“She came to love us. But we found a home with her because she needed us. The whole world does.”
“How can there be monsters everywhere and no one knows about it?”
“I wouldn’t say no one. There’s always the odd truth in every other National Enquirer.”
I shot him a glare but, once again, he was serious.
“The problem is, they look just like you and me unless they decide to change—and then they’re hell to kill— and some of them always look like you and me. Without Ruthie, without you now, they’ll own this world, and the humans will just be—” He broke off.
“Be what?”
“Food, amusement, slaves. Nothing good.”
“What did Ruthie do? How did she know?”
“She would have a vision, which would reveal the type of demon along with its human face.”
“Demon.” I seemed doomed to repeat most of what he said.
“For lack of a better word. How familiar are you with the story of the fallen angels?”
“Satan?”
“He got the kingdom he coveted.” Jimmy pointed to the floor. “But the rest…” He swirled his finger in the air.
“You’re telling me the fallen angels are still on earth in the form of demons?”
“In a way. Ever heard of the Grigori and the Nephilim?” I shook my head. “The Grigori were known as the watchers. They were sent to earth to keep an eye on the humans. They lusted after them instead and were banished by God to Tartarus, the fiery pit where all divine enemies are thrown.” He shrugged. “Basically the lowest, locked level of hell.”
“I don’t remember this story in the Bible.”
“Book of Enoch.”
“Once again—”
“Not in the Bible,” Jimmy finished. “But it was. You’re aware that over the centuries, several books and gospels were removed?” I nodded. “Enoch was beloved by Jews and Christians alike until it was pronounced heresy and banned. The text disappeared for nearly a thousand years until a copy was discovered in Ethiopia.”
“So why isn’t it part of the Bible now?”
“People don’t like change.”
“Or maybe Enoch is just a fairy tale.”
“Then why are there over a hundred phrases in the New Testament that are also found in the Book of Enoch? Considering that Enoch was written two centuries before the birth of Christ, to me that means it was studied as carefully as Genesis. I highly doubt Jesus would have bothered to quote a book he didn’t believe told the truth.”
I kind of doubted it too.
“The offspring of the watchers and the daughters of men were known as the Nephilim. They became every type of supernatural being you can imagine.”
“Like vampires and werewolves and berserkers?”
“To name a few. God destroyed ninety percent of the Nephilim in the flood, but allowed ten percent to remain on earth to challenge mankind.”
“By challenge you mean kill, enslave, and eat?”
“Life wasn’t supposed to be easy.”
I had so many questions, but uppermost in my mind was—”Why didn’t they ever come for Ruthie before?”
“They didn’t know who she was. The identities of the seers are known only to their DKs, or demon killers.”
My eyebrows lifted. “I can see why you use an acronym. Running around using the term demon killer just might buy you an all-expenses-paid trip to a little white room.”
He rubbed a hand over his face. “Someone broke the number-one rule—protect the seer. I mean to find out who, then make certain they never do it again.”
From his expression, that person would never be doing anything again once Jimmy finished with him, which was fine by me.
“Gonna start with Springboard,” he muttered. “Although he idolized Ruthie.”
“Springboard Jones is a—”
“Yeah. A lot of DKs have jobs that take us from city to city. Good cover.”
As was the fact that their kills turned to ashes. Not much evidence that way.
“I plan to personally dust every single Nephilim who crossed Ruthie’s threshold,” Jimmy continued. “And you’re going to help me.”
“You say that as if I mean to argue.” I wanted them dead too.
His face softened. “I know this has been tough. It’s hard enough coming into our world prepared. This isn’t like anything you’ve ever faced before.”
“I figured that out when the big blond guy turned into a bear.”
Jimmy shifted his shoulders, rolled his neck. He had something else to tell me.
“There’s a little more to this than you know,” he said slowly. “Ruthie was the leader of all the seers and DKs.”
“Okay.” I could understand that. Who wouldn’t follow the woman to hell and back?
“There are legends, prophecies, beliefs that have been handed down through the ages to guide us. One of them states that when the leader of the darkness destroys the leader of the light, doomsday is the result.”
“Doomsday,” I repeated. I didn’t like the sound of that.
“A time of catastrophic destruction and death leading to the final battle between good and evil.”