The Belial Guard (The Belial Series Book 8) Read online

  The

  Belial

  Guard

  A Belial Series Novel

  R.D. Brady

  Scottish Seoul Publishing

  Dear children, this is the last hour, and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming,

  even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.

  —John 2:18

  CHAPTER 1

  Delaney McPhearson sat staring at the ceiling of her temporary bedroom at the Chandler School for Children. It was late, and she was tired, but she couldn’t seem to get herself to sleep. She rolled over and pulled a pillow to her chest. Her long auburn hair got stuck under her shoulder and she yanked it out impatiently. She blew out a breath, frustration rolling through her, knowing sleep was not going to show up any time soon.

  Not that her sleep had been all that restful lately anyway. When she did manage to fall asleep, her subconscious went to work dredging up all her doubts and fears. Had they really stopped the Companion Killers from committing the ritual? Had the Companion Killers been the ones who had gone after the Fallen as well? Was there any way Laney could have known the teenagers were going to investigate Cleo’s background and get themselves thrown in the middle of everything?

  Her gaze wandered over the small room. About half her wardrobe now hung in the closet. Her toiletries littered the top of the dresser. Even some of her favorite books had made it over here. She’d been spending more and more nights here since they’d returned from Hawaii. She’d told Jake she wanted to be nearby in case Lou needed her.

  “Lou” was Lou Thomas, a sixteen-year-old nephilim and one of the reasons the Companion Killers had been stopped. But Lou had paid a heavy price for her actions. She’d been tortured, and she was now struggling to get her life back to normal.

  Lou wasn’t the only reason Laney was bunking at the school regularly, though, and both Laney and Jake knew it. Something changed between them after he got hurt trying to stop Cain, and ever since, they had been avoiding the conversation they needed to have.

  Laney stared up at the ceiling, wishing Agent Matt Clark of the SIA would call with some Fallen incident she needed to address. But those incidents had dropped off sharply after the Companion Killers had been stopped.

  But have they really been stopped? That same question had been repeating itself in Laney’s mind for the last two months. With the aid of Honu Keiki, she and Jen had stopped the Companion Killers from sacrificing Lou along with the leopards. But since the Companion Killers were killed in Lou’s place, doesn’t that mean the sacrifice was completed? Death had still happened—just with different victims. So did we stop the sacrifice? Or did we help it come about?

  Laney sighed. Even if the ritual was completed, it wasn’t important, not really. The ritual was just an old superstition. The Companion Killers believed the deaths would herald the dawning of a new age in the world. Just an ancient belief, Laney assured herself, even though she knew that all the other ancient legends—Cain, the ring of Solomon, Lilith, Atlantis, Mu—had turned out to be true.

  In fact, a lot of things were true that Laney would once have never believed possible—like Honu Keiki.

  Honu Keiki was a cult that lived on the island of Malama in Hawaii, and was made up of the descendants of the ancient civilization of Lemuria—the mother of all civilizations. The cult had helped Laney in her pursuit of the Companion Killers, and yet…

  There was something about the group that Laney didn’t trust. It wasn’t just that they were secretive, although they were. Laney suspected the members of Honu Keiki, or at least the priestess, knew much more about the deaths of the Fallen and their intimates than they were revealing. After all, the Companion Killers were all former members of Honu Keiki.

  Cleo stepped onto the bed and curled up next to Laney, resting her head on Laney’s chest. Cleo was a black Javan leopard whose coat was dotted with even darker black spots. Her coloring made her rare, and her size made her even more so—she was almost double the size of a normal leopard. Standing, she was almost four and a half feet tall at the shoulders. And that was not her most remarkable trait.

  Thanks to the teenagers’ ill-planned investigation, they had finally learned why Cleo was so different from other cats: she was actually part human. Her leopard DNA had been combined with a Fallen’s DNA, with human growth hormone being thrown into the mix. The result was a large cat with human intelligence and some Fallen abilities. Which, in a strange way, wasn’t as surprising as it should have been. On more than one occasion Laney had observed the humanness in her behaviors—like right now. Cleo looked at her with complete understanding and a desire to ease Laney’s pain.

