Destiny Strikes (19 page)

CHAPTER 35

“Do I really have to do this?” Fallon looked sulkily upon row upon rows of clothes for suitable attire to wear to church. Travis, dressed in his freshly washed clothes from last night, sat on the bed and watched her.

“I’m more than with you on finding Dennis, but what does a church have to do with any of that? Dennis is a young man. What makes you sure he’ll be in church, anyway?”

“It’s the only time a lot of people will congregate in one place until Farmers’ Day, which isn’t until the end of the week.”

“If you don’t hurry up, we’re going to be late.”

Donning a simple leather spaghetti strapped dress that fell around her ankles, Fallon studied her reflection, twisting, examining every unflattering angle in the mirror. Travis came over and grabbed her arm. He swung her around for a deep kiss and smacked her on the bottom.

“Now, let’s go. It’s already ten o’clock. If someone didn't look so delectable when I woke up, we would not be running late.” A new light entered his eyes and she suspected it had nothing to do with leaving.

She placed her hand on his ass and gave him a strong enough charge that she had him glowing and groaning in pleasure. Let him deal with that for a while. Swinging her hips out the door, she reasoned that it never does a woman any good to let the man get the upper hand at the beginning of any relationship.

Morning devotions were a time when all parishioners poured their bleeding and wounded hearts out.

Dennis heard his mother whispering. “Please help my son in whatever time of need he’s experiencing. Save his blessed soul.”

“It’s not my soul you have to be asking Him for,” he promised.

With his newfound powers, he couldn’t help imagining the parishioners filling the church worshiping him. The idyllic image evaporated instantly as the pastor’s voice echoed through the microphone.

“We have two newcomers. Come on in, my sister and brother in Christ.”

Dennis glanced over his shoulder, catching a glimpse of the couple walking in then coughed to hide his laughter. Officer Travis and Rafael’s sister would be here to witness his greatest hour. Hell, they would most likely be a part of it.

Dennis sat back and recalled Anebasi’s conversation about his coming-out platform. “Some of the greatest wars I’ve seen fought have been over religion. And your coronation deserves nothing less.”

At the time, her meaning was confusing. Now he understood. He turned back again and smiled at the woman with Travis.

After witnessing the special night between the two, he knew he wasn’t the only bad-ass in the room, and by all accounts, she had nothing on him.

Fallon’s chin grazed Travis’s shoulder as she whispered, “What are we going to do about Dennis?”

The church, filling with people he knew, troubled the shit out of him. Not one to attend church regularly, he was surprised at the many people who did come to fellowship. Looking into some of the curious and welcoming faces, he felt the weight of the whole community on his shoulders. He’d come to love many of the people present like family.

“Maybe now’s not the best time to do this. You said yourself you’re not sure what Dennis can do.” He saw his doubts reflected at him as he stared into her resolute eyes.

“I have a general idea of what he is capable of. It isn’t pretty.”

The next thing Travis knew, Fallon had sat down on the other side of the church. His loudly spoken, “Fallon, get back here,” went unheeded.

“Hey, Travis, is everything okay?” the man beside him asked with a frown.

Annoyed by the appreciation in the man’s eye over his woman’s departure, he let his possessive side out to do a little damage control, and claim what was rightfully his. “That right there is a prime example of a woman who’s going to do her own thing, no matter what her man says.”

He was stuck to his seat, helpless to do anything but trust her to know what she was doing. She sat three rows up in a row filled with families and not a spec of space for him beside her. She knew more about this situation than he did. However, he was quick to change his opinion on the heels of whiplashing double-take. Why was the fool woman rubbing her shoulder blades against the back of the pew?

“I really need you to listen,” Fallon implored as she fought off a familiar rising tide of aggressive anger building. She was able to say, “For the sake of everyone here, you’ve got to come with me now,” she finished through clenched teeth.

The darkness she’d lived with daily now wanted freedom, and the delusion of governing the darker half in Travis’s arms last night dissolved.

She craved destruction and wanted blood painting the walls.

