The Belial Ring (The Belial Series 3)

by R. D. Brady

  Henry shook his head. “No. But she does tend to keep things close to the vest. I’ll ask her though.”

  Laney slumped down lower in her chair. “So, along with the knowledge that the Fallen are grouping together, which cannot bode well, we now have a shadowy government agency that seems interested in us. Fabulous.”

  Jake stood up, pulling Laney with him. “True. But the reality is that, as of this moment, nothing’s changed. I say we put Agent Clark and his group out of our minds for now. We have a family vacation to take.”

  Henry smiled. “Danny’s been practically bouncing off the walls all afternoon in anticipation.”

  Laney nodded, trying to smile. She knew Jake was right. Nothing had changed, but still. “Are we sure? Maybe we should cancel.”

  Jake shook his head. “No. Fact is, the only thing that’s changed is our knowledge of this agency. There’s no direct threat, no reason to put our lives on hold.”

  Henry nodded. “I agree. And besides, I think we’ve all earned a little fun.”

  Laney looked at both of them for a long moment and then blew out a breath, determined to make the best of it. “All right. Let’s head to Hershey. A family vacation. What could go wrong?”

  Henry and Jake went silent. Laney saw the concern that crossed both of their faces. They were no doubt thinking about the last few times this last year when peace had descended upon them. And then, of course, all hell had broken loose.

  Laney sighed. “Well, let’s just hope for the best, okay?”

  CHAPTER 5

  Athens, Greece

  1,500 BC

  The wind pushed eleven-year-old Helen’s long blond hair into her face. She swiped it back with an impatient gesture. She’d love to cut it off. But girls weren’t allowed to have short hair.

  Until, at least, she was married, a woman of Sparta—then she would be allowed to. She couldn’t wait.

  A crow let out a shriek as it flew overhead. Helen looked up with a shiver. She hated those birds, the harbingers of death.

  “What’s the matter, child?” Aethra sat only a few feet away in the garden, her embroidery in her lap, a basket of colorful threads beside her. Her hair had begun to turn to grey, but kindness shone in her brown eyes.

  A kindness her son did not have. It wasn’t Aethra’s fault her son had kidnapped Helen. Helen tried to keep that in mind when dealing with the older woman.

  Helen pointed up at the disappearing black shape. “The crows. They’re a sign of death.”

  Aethra opened her arms and Helen walked into them. Helen sighed, enjoying the comfort. Aethra’s arms weren’t her mother’s, but sometimes they were a good substitute. Like right now.

  Aethra stroked Helen’s hair. “You have nothing to fear. Theseus has made sure that you are well protected.”

  Helen glanced at the two guards who were always with them, but who never smiled. They were brutish men, both of them tall and battle-scarred. The two men had been her constant shadows for four months. But she was most definitely not comforted by their presence.

  Theseus had dropped her in Athens with his mother after—

  Helen buried her head in Aethra’s chest. She didn’t want to think about that night. About what he’d done.

  Instead, Helen tried to just enjoy being outside, feeling the sun on her face. She was allowed outside for only short periods of time, after all. And although the courtyard was bordered by tall stone walls on all four sides, it was still large enough to allow her to run. It even had room for a small arbor of olive trees.

  A familiar whistle sounded. Helen looked up in disbelief, stepping out of Aethra’s arms. Hope bloomed in her chest. Could it be?

  The guards stepped forward, pulling their swords from their sheaths.

  From over one of the walls, an arrow flew, lodging itself in the neck of one of the guards. The guard grabbed at his throat, but blood already gushed from the wound. He collapsed to the ground.

  Helen’s eyes flew to the top of the stone wall opposite the only guard who remained.

  Two blond teenagers lay flat on the wall. One threw down a rope and quickly slid down. The other simply jumped from his high perch, landing with a nimble roll.

  Together, the young men pulled their own swords free. Tall and muscular, they looked strikingly similar as they advanced on the remaining guard.

  Aethra clutched Helen close, her arms trembling. “Oh no, child, you must run. You must escape.” She tried to push Helen toward the door.

