A Fire in the Heart Read online

  By L.J. LABARTHE

  The Body on the Beach

  City of Jade

  Long Road Back

  Piece Us Back Together (Multiple Author Anthology)

  Swimming with Elephants

  Ties that Bind

  Under the Southern Cross (Dreamspinner Anthology)

  Waiting for the Moon and You

  ARCHANGEL CHRONICLES

  No Quarter

  No Surrender, No Retreat

  No Shadows Fall

  The Wind-up Forest

  The Crystal Lake

  The Bone Cup

  A Shot in the Dark

  A Fire in the Heart

  Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS

  http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com

  Copyright

  Published by

  DREAMSPINNER PRESS

  5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA

  http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  A Fire in the Heart

  © 2015 L.J. LaBarthe.

  Cover Art

  © 2015 Anne Cain.

  [email protected]

  Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.

  All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/.

  ISBN: 978-1-63216-775-0

  Digital ISBN: 978-1-63216-776-7

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2015902239

  First Edition June 2015

  Printed in the United States of America

  phnx

  This paper meets the requirements of

  ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).

  This series and these characters are very close to my heart. However, no matter of authorial love would help get them published without the help, support, and faith of a very special group of people.

  First of all, as always, my deepest gratitude and love goes to Cate Ashwood, who is my grammar savior and my dear friend. Her wit, insight, and talent are unlimited, and she is truly a star in the universe of humanity. Secondly, my thanks and love to the oldest and dearest friends in my life: Sue Cavanagh-Lang, Chris Wiley, Marina Pycroft, Tracy Bailey, Laura Osgood, Clare Clarke, Shane Bevin, Hermann Lauss, FAL, Jasmin Pycroft, Meredith Shayne, my knight protector from the west and my family, my mother, my cousin, Dr. Ian, my brother, John, my niece, Shandi Sansom. Thirdly, to my dear friends and colleagues, Ali Wilde, Zathyn Priest, Alison Mann, Raine O’Tierney, Skylar M. Cates, Israel Bishop, Rick R. Reed, and Molly Soiner, I say a big thank you, you’re awesome. Finally, but no means the least, thank you a million times over to my wonderful editors, Erika Orrick and Lynn West, the art department and Anne Cain, all the staff at Dreamspinner Press, and most of all to Elizabeth North.

  Vous êtes tous merveilleux et terrible et ne laissez jamais personne vous dire le contraire. Bénir. Merci pour toujours.

  Life is neither good or evil, but only a place for good and evil.

  —Marcus Aurelius.

  Dramatis Personae

  HEAVEN

  Michael: Chief Archangel, he is oldest of the Archangels and has the following titles: Prince of Heaven, Archangel of Repentance, Righteousness, Mercy, and Sanctification, Tutelary Sar of Israel, Guardian of Jacob, Commander in Chief of the Armies of Heaven, Destroyer of Satan, Chief of the Sun, patron saint of policemen, a Grail Angel. His power is gold, and he is bonded to Archangel Gabriel.

  Gabriel: Archangel of War, he is next in age and has the following titles: Mercy, Revelation, and Annunciation, the Strength of God, God’s Rage and Jealousy, General of God’s Armies, Commander of the Seraphim, Left Hand of God, Destroyer of Sodom and Gomorrah, Dictator of the Koran to Mohammed, Chief of the Moon, a Grail Angel. His power is silver, and he is bonded to Archangel Michael.

  Raphael: Archangel of Healing and Medicine, Prayer, Joy and Light, Overseer of the Evening Winds, Angel of the Sun. His power is white, and he is bonded to Israfel, Angel of Music.

  Uriel: Archangel of Sanctification, Fire, and Vengeance, and his titles are: Guardian of the Gates of Hell, Guardian of Eden, Fire of God, Angel of Thunder. His power is orange, and he is bonded to Archangel Raziel.

  Tzadkiel: Archangel of Judgment, and his titles are: Chief of God’s Secret Police, Commander of the Ophanim, Angel of Jupiter. His power is copper colored.

