Balance (The Balance Series Book 1)

by Janelle Stalder

  “So he didn’t actually think there was one God?” I asked, surprised. That was the general consensus, was it not?

  “No, I think he did, but he also believed that there were other….” he looked for a word, “spirits, I guess you could say, that existed. Some spirits were so strong that they were indeed almost god-like.”

  “Then he did believe in more than one god?”

  “He believed there was one ‘God’, but there were other god-like creatures, mostly of an evil and less powerful nature. The Devil, for example, is a well-known adversary of God’s that he would have considered ‘a god’, and yet we aren’t really taught that he is.”

  Taking in what he was saying, I tried to see where he was going with all this. I came up with nothing. “He was a fallen angel,” I corrected him.

  “Yes, he was,” he said, smiling at me as a teacher would to his student. “But of such extreme power that he actually rivalled what was supposed to be the all-powerful, and only God. Makes you wonder why God didn’t put a stop to him years ago – unless he can’t.”

  He continued, “If the Devil were a god as well, it would make him an equal. In Christianity though, you are taught to not acknowledge any other ‘gods’ but God himself.”

  “Ok,” I said trying to follow along. “So this Illuminator guy believed that the Devil was a god, but decided not to bring that over to his Christian teachings, why?”

  “Well in many religions at that time, in places like Greece, the Devil would have been a figure like Hades, who was considered a god, and was actually the brother of the higher god Zeus. It wasn’t an uncommon belief back then. Gregory decided the best way to take away some of His power, or the Devil as he is commonly known now, would have been to deny him the right of being named ‘a god’” he said, making quotations with his fingers. “He couldn’t ignore him all together, however. Just because you ignore someone, doesn’t mean they’ll go away. He knew that the Devil, or whatever name you want to use for him, would still be around, sending his demons to do his bidding.” He paused. “So he created a brotherhood.”

  “What kind of brotherhood?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

  “The Devil himself very rarely did his own bidding. Instead, he sent his demons, or spirits, to do that. These demons would do what he needed done, and blended in with humans perfectly. His most important demons were the ones he spawned himself. Certain human females were born who would become the Devil’s mate, thus allowing them to bear him children. No one knows what makes them different from other women, but only with a mate can he spawn offspring. Those children could blend so easily with humans, that no one ever suspected them. Camouflaging amongst mortals was made easier with the mixed bloodline.”

  “What?” I asked, raising my voice sceptically. “What in the world are you talking about? The Devil never had half human children.”

  He raised his eyebrows at my sudden outburst, but continued on. “Not that we are taught to believe. In Greek and Roman mythology, the gods were often known to fall in love and produce children with mortal woman. You can actually find in the book of Genesis an explanation of angels abandoning their places in heaven to go and mate with women on Earth. These were in fact what they called Fallen Angels, which you yourself already told me the Devil was supposed to be.” He leaned back as my brain tried to take in what he was saying.

  My head slowly shook in disbelief, so he continued on again. “They have names for these children of fallen angels and mortal women, called Nephilim, which is known in more than one religion.”

  “What does this have to do with this brotherhood you spoke about?” I asked, bringing us back to the point.

  “Well, these beings are known in many religions as being very human-like, almost more beautiful some say than normal humans, making them harder to monitor. There are some demons out there that appear similar to the ones you see in movies, but these ones don’t look evil at all.”

  My thoughts went back to the dreams I had been having, and the little red demon-like creatures that followed me. I shuddered.

  “Gregory knew this of course, since he had travelled and studied so many religions at the time. He knew that the Devil, or Asmodi as he called him, needed to be monitored. We needed to know when and where he would procreate.”

  “Asmodi,” I interrupted. “That’s just a demon isn’t it?”

  “He is a demon, yes. Known for his ability to generate lust and sexual desire in humans, making his job very easy. The Devil is the name that Christianity has given him, but in every culture there is a different name for him. Any god you hear of that torments humans, and controls the underworld, is really all the same man. Same person, just different name. The same can be said for God, there are many names for him out there, but it doesn’t make a difference. There is still just one power up there controlling things, and there is one power down here controlling the other side of things.”

  “Good versus evil,” I said.

  He nodded with a resigned smile. “Good versus evil. The brotherhood was created to monitor Asmodi, or whatever name you want to apply to him, and his children. Saint Gregory called it the Brotherhood Luminarium.”

  “Light?” I translated. I’d picked up on certain Latin terms from studying law.

  “That’s right. The Brotherhood was supposed to be, I’d guess you’d say, the light that fought the darkness amongst humans. Many famous people were secretly involved in this Brotherhood, which extended even into the Vatican itself. The last thing anyone wanted was the Devil to spawn too many children and rule the human beings. In history, his influence has come close to ruining mankind completely.” He nodded his head toward an old world war two poster that hung in the library.

  “How come I’ve never heard of this?” I asked.

  “First of all, not everyone would believe that the Devil, or demons, really exists. For another, if they did happen to believe it, we wouldn’t want them panicking. It’s not like these beings can be picked out of a crowd easily,” he explained.