  Helen sidestepped Aethra’s hands before taking both of them in her own. Her eyes, though, never left the twins advancing on the remaining guard. She’d seen her brothers defeat men double this guard’s size without breaking a sweat. This guard would be no match for them.

  Helen glanced at the older woman with a smile. “Don’t worry, Aethra. They won’t hurt me. Or you, either. They’ve come to rescue me. That’s Castor and Pollux.”

  CHAPTER 6

  Hershey, Pennsylvania

  Laney jolted awake, still half in the dream, wanting to see Castor and Pollux defeat the guard. She stared at the ceiling, confused for a moment as to where the sky had gone. Looking around, she recognized the generic furnishings of the hotel room. With a shake of her head, she remembered she was in Hershey, Pennsylvania, not ancient Athens.

  Unnerved, she rubbed her eyes. The dreams had become a constant of her sleeping life. It was taking longer each time she woke to remember where she was. Who she was.

  A muscular male arm wrapped around her waist. Laney grasped Jake’s hand and snuggled back into him.

  “Another dream?” Jake’s voice was husky from sleep.

  “Yeah.” The dreams had plagued her for the last two months; they’d started right after Ecuador. She was always a different woman or girl, from a different time and place.

  “Who were you this time?” Jake asked.

  “I’m not sure. Do you know who Castor and Pollux’s sister was?”

  “Yes, and so do you. They had two. The first one’s name was Clytemnestra. And the second was Helen.”

  “Helen?” Laney rolled over to face Jake.

  Jake leaned up on his elbow, his eyebrows raised. His finger traced a path down the side of her face. “Helen of Troy.”

  Surprise filtered through her. “Huh. I never knew they were related. In the dream, I was Helen. But young, maybe twelve years old. I’d been kidnapped. Castor and Pollux were coming to save me.”

  Jake nodded, and Laney could see the sparkle in his eyes. Myths always intrigued him. “Castor and Pollux were well-known heroes in the Age of Heroes. When Helen was approaching puberty, she was kidnapped by Theseus.”

  “Theseus? As in the minotaur and Crete?”

  “Yes. He wanted to steal the virginity of a god’s daughter. She was taken to Athens, where she was left with Theseus’s mother, Aethra. The brothers, who were only teenagers at the time, saved her.”

  Laney felt cold. Jake’s description matched her dream. “I don’t know that story. How did I dream it?”

  “You probably heard it in high school and just forgot.”

  “Is it in The Iliad?”

  Jake’s face clouded. “Actually, it’s not. Her abduction is mentioned by a number of other authors, though, including Diodorus and Hellanicus of Lesbos.”

  “I’ve never heard of either of those people.”

  Jake brought her hand to his lips. “I’m sure one of your teachers mentioned Helen’s back story when they taught The Iliad. Your subconscious probably just retained the information.”

  “I guess,” Laney said, although she was far from convinced. She had, of course, heard about Helen and the Trojan War, but she couldn’t remember ever having heard of Helen’s early life.

  And even if she had, why would she dream about it?

  Jake took her face in his hands. “Helen was reputed to be the most beautiful woman in the world. I can see why you would dream you were her.”

  Laney smiled, chasing away her concerns. Jake was
probably right. It was just a dream. She wrapped her arms around his neck. “You just earned a lot of brownie points with that comment.”

  Jake gave her a long, lingering kiss, until the phone interrupted them. With a groan, Jake let her go and reached for the phone. He picked up the receiver and let it drop. “Our wake-up call. Now, where were we?”

  Laney rolled out of his reach. “Oh, no. We’re meeting everybody for breakfast. We are not going to be late.”

  “A couple of minutes won’t matter.”

  Laney gave him a pointed look. “Great. Then you can explain to my uncle, the priest, what we, an unmarried couple, were doing that caused us to be late.”

  Jake groaned, sitting up. “Fine. You want to shower first?”

  “No. Go ahead.”

