She was also right that he was seething on the inside. And that she could see right through his façade only made him the more annoyed. Under normal circumstances—if only he had been assaulted, and the boy was safe—Muriel and her compatriots would probably all be dead. But, of course, Dylan was a liability.
The support of the Elder Prophet Council was crucial for the purposes of living a moral life and getting back into the good graces of Heaven. And they’d assigned him this anchor that he had not only failed to keep safe thus far, but had also promised would demonstrate a basic mastery of his skills within an ambitious period. Even if everything worked out in the best possible way from here on out, he’d lost (and would continue to lose) precious time.
He longed for the old days, when none of this would have mattered. He wouldn’t have cared about Dylan’s life or the opinions of the Elder Prophets. But things were just different now. When the reigning commander of the earthly demonic hordes has you killed, an archangel snags you from the eternal torment of Hell, and then offers you a chance to get back into the angelic ranks, your perspective changes slightly. And Jeremiah’s definitely had. He would have to devise a plan to get himself and Dylan out of this predicament safe and sound, or the good guys would probably never trust him again.
“How about we stop for some burgers?” Jeremiah asked. “I’ll bet the kid is getting hungry. I’ll pay.”
“No, General. I’m sorry.”
Eh, it was worth a try.
***
When Teacher had explained that he would be staying in Lonny’s apartment with him, the young man had, at first, been relieved that he would be safe. After an hour with only a few stints of small talk here and there, Lonny was getting stir-crazy. He wanted to smoke some pot, but Teacher had nixed that. Turning on the television or playing video games seemed rude. So, they sat, and Teacher didn’t seem to mind the awkward silence.
“For all I know, you could be sleeping or meditating under that hood.”
Teacher grunted a laugh. “I am doing neither.”
“My mother always taught me that it’s considered bad form to wear a hat in someone’s home.”
“It isn’t a hat.”
“Same difference,” Lonny argued, grabbing a magazine from his coffee table.
Teacher sighed. “You know my face was disfigured in a childhood accident.”
“I do,” Lonny agreed. “But if you’re going to be here for a while, I suggest you get comfortable. It’s got to be pretty hot in that cloak.”
“I’ll manage.”
Lonny began flipping through the magazine, only to realize—to his disappointment—that it wasn’t the new edition he thought it was. “Seriously, I’m not going to judge you or anything.”
“Your sentiment is kind, but I’ve worn some cloak or another for so long, that I’d feel naked without one, vulnerable.”
“But you’re not either one,” Lonny countered, “I’m sure you’re wearing something underneath that thing to avoid chafing, even though that probably makes it hotter than hell. And I doubt the cloak gives you any special powers. I’d guess you’re just as badass without it.”
“Lonny, I--”
“You don’t sleep with it on, do you?”
“No, of course not.”
“If someone jumped you, and they saw your face, would they gain the advantage?”
Raul shook his head. “I thought I was the teacher, here.”
“Who the teacher is might have something to do with who’s doing the learning at the moment.”
“Your pearls of wisdom are beginning to sound like condescension.”
Lonny laughed. “Sorry. I get irritable when I’m bored, and I flushed my weed. I still can’t believe it.”
“If you’re bored, why not work on your music? Didn’t you say you got a gig?”
“I didn’t realize you were paying attention,” Lonny commented with honest surprise. “Yeah, Friday night. But now I’m wondering if it wouldn’t be smarter to call and cancel.”
Raul huffed. “Why?”
“You did say that I was being targeted, didn’t you?”
“Let me worry about that. I don’t want you putting your life on hold while we resolve this issue, and we will resolve it. Furthermore, I didn’t say you were being targeted; the Society is, and you—or I—were probably supposed to die to serve as a message to the General Assembly…or something. This is all just theory. Maybe the Society is being targeted, but the demonic attack on us was still coincidental. I don’t know. Regardless, I dispatched the creatures that attacked you. If any others come close, I should be able to sense and dispatch them as well. But I don’t think any will, given that the last two didn’t return.”
Lonny stared at Raul for a moment, then down at the magazine opened in his lap. “I’m glad you didn’t give up on me.”
“Hmph. Even if you hadn’t guilt-tripped me, I wouldn’t have been able to rest easy knowing someone else was looking after you. If I’m wrong, and the demons aren’t deterred, I want to be nearby.”
“I know it may come as a surprise, but I’m not trying to sound snotty. I really am glad you’re here.”
“I’m happy to help.”
“Do you mind if I watch TV?”
Raul chuckled. “Will you leave me alone about the cloak?”
Lonny grinned. “I suppose.”
“Then, I don’t mind. To be fair, though, I may have called marijuana a distraction, but not much is as distracting as television.”
“Look, I can’t flush my TV, so this is one distraction I’ll have to live with.”
***
Jeremiah rolled down the window and blew out smoke as he asked, “So what is Adversary’s real name? If he’s going to go through this much trouble to get me to visit, I should at least know how to address him.”
“You may address him as Adversary, General.”
“Stop calling me that. If I were a general, you’d be doing what I say instead of placating me. Not to mention, my tactical skills seem to need refining to have been captured this easily.”
