Traitors Rise - Sample page
The following is a sample chapter from the book entitled 'Overdue books' (to read more about the Apprentice Angel series, follow this link).
The two young men hanging around the library had anything other than the reading of books on their minds. They had found through sheer luck one day that the library could be a handsome picking ground for the minor thievery they had been carrying out for the past eighteen months. Many people would put down bags, purses or wallets, comfortable in the relative security of the library itself and forgetful as they lost themselves in a book, journal or magazine.
Today the pair were lounging around in the main reading hall, pretending to look through articles on modern cars when they noticed the stunning woman casually wandering along the book racks. Nodding to each other, they abandoned for the moment the pretence of looking through reviews whilst covertly observing potential marks in order to make their way over to her. A fit-looking bird would be a nice diversion considering how little their efforts had produced so far.
Blonde, tall and very beautiful, she was dressed in a figure-hugging business suit whose deep grey was offset by a pink shirt with a high collar. Her golden hair shone as it fell down below her shoulders and her gold eyes seemed to glow with an inner light. As they got closer, had they been familiar with the smell of roses, they would have noticed that their scent flooded the air around her.
‘Whoa! What have we got here?’ said the taller of the two, seemingly their leader.
Although only seventeen years of age, he had not been to school for nearly two years. He wore his hair short cropped, as was the style of the day and had three scar-like stripes shaved into the scalp on either side of his head. He was muscular and not bad-looking. He could handle himself in a fight of either fist or blade. He was what might have been termed ‘street-wise’. He nudged his companion to emphasise his question.
The woman turned to face the two youths. The pair of them walked to either side of her and back again, openly ogling her with leering smiles on their faces.
‘Can I help you?’ she asked, a tight smile playing across her face.
If either of them had taken the time to actually look properly into her eyes they might have seen the warning glint and taken that opportunity to make a hasty retreat. But neither of them did, secure as they were in their youthful strength and street-bred confidence.
‘Oh you can help us alright my lovely,’ said the leader, once again looking her up and down as he sauntered back and forth.
‘You could help me make the day more interesting that’s for sure.’
He nudged his partner, who guffawed loudly, momentarily disturbing the quiet of the library.
‘Oh yes, and how would that be?’ The woman asked calm, cool and matter-of-fact.
Too ignorant to notice her lack of concern the boy continued: ‘Well, why don’t we go somewhere less busy? I mean a hot chick like you must have a pretty impressive set of digs somewhere nearby.’
His mate chuckled once again, amazed at his boldness.
‘Well,’ she spoke evenly, ‘even if I was remotely interested in your, uh, fascinating offer, I am not sure that you can actually handle anything that I might have to offer.’
Although she spoke in the same outwardly calm voice, inside she was starting to get annoyed that her companion had not arrived yet. In truth, she was only partially focussing on the conversation with this silly child.
‘Oh, I am sure we could fix that,’ said the young man, feeling the first inklings of doubt as he began to suspect that he was not completely in charge of the way this conversation was going.
‘Yes, I am sure we could,’ she said, nodding. ‘But look, the truth is I have something I need to do now so, much as I’d love to continue this enthralling conversation, why don’t you just run along and see if you have better luck with your afternoon’s petty thievery?’
‘What d’you mean “thievery”? We’re just here to do reading and stuff, alright?’ said the second of the boys, defensively.
The older one frowned, wondering how the woman knew about them. Or had she just guessed? He considered the possibility of her being an undercover cop, but quickly dismissed the thought. There was no way an undercover cop would look this fine. This woman was more like a supermodel. No, it was just a guess, he concluded, and continued on doggedly.
‘You could fleece us any time, sugar,’ he said, but much of the bravado in his voice was gone.
‘Oh, I am sure that I could,’ replied the woman icily, now completely annoyed and wanting to get this stupid little diversion over with.
‘And I could also knock your head off before you even drew a breath.’ She said and as she did a tiny fraction of her power was revealed.
‘Bleeding heck!’ said the second of the boys in shock. Not only did he unconsciously feel the power emanating from this woman, but he just simply found it inconceivable that anyone, especially a woman, would be brave enough to speak to his friend that way.
Despite the moment of fear he felt, a sneer now appeared on the face of the first boy. He felt like he had been dissed, in front of his mate to boot, but he’d been brought up on the streets and very early on, he had learned to turn fear to his advantage. He let the adrenalin flood into his system.
‘Oh, I don’t think so, my lovely,’ he said, continuing his approach. For reasons he could not quite fathom, his hand strayed to the knife he had hidden in the back pocket of his jeans. He normally only reverted to the knife when he was seriously out-muscled.
