Hunted tgl-3 (27 page)

No one spoke, verbally or telepathically, until we entered the pit, where there was a low buzz of conversation from the SGs. They appeared to have doubled in size since this morning and had taken up most seats, except the front row. The bleachers on the opposite side were still folded to create more floor space, some of which was taken up by a long table and seven chairs.

Once again, Cardinals from each sector gravitated toward their teams. The silence that followed as we waited was heavy with tension. It was as though everyone knew something big was about to happen.

When the Senior Cardinals entered, Grampa instructed Bran to sit with them then he propped his elbows on the table and leaned forward. For a moment, he didn’t speak, just studied us. The seat at the end of the table next to Cardinal Moira remained empty and I wondered if we were waiting for someone else.

“Some of you are already aware of the identity of the Tribe,” Grampa said, his voice echoing around the pit despite lack of microphone and speakers. “But there is more you need to know, things that are not stored in clairvoyant crystals or found in books and scrolls in Xenithian libraries.” He glanced to his right. “Cardinal Hsia will explain.”

Cardinal Hsia was the Time Guardian and the history guru. She leaned forward, the usual twinkle missing from her eyes. “When Goddess Xenia charged us with guarding humanity, she told us something else. From the beginning of time, it was decreed that for there to be good, there must be evil to balance it. One can’t exist without the other. Even before Coronis rebelled and started her Hermonite group, there were Nephilim left behind as demons. Her group just made things worse.”

She paused and looked at us.

“The Tribunal,” she glanced at me, “is a special court that convenes to discuss Nephilimic matters. They solve disputes between Guardians and demons. Disputes that impact the balance between good and evil. Their answer usually involves sending hunters to correct the problem. We didn’t summon the court this time, which means the demons did. The court ruled in their favor and sent a Tribe of archangels to correct the problem.”

There was a ripple of murmurs through the room. Some raised their hands.

“Silence, please,” Grampa bellowed. “I know you have questions and we will try and answer them in an orderly manner. Yes, the tribe we are dealing with is not made up of demons. They are archangels, and their job is to correct what they presume are mistakes we have made. This is why the humans whose contracts you canceled are either dying or are in comas. This is also why they are hunting us. We don’t know why, but we’re sure we’ll learn the answer in due course. Any questions?”

This time, the ripple of conversation was telepathic and more hands shot up. Solaris leaned forward and glanced at me, then smiled. Her gaze not shifting, she raised her hand, too. She was going to tell them what Raphael had said—that I was the one they were after. I had planned to discuss it with Grampa first.

It’s okay
, Bran reassured me telepathically.

Our gaze met and clung. It
wasn’t
okay.
We should tell them what Raphael said
.

Master Haziel said it was nonsense
, Bran insisted.
Let it go
.

It was easy for them to dismiss everything. Their head wasn’t on the chopping block.

“Yes, Remy,” Cardinal Hsia said.

“What exactly have we done to make them think we could destroy the balance between good and evil, Cardinal?”

I didn’t bother to look at Solaris. I was sure her hand was still up, her butt barely touching the seat in her eagerness to respond.

“I’ll answer that,” Grampa said. “After conferring with the CT, we reached the conclusion that killing Coronis might have been a coup for us, but it was a major blow to the demons. Stopping their plans to select a leader, and acquiring Coronis’ list of damned souls scared the demons even more. They’ve lost hundreds of thousands of souls. Typical of them, they summoned the court and complained.”

“Yes, Solaris?” Cardinal Hsia asked.

I shrank back into my seat and waited.

“When we were in L.A. this morning with Cardinal Lil, we learned there might be more than one reason why they summoned the Tribunal,” Solaris said.

I held my breath and waited, my heart pounding with a mixture of dread and fury.

The senior Cardinals looked at each other, then me and scowled.

“What other reasons?” Grampa asked.

“The demons believe the Specials belong with them,” she said.

Bitch. Wasting my energy hating another Cardinal was wrong, but she made it so easy.

“What if we summon the Tribunal and agree to return the Specials and the remaining contracts to the demon? Would that stop the archangels from coming after us?”

