Fallen Stars (The Demon Accords)
Page 31
“What’ll happen to those kids?”
“Nothing. They’re back home in Vermont, although Stewart is working on creating a special school. A college for uniquely talented kids. He’s going to offer full rides to those two.”
“A special college for mutant kids? How Stan Lee of him. Who’s he gonna get to run it?” I asked.
She didn’t answer right away. Super ref blew his whistle again because one of our players had the temerity to take the ball away from the other team.
“Hey ref… you got money on this game?” one of the wisecrackers on our side yelled. It actually wasn’t a funny question. The ref was so damned biased, it was ridiculous. I was starting to really, really dislike the guy.
I glanced at Gina, who still hadn’t answered. “So you gonna take the job or what?”
She smiled. “Tanya already told you, didn’t she?”
“Actually, it was Lydia. Sounds like a pretty neat job, though. Raising the next generation of bonafide superheroes. You’d be really good at it.”
“Thanks. What about you and Lailah?” she asked. “I mean Tanya.”
“No, you didn’t. Who blabbed?”
“Both Tanya and Lyd. But did you really think I hadn’t guessed a long time ago?”
“How could you guess when I didn’t even know?” I asked. “When I still have trouble believing.”
“Because the clues were all there: unheard of exorcism power, visions from God, the ability to call His Collector of Souls at will, the very tone that sounds when you do. Lydia and I speculated since I’ve known you. That you were self-Fallen and that you and Tanya were matched from the beginning.”
“You even thought Tanya was… you know?”
“What, you can’t say it? Angelic? Yeah, let’s see, born from an impossible birth, the ultimate vampire but the first human she killed traumatized her for fifteen years, she’s the ultimate predator, yet she babies my baby. And she was matched to you from the instant of your meeting. We figure something like that. Which brings me to this: what’s your next step?”
I pondered that, taking my time before answering. Yeah, shocker, I know. On the field, Toni’s teammate was taking a corner kick, and Toni attempted to head it in. She got hair on the ball, but it slid off the wrong way and the goalie grabbed it.
“When I… died, I had a meeting of sorts. Got my… our marching orders. A Mission from God to paraphrase the Blues Brothers. The days of randomly running around exorcising demons have to stop. We have to get more organized. Those Hellgates? There’s going to be more of them. And things are already coming through the ones we haven’t closed. It’s more than I can handle on my own. So Tanya and I will bring in others, train them, and coordinate.”
She nodded. “A team approach, then?”
“Yeah, not sure of the particulars, but the Coven will help.”
“Oh? Senka cooperating, then?”
I laughed. “Something about a ten ton asteroid that gets people’s attention.”
“You did that? By yourself?”
“Nah. I had help. My Brothers,” I replied. “They can’t intercede directly, but if I want to shuffle things around up in space, well, they don’t see that as directly interfering.”
A player on the other side made a dangerous kick, and one of our kids went down. It was really blatant, but the ref didn’t call it. Most of the parents were starting to speak up now.
Grim made a suggestion. I liked it. Out on the field, the ref suddenly fell down like someone had kicked him behind the knees. He jumped up, furious, but there wasn’t anyone to blame.
Straightening his suddenly muddy uniform, he blew the whistle for the other team to kick. The ball came off the player’s foot and hit the ref right in the face. He was bright red now.
Gina watched, then slowly turned her head to me. I pretended innocence. Roy arrived like the Calvary, complete with rescue hot dogs. “Did you see that? That asshole ref got hit right in the mouth. And his spiffy outfit is all muddy from falling down.” Roy was laughing as he handed me a bag of delicousness.
“I better share some of these with my pal,” I said. Roy nodded understanding, and I just pretended not to see Gina’s narrowed gaze.
My borrowed Toyota SUV was parked behind us, backed up against the fence that protected the soccer field. I remotely opened the tailgate and handed a half dozen franks to the beast lying inside. Awasos ate them in quick gulps, his attention on the game—or, at least, one brown-haired little attacker. A bigger boy pushed Toni down, which elicited a growl from 'Sos. It happened right in front of the stands, and parents started yelling at the ref. Instead of carding the kid, the idiot flashed his yellow flag at the coach for our team, pointing at the parents and getting into a yelling match with the coach.
