Alejandro stood up. “I will go with you.”
“No,” said Madison.
Alejandro frowned. “But Nathaniel said-”
Madison held up her hand. “I’ll be right back. I could use a little fresh air. To be honest, I’d just as soon you continue without me.”
Nick certainly couldn’t blame her for that.
“You will come right back?” asked Alejandro.
“I will. I promise.” She frowned at the group. “I’m sorry.” And she was gone like a shot.
Nick glanced at Beverly and was certain the woman didn’t believe Madison’s story about the shopkeeper. He wasn’t sure he believed it either - it didn’t jibe but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
* * *
Madison was too nervous, too frightened, to think of anything except getting to the fairgrounds, getting to Dette.
‘They’re going to kill me,’ Dette had said. ‘They want you to come. They want you to bring Alejandro. But, Maddy, don’t tell anyone because they’ll kill me if you do. Please, don’t let them kill me. Hurry! Please, help me, Maddy!’
That was all her friend had said before the connection had been cut. And Madison would not bring Alejandro to them. Not ever - and especially not after what she’d learned at the séance.
With a pale, trembling hand, she wiped away a tear. “I might lose you, but not to them.” She put the Beetle in gear and forced herself not to peel out, not to draw suspicion, but as soon as she was on the road, she gunned it.
* * *
Beverly stood at Nick’s front window, staring up at the storm-laden sky, when she felt the hand on her shoulder. She turned and looked into Nick Grayson’s blue-gray eyes.
He removed his hand as if he were afraid he might break her. “You look a little unsettled. Is everything okay?”
She wasn’t sure. She felt strangely disoriented; her ears were ringing. She couldn’t escape the feeling that her legs might give out. It was unusual, ominous.
And something wasn’t right about the way Madison had left. The whole thing had a dark vibration around it, like a black cloud waiting to unleash its fury. “I’m fine,” she said, hoping Nick wouldn’t see through the lie. She felt out of breath, like a weight was pressed to her chest.
Nick stood close, and it was a comfort. He gave her a crooked smile; he was handsome when he smiled. “Why don’t we go back to the table and sit down?”
Beverly, her body now covered in a cold sick sweat, allowed him to lead her back to the dining room.
* * *
Corson Lombardo spoke into his cell. “She’s on her way, Boss.” He followed Madison O’Riley toward the fairgrounds, keeping a discreet distance. For hours, he’d been waiting in his black GTO at the crossroads just past the sheriff’s house; he was glad something was finally happening. He’d become so stir crazy that he wanted to burst into the cop’s house, kill everyone in there, and abduct the fucking angel himself. “But she’s alone. She’s already disobeying orders.”
“That’s perfectly all right,” said Gremory. “I expected it. If we have her, we have him. He will come for her.”
The sky had turned dark and rain spattered the windshield, heralding the coming storm. A gust of wind buffeted the car.
“Call me when you arrive.”
“I will.”
Gremory Jones broke the connection and Corson set the phone down.
By the time Madison’s Volkswagen turned into the parking lot at the fairgrounds, the rain was a bare drizzle. Night was falling and the fair would only be open another hour or two. Everything was going as planned.
* * *
Like a match tossed on gasoline, Beverly’s eyes blazed gold. Her head snapped back, her entire spine arching as a deep rusty garble tumbled from her lips.
Nick was on his feet. “What the-”
Beverly’s body relaxed in the dining chair as suddenly as if a Taser had broken contact with her. Like a flash, Nathaniel’s face superimposed over her features, but it was not the kindly face of before. This face was furious.
“You fools!” Beverly-Nathaniel looked at each of them. “Fools! She is in danger! Grave danger!”
Alejandro looked stricken. The padre’s mouth hung open. Nick’s stomach folded in on itself as he voiced his worst fear. “The phone call was a trap.”
“Yes! They summoned her. You must act now!”
“How?” asked Nick.
