The grenade landed well short of us, but when it hit the ground, it didn’t flash. Instead, a thick column of smoke floated up, expanding into a blinding cloud of green and gray.
I didn’t know what Billy thought he was going to accomplish. As the smoke cloud grew to the size of a car, Richard waved his hand, and a powerful gust of wind cleared the area.
Kyle raised a foot and stomped down. A tremor ripped through the ground and split the road in two, racing toward the trucks. Billy shouted, and his driver veered off to one side, while the other truck turned the opposite direction. They got out of the way moments before the crack in the earth reached them.
The trucks came to a stop amid the squealing of brakes, and the six men all jumped out, dodging behind the vehicles as if they would provide enough cover. They aimed their weapons.
Darcy flung the fireball she’d formed at Billy’s truck. He and the others hiding behind it scrambled out of the way before the fire splashed over the hood, shattering the windshield. A moment later, the interior of the vehicle ignited, and three seconds later, the flames hit the gas tank. The truck exploded.
Raising her hand to gather another ball of fire, Darcy launched the supernatural weapon at the other vehicle. All six men ran into the field well before the second truck blew.
Watching the battle, I was fascinated by the power displayed by the three rogues, and bewildered by the attempts of Billy and his men to fight them.
Too late, I realized that they had not attacked out of any hope to defeat Darcy and her friends; it had merely been a distraction.
While we’d all been looking in Billy’s direction, three other people had come up behind us in a crew cab.
Three Grigori.
I recognized one of them in the passenger seat: Sam.
The truck came to a stop, and all three got out. On the driver’s side, Danee closed the door and gracefully walked around the front of the pickup to join Sam. She wrapped an arm around his, and waited. Neither of them made any move to advance on Darcy and her friends.
The third Grigori got out of the back and, as if not caring that the others weren’t joining him, walked toward us without so much as a glance back at Sam.
He didn’t look like much of a threat. From his facial features and balding hair, I judged he was in his fifties or older, but he was shorter than I was. His skin had a grayish tint to it, and he was easily the skinniest person I’d ever seen.
What struck me were his eyes. They were the biggest eyes I’d ever seen on a person, and they were filled with a look of sorrow so deep it made my heart hurt. As he neared, I noticed that he never blinked, and I got the impression that he didn’t blink, ever.
Noticing someone was coming up from behind, Kyle turned away from the burning trucks and pointed. “Look out.”
Darcy and Kyle swung around. Together, the three of them gathered their power again, preparing to fight the new threat.
The sad, skinny man focused on Darcy as he advanced, and it almost felt as if the grief he showed in his eyes were a solid thing that he was sending at her.
The determination and anger drained from Darcy’s face, replaced by sadness. A tear dribbled down her cheek as the fireball in her hand slowly disappeared. She let her arms fall to her sides, her shoulders slumping, and hung her head.
“They brought Jonathan,” Jenny said, her voice filled with glee. I jumped at her words, surprised that she was right there beside me. I saw the anticipation in her expression.
“Who?”
“He hosts Anedon, angel of anguish. A minor angel, but once he looks you in the eye, you’ll relive every nasty thing you’ve ever done in your life.”
Jonathan had obviously affected Darcy; she was sobbing, the tears flowing freely.
With her taken care of, the angel of anguish focused on Richard, who wasn’t looking back at him, but at his friend, as if wondering what was happening to her.
A part of me wanted to warn him not to meet Jonathan’s stare, but the other half of me still didn’t fully trust the three rogues.
“Come on,” Jenny said. “We need to get away from them. Once Jonathan does his thing, Billy will finish them off.”
Richard turned his head and looked at Jonathan. He narrowed his eyes, and his lips quivered. He seemed to deflate, like a balloon stuck with a pin.
“No,” I said. I couldn’t let Darcy and her friends be killed. “We have to stop this.”
Jenny screwed up her face. “Are you crazy? The three of them managed to kill over twenty Grigori hosts. They deserve everything they get.”
