Genesis of a Hero (6 page)

Denise let out a long breath and gathered up the fallen an
gels’ swords. A radiant light welded them together and she tossed them at Christy’s feet. “Won’t do you any good, ever again,” Denise said in a barely controlled growl.

Christy opened her mouth to yell curses, but John silenced her with a flick of his scepter. “Be silent,” he said.

“What are we going to do with them?” Harold asked from a kneeling position where he was healing the bloody gash on the black woman’s leg.

“I’ll call Aaron and have him send some people over,” Denise breathed and lifted her scepter.

John nodded and watched the two fallen angels. This was the first time he’d ever captured any of Lucifer’s followers. He wondered about their pasts. What had caused them to turn on God’s love and mercy? It had never seemed even close to a viable option to him. Why forsake heaven for the agony of hell? He probed at the women with the Spirit but both their minds were locked tight against intrusion. A frustrated sigh escaped from his lips.

“Looks like you’ll make it out of the lion’s den,” Harold said with a bright smile.
“Seems poetic in a way.”

John regarded his friend warmly with a chuckle. “Thanks to you,” he offered his right hand in appreciation. “Glad you volunteered to come.”

“God answers prayers in weird ways,” Harold said and walked to look out the door. “I’ll go make sure none of the people outside noticed all the commotion. And make sure Charles and the other guy are gone.”

Without a doubt, Harold was right
about God’s guidance. John closed his eyes and said a quick prayer of thankfulness. Afterwards, he looked sadly at the scowl on Christy’s haggard face. God was on their side, but why did angels like her fail to see it? If he was sure of one thing, it was that he’d probably never know.

Chapter 5: Outreaching the War

“How did Charles happen to be where you were going?” Xavier asked from across the long table at Whispering Trees. Christy and the other woman were being guarded in the holding cells in the basement of the holy building. Four angels were assigned to watch them and preach to them about their faith in the Lord. John had no illusions that it would help – with Christy at least. She hadn’t stopped trying to use Lucifer’s powers to free herself since they’d captured her.

“He said he’d been working on the man we h
elped,” Denise explained in an even voice, but daggers were threatening to shoot from her eyes at the accusation in Xavier’s words.

“Did you pick up anything from him?” Aaron asked. “We
all know we can’t trust anything a fallen angel says. He wouldn’t tell you the truth. But… maybe a thought about his plans? Any contact with other fallen groups?”

John and Denise both shook their heads. “I tried a couple of times during the fight
but was mainly trying to stay alive…” John said. “And then I tried for a long time on Christy and the other lady after they were bound. All I could get was that the woman’s name is Melody. They were both doing everything they could to block me from using auditome on them.”

“I’ll go try after we get done here,” Xavier said with his nose rising in the air.

“Have at it,” John chuckled. “I just wish we’d been able to get Charles. We could have ended this whole mess.”

“And might have anyway,”
Xavier said and looked around the table at the gathering of the twelve angels in their company. “The three fallen with him were probably the only angels Charles has been able to talk into joining him. We’ve known for a long time that Christy was with him. And the other man was probably the Lucas guy we’ve heard about. We most likely dealt the Nightwalkers a huge blow today and they’ll go into a hole to lick their wounds. We’ve informed the Justice Ministers,” he bent his head in John’s direction with a sardonic smile. “They’ll probably be able to gather Charles up any day now. He doesn’t have any support.”

“I’ll pray that’s true,” Denise said with a regal look of her own for each of the angels at the table. “But I don’t think it is.”

“What do you mean?” Aaron asked. He hadn’t said a whole lot since John, Denise, and Harold had returned from the zoo with their prisoners. John had seen him draw Denise into a corner for a hurried, whispered conversation, but since then; he’d mainly sat with his hands enclosed over his mouth.

“From everything I’ve seen happening over the last couple of weeks,” Denise said carefully. “I don’t think we can continue to hope that Charles isn’t gaining power in the area. I know there are bigger groups of fallen angels in Europe and Australia right now, but I think we should concentrate on the
Nightwalkers and eliminate them as a threat. Then we’d be able to concentrate more on saving unbelievers or sending people to help around the world.”

“I think that’s a good
plan,” Isaac Tennison leaned forward in his chair. “There has been a lot more activity lately. Demons are popping up all over the place. And now with Charles coming out in the open to try to kill two angels in our group, it might be time to put more resources on the matter.”

