind choice. This letter just goes to show he knew it would all come back to him in the end, and it sounds like he was prepared to accept the consequences, even if you ended up hating him.”
“I don’t hate him,” Nick said. He lifted his head to meet Jeremy’s gaze, and his eyes were bright red with unshed tears of blood. “I miss him so much.”
Jeremy stood from his chair and came to stand next to Nick. “You can argue his choices, but you can’t argue that he made them with your welfare in mind. So you were ignorant of much of what he could have taught you. At least you had the part of him that he could safely share with you, and you were a family. Some people will never have that.” Jeremy spun his wedding band on his left ring finger. “I never had that, growing up.”
“Leshir, I’m sorry. I know you grew up alone.”
“That’s not the point, Nick. I was alone in every sense until the day you touched the focus in my hand, and I realized everything I had ever wanted was right in front of me, just out of reach. I never dreamed that you would ever love me back.”
Nick reached out and enfolded his lover in his arms. “Jeremy Kenneth Harkness Jameson, you have a family now. We may be a bunch of psychopaths on occasion, but we all love you. You’ll never have to be alone again.”
“I know. But I also know you very well, and I can say with some degree of confidence that if it was your son who was growing up latent, you would have done exactly the same thing.”
Nick said nothing, merely stood, and held his hand out to Jeremy. Jeremy clasped his hand, and the Daywalker jumped them away, back to their residence in Anchorpoint City.
Behind them, unnoticed, the letter lay on the table where Jeremy had left it.
Forgotten and forgiven.
SACRIFICE
DEDICATION
To the Lord of Daybreak, for giving me inspiration and a modicum of talent. To my family and friends, without whom I would not be here. To Jerry, for his constant criticism and support as I wrote it all down, and for badgering me into making the attempt to get the story published.
GLOSSARY
THE RACES:
Humans: The Children of the Day: the most populous race, born with the least magic
Nightwalkers: The Children of Darkness: the vampires, soulless and immortal greater undead
Sentinels: The Children of Twilight: mystical soldiers genetically programmed to defeat the Nightwalkers
THE SENTINEL HIERARCHY:
The Four Winds: Leaders of the Sentinel race
The Wind of Earth: Weapon-based physical combat, blademaster
The Wind of Water: Adaptive physical combat, shapeshifter
The Wind of Fire: Energy-based combat, magician
The Wind of Air: Psychic combat, tactician
THE GREAT POWERS:
The Pact Arcanum: A ritual that allows a being of the material plane to bargain for power with beings from other planes
The Red Wind: A demonic power of the lower planes, creator of the Nightwalkers via the Pact Arcanum
The White Wind: An angelic power of the higher planes, creator of the Sentinels and the Daywalkers via the Pact Arcanum
The Gift: The Sentinel inheritance of supernatural abilities that lies dormant until exposure to Nightwalkers, roughly patterned upon aspects of the four elements: Earth, Water, Air, and Fire
The Crown of Souls: A spiritual prison created by Luscian Firstborn via the Pact Arcanum that permanently enslaves the souls of beings killed by the artifact sword Reaper in order to augment the wielder’s mystical strength
THE NIGHTWALKER HIERARCHY:
The Court of Shadows: Leaders of the Nightwalker Race
Imperator: Adjudicator between Houses, called the Huntmaster
Night’s Herald: Spymaster, leader of the Inquisition
Magister: Leader of a House, called the Prince (gender neutral)
Leshir: Mate to a Magister, called the Prince Consort (gender neutral)
Primogenitor: Second-in-Command
Consul: Senior Councilor
Praetor: Senior Diplomat
Notable Houses and Territories:
House Talizered: Russia
House Jiao-long: Western United States, China
House Curallorn: Eastern United States
House Luscian: France, Ukraine
House Daviroquir: United Kingdom, excluding Ireland
House Diluthical: Ireland
House Tervilant: Spain, Portugal
House Sojosten: Japan