That gold gaze sliced toward him; it was cold and furious, freezing him to the marrow. “Many years ago, I came to you - I touched you and healed you, and yet you resist me!”
Nick couldn’t find his voice.
“If you do not believe, I cannot manifest.”
Nick thought of the footsteps in the house, the messages in the mirror, his paralysis in the recliner. He thought of the word ‘believe.’ “All of that was to make me believe? Why? Believe in what?”
“Simply believe - and accept - that there are things you do not understand! Without an open mind, you are limited strictly to the powers of the physical realm, and there is much beyond the world you know.”
“But-”
“Believe in me, Nick.”
Nick blinked. “But what the hell does any of this have to do with Madison O’Riley? Or Alejandro?”
“I am bound to you - as you are bound to me. Just as my brother is now bound to Madison. I cannot manifest without your acceptance. And no human can possibly stand up against the Darkness you now face. You need me!”
Nick’s mind reeled. “But when I was young-”
“Your mother, in her final moments, asked that her son be spared - her faith was strong and it connected me to you. You are my path to cross over.”
“She believed,” shouted Nick. “But I need facts! How do I know you’re not one of them? That you’re not tricking-”
In a flash, Nathaniel disappeared, his features blinking out of existence on Beverly’s face.
“How do I know-” began Nick.
Alejandro shot to his feet, grabbed Nick by the collar, and pulled his face inches from his own. “We cannot save Madison without Nathaniel. If you do not open your mind, she will die! I will not let that happen!”
The padre was up, heading for them, but the young man held up a hand and the priest was thrown back into his chair. Nick couldn’t believe his eyes. “Did you do that?”
“Yes,” Alejandro spat. “And I will do much more. I will do whatever it takes to make you see. You must see!”
Alejandro glanced up and suddenly the chandelier began to spin, the lights turning crimson. It began to rain down on them all. A drop hit Nick’s lip. He touched it with his tongue and tasted blood.
Her face spattered red, Beverly screamed, and he tried to reach for her, but Alejandro shook his head and Nick felt his lips seal shut.
He couldn’t open his mouth. Terror tore through him.
Then the blood was gone from the chandelier, the table, from Beverly and Tom as if it had never been there. Slowly, the overhead lights stopped spinning.
“Do you see?” asked Alejandro, his voice deep and echoing as if he spoke down a canyon. “Do you see?”
Nick nodded.
“You lie. You do not yet see.”
The heavy oak table lifted off the floor as if it weighed nothing. It rose higher and higher, until it reached the chandelier. And then it hung there. Nick stared, his mind insisting it was a magic trick even as he tried to believe, tried to accept.
“A trick?” Alejandro’s breath came in frosted puffs, his eyes burned so bright it hurt to look at them. “You think that is a trick? An illusion?”
Nick stared back, willing himself to accept what he saw, but he couldn’t. This was insane.
All at once, the drapes shot open.
The table floated into the living room, then the sliding glass door slid open, and the table glided outside and set down next to the grill, gentle raindrops pattering upon it.
Tom yelped and tried to stand, but he was glu
ed to his chair, which lifted up and floated out to the patio, coming to rest at the table. Then Beverly screamed as her chair rose and she, too, was transported outside.
“Do you accept? Do you believe?” Alejandro’s voice was harsh, otherworldly. He stood back and Nick couldn’t rise. But his chair did. It hovered a yard off the floor then began to spin in the air, faster and faster, finally upending and hanging silently in the air. Dizzy, confused, blood filling his head, Nick remained glued to the seat, the carpet inches below his skull.
“Do you believe?” It was like a thousand different voices, all speaking from different directions, all speaking in different tones, and all coming from Alejandro’s mouth.
Suddenly, the chair somersaulted twice then landed upright beneath the chandelier. Nick, released now, tried to stand, but was too dizzy. He sat, and then his lips unsealed. He thought his mind was about to break. “What are you?” he whispered.
“Open. Your. Mind.” Alejandro’s breath was like ice against Nick’s face and though the room wasn’t cold enough, it steamed.
