“My biblical knowledge is a little limited, but I thought Metatron was an archangel.”
“The Voice of God, in fact,” Alex added. “But even the most powerful of God’s creations has the ability to stray from the path.”
“People around here say you killed him.”
“Actually, I just held the demon in place while John killed him. Metatron’s demise was in John’s destiny; I simply had the privilege of being able to help.”
A happy smile came over Rita’s face as she recalled her introduction into this world, how John had given her the first exclusive of her life. And what an exclusive!
“Where is John? I was hoping to interview him at some point.”
Alex became solemn, and he bowed his head. “No one has heard from him since the fight. We think he may have been consumed by the effort. If that’s true, John is one of many who sacrificed their lives to protect us all. I’ve lost too many friends, already, in the short time I’ve been in this war.”
Rita’s smile disappeared upon hearing the news. She was, for the first time in a long time, at a loss for adequate words. “I am truly sorry to hear that John is no longer with us. I didn’t know him well, but he definitely made an impression.”
“Yes,” Alex agreed, looking back to Rita, “he did.”
Composing herself, Rita looked into the camera and said, “We will return with more Alex Tanner after a word from our sponsors.”
***
Raul and Abbie walked around the perimeter of the property for the illusion of privacy. Security was still in a state of heightened vigilance, so true privacy was next to impossible.
“You know, it’s very difficult to talk to you with your hood pulled over,” Abbie said wistfully. “I’d like to look into your eyes when we talk.”
He stopped and pulled the hood off, revealing the scarred and worn face she had always thought so beautiful. Even after all these years, she could feel the emotional pain of a night in Raul’s childhood that haunted his memories, of being trapped and helpless as his skin was melting. In his younger years, after the accident, his mother made him wear a mask and gloves when she rarely took him to social functions. In his adult years, he’d acquired a taste for long, hooded robes. Abbie knew he was self-conscious about his disfigurement, but, for all their lives, she had tried to get him to accept himself. Underneath the hood, Raul was safe and confident, but he wasn’t the man she loved until he allowed himself to be vulnerable.
“What will you do now?” she asked.
“I’ll have to return to the Society with a new perspective, I suppose. We’ll have to reexamine the evidence before us.”
“Oh sure,” Abbie said playfully, “swoop in here, kill some demons, and swoop out like you just came here for the fight.”
“I could get into a fight anywhere,” he replied. “I came here for the view.”
“How sweet. It’s good to see you didn’t lose your charm while you were away.”
The thought of his long absence and the notion that he let her believe he was dead stung a little. The thought that he would leave again, if even only for a short time, hurt even more. Not only had he just come back into her life with every intention of leaving again, but she would be left virtually alone to help guide this new generation of prophets. Nagina had taken David back to India to continue his training. Garrett and the other hunters went to find out why so few of the remaining hunters had answered his call. Even Salmar had returned to Bondoukou to rendezvous with Abla, his student, and put the city right again. To make matters worse, Nathan was staying. Evidently, he had no other pressing matters, despite her fervent prayers.
“There are few choices in my life I allow myself the time to regret,” Raul said softly. “Leaving you is the most painful and worst decision I ever made. After I take my message to the Society of Minds, I would like to make amends.”
He reached into his cloak and pulled out a small, red box. He opened it and revealed an opulent, diamond ring with delicate, precise carvings of flowers in the golden band. Dropping to one knee, he offered it to her.
“Will you give me the chance to correct an error I made so long ago? Will you marry me, Abigail Martin?”
“I have been waiting centuries for you to ask,” she answered happily as she threw her arms around him and gave him a passionate kiss. “Of course I will.”
“Until I return, let this ring be a symbol that, wherever my body may be, my heart is with you. I will return as quickly as possible.”
“I could go with you,” Abbie suggested.
“I’d like nothing more, but my people won’t accept you just because you come with me. Besides, I think you would do more good with your prophets in this time of great change.”
“All right,” she conceded. “But I’ll hold you to your promise: ‘as quickly as possible.’ I believed you were dead once, and the thought almost killed me as well. Know that, if I don’t hear from you regularly, I shall spare no expense to find you. I’ll even infiltrate the Society if needs be. So it would be in your best interest to at least call every day, if for no other reason than to ensure that I haven’t done anything rash.”
He smiled and nodded. “I agree; it is in my best interest. I will call you each day until my return. But don’t plan on getting many calls. There’s little that I can do for the Society there that I cannot do here. And, if you could continue to watch over Lonny and his band while I’m away, I would appreciate it.”
“As if they were my own,” she responded, taking his hand in hers.
***
“Am I doing all right, so far?” Alex asked Rita during the break.
They hadn’t actually needed a commercial break, as the interview wasn’t intended to be live, but a short pause in the questioning was nice for both of them. Rita had been intimidated by the prospect of this conversation, and Alex looked like he could use the time to sort out what he was going to say. As confident as he acted, his face sometimes betrayed him. Rita had to remind herself of what he’d been through lately, and, even though everyone—including Alex—had encouraged her to ask the questions that people would want answers to, she didn’t want to cross a line that she or Alex might regret.
