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  Chapter 16

  “You’ve done excellent work, Adam,” Lilith said, handing her guest a cup of coffee and sitting next to him on the sofa. “Since our last meeting, your ratings are up even more and you have over six million followers on social media, is that right?”

  “Yeah, it’s been awesome!” he said in his signature low, excited growl. “People are eating this shit up like ice cream! I’m talking to a guy about making my own line of-”

  “That’s great, Adam,” she interrupted. “Really good news. You’ve succeeded in getting the people riled up. Enraged. Now it’s time for phase two.”

  “What’s phase two?”

  She smiled sweetly and slid closer to him. “I need you to create posts on your social media accounts for Cardinal Rain. They’re hiring.”

  “Oh, sure, no problem,” he agreed emphatically. “Those guys kick ass! You know, I was in the National Guard back in the eighties.”

  “That’s wonderful, Adam,” she condescended. “I also need you to gently nudge your followers into taking up arms.”

  “Oh, my fans are well armed, trust me. I did a poll a few weeks ago. Almost seventy percent are gun owners.”

  “Yes, but I need them to use those guns.”

  Adam set his cup down and turned to his benefactor. “What do you mean, use them?”

  “Well, they know that big government is out of control,” she explained. “They’re aware, thanks to you, of the tyranny. The government can’t be trusted. Law enforcement, politicians, the courts. It’s all the same. Run by a criminal syndicate of elites that want them disarmed and weak so they can control them with indoctrination at public schools, mindless cogs in a--”

  “Whoa, whoa, lady,” he chuckled. “You know that’s just bullshit, right? Stuff I say to provoke people.”

  “Of course, but your followers don’t.”

  “It’s just entertainment,” he confessed. “I just say crazy shit people want to hear. It’s just for ratings.”

  “But those ratings translate to real people with real weapons and those weapons now need to be turned on your government officials.”

  “Are you out of your fucking mind?!” he shouted, jumping up from the couch. “I’m not telling people to kill people!”

  “It’s the next logical step,” she said, a little confused that he didn’t know this was where things were headed.

  “The fuck it is!” he barked. “What I do is rhetoric. It’s soundbites and slogans short enough to put on a bumper sticker or baseball cap. I don’t incite violence.”

  “Of course you do,” she contradicted, standing to look him in the eye. “How many school shootings, pipe bombs and ass kickings are you directly responsible for? I’ve lost count!”

  “I’m not responsible for crazy people doing awful things.”

  “Crazy people that listen to or watch one of your shows. Crazy people that think you’re the only person being honest with them because that’s what you’ve convinced them to be true. You are covered in the blood of innocent people that your followers deemed unworthy of life. All I’m asking you to do now is direct that energy to the people in charge. Declare the government the enemy of the people. Demand justice. Tell them-”

  “Jesus fucking Christ, lady!” he yelled, backing away toward the door. “There is no way in Hell I’m doing that. I’m just an entertainer.”

  “This is the thing,” she said, clearly irked. “If you won’t do what I ask, I’ll have to start over with someone else. I don’t have time for that. There are people looking for me. Now, I’ve done a cloaking spell, but it requires a tremendous amount of energy to maintain. I see no circumstance likely to weaken me occurring any time soon, but you never know. Cardinal Rain is deliciously close to beginning their mission and I need your government occupied here so they won’t interfere with my plans. Now be a good boy and do what you’re told.” She dropped her hand down hard toward the floor, forcing Adam to his knees. She sat her computer in front of him on the floor and knelt beside him, stroking what little remained of his hair. “Log in to your account.” she commanded.

  “No,” he insisted.

  “Fine,” she sighed, rolling her eyes. She took her fist and crushed his hand into the hardwood. He screamed in agony. “Now, login with your left hand.”

  “I won’t,” he declared, tears welling in his eyes. “I’m not a monster.”

  “Pity,” she said, standing up and taking a step back. “I am.” She clapped her hands, crushing Adam’s skull, causing it to cave in on either side. His eyes popped out of their sockets and dangled over his cheeks while blood and brain matter poured from his nose and ears. When his body fell, she kicked it under the bed and picked her phone up off the coffee table. She dialed Mitchell Spade’s number as she opened the bedside table’s drawer, pulling from it a small limestone box.

  “Hello?” Mitchell answered.

  “I’m sending you something to make your job easier,” she told him. “You may not need it, and you should hope that you don’t because using it comes with a price.”

  “What kind of price?” he asked.

  “There are… side effects. It’s only in case you come against a resistance you can’t handle. Call it insurance. Hold out your hand.”

  “What?”

  She quickly muttered the incantation, the box disappearing from her hand and reappearing in his.

  “Holy shit!” he blurted.

  “You’re welcome,” she said, hanging up the phone and dropping it to the blood soaked floor. “I need a release,” she said to herself as she went to the door and left the room, not bothering to close it behind her.

  Chapter 17

  Tae took off his surgical gown and gloves before washing his hands and heading to his office. He pulled a protein bar and bottle of water from his desk and sat down. He only had about ten minutes to eat while his next patient was being prepped. His late dinner tasted like a bad combination of sawdust and peanut butter, but at least he wouldn’t be hungry while he cut into someone. As he guzzled his water, he heard a loud commotion coming from the hall.

