Chapter 17

Outside Sanctuary the acid rain tried to wash the North American plate clean from all the sins that the living beings brought upon the land.

The temperature was lowering as the dark toxic clouds blocked the sun's UV rays. It was dark and cold even the daytime with constantly pouring rain for days that started to eat off the leaves and skin of the younger trees.

The rain was so acid-filled that during the nights in the mild 5-6 Celsius it formed a thin see-through layer of ice on top of everything.

The senses of the Mercy demon inside the concrete bunker only saw mirror smooth icy road, bushes and trees with glass-like layer heavying their branches and icicles hanging from them. In the dim light of the early dawn it all looked like some wicked cursed landscape from a fairytale.

Mick was gloomy about it nonetheless... The changes by then escalated to be sensed by all of them. Even his brothers in the shadow realm faded into the life stream of everything. Their collective consciousness was shutting down as their race couldn't adapt. They stayed the same throughout the centuries, hanging onto their traditional ways to lead their life spans. Existing to serve and be when needed.

Some of them, who had a taste of individuality like the demons guarding the biker gang, felt themselves all alone and dealing with new impressions and thoughts. Being just themselves and thinking about the meanings of their existence.

Mick and Jay felt stronger in their decision making and stayed more in their human form. The others were facing the decision to materialize also to survive and be a person… so to say.

"Maybe it will stop today... At least it's beautiful…" Shawn, the leader of the bikers stepped beside Mick and spoke low. "What will happen to your kind?" he asked the tall buff man.

"Good morning to you too," Mick glimpsed from the window to his human with a small smile then returned his darkening gaze to the gloomy outside world. "If you're into Dracula and other old Gothic horror then yes, it is indeed gorgeous. And… I guess we have to find a person that needs us alive and existing, or a strong purpose to stay."

"You think Jay has a chance?" the old biker asked even lower.

"Yes," Mick nodded turning now to face the leader. "Don't worry about Gabrielle, Jay feels it strongly that he has to keep her safe, and they have a strong bond too. He will stay as a half-breed and in this world. My other brothers are more in panic of the unknown. I will probably lose them..."

"I'm so sorry, Mick. I know how hard it is for a human to lose it all. Family and friends and a place they called home. I think it's even worse for you as the gate to your home will close forever…" Shawn's face darkened with honest sadness and empathy thinking about the demons’ case.

"Don't be. It should have been done a long time ago. For me... I am way too worried for Jim and Corey to have fading issues," Mick said with a small chuckle. "What connections I still have with the other worlds I use to keep track of them. As much as I can... And they are important already. Corey made a decision that is already in the works, and even ancient shamans helped them. They are safe now... and started to transform… And will come here very soon..."

***

Leaving behind JD and his hotel in the hidden pocket dimension was something Jim did reluctantly. Not just because they befriended some very interesting creatures there, but because it meant going back to the "real world". The hotel was like a safe bubble where he could focus on Corey and then his own transformation. And it also meant relative safety from what was going on outside.

But when the acid rain finally stopped falling, they both knew that it was time to go back to the biker gang because they would need all the help they can get to stay alive.

The future was uncertain for everyone in the everchanging circumstances, but that base seemed to be like a good choice to hole up for a while. Or at least for the biker gang. As far as Jim and Corey were concerned, the bearded man wasn't so sure...

He was still getting used to his "new" body and powers and frankly, he wasn't even sure what he could do now after the successful transmutation. He was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that he was now a nearly fully awake Nephilim, stronger than an angel or a demon...

It was such an overwhelming thing to think about, because all his life Jim believed he was just a crazy weak asshole, seeing things. Now everything has changed and kinda made sense. Still, as his new powers kept trying to settle in his much stronger body, Jim felt worried about the future.

Moving his big hand on the handle to give more gas, the purring bike sped up even more on the road, his eyes glowing in that greenish-yellow hue behind his sunglasses. But at least the small demon hugging his middle and resting his cheek on Jim's back was better and Jim wasn't so thirsty for his blood anymore either. Those were the two things that made him relieved and Corey's unconditional love gave him strength to go on, no matter what. He had no idea what he would do without his love...

***

Back at the bunker the gang was all awake and started to move outside as the clouds got thinner then were killed away by the strong sunshine. The blanket of ice started melting and dripping fast, making a constant background music for the bikers looking around at the damage done to their supplies left outside in a hurry when the toxic clouds started crying down on the land.

