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Chapter -6- Peace Treaty

Sunday, September 12 - 8:30pm Axum, Ethiopia ...

Karla opened the hotel room door and offered Evan a smile. "How'd you sleep?"

Evan hooked a thumb over his shoulders. "The blackout drapes worked great. Thanks for the tape, earlier. It helped to tape the sides down, to keep light out."

"Yeah, babe. No problem. Carmen asked if you want to join the kids in meditation. They do it before their workout."

"I could never get into the meditating thing. I can't understand the purpose. You just sit there in the quiet for no reason."

Karla closed the hotel room bed and grinned. "I understand the concept but, you're right, it doesn't do much for me either. I'd rather take a girl-bath."

"I can't imagine you enjoying a bath."

Karla crossed the hotel room and opened the drapes. She turned back to Evan and arched her brows at him. "What? That's like, the best thing ever."

"I didn't think you needed or cared for them."

"And why the heck not?" she asked with a laugh.

"Because you don't have any emotions?"

Karla scoffed. "How do you figure, kiddo?"

Evan eyed her as if confused. "Because you would flit your wrist and kill a bunch of Aris Falcon's men? I mean, anyone that could kill so casually can't have normal emotions, right?"

Karla's expression softened. She sat down on the mattress and patted a spot besides herself. "C'mere, Evan."

Evan eyed her for a moment then sat down beside her. Without a word, Karla wrapped her arms around him and hugged him gently. Silence.

After a moment, she spoke in a soft tone. "This is nice, isn't it? Just a gentle hug. Maybe a psychopath is immune to the oxytocin released from a hug like this. I don't know. The fact is, I love hugs. A good hug, a good cry, a good bath ... that has always been a nice thing. I've avoided them at one point. I didn't want to feel something so ... healing, because I was so bitter."

Evan gently relinquished the embrace and folded his hands. In a quiet voice, he asked, "How could you kill those people, twenty-five years ago, and not feel remorse?"

"Because I've been around for over four centuries, Evan. There are two types of human beings in this world."

"Those with powers and those without?"

Karla shook her head and placed her hands atop of his. "No, babe. Those who pose a threat, and those who don't. I learned how to feed from a lover without catching feelings. I had to, else I would have starved. I learned the difference between sex and love. You can have sex without love, and you can have love with-or-without sex. Well, the same goes for killing. You can kill a threat without feeling guilt."

"But how! I mean, I can't. Not even close."

"You're the epitome of humanity, Evan. I'm not. Imagine all the bad guys are zombies, and you're one of the survivors. If you don't have some emotional fortitude, they will overpower you once you're worn down. You can love animals, but fight off a rabid attacker. It'll hurt the first few times as you question your actions, and ponder your morals. But after fighting off a pack of attack animals, you don't feel so bad about it anymore. Yet you can still cuddle a kitten or a puppy and show it love. Well, after over four centuries of fighting off human attackers, I learned not to feel bad about it. It's a matter of self-preservation, which is at the core of our humanity. Lance Patterson helped me realize that after a man, named Nathan Carrington, managed to show me there are still good people left in the world."

"Really?"

"Really. By the 1800's, I was so jaded against people, that I hated almost everyone equally. They were just food to me. I grew to be disgusted by the people I slept with. Remember, I'd lived through the hind-end of the crusades. I was surrounded by kangaroo courts, and I watched people victimize each other, screaming, 'witch!' as a source of entertainment."

"Jeeze."

"Yeah. So I had no problem waving my wrist and killing attackers. They were witch hunters. And you cannot bring people back from that kind of brainwashing. They were drunk on power, able to kill to satisfy their base human desires, all the while convincing themselves that it was for the good of the world to appease their emotions."

"So you do the same thing?" asked Evan. "You wave your hand, you kill them, and convince yourself it's for the good of the world? That's how you_appease _your emotions on the matter?"

"Evan, when Chance died, I cried. When I found out Eric died, I cried. I cried so hard I couldn't breathe. And when I woke up from passing out, I cried some more. And I didn't even love Eric the way I loved Chance. But I miss him. I miss my husband. I'm lonely without him. I miss my children. Do you know why I rescued Eric and ran, when we were face to face with Falcon?"

