by M. R. Forbes
Published by Quirky Algorithms
Seattle, Washington
This novel is a work of fiction and a product of the author's imagination.
Any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 by M.R. Forbes
All rights reserved.
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Author's Note
Other Books
About the Author
One
I shuddered a little bit as I came out of the timewalk, taking a few stumbling steps and putting my hand up to the nearest wall for balance. Alyx fell onto her hands and knees, her voice a sick whimper as she leaned down and vomited.
"Geez," Obi said. "I told you to get here, man. I wasn't expecting the Star Trek."
I looked over at him. It had been a while since I'd seen Obi. He looked good. Probably better than I did.
"Sarah," I said. "What happened."
"Landon," Alyx said, recovering more quickly than I was. "I smell gore."
"You don't know the half of it," Obi said. He stepped toward her, putting out his hand. "Obi-Wan Sampson. You are?"
"Alyx," she replied, taking his hand and using it to lift herself up.
"Angel or demon?"
"Demon."
"Yeah. I should have guessed that."
She was wearing a pair of tights and a baggy sweater. It was a lot more conservative than her earlier choices.
"Based on what?" I asked.
"The first thing she did was smell the blood. I'll get you up to speed this one time because you look like you just crawled back from Hell."
"That was a few days ago."
"I believe you. Take a look around if you want, Landon. This place is nothing but death, thanks to Sarah and her new boyfriend."
"You said Adam was here. Give me the whole story."
"You want the long version or the summary?"
"Use your judgment."
"Okay, so you know I've been here for the last few months, helping Sarah and Brian deal with the changelings. It's been pretty rewarding, to tell you the truth. Or at least it was. A few days ago, Sarah comes to me and asks me if I ever have nightmares. I tell her that of course I do. Everyone does. Although, mine have gotten worse since I've known you."
I glared at him.
"Yeah, well, she tells me about how she used to have nightmares, back before you got stuck in the Box. Back before she helped save your life. She tells me about how you used to be able to visit her there, to fight for her in her dreams. Then she tells me the nightmares are returning. She doesn't know why, but they are, and she doesn't have you to to help her fight them now."
"She never told me any of this," I said.
"She also told me she felt like a burden to you. A needy pyschopath who can't handle her own crap. She didn't want to tell you any of that. She said, 'we're friends, right?' And I said 'Yeah, of course we are.' And so she described the dreams. Landon, man, they gave me my own set of nightmares."
"What did she see?"
"This," he said, motioning to the room ahead of us. I hadn't paid any attention to it in my dizziness. I did now.
The floor was littered with changelings. They were all dead. They were all covered in blood. Their insides looked to have been torn out by a serrated knife.
Or a pair of serrated wings.
"Only worse than this," he said. "Much, much worse. She said it was inevitable. That it had been bound to happen the moment Gervais touched Josette. A union like that was never meant to be. She was an abomination, and she had a role to play."
"That's bullshit," I said.
"That's what I thought, too. Trying to shift the blame and not take responsibility? That isn't the Sarah I know."
"And that's where Adam comes in," I said. "She always had a thing for him."
"Maybe once upon a time when he was a blonde pretty-boy. I got a peek at him, Landon. I don't know what you did, but he's lost it. His chest is covered in scars, and they look self-inflicted. His eyes are deep red. Everything about him oozes evil."
"Hate is the root of real evil," I said. "He hates me for killing his archangel girlfriend."
"You killed an archangel?"
I could feel the judgement from him. "They were creating a weapon that would turn the balance. I didn't have a choice. God didn't agree with what they were doing either. That's why he fell. Of course, Adam blames me for that, too."
Obi stared at me, trying to accept my reasoning. He shook his head. "Whatever, man. It isn't about that right now. The point is, he isn't just a fallen angel. He's a certifiable monster, and somehow he managed to get Sarah under his thumb."
"Is it a coincidence that you survived when nobody else did?" I asked.
The comment perked Alyx up, and she moved a little closer to Obi.
"I don't know, man. Sarah had me dead to rights. She could have killed me. I was coming up from the gym downstairs when I came on her and Adam doing their thing with the changelings. He pointed at me, she came over and grabbed me. We looked at one another. She didn't seem scared or remorseful for what she was doing, but when she stabbed me with those wings of hers she didn't go very deep. Just enough to ruin my shirt. Then she tossed me aside like a bag of garbage."
"So she let you live?"
"Pretty much."
"The last time, she was at war with herself. The good side against the bad side. I helped the good side win. In that sense, she was right. She'll always be a bit of both, like me. The evil side was always going to come back, but I thought she was strong enough to handle it. I guess not."
"Not when Adam was involved, I guess."
"Any idea where they went, or what their goals are?"
"Armageddon," Obi said. "Not for humans, though. For Divine. She wants to kill them all."
Two
Kill all of the Divine.
I let the idea of it roll around in my head a little bit.
Kill all of the Divine.
