Rise of the Fallen (Second Death Book 3), page 10
How did Titus get here? he thought. Maybe he can—shit, I bet he flew in. He dropped his head into his hands. I’m screwed. He felt eyes on him and glanced up.
“We’ve never met,” Titus said, “but I know about you from Brennan. He talked about you some when I came to him with my…when I joined the Order. A long time ago.”
“I know you from his memories,” Frank said. “So, you two fell out, huh? Not surprising.” Frank smiled sadly. “He was a pain in the ass sometimes.”
Titus narrowed his eyes and Frank could see the guilt in his face. He had touched a nerve with his comment, which hadn’t been his intention. They didn’t have time for any infighting, and Frank wasn’t about to start any.
“Hey,” he said. “He was a good man. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
Titus’ frown softened a little. “He was a good man. Wish I’d had time to make it right with him before he left us.” He looked away. “Maybe in another life.”
Frank nodded and raised his voice so that everyone could hear. “So how do we get to Arizona?”
“I might be able to help,” Titus said, pulling his phone from his pocket and putting it to his ear. “I work with the military sometimes. They might be able to get us a plane.”
Shit. “I hate flying,” Frank grumbled.
“We don’t need to fly,” Jack said, glancing at Titus. He sniffled and wiped the tears from his eyes. “I think I can get us there.” Frank froze.
“You can?” Rowan asked. “How?”
Shit. Here it comes, Frank thought.
“I can open a portal and we can…you know, teleport there.”
“How come you didn’t do that from the Highlands to New York?” Rowan asked.
Jack shrugged and sniffed. “I didn’t…believe I could. But now, I think I can.”
“You think?” Frank asked suspiciously. “You know, kid, I—”
But Jack looked at him, and the look on his face told Frank everything he needed to know. He believed he could teleport them—and Frank believed Jack could, too.
Jack reached his hands to Rowan and Titus and motioned for Frank to join the circle they were forming. Frank stood there, then glanced at Titus. “I hate teleporting, too.”
“Well, what do you suggest?” Titus asked. “Hitchhiking?”
Frank glared at him.
“Easy, boys,” Rowan said.
“Frank,” Jack said, gazing up at him with quiet certainty. “Trust me. I know what happened to your brother. I won’t let that happen to us.”
Frank blinked. Driving would take days, even if they drove through the night with no sleep—he knew they had no choice, not really. He either had to trust the kid and get over himself, or risk losing this war to Nalsuu and that sadistic bitch.
“Just get us there in one piece,” he grumbled, and reached out to join hands with the other three.
“I will. Trust me,” Jack said. He closed his eyes and his energy spread through the circle, growing in intensity as it touched the Watchers. Frank closed his eyes as the energy flowed over him. He clenched his jaw in anticipation of the ride through the ether. When he opened his eyes, a tunnel of cloudy blue light had formed in front of the quartet, the blue light illuminating their skin. On the other side of the doorway through space and time, the desert sprawled. At least it looked like the kid had opened the door to the right place.
“Come on,” Jack said, stepping toward the tunnel.
Frank swallowed. He really hated this shit. He felt eyes on him and glanced over to Jack.
“What?” Frank asked. “I told you. I don’t like this—”
“Don’t worry,” Jack said, a knowing, sad smile forming across his lips. Frank got an uneasy feeling from it.
“You’re not telling me everything, kid!” Frank yelled over the static noise of the portal. “What the hell is going on?”
“You have to have faith, Frank,” Jack said, and he stepped through the portal, disappearing into the cloudy blue. Frank glanced around at the other Watchers. Rowan shrugged and stepped through. Titus followed.
Frank grunted. “Shit,” he said, and stepped through to the other side.
After he came through the portal, Jack was standing to his left, his figure a silhouette against the afternoon sun. The desert wind was brisk and the light soft and warm. In the distance, Frank saw mountains and a burning city on a lake. Swirling black smoke rose above it into the sky. He heard gunfire and shouts on the wind, and the reverberations of war on his skin.
