Sam lowered his weapons slightly. The Watchers weren’t an evil race, merely misguided and controlled by their passions. They were stuck in limbo, destined to roam Earth forever, welcome in neither Heaven nor Hell.
“Why are you here?” he asked.
Samyaza moved closer and stopped about six feet away from Sam and the others. Joshua’s face was blank, unreadable. Grace, on the other hand, looked like she’d almost completely recovered from her injury. Her face had lit up, slightly flushed, as she stared at Samyaza in open admiration, her eyes running up and down his body. Sam couldn’t blame her. He’d heard that Watchers had this effect on human woman. If you ignored his wings, he was probably the most perfect looking male specimen, his broad shoulders tapering down to narrow hips and long legs. His physique, while not as solid as Sam’s, was still curved with muscle, glistening like he’d just rubbed his body in oil.
“I’m here for you, of course,” said Samyaza, smiling that perfect smile.
Sam had almost expected this answer. It was too much of a coincidence that Samyaza was here right now, in this exact spot.
“My kind,” he explained, “though not encouraged or even welcomed in Heaven or Hell, are free to come and go as we choose. Most of the time, we choose to stay on Earth, close to the women we love.” He chose that moment to stare straight at Grace, and she blushed even more, her chest rising and falling rapidly beneath the guard’s uniform she still wore.
Sam felt himself getting irritable but he didn’t know why. Something about this creature grated on his nerves. Grace, he knew, would say exactly the opposite. “Why are you here for me, exactly? Can you help us?”
“I believe I can. Angels like Gabriel, for instance, cannot come to this place. Even if she could, the rules state that she cannot help you. I, on the other hand, am a free agent. The others consider us as neutrals and generally ignore us.”
“But why would you help us? What’s in it for you?”
“It is not in our interests for the Antichrist or Satan to control the earth. Neither is it in our interests for Heaven to triumph. We merely seek a balance and a return to the Earth the way it was thousands of years ago. A simple time when there was less sin in the world. A place where we would be free to do what we do best — love women.”
Sam shook his head in confusion. “I’m not sure how I can help you.”
“I can help you leave this place. When you do, you will confront the Antichrist. If you win, you will help our cause. If you lose, you’ll be dead, so it won’t matter now, will it?”
Sam remained silent. The Watcher had a way of putting things that was slightly disagreeable.
Samyaza was watching him carefully, observing his reactions. “I take it you’ve figured out that churches are portals to earth, yes? And that all demons can travel directly to these portals? I can see that you have. Then the rest is easy. All you have to do is create a portal, visualise your destination and will yourself there. You’ve already felt the Lemure do it. It is that simple.”
“There’s a slight problem with that,” said Sam. “The only churches I’ve seen the inside of are the one back in Jacob’s Ladder and the one that we just came from in Vegas. I doubt that either place is going to help me get to the Antichrist in Los Angeles. I’ve never been to Los Angeles so I certainly can’t visualise a place I’ve never seen.”
“But I have,” said Joshua, breaking his long silence. “My uncle took me to a church when we were in L.A. I remember it clearly.”
Samyaza nodded happily. “See? You have your solution.”
Sam sheathed his swords angrily. He clenched his fists, keeping a firm grip on the familiar feeling of frustration that threatened to break loose into something else. “What? That’s not a solution! How am I meant to visualise a place that only Joshua has seen?”
“Have you noticed anything different while you’ve been here? Anything different about yourself?” the Watcher asked.
“Sure,” said Sam. “I feel stronger.”
“Anything else?” Samyaza asked archly.
Sam shrugged. “No. I don’t think so.”
“As a demon — or half-demon — your body and your mind is quickly adapting to this place. Demons, especially high ranking ones such as Princes, have certain powers — powers which you haven’t even started tapping yet. Being here is enough for some of these powers to start coming to the fore. One of those powers is a limited form of telepathy.”
“You mean mind-reading?” asked Joshua, apparently alarmed by such a suggestion.
“Sort of,” nodded Samyaza. “Demons can read simple visual images in human minds. The image has to be particularly strong but it can be done with concentration. All Joshua has to do is visualise the inside of that church in L.A and Samael will do the rest.”
“Wait a minute,” said Sam. “What’s this about me being a Prince? That’s the second time someone’s mentioned that. And what about these other powers you just told me about?”
Samyaza laughed, a beautiful, musical sound that elicited a giggle from Grace’s lips. The Watcher, Sam thought sourly, was really starting to get his goat.
“It really isn’t my place to divulge too much at this stage, but think on this: only the rulers of Hell beget Princes. They are the sons of the most powerful demons and you are counted amongst them. You have more power than you know, Samael. ” He glanced at his bare wrist. “Is that the time? Gracious, I must get going.” He nodded and smiled at the three teenagers. “Good luck with your endeavours. You’re certainly going to need some of it. Samael, you might want to prepare yourself. Certain demons have excellent senses — particularly smell. Very shortly, you are going to have company. Quite a lot of it, I expect. Be warned; if you die in Hell — particularly if you are mortal — you will remain here forever.”
With that, he launched himself gracefully into the air, his wings borne aloft by the thermals rising from the pit. In moments, he was gone. Next to him, Sam heard Grace sigh.
“What do you think he meant by that?” asked Joshua. “Company?”
“I think we’re about to get attacked. Josh, you better start thinking about that church while I work on developing mind powers that I didn’t know I had. I’ve got a feeling that we’re going to need them shortly.”
They set to it, but Joshua had only half-completed the pentagram when the first of the expected ‘company’ arrived. It was an Astaroth, landing on the small open space before the precipice with a heavy thud. It folded its huge wings and moved forward menacingly.
Sam, busy trying to locate the image of a church in Joshua’s head, quickly changed focus to the intruder. Even while he drew his swords, his mind still sought out Joshua’s. The boy’s mind kept flickering from the church to the task he was currently engaged in; all Sam could get was a fuzzy outline of a pentagram. Trying to get into Josh’s head and capture an image was like wrestling an eel — the image constantly tried to slip away from him.
Sam charged towards the Astaroth, conscious of keeping it away from Joshua and Grace, the latter crouching down behind a rocky outcrop. The Astaroth didn’t seem particularly interested in either of them in any case. More intelligent by far than the Lemure, it automatically sensed who was the greater threat and its fiery gaze sought out Sam immediately.
Sam had faced Astaroth before and defeated them but it had never been easy. This time, however, was different. Sam had never felt so powerful, so strong. His blades seemed positively eager to taste the creature’s blood or whatever it was that ran in its veins, darting out in cuts and parries seemingly with a will of their own.
The Astaroth was forced to retreat from Sam’s furious assault, no match for his incredible speed and whirling blades. It made the mistake of glancing behind to see how far the precipice was from its giant armoured feet. That was all Sam needed. Both his blades bit deep into the heart of the mighty demon and it disappeared in a plume of ash.
Sam looked up. More Astaroth were circling but he felt something else approaching. Something even more dangerous. “Hurry up,” he yelled.