“So are we going to raid the Federal Building and grab the ring before the feds can hand it over to D’Errico?” Christian asked.
“Headline! Sword-wielding terrorists slaughter FBI agents!” Colm interjected, with a chuckle. “I can see the heads of the patriarchs of the other Blessed families exploding now.”
“We can’t assault the Federal Building,” Cai said. “We’ll have to wait for the feds to give the ring to D’Errico and take it away from him.”
“You should consult with the other Blessed families and the Hidden before you do that,” Eve said. “The Blessed and the Unseen may not be allies, but they’ve never been enemies, either. If the Blessed and the Unseen go to war, the Hidden will get dragged in, too. A war like that could destroy all three groups.”
Conversation stopped suddenly when all of the Selkirks stopped speaking and the brothers all abruptly stood. Leo and Theo could be heard barking from the upstairs room where Josh was recovering. The barking was followed by the sounds of their paws running down the steps toward the door.
“What’s going on?” Evelyn asked.
“Someone powerful is approaching the house,” Cadell explained. “The alarm spells around the property are giving us a heads-up before whatever it is hits the house’s wards,” he added, his trueblade appearing in his hand.
“Cadell,’ Cai said, his own trueblade materializing in his grasp, “Come with me. Colm, Christian, go out the back and see if our visitor is alone or if has friends nearby. Callum, Evelyn, stay here so you can back us up in case we need it. Helen, take mom and grandpa and go to Josh’s room; he’s in no shape to fight if this is an attack.” Then the doorbell rang.
Cai and Cadell went to answer the bell and found Leo and Theo already standing on either side of the house’s main entrance. Both dogs were growling warnings at the unexpected visitor. “Guard,” Cai said to the dogs in Hebrew. The dogs stopped growling and moved farther away from the doors, but remained poised to pounce if their masters ordered it. Cai opened the door while Cadell stood just behind him. A man pulled back the hood of a woolen coat as the light from inside the house fell across his face.
“Martin,” Cai said, not hiding his surprise at seeing the leader of the local cadre of Unseen.
Martin lowered his head in a kind of bow. “Cai,” he said. “I’m afraid that I need the help of you and your family. It seems my superiors have gone mad.”
Chapter Nine
The Selkirks gathered in the house’s front foyer and formed a semi-circle around the Unseen’s leader. “All right, Martin,” Cai said. “You have our attention.”
Martin eyed Theo warily as he stepped a bit farther into the house; the German shepherd tracked Martin with his eyes, waiting for any threatening move Martin might make. Leo maneuvered behind the semi-welcome guest. “As you may know, the Unseen Order was formed shortly after the founding of the Mother Church to protect the faithful from the demonic threat posed by the Grigori and their offspring. Since its founding, the Unseen order has
fought the Grigori and faithfully defended the Church.” “We know all of that,” Christian interrupted. “We also know that you only protect Catholics and let people of any other faith twist in the wind. And you don’t really try to stop the demons from making a shithole out of the world. You let them torment the world as much as they want until things get so bad that everyone kowtows to the Vatican and begs it for salvation.”
“Sadly,” Martin admitted, “That is true. But that has not always been the case. For most of its existence, the Unseen protected those faithful to the Mother Church. It has only been in relatively recent times that the policy of managing the demonic threat rather than trying to eradicate it entirely was enacted. There are many among the Unseen Order who strongly disagree with that policy.”
“You disagree,” Clive challenged, “But you still carry out that policy.”
“I am sworn to obey,” Martin said, turning his ice-blue eyes to Clive.
“But you think your bosses are crazy and now you’re here,” Callum said, smiling thinly.
“I am sworn to obey my superiors within the
Church,” Martin said. “But my first loyalty is to my God given conscience. What Bishop D’Errico and the other senior members of my order are planning is a bastardization of the order’s mandate.”
“Just what are they planning to do?” Astrid asked, stepping forward.
“They’ve made an arrangement with Aetius
Blackwell. They intend to help him release the demons within Solomon’s vessel, including Blackwell’s father, Azazel, the most powerful of the Grigori. This cannot be allowed.”
