My phone was dead. The useless blank screen mocked me, a dead weight in my hand.
Nik leaned over the back of his chair. "Use mine."
At first it did not seem like Lily was going to pick up. Panic gripped me. What other options did I have? There was no going to the authorities when Dejan controlled them. There were demons on both sides of this conflict: police and protestors. Would I just leave with Pen? Could I just leave?
There was a click. "Xavier?" Lily was breathless.
"Lily? Thank God!"
"Xavier, this really isn't the best time. I shouldn't be telling you this, but Sara will be back with us soon enough."
Down at the end of the street, I saw a group of masked individuals run out into the open. Pen swerved down a side street.
"Please listen to me," I begged. "I've got some information, about what the demons are planning. We don't have time! Oh God, do you know about the nuclear fusion plant?"
"It rings a bell."
"They're going to blow it up, trigger a meltdown. It'll take the whole city with it."
Pulling out onto the next main street, we found ourselves facing a wall of protestors. Masked officers held a line of shields. A tear-gas canister collided with the car window. The pause on the other end of the phone was stretching.
"I don't know if I'll be able to get you all the way back to the hostel," said Pen. "I'll try to get as close as possible."
"One second," Lily finally spoke, "I'll call you back."
"Please hurry!" I begged, into a dead receiver.
Pen chose to escape the riot by pulling into an underground parking lot. As the automatic door closed behind us, we were bathed in blissful quiet. Pen drove so we could see the exist before stopping.
"The hostel is a block down, do you think you'll be okay?"
Nik shrugged. "We got through it the first time, didn't we?"
"Just hang out for a couple more minutes and I'll give you back your phone," I said.
Nik shrugged again. "This is the most excitement I've probably had in my entire life."
We sat with our doors open, legs hanging out onto the concrete. The ceiling was low, pipes visible and easily within arm's reach. It was dead silent here, though we were surrounded by other cars. Florescent lights lit the space, but only about half of them appeared to be on.
"I hate to repeat myself," said Pen, tapping the dash-board clock, "but time is really of the essence here."
"Just give it--" I didn't even have to finish my sentence, for the phone had began to ring.
"Lily!"
"Give me the low-down, quickly. How does your watcher friend know what he knows?"
"He was talking to Azazel. He relays a lot of Lucifer's orders I think. He's staying in a house right near the fusion plant, registered under—you're going to love this—Lucas Dejan's name."
"Address?"
With my elbow I nudged Pen, who I knew was listening. Grudgingly, he obliged.
"Meat us there," said Lily. "We'll need to shake him down for information first."
"Good plan, it's just that, uh..." I cast a look at Pen. "I don't know if I'll be able to make it back there."
"Please, Xavier, we need you and whoever you're with. The knights had big plans tonight and it's just me and two others coming."
"What!" I was floored "Do they not realize what's happening?" Without thinking about it I'd gotten out into the garage and began to pace.
"Like I said, they don't trust you. Well, they don't trust the one you're with. Listen," she'd lowered her voice. "When I told Gregor he took it seriously. He was ready to send more than we could spare, but he asked one of the IRIN agents with us. There are two who keep us in the loop. He said not to go at all."
"Because they want destruction as much as the demons," I hissed.
"I don't have the time to think about that right now," said Lily. "But I'm coming, and we need you. Fuck! The rest of the disciples are free, they would have flown in tomorrow. If only everything wasn't happening all at once."
Suddenly it was as if clarity had descended upon me. I couldn't run from this. I couldn't drive away, and see a mushroom cloud on the horizon behind me, and live with myself.
"I'll meet you there," I said, "hurry."
I went back towards the car to give Nik his phone.
Pen had slid over into the passenger seat, and he grabbed my arm. "Get in. We've wasted enough time."
"I'm not leaving," I said firmly. "I've made up my mind. We have to go and help."
Pen shook his head. "It's hopeless, a needless risk."
Nik had gotten out of the car and was standing beside me.
"If you won't come, I'll go alone," I said, wrenching my arm from his grip, and taking a step back.
Pen got to his feet, and we both took another step back.
"I'm not going to let you get yourself killed."
He reached for my head, as if he intended to put me to sleep like Azazel had, but I blocked his arm.
"Hey, man!" Nik grabbed him by the shoulder.
Throwing him off, Pen warned, "you need to get out of town too, don't you? I'd leave now, while you still can."
He paced a circle so that he was on the other side of us. He had us backing into the car now, away from the ramps that lead up to the exist, or down to another level of parking.
"You're always going on about free will," I tried, "What about mine? This is my choice."
"I'm just trying to keep you safe."
It was an emotional thing to say, and it might have made me cave, had he said it with even the slightest degree of emotion. All throughout the fight, every action, every threat, had been done or uttered with a smooth calm. That was what made Pen scary: the cold intensity.
I had my hands up, ready to defend myself if he tried to knock me out. Nik seemed to be standing by me, but I still felt the hopelessness of it. That was until I saw a pare of legs slide through the crack where the ramp met the ceiling, then a body. The woman climbed down, landing silently behind Pen. My awed expression would have given it away had Kasdaye not been quick enough.