“I …”
Alejandro brought his face close, so close Nick could smell the other man’s rage. “Break,” he whispered.
All at once, every window in the house exploded; the wind tossed the drapes and drew them out the open windows.
Beverly screamed.
Nick’s throat went dry.
Alejandro’s eyes blazed silver - so silver it was like staring into polished chrome. “More,” he whispered.
Outside, lightning flashed, making the room pulse and shudder.
“Harder,” said Alejandro.
Thunder crashed like ripping fabric.
“Harder.”
The earth began to shake. Outside, the table leapt and bounced, and within, the chandelier lost its moorings and crashed to the floor, splintering and shattering into a thousand pieces.
“Believe.” The word rode a thick, icy plume of frost so cold it bit Nick’s nose, and the house began to shudder, groaning and pitching like a ship on a storm-rocked sea.
It threw Beverly from her chair. Then the padre was shaken onto the ground as well. Both rose and rushed inside.
Alejandro was immovable, pinning Nick into place, his bright eyes burning with rage and iron intent. Massive ink-black wings spread out behind the angel, unfolding into a wingspan at least eight feet wide. Fire ignited the tips of the black feathers, burning like a thousand candles, lighting the room.
A hundred thoughts spilled into Nick’s mind, colliding against each other. He was cracking. He felt as if he were being crushed by a powerful wind - or gravity itself. Then, the weight was suddenly gone. Nick exhaled breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding.
Alejandro’s eyes softened and misted. “Please,” he said. “I love her.”
Nick watched as a tear rolled down Alejandro’s face.
“I need you to believe. I need you to help me. Please help me.”
Looking into those eyes, Nick saw a pain so raw, so defenseless, that his own eyes grew hot with tears. He found himself slowly nodding. “Yes,” he whispered, feeling as if a dam were bursting within him. “I believe.” The words were balm on a long-open wound. His vision blurred and he touched Alejandro’s face. “I believe. I believe.” Despite what he’d seen, he couldn’t say exactly what he believed anymore … but as of this moment, he knew he believed in love. And that was enough.
Alejandro’s eyes brightened as his wings faded away. “Thank you.” He spoke softly. “I am sorry for the way I treated you.”
It felt to Nick as if new blood had begun pumping into his heart. “It’s okay.”
“Look.” Beverly pointed toward the fireplace.
The air in front of the hearth wavered, like it had around Beverly, like heat waves, and then a tall brilliantly golden elongated oval formed, going from translucent to solid within seconds.
It burst with light so blinding Nick had to shield his eyes. When he dared look again, a tall naked man with long auburn hair and golden eyes stood before them. He was seven feet tall, at least - an unrealistically flawless specimen. It stole Nick’s breath.
“Thank you, Nicholas, for finding it in your heart to accept me.” The voice was commanding but kind, and seemed to come from all directions.
The padre crossed himself.
Nick knew he was going into shock as the man stepped toward him. “It’s you. I remember you.” His vision filled with black spots and he fell to the floor in a dead faint.
At the Fair
It was full dark when Madison arrived at the fair. The ticket booth was deserted, the parking lot was emptying quickly as the first hard rain began to fall. Madison pulled her denim jacket tight around her, head down, as the wet drops stung her face.
She avoided the mass of fairgoers heading out the gates, slipping between them, hurrying toward the building that contained the O’Riley’s Rocks booth.
She hurried up the midway, her fingers trembling, her heart hammering. The Ferris wheel and carousel were still turning; the coaster cars rode their rails. Screams and laughter assaulted her as people took their last rides of the day. She smelled beer, hot dogs, and fried food. The sweet scent of cotton candy cloyed in her nose. The odor of farm animals hung in the air, mixing with the food smells and greasy stink of the carnival rides, making her queasy as she headed toward the exhibit building.
“Please, please, please, make this a joke.” But she knew it wasn’t. She hurried on, finally spotting the large building at the end of the midway.