“Why would the Unseen want to help Blackwell?” Evelyn asked. “I thought that they fight the demons to protect Catholics. How would helping the demons turn loose those bigger, badder demons in the vessel help the Unseen’s agenda?”
“Because they plan to let the demons do as they please, unmolested by the Unseen. Once the demons imprisoned in the vessel have been unleashed, they will rampage over the earth. They will start wars, cause famines and strife until mankind finds it unbearable. That suffering will produce unprecedented amounts of negative spiritual energy. That energy will in turn make the demons even more powerful, and with this power they will corrupt and subjugate mankind. All the while, a select few humans will be under the protection of the Unseen with Bishop D’Errico, who will be wielding Solomon’s ring.”
“I’m not a Bible expert,” Evelyn said, her eyebrow assuming its characteristic arch, “But that all sounds like Revelations.”
“Right,” Colm said, nodding, “except we’ve only been talking about the Grigori, the Nephilim, and the Tainteds. Revelation is all about Satan and his demon horde running amok.”
Martin’s face took on the grimmest of expressions. “You are both correct,” he affirmed. “What I have described are indeed the prophesied events given to us in the Revelation of John. You see, Bishop D’Errico wishes to bring about the Biblical tribulation. He intends to bring about, through his own actions, the second coming of Christ.” Everyone present was stunned into silence for several seconds before Martin continued. “With the power gained from the global misery they have created, Blackwell, Azazel and the other Grigori and Nephilim will free Satan and his legions from Hell. Together, Satan’s legions and the thousands of Nephilim and Tainted the Grigori have created believe they can defeat God.”
Evelyn held up a hand. “If D’Errico has the ring, won’t he be able to control Blackwell, his father and all the demons in the vessel?” she inquired.
“The power of Solomon’s ring is limited by the power of the user’s will,” Martin explained. “Even Solomon, the greatest mage that ever lived, could only control seventy-two greater demons at a given time. And even then, he imprisoned them after forcing them to construct his famous temple. Bishop D’Errico will be able to use the ring to protect his elect followers, but he cannot control the masses of demons he intends to unleash. He intends to use the entire Unseen Order to aid him in protecting his chosen, and he’s spent years building his own magical ability and gathering objects of power to insure the safety of those chosen few.
“It’s likely that Azazel and the other Grigori believe that they could eventually overpower D’Errico despite his possession of the ring. They have certainly entered into the arrangement with the bishop in order to free the demons imprisoned in Solomon’s vessel with the intention of turning on him when they’ve gathered enough strength.
The imprisoned demons would have been weakened after such a long incarceration, but once they’ve created enough turmoil and suffering to feed upon, their power would be unimaginable. Since the ring’s power is dependent on the user’s strength of will, it’s possible that, given time, they could overwhelm the bishop.”
“Hang on a second,” Evelyn interjected, “Like I said, I’m not a Bible expert, but isn’t it supposed to be a given that Satan loses in the Battle of Armageddon? Why are the demons even bothering to fight it?”<
br />
“Just because Christians believe that Satan getting his ass kicked is a done deal doesn’t mean that Satan and his demonic toadies believe it,” Callum said.
Evelyn nodded “Okay,” she said, “I get that, but I thought that Satan was cast down to earth after he rebelled against God. You’re saying that he was thrown into Hell, though.”
“There’s a lot of disagreement among theologians about that,” Eve answered, stepping closer to Evelyn. “Some say Satan was banished to Earth, some say he was bound in Hell. Remember the Bible, like most holy texts, has been changed overtime. There have been dozens of translations, retranslations and mistranslations over the centuries. Some books that are considered canon by one sect or denomination are considered apocryphal or even heretical by others. There’s no one hundred percent accurate and complete Biblical text available anymore. But you can trust Martin and me on this: Satan was bound in
Hell. It’s just that Hell happens to be here on Earth. No one knows exactly where, but it’s deep underground somewhere, probably in Mesopotamia. Think of it as a subterranean version of Solomon’s vessel, only holding a lot more demons.”
