by Chuck Black
Validus could not escape both threats at once so he dealt with the faster of the two—the sword. He met the slice with the flat of his blade at the precise position just above the oncoming trajectory of the bullets. With all his strength, he deflected the blade of his enemy downward to intersect three of the four bullets, but the fourth could not be diverted.
The lead tore into his left shoulder, but Validus ignored it. In one swift upward counter, his blade cut through the neck of his immediate opponent. The demon with the gun let his earthly weapon fall from his hand. It evaporated into vapor as he grabbed hold of his sword with both hands, but the delay cost him his life. Validus finished him in a fraction of a second.
Validus redoubled his efforts to reach Danick and Yortan at the gas chamber. The searing pain in his left shoulder was becoming impossible to ignore. He ran toward the death chamber in time to see Yortan facing five Fallen all at once. The diesel engine rumbled to life, its sole purpose to bring death.
Danick recklessly made an attempt to materialize through one of the chamber walls, but before he could pass through, a sword cut through his abdomen, and he fell backward.
Validus rushed to him and pulled him backward away from the immediate fight. “General!”
Danick struggled to stay upright as Validus pulled him away. “Leave me. You must help Yortan. Not much time left!”
Validus looked toward Yortan as the screams and cries of hundreds of women and children filled his ears. Yortan was near to being overcome against the relentless attacks of the Fallen.
“No!” Yortan shouted as a dark steel blade cut across his shoulder, but his scream was not for himself—it was for Eva Wiesenthal and her young child slowly dying just feet away.
Validus rose up, but fifty more Fallen materialized through sector three’s fence. Another blade pierced Yortan, but he sent two more demons to the Abyss with his last cry of defiance.
“By the blood of the Lamb you are defeated!”
In a monumental final surge of power, Yortan jumped over the heads of the Fallen to the roof of the gas chamber, intending to materialize down to his charge, but three demons met him and pierced him through.
As Yortan slowly dissolved away into the elegance of a bluish vapor, the remaining lineage warriors hesitated, for the sounds of weeping and crying were gone. Carriers and draegers claimed their souls from the gas chamber, and Validus could not watch.
Eva and her child were the last of the lineage of Simeon. Had they chosen the wrong lineage? Was it all for naught?
Validus called for retreat as the machine guns from the towers of the camp rattled their rain of death upon prisoners fleeing toward the forest. Land mines exploded; guards yelled; prisoners ran. Once the Fallen could see the warriors retreating, they diverted to the mayhem on the other side of camp.
Validus went to General Danick and lifted him by his arm, placing it around his shoulder. Beyond the fence of the death camp, Validus laid Danick against a knoll.
“Hang on, sir. I’m going to make sure you get through this.”
General Danick shook his head. “I’ve … failed, Validus.”
“No, General. Fight it. We need you. Stay with us!”
Danick shook his head again. He grabbed Validus’s arm. “You must find …” He wheezed, grimacing in pain. “The one I missed.”
“Together we will find him.”
Danick reached up and grabbed the back of Validus’s neck. “You … are … my … friend …”
Validus felt Danick’s grip soften, then melt away like sand falling through fingers. An instant later, the mighty General Danick slowly dissolved away into a wistful vapor and floated upward.
Validus lowered his head. Their great leader of six millennia was gone. In the far distant skies of heaven, he knew that one more trumpet sounded at the towers of Mount Simcha, declaring the sorrow of a great loss.
He lifted his eyes toward the pale sky and felt completely alone. He had lost more than a mentor. He had lost a friend and a kindred spirit. Grief overwhelmed him.
Eva Wiesenthal cradled little Anna to her bosom. The horror of the Sobibór extermination camp was beyond imagination, and yet she was living it. She had been separated from Sigmund at the railway, their love cut short by the evil of the Nazi regime. He had screamed and fought against the guards for taking his wife and infant daughter from him. The last image Eva saw of him was of a Nazi soldier smashing his face with the butt of his gun.
