Betrayal (The Divine, Book Two) (28 page)

At least twenty minutes had passed when I decided to give up. Time was in short supply, and we needed to go meet Obi. I could always bring him back here and set him on cracking the system if necessary. I typed in one last word, ‘balance’, and watched the red error text pop up yet again. It was worth a shot.
 

“Can I help you with something?”
 

I had been so involved with the computer, Rachel’s voice caught me completely off guard. She was standing on the other side of the desk, hands on her hips, a stern expression on her face. When had she gotten here? My initial reaction was to push myself back from the desk and start to utter an apologetic explanation. I remembered what Josette had said and I tried to stay calm. Seeing her standing there, her posture accusing me; it didn’t work. My emotions were too raw, and in the back of my mind I could hear Ulnyx calling me a sucker.
 

“Yes, you can,” I said, pulling strength into my body and leaping across the desk. I had the demonic blade against her throat before she could react. “You can tell me the password to that little hidden app you’ve got. You know which one I mean.”

I had nearly shouted, and I could hear the chairs in the kitchen shifting downstairs. It was followed by a herd of footsteps, and a moment later Charis and Zeek stormed into the room, with Celia right behind.

“Landon, child, what are you doing?” Celia cried, shoving herself between the two Templars.
 

“Celia, stay back,” I said, pushing the blade against Rachel’s throat as tightly as I dared without breaking the skin. “I’m sorry, but she’s been keeping some pretty major secrets, and I need her to tattle.”

Zeek took hold of Celia’s arm, keeping her in place. As strong as she was, she was no match for the massive Templar.

I pulled the dagger away and gave Rachel a soft shove towards the computer. “Put in the password,” I said.

Rachel looked at me, fear and tears in her eyes. “Landon, wait. Please. It’s not what you think. I’m not…”

I was hoping she would defend herself, and tell me I was wrong. Part of me was counting on it. Too bad she was lying. It only made me more angry.
 

“
Told you so
,” Ulnyx said. I came down on him like a vice, pushing him from my conscious stream.

“Not what I think?” I shouted. “Not what I think? What I think is that you’re a servant of the Beast. Am I wrong? Tell me I am, and remember that you can’t lie to me.”

I could smell every bit of her fear. I could practically taste it on my tongue. She backed away from me, towards the chair behind the desk. She looked at the ground. “What are you doing here?” she asked me again.

“I came to borrow your computer,” I said. “I was looking for Obi. I found more than I wanted to. Now answer the question, or I swear I’ll put this dagger into your heart.”
 

She flopped into the chair, her eyes downcast. “I’m sorry, Landon. I never wanted to hurt you.”

She was telling the truth, at least as she believed it. “Then why?” I asked, my surfaced emotions bounding chaotically. “You’re a Touched; a shining example of what it means to be compassionate and giving and to walk the holy path. You were also like a mother to me. Why would you do this?”

I could see the tears drip from her eyes and land between her legs, splashing on the leather of the chair. Her hands moved slowly to the keyboard, and she whispered between breaths. “It was no accident I was the one who took you in, after you defeated Reyzl,” she said.

What? My mind shot back to the day we had met. It had only been a few days, and I was still in a fog. She had found me walking the streets, I had never questioned how or why. We had started talking, and she invited me to dinner. No judgement, no anger, only compassion. Had it all been an act?

“I was supposed to keep an eye on you, and help you where I could without stepping over the line. The balance is very important to our work. You’re an easy person to care for, Landon. You have a strong soul. There was a time when I began to question what I was doing, because I had grown fond of you. Except, I thought when the time came you would join us. I thought you would go with Rebecca. She loves you, and the way you talked about her, I thought you cared for her too. Don’t you see, Landon? Everyone who cares the most about you - Rebecca, Sarah, and I; we want to set you free, to set everyone trapped in this stupid war free. This is the only way to do it.”

I walked around the desk so I could see the screen. She began typing in the password, one slow character at a time.
 

“You want me to believe you’re doing this for me?” I asked. She thought she was, which made me sick to my stomach. “How could you be, and believe it? You were a servant before you ever met me.”

