Marked for Vengeance (35 page)

Alyx’s stomach
dropped. She now understood how truly disadvantaged they were.
Even God
can’t see them.

Jeremiah cocked
his head with confusion. “Then how come the Protectors could
see
them?”

“In regard to
your Protectors, this is the first time that Angels were created in human
vessels, and when they changed form we hoped their improved vision might be
able to detect the beasts’ movement as they operated in another dimension, which
proved right. This was the first time we created celestial beings with that in
mind, although, even their eyesight is limited to translucent shapes. There is
only one non-spiritual entity – a human here among us – that has the gift of
spiritual eyesight. We will introduce him later.

“For the rest of
us – Spirit Guides, Archs, Elders – none of us have that ability with our
eyesight either. When we were created long ago, the Creator did not know any of
this would happen. These beasts’ wickedness is so infinite, the Creator couldn’t
even see any of this in the future. His foresight is also completely blocked.

Oman stepped to
Atticus’ side, who tucked his chin into his chest, welcoming the break for the
spotlight to be on someone else. “To clarify who this ‘someone’ is that created
these beasts in the first place, his name is Serpious and was the Arch Angel of
War in one of the other two galaxies. He realized the value in the energy that
the human soul possesses and wanted to harness it for himself out of greed for
his own power. When the Creator acquired knowledge of this, he banished
Serpious into the darkness at the outer rim of the universe, away from access
to any other galaxies to live lonely and shamed for eternity. His disobedience
from the Creator turned him into something evil and, like I said before, the
Holy Creator couldn’t see him or his intentions any longer. We believe that the
beasts who travel with him to do his bidding were once human spirits, but were altered
by Serpious who had already obtained them before the Creator banished him, and-

“But wait a
minute,” Dr. Wu interrupted.

“Dr. Wu!”
Prolificent barked, and everyone in the gathering place flinched. “Please raise
your hand to speak.”

Dr. Wu’s head
jerked back. “We were not instructed to do that,” he argued.

“Irrelevant.”

Oman closed his
eyes and drew in a deep, calming breath. “Please, continue with your question,
Doctor.”

“This sounds a
lot like Lucifer,” Dr. Wu continued. “Wasn’t
he
cast down from heaven
for disobedience? God can see Lucifer, why is this Serpious guy any different?”

“Excellent
observation. Lucifer
was
cast out of heaven but remained in our galaxy.
He roams the Earth to entice living souls, not steal them for his own as Serpious
has done. Up until today, man on Earth had his own freedom intact to choose
which afterlife he spends eternity in. However, now Serpious and his legion has
invaded our planet and taken the souls from the living against their free will.

“But I still don’t
understand. Lucifer is evil too,” he said.

Oman grinned
with amusement. “I’m getting to that, Doctor. Serpious and his beings had light
years to churn in anger and malice, burning and contorting into entities our
minds could never conceive of. If you could even imagine, they are beings
more
evil than Lucifer and his minions. They grew to be the Creator’s sinister
parallel and have since been traveling through the universe, invading galaxies
and pillaging souls to add to their collection. They grow stronger every time.
How they are able to travel, nobody knows. We theorize that the energy their
rage produces allows them to. But either way, they’re here, and threaten every
human soul we’ve all grown to know, love, and protect – except, of course, the
ones who have already passed on and remain under our protection in heaven.”

Oman turned to
Atticus. “You may continue,” he said and bowed.

Atticus nodded
and wiped a bead of sweat that traveled along his temple. “The way Serpious’
invasion works, is that he and his army invade a planet with living souls, like
Earth, except nobody knows when this happens, because how would we? As we’ve
said,
nobody
can see them. From what I gather, they’ve lurked here
patiently for centuries, waiting for the right time to strike.

Dr. Wu flicked
his hand into the air with a raised finger. “Why centuries? That seems
excessive.”

“I’m not sure of
that either,” he replied and looked to Oman.