The spot between her shoulder blades was driving her mad as Dennis’s gaze remained forward, his focus on one spot at the front of the church, and it wasn’t his mother kneeling there.

The handsome man in his late-fifties, manicured beard, wavy black hair, stood proudly with his hands raised to the rafters.

“If there’s anybody else out there in need of the Lord today,” the man of the cloth appealed, “don’t wait until it’s too late. Please come forward, and let His light shine down upon you. All you have to do is come up here. All you have to do is ask. He’s here waiting for you.”

More people began leaving their seats, and joining others.

Dennis’s freaky focus and silence ended suddenly.

“You know, I knew there was something special about Travis. Almost makes me wish things were different. I believe Travis could’ve taught me a few things, especially since he’s the one fucking you.” He then looked over his shoulder at Travis and smiled, saying, “Today should be very interesting now that you’re both here.

Fallon skin tingled, her flesh alive with wanting to burn each layer of flesh from Dennis’s body.

“I don’t know where you’re getting you information, but you’d better explain that last part.” If she had any doubts when it came to executing someone so young, the evil intent in his eyes and smile killed it.

“You, on the other hand, I’ll take a firm hand to when all is said and done here.” Two women along the pew leaned forward and gave him an appalled harrumph.

Fallon silkily whispered in his ear, “We can talk outside right now, if you like.” Bullshitting aside, she continued. “I know what you are. The how of it, I’m not so sure about. You’ve already hurt a lot of people. You don’t want your death to occur in front of your mother, do you?”

The little rodent moved in close and hissed in her ear. “I’m not leaving. I like who I’ve become and what makes me unlike any of these piss-ants. Although it’s boring explaining this when you and Travis know all about being unique.”

The assurance behind the smile caused a whiff of smoke to burn her nose.

“Will you ever get to the fucking point?”

“The X-rated version of you guy’s together last night, that was really fun to watch. Sex calling lightning. By the way, that’s nothing compared to what will happen if you don’t get the fuck away from me now.”

Sliding along the seat, closer to his punk-ass behind, until there wasn’t any room left between them, Fallon placed her hand over his thigh. A small jolt passed from her fingers into the jeans-covered area. Despite a slight twitch, Dennis showed no reaction to her bold move.

“Get the fuck up right this minute, and as I promised, I’ll be nice and kill you quickly. I really don’t care. The choice is yours.” To emphasize her point, she localized another shock of electricity.

Never wavering in his focus from her hand on his leg, the sickly sweet smell of fresh blood and charred meat started to rise from the seared area. Dennis essentially looked her in the eyes and snickered. His laughter continued until he had the attention of the whole church. They turned to see what the disturbance was.

“Stupid bitch, you can’t hurt me!”

Dennis’s mother head came up from her prayers and hurt shone bright in her glittering gaze before she collapsed on the floor.

Over the sound of her pounding heart, Fallon watched in horror as Travis raced forward thinking Dennis was distracted with his head leaned back, eyes closed, and maniacal laughter ringing throughout the church.

Travis’s fist connected, not with Dennis, but with an invisible shield protecting Dennis. The ricochet tossed Travis like a ragdoll into the air as Fallon screamed. His body bounced off the double doors at the back of the church with bone-jarring brutality.

Fallon held her breath waiting for him to move. Pursing Dennis, who’d used the distraction to get around her and head to the spot he’d been staring at earlier, was absurd since she was frozen in place. Travis lay still and unmoving for so long she began to doubt he’d been knocked unconscious, and that there was a far more heart wrenching reason he didn’t move. Through blurry eyes, she glimpsed the minute rise and fall from his body. Relief swept through her. He lived.

Her gaze shifted and she watched as Dennis took a position in front of a painted depiction of Angels.

Then Dennis’s arms rose outstretched and wings sprouted behind him. The words left her lips before she could call them back. “What the fuck?”

“Travis,” Fallon said, “I’m going to need you to wake up soon, buddy.” After no response, she lowered her voice in order not to frighten anyone else. “This is so much worse than I imagined.”

