A Hundred Words for Hate Read online

  She had no idea where it had come from—multiple vertical lines of peculiar writing, obviously some foreign language, written in black on the lower half of her walls. Long hidden by her things, it seemed to shift in and out of focus.

  She heard Remy’s voice, and immediately prepared to speak, before realizing it was just his answering machine. Fernita waited for it to finish, waiting for her chance to let the nice man know she had something for him.

  Though she wasn’t sure exactly what it was, she knew it was a clue to what she had lost.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Remy gazed out the window of the private jet at the thin, wispy clouds floating past, and experienced the sudden pangs of longing. His shoulder blades had started to ache where his wings would be if he allowed them to unfurl.

  To beat the air in glorious flight.

  He squirmed, tightening his seat belt before turning his eyes to the clouds again. Suppressing the urge to fly, he found his mind start to wander, thinking not of the unusual client who had sent a private plane for him, but of breakfast that morning and with whom he’d had it—Linda Somerset.

  They were supposed to have had lunch, but the urgency of the Sons’ request had convinced Remy to make the trip to see Adam as soon as possible. The Sons had said that they would call him with the information about the flight sometime later that morning, which had given him an idea. He would call Linda and see if she could do breakfast instead.

  It was unusual, in retrospect, Remy thought, continuing to stare out the window. Here was his opportunity to step back from the discomfort he was feeling about the whole dating thing, but he hadn’t. He didn’t cancel, and had immediately thought of a backup plan.

  It was clear that he really wasn’t in his right mind at the moment. Thoughts of Adam, the first father, and a missing key to the Garden—and what this all meant—were using up valuable space inside his skull. That had to be the answer; why else was his thinking so scattered?

  Linda had answered the phone sleepily. He didn’t even think to check the time that he was calling. It was only a little bit before seven a.m., and he’d woken her up.

  Just another example of his brain not functioning at top form. What’s wrong with me? he wondered. That had been bad enough, but it didn’t stop there.

  After he apologized profusely, she had accepted his offer, telling him that she needed to be in the city early for some school stuff anyway, and that she would love to have breakfast.

  Remy saw in his reflection on the circular plastic windowpane that he was smiling, and didn’t quite know how to feel about that.

  They had met at a small deli near Coolidge Corner, and it was then that he’d realized the next thing that had completely escaped him: Not really knowing how long he was going to be with Adam, he needed somebody to take care of Marlowe for him. Nothing big, mind you, just walking, feeding, playing, and stuff.

  Remy had apologized for being rude, telling her that he needed to make an important phone call. He called Ashley and spoke with her mother, and was reminded—again—that Ash was heading to Killington for some skiing with friends.

  As he hung up, Linda must have seen the look on his face, and she asked what the problem was. He explained that the person who normally looked after Marlowe when he was away was not around.

  Remy remembered the look on Linda’s face as if she were still there, sitting in front of him. And then he remembered her words.

  “I’d love to watch Marlowe for you.”

  Remy had actually hesitated, not knowing exactly how he was feeling about Linda’s offer, but she seemed genuinely eager to do it, and something just felt really right about the situation, so he’d agreed.

  Not that he wasn’t a little anxious.

  He might’ve been nervous, but Marlowe was ecstatic, excited as all get-out about going to the pretty female’s house. As he’d handed over Marlowe’s leash to her, the Labrador had told him that Linda smelled good.

  Remy hadn’t responded to the dog’s statement, but he had to agree.

  She told Remy not to worry, that the two of them were going to have an excellent time. And Remy knew that they would, and honestly had felt a little bit jealous of his four-legged best friend.

  The Sons of Adam had sent a car for him, which had brought him to T. F. Green Airport in Rhode Island, where he’d boarded a private jet, and here he was.

  He glanced at his watch to see that they’d already been in the air a little over two hours. It wouldn’t be much longer.

  And as if on cue, he felt the plane begin its descent. He leaned his forehead against the cool plastic of the window.

  Adam, and his Sons, were living in a secluded place that Jon had lovingly referred to as the Garden. He hadn’t given Remy much more than that, which was why Remy searched the gradually approaching land below.

  He was somewhere over the Arizona desert, the brownish red landscape below starkly beautiful in the rays of the afternoon sun.

  And then he saw it.

  It was totally out of place in the harsh desert surroundings, a white bubble . . . a dome, looking as though it had erupted up from the dry brown earth . . . a kind of boil on the flesh of the bleak desert skin.

  As the plane banked to the left in its descent, he saw how large it actually was, the white dome even having its own runway. The private jet came in for a landing, smoothly touching down and rolling to an eventual stop.

  The pilot emerged from the cabin with a gracious smile, opening the door and extending the steps. Remy unbuckled his seat belt and stood.

  “Thank you,” he said, and the pilot touched the rim of his cap as Remy exited the plane. There was something in the man’s eyes that told him he too was a Son of Adam, something that said he had lived upon this world far longer than normal men.

  The desert heat was stifling as Remy walked down the steps to the runway. There was a van waiting for him, and he saw Jon, no longer dressed in his heavy New England-winter clothing, but now wearing chinos and a white short-sleeved shirt.

