The Complete Archangel Wars Series: A Shared Universe Series (The Archangel Wars)

by Jonathan Yanez

  Alan didn’t argue with her, but he still found it hard to believe that the well-kept bar could be that dangerous, and with each step came more affirmation to his thoughts. The building was located in the center of the city, where traffic flowed by at a steady pace. The exterior paint looked recently touched up, and even the sounds of classical rock music drifted through the door.

  “Arch, I want you to stay out here, make sure we aren’t bothered. Angel, enter through the rear. I don’t want Infinity slipping away.” The two team members nodded and moved to fulfill Jacob’s orders.

  “What about me?” Alan asked. “And I don’t have a chosen name, but honestly I don’t have anyone who cares about me, so you could probably call me Al—”

  “No,” Jacob said.

  “We can just refer to Alan as ‘You’ for now,” Danielle said over their earphones. “And you’re wrong, Alan. You have a whole team of people who care about you now.”

  The idea was so foreign to Alan, he didn’t know how to take the words spoken in kindness. Luckily, they’d reached the entrance to the bar and Jacob saved him from having to respond. “Get ready, You. Stay close.”

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Alan walked into the poorly lit bar, ready for anything. Still nothing struck him as demented or demonic. A dozen or so patrons filled the interior; they sat on stools around the bar or at the few tables and booths that made up the remainder of the Sunny Mead. Carefully scanning the bar’s patrons, Jacob made his way over to the pool table in the back, where one man stood alone, tossing an eight ball in his right hand as he studied the other pieces on the worn green velvet.

  “Infinity is alone,” Jacob said quietly into his earpiece.

  “Front secured,” Arther said.

  “No one in the back,” Angelica chimed in.

  As Infinity turned around, two things struck Alan: one, the man was more unsuspecting than Jacob, and two, the look on his face told him he hadn’t been expecting visitors.

  “Infinity, I’m just here to talk,” Jacob said. “This can be as painless or as painful as you would like it to be.”

  Infinity’s dark eyes shifted from Jacob to Alan. “I have nothing to say to you, Guardian. Who’s the new recruit? Egad! Man, you Angel Nephilim are multiplying like rabbits, aren’t you?”

  Jacob took a step forward and leaned in toward the unwilling informant. “I want to know what you know, about the Chronicle.”

  Infinity’s eyebrows shot up, before his thin lips cracked and he started to laugh. “You’re serious? You think you’re going to walk in here and demand answers from me?” Infinity looked past Jacob’s large shoulder to Alan. “Can you believe this guy?”

  Alan wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say, or if he was supposed to say anything at all. Previously, he’d avoided most contact with people, which made thinking on his feet in a conversation harder than it should be. “I’d tell him if I were you,” Alan said, mentally kicking himself for not thinking of something more intimidating to say.

  “Well, Guardian, I don’t know what you’re talking about, and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. So where does that leave us now?”

  “You,” Jacob said over his shoulder, using Alan’s temporary chosen name, “get everyone out of the bar.”

  Alan swallowed hard. He’d heard Jacob clearly enough, but making a group of inebriated people, including the bartender himself, leave a bar seemed like a tall order. “Um, yeah, sure—and how should I do that?”

  “Figure it out.”

  “Right.” Alan turned from the two men staring each other down and slowly made his way to the center of the room. After clearing his throat, he raised his voice above the steady sound of music and chatter in the bar. “Excuse me, ladies and gentleman. I’m going to have to ask you to leave. It’s not safe for you here anymore.”

  Nothing happened. Alan received a dirty look from a large biker at the bar, and an old man had glanced his way, then back down at his drink just as quickly.

  “Danie—Valkyrie,” Alan said into his earpiece, “I could use a little help.”

  “Don’t worry, You.” Danielle chuckled to herself over the microphone. “I got you. Tell them that you are gifted with the ability to see angels and demons. That you are a Nephilim and you can predict the future, and that they’re all about to be drowned by a terrible flood.”

  Alan’s mouth went dry as he thought of all the reasons he shouldn’t take Danielle’s advice. “I don’t think that’s going to work.”