  Laney ran a hand through the cat’s dark pelt. “I’m okay, girl.”

  Cleo’s stared into her eyes. Sad.

  “Maybe a little. But I suppose that’s just part of life.”

  Cleo sat straight up, her head turning toward the door.

  Laney’s heart began to pound. “What is it?”

  Lou’s scream cut through the night air.

  Laney scrambled out from beneath the blankets even though she knew there was no imminent danger. The danger had passed months before. But the screaming remained.

  Laney opened the door, and she and Cleo charged down the hall.

  Jen Witt, her dark hair pulled into a ponytail, stood in sweats next to a closed door, her hand hovering above the doorknob. She turned to Laney, tears in her brown eyes. “I don’t know what to do for her.”

  On the other side of the door, the sounds of Lou’s sobs could be heard clearly.

  “I do.” Laney opened the door. “Go on, Cleo.”

  Cleo padded over to the bed, then climbed up and curled up next to Lou. Lou raised an arm and threw it over the big cat. “Oh, Cleo.”

  Laney and Jen stood in the doorway as Lou’s sobs quieted. In a few minutes, the girl was back asleep, her arm still wrapped around Cleo.

  Cleo looked over at Laney. Stay.

  Okay.

  Laney pulled Jen back and closed the door. Jen slumped to the floor, her arms around her knees, looking devastated.

  Jen had been the one who had found Lou and brought her to the Chandler home in the first place. But Lou wasn’t simply another case for Jen; Lou had become her little sister. And everything Lou was going through, Jen was going through right along with her.

  Lou was going through a lot.

  She had been saved from the Companion Killers, but a part of her had died that day. Her innocence. Her enthusiasm. And now she seemed to be slipping away from them. For the first month after the incident, she had refused to leave the school. She’d barely even left her room.

  They had tried everything they could think of to bring her back to her old self. They’d even discussed the possibility of hospitalizing her. But Lou’s response when they had mentioned that idea was so violent it had terrified them. Still, at least after that she began to eat more, and she agreed to speak Henry, which she’d been doing for the last few weeks. Henry had experienced much the same treatment at the hands of Sebastian Flourent, so he knew what she was going through.

  And Henry had made a little headway. During the day anyway, Lou seemed to be doing better. But every once in a while at night, the nightmares would return. At those times, Cleo was the only one who could make her feel safe.

  Laney blamed herself for all of it. She had known the kids were looking into Cleo’s background—she should have known they’d try something like going off and checking out the lab in New Mexico. But she’d been in the middle of the Companion Killers’ killing spree, and she just wasn’t paying attention. She didn’t notice when they left; no one
did.

  Laney sank down onto the floor next to Jen.

  “It’s not right,” Jen said. “She shouldn’t have to deal with any of this.”

  “No. She shouldn’t. None of you should.”

  Jen looked up, her eyes narrowed. “What do you mean, none of us should?”

  Laney sighed. Since they’d returned from Hawaii, she’d given her life and its direction a lot of thought. She was the ring bearer, destined to fight the Fallen back. There was no changing that, and if she was being honest, she didn’t really want to change that. She wanted to help. She just didn’t want anyone else risking their lives in the same way. And while there was a lot still up in the air, there was one thing she knew with crystal clear certainty: they couldn’t continue this way.

  “It can wait until morning,” Laney said.

  Jen shook her head. “No. You’ve decided something. What is it?”

  “Jen, it’s late—”

  “Spill it.”

  Laney had known Jen for years, since long before she knew she was the ring bearer and Jen was a nephilim. That friendship had only been strengthened by the trials they had endured. And one thing they both had in common was their stubbornness. Laney knew Jen would not let up until she had an answer.