“I have pondered
over this many times,” Oman said. “And I think it would be safe to presume that
these beings view time the way we spiritual entities do – as an infinite loop
with no beginning or end. Because they are comprised of a fallen Arch Angel and
his acquired souls, they are also eternal entities. Centuries to them would be
but a small dot on a timeline.”

Everyone nodded,
his explanation making sense.

“Thank you,
Oman,” Atticus said. “They spend the majority of that time seeking out humans
who can aide them, but waited until they felt the world had accumulated enough
defiant, wayward souls. They must have felt the time was now.

Alyx knew it was
safe to agree with that. Throughout her lifetimes on Earth, she noticed how the
condition of the human morale deteriorated. It was even more evident in this
third and final lifetime because the morning and evening news would plaster
horrifying stories across the screen every ten minutes. Someone killed this
person in cold blood, or a serial murderer was on the loose, a child was stolen,
or an animal was mutilated. She felt certain that Serpious didn’t have to look
too far for the help he needed.

“They also spent
that time scouting out the ones that could be used against them, such as most
of you gifted humans, and waited until their time to strike to dispose of them.

Alyx clamped her
eyes shut, thinking of Isaac. The beasts had most certainly tried their best to
‘dispose’ of him.
Hopefully they won’t succeed,
she lamented, and
memories flashed through her mind of the man in the black suit, the way he made
her scar tingle as the beasts did. Atticus’s last statement echoed through her
mind.
They also spend that time scouting out the ones that could be used
against them.

 
Of course,
the man in the black suit was a Scout,
she thought and gulped.
And I led
him straight to Isaac’s doorstep.

“Luckily we were
one step ahead of them,” Prolificent crowed, his chest puffing out, “once we were
aware that these beings had arrived centuries ago and were targeting our
spiritually gifted, we came up with a plan. We created the Protectors to make
sure they stayed safe as soon as their gifts fully matured.

As soon as their
gifts fully matured,
Alyx
mused.
That’s why they sent us at certain times during our Markeds’ lives.
Isaac’s gift must have matured three years ago.

Willow’s hand
lifted, and everyone’s eyes snapped to her. “If you don’t mind, please tell us
what happened when you realized they had arrived, and that they targeted the
gifted humans,” she said in her colorful Spanish accent.

 “Sure, my child,”
he replied and turned to Oman, his lips twisting into a wry sneer, “would you
like to take this one?”

Alyx’s eyes cut
to Oman. Her Elder’s tone toward him had surprised her. It was quite
disrespectful. She expected the old man to shoot him a look or a displeased
scowl, but he replied to Willow without skipping beat, maintaining his
composure.

“Yes, my dear,”
Oman said with a smile. “After Serpious and his demons invaded the second
planet, wiping out the human souls there completely, the Creator blessed humans
on Earth to aide us if they decided to invade it – his last planet with humans.
His reason in doing this was in hopes that humans could do what he was unable –
see what they were capable of, and hopefully, what their plans were. He placed
within them a divine ability to protect their very existence.

“I have been in
touch with several of these gifted humans over the years but primarily prophets.
Their abilities are particularly useful to us because they can help us achieve
the optimal outcome of defeat. What we didn’t know, is Serpious also had the
ability to find these gifted humans and kept a close eye on them to make sure
they weren’t doing anything detrimental to their plan for a final take-over.

Oman looked over
the horizon in thought, and his voice lowered. “I worked with a man whose
abilities had reached full potential three hundred years ago. He wrote his
premonitions in a journal I had given him, and it was taken after his violent,
untimely murder. His home had been ransacked, and the only thing that remained
for us to use was a letter that had already been sent to his brother, warning
him of the world’s certain plight and pleading for him to get right with God. I
never set eyes on that journal, so I have no idea what it read. We could only
conclude by the horrific nature of his death, and the missing journal, that Serpious
and his army were the ones responsible for it, either directly or through a
human accomplice. More than likely, Serpious didn’t like what he wrote, either
because it predicted his defeat, or because the key to his defeat lied within
it.  From that moment on, as Prolificent mentioned, Protectors were assigned to
make sure that never happened again.”

