The Belial Ring (The Belial Series 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

Fallen will also feel a connection to a nephilim, the child of a human and a Fallen, although that connection is weaker. And nephilim, like Henry, felt a connection to one another, but not to full-fledged Fallen.
    Clark continued. “The Fallen working with us help us track down others of their kind. And sometimes, when the situation warrants it, they even help recruit them.” He nodded at Henry. “Nephilim, too.”
    Henry gave the agent a smile that would have done a shark proud. “Well, if this is a recruitment pitch, I’m afraid I’ll have to decline.”
    Clark gave an easy laugh. “Not at all.”
    “ I’m not sure I like the idea of the Fallen being recruited,” Jake said.
    Clark nodded , his easygoing mask slipping just a little. “Well, being recruited by us is a good thing. The problem is—we’re not the only ones doing it.”
     
     

    CHAPTER 4
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    L aney struggled to keep her face expressionless. Someone—someone besides this government organization that they hadn’t even heard of until two minutes ago—was recruiting the Fallen. Shit seemed too tame a curse for that kind of revelation.
    “ Who else is recruiting?” Jake asked.
    Clark shrugged, although his tense posture made it clear he wasn ’t as nonchalant as he was trying to appear. “We’re not sure exactly. We don’t have any names—at least not any names of the big guys behind the recruitment.”
    Laney cut him off. “Big guys? So you think it’s a group doing the recruiting, not just an individual?”
    Clark nodded. “The Fallen have, throughout time, occasionally made their presence known. But usually they stick to the shadows, gathering power individually. Every once in a while, though, they begin to group. And when that happens, it never bodes well for humanity.”
    “ What do you mean—in the past?” Laney asked.
    Clark raised an eyebrow. “Hmm, I thought you would already know that.”
    Laney reined in her impatience. No, I don’t know that, jackass.
    “ Well, there have been times in humanity’s history when the Fallen have united,” Clark said. “In those times, humanity has been on the edge of destruction.”
    “ Atlantis and the world flood,” Laney said.
    Clark nodded. “That was one. The Trojan War was another. There have been other failed attempts as well, such as the Hundred Years War and World War II.”
    Now Jake interrupted. “World War II? Hitler was a Fallen?”
    Clark shook his head. “No, although it’s no secret he wished he was. He was part of a human group. But we believe some of his Übermensch may have been.”
    Laney knew the Übermensch were a later addition to Hitler’s Lebensborn program. Members of the program had to be able to demonstrate their racial purity back to 1750 and be in perfect physical condition. The program resulted in the birth of forty-two thousand babies before its end in 1944.
    In the final years of the program, though, Hitler added an additional membership requirement: each male member must be at least six feet tall. And members six feet six inches, or taller were regarded as Übermensch, the closest Germans to their warrior ancestors.
    Laney ’s gaze strayed to Henry. One of the attributes that sometimes came with being a nephilim was extreme height. Laney had never thought of the Übermensch in relation to the Fallen. Had the Übermensch been nephilim? Had Hitler tapped into their unique abilities, or been trying to? It was a frightening thought.
    Her head spinning, she shoved her curiosity into a corner of her mind, focusing on the issue at hand. “And you believe the Fallen are grouping again?”
    Clark nodded. “Yes. And at the SIA, we don’t like that. We thought you should be warned.”
    “ But why us?” Laney asked.
    Clark leaned back, his hands entwined across his flat stomach. “You three are interesting. For some reason, the Fallen seem to be swirling around you. You’ve been involved with at least four Fallen in less than