Hell Is Coming (The Watcher's Series Book 1) (14 page)

According to the book, Samuel disappeared after that. No one had heard of him since, but his progeny, the Nephilim still carry on his bloodline, fighting evil to this day.

It was crazy to think I was a part of such a dramatic history, that I had the blood and DNA of an Archangel in my veins. If I hadn’t seen and felt the power of the Light Energy myself, I doubt I would have believed any of it.

When I’d had enough reading, I went outside and spent the next three hours training because I didn’t know what else to do with myself. I spent over an hour on the heavy bag (Frank having rehung it after my breaking it from the branch), practicing using and controlling the Light Energy, almost getting to the point were I could summon it at will. After that I got the two short swords and practiced with them before going around the back of the cabin and spending some time shooting at targets with the Glock. I was surprised how comfortable I became holding the gun. I wasn’t a bad shot either. I could hit center mass every time from forty yards by the time I had finished practicing.

When I had emptied the last clip I looked up to the sky. “Well, Samuel,” I said in a gruff voice. “Am I not worthy?” When I got no answer I said, “Never seen Gladiator, huh?” I shook my head and went inside to take a shower.

It was mid afternoon when I decided to take Bane into the woods for a walk. As soon I mentioned the idea to him he got excited, jumping around like he had just snorted a huge line of doggy cocaine until I opened the door and he sprinted out of the cabin towards the trees. I found a yellow legal pad and pencil in Frank’s living room which I took with me so I could do some sketching. I was trying to keep myself occupied; otherwise I’d end up worrying over Josh again.

Outside it was brisk so I wore one of my mom’s leather jackets, dark jeans, and combat boots. I loved the boots; they were so comfortable and as strange as it may sound, I felt I was carrying a part of my mom around with me, like I was literally walking in her shoes. Silly, but I took all the comfort I could get.

I found the woods to be incredibly peaceful. The trees gave off a calming energy, made me feel good for a while. Bane loved it, running through the undergrowth, picking up the scent of rabbits and following the trails, his tail wagging like mad, his ears pricking up every time he spotted a rabbit or squirrel. I was growing attached to the dog. I never had a pet before, not with moving around so much growing up. Bane was showing me what I missed.

When I came across a clearing in the trees, I sat down on a fallen log and started sketching on the legal pad, doing a head shot of Bane first, even though he refused to sit still while I sketched. Eventually, I told him to go play and he ran off again while I drew a rough portrait of my brother. I didn’t have any photographs of him since I left Diane’s, so the sketch was a way of reconnecting with him. It didn’t take me long, as I knew every detail of his face—the near permanent scowl, his brown eyes, the tiny scar above his right eye that he got fighting when we were kids, his full lips and high cheek bones. When I finished, my smile soon gave way to tears as I sat staring at the portrait, wondering if I would ever see him again.

Bane must have heard me crying because he came walking out of the bushes and sat beside me, putting his big head in my lap until I smiled again and he licked my face. “If only I had had you growing up,” I said, hugging him tightly. “Come on, let’s get back.” Tearing the page from the pad, I folded it up and shoved the portrait of Josh in my back pocket.

Twilight descended as I walked back through the woods. I stopped when I heard a noise off to my right. It sounded like a twig breaking, like something or someone had stepped on it. I listened for a moment but heard nothing more, shook my head, and carried on walking, Bane pottering about up ahead.

The next time I stopped it was because of Bane. He was ten yards ahead of me and I could hear him growling. I looked through the trees in the fading light and saw the dog standing, his head up high, his ears pricked, growling as he looked off to my right. “What is it, boy?” I said when I got near him. The dog looked at me and then back to whatever he was growling at. I frowned in the direction he was staring. All I could see were trees and the shadows in between. “There’s nothing there, Bane.”

Bane wasn’t convinced. He kept growling, occasionally barking, forcing me to look harder. When I did, my heart leapt when I made out a pair of red eyes in the shadows between the trees. It was no trick of the light. I instantly wished I had taken along a weapon, but I hadn’t, so I told Bane to come along and I quickly walked through the trees again. If there was a demon or some other monster in the woods with me, I wasn’t about to hang around and ask what it wanted. My goal at that point was to get back to the cabin and arm myself to the teeth.

