by K. B. Draper
Downtown took flight, ordering the angels to charge.
I spun toward Mia. “Go. Get Grand out of here.” Then to Ashlyn, “Babe—”
“No,” she said.
There wasn’t time for argument as the black forms of former humans reduced to animated shadows began to descend. And for the fiftieth time today I was running toward the suckiest glory hole on, or technically in, Earth.
Chapter 24
The angels and their glowy swords were the most effective on the dark beings. They disintegrated when sliced or diced. The heaven hounds’ jaws worked as well. They’d latch onto a being, then whip and tear at them until there were too many pieces and parts for the form to exist. Bullets, however, went right through them—bummer. Rex and Six formed a barrier in front around Ashlyn and Loretta. Danny and I were in front of them with our blades, cutting and slicing as many as we could until there became too many to address. But we had another weapon. “Danny, cover me.” Danny slipped in front. I found my phone and shot Michael a text, receiving a fish emoji as a response. “I’ll take that as a good thing.”
A moment later the ground lit up. A ten-by-ten blanket of light lay on the earth. A second later, another spot to the left. Then another to the right, like a giant Dance Dance Revolution game floor. To my relief, the shadows were not the smartest beings, and they began to disappear into them by the hundreds.
Downtown dropped next to me. “He is close. I can’t pinpoint him, but the pull on the balance is strong. He will likely come after you as a way to get to my grandson. Just remember, my brother is cunning; do not believe what you hear or see.”
“Don’t eat the apples. Got it.” I got a blank look from the pretty angel. “Guinness?”
“Genesis?” Downtown countered.
“Oh yeah, that. Speaking of … I think I found your brother.” I pointed over his shoulder where a giant serpent rose out of the earth. Its split tongue hissed between two fangs that were as large as a Volkswagen bus.
Downtown and Ariel were already in the air. Danny and Sammy rushed forward as well, fighting the serpent’s way forward from the ground. I fought the urge to rush after them, sensing something just not right about the situation and hanging back, my eyes going from snake to the two figures that flanked the snake. They were carried through the sky on black leathery wings, and they were headed directly at us.
Amy’s grinning face swooped down as she finger waved in my direction. The second creature circled us like a vulture eyeing its next meal. Beelzebub. What the shit? I didn’t have time to piece the hows and whys together before Beelzebub and Amy dove. Amy flaked off with the first swing of my blade, but Beelzebub seemed to want to stick around and play, dancing and weaving away from my blades. He was far nimbler than I’d expected when I’d seen him atop his horse. His eyes had been dull and bored, but now … oh fuck me. He shot me a devilish, literally, grin before he flew off.
I spun to find everyone fighting. Everyone, but one. And I began to run. Again.
The town was completely consumed by fire now. The embers of hell rained down onto the streets and the surrounding buildings. I heard a scream, and I spun in its’ direction, stopping when I caught a silhouette of a man sitting on a bench as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Or, more accurately, care for the world. He caught raining embers in his palm, watching as they turned to flame. Then, with no more effort than blowing out a candle, he sent them back into the air.
“Do you like what I’ve done with the place?” Lucifer asked.
“Where’s Ashlyn?”
“What gave me away? It was the eyes, wasn’t it? I didn’t catch Beelz’s eye color before I removed them. I really hate a coward.”
“Where is Ashlyn?” I asked again.
He stood, waved a hand, and Beelzebub’s skin, his literal skin, fell around Lucifer’s ankles as if someone had just unzipped his prom dress. He took an exaggerated step over the discarded disguise. He twirled, showing off his new digs, a renaissance getup complete with a metal codpiece. An oversized metal codpiece.
“Adorable. Where’s Ashlyn?” I growled.
He sighed. “Amy is having a chat with her. Apparently there was some kind of misunderstanding the last time she was here.”
“If she hurts a single hair—”
Ashlyn screamed.
Lucifer smirked. “Sorry about that. What were you saying?”
I was moving again, running from building to building frantically searching for Ashlyn as Lucifer taunted me. “Warmer. Warmer. Oops. No, now you’re getting colder.”
