When arriving at the detective in charge, Malachi gave a brief, but false, explanation on who they were. The man argued about their plan to go inside alone, but one quick phone call later had him stomping away, pissed that he was out ranked. They then split their separate ways.
The three entered inconspicuously at different parts of the building. Malachi found a locked back door that he was going to try first. Using his superior senses, he could tell there was no living thing directly behind the door, so he grabbed the handle and quietly broke it off to reach the locking mechanisms inside.
He was in shortly after and did a quick survey of the area. There was a business to his right, but it looked empty. Inwardly he cringed, thinking how much easier it would have been if the hostages were separated.
Entering stealthily into the office, he did a quick check over. Sure enough, it had been emptied. He stopped a moment and sent a quick message out to his team.
Anyone got any news for me yet?
Everyone gave him a negative answer.
Gideon, Terah, did you find a way in?
Affirmative
Nothing but short and to the point from Gideon.
Have you guys come across any occupied offices?
Terah was the first to answer back, but her answer matched Gideon’s. All the offices they had found were empty.
Malachi turned to leave the office when he had a vague sense of someone’s emotion. What was it...? Fear. Now, where was it coming from?
He turned back around and followed the feeling back into the depths of the office. It was gaining strength the farther he got, but when he came up to a small desk next to a filing cabinet, the emotion was incredibly intense.
He knew someone was back there, he just didn’t know if it was friend or foe. He un-holstered his gun, to be on the safe side. There was a small corner opening hidden by the filing cabinet, and he aimed his gun at the opening.
“Stand up!” The command was said in a voice that he knew to be very threatening. When nothing happened, he tried again. “I know you’re back there, don’t keep me waiting. Stand up!”
It must have been the way he snapped the last two words out because before he was finished, a female peaked over the edge of the desk. When she saw the gun, her hands flew in the air and she stood up the rest of the way. “I’m up…I’m up! Please don’t shoot me!”
The terror in her voice made him lower his gun somewhat, but was still ready to fire if necessary. “Who are you?”
“My…my name is Alicia. Please…please don’t…don’t kill me. I’m sorry I hid. I’ll go with you now…please don’t kill me!” She wouldn’t stop hyperventilating and was talking in between gasping for air.
“You work here?” Malachi examined her rumpled business suit and disheveled hair.
She nodded real fast. “Yes. This is…my desk. I’m…a file…a file clerk.”
Malachi studied her for a few more seconds. He could sense no deception coming from her, only fear. He holstered his gun and held his hand out to help her get out.
When she looked confused and didn’t immediately comply, he tried to clarify. “You can relax. I’m one of the good guys.” The lie left a bitter taste in his mouth. How could he ever be a “good guy” when nature made him into an abomination that had a ticking time bomb inside.
“Where’s your badge?” She couldn’t help be wary, he guessed.
He moved his hand closer to her when he answered. “I’m not the police. Think of me more as an independent contractor.”
When she slipped her hand in his, he got all the information he needed. At times, he can feel a demonic presence from a distance, but it could also be masked. When he touched someone, the sludge like essence was always detectable. This time there was no doubt about it; her soul was clean.
“I’ll help you get out of here, but you need to tell me everything you know about what happened.”
Now that she felt comfortable enough to talk, she started to explain how everyone heard popping noises, which she now assumed was gunfire. “Everything happened so fast. We heard the noise then the door flew open. I heard people screaming, but all I could think to do was hide. I climbed in the corner and hid until you found me.”
“Where is everyone?”
“I don’t know. They just put everyone together and took them away.”
Malachi had to get moving. “Okay. I’m going to get you outside. Once you’re there, make your way as quick as you can, to the police barrier. There will be a lot of questions thrown your way; just tell them Starkman found you and sent you out.”
She nodded her head but remained silent.
He started walking toward the door and knew she was right behind him. When they got there, he did a quick check to make sure it was clear before moving her through the door. “Alright…go.”
The woman immediately took off running, but he didn’t stick around to make sure she made it. He needed to find the demons and locate where everyone was, and the clock was ticking.
Check all offices; even if they are empty. I just got out a civilian that hid when they were bagging everyone up.
Affirmative
Their response came in simultaneously.
Malachi stealthily moved through the hallways and stairwells, keeping eyes and ears open for anything suspicious. When he got to the second floor, he heard a lot of noise coming from the floor above him. Projecting the information to Gideon and Terah, he moved toward to noise.
The stairwell contained a man guarding the door to the third floor. Malachi could feel the evil pouring off of him in waves. This was not a good man, and from the amount, he could tell this person was that way before being corrupted as well.
The element of surprise, along with his speed, worked out in Malachi’s favor when he quickly and quietly dispensed of the interference.
Mal, I just came across the daycare on the second floor. All the children are still there! Along with one civilian and two corrupts.
Terah’s voice sounded excited about her find through their bond.
Get them out of there and outside; far away from the building. Stay with them until everything is settled. By any means, do not leave them! Do you need assistance?
