Nightbringer (27 page)

Breathing heavily, Cassius waited for his head—his vision— to clear. He only hoped Jaqual did not know the true effectiveness of this power that reduced his mind to vision upon vision.

“No,” Jaqual muttered, contemptuous. “Don’t listen to me—to one who was there!” He pointed at Cassius like a judge pronouncing doom. “You knew as well as I did what He truly was, Cassius! The Son of God! And we
both
condemned Him! We
both
killed Him! But then … then after you nailed Him to the tree you began to hunt us! His brothers!”

“
You were never His brother!”

Jaqual erupted to his feet. “
What do you know of celestial might!”

“
I know this world was given to man!” Cassius shook his head to reinforce. “You have no place here …”

Jaqual
took a single step, fangs savagely separating in a thunderous snarl. The hair on his head rose like hackles.

“
And you do?” he barked. “What made you immortal, Centurion? Was it not an accident! His blood
accidentally
touched yours and you were fated to live until you were killed by force! But if the Nazarene wanted you to live forever, would He not have lifted you above death as He lifted Elijah?” Jaqual’s aspect would have condemned even Moses. “Even your immortality is damned, Cassius! Can’t you see that? Can’t you see? You are a casualty of war! You are an abortion of God’s plan for man!”

Jaqual
’s eyes glowed—the truest monarch of hell. Then his fingers spread, palm uplifted, and curled like talons, crushing Man’s mind –
Man’s world
.

“
Yes!” Jaqual hissed. “Remember your guilt!”

Thunder was the world, and the rain was hot and then ice and Cassius fell to his knees. Whatever he had known, whatever he had decided, whatever he had hoped or dreamed or believed was insignificant now.

Cassius shouted in fear, unable to contain his fear to silence and his soldiers turned in confusion, but he did not care. He was not the greatest authority upon this hill—this hill that never seemed more like a skull than it did in this moment. Quickly, though the quickness did not reduce his horror, Cassius strode across the mud-slick mound, knowing he was shouting something that his men did not understand— something he did not understand.

Cassius gazed over the minions collapsing in hundreds upon hills that merged with ice that slashed in sheets until the hundreds and the hills disappeared into storm.

Mouth open in shock, eyes hot with tears, Cassius raised his face to the crucifix …

“
Cassius
!
He’s in your mind! Fight him
!”

Gina was staggering forward and Cassius shouted as he whirled. He
’d dropped into a crouch, the spear lifted. Then he remembered and spun toward the altar to see that Jaqual had stepped from the dais—an electrifying threat.

Catlike and poised, the Nephilim began circling.
“You believe you are strong, Centurion. But I will show you strength. I slaughtered a thousand of your kind a day at Jerusalem—at Carthage, at Askelon. Until even I tired of the blood.”

Gasping, Cassius blinked. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and gritted his teeth.
“There is an end to all strength,” he said after a moment. “Even yours.”

“
You know nothing of strength, Cassius. You have known and fought Nephilim that were only distant descendants of we who began to spread our father’s seed on this doomed planet— faint reflections, thin images, pathetic champions.”

In the short space, Cassius had recovered.
“Yes, I remember great Raphia.” He nodded long. “Yes, great Raphia who was brought down by Yahweh with a small stone hurled by a shepherd boy who became king!” He signed, “ I will always remember
my son
.”

Cassius
’ lips opened partly in shock, but he had been here before—hearing secrets that shifted everything the world seemed to be, secrets not even he could have guessed. Then he exerted discipline gained across centuries and blew drops of sweat from his lips. “Man is Lord of the Earth, beast, and not your kind. This was
never
intended to be your world.”

Jaqual
’s bark was sharp with spite. “Yes! That explains why I have killed a hundred thousand of your kind! Because your Yahweh is so great! Because this world belongs to Man! Well, centurion, if this world belongs to Man, then why can’t Man defend his world? Why did your God give
me
the power to kill you kind like worms?”

Cassius frowned.
“You haven’t killed me.”

Scowling, Jaqual ceased to circle.

His scowl deepened as he glanced at the tapestry of the Nephilim fighting the Roman soldiers. Yes, the creature appeared to be victorious but its true end was unknown. The Nephilim’s mouth was a hard line as he stared once more upon Cassius. His words required reluctant resolution.

“
Let me pass,” Jaqual said bitterly. He waited for Cassius to answer but Cassius didn’t say a word.

With a growl J
aqual stepped forward and his cloak swelled to the limit of what it could contain, threatening with monstrous strength in the same way a man threatened with an unsheathed sword.

“
I know you will not break your oath,” Jaqual added coldly. “So grant me safe passage, and I will let the woman and her children live. Even more! I swear that none of my kind will ever harm them!” He searched Cassius’ gaze. “Consider my words, Cassius! This does not have to end in death! We have always existed! We can continue to exist!”

Fangs bared, Jaqual took a single step.
“Do you truly believe you can eradicate evil from the world, Great Centurion? Evil has always existed and always shall! It is foolish to rage against a balance that will only be decided with the Nazarene’s return!”

From the divan Rachel spoke in horror,
“There’s more of them?”

“
Cassius knows I am not the last,” Jaqual whispered.

Revealing nothing, Cassius looked to Gina. Her face was a kaleidoscope of emotion. Then he looked to the divan as Josh plainly shook his head, silently mouthing,
“No!’

A thin smile creased Cassius
’ face, then faded as he looked to the Nephilim once more. “And how many more of their kind must die so you can live?”

Jaqual blinked, as if the question were insane.
“Does it matter?”

Cassius nodded
, “Yeah. It matters.”

