Chapter Six

The Speaker of Tounges

“I was so focused on my passions that I forgot to live life. How do I say no to the chance of a family, of friends, and most of all… A life…”

 “Wait! We are going to go get a kid?” George asked, as they drove down the road.

 “The kid is a genius. You will see.” Abby was never one concerned about age. The age of being an adult changed so much in human culture. 

 “But are you sure this is wise? I mean, he is a kid! It sounds like this is a dangerous job!”

 “Everybody has the right to say no. I don’t force anybody into this position. To do so would be an opening of discord and with discord, I risk a repeat of betrayal.” Abby gritted out.

 “Is this the first time you have been betrayed?” Dean asked.

 “No. I make mistakes as well. I am not perfect. Yes, you are all tested. Yes, even you were George. The tests show your heart, your soul, your loyalty, and you pass or you fail.” She shrugged. “But people can be corrupted. Even the purest of hearts can be.” Abby, for a moment, thought about those souls. “And normally it is the one you least expect to betray you that does.” Abby blinked her eyes to dispel the tears forming.

 The men stayed silent for a while. “Wait! Are we driving to Cambridge?” Joseph brought up that they were headed towards the highway.

 Abby laughed, as she flipped a turn signal. “No. I am just going to make a quick stop in Los Angeles and then we will fly out.” 

 “Oh, thank God!” George exclaimed, “I was not looking forward to a cross-country road trip with a Jarhead.”

 Abby smirked. “You are very welcome.” Causing Dean to laugh and holding his sides, dispelling the depressing tension in the SUV. 

August sighed as he sat down in the library again. He had no friends. He, after all, just got his doctorate in linguistics and psychology. He had been so focused on these passions; he forgot to live a life. To make human connections. He was only nineteen and most people did not want to socialize with the geek or the ones in his classes did not want to hang with a kid. And really, compared to them, he was a kid. Outside of their degrees, there was nothing in common to hold them together as a group. He pulled out his most recent obsession, Eteocypriot, and worked on understanding this long dead language. He loved languages. Something about them just clicked within his soul. He learned them, breathed them, and obsessed about them.

Before he could really get started, he heard a commotion and looked up to see a group of women coming in with guns. The leader had the greenest eyes he had ever seen. He did not know why he noticed them, but it was the first thing he noticed. She was dressed in leather pants and boots. Her top was skin tight, and she had on a leather jacket. He moved and hid under his desk. Something told him he had to stay as far away from her as possible. 

Leslie found out there were new potentials. Lilith help her, but why was it the potentials could not be all women, at least then she could try to corrupt them instead of just having male patsies like Jesse was; she sort of missed Jesse. He was a good puppy. She did not have the list of names but had a list of locations. “Spread out, I want that potential if it is a woman; corrupt her…” Leslie smirked. “If it is a man, kill him. GO!” she yelled as she walked down the aisles.

August did not know what was going on, but he knew he had to get out of there. He looked for the exits. He bit his lip. He did not know how to get out. He closed his eyes, trying to think of something. But his mind worked with languages and body language and these women all were serious about hunting down and killing or corrupting people. And that did not set well with him. He could not go at them alone, and that scared him the most. If he went at them alone, he knew he would die. But if something was not done, then many people were going to die or be forced to follow these insane women.

Abby pulled up in front of the library. She got out to freeze. She looked at the three with her. “Damn it, the Sisters are here. I want you to all stay here.”

 “No way!” Dean and George yelled, as they got out of the vehicle.

 Abby looked at them and knew they would not let her go alone. “Fine, damn it! Joseph, keep the car running. If you need to, you take the others and get the hell out of here. Leave me.” She held up her hand before they could protest. “I can’t die! God, remember?” She raised an eyebrow at them. “George, Dean, you find August and you get out. Got it? Don’t argue with me!” She yelled as they went to argue. “I am going to keep the Sisters busy and you are going to get my potential Keeper, who is but more than a kid, out of here. Got it?”

