Betrayal (The Divine, Book Two) (27 page)

“But if you couldn’t go in, how did you get the Grail inside?” Zeek asked between huffs of air.

“I had to find someone else who could. A mortal.” I had known exactly who to go to. A priest in a small church near the Belmont. The one who had given me the holy water to heal Josette. He knew enough about the Divine to accept my story, and while he had been less than thrilled to see me again, it hadn’t taken too much effort to bring him around to my way of seeing things. I had helped him sneak into the buiding, and he had hid a glamoured Grail. I didn’t know where, but he had promised that it would be safe, sure as he had seen a leprechaun.
 

“It was a good idea,” Charis said. “The cathedrals were built for the mortal worship of God, free and safe from Divine intervention. It was also close enough for you to keep an eye on it, and sneaky enough that it would have taken quite a while for any Divine to figure it out. It isn’t your fault Sarah ripped it out of you.”

Literally. The choice of words brought the pain back. I winced and shook it off.

“I get that,” Zeek said. “But how come they haven’t gotten to it yet? Isn’t Sarah a mortal?”

“Yes, but I couldn’t tell her exactly where the Grail was, because I don’t know. She’s probably still in there, rooting through the Cardinal’s drawers.”

When we reached St. Patrick’s, I found out how wrong I had been. The cathedral rested heavily in the morning sunlight, at first glance a peaceful vision of the strength and power of religion and faith. That was until my eyes settled lower on the structure, on the dozens of men and women who had fallen chaotically across the steps.
 

“
No
,” Josette cried out in my mind, sharply enough to force me to a knee.

Zeek knelt down beside one of the people, a young woman with long red hair. He put his hand to her neck and shook his head. “Dead,” he said.
 

“They’re all dead,” Charis confirmed. “But they’re still warm.”

I got back to my feet and looked up. The door to the cathedral was hanging open, only silent darkness beyond. I fought back against the anger that was creeping up my spine, refusing to believe what I knew was true. I climbed the steps so that I could see inside.

Sunlight streamed in weakly through the stained glass windows, casting an eerie light on the ransacked interior of the church. Pews had been thrown aside, the floor had been dug into, the statues smashed. It would have taken an army to do so much damage in so little time. An army that had been decommissioned once they were no longer needed. Still warm. We hadn’t missed them by much.

“
How could she do this?
” Josette asked, her voice raw. “
I know Izak raised her with kindness. I know he would never have taught her this.
”

I could have kicked myself. She did it because she knew we were getting close; that her time was running out. We had been wasting our time fighting Rebecca’s minions while she had Commanded regular men and women to go into the cathedral and find the Grail. Against their will she had made them defile the house of God until they found what she wanted. Once they had, she had killed them. Each and every one of them.
 

“How could they die?” Zeek asked. “There isn’t a scratch on them.”

“She was Commanding them,” Charis said. “She probably told them to stop breathing.”

The world started spinning, my emotions climbing their way back from the depths where I had learned to contain them. More and more they had been finding their way out, escaping the prison I had constructed to hold back the torture of loss and betrayal, but now they burst free in an explosion of guilt, anger, sadness, disappointment, and fear.
 

“Sarah,” I shouted, focusing my energy on the word, casting it upwards into the sky and downwards into the dirt. The power of it was a shockwave that sent the air flowing out around me, pushing over the corpses and shaking the world. In my mind, I felt a recoil, a coolness that I hadn’t noticed before. She had heard me, and fled.

“She has the Grail, and we don’t know where they are, or where they’re going,” Zeek said.

Charis walked over and put her arms around me, pulling me down to bring her face level with mine. “Landon?”

I hadn’t realized I was crying until I tried to look at her through tear-coated eyes. “I don’t know if I can save her,” I said in a whisper. “I don’t know if I can kill her.”

She cupped my face in her hand, her eyes fierce. “You can save her,” she insisted. She looked down. “If you can’t, I’ll kill her. We can’t let them free the Beast. I know you care for her, but she’s still only one person.”

