Beyond The Door (4 page)

"Control of the Abysmal?"

"Not just the Abysmal—but all the planes." She
sighed and pulled her shawl closer around her shoulders. "The
Seraphim truly believes that if the boundaries are put into place
once again—with no crossings and no bleeding over—then the world
will right itself. The truth is," she looked at him. "The world
isn't in black and white, Darren. You know this yourself. Your very
nature tips the scale to either plane with a thought. You. Zoë.
Myself and Maureen. We frighten the Seraphim. Azrael. Because we
can not be controlled. Because we feed the imaginations and wills
of the physical plane."

Darren looked as if he didn't understand. And
perhaps he couldn't. His very being had been disassembled and
replaced in the worst hap-haphazard way possible. With things as
they were—the
Grimoire
sitting open nearby, its pages half
fastened or missing—his connection to his physical self was lost.
"So—the Seraphim put Zoë into the egg because they believed they
could control her. That she wasn't powerful enough to think for
herself."

"Adiran believed he could control her." She
held up a finger and watched the light of the fire illuminate his
beautiful face. "And so far, he's been able to keep her quiet, and
docile. But you see…the Abysmal plane is a thing of chaos, Darren.
It doesn't want there to be order governed by only one side. There
has to be a balance. So—Zoë's been stirring."

He smiled at that. "I hear her sometimes,
Alice. But it's like a dream. I can see her, and I reach out to
her, but I can't…
touch
her."

"I suspect, Darren, that you are the key they
need to lock those boundaries, but you are essential to the
Phantasm to keep them open. They want the
Grimoire
put back
together—but they want to control it. So in order to control you,
they have control of Zoë and vice versa. The way I see it—the wild
cards are the soldiers in the dark. The Revenants."

"I sort of suspected they would play a pretty
large part in this," he rubbed at his face. "But how do they plan
on taking control?"

"This is why the Seraphim sent its minions—like
the Virtues, Dominions and Powers. It plans on using
subterfuge."

As a living woman in a position of power, Alice
Bonville had always understood that word, and what it meant. The
deceit and trickery used within her own family—particularly by her
husband—had taught her that lesson with her life. If a person saw a
man bending over a small child, it was wise not to always assume
the man is beating or injuring that child until you can see the
whole picture.

"Black doesn't necessarily mean
bad."

"Yes. Take Maureen for instance. She did things
to hurt you. Did she do them because she's evil? No. Misguided and
discontented to say the least. But she's not at her roots evil.
It's all in the mind's eye," she picked up a long stick and stirred
the burning logs. "It's also public opinion as well. If say the
people of the physical plane saw Zoë in her true form—as you've
seen her—would they stop to think of her as good?"

He shook his head. Alice recalled Zoë's Abysmal
appearance. The dark ashen skin, black features and eyes, the
leathery wings and the hair that moved out from her as if it had a
mind of its own. No. That image had always been painted through
history as something evil. Devilish.

"But," she held up the stick, the end of which
was burning. "If they saw Adiran in all his Ethereal
glory?"

"I get it." Darren lowered his shoulders. "The
Seraphim have already started a campaign of deceit against the
Revenants."

"Yes. Daemons, symbionts, fetches, spectres,
boggarts," she looked at him past the burning stick. "They are all
in danger—but not like the Revenants. The Seraphim is calling for
an all out extinction of them. They tried before to destroy them by
using their sister as the Phantasm. Now it's just a matter of
getting the job done."

"Then Daniel's in trouble…"

"They all are. And anyone out there possessing
a symbiont for any reason. There aren't just First Borns, Darren.
There are other entities that possess the human body, to feed on
the spirit, that offer longer life. Those who keep disease at bay.
There are ghosts and shades that stay with their families in order
to help guide and influence. The Seraphim sees this as something
unholy. Unclean. It'll send out its own assassins. But that's not
quite what they're starting with. It's two fold."

"Two fold?"