There were no words, no emotions to explain her shattered soul. Why was this happening? How could men be so heinous, so monstrously evil? Death lurked everywhere. She had heard the truth of the camps and didn’t believe the German soldiers who told them Sobibór was a transit stop, that soon they would continue on to work camps. No prisoner ever left the camp—ever.
“Undress here. Leave your clothes. You will be taking showers before you are transported. Hurry!”
Eva began to weep. Anna cried too. “Hush, little one. Soon it will be okay. Hush, little angel. Momma will be with you.”
“They’re going to kill us. We have to do something,” a pleading voice said from the corner of the concrete room.
“Quiet!” shouted a German guard. “Hurry up. Your train leaves soon.”
Eva could feel her heart racing. Sorrow, dark and heavy, hung around the two hundred women and children. Many were weeping or praying, but some were numb and emotionless, almost seeming to welcome death and its escape from this unholy nightmare.
“Where are You, God?” Eva whispered through her tears. “Where are Your mighty angels to protect my little Anna?”
“This way. Quickly!” The soldiers led them down a long, narrow path lined with barbed wire and pine branches. “Quickly, into the showers!”
Anna cried louder, which seemed to annoy the German guard barking orders at them. Another guard stood at the door of the shower room, but he did not look at the women or the children.
Eva reached for him. “Please, sir, take my baby. Take my Anna. Please!”
The guard looked at Eva, and the guilt of ten thousand souls filled his eyes. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. He looked like an ashen statue, frozen by the tides of an evil regime that locked him in place.
“Quickly!” shouted the other guard from behind her.
Eva was pushed forward, away from the door guard. She clutched at his sleeve, but he pulled back and turned away.
Eva stepped into the chamber, and the stench of urine and death filled her nostrils. The heavy metal doors shut, momentarily filling the chamber with a hollow echo. Eva felt the rumble of the diesel engines in the cold concrete floor beneath her bare feet. She kissed Anna a dozen times.
“I’m so sorry, my little Anna. I’m so sorry. Momma loves you.”
Anna looked up at Eva and seemed comforted by her soft words. For one moment, in the midst of abject horror, there was a warmth of love between mother and child that not even the vilest of evil men could steal away. Eva caught the moment and held on for every final second that it lasted.
Outside of her fortress of motherly love, she could hear the screams and weeping of hundreds of women and children as the noxious carbon monoxide began to fill the room. Eva knelt down near the far corner of the gas chamber and clung to her final moments with Anna.
She held her breath while gently laying Anna on the floor beneath her. On her elbows and knees, she formed a little pocket to protect Anna from the falling bodies around them. Eva felt them collapse around and on top of her. The weight was nearly unbearable, but her frail body had nowhere to collapse to.
She exhaled the air within her lungs toward Anna’s face, then lifted her head up through the tangle of arms and legs and breathed the poisoned air. She felt the gentle kick of little Anna beneath her, then slowly drifted away from the horror of the chamber.
35
INTO THE DRAGON
Present Day
Validus looked at the dauntless faces of his three warriors. They were seconds away from facing the fu
ll fury of Durgank and one of his worst strongholds.
It was time.
He held up one finger … two fingers …
Tren reached out and stopped his hand, then pointed up with his FN. In the gray of the night sky, Validus caught the flash of silver wings … many silver wings. Chills flowed down his spine.
Two seconds later twenty-two warrior angels landed with swords drawn and battle on their faces.
Commander Malak landed next to Validus.
“Your timing is impeccable. I didn’t think you were coming,” Validus said.
Malak drew his short sword. “I gave you my word, and I’m here to make it good.”
Validus nodded. “Twenty-four warriors below and another dozen out front. I’m going for Durgank. Eliminate as many as fast as you can and be ready for reinforcements. Once the hostages are safe, we focus on Carter. If we can get him out, we exit and we exit fast. Tren, you, Teriel, and Kassen cover the hostages.”
Malak nodded and motioned to his men. “Say the word.”
“One … two … three … materialize!”