“
Landon, she’s right
,” Josette said, her words heavy. “
If she has lost her way and we cannot help her find it, there is no other choice. We cannot sacrifice everything.
”

I took a deep breath and looked around at the bodies, taking in each face, remembering them all. This would be the fate of every man, woman, and child if the Beast were set loose. Used up and tossed away.

“They have the Grail. Let’s hope we can get to the Bible first,” I said. “Strength in numbers. We need to find Obi. I think I know how.”

Rachel’s office was downtown, but her home was on the upper west side, a huge brownstone that was mixed in with the residence of other popular New York dignitaries. I had stayed there for a couple of weeks a few years ago, living in the high class of a wealthy Manhattanite while I poured my heart out to her about everything and anything. I had hoped the exercise would have been cathartic, and she had done her best to listen and offer comfort, but in the end I had come away with the understanding that I was powerless against the true undercurrents of the Divine existence.
 

It was that realization that had started me down the path that Charis had shown me, so it seemed fitting that the same path had led me right back to Rachel’s door. If only it could have been under better circumstances.

Rachel’s housekeeper Celia was the one who answered it, pulling it open just enough to peek out at us. When she saw me, she smiled and opened the door the rest of the way.

“Landon,” she said, coming out onto the steps and giving me a huge bear hug. Celia’s build and attitude were more appropriate on a linebacker, but she had the heart and soul to be anybody’s grandmother. Her white hair was pulled back in a short ponytail, and she was dressed in a simple black maid’s uniform. She had been with Rachel for over twenty years, and had been nothing but warm and kind to me, and to anyone I had ever seen her meet. Even though she was Awake, and knew exactly what I was. She told me that the way she saw it, the only way to end any disagreement was through kindness. I had tried picturing myself hugging a fire demon, and wished I could have agreed.

“You look like you haven’t eaten in weeks,” she said, pulling back and giving me the once over. Her eyes flicked over to Zeek and Charis. “Oh, you brought friends? Boy, I didn’t think you had any friends.” Her laugh was boisterous, and she gave each of them the same hug she had given me.
 

“What did your momma feed you?” she asked Zeek after releasing him. Her arms had barely gotten around the huge man’s sides.

“Spinach,” Zeek said, laughing.
 

“My, you are a looker,” she said to Charis, the hug for her only slightly more gentle. “Mmmm, demon inside you, eh? I’ll let it slide, since you’re friends with my boy.”

“I appreciate that,” Charis said, uncomfortable with the woman’s attention.

“Celia, the big one is Ezekiel, we call him Zeek. The pretty one is Charis,” I said, introducing them. “I assume Rachel isn’t here?”

She put her hands on her hips and glared at me. “You know full well she isn’t here,” she said. “When has she ever been here this time of day?”

I
had
known she wouldn’t be there. As much as I wanted to, right now I didn’t trust Rachel either. What I
did
trust was that her computer would be safeguarded from eavesdropping and tracking.

“Okay Celia,” I said. “You figured me out. Actually, I was just hoping I could borrow Rachel’s office for a few minutes. I promise I won’t snoop around into anything I’m not supposed to.”

She laughed. “Like anyone could stop you if you wanted to,” she replied. “Go ahead, but I’m going to call Rachel and tell her you’re here.”

I had expected as much. “Of course. Charis, Zeek, if you wouldn’t mind waiting downstairs with Celia?”

“I’ve got some fresh brewed iced tea,” Celia said. “And I was just baking cookies for my grandson’s school fair, but I’m sure I can spare a few.”

“Lead the way,” Zeek said. “I could never say no to a cookie.”

Celia brought them inside, through a simple marble-floored foyer and into the living room. Rachel’s taste had always been understated. Instead of the crowded, ornate decorative taste shared by the wealthy, she had a standard sofa, love seat, recliner and ottoman, a painting of her parents, a fireplace, and not much else. The kitchen was to the right of the living room, and Celia led Charis and Zeek that way while I climbed the steps on the left side of the room.

