by Brian Rella
The visions. The madness he saw all around him. The dreams. The waking up in the middle of the night screaming. He had fallen into himself and rarely spoke these days. He never looked people in the eye and had lost all his friends.
And the…other…things that were happening to him. Sometimes she wondered if the devil had gotten to him, but he was such a sweet boy. He would never hurt anyone.
The Father would help them. Brennan nodded to the boys and motioned them to come back into the rectory, to his office.
Father Brennan’s office had one window that faced the alley behind the rectory. His office was humble. A crucifix and picture of the Pope on the wall, a computer screen and keyboard on the desk, and nothing else. The humility of the priesthood.
Father Brennan motioned for them all to sit. Sarah leaned forward anxiously, the words wanting to come in a gush. Her mouth was open, she realized, and she snapped it shut, nervously flattening her dress again, waiting for Father Brennan to speak. The boys sat slovenly in the chairs, one on either side of her. She watched Brennan’s eyes take them all in and she leaned forward to listen to what he had to say.
He folded his hands in front of his chin and smiled flatly. “Sarah. Boys. Thank you for coming. I know you’ve been through a lot lately. Especially you, Jack.”
Jack shifted in his chair and kept his head down. Sarah touched his knee and he looked over at her. She nodded and he looked up from under his bangs at Father Brennan.
“Sarah, you and I have spoken at length, and I want to speak freely in front of the boys. Is that all right with you?”
“Of course, Father,” she said.
“Jack,” he began. “Your mother tells me you’ve been having horrible dreams and that sometimes, you see things that aren’t there. I know how frightening that must be for you; how uncomfortable and strange it must feel.”
Jack shifted in his chair again and sniffed.
“I understand what’s happening to you, Jack, and I can help.” Brennan paused and Sarah was on the edge of her seat. “Jack, what you are seeing is real. You are different from everyone else, special. You are not possessed and you are not sick.”
Sarah felt her throat close. What did he say?
“Jack,” he said. “You have a gift from God.”
“Father,” Sarah said, standing, her voice rising. “What are you trying to do? We’ve suffered enough already and I will not…”
Brennan raised his hands and motioned for her to sit. “Sarah, this won’t be easy for you to hear. Please sit and listen,” he said calmly, his eyes never leaving hers.
Sarah did as she was asked, fighting the urge to protest.
He has about two minutes to explain this craziness.
“Sarah, you know your Bible well, don’t you,” Father Brennan said rhetorically.
Sarah nodded.
“In Genesis, Book 6, God speaks to Noah. Do you remember the story?”
“Yes, the men of the Earth had become wicked and God wiped them away with the great flood.”
Brennan smiled at her, but she did not smile back. Where is he going with this?
“And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the Earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men and that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. Genesis 6:1.”
She still had no idea what he was talking about.
“Who are the sons of God?” he asked them.
Sarah looked at her boys who had confused looks on their faces. She glanced back to the priest. “Man,” she said. “Men are the sons of God. Adam and Eve and we were created in his image…aren’t we?” she said.
“No, Sarah. The sons of God are the Angels.” He paused. “Before the great flood, where God commanded Noah to save himself, his family, and selected animals in the ark, the Angels, the sons of God, were communing with the daughters of man. Do you understand?”
Sarah sucked in a breath and held it. So Angels had sex with human women in the Old Testament? “That’s not real,” she said, “it’s just a Bible story. What are you—all right, Father, that’s enough,” she said, standing. “You had better get somewhere with this story or I am leaving. I don’t understand what Angels and humans…having sex…and…and… What does this have to do with Jack and his…problems?” Her voice was rising. She was confused and did not have a clue what he was talking about.
“And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Jude 1:6-7,” Father Brennan said. “The Angels that did this, Sarah, they were cast down to hell.”
“Stop quoting me scripture, Father!” she shouted, growing hysterical. “I know my Bible and I go to Church seven days a week. What are you getting at?”
His smile disappeared. “Sarah, bear with me, please,” he said. “It will all become clear. There is another book of the Bible not recognized by Catholics. It’s called the Book of Enoch. Have you heard of it?”
“No,” she said.
“The book was done away with centuries ago by the Pope. It did not fit with the Church’s teachings at the time or now, but it is an interesting part of history that has been intentionally forgotten, or left out might be a better way to term it. In this ancient text, Enoch recounts visions and visitations with God. And there is one particular passage that is very relevant to Jack’s situation. In fact, it is very relevant to me and the Order to which I belong.
“Enoch is speaking with God, who is rebuking the Angels, or Watchers as they are called in the book, for laying with daughters of men. He says, ‘Wherefore have you forsaken the lofty and holy heaven, which endures forever, and have lain with women; have defiled yourselves with the daughters of men; have taken to yourselves wives; have acted like the sons of the Earth, and have begotten an impious offspring?’