As the crowd
took in this last bit of information, Alyx still couldn’t get over the manner
in which her Elder spoke to him. Did he hold him responsible for what had
happened to the only prophet to have conjured a prophecy?

Prolificent
nodded in agreement of Oman’s last sentiments. “Yes, as you might have seen,
the Protectors’ symbols on their backs have three peaks. Each peak represents
the three purposes of their existence, which all fit into their larger purpose
– to protect. The first, to sense when their Marked were in danger before we
summoned. The second, to get their Marked to the gateway safely
if
we
summoned. And the last, to aide the Warriors in battle and keep their shields
around them as they fight. But since the day that the prophet was murdered, not
one of our gifted humans had been attacked like that again, which might be
because, despite our best efforts, we have been unsuccessful at accumulating
another prophecy from anyone else.”

“Which we hope
to change,” Malachai said. “Beginning with the ones we brought here.”

Alyx agreed with
their conclusion about who killed the ancient prophet. “Horrific” was the exact
word she would use to describe Benjamin’s death, and they had also ransacked
his
home.
Were they looking for something? And why?

CHAPTER 2:

Miracles Happen

During the
banter, Atticus stood patiently at the front of the stage, listening and
waiting for his instructions to continue. When the voices rumbled into silence,
everyone’s eyes locked on him. “Additionally, their plan for the ‘take-over’
was incredibly well structured,” he continued, eager to finish. “From what I
gather, they’ve had eons to perfect their tactics. My apologies if what I’m
about to say becomes too disturbing, but I feel I need to tell it the way it
was explained to me. At Serpious’ command, the Grobes were to possess as many
souls as they could.

“And if I may
add,” Diamort said. “When we became aware of this first move, this is when we
summoned our Protectors.”

Prolificent
nodded.

“My apologies,
Atticus. Please continue.”

“Grobes are
simplistic, demonic entities, only capable of possession and torture. Serpious
considers them his most valuable resource since they’re the largest part of his
army. These are also the same beasts that Serpious ordered to attack the gifted
humans during their transport to the gateway. He ordered for all of them to be
destroyed.”

Serena raised
her willowy arm. “Excuse me, but how did they know of our plan?”

“I asked this
same question to Oman just before the gathering. While the Grobes’ jobs are to possess
all humans regardless, Serpious was aware of our plan. Our leadership here
theorizes that it might be because it was in the prophet’s journal that they
stole.”

The Elders and
the Spirit Guides nodded in unison.

“Oh yes, of
course,” she said.

Alyx’s stomach
dropped even further. Not only could the Creator not see them, but the enemy
had their hands on the only prophecy. Serpious and his beasts probably knew
their moves before they even made them.
How will any of this end well?
she wondered. Maybe it wouldn’t. The only one that could tell them was Isaac.

“And like I
mentioned before, they had enlisted the help of some misguided humans,
including me at the time, to help herd the possessed to one location. All of us
that Serpious enlisted were given a glass orb containing a portion of the
leader’s soul that would call to them. Mine was tied around my neck until I
went through the gateway, but of course it was unable to travel with me. Serpious
ordered us to then walk through the town, city, or wherever we lived and lead
the possessed to a pre-determined meeting place. Once there, we were to make
sure everything was sealed tight and wait for the next phase to begin.

Atticus paused,
waiting for more questions, but everyone remained horrifyingly fixated on every
word. “T-the next phase,” he continued, closing his eyes for courage, “was for
the possessed to stay in the dark, enclosed rooms, and their souls and bodies
be tortured by these Grobes. It’s my understanding that a human soul is most
valuable to Serpious if it’s tormented. Then, something called an Amassor comes
in. Amassors are more complex beings than Grobes, which can simulate the
appearance of a human much like a Scout does. They appear at the different
gathering sites and collect the souls that were tortured. They do this with a
stone that they also wear around their neck. All they have to do is step into
the room, and the tortured souls are drawn from the bodies and into it. Serpious
assured us, however, that our souls would be safe from the Grobes and the Amassors,
which is why he personally marked our foreheads. The number four signifies our
place within his army. One is for the Scouts, two is for the Grobes, three is
for the Amassors, and four is for his human accomplices.

