The Belial Children Read online

  The

  Belial

  Children

  A Belial Series Novel

  R.D. Brady

  Scottish Seoul Publishing

  Copyright © 2014 by R.D. Brady

  The Belial Children

  ISBN E-Book: 978-0-9895179-8-0

  ISBN Paperback: 978-0-9895179-9-7

  Published by Scottish Seoul Publishing, LLC, Dewitt, NY

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law.

  Printed in the United States of America.

  ‘But Jesus said, Suffer little children,

  and forbid them not, to come unto me:

  for of such is the kingdom of heaven.’

  Matthew 19:14

  CHAPTER 1

  Baltimore, Maryland

  Delaney McPhearson knew she should focus. It was important. It was life-changing.

  She sighed and pushed away from the desk. Who was she kidding? It was paperwork.

  She ran her hands through her auburn hair, wishing she had brought a ponytail holder with her. With green eyes she stared at the desk, imagining what relief one good swipe could bring. But then she imagined herself picking all the papers back up and reorganizing them, and she wanted to scream.

  She’d been struggling for the last two hours to reduce the pile on her desk and somehow it seemed to only be getting bigger.

  Her eyes roamed over the rich wood paneling that covered the walls, the heavy drapes that contrasted with the more contemporary office furnishings added by the Chandler Group. She was sitting in the administrative offices of the Chandler Home for Children, which had taken over what used to be the Breckenrich School, a well-to-do boarding school that apparently hadn’t had enough students to stay afloat.

  Laney sighed. From dodging bullets one minute to filling out forms for Child and Family Services the next. The good times never end.

  The phone rang and Laney grabbed it, looking for a reprieve. “Chandler Home.”

  “Hi, Ms. McPhearson. This is Leslie from The Bed Place? I’m calling about the order mishap?”

  “Hi, Leslie. When will the other beds be delivered?” The last truck had been two beds short.

  “Um, well, you see, we have a problem? The beds, they’re still at the warehouse?”

  Laney rolled her eyes toward the ceiling and prayed for patience. Pulling on her inner calm, she said. “Okay, Leslie, I need those beds here by tomorrow morning.”

  “I understand. But you see—”

  “No, Leslie, you don’t understand. I have a dozen kids arriving tomorrow; kids who have literally been through hell. And I mean hell. And the least they can expect is to have a bed to sleep in. So do whatever you have to do, but get the beds here tomorrow, understood?”

  “Um, yes, Ms. McPhearson. I’ll have them there.”

  “Thank you.”

  Laney disconnected the call and blew out a breath, feeling a little bad about how she’d bowled over the poor woman. But honestly? She had way too much on her plate right now to be dealing with delivery problems.

  Laney stared at the piles of work on her desk. Was it her imagination, or had it actually increased in size while she was on the phone? She ran her hands over her face. Come on. You need to get this done before the kids arrive tomorrow. They need this.

  And that was true. The Chandler Home for Children had been a haven for Fallen and nephilim teens ever since the Chandler Group took down Amar Patel and learned of a training camp he had set up in Indiana. They’d raided it and liberated the twenty teens that had been held there.

  But then the problem had been: what to do with the kids? A few were over eighteen and had decided to strike out on their own—not that Laney could blame them after what they’d been through—but the others were still minors who either didn’t have family or didn’t have family they wanted to go back to. And no one could see how dropping the kids in foster care would benefit anyone.

  So Henry Chandler, Laney’s brother, had purchased this old boarding school about a twenty-minute drive from the Chandler Estate, and dubbed it the Chandler Home for Children. The kids, however, called the home “Broken Halo.” Personally, Laney preferred the kids’ name.

  That first camp in Indiana had led them to another one in Texas, and all told the facility now housed twenty-eight kids ranging in age from twelve to nineteen, more than half of whom had abilities.

  Even more kids were expected to arrive soon: a third training camp had been identified just outside Boston, and Laney’s love, Jake Rogan, along with Henry and Jennifer Witt, one of Laney’s best friends, were off liberating it. That left Laney basically in charge of the school.

