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Manasseh
HE’D BEEN TOLD THE demon that had stumbled into Cassandra on the street went by the name of Rayner, though that wasn’t its real name, and he was not to interfere with any of its dealings. But Manasseh knew he had to do something.
The ancient ones were trouble. They had great strength and were unpredictable. Rayner, one of the oldest of them, was extremely clever. The meeting hadn’t been an accident. If Manasseh wasn’t careful, the demon would steal Cassandra away to the other side – and that couldn’t happen. Or the demon would kill her. Manasseh wasn’t sure exactly how strong Rayner was, but he couldn’t take the chance that the fiend wouldn’t be able to harm the woman.
She hadn’t yet come fully into her own, though her abilities were growing rapidly.
It only puzzled Manasseh that Rayner hadn’t struck. Not that he’d succeed. Cassandra didn’t know it, but she could probably take care of herself even against such a formidable adversary. She’d soon have powers she couldn’t currently imagine.
Except she wasn’t ready yet. She hadn’t seen or accepted her destiny. The world, still fairly secure and sane, hadn’t altered enough. Soon that would change. The enemy was preparing to launch a full assault. All the rules established over millennia were about to fall away and the first thing they’d do would be to track down their enemies’ best warriors – the strongest and special of all the humans – and viciously eradicate them in any way they could before the final confrontations began. And they had begun. More humans were vanishing every day. The death toll increased every week. Before long, it would be a bloodbath and even the mortals would notice.
Manasseh had to be vigilant. Nothing must happen to those in his care. But of all of them, Cassandra was the most important and would be in the greatest danger if the other side discovered her existence too soon.
Standing by the tree in the streetlight’s glow, the leaves hiding him, he watched Cassandra leave her apartment for work that evening.
The demon, Rayner, lounged in the doorway of the house next door, his coal-red eyes also on the woman.
The humid air was heavy with the scent of coming rain and the sky murky under a canopy of swift and menacing clouds. Another squall was brewing. In these times, storms, floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes would become more volatile. Turbulent weather such as the world had never seen. This was the beginning of the end. This was mild.
Cassandra got in her car and drove away.
He wrestled with knowing he should follow, protect her, but he needed to check on Obadiah, another human in his care. The man was facing a new crisis and Manasseh was concerned about him. Tonight, Obadiah would learn that his business had failed. His shop, the center of Obadiah’s solitary life, had been losing money since the new mall with the Wal-Mart had opened and once the plummeting economy kicked in, it would be all over. Over the books, and the bills Obadiah couldn’t pay, he’d finally accept his business must close, and the next step towards his final path would be taken.
That knowledge, along with the death of his wife the year before and her medical debts, could plunge him into a complete spiritual breakdown. Evil could sniff out despair.
Manasseh had to find a way to ease the man’s burden without revealing himself. And protect Cassandra. So he’d tend to Obadiah’s situation as soon as he made sure Cassandra was not in immediate danger.
Her car chugged over a hill. The next time Manasseh looked, the demon was gone.
A split second later, Manasseh was sitting at a dark corner table in the Red Carpet Lounge. He didn’t want to be seen and so no one saw him. He was there for Cassandra, not there to judge the people drinking and loudly mingling around him attempting to fend off their loneliness. They were the normal collection of humans. Sometimes he could look at them and know which would survive and sometimes he couldn’t.
He was not permitted to know everything.
A middle-aged woman was working behind the bar serving drinks. Maggie Sounder had three children she was raising alone. Her husband, Charley, was a drunk and had run off with another woman six months past. Maggie was having a hard time coping.
She wasn’t a bad woman, just a wishy-washy one. She loved her children, but couldn’t give them her time and full attention, or teach them about the love of God, all of which they needed. She was too busy working, flirting, and looking for a new husband. She believed a man and money were the answers to everything and if she had both then everything would be better in her life.
An anemic soul barely flickered beneath Maggie’s flesh and bones. Faith and God’s love were what she needed. The way she was, she wouldn’t survive the first wave of troubles, if she lived that long.
Beyond the windows, darkness and rain had arrived, slamming a storm surge against the glass. Thunder and streaks of electricity ripped and echoed across the sky. The windowpanes rattled in their mountings and the lightshow brightened the world. Even with the downpour, the temperature had become warmer. The humans drifting into the bar were soaked in water and perspiration and were short tempered as the heat and the noise level rose to a shrill crescendo.
Manasseh recognized demons behind several of the human faces.
More than usual tonight.
They were one of the reasons Manasseh didn’t like going into buildings where there were crowds. The ratio of demon to mortal was shifting quickly. There were demons everywhere.
Manasseh detected and avoided them and they couldn’t see him. For now. There’d come a time when the blinders would be lifted from everyone’s eyes, including theirs, and he’d have to kill them. They’d have to try to kill him.
His foot tapped softly at first and then faster. His body tensed. He couldn’t wait for the day when he could raise his sword and strike all the fiends down once and for all. It’d been coming for so long and he was tired of waiting.
