Memory's Door (A Well Spring Novel) (41 page)

She turned to her own arms in surprise. She’d been so focused on Brandon, Dana hadn’t noticed the rain was bouncing off her arms as if a thin invisible force field surrounded her body. She looked up at Reece.

“Well done, both of you.”

“Yes, well done.”

Dana spun at the sound of the dark voice. Where the rider had stood was a man with thick dark hair and a gruesome smile on his face. “Your precious faith might have protected your skin, but it won’t save you from what is about to be unleashed.” He was taller, broader in his shoulders, his eyes somehow darker than the tar black they’d always been, but there was no doubt it was Zennon.

“I’m going to take my time killing you for revealing who I am, Dana.”

“Zennon.” Reece shook the rain from his face, his countenance one of granite.

“I really thought all of you had fallen for it.” The demon cocked his head and pulled his gold coin out of his pocket and flipped it in the air. The raindrops bounced off it like miniature pinballs. “I really did. Why? Because you’re stupid. Easily deceived.” He slapped the coin onto the back of his hand. “Wow, heads. You all die.” He looked up and zeroed his gaze in on Dana. “I’m curious, though. What tipped you off, dear?”

“I’m sorry, Dana.” Brandon’s words were full of shock.

“The Leader.” Reece shifted in the mud at their feet and leveled his gaze on Zennon. “How many times do we have to vanquish you before you will leave us alone forever?”

Zennon scratched at a small scab on his left wrist. He pulled it off and fresh blood formed on his skin. The demon touched his finger to the blood, then brought it to his mouth and licked it off. “I’m guessing yours will taste better, Dana.”

She shuddered. “Your strength, Jesus.”

As she spoke Jesus’ name, Zennon took a step back and pain streaked across his face for an instant. The demon turned to Reece. “What is it like to see again, blind man, knowing you can’t see any place but the spiritual realms? What is it like to realize the answer to the prophecy isn’t what you thought it would be? Does it claw at your mind in the still night hours? Does it make you wonder what else you’re wrong about?” The demon held a finger over the spot where he’d ripped the scab off and pressed down. “Do you miss taking your precious photographs, Reece? I took your eyes last time, but of course I wanted to take much more. Now I will.”

“Is there anything else you want to say before we destroy you?” Reece thundered one step forward.

“You and your petty desires. You believe yourself to be this mighty warrior, yet you’re consumed with the idea of getting your eyes back. You let it blind you. Your choice to marinate in your selfishness on that mountain almost cost Marcus his sanity, and yet you still pretend you are worthy of being at the head of this band of pretenders.”

Zennon turned his gaze on Brandon. “And you, Song. You think yourself worthy of that name? Hardly. Are you proud of your reaction at your record label? Toward Kevin? How would you like me to play a tape of that for all your adoring fans? And what about those fans? So you go out and shake a few hands after your concerts. Say a few insipid prayers. Do you really think that makes a difference in their lives? Come now. The prayers you offer all sound the
same. Why not make a recording and have someone else play it over and over again? Face the truth. Your singing career has been about you. Always about you trying to fill the hole left vacant from your childhood.”

He turned to her. “My dear Dana. Filling your empty heart with the attention of your boss. Wondering what would happen if his wife were to leave him. I know you’ve had those thoughts. They’ve come and you’ve allowed them to linger in your mind. And you are alone, so alone in this life, and it will always be so.”

“Enough!” The cry roared out of Reece’s mouth with power. “Accuser of the brethren, you will stop. Be silent, in the name of Jesus.”

Again pain flitted across Zennon’s face.

“Jesus!”

Reece spoke the name again, and again Zennon stepped back, anger flashing. The demon breathed as if fire would erupt from his lungs but calmed a few moments later. “You have no idea what you’re dealing with, Reece. But I think it’s time you found out.”

Zennon’s face quivered. “I might be wrong about this, but I don’t think so. I get the feeling you think I’m the spirit of religion.” He paused and looked at each of them. “Ah yes, I see I am right.” Zennon laughed and clapped his hands softly. “Wrong. I am not the spirit of religion. But since he is the one you came to see, let us delay no further and commence with the introductions, shall we?”