  Samael: Archangel of Death. His power is indigo.

  Remiel: Archangel of Mercy and Visions, and his titles are: Guide to Judgment, Angel of Thunder. His power is dark green, and he is in a long-term relationship with Ishtahar.

  Haniel: Archangel of Love, with the titles of: Guardian of Innocents, Angel of Venus. His power is red.

  Metatron: Archangel of the Voice of God, and his titles are: Angel of the Covenant, Chancellor of Heaven, Scribe of God. His power is pale blue.

  Raziel: Archangel of Secrets and Mysteries and Science, Author and Keeper of the Sefer Raziel book of magic, Angel of the Grail. His power is bronze, and he is bonded to Archangel Uriel.

  Israfel: Angel of Music. His power is blue, and he is bonded to Archangel Raphael.

  Tabbris: Angel of Free Will. His power is purple.

  Agrat bat Mahlat: Angel of Prostitution, Sex, and Procreation. She is one of the four Holy Succubi, called the Whore of God. Her power is red, and she is married/bonded to Shateiel, Angel of Silence and Soldiers.

  Shateiel: Angel of Silence and Soldiers. The most trusted lieutenant of Gabriel, he is mute, communicates solely by telepathy. His power is light blue, and he is married/bonded to Agrat, Angel of Prostitution, Sex, and Procreation.

  Camael: An Angel of War under the command of Gabriel. His power is silver-blue.

  Sophiel: Intelligence of Jupiter (corresponding to Tzadkiel), Angel of the Moon. Her power is blue.

  Brieus: Angel of Demon Hunting. His power is silver-blue.

  EARTH

  Bob Taytton: Megalomaniac who believed himself to be the reincarnation of a French saint named Secaire. Opened the portals to Hell that sparked the Seventy Years War, and was killed at the outset of that war.

  Ishtahar: High Priestess of Semjaza, Prince of the Grigori. Born in the city of Eden at the dawn of Creation. Forced to bear children to Semjaza, mother of the first Nephilim—half-human, half-angel hybrids. She is in a long-term relationship with Remiel.

  Hiwa: Elder son of Ishtahar, hates his father, Semjaza and feels nothing but loathing for him. Has spent most of his life living as an assassin, working predominantly for the Russian mafia.

  Ahijah: Younger son of Ishtahar, also hates his father, Semjaza. Has devoted his life to God, living and working as a priest, finally settling in Brazil.

  Eleanora: A French witch, living in Provence.

  Lyudmila: Queen of the Eastern Bloc Weres and has two shifter shapes—a wolf and a mink. Has talent with magic and with visi
ons. Is Russian but now lives in Yerevan, capital of Armenia.

  Piotr: Lyudmila’s consort. Is Russian, but lives in Yerevan with Lyudmila. His shifter shape is that of an eagle.

  Minnie: An Australian witch. Formerly a thief, known as No-Hands Minnie.

  Max/Mobius: Extremely talented hacker known for being able to dig up hidden information. His partner is Minnie. He lives with her and their cat.

  Angelique: Alpha of a Venatores pack. Formerly US Air Force and is of Mexican descent, raised in Texas. Her shifter shape is a dark gray wolf.

  Lily: Beta of Angelique’s pack, is an Englishwoman, formerly of the British Army. Her shifter is a gray wolf, and she is married to Danny, another member of the pack.

  Baxter: Kappa of Angelique’s pack. Formerly a US Marine, suffering PTSD. His shifter shape is an Arctic white wolf.

  Danny: Kappa of Angelique’s pack. Also a former US Marine, born and raised in Georgia. His shifter shape is a gray wolf, and he is married to Lily, another member of the pack.

  Riley: Omega of Angelique’s pack and the pack medic. Formerly a US Navy Corpsman working with the United States Marine Corps. His shifter shape is a red rock wolf.

  Declan Jones: Shifter and older brother of Liam. Raised in Puerto Rico, worked for some years in the US Army.

  Liam Jones: Necromancer and younger brother of Declan. Worked as a police officer before he and Declan set out together to work as demon trackers.

