by TW Knight
The wind picked up. Sam turned to face the water. Bass set Bree aside and focused on flashing. Heat built up within his core, begging to be released. If he timed it right, he could get in front of Sam, shove him back into Bree. It would mean he'd have to go over the edge, but the fall wouldn't be too bad. The landing, however, would be a bitch.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
A momentary weightlessness engulfed him as Sam's feet left the ground and he twisted midair. When did he step off the cliff? He didn't remember doing it. Didn't really matter though, any second he'd hit bottom and it would all be over.
The ground slammed into his chest and face, a heavy weight against his back flattened him. Instinct forced his body to fight against being crushed, overriding the question— why wasn't he dead?
"Bass, you fucker, what did you do?"
"That's not me." Bass' voice drifted over the howling wind, followed by a horse groan in Sam's ear.
Screaming and shouts followed, rough hands pulled him from under the weight. Turning, Sam stared at a bloodied and battered face.
"Hogart?"
The warrior angel was partially transformed, his demon wings broken and lying at odd angles behind him, one of the horns circling his head showed cracks in several places, and blood ran from his nose and ears. The eye hidden by the raven tattoo was swollen shut.
The voices grew louder. Sam and the fallen warrior were surrounded. Zach dropped to his knees next to Hogart trying to rouse the big guy and assess his injuries while the others shouted questions and accusations.
"Shut up!" When a hush fell over them, Sam turned to his friend. "Hogart? Can you hear me? What happened? Where did you go?"
Cracked lips parted, and a single word slipped out, "Summoned." He coughed, drew in a deep breath, and coughed again, spitting up blood. On a groan, he opened his good eye. "I was summoned."
Rail knelt next to Zach, helping assess the damage. "Summoned, as is you were back in Heaven?" Disbelief and awe colored his words.
Hogart nodded, only the slightest shift from his head. "Michael—" He coughed again, more blood dotted his lips.
Pain blossomed in Sam's chest, growing with each staggered breath. "This was because of me, wasn't it? See you should have let me jump!" He scrambled to his feet. A strong hand latched around his ankle and pulled him back to earth.
"No." Hogart pinned him with a hard stare, the swelling already receding from his face. "This was because of me."
A wind gust battered the group with dust and debris. A few rain drops landed among them. Thunder boomed, shaking the cliff.
"I think this is a conversation best had indoors." Kaz pointed at the massive black cloud blotting out the sky and racing toward them. "Zach, you, Hacker and Boomer flash Hogart to the infirmary. Rail, Bass, and I will take the Aktura back."
"Can you handle all of us," Bree asked.
Rail smiled and pulled Cassidy in close. "Yeah, something about our connection will give us an energy boost."
Sam pulled from Hogart's grip, but didn't move. "Can I go with him," he asked.
Zach glanced up. "We're all—"
Hacker shoved Sam against the fallen warrior and the world turned bright white, then black. When he opened his eyes again, he lay on the tiled floor in the infirmary.
"Sorry." Hacker grunted, hefting Hogart off the floor. "Didn't want to waste the time discussing things. I hate getting caught in the rain. Messes up my hair." His weak smile twisted when he grunted with exertion again. Once the wounded warrior was on the gurney, Hacker and Boomer dropped to the floor, breathing heavily.
"Damn, he's heavy," Boomer joked, pulling a red licorice whip from his pocket and absently chewing on it.
"I feel like I just tried to flash a dozen humans and a fully tricked out Hum-vee," Hacker complained.
"It's the wings," Zach answered. "They're too broken for him to fully change back, and you know we don't travel well in demon form."
Sam pulled himself to his feet. "Plus you added me."
Zach shook his head. "Hacker was right to bring you. I think Hogart would want you here. Now, where's Tucker?"
"Right here!" The lanky blond rushed in, dripping wet, and snatched a towel off a supply cart. "We landed in the courtyard just as the skies opened up."
