“But it’s not what we’re here for!” she cried. “I brought these people out to cleanse possessions, not fight actual demons.” She flung her hand up at the nightmare in the sky. “We can’t fight that.”
“We can’t,” he agreed quietly. “We are still only human.”
“Then what hope do we have?”
“The same we always had,” he said, clutching his sword as he lifted his eyes heavenward. “Faith.”
She knew he was right. It was the same lesson she’d been learning all night, but it was still hard to believe when an unspeakable, unknowable death was sweeping down on you from the sky, its claws already uncurling to pluck the people—her people, the ones who’d answered her call—out of the water like eagles snatching fish. She could already see death coming as the demons swung down, and she shot back to her feet, raising her hands to be first since this was her idea and therefore her responsibility. But just as the first of the fiends swept in low to pluck her out of the water, a second, vastly different call rang out.
This time, it did not bring fear. This call was bright as a trumpet and sweeter than the first morning light. As it broke across the city, a new rupture blossomed in the sky, unfolding like a flower, and when it opened at last, light poured out, and everything changed.
Again, they were winged creatures, and again, they were impossible to look at directly, though not for the same reasons. This time, it was blinding light that forced Lauryn to lower her eyes as flights of angels with wings like fire and swords that matched hers and Talon’s spilled forth into the world and crashed straight into the enemy.
“Soldiers of El Elyon!”
The deep command made her jump, and Lauryn looked up just in time to see Akarra swoop down to join them in the water, his feet resting on the waves like they were dry land. Just like on the threshold of death, the stern dark-skinned angel was huge and beautiful and terrifying to behold, but Lauryn felt no fear. It was simply impossible to be anything but awestruck in the face of so much glory, and all she could do was fall to her knees, lowering her face to the icy water.
“Rise,” Akarra commanded. “Your fight is not over.”
Lauryn scrambled to her feet, stumbling in the sand before Talon caught her and dragged her the rest of the way up. When she was standing again, Akarra turned and pointed to the fortress in the sky. “They have breached the sacred barrier,” he said, his voice rumbling with fury. “They tread where no creature of their sort should dare, and they will suffer for it.” He bared his teeth savagely before turning back to the humans. “In the meanwhile—” he smiled at Lauryn “—you’ve done well, little doctor. You used your head and solved the riddle, as we knew you would. Keep up your good work, and together we will push back the tide.”
“But how?” Lauryn asked, looking up at the horrible shape of the hell fortress. “My entire plan was to stop that thing. How can I do that if it’s already here?”
Akarra smiled. “Just because they have made it through doesn’t mean they can stay.” He glared up at the highway where the transformed demons were still watching. “Remove the hooks they have placed in the people, and that fortress shall fall right back down into the pit. All will be well, young warrior, if you but keep the faith. We shall watch over you and guard your heads, and I swear now that no harm shall come to you from the sky. But you need to focus and do God’s work on the earth.”
By the time he finished, Lauryn could only nod. The angel nodded back and took off, shooting into the sky with a single flap of his burning wings. It was only then, when he was gone and the shock of his light had faded, that Lauryn realized everyone on the beach, including Talon, was staring at her.
“That was an angel,” her father whispered, his voice trembling. “An angel spoke to you!”
“Yeah,” Lauryn said awkwardly, unsure how else to answer. “I told you I talked to one earlier . . .”
She faded off with a wince. The moment she’d admitted the truth, her father had fallen to his knees in the water. “My child is blessed!” he cried, grabbing her hand.
“Dad!” she yelled, face burning, especially when the others started doing it, too. “No, stop!” she cried, putting up her hands. “I’m not, that is—we don’t have time for this!”
That was a truth Lauryn wished she didn’t have to point out, but it least it got their attention. Up on the ledge, the demon-possessed people were massing on the road like predators waiting for their chance to strike. When the people in the water started kneeling, several of them must have seen their chance. By the time Lauryn yelled out, they were already down on the beach, loping across the sand toward the people in the water. It should have been a terrifying sight, but it was what Lauryn had come here to do, and after the creatures, the possessed humans didn’t look so bad anymore. Either way, she was ready. She just hoped the others were, too.
“Do what I do,” she said, moving to grab the first monster as it hit the deeper water and slowed down. “Now!”
She grabbed the transformed person—a midsized demon with long grasping fingers and a drooling mouth that made her want to retch—around the neck, using its own momentum to take them both down. The moment it was in the water, she dunked its head, tipping the creature backwards like she’d seen the priests do for river baptisms.
“You are cleaned,” she said, voice shaking as she fought to hold it down. “Come back to us!”
That was definitely not the canonical prayer for an exorcism, but it didn’t seem to matter. The faith behind them was what did, because the moment she spoke the words, the monster stopped thrashing. Between the dark and the muddy water, it was impossible to see what was happening, but Lauryn could feel the body shrinking and changing in her hands. When it was over, a woman broke the surface with a gasp, her bloodshot eyes wide and horrified and her mouth open in a silent scream. For a moment, she stood there frozen, and then she collapsed, falling into Lauryn with a relieved sob.
“Oh, thank you,” she cried. “It’s over. Thank you!”
