by Carla Rehse
Adrenaline made my palms sweaty, and I tried to force myself to breathe normally. “We were taught not to play with strangers.”
The demon elbowed his mouthy friend. “Strangers? We’re gonna—”
The Hellhound, apparently bored with growling, charged at the demon and ate him. Literally. Not drooled. Not took a bite. But swallowed the demon whole. Then let out a belch that stunk worse than a trash can in late August.
The puppy-chowed demon’s friends decided to skedaddle. Translation: they screamed like a bunch of wussies and tripped over themselves as they ran away, dribbling sparks of Hellfire behind them. The Hellhound belched again, then sat and proceeded to use its claw to pick at its teeth.
Lawson cleared his throat. “Uh, that was different.”
“I can say one thing about you, Everly,” Janice said from behind me. “Things are never boring around you. Weird, scary, and smelly. But never boring.”
“Ha ha,” I retorted, too rattled to come up with an adult response.
An explosion ripped through the area. I began to fall forward when a bright light flashed around me.
I staggered and collided with Lawson, who then toppled into Janice. The Hellhound was nowhere in sight. We seemed to have been transported inside the Celestial Building. The clouds of black smoke rising from the embers of Hellfire littered throughout the hallway made it hard to tell.
Three Seraphs manned the front entrance. Dim, flickering white light coated their arms. They should’ve been covered in blinding battle light. Was this what happened when their Grace ran low?
“Gatekeeper.” Sera, a junior angel, bowed her head to me. Her hair tangled around her face in complete disarray, while red burn marks spotted her arms. Burn marks. Holy Saints alive. A Seraph not immediately healing was unheard of. But her injuries were unmistakable. Panic stabbed my gut. I stepped back until I ran into Lawson. He placed a steadying hand on my shoulder.
Sera swiped at a loose tendril on her forehead, leaving a trail of soot in its place. “The Dominion is downstairs. She waits for you.”
I glanced at Lawson, who slightly shrugged his shoulders. Great. He didn’t know who or what a dominion was either. “Where’s Sebastian?” I asked.
A wave of Hellfire flew against the glass door. Jallon threw an orb at it, which neutralized the flames.
Sera’s arms lit up, but still not as bright as they should have been. “Hurry downstairs.” She didn’t wait for a reply before flinging an orb. How it went through the glass without breaking it became another of those metaphysical oddities surrounding this town.
Knowing it was useless to argue or delay, as the Seraphs had readily proven they would drop me wherever they wanted, I headed to the basement stairs. My brain tried to make sense of the lack of Grace surrounding the Seraphs. Yes, I knew they were cut off from Heaven. And yes, I knew Sebastian and Nevaeh had received jolts from their subordinates to enhance their strength, but I hadn’t realized how close they were to dying. I wasn’t usually much of a drinker, but I’d never wanted a double vodka more than I did right now.
Lawson and Janice followed close behind me as I made my way down the stairs. They hadn’t really been invited, but I wouldn’t have wanted to stay upstairs either. As I neared the basement door, a sweet but fetid scent tickled my nose. Not the stomach-turning stench of decomposition, but something similar.
Inside the basement, the sheet-covered bodies of the town’s human elders remained. My mind tried to name them, but I shut that down. Grief had to wait.
“Gatekeeper,” Nevaeh, slumped on the kitchen floor, groaned.
“What happened?” I sprinted to her but had no clue how to help. Her form flashed brightly, then faded around the edges, as if her physical body was reverting to her spiritual state.
“I’ve received their hallowed endowment … Little time remains,” she groaned. “My Grace … nearly depleted, but their sacrifice is not meant for me to keep. You have the power within to defeat the demons and save the remaining Seraphs.”
“Power? What pow—” I crouched next to her, then shrugged off my rucksack. “The box from the Bwbach?” How suspiciously odd that the Bwbach had the one thing to take out the demons and managed to give it to me just as I needed it. Kinda like a cheesy made-for-television movie moment.
Nevaeh scoffed. “Stop being such a complete imbecile. The Gatekeeper power. Use it.”