Children are prime candidates for demonic entities, so this was one of the most important aspects of the mission.
Nah! I can handle these.
Good luck!
Trusting in his teammate, Malachi went back to what he was doing. Opening the door a crack, he noticed two more people guarding an office door; a man and a woman. He was going to have to handle them both at the same time or be quick enough with the first one that the second wouldn’t have time to reveal him to everyone else. He started moving toward the woman, and before he completely twisted her neck, Gideon was there, snapping the neck of guard number two. Together they quickly moved the bodies to a more discreet location.
Good timing.
I try.
Quickly getting a head count of what he could see through the window in the door, Gideon ducked back behind the door.
Thirty two civilians and five puppets.
Malachi nodded in acknowledgement before angling his head so he could look through the window inconspicuously. While scanning the room, a certain man got his attention. He was sitting with the rest of the civilians, but looked incredibly calm. In the time it would take to blink, the man transformed into something that looked far from human, but quickly went back to his previous shell.
Demon!
He sensed Gideon tense up at his comment.
Occasionally, it was hard for a demon to hold their outer disguise when they are experiencing a strong emotion. The flash is invisible to any ordinary human, but he was no human and he definitely wasn’t ordinary.
Malachi had to bring the whole team to the building.
Change of plans; except for you, Terah. Tori, come and case out the immediate perimeter. Gemariah, we need you in here. Go to the fourth floor to check for stragglers. Be quick! Le
t me know when you have an all clear and I will give you further instructions.
Sure, why the change? What’s going on? Gemariah sounded as if he was on full alert.
I know of at least one demon with the majority of the civilians. There could be more, but I can’t see.
Malachi had to state the obvious.
We are at complete silence now. No talking what so ever! We can’t let them know we’re here.
Gideon and he moved down the hall to the office next door. They needed a secluded place to plan and wait for Gemariah’s signal.
While they waited, they projected back and forth to each other. They planned to create a distraction to lure a few corrupts out of the office. With Gemariah handling the decoy, that would free up Gideon and himself to get into the office. There was only one way in, so they were expecting an immediate attack.
All clear!
Malachi unsheathed his sword and was ready when the signal came through.
Stay there and create a commotion. Let them know that someone’s up there.
Instantly, they both heard a loud crash above their heads followed by more noise. In a matter of seconds, footsteps were heard running in the direction of the stairs.
Immediately following their departure, Gideon and Malachi stormed into the central office. Almost instantaneously they were attacked from both sides. The man on him was the same demon he saw from the window. The harder Malachi fought back, the faster the creature’s outer shell started to crumble and his true appearance showed through. Some might be thrown off by the yellow eyes and razor sharp teeth, but it was nothing he hadn’t already seen.
There were collective screams as the fighting progressed. Some hostages used the opportunity to make a run for it while others were too nervous to try.
Malachi threw a right hook and knocked the demon down. He must have come from a weaker blood line to be dropped by a punch and not a weapon, Malachi thought. He now knew it was only a matter of time before this one fell and he was on to another.
After a few more punches to certain areas, the demon was snarling and on its knees. Malachi quickly ran him through with his sword and saw the flames start to appear that would take him to Satan knows where.
Not yet having time to breath, Malachi turned to assess the situation. Gideon was battling a corrupt, but looked as if he was handling it. The civilians left had backed away from the battles taking place, while the remaining corrupts tried to figure out what to do.
Finally coming to a decision; one charged at him, and another pulled out a small tube with a button on one end. Remembering the talk about a bomb, Malachi didn’t even hesitate. He reached into his coat and pulled out a small dagger. Throwing it, he hit his mark precisely and the man holding the remote crumpled to the ground with a knife lodged in his neck. Before the body touched the ground, Malachi had turned to defend himself in another attack.
Before too long, Gideon and he were standing amongst the frightened civilians assuring them that everything was going to be okay. He wanted to get everyone out of the building, but had to make sure they were absolutely done here.
He checked in with Tori, who gave the all-clear for the immediate surroundings. After checking in with Gemariah, he now knew the remaining two corrupts were dead as well. Now, he just needed to make sure the children were no longer in harm’s way.
How is everything Terah? Did it all go according to plan?
Everything went fine, except now the kids are yelling that they can’t find someone.
Terah sounded confused, but he didn’t feel too concerned.
Just keep looking, the kid’s there somewhere.
Malachi, they say the last time they saw her was when they were in the building.
“Shit. Okay, we’ll look.” Just when you think everything is going smoothly.
While Gideon directed the civilians to the stairwell to start descending, Malachi radioed down to the police to let them know the situation was contained and they could make their way up. He was really looking forward to all the annoying questioning that went along with a mission such as this, he thought sarcastically. Luckily, he only answered to his superiors and they got the job of filling in the blanks for the local PD.
Both Gideon and he were so busy discussing the numbers on how many men and demons were killed that they didn’t notice the woman walking up to one of the corrupts until she was leaning over him.
