your mother brought all pretense of peace to an end. It drove Lucifer into a fury, the likes of which I have seen only once before; when God barred him from Heaven. Lucifer was but moments from departing to kill Arol when you demanded the right to do so. He felt it only fair that Arol die by your hands, so he empowered Baalth to make it so, and you know the rest from there.”
I did, and just thinking about it made me ill. My head pounded, and the cold sweat returned. I wasn’t learning anything, but I knew there was more to it, could feel it inside. Once more I thanked my old mentor and said farewell, asking him if he could return me to Hell before he left. It would be a long walk to find a suitable portal if he didn’t, and I wasn’t feeling up to it.
He agreed and sent me on my way. I’d made the trip for almost nothing. I was going home empty handed with no assurances of help against Gorath, nothing new to help with the translation of the book, or any news about my family.
Today was turning out to be one big circle jerk with me in the middle.
Chapter Fifteen
Back in Hell, I scanned the place to see if the voyeur was back. Not finding any trace of a stranger, I set the dread fiends to work guarding Lucifer’s chambers. I was getting real tired of surprise visits.
Once the book was back in its hiding place, and the guard dogs were on duty, I set up a gate to take me back to my house. With all the excitement up on Earth, I hadn’t had time to go back and collect Chatterbox or the last few vials of Lucifer’s blood. While it infuriated me to use the shit, it was an advantage no one else had. I could be as stubborn as I wanted to be, but even my dumb ass knew the blood was too useful to abandon.
The portal ramped up and I drew in a deep breath as I was transported to Earth. I thought about readying my magic or pulling out my gun, but honestly, had the DSI broken into my house, there wouldn’t be enough of them left to fill a body bag, let alone a bucket. A mop would be more useful.
The spare room of my house started to flicker into existence, and I wondered what surprises waited for me there. I didn’t have long to wait.
The instant I solidified, a shadow crashed into me and slammed me face down onto the ground. The portal hummed and carried us away immediately. I struggled but I was locked up good, my arm twisted behind my back at an ugly angle, far from my gun. In the whirl of the gate, my senses were blind and it’d be suicide to use magic. The shadow hadn’t done anything but wrap me up, so it made me think he wasn’t looking to kill me, but I still didn’t know who it was. I’d just have to wait it out.
As the portal began to wind down, I powered up and got ready to scrap. Turned out, I didn’t have to.
“Damn it, Frank, are you really that stupid?” I recognized Katon’s voice and let my energy fade. He loosened his grip on my arm and yanked me to my feet.
Katon was DRAC’s enforcer and all around vampiric badass. He and I have butted heads over the years, but we’d gotten closer through all the recent supernatural drama. He still wasn’t sure just how far he could trust me-an ancient deal I’d made with Baalth having soiled my good guy card-but he always dealt fairly with me. We’d fought side-by-side and risked our lives for one another, so he was willing to give me the benefit of the doubt as to whose side I was on, but the ugly uncertainty reared its head from time to time.
I met his dark gaze and saw the fury in his eyes. “You trying out for the Oakland Raiders?” I asked, rubbing my shoulder.
“Don’t start with me.” He huffed and pushed through me, storming off the portal. I followed. “Are you looking to get yourself killed?”
“Uh, no more than usual. Why?”
“The DSI have issued a warrant for you, Frank. You’re wanted for the murder of a DSI officer and for the questioning in the deaths of thirty-four citizens killed by whales.” He raised his hands into the WTF position. “By whales, Frank. Whales! What the hell happened?”
“I didn’t kill the guy.”
Katon shook his head and dropped into a chair. “I didn’t think you did, but the DSI does. They’ve got your house surrounded, and they’re just waiting for you to show up so they can return the favor.”
Shit. “Did they go inside?”
“No, not yet. They’re hoping to surprise you by making it look like they aren’t casing the place.”
“Good thing they didn’t or the surprise would have been on them. I assume you stayed in the portal room?”
“Yeah. I was going to take a look around, but I have to be honest, Frank, you really need to hire a maid. You’ve got some serious funk built up in there.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. Katon stared at me wondering what the joke was. “The smell is my dread fiend guard dogs.” He raised an eyebrow. “Long story, but between the DSI, the weres, and the whale-tosser, it’s been a hectic day. I needed a bit of insurance against another sneak attack at home.”
“Another?” He sighed
“Yeah. My day started off with me being shot in the head; it’s only gone downhill from there.”
Katon looked like a heavy metal Spock. “Let me call Rahim and-“
I cut him off. “Nah, man, it’s all good. He and I talked earlier and we decided it’s best if I stay out of DRAC’s way right now. There’s too much going on to drag Rachelle through it. I’m fine, Katon. I’ll get through it.”
He growled low in his throat. “Abraham wasn’t your fault. I know Rachelle’s hurt and angry, but I would have done the exact same thing had I been in your shoes. We all would have. She needed to be focused.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that I let Abe die and kept it from her.”
Katon loosed a barking laugh and shook his head, “Whatever, Frank. I don’t believe you let him. No one does. Stop blaming yourself. It’s a risk we all take being a part of DRAC. Abraham knew what he was getting into when he started the organization. He probably even knew he was going to die right then, and still put himself in the position to do so because it served a bigger purpose. He was a great man, but he’s gone. We all need to move on.”
The words stung, but I knew Katon was speaking the truth. A psychic of immense talent, Abe probably did know he was going to die and didn’t bother to avoid it because it would change the final outcome of the battle. That was something he would do. He’d formed DRAC to help stand against the supernatural world after God’s disappearance, and what better way to go out than by saving Heaven?
My stomach grumbled and a wave of nausea hit me as I thought about Abe. I went over and sat across from Katon.
“You all right?” he asked. “You look a little pale.”
“Been a lot going on today, from jumping across dimensions to being shot and ambushed by flying monkeys; I think I’m just run down, using my magic a bunch and I’m not used to it.”
Katon sat quiet for a moment as though he had a question but apparently chose to let it go. “What happened with the DSI agent?”
I knew he’d get to him eventually. “I’d just left Baalth’s and they were camped out there. They followed me and I tried to lose them, but the one guy kept up. I figured I’d give him a bit of a scare and buy myself some time. Next thing I know he’s going up in flames, and I’m sitting there like an idiot, powered up. His buddies show up and you can guess how that went down. Not much else to do then but run.”
“And the whales?” The emphasis told me he was still trying to work out how they figured in.
“Lucifer’s had some alien being locked up in a trophy case in Hell for the last millennium, apparently. The guy got loose and has been hunting for my uncle, but of course he can’t find him so he started shit with the next best thing: me.” I threw my hands in the air and sank into a chair. “He’s the one that cooked the agent, and then followed me to where he could attack without the DSI seeing him.”
“His weapon of choice was whales?”
“You just like the word whales don’t you?”
He shrugged. “Kind of.”
I shook my head. “His magic seems to draw on images, pictures. He attacked me with a witch and her flying monkey minions first, and then started dropping whales on me. I gotta tell you, it gave a whole new meaning to the