"Get dried off and then grab me some more gauze and alcohol." Zach moved about the infirmary gathering supplies.
Sam didn't wait for Tucker to respond and jumped in. "Where can I find that stuff?" An air of unease flittered across his skin when all eyes turned to him. "I can help. Really."
"How are you feeling?" Bass stood directly behind him.
His abrupt appearance made Sam jump, but not attack. "I feel— I feel a little better. Settled."
"It's the adrenalin rush." Bass gave him a sharp nod and turned to his fellow warriors. "It's probably better he stays in here, anyway. Kaz will be down after he dries off, and then you" —he pointed at Hogart— "are going to explain what the fuck happened."
***
An hour or so later everyone, humans and fallen angels alike, crammed into the infirmary. Kaz and Boomer held Hogart down while Bass, Rail, and Zach reset his wings, allowing them to heal properly. When the screaming stopped, Bass handed the big warrior a bottle of bourbon and took a seat on the floor next to Bree and looped an arm around her.
Sam, he noticed, stayed on the far side of the room sitting in a corner.
After helping Zach and Tucker clean Hogart's wounds, Sam retreated both physically and emotionally, staring into space, focused on nothing.
Perched on a stool, leg bouncing with nerves, Boomer asked, "Seriously, where the hell did you go?"
Silence blanketed the room.
Hogart sat up slowly, grimacing when he adjusted his wings. "As I said, I was summoned back to Heaven."
"No fuckin' way!"
Shouts erupted.
"You guys didn't see him return," Bass interjected, quieting things. "Hogart just reappeared and slammed into Sam. I know it's been a long time, but I still remember what getting summoned was like. One second you're here, the next your there. No bright light or flashing, nothing, you're just there. That's how Sam described Hogart's disappearing act."
"Sam," Hogart grated out. "You saw? Why were you on the cliff?"
"I followed you." Sam stood and walked over to stand next to the gurney. "I think I had another breakdown after you vanished. I wanted to kill myself."
"Do you still want to?"
"I'm not sure."
"What does that have to do with you being summoned to Heaven?" Boomer yelped when Gina punched him in the arm, muttering something about him being an insensitive jerk.
"Nothing. I just wanted to make sure the boy is alright." Hogart let out a long sigh. "As to my disappearance, I had no choice. Michael summoned me."
"The Michael?" Kaz asked through gritted teeth, fists forming at his side. "Are you saying he called you home just so he could kick your ass?"
"No, the ass kicking came after our talk."
"Talk? One of the First called you home to talk?"
"Michael said a few days ago a surge of energy alerted him as to where to find me and until that moment he didn't realize I was still alive." Hogart scanned the group until his gaze fell on Rail and Cassidy leaning against the wall. "That is why the messenger was here. It took him several tries to get through your protections, but the energy here confused him and he missed his target." He smiled seeing Bree blush and hide her face against Bass' shoulder. "You should not have been able to see him. The protections here prevented him from staying more than a few seconds. I do not know how Michael even managed to summon me, but he did and I could not resist."
"Why did your old boss personally call you home," Bass all but growled.
"To apologize. Michael said I could have come home ages ago, but they thought I died in the first demon war." He shook his head. "Apparently by not joining the modern world, I have been living off the grid for the last several thousand years. Find
ing me now was a surprise." He coughed, and sucked in a pained breath. "Doesn't matter. I didn't believe that I had been forgiven for my past transgressions. I was certain it was a trick."
Murmurs filled the room. Disbelief hung in the air.
Boomer snorted. "Okay, if you've been forgiven, why didn't you stay?"
"Their forgiveness came with a price I refused to pay. That was why I was beaten. I refused them once again."
Bass pulled Bree closer, a shiver running through him. "What was the price?"
Hogart stretched and tested his wings before drawing them tight to his back. "Michael asked me to betray you."