“You can thank me by doing to others what I did to you,” Lauryn said, setting the woman gently on her feet in the lake.
For a moment, the woman stared at her in absolute confusion. An expression that only got worse when she looked around and saw others doing what Lauryn had done, catching the possessed demons as they charged and dunking them in the water. There was definitely some divine help going on, because even the oldest, frailest men and women were having no trouble forcing the biggest of demons into the water, washing them clean with a prayer. And when they rose again, they were human. And terrified, especially when they looked up and saw the battle raging in the sky between the fire-winged angels and the black-winged hellspawn.
“Do not be afraid!” Talon yelled, holding a particularly large demon under the water until he turned back into a man. “Help or move out of the way, but do not panic. Fear is the devil’s rope, and he will tie you down if you let him.”
Lauryn wasn’t sure if that was the right thing to say in this situation, but it seemed to do the job. Once they got over their initial shock, several of the transformed people moved to start helping others. Good thing, too, because Talon had also been right about the possessed being drawn to them like predators to sheep. In the few minutes since they’d started, the crowd of possessed people had turned into a tide, and the longer they stayed in the water, the bigger it grew. Hundreds, thousands, Lauryn couldn’t even begin to count, but as minutes turned into hours, their numbers grew and grew until the lake was full of people helping others.
The demons on the other side began to turn away.
“They’re running,” Lauryn said, panting with exertion.
“Because the enemy is a coward,” Talon replied, wiping the lake water off his face. “He always runs the moment he loses the advantage. Look up and see for yourself.”
Lauryn gasped. She’d been so busy trying to keep pace with the tide of demon-possessed humans charging after them into the lake, she hadn’t had a moment to check on the ba
ttle with actual demons raging above their heads. When she did, though, her heart leaped.
In the time they’d been washing the corruption St. Luke had placed into the citizens of Chicago, dawn had broken, and the demon’s charge had broken with it. The horrifying castle was still visible, but it was fading as Lauryn watched, its twisted towers and toothlike battlements melting like frost in the morning light. As it diminished, the few winged demons that hadn’t yet been cut out of the sky began fleeing back to its shadow, their horrifying bodies winking out as they fled back to the hell they’d come from. By the time the actual sun broke over the lake’s edge, the castle was gone completely, leaving the sky blue and clear and cold in the winter light.
“It is done.”
The booming words made Lauryn jump, and she looked up to see Akarra standing on the water in front of her, his stern face split by a grin of triumph. “You have done well in the task you were set, Lauryn Jefferson,” he said proudly, putting out his hand. “I’ll take your sword now.”
“What?” Lauryn said, clutching her sword. “But . . . but I thought it was mine.”
“It is,” the angel said. “That is a holy sword forged of your own clear soul. But such weapons are not for laypeople. If you wish to go back to your old life as you said, you must return it to our keeping.”
That had been what Lauryn had said. But now . . .
“What if I don’t want to go back?”
The angel looked at her in surprise. Lauryn was pretty shocked, too. This whole time, all she’d wanted was to get away from the crazy and get back to her normal life working the job she’d studied so hard to get. Now, though, after everything that had happened, life at the hospital felt like a distant memory. She never wanted to stop being a doctor, but there was also no way she could just forget leading the charge and being a warrior.
No way she could forget this.
“What if . . .” She swallowed, clenching her fists as she gazed up at the angel. “What if I wanted to stay?”
“Then you must pay with your life,” the angel said solemnly. “As that one has.” His burning eyes slid toward Talon. “The path of righteousness is straight and narrow, but the path of a Soldier of El Elyon is a razor’s edge. It can be yours if you wish to walk it, but it will cost everything you have, and once you begin, the only escape is death.”
That was a pretty tall order. Even Talon looked a bit uncomfortable. “It’s not an easy calling,” he said quietly.
“Neither was med school, and I got through that just fine,” Lauryn pointed out, gripping her golden sword tight. “Look, the whole reason I became a doctor in the first place was to help people. Tonight, I helped save all Chicago! I might be pretty new to this faith stuff, but I’d have to be delusional to miss a sign like that.” And the more Lauryn thought about that, the more certain she became. The rightness she’d felt earlier was still there, burning in her stomach like nothing had since the moment she’d first known she wanted to be a doctor. Now, as then, she knew, knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this was what she was meant to do, what she wanted to do, and Lauryn had never had a problem going after what she wanted.
“I can do this,” she said firmly. “I’m supposed to do this. I want to do this.” She glared at Talon. “Teach me.”
The SEE warrior sighed and looked at the angel, who laughed. “The willing serve best,” Akarra said, smiling at Lauryn. “Do as you feel is right, and keep your sword. You’ve earned it . . . and I don’t think I’d be able to wrestle it from you before I have to go.”
Lauryn’s eyes went wide. “Wait, you’re leaving?”
“We must,” Akarra said. “This is the mortal world, the realm of human choice. We have no more place here than the demons we chased out. Now that they are gone, we must go as well, but I have a feeling that we will meet again, Lauryn Jefferson. Our enemy is far from defeated. If you choose to walk this path, you will be needed again.”