“Resources we don’t really have,” Xavier chimed in again. “As you all know, the angel community is spread thin in the United States right now.
Over fifty percent are fighting in other countries. Those of us left here, really should be concentrating on spreading faith and not chasing our tails. Charles hasn’t shown himself to be a big threat yet; and now with two of his followers captured, I don’t think we can afford the time it would take to track him down.”

“With him out there,” John argued
looking at Aaron. “He’ll always have the opportunity to sway more angels to his side. And to kill unbelievers. Spread discord. Raise demons. The list goes on. And that’s him by himself. What if he has a bigger group than we know about?”

“There’s no evidence to point to that,” Xavier rolled his eyes. “I’m on Aaron’s side on this. Our primary purpose is to save souls. That’s what we need to concentrate on. Besides, Charles was never a great fighter
, or strategist, anyway.”

“He got away from me, Denise, and Harold,” John snapped not being able to hold his temper. “I imagine you remember that I’m not too bad of a fighter. And Denise is just as good. And so is Harold.”

Harold laughed and leaned into his seat. “Well, not as good as you, but I hold my own.”

“From all accounts we’ve ever heard, he was never a good student,” Xavier chided. “He fell before he g
ot his sword, halo, or wings. Beating him and the weak angels who follow him isn’t a huge deal-”

“Xavier,” Denise stepped into the conversation holding a hand towards John
to stop him from yelling. “John. Both of you need to put this old rivalry behind you. It’s not helping… and I think it could be clouding both your judgments. We all need to work together.”

John’s hands flew up in the air in frustration before he could stop them. How was his judgment being clouded? Every bit of evidence he’d seen in the last month led him to believe that Charles and his Nightwalkers were gaining power.
He looked into Denise’s eyes, but she turned away quickly with the slightest bit of red coloring her cheeks.

“Denise is right,” Aaron’s voice rolled into the argument
with a resounding thud. “You two are constantly arguing with each other. The true enemy is around us all the time. The devil’s lies have pushed the War for Sins to a tipping point because he’s been able to steal away people’s faith. It is worrisome that Charles would attack out in the open, but the bigger issue is still the levels of faith in God’s people. I believe that’s where we need to concentrate our efforts.”

Xavier settled into his chair with a satisfied smirk. John’s teeth ground together and Denise shot him an apologetic glance.

“So do we have a plan to help with that?” Ashley Morrison asked with her pointy nose aimed at Aaron.

“We do,” Aaron smiled for the first time. He ta
pped a large scroll then unrolled it. A huge map and a stack of flyers unraveled beneath his fingers. “The Christian Revival is set to start next month and it’s going to be right here in northern California. There’s expected to be over 200,000 people attending. Many of them have faith already, but it will be a huge opportunity for us to find the ones faltering and guide them. And also, the news will be reporting about it so a lot of people in the local communities will see stories on TV or in the newspaper. We can find them and push them in the right direction. Every non-believer we save could lead one, or two, or a thousand other people to God’s grace. It’s going to last the whole month of July. I really think the twelve of us could help make it a huge success.”

“Amen,” Isaac said raising an imaginary glass in salute. “Wi
ll it be kind of like those big musical festivals they’re holding all over the place?”

“Kind of,” Aaron said and was now sitting on the edge of his seat with sheer excitement shining on his face.
His long cheeks were flexing and making his angel marks jump up and down near his ears. “There will be preachers and speakers of all Christian denominations. It should be really good.”

Over the next hour, the group planned strategies and made decisions. John listened and participated when called upon. But he couldn’t build the same excited glee as most of the rest. Denise chastising him for his
clouded judgment
continued to pound through his head and he found himself watching her. She caught his eye several times but never held his gaze. John wished for what had to be the thousandth time in his life that he could reach out and catch a hold of her thoughts. But he never made an attempt to spin the Spirit in her direction.

When the meeting was over, Xavier left at a trot hollering over his shoulder that he was going to go relieve someone’s watch over Christy and Melody.

“Why’d you take up for him?” John said trying to not let an ounce of sulking drip into his voice. Denise had immediately ambled to his side as everyone left the small dining hall.

“What?” she
asked with a quizzical rise of her eyebrows.

“You stopped me from putting Xavier in his place and said we both had
clouded judgment.”

