by Ciara Graves
The generals never had a chance to reply.
Nathaniel shot me a look and stepped forward. He cleared his throat, and after bowing to the generals once more, he said, “I’m worried there are not enough angels going to seal the rift assigned to Commander Lela. I request my team to accompany hers. They currently have no orders. Nor do I.”
Morael’s face didn’t change from its usual calm expression, but his eyes darkened just a hint, enough to tell me we shouldn’t have said a damned thing about my orders. “You have another duty.”
“I haven’t received any orders yet.”
“You are now,” General Lavina said as she walked away from the large, circular table the generals had been gathered around. She held out a missive to Nathaniel. “I’m afraid you’re needed elsewhere.”
Nathaniel read his orders, and his lip twitched. “This account is true?”
I glanced down at the missive in his hand.
Another human compound had been attacked by a pack of hellhounds. They were terrorizing humans. Instead of entering the compound, though, the report stated they had taken up residence along the perimeter, guarding it against anyone coming or going. I’d never heard of hellhounds acting in such a manner.
“Are you questioning the words of our scouts?” Lavina snapped.
Nathaniel lowered his eyes as he said, “No, General. I’ve just never heard of such behavior. It’s strange, but I will see them removed.”
Lavina’s eyes narrowed at his shift in tone, but she didn’t call him out for it. She pivoted harshly on her heel and returned to the table.
The table’s surface was wood, but on it was a projected map. It could be maneuvered by the swipe of a hand to show various locations. The remaining cities and compounds under our guard were labeled. As were the newly formed wastelands bordered by corrupt forests where people entered but never left.
Currently, the map focused on one of the larger human compounds.
The compound was called Dakota. After the war started, state boundaries no longer mattered. No government existed anywhere on the planet, at least not any functioning ones. The four generals here focused only on the North American continent. There used to be many more dedicated to each area of the globe, but now they were down to only a few, scattered here and there.
And the High General Hadariel oversaw us all.
“If there are no other questions, I suggest you both make haste,” Morael said with a stern look. “Be careful out there. The reports coming in of late have not been good.” His gaze lingered on me. I stilled, almost opening my mouth to ask him what else was going on. A subtle shake of his head made me stop. “Go, Commanders.”
Nathaniel and I bowed, then backed our way out of the grand hall.
The doors shut silently, and I was left staring at them. Specifically, at the gold sculpted designs of an angel smiting a demon. Something about it rubbed me the wrong way today. There was no love lost between our two races, but part of me wondered some days if we were fighting against the right enemy.
They started this war, but my gut told me even Hell wasn’t able to control the evil it created and unleashed upon the surface. I turned my back on the image and stormed away to find my team.
“I still think I should come with you,” Nathaniel insisted.
“You have your orders. If you disobey them, Lavina will not be happy.”
“And you think I care? We should take our teams to carry out both missions. You heard Morael. The reports were bad.”
“The reports are always bad these days,” I reminded him, reflecting on how Hadariel had appeared. Was he ill? The presence of so much evil was having an effect on our holy light. He appeared dim in a strange way, as if he wasn’t all there. “Do not get yourself into trouble,” I added. I wouldn’t share my worries with him, not yet.
He placed his hand on my arm, stopping me. “Lela, we have lost so many lately. I don’t want to come back and hear that your team has gone down, too.”
I patted his hand, then removed it. “I’ll be fine. Worry about yourself.”
“Hard to do that when the rift you’re headed toward has been open for nearly three years. It’s going to be powerful. What if you can’t seal it?”
“Then I’ll have my team retreat and report to General Morael. What’s got you so on edge today, huh? I’ll be fine. I always am.” I tried to reassure myself more than him. I grabbed his shoulders when he still seemed uncertain. “Nathaniel, this is our duty as commanders. As angelic beings. To stand against the darkness and save the innocent. There’s good left in this world, and if I go down fighting to protect it, then the cost is worth it.”
He scowled at me, but I walked away, not letting him argue any longer. If I did, I’d give in, and we’d both end up facing Lavina’s wrath.
I veered left down the next hall and climbed the stairs leading to the commanders’ quarters. I had one last item to fetch from my room, and then I’d be ready to go. I pushed open the simple, wooden door and entered my room.
A cot perched along one wall, the covers pulled up. There was a nightstand beside it, bearing nothing except the dagger I always slept with close to my side. The dresser had a mirror hanging over it, trimmed in silver. Directly across from the door was a stained-glass window depicting a sun setting over the water. It was a beautiful image, one I looked at often when I meditated.
There was no time for meditation now to clear my head.
I might’ve made it sound like I wasn’t worried about going to the rift, but I was. Rifts were becoming harder to seal, what with the depletion of angels and holy light. Though we were strong, the evil pouring forth was quickly overtaking our light.
The commander whose position I’d taken had left an item with me. A small, silver and blue medallion. There was nothing special about it, except my silly superstition that it brought me luck on the battlefield. I had it with me at all times when I left the Heavens. I picked it up off the dresser and lowered it over my head. It rested beneath the chainmail chest piece I wore over my dark leather armor. As I tucked it out of sight, my eyes flicked up to catch my reflection.