  She sighed, looking at her friend. Jen’s normally sharp eyes looked tired, and her sweats were wrinkled. Laney was sure she looked about the same. One of the best things that had come from her destiny was this incredible family of friends. But the down side was that when one of them hurt, they all hurt. And since all of this had begun, there had been too much hurt.

  Laney began quietly. “Ever since my destiny found me, all of us have been in mortal danger at multiple times—even the kids. We can’t let that happen anymore.”

  “I agree, but we already decided the kids aren’t allowed to be part of anything Fallen related—”

  “I’m not just talking about them. I’m talking about you, Yoni, your brother, Henry, even Jake. We can’t all put our lives on hold while we handle the Fallen. We need to live our lives.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Laney took a deep breath. “What that means is that the next time, and every time a Fallen incident occurs, we’re not all going to drop everything to go running. I need to go—there’s no getting around that. But you guys don’t. You need—”

  “No, we need to help you.”

  “Yes. But not all of you. And not every time.” Laney nodded toward Lou’s door. “We have more important things to focus on. We can’t let the Fallen be our whole lives. It’s not fair to us, or to the people we care about, and honestly, it allows the Fallen to win in a way, because they determine our lives.”

  Jen stared at Laney for a long moment. “But you’re not part of that. They still get to determine your life.”

  Laney held up the chain with the ring of Solomon on it. She always wore it around her neck. “No, that was determined a long time ago. And you know what? I’m okay with that. I’ve come to peace with that. This is my life. I can’t step away from it, but the rest of you can. And I want you to.”

  “Laney…”

  Laney took Jen’s hand. “I love you, Jen. And Henry loves you, and Lou loves you. Be a part of their lives. Help me when you can. But don’t put your life on hold for the Fallen. They don’t deserve that.”

  “What about your life?”

  Laney looked into Jen’s eyes, and gave her a small smile. “I’m the ring bearer. It’s time I fully accepted that. Which means letting go of a lot of hopes.”

  Jen shook her head. “Laney—”

  “I’m not sad. I’ll find my peace. And part of it is knowing that you all are living your lives. Besides, I’m not saying you’re all out. Just that we need to be more selective in how we go about fighting this.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Yes. This is the right course of action.” And for once, Laney had no doubts.

  “On one condition,” Jen said.

  “What?” Laney asked warily.

  “Noriko. If anything comes up involving her, if she needs help, I need to be included. That’s not negotiable.”

  Laney understood. Noriko was a young woman from Honu Keiki who was part of the team that had saved Lou, and Jen felt indebted to the girl.

  “If anything comes up involving Honu Keiki,” Laney said, “I’ll let you know. But they’ve been quiet.”

  “And we stopped the ritual, right?” Jen locked her gaze on Laney.

  Laney felt uneasy, but she forced herself not to squirm under Jen’s gaze. “Absolutely.”

  CHAPTER 2

  Malama Island, Hawaii

  Blueprints covered the table of the priestess’s dining area. She pointed to one spot on the plans with a perfectly manicured red fingernail. “And these are my rooms?”

  Her architect, Elan, bobbed his bald head. “Yes, priestess. They are exactly as you ordered.”

  Her eyes scanned the facility. It was huge—over thirty thousand square feet. And it has all come about because of me. She smiled. “And you finished two months ahead of schedule.”

  Elan’s cheeks grew red. “Yes, priestess. All to finish your vision.”

  The priestess ran a finger along his sleeve. “Well done.”

  He trembled, and the priestess struggled not smile. Men were so easy to manipulate. She waved her hand. “Now leave me.”

  Elan’s mouth fell open in disappointment, then he nodded. “Yes, of course.”

  The priestess’s gaze returned to the plans. “What do you think?” she asked after the door closed behind Elan.

  Vanessa, the priestess’s head of security, stepped away from the wall where she had been watching. “He’s right. They are perfect.”

  “Yes, they are.” But one doubt about the venture entered the priestess’s mind. “What’s the news on the ring bearer?”