  Jon had the look in his eyes, as did the others who had accompanied him to Boston earlier this morning.

  Remy had known about the Sons for many, many years: direct descendants of the first man, they exhibited longevity uncommon to most humans, almost as if they had a special purpose. Most had sworn an oath to care for their seemingly eternal ancestor, forming a kind of secret community around him.

  The Sons believed that their most holy ancestor had been wrongly accused by God, and waited for the day when the Almighty would see the error of His ways, and allow His first creation to return to Paradise.

  As Jon approached, hand outstretched, Remy had to wonder if the rift with the Daughters of Eve had ever been mended. That was a bit of a mess that had gone on for centuries, and might still be going on, for all he knew.

  “Mr. Chandler,” Jon said as they shook hands. “Thank you again for coming.”

  “No problem,” Remy said, following the man to the waiting van.

  “Pretty impressive,” he added, eyeing the dome in the distance as he prepared to get into the air-conditioned vehicle.

  “Wait till you see it from the inside,” Jon said as he turned the van around on the runway and onto a road that would bring them to the fenced area surrounding the half bubble bulging up from the desert.

  “I can’t wait,” Remy said as they drove closer. “Is this where the Sons are living now?”

  “Some of us,” Jon said as he rolled down the window as they approached a high gate. He removed a key card from his shirt pocket and slid it into the face of a metal security box atop a post, and the gates began to slide apart to grant them access.

  “Over the years some of us have decided to go out into the world, occasionally returning when necessary, but a large majority of us remain together, looking after Adam’s needs.”

  Jon brought the van alongside the great dome and got out. Remy followed, standing alongside the man as they approached what Remy imagined was an entrance. />
  There was a keypad on this door as well, and Jon again used his card to grant them access.

  “After you,” he said, gesturing for Remy to step inside as the door slowly slid open with a hydraulic hiss. Doing as told, Remy immediately noticed the temperature difference from outside.

  “The electric bill must be enormous,” Remy said jokingly.

  “We supply all our own power here,” Jon said, heading down a corridor. “If you weren’t aware, this is a biosphere, a self-sustaining environment all beneath this dome.”

  “Nice,” Remy said.

  “We do research here in energy, agricultural genetic engineering, and alternative medicine, as well as some excursions into the fringe sciences,” Jon explained.

  “I always wondered what you guys did for fun,” Remy commented slyly. Jon didn’t appear to be all that up on sly.

  “We hold a number of very profitable patents that allow us to live the life of seclusion our order requires,” he said as they passed through another door into a circular atrium. The room was white, blindingly so, and very cold and antiseptic—not at all what Remy would have expected of an order that had existed for so many thousands of years.

  There were multiple doors surrounding them, and Jon gestured to one in particular. “You’ll be going in there,” he said, the door sliding open on its own as they approached.

  Passing through the door, Remy could see nothing but green, the air so thick with humidity that for a moment it was almost difficult to breathe.

  “It’s beautiful,” he said, looking around at the equivalent of a tropical rain forest in the middle of a desert. The rich colors were stimulating to the eye, brightly colored birds flitting around above them, their joyous cries reminding the Seraphim of a familiar place from so very long ago.

  “It’s our temporary piece of Paradise,” Jon said, looking around the jungle. “And hopefully, someday soon . . . with your help . . . we’ll be able to have the real thing.”

  “Maybe,” Remy answered him, uncomfortable with how to respond. As far as he understood, the first of humanity had been banished from Eden for their sins against God, and the Garden of Eden was cut loose from reality to prevent it from becoming a beachhead during the war with Lucifer and his followers, but then again, maybe there was something he didn’t know.

  Remy hoped that this meeting with Adam would help clear up some things.

  “The one you need to speak with is down there,” Jon said, pointing down the length of the path that disappeared into the thick jungle foliage.

  “You’re not part of this meeting?” Remy asked.

  Jon shook his head. “This is not the place for someone like me. I’ll see you after.”

  He turned away, leaving Remy alone in the man-made jungle, alone in this attempt to re-create the Garden of Eden on Earth.

  Remy followed the path into the shadows, pushing aside the leathery leaves that blocked his way. Something squawked loudly as he stepped out into a clearing, and he looked up to see a large parrot perched upon a thick branch, peering down at him with one beady eye, its head cocked at a bizarre angle.

  “No fear,” he told the parrot, reassuring the colorful jungle resident that he meant it no harm. The bird seemed to accept his word, going back to breaking open with its powerful beak the nut that it held in its taloned foot.

  In the distance, beside an artificial stream, he saw the box. It appeared to be made mostly from clear plastic, and reminded him of a high-tech coffin. There was a housing for machinery that hummed softly that was attached to the back of the box, which was standing in an upright, vertical position. Remy could see that there was something—someone—inside the box as he came up alongside it.

  Peering inside, he saw the almost mummified body of a man, his thin, leathery dark skin pulled tight across his skull and body—as if his skeleton had been dipped in a brownish paint and that was all that covered his bones. His eyes were barely open, see-through, tinted goggles that appeared to provide moisture for the ancient orbs in his withered face.

