Demon Evolution (27 page)

“You’ve got an LED!” David exclaimed, running
over to the razor-thin widescreen television mounted on the wall.
“Awesome! What is it, 50-inch?”

“Yep,” Lucas confirmed. “You like
electronics?”

“Of course,” David replied, making the
question sound stupid, like everyone in the world loved electronics
more than anything. In truth, David was an electronics junkie.
Growing up, he had constantly asked, begged, and pleaded with his
parents to get him whatever the newest thing was. Lucas knew this,
of course.

“So you get all of this because you are the
leader of the Special Missions Corps?” David asked.

“Yes, David. Dionysus is a very kind and
generous man. He knows that I am out there risking my neck every
day and so, he grants me a few luxuries. This is my sanctuary when
I’m not working.”

David stared at the LED in silence. Lucas
could tell there was something he wanted to ask. “What is it,
David?”

“It’s just…I was just curious. Would Gabriel
have lived here before you?”

Lucas smiled. “Yes, he had this space before
me, although I’ve made a few improvements since he…
left
. He
would still be here if he hadn’t—”

“If he hadn’t been a traitor,” David
finished.

“Well, yeah, to put it bluntly. Your brother
had it all, David. He would have been a star. Hell, he was already
a star. Don’t make the same mistakes he did.”

“I won’t,” David said firmly.

“Gabriel probably would have said the same
thing when he was your age, but look what happened. It’s not as
easy as you think, David. Your brother, the demons—they will tell
you anything to get you change sides. You have to be ready for
their lies. You cannot trust anything Gabriel says to you. Not
until after we have tried to cure him.”

David’s eyes brightened. “Do you really think
there’s hope that Gabriel can be rehabilitated?” he asked, using
the word he heard during the meeting.

Lucas’s eyes became misty. He was quickly
learning how to act from Dionysus, the master himself. “There is
always hope, David, but I don’t want to raise your expectations.
With Gabriel I think it is a long shot. The last time I saw him he
tried to kill me. His mind is very far gone.”

“Well, I will do what I can to help him,”
David promised solemnly.

“Thank you. Maybe one day Gabriel will also
be able to thank you for it.” Lucas was impressed with how fast he
had been able to turn the boy completely against his brother; David
now seemed to believe that Gabriel was a raving lunatic that
required immediate psychiatric attention. Now for the even bigger
challenge: to turn him against his family. He paused to collect his
thoughts.

Starting slowly, he said, “I have something
else to tell you, David.”

David looked up at him expectantly.

“What the Council told you about your family
wasn’t entirely true.” He let this sink in.

David asked, “Why would they lie to me?”

“Well, even though Dionysus and I trust you
completely, there are some on the Council that are concerned that
you are not a true-blue angel and could be turned, just like your
brother. They thought it best to hide some details from you, so
that you wouldn’t try to leak the information to the demons.”

“I would never do that,” David said
fiercely.

“Oh, I know that, David. Believe me, I do.
But others are not convinced.”

“I will prove it to them. I promise, I
will.”

“Good to hear. Now, the thing about your
family. We told you that they volunteered to act as bait to lure
Gabriel closer to us, right?” David nodded once. “Well, they did
volunteer, but their motives were slightly different. We think they
have been turned by the demons, too, and they are just trying to
reunite with Gabriel. You know, become part of his rogue
squad.”

David felt like he had been slapped in the
face. Stunned, devastated, his entire world crashing down upon him.
First, the one he had looked up to since he was a little boy, and
now his parents were traitors, too? Had the entire world gone mad?
His shoulders slumped, his head dropped.

Lucas said, “I’m sorry, David. I know this is
hard to take, but I needed to prepare you for the lies that they
would try to feed you. It is going to be a hard day for you, but I
will be there with you every step of the way.”

David felt like crying, but didn’t want to
show any signs of weakness in front of his master. Instead, he
turned the pain, the anguish, the shock, and the devastation into
fuel.
Determination.
More than anything, he wanted to prove
to everyone that he was better than those who had raised him, those
who he had trusted. He had to be better. Someone had to honor the
family name. It was his calling.

“I am up for it.” His bitter face had morphed
into determination that was bred from anger. Fierce, fierce, fiery,
hot anger. Life changing anger.

“I know you are, David. Today is your chance
to prove to the Council that you are worthy of their trust. I
believe that by the end of the day you will have surpassed your
peers in every possible category, and will be ready to join the
Special Missions Corps a year earlier than what is typically
permitted.”

“You mean I could join as a 17-year-old?”

“Yes, immediately following your
apprenticeship, in a few years. If you are ready, that is?”

“I would be honored,” David said calmly,
trying to hide his true emotions. Inside he was turning cartwheels,
but controlling his emotions was all part of growing up and he
needed to learn to do it.

“Good. Do you have any other questions?”

“I don’t think so. Only, what do we do
now?”

“All I want you to do is go back to your room
and prepare yourself mentally for the task ahead. That means
meditation in complete silence. No comic books or music. You have
less than an hour to prepare; I’ll collect you when it’s time.”

“Yes, master,” David said obediently.

He started to leave, but Lucas grabbed his
arm. “One more thing, David. We have a special mission for you
today. We’ll tell you before we leave. Will you do it?”

“Anything you wish, master.”

“Good.”

