The Peacock Angel: Rise of the Decarchs

CHAPTER 34

  They sat Thane back down in the recliner that he had spent most of the night in. Outside the morning was still dark; the light of the sun would be another hour in coming. Armaros turned to the young deputy.

  "It won't be long now. Very bad things are about to happen here Thane," he said. "Demons and the like are coming to try and kill you. Do you have a gun?"

  Thane didn't know what to say. He had a gun at one time, but after everything that had happened and been revealed to him tonight it seemed somehow inconsequential whether or not he still had it. Yet Armaros had asked.

  "I think I lost my gun back at the hospital," he said, 'but I don't know what difference it makes. Can bullets even stop what's coming? And why are they even coming for me at all? Why is this happening to me?"

  "I don't know exactly what's coming for you Thane, but I feel certain that shooting them will prove more effective than not shooting them. We're going to do everything in our power to protect you, but you should arm yourself with whatever you're comfortable with."

  "I'll find something. I'm not exactly helpless."

  "You're far from helpless Thane," Armaros said. A weak smile spread across his face. "That's why we may just make it through this."

  "Why me?" Thane asked again. The increasing amount of adrenaline coursing through his body made it impossible for him to muster a smile of his own. His hand shook a bit as he waited for his answer.

  "Mundy will tell you," Armaros answered. "I must go see what we're up against. But know this Thane. Everything I told you tonight was to gain your trust and educate you. I wanted you to be at ease with your part in the prophecy. I wished for you to aid me because you understood the importance of the events unfolding, and because you wanted to help. Perhaps if we had more time and I could finish teaching you then it would have happened that way. But if what your possessor said was true, and I believe it is, then we don't have that time because it sounds like Sheol is coming to us. You remain reluctant, and I understand. But there is no choice to be made here tonight. Demons are coming to kill you because you are the Child of Truth. You are a part of this. Whether you embrace your station or not will make no difference to the hordes of Azazel when they begin to flay your skin from the muscle beneath."

  The big angel turned away from them and carefully maneuvered himself out of the front door. Thane noticed that his hand, resting on the arm of the recliner, was shaking a little more than before as he watched Armaros leave. He made a fist to try and stop it, but it wasn't doing any good. His whole body had turned cool; a shiver nested deep inside of him.

  "Enoch was the son of Jared, a great-grandfather of Noah, and father of Methuselah," Father Lucas began. "He was the first man that learned to write and read. It was he to whom Kokabiel first taught the signs of heaven, and it was he who was the first among men born on Earth that had the wisdom to write down an order for the months and seasons. He was a righteous man and a favorite of the Uncreated. Earlier you asked if this was about Enoch. It is in one important way. It was Enoch who prophesied the return of the decarchs, and the rise of the Child of Truth . . . you."

  "He sounds extraordinary," Thane said.

  "From everything that I've learned of him, he was," Mundy said, "and he was also very close with Armaros."

  Thane seemed surprised. "He never mentioned Enoch to me," he said.

  "He's run out of time Thane," Father Lucas explained. "There's much more he hoped to tell you. Armaros has been here on Earth for almost eleven thousand years. I know he has much to talk about."

  "We've only scratched the surface as to how much Armaros has influenced the growth of mankind," Basia agreed, "and we've researched him for years and years. We do know, however, that he and Kokabiel spent a great deal of time in Egypt, South America, and the British Isles. It seems they were quite the benefactors. There's so much more to him than this damn prophecy."

  "Ahh . . . the prophecy," Father Lucas said. "That is why we're here Basia."

  "I know why we're here Mundy," she said. "It's just that . . . Thane I know that this seems unreal. Like folklore or something mythological—full of demons and angels and prophesy. But it's more than that. There's a ton of science and history buried beneath all the mysticism. In fact, I have no doubt that Mundy and I have collected enough evidence to totally rewrite the books on human prehistory. And Armaros is the central figure in that book."

  "I understand Basia," Thane said. "I do. Would you tell me what the prophecy says?"

  Basia looked over at Father Lucas who nodded his approval. The priest reached into the front breast pocket of his shirt and pulled out a small red book. Thane recognized it for a Bible at once. The padre opened it to a marked spot, and removed a folded piece of parchment from between its pages. He handed the paper to Basia who began to unfold it.

