Nephilim Rising: The Complete Series, page 85
part #0 of Nephilim Rising Series
"Don't bother," Josh said. "We'll get a new place. Find you somewhere to stay as well."
"You don't have to do that."
"I insist. You proved your worth tonight. You deserve it."
Boyd nodded his thanks. "I think I need a beer. You want one?"
Josh declined, and Boyd went to the kitchen. When he returned, he said, "So how'd you end up partners with a demon? No offense, but I thought demons and Nephilim didn't mix."
"Things aren't always so black and white, Boyd."
"But you guy's are...together. Am I right?"
Josh shot him a dark look. "Does that bother you, Boyd?"
Averting his gaze, Boyd shook his head. "Sorry man. I just want to know what I'm getting into here."
Josh barely nodded as he stood staring through the shattered arch window, the wind cooling the sweat off his face. No doubt Deacon would have Freddy Carconi shitting himself with fear by now. Knowing Deacon, he probably dumped the heads of Freddy's men on his desk. Either way, production would start soon on the drug. Then the city would begin to crumble as chaos took over. Josh hadn't seen the effects of Diablo yet for himself. He only had Deacon's word that the drug did what he said it did, which was bring forth the darkness inside the user so that it took them over completely. How it manifested after that was anybody's guess. However it happened, it wouldn't be pretty. The streets would be awash with blood before too long. The city wouldn't know what hit it. Josh felt his vitriol rise just thinking about it. It felt like revenge, though it wasn't, not really. He was just doing what felt right these days, and what felt right was bringing the darkness down on the city, swift and brutal, the way a butcher would slaughter a pig.
"You got a visitor, Josh," Boyd said.
"What?" Josh spun around to see someone standing by the broken front door. When he saw who it was, he froze. "Leia?"
Josh's sister walked into the apartment. "What the hell happened here?"
21
It looked like a massacre had taken place inside Josh's apartment. There were blood and bullet holes everywhere. The panes in the massive arched window had all been broken, showering glass everywhere. The scene wasn't what I was expecting when I came to see my brother for the first time since arriving back from Hell. I looked around and saw no sign of the demon, Deacon. Some other guy was in there, though. A Nephilim. He stared over at me as I strode into the apartment.
"Friend of yours, Josh?" the red-haired stranger said.
"My sister," Josh said, looking at me like I was some ghost here to haunt him.
I stood staring at my brother. When I had heard he had changed, I had no idea just how much until I laid eyes on him. Josh was always the dark and brooding type, but there was always still light in him to balance things out. Even before I left for Hell, I could still see that light in him, however dim. Now that light appeared to be extinguished. One look in his dark eyes told me that. "Josh." I couldn't bring myself to say anymore, so shocked was I by his transformation. After my sojourn in Hell, if there was one thing I knew intimately, it was Darkness. I would always recognize the reach of the Adversary, His dark tendrils moving through the fabric of the universe, infecting it with evil as He had infected Josh somehow.
Josh looked away almost in shame under my gaze. "How'd you even find me?" he asked.
"I have my ways," I said. "What happened here, Josh?"
"Long story. Not that you would understand."
I walked further into the apartment, my boots crunching on spent bullet casings and bits of broken glass. "That's why I'm here. We need to talk."
He threw me a look. "You came all the way back from Hell just to give me a lecture?"
"I think we're beyond lectures at this point, don't you? I just want to talk. There's a lot you don't know."
"Really? Like what?"
The red-haired guy was still standing there, and I threw him a look. He nodded and said, "I'll just go get myself another beer."
After the stranger had gone into the kitchen, I said to Josh, "You want to drive me home? We can talk on the way."
Josh considered for a moment. "Sure."
As Josh went to walk out of the apartment, Deacon suddenly appeared out of thin air, standing between Josh and me, looking back and forth at us for a moment. He was drenched in blood, and it dripped off him onto the pinewood floor. My skin crawled when I saw the demon, and I couldn't help clenching one fist as he grinned over at me. "Leia," he said. "You're back."