“That’s all true,” Martin agreed. “It’s also true that Satan and his horde do not accept the inevitability of
Biblical prophecies being fulfilled. Satan’s initial rebellion against God involved one-third of Heaven’s angels. The Grigori and his Nephilim have been breeding for thousands of years and number in the tens of thousands. Once Satan is freed from hell, the demonic army that was imprisoned with him will join the Grigori and their offspring and challenge Heaven again, now with their numbers greatly increased.”
Callum had begun to pace back and forth. “And you think that the great demonic tag-team has a chance at defeating God?” he asked.
“I believe that God will defeat any force that challenges him,” Martin replied. “But how many innocents will perish before their time in the ensuing battle remains an open question. Bishop D’Errico intends to force Christ’s return at a time of his, D’Errico’s, choosing. I assume that he believes that he will somehow be in God’s favor for engineering the fulfillment of prophecy. This is either the act of a delusional man or it is an act of sheer blasphemy; I prefer to give him the benefit of the doubt and believe the former. Whatever the case, he must be stopped and I can trust no one within the Church. The bishop has many allies within the Vatican and I do not who all of them are.” “Where is the ring now?” Cai asked.
“It is still at the Federal Building with the other artifacts the FBI confiscated from Mister Isles’ home,”
Martin replied. “The Mother Church has great influence, but that influence does have its limits. Even though Bishop
D’Errico was able to arrange for the raid on the Isles home under the auspices of the Vatican, he was unable to circumvent the FBI’s rules concerning the handling of evidence. However, there are several people with the Boston Archdiocese who are employed at the Federal Building. I do not know precisely how it will be done, but the ring will be taken from the building before the sun rises. Bishop D’Errico will be meeting Blackwell in Castle Island
Park at three o’clock this morning.”
“The Bishop will have at least a dozen Unseen with him,” Christian predicted. “And Blackwell will bring his warlock and as many Tainteds as he has left.”
“Blackwell will bring plenty of human backup, too,” Cai added. “He’ll probably bring his followers from the Church of Angelic Love, and maybe some hired muscle too. Once D’Errico has the ring, he’ll be able to control Blackwell and his Tainteds, but the ring won’t work on Blackwell’s human followers from the church or any other human backup he brings along — and he will bring some humans. Blackwell will want to hedge his bets in case D’Errico tries a double cross.”
“Which he almost certainly will,” Clive observed. “Blackwell will probably try his own double cross, too.” “There will, in fact be fourteen members of the Unseen Order with the Bishop,” Martin confirmed. “They’ll be heavily armed.”
“Maybe we can grab the courier after he leaves the federal building?” Callum suggested. “If we can get him before he gets to the island, we might be able to avoid another three-way fight.”
Cai shook his head. “I don’t want to get into any kind of fight in the middle of town. Besides, the area around the Federal Building is always swarming with law enforcement and there are security cameras everywhere. On top of which, we might be able to get hold of both Solomon’s ring and his brass vessel at the same time if we crash the meeting. We might finally get Blackwell, too.” Cai waited for any other questions, then continued.
“We have no idea how many Tainteds or cultists to expect,” Cai observed. “But the park is the best place to try to take the ring and vessel back. At least there won’t be any innocent people there at that time of night.”
“But we’ll be really outnumbered,” Cadell said. “If they manage to open the vessel and turn those greater demons loose, we won’t stand a chance, even if I channel Uriel’s power.”
“They can’t open the vessel on Castle Island,” Astrid assured her sons. “Solomon’s scrolls didn’t just contain the locator spell; they had the instructions for using the ring to open the vessel. It has to be done at a ley-line convergence. A simple intersection won’t be enough. The vessel has to be opened on a spot where many ley-lines converge. There’s only one place in the area that has a convergence like that.
Cai exchanged pained looks with his mother and siblings. “Hockomock Swamp,” he said.
“Why does everyone look like someone just walked over your graves?” Evelyn asked.
