by Riley Hunt
Ariel frowned as a flicker of anger appeared. “I am fully aware of what he is capable of. How can I help the two of you?”
Ana spoke up. “We would like transport to Limbo to check on Eve. That is all.”
Ariel’s eyes grew wide. “That is all? That is an enormous ask.”
“I know, but we’re supposed to maintain the balance of souls, and if we don’t, then everything will fall into—”
“Chaos.” I finished her sentence.
“So, you are taking on this monumental task for the good of Heaven and Helius?” She ran a hand down the side of her full skirt.
“Yes,” we said in unison.
“How mighty vigilant of the two of you. Heaven could only reward those with hearts of gold. How can I assist with your quest?” Ariel looked happy about this, which surprised me. I thought the minute she spotted me, I would’ve been cast down to Helius.
“Like Ana said, we need a portal to get into Limbo.”
“Then it shall be done, and once you are finished with your tasks, I am almost certain that the ending will be joyous.” Her eyes were stuck on me as she swung her arm into the air. But a part of me screamed that she was hiding something sinister. I couldn’t place my finger on it. Something bad was going to happen.
Before I could speak my uneasy words, a glowing white door opened and Ana leapt into the light without even a second’s hesitation.
We were off to see the wizard, aka the copy of the first woman ever to step foot on Earth. The mother of all.
Chapter Fifteen
Ana
“This is going to be the hard part. Or at least, I think it will be,” I grumbled as the blinding light enveloped us and revealed the courtyard of Eve. My heart rate slightly increased, my immortal heart pounding harder.
The courtyard of Eve was empty, and the gray sky above lacked color, just as the white columns that surrounded the courtyard stood bare.
“What do we do now?” Vex asked. His unnerving emerald eyes pierced me like a hawk.
“I’m not sure.” I paused, rubbed my arms, and looked around. My stomach was churning and the hairs on the back of my neck stood pin straight.
“You said we need a distraction.” Vex touched my shoulder lightly with concern.
“Yes,” I mumbled, my gaze fixed on Eve. My feet, as if pulled forward by an unseen force, moved toward her.
She differed from Adam, more ethereal and pure, less mechanical, and more of a spectrum. In the middle of the room sat a device, round and flat. I moved forward, and the device activated. On the platform stood the exact replica of Eve, only a little more translucent at first, until she fully materialized.
She fixed her perfect amber gaze on me, her pale skin stark against her long, dark hair. Eve mesmerized me. She was as beautiful as an Angel. Had God created her to be one? Could Angels sin, and was that why she had been left in charge of Limbo?
“Greetings, Analise. How may I help you?” Her gaze remained fixated on me. She was staring with intent.
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out, and it hung there as if I couldn’t control it.
“Are you okay? Are you malfunctioning?” Vex asked for me.
It was so compelling to forget everything and bask in the presence of Eve, but then Vex put his hand on me, and, as if a fog lifted, I snapped out of my trance.
I shook my head slowly, confused on how I’d lost myself just by looking at Eve for a moment. “Run a diagnostic,” I commanded.
“I cannot,” Eve responded with a softening expression and a small smile. “You are not authorized.”
Eve shifted her gaze to Vex, a flicker in the softening of her eyes, something akin to recognition, but she didn’t address him. Instead, she clasped her hand in front of the billowing white dress with that soft ethereal look on her face, the look Angels get when they let the love of Heaven warm their features.
“Run a diagnostic.” Vex pressed his lips into a fine line. He tilted his head as he watched Eve consider his request, something she hadn’t even done for me.
My eyes flitted back and forth between the two. Vex’s hand still rested on my arm, his heat penetrating beneath the thin fabric.
“As you wish.” She shrugged, began to say something else, but paused, closing her lips. Such an odd thing for a computer to do, sentient or not.
“Thank you,” I muttered, feeling my face redden. Vex was from Helius. Why was she snubbing me? That stung. He shouldn’t have any authority. I was the Reaper, and he was… nobody? But I had a feeling that he was more important that I’d previously thought.
