Saleos slowly nodded. “Yes, except that. Jeremiah, have you considered that if we make him really mad, you may not make it back to Heaven? You should, by all rights, already be dead. What were you thinking, going to Vienna without even telling me?”
“I don’t mean to belittle you, Saleos, but you weren’t the one he was after. He wanted me. Sending for you would have only gotten someone else captured. And I did call you when we got to Munich.”
“Well, I’m none too keen on meeting Garrett, anyway. Regardless, I’m no good to you if I don’t know what’s going on.”
“You’re right, as I have come to expect. Okay, I’ll defer to your judgment. You tell me what we should do.”
Saleos stood up and walked around his desk to face Jeremiah. “First, I shouldn’t be here, and you know it. There isn’t anything I can do that you can’t. You have Abigail Martin and a host of prophets on the way. Further, as valiant as it seems to offer yourself up as bait for the inevitable demon horde, this is only one battlefront. Someone with authority needs to be in Kingstone.”
“You mean someone with a grudge to settle.”
Saleos didn’t even bother denying it. “He knew Metatron was planning to kill you, and he did nothing. Besides, he’s got it coming. I already know what his goals are. I know that Ephippas is working for him. Eva will probably return shortly, and I have some unfinished business with her too. Patheus is so transparent he may as well publish his strategy to the internet. A global battle against Metatron must take place, but we won’t have any effective weapons if our only hope is compromised in Missouri. Let me go...to keep an eye on things, at the very least.”
Jeremiah looked reluctant, but finally he gave a consenting nod. “Okay. Go watch Patheus and his demons. Angels protect Alex from direct demonic influence, but we cannot trust them to watch the indirect routes. Also, avoid the house. I’m not sure Raphael would be fond of you visiting, and none of the prophets know you work for me.”
“Right. The prophets are no concern to me, but I don’t want Raphael to mistake me for a bad guy and send my soul hurtling toward Hell. So I’ll get a place outside of town and wait for my cue. All the while, I’ll be picking up information and sending it back to you. I’m sure these prophets are fully capable of keeping your boy safe in most situations, but I think the two of us will be more at ease with me only a couple of miles away.”
“Do it,” Jeremiah concurred. “But don’t interfere any more than you have to. Alex needs to do this by himself as much as possible.”
“Understood,” Saleos confirmed as he turned briskly, grabbing an overcoat from the chair behind the desk and the newspaper from off the top. Without another word, he donned the overcoat and proceeded out the door.
***
She had clearly followed the path to Indianapolis but had been noticing something strange for a long way.
Sara looked down at the sidewalk in front of the public library, and she could register two very strong auras. It was unlike anything she’d seen before. These two tracks, though distinct, were similar in their intensity and much stronger than anything she’d followed from a common street thug.
After spending several hours scouring the city and thinking that a good night’s rest would reveal something more discernible, she’d gotten a hotel room. She couldn’t afford to stay here long, lest the trail get cold. She could squeeze in a couple of hours’ sleep, anyway. But if she didn’t get some sleep soon, she wouldn’t be any good to this case anyway.
Sara knew she had to get back to the hotel room so she could leave as early as possible tomorrow, but the sight was intriguing, to say the very least. She stared at it a little longer to try to imprint the image in her brain. Getting back in her car, Sara plopped heavily into her driver’s seat from exhaustion. Now that she had found this trail, she was sure, once again, that she was on the right track. It was stronger than the one in Baltimore, probably due to how long she’d waited to follow.
The street names that Jeremiah had given her corresponded to names of streets in Las Vegas, according to the internet. She had a pretty strong feeling that she would eventually find herself in the City of Sin. But for right now, she had to focus on the trail she’d been following, wherever it led.
She looked in her rearview mirror and smiled.
“Good,” she said to herself, “they’re still back there.”