Upon leaving the room, he walked casually
down the hall, but as soon as he turned the corner he pumped his
fist and then raced down the hall to his room.
A year early
,
he thought excitedly. As talented as Gabriel was, he had only
entered the advanced program six months early. He would show
everyone that he was more talented and more trustworthy than his
brother ever was. When people talked about the Knights, they would
talk of David’s honor and talent, not the treason of his
family.

F
rom the uppermost
branches of a tall pine more than a mile away, Gabriel had a clear
view of the Warrior’s Plateau. His superhuman eyes zoomed in on the
location, watching for any signs of movement. His plan was to be
the last to the party. Arriving early would only allow his enemies
the opportunity to sneak up on him. He needed to know what and who
he was dealing with before he went in, especially now that he was
planning a more aggressive approach.

A slight movement caught his eye. A lone
angel had crept into view. She was scaling the plateau from the
east, climbing silently, cautiously.
A scout
, he
thought.

Upon reaching the pinnacle, she peeked over
the edge, surveying the broad area before her. It was an empty
wasteland; not a single plant, animal, or even insect occupied the
space. Satisfied that she was the first to arrive, she raised a
small radio to her lips—she was most likely relaying the
information back to Dionysus. The rest of the posse would arrive
soon.

Sure enough, within minutes Gabriel spotted
a—for lack of a better word—
flock
of angels riding the
gentle breeze along the horizon. Characteristically, they were in a
perfect V-formation, with a lead angel, followed by pairs of
secondary angels. Each pair was spread further apart than the
previous pair. There were also several angels clustered in the
middle of the formation.

When they got closer, Gabriel could make out
some of the faces. He couldn’t believe his eyes—the middle of the
formation was made up of Archangels! Johanna, Sarah, Thomas—he
counted them off on his fingers. He was up to nine when he noticed
Dionysus in the very center.
Ten
. Andrew, of course, was
dead.
Who was missing?
Then it dawned on him: Michael.

Why would Dionysus’s biggest advocate and
second-in-command not participate? Gabriel’s focused brain cycled
through the possible reasons: One—Michael would be part of a trap,
arriving later. Gabriel hoped that wasn’t the reason. Two—Michael
was dead. Not likely, but one can hope, right? Three—in case
something went wrong, they would need someone to lead the angels,
that someone being Michael. Possible, but Dionysus was such an
optimist that Gabriel doubted he had a contingency plan for
anything.

That’s all he could come up with off the top
of his head. His instincts told him that one of the answers was
right, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Probably the
trap; he would need to keep his eyes open.

The pack reached the plateau and descended
gracefully. Their positioning was simple: ten guards in a line, not
including several hovering in the air, then the ten Archangels
behind them, with Dionysus in the center, five on one side, four on
the other.
But where was his family?

As if in response to his question, his family
appeared instantly, just behind the line of Archangels. Gabriel
rubbed his eyes. When he opened them again, his family was still
there. They were holding hands with each other. Peter was in the
middle, holding both his mom’s and dad’s hands, but there was also
a fourth, darker figure that was holding Helena’s other hand. Upon
closer inspection Gabriel saw that they weren’t choosing to hold
hands, rather they were shackled together. Even from a mile away,
Gabriel knew the fourth figure was a demon; a demon who had
teleported them onto the plateau; a demon that had switched
sides.

Gabriel knew that Dionysus would have
something up his sleeve, but this was completely unexpected. There
was no doubt that Dionysus had instructed the demon to teleport the
prisoners away at the first sign of trouble. This was going to be a
problem. He would have to find a way to get close enough to his mom
to unshackle her from the demon.

Oh well
, Gabriel thought,
he had no
choice but to enter the dragon’s lair.
As the sun began to melt
onto the horizon, Gabriel sprang from his perch and soared towards
the plateau.

G
abriel covered the
mile in mere seconds and was nearly on top of them before the
angels noticed his arrival. Expecting an attack, the guards raised
their swords and gritted their teeth. Instead, Gabriel landed
softly in front of them, ignoring their threatening gestures. He
looked past the guards to the Archangels, and then on to his
family.

His eyes returning to Dionysus, he said, “Why
don’t you just let them go. They have nothing to do with this.”

Dionysus laughed. It was more of a cackle
really—a long, drawn out, particularly evil-sounding cackle that
told Gabriel it was definitely not going to be that easy.

“I’ll take that as a no,” Gabriel said. “It
couldn’t hurt to ask.”

“I will be dictating the terms of this
transaction,” Dionysus said succinctly. He made it sound like a
standard business deal. To him, it probably was. “First, I would
like to draw your attention to the demon that is shackled to your
parents.” The demon raised his arm, lifting Helena Knight’s limb by
default. “He has orders to teleport your entire family away if you
try anything stupid…So do us all a favor, and don’t try anything
stupid.”

“Hi, Gabriel,” Helena said evenly.

“Hi, Mom, Dad, Peter. Are you all okay?”

“We’re fine, Gabriel,” Teddy said. He added
quickly, “Don’t worry about us, just leave now!”

Dionysus took one step back and with
impressive speed, landed a wicked back-hand slap across Teddy’s
cheekbone. His father’s head snapped back and then rebounded,
jerking forward violently. He winced in pain as a trickle of blood
originated from a cut just under his eye. With his powerful vision,
Gabriel could see that Dionysus was wearing rings on both hands,
which is what likely caused the skin to tear. He considered lunging
forward and trying to break through the guards to get to Dionysus,
but thought better of it and restrained himself.

Instead, he said, “Wow, impressive. Attacking
an unarmed, defenseless human…I can see why they made you the
leader.” The sarcasm was heavy in his tone.