The ground turned black all over, the acid killing off the grass and vegetation, leaving it soaking as the biker boots walked across the ground and somehow the ground was strangely steaming in the sudden hotness.

"Cover your mouths, the steam in the air is toxic," Shawn yelled back to the others pulling a bandana over his face and his leather gloves on his hands before he grabbed the edges of the plastic covers on which the poisonous water pooled here and there and pulled on them.

"Some wooden boxes are melted away. Even some canned food…" Gabrielle stated looking into the crates.

"That's not good..." Shawn grunted walking towards his daughter frowning. He knew that inside they still had plenty of food and water in the storage but they could never know what might come next or for how long they wouldn't be able to venture out for a supply run.

There were probably things they could use in the infested towns, but that was risky and Shawn would do that only as a last resort. For now they were good.

"Don't touch it, please..." Jay said to Gabrielle on a quiet voice. As a Mercy Demon he was immune to the toxic fume like the rest of his brothers so he didn't need to cover his face.

"I know, Jay, don't worry," Gabrielle smiled at him behind her bandana and straightened up to look around. "Alright, guys. Take the surviving stuff inside. Later we'll clean them off just in case. But be careful!" she said then turned back to Shawn and Jay, wanting to say something when he noticed Jay's attention drifting to the main gate.

In that moment Mick's head turned in that direction too.

"Danger approaches..." he started then Number 3 reappeared near the gate, warning him. "Angels and possessed ones are approaching! Everyone, grab your guns!" he shouted.

"For fuck's sake!" That was Shawn, shaking his grey head. "You heard him! I want to see people on the walls to keep the possessed out! The rest will fight back those fucker angels!" he shouted too, hoping as hell that they would somehow survive this.

Mick grabbed two magnums and using his powers appeared on top of the wall first. He moved a wave of his energy to push away the diving down angels and started shooting at them.

Next Jay climbed there, helping Gabby up, both carrying shotguns. They were followed by some of the others aiming at the attackers.

Meanwhile the possessed ones started to climb the wall from outside. They were no longer humans... They were growling dark-eyed animals with super strength and skills walking on their hand and feet easily up the wall.

"Keep watching below guys," Mick yelled and again used his wave of power to push them down.

"Fucking hell!" Gabrielle cursed as the first possessed humans crawled through the wall and she aimed her shotgun at the closest, shooting it dead while her man was fighting on her side too, doing the same. Of course Jay was helping as much as he could too both with guns and his powers.

This attack obviously came as a surprise and while fighting for their survival, Shawn wondered why they came. Though these fuckers probably didn't need a reason to attack the group of surviving humans... But was that all?

Well, his thought was interrupted by an angel flying over the wall and heading right towards him. "Incoming winged asshole at 12! Let's feed him some led!" he shouted to the three other bikers around him and they did just that, firing their guns and machine guns at said angel who snarled at them but eventually dropped on the ground dead.

Mick tried to be useful with his twin guns and powers, using his skills where they were needed the most to push away attackers and save the bikers.

The intensity of the attack surprised him too... Then all of a sudden many angels dived down aimed at him. Behind them he could make out a figure with wide-spread wings and red Roman styled armor on, holding a flaming sword.

Mick had no idea who the angel could be, but he was sure he was someone from the higher, more powerful circles as he led both the angels and possessed humans to attack. Now he was getting closer directly to him, just like as he would know or feel what Mick was...

After the little triumph of killing the winged fucker, Shawn was smirking under his nose and looked at Mick, but that smirk quickly melted off his face as blood ran out of it in the next second, seeing how many angels were flying towards Mick to cut him off. And behind them a red-armored one charging forward too...

"Mick, look out!" he shouted, but had to divide his attention between that scene and shooting down two possessed ones running towards his own little group.

He can't possibly fend them all off, right?

But in the chaos of that moment, something unexpected happened...

Just when the first angels would have reached Mick, the air seemed to start shimmering above a good portion of the wall and all of a sudden, the first wave of the angels were pushed back by an invisible shield. The surprise was priceless on their faces as the force field pushed them back, but the second wave already tried to cut through the shield with their swords – without any success.

"What the..?" Jay started to ask with his mouth hanging open.

"You're welcome!" They suddenly heard Jim's voice and as everyone looked behind them, they saw the winged Corey hugging his man from behind as he descended towards the earth. When they were close enough, he let Jim go, who landed on one knee on the concrete before straightening to his full height, glowing greenish-yellow hues darting towards the sky and that strange angel. He could feel it too. It was a higher ranking one...

