Page 41 of Legion
“That’s fine.”Naomi tried telepathing Tobe, but it was like hitting a psychic wall.She sighed.“Tobe seems to have shut a mental door, because my attempts to contact him aren’t working.”
Ciaran’s gaze turned inward, and then he said, “Nor are mine.”
Naomi looked from him to Jolene.“Am I the only one thinking that whoever put a trigger in the cleric’s mind also gave him his sword?”
“No, that would be my guess as well,” said Jolene.“Dark practitioners have been known to use such things.”
“Get this: the cleric said that the person who brought the blades to the monkhood was one of God’s messengers; that he came on behalf of God himself.And the more I ponder on that, the more I wonder if the messenger is a dark practitioner posing as an angel.”
Ciaran blinked, his head jerking back.“An angel?”
“It was the tone of voice the cleric used as he spoke of him.There was awe and reverence there.”It tweaked Naomi’s radar.
Ciaran squinted.“Could a dark practitioner pull something like that off, Grams?”
“If he was powerful enough, yes,” replied Jolene.
“I might have wondered if the ‘he’ they talked of is an actual angel, but no way would the Uppers make their current situation worse.”After Uppers had targeted Ella and her baby for death merely due to a dislike of her breeding with a fallen celestial, they had earned themselves the wrath of every demon.They had called home all earth-bound angels for fear that demons would hurt them in lieu of those responsible for the attacks on Ella.
The celestials would want to lie low until tempers cooled so that they could come to earth once more.It would rankle with them that there was absolutely no angelic presence here at the moment.As such, the absolute last thing they would do was go after yet another demon.
“I agree with that much,” said Ciaran.“But why would a dark practitioner get involved with a monkhood of clerics?”
Jolene tapped her fingers on the sofa’s armrest.“While most dark practitioners like to feed off demonic power, others prefer holy power.They often capture angels for such purposes.There are presently no celestials on earth, but clerics can channel divine power as they’re descendants of the Nephilim.It isn’t a stretch to think that a dark practitioner might therefore use clerics, feeding off their faith and the holy magick they can wield.”
Nowthatwould make sense.
“While dark practitioners know much about demons, they aren’t firmly entrenched in our world.They’re not extremely knowledgeable about all preternatural species—about our natures, our abilities, our origins.Hell, some of them sacrifice virgins to Lucifer, having no clue what he’s really like.They wouldn’t know that he couldn’t possibly conceive the Antichrist, so they wouldn’t be able to enlighten the clerics.”
“Do you think the dark practitioner in question even cares about the prophecy?”Ciaran asked.
Jolene pursed her lips.“He might.It depends on what exactly it states.If it doesn’t in any way impact him, probably not.Unless he feels that preventing the birth of the Antichrist would please whatever deity he worships—a deity that may or may not be real.Some of the ones they revere are actually completely fictional.”
“One of the clerics quoted more of the prophecy,” Naomi told them, “but not in the ancient tongue, so I don’t know what the exact translation of it is.But they believe I’ll birth the child of the devil, who’ll then lead an army of demons.”She let out an aggrieved sigh.“I need to somehow get my hands on that prophecy so I can hear it in full.We have way too many unanswered questions.”
Jolene made a sound of agreement.“I’ll relay all of this to Khloë; it might help her narrow the search she’s running on old-ass prophecies.We’ll get answers soon—I believe that.Khloë’s never let me down yet.”
Opening a smoothie the next morning, Naomi glared at Tobe over the rim of the bottle.“It’s your own fault that you didn’t hear about it sooner.I tried telepathing you last night.Others did as well.But you’d closed a mental door—probably because you didn’t want me bugging you to let Luka deal with Iain.”
His arms folded, Tobe leaned back against her cherrywood kitchen counter.“You could have left me a text or something.”
“It wasn’t as if I’d been hospitalized or anything.My wounds were minor, and they healed fast.”Naomi knocked back some of her drink.“Where were you anyway?”
“I went to a house party.”
“A house party?”
“Yes.I needed to wind down.It did the trick.Now, tell me the full version of what went on last night.I only heard the ‘appropriate for people who don’t know Lou’s your dad’ version—it’s circulating around the lair like wildfire.”
Between swigs of her smoothie, Naomi relayed the entire event to him.“Though the cleric said he has many more brothers, a person’s definition of ‘many’ is subjective.It could mean there are a dozen more clerics.It could mean double that number.Or it could be that there are many, many more.”
Tobe dug his teeth into his lower lip.“At least we’re now aware that they’re directly working with a dark practitioner, however unknowingly.That’s something.”
Naomi stiffened as a mind brushed hers—familiar, masculine, edged with dominance —and then Luka’s voice flowed into her head:I recall you saying you won’t be working tonight, so I’ll come to you earlier than usual.Will six p.m.suit you?
So formal, she thought.It almost made her smile.Works for me.
Good.A pause.Just so you are aware, I will be keeping Iain under lock and key until I’m satisfied that his obsession with you has worn off.
