Chapter Eleven
The sun kissed the horizon disappearing into the deepening hues of the approaching darkness. The wind howled, rushing through the trees as if beckoning the fury of the approaching battle. The air around grew thick with anticipation. The shadows seemed to writhe and swirl with a darkness void of life and hope.
Alyssa took the blankets Mike brought and wrapped one around Samantha. Gabe walked out of the trees and headed straight for the last piece of plywood helping Rafi to lift it from the moist grass. “Gabe,” Alyssa called to him as he neared.
Mike stepped in the doorway blocking her path. His stern expression startled her. She stepped back and stared at him in questioning silence. “I’m not used to people not following orders.” He said with annoyance. He glanced back at Gabe then gave her the same penetrating stare as on the day they first met. “I told you to stay in the chapel when we went after the boy. You didn’t listen. Don’t do it again. Stay inside the chapel.”
Alyssa nodded her assent unable to break his gaze. He turned and walked past Gabe and Rafi without another word. They leaned the wood against the front of the chapel. Rafi glanced at Alyssa and turned to Gabe saying, “I forgot the nails” Then disappeared around the corner of the chapel.
Gabe’s face was drawn and tired. Alyssa stepped closer and reached out to touch his cheek. He took hold of her hand and said, “I meant what I said; I won’t let Walton hurt you again.”
“Gabe,” She whispered, “I love you.”
His eyes grew dark with emotion. He kissed her hand softly and released it as Rafi returned. Rafi gazed after Alyssa as she turned and went inside without another word. Gabe picked up the plywood and shoved it over the door. Rafi secured it. They drew their swords and went to stand by Mike as the shadows came to life writhing and hissing.
Mike spun and headed for the barren field beside the chapel. “I’ll draw as many as I can out to me. You two keep the rest away from the chapel.” The shadows began to boil as Mike reached the center of the field. A large female demon emerged from the darkness and headed out toward Mike. It was a headless creature with large red eyes in the center of its breasts and a shark-like maw at its groin. Mike flashed a wicked grin and rushed to meet it.
Gabe spun to face a pack of wolf-like beasts with long serrated legs. Rafi raced around the side of the chapel to meet two Centipede demons with knife like appendages and lion’s heads.
Alyssa rushed to sit beside Cora. Cody began to moan and thrash around under his blanket. Cora picked him up and held him tightly against her. She sang a soft lullaby to help soothe him, but nothing worked. Alyssa pulled Samantha to her and held her. Samantha put her hands over her ears and buried her head in her mother’s chest.
Blood chilling howls filled the air followed by a mired of screeching snarls. Alyssa’s stomach churned as the sounds became guttural and savage. Slowly, and with increasing speed came the sounds of rocks and branches slamming into the chapel as the demons grew more aggressive. Cody’s moans grew louder. He began to sob uncontrollably and struggle against Cora.
She began to pray. “Father of all creation, be with us now in our hour of need. Strengthen your glorious child Michael, guardian and defender of Christ’s House; come to the assistance of Your followers, against whom the powers of hell are unchained. Lord, I ask you to give him the power to overcome this evil and free the world from this wickedness. Strengthen your child Michael with your grace and speed. Let your mighty power flow through him so he can destroy the enemy and triumph in your name.”
“Grandma,” Alyssa stared at her in amazement, “What are you doing? Mike is already here fighting for us with all his strength. There is no need to pray.”
Cora opened her eyes and gazed at Alyssa, “Sweetheart; there is always need for prayer. We must pray for God to strengthen our warriors so they may overcome the demons or they could fail.”
Alyssa shook her head in denial. Suddenly, a huge crash came from the front of the chapel. She handed Samantha to Cora and rushed to see if the door was still secure. When she reached the door, the flash of Gabe’s sword rushed through a small crack at the edge of the frame.