“Funny,” she replied, “I could ask you the same thing. I have more right to be nervous than you do. If you are who you claim to be, I’m afraid that some of my edgier questions might have some repercussions in the afterlife. I hope you forgive me if I seem too forward, and I can tone it down if you’d like.”
Alex smiled. “Please don’t. I think your line of questions is very appropriate, and I can’t think of a person I’d rather have asking them.”
She nodded. “Okay, then. Off the record?”
“Sure.”
“If you’re the second coming, doesn’t that mean the end of the world is soon?”
Alex cocked his head in thought for a moment. “You’re referring to Revelations.”
“Yes.”
“It’s hard to interpret Revelations in any way. No one is quite sure who wrote it, so it may have not even been a prophet. But, assuming the author was a prophet, I don’t think he was talking about me. The Bible mentions the return of Jesus. I’ve spoken to beings who interacted with Jesus, and each of them have told me that I’m very different. Being the reincarnation of a person is not the same as being the person. I have no knowledge of the world ending anytime soon, and I’d like to believe that God has more in store for me than bringing on Armageddon.”
“We’re back in five,” the producer announced, “four, three, two…” He pointed to Rita.
“Welcome back to Prometheus Broadcasting’s exclusive interview with Alex Tanner. If you are just joining us, my name is Rita Conway, and our subject tonight is the leader of a mysterious organization, called the Prophets, who, by all accounts, recently defended a small Missouri town from evil entities most of the locals are referring to as demons. Alex, could you tell us a little bit about how people become prophets?”
�
�Prophetic powers are gifts from a higher power. For the sake of this conversation, I’ll call it God. Powers can manifest at any time, but usually it happens during adolescence or early adulthood. However, I wouldn’t say one becomes a prophet until they do good work with what they’ve been given.”
“So could there be prophets who haven’t been identified yet?”
Alex nodded. “I’m sure there are many. For months, we’ve had to focus on defending everyone from Metatron’s forces. Now, we can return to the important task of identifying and offering help to new prophets, as well as educate the public as to what we can do to help.”
“What kinds of things can we look for to identify prophets?”
“I don’t intend to start a witch hunt,” Alex said quickly. “The public doesn’t need to fear prophets. When they learn to use their powers, prophets can be a great asset to humanity. But let us search for the new ones. We’re very capable, and we know what we’re looking for. We even have a prophet who specializes in finding prophets.”
“So do you think we’ll soon see a special branch of the government involved in identifying prophets?”
Alex shook his head. “We have no plans to involve the United States’ government in what we’re doing. We’ll abide by the laws of whatever country we may be in, but there isn’t a government on this planet, other than the Elder Prophet Council, that will dictate the affairs of prophets. If the feds plan to identify us, it’ll be without our help.”
“Do you think there will eventually be a conflict between the governments of the world and the prophets of the world?”
Without hesitation, Alex answered, “No. Our message is already spreading. We’re here to help, and we all have a common enemy. Once the people start to believe that, everyone, including the world governments, will want our aid. Understand this: Lucifer is a real being, not just an analogy in a book. He is at war with God, and anyone who sides with any demon will be making a grave mistake.”
“You say that like it’s even an option,” Rita noted. “If given the choice between the forces of God and those of Satan, who would choose the latter?”
“It isn’t that simple. There will always be those who don’t believe us. No amount of proof will ever be enough. Add to that the many enemies we have worldwide who would like nothing more than to convince everyone that we’re nuts, and you’re left with a cross-section of the population who are totally immune to reason. The challenge will be to eventually reach even those people, to physically show them what they need to see.”
“I understand that things are changing at the Bastion of Hope,” Rita said, prompting a new topic. “Daniel Green has unexpectedly taken a sabbatical.”
“Yes,” Alex agreed. “Something very important came up, and we will be without his guidance, I hope only temporarily. In the meantime, someone else will need to fill that role. A number of very qualified candidates have been nominated, but we’re still deciding. In case you’re watching, Dan,” Alex added as a side thought, looking directly into the camera, “come back to us as soon as you can.”
***
Daniel Green looked around the coach section of his flight expectantly, as if any of the people around could potentially be adversaries. Of course, he had opted not to bring the scrolls with him. His mission carried enough risk; he couldn’t afford for the prophecies to fall into the wrong hands. And, if half of them were true, Dan wasn’t sure who, exactly, might have the right hands. Explicit instructions were left as to how and when to surrender the scrolls to the Elder Prophet Council, in the event of his death. Now, the challenge was deciding whom to trust.
Despite not knowing when he was supposed to be there, Pastor Green’s destination seemed clear. There was only one entity who could be trusted to utilize the information that the scrolls provided responsibly. Unfortunately, that entity, to Daniel’s best knowledge, was dead. Nevertheless, the dreams he’d had since reading the prophecies clearly indicated that the path would take him to Alaska. The dreams came to Dan in the same form as the scrolls had spoken to him. It was almost as if they had more to say, but only to him. And he felt as confident in the visions he’d started receiving as he did in the ones the scrolls had given him.
