The Return of the Watchers (Armageddon Rising Book 1) (12 page)

“You have your passport, right?”                                                                       “Yes, sir. It's getting quite full. Might need another one soon, depending where we go next,” she laughed.                                                                       They stopped at a local grocer to pick up a few supplies and headed towards his house. Making a quick glance in the rear-view mirror he noticed a white van with several occupants was following him. The roads were far too icy for him to attempt any evasive maneuvers  Yuki noticed his serious expression as he silently looked in the rear-view mirror.                                                                                                                               “Is something wrong?”                                                                                     “Well,” was all he managed to say before she checked to see what was holding his attention.                                                                                                   “The white van! That's the one that was following me before. Do you know who they are?” she asked in a panic.                                                         “Not a clue. Don’t worry, I have an idea,” he said, turning down a road away from where he lived. There was still a bit of daylight out so he decided to head towards a busier section of town. He brought the car to a halt at the side of the road and the white van pulled behind them.                            “Stay here,” he said. He put the gear in park but kept the engine running.                                                                                                                               “What are you doing? Get back here!” she shouted as he got out of the car.                                                                                                                               Reaching inside his coat pocket he felt for the handle and trigger of the taser he had on him, just in case things got out of control. As he made his way toward the van he made eye contact with one of the two occupants. One of them was an older woman, most likely in her late sixties or early seventies; the other was a middle-aged man who was at the wheel. They were talking to each other as Dorian approached, almost arguing.                                                                                                                               He stood alongside their vehicle and motioned for the driver to roll down the window.                                          

              “Hi, there,” Dorian said politely. “Is there a reason why you’ve been following us? Can I help you with something?” He looked inside to see if they were about to use some type of weapon against him.                             “Are you Dorian, son of Esma?” the woman asked across the window.                                                                                                                 “Esme,” he said, correcting her. “How do you know that name? Who are you?”                                                                                                                  They both started to speak, then the older woman smacked the driver across the chest. “Be quiet, will you?” she snapped, giving him a dirty look.                                                                                                                                The old woman got out of the van and approached Dorian carefully, as if she had not seen him in many years and was trying to remember his face. Her hair was long and grey, pulled back to expose a birthmark in the shape of a moon on the side of her head, and she wore a long wool coat. Judging from her accent and skin tone she was of middle-eastern descent. The woman walked with a limp over to where Dorian stood waiting on the sidewalk. The driver was thin and homely-looking, balding on top, with a sour expression, as if he was perturbed by the whole affair.                                                                                                                                             “My name is Mahin Zadeh. How do you do,” she said, extending her gloved hand toward Dorian. He cautiously shook her hand with a bewildered look.                                                                                                                 “That is my useless son Shahin in the van over there. I’m sorry if we frightened you and your woman there. I was not sure how to approach you. I know what I’m going to tell you might sound crazy, but I am what you call a Seer, or what some refer to as a Prophet. I can see the future. It’s the truth,” she said with a grim expression. “You must be wondering what all this has to do with you?”                                                                                     Dorian could sense she meant him no harm so he relaxed his guard somewhat. “You might say that, yeah,” he replied with a slight smile.               She began to look him over. “Hold out your hands,” she said, holding her own out. He held out his hands as she instructed.                             “Turn them over for me.” He did as she said, wondering what was going on. Yuki observed the scene from the car. She shut off the vehicle and cautiously walked over to see what was going on, keeping a bit of running distance between her and Mahin.  Dorian looked over towards Yuki.                                                                                                                                             “That’s fine, she can listen,” Mahin said to him.              

              “Who is she Dorian? What does she want from you?” Yuki asked, looking nervously at Mahin as Dorian flipped his hands around for her.              “She says she’s a Seer, right?” he said, looking over at Mahin.               “That’s right, young one. I do not mean any harm.” She glanced  over at Yuki. “Hello, I’m Mahin. I am sorry if we frightened you before, I did not mean to. I was explaining to your friend here I had to give him a message. I am sorry to delay you.” She turned back to Dorian.                             “When I was about twenty-three, that would be right around the time you were born, I had a vision about you.” Dorian’s eyes widened.                “Do not look so surprised young man; I know you are not as young as you look,” she said with a grin. “I was instructed to deliver the message to you from a higher power, so that you would know what to do when the time was right. Now, did you have anything strange happen to you recently?”                                                                                                                               Dorian was running out of patience.                                                                       “Listen, I think this has gone on long enough. I’m a scientist, okay, I don’t want to be rude, I showed you my hands; they’re fine, see?” He was holding them up, flipping them around back and forth.                                           “Show her the back of your head, Dorian,” Yuki piped in.                             “What is on the back of your head?” Mahin asked. Dorian shook his head.                                                                                                                               “Fine, then; have a look at my button. I’ll give you fifty bucks if you can take it off without killing me.” He turned around and pointed at the back of his head.                                                                                                                 “Okay, it’s okay,” she said trying to calm him. “I think I see what we have here. This was what I was looking for. I saw this object in my vision, you see, but I did not expect it to be there. You have the mark of Hermoni on you. He is one of the fallen. This cannot be removed by my hands. No, mmm, it cannot,” she said shaking her head.                                           “Herman who?” he asked.                                                                                     “Hermoni. A Grigori. One of the watchers. Did you not receive the message?”                                                                                                                               “What message would that be?” he asked.                                                         “I don’t know what it said, but it should have a mark that looks like an oval with three wavy lines in the middle and some lines coming of the sides. Do you remember seeing that anywhere?”

