Beyond The Door (5 page)

Daniel finished the Coke and then belched as he
set it down. "Eventually I won't. But right now, my body still
needs food. Inanna on the other hand—"

Joe held up his hand. "I got it, I got it. And
you've already taken care of that, right?"

"I'm still hungry." And he stared at
Joe.

I hate it when he does that. Freaks
me out.

Azrael poured another glass of milk. "So Stella
is gonna get the twerp?"

"If all goes well. The Society has no familial
claim to him, and since Miss Rosenberg has brought Darren's
condition to the attention of the courts, then he has to be
evaluated." He pulled his phone from his back pocket and checked
the messages. "They're set to have him examined over at Northside
Hospital in two days. Once she gets him away from the Society, then
Rhonda will have the opportunity to do her thing."

"I didn't realize Dags had any living family."
Daniel pursed his lips. "Where are they if they're giving her power
of attorney?"

"Somewhere in England, at the moment," Joe said
as he shoved his phone back into is pocket. "His Aunt's there. And
they're not that close—which is something I got from
Stella."

"Don't think it's going to be that easy,"
Daniel said. "Just showing up and having him examined—you think
they're just going to hand over a treasure like him. There's a
Grimoire
inside of him. A very powerful book that the other
Revenants want, as do the Ethereals. And the Revenants are already
moving on the Society of Ishmael."

"Moving how?" Azrael said.

Daniel shook his head. "I don't know. But you
can pretty much bet if they're moving, then the Ethereals are as
well. But the Ethereals will attack us," and he pointed to himself
and then Arael, "And the Society, simultaneously."

"Great," Azrael gulped half the glass of milk
and set it down with a milk mustache. "They're
not
going to
play by the rules."

Daniel

"SO
maybe we should just do this before
that hearing," Azrael said as he continued to eat grapes like
popcorn. "You know, plug in what we found and see what we
got."

Daniel gave him a sour face. "And what if we
manage to get Rhonda near enough to do this and she finds out
there's nothing she can do—there's too much gone."

Azrael shrugged. "We stitch him back up and
keep looking." His tone sounded odd to Daniel, more so to Inanna.
Strained. Maybe even a bit tired. "Look—we're running out of time.
Do you two even realize what's happening as we stand here having
our little meet and greet every week?"

Daniel nodded. "I do. I saw it
tonight."

Azrael dropped a handful of grapes as he turned
and looked into Daniel's eyes. "Here? You saw one," he pointed to
the floor. "In
this
town?"

Joe held up his beer and lifted his shoulders.
"Saw what?"

Daniel held up a hand. "Let me explain
first—for Joe?"

Azrael's eyebrows knitted but he agreed and
continued eating grapes.

Daniel turned to Joe. He felt his features
shift ever so slightly as he released physical control to Inanna.
He could see the transformation was happening in the expression of
his old friend's face. Joe tried to hide his revulsion, but, he'd
always been a bad liar.  "You understand the hierarchies
involved in the Abysmal plane?"

"Yeah…sorta," Joe said as he leaned against the
counter, his beer forgotten. "There's Phantasm, and then the First
Borns. Then you get the whole trickle down thing with symbionts,
fetches, daemons, spectres, shades, ghosts—" he leaned to the side,
his brows arched high in question.

"Yes—in a manner of speaking," Daniel said. "My
father—Sameal—had some kind of hierarchy set up, but once he lost
interest it sort of disintegrated into what you know now. Sophia
had pretty much turned it into a system of
everything obeyed
her
."

Joe nodded. Azrael looked at his
bowl.

"What the Ethereals have over the Abysmal plane
isn't strength, but order. They govern the Ethereal plane very
similar to the military. Every creature knows its place and every
creature does its job. And if it fails it's cast down to the
Abysmal." Daniel leaned against the bar as Inanna spoke. "Under the
Seraphim, the equivalent of the Phantasm, there are the Choirs,
what would be the equal to the First borns. And even they have a
pecking order amongst themselves."

"Are there as many of these Choirs as there are
of the First Borns?" Joe asked.

Daniel shook his head. "Not as in how many
children father had. The Seraphim doesn't like to give up power.
And with each creation it's required to do so—because when you
create something—much like when a mother gestates a child—the
parent gives up a part of themself to give life. The Choirs are set
up as Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Virtues, Powers and
Arcs."

"Arcs," Joe said.

"As in Arch Angel," Azrael said and then spit a
seed from a grape back in his bowl. "It's a fucking
joke."

But Daniel continued his tale without glancing
at Azrael. It was an old argument, and one Inanna didn't feel like
getting into at that moment. "Arcs are power Ethereals. They posses
the four elements of creation. Earth, air, fire and water. They're
again, like the Phantasm and Seraphim, titles filled by creatures.
And they are the lowest of the Choirs."

Joe frowned. "Wow…the way it's always been
taught here, the arch angels seemed to be the top bananas. So,
where does Adiran fit in?"

"He is a Virtue," Daniel said. "These creatures
are usually created by human souls who've transmigrated like he did
after the experiments of Domas.  They're the idea
Choirs—because they possess human souls. They can inspire mankind
to achieve greatness. Adiran Martinique is the one that conceived
the idea of placing his daughter inside the Abysmic
throne."

"In order to control—" Azrael stopped and his
milky white eyes widen as he looked at Daniel. "No…"

Daniel gave the First Born an almost
imperceptible shake of the head but said nothing. Inanna fluttered
surprise inside of him. She'd not realized Azrael hadn't figured it
out until now. But they needed to talk in private before speaking
with the human.

Joe seemed to not notice. "So—I'm assuming
Adiran didn't know Azrael here would interfere?"