  “What fresh hell?” he muttered as he went to the door and peered outside. At the other end of the long hall, just past the nurse’s station, he could see a man flailing wildly as three orderlies tried to strap him to a gurney. He was screaming at them to let him go, blood pouring from his nose and mouth. As Tae got closer, he could see how pale and dull the man’s skin was, his eyes sunken with only a few patches of thin hair left on his head.

  “What’s wrong with him?” one of the orderlies asked another.

  “Radiation sickness, looks like,” the second attendant answered.

  “No way,” said the third, struggling to hold the patient down. “By the time symptoms got this bad, he’d be so weak, he’d barely be conscious.”

  “Holy shit,” Tae said under his breath.

  The man stopped and craned his neck to look at Tae.

  “Raphael,” he hissed.

  “Mother f--”

  “Raphael!” he screeched again, fighting even harder to break free of his restraints.

  “Shit, shit, shit, shit,” Tae whispered as he scrambled to think of what to do next. He hurried to a locked medicine cabinet, broke the glass, and retrieved a bottle of tranquilizer. He filled a syringe to capacity and raced to the gurney, jabbing the needle into the man’s neck. The demon squealed and shook before finally passing out.

  “Was that necessary?” the nurse asked, gawking at the broken glass on the floor.

  “Woman, you have no idea,” Tae insisted.

  “What’s he got?” one of the orderlies asked.

  “I--” But, before he could answer, the demon sprang up from the gurney, pushing one orderly to the ground and punching another in the face.

  “I’m calling security,” the nurse announced as she pressed the alert button.

  “Raphael,” the demon seethed. “You shouldn’t be here.”

  “Look who’s talking,” Tae s
aid shakily.

  “What are you?” the demon wondered, sniffing the air in Tae’s direction. “Human?” he gleaned. He cackled, blood and bile spewing up out of his mouth.

  Gabriel, I need you at the hospital. You and the Devil. There’s a demon. Hurry, Tae thought as the monster ran at him, lifted him over his head and threw him to the ground. As he tried to stand, he was gripped once more and, this time, dragged from the hall to the stairwell.

  “Stop!” Tae could hear a security guard yell. “Stop right there!”

  The demon continued, pulling Tae behind him down several flights of stairs. Two security guards followed, shouting and finally letting off a warning shot from one of their pistols. The demon laughed harder at their efforts as he threw Tae down the last few steps. He tried to fight back, but the demon was too strong.

  Now in the basement, Tae was heaved up over the monster’s shoulder. He kicked and punched to no avail. The demon walked briskly to the hospital’s incinerator and opened the door, burning off a layer of skin as he grasped the white hot handle. The security guards began to shoot, sending bullets into the demon’s back and side. It didn’t slow him down a bit.

  “When you get home,” he growled, standing Tae in front of him. “Tell those pharisaic prigs that this world belongs to us.”

  And with that, he bashed Tae’s head into the hot metal before picking him up, shoving him inside and slamming the door closed. The security guards were horrified, listening to the doctor’s screams until the noise subsided. They continued to shoot, one bullet piercing the demon’s heart and another landing between his eyes. He finally fell, laughing maniacally as he was forced out, slithering his way back to Hell, leaving the host body to die.

  Gabriel, not willing to wait for Lucifer who was taking a shower, decided to go to the hospital alone. As she reached for the door knob, she felt the strong sting of Raphael leaving the Earth. She clutched her chest and fell to her knees, unable to breathe, her eyes like saucers. The pain was intolerable. She stared into nothing, a single tear running down her cheek.

  “Gabriel,” Wyatt called, rushing to where she was, both her hands now on the floor. He knelt in front of her and put his hands on her shoulders. “Gabriel, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

  “I didn’t see it coming,” she said, her voice just above a whisper.

  “Didn’t see what coming? Are you all right?”

  She looked at her brother’s worried face, the concern in his eyes helping her to regain her faculties. He had enough problems. She didn’t want to burden him with this until she had to.

  “I’m fine,” she told him. “Something happened.”

  “What?” he fretted.

  They both stood, Gabriel buttoning her coat.

  “I’ll be back,” she said.

  “Gabriel,”

  “I’m okay,” she insisted, opening the door and stepping out of the apartment. “Don’t follow me.”

  Gabriel burst through the doors of the old, decrepit theater and strolled in, livid and determined. The building, mostly fallen apart, was crawling with dozens of demons. Some were on the floor and in old broken seats, having sex in seemingly uncomfortable, if not impossible positions. Some were hunched over large amounts of various foods, stuffing their mouths with as much as would fit. One was lying lifeless on the stage, the host’s body having given out from being occupied too long. Two others stood over the corpse, splashing it with week old soda. “Forty days and forty nights!” one of them cackled as the other laughed giddily. Their voices were loud and shrill, like nails on a chalkboard. It grated on Gabriel’s nerves as she slammed the doors shut behind her with her mind, using her telekinesis to hold locked all the exits.