  HELL

  Lucifer: King of Hell. A Fallen Angel, the first Fallen Angel. Is very good friends with the Archdemon Adramelek, one of the first angels to Fall. His titles are: King of Hell, Lightbringer, The Morningstar, Lucifer, Prince of Lies, Lord of Deceit, Lord of the Flies, The Devil, Satan. Is almost omniscient, nearly as much as God. His power is white, and he is in an open relationship with Lilith and is sometimes involved with Adramelek.

  Adramelek: Fallen Angel and unquestionably loyal to Lucifer. Formerly a member of the choir of angels called the Thrones. His titles are: Archdemon of Fire, Great Minister and Chancellor of the Order of the Fly, President of Satan’s Private Council, the High Council of Devils, President of the Order of Glass Knives. Power is silver-black. He is Lucifer’s sometime lover.

  Ondrass: One of the first demons created, born out of Lucifer’s fury just after his fall into Hell. His titles are: Archdemon of Discord, Grand Marquis of Hell, Lucifer’s personal hit man, member of the Order of Glass Knives. His power is black, and he is in a relationship with his personal assistant, Markus.

  Melcherisa: Archdemon of Darkness, Governor of the Base Natures of Hell, member of the Guild of Glass Knives. His power is dark gray.

  Lix Tetrax: Duchess of Whirlwinds, High Priestess of Fevers, member of the Order of the Fly, member of the Guild of Knives. Her power is silver-gray.

  Ba’al: Seneschal to Lucifer and butler to Lucifer. Absolutely loyal to Lucifer and loves him as a father figure. His power is gray.

  Sprite: Adramelek’s hell-cat, ginger colored, with a fondness for tuna and fresh fish.

  Uphir: Archdemon of Medicine and Science, Hell’s Physician. His power is muddy brown.

  Markus: Personal Assistant to Ondrass, the Archdemon of Discord. His power is gray, and he is in a relationship with Ondrass.

  Lilith: The first wife of Adam, and prior to that, the consort of God Himself, Lilith is the first scorned woman and the first strong woman to say no to a man. After she left Adam, she wandered in the wilderness and mothered giants, the monsters of ancient mythology. Originally named Lilitu, she met Lucifer in the desert and they spent a long time in conversation. Lilith is the oldest of the four sisters of the succubi. Agrat, Eisheth, and Naamah are her sisters. Her titles are: Consort of Lucifer, Eater of Infants, The First Adulteress, Consort of Yahweh, Mother of Giants.

  Her power is red.

  OTHER

  Semjaza: Prince of the Grigori, imprisoned in the constellation of Aquila by Gabriel in the last days of Eden. His punishment was for corrupting humanity and breeding with human women, most notably his high priestess, Ishtahar, whom he forced to be his wife. Is the father of Hiwa and Ahijah. He is a talented magician. Was pulled down to Hell and now suffers in the Lake of Frozen Souls, tortured personally by Lucifer.

  Naamah: One of the Four Succubi Sisters, she used to live in the seas of the Earth, but moved to Purgatory during the Seventy Years War. Has two children, twins, whose father is unknown. Her twin children are named Arthur and Morgana, after the Arthurian legends.

  1

  AHIJAH SAT on the edge of the small dock, dangling his feet into the waters of Lake Titicaca. He was deep in thought, not noticing the play of sunlight on the undulating lake surface or the cries of waterfowl overhead. He could feel the heat of the sun on his back and the annoying yet persistent buzzing of flies as they butted their heads against his face in greeting. It was a calm, idyllic day, Ahijah thought, a day where he should be rejoicing in the simple pleasure of being alive. Yet with all that had happened in the last few months, he wasn’t sure if celebration was appropriate, or if perhaps he should not be weeping for the losses and pain suffered by so many.

