Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 55109 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 276(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55109 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 276(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
“Cosmos!” Thor and Bryn come around the corner at speed. They’re also covered in blood, also presumably not their own. “We found it!”
“Sir!” Another voice bellows. “We found it!”
There’s a team of Americans coming up behind Thor and Bryn. They’re dressed in black tactical clothing, holding large guns, and they’re not killing us on sight, which suggests they’re on our side.
“We’ve cleared the facility, Sheriff,” the leader of their team says, with accompanying hand signals that mean nothing to me but must mean something to Starlight. “The bird is in the hand.”
“Great,” Cosmos says. “I just need to kill Starlight for touching my wife, and then we can go.”
Starlight laughs. The fucking nerve. His hands are at his sides, fingers flexing at his holsters. “Boy, you wouldn’t get another inch toward me before I dropped you. Don’t be stupid. Your wife’s a brat who wouldn’t follow instructions.”
“I know that. But she’s my wife who won’t follow instructions. Not yours.”
“COSMOS!” Bryn thunders his name. “We have the flesh.”
That changes the subject completely.
15
Deep underground in a hidden corner of a secret factory of twisted secrets, the Brotherhood and I uncover the final secret. Right now, Bryn is grandstanding in front of a small but sturdy silver vault located in the middle of an even bigger vault which has been accessed by explosives. They can’t risk breaking into this with force, though, because this is the vessel of something so sacred all of us are speaking in hushed whispers automatically, like it’s a baby we’re afraid of waking up.
“This is what it’s all about. This is what we and our kind and Fleisch and their kind have been dying about for more than two thousand years,” Bryn whispers. “That lock can only be opened by angel blood. Elise, would you do us the honor?”
There’s a finger prick device built into the front of the otherwise smooth enclosure. It’s a moment of mild discomfort in return for the revelation of several lifetimes.
The machine thinks about my blood for a moment with a low hum. Then there’s a hushed moment of awe as the vault swings open. And we all stare at what is alleged to be the actual flesh of a god made man.
Everybody is silent. They must be absolutely mesmerized by what they’re seeing, the culmination of generations of sacrifice leading to this moment, this artifact of such deep significance the world at large can never know it exists.
I can’t help it. I break the silence
“It looks like beef jerky.”
“Mhm,” Cosmos agrees. “It does.”
“Shouldn’t it, I don’t know, glow or something?” Even Thor is skeptical.
It doesn’t glow. It just sits there, mocking us with its mundanity. It could actually be beef jerky. It could be a decoy. How would we know? It’s not as if there’s a test we can run to see if it is of divine origin. I suppose we could test it to see if it is human, at least.
“We should destroy it,” Cosmos says.
“Destroy a divine relic?” Bryn looks at him aghast.
“Sure. Why not. The divine won’t mind. He’s got plenty more where that came from. All this can do is be used for evil. We can end it all right now by destroying it.”
“How do we do that?” Thor asks. “If it is truly divine, destroying it could be almost impossible.”
“Could eat it. We could cut it up and we could all eat a piece of it. Like communion, but the real thing.”
“That feels like a bad idea.” Thor frowns.
“Maybe one of us takes a little nibble, and…” Cosmos’ theorizing is interrupted.
“I’ll be taking that,” Starlight says, sweeping in and picking the relic up in his gloved hand before slipping it into a plastic carrier bag, where it looks more like a hiking snack than ever. “We’ll keep it nice and safe in Texas, boys. No need to eat the body of the savior. I’m also taking Katya. I assume there’s no objection to that. You don’t really have the facilities for handling a creature like her.”
There is, surprisingly, no objection to that. It might be because they don’t care, or it might be because the soldiers with guns are sort of casually pointing them at the Brotherhood and we’re all very outnumbered by Starlight’s soldiers. The Brotherhood uses blades and hammers, and they’re demon slayers, not a human assault team. Starlight has obviously lent them firepower to bring down Fleisch, an enemy of my enemy is my friend sort of situation. But now that the enemy of the enemy is gone, the friendship seems to be gone too.
“Why did you let him take the flesh?” Cosmos questions Bryn once Starlight is gone along with the relic. We have also all exited the compound and regrouped at a hotel. The television news is running a story about an unexplained industrial fire in Heidelberg. It’s our fault. So many things are our fault.