For a long moment Jaqual stood in silence. Obviously, he was half-hoping for compromise. Then he seemed to reconcile himself to the bitter alternative and began to circle.

“Then you must die,” he rasped.

Cassius remembered the vision in the cavern and knew without doubt that it had been more than a vision.
“The dead are better off than I am today,” he said quietly.

“
Because they are with Him?” Jaqual crushed the comment with contempt. “If that is true, Centurion, then why have you cheated death for so long? Tricked it! Defeated it in war after war! You could have ended it any time you wished!”

“
I’m a soldier,” Cassius said wearily.

“
You’re a murderer!” Jaqual’s force of will erupted like the wrath of a god. “Look! There is blood on your hands!” He flung out an arm toward the storm. “Listen! The blood of Jesus cries to you from the earth! I can hear it!” He pointed. “You are guilty!”

“The Judge of All the Earth can choose between us.”

The answer hurled ice into Jaqual
’s burning visage. “My last words, Cassius. Join me or die.”

“
Everybody dies,” Cassius said. “Once.”

Both ceased to move.

“Yes,” Jaqual growled. “Even you!”

In a split second Jaqual
’s clothes exploded into shreds, and he towered a foot above Cassius. His bear-like body was the purest white—white fangs, white claws, fur, and face. Only his eyes were blood-red. His tremendous tusks clicked in a shuddering snarl. He casually flexed long, knobbed fingers and his white claws cracked like gunshots.

Cassius had fallen into a crouch, spear lifted.

Sinews within Jaqual’s gargantuan chest and arms rose beneath the white skin even more until they seemed like thick steel cables straining to withstand unbearable stress. The legs were thick, spring-like hooks between enormous thighs and long tapering shins that ended with humanoid feet.

“
Idiot-centurion
!” Jaqual snarled. “
I am the first
!
How will your God save you from me
?”

In a blur of flashing white, Jaqual struck—so beyond human speed or ability to react that Cassius was caught flat-footed. He made a confused effort to evade but he was too late. He was blasted across a display case and onto the floor, where he rolled, stunned and searching before realizing he had lost the spear. He ripped out the gladius as Jaqual grasped the broken display and sent it spinning into the Hall. The huge white beast strode through the ruin like it was the ruin of a
damned and decimated nation.

Cassius fell back, gladius in his right hand
. He lifted his left hand to double his chances of parrying a blow.

With a single blow Jaqual had put him totally on the defensive.

Cassius knew he had to attack quickly or die because a defensive position was ultimately doomed. The only hope in this fight—in any fight—was to attack. Then he was defensive again as Jaqual roared with a rage that engulfed the stars and the beast surged in to strike.

Cassius saw it this time.

The Nephilim’s arm withdrew deeply to its left and locked in a hook to sweep in with long white claws intended to tear off Cassius’ head or rip open his chest. The best counter, Cassius knew by reflex, was to leap inside the blow and hook the elbow with his left arm, imprisoning it.

He leaped as Jaqual leaned into the blow. Instantly the arm swept in, and Cassius hooked it and stabbed upward with the gladius, trying for the neck. But Jaqual was twice as fast or faster and caught Cassius
’ right wrist, crushing it with the force of a steel vise.

Cassius bellowed in pain, aware of the wide gaping fangs that hovered before his face. He saw the hellish joy in the red eyes and strained savagely to tear his wrist from Jaqual
’s right hand but he couldn’t break the grip so he spun volcanically to his left, taking Jaqual to the floor.

They hit hard but Jaqual
’s body absorbed the force of the impact and the grip lessened for only a fraction. It was enough. Cassius jerked his forearm down, twisting against Jaqual’s thumb, the weakest part of his grip, and the claws scraped furrows across Cassius’ bones. Ignoring the agony, Cassius rolled to gain distance and slashed as he rose but Jaqual wasn’t there.

Rising slowly, laughing, the mightiest Nephilim regarded the centurion as if he were mere sport.
“I overestimated you, Cassius.” He smiled as he shook his head. “No, you are not so strong … Or perhaps Raphael’s life sacrifice was not in vain?”

As Jaqual walked slowly forward, seemingly willing to make the battle last all night, Cassius circled quickly to his right, trying to stay between Jaqual and the others. It was strange that even in the midst of his greatest battle
that he would be worried for others instead of concentrating on the task at hand but Cassius didn’t question anything now.

He saw that Gina and the children were still beside the altar but they were shifting ground to avoid the greatest chaos of the battle. And Cassius knew the one place in the room
where Jaqual would have to meet him—a place that would give Gina and her kids a safe path to the door.

With five strides Cassius leaped to land upon the dais supporting the two gigantic pillars that held the domed ceiling. He cast the gladius aside as he spun back toward Jaqual, instantly placing a palm against each pillar.

Jaqual frowned. If he was frightened, he did not reveal it. He stalked toward the dais, fingers clenching and unclenching.

With a roar Cassius pushed, surging, his entire being in his arms, but it was like pressing a house off his chest. Neither column budged, but then Cassius thought he glimpsed the chalklike dust cascade past his face. He groaned, leaning into the—

“
It’s been done, Centurion
!”

Jaqual
’s hurtling leap propelled him the final thirty feet through midair, and he collided like a mountain against Cassius, who was blasted completely from the dais. Even before they landed they were spinning in a frantic intertwining of arms, wresting to a crippling grip, each trying to gain any advantage and then they crashed onto the floor.

Jaqual gained his feet and twisted angrily to send Cassius crashing into a marble statue that shattered like ancient pottery. Amid raining shards of white, Cassius covered his head and then rose, gasping.

Motionless, Jaqual relished the moment.