Balance (The Divine, Book One) (7 page)

She
pursed her lips, then ran her tongue along her teeth. I waited while she fought
with herself over how much to say.

"You
may not understand how our kind is organized,” she said, “but you will if you
live long enough to learn. I'm from the demonic species nosferatu. In relation
to humans, we are supreme. In the hierarchy of demons however; we are somewhere
near the bottom."

I
understood enough of that to understand that I was screwed. She was calling
herself a weakling, and she could kick my ass three ways to Sunday before I
even saw it coming.

"Have
you considered what will happen to the nosferatu, should this world fall to the
chaos of evil?” she asked.

I hadn't.
I could put two and two together though. "No more food?"

She
nodded. "That's part of the problem, but one that I hope will be overcome.
There are members of the community who have been working on a synthetic."

I
don’t know why, but she tilted her head and sat very still. After ten seconds
or so, she started talking again.

"No,”
she continued. “I believe there is a worse fate that would await us. Once the
humans and the seraphim are gone it will be survival of the fittest, with no
other prey to distract the stronger species. My fear is that nosferatu will be
hunted to extinction. Unfortunately, I'm unique in that perspective. It's the
reason I nest alone." She looked sad. "To answer your question more
succinctly, I want to know all of the players so I can make sure I end up on
the right side. Do you have another question?"

It
didn't sound very loyal to me, but I had a feeling there was more to it than
that. Plus, she had just given me a free question. I had so many, but I wanted
to get right to the point. "Do you want to be on my side?"

She
laughed at me. I don't know why, but the derision was painful. I guess I was
looking for someone to validate my existence, because I felt so outmatched and
uninformed. I could feel the heat rise into my face, turning me beet red. She
stopped laughing, and even looked apologetic.

"I
will not be against you," she said. "Which is more than I can say for
a great deal of the Divine you will come across. I will not be with you either.
Not yet. By the way, do you have a name, or shall I continue calling you
'worm'?"

"Landon,"
I said, feeling sheepish. It was time to change the subject, to get something
with a little more direct substance. "What can you tell me about this
sword?"

 I
held it up with an awkward grip so she could see the symbols running along it.

She
didn't need to see them. "It's a standard issue weapon. There is nothing
special about the materials, but the sigils are written in the original
language of the seraph, and then blessed by a pure angel. You can't kill a
demon without such an instrument."

I
guess the wooden stake thing was a myth. Now I wished I had watched more
Samurai movies when I was a kid. Or at least played a sport, or done something
that would have improved my hand eye coordination. Learning to use a sword was
a tall order, especially since I had nobody to teach me. I was waiting for her
to ask her next question, when she tilted her head again and floated to her
feet.

"We're
out of time, Landon," she told me. "There is a demon coming, a
messenger. He is no threat to you even in your pitiful state. It’s likely they
intercepted the messages being sent between the Touched agents that brought you
here, realized you weren't one of theirs, and sent him to investigate."
She walked over to the window, smashed it with her boot, and leaned out.
"I can't be seen with you, it would mean my end. Good luck, worm."
She jumped, and by the time I got to the window, she was gone.

If I
was going to be receiving visitors, I figured I ought to play it cool. I lay
down on the couch with one arm behind my head, leaving the sword in easy reach
on the floor next to me. Within thirty seconds the demon appeared, a small mass
of leathery flesh and wings that swooped into the room through the window
Rebecca had exited. His beady black eyes caught sight of me, and he landed on
the opposite arm of the couch, his taloned feet digging into the padding. He
was about three feet tall with a stooped humanoid body that rippled with
muscle, and a small elongated snout that shimmered with teeth.

"Master
saysss findsss you, and findssss you I did," he said. His head bobbed back
and forth as he spoke. "Master sayssss 'why is there another demon in my
domain'." His voice rose to an almost comical pitch when he mimicked his
master. His snout quivered as he took in the scents. "I wonderssss…
smellsss like vampiresssss." He looked as if he was deep in thought.
"Now I knowsssss why you are here." He snickered and winked at me.

"Yeah,"
I said.

I
wanted to get him out of here. Even though he was diminutive in stature, he was
still the first demon-looking demon I had ever seen. He could be ten percent
the killer Rebecca was, and I didn't think I would stand much of a chance. Like
the man lying dead on the roof, he seemed to recognize me as a demon, or at
least a Turned.

"You
scared her off," I told him.

He
thought his perceived interruption of our tryst was the funniest thing he had
ever heard. His laughter was like scraping Styrofoam.

"I
thinkssss you wouldn't have liked the afterssss," he said. "I tellsss
the Master why you come, but you needssss to go backssss to your domain. I
thinksss you should thanks me for savingsss…" His head turned, and his
eyes bugged out. He was looking right at the sword.

"Oh
crap," I said, reaching down and grabbing the hilt. I pushed myself up to
my knees and swung it awkwardly at the demon. He bounced skyward, avoiding the
blow.

"Me
doesss notsss understand. Smellsss like
demonsss,
but
has angel'sss stick." He was talking to himself, halfway between the
window and me. I got off the couch and approached him, readying the sword for
another swing. It was just like hitting a piñata, right?

"Ooh,
mastersss rewardsss me well to knowsss about you." He dodged my next two
swipes, then retreated out the window. I leaned my head out to watch him fly
away. I really needed to learn how to fight.

I
beat a hasty retreat from the abandoned building.
 
