Oblivion (The Watcher Chronicles #3) (5 page)

“Can I ask you something?” I ask, needing clarification about a couple of things that were said.

“You know you can ask me anything.”

“What did you mean by our reality is the Origin?  What’s the Origin?”

“We come from the first of everything:  the first universe.  In Heaven, it’s called the Origin.  All of the other realities branch off from what happens in the first universe.  Think of the different realities like a tree.  We’re the trunk and every different reality is a branch sprouting off of that trunk.  Each of those branches sprout smaller branches.  Each branch is a different reality.  The events that happen in our reality end up causing a ripple effect on all the other realities, like a pebble dropped in a pool of water.  We’re the pebble.”

There’s an urgent pounding on the other side of the metal door in the room.

Brand hurriedly walks over and opens it.

“Brand, I need your help,” a male voice says, filled with desperation.  “She did it again!  Could you
please
talk to her?  She won’t listen to me but maybe she’ll listen to you.”

“I can try Remy but I’m not sure it will do much good.  Why don’t you come in and get some coffee?  Maybe we can figure out a way to stop her from burning down half the city.”

The man Brand was talking to steps into the room and I’m able to see him clearly for the first time.

Surrounding him is a golden glow just like the one my father has.

When our eyes meet, he seems startled by my presence.  He’s a tall man with bushy brown hair and a shaggy matching beard and mustache, which both look in need of a good trim and wash.  He’s wearing wire rimmed glasses which are smudged with fingerprints. I’m not even sure how he can see out of them.

Remy smiles with delight as he bounds down the steps and walks up to me like he’s going to rush me.  I automatically stand preparing to defend myself. But, instead of attacking me, he gives me a big bear hug like we’re long lost friends.

He pulls away from me and I see the excitement in his eyes as he asks, “Did God send you to bring us home?”

Chapter 4

I know what the man is, a Guardian from The Treasury of Souls like my father, but I don’t understand why he’s here.

“Us who?” I ask.  “And what the hell are you doing here?  You shouldn’t even be in this reality.”

The man named Remy looks confused.  “God didn’t send you to get us?  But you’re a vessel right?”

I gently push Remy to arms length away from me.

“Yes, I am,” I answer.  “But no, God didn’t say ‘by the way could you pick up the lost Guardian that’s in the reality you’re going to’.  Sorry, I didn’t get that memo.”

“Then why else are you here?”

“I’m here to get my sister.  Why are you here?”

“The vessel I was sent to protect was transported here.  I came with her.”

“Leah’s a vessel of an archangel?” Brand asks, apparently hearing all this for the first time.

“Why is she here?” I ask.  “She’s supposed to be in my reality.”

“Long story that,” Remy says, scratching his beard nervously.  “But I’ll give you the cliff notes version.  Her mother is the one who actually came through the Tear.  She just happened to be pregnant with Leah at the time.”

Remy grabs me by the arms, desperation in his eyes.  “You have to take her back with you.”

“Could you stop touching me?” I ask, gently removing my arms from Remy’s hold.  “I’m not exactly a touchy feely kind of person with strangers.”

“Oh, sorry,” Remy says, stuffing his hands in the pockets of the threadbare brown coat he’s wearing.  “But Leah needs to go back.  She doesn’t belong here.  She never has.”

“Where is she?” I ask.

“Back in our room sulking because I yelled at her.”

“What did she do this time?” Brand asks.

“Burnt down another abandoned Watcher complex.”

“She
does
realize she’s just doing them a favor right?” Brand asks.  “Saves them the hassle of completely demolishing the buildings themselves.”

Remy turns to me.  “Her power is partially awakened.”

“How?”

“A Watcher attacked her and she used it on him a week or so ago.  Now she feels like she’s invincible.  You have to take her back to your Earth before she gets herself into trouble here.”

“What is her power?”

“Fire.”

“Yeah, that’s not telling me much, Remy.  Explain.”

“She’s able to conjure a flame in the palm of her hand.  Now she’s going around setting everything on fire like some pyromaniac.”

“I need to see her,” I say.

“Come with me.”

Mason comes to my side and takes my hand as we follow Remy out of the room.  I’m faintly aware of Brand following behind us.

