Garden of the Gods (The Immortals Series Book 3) (7 page)

Luca offered her a crooked smile. Even in the seventeenth century, he had treated Anna like an equal; he just liked messing with her, and she just reciprocated. “I’ve seen those demons most often in southeast Europe for some reason. Just like the first one. They all have those same markings, same pattern and everything. We know they’re working for the same boss, but I’m not sure what else that tells us.”

“That boss is most likely one of the fallen angels trying to kill us now, but yeah, unless we can figure out
who
it is, maybe not as helpful as we’d hoped,” Colin agreed.

“Draw these markings for me,” Dylan said. “I haven’t seen them.”

Colin found a pad of paper and tossed it to Luca who traced the markings down the demons’ backs, careful to keep them in the same order they appeared. Then all of the hunters gathered around Luca’s drawing and studied the sketches, which still didn’t resemble anything concrete. Andrew squinted at the drawings. Colin and Anna watched Andrew. He was suddenly far more interesting than Luca’s drawings on the notepad, because they suspected Andrew had grasped something each of them had missed.

“Wait,” Andrew said, grabbing the notepad and turning it upside down. “They’re fairly abstract, but what if these are a locust, a scorpion’s tail, a crown, a lion’s tooth, and an iron breastplate?”

Andrew looked up from the notepad because he knew the effect his words would have on the hunters.

Luca looked at his sketches again then inhaled sharply.

“Holy shit,” he muttered.

Dylan looked between them, confused as to the sudden fear that had settled over the room. “What? Why are those things so scary?”

Colin forced himself to look away from the drawings, not wanting to believe Andrew was right, but now that he’d pointed out the possibility, he couldn’t
not
see the markings for what they were.

“Because,” Colin answered, “those are the marks of Abaddon. We may be fighting the Devil himself.”

Chapter 9

Ironically, none of the hunters owned a Bible and they had to go to a nearby bookstore to buy one so they could show Dylan the passage from Revelations that talked about Adaddon. They could have looked it up online, but the Immortals had lived a long time: they still didn’t trust most of what was on the Internet.

Dylan finished reading the passage then looked up at Colin and shrugged. “This never identifies him as Satan or Lucifer or any other Devil nickname.”

“No,” Colin agreed, “but some sects have theorized it may be the same fallen angel based on the way it’s described. In Greek myth and in Hebrew myth, this name is associated with a bottomless pit, and in Christianity, it’s an angel of destruction that opens that bottomless pit and allows misery to descend upon men who haven’t been marked by God.”

“Of course,” Luca countered, “a few extreme Christian sects have insisted its even Jesus himself after his resurrection.”

Dylan rolled his eyes and slammed the Bible closed. “This is why this book does more harm than good. It doesn’t even make sense.”

“Parts of it do. We have to remember the entire thing was written by men, but we can’t discount that some of those men may have been blessed with more knowledge of the supernatural than the average person,” Colin insisted.

Dylan sighed again. “You trying to tell me whoever wrote Revelations could see demons? Was maybe a hunter himself?”

Anna snickered and pulled the Bible closer to her. “Whoever wrote Revelations needed to lay off the sacrificial wine.”

Dylan laughed and told her that was the first thing that made sense to him all morning.

Andrew was watching them as usual, and he must have sensed this conversation was about to take a turn toward the irreverent and jocular because he finally spoke up. “Whether it’s another name for Satan or a completely different fallen angel, it’s a remarkably powerful one regardless. For whatever reason, whoever wrote this passage was describing an angel that apparently exists.”

“But it’s not an angel, it’s a demon. That’s why you’ve been fighting those demons with the red markings on their backs,” Dylan countered.

“All demons were originally angels. Even Satan,” Andrew reminded him.

Dylan exhaled impatiently. “You know what I mean. In Revelations, they’re described as being angels still. Part of God’s judgment at the Apocalypse.”

But Andrew sighed just as impatiently. “You read the descriptions, and you’ve met both angels and demons. You tell me what Revelations is really describing.”