Muriel laughed. “I don’t, for one second, believe you’re captured…sir. You could turn this car into a ball of fire on wheels, and there wouldn’t be much I could do about it. I think you’re curious. Secrets are maddening, aren’t they? If someone tells you that you can’t know, all you want is to know it more than ever. It’s enough to make you drive to California.”
“Kidnapping the boy is enough to get me to drive to California,” Jeremiah corrected. “If I said I wasn’t curious, I’d be lying. However, my tactical missteps of late aside, I would not typically be stupid enough to walk defenselessly onto my enemy’s home turf and present him with a hostage. And why not tell me? It isn’t as if I can do much about it now.”
“I think giving you any piece of information you might be able to use against me is likely unwise. But, despite my better judgment, the truth is: I don’t know his name.”
“Wait, what? How can you work for someone and not know his real name? Does everyone just refer to him as Mr. Adversary?”
“I probably shouldn’t say any more until we get there.”
Jeremiah laughed so loud Dylan jumped. “Oh, no. This is the most fascinating thing I’ve heard in a little while. I insist we continue. I’ll make you this offer, as the one who may become your general, if you are reasonably forthright with me now, I’ll give you a way to escape death before the end. Ah, yes. Conducting business. I’m beginning to remember.”
“I don’t think you’re in a position to negotiate.”
“You know better than that. I’ve heard you say as much. You’re not going to be able to hold Dylan forever, and I can promise I’m not letting him out of my sight. I don’t care who has to burn to keep him close. So, if I should choose to throw my weight behind someone who won’t even tell me his name, then he will make me the commander of his forces. What does that consist of, anyway, ballpark?”
“Our numbers are growing all th
e time.”
He took a long drag, exhaled, and said, “Tell me it isn’t just the three of you.”
“More are coming,” she promised. “I can feel it. He’s calling us from all around the country. I was in Bakersfield when I felt the pull.”
“The pull?”
“The pull of fealty. We’re all drawn to San Francisco to join into his service. It’s similar to the fealty in Heaven, but it seems to be not at all about true faith, only power.”
“Hmm,” Jeremiah pondered. “That is interesting. How long has it been since your Fall?”
“About a year. Why?”
“Less than a year, I’d wager. Is Adversary the first to call you?”
“Yes,” she affirmed. “I’d managed to keep a pretty low profile for a time in California. I didn’t think there was much organization this far west, so I thought I’d stay under the radar. I certainly didn’t think there would be demons in San Francisco, where there’s a prophet safe house.”
“And the two following behind us, are they pretty young for demons?”
“I don’t know, but it wouldn’t surprise me.”
He flicked his cigarette out of the window. “It wouldn’t surprise me either. What you’re describing doesn’t sound like fealty, and I’m skeptical that even Lucifer could call you from Bakersfield to San Francisco. Have you ever seen Adversary with an old book? It might look like a journal or a diary, leather-bound.”
“I’ve never seen him. What book?”
Chuckling quietly, Jeremiah mused, “One I was told burned in London in the seventeenth century. It seems my sources weren’t worth what I paid. But, in fairness, reliable information was harder to come by three hundred years ago.”
***
After an hour of playing a fighting game, Lonny turned off his console, bored again, and noticed that Teacher had apparently been watching. At least, he was turned in that direction. It was tough to say what Teacher was actually looking at with the hood covering most of his face.
“Did you want to play?” he asked, offering the controller to his mentor.
Raul laughed and waved it away. “Oh, I think that thing’s beyond me.”
Lonny set the controller on the coffee table. “I’ll bet after four hundred years, you’ve got some good stories,” he prompted.
Teacher nodded. “My mentor—we called him Magister—took me and a girl on as protégés when we were teenagers. Both of us were from lesser royal houses. She was from Britain, and I from Spain, and neither of us was very well-liked by our respective monarchs. I remember that, more than one time, he had to protect us from our own families, and then, of course, how many times he saved us from demons.
“I was about your age, maybe a little older, when I set out on my own. I’d taken about all I thought I could from the Magister. I was young and sure that I knew everything. He was old and probably did know everything.”
“Older than you are?”
“Oh, yes. He was much, much older than I am now. Anyway, I left Florence with little more than the clothes on my back. I was angry, and I knew I was powerful. Arrogantly, I assumed that no force on Earth could tell me what to do. It turns out that I was wrong.
“I made it to France before I met up with the first demon I would ever combat without the presence of my teacher. This particular foe happened to be a master of illusion, so nothing I attempted to explode was real. Eventually, I tired, and three demons fell upon me.
“They didn’t kill me, but I did take quite a beating before passing into unconsciousness. It turned out they knew who I was. Some lieutenant in the demonic hordes had learned that I was out on my own, and therefore vulnerable. Thinking it to be an opportunity to gain prestige, he commanded some of his underlings to capture me. He wanted to eliminate the Magister, who was, at that time, the Chairman of the Elder Prophet Council. If he could have pulled that off, no doubt he would have been instantly elevated in rank.”
