The Belial Ring (The Belial Series 3) (19 page)

“
A prison? For the Fallen?” Laney asked, shocked. It was a great idea, but what on earth was strong enough to contain fallen angels?

Victoria nodded.

“Did it work?” Henry asked.

“
Yes. And the prison is still there. It still exists.”

Laney struggled to think of any ancient site that would fit the bill.
Nothing came to mind. “Where is it?”

“
Egypt.”

Victoria leaned down and took a sip of water from one of the glasses on the coffee table.
Her voice was almost casual. “So, tell me Laney: Have you started having the dreams yet?”

CHAPTER 38

“L
aney, are you having the dreams?” Victoria asked again, her gaze pinning Laney to her seat.

Laney thought about hedging, but one look at Victoria
’s face and she knew it would be a wasted effort. “I’ve had dreams where I’m a woman or girl from a different time. Helen, Makeda, Joan of Arc, others.”

Victoria nodded.
“The women you mention: they were all previous ring bearers.”

Laney had known she was going to say that, but it still came as a shock.
“Okay, even if they were, it doesn’t mean I am. There have to be some requirements besides the dreams and being the daughter of Enoch.”

Victoria nodded.
“There are three trials. The first is the trial by fire. The second is the trial by greed, and the third is the trial by force. In the first, the ring bearer must save the innocent from fire. In the second, she must defeat the powers of greed and ambition. And in the third, she must overcome overwhelming force to bring the knowledge to light.”

With each description, Laney felt her dread growing.
In Montana, she had defeated a corrupt politician looking to use an Atlantis relic for his own political gain, as well as defeating an angel who was hell-bent on using that same relic for his own power. In other words, she had defeated both greed and ambition. In Ecuador, she had helped save a lost library of Atlantis: the knowledge brought to light.

But there was one problem, one possible fly in the ointment that left Laney with a small kernel of hope.
“It can’t be me. I mean, I give you that the incidents in Montana and Ecuador seem to fit the second two requirements. But I never went through the first, the trial by fire. I haven’t been near a fire any time recently, other than one in a fireplace.”

“
You saved Elena and Eddie from fire in Ecuador,” Henry said.

Laney felt her jaw pop open.
She’d forgotten about that. She looked to Victoria, who shook her head.

“
The trial by fire is the first trial. It has to predate the others.”

Relief flowed through Laney.
It wasn’t her. She wasn’t the ring bearer.

Patrick
’s voice was quiet. “You’ve been through the trial by fire.”

Laney looked over at him, confused.
“What are you talking about? No I haven’t.”

“
Kati and Max,” Patrick said.

Surprise filtered through Laney, followed by disbelief.
“But that was four years ago. Way before any of this began. That can’t be related.”

“
There’s no time limit for when the trials must happen, only that they have to happen in order, and that the ring bearer must succeed,” Victoria said.

“
Why don’t you tell us what happened with Kati and Max? Maybe you’re right, and it doesn’t fit,” Henry said.

Laney looked around the room.
Everyone looked back at her expectantly. “Okay, but I’m telling you, it doesn’t fit.” She took a breath. “It was the day I met Kati. The day Max was born, actually.”

CHAPTER 39

Four Years Ago

Manlius, New York

L
aney headed down Route 92. It was late. The sun had already sunk beyond the horizon. It had been a stressful day. Laney had just completed two finals in graduate school: one in advance criminological theory and one in advanced statistical analysis.

Both had been mentally exhausting
, and Laney, along with every other graduate student, had used all of the allotted four hours for each of the exams. And she’d still been writing when the four hours were up.

Laney flipped through channels on the radio, looking for something that fit her mood.
“I can’t believe I’m still keyed up,” she murmured, finally settling on AC/DC’s “Back in Black.”

She turned right at the light.
How could they expect us to mention everything we learned in a semester in just four hours? It’s not possible
.

But as was often the case in graduate school, the impossible became possible in the fourth and final year of classes. Laney had learned how to cram four months
of material into a four-hour exam. It didn’t make the process any less stressful, however.

So after a grueling day mentally
, Laney had felt the need to be physically exhausted as well. To burn off her energy, she had headed to her martial arts school for a long strenuous workout. But it hadn’t worked. She was still keyed up.

And s
he couldn’t shake the edgy feeling. Every time a car’s headlights appeared, she tensed.

What the heck is wrong with me tonight?

Headlights flashed over her car from behind, making her jump. Glancing in her rearview mirror, she watched the lights swerve to the right, then jerk back to the left. Then the car jerked even harder to the left, swerving across the median. The driver was moving way too fast for his apparent level of inebriation.

Oh God. That guy
’s going to get someone killed
.

The driver drew closer, and Laney could tell he was going to try to pass her.
Praying, Laney started moving as close to the edge of the road as possible. The driver pulled alongside her. Laney slowed, her hands gripping the steering wheel.

Come on
, jerk, just get past
, she urged, while hoping no car showed up in the oncoming lane.

He swerved, slamming into her
on the driver’s side.

Laney
’s car jerked to the right. “Shit!” She struggled to control the car, but he must have damaged the wheel. The car refused to go straight.

