Tahel shook her head and found an empty spot on the floor to sit on. “If they’re demons, they can appear as whatever they want. Besides, even when these stories were written down, these men were writing about events that had supposedly taken place thousands of years before. And we all know how easily reality and truth can get distorted over time.”
“Well, they’re creating something that isn’t human and sure as hell isn’t angelic,” Luca retorted.
Anna groaned and threatened to throw them all out of the apartment if they didn’t stop arguing about what Nephilim were or weren’t. “Humans are both good and bad, and Adriel told me that fallen angels become more like humans in that regard. Once they leave Heaven, they are both good and bad. So it only makes sense that these Nephilim probably have characteristics of both. But with one of their parents so powerful, they’re most likely weaker versions of fallen angels. But they’re also half-human, so they are either exceedingly good at hiding their existence on Earth or they live in Hell and can’t leave it like their fathers.”
Luca tried to counter that her argument made sense until that last part, because how would the Nephilim have gotten to Hell in the first place if they were born to human mothers? But Anna shut him up when she reminded him Adriel had planned on dragging her off to Hell to rule with him, and she was most definitely human.
“And what about this other god he claims mankind created?” Colin asked.
No one had heard that part of their silent conversation earlier, so Colin had to backtrack and explain Adriel’s claims that Heaven and Hell and everything in them were created by the actions and behavior of humans.
Luca scoffed and rolled his eyes. “If that were true, Jegudiel would have told me centuries ago.”
“I actually have no idea,” Jegudiel answered.
Everyone jumped at the sound of his voice as Jegudiel appeared behind Luca’s chair. Anna couldn’t meet Jegudiel’s eyes though. She had glanced at him briefly when his voice surprised her, and he was watching her now, but his eyes betrayed his profound sadness over the loss of Zadkiel. And Anna didn’t want an angelic reminder of the loss of her own angel.
Luca turned to look up at his angel, and he must have noticed how different he looked, but he didn’t mention it. There was nothing anyone could say. Jegudiel had known Zadkiel for thousands of years; he had loved her and served the same God with her, and they had probably fought countless battles together for the benefit of humans. It was a loss he was feeling visibly and painfully.
“What are you doing here, Jeg?” Luca asked, the concern in his voice alerting everyone to how worried he was about losing his angel, too.
“I promised Zadkiel I would help Colin and Anna and Dylan now. They need my reassurance that I will be here for them, just as I’ve always been here for you.”
“Good, they know. Now get back to Heaven. One loss is already one too many,” Luca commanded.
Jegudiel finally looked away from Anna and smiled down at Luca. “I’ve been listening to your conversations. It is possible for Nephilim to exist. We can look and act very much like humans, which is why I wouldn’t mind some bacon if you have any.”
Colin shook his head. “Sorry. Luca probably has some. Go get it for him, Luca.”
Jegudiel smiled again and shook his head. “Next time. I’ve been around since the beginning, and there were never any giants roaming the Earth. No flood, no wiping out evil children whose spirits transformed into demons. I think Anna may be onto something with her theory, but since we never venture into Hell, we have no idea what’s there and what isn’t. Which is why I can’t exactly discount what Adriel’s claiming.”
Anna thought he’d better be talking about half-breed children, but she had the nauseating feeling he wasn’t.
“What do you mean, Jeg?” Luca asked slowly.
Jegudiel’s sapphire eyes met Anna’s again and she looked away, still too agonizingly aware of this angel’s own suffering and heartache over the loss of his friend. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.’ And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female he created them.”
Anna waited for more, but apparently, Jegudiel expected her to have some sort of magical inference capability. She lifted her eyes again and asked him how that supported anything Adriel had told her.
“We angels have always assumed that when Heaven was created, it was only the space, not all of the Heavenly creatures because otherwise it’s out of order. We’ve always known that, obviously, because when we were created, humans already existed.”