"Yes," I said. "But you knew that."
Deacon nodded. "I did. In fact, I heard all about your adventures. Taking down the King of Hell. Quite a feat for someone so clearly clueless."
"Not as clueless as you think."
"Is that why you're here? To tell Josh everything you've learned." He kept his eyes on me as he walked over to Josh and then, completely unexpectedly, kissed my brother hard on the mouth, before turning back to me and smiling. "I doubt he'll care."
My stomach turned over, not so much at the kiss itself, but at the hold Deacon clearly had over Josh. That kiss was the equivalent of a dog pissing to mark its territory, to show me how things were now. I shook my head in disbelief while Deacon stared at me with sheer glee in his eyes. For once, words failed me. Deacon chuckled at my reaction. Josh looked slightly uncomfortable, but otherwise defiant.
What the hell is going on here? Deacon must have Josh under some spell. It's the only explanation.
I couldn't stay in the apartment a second longer, not with what I just saw, and not with Deacon's smug face staring back at me. "I'll be outside, Josh," I said, without looking at him, and walked out.
I waited by Josh's red Evo parked outside the apartment building, shaking my head and staring hard at the ground, as I struggled to process what I'd just witnessed inside the apartment. It wasn't bad enough that the demon Deacon was leading Josh astray, he also had to sleep with him as well? What was that about? My brother wasn't gay. He had never shown interest in other men before. I could care less if he was gay or not. It was just the fact of who he was gay with. Clearly, Deacon had his hooks deeper into Josh than I thought.
Josh arrived outside after a few moments and unlocked the Evo. "Get in," he said.
I opened the passenger door and climbed inside the plush interior of the Japanese car. The two of us sat in tense silence for a moment, not knowing what to say to each other, until I addressed the elephant in the room. "Well," I said. "I see I'm not the only one fucking a demon these days."
"Nice, Leia," Josh said. "I’m glad to see Hell hasn't made you any less subtle."
"I don't do subtle much. You have no idea what's going on, Josh. Deacon is dangerous. You need to stay away from him."
Josh exhaled sharply. "Jesus, you're back two minutes, and you're already telling me what to do."
"There's things you don't know, Josh. Stuff I found out in Hell about Deacon."
"I don't want to know." He started the engine and gunned the Evo down the dark street before I could even put my seatbelt on.
"You don't understand, Josh," I said, trying to keep my voice level. "He's here to—"
"To what, Leia?" Josh almost shouted. "To corrupt me? Lead me astray?"
"Yes!"
He shook his head angrily as he took a left turn at breakneck speed, narrowly missing an oncoming car, before barreling up a long straight, the buildings on either side just a blur as he weaved in and out of traffic.
"Christ, Josh," I said. "Slow down!"
Josh kept his high-speed consistent as he took more turns, the tires on the Evo screeching as he blazed through the city. "I'm getting you home as fast as I can, because I want you out of my car."
Tears stung my eyes. This wasn't the reunion I had envisioned before I went to his apartment. Not that I expected a whole fanfare, but I at least expected him to be glad to see me. He clearly wasn’t, though. Somehow, in my time away, Josh had decided he didn't have a sister anymore.
What is it with my fucking family? Why do we always end up hating each other?
I sat in silence, staring hard out the window as Josh continued to drive how he obviously felt—angrily. I had never known him to be so full of rage, except when he was demonized under Abigor.
So what now? I thought.
Even if I told him about Deacon and his plans, I doubted Josh would listen. He was a lot further gone than I realized. It was only when we drove outside of the city into the more calming rural landscape, that I felt able to speak again without bursting into tears, or screaming like a banshee at him.
"I missed you," I told him. "You're part of the reason I got out of Hell in the first place. I'm only looking out for you, Josh. I thought that's what we do, what we've always done— look out for each other."
Josh slowed his driving pace, but not by much, as he negotiated the open roads with the dark fields on either side. "That's always been part of the problem, Leia," he said, both hands on the wheel. "It's always been about that. I don't want my life to be just about that anymore. I'm going my own way now."