The drunk overcompensated, swinging wildly into the oncoming lane and speeding up. A small Subaru wagon came around the bend in the road. The Subaru driver tried to yank his car out of the way
, but there wasn’t time.

The front of the drunk
’s car crashed into the side of the wagon. Metal scraped along metal as the drunk’s car continued forward, pushing the wagon over the metal divider and down the cliff below.

Laney hit her brakes, her heart racing.
“Oh my God, oh my God!”

Scrambling for her cell phone, she struggled out of her seat belt.
She vaulted from the car and dialed 911 as she sprinted across the road.

A
t the drunk’s car, she slowed, sparing it only a glance. A male in his early fifties lay slumped over the steering wheel. He mumbled, turning his head toward her. The stench of beer drifted through his open window.

“
Asshole.” Laney ignored him. He wasn’t her concern.

She ran to the divider, following the skid marks on the road.
Her stomach clenched as she glanced down the cliff. The station wagon lay about a hundred feet down, right-side up. The driver’s side was completely smashed in. Fire crept slowly across the rear of the car.

Heart pounding, Laney jumped over the divider, half skidding, half running down the hill
toward the car as the dispatcher answered.

Cell phone to her ear, Laney yelled their location to the dispatcher.
“The car’s on fire. Hurry.” She disconnected the call and shoved the phone in her pocket.

Flames
had already engulfed the rear of the wagon, giving her plenty of light to see. As she made her way to the driver’s door, her breath hitched. The door had been smashed halfway through the driver’s seat. Adding insult to injury, a tree branch had crashed through the windshield, impaling the driver. No need to check for a pulse. The man was beyond anyone’s help.

Breathing hard and shaking,
Laney heard a moan from the backseat.
Someone else is in there.

“
I’m coming!” Laney yelled, rounding the hood. She fought the brush around the car to reach the passenger door, coughing as the smoke from the back of the car hit her, all the while keeping an eye on the flames at the rear of the car, which were steadily growing.

Eyes beginning to tear, Laney peered in.
The woman appeared to be in her late twenties. And she was pregnant—very pregnant.

The woman
’s terrified eyes met hers. “Help us,” she cried.

Her h
eart in her throat, Laney yanked on the door. It wouldn’t budge.

The heat of the fire increased, and sweat beaded on Laney
’s forehead. She unrolled her turtleneck, pulling the fabric over her mouth. The smoke still got through, sending her into a fit of coughing.

Tears streamin
g down her cheeks, Laney yanked at the door.
Oh, come on. Come on!

Planting her feet in the dirt, she pulled with all of her strength.
The door swung back, throwing her to the ground. She scrambled on her hands and knees back to the door.

The wind shifted
, and Laney took in a face full of smoke that almost set her convulsing. Coughing violently, she used the doorframe to pull herself up, and stood, swaying, in the open door.

Eyes stinging, s
he reached over the woman to loosen her seatbelt, feeling the heat of the encroaching flames. “You’re going to be okay,” Laney choked out.

The woman was barely conscious, her eyes closed.
“Baby, save my baby,” the woman mumbled.

“
I’m getting you both out.” Laney said, hoping she wasn’t lying. She darted another glance at the flames creeping over the back of the car. The fire was getting way too close to the gas tank for comfort.

The
woman’s seat belt miraculously came undone easily. Draping the woman’s arms over her shoulders, Laney braced herself and pulled the woman from the seat. An extra tug and the woman’s feet were free. Once she had the woman upright out of the car, Laney turned her so that she could drag her from under the arms.

With a groan, Laney pulled, continually darting glances to
ward the fast moving flames. She could hear sirens in the distance. But they wouldn’t get here in time.

Laney struggled to move faster.
Her chest ached from the smoke and she couldn’t see for tears. Her legs backed into a fallen tree and she tripped over it, the woman landing heavily on top of her. With a grunt, Laney untangled herself and pulled the woman over the log, careful to protect the woman’s stomach.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, she looked back at the burning car—just in time to see the flames reach
the gas tank.

Laney threw herself over the woman as the car exploded.

CHAPTER 40

Rockland, Maine

“
T
hat’s
how you met Kati?” Henry asked, his eyes wide.

Laney nodded.
“She and her husband had moved to town only a month before. She didn’t really know anyone, and her parents lived across the country, and neither was in good health. I checked in on her every day, and before I knew it, I was helping raise Max.”

Silence descended. Laney looked around.
“What?”

Henry gave a little laugh.
“You don’t even see it, do you? You go above and beyond and think nothing of it.”

Laney shook her head.
“Anybody would have done what I did.”

Patrick took her hand, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
“No, honey, they wouldn’t have. But I love that you think they would.”

Laney could feel the blush spreading across her cheeks.
“Okay. But that happened four years ago. The other two events were in the last year.”

“
It doesn’t matter,” Victoria said. “Saving Kati and Max, that was the trial by fire. Your actions that night set everything else in motion.”

Laney sat back
, stunned, a chill running through her. Four years before she’d even met Jake or Henry, she’d already been on the path. For some reason, that thought terrified her.