“I…I don’t think I want anything to eat before we see the crime scene,” Catherine said, straightening from where Raphael set her down. “I’ll have some coffee though.”
“Same here, Raph,” Angelina added. “We’ll go get showered. You guys make some fresh coffee. Do we have to suit up, Cat? It’s goin’ to be hot as blazes out there.”
“No, and we’d attract too much attention roving through the casino in uniform,” Catherine replied. “Should we call Pomada, and let him know when we’re on the way, Raph?”
“He’ll probably be at the coordinates anyway but it wouldn’t hurt to call. I had a premonition earlier I can’t explain. If Abaddon and I seem to be watching you two more closely, you’ll know why.”
“Okay.” Angelina exchanged questioning glances with Catherine. “C’mon, Cat, let’s get going. When are you going to check in with Carol?”
“She’ll be at work close to when we get back from the desert. She should have decided by then if she’s going to tell me what I’m sure she knew last night.”
“You didn’t say much about it so we figured she was a dead end,” Catherine said.
“She knew something. When I mentioned Pomada’s case, Carol’s eyes gave her away. I’ll give Carol the rat until this afternoon to decide if she wants to tell us what it is.”
“What? You think she’s in on it?” Angelina asked in surprise.
“No, but I think she’s afraid of whoever is,” Raphael answered.
“She should be,” Catherine remarked, leading the way into the bedroom. “We’ll be right back, guys.”
Chapter 35
Dancing with the Devil
Pomada walked over from where he had been standing, staring blankly out at the desert landscape. He had discarded his suit-coat and tie due to the rapidly increasing heat, even at nine o’clock in the morning. Except for one uniformed policeman positioned under a shaded tent structure, Pomada was the only other person at the site. Angelina parked the Hummer behind two cars on the road nearly two hundred yards away from the scene. The four were dressed in khaki shorts and light colored tops. Catherine and Angelina wore baseball caps and sunglasses. Raphael and Abaddon opted for just sunglasses, more to appear normal than as a necessity. Pomada wiped his brow with his forearm as he came up to the group.
“I’m glad you were able to get out here early,” Pomada greeted them. “It’s going to be a scorcher. It’s already hell here as it is. Follow me. I’ll take you over to the place. It’s beyond that small ridge past where the tent’s located. I was afraid you wouldn’t come.”
“On the contrary,” Raphael replied, “we couldn’t stay away. Have you had any contact with the killer since talking with us last night?”
“No. Unfortunately, the other leads I thought might be promising from the first murders, indicating a pattern, were dead ends. This murdering S.O.B. started out a little flaky. As the number of killings mounted, the clues became nonexistent. I thought maybe I’d turn up something new…”
Pomada paused. He took a deep breath and waved for them to follow. “No use standin’ here telling you a bunch of meaningless crap.”
Following Pomada along the narrow pathway, Raphael glanced back at Abaddon. The Archangels’ eyes locked for a moment. Abaddon nodded imperceptibly, his lips pressed together in a thin line. Raphael turned away, certain Abaddon felt the residue of something monstrous too. Pomada halted as he topped the small ridge, waiting for the others to join him. Not more than twenty feet down at the slope’s base, the group could see a nearly rectangular hole cut out of the ground. One side arched to permit one of three crosses to be at right angles to the other two. Glinting with a rusty brown tone beneath the rising sun, only the tops could be seen from where they were partially obstructed by the excavation’s sides.
“I will leave you four to look it over,” Pomada told them. “If you can see what you need to see from outside the hole it would be better. Although the ground soaked up much of the blood, it’s not completely gone from the pit surface. Our crews have done everything they could do from here. The only thing left is to pull out the crosses. We need to take them and the first layer of dirt back to our lab. You would not have wanted to be here when we first found the bodies no matter what you could have deciphered from them.”
“You are right, Agent Pomada,” Abaddon stated.
“We’ll come get you if we have any questions, Bill.” Raphael put a comforting hand on the haggard agent’s shoulder.
Pomada nodded his understanding. He returned to the guard’s tent. Angelina and Catherine took Raphael’s extended hands as Abaddon led the way reluctantly down toward the charnel pit.
“Do you feel it, Raph?” Abaddon asked without turning.
“There is both human evil here, and demon. I smell the taint of Lucifer’s corruption. This is old school, not new age.”
“I’m glad the sun’s out,” Catherine mumbled, losing her footing. Raphael kept her from pitching face first down the gentle slope.
“What did you mean by human and demon?” Angelina grasped Catherine’s other arm, steadying her friend as they neared the pit.
“I don’t know,” Raphael admitted, “but it’s different than those guys in Baker. This definitely has something to do with those devil worshipping suck-ups Carol set us up for. I doubt though any of the ones dancing in the light of a full moon once in a while had anything to do with this physically. Still, it’s no coincidence they helped set us up. Now these murders take place. I should have taken Abaddon with me last night. That jackass hassling Carol at the front desk would have told Abaddon what he knew.”
