Bad Grace (Watcher Chronicles Book 1) (21 page)

“So this is just about power?” Michelle said. “I thought you still cared about our duty as Watcher’s, Leland.”

“That’s where you are wrong, Michelle,” Leland said. “I got tired of protecting humans a long time ago. They don’t deserve to be protected. They only deserve to be
ruled
. They are the lower species after all. It’s us—the ones with
power
—that matter. It’s not right that we should have to operate from the shadows all the time. Nephilim, angels, demons—it doesn’t matter what we are anymore. We all want the same thing. We want what we deserve, what we’re
entitled
to.”

“We’ve stayed in the darkness long enough,” Tolloch said. “It may have taken a while, but we have finally come to realize that it is best to work together. That way, we all get what we want.”

“And what do
you
want?” Frank asked the demon.

Tolloch smiled, his gray eyes flashing yellow for a second. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“This is fucking
sick
,” Michelle said. “My father was murdered for
this
?” She was on her feet now, glowering at Tolloch.

“Sit down, girl,” Tolloch said and made a small downward movement with his finger, sending Michelle slamming back down on the couch where she stayed this time.

Frank wanted to pull out the two Berettas beneath his jacket and empty them into Tolloch’s face, but he knew he would never get the chance. So he was forced to sit there while everyone carried on looking at the screen, like they were all there to watch the big game or something.

Michelle was right. The whole thing
was
sick. Frank just didn’t know what he or Michelle was going to do about it, save teleporting back out of the suite again. If he was honest, he didn’t know what he hoped to achieve by landing blind in the vipers nest the way they did, with no plan and no real weapons to speak of. He just didn’t know what else to do at the time. If Rachel had been here she would have insisted that some kind of plan be in order before they made any kind of move, no matter how pressing the situation was. She always had a cool head when things were going to shit. Her calm under pressure in the past had been the only thing standing in the way of Frank’s sometimes rash behavior when under the same pressure.

Generally, when the shit hit the fan, Frank ran blindly towards it. It was an instinct he had. Sometimes it worked, other times it nearly got him killed.

As he saw things now, he didn’t have any other choice, which is why he didn’t fight the rising instinct to go on the attack.

While Leland and Tolloch where half turned towards the bank of screens, smiling at the destruction being played out there by the giant winged demon with the long arrowhead tail, Frank slowly reached down and began pulling up the leg of his jeans, underneath which was the knife strapped to his ankle. Michelle noticed him doing it and after a second, she began to reach around behind her, to the knife strapped to her belt.

“Magnificent,” Leland was saying as he studied the screens. “How did you create such a creature of pure destruction, Tolloch?”

Frank rolled his eyes at Leland’s obvious sycophancy, his hand on the knife now as he slowly began to pull it out of the sheath.

“No one here could fathom what went into creating such an exquisite beast,” Tolloch said.

“Yes,” Leland said with a chuckle. “I’m not sure I would want to either.”

Frank’s knife was free from the sheath on his leg. Michelle had her knife held concealed against her thigh.

See you soon, Frank...

Michelle shot forward from the couch first, slammed her fist into the back of Leland’s head. Leland never saw it coming and he pitched forward and fell to the carpet with a loud thud.

By the time Frank made his move to get up, Tolloch had already backed off a few feet. The demon went for his Vader grip. Frank waited for the pressure around his neck, but it didn’t come.

A look of consternation came over Tolloch’s face as he intensified his efforts, his hand tensing up even more.

Behind him, Frank was aware of Michelle and Leland going at it, but he didn’t turn around. His focus was on the demon.

Tolloch’s bewilderment at his powers not working deepened. “What..?” he said, unable to understand why Frank’s neck wasn’t already crushed and broken.

Then Frank remembered what was inside his jacket. It was the only possible explanation as to why a demon as powerful as Tolloch had no influence over him. Frank opened his jacket to show Tolloch what was sticking out of the inside pocket.

Tolloch shook his head and dropped his arm, as if knowing the game was up. “Crafty,” he said, seemingly resigned to the fact that he had no power over Frank.

