A Hundred Words for Hate

  Remy gasped as the energy touched him; it struck like a scorpion’s stinger, entering through his chest and exiting just as quickly through the toe of his left shoe, rousing the Seraphim inside him.

  The power touched Malachi as well, the elder standing perfectly stiff as the strange energy moved through his body.

  It seemed to be affecting the Sons of Adam even more, as one by one they dropped to their knees.

  “What’s happening?” Remy asked.

  “They are all connected now,” Malachi explained.

  “Us too?” Remy asked, feeling nothing but the eagerness of the Seraphim to be free.

  Malachi shook his head. “No, we are not of the Garden.”

  Nathan’s head looked like the Fourth of July on the Esplanade, jagged bolts of energy shooting from the pulsing gray surface illuminating the air above it.

  “It is closer than you think,” the man suddenly proclaimed, his voice sounding as though it were coming from an old stereo system. “Bouncing from reality to reality, it comes to us. . . .”

  Malachi strode past Remy. “The key,” the elder angel demanded from Nathan. “Where can we find the other half of the key?”

  “The key,” the man repeated. “One half is with us, close by, and the other . . .”

  Jon let out a low moan, his head swinging loosely upon his neck.

  Remy noticed that two of the techs were on their feet now, stumbling across the room to their workstations, pulling out their chairs and sitting down as if drunk. One of the pair, a heavyset man with a haircut like Moe Howard’s, pulled a drawing tablet from the things on his desk and began to draw. The other was leafing quickly through a book of maps.

  “The Garden yearns for its children,” Nathan announced. “For too long they have been apart. . . . Too long have they known loneliness.”

  The Sons were crying, and Remy almost wished he could experience what was happening in their heads, for he remembered the Garden too, and envied them.

  “We shall be together again,” the man’s voice boomed. “Forgiveness bestowed as you pass through my open gates.”

  Then the man’s eyes began to flutter crazily, and the corners of his mouth twisted downward in what appeared to be a pain-racked frown. Remy glanced around the room and saw that all of the Sons were wearing the same bizarre expression.

  “Come quickly, my children, for there is danger present.”

  Malachi stepped closer to the ranting Nathan.

  “A secret enemy grows within my bosom,” he said, writhing against his bonds. “A danger that threatens not only Eden . . . but the world of man . . .” His voice grew louder and the electrical discharge from his exposed brain became more intense.

  “And Heaven itself!”

  A searing flash accompanied those words, disintegrating Nathan’s chair. His body was lifted into the air on tendrils of blue energy, and the acrid smell of burning ozone filled the air.

  “Let me show you this evil,” he proclaimed.

  The Sons were listening, their faces twisted in expressions of pain as they waited for Eden to show them their enemy.

  Malachi stepped into the pulsing blue light, the crackling rays of mental lightning raining down upon him as he reached up to drag the figure down to the ground.

  “What are you do . . . ?” Remy began as the elder pinned the thrashing figure to the ground with one hand and reached for Nathan’s obscenely swollen brain with the other. Malachi wrapped his clawlike fingers around the pulsing gray brain matter and squeezed.

  The Sons began screaming, grabbing for their heads, and a searing flash of blue forced Remy to cover his eyes as Nathan’s brain popped in Malachi’s constricting grip.

  Remy lowered his arm and, as his vision cleared, he saw that the Sons were scattered about the floor, writhing and moaning in pain. He quickly looked to Malachi, who stood above the newly dead volunteer, wiping his gore-covered hand on a handkerchief.

  “What did you do that for?” Remy demanded, stunned by the sudden violent act.

  Malachi dropped the filthy cloth, letting it flutter down to cover the volunteer’s ravaged face. “I know of the secret enemy,” the angel said. “It is a clear and present danger to us all . . . a danger that lurks around every corner, watching . . . waiting for us to expose ourselves.”

  Remy didn’t understand, his look urging the elder angel to continue.

