Guardian of the Hellmouth (19 page)

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Authors: A.C. Greenlee

BOOK: Guardian of the Hellmouth
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Look he just doesn’t know any better okay?! I accept full

 

responsibility for what he’s done!” She yelled as the officers

 

drew near, two of them bending to pull the still twitching

 

Leviathan to his feet. He was quite obviously unconscious, his

 

eyes firmly shut and his face so pale for a brief second she

 

actually thought he could be dead. “Please just let him go.” She

 

demanded, lifting her gaze to the man who looked to be in

 

charge. The moment she saw his face she gasped. He looked

 

exactly like Jeremy and the others. In fact half of the policemen
and women had the same washed out appearance, same eyes and

 

even same hair color as the man that held her. “This…was a set

 

up wasn’t it?” She asked and the officer in front of her frowned

 

deeply.

 

“Get him to the truck,” He ordered then turned to look at Jeremy,

 

“And get
her
out of here.” She didn’t need any more

 

confirmation than that. Pierre and Naomi had set them up!

 

“No! Let him go!” Kailani screamed at the top of her lungs,

 

fighting like she’d never fought before as she watched them drag

 

Leviathan away. Jeremy held her tightly as he pulled her towards

 

one of the hangers, ignoring her struggling and screaming, finally

 

picking her up and tossing her over his shoulder. Kai kicked,

 

reaching for Leviathan as they threw him in cuffs and dumped

 

him in the back of an unmarked SUV. Her cries soon fell on deaf

 

ears as the hanger doors slid shut in front of her, leaving her

 

screaming in frustration as she was carried away by her

 

abductors.
Leviathan sat up straight, his head pounding as electricity

 

continued to bounce around inside him, before finally being

 

expelled from his exhausted body. He felt like shit, every inch of

 

him sore as if his captors had spent the time he’d been

 

unconscious beating him. His clothing was singed and his flesh

 

burned in the places the metal prongs on the cattle prods had

 

touched him. He didn’t handle small bouts of electricity well, let

 

alone the several thousand volts they forced into him. Clenching

 

his teeth he struggled to his feet, looking around the small

 

holding cell he’d been dumped into. The room was plain, with

 

slate gray walls and hard metal bunk beds attached to two of the

 

three walls. There was a ‘bathroom’ area that looked as if it

 

hadn’t been cleaned in a couple months and across from him was

 

the wall of bars that held him captive.

 

“Had I known I’d actually go to jail for robbing a bank I may

 

have thought twice about doing it.” He said to himself as he

 

neared the bars, instantly wary of them. It was widely known that

 

demons were allergic to iron and the last thing he needed was
seared, dissolving flesh. The place seemed devoid of life, as if

 

they’d dumped him and left him there to rot. He couldn’t see, nor

 

sense, anything living and other than a freshly painted white wall

 

across from the cell he could see nothing more of the jail, no

 

other cells or even an emergency exit. There were no windows

 

and no way to tell if it was night or day. How long had he been

 

out? How much time had passed in the outside world?
Where was
Kailani?

 

“It made for great TV though mate.” Leviathan turned to see a

 

human man lift himself off one of the beds and grin at him. That

 

was odd. How had he not picked up on his presence? “The guards

 

talked about it all day, quite entertaining I must say.” He

 

chuckled and Leviathan frowned as he got a better look at him.

 

He wasn’t very tall; although he was so thin he was borderline

 

skeletal. His dark hair was shaggy as was the beard that covered

 

most of his face. “I heard the guards talking when they brought

 

you in too. Boy were you beat up. So is it true then? Are you
really a demon?” He asked and Leviathan felt himself stiffen.

 

Just what in the hell was going on here?

 

“I am.” He answered truthfully. Even though he didn’t trust him

 

as far as he could toss his scrawny ass he still saw no reason to

 

lie. If he suddenly decided he wanted to tell the world about

 

demons and such he could always just kill him.

 

“That’s amazing. The name’s James by the way. I was caught

 

like you were, though they didn’t rough me up when they brought

 

me in.” He chuckled, moving to stand in front of Leviathan and

 

marvel up at him. “You don’t look like a demon. You look like

 

this bloke I know who owes me fifty pounds.”

 

“And just how long have you been here James?” Leviathan

 

asked, choosing to ignore his comment all together.

 

“Since I was sixteen. I’m thirty four now.” He said and Leviathan

 

frowned.

 

“Eighteen years in a holding cell?”
“Oh no, this isn’t holding. This is a police facility. It’s essentially

 

prison but for those…mentally unstable.” James continued to flit

 

around the cell as if he just couldn’t bear to keep still. “They

 

bring old war veterans in here and everything. I never went to

 

war. Just Catholic school.” Leviathan just watched him. He was

 

strange but he didn’t seem like much of a threat. He was

 

malnourished and shorter than the average man, it didn’t seem

 

like he could really hurt anyone, not even himself. So why was he

 

there? Why was Leviathan there? Locked in what had to be a

 

mental institution instead of a traditional prison. Several

 

questions formed in his mind but only one seemed to leap out at

 

him as being truly important.

 

“Do you know if they brought a woman in here?” He asked and

 

James paused to blink up at him, “About five foot two with black

 

hair and brown eyes?”

 

“You mean the Hellmouth?” He asked retreating to the bunk he’d

 

previously occupied. Leviathan followed him.
“You know of her?”

 

“No. The guards talked about her though, just as they talked

 

about you. She’s on her way to Munich. Lovely place that is. If

 

you don’t mind the tourists.” James told him and he felt his

 

stomach tighten. Why would they take her to Germany? How did

 

they know she was a Hellmouth, or that he was a demon? This

 

situation just kept getting more and more peculiar by the second.

