by HP Mallory
I was beginning to believe that such was the case, as well. It wasn’t Bill who was at fault for not paying attention when he was supposed to. It was more a case that I was meant to die and my death needed to be covered up. What better person to assign as my guardian angel than someone who literally failed at everything he did? Yes, it was all preordained.
“I think you’re right,” I admitted. “I think I was killed on purpose.” I took a breath. “I just don’t know why or by whom.”
She nodded. “For the life of me, I couldn’t figure it out. But it was after that realization that the dreams started. It was like when I touched the ground where the accident happened—where they found your body—that sparked a connection with the afterlife. Everything started to become clearer, and I was afraid, but... I knew I had to work through it.” She took a sip of her tea. “I just knew there was more to the story than anyone was admitting.”
“I believe there is too.”
“Are you in trouble, Lily?”
I took a deep breath. “No, but I’m worried you are which is why I’ve come.” I took another breath. “Mom, has a man named Alaire reached out to you? Either by phone or in person?”
She shook her head.
“He might be going by another name. Have you met any… men recently? Anyone out of your ordinary circle?”
She shook her head again. “Who is he?”
“He’s a bad man and I want to make sure you stay away from him. He’s tall and blond and very handsome but I’m not sure he’d come to you looking the same way. He might take the form of someone else. The point is, be very cautious and suspicious of strangers. In fact,” I paused for a minute as I took a deep breath. “It would probably be a good idea if you went to stay with Barbara for a few weeks at her vacation cottage. Could you do that?”
My mother appeared to be pretty baffled. “Well, yes, of course I could.”
“Will you do that for me? It would really help ease my… nerves.”
“Yes,” she said and nodded. “What’s going on, Lily?”
I watched my mother closely as she sipped her tea. She set the cup aside and reached for one of the lemon cookies on the plate between us.
“So much that I don’t even know where to start,” I answered. “But the most important thing is that you have a sister,” I started.
“I don’t have a sister, Lily,” she argued, shaking her head.
“You do, but you just… you don’t remember her because… that’s how she wanted things. To keep you safe.” I took a breath. “I met her. Recently, actually,” I said. “She was beautiful and powerful. And she’s your sister, named Annice. She told me the story of our bloodline and all of the events that led up to my death. You were right, it wasn’t an accident, Mom.”
“What was she like?”
“Well, she’s sort of like you. She likes hot tea and curling up by the fire from what I could tell. I didn’t know her for long, but I saw a fierce loyalty inside her. She took care of refugees and gave rebels a place to hide when they fought against the established powers in the Underground City… that’s the name of… Hell, essentially,” I continued as I took my mother’s hand and felt the strength of her spirit.
“What did she say about the voices you’ve been hearing?”
“H… how did you know about that?”
“Call it intuition,” she snickered. “But you have to stop thinking about them like they’re riddles, Lily. It’s quite clear that the strong voice you call The Self is... well, yourself. Whatever gifts you possess are allowing you to speak through time.”
I was completely shocked. Amazed.
“How do you know all this?”
She cocked her head to the side. “I’ve always known things, seen things I couldn’t explain.”
“That’s because our family… we’re from a long line of magic users, mom. And Annice is one of them. She explained all of this to me.”
My mother nodded as if she accepted everything I was saying. “Don’t fight yourself, Lily.”
“I don’t know who I am,” I answered with a frown. “If I’m me, if I’m The Self, if I’m Sorcha…”
“Sorcha,” she repeated the name as if she were familiar with it.
“You’ve heard the name?”
“In my dreams, yes, and the visions I’ve received from you,” she answered with a soft smile. “I believe Sorcha is the journey which your soul has already completed. There is wisdom to be learned from the past, Lily. The Self is your future and the place where you will find your strength.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying you are only halfway through your journey, and the only way for you to succeed in this mission you’ve set out on is to look inside yourself for the answers,” my mother explained. “You’ve already made it so far.”
“But people have gotten hurt.”
“And according to the visions I’ve seen, there will be much more pain to come.”
###
My mother disappeared through the door that led to her crafting room where she made her candles and knitted sweaters for the neighborhood ladies. When she returned, there was a box in her arms that I recognized from my childhood. She set the box down and lifted the top. Papers, photographs, and little trinkets were neatly organized inside. “I remember when you used to slide around the kitchen in your fuzzy socks and sing along to your favorite songs. No matter what you tried to cook, you somehow managed to get flour in your hair and all over the kitchen.”
“I remember that too.”
She pulled a small box from within the larger one and handed it to me. “This is for you.”
I opened the box and found a silver ring with strange symbols etched into it. And it was maybe a second later that my heart dropped as I recognized the ring from my dream.
“I’ve seen this ring before,” I said. “I had a vision of it.”
My mother nodded like she wasn’t surprised. “It belonged to me all my life. In fact, I can’t remember a time when I didn’t have it.” She took a breath. “I had a dream and in the dream I told myself to give this ring to you, so I imagine it must be important.”
