Summon Lyght (11 page)

"
Are you ready, Alicia?" the demon asked. "I will end your pain and you will live forever, healthy, and watch you children grow up. The cancer will be gone, as if it never happened. A miracle."

The camera shifted again to show the beast from another perspective. A glowing being stood before the dying woman, graceful wings folded behind it and a beatific smile spread across its normal looking mouth.

"I'm ready. Take me." The weak voice was barely discernible but Lesedi had no doubt the demon heard the words loud and clear.

The demon shifted to its real form and leaped at her. She screamed as it landed on her chest. Too late. Lesedi watched in horror as the thing melted into her writhing body that convulsed in agony. Then she stood, appearing in perfect health.

As the screen faded to dark, tears rolled down Miya's cheeks unnoticed. "Oh dear God," she whispered, her voice strained. "What will happen to that poor woman now?"

One of the women, Devyn, he thought, dried her own tears.
"Oh she'll live forever alright." Her hard voice shook. "A prisoner in her own mind, watching every atrocity the demon commits in her name." Emotion overtook her again and more tears flowed unchecked. How much of that type of horror had this woman seen? And yet her heart remained unhardened. "It will unleash some of the vilest and sacrilegious shit on her children, her family. And they'll believe she's doing it. And she'll be powerless to do anything but watch."

"
But that thing tricked her, that's not fair." Miya's anger came through. "Surely she can't be penalized for wanting some relief from that kind of suffering. The demon took advantage of her pain."

"
All human actions are judged in righteousness," the blue angel said. "If she is truly innocent, God will know, and justice shall come to pass once this fallen world has been entirely restored."

Something shifted in Lesedi.
"Is this what we are trying to stop?"

Toren, nodded.
"That and far worse."

Miya took hold of Lesedi
's hand beneath the table. "Tell me what to do. I'm in."

Lesedi regarded her. She looked up into his gaze and it felt like looking at himself in a mirror. The need to help others, to do what was right, burned inside her. The same as it burned within him. He had never been able to name the hunger inside him. But in that second, he knew exactly what it was. The diamond business was fraught with defiling events that left him wanting, and feeling so eternally soiled in his spirit that he could hardly lift his head. That was what had changed in him, where the innocence and freedom of childhood had gone. Smothered by the wages of his own sins.

He looked around the table and found all eyes on him as though they knew he sat at a crossroad of redemption and damnation. Waiting for the verdict. He nodded slightly. "My name is Lesedi." He aimed his gaze at Lyght. "Son of a whore and a king. Use me in whatever way that you can."

The angels looked at one another, flames arcing between them. The fires died back, but the angels
' eyes continued to glow with the preternatural light. It was Lyght that turned his glowing gaze on him then stood and placed his hand on Lessedi's head. "You are Lesedi. Son of Deshtorah, a holy woman who sacrificed herself to save a divine lineage. Though she is called a whore among men, she is a queen in our realm." He bowed his head, as if in deference, and Lesedi looked around, shocked to see the remaining angels bowing their heads the same.

Kassern turned a speculative gaze on Lesedi. "You are thought, by the ignorant, to be a man of both lowly and noble birth. The latter is the truth, but the former is a lie that has rooted in your soul and cursed you. And now, we will forge strength from this weakness after the bonding is complete. However, you will always have to be on guard for those who will seek to corrupt you."

Lesedi realized that the angel had just divined his past and spoken prophetically about his future. Just like that. Just like that, he was in the midst of the impossible. The supernatural. The very stain he spent his life running from, even despising. And like his forefather who led his people out of Egypt, Lesedi felt the urge to remove his shoes. For surely the place where he sat, was holy ground.

Chapter Eleven

Lyght finally managed to draw a full breath again when Miya announced her cooperation. Sure he'd still be the laughingstock of the Brotherhood for getting his ass chewed by a woman like that. They might not have said it, but everyone in the room was awed by her courage and durability. Not many humans handled their first flash without at least a little motion sickness, even after being prepared for it. She hadn't gone the least bit green and she certainly hadn't been rendered speechless. Prickly nature aside, having her in his Quad would be an asset.

While his Brothers and their team members filled his Quad in on exactly the sorts of things they would be fighting, Lyght stayed quiet next to Kassie at the long table. So this would be his and Kassie
's home for the duration of the operation? He didn't appreciate the lack of lavish detail he was accustomed to in Third Heaven, but what more could he ask of Earth's environs?

Even though none of his Quad had earned their portion of his angelic nature yet, their demeanors announced they were ready to fight without backing out, no matter the evil they faced. Thank God.

Lyght smiled softly at Tyler and the stray cat. They'd polished off their snack in record time then curled in the big chair they'd been given. While the cat groomed and purred, the boy's eyelids drooped and finally fell shut. The cat froze, stared at Tyler a few seconds, then turned on his abdomen. Purring loudly, it proceeded to push at the boy's belly with first one forepaw then the other, growing gradually louder and more energetic.

