“Now I have something else to make Queen angry about.”
There was silence. At least, he wasn’t trying to shoot him again. The bullets didn’t hurt him but he still felt a sting.
“I’m not angry about what you did to my face. In fact, it was actually my fault. I am the one who gave you a hope that you could help your mother. I was supposed to use her as leverage for your cooperation. But sometimes, there has to be a change in the plans.”
There was still no answer. Time to escalate this.
“I was given orders to give your family a lesson. So, the first step in that lesson is to kill your mother.”
Brookes pulled out a pistol and pointed it at Barbara’s head.
“Wait!” Kevan ran into the alleyway, with his hands held up high and his rifle on his back. “Please! Don’t hurt her. Hurt me instead!”
“Hmm… No.” Barbara’s head burst open as Brookes fired.
“Noooo!”
Her brains splattered onto the ground and she fell limp. Kevan fired at Brookes as he laughed. The bullets did nothing.
Kevan ran and swung his rifle at Brookes. The rifle snapped in half over Brookes’ face.
Brookes’ fist rocketed into Kevan’s stomach and sent him hurling back and skidding across the ground. Kevan came to a stop about thirty feet away. He struggled to stand up.
He coughed up blood and fell back down. That punch nearly snapped him in half.
“I’m guessing you want to know why I just killed your mother.”
Brookes slowly walked toward him.
“Well, that was for the bar incident. It was my fault, I’m the one who riled you up, but I’m a vengeful asshole. So now she’s dead. But originally, I was going to use her as leverage for you to kill your brother.”
“Fuck you,” Kevan coughed.
Brookes laughed again.
“I would watch your tone. I’m guessing that you didn’t know that your wife just had a pair of twins.”
“What?”
“Yes, she’s my new tool. You have to see it from my perspective. Who’s a better hostage, an old hag who was going to OD anytime in the next week? Or a pair of newborns, innocent of this world’s terrors? One has more shock value and, relatively speaking, is a far better bartering tool.”
Kevan stared past Brookes to his mother. She was gone.
“I have people watching over her. If you try to step out of line, then who knows what they could do? They have a habit of going too far when I tell them to do something. I could tell them to rough up your wife and she could end up dead.”
“You monster!”
Brookes bent down.
“So, here’s what you’re going to do for me. Word is getting out about August killing a member of Ifor and escaping the great justice of the gods. We can’t have that. Queen is a little more than pissed that he hasn’t been found yet.”
Kevan continued to stare at his mother’s remains. She did nothing to deserve that. Brookes’ hand gripped Kevan’s face and pulled up. To make sure he looked right into his eyes.
“August undermined the gods. He needs to be taken care of. Not by some divine intervention, not by God or the gods. But by another human being. And what’s best is his own brother. Now, you can’t tell me that won’t be a great propaganda story. I can see the headline now. ‘Brother killed own brother to provide justice for the gods and humanity.’ It’s going to be great.”
Brookes let go Kevan’s head and started to walk down the alleyway.
“If you do it, I won’t kill your wife and kids.”
And with that, he was gone.
Kevan dragged himself over to his mother’s body.
“No…” he cried. Her body was going cold. He placed his head on her and cried his pain away.
…
Mountains pierced the clouds around Queen. The vibrant blue sky sang to her, like it did every day. She sat on the golden edge of her castle, wearing a deep red robe, peering into the clouds. Behind her stood a small castle the color of gold. Not real gold, but made of clay of the same color. Greenery was embossed on the walls. Flowers of all colors grew out of pots in the windows and on the walkways.
Birds chirped around her.
The castle stood on the peak of a mountain top, high enough to forever be surrounded by the clouds. Other castles and homes of the gods littered the skyline. Also on mountain peaks.
Queen stared hard into the clouds, waiting. She hated waiting. With the eye of the world gone, it was harder to look down into the world. But she could still get a glimpse of the world below when someone died. She was the god of death; death was her domain. Her eyes continued to stare at the clouds.
She felt a ting. What she was waiting for was done.
A small opening parted in the clouds. A wavy water-like image reflected in the sun-light. An image of a small area on Earth.
There Kevan lay, crying over his mother. Good. The image changed to the charred remains of August’s apartments. Svante did well, too. Eight people died in that explosion, sadly not Sara. She wondered which god helped her. She shouldn’t have survived.
After Svante’s men planted a small explosive, Queen had someone bring in something with a lot more flash. The scene changed to a hospital, a place where people go to die. An easy place for Queen to look into. Sara sat in a bed speaking to August; they were going back to Sotira.
She laughed to herself. Everything was going better than expected.
A bang went off next to her. She jumped to her feet. The image disappeared in the clouds. Svante stood behind her.
“Oh, Svante, you startled me,” Queen said smoothing out her robes. “Why are you here? Don’t you have some peasants to help?”
“I know what you’ve been doing in my domain.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Queen said with indifference.
“You’ve been illegally pushing drugs into my cities, you’ve been publicly murdering my people. I could barely tolerate what you did in the shadows. But I can only sit by and watch you do so much. You’ve crossed the line.”