There were demons, disguised as humans, drinking at a table beside the bandstand. “When’s the damn music going to start?” one griped.
“Yeah, when are we going to get some entertainment in this dump?” His friend threw the remaining contents of his drink at the waitress as she scooted past, barely missing her. He stuck his booted foot out and tripped a man returning from the restroom. The guy sprawled on the floor, stunned surprise on his face. But when he looked up at who’d waylaid him, he just lowered his eyes and stumbled off to hide in a corner. Demon mind control. The weaker the human mind, the stronger the control.
Dressed in T-shirts, ball caps, and blue jeans the demons appeared to be ordinary mortals of different ages and races. Manasseh never understood why, but most of them wore beards and never robed in bright colors. They especially hated yellow and sky blue. Most were wearing dark glasses. That he understood. In certain lights, their eyes, empty as their souls or, when angry, burning like crimson embers, betrayed them.
Manasseh could hardly bear to be in the same room. Demons had a stench of burnt blood and ash around them and their minds were as dark as the place they’d come from. They mingled among men and committed the crimes that made humans cry: arson, wife beating, torture, and murders. Manasseh scowled. If there was a heinous crime being committed somewhere, there was most likely a demon perpetrating it or somehow behind it.
They were making him angry. He had to remind himself why he was there and that his first responsibility was guarding Cassandra. It was difficult because all he wanted to do was to exterminate them.
Not here. Not yet.
Cassandra, guitar case in hand, wandered in with her brother in tow. They set up their equipment, tested microphones, got something to drink, and after tuning their instruments began to play.
The demons were instantly agitated at the sound of Johnny and Cassandra’s voices. One of them glared balefully at the girl as another snarled something to his friends, his face shifting into a sneer.
Manasseh didn’t like the looks of any of them. They were a fight waiting to happen. Malevolence glinted in their looks and their pretend smiles had no mirth. But he knew their kind. Most of them were cowards and wouldn’t hurt Cassandra or Johnny in such a public place. It’d garner too much attention and they wouldn’t want that. They usually waited until they could get the humans alone somewhere to do their damage.
An omen of things to come, thunder rippled through the sultry air and eerily mimicked the resonance of human screams. Manasseh shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
Still there was no sign of the demon, Rayner. Perhaps he wouldn’t show, though there was enough danger lurking in the crowd without him.
Manasseh listened to Cassandra and her brother. Choir music was more his style, yet their voices were harmonious and their instrument playing skillful. There was an innocent goodness in their demeanors and the messages of their songs that made their performance compelling. And behind the melodies, their souls were luminous and shone like beacons from their eyes. Both of them were pure of heart and strong, the brother not quite as much as the sister, and would need to be because the future wouldn’t be easy for either of them.
An hour went by. The songs and sibling banter were entertaining. People drank, conversed, and socialized. Rayner never showed up.
The demons behaved themselves as much as they were able, hiding their impatience behind their smirks. No doubt they were planning something wicked for after they left the bar.
He was about to see to Obadiah, when one of the demons behind him threw a bottle at Cassandra. She ducked before it made contact and smashed into the wall.
Another demon flung one and hit Johnny in the head...and the brawl was on.
Everyone shoved and kicked each other. Fists and flesh collided. The demons had instigated the clash and notched it up and that alarmed Manasseh. Though it was in their nature to cause pandemonium wherever and whenever they could, they were usually less obvious about it. Another bad sign.
The room was an erupting volcano and people spilled into the stormy night to escape the flying glasses and bottles.
Crouched down behind the bar, Maggie shouted into the phone: “Morey, you better get over here quick. There’s a big fight and everything’s being busted to hell. I’ll try to call the police–” The phone obviously went dead in her hands. “Damn!” She dropped it and ran out the door.
Someone threw a table through a window and wind and rain splattered in. Everyone was screaming, slugging each other, or trying to escape through a door or window.
One of the demons hurled itself at the two singers as if it wanted to tear them apart. Cassandra nimbly stepped aside and the fiend overshot and ended up beneath a table scrabbling to keep from being booted by a bunch of furious cowboys.
Amidst the chaos, Cassandra shoved her wounded brother towards the back exit, their guitars protectively cradled in their arms.
Manasseh followed them into the alley. He’d shield them if he had to. But Cassandra knew what to do. Survival was an instinct she’d been born with. Through the falling water, she aimed her brother towards her car and they scrambled in.
The sound of police sirens rivaled the thunder.
There were demons behind Cassandra and her brother and Manasseh slammed the door in their faces as the pair of humans drove away.
Rayner was nowhere near or Manasseh would have felt it. Satisfied his two songbirds were out of harm’s way, he cloaked himself and took to the sky, wings unfolding to the length of two men. He had to take care of Obadiah. And afterwards there were places he had to be and preparations he had to make.
If he hadn’t known it before, he knew it now. Time was getting short.