“What if the Annunaki aren’t aliens? What if they’re a lot closer than that?”
“Closer like what?”
Shrugging, he came to a stop at the red light. “Are you familiar with fallen angels?”
“Sure. In fiction.”
“What if all the stuff about God, Heaven and Hell, and angels and demons are real?”
“So you’re thinking the Annunaki might be angels?”
“Fallen angels.”
“As in the bad guys?”
“Yeah. You know, the whole good versus evil thing. What if all the mythologies around the world had a shred of truth in them? What if some of the fallen angels who came to Earth in our past masqueraded as gods?”
Her eyebrows furrowed. “I used to wonder about stuff like that when I was in high school. Not necessarily that the gods were fallen angels, but I wondered why so many myths across the different cultures had similarities to them, especially when it came to the flood account.” She winced and rubbed her forehead.
“What’s wrong?”
Putting her hand down, she cleared her throat and shifted in her seat. “Nothing.”
“That wasn’t nothing, Vanessa. Are you in pain? Didn’t you put the chip into your forehead?”
“Yeah. I thought it’d be a better place for it.”
With a hesitant nod, he drove forward when the light turned green.
She bit her lower lip and turned her attention to the window. “So, you think there’s something to the myths?”
“I’ve been doing a lot of reading, and the more I study the myths and compare them to the Bible and the Book of Enoch, the more everything makes sense. I know the Book of Enoch is not in the canon of Scripture, but it sure does explain a lot if it’s true. It’s an account of the pre-flood days where some fallen angels came to Earth and mingled themselves with people.”
“And you think those fallen angels were considered gods?” She winced again but pressed on. “Then what? The offspring would be demigods? Like Hercules?”
“The Sumerian accounts of the Annunaki say the Annunaki came to man in his earliest stages and tinkered with his DNA. From there, people evolved. What if that was really the fallen angels mingling their DNA with humans to produce those mythological heroes? The Book of Enoch says God locked up those fallen angels but there were still others who remained. What if the rest of those who remained are now here to finish what the original ones started?”
Rubbing her forehead, she asked, “I don’t know. I mean, I guess it would explain some things.” She gritted her teeth.
“Are you alright?” He tried not to take his focus off the road, but the way she was wincing in pain was beginning to alarm him. “Vanessa?”
“Can we stop talking about this? I have a headache.”
“I think there’s something wrong with that chip. I’m taking you to the hospital.”
“What?” She gasped and sat up. “No! There’s nothing wrong with it.”
“You’re in pain.”
“It’s getting better now.”
“I don’t know. I’d feel better if you got it checked out.”
“But they might remove it!”
“That wouldn’t be the worst thing that could happen to you,” he said, making a right turn onto the next street.
It wasn’t where they were supposed to go, but he thought if the hospital staff could remove that chip, then maybe he could explain the things the angel told him. He could even take her to Autumn. Maybe the angel would show up.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
Testing his theory, he said, “I think God is coming back soon. I think the Annunaki are preparing for a war with Him.”
She let out a soft cry and gritted her teeth.
“Your headache’s worse now, isn’t it?”
“I’ll be fine. I just need a pain reliever,” she muttered.
“A pain reliever? I thought that chip removed common human ailments like headaches.”
“I’ve only had this chip for four days. It probably takes awhile to completely upgrade my body.” She exhaled, looking relieved. “See? I already feel better.”
He took in her relieved expression and frowned. “God.”
She winced.
So there was a connection. The implant was, in some ways, mimicking Pavlov’s classical conditioning. It was teaching people to avoid undesired thoughts, and God just happened to be one of them. As much as he knew she wouldn’t like it, he turned onto the street where the hospital was. Maybe the hospital staff would get it out of her if he said it was giving her unnecessary pain, and if the hospital staff wouldn’t take it out, he’d take her to his doctor. One way or another, he’d do what he could for her.
As he turned into the parking lot of the hospital, she narrowed her eyes at him. “What are you doing?”
“Something’s wrong with you. You shouldn’t be having a headache.” When she frowned, he hedged, “It could be a side effect from the implant. Maybe something is wired incorrectly.”
“No. Nothing’s wrong.”
Ignoring her, he parked three spots down from the glass entrance of the emergency room. He turned off the engine and slipped his key into his pocket. “It can’t hurt to be sure.” Before she could protest, he got out of the car and went to her side. He opened her door and held his hand out to her. “At least put my mind at ease?”
Refusing to accept his hand, she got out of the car and crossed her arms. “You’re not trying to help me. You want my chip removed.”
He hesitated to respond. “The chip won’t let you even think of God.” He caught the flicker of pain in her face and added, “All I have to do is mention God and that chip puts you into some weird—”
He didn’t have time to blink before she grabbed him by the neck and lifted him off the ground as if he weighed no more than a feather. She squeezed his throat, cutting off his airway, and despite the fact that he tried to pry her hands off of him, her nails dug deeper into his skin. Though he kicked at her with all of his strength, she didn’t let go.
Autumn’s angel appeared beside Vanessa. “You don’t have permission to kill him.”
Vanessa’s red eyes glowed and her voice deepened into that of a man’s. “Whose permission?”