“There are corrupted files in my mainframe.” She froze, her face going still as she stared into the gray sky, suddenly lacking emotion.
“Is Adam corrupted?” Vex continued. Eve didn’t move, and he repeated the question with more force. His body tensed as he gripped my arm just a tad bit harder.
“Ye-ye—” She stopped, and an Angelic smile stretched across her perfect face, showing brilliant white teeth. “Greetings. How may I help you, my Lord?”
Vex looked puzzled, his brow furrowing as he considered her repeated question.
“We need to go,” I urged. “We have our answer. It’s time to go to our separate counsels and bring this to their attention.”
I looked around, feeling that churning in my stomach grow once again as my heart rate sped up dangerously fast this time. Something wasn’t right. Something or someone was here. And it felt… it felt different, scary almost.
“We can’t leave.” Vex looked toward Eve’s bare feet. “We need proof. Actual proof.” He walked forward and pulled something from his pocket. It was technology-based, flat, and black. He leaned into the platform of Eve and looked up to her. “Copy the corrupted file to this, please.”
She looked towards the Heavens as she went somewhere in her mind. Then she was gone, as if shut down by some outside force.
Clapping started from behind us.
“Bravo,” a deep voice bellowed.
My heart palpitations increased, and my mouth went dry. I’d heard that voice before, and it was never good. I suddenly had the instinctive desire to flee.
“Michael,” I breathed before turning to face him.
“Good to see you, Ana,” he said, all bright teeth and blue eyes. “Still getting into trouble, then.” Heaven’s holiest Archangel, famous for the war against Lucifer. God’s right hand man. He wore a suit of silver armor over a red robe. The Archangels were never fans of the changing clothing that the humans loved.
“Always,” I choked out, my racing heart picking up to the point that it caused pain in my chest. I went to clutch it, but instead my hands froze to my sides. I thought about running, but I knew I wouldn’t make it very far.
“What are you doing here?” Vex demanded. He was a brave and stupid man.
I didn’t look at him as he walked up beside me, but I could feel the tension in his body. He placed a comforting—if not a little possessive—hand on my back, but I welcomed it in that moment. It helped ease the fear.
I wasn’t alone.
“Ah, so good to see you again, brother.” Michael practically chuckled like a child, throwing his head back to peals of laughter. He composed himself, yet there was glistening moisture at the edges of his bright cobalt eyes. “What are you calling yourself these days? Vex?”
“We aren’t brothers. How in the Helius do you know me?” Vex demanded, moving forward quickly.
“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you are both going to have to come with me,” Michael commanded, his eyes glowing even more, as if in excitement.
“B-but why?” I finally found my voice, swallowing down the rock that had settled in my throat. “Why are you even here?”
“Analise, you have no authority to be here. Rules are rules,” he announced, the sides of his lips neutral, but his eyes said a different story. He was enjoying this. There was an amused glint to the way his pupils dilated, the way he held his lips taut, trying to keep any te
lling expressions from his face.
“Who are you, exactly?” Vex asked.
“Did you not hear your companion? I am Michael,” he said his name, as if it meant something, “and I’m in charge here.”
“Great,” I said. “I need to tell you something very important. It’s about Eve.”
I pretended to walk closer to Michael, forcing an innocent, trusting expression on my features. Instead, I grabbed Vex, opened a portal faster than I’d ever done before between Michael and us, and rushed as fast as I could through the door.
All while Michael’s voice boomed across the entire reaches of the courtyard. “You can run, but you can’t hide forever.”
And then it was gone.
“Who in the Helius is Michael? I’ve never heard of the prick before,” Vex said as we fell into a dirty alley outsides Banes.
We couldn’t stay. We needed to move—and fast. He would be coming for us.