Lyght noticed his Brothers and a couple of the others watching with the same mixture of puzzlement and worry as he felt. About the same time, the cat seemed satisfied and dropped to its belly with those forepaws curled elegantly under its body, chin resting against its chest and
tail in a neat tuck against one hind leg. Its eyes immediately narrowed to watchful slits and it appeared ready to stay on guard as long as the boy napped.

Hmph. Bloody odd creature. Lyght forced himself to turn away before it could do anything else interesting.

Toren approached with a broad grin and sat in the empty seat on his right. "You believe that?" He nodded at the cat. "I actually think that little thing would totally kick anyone's ass who bothered the kid now."

"
Oh, I have no doubt. It's a mean little bastard."

Toren
's grin broadened and he gave a soft chuckle before going serious. "You didn't have any trouble getting Kassie out?"

Lyght sighed inwardly. Should he tell Toren what had happened to Kassie so maybe her friends could help her deal with it? Or was that strictly hers to share?
"No, Brother. I walked in, she asked me to bring Tyler and I did. Walked them out in the Blink, just as I'd planned."

"
Glad to hear it went so well. I'm learning that few things with this mission do."

Lyght gave several solemn nods.
"Given my humans, I'm learning that rather quickly myself."

Toren went serious again, but before he could ask Lyght to betray any of Kassie
's secrets, Kassern stood and interrupted.

"
Okay, everyone." Immediate silence fell and all turned their undivided attention to him. 

Lyght leaned closer to Kassie. The ingrained habit to avoid that which might weaken him fell before the power of her fragrance, and his insatiable need to inhale her into his being at every opportunity. He breathed her in deeply, not concerned whether his Brothers noticed or not, anticipating the dizzying effect it always had on him.

Kassern continued. "I suspect the luxury of having everyone in the same place at the same time will be rare from here on, but for now, we're going to take advantage and figure out our next moves." Several nodded agreement but most sat in watchful silence. "We know a couple pieces of the Enemy's endgame. We need a few more."

Dorn spoke up.
"And toward that goal, some of you have already begun to work, anticipating what we might encounter next. Searches for out-of-the-ordinary news stories and paying attention to old contacts led us to Kassie. We want to refine that process and be more efficient with it."

Jessie, the female half of Dorn
's human couple hesitantly raised her hand. Dorn nodded permission for her to speak and she cleared her throat. "We know part of the Enemy's plan is to try and corrupt the Pope. During the forming of Dorn's warrior, I received part of his angelic powers in a way that has…allowed me to know things…about people and stuff." She seemed the type to not speak publicly and yet smart enough to not be controlled by her inadequacies.

She went on.
"I've been seeking an audience with the Pope to find out if he's been turned. At this stage, with a new Pope, they could pretty well win in one move if they manage to overcome his innate goodness and they're no doubt giving it an all-out effort. If he's still free of demonic influence, we should maybe find a way to protect him. So far, I'm getting the run-around at each level and I've identified a few corrupted clerics." She pushed hair behind her ear and hurried on. "They're being dealt with. But Sallie and I and Karly have been talking. We think we've hit on something."

The entire room waited in suspense.

Jessie shrugged a little at the sudden undivided attention. "We could be wrong of course, but it makes sense, given what we've seen so far. But it seems like the Enemy might focus his efforts on the things that hold human society together, the things that set us above beasts. Religion, we know, but what else sets us apart? Government that protects its citizens. Parents that protect and nurture children." Jessie darted her gaze around the table, but she avoided making eye contact with anybody.

Apparently sensing her sister
's distress, Sallie took over with a confidence and authority that could only come from being the wife of the Aquamarine Warrior. "If we're right, we're going to see concentrated demon activity in areas that undermine human society and drive us further from God. Increases in church corruption, government corruption, which are generally rampant everywhere, but we need to determine where and how the demons are exploiting that corruption."

Sallie paused to meet each pair of eyes for a second, then continued.
"Adultery and prostitution, again, something we know is on the rise, but where and how are the demons playing it? Child abuse. Preventable disease. We need to look at statistics and crime rates related to those things and find a pattern. If demons are involved more heavily than normal, we target them." She paused to look around the silent room, gauging reactions. "Of course if you guys don't think—"

"
That's brilliant." Dorn exchanged glances with the other archangels as though his prized pupil had made him damn proud. Lyght shared his pride, as did their other Brothers with eager nods. "That's a simple plan," Dorn said. "So simple, and so brazen, Socerith and the other demons would think we might not see the patterns and figure out what they're doing before the enemy is so far entrenched in human hearts and souls that we'd have no hope of turning it around."

Lyght nodded.
"And that's exactly the kind of plan Socerith would use. He likes to win before his opponent even knows there's a war. So what's the best way to go about examining these leads? Surely we can send our informants--"

"
No," Toren said. "The fewer that know what we do, the better. It means less chance we can be traced and lets us freely move without being followed. There are far too many demons with the power to derive knowledge from lesser angels for us to risk it. Unless it's absolutely necessary, all work is performed by us in our new forms, and our Quads. And the less angelic powers we use, the better. We need to exploit our weaker natures for now. They won't expect that from the Brotherhood."