"No. All I know is the rumors - you were given a choice, and you made a selfish one."

"I couldn't beat him," Karla said. "I couldn't teleport him, I couldn't telekinetically throw him. I couldn't fight him. But he knew I was dangerous to his operation. So he bribed me with the chance to walk away with my family."

"You were pregnant at the time," Evan recalled.

"Sure was. You say I was selfish. Maybe I was. Maybe I still am. But I put my child first. I begged him for Eric's life, so my child would have a father. Not because I was in love with Eric - I hadn't yet developed feelings for him just yet. I was still mourning the death of Chance, twenty-five years earlier." Karla frowned and fidgeted, hands together in her lap. "It's been fifty years since he died. And I still miss him. You want to know something strange?"

"I ... what?"

Karla shrugged. "I only knew Chance for a single month. It's been fifty years, Evan. I still miss him. I fell in love so hard. My four hundredth birthday was spent being as lonely as ever. I cried then, too. The girl-bath didn't help, that's for sure. So, yes, I have emotions. I'm not a sociopath."

"There's nothing wrong with being a sociopath. You can't help who you are. I just accepted you for who I thought you were."

"And I appreciate that," said Karla. "But I'm not. I've tracked down a few, but ... I'm not like that. I've just learned how to distinguish over the two types of humans in this world. The kind that are a threat, and the kind that aren't. And I'm not going to lie to you, Evan - you may have to end lives to preserve your own. You may have to kill an attacker in the near future so that your family will be safe. Can you do that?"

"When Johann and I started fighting together, back in 2023, we accidentally killed a few guys that were after us. We evolved. We learned how to fight these guys without directly taking lives."

Karla pursed her lips in thought.

"You had friends that helped you find your humanity." Evan reached for her hands and gently took them into his. "You had friends who helped you believe in love. Maybe I can be one of those friends that helps you evolve. If you get to live forever, you should be learning how to better yourself. People are supposed to evolve with every generation of their family. Well, you are how old now?"

"Four hundred and fifty next month."

Evan gave her hands a gentle squeeze. "So if you evolve and better yourself, you'll be a better version of you going forward."

She leaned in and brushed her lips over the side of his face. "You're a good boy, Evan. If this world is going to survive, it'll be on the backs of guys like you."

"I appreciate that. So you'll let me help you fight this war with a minimal body count?"

Karla gently hugged him again. "No, babe. At least not yet. You think this war hasn't happened yet. But it started a while ago. We're in the eye of the storm, now, and things are going to get worse before it's over. And when it is_over, I _promise you that I will better myself. But until that then, while the sky is still dark, I still have work to do. What I need is not for you_to help _me to become a more humane person."

"Then what is it that you need?" he asked in a soft voice, resting his chin on her shoulder. He felt like he was hugging a slightly-older version of his daughter, due to how young the demoness appeared.

Karla sighed softly. "I need you to become a more accepting man, so you can weather the storm at our side. I need you to look away when the lightning strikes. I need you to close your eyes to the carnage. Just for a little while."

"How do you mean?"

"Because, Evan, the world is a dark place and hope is always on the horizon. But the horizon is always in the distance. And we'll never reach it, because it moves at the same speed we do."

"But you have to have hope, else what's the point of living? Hope makes us better people. You hope you have a good marriage. You hope your children grow up to be better than ourselves. You hope they become good parents. You hope your grandchildren grow up happy and healthy. And while hope is always just beyond our grasp, you still make progress in your life."

"I ... I guess."

Evan sat back a bit and put his hands on her shoulders. He looked into her eyes the way he looked into his daughter's eyes, when talking to her one-on-one. "Karla, let's say you're right for a moment. Let's say hope is always on the horizon and you're always moving towards it."

"Okay?"

"So, as you walk towards the horizon, you hope you reach the mountains in the distance. Well, one day you will make it to those mountains. And once you're there, you hope you reach the ocean that you can see in the distant horizon. So you keep walking. Eventually you do make it to the ocean. And in the horizon, you see a beautiful island at sunset. So you build a boat. And one day, you set sail. You make it to the island. And on the horizon, you see the New World. Don't you see, Karla? Hope just takes us forward in life to achieve our smaller goals. And in the end, we keep striving to make it to the big ones."

