Alan Price and the Colossus of Rhodes (The Nephilim Chronicles) (11 page)
Read Alan Price and the Colossus of Rhodes (The Nephilim Chronicles) Online
Authors: Jonathan Yanez
of a large flagon of beer and a sunrise behind it. “Don’t judge the Sunny Mead
by outward appearance,” Danielle spoke into Alan’s earpiece. “It’s one of the
most dangerous places in the city. It’s a known hangout spot for some of the very
worst demon Nephilim and Infinity himself is no joke. We’ve tangled with him
before.”
Alan didn’t argue with her but he
still found it hard to believe that the well-kept bar could be that dangerous.
With each step came more affirmation to his thoughts. The building was located
in the center of the city. Traffic flowed by at a steady pace, the exterior
paint looked as though it had been recently touched up and even the sounds of
classical rock music drifted from the door.
aren’t bothered. Angel, enter through the rear, I don’t want Infinity slipping
away.” The two team members nodded without a word and moved to fulfill Jacob’s
orders.
“What about me?” Alan asked, “And I
don’t have a chosen name but honestly I don’t have anyone the cares about me
you could probably call me Al—“
“We can just refer to Alan as ‘You’
for now,” Danielle’s voice said over their earphones. “And you’re wrong, Alan,
you have a whole team of people who care about you now.”
know how to take the words spoken in kindness. Luckily, they had reached the
entrance to the bar. Jacob saved him from having to respond. “Get read, You,
stay close.”
Chapter 34
anything. Still nothing struck him as demented or demonic. A dozen or so
patrons filled the interior. They sat in stools around the bar or the few
tables and booths that made up the remainder of the Sunny Mead. A pool table
sat towards the back. Carefully scanning the bar’s patrons, Jacob made his way
over to the pool table. One man stood alone at the table tossing an eight ball
in his right hand as he studied the other pieces on the worn green velvet.
“Infinity is alone,” Jacob said
quietly into his earpiece.
“No one in the back,” Angelica
chimed in.
the man was more unsuspecting than Jacob and two, the look on his face told him
he had not been expecting visitors.
“Infinity, I’m just here to talk,”
Jacob said. “This can be as painless or as painful as you would like it to be.”
“I have nothing to say to you, Guardian. Who’s the new recruit? Egad! Man, you Angel-Nephilim
are multiplying like rabbits, aren’t you?”
Jacob took a step forward and
leaned in towards the unwilling informant. “I want to know what you know, about
the Chronicle.”
cracked and he started to laugh. “You’re serious? You think you are going to
walk in here and demand answers from me?” Infinity looked past Jacob’s large
shoulder to Alan. “Can you believe this guy?”
Alan wasn’t sure what he was
supposed to say or if he was supposed to say anything at all. Previously he had
avoided most contact with people, which made thinking on his feet in a
conversation harder than it should be. “I’d tell him if I were you,” Alan said
kicking himself mentally for not thinking of something more intimidating to say.
about and even if I did I wouldn’t tell you, so where does that leave us now?”
“You,” Jacob said over his shoulder
using Alan’s temporary chosen name, “Get everyone out of the bar.”
enough but making a group of inebriated people leave a bar, including the
bartender himself seemed like a tall order. “Ummm, yeah, sure—and how
should I do that?”
“Figure it out.”
each other down and slowly made his way to the center of the room. Clearing his
throat, he raised his voice above the steady sound of music and chatter in the
bar. “Excuse me, ladies and gentleman. I’m going to have to ask you to leave.
It’ s not safe for you here anymore.”
Nothing happened. Alan received a
dirty look from a large biker at the bar and an old man glanced his way and
back down at his drink just as quickly.
earpiece, “I could use a little help.”
“Don’t worry, You.” Danielle
chuckled to herself over the microphone, “I got you. Tell them that you are
gifted with the ability to see angels and demons. That you are a Nephilim and
you can predict the future, and that they’re all about to be drowned by a
terrible flood.”
reasons he shouldn’t take Danielle’s advice. “I don’t think that’s going to
work.”
“Trust me.”
what Danielle wanted to him to say. He took a deep breath and shouted,
“Everybody, you need to leave immediately! I can see the future and this whole
place is about to be flooded. You need to get out now!”
This time everyone looked his way.
For a split second, Alan felt like a teenager again looking at the entire
school before they laughed and ridiculed him for being different. Heat pushed
its way through Alan and sweat gathered on his brow. Before anyone could respond
to his insane statement, a rumbling shook the building. The walls, ground and
ceiling quivered before holes burst open and water pipes erupted from every
direction.
different locations. Wide-eyed patrons screamed and ran for the doors. They
looked at Alan horrified as he returned their stares with an expression of
shock of his own.
When the last hysterical bar
attendee left the building the water stopped gushing from the broken pipes.
Alan stood stunned for a second more before he turned his soggy shoes back towards
Jacob and Infinity. What he saw made him do a double take. Instead of a single
Infinity standing with Jacob, a mob of men greeted him. They were all the same,
identical to the man Jacob and Alan had confronted but now instead of one,
there were over a dozen.
“Oh, I don’t know, Guardian. The
odds look pretty good to me,” one of the many Infinities said. He turned his
head from side to side looking at his duplicates. “What do you think, boys?”
agreement. Before Alan had time to form a plan, the mob of Infinities attacked.