“You know very well the answer to that,” the angel replied.
“Vanessa belongs to us. She took the mark. She made her choice.”
“As it is written, let it be. But Devon belongs to God, and you can’t kill him without God’s permission.”
Devon felt as if the world was spinning around him but forced his attention on their conversation. Something significant was taking place, but the question was what.
Vanessa hissed at the angel. “God isn’t going to be in charge much longer. We’ll win this time.” Then she released the pressure on Devon’s airway so he could breathe again. Shooting Devon a sharp look, she growled, “Man will not inherit the Earth. Earth belongs to us.”
The angel stepped forward to intervene, but two demons appeared and restrained him.
With a triumphant smile, Vanessa flung Devon across the parking lot, and all Devon saw was a passing blur before his body slammed right through the windows that lined the emergency room. He landed on the floor amid the broken glass, only partially aware he was skidding along the tile while people screamed. When he finally came to a stop, he had enough time to see a nurse hovering over him before everything went black.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Autumn cautiously entered Devon’s room and stared in disbelief at the body cast that covered him. A tube was in his mouth and his eyes were shut, but the heart monitor beeped in normal rhythm, which was the only indication she had that he was alive.
It seemed unreal when she saw the report on the news about Devon being thrown clear across the parking lot and into the emergency room. Then his attacker was reported to have leapt up on top of the hospital building and ran off to who-knew-where? No one was even sure who did it.
With a heavy sigh, Autumn sat beside his bed and wondered if her life would ever be normal again. If she wasn’t losing someone, she was visiting someone in a hospital. And Devon was the last person she thought she’d be coming to see. For some reason, she assumed he was above getting hurt because of his job.
She glanced around the white room with all the monitors surrounding his bed and shivered. She hoped she’d never end up in a place like this. Licking her lips, she tried to figure out what to do. Was she supposed to sit here and wait for something to happen or talk to him as if he could hear her?
After being silent for an awkward ten minutes, she cleared her throat. “You promised me you’d take me to a movie, and I’m holding you to it. So you have to get better.” The joke seemed to fall flat which made her grow silent once again.
Finally, out of desperation to hear something other than herself or the machines, she clicked on the TV. She recognized the figure on the TV who called himself An—someone who was supposedly an alien. Not in the mood for more of the praise the media would lavish upon him, she changed the channel. Rolling her eyes, she changed it again, only to find he was on every station. With a sigh, she set the remote down, trying to decide if she was better off with the silence or not.
After a short debate, she decided to keep it on. She glanced at Devon and wondered if he had any idea he was in the hospital. For all appearances, he remained asleep, blissfully unaware of the condition he was in. Boy, are you going to hate waking up, she thought.
On the TV was An and nine Annunaki standing in front of the newly completed third Jewish temple. She couldn’t help but think Marianne would be awed by the event. Marianne said one day another temple would be built, that it would signal the soon return of Jesus Christ to Earth. Without thinking, Autumn fingered the cross necklace Marianne once wore.
A blonde woman walked into the room, diverting Autumn’s attention from the TV. The woman wore a nice dress suit and had her hair pulled back into a tight french braid. Her eyes widened as she looked at Devon. “Hmm… That Vanessa sure did a number on you, didn’t she?”
Autumn watched as the woman strolled over to Devon’s bedside and stroked the arm of his cast. Autumn shifted uncomfortably in her chair, wondering which bothered her more—the fact that the blonde ignored her or the way the blonde smiled at Devon. No. There was no contest. The smile bothered her more. On first inspection, it struck Autumn as one a lover might give the object of her affection, but then it seemed to take on a more primitive quality, as if the blonde couldn’t wait to eat him.
Autumn shivered and forced her attention back to the TV where An was entering the temple.
“You should know better than to defy the Master,” the blonde said. Autumn looked over at the blonde who clucked her tongue and tapped Devon’s nose. “The Master won’t like you tampering with what’s his.” The blonde kissed the top of his nose. “Poor Devon. There are things worse than death.”
Autumn resisted the urge to tell the blonde to get away from him. Clearing her throat, she asked, “Are you his girlfriend?” She assumed he didn’t have one since he was dating her, but she suddenly needed to be reassured.
The blonde turned her gaze toward Autumn and snickered. “You humans can be so cute.” She traced the length of his cast and let her fingers linger on his pelvic region before giving Autumn a knowing look. “Jealous?”
There was something wrong with the blonde, Autumn decided as she turned her attention back to the TV. She wasn’t sure if she should leave or not. The blonde intimidated her—something Autumn guessed was exactly what the blonde intended, but she didn’t feel right leaving Devon alone with her.
On the TV, An entered the place in the temple called the Holy of Holies and sat down. Thunder rumbled from the sky. Autumn glanced out the window. Not a cloud was in sight. Stranger yet, the reporter on the TV commented on the thunder as well.
The blonde woman let out a low growl, so Autumn turned her gaze toward her. Staring at the ceiling, the blonde clenched her fists. “I will never bow down to You.” Then she morphed into a reptilian looking creature that sprouted wings. In the next instant, she was back to her human form.
