The Belial Ring (The Belial Series 3) (22 page)

Victoria nodded with a smile.
“Ah, yes. Genesis 6:3:
Then the Lord said, ‘My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.’
But there are others mentioned: Noah, Adam, his son Seth, all lived for over nine hundred years. Others, too. Lemech is recorded as having lived for seven hundred seventy-seven years.”

Laney recalled some of those references.
“I’ve heard that, but to be perfectly honest, I always figured it was either exaggeration on the part of the writer, a legend that grew as time went on, or just a mistake in translation.”

“
It was none of those. In fact, those lifespans were short compared to early humans. In certain eastern cultures, individuals were alleged to have lived for thousands of years.”

“
Thousands of years? But that can’t be right, can it?”

Laney knew Victoria
’s references, at least, were correct. The Sumerian King list contained dozens of kings, some of who had reigns lasting thousands of years. She remembered one that was supposed to have reigned for thirty-six thousand years.

Laney shook her head.
But wasn’t that supposed to be— She sighed. Actually, she had no idea what that was supposed to be. It was one of those archaeological facts that when you heard it, you said “Oh, okay” and didn’t think too deeply about—because there was simply no logical explanation for it.

Victoria nodded, a small smile on her face.
“Oh, those records are correct. You see, originally, humans were practically immortal.”

CHAPTER 43

L
aney stopped walking. “Wait,
immortal
immortal? As in lived forever?”

“
Almost. There was no violence, no disease. People could, and did, live for thousands of years.”

Laney struggled to wrap her mind around the possibility.

“
Think of all the great achievements of the far past. They were accomplished because people didn’t have short lifespans. Archaeologists can’t figure out Puma Punku or the Sphinx because they’re looking at it through mortal eyes. In the modern world, those accomplishments are unimaginable. You have maybe a few decades of critical thinking before your faculties begin to slow. But originally, mankind didn’t have that restriction. As a result, we had longer time periods to create, to think. The results were means and methods that, quite honestly, would be viewed as magic today.”

Laney stared at Victoria.
Was that the answer? Was that how humans had managed these incredible constructions at a time when traditional science argued we were no more than stone tool users?

Victoria
’s words left Laney feeling stunned. But even in that state of disbelief, she recalled reports of how some ancient sites were created. Puma Punku, the Luxor, and a bunch of others were created in areas where there were no trees to help roll these hundred-ton stones, no waterways to sail them down. So how did they do it?

Were incredible tales, like those of Merlin,
true? Merlin was alleged to have used some form of telekinesis to erect Stonehenge, or magic that enabled him to turn the stones all but weightless. Even Solomon’s incredible temple was supposed to have been erected in one day. Were those ancient tales true accountings rather than fanciful notions?

“
I know it’s a bit much to take in,” Victoria said with a smile. “But I think you’re beginning to realize that there’s more out there than humanity currently understands. Every generation thinks it is the epitome of civilization. Civilization has grown, and been destroyed, many times over. And knowledge has been lost to the sands of time, sometimes never to be uncovered again.”

Laney
’s thoughts were tripping over one another. Yet somewhere down deep, what Victoria was saying rang true. She decided, though, to focus on the beginning of this conversation. “But how do long lifespans relate to the split of humanity?”

“
Before the Fallen, there was no need for greed, for envy. We lived forever. Anything you wanted, you could one day achieve. Nothing was out of the realm of possibility.”

“
How did that change?”

“
With the Fallen came death, murder, human sacrifice even. And disease. They brought disease with them, like any conquering group. Human lifespans shortened dramatically. All of a sudden, you didn’t have forever to achieve what you wanted. You could be killed at any moment.”

Laney wondered at the argument but also
at the way in which Victoria was telling it. It was as if she had been there.

“
And the Fallen? Why did they fall?” Laney asked.

“
They wanted humans’ freedom, our luxury of free will.”

“
All of them wanted it?”

Victoria smiled.
“You’re wondering how some could be good if they all chose to fall?”

Laney nodded.

“They had a very convincing leader.”

“
Samyaza.”

Victoria nodded.
“You met Azazyel. He was the warrior, but Samyaza was the general. He was the strategist. He recognized the weaknesses in humans and sent his troops to exploit them. And he was good at it. Machiavelli would have liked him. He made it appear that he was helping humans reach their own goals, when they were really working for him.”

The description sounded chillingly familiar.
“Like Satan. Tempting people into evil.”

Victoria stopped walking.
She looked Laney in the eye. “Satan, the red monster with a pitchfork and horns, is a literary device used to scare humans into behaving. But Samyaza was the real thing. He was the devil. And I’m guessing he still is.”

CHAPTER 44

Johnson City, Tennessee

A
mar crouched down low on the branch, not moving. He scanned the area, his breath held, muscles taut. He turned his head to the right.
Was that a rustle?
He strained to listen.

Yes
.

With a fluid grace, he swung down from the branch, landing in a crouch.
He paused for only a second before sprinting toward the spot where he’d heard the sound.

Gerard
’s face stayed in the back of his mind. Amar pictured his presumptuous manner in daring to question him. Amar growled, his anger spiking.

