by Ford, Lizzy
“Where are you?”
She didn’t have to worry about people outside the cell overhearing her. On the initial tour of the facility, the owner’s son, Evan, had told her the rooms were sound proof. Which meant she could talk to herself without people making the shushing motions that indicated she was speaking too loudly. Unable to hear herself, she always seemed to talk too loud.
“I am here.” She picked up one blue rock and set it on her knee. She picked up another one and held it tightly in her hand, closing her eyes to concentrate.
It was one of the stones that didn’t communicate with her. She’d been puzzled about it for almost two months now, since the stones came alive. Three of the five began trying to share their messages. It took her a while to realize that each of the three spoke to one or two of her senses. Was it possible the silent ones made sounds? How was she supposed to find and warn the girls the stones led to, if she couldn’t hear their secrets?
It was the other two light blue ones like hers that hummed with energy but didn’t communicate with her, making her wonder if she was supposed to be able to locate them at all. Was this a safety measure to prevent discovery of the others’ locations through the stones, whose secrets were as old as Creation? The latest in a long line of protectors, Amira found herself praying her predecessor had told her everything there was to know about the stones.
Disappointed, she set the two blue ones aside beside hers. That left two she could read: the two-toned one and the red one that scared her.
“Pestilence, War, Famine,” she repeated, eyes falling to the blue-green stone. She dreaded picking it up. The blue stones were warm, friendly, happy, like the first gen angels they represented. “Death.”
His two-toned stone wasn’t just cold, it sucked the warmth from her. The moment it came alive, her whole world changed. She didn’t understand why half of it was the same color as hers – indicating an angel stone – and the other was the pale yellow green of the horse Death would ride out of Hell to start the Apocalypse.
In all the years since Creation, the stones had allegedly been dormant, according to her predecessor. How was she supposed to know that this era was when the four archdemons of the Apocalypse would make their move?
“I’m failing you,” she said to the three blue stones, heart heavy with the fact she hadn’t understood immediately what it meant when the stones came alive.
A day after they did, four spirit guides – who normally worked their assignments alone – showed up on their doorstep in southern Maryland. Scott had welcomed them, introduced Amira, and sat down for coffee with them.
Zyra. He’d called the leader of the guides. Zyra was a gorgeous blonde with cold eyes that had seen right through Amira.
They weren’t there for coffee, she recalled darkly. They were his colleagues and friends – there to kill him to get to her.
Scott hid her for a week until the horrible night at the hotel in southeast DC.
Trying not to think about that night, she was unable to prevent the memory of Shadowman from returning. The archdemon was only in spirit form, unable to claim his place as a full archdemon in the human world yet. He was getting stronger, though, if he was able to take a human form.
He was after her to get to the red stone. It would lead him to the portal between Hell and earth where the spirit of the second archdemon – War – could emerge. She didn’t know if he could read the blue stones or not to discover the location of the other girls who held the secrets to the locations of the remaining two archdemons, but she couldn’t take the risk he did. None of the stones could fall into his possession.
She wiped tears from her eyes, still haunted by the sight of her friend and mentor being killed. She hesitated then picked up the green-blue rock.
All her working senses were engaged when she touched this one. It held the location of two, a duality she didn’t yet understand. One was the inside of an apartment, with a TV playing, the scent of autumn spice lotion, and a laptop. It was someone, probably a woman, based on the pink laptop.
The location of the second spirit was starkly different. Soaring overhead, floating over apartment buildings, a forest, a busy highway. She felt the cold of the fall night on her skin, the wind ruffle her hair.
This was Shadowman. If what she’d been told was true, he was trapped in spirit form in the human world, until he found the other three archdemons. When the four of them were together, they’d be able to summon their demon steeds from Hell and unleash the Apocalypse upon the world.
She shivered and set the two–toned stone down.
She left the red stone alone, fearing its secret.
Amira put them all away in the pouch and rested her head against the door.
She needed help. She couldn’t hide forever. Soon, either the bad people tracking her or Shadowman would find her. Soon, she’d have to find the other girls. The first of the four archdemons from the Apocalypse was here. She’d been handed down the ancient secrets of her stones, except for the one that told her how to reverse what Shadowman was trying to do.
Did the other girls know? Was the secret to stopping the archdemons divided among the three guardians of the stones, just like the locations of the remaining three archdemons?
Pestilence. Death. War. Famine.
They were coming, and she had no idea what to do.
Stay alive. Keep the stones safe.
Chapter Four
While unexpected, Nathan wasn’t too surprised to see one of his fellow guides waiting for him at the airport. He assumed if he was being directed to leave Tucson, he was going to be dealing with a bigger mess than usual.
Maggy was the second most effective guide, whose rating was also ninety-nine percent - above zero instead of below, like Nathan’s. She did everything the right way while Nathan did everything his way. If the Other Side was assigning their top two guides to a mission, it was another sign that something was very wrong.
“Coffee,” Maggy said, handing out the offering.
