“I’ve never bought the Bible as being anything more than a collection of morality tales written by different authors, but in the New Testament, Jesus was resurrected three days after His murder.”
“We have our religious beliefs as well—our different theories and fantasies about what happened to our Creator. But they’re all speculation. Many of us believe He came from a dimension more evolved than our own to which He ultimately returned. We’re not angels or cherubs. Prior to His crucifixion, we observed the beings that humans have described as angels, and we sensed His presence in them but were unable to interact with them. We believe that they are of a higher order, that one day we will ascend again, this time to a greater plane, where we shall be rejoined with Him, and that we inhabit the Sphere only until we attain perfection.”
Jake massaged his right temple. Both of them ached, but he knew better than to touch the left side of his head. “Okay . . .”
“After He failed to return to our Sphere, the first blind spot formed on earth. We could not see anything that transpired within it and believed this to be an aftereffect of His disappearance, a weakening of our Sphere’s combined energy. Then human souls started vanishing, never to be sensed again. At first, the souls belonged to American Indians, then European explorers, German settlers, and British soldiers. All of them disappeared near the same body of water.”
“Lake Erie,” Jake said.
“In 1929, after your stock market crash, the disappearances stopped for one decade. In 1939, they resumed near a second blind spot in Brooklyn, New York.”
Jake looked at the ceiling and walls.
“During the decades that followed, more blind spots formed in the United States. The radiance of each one extends for miles and contains a pulse that repels us and the Dark Agents. We’re dealing with an unknown quantity that threatens the Light and the Dark. Over half a million souls have vanished, which has had a dramatic impact on the intensity of both Realms. As Sheryl informed you, we call this predator the Destroyer of Souls.”
Jake bristled at the mention of Sheryl’s name.
“I’m sorry,” Abel said. “You can never understand the bonds that form when a soul ascends to the Sphere.”
“Let’s stick to business.”
Abel nodded. “As the chief of martyred souls and the oldest agent of Light, I took it upon myself to investigate the disappearances. The mystery became an obsession with me, but I came no closer to solving it. The blind spots multiplied around the globe. Then Nicholas Tower created a blind spot of his own, as others have done, further complicating my efforts.”
“The Tower.”
“I knew it was Old Nick and his Tower because he only protected that building. The souls you freed were critical to the war between the Light and the Dark because so many other souls had already ceased to exist before them. After Tower’s death, I resumed my investigation. I narrowed the blind spots down to a number of locations around New York.”
“This warehouse, Reichard’s estate, the Dream Castle . . .”
“I remained just outside the perimeter of this area. I guess you could say I was on stakeout. Then one day, the blind spot diminished enough for me to enter it. Even though I sensed a trap, I had to press on.”
“I know the feeling.”
“Too much was at stake to pass up the opportunity. I entered the shipyard, located this building, and discovered Avademe. That confrontation was the single most horrifying experience of my existence.”
“Avademe’s one ugly mother.”
Staring at Jake, Abel raised his eyebrows. Then he burst into laughter, which in turn caused him to wince. “Was it something I said?”
“Oh yes. Yes, it was. I spent centuries investigating Avademe, and you practically solved the mystery with an offhand remark.”
“I did?” Jake furrowed his eyebrows, which sent a spasm of pain through his face.
Abel pressed one hand against the cylinder, level with Jake’s face. He wiped the glass with his palm, leaving behind a trail of golden light that spelled out Avademe as a child would write with his fingers in condensation left on a car window. “Avademe is an anagram.”
Narrowing his eye at the glowing word, Jake rearranged the letters in his mind. Oh, my God.
He swallowed. “Adam. Eve. Adam and Eve.”
“My parents.”
Jake pictured the enormous brain that formed the octopus’s cone, which appeared to be two giant brains attached to each other, and the monster’s four eyes. “Avadiim was an Indian word . . .”
“No, Avadiim was an Indian pronunciation of an anagram based on an English translation of the Hebrew Old Testament.” “Lake Erie is a long way from Eden.”