“It would have been if I had of knew it could do that,” Frank said. “But I didn’t. Either way, it’s unlucky for you, Tolloch.”

He charged towards the demon, intending to ram the knife straight into the demon’s chest, but just as he was only inches away from doing that, Tolloch suddenly disappeared and Frank ran on into the wall. “Fucker!” he said. He shook his head and looked over towards the steps near the double doors, where Michelle was on top of Leland, raining punches down on the man, screaming as she did so.

Frank ran over and pulled her off Leland and this time she screamed at Frank. “What are you doing?” she yelled as Frank held her arms. “Let me go!”

“No!” Frank shouted. “We need him to tell us how to stop that thing out there.”

Michelle screamed again, but stopped struggling. “He fucking killed my father!”

“I know,” Frank said, still holding her, but not as tight. “I know. And he’ll get what’s coming to him, believe me. But we have to stop that monster up there before a lot more people get killed.”

After a few seconds, she relaxed in his grip. “Okay, you’re right. I’m fine.”

Frank let her go and she stood staring down at a near unconscious Leland Cunningham lying on the floor, his face bloodied, his suit torn and disheveled. It was the first time Frank had ever seen the man look anything other than impeccable. “Looking a little rough there, Leland,” he said. “Your friend Tolloch is gone, by the way. It’s just us now.”

Leland struggled to sit up and then started laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Michelle said, stepping towards him, looking she was going to kick the man’s head off.

“You two,” Leland said. “Thinking you’re still going to save the day.” He looked at Frank with a bloody smile and said, “Aramis conjuro te, angelus domini, et audierit vocem meam, ad te venio.”

It took Frank a second to realize the significance of the words Leland just said. Frank had only read the words in a book, many years ago. They certainly were not words he had ever uttered himself at any time, mainly because he wasn’t sanctioned to do so by the powers higher than him. And by powers higher than him, he meant Heaven.

For Leland had just summoned an angel.

To summon an angel you not only needed the name of the angel, you also had to have permission from Heaven itself to use the words. Anyone who tried to summon an angel without permission would be punished by having ten years taken off their life. And if you only had ten years left, then you were dead. Leland was okay because he had permission to consort with the angels, being the head of the High Council. That was all he usually did though. Talk to them. Not summon them. Angels were forbidden from getting involved in human affairs except to advise certain people in certain matters. No direct influencing. Despite that, Frank doubted Leland would summon an angel at this time unless he wanted that angel to get directly involved in matters, i.e. by saving the man’s life.

All this was confirmed when a young guy in his late twenties, with longish blonde hair and blue eyes, suddenly appeared standing over Leland. “Hello, Leland,” he said while smiling coldly at Frank and Michelle. “Are these people getting in the way of our plans?”

“Aramis,” Leland said, getting to his feet, now bolstered by the angel’s presence. “Yes, they are.”

“Okay,” said Aramis. “Then I will kill them.”

The angel clicked his fingers and Michelle exploded on the spot.

CHAPTER 29

Frank stood aghast, Michelle’s blood and gore dripping off him. “No!” he said in horror.

“You should have listened to me, Frank,” Leland said. “Now you’ve gone and gotten the girl killed.”

Anger rose in Frank and he felt himself shake with rage. “You—” he growled, making to move towards Leland so he could finish what Michelle started, what he should have let her finish. Stupid! He should have let Michelle kill him.

“Ah-ah,” Aramis said and Frank froze against his will, unable to move a muscle anymore. He couldn’t even blink. All he could do was breathe and stare at Leland and the angel as they stood smugly looking at him.

Another death on your conscience, eh, Frank? Not to worry. Where you’re going, that doesn’t matter much. We don’t believe in conscience in Hell.

“I know you,” Aramis said, tilting his head at Frank. “You died once, if I’m not mistaken.”

Frank could only stare back at the angel.

“What?” Leland asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

“This man died last year,” Aramis said. “Killed by a demon, isn’t that right?” He looked at Frank like he expected an answer. When he didn’t get one he smiled and carried on. “The woman brought him back. Made a deal with a crossroads demon. Her soul for his life.”

“Woman?” Leland said. “You mean Rachel?”