My dark hair, with an occasional blue highlight, was pulled back in five braids that merged into one bun at the back of my head to keep it out of the way.
I tilted my head to the right, and the faint, heavenly light that lit all the rooms in our residence caught the silver outlining my dark irises.
With all my chainmail and leather gear on, the scars I gained from previous battles were hidden from view. The newer bruises and cuts I endured during my latest outing were already fading from my neck and hands.
“Perhaps today you won’t come home with any new wounds,” I whispered, then nodded to my reflection, turned on my heel and headed out the door.
My team was gathered and waiting for me in the courtyard. Just beyond the gate was the portal that would take us to the surface. We directed it by thinking of our destined location.
I said nothing to the six angels accompanying me. They were accustomed to my command and knew I didn’t waste time with long, drawn-out speeches about victory and what not. That was Nathaniel’s bit. Mine was to get there, get the job done, and bring home as many angels as I could.
As we approached the gate, I rolled my shoulders, and my white and silver feathered wings sprouted from my back in a burst of holy light. They fluttered as I steadied my breathing and shook out my hands.
The blue and violet portal swirled lazily as I approached, my team flanking me. The two angels guarding it, wearing head-to-toe silver heavy armor, motioned us through. I drew my short swords and charged into the portal.
Lights swirled around me as I pumped my wings, guiding my descent. I saw the rift in my mind’s eye, and as I came out the other end of the portal, I headed for the surface in a flash of white light.
I landed gracefully, holy light surrounding me and the angels who landed right behind me. As I straightened, the light faded, and my wings shifted into my back, disappear
ing.
“Quietly now,” I told my team. “This one’s old, compared to the others.”
We’d landed just inside a line of dead trees. I could smell the rift, even from this distance. Sulfur and rotting meat permeated the air.
After all these years, I had yet to grow accustomed to how potent it was.
I glanced over my shoulder, ensuring my team was ready, then we steadily made our way out of the trees toward the rift.
Each rift resembled a crack in the earth. The ground around them was ruptured and turned over, as though a giant had burst upward from the depths of Hell.
Every day a rift remained unsealed, it grew wider. Since this one had been left to fester for so many years, it stretched nearly fifty yards across. Sharp, jagged rocks stuck out of the ground around the edges. It was the longest one I’d seen yet. A mile, roughly.
“Commander,” Thomas, one of my regular soldiers, said quietly, “shall we begin?”
I gave a quick nod. “Secure the perimeter first.”
“Yes, Commander.” He spread his wings and flew up and over the rift, landing on the far side.
The rest of my angels spread out, heads on swivels as they took in the surroundings.
I sensed no evil around us, except what came out of the rift, of course. My skin crawled. I fidgeted with my swords, but I was here to do a job and get my team home safely. Sealing this rift would take time. I hadn’t planned on being down here for so long. The rift was in the middle of a field with a few random groves of trees scattered about in the distance. My enhanced vision let me see a two-lane blacktop road to the north, and beyond it, the remains of a farmhouse and barn.
I leaned my head back, picturing what this farm must’ve looked like before the war hit the surface. The sky would’ve been a gorgeous blue, not the ashen gray we now saw day after day.
I stuck both swords point first into the ground and rubbed my hands together. To seal a rift, a commander and the angels with him, or her, had to call on their holy light, use it to mend the rift and seal it for good. We would ward it the moment the rift sealed over, and it would never open again.
I’d lost count of how many I’d sealed. Didn’t seem to matter. We sealed one and two more appeared. Containing the evils of Hell had become an impossible task.
When I became a commander, I received a boost in holy light. I should have enough strength for this. But, the longer I stood by this rift, though, the more I wondered if Nathaniel had been right. This was a fool’s mission.
If I had been able to get a full night’s rest, I might’ve taken the time and energy to argue against Lavina. She was wearing me out on purpose. To make me more compliant. I’d have to change that soon. I peered over the edge of the jagged rocks, but the dense, acrid black smoke was too thick to see what lay beneath.
“Commander, the perimeter is secure,” Thomas called from across the rift.
“Then let’s begin,” I announced. I’d just lifted my head to give the order when Thomas’ eyes grew wide, focused on something behind me.
“Commander Lela!”
I whirled around, grabbing my short swords at the same time. My blades caught the long sword that had been ready to relieve me of my head.
The six-and-a-half-foot tall demon with curling horns on the sides of his head snarled in my face. He pushed against my swords.
My boots slid back until I was able to brace myself and stop him.
Shouts sounded around the rift as more demons charged out of the trees.
Where had they come from?
“Ambush,” I shouted, then pushed the demon back with my blades.
He came at me again, but I was much smaller and used it to my advantage.
I easily bent backward.
His sword swiped inches above my body.
It threw him off balance, and I lunged forward, jabbing him in both thighs with the points of my swords.
He bellowed as I tore them free. His next attack was wild, driven by pain.