“Since most of the town is here, I think it’s about time I introduce myself.” Dennis unfurled the purplish-black wings like a peacock and continued. “I have come to learn within the past month that my dear mother here fucked one of the Fallen. So, not only am I a rare breed of Angel as they tell me, I’ve been tasked recently with an obligation to weed out the herd, so to speak.” He stepped away from the mural into the beginning row of pews, raising his hands as if overseeing the church.

Three people began to levitate from their seat, their bodies bowed and soundless screams stretching their lips.

“You have a soul that doesn’t belong to you and I’d like it back.”

Fallon’s heart rate picked up as she denied what the unknown force within her coaxed her to do. Every person present would end up dead. She gripped the edge of the pew in an effort to stave off the worst compulsion, to be judge, jury, and executioner. The wood beneath her fingers creaked.

Thankfully, Dennis’s mass mind control held everyone else motionless. The compulsion had almost sunk its tainted talons into her mind, and her success hinged on Dennis believing it had. The kid’s power rivaled any Sortaneph she’d ever came in contact with. In addition, the reference to the Fallen was troubling and inordinately toxic to her inner being, in light of stories she’d heard over the centuries. The dark breed had remained a myth until now.

Her anxiety increased and so did the storm beyond the windowpanes. The pretty prisms with light shining through when they’d arrived had disappeared as the weather outside cast an ominous gloom over the interior of the church.

Even if she could call lightning, and directed it straight at Dennis, the castoff would cause insurmountable damage and probably destroy the church and all its inhabitants.

“Dennis, listen to me. What’s been done can’t be changed, yet you’ve got a chance to do the right thing now. Let these people go and we’ll handle it. I don’t know how or why you’re doing this, but I need you to stop,” Fallon said from the depths of her soul. “Whatever you’re doing, just stop. For Christ’s sake, your own mother is dying, if not dead by now. Why not just take me?”

“You can’t stop this, and you know it,” Dennis snarled. “After I’m done with these stupid people, you’re next.” The barrier around him shimmered as he continued to draw on a disembodied sentient force fighting to stay with its host.

“Be reasonable, Dennis. At least tell me why you’re doing this. What is the game plan after all of this? Or do you even know,” she asked in a mocking tone.

Fallon had taken her eyes off Dennis for just a minute to watch Travis’s progress, and when she turned back to him, she saw an unknown woman standing beside him, who began stroking him like her favored pet.

“Who the hell are you?” Fallon frowned, sizing up the woman.

Utter contempt lined the detestable, but lovely face.

“I knew of the one called Rafael.” Her perfect Botox-like lips curled with derision. “It seems there are more mistakes running around than I anticipated. That’s just great.”

The woman’s expression changed to amusement at witnessing Fallon’s confusion. “You have no clue about your pathetic brother,” she said and clapped her hands together. “Your naiveté would be more useful if you knew who and what you are.”

“The Guardian fills your head with nonsense, and choosing to hunt my Sortaneph brethren will be this world’s undoing, and soon enough you’ll pay for your mistaken sense of right,” she said, raising a perfectly arched eyebrow.

“I don’t know what makes you think you can interrupt this little party and spout off absurdities, right out of the gate, but I was talking to Dennis. Not you.”

Fallon didn’t want to admit any resemblance between the newcomer and Travis, but as he stood unmoving, there was no denying the fascination dawning on his face.

The woman in the hooded long black cloak broke Fallon’s concentration by throwing her head back and issuing a maniacal deep-throated laugh.

“When it comes to enlightenment, the role you Neplilim simpleton’s play in humanity’s future is on a grander scale.”

“It’s been such fun over the centuries, torturing Raphael, the inept dolt. However, I grow bored altering the people he’s helped for my purposes. He actually tried to inspire hope, and it only led him into a trap. We are the rightful heirs to Earth.” The cloaked woman turned to Travis. “But obviously, you've found the same thing I did. Love can make us all do stupid things.”

Fallon could tell Travis was just as perplexed by the illogical ramblings as she was. What dastardly purpose could this new arrival to her shit fest have for following Raphael, Nephilim, or using Dennis to take over the world? Where had all of this come from and where was it fucking going?