Abaddon stared into the pit of three crosses as if in a trance. He did not look up as the others joined him at the pit rim. Surreal visions assaulted Abaddon’s senses. Glimpses of maimed, writhing figures, nailed to the crosses poured through his consciousness. After nearly five minutes of silence Abaddon turned to Raphael.
“I…I will lose form if I touch the cross, Raph,” Abaddon admitted in a strained voice. “It took them a very long time to die.”
Raphael bent to touch the middle cross. He hesitated as his hand drew near the stained wood. Catherine bent and gripped his arm with both of her hands reassuringly. Raphael smiled, nodding his thanks. The Archangel’s body shook slightly as his hand gripped the cross. Raphael straightened suddenly, causing Catherine to pitch backward against Angelina.
“A demon under human direction did this,” Raphael stated angrily, his fists tensing at his sides.
“How do you know, Raph?” Catherine asked.
“Because the thing that tortured and mutilated these kids was silent. Beyond the kids’ screams was human laughter - a woman’s laughter.”
“Oh sweet Jesus! You don’t think Carol knew anything about this? C’mon, Raph, Cat and I may have believed she had something to do with setting us up with the Clinton demons, but torturing kids?”
“I don’t know how much she knows about this. Carol does know something. We’re going over to her house before she goes to work and find out what.” Raphael backed away from the pit. He then trudged purposefully up the hill.
“You don’t think Carol was that bad, do you?” Catherine asked Abaddon as the three followed Raphael’s lead.
“I do not know, Sister Mary Catherine. I pray for her sake she had nothing to do with this.”
Pomada waited for them on the ridge.
“You weren’t down there very long,” Pomada’s tone was one of disappointment.
“It was long enough, Bill,” Raphael replied. “We have to follow a hunch I have on this. I’ll call you with what we find out.”
Pomada stepped out of their way. “Anything you do will be more than I’m accomplishing so far. If you need any help getting access, call me.”
“We will.” Raphael clasped Pomada’s shoulder on the way by.
“Want to talk about what you saw, Raph?” Angelina started the Hummer’s engine and uploaded the directions Raphael gave her for Carol�
�s home into their GPS unit.
“Nothing I haven’t seen before. Envisioning the horror in so personal a manner siphons the light from my mind and soul. As I explained before, when an Archangel of the Lord visits Earth it is not the same as knowing evil from afar. We lose our other worldly arrogance quite rapidly when touching such blasphemy.”
“You said a demon did this though.” Catherine held Raphael’s hand in hers as they sat together in the back seat. “The woman laughed as the demon tortured and maimed.”
“It was much more than that, Sister Mary Catherine,” Raphael noted with great sadness. “The woman had done much the same thing with her own hands before acquiring the demon.”
“Acquired the demon?” Angelina repeated questioningly as they approached the outskirts of Las Vegas. “Acquired how?”
“A contract with Lucifer,” Abaddon answered for Raphael, having felt Lucifer’s essence at the pit. “A contract this human creature earned her way into.”
“Abaddon’s right. Lucy doesn’t interact with what he thinks of as amoeba like scum without having been summoned by hideous acts beyond the comprehension of normal humans. This woman dedicated her existence for what she believes is absolute power.”
After a long moment of silence, Raphael issued a warning. “The screams of the innocent call for an accounting. The Lord has heard their cries. When we find these associates of desecration, Abaddon must not be interfered with. Is that clear?”
Catherine and Angelina nodded their heads in acquiescence. They drove on in silence.
“Is that Carol’s place?” Angelina finished her navigation in front of the address listed on the GPS screen.
“Yes, it’s her house.” Raphael could not keep the tense aspect from his voice.
“The creature has been here,” Abaddon stated, a familiar haze beginning to engulf the interior of the Hummer.
“Slowly, my brother,” Raphael ordered, gripping Abaddon’s shoulder tightly. “All will reveal itself in due time. The scent of this demon is overpowering. I can’t even separate Carol’s essence from it. I will knock and then we will gain entry one way or another. Cat, you and Ange stay behind me. I will not underestimate this thing and let one of you be eviscerated before we even confront it.”
“Raph!” Abaddon blurted out angrily, twisting to face his brother. “Why endanger anyone? I will go alone and obliterate everything.”
“Because if the thing is truly here, I will bear witness to the accounting.” Raphael’s features bore witness to his inner battle for control.
An accepting grim smile turned up the corners of Abaddon’s lips. Angelina and Catherine exchanged glances of uneasy excitement after Raphael’s statement. They remained silent, knowing their part in what lay ahead would be small. Raphael left the Hummer, leading his companions to the door of Carol’s house. He knocked forcefully first, using his senses to detect any movement in or around the dwelling. After a brief time, Raphael pushed the door open. Frame and deadbolt gave way in crackling protest. The essence of the demon was so pervasive Abaddon lost all manor of human contrivance. The black winged Archangel of the Abyss swept ahead in desperate search for his quarry. His search ended outside Carol’s bedroom. He unconsciously reverted to human form and stood back from the door, his soul-scarred face turned away.