I practically ran as I got near the end of the woods. I could see the cabin in the distance and I prematurely allowed myself to feel safe when a dark figure suddenly appeared in front of me. I squealed, recoiling back and tripping over a dead branch, landing with a hard thump flat on my ass.

The figure in front of me laughed. “Didn’t mean to scare you, Leia.”

It was a woman’s voice and it dripped with unconcealed scorn and sarcasm. I scrambled back and got to my feet. “Who are you? What do you want?” I looked around for Bane. I couldn’t see him anywhere.

The woman stepped forward. She was young, beautiful with long dark hair and the fullest lips I had ever seen. Only her glowing red eyes gave her away as a demon. “Come on, Leia. I think you know what I am. I also think you know why I’m here.”

I stood tensely, willing the Light Energy to flow in me. “You demon assholes took my brother. What have you done with him?”

“Don’t worry about Josh.” Her voice was coldly matter of fact. “He’s being taken good care of. He’s one of us now. It’s you the boss really wants, though.”

One of us? What did she mean by that? That Josh was part of the gang or that he was a demon? “What do you mean he’s one of you?”

The demon smiled like she was enjoying my fear and confusion. “Oh honey, you’ll find out soon enough what I mean. After you come along with me.”

“What do you want with me?” The Light Energy beat strongly, giving me confidence, easing some of the fear I felt. If the demon bitch came any closer, I decided, she was getting it.

“I ask myself the same thing,” the demon said in a scathing tone. “Why is the boss bothering with a bunch of whiny little Nephilim kids? I mean, are his own progeny not good enough?” She stood as if waiting for me to answer. When I said nothing, she shook her head in disdain. “Orders are orders, I guess. You’re coming with us, you little bitch.”

“Us?” I looked around and saw no one else.

“I brought company.” Just then two more demons appeared, two men, standing either side of the woman. They both regarded me with dark, serious faces, red eyes glowering at me. Whatever confidence I had quickly faded when the other two came on the scene. “There’ll be no getting away this time.”
Shit, shit, shit.
“Bring her to me.”

The two demon lackeys came towards me. I thought about running.

What good would it do? They’ll just teleport themselves right in front of me as they had a habit of doing
.

I’d have to fight my way past them so I could get to the cabin, a prospect I wasn’t looking forward to. If I got inside the cabin though, I’d be safe. Frank had the place warded against demons. There were magic symbols carved into the outside of the cabin, specifically designed to repel any demon who might want to enter.

The Light Energy pulsated, the light being straining inside of me. I’d never felt so on edge as the two demons seemed to take an age to get close to me. One of them was slightly closer than the other so that’s who I hit first, sending my fist flying towards his chest. The demon was caught unawares. I don’t think they expected me to fight back. My fist connected with his chest and white light exploded, sending the demon flying back about six feet into the trees.

It worked!

The other demon grabbed my arm tight before I could turn to face him so I leant forward and kicked back, hitting him in the stomach, forcing him to release my arm, then I turned and hit him square in the face, hearing his nose crack beneath my fist. I was about to hit him again when I felt two incredibly strong arms wrap themselves around me like steel bands. “You’ve been training,” the woman demon said as she held me without effort, despite my attempts to struggle out of her grip. “Though obviously not enough. Time to go.”

Just then I heard something come crashing through a patch of scrub and I saw Bane, his teeth bared, a deep growl in his throat. I leaned to the side as the big dog launched himself into the air, crashing into the demon who held me. The demon cried out in surprise and her arms fell from me as Bane crashed down on top of her, snarling and biting at her face and throat.

I didn’t waste time. I ran for the cabin.

I was almost near the front door when I heard a loud high pitched cry and I skidded to a halt and looked round.

No
.

It was Bane who made the cry. The woman demon stood by the edge of the woods, holding Bane by the throat with one hand as the dog bucked wildly in her grip. The demon smiled at me as she plunged her hand into the dog’s stomach and pulled all its intestines out. “No!” I cried.

The bitch tossed the dog away like a sack of rubbish and I turned and ran into the cabin before the demon could teleport anywhere near me. I slammed the door, tears streaming down my face, the horror of seeing Bane’s death causing bile to rise in my stomach.

