Nat shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not.”
Stacy and Tracy held their swords over Sheba, and Stacy warned Nat, “Drop the sword or she loses her head.”
Nat tightened his grip on the sword. “I can’t do that.”
Before Stacy could reply, three knives flew through the front door and one hit each of the three goons in the head. Nat instinctively sliced his sword across Ben’s neck, cutting his head off. Ben’s body fell to the floor and disintegrated along with the bodies of the three goons. Fury filled Stacy and Tracy’s eyes and they raised their swords and started to attack Nat, but stopped in their tracks when a tall, baldheaded man appeared in the doorway sharply dressed in all white with shades covering his eyes and a sword identical to Nat’s in his hand.
“Sango,” Stacy and Tracy whispered.
Sango held out his sword with one hand. “In the flesh,” he taunted.
Stacy frowned. “But that’s impossible.”
Tracy looked back at Sheba balled up on the floor bloody and bruised. “Unless—” In the blink of an eye, Sango sprinted across the room and thrust his sword into Stacy’s chest and then spun, sending his blade across Tracy’s midsection. Stacy fell lifeless to the floor while Tracy doubled over trying to hold her spilling guts together. Sango stepped back and Nat walked over and beheaded Tracy. Nat and Sango then simultaneously tapped the handles of their swords, causing the blood to magically slide off their blades.
“Who are you?” Nat asked Sango.
Sango studied Nat with admiration for a moment and then removed his shades, revealing his strange yellow and green eyes. “I am Sango.” He motioned to Sheba. “You must tend to her.”
Nat sheathed his sword and helped Sheba to her feet. Her face was covered with blood. She winced as she stood and then turned to Sango. “Thank you.”
Sango put down his sword, took Nat’s sword, and unsheathed it. Nat backed up and watched in awe as Sango lowered his head and held the sword out to Sheba.
“No,” Sango told Sheba. “It is Sango’s honor to assist Makeda Sabas.”
Sheba took the sword with both hands and a ring of energy pulsed from the sword and spread throughout the room before fading away. An expression of realization and understanding covered Sheba’s face. The wounds on her face magically disappeared and she glowed with a youthful radiance.
Sheba said, “We must be going.”
Nat’s jaw dropped. “She’s the Host?” he asked in disbelief.
Sango smiled at Nat with pride. “You have done a good job young Nathaniel.”
Sheba reminded, “I’m not the Host yet. I still have to be consecrated. Now let’s get going.”
“There’s a car downstairs waiting to take us to a private jet,” Sango announced. Sheba walked out the loft and Sango and Nat followed.
***
Izzy lay naked in bed on his back while Saleena straddled him. They had just finished making love.
“I love you,” Saleena said tearfully as she leaned forward and reached under the pillow.
“I love you too,” he declared.
“Never forget this feeling,” she told him.
Saleena sat up, pulling the summoning blade from under the pillow, and then plunged the blade into his chest before he knew what was happening. His eyes went blank and she collapsed on his chest sobbing. Merely a second passed when a thick cloud of black smoke swirled around the room. When the smoke cleared Izzy’s body was gone.
Saleena lay on the bed alone. She was overcome by an overwhelming sense of loss and a loud bell went off in her head. It was a constant ringing. She massaged her temples and the ringing lowered, but it didn’t stop. She tried to push the ringing to the back of her mind by taking a hot bath. After about an hour of relaxing in the water, the ringing grew bearable. It still nagged her, but she could deal with it. She barely realized it was still there when she dressed and got ready to go to Simon’s.