They left the cool, clear night air and descended into Durgank’s lair of evil. The scene erupted in an explosion of guns and swords. The twenty-three Fallen dodged bullets and came at the warriors from every direction. Unbreakable, brilliant silver blades met the blackened steel of Apollyon’s worst.
Validus landed near what must have been the leader of the Dragon gang, for the vexer-possessor inside him was screaming for his gang members to kill Carter. He was surrounded by three brutes with knives and brass knuckles. Validus immediately struck down two nearby Fallen with the fury of a raging storm.
He glanced at Carlyle and the children and beheld a marvelous sight as Tren and Teriel sprinted to cover them. The empowering flames of Ruach Elohim were flowing through and around Sydney Carlyle. The Fallen warriors nearby shrank back from the power of His holy presence, and the blue fire reached out for Tren and Teriel as two Fallen attempted to engage them. Their swords flew with frightening speed and power to put the dark warriors down.
Validus needed to get to Carter and protect him. The thought of Carter losing his life here was unthinkable. Validus would find it difficult to carry on knowing the eternal state of the man he had bled for, the man he had come to admire.
He spotted Carter in the center of the dome. The three brutes who had attacked him were defeated and bleeding, but the worst of the danger was yet to come. Carter dived and rolled toward the FN Five-Sevens lying just five feet away from him. The concrete nearby shattered in spraying pieces of cement and white dust. Bullets ricocheted upward, zinging off in multiple directions. As Carter rolled, both hands found and curled around the grips of the waiting FNs. He came up on one knee, armed and ready.
Validus sensed the apprehension in the members of the gang, but it did little to hinder the realm of angels and demons.
Just as Carter began acquiring and eliminating his targets, Validus turned to see Durgank coming at him. He braced himself, then launched into the fight with this demon of power.
He shot four rounds from his FN, then jumped and flipped over the top of Durgank’s first attack, bringing his sword down on the demon from above. Durgank deflected and dodged the bullets, simultaneously reacting to meet Validus’s blade with his own. Durgank pushed off a table, instantly reversing his momentum, and launched himself back at Validus. Validus landed, deflected, and countered. He let his FN dissolve away, preferring to focus exclusively on the single most effective weapon an angel could bear.
Validus and Durgank flew across the warehouse and off the walls, each trying to gain the positional advantage needed for a microsecond breach in the other’s defense. Durgank was as fierce a warrior as Validus had ever faced. He was, after all, of the first One Hundred.
Their swords flew in a blur of black and silver steel, clashing time and time again. No matter how hard or how quickly Validus moved his blade, Durgank was always there to meet and counter. He tapped into the sword techniques of every culture he had studied, masters of the past, but Durgank adapted and retaliated. Other duels rage around them, but Validus could not give one moment to any of them, for any breach in concentration would mean his end.
Then he heard the deep growl of a droxan just as Carter’s voice reached his ears.
“Behind you!”
Validus diverted a thrust from Durgank just in time to see the droxan lunging at him from behind. He was out of position to effect any damaging cut to the beast, let alone recover in time to keep Durgank’s blade at bay.
There was nothing Validus could do. He had not anticipated the droxan. The end was inevitable.
The air filled with the rapid fire of two FN Five-Sevens, and Validus found one small glimmer of hope. Carter had seen the droxan and in a move of desperation for the sake of Validus had fired his earthly bullets at the beast.
Validus parried Durgank’s blade outward and upward, then passed the steel of his own sword into the path of Carter’s stream of bullets, instantly translating each one into the solid reality of the Upper Realm. Thirty-five highvelocity bullets burrowed into the thick hide of the pouncing beast. Death enveloped the monster in a green vapor that spilled forward around Durgank and Validus’s ferocious duel.
Durgank turned his head away to protect his eyes, and Validus used that split-second distraction to his advantage, arcing his sword around with all the speed and power within him. His blade found its mark, cutting through Durgank’s chest and abdomen. The demon of ancient days turned back, eyes bulging in anger and disbelief
“That’s for Ral!” Validus said as Durgank dissolved into green nothingness that fell into the earth.