“Oh.” My cheeks warmed with embarrassment. “How? And for the love of all the Saints, please don’t give me some hippy-dippy ‘feel the power resonate through your soul’ crap.”
Nevaeh smiled. “I have always liked you. No … too late for training. I am going to give you the Grace inside me. The power will build within you. By the time you get up the stairs, it should be enough to explode out and neutralize the Hellspawn. Then find your children. Stop … the witches.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Yeah. Um. Where’s Sebastian?” He might dress like a drunk pirate but at least he always appeared mostly sane.
Nevaeh beckoned me closer. She whispered, “Many of us in Heaven do believe in you.” She touched my wrist with her finger. Heat slammed into me until I was sure I’d catch fire. “Run!” Nevaeh groaned. She arched her back, opened her mouth in a silent scream, then disappeared.
I stood up. “I don’t even …” I trailed off when I caught sight of Lawson and Janice. They had their arms around each other, and their eyes looked ready to pop out of their sockets. “What’s wrong?”
Lawson edged backward, dragging Janice with him. “Are you serious? You’re on friggin’ fire!”
I glanced down. White flames twirled around my lower body and my skin glowed with an incandescent shimmer. “Huh.”
Janine whimpered, “Saints save me.”
Cramping pain spiked through my stomach, raw and sharp. “I need to get upstairs.”
Lawson and Janice scooted out of my way. Urgency rippled through me and I took the stairs three at a time. When I hit the lobby, the Hellfire smoke extinguished as I touched it.
The Seraphs knelt on the ground as I passed them. I wanted to ask Sera what was going on, but I couldn’t make my legs stop. Or open my mouth to ask questions.
Frustrated tears blurred my sight. While instinct dominated my body, it didn’t stop the panic-thumping of my heart. I hated feeling helpless. Powerless. Fear had turned my brain to mush, and I couldn’t think. I needed to come up with a plan to regain control.
As I neared the doors, they opened.
“You can do this,” a voice whispered in my mind.
“Do what?” I muttered through a closed mouth.
“Let go …”
It had to be the spiritual remains of Nevaeh. Nothing else in the universe could be so unhelpfully and aggravatingly vague.
The scene at the parking lot hadn’t changed. Dozens of demons lounged around, throwing spouts of Hellfire at objects. Most of the vehicles had been burned to cinders. The demons were now trying to see how far they could throw their Hellfire like some post-apocalyptic Olympics.
Across the street, flames engulfed the bakery and The Rogue. A fire alarm warbled but was quickly drowned out by the cheers of the demons as the Yates Bar ’N’ Grill caught fire. Ash fell from the sky and everything reeked of burnt blood and sulfur.
I’d seen many paintings of the End of Times as Sadie studied to be an art historian. I’d also viewed scenes of war and natural disasters on the news. None of that prepared me for the gut-wrenching, utter destruction of my hometown. Tears poured from my stinging eyes.
The cramping in my stomach increased, reminiscent of labor pains. I panted against the agony as my feet continued to move me forward. The luminescence on my skin brightened until I glowed like a Christmas ornament.
The demons had their attention focused across the street, shouting bets at how long it would take for the church to catch fire. I gritted my teeth against a moan. Though I didn’t know what I was supposed to do, I sure didn’t want the demons to spot me.
; Howls broke out as four gigantic Hellhounds surrounded Zim, who still hung from the pole. They assumed a protective stance around him. Zim raised his head and shouted something in Diabolish. I didn’t know what he said, but there was no mistaking his triumphant tone.
A demon turned to look at Zim, then noticed me staggering onto the parking lot. The demon raised his hand and created a ball of flickering, orange Hellfire.
As the worst cramp ever sliced through me, Nevaeh’s advice came to me. Taking it, I relaxed my muscles.
And exploded.
TWENTY-THREE
Shakespearean tragedy
Power burst from me. But not just through my abdomen like when the ghouls attacked. No, this time the energy poured from every part of my body into a blinding vortex that flew around me.
Or was I part of the vortex? Like when Tien was swept up and absorbed by the glowing hand thingy? Once again, I should’ve asked Nevaeh questions before she whammied me with her remaining Grace.