Troy, the human preacher, raised his hand.
"We can do a lot." He gestured to Lucian, Dorn's male human. "He and I are good with computers." He nodded again at Toren's male human. "With Ezekiel's help, he could lean on his old contacts and we should have some information pretty quickly."

Kassern nodded, as if deep in thought while he trailed an absent finger up and down his wife
's forearm. "That takes care of some longer range things." He sat silent for a moment, then continued. "We can start at deciding what to do about the human animals who were holding Kassie and Tyler. Lyght, can you give us details?"

Bloody hell. Those blighters were his to exact justice on. Maybe he still could if he played his cards right.
"The place is a sort of warehouse. They have crates, filled with electronics and such, stored on the first level, and there were a couple of those big shipping containers too."

Ezekiel raised a hand.
"Did you see where the containers were from, or anything on the goods coming out of the truck?"

Lyght paused to be sure before answering.
"I'm not entirely certain. I sort of neglected my study of human written communication—I know, Uriel will kick my ass—but it seemed more important to be perfectly fluent in the language and culture I would be using as a cover. Anyway, there were labels and printed information on the sides of the crates and containers, but none of them were in the Western alphabet. If I saw them again, I could identify the characters, or perhaps even copy them from memory, if that helps." Shit, he hated to admit he'd not studied everything he was supposed to. Especially in front of Dorn. Even now, Lyght could feel the hairsplitter's eyes on him, no doubt biting his tongue on a lecture about the meaning of the ARCH part of his angelic title. 

Lyght met his Brother
's gaze, ready to be done with at least the silent part of the accusation. The blue warrior merely nodded. "Without question reproduce the letters. I'm sure I'll be able to identify the language of origin at a minimum, or perhaps even translate."

Dorn
's generous offer shocked Lyght, and the lack of the usual acidic reprimand left him puzzled. He noted Dorn's wife's smile and couldn't suppress his own. The almighty aquamarine warrior was on a little sugar leash. 

Lyght remembered the task at hand and glanced around.
"There were seventeen men on the ground level, all armed. According to the little sign inside the door, the workers are armed to protect the freight from theft and vandalism. There's a second level, with twelve females, all in different areas, and nearly that many males. Might be an office area or something."

"
Or something?" Devyn's words bit. "They're running a whorehouse, I'd say. The men you saw on the ground level, were they white, black, Asian? What?"

Lyght had to think on that for a moment. He wasn
't accustomed to such superficial categorizations. "The two in charge were white, but weren't speaking English. The rest were Asian."

Devyn scribbled notes on a pad she
'd pulled from somewhere.

Expectant eyes all trained on him, indicating he should continue.
"The access to the basement stairs was hidden behind a big metal cabinet in an office." He paused for a glance at Kassie. This was going to get uncomfortably graphic with details and he didn't want to trigger some fear reaction or bad memories for her.

Kassie seemed to sense the reason for his hesitation.
"It's okay. Go ahead and tell them. Everything. They need to know it all."

Lyght reached for her hand under the table, his heart pounding with a mixture of anticipation of her touch and fear she might pull away.
"Anytime you need me to stop, just squeeze my hand."

Kassie gave a determined nod, but Lyght recognized the unnatural flush high on her cheeks. She would need careful watching through the whole thing.

Lyght drew another deep lungful of her scent, and went on. "When I pulled the cabinet back to open the stair door, there was an odor, strong, of a great deal of unpleasantness. The whole level is filled with tiny little cells built of sheets of wood. Reminiscent of the slums of a medieval city, crowded, filthy and full of misery."

"
How many of these cells are there?" Ezekiel held a pen over his own notepad.

"
Five hundred at least. Nearly all occupied."

Silence settled as the Quads absorbed the magnitude of Lyght
's statement. Abrupt realization jolted through Lyght with near physical force. This was roughly five hundred humans taken from family and home, carted from one underground auction to another and offered to the highest bidder. The number wasn't huge in comparison to the number of people missing at any one time. But so many in any one location was gargantuan.

Kassern leaned forward.
"So we know these people are being auctioned off for any terrible purpose the buyer wishes. They're probably bought and taken wherever the buyer needs them to become prostitutes or whatever. We know from Toren's and Sam's battle at the ranch there is definite demon activity in the operation." Kassern paused and met Lyght's gaze, then that of every person in the room, except Tyler.

"
I think it's safe to assume a couple of things. First, we have demon collusion in human trafficking, probably international. Second, the possible and even likely connection with prostitution brings the demon influence into that realm as well. That, to me, means our earlier conclusions from the ladies' ideas about the Enemy's big plan are probably correct. An exploitation of exploitations." Another look around the room. "Now we have to decide what we're going to do about it."