  She glanced out the window. It was a gorgeous day: bright blue skies, a few white clouds, and a light wind. Oh, I so want to be anywhere else but here.

  Cleo, the giant black Javan leopard that Laney had rescued from Amar’s home, was stretched out in a spot of sunlight behind Laney. When on all fours, Cleo was on eye level with Laney—a result of some growth hormone experiments done on the cat while still in the womb.

  In spite of her massive size and intimidating presence, though, Cleo had become part of the school, almost a mascot of sorts. And while the kids had been a little startled by the cat’s presence at first, they’d quickly gotten used to her. She was just another facet of Broken Halo.

  Laney watched with envy as Cleo let out a yawn and repositioned herself with a lazy stretch. “Oh sure, rub it in,” she muttered.

  A brunette with a cute pixie cut appeared in the doorway. “Having fun?” Kati Simmons asked.

  Laney glanced up with a grimace. “Compared to a root canal? Yes.”

  Kati walked in and sat in the seat in front of the desk. “Oh, who are you kidding? You love it.”

  “Don’t get me wrong, I love helping the kids out.” Laney gestured to all the paperwork. “It’s this stuff I could do without.”

  “But someone needs to do it.”

  “I know, I know.” She glanced up at Kati with a grin. “I just heard from the gang. They’re ahead of schedule and should return with the kids early tomorrow morning. And Maddox will be back tonight.”

  Maddox Datson had been an integral part of the last raid, but ever since Amar, he had been staying with Kati and her son Max, as an extra protective bodyguard. When he’d gone off on this latest raid to Boston, Kati and Max had come down from New York to stay with Laney instead—and Laney loved it. She had missed the both of them incredibly over the last year. And these last few weeks reminded her why.

  “I just finished setting up the beds for the new kids,” Kati said. “Clean linens, towels, a little basket of toiletries for each of them. It should get them started at least.”

  “You are a godsend.” Laney rifled through the pile on the desk. “Jen sent me sizes. I have it here somewhere. I was going to see if Sasha could go to the store and pick them up some clothes and pajamas.” Laney looked up just as Kati looked down.

  And Laney felt the guilt crash over her again. Ever since the attacks two months ago, Kati had been incredibly nervous about going out in public—hence the need for Maddox’s protection.

  And Kati’s concerns for Max’s safety were even greater than her concerns for herself. Laney had really hoped that Kati would begin to feel safe, but so far they’d only made baby steps in that direction.

  “You know, we really could use someone like you around here permanently,” Laney said.

  It was true: Kati had a knack for seeing what needed to be done in the school and taking care of it. And althou
gh Laney was more than capable of handling fallen angels, ancient treasures, and hand-to-hand combat, when she was faced with a leaky faucet, she was clueless.

  Kati gave Laney a small smile. “I know. I’m thinking about it. And I’m leaning toward moving. It would make things easier. And Maddox can’t stay with us forever.”

  “I don’t know. He seems to be enjoying himself.”

  A small blush colored Kati’s cheeks. “Yeah. Somehow he fits right in.”

  A little boy, five years old and the mini-me of Kati, ran in and threw his arms around Kati’s legs. “Hi, Mom!”

  Kati’s smile was huge. “What have you been up to?”

  “Yoni was showing me how to subdue someone with a Chapstick.”

  Laney stared at Yoni Benjamin, who had appeared in the doorway. Yoni had been part of the Boston raid as well, but he’d come back as soon as the kids were safe. He hated being away from Sasha and their eight-month-old, Dov.

  Yoni looked at his feet. “Actually, I was showing Danny. But Max wanted to try, too, and it’s important to encourage kids to learn.”

  Laney shook her head and looked over at Kati, who was looking slightly green. Great.

  A tall statuesque blonde walked in, tsking at Yoni. “Yoni, I told you not to teach him that. He’s too young.”