  “Trust me.”

  Alan shook his head, already editing out half of what Danielle wanted to him to say. He took a deep breath and shouted, “Everybody, you need to leave immediately! I can see the future, and this whole place is about to be flooded. You need to get out—now!”

  This time, everyone looked his way. For a split second, Alan felt like a teenager again, looking at the entire school before they laughed and ridiculed him for being different. Heat pushed its way through Alan, and sweat gathered along his brow. Before anyone could respond to his insane statement, a rumbling shook the building, the walls, ground, and ceiling quivering before holes burst open and water pipes erupted from every direction.

  Freezing cold water poured in from a dozen different locations, and wide-eyed patrons screamed and ran for the doors. They looked at Alan, horrified, as he returned their stares with his own expression of shock.

  When the last hysterical bar attendee had left the building, the water stopped gushing from the broken pipes. Alan stood stunned for a second more before he turned his soggy shoes back toward Jacob and Infinity. What he saw made him do a double take. Instead of a single Infinity standing with Jacob, a mob of men greeted him. They were all the same, identical to the man Jacob and Alan had confronted, but now instead of one, there were over a dozen.

  “This will not end well for you,” Jacob warned.

  “Oh, I don’t know, Guardian. The odds look pretty good to me,” said one of the many Infinities. He turned his head from side to side, looking at his duplicates. “What do you think, boys?” Wicked grins and grunts of agreement came in response. Before Alan had time to form a plan, the mob of Infinities attacked.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  “Remember how strong you really are,” Jacob said, before the first wave of Infinites hit them. Alan had no time to process what he was seeing as Jacob’s skin turned a dark grey, a granite color replacing his previously olive complexion as their many enemies tackled him at once.

  There was no time to come to a conclusion on what he’d witnessed, or to ask questions. He just had to move. Infinity was fast; not as fast as Alan, but much faster than any human being. To a much smaller extent, speed must have also been one of Infinity’s gifts.

  Hands reached for him from his left while a punch was directed at his face from his right. Directly in front of him, another Infinity-clone lunged at him in a tackle. Remember what Angelica taught you. You can be something more than you thought; you are something more than you thought.

  Alan struck the Infinity to his right across the jaw, sending the man flying in the opposite direction. The clone to his left received the same treatment. Alan didn’t have time to strike the third copy who’d lunged toward him head-on; instead, he planted his feet as firmly as he could on the wet floor and braced himself for the impact.

  Infinity tackled him with enough power to topple any man. But for Alan, the force felt like a gentle push. Arms still wrapped around Alan’s thick torso, Infinity grunted and shoved, to no avail. After a brief moment of struggle with no result, the clone released Alan and, with a nervous smile in his direction, called over his shoulder, “Um… hey, guys? I’m going to need some help over here.”

  Immediately, a group of Infinities broke their focus on Jacob and ran to assist their fellow clone. A satisfied grin spread over the lips of the copy in front of Alan. “It’s over, kid. There are too many of us.”

  Alan nodded, unable to argue with that statement. Michael’s words, along
with Jacob’s, echoed in his ears. For the first time, he voiced the possibility of what he was becoming. “But Infinity,” Alan responded, “I’m stronger than all of you could ever be.”

  The eyes of the Infinity in front of Alan doubled in size, and even Alan himself was surprised he’d responded so heroically. Alan grabbed his enemy around the collar with one hand, his belt with the other, and lifted the grown man off the ground and over his head. Although he’d never played football, Alan imagined that his motion now was similar to how a quarterback would prepare to throw downfield.

  “Oh, no…” moaned the Infinity in Alan’s grasp.

  With a grunt, Alan catapulted the Infinity copy through the air, sending him on a direct path of collision with the group of charging clones that had moved to answer their brother’s plea for help.

  The entire mob crashed together with so much force, it knocked them all to the ground and sent them sliding in multiple directions across the wet floor. Now, Alan searched the soggy bar for Jacob. There was only one place he could be: under a small, dog-piled mountain of Infinities. The mound of squirming arms, legs, and heads writhed like some mythical beast.