Autumn jumped up, her heart pounding loudly in her chest. What in the world did she just witness? It was nothing like the demonic creatures she was used to.
The blonde smiled at Autumn. “Hallucinating?”
Hardly. Autumn knew what she saw. A movement passed by her, and before she had time to direct her attention to it, another movement slipped past her other side. Gasping, she backed up against the wall as a dark mass grouped around the blonde. One by one the creatures took form. At first they were grey aliens and then they changed into shadowy figures with red eyes. She blinked and tried to assess how many were in the room. Twenty? Maybe thirty?
“Time is running out, Autumn,” the blonde snarled. “You’ve been delivered into our hands, and we’ll own you before the big event.”
Autumn inched toward the door, wishing she could look away from them. Something in the way they shifted about, as if in a subtle dance, was hypnotizing. Though no sound came from the sinister creatures which crept closer to her, she could feel them laughing.
The blonde frowned in mock sympathy. “Oh poor, Autumn. Are you hallucinating again?”
One of the creatures hissed and lurched for her.
Screaming, Autumn bolted to the door and ran into a nurse who stood in the hall, just outside the room. When she looked back at Devon’s room, the shadows vanished and the only people in the room were Devon and the blonde whose eyebrows rose.
“Are you okay?” the blonde asked, her voice soothing.
“Yes, ma’am. Are you okay?” the nurse asked.
It took Autumn a full three seconds before she could react. Blinking, she scanned the room again. Her pulse raced with dread. No. She didn’t imagine it. It was real. It was like that time she saw the demon hovering over Alex at Area 51. Only this was much worse because there were more of the creepy things, and they seemed to multiply each time they moved. She could have sworn she’d seen fifty all together.
“Ma’am,” the nurse said, nudging her arm. “Would you like a glass of water?”
“That’s a good idea,” the blonde added. “Autumn’s been under a lot of stress. A nice, cool glass of water is exactly what she needs, especially when the place she’ll be going to will be very hot.”
The nurse wrapped her arm around Autumn’s shoulders and led her to a chair. “Come on. Sit and I’ll get you something to drink.”
Autumn mutely sat in the chair not too far from Devon’s room. She took deep breaths as she struggled to relax. She didn’t imagine it. The whole thing was horribly real. Groaning, she placed her face in her hands and tried to think of what she should do.
Again, her attention went to a TV. Squinting, she read the caption rolling across the bottom of the screen stating that An claimed his death and resurrection made him a god.
The nurse handed her a cup of water and patted her shoulder. “Are you feeling better?”
“A little,” Autumn lied. What was she supposed to do? Tell the nurse that she just witnessed a room full of demonic activity? And what was up with that blonde turning into a reptilian creature? Was that how fallen angels really looked? She thought the angel mentioned it but wasn’t sure at the moment. Since the nurse watched her, she forced down the water and smiled. “Thanks.”
The nurse seemed content for she nodded and headed off down the hall.
Autumn glanced around and noticed that no one was watching her, so she stood up and quietly made her way back to Devon’s room. She peered around the doorway and saw the blonde woman surrounded by hordes of demons who hissed at Devon.
“I’m aware he’s been sealed!” the blonde snapped at one of the demons. “We’re limited but we can still use him.”
“So long as he doesn’t figure out how to stop us.”
She snarled and swiped at the demon that dissipated and then reappeared towar
d the other side of the room, protected by the other demons between him and her. “I’m higher than you in the ranks,” she told him. “You’d do well to remember that.”
“I pledge allegiance to no one,” he hissed.
Morphing into the reptilian form again, she stormed through the crowd of demons and grabbed the rebellious one before it could dissipate. “You are under my command. Would you like to be confined to one of the chains along the walls of Hell?”
It shrank and quivered. “No. I’m sorry. I’ll do what you say.”
She growled and let it go. “Let that be a lesson to all. I’ve sent others of your kind to Hell when they overstepped their bounds. You Nephilim are beneath me. Mind your place.”
The other demons cowered from her intense stare.
Spreading her black-scaled wings, she made her way back to Devon and placed her hands on him. “You’re no good to me in this condition. I spent years working on you, and if you think I’m going to let a little thing like God stop me, you have another thing coming.”
A warm hand touched Autumn’s shoulder, making her jump. She whirled around and saw the angel.
“You need to leave,” he told her, his wings spreading out.
Noting the sword and shield in his hand, she breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness you’re here. That…that thing is ready to hurt Devon.”
“You need to get out of here. They’ve requested to have you delivered into their hands.”
She gasped and glanced in Devon’s room where the Reptoid set her hands on his chest. “Them? You mean her and the others with her?”
He nodded. “Go quickly. And don’t speak to anyone until I have a chance to talk to you.”
Devon’s heart monitor accelerated at a rate that caused a couple of nurses to run into the room. The Reptoid snarled as the nurses surrounded her, and Autumn marveled that the nurses couldn’t detect the spiritual forces around them. The nurses passed through the demons and Reptoid, but the Reptoid kept her hands on Devon, focusing on something Autumn couldn’t discern.
Return of the Aliens Page 21
