“He’s very private about his experiments, you know.” She turned to walk away.
“Tess, I need answers,” Leo said. She turned back to him again, smiling.
“Sorry can’t do that. You’ll spread the word to all the other little sheep trying to protect them,” she said.
“Please.” He wasn’t one to beg, yet he needed answers.” She turned to him. There was a sparkle in her amethyst eyes. It was a shame to him they were no longer the gray color he remembered.
“If you want me to give you access to the weapons and tell you about their plan in full detail, then you’re going to have to promise something in return,” Leo said.
“We’ve been down this road too many times, Tess,” he said. She came close to his ear. Her lilac scent all too familiar to his past encounters.
“I’ll give you weapons if you promise me to kill Maricel,” she said. He grinned for once they were on the same page.
“That shouldn’t be hard,” he said. She gazed in his eyes, sucking in her lips.
“I thought you cared about her.”
“I was only pretending to get closer,” he said, and she grinned, moving closer, picking lint from the collar of his shirt.
“Before Adam and Eve, there was a race of creatures that roamed the earth coexisting with the angels. Some of them turned against God and were chained in hell as well. They assisted the Watchers,” she said, brushing back a piece of hair.
“You sound too excited.”
“Prophecy must be fulfilled,” she smiled. “Bring me Maricel’s head on a platter. I can bring the weapons by, but you’ll have to go to Boston.” She leaned in until their lips met, sharing a kiss. When they finished, he opened his eyes, and she smiled.
“Don’t overthink Leo, just do as I said,” she said, walking away. He came around the corner. To his dismay Crystal and Zev were gone, he realized while he had been trying to sweet-talk Tess into giving him the weapons the two had been captured.
* * *
We sat in the spacious lounge under neon lights. Semjaza had forced one of the girl’s up, so I could sit beside him. He wrapped his arm around me.
“I see you guys don’t have the correct currency?”
“Nope,” I said. Erich’s eyes narrowed glaring at me.
“What’s holding you back?” I glanced at my friends, and they shook their heads. “You know what, it’s all right gambling around here works a little different. Since our currency is either in the wrist or forehead, we gamble something different.
“How so?” Kevin said.
“We gamble our bodies.”
“Bodies?” I said, confused. “In return for what?”
“Power, healing whatever you need.”
“When did gambling turn into magic?” Something in Erich’s eyes changed.
“Magic is all around us. Just see and take a look?”
Everyone turned to a middle-aged woman, peering into a mirror, touching a line on her forehead and touching her hips with a frown. She rolled her eyes when a man walked by with a woman who looked no older than twenty-two on his arm. The woman walked over to the table and offered her body in return for beauty and youth.
She bowed on the ground with her arms raised. A mass of black energy hovered overhead and trickled into her nostrils. Her eyes rolled back, and she shook. Her soul screamed within her as it singed in heat.
She stood up again. Her loose, wrinkled skin was now smooth, her eyes clear and bright. Her short stubby frame had been altered to a lean, tall stature of a supermodel. She now looked no older than her early-twenties. Men crowded her while she flipped her sleek, hair flirting including the man who had been with the younger woman, leaving her behind.
“So it’s a onetime deal?” I said, standing up, ready to leave. Hoping my friends would follow.
Yet it was almost if they hadn’t seen or heard what happened to the woman as they stared amazed. Semjaza’s eyes moved to Erich.
“You know, I was in your position too,” he said, looking at Erich’s broken arm. “Have you been to the hospital? That looks infected.”
“What do you mean by been in my position?” he said.
“Weak.”
“Excuse me?” Erich glared.
“My life was falling apart. I know the look. I was depressed. My wife was murdered. I also had broken a bone and had failed miserably,” Semjaza said.
“Erich don’t listen to him, he’s an angel. If you do this you’ll become demon possessed,” I said. Semjaza slapped his hand on his head.
“Mar, you’ve always been one to have a wild imagination.”
“I lied these are the Watchers, and they are trying to get you to become possessed so their demon seed can have more bodies for Armageddon,” I said. Erich still seemed unmoved as he shook his head.