"Sometimes it doesn't feel like we achieved the things we had hoped for in our lives. My marriage is over. My children are gone. The love of my life is dead."

"Sometimes, Karla, we forget to look back, over our shoulder."

"What's that do?"

"It reminds us how far we've come. It's proof of how much progress we've made. We make it to the coast, and look back at the mountains, behind us. We make it to the island, and look back at the distant coast. We make it to the New World, and look back at the island. But remember one important thing, Karla."

"What's that?"

"When you look back at what you've achieved, you can't obsess over it, else you're living in the past. So do it in glances. Then look forward again and keep moving forward."

"So you're saying I should look back at the wife I became. I should look back at the children I raised, and the mother I became, but I shouldn't focus on the past because I ... can't change it? So I should keep moving forward towards hope?"

"Exactly!"

She stared at him for a moment then laughed softly. "You're a freaking Hallmark card, babe. You really are."

Evan frowned. "Yeah. I guess I am."

Karla brought her hands up and cupped either side of his face. "I'm a woman. I appreciate the sentiment of a Hallmark card. So ... thank you."

He brought his hands up and placed them atop of hers. "And I'm a man. So when I bring you a card, I appreciate your validation. Now, having said all that ... Karla, I need your help. I need you to make sure I live through this so I can see my family again. In return, I'll do everything in my power to help you find your children and rescue them. Let's place our hope in each other - I hope we are a successful team. We've got our immediate goal. Let's get through this."

She leaned forward and pressed her forehead against his. "Evan, you're a good guy. Don't ever change. A little sappy, a flair for the dramatic, but a really good guy. You really are the superhero's superhero. Reno said that about you, y'know."

"He did?"

Karla drew her head back and laughed with a bright smile. "Yeah, hon. About five minutes before you walked back in to our lives. Ask him. He was just talking about it the other day. He said we need Evan-freaking-Balmoral, and in you come. You just strut into the room with Conner's sister. Like a boss, babe."

This time, Evan laughed. "I haven't heard that saying in years."

"I tried learning internet humor and such so I could adapt and stay current. Memes, funny captions ... I even kept a Facebook page where I posted things that made me giggle. But I kept looking back, like you were saying, and I got stuck in the past. Sinopa told me I live in a thirty-year-period between 1985 and 2015. Maybe that's true, but at least you get some of my jokes."

"I'm glad you're here to help this team, Karla. You tell all the outdated jokes you want. I don't care. Just do your thing. Be you. If that means you have to kill a few of Falcon's henchmen, then I won't interfere."

"Good boy. And you keep being you, Evan. You shoot a glare my way when I kill someone. You narrow your eyes and squint at me when I cuss like a sailor. We'll get out families back and, when the storm is over, I'll become a better person."

"Deal." He put his right hand into hers and they shook on it. After a moment, Evan asked, "What was Chance's real name?"

"Marcus Howard. He was a telepath."

"I'm not promising anything, Karla. But if Aris Falcon is obsessed with unique powers, and if he brought Vincent back from the dead for just that reason ... who is to say that Marcus isn't in cryogenic stasis down there right now?"

Karla placed two fingers on Evan's mouth. "Don't. There's a big difference between having hope, and ... that. I couldn't handle the disappointment if it turned out to be untrue. If he's down there, fine - I will be happy. If he's down there and he's acting like Nichole Parker, then no thanks. But if he's not down there at all, I don't want to convince myself he might be, and then feel the heartbreak again when it turns out I had unrealistic expectations. I've learned never to be too hopeful."

"I understand," he said against her two fingers.

"Good." She leaned forward and kissed the backside of her fingers, careful not to touch his lips with hers. "Now, let's go and do what we've got to do, so we can find that wife and daughter of yours. Okay?"

"Okay," he whispered.

Karla smiled. "Now, back to what we were talking about when I came in your room. Be still. Just be still. Outer stillness will lead to inner stillness."