“What if…?”
Jenny snarled at me. “What if what? Do you doubt Sam? He’s bent over backwards for you, princess! And this is how you repay him?” Her accusation stung.
I looked up and saw that Kyle, who had been facing Billy, finally realized he was the only one of his friends still in the action. Any moment, he was going to look at Jonathan, who was only fifty feet away now, and it would be all over for them.
As if taking my hesitancy for agreement, Jenny barked, “Let’s go. Now.”
I felt horrible about leaving the three rogues to their fate, but the fact was, Jenny was right: Sam had done everything in his power to make me feel important and needed.
Looking down at Thomas, I said, “We can’t leave him here.”
Jenny exploded with anger. “You’re such a stupid idiot. Who the hell cares about Thomas? He’s nothing but a little whiner. He’s so useless, even Jethro got the better of him, not that the old goat will ever get the chance to do that again.”
“What?”
Jenny winced, then her face turned cold. “What do you think you do to a dog that turns on you?”
“Thomas said he was fired or something.”
“We had to tell Thomas something. If he knew the truth, he’d have thrown a hissy fit, just like you’re doing.”
“You killed him; you’re a psycho.”
Jenny sighed, as if tired from all the acting. “Maybe I am, but at least I get shit done.” She glared at Thomas. “Nothing but trouble.” With that, she put her hand on his bare wrist and sucked the life out of him.
The next moment, she gasped, as if only then realizing what she’d done. Then she giggled. “Oh, my…”
“What did you do?” I shrieked when I finally found my voice.
“Come on,” Jenny said, her voice hollow. “I was just mad…”
“You bitch,” I said, and threw every last drop of water I had gathered for my hydroarmor at her. I wanted to drown her, kill her for what she did to Thomas. Unlike my stepfather, he’d never hurt anyone. Unconscious, he never had a chance against Jenny.
The water hit her like a battering ram, knocking her clear across the road and into the shed, her body slapping into the metal siding and putting a giant dent into it. She flopped to the ground, motionless.
“Serena!” someone shouted at me—it sounded like Sam. I spun on my heel, but it was Jonathan who met my eyes.
In that moment, I came face-to-face with a number of horrible, awful truths.
—flash—
When I’d stolen Dwight’s truck, only half the reason was because I wanted to destroy something of his. The other half was that I wanted to end up in jail. I was a delinquent. I deserved to be locked up.
—flash—
The only reason Trudy Hartman had punched me in the eye was that I made fun of her in the Center’s cafeteria for how much she ate. I was the one who’d started the fight, not with my fists, but with my words.
—flash—
It might have been my stepfather who had held the scissors that stabbed my mother … but her death was my fault. I was the one who’d attacked first. If I’d just kept my anger in check, or run away like I’d always done, my mother would be alive today.
My heart felt like it had stopped beating.
I was to blame. It was all me.
—flash—
If I hadn’t been too scared to call my father when I firs
t found out who he was, maybe he would have come across the country to get me … and he wouldn’t have been in Middleton to get shot by the sheriff. His death was my fault.
—flash—
I deserved every bad thing that had happened to me. I was weak and pathetic.
I was so caught up in my own despair that when the world jumped up and slammed into me, I welcomed the unconsciousness that followed.
Chapter Twenty-Four
I woke in a panic.
I was in a strange bed in an unfamiliar room. I wasn’t in the ranch house at Anak Acres. I heard the sound of heavy traffic outside.
Was I in a hospital? After the showdown with the Grigori, I expected the worst, but I felt fine; no broken bones. I did have a raging headache, though. There was a tender lump on the back of my head. Where had that come from?
Though I was in the same clothes, I noticed someone had taken off my sneakers. A quick look around room told me they weren’t anywhere there.
The small room was practically bare, except for the bed under me, and an old, beat-up dresser pushed against the corner.
I heard voices coming from the other side of the door.