I didn’t know if the last part was true, but she didn’t deny it. “None of us are free,” she replied. “We’ve been at war for thousands of years. We will
always
be at war. I used to believe that I could make a difference. I used to believe that God cared, and would help us win, so that the faithful could rise up and get the heaven that we deserve. I’ve realized that it’s never going to happen. The Beast
can
happen. Change
can
happen. I
am
doing this for you, and for me.” She pointed at Charis and Zeek. “I’m even doing it for them. The Templars think they’re so righteous. Maybe they just enjoy all of this war mongering?” She shrugged. “I don’t. I’m done. It will never, ever end, Landon. Is that what you want?
 

She finished typing, and moved her hand to hover over the enter key, waiting for my response. For the first time since Sarah had disappeared, I gave pause, and that pause led me to doubt. What if she was right? I had been tired, empty, and emotionless. I had been acting on instinct, keeping the balance, and feeling nothing. I had sought out the mark, searched for it in hope of finding some kind of salvation. I looked up at Charis, her face a bunched mess of worry at my hesitation.
 

What if my path had led me here not to fight the Beast, but to help set him free? My emotions were a tangled nest that I couldn’t sort. I looked back to Rachel, pleading with her eyes, begging me to listen to her reason. I couldn’t deny I had been unhappy, drained by my position in the universe. What if I did free the Beast? What if it destroyed everything? I would be free from the prison I had put myself in. We would all be free of the constant battle, the so-called balance. Did it matter if everything else was gone too, if I wasn’t around to know it?
 

My anger began to fade. I leaned in and kissed Rachel on the forehead. “Thank you,” I said to her.
 

“Landon?” Charis said. I could feel her power building, preparing to fight me. I turned my head towards her.

“She’s right,” I said. “I don’t want to always be at war. I don’t want this to be my eternity. I need more than this.”

Her power kept growing, but she didn’t presume to unleash it. She had seen the essence of who I was, and so she held onto her own doubts. She was still unsure, because she could only know who I was when we had been in the cave. She didn’t know who I was right now.

I put my hand on Rachel’s chair and rolled her away from the computer. “If you care for me,” I said, “tell me what’s in the file.” I could have opened it and found out for myself. That wasn’t the point.

Rachel’s eyes met mine, and she smiled sadly. “A list of the owners and locations of all the texts you collected. Each of them has been tasked with keeping the marks safe. I know you have the original sources, but the important passages have been transcribed. They’ve been digitally encrypted and spread throughout the internet, but the keepers have the keys. All except one. That one you can only get from one place.”

“Lucifer’s Bible?” I guessed.

She nodded. “The name of the servant who holds it is in the file, and only they know its location. Few of us have ever seen even that much.”

“Why did you get to see it?”

“I had to have access, so I could show it to you if need be,” she said. “We’ve planned for everything.”

Charis’ eyes followed me closely as I moved over to the computer. Her power was still gathered, but I knew now she wouldn’t use it unless I moved on her first. It was a bad decision, because I was sure I could hit her faster. Not as hard, but faster. I had grown up since she had frozen me with a touch.

My finger found the enter key, and the app unlocked, opening up a spreadsheet that filled the entire screen.
 

“The Devil’s Bible is last,” she said.

I scanned the list as I scrolled. I recognized many of the names, and found others that I knew were replacements to torch-bearers I had been forced to kill. I didn’t rush down to the final entry, stalling a little bit for time while I continued to process everything I was learning. When I reached it, and read it, I wasn’t really surprised. It all seemed so natural, so fitting, so understandable.
 

“Landon, what does it say?” Zeek asked. All eyes were on me, waiting for me to do something.

I looked to Zeek, to Charis, to Celia, and then to Rachel. “It says we don’t know half as much as we think we do,” I replied. “But maybe that’s the point. Everyone has the freedom of choice, no matter what has been prescribed to them. We fight our own wars every day, and we decide our own outcomes. This existence may be imperfect, but it’s the variables that make it worth existing. With every passing moment things can change.”
 

