Page 10 of The Black Rider
“That’s where Asher’s intel comes in,” Aeron said. “They aren’t monitoring air space anymore. They think the military and planes are gone. Isaiah and the rest of his friends in power around the world conscripted a militia of some of the worst gangs in their area for protection. They give them free rein to do whatever they want to people as long as there’s a few of them acting as bodyguards at all times.”
Leif leaned back on the sofa and put his hands behind his head.
“They have guns and bullets they scavenged from destroying military warehouses, but if you haven’t noticed, the government went a little bomb happy when the war broke out. They are out of bombs, and they aren’t exactly rolling in people that know how to make them any more or people who can staff shops to make more.”
“No one is monitoring air traffic either because they think they don’t need to,” Aeron said. “Throughout history, the Antichrist has slipped up, and we managed to stop him. This is how Isaiah goes down. He’s got access to satellites. He could monitor the ground and see what Dice is doing in Florida. He’s gotten messy because he thinks he’s won.”
“Why didn’t he kill me? If my blood can end all this, why hide me and keep me alive?”
That was my big question. It wasn’t like he ever loved me. He raped an angel because he couldn’t get her blood to do what he wanted, then killed her after she produced me. From what I could remember of him, he only ever addressed me when he wanted something. He never spoke a kind word to me in my entire life. There were no gentle explanations or pep talks when he took me to that awful lab. He either said nothing or yelled at me when I didn’t want to go. He threw me in a padded room and refused to let me out until I drew something he wanted.
“That’s what we’re doing now. I downloaded everything from that research facility onto a flash drive, but I didn’t have a computer. We’re trying to figure out why Isaiah had you there and what he was doing to you. He had to know we were working together. Maybe he thought we would assume you were dead, but we knew you weren’t. We kept popping up to Heaven to ask Saint Peter if he let you through the gates, and it was always no.”
“Wouldn’t he know you could do that?”
“No. Isaiah was born on Earth. Satan would have visited him when he was older and let him know he was the Antichrist and given him a job to do. Satan has all the knowledge of how the previous Antichrists before were caught and killed. His problem is that his offspring are still half human, half fallen angel, and after they’ve gotten a taste of power, they start going off the book as their ego grows. They think they know better, and that’s when we catch them.”
I was dying to know what was on that flash drive. So many years of my life were stolen from me while I was in that coma, and he took my memories too. I didn’t feel whole. I needed to know.
“Aeron? You said I would go crazy if you tried to give me my memories back. How were they taken from me then?”
“Only one thing could have messed with your memories like that. I could feel it on you. Angels take away human memories all the time if they see something they aren’t supposed to or to ease their pain. Most of the time, they never return, but you aren’t human, so you’re getting yours in pieces. I’m guessing Isaiah summoned his father because they both wanted to make sure you didn’t remember a thing. I think both of them tend to forget you are a little more angel than Isaiah is.”
I started choking on my chips.
“You’re telling me I got a visit from Satan, and he took my memories? What the fuck?”
They both just shrugged at me like that wasn’t a major fucking thing. Maybe getting visits from Satan was normal for them, but as far as I was concerned, that was one relative I didn’t really want to meet. Apparently, I had, and now I couldn’t remember a fucking thing.
“It’s the only explanation, Ariel. I could feel it was angelic, but no other angel would do that to you, even if Isaiah managed to capture another one. They would die first.”
I frowned. None of this was making sense, but what did I know about Hell and fallen angels?
“If Satan knew they had kidnapped me and needed my memories wiped, doesn’t he know exactly what all of you are doing and relaying that to Isaiah?”
Leif and Aeron started laughing. I had a feeling they were laughing at me. Sure, laugh at the poor Nephilim that didn’t know the first thing about Heaven or Hell. Before all this, I just thought I would get reincarnated and tried not to do stupid shit, so I didn’t come back as a cockroach.
“Earth is not like Netflix in Heaven or Hell. Only certain angels have the power to see Earth when they are in Heaven, and Lucifer was not one of them. He can’t see a damned thing when he’s in Hell, and he can’t just come to Earth whenever he wants. Isaiah has to summon him, and when the circle breaks, he’s banished back to Hell. It’s part of his punishment for rebelling. Old Satan was probably pretty pissed to be summoned for a memory wipe. He probably wanted you dead. No loose ends.”
“That’s not exactly the best pep talk, Leif,” I pointed out.
“No, but you have to admit the great Satan being an errand boy for his stupid Antichrist son is funny.”
“If Satan wanted me dead, why didn’t he just kill me instead? I’m pretty sure the devil outranks the Antichrist.”
“That’s what the flash drive is for. Isaiah must have said that he needed you alive for something. We have the answers. We just need to comb through the data,” Leif said. “There might be something on here that helps me find something to kill the Rage Heads.”
“Have you found anything?”
“You were in a coma for a long time, Ariel. There’s a lot of data to go through. Some of these are just security reports that were sent to your father. That building was heavily guarded. He kept you as far away from him as he could, so anyone looking thought you were dead, but he fortified that place just in case we found you,” Leif said.
“I could have killed all of them with just a thought to get to you, but by the time I found the place, they were all dead or Rage Heads.”
“Howdidyou find me after all that time? If Isaiah didn’t want me found, how did you manage?”
“Dice found you. After the war ended, we could finally focus our efforts on looking. He built this device from bits and pieces he salvaged. Asher snuck it on the roof of the White House. After that, we could monitor all satellite communications Isaiah was having,” Aeron said.
“Oh, yeah, we can hear all his dirty secrets. We know what he’s saying to everyone across the globe. We also know he’s communicating with some more militant gangs and inciting violence. It was years of listening before they used a name rather than a number. That research facility is not the only one Isaiah had set up. We couldn’t tip him off by hitting each one, so we had to wait until we were sure. Aeron came to get you as soon as we were sure. His powers are the deadliest of all of us, and he’d built up relationships all across the country. He could bring you back safely.”