The whole world is on fire, he thought.
The static charge sizzled in the air and Frank turned back as the portal closed.
The arid air was charged with energy. Frank felt it stinging on his skin. Then he heard the clamor of war and turned back. A battle was going on in the distance. Military war machines sent up clouds of tawny dust, black smoke billowed from the low-rising city, and the chatter of gunfire echoed across the barren desert.
“Rand must have sent the military in to fight them,” Titus said wearily.
“Rand?” Frank asked.
Titus glanced at him. “General Rand. He was in charge of the H.D.D.E.” Noticing the confusion on Frank’s face, he went on, “The Homeland Defense against Demonic Entities. I worked with him for a long time.”
“All those army men are going to get killed,” Frank grunted, irritated.
Titus scowled. “They had a weapon, but it failed. Made the Fallen bigger and stronger instead of killing them last time they used it. Maybe they fixed it.”
“They didn’t,” Jack said, his gaze still fixed on the smoldering city. “Rand is dead. He sent his men to evacuate the people from the town, not to fight. And they are all going to die.” He glanced at all of them. “Unless we stop them.”
“Then let’s go stop them,” Frank said.
Jack had a blank look on his face. He no longer seemed to be looking at anything in particular—rather, he seemed to be deep within himself.
“He’s there with her,” he said. “She’s about to free Him. We are too late to stop her in this.” He turned to Frank, and his eyes were wet again. He started to say something, but stopped himself.
“What is it?” Frank asked.
His mouth moved, but no words were spoken. He finally dropped his eyes. “Nothing,” he said. “Let’s go.”
Frank bit back his frustration with the kid. He knew from experience that he couldn’t make him tell him what was going on; Jack would have to do that on his own. In the meantime, he’d have to trust him.
A gunship approached from the north. It landed at the edge of the town and passengers began boarding. Out of the sky, a verdant shadow gracefully swooped down and landed—
Suddenly, a torrent of iridescent ice encased the plane and the people who had been moving to board it.
Frank broke into a run, and the others followed.
19
JESSIE
Dreamlands
Jessie was above herself, gazing down on her resting figure. She lay on her side, breathing deeply, peacefully. His presence and embrace spread warmth over her like a soft blanket, and He spoke to her:
You have done well, My Queen. Uriel has been defeated.
His veins enwrapped her, latching on to her limbs and torso, injecting her with His essence. She moaned in ecstasy as His ichor moved through her, rejuvenating her. She opened her eyes and saw Him there, but He was not alone.
“Who is this man?” she asked, feeling the heat rise within her, ready to kill the unknown man who was next to her King.
He is ours, My Queen…and he is very special.
The man was naked and unblinking. His expression was detached—there, but not there. He moved slowly toward her, and Jessie noticed Nalsuu’s veins sticking out from his limbs and torso, just like they were in her. They were connected through Him, she realized.
“I don’t understand. Why?”
His veins gathered around her and pulled her close to both Him and the man. Revulsion and hatred crept into her chest at being so close to a naked man.
He is the brother of Frank Bishop, the Watcher that stalks you. The union of the three of us shall ensure the dark reign of our vision through the generations to come. Through this human vessel, you shall bear Me a Son, and through My Son, My vision and reign shall be eternal over the land of the living, and beyond!
Jessie trembled, her disgust at the naked man mixing with horror at what her King was proposing. She did not want this. She wanted her King, not this man—not any man.
“I-I do not want to, my King. Please don’t make me.”
Nalsuu pulled Jessie to His slick purple-black flesh, and she embraced Him, ecstasy filling her mind. Slowly, more thick veins unfurled from Nalsuu and slid over her flesh, along her spine and neck and arms and legs. Nalsuu’s many mouths opened and closed, dripping His verdant venom. Jessie shut her eyes as the veins attached themselves to her. She arched her back and felt her consciousness being siphoned through His veins, and within Him she saw the glorious reimagining of their new world: fires that charred the earth; cities destroyed; Fallen masters ruling over humanity; a new order holding dominion over the land of the living. And with them was His Son. And His vision became hers, and she felt the yearning in her womb for His child. The three of them would rule as one over all the world—the Universe—as the King, the Queen, and the Prince of the Aeons.