"So that means you have to shut me out completely? I'm your sister, Josh!"
"I didn't say shut you out completely. But you need to stay out of my business, Leia."
I shook my head, flabbergasted by his total change in attitude. "I can't look out for you, make sure your safe?"
"I don't need anyone looking out for me. I can take care of myself."
"Clearly not, Josh, not when some demon has his hooks in you so deep you don't even see what's happening. Deacon was sent here, Josh, to target you specifically. To befriend you and lead you down a path that you will never come back from, not if you don't turn back now."
Josh shook his head. "You think I'm a fool? You think I don't know Deacon has a hidden agenda? I've always known that."
"Then why the hell are you still with him?"
"Because I don't care, that's why." He pulled the car over to the side of the road suddenly, but kept the engine running and his hands on the steering wheel, as he stared through the window into the dark. "I've felt lost my whole life. You know how that feels, right? Well, now I don't feel lost anymore, and I've got Deacon to thank for that. He showed me how to be myself, how to embrace my destiny."
"Your destiny? You even know what that destiny is? Because I do, and it's not good, Josh."
He looked at me for the first time since being in the car. There was a purpose in his eyes that I never saw there before, a purpose fueled by some dark energy. "Whatever is in store for me, I'll accept it. I go where the darkness takes me."
"The darkness?" I shook my head. "You're talking like..."
"Someone who knows his place in the world finally?"
"Your place isn't to be—" The new King of Hell, I was going to say, but I was too afraid to say it for fear that I would somehow seal his fate just by saying it out loud. "Did Deacon even tell you what went on in Hell when I was there?"
"Bits," he said. "I wasn't that interested."
"Did he tell you about Eblis?"
"He said you stopped his reign."
"He didn't happen to mention who Eblis was? Who he was before he became Eblis?"
Josh shook his head. "Like I said, that stuff is all you, Leia. Nothing to do with me."
Nothing to do with him? Jesus…
"Eblis was our father," I announced, watching him closely to see how he'd react. "Our dad, Peter, was the King of Hell, Josh."
A deep frown crossed Josh's face, but he said nothing as he stared out the window. He didn't seem too surprised by this news, which led me to believe that he knew already. Or at least, I hoped he knew, for if he didn't know, then his reaction meant he didn't give a shit. Eventually, he shook his head and laughed to himself. "Jesus," he said. "This shit just gets better. What happened to him? Where is he now?"
"Do you care?"
He hesitated a moment, then shook his head. "Not really. He's been gone for forever. So has our mother. You meet her down there too?"
"Yes, I did. She misses you."
And I miss her. So much.
"Misses me?" He laughed, a sound that chilled my blood. "She fucking abandoned us, Leia. It's her fault that all the shit that happened to us happened."
"That's not true, Josh…"
"Oh really? So she didn't fuck our uncle Frank behind our dad's back? She didn't sell her soul to get Frank—who I hate, by the way—back from the dead?"
As far as Josh was concerned, our parents had failed him. Failed us. "People make mistakes," I said. "I'm trying to stop you from making equally grave mistakes. I wish you could see that."
"Things have changed, Leia," he said, pulling the car out into the road again, heading in the direction of the cabin. "There's no going back. You need to realize that."
I stared sadly out the window for the rest of the journey. Neither of us said another word after that until we reached the cabin.
"So what now, Josh?" I said. "You expect me just to sit back and watch you become the demon you once were again?"
"I don't expect you to do anything, Leia," Josh said, staring out the window toward the cabin. "Although it would be best if you stayed out of my way. You and those others in there."
My jaw clenched in anger. "Those people are my family now."
"Then you don't need me anymore, do you?"
Tears rolled down my cheeks. "No, I guess not."
I sat in the car for another moment, hating the heavy note of finality that hung in the air, desperate to say something that would heal the rift that had developed between my brother and me, without me knowing it seemed. I had lost him somehow, and there wasn't a thing I could think to do to change that.
