by Cassie Ryan
“Sir! This is a library.”
He smirked at the woman’s outrage—especially since he’d been inside her and knew her darkest secrets.
“What better place to look for a piece of ass on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, Miss Shelly?”
When she sputtered, her mouth opening and closing like a fish, he stepped past her and slapped her ass as he made his way toward the stairs. “Don’t be jealous, darling. I’ve already been inside you today.”
At her indignant shriek behind him, he laughed as he walked slowly away.
Noah strapped the last of their gear into the back of the truck, careful to avoid the jagged metal edges left from the demon claws. He glanced up to watch Jezebeth back in her near-Kate form scanning the horizon with nervous alertness.
“You see anything?”
She shook her head, Jez’s familiar mannerism at odds with the form she currently wore. “No, but that’s what scares me. There’s no way Semiazas has given up. I’m sure he’s got everyone he can out looking for me and my sisters.” She slid Noah’s backpack off her shoulder and laid it inside the cab of the truck before jumping in and closing the door behind her.
Movement from the front office caught Noah’s attention and he glanced over in time to see Jim watching them from inside the office window. Jealousy snapped through him and he immediately glanced away, pretending not to have seen him as he jumped inside the driver’s side of the truck.
He started the ignition and peeled out of the parking lot, his tires kicking up a wall of dust behind them as irritation at himself burned inside his gut.
“So much for trying to stay below the radar.” Jezebeth glanced over at him and then cocked her head to the side. “What’s with the look of death? I thought I was just stating the obvious.”
“A minute ago you were talking about how half the world is gunning for you, and now you’re questioning why I’m in a hurry?” As soon as the angry words left his lips, he wished them back. Just because his reactions had been screwed up since he’d first laid eyes on Jezebeth was no reason to take it out on her. After all, he was a big boy and could be responsible for his own jealousies. “Look, I’m sorry. I’m just trying to find solid ground here.”
She seemed ready to say something, but then fell silent. “I wonder why Uriel was so upset about that information you read.”
Noah let out a slow breath as relief flooded him.
Jezebeth was going to let him off the hook with a subject change, and at this point, he was coward enough to take it. “I’m not sure. I wish I’d had more time with the book, but I only snapped a picture of that one page because it related to my research.”
“Do you still have the picture?”
Noah pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and handed it to her. “Do you know how to . . .” He glanced over at her, his words trailing off as she expertly found the picture file and brought it to the full-screen view. “I guess succubi don’t have an issue with cell phones?”
She grinned. “I don’t have one myself. I always thought it would make me easier to track down, but that doesn’t mean I’m not techsavvy—or at least that I’ve hunted enough tech-savvy people to pick up a few things.”
He laughed and wished she was back in her normal nonhunting form. It still disconcerted him to be attracted to her in this new form, although since she seemed to shift forms a lot, he might have to get used to it for the duration of this assignment.
She stiffened in her chair. “Wow. No wonder Uriel was pissed. Now I’m surprised he stayed long enough to give us passage to his place.”
“Why?” Noah changed lanes and took the interchange to the freeway that would take them toward Yuma, Arizona, and the portal to Lilith’s lair.
“Har m∂giddô.”
“Armageddon?” A cold chill settled firmly in the pit of Noah’s stomach and he grabbed the phone out of her hand and scanned the picture. “I would’ve recognized a reference to that. Where do you see that on here?”
A honking horn made Noah snap his gaze back on the road in time to swerve the truck back into his own lane.
She grabbed the phone back from him and pointed toward the road. “You pay attention and don’t get your research panties all in a twist. This discussion will become moot if we’re both dead.” She watched him pointedly until he stared straight forward toward the road. “It’s the symbol that appears at the bottom of the page. It’s not common knowledge to anyone in the human realm.”
Noah remembered the intricate swirling design, but figured it was just decoration since he’d seen the same thing on every page. “So just having the symbol there says that anything written on those pages refers to Armageddon?”