She snapped his neck in one smooth motion. Nik screamed.
"Sorry, brother," she said, catching Pen's body before it hit the floor. "Oh, don't look so terrified. He'll be fine."
Kasdaye looked rather bedraggled. Before she'd usually sported a blouse of some kind, but now she wore only a black undershirt. There were scratches on her arm, and her hair was tangled. At her waist she had not even attempted to conceal her sheathed knife.
Turning to me, she said, "he'll probably be out for about an hour, or so. That should be enough time for us to meet up with your Templar friends and give Azazel and the others what's coming to them."
"How did you know?" I asked. "How did you find us?"
She smiled for half a second. "I was watching, it's what we do after all. I've been following Penemue all day using the tricks he's taught me. I think he was aware, just not aware enough, obviously."
She picked him up like he weighed nothing, sliding his body into the back seat of the car.
Never one to just count my blessings, I had to ask, "why are you helping me? I thought you liked to just keep your head down."
"I did, but Tamiel didn't. She was brave, and good... She would never run if she knew something like this was coming. Plus, I'm a petty creature, at least I can admit that. She was all I had, so all I have now is revenge."
Nik stood silently by the car, and despite his obvious attempts to hide it I could tell he was scared.
"Thank you," I said to him, "for standing by me now, but also for giving me what's probably going to be the last good night of my life. We're going to try to stop this, but you should still get out of town."
He nodded. "Before I go, can I have just one question answered?"
I couldn't help but smile. "You sound just like I did. I asked one too many questions, I think. Shoot."
"Not all of you three are human, are you?"
"Nope, just me. These two were angels, once upon a time."
"Whoa..." Nik stared at Kasdaye for a moment before jerkily averting his eyes, looking back at me. "In that case, Xavier, I think you're the most exceptional person I've ever met."
Before I could manage to construct any sort of response, he turned and began to leave.
Eventually I managed a very underwhelming, "bye!"
Almost at the top of the ramp he gave me a salute. "Good luck."
"I hope he'll be okay," I said, though I knew Kasdaye probably didn't care.
To my surprise, she placed a hand gently on my shoulder. "He seems like a tough boy, standing with you against Penemue like that." Turning away from me, she yelled out into the silence of the garage. "There is no longer a need for surprise backup."
From behind a column in the direction of the entrance, someone stepped out into a pool of light. At first I wasn't sure what I was seeing.
"Hoel?" I asked, because it was unmistakably the angel we had rescued from the demon's stronghold.
He nodded, coming to join as by the car. Kasdaye slid into the driver's seat, and as I took the one beside her, I asked, "what are you doing here? I thought you'd be..."
He thankfully did not force me to finish the sentence. "With the other angels? I was again, for a short time. I don't know what it was, but I was so sure they would pursue Lucifer to the end of the earth, but more and more I began to feel that our presence at Tamiel's..." he trialed off "... that it was just show."
Kasdaye did not actively contribute to the story, but there was a sort of tightness in her face at the mention of the name. With Hoel sitting in the back beside Pen's body, she started the car.
He continued. "His role as a horseman is too important to the overall plan. He, Gabriel, Uriel, and Micheal have effectively been eliminated from the battlefield. Not only are they even more powerful than us than before, carrying out their duties keep them busy."
The car had just left the safety of the garage. Thankfully, the street the exist faced onto was not as crowded with protestors as the one with the entrance. Frighteningly, it looked like one of the boxes on the telephone poles had been hit with something, and sparks rained down. On the other end of the street a quiet group of protestors seemed to be resting. Kasdaye drove away from them, seemingly unafraid as the car raced under the falling sparks.
She spoke then, continuing what Hoel had been saying. "By mounting their steeds they had to relinquish their roles as they were before. Lucifer's highest ranking demons run Hell in his absence. Azazel is one of them."
Her hands tightened on the steering wheel, and we sped up, turning a corner so fast I had to brace myself against the dashboard for support. In the back, Pen's head slid off the edge of the seat.
"That's why I knew I would have an ally in her," said Hoel, "after I saw what Lucifer did. I couldn't just sit there, not after what I'd seen."
"You're not afraid?" I asked.
Hoel laughed, a light sound, "I'm terrified."
"So what are the angels doing?" I asked. "Have they left earth entirely?"
"No. We protect our strongholds, and watch over churches and places of the like. Many are also delegated to help Sara, if she were to call directly for assistance. But we do not answer prayers, not anymore. We only make lists of who is praying."
As we sped through the night, Kasdaye's terrifying driving making short work of any obstacles, I let myself feel a bit of hope. With Kasdaye and Hoel by my side, for the first time there seemed to be some real chance of stopping the demons' plan.
I was almost sure we'd arrive at Dejan's supposed residence before Lily. Even without our backup, Kasdaye seemed to think—quite reasonably—that we should not wait. According to her Lily had had the right idea. Whoever was in the house would know the plan or where those carrying it out were, if they had already left.
"Looks like rain," commented Hoel, staring up at the sky.
He was right. The sky was a threatening grey, and on the horizon a massive bank of storm clouds sat. Lightening could be seen, even from this distance. It looked like the end of the world out there.