  Stepping closer to the front of the box, he could see that the man’s bare arms and legs were adorned with tubes that disappeared beneath the thin flesh like burrowing worms, a series of monitors on the front of the coffinlike box providing readouts on his health.

  The box was helping to keep him alive.

  “Hello, Adam,” Remy said sadly, placing the palm of his hand against the front of the plastic case.

  If this could be called living.

  Flashes of memory appeared before his mind’s eye as the nature of the Seraphim at the center of his being was stirred by the memory of the one within the box.

  He saw the actual Garden and all the wonders within her, including the magnificent specimens that would eventually become the prototypes for the human race.

  But he also saw Eden in turmoil, the destructive aftereffects of original sin, and God’s displeasure with His most prized creations.

  “It’s been quite a long time.”

  Remy sensed the presence almost at once; the air was suddenly charged with an ancient power.

  He turned, the Seraphim inside ready to emerge.

  Standing before him was a being of immeasurable might, although he too was wearing the guise of humanity—a tall older man in a finely tailored suit, with closely cropped white hair and beard—but Remy could see through his disguise.

  See him for what he was—and what he had once been in the scheme of things.

  “Malachi,” he said in the language of the Heavenly hosts.

  “Remiel,” the angel responded, his voice reminiscent of the celestial choir. “Thank you for coming.”

  The Garden of Eden: During the Great War in Heaven

  The Seraphim Remiel soared above the Garden of Eden, sword in hand and ready for battle.

  They had said that the legions of Lucifer would come here, to this beautiful place created for the Lord God’s most spectacular creations, but which was now empty of them.

  The humans had been banished . . . punished for the sin of disobedience—a sin that Lucifer Morningstar had predicted.

  Remiel landed amid the thick greenery, the stench of God’s anger still tainting the air. It was peaceful here, the clamor of battle, the sounds of brother killing brother not yet reaching its emerald expanse.

  Yet.

  The Son of the Morning had said that God had given them too much, that the humans would take His gifts for granted and disobey Him in their arrogance.

  And in an attempt to prove that his words were true, Lucifer tested them, tempting the first of the humans with the fruit of the Tree.

  The Tree of Knowledge; the Tree that was forbidden them.

  And Lucifer was proven right; they did betray the trust of their most beatific Creator, but it did not stop the Lord God from continuing to love His newest creations—though He was immensely disappointed.

  Which led to their punishment.

  For their sin, the humans had been driven from Eden.

  Remiel trudged through the forest, his sword of fire cutting a swath through the overgrowth toward his destination. With the humans gone, Eden had grown wild and overgrown—those chosen to be the gardeners no longer there to tend it.

  But this punishment wasn’t enough for the Son of the Morning, who wanted these two insolent whelps wiped from existence—for the Almighty to recognize that He had already conceived His most magnificent of creations.

  The angels were all that He needed; the angels would love only Him, and never disobey.

  But how quickly was that proven false?

  Despite their flaws, God did not forsake His human creations. Instead, He chose to love and guide them, picking them over all others.

  This enraged the Morningstar, and many others of the Heavenly hosts, and war was declared against Heaven. They decided that they no longer needed Him, that they no longer loved Him, and chose to disobey Him in any way that they could.

  Rumor had it that Lucifer and his followers
planned to take Eden as theirs, to use it as a stepping-stone—a beachhead—to eventually taking Heaven itself.

  This, Remiel would not allow to happen.

  Others had been given the chore to cut the Garden loose, to cast it adrift, severing its connection to God’s Kingdom, but here it remained.

  This concerned the Seraphim, which was why he was at the ready, cautious that the Morningstar’s legions had already arrived.

  If this were the case, it would be up to him; he would need to be the one who prevented Eden from falling into Lucifer’s hands. It was a job he was ready to perform.

  A chore that he was ready to die for, if need be.

  Having been here before, Remiel had a sense of where he was despite the thick overgrowth. Hanging vines sizzled and popped, dropping to the grassy floor of Eden as the burning blade cut through them, exposing to him the clearing, and what was growing huge and bountiful there.

  The Tree of Knowledge.

  The sight, more magnificent than the last time he’d viewed it, was marred by a scene of violence and death. The angel soldiers who had been sent to perform their task had been slain, their bodies broken and bleeding—their blood seeping into the rich earth to feed the great Tree.

  Only one of the soldiers remained alive.

  He was of the Heavenly host, Cherubim, and he knelt amid the carnage, his head of many faces staring with unwavering intensity.

  Remiel knew him as Zophiel, a sentry of the Tree.

  “Brother,” the Seraphim called to him, but the kneeling angel did not seem to hear. Remiel moved carefully closer, his warrior’s senses on full alert.

  “Caution,” said a voice nearby.

  Remiel leapt into the air, his burning sword at the ready, only to pull back as he dropped to the ground.

  Malachi emerged from behind the great Tree, his vestments of shimmering light spattered with the blood of angels.

  Malachi had been one of the originals that sprang from God. First there had been Lucifer, the Light Bringer—and then there had been Malachi, he who would bring life.