Kneeling on the floor, Alyssa peered through the hole to see Mike in the center of the field moving with great speed and intensity cutting down a circle of the same large reptilian demons that attacked Gabe on the highway. She moved slightly and caught sight of Gabe struggling against two large winged beasts with thin bodies and long clawed arms, as smaller slithering demons nipped at his legs and climbed up his back. Gabe spun, and Alyssa gasped as the light of his sword revealed his chest and arms were covered in blood. Suddenly Rafi appeared rushing into the fray as three more beasts, crawling low on the ground, rushed up behind Gabe with their long razor filled jaws snapping and slashing.
She glanced back at Cora, who held both children in her arms and continued to pray. Alyssa peered out from the broken spot at the battle. The archangel’s swords flashed in utter darkness against the horde of beasts of all shapes and sizes as they swarmed in around them like a tidal wave of evil. She watched in horror as the full moon broke through the clouds and spread a dim glow across the clearing.
Rafi was bloody and pale but continued to swing his sword with great strength. She glanced at Mike in the field. His face with flushed with challenge. He was in his element fighting in all his glory striking down giant beasts as he screamed in triumph.
Racing back to Cora, Alyssa asked, “Grandma, Mike is cutting down the demons, but Gabe and Rafi are hurt.” She reached out and took hold of Cora’s arm shaking her. “Stop praying for Mike, he doesn’t need your help.” She was desperate yet she couldn’t bring herself to ask.
Cora’s head rose to face her. “Lord heal and strengthen Your child of healing grace. Turn Rafael’s gift of healing and wisdom upon himself. Raise him up so he may defend Your followers from the evil that pursues us.”
Alyssa sank to the ground as Cora prayed amazed at the soothing tone of her voice and her calm demeanor in the midst of the horror that surrounded them. She tried to calm herself recalling Gabe’s words that he would not fail. He would protect her from Walton. But who would protect him from the demons?
“Grandma, please pray for Gabe.” She whispered so softly Cora hardly heard her words.
Cora stared at her in the darkness and said, “My darling, Gabe is your champion. He is yours to pray for.”
Alyssa couldn’t believe what she was saying, “No, Grandma, I can’t pray.”
Cora’s expression hardened, “Child now is the time for you to come to Gabe’s defense. He needs you. He needs your faith.”
“My prayers are never heard, Grandma. God has never answered me. He will not listen. He never has.” Alyssa grabbed Cora’s arm in desperation. “Please, you must help Gabe.”
“I cannot,” Cora pulled her arm away. “And you are wrong; your prayers were always heard. He has been with you always.”
“With me?” Alyssa rose to stand before her, “Then where was He the night my father was beaten and murdered by the elders for trying to save us? Where was He the night I was dragged from the sanctuary and thrown into Walton’s bed? Where was He the day my mother died? He never came, never saved me. He wasn’t there.”
Cora’s eyes filled with tears, and she reached out to take Alyssa’s hand. “Baby He was with you, right there holding you, giving you strength to continue, comforting you.”
“No grandma He wasn’t.” Alyssa sobbed.
“Sweetheart, He doesn’t always answer your prayers the way you want. Think back to those moments you asked for His help. Wasn’t there a time when you were frightened and suddenly became calm, or you were confused and found clarity where there had been none, or weak and didn’t think you could go on when you suddenly found strength?”
Alyssa gasped as the vision of her running through the darkness flashed before her eyes. She’d snuck out the back of the diner with a terrified Samantha in her arms exhausted. She was out of breath and
terrified Walton would find them. It was in that instant she’d silently asked for strength. At the time, she’d mistakenly thought fear gave her the power to continue. She recalled her mother’s death. How she’d given up all hope and cried herself to sleep that night. Yet when she woke the next morning with renewed strength, she realized that an escape was possible and wrote to her grandmother. Those nights after Walton finished with her when she thought she would die from shame and pain. Yet she’d always managed to carry on. She met Cora’s eyes and said, “Yes.”
“That was Him.” Cora said softly.