“We can’t do that, Solaris,” Grampa interjected, his dark eyes glistening. “That means sacrificing human souls and those helpless children to save ourselves. It is immoral and cowardly, the very opposite of everything we stand for. Once the Tribunal reaches a decision, it is final.”

I grinned. Where were the pom-poms? Go Grampa! Put. Her. In. Her. Place. I caught Izzy’s gaze.
What?

What did you do while we were gone?

Long story. I’ll explain later
.

“The Specials, the Brotherhood, and Neutrals are our allies,” Cardinal Hsia added. “We don’t turn our backs on our allies.”

“So we are going against the CT’s directive?” Solaris asked, like an idiot hell bent on digging her own grave.

The Senior Cardinals looked at each other, but once again, Grampa explained. “The CT decided not to give refuge to the Specials, the young and the elderly members of the Brotherhood in Xenith. We make our own decisions when it involves our enclaves, which means we can offer refuge to anyone if we so choose.”

Solaris open her mouth again and there was a collective groan from the Cardinals seated around her. Maybe it was their response or something else, but she decided not to continue being a pain. Tension hung heavy in the air, but more hands shot up.

Cardinal Hsia looked at Sykes and nodded. “Yes, Sykes?”

“Who are the members of this court? What are their credentials? And how dare theyjudge us?”

Laughter followed.

Trust Sykes to lighten the mood. Cardinal Hsia grinned as she explained. “The tribunal is made up of Guardians and demons. Six demons get free passes from Tartarus to join six ascended Cardinals.”

Sykes got up and talked louder, to be heard above the questions being fired left and right. “How do we summon it? We would like to appeal its decision, because it’s obvious whoever represented us never finished law school.”

Cardinal Hsia chuckled as she motioned him to sit. “One question at a time. We are always represented by the same person, Sykes. Goddess Xenia. And since she was the one who charged us with the task of guarding humans, I’d say she graduated
summa cum laude.”

Laughter rolled through the room.

Sykes slowly sat down.

“The court usually convenes whenever and wherever you summon it,” Cardinal Hsia continued, “which means, it could appear right here and right now.”

I raised my hand. “Do we really summon it by calling out its name?”

“Yes,” Cardinal Hsia answered. “When a group of Nephilim—Guardians or demons—gather and synchronize their thoughts and energy while calling its name, the Tribunal will appear, so please refrain from saying the name. If you must refer to them, use ‘Nephilim Court’ or the term ‘The Tribe’. It is a generic term that refers to both the archangels and the court they serve.”

“Has the Tribe ever had a reason to hunt us like this?” someone asked.

“Yes. They are the ones who rounded up the Principalities and later their children, our forefathers, and sent them to Tartarus. Luckily, our Goddess had already created Xenith and we relocated it
before
the attack. The Tribe is also behind the fall of every ancient civilization known to man…Egyptian, Roman, Persian, Mayan, Mesopotamian,” Cardinal Hsia continued. “When the balance is in our favor and evil is at an all-time low, civilizations thrive. More inventions are made, illnesses and diseases get cured. Humanity is at its best. The demons are never happy when humans thrive and there is peace. Then, they usually summon the Nephilim Court, which sends the Tribe to reset the balance.”

“How?” someone asked.

“They let out more powerful demons from Tartarus to counteract our influence.”

A shiver ran down my spine. My gut said Valafar was back, that Solaris and Lunaris were right.

“Others say they undo some of the work we’ve done,” Cardinal Hsia continued. “The next thing you know, demons have the upper hand, and they start messing with people’s heads.”

The door to the pit opened and in walked Master Haziel. Cardinal Hsia waited until he had crossed the room and sat on the empty chair beside Cardinal Moira.

“At the peak of every civilization, humans sit back and marvel at their brilliance,” Cardinal Hsia explained. “They start to act like they are better than those who came before them or even those among them. Some go as far as to set themselves as gods. That kind of pompous attitude leads to civil unrest, wars and many deaths, and the end of another civilization. Humans are unaware of the war being waged on them by the Tribe. Unfortunately, the archangels never stay around to witnesses the chaos that follows,” he added. “They leave it to us to clean up their messes.”

