Revelations: The Fallen

by Lauretta Hignett

  “They’ve dabbled in occult things before,” Nate said, closing the door behind us. “And they’ve been burned. I remember a time about a hundred or so years ago, they got the idea into their heads that they could summon demons to do their bidding. They wanted to use them to execute their enemies and gain more power.”

  I smirked. “Let me guess, the demons they thought they were summoning were actually tortured souls, who wrecked the joint, killed the summoners, and had to be wrestled back to Hell?”

  Alex chuckled. “Exactly. Although to give them some credit, they did manage to summon a couple of demons a few decades back. The demons appeared, rolled their eyes at them, told them to fuck off, and went back to Hell.”

  Nate disappeared, then reappeared with a puffy blanket. I noticed that he’d gotten me his own duvet off his bed. He placed it on the sofa for me, along with a pillow.

  Without thinking, I settled myself down on the couch and snuggled the doona around me. Once I was there, my whole body relaxed, and I realized that there was little chance that I’d be getting up to go to bed. I didn’t have the energy to move.

  “So they know the world beyond death exists,” I said sleepily. “And they don’t think that it might be a good idea to… I don’t know… be good people?” I yawned. “So they don’t go to Hell?”

  “The folly of hubris,” Nate said darkly. “They are aware of the idea that Hell exists for everyone, and that everyone will go through it when they die. And like I said, they believe it. But some of them probably think that since it’s unavoidable, you might as well enjoy the power you have on Earth before it’s all taken away.”

  Alex sat down on the sofa beside me, smoothing the covers over my body. “Some of them probably became Quarters for that very reason. They’re searching for the power to try and avoid it.”

  “Everyone dies,” I murmured softly, my eyelids fluttering. With a bit of effort, I kept them open, and grinned at Alex. “Except you guys, of course.”

  “We are immortal,” he agreed slowly. “Nevertheless we can still be destroyed.”

  “Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it.” The words slipped from my mouth, and I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer.

  The dark shapes of Nate and Alex moved around beyond my eyelids, so I knew they were both close. For a while, pleasant nonsense filled my thoughts; flashes of elephants and blazing torches, a tornado that ripped through a skyline. As my subconscious tried to make sense of my reality, I felt the tug of the present moment pull back the veil of sleep.

  I could hear them talking about me. I wanted to pay attention, yet I was so, so tired.

  The boys' voices drifted over to me while I lay in half-slumber. I tried to grab their words as they floated over me, like leaves on the autumn breeze I couldn’t catch them all. Scraps of conversation did manage to filter into my consciousness.

  “We need to talk,” Alex said gruffly.

  There was a long silence. “We don’t,” Nate finally said, his voice firm.

  “Nate. You’re my brother. We have to talk.”

  In the silence that followed, my dreams swallowed me up, images of thrice-cooked pork belly. A twist of nausea jolted me from my sleep, just in time to hear Nate sigh.

  “I am unsure of what I would say, even if we were to talk about it."

  “I think I understand.” Alex’s voice was reluctant, but resolute. “You don’t know how you feel.”

  “No.”

  “And you feel guilty.”

  There was a pause. “It’s consuming me,” Nate said, pain twisting his tone. “I have betrayed you; I have dishonored her.”

  “I forgave you,” Alex said roughly. “And she would say that there was nothing for her to forgive.”

  “But that was before…”

  “Before what?”

  Nate was silent.

  I heard a rumble deep Alex’s chest. “Before you fell in love with her,” he growled.

  “No.” Nate’s reply was sharp, and loud enough that I was jolted more out of my slumber. Acutely, I listened to the two of them with a clearer head. “I don’t love her like you do,” Nate finally went on.

  “Yet, you do love her.”

  I felt, rather than heard Nate’s nod.

  Tension spiked through the room. The electricity built, it almost felt as if lightning would strike. I had to struggle to keep my breathing light and even, and work hard to keep my eyes closed.