He knew the landscape.
A giant oak was thirty feet ahead, and smaller saplings covered the area before it, with a few dense yew scattered here and there. In the day, it wasn’t much cover, but at night it gave Titus an advantage.

Up ahead, he could make out movement, but it was low to the ground.
A cry came from the spot. Something was there. Something alive and hurt.

He slowed. T
he hair on the back of his neck signaled a danger he couldn’t see.
Something’s wrong.

Amar whipped his head to the right just as Titus leapt from the shadows.
Amar dodged out of the way, but Titus’s claws raked his left thigh. Fire burned through Amar, but instead of screaming, he laughed.

“
Well done.” Amar circled around the beast.

Titus roared his disapproval.
In the distance, Amar heard Titus’s mate, Cleo, scream out her own displeasure. But Cleo couldn’t help him. She was still locked in her cage.

Titus kept his eyes on Amar.
Amar clenched his fists; the special gloves he had made glinted in the moonlight. Three sharp blades extended from the back of each hand: his own set of claws. It seemed only sporting that each of them came to the fight with the same weapons.

The pain in Amar
’s thigh disappeared. “Ready, my friend?”

Titus looked back at him with an intelligence not seen in other animals.
Amar smiled. His cats truly were the top of the food chain—although still well below him, of course.

And this specimen was magnificent.
It would be a shame to destroy him.

But I can always make more
.

Amar
leaped, landing on the tree limb above Titus, then swung to the next tree.

Titus prowled below.
He ran for the tree and leapt, but couldn’t make the branch himself.

Amar swung to the branch above the cat.
Titus leapt again. As Titus’s paws returned to the ground, Amar dropped onto the giant cat’s back.

Raising his arms, Amar drove both of his claws into
Titus’s sides. The cat screamed, trying to shake Amar loose. But Amar held on, twisting his claws in the feline’s sides, his arms now slick with blood.

Titus lumbered to one side.
Amar pulled out his claws and then plunged them in again, this time higher, into Titus’s back. Titus made no sound, just fell heavily to the ground.

Amar climbed from
the leopard’s back, going eye to eye with the great cat. Titus stared back at him, and Amar could swear he saw hate in the leopard’s eyes. Amused, Amar watched until the life drained from the cat’s face.

Amar straightened with a smile, looking down at the majestic beast.
Nicely done. I think I’ll have your head mounted on my wall.

But he discounted the thought almost as soon as he had it.
The beast was only doing what its nature encouraged. There was nothing special in the animal.

A noise, like a small whimper, pulled Amar
’s attention back to the spot where he’d been ambushed. Amar walked over, wondering what it was that had drawn him there. He came to a stop at the base of the tree and looked at the bloody mess below him.

It was one of the
human guards—the who had let Gerard in earlier. Both of the man’s arms had been yanked off, the blood loss considerable. But he was still alive.

Amar followed the blood trail with his eyes
; it led off to the right, disappearing into the bushes. Then he glanced back at Titus’s carcass with a little laugh.
You little bastard. You laid a trap
.

Amar
’s admiration increased. Maybe he would mount the beast’s head on his wall after all.

“
Help me,” the man croaked out, his voice barely above a whisper.

Amar knelt down.
“Of course I’ll help you.”

The man
’s eyes grew large.

Amar smiled before burying his claws in the man
’s chest.

CHAPTER 45

B
y the time Victoria and Laney got back to the house, any good feelings Laney had had at the beginning of the walk had disappeared. Her thoughts were now of Samyaza, the devil incarnate.

That chilling thought warred with the tale of the Fallen
’s arrival. The story of the Fallen was the same as the story of Lucifer’s fall from grace. She just hadn’t put it together before—or maybe she had been intentionally ignoring the similarity.

In fact, no one had mentioned the similarity between the Book of Enoch
’s tale and the Bible tale. She was pretty sure they were all turning a blind eye. Going up against Fallen angels was difficult enough. Believing you were going up against the devil himself was a whole other world of terrifying.

Ahead of her,
Victoria opened the door to the kitchen. Warmth flowed out into the night air. Laney breathed it in, along with the aroma of Italian spices.

As she stepped inside, t
he fireplace on the right was roaring away. Ralph glanced up from the stove. He smiled at Laney, and then his eyes shifted to Victoria, concern in them. Victoria nodded ever so slightly at him.

For the first time, Laney realized there was more to Victoria and Ralph’s relationship. Was it just a friendship? Or was there something else there?

Ralph placed a giant tray of garlic bread on the island, next to salad and the antipasto tray. Henry, Jake and Patrick stood around the island, drinks in hand, talking. It was a cheery scene, which warred with the dark thoughts of Samyaza still swirling around Laney’s mind.

Laney couldn
’t miss the look of happiness on Henry’s face at seeing Laney walk in with Victoria. She gave him a smile before she walked over to Jake and hugged him.

Jake whispered
, “Nice talk?”

Laney struggled not to laugh.
“Oh, sure. The nature of the Fallen and a fact-or-fiction chat about the existence of the devil. Real mother-daughter stuff.”