Remy walks rather quickly down the concrete hallway for someone his size.  His urgent gate makes me feel like I’m in a race against time.  He opens one of the many grey metal doors which branch off the corridor and stands completely still in the doorway.

I hear him curse and find myself surprised an angel has that particular four letter word so readily available in his vocabulary.

“What’s the matter Remy?” Brand asks.

“She’s gone!  Damn it, damn it, damn it!  I knew I shouldn’t have left her alone.”

“Calm down,” Brand says, his voice soothing.  “Let me go speak with Josh.  He’ll probably know where she is.”  Brand looks at me and Mason.  “I’ll be right back.”

After Brand phases, Remy huffs and crosses his arms in front of him.  “That girl has been nothing but trouble since the day she was born.”

I feel my temper flare.

“You made her,” I remind him.  “Why don’t you look at yourself before cursing her again?  And for god’s sake stop cussing so much!  You’re not setting a very good example.  You’re supposed to be an angel not a foul mouthed heathen.  Leave that to us humans.”

Remy sighs and lets his arms fall to his sides.

“I just love Leah too much is all,” he says.  “Ever since her mother left her with me, I’ve tried my best to raise her but I just wasn’t cut out to be a father.”

I have to agree with Remy on that point.  From what I’ve seen so far, he is not what I call father material.

“What do you mean her mother left her?” I ask.

“As soon as Leah’s mother gave birth, she just up and left us.  We haven’t seen her since.  It didn’t help that we ended up being transported to a planet where the Watchers had taken everything over.  I’ve tried to keep us under their radar for the past few years, moving from sector to sector.  When I caught up with Brand and his renegade angels, I hoped she would straighten up her act.  I thought it was working up until she awakened her powers.  Now she thinks she can do anything she wants.  It’s going to get her killed!”

Brand reappears with Josh at his side.

“Josh thinks he might know where Leah is,” Brand tells us.

“Yeah, she was talking about checking out that Watcher supply depot on Hemingway Street,” Josh tells us. “If I were to bet, I would say she went there to blow it up.”

“It’s not far.  She might even already be there,” Brand informs us.  “Remy and Josh, you stay here in case she comes back.”

Brand holds out his hands to Mason and me.  He phases us and we find ourselves standing on a lonely deserted street in what looks like a not so good part of town.  My eyes are drawn to a lone figure standing a couple of hundred feet down the sidewalk from where we are.  The blustery wind blows Leah’s long dark hair behind her giving her figure a ghostly appearance.  I know it’s Leah without even having to see her face because I instantly feel our archangel connection to one another ignite.  She turns in my direction and I know she feels it too.

“Would the two of you mind staying here?” I ask Brand and Mason.  “I need to speak with her alone.”

“We’ll be here if you need us,” Mason tells me, squeezing my hand before letting it go.

I walk over to Leah feeling our bond grow stronger the closer I get to her.  When I reach her, I see the face of the beautiful oriental girl from my vision.  She’s wearing the same old green coat and threadbare green knit cap.  Her long black hair floats around her on the current of the wind giving her beauty an ethereal quality.  Her face isn’t streaked with soot this time but tears.  Before I know it, she’s in my arms crying on my shoulder.  I just hold her to me, content in the fact that she feels safe with me.

“You came for me,” she cries.  “I didn’t think you would.”

I’m not sure if it’s the right time to tell her I didn’t even know she existed in this reality up until a few minutes ago and decide to keep that small fact to myself for the time being. 

“I’m here to take you home,” I tell her instead.

It’s the truth.  Nothing in my life has ever happened without a reason.  It’s now clear to me that Faison went through the Tear to force me to follow her and find the fourth vessel who, unbeknownst to any of us, was stranded in this alternate reality.  My destiny had struck again but this time it took a life to correct its own course.

Had John Austin been a necessary sacrifice in the fight with Lucifer?  Or had his death already been preordained and it was just a coincidence that he died right before the Tear opened to this alternate Earth?  An Earth which just happened to contain one of the archangel vessels?  Seems like too much of a coincidence for me to believe God didn’t have a hand in his death to force me to come here.  I make a mental note to bring it up with Him the next time we see each other.