Zennon motioned to his right and left as if he were conducting an orchestra. “Warriors, I’d like you to meet a friend of mine. And I predict he’ll want you to meet his army.”

An icy gust of wind tore into Dana’s clothes and as a second blast slammed into her back, a figure appeared next to Zennon. His height was eight feet plus. Black leather pants covered his legs, and his chest was bare and gleaming with dark sweat. Black hair was matted to his forehead and he held a curved white sword in his hand.

When he spoke, the sound rumbled out of his mouth like two trains smashing into each other head-on. “You will die.”

“Nice voice, don’t you think? I love it. Scares even people like you three.” Zennon laughed. “Now it’s time to pick the order. Hmm, let’s see.” He pointed at her. “Because of the stunt you pulled, Dana—making me show my true nature—you receive the honor of dying first.”

Dana sucked air into her lungs in huge gulps and stumbled backward in step with the others. “Jesus!”

Zennon shuddered and his body grew thinner, his skin turned pale, and he grabbed the arm of the demon next to him. But the massive demon at his side only laughed and pointed to something over their heads. She spun. Advancing toward them from the back of the hill were hundreds of demons.

She glanced down the sides of the hill to the valleys on the left and right. Hundreds more climbed toward them with methodical steps. In unison the horde of demons marched up the sides of the hill, their white, dead eyes fixed on the three of them. A low screech filled the air and grew louder every second.

“We underestimated you last time, Reece,” Zennon said, his voice laced with rage. “I hope it’s obvious that isn’t a mistake we’ve made a second time.”

“Believe!” Reece shouted and instantly swords appeared in their hands.

Dana turned back to Zennon and the huge demon next to him who snarled out, “No escape.”

The words ripped into her heart and a cloud of overwhelming fear filled her mind. The demon advanced on her, sword raised as iron hands gripped her arms from behind and knocked the sword from her hand. Dana yanked her head to the right. Reece shouted the name of Jesus over and over as he spun and ducked and slashed at the demons attacking him, his boots flinging mud and water into the air. The demons fell before Reece’s blade like the rain pounding down on them from the sky, but an instant later more took the place of those who had fallen.

To her right came Brandon’s voice, singing like lightning, and
the sound of his sword was like a hammer ringing against an anvil, but there were too many of the demons. They came like thundering waves.

She turned to look at Brandon, but one of the demons behind her jerked her head back by her hair before she could spot him—her throat now exposed. The white blade of the demon flashed above her. It was over. She closed her eyes.
I come, Lord Jesus, I come.

The crash of metal on metal ripped into the air followed by a ragged scream. Her eyes flew open. Brandon stood between her and the demon for a moment before he slumped to his knees. His body shuddered. He dropped his sword and clutched for his throat. The demon stood over Brandon grinning.

“Such a touching sacrifice, boy.” The demon’s eyes shifted to Dana. “But it won’t save her.”

Brandon made a half turn and fixed his gaze on her. Blood oozed from a deep gash across his throat. The light in his eyes was fading and he gasped for air.

“No!” She reached for him but was wrenched back and held again by the demons. She looked up and stared at Zennon and the other massive demon. “I bind all of you by the blood and power of Jesus Christ, Son of the most high God. He is our shield and I claim it now against you!”

The demons behind her let go and Zennon staggered backward a step, a guttural snarl coming from his throat. An instant later Reece leaped between her and Zennon, his sword flashing at them, then in back of her at the horde coming from behind. They too had been buffeted back by her words, but how long would that last before they regrouped and attacked again? Any hope of victory seeped out of her and she shivered as fear coursed through her body.

But an instant later the sky flashed with a brilliance that would have blinded her on earth and all the demons surrounding them were flung to the ground. Then a voice rang out, crisp and clear as the dawn, “‘The L
ORD
is a warrior; the L
ORD
is his name.’”

Tristan, Jotham, and Orson stood before them, eyes on fire, blazing swords in their hands.

Tristan glanced at her. “Trust in him, Dana.”

“Will Brandon die?”

“Our lives are in God’s hands.”

Laughter from the massive demon echoed over the hill. “And your life is in my hand, Tristan Barrow. How long has it been? A millennium? Two? It is good to see you. It is a good day for you to die.”

“I think not.”