In fact, they already had. Maybe we would always be at war. Maybe there was no satisfying all of the parties concerned. Then again, maybe there was. Maybe we had just grown too complacent with the status quo, and all it would take was someone to rock the boat a little bit. Maybe that someone would be me? One thing at a time.

Charis’ power began to fade as she relaxed her grip, heaving a deep sigh at my words. Rachel’s eyes locked onto mine, and I could feel her fear and sadness.
 

“You have a choice, right now,” I said. “Forget about everything that’s gone before. We can make a difference. You can make a difference. It can start right here.”

“I don’t, I can’t,” she replied. “It’s too late for me. I’ve already sworn myself to the Beast. I can’t escape it.” The tears were flowing more freely now. “I’m sorry, Landon. I’m sorry I lied to you, and tricked you. It wasn’t supposed to be this way, but I’m just so tired.”

“The Beast is still caged,” I said. “I’ll protect you. Rachel…”

Before I could react, she shot forward, her hand reaching out and finding the handle of the cursed dagger. She pulled it, getting just enough metal to slice her other hand open. The veins of poison began spreading instantly.

“Celia, holy water?” I asked, frantic in the moment.
 

“No,” Rachel said. “Landon… the Beast… the cage… is imperfect.” She closed her eyes, the poison spreading quickly up her arm. It didn’t matter, because she was already gone. She had acted to take her own life, and had fallen, dead.

“What did you do?” Celia cried, pulling her arm free and rushing around the desk. “Rachel?”
 

She bent down and put her hands on Rachel’s face, a face wracked with the pain of death and loss. I stood motionless, trying to come to terms with what she had done, and what she had said. ‘The cage is imperfect’. What did it mean?

“You did this,” Celia said, turning on me. “You couldn’t just leave it alone. You couldn’t just use the computer and go. Why did you have to be so snoopy?” The anger fell from her, and she collapsed onto the floor.

“I’m sorry,” I said, kneeling down and putting my hand on Celia’s back. “I didn’t want her to die. I just wanted her to see the truth.”
 

“What truth?” Celia said through the sobs. “Folks don’t understand what they’re getting into when they sign up to fight a war. Folks never see themselves as a casualty.”

“
Just leave her
,” Josette said. “
She needs her time to grieve, and you have work to do.
”

She was right. I didn’t say anything else. I stood up and headed for the door, averting my eyes from Charis and Zeek as I passed.
 

“First we get Obi, and then I have to go talk to someone,” I said. “At least we got lucky with finding Satan’s Bible.” I didn’t feel lucky. I remembered what Charis had said earlier, and it gave me chills.

“Landon?” Charis said, trying to touch my shoulder on the way by. I shook it off.

“Not now. Just give me a few minutes, okay?”

They followed me out of the room, downstairs and away from the house. My mind was still a whirlwind of thoughts and possibilities, and I didn’t speak until we had walked a few blocks.

“Obi is at the Intrepid Museum,” I said, not slowing or turning to look at them. “We go and pick him up, make sure he’s safe, and then we move on.”

“Landon, you know who the keeper of Satan’s Bible is,” Charis said. “We don’t need to go to your friend. I’m pretty sure he can take of himself.”

I stopped walking and turned on her. “I’ve already lost most of the people I care about over the last two days,” I said. “I’m not going to leave him behind. Cho is sure to be looking for him, because it’s likely he doesn’t know who has the Bible and he still wants to keep us from getting it. He
does
know Obi and Thomas are our best shot.”

 
“It won’t matter if Rebecca and Sarah free the Beast,” she said. “Every second we waste makes that even more likely. The Templars have the texts, we just need to get the Bible and go back to Thailand.”

I put my face close to hers, feeling the flush of our anger intermingling. “Would you have left Joseph behind? Besides, I would think you’d be awfully keen to get a shot at Cho, after what he did to him.” It was a cheap shot, and I knew I had gone too far. She reacted as though I had hit her in the gut.

“You son of a bitch,” she growled, her spittle a coldness across my face. “How dare you?”

“Guys,” Zeek said. “Let’s just take a breather here.”