  Yoni nodded. “Sorry, sweetie.”

  Sasha Benjamin leaned down and kissed his bald head. “I love you anyway.”

  Laney marveled once again at the difference between the two. Sasha had been an Olympic volleyball player a few years back for the Ukraine. She was almost six feet tall and stunningly gorgeous. Yoni, by contrast, was barely five foot two, with large eyes that dominated his face and biceps the size of willowy Sasha’s waist.

  On paper, they made no sense. Yet when you saw the two of them together, they just seemed right.

  Sasha turned her blue-green eyes to Laney. “Laney, do you have the list?”

  Laney rummaged through the papers on her desk and found it under the receipt for the plumber and an order for pizza. Who ordered pizza? She shook her head as she handed it over. “There are ten kids. I broke the list down by gender and Jen’s guesses on sizes.”

  Sasha looked over the list and nodded. “No problem. Should take me about an hour or two. Dov will be up from his nap in a few minutes and then we’ll head out.”

  “Can I come?” Max asked.

  Sasha opened her mouth, then closed it, looking at Kati. “Well, that’s up to your mom.”

  “Um, I don’t know…” Kati said.

  “You should go too, Kati,” Laney said. “Maybe you guys could get some dinner.”

  Yoni rubbed his stomach. “Well if dinner is involved, I’m going, too.”

  “And I’ll send along a couple of guards. They’ve been wanting to get away from the grounds,” Laney added, trying to sound casual.

  Kati looked at Laney, and Laney could read the indecision on her friend’s face.

  “It’ll be okay,” Laney urged. “And it’ll good for Max.”

  Kati kept her eyes on Laney for a long minute before nodding. “Okay. Sounds good.”

  Laney smiled. “Bring me back something, would you?”

  “Hamburger and fries?” Sasha asked.

  Laney smiled. “Perfect.”

  The group trooped out of the office and Laney let out a sigh, wishing she could go with them and just relax for a few hours. Instead she pulled over a stack of resumes for the psychologists they were considering interviewing. Her uncle, Patrick Delaney, had been pinch-hitting as a counselor, and had been doing a fine job, but they all knew that with the problems some of these kids would be dealing with, they would require professional help.

  “Okay, Dr. Shields, what do you bring to the table?”

  She spent the next hour going through the files. Finally she stood up and stretched. Cleo raised her head expectantly.

  Laney smiled as she shrugged on her jacket. “Okay. A quick walk. And then back to work.”

  Cleo got to her feet, kneading her claws on the carpet as she stretched.

  Laney shook her head and added a carpet to the list of things she’d need to have replaced.

  But then she smiled. In the grand scheme of things, if her biggest worries involved carpeting and beds, she was doing all right. In fact, she could most definitely get used to this.

  CHAPTER 2

  Danny Wartowski sat at the wall of monitors in his office at the Chandler School. Henry was off helping bring back the new kids, but Danny had chosen to spend his time at the school. He liked being around kids his age, even if he wasn’t exactly hanging out with them.

  A yell from the hallway seized his attention and his head jerked up. Three kids went running by, tossing a football between them.

  Danny had been at the school a couple of days a week since it opened, but he still didn’t know many of the kids well enough to do more than say “hi” in passing. Some of them seemed nice enough; Danny just didn’t know how to talk to them. They had nothing in common. Almost all of these kids had abilities, but Danny didn’t. And Danny had an off-the-charts IQ, which none of the kids had. So there wasn’t a lot of middle ground there.

  Danny turned back to the screen. He might not have many—okay, any—friends among the kids at Chandler Home, but it didn’t matter. Because right now, he had much more pressing concerns.

  He bit his lip as he examined the latest data output. “This can’t be right,” he murmured.

  He flipped through the screens of code he’d written. There must a problem in the syntax. Maybe he reverse coded the variable. He stared at the one he thought might be causing the problem. No, it was coded correctly.

