The Eden Factor (Kathlyn Trent/Marcus Burton Romance Adventure Series Book 2) (39 page)

At some point she dozed off. It
was hot and sticky and her exhaustion lulled her to sleep. It was a heavy
slumber, dreamless. When she finally awakened, it was to movement all around
her. Momentary disorientation gave way to instant terror as she opened her eyes
to discover several of the creatures standing near her.

“Oh, God,” she squeezed her eyes
shut, tightly. “Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God. Please make them go away.”

The creatures didn’t speak, at
least not in words she heard.  She could smell them, their strong pungent
scents mingling in the steamy air and gagging her. She knew they were close but
she refused to open her eyes to look at them. Rustling moved around her,
swirling. Maybe if she kept her eyes closed long enough, they would go away.
Heart pounding in her ears, she peeped one eye open to see if her prayers had
been answered.

Three of them were standing right
beside her, staring at her. Kathlyn couldn’t help it; she groaned and closed
her eyes again. They were so horrifying that it was like living a nightmare
that refused to die. But morbid curiosity got the better of her and she
couldn’t help but open her eyes again, wondering what they were intending to do
and wondering if she even wanted to know. Maybe if she kept her eyes shut it
wouldn’t hurt so bad, whatever it was.

 Kathlyn forced herself to take a
good look at them; this was really the first time she had seen them so close
and once the initial fright eased, she was able to be more objective. They were
extremely tall, and extremely thin. The creature in the center of the trio
seemed to be the most interested in her; he was easily over seven feet tall,
his skull long and egg shaped, and one small protrusion over each eye. His face
was almost gaunt, the red-brown skin pulled tight over high cheekbones. The
eyes, slightly tilted upward, were the color of amber.  It was the most
incredibly amazing, creepy thing she had ever seen.

 He stared at her, their gazes
locking, and Kathlyn felt her Intuition kick in. It was a strong, tingling
feeling that immediately filled her.  An odd sensation rocked her body, like
nothing she had ever felt before. It was almost as if she had been gently
shocked. When the creature lowered his gaze from her, the electrifying
sensation abruptly stopped.

 She was still afraid, but not
verging on panic as she had been earlier. Something in the creature’s eyes had
eased her, though she didn't know why.  He seemed older than the others,
although she wasn't sure what 'old' was to these things.  She sensed that maybe
he wasn't willing to do her great bodily harm, at least not immediately. He
seemed just curious for the moment. Kathlyn's bravery made a weak comeback.

"Can you understand
me?" she asked softly.

The other creatures in the room,
including the two flanking the curious one, began hissing and screeching.
Kathlyn instantly realized that her speaking had been a mistake. The twisted
about, covering their pointed ears with their long pointy hands. It took her a
moment to realize that somehow, by speaking, she must have caused them pain.
She didn't know how it was possible, but she remembered reading somewhere where
bats were hypersensitive to sounds because they spent most of their lives
locked away in soundless caves that echoed tremendously with the slightest
peep. Maybe that was the case with these creatures, too.

"I'm sorry," she
whispered. "I just wanted to see if you could understand me."

They were still hissing in pain,
but her whispered words seemed to intrigue them. The Curious creature remained
beside her, gazing down at her as if listening to what she had to say.  Kathlyn
didn't want to cause them any more anguish by speaking, so she kept her mouth
shut and locked gazes with the thing standing beside her. The weird electric
sensation started again, becoming a buzzing in her ears.  Finally, the creature
reached out a long, gaunt hand and laid it against her belly.

Kathlyn jumped at the touch. It
was a struggle not to panic. Looking at her was one thing, but touching her was
quite another.  Considering she was tied up, there wasn't much she could do to
stop him.  She watched as his hand simply rested there; then, the fingers with
their razor sharp nails began to move, curiously pushing aside her tee shirt
until her soft skin came into view. She leapt when their flesh came into
contact, the searing red-brown skin against her own pale flesh. It was ghastly
beyond believing, but it was also strangely fascinating.