Swinging my feet over the edge of the bed, I stood up. The blood rushed to my head, and I felt dizzy for a moment. When I recovered, I waited a few more seconds, hoping my gut would tell me if I was in danger.
Nothing.
Trying to stay quiet, I went to the door and opened it a crack to reveal a short hallway. We were in someone’s house. To the left were two other bedrooms and a bathroom; to the right was a living room.
Arranged around a coffee table, there was a long ragged couch and two tattered recliners. Four people sat on the furniture. I recognized Darcy and Kyle on the chairs. Sitting beside Richard on the couch, the fourth person was a redheaded overweight man. He noticed me and smiled.
Darcy turned in her chair. “Come on out,” she said. “No one’s going to hurt you.”
I walked over to them, not knowing which of the dozen questions I should ask first.
“Are you all right?” Kyle asked, his eyes full of concern.
I suddenly remembered the last thoughts that went through my mind before going unconscious. Jonathan and his angel of anguish had made every bad thing I’d ever done come back to haunt me.
But that wasn’t what Kyle meant.
He said, “I tried to keep the earthquake as far away from you as possible, but you fell hard.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said, and his face softened.
Richard got up from the couch and offered me his seat. I nodded my thanks and sat down beside the unknown man. Richard went into the kitchen, and I heard water pouring from the sink. He came back with a full glass and handed it to me, then moved over to the window and leaned his backside against the sill.
“Thomas…?” I asked.
“Who? The boy in the road?” Darcy gave me a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry. There was nothing we could do.”
I nodded and took a deep breath. “It was Jenny. Her Grigori is one of the angels of death. Ironic, I guess,” I said. “I killed her.”
“Almost,” Kyle said, and I looked up at him sharply. “She was on her feet last I saw.”
Partly relieved, partly disappointed, I asked, “What happened? How did you get away?”
Leaning forward, Kyle gave a slight shake of his head. “If that skinny guy with the stare—”
“Jonathan,” I said. “He hosts Anedon, an angel of anguish.”
“—Jonathan,” Kyle said, correcting himself. “If he had turned on me instead of you, we might not be here right now. I opened the earth under him, and then closed it up again.” He spread his hands when I gaped at him. “I only buried him under half a foot of soil; he should be able to dig himself out. I just wanted to stop him long enough to give us a chance to get you all out.”
Darcy said, “The staring effect wore off quickly, once Jonathan was out of our line of sight. Richard flew with you while Kyle and I got back in the car. The mercenaries shot at us, but they couldn’t follow after we dealt with their trucks.”
“So,” I said, trying to sound as confident as possible, “now that you’ve kidnapped me, are you going to hold me for ransom?”
Darcy’s eyes went wide, and Richard laughed.
Kyle replied, “Kidnapped you? Serena, we rescued you.”
“Rescued me?” I asked. “From Anak Acres? I wanted to be there.”
“No you didn’t,” Richard said, and I scrunched my face up in confusion. “Sam made you think you wanted to be there.”
“What are you talking about?”
The large redheaded man beside me spoke for the first time. “Sam Lancaster. Forty-eight years old. Served three years in Omaha, Nebraska for fraud. Wanted in seven states on twelve counts of grand theft, identity theft, fraud, contempt, and conspiracy to defraud. Wanted federally for tax evasion and mail fraud. He’s a con man. Oh,” he added, “and he’s wanted for questioning in connection with the beating deaths of two homeless men in Oklahoma last year—the perpetrators claim he hired them to do the job.”
He held his hand out to shake mine. “Name’s Eugene, by the way.”
“Uh,” I said. “I’m Serena.” As soon as I said it, I felt like an idiot. Of course, he knew my name.
His amused expression turned serious. “We believe Sam was possessed by Semjaza, who is the leader of the two hundred fallen angels. His ability is the gift of persuasion. Let him, and he’ll talk you into giving up your first born.”
The moment Eugene said it, I felt the spell break.