  After a long, loaded silence, I caught Alex’s scent, moving closer to me. His hands smoothed down the blanket on my stomach. “We’re disturbing her,” he murmured softly. Instantly, the tension eased, and a strange feeling of comfort spread throughout my torso. Heightened feelings of love ebbed out from my core.

  Was he doing this? I hadn’t realized he could manipulate energy in order to soothe me. Of course, he could heal with his hands and direct energy to reknit my broken bones and reduce swelling. So now, whatever he was doing, it was working. I felt like the storm had passed, and sleep came to claim me again.

  Before I fell back into the void, I heard Nate speak. “Let me be, brother,” he said quietly. “I’ll work it out. Maybe I love you so much that I love what you love too.”

  Chapter Ten

  Three days later, we went to meet with the Quarters.

  Luckily, we didn’t have to go far, and the meeting had been easily arranged. Acting as an emissary, Nate had gone to speak with Bentleigh Savage, using the carrot of the details of Hannah’s situation to get his attention. Mr. Savage, desperately trying to hang on to control of his life and frantic for information about Hannah, readily agreed.

  We weren’t exactly sure who would be at the meeting, but Nate was optimistic that it would be some of the more heavy-hitting Quarters.

  “Technically, every member is equal in the eyes of the group,” Nate explained. “Their votes are equally weighted. Naturally, some have more influence over others. I get the feeling that the more seasoned members will be the ones assessing whether Mr. Savage needs to be eliminated or not.”

  I realised I was nervous as I smoothed my cornflower-blue dress down over my hips, for the third time in not so many minutes. Alex had gone to do a sweep of the hotel, to make sure nothing more malevolent than the members of the secret society were lurking anywhere around.

  Nate moved behind me, smiling gently as I preened in the mirror.

  “Did you choose that color on purpose?”

  I scowled at him playfully. “As a matter of fact, I did,” I told him. “I’ve learned that it does help my cause when I dress the part. Appearances are everything, Nate.”

  “You’ve chosen to dress in the same color blue as what the Virgin Mary usually wore,” he teased.

  I glared at myself in the mirror. “She and I do have things in common, you know,” I replied. “We’re both at the mercy of an unstoppable force that insists on hijacking our wombs.”

  His dark eyes grew sad. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be,” I said, taking his hand. “It’s not your fault, it’s not God’s fault. It just is. Raging against my fate is the same as trying to stop a king tide on a full moon.”

  I glanced at my reflection in the mirror again, finding comfort in the fact that I did look beautiful. My dark-chocolate hair had a luscious shine to it, maybe because I hadn’t had time to dunk myself in the staff pool and ruin it with chlorine lately. Probably for the same reason, and despite my ever-present tiredness, my skin had a lovely glow; my cheeks displayed a pretty apple blush.

  There was something to be said about not drinking as much as usual too. It was pretty common for Clover, Dale and I to get borderline drunk most nights after work in the staff bar, where most of us would inevitably end up in the pool. I hadn’t had the chance in a while - I’d been spending all my free time with Alex.

  And Nate.

  It was a wonder that Clover and Dale weren’t mad at me for ditching them as soon as I got a boyfriend. They seemed happy for me, though. Besides both of t
hem were being kept pretty busy. Zel was monopolizing Dale’s time, even when he was working, mooning around reception, asking him stupid questions about his life and his dreams. Dale was taking it all in his stride in his usual professional manner, although he was slightly puzzled as to why Zel was always around. Dale had such a pure, humble and loving heart, and as such had no concept of the idea that he might be attractive to someone like Zel. Dale had no idea that the big demon was flirting with him.

  I hadn’t actually gotten around to telling Dale that Zel was head-over-heels in love with him. I knew I should, but I was enjoying Zel’s discomfort. He was making no headway in seducing Dale, and he could not understand why. Whenever Zel could get through the line of defense that was Alex and Nate, who surrounded me constantly, he badgered me to talk to Dale, to put in a good word for him, to let him know that he would die for him, take a bullet for him….

  I usually tuned him out.

