by James Somers
Lucifer did not dispute his brother. Still, he fixed him with a hard, telling glare.
“Oh, all right, I’m going,” Southresh complained. “But if you do decide to kill him, give him to me.”
He vanished in a huff, leaving Lucifer alone. A second later Lucifer became visible upon the mortal plane. For a moment Adolf didn’t seem to notice him. Until he spoke.
“I thought you might be near,” Adolf said. “Sensed you before I arrived at the house. Good. I’ve been waiting to speak with you for some time with no joy.”
Lucifer did not answer the clear accusation.
Adolf waited a moment for the angel to speak. He did not. Instead, Lucifer’s gaze remained fixed upon him. An eerie feeling crept up Adolf’s spine. The angel was stone still, not even possessing the rise and fall that came with mortal breathing. Of course, he was not mortal.
Finally, Adolf looked away and began to speak. “Why have you not answered my calls? The war has gone badly of late. I need your help.”
Still, the angel did not reply.
Adolf grew angry. He could not withhold an outburst any longer.
“Why have you not answered me?!”
“You are not the one,” Lucifer replied calmly.
Adolf was taken aback. “What?”
Lucifer spoke deliberately slow now. “You are not the one.”
“I heard you,” Adolf said. “What do you mean, I am not the one?”
“There is one coming into the world. I wait for him. He will fulfill my desires for world domination. You are not the one.”
“Because you have abandoned me!” Adolf shouted.
Lucifer grinned. “Your time is nearly at an end, Adolf.”
Adolf pulled up short of a reply. He had known that this might be the case. Still, he couldn’t just surrender to that analysis of the situation. He was making contingency plans for his death, but he wasn’t dead yet.
“It doesn’t have to be that way,” he said, stammering for some way out. “We can still salvage the effort. The Allies can be defeated. With your help, I can—”
Lucifer shook his head slowly. “There will be no help. I am withheld from changing this outcome.”
“Withheld?” Adolf asked, flustered. “Withheld by whom…God?”
“You see?” Lucifer asked.
“What?”
“You are not the one,” he replied. “You do not even believe in our great enemy.”
“Why should I believe in God?” Adolf asked, incredulous. “I’ve seen nothing to convince me that he exists. You only mention God when you feel like not helping me…just a convenient excuse to withhold your power.”
“You simpleton,” Lucifer said. “You’ve bought into the lie. That’s for the common cattle, not for the man who will be used to dominate the world. As I have said, you are not the one.”
Adolf was close to bursting with fury. He had to do something. Everything was falling apart around him. The war, Lucifer, even his relationship with Anna.
She was complaining more frequently of the headaches that plagued those who remained under his mental domination for too long. If he did not release his hold on her soon, she would suffer an aneurysm and die. It had happened more than once with others.
Worst of all was the ever increasing realization that his life was going to end in the near future. Everyone seemed to see this. Even he could not deny that circumstances were turning in that direction.
“Fine,” Adolf said finally. “I don’t need you anyway. I have a plan of my own.”
“What plan would that be?” Lucifer said, drawing himself up to an intimidating height.
Adolf considered whether he should reveal the matter. This virus developed by Mengele did not require angelic assistance. Perhaps, it was time for him to stop looking to the angel. He would take matters into his own hands.
“A group of assassins I’m considering,” Adolf lied. “I can have the leaders of my enemies killed. While their governments are in chaos, I will rebuild my army.”
Lucifer scrutinized him. “A bold plan,” he said.
Adolf could hear the sarcasm in his voice.
“It’s worth more than any help you’ve given me,” Adolf said icily.
“You are unwise to tempt me,” Lucifer threatened.
“Are you going to kill me?” Adolf asked uncertainly. “I thought you couldn’t interfere.”
Lucifer’s expression turned stony. “I don’t have to waste my time with you any longer,” he said. “Your fate is already sealed. There’s nothing either of us can do about that now. I only regret that I’ve exhausted so many resources on you.”
With this, Lucifer burst into a swarm of biting flies that shot out toward Adolf. He swatted at them madly for a moment as the angel pricked his skin in hundreds of places. Then the swarm flew on out of sight.
Adolf stood up, his flesh tingling with rising welts. He cursed after the angel, but it was no use. There was nothing that he could do about it. In the order of things, angels were greater in power and might. Lucifer was immortal. He feared nothing.
“Wait a minute,” Adolf whispered to himself. “Angels fear almost nothing. If I could get one of those swords…something to consider.”
Dispatched
Of all the countries Sadie had ever visited, Japan was, perhaps, the smallest and most beautiful. The island nation, created by volcanism, was still shrouded in an ancient refinement. Even as the twentieth century marched on, the Land of the Rising Sun remained anchored firmly in its brutal past and elegant traditions.
The war in the Pacific was now at its height, even as Germany began to crumble around Hitler. It was expected that the Fuhrer’s days were already numbered. The Allies would march across his doorstep very soon.
Consequently, Sadie had considered whether she should devote more effort toward killing Adolf before he could be captured. However, captured or not, he wasn’t going anywhere. He was mortal and subject to the world because of it.