He finally took his seat, after stowing his carry-on luggage. He hoped that Jeremiah could shed some light on the foreboding scenes the scrolls had shown him, as the demon had once possessed them himself. However, Daniel was quite sure that the demon hadn’t received the annotated version he had.
Dan had seen a great many things since the beginning of his trek through the world of prophecy that had begun only a few days ago with an unexpected visit from one of Jeremiah’s old buddies. He had seen the fall of the Elder Prophet Council, as well as the fall of the League of Hunters. Additionally, he witnessed Alex Tanner’s rise to power and the new world order the young prophet would strive to make, completely ignorant of the prophecy that was coming to pass. Of course, many massive battles of extreme importance would be fought between now and that day; hundreds of thousands of human and prophet casualties would pave the way for Alex’s ascension. Finally, the Antichrist would come to dethrone Alex Tanner, enemy of demons and friend to those who would live free, and bring with him the end of days.
And, with utmost certainty, Dan knew that the future he saw was unavoidable. No force on Earth could stop what God had set in motion, leaving Pastor Green with only one option: to see that what he had been told would happen came to be as quickly and smoothly as possible.
He leaned back in his seat and tried to tune out the in-flight movie. Resting his eyes, he decided that taking a few minutes for a nap was excusable. After all, if the scrolls were to be believed, he knew it was not yet time for him to die. Though the exact day and time were hidden from him, Daniel knew that he still had much to do before the power-that-be revealed that information to him. Whenever his expiration date was set for, Dan hoped it was before he got a chance to witness the inevitable pain that would be suffered worldwide.
***
“I’ve run across a name of a prophet who doesn’t get seen much,” Rita dove into her last line of questions, the ones people were bound to remember. “Her name is Elizabeth O’Dell.”
Alex nodded and smiled. “Oh, yes. Liz is one of the most important prophets on this compound. You’ll find few who have the depth of knowledge she has regarding our movement, the prophets involved, and how far we’ve come. She’s been with us every step of the way, and she’s quite powerful.”
“So I’ve heard,” Rita agreed. “What of the rumor that she has actually created sentient technology?”
“We call him Gavin. And he’s a new member of the family, so to speak.”
“Him?”
“Yes. He insisted that we do our best to visualize him as one of us.” Alex laughed a little. “As such, Gavin has decided that he’s male, as well as picking his own name. For any technical information, you’d have to go to Elizabeth, but I can assure you that many of our efforts would have been fruitless if it had not been for him.”
“I think I would very much like to meet Gavin.”
“I’m sure he will show himself eventually,” Alex said thoughtfully. “At the moment, I believe Liz is trying to make him more…presentable.”
“What does that mean?”
“She’s actually making him a body so he can make his own modifications on top of helping Elizabeth with her other projects. Some of his programs will have to be modified to be more adaptable to issues the two of them can foresee being problematic.”
Rita took a deep breath before heading into the next topic, knowing full-well that it could be interpreted as an invasion, but she also knew that Alex needed to look more human to their audience. “I understand you and Elizabeth are close.”
“We are,” he affirmed.
“I know you haven’t had much time to think about it lately, but have you given any thought to marriage?”
He grinned a little. “If and when we go in that direction, I can
promise it’ll be a private affair. We have enough publicity as it is.”
“Alex, I want to thank you for being so candid and honest with me,” Rita said sincerely, putting her notes in her lap and speaking from the heart. “I also want to thank the prophets here for their amazing hospitality.” Looking into the camera, she added, “I have gone about as long as I feel I need to for the impression of being an impartial reporter, so I think it’s time for me to be candid as well. I have been observing and talking to the prophets of Kingstone for several days, and I’ve seen things that can only be described as miraculous.
“I’ve witnessed demons vanquished, the sick and injured healed, loved ones united, and the strength of wisdom that these people have to offer. I’ve not always been the most devout Catholic, but I have a renewed faith in God’s love for us. He has indeed sent us the protection and guidance we so desperately need in these times.
“Kingstone is only one of many prophet safe houses, located all over the world. And they really do want to help. We are running a toll-free number for prophet assistance. We ask that no one actually go to the safe houses, as they are heavily guarded and will very likely not have the assistance you need at that specific facility anyway. As always, if you are reporting an emergency, you should call 911.
“Transcripts of this and all future broadcasts, as well as the toll-free number and other contact information, can be found at www.prometheusbroadcasting.com/kingstone. The prophets have just come out of a costly war with demonic forces to protect our freedoms. They are also aware that there will always be problems in the world, so prioritizing will be necessary. Be patient with them, and remember that they will do everything they can. Operators will be standing by twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
Legends (To Absolve the Fallen Book 3) Page 34