***
Simon sat alone in his living room wallowing in a sea of despair of his own. A piece of who he was had been torn from his very being. He was the devil’s chosen seed on earth. He was destined to unleash the devil’s wrath on earth. He was destined to confront the Host and slay the Host in the name of his father’s will. But now that had changed, and he was nothing more than a decoy. His father had passed him over. He no longer had an identity. His entire existence was recast with the simple discovery that his destiny belonged to someone else. Everything seemed to fall apart around him. His purpose had been destroyed. And then in an instance, he was reborn with a new purpose. He would no longer seek to carry out his father’s will on earth. He would now establish his own will—a will dedicated and determined to thwart his father’s plans for his so-called anointed seed. He would now be estranged from his father, but he would reinitiate a treasured relationship with his sister. He was sure that he and Saleena were a force to be reckoned with. She was still a demon scorned, but her scorn would now be directed at their father and his secret seed.
After a moment of pure anger and disappointment, Simon chuckled at the reality of the new situation. His father had tricked him and hung him out to dry. He replayed how well his father had played him over the last few centuries and nodded in admiration at his father’s craftiness. “Good play father,” he said as if he knew the devil was listening. “But chosen seed or not. I am still your son. And I have no intention of fading away quietly into the night. Your so called chosen seed doesn’t stand a chance against me. I have home court advantage,” he warned.
Chapter Nineteen
Dawn approached as the Lear jet carrying Sango, Sheba, and Nat descended to a small runway at a private airfield in Arizona. Sheba sat in the seat closest to the cockpit with her sword resting on her lap. Sango stood in the center of the cabin like a sentinel with his back to Sheba as if he were protecting her. Nat sat on the other side of the cabin facing Sheba and Sango.
“Where are we going?” Nat asked as the jet landed.
“A monastery outside of Wittman, Arizona,” Sango answered. “That is where the Host will be consecrated.”
Nat eyed Sheba, who appeared to be meditating, and then said, “I don’t understand how she can be the Host. She was an assassin. I mean, I almost made out with her.”
Sango replied, “The Host was to know all the ways of humanity. The good and the bad.”
Sheba stood as the jet came to a stop. “Enough talk.”
She climbed off the jet and Nat and Sango followed. A Cadillac CTS sat parked on the runway. Sango motioned Nat to get in the front passenger seat and hopped behind the wheel while Sheba got in the back. Sango eyed Sheba in the rear view mirror, glanced at Nat with a smile, and then smashed his foot on the gas like he was in the Daytona 500. The car peeled away, leaving a cloud of smoke.
***
Saleena looked depressed when she arrived at Simon’s headquarters. Two armed guards led her to Angela’s old penthouse. Simon greeted her with a hug when she walked in.
“Don’t worry, Sis,” Simon said and kissed her on the forehead. “You’ll see him again.”
Saleena stepped back and eyed Simon suspiciously. “Like you care.”
Simon sighed. “Don’t forget who I am. I taught you how to torture in hell. You wouldn’t know how to boil a human’s brains without disintegrating him if it wasn’t for me.”
Saleena blushed. “I guess you were a halfway decent big brother.”
Simon frowned. “Halfway decent. I took the blame when you gave every human in the lowest sector of hell water for a week. And let’s not forget about the time I let you hold the key to the gate to earth and you left it open too long. The demon Adolf Hitler did a lot of damage before we got him back to hell. Everyone thought I summoned him to earth.”
Saleena laughed. “Yeah, but dad really enjoyed that one. He just punished you to save face.”
Simon turned serious. “The point is you’re
my little sister. I’m sorry I got so caught up in my work here that I’ve neglected you, but know that I always have and always will care about you.”
Saleena sighed as they embraced each other. “Thanks, bro. I’ve needed to hear that so bad. I really thought you forgot about me.”
“I could never forget about you. You’re the only being in existence I actually love,” he assured. “Even if I would have sent you back to hell for trying to take over my organization.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Saleena muttered, wiping her eyes as she backed away. “Did you get the sword?”
Simon grimaced. “No. It seems the Host received the message. She did away with the twins.”
“What now?” Saleena asked, alarmed.
Simon rubbed his hands together. “We have twenty crystals. We use those twenty demon warriors to stave off the Host and attack the devil’s demon network.”
Simon went into the bedroom and returned with two sheathed swords. He tossed one to Saleena and said, “Father had ten of these forged from the fire of hell.”
