by M. R. Forbes
As if I wasn't already up to my neck in it.
There was no part of me that really wanted to visit Indonesia and Gervais' apparent efforts to wrap another noose around my throat. There was also no part of me that could accept the alternatives that Dante and I had already discussed. Zifah was the perfect target. I knew it. Dante knew it. Gervais knew it. When Zifah had shown up in France? That was all part of the game. I was sure of that now. They wanted me to know the score. It was a big fat hello, don't forget about me. Come and get it when you think you're ready. I was sure the demons had plenty of tricks up their sleeves.
It meant I needed to gather a few more tricks under mine.
I had Dante poof me back to New York, dropping me in the middle of a dark alley as the sun was setting across the Hudson.
"I'll meet you back here in two hours," I said to him. "Don't be late."
"Of course, signore," he replied. Then he vanished again.
I headed down the alley toward the street. I had switched my dress to include a long vinyl duster, the kind most often seen in science-fiction flicks. It was fitted where it needed to be and loose where it had to be to hide Uriel's sword in close enough proximity that I could grab it and use it should the need arise. Part of me was hoping it would. I would take any added juice I could get. Then again, I didn't want to make a scene.
There were a lot of people on the streets this time of night. It felt good to insert myself into the middle of them, to walk among them as if I were almost normal. Sometimes I really missed being mortal. Missed being ignorant about the war between Heaven and Hell. This was one of those times.
It got me thinking more about my place in the Universe, and about what Sarah had said. I didn't belong here. We didn't belong here. I already knew there was only one ending for me. One way that I could go when this was done. To the stars with Charis and Clara. It didn't frighten me. I knew it was a better end than many experienced. Still, I felt a little cheated. I had never asked to be drawn into this. I had never wanted to die and come back as humankind's champion. I was so young and had gotten so few years.
Boo hoo, lots of people died even younger. I got mad for feeling sorry for myself and stopped that train of thought dead. I was here for a reason, and apparently, God Himself had put His faith in me. That was a scary thought, and at the same time comforting. I wasn't His biggest fan. Before I had died, I had questioned His existence all the time. He was on my side regardless. Who would have thought?
I crossed a few blocks until I reached the outside of the cab terminal. A few yellows were making their way in and out of the facility, and I noticed them noticing me as I reached the front door. All of the drivers here were Nicht, and I knew some of them would recognize that I was out of place as soon as they saw me. I half-expected them to slam on the brakes and do something stupid, but something in their brains told them to stay out of it. I was grateful for that.
"Who the hell are you?" a heavyset, balding man in a greasy wifebeater asked as I entered the garage. He was standing next to a cab that had its hood open, a wrench in his hand.
"I'm looking for Bianca," I said.
"How do you know Bianca?"
"We're old friends. My name is-"
"Landon Hamilton," Bianca said, appearing in a doorway a dozen feet away. "We are not friends."
I looked over at her and smiled. "You remembered me?"
She held something up, turning it around so I could see it. A still from security camera footage, with my face clearly visible in it.
"I had my people grab this while you were still here the last time. I've been carrying it with me since, so I would know you in case you turned up again."
"Smart," I said. And resourceful. I was fortunate none of the angels or demons had thought of it.
"For mortals to fight this war, we have to be. But like I said, we aren't friends. Especially since you got Bradford killed."
"Bradford got himself killed," I said. "And he died saving the city from Abaddon."
"Which is the only reason I don't sick every Nicht in this place on you."
"That isn't the only reason."
She smiled. "Maybe. Maybe not. You only come by when you need something. What is it this time?"
"You've been following the news?"
"Television? Hell, no."
"The real news," I said. "Italy? Somalia?"
Her face turned dark. "Yes. I take it you know something about it?"
"I know everything about it."
"Do tell."
"Not so fast. I'm working on the cause, but you're right, I need something from you. Two things, actually."
"You can't have any more of my people. They have a knack for dying around you."
I felt a slight sting at those words. Not because of Bradford. Because of Elyse.
"Not people," I said. "Artifacts, if you have them."
"If I don't?"
"Maybe you can tell me where to find them?"
"Maybe. What's in it for me?"
"The usual. The survival of humankind."
"You don't do anything small, do you, Diuscrucis?"
"Not lately. Believe me; I'd prefer to be out chasing vampires, too."
"Yeah, well, I need a little more to go on than the survival of humankind. You're still half demon, which means you lie."
"Only by necessity."
"Whatever."
I laughed at that, and then removed Uriel's sword from my back, sliding it a few inches from its sheath. Bianca's eyes lit up at the sight of it.
"I'll give you anything you want in exchange for that."
"It isn't for trade. Where I got it is the reason I'm showing it to you. This is Uriel's sword, the one that he forged for Michael during the First War.
"Where did you get it?"
"From Uriel." I paused for effect. "In Heaven."
Her awe was mixed with her disbelief. "You went to Heaven? He gave that to you?"
