My heart sank in my chest. Ramone had never had a chance. Whatever tidbit of power or pleasure Gabriel had dangled before him, he’d grabbed it, hook and all. Now if Gabriel left him, he would simply die.
A realization hit me. If Gabriel had truly seduced Elizabeth, slept with her, and produced a child, it stood to reason that he had not appeared in the body of her brother. He’d used someone else. Someone in Mission. Someone he could take control of and then abandon.
“Who else have you corrupted?” I asked.
“You’re very clever, Raissa. Clever and helpless.” There was a hint of anger in his tone. “Come here,” he said, and I couldn’t resist him. My body moved forward, though I fought against it with everything in me.
My clothes clung to me, and his gaze moved over my body, lingering on my breasts that were too visible beneath the wet material of my blouse.
“Leave me alone. Reginald and my uncle will kill you.”
“No doubt they’ll try.” Ramone was completely unmoved by my threat.
“Is it really worth it, the risk you’re taking?” I wasn’t certain what that risk might be, but I meant to emphasize it.
“To lay with a human woman is a pleasure I demand. It should have been ours.”
“You have immortality. We die, and you don’t,” I said. Even though I was standing in the sun, I was cold. I’d underestimated the danger, and now it was too late to better prepare. Gabriel had immense powers. He had the power to make me desire him, and I could feel those primal needs, unwanted and terrifying, beginning to curl through my body. A sob escaped me, and he laughed.
“You’re the one who brought me out here into the woods, where we could be alone.” He stepped closer to me, blocking my view, even blocking out the sun so that a darkness fell around us. This was his power, and I feared he would soon immobilize me and pry into my mind with his visions and memories. And possibly worse.
“Let Elizabeth go,” I said. “She only wants to raise her child in safety. I won’t fight if you’ll let her go.”
He chuckled. “You won’t fight for long, no matter about the woman and her infant.”
“Where are Elizabeth and Callie?”
He didn’t seem to understand my question.
“Where’s your sister and niece? Are they safe?” I hoped to reach any part of Ramone that was left.
He came close enough that he could reach out and touch my wet hair. “I’ve been thinking about this ever since I saw you.”
“Stay away from me.”
“I can control your mind,” he said. “Feel your feet sinking into the rocks.”
I was planted in the stone as surely as if I’d grown there. I couldn’t run or escape. He could do whatever he wanted. And he would.
“Come with me.” Ramone held out his hand and I put mine in it completely against my will. Gabriel had taken control of Ramone, and Ramone now controlled me.
He led me deeper into the woods to a place where a bed of ferns had grown around the base of several sycamore trees. The leaves, anticipating fall, had just begun to shift to vivid reds and golds, the first sign that the relentless summer was drawing to a close.
“Lie down,” he said, and I did. I had no will. My body obeyed him, but my mind was still fighting.
“Don’t do this.”
“If we should have a child, now that would be a masterful creation. Our child would be a Nephilim. Imagine the power our union would harness. The right that has so long been denied me would be mine.”
I knew then that Callie wasn’t his. I had no idea who’d gotten Elizabeth pregnant, but it wasn’t an angel. No doubt she’d been tricked and seduced, but if Gabriel wasn’t the father, then Callie was human. “Where are Callie and Elizabeth?”
“Waiting for you. They no longer interest me. You’re the one I wanted. You never should have come to Mission, Raissa. Never. You aren’t powerful or knowledgeable enough to fight me. You’re going to lose your soul.”
He said it with such relish. “Who killed Ruth Whelan? Please, tell me that.”
“I did. In the body of Ramone. He has served me well, as I said. But he’s deteriorating now. Perhaps your Reginald would make a suitable vessel. Or that Slater. He’s physically strong. He’d last.”
I shuddered and forced myself to keep him talking. “And Lucais Wilkins. What is he to you?”
“Lucais is a most loyal servant. He’s been handsomely rewarded for his troubles. Now enough questions.”