“Father and Mother damned their souls by becoming lovers. They damned them further by committing the sexual acts they performed with Lilith and the serpent. There were other infractions and atrocities throughout their lifetime, including suicide, and more still when their souls reached the Dark Realm.” “How do you know what happened in the Dark Realm?”
“They told me after they took me prisoner. We spoke at length. They enjoy tormenting me. Because they had lived such long lives, they achieved high status in the Realm. But even there, they could not stay out of trouble. Angry that they had not reached the Realm of Light, they plotted to escape the Dark Realm. They failed spectacularly, and the serpent stripped them of their rank. So they schemed to overthrow the serpent, much as the Bible claims that Satan schemed to overthrow God in heaven. Similarly, the serpent banished my parents from the Realm. He sentenced them to serve out eternity here on earth and restored them to human form. As a joke, he fused their hips together and abandoned them at the northernmost part of Canada, and he cursed them with immortality so their suffering would know no end. Reduced to freaks, they attempted to commit suicide many times during their southward trek, but nothing worked. Their efforts resulted in broken bones, which healed into obscene shapes; their flesh cracked and became infected; their clothing grafted onto their running sores.
“By the time they reached Lake Erie, they resembled a hideous creature more than two broken human beings. At the cliffs overlooking Lake Erie, they hurled themselves into the water. The fall smashed their bones but did not kill them. They sank deep into the water, which did not drown them. And they mutated into a monstrous creature that inhabited the lake. Their limbs became tentacles and their brains became one. They learned to manipulate the curse that the serpent had placed on them, subverting its power for their own purposes. They formed the first blind spot to shelter themselves from the serpent’s eye.
“Slowly, they crossed Erie. Upon their arrival on the shore of Western New York, they fed on the Seneca and the Iroquois Indians. Absorbing the human souls, they became even more powerful. When the Europeans arrived, my parents took great delight in learning about the Bible, which, as you say, was written and rewritten by many men. They took the name Avademe as a joke and conveyed it to a tribe of Senecas who worshipped and fed them.
“Over the years, they made several humans their liaisons. They dreamed of turning the earth into their own realm, and as technology advanced, they saw their opportunity. They forged an alliance with Stephen Reichard, Karlin’s grandfather. They instructed him to design and construct this building and arranged for him to transport them. During their ten years of inactivity, they created the Order of Avademe with Stephen and laid the foundation for their plans. They involved the United States in World War II and salvaged the nation’s economy. Stephen and the first order reaped the benefits of the war, establishing the pattern the order would follow for the next century. Stephen’s son, Rudolph, succeeded him as spokesperson for the order, and Karlin succeeded him. Because of the importance of this facility, a Reichard has always led the order.”
“Those creatures that brought me in here. The watchers . . .”
“They are my brothers and sisters, though they are clearly of a different species. They are mutant offspring. Though they live, they la
ck souls.”
Jake’s fingers and toes tingled. “Can’t you do anything to stop this?”
Abel gestured at the cylinder. “Does it look like I can?”
Leaning on the cylinder, Jake ignored the hum and got to his feet. He dug his thumb and forefinger into the eye socket on the injured side of his face and plucked out his glass eye. “Then I guess we’d better call in reinforcements.”
He threw the glass eye on the floor, shattering it.
“Cain!”
CHAPTER
24
The fragments of the shattered glass eye glowed like drops of lava on the floor. As smoke rose from the tiles, the fragments vibrated, then wiggled, then slid. They raced across the floor toward each other, resembling pollywogs and fireflies at the same time. When they met, a single spark ignited a fiery explosion. Jake shielded his eyes, and a jagged fissure, like a horizontal lightning bolt, zigzagged in the air. Glowing black liquid spewed out of the fissure, struck the floor, then poured upward, defying gravity, and formed a dense statue.
When Cain had fully formed and electricity crackled around his transparent bones and organs, the fissure closed behind him. The demon’s lungs seemed to fill with oxygen, enabling the flames inside his powerful body to burn. He took in the room, the pinpricks of light in his eye sockets flashing at the sight of Abel.
