The Seer's Lover (The Seven Archangels Series) (12 page)

Demonic lust?

Maybe she knew him long ago before she fell. Angels were a happy little clique upstairs, but God erased those warm and fuzzy memories when an angel nosedived to the pit. Angels could redeem one earthly life whereas demons could live life-after-life. They kept catapulting back to Earth to steer clear of the pit for another century or so. Sure, they’d rally behind Lucifer when Jesus decided to grace them with his presence again, but who knew when that would be.

Nara stole another quick look at Shane. She would
make
him love her.

Abaddon’s two-way receiver beeped. Anna must have something to report. Nara despised Anna if for no other reason than Shane would fall hopelessly in love with her if Anna so chose. Beautiful Brazilian siren bitch. Why Abaddon trusted her, Nara would never understand, but she knew better than to question Daddy.

The next time the receiver beeped, Anna screamed, “The angel! HE’S HERE! Go!”

Abaddon led the group through the park entrance unscathed. “Good, it worked. We’ll split up and each take a different path. I’ll head down to the ocean with Ronwe. Nara, you and Shane, go that way. Remember, the artifacts will repel you. They don’t want you to find them. They smell worse than skunk. They’ll burn your eyes and reverberate loudly, like a 747 is doing a drive-by, the closer you get to them. Hurry, we don’t have much time.”

At the moment they separated, Alejandro appeared between them like a flash of the sun itself. He held Anna by the hair, and she began to gag and vomit. He tapped her temple, and she went limp in his arms. He flung her clear of the park’s entrance sign.

Alejandro summed up the intruders. “Who’s next? Game on,” he smiled and put up his practiced fists in a defensive position.

“Hold your breath,” Ronwe said too late. The anaphylactic reaction had hit Nara again. She started to hyperventilate to get air into her collapsing lungs. Shane picked her up, slung her over his shoulder, and carried her over the park’s threshold where Anna lay motionless.

Nara watched Abaddon and Ronwe circle Alejandro. They both charged him at once. All three rose fifty feet in the air then crash landed together in a heap beyond the park’s perimeter.

Abaddon stood up and brushed himself off, staring intently at Alejandro. “You,” he said, sounding shocked.

Alejandro laughed. “Were you one of the red eyes there that night? Sorry, I don’t remember.”

****

The memories of that night had seared themselves into Alejandro’s mind forever. He’d spied on the men from a corner of the tomb. He and Gabriel had willingly offered themselves up for this most important position. Alejandro felt pride to serve a human who stepped forward to claim the Son’s body and prepare it for burial.

The men labored with the body until they managed to position the corpse on the stone slab in the spacious tomb. Clothed in simple belted brown robes, Joseph wore his air of wealth more prominently than Nicodemus. Both men wore belted poderes, robes that reached their feet, a sign of wealth. Nicodemus showed signs of his age with his slackened gait and gray-tinged hair. The younger and spryer of the two, Joseph panted less than Nicodemus. After they unburdened themselves of the body, tears had filled the eyes of both men.

“Joseph, this is your tomb, is it not?” Nicodemus spoke Aramaic in a quiet and reverent voice. He went about arranging Jesus’ limbs properly.

“Yes, but in my proclaiming him the Messiah, I am dead already. I’ll be killed soon, and there will be no proper burial for me. No matter. I only hope my meager tomb is fit for the King of the Jews.” Joseph rested both his hands on the slab, his whole body quivering from exertion, grief, and fear. Lit solely by the two candles the men carried in, the cool, dark tomb was plain, with no decorations. A large stone rolled to the side outside the front of the tomb provided the only entrance and exit.

“It is fit for him, friend. When I came in the night to meet Jesus, I, too believed he is who he says he is. Did I bring enough myrrh and aloe?” Nicodemus motioned to the myrrh and aloe stacked around them.

“This is worth a fortune, friend. It will surely be enough.” Joseph’s anger overtook his grief as he wiped the dry, sandy tears from his cheeks. “Why did this happen? I still feel as if this is a dream. They crucified him between two common thieves!”

Alejandro kept to himself in the shadows with Gabriel.

Joseph paced and wrung his hands. “Where are his so called disciples, now? Peter denied him outright today, and they all ran and hid like thieves.”