No longer could the spiritual plane be used as a safe haven. The place she had known all of her young life as home was now gone. In its place remained a void. And, while portal constructs could be fixed upon the boundaries for speedy travel beyond human sight, it was home no longer to any Descendants.
Elves and dwarves, as well as what remained of the trolls and Leprechauns, the Lycans and the vampires and others, all had to reside in the mortal world. The remnants of Descendant clans now kept themselves hidden from humans, their numbers too few to ever hope of fighting for dominance again. In many ways, Sadie understood just how short their time was in the world.
However, the angel she was tracking might just as easily disappear for decades at a time. It had been that way already several times. Years would go by without any conclusive evidence that the Fallen were actively involved in the world, and then they would suddenly show up.
Most of those occurrences had caught her and her family and friends completely by surprise. The last surprise had been the worst in Sadie’s opinion. Southresh had come to the court of the Shade King in order to impersonate her father and kill Brian Shade. Her mother had been present, attempting to stop what was happening. Southresh had taken her life also.
Still, it had been decades since that had happened. The first World War in Europe had only just begun at the time. Now, the second might be drawing near to a close, if all went as was expected.
Sadie didn’t pretend to care about the war. This was a matter to be decided by humans. They were always at war with one another. Truth be told, she couldn’t find a better record with the Descendants either. But this particular fight was not hers. She only wanted Southresh and Adolf dead for what they had done to her mother and father.
She had been able to track the angel by way of his human host, the Japanese assassin, Toshima. He had meandered across the country with various military leaders who were part of the ruling oligarchy in Japan. Sometimes he traveled alone, sometimes with others. And, while his movements were not b
roadcast to the public, Sadie was tapped into a group of healers here.
Just as they had settled in many other Asian countries like Tibet, because this was the normal human appearance they possessed, so they had also taken residence in Japan. Had it not been for her connections to the healers upon the spiritual plane decades ago when she had trained as a young princess, they would not have given her the time of day now. But she was known and well liked.
Her mother, Queen Sophia, had once kept strong relations with the healing clans. Even as far back as her grandfather, Lycean, a mutually beneficial trust had been cultivated with healers holding numerous positions in the royal court of the Lycans. All of this despite a naturally healthy regenerative ability in werewolves.
The healers had never forgotten their ties to the Lycans and the city of Tidus. Only its destruction, along with all of the kingdoms of the spiritual plane, had forced them to make the human world their permanent home. As with all of the remaining Descendants, they were refugees who feared discovery by a population of humans who were growing increasingly dangerous to themselves and others.
Sadie had now followed Toshima to Horyu-ji in Ikaruga within Japan’s Nara Prefecture. Here stood the Temple of the Flourishing Law, a Buddhist temple laid out among several buildings with their adjoining courtyards. Several of the world’s oldest wooden buildings could be found on this historical site along with a number of Japan’s national treasures.
She had remained outside the perimeter wall, waiting for night to come. A waning moon peeked from behind drifting low hanging clouds. It was relatively dark, but Sadie had no trouble seeing with her Lycan eyes.
Toshima had arrived three hours earlier by car. Exiting with two other gentlemen she did not recognize, the angel in disguise accompanied the men inside the squat Kondo with its curving double roof. Behind this structure, the five story Pagoda loomed tall like a big brother threatening any unwelcome guests.
Sadie decided to not come at the Kondo from the front. She spent the next five minutes rounding the temple compound. She found a spot where she was obscured by shrubbery at the outside of the wall. With night fully upon the temple, she took a few deep breaths, deciding whether she really meant to do this.
After all, the similarity to Oliver James’ death in China could not be overlooked. What if she was walking into a trap? She thought of her mother, of the mad god in the guise of her father killing her. Her anger kindled afresh.
So what if she was walking into a trap? She hadn’t come all this way for nothing. No way was she just going to turn around and skulk home like a whipped pup with its tale between its legs. Trap or not, she had Malak-esh with her. She was young and full of fire, but not inexperienced. Even if she faced death, she would not be dissuaded.
With a push of her legs, Sadie sprang up and over the wall as nimbly as a deer. She landed on the soft grass on the other side with barely a sound. To her surprise, a man was rounding a nearby building smoking a cigarette. She had been so preoccupied with mustering her courage that she had neglected the scent.
Quick as a flash, Sadie darted out, snatching the man by the head. Before he could utter a sound, she snapped his neck with a sickening crack. His body went instantly rigid and then limp as an old rag. She pulled his body out of plain sight tucking him between the perimeter wall and the small building.
No one else was presently nearby. Sadie took her werewolf form, creeping low in the darkness, her padded paws making no sound. Steadily she drew nearer to the tall Pagoda.
She paused. Two monks were walking a path nearby. They had not spotted her. She remained motionless, barely breathing. The men spoke in hushed tones, though not conspiratorially. Just polite conversation. They remained unaware of her presence, and she let them pass on before moving forward again.
