Fallen (17 page)

“Many of my kind are coming,” she said.

She returned to Oliver’s side in another
blur of movement that I found somewhat dizzying, especially after
the dream I had just experienced.

“Can you stop them?” she asked.

Oliver considered the request only a moment.
“Against the Breed alone, I would have no problem,” he said. “But
Black will be with them. I can feel the welling of his power all
around us.”

Indeed, I could sense the same urgency.
Black’s energies felt much as they had in my dream, like a pressure
steadily increasing all around us.

“What is he?” I blurted out the question as
my panic increased.

Oliver looked me in the eye as he delivered
the crushing news. “He is one of the Fallen, Brody, an angel
created by God himself. He chose to rebel against his maker. He is
a devil and he is coming for you.”

The resignation in his voice seemed to cast
all hope far away from me. My breath left me also. Despair’s icy
fingers crept up my spine ready to devour my mind completely except
for one shining thought. I belonged to God—the same who had cast
down creatures like Black. Scripture sprang to mind then.

“Greater is he that is in you, than he that
is in the world,” I muttered.

Oliver looked into my eyes and saw that I
had not given up.

“There must be a way of fighting them,” I
said.

“We may fight, but we will not win,”
Charlotte said. “When Black breaks through Oliver’s wards, my kind
will kill us all. We cannot hope to fight so many.”

“Is there no one who would help us?” I
asked.

Oliver started to rebuke me, but then I saw
an epiphany spark in his eyes.

“What is it?” Charlotte pleaded. Two long
curved knives were already in her hands preparing for the battle we
faced.

Oliver was grinning madly through his salt
and pepper beard. “Charlotte, hang on here as long as you can,” he
said. “I
will
be back, no matter what.”

Oliver stood and strode toward the far wall,
speaking as he went. He passed right through like an apparition. I
got up to follow, pleading with him not to leave us to Black and
the Breed. But I plowed into the wall, nearly breaking my nose
again. Despite Oliver passing through, I was still barred
admittance.

“What do we do?” I asked, turning to
Charlotte.

“We trust him,” she said.

A pillar of fire exploded into being upon
the roof of an abandoned factory a block away from Oliver’s window.
A lone figure stood bathed in the flames. I peered out, waiting to
catch my first glimpse of the Breed warriors that Charlotte had
already informed us were on their way. I could see none of them
yet, though it may have been due to the ominous thunderhead
gathering in the sky above us. Clearly this was another
manifestation of Black’s power.

“How can he do these things?” I whispered.
The possibility that Black might hear me tingled at the back of my
mind.

Charlotte appeared beside me, looking toward
the storm and the dissipating fire that, at last, revealed Black
himself.

“Angels are incredibly powerful beings,” she
said, “far beyond the scope of any Descendant’s power. Even Oliver
cannot withstand him.”

I considered what she was saying, but my
gaze remained fixed on the fallen creature standing upon the roof
of the factory. Remembering a great many Bible verses from my
father’s sermons, I knew the voracity of her claims. Within the
history contained in the scriptures, angels had slain wicked men by
the thousands even taking part in the destruction of Sodom and all
the cities of the plain.

“If Black is so powerful, then why hasn’t
Oliver been killed already?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure,” she said.
“Perhaps, he’s been careful enough to stay hidden.”

“My father once told me that Satan could
only afflict a man as God allowed him to,” I said. “Job, for
instance, could not be killed by the Devil because God would not
allow it, though the enemy very much wanted to do so.”

“Why do you know these things?” she
asked.

“What do you mean?”

“We are
forsaken
, Brody,” she added.
“God does not want the Descendants of the Fallen. Why would you
bother to keep His word in your heart?”

This sounded so much like Tom that I was
taken aback by her statements. “I am not
forsaken
,
Charlotte,” I said. “And I cannot believe that you are either.”

“I know what I am, Brody. I know my place
within the order of things.”