Alyx saw the
mark clearer now. It looked like a tattoo and was definitely the shape of the
number four. The way Serpious etched the symbol into this skin, it appeared
like a child’s handwriting, shaky and disproportionate, but incredibly spooky.

“After the
Amassors collect the souls, we were to travel back to Serpious. But we weren’t
privy as to what Serpious’ plan was with the souls or what the final phase
would be. That was everything we were told.”

 Atticus searched
the crowd again, but nobody said a word as they stared with frozen expressions.
He finally pulled his hand from his pocket and wrung them together.

Oman touched his
shoulder. “Right, my child. That’s the only puzzle piece missing now. We know
Serpious’ intention is to steal the human souls and can only surmise it’s
because he seeks the infinite energy they possess. However, it’s probably
better that we
don’t
know exactly what he does with them. It’s bad
enough that he takes them against their will – and in such a horrible, brutal
way. Thank you, Atticus.”

“You’re
welcome,” he replied timidly.   

“Does anyone
have any questions?”

The large man in
the back raised his hand, the only one who had the guts to say anything. “Why
do you do this… tell us their secrets?” he groused in a thick Russian brogue.

Atticus dropped
his hands but couldn’t bring himself to look at the man directly. “Well, even
though they promised my soul a place in their army, to live as one of them –
powerful and undefeatable, as they called it – I had a change of heart. I felt
like what they were doing was wrong. The souls that were created here should
stay where they belong, in this part of the universe. And the next thing I
know, Audrey snatches me up this afternoon at the store while I’m out buying
something for dinner,” he replied while pointing to the red head next to
Christineth. “I had only changed my mind the day before and was incredibly
nervous about how I would get out of it.” His eyes lifted to Oman. “And I have
to say, I was relieved to be brought here… away from them.”

“I know, my
boy,” he replied and pulled him close for another friendly embrace.

Alyx looked to
her brethren as they sat on the benches ahead of her and wondered if they
finally grasped the seriousness of everything. They only had one chance, and
who knew how much time, to avenge what was done. Tears formed in her brown
eyes. Everyone she had known in this lifetime; Frederick, Stacey, Erica,
Jessica, Moe, Agnosio, even Mona, these creatures had possessed and tormented
them, all for greed and power, with not so much as one ounce of sympathy for
their delicate, human lives. Serpious and his beasts were the epitome of
everything monstrous and vile. But how long did they have until they left for
good, along with the precious human souls?

“If nobody else
has anything further for him, I’ll introduce the next gifted human,” Oman said.

Alyx raised her
hand.

Oman nodded in
her direction.

As all eyes
blazed into her, anxiety crept in. “Y-yes,” she said shakily, and Cindra
squeezed her hand tighter. “My question is about time. How long do we have to
figure out how to defeat them before they leave?”

Atticus shook
his head. “Unfortunately, I don’t know how long they plan on staying. They
didn’t disclose that to us either. Once they get what they came for, I’m sure
it’s only a matter of hours or days. Although, like Oman suggested earlier,
time to them bears little relevance. It could be a lot longer, or even shorter,
than we could ever anticipate.”

Alyx smiled
gratefully. “Thank you.”

Willow’s arm
shot into the air again. “So does that mean the souls are already taken?”

“A lot of the
souls have more than likely been captured, yes.”

“Then what are
we doing here? Everyone’s already dead! They’re all dead!” the Russian man
cried from the back.