              He reached for the message in his pocket that had the traced sigil from the email that he received.                                                                                     Like this?”                                                                                                                 “Yes. That is it, that is the one. You are going use that sigil, but you should know that you face much danger ahead. In my vision I heard a voice and saw a figure standing before me those many years ago, and it frightened me to my bones. The voice was like an ocean and a great many voices all in one; and the being I saw- may God have mercy.”
S
he placed her hand over her heart.                                                                                                   Dorian and Yuki stood there listening, mesmerized. For some reason the words Mahin spoke touched his spirit; he could feel a stirring in his heart.                                                                                                                              “Her face was the most beautiful and terrifying thing I have ever seen in my life, I cannot describe it with words; it’s not possible. Her eyes were like emeralds and lightning, and her hair was like living fire if such a thing could exist. She took my hand in hers and I felt an amazing sensation, as if I was flying and happier than I could possibly be. I saw her home and the love of her life. She showed me her transgression and her punishment to come and I could hardly bear it. I felt her pain, her sorrow at what happened.” Mahin was crying now. She had one hand on her mouth and held the other out, waving it back and forth to try and contain her emotions.                                                                                                                               “I saw you as a baby and as a young boy, and then I saw you as you are here today, and how you will be in the future from now. Young man, you have no idea how important you will be for us.

              “She looked at me and told me this: 'Three notes make the chord; three instruments are required to play. The music is read with the aid of the stand. The mighty ones shall be your reward.' That is all she said to me and then I was back in the world. I was instructed to give you the message in this year and in this month.”                                                                                     Dorian looked exasperated.                                                                                     “I’m sorry, but I have no idea what any of that means. How did you find us and why did you follow her?” he asked, while looking over at Yuki, who stood silent.                                                                                                   “My visions,” Mahin said, gathering her thoughts, “are difficult to describe. They have a feeling along with a picture, almost like a memory. I knew you would be at the place near the gas station that night, I just didn’t know exactly when. We saw the police and decided it would not be a good time to approach you. The spirit left and returned today when we were on the road; I could feel your presence and I knew it was you. As soon as I saw your face,” she said, getting emotional again, “I knew I could finally fulfill her wishes for you.”                                                                                                   Her son’s eyes widened.                                                                                     “I’ve been in a hotel for almost the whole month waiting for her to finish this thing so we could go home. Now, mother, are we done? Can we go now?” he asked impatiently through the driver’s side window.                             “You do not speak now! We will go when I say we are done, do you understand?”                                                                                                                  Shahin gave sour look and rolled up the window.                                           “Is there anything you wish to ask me?”Mahin asked.              

              “Well, for starters, how the heck do I get this thing off of me?” Dorian asked, pointing to the mark of Hermoni.                                                         “Go to a quiet place, one where you won’t be disturbed. Take the message you have and follow the instructions. They will help you remove it. That is all I can say about that,” she replied.                                                         “What is all of this about? Really, what am I? What is going on here? Are we really not alone? Is this some kind of alien takeover of our planet or something?”                                                                                                    “Like War of the Worlds?” Yuki chimed in.                                                         Mahin looked surprised at them. “You really have no idea what is going on? Have you not read the prophecies concerning the end times? It is not surprising there is so much darkness in this world when even the chosen are blind,” Mahin said with disdain in her voice.                                           “Esme, you mentioned her name. How do you know it? What do you know of my mother?”                                                                                                   “She told me that you were the son of Esme. I said it incorrectly before. I don’t think I am permitted to say anything else,” Mahin replied.               There was a pain in his heart and the hair on his body stood up as a chill came over him.  He had a lost feeling, as if he was in some sort of nightmare, the kind you have when you take an exam and have no idea what you’re being asked or how to answer any questions.                                           “Mahin, please, I need some answers, what is going on?”

              “There is a unseen war going on. Can you not tell by what is happening all over the world? Remember the message I gave you. I waited many years to give it to you. I must leave now. May God be with you.”               She turned and gave Yuki a slight smile and made her way back to her van and got inside. Dorian looked over at Yuki, who looked back at him in silence. The van started up and drove away, leaving him with more questions than answers.                                                                                                   The two made their way back to his car without saying anything. They sat for a moment in silence, then Dorian started the car. Yuki put her hand on Dorian's. “We will figure this out together,” she said with a worried smile. Dorian didn’t say much aside from the growls that came from his stomach. Yuki laughed, and he quickly put his hand over the cantankerous organ.                                                                                                                 “Well, that’s embarrassing. We should be at my house soon, barring any other surprises. I’m looking forward to dinner,” he said with a less somber look than he had earlier.                                                                                     They parked in the driveway, then brought the groceries inside the kitchen. After checking the house for aliens and unpacking the bags, he showed her the sparse utensils and cooking pots he had that were worth using.                                                                                                                                             “You haven’t taken your coat off, are you cold?” Dorian asked.               “You’re not? I see no reason to have a refrigerator running when you could just leave everything sitting out. I doubt anything would spoil.”