The Gift of Knowledge (The Gifts Book 2) (15 page)

     It was a faint moan, but both angels heard it. Matthew placed a hand on the man’s chest to calm him, as Simon tried to talk to him.

     “No, no my brother, you can live. You grow stronger each day. The Lord is with you, and nothing is impossible with him. Pray for life, not death.”

     “You cannot help me. I’m doomed. The only way out for me now is death. Go away, whoever you are, and let me die.” Lazar cried out, thrashed about on the bed, and almost fell into the fire before Matthew caught him.

     “Rest now, brother, we will talk more later.” Simon soothed the man as he pressed him back down onto the mat.

***

     Liam returned to the campsite with his angels. He checked with Terrence to see how Emily was doing. She was in her tent praying. The two angels spread their wings out over her, as she prayed and the Holy Spirit ministered to her. Peace descended over the campsite and out into the forest, while Emily continued to pray for Lazar as the Spirit laid him on her heart to do so.

***

     Lazar awoke again during the night. His mind was clearer than it had been in months. Despair weighed heavy in his heart, and he was still too weak to move, but he felt a need to unburden himself. He still believed he would die soon, but something drove him to tell his story. What did it matter now if someone knew of his evil doings? Surely he would be dead before he could be turned over to the authorities, anyway.

     Sitting up was difficult, but he managed to do it. The two men who’d been caring for him were standing at his side. He wondered if they ever slept.

     His voice was hoarse and scratchy as he spoke. “I’m not sure who you are, but if you are men of the Lord, I need to confess.”

***

     The storm at Perry House raged on throughout the rest of the day and into the night. A cold chill invaded the house, and Gemma built up a fire in the main room’s fireplace. The electricity was out, but the woman remained calm. She could see the flashes of lightning but did not hear the booming of thunder that quickly followed the white flashes.

     A hurricane lamp flickered on a table next to Gemma, and her Bible lay open in her lap. Peace flooded her heart and her mind. It was not in Gemma to doubt her Lord would care for her. All her life she trusted him. How could she not? In her darkest hours whenever evil was all around her, the Lord always carried her through. She began to count her blessings now.

     Outside, the angels of Hook Pond held their ground. The demons pounded them from all sides, yet the lines of defense held strong. The angels took strength from Gemma and Emily’s prayers.

     When morning broke the demons spent the last of their strength to try to create a hole into the angel’s ranks. Their battalion was almost decimated, with less than half of the original six thousand remaining in the battle. The demons bound themselves tightly together into one solid mass. They became as one giant cannon ball in the sky. The dark mass emitted so much energy that sparks of lightning rolled over the sky and struck the ground. A thrumming sound pulsed and vibrated from the rolling, spinning mass until it became a high-pitched mechanical squeal.

     A battle weary Dycidius watched the massive, dark ball rise higher and higher into the sky. This had to be it. He knew his demon warriors were pulling the very last of their energy into this weapon. He stood on the outskirts of the forest that edged the grounds of Perry House. His plan was to take the local demonic forces that gathered around him and raid the main house once the angelic hold was broken. Only one thing stood between him and his ability to continue to reign in his physical realm and that was the woman in that house. For him, her death was a necessity. He must not fail the Ba al’s orders. The consequences of his defeat were too gruesome to think about.

     The mass of demons blocked the sun, causing darkness to fall across the land like a shadow. Shrill squealing continued to fill the air. Then a trumpet sounded in the skies above. First it echoed low in the night then amplified, as if coming closer and closer, until the calling trumpet was all any spiritual being for miles around could hear. Fear struck Dycidius so hard he fell to the ground and watched in horror as the hand of God reached down from the heavens and crushed the dark mass before it could smash the stronghold of Perry House.

     “Prince, Prince. We must leave this place. Now! The hosts of heaven are coming.” Dycidius allowed himself to be pulled along with the remnants of the demon horde of Hook Pond. His entire battalion had been demolished. The Ba al’ would torture him and send him into the abyss. There was no hope for him.

     He wailed, “Just let them have me now. I’m dead anyway. The Ba al’ will annihilate me.” The demon pulling him along was dark and squat, with a face resembling a warthog.  He looked up at the Prince and shook his head.

     “My Prince, you seek to strike at the saints of Perry House? Yes?” Dycidius could only nod. “Well then, you should know that there is another woman connected to those at Perry House. She resides in New York. She is beloved to those who live within the angelic stronghold. We have been watching her and her own family for years, as her husband was once one of our own charges. Her name is Marta Steel. I can take you to her.”

     A glimmer of hope swelled in Dycidius’ evil mind. “Yes. Let us have a look at Marta Steel.”

***

     Inside Perry House, Gemma woke feeling refreshed and peaceful. She’d prayed for all she knew and loved and thanked the Lord for her many blessings. She thanked him again for delivering her from the face of evil in the guise of an awful storm. Outside the window the sun was shining and all was right again in her world.