  “How do you find them then?” I pushed, wondering how he knew so much about this organization. Was he one of them? He did say ‘we’, I thought.

  “The elders in the Brotherhood have watched them for many, many years. We’ve tracked them since the Brotherhood was originally created. I couldn’t pick them out, I just wait for them to tell me who I’m looking for. Men like me are called soldiers. We travel around for them, since they cannot travel easily.”

  That answered that question. Part of me didn’t really accept what he was saying, but I played along anyway. “What does this have to do with you being here, and you being a lawyer?”

  “Well I still have to make a living.” He smiled and shrugged his shoulder. “If I’m already trying to stop the Devil, I might as well try to stop the idiots who do his bidding, whether it is knowingly or not.”

  I looked down at the table, a million questions racing through my mind. What he was saying was insane. Right?

  He looked at his watch and back at me. “Would you like me to walk you home?”

  Staring at him, trapped in his tales, it took me a second to snap out of it and look at the time. It was ten already. Damn, my mother would be wondering where I was. “Sure,” I said, since I really didn’t want to run into anymore imaginary dogs by myself.

  We both packed our things up and walked out. I could see Miss. Hudgens making a mental note of the fact that I was leaving with the tall, handsome stranger. More gossip for my mother to hear, I moaned to myself.

  Artem had been watching her house when she’d returned home in the late afternoon with Caleb. Thankfully he had just dropped her off, and she’d gone in alone. The rest of the evening went by without any cause for concern. It was around eight that she could be seen getting ready to go out.

  He’d followed discreetly behind her while she walked to the library, noticing her strange behaviour on the way. Something was definitely up, and yet he couldn’t see anyone else around. Unease had slithered
around in his gut.

  Walking home with her now, Artem could tell she was much more relaxed. It felt good knowing it was his presence that made her feel safer. Hopefully she would have the intelligence to put two and two together after everything he’d told her tonight, and have the sense to believe it.

  “Are you still working at the law firm?” he asked, watching her from the corner of his eye. Her dark hair was pulled up, exposing the long, elegant line of her neck. She wore no make-up, the flush on her cheeks from the humidity in the air. He had no right to observe her so closely. She was simply another job, nothing more.

  “Yeah, I’m working there until the end of the summer,” she replied.

  They were approaching her house already, something that should have made him happier than it did. She paused at the end of her walkway, turning to face him as he waited anxiously for the questions he knew she must have.

  She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it, a small line forming between her brows as they came together.

  “It was nice talking to you,” he said. “Have a great night, Vivian.”

  “You too, Artem,” she said, hesitating for another moment before heading up to her porch.

  He waited until she was inside before heading off in the direction of his hotel. It didn’t surprise him that she hadn’t continued with her inquiries. He’d given her a lot to think about. Likely she was trying to understand the significance of everything he’d revealed. He just hoped it helped when the time came.

  On the way past a bush he heard someone whisper his name. He jumped before recognizing Murray’s voice.

  “Hey Murray, how’s it going?” he asked, creeping over to where the old man sat hiding.

  “Good, good. Enjoying the warm nice summer night,” he said smiled. “Where were you two?”

  “She went to the library, so I followed her to make sure nothing happened. I decided it would be safer if I just offered to walk her home myself,” Artem explained quickly.

  “Good thinking, my boy. Anything I should be aware of now that I’m taking over watch?”

  “Not that I can think of, or at least I don’t think so. She was acting strangely on the way to the library, and even when she was there at the beginning, but she didn’t tell me why.”

  He thought back to her odd reactions before – it was as if she’d thought someone had been following her. And there had been – Artem. But he hadn’t been as close as she seemed to think.

  “You don’t suppose Dermot has anything to do with that do you?” Murray asked, squinting his eyes.

  “It was probably just her nerves playing tricks on her. Everyone is on edge now that Brian is missing. Anyway, I’m beat, and I’m supposed to hear back from the elders still. I should get back.”

  “Of course, of course. When should we meet in the morning?”

  “I’ll give you guys a call in the morning. It depends on when I actually get up. At this point I feel like I could sleep for days,” Artem said, rubbing a hand over his face. He had been up since early that morning, and hadn’t slept well the previous night.

  Murray chuckled and gave him a friendly slap on the back. “You go get some rest then, my boy. I’ll take care of everything here.”

  “Thanks. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” The two men wished each other a good night and Artem continued on his way.

  When he arrived at the hotel, the receptionist handed him a telephone message that had come in earlier. Damn it, he had missed their call. He patted his pocket and realized he must have forgotten his cell in his room. He quickly headed up and phoned them back. At least he could go right to sleep when the conversation was over, he thought as the other side rang.

  I watched as Artem walked away until he disappeared from my view. The evening had been…not what I had expected. Turning away from the window, I tried to walk up my creaky stairs as quietly as humanly possible. It was, in fact, not quiet at all, since the stairs were worse than an old rocking chair, and I was as light on my feet as an elephant. My mom peeked her head out of their bedroom with half open eyes.