  "The Watchers called him Enoch the scribe," Mundy said as he watched Basia and the paper. "After they taught him to write he recorded everything that he deemed relevant. A journey throughout the heavens, guided by angels of the Uncreated, certainly fell into the relevant category. As did the record of the Watchers themselves and their giant offspring. Thus we have the Book of Enoch-an ancient Jewish book of writings that was passed down from Enoch's son Methuselah to subsequent generations. Thus Noah preserved it during the deluge of the Reckoning, and copies were eventually made so that the teachings of Enoch would survive to prosperity."

  "How come I've never heard of it?" Thane asked.

  "The Book of Enoch fell out of favor with church fathers in the early centuries A.D." Father Lucas continued. "Its depiction of lustful angels was eventually deemed blasphemous, and the book was dismissed as heresy. At one point it was even lost to the world for over a thousand years. Nowadays it is part of the apocrypha, and thought of as a fairy tale."

  "Enoch also meant for his book to be a guide for his descendants," Basia said. "He used the tale of the Watchers as an example of how not to behave. He prophesied the demise of these fallen angels, and it came to pass just as he said. So too did the destruction of the giants and the biblical flood which I 'm sure you're familiar with. Many say he was the mouthpiece of God."

  "What did he say about me?" Thane asked. He wanted to know. Now.

  "There has never been a chapter eleven in the Book of Enoch," Father Lucas answered, "at least as far as mankind is concerned. But Enoch did write a chapter eleven. For some reason that only Enoch himself would know, he tore it from the rest of his writings and put it in the hand of Armaros before he ascended back into the heavens. The rest of the book he had already given to his family. Chapter eleven of the Book of Enoch has come to be known simply as the prophecy. It's only one verse long. I keep a copy of it in my Bible and near my heart as a constant reminder of my purpose in all of this. Basia . . . if you will."

  "Here Thane," Basia said. She reached out her hand and handed the piece of parchment to Thane. "You read it. I'm sure you're tired of hearing our voices by now." The young deputy carefully unfolded the paper once. It didn't look that old to him, but Mundy had said it was a copy. Must have been the priest's handwriting too. He began to read:

  .

  THE PROPHECY OF ENOCH-SCRIBE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

  ENOCH 11:1

  .

  IN THOSE DAYS WILL THE REMAINING ANGELS RETURN AND HURL

  THEMSELVES UPON THE EAST . . . TO STIR UP THE KINGS AND PROVOKE IN

  THEM A SPIRIT OF UNREST . . .

  AND LED BY AZAZEL TO WHOM ALL SIN IS ASCRIBED, THEY WILL MARCH

  UP TO AND TREAD UNDERFOOT THE LAND OF HIS ELECT ONES . . .

  AND ON ACCOUNT OF THE CHILDREN OF MEN, A CHILD OF TRUTH,

  PERFECT IN HIS GENERATIONS, SHALL ARISE TO OPPOSE THE FALLEN.

  AND BY ACCOUNT OF THE ACCURSED ONE, SHALL HE DISCOVER THE

  SECRETS OF HEAVEN, AND WAR AGAINST ACTS OF BLASPHEMY, TYRANNY,

  AND SIN . . .

  THE FALLEN WILL BEGIN TO FIGHT AMONGST THEMSELVES . . .TIL THE

  NUMBER OF CORPSES THROUGH THEIR SLAU
GHTER IS BEYOND COUNT,

  AND THEIR PUNISHMENT BE NO IDLE ONE.

  .

  Thane read the paper again, and then he read it once more. He understood some of it. Some he didn't. Some seemed vague. Some was very definitive. He had more questions, of that he was certain. "What does it mean by 'perfect in his generations' here where it describes the child of truth?" asked Thane.

  "It means you're a direct descendant of Enoch," Father Lucas answered.

  "It's true," Basia added. "Armaros has been around that long. He knows your lineage. There is no giant blood in you."

  "And what about these secrets that I'm supposed to know? I haven't been taught anything that's going to help me battle Azazel. I'm nothing before him. I don't even-"

  Armaros burst back into the trailer with purpose on his face. He startled all three of its occupants. "They're here," he said.