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  “I love her,” came the simple reply, but the words and the sentiment infuriated Armaros.

  “Love,” he sneered, glancing at the others and shaking his head as though he could not believe the idiotic words coming from his brother’s mouth. “Love is lie invented by weak-minded fools to excuse their own lusts and selfish desires. There is no such thing.”

  “Now that I have felt it, brother, I know it is powerful and real,” Bezaliel said. “We have no power at all compared to this.” He looked imploringly at the men behind Armaros. “You have felt it, too, my brothers. I know you have. Sham, do you remember Idrissa? You loved her.”

  “But he was wise and left her,” Armaros hissed, his silver eyes glinting red. “This woman? If you really loved her you would tell her the truth of who you are. You choose to hide, knowing if she knew you were a fallen and damned creation she would leave you. Is this love, then, to hide who we are to get what we want?” Armaros spat on the ground. “You sicken me, Bezaliel. You are already a lying fool, as every other common man.”

  Bezaliel stood tall, fierce in his anger. “Have you not felt remorse at all for what we have done? For the lives ended, the pain inflicted, the blood shed? Shamsiel, please. Remember the cries of Idrissa as she begged you to spare her and her daughter…your daughter.” The man behind Armaros shook his head angrily, clearly remembering but wanting to forget. “What happens when we win, when love does not?” He opened his arms wide, pivoting to gesture at the pool behind him. “This place has become our shame. The clear waters of this pool once ran red with the blood of the innocent because of you, Armaros. We are fallen because we deserve it.”

  “This is our kingdom and our legacy!” Armaros raged.

  “We lost our legacy when we failed in our calling!” Bezaliel roared in reply. “Feel the pain of what you have done, brother!” He lunged for the man before him, grabbing him by the throat and shoving him into the pool. The two men tumbled in together.

  Aisi felt herself fall into the water with them. Instead of seeing the rippling images on the shore above her through the water, she found herself in utter darkness. Screams of agony enveloped her. All around her she felt heat and saw flames shooting skyward as villages burned.

  Four men, tall and broad, strode casually from the scene as the smell of burning flesh filled the air and stung her nostrils. She choked on the smoke. Machetes glinted in the air as they came rushing down, and shrieks of agony filled her ears. A pile of hands lay at her feet, swimming in their own blood.

  She was drowning, not in the waters of the pool, but in sorrow and remorse. Guilt and pain so powerful she couldn’t breathe engulfed her, and as she felt herself sinking in despair. It overwhelmed her. She wanted to die.

  With a gasp she found herself back on the water’s edge. Bezaliel knelt next to the body of Armaros, sobbing, the red marks from his hands still visible on the dead man’s throat. Above him, a black shadow hovered, red eyes glinting.

  A low voice pulsed through the clearing and shook every inch of her. “You think you can deny me what will be mine? You may have delayed me, brother, but you cannot win. I reign with malice and terror over my kingdom and I will not be denied because you were foolish enough to develop a conscience.”

  The black form turned suddenly on the three men, rushing at them, surrounding them completely in its dark shadow just as a young priest burst into the clearing. It was Father J, young and thin, free of scars. He held a Bible in one hand and a large golden cross, the cross which now hung over the entrance to his chapel. The dark cloud grew and filled the entire clearing. A nearly inaudible growl of laughter resonated all around them as the young priest began shouting in Latin, holding the cross before him.

  “Pater noster in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum!” Father J yelled above the raging winds of a storm which existed only in the clearing, which only surrounded the survivors. “Adveniat regnum tuum, fiat voluntas vos sicut in caelo et in terra…” He spoke so quickly, Aisi couldn’t keep up. His voice boomed, shaking the trees over him.

  “This is my kingdom. Pain is my glory. I will not be denied,” the voice whispered smoothly. Somehow it made Aisi’s head pound in agony. The wind intensified and shifted, surrounding the brother who’d said nothing. “Baraqel. My brother…”

  The gale shifted swiftly and gathered into a dark, black cloud which rammed into the man’s chest with such intensity that he fell, gasping, to the ground. Calm once again filled the clearing as the leaves stopped rustling. An unnerving still spread through the clearing. Only the water rushing over the rocks could be heard as Baraqel stood, his red eyes staring at the body on the ground.