Dylan crossed his arms stubbornly and waited for Andrew to just tell him. Andrew muttered something in Polish again, and this time, Colin was pretty sure it wasn’t a blessing.

“It’s the final battle between Heaven and Hell fought here on Earth. There is no judgment or wrath of God. Heaven has never operated that way. Whoever wrote this was predicting what it would be like if this ongoing battle ever turned into an all-out war.”

Dylan let his arms drop and stared at Andrew for a few seconds before turning to the other hunters, perhaps seeking confirmation that they agreed with him, but they had all spent centuries fighting this battle. They’d had a long time to come to the same conclusions.

“The warning, then, from your angel,” Dylan asked Luca, “he was talking about
Armageddon
?”

“Basically,” Luca responded. A pretty brunette walking past their table in the bookstore’s café caught his attention, and he looked away from Dylan to see where she was heading. “Self-help section. Bet I could help.”

Anna had to grab his arm to keep him from getting up from the table.

“Hey,” Luca protested, “I’ve lived a long time. I’ve got lots of knowledge and wisdom to share. Out of the goodness of my heart.”

“And we’re being hunted by at least one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, so knock it off,” Anna hissed.

“Maybe that’s why they’re hunting us,” Colin said.

He was just thinking aloud as he did sometimes, but everyone was waiting for an explanation now and he couldn’t exactly take it back. It was already out. “If they’re
trying
to trigger the Apocalypse, what’s the smartest way to go about it? Take out your biggest threats first – us. Break rules to do it, which will force Heaven to respond. By the time the war starts, the Immortals are all dead and Hell doesn’t have any competition left on this planet that can really stop them. Not without Heaven figuring out how to bend rules, too.”

Dylan groaned and put his head in his hands, and Anna wondered again if saving him had really been the right thing to do. Colin quickly assured her it had, if for no other reason than they needed all the help they could get right now.

Luca glanced over his shoulder at the pretty brunette still browsing the self-help section then turned his attention back to the hunters at the table with him. “So we know two of the demons trying to hunt us down then. Abaddon and Adriel. Both angels of destruction. I’m willing to bet the third is one like them.”

Anna pulled her phone out of her purse and pulled up the Google app. Sometimes, it really was much easier than trying to research something the old-fashioned way.

“How many angels of destruction can there be?” she wondered aloud.

After a quick Google search, she had her answer.

“Oh,” Anna sighed and tossed her phone on the table. “Are we sticking just to Judeo-Christian theology or should we branch out, because if we branch out, we’re going to be here all day.”

“If we stick to Judeo-Christian stories of angels and fallen angels, we’ll be here all day,” Luca mumbled, turning again to admire the woman who had found the book she wanted and was ready to move on. He drummed his fingers on the table in aggravation but Anna wasn’t sure if it was because she wasn’t going to let him follow her, or if he was frustrated that they really had no way of narrowing down who this third fallen angel might be.

Dylan picked up her phone, scrolled the list of names on the website she’d pulled up, then put it back on the table. “I’m going with Azrael. The other names start with an A, so why not?”

Anna smiled at Dylan but shook her head. “Doubt it. In most myths, he’s more like a record keeper. He doesn’t actually go around
causing
death and destruction.”

“There’s one way we could try to find out,” Luca suggested. “Go back to Garden of the Gods and wait to see who shows up.”

“
He’d better be joking
,” Colin thought.

“
Doubt it. Maybe we can distract him with the cute brunette.”

“Too late. She’s gone.”

“Cut it out, O’Conners,” Luca warned.

Anna decided they probably shouldn’t have scowled at him the entire time they were conversing about him in silence.

Colin kept scowling at Luca. “So you want to drive back to Garden of the Gods and what? Walk into another trap? Hope another angel shows up and the demon isn’t willing to risk a battle in the middle of a national park during the daytime?”

Luca thought about what Colin said for a few seconds then nodded. “Sounds about right.”