As I walked, I tried to find an
inconspicuous way to hold a four-foot samurai sword. Without some different
clothes, it would be impossible. I considered ditching it, but Rebecca thought
I would need it, and I tended to agree. Maybe I could even get lucky and hit
something with it. With nowhere obvious to hide it, I held it downward and leaned
on it as if it were a cane. I focused my will on it, hoping my desire to
disguise the
weapon
as a harmless walking tool would
be successful.

Rounding
the corner and making my way back into the throng, the lack of surprised faces,
looks of fear, or other signs that I was a psychopath wandering the streets
with a sword comforted me. Yeah, this was New York after all, but I figured
there had to be some kind of limit, if not from the regular denizens, than from
any tourists that I happened by.

I
decided it would be a bad idea to try a cab again, so I made my way across town
on foot, finding a growing appreciation for my new endurance. I made it to the
Apple store in good time, stopping outside the glass cube to take stock of my
surroundings before I went anywhere with limited exits.

People
going about their daily life engulfed me, and it occurred to me how ignorant we
all were. Sure, we had this shallow understanding of the Divine, putting a face
to it through religion, telling stories about angels, demons, and the
supernatural. We had books like the Bible, or even Dante's classic poetry that
attempted to describe that which our living minds seemed to be able to feel,
but never truly see. We understood only through the periphery, out of the
corners of our eyes, like when we said a prayer before going to sleep at night,
or when we just knew there was a monster in the closet or under the bed. To
find out it was all real… it was all true… maybe ignorance WAS bliss?

I
descended the stairs into the even more tightly packed masses of humanity,
threading my way over to a blue-shirt standing near the tablets.

"Can
I help you sir?" he asked as I approached. I pointed at one of the iPads.

"I
just need an iPad, color doesn't matter."

The
clerk laughed. "A man who knows what he wants, I like it. I'll be right
back."

He
tucked his own device under his arm and headed off to the storeroom to fill my
order. I stole glances wherever and whenever I could, keeping a constant vigil
for anything out of the ordinary. If I had been spotted as a demon in an almost
abandoned diner, the odds of being outed as non-mortal here seemed
exponentially higher.

My
sight landed on a young girl who was chatting with her friend. She was maybe
fourteen, with short brown hair and a plain face. She was wearing a white down
jacket that hung open to reveal a white dress with white leggings underneath,
silver moon boots and a knit hat that resembled a panda bear. She was pointing
at a phone and gesturing like she wanted it real bad. I wondered if her friend
knew she was an angel?

I
hadn't known how I would know before I knew. There was no halo or anything like
that. In fact there was no visual sign of anything out of the ordinary. It was
more like a radar signal getting sent from my eyes and bouncing back saying
'Divine dead ahead, captain!
'.

The
sight of her made me anxious. She was just a kid! I turned my back, but it
seemed once contact had been made, line of sight was no longer required. I
could FEEL where she was, what she was doing. I realized that facing the other
direction wouldn't help me any more than it helped her. She didn't have to see
my face. She would get a feel from my soul. That was it, I knew. I was reading
her soul, just as she would be able to read mine. The only other question was
would she see an angel, a demon, or a diuscrucis?

I
spotted the clerk coming back over with the iPad in his hands and I decided to
meet him halfway. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the wad of cash,
counted out seven hundred dollars and shoved it into his hand. He gave me a
look of suspicious disbelief when I told him to keep the change, but he didn't
argue, and he didn't fail to give up the merchandise. I was almost at the steps
back to street level when I felt her.

"
Fellow,
why do you not announce yourself?
" The voice came from all around me,
and ran right through me.

I
felt immediate warmth and my whole body began to tingle. I flipped my head back
to get a look at her. Her body was still manipulating the phone, her mouth
still chatting idly with her friend, but her eyes were on me. Rich, golden eyes
that held a soft glow like a single flickering candle. It was mesmerizing. I
had to force myself to look away.

I
didn't know what to say in response, or how to project it silently the way she
had. I did the only thing I could think of, turning back and winking at her
before beginning my ascent. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do. Heck,
it probably wasn't a smart thing to do at all, but at least I would know how
she was seeing me by the way she gave chase.

There
was a rush of cool air, and then she was beside me on the steps, walking
alongside me. I peeked back to see her friend looking around, trying to figure
out where her companion had run off. She headed towards the laptops.

I
didn't say anything, and neither did she. We climbed the rest of the steps
together in silence, and then I led her off towards Central Park. Even without
speaking there seemed to be an understanding between us that transcended normal
human communication. When she had spoken to me, she had made a direct line
soul-to-soul phone call, and the more I probed the feeling, the more I
recognized that she hadn't hung up. We were silent because there was no need
for words. Not yet anyway.

I
found a lightly populated part of the Park and settled us down under a bare oak
tree, resting the sword against the trunk and placing my package next to it.
She sank to the ground as if on a pillow of air, perching cross-legged on the
grass. I sat opposite her in the same position.

"
I
do not recognize you fellow,
" she said.

Her
lips didn't move, but her eyes were incredibly expressive. There was curiosity
there, friendliness, and sadness. I knew she had taken me for an angel. I was
pretty sure the sword had at least a little bit to do with that.

"My
name is Josette,” she said aloud. Her voice was small and raspy. “Are you
recent to our family?"

I
didn't know what that meant, but I assumed she meant becoming an angel. If I
said yes, I would need an excuse for being here without her knowledge. It felt
safer to tell a bold lie.

"Not
to the family,” I said. “I've only recently returned from a pilgrimage in the
Holy Land. My name is Paul." That had to be a safe angel name.

Her
eyes widened, and she threw her arms around me. "Paul. Welcome! You have
been to the Holy Land?" she asked. "There has been little news since
Astrel was killed."