“Wow,” Lonny breathed with sincere amazement. “So, you’re teacher was that high in the ranks of the prophets? Why didn’t you ever become a prophet?”
“I just don’t believe in their philosophy, and, like I said, I was angry. So this lieutenant, I think his name might have been Vacaros, sent a ransom letter to Florence, which demanded that the Magister personally deliver a hundred pounds of gold for my safe return. Otherwise, Vacaros would send my head to him. There was a deadline of one month to deliver the gold. Of course, it was all a ruse. I’m sure they only planned to keep me alive long enough to get him to the property or a secure location, like the enchanted cell they were holding me in. Then, I imagine they would kill me before his eyes and finish by torturing and executing him.”
“What happened?” Lonny asked, staring at Teacher and hanging on his every word.
“He wiped them out,” Raul answered. “There were dozens of demons on the premises, and, to my knowledge, the Magister killed all of them. He was an inventor, and a week after the letter was sent, an army of metal men appeared on the grounds and engaged in an epic combat with the fiends, while the Magister freed me. He and I finished off the demons that hadn’t died in the initial fray and went back to Florence.”
“Was he angry with you?”
Raul chuckled. “I did get lectured for some time after that, and I recall picking up extra chores for a few months. I spent another five years with him and the girl before leaving for good—and more able to take care of myself. In that time, he never brought up the incident after I’d completed my punishment. He wasn’t a bad guy. In fact, I know now that I never gave him the credit he deserved. We butted heads a lot, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wished I could speak to him again.”
Lonny studied Raul the best that he could, given that Teacher always wore that stupid cloak. “You aren’t dying, are you?”
Raul shook his head slowly. “No, that isn’t my point. The intent of this story isn’t to teach you to appreciate what you have or to prepare you for my demise. What I was getting at is that sometimes the weak are simply easier, though often more devastating, targets. If the attack on you was purposeful, it probably reflects a fear on the demons’ part of going up against their real target. And I would guess that target is going to put an end to whatever this is quickly. I have experience with this particular body of people, and we’re pretty effective.”
“So, whatever happened to them,” Lonny asked, “the Magister and the girl?”
Teacher looked at him for a time, then looked away. “I haven’t been in contact with either of them since before I came into the Society. He died almost a century ago. She is still alive and well, but I’m afraid she thinks I’m dead.”
“Why?”
“That’s another story. I believe I’ll take a nap on your recliner,” Raul said, standing and walking over to the chair. “Let me know if anything eventful happens.”
***
Jeremiah peered up at the office building they sat in the driveway of and arched his eyebrow. From what he could feel, there were at least five demons inside the building, and there were three with him. But he had no doubt that there were hundreds of mortals in the building as well. He sincerely hoped he could avoid a bloodbath.
“Well,” he said, cheerfully, “I guess I should go introduce myself. Shall we?”
Muriel nodded, also looking up at the building. “He’s been busy while we were gone.”
“No reason not to be,” Jeremiah agreed. “If Adversary is holding what I think he’s holding, he’d be wise to take full advantage of it as often as possible.”
“Right. C’mon,” she said to Dylan as she and Jeremiah exited the car. “You’re with me, Kid.”
He did as he was told, and slid over her direction. He got out of the car, and they started walking after Jeremiah, who was already headed to the office building. Voltumna and Gazardiel got out of their car too and fell in line behind them. As he’d expected, Jeremiah saw many mortals going in and out.
“Everyone be cool,” he mut
tered as he strode into the revolving doors like he owned the place. Past some fountains and marble pillars was an elevator. Jeremiah turned to his escorts with a questioning stare.
“That’s it,” Muriel confirmed.
Jeremiah summoned the elevator, and they waited.
“Nice ambiance,” Jeremiah observed. “Peaceful. I’d put a business in this building, but I try to keep my affairs out of San Francisco. Most prophets and I aren’t really on the same page.”
No one said anything, and about thirty seconds later, the elevator doors opened.
“Tenth floor,” Muriel advised when they’d all filed in, along with two other riders.
Jeremiah nodded and pressed the button with a 10 on it, and the other pair elected to go to 6. His senses were pinging. Ever since they’d stepped into the building, he could feel supernatural workings above him. But there was no indication that Adversary would even be at this meeting. In fact, Jeremiah admitted to himself, if he’d been in Adversary’s position, he probably wouldn’t be here.
The group finally got to 10, and the doors opened with a whoosh. By this point, Jeremiah was tempted to burst into flames because he could feel the presence of other demons so clearly. There were definitely six demons on this floor besides the ones in the elevator. He had to get out of this alive; Dylan had to get out of this alive, and as many mortals as possible had to make it out of this alive. He resisted the urge to initiate combat immediately and calmly walked out of the elevator car, stopping just outside to hold open the door for Dylan and his escorts. As he’d expected, only they exited. Adversary probably leased the entire floor. That, at least, would be helpful.
They came to a glass door in a granite wall. Jeremiah read the words “Ministry Outreach Services” in white lettering on the door and turned to look at Muriel incredulously.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “It might keep mortals away.”
Beyond the Shadows (To Absolve the Fallen Book 0) Page 7