Running now as she neared the Pagoda, Sadie leaped as a wolf, transformed in flight and landed upon the first story roof light as a feather, diminishing her impact as her body folded down to crouch there. No reaction. No one in the courtyard to see her.
She sprang away again, taking the form of an eagle in flight. A short glide and she landed near the spire on the second tier roof. Here a sliding window allowed her to enter the Kondo.
In human form again, Sadie made her way cautiously down toward the main floor. She quickly emerged on a landing that overlooked the large open room. A number of diplomats were in the process of watching geisha dancers upon a low square platform around which they all sat. Toshima was seated upon the floor with them.
Presently, his back was to her. She could not have asked for better circumstances. The men were preoccupied with the women weaving through complex maneuvers before them. Somehow this was meant to be sensual, but Sadie did not understand it. Neither did she care.
Her quarry was seated before her unaware. His back was like a painted target just begging for her to launch herself away from the balcony, Malak-esh in hand to bury it between his shoulder blades. Only one thing was stopping her. This all seemed too easy.
The geishas had ended their dance by now. They found their respective diplomats for the evening and sat down with them, pouring Sake rice wine into porcelain cups, fawning over the men as they were paid to do. The scene made Sadie want to wretch. Deplorable behavior, she thought.
Was this what normally went on inside of a Buddhist temple? She did not hold with the religion herself, but felt quite sure geisha girls would be considered out of place here. Undoubtedly, a great sum of money had been given in order to have the building for the evening. Either this or the monks feared to displease the leaders of their country for fear of reprisal.
Onto the square platform came a monk in orange robes. His arms were free of loose hanging garments and he was carrying a bunch of silk handkerchiefs of varying colors. His feet were bare also.
The monk came to stand in the middle of the platform where all could see. Sadie assumed he must be about to perform for them also, and she was not wrong. The monk took his bunch of handkerchiefs and tossed them as one into the air above his head. A strange new dance had begun.
Several hand drummers began to play as the colored silks came apart in the air like a flock of brightly plumed birds, revealing a total number of twelve. Sadie had counted them almost instantly, despite the quick and varied movements they made. The monk now whirled around and gesticulated wildly, moving with balletic grace among the silks, snatching them from the grip of gravity to toss them, one by one, back into the air.
To the casual observer the monk might have appeared to be dancing within an excited swarm of multicolored jellyfish. As each silk handkerchief drifted down toward the floor, he plucked them back to the air, never allowing even one to sink below his waist. Sadie had to admit that it was an impressive display, especially for a human. He knew precisely where each silk was at all times and never made a grasp without finding the exact one he had been reaching for.
So entrancing was the monk’s whirling silken dance that Sadie almost did not notice the subtle movement which now took place within the Kondo. Men were moving among the shadows, men dressed completely in black. Ninja she realized.
To the dulled senses of humans these men would have seemed virtually invisible, undetectable. But Sadie heard every gentle breath, every rustling of the black fabric, every soft footfall upon the wooden floor. She saw them also, their ability to meld with shadow lost on her preternatural sight. Even in the darkness of the Kondo’s upper rooms and balcony, she viewed them plain as day.
Unfortunately, they saw her also. It might have been reasonable to assume, with so many Japanese dignitaries present in the room below, that one or all of them were to be assassinated tonight. But Sadie knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was their target.
A dozen assassins were closing in. Already weapons had come into their hands. At least four of the twelve, approaching along the catwalk that ringed the open space above the lower floor, had their hands raised above their shoulders, fingers gripping the corded hilts of their swords
. Four others had produced bows and were nocking black arrows with fletches made of raven feathers.
Two others came toward her with bamboo rods in their hands—blowguns with poison tipped darts. They might only incapacitate her, or they might kill. She didn’t want to find out which.
The last two, which were the closest to her position, brandished handfuls of shuriken. Hurled at frightening velocity, these spiked discs of metal had prongs that could pierce deep enough to reach the heart and might also be covered in a poison residue. At any rate, all of the assassins carried deadly potential. But they would have to catch her first.
As yet, none of the guests below had noticed anything amiss above them. Toshima’s back was still to her. However, if she didn’t act fast everything would be ruined. She might not get this chance again.
Still, Sadie waited. She had not yet brought out Malak-esh. Once it was free, the energetic glow of the mercurial blade would draw the attention of everyone in the vicinity. Alerted too soon, Southresh might choose to flee rather than face her. After all, he had been careering all over the island, so far. He surely wasn’t so dense that he did not realize she was pursuing him. She had already drawn the blade on him at two other times over the past six months only to have him evade and escape.
She made her decision. Southresh must know that she might come for him tonight, even if only the possibility. Why else would these Ninja be waiting for her? She would wait no longer.
Sadie thrust her hands out to either side. The Ninja had trapped themselves on the catwalk. They had limited choices when it came to fleeing. Of course, they likely saw it from the other side of the things: that she wouldn’t be able to escape them. But they hadn’t known that their quarry could unleash fire upon them.
Flames burst from her outstretched hands in both directions, flowing toward the oncoming assassins in a wave of searing heat that forced them to back-pedal quickly. But there was nowhere to go.