Shooting Eros - The Emuna Chronicles: Complete Boxset: Books 1 - 3

by Benjamin Laskin

  “Remember, Virgil is no different than any of you. All that separates him from you is his emuna and knowing who he is and Whom he serves.”

  I held up my hand with the stopwatch and then brought it chopping down. The team watched in amazement as Virgil sped racing, leaping, diving and rolling down the course, nailing every target with an arrow, knife, shuriken, or dart. He made it look so easy. When he crossed the finish line I clicked the stopwatch and showed it to the others. It read 1:39.

  “Holy crap!” Corporal Nisus exclaimed, the fourth member of Abishai’s SWAT team.

  Nisus was a big bruiser of a cupid, hairy and brutish-looking. He exuded intimidation. Captain Abishai often used him to quell problems back on the streets of the Academy. One menacing look from Nisus was often all it took to put some drunken cupid in his place. Until now, he had remained stubbornly quiet, watching everything with suspicion, looking for the ‘trick’ in what we did.

  “Holy something, anyway,” I said. “You men have five days to break five minutes.”

  “And if we can’t?” asked Sergeant Major Balius, Abishai’s number two; a red-bearded, ruggedly handsome, congenial cupid, known as the SWAT team’s thinking man and strategist. His calm, friendly exterior belied his reputation as a highly effective warrior. He was, in fact, the most decorated soldier on the team, next to Captain Abishai.

  “If Captain Volk believed that any of you didn’t have what it takes, you wouldn’t be here. There is no room for doubt. The only real obstacle in this course is your lack of conviction. From a drop of doubt will spring a hundred obstacles and a thousand excuses. Throw open your minds. Lift up your hearts and inflate your souls. Think like an angel of God.”

  “But CO Kohai,” Cadet Ares said, raising his hand. “How does an angel of God think?”

  “With absolute confidence, Cadet. Absolute confidence.”

  3

  Mirror Mirror

  “I don’t like coming here,” Sett griped.

  “Why?” Grace said. “I love it here. It’s so peaceful.”

  “‘Cuz I have no way to get back, that’s why. I’m completely dependent on him.” Sett pointed his chin at Captain Volk, who was entering the yeshiva with a tray of cups and steaming green tea.

  “That’s your own fault, Sett,” Volk said, having overheard the conversation. “Nothing is stopping you from learning how to whirl but yourself. You think I enjoy lugging your fat ass around?”

  “I’m busy,” he groused.

  “Not anymore. You met with Minos and everything is set. You said so yourself.”

  “He’s just afraid his men will show him up,” Grace said. “At the Academy he’s top dog. Here, he’s just another cupid.”

  “Hey,” Sett retorted. “Juiced up on this angel stuff or not, I’m still their commanding officer. They have to respect that.”

  “I’ll train you myself,” Volk said. “No one has to know. We’ll start right after this meeting.”

  Sett didn’t reply, which Volk knew was a yes.

  “What about me?” Grace said.

  “You’re a celestial,” Sett scoffed.

  “So?”

  “Tell her, Volk,” Sett said, passing the buck.

  “There are many things I can teach her,” Volk replied.

  “So this is how low I’ve fallen?” Sett said dismally. “Working out with a celestial? I thought being an angel meant rising.”

  “Get over it, sweetie,” Grace gibed. “I’ll go easy on you.”

  Sett buried his face in his hands. Grace and Volk exchanged amused smiles.

  “So where do we stand?” Volk asked, pouring the tea.

  Sett recounted his meeting with Judge Minos. He left out the part of having to bow and kiss the feet of Minos’s idol.

  He concluded his wrap-up saying, “It’s a good thing Grace gave me a copy of the treaty before I went. Minos said I didn’t have to know what is in it until after it was signed.”

  “You’re welcome,” Grace said.

  “So, he’s basing all this on the word of an Anteros zealot?” Volk said.

  “The old turd is desperate,” Sett answered. “He is convinced there is no other way; that we don’t stand a chance against either Anteros or the yetzers, and especially not against both at the same time.”

  “Neither do you,” Grace gently reminded him.