“It actually sounds like you care for those people.”
“If you or any of your people set another foot in my domain… it will be your last.”
Queen put her hands on her hips. “Is that a declaration, Svante? A threat?”
Svante laughed and stepped toward Queen. Queen moved back. Svante’s demeanor changed, he emitted a killer presence. “You must have forgotten why you were forced to name me the god of war, Queen.”
Svante stepped closer to her. The hairs on Queen’s arms stood up.
Blue sparks raced over Svante’s body. His hair stood on end. “I killed the last god of war with my own hands.”
Queen stared in his eyes. Flashes of sparks swirled in his eyes. He was serious. He was going to kill her. “And I’m going to do the same with you.”
Queen blinked.
Svante was gone. She turned around and he was behind her.
“What?” Queen suddenly screamed and grabbed her right cheek. It had split it open. Blood rushed out of it. Svante was so fast she didn’t see him slash her. Fast as lightning.
“You … you’re going to pay for this!” Queen yelled. Svante approached her slowly and Queen fell back trying to scramble away.
“No. No, I’m not,” Svante said. He smiled.
“Stop at once!” a voice yelled from the sky.
Svante glanced up at the sky. “Shit, you got lucky, Queen.”
A man flew from the sky. Epic black wings extended from his back fifty feet out. His tailored blue suit had holes made just for them.
Queen stared up at Michael. Thank God.
The sparks disappeared from Svante’s eyes as Michael descended onto them.
“What is the meaning of this?” He landed between Svante and Queen.
“Nothing, we were just having a nice conversation,” Svante said. He tapped the wall with his hand and disappeared in a flash.
“Svante!” Michael yelled.
But he was already gone.
Queen stood to her feet and brushed herself off. “Thanks for coming to the rescue, Michael.”
Michael gave her a questioning look. “Is that all you have to say for yourself? I’ve seen your actions on Earth. What are you doing to He’s people?”
“It must be hard watching over us all, being the only angel.”
“I’ve had a mind to allow him to kill you Queen.”
“But you won’t, will you? He made you to make sure we didn’t kill each other. That’s all you’re good for. A faithful watchdog.”
“I’ve executed far more powerful gods than you at the word of He, Queen. You will atone for your sins when He returns to us.”
“When that time comes, I’ll be ready. But until then, get the hell off my mountain.”
“You’re going down a dark road, Queen. I hope you find the light on the way.”
Michael flew off into the sky and disappeared into the blue.
Queen leaned against her castle walls. “Dammit!” Her fist hurled into the wall. It didn’t leave a mark. She didn’t have any true strength, not the strength Svante and Michael had. Only powers of another kind. Not enough to take either of them out.
Svante, that asshole. She’d kill him if she had the power to do so. Siding with humans. What kind of pitiful excuse for a god was he?
She had to remove her people from California. She couldn’t risk a fight she couldn’t win.
She stood up and ran her hand through her hair. She paused and looked at her hand. It was bloody from the cut on her face. She touched it.
“Ouch,” she muttered. She raised her hand over her face and the blood from the wound floated into a ball. She threw it over the edge of her castle. She tore a piece of her robe and held it over her cut.
She could clean up the blood, as she could command the power of it. But she couldn’t close the wound. Svante’s attack was too deep. She would need a bandage.
“My, how the mighty have fallen,” a man said.
Queen glanced to her right. There stood a man in a white button-up shirt, with a red tie and a white ball encasing his head, his tan neck sticking out of it. His hands never seemed to leave his pockets. The Omniscient Man.
“Why, if it isn’t the Omniscient Man,” Queen said with a sigh. The day was a lot more eventful than she thought it would be.
“It looks like that’ll scar.”
“Why the hell are you here?”
“Just passing by.”
“Leave.”
“No. I’m here to take back what’s mine.”
Queen rubbed her temple.
“I … I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“If you don’t, then you don’t mind if I would take what I found.” The man turned to leave.
“Wait! We had a deal!”
“A deal you broke. He isn’t dead and the eye of the world is gone. But it does come with a plus, with you trying to rule over humanity.”
“That wasn’t my fault! And what do the humans have to do with you?”
“I’m a human of another kind. I don’t like how you parade over them. Like you’re so much better than them. When your God created you all. You keep playing games, Queen. You’ve wasted my time.”
He turned to leave.
“Wait!”
“I’m going to get what’s mine, then our relationship is over.”
“Stop!” Queen threw out her hands, blood erupted out of her cheek and formed into a spear and she hurled it at the man.
The spear stopped in mid-air.
“You grew some balls.” The man walked past the spear. Queen still held out her hands. She couldn’t move.
He walked to her and removed his right hand from his pocket.
“You see, the problem with you gods is that most of you have never experienced true pain. Maybe a small cut here or there but I believe true pain should be a part of someone’s natural upbringing.” His hand swirled through an infinity of colors, at an impossible speed.
He thrust his hand into her shoulder. She screamed out and fell to her knees.
His hand went right through her shoulder, as if there was nothing there. There was no open wound or blood, but it looked like his hand went into the color of the shoulder itself.
