Echoes of the Past (Demon Squad) (13 page)

As I found my motivation, I felt a surge of power at the gate, the portal opening. I spun around, whipped my gun out and pointed it at the portal, lowering it just a second later as
Karra’s
essence hit my senses. She appeared in a huff, her beautiful face contorted with worry.

“Whales, Frank? Seriously? It’s all over the news.”

I shrugged. “What can I tell you? I’m so resilient my enemies feel the need to think outside of the box to take me out.”

She shook her head and stalked over. Her eyes were narrow and streaked with red as she ran her hand across my forehead. “You look like shit.”

“Uh, thanks. You too.”

“You’re feverish and pale.” She ran her fingers down my cheek and placed her palm on my chest. “You’re burning up.”

“Whale cooties, most likely.”

“Stop joking, Frankie. You don’t look good.”

I pulled her in close and kissed her cheek. “I’m fine, just worn down. I ran into our little alien again.
Mihheer’s
his name, and he apparently works for a bigger alien called Gorath. Who names these guys? Anyway, I suspect they’re out for revenge for Lucifer locking away whichever one of them was inside the case.”

Karra
sighed and returned my kiss. “You need to be careful, because I think you’re right. I spoke to my father.”

I took her hand and led her down the hall toward Asmoday’s old prison. “What did he have to say?”

“I drew him a number of the symbols that were on the book and case, but he didn’t recognize them. He did think, like we did, that the script was written as a containment spell, designed to hold something, or someone, inside and keep them weak. He also thinks he has an idea as to when the thing was imprisoned.”

We slipped into Asmoday’s room and I dropped onto one of the couches to catch my breath.
Karra
sat beside me.

“Close to a thousand years ago, my father sensed a tear in the dimensional wall, which led into Hell. He said the power he felt was godly. He’d never felt such energy beyond Lucifer or God Himself, and he knew for certain it wasn’t them. Not even the current incarnation of Baalth compares, he says.”

Damn. This wasn’t sounding good. I leaned back into the couch to continue listening.

“The entire supernatural world felt the entry. My father, along with all of Lucifer’s lieutenants, returned to Hell to find Lucifer had killed the being who’d come through the rift. There was nothing left but a strangely shaped, charred corpse, bereft of any essence.”

“If Lucifer had killed it, wouldn’t he have gained its powers, seeing how the thing is most likely a demon?” I already knew the answer.

“Only my father questioned Lucifer’s account of what happened, unable to sense a corresponding power increase in Lucifer similar to the force he’d felt break through the dimensional wall. He was told the being was likely an alien, its power not transferable upon death.”
Karra
settled in against me, her hand mothering my brow. “At the time, my father believed what he’d been told. However, given what we’ve stumbled across, he feels Lucifer only imprisoned the being, and your uncle’s recent departure has allowed the alien to break free.”

“Sounds about right. With Mihheer popping up out of nowhere, it makes sense Gorath was the one trapped inside the case and his minion helped break him out. Either that or they were both inside. Doesn’t really matter one way or the other, though. Locked up for a thousand years, they’re bound to be pissed. With Lucifer nowhere to be found, they’ve only got me to beat on until they find him.”

Karra
inched in, holding me close. “Shortly after the rift in the wall, that’s when Lucifer was said to have resumed contact with God.”

I glanced over at
Karra
, a lump forming in my throat. “So, whatever crashed our universe was powerful enough to spook Lucifer into contacting God so he could figure out what the hell he was dealing with.”

“Looks that way.” She squeezed tighter. “These two could well be part of the enemy God and Lucifer fight against. If that’s the case, the ones here may well be more powerful than any force we’ve ever encountered.”

“If that were true, wouldn’t we sense Gorath? If his arrival set off the entire supernatural world, why isn’t he pinging across the board now? Someone would have noticed him over the course of a millennium. It doesn’t make sense.” I growled and stood up. “We need to decipher the language on the case to figure out what the hell it was supposed to do. If it—“

Karra
stood up and wrapped her arms around my neck. “Don’t worry, Frankie. We’ll figure it out,” she said, strangely loud before leaning in and kissing me deep. My body, despite my mood, started to respond. Her muffled words put me back in neutral.

“Someone else is here,” she spoke softly into my mouth, turning me so I could glance through the cover of her wild hair. I saw a shadow at the doorway. It disappeared as soon as I spotted it.

I pulled away from
Karra
and chased after the shadow. “It’s running.” She was on my heels.

We zipped around the corner and I let my senses loose. There wasn’t even a flicker of supernatural energy to be found beyond the ambient essence of Hell itself. We searched for a few minutes, but found nothing. Either the person watching us was human, or they’d teleported out of Hell before we could get a bead on them. The latter was far more likely.

“Damn it!” Not even Hell was free from prying eyes. That was seriously limiting my options when it came to hiding.

As though she’d read my mind,
Karra
turned to me. “Hell isn’t safe, either, Frank. You need—“

I raised a hand to cut her off. “I know,
Karra
, I know.” Letting loose a deep sigh, I started to pace, staring off at the stone walls of my uncle’s old sanctuary. “I’m running out of options here. While I can kiss up to Baalth and probably be pretty safe, I won’t get any answers. Even if he knows something, he’s not gonna share it with me if it will cause him problems.” I turned to look at
Karra
. “Your dad doesn’t know much, and I certainly don’t think DRAC would, not with Abe dead.” The words rasped hollow in my mouth.

“Stay with me, Frankie.”

“I can’t.” I leaned in and kissed her to soften the rejection. “You saw the whales and all the damage, and I’m only dealing with the flunky. Even if you can kick
my
ass, I’m not gonna put you at risk.” I grabbed her hand and pulled her against me, willing myself to tell her what I really thought; what I felt. “You’re all I have,
Alukarras
. I know you can take care of yourself. Shit, you’re way more capable than I am, but it’s not you these guys are after, it’s me. As long as I can keep it that way, keep you out of danger, nothing that happens to me matters.”

