Alan Price and the Temple of Artemis
Page 2
Tears pooled in her dark eyes but she refused to let them fall. Instead she broke eye contact with Michael and looked toward her cell wall. Her dark hair fell in place like a curtain concealing her face.
“You owe me that much, Ardat,” Michael didn’t mean to continue speaking nor did he intend to walk to the cell bars and grip the metal so tight that it dimpled under his power. “If you still love me like you say you do, then you’ll fight. We’ll find some way to get through this.”
“Why?”
Michael was shaking with anger. This one simple question spoken just above a whisper stopped him. “Why? Why what?”
Ardat still refused to look at him. “Why—how can you still love me after what I’ve done?”
Michael’s response was quick as the lump in his throat finally won its battle and his voice cracked. “Because I love you, not for who you are, but despite who you are. I always will.”
Ardat turned to look at him again. Tears were running down her fair skin in an open sign of vulnerability. “Then I’ll fight. I won’t give up. Not just for me, for us. It’s a long shot, but I may have some information that could save me.”
---
Alan glided though the air as though he was born with wings. Flying was one of the few things that came easy to him. After only a few weeks with his new wings, he was as proficient as any Angel. What Alan was not gifted with was a sense of direction. Although studying told him that what was left of the Temple of Artemis was located in present day Turkey, the specific location of the Temple evaded him.
Nearing his location he was tempted to call Danielle and ask her for the exact route. He decided against the fact. If she knew where he was going, she would insist on joining him. Alan slowed his rate of flight and weighed his options. I could land somewhere and ask for instructions. Maybe I can find the Temple by using a map on my phone. Probably should have thought this out better.
Alan slowed his forward progress even further, coming to a hover. He was past the Atlantic Ocean now and his best guess put him somewhere in Spain’s airspace. The scene below him was too far away to make out more than the familiar browns and greens of generic landscape. Alan reached into his black jacket for his phone. As his fingers gripped the familiar shape, it began to vibrate.
Somewhat surprised he still received a signal at his current altitude, he looked at who was calling. Danielle’s name was glowing on and off as his phone continued to shudder in his hand. “Hey, I was just about to call you for directions.”
“Yeah, I know. You’re lost, aren’t you? Temple of Artemis, right?” Danielle didn’t wait for an answer. “You’re way off course.”
“How did you know I was gone and where I was going?”
“Alan, please. I know I can’t fly but I’m not stupid. I saw how angry you were when Seraphim came back with no news. I figured you’d go take a look yourself.”
Alan pressed the phone to his ear as his wings continued to flap in the still air. “Okay. I can buy that, but why the Temple? How did you know I’d go there?”
“I could ask you the same question. Even though you’re off course, that’s the general direction you’re headed.”
Alan turned his head every which way expecting to somehow see Danielle appear. “You can see me?”
“Pretty much. I started tracking your phone after you stormed out of the warehouse.”
“Is there no privacy at all? Don’t we have laws against that?”
“Nope, that’s what friends are for. If you fly back the same direction you came, we can just go the to Temple together. I’m a few hours behind you but with that speed thing you do, you could intercept the jet in—”
Alan’s eyes widened. “You’re following me?”
“Ummmm… yeah, you really need to get with the program. I’m not going to let you do this alone. We’re friends now. That means we have to watch each other’s back. If I start to grow weird glowing things out of my body I expect you to do the same for me.”
Alan cracked a grin as he said a silent prayer of thanks for his friend. “This could be dangerous. I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“Thanks, mom, I’ll be fine. Besides if anything does happen, I can heal us, remember?”
“Good point. Okay, where are you? I’ll come to you and we’ll find the Temple together.”
---
“See now, isn’t this better? You know where you’re going. You’re not alone. You have someone to talk with.”
Alan looked over at a smiling Danielle from his co-pilot seat in the jet’s cockpit. Déjà vu hit him as he remembered a similar trip a month ago when the two were sent to implore the Death Angels for assistance. “Yes, this is better,” Alan said in a playfully reluctant tone.
Danielle kept a smile on her face as she surveyed the jet’s control panel. “With the jet’s cloaking system we’ll be invisible to both eyes and radar. Still I think it would be best to wait until night to touchdown in Turkey. I’ll bring us as close to the remains of the Temple as we can get. What do you think we’ll find? And you never did tell me why you chose the Temple as your first place to look.”
Alan put aside his fear of finding nothing. The same urge inside that told him to visit the Temple first also whispered promises of a final resolution. “I hope we’ll find answers. As to why I think we should visit the Temple first—I don’t know. It’s hard to explain.”
Danielle gave the jet control board a break from her stare as she glanced over at Alan. “Try me.”
Alan pursed his lips. He searched his vocabulary for the correct words to convey what he felt. “It’s like a feeling, almost a voice that’s not mine. I know it sounds weird but it’s not scary, it’s comforting in a way. The feeling is telling me that there are answers out there. I just need to find them.” Alan looked over at Danielle with a wince, “Does that sound crazy?”
“No,” Danielle said. “What does this voice sound like?”