I tried to focus on what was around me but couldn’t see anything except the flashing light from the power. I also couldn’t feel my body. That, uh … had to be a really, really bad thing. I needed to get off this rollercoaster and regroup. But how?
“Stop!” I screamed. Or thought I screamed. Could I still scream?
“Control it,” a voice whispered in my mind.
“How?” I grunted. Or possibly whimpered, but this wasn’t the time to split hairs.
The power streaming from me didn’t hurt. Exactly. Which was weird. Almost as if I no longer had a body. Was that why I couldn’t feel anything? Not even my feet. I tried again to glance down to reassure myself I remained standing in the Celestial Building’s parking lot. But I couldn’t see anything past the whirling, incandescent light. Panic ripped through my mind. And only in my mind. Usually when scared, my chest felt like an elephant sat on it. I still didn’t feel anything.
Was I … dead?
Wouldn’t a person know if they’d kicked the bucket? It really seemed like that would be something—
Stop it. Stop it! STOP IT!
Was that my thoughts? Holy shit. I couldn’t tell.
Stopitstopitstopitstopitstopit.
I was losing control.
Had lost control.
Maybe I wasn’t me any longer. Nevaeh’s Grace could’ve pushed my humanity to the edge.
Over the edge.
NO!
I’m Everly Ivona Popa. I am in control.
The binding spell came to mind. Maybe I needed to attach Nevaeh’s Grace to the amount I already had stuck in me? Not having a clue what else to do, I desperately whispered the words:
“To me, I bind you.
To me, with Grace from Heaven.
To me, under salt and iron.
To me, between light and dark.
To me, forever into the gray.
To me, Hell Gate and beyond, I bind you.”
The swirling light cleared, giving me a telescopic glimpse of the parking lot. Three dozen demons cartwheeled around in the air, caught in the grip of my out-of-control power. Hellfire burned underneath them, flickering red-hot flames that on closer inspection appeared to be fiery damned souls reaching toward the demons. The grayish ash raining down turned black as night, filling the air with the putrescence stench of sin and despair.
A part of me continued to freak over the amount of power streaming from my body. The more analytical side of my mind remembered what I did earlier to close the Gate. Extra Grace juice or not, I was still the Gatekeeper.
I clenched my left hand into a fist, and the iron disc embedded into my wrist chimed the Gate-opening subsonic song that vibrated through my bones instead of ringing in my ears. This was it! I did have control over this.
The demons rose in a whirlwind above my head. Most screamed in Diabolish and struggled against my psychic grip, but many were broken, limp bodies.
The disc continued to chime its song, lessening my panic. I did this once and by all the Saints, would do it again.
I tightened my fist until my fingernails dug into my palm, then tossed the energy at the flickering flames. The demon whirlwind spun down into the Hellfire. The flames howled while ripping the demons apart, then everything vanished, except for a spiral of oily, black smoke.
The power flowing through my body ended like a snuffed candle. Thunder crashed overhead and a bolt of lightning lit up the area. A strong scent of ozone wafted across the whipping winds that pushed the ash to the ground. Heavy rain poured as Crossing Shadows attempted to put out the flames from the demons’ Hellfire racing across town.
I lifted my face into the warm downpour, letting it rinse away the ash covering me. My body tingled like a foot that had gone to sleep. Except for the area around the disc in my wrist. It stung worse than a murder hornet sting. But I welcomed the pain. I still had my body and wasn’t dead. Huge victories in a horrifying war of unending losses.
“Gatekeeper?”
I turned, expecting to again see Mack on the Plane of the Dead.
Instead, Sera stood there under a shimmering anti-rain spell and holding a white Council robe. “Gatekeeper, the Gate has closed. If it pleases you, let us get you inside and away from this deluge. Crossing Shadows will soon complete its cleansing.”
After everything that had just happened, I expected my legs to give out as I followed her to the doorway and under the wooden overhang.
“You look much better,” I said, surprise tinging my tone. Sometime during the Everly-cyclone, the Seraph had re-braided her hair and changed to a clean robe. Even her wounds had vanished.
Sera smiled. “The Grace inside you is a gift from my sister and brothers and me. We have healed in our transition, thanks to the Heavens. And you, of course. We are honored to be touched by the Dominion’s power through the Gatekeeper.”