As much as he was proud of his man and enjoyed watching him fight all strong and confident, Corey had to get into the action too. Being the only winged person on the humans' side, he used the same power that Mick had, but he was more effective from the air.

The weird angel with the flaming sword flew closer as Jim and his half-breed pair appeared and alongside the others attacked the forcefield.

For a while as Jim was using more of his new powers, the higher angel just focused on them…

"Nephilim... So it's true. It's not over," he said in the head of all the supernatural beings then as sudden the attack came they retreated into the sky.

"What?" Jay looked at his 'older' brothers on the wall confused.

"Furiel, a high angel from the last of God's creations," Corey said with a frown. "The shamans updated my knowledge on things a bit..." he added blushing a little as he landed, answering Jim's questioning look.

As strong as he felt now, Jim was kinda glad that the remaining angels and the possessed humans retreated. Although he probably could've kept up the shield and even attack with his shock waves for a while, he was still not used to his new and bigger powers.

Slightly panting, he wiped his forehead and nodded to Corey with a slight frown too. Although the others coming closer had no idea what Corey was talking about, Jim understood that the shamans gave some extra knowledge to his pair during their orgy. 

"Great. So the 'game' is upped..." his frown deepened, a bad feeling starting to grow in him. Using their stronger bond with the short redhead, Jim looked at him, thinking that they should talk things over later.

 "Yeah..." Corey nodded and turned to greet the bikers gang that came closer to them.

"Just in time! Must say I was never so happy to see you. Especially this useful you’ve become," Shawn said laughing and hugging the big man.

"Good to have you back," Mick also hugged them both. "Nice skills. So... you’ve started it..." he aimed his last words at the small red demon-breed with a touch of sadness in his voice.

"Yes. It must be this way," Corey only answered that as the two men stood there watching each other seemingly in silence.

Smiling and hugging both Shawn and Mick back, Jim nodded, the glowing of his eyes ebbing down now that his powers were pulling back into him. "Thanks. It's much better than an always wasted or coked up biker, huh?" he aimed his question at Shawn, who just laughed and nodded then put an arm around his daughter's shoulders.

Jim then looked at the two Mercy Demons, catching what they said out loud to each other. It made his frown return and as he watched them, he knew that they were communicating telepathically as their kind usually did. He couldn't know what they were saying, but through his tight bond with Corey, he felt that his pair was a bit sad too but at the same time very determined. And he also sensed that it was in relation with him. He made a mental note to himself to ask Corey about it later. Maybe he would tell. He had a feeling that the topic was the same onto which the shamans hinted at during the mysterious remarks they made to the redhead. And it was something that started to bother Jim a bit, not seeing clearly and it was piquing his thirst for knowledge too.

But suddenly all the Mercies looked at the gate in union.

"Some humans are coming," Jay said with a frown. And soon the bikers inside the bunker could hear the roars of heavy choppers and soon jells of people calling The Clown aka Shawn.

"No way... I was called The Clown decades ago…" the president climbed up on the wall surprisingly quickly for a middle-aged gray round biker. "Well I'll be damned... Open the gates. It's the Raven Lord's riders," he yelled back full of laughs waving down to the small group of people.

"Maybe they will be okay after all..." Mick hummed to himself as he saw the reunion of the two long lost branches of a once one and bigger gang.

"You leave with us. Jim, Mick comes with us. I can feel it. Now his mind calmed knowing the people we looked after will have more strength in numbers," Corey said to the walking over Nephilim.

Jim smiled watching the two leaders hug long and hard, patting each other’s' back a few times. He had heard tales of the Ravens and he was joyed too that they too seemed to have survived in quite some number. The two gangs together definitely had a better chance to survive if they decide to stay. And from the looks that was the case. From that the worry around Jim's heart eased up a bit but then from Corey's comment his brows pulled together again and he looked at his lover a bit surprised.

"Leave with us? We going somewhere?" he asked a bit confused.

"Yeah... For your future growing we need to seek more help to the East. The shamans showed me the path through Sanctuary. To the old Gods so you can learn from them and I can fulfill my purpose," Corey smiled up at Jim and hugged the puzzled man, even kissing his beard-hidden chin.

"Yes, we just…talked about it. And I will go with you two. As it turned out my purpose is to keep him and you safe. Saw that higher angel? I don't know anything about him, but he looked frightened about what you are…" Mick said on a serious tone. But the little chat was interrupted by V-man coming over.

