Look he just doesn’t know any better okay?! I accept full
responsibility for what he’s done!” She yelled as the officers
drew near, two of them bending to pull the still twitching
Leviathan to his feet. He was quite obviously unconscious, his
eyes firmly shut and his face so pale for a brief second she
actually thought he could be dead. “Please just let him go.” She
demanded, lifting her gaze to the man who looked to be in
charge. The moment she saw his face she gasped. He looked
exactly like Jeremy and the others. In fact half of the policemen
and women had the same washed out appearance, same eyes and
even same hair color as the man that held her. “This…was a set
up wasn’t it?” She asked and the officer in front of her frowned
deeply.
“Get him to the truck,” He ordered then turned to look at Jeremy,
“And get
her
out of here.” She didn’t need any more
confirmation than that. Pierre and Naomi had set them up!
“No! Let him go!” Kailani screamed at the top of her lungs,
fighting like she’d never fought before as she watched them drag
Leviathan away. Jeremy held her tightly as he pulled her towards
one of the hangers, ignoring her struggling and screaming, finally
picking her up and tossing her over his shoulder. Kai kicked,
reaching for Leviathan as they threw him in cuffs and dumped
him in the back of an unmarked SUV. Her cries soon fell on deaf
ears as the hanger doors slid shut in front of her, leaving her
screaming in frustration as she was carried away by her
abductors.
Leviathan sat up straight, his head pounding as electricity
continued to bounce around inside him, before finally being
expelled from his exhausted body. He felt like shit, every inch of
him sore as if his captors had spent the time he’d been
unconscious beating him. His clothing was singed and his flesh
burned in the places the metal prongs on the cattle prods had
touched him. He didn’t handle small bouts of electricity well, let
alone the several thousand volts they forced into him. Clenching
his teeth he struggled to his feet, looking around the small
holding cell he’d been dumped into. The room was plain, with
slate gray walls and hard metal bunk beds attached to two of the
three walls. There was a ‘bathroom’ area that looked as if it
hadn’t been cleaned in a couple months and across from him was
the wall of bars that held him captive.
“Had I known I’d actually go to jail for robbing a bank I may
have thought twice about doing it.” He said to himself as he
neared the bars, instantly wary of them. It was widely known that
demons were allergic to iron and the last thing he needed was
seared, dissolving flesh. The place seemed devoid of life, as if
they’d dumped him and left him there to rot. He couldn’t see, nor
sense, anything living and other than a freshly painted white wall
across from the cell he could see nothing more of the jail, no
other cells or even an emergency exit. There were no windows
and no way to tell if it was night or day. How long had he been
out? How much time had passed in the outside world?
Where was
Kailani?
“It made for great TV though mate.” Leviathan turned to see a
human man lift himself off one of the beds and grin at him. That
was odd. How had he not picked up on his presence? “The guards
talked about it all day, quite entertaining I must say.” He
chuckled and Leviathan frowned as he got a better look at him.
He wasn’t very tall; although he was so thin he was borderline
skeletal. His dark hair was shaggy as was the beard that covered
most of his face. “I heard the guards talking when they brought
you in too. Boy were you beat up. So is it true then? Are you
really a demon?” He asked and Leviathan felt himself stiffen.
Just what in the hell was going on here?
“I am.” He answered truthfully. Even though he didn’t trust him
as far as he could toss his scrawny ass he still saw no reason to
lie. If he suddenly decided he wanted to tell the world about
demons and such he could always just kill him.
“That’s amazing. The name’s James by the way. I was caught
like you were, though they didn’t rough me up when they brought
me in.” He chuckled, moving to stand in front of Leviathan and
marvel up at him. “You don’t look like a demon. You look like
this bloke I know who owes me fifty pounds.”
“And just how long have you been here James?” Leviathan
asked, choosing to ignore his comment all together.
“Since I was sixteen. I’m thirty four now.” He said and Leviathan
frowned.
“Eighteen years in a holding cell?”
“Oh no, this isn’t holding. This is a police facility. It’s essentially
prison but for those…mentally unstable.” James continued to flit
around the cell as if he just couldn’t bear to keep still. “They
bring old war veterans in here and everything. I never went to
war. Just Catholic school.” Leviathan just watched him. He was
strange but he didn’t seem like much of a threat. He was
malnourished and shorter than the average man, it didn’t seem
like he could really hurt anyone, not even himself. So why was he
there? Why was Leviathan there? Locked in what had to be a
mental institution instead of a traditional prison. Several
questions formed in his mind but only one seemed to leap out at
him as being truly important.
“Do you know if they brought a woman in here?” He asked and
James paused to blink up at him, “About five foot two with black
hair and brown eyes?”
“You mean the Hellmouth?” He asked retreating to the bunk he’d
previously occupied. Leviathan followed him.
“You know of her?”
“No. The guards talked about her though, just as they talked
about you. She’s on her way to Munich. Lovely place that is. If
you don’t mind the tourists.” James told him and he felt his
stomach tighten. Why would they take her to Germany? How did
they know she was a Hellmouth, or that he was a demon? This
situation just kept getting more and more peculiar by the second.