I had tried to run from Anak Acres; tried to run from Jenny. Then, despite the murder of my stepfather and my desire to get as far away from the Grigori as possible, once I’d spoken with Sam, my entire outlook had changed.
The same thing had happened to Thomas, I realized. He’d intended to run, as well, but once he spoke with Sam, he had been convinced to come back into the fold.
“How?” I asked, looking at all four of them. “How do you know all this? How’d you find me?”
Darcy pointed at Eugene. “Eugene’s our computer whiz. He’s been researching everything to do with the fallen angels and the members of Grigori Ventures, among other things. He came across an article about a break-in at your father’s apartment a few days ago. I went to Denver and started asking questions. I spoke with Chief Vogel. He told me about you, your interest in Neil, and how you broke into the lockers at the station. It was easy to put the pieces together.”
“I only found out he was my father two weeks ago,” I said, and Darcy gave me a look of sympathy.
She asked, “You were there when he died, weren’t you?”
“I was walking along the river. I saw everything. I tried to run to him when that sheriff shot him, but…”
“I’m so sorry.” A moment later, she said, “His angel transferred to you. That’s how you survived when I—”
I saw the pain in her eyes, the grief. She didn’t need the angel of anguish to cause her any more suffering.
I nodded. “How did you find me at Anak Acres?”
“We’ve had dealings with Sam before,” Darcy said. “We were tracking down leads here in Las Vegas—his base of operations. Through their lawyer, whose computers Eugene hacked, we checked out all the properties owned by his companies.”
Glancing out the window, I asked, “We’re in Las Vegas?” I motioned to the house. “Is this your place?”
Richard shook his head. “It’s one of those time-shares. We rented it for a month. Eugene set it all up under a fake name. We can use the same tricks as Grigori Ventures.”
Nodding at Eugene, Darcy said, “Sam would know if other hosts were hanging around his head office, so we had Eugene stake out the building for a few days. He recognized you from your picture on the news. While Eugene ran down information on Thomas and Jenny, Richard followed your flight out to Salt Lake City, and then to Anak Acres.”
I glanced back at Richard. It m
ust be wonderful to be able to fly. “Didn’t Sam know you were there?”
“I have pretty good distance vision up in the air.” With a casual shrug, he said, “Couple of miles, or so.”
“Once Kyle and I drove up to meet Richard, we planned the rescue.” Darcy gave me an apologetic look. “We didn’t expect your friend to be there until it was too late. There was no reasoning with him.”
“If Thomas was brainwashed by Sam like I was, it wasn’t your fault,” I said, and then I narrowed my eyes, not looking at anyone in particular. “It’s Sam’s fault.”
“What’s his plan?” Kyle asked after a time.
“The story he and Jenny gave me was that all they want to do is protect everyone in the world from themselves; that humanity’s corruption is going to cause their downfall. They said the only crime the fallen angels are guilty of is loving humanity too much.”
“It’s not love,” Kyle said. “Not the altruistic self-sacrificing kind. It’s more about possession, and by that I mean the psychological form, not just the physical control they’re trying to exert over us.”
“What you’re saying is, the fallen angels are crazy?”
Eugene nodded. “I guess you could call it that. The fallen are so obsessed by humans that everything they do revolves around their need for humanity; to be near it, control it, love it, become it … and when that doesn’t work, kill it.”
Taking a deep breath, Kyle said, “The goals of some of the hosts may be similar to their possessors, but their motives are different. I don’t think someone like Sam loves humanity. He’s a sociopath in the clinical sense of the word. He has little or no true empathy for others, but he can fake it, and uses that charm to further his own gains. Namely, taking over the world.” He laughed without any humor. “Megalomania.”
I realized Kyle was right about Sam. Jenny didn’t want that kind of power, exactly. She hated men. There was no love in her. When she killed my stepfather, she’d enjoyed it; same with Thomas. Thinking about it, I believed that, aside from Sam, who had ‘saved’ her, Jenny wanted all men to die.
The Complete Book Of Fallen Angels Page 75
