Garden of the Gods (The Immortals Series Book 3) (14 page)

Anna had hoped for the same restorative sleep, but as she looked around her, she immediately knew she hadn’t been as lucky. She was back in the room in Stalingrad. Anna turned in a slow circle, reaching out again to search for Colin, and she could feel him nearby yet he seemed so far away. It didn’t make any sense. She called his name, but he didn’t answer.

Anna tugged and pushed on the doors again, but they were still locked. The same chair as before lay on its back on the floor where she’d left it. She didn’t bother picking it up. She already knew the glass in this building didn’t break. She studied the spiral staircase behind her and thought again of going upstairs to see if there was a way out, but jumping from the second floor of a building sounded painful. Even in a dream.

But maybe Colin was there. Anna climbed the stairs slowly. For some reason, the second floor of this building unnerved her and she was aware that she didn’t have her daggers or knife. She couldn’t remember
why
she didn’t have them, but she knew they weren’t on her. She didn’t sense anything demonic on the second story, but it frightened her nonetheless. But since she couldn’t escape this building from the first floor, she kept climbing the stairs.

The second floor foyer opened up to a long hallway with closed doors running along the walls on both sides. Anna stood near the stairs and counted twelve doors. The building hadn’t seemed that long from the first floor.

“Colin?” Anna tried again.

She could feel him, but he was so far away. She was answered by silence.

Anna approached the door closest to her and put her hand on the doorknob. She wanted to open it, but she was defenseless. She didn’t know what to do if something was lurking in there, waiting to attack her.

“You’re not defenseless,” Jas corrected.

Anna startled and twisted around to face her friend. Jas moved closer to her and studied the door. Her eyes rested on Anna’s hand that still gripped the doorknob.

“You forget so easily that you have the greatest power of any person on this planet. Use it.”

Anna shook her head, confused. “Compassion? How is that going to help me now? How is that going to help Colin?”

Jas actually laughed, and even though Anna didn’t think there was anything funny about her current situation or their lives in general right now, she couldn’t help smiling. Jas had such an infectious laugh.

“Girl, that’s one of the many reasons I love you, but no. I meant this new gift from your angel.”

Anna let her hand fall from the doorknob. She looked at the door then back at Jas. “Ok, that might work in a dream. You’re already dead. And it doesn’t seem like anyone else is here to get hurt.”

Anna was about to open the door when she stopped herself again. “Wait a minute. What do you mean I have the greatest power of any person on the planet? Colin and Andrew can do the same thing.”

“You gonna open this door or what? I might be dead, but I’m kinda creeped out by this place.”

“Are you going to answer my question?”

Jas tried to scowl at her but her eyes were still laughing. “Colin and Andrew have the same gift, but it’s not as strong as yours. Now open the damn door. The suspense is killing me.”

“You’re already dead.”

“Shut up and open the door.”

Anna took a quick breath and twisted the doorknob. The door swung open revealing an empty room.

“Well, that was anti-climactic,” Jas muttered.

Anna glanced back at her friend and shrugged. She preferred an empty room over one filled with demons.

“Is Max back with Colin?” Anna asked.

She wasn’t going to explore any more rooms until she knew her husband was ok.

Jas nodded and looked down the hallway.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have doubted him, but he’s not himself right now. We know the
real
Colin wouldn’t have…” Jas trailed off and she grabbed Anna’s hand. “Come on, let’s keep playing Dora. There’s got to be a reason we keep ending up here.”

Anna followed her back into the hallway and opened the second door. That room was empty, too. They checked the rest of the rooms on the right side of the hallway, but each room was exactly the same. Barren wood floors, white paneled walls. No windows.

“This is like where they’d keep Jack Nicholson in
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
,” Jas whispered.

Anna was about to open the first door on the left side of the hallway, but she paused to whisper back to her friend, “Why are you whispering?”

And then she realized she’d whispered, too, and both of them giggled nervously.

“Because,” Jas whispered back, “this place seriously freaks me out.”