"The Virtues will go after the Societies that
know about them. First rule of combat is the moral law."

Darren's eyes widened. "Sun Tzu."

"It states that the people be in complete
agreement with their leader. Which means that public opinion must
be swayed and all of those voices in opposition must be destroyed.
The Society of Ishmael is one of those groups. It's not just Daniel
that's in trouble—Rhonda is going to have a difficult
time."

He looked back at the fire and shivered. "I
have to get out of here, Alice. I can't stand it. I've been sitting
here all these months," and he looked over to their right where the
shadow of
Grimoire
sat. "And that damned book is useless.
All those spells and nothing works. Does Rhonda have all the
pages?"

"No."

He looked at her sharply. "And you know how
many are left to find?"

"There are three. But one of them," she pushed
the stick back into the fire. "That one will be the hardest to get
to. And it's the key to freeing Zoë."

"What about me? Will I be able to live again
with that page? Do I have to wait for it?"

"Once the other two are returned, and Rhonda
shuffles the pages, you will join them."

"And then what?" he stood, abruptly dressed in
a black hoodie and jeans. It seemed appropriate, and Alice was
proud of him, at what he'd been able to accomplish here in this
plane of existence. The Mental Plane. "What do I do then?" He moved
past the fire and began to pace on the opposite side. "You're
talking about fighting an army, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"What do we fight them with?"

"An equal army."

He stopped and dropped his jaw. "An army of
what?"

"Abysmal creatures. Look, Darren, I've tried to
tell you—you have to get to Zoë. Sophia figured out how to project
out of that egg when she took her father's place. She had the power
to actually be the Phantasm, and not a puppet."

He ran a hand through his hair. "Let me get
this situation straight—" he put his hands on his hips. "The first
Phantasm wasn't locked in a prison—he was free to roam. Same as the
Seraphim. But the Seraphim wanted to control all the planes, so it
convinced Sophia to destroy her father and hunt her siblings
down—only when she took over she was placed inside this Abysmic
Throne so that the Seraphim could control her."

Alice nodded. "But she was able to find a tiny
hole. She loved the idea of revenge and killing, of taking power.
But not for them. For herself. They created a monster and needed a
way to destroy it," she sneered. "Without getting their own hands
dirty that is."

"That's where they manipulated Zoë's birth, you
mean. They wanted to create a Wraith."

"Not a Wraith, but an Irin." She reached out to
him and he moved around the fire and put his right hand in her
right hand. His skin was warm. "Don't dislike Adiran. He is what he
is, and that can't be changed. He only wants what's best for the
Ethereal Realm."

"But he was human once."

"Once," she nodded and pulled him down. He sat
on the rock beside her. "He was commanded by the Seraphim to beget
a child. To do so meant an Irin, or Nephilim by Ethereal decree.
But it didn't go quite the way they planned it. Azrael interfered
by accident. Things change. We change. Look at you," and she
reached up to ruffle his hair. "
You're
what they'd wanted to
create—and not born from a mortal and an Ethereal. A being capable
of wielding both powers—Abysmal and Ethereal. But then Rhonda
changed you and placed the Grimoire within your soul. Again—things
change. You have a larger role to play in this. As do Joe, Azrael
and Daniel."

"I don't know how," he pulled back from her as
even the wind move his hair. "Or what I'm supposed to
do."

"You will when the time comes. The actual act
is easy," she rested her elbows on her thighs as she leaned into
the fire. "The journey is what's hard."

He was quiet as the last of the sun's rays
vanished behind the ocean. "Will we survive?"

"In some form, we have to." 

She felt him shiver against her.

JOE
set out the milk after he finished
with the snacks. If there was one thing he'd noticed about
Azrael…the First Born
loved
to eat. Milk and grapes being
the food of choice. It was nearing one in the morning and Azreal
had already gone through two bags of grapes, and nearly a gallon of
milk.

Who knew First Borns with no host could eat so
much? And where was he putting it?