Colin sighed. He was getting impatient and just wanted Jegudiel to make his point already.
Jegudiel sighed too and had to sit on the floor. There weren’t enough lawn chairs in the O’Conners’ apartment for everyone.
“We were created by God, but we don’t know where our God came from. By the time we came into existence, humans were just beginning their own civilizations, and there were powerful forces ruling over Hell. God created angels of destruction to combat the demons trying to produce chaos and havoc on Earth, but we quickly discovered these battles were extremely dangerous for humans everywhere. An agreement was reached that allowed demons to enter the Earth in small numbers and under certain circumstances, and a random group of humans would be able to see them and kill them. The Immortals became part of our strategy early on because it didn’t technically violate any of the rules we agreed upon to bless a limited number of hunters with immortality and gifts. Hell’s been pissed off about it ever since.”
Colin snickered and glanced at Anna who was watching Jegudiel with the same combination of amusement and horror.
“If what you’re implying is true, if what Adriel claims is true, then we were right. The only way to end this battle is by changing human nature, which is impossible,” Colin said.
Jegudiel looked over at Luca, the man who had sworn to fight for Heaven until it prevailed over Hell, and nodded. “Yes, but imagine what this world would be like if we all just gave up.”
“So you believe it then?” Anna asked Jegudiel. “You believe men could have created God? And this other evil version presiding over Hell?” Anna wasn’t sure she wanted to live in a world where humans could create gods.
Jegudiel shrugged, his sapphire eyes so full of compassion and sympathy for her loss, too. “I think it’s possible. People tend to envision God as a person that you can talk to, and it simply doesn’t work that way, which is why we don’t have better answers to give you. We’re not trying to be coy or mysterious. There are simply a lot of things we don’t know either. God is there. It is an extremely powerful, loving and peaceful force that gives us life. I would give my life for the God we serve. But I would also give my life for those humans who embody so many of the characteristics that make God such an extraordinary force.”
“As fascinating as this is,” Jeremy interjected, “how does any of this information help us now? We don’t know how to find any of these fallen angels or demons, the five hunters we used to work with have all been hijacked by these assholes, and Anna’s got a pissed off demon who wants her dead for killing her husband and a pissed off fallen angel who wants to abduct her and drag her into Hell like she’s Persephone.”
Dylan arched an eyebrow at him for the Persephone comment and Jeremy flipped him off. “I went to college, too,” he snapped.
Jegudiel’s brilliant blue eyes sparkled for the first time since he’d arrived in the O’Conners’ living room as he watched Dylan and Jeremy tease each other. Colin and Anna had noticed before how the camaraderie of friendship always seemed to delight him, and it only reminded them again how much he must be grieving the loss of his own friend. But he was an angel, and he had come here to help these humans, not lament his own loss.
He smiled at Jeremy and told him, “Your rescue from Samael was nothing short of a miracle, honestly. Zadkiel had such complete fait
h in Anna and Colin, and she repeatedly assured me they could save you, but truthfully, I didn’t believe her. I’m afraid these other hunters may be lost to us though. As humans, not their souls. Things have changed, and we don’t have time to try to figure out who has transformed them and hope we can track down each fallen angel and defeat him. But you can focus on finding Andrew, and trying to compel him to lead you to Adriel.”
“Whoa,” Dylan stopped the angel. “Is a representative of Heaven condoning kidnapping and torture?”
Jegudiel’s smile broadened. “No, Dylan. I’m an angel. I would never suggest hurting a human. I was created to help them. But you’re a smart group. You’ll figure something out.”
Jegudiel stood up and Luca followed him. He had no intention of letting his angel out of his sight until he… did whatever he did to get back to Heaven. Jegudiel put a hand on Luca’s shoulder, an unspoken love and bond between them so evident, then Jegudiel offered Anna and Colin one final look of commiseration and sympathy.