The giant demon laughed again. “You think the three of you can defeat my army?” He paced two steps to the right, then back to the left. “The three of you couldn’t defeat me alone. You know this to be true. Give up the humans and we will let you remain.”

Tristan, Jotham, and Orson together slowly raised their swords and stood back to back, Jotham facing to the right, Orson to the left, and Tristan straight ahead. Tristan’s face turned to granite. “‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.’”

He stepped toward the massive demon—at least a foot and a half taller—and its face contorted, but Dana couldn’t tell if it was from fear or rage. Jotham and Orson stayed anchored to the ground, their swords ready. The demons in front of each of them stared at Tristan and their leader.

“Leave!” Tristan thundered.

“I’ve waited long to destroy you.” The demon raised his sword, the end of its blade now only two feet from Tristan’s. “But I offer one more chance, for old times, when the ages were different and there was no animosity between you and me. Go from us now.”

“So you can destroy my friends?” Tristan grew more like stone if that were possible. “Leave.”

The demon answered by swinging his blade toward Tristan so fast it blurred. The angel’s body didn’t move—just his hands and arms. He easily parried the demon’s blow, then stepped to the right. The demon’s face registered surprise but only for an instant. The two warriors circled each other, the demon feinting as if to
strike. Tristan did not respond and gave no false movement of his own.

Once, twice, then three times the two engaged, their swords exploding against each other, the impact reverberating over the hillside. The two fell back, Tristan’s face expressionless but his breaths more rapid. They circled again, both faces like steel. The only sound was their boots sloshing through the mud.

Then so fast Dana almost couldn’t follow the movement, the demon flung his sword like a spear toward Tristan’s chest. The angel yanked his body to the side but not in time. The demon’s sword pierced the angel’s side and blood spilled out. Tristan stumbled to his knees, head down.

The demon leaped toward Tristan, yanked his sword out of Tristan’s side, and raised it high above his head. The demon’s bare torso gleamed with sweat and rain, his face full of triumph. “It is finished.”

Dana tried to crawl to the angel but her arms and hands somehow wouldn’t move. Time seemed to slow as the demon’s blade swung in a wide arc toward Tristan’s head. The cold blue steel of the sword threw off a darkness that reached Tristan’s neck before the blade. Was what the demon said true? Could Tristan Barrow die? She stared in morbid fascination as the blade streaked toward Tristan’s neck. It would be over in an instant. How could this happen?

But just before the blade reached Tristan, the angel moved faster than Dana thought possible, ducked underneath it, spun onto his back, and sliced his sword like lightning through the demon’s legs.

The demon screamed—a mixture of pain and rage that reverberated across the sky. The demon crashed to the ground and blood gushed from what was left of his legs. He glanced up at Tristan and raised his sword to strike, but the angel was again too fast.

Tristan leaped forward and plunged his sword into the demon’s
heart with a scream of his own. Seconds later the giant demon lay facedown in the mud, his lifeless body between them and Zennon.

Tristan fixed his gaze on Zennon. “You will not escape.”

“Don’t try to steal my line.” Zennon motioned to his right and left and instantly the demon horde began to circle them and close in.

“Now! Open the eyes of all remaining on the field of battle, Lord of the heavens,” Tristan shouted and the land shuddered.

Dana glanced around the field of battle. A vast ring of angels sat on horses encircling the demon army. All had swords drawn. Their horses pawed the ground and strained against their reins. The radiance coming off the horses and riders was like a thousand suns and many of the demons shielded their eyes against the light.

Tristan lifted his sword high and his shout rang over the hillside. “Engage!”

The next three minutes seemed to move in slow motion as Tristan, Jotham, Orson, and the angel army descended on the demons. Their swords flashed and rang out and the demons fell like water. Dana stood over Brandon as she watched Reece join the angels, his sword decimating as many of the demons as any of the angels’.

Then it was over, and as Tristan, Jotham, Orson, and Reece joined her on top of the hill, the skies cleared and the sun shone down on them.

Dana stared at Tristan. “Second Kings 6:5–17.”

“Yes, the army has been here, waiting to be summoned.” He shook his head. “Getting here was far more difficult than I anticipated.” He glanced at Dana. “I am sorry we did not arrive sooner. We were detained.”