I paced, ignoring Vex as my mind ran a million miles a minute. If Michael was involved, it meant it was big. Michael wanted war and death, the Helter Skelter of Angels. Why? Because it’s what he does. What war? No one really knew, but anytime Michael was involved in something, things got ugly, and people ended up dead or thrown into oblivion.
Nothing ever happened to him, because he was the only one that had access to all realms, even Heaven itself. God cast us all out not too long after Lucifer screwed shit up for us all. Now, we served in Limbo or on Earth or in separate little pockets of Heaven, like where Ariel lived, but unless called by the Almighty Himself, they never allowed us to step foot in the eternal paradise of humanity.
It’s bullshit, if you ask me. Not that I cared. I wasn’t allowed to enter the gates of Heaven, and I could bet that it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Paradise probably got boring quick.
“He’s trouble, and him being there is the worst possible thing that could’ve happened to us,” I finally muttered. I chewed on my lip until it bled, only for it to immediately heal.
“But he fucking knew me, and I’m a nobody.” He sounded so sure of himself. “I don’t have any family, especially not some Angel.”
I stopped and turned toward Vex, letting my anxiety slip away. That had been odd. The way Adam had addressed him and then Eve, and the way Ariel inspected him, and then what Michael had said… It felt like everything was out of place.
“What do you do in Helius?” I asked, stepping closer to him, allowing my own eyes to inspect him once again, this time speculatively.
“I used to take the newly damned souls to their assigned Lords.” He shrugged, meeting my gaze. “Or go on Limbo raids. Nothing special, as I said before. Nothing out of the ordinary.”
“And it’s been twelve years since you lost your memory?”
“Yes.”
“Usually, fallen Angels either have more important jobs, or they are allowed to pretty much do what they want. Some of them just live with humans and continue their existence in exile.” I watched as Vex considered this.
“Do you think I’m a fallen Angel?”
“That’s my best guest.” I nodded, certainty in every timber of my voice. I believed it in every muscle of my body. My gut said he was an Angel, and it was usually right. Intuition was the only gift I had to prove my divine existence.
“What does that even mean? I don’t feel like an Angel, fallen or not.” He scratched his jaw and moved away from me.
“I don’t know, but I’m positive of it. I haven’t met every Angel, but I’ve also never heard of the Angel Vex. So, the real question is, who are you really? What is your real name? Because it damn sure isn’t Vex.”
I watched as the emotions played across his face at my words. First, he refused to believe, but, as he thought about it, I could see that he realized the obviousness of this. Acceptance washed over his features, and by the way his shoulders slumped, I knew he had come to the same conclusion.
“So, what do we do?” he asked.
“We have to get others on our side and show them that Adam and Eve have been tampered with. We need to protect the realms.” My eyes closed as I focused on Gabriel and his office. An arched rosewood door with the sun and the moon carved in the middle appeared before us. I was thankful that Eve had allowed me to travel without even a second of a doubt.
My shoulders squared as I straightened my back and prayed that Gabriel would listen to us. He had to believe us.
His office was always open to me, but I never came unless summoned, and, as we walked in, Gabriel looked up in surprise—first at me, and then he stared at Vex, lingering on him longer than he should have. His pale skin gleamed underneath the harsh lights, and the crimson of his hair swallowed your attention. Gabriel looked out of place in such mundane room filled with steel filing cabinets and a couple of empty wooden desks. The Angel looked as though he belonged in a temple filled with Godly statues and people dressed in robes.
“Ana, what are you doing here?” His eyes still fastened on Vex’s face. Gabriel snapped his gaze away, looking aimlessly around the room before meeting my stare.
“Do you know him?” I asked instead of the question I was going to lead with. “His name is Vex.”
“Hmm…” He glanced back at Vex, his brow wrinkling for just a moment before smoothing out. “Doesn’t ring a bell, although he looks familiar. Can’t place him.”
He was lying. I was certain. The tone of his voice was off. I knew Gabriel better than any of the other Angels. He was hiding something, but whatever it was, I was going to trust that our relationship and closeness were enough for him to listen to me, despite whatever the Helius was going on with Vex.