She lay there, afraid to move,
until he removed his hand. All she could think about was Fayd hypothesizing
that these creatures mated with human women to produce hybrids; she prayed that
it wasn't what the curious creature had in mind.  But it was also possible that
the creature sensed she was pregnant; perhaps that had been the curiosity about
her belly. She had no way of knowing.

  Suddenly, her ties were being
released and she was being half-pulled, half-pushed, to her feet. Kathlyn had
been on her back a long time and it took her a minute to get her blood
circulating again. She was incredibly short among the creatures, feeling like a
bug ready to be squashed. They were hissing around her, clicking with their
tongues, and she began to understand that it was the way they communicated.
Some African tribes spoke in the same way. No words as she knew them, but
rather strange sounds and utterances. It was actually quite intriguing, but she
felt like she was on another planet. Of everything she had ever imagined to
discover in her life, walking among winged creatures hadn't been one of them.

She was in a group, like a herd
of cattle, filing into one of the narrow shafts that adjoined the chamber. As
large as they were, it was amazing they were able to squeeze through the small
passages as well as they were able, but the wings that she found so
fascinating, tissue-paper thin and lined with blue veins, folded over them
almost like pods to make traveling in confined spaces much easier.  Kathlyn
wondered if the wings were even functional; they appeared far too fragile to
support their great bodies.

 They were somewhere deep, deep
underground. Kathlyn had lost track of where she might be long ago; when the
creatures first jumped her as she was fleeing with Fayd, she thought she had a
good idea where they had taken her. But now she didn't have a clue. It was very
deep, very dark, and hotter than, not surprisingly, hell.

She seemed to walk for hours. The
passages were horrifyingly dark, but she knew her escorts could see their way
fine. Their amber eyes had huge pupils, no doubt adapted to the lack of light.
Once in a while there was a fire, or something burning against the wall like a
primitive torch that helped her gain her bearing.  Entering a small,
low-ceilinged chamber, Kathlyn stumbled over what she thought were pieces of
wood. It didn't take her long to realize they were bones. With the long,
distinct lines, she knew they were human bones. She had no idea how old they were,
but the awareness made her ill. If she'd had anything in her stomach, it would
have come up. She fleetingly wondered if they were taking her to the kitchen to
cook her in some big pot so she could end up a mess of bones on the ground like
these.  At this point, she would have believed anything.

The narrow passage suddenly ended
into a great, sweeping cavern. Vents hissed up from the floor several feet
below, casting hot moist steam into the air. It was a rocky, jagged place, lit
by a few strategically placed fires on the ground floor.  She had no idea what
they would be burning this far below ground, but the entire chamber smelled as
if a thousand animals lived in the confinement of the space.  And it echoed,
the reverberation from the vents creating an almost deafening roar. She
wondered how the creatures could stand it. It was hard enough for her to take
it.

The pathway sloped downward and
they ended up on the floor of the cavern, winding their way through the rocks
and debris that looked like hundreds, even thousands, of years of clutter.
There were bones strewn all over the place down here, too, and Kathlyn's
anxiety began to rise. Perhaps they were taking her to a sacrificial spot or
something equally as horrifying.  For the first time in her life she began to
regret her inherent sense of curiosity, the nosiness that led her into these
caverns with the promise of mummified remains of ancient creatures. If she had
only stayed in Egypt, she would have been safe. But now she was here, without
Marcus, and terrified that she would never see her family again. Tears stung
her eyes, but she fought them. Now was not the time for a pity party.  If she
was going to get out of this, she would need all of her wits.

The cavern opened up a bit and
she could see more creatures at the far end, surreal as she gazed at them
through the misty steam from the vents. Her face was sweaty and red from the
heat and perspiration stung her eyes.  She looked around at the cavern itself,
noting odd inscriptions on the walls and pictures of animals and people, both
faded with time. It was difficult to make out much more than primitive scratchings,
but some of the figures had a distinctly Cuneiform shape.

