Cataclysm (Alternate Earth Series, Book One) (12 page)

“Please tell me the fate of our world doesn’t depend on him,” Nina practically begs.

“Why?” I ask, confused by her reaction. “Is he dead in this reality?”

“I don’t think so, but I can’t say for sure,” Brand says, hesitantly. “However, if he’s still alive, he might be impossible to find.”

“Why?”

“Allen isn’t all there mentally anymore,” Brand begins.

“In other words,” Nina interjects, “he’s a complete lunatic.”

“After our fall from God’s grace,” Brand continues, ignoring Nina’s interruption, “something inside his mind broke. He took his daughter, and stays as far away from the rest of us as possible.”

“We need to find him,” I say. “If we can get to him before Lucian does, maybe we can get to the Ark first.”

“They don’t know Allen’s connection to the Ark,” Nina points out. “If they don’t know that, it should be safe where it is.”

“
We have no way of knowing if Allen mentioned his knowledge of the Ark’s location to another angel
,” Michael points out. “
It’s too risky to assume that he didn’t, especially if his mental faculties have deteriorated
.
He could be telling his life story to complete strangers for all we know
.”

I tell the others what Michael said.

“All right,” Brand says, “first things first.” He turns to look at Nina, Baruch, and Isaiah. “We need to scout each of these locations and find out what they’re up to at them. Nina, go to the Great Rift Valley. Isaiah, go to Khirbat en-Nahas. And Baruch, you scout out Timna Valley. I’ll go to the Dome of the Rock to see what I can find.”

“How do we find Allen?” I ask.

“Before I go to the Dome, I’ll go see a fellow Watcher who might be able to help search for him. We haven’t heard anyone mention Allen’s name on the Dragon Network. So, if they
are
searching for him, they’re keeping the information in-house. Let’s just keep our fingers crossed that they don’t know anything about Allen’s connection to the Ark.”

“What do you want us to do?” I ask.

“Get some sleep?” Brand suggests kindly. “We need you all rested. There’s no telling what might be coming next. I need all of you at full capacity. Leah,” Brand says, looking at the youngest member of our party, “there are some empty rooms near the one Jess and Mason stayed in the last time they were here. Could you make sure your friends get settled for me? And your room is still the way you left it. We didn’t change anything.”

“Sure,” Leah says, sounding pleased that she has an actual job to do. “I can do that.”

“Thank you,” Brand says. “Now, please, get some rest, and I’ll see you in the morning. Hopefully, we’ll have some more news to share with you then.”

“Does Josh know where we’ll be, in case he finds Tristan?” I ask.

“I’ll let him know before I go,” Brand assures me. “I’ll see you all in the morning.”

Brand and his group phase to their separate destinations.

Mason and I help Leah get everyone situated in their rooms. When Mason and I finally walk into the room we stayed in during our last visit, I see that nothing has changed. The room is sparse, with one full-size bed covered in white cotton sheets and a thin black wool blanket. A small metal table with a small lamp sits on the right side of the bed. There is a narrow bathroom off to the left, with a metal chair sitting by the entrance.

“Home sweet home,” I say sarcastically as I walk into the room ahead of Mason.

Mason chuckles and closes the door behind him after entering.

I unbuckle my baldric and toss it, my sword, and messenger bag onto the bed. Mason comes up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist, resting his chin on my right shoulder.

“Are you all right?” he asks, unable to hide his worry for me from his voice.

I turn around in his embrace and drape my arms over his shoulders.

“I already miss the kids,” I admit, biting an inside corner of my lower lip to prevent myself from crying. The action proves futile as tears begin to blur my vision.

“Oh, Jess,” Mason says, resting his forehead against mine, “don’t cry. They’ll be fine. The only thing you’ll have to worry about is discovering how spoiled they are when we finally do get back home to them. You know Mama Lynn, George, and Faison are going to give them anything they want while we’re gone.”

“They won’t be spoiled,” I say with a small sniff. “They’re too kind-hearted to let it all go to their heads.”

Mason pulls back to look at me. His arms leave my waist as he raises his hands to wipe away the tears freely streaming down my face now.

“Listen to me,” he says. “We’re doing this just as much for them as we are for the people of this world. When we go back home, they won’t have to hear their mother cry out in the middle of the night anymore. And maybe, just maybe, we’ll be able to give them another little brother or sister when we get back home.”

“What if I’m not meant to have another baby?” I ask, feeling my heart ache at such a thought, and hoping Mason wipes away my worry like he always does.