"Yes, and yes. Because what we're up against is bigger than Heaven and Hell, good and evil. I know you hate the Divine, and that Joe always wanted to destroy them all. The thing is, without the Divine, humankind dies, too. My sister, Sarah, intends to kill every last one unless I stop her. I can only stop her if you help me."
Bianca was silent for a moment. She stared at the sword, and then at me. Asking the Nicht Creidem to help me stop the extinction of the Divine was a risk in itself. The whole reason they existed was to get Heaven and Hell to stop meddling in the affairs of mortals.
"Killing Divine?" she said.
"Yes."
"If the angels and demons are gone, why does humankind go too?"
"We're too deeply enmeshed for the balance to be maintained without the opposing forces."
"Bullshit."
"Is it? What happens when you die?"
She thought about it. "So?"
"What happens if God is dead? What happens if Hell no longer exists?"
"I don't know."
"Your soul becomes trapped in your corpse," I said. "Forever."
Her face paled. "What?"
"Think about that. Your soul has a consciousness of its own. When your shell dies, it wakes up. It wants to be free, but without a Divine hand to guide it, there's nowhere for it to go. There's no way for it to escape. An eternity imprisoned."
I wasn't sure if any of that were true or not. It sounded good, and Bianca was buying it.
"Our mission is to destroy the Divine," she said. "Now you're saying we'd be screwing ourselves?"
"Your war is as endless as theirs, and you know it," I said. "The Nicht Creidem are an important part of the balance, just like everything else."
She bit her lip, thinking about it. I waited patiently. I knew she would break.
"I hate you," she said.
"I know," I replied.
"What do you need from me?"
Thirty-Three
"I've searched through the inventory, Landon," Bianca said. "The only one we have is in our Berlin facility."
>
"Can you tell them I'm coming?" I asked.
"Are you kidding? I'll be executed for treason. I'm going to get in enough trouble for helping you already."
"I'm trying to save your life."
"The Nicht Creidem are like any other group; we have people that run the gamut from right to left. Me, I lean more liberal, which is lucky for you. I'm open to the idea that we're just a cog in the machine. Berlin? They're a bunch of tight-asses over there, and they aren't going to go for the idea that we can't survive without the Divine."
"So you're telling me I can't get what I need?"
"I'm telling you that I can't help you get it. You're going to have to do some convincing of your own."
I knew what she meant by convincing. "And you're okay with that?"
"I don't love the idea, but if half of what you told me is true, then our options are pretty limited. I, for one, don't want to end up stuck in this body long after the sell-by date, if you know what I mean."
"What about the other item?"
She pushed her chair back away from her computer and stood up. "That I can help you with. Follow me."
We left her office in the garage, heading to an elevator in the back. The doors clanged shut, and she pressed the button for the bottom floor fifteen times. The elevator beeped as if she had just armed a nuclear device, and then we started to descend.
"I can give you the coordinates to the Berlin facility. Other than that, you're on your own."
"And I didn't get the intel from you?"
"That's right."
"What if your people talk?"
"They won't talk. We kill snitches. No, if they don't like it they'll challenge me directly." She smiled innocently. "And then they'll die."
I had seen her punch down a reinforced door without much effort. She had the tatts and the experience to back up her sass.
The elevator went down a good twenty floors, even though the garage was only five deep. The doors opened and fed out into a sterile white corridor. I was familiar with Nicht Creidem lairs. It seemed they had all been constructed from the same set of blueprints.
She led me through the corridors, into a small room with a guard stationed at its head. He seemed uncomfortable to see me, even if he didn't know who I was, but he opened the vault at Bianca's request without hesitation. We entered the storage area, and she ran her finger along the rows of storage safes until she found the one she wanted.
"Here it is," she said, putting her fingerprint to it to open it.
The cabinet slid open, and she lifted a flat, runed stone from it. She held it up to me.
"We got this from Reyzl's place after you took care of him for us. It was part of his private collection. Put it to the sword, and it will create a glamour of it that even Lucifer himself wouldn't be able to see through."
"You're sure?"
"We pride ourselves on knowing how all this stuff works."
"Do you have anything else I might like?"
She glared at me. "Don't push it. I'm going to have to log this thing as it is, and I don't want to put 'lent to the Diuscrucis' in the notes."
"There's a decent chance you won't get it back."
"Don't remind me."
"I appreciate your help."
"Yeah, well, I hope I don't get in too much trouble for this. I might be forgiven if you really do save the world."
"That's the plan."
She stared at me. "I don't know why I trust you, or why I'm doing this. You've changed since the last time I saw you. I can see that much."
The statement caught me by surprise. "Changed?" I didn't feel that different. "How?"
"I'm not sure. It's kind of like the difference between thinking you're doing the right thing and knowing you're doing the right thing."
"Confidence?" I asked.
"With a side of focus, yeah. That's part of it. It isn't the whole thing, but close enough."
She led me from the vault, back to the elevator and up to the garage. We returned to her office, and she pulled up the coordinates for the Berlin base on the screen.
"Take a look, commit it to memory. You didn't get this from me."