I stammered for an answer, unwilling to
accept her words. “You’ve been
taught
your place,” I said
finally.

Charlotte grew angry then. She squeezed my
shoulder so tightly that it began to ache within her grip.
“Salvation is for humans…mortals.”

I held her gaze, pushing back the fear I
felt toward this Breed girl. “We
are
mortal,” I said. “We
might be Descendants of the Fallen, but we are also descendants of
Adam.”

Her grip slackened suddenly, her eyes
beholding me as though in a new light. I couldn’t help but wonder
if she had ever considered that side of things before. I wasn’t
sure why I had said what I had said—only that it came to mind and
the words came out of my mouth. Nevertheless, it made perfect
sense. In my thoughts, I thanked the Lord for helping me. However,
my victory was short-lived.

The entire house shook violently, as though
a bomb had been detonated out in the street. Charlotte stood firm
as I fell onto the floor off balance.

“He’s begun his attack,” Charlotte said.

I crawled back to the window and peeked out.
“What’s happening?”

“He’ll pound the house until he breaks down
Oliver’s wards,” she said. “Then my brother and his Breed warriors
will swarm in to kill us. I’ll try to defend you, but it will
quickly prove useless.”

“I can take care of myself,” I assured
her.

She looked me up and down. “Really?”

I had to concede the point. Even knowing
that she was of the Breed and quite strong, I didn’t feel any
better having to rely upon a girl to fight my battles for me. It
just wasn’t the way my father had raised me.

The house shook again, like a giant
sledgehammer pounding the walls. Whatever sort of magical barriers
Oliver had placed upon this place would fall very soon. I had to be
prepared to fight.

I stepped away from Charlotte and the
window, looking at the sofa across the room. I reached out for the
power that had obeyed me now on several occasions, hoping that I
might somehow control it. Tom’s instructions to bend these furious
energies to my will and project them into the real world came to
mind. I missed him. Surely Tom would know what to do, a way to
fight, or some trick that would allow us to escape.

I pictured fire in my mind and opened my
eyes to find blue flames burning several inches above my upturned
palms. I turned them out toward the couch, hoping Oliver would
forgive me for ruining it. After all, this whole house was about to
be destroyed. Surely it wouldn’t matter.

I pushed with my will, feeling resistance
for a moment. Then, like a barrier breached, I pushed through that
resistance and felt it give way. Azure fire ushered forth like the
breaking of a dam. The sofa was engulfed and incinerated within
seconds. But now flames were climbing the walls, cascading against
gravity across the ceiling above us.

“Wonderful,” Charlotte said, now standing
beside me. “You’ve set the room on fire—the room we’re in.”

The smile I had briefly been wearing for
having accomplished the task faded. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t
mean to do that.”

“Come on,” she said, streaking forward.

Charlotte crashed through the side wall,
leaving a hole big enough for me to follow. I passed through as
debris began to fall from the crumbling ceiling I had set ablaze.
We came into Oliver’s bedchamber, but Charlotte was already
knocking the door out of the way leading to the stairs beyond.

Trying to stay on her heels was a useless
endeavor. Charlotte was simply too fast. Nevertheless, I did my
best, following her through the house. When we passed the open
front door, I saw the house servants running down the steps out
into the courtyard. I started to veer after them, but Charlotte’s
vampire strength held me fast.

“Don’t,” she said.

As soon as the words crossed her lips, I saw
Breed warriors descend upon the servants from out of nowhere. It
was all very messy.

“The fools,” Charlotte said. “They crossed
Oliver’s wards. This way!”

We were off again through the hall beneath
the dual staircases, running into the dining room. I had no idea
whether or not Charlotte was searching for something specific, or
just trying to get us as far from the fire I had started as
possible. Either sounded good to me at this point.

The dining room was quite enormous, as
though the dimensions of the room would not even fit within the
house. I chalked it up to Oliver’s power again and left it at that.
Many trophy animals lined the walls, having evidently fallen prey
to Oliver during hunting expeditions. Several large bears were on
display, as well as deer, and a moose. A number of fish set upon
wooden plaques hung in various places around the room. There were
swordfish and sharks and others I could not identify.