I jumped at a loud thump on the front door. “You can’t hide in there forever, Leia,” the woman demon sang from outside. “We’ll be waiting for you when you come out.” Another loud thump on the door and then silence. I stood with my back to the door, breathing hard, my face wet with tears.

Keep it together, Leia
.

I ran to my bedroom and took one of the Glocks from the bag, along with the demon killing knife, then I ran back to the living room and stood and listened, trying to control my breathing, gun in one hand, knife in the other.

I couldn’t hear anything except my own heart pounding. I stood for a long time listening before I moved through the rest of the cabin, looking out the windows, seeing nothing but darkness and my own scared reflection in the glass.

Then I heard a car pull up outside.

Frank
.

I ran to the living room. Taking no chances, I aimed the Glock at the front door.

“What the hell?” Frank said as he came through the door, stopping when he saw I had a gun trained on him.

“Frank.” I lowered the gun and breathed a sigh of relief as I ran towards him and threw my arms around him.

Frank stood stiffly for a moment while I gripped him tight before prying me off of him, holding my arms. “Leia, what’s happened? Tell me.”

“Demons were here,” I said in a strained voice. “In the woods. Three of them.”

Frank let go of me and went to the window. “When?”

“Not long ago. I managed to get away, make it back here.”

“Did they hurt you?”

I shook my head.

He looked around the cabin. “Where’s Bane?”

My bottom lip quivered as I stared at him, unable to bring myself to tell him his dog was dead. But I didn’t have to. He knew by my expression that something had happened. “God damn it!” he said.

“I’m sorry.”

Frank went to the kitchen and poured himself a glass of bourbon. “What happened?” His voice was tense as he tried to keep himself in check.

“He saved me, Frank. The demon, it had me and Bane just jumped on it so I could get away. Oh God…” I had a hand to my mouth as an image of the demon disemboweling Bane flashed in my mind. “I’m sorry. There was nothing I could do.”

“It’s not your fault,” he said, pouring himself another drink.

“It is though. I brought the demons here. They’re after me for some…fucking reason, I don’t know why. I’ll leave now before they come back.” I went to walk to the bedroom to get my stuff.

“Hey, hey,” Frank said as he rushed after me, grabbing me gently by the arm. “What are you talking about? I don’t want you to leave. I said I’d help you, remember?”

“But I’ve been nothing but trouble since I got here.” I was blubbering now, despite myself.

Frank pulled me to him and held me in his arms. “You’ve just had a scare, that’s all. You’re in shock. Take a drink, calm yourself down.” He guided me to the kitchen where he poured me a bourbon, which I only took a sip of before cradling the glass in my hands, staring at the amber liquid within like it was going to reveal the answers to all my problems.

“The demon mentioned Josh,” I said when I’d gotten a hold of myself. “Said he was being taken care of and that he was one of them now, whatever that meant.”

“It said that?”

“Yeah, any idea what it means? Have they brainwashed him or something?”

Frank shook his head. “I dunno.”

“At least that means he’s alive, right?”

He nodded. “I’ve been asking around all day. No one knows anything, or if they do they aren’t saying, which I think is more the case. Whoever has Josh and the others has really put the squeeze on the demon fraternity in the city. Whatever plans are afoot, they don’t want them known.”

“So we’re no farther along then?”

“I still have one more contact. If anyone knows what’s happening, it’ll be him. You can come with me tomorrow while I meet him.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

Frank drained his glass, slammed it on the work top. “What they do with my dog?”

“He’s by the edge of the trees. You’re not going out there, are you?”

“Damned right I am. I’m going to get my dog.” He walked past me, grim faced.

“What if the demons are still there?”

Frank paused by the front door, cold aggression in his eyes. He could barely contain his anger. “Then I’ll kill them,” he said before slamming the door behind him.

Chapter 11

After another restless night’s sleep, I awoke to find Frank out the back of the cabin. He was digging a hole in the ground near the edge of the pine trees—a grave. Beside him was Bane’s body wrapped in a blanket. I went out just as Frank was lowering him into the hole. “Sons a bitches,” he said as we stood looking down at the bundle in the earth. “I loved that dog.”