“Can you help me with something? It’s important.” I still stood next to Vex, waiting for an invitation to sit.
Gabriel nodded to the two seats in front of his desk. He leaned back in the black leather chair. “What is it?”
“We-” I froze for a moment and considered how to word the problem that seemed unbelievable. How could I describe this sabotage without offending the Angels? Something was pressing on the outer corners of my consciousness, something that took the words from my mouth.
“We have proof that something is wrong with both Eve and Adam,” Vex said before I could continue.
“Do you?” Gabriel leaned forward, interest sparkling in his gaze.
Vex went to hand over the file copy to Gabriel when a flash of doubt which manifested as a frown curtly crossed his lips. Then, he dropped it in Gabriel’s waiting hands. Did he feel the same apprehension as I did?
I’d always been able to trust Gabriel, so why did I feel so worried?
“That is interesting.” Gabriel inspected the small device that looked like little more than a pebble. Then, he closed his eyes as his hands clasped tightly down on the black stone. “This changes everything,” he said slowly. He let out a long breath, then blinked, lashes fluttering rapidly.
“It’s proof. Something needs to change. It needs to be fixed.” Vex continued to lead the conversation.
I watched wordlessly, taking in the scene as if it played like a movie reel. That nagging feeling still pressed me that something wasn’t right.
“You know, now that we’ve given you the proof, I think we should go,” I said.
I stood abruptly, grabbing at Vex. If my sudden movement alarmed him, he didn’t show it, but he had to feel the anxiety that was cascading from my body. Helius, everyone could feel it. My head was screaming run, but I didn’t know why.
Who was I running from? Gabriel? Was Michael coming? Crippling fear gripped me. I was never afraid. What was happening to me?
“Are you okay, Ana?” Vex asked, putting a soft hand over my tightly gripped fist.
“No,” I breathed with trouble.
“Ana, how many times have I warned you to stay in your own lane?” Gabriel chided me. There was genuine sadness in his tone as he exhaled a long sigh. “You were my favorite, but even I can’t help you this time.”
Fuck.
&nbs
p; Chapter Sixteen
Vex
We were stuck, with nowhere to run or hide. All I had were my two fists and a Reaper who looked like she could use another stiff drink. Or maybe she needed to throw up? I wasn’t sure how well that would go against this Angel prick, but I would do my damnedest to get us out of here. Maybe I should’ve listened to Ana’s intuition and given up before we went into this headfirst. Was it that big of a deal that Helius was falling apart?
Okay, yes it was, but I had a feeling that being in this room would not do a damn thing about the living conditions in the bad place. If anything, this was going to make it worse.
Why did I always have to stick my nose where it didn’t belong?
“Well, this has been quite delightful, but we need to get going,” I said, grabbing Ana’s arm and yanking her towards the door.
Gabriel had a different idea and flicked his wrist in the air. I would bet that we were stuck. I twisted the door handle, but it wouldn’t budge an inch.
Fucking Angel pricks.
“Going so soon? Are you ready to give up your little crusade already?” Gabriel’s golden eyes burrowed into me. “Vex?”
My name rolled off his tongue like sour venom as he dragged out the ‘X.’
“If giving up will let us out of this room… sure. I concede and wave the white flag. What about you?” I looked at Ana, but she was already nodding and agreeing with me.
“Please,” Ana whispered. “I didn’t…we didn’t mean anything by this. We just wanted to protect the realms.”
She was scared. The word unmade rung through my head.
“That’s all. No harm no foul,” I chimed in. “Just two dead citizens concerned with everyone’s well-being.”
Gabriel laughed, but the sound came out manic and not at all joyful. It was creepy, like the Daemons who were sentenced to laugh for all eternity. I despised it when I ran into one of them. As every normal Daemon, I enjoyed laughing happily and for a good reason. Not forced. That was for villains and psychopaths.