“Hey! Get away from him! What are you brain-dead? That’s a bomb on him.” Gideon never sugar coated anything.
When she reached down to him, Malachi got anxious and started to walk over to her. “Ma’am? You need to step away from him, now!”
When she stood back up, she had the same object in her hand that the man had in his when he died. She looked over at the two of them and smiled. It was then Malachi saw how distorted her face was. He knew two things at that moment. They missed a demon in the initial attack, and it was about to detonate the bomb.
“Fuck! Get down!” Malachi yelled as he dove toward the stairwell. Granted, nephilims were hard to kill and could live forever if they were careful. One’s heart needed to be destroyed to finally die. They could lose body parts, drown, anything as long as the heart survived. Their ribcages were almost impenetrable, but fire can always work its way to their heart. Meaning, a bomb could do them in.
The bomb only took out a chunk of the floor, but it managed to make the building incredibly unstable. He knew they had to work three times as fast to get everyone out before the building collapsed.
Moving as quickly as they could down the stairwell, the two of them were trying to get the screaming people out faster.
Malachi, you guys alright?
Gemariah sounded panicked.
Yeah, we’re about to pass the second floor. Just trying to get everyone out.
About to round to the next section of stairs, Malachi remembered that the daycare was on the second floor.
Terah, please tell me you found the kid!
No mal! She’s nowhere.
“Shit! Gideon, I have to stop here.” Malachi was yelling over all the noise.
“What the hell for?” Gideon obviously didn’t like that idea.
“There’s a kid missing, I want to make sure no one was left.” As he was speaking, he nodded toward the second floor door.
Gideon stood in front of him. “Forget the kid, man! If that fire reaches you, you’re a goner. Or worse, the building collapses, you walk away unharmed, and risk exposure.” Gideon jabbed his finger down the stairs. “Now move!”
“Gideon, move out of my way and get the rest of the people out the building.” When Gideon didn’t budge, Malachi said the one thing he knew would piss Gideon off but would make him start to move. “That’s an order!”
Gideon’s face transformed into a deep scowl. “Fine! Get yourself killed, see if I care, but don’t bring us down with you when people want to know how you got out unscathed!” With that parting remark, he marched down the stairs and Malachi could hear him screaming at the people to move their asses.
It was amazing that Malachi could find humor in a situation like this, but he found himself smiling and shaking his head. Being almost 400 years old, he didn’t see Gideon changing anytime soon.
Malachi grabbed the handle and swung the door open. Immediately he felt the heat and knew there was a fire blazing somewhere close.
“Hello! Anybody in here?” He was yelling and hoping if there was someone there, that they could hear him over all the noise.
Terah, what’s this girl’s name?
After a short pause, he had his answer.
Emily. She’s six.
“Emily! Everyone’s looking for you. Are you here?” He was working his way down the hallway while yelling for the little girl.
He finally reached the door to the daycare and found the bodies of the two corrupts that had been in charge of the children. Walking inside, he yelled for Emily again.
There was no answer, but he felt a surge o
f emotion. Someone was here.
“Emily, don’t worry. I won’t hurt you, but we need to leave right now.”
He felt a mixture of emotion, a lot of fear mixed with a little bit of…hope. He now had no doubt that it was Emily’s emotions he was channeling.
“Come on Em. We need to go.”
Right after he spoke, a small head poked around the corner. “You called me Em. My mommy calls me that.”
Even though there was a sense of urgency, Malachi walked slowly over to her so not to frighten her by his size. When he got closer he held out his hand. “Come on. Let’s go and you can tell me all about it.” He really didn’t know what “it” was, but anything would be good as long as they were moving.
She placed her tiny hand in his and he picked her up. Malachi started to head toward the stairwell but felt the building sway. It was about to come down, and he had to figure out the best way to keep this little girl alive.
He went to the window to check out the drop. It wasn’t far but the ground would not make the drop any easier. It was nothing but asphalt and cars, nothing there to get a soft landing. A jump from the window wouldn’t kill him. He might even be able to walk away, but he didn’t know if he should take the chance while holding Em.
“What are you?”
The question brought his train of thought to a stop. He looked at Emily who was staring intently at him. “Why would you ask that?”
“I saw what those other men looked like. You look different too, but not like them.” Emily was examining his face.
“What did they look like?”
“Ugly and scary; their skin had black wavy lines all over it and their eyes were black too.” She let out a tiny shiver.
Malachi stopped what he was doing and he whispered back to her. “What do I look like?” Part of him was afraid to hear the answer, not wanting to hear that she could see the evil in him.
“You’re different. You have a red fog moving around you. It goes around you and through you. It makes me think of Christmas!”
Malachi knew exactly what she was. She was a champion. Someone put on this earth to only do good up until the time of their main purpose. More times than not, they will die protecting the person they were put on this earth to defend. They couldn’t be corrupted or commanded, and no powers, good or evil, worked on them.
Celestial Beginnings (Nephilim Series) Page 16