"Not at all. Contrary to popular myth and
belief—no one can tell the future. Because of cause and effect. But
the rules of domination set forth by the Seraphim are the sam as
Sun Tzu
. The first order of business for them to clean up
the planes now that the Phantasm is under their control is to get
rid of the Abysmal influences, which means the Revenants
themselves, and anything else residing in the Physical plane from
the Abysmal plane. As well as Societies."

"Like the Society of Ishmael."

"I'm afraid so," Daniel reached up and ran his
long fingers through his hair. "Public influence will work—but it
will take time. The Virtues are already working on this if you've
been reading the news or watching the tv. Thirteen secret
societies, or cults, have already been raided all over the United
States. Many of their members were killed when they fought
back."

"They didn't fight back," Azrael said. He
pushed the bowl away. "They just simply chose to believe different.
So they were offed. Plain as that."

"I'm afraid my brother is right. The Virtues
and the Cherubim are working in tandem to weed out these societies,
cults, what have you, and
expose
them." Daniel looked at
Azrael.

"And you saw one?" Azrael said.

Joe narrowed his eyes. "You saw a Virtue? Or a
Cherubim?"

Daniel looked at Joe. "A Cherubim. She is
overseeing the Virtues." He looked at Azrael again. "She didn't see
me. But I could feel her looking."

"You're sure?" Azrael had stopped eating
grapes. "You're really sure it was a Cherubim?"

Again, Daniel nodded. "You think I do not know
the stench of our old enemy,
brother
?" Inanna said the last
word with contempt. "I could see her aura burning brighter than the
rest. A light in the darkness—she is nothing but flame drawing in
moths to burn."

Not all of the remaining Revenants got
along—most of them believed their youngest—Azrael—to be a turncoat.
A trader. A sell out to the previous Phantasm, their sister,
Sophia. None of them understood what Azrael had gone through—though
Daniel/Inanna suspected it—to grow as strong as he had. He'd broken
the spell Sophia had cast over him with Zoë's help.

And he'd never looked back.

Joe looked from Daniel to Azrael. "Okay—so this
Cherubim is here watching over the Virtues who are now destroying
secret societies—right?" He held up his hand.

Daniel nodded as his voice faded to normal.
Inanna had released control. "Yeah… they've declared war on them
for now. You get rid of the societies that know the truth, and
spread your
own
version of the truth—well, that's one large
stream of information working against you—silenced."

With a short sigh, Azrael stood and moved to
the french doors that walked out onto Joe's balcony. He lived in a
nice high rise in Sandy Springs. Near Perimeter Station, but not in
it. Joe had told Daniel he'd chosen it because he could see the
lights of downtown Atlanta when he stood outside, and below him
there was nothing but trees.

Daniel turned to Joe once Azrael was outside.
"I told Rhonda—about the Cherubim. And the Virtues. She's going to
alert her staff and get all of them dispersed as best as possible.
As much as I don't like the idea, we're going to need to get Dags
away from the society before the Virtues bring them under
fire."

Joe remember his beer and picked it up. He held
it near his mouth but didn't drink. "So—the Ethereals want Dags
because of the
Grimoire
. And because of Zoë—thought I'm not
sure I understand how it all ties in to one another. Do you believe
their attacking the Societies is a two-fold purpose
then?"

Daniel crossed his left arm over his chest,
rested his elbow on that forearm and tapped his chin with his right
index finger. "Of course. They're trying to find Dags. They know
he's being kept in one—"

"Wait—wait. Nona is taking acre of Dags. You
mean Adiran doesn't know where they are?"

"Yes," Daniel picked up the glass of coke and
sipped it again. It did ease his stomach and the worry that gnawed
at him there. Inanna was good to him, and soothed him as best she
could. But he was worried about Zoë. "He knows where Dags
is. 

"That doesn't make sense."

"I know," Daniel set the glass down and looked
at the sliding door where Azrael stood just outside. "Apparently
Adiran hasn't told the others. He's keeping it a secret. I suspect
he's actually helping her hide Dags."

"Why?"

Daniel felt Inanna surface again, and together
they spoke. "We don't know. And that's what scares us. But no
matter what—we're getting Dags out tomorrow night. Rhonda is going
to help.

RHONDA
pressed herself against the wall
and hoped the shadow of the alcove hid her from the two Society
guards that patrolled the third level of the compound.
This is
my house—how did it get to me sneaking around in it like some
common criminal?

Might be because she was about to let three of
the Society's Hit-List in the back door.

The compound was as impressive from the outside
as it was from the inside. Spanning three city blocks, but located
outside the mainstream of things in Alpharetta, the building was
hidden from any service roads by acres of trees, mostly cypress as
they hid the most behind thick foliage. The long winding driveway
led up to the impressive estate, complete with roman columns and a
double staircase to the front door.

Secret doors were ensconced behind the brick
wall facade, their locations known only to a few of the members.
One of those was Rhonda Orly, the "head" of the Society.

She laughed at that thought as the guards
passed by and she tip-toed a few more feet to the security's main
control room.
Head of the Society. I'm only the head when it's
convenient to have it lopped off these days.

Two doors stood side by side. The one on the
right lead directly into a room full of staff monitoring the
thirty-seven cameras on the property. The door on the left lead to
the room that housed the servers that maintained a perfect balance
of control and secrecy.

With a glance down the hall, she turned the
knob on the left door. It was open—the security head for the
evening being a bit lax when it came to his area. Rhonda had been
watching him for weeks, ever since the stories started breaking
about other groups similar to the Society of Ishmael being invaded
by the military and everyone inside branded a terrorist. The whole
climate on the outside had grown hostile to any company or group
that looked cultish or even had the word society, organization and
corporation attached to it.