“Perhaps, we should have done the same? Our lives are forfeit now.” Nicodemus replied. He extracted shards of cross lodged in Jesus’s skin.

“I would never abandon my nephew. Never. Let us remove the wood and thorns from his body.” He gently extracted a blood-covered thorn from the head.

Alejandro leaned forward out of the shadows and watched the two men intently.

The men made a small pile of the shards of wood they removed. They had freed six bloody thorns from Jesus’ head. Nicodemus prepared the body with his combination of myrrh and aloe.

“Give me that vial, and I will collect the extra myrrh that drops from the corpse. Right now, I feel as though everything that comes in contact with His body is precious, like gold.” Joseph held the vial and collected some of the extra myrrh and aloe that had touched the body. “Here.” Joseph handed Nicodemus the vial. “Keep this.”

Joseph collected a few pieces of the splinters and three of the six thorns they had gingerly removed from the Son’s head. He opened his cloak and put them in a cup.

Nicodemus flashed him a look as he continued his work. “Is that the cup he drank from on the cross?”

Joseph nodded.

“What will you do with those things?”

Joseph shrugged. “Show my children. And my children’s children. This cup, the wood, and these thorns touched my Lord the day he died.”

Alejandro and Gabriel appeared from the shadows. “It is much more important than that, gentlemen.”

Both men recoiled and spread their arms to hide the body they were preparing behind them.

Nicodemus found the courage to speak. “Stay back. Who are you?”

“We are here to help you. First, let me give you the
sight
.” Alejandro waved his hand in front of them providing them the ability to see the white glow of the angels’ eyes and their golden auras.

“What…What are you?” Joseph stammered.

“Call me Alejandro. We are angels of the Lord. We are here to protect you upon your exit from this tomb. Joseph, you are now holding the most powerful weapons against evil mankind has ever known. Nicodemus, I suggest you take some of the pieces of the cross and three thorns as well, along with that vial of myrrh and aloe Joseph collected.” Alejandro moved closer to the terrified men. “Hurry, they have already found you.”

A low, droning growl rose from outside the tomb. The men did as they were told and hurried to finish the job. They covered the Son in a cloth and collected their belongings.

Alejandro led Nicodemus while Gabriel took Joseph out of the tomb. The terrified men clung to their guardian angels realizing hundreds and hundreds of demons encircled them.

The large rock slid by itself and sealed the tomb from the demons.

“Are you ready?” Alejandro grabbed Nicodemus.

“Yes, God be with you.” Gabriel held fast to Joseph of Arimathea.

The demons moved in to attack, but the humans with their angels, vanished.

****

Nara watched on as Abaddon took a few steps back from Alejandro. “It…It can’t be. You haven’t even aged. I was there—I saw you guide them out of the tomb. You’ve been guarding these artifacts since then? Ronwe, we hit the jackpot here. Honey, this is the angel who led the humans with the original artifacts out of the grave of the Son. You have failed, guardian. We have finally found you,” Abaddon sneered.

Nara took in her surroundings on this, the day of her family’s greatest success. The night air smelled cold and crisp even as wisps of wind swirled leaves around their feet. The demons dampened the environment enough around their jet black, icy auras to produce a hazy fog that rose off the ground. The night jungle was alive, watching. Even the trees, towering high and protective, rumbled with the wind as if they were disclosing secrets of their own. Were they recording history, anticipating the fight about to occur? The rustle of the leaves sounded like a typist feverishly trying to keep pace with the action below. Crickets chirped and the ocean roared from faraway.

Her family would be legendary for locating these artifacts. Demons would rule humans without consequence—no artifacts to destroy them and no seers to identify them, just free to reign and eliminate all the pesky angels who thwarted them.

Alejandro pushed back his shoulders and held his ground. “Oh, I haven’t failed, my friend. How many demon lives have you had to live while I am still here, un-aged and undefeated?”

Abaddon sniffed. “Whatever, angel. What a crap gig you’ve been given. Those human seers could have been killed, preventing all this sneaking around for you. How many times have you changed your name, protecting this family? How many years have you been completely alone? There were hundreds of us there, watching. Remember?”