After wiping his hands, Joe moved to the sofa
closest to the closed fireplace.

Azrael sat staring at the television through
his shades, the sound muted. On his right sat the half empty bowl
of grapes.

"What?" Azrael said as he looked at Joe. The
First Born removed his shades. His milky white eyes bore down on
Joe. "I can't watch a little tv? Oh, Danny-boy and sis are
here."

The doorbell sounded and Joe answered
it.

Daniel stood outside. It was his old friend,
but it wasn't. He and Daniel had been partners a long time ago
before Heather cheated on Daniel. And Daniel had somehow blamed
Joe. And then they'd paired up again. But that time Daniel had been
possessed by Zoë's Horror—and well—it'd all gone to shit after
that.

Daniel was different now. Still tall and
slender, with longish brown hair and deep blue eyes. But Joe sensed
something else about him. Something different. Aloof. Rhonda
claimed it was how a Revenant felt to someone who was sensitive.
It's how she'd always sensed Jason with Mephistopheles.

Maybe it was the First Born within Daniel.
Inanna
. The name of a Sumerian Goddess.

His old friend gave him a said smile. "Are you
going to invite me in or do we stand here making goo-goo
eyes?"

Joe blinked and shook his head. "Sorry. Do you
really have to be invited in—like in the movies?" He stood to the
side as Daniel swept in, bringing with him the smells of the
outside. Dust, oil, and decay.

"No," he said. "But the need for invitation
does pertain to letting a First Born in." He removed his duster and
handed it to Joe. Beneath it Daniel was dressed in a long sleeved
shirt and jeans. He wore dusty boots and a single
necklace.

The one Joe had given Zoë months ago. They'd
found it in her room after she vanished and Daniel claimed it. Joe
didn't argue. His feelings really didn't come into play, did
they?

Daniel and Azrael regarded one another. On one
level they were siblings—Inanna being Azrael's sister. And on
another level, the two were enemies. Azrael had nearly killed
Daniel nearly a year ago. And Joe was sure Daniel wasn't quite as
forgiving as he'd like to think he was.

"Daniel—you need anything?"

"No. I'm fine. Unless you have a Coke? It
settles my stomach."

"Uh oh. Bad news?"

Daniel sighed as he stood at the counter.
Azrael stood and carried the bowl with him, eating the grapes like
popcorn. He slid onto a stool at the counter and kept eating. Joe
filled a glass with ice and pulled up a two-liter from beneath the
counter. "I stored the page Azrael found with the others. But as
before, we have no way of knowing how many are left to find until
Rhonda can do the organization."

"I don't see how you can so easily trust
Rhonda." Joe looked at each of them. They all knew that he and the
witch had had a relationship during the time when Zoë had banished
Rhonda from her side. But after what'd happened with Dags at
Rodriguez's place in Alpharetta, and then after Zoë vanished and
Rhonda ordered the Society in to cover everything up…it was that
gone to shit thing again.

It'd been obvious to Joe that Rhonda had it bad
for Dags, and yet Dags' heart belonged to Zoë.

And Joe?
What do I feel? And what does it
matter? I always do what I feel is right.

But as time passed, things didn't feel so black
and white. Good or bad. Everything was still
so…
vague
.

Daniel poured the Coke and watched the bubbles
fizzle down. "I don't. But she's the only hope we have of putting
those pages back in the right way. I don't know of another witch
that can do it. And besides," he refocused on Joe and lifted the
glass. "She loves him. I know she won't hurt him."

"What about Nona?" Azrael said. He had his
elbows on the counter. "Why is Dags with that Society?"

"Because he gets the best care there," Joe
said. "Though I think Stella's going to win custody. She's been in
touch with Dags' family and they've given her power of attorney for
him—" he shrugged. "As long as he's diagnosed as not being able to
take care of himself." He looked at Daniel. "I thought vampires
couldn't eat or drink real food."