Saleena unsheathed her sword, revealing a dark red blade. Her eyes turned fiery red and the sword’s blade burst into flames. “It’s like I can feel the blade, like it’s a part of me.”
Simon nodded. “That’s because it is. It’s made from the same stuff you are—the essence of hell.”
Simon quickly unsheathed his sword and rushed at Saleena. He swung his sword counterclockwise and Saleena swung her sword clockwise until their swords crashed at their shins, sending red sparks throughout the penthouse. Simon stepped back and then aggressively attacked Saleena with a barrage of swings and thrusts. Saleena nonchalantly put one hand behind her back, turned to the side, and maneuvered her sword with one hand as she blocked each of Simon’s swings. Simon grew frustrated. He swiftly crouched and sliced at Saleena’s knees. Saleena somersaulted forward into the air and cleared Simon’s sword before landing behind him. Simon spun upright while turning only to find the tip of Saleena’s sword inches from his nose.
Saleena gloated as she held the sword out at Simon. Then with lightning speed, Simon dropped his sword, snatched Saleena’s sword from her hand and spun while extending it, and stopped on a dime a fraction of a second before the blade smashed against her neck.
“Just testing to see where you were at,” Simon said. “I need you to have my back.”
Saleena knocked the sword away from her neck. “I got you.”
“That’s good to hear. Things are progressing faster than I expected,” he told her.
Saleena’s eyes narrowed. “In what way?”
“Eshu is actively engaged here on earth. He has a sword of fire and he used it to kill a
family of assassins I used from time to time,” Simon explained. “On top of that, something major is going down in the spirit world. All kinds of spirits have migrated there in the last ten hours. It’s like something is calling them there. I also learned that Tess has defected to the devil’s other seed. I sense that they’re also in the spirit world.” He massaged his temples. “Whatever is going on there, I think it’s calling me too.”
“Is it like a ringing in your head?” Saleena asked.
“Yeah.”
“I hear it too,” Saleena confessed.
“I’m sure it has something to do with the Host,” Simon reasoned.
Saleena thought about it and asked, “Do you think the Host is in the spirit world?”
“There’s only one way to find out,” Simon said.
***
Sango, Sheba, and Nat pulled up to a rundown two-story monastery in the middle of nowhere. The monastery looked like it had been there for a hundred years. The entrance had an arched doorway with a triangle at the apex of the arch. Sango, Sheba, and Nat got out the car and six monks walked out the monastery in two ranks of three dressed in brown robes and simple sandals. Behind the monks walked a white-haired man in his late 50’s who wore an all white robe and simple sandals. His name was Tobias, and he was a high ranking member of the Order of Light. The two ranks of monks stopped and parted, and Tobias walked through them to meet Sheba, Sango, and Nat. Tobias glanced at Sango’s sheathed sword, then eyed Sheba and her sheathed sword, and then turned to Nat.
“You have done well, young Nathaniel,” Tobias said.
Nat looked confused. “How do you know my name?”
Tobias smiled warmly. “We the Order of Light have been watching over you and the Host. Come.”
Tobias led Nat and Sango through the monks, but Sheba didn’t budge.
“What about Sheba?” Nat asked.
“She’s coming,” Tobias assured.
Nat followed Tobias and Sango into the monastery. There were ten pews, five on each side of the room that created a walkway that led to an altar that sat in front of the wall across from the entrance. There was a door directly behind the altar and another door in the corner to the right of the altar. Tobias, Sango, and Nat walked to the altar, turned, and faced the entrance.
The six monks entered in two ranks of three, stopped and parted, facing each other. Sheba walked through the entrance and headed to the altar. As she made her way through the monks, she split into three versions of herself. A clone of pure light stepped out in front of her while a clone of pure fire simultaneously stepped out behind her, leaving the original version of her in the middle with the sword. She and her clones walked with synchronized steps and movements. Nat couldn’t believe his eyes. Sheba stopped in front of Tobias and her clones flanked her.
