Free Stealing Sacred Fire by Storm Constantine

asked him. He looked, as always, despairing. Perhaps,
now, she knew the reason why.

Chapter Three

Reawakening
    London
    Shemyaza had forgotten how filthy the
capital city was. Even pedestrians wore masks against the polluting
air nowadays. Yet still London charmed him. He sensed its great age
beneath his feet and even now, closing his eyes upon the busy
street, fancied he could sense its previous incarnations, when the
streets had been merely mud. Perhaps it had always been filthy.
    He and Salamiel had been in the
city for two days, staying at a Grigori-owned hotel hidden amongst
the streets of Soho. Enniel Prussoe had arranged the accommodation
for them, and had booked them in under assumed names. He assured
them the hotel management was renowned for its discretion.
    Daniel had been summoned, but
for some reason was delaying his return. Shem was amused by this.
He knew Daniel did not like having his strings tweaked too
forcefully, and the phone call he’d made to Cornwall had perhaps
been a little abrupt:
    ‘What are you doing down there,
Daniel? Get back here now! We have work to do.’
    Daniel’s silence had been
eloquent on the other end of the line. Shem was reminded that his
vizier was five years older now; a boy no longer, and perhaps not
quite as malleable as in the past. To Shem, it felt as if he’d only
seen Daniel a few days before. ‘So, thanks for asking after my
health.’ He couldn’t help sounding sharp.
    ‘I know how you are. Salamiel
called Enniel as soon as you woke up.’
    ‘Salamiel and I are going to
London. I want you to meet us there.’
    Daniel uttered a repressed
groan. ‘What’s the hurry? What are you planning?’
    Shem noticed the reserve in
Daniel’s tone, a stony reticence that had not been there before.
‘To carry on what was started. That is what you want of me, isn’t
it?’
    ‘I don’t know what we started.
I don’t know how we carry on.’
    ‘You’ve changed, then.’
    Shem heard Daniel sigh down the
line. ‘It all seems so unreal now. What you did here... what effect
did it have? I can’t see any. Perhaps it’s pointless, and we’re
kidding ourselves...’
    ‘We shouldn’t be talking about
this on the phone, Daniel.’
    ‘No... Shem, I’m not sure I
want to come back...’
    ‘You don’t have a choice.’
    ‘Something strange happened
today.’
    Shem listened as Daniel told
him about the events surrounding the eclipse. ‘That just sounds
like proof to me. We have to act.’
    ‘Do what though?’
    Shem paused. ‘We need to talk.
Please come to London, Daniel. I want to see you.’
    Again, a sigh. ‘OK, but we must
talk, Shem, not just go haring off somewhere.’
    ‘We’ll talk. I promise.’
    ‘Give me a couple of days, will
you? I want to see Lily.’
    ‘Whatever you wish. Give her my
regards.’
    Shem had fought the impulse to
slam down the phone. How could Daniel become so estranged? Shem
knew him as a warm, compassionate creature, and had been sure of
his love. Had five years eroded that loyalty?
    Attempting to banish any doubts
about Daniel, Shem immersed himself in the bustle of Oxford Street,
letting the crowds swirl around him like water. No-one seemed to
notice him. He felt invisible.
    So much activity; most of it
mindless. It was difficult to see a spiritual awakening in the
land. Shem gazed into shop windows, contemptuous of the
siren-allure of the colourful displays. Perhaps Daniel was right.
So little seemed to have changed since his ordeal in the
underworld.
    He wandered past an electrical
goods mega-store, and the flickering banks of televisions in the
display window caught his eye. What he saw depressed his spirits
further. Every set was tuned to a channel showing a brutal public
demonstration in the Middle East. Contorted faces yelled at the
cameras, which flashed to pictures of burned bodies lying in a
dusty village street, and scuffles with the armed forces. A strong
emotion coursed through him. His homeland: gripped by war and
mindless