Nathan took it and began walking, not speaking to her. The tall, attractive brunette drew looks wherever she went. She knew him well enough to know he needed at least one large cappuccino in his system after an all-nighter before he was open to anyone talking to him.
Nathan gave her a sidelong glance. She appeared to be calm and was well put together as usual, but the nervous dart of her eyes gave her away. He didn’t make her wait through his first coffee.
“What’s wrong?” he asked as they reached the relative quiet of the parking garage.
“What makes you think something is wrong?” she asked too casually.
“You put the right amount of sweetener in my coffee. You must want me here for some reason,” he replied. “Unless you called me for some naked reiki?”
A smile crossed Maggy’s face, and he saw the tension ease from her. She chuckled.
“With you?” she asked, winking. “Any time.”
He grunted and opened the car door, dropping into the driver’s seat. There was something comforting about being around someone so familiar. He and Maggy had been a thing off and on for a few hundred years. She knew he needed three pink sweeteners in his cappuccino and that he always drove, even if it was her car. Likewise, he knew when his closest friend was upset and why she was twisting the ring on her finger.
He kept his observations to himself. The sight of nervousness from Maggy – the only woman he knew who could handle just about anything he could – made him concerned.
“How bad?” he asked.
“The worst.”
“Ever?”
“Yeah.”
“Spill.”
She was quiet for a moment. Nathan gave her to the count of ten and focused on guiding the car out of the garage to the loop that circled the Dulles airport.
“We have to find someone,” she started.
“Okay. Incarnated angel or guide?”
“Angel, first gen.”
“Pedro can’t help us?” he asked.
“Well … he can. He has. Sorta.”
“We spent half a year naked together. You’re really going to try to hide something from me?” Nathan challenged.
“That was a long time ago.”
“We still are who we were then. At least, at our cores.”
“Are you?” She peered at him curiously. “You haven’t changed?”
“I told you I’d call you first if I did,” Nathan replied, entertained she still held out for him to change his mind about getting married one day. Their relationship ended twenty years before. They’d barely spoken since, outside of official communications.
What was it with women wanting more from him?
“All right. Anyway, we know where she is. Through back channels, I figured out who she is. The challenge is twofold: we have to break her out first and then we have to keep her under the radar from everyone. As in, even Pedro and the rest of his crew.”
Nathan glanced at her, weighing her words for a long moment. It was nearly impossible to hide from the angel corps as a whole.
“First things first. Break her out of where? Jail?” he asked.
“A mental institution.”
“Interesting. Okay, for how long do we have to hide her?”
“Until we find what’s chasing her,” Maggy replied in a determined tone.
“Start from the beginning.”
Maggy looked at him, surprised.
“I still know when you’re lying,” Nathan said. “Any time you want to stop …”
“Fine.” Maggy sighed. “The angels won’t trust us humans with the information. All I know is that I was charged with recovering a girl, a first gen whose spirit guide got killed.”
“Yeah.” Nathan frowned. “We can’t die, unless a demon takes us out, someone from the Other Side gets rid of us or we blow ourselves up.”
“Usually, yeah. But … this wasn’t a demon.” Maggy shook her head. “I’ll tell you that part later. I just … put that all aside to focus on the mission.”
Nathan wanted to pry more than anything but didn’t. Maggy was highly disciplined, organized and most comfortable when handling things one at a time. With the polar opposite astrological sign – Leo - she didn’t share his adaptability and preferred to follow the rules rather than think outside them.
“I tried twice to get this girl, Nate. You know I can and will break into anywhere, no questions asked. What Pedro didn’t tell me, aside from a whole bunch of other shit, was that we’re not the only ones after her. Something else is here, in Virginia, looking. It followed me both times, so I aborted my missions and went home.”
“Demons?” he asked, intrigued by the unknown.
“I tried to tell Pedro about it, and he said it wasn’t possible. A fallen angel.”
“So, what? We deal with those all the time. Track them down, kill them and send them to Hell.”
“This is a fallen guardian angel. The first ever.”
Nathan took this unexpected information in. There was the general angel corps, and there was the guardian angel corps, an elite group of angels who had earned their way to the top by their purity, good deeds and the unwavering belief in the sacredness of humans and life. For one to choose evil over good was unheard of, before this.
“I take it that this fallen angel is currently assigned to a human,” he said, disturbed by the idea of the fallen guardian.
“Exactly. I can’t even find the human,” Maggy said in frustration. “Even if I did, I can’t kill him per protocol, and that’s the only way to free the fallen guardian to send it to Hell.”
“In the meantime, the fallen guardian is able to do what demons can’t.”
“Yep. Go after this first gen. We know she’s important, but Pedro won’t tell us why. He gave me that little laugh and said not to worry, just to save her and keep her safe. But I want to know more, after Scott’s death, so we’re hiding her from the angels, until we figure out what’s so important, a spirit guide got killed for it.”
“This is good,” Nathan said. “This will be a nice challenge.”
Maggy appeared taken aback. She looked ready to say something but didn’t.
