The Celestial Rose BoxSet

by Annalee Adams

  Insane laughter rippled through my broken body. It was all too much; the laughter, the giggles, the pain. It was like I was in Hell. Oh wait, I was. A sinister strike of schizophrenic screams unwound out of my tragically twisted body. It was impossibly decadent. The shriek inside of me was dying to get out. It needed to. Clicking and creaking, my bones wriggled back into position. Mmm, wait, blood. Yummy scrummy in my tummy.

  It was time to get going. It was about time that sister of mine paid for what she’d done. It was delightful that her devastating desire was so deadly. Couldn’t she see it? Wouldn’t she see it? She could have been so much more in daddy’s eyes. Where was daddy dearest? Where could he have disappeared to? The new toy of his must have been entertaining his senses. What did those pesky humans call it? Ah, auntie. He would be my nephew, so that made me his Auntie Lili. Then again, was he my nephew? Or was he my grandchild? Oh, it was all tragically traumatic, the silly names for things. Why didn’t we just call it family? It was so much easier that way.

  I was going to enjoy teaching him everything I know. He’d delight in the devastation we’d cause together. The little man would be fabulous, well... after I’d remade him. The human form was disgusting. I don’t know how they stand it. The weakness, the frail, mortal lifeline. One slip and bam, they’ve hit the ground, turned to ash, and are delivered to Hell as new toys to play with. My little boy would not be stained by their existence. He would rule over them just as I did, just as Luci did. Eve could take the girl, that was fine. She was too full of all things pretty anyway. Daddy said girls couldn’t be trusted. He didn’t trust me; I could tell. He wished for another boy, but the fates had other ideas. I could change myself, but why should I destroy my ample body? My figure had served me well over the years, and hot damn, I was the beauty they all desired.

  Now, where was that sweet sister of mine?

  CHAPTER 96: LUCIAN

  Leaving my beloved was one of the hardest things I had ever had to do. The thought of her being left in the clutches of her monstrous sister struck me down. I couldn't see for the tears warping my eyesight. My daughter screamed, her heart roaring for the comfort of her mother's arms. She nestled into my chest, soothing herself to sleep as she nuzzled, searching for milk. I held her close as I ran, whizzing around corridor after corridor. They all looked the same. How could I get out of Hell?

  The damp stench of moistened bodies, ripe with the slithering of death, suffocated me. If it affected me so, then how was it affecting my daughter's immature lungs? She needed medical help, to be checked over by a professional. I couldn't vouch for her longevity. I needed her to survive. I had to save someone.

  It didn't help, though, no matter how fast I ran or how hard I pushed, I couldn't escape the clutches of darkness. I'd have thought I would have had a map engrained into me, considering my body shared my soul with the darkness. But no, there was no help anywhere. I had to help myself and protect my child with my immortal existence, if need be.

  Each corridor filled with stone walls and mossy mildew looked the same. Hours must have passed as my daughter fell to sleep and I ran, whizzing around one corner after the other. Frozen tendrils of darkness reached out from the walls, grasping at my skin, calling me forth, threatening to capture my soul. Each pathway grew darker still as lanterns flickered, broken only by the shrill of the wind. But if there was wind then there was a way for it to get in. That meant a path to beyond Hell and back to the mortal remains of Earth. But where was my home now? With Earth gone, destroyed by fire and flame, my home was a travesty of ashes and cinder. Where could I run to? My home was with Taylor, by her side, holding her hand as she grew into old age gracefully. Without her, who was I? I guessed I was a father now, a daddy to my darling daughter and the son that was taken from me. If there was one thing I could do to ease the guilt of leaving my love it would be to break free of this place, find a safe haven for my baby girl, and seek out my son, to return him home.

  The thought that concerned me wasn’t necessarily the getting out, it was how the heck would I get back in? Hell was built on a labyrinth of pain. Its corridors changed shape. Its exits remained shrouded by darkness. But to get back in, that was a one on a million chance of finding the right portal to step through. If I left, would I ever be able to reach my beloved again? And would she last long enough for me to find her? I couldn’t find her any more, even if I had wanted to. My route would have changed, reinvented itself through a complex dance of trickery and triumph.