THE PRINCIPAL CAST
The Mortals:
Antonio Martinez: The Wind of Fire
Edgar Jameson: Fire Sentinel
Takeshi Nakamura (Nightfall)
Anaba Nizhoni (Nightfall)
Sean Rory Brennigan (Nightfall)
Nicholas Jameson (The Journeymen): Elder son of Edgar Jameson
Tobias Jameson: Younger son of Edgar Jameson
Scott Phillips (The Journeymen)
The Immortals:
Aleksei Magister Talizered: The Prince of Vengeance
Liang Primogenitor Jiao-long
Layla Magister Curallorn: Nemesis, the Prince of Wrath
Jiao-long Firstborn: The Serpent, the Prince of Sorrows
Imperator Luscian Firstborn: Soulkiller, the Eldest, the Prince of Nightmares, Founder of the Court of Shadows
Lorcan Consul Diluthical
Kukiko Consul Sojosten
TIMELINE
1504 Lorcan born
1525 Lorcan turned
1601 Connor dies
1993 Rory, Takeshi, Anaba born
2001 Scott born
2003 Nick born
2008 Sentinel assault on Court of Shadows defeated
2015 Nightfall kindles
2016 Toby born
2020 Rory turned by Jiao-long Firstborn, the Pact Arcanum
2021 Armistice Declaration signed
2023 Anaba develops recursion drive, Armistice space program established
2024 North American coastal defense barrier established
2026 The Citadel founded
2030 Spacer Guild established
2032 Nick and Rory meet at Christmas party and renew friendship
2033 Nick turned by Luscian Firstborn, the Burning
2034 Scott kindles, Nick meets Lorcan
2038 Lorcan appointed Court Ambassador to the Triumvirate Council
2039 Nick appointed Triumvirate Ambassador to the Court of Shadows
2040 Los Angeles incident
POST A REVIEW!
If this book made a strong impression on you, whether positive or negative, consider writing a review. Alternatively, if you wish to express yourself privately, you can contact me directly through http://pactarcanum.com/contact/.
Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Sunrise-Pact-Arcanum-ebook/dp/B005SMWXK0
Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11120368-sunrise
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you to those who made this fourth edition possible, with advice, criticism and encouragement. I especially want to thank my editors, Greg Ioannou, Karlyn Thayer, Erin Roof, and Karin Cox for their comments, as well as my beta readers, Jerry, Eric, Karul, and Katy. Thank you also to Jason, Juniper, and Jessica for their proofreading skills. And of course, props to Craig Payst for his great illustrations.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Arshad Ahsanuddin is a practicing hematopathologist, a physician specializing in the diagnosis of diseases of blood, bone marrow, and lymph nodes using laboratory data and microscopic evaluation of tissue biopsies. Yes, he’s a blood doctor writing a series of vampire novels. The irony isn’t lost on him. If you enjoyed this story, or if you have questions about the Pact Arcanum saga, check out his website at http://pactarcanum.com and leave him some feedback.
Website:
http://pactarcanum.com
Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/author/pactarcanum
Facebook:
http://facebook.com/pactarcanum
Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/pactarcanum
Twitter:
http://twitter.com/pactarcanum
OTHER WORKS
Fiction
THE PACT ARCANUM SAGA
Sunset (Book One)
Sunrise (Book Two)
Moonlight (Book Three)
Starlight (Book Four)
Cathedral of the Sky
Non-Fiction
First Words: 13 Short Essays on Writing from a Neophyte Author’s Perspective
Stepwise: eBook and Print-on-Demand Formatting using Word 2010
COPYRIGHT
First Edition: February 2011
Second Edition: March 2012
Third Edition: April 2012
Fourth Edition: October 2012
Text © 2012 by Arshad Ahsanuddin.
“Sacrifice” artwork incorporates licensed stock images © iStockphoto.com/Ivan Demyanov and Daniel Brunner
All other interior artwork © 2010 by Arshad Ahsanuddin
Includes material previously published as Sunrise: Pact Arcanum Book Two, and Radiant Burn: Pact Arcanum 2.5
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, organizations, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, government institutions, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Arshad Ahsanuddin, Sunrise(Pact Arcanum 2)