  “Vivian, is that you?” she called out in the darkness of the hallway.

  “Yes, Mom. Sorry I’m late, I lost track of time. Just go back to bed, I’ll see you in the morning.” We wished each other goodnight, and she closed the door again. I quickly went into the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth before heading to bed.

  As I entered the room someone grabbed me from behind, pulling me up against the wall. The action sent a huge gust of wind out of my lungs, making it impossible for me to scream. Their arms were tightly wrapped around my body, their lips right by my ear.

  It’s funny how in situations where you think you’re in some sort of danger, your gut reactions seem to fail you. Instead of screaming out, I just stood there silently. At least the dumb blondes with big boobs in all those cheesy horror movies had the sense to scream.

  “I’m kind of concerned that you don’t react when someone attacks you in the dark like this,” he whispered close to my ear.

  Immediately my fears lifted, and in their place was excitement. I should have known it was Caleb. On the other hand, the way my life seemed to be going it could have been anyone.

  “Jesus, Caleb,” I said spinning around to see him smirking down at me. “You almost gave me a heart attack.” I pushed him into the wall and dropped my bag on my chair.

  “Could have fooled me, you seemed as cool as a cucumber,” he replied, spreading his long body across my bed.

  “That is only because I was in shock you moron,” I said trying to look disapprovingly at him.

  “Shall I go then, since you seem to be cross with me?”

  I went and lay down on top of him. “No, I’m happy you’re here. What would you have done if I had screamed, just out of curiosity?”

  “I would have covered your mouth,” he answered with a shrug.

  “Geeze, that wouldn’t have freaked me out even more. Do you like the thought of giving me a heart attack?”

  He chucked, caressing my cheek with the back of his hand. “Where were you all night, I’ve been worried?”

  I rolled my eyes at his last comment. Worried my ass, I thought. Most people who were worried about someone didn’t try to attack them when they saw they were alive and well. I let the topic drop though, and answered his question.

  “I went to the library for a couple of hours. I met Artem there, and we got caught up talking.”

  At the mention of Artem’s name, his body stiffened beneath mine. His eyes narrowed to only slivers of electric blue, his mouth turning slightly down at the corners.

  “Is there something wrong?” I asked, trying to hide my smile.

  “I just find it odd that he would be there,” he said, relaxing his features.

  “I see. Are you sure you’re not jealous?”

  “Would it be wrong of me to be? You are mine now,” he said pulling me tighter against him.

  My heart sped up as I stared into his eyes. No matter how handsome Artem was, he was no match for this man. I stretched up and kissed him slowly on the lips. His hands gripped my hips as he deepened the kiss, sending electric shots of need throughout my body.

  “Do you think your parents would mind if I slept over?” he asked against my lips.

  I pulled away. “Not if they don’t find out,” I replied.

  I jumped up off of him and proceeded to search my messy room for my discarded pyjamas. My shorts were discovered by the window, and my t-shirt was slung over the back of my chair, hiding under five other pieces of clothing. At first I was going to excuse myself, but then I figured he had already seen all there was to see, so there was no point in being shy now. I started to undress there, feeling his eyes on me.

  “Do you mind not staring?” I asked, looking at him over my shoulder.

  “Yes,” he answered, his eyes blazing with heat. “Don’t undress in front of a man if you don’t want him to look.” I rolled my eyes, ignoring the way my body was reac
ting to his attention, and quickly pulled the t-shirt over my head.

  Before I could pull on my shorts, two strong hands covered mine, halting my movements. His lips hovered over my neck, causing goose bumps to rise along every inch of my skin. The forgotten garment dropped to the floor, leaving me only in a t-shirt and panties as he slowly spun me around.

  His mouth covered mine again. I moaned against him, wrapping my arms around his neck as he pulled me flush against his body.

  “You have no idea what it’s like being around you, do you?” he said between dropping hot kisses down my neck, sucking at the racing pulse.

  “No, what?” I asked, my voice weak as he continued to wreak havoc on my senses.

  He lifted me up, walking us to the bed where he lowered us gently onto the mattress. I lifted my arms for him as he pulled the t-shirt off, his mouth returned to shower me with more kisses along the swells of my breasts.

  “It’s as if I can’t catch my breath,” he said, looking up at me through his eyelashes as he slowly lowered down my body. “My heart races,” he continued, kissing just above the edge of my panties.

  My chest rose and fell as anticipation buzzed throughout my body. I squirmed beneath him, watching this beautiful man as he hovered over me with a look in his eyes that promised pleasure I could only imagine.

  “I still can’t decide if it’s a good feeling or not,” he said, hooking his thumbs into the sides, pulling my underwear slowly down my thighs. “What you do to me,” he shook his head, his eyes absorbing my naked body laid on in front of him. “It can only be punishment for my sins.”

  I opened my mouth to argue, but any words were stolen as his mouth and tongue landed on the sensitive part that had been aching since his first touch.

  “You want to tell me what happened to your pants?” he asked as we lay together afterward.