“I don’t care anymore. If God really cared, we wouldn’t be in this position. I’m done pretending to believe that everything is going to be okay until Jesus comes riding back on that horse.”
“Erich, you don’t mean that, don’t do something you’re going to regret?” I said.
“I’m done with your bullshit Maricel. The only reason you’re still okay is that you flirt with fallen angels and they gift you with talismans. What special protection does Leslie and I have? God? I don’t you even have visions or dreams!”
“Erich, please,” I said.
“You’ve always been a pain in the ass, everything revolves around you,” he said. Leslie held her mouth.
Erich staggered over to the table. Semjaza watched with his face stretched into a smile.
Leslie rushed over behind him, trying to stop him by gripping his arm. He pushed her away. Erich’s eyes rolled back as he lifted his one functioning arm and bowed. When his eyes rolled back to the front of his skull. They were now a green shade. He turned to us with his fist clenched. To our left the angels were also watching us now standing to attack
I slid the ring around my finger and a circle of fire formed around my friends and I. The angels gaped while I sent a strong wind and the building collapsed.
We rushed out of the building. Leslie turned back to look for Erich—he was nowhere in sight.
* * *
Charlotte North Carolina was much chillier compared to Nevada in late February. The five of trekked through the snowy forest coming out of the portal I had formed. More had fallen than usual closer, a rarity in a location such as this since it had more of a mild climate year-round.
Leslie had barely spoken since the incident with Erich, and I was sure she was hurting but didn’t dare ask her.
“Well we’re here,” I said, looking at the small cottage where my father’s parents used to dwell. I had done research back when I was being sucked in by my dad. It had landed me here.
Legends were the cottage was haunted. Right now, I didn’t really mind those sort of details the thing that really bothered me was if someone had taken advantage of the idea and was living there. I knocked on the door. No one answered. When I entered with the four of them, the door closed itself. Caroline jumped clutching to her heart.
“You know what I can’t do this sort of thing,” she said, glaring at me. I wanted to stop her, but I couldn’t blame her for the frustration she harbored toward me with all that had happened. Caroline opened the door leaving, her husband and Warren following her.
I stood alone with Leslie
“I’m sorry about the inconvenience, how are you holding up?” I asked. Leslie didn’t answer me. Instead, her eyes watered and she walked upstairs, closing a door.
* * *
Caroline, Kevin, and Warren walked through the woods when beyond the trees they heard shouting. They sprinted out by where the road ran. A gang of thieves threw a man to the ground, punching him. They had snatched his food. The woman he was with tried to pry one of the robbers off him. The thief pushed the woman back and spit on her.
Kevin and Warren motioned to help.<
br />
“We have to do something,” Warren said.
“No, it’s too dangerous,” Caroline said.
“Caroline, we can’t just watch, don’t move from here,” Kevin said, dashing out with Warren.
* * *
I trod through the snow-packed cemetery until I reached a headstone, kneeling. On it read my father’s name. I took a deep breath, wondering how his funeral would’ve been.
“When you died, I hated you, and when I think about how you tricked me, I wished you were dead. You abandoned me as an infant for Tess leaving my mother and Zev all alone after ten years. But I’m here to let it go. To forgive you for what you did to me, I can’t keep harboring it, it’s eating me up.” I whimpered, shaking from the frigid air.
“That was beautiful,” a voice said from behind, clapping their hands. Standing and pivoting around, I faced Belial.
* * *
Leslie lay on the floor, staring at the ceiling covered in cobwebs, bawling, replaying the hatred on her Erich’s face before he disappeared.
A drowsiness came over her as she struggled to keep her eyes open. Her muscles relaxed with her eyelids.
* * *
Erich stood with his back to her in a sunflower field. He turned, his hazel eyes twinkled with the sunlight enraptured with love. She ran to him, and he picked her up with an embrace.
“I’m sorry, Leslie, I messed up,” he said.
“I know.”
“Can you ever forgive me?”
“Oh, Erich of course.” She sniffed, wiping away tears, throwing herself into his arms.
* * *
When Kevin and Warren had emerged from the bushed to aid the couple. They had identified them as Zev and Crystal. The gang of men had come armed with crowbars and struck at Warren. He pushed the man back, and he fell into the snow. Kevin knocked another out, but a third man in the gang drew a gun. Caroline paced back and forth, praying.