As He spoke to her in images and emotions, she saw the new world through His eyes and the promise of power His dark gifts would provide her. They would be equals, ruling over humanity as one. And while the child she would bear would ensure His lasting rule over the land of the living and beyond, she understood it would provide her King something deeper, more central to His being than the lust for power and dominion that seemed to drive Him. She understood Him more completely, for she realized that in giving herself to Him, and bearing His child, she would fulfill that deeper desire in Him—a longing that she herself had—and needed: to be whole and complete as a being.
She understood His rejection of the Creator was rooted in His desire for something the Creator had denied his Celestials within his rigid hierarchy, and severe consequences for breaking the Creator’s laws. She grasped His deep-seated resentment of the Creator that he had compelled only some of his creations to serve and obey, while the others who were lower in his Order were permitted the freedom to do as they willed.
And most of all, she comprehended the injustice Nalsuu felt when the Creator had permitted the human race to join with one another, for two of them to become one and create as the Creator could create—all while denying his most powerful and devoted servants, the Celestials, the same gift. And this stirred the fierce anger and rejection of the Creator in Him, ultimately driving Him to revolt against the Creator, and establish a new order in the Universe, an order that would break the chains of servitude and solitude the Creator had imprisoned Him in. By providing Him with a Son, she would help Him realize His true desire. And His openness to her in sharing that desire touched her at her core, for she too had only ever desired to be loved unconditionally by another, like she had been with her father before he had been ripped away from her—under the Creator’s laws.
And she too shared her deepest fears and darkest emotions with Him: her loathing of humanity for the way she had been treated, by her mother and the men her mother brought into their lives. Her horror and vile hatred at the thought of a man touching her, invading her body. It was repugnant. It was loathsome. It was worse than death.
Fear not, My Queen. You will give Me the greatest gift of love imaginable—a Son! And I will protect and love you both, always. You know this to be true, for you know Me like no other. Grant Me this, My Queen—My love.
And with those words, His love for her was realized fully, and she transcended her fear and horror and accepted His request of her. She chose Him.
“I am yours, my King,” she said blissfully. “Take me, and together we shall reshape the world in our image!”
At this she felt Nalsuu rejoice, and His tendril-like veins removed her clothes and moved her closer to the man. The man remained expressionless, his eyes cloudy and distant. As Nalsuu’s veins coiled around them, cocooning them in His tubular nest, He moved the man over her, and their skin met. Jessie’s body stiffened and her breath caught.
She fought against her repugnance of the man at first. She told herself this was for her King, her love. But she was revolted—disgusted. Her arms and legs crossed unconsciously, guarding her against his flesh, and her face was twisted into a mask of contempt. Yet the thought of bearing a child for her King, a child she could love and treat better than she had been treated by her own mother, a child she could love, unconditionally…
Nalsuu’s chambers pumped and thrummed, and His veins embraced her lovingly, caressing her, comforting her.
Jessie, My Queen, join with Me and forever we shall rule as one—Father, Mother, and Son.
The pressure built within Jessie as Nalsuu’s venom surged within her. His words, coupled with Her desire to please Him and show her love for Him, overcame her resistance.
His veins pulled her and the man into His left ventricle, His slimy septum sliding across her back—and, inside of Him, the three became one as the Leech of the Aeons closed His massive chamber around them.
Her body burned with fear—and desire—as His essence awakened pleasure and pain within her. She felt the man enter her, and she gasped as a small explosion from him filled her, and she felt His seed moving through her. Bliss and pain ebbed and flowed through her, starting in her pelvis, moving to her belly, and spreading to every cell in her body. She squirmed and wailed within His coils as the exquisite pain and pleasure of new life formed within her.