“Don’t even think that,” he says, as if the surety of a third child is all but guaranteed. “In fact,” he says, grabbing the tab of the zipper on my jacket, “I don’t see any reason for us to wait until we get back home to start trying for baby number three.”

“We’ve been trying for years,” I remind him, unable to stop myself from smiling at my husband.

“True,” Mason says, slipping my jacket off my shoulders and onto the floor. He bends down on one knee in front of me and grabs the front of my pants to unbutton them, “but you’ve also been under a great deal of pressure to find a way to travel back to this reality. Now that we’re here, the pressure should be gone.”

As Mason pulls down the zipper of my pants, I ask, “So you think our problem has been a mental block on my part?”

Mason slides his hands inside my pants until they’re resting against my hips.

“Stress has been known to prevent women from getting pregnant,” Mason says as he pulls my pants down until they reach the tops of my boots.

“Stupid boots,” I complain playfully. “I guess you’ll just have to take them off, too.”

Mason quickly does as suggested. When my pants are off as well, he stands back up. In one deft motion, he has my shirt off, and I find myself standing in only my panties and bra, but those items of clothing don’t stay on for very long either. After I’m completely naked, I arch a delicate eyebrow in my husband’s direction.

“You are extremely overdressed for what I’m hoping happens next,” I tease.

Mason smiles as he lets his hands wander over my skin. He leans in and presses his mouth against mine for a deep kiss that makes my heart beat so fast I fear I might pass out from the rush of blood.

“There’s no reason to hope,” Mason says against my mouth as his lips linger over them. His hands glide down the contours of my back, until he has my bottom firmly in his grasp. “I fully intend to make love to you, Jess. I plan to kiss and tease every lovely inch of your body until you beg me to stop.”

“Why would I ever want you to stop?” I ask, closing my eyes as Mason moves one of his hands to the front of my hips, causing me to gasp in response to his touch.

“Because you would want me here,” Mason says, demonstrating the exact position with one of his fingers.

“I say we do the foreplay later,” I tell him breathlessly, “because I want you there now.”

I’ve always loved one thing in particular about my husband. He’s always done exactly what I needed him to, no questions asked.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Afterwards, Mason treats me to the much-anticipated shower. He keeps true to his earlier promise, and makes sure that I am thoroughly clean from head to toe and everywhere in between. When we lay in bed together afterwards, my mind and body completely shut down from exhaustion, enveloping me in a blissfully dreamless sleep.

I’m not sure how much time passes, but we’re woken up by a loud pounding on the door of our room. Mason phases over and opens it to see who is so desperate to get our attention.

“I’m sorry for waking you,” Sophia says, briefly looking into the room as I sit up in bed. I can clearly see she’s distressed about something. “We’ve found Tristan and your friend Jered.”

“Where are they?” I ask. “Are they in danger?”

“Yes, they’re in a great deal of danger,” Sophia answers, not trying to hide her worry. “Our Jered has them both at his home. From what Josh and I heard on the Dragon Network, Tristan found where they are holding your Jered and tried to rescue him. We need to get them out of there as soon as possible.”

The desperation on Sophia’s face tells me that there’s no time to lose.

“We’ll get dressed and meet you in Brand’s room,” Mason tells her, and then closes the door.

Neither Mason nor I waste any time putting our clothes and weapons back on. When we reach Brand’s room, we find him, Nina, Sophia, and Malcolm already there.

“From Sophia’s reaction to where Jered and Tristan are being held,” I say as we come to stand next to the others, “I assume your Jered works for Lucian.”

“Yes,” Brand says as he straps on a black leather belt with a sword. “And he’s very skillful in the art of torture. The sooner we get your friends away from him, the better.”

“But he can’t physically touch Jered, right?” I ask. “I mean, not directly. Otherwise, he might go
poof
.”

“You don’t necessarily have to lay a hand on someone to cause them pain,” Malcolm reminds me, absently rubbing his leg with the hellhound bite.

“Our Jered has a penchant for unique instruments of torture,” Nina informs me, openly disgusted by the fact. “He has enough devices in his collection to cause most anyone excruciating pain, angel or human.”

“What’s the plan then?” I ask, now understanding the urgency of the situation.

“We’re storming in and grabbing your friends,” Brand tells me, making it sound as simple as going to the grocery store and picking up a few items. “After the attack at Robert’s estate, they’ll be expecting an organized raid. Maybe we can catch them off- guard with a swift and aggressive attack.”