She thoroughly enjoyed this game. Ever since she left Baltimore, someone had been following her. They didn’t try to stop her; they didn’t try to contact her—nothing. She had tried to lose them at least a half dozen times, but they always caught up with her. Sara knew it wouldn’t do any good for her to try to contact whoever it was, so she just let them do their thing.
Oddly, she almost felt a little safer with them back there.
***
“Have you sent anyone to watch them?” Renee asked.
Yuri shook his head and pulled a bottle of water from the refrigerator. “No need. When he acts, we’ll react. We have explicit orders to remain unseen for as long as possible or until we’re commanded to reveal ourselves. If they want to relocate, that’s no concern of mine. We know where they are, and I, for one, am sure that Alex will make a move before we’ll have any need to.”
“You realize that there is a call out to all friendly prophets to converge in the Midwest, don’t you?” Renee demanded. “If we don’t stop them now, how are we going to stop them when all their friends get here?”
“You’re a moron,” Yuri replied without emotion. “If you think you can kill several experienced prophets, an angel, and the savior of mankind, you go do it. Take as many of the hired guns as you want. Then, I’ll have less people to babysit.”
She slapped the bottle of water from his hand. “Don’t you have an addict you can molest?”
Yuri sighed, looking at the mess on the floor. “I don’t think you understand the chain of command in this operation. You have budding potential; that doesn’t mean you can’t be eliminated.” He held his hand out to her. “Right now, you need to relax.”
The heated anger that had been rising in her sank. Her want to throttle the arrogant bastard subsided. She slowly walked toward him and took his hand.
Yuri placed his other hand on top of hers and said, soothingly, “It isn’t even Alex who we’re after. Just be patient. All things will work out according to his plans. Then, after we have completed our mission, our master will destroy all who oppose him. And we, his faithful servants, will be the first to pick our domains.”
Renee nodded, but something touching her hand stole her attention. She pulled her hand away from Yuri’s and saw, on his palm, a small, square patch of paper. Yuri looked down into his own hand and smiled.
“Don’t mind that,” he suggested. “You should be feeling the effects very soon. I hope it doesn’t kill you, but it does have to be pretty potent to work its magic so quickly and through skin contact. I had even wondered if it might have a diminished effect on prophets, so I apologize, but I needed a guinea pig.”
In fact, her vision was already becoming blurry, her face felt very warm, and her fingers were tingling. The room started spinning, and she turned around to place a hand on the kitchen table for support.
“I think it’s still a little on the strong side,” continued Yuri, “but soon I should be able to use it on the people of Kingstone with the desired results.”
Through her daze, she felt one of his hands on her back, bending her over the table; the other deftly unbuttoned her pants.
“No,” she protested weakly.
“You know, I’m a little envious,” he whispered in her ear before pulling her pants down around her ankles. “I’m doomed to make amazing drugs, but never to feel the joy they bring first-hand. All I can do is observe their effects.”
Her body was becoming numb, but she still felt the tug as he ripped her panties. She tried to stand up, but he forced her back down.
“I told you that I’m in charge,” he reminded h
er.
***
Alex sat, staring into a fire that his father had started in the fireplace before he went to bed. The young prophet was the only one in the room. All the guards had rotating posts outside. An angel protected the house. It seemed very much like Alex, himself, could actually rest, but his mind would not.
He didn’t feel safe or comfortable. He was trying to be brave and sure for everyone around him, but he had no direction.
“You lost the moment,” a soft feminine voice behind him said.
Alex turned around and saw Sophie leaning against the wall behind him.
“What?”
She smiled. “Time is a series of infinite moments. Each moment is attuned to each person in a different way. Earlier, I observed a moment that was almost perfectly attuned to you, and you missed it.” She walked over and sat down next to Alex by the fire. “What makes it worse is that you could tell it was your moment.”
“With Elizabeth,” Alex reasoned, looking back to the fire.
“That’s right. If it makes you feel any better, she also ignored it.”
Alex looked at her. “So she could feel it too?”
