Rise of the Fallen (27 page)

At ten feet apart, Validus began a powerful arcing slice with his gleaming sword, but the bear halted just as the tip of the blade passed by, then lunged at Validus’s throat. Validus had faced numerous droxans in centuries past but never a demon-possessed predator, and he had already underestimated the creature. It was no longer an animal of simple response and reactive instincts. It was anticipatory, calculating, and fierce, with a mind.

In a desperate attempt to dodge instant death, Validus thrust his left forearm at the mouth that would soon close around his throat. Pain, blood, and demon-generated growls permeated the air. Validus dropped his sword as beast and warrior crashed to the earth in an entanglement of fur and flesh.

He reached for his short sword, but a massive paw with two-inch claws sliced across his hand and lower torso. Validus ignored the pain, angry for having allowed this vexer-possessor to gain such an immediate advantage.

Enough!
he shouted in his mind.

Validus raised his left forearm, forcing the head of the animal upward. With all his might he exploded a steel fist into the animal’s throat. The bear released his arm, howling in pain. But the reprieve was brief.

Validus rolled away from the demon-frenzied creature. His hand found
the hilt of his short blade just as the beast lunged at him again. This time he executed his thrust perfectly, driving the blade clear through the abdomen. The bear growled through frothing teeth, refusing to accept death easily. Validus withdrew the blade and plunged it into the animal once more, and it fell still and quiet.

He pushed the carcass away from himself as searing pain from his open wounds screamed through his body. The vexer would immediately flee … Validus had to act quickly.

He cringed as he forced himself to begin translating back into his realm. There would be even more pain waiting there. The Middle Realm was opaque in everything, including pain.

In the midst of his translation, a shrill scream pierced his ears as the vexer-possessor extracted himself from the dead bear and immediately took flight.

Validus screamed against the tide of translation effort and Upper Realm pain as blue flames enveloped him and brought him fully back to the world of angels and demons.

Now to morph his wings. More energy, more pain.

He lifted his eyes upward, grateful for the isolation of the wilderness of the forest but also knowing that his window of opportunity to catch the vexer was short. He forced himself to stand and then to fly into the air with the willed strokes of his wings. Above the treetops he spotted the vexer skimming the rolling green vegetation.

Validus denied himself the luxury of self-sympathy and knew he had to finish this fight. This was the beginning of something significant; he felt it in his spirit.

“Almighty Elohim … give me the strength!”

He forced his wings to pound the air harder and faster until he began to gain on the vexer. He climbed higher, above the demon and out of his view.

When he had enough speed and altitude, Validus tucked his wings and dived downward onto the vexer. The intercept hit him hard, and the impact sent both angel and demon plummeting unfettered by wing or air toward the earth.

From behind, Validus wrapped his bloodied arm around the vexer’s neck and squeezed with all his remaining strength. The trees offered little resistance, but the solid substance of the earth pounded against their bodies like a hammer
as they hit. Validus refused to release his hold until he felt the vexer dissolve to nothingness and disappear from the earth.

Validus lay still on the pine-needle floor of the forest. Painful hours passed while he waited for the Curing to heal him, but Validus did not move. If Carter was in further jeopardy, the peril would have already happened.

He watched the streaming sunshine weave in between the bows of evergreen above him. He filled his lungs with the fragrant smells of Elohim’s grand creation, and he wondered at his life and his purpose. The universe, and all the souls within it, was so vast, so complicated and yet so simple. Validus marveled at the mind of God. How could one mind keep track of everything so perfectly?

And in all of his pondering, Validus contemplated his role and that of Drew Carter. Was it all a distraction from something greater? Wherever his duty to Carter would take him, Validus realized today that it would not be easy. It would not be predictable.

Something was at stake—something big.

24
 

2 BC

“Validus, come!”

Validus left his watchful guard of the Christ-child and moved next to Danick. He was watching an old man pray, which didn’t appear to be unusual, considering they were at the temple. Validus listened and was taken with the man’s heart and sincerity.

“Yes sir?” he responded.

Danick held up his hand as he studied the man. He shook his head in confusion, then looked at Validus. “Do you see it?”

“I’m not sure—” he began, but then he saw wisps of the blue flames of Ruach Elohim dance about the man’s head and shoulders.

“His name is Simeon,” Danick whispered.

Joseph and Mary walked past them, carrying the Christ-child on their way to the temple. The old man immediately broke from his prayer, opened his eyes, and went to them. His eyes glowed with the light of Elohim as he gently took the babe from Mary’s arms. A dozen warriors drew their swords, ready to strike Simeon down, but Danick held up his hand to stay them.

A shaft of brilliant blue flames shot down from heaven onto Simeon and the Christ-child. Every warrior in the temple shielded their eyes from the brilliance of the glory of Elohim as Simeon began to speak.

“Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.”

The angels stood in awe of the man and his prophecy. From their perspective,
Simeon’s face glowed with the brilliance of God. He turned and gave the child back to Mary.

“Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against. Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

Immediately after that, an older woman came and began proclaiming the child the redemption of all who believed.

Joseph and Mary were amazed at the things these two prophets said. Humbly they proceeded on to the temple to present the newborn child to the Lord and to offer their sacrifice in accordance with the law.

Danick, Validus, and the warriors followed the Messiah into the temple, but for one moment, Danick turned back and looked at Simeon, his hands lifted high in praise to Elohim.

The encounter with the man was only a prelude of what was to come in the presence of Messiah, but something else seemed to linger in the general’s eyes.

25
 

Present Day

It took Validus a couple of hours to find Carter again. He figured more Fallen would be sent to investigate the missing warriors, but none came, or at least if they did, they didn’t find Carter.

Validus spent the next few days watching and guarding him out of sight. Carter’s spiritual sensitivity was uncanny, and Validus needed to know just how far his abilities went without being detected himself. It would be difficult to make a determination until Carter reinserted himself back into the populace where there were other warriors and Fallen to interact with.

He wondered if perhaps Carter was running scared and would stay secluded in the wilderness. He obviously had the skills and training to survive, and if he chose to do so, Validus’s job would become much easier than anticipated. But it soon became clear that was not his charge’s intention, as he tracked Carter to a hotel in Chicago.

On the appointed day, Validus journeyed back to Drayle University and met up with Tren.

“The Fallen have abandoned her,” Tren said as they watched Sydney Carlyle from the interior balcony of the dorm floor. She was meeting with seven other students for a dorm-floor Bible study. “But the FBI haven’t.”

“I’m sure they’re tracking her to find Carter,” Validus said. “Now he’s got two armies after him, the Fallen and the FBI. This mission just keeps getting more interesting every day.”

Tren nodded. “I’m pretty sure that whatever Elohim has in store for Carter, it isn’t supposed to be done from behind bars, unjustly accused of murders he didn’t commit.”

Validus agreed. “We’ve got to keep him out of the hands of the Fallen, the FBI, and the police.”

Validus warmed as the Spirit of Elohim swelled within the hearts of the praying students below them. They prayed for their school and for the courage of believers to share the hope of Jesus with other students. They also prayed for the families still dealing with tragic loss as a result of the shooting weeks earlier.

“She’s strong,” Tren said. He glanced over at Validus. “Ruach Elohim flows through her often.”

Validus watched the young woman immersed in the glow of Ruach Elohim. It was the mystery of Elohim hidden from the beginning of time and now the unstoppable power to change lives for any who would partake of it. The indwelling caused the Fallen to tremble and the work of God to be accomplished in spite of the darkness of humanity. And Validus had seen the absolute best and worst of humanity.

Seeing Sydney strangely reminded him of General Danick, only Danick had been better than he was at judging the spirit of a man or a woman. Together they had spent four thousand years making determinations and tracing lineages of the chosen. There was a purity that Elohim always sought in His chosen, a purity that not many had, not even the believers. Validus saw that same purity in Sydney. He contemplated the intersection of the lives of Sydney Carlyle and Drew Carter.

“The Fallen may have abandoned her for now, but they are not done with her.” Validus returned Tren’s gaze. “And neither are we, but for now we must go to Chicago.”

Tren nodded, and they left Drayle University together. It was not long before they had caught up with Carter.

“Why is he here?” Tren asked. They watched as Carter walked the streets of Chicago in search of an apartment.

“I was hoping you could tell me. If he’s trying to hide from the authorities, this is not the place to do it. It looks like he’s trying to stay off the grid … sort of.”

Tren thought but came up with nothing. Validus considered Carter’s attempt to evade the vexer. It was time to share his suspicions with Tren.

“There’s something you need to know that I discovered about Carter while watching over him in the forest.”

Tren waited.

“He knows when the Fallen are nearby.”

Tren seemed unimpressed. “I’ve seen that ability hundreds of times. Not as often from a nonbeliever, but still not unprecedented.”

Validus shook his head. “This is different. He carefully and systematically set the vexer up and then tried to escape. He knew without a doubt that the demon was after him. And he knew exactly when the demon was and was not nearby.”

Tren squinted. “That is unusual. What about us? Can he sense us?”

Validus rubbed the back of his neck, trying to settle on an answer to that question. “I’m not sure. He knew something was going on in that classroom, but besides me there was also a Fallen warrior and a vexer-possessor. I think he does sense us and he’s smart enough not to show it.”

Tren shook his head.

“What is it?” Validus asked.

“Well, doesn’t that change just about everything?”

Validus huffed. Yes … yes, it would.

“How specific is this ability?”

“Only time will tell,” Validus said.

“Do you think this is why Elohim chose him … for whatever he’s been chosen for?”

Validus shook his head. “No. I think it’s been given to him
because
he was chosen.”

“I guess that is all the more reason why we need to keep our distance,” Tren said.