  “You robbed me of my flesh, Bezaliel,” a voice hissed, even though the man’s lips hadn’t moved. “You owe me.” He ran at Bezaliel, but his opponent was ready. With a sudden cry of pain and an expression of surprise, the man pulled back from the brother he meant to attack, a red stain spreading rapidly beyond the carved hilt of an ivory-handled knife lodged in his stomach. The black shadow emerged from the falling body with a shriek of anger, and then disappeared into a hole under a rocky crag near the waterfall.

  Bezaliel slumped to his knees. Covering his face with thick hands, he sobbed over the bodies of the men collapsed together on the ground. Shamsiel stood next to him, laying an arm across his shoulder. “It had to be done,” he whispered.

  Father J knelt down next to him as well, tucking his Bible and cross into his robes as he fell weakly next to them. “Bezaliel, you have done well, son.”

  “Jok…what I feel,” he cried, resting his hands on his thighs and raising his face to the heavens as tears streamed down his cheeks. “It hurts. I have lost my brothers. I have harmed so many. I killed and maimed and destroyed.” His voice broke.

  “What you feel, Bezaliel,” Father J answered gently, “is remorse. You feel it fully, because you are not human. You make no excuses for yourself. This will cleanse you and make you whole, my son. This is the only way for you to overcome the destiny you chose when you betrayed your original call as a Watcher. You have a choice now, both of you.” He looked at the men squarely as they rose and stood before him. You are free of your broken promise to protect this place. You are free to leave but you must swear never to reveal who and what you truly are.

  “Armaros is weak now, and the only refuge for him is among the damned. They know him and will recognize his power when he regains his strength. He will return one day, with an army of demons who will try to possess the bodies of anything living. Your calling now is to guard the two portals from which he can escape.”

  The vision grew blurry, coming in and out of focus as the images came faster. Bezaliel and Shamsiel tossing the bodies into the crag and setting them on fire. The two men hugging and walking their separate ways down the dusty road. A wedding where a beaming bride with long red curls stood next to a tall, broad-shouldered man, the two alone with their priest in a small chapel under a beautiful gold cross.

  The image abruptly sharpened back into focus as Aisi’s twin cried for help and was suddenly silenced. The trees surrounding her old house stood perfectly still, ignorant of the dark wind raging through their branches as a priest and a fallen angel shrieked in Latin. The cement they poured into the rocks, near what appeared to be an old well next to the house Jorja and a man now known as Billy shared with their twin girls, glowed fiery red. Flames shot out around the edge of the hole they tried desperately to fill.

  Both men placed their hands over it, black on white, as the concrete rippled and threatened to explode. The skin on their hands bubbled into blisters as the smell of singed hair and melting flesh filled the air, but they did not back away. Flames licked their hands, through fissures not yet sealed, and jumped up to hit the priest. He backed away, covering his face with howls of pain, but Aisi’s father kept shouting. The spiraling shadow was sucked with shrieks of fury into the cracks around the edge of the cement, and the ferocious wind died away as the red flames vanished. All was silent once more
.

  Chapter 12 Unexpected Visitor

  Aisi yanked herself out of the vision. She didn’t want to stay and witness the atrocities committed by her father indefinitely, but she could have—t here was so much to see, thousands of years of playing warlord and encouraging tribal warfare, starvation, and deprivation. She couldn’t bear to see any more. Trembling, she realized she’d gone weak in the knees. She wanted to stop seeing things but the vision refused to turn off. She tried to wipe the sweat from her forehead, and she realized she was nearly soaked. The images kept racing through her mind. Eyes open, eyes closed…it didn’t matter. The more she saw, the sicker she felt. She noticed Father J sitting across from her, holding a trash can toward her with a look of understanding and sympathy. Aisi reached over, yanked it from his hands, and puked into it.