Healed Seraphs was certainly a gigantic check in the plus column. Especially as I wasn’t sure how many demons remained in town. Very pissed-off demons, I should add. “What about Sebastian? What happened to him?”
Sera’s eyebrows dipped into a frown, then smoothed out to the normal blank angel expression. “Sebastian, along with Efra and Avelino, is tracking the Bleakness Wraith. I am unsure where they are at this time.”
Efra and Avelino? I didn’t know them, but at least Sebastian wasn’t out there on his own. That Wraith was no joke. “Any word on the location of the kids or witch? And any idea how the Bakers arranged all of this?”
“None.” Sera handed me the dry robe like it was the most important part of this conversation.
“Why not?” I asked, leaking more frustration than I normally would with a Seraph. Mama brought me up properly, after all. Or tried to. “Y’all are angels. God’s perfect creations. Shouldn’t you be able to do something as simple as find a Hellspawn-infected witch?”
“Witches, good and bad, are practitioners of magic.” Sera shot me a “how stupid could you be” look. She must’ve trained under Nevaeh.
“Yes,” I groaned through gritted teeth. “But can’t you break through their mojo? Or at the very least tell me who all the witches in town are?”
“But surely you have researched the Archivist’s birth journal?” Sera upgraded her stare to “you really are the stupidest person to have ever lived in all the millennia that humans have plagued this world.”
My pride didn’t want me to, but I asked, “Birth journal?”
“The journal that lists the parentage of all the Marked in town? While the pure Marked, such as your Popa bloodline, have been carefully kept away from breeding with any Hellspawn, that is not true of the minor branches.” She didn’t wait for my bristly reply about the breeding comment but entered the building without another word.
“We aren’t sheep!” I yelled at Sera’s back as the door closed behind her.
I stared at the glass, not really seeing the billowing smoke behind me as a memory swam to the top of my mind. When I was a tyke, maybe four or five, Mama had retrieved a large, leather
-bound book from a locked filing cabinet in her office. I’d been going through a “who’s my daddy” stage. Mama showed me the book and said she’d explain when I was older. Or said something to that effect. The memory was a tad fuzzy. The vision of the file cabinet sharpened for a few seconds, then faded away, leaving me with the sense that it was vital I get to it.
If Sera had meant that book—and if it hadn’t disappeared when Mama died—would it list all those in town with witch blood? There were some minor issues to that theory, such as why Mama and/or Sebastian hadn’t mentioned the birth journal earlier.
The door cracked open, and Lawson stuck his head out. “Everly? You all right?”
I forced myself to focus on his face. “Sorry. I was thinking about something Sera just said.”
“Sera?” he asked, shooting a glance at Janice behind him. “What do you mean what she just said?”
The vision of the file cabinet flashed, then faded again in my mind. “What do you mean about what I mean?”
“Oh, for the love of the Saints!” Janice huffed. “None of this ‘who’s on first’ crap. Sera and the other Seraphs are dead. How did you talk to her?”
Now I was really confused. “Sera’s dead? Since when?”
Lawson cleared his throat. “Right as you were going down the stairs to check on Nevaeh? We saw Sera and the others get hit by Hellfire balls. They disintegrated.”
The back of my neck crawled as I held up the robe Sera handed me. A key, hanging from a fine, silver chain, had been pinned to the collar. A file cabinet key.
Was Sera, and Nevaeh for that matter, back in Heaven, or had the closed boundary prevented that? The Gatekeeper only controlled Hell’s Gate, after all. Perhaps the dead Seraphs were stuck here with the souls of our elders. While tragic, it brought a small measure of comfort that Mama wasn’t completely bereft of Heaven’s touch.
A tinkling laugh bounced through my mind. “We are with you, Gatekeeper,” Sera whispered.
With me? Oh. Yeah. With me as in their Grace must’ve mixed somehow with Nevaeh’s before she supercharged me. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. It seemed so wrong that the Seraphs had sacrificed themselves. I also didn’t waste any time wondering how I could hear Sera’s spirit. That was the least crazy thing to happen today.