  Jake rolled out of bed. He stopped to kiss her on the forehead as he walked past, and then closed the bathroom door behind him.

  Laney sat back down on the bed, clutching a pillow to her chest. The dream was beginning to fade. But she could still picture her brothers—

  Laney shook her head. Not my brothers. Helen’s brothers.

  She looked around the room. The dreams were getting harder and harder to shake. And a small part of Laney’s brain was beginning to worry about the effect they were having. Why was she having these dreams? Was it some form of PTSD from Ecuador?

  She sighed. Maybe she should go talk to someone. After everything she’d been through in the last year, she probably should be having regular weekly visits with a shrink. Maybe even daily.

  She stood up and strode over to her suitcase to figure out what to wear. Whatever her subconscious was working through would have to wait. Today, she had a chocolate tour to take. Laney pulled out a navy blouse and her dark-wash jeans.

  In the back of her mind, though, she had a feeling that she should pay attention to these dreams. They seemed to be trying to tell her something.

  She just wasn’t sure she wanted to hear it.

  CHAPTER 7

  Johnson City, Tennessee

  Amar walked down the long drive to the barn. His estate sat on one hundred and twenty-three acres in the middle of nowhere. It had been an acquisition resulting from a particularly productive string of investments.

  The former owners had not been as fortunate with their own investments, and had been desperate to get rid of the place. Amar got it for a steal.

  He smiled. A steal. What a great phrase.

  It had previously been a horse farm. The barn had housed over three dozen champion-level horses. When Amar took over, the first thing he did was have the barn converted for his pet project.

  The barn itself was a work of art. The six-thousand-square-foot building had a grey rock face that matched some of the main house’s exterior. Ahead, two barn doors loomed, each over twenty-five feet tall and almost as wide.

  The screams of his cats wafted through the thick doors. He smiled. Ah, my friends know I’m coming.

  Two guards saw him approach and quickly opened the white barn doors. Each guard was a hulking man, fearsome looking, but only human.

  Amar liked to have the humans around. Being reminded of their fragility did wonders for his ego.

  He'd hired these two months ago. He knew they were spies for the Council. But he pretended he didn’t. He liked controlling what information the Council received.

  The Council. Humans scraping at my boot heels for whatever scraps I drop. His gaze flicked back to the guard. But they do have their uses.

  The screech of the cats roared at him as he entered. He noticed one of the guards shiver at the sound. The guard had met his pets.

  Amar smiled. How horrible it must be to be human.

  Stepping into the giant space, he glanced around, nodding his approval. It was pristine. His humans might be weak, but they followed orders. He had about twenty Fallen and nephilim on the property as well, but he would never ask them to do something as menial as taking care of the barn. That’s what humans were for.

  All of the stalls in the barn had been removed, and in their place were eight giant steel cages, four lined up on each side. Amar smiled as he walked down the long corridor between them.

  Only two of the cages were currently occupied. The beasts inside them were beautiful. Sleek, black, the Javan leopards prowled along the edges of their confines. Their skin rippled like water. At first glance, their coats appeared pure black. But each was actually spotted with marks of an even deeper black.

  Amar was just shy of six feet tall, yet the leopards, when standing on all fours, were almost his height. The growth hormone they’d been given as cubs had turned them into nightmare beasts.

  Amar stopped next to the cage with the larger of the two beasts. A giant paw, larger than Amar’s head, swiped through the bars. With lightning speed, Amar ducked out of the way, chuckling.

  Titus roared his displeasure at having missed.

  “Don’t worry, my friend. You’ll have your chance.”

  Amar had decided they’d have a hunt soon. He’d been so preoccupied with the book that he hadn’t had a chance to work with his pets. His bloodlust was building. He knew he needed to release it soon or . . .

  He pictured the last time he’d gone too long without allowing his natural instincts to be indulged. It had taken weeks to get the bloodstains out of the house. And then, of course, he’d had to replace the whole staff.

  It had been satisfying, but killing humans had become complicated. Laws, families. It was a nightmare.