“Jered has an apartment in lower Manhattan,” Nina informs us. “I know the layout and where he takes his victims so he can play with them. Just stay behind Brand and me when we get there. We’ll probably have to fight our way to the room and out of it afterwards.”

“If you know where the room is,” I say, “why aren’t we just phasing directly inside it?”

“As I said,” Brand says, “Jered enjoys torturing people. If he’s torturing an angel, he doesn’t exactly want them to just phase away. He has a room in his home that’s impossible to phase in or out of.”

“So it’s basically an angel prison?” I ask.

“Yes. That’s exactly what those rooms are used for,” Nina says. From the haunted look in her eyes, I can only assume Nina has spent time in such a room before.

“Do you happen to have one of those here?” I ask out of curiosity.

Brand cocks his head as he looks at me. “Yes. Why do you ask?”

“If I can find my Lucifer, it might be a good place to hold him for safekeeping until we’re ready to go home.”

“Not that I’m complaining,” Brand says, “but why do you seem so concerned about taking him back to your reality?”

“It’s where he belongs,” I say simply, “and I don’t think God intended for this to be a one-way trip for him. He wanted Lucifer to learn something from spending time here. What that something is, I have no way of knowing. All I can do is trust that God knows what He’s doing.”

“Then use the cell as you see fit,” Brand tells me.

Josh rushes into the room, carrying a black leather case about the size of a shoebox. He quickly walks up to Brand and holds the box out for him to take.

“We have just enough for all of you,” Josh tells Brand, slightly out of breath from running.

“Good. Thanks, Josh. Keep listening to the network and let us know if our mission draws any unwanted attention that might cut into our time there. We’ll try to be out fast but a head’s-up to more trouble coming our way wouldn’t hurt.”

“I’m on it,” Josh says, quickly leaving the room to return to his computer station.

Brand sets the box Josh just gave him on the table and flips the lid open. Neatly lined up inside it are six black bracelets, but they are all split in half, sitting across from each other.

“Let me see one of your wrists,” Brand says to me.

I hold out my right wrist because my left one already has the bracelet JoJo and Chandler made for me around it. Brand takes out a matching bracelet pair. He lifts the two halves up to my wrist and then brings them slightly closer together to encircle it. There’s no need for him to clasp the pieces together because they seem to have a strong magnetic attraction for one another. They practically jump out of Brand’s hands and join together, forming a perfect circle. Oddly, the bracelet never touches my skin. It just seems to float in a circle around my wrist.

“This will provide you with an artificial field of gravity when we enter the room. Otherwise, you would just float in the air like a balloon,” Brand explains.

“Thanks,” I say as he moves on to put a bracelet on everyone else’s wrists.

After we all have a bracelet on, we join hands.

“How much resistance should we expect?” Mason asks.

“There’s no way of knowing without scouting things out first, but we don’t have the luxury of doing that,” Nina answers. “Just be prepared for a fight as soon as we get there.”

“Is everyone ready?” Brand asks.

We all nod.

“Nina,” Brand says, “phase us.”

We’re soon standing in a stark white hallway. The floor is white granite. The walls are painted white and completely devoid of any decorations that would indicate someone lives in the home. Six of the seven doors leading off the hallway are white. Only the seventh one at the end of the hall is a different color. It’s painted a glossy black, and has a silver doorknob.

We all immediately draw our swords, expecting our arrival to attract the attention of however many guards this reality’s Jered might have stationed in his home. We wait.

And we wait some more.

“Shouldn’t they be here by now?” I ask, after at least a full minute has passed, feeling stupid holding my sword at the ready with no one to swing it at.

“Yes,” Brand says, obviously worried that our intrusion isn’t being contested. “Nina, take Jess and Mason into the room to see if their friends are in there. The rest of us will stay out here in the hallway to guard our exit.”

Nina doesn’t waste any time, and neither do Mason and I. When Nina reaches the door, I notice her hesitate for a fraction of a second before placing her hand on the doorknob. She twists the knob, opens the door, and takes two steps inside the room before coming to a complete stop, acting as if she just ran into an invisible brick wall.

As I look past her further into the room, I feel physically consumed by its darkness. The walls, the floor, even the ceiling are made of a black, glassy, marble-like material. But it isn’t just the color of the room that’s distressing. There’s an air of oppression seeping from every corner of it.

A single spotlight shines down from the ceiling onto what looks like a bronze statue of some sort. It sits in the center of the room, acting as its centerpiece. The statue has the shape of a man’s face hammered into the metal. His neck and shoulders are covered by a double-layered ruffle collar, and he’s wearing a hat in the shape of a spade. The rotund body looks large enough for a person to stand inside it.