I stopped, spun on him, and rushed. “Getting warmer.” He smiled. “Oh now you’re hot.” I hit him with every angry fiber of my being. He took the strike without defending himself. Ashlyn’s cries stopped with a snap of his fingers. He worked his jaw, then spat out black blood.
“That was fun.”
“You son of a bitch,” I growled.
“On that we can agree,” he chuckled. “It’s nice to see you again, Addison Jo Mattox.”
“You better not fucking hurt her!”
He groaned. “Blah, blah, blah. Humans and their emotions.”
“Where is she?”
“Ugh, we’re not going to have any kind of meaningful interaction until we get that tiny issue out of the way, are we?” He snapped his fingers and Amy and Ashlyn appeared.
Amy was holding Ashlyn in place by her hair and had a knife at her throat.
“AJ, don’t—!” Amy tightened her grip around her neck and Ashlyn’s words were cut off.
“Let her go,” I threatened, as Danny moved into the scene alongside me.
“Oh looky looky, there are two of you. About time you figured that one out.” He tsked. “Humans are always so slow on the uptake.”
“Let her go.”
“And always so single-minded. Fine. Amy, let her go.”
“My pleasure.” Before I could move, before Danny could move, Amy spun Ashlyn around and jabbed her knife into Ashlyn’s stomach. Ashlyn doubled over, stumbling backward. I caught her before she fell.
“Baby, it’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”
Amy snickered behind me. I drew Barbra and without looking plugged her in the face. Twice. It would have been more, but I was out of bullets. Danny added a blade into her spine before dropping down next to me.
Ashlyn’s eyes found mine. She started to say something, but the blood gurgling in her throat cut off the words.
“No, no, no. Don’t say anything; just stay with me.” Danny peeled off his shirt and applied it to her wound. It was immediately soaked in blood. She tried to lift her head to look at her wound. “Right here. Just look at me. I need you to look at me.”
I heard Lucifer shuffle his feet behind me, I didn’t take my attention from Ashlyn, but Danny pulled a gun and leveled it at him. “Don’t you move. Don’t you dare fucking move.”
Lucifer sighed. “Fine. I’ve waited this long. I can wait a few more minutes.”
I brought Ashlyn’s bloody hands to my lips. “I love you.” She tried for a smile, but didn’t quite make it. Her fingertips moved enough to touch my face, and my heart shattered. I shouldn’t have let her be a part of this. Why did I let her come with us. I was selfish and—
“Don’t.” She coughed, and blood began to trickle from the corner of her mouth.
Downtown landed in front of us. “Give her to me,” Downtown said. I growled.
“AJ, he might—” Danny tried, but stopped when I shot him a look.
Downtown knelt. “You’re sacrificing everything to save my family, so please allow me to do the same for you,” he said, softer this time. I pulled my eyes from Ashlyn’s closed ones and up to the archangel. “You are the one that must end this. I have her.”
I gave Ashlyn’s hand one last kiss, laid it across her body, wiped the tears from my eyes, and stood. I didn’t watch the archangel take Ashlyn heavenward. I feared I’d do something stupid like try to beat them up there.
Danny stood nex
t to me, gun still trained on Lucifer. Lucifer was nonchalantly picking at his cuticles. “Okay. Are the dramatics over with now? We good to go?”
“He’s mine,” I said, taking the gun from Danny’s hand.
“But—”
“He is mine,” I repeated.
“You can’t kill him,” Danny said to my back.
Watch me.
I drove Lucifer back with the ferocity of my glare alone. “Like the pretty boy said,” Lucifer started to say, stopping when he realized he was backpedaling. “You can’t kill me. Kill me, take my place.” He smirked. “The creator and the whole pesky balance thing, remember?”
The two shots aimed at his chest were my thoughts on that little matter. He dodged them. I aimed the next two at his head. And then another three before the clip ran out. I tossed the gun aside, not missing a step as I pulled out Mary Kate and Ashley, wanting this fight to be up close and personal.