  “There are those who would refuse Adam his birthright,” Malachi offered.

  Jon rose on shaky legs and stumbled across the room, nearly falling as he knelt by his friend’s side.

  “Why did you kill him?” Remy asked of Malachi, watching as Jon took his friend’s blood-spattered hand in his own.

  “There was no choice,” the elder angel replied. “The connection was growing and he would have felt it.”

  “Who? Who would have felt it?”

  “He who would see Adam die here . . . never to be embraced in the bosom of Eden.”

  The Sons of Adam were coming around now, rising shakily to their feet, the experience having left its mark.

  “You know him from your last encounter in Eden,” Malachi explained. He was looking at his hand, still wet and glistening from the brain of the volunteer. “The Cherubim sentry,” he said.

  “Zophiel.”

  Remy wondered why nothing could ever be easy.

  According to Malachi, Zophiel had eventually ended up on Earth as well, and now that Eden was returning to this plane of existence, he too was hunting for the keys. The elder angel had mentioned violent incidents at other Sons of Adam locations around the globe as proof that this danger was real.

  Remy glanced to the left at Jon, who was driving him back to the airstrip. He didn’t look so good.

  “You all right?” he asked.

  Jon didn’t answer, lost in thought and staring straight ahead at the desert road.

  Remy reached across and touched his shoulder.

  Jon started, looked at him, and then back to the road. “I’m sorry. Is there something wrong?”

  “No.” Remy shook his head. “Just wanted to be sure you’re okay.”

  Jon gave him an odd look, then reached up, pulling a tiny hearing aid from his ear and stuffing it into the breast pocket of his shirt. Remy hadn’t even noticed it was there.

  “Sorry about that,” he said. “The batteries must be dead. You’re going to have to speak a little bit louder.”

  “Have you always had a hearing problem?” Remy asked, raising his voice.

  The man shook his head. “I lost it in my early teens,” he said, staring out through the windshield. The plane came into view through the shifting dust blowing across the desert. “Actually it was when Malachi first arrived.”

  He smiled, but Remy could see little amusement there.

  “The whole voice-of-the-divine thing,” Jon explained. “He was rather loud with his proclamations and damaged my eardrums.”

  They reached the plane; Jon shut off the van’s engine and turned toward Remy.

  “I want to thank you for coming,” he said, extending his hand.

  Remy shook it. “My pleasure. I hope I can help.”

  “Those should make certain you can,” Jon said, pointing to the papers resting in Remy’s lap.

  When the volunteer’s mind had connected with them, showing the Sons all that Eden had to share, two had written down what they had seen, providing Remy with a detailed map and specific information on where the second half of the key could be found and who it was the detective had to find.

  “The pilot has already been instructed to bring you to an airport in Thornwell. From there you can rent a car and head to the designated location,” Jon said as they got out of the van.

  He met Remy in front of the vehicle and reached out to shake the detective’s hand.

  “Good luck,” Jon said. “Hopefully we’ll be seeing each other again soon.”

  “Take care,” Remy said, clutching the important papers beneath his arm as he proceede
d toward the foldout stairs that would take him up into the jet.

  The pilot was standing there waiting, saluting Remy as he passed through the rounded doorway inside. The stairway was retracted, and the door closed and secured as Remy took the same seat he’d sat in on his way out. Buckling himself in, he removed his phone from his jacket pocket to check for messages.

  This was a new phone, finally replacing the archaic one that he’d had for the past ten years, and he had to think about the steps to play back voice mails.

  A message from Fernita was the first he heard. It wasn’t uncommon these days for him to get calls from the older woman, but this one sounded a bit off. Remy didn’t like the hint of panic he heard in her voice. If he’d been heading home, he would have taken a drive over just to be sure she was okay. He considered calling her back, but then thought better of it, deciding that maybe it would be best to just wait to see her until this case was over and done, but the tone of the old woman’s voice disturbed him.