  Even as Alan approached the mass of cloned men, the pile erupted with a shout that did not belong to this world. Clones flew in every direction, yelling as they were thrown through the air. Many landed roughly, skidding across the wet floor as Jacob sent them all tumbling head over heels.

  Alan stood back in awe as Jacob quivered with the exertion. The clones had ripped his shirt from his torso, and now instead of skin, what appeared to be rock covered his body. Before Alan could ask whether his power was to turn into a slab of granite, the Infinity clones around them began to disappear. One by one, they dissolved until only one figure remained, and he lay sprawled out on the floor, soaked from head to toe. Blood flowed from his nose and a cut on his left temple.

  Jacob ignored Alan and, stalking over to the fallen combatant, grabbed the man by his hair and lifted him to a standing position. Infinity squealed with pain, gripping with both hands the one Jacob used to hold his hair. “Tell me, Infinity. Tell me what you know, or God as my witness, I will rip your hair from your body before I send you to the eternal Hell waiting for you.”

  Alan stood stunned by Jacob’s words, and even more so by his actions. “No, no, please. Please don’t kill me. I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you everything! I swear!”

  Jacob released his hold, sending Infinity falling to the ground again. “You have one minute.”

  “You’re crazy,” Infinity shouted. “You Nephilim are crazy!”

  “Fifty-five seconds,” Jacob said.

  “Okay, okay, just wait a minute. I’ll tell you. It’s Ardat. She thinks she’s found the Chronicle. The Chronicle that holds the instructions on how to forge the celestial weapons. She’s-going-to-get-it-tonight.”

  Infinity had said the last sentence in a hurried, one-word slur. Alan saw the terror in his eyes as he shuddered under Jacob’s stare. He had to be telling the truth.

  “Where?” Jacob asked. “Where is the Chronicle?”

  “Oh,” Infinity whimpered, “she’ll kill me if I tell you. I’m as good as dead if she finds out I ratted her out!”

  “What do you think I’m going to do to you if you don’t tell me?” Jacob said.

  Alan could practically see the thought process going on behind Infinity’s shifting eyes. “Point taken. All right. They tracked down the Chronicle by tracing the heritage of the family it was entrusted to when it was banished from Heaven. It’s some college kid, Kyle Brown. That’s all I know. I swear I don’t know anything else.”

  Jacob thought for a second before turning his back to Infinity and speaking into his earpiece. “Did you get that?”

  “Yep,” Danielle responded. “Doing a search now and… Got it. Kyle Brown, twenty years old and goes to the local community college in the center of town. Looks like his math class just got out a few minutes ago. Angelica and Alan should be able to make it there in a matter of seconds.”

  “Good,” Jacob said as Alan followed him outside to a waiting Arther and Angelica.

  “Wait a minute,” Alan said. “Before we go racing off, does anyone care to explain to me how the whole water-thing worked? Arch, did you do that?”

  Arther smiled widely. “I wish I could take the credit, but along with speed and strength, Angel has the ability to channel and manipulate the flow of water.”

  Angelica pushed her blonde hair into a ponytail. “I’ll tell you all about it later. Right now, we have a Chronicle to catch.”

  “Right,” Jacob said to Alan. “You and Angel, use your speed to get there now. Arch and I will be a few minutes behind. And be careful. If this really is the Chronicle we’re chasing down, and Ardat is behind it, this will be dangerous.”

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Dominic took one last drawn-out puff from his cigarette before flicking it onto the college campus grass.

  “Hey, hey, you can’t do that. That’s littering.”

  Dominic looked over the top of his dark sunglasses at the tall college student standing in front of him. Classes were just letting out, and the courtyard teemed with the youth of tomorrow. “I’m going to kill you with that cigarette if you don’t walk away right now,” Dominic said in a low, menacing voice.

  The student took a step back with a wide-open mouth.

  “Now go away, little bird. Go on. Back to your miserable life.”