Validus scanned the room, preparing for his next duel, but it was not necessary. Carter had eliminated the threat of the gang, and the sirens outside sent the remaining gang members scurrying. Durgank’s defeat sent the rest of the Fallen warriors into retreat. The battle was over.
Tren came to Validus.
“Are they safe?”
Tren nodded. “Teriel is outside with them. The FBI and the police are coming.” He nodded toward Carter, who stood twenty feet away, watching them. “What of him?”
“There’s not much we can do now. He’ll be taken into custody by the FBI, but I’m going to talk to him before that happens.”
Tren frowned. “That’s not wise. You know the rules.”
“The fact that he can see us already breaks the rules. I want to find out what he knows.”
Tren clearly disagreed, but Validus didn’t care. This was too important to let slide, and after all, Carter had just saved his life and deserved at least this.
“I’ll meet you in the alley,” Validus said.
Tren turned and left.
Validus could hear the movements of the FBI getting ready to storm the warehouse. He wouldn’t have long. He stepped toward Carter and translated into the world of humans. He sheathed his sword and set his hands on his hips.
“I am Validus.”
Carter gawked back at him. “Where do you come from?”
That single question told Validus a lot. Not only was Carter not saved, but he was also ignorant of the reality of the Upper Realm, of angels and demons, and of Elohim Himself. Validus’s heart sank. Carter was further from the truth than Validus had realized.
“You had better figure that out quickly, for you are in grave danger. They know who you are, and they are coming for you. They are all coming for you.”
“Why … why me?”
Validus hesitated. “There are things of which I cannot speak, but the answers you seek are near. Beware, Drew Carter.”
That was enough. The FBI was here. Validus turned and took two steps, translating back just as the front warehouse door blasted open.
“Drop your weapons!”
Validus walked to the back wall and hesitated. He watched as the FBI handcuffed and whisked Carter out of the warehouse. Medical personnel would be in to care for the wounded, but for a momen
t the place was silent and still. The warehouse gave an illusion of serenity, but Validus could still feel and smell the stench of evil from one of the Fallen’s primary operational posts for the city.
He shook his head as he thought of the foolishness of Drew Carter. He was completely ignorant of his peril and yet as courageous as one of Validus’s warriors. If Carter only knew what was at stake …
The ebb of humanity was moving toward its final destination, accelerating toward that end with each passing day. Being near Carter had awakened old feelings in Validus, and he didn’t know why.
He stood in the abandoned warehouse, allowing the rush of his battle with Durgank to dissipate from his body. Flashing red and blue lights from police and ambulance vehicles danced across the ghoulish interior of the gang’s lair.
Validus stood alone, lost in thoughts that spanned six millennia. Through the ages he had witnessed the destruction of entire cities, the propagation of evil, and a thousand wars between the races of men, but what he had experienced with Carter in the last twelve months was a complete anomaly in both realms. It was beyond peculiar.
Why Drew Carter and why himself? Was there some connection between this young unbelieving man in the twenty-first century and Validus’s own journey through time? He thought of Carter. So much life compressed into so few years. The lives of men and women were truly but a vapor and yet so full.
Validus considered the situation and came to a few conclusions. Tren would need to continue his watch over Carter. Even an FBI holding cell was not safe when the Fallen were on the hunt.
This event in Chicago would not go unnoticed by Niturni, the Prince of North America. Durgank was a regional commander for the Fallen in the US, and Chicago was a primary staging platform for their advances into the Midwest. Niturni would take note and respond, especially when his wounded subordinates reported that Validus was behind the attack.
Validus walked through the back wall of the warehouse, feeling the slight resistance of its matter against his body.
Tren was waiting for him. The guardian had done well once again. Tren glared at Validus as he approached, and Validus had to guard his response. After all, his official orders were to assist Tren, not the other way around. However, the momentum of the mission and the command experience of Validus necessitated the shift of command to his shoulders, and Tren seemed okay with that for the most part. They were an odd duo, warrior and guardian. Both were challenged with fulfilling a mission that was unprecedented in angelic history.