A gust of wind caught the penalty flag and yanked it from the ref’s hand. It floated across to land by my feet. I picked it up and held it to 'Sos’s nose while holding the ref’s eyes with my own. Then I walked it forward, leaning over the fence to hand it to the asshole. I let Grim peek out at him, absurdly self-satisfied with the shade of gray he turned.
Gina was behind me when I turned around, arms crossed, eyes tight. “What are you doing? With everything you are, you are supposed to protect people… not hurt them.”
“Even assholes? Cause I don’t want to help the assholes,” I said.
Despite herself, Gina laughed. “Yes, even the assholes.”
“Well, it’s your fault. You made me her godfather. So I will protect her more than others.”
Behind her, Awasos jumped down from the back of the SUV, the back end lifting up noticeably as his weight left the car. He yawned and then headed into the parking lot, big nose sniffing cars, looking for one in particular. He found it, a shiny red BMW convertible. His big brown eyes met mine and flashed lava red as his hind leg lifted over the radiator grill. I felt Grim flash back and immediately had a memory of a bar parking lot in Asheville.
I looked back at Gina. “Not very Angelic, huh?”
“Most people don’t realize that Angels aren’t fluffy creatures of love and happiness. Your Brethren are usually God’s Enforcers,” she said. “But you have a lot more to worry about than some referee at a kids' game.”
No shit. A plague of portals straight to hell, a gorgeous uber-vampire that I needed to get to know for the second time, a beautiful werewolf friend who was crushing on me (and might get crushed by the vampire), agents of Oracle looking to control my skills, a witchy primer for mass destruction to protect, Elder vampires toying with my life, and a team to build to close the Hell holes.
Out on the field, the ref suddenly spotted 'Sos peeing on his car. He turned away from the game and completely missed Toni’s cross to center, where her teammate kicked a goal. The crowd erupted in cheers and the asshat ref turned back as his partner called a goal. Toni looked in the stands to see if we were watching, then spotted us near my ride. We waved back at her excited face.
“But Gina, I only have one goddaughter, and I will always do what it takes to protect her,” I said, quietly.
“Heaven help them if they try again,” Gina said.
“Oh, I can guarantee that Heaven isn’t going to help,” I said, resting my hand on the massive head that leaned over the fence.
The End.
Author’s Note:
Just a couple of thoughts.
It’s been said that Chris is too powerful. That it’s difficult or impossible to challenge him.
My mother passed away while I was writing Fallen Stars, the victim of a nine year struggle with Alzheimer’s. There’s a challenge for you. Once that disease has its hooks in you it’s just a matter of time, wrapping around your brain like an anaconda, crushing neurons till you forget how to breathe.
Chris is immune to disease, but not immune to a .30 caliber chunk of lead and copper moving at 2600 feet per second. What do you do when your memories are simply gone? How do you relearn what you used to know? How do you change in the process? Are yo
u still you?
Two people in my life have battled memory and skill loss brought on by subdermal hematomas within the last 3 years. A simple fall, the impact of a hard object on the head, and life is turned upside. Speech, simple motor skills, childhood memories are all at risk when your brain is traumatized. Relearning how to speak at sixty years of age—that’s a challenge.
So Chris will always have his challenges, they’re just not always going to be super villians and physical combat.
If you’re interested in how I view Chris when he’s in Grim mode, just listen to Disturbed’s song Indestructible. I think of Grim every time I hear it.
I need to thank Ryan Bibby for his awesome artwork, and Susan Gottfried for undertaking the daunting task of making my writing readable. Of course, my wife and girls support me 100%. If I fall, they’ll catch me.
I especially need to thank my fans for reading my little stories and writing me their thoughts and impressions.
And last, but not least, thanks, Mom, for making me read out loud after dinner every night until I realized that I didn’t hate reading but, in fact, loved it. You will not be forgotten.
Chris, Tanya, Awasos, and company will be back in Forced Ascent.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Epilogue