  “Bad time?” Zinnia asked nervously. She walked in just in time to see her bestie blow chunks into the bin, and she hurried over to keep Aisi’s spiraling curls from falling into the mess as she retched some more. “What happened? You okay?” she asked gently. “Do I need to take you home?”

  Father J shook his head. “Sometimes the truth is hard to stomach even when you want to know it.”

  Vance and Colby walked in behind Zinnia a few moments later. Colby stopped when he saw Aisi finishing her puke fest. He reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out a miniature bottle of mouthwash. He thrust it toward Aisi. “Happens to me all the time. I always come prepared.”

  Aisi accepted the bottle with a shaking hand and a rueful smile. “I don’t even want to know why you blow chunks all the time,” she muttered. She turned to Father J. “Where’s the bathroom?”

  Father J pointed to a small door just off the living room. She closed it behind her once she crammed herself into the tiny room, which had barely enough room for a toilet, sink, and shower, and the walls sported some of the most hideous wallpaper she’d ever seen. The giant orange and blue flowers made her nauseous again, so she closed her eyes as she swished the mouth rinse as she leaned over the blue, scalloped sink. Over the sound of the faucet’s rushing water she could hear Zinnia teasing Colby about throwing up, and Colby going into detail about his great love of strawberry milkshakes despite his fierce lactose intolerance.

  Aisi felt incredibly tired all of a sudden. The sound of water falling into the sink soothed her, but images from the pond kept returning. She realized she wasn’t angry anymore at her father for hiding the truth. She was mad that she couldn’t escape from the awful images leftover from the vision. She closed her eyes and focused hard on the laughter in the next room, clearly heard through the trailer’s thin walls. She discovered that she could actually see them, or she thought she did. She focused more intently on the sound of Zinnia’s voice. When she did, the image in her mind grew sharp and clear.

  “Aisi, are you okay?”

  Aisi felt a thrill. She could hear the voice through the wall, and in her mind she could see Zinnia saying them at the same time. Cool. “I’m good,” she called back. She took another deep swig of mouthwash, emptying the bottle. She swished a few more times, spat into the sink, and then rinsed her face. She patted it dry with a threadbare towel, and then opened the door and tossed the empty bottle back at Colby. He caught it with a free hand and grinned.

  “Thanks,” she said as she rejoined the group. She glanced at Vance, who looked weird all of a sudden. He looked at Colby and Zinnia very uncomfortably, as though any display of affection seemed painful to him. The two were snuggled up together on Father J’s couch, holding hands and smiling at her.

  “So are you okay?” Zinnia repeated, a concerned look on her face.

  “All is well,” Aisi assured her.

  “Great!” she said excitedly. “Colby and I were thinking of heading over to that creepy house across the street and playing with Vance’s equipment.”

  Colby burst out laughing. “That just sounds so wrong!” Vance shook his head, and Zinnia giggled. Vance winced.

  “Gutter brain,” she teased. “Anyway, I always heard that place was haunted but I’m too chicken to check it out alone. With real ghost hunters, I might not be so scared.”

  “Should I stay close, just in case?” Colby asked. “To protect you?”

  “Totally.”

  Aisi rolled her eyes. “I have a feeling he would stay close no matter what, Zin. Looks like you guys are already…you know. Together.”

  Zinnia blushed, something Aisi had never seen her do, and she looked questioningly at Colby. He smiled and pulled her closer. Zinnia looked up at her bestie, flustered but smiling. “So are we gonna go check this place out or what?”

  Aisi pulled a face. “I don’t think so. I don’t like it over there.”

  Zinnia looked disappointed. “Why? What’s the matter? Scared of a little haunted house?”

  Aisi sighed. Zinnia moved into the big house on the hill on the other side of town when they were in fifth grade. She didn’t know. “Zin, you know how my twin vanished when I was younger?”

  Zinnia looked confused. “Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?”

  “That house is where we lived when she disappeared,” Aisi explained. “I don’t like the place. It’s been empty since we left it, and I’d be totally and completely happy if it stayed that way. I wouldn’t care if it burned down, actually.”