Alejandro stood tall, proud and unaffected. “Yeah, all your beady little scared red eyes—you all hovered in the distance—watching us exit the tomb. What Joseph and Nicodemus carried out that night was worth more than anything you’ll ever feel the weight of in your hands. Nicodemus was very brave, and I have been honored to protect his family’s artifacts.”

Nara followed her parent’s lead and continued circling the angel, dry grass crunching loudly beneath her feet, excitement mounting within her for the coming attack. Lightning flashed in the distance and thunder boomed, as if the heavens themselves watched and listened.

At a moment when her parents were in front of Alejandro and Nara around back, an arm snatched her and dragged her behind a tree.

Shane. Ever the party poop.

He was slack jawed. “We need to get out of here,” he whispered urgently. “That angel—you and your parents don’t have a chance against him!”

“You underestimate us,
transitor,”
Nara said.

Shane shook his head. “He’s protected these artifacts for almost two thousand years. You think he’s going down to the likes of you three?” He grabbed her hand and tugged. “We need to get out of here. Like now,” he insisted, his voice low.

“But, my parents!” Nara hissed back in protest. All her life, she’d thought her parents invincible. She’d been raised in one—if not,
the
—most powerful demon families alive. She had yet to see her parents back down or lose in any situation. But Shane’s urgency ignited a spark of doubt. For a moment, she wanted to run away with Shane.

No matter. Leaving her parents was not an option. “Obedience or death.” Her father had instilled that at an early age. Nara regrouped, realigning her allegiance back where it belonged.

Suddenly, Alejandro loomed before them. “Stop, transitor,” the angel bellowed, pointing at Shane. “You two aren’t going anywhere.”

Nara realized the scene looked to her parents as if she and Shane were about to flee. Their faces displayed bitter disappointment and consummate anger. Nara knew what she needed to do.

Without hesitation, she launched herself at Alejandro, who tossed her aside like an old rag. The road rash would be nasty, she thought as she skidded to a stop after sliding twenty yards over rocks and dirt. Wincing, she stood in time to see Alejandro pull up a tree and heave it at Abaddon, who deftly dodged it. A limb clocked Nara and knocked her back to the ground with a thud.

Wielding a knife, Ronwe jumped on Alejandro from behind, clamping her legs around his hips and trying to get a hold on his head to slice open his neck. Alejandro touched the knife, which turned to ice, the ice working its way up Ronwe’s arm. She screamed in agony when Alejandro smashed her right arm with his fist.

The angel grabbed a fistful of hair and peeled Ronwe from his back, launching her into the air. With a thud, she landed in a heap. He advanced on Nara and Abaddon.

Nara looked on in disbelief. Never had any angel so much as drawn blood from her parents. Her resolve was weakening, and Shane’s hopeless looks didn’t help. Ignoring him, she concentrated on Alejandro, sure that her father had a few more tricks he could use.

She and Abaddon advanced again against Alejandro. Abaddon got in a punch before Alejandro nailed him in the chest with his knee and smashed an elbow in his face. Abaddon stumbled backwards, reeling. She went for a low blow to the angel’s package—and missed. Alejandro punched her square in the face. The throbbing pain clouded her vision. She staggered backward. The angel picked Nara up by the hair and slapped her hard against the ground.

A stabbing pain radiated from her spine down her legs. She was unable to move. Every part of her body wracked with pain.
Damn, these frail human bodies
.

She couldn’t even take a deep breath without feeling as if a belt wrapped around her chest too tight, compressing her heart and lungs. She gave in to despair and defeat when she saw two things through her blurry, swelling eyes. She was lying next to another person—Anna, who was whimpering as she recovered consciousness. And her father, down on all fours, trying to rise to his feet. She saw his strength and resolve and inwardly chastised herself for doubting her kin. Abaddon would never accept defeat.

Shane was trying to slink away when Nara reached out to him, “Shane, help me.”

In the moment he turned to come back for her, she felt their bond strengthen and her desire for him intensify. He did not abandon her, but instead scooped her up, carrying her to safety.

Alejandro zoomed to intercept them passing by Anna, coughing and sputtering at his feet. She reached inside her chest and pulled out an iridescent hook, which she snared around Alejandro’s ankle.

Shane stepped back. Nara watched in incredulity as Alejandro’s fighting face smoothed over, and he knelt by Anna’s side. She coughed more and spit up some blood.