Divinely Trained: Ancients, page 1
Divinely Trained
ANCIENTS
BOOK TWO
MAGGIE HAVOC
A Divine Invite © 2023 by Maggie Havoc. All Rights Reserved.
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
First published in the United States of America in 2023 by Raptpress LLC
All rights reserved. This book is a work of fiction. No resemblance to any real person or events was intended or should be inferred. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
Book design by: BRoseDesignz
Paperback ISBN 979-8-9873934-2-0
eBook ISBN 979-8-9873934-3-7
To Dad
You left us too soon, so all I have are words to describe the father I wish I’d known. This is everything you would have been, could have been. Until we meet again . . .
Warning
It’s every author’s deepest wish that the reader will love their story. It’s mine, too, so before you buy this book, be aware that this series has even more than a smattering of uncompromising alpha males, who become no match for the women they fall for.
Prologue
Ruby’s phone thrummed on her bedstand. She wiped her hands at the kitchen sink and scuttled into her room. Business was picking up at Ruby’s Crystal Ball Psychic Reading, and she refused to give any credit for the spike in bookings to anything that had transpired three months ago. An icy shiver ran through her at the memory of it—Ellie’s abduction, the clairvoyant that had reached out to her in a vision, the goose chase that her grandmother, Bunica, had sent her on, that led to a freaky mansion that was guarded by two of Hell’s creatures.
She’d been close to committing herself to a psychological evaluation. Although there was some relief that she hadn’t been suffering from hallucinations, the alternative, that it had all been real, wasn’t much comfort. The phone stopped buzzing as she reached it. She had every intention of calling the number back. The last thing was wanted was a client scrolling to the next psychic on the Google search. She pulled a lop-sided grimace. The number had been withheld.
Ruby’s gaze fell on the mirror in her bedroom that hid the infinity mark. The secret room had remained sealed, along with the crystal ball and Ellie’s pendant that she had switched out with a replica. The bag that the psychotic nun, Agatha, had thrown at her as she ran out of the mansion contained a wad of cash. Bunica had said it was a gift, so she’d used the money to repair her business after it had been smashed up from Ellie’s abduction. It was all behind her now—except for the woman in her vision who had opened her third eye. She’d rather have kept that shut. Who in the world wanted to see the dead? Pleased that the matter was closed and she had been cleared of any suspicion of Ellie’s disappearance, Ruby breathed a sigh of relief.
The phone thrummed again. She pulled it out of the back pocket of her jeans, anticipating another booking. “Ruby’s Crystal Ball Psychic Readings,” she answered into the phone.
“Is this Ruby?” said the man.
“Yes.”
“I’m delivering a message. Ellie is being returned to your house today. She will need a change of clothes.”
Ruby’s world seemed to tip as she lowered herself to the nearest armchair. “Ellie?” she whispered.
“Yes,” came the response. “I’m to instruct you to call her friend, Kaley. She should be there.”
Ruby gulped. Ellie had been taken by force three months ago. Why was she being returned to Ruby’s place? She held her breath, processing the caller’s words. As soon as she got off the phone, she’d call the police.
As if the man could read her thoughts, he added, “No one else is to be there. We will know if you have anyone there other than Kaley. Do you understand?”
Ruby shook her head, but not wanting to dissuade the caller, she said, “Okay.”
The phone went silent. Glancing at the screen, she read, Call ended.
She moved dazedly out of her bedroom, her mind jumping from thought to thought. Her heart pounded painfully. She should call the police, but she’d been warned not to. Ruby turned the phone slowly in her hand. The caller had said to have Kaley, Ellie’s best friend, there when he dropped Ellie off. That call would be tricky.
Kaley was a cop.
Even after enduring multiple police interviews regarding Ellie’s disappearance, Ruby had been cleared of any suspicion, but Kaley hadn’t been convinced that Ruby wasn’t in on Ellie’s abduction. Witnesses had been walking past Ruby’s Psychic Readings when she had bolted out the side door to get help. It was their testimony that had cleared Ruby, having reported they had heard Ruby’s business being smashed up after seeing Ruby leave.
She couldn’t dally in passing on the information, but she had to be careful what she said. She didn’t want ten police units outside her house. Her fingers shook as she dialed Kaley’s number.
It only rang once before Kaley answered. “Hello?”
“Hey,” Ruby responded, her voice shaky, despite her willing herself to be calm. “Can you come over?”
It wasn’t a strange request, right? They had become very well acquainted over the last few months. And although Ruby had done her best to stay away from Kaley, it was to no avail. Ellie’s best friend had forced her friendship on Ruby, likely in the hope that she was connected to the disappearance.
“What’s wrong?” Kaley asked.
Ruby furrowed her brows. “Nothing.” But her elevated voice betrayed her.
“Is it about Ellie?” The silence that stretched for a second too long was all it took to prompt Kaley into action. “On my way.”
Glancing down at the screen, Ruby pushed her hands into her thighs to stop the shaking. It had been three months since she’d been in the secret room that she had discovered in her home. Three months since she had vowed she wouldn’t get involved. After all, the creatures she had seen at the mansion were surely demonic. Ruby shook her head, her mother’s words raising all kinds of alarms. Your grandmother was into witchcraft.