A sudden calmness came over Alyssa. She turned and walked slowly toward the chapel door. Kneeling down to peer out she found Rafi and Gabe standing back to back battling a sea of black oily beasts that flowed over them like a tidal wave. Gabe stumbled, and Rafi reached back to pull him to his feet as the beasts slammed into them.
As she watched Gabe struggle to hold back the demon horde, she remembered his words. Once banished from earth no ethereal being can return for one hundred years. Everything suddenly became clear. Gabe was trying to warn her. His immortality was limited on earth.
“No!” She gasped. She couldn’t lose him; she’d just found him.
Alyssa watched in horror as the demon wave overwhelmed Gabe and drove him to the ground sending Rafi reeling through the air away from him. Alyssa fell to her knees and prayed. “God I’m sorry for denying You all these years. I’m sorry I didn’t teach Samantha how to love you as my mother taught me. Thank you for keeping me alive long enough to free Samantha from Walton’s evil. Thank you for sending Gabe to protect us. I don’t deserve his protection. I don’t deserve his love. I don’t deserve Your grace or Your protection. Gabe has never denied you or forsaken you as I have. Yet he is the one suffering now. Please God heal his wounds and give him the strength he needs to defeat the demons and free the other children from Walton’s evil. Don’t let him suffer because of me. Don’t let him be banished from the earth because of me. Save him Lord, please.”
Alyssa’s head jerked up as a battle cry filled the air. She sprang to her knees to watch as Mike climbed on top of a fallen demon and raised his sword to the sky. Her eyes opened wide in awe as a pair of massive white feathered wings sprang out of his back. Rafi leap forward toward Gabe as his wings burst forth. Her eyes went to where Gabe had fallen.
Where Gabe once stood was a pile of writhing demons screeching and clawing at something beneath them. Alyssa sobbed, “Please God, save him!”
Slowly the pile of demons appeared to grow and rise up. Then in a shower of black demon blood Gabe burst from beneath them. He stretched his arms wide as two silver wings burst through his flannel shirt and sprang outward.
Alyssa’s heart leapt with joy, but it was cut short by the sound of splintering wood. Gabe spun somehow knowing Alyssa stood watching. He gazed directly at her and shouted, “Get to the altar!”
Alyssa staggered backward as the splintering turned to a snapping crack of a large tree breaking in half. She sprang to her feet and ran toward Cora. Her face was as white as a ghost. Alyssa dove toward her as the ceiling collapsed in a shower of wood and debris. Then everything went dark.
Alyssa awoke with a pounding headache. Cora called out to her as she began to stir. A flash of white light appeared directly over her. Alyssa glanced up to find Gabe perched on a large wooden beam directly above her.
“Samantha!” Alyssa called softly shoving the debris aside to find them a short distance away lying under the same large beam.
“Alyssa, we’re all right.” Cora called back to her, “Samantha is with me, she’s unharmed.”
Alyssa was stunned to hear her grandmother’s voice. “Mommy,” Samantha’s tiny voice called out to her, “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay, baby, I’m here.” Alyssa answered.
When she reached them, Alyssa glanced up toward Gabe realizing the sounds of battle had silenced. She was astonished at what she found. There above them was her grandfather’s wooden cross. It had fallen from the wall landing on the split log pews creating a barrier against the cross beams the tree forced through the chapel roof saving their lives.
Gabe stood on top of the cross gazing into the woods beyond. “Stay down,” He ordered glancing down at her. “It isn’t over.”
Rafi appeared to drop from the sky as he suddenly appeared at Gabe’s side. Alyssa rose slightly trying to follow their gaze into the trees. The soft light of the moon gave rise to a churning mass of black shadows that flowed through the trees. The mass surged forward only to stop a few feet from the chapel. The demons parted as if a knife drew a line down the center leading back to the trees.
A tall shadow moved from the depth of the woods and walked slowly toward them. Alyssa’s blood froze as she realized it was Walton. He pulled his sword from the sheath on his back. Walton stopped at the edge of the trees raising his sword high for all to see.