“You see, God gave woman to man for companionship, but the Angels were eternal and God’s children. They were to be with God for companionship. Instead, some chose to act like men, and God punished them for it. The beings created by the Angels and human women are called giants in the book of Enoch and the Bible. They roamed the Earth for a time and then they were forced off the Earth, some exiled throughout the universe, some imprisoned in the Earth, some imprisoned in the Realm of the Second Death, and the last of them were to be wiped out by the great flood.”
“Come on, boys. We’re leaving.”
“Sarah, please wait. Listen…I know it’s hard to believe, but your boy is seeing is natural. He is part Watcher, Sarah…”
“Bullshit, you whacko nutjob!” she screamed at him. “I came to you for help, and this is what you give me? Fallen angels and all kinds of other comic book crap? Damn you, Father! Damn you! God forgive me.”
She left his office and slammed the door behind her.
Outside Father Brennan’s door, a man was leaning against the wall.
“He’s not lying, you know,” the man said.
“What? Get out of my way,” she said. “Come on, boys.”
“Please, wait,” the man said.
The door to Brennan’s office opened. “Let her go, Frank.”
Frank locked eyes with her. She felt her face begin to quiver.
I can’t take this anymore. I can’t. Why is this happening to us? Why? Oh God, why?
She began to shake and felt Nic by her side, holding her.
“Leave her alone!” Nic shouted and stood between his mother and the two men. “Get out of our way or I’ll fuck you both up. I don’t care if you’re a priest! Leave us alone!”
“Nic!” Sarah said, aghast.
“Mom,” Jack said. “Why are they glowing?”
She glanced down at Jack. He was looking up at the man leani
ng against the wall. She followed his look to the man and did not see anything glowing around him.
She looked back to Jack, and the tears fell in rivers down her face as she slid down the wall and to the floor.
Sneak Peak: Queen of the Fallen
PROLOGUE
October 21, 2015
New York, New York
Jack had always been a dreamer, even as a baby. At least that’s what his mother had told him. But he'd never had a dream this lucid or long before. It seemed to last all night…
In the dream, he was standing on a road that went on forever. He turned to his left, and saw the earth had been scorched black, burned to ash and soot. The trees… Some of the trees had been burned to stubs, and looked like cleats turned upside down. Others were still tall and stabbed into the ominous sky, like spears trying to pierce the blazing orange sun setting on the horizon. A thunderous heartbeat pounded from somewhere. He could feel the vibration through his Nikes and up into his body. He had never been so scared in his life than he had been hearing that sound.
A song came to him on a gentle breeze from his right. He knew the tune but couldn't place it. A lullaby? A church hymn? One of his first memories was his mother humming it to him as a toddler. He turned to gaze in the direction of the sound. To his right, lush green fields of grass and wildflowers spread across fertile land. Trees, as tall as skyscrapers, slow-danced on an easy wind. Far off, past the fields and trees, a majestic mountain stood stoic under a bright yellow sun. The sun breathed warmth on everything it touched. A tranquil calm came over Jack as the tune played on the wind, lifting his spirits into the scattered clouds that accented the deep blue sky.
Thunder boomed, startling Jack from his gaze on the serene scene. He turned left as lightning slashed at the blackening sky and the silhouette of something purple-black and thudding in the dead landscape flashed brilliantly for an instant. Jack was filled with dread that tingled all over his skin as the images came rapid fire, slicing through his brain. His jaw fell open and he screamed, but he couldn’t hear his own voice over the cadence that reverberated through him.
A girl…
A purple heart…
An ice-breathing monster…
Tarek… Tarek is dead…
The name resounded in his head. He bolted upright in bed, wide awake, his vocal cords vibrating until they were raw and painful. He was vaguely aware his mother was holding him. That sound…that sound…The cadence was a terrifying rhythm; an endless thrumming.
A heartbeat…
His hands slammed over his ear holes and his voice was like a steel rake running through the inside of his neck. He tasted blood in the back of his throat. His mother held him to her bosom, and rocked him and hummed to him. The tune she hummed—it was the same tune from the dream. The words found him and his screams trailed off into sobs.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now I'm found,
Was blind, but now I see.
JESSIE
October 26, 2015
Dreamlands
The sweet nectar from the King of the Fallen flooded her veins, anesthetizing her fragile mind and her wounded body. Tangled in the mesh of His embrace, Nalsuu cradled His princess in His many limbs, and kissed her softly. She moaned as His teeth sank into her. Her mind drifted with His, safely away from the memories of her most recent battles. He spoke to her in the dreamlands between the juncture of their worlds, His voice and clasp a soothing cushion on the hardness of her life in the land of the living.
You are safe in my arms, my princess. I will heal you once again and you will remember that only I am with you in this life; only I am true to you; only I am your King and protector.
She could not respond in her rapture. She was drifting away from His consciousness, like a puff of smoke in the air. Nothing was real. It was all a dream. Her tortured life was someone else’s nightmare; the demons at her command were someone else’s; her battles with the Watchers clippings from some other person’s life, manifested in her ethereal state. She would wake at any moment and be back in her father’s arms, like that day on the playground not so long ago.