“What do we do when we find the human?” Nathan asked. “A fallen guardian will be hell for us to try to manage.”
“There’s protocol that everyone else follows, and there’s … your way of doing things,” she said.
“You want me to kill the human anchoring the fallen guardian in the human world.”
“Yeah.” She studied him carefully. “You’re not going to turn around and fly back to Arizona, are you?”
Nathan smiled. “You wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t the last resort, and I am not opposed to the idea, which you know from my history. Fighting a fallen guardian to get to its human will be a new experience. I’m looking forward to it.”
“There might be other alternatives. I’ve got my people researching. But, just in case, I wanted to know that we could pull the trigger if needed.”
“I get it. How long before this fallen guardian figures out you’ve got help?” he asked.
Maggy cleared her throat and held up a second cappuccino. “I got gear in the trunk. It’s a few hours drive. We’re doing this part my way.”
He snorted. “You only want me because I have the worst rating in the guide corps and Pedro won’t get rid of me.”
“Duh. You never fail.”
Nathan grinned. “What’s your plan?”
“Break her out this evening. Hide her in my secret hiding spot, not the one Pedro got you, and then some naked reiki.”
“Best plan ever.”
They fell into silence. Maggy put up a GPS that began spouting directions at him. Nathan followed them, pensive. He’d never thought a guardian could fall. He wondered what caused it and if it would take what Maggy was preparing for in order to send the fallen guardian to Hell.
There were alternatives, but they all relied upon the guardian voluntarily going to Hell. Chances were, this fallen guardian wasn’t about to cooperate.
Long ago, before he became a spirit guide, Nathan made a name for himself as a foot soldier in the Imperial Roman armies. He was a sentry with a unique gift that enabled him to access the Other Side in a way no other spirit guide, medium or spiritual healer in history ever had.
It had been a while, but he knew how to kill. He was in the same physical shape he’d been in as a soldier, his body frozen in time while at its peak performance, which he reached at the age of twenty-nine. He hadn’t aged in three thousand years, and he hadn’t forgotten what the blood of another felt like when it ran across his hands.
Wiser now than when he’d been a grunt, he also understood the value of life much more and in a way that only a spirit guide could. Peering into the depths of someone’s soul was routine work for him. The idea of killing didn’t discourage him from the mission, but he no longer found glory in chalking up the number of dead falling beneath his weapons.
No, death was a serious matter, something Maggy knew as well. If she was asking him to kill an innocent human, it was because she really thought there was no other way to salvage the rest of humanity.
And he wouldn’t hesitate, no matter what he understood now about life and death.
Chapter Five
“Aside from the detour, you drive well for a junior attorney,” Mike told her.
Like being a real attorney would make me a better driver? Kaylee waited until he stood then rolled her eyes and got out of the car.
Mike was constantly doling out backhanded compliments. She ignored him and opened the trunk to grab her notebook and his briefcase.
In a year, when Kaylee was able to take the bar again, she’d ditch this firm and never look back. She’d failed the first time around, but the firm kept her on as a junior attorney in training. Her internship paid poorly but at least it paid. It was the only reason she dealt with Mike, one of the firm’s three partners.
Carrying his briefcase, Kaylee trailed him up the
sidewalk towards the low brick building hedged on three sides by maple and oak trees. Flowers lined the sidewalk and front of the building, and the grass was newly cut, releasing its earthy scent into the sunny fall day.
The setting was serene and unassuming. She glanced up at the sign above the main entrance, noting how even the center’s name was subdued in graceful lettering.
Rosewood Mental Health Rehabilitation Center
It sounded pretty for a nuthouse. She’d never been to such a place and braced herself for a scene out of a horror movie.
The lobby was just as peaceful as the façade. A gurgling waterfall was in one corner, a low mahogany reception desk directly opposite the door and a chic, S-shaped couch ran through the waiting area. It smelled of coffee and something resembling Kaylee’s pumpkin spice lotion.
Mike waited a few feet away from the bright-eyed receptionist, his stoic look one of disinterest, like a rich man waiting for his butler to grab his coat.
He’s so much like my father. Is this why I can’t stand him, or is Mike really a jerk?
“Hi. We’re here from Henry, Jones and Harrison Law Firm,” Kaylee said, smiling at the receptionist. “We have an appointment to interview Dr. Rosewood for a case we’re researching.”
“Of course.” The woman typed something into the computer. “His assistant is on his way down.”
“Thanks.” Kaylee stepped away from the desk to wait. She looked at the doors leading out of the reception area into the depths of the center. A small part of her wondered what was beyond them and if the center would resemble the scary sanatoriums she’d seen in a few horror movies.
She really didn’t want to know. This part of the job made her nervous: going to strangers’ houses and workplaces for depositions or interviews. She’d been to the ghettos in southeast DC one time to many with Mike to feel comfortable anywhere. Dressed in a suit more expensive than her car, Mike always looked the same. Bored, until someone important walked into the room. Then he’d perk up.