  That damn war. Ahijah’s thoughts turned to the Seventy Years War, now three years over, gone but not forgotten. He remembered the days after World War Two, when humans had said that it was the worst war in history and nothing would ever come close to repeating the sheer scale and magnitude of pain, suffering, genocide, and violence. They’d said that about World War One, too, calling that one the war to end all wars—but it hadn’t. War hadn’t ended, merely changed, weapons growing more and more refined and more and more destructive. The human capacity for violence had always frightened Ahijah, for he knew that humans were made of God, as a manifestation of the divine, and if this was what they did on a regular basis, then what would God do if so inclined? He’d thought about that a lot over the years, until the year 2012, when the Seventy Years War had broken out, and even his own immortal understanding of human conflict had been shattered by the violence that had spread across the globe with the speed of a wildfire.

  Ahijah kicked his feet in the water and sighed. His people, the Nephilim, had hidden themselves here, away from all angel- and demonkind, and eked out a life for themselves. That life had not been glamorous or exciting, but it had been theirs, and Ahijah had been content. And then along had come the war, and with its aftermath—once demons and angels and the allies of both had raged over the surface of the planet—had come new dangers, new intrigues.

  “I’m too old for this,” Ahijah muttered to himself. It struck him as an amusing conceit that he, the son of a rogue angel and a human woman, made immortal by virtue of his father’s genes, could think of himself as being old. Truthfully, Ahijah knew he was long past being simply old. He was ancient, almost as old as the planet itself. He and his brother had been born and raised in the city and gardens of Eden, with Archangels as tutors and mentors, and tigers and lions as pets. It had been a fairy-tale childhood, marred only by the presence of their father, Semjaza, Grigori Prince, now dead and gone, his soul languishing in Hell.

  But this, this brave new world, the shaky, cautious humanity that emerged after the end of the Seventy Years War, was nothing like anything Ahijah had seen before. The war had been so all-encompassing that everything had seemed to stop—no advances in science, medicine, technology, literature, art, or music, the focus solely on surviving—seventy years of stasis in human growth. Ahijah imagined it must have felt a little like stepping off a precipice when the war had ended and humans found they had time to do things again; things that didn’t involve hiding, running away, dying, or being tortured.

  And then the Holy Grail had been stolen. Ahijah shook his head as he thought about that. The Holy Grail was a myth, he’d always believed, and then suddenly, it wasn’t a myth at all. On the heels of Semjaza’s passing—and Ahijah had no sadness or sorrow for his father; Semjaza had been a tyrant to his children as he had to his wife—the Holy Grail seemed to be a promise of a br
ight, golden future of peace and prosperity for all: angel, human, monster, demon, and beyond.

  Michael had said as much, and Ahijah took great comfort from remembering the words of the chief Archangel, his oldest mentor and teacher. Michael had said that now there was a peace treaty between Hell and Heaven, something that Ahijah’s fellow Nephilim had found difficult to process. All of them being the half-breed offspring of angels and human women, for them, the conflict between angel and demon was almost rooted in their DNA. Now it had stopped. Lucifer and God had a peace accord. Angels and demons worked together for the good of all. And why? Because God and the Devil were tired of war and thought they’d give peace a chance.

  Which was a lovely idea, a beautiful sentiment, but Ahijah was far too cynical now, after years of roaming the Earth as a vagabond, disguising his Nephilim nature and hiding from angels and demons who wanted to kill him for what he was. Ahijah didn’t believe in such a thing as peace, love, and acceptance for all. For one thing, humans still managed to hate each other for the most ridiculous of reasons, and angels still hated demons and vice versa. Monster clans kept away from each other, shifters avoiding naiads, dryads avoiding vampires, and so on. Maybe, in time—a very, very long time—that peace idea would take proper root and be the norm, but Ahijah didn’t have faith that it would happen any time soon.

  And his dark thoughts had been proven right, by the appearance of a company called Transom Corp., a company that seemed to want to profit out of misery and pain, merge humans and demons and monsters into nightmares, and set them up as guardians of all gates and portals between Earth and every other reality in existence. The sole reason for this was hate, as far as Ahijah could tell. Transom Corp. hated angels, demons, anything not entirely human—which included Ahijah himself—and wanted them off the planet, never to return. Earth for humans and animals and plants, not for anything the least bit mystical.