My body was pressed down into the ferns with enough force to knock the wind from my lungs. This was not going to be gentle or tender. This was going to be by force. If I survived this, I would be mentally damaged. Like Junior Albee. It wasn’t the exorcism that damaged him, but the possession.
My fingers dug into the ferns as I grabbed them with everything I had, trying to hold my body rigid.
Ramone knelt beside me and began to slowly unbutton my blouse. “You with your modern hair, your desire for adventure and a career. This will be your lifetime experience,” he said.
My fingers found a rock the size of an orange hidden in the ferns. I gripped it, but I didn’t know if I could lift it. He controlled me completely, except for the tears that leaked down the sides of my face. I didn’t want to cry, because I knew it would give him pleasure, but I couldn’t help it.
“When I’m done with you, I’m going after your partner and the Scot. Then the nuns and priest. I’ll wipe them all away.”
I wanted to beg him to leave them alone, but he wouldn’t listen. He had a foothold in this part of the world, and he knew how to use people to his own aims.
He opened my shirt and leaned down to kiss my neck and chest. “The human body is sweet,” he said, taking his time. He kissed my lips and bit me with enough savagery to draw blood.
The pain shot through me, a white-hot bolt. My arm came up, rock in hand, and I smashed him as hard as I could in the temple. Blood spurted in my face, and Gabriel roared. “You’re going to die, you stupid—”
“Samyaza!” Suddenly Reginald stood on the path not twenty yards away. “I know your name. Samyaza. You are a fallen watcher and you must abandon her. It is forbidden.”
I had no idea what Reginald was talking about, or where he’d come from. I couldn’t help him. Gabriel grabbed me by the throat and began to squeeze. From the branches of the trees around us, the buzzards took flight. They rose high into the air, swooping down toward Reginald. They screamed their fury at him and swooped low. He hit one with the butt of a rifle, and he held his ground.
“Let her go! Ramone, if you’re in there, get off her now. I’ll kill you.” He raised the rifle to his shoulder.
Ramone ignored him, applying more pressure. “You’ll die on this spot,” he said softly to me. “He can’t stop me.”
“Samyaza,” I repeated in a croak. When he released the pressure slightly, I drank in air. “That’s your name. You were never Gabriel. You lied even about that.”
From down the trail a gun roared and a bullet hit the angel between the eyes. He grinned and tightened his grip, supreme in his victory. Not three second later, he fell dead on top of me.
“Raissa.” Reginald was running toward me. I was no longer held in Samyaza’s dark grip but I couldn’t move because the dead weight of Ramone’s body pinned me to the ground. I pushed at him, trying to scrabble out from under him, frantic to get the weight off me. Reginald grabbed his shoulder and threw him to the side. My partner reached down and pulled me to my feet, turning away to allow me time to adjust my clothes.
“Are you okay?” Reginald was shaken, but when the buzzards came at us, he discharged the gun again. One fell to the ground and the others soared high and disappeared among the treetops.
“Yes.” I wasn’t, but yes was easier.
“Raissa, he could have killed you.”
I nodded. “But he didn’t.”
“We found Elizabeth and Callie. They’re safe. She told me how Ramone convinced her to leave the inn and then sh
e realized he was not her brother any longer. Ramone has been…gone for a long time.”
“Gone?”
“Not dead, but not Ramone.”
Tears pressed at my eyelids. I walked back to the creek and sank into the cold water, washing off the blood and brains, sinking beneath the clear, cold creek. When I came up for air, I realized my clothes were soiled. No matter how I rubbed at my blouse, the bloodstain remained. I gagged and Reginald waded into the water to hold me.
“I’m sorry about Ramone. He was hurting you.”
“It wasn’t Ramone. And it wasn’t Gabriel. He was never an archangel, only a fallen angel. And now he’s dead. It was the only way.”
“I never trusted him, but Elizabeth was so happy to see him. He just showed up conveniently to attach himself to us, but I wanted to believe it was her brother, safely home at last.”
“Poor Elizabeth.” She had lost her best friends, Ruth and Hildy, and now her brother. How many other losses were in store for us?