Her withdrawal from the truth of their bond concerned Nalsuu. He loosened His grip and withdrew slightly from her, intending to bring her focus back to Him. She was taking the euphoria He injected her with too far; taking it to a place where their true purpose was forgotten, content to lose herself in Him.
Come back to me, princess. You are mine and I am yours, and this is all real. His heart-shaped body thundered a rhythm around her, trying to wake her from her self-delusions. Do not slip so far from me, Jessie. Remember who you are. Remember who I am. Remember what we must do.
The video clip of the other person’s life faded and she merged with His memories again, becoming one with them, understanding that it was she and not someone else who was living this life. Yet as she returned to reality, she fought against His thoughts and words, her true self returning to the fore of her mind. Who had she become? What was she doing? An image of her father penetrated her mind once more. She reached for her father, and pushed Nalsuu away.
No, Nalsuu. I do not want this! This is not me. Let me go back to my father. I do not want this life. I want to be free of the pain. Do not make me. Please…
His voice was deafening in her mind, and a spiking pain shot to her core. Nalsuu gripped her tightly, choking the thoughts of her father and past life out of her. She was as a child rolled into a ball, holding her hands over her ears. Her screams vibrated in her throat, but could not be heard over the explosions of His heartbeat in her head.
Stop! Please! You are hurting me…
Immediately the thunderous heartbeat fell away to a soft rhythm, and His grasp on her became gentle and supple. She was still stiff from the shock of His anger, and He comforted her in the network of His vein-like arms.
You must free me, Jessie. You must bring me back to the land of the living. You do not understand the danger. You do not know, but you must.
Tell me, Nalsuu. What is it?
There is one who has come into the world who will attempt to destroy me. If he succeeds, he will destroy me and everyone I love, including you, my princess.
There is no going back. Your father is dead—that life is gone. You must free me and help me. He is the One from the prophecy of Razmus. He must be stopped, and only you and I can stop him—together.
My father…is dead…
The pain of that day came back to her in an instant. She shuddered. The air left her lungs in a gasping sob. She saw the images from that dreadful day, the day that changed her world for the worst forever after.
The police officer coming to the door…
The look on her mother’s face as she fell in a heap on the floor…
The casket being lowered into the ground while she stood by her mother’s side, dressed in her best church clothes.
She had squeezed her mother’s hand, but her mother had pulled her hand away, unable to comfort her. And Jessie was left alone. Alone that day, and for many days after. Her father gone. Her mother absent. The men that had come and gone, filling one hole or another in her mother. But no one had been there for Jessie. And that pain, the pain of being without her father, of being alone, unwanted, and unloved, was deeper, and harsher, than any pain before or now. And Jessie had felt that pain for a long time, until He had found her. Until Nalsuu had spoken to her, and showed her how it felt to be cared for again. Showed her how He…loved her. And she was pulling away from Him, deluding herself with falsehoods. She cursed herself for being such a child, and the anger began to build inside of her. Anger at herself for her childish wishes, and rage at the threat to the only one that truly loved her.
Who? Who is this monster? I will strangle him with my own hands. I will destroy him. I—
He is a prophet of great power, marked by the Creator, and given the pure light of the Creator to combat me and my kind
. He will come among the living and will destroy me and all that I am. He will doom me to exile unless you help me, my princess. Will you help me? Will you help me defeat him? Will you help free me from this prison and return to the land of the living, so that we can be together forever and rule over this wretched world, reshaping it to our imagining? Will you be with me, Jessie?
The tears flowed freely down her cheeks. He needed her as much as she needed Him. And He loved her. And He had proven His love to her. And she had wanted to deny Him, deny Him the very heart of His desire. To be free. To be among the living. To be with her.
Forgive me, my King. I am yours, as always. We will destroy this One. Tell me where he is. Tell me what I must do. I will destroy him for the both of us, and bring you forth into the land of the living.
His mouths gently suckled her and spread His venomous poison through her in a wave of gratitude. She moaned passionately at the darkness that seeped into the deepest places of her body and soul.
I will know when he has come. But first, you must free another to help us. He shall raise an army so great, none shall stand in our way, not even the One.
Who is he, my King? Tell me, how can I find him?
He is known by many names. Some call him Dalkhu, others call him The Dead One. He is Shepherd of the Soulless, and he is close. I will heal you and then you shall find him. For now, you must rest and heal. A great journey and challenge await you, my princess. Are you ready? Will you help me?
I will, my King.
BOOK OF RAZMUS
Chapter 1: 1-6
And from the words of the righteous Razmus:
Wherewith I was among the living after Adam and Eve were cast out of Paradise.
During the second temptation of man, I did have my eyes opened by the Creator.
That I may bear witness to visions of Kuriel, the Protector, and his descent into darkness.