 Dean was not happy with the plan, but he knew right now he had no clue how the Sisters fought and it would be better to get the kid out. He looked at George, who had the same grim face. “Fine, I and the Squid will get the kid out.”

“But me and the Jarhead want our protests noted.”

Abby rolled her eyes. “Noted.”

“But we will go with your plan.” Dean looked at George. “At least unless we get an opening.” He muttered and George nodded.

Abby nodded. “Thank you.” Abby moved quickly to stay in the shadows as she moved towards and into the building. She saw a window opened on the side and moved to slide in, landing on a table with an ancient book. It was in Eteocypriot. Damn, was August near here? She could see Alice and Leslie whispering not fifteen feet away. She slid down the table and onto the ground and under the table. She ran into a young teen.

 August was shocked when a woman slid down and entered his space. She had short dark hair that was cut asymmetrical, and her eyes were golden brown. “Are you with them?” He tensed, ready to run.

 “Nope, don’t worry kid, they won’t get to hurt anybody. What’s your name?”

 “August. August Shepherd.” August stated as he stared at the woman. 

 Abby smiled. “Okay, kid, you are going to see a Seal and a Marine. They are tall and ripped, one has a typical Jarhead cut, the other short but not Jarhead short hair, both have brown hair, and one has eyes of ice and the other eyes of the sea. Find them. Stay with them.”

 “Why?”

 “They are here to kill you, kid.” She stated and then disappeared from under the table and ran down the aisle before leaping over a table and onto another before jumping onto a shelf.

 August watched her. He did not know why he trusted her, but he moved from under the table and looked toward the door and sure enough, two men entered that fit her description. He looked around. He could make it to them. He moved slowly from under the table; he stayed low and inched his way towards the two men. He looked over to see the woman hit one woman that came in with a gun out with a huge book. Was that the jeweled bible the university had under glass? Shit. He blinked but focused back on the task at hand, getting to the two military men.

 Dean and George moved in through the main doors. Dean looked at George and shrugged when he lifted an eyebrow. “You go right, I go left?”

 George was about to nod when he saw someone move out of the corner of his eye. “Or we can wait for the kid to come to us.” George pointed out the kid moving slowly towards them.

 Dean nodded. “You wait for that kid. I will go recon…”

 George grabbed him by the back of his jacket as he moved to leave. “You heard Abby.” George glared. “Damn Marines, always rushing into battle.”

 Dean sighed. He really wanted to go join the fight. “Don’t grab me again if you don’t want a black eye.” Dean stated as he leaned back against the wall. “I don’t see why Abby gets to have all the fun.”

 George rolled his eyes. “And now I see why you are a Keeper and not a Protector.”

 Dean gave a chuckle. He moved and grabbed the kid when he got close. “You August Shepherd?”

 August finally made it close and the one with icy blue eyes grabbed him and hulled him up. “Yes.”

 Dean nodded. “Good, let’s go.” He pushed the kid out the door and put him in the back of the SUV that was idling by the door. “Drive, my good sir. We will wait for Abs across the street.”

 Abby looked at the book behind the broken glass. It was thick enough; she picked it up and rose an eyebrow to see it was The Holy Bible. She chuckled as she brought it down on one of the head of one of the sisters. She smirked. The word of God came and actually smacked down the bitch. She gave a soundless laugh as she moved across the aisles in search of Leslie and Alice. After all, they were the ones that would call a retreat. She moved to see Leslie talking with Alice.

It seemed that none of these people they were finding were fit for more than cannon fodder. Alice wanted to rip them apart for that. Her humans were not cannon fodder for Lilith’s war. 

 Leslie felt something was off. “Alice. Check the others. Something just feels wrong.”

 Alice, of course, being the good puppy she was to Leslie nodded. “Yes, ma’am!” She took off to go check on the others.

 Abby smirked and did a flip up onto one of the bookshelf over Leslie. She followed her for a bit as Leslie walked the aisles, hoping for a clue to who Abby’s new Keeper was, but Abby already had her Keeper safe. She had seen Dean and George take him out of this place. She waited until Leslie was distracted for a moment and she jumped down and smirked as she put Leslie on her back with a kick to the back of her legs. “Well, if it isn’t greed personified?”