I darted to the left then back to the right, his blade narrowly missing me each time. I swung my swords, whispering a prayer under my breath. My swords flared bright white for a moment as they became imbued with holy light.
A scream distracted me.
“No, Marianna!” It came from one of my angels.
Mariana, another my angels, was lifted off her feet by the demon towering over her. He gripped his long sword, the blade jutting through Marianna’s chest. Blood dripped from the wound, staining her silver armor. More red spilled from her lips as her eyes fluttered.
I had to get to her. Had to try and heal her.
A fist crashed into the side of my head.
I sprawled across the ground, nearly flying over the jagged rocks and into the rift. I rolled over and just got my blades up in time to stop the sword from slicing into my skull.
The demon leaned forward with all his weight, leering at me. “Time to join the others,” he growled, eyes flaring red with his inner hellfire. He glanced to his right, and my gaze followed.
Marianna’s body crumpled on the ground. The demon pulled out the blade, then stabbed her through the heart. The light went out of her eyes. Not too far from her, I saw another of my team was dead.
“You’ll never win this war,” Thomas shouted.
I searched for him through the haze of smoke pouring out of the rift. He was on his knees. A demon stood in front of him, ready to execute him. I’d lost too many today. I couldn’t lose him, too.
Shouting with rage, holy light flooded my body and blasted from my blades. It burned the demon before me as he was thrown away. I sprinted for Thomas, readying a dagger to kill the demon holding the blade to his neck. I released it, but it was too late.
Thomas gave a defiant smile, then his head was cleaved from his body.
My dagger thudded home in the demon’s chest, and he hit the ground a second after Thomas’ head.
I slid toward Thomas’ body as it fell over into my arms, headless. He was dead. They were all dead, and their blood was on my hands.
I was their commander, and I failed to save them. I never should’ve come here with so few soldiers. How had the demons known we would be here and why hadn’t I sensed them?
A dark voice in the back of my mind said that somehow this was Lavina’s doing. Was she so desperate to get rid of me she set me up?
“Are you ready to die, angel filth?”
I imagined my death many times over. It was hard not to, when we were fighting against impossible odds. There was no more time to wonder how this fight might’ve turned out if Nathaniel had joined me. He could be dead too, along with all the others. It was good he wasn’t here. Following orders saved his life. Unless there were more demons waiting to ambush him and his team. I prayed not.
Gently, I laid Thomas’ body on the ground and stood. My short swords had been kicked away from me as I mourned my dead comrades.
A strange calmness filled me in the face of my death. These demons might kill me, but I wasn’t going down easily. I leveled them a fierce gaze, smiling when several hesitated to move closer.
My fingers twitched as I let out a slow, steady breath.
“Kill her,” one of the demons shouted.
The others glanced at each other, then surrounded me.
I unsheathed two daggers and launched them with a shout.
Both hit their marks, and the demons collapsed with daggers protruding from their skulls.
I grabbed the next two blades from their sheaths against my ribs and ran right into the circle of enemies surrounding me. I let my rage drive me, holy light filling me and igniting my blades.
I caught a punch to the center of my back but didn’t go down.
I spun around, using counterbalance to slam into another demon.
We crashed to the ground together.
I buried both daggers in his neck. As he choked on his own blood, I tore them free and rolled beneath the blade of another one.
They kept coming, bu
t I didn’t stop to count their numbers or see how many I’d already killed.
I would stay alive as long as I could and water the ground with their blood.
They’d remember this day as long as they lived.
I sucked in a deep breath, shouted a battle cry, and threw myself right into the waiting arms of the next demons in line.
Chapter 2
Mech
Carefully, I shut the lid on the onyx box, locking it in place. The captured souls within would be returned to the depths of Hell where they belonged. Each day, I tracked down a good amount, but today’s haul was better than normal. I’d caught several off-guard as they prepared to attack a traveling convoy of humans.
The trap I’d designed worked far better than the one I usually relied on. It blasted the wraith-like bodies to pieces leaving the souls stuck in a web of intense warding.
They’d been easy enough to snatch up, and the humans had been able to continue down the road safely. Thankfully, they were on the side of the demons, so I didn’t have to go through the usual argument of whether I was one of the good guys.
Good day, I thought as I tucked the box in my leather satchel and slung it across my body. Time to head home.
I had been away from Hell for three days, tracking down wayward souls. This particular bunch had been harder than usual. Their souls were older and had burst out of the rifts in the forms of wraiths. I’d avoided any major injuries for once.
Absently, I rubbed my neck. The old scars gave a twinge now and again.
Damned angels and their damned war. If it wasn’t for them, I’d be enjoying my life in one of the nine realms of Hell, having beers every night with my friends, finding a new hot demoness to flirt with. But no, I was stuck chasing down souls and fighting off angelic bastards with a holier-than-thou complex.
I shook out my messy black hair, feeling it part around my two sets of small horns. The ashen sky made it hard to tell what time of day it was. I figured afternoon, at the latest. I should head back to Hell and return the souls, but since I was on the surface, I figured I’d check in at the nearest human outpost, named Hellfire. A nice tribute from the humans there who supported our side.