Mike stood on the ground in front of the horde and raised his sword in response. Walton stepped forward slowly opening his arms wide as if to embrace them all. Alyssa watched as his temples burst open, and two ram’s horns swirled out of his skull. He shouted a war cry as large black raven wings sprouted from his back.
“A fallen one, it’s Vi’ati. He hasn’t shone his face in over a thousand years.” Rafi whispered.
Mike turned and flashed them a wicked grin announcing, “I’ve got this.”
“No,” Gabe replied, “he’s mine.”
Mike’s expression changed to one of concern as he locked eyes with Gabe. Nodding his assent, Mike turned back toward Vi’ati and lowered his sword.
Gabe slapped Rafi on the back and said, “Keep them safe.”
Rafi turned to Gabe and said, “I’ve never seen a fallen angel take such a prominent role before. He’s powerful; don’t let him get the advantage. End it fast.”
Gabe knelt down and gazed through the debris at Alyssa. She reached up through the rubble, and he took hold of her hand. Their eyes met for one brief moment as he said, “I will always love you.”
Alyssa watched through tear-filled eyes as he rose and leapt to the ground.
The demons drew back as Vi’ati walked out of the trees. Gabe strode quickly to meet him. They locked eyes. Open hatred distorted Vi’ati’s face. Gabe flashed him a brilliant smile and raised his sword in challenge. Vi’ati sprinted from the trees toward him. The demon horde surged backward giving room for the battle.
Vi’ati’s sword sprang to life as a black fire engulfed it. He sprang into the air closing the distance between them. Vi’ati’s massive curved blade came down as he landed in front of Gabe. Gabe dodged the blow. He spun and punched Vi’ati square in the face with the hilt of his blade. Vi’ati fell back faltering for only a moment. Their swords flashed in the darkness. The white fire of Gabe’s blade exploded each time it struck Vi’ati’s dark flame.
Alyssa began to climb through the rubble above her, desperate see the battle. She thrust her head and shoulders above the debris in time to see Vi’ati lash out. His sword sliced the fabric across Gabe’s abdomen. Gabe staggered back as blood rushed from the gaping wound. Ignoring the pain, he growled at Vi’ati’s evil smirk and charged.
Gabe arched his blade high then swung low. He thrust his blade toward Vi’ati’s mid-section and was rewarded as the blade sank into his flesh. Vi’ati snarled and reached out with his free hand. He grabbed the front of Gabe’s shirt. Ignoring the blade as it drove deeper into his side Vi’ati pulled Gabe closer.
Vi’ati spat through clenched teeth, “I will have Alyssa this night. When I have finished, I will force Samantha to watch as my demons eat the flesh from her mother. When Alyssa screams for the mercy of death, I will allow Samantha to kill her. Then she will become my new pet.”
Gabe pulled his sword free. He shoved Vi’ati from him. Vi’ati’s laughter filled the clearing enraging Gabe. Gabe advanced on Vi’ati with renewed aggression. Vi’ati’s smile faltered as Gabe’s blade severed his free arm at the
elbow. Harder and harder Gabe pounded into Vi’ati with his blade.
Vi’ati kicked out hitting Gabe in the stomach, forcing him back. Gabe gasped for air as fresh blood flowed from his wound. Vi’ati leapt high in the air. Swinging his blade wide, he bore down on Gabe. Gabe spun below him catching Vi’ati’s sword at the hilt with the tip of his blade. Vi’ati screamed in rage as two fingers fell to the ground. Vi’ati hit the ground hard. Gabe’s sword quickly found its home in Vi’ati’s chest.
Vi’ati dropped to one knee. He fell backward as Gabe pulled his sword free.
“I am not finished,” Vi’ati snarled.
Gabe stepped forward, “I am.” He answered as he severed Vi’ati’s head.
The Light of His Sword Page 12