“Before she left to find you, Zadkiel told me to remind you both that you’ve met Andrew more than once. I don’t know why that’s significant, I’m afraid. I hope it will mean something to you,” Jegudiel told them.
Like last time, Jegudiel chose to leave through the apartment door rather than just disappear and Luca went with him, but Colin and Anna stared at each other, knowing what The Angel had implied about the only other time they’d met Andrew before he joined them in Boulder.
“Well?” Dylan asked.
Colin faced his friend and shook his head. “The second time we met Andrew, he wasn’t alone.”
“Who was he with?” Jeremy asked.
“Another Immortal,” Anna told him.
“Perhaps the other traitor?” Tahel ventured.
Anna turned her dark brown eyes to the newest hunter to join their group and sighed. “We think that’s what The Angel meant. But he’s the only other Immortal in the world besides Luca who’s sworn unending service to Heaven. He’d have no reason to feel jaded like Andrew suggested.”
Luca had returned to their apartment in time to hear the end of their discussion and he folded his arms across his chest and set his jaw angrily. “I think you should tell us about meeting Armand.”
Anna took a deep breath. “That’s not all, Luca. We met them in Stalingrad.”
Chapter 16
Stalingrad, 1953. Nobody knew what to expect in the Soviet Union in the months following Stalin’s death, and Colin and Anna had been living in Stalingrad since March, waiting to see if a revolution would erupt somewhere in Russia. Their passports identified them as East Germans since they could speak German, and it had allowed them to travel far behind the Iron Curtain. But it was July now, and nearly four months had passed with no sign of a revolution fomenting.
That didn’t mean Colin and Anna were bored in Stalingrad. More than a quarter of a century of Stalin’s brutal dictatorship had resulted in plenty of opportunities for demons to find souls to lure into Hell, and they’d kept themselves busy hunting in the city that bore his name.
They had just left their apartment for the evening and were passing in front of the Kazan Cathedral when they heard their names being called out. Anna and Colin slowed down and looked around them, and spotted the figure of a young man with ash blonde hair jogging across the street to meet them. As he got closer, Colin and Anna finally put a name to this handsome, boyish face that was grinning at them.
“Andrew?” Colin asked, more surprised that another Immortal was in the city than running into someone they knew.
“We met in Barcelona, remember?” he asked.
“Of course,” Anna smiled back at him and noticed for the first time that Andrew was being followed. She leaned in closer to him as she shook his hand and whispered, “Is this a hunter with you?” If it were just a friend, she didn’t want to alert his friend to what they were doing in Stalingrad. Most people tended to think they were crazy if they overheard them talking about hunting demons.
But Andrew nodded and motioned for his partner to hurry up. “This is Armand. We’re on our way out of the country now. We were in Moscow, but it seems like things will stay mostly peaceful here.”
Colin extended his hand but Armand embraced him instead then turned to Anna and kissed her cheeks and told her, in his Parisian French, that she was a vision from Heaven itself. Colin told her Armand had two seconds to get his hands and mouth away from her before he knocked him out. Anna tried not to laugh.
“Armand’s one of us,” Andrew explained. “Like Luca, he doesn’t have a specified amount of time he’s serving though. Just doing it until we win, I guess.”
Armand shrugged it off and motioned toward the setting sun. “Want some help hunting tonight? We’ve got nothing else to do.”
Colin didn’t think they needed four Immortals to hunt down demons in Stalingrad, but Anna told him he only wanted to refuse their help because he thought Armand had been flirting with her. She insisted he was just French, and that’s how all French men were.
Anna accepted their offer and as they walked past the cathedral, she asked Armand how long he’d been an Immortal.
“Since 1792,” he answered.
Anna raised an eyebrow at him in surprise. “Were you still in France the following year? We were there during the Reign of Terror.”
Armand nodded. “Yes, but not in Paris. I was traveling throughout the country.”
“We must have just missed Luca then,” Colin said, more to himself than Armand or anyone else because it could be difficult trying to track down other Immortals then.