Anna nodded in agreement. “Maybe it’s just because it’s Stalingrad. The Soviet Union usually freaked me out.”

Jas shook her head. “I think this place only
looks
like Stalingrad. I’m not convinced we’re there. Open the door. Let’s get this over with.”

Anna opened the door, but she had mixed feelings about getting this over with. Jas had never been able to stay with her as long as she had in this dream, and as they explored these empty rooms, it was just like hunting with her again. Like she was alive and with her again.

The only difference in the first two rooms they’d searched on the other side of the hallway was the color of the walls. The bare brown wood floors were matched with a brown wood paneling.

“Ugh,” Jas muttered, “and I thought it couldn’t get any worse.”

Anna smiled and closed the door to the third room they’d entered.

“Two more, then what?” she asked Jas.

Jas shrugged. “Eventually you’ll wake up. And I can go back to trying to figure out what all this shit about fallen angels might mean for you guys. We need to hear what Dylan’s learned.”

Anna agreed with her and opened the fourth door. She walked in but froze near the doorway. Jas walked into her back. But there, in the middle of the room, sat Jeremy.

Chapter 18

Jas stepped around Anna and gaped at Jeremy. Because it wasn’t a gray demon with goldenrod eyes and bony nodules around his face, but
Jeremy
. Their friend. Their former leader. And he looked so incredibly sad.

Anna stepped closer to him and dropped to her knees, and he watched her with that same sorrowful expression in his hazel eyes. Jas followed her and lowered herself to the ground in front of Jeremy, where he was still sitting cross-legged just watching them.

Anna reached out toward him carefully, slowly, and touched his hand. He didn’t disappear or transform into a hideous beast or jerk away from her. He flipped his hand over and let Anna hold it. Anna glanced back at Jas, who had been so quiet, which was so unlike her, but when she saw her face, she understood why. Jas was crying, but it was more than that. Jas seemed to understand something Anna couldn’t. Maybe it was part of being tied to the supernatural, but Anna could tell by the anguish in Jas’s eyes that she knew how much pain Jeremy was in.

Anna turned back to him and wiped at her own eyes as tears leaked from the corners.

“Oh, Jeremy,” she breathed.

But Jeremy shook his head. “Anna, I’m so sorry. I’ve never wanted to hurt you or Colin.” He sighed and closed his eyes. “Why didn’t you kill me when you had the chance?”

“Because I wanted to save you.”

Jeremy opened his eyes, but that unbearable grief was still there. He didn’t believe he could be saved.

“Anna, if you see me again, just kill me. Please.” He clasped his other hand over hers and begged her, “
Please
.”

The desperation in his voice hurt Anna, a physical pain that she felt in her chest and throat and rose into her head and she couldn’t tell him no. She closed her eyes and nodded.

“Jeremy,” Jas said, “what if it
is
possible? We
have
to be getting close. We’re here. We found you… sort of. If your friends can save you…”

“Or I can kill them. Or lead him to them. For all we know, this is just another game. Maybe he’s just torturing us all.”

Anna opened her eyes and raised her head. “Who?”

Jeremy swallowed and his eyes widened but he didn’t answer her.

“You can’t say his name?” Anna asked.

Jeremy shook his head. “I want to, but I don’t know his name. I can’t…” Jeremy took a deep breath. “I can’t seem to remember anything about him right now.”

His eyebrows knitted together as he concentrated, but no new memories surfaced and he sighed in frustration.

Jas moved closer to him and put her arms around him. She had known Jeremy far longer than Anna. Jeremy hugged her back and smiled weakly at her.

“Oh, Jas. Why did you and Dylan have to be so goddamned stubborn? You were the only one in the group who didn’t know he was in love with you, you know.”

Jas sobbed out a laugh and nodded. “Guess I learned that a little too late. If he still wants me by the time he gets here though, then I’ll be waiting for him.”

Jeremy and Jas both jumped and stared at the wall behind him. Anna hadn’t heard anything this time. She looked between Jas and Jeremy and their expressions told her she’d be waking up soon. She gripped Jeremy’s hand tighter and forced him to look at her again. His eyes were wide and terrified.

