The Complete Book Of Fallen Angels

by Valmore Daniels

  I kept thinking about Thomas, lying unconscious in the middle of the dirt road, helpless to defend himself when Jenny gave him the touch of death. I’d stood by and watched, unable to stop her, unable to save him.

  Jenny was a psychopath. She liked to kill. There was no doubt in my mind that she would kill again, if she had the opportunity.

  Though I felt bad when I thought I’d killed her, I’d been just as upset when I found out I hadn’t. It was a hard thing to understand: how I wanted her to be dead, but I didn’t want to be a killer.

  At the same time, I knew she had to be stopped.

  Sam Lancaster was protecting her. He needed her; she was a weapon to him. He would not hesitate to use her for his own means. No matter how much he talked about how the Grigori loved humankind, and how he shared that emotion, the truth was that he wanted to rule them. He would say or do anything in his pursuit of that goal.

  Briefly, he’d made me feel a part of something bigger than myself. It had been a lie. He’d manipulated me.

  He would manipulate others. Like Jenny, he had to be stopped.

  I knew that running around trying to recruit other hosts was a waste of time. Even if Darcy managed to gather a dozen or more of them together, Sam would have the other Grigori on his side; he had more resources; he’d had years to prepare.

  There had to be a better, faster, more effective way to stop Sam and his organization.

  In a flash, an idea came to me.

  Slipping out of bed, trying to stay as quiet as I could, I headed for the basement.

  * * *

  Slumped over his desk, his head resting on his folded hands, Eugene snored as several of his computer screens showed progress bars for the software he was running.

  He twitched, and his elbow hit a soda can and knocked it over. It was empty, but rattled loud enough to wake him up. After a quick glance at the monitors, he wiped some spittle from the corner of his mouth and then laid his head down on his hands.

  Then he popped his head back up when he realized I was there.

  “Huh?” he asked, looking around with bleary eyes. “What’s up?”

  “Eugene,” I said, keeping eye contact with him until I was sure he was completely alert.

  He sat up and ran his tongue over the roof of his mouth, making a face as he wiped the saliva from his lips. “Serena.”

  “I have a question,” I said.

  Frowning, Eugene glanced at his watch. “Can’t this wait until the morning? I’m zonked.”

  “We need to hack into Grigori’s network,” I said.

  Giving his head a quick shake, Eugene stared at me like I was crazy. “That’s what I’ve been trying to do.”

  “Not just to get a list of possible hosts they’ve already discovered.” I spoke with a purposeful tone. “We need to do more than that.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Kyle mentioned that the Grigori don’t keep much in the way of paperwork.”

  “They probably keep everything digital,” Eugene said. “If they ever get raided by the cops, they can torch their hard drives and then there won’t be a paper trail.”

  “So they probably have all their financial information on their computers as well.”

  “Yeah.”

  “If you get their bank account numbers, can you—I don’t know—drain their funds?”

  “Sure.” He shrugged. “If I had the passwords.” He chewed on the inside of his cheek. “Of course, I’d have to do it quickly. The moment they realized what was happening, they could freeze their accounts. Why, you want to rob them?”

  “I don’t care where the money goes. Charity.” I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that we can’t play catch up with them; they’ve got too much of a head start. We need to set them back; as far back as possible. Can you do it?”

  “With the passwords,” he said.

  “That’d be a good start. They’re also doing a lot of genetic research.”

  “You want me to steal the data?”

  “No,” I said, shaking my head. “Destroy it, every digital copy they have. If we take the information, they might be able to get it back from us. If it’s destroyed, then they’ll have to start from scratch.”

  He nodded appreciatively. “That would set their research back years, maybe even decades.”

  “There’s one more thing, and I think this is the most important part.”

  “What’s that?” Eugene asked.

  “Before we destroy their genetic research and drain their bank accounts, we need to find every bit of information we can about the one host they haven’t found yet.”

  “Who?”

  “The Bellator. The warrior. Even though Sam has people like Jenny, he as much as said that her power was very limited. Even with a hundred like Jenny—or like us—how can he possibly think he could take over the whole world? He needs something more.” I cocked my head. “I remember that he said they couldn’t do anything until they found him. If we can figure out who he is first, maybe we can get him on our side. That would tip the scales, wouldn’t it?”

  “I guess.” He pointed to his computers. “But it could be a while before we get in.”

  “What would the fastest way be?”

  “Well, if someone opened a port in their firewall, then that would give me full access to their entire network.”

  “What if they have other networks at their other buildings?”

  Eugene said, “For an operation as large as theirs, they’d need to be linked. Once I get access to their network, I can go anywhere in their system.” He laughed without humor. “But it’s not like someone in their organization is just going to open a port for me.”

  “Can you show me how to do it?” I asked, and he gave me a puzzled look. “What if I could sneak in and use one of their computers?”

  After a moment, he jotted down a website address. “When I was doing computer repair, I set up a way to grant me remote access to customer’s systems. Navigate here, and click the accept button. I have an automated script that will do everything else.”

  “That simple?”

  “If you call getting through their security and having them let you use a computer ‘simple’…”

  I memorized the address and stood up.

