Free Garden of the Gods (The Immortals Series Book 3) by S.M. Schmitz Page B

insisted.
    Dylan sighed again. “You trying to tell me whoever wrote Revelations could see demons? Was maybe a hunter himself?”
    Anna snickered and pulled the Bible closer to her. “Whoever wrote Revelations needed to lay off the sacrificial wine.”
    Dylan laughed and told her that was the first thing that made sense to him all morning.
    Andrew was watching them as usual, and he must have sensed this conversation was about to take a turn toward the irreverent and jocular because he finally spoke up. “Whether it’s another name for Satan or a completely different fallen angel, it’s a remarkably powerful one regardless. For whatever reason, whoever wrote this passage was describing an angel that apparently exists.”
    “But it’s not an angel, it’s a demon. That’s why you’ve been fighting those demons with the red markings on their backs,” Dylan countered.
    “All demons were originally angels. Even Satan,” Andrew reminded him.
    Dylan exhaled impatiently. “You know what I mean. In Revelations, they’re described as being angels still. Part of God’s judgment at the Apocalypse.”
    But Andrew sighed just as impatiently. “You read the descriptions, and you’ve met both angels and demons. You tell me what Revelations is really describing.”
    Dylan crossed his arms stubbornly and waited for Andrew to just tell him. Andrew muttered something in Polish again, and this time, Colin was pretty sure it wasn’t a blessing.
    “It’s the final battle between Heaven and Hell fought here on Earth. There is no judgment or wrath of God. Heaven has never operated that way. Whoever wrote this was predicting what it would be like if this ongoing battle ever turned into an all-out war.”
    Dylan let his arms drop and stared at Andrew for a few seconds before turning to the other hunters, perhaps seeking confirmation that they agreed with him, but they had all spent centuries fighting this battle. They’d had a long time to come to the same conclusions.
    “The warning, then, from your angel,” Dylan asked Luca, “he was talking about Armageddon ?”
    “Basically,” Luca responded. A pretty brunette walking past their table in the bookstore’s café caught his attention, and he looked away from Dylan to see where she was heading. “Self-help section. Bet I could help.”
    Anna had to grab his arm to keep him from getting up from the table.
    “Hey,” Luca protested, “I’ve lived a long time. I’ve got lots of knowledge and wisdom to share. Out of the goodness of my heart.”
    “And we’re being hunted by at least one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, so knock it off,” Anna hissed.
    “Maybe that’s why they’re hunting us,” Colin said.
    He was just thinking aloud as he did sometimes, but everyone was waiting for an explanation now and he couldn’t exactly take it back. It was already out. “If they’re trying to trigger the Apocalypse, what’s the smartest way to go about it? Take out your biggest threats first – us. Break rules to do it, which will force Heaven to respond. By the time the war starts, the Immortals are all dead and Hell doesn’t have any competition left on this planet that can really stop them. Not without Heaven figuring out how to bend rules, too.”
    Dylan groaned and put his head in his hands, and Anna wondered again if saving him had really been the right thing to do. Colin quickly assured her it had, if for no other reason than they needed all the help they could get right now.
    Luca glanced over his shoulder at the pretty brunette still browsing the self-help section then turned his attention back to the hunters at the table with him. “So we know two of the demons trying to hunt us down then. Abaddon and Adriel. Both angels of destruction. I’m willing to bet the third is one like them.”
    Anna pulled her phone out of her purse and pulled up the Google app. Sometimes, it really was much easier than trying to research something the old-fashioned way.
    “How many