 Leslie sneered as she moved to get up, but Abby had a boot to her throat. “What is it you want, Abigail? We both know you won’t actually kill me. You don’t have it in you.”

 “I have killed plenty of humans, Leslie.” Abby rolled her eyes as she drawled out an answer in a bored tone.

 “Please, you won’t kill me, or you would have by now.” Leslie sneered.

 “Greed and insanity corrupts your whole line. I only kill as a last resort. Didn’t your mother teach you anything?”

 “She taught me all know knew about you. And how you hate to kill your precious mortals, how you don’t get involved, how you don’t feel.” Leslie sneered. “After all, I just killed your whole line almost of Keepers, Protectors and Guides and you just went out to find more. Didn’t even wait until the bodies were cold.”

 Abby sneered. “You know nothing, Daughter of McKinnon! You know nothing about me. What I was before I even created this realm. I was an Angel of my Father, and you seem to think there are no other beings besides my Father? Do you not think there are things that can kill an angel? Do you not think that we were created for his protection as he played with his creations? THERE ARE REAMS YOU CAN’T EVEN FATHOM!” Abby screamed at her. “I am not always on this Earth. You know from the stories passed down that the Realms I and my brother created were based upon our home realm. You think you are the only beings I created? I may care for Earth the most as they were my first creations, but they are not my only. Do not tempt me, Daughter of McKinnon, to show you my true self.” Abby pressed down a bit more on her throat. “Now you will leave here. You will take your goons and you will do it now.” Abby sneered. 

 Leslie spat up at her. “Fuck you, Abigail.”

 Abby ground her boot into her throat. “I will kill you.”

 Leslie moved to stab her with a knife, but Abby moved and kicked it away, allowing Leslie to get loose. But instead of charging Abby, Leslie called out. “Retreat!” And she ran to join the others outside of the building. Abby waited to make sure all the enemy was gone, and then she too walked outside. She threw her magic out to sense them. Gone. She nodded and walked across the street to the SUV and got in the passenger seat. “Drive.” That was all she said as she sat back in the seat.

 They were driving for a while before August had to ask. “Okay, look, I am thankful and all you got me out of there. But who the hell are you guys? And why did they want to kill me?”

 Abby raised an eyebrow. “You are a genius, kid. And you have heart. All that bullying you had to go through, that loneliness and you didn’t break? You weren’t tempted to use your talents for evil deeds?” Abby made a tsk in the back of her throat. “That kid is tough. I have seen a lot give up. I have seen a lot end it all because of the shit you had to endure. Because of that, you have been chosen as a Keeper to protect the magic of the Earth. Mostly because I will destroy the Earth before I let the Sisters get ahold of it.” Abby shrugged as she gave the blunt answer. She did not like herself when she became angry and Leslie pushed her too far sometimes. After all, there was a reason that God was known to be vengeful. “Dean, explain to him, will ya?” Abby stated as she closed her eyes with her list out in front of her.

 Dean looked at the kid. “So, you got Keepers, you, the thief and me, and Protectors, the Squid here.”

 “My name is George, kid, don’t listen to the Jarhead.” George rolled his eyes. 

 “And my name is Joseph, not thief. I did what I had to do to live. I didn’t get an education. I didn’t have people who cared. I used what I had and used it well.” Joseph shrugged as he explained.

 Dean waved them off. “Any ways we also got guides. We don’t have any of them yet. We protect the world and magic. I mean, there is a lot more to it. But that is the basics. You want in or out?”

 August thought about it. There was a lot missing, but his life was dull and predictable. He nodded. “I am in.”

 Dean slapped his back. “Good man!” 

 Joseph looked over at Abby. “Angel, where are we going?”

 Abby opened her eyes. “Sakura Hoshi, twenty-nine: San Francisco, CA.”