“Jeremy, listen to me,” Anna demanded. “I’m coming for you. You hear me? And you can tell your boss that, too. I’m going to find him and I
will
destroy him. And one way or another, Jeremy, I’ll set you free.”

Jas and Jeremy jumped at the mystery sound again then Jas grabbed Anna’s arm and told her, “Time to wake up.”

It was past noon when Anna opened her eyes. Her back was to Colin but she knew he was awake. She rolled over and found him watching her.

“You’ve been awake for a while,” she said.

He didn’t need to confirm that.

“Anna…” he started, but he didn’t know what to say. His mind was so confused.

Anna reached over to him and brushed those strands of golden brown hair off his forehead.

“Don’t worry about this, Colin. Dylan and I will handle it.” She wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled herself closer to him. “When we get back, you should see if you and the guys can get tickets to the next home game. I don’t think they sell out. I’ve heard Folsom Field is beautiful.”

Anna was trying to distract him, but of course he knew what she was doing.

He pushed back from her, just enough to see her face, and the indecision and uncertainty hadn’t left his eyes, but he took a deep breath and ran his fingers through her dark, messy hair.

“No. If you’re going to do this, then I’m coming with you. Luca and Andrew can do whatever they want, but we do nothing alone.”

“Colin, this demon is controlling your thoughts somehow. What if we get out there and you…”

Colin kissed her to keep her from saying what he already knew she was going to say.

As he pulled away from her lips, he promised her, “There isn’t a force in Heaven or Hell that could ever turn me against you.”

Anna smiled and kissed him again, because she believed him. There were some forces Hell should never mess with. And love was one of them.

Amanda knocked on their door about an hour later, and told them she’d gotten them on a redeye out of Glasgow that night but they needed to get on a train soon.

She looked Colin over curiously. “Weird. Guess you have your own stalker now.”

Anna flinched, but Colin seemed unperturbed.

“We should get busy killing these bastards then,” he said.

Anna wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of smiling at that. She crossed her arms and glared at him and tried to look pissed off.

“Sorry we’ve been screwing around while
some
people were sightseeing.”

Colin shrugged. “Never thought there was much to see here.”

He was just messing with her. Scotland was a beautiful country, and they’d gotten to stay at a
castle
here all those years ago when they’d led mortal lives. Amanda was still watching him with that same puzzled air, and it was making Anna anxious. Colin told her she worried too much. Anna ignored him.

“What’s up, Amanda?” Anna asked.

“It’s a different… aura or signature or whatever… than this demon stalking you. But you said there were only three of these fallen angels after you and your friends. So if there’s one stalking you, one stalking Colin, how is it that two of your other immortal friends are affected like Colin is?”

Anna didn’t know anything about demon auras. “When we get back to Boulder, you’ll have to meet them. See if they have distinct… markings.”

Colin didn’t like her word choice. Anna sighed and folded her arms defensively across her chest again.

“Well, they’re kind of marking us, aren’t they? It may not be physical, but it’s the same principle.”

Colin thought about it and decided he liked it even less. Anna narrowed her eyes at him.

“You can be such a baby when you’re being stalked by a fallen angel.”

Colin smiled at his wife. “I’m always like this. You’re usually just much more tolerant of my bullshit.”

The corners of Amanda’s lips twitched as she suppressed a smile. “You’re
sure
there’s only three of these demons or fallen angels or whatever? What if there’s a whole army of them?”

Anna and Colin turned serious. Colin’s mind still wouldn’t let him maneuver around this question like it should, and his first impulse was to shrug it off and ask her “So what? Let an army of angels deal with them.” But he bit his lip and kept his mouth shut, and Anna looked up at him in surprise. He
recognized
these weren’t his thoughts and was trying to regain control. And he was doing it for
her.

Anna was too overwhelmed by her love and admiration for her husband and forgot to answer Amanda, so the poor woman sighed and had to ask again.