  An idea began to take shape. An insidious concept, but one that the more he thought about it, the better it became.

  The new phone had texting capability—his old one probably had too, but it wasn’t something Remy had ever thought to use. He tried to recall what he’d read in the owner’s manual as he set about sending his very first official text message.

  Madeline would have been so proud of him. His wife had always been the first to embrace technology. He probably wouldn’t have even owned a cell phone if it weren’t for her.

  Slowly his fingers played over the tiny keyboard, spelling out the message he would then send to Steven Mulvehill. Remy finished the message, then read it over and could barely contain his smile. He had told his friend about the wonderful old woman recently, and Steven had seemed genuinely amused, wanting to meet her. Well, here was his chance. In the message he asked if Steven would mind stopping by and checking things out, just to be sure that she was all right. As a special incentive, Remy promised the homicide cop a steak dinner at the Capital Grille and a bottle of twenty-five-year-old Macallan single-malt if he did this special favor for him.

  There was very little Mulvehill wouldn’t do for a steak and a good bottle of Scotch.

  The plane’s engine began to whine, the private jet starting to taxi down the runway, preparing to take him on to the next leg of his journey. He hit Send, watching the message disappear into the ether, and smiled as he returned the phone to his coat pocket.

  Remy was certain he’d be hearing some serious shit from Mulvehill on this one, but what were friends for if they couldn’t be taken advantage of?

  Nathan had been Jon’s closest friend.

  They had grown up together in the various Sons of Adam communities, mortal enemies at first, but gradually becoming as thick as thieves.

  And so much more.

  Jon ran his key card through the security gate and entered the biodome, placing the card back inside his pocket. Nathan had always wanted to help; he was just like that. If it would advance the cause in any way, he would be the one to try to march it through. When they’d first begun to discuss human testing in regard to the fruit of the tree, he was the first to put his name on the list.

  Nathan had described it as wanting to do something, to not sit around waiting for things to happen, but to actually contribute to things moving forward.

  I hope wherever you are, you’re happy, Jon thought angrily. There were plenty of others in the Sons who would have volunteered, others Jon wasn’t so close to. It made him feel awful, but he secretly wished that one of them had been the one to taste the fruit, and not Nathan.

  Another door slid open before him with a hiss of hydraulics, and he was hit with a blast of unusually frigid air. The air-conditioning must have been on the fritz again.

  As he moved down the silent corridor, his mind continued to wander. A chill not caused by the air-conditioning ran down his neck as he recalled the moment Nathan’s thoughts—imbued with the power of Eden—touched his mind. Jon had never experienced anything like it, and hoped never to again.

  He had been dwarfed by the immensity of it, a feeling so big that it threatened to swallow him up where he would disappear forever. Was that what returning to the Garden would be like? he wondered. Becoming part of something so big that one would lose any chance of individuality? If that was the case, he would much rather stay where he had been born.

  From birth he’d been taught about the Sons of Adam’s holy mission, and had applied himself to the rules and regulations of the order’s cause, but deep down he had never expected their beliefs would come true.

  Although he’d kept those thoughts to himself.

  And now they were that much closer to its actually becoming a reality. The Garden of Eden was coming here . . . to Earth. It was a concept that he was having a difficult time wrapping his brain around.

  Jon’s mind raced as he passed through a doorway into the cafeteria. A cup of coffee was what he needed, before the sad task at hand.

  It was strangely quiet, even for this time of day. He paused, looking around, and saw no one. Not even the cafeteria staff.

  “Huh,” he muttered to himself, moving on through the empty hall, the reason he had come there forgotten.

  Distracted from his coffee needs, he exited into another corridor, continuing on to his destination with a heavy heart.

  He’d promised Nathan that he would take care of his remains. Neither of them had been sure what would be left after the exercise, but Jon had promised to dispose of them with dignity and respect.

  It was when he’d seen Nathan’s body, after Malachi had . . .

  Go ahead, he thought. It’s true. How else could it possibly be described?