  He asked, “But how are you going to get in?”

  “Leave it to me,” I said, taking a deep breath and heading for the stairs. “I’ll open that port. You just kill their research, drain their funds, and get the information on the Bellator to Darcy.” I took a deep breath. “Then bring their network down.”

  I took one step and stopped. “And don’t tell Darcy or the others. They’ll just try to stop me.”

  Eugene started to get out of his chair. “What do you mean, don’t tell Darcy…?”

  But I was already up the stairs. Nothing was going to stop my mission to bring down Grigori Ventures and Sam Lancaster.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  I only had to wait for half an hour for the first bus of the morning to arrive, and I spent the time paying close attention to my intuition, in case Darcy and the others realized I’d left. By the time they figured out what I was doing, I hoped to have the password to their network.

  They had the right idea on how to fight Sam, but they were going about it too cautiously. Their way, it could take years, or even decades, with each side slowly building up their forces. Maybe I was just too impatient. We had to leapfrog ahead of Grigori Ventures, if we wanted to have any hope of stopping them.

  It took about forty-five minutes and two buses to get me to the outskirts of Las Vegas. From there, I had to walk the rest of the way to the large building that Grigori Ventures used as their head office and secret laboratory.

  Even this early in the morning, and this late in the season, the Las Vegas heat was getting to me—or maybe it was just my nerves. What I wouldn’t give to be back on the coast, near water. It was crazy how much I missed the ocean.

  As I neared the b
uilding, my gut rumbled as if I’d just eaten six chili-cheese dogs. I didn’t need that sensation to tell me I was walking into the lion’s den, but I didn’t see that I had any other choice. I didn’t want to spend years trying to fly under the radar while we built our forces, and I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder. Sam needed to be stopped now.

  Darcy had been right: with their internal angel radar, the Grigori would know I was coming long before I was close enough to use my hydromancy. I had to do this the old-fashioned way.

  Somehow, I would have to get inside, get a password to a computer, log in, and open a port for Eugene, and try to get out again before they caught me. I had a plan; maybe it wasn’t a very good one, but it was the only one I had.

  Before the building was within sight, that electric thrill ran through me, stronger than I’d expected. I couldn’t tell how many Grigori were there with Sam, but the sensation I felt was at least double in strength from the confrontation at Anak Acres. At least a dozen hosts inside, I guessed. Sam must have brought them in to help after the confrontation in Utah.

  If I could detect them, then they certainly knew about me. Sneaking around wasn’t going to do me any good. I headed straight for the main doors, fully expecting them to rush out and apprehend me.

  No one came out, and I reached the door without incident. It wasn’t locked, so I opened it, took a deep breath, and walked in.

  Danee was sitting at the reception desk, and she looked up at me as I entered. She threw me a seductive smile, and there wasn’t the least hint of shock in her expression.

  “Sam is waiting for you in his office,” she said.

  I hadn’t expected a welcome. “Uh…”

  Sam wasn’t in the office, though. A moment later, he walked out of the hallway and into the foyer. Jenny a step behind him.

  “Serena.” He looked pleased to see me. “I knew you’d come back to us.”

  Originally, I thought I’d have to talk my way in, convincing them that I’d somehow escaped from Darcy and the others. Sam must be so wrapped up in his own sense of importance, or his ability to con me, that he expected me to return on my own.

  “Like they could stop me,” I said confidently.

  Jenny had a sour expression on her face. “It took you long enough to get here.”

  “They thought they could get me to join them.”

  “Didn’t you?” The corner of Jenny’s mouth lifted in a sneering smile. One side of her face was bruised, and she held herself at an odd angle; most likely, she was still hurting from the impact with the shed. I felt some satisfaction about that.

  “I thought about it,” I said. “For about a minute.”

  “Oh?”

  “I heard them out.” Struggling to keep my breathing even, I put a note of disgust in my tone. “They have no idea what they’re doing. So far, they’ve been running on pure luck.” I shook my head. “Their plan is stupid.”

  Sam asked, “And what is their plan?”

  “Hack into your network. Steal your list of Grigori hosts, and get to them first.” I shrugged. “That’s it.”

  Narrowing his eyes, Sam said, “If they think they can hack my network, they’re sorely mistaken.”

  “Don’t trust her,” Jenny said, venom in her voice.

  “Oh,” I said, glaring at her, “Sam can trust me; you can’t. I owe you for Thomas.”

  “Try it, bitch.” Jenny took a step forward, her arm reaching out as if she could touch me from across the room.

  I raised my hand in the shape of a gun. “It’s time to finish it.” As if remembering what had happened on the plane, Jenny stopped in mid-step, but her lips curled into a snarl.

  “Girls! Girls!” Sam hollered. “Stop it right now!”

  As much as I wanted to see Jenny suffer for what she’d done to Thomas, I needed to make sure Sam thought I was on his side.

  I dropped my hand to my side. Jenny’s glare of hatred matched mine.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Danee was still at her desk, making no attempt to help Sam break us up. She was watching the scene with a look of anticipation on her face, as if she’d been looking forward to seeing us fight.