"Just go," he said. "I have stuff to take care of."
With a heavy sigh, I exited out of the car. Before I closed the door, Josh said, "Remember, Leia. Stay out of my way if you don't want to accept the consequences."
I slammed the door on him, the noise loud in the still of the night. The Evo’s engine roared as Josh reversed the car back, the tires skidding in the gravel, as he then hit the brakes, turned right and sped off down the mountain dirt track, the engine sounds fading into the night. I continued standing where I was for a while, breathing in deep the warm night air. Above me, the stars were out in force, glinting down at me; markers for far away worlds.
Hopefully, those other worlds are doing a better job of things than we are, I thought.
22
Slouched into his favorite armchair by the fireplace, Frank sat toking on a joint that he had rolled from Eva's stash. Eva had taken Alice to her house in the city. Apparently, Eva had decided to take the young girl under her wing, for some reason. Frank wasn't sure why, given the fact that Alice had used her powers to scare the shit out of Eva the other morning. Frank was still wary of the girl, despite Eva's change of heart. Alice was born in Hell, for Christ's sake. Didn't that make her some kind of demon, and therefore someone to be feared, or at least careful around?
Frank shook his head as he took another drag on the joint that he hadn't long lit. The weed was strong, giving him a creeping head high that he was still getting used to, and a welcome body stone that made him feel like he was nailed to the chair, unable and unwilling to move much. He eyed the unopened bottle of whiskey that sat on one of the bookshelves in front of him, wanting so much to open the bottle and pour himself a large measure or three from it. Instead, he turned his head away, resisting the temptation.
When Leia left for Hell, Frank decided to cut back on the drink. It just didn't seem right to sit around drowning his sorrows in a bottle when Leia was trapped in a place like Hell, suffering through God knows what. He had been down that road before when Leia's mother, Rachel, went to Hell, and he wasn't about to fall into that dark hole of depression again. So Eva suggested marijuana instead of drink. He'd been smoking the green for the last few months. It felt better not to be drinking so much, but he still felt the pull of the bottle every day, especially at nights if he was alone with his thoughts. The weed didn't do as good a job of dampening those thoughts as the drink used to, but it relaxed him enough most times not to care.
Frank automatically reached for the Beretta on the fireplace when he heard the sound of a car crunching the gravel outside. The engine was loud and powerful sounding, an engine he recognized straight away as being that of his nephew's car. He got up and crossed to the window with the gun in one hand and the joint in the other. It was Josh all right, and Leia seemed to be with him. Frank's face hardened slightly at the sight of Josh. Nephew or not, the boy was bad news. Frank didn't like the idea of Leia being back around him. When it came to Josh, Leia didn't think straight. His influence made her blind to certain things, like the fact that Josh wasn't worth saving. That was Frank's opinion, and one he didn't expect Leia to share, given that Josh was her twin brother. He sighed at the notion of family, and how muddy those waters could get. There was a lot to be said for being alone. Not that he could handle being alone again. Not now when he had people he cared about around him again. The complications were still preferable to the empty void of being alone.
Frank went and sat down in the chair again. A moment later, Leia walked into the cabin, and Frank turned in his chair to say hello. Straight away, he saw the emotion in her eyes, her flushed cheeks stained with tears. He didn't have to ask what the problem was. He already knew.
He put the joint in the ashtray and went to her. Leia burst out crying as she hugged his chest. Frank said nothing, holding her until she had finished. "Come and sit down," he said eventually, guiding her over to one of the armchairs, then handing her the joint. "Northern Lights. Good for relaxing."
A smile creased Leia's lips. "Since when did you start smoking weed?"
"Since I decided to cut back on the drink. My liver was threatening to walk out on me."
Leia chuckled and took a few drags on the joint, visibly relaxing into the chair a moment later. "That's strong, and just what I needed." She put her head back and closed her eyes, the tension seeming to drain from her body.