“Do not be so
narrow-minded, Yuri,” Prolificent said chidingly. “Just because these beasts
ruined their vessels, doesn’t mean their life doesn’t exist in another form.
They carry on in their spirits that Serpious stole. They deserve to be in the
afterlife with their loved ones. We’re going to try and get them back.”

“And, just as
importantly, make Serpious pay,” Diamort added. “This isn’t only about justice,
we’re seeking vengeance.”

Yuri hung his
head and mumbled.

“Thank you,
Atticus,” Oman said to move the meeting along.

Atticus bowed
and hurried off the stage.

* * *

Ever since arriving,
not so much as a brief image flickered through Isaac’s mind during sleep. This
was as much troubling as it was peaceful, however. His dreams had become
increasingly disturbing over the past few days.

As he roused, he
much wished he could fall back to sleep. It was his only reprieve from the
stabbing pain in his back. He
did
feel slightly better this time,
although, nothing too significant, but his body no longer dripped with sweat
and breathing didn’t induce waves of pain. Maybe the water, incense, dressings,
and bitter tea
were
slowly working their magic. Very slowly.

His back wasn’t
the only thing that hurt him, though. Now that the pain of his inflamed wound
had muted some, a gnawing burn churned on the inside as though he had swallowed
a flaming pebble. Almost how a dreadful ulcer would feel. He recalled the moment
in the stairwell when the beast invaded his body, how it tore at his insides
before Alyx stepped in. This must be the after effects.

His memory
snapped back to their car ride to the gateway, how he connected the dots that
Alyx’s snooping led the beasts to his home.
For God’s sake, Alyx
,
he
thought with a heavy bitterness. Every pain he experienced reminded him once
again how her carelessness had brought the monsters to his doorstep, and he resented
the fact that it could have been Micah.

Interrupting his
thoughts, Julie walked by the opening with her arms full of firewood, and she glanced
in his direction. She dropped the bundle and scurried to his side. “You’re
awake again! Do you need anything?” she asked, kneeling beside him with a
cheery smile, “and your fever seems to have lifted.”

“I’m ok,” he
said with a noticeably smoother voice. “Now that the nasty incense has burned
down some.”

Julie giggled
brightly. “Funny guy, I see.”

He gave his best
effort of a smile in return. His intention was to be honest, not witty.

“I know, Dr. Wu
insisted those stay lit while you heal, but I see your sweats are gone. Would
you like another glass of water?”  

“Sure.”

She poured the
water into the glass, and her face scrunched as her thoughts churned. “When the
incense burn out completely, I’ll just pretend I didn’t know. It will be our
little secret,” she said with a resolute nod.

She held the
straw to his mouth, and he studied her features as his lips wrapped around it.
When her face relaxed, her eyes remained somewhat squinted and shone with a
rich green hue. His eyes remained fixated there as he was afraid that he might
gawk at her quite sizable, perky breasts. His lips pulled from the straw. “So,
how old are you, Julie?” he asked to make conversation, trying his best to
sound congenial and not like a pervert. He also wanted to make sure he wasn’t
admiring someone underage. She could easily have been eighteen or younger.

“I’m
twenty-four,” she replied, and the apples of her cheeks blushed pink.

He grinned with
pressed lips in return, embarrassed that the personal question had flattered
her.

She set the
glass beside the cot. “You should probably drink some more of Dr. Wu’s tea now.”

His memory
flashed back to the last time he drank it, and his tongue protruded from his
lips involuntarily. “Ugh.”

“I know,” she
said with a chuckle. “It’s awful, but he says it will make you better. It has
Bosweilia and Cats Claw. It’s supposed to help your immune system and keep you
from getting an infection.” She looked over her right shoulder at the table
filled with herbs in glass jars. “He’s a holistic doctor, in case you hadn’t
already guessed.”

Her toned legs
straightened as she stood, and her khaki shorts revealed a little more thigh
than necessary. “I’ll be back with some fresh tea.”

“Ok,” he replied
and closed his eyes.
Don’t be a pervert.