“Oh, yes. Couldn’t you tell?”
“I think I did see it. Why would that make me feel better?”
“Time’s not just playing tricks on you. Isn’t it amazing to see that you and she are affected by a moment in the same way?”
“I don’t understand. What does that mean?”
“It means that you are kindred spirits, Alex. It means that you are meant to be with her.”
“Try telling her that,” retorted Alex. “We’re friendlier than we were, but I don’t think she looks at us the way I do.”
“If she didn’t, she would not have noticed the moment. You might be fighting this harder than she is. I’ll just be glad if I’m here when you two decide to accept it. Then, maybe time won’t have to stop for the two of you to get the message.”
Sophie stood and smiled. She brushed herself off, turned, and left the room.
Alex watched her leave and turned back to the fire. The help of Elder Prophets seemed to be more work in just deciphering what it was they were trying to say than the actual advice was worth. But his brain did finally feel relaxed. Minutes later, he also went to bed.
***
“Remarkable,” Jeremiah said.
“What’s that?” Abbie asked from across the dark room.
Jeremiah put the cell phone on the small, marble coffee table next to the chair he was sitting in. “It seems I have a stalker,” he replied after a moment’s thought.
“A demon?”
“No, a prophet. The one who’d left me the voicemail. I met her a couple weeks ago, and she recently realized that something was amiss. She doesn’t believe in supernatural beings. I had a brief conversation with her over the telephone, explaining her plight, and she’s been following me ever since.”
“She’s persistent.”
“Yes,” Jeremiah agreed, a bit disgruntled. “It seems to be her specialty.”
“After all, she is a police officer.”
“How did you know?”
Abbie smiled. “Nagina is so distant, she rarely even talks to me. Nathan is insane. Too often it seems that Marla and I are the only two people in this house. Well, us and the security—those who are left. What’s this mansion, really, except for a remarkably stylish bunker? So we talk...a lot. She told me about this prophet and what you’ve done for her.”
Jeremiah grunted his disapproval. He felt another emotional moment coming on.
“This is your world, Jeremiah,” Abbie noted, waving her hands around slowly to indicate the dark, empty room. She sighed. “It’s all that you have left, and you pulled me into this sad existence.”
“Not right now, if you don’t mind, Dr. Martin. Psychoanalyzing a demon may be too much for even you.”
“I’m not analyzing you, Jeremiah. I don’t like you that much. Delving into your thoughts would be a painful waste of my time. I am simply commenting on the environment, which is making even me feel sorry for myself.
“Now, you’ve sent almost everyone away,” she continued, not waiting for Jeremiah’s reply, “and there’s no one to hear you complain. Your protégés have all left you—one by one. Your best—perhaps only—friend also left. You’re waiting in this house, with me and Nathan, for prophets you’ll probably never talk to. All the while, you’re hoping to find and convert other demons, kill the ones you can’t, hire a continuous stream of mercenaries, pull political and corporate strings, and plan for the time when Metatron, finally tired of you, sends the necessary number of demons to eliminate everything on this compound. And this you’re planning on accomplishing all by yourself. It must seem monumental, daunting, ominous.”
“I suppose you have some wisdom to go along with those adjectives.”
Abbie chuckled. “You’ve become cynical again, and anything I may have said that made a difference to you is lost. How human you can be, Jeremiah. Over the years, you’ve developed ways of coping with your sadness—defense mechanisms. I’m glad that I have seen some of your shining moments. Otherwise, I would only think you to be brutal and cruel. Now, I know that it is simply your way of handling the turmoil and anxiety of life.”
A long silence followed. Abbie knew the demon had fallen deep into his thoughts. She was amazed that anything she was saying was having an impact. She had been noticing a change in Jeremiah’s behavior. A year ago, she would not have believed it possible for Alex to be so independent and Jeremiah to make so much progress. To see everything come together nicely was quite comforting.
Though, as intriguing as it was that Jeremiah might actually be listening to her, she could no longer stand the silence.