Reginald helped me out of the stream and eased me onto a rock to sit in the sun. “What were you thinking, Raissa? He was going to kill you.”
“I wanted to lead him away from you, so you could find Elizabeth and Callie.”
“You did that. They’re safe.”
“What about Lucais and those awful men?”
“Your uncle will be here in a matter of hours. He has the influence to handle this. I’m still trying to sort out Lucais Wilkins’s role in all of this. We’ll know more when we find him.”
“And Slater and Michael?”
“They’re with Elizabeth. They’re all in the church.”
“I don’t want to go there yet.”
“Then let’s just sit here in the sun for a little while. We both need to dry off, and it won’t take long in this heat.” He sat beside me but he didn’t hover.
The complete lack of Gabriel in my mind was a shock. My mind and my body had been violated, but now there was an eerie calm. I felt the sun on my arms and back, and I heard the sweet music of a songbird. The woods were coming back to life, and so would I.
“Samyaza. How did you know his name?” I asked.
“Michael told me. Samyaza was the leader of the angels who were thrown down out of heaven for their lustful contact with human women. The men who are always at the edge of town or the woods—they’re watchers, the Grigori, or what remains of the other fallen angels.”
I looked back to Ramone’s body lying on its side, eyes wide open and staring. “Is he really dead? Samyaza, I mean.”
“Yes.”
“But he was immortal.” I was afraid to believe it was really over.
“At all times except when inhabiting a human body. He could mentally torment you with visions and dreams and false emotions in his angelic form. But he couldn’t consummate the…well, unless he took a human form. When you hit him with the rock and he was momentarily stunned, I believed I could kill him with a bullet. So I took the shot.”
“Thank goodness you came. How did you know where to find me?”
“The sisters told me about your questions, about your desire to know the wooded trails and where they would lead. It was the only way you could have gone.”
I put on my boots and stood up. I couldn’t think anymore. I didn’t want to think. I needed to move, and the only place to go was the church. Reginald stood also and together we started down the path. My boots were ruined, but I had no option but to keep walking. We took our time, hiding from the afternoon sun in the shade.
“What’s going to happen to Slater?” I finally asked.
“He’s still a wanted criminal, but your uncle will intervene on his behalf. We still have Ruth’s journal, remember? I suspect that once we can translate it and the names are revealed, there’ll be great changes in Mission. Lucais Wilkins will face the consequences of his actions.”
“I know who killed Ruth and Hildy. It was Ramone. Well, not Ramone but you know what I mean. But we can’t prove it.” We hadn’t really accomplished the task we’d come here to do. We might save Slater, but that wasn’t justice. Nothing would bring back Ruth or Hildy or reverse the abuse of the town’s women and children.”
“We aren’t done here yet,” Reginald said. “All of those men who worked with Lucais Wilkins will be charged with various crimes and punished.”
Punishment wasn’t necessarily justice. But there was one bit of good news I hadn’t shared. “Callie isn’t a Nephilim.”
“Father Kilroy is talking to Elizabeth. Perhaps he can shed some light on who Callie’s father really is.”
Reginald’s calm assurance boosted my spirits. I refused to think about Ramone’s body, lying in the dirt beneath a sycamore tree. Or what Samyaza had tried to do to me. Or what might have happened had he been successful. It was too much.
“I want to spend some time with Madam in New Orleans,” I said instead. “I have to be better prepared.”
“I agree.” He put a hand on my shoulder. “But you did a damn fine job without her help. You saved Elizabeth and Callie. Had you not lured Samyaza to the woods, we’d never have been able to save them.”
“We couldn’t save Ramone.”
“He’s been out of our reach for a long time. You have to accept that and move on, as does Elizabeth.”
“I’m tired.” I was suddenly weak-kneed.
“It’s not much farther,” Reginald said. He offered his arm for me to hold.
“Going somewhere?”
The male voice came from down the trail. Reginald and I stopped and stared into the gloom of dense shade. Lucais Wilkins stepped out into the sunlight. He had a gun pointed right at Reginald’s heart.
Chapter 36
“Where’s the journal?” Lucais got right to the point.