Armand glanced at him and nodded again. “You’re close?”
Anna couldn’t help smiling. They hadn’t seen Luca in several years, but from those early weeks he had spent with them in London when they had first become Immortals themselves, Anna had quickly adopted him as the brother she’d never had. Colin had brothers, but he always claimed he got along better with Luca anyway.
“Yes,” Anna answered, “we’ve always been quite close to Luca. How could any Immortal not be?”
Armand shrugged. “He trains us, but I haven’t seen him much since then.”
Colin snickered and pointed to a narrow street he wanted to check out. “If you want to see Luca, you have to go looking for him. He’s not an easy man to track down.”
“Je ne comprends pas,” Armand insisted. “You’re legends yourselves. Why would you need his help so often?”
Anna laughed and shook her head at their new acquaintance. “Occasionally, we have a question, but more often than not, it’s because he’s our friend. Our oldest and closest friend. Surely, you’ve got Immortal friends yourself. This job would be too lonely without them.”
“Ah,” Armand smiled, “I see. In that case, yes. Andrew and I have been friends for many years.”
“Sh,” Andrew cautioned. “You feel that?”
All of the hunters stopped walking and speaking to pick up on what Andrew had sensed. There was something in this narrow alleyway that didn’t belong in this world. Colin looked above them and pointed to the top of a building where a shadowy red-gold shape disappeared from his view. It was moving to the other side of the roof.
“We’ll go around to the other side,” Andrew whispered.
Colin nodded at him. “Climb up the fire escape. It may try running from you by coming down this way.”
Andrew and Armand crept around to the other side of the building and Colin and Anna listened for any sounds indicating one of them was climbing up the metal rungs of the fire escape. Finally, they heard the hollow clanging of someone’s boots hitting the rungs and a scurrying noise from the top of the building indicated Colin had been right; the demon was trying to flee from the approaching hunter. It jumped down into the alleyway where Colin and Anna were waiting and they descended on the red-gold mist that hadn’t had time to reform into whatever shape it preferred. By the time Andrew and Armand came back from the other side of the building, the demo
n was dead.
Armand smiled at the O’Conners and patted Colin on the back. “Nice work, my new friend. There is clearly a reason everyone speaks so highly of you and your wife.”
Colin sheathed his dagger and glanced at the horizon. “It’s still early. Up for more hunting?”
Andrew smiled now, too. “Of course. We’re hunters. It’s what we do.”
Chapter 17
Anna watched Luca the entire time Colin retold their encounter with Andrew and Armand in Stalingrad, but Luca’s face remained stony and emotionless. Anna wanted to put her arms around him and reassure him that most of his Immortals were still loyal to God and Heaven, and that no matter what, he could always count on her and Colin. But he didn’t look like he wanted to be pacified right now; he looked like he wanted revenge.
“What happened the rest of the night?” Dylan asked.
Colin flicked his wrist at him as if to say, what do you think happened? But he answered him anyway. “We hunted down a few more demons, found a place to have a couple of drinks then went home.”
“So why Stalingrad?” Jeremy asked. “That’s where Adriel brought me and where he kept bringing Anna.”
“It’s Armand,” Anna realized. “Or more precisely, whomever he works for. That’s who Adriel wants to topple here in Baton Rouge, and he’s doing the same thing he did with Samael. Just giving us these hints and hoping we’ll figure things out on our own and get rid of his competition for him.”
“I really hate this guy,” Dylan muttered.
Colin arched an eyebrow at him as if to ask him if he really thought their hatred for Adriel could compare. Dylan just shrugged.
Tahel stood up. “Well, we’ve done enough talking. Why don’t we actually go looking for some of these demons we’re supposed to be killing?”
“Ok,” Dylan agreed. “Where?”
Tahel waved him off as if where they should look for invisible, immortal and extremely powerful creatures of Hell was unimportant. “What did you do last time when Jeremy got marked?”
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