 

“Did they say when they were leaving? Or when they’d be back

 

here?”

 

“No, they never reveal that much information. Besides the guards

 

only come around to lock someone else up or beat the hell out of

 

one of us. It’s the nurses and Chaplains we see most often.”

 

James said with a wry twist of his lips. “I’ve been off the

 

medication they give you for a month now. Spit it right down the

 

sink drain. It makes me see things that aren’t really here.”
“Do the nurses keep to schedule?” Leviathan asked, taking

 

another step towards the man who didn’t recognize the imposing

 

threat.

 

“Most days. I’d say you have at least a couple hours before they

 

do their rounds. Or that’s what I guess. It’s not like there’s any

 

clocks in here. Doctors say they mess with your mind.” He

 

continued to ramble on aimlessly and Leviathan soon tuned him

 

out. So Kailani was on her way to Munich…Just as she’d wanted.

 

Leviathan moved to his designated bunk, sitting back into the

 

heavy shadows the overhead bed cast. His job was done he

 

supposed. She was safe and by now had reached her destination.

 

All there was left for him to do was wait for his Lord to recall

 

him. He’d be in hell again soon, in his domain. Alone. Where he

 

should be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Chapter Twelve
 

 

“Take this goddamn blind fold off of me!” Kailani

 

screamed at the top of her lungs, struggling against the restraints

 

that held her fast against whatever she was sitting on. She felt

 

like she’d been screaming for hours and still no one had came to

 

see about her. She’d heard the sound of the jet engines starting

 

some time ago and after her ears popped she knew she was on

 

some plane, several thousand feet in the air and leaving Australia.

 

“Hey! I know you bastards can hear me! I’m not going to stop
screaming! Hel—!” She was cut off as someone ripped the

 

blindfold off her face and tossed it into her lap.

 

“Shut the hell up!” The man yelled and she glared up at him, her

 

eyes doing their best to adjust to the new light. It was the man

 

Jeremy had introduced as William. His brother. He was seething,

 

his dark eyes spitting fire at her. She opened her mouth to scream

 

again and his hand flew up in preparation if striking her. Before

 

he could follow through, Jeremy appeared behind him, catching

 

his wrist and frowning at him.

 

“Will, that’s not very nice. She’s our guest.” He scolded and

 

William turned his glare on his accomplice, finally sighing and

 

storming from the cabin. Jeremy gave her an apologetic smile as

 

he moved to sit in the seat across from her. “I’m sorry about that,

 

Will is a little high strung as of late.” He said and Kailani gave

 

him an incredulous glare.

 

“Where are you taking me?”
“To Germany. My master Ophanuel would really like to speak

 

with you.” He answered truthfully and she felt her heart seize in

 

her chest. Had he known they were coming? “We saw the demon

 

on television and after his little stunt a friend of ours let us know

 

you’d been captured by the demonic entity and were at risk of

 

loosing your soul. Lord Ophanuel sent us to retrieve you so you’d

 

be safe from the Leviathan.” He continued to smile charmingly.

 

So her assumption had been correct, Pierre set them up. But why

 

pretend to help them out of the country if he was just going to

 

hand them over? Why plan this diabolical tirade when he could

 

have just tied them up in their sleep and flew them to Germany

 

himself? Unless he was really just hell-bent on separating them

 

she couldn’t see any logic in his plot. Could he really hate

 

Leviathan that much? Was she really in all that much of danger

 

where the demon was concerned?

 

“Who are you? Who were the people that took Leviathan?” She

 

demanded, watching Jeremy settle back into his seat.
“As I said we work for Ophanuel. We’re…his errand boys I

 

guess you could say.” His tone became reverent and solemn.

 

“You’re angels?”

 

“No. We used to be.” He lifted his gaze back to hers and

 

frowned. “You don’t know anything about our world do you?”

 

“No…” She answered truthfully and he laughed.

 

“You really are like a child.”

 

“And what the hell is that supposed to mean?” She asked with a

 

frown and he laughed again. Just what was wrong with this dude?

 

“N-nothing at all. I think it’s…cute is all.” He said, turning his

 

head to stare out the little round window next to them. “I’m a

 

fallen.” Jeremy said simply and she blinked at him as she waited

 

for him to elaborate. “Fallen are angels who’ve done something

 

bad enough to loose their wings.”

 

“Right. So you’re a demon.”
“No.” He said sharply, turning his head to give her a look of

 

disgust, “We’re not demons. When we loose our wings we’re

 

simply fallen. We only become demons if we’re accepted by the

 

royal lineage of Hell and claimed by a demon lord.” He explained

 

and she frowned, finding herself even more confused.

 

“So the devil didn’t want you guys and now you just work for

 

Ophanuel? What is he like the unemployment line for out of

 

work angels or something?”

 

“We weren’t accepted by any of the reigning lords.” He

 

answered, ignoring the last part of her question, “Hell isn’t just

 

run by Lucifer, there’s an entire hierarchy down there. At the

 

very top are the seven lords; they all run a different district of

 

hell. Beneath them are the Princes, their offspring who usually

 

handle their affairs. Then you have the ancients, powerful

 

Principality spirits like The Leviathan who serve the royal

 

lineage. Then you also have the other beings who inhabit hell

 

such as devils, goblins, and gremlins… The rest just fall into line

 

behind them.” Jeremy shrugged and Kailani just stared at him.
There was so much to learn, so much she should have known

 

already. When it came to their world, the world that was now her

 

own, she was freaking remedial. “You look upset, have I said

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