Anna looked away from Colin and offered Amanda an apologetic smile. “The original email we received in Baton Rouge only mentioned three demons who wanted all of us to meet them in these woods outside of Prairieville. But yeah, it’s possible they’ve called up reserves when that plan failed.”

Amanda groaned. “Nice, so we
are
dealing with an entire army of fallen angel demons.”

“If so, it’s a small army. There were a limited number of angels created to begin with, and many of them are still in Heaven. Most of them, actually. But there are enough fallen angels to make a potential war devastating for everyone. And not just us Immortals. If they’re trying to kill us or convert us, they’re planning something much bigger than just ridding themselves of a handful of pests.”

Amanda wanted to ask more questions, but Colin interrupted her. His mind was so conflicted, and he wouldn’t allow himself to argue with Anna again. He picked up her suitcase and nodded toward the door.

“Don’t we need to catch the train? I don’t want to miss this flight. We need to get back to Boulder. Anna will have to tell you about her dream last night on the train. Maybe you can help.”

Amanda’s pale blue eyes flickered between them as she chewed nervously on the inside of her cheek. Anna sensed she was already quite tired of helping these Immortals with their supernatural problems. She didn’t blame her at all.

“Ok,” she said, “let me go grab my bags.”

On the train back to Glasgow, Anna replayed the entire dream for Amanda, starting with finding herself alone again on the first floor of that strange building in Stalingrad, then climbing those stairs and being joined by Jas and opening each of those doors. She faltered when she got to the part about finding Jeremy in the middle of that utterly brown room, the heartbreaking expression in his eyes that would have begged her to kill him even if he’d never spoken.

Amanda listened to the entire dream without interrupting Anna or asking any questions or even looking away from her. She watched her the whole time and listened to every word, and when Anna got to the end when Jas had woken her up because Jeremy’s boss had found them, Amanda finally took a deep breath and let her gaze shift to the window behind Anna’s head. She watched the Scottish landscape for a few minutes as she thought about this dream.

“Jas is haunted by this dream. But she’s also convinced you can save him somehow and shouldn’t kill him,” Amanda said.

Colin was sitting across the aisle from them and looked up from his magazine but still didn’t speak. Anna heard the thoughts he was fighting back against: he was trying to bury the idea that Jeremy wasn’t their problem and they shouldn’t be wasting their time on this anyway.

Anna shook her head sadly. “I don’t know, Jas. And if I go to Garden of the Gods and see him, I did promise him. I have to free him somehow. You saw how miserable he is.”

Amanda pressed her lips together and glanced back at Colin. He was watching them.

Amanda leaned closer to Anna and whispered, “I know he can hear everything through you anyway, but Jas doesn’t trust him right now. She doesn’t know what to do.”

Anna clenched her jaw and reminded herself not to take out her anger on Amanda. She was only delivering messages from a dead person.

“
I
trust him, Jas. If you have an idea, just tell me.”

They were getting close to Glasgow now, and Colin had heard their conversation through Anna anyway. He pretended to read his magazine again, but he didn’t think Anna should be mad at Jas for not trusting him. After all, he’d quit hunting and left his wife because he’d been convinced those decisions were the right thing to do. How could anyone trust his judgment right now?

As the train slowed to enter the station, Amanda leaned toward Anna one last time. “Here’s what Jas thinks. Find out what Dylan knows about this fallen angel that most likely possessed Jeremy. If you can find it and kill it without killing Jeremy, then she thinks it will free him.”

Colin’s head jerked up from the magazine he wasn’t even pretending to read anymore, and the train lurched to a stop in the station.

“How?” Anna gasped. “How am I supposed to kill a fallen angel?”

Amanda raised an eyebrow at her and offered her the same kind of half-smile Jas would have if she’d been telling Anna this herself.

“She already told you in Stalingrad. You have the greatest power of any human on this Earth. Use it. Destroy this bastard, and you might want to be careful about it. Target it or you’ll kill Jeremy in the process. But either way, it’s time we start fighting back.”