‘And exactly what do you intend to do with that tiny, little needle of yours?’ She asked barely suppressing a laugh, her eyebrows raised in haughty amusement.
Again the boy was momentarily surprised by the fact that the woman somehow seemed to know about his hidden weapon. He was absolutely determined now not to let this put him off and he continued on regardless. In comparison, his accomplice had already decided that there was something about this woman that frightened him, and had quietly backed off to hover uncomfortably by the Biography aisle.
‘Let’s just leave it,’ he hissed at his older mate. ‘She’s not worth it.’
The other snarled in response. He had almost completely lost control and he knew it, but would simply not back down.
‘I’ll say what’s worth it and what’s not, so you just shut up!’ he yelled and his mate flinched and took a half-step further backward.
The younger of the two had seen his mate like this many times before and he knew this would only end up one way. He did not want to end up on the receiving end of what was about to come.
‘You couldn’t even begin to imagine what I’m going to do with this “little needle”,’ he said menacingly to the woman. His face was slightly flushed and his fists flexed.
The woman turned with a sigh, realising that what she had thought was a minor irritant now warranted her full attention.
‘I see that you are determined to tick me off,’ she said with a sigh. ‘But I have to say that it seems that little pin of yours leaves me at a distinct disadvantage,’ her voice now thick with mock concern. ‘I guess the only thing I can do about that is to try and even things up a little.’
As she said this, the area immediately around her and the two lads went dark. Apart from their own breath, they could not hear any other sound from anywhere within the library. To the now-very-enlarged eyes of the two males, the woman suddenly – impossibly – started to change. Instead of her smart suit, she now appeared to be garbed in what looked like armour of the type worn by Roman Centurions. She had a golden breast plate, golden armour-plated skirt and wore golden leg and lower arm plates. Behind her, on either side, were unfolded a set of majestic, golden wings. The whole ensemble was powerful and threatening, but perhaps slightly overshadowed by the three-foot long golden sword now held in her right hand.
‘I think we are even now, don’t you?’ she asked, sweetly.
The boys stumbled back to the edge of the darkness in considerable shock.
‘Actually, come to think of it,’ she continued in the same matter-of-fact tone. ‘I do believe that I have taken things a little too far now and in fact clearly overmatch you, that is, even taking into consideration that there are two of you and only one of me. Yes, maybe it is only fair then that I drop the sword and the armour.’
Once more her appearance began to change as the armour and sword disappeared into thin air, but it was as a new image began to take shape that the boys realised that they were truly and deeply in the poo. For now, slowly, as if the very substance of the woman was being changed, she began to alter. Her features began to bubble and stretch and then recede as some horrible metamorphosis took place. Slowly but surely, her appearance changed into something frightening, something unspeakable. In place of the stunning woman was now a hideous demon-like creature. Standing at well over six-foot tall was something straight out of a nightmare. It stood on what looked to be the cloven hooves of a goat or cow, fringed with very dark and coarse hair. Its arms were human-like and had fingers, but they ended with long, cruel nails perhaps a foot long each. The creature was clothed in a dark blue robe, which hid most of the rest of the main part of its body. However, glowing red eyes peered out from a face that looked like it was made from rotting flesh. On top of the head stood two curved horns and when the creature opened its mouth it revealed rows of long sharp teeth.
‘Do you think we are fairly matched now?’ Disconcertingly, the words out of the creature’s mouth remained in the even, rich tones of the beautiful woman.
The leader of the two, who had seemingly fallen into a horrified trance, suddenly felt his legs grow warm as a puddle appeared at his feet. This simple physical act seemed to jerk him from the terrified stupor that this vision had brought about and he turned and fled to the main foyer of the library, his friend hot on his heels. In fact, they did not stop running until they fell into an exhausted heap many miles away. Though they did eventually recover from the incident, neither of them would ever enter that library again and the older of the two only ever dated shorter women from that time on.
Shortly after their departure, the library and the visage of the woman returned to normal. It was as if the incident had never happened. The quiet chatter, the noise of books and magazines being shuffled and read, once more carried on.
Behind her, though, the woman became aware of a merry chuckle. Turning, she came face to face with a dark-skinned, very handsome man, around thirty years old and average height. He was dressed in a pair of designer jeans and wore a white t-shirt over a slim, but muscular frame. His hands were in his pockets and he leaned nonchalantly against a support pillar.
‘So, you’re here at last then,’ she said irritably. Then without further preamble, she demanded, ‘What have you found out?’
The man seemed in no way uncomfortable with this approach; it was obvious that they knew each other.