* * *
When the last vendor left the building, Astaroth yanked Dette’s silver moon pendant from her neck.
The moment the chain snapped, everything changed.
Dette’s mind spun, making her dizzy. Emotions dead a moment ago roiled up within her, bubbling like lava. Memories of the shameful things she’d done - which just moments ago hadn’t bothered her a bit - now stabbed her heart and clawed at her mind. It felt like she was being ripped to ribbons.
She collapsed into her chair and covered her face, weeping as she recalled stealing from the register, having sex with Shawn and Bobby in the bathroom at Mephistopheles, trying to seduce Alejandro. And now, I’m going to get Alejandro and Madison killed! “Oh, God what have I done?”
“It’s a little late to bring God into it, don’t you think?” Astaroth leaned against the sales table, arms crossed, jaw tense, leering down at Dette. He looked up at the entrance and sighed. “Where the fuck are they?”
“I don’t know!” she said through tears. “I did what you asked me to do. Please, please don’t hurt Maddy!”
Astaroth smacked her across the mouth, hard.
Her head rocked back. White light flashed behind her eyes and bolts of pain shot through her.
“You were never worthy to wear this.” Astaroth shook the pendant at her.
What have I done? What have I done? Oh, God, what have I done? She felt suffocated in shame, humiliation, and horror. She recalled the threesome with Astaroth and Tyranny, showing up drunk at Madison’s - these cuts assailed her like sharp-edged stones. Why did I do it? Madison had been her best friend since childhood and she would never do anything to hurt her. Never!
Astaroth chuckled. “You humans. You’d all love to believe the devil made you do it. But let me tell you something, princess.” He held the silver pendant in front of her. “This … is nothing but an excuse.” His smile was feral. “Sure, it made you a little more pliable, but you didn’t do a fucking thing you didn’t want to and we both know it.” His face, which not so long ago had been the handsomest she’d ever seen, was now hideous. It hadn’t changed, not really. He still had the sapphire eyes, the male-model features … but the ugliness seethed from his pores, making him a grotesque parody of the man she’d wanted not so long ago.
“That’s not true!” Her stinging lips were already beginning to swell.
“Whatever you say, candy-tits. Whatever you say.” He half-sat on the edge of the table, on
e red leather-clad ass cheek so close she could have driven a dagger through it if she’d had one. “Be careful, princess,” Astaroth said. “You’re liable to turn me on. You know I like it rough.” He stroked her cheek with one finger. It burned her skin, singed it.
Dette recoiled, closed her eyes, tried to kill her thoughts before he could read any more of them. Think of nothing, think of nothing, think of nothing.
“Thinking of nothing isn’t possible,” said Astaroth in a singsong lilt.
“Dette!”
Dette’s head snapped up as the main door flew open. Madison, her hair whipping in the wind, ran toward her.
Astaroth pushed himself off the table, grinning until he saw that Madison was alone. Then he grinned harder.
* * *
Nick, Beverly, and Tom piled into Nick’s cruiser, and raced toward the fairgrounds where they’d rendezvous with Alejandro and Nathaniel. The siren wailed as rain rushed down in violent torrents. A bolt of lightning lit the night, almost instantly followed by a deafening crack of thunder.
“Look out!” From the passenger seat, Beverly thrust a finger forward.
Nick saw the figure and hit the brakes. Water sloshed as the cruiser came to a skidding stop. “What the hell?” He rolled the window down and stared out.
Festus Crawley stood in the middle of Main Street, arms flapping and hammering.
Nick’s breath hitched when he saw what the man was doing.
With both hands tight around a brick, he was bashing in his own head. Blood and rain ran in rivulets down his face.
“Stop!” cried Nick.
The man looked up at him and shrieked. “The wicked go down to the realm of the dead! All the nations that forget God!” He continued slamming the slab against his skull.
“What do we do?” asked Beverly,
“There’s no time!” said Tom. “He’s done for. Drive!”
The Angel Alejandro Page 48