“Like—” Alan paused trying to think back to the feeling, the instinct that told him to search for answers at the Temple of Artemis. Wrapping his mind around the idea was harder than he had expected. It was like his hands opening to catch the wind. The only way he could describe the feeling was like a soft whisper. “I guess, like a little girl. She’s whispering to me.”
Alan was staring out the front windshield of the jet. He turned his gaze from the last rays of the sun’s descent and the approaching night as he heard Danielle turn and adjust in her seat. She was looking at him with huge eyes.
“A little girl? Never mind I take it back, that is creepy.”
Alan shrugged. His broad shoulders tightening the belt buckle across his chest as he made the motion. “I told you it was weird. I’ve tried ignoring the feeling but it’s been there for the last month. Slowly it’s been picking up intensity.”
“How come you didn’t say anything?”
“Say what? You mean that I had a weird feeling? Was maybe hearing voices of a little girl whispering to me at night?”
Danielle pursed her lips and rethought her words. “Good point. But it doesn’t mean you’re crazy. Maybe it’s someone trying to reach out to you. As Nephilim we have a wide range of abilities. It’s possible someone is trying to contact you using their unique gifts.”
Alan sat quiet as the implications of Danielle’s words sank in. “But the Fallen have powers, too. So we could be on our way to meet a Nephilim, a member of the Fallen or maybe I’m just going crazy.”
A light flashed on the jet’s dashboard and Danielle moved her hands across the steering column, switching buttons here and there. Her fingers flew across the vehicle’s control board almost as fast as they maneuvered around a keyboard.
“Well, whatever it is,” she said, “we’ll find out soon. We’re here.”
---
Thanks to the jet’s ability to travel at a speed nearly compatible with Alan’s, they made it to the remains of the Temple of Artemis located in present day Turkey in record time.
The moon was just beginning to glow high above the city with an army of stars combating one another for dominion of the night sky. Although the grounds were clear of any life, they decided to wait a few hours just to be safe.
Danielle lowered the cloaked jet onto a clear patch of ground. Thanks to the aircraft’s stealth capabilities, they would be invisible to both radars and the unwanted eye.
Danielle busied herself with a book until the shadows deepened heralding the time to make their move.
Alan managed to sit still for what he thought had already been an hour. Another check at the time told him only twenty minutes had passed. He tried thinking about anything else besides how slow time was going by, he couldn’t.
“You should have brought something to read,” Danielle said from her seat.
Alan looked over expecting to make eye contact but her black rimmed glasses were still glued to the pages of her book.
“Yeah, well, there isn’t a whole lot of room for The Lord of the Rings trilogy when I’m flying solo. What are you reading anyway?” Alan leaned over and cocked his head to the side trying to get a better look at the cover of her book.
Danielle raised an eyebrow at his nosiness but turned the book title toward him so he could get a closer look. The cover was white and red checkered with enough animals in the background to fill a zoo. The creatures ranged from everyday house pets like dogs and cats to farm animals such as pigs and horses. The front of the cover read, How to Pick the Right Pet for You.
Alan sat back unsure of what to make of this recent development. Of all the books he imagined Danielle reading, this was not one of them.
“You want to get a pet?”
“Yep,” Danielle said flipping to the front of the book. “This thing is great. It asks you a series of questions and based on your needs and personality it matches you up with the perfect pet for you.”
“It’s like online dating but for pets?”
Danielle’s face contorted into a look of disdain. “No, it’s not. It’s not like that at all, Price.”
“Ummmm… yeah it is.”
“I’m not trying to find a boyfriend. I’m looking into getting a pet.”
“What is it telling you to get?”
“I haven’t finished the questionnaire. Here’s an idea, let’s try you.”
Alan was about to refuse but Danielle had readjusted her position in her seat and pulled out a pencil like it was a magic trick. “This will be fun and we’ll be able to pass the time faster than me sitting here reading and you brooding in your seat next to me.”
“I wasn’t brooding.”
“If I’m pet dating, you’re brooding. Let’s start. First question, remember you have to answer honestly.”
Alan let go of a deep sigh resigning himself to his future that now involved answering a series of questions that would match him with his perfect animal. Time couldn’t move fast enough.
“Would you consider yourself an introvert or an extrovert?”
Before Alan could voice his answer, he witnessed Danielle make a quick checkmark motion with her wrist. The action was barely noticeable but Alan had definitely witnessed her pencil come in contact with the paper.
“Hey.”
“What?”
“I didn’t even answer yet.”
“Come on, Price, we both know the answer to that one.”
Motion out of the corner of his eye turned Alan’s attention to the remains of the Temple. From his seat in the cockpit he was given a wide view of what was left of the Temple. Although it was built and rebuilt three times throughout history, the building was also been destroyed an equal number of times. Now all that was left were crumbling stonewalls and huge pillars that rose from the ground all in varying stages of decay.
Through the moonlight Alan thought he witnessed a shadow move among the pillars. Danielle continued to try to engage him in a conversation regarding whether or not he would classify himself as an introvert. Her voice went on in the background as he strained to catch anymore of the movement that teased him only a moment before.