Colin and Anna turned to Andrew who was so often the reasonable one, the careful one, the one to think plans through and not make hasty decisions. But Andrew shrugged and said, “We don’t have any other plan. Might as well.”

Colin narrowed his eyes at him. “Traitor.”

Luca smiled at Colin and Anna and told them to stay in Boulder; he, Andrew and Dylan would go exploring the Garden of the Gods. But Luca already knew how Colin and Anna would respond. But just to make sure Luca
really
knew how he felt about the whole expedition back to the park where they’d encountered a scary-ass demon who may have actually been the one who kidnapped Anna, he offered Luca a few epithets in his native language.

Nobody stopped for donuts this time. The drive to Colorado Springs was largely quiet, even for Colin and Anna, because they knew now what was there. And what they had discovered last time might only be a small part of what was actually hiding among the rock formations and hills of the park. Neither of them was eager to find out what else was lurking in the Garden of the Gods.

With no donut delay, Colin and Anna didn’t have to wait for Luca to arrive with Dylan and Andrew. And no one bothered looking through the tower viewer. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement that they would head toward the same rock formation where they’d spotted Jeremy before, and when they reached the same point where they’d stopped to wait, they stopped once again.

The air was cooler today and Anna zipped up her windbreaker. She could feel the shield Colin had erected around her again and she pressed closer to him, the knowledge of how vulnerable he was without his ability to use this power almost as terrifying as the memories of what these demons could do if he didn’t protect her.

Andrew turned his pale face up toward the sun as he zipped up his own windbreaker. “Should have brought sunscreen. This could take a while.”

Anna snickered because she and Colin shared similar complexions. Apparently, immortality did not prevent sunburns. They had learned that lesson the hard way.

Colin held Anna’s hand and led her to a flat rock where they sat down to wait for something to show up. A taller rock nearby at least provided some shade so Anna scooted closer to Colin and offered a seat to Andrew. Dylan and Luca sat on the ground and they passed the time by debating who had a better shot of making it to the Super Bowl this year: the Broncos or the Saints. Luca thought Armageddon had a better chance of actually breaking out than either team making it past a wild card playoff game. For once, Colin wasn’t that interested in the football discussion; he just
really
wanted his new Porsche.

By lunchtime, the only creatures that had passed them were tourists or a few squirrels that skittered away as soon as they realized five obnoxious humans were around.

Andrew looked longingly in the direction of the Visitor Center. “We can go back there, grab something to eat then come back.”

Colin thought that was the best idea he’d heard all day. He was discovering that keeping this invisible shield around his wife for hours at a time was physically draining, and he was starving. Dylan groaned as he stood up from the ground, his legs stiff from sitting too long, and Luca flashed a mischievous grin as he looked up at him. He wanted help up so it would be easier on
his
aching legs.

“Hey,” he protested, when all of the hunters cursed him for his laziness, “I’m old. I’m supposed to be able to complain about painful joints.”

Anna smiled back at him, not because she believed his real age could possibly be catching up to him but just because he had always been like this and she had always understood sometimes he needed to be taken care of, too. She reached down to help him up and felt the sensation that something had entered their world and it didn’t belong here. Except it was unbelievably strong.

Luca jumped to his feet, his pretense of aching joints forgotten, and the hunters unconsciously formed a circle so they could scan the landscape around them.

“What the hell is this?” Dylan murmured.

Whatever was here was far more powerful than anything they’d encountered before. But Colin reached behind him and found Anna’s hand, because that wasn’t quite right: they
did
recognize this overwhelming feeling, this sensation that Hell had arrived on Earth. They’d experienced it once in Srebrenica.

Colin and Anna squeezed each other’s fingers before reaching for their daggers as the shapes, just hazy forms from this distance, appeared near the Colorado skyline. It wasn’t one demon that had shown up to meet the Immortals but an army of them. Anna looked up to the top of the cliff where they’d spotted Jeremy the day before, and there, like a general watching his invading soldiers, he waited for his former friends and fellow hunters to die.