The room itself looks similar to something you would only see in a horror movie. Scattered around in an orderly fashion are various instruments of torture, some I recognize and some I don’t. I see no windows or other means of escape out of the room, except for the door Nina just opened. The most disheartening thing about the space is that I don’t see any trace of Jered or Tristan. Considering the purpose of the items I see, I have to wonder if that’s a blessing in disguise.

“Nina,” I say, placing a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to draw her attention.

As soon as I touch her, Nina flinches, but it breaks the hold the sight of the statue seemed to have over her.

“I don’t think they’re in here,” I tell her.

“Well, you’re half right,” a feminine voice mocks from somewhere within the room.

I hear the clicking of heels against the marble floor before I actually see the owner of the voice.

Ravan Draeke walks out from behind the statue, gliding the fingers of an arched hand around its bronze shoulders as she comes into our view. She’s wearing the same one- shouldered, red silk dress I saw her in at the party earlier. Her red hair glistens brightly underneath the lone spotlight, giving her an almost ethereal appearance.

My sword automatically flares to life in my hand, and my bracelet begins to warm against my skin.

Ravan stares at the dancing flames along the blade of my sword for a moment, appearing mesmerized by them. Her gaze rises to meet mine, and a smile with no pretense of friendliness stretches her lips.

“You won’t need that,” she tells me. “I’m not here for a fight, Jess.”

The casual way she says my name makes my skin crawl, but I try my best not to let it show.

“Then why are you here?” I ask.

“I thought I would welcome you to my reality,” she says pleasantly enough. “It’s not everyday someone travels to a parallel world. Not only did you come, but, apparently, you brought some of your friends along with you.”

“I guess you’ve been talking to my Lucifer,” I say, seeing no other way for her to have so much information about us.

“Oh, yes,” Ravan says, her smile broadening. “Lucian and the others have been having a lot of fun with him, in a room very similar to this one.”

“You’re torturing him?” I ask, gripping the hilt of my sword tighter. “Why?” I demand.

“Why not?” Ravan asks with a small tilt of her head, looking perplexed as to why I would question anything she or the others did. “Maybe the real question here is why do you care what we do to him?”

“I didn’t say that I did,” I reply.

“Not in so many words,” Ravan agrees, narrowing her eyes as she looks me up and down. “But everything else about you says you’re worried about what’s happening to him. I’m surprised you care so much. Lucian thought you would, but I vehemently disagreed with him. I guess I gave you more credit than you deserve.”

“Is there a point to this conversation?” I ask, feeling my temper about to get the better of me with her deliberate goading.

“I came to give you some friendly advice,” Ravan tells me, as though she’s about to spout a font of wisdom when I’m pretty sure it’s going to be the complete opposite. “You and your friends should leave this reality and return to your own as soon as possible. The only things you’ll find here are pain and death.”

“We’re not leaving until we’ve done what God sent us here to do.”

“Then you’ll lose your lives trying,” Ravan says, like a promise.

“You’ll have to do better than that if you’re trying to scare me,” I tell her. “If I don’t get a death threat at least once a day, I figure I must be doing something wrong.”

“I’m only being truthful, Jess. I would hate to see you lose everything for some misguided mission from God. He’ll only lead you down the wrong path.”

“Not if you trust Him.”

Ravan studies me for a moment, as if she’s making a snap judgment about my faith.

“Believe what you want,” she says dismissively. “I couldn’t care less. I’ve always prided myself on giving people a chance to save themselves. If there is one thing I know about God, it’s that He prizes free will, even if it works against His agenda. I’m offering you a chance to leave before things get much…much worse for you and your friends.”

“Thanks for the offer, but I’m afraid I’ll have to graciously decline,” I inform her.

“Well, now your deaths won’t be on my conscience. I gave you fair warning. Your fate is your own from this point on.”

“Where are my friends?” I demand. “The ones who were here.”

“As I said when you entered the room you are half right. I have one of them in here for you to take,” Ravan pats the shoulder of the bronze statue. “The other one isn’t here anymore, but please, be my guest in retrieving this one, Jess. I’m sure he would appreciate the reprieve from his pain.”

Mason and I rush into the room as Ravan slinks off to one side of it.

I go to pull on one of the handles on either side of the body of the figure, but Mason places one of his hands on top of mine to stop me.

“We need to do this as quickly as possible,” he warns. “We don’t want to cause him anymore pain than we have to. This is an iron maiden, Jess.”