  “She knows nothing. She spends most of her time in Baltimore at that school.” Vanessa grimaced. “She occasionally leaves for SIA missions, but not often.”

  “Has she dug any deeper into the Companion Killers?”

  “No, not after the initial investigation.”

  “So she still believes the ritual was averted?”

  “As far as we know, yes.”

  The ring bearer’s involvement with the Companion Killers had been a wake-up call. The priestess had had to move quickly to save all her hard work. She had underestimated the woman’s tenacity and the skill of her team. That had been a mistake. But all had ended well. The ritual had been completed, and the ring bearer was now beholden to them. After all, they had saved those abominations for her.

  The priestess had heard the tales of the ring bearer long ago, but had never believed they were true—until she was forced to. And if all the rumors about the ring bearer’s abilities were equally true, that placed the priestess in danger.

  She shoved the thoughts from her mind. The ring bearer was irrelevant. She didn’t know what they were up to. In fact, she viewed them as allies.

  “Do you have any orders?” Vanessa asked.

  The priestess smiled. “We’re moving up the schedule. I’m tired of waiting.”

  CHAPTER 3

  Laney and Jen sat outside Lou’s door for another hour before they went back to bed. Cleo stayed with Lou through the night, and Lou did not have another nightmare. It seemed that whenever Cleo stayed with her, Lou slept better than ever.

  At breakfast, Jen and Laney decided it was time to force Lou back into the world. Since the Companion Killers, Lou had stayed close to home. But Cleo had insisted there were some individuals who wanted to see Lou, and Jen and Laney agreed today was the day to make that happen. Besides, Laney knew that if there was anything that would bring the sparkle back into Lou’s eyes, it would be this visit.

  Now Jen drove toward the leopard preserve that Henry had had created for the leopards from the GenDynamic labs. It had taken two months to get the cats back to Maryland—the red tape had been enormous—but ultimately H
enry and his team of lawyers had prevailed. The cats had been in the preserve for two weeks now.

  For the first week, Laney saw to them personally, with Cleo at her side. She needed to make sure they weren’t a danger to anyone. But last week, she allowed vets in to check on them, and some researchers as well, to observe. Laney had no doubts about the cats’ ability to be around humans. Each cat had its own personality, of course, but all shared Cleo’s affinity for humans. And Laney knew for a fact that they all had a particular affinity for Lou, Rolly, and Danny.

  The preserve was a ninety-acre estate halfway between the Chandler School and headquarters that had been out of use for years. The old house on the estate was modified to serve as the shelter for the animals, and the cats were given free run of the place. Near the middle of the property was a tall research hide, thirty feet off the ground, for the researchers and vets.

  The whole area was enclosed with a fifteen-foot electrical fence, and a secondary fence had also been erected to keep any would-be neighbors from getting too near the electrified one. At the front gate was a guard hut that was staffed twenty-four seven.

  Laney glanced over her shoulder from the passenger seat as Jen drove. Lou was in the back seat, staring out the window. Her normally bright smile was missing, her skin was paler than normal, and even her dark curls seemed to have lost their spring. She was always like this the day after a nightmare.

  “We’re almost there,” Laney said softly.

  Lou looked at her as if she had just woken up. “What?”

  “We’re almost there.”

  “Oh. Okay.” Lou looked back out the window.

  Siting next to Lou, Rolly Escabi took Lou’s hand. His mocha skin was a little paler as well, but Laney knew that was due to his concern for Lou. Rolly had been through a lot out in New Mexico too, but he was more worried about Lou than himself.

  His pale green eyes stared back at Laney, and in them she could see his fear for his friend. Rolly wanted to help Lou perhaps more than anyone. In fact, Jen had found him sleeping on the floor next to Lou’s bed most nights the first few weeks they were back. Like Laney, he blamed himself for Lou’s condition. It was actually Rolly who had been grabbed by the Companion Killers, but Lou had saved him—and in the process, had been captured herself.