“Did they say when they were leaving? Or when they’d be back
here?”
“No, they never reveal that much information. Besides the guards
only come around to lock someone else up or beat the hell out of
one of us. It’s the nurses and Chaplains we see most often.”
James said with a wry twist of his lips. “I’ve been off the
medication they give you for a month now. Spit it right down the
sink drain. It makes me see things that aren’t really here.”
“Do the nurses keep to schedule?” Leviathan asked, taking
another step towards the man who didn’t recognize the imposing
threat.
“Most days. I’d say you have at least a couple hours before they
do their rounds. Or that’s what I guess. It’s not like there’s any
clocks in here. Doctors say they mess with your mind.” He
continued to ramble on aimlessly and Leviathan soon tuned him
out. So Kailani was on her way to Munich…Just as she’d wanted.
Leviathan moved to his designated bunk, sitting back into the
heavy shadows the overhead bed cast. His job was done he
supposed. She was safe and by now had reached her destination.
All there was left for him to do was wait for his Lord to recall
him. He’d be in hell again soon, in his domain. Alone. Where he
should be.
Chapter Twelve
“Take this goddamn blind fold off of me!” Kailani
screamed at the top of her lungs, struggling against the restraints
that held her fast against whatever she was sitting on. She felt
like she’d been screaming for hours and still no one had came to
see about her. She’d heard the sound of the jet engines starting
some time ago and after her ears popped she knew she was on
some plane, several thousand feet in the air and leaving Australia.
“Hey! I know you bastards can hear me! I’m not going to stop
screaming! Hel—!” She was cut off as someone ripped the
blindfold off her face and tossed it into her lap.
“Shut the hell up!” The man yelled and she glared up at him, her
eyes doing their best to adjust to the new light. It was the man
Jeremy had introduced as William. His brother. He was seething,
his dark eyes spitting fire at her. She opened her mouth to scream
again and his hand flew up in preparation if striking her. Before
he could follow through, Jeremy appeared behind him, catching
his wrist and frowning at him.
“Will, that’s not very nice. She’s our guest.” He scolded and
William turned his glare on his accomplice, finally sighing and
storming from the cabin. Jeremy gave her an apologetic smile as
he moved to sit in the seat across from her. “I’m sorry about that,
Will is a little high strung as of late.” He said and Kailani gave
him an incredulous glare.
“Where are you taking me?”
“To Germany. My master Ophanuel would really like to speak
with you.” He answered truthfully and she felt her heart seize in
her chest. Had he known they were coming? “We saw the demon
on television and after his little stunt a friend of ours let us know
you’d been captured by the demonic entity and were at risk of
loosing your soul. Lord Ophanuel sent us to retrieve you so you’d
be safe from the Leviathan.” He continued to smile charmingly.
So her assumption had been correct, Pierre set them up. But why
pretend to help them out of the country if he was just going to
hand them over? Why plan this diabolical tirade when he could
have just tied them up in their sleep and flew them to Germany
himself? Unless he was really just hell-bent on separating them
she couldn’t see any logic in his plot. Could he really hate
Leviathan that much? Was she really in all that much of danger
where the demon was concerned?
“Who are you? Who were the people that took Leviathan?” She
demanded, watching Jeremy settle back into his seat.
“As I said we work for Ophanuel. We’re…his errand boys I
guess you could say.” His tone became reverent and solemn.
“You’re angels?”
“No. We used to be.” He lifted his gaze back to hers and
frowned. “You don’t know anything about our world do you?”
“No…” She answered truthfully and he laughed.
“You really are like a child.”
“And what the hell is that supposed to mean?” She asked with a
frown and he laughed again. Just what was wrong with this dude?
“N-nothing at all. I think it’s…cute is all.” He said, turning his
head to stare out the little round window next to them. “I’m a
fallen.” Jeremy said simply and she blinked at him as she waited
for him to elaborate. “Fallen are angels who’ve done something
bad enough to loose their wings.”
“Right. So you’re a demon.”
“No.” He said sharply, turning his head to give her a look of
disgust, “We’re not demons. When we loose our wings we’re
simply fallen. We only become demons if we’re accepted by the
royal lineage of Hell and claimed by a demon lord.” He explained
and she frowned, finding herself even more confused.
“So the devil didn’t want you guys and now you just work for
Ophanuel? What is he like the unemployment line for out of
work angels or something?”
“We weren’t accepted by any of the reigning lords.” He
answered, ignoring the last part of her question, “Hell isn’t just
run by Lucifer, there’s an entire hierarchy down there. At the
very top are the seven lords; they all run a different district of
hell. Beneath them are the Princes, their offspring who usually
handle their affairs. Then you have the ancients, powerful
Principality spirits like The Leviathan who serve the royal
lineage. Then you also have the other beings who inhabit hell
such as devils, goblins, and gremlins… The rest just fall into line
behind them.” Jeremy shrugged and Kailani just stared at him.
There was so much to learn, so much she should have known
already. When it came to their world, the world that was now her
own, she was freaking remedial. “You look upset, have I said