An hour later, Ruby was pacing the reading room of her home, threading her sweaty fingers into knots. Kaley was about to arrive, and she knew the call would raise even more questions regarding Ruby’s involvement. After all, why had she received the call?
The doorbell that suspended from the ceiling chimed. Ruby hurried into the room. The wind swept through the door, bringing with it the rain that seemed to blast her house in a near-horizontal, turbulent wave. Kaley stood, drenched, her face an ashen color. Ruby reached out and took her hand, pulling her through the doorjamb. The storm was loud, and she doubted her greeting would have reached Kaley’s ears.
“You’ve heard from her?” Kaley choked out, flicking the rain off her hands.
“No,” Ruby responded. “But—” She slammed the door closed, composed herself, and cleared her throat. “I was asked to call you and tell you Ellie is returning here tonight.” She stared at Kaley, who gaped in return.
Kaley shook her head as if clearing cobwebs that clouded her ability to understand. “Who called you?”
Ruby swallowed. “I didn’t recognize the voice.” And that was the truth.
Kaley looked about the room, her lips flattening with annoyance. Her eyes were wide, and Ruby wanted to calm the panic she was probably feeling but honestly didn’t know what to do. Kaley whipped out her cell phone, making Ruby’s heart lurch to her throat. She thrust her hand out to stop her from dialing.
“Hey!” Kaley snapped, her finger pointing toward Ruby. “Back up.”
Ruby froze, the heat draining quickly from her face. Kaley didn’t avert her eyes as she hesitated, then slowly returned her phone to her shirt pocket. She raised her hand to cue the mic that was attached to the lapel of her shoulder.
Ruby shook her head slowly, dramatically. “If you call someone else here, they won’t come.”
Kaley’s hand hovered over her mic as she studied Ruby, comprehension stealing across her face. “You are in on this!”
A tight crease knotted Ruby’s brow. “How can you say that after all that’s happened? They kicked her ass right in front of me, smashed up my place, then took her!”
“Johnny Knight took her,” Kaley corrected.
Another sigh loosed its way out of Ruby. “I don’t think Johnny Knight took her. How many times have I been through this with you? It was written right across his face. He stood there like a limp biscuit. He was just a puppet, I’m sure of it. Can you go to her house and fetch her some clothes?”
“I’m not going anywhere until I know she’s all right.”
“Look, they didn’t have to tell us anything. They are returning her here for a reason, and they asked me to call you. It can’t be a trick, or they wouldn’t have called.”
Kaley scrunched her brow line. “Did it occur to you they are planning to come back to get you?” The pitch of her tone elevated several octaves. “Or me?”
Ruby stared at her unblinkingly. “Kaley, please!”
It was several moments before Kaley broke her murderous stare by whirling around and storming out the door. Ruby called out to her, “You better come back in another car. If they see that police vehicle parked outside, they might change their mind!”
There was no response. Her legs wilted beneath her as she sank onto her couch.
Chapter 1
The fallen archangel’s long black coat was unmistakable. Kokabi stepped through the entrance to Hell and stopped, his face hidden in the shadows.
Ellie’s stare cut sharply to Bigum, a fellow prisoner, or so she’d thought. She had grown to trust him while she had been in the cell next to him. He had lured her with lofty words of overcoming adversities, with a promise of escaping Hell and avenging her capture and torture. And she was almost out; she could taste freedom. Only to find it was all part of Bigum’s scheme to bring her to the edge of Hell and then give her one last chance to join them.
The frame of the man turned slightly, locking onto Ellie. He jerked, startled by the sight of her. She crept farther away, even though there was nowhere to go. She was still trapped in Hell, and she knew even if she bolted, with all the clingers sneaking through the tunnels toward them, she wouldn’t get far.
Light poured over his cheekbones, and Ellie let out another cry. It wasn’t Kokabi! But the sight of the fallen angel would have been preferable. “Johnny?”
Johnny threw the cloak off his shoulders. “Yes, it’s just me.”
Ellie looked aghast between Johnny and Bigum, whose face was unreadable beneath his hood. She struggled to find words but choked out, “You’re both in this together?”
Johnny’s gaze skipped nervously behind Ellie, then back to Bigum. “Technically, yes, but it’s not what you think. And I can’t think of a worse place to have this discussion. Maybe you should do that twist thingy with your hands to get her out of here. I’ll see if I can cause a distraction, then meet you at the rendezvous point.”
Ellie glowered at him, her mind scrambling to make sense of Bigum and the soul scout working together. All this time she’d spent with her rescuer, if that’s what he truly was, and not once had he told her they were more than acquainted with one another.
Bigum took her elbow gently, but Ellie shook her head, her eyes flitting between them both as thick, masculine fingers took Ellie’s hand. “Listen to me, little one,” Bigum spoke in a soft tone, barely above a whisper, as he pulled her around to face him. “It is of no fault of Johnny’s that Kokabi took you, and I think he tried hard to keep you hidden.”