  “Yeah, well, at least I don’t believe in going down without a fight. Besides, that was before we had Abishai and the others on board. Maybe we still don’t have a chance, but going down will be a lot more fun now.”

  Volk said, “It’s a good thing he warned us about having our weapons confiscated. If they are taking away our sidearms, then swords and our other weapons won’t pass inspection either. We’re going to have to be creative. Did he get back to you yet about the yetzers being there?”

  “Yeah, after I buggered him some more about it. He said that he received a message from Hamanaeus that the critters would be kept far away.”

  “His ‘word’ again, right?” Grace said, dubious.

  Sett nodded. “How about you two? What do you have to report?”

  Grace frowned. “Only bad news, I’m afraid. I’ve picked up chatter that Minos isn’t the only one getting messages from Hamanaeus. While your team and the judges are down there, two Anteros sleeper cells up here will be preparing a warm welcome for the three hundred Anteros soldiers he’s sending up after the signing. Even if you were to make it out alive down there, we might not up here.”

  “Sleeper cells!” Sett exclaimed. “Why didn’t you tell us before?”

  “I didn’t know,” Grace said. “They were very deep. They have been completely off the grid—incommunicado. Even Anteros’s own moles here don’t know about them. I’ve been trying to find out who they are, but I haven’t a lead to go on. All I know is that they are awaiting a signal.”

  “What kind of signal?” Sett said.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t know that either. My guess is that once the three hundred Anteros commandos begin to arrive, an Anteros plant in the Academy-run media will report it, imbedding some coded phrase that is their call to arms. Like us, the deal is the Anteros soldiers are to arrive unarmed. I believe that one of the functions of the sleeper cells is to remedy that situation.”

  “No doubt about it,” Sett said, angry for not having figured on such a scenario himself. “Can you hack into their data base and see if you smell a rat?”

  “I’ll try,” she said.

  “Damn,” Sett said. “They’ve been planning this for years.”

  “A lot longer than that,” Volk said.

  “Well, hell, we’ve got to do something about it, don’t we? We can’t just let those bastards prance in and storm us without any resistance.”

  Grace said, “Maybe I can put some sort of warning system in place to give the cupids a chance to wake up to the danger. I think that if we come under attack, a lot of cupids would try to respond. The least we can do is to give them a chance.”

  “Like what?” Sett asked.

  “Leave that to me,” Grace said confidently.

  Sett turned to Captain Volk, who shrugged and said, “Let her work up a plan and show it to us.”

  “Fine,” Sett grumbled.

  “And you, Captain?” Grace said. “How about some good news for once?”

  “I spun down to Earth and met with Cyrus—”

  “Wait,” Sett interrupted. “Met with Cyrus? As in talked to? We can do that?”

  “We can now.”

  “Okay, now that is impressive.”

  “The good news is,” Volk continued, “we think we might have found the Swerver and that the match has been made.”

  “So, Cyrus was right after all?” Grace said. “It’s the Veetal woman?”

  “No, but he was close. We think it’s a guy named Gideon Baer, now the fiancé of Ellen Veetal’s cousin, Malkah Stern.”

  “A man?” Grace said. “But I thought—”

  “It’s not
written anywhere that it can’t be a man,” Volk said. “We just assumed the Swerver is a woman because the only ones we ever learned of had been women.”

  “Are you certain?”

  “Pretty sure, and so is Cyrus. Gideon is the one.” Then Volk shrugged. “Or Malkah Stern.”

  “Huh?” Sett and Grace said in unison.

  “Okay,” Volk said. “I confess we’re not that sure. But,” he added quickly, “it doesn’t matter, because either way we got our Swerver. … Sort of…”

  “That’s great—! Wait…” Grace squinted at Cyrus. “Sort of? I don’t like sort of.”

  Sett groaned. “Dammit, Volk. Come on, what’s the catch?”

  Volk said, “Steady yourself, Sett, because this is going to take some explaining.”

  “I’m a big boy. I’ve heard and seen it all by now.”

  Volk grinned. “Ya think?”

  Grace smiled, folded her arms, and sat back for what she expected to be a most interesting tale.