She nodded. “The notation of the symbol classifies all of these as Armageddon prophesies. Or simply put, the things that need to come to pass in order to trigger the end of the human realm.”
“Shit.”
“Yup. Totally agree.” She closed the picture and handed him back the phone. “Did you notice the style or age of the book binding on the journal you got this from?”
Noah frowned as he pictured the small journal inside his mind. “I’m guessing it can’t be more than a few hundred years old. The handwriting was faded, especially around the edges and the leather cover was worn with time. But it was a modern binding style.” He glanced over at her, careful to keep them on the road this time. “Why?”
“Armageddon is one of those prophesies that’s triggered by certain information making its way into the human consciousness. Since this is a more recent book, Armageddon may not be too far off.”
“Wait a minute, what about Revelation in the Bible? That’s obviously been around for quite a while.”
Jez laughed. “That’s actually a long poem about a dream one of the prophets had about the end of the world.” She flipped her dark hair back over her shoulder. “Lots of metaphors and imagery that can be used to mean many things, but it was more a work of literary masterpiece of the time than a handbook to the end of the world.” She spread her hands in front of her. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the author got some of it right, after all, it was probably an inspired dream, but prophesy should stay hidden until it’s needed for a reason.”
“What reason?”
“Words and ideas have power. That’s just the way the universe is built. If all the nuances of prophesy were made common knowledge, there are those who could twist it to their own purposes. In other words, bring about what was written in their own time frame and for their own purposes.”
Noah barked out a laugh. “Sounds a lot like human politics.”
“Only without the term limits. Just think of those same human politicians in office for eternity.”
“Ouch.” As the possibilities of that scenario spilled through his mind, he winced. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what type of power trips those who held power for eternity started to build up, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to.
Silence fell between them as Noah digested what she’d told him. He’d never thought much about the end of the world. Regardless if the reason was science or religion or both—he’d always figured he’d be long dead before that became an issue.
Now it looked like he’d been optimistic.
He glanced over at Jezebeth, who seemed lost inside her own thoughts. “If the human realm ends, what happens to the succubi? Are you stuck in Hell?”
She cocked her head to the side. “To be honest, I’m not really sure. The succubi and incubi are sort of the black sheep of the demonic realm. We aren’t truly demons, we’re descendants of Lilith, but not in the sense that she gave birth to us. After the fall of man, God created us as a family to Lilith, and also to help teach the humans about temptation and the responsibility that comes with free will. It’s said we’re descended from the triumvirate of those who inhabited the Garden.”
Noah frowned as he remembered their earlier conversation about the Garden of Eden. “Do you mean you’re all descendants of Adam, Eve, and Lilit
h?”
Jezebeth nodded once.
“How is that possible? People are descended from two parents, not three.”
Jez smiled. “You’re thinking in human terms. God can make anything possible, and did.”
Noah whistled long and low as he let the ramifications of that information perk around inside his brain. Vague story ideas started to take shape inside his mind and he wished he wasn’t driving so he could jot them all down before the wispy ideas floated away from him. “So what do we do now?”
Jezebeth frowned over at him. “You mean other than make it to Yuma as quickly as possible and get back to Lilith’s lair?”
He shook his head and sent her a lopsided grin. “Yeah, besides that. If Armageddon really is looming, then aren’t there bigger issues at play here?”
“Possibly. But Semiazas has been caged for seven hundred years on a several millennia sentence. I think his sense of revenge is going to win out even over the demon-jazzing subject of Armageddon.”
“I never did ask you what exactly happened with that. I know you and your sisters helped put him away, but that’s all I know.”
Jezebeth sighed and ran her hand through her long hair, fixing him with an expression that Noah recognized from the movie Van Helsing. “Semiazas started the Black Plague in the 1300s, and then used the fear and paranoia to expand the amount of souls who would go to Lucifer. We aren’t sure if that was his overall goal, or if he was just enjoying wreaking havoc on the world, but he had to be stopped.”