“We don’t have it,” Reginald said. “Last I heard, Ruth Whelan had it.”
“That’s not what Ramone told us.” Lucais cocked the gun and lowered the barrel. He addressed me. “I’m going to shoot him in the knee first. It’ll cripple him for life, but maybe then you’ll talk…Little Lady.” The last two words were a sneer.
“We don’t have it,” I said. “I was at Ruth’s house looking for it when you arrived, but I never found it. We lied to Ramone because we didn’t trust him.” The fabrications came easily. I couldn’t let him shoot Reginald.
“I don’t have time for this.” He came toward us with an angry stride. “I want that journal.” He whipped the butt of the gun into Reginald’s face. My partner fell to the ground.
“Stop it.” I moved in front of Reginald. “Stop it now. If we had it, we’d give it to you.”
“Oh, you have it, and you’ll give it up. And I’m going to enjoy making you do it.” He looked down the trail. “Where’s Ramone?”
“He dead,” Reginald said as he regained his feet. He was bleeding profusely from a cut on his cheekbone and a busted lip. “I shot him.”
Lucais faltered. “He’s dead?”
“He is. And so is Samyaza.” I said the name and saw the instant reaction of fear. “He can’t help you anymore. He was trapped in Ramone’s body and we killed him.” I threw the words in his face, unable to stop the angry flow from leaving my mouth. “You’re going to swing for all the wickedness you’ve done now that your master is gone.”
Reginald reached out to stop me, but I dodged his hand and got into Lucais’s face. “You lost your protector. Where are the watchers? The buzzards? They’re all gone, aren’t they. Can’t you feel it, how alone you are? How powerless.” Out of the corner of my eye I saw movement on the trail. “You’re done for and all of the people you’ve held captive in Mission are going to be free to make their own choices now. Your rule of terror is over.”
Someone was coming down the trail. Lucais’s henchmen? I didn’t know, and I had only one chance to save Reginald. I ran at Lucais, hitting him as hard as I could with my body. I knocked him backward several steps as he fought to keep his balance.
“I’m going to kill your
fancy man and then I’m going to wring your scrawny neck,” Lucais said as he regained his footing and started toward me. As he pointed the gun at Reginald, I saw who was on the path. Slater McEachern lifted the shotgun he carried. I fell to the ground over Reginald, pressing him flat. The blast of a shotgun peppered the woods around me as Lucais cried out. The second blast cut short his cries. His body toppled into the detritus of the woods.
I got up and walked over to him as Slater came down the trail. “Tell me he’s really dead,” I said. Blood still seeped from his wounds, but his chest wasn’t moving. His eyes were open. Still, I had to be certain. This man had caused such pain and hardship for so many. I’d begun to doubt he was mortal.
“He’s quite dead. At last I’ve really killed someone and I’ll take all the credit for it.” He pivoted to offer a hand to Reginald. “Are you hurt?”
“Thanks to you and Raissa, I’m not,” Reginald said as he gained his feet. “You saved her life, and mine.”
Something fluttered in the trees nearby and for one dreaded moment, I thought it might be the buzzards returning to mourn the loss of one of their own. Instead, a red-tailed hawk perched on a limb. The bird gave a sharp cry. “Skree! Skree!” In a split second it had disappeared into the woods.
I looked back at Lucais’s body. He hadn’t moved—though I’d been a little afraid he might try to crawl off.
Slater put his hand on my shoulder. “Aye, lass, he’s truly dead. He was a mean bastard. Loved to push his thumb into a wound and twist it.”
“What about his men?” I asked.
Slater reloaded the shotgun. “The men from town will face the law, even if I have to track them down one by one. The others, the watchers? They’re gone. They were outside the kirk, making sure we didn’t leave. Then they all turned and walked away.”
Judging from his face, Slater found it hard to believe. The enemy had simply withdrawn, except for Lucais, who’d come hunting on his own. He’d found us, but not with the outcome he’d anticipated.
“You really okay?” Slater asked Reginald. “You look a little pale.”
A Visitation of Angels Page 29