  Was this my own personal Hell? A warped montage of forgotten trails all blending into the other. It didn’t seem so bad, considering. I had expected a monstrous heralding of Lilith’s finest. Where was the beast in beauty’s form? Why wasn’t I the target of her woes anymore? Could it be that she was at home with Taylor, causing her an array of medicinal misery? I would have guessed so, although I had hoped not.

  My baby girl snored soundly in my arms, soothed by the jolting of my pace as my feet pounded the ground. It was no use. I had to stop and think. If Hell was something created by darkness, then I had to use my own demonic nature to interpret the pathway ahead. So down I sat, calming my breath as I cradled my child and looked ahead at the shifting reality before me.

  CHAPTER 97: TAYLOR

  The cool, stone floor numbed my bottom as I phased in and out of consciousness. Shadows depleted my view as all I saw were the shadelings clambering nearby, ready for their next unearthly meal. My death would be a celebration to their kind, the one that should have never been. They had never enjoyed sharing their realm with a mortal human frame and when I stepped over to join them, they were damned sure I left as quickly as I came. Who would have thought that they were the Dark Ones? Besides Lucian, they were the oldest of their kind, but the ones that had succumb to blood lust, feeding on the flesh of many. Their carnivorous nature became their undoing, immortalising them as shadows of their former selves.

  But then, my rancid body was lavished with infection, dying through sepsis one symptom at a time. It didn't help that my intestines were unravelled, pooling in a vat of fluid beside me. I'd tried putting them back in, but the strength in my arms had left me long ago.

  The heaviness in my body weighed me down. Any ounce of energy had drained when I'd tried to leave the vile place. I had wanted to go, to be free with my family, but no matter how hard I pushed, I no longer had the strength inside to keep going.

  I hoped that they had gotten away. It seemed only moments ago that they had left me. I'd pushed him to leave; he had to save our baby girl, someone had to survive. I know he'd never forgive himself for leaving me, but I'd never forgive myself if I had lost them both through my own selfish desire to live on. My life wasn't as important anymore; the lives of my children were. They were the best of me, the best of Lucian. How could I live knowing I'd not given everything to see them survive? One day I hoped to see her again, one day we could be together. But for the moment, she was in his hands, cared for by my love and protected by her father forevermore. If only I could say the same for my own father. If only my love for him was enough to keep him away from the darkness that threatened his daily existence. Alas, it wasn't. I wasn't. None of us were. He'd chosen the darkness over his family, and it was a choice he could never undo, not that he had ever tried. I'd love to say we could have all gone our separate ways and live happily ever after, but that wasn’t on the cards, was it? Especially since he had taken my son, my baby boy. My child's first vision of life was death, the death of his own soul as it was suffocated by the serpent and every ounce of light was squeezed from him. I had hoped there was a morsel of good within his tiny human body. I had hoped for a miracle that he'd overcome the urge to maim, rape, and slaughter. His father had, Lucian had. Lucian was bought into the darkness by Lilith, turned into a monstrous being, but his kind heart had never left him. He had light in him. I'd never known why, or how, but he did.

  The shriek of my sister's callous cackles echoed across the labyrinth of corridors. She was close, she was near.
Was this it? The end to my tragic fragmented life?

  "Little Evie, is that you I hear vomiting in the corner?"

  The corridor was dark. I'd hidden where I’d fallen in amongst the shadow of nightlife as I withered away.

  Lilith came skipping around the bend. "My, oh my, Evie, you do look a mess!" She exclaimed as she knelt beside me, picking up my intestines. "Oh, this won't do at all." She shoved her hand in my gaping abdomen. "These belong in here! Naughty, naughty!" She giggled profusely. "Come on, chop chop, off we trot." I wasn’t sure if I hated my sister or if her insane little speeches just spurred me on. She was totally nuts, and part of that made me like her even more. Even though I hated her, too. I mean, why wouldn't I? She had a knack of shitting on everything I did. Not to mention, took pleasure in killing off my loved ones. I could never forgive her for murdering my brother with her pet beast.

  "Get off me, Lilith," I yelled.

  "Tut tut, you know you should call me Lili."

  I groaned.

  "Now get up, Evie, I can't lift you by myself!"