From there we went mano a massively pissed demon hunter. I can’t recall the blow by blow as I was in a blinding rage, but there were blades, boots, elbows, fists, and teeth involved from both sides. Lucifer shredded my jacket with his claws, and when a sleeve finally gave up entirely and pooled at my wrist, I slid Mary Kate along my arm, and sliced it off. We were starting to draw a crowd. Sammy, Ariel, and Six joined Danny, followed by Rex and Loretta.
Lucifer caught my fist coming at his face, held it, and twisted to get a better look. “Uh-oh, looks like Death got a piece of you.” He sighed. “Too bad, I had a long drawn-out torture planned for you.”
I looked down at my hand and the black now filling my veins all the way to my fingertips.
“AJ!” Danny took a step toward us, but with a swirl of Luci’s hand we became encircled by a ring of black flames. “I can’t have what little time we do have interrupted.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” I brought a knee up and into his codpiece. It wouldn’t do any damage of course, but it did have him instinctively dropping my hand to cup his chestnuts.
I backed up to give me some room for my next attack, and heard Ariel yell through the flames. “AJ, that’s hellfire; you can’t touch it!” This warning probably explained the reason Six was frantically pacing trying to find an opening. A flame leapt at him, and I heard him yelp.
During that brief distraction, Lucifer leapt, coming down with an elbow to the side of my face, which took me to the ground. “Humans and their emotions,” he gloated over me. “That’s what makes you so weak.”
He knelt next to me, brushing the hair from my face. “You know, maybe I will reconsider letting Death’s touch kill you. Maybe I’ll heal you just enough to keep you alive and torture you for all eternity.” He laid a fingertip on the pulse of a black vein in my arm, and fire shot through me, arching my back as I convulsed in pain. He lifted his finger, but the pain didn’t recede, merely dulling from white hot coal being shoved under my skin to white hot coal being removed from under my skin. He turned my head so I was forced to look at him. “How does that sound?”
“Fuck you,” I spat.
“Always so crude.” He stood again. “But not to worry, I’m sure we’ll find another use for that mouth of yours.” And then he delivered a boot to my side.
I felt my ribs crack—again. I rolled onto my other side, curling into myself to bring my knees up to my chest. That’s when I caught sight of Danny through the flames. He was eye level to me. Held down by Rex and Sammy, he was fighting them, trying to claw his way toward me. His fingers were raw and bloody with his efforts.
I reached my fist out toward him. “Wonder Twin powers,” I muttered with just enough air in my lungs to bring the words into existence.
He didn’t have to hear the words to get my message. His fight left him, turning instead to pleading screams. Tears ran down his face, and the veins in his neck strained as he screamed my name.
I let Lucifer jerk me up by the back of my hair, and I crossed my arms over my cracked ribs for the short trip. He pulled his fist back, but turned instead to look over his shoulder at what was backlighting our scene. He dropped me, and I fell to one knee as Michael stepped out of the light. “Ha. So it is true. The little guy can open veils. How very interesting.”
He turned back to me. “Was that your plan? To put me back in my box?” He seesawed his head. “Not a bad idea. Except for the fact that it’s out there and you’re in here and no one, not even God, can cross through hellfire.” He reached out, taking me by the throat and squeezing as he lifted. “But hey, thank you for showing me how the little guy works. He will be most useful when I go to take—”
He words died as I drove the knife into his heart with Apoc’s light still encased in its crystal blade. Lucifer stumbled back, dropping me to reach for the blade in his chest. I righted myself, giving my throat a little rub of encouragement as I stepped toward him.
“Know one of my pet peeves?” I asked. He didn’t answer, a little distracted by the blade in his chest I was guessing. “In movies, I always hate the long, drawn out dramatical monologues.” He stumbled backward. “I’m always like, oh my god, just freakin’ kill them already.”
“But you—” he gasped.
“I know, I know. Kill you, take your place,” I said. “But see, I’m kind of a go ahead and get shit done, then figure the rest out later, kind of girl.” I kicked, catching Lucifer under the chin. He fell back. I stood over him. “Plus, I told you not to hurt her.” I brought the soul of my boot down on the knife’s hilt, shattering the blade in Lucifer’s chest.