‘Nice to see you too,’ he said, still smiling. ‘Did you enjoy your little game just now?’
The woman did not respond. She acted as though nothing had happened.
The man sighed before continuing, the smile still fixed on his face. ‘I think we now know where our entity is going to come from.’
‘You think?’ she asked, a stern tone in her voice.
In response, he sighed once more and shook his head in long, slow exasperated jerks.
‘You know as well as I do that it is often very difficult to be sure with something like this. But having said that,’ he said, raising his tone as he took one hand out of his pocket, holding it up to forestall any further interruption. ‘Yes, my man believes that the traitor to Heaven will be a humanoid male from within the latest batch of recruits for the Angel University.’
The woman laughed without real mirth, and there was scorn and contempt in her voice when she replied.
‘Your man has only just realised this? This I have known for some time. Who do you think it was that ensured all of the likely candidates ended up on the same course? If I left it up to your lot, where would we be now?’
‘My lot?’ the man asked with a raised eyebrow and a tight smile on his face. ‘I hardly think they qualify as my lot anymore. But regardless of that, what do you plan to do from here?’
‘I will have one of those loyal to me keep a close eye on them until the one is clearly identified. Then I will act.’
‘Is it wise to impart knowledge of this to another? The secret of the traitor must not be known by any one of the senior goodie two-shoes or else clearly they will try and stop them.’
‘I said someone loyal to me and I mean someone loyal to me,’ she said dismissively. ‘They will not divulge this and I have promised them great rewards if they remain loyal.’
‘And if they don’t?’
In answer the woman just smiled, but the look on her face was anything but happy. She responded with a question of her own.
‘I don’t suppose your man has been able to work out yet what the nature of the treachery will be?’
‘Not with any clarity but he is working on it.’
‘You are placing a lot of faith in your man. Can you guarantee that he knows nothing about our true motives in all of this?’ She had decided that two could play this game.
In response he rolled his eyes. ‘Of course I do,’ he said after a pause. ‘Unlike you I have not trusted him with our secret. He, like all the others, can only see the opportunities in relation to the on-going war. Nothing else enters their minds.’
‘That is good. It will be a nice little surprise for them then, when it does not quite turn out the way they expect.’ She paused here whilst she considered this. ‘Have you thought any further about what you will do once we have the traitor in place?’
‘Yes indeed. This is one place where I believe I have made significant progress.’ He rubbed his hands together as he spoke. ‘We have found something very interesting about the defences of Heaven. We think we have found a weakness in the construction of the barriers that stop Demons from getting in.’
‘Well, well, well. That is something!’ she said now with great interest, her eyebrows arched in surprise.
If they had found a way to break down the barriers erected by the Angel Gabriel, then that would be something truly spectacular. Many had looked at the barriers erected by the famous Archangel, but such had been the complexity with which they had been created, that no one yet had been able find any way to breach them. It had appeared that the knowledge had gone with Gabriel when he had been annihilated soon after their creation. It had seemed that way up until now anyway.
‘I don’t know all the technical details,’ he said with a flippant wave of a hand. ‘But my man says it has to do with how they are tied into the Flow and a process of disrupting this by turning the Flow back in on itself.’
She looked at him sideways as if measuring the truth of what he said.
‘This will give us what we want?’
‘Well, I am not entirely sure whether it gives us an opportunity or simply a bargaining chip, but imagine the look on the faces if they found out that Heaven was potentially not so secure as they thought.’
‘Good. Very good!’ she said emphasising this with a nod of her head and just the faintest hint of a smile. Just as quickly, though, she was all business again.
‘Then that just leaves us with identifying the other,’ she said, a frown returning to her beautiful face.
‘Can I assume from the look on your face that unlike me you have made no real progress in this area?’ the man asked, a distinct tone of condescension in his voice as he smiled brightly at her.
She looked at him with such a fierce light in her eyes that anyone less than he – and there were very few that could now truly count themselves as his equal or greater – would have quailed and very probably repeated the wet pants display of the young punk from earlier. Instead the man just chuckled.
‘No, no real progress,’ she said finally and the light from her eyes disappeared. ‘Rest assured though, I will find this entity and when I do, I will snuff out this threat. For them even annihilation will not be enough.’
‘Would it help you then if I said that my man now believes that this entity will also come from the latest batch of recruits from the University and is also probably male?’
At this her head snapped up and she looked long at the man to see if in fact he was trying to snare her with a falsehood.
‘I am not trying to trick you,’ he said, seemingly having read her mind.
She did not look entirely convinced.