  He hit a button and the monitors filled with pictures of children. Danny looked carefully at each child’s face in turn, his worry growing. Finally, he hit another button to remove the pictures from the screen. But the faces stayed lodged in his mind.

  He printed out the computer code he’d used to generate the results: all one-hundred-plus pages of it. He walked over to retrieve it from the output tray, then headed back to his desk. Pushing his other papers out of the way, he sat down and started going through the code, line by line. It would take hours, but he needed to make sure.

  And for the first time Danny could remember, he hoped that he was wrong.

  CHAPTER 3

  Laney pulled up in front of one of the cottages on the Chandler Estate. The five-hundred-acre estate boasted over two dozen cottages along what was known as Sharecroppers Lane—all of them, unsurprisingly, former sharecropper homes. Henry had renovated them when he’d decided to turn the estate into the headquarters of his business. Henry’s own home was located just behind the main building.

  Laney and Jake had a cottage here too, and Kati, Maddox, and Max were in the cottage right next door. Her uncle Patrick took the one on the other side of her when he was in town.

  She smiled as she looked at the row of rock-faced homes. It was like something out of a fairy tale, with old-fashioned lampposts and flowers overflowing from window boxes.

  Laney had spent the last few hours arranging all the final details for the kids arriving tomorrow. Once they arrived, she’d be staying out at the school while they got settled, so tonight would be her last chance to sleep in her own bed for a while.

  Cleo put her head over the back of Laney’s seat. Laney reached up and rubbed the side of the big cat’s face. “And you are going to have to spend a little time in the cage while the kids get settled.”

  Cleo let out a grunt.

  “I know you don’t like it. But tonight you can sleep with me. Come on, let’s go say goodnight to Max.”

  Laney got out of the car and Cleo followed. A very tall man opened the door of the cottage and stepped out. With his long dark hair and muscular build, he looked like he was part of an extremely tough biker gang.

  Laney put up her hands. “Just me.”

  Maddox Datson smiled. “You’re just in time—Kati’s tucking him in.”
<
br />   She returned the smile as she walked up to him. “We thought we’d say goodnight.”

  Maddox reached down and ran a hand through Cleo’s fur. “Hey, girl. Danny was hoping you’d stop by.”

  “Both of us, or just Cleo?”

  Maddox grinned. “Let’s pretend it’s both of you.”

  Laney shook her head as she headed for the stairs. Cleo had won over Max, hook, line, and sinker. And Laney wasn’t ashamed to admit that she was a little jealous. She used to be Max’s number one friend. But now Max had Maddox, Cleo, Dom, Danny, Jake, Jen… the list went on and on. She was happy for him, but still selfish enough to want him to like her just a little bit more than the rest of them. After all, she had helped raise him.

  Laney headed up the stairs with Cleo right behind her. She could hear Kati and Max talking, and put up a hand to stop Cleo.

  Laney peeked in Max’s room. Kati was tucking the blue blanket around him. “Who were you talking to before, honey?”

  Max looked up at her, then his eyes drifted away. “Um, Dad?”

  Laney had been just about to say hello, but now she stopped. Dad? Max’s dad had passed away in a car accident before Max was even born.

  “You mean you imagined him here?” Kati asked.

  Max shook his head, his voice a little nervous. “No. He, uh, visits me sometimes.”

  “How do you know it’s your dad?” Kati asked.

  Max shrugged. “It looks like him.”

  “Is he here now?” Kati asked.

  “He’s over by the window,” Max said.

  Kati looked over at the window, and so did Laney. A chill stole over Laney even though there was no one there. What was she expecting? Max was imagining things.

  She looked back at the boy with concern. Ever since the attack in Hershey, Max seemed to be making up more and more imaginary friends. His dad was just one more. That was all.

  Laney’s concerned gaze shifted from Max to Kati. Her friend’s hands shook as she reached out to push a piece of hair from her son’s forehead. “Well, it’s nice your dad comes by to say hi.”