Chapter Thirty-Nine
The room erupted in shouts loud enough to shake the walls and drown out the raging storm surrounding the island. Once things finally quieted, Hogart continued, "When I appeared before Michael, I was too overwhelmed to understand what was happening. The voices in my head were too loud. I could not think. The Light was so intense, it filled me. I couldn't stop screaming. Michael laid his hands upon me and took many of the voices away, took most of the pain away."
"So you're sane now," Sam asked hesitantly from where he sat.
"No. But now that most of the voices are gone, my mind is somewhat clearer. I also realize now that while some of the voices were spawned by my growing madness, others were put there."
"By Lucifer."
"No, Michael. I was completely unaware. These voices were set to drive me to do my duty when I first came to be under his management. They were meant to force me to follow orders without question. But what he had done to me was flawed, my will was stronger. I did question. When I was locked out of Heaven, these voices hounded me to complete the mission I'd refused. The more I refused them over the millennia, the louder they became until they merged with the others of my own making." Hogart shook his head. "No, I am not sane. But I think I am better. Now I understand things."
Cassidy laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Another damn compulsion. I'm so sorry you were put through that."
"Thank you." He smiled, feeling lighter inside. "Once the voices quieted, I could see that Michael was again manipulating me. This time in order to get at you. Offering me what I wanted all these ages. He tempted me, offering me acceptance into Heaven once again if I did but one small thing for them."
Kaz snarled a curse under his breath. "What did they want you to do to us?"
"First find out how Lucifer breached your barriers to attack Sam and myself— they think that they can use it against you in the future. It took Michael a great deal of energy to summon me, and he doesn't want to do that again. I reminded them you had been searching for many months and had yet to find the breach, and that I was new to the island." He shrugged.
"Why now? They've had ample opportunities all these years to strike at any one of us when we're out hunting," Boomer countered.
"True, but now you are beginning to find your Aktura. It was never truly considered as an option when you were expelled. The Hierarchy does not like it. They know of Cassidy and Rail's match, as well, I believe of Bass and Bree. I’m not sure how much they know."
"What happened when you told them we didn’t know where the breach in the barrier was?"
"They changed tactics. The mission I did not finish all those ages ago, Michael requested that I complete the job now."
"What was your mission," someone asked.
"To destroy an entire civilization."
"The Hierarchy did that all the time, what made this one so important that they want you to pick up the mission now," Bass queried.
"My thoughts are still muddled." Hogart ran a hand over his face. "I remember that something was happening in the way the people were developing. I could not understand his reasoning now as that civilization is long gone."
"You’re sure?" Zach asked removing his glasses.
"Ages ago, I searched for some trace of them in history, but found nothing. The Hierarchy probably took it upon themselves to do the job. Or found another to do it for them. However, the destruction was not complete. Michael said there were survivors. He wants me to hunt them down and kill their descendants. That was one of the commands he implanted in my head as part of my punishment. It was that command which drove me to madness. I was compelled to hunt and kill with no reasoning behind it. But as I did long ago, I once again refused to follow orders. I questioned them. I told them I would not kill innocents. I would not kill you," Hogart said quietly, locking his gaze on the twins.
Sam rocked on his feet. "You said it wasn't about me!"
"Excuse me?" Bass was on his feet and in the warrior's face before the last syllable left Hogart's mouth. "I knew you were trouble!"
"Why?" Bree grabbed Bass, pulling him back. "What did we ever do to them?"
"The two of you are among the surviving descendants. But I said no, I would not kill you, and then told Michael to go fuck himself. That was when the others jumped me."
"Wow," Boomer mumbled, eyes glowing.
"Is that why you stalked us all of these years," Bree asked with a hitch in her voice.
"Possibly. Even now, I'm unsure which thoughts are mine and which are the dark voices that haunt me. But, now I believe the orders Michael buried in my mind so long ago led me to your home that fateful night. I do not believe I was following a skratar, but homing in on your family. Before you ask, I have no idea how I would know you from any other human. But I do know I felt a need to protect you, to fight against the voices telling me to hurt you, kill you. That is why I saved you that night. To fight the voices." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I still feel that need to protect you, which is why I fought against the impulse to kill Sam when Lucifer forced it. I want to protect humanity." He laughed coldly. "That's what made me such a lousy justice dealer. I refused many orders, not that it mattered; others did the deed. The refusal of my last order was the final straw for Michael. And yet here we are back at the beginning of all my troubles."