  Volk launched into the tradition of the Lamed-Vavniks. He left nothing out, bringing Sett up to date with who Gideon Baer was, Baer’s suspicions about Alexander Rosso, and what Cyrus feared Gideon might do about it.

  “Oh, for God’s sake!” Sett exploded in exasperation. “And this stuff is for real?”

  “The world is a mysterious place,” Volk said.

  “Dammit, Volk,” Sett said. “We don’t know half the crap that goes on down there, do we?”

  “To say half would be flattering ourselves,” Volk said.

  Sett said as if talking to himself, “Go down, take out some yetzers, nail the persons with a couple potion-tipped arrows—it used to be so simple. But nooo, we got Anteros and pet yetzers, Swervers and these Vavnik dudes, human demagogues and traitorous judges, and cupids and celestials who aren’t really cupids and celestials but angels, and degrees of angels, and did you say something about wandering dead prophets? What the hell! Where does it end?!”

  “The end isn’t our concern. What you need to know is where it all begins, and that is with HaShem.”

  “I got that, Volk. I got that. You win. Eros can kiss my hairy ass, and HaShem is One and His name is One. I got that. But, dang, it’s confusing.”

  Grace and Volk swapped smiles as Sett shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. Volk thought of mentioning my visitations with the Besht, just for fun, but he took pity on the commander and decided to pocket the revelation for another day.

  “Don’t you have anything stronger than tea here?” Sett griped. “Never mind, I came prepared.” He pulled a flask from the side pocket of his utility pants and took a swig of whiskey. He screwed the cap back on and said, “So, let me get this straight, you’re worried that if this Gideon guy is planning to take out this Rosso bastard, he could get himself killed, and the Swerver doesn’t swerve and we’re back to square one in that game. Do I got that right?”

  “More or less, yeah.”

  “Then tell Cyrus to talk him out of it. You said those two are pals now. Maybe the guy will listen to him.”

  “It’s not so simple,” Volk said.

  “No, no, of course it isn’t,” Sett said dryly. “How silly of me.” He unscrewed the flask, took another swig, and wiped his mouth on his forearm. “Why the hell not?”

  “For one, we can’t chance interfering with the match of a Swerver. I’m not sure this would count as interference, but we don’t want to risk it. Two—”

  Grace interrupted, wanting to give it a shot. “If Gideon is right about Rosso, and the madman succeeds at eliminating the Lamed-Vavniks, then the world could collapse with or without Anteros and Solow.”

  “Exactly,” Volk said.

  Sett shook his head. “Damned if we do, damned if we don’t, you’re saying.”

  “Looks like it,” Volk said. “But there is a third reason.”

  “Terrific,” Sett said. “Come on, what is it?”

  “Everything that happens here is mirrored there, and what happens there is mirrored here. There is constant feedback, reverberations. It’s not a perfect mirroring, and may not be detected by us except in retrospect, but like it or not, we are linked to the humans in inexplicable ways, and they to us.”

  “Yeah, so…?”

  “I mentioned that summit that Alexander Rosso is holding next week. It’s the same time as ours with Hamanaeus and the signing of Solow…” Volk paused to wait if one of them could see where he was going.

  “Not a coincidence,” Grace said.

  After palming his beard in contemplation, Sett said, “Same day, same place?”

  “Right,” Volk said, giving Sett a commending nod. “Rosso’s lair—his estate—is the exact coordinates as Hamanaeus’s fortress. They may not look the same in both dimensions, but the general layout, the surrounding area, the caves and the bunkers are very similar. It’s a reverse and distorted image, but that’s how these things work.”

  “Does Hamanaeus know about this?” Grace asked. “Does Rosso?”

  “Highly unlikely. It’s unconscious. There is no way that Rosso could know. They simply attract one another. Evil attracts evil. As for Hamanaeus, I doubt it, but then again, he has proven to be shrewder than we ever gave him credit for. Regardless, Rosso and Hamanaeus are a natural match; their negative energies reinforce one another.”

  “You know I suck at metaphysics, Volk,” Sett said. “What are you getting at?”

  Grace interjected, “He’s saying that if we are going to try and stop Hamanaeus and Solow, Gideon must be at that summit.”

  “Aw, hell,” Sett said. “Really? This sort of razzma-frickin-tazz is at work down there?”

