Burn (Drift Book 3) (20 page)

It didn’t take long for
me to see who it was.

“Leo, the famous demon who wants to be free, now reduced to a lackey under human authority…how embarrassing.”

“Funny, that’s what Shade says I am to you…hello again, Christian.”

Chapter 18

GREETINGS

Christian tipped his cap to me in greeting.

“What a web you have woven
, my dear boy. From a weak little worm to a proven warrior, powerful enough to pick off two of the strongest beasts Hell has ever coughed up. Bravo, Leo, bravo. I’m…elated for you.” Christian sarcastically golf clapped.

“Am I meeting with the real Christian, or one of his carbon copies?” I questioned, realizing that I
’d unwittingly revealed knowledge I recently learned about him.

“Oh that’s right, your informers have been feeding you information. Consorting with angels, tsk, tsk, tsk
… you really have been wallowing in the mud…haven’t you? You’re not the only one who’s been gathering intel, my lad.” He sadistically grinned.

Christian had obviously been keeping tabs on who I was associating with. I wasn’t sure if he’d been using vision or something else to gather
his information, but it was apparent by what he just said that he was informed about my movements.

“Apparently so…Throg. Are you or are you not one of his imitations?”

“So many secrets yet to be discovered about one another.” I heard Christian’s voice speak from my left side, even though he was standing directly in front of me not saying a word. I looked over and watched…
him
walk out of the fire and approach me.

“Secrets that will soon reveal the
destinies for not only us, but those that are around us.” I heard Christian’s voice speak from my right side. Out of the fires again walked Christian. I was surrounded by three…Christians…in a triangle around me.

“But one of us will fare much better than the other
,” the Christian standing in front of me said.

“Which one of you is the real Christian, or am I looking at three copies?”

One by one they all answered, “I am.”

“C’mon
, Christian! What’s the meaning of this? Why are you here?” I shouted and looked around past the three Christians, searching for yet another one to show.

“Maybe I’m here for our battle?”
the one on the left said.

“Maybe I’m here to kidnap your friends
,” the one on the right said.

“Or maybe I’m here to take
the world for myself,” the Christian in front of me added, “the possibilities are endless.” All three of them said the last part together and suddenly the two to my left and right merged with the Christian in front of me. He stood there, smiling.

“
I think you know none of those reasons are why I’m here.
I am
the real Christian, and I’ve come to give final warning unto you, Leo.”

“This is the third time I’ve been given…
final
warning. You’ve come because you’re about to set War loose,” I scoffed.

“I don’t deny that War has been itching to have a go at you. I couldn’t possibly deny him a little taste of
vengeance on my behalf. He has been cooped up in Hell for centuries. Plus it will buy me a chance to gauge you a bit more appropriately.” He smirked.

“You’ve had plenty of time to gauge me. What’s this really about…the Demon Dagger or something?” I dug further.

He chuckled. “You and I both know that I have no interest in retrieving the Demon Dagger from you. There will be plenty of time to get it back after you die. Although, I think War would appreciate it if I took it for him to use against you, but you’ve proven yourself to be smarter than that. You probably have it put away somewhere safe…nowhere near you.”

I didn’t say anything, just glared at him.

“I thought so.” He took one step closer to me, a little more than an arm’s length away. “Leo…spare the humans the pain of the inevitability of all this.”

“Of what?”

“Oh, stop with the stupid demon routine. I’ve seen you, you’re not that ignorant.” He turned his side to me. “You know how this quest for your Diccittidel ends. You’re not that much of a fool. Even Argento and his tag along have foretold your destiny to you.”

“What…that I’m going to die when we fight? Seems that’s what was supposed to happen to me the past two times. I’m too far in this now to just
roll over for you, Christian. I’ll take my chances and go out swinging if that’s what the fates have in store,” I snarled.

“
Maybe I rushed my judgment on you. You may not be as naïve as you once were but you’re still a damn fool!” He strutted around. “Even if you get past War, you know that I can’t be defeated by the likes of you.”

“If the reason behind this visit was to tell me what you and I both already knew, then you’ve wasted your time. I know I can’t kill you with the Demon Dagger. Bring on War, let’s get on with this.”

Christian whipped his head back around, his face angry. “You think it’s all about the dagger? This whole thing is above you.” He shook his head. “You really have no idea what the real play here is…do you? Maybe you are that stupid. Your Diccittidel journey, Agrelia, Shimmer, Heaven, Hell, the dagger, none of it is what’s at stake. If you think that everything that’s going down is because of you, then you’re more self-absorbed than the humans you run around with.”

I tilted my head a
nd listened intently, trying to decipher what he was hinting at.

“You’re just a pawn in this chess game. Playing your part until the times comes when you must be sacrificed. Your role is shortly coming to an end
. Then the board will get wiped clean and a whole new game will begin.”

“What are you saying
, Christian? That my quest has been preordained? Destined to lose?” I scoffed.

He leaned towards me with a strained face
. “Why don’t you go ask Argento and Elysia. You’ve come to trust them so much. Little do you know that the hands you think that are holding you up are the very hands holding you down. You are being led like a lamb to the slaughter and you’re too blind to recognize it.”

“You’re saying that Argento and Elysia are playing me? Deceiving me for their own needs?” I questioned.

“I’m not saying they are…I know they are.” He smirked.

“You’re just trying to set me off course…isolate me from help. It won’t work.
Everything they’ve advised me on has been of value to me.”

