Airel - Aaron Patterson [82]
He spoke. “Menial fool. I will remove your gag and wait for your answer. If you scream, you will die.” He yanked the rag from the detective’s mouth and stood before him, his palms facing upward. The pendant rose and hovered in the hollow of his hands. Fear stole into the cracks of the officer’s mind and began to break it apart, piece by piece.
Chapter XVI
Somewhere in the Mountains of Idaho, Present day
“I need you to try something for me.” Kale lowered his voice, and as I placed the last bite of scrambled eggs in my mouth, I noticed that he had brought a book with him. It looked like it had a thousand pages, and it was leather-bound. The edges of the pages had once been gilded, but after time and use the gold had all but rubbed off.
“Tell me what this is and where to turn.” He pointed to the black bound book, sat back in his chair, and folded his arms across his chest.
“I don’t understand—what is that and where to turn? That makes no sense.” Kale the killer was losing his marbles. I remembered my grandmother’s old family Bible, and this book looked a lot like it. This one, though, looked ancient.
“What is this book?” He demanded in a harsh tone. Michael stiffened.
I wanted to shout back at him for making me play this stupid game. All this ‘you shall know in time’ crap was getting on my nerves. “It’s a Bible,” I sighed, surrendering to the ridiculous. I ducked my chin and hid behind my hair, thanking God I had had the foresight to leave it down today.
In a softer voice, he said, “Good. Now where do I turn? Don’t think about it; just tell me right off the top of your head.” I could see Michael was feeling the awkwardness as much as I. I put my hand on his arm. He looked at me and managed a weak smile.
“What are you doing, playing Bible roulette?”
“Now. Do it now!” Kale commanded.
After I got over my initial shock, I sputtered out, “Fine. Six one—Genesis six, verse one.”
Kale’s face was illuminated with satisfaction. “I was just thinking that. Very good.” He even smiled. He opened the Bible, placed it in front of me, pointed to the passage, and cleared his throat, closed his eyes, and spoke.
“And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.”
The way he spoke the text of the old Bible made me think he loved each word. I saw how gently he touched the pages, how sacred the act of closing the cover together was for him. He set the Bible down on the table and stared at me.
He seemed irritated with me, and I guessed what he might be thinking. I shook my head, “So what? You read some random passage that means what?” I still didn’t like it.He sighed softly, but I could tell I was missing something important, that he was exercising self-control. My hand was still on Michael’s arm, and I was very aware of it. My heart was pounding; just the feel of his skin touching mine in that simple gesture made me warm all over, and I realized that most of me just wanted to go off somewhere with him so that we could be alone.
Kale’s voice, velvety, shook me from my reverie. “This story is the only one like it in the entire Bible. It talks about how the angels of God forsook their place in heaven when they saw the beauty of Eve’s daughters. They fell in love. They left paradise to marry and create new lives among mortal man—the sons of Adam. These angels intermarried with the race of men, and their wives produced children. These children were different; immortal. As far as you would consider them, they had what might be called…superhuman powers.”
Overloaded with new information, the tumblers on the locks in my mind all fell into place and sprung open instantly. I