  "No." I was adamant. What was the point? Head back over to the covers of doom to be tortured again? I didn't care anymore, and the more time I kept her busy with me, the more time Lucian and my daughter had to get away.

  "LITTLE EVIE!... get up NOW!" Okay, she was serious, and her booming voice shocked me. I did as I was told, using the stone wall for balance. "That's a good little Evie!" She exclaimed. She talked to me like a child. Where was my child? My boy had been taken, too. Was there any chance of saving him?

  "Where's my son?" I asked, panting for breath.

  "Daddy took him to the well."

  "What well? Where?"

  "Now now, daddy will take extra special care of him, Evie, don't you worry that fragile head of yours." She cackled, giggling savagely.

  What well did she mean? I'd never heard of a well in Hell. Where did it lead to? Wells were usually a water source from underground...but Hell was the underground, realistically speaking. Then again, on the map Adam showed me, Hell was a vortex planet. It was highly possible it didn't follow the usual ecological rules.

  Lilith flung my arm over her shoulder and steadied me as we stumbled back to the cavern.

  It stunk of death in there; necrotic tissue, rabid with infection. I'd say the stench was coming from me, but something overpowered it, someone else was in a state closer to the end than I was.

  "Come, Evie, meet mummy." Lilith announced as she dragged me over to the bloody floor my mother hung above. I collapsed into a pile, looking up at her.

  "Doesn't she look beautiful?"

  My heart skipped a beat. I gasped at the sight of her. She was the stench I'd forewarned myself about. My muscles tightened, fists balled. How could she do this to her? Her own mother? Was there no light left within her? The urge to vomit took over as I stared at the flap of skin Lilith was waving about. My mother's arm had been skinned up the side, blood dropped down and pooled below. She had to be in so much pain! I hoped they'd knocked her out before bleeding her dry.

  I crawled closer, reached up, and stroked the side of her face. "Mother," I said, in hope for any response. Her breathing was jolted, rare and worrisome. How long could she last without the blood she'd lost? But then, she’d had the light within her. She looked mortal, but her flame was continual. As an immortal, she could only be killed by the Reaper's Blades. Her body could die by the wounds of mortality, but her light would shimmer home to be reborn and revitalised again. If it could find its way out of this Hell hole.

  "Mother?" I whispered. Still nothing.

  "She's dead, Little Evie. Let us dance and rejoice!" Lilith screeched, pulling me up from the floor, swinging me around like a rag doll. "Oh, you are just no fun today." She stopped mid-motion.

  "Why did you hurt her?" I asked. A simple question, but one that made her brow scrunch up, lips poised, and eyes glaring. Did she have an answer?

  "She left us, Evie. She has to pay for that!" she screamed.

  "No, father banished her."

  "Father never touched her!" She yelled, her hand raised as she slapped the side of my face, knocking me to the floor. The skin burned where her hand impacted, and I found myself in a cataclysm of blood and guts all over again. I wasn't sure whose blood was whose, except the pooling of faeces that ran away from my body. "Oh, Evie," she said as she knelt in the blood beside me. "Look what you made me do."

  I coughed, gagging on blood.

  "Now all your stitches have come open!" She pulled me up.

  EJ strolled in, bloodied with the remains of someone else.

  "EJ! Where have you been?" Lilith yelled. "You should have been here to help me!"

  EJ grunted, walked over, and picked me up, throwing me onto the stone slab again. I was back in the centre of the room, seeing my mother through the flickering of candlelight.

  My body stung, head pounded, and intestines lay trailing out down the side of the stone slab. The weight of me groaned as I urged myself into a more comfortable position. Slowly, my hands reached further down my dying body. I found my large intestine and gathered it back up and into my body. Not that there was much point, I was dead already, way past my due date. I was something more, now, something repulsive and whatever Lilith had done to me she'd enjoyed every second of it.

  "EJ, come give me a cuddle, I've missed you," she exclaimed. EJ stomped over, picked Lilith up, and swung her around the room.

  "Weeeeee!" She giggled as they ended in a monstrous embrace.

  "So, my darling EJ," she said as he put her down and stepped aside. "Who have you been eating?"

  It grunted, gurgling foamy liquid from its mouth.