Charlotte paused here, scanning the room in
a distracted way. “He’s not here either,” she muttered.

“Who?”

“Oliver, of course,” she replied.

The house shook again. Almost immediately
the lifeless, stuffed carcasses of the animals around us came to
life. They swung their arms, kicked hooves and flapped fins, all
the while laughing maniacally at Charlotte and me as we stood
before the great stone hearth where a large fire boiled within. I
was terrified at this point, but prepared to fight back if
necessary. None of the trophies came away from where they were
planted.

“Stay calm,” Charlotte instructed. “It’s
just Black trying to frighten you into coming out.”

She surveyed the room. “I suppose this is as
good a place as any.”

“As good a place for what?”

“To die,” she said. “Soon they will breach
the house.”

Oliver rushed through the undergrowth.
Massive gnarled trees stretched high toward the night sky where a
waning moon hung like a sickle reaping souls. Labored breathing and
the rustle of many footsteps dogged his heels all the way from the
portal where he had entered this particular realm. In the distance,
the jagged spires of Blood Reign Castle stood upon the fog-laden
moors of Wolf’s Bane.

A pixie with a long spear leaped down from a
nearby tree, wearing clothing wraps made from human flesh. He had
grayish skin, a long nose and recessed eyes. The Pixie hurled his
weapon as Oliver ran by. Oliver batted the spear away with his cane
just in time to avoid becoming the pixie’s next meal. More of the
foul creatures followed hard in pursuit.

Of all the various races descended from the
Fallen, pixies were some of the worst. Cannibalistic by nature,
they considered human flesh a delicacy. Conflicts like war made for
easy pickings, but they took their prey however they could find
them. Many a missing person from the realm of mankind had actually
been abducted by Pixies, never to be seen or heard from again.

Myths about them were far from true. Though
smaller in stature than a normal person, they were not tiny and did
not possess wings. Neither were they precious to look at. And what
most referred to as pixie dust was nothing more than a concoction
of herbs that had the effect of paralyzing their prey so that they
could be consumed alive. After all, Pixies enjoyed their meals best
when they were raw and wriggling.

Reaching the edge of the forest, Oliver
huffed and puffed as he descended onto the moors. The fog was heavy
and far more dangerous things dwelt here. Oliver heard a final
volley of spears, arrows and faerie curses fly astray into the fog
after him, but the pixies had lost their meal. They wouldn’t dare
follow onto the moors.

Almost at once, a lone howl rose above the
mists. Both its range and direction were difficult to pinpoint. At
least a dozen more calls answered it, coming from every direction
around him. Wolf’s Bane was the domain of the werewolves, and
Oliver had just run right into it.

Again, the house shook as Black buffeted the
magical wards placed there by its owner. Plaster cascaded down from
the cathedral ceiling overarching the cavernous dining hall. The
stuffed trophies had gone quiet by now, resuming their lifeless
existence, while Charlotte and I remained poised for battle. The
smell of smoke had already filtered down to us from the burning
room upstairs, but the Breed would almost certainly reach us before
the flames ever did.

I practiced reaching for and grasping hold
of the power that dwelt somewhere within me, finding it easier with
each new attempt. Fire was my only trick so far, but watching the
room around me had given me some ideas. A stuffed panther became
the model for my next endeavor. I had no problem developing the
mental image. I just concentrated on the form of the animal before
me.

A moment of skin-crawling sensation later I
had become the twin of the stuffed panther.

“Impressive,” Charlotte said as she watched
me transform back to my human self. “Can you do any animal, or only
the panther?”

“I’ve been several so far with Tom’s help,”
I said happily.

She motioned toward the far side of the room
opposite the fireplace. “What about that Kodiak?”

The massive animal before us stood at least
nine feet high with paws as large as my entire torso.