It felt like someone had stuck hot irons into her.
“How does it feel? To get torn apart from reality itself?” the Omniscient Man asked.
“Please, please, please,” she pled over and over. He released her and Queen collapsed.
“Please, please, please,” she whispered.
The man stepped back and put his hand back into his pocket. Her shoulder returned to normal. There was no scar, or proof that he’d done a thing.
“That’s how all those humans felt. The ones you tortured and killed. I’ll let you keep what I gave you, but don’t be surprised when your glass castle comes crashing down.”
Queen looked up at him. “What … what did you do?!”
The Omniscient Man smiled as a tear in reality itself opened up behind him. In the tear were trillions of sparking lights in the black. Twinkling in distant wonderment.
“You’ll find out soon enough.” He paused as he saw the look of fear on Queen’s face and sighed.
“Sorry, about the pain I caused you. I didn’t want this to end the way it did. But your rule is about to come crashing down.” He stepped through and the tear closed.
Queen let out a breath and screamed the loudest she’d ever screamed before.
...
Brookes stared at the ceiling fan as it turned. The neon sign outside of his window blared in. The red light shining on his face.
It was late, he wanted to sleep. But it wasn’t the sign that kept him up. He still had a high from earlier.
A high from when he killed Barbara. A certain energy still ran through his veins. It was what kept him up. The taking of a life.
He remembered when his finger squeezed on the trigger, the shake of his pistol traveling up his spine. The sound of brains hitting the ground. God.
“I’m a sick fuck.”
He needed to get help. It wasn’t right. But every time he closed his eyes, he saw Barbara’s dead body lying on the ground and he felt some excitement from it. It wasn’t right. Yet, he wanted to relive the experience. He guessed that was what his line of work did to people. Made them sick fucks.
But yet, he also kept thinking back to Kevan, about what he said. Why did Brookes fuck with him? It should’ve been a simple operation, kidnap his family and use him to kill August in exchange for his family.
He didn’t have to kill Barbara, or help Kevan in the beginning with the addiction he caused, leading him on. Why did he do it? It made no sense.
He closed his eyes. Maybe it was a part of his humanity trying to get out. A desire to help people. The red from the neon lights seeped through his eyelids. The color of blood. But he thought he had purged that desire a long time ago.
He opened his eyes.
Queen sat on top of him naked. Her skin soft and her breasts perked. She caressed his face around his new scar.
“Is this a dream?” he asked.
“A scar, just like mine,” she said.
There was a tenderness in her voice he’d never heard before, a tenderness in her touch he’d never felt before. He reached up to her face. She shied away as his hand touched her face.
“Don’t,” he said. She had a scar on her right cheek. It was fresh. Who could mark a god like this? He rubbed his hand over it. She did the same to his.
“Quiet,” she said as their lips kissed. Just like that, he was lost in her, lost in her lust, lost in her passion. He let the fervor swallow him whole.
5
No Kind of Home
A woman sat in a chair in a small studio apartment. It was sparsely decorated. There were drapes over the windows. A sleeping bag in the corner. There was only a small lit candle on the windowsill to give her light.
She had to live
with the bare essentials. It was necessary on the run. A map was in the middle of the floor. It showed gas pipe-lines and a city’s electrical grid system.
The best way to take down Ifor was to do it in a slow, calculated manner. First, taking down their infrastructure in the small villages and towns they ruled, and then their cities. It was a complicated plot that required a lot of moving parts and a lot of trust in people. Plus it would have a negative effect on the people who relied on Ifor’s utilities to live.
But at the cost of a few, humanity would be better off.
Ezekiel came up with the plan, but he was becoming less and less enthusiastic about it since he met that man with the weird ball over his head. She didn’t like that; the man was another contingency that could mess up everything. Ezekiel claimed that the man would give them something that could kill He himself. She hoped he gained some sense before it all came crashing down.
She heard a toilet flush and her bathroom door opened. A man walked out. “Sorry about the wait, Mrs. Isador.”
“Let’s get on with it.” She grabbed the candle by the windowsill and placed it next to the map. The man and Mrs. Isador knelt down next to the map.
Parts of the gas lines were circled. The man pointed to them. “These are our main points of interest. If we plant the explosives there, we could knock out the gas and electricity simultaneously. But its successful execution is based on how much trouble we have going in. These points are more well-guarded, but we could fight our way to them.” He pointed to two other points on the map. “If we need to, we could set them off here and still knock out mostly everything on the west coast. It would take longer to execute, as they’re farther away from the entry points but it would be the safest route. Of course, if our men get discovered, we’re screwed and we’ll have to go with Plan A as it’s quicker to get to. We’ll have large casualties but all of our men know what they are getting into.”
“Who’s the god who watches over this area?”
“The god of agriculture. He doesn’t have any Touched with him. He’s a fool. We could take care of the guards easily.”
“We have never pulled off something this big before. He probably never thought anyone would want to hurt the god of ‘agriculture.’” Mrs. Isador laughed.
The Men Who Killed God (Sinner of the Infinite Book 1) Page 7