Chapter Thirteen

For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diver’s lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another

Titus 3:10

    Lazar cleared his throat and asked for some water. Matthew helped him to drink from a carved wooden cup and warned him to go slow. Despite the warning, he gulped down the water and reached for more. He thought he might need something stronger to help him get through this confession. There would be none of that here, he thought. So he decided to just start at the beginning. The day he met Ethan McGowan, that day he would never forget. Looking both of the missionary men in the eye, he began his confession.

     “
I was a sophomore at Yale when I first met Ethan. He was a young pup, only sixteen years old and already a freshman in college. Ethan was my dorm-mate. I was a resident advisor, and the dean wanted Ethan to have a mature, responsible student to mentor him and keep him out of trouble. Being an honor student myself, I was the perfect choice, so the dean told me. I wasn’t too keen on the idea to start with, but the kid kinda grew on me.

     The truth was that right away everyone loved him. He was some kind of genius, they said. Surely, he was a Noble Prize winner in the making. We were friends at first. I was nineteen, so it was strange to be friends with a sixteen-year-old. But after a while his age didn’t matter anymore.

     Ethan excelled at everything he did. Soon, he surpassed even me in his studies, and we graduated with our doctorates the same year. After graduation, Ethan and I went our separate ways, but we agreed to stay in touch. Frankly, I was proud of Ethan for his accomplishments but very happy to be out of his shadow. It seemed that no matter how accomplished I was he was better. I started to harbor a strong, jealous resentment against him while we were both in college. The first year after graduating I was able to let go of some of that resentment. Then I heard Ethan was given some digging assignments with private grant money and was actively recruiting team members. I remember thinking of how much I resented him all over again.

     It was not fair. I told myself this over and over again, as I submitted request after request for grant money to fund my own projects to no avail. It seemed everyone wanted the kid genius.

     Ethan took every prospect of work I had from me. I became destitute. I couldn’t pay my bills. The harder things got for me the easier they seemed to get for Ethan. I hated him and wished for his demise many times over.

     One day, I received a letter from him. He wanted me to work for him. He had several digs lined up in different countries, and he wanted my help. I had ten dollars to my name, and even though I hated myself for doing it, I accepted his offer. It was that or starve. Soon I was working, traveling from one dig site to another. I suppose I should have been grateful. Ethan did save me from disaster by giving me a job. He paid me well and treated me like a brother. It never really occurred to me then, but I guess Ethan had always looked up to me in a big brother sort of way. Ever since that first day in college when I took him under my wing, he trusted me and valued my opinion above all others. I took advantage of his trust in order to betray him.

    I never let on to anyone about how much I hated Dr. Ethan McGowan. I just let that hatred grow inside of me until one day I came up with a plan. I knew that with Ethan out of the way I could take everything over. His team would become my team. At first, I just wanted him out of the picture. I dreamed of him having an accident that would cripple him for life. I spent hours thinking up ways to do it.

     I started out by slowly sabotaging the dig sites. My goal was to make the entire team so miserable they would turn against Ethan. I did petty little things like put dirt in the water supply and worms in the food storages. I ripped holes in tents, flattened tires, and flooded fire pits, anything I could think of to make the team frustrated and uncomfortable. 

    Soon, I moved on to a different kind of sabotage. I started rumors that Ethan was going bankrupt. I subtly hinted to each of the team members that Ethan was going to have to make some budget cuts, and their jobs were on the line. When everyone was on edge, I started to spread outright lies about Ethan. I told everyone how much he hated them behind their backs, and he secretly held back grant money for himself and misappropriated funds for his own benefit. It didn’t take long before everyone was at each other’s throats. It was so easy to turn everyone against each other.

     It was around that time I was contacted by a private investor. This person wanted to remain anonymous because he wanted to know what Ethan was up to. It seemed this person had listened in on a conversation Ethan had with another investor about finding the lost giant burial site in the Amazon. The man wanted to take from Ethan whatever he found in the lost site. At last, my time had come. I made arrangements to meet with the investor at a private place in the Netherlands.

      My nightmare began. I’d told Ethan I needed to take some time off to take care of some personal business. He gave me a generous leave and told me to take my time. I remember thinking how gullible he was, and I laughed to myself about how easy it was to take advantage of him.

     The investor lived on a very remote island off the mainland of the Netherlands. He belonged to a sect of holy men. I was never given a name for their sect or any of the people on the island. I was flown in by private jet, and I could never find my way back to the island again. These holy men live extremely private lives. They dress in red robes, and are very extreme in their religious practices.

     They seemed genuinely interested in sharing their beliefs with me and in helping me to become enlightened like them. I was treated like royalty and given anything I desired during my stay there. After a few days, I became restless to get on with my goal of bringing Ethan down and expressed my desire to do so to the holy men. I was informed that the investor who wished for my help was one of their holiest of men, and for me to be able to meet him face-to-face would require that I go through the sect’s purification rites. In order for me to do that, I would need to be introduced to a spirit guide.