“We’ve learned a few things about the opening of the Hellgates and the invasion since it happened.” Jonas sat to Warren’s left, flanked by Edith. “We believe demons called Harbingers were sent to make the way for the other demons. We think they ended up over here and were trapped, left to die. When they did, the Templar found their bones—at least, the men who founded the Templar—and began ferreting out the demons’ secrets. We think the Harbingers arrived before the invasion this time. Prior to the invasion last month, several reports of missing persons were filed. Children and old people…disappeared.”
Warren remembered that. There were also several brutal attacks by unknown assailants. The occurrences had unleashed a hysteria growing throughout the city. The Metropolitan Police had released several statements that they were doing everything they could.
“A police constable was murdered in Covent Garden,” Warren said. “The reports indicated that it was the work of a wild animal.” Only no one ever reported what wild animal that was, did they? He’d read the story, then promptly forgotten it. None of it had anything to do with his life. At least that was what he’d thought at the time.
Jonas nodded. “The police tried to follow up on that, but by then it was already too late. The Harbingers had successfully used blood sacrifices to open ‘tears’ in the fabric between our world and that of the demons. More demons poured through. Only a short time after that, the Hellgates opened. According to a text I have gotten a copy of, there may be a way to open a ‘window’ into the demons’ world.”
“Won’t the demons be able to look back into our world?” Warren was immediately reminded of Friedrich Nietzsche’s quote about the abyss. When you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you. The possibility of looking into the demons’ world made Warren nervous, but that was outweighed by the excitement that thrummed through him.
“Even if it does,” Jonas said, “it can’t come through unless we permit it.” He waited a moment. “Are you ready?”
Warren licked his lips. Part of him couldn’t believe he was where he was, sitting in the dark but able to see through the gloom, preparing to knock on a demon’s door.
“Yes,” he answered. Because, ready or not, he had to see if it was possible.
Sixteen
J onas nodded to one of the members he had identified as a Seeker. According to Jonas, Seekers acquired and studied artifacts to further the Cabal’s knowledge of the demons. Jonas was a Voice, one of the lieutenants that served the First Seer. They were equals in rank within the Cabal, but were sometimes paired in large groups.
The Seeker walked to the center of the quiet Cabalist circle and placed a mirrored diamond-shaped polyhedron on the floor. The object was roughly the size of a softball.
As the Seeker once more took his spot in the ring, Jonas extended a hand toward the polyhedron. “This is the Eye of Raatalukkyn. It’s said that Saladin wrested it from a demon and kept it at Qalaat Al-Gindi, his mountaintop fortress deep in the Sinai Desert.”
Jonas gestured. The polyhedron slowly stood on point, rising up. It glowed with inner lavender light that spilled over the faces of the crowd.
“For a time the Eye was brought to Venice at the request of Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici,” Jonas continued. “His bank had a client who wanted the Eye. No one knows who the client was, but Sultan Mehmet, known as the Conqueror, sacked Constantinople in 1453 and reclaimed the Eye. He attempted to call upon its powers during his battle with Vlad Tepes, also called the Impaler.”
At another gesture, the polyhedron began to spin like a coin.
“The Eye vanished in Wallachia for hundreds of years,” Jonas said, “and was only brought to light again six years ago when an archeological find uncovered it. I strove for three years to recover it for the Cabal.”
From the corner of his eye, Warren suddenly saw blood on Jonas’s hand. When Warren breathed in, he smelled death, and he had no doubts about what it had taken for Jonas to acquire the talisman.
“Before the Hellgates opened, I tried several times to use the Eye,” Jonas said. “My attempts before the invasion met with little success. I’ve been getting better, but I’ve still not gotten the Eye to open.”
The Eye spun so quickly it became a blur. Buzzing filled Warren’s ears. A pleasant sensation, like steeping in a tub of hot water in a cold room, filled him.
“With you here, with your power present, I hope to surpass everything I’ve managed in the past.”
Warren stared at the flashing polyhedron spinning on the floor.
“Saladin’s journals contain references to the Eye,” Jonas said. “With it, he claimed to be able to see the demon he had fought for possession of the Eye. Concentrate on the Eye. Will it to open. Let us see what we may.” His voice had turned soft and hypnotic.
Barely noticing Jonas’s voice, Warren concentrated on the Eye. But it didn’t take long for him to realize that he truly didn’t have to concentrate because it was pulling at him. He wanted to ask if Jonas experienced the same thing, but he found he couldn’t move.
Silver light flared from the uppermost point of the Eye. But it stopped only three feet up instead of reaching the ceiling or diffusing.
Excitement flared through Warren again, but it was quickly tempered by the cold wave that pervaded the room. From the corner of his eye, he saw the frost forming on the walls, covering over the sigils and symbols that had been drawn there. A moment later fissures opened up in the walls. Wind rose out of nowhere and whirled around the room.
Some of the Cabalists abandoned their places, scooting back or standing.
“Stay!” Jonas roared. “Stay where you are!”
Warren wanted to move. He knew he should move. But he couldn’t. He sat there like he