Walking a particularly narrow
path between two erupting spouts of steam, she found herself on the soft dirt,
facing a group of the creatures. In the middle of the pack was a larger being
from the rest; his skin had the consistency of pork rinds, crispy and dry, and
his amber eyes were yellow through and through.  He was very big, his breathing
coming in long, raspy gasps. It sounded as if it was a strain for him to merely
live. Great four-inch protrusions hung over each eye and the wings along his
back twitched and moved as if they had a life all their own. When he looked at
Kathlyn, it seemed to her that he was very tired, and very old.

It was a disturbing, baleful
glance he gave her. After a moment's scrutiny, the creature rolled and hissed
something to the Curious being standing next to her. The Curious one sounded as
if he was choking, but amidst the sputtering, Kathlyn thought she heard
something she recognized.

She looked up at him, shocked.
"What did you say?"

 Curious strained and growled
again. The word that came forth wasn't spoken in a true nature; it was as if
someone with terrible laryngitis was trying to speak. It was horrible sounding.
"Byleth."

Kathlyn stared at him. She
suddenly felt as if she had been hit in the chest; all of her breath left her
and her mind began to whirl.

"My God," she gasped.
"Byleth... oh, Lord, it can't be. It just can't be."

The Curious creature gestured at
the ancient one. It was an introduction, a name given. Byleth gazed back at
her, ancient hatred in his yellow eyes. Kathlyn’s mind was working faster than
her mouth and she began muttering to herself like an idiot.  With every
strained utterance, Byleth's eyes grew wider and he began to hiss after every
word she spoke.

"Byleth, Byleth... there's
Astaroth, one of the Chief Devils, and Bucon, the demon of Hatred, and
Mastiphal, Behemoth and Belphegor." She looked up at the Ancient creature,
realizing that he understood her. He recognized the names and Kathlyn found
herself shouting at him, seeking confirmation and denial of everything she was
coming to suspect.

 "Cheitan, Bechard, Mammon,
Asmodeus!"

She was met with a great hissing.

"Do you know them?"

More hissing. The hair on the
back of her neck stood straight into tiny little prickles.

"
Do you know them?"

The Ancient one tore his gaze
away from her, hissing, spittal dripping down his brown lips. None of the other
creatures made a move to stop her. She looked around, noting their expressions,
seeing how startled they were.  Up on the cavern walls, behind the Ancient
creature, were drawings. Kathlyn could see the figures of a crude man and a
crude woman. No wings, no horns, obviously human. Being a Biblical
Archaeologist, the first thing that came to mind was the logical story of Adam
and Eve. It was just too much for her to take in, and she turned away, hand on
her spinning head.

"Oh, God," she murmured.
"I wish one of you could talk. Just one of you to explain what in the hell
is going on here."

Her plea was met with silence.
She looked up at them, speaking beseechingly. "Do any of you understand
what I'm saying? Aquiel, Moloch and Ardad are all demons, from the beginning of
recorded time. You obviously recognize the names. Are you trying to tell me
that he," she gestured at the crispy, Ancient creature, "is one of
the original demons?"

The Curious one and the Ancient
one simply looked at her.  As she sat on a rock, defeated and confused, the
Ancient one slowly rose from his seat among dirt and stones and lumbered in her
direction. Kathlyn looked up at him, towering over her, and watched as he
gestured at her. No words needed to be spoken. She understood him completely.

Come with me.

CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN

The old DC8 with its missing
seats and whining Pratt and Whitney engines swooped low over the Iraqi desert
to avoid radar detection.  The pilot had been having trouble with the right
engine ever since takeoff from Luxor.  Marcus sat on the floor of the plane,
wondering if they were going to make it through this alive. The flight had been
horrible so far. He had been utterly stupid to pack most of his team onto the
plane, with the exception of Lynn, but his desperation had overwhelmed his
common sense. If they all went down, Lynn would be the only one of them left,
and the rest would be vulture bait. And Kathlyn would still be in trouble.