  Zinnia immediately looked at her apologetically. “I’m sorry, Aisi. I had no idea…” Then a look of indignant outrage crossed her face. “But why would you not tell me something like that? I tell you everything! You can’t even tell me the most interesting thing about this town is the same place your sister got taken?”

  A surge of anger swelled in Aisi’s chest. “I was too busy taking care of the mother who went all whack-a-doodle when Nakia vanished, and raising the little brother she’s too crazy to raise herself to bother telling you the whole story. My bad, sorry,” she snapped. Through the corner of her eye, she could see Vance smiling, looking pleased. Something about him was not right.

  “If you want to go to the house, I will take you,” a voice said from the corner. Vance reached toward his own throat as he spoke. He hummed, feeling the vibrations made by his own voice box with a look of wonder, like speaking was a new sensation for him. The voice clearly came from Vance, yet it sounded so wrong.

  Wrong, but familiar.

  He stretched and fidgeted, looking at his hands and feet as if he had never seen anything so interesting. He wrenched his neck back and forth, feeling it as he rolled his shoulders. “You have to promise me, however, that if I take you, you are prepared for what is to come. Are you ready for that, Zinnia?”

  A chill ran down Aisi’s spine. She turned to look fully at Vance for the first time since she’d seen the vision, and she realized that something with him was very, very wrong. He turned to them and looked at Aisi. His eyes met hers, and a gleam of red behind them glared out at her.

  “Aw, crap!” she moaned.

  Aisi and Father J realized at the same moment that Vance was possessed. He grabbed the Bible from his coffee table, clutching it firmly and reciting the words of the exorcism without bothering to open any pages. Aisi reached her hand toward the gilded cross on the wall. It flew obediently into her hands, and she held it toward him as she too began yelling at him in Latin. Zinnia, looking confused, crawled up the back side of the couch as she backed away in terror.

  Vance stood in the middle of the room, arms thrust wide and legs spread. His head rolled back in fiendish laughter. “Colby, Zinnia, grab him and hold him!” Aisi cried. She cast her eyes on a small arm chair in the corner, and it zoomed across the floor and hit Vance in the back of the knees. He fell back into the chair, still laughing maniacally.

  “Grab him!” she ordered. Zinnia and Colby complied. They seemed confused and frightened, but they held Vance firmly as he thrashed wildly in the chair, still laughing. He threw his head back and his face turned red and then purple as he grunted and strained against them. Zinnia quaked, looking lost a
nd scared but determined to help her friend.

  “Let the snare which he knoweth not come upon him, and let the net which he hath hidden, catch him, and into that very snare let him fall!” Father J thundered. “Let the mercies of the Lord come to our aid. Seize the dragon, the ancient serpent! Cast him into the bottomless pit, so that he may no more seduce the nations!”

  “What is going on?” Colby cried as Vance suddenly stopped laughing and started to snarl and snap at his captors, looking more like a caged animal than a human. His body writhed and jerked as if in pain, and he scratched anything he could reach. His eyes rolled back in his head. Zinnia started to sit back and release her grip, and Vance jerked to life and lunged at her. He drew blood as he clawed at her thigh, looking up at her with red eyes. “Succorus! Facio!”

  The demon possessing Vance was calling for help. Aisi felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end, and as she looked up a sinking feeling hit her. Her heart sank. “There are more, Father J.”

  He nodded grimly. “I have this one. You get rid of the audience,” he instructed, never taking his eyes from the thrashing figure before him. Colby and Zinnia hung onto Vance, keeping him in the chair. The blood from the gash on Zinnia’s leg ran down and dripped onto the carpet.

  Aisi nodded back, resolute. “I can do this,” she said, mostly to herself. “Revertamur ad infernum, spiritus obscurus. Abi in malam rem!” The black shadows near the ceiling grunted and glared, but they sank through the floor at her command.

  “Deliver this spirit enslaved by the evil one,” Father J beseeched, powerful and fearsome. “Return to your pit of despair, evil one, with the vanquished and damned! Free this innocent soul from malefice, evil, despair, and make him whole. Be with me, all that is good, and unite with this heart to expel the evil one!”