  “And up here,” Volk said. “Hamanaeus’s invasion of Heaven is a reflection of Rosso’s attempt to control the world, and vice versa. If you study our esoteric traditions,” Volk glanced at a large bookcase filled with ancient texts, “you will see that this is not the first time such a thing has occurred. Our Civil War coincided with happenings on Earth. Anteros’s near takeover during that war occurred at the same time of an upheaval of civilization down there. They aren’t exact copies, but as I said, in terms of events and energies, they are the same.”

  “My crusty brain isn’t made for such musings, Volk. I’ll take your word for it. Just tell me what it means for us, and what we have to do.”

  “Let me take a crack at it,” Grace said. “We can save the Swerver by abandoning our mission and allowing Solow to go through. Without our hyper-dimensional energies at work, Gideon will likely decide to back out and drop his plans to take down this Rosso character. But if we do that, then Anteros takes over our part of Heaven and even the Swerver won’t be able to save the humans.”

  “So I was right ten minutes ago,” Sett said. “Damned if we do, damned if we don’t! Why do I need all the mystical mumbo jumbo?”

  “To understand what is at stake,” Volk said. “Heaven or Hell.”

  “There ain’t such a big difference between the two anymore, in case you haven’t noticed,” Sett rejoined. “Look,” he continued, “we can back out. It’s not too late. I can have Minos fire my ass. He puts together a new team and goes down and does his thing. That would leave our team up here. We will be Fortress Heaven. When Anteros comes knocking, we kick their asses back downstairs, get rid of these pansy-ass judges, and take over up here. The Swerver goes on to marry that Malkah Stern chick, and they set into motion whatever metaphysical hocus-pocus that does. What’s wrong with that idea?”

  “Nothing,” Volk said. “Except that Anteros and Rosso live to fight another day, stronger than ever. Hamanaeus trains more yetzers, builds more spleen guns, uses our technology, cupids and celestials to wage another war a few years later. Rosso continues to tighten his grip and eliminate more righteous humans. We have to put an end to it.”

  “So, we are right back to where we started,” Sett said in exasperation.

  “You asked me what I learned and I told you,” Volk said. “What Grace and I have reported show
s how grave the situation is, and what momentous forces we are dealing with. It should serve to focus our attention and concentrate our minds.”

  Sett took another swig from his flask, and belched. Volk and Grace looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

  “What?” Sett said. “You concentrate your mind your way, and I’ll concentrate mine my way.”

  4

  Shadows of a Doubt

  Earlier…

  After her talk with Cyrus at the construction site, Malkah had one more stop for the day. It wasn’t anything she looked forward to, but she felt the visit was inevitable, and that she should get it out of the way.

  Besides, she thought, if Ellen were to hear of her plans from bubby and not from the horse’s mouth, Ellen would never forgive her. Despite how messed up Malkah considered Ellen’s own personal life, she knew that Ellen regarded herself an expert on the lives of others, and so would be offended if her opinion wasn’t sought. She figured that if she didn’t at least pretend to seek Ellen’s council, then anything she were to do in the future would receive a double dollop of cousin Ellen’s creamy criticism.

  She found Ellen in her office looking over brochures for her and Chauncey Matterson’s upcoming trip. In a cheery mood, Ellen welcomed her cousin with her pet name, “Mac!”

  Ellen’s dog, Carl, was even more elated. He whimpered excitedly and his tail spun like a propeller. Malkah had dog-sat for Ellen often in the past, and clearly the dog had many happy memories about those times.

  “Hey, Carl,” Malkah trilled. She sat down on the couch and patted the cushion. The dog leaped up beside her and buried his head in her lap for some petting. “Getting ready for your trip, I see.”

  “Yeah, I can’t wait.” Ellen looked at how fond Carl was of her cousin. “So, I was wondering…”

  “Sure, I’ll watch Carl for you.”

  “Aw, thanks,” Ellen said. “You know the routine, make yourself at home and all that. The only thing different is that poor Carl is getting old and is having hip trouble. Nothing serious for now, but the vet put him on some supplements. I’ll write it all out for you and leave everything on the kitchen counter.”