“Good,” Lauryn said, clutching her sword to her chest. “It’s nice to be needed.” Otherwise, what was the point?
She left that last part unspoken, but she had the distinct feeling the angel heard it anyway as he vanished into the morning sunlight. “Then fight well, little doctor,” he said, his voice little more than an echo. “Until we meet again.”
And with that, he was gone, leaving Lauryn alone next to Talon in the freezing water. “So,” she said, smiling up at him. “How do we do this?”
Talon frowned, his face troubled, but before he could give whatever dire answer he was obviously considering, Lauryn was tackled off her feet into the water as her brother, father, Will, and at least a dozen others rushed in to hug her.
On the other side of the barrier, on the threshold of death that connects this world to the world beyond, inside the grand observation hall at the heart of the now retreating Castle Delusion, the creature who’d worn Christopher St. Luke’s face for the last decade roared with rage, kicking the table of ornate delicacies that was supposed to have been his victory banquet across the rough stone floor. When the skeletal slaves scurried in to clean up the spilled plates of human hearts and sacrificial offal, he kicked them as well, sending them screaming back into the dark corners of the fortress.
“No!” he snarled at the spilled blood on the floor. “This was not how it was supposed to end! You told me I would win!”
I did, the blood replied, the words vibrating through the connection it created from this half world of death to the deeper hells below. But I only said as much because I believed your reports of your own cleverness. How was I to know you were such a bald-faced liar?
“It matters not,” St. Luke spat back, rubbing his mortal shell’s bullet-riddled chest. “Chicago was only one city. My reach spans the globe. I’ll do it again.” And this time, he’d do it better. This time, he’d leave nothing to chance. “Besides, it wasn’t a total loss. It was only for a few minutes, but I still breached the barrier and brought our fortress into the mortal realm. That’s better than any demon’s done in a thousand years!”
It is, the voice in the blood agreed. And that is why you have not been dragged back to hell to answer for this failure.
“Then send me back so I can build on it,” St. Luke snapped.
The voice in the blood sighed. About that. I’m afraid you’ve been a little rough on the meat puppet we gave you to use. Now that you’ve dragged it with you into death, it’ll take a great deal of effort to send you back.
“I didn’t drag it into death! That little SEE groupie pushed me!”
Same difference, the blood said idly. I’ll still have to send you back. That’s hard enough when your meat sack’s alive. Yours is dead. Do you know how much blood that takes? How much sacrifice? How do I’ll know I’ll get my investment back?
“Because I’m the one with the power,” St. Luke reminded him. “You might be a king in hell, but in the mortal world, you’re just another demon. I, on the other hand, am one of the richest men in the world with connections all over the globe.” His face split in a grin. “You can’t afford to let me die.”
That was the truth, and they both knew it.
Very well, the blood rumbled. But this is your final chance. Fail us again, and the next time you die, Zariel, we’ll leave you in that mortal shell to rot.
“There won’t be a next time,” the demon Zariel promised, pulling St. Luke’s corpse tight around him like a suit. “Now send me back.” I’ve got unfinished business to take care of.
The blood on the floor rippled with a long-suffering sigh, and then pain grabbed Zariel like a vise, squeezing him into a stabbing point as the dark magic forced him—and what was left of St. Luke—through the barrier of death and back once more into the world of the living.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank everyone that assisted in making Talon of God a reality. Special thanks go out to John Bellamy, Murphy Batiste, Peter McGuigan and Kirsten Neuhaus of Foundry Media, David Pomerico and Rachel Aaron. Your
unwavering faith and dedication to this project helped turn an idea into a reality. To our Gurus, Grand Masters, Pastors, Preachers and Spiritual Guides who took time to polish these “rough stones” into diamonds. Additional thanks goes out to the team at HarperCollins—Priyanka Krishnan, Angela Craft, Shawn Nicholls, Anwesha Basu, Pamela Jaffee, and Jeanne Reina—who helped to make this novel the very best it could be. And lastly, we want to thank our Parents, Elders and Ancestors for the “spark” and everyone who reads and enjoys this work. Your support makes everything possible.
Dr. Wesley Snipes
Ray Norman
About the Authors
With over seventy films to his acting credit and eighteen as a producer, DR. WESLEY SNIPES has a unique diversity that has made him one of the most beloved and sought out talents for the past thirty years. In addition to his presence in Hollywood, he is also an entrepreneur, including the innovative “Project Action Star,” a social media and television project which is forthcoming. A skilled practitioner of numerous martial arts disciplines, he has taken the physical expertise he honed choreographing fights scenes in movies like Blade and his vivid imagination to write the action-packed Talon of God, his first novel.
Hailing from Chicago, RAY NORMAN received an Engineering Degree from the University of Illinois and a Law Degree from Southern Illinois University. He’s worked as an attorney recruiter and corporate headhunter, as well as ghostwritten books on health, nutrition, and spiritual self-help. In addition, he’s a script writer, and including an original stage play, And You Thought Your Family Was Crazy. In his spare time, Norman enjoys reading, working out, watching movies, and dining at fine restaurants. In the near future he plans on getting his private pilot’s license. Talon of God is his first novel.
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