"I ... uhm, okay." Evan folded his hands. "Like this?"

"Shh. Don't speak. Just listen. And be still. Now, relax. It's not a process. You just let go. Surrender. It's a beautiful thing, babe."

He didn't reply.

Karla watched him with a wan smile. "Pay attention ... just ... pay attention to nothing in particular. Just be awake and attentive. Now, let your inner happiness bubble up. The happiness only comes if you let go of wanting it. It won't happen the first time, but you have to keep moving towards that goal-oriented horizon and keep your hopes high. Don't think about any _one_particular thing. Just stay awake and exist."

Evan said nothing.

"Congratulations. You're meditating." She glanced at a small clock on the hotel nightstand.

Silence.

Karla glanced at the clock again then gave his knee a gentle pat. "Alright. Open your eyes and follow me to the hotel gym. We're going to go warm up with the Parkers, and we're going to get this last artifact - the one Falcon could never get his hands on."

Evan opened his eyes and turned to her. He glanced at the hotel clock with a somewhat confused expression. "You knocked on the door almost an hour ago."

"And you've been meditating for the last twenty minutes."

"I ... I have? I stayed awake the whole time. It didn't feel like twenty-minutes."

"I know. And you did a good job. Now c'mon."

X

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Hotel Gym...

Conner eyed his phone then looked up at his sister. I don't know the number.

"Answer it," she said.

Conner frowned and went to thumb the screen but it stopped ringing. "I ... too late. Let's see if they leave a voice mail."

A moment later, his phone buzzed with a text message that showed on the screen and on the display of his watch.

"What?" she asked.

Conner frowned. He read the message aloud. "It's several messages coming in at once. Uhm. ...King Hezekia, as part of a religious iconoclastic reform, instituted the staff's destruction. He claimed to have destroyed the Nehushtan. A cane was, in fact destroyed in the seventh century, but not the one claimed."

"What?" Carmen blinked. "What does that even mean?"

"I have no idea. Hold on." He typed back, dictating out loud. "So, what does this cane do?" He glanced up at Carmen, adding, "That's what I asked him ... or her, whoever it is."

A moment later, the reply came over his watch display. "This staff was used to lead survivors from the city as it sank into the ocean. It was used again, fifty-two hundred years ago, and it finally fell into the hands of Moses. The question is whether or not the staff in the Ark truly is the rod of Moses or the rod of Aaron."

Karla walked into the gym with Evan. "Are you guys talking about the job? So it's definitely a staff?"

"I guess," said Conner. "Some mystery guy is texting me about it. What's the difference between the rod of Moses and the rod of Aaron?"

Karla shrugged. "They were both badass sticks re-consecrated for godly purpose by godly people. But I doubt we're going to find a stick with the freaking Maltese Viper wrapped around it, guys. There's only one place you're going to see the Rod of Asclepius now, and that's on the side of an American ambulance. That star of life symbol with the stick and snake? Yeah, that. That's the rod of Aaron, more or less. The rod of Moses, called the Nehushtan, was used to part the Red Sea. Or maybe the Reed Sea. It's interpretation is kind of unclear."

Carmen eyed Karla for a moment. "How do you know so much biblical content?"

Karla blinked. "Uhm, hello? I was born and raised in a time when the bible was shoved down your throat? The church was part of the government? That sound familiar? Trust me, it sucked."

"I see." Carmen frowned. "Sorry."

"It was crappy times, babe. So, anyway, the bible claims the rod of Moses was destroyed seven hundred years before the birth of Christ. So, if the bible is right, we're not..."

The phone buzzed again. Conner read his text to the group. "It says, 'My name is Steven Milford. Karla knows me as Isaac. Please call me right away.' Should I?"

Karla frowned. "That guy is a technological genius. If he was a danger to us, he would have pinged your phone and used it to track us by now. The fact he's using it to call us instead of trace us ... well, I guess that means he's not going to try and kill us."

Conner nodded and thumbed his watch. The phone dialed a number and activated its speakerphone mode.

Steven answered the line. "Good. So how many of you are there? It's going to be difficult to steal the Nehushtan."