My first instinct was that it didn't seem like such a bad idea. The Divine were the reason that humankind was under threat in the first place. It was their war that caught people in the middle, causing mass destruction, the killing of innocents, and feeding a whole lot of strife into the world.
Then the logical side of me caught up. That was a one-sided argument. The Divine weren't bad. Demons were bad. The servants of God fed the hungry, clothed the naked, healed the sick. If the Demons weren't around, they would be caretakers for the meek of humanity until the End of Days.
That was the problem there. The End of Days. The Rapture. When God would take up all those who believed in Him and leave the rest of us for demon food. If Heaven were willing to maintain the status quo concerning believers and non-believers, I would happily be out of a job.
But they weren't. I had seen firsthand how their millennia of war had changed the nature of the relationship between Heaven and Earth. The Angels I knew were doing their best to skirt the rules to win; fallout be damned.
Adam was the poster-boy for that.
Look where it had gotten him.
And now Sarah was caught up in the storm. The one human on Earth who might be able to help him achieve such a lofty goal. But she had spared Obi, which meant the evil side of her hadn't won over completely, at least not yet. It meant there was hope that I could stop him, stop her, stop this, before it got completely out of control.
It was a new wrinkle in the war between good and evil. A war I had remade myself to fight and was already worn out on once more. I had been in self-imposed exile for two years after the Beast was destroye
d. I stayed out of the affairs of Divine and mortals alike, using the time to lick my wounds and reflect. That reflection had seemed so clear at the time, but now it was muddy and faded.
What had I accomplished since my return? The balance had remained intact while I was gone. Hell, it almost seemed like it had been on autopilot without me.
Now?
Abaddon had been set free, and he had killed hundreds on his march to Central Park, an event the media had portrayed as a terrorist attack using a yet-to-be-identified poison gas. I had killed an archangel, and caused an angel I had once considered an ally to fall. I had taken one student under my wing, and quickly got her killed, and she wasn't the only ally of mine that had wound up dead. I had also been duped by Gervais not once, but twice.
And while nearly all of this was going on, all I had been able to think about was the Great Were standing beside me, of throwing her onto a bed, tearing off her clothes, and giving in to my darkest side.
I had been so close to doing it. I would have done it if Obi hadn't called. Maybe I loved her. Did it matter? Gervais was out there in control of a Fist of God, with Rebecca's spirit trapped inside. Sarah had been falling under the influence, and she had been afraid to talk to me. I was the Diuscrucis, a perfect balance of good and evil. But did I have to be? Did I even want to be?
Ever since I had come back, the war between Heaven and Hell had only escalated. Ever since I had come back, things had only grown more and more out of control.
Was it coincidence? Maybe. Randolph Hearst was working to get his teeth into Abaddon almost since the day I returned. Satan had been the one to send Gervais back, in part to punish him, and in part to punish me. Where would the former archfiend be without me to play the foil?
The first time we met, Dante told me the universe would always find a way to even the score. Was my presence causing the escalation, or was it holding everything in check? Which came first, the Divine or the Diuscrucis?
I didn't know. I wasn't sure if I would ever know. The only thing I had confidence in was that I had failed Sarah in a big way, and now it was my responsibility to set things right. Whether it was for the sake of the balance, for my own sake, or for Sarah's was about as clear as my reflection.
"Landon, you okay, man?" Obi said, snapping me out of my inner monolog.
"Not really," I replied.
It wasn't just Adam and Sarah I was worried about, though that alone was more than enough. She was stronger than me in a lot of ways, even with the Beast-mode I had taken. If her evil side attacked me unhindered, she would probably win. And, the longer it took me to get to her, the more in control that part of her would become.
On top of that, there was no way in Hell that Gervais wasn't going to try to take advantage of this situation. Adam was strong, but Gervais with the Fist and the help of that traitorous asshole Zifah was a different level entirely. If his worm-tongue managed to convince Sarah to change sides again, it was going to be more than the Divine who were in trouble.
It was going to be everyone, and everything.
I locked eyes with Obi. He knew if I said I wasn't okay that he should probably be worried, and I could see a hint of that in the creases on his forehead. He held my gaze, though, not letting me see him sweat.
"We need to know where they went," I said. "We need to know right now."
Three
Of course, needing something and getting it are never the same thing.
It didn't matter how badly I wanted to know where Adam had taken Sarah; I didn't have the power to locate every Divine on the planet instantly. As far as I knew, nobody did.
I did the only other thing I could do. I sent Alyx to watch television in hopes of catching a report on strange occurrences like terrorist poison gas and put Obi on scouring the Internet for news of the same.
That process worked well enough for most demons, but I had a feeling it wasn't going to be so easy with Adam. He had worked with me. He knew how I operated. If he didn't want me to find him, and I had a feeling he didn't just yet, he would know to stay quiet until he was ready for the confrontation.
My goal was to confront him before that.
"Alichino," I said when the demon picked up.