I put the ring on my finger and it was a perfect fit. I looked up at my mother. “Mom, I don’t have much time.”
“I know.” She pushed the box aside and wrapped her arms around me.
“You seem to have answers for everything, mom.”
My mother laughed softly against my shoulder. “I only know what I’ve been shown in dreams and in visions, Lily.”
“The same as me,” I answered as I pulled away from her.
“Annice seems to think I have powers but I’ve never done anything that would make me think the same.”
“If she believes you do, then I’d think you would?” she asked. “Annice seems like she’s an intelligent and gifted woman?”
“She is.”
“Hmm,” she said and pianoed her fingers against her lips.
“What?”
“I had a dream a few months ago and in it, I kept seeing images of you fighting someone, no not someone… a beast. A creature that was half man and half bull.”
“Asterion,” I breathed. “Go on.”
“In the dream, you were fighting this man and something happened to you… it was almost as though you lit up with a blaze of purely white energy.”
“My powers?”
“It could be?” she asked with a shrug. “The dream made little sense to me, but maybe that’s exactly what it was? Maybe it was a clue or a way for you to release your abilities?”
I hugged her again and we held each other for a few more seconds before I realized I was coming dangerously close to running out of time. “I have to go, Mom.”
“Will you come back?”
“I don’t know,” I answered and when she pulled away, I felt something change. A vision washed over me before I could stop it. The world went black as my mother reached out for me.
###
; Uriel paced back and forth in the cage like a wild beast. Angels were supposed to emit a brilliant light in darkness, but Uriel’s prison swallowed the light as if it were an entity of its own. His wings fluttered nervously, causing golden feathers to drift towards the greasy floor of his cage.
Asterion’s soul lay catatonic on a bed of golden feathers that matched the angel’s wings. His unblinking eyes were wide and tormented from whatever nightmare held him captive.
The Minotaur would awaken and remember nothing of what truly happened.
Uriel scuffed and continued to pace.
Then he felt a shift. Something... something was coming.
The darkness split in half like the parting of a sea. He stopped and gripped the frigid bars of his prison. His brilliant gaze stared out at the figure that slipped through the portal. Whether his guest was a friend or a foe remained to be seen, but Uriel didn’t know if he was strong enough to fight when he’d drained most of his energy by keeping the Minotaur alive. The cage weakened him, took away his powers, and kept him trapped against his will.
And then He stepped into the faint light cast by the cage’s ghostly light....
The Forsaken.
“Brother,” rumbled the creature’s deep voice.
“You are no brother of mine. I still walk in holy light. I still taste the grace of the Kingdom. Our creator loves me. Can you say the same?” Uriel pressed his face to the bars even as it caused him pain.
“You have a choice to make,” The Forsaken answered.
“What do you intend to do with me?”
“I will feed off your soul until there is nothing left of you. It may take centuries... eons, even. I wonder if Death itself can ever truly die?”
###
I came to sitting on the floor of the dining room.
“Lily? Are you okay?” Mom asked.
I nodded and pushed up to my feet.
The sun began to set beyond the window, and I climbed to my feet. “The vision... it wasn’t mine. It was like I was a witness more than a participant,” I said hastily.
“What did you see?”
“Uriel was there and so was Asterion. I understand now: Uriel was watching over his soul when Asterion was trapped in the maze. They were kept in a cage surrounded by darkness.”
“It must have been shown to you for a reason.”
“The Forsaken. He was there.”
“The Forsaken?”
“The devil,” I corrected myself as I looked right at her. She swallowed hard.
“What did he say?” my mother asked.
“That he’s feeding off Uriel.” I tried to shake off the vision’s hold. “I have to go, Mom. I’ll keep trying to find a way for us to talk again. I won’t stop until I have answers.”
She cupped my face and stared deeply into my eyes. “I love you so much, Lily. I am so proud of the woman you are and the woman you’re becoming.”
I held my mother until my arms ached, but already I could feel the chill that festered at the center of my being. It grew like ivy up the side of a wall. My feet carried me out the front door and towards the center of the street. The door slowly appeared as dark clouds chased the sun beyond the horizon. A flash of light blinded me as I stepped through the opening.
Pain reduced me to a pile of flesh and bone.
ELEVEN
BILL
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
I could practically feel the sun setting on the other side of the door, but Nips was nowhere to be seen, and that was bad. Seriously bad. Demons were spawning like they’d been banging like rabbits in a dark corner of the Toy Store. Ugh. KILL THAT VISUAL.
I pushed the door to the small room open and listened to the sounds of war that filled the hot demon’s establishment. Hell, I knew what sort of kinky shit happened here, and it was my kind of place until... well, until our baggage exploded all over the fucking place.