The darkness shrouded the landscape in deep shadows. With the aid of the moon and stars, varying degrees of darkness played across the Temple’s remains. Then he saw it again. Just for a moment, a dark outline of a man leaped between two pillars. Just as soon as the shape appeared, he was gone.
“Are you even listening to me?”
Alan licked his lips as the walls of his mouth lost moisture. It was impossible. The person he thought he saw was dead. He had to be. Memories flooded Alan’s thoughts as he relived the day of the battle in the desert once again, the descent with the Death Angels, the fighting, the dying.
“Alan?” The change in Danielle’s voice told him she already shifted from being annoyed at his lack of attention to worried that he had seen something.
“Stay here,” Alan said as he stood from his seat and hurried to the jet’s exit. “I think I saw someone out there.”
“Heck no.” Danielle jumped to her feet and followed him even as the words left his mouth. “I’ve seen way too many movies where the characters split up and then the one left behind ends up dying. Besides, what are you going to do if you need someone to heal you?”
Alan knew better than to argue with her. Pressing the button for the rear of the jet to open he nodded in her direction. “Okay, but if anything happens, stay behind me or run if it gets bad.”
“All right,” Danielle agreed.
The two made their way off the jet and across the grass and dirt ground in a low crouch. Alan led the way, crouching low until he reached a rock outcropping ten yards from the jet. Danielle kept pace right behind him until the two made it to the safety the rocks promised.
Alan looked back at the jet. Just as he thought, there was nothing there. The cloaking device was working like charm. Whoever was running around in the Temple couldn’t have seen them. Alan would use this to his advantage.
A chill in the air, combined with the Alan’s already racing heart, threatened to let his nerves get the best of him.
Come on, he thought to himself. You’re a Nephilim, or an angel, or something with crazy blue wings. Don’t be afraid.
Alan hesitated for a moment longer. His eyes searched the broken landscape for any hint of who he might have seen. Nothing changed.
With a nod to Danielle, Alan stood and jogged toward the Temple’s pillars. The stone structures rose into the night sky like trees sprouting from the forest ground. As Alan and Danielle entered the remains of the structure, Alan caught the man’s shadow again.
The figure was facing away from them, examining a part of the Temple where a set of stone stairs rose and then leveled off onto a flat platform. Alan blinked and rubbed at his eyes. Danielle’s deep inhalation as she too saw the familiar form was enough to convince him. Kyle Brown had somehow survived the blast from Dominic Drencher during the battle in the desert. Even more shocking, he had also traveled to the Temple of Artemis.
---
Alan’s mind raced to find an answer. Questions like, how was he still alive? Whose side was he on? How should Alan deal with him now? All fought to be heard in his mind. When it came to Kyle, Alan wasn’t prepared to make a decision.
There was no doubt Kyle had been deceived into joining Ardat in her uprising. He had been used and now tossed to the side, an expendable soldier. Kyle also reminded Alan of a younger version of himself. The boy was; lost, confused, depressed, lonely… the list went on.
The only thing that held Alan back from welcoming the figure wasn’t the fact they had met in combat twice before, it was the memory of Arther. Kyle had accidentally killed the Nephilim while still understanding his own powers. There was no doubt in Alan’s mind that it had been a mistake, still it was a mistake that had cost his friend and mentor his life.
It was while Alan was trying to figure out how he felt about the Nephilim, Kyle himself broke the silence. “You can come out. I’m not here to fight. I won’t hurt you.”
“How did you know we were here?” Alan asked as he stepped from the shadows. He was careful to stand far enough away from Kyle giving himself room to react to an attack.
Danielle stood beside Alan, hands on her hips, ready for a confrontation.
Kyle remained with his back to the two of them. His shoulders were wider than Alan remembered, his dark hair cut short near his scalp.
“I could practically hear Danielle’s heart beating,” Kyle turned to face them. He was wearing dirty jeans with a worn button-up, checkered shirt. His eyes turned to Danielle. “You can relax. Like I said, I’m not here for a fight.”
“Good,” Danielle said. “Because you’d end up on the losing side. What is it that you’re looking for then—forgiveness?”
Kyle’s eyes shifted to the ground. His body language was far from a Nephilim’s. Behind Angels and the Fallen, they were one of the most powerful beings to walk the earth. The man before them now looked like anything but one of these supernatural powerhouses. His face wore the expression of someone who hadn’t slept for days. Bags hung loose under his eyes, his shoulders slumped forward.
Kyle’s demeanor mirrored the scene around them: broken, ruined, and dark. Kyle shook his head in a slow motion side to side.
“I don’t know if there is forgiveness for someone like me,” Kyle raised a fist and extended a finger one at a time as he recounted his sins. “I’ve taken a life, I’ve helped demons discover the means to reignite a war I still don’t understand. I was naive and participated in a battle in which I could have taken even more lives if Alan hadn’t stopped me.”
Kyle paused to take a breath. The night was too dark to tell whether tears were filling his eyes, but Alan saw Kyle drag a sleeve across his face. “After the fight, I woke up alone in a desert filled with dead bodies: dead bodies that were there because I trusted the wrong people. I’ve been on my own for the last month trying to make sense of it all. I’ve even thought about killing myself…”