This time, the heavy silence was longer. What was the point of battling demons when there was no end in sight? Was getting our redemption worth all this trouble? Immediately, I felt like such a traitor for harboring such thoughts. Of course it was. Everyone had a purpose. Ours was to minimize the influence of the demons and earn back our grace. Humans’ was to better their world, until it tumbled down and they had to rebuild again. It was a vicious cycle.

“Do you want to add anything, Master Haziel?” Grampa asked.

The trainer pursed his lips, then said, “Junior has something to say.”

Bran winced. He hated that nickname even though the older Cardinals used it because he reminded them of his grandfather, whom they’d hunted with.

Instead of talking while seated, Bran stood and gripped the back of his chair. “Over the last two days, I’ve been searching for the demons who summoned the court. Last night, I learned that their new council, The Order, is not behind the summoning. In the last few weeks, young demons have gone missing and they suspect that we took them, so their main concern right now is mounting an attack against us. We know that the group that summoned the Nephilim Court is the same one forcing these young demons to join them. What we don’t know is their agenda. Yes?” he added and pointed at someone behind me.

“How did you find out The Order is not behind the summoning?” a woman asked.

“The Order’s new headquarters is somewhere in downtown Detroit and heavily guarded, but I managed to get inside and eavesdropped on their conversations and thoughts. They held a meeting, but all they discussed were the missing children and how to mount an attack against us.” Bran glanced at Master Haziel, who nodded.

“This morning, one of our allies was also kidnapped. Master Haziel sent,” Bran glanced at me and smiled, “Lil, Solaris, Lunaris, Lucien, and Esras to help with the search, but before they caught up with me, they were attacked by the archangels.”

There was no collective gasp or murmur. Just silence. Necks craned to look at us. Kim and Izzy glared at me as though I’d held back on them. Sykes and Remy scowled.

Later
, I telepathed them.

“It was Raphael and some of his men. One was in the air. The Cardinals stood their grounds, their weapons drawn. They weren’t backing down.”

I fought the urge to giggle. He was such a good liar. Where were Dante and Kael in his narration?

“I surprised the one in the air. We fought and I managed to chop off his wings.”

Whispers rippled through the room.

“The wings are our answer to defeating an angel. They are their source of strength, their source of power and their shield when attacked.” Bran slipped his hand in the front pockets of his pants and rocked on his heels. “Without them, they are useless. Without them, they are reduced to lower ranks. It takes years to earn wings back, so they always make sure you don’t go after their wings. I will work with fliers on how to attack them from the air.”

Questions followed but I didn’t really listen. I was exhausted, lack of sleep finally taking a toll on me. My eyelids kept drooping, until I realized Bran was no longer talking and Master Haziel had taken over.

“Remember,” he said. “The only way to send them running is to disable their leader. When you identify the archangel leading them and force him to quit, his followers will leave too. From now on,” Master Haziel continued, “Cardinals with like powers will train together in the mornings. Psi Team will be led by Mrs. Deveraux and the trainers from other sectors. Earth Team will have Nero and other earth instructors. Energy Team… Air Team and so on and so forth. The purpose of doing this is not only to sharpen your skills and let you learn from your peers. During a battle, you won’t need to look around for one of your teammates to help you in a crisis. If you need help from a psi, any psi will help because they’ve learned the same moves. If you’re looking for extra weapons, any Earth Guardian should know when you telepath them.”

He paused and glanced around. No one spoke, though I could tell they were unhappy with his announcement.

“In the afternoons, you’ll go back to your sector teams and share with them what you’ve learned. Occasionally, you will spar with the SGs with the same abilities. In the evenings, dinner will be served at the Academy cafeteria. Attendance is mandatory. Once again, you will sit with your new teams. This will continue until you learn to get along and think as a team. We are at war, Guardians. A war we plan to win.”

The silence stretched as he studied each of us intently, then he bowed to the Senior Cardinals and walked out of the room.

“A few more things before you disperse,” Grampa said after the door closed behind Master Haziel. “Keep a low profile around the valley. I don’t want to hear of trouble with the locals.” His gaze swept everyone and stopped on us. “But most important, no one must leave the valley. We are on full security alert. The Psi-dar is working at its maximum capacity. If there’s an emergency and you feel you must leave the valley, come and talk to us first.”