  Clover, as usual, was doing her normal amount of bed-hopping, maybe slightly more now that Nimue was around. She would show up at every available opportunity to egg Clover on. Nimue was taking advantage of everything Revelations had to offer, languidly excusing it as ‘enjoying the last hurrah.’

  Although there was a wistfulness in Nimue's nature now, a slight sadness. I could sense it in her. I would've put money on it being something to do with a certain twelve-foot-tall, stunningly attractive archangel ex of hers.

  It was a nervous three days wait until the meeting with the Quarters, so I was grateful for whatever distraction that the ragtag band of supernatural creatures could provide. Now, however, the time had come, and I was more jittery than I’d ever been.

  Maybe not as bad as I was when I faced off with Hannah. She had, after all, been infinitely more dangerous. But if my life had taught me anything, it was to be wary of white men in suits.

  My hair blew back from my face: Alex was here. He smiled at me when he took in my appearance - my cornflower-blue dress, my hair out. He came to me and took my hand.

  “Are you ready?”

  I shook my head. “No.”

  “Too bad,” he chuckled. “We’re going.”

  Nate followed behind as we headed to the main building.

  We really had no need for a big conference room at Revelations, considering only fifty guests were allowed on-site at any time. You didn’t get to cross the threshold of reception unless you forked out several hundred thousand dollars, even for a short stay, and there weren’t many people on this Earth that had the means to do that. So the chances of anyone holding an old boys’ reunion here were slim.

  Occasionally, there was a need for several rich people to come together in a formal setting, so we had a designated room upstairs in the main building, separate from the suites. The conference room was in a nook, with glass on all but one side. The decor was austere, as if to highlight the untamed beauty of the wild jungle just outside the windows.

  We walked up the hallway to the conference room, passing two sets of silent, grim-faced security guards, dressed in all black and armed to the teeth.

  We reached the door. A huge bodyguard looked us over, nodded, and knocked on the door behind him once.

  “Come!” A voice beckoned imperiously.

  We didn't allow guests to bring their own security to Revelations. The sight of these tall, unmoving, and very bulky men unnerved me. I couldn’t help staring as we moved inside the conference room.

  The room was mostly bare - just a huge round table. Five men sat there, their backs to the glass and the jungle outside. Five members of the most powerful organization on Earth. I felt a shiver run down my back when I walked in and stood awkwardly before the table. There were no seats for either myself or the boys.

  My gaze went immediately to the man I recognized first. Bentleigh Savage sat on the far left. His expression was blank. I studied his demeanor in the silence that followed, trying to get a handle on the atmosphere of the room. The grief seemed to have left his face, which was now curiously empty. The other four men at the table radiated power and menace; it was all over their expressions, their body language, their movements. My stomach squirmed.

  With a start, I realized who the others were.

  It was the riders from weeks ago. The ones that had departed from the stables to do the Overlander trek. I’d forgotten they had come back, and I’d also forgotten their real names.

  Their names weren’t entirely important anyway. What was more important was what they represented.

  “You’re the Horsemen,” I blurted out.

  Their collective expressions faltered slightly, although I had to give them credit, none of them glanced around in surprise. They were hard men. I guessed that nothing would shock them. I studied them carefully and with trepidation. One of them was glaring at me - the red-haired weapons manufacturer. I still couldn’t remember his name; my brain was slightly foggy. Despairing at my lack of memory, I decided to think of him as War.

  “What do you know of the Horsemen, young lady?” The dark-haired skinny guy asked me, his tone darkly curious. I vaguely remembered he controlled a huge chunk of the world’s grain and rice supplies. In my head, I called him what he was. Famine.

  “E-Everything,” I stammered. “Or, most things, I think.” Nervously, I shot a glance at Alex. His expression was also strangely blank. “I know that you all control an aspect of the world, which directly correlates to the prophecies of Daniel, who talked about the four horsemen of the apocalypse. War,” I said, nodding at the redhead, then moving to the pale Dutch guy. “Plague. Famine,” I said, pointing at the skinny guy. Then I stopped, and frowned at Lachlan Keyes - the only one who’s name I remembered. The world’s most powerful man. “Death. Or power.” I shrugged. “Something like that.”