Karla cleared her throat. "The best in the business are here. Don't concern yourself with numbers. We have enough. So why are you calling us? You know, I figured out your game, pal. You're helping the assholes. That's the wrong team, Steve."

"Karla?"

The succubus smirked. "Yeah. That's right. And the Nehushtan was destroyed, dork-wad."

"Karla, no it wasn't. Its power was feared by Hezekiah's kingdom. He claimed to destroy it but switched it with the rod of Aaron. Asclepius was destroyed instead. I would know - I was there. Not many knew the difference between the two rods, but I did. They were technology invented by the First Age. Asclepius was made of sapphire, and Nehushtan was made of orichalcum, with a coating of brass overtop."

Conner frowned. "Technology huh?"

"Yes, young man. Asclepius was thrust into the ground, and from it, Almonds grew. It was used to stave off hunger. It was carried by Aaron, the brother of Moses."

"But..."

"No, Conner. Do not argue. They were real men. They lived and breathed, they were fantastic men with wonderful minds. Moses was a descendant of the leader of the First Age. He was abandoned in Egypt when groups of people were hunting down the survivors of my kind. They called our technology 'evil sorcery' in some parts. Moses was placed in the Nile River in a wicker basket coated with a clear waterproof sealant. Technology was to be hidden in those days except in Egypt. There were men serving the Pharaoh with technologically advanced rods, using them for parlor tricks."

"What are we looking for, then?" asked Conner.

"The Ark of the Covenant has contents that you require. The Nehushtan lies within. The tabernacle has not seen the light of day for about three thousand years. Considering it was made of acacia wood, it's possible that it has crumbled to dust by now. I believe the carrying poles were made of gold so as to support its weight but ... I think they were stolen."

Conner frowned. "So, we have to go there, break in, and steal some staff of God, or whatever? If there _is_a heaven and a hell, I don't think stealing from the possible Ark of God is going to do very much for my..."

"Conner!" Stevan's voice darkened somewhat. "If there is a God - a one-true-creator that rules over the deities - I highly doubt He is going to be upset with you for using an artifact to stop another cataclysm the likes of that which destroyed the last of the First Age people fifty-two hundred years ago. Now, you won't be able to steal the rod directly if the rumors about the Ark are true."

"How so?" asked Carmen, approaching her brother's phone and watch, not sure which one was acting as the microphone for the conversation.

Stevan drew in a long, slow breath. "The men who are appointed to guard that box do not live very long, fulfilling lives. Perhaps they die from being inside for the rest of their natural days ... but then how would you explain that almost ALL of them have cataracts in their eyes when they die? Whatever causes this box to be dangerous to the mortal body, it's even deadlier to people who don't grow up around it, those who are supposedly the descendants of Aaron, brother of Moses. You will need to come up with a creative way to retrieve what is within that temple compound, as the direct approach me be hazardous to your health."

"Great," Conner muttered. "Okay, so what else is in that thing? How do you know so much about it?"

"It is unknown if the Ten Commandments are still within the Ark. The staff, however, was last placed in the box. I believe it is still there."

Conner frowned. "If this box hasn't rotted away to dust, you mean."

"Exactly," replied the man on the other end of the line. "I've heard about your silly heroics. Your kind are barred from bringing attention to yourself."

Karla grimaced. "Yeah? Well fuck off." She glanced over her shoulder and said, "Sorry Evan," then turned back towards the phone. "The inaction of our society is what lead to our death. A death I believe you are responsible for. So fuck you and the horse you came in on. Also, the people you work for - they are responsible for the murder of Lance. He was your friend, you dickhead. And if I find out you were behind that, too, I'll hunt you down."

"Karla, he was. He was my friend, and his murder is the reason I have broken ties with Aris Falcon."

"So were you really behind the genocide of the Esoteric Community?" asked the succubus. "I need to know. I need that goddamn closure."

"Only in part. I believe the supernatural people became too powerful. They used their abilities to get ahead in life, because they were no longer needed to do what we created them to do. But Reinhardt was behind ensuring success of the mission. Reinhardt and his brother, Sire, managed to come up with a way that would kill the supernatural people of this world. All but a handful. We now have just enough left to keep the deities from breaking the treaty."