Raphael hurried past him, leaving Angelina and Catherine alone in the living room. The skinned mutilated corpse of one with whom he had shared a brief moment of passion lay on the bed before him. Raphael walked slowly up to the corpse, reluctant to be so near, but drawn by duty to her side. As Angelina and Catherine gathered with Abaddon at the doorway Raphael reached down to touch Carol’s cold cheek. A gasp of welcome surprise escaped the Archangel’s mouth. He enfolded Carol’s body in his arms and looked toward his companions with pure joy.
“She is with our Father,” Raphael cried out reverently. “It is as I felt, Abaddon, great pain, sorrow, and then…”
Janine and her familiar materialized behind Catherine, Janine’s smiling countenance vivid in triumph. The demon Carrie clutched Catherine to her before any could turn. The thing howled in silent anguish, the first facial rendering of any emotion it had ever shown. As Carrie the demon released a smiling Catherine, Angelina struck with a vengeance. She head butted the shocked Janine hard enough to send Lucifer’s would be acolyte careening off the hallway wall and into a pain addled heap, spurting blood from her shattered nose. A split second later, Abaddon held the demon Carrie by the throat as it writhed soundlessly in unimaginable pain.
“Do as you will with this thing for a time.” Raphael strode to the doorway, pointing at the now sobbing Janine. “I would grasp my brother’s hand in this final accounting of the damned.”
Catherine and Angelina, now clad in the black robes of their calling, stood as sentinels over Janine’s prone body. Raphael grasped Abaddon’s outstretched right hand. The demon’s once dead looking eyes took on a life all their own. They danced in unutterable horror as Abaddon’s grasp tightened. The Abyss inched ever so slowly into the demon’s body.
It was then Janine made a run for the door as Angelina and Catherine watched the template of retribution before them. Catherine grasped and yanked Janine’s hair back instantly. Janine screamed in pain. Catherine bent to her, faces inches apart. Angelina moved closer, reluctant to tear her eyes away from Carrie’s final judgment. Janine, to her, was a done deal.
“Where you goin’, bitch?” Catherine shook Janine’s head minutely, face to face. “Did you really think your demon could hurt me, you…”
“Cat,” Angelina said, not taking her eyes from the demon Carrie’s essence, “you should watch this.”
Catherine glanced up reluctantly. The sight made her release Janine’s hair from nerveless hands. Raphael’s aura beamed in white contrast to Abaddon’s black winged presence. Where the Archangel Raphael grasped his dark brother’s hand, a pulsating darkness throbbed within the grasp of heavenly light. Within, lay the souls of countless children, their faces effused with hope. Blinding white pinpoints of light shot upward until only blackness remained. Raphael released Abaddon’s hand. The Archangel of the Abyss smiled at his brother in unbridled exaltation, his ebony wings enveloping Carrie. They disappeared from sight.
“Oh my God!” Catherine grabbed Angelina’s hand in her own.
Janine streaked for the front door, all pretense of power gone with her demon familiar. Raphael met her at the exit, his blindingly white aura so intense Janine collapsed to the carpeted floor, her hands thrown up around her face in agony. Raphael knelt down beside Janine, gathering her up screaming into his arms. His essence seared her in slicing pulsations of heavenly light. After what seemed like eons to Janine, Raphael released her into a heap at his feet with Catherine and Angelina now in grim attendance.
“You will wait for my brother. Abaddon will lead you to what you have strived for. I would say may God have mercy on your soul but there will be none for you. You will beg for hell, my little blasphemous witch.”
“I felt it, Raphael,” Catherine stated. “Can you heal her and give her hope no other she murdered had?”
“To what purpose, Sister Mary Catherine?” Raphael asked, the seething rage within him locked tenuously in place. “I doubt I could still Abaddon’s vengeance even if I wished to do so.”
“Because I want a piece,” Catherine whispered fiercely, looking up at Raphael only after moments of murderous exchange between her and Janine. “I want this bitch’s fate solely on my soul and no one else’s.”
“It will be as you say, Sister Mary Catherine,” Raphael obliged, backing away from the jubilant Janine. She scrambled to her feet with the hope of the lost on her face.
“C’mon, you inhuman bitch from hell!” Catherine beckoned to Janine. “You get by me, and you’re free to go. C’mon!”
Janine rushed Catherine with the force to pitch any human, male or female, to the floor. Catherine used Janine’s momentum to fling the startled woman over her hip. Janine landed
heavily, bellowing in anguish. Catherine pounced on Janine with ruthless fury, her fists pummeling relentlessly on target, reducing Janine’s face to red pulp. Raphael and Angelina watched the beating solemnly until Angelina grasped Catherine to her, not in mercy for Janine, but in empathy for the anguish Catherine projected.
“This ain’t you, Cat,” Angelina pronounced, hugging a rigidly stiff Catherine to her.
“Sister Angelina is right,” a familiar voice intoned next to them as Abaddon gained corpulent identity next to them. “I have dealt with the demon. This creature is next.”
“Mercy!” Janine cried out.
Angelina pulled Catherine away. Raphael enfolded the two nuns in his protective grasp. There was no antidote to what must happen next.
“I have seen all you have done, Janine,” the Archangel of the Abyss intoned quietly. “There will be no mercy.”
ARCHANGEL Page 46