The Seer's Lover (The Seven Archangels Series) (37 page)

“But I don’t forgive myself.”

A flash of light blinded them.

“You?” said Lucas, staring at what looked to Calise like the flickering white lights of a Christmas tree, without the tree. “What’s the matter?”

“Oh, great, you can see me this time. Hello, Lucas,” said a voice. “Sorry to bust up this nice family time, but we’ve got to vamoose. Word is out that Liza ascended, and the troops are on their way. We need to get you humans out of here, and fast.”

Calise only saw star-like sparks of light dancing around the room. “Lucas, what’s going on? Who is talking, and what are those lights?”

“It’s fine, Calise. An angel of virtue is here. Cute anagram, by the way. Mr. Rut Vie can be rearranged to ‘virtue’. Thanks for the help at the airport.”

“No problem,” the voice answered.

Lucas continued. “We better get out of here.” He stood up and took Calise’s hand.

“Why can’t I see anything except sparks?” she asked.

The angel answered. “It’s kind of like the first time a person skydives. Sensory overload and you blackout. When you wake up, the parachute is above you. It only happens the first time; it’s one of your human mind’s wonderful defense mechanisms. Next time, you’ll be able to see me. I cannot help you in this fight with any miracles, but remember you have the most powerful weapon for this battle already at your disposal.”

The sparks disappeared by the time they reached the front door of the orphanage. “What’s an angel of virtue?”

“There are nine orders of angels. Virtues are from the second sphere in angel hierarchy—they govern heaven,” said Lucas.

“Why was she here?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but Virtues, generally only appear when you need inspiration or a miracle. I hope we don’t need either.” He squeezed her hand and kept moving.

They found Ellen and Dean huddled together under a window in the foyer. “Stay down,” Ellen whispered.

Lucas peered through a window. Dozens of red eyes stared back at him.

They were surrounded.

****

Lucas only needed a few more peeks to assess the situation. The snow-covered field surrounded by conifers and backed by white-capped hills would have been pretty in another life. But not here. Not now.

In what should have been a playground for the orphans, were dozens of demon-strated demons. Leathery, pea colored, snarling forked-tongued creatures with glowing red eyes smacked the ground. Some already scuffled with each other.

“Looks like about three dozen awaiting orders. Ellen?”

The angel nodded. “Thirty-three to be exact. They must be under someone’s command who hasn’t given them a go.”

Lucas had fought a few demons before, but nothing like this. Even his arsenal of knives and Ellen backing him up wouldn’t be enough, but he’d die protecting his family. Passing Michael to Cali, he squeezed them both. “We didn’t make it this far for nothing. Dean, take Cali and Michael back to Liza’s bedroom and bolt the door,” Lucas instructed.

“Why me? Send Ellen! Look bro, I don’t know what the devil those things are—well, they look like devils actually—but I’m the one with the Beretta and two extra mags, and you have enough knives on you to carve through the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. I’m staying.” Dean chambered a round and cracked his neck.

Ellen rolled her eyes. “Men. But seriously Lucas, I don’t see how this will end well.”

First thing first. He swept Cali into his arms and kissed her. She tasted like heaven. “I love you, my song. Now go.”

“You can do this Lucas. I believe in you my soul mate.” The heat of her strength and love coursed through him. With one last kiss, she slipped away.

****

Cali rounded the first corridor when she heard the shatter of glass behind her. Over her shoulder, three demons slithered through a broken window in pursuit. She broke into a sprint clutching Michael. Forked tongues lapped at her ankles. She tripped to one knee but got up and kept going.

“You can run seer. But you can’t hide.” They laughed.

Liza’s room was close. She could see the door.

She practically dove inside and swung around to pull the door shut when a claw reached through and grabbed her arm. The fiend’s acidic, slimy green breath hovered inches away. The three sets of red eyes all sent snake-like extensions through the door, gripping her one free arm tighter and tighter.

She pulled as hard as she could with one hand, juggling Michael in the other.

She couldn’t hold on. Was this how it would end? After everything she’d been through?

She locked eyes with Michael. “Give me strength,” she whispered.

He closed one eye. Was he winking? Then his eyes began to glow pure white radiance and his tiny body sent a warm wave of energy into her arm that swept through her whole body. It gave her power. In a burst, she rammed the door shut crunching their bodies and slicing off arms in the process. She slid the bolt to lock the door.