He hugged the biker and Corey with a huge ear-to-ear smile. "Look at you, man... The hero of the day. That was a superhero landing for sure," he laughed stepping back to take a better look of his friends. "Nice transformation. And very useful powers. The Ravens brought a lot of stuff. We gonna have a barbecue, come guys..."

Jim automatically put a long tattooed arm around Corey as he explained things to him then kissed his chin but his mind was running a mile a minute already. Old gods? Learning? Well, it made sense, if he wanted to be honest to himself. As Corey said earlier, he was now stronger than his short lover and Jim guessed even Mick had his limits of knowledge when it comes to Nephilims. Apparently old Gods still existed too so Jim was sure that they would be able to teach him a few things about his kind...

Nodding, he smiled down at Corey then agreed to the trip and thanked Mick for joining them. The big guy reassured Jim that Shawn was going to be okay with the others and Jay, Sid and Chris' help.

Then he hugged V-man back with one arm and even giggled from his comments before joking for a minute or two, his other arm never letting Corey go.

Soon all was set for the celebration in one of the big halls of the bunker near the main entrance where the fresh meat was being grilled. The united gangs had a lot of stories to tell both from their shared past before they separated and then after "the end of the world” events.

Talking with them and watching the people interact, mingle and joke around did good to the big man's soul. He was sure that the leaders would soon sit down to discuss things and he really hoped that some kind of co-leadership would work between them to keep all these people safe and alive. This bunker would make an excellent base camp for them and it was something both leaders knew well.

The rest of the afternoon and most of the evening was spent in a good mood with good music, food and drinks. It was after midnight that Jim and Corey got into bed although for quite a while Jim was holding Corey close to his side as his mind didn't let him sleep. And even when he managed to do so, in a couple of hours he woke up from a bad dream. An Omen, which only underlined that he has to leave the camp if he doesn't want to bring death and destruction on these people and place. Because of what he has become.

***

The new order in the leadership formed fast and easily. The two old road hogs were like brothers and got along well with the same view of how they should carry on in the situation of the end of the world as we know it...

After a few days the Nephilim, the half-breed and the mercy demon were on the road.

It was very comical to teach Mick how to handle such a big wild metal horse. The big guy fully chose the Earthly dimension and transformed like Corey earlier. Their world, the gates and all closed up. The remains of a long before dimension faded into the void without being needed or known about.

The other two of their brothers crossed the border too. So the trip left three half-demons with the humans to help on their mission to look for and keep the survivors safe.

But anyway... Corey was hugging Jim tight, resting his face on the broad back as they were riding on the highway with Mick at their side on his own bike now...

Jim's crowded mind was distracted enough by teaching Mick practically the basics of being in a human body, which of course produced quite a few funny moments. It also reminded him of how Corey started out when he first materialized then became a half-breed for Jim.

It made the big biker all nostalgic and when they had some private time, he also expressed just how proud he was of Corey, coming along so far from those days.

Sometimes when they stopped for a break at safer places, they also practiced individually and together too. After all, it was very important – most of all for Jim – to be able to use all their powers and bodies the best they could in case something came up along the way to these old gods.

As much as Jim loved to be on the deserted roads on his bike, he had his worries and self-doubts too. But Corey hugging him like that and their bond always managed to ease up those feelings and thoughts.

He knew that he became the being he was supposed to be and that his great powers would come with great responsibilities as well. He could feel it in his bones and also in some visions, like the Omen that showed in his dreams that bunker burning and everyone dead around him as he was standing in the middle of the bunker's yard, surrounded by angels and the possessed ones ready to lunge forward to kill him.

Now this new ability of his showed him fragments of the possible future and learned from Corey to listen to them as they could warn him beforehand. That was something Jim knew was the case. And he understood the importance of getting to the old gods to learn more about himself and what he was capable of doing now and in the near future.

But deep down... it also worried him for some reason. Especially when Corey was hugging him so tight and... somehow strangely. But maybe he had his own doubts and fears too. Or at least that's what Jim thought as he time after time caressed or held the hand around him with the deep love he had for his man.

How Jim got used to his new powers amazed Corey. He was so proud of him every time they practiced. With time the glowing of the rune and Jim's eyes got more under the control of the tall man. It was better that he could hide those features, though Corey just loved them.

The small demon just adored Jim more than ever, even if he felt it at times how his mood was detected by his man. But he just wanted to enjoy all the time that was left in the arms of his biker. While he could still help him and feel his scent, warmth and power.

It won't be long now...

The End
(for now…)

Part 2 of the Codex Omega series: The Sin and the Sentence

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