Spent of her tears, Leah raises her head from my shoulder and looks at me.  I loosen my hold of her so she can wipe the wetness from her cheeks.

“Remy always said when the time was right someone would come for us,” she tells me.  “When I got my powers, I knew it wouldn’t be too much longer.  I’m ready to go.”

“We have to get someone else too while we’re here.”

“Who else would be here that you know?”

“My sister came through the Tear tonight.  I need to find her and bring her back home with us.”

“Your sister?” Leah asks, instantly realizing why I’m actually here.  “You came here to get her not me.”

“I was sent here to get both of you,” I tell her.  “How I came to be here is irrelevant.  We’ve been looking for you, Leah.  If I hadn’t followed Faison here, we would have never found you.”

“We?”

“You’re the fourth archangel vessel I’ve found.  We saw you in a vision earlier tonight.  You were burning down a Watcher owned building.  In the vision you heard sirens and ran down a street to get away from them.  Honestly, I think you’re the whole reason I was brought here.”

“Then God
did
send you?”

“Yes, he opened the Tear so only Mason and I could go through.  He’ll open the Tear again when it’s time for us all to go home.”

“Then we need to find your sister,” Leah says with conviction.  “If He only meant for you to find me, the Tear would be opening.  He must want you to find her too.”

“I hope you’re right,” I say, wondering to myself how hard it will be to get Faison to agree to come home with me.

“Well, well, well, who do we have here?”

I look over Leah’s shoulder and see Lucifer standing a short distance behind her.  I know it’s him because he looks just the same here as he does in my reality.

Instinctively, I draw my sword and place myself between Lucifer and Leah.

I hear the sound of running behind us and know Mason and Brand are heading to our location.  Lucifer looks over my shoulder and smiles.  Almost instantly the running stops and I hear cries of pain.

I point my sword towards Lucifer. 

“Stop torturing them,” I tell him.  I feel like a mother telling her son to stop using a magnifying glass to burn ants with the sun’s rays just to see what will happen to them.  

“Who are you?” Lucifer asks, completely ignoring what I said.

“No one you need to know,” I tell him.  “Now… let… them…go.”

“No, I don’t believe I will.  Not until you at least tell me your name.”

I feel like just stabbing Lucifer in the chest with my sword but have no idea if it will even faze him.  Odds are it will just piss him off.

“Jess.”

“Jess what?”

“Jessica Michelle Riley.  Need to know anything else?” I ask not hiding my growing irritation.

Lucifer smiles and I know that’s not a good sign.

“Why aren’t you cowering in my presence?” He asks, eyeing me up and down.  “Most human’s do, unless I’m working my charms on them, though I mostly only do that to the females I want in my bed.”

I realize I’m having the same conversation with this Lucifer as I did with the one on my Earth once upon a time.

“Listen, I really don’t feel like having this conversation twice in my life.  I’ve already had it with the Lucifer on my Earth.  It’s getting kind of old.”

“So you
are
the agent Malcolm had in custody.  He said he wasn’t sure how you escaped.”  Lucifer smiles.  “I’m not sure why he thought he could lie to me, but I think I made it crystal clear to him before I left his apartment this evening that it’s never a good idea.”

“What did you do to him?”

“I don’t believe that’s any of your concern, Jessica.  Though, I did get some interesting information from him before he blacked out from the pain.  He mentioned a sister…”

I remain silent.  Do I admit I have a sister or not?  He seems to be baiting me.  I decide to not say anything and see where he leads this conversation.

“Faison isn’t it?” Lucifer says.

Crap.  He does know about her.

“She doesn’t seem to like it here much,” he comments dryly.  “I assume you followed her here to take her back home?”

I try to remain calm.

“What do you want?” I ask him.

“A simple conversation in private, nothing more.”

“And after this simple conversation?”

“I promise to let you go.”

“Do you keep your promises?”

“Sometimes,” Lucifer says, smiling grimly.

“Don’t trust him,” Leah advises me.

“I never have,” I tell her, lowering my sword.  “Fine.  We can talk if that’s what you want.  Then I want my sister back.”

“We’ll see,” Lucifer says.  “It all depends on you, Jessica.”