“Qayin,” Abel said as he rose inside the cylinder.
Cain strode past Jake, who felt a blast of heat in the demon’s wake, and stood before the cylinder. “HEVEL.”
“How—?”
“THE DARK REALM IS BLIND TO THIS SHIPYARD, SO I GAVE THIS TALKING INSECT A PIECE OF MY HEART TO CARRY.”
“I think this talking insect did pretty well,” Jake said. “Better than either of you and with none of your powers.”
Abel flattened both hands against the glass. “Mother and Father—”
“I HEARD EVERYTHING. IN THE DARK, WE ALWAYS KNEW MOTHER-FATHER WERE BEHIND THE BLIND SPOTS AND THE MISSING SOULS. MY MASTER PROVIDED THEM WITH THE POWER THAT ENABLED THEM TO SURVIVE, AND THEY TURNED THAT POWER AGAINST HIM. WE REALIZED TOO LATE HOW DANGEROUS THEY HAD BECOME.”
“We have to stop them.”
“I HAVE TO STOP THEM.”
“You can’t do it alone. They can destroy your soul just as easily as they can mine.”
Cain turned to Jake, who took an instinctive step backwards. “I HAVE HIM TO HELP ME.”
Jake grunted. “I don’t remember volunteering for this particular mission. You said to locate Abel and you would handle everything else.”
“He deceived you,” Abel said. “That’s what he does. I keep telling you not to trust him.”
“I don’t trust him.”
“BUT YOU WILL HELP ME.”
“I want those old fuckers to pay for what they did to Abby, Marla, and Bianca. For what they did to me. Especially Madigan. Promise you’ll leave him to me.”
“IF THAT’S WHAT IT TAKES.”
“You still need me,” Abel said.
Cain looked him over. “WHAT USE COULD YOU POSSIBLY BE? YOU’RE EVEN WEAKER THAN USUAL.”
“I can handle myself and anything else that comes along. Mother-Father must be punished. That will take both of us.”
Cain emitted a booming sound, like thunder. It took Jake a moment to recognize the sound as howling laughter. “How WILL YOU PUNISH THEM? WITH THE MILK OF KINDNESS?”
Abel eyed his brother. “They must be destroyed. No mercy can be shown.”
“I say we let him come,” Jake said.
Cain aimed a burning finger in Jake’s direction. “YOU HAVE NO SAY IN THIS.”
Jake raised his hands. “Right, whatever you say.”
Returning his gaze to Abel, Cain rubbed his chin. “I SUPPOSE YOU COULD HELP THIS INSECT.”
“You know damned well I can do more than him,” Abel said.
Cain opened and closed his hands into fists. “ALL RIGHT. I’VE WAITED CENTURIES FOR THIS.”
“As have I.”
Cain wound up his arm and delivered a powerful blow to the cylinder that shattered it. A deafening alarm rang out before the first shard of glass struck the floor.
Abel collapsed in a heap, and Jake helped him to his feet. As soon as he stepped free of the base and top that had sealed the cylinder, Abel clenched his fists, and the clothing he had worn once before—cowboy boots, jeans, a button-down shirt, and a Western duster—materialized on him.
Cain doesn’t share your modesty, Jake thought.
Cain held out one hand. Storms raged within his fingers. “HEAVEN AND HELL—TOGETHER AGAIN.”
Abel grasped the hand. “For the first and only time.”
Their bodies rippled, and Jake felt himself being pushed back by an invisible force.
“This is touching,” he said over the alarm. “I love family reunions. Now let’s take it to the next level, since they already know we’re coming.”
Turning his back on Abel, Cain stormed straight for the steel door and smashed it off” its hinges. The door crashed against the opposite cinder-block wall and fell to the floor.
“Let’s go,” Abel said to Jake, and they hurried after Cain.
In the corridor, Jake and Abel watched Cain take long strides away from them.
“He knows exactly where he’s going,” Abel said.
“Because he saw everything through my head,” Jake said.
Four watchers appeared around the corner ahead and shrieked at the same time. In this lower basement, they wore no robes and looked even less human.