  Sam moved between us. “Jenny. Serena. No more of this bickering. We have a lot of work to do, and we can’t afford to waste time with all this nonsense.”

  “Work?” I asked him, not taking my eyes off Jenny.

  “We’ve made a breakthrough, and I need your help to test it.”

  I looked at him. “Breakthrough?”

  “We believe we’ve discovered a way to summon our brethren from the Abyss. No more waiting around for them to find their way.”

  He seemed to be looking into the distance as he said, “If it works, we’ll be able to bring the rest of them across in a matter of days.”

  “Good,” I said. “Then we’ll have our army all ready for when we find the Bellator.” I tried to make myself sound eager.

  “My dear Serena,” he said, “we’ve already located him. Several of our colleagues are on the way to recruit him as we speak.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  I was in.

  A part of me had been worried that Sam wouldn’t buy my story. In the end, his ego had convinced him that I would obviously choose him over Darcy.

  I didn’t know if Jenny believed me, but as long as Sam kept a leash on her, I didn’t care. I’d still have to watch my back; the first chance she got, she was going to kill me. I knew it.

  All I had to do was keep up appearances until I got a chance to use a computer.

  I couldn’t appear too eager to get away by myself, though; so when Sam asked me to join him in the lab area, I nodded and followed him. I decided to play it cool for a little while longer, then excuse myself to use the bathroom.

  Jenny trailed behind me; I could feel her eyes boring holes in the back of my head. I wondered if she would decide to follow me; that would put a kink in my plan. I’d have to figure out how to deal with that, if it happened.

  The one thing I hadn’t really thought of was an escape plan. I decided that, once I’d opened a port for Eugene, I would wing it. An opportunity would present itself, I was sure, and I would use my intuition to help me.

  It felt like I’d swallowed razor blades; my gut was still cramping. That was one downside to this intuition; there was no way to turn it off.

  “Your timing couldn’t be better,” Sam said as we walked.

  It took me a moment to switch mental gears. “Oh?”

  “We’re just setting up for our first experiment. In less than an hour, we should have one more Grigori among our ranks.” He shot a quick smile at me. “It’s been a long wait, but our goal is within our reach.”

  “Once we take over,” I said, trying to keep my voice matter-of-fact, “then we can protect humanity from itself.” I didn’t know if I was overplaying the part.

  “That’s right,” Sam said. His eyes took on a glazed-over look, as if imagining how the future would be. “That was always the divine purpose of the Grigori; now, we can help them achieve that.”

  I wasn’t going to kid myself; I’d spent plenty of time lost in my own fantasies, but they’d never involved world domination.

  After casting a quick glance over my shoulder at Jenny, who was still glaring at me, I asked, “Did you send Mr. Ulrich to get the Bellator?” I hadn’t seen the former counselor; nor had I seen Billy or any of his mercenaries, either.

  “Oh,” Sam said, “we would not dishonor the Bellator by sending a mortal. He must be greeted properly, by equals.”

  “When will they be back?” I asked, trying not to sound too eager.

  “I’m sure we won’t have to wait too long…” We reached the end of the corridor, then went down a flight of stairs to a lower level.

  At the end of another hallway, there was a set of double doors. Sam stepped aside and motioned. “After you, ladies. We have everything set up.”

  My stomach still ached, and I had
to keep hiding my discomfort.

  I took a step toward one of the doors, but it opened before he reached it.

  Mr. Ulrich appeared and, seeing me, blinked as if he hadn’t expected me to be there.

  My surprise was greater: he was wearing the costume of a priest. The linen robes had stitched patterns in them—it seemed like some kind of foreign language that didn’t use our alphabet. The cuffs were sewn with strips of gold-colored cloth. On his head, Mr. Ulrich wore a tall, white cap decorated with more of the stitched patterns.

  A thick sash was wrapped around his waist, and it held a sheath at least a foot long. The handle of an ornate knife was visible, the end of it set with a red gemstone.

  I remembered he used to be a priest, but I didn’t think priests were allowed to carry weapons.

  He said to Sam, “We’re ready to go.” Then he held the door open for us.

  I hesitated before going in. I felt like puking, but I knew I had to keep going. I concentrated on trying to figure out what was going on.

  “Let’s go,” Jenny growled, and I shot her a look of annoyance as I walked through the door.

  I’d imagined the lab would look like something from chemistry class; lots of long tables filled with vials, beakers, and scales. To my surprise, it was more like one of those surgical theaters I’d seen in medical dramas on television.

  At the center of the room, instead of an operating table, there was an altar. It was unmistakable. Raised on four round pillars of stone, etched with signs and symbols I didn’t recognize, the top was made of a thick slab of marble.

  On either side of the altar stood two priests, both of them older men. After hearing what Darcy and the others had told me about the Society of Exorcists in Chicago, I was more than alarmed to see that Grigori Ventures had priests working for them. My first thought was to ask Sam what they were doing here, but I didn’t want to show any doubt.

  Between the doors and the altar were five rows of chairs, split down the middle by an aisle. There were four on either side. Except for the three seats at the front, the rest of them were occupied. They were all adults, but they were old and young, male and female, and all wore regular street clothes.