Hell's Revelation (Book 3)

Chapter 16

In the end Frank's hypnosis power stopped holding Jesse under, and I still wasn't any closer to figuring out how to show him the truth we needed him to believe. Progress was progress, and I was was feeling more enthused now that I'd managed to call on a memory that I actually wanted to witness in Lucas' mind, not to mention the added and unexpected bonus that he saw the whole thing too instead of a blurry mess of incoherent colours and shapes. It was definitely a step closer to figuring out how to master this power that would bring about the Revelation, but it was a small step in a long journey and one I needed to make more quickly.

We needed a new solution to keep Jesse safely under our protection. Talking to him wasn't going to be enough to convince him. He'd been pig-headed and stubborn as a human, now that he was something more, not to mention had figured out a lot of the lies that he'd been fed since I came into his life, he was even less enthusiastic to trust a single word that came out of my mouth. Resorting to drastic measures I brewed another little potion, a mixture featuring heavily on the chamomile to induce sleep and a little belladonna for it's muscle relaxant. I may never have made a star languages student, but these useful little medicinal tinctures had stuck heavily in my mind over the decades, boosted with a little demon magic they were remarkably effective.

"We need to figure out how to win him back to our side, and quickly," I said with a sigh, sinking back into one of the stone chairs after battling Jesse to get him to drink the potion. The hypnosis had barely started to wear off and he was only just breaking the surface of consciousness but I'd still felt bad about having to force the liquid down his throat, hearing him cough and splutter as he fought against it. There'd been no choice though, three times in an hour he'd started to wake up, the power just wasn't cutting it any more.

"Why, do you not trust your own brewing skills, Love?"

"My 'brewing skills' are perfect. No, Jesse will sleep for as long as we need him to now, it's Malick I'm more concerned about."

"Why? We got Jesse away from him didn't we, with fewer problems than I'd have anticipated I might add. Isn't it Lucifer we need to concern ourselves with now?" Lucas piped up.

"Yes he is, but we can't do a whole lot about that until Jesse's officially back as an aspect of the Triangle, can we? But as soon as Malick gets back from wherever it is that Lucifer sent him, he's going to know exactly where Jesse has gone."

"But he won't be able to find us, we picked this place especially for its hidden qualities, not to mention all the superstitions that still surround it. No one will find us here."

"Malick will. For one he'll know better than anyone that the Inquisitors aren't here any more. All those stories, I wouldn't be surprised if he created them, or at least encouraged their spread. And out of every demon in Hell, he'll be the one that will find us. However, if we have Jesse firmly back on our side again then we won't have to worry about him, and we'll be free to concentrate on Lucifer. Isn't that right, Frank?"

I smiled at the Whisperer as if I were waiting for his approval, watching him study me quizzically and feeling a immense sense of pride in the fact that I'd managed to figure things out on my own and hadn't had to reach for him for advice. Downside, I didn't have much of a plan to make any of this actually work.

"Well, I do believe she's finally cottoned on to what's important here. You're right, Love, Malick will know who has the meatbag the instant he comes back. Might take him a while to figure out where we are, but he'll do it; we can count on that much."

"Soo, how do we push this whole training thing along? Slow and steady progress just isn't going to cut it this time, I need some help and I really hope you have some good ideas because I'm drawing a blank right now."