“I wouldn’t think having mass deaths would be of too much interest to demons, even with the added soul factor. From my research it seems like they have more fun twisting events here in the human realm.”
“True, but that would mean Semiazas thinks ahead, which he doesn’t. If the plague was allowed to run unchecked the human population of the earth would’ve been seriously in danger. And as you said, can you imagine thousands of bored demons gallivanting around messing with the very small human population that would’ve been left? And even by the time all those souls chose a reincarnation, there has to be an age ratio within the population.”
“Wait a second. Reincarnation?” Noah had always thought multiple chances made better sense than just one shot at life, but hearing it confirmed from within the framework of Heaven and Hell brought up too many questions to count.
“Yes. I know most humans who believe in God, Lucifer, Heaven, and Hell don’t believe in reincarnation, but reality is more a hodgepodge of most of the religions combined. No one organized religion has gotten it all right, and there are several who didn’t get anything right, unfortunately.”
Noah blew out a long breath. “Wow, talk about a wasted incarnation if you’re led to believe in all the wrong stuff.”
Jezebeth shrugged, her near-Kate lips quirking up on one side. “Being led is only part of it. Every human is reincarnated with deep-down knowledge of the truth. It’s fear that holds them back from recognizing it, and it’s fear that most organized religions use to keep their followers in line. An incarnation is supposed to be used to learn and grow, but those who only know hate, fear, and bigotry don’t end up doing much of either.” She laughed. “And they call us the ultimate temptation. Succubi and incubi are pretty straightforward compared to all of that.”
Noah knew it would take him a while to process all the ramifications of this new information, so he filed it away for another time. “So how did you guys stop him? Semiazas, I mean.”
“It’s a long story, but Lilith heard of the plot and asked us to go before Lucifer to present it. Due to where we all fall in the hierarchy of things, Lilith couldn’t be seen moving against the demon directly, so she sent the four of us to petition Lucifer to stop Semiazas.”
“Wait, so you’ve met Lucifer?” Unease made him tighten his fingers on the steering wheel. “Face-to-face?”
She nodded once. “It’s not something I’d relish doing again, but it looks like I don’t have much choice. If Semiazas finds us before we petition Lucifer for protection, let’s just say an excruciating death would be preferable to whatever he has planned for us.”
So just like in the human world, the worker bees got sacrificed in the name of the higher good. Sounded like a universal tenet. “Okay, I’ve got to ask. What’s up with the whole nod once thing?”
A surprised look flowed across her near-Kate features and she pursed her lips. “To be honest I’ve never thought about it until now, but as far as I know all succubi and incubi nod only once, the same as Lilith. After all, she is our queen.”
Noah chuckled. “So I’ve heard.”
The ground quaked under the truck, the road bucking and shaking them as Noah swerved to try to stay on the road. Ahead of them, a fireball shot into the air like a giant firecracker had been set into the middle of the road. Smoke billowed up and out until a shape solidified, looking like a large gray genie straight out of the cartoons.
The thing laid a large hand on the hood, instantly stopping the forward motion of the truck and killing the engine.
Noah was thrown against the seat belt and felt like his head would snap off his neck from the sudden stop. He reached out for Jezebeth to make sure she was all right and his hand closed over hers in a tight grip.
Jez grabbed his backpack and thrust it into his hands as she fumbled to unhook her seat belt.
“Hello, little succubus.” The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere and sent a sharp tang of fear shooting through Noah and freezing Jezebeth midmotion.
“Shit.” Jezebeth’s husky near-Kate voice barely reached him, but he could only nod and agree with her sentiment.
11
Uriel materialized in the foyer of his house and immediately sensed the energy of other Archangels. Gabriel, Raphael, and . . . Michael?
He hadn’t seen Michael in nearly five hundred years.