  "Was it my Lucian?" She squeaked. EJ shook its head. "Her baby?" She urged, giggling furiously while pointing at me. It shook his head again. My heart leapt in the air. I was thankful for some small miracles. "Who then?" It shrugged.

  "Oh, EJ." She laughed. "Let me come and play too next time." She grinned, patting it on the back.

  "Now, come show me who it was." EJ nodded and they both walked out and away from the cavern I laid in.

  CHAPTER 98: ADAM

  Arriving at the gates of Elysium, I was ready, pumped up and eager to put together a battle plan. Charmeine was still aching after her ordeal, but something good had come out of it. We’d grown closer, forgave our barriers, and sealed our union with a kiss. It was the start of something spectacular, something much awaited, and after all this time, we could be together. Just one last battle first. The guards in-front had come to a standstill. What were they doing? Galloping forward on Allentous, Charmeine and I reached the gates. They didn’t look very welcoming. In fact, they were stone cold closed, locked up and out of reach.

  Why weren’t the damn gates open? “Damn it, open the gate!” What was with the guards these days? “Gabriel! You’d better be in there!” The gates began to open with Gabriel at the forefront, head lowered, body shaking. Walking over, I greeted him. He raised his sullen face. He’d been crying. He looked broken, distraught, and fearful. “It’s okay, Gabriel, it’ll all be okay.” I soothed. It wasn’t his fault. He’d left for help to deliver the babies. He’d gone to fetch me, but it was too little too late. While he’d risen to the Heavens, they’d fallen into the depths of Hell.

  “I didn’t know, Adam,” he said, “I didn’t see them out there!”

  “I know, you’d never have left her otherwise.”

  “I loved her.”

  “I know you did. You were always like a brother to her. We will find her.”

  “She’s dead.”

  “No, Gabriel, she can’t be.”

  “No-one can survive Hell,” he said.

  “If anyone can survive, she can.”

  “Not while she’s in labour she can’t.”

  It was true. Her body wouldn’t be able to withstand anything more. Her mortal frame would barely cope with the birth of the children, let alone muster the strength needed to fight off her foes.

  �
�Then we must act fast,” I said, rushing over to the large table we had all dined at earlier that day. “Sit... all of you sit.” They did as commanded. Gabriel, Charmeine and the higher ranked guards all took their places. “Guard fetch her father and Caleb.” He ran off, returning minutes later with the pair of them in tow.

  “I’m sure you’ve heard,” I said. “We must put together a plan of how we can break them all safely out of Hell.”

  “But you can’t enter Hell, sire,” the stumpy fella said.

  “Yes, in this instance, I can.”

  “But what about Elysium? Who will watch that?”

  “Charmeine will.”

  “Pardon?” Charmeine said. “I’m coming with you.”

  “No... no, you’re not. You need to recover and... I can’t lose you again.”

  “But Adam, they still have the Reaper's Blades. You’re not safe.”

  My forehead creased, muscles tensed. “I am willing to take that risk. My sister and mother are down there with my psychotic twin and father. It’s a family feud and it needs ending now,” I said, slamming my fist down on the table.

  Charmeine jumped, her face saddened as she reached out and placed her hand on mine. “Okay, Adam, I’ll keep watch here. But please, be safe.”

  “I will,” I said, and smiled.

  “So, what’s the plan?” Gabriel asked.

  I scratched my head, puzzled for a few minutes, and thought hard about how we could stand a chance in their realm. “I haven’t a clue.” I held up my hands. Charmeine smiled, Gabriel smirked. Well, at least there was still some humour left in the old soul. “So, any ideas?”

  CHAPTER 99: TAYLOR

  Warped by the ignorance of reality, I watched. Didn't they see? How could they miss the frozen mists that wrapped around the tendrils of the homeless man? His solemn face was cascaded over by winter’s reign. A fresh, snowy blizzard fell from above, settling upon his icy features. Fresh, red splatters warmed the cool climate as I dropped the blade while admiring the work before me. It was a remarkable design, an artist at work. And as the screams pierced the filtered environment, I knew my art was appreciated. I had given life to the ghastly unseen and now they saw him, they admired him, and they loved him.