I stumbled back as light exploded in and around him. Then as quickly as it was there, it was gone and so was Lucifer. The black flames fell away, and I swayed on my feet.
Danny caught me. He was saying something, but I couldn’t make out the words over the super-distracting blackness that was creeping into my core—well that and the bells off in the distance. I smiled. “Tell her I will find her,” I said, and then the darkness consumed me.
Epilogue
I ran my hand through my hair, not making it any better, but after thirty-five run-throughs already, one more wasn’t going to make a big diff. Especially since my new gig came with all kinds of freaky powers. I snapped my fingers, then checked my reflection in the mirrored wall making up the back of the bar, and all hairs were back in order. Not the most impressive power I had inherited, but it did save me a chunk of change in hair products.
I checked my watch for no good reason as it had been a few months in Central Standard Earth Time, so what are five more minutes? An eternity. I’d spent my time away holding meetings, finding the cafeteria, posting a few new workplace etiquette memorandums on the bulletin board, ordering new office supplies, but mostly I’d been trying to figure out how to find the exit door.
I was nervous to see the old gang. One gang member in particular. I’d been able to keep track and get updates, but until I was able to lay eyes on Ashlyn myself I wouldn’t be able to replace my last memories of her on the battlefield, a knife—nope. I shook the memory away and drank my beer.
“Hey, pretty lady, this seat taken?” Bubba Bumfuck said, already hiking a leg over the empty seat next to me.
“If any part of your ass touches any part of that ugly pleather seat, I will feed you your appendix through a straw, and not a big fat smoothy straw either; we’re talking cocktail straw.” I turned just enough for him to catch my new glowing red-eye trick.
Bubba’s ass hit the floor instead of the bar stool so I went back to the mirror, took another sip of my drink, and watched him scamper backward, bounce off a table, and head to the door. And then the world stopped.
Ashlyn came through the door Danny held for her, her laugh turning to concern as Bubba rushed past her. My heart started up a line dance in my chest at the mere sight of her. She was … well, she was Ashlyn. And she was here. I’d played our reunion over and over again. Mostly, I’d fast-forwarded to the naked parts of the scene, but now I wished I’d spent a little more time on the preliminary stuff like “Hi, w
hat ya been doing? Me? Oh, just adjusting to being the ruler of hell.”
Ashlyn’s eyes came up suddenly as if she’d actually heard my internal convo. Danny’s back straightened as well. It could’ve been in response to Ashlyn’s abrupt stiffening or his newly-ish installed demon-alert system, Issa. With a hand, he held Michael up at the door. Apoc was playing with a firetruck, rolling it up and over Michael’s head. I couldn’t help smiling. Nava, however, slipped around Michael to put herself between the threat and her boys. Ashlyn stepped further into the crowded bar. Her eyes swept right to left until she found mine in the mirror. We stayed there like that, a million things being said without any words being spoken. She finally moved. Two steps in my direction, then three.
I spun on my seat, my own boots hitting the floor and itching to move but frozen by the knowledge I’d broken my promise to her. I’d done the one thing she’d asked me not to do. To be fair, I’d been a bit ragey at the time. Lucifer had … yeah, I didn’t want to spend another minute conjuring up images of my last moments with Ashlyn. I’d been in hell for weeks, yet that didn’t come close to the self-inflected nightmares I’d put myself through by replaying the images of Ashlyn dying in my arms.
“Hey,” I tried.
She came at me, shoving me so hard she knocked me back against the bar. Then her arms and legs wrapped around me, and all the what ifs poofed when her mouth met mine to the sound of wolf whistles and cat calls from the bar patrons.
“I’m so mad at you,” she said, though her mouth came right back to mine.
“I’m sorry,” I muttered against her. “I’m so sorry.”
She leaned back, “Are you okay? I mean …” She ran a hand along my face, my hair. “You look okay.”
“I’m okay. You? They … I mean, Downtown said he’d take care of you.”
“I’m good. He did. I’m good. Better than good, I guess,” she said, dropping her feet to the floor.