"Who is this?" he replied.
"Landon," I said. He would have a better memory of me than most, now that he was living in Espanto's former compound with us.
"Oh. Landon. Yeah, I should have guessed. Wait a minute, why are you calling me? Last I remember you were here. How long ago was that?"
"Since you saw me? About thirty minutes. I'm not there anymore. I'm in France."
He cackled. "The City of Love. Good call, Casanova. Although I don't think Alyx needs you to wine and dine her first."
I clenched my teeth, my earlier thoughts still fresh. I had let my lust get the better of me. I deserved better, and so did Alyx, even if she didn't know it.
"I'm at Sarah's place," I said. "We've got a problem."
"Gervais?"
"No. Adam."
"The angel?"
"The fallen angel."
"Right. What kind of problem."
I described the situation to him. When I finished, he whistled.
"Damn, Landon. I don't know how I'm supposed to help you with this. I'm having enough trouble getting a bead on Gervais and the Fist."
"Drop that for now. Gervais will turn up wherever Sarah is now that her evil side is in charge. I'd bet my life on it. I need to know where Adam is hiding."
"Yeah, sure, I'll do my best."
"Are you writing this down?"
"Yeah, of course. What do I look like to you?"
"You don't have a way to contact Dante, do you?"
"I don't have a red phone or a big red button if that's what you're asking. I can pass a message along, but it could be a day or two before he gets it."
I considered whether or not I wanted to bring him into this. He had advocated killing Sarah all of those years ago. He was going to blame me for whatever happened.
He also knew more about diuscrucis than anyone. I needed him.
"Do it," I said.
"Okie Dokie. Will do." He paused for a moment. "Hey, Landon?"
"What?"
"How bad is this?"
"Humans and Divine are both going to die. I'm sure of that. How many depends on us."
"That's not an answer."
I ended the call. I didn't answer him because I didn't have an answer. If I were comparing this to the Beast, this probably wasn't as bad as that.
Then again, maybe it was worse.
I made my way from the worse scene of carnage up to Sarah's bedroom. It was her private space, and as a result had avoided the chaos and bloodshed. Alyx was sitting cross-legged on the bed when I entered. I paused for a moment, looking around. The walls were pink, the carpet thick and white. The bed was four-posted wood, elegant and youthful. I felt another twinge of guilt.
The television was on across from Alyx. She didn't look my way when I came in. Her eyes were glued to the broadcast.
"Do you speak French?" I asked.
"Wi," she replied. "All of the major human languages. Espanto made me learn them because he didn't want to." She made a disgusted face.
"What did you find?"
"Nothing related, I don't think. Two people were shot near the Arc."
"Who shot them?"
"They don't know."
"Probably a demon, but not the one we're looking for."
"Yes."
I stared at her for a moment, tempted to have a talk with her about what I was feeling right then and there. Looking at her made it harder. She was an addiction, and she wasn't even trying.
"Have you checked the other outlets?" I asked.
"They're all reporting on this."
I expected Adam to lay low. That didn't mean I liked it.
I felt the other words bubbling up from my chest toward my lips. Did I have to say them now, as if that were more important? If I didn't say them now, would I b
e able to say them later?
"Alyx, I want to talk to you about something."
She looked at me. "You feel guilty about what we almost did."
I stopped mid-thought. "Yeah. How did you know?"
"I can smell your moods."
"You can?"
"Yes. You wear your heart on your sleeve, Landon. It doesn't only display in body language, but in your scent, too." She smiled.
"I just don't want to mess things up, and I don't just mean with you and me. I'm pretty sure I love you. I don't want to treat you like a plaything, even if you want to play, too. I also don't want the world to fall apart because I'm too distracted. If I had been more accessible, Sarah might have talked to me."
"And she might not have."
"Allie-"
"I understand. I do. I want to be with you, Landon. Part of that is conscious desire, part of that is written in what Satan made when he put us on Earth. I can't change that."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I can't change it, but I can control it if it is making your life harder."
"In a lot of ways, it isn't."
"But in a few ways, it is?"
"You're hard to resist, even against my better judgment." I hesitated. "Yes."
"Back in the airport, you asked me to set aside my instincts to help you. I've tried to do that. I've tried to be good when all I have ever come from or known is evil, and I've done that for you." She stood up and walked over to me, putting her face close to mine. "I can do this for you, also. I will not push or entice or tease. When you are ready, you can come to me. I will always be willing."
Then she kissed me. Not on the lips. She seemed to know what that would do to me. Her mouth brushed my cheek.
"Now, let us find your sister."
Four
We didn't head straight to Obi. I figured he would find me if or when he found something, and there wasn't that much I could do in the meantime. Adam and Sarah were on the lam, and they wouldn't pop up again until they were ready to cause trouble. Maybe Dante could get me some useful information, but that required that he knew I was looking for him. However Alichino planned to contact him, I hoped the response would be quick.