  After Malachi had killed him.

  It was as he looked down at his friend’s ruined form that he knew where he would take Nathan’s remains.

  His friend wouldn’t be around now to return to the Garden, but he could at least find peace in the beauty of the biodome’s garden. That was where Jon would take him and lay him to rest. It was the least he could do for his friend.

  Nathan’s body had been taken to one of the dome’s freezer units, where many of their medical supplies requiring refrigeration were stored. He was certain that Nathan wouldn’t have minded taking a short break there until Jon could get back to him.

  The medical wing was empty as well.

  “What is going on here today?” Jon said aloud as he entered the empty wing and went to the cold-room door. Taking a few deep breaths, he grabbed the door handle, pulled it open.

  The stretcher with Nathan’s body resting atop it was waiting for him. At least that was where it was supposed to be, he thought as he grabbed the chilly ends of the metal stretcher and pulled it from the refrigerated room.

  Another wave of sadness spilled over him as he maneuvered the stretcher down the hall and toward the exit. The Sons of Adam lived a very long time, some stretching into the hundreds of years, and it was quite disappointing—no, worse than that, tragic—that his friend wouldn’t be around to share those years with him.

  But Nathan was all about the sacrifice, especially since Malachi’s arrival to the order.

  Before the angel came, the Sons had just existed, living their dayto-day lives, caring for the father, and waiting for a sign that the sins of the first man and woman would be forgiven.

  Many believed that Malachi was that very sign, an agent of Heaven brought to them to help make their reasons for existing a reality. Jon believed that the angel had come to them with a purpose, but wasn’t quite sure if said purpose was to benefit the Sons’ cause, or something more personal. These were his own intimate thoughts, thoughts that hadn’t been uttered to a soul.

  Except for Nathan.

  Hands on the corner of the cold metal of the stretcher, Jon stopped to gaze down at the sheet-covered form lying there before him. He’d been able to hold himself together, but he felt the grief inside him build to an incalculable level, and there was no am
ount of strength that could hold it back.

  In the currently empty corridor he began to cry. As the tears came, memories washed over him, the two friends throughout the many years their kind were allowed to live. For a brief moment he wished that he were like all the other human beings out there, no longer special—no longer of the special line—for he would likely be close to death now, and wouldn’t have to know this pain much longer.

  He was tempted to pull away the sheet, to look upon his friend’s broken remains, but didn’t care to soil his memory of him. He remembered how he had looked in the lab . . . how he had looked before Malachi had . . .

  Killed him.

  Jon ran the back of his hand over his face, wiping away the tears and snot, wiping away the residuals of his sadness. Steeling himself, he continued to wheel the stretcher down the empty corridor on the way to what would be Nathan’s final place of rest.

  Reaching the entrance to the botanical garden, Jon walked around the stretcher to open the door. Always the efficient one, he was already reviewing the supplies that he would need in order to prepare Nathan’s grave. He knew that there were shovels inside, so that would pretty much take care of it: a shovel, and perhaps a nice rock to mark where he lay. Jon reached inside his pocket and removed something that he had brought from his room. It was a leather pouch filled with his collection of marbles that he had accumulated over the years. Nathan had always admired them, and Jon thought that he would bury them with him—a piece of himself to accompany his friend. Jon was about to lose it again, so he sucked it up, preoccupying himself with the thought of where he’d need to dig, and how long it would take him to finish.

  The door started to slide open as he walked around the stretcher, but he noticed that the door had opened only three-quarters of the way. Great, he thought, something else for maintenance to look at.

  He returned to the door to check whether something was obstructing the track.

  The first body was just inside the door, a splayed arm jammed against it preventing the door from sliding completely back.

  Jon didn’t know what to think entering the botanical garden, about to ask the man—his name was Rudolf, and Jon had never really liked him all that much—what the matter was as he knelt down beside him, but Jon knew that he was dead before the words could even leave his mouth.