  Keyes stared at me with dark eyes. “Either is fine.” His lips curled up very slightly. “You requested this meeting, girl. We were told you have information for us. In return, what do you expect us to do for you?”

  A shiver ran down my back, but with enormous effort, I fought down my fear. Eyes on the floor, I tried to control my breath. “I would like you to stop trying to k-kill me,” I stammered.

  “Why should we do that?” Plague’s voice was guttural, his accent grating. “You may be a danger to the whole world. As leaders of industry, we have a duty to protect the people under us.”

  Rubbish, I thought, appalled. They thought of their workers as assets. They were only interested in protecting their income.

  “We’d be neglecting our duties to humanity if we were to let you live, considering what you may be,” Plague went on.

  Fear swallowed my indignation again. “I am what you think,” I said quietly. “I am the Black Chalice. According to the prophecy, I’m going to give birth to the last human on Earth.”

  “We are aware of the prophecy. We take all things into consideration.”

  I took a shaky breath. “I know that you were funding the Sanctum Domeni, who were pledged to kill me.”

  A look of disdain crossed over Famine’s face. “A mere afterthought,” he sneered. “We only funded them out of a sense of obligation to our other members.”

  “Who happen to be members of the Church?” Alex’s voice was a murmur.

  Famine nodded. “We control all the churches. Like we control everything.” His voice was flat. It wasn’t a boast. It was a hard statement of fact. My belly twisted again in fear.

  “You have information for us, girl,” Lachlan Keyes said, his voice dangerously quiet. “I would suggest you give it to us, and we can decide for ourselves if it’s worth it to let you live.”

  I nodded, staring at the floor. After a long moment, I was ready to talk again.

  Lifting my chin, I caught Bentleigh Savage’s eye. “We called your daughter,” I said simply.

  Pain clouded his features, but he remained silent. I waited for a beat to see if he wanted to say anything. When it became clear he wasn’t going to, I glanced around the table.

  The
rest of the horsemen seemed skeptical.

  I went on. “We called a circle, and we summoned Hannah. I wanted to see where she was. I had a gut feeling she was important to this… this… time we live in,” I said awkwardly, trying to avoid the word ‘apocalypse.’

  The Horsemen stirred, eyeing each other in a silent discussion.

  “It is possible,” Plague said in his guttural, accented voice. “Souls can be summoned from Hell.”

  “But they cannot be controlled,” Famine replied.

  I lifted my chin. “No, they can’t. Their pain is too overwhelming. They destroy everything they come into contact with.”

  “Which is why we cannot let you live, Chalice,” War said roughly. “Your child’s soul will cause the barriers of Hell to break open.”

  “Technically, no. Not any one specific child. Apparently, any potential kid I have will tip the scales, and Hell will overflow.”

  “Semantics,” War growled.

  They were getting impatient. The blank expressions had given way to nastier emotions; derision, indifference. I hurried on.

  “So we called Hannah, and I confronted her in the circle,” I said. “I brought to mind the face of the person who caused her the most pain.”

  I turned my gaze to Bentleigh Savage. His face was still blank, but his eyes shimmered with tears. A surge of anger rushed through me.

  He still didn’t get it. He was selfishly mourning the loss of his plaything.

  I bared my teeth at him. “I mentally projected the face of her abuser, and she felt it. She stopped, and took notice. I made her confront the image of the man who turned her into the nasty bitch that she was.” I locked my eyes on his face, trying to force him to hear my words. Even though his face was turned toward me, he still wasn’t listening to me.

  I gave up on him. He would have to confront the things he’d done when he died.

  “As soon as she recognized me, I mentally projected my forgiveness to her,” I said. “I told her that I understood why she was the way she was, and I forgave her for all the bad things she’d done to me. In that moment, she realized why she was feeling so much pain. It was her pain, the pain she’d caused, bouncing back on her. She was able to process it.”