  At first, the student looked like he was going to respond, and Dominic could feel a smile touch his lips as details on exactly how he planned to kill this one took shape in his mind. But his hopes soon faded as the student thought better of his plan, and instead, bit his tongue and started backing away.

  “That’s right.” Dominic motioned with a dismissive wave. “Go away. Don’t even look at me.”

  The student complied with a large swallow and lost himself in the crowd seconds later. Dominic allowed himself to chuckle before turning his attention back to the busy school campus, where students piled out through multiple doors as they hurried along to their next class or to home if they were done with their collegiate duties for the day. Dominic kept his eyes glued on one door in particular.

  Kyle Brown would be leaving his class any moment now, and it was up to Dominic to make sure the boy sided with him and his mistress in the days to come.

  Dominic studied each face as they exited the classroom, until the face he was looking for appeared. Kyle was average height, lanky, and wore thick glasses. He walked hunkered down as if the weight of the world were on his shoulders. Unlike the other students leaving the class, Kyle wasn’t talking with anyone; no friendly banter passed between him and a companion. Instead, Kyle avoided eye contact with passersby and was the first to move out of the way when someone was walking too close to him.

  Perfect, Dominic thought as he left his position and started on a path leading him to the young man. This is going to be easier than I thought.

  “It’s Kyle, right?” Dominic said with a friendly grin.

  “Uh-yeah, do I know you?”

  Dominic threw an arm around Kyle, who tensed under the motion as they continued to walk. “No, you don’t know me yet, but you will. My name is Dominic Drencher, and I am going to be your best friend.”

  Suspicion and a shadow of fear passed over Kyle’s freckled face. “Um … I’m okay, I don’t want anything you’re selling.”

  “Oh, but I’m not selling just anything. I’m here to give you something. And trust me, you do want my gift.”

  Kyle still walked alongside Dominic, but Dominic could feel the young man’s shoulders tense. “Kyle, I’m going to go out on a limb and say you don’t have many friends. You’re somewhat of a loner and you’ve been picked on your entire life?”

  Kyle looked up, shocked, as he nodded.

  Dominic tried to remember what else he’d learned of the young man from the files Ardat had provided. “You wish you were stronger, and that if you can’
t be great, you could be, at the very least, normal. You want to experience at least one day that didn’t bring the fear of anxiety, right?”

  Dominic knew he had him as Kyle looked up into his sunglasses, open-mouthed, and nodded again.

  “Great, well, what if I told you, in return for your cooperation, I could make all of that a reality. We can make anyone who’s ever stepped on you or degraded you, pay. I can give you the resources to be the man you want to be, while paying back all of those past bullies with the justice they deserve.”

  Kyle’s shoulders relaxed, and only then did Dominic remove his arm. “I mean, that sounds great but, who are you? How do you plan on doing that?”

  Dominic chuckled aloud as they continued to walk through the busy campus grounds. “You let me worry about that. All I need in exchange is a book you have in your possession.”

  “A book?”

  “Yes, that’s right. It would be old, with a worn leather cover. On the front, it has a picture of a spear crossed with a sword. Probably a family heirloom passed down throughout the years.”

  Kyle’s eyes jumped with understanding. “Oh, you mean the Chronicle? Why do you want that old book?”

  “Never mind the why, do you have it?”

  “Nope.”

  Dominic stopped walking and turned to his unlikely companion, questioning his nonchalant response. “What do you mean, ‘nope’?”

  Kyle shifted under the weight of his backpack. “I mean, it’s gone. Before my grandfather died, he burned it.”

  Dominic could feel wrath boil in his chest, while Kyle continued talking as if nothing of interest was happening. “He turned crazy as he got older. He kept going on about angels and demons, and that the book could change the fate of the world, and blah, blah, blah ...”

  Dominic was shaking as he tried to control his anger. His left sunglass lens cracked as his Nephilim ability began to spiral out of control. Despite this, Kyle kept on, “Yeah, can you believe that? He was my grandfather and everything, but I started resenting him after he made me memorize that book. I mean, hours and hours of reading it, and him reciting it to me. I was fed up with it. Kinda glad he burned it before he died.”