“Hockomock Swamp is where dad and Cedric were killed,” Cadell answered.
“And where Clive was crippled,” Astrid said, touching Clive on the shoulder.
“We take the ring and vessel at Castle Island,” Cai pronounced. “And we make sure that we don’t have to go back to that God-damned swamp.”
“Take your pick,” Cadell said, swinging open the door of the second of two large gun safes. “The cultists, thugs and Unseen will be using guns, so we’ll have to go loaded for bear, too. Guns aren’t much use against demons, but it’s nice to able to shoot back at their human flunkies.”
“One more rookie question,” Evelyn said. “You guys have rune swords and knives. Why don’t you have rune bullets, or even rune arrows?”
Clive removed a .45 caliber Jericho pistol from one of the safes, attached a sound suppressor, and placed it into a customized holster designed to fit a suppressor-fitted weapon. “Because making a rune weapon takes more than just scratching marks into metal,” he explained, thumbing hollow-pointed Federal Hyra-Shok rounds into one of the Jericho’s magazines. “The runes have to be precisely formed and each one has to be drawn in one, continuous motion; you can’t lift the stylus until the whole rune is done. That alone takes a lot of skill, but each rune has its own magical incantation associated with it, so it takes someone who is not just a skilled engraver, but a master spell-caster as well.”
Cadell drew his rune-covered Randal fighting knife and displayed it for Evelyn. “Look at how small each rune is. It was tough enough for mom to fit all of the runes it takes to make this a magical weapon. Now imagine having to engrave those runes small enough to get them all on a tiny little bullet, even a really big bullet like a .50 cal B.M.G. while perfectly reciting the incantations. It would be just as hard to engrave runes on an arrowhead, I imagine.”
“A lot of people have tried to make rune bullets,” Callum added “But I don’t think it’s ever been done.”
“That makes as much sense as anything else that’s happened to me tonight,” Evelyn replied, choosing a pistol for herself. “Just thought I’d ask,” she added, inserting a loaded magazine into the Beretta 96 .40 caliber pistol she had chosen.
“Are all your guns threaded for suppressors?” she asked, noting the slightly extended barrel allowing the weapon to accommodate its own suppressor.
Callum handed her the suppressor appropriate to the Beretta. “Most of them are,” He replied, snapping a Heckler and Koch Mk-23 into a shoulder holster designed to accommodate the extra length of its suppressor. “It doesn’t pay to attract the attention of normal law enforcement when exchanging gunfire with demonic minions.” He gestured toward Evelyn’s Beretta. “Are you sure you don’t want something with more punch? Since you’ve embraced your Blessing, you’re strong enough to handle more recoil. We’ve got a couple of .45 Glocks.” “No,” Evelyn said, removing the cap protecting the threads on the Beretta’s muzzle and screwing the suppressor into place. “I’ve qualified ‘expert’ with the 9mm Beretta, and this .40 cal is basically the same gun in a different caliber. It feels like what I’m used to and I’d better stick with it for now,” she added, adjusting the straps of a shoulder holster to fit her and snapping the pistol into its own customized holster.
“You’d better take a sword and a couple of knives, too,” Cadell suggested, sliding a suppressed .45 caliber Springfield XD into its customized holster
Evelyn turned to the far wall of the large former coat-room that served as the Selkirks’ armory and browsed over an assortment of rune blades before settling on a European cross-hilted longsword-style blade similar to the training sword she had practiced with earlier. “These are all handmade?” she asked, moving through some of the guards and strikes Cadell had shown her.
“Yep,” Colm confirmed, holstering a MK-23 identical to Callum’s. “Shane Wilcox makes all of our family’s blades for us. His family have been bladesmiths to the Blessed for five hundred years.”
Christian and placed a .40 caliber HK USP into a shoulder holster and slung a .45 caliber Kriss sub-machine gun over his shoulder where it would be concealed by his long coat. He handed Colm a second Kriss and gestured derisively at Cadell’s Randal. “Shane’s going to get even with Cadell for carrying that Randal. He calls it a ‘factory made monstrosity.’”
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