For a few seconds she pondered his question and scratched her chin. “I just didn’t want you two to keep going after each other,” she sighed. “Both of you are such strong angels, but you let the old stuff from school get in the way of working together. If you’d put all that behind you, nothing could get in your way.
You may not see it, but he has a lot of power in him.”

“
I know he does… It’s just that his way of doing things and mine won’t ever be the same,” John said and looked up at the mural of Jesus crucifixion on the ceiling of the entryway atrium. A soft breeze blew through the front doors. The sweet smell of flowers carried in the air. The sun shimmered in a blue sky above the canopy of leaves. For a brief second, John let his hand sweep through one of the warm rays shining through the doors. He reached for the Spirit and let its calming touch bring peace. “So… did you manage to keep the flowers I gave you at the zoo?”

She shrugged and followed his gaze to the glorious day outside. The mountains in May were some of John’s favorite days
and Denise had mentioned how much she loved the spring season as well. “You know I did… I put them in my room,” she said softly. “I need to get a vase or they won’t last long.”

“Thanks fo
r going with me today,” John said and his eyes travelled to the smooth skin on her cheeks and neck. He remembered her soft lips pressed to his in the lion’s den room. The memory sent a dizzying tingle down his chest. He’d dreamed of that moment for nearly half his life. “Even though we got interrupted on our date, I still had a lot of fun,” he added hoping to convey how true the statement was.

“And we got to help a lot of people,” she turned to him with a smile.
He wanted desperately to reach out and run his hands down the orange, angel marks that ran from her temple to her jaw. Straight, unyielding but powerful - much like her. “I had a great time too,” she finished.

“So… when
are we gonna do it again?” he asked with his most charming smile stretching the hair in his curly, short trimmed beard.

She laughed a tinkling, pe
rfect tune that rivaled songs of the most beautiful birds in the world. Another jolt of electricity raced through his body at the sound. A picture of him and Denise sitting in rocking chairs on the porch of a small house formed in his vision. Old and frail, but happy with kids and grandkids at their side. The perfect life.

“Whenever we can fit it in,” she said. “I… as soon as possible would be fine with me.”

“How about dinner this evening?”

“Sure,” she reached and grabbed his hand. “You want to go see if Xavier is getting anything out of the two prisoners?”

“Couldn’t hurt, I guess-” he answered stopping himself from continuing the thought. A wonderfully sharp jab - about Xavier’s ability to get anything from the two fallen angels - had been on the verge of falling; but he figured it would be best to keep it to himself with an internal chuckle.

Harold met them on the stairs to the basement. His eyes lingered on their hands which were still interlocked. A true grin lifted the corners of his mouth and he winked at John.

“Think Xavier will get anything out of them?” Harold asked as their feet hit the stone floors of the basement. The air was musty and old. Dust swirled in the light of the candles on the Earthy walls. John
didn’t remember ever coming down here as a student of Whispering Trees. And he’d only been down here for a few secret meetings after receiving his wings.

“Doubtful,” he answered.

“Hopefully,” Denise interjected with a slightly pleading look.

John sighed and offered a sheepish shrug of his shoulders. He found it funny that a person who barely came up to his chest could make him quell
in fear; yet facing a monstrous demon made him want to charge into battle.

“
I’ll work on being nicer… but it won’t be easy,” he offered to which she laughed.

They made their way through the dim, wavering lit corridor until coming to a
thick, oak door with iron-wrought handles. Harold pushed it open with a loud squeak and they found themselves looking at four cells spaced evenly down a short hallway. Rusted bars lined the dungeon-like cages. Mossy tendrils crawled along the rock walls. Xavier and a woman with all her angel gifts shining were facing the bars of Melody’s cell. Almost back to back with them were two more angels who had their eyes closed and were whispering prayers at Christy. She sat on a small wooden stool. The devil’s black power oozed from her skin, but was absorbed by the light of the Spirit before extending into the room. Her maniacal eyes found John and she hissed a cursing insult.

“Nice to see you too,” John waved politely.

“What are you doing here?” Xavier questioned without turning from Melody. She was lounged on a feathered bunk on the back wall of the cell. Pure white chains were still wrapped around her legs, but her upper body was unbound. Her mesmerizing, brown eyes sparkled as she looked from one angel to the next.