Chapter 35
before the first wave of Infinites hit them. Alan had no time to process what his
eyes were telling him, as Jacob’s skin turned a dark grey. A granite color
replaced his previously olive complexion as their many enemies tackled him at once.
There was no time to come to a
conclusion on what he witnessed or ask questions, he had to move. Infinity was
fast, not as fast as Alan but much faster than any human being. To a much
smaller extent than Alan, speed must have also been one of Infinity’s gifts.
was directed at his face from his right. Directly in front of him, another
Infinity-clone lunged at him in a tackle.
Remember what Angelica taught you.
You can be something more than you thought. You
are
something more than
you thought.
Alan struck the Infinity to his
right across the jaw sending the man flying in the opposite direction. The
clone to his left received the same treatment. Alan didn’t have time to strike
the third copy of Infinity who lunged towards him head on in a tackle; instead,
he planted his feet as firmly as he could on the wet ground and braced himself
for the impact.
any man. For Alan the force felt like a gentle push. Arms still wrapped around
Alan’s thick torso, Infinity grunted and pushed to no avail. After a brief
moment of struggle with no result, the clone released Alan and with a nervous
smile in his direction called over his shoulder, “Ummm… hey, guys? I’m going to
need some help over here.”
Immediately a group of Infinities
broke their focus on Jacob and ran to assist their fellow clone. A satisfied
grin spread over the lips of the copy in front of Alan, “It’s over, kid. There
are too many of us.”
Alan nodded, he couldn’t argue with
the statement. Michael’s words along with Jacob’s echoed in his ears. For the
first time he voiced the possibility of what he was becoming. “But Infinity,”
Alan responded, “I’m stronger than all of you could ever be.”
doubled in size. Alan himself was even surprised he had responded so
heroically. Alan grabbed his enemy around the collar with one hand and belt
with the other. Alan lifted the grown man off the ground and over his head. Although
he had never played football, Alan imagined that his motion now was similar to
how a quarterback would feel preparing to throw downfield.
“Oh, no…” the Infinity in Alan’s
grasp moaned.
through the air, sending him in a direct path of collision with the group of
charging clones that had moved to answer their bother’s plea for help.
The entire mob of men collided with
so much force it knocked them all to the ground and sent them sliding in
multiple directions across the wet floor. Now Alan searched the soggy bar for
Jacob. There was only one place he could be. A small mountain of Infinites was
dog piled on what had to be Jacob. The mound of squirming arms, legs and heads writhed
like some mythical beast.
Even as Alan approached the mass of
cloned men, the pile erupted with a shout that did not belong to this world. Clones
flew in every direction, yelling as they were thrown through the air. Many
landed roughly, skidding across the wet ground as Jacob sent them all tumbling
head over heels.
exertion. The clones had ripped his shirt from his torso and now instead of
skin, what appeared to be rock covered his body. Before Alan could ask whether
his power was to turn into a slab of granite, the Infinity clones around them
began to disappear. One by one, they dissolved into the air until only one
figure remained. He was sprawled out on the floor, soaked from head to toe. Blood
fell freely from his nose and a cut on his left temple.
Jacob ignored Alan and stalked over
to the fallen combatant. Grabbing the man by his hair with one hand, he lifted
him to a standing position. Infinity squealed with pain gripping with both
hands the hand Jacob used to hold his hair. “Tell me, Infinity, tell me what
you know or God as my witness, I will rip your hair from your body before I
send you to the eternal Hell that is waiting for you.”
so by his actions. “No, no, please. Please don’t kill me I’ll tell you! I’ll
tell you everything! I swear!”
Jacob released his hold sending
Infinity falling to the ground again, “You have one minute.”
are crazy!”
“Fifty-five seconds,” Jacob said.
Ardat. She thinks she’s found the Chronicle. The Chronicle that holds the
instructions on how to forge the celestial weapons.
She’s-going-to-get-it-tonight.”
Infinity had said the previous
sentence as if it was one word. Alan saw the terror in his eyes as he shuddered
under Jacob’s stare. He had to be telling the truth.
“Oh,” Infinity whimpered, “she’ll
kill me if I tell you. I’m as good as dead if she finds out I ratted her out!”
don’t tell me?” Jacobs said.
Alan could practically see the
thought process going on behind Infinity’s shifting eyes. “Point taken, alright,
they tracked down the Chronicle by tracing the heritage of the family it was
entrusted to when it was banished from Heaven. It’s some college kid, Kyle
Brown. That’s all I know. I swear I don’t know anything else.”
to Infinity and speaking into his earpiece. “Did you get that?”
“Yep,” Danielle responded, “Doing a
search now and… Got it. Kyle Brown, twenty years old and goes to the local
community college in the center of town. Looks like his math class just got out
a few minutes ago. Angelica and Alan should be able to make it there in a
matter of seconds.”
a waiting Arther and Angelica.
“Wait a minute,” Alan said. “Before
we go racing off does anyone care to explain to me how the whole water-thing
worked? Arch, did you do that?”
credit but along with speed and strength, Angel has the ability to channel and
manipulate the flow of water.”
Angelica pushed her blonde hair into
a ponytail, “I’ll tell you all about it later. Right now we have a Chronicle to
catch.”
your speed to get there now. Arch and I will be a few minutes behind. And be
carful: if this really is the Chronicle we’re chasing down and Ardat is behind
it, this will be dangerous.”