The door to Rachel’s office was locked, and I knew it was both protected by angelic scripture that would alert her to anyone entering, and under the watchful eyes of a number of hidden cameras. I figured Celia was probably dialing her right now, so I didn’t hesitate to unlock the door and let myself in. I looked directly into one of the cameras and waved, and then focused on them, pinching off the flow of electricity and disabling them. I knew she would get on me about why I didn’t want her to see what I was doing, but right now I didn’t care.

Her office was standard fare, a near clone of the one downtown. I took a seat behind the desk and turned on her monitor. The computer was locked, but it just so happened that I knew the password. I had pulled it from the keys once when I had been here with Rachel. I typed it in, and then opened up a web browser. For all I knew, Obi hadn’t gotten away from Cho, but if he had I could only assume he would have sent me a message. That meant SamChan.

I would have preferred to use a VPN and a darknet to visit the site, but I didn’t have much time if Rachel decided to head home. She didn’t know about SamChan. As far as I could tell none of the Divine did. It made it the perfect resource for secure communication.

My heart lurched in excitement when I saw the first message subject.

Don’t cross the lane over the divider

It had been posted by Oblitrix, two hours ago. I knew it was meant for me. I clicked into it.

Friends don’t let friends drive blind so txt me

The string was a code for the phone number. I pulled my cell out and started typing.

“
Still kickn?
” I wrote.
 

The message came back a few seconds later. “
u bet. feelin advntrus?
”

“
y cu soon
”

I smiled and pocketed the phone, and then dug into Rachel’s computer to clean out the history and the cache. It wouldn’t stop any serious snooping into my activity, but it would at least cause it to take a few hours.
 

I was reaching for the power button on the monitor when I noticed the dead pixel. It was such a tiny, inconsequential thing that most people would never have seen it, and even if they had would never have given it a second thought. I wasn’t most people, because I knew how fastidious Rachel was with keeping things in order, and so I did give it another look. Squinting, I tried to discern it with my eyes, but failing that I forced my will on it, examining the diodes that made up the pixels and looking for one that was unlit. There weren’t any.

I stared at it for a few seconds, and then grabbed the mouse and navigated over to the tiny dot. I clicked on it. Nothing happened. I waited a few seconds, clicked again. No result. Almost satisfied, I started reaching for the power button again but then reconsidered. I double-clicked, and felt my pulse pick up the pace when a fresh window popped up.

Staring back at me from the monitor was an icon that was all too familiar. It was replaced a moment later by a login screen.

I slumped back into the chair, my mind reeling. Rachel was a servant? My pounding heart was breaking at the thought of her deceit. I had known her database had held a message that was intended for me to find, but I had trusted in her, and assumed it had been planted by someone else. Now.. Had she put it there herself?
 

What about the ambush I had interrupted? Was I as much of a fool as the witch had said I was? I had thought the demons were there to flex some muscle. What if the ambush was no ambush at all, but a meeting? Alyle had joined up with the angels to fight against me. What if it wasn’t out of self-preservation, but because he was already working with them?

“
You’ve been punked,
” Ulnyx said, his rough voice in my head, pushing my confusion closer to rage. I closed my eyes and clenched my fists, trying to make some kind of sense of it.

“
Landon, wait,
” Josette said. “
You don’t know that. She could be trying to help. Maybe she got her hands on some information, and she was going to share it with you. After all, she has been Touched for many years, and I know her well.
”

I took a deep breath and let my body relax. Josette had a point, and it helped extinguish some of the anger. I looked at the login screen. Maybe she
was
trying to help, and my dealings with the Divine had left me so jaded I wasn’t able to see it. I leaned forward and started typing.

First, I tried Rachel’s standard username and password combo; the same one that allowed access to the machine. Of course, it didn’t work. Why would she use the same password for both anyway? I sat back down and stared at the login screen. What would she use?

My fingers flew along the keys as I put in as many possible passwords as I could think of. I tried her birthday, her parent’s birthdays, and her anniversary. I tried her favorite author and her favorite book, the names of her deceased pets, and even my own name. I had software on my laptop that would have been able to brute force it in a matter of hours, but I wasn’t so lucky here. Instead, I was taking stabs in the dark trying to guess the right key press combination.