Sinking to the ground shaking, she rocked to and fro with Michael. What remained of the demons hissed, cussed and pounded on the door. “Keep Lucas safe,” she prayed. “Keep them all safe.”

****

Lucas watched helplessly as three demons smashed through the window to chase Cali and Michael. He turned in pursuit.

Ellen held him in place. “She is safe. I can feel it. And you are more help here. Dean and I can’t take them without you.”

Lucas wanted to believe Ellen was right, but how many times had he left Cali alone and unprotected, just as Shane had accused him of doing? What if this time, she couldn’t protect herself? He wanted to be with her right now, and save her, yet she’d escaped Nara and protected Michael without him. Ellen was right; she was one tough cookie.

“Let’s do this.” Lucas carefully extracted two Bowie knives and Dean cocked his gun. “Wait,” he said extracting a vial of liquid from around his neck. “Give me all your mags.”

Dean handed over his two spares and popped the clip out of this gun. Lucas doused each mag allowing the liquid to swirl through each round.

“What’s that stuff?” Dean asked.

Lucas flashed a glance at Ellen and she nodded. “Believe me or not, but those,” he said, pointing, “
are
really demons—like, from hell itself. And now your bullets are dipped in the myrrh and aloe my family has guarded for centuries because it was used to prepare Jesus’ body for burial. It’ll vanquish any demon it touches.”

Dean raised his eyebrows. “Sure, Lucas. Why don’t we deal with the human assholes coming up the front steps now, and you can try to convert me later?”

The two pairs of red eyes before him hitched his breath—Paymon and Nicor from Costa Rica.

Lucas opened the front door wide and stepped outside hearing Marla’s cries on the beach as if it were yesterday. Ellen stood calmly between him and Dean. “These two are mine.”

Ellen placed a hand on each of their shoulders. “God be with you.” Lucas opened himself up to the angel, letting her heat enter him as strength and courage. Glowing brighter than the sun-glistened snow, she launched into a high backwards flip that landed her directly in the middle of the demons. Her blurred high speed fighting opened a small circle around her.

“Yeah, I can see how she’d be useful.” Dean chambered a round.

“Hello, boys. Remember us, seer? I guess you don’t have any horses or dogs to help you out this time, do you?” Paymon sneered, his balding head reflecting the moonlight and his red eyes blazing. “We moved up in the world after we passed on our information about where you were. Abaddon paid us richly, and now we lead one of his armies. Damn, it’s going to fun watching you die.”

Lucas flipped his Bowie knives in his hand and took a step forward.

“Sounds like you two need a one way ticket home,” Dean said, firing his gun at Nicor’s heart. The demon vanished in a cloud of black smoke. “I’m converted!” Dean yelled as he leapt down the steps into the fray. Bang. Pop. Bang. Pop. Bang. Pop. He emptied his first clip, evaporating every demon in his path. He reached Ellen unscathed.

Paymon stared dumbfounded at the ground where his son had stood moments before.

“What’s the matter…” Lucas chided while edging closer, “…afraid there won’t be a pit party when you get home?” His Bowies struck with deadly precision. He twisted the weapons in Paymon’s gut. “That’s for Marla, you dick.” Poof. The demon vanished, along with his knives.

He charged forward withdrawing more myrrh and aloe dipped knives. With the two Bowie’s gone, that left him with ten throwing knives in his forearm straps, six fighting blades in his suspenders, two Tantos on his ankles and his pair of Wakizashi short swords on his back.

Throwing knives first. He landed throws between their eyes, straight in the thorax, and most in the chest. Each knife and demon disappeared back to Lucifer on impact.

To get to Ellen and Dean, he sliced with his fixed blades. He slashed open a carotid that spewed blood before the demon melted. Base of skull. Poof. Into the shoulder. Poof. Lucas saw the whole thing in slow motion. A demon advanced. He countered with a block and an attack using his tuned senses to predict their oncoming strike. Years of training not forgotten.

A swiping claw from a demon met his block from one hand and a stab to the throat with his other. A tail around his feet met a jump and a slash to the leg.

One after another, the demons vanished. Shouts. More rounds fired.