"Won't they know you accessed the file?"
"They'll know someone in this facility did. I'll make sure to send them a package, so it looks like we were just cross-checking the address. Like I said, you didn't get it from me."
"Right. Thanks again."
"You can thank me by getting things back under control. Don't take this the wrong way, but I hope I never see you again."
I nodded. "I hope you never see me again, too."
"Good luck, Landon."
She leaned up and kissed me on the cheek. Then I left the garage without another word, heading back to the alley at a fast walk. I arrived with ten minutes to spare and spent them scanning the rooftops and fire escapes. It was strange to me not to see any Divine around. No angels, no demons. At this time of night? I had been back in the city for two years. I couldn't remember the last time the place had been so deserted, or if it ever had.
I knew it was because of Sarah. Any Divine with any sense was laying low, staying out of sight and waiting for this latest storm to blow over. Both sides had likely heard what she had done in Italy and Somalia. Neither wanted to be next.
I couldn't blame them.
Part of me expected Sarah to come swooping down out of nowhere. To take me by surprise and put an end to the game right then and there. I felt edgy at the idea of it, created by the void left by the absence of other Divine. This was how the world would be if Sarah had her way, at least until it all began to crumble and die. It was cold and frightening, lonely and sad. The Sleeping might not know the Divine existed, but they would feel it too. They would know the world was ending; they just wouldn't quite know how or why.
I shivered when Dante reappeared in the alley, in the same spot he had vanished earlier. That's how off-kilter the atmosphere had left me.
"Signore, are you well?" he asked.
"I'll survive," I replied.
"How did it go?"
"I got the mimic stone."
"What about the third eye?"
"Bradford was the best they could offer last time, so I wasn't expecting much. Bianca did tell me there's a ring in the Berlin facility. I have to go and get it. I could use a lift."
"Of course. All of my life I have dreamed of being your personal teleportation device."
I eyed Dante, raising an eyebrow. "Sarcasm?"
"An attempt to create levity through humor."
"It works for Obi. For you? Not so much."
"I will leave it to him in the future then." He put his hand on my shoulder. "Shall we?"
"Let's go."
Thirty-Four
Dante delivered me a short distance from the facility, which turned out to be a relatively nondescript high-rise in downtown Berlin.
"Are you sure you need the eye?" he asked as we both looked at the building.
Even from the distance, I could see there were half a dozen men in suits milling around outside trying to look like they weren't part of the security detail, which consisted of another half a dozen men in uniforms. Judging by the location, this Nicht Creidem hideaway was a higher value target than the garage in New York would ever be.
"Not completely," I replied. "I'm working on the assumption that the Fist can go invisible because of Rebecca's natural ghost power. If I'm right, getting my hands on an eye will lessen the handicap quite a bit."
"It is a big assumption. Even if the Fist is using her power, it may not be manifesting the same way."
"I know, but we need an edge if we're going to have a chance, and this is the only thing I can think of."
"It is not a bad idea," Dante said. "But that is only the outside security. I imagine it is tighter on the inside."
"You don't think I can make it through? I absorbed the power of an archangel."
"One simple artifact used in a clever way can negate any amount of power."
"I know. I'll be careful."
"I'm not able to penetrate their defenses against the Divine, but I will wait for you here, signore. I will be prepared for a quick getaway if you need it."
"Thanks. Wish me luck."
"Good luck, Landon."
I headed down the street, away from the Lord of Purgatory. I glanced back over my shoulder once as I closed in on the building, just in time to see him duck into a coffee shop.
Typical.
"Excuse me," I said, reaching one of the supposed-to-be undercover security guards.
He turned to look at me, his head tilting to the side like a dog as his secondary senses registered confusion about my nature.
"My name is Landon. Also generally known as the Diuscrucis. I need to borrow something from you."
I had told Dante I would be careful. This wasn't exactly careful, but it was a lot more efficient.
He said something in German that sounded like 'red alert' or 'alarm.' Then he tried to punch me.
I stepped out of the way, grabbing his wrist and throwing him to the ground behind me. I could hear him cry out as he bounced into a passerby, and then more shouts started going up. The uniformed guards were drawing their guns while civilians did their best to clear the area.
I put my hands up. "I just want to talk. There's no need to-"
I saw the muzzle flash, heard the report, and felt the bullet enter my chest. It hurt going in, and it hurt as I pushed it back out. I pulled my power up ahead of me, catching the follow-up volley, slowing the slugs to zero velocity before they could touch me again.
"I tried to do this the easy way," I said, even as I threw the captured lead out ahead of me. It whipped back toward its origin, catching most of the shooters in their hands and causing them to drop their weapons.
I began walking toward the entrance. The guys in the suits charged toward me, producing blessed and cursed knives as they did. I gathered my power close, waiting for them to close in before pushing it out around me and into the ground. They tumbled over against the shockwave, leaving my path clear. I didn't slow as I reached the uniformed guards, who were on their knees near the entrance clutching bleeding hands.