He
laughed and leaned back. “I take back everything I said about you not being entirely naïve…you’re a blithering fool. You have eyes but you do not see.” He shook his fist at me. “Of course their advice has helped you! They’ve earned your trust in that manner. Now all that’s left is for you to die so their precious balance will be restored and you’ll be long forgotten…along with your human friends. They needed you to take out some of the powers within the council, they think it makes me weaker. All help you’ve been given was meant to get you to a certain point. Then when you reach that point, they’ll have no use for you any longer. Then it’s goodbye, Leo. Doesn’t matter whether your end comes from me or War, it will be just as they’ve planned it, either way. One thing is for sure… You. Will. Die.”

Christian is a master of manipulation and I
had every right to be skeptical of what he was saying, but there was a part of me that was beginning to see what he was telling me. I was a demon, enemy to Heaven. No angel had ever aided a demon for the advantage of the demon, let alone, aid Hell. I had to hear him out, even if I knew better than to listen to the words of a snake.

“Why do
you think they keep telling you things on a ‘need to know’ basis, huh? Why not just give you everything upfront? It would serve you better knowing everything right from the start. You could prepare yourself, armed with knowledge. You have to ask yourself if their sole purpose is to advise you on how to beat me, even though they’ve already told you that you can’t kill me in the
one
way it’s possible to do so, then why not tell you the alternate way directly?”

“They did tell me.”

“What…let me guess, with love?” He laughed again. “Leo, you’re going to die, there’s no way around that. You know this. Diccittidel has always been a mask for something else and folly for you. No…demon…can…kill me. None. This isn’t a charade. If you make it past War, you will lose to me. End of story. That isn’t arrogance or confidence coming out of me. It is just simply…destiny.”

“So, if that’s the case…truly, then you must be here to make a deal or something. And if that is the
situation, then why make the deal?”

Again, Christian shook his head in disbelief
. “Oh Leo, my lad, I’m going to miss how clueless you are, but you have an innocence about you that I almost admire…I’m even mildly amused by it. I’m not here to make a deal, I’m not here to set the stage for some grand bargain with you to combine strengths for some greater purpose like Shimmer offered. I’m here to say goodbye to you. That’s it. That’s all. Nothing more. You’ve been a nuisance since the first time I met you and a small part of me is going to miss that.” He shrugged with a sheepish grin.

“That’s very kind of you.”

“Don’t look so down, Leo. You’ve fought admirably, but regardless of the human…or angelic…
friends
you’ve gained, you’re still in this alone. Of course I’m no friend to you, that’s no mystery, but neither are Argento and those that sent him. Remember that. You will die, it must be that way. Don’t try to understand it, just accept it. Understand the advice you once gave the humans, this is much bigger than you.”

“Well, pardon me if I decided to see this whole thing
through for myself instead of taking your word for it.”

“
I wouldn’t expect it any other way from you, Leo. How do the humans say it…whatever…floats your boat? Huh?”

“Now that we have that established, I have a question for you.”

“Why not?” He tossed his hands up. “Fire away.”

“What form will War be coming in?”

Christian started laughing hysterically. “C’mon now, boy…you know better than to ask that which I will not answer. That will take the fun out of your discovery! You’ll just have to wait and see.”

All of a sudden a spotlight shined on the two of us from one of the helicopters swirling above.

“Until we meet again, Leo, for the last time…farewell.”

“See you in Hell, Christian.”

He grinned and tipped his hat to me, then rocketed out of the circle of the spotlight that surrounded us, in a blur. In an instant, he was gone. The helicopter light tried to follow him for a brief second but quickly focused back on me.

I stared up at the spotligh
t that now shined exclusively over me. I heard someone from within the chopper yell out something from a foghorn. Of course I ignored the orders I was given and dashed out of the light circle before turning to shadow form, so as not to be found again. I got to a pitch black area a short distance away.

After staying hidden for a few, watching the helicopter give up on trying to find me again,
I reached for the walkie-talkie given to me by Sheriff Taylor. Right as I was about to contact him, his voice came through.

“Leo…Leo…can you hear me
? Pick up, son…pick up.”

“Yes
, sir. I’m here.”

“Damn
, son, I’ve been trying to reach you for about five minutes.”

I guess I was so preoccupied with Christian that I didn’t hear the Sheriff trying to get a hold of me.

“I’m sorry, Sheriff…I got held up.”

“Well, SWAT is about to enter the city. I hope you were able to help the cause. We’re going in
, so make yourself scarce.”

“I think you’ll see that I was able to get some things done. The town is as safe to enter as I could make it.”

“Thank you, Leo. Now go. Hurry.”

“I’ll see you back in Mountainside
, sir. I’ll give you the walkie-talkie back then. Let me know when you’ve returned, sir.”

“You got it.”

I transformed back into shadow, then when I knew it was safe to do so in the air, I changed back and headed for home.

When I got back to Mountainside I went straight to my spot. I didn’t want to straggle in
during the wee hours of the morning and wake everybody up in the Spears household. I wanted to wait so I could confer with the Sheriff first when he returned.

While I waited and watched the sunrise, I thought about the conversation with Christian. Maybe it was the point
of his visit, but I was more confused than ever before. He was unfazed about me having the Demon Dagger. This was unlike my meetings with Agrelia and Shimmer.

Christian wasn’t being cocky because he thinks he’s going to win
against me…he knows he is. I couldn’t help but wonder if what he said about Argento and Elysia was true, also. I am miniscule compared to Argento, Elysia or Christian. Not to mention those that rank above them. Were they, all of them, using me as a guinea pig in order to gain a foothold over the other for a much greater purpose that I know nothing about? I think I need to be extra careful, even more so now, about
any
advice that I may receive from this point on…from anyone.