As the leader of the Archangels, Michael tended to only show up when something bad was going on, so either Raphael had summoned him or things were about to get a whole lot worse.
“Great. Another fun day.” Uriel walked down the hallway through his spacious kitchen and out onto the patio where the three Archangels sat enjoying the hardwood deck that overlooked the flowing waterfall and lush gardens no matter where in the human realm his house appeared.
As Uriel closed the patio door behind him, Michael raised his glass in a mock salute. “Uriel. Come join us. We’re drinking your wine, so you might as well.”
Michael still looked the same, not that Uriel was surprised. Most Archangels retained the same human-type form, although they could instantly recognize each other in any form they took. Michael stood an inch taller than Uriel’s own six foot seven with mocha skin and the most piercing green eyes Uriel had ever seen. The combination tended to be both surprising and intimidating to most beings, which Uriel supposed was one of the reasons Michael preferred it.
Uriel accepted a glass from Gabriel and nodded at Raphael in greeting. “Welcome, Michael. It’s been a long time.”
Michael sipped his wine before setting the glass aside and facing Uriel. “It has. Which only means you’ve been staying out of trouble.” He grinned, flashing even, white teeth.
Uriel took a seat between Raphael and Gabriel, directly across the table from Michael. “So are you here about what I found, or is there something else going on?”
“Let’s just say that as usual, everything happens at once.” He stretched out his long legs in front of him, crossing them at the ankles and threading his fingers together over his chest.
Uriel had always envied Michael his unshakable calm no matter what was going on around them. Even when Armageddon came, he expected to see Michael calmly stopping midbattle for some wine or an unhurried meal.
Raphael cleared his throat. “I hope you don’t mind that I summoned him.” He gestured to Michael with his glass. “Once Gabriel told me her news, I thought we might do this all at once. He’s already up to speed on everything. We were just waiting on y
ou before we discuss what we can do from here.”
Uriel frowned, setting his own wineglass on the table next to Michael’s. “Gabriel’s news? What did I miss?”
Gabriel filled Uriel in about her conversation with Semiazas and the vision he’d seen involving the sword of Michael skewering Raphael, and then added the part about one of Lilith’s succubi with her hands on the hilt.
Uriel’s disbelief grew as he listened, and when Gabriel finished, he sat forward, taking her hand in his. “I can’t believe you met with him. After everything that’s happened, you can’t possibly still believe Semiazas can be brought back, do you?”
She sighed and dropped his hand before leaning back in her chair. “I suppose I had hoped. But he was all about manipulation and getting what he wanted. And right now he wants those four succubi to the exclusion of all else, and I’m not sure why.”
“You don’t think revenge is enough of a motivator?” Michael asked quietly, but there was something in his tone that told Uriel he wasn’t telling them everything. Which was typical Michael.
“No.” Gabriel bit her lip as if trying to put her thoughts into words. “Don’t get me wrong, he’s all about revenge, but he has to know that Lilith and not the four succubi was truly behind his incarceration. Semiazas is many things, but stupid isn’t one of them.”
“So what’s so special about these four succubi?” Uriel glanced at Raphael, then Gabriel before he asked the question he hoped would pry some information loose from Michael.
Michael smiled. “What indeed. All I can tell you is that my sword is safely with me at all times and I don’t plan on using Raphael as a shish kebab anytime soon.” He winked at Raphael. “Just don’t tempt me too much, all right?”
Anger snapped through Uriel and he slammed his hand down on the table, making the glasses jump. “Damn it, Michael. We’re not humans, you can drop the secretive bullshit and let us in on what’s going on.”
Michael’s smile drained away, but his calm demeanor remained unruffled. “There are things that can’t be known, or outcomes will be changed unnecessarily.” Michael breathed deep and met each of their gazes in turn. “There are things I must know to be effective. But believe me, the knowledge is more of a burden than it is a blessing. Part of what I do is protect others, even all of you, from a wealth of knowledge that would be more harmful than helpful.”