If it wasn’t for that walking dildo, Alaire, I could have been on a beach somewhere hanging out with ladies with loose inhibitions. But noooo. Instead, I had to be here, staring at a fucking door like my life depended on it. Well, maybe my life might have depended on it, if I could actually be killed. Not that it mattered much anyway. I’d lost enough people to know that if anything happened to Lils or even to Conan, I wouldn’t be the same ray of sunshine I was now.
The door Lils had disappeared into started rattling something fierce, and I closed the gap, grabbing the handle. That little fuzzy light floated right into the lock. Two seconds later, the door opened, and Lily stumbled through. She looked green around the gills, but who was I to judge what door traveling did to a person?
“Lils!” I said and pulled her into my arms. I pushed her away again, just to make sure she was really there. And that was when I noticed there was something different about her. She seemed softer. I mean, her body had been changing for a while now and she hadn’t looked like the super model hot babe in a while, but now she was even more different. Now she was pretty in a kid sister sorta way.
“What the hell happened?” I asked. “Please tell me you did what you needed to?”
“Mission was a success.” She laughed and dried a tear, but the sound of her voice was cut off by a loud Scottish curse. Her eyes darted around the room for a weapon and her gaze fell to the body crumpled on the floor. “Is that….?”
“It’s Jenny.”
“How? I thought she couldn’t die. She’s a demon, right?”
“Well, she ain’t breathin’,” I answered with a shrug. “If that ain’t dead, then I don’t know what is,” I replied. “But then again, there’s dead, Dead, and Perma-dead. So, I guess it all depends.” I tossed Lils her sword and shrugged my shoulders. “What’d yer mom have to say?”
“We can talk later.”
Nips moved through the small opening, and I watched as what appeared to be a burst of magic destroyed the door. It shattered into a million splinters that shot into the walls and covered the floor. Strangely enough, the pieces of wood seemed to avoid Lily and me—it was almost like they went right through us. Like we weren’t even fucking there!
I reached inside my pocket and grabbed hold of the necklace Jenny gave me and ran after Lils.
When I made it to the main room of the Toy Store, I saw just how many of Jenny’s ladies had been slain in the fight. A lot. They were crumpled on the floor in various positions but all looked very dead. Even for demons.
Conan and Kemosabe fought side by side like they’d been doing it for years. “We gotta go, people!” I shouted as I kept my position against the wall and as far from the fighting as I could be. When Nips appeared beside me, I held her back with my arm. It looked like the two warriors in front of us had it covered—no reason to get our asses dirty.
“Yeah? Where do you expect us to go?” Kemosabe asked.
“After Uriel!” Lily responded. “Just like I said we were.”
Conan dodged a fist far too big to have ever been human. “What the fuck is that thing?”
“A Juggernaut.”
“How many are there?”
Bull-boy pointed to the hulking body lying on the ground. “We killed that one, but two more showed up to even the score. The Lemures left after they failed to sense Lily’s presence, so that’s something. But we’re outnumbered, and these demons just keep coming.”
“Are we all agreed in goin’ after Uriel?” I demanded.
“Aye,” Conan yelled and Kemosabe just nodded.
“It ain’t gonna be easy,” I said, shaking my head.
“Bill! Get us to Uriel!” Lily yelled.
“Okay. Take care of the Jugnuts, and I’ll figure out the best way to Uriel.” I ducked out of the way of a few wicked looking blades that dripped with black sludge. “Watch out, Tido. Them swords are dipped in the sticky shit from the male bulge!”
“The what?!” Lils asked.
“The male bulge!”
“If he says anythin’ else aboot a bloke’s…”
“Malebolge,” Ke
mosabe cut in with annoyance. “He’s talking about the tar pits. Alaire must have modified the tar somehow.”
I watched a drop of the goop fall onto the floor. It sizzled on impact and burned a hole into the fucking wood like it was acid semen. Yeah, we had to get out of there and quick. “The trap door!”
Lily skewered a demon on her sword and kicked its body back. “The what?”
“Let’s get out of here, first, an’ I’ll explain later.”
I joined the fight and picked up a hunk of wood, holding it like a baseball bat. “Who wants to pitch?” I asked with a delirious chuckle. Sure, we were in deep shit, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t have fun. As most angels won’t tell you: Fun is the answer to life.
Nips shoved a demon my way, and I knocked its head clean the fuck off its shoulders. “Booyah!”
But then something huge knocked me into the wall and then the wall knocked me onto my ass and I couldn’t breathe for like three seconds. And that was when I realized it was Bull-Man who’d gotten all clumsy on angel Billy. “Kemosabe! Get yer fat ass off me or else I’ll be calling my lawyer.”
He jumped to his feet and stared pointedly at my round belly. “If I’m fat, what are you?”
I gasped in mock offense as Mino-Nuts helped me to my feet and then I decided to return the favor by clearing a path for our retreat. I headed for the front door, but one of those jugnuts stood in my way. “Yo! We got another one!”