Her belly hardened, a protective shell forming around her womb, sending throbbing aches through her. The stabbing pain reached a crescendo and she shrieked, His muscular walls muffling the sound in her ears.
Gradually, the pain began to recede and His grasp on her loosened.
His ventricle opened and she and the man spilled out of Him and onto the ground. She rose above the scene, again watching over her body below her, and she noticed the small rise in her belly. Her hands instinctively covered her womb, feeling the hard shell inside her that held His Son.
Awaken, My Queen. It is done.
She was focused on her body below her and on her belly, and barely heard Him. The realization of what had just occurred spread over her in waves. She felt the ache of the child within her. It was growing already. “Yes, my King… I…feel Him. He grows in me.”
A sinister joy accented His voice. Yes, My Queen. Our Son.
Now there is only one who stands in our way, and I sense him approaching. You must use the Stone of Serr’rah and open the portal—quickly! Free Me before he arrives! Awake!
Jessie struggled to focus as the images of what had just happened played through her mind. Emotions washed over her as she returned to her body on the ground.
Her eyes snapped open. The weight of the child she carried filled her—and a menacing smile spread across her face.
Under Lake Havasu City, Arizona
Jessie lifted herself slowly from the rocky ground. Arraziel and Dalkhu were at her side, standing tall in the cavern. Dalkhu’s staff looked to have a small red sun in its crook. She squinted at its brightness and saw the jagged Stone of Serr’rah gleaming intensely in the cave.
“You found it,” she said, her eyebrows arching wickedly.
“Yes, my Queen,” he growled.
“And now we shall free our King!” she snarled. “Do it,” she said, her eyes burning as she stepped forward. “Do it now!”
She stumbled before catching herself—her body felt stiff and awkward. Her hands cradled the softball that was in her belly and the memories of the Dreamlands flooded through her mind. She was pregnant with His child, and now she was bringing Him into the world, and together they would kill the Watchers and the Chosen One. And then… I will be a mother.
The beam from the Stone of Serr’rah shot forth and illuminated the jagged rock walls of the underground cavern. A warbling, pulsing sound reverberated through the cave; Jessie felt it move through her in massive tremors that made her nauseous and pounded at the inside of her skull.
As the sound intensified, Jessie watched in awe as the stony surface of the wall seemed to dissolve into a fleshy mass, one that throbbed in time with the warbling sound.
A tear appeared in the wall, and a sticky ripping sound—like tape being torn away from skin—filled the cavern. The fissure grew in length and size, stretching to the roof of the cavern and widening.
Acrid smells filled the air. Hot breath came through the hole. Jessie squinted to peer inside the crack between the realms, and the red rays of the forever-setting sun of the Second Death touched the skin of her face.
Shadows bobbed at the edges of the portal to the Second Death, rising and falling randomly. Screeches and shrieks and roars echoed through the cave as the shadows took distinctive forms.
A sneer crossed Jessie’s face, and then they came…
An army of imps scampered along the floor, crowding the cave with their masses. Jumping to the ceiling and shrieking at their newfound freedom, they bolted up and through the hole in the roof of the cave from where Uriel had entered, and emerged upon the surface of the Earth.
Worm-like creatures, with two human-like arms and hands and enormous black eyes on stalks, slithered into the room. They had thousands of spidery legs that ran under their segmented bodies, chattering and scraping across the rocky ground.
Metallic bird-like creatures, with lizard bodies and metal feathers, squawked and flew into the cave, circling up through the hole in the ceiling.
A mass of tentacles appeared on either side of the tear between worlds. They spiked through the portal, clamping on to the cave’s walls. Mya-Tep, the creature Jessie had known only through His eyes and thoughts, pulled itself through the break between the worlds in a rolling, dragging motion, its enormous body tumbling across the floor of the cave. It latched on to the rocks on the roof of the cave and squeezed through the hole in the ceiling.