“I am the Host,” Sheba declared.
Tobias nodded and clapped his hands three times, and the monks hurried through the door behind the altar. He told Sheba, “If you will follow me.”
Tobias led Sheba and the clones to the door in the right corner. Nat watched as Sheba and the clones disappeared into the room and shut the door behind them.
Nat turned to Sango and asked, “What now?”
Sango took a seat in a pew. “We wait until sunset.”
***
Lamont had just kicked out his flavor of the moment, and was sitting in the living room reading a GQ magazine over a bowl of Fruit Loops when there was a knock at the door. He sat his bowl down and exhaled in frustration.
“I know you didn’t leave anything?” he huffed as he walked over to the door. He checked the peephole and frowned. “You can’t be serious,” he muttered as he snatched the door open.
Wille Von Macht stood outside the door, and Tess stood off to the side out of view. Lamont looked at the boys and asked, “Are you lost?”
“No,” the boys answered dryly.
Lamont threw his hands up. “Well, I know you’re not about to tell me I’m your father, because I use condoms.”
“You could never be our father,” the boys said calmly.
Lamont looked at them like they were crazy. “So what do you want?”
“You,” the boys stated.
Wille Von Macht raised their hands at Lamont and emitted a burst of energy that knocked him across the room into a wall. Lamont fell unconscious. The boys walked into the apartment
and Tess stepped in behind him.
“Is he dead?” Tess asked.
“No,” the boys answered. “We need him alive, for now.”
Chapter Twenty
Behind the monastery was a courtyard with a baptism pool in the middle of it. A stone walkway led from the monastery’s back entrance to the baptism pool. Sunset was approaching, and the six monks flanked the walkway, three on each side, while Tobias stood at the end of the walkway in front of the pool holding a six-foot long wooden staff with a big octagon-shaped ruby at the top. Nat and Sango, who had his sheathed sword hanging from his waist, silently stood on the left side of the pool watching as Sheba and her clones walked out the monastery wearing thick terrycloth robes with hoods that covered their heads and concealed their faces. Sheba and her clones approached Tobias
, and he stepped aside and allowed them to step down into the baptism pool. Just then, the sun began to set. Sheba and her clones sunk under the water and disappeared as if the pool was bottomless.
Tobias held the staff upright over the pool with the ruby in the air and stuck the end of the staff into the water. A beam of light shot from the setting sun to the ruby and sent a burst of red light down the staff and into the pool, which became completely illuminated. A ring of energy then pulsed from the pool, disintegrated the staff and spread out, knocking Tobias and the others onto their butts.
***
Eshu drove along a deserted highway in the Arizona desert. He looked over at the sunset and sighed. An unsheathed, red-bladed sword of fire lay across the back seat glowing. His eyes narrowed as he looked ahead and saw the ring of energy from the baptism pool rippling across the landscape towards his car. He braced the steering wheel as the ring of energy blew out the car’s tires as it passed. He then shook his head, grabbed the sword from the back seat, and got out the car. He glanced at the tires and proceeded to walk to his destination.
***
Back at the baptism pool, the beam of light was gone and so was Sheba. Nat and the others struggled to their feet with their eyes glued to the baptism pool. They watched in amazement as Sheba and her clones popped out the water and levitated out the pool. All three versions of Sheba were unconscious, glowing red, with their eyes closed and their limbs hanging loosely in the air. Sheba and her clones slowly floated around each other and then gradually sped up until they merged and formed a red ball of light. The light grew brighter and brighter and then took the shape of a single body and faded to reveal Sheba floating in the air with her eyes closed. Nat looked at Sheba floating there and swallowed hard. She no longer wore a robe. She wore a red and black leather body suit that highlighted her curvaceous, athletic body. She opened her eyes and fell splashing into the baptism pool. Nat attempted to help her, but Sango grabbed him.
“No,” Sango said.