"You're on my shitlist," said Karla.

"I can make it up to you," said Steven. "I know the location of your father, and I know how you can rescue him if that is what you wish. Karla, I'm not here as your enemy. I simply felt there were ... too many supernatural people in the world. There were so many that we couldn't supervise everyone's actions all the time. It was turning into..."

"Shut up." She drew quiet and licked her lips. "Why kill a hundred thousand people but save him?"

"He's special. And so are you. The last incubus and succubus in the world? That is unique. While I never cared much for the so-called sex demons, or the vampires, due to their origin, I can admit that some good things came out of them. Natalia Kincade for example. Your father."

"You don't give a shit about my father."

"I created him."

Karla blinked. "What? What kind of bullshit are you making up now? I thought you First Age people didn't make up random bullshit because lies could turn into stories, which could become reality if enough people believed in them?"

"That is true. And I am not lying. I created the both of you."

Karla rolled her eyes. "We'll be in touch, douchebag." She reached over, grasped Conner's wrist and touched her finger on the red circle, hanging up the call. "What a moron. This guy will say anything to jump ship to the winning side. That's all it is. He wants to be on the winning team. Fuck him."

"So is his information legit?" asked Conner.

"We do this mission, and if it pans out, then we will know his intel was correct. Okay?" Karla turned back to Evan and frowned. "Sorry. I got a little emotional. I wanted him to know I mean business."

"I understand," Evan replied in a soft tone. "So. Conner, Carmen, do we case the place? Do we work out? You guys are the pros. What's our next move?"

Carmen grinned. "I like you already. We do our routine. We work out, we case the place, and we decide what day we strike. We need to install surveillance and make sure Falcon's people aren't watching and waiting for us to strike. I won't work my butt off only to have that guy steal from us. We prepare for everything. Then, in a few days, we make our move. We're not rushing this, got it?"

No one spoke.

Carmen nodded firmly then gestured to Conner. "Okay, baby brother. You've got the floor."

"Don't call me that."

"Okay, sorry, Chosen One."

Conner grimaced. "Don't call me that, either."

She turned back towards Karla and Evan with a smile. "Did you know you can count the number of movies and TV shows that he has seen on one hand?"

Karla blinked. "Really? That's why he never gets my pop-culture references."

Evan frowned. "Avengers?"

"Maybe," Conner said with a shrug. "What's it about?"

"Oh holy crap," Evan said with a grin. "All the best stuff is ahead of you. I'm jealous, you get to enjoy the magic and have a lot of great things to look forward to."

Carmen grinned. "I love embarrassing you."

"Nothing changes," Conner grumbled. He cleared his throat then pointed to the mats on the floor. "Okay Evan and Karla. Let's get started. I want to practice self-defense but first ... we should warm up."

"Do you think this is going to be difficult?" asked Evan.

"Are you religious?" asked Carmen. "We're about to steal from God."

Evan frowned. "Something tells me meditating won't be enough."

Karla shrugged. "I'm ready to kickass and chew bubblegum." She looked into her handbag, pretending to quickly rifle through it. Her gaze lifted to the group. "Oh, would'ja look at that? I'm all out of gum."

Evan drew a pack of Juicy Fruit out of his pants pocket. "I got a taste for it after driving cross country with Reno. Here, have some of mine."

Karla sighed. Conner brought his palm to his face. Carmen pinched the bridge of her nose.

"What? I know it's not bubblegum; it's chewing gum but..." He trailed off with a look of sudden realization. "Oh. Right. By being out of gum, all you have left is to kick butt. Right. Okay, I got it now. It's been a long time since I've played Duke Nukem."

Karla glanced to the left and shook her head. "It's not like Duke invented that saying, babe. Nevermind. It's just ... nevermind. I'm glad you're still a geek, babe. Don't ever change. Just ... yeah. Let's put a pin in that right now and get this over with. A lion doesn't stretch before chasing a gazelle, after all."

Evan grinned. "Okay, that's a quote from Zombieland."

Conner sighed in frustration. "Can we not be quoting things I've never heard of and get down to business, guys? Thanks."

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