‘Then if what you are saying is true, this is interesting indeed,’ she said. ‘What odds that both the Traitor Thread, and the Thread showing a possible change in the balance of power, would involve male entities from within the ranks of a group of Angelic apprentices?’
She mused on the thought before she spoke again.
‘I guess we need to keep things in perspective though. It is only a potential Thread this one and a weak one at that. Nevertheless, even considering the possibility of a change in the balance of power gives me reason for concern. The Neutrals have started to become a real problem and have grown overconfident. They look at the dwindling number of Angels and Demons who choose to join the warrior ranks and they think this vindicates their activities. They think that empathy for reconciliation grows and that the time for change is nearing, but I do not believe yet that they know of this one, this one that your man says may offer hope for reconciliation. If they found about this Thread, and unless we can stop it now they inevitably will, then they would go to great pains to nurture it.’
‘Yes, that would pose somewhat of a challenge, even for you and I,’ he said laconically.
‘I think that we should continue to use our combined aura to shield as much of this Thread from the others as possible. In conjunction with that, I suggest that we ensure that the more gifted of our brethren are kept otherwise occupied.’
He nodded his head in agreement.
‘And know this, if there really is an entity that will offer this opportunity, I will find them. Know this, if they are amongst the Angelic apprentices, then I am in a unique position to monitor and identify this entity. Nothing has ever escaped me once I have bent my mind to it.’
In response the man smiled and nodded his head. It was a tune he was well and truly used to.
‘Good enough then. I will leave this little problem in your capable hands,’ he said with a smile. Suddenly though his face turned serious as the full impact of what a change in the balance might bring about.
‘You know that if the Neutrals really are empowered by this one, then any inflammation of the enmity between Angels and Demons that we are able to engineer will only create a temporary setback?’
‘This I know and I will not have it!’
The flames in her eyes returned and burned brightly once more. Behind them were millennia of scheming and battle and perhaps just the slightest hint of madness. It reminded him of another time, the very first time when he had seen that look in her eyes. It was just after the terrible and unexplained annihilation of their brother Michaꞌel when he had come across Arismael by chance on the borders of Heaven. Though he had no reason to suspect anything at the time, he had never forgotten the look in her eyes. At the time, like the others, he was deep in his grief, still dealing with the fact that one of the very greatest of their kind had been taken from them, the effects of which were still being felt to this very day. But he had never forgotten that look that she had on her face then; the very same look that was on her face now.
People within fifty yards of her within the library suddenly felt horribly afraid, but did not know why. An unnatural hush, even by the standards of a library, enveloped the room. Men, women and children looked this way and that trying to find the source of their discomfort. Quickly though, she mastered herself and things slowly returned to normal. She began to speak once more.
‘On a side note, the other challenge for you and I right now, though, is how we can continue to maintain our anonymity within the Flow. The process of combining our auras to hide our unique signatures has served us well so far, but I have felt many entities trying to find a way through the barrier it provides, and I feel that discovery is only now a matter of time.’
‘Yes, it was a wonderful approach of yours and indeed has worked well so far. If only there were a way to augment this further,’ he said, scratching his chin, deep in thought.
The woman too seemed to be considering this further, a deep frown on her forehead. Suddenly she cocked her head to one side as if listening to a voice somewhere, and the start of a smile bordered on the corner of her mouth.
‘Perhaps there is a way at that,’ she muttered.
Before the man could ask her any more about this, the woman straightened the front of her suit jacket and ran her fingers through her lustrous hair. It was clear now that their meeting had drawn to a close.
‘Well, I think it is time for me to return to Heaven,’ she said. ‘We will meet again soon to discuss progress.’
She turned to leave when suddenly there was yet another strange reaction from several people within the near vicinity.
‘Oh yuk, Mum, what’s that smell?’ a small boy yelled out, startling the relative calm and quiet of the main reading room of the library. First one person, then the next started to frown and then sniff at the air with looks of horror and growing indignation on their faces. An elderly lady with beautiful coiffed grey hair began to fan the air around her vigorously – she looked like she was about to be sick.
‘I think I am going to heave!’ said a teenage girl running with her friends out of the library.
‘Please tell me that wasn’t you?’ the beautiful woman said to the man as she became aware of the spreading reaction. In response the handsome man smiled, showing his perfect teeth and held his hands up in a gesture of admission.
‘Ah yes, the results I’m afraid of a quick burger on my way here,’ he said shrugging his shoulders, seemingly not embarrassed in the least.
‘I know we Angels shouldn’t partake of carnate food, but I have to admit that I never get tired of that reaction,’ he said, chuckling to himself as he left the library in rotten egg-stinking turmoil behind him.