  “Where’s Lilith?” she called to the crowd. They all stopped what they were doing to glare at her in unsettled apprehension.

  “Gabriel!” one of them shrieked in horror. Most of them darted for the exits, becoming hysterical when they realized there was no way out. A few brave demons came at her, but she immediately snapped their necks with nothing more than a thought..

  “I would tell me if I were you,” she warned the rest of them, frustrated that she couldn’t decipher their thoughts. Demons minds were tricky, clouded by the memories of those they inhabited. Nothing came through to her clearly.

  “We will never!” someone shouted from the back of the room.

  “It’s in your best interest,” she told them, throwing the two on the stage up into the rafters and bringing them crashing down onto the stage floor.

  “No!” several of them shouted in unison.

  “I won’t ask again,” she promised, bringing down a large chandelier, crushing a small group of demons underneath.

  “We will not,” one of them said, stepping forward, away from the rest as they cowered, blood and bile staining his white tee shirt, nearly all of his teeth missing. “We have been liberated. Our redeemer will rule this place. You are no match. We will not betray she who set us free.”

  Gabriel sighed and addressed the crowd.

  “Does this one speak for the rest of you?” she asked.

  “Yes!” some shouted while others just nodded.

  “All right,” she said, disappointed. “Don’t say I didn’t give you a chance.”

  She opened her palms, raising her hands to her sides and as she did, every demon in the building erupted in immense plumes of flame and smoke. They howled as they burned and Gabriel watched, making sure every one of them had fled the body that held them and were sent screaming back to the cages they had come from. When she was satisfied they were all back where they belonged, she hurried out of the building, patting out a small spot at the end of her coat that had caught fire. Not wanting to further damage the historical building, she pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed nine one one.

  “Nine one one, what’s your emergency?” the operator answered.

  “There’s a fire,” she told the dispatcher. “At the old theater on Canal Street between East Broadway and Grand.”

  “Is anyone in the building, ma’am?” the woman asked as Gabriel disconnected the call. She looked at the time. One twenty-seven AM. She pulled up another number and began to text.

  U up?

  There was an immediate response. Fuck yeah.

  She sighed as she looked at the building, smoke coming from broken windows, the smell of scorched flesh filling the air. She walked the several blocks to Ethan’s apartment, unnerved by the quiet stillness that always came after a big snowfall. She avoided stepping in slush or slipping on ice as she went, eventually making her way to her lover’s door. He let her inside, gleeful and jittery, like a puppy who’s owner just got home from work.

  “Hey, sexy,” he said as he closed and locked the door behind her. “What’s u--”

  “No talking,” she demanded, quickly removing her clothes.

  “You got it!” he complied, tearing his shirt off and pulling his pants down.

  She stepped out of her panties and, once naked, walked to the futon which served as the entire living and bedroom in the tiny studio.

  “Go to town,” she told him, lying down.

  Ethan kicked his pants away and speedily climbed on top of her. He fervidly kissed her cheeks, neck and chest, but when he got to her lips, she turned her head dismissively. Not allowing his bruised ego to get in the way of a good time, he again kissed her neck and earlobes, manually servicing her until she became wet. He entered her slowly, moaning with pleasure as he made love to her, knowing, after many past encounters, exactly what she liked. He pulled her legs back, giving her every inch of himself. Her breathing quickened as she became more and more aroused. The night’s events melted away with her first orgasm, her mind clearing as her body trembled. This is why I keep this dude around, she thought, another wave of euphoria washing over her.

  Gabriel returned home to find Lucifer sitting at the island, sipping a cup of tea and reading. She took off her coat, letting it fall to the floor. She opened the pantry and
took out a bag of cookies, not bothering to close the door. She sat next to her brother, took a cookie from the bag and slid the rest over. He took one, studied it, then put it back while Gabriel reached for another.

  “Barachiel asleep, then?” she asked, already knowing the answer.

  “Yes,” he told her. “He tried his best to stay awake until you returned. The poor dear was worried sick. I assured him that you were fully capable of handling yourself and, eventually, he retired to his room.”

  “But you waited up.”

  “I wanted to finish my book.”

  “Right.”

  The two were silent for a few moments, Gabriel mindlessly eating several more cookies and staring off into space. Lucifer sighed and put down his book.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked unsympathetically.

  “Not especially,” she replied, gobbling up another cookie and taking a swig of his tea. He raised an eyebrow.

  “Come now, sister,” he pried. “Tell me what’s got you in such a fettle.”

  She groaned, resting her cheek to her hand. “A demon killed Tae, so Raphael went home and I lost it a little.”

  “Really?” he asked. “Raphael’s back in Heaven?”

  She nodded.

  “Ah, well. He’s in a better place, as they say,” he commented, taking a sip of tea. “So,” he wondered. “What did you do in your vexation?”

  “I may have set fifty or so demons on fire, killing the innocent people they were inhabiting and destroying a perfectly good, albeit abandoned and run down, theater in the process and then banged some dude for three hours trying to forget about it.” she confessed, taking another bite of cookie.