Ellie shook her head. “He was there with Kokabi. He led him straight to me.”
“That’s not true, Ellie,” Johnny interjected vehemently. “I told you I had my eyes and ears out listening for Kokabi. He came out because he learned the location of the necklace through a coven of witches. It was the witches that found you by chance at Ruby’s. If I hadn’t gone along with it, I wouldn’t have been alive to call for help.”
She turned to Bigum, tears pooling and blurring her vision. She blinked away the fog as Bigum gently stroked her cheek, capturing a tear. “Is it true?” she asked.
“It is, Ellie.”
The screech of clingers resonated through the tunnels. In a whirl of motion, Bigum had cupped Ellie’s hand, pulling her under his cloak. The next time she looked up, she was outside. The sun was setting, and thunder clouds barrel-rolled above her. Unaccustomed to the brightness, she shielded her eyes, the delicious smell of desert flowers after the first rain of the year entering her airways. Her breath hitched, her brain struggling to believe what she saw. Was she out of Hell? Was she free? A cry burst out of her as her gaze panned the open sky.
The sight of the familiar mountain range, the one that surrounded her hometown, sent a shot of excitement through her. Bigum strode past her. She lurched forward, breaking into stride behind him. Ellie continued in silence along the desert ground, stumbling over sand dunes and ripping her pants through mesquite bushes. She could see the highway, which she was sure was less than a fifteen-minute walk, but instead, they were walking parallel to the road.
“Can’t we get a ride?”
“No,” came the response.
Ellie followed for several more minutes, her mind a flurry of unanswered questions. “Is it because you don’t want to be seen?”
“It goes much further than being seen. There is much for you to learn now that you are aware of the underworld, so you must employ patience.”
Her legs felt like they would collapse at any moment as she followed Bigum for a long, long while. She had spent the first thirty minutes squinting into every mesquite bush through fear that she might step on a rattlesnake, but an hour later, she was dragging her feet without giving it a second thought. Expelling a shiver and a groan, she glanced up at the city lights that still seemed hours away.
“I have a feeling you could move us both much quicker than this,” Ellie said, breaking the silence.
Bigum tilted his head, speaking without slowing. “I must limit the mode of travel to foot with you. If I use my abilities to take you home, others will sense the energy. I must remain incognito. No one can know I have helped you. Even you cannot know who I am. It is for your safety that you remain as naïve as possible.”
Shaking her head, she said, “I don’t see the point.”
“The Devil can sense if you are lying. You went to Hell completely unaware of everything. You had no knowledge to give them. It is this very method of secrecy that has kept you alive. The less you know, the safer you will be. Regardless, I must remain unseen.”
So he didn’t want to be seen. Then Ellie became preoccupied with what his face actually looked like. Was it deformed like the clingers? She shuddered at the thought. More time passed in silence before the need for knowledge unleashed an anger in her that drove her patience threadbare.
“You have to give me answers, Bigum. I can’t just idly follow you around like a faithful dog.”
Bigum slowed, expelling an impressive sigh. “You have the patience of an ant. Soon we will be at our destination. You need food, water, and clothing. And then, Ellie, we must start our journey.” He resumed walking, leading the way through the sand dunes and tumbleweeds.
“You keep talking about a journey like I’m supposed to accept that we are going somewhere together.”
Bigum turned to Ellie. “Not together. The way we travel must be by different means, but I will find you.”
“Tell me where we’re going.”
“A land called Khatima.”
“And that is . . . where exactly?”
“On another plane of existence. You cannot get there by human travel. They are a knowledge-based faith, so clingers are rare there.”
Ellie slowed. Another plane? “Is there more than just Earth?” Ellie pressed, her warning hackles spiking to life.
Bigum shook his head, but since Ellie could only see the back of it, she couldn’t see his facial expression. “It is fascinating that so many humans believe they are the only beings ever to have lived.”
Ellie had to jog to catch up. “Knowledge-based?” she prompted.
“They know God exists. They have a general understanding of where they will end up when they pass away, unlike humans, who must have faith in God’s existence to get a pass to Heaven.”
Ellie would rethink that bit of knowledge at another time, she thought, as she pressed him further. “And I’m going to be hidden there?”
“You will be safer there than here. There you will learn to fight, to protect yourself and others. You told me that’s what you desire. And maybe, if you wish it, you can stay there and find your happiness.”
Ellie hesitated. The idea of never seeing her home, her friends, leaving her life as she knew it, didn’t sit well. “You mean, never come back here?”
“You will always be able to get back here, but you risk Kokabi finding you, and you already know what the Devil intends to do with you.”
“Let me see your face,” Ellie demanded.
Bigum didn’t respond. He continued walking. The road was farther than she thought, and finally, Ellie slowed. Bigum slowed with her, but after another thirty minutes, Ellie felt her head swirl. She was sure she was still walking, but when she opened her eyes, she was in Bigum’s arms. She was going to protest, but her eyes were so heavy that she thought she would rest them. Just a three-minute power nap was all she needed.