“That was her name, I believe,” the angel said.

Seems our little secret isn’t a secret anymore, Frank.

Leland was shaking his head. “Rachel traded her soul for your miserable life?” he said. He laughed. “I didn’t think she would be so stupid. We may not have agreed on much, but I always admired Rachel. A strong woman. Top notch soldier. I never understood what she saw in you, though Frank. She made the right choice in picking your brother. Dean may have turned his back on his duty, but he was still a better man than you.”

Frank’s blood boiled inside him as he strained to move but couldn’t. I’m going to fucking kill you, Leland, he thought, trying his best to communicate his intentions with his stare.

Leland laughed when he saw the rage in Frank’s eyes. “It must kill you, Frank, knowing Rachel is in Hell, all because of you.” He walked right up to him, pushing his face to within an inch of Frank’s. “I have my own little secret about Rachel, you know.”

Frank’s stomach churned.

No...

“I fucked her, Frank,” Leland whispered, then he looked straight into Frank’s eyes and smiled.

He’s lying Frank...

“She never told you that, I take it? She was only eighteen. Beautiful. Ripe for the taking. A real wild cat in the sack, I’ll always remember that about her.”

I’m going to rip your fucking heart out and eat it, Leland, Frank thought, hoping Leland could somehow hear what he was thinking. If Leland did hear somehow, he didn’t let on however. He turned away from Frank and said to the angel, “You can kill him now.”

If Frank could have closed his eyes, he would have. The only consolation about exploding into tiny pieces the way Michelle just did was that it was quick.

Aramis smiled that cold smile at him again.

Here we go, Frank thought. Finally, here we go...

Until a tall black man in a suit appeared right beside the angel, holding a large curved blade in his hand of a type Frank had never seen before. Frank’s eyes fixated on the coppery looking blade for a second, noticing the small gaps cut into the edge the whole way along, inside of which glowed a slit of bright bluish white light.

The angel who was about to kill Frank looked startled at the presence of the newcomer. “Bezekiel,” the angel said, the fear unmistakable in his voice.

He never got to utter another word before the tall black man with the bald head—another angel, Frank now realized—drove his blade forcefully into Aramis’s stomach, holding it there while the blonde angel seemed to vibrate at a rapid rate before exploding into nothing but blinding white light.

Finally able to move, Frank turned his head away from the light until it had dissipated, then he stood looking at the newly arrived angel. Leland stood staring also, all traces of his usual smug self-satisfaction gone, replaced by tremors of fear. Bezekiel glared at Leland, freezing him to the spot when he tried to backtrack. “I should kill you for what you’ve done, Watcher,” Bezekiel said.

“He’s no Watcher,” Frank said, wiping his hand across his face in an effort clean Michelle’s blood off. “He’s worse than any demon.”

Bezekiel, still holding Leland in place seemingly with no effort at all, not even a directed hand, looked at Frank. “It seems there was a mutiny of sorts in Heaven,” he said, the voice of his borrowed vessel deep and booming. “A few angels thought they could join forces with the other side and create their own playground of sorts here on earth. The others have been taken care off.” He turned to look at Leland again. “This Nephilim here instigated the whole thing. Planted the seeds of dissent amongst our ranks, isn’t that right, Watcher?”

Leland could speak, but that’s all he could do. “Don’t kill me,” he said. “I can tell you how to stop the demon.”

“I am forbidden from killing you,” Bezekiel said. “As much as I would like that very thing. You have betrayed your Watcher brethren, and the humans you were tasked with protecting. You deserve to die, and you will, but not at my hand.”

“Don’t worry, Leland,” Frank said. “I’m not forbidden from killing anybody.”

“I’m the only one who knows how to stop the demon,” Leland said. “You can’t kill me.”

“Explain how to stop this demon or I will insure you suffer for eternity when you do finally die,” Bezekiel said.

“Tell us now, Leland,” Frank said. “Do something to try and redeem your miserable soul.”

“Alright,” Leland said. “Can you let me go?”

Bezekiel released him from his grasp and Leland almost dropped to his knees.

“Talk,” Frank said, pointing his knife at Leland.