“Perhaps you would be a happier creature if you would surround yourself with external stimuli—other people, color, light, music.”
“It’s funny you should mention that,” Jeremiah retorted. “Other people are precisely what I had in mind. There’s something I need to talk to you about. I’m thinking about introducing Las Vegas to a new kind of religion.”
***
“Wake up, Alex,” a voice called to the young prophet.
The boy’s eyes opened slowly and perceived Sophie standing over him.
“What is it?” he asked groggily, looking to his right to make out the time on the digital alarm clock sitting next to his mat. It was only one of several things the Tanners had claimed they couldn’t live without and Matt had to retrieve from their house. Only an hour had passed since he had spoken to Sophie last.
“Someone has arrived,” Sophie whispered, “whom you really should meet.”
“Does this really have to happen right now?”
“This is the moment, Alex. It’s your chance.”
“Fine.” Alex slowly pushed himself up to a sitting position.
“Put on something warm,” Sophie suggested. “We’re going outside.”
“Of course we are,” Alex grumbled.
When Sophie opened the front door, Alex was glad he had gotten a thick coat. A strong, cold gust of air gave him goose bumps even underneath all the layers of clothing. She waved him through, and, cautiously, he crossed the threshold. On the porch, seated in a rickety-looking wooden chair, was a man hunched over a small, luminescent, floating sphere. No one else was in sight—no guards, no angels, and no Matt.
“Will you join me, Alex?” the man asked.
Alex, a little concerned that none of his protectors were in sight, cautiously sat on an old wooden crate across from the stranger, eyeing the new figure suspiciously. After getting a better look, the man seemed not much older than a boy, himself. His windswept hair was thick, dark, and curly. He had a thin build, and his skin was pale.
“Sit close, and you’ll be warm,” the man suggested.
It was true. The closer Alex got to the radiating orb, the more comfortable he became.
“Don’t be afraid, Alex. No harm will come to you her
e. Just relax.” The speaker then looked at Sophie and said, “You may go now.”
Alex, startled, looked over his shoulder to see Sophie’s eyes narrow, but she did as she was told.
“My name is John,” the man said after Sophie left, “and I imagine few people know what you’re going through like I do.”
***
“Where’s Alex?” Mary Tanner asked of Matt when she walked into the sparse dining room and saw the prophet sitting alone at the table, drinking coffee, and lost in a contemplative mood.
Matt looked up, startled. “Is he not in his room?”
“No,” Mary answered, beginning to panic. “I looked in on him just now, and he wasn’t in his room.”
Matt stood and, hiding his own worry, replied, “I’m sure everything is fine. Nothing is going to hurt Alex if there’s an angel watching the house.”
“We need to call someone.”
“Look, I’ll find him and bring him back. He couldn’t have gotten far on his own.”
“He isn’t alone,” Sophie’s voice drifted over to them nonchalantly.
“Where is my son?” Mary demanded.
“I don’t know,” Sophie stated, strolling over toward the coffee pot. After inspection, she decided to pass. “I was not invited. I assure you he’s in no danger.”
“Shouldn’t I have been alerted if he was going to leave?” Matt asked.
“Why?”
Matt was taken aback by the question. “Because protecting Alex is my job.”
“I told you he’s safe.”
“That isn’t any consolation to me,” Mary retorted. “Who’s he with?”
“He is with a very powerful prophet who is tied very intimately to Alex’s destiny.”
Matt shook his head. “Then, why didn’t Jeremiah ever bring this other prophet up?”
“He was advised not to.”
Matt chortled. “Since when does Jeremiah listen to advice?”
Sophie took a seat, seeing that an explanation may take some time. “The advice came from very close to him. You see, we knew of Alex’s coming even before I saw it. We didn’t know any of the particulars, but John’s role couldn’t be denied.”
The Elder Prophets (To Absolve the Fallen Book 2) Page 17