"You expect me to believe that?" Bass snarled. "They could have screwed with your brain again to make you their spy and gave you a good beat down to make your story convincing."
Hogart resisted the dark need to punch something, or someone, forcing it down. He could fight the Knights, even in his weakened condition, but he would not do so with the humans in the room. "There is discord in Heaven. They did this to me as a warning to those who refuse the orders of the Hierarchy."
"What do you mean discord?"
"There is a group of dissenters arguing against how the Hierarchy is running Heaven. How your continued punishment is madness and Heaven needs to get involved in the fight against the demons before another war starts." He cleared his throat. "I also heard rumors, whispers, God has been silent for ages. It's feared He has turned his back on the lot of us and left it all to His favored children to sort out. To quiet these rumblings, the bastards took my soul before they sent me back. They made me one of you."
Murmurs filled the room.
"I still say he's a spy," Bass groused.
"Then send me away. Send me where I can't hurt you."
"Yes!" Sam grasped Bass' arm. "You said there was an island we could go to where no one would bother us."
"We?"
"I need help controlling whatever is going on inside me. Hogart, you said you would help because you understand. We can go to this island and you can train me to be a warrior like you promised. I can work through my anger issues. Find out what causes me to lose control." Sam rubbed his temples. "Please. I don't feel it's safe to stay here anymore. I don't know if I want to kill myself or someone else. I just know I don't want to be locked up or drugged out of my mind."
"Can we get those computer games on this island," Hogart asked with a raised eyebrow.
Rail burst out laughing.
Chapter Forty
Bree sat at the foot of Hogart's bed with her brother while the others went off to discuss a course of action. With his wings mostly healed, Hogart retracted and hid them t
o sit comfortably against the pillows at the head of the bed. The storm fizzled out and turned into a pleasant drizzle, but the sky remained dark and foreboding, reminding her of all the things the grey haired warrior said. "I guess this is one of the ten days the weather sucks here," she mumbled.
"What?" Hogart asked like a curious child.
"Nothing. Something Cassidy said to me when we first met."
"I don't understand why they would want us dead," Sam said softly. "I mean, we're nothing special."
"I never understood the death sentence on your people all those ages ago. To wipe out an entire civilization because of a prophecy." Hogart shook his head. "It makes less sense now."
"Prophecies. Again with the stupid prophecies," Bree snapped. "Bass told me how they spent months searching for the one that was supposed to be the key to all of them getting back into Heaven."
"Or Lucifer getting to rule Heaven and Earth," her brother interjected.
"Whatever. I read it. It's babble. A bad poem that can be interpreted a thousand ways."
"Babble or not, parts have come true. Rail and Cassidy are the two that became one, and maybe since the Hierarchy thought Hogart was dead, he's the one to be found." Sam shrugged.
"I doubt that, boy." The big warrior snorted.
"Do you even know what that other prophecy said? The one that condemned us to death." Bree glared at Hogart and almost smiled when he flinched.
"I do not know the exact wording. The Hierarchy would not let me have access to it. Honestly, now I believe it was bullshit. I think they feared how far that civilization had evolved."
"What they had like advanced technology?" Sam sat a little straighter, his interest in the subject growing despite the dreamy look in his eyes from the meds Zach gave him.
It did Bree's heart good to see the miasma of misery fading from her brother. Those moments on the cliff frightened her more than any monster or demon they'd fought, and ranked second only to the night their parents died. Maybe they could heal him. She didn't know, but since he'd opened up and shown her, and the others, just how bad he was, there was hope. The bonus was his affinity for Hogart, someone who really understood what he was going through.