Cain stood and flexed his arms, giving Jake a perfect view of his glowing ass. “NICE OF YOU TO GREET US, BRETHREN”
The watchers charged at Cain, who met them head-on. He moved with blinding speed, leaving trails of fiery light in his wake. His knuckles exploded a watcher’s head in a shower that painted cinder blocks green and black. Swinging his arm sideways, the flat of his fist pulverized another head into a mess that resembled moss and seaweed.
Without hesitation, the other two watchers leapt upon him. One attacked him with its feelers: the ends opened into mouths with tiny teeth that fastened onto Cain’s left collar. The demon roared in pain, and that roar metamorphosed into laughter. The watcher squealed, its feelers releasing their grip. Black blood poured from the mouths, then smoke. The feelers danced in the air, flames rupturing their sides. The watcher clawed at its wiggling appendages, then unleashed a wail as its reptilian hands melted like butter. It fell to the floor and writhed, smoke pouring out of the suckers on its stumpy arms.
Cain jerked the remaining watcher off the floor. He buried his face in its feelers and pivoted so Jake and Abel saw his grinning face emerge through the back of the creature’s melted head. The smoking husk joined the others on the floor.
I’m glad we’re on the same side, Jake thought.
Then he heard the scrabble of claws on the floor behind him and turned to see four more watchers closing in on him and Abel. Two of the creatures pounced on Abel, taking him down to the floor. They seized his limbs, the suckers on their hands clinging to his clothing. But Abel’s clothing was no different than his flesh, made up of the exact same energy, and the agent of Light screamed.
Jake stood still as the other two watchers came for him, then turned sideways and jumped between them. The creatures ran straight into Cain. Jake did not need to see what Cain did to them. He heard their screams as he ran down the hall where the second group of watchers had come from. His shoes slapped the cement floor, and when he reached the wall, where a recessed compartment contained a fire hose and extinguisher, he lifted a long-handled ax from metal prongs. He raced back the way he had come, both hands clutching the ax’s handle.
Cain had caught two more watchers by their heads, smoke billowing from between their feelers. He lifted them off” the floor, spread his arms wide, and slammed their heads together, smashing them into mush. Jake had seen him do the exact same thing to Laddock and Birch, two security guards under his supervision at the T
ower.
Abel thrashed around on the floor, his head weaving from side to side to avoid the feelers of the watchers assaulting him.
Jake raised the ax high in the air and buried its stout blade in one watcher’s head. The creature shook in a violent spasm. Unable to wrest the ax free, Jake waited for the watcher’s body to drop, then set one foot on its back and gave the handle a mighty pull. The blade came free with a ripping sound.
Abel managed to get on top of the remaining watcher and pounded it with his fists, his face a mask of wild fury. He punched the center of the creature’s head over and over until the feelers stopped moving and green slime coated his knuckles. Then he rose, gasping.
Cain grinned at his brother. “IT FEELS GOOD, DOESN’T IT?” Abel looked Jake in the eye. “Yes.”
Jake gestured at the opposite end of the corridor. “Let’s move.” Best to let Cain lead the way.
They hurried down the corridor, which reeked of burning fish. As they rounded the corner, a small army of watchers charged in their direction.
There should be fourteen of them left.
Cain threw himself into the nearest watchers, tackling them. Others piled on top of him. Smoke rose from the bottom of the pile.
Jake passed the demon, closely followed by Abel, and felt heat radiating from the mass of wiggling arms and legs. A watcher shrieked behind him, and before he could react, a sword appeared in Abel’s hands, golden flames dancing along its gleaming blade. Jake almost dropped his ax in surprise. Abel buried the sword in the creature’s head, the impact driving it to its knees. Abel pulled the sword free of its mushy target just as two more watchers fell on him and Jake. Their tongues lashed out, and Abel halved them with a single parry. The creatures screamed, venom streaming from their damaged organs. Jake buried his ax in the head of one creature, and Abel did the same with his sword in the other.
Cosmic Forces: Book Three in The Jake Helman Files Series Page 26