  He smiled at his pets. Man against beast. He chuckled again. The perfect solution.

  Besides, killing humans offered very little challenge. They were too slow, too vulnerable, too weak. He’d been searching for a worthier foe when he’d come across a man doing some interesting research.

  Amar had always been intrigued by science’s almost limitless potential in this age. As a child, he’d seen pictures of the two-headed dog created by the Russian scientist Dr. Vladimir Demikhov. Although most of the world had been horrified by the doctor’s creation, Amar had been fascinated. He’d always wanted to create a beast of his own imagining.

  More recently, Chinese doctors had successfully merged human cells with rabbit eggs. Amar knew that combining his own cells with an animal would create a beast truly worthy of his skills. He’d convinced a scientist to add Amar’s own blood to the cocktail given to the cubs in utero.

  It had taken a few years to get the formula just right. The cats that had filled these cages, including the two that remained, were second-generation.

  Enhanced speed. Healing. Now they were a worthy challenge. Finally, an opponent worthy of his time. Amar liked to think they were the feline version of himself.

  The previous hunts had been exhilarating. Amar had almost been disemboweled. He smiled at the memory and then sighed. But now there were only two left. He would be sad when the hunts were over.

  The new litter had twelve—but they were only a year old. He’d need to give them at least one more year, maybe even two, before they were ready.

  Titus prowled his cage, easily the biggest of the cats Amar had created. His mate, Cleo, paced the cage next to him, agitated on behalf of her man. Amar had saved the best for last. These two were the strongest and fastest of the litter. They’d offer him the greatest chase yet.

  Amar patted the cage. “Don’t worry, Titus. It’s you and me soon.” He glanced at Cleo. “Looks like you’ll have to get used to being alone.”

  Cleo just stared back at him, her silver-grey eyes almost human, her dark lips pulled back in a hiss.

  Amar walked away from the cages and back out of the barn. His cell rang as he was heading to the house. He glanced at the screen before answering, then said, “Is it done?”

  “No, sir. She’s always with her group. She’s never alone.”

  Amar sighed, staring up at the sky. He had hoped to catch her alone. It reduced the possibility of her being harmed. But it seemed he’d have to chance it. “Fine. Take her anyway. I don�
�t care who she’s with. If Chandler and Rogan are there, though, make sure you bring enough men. Just do not let her be harmed. She doesn’t heal quickly.”

  The statement brought him up short. Actually, maybe she did. They’d have to test that, once she was in his possession.

  “Yes, sir. And the others?”

  “Unimportant. Do not let anyone get in your way.”

  CHAPTER 8

  Hershey, Pennsylvania

  Laney walked out of the theater at Chocolate World, holding tight to Max’s hand. Not that she was worried he’d get carried away by the crowd. He was so hyped up on chocolate right at the moment, though, that there was a chance he might just bounce his way out of the place.

  “Laney, can we go to the gift store?” Bright blue eyes from under a mop of wavy brown hair stared up at her. Two dimples winked at her from his cheeks. Max was four years old and cuter than any kid had the right to be.

  Laney laughed, looking around. The people at Hershey sure knew how to market. The entire place was a gift store. “I’m pretty sure we can’t avoid it.”

  She shared a smile with Max’s mom, Kati, an adult version of Max, who was walking behind her.

  Kati held out her hand to Max. “Come on, kiddo. Let’s go see what we can find.”

  Max tugged on Danny’s shirtsleeve. “Danny, want to come?”

  Danny gave him a small smile before looking up at Henry Chandler. “Can I?”

  Henry looked down. “Sure. Just stay where we can see you.”

  Danny took Max’s other hand and Kati walked off with the two of them. Laney smiled at the friendship that had sprung up between Max and Danny. Danny was nine years older, but sometimes it almost seemed like Max was the older one, always making sure Danny was included.

  Patrick cleared his throat from behind her. With bright blue eyes and red hair that still retained its color even as he approached sixty, Patrick Delaney was a Roman Catholic priest—and the man who had raised Laney since she was ten years old.