Lucas was the opposite of most people. He ran toward danger now. After a life of hiding from it, at last Lucas knew who he was. He was a warrior with honor who would give his own life if it meant saving another. He wasn’t proud of himself. No time for anything but complete humility.

His last fixed blade disintegrated with a demon. His fingers were almost wrapped around the Wakizashi swords on his back when a demon tripped him from behind. Lucas found himself on the ground getting pummeled with kicks from hooves like a steed kicking off his farrier. Ignoring the blinding pain, he curled into a ball to extract the Tanto knives attached to his ankles. He sliced the Achilles of the two on either side of him before they could deliver their next kick. Pop. Pop.

Before him, a howling demon galloped and leapt in the air, his pointed black teeth lusting for a seer’s blood. Lucas raised his knives up to cover his face.

Bang!

Where his knives would have sliced into the oncoming beast, they pierced nothing but air. Lucas rolled over and leapt to his feet.

Dean gave him a nod.

“Thanks, man,” Lucas said.

“That was my last shot. Got any other great ideas?” Panic blanketed his face.

“Duck,” Lucas cried.

Dean hit the snow, and Lucas threw both Tantos at the two fiends about to consume his brother-in-law.

“Shit,” Lucas swore, “that was close.” He slid out the Wakizashis, handing one to Dean. They turned and pressed their backs together.

Six more demons closed in around them, drooling as they smiled, showing their pointed black teeth. “So this is it?” Dean said.

“Slash, don’t stab.” Two blades versus half a dozen demons. They couldn’t afford to lose yet another weapon to the pit. “Where the hell is Ellen?” Lucas said.

“I don’t know. But this is definitely bad to worse.” Moving back to back, they brandished the swords. Dean made a sweeping slash through the open air nicking Lucas’s calf on his downswing.

“Geez! Be careful.” Warmth and renewed strength seeped through Lucas's veins like steaming coffee on a frigid morning.

A bald demon covered with tattoos of serpents stepped forward. “Aren’t those hot?” the demon hissed.

He looked down at his hands, which now held a red-hot sword as if it had just come out of the forge. The pain of the illusion made his hands sizzle.

Dean yelled, dropping his weapon. The tattooed demon tackled him to the ground. Serpents from the demon’s ink came to life and slithered off his arms enveloping Dean.

After Lucas broke the illusion, he ducked and spun with the blade fully extended as if it were an extension of his own arm. He sliced the bellies of the five fiends before an eye could blink. Grabbing the twin sword, he thrusted them into the tattooed beast crossing the blades then ripping them apart leaving the demon torn in half.

His disembodied pieces melted away in a black fog.

“You okay?” Lucas asked. “How you doing?”

“Living the dream. I mean, nightmare,” Dean managed, then closed his eyes. Another round of demons stepped forward.

Why for every two demons they killed did it seem like three more appeared? Lucas stopped short before launching another attack.
Great ideas? Inspiration? What did the Angel of Virtue say? ‘You have the most powerful weapon already at your disposal.’

Lucas figured it couldn’t hurt. He grabbed his necklace. Angels didn’t inhabit desolated areas. Besides, Ellen would have told him to summon a while ago if she thought it would work.

He felt the immediate effect before he saw it. Like the beat of helicopter rotors over his head. Something approached from the eastern sky hard and fast. The blizzard level wind and swirling snow intermingled to make a hand’s length in front of him impossible to see. The demons scattered.

A winged creature, radiant as the sun, swooped down over the fight, melting the snow with its heat. Wielding an enormous sword from the air above the demons, it swung its weapon with precision.

Blinking to see through the howling storm, Lucas made a dash for Dean who he fireman carried back to the front steps. Was he breathing?

Ellen met them on the steps where she’d been shielding Cali and Michael. The doctor rushed to work on Dean.

Cali sank into his arms, pointing upwards with furrowed eyebrows. Lucas recognized Alejandro—but with some serious mojo and kick-ass wings.

With all the demons lying scattered across the battlefield slaughtered, Alejandro approached,
flying
. He landed with grace at the bottom of the stairs, exuding so much heat that the ground he stood on became verdant green grass. His wings folded neatly behind his back as he reached up and grabbed Lucas's hand warmly. “You rang?”

“Hell, yeah, I rang! Thanks, man. Word on the street was you got smote or something?” Lucas half-heartedly teased. “Looks like instead you got a new mode of transportation.”