“It matters to me.” The sadness in her voice shattered my heart.

With a passion I reserved only for porn and punching people in the face, I clutched her tight and kissed her for all I was worth; about a buck forty, fair market value.

After a few moments, I pulled back. “I’m not gonna let these two shitheads kill me and take me away from you, I promise. I’m also not gonna let them take you from me. We’ve spent too much of our lives apart,
Karra
, and I intend to spend the rest of it together, no matter what.” I stared into her eyes and waited for her to give in. It took a bit, but she finally conceded. She knew she couldn’t out-stubborn me. “So far, Mihheer has been getting the drop on me. It’s time for that to stop. I need to find something about the language of the book and figure out if there’s anything in it that might help send these goons back to wherever they came from.”

“How are you going to do that?”

“Well, since I can’t trust Baalth to be honest or not take the book from me, I need to talk to someone else who was around when Gorath first came through the rift. It doesn’t hurt that they owe me a favor.”

“And seeing how there’s only a couple of people alive who fit that description, and won’t want anything to do with the daughter of Longinus, I’m guessing you don’t want me to go with you.”

“I’m sorry,
Karra
. You know how they are.”

“That’s what worries me.” She sighed and punched me in the arm. It hurt; a lot. “You better come back to me, Frankie, or I swear, I’ll hunt you down, resurrect you, and kill you again for leaving me.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time.” I gave
Karra
a big hug, smothering my laugh in her hair. “You frighten me, woman.”

“Good. Maybe you’ll listen…for once.”

She was made, but she knew me well. We said our goodbyes and she headed home to be with Longinus even though it wasn’t what she wanted. It was the only move I had any faith in. I collected the book from its hiding place and set up the gate for transport. There wasn’t much hope I’d learn anything new about Gorath and Mihheer, but I had to try. If they were part of the war God and Lucifer were fighting, maybe I could pass the buck of impending doom onto folks more suited to deal with this kind of apocalyptic bullshit.

That thought in mind, it was time to visit the desert once more.

Chapter Fourteen

The heat hit me the second I popped into Iran, washing over me with a dry and gritty wind. It didn’t do much for how I felt, the oppressive air only making me lightheaded. The storms that covered the majority of the Earth had spared the desert, apparently not feeling the need to bring the rain here.

I looked out across the battlefield and was a little surprised to see there was no hint of the war that had been waged beneath the gates of Eden. The sand had been smoothed and cleared of blood and bodies, not a single char mark unaccounted for. If I hadn’t been there during the fight, I wouldn’t believe it ever happened. Outside of the supernatural world, there’d be no stories of this battle. While humanity knows something went on, they’ll never be able to trace it back here.

I blinked against the bright sun, its brilliant orb a stranger since the battle for Heaven ended. My eyes shielded against its light, I stared up at the sky and hoped my presence would be sensed by those on high and they’d send someone down to meet me. I hadn’t wanted to bother Scarlett again, seeing how I wasn’t sure if anyone knew about Azrael yet. I certainly didn’t need my cousin trying to take my head off.

There for maybe a minute or two, I hoped the vial of blood in my pocket would help to draw someone out. I just hoped they wouldn’t come out guns a blazing. As I watched the clouds for any sign of the gates being opened, a sharp voice startled me.

“Why are you here, demon?”

I tore my eyes from the sky to see
Uriel
standing before me. Not even remotely cherubic as the world has been led to believe, he was tall and broad, and I was forced to look up at him. Dressed in flowing white robes, cut more in the Grecian style, his flaming sword hung at his belt. The blade looked as though it was forged of lava.
Uriel’s
blond hair was long, braided down his back without a single strand out of place. He stared at me with brilliant gold eyes set in a pale face, which showed none of the stress of his position.

After a quick cough to clear my throat, I started to explain. “I was hoping I could speak with
Metatron
.” I felt like a kid asking for more cookies.

Uriel
sneered, drawing a step closer. He sniffed at me. “
Metatron
has no time for you, spawn of Lucifer.” His stare was unsettling.

Put off by
Uriel’s
attitude, figuring I’d be greeted with a little more respect since I’d saved Heaven, he was starting to piss me off. “I’ve a message of great importance to deliver.”

“Give it to me, and I’ll ensure it is seen by the appropriate eyes.”

“That won’t work.”

“Then we have nothing further to discuss.”
Uriel
waved me away. “
Begone
, whelp.”

“Are you
fu
—“

“Young Trigg, hold your tongue, please.” Duke Forcalor strode up alongside
Uriel
and set a hand on the angel’s shoulder. “I will deal with him.”

Uriel
nodded, gave the barest of grins, which looked like a wolf swallowing a baby sheep, and disappeared.

I turned to the duke. “Man, you’d think I’ve earned a little more respect than that around here,” I couldn’t help but say what was on my mind, but my old mentor’s daunting presence kept me from punctuating every other word with
fuck
.

“You have, but you cannot expect
Uriel
to be pleased that you dumped Lucifer’s blood into the heart of Eden. Your uncle was cast out of Heaven, in large part, for what he dared do to the Tree of Life.
Uriel
has not forgiven him that. He is not pleased to be reminded of the incident so boldly.”

It was that or Heaven
and
Earth died, but I didn’t say
that
out loud. I might have pissed in
Uriel’s
Cheerios, but he should be grateful he still had Cheerios to be pissed in. I just shook my head. “Fair enough. I didn’t come here to argue.”

“Then if I may ask, why did you?”

I showed him the book. “I need your help. Any idea what language this is?”