Suddenly, a low growl from the bushes behind Caroline startled her. They rattled as a pack of coyotes, crept out. She froze, praying while they sniffed her. After dismissing her, their eyes moved to the street. Their nostrils flared at the odor of the bag of food the bandit with the gun held.
Kevin and Warren raised their hands while Zev and Crystal still laid on the floor. He and a couple of other men in the gang seemed not to notice the coyotes creeping around them.
The coyotes lunged forward, attacking the gang of men. Zev rolled over. Crystal helped him, and the four ran back to Caroline in the woods.
* * *
“You can’t pretend that you don’t miss me,” Belial said,.
“Belial, a few months back you had me fooled, I’m not going to make the same mistake.”
“You sure love using the seal I gave you,” he said with a smirk. My eyes cast to the ground. “I’m not here to prosecute you, I’m here to help.”
* * *
Their embrace was unbreakable. Within his arms, she felt safe and relieved to have her husband back. His grip changed. In place of her husband was a charred face.
* * *
She awoke with a scream. Asmodeus covered her mouth. Her eyes grew wide with horror.
“Don’t worry, I’m not here to hurt you, I’m here to talk, Leslie” He laughed, her face filled with terror.
* * *
“Why are animals behaving like that?” Crystal said, looking at Caroline.
“That’s what I want to know,” Caroline said.
“Maybe those coyotes were rabid,” Caroline said.
“Coyotes don’t really attack humans that much, it’s unusual for their nature and even when they do the damage inflicted is never as severe as what happened back there. Rabies do seem like a plausible explanation.”
“Or maybe it’s a sign of the times,” Kevin said.
“The lack of food from famine these times bring, and competition over resources would explain their insatiable appetite,” Zev said.
* * *
“I never asked for your protection.”
“Keep telling yourself that, you’ll realize you can’t make it alone,” he said. I shook my head, walking away from him. “Maricel I’m all you have, it’s always been that way. You and me against the world!!’ he called after me. I ignored him, walking home.
* * *
“I’ll free your husband,” Asmodeus said.
“How?”
“I can tell the demon who he’s under the control of to leave him. I’m one of the princes of hell, you know.”
She narrowed her eyes at him.
“But you have to do something for me.”
“What?”
“Leave Maricel for good, never look back, and make sure it’s clear to her you want nothing to do with her,” he said. The idea of setting her husband free gave her hope. “I’ll give you time if you don’t follow through. I won’t follow through for you.”
* * *
Fifteen minutes later I reached the house, just as I was to the door, Leslie was leaving, carrying her things. When she saw me her, pressed her lips into a tight line.
“You’re leaving?” I said. She shrugged.
“I can’t stay here anymore. Caroline was right, this place is creepy.”
“If it is, maybe we can find somewhere else to stay,” I said. Leslie rolled her eyes and laughed.
“No, Maricel. It doesn’t matter where we relocate, it’s just my life was fine until you re-entered it. You’ve never been the same since you left for Lemuria.”
“Leslie?”
“Will you shut up? And listen, damn it, Mar!” she hollered, her face, reddening. I glared at her. “I’m tired of you getting me into trouble first the Azazel thing, then the Seal of Solomon. Now, my husband is possessed all because you neglected to tell us that those were your old fallen angel buddies.”
“I’m sorry I’ve been selfish.”
“It’s always been about your best self-interest…You judged me when you left for Lemuria for my past, and I took you back. I’m sick of you lying to me.”
“Leslie, please...”
“As your best friend, I figured you would be open with me and keep things real, but you still continue to make excuses. I can’t do this anymore. Don’t ever try contacting me. Our friendship is over.” She turned and walked out the door.
* * *
A month had nearly passed. I sat praying and wondering if God would answer me. It had felt like forever since I had heard his voice. The more I cried out, the more I felt hopeless. Although I had managed alone, I knew this wasn’t what I was called to do, and with or without my friends or family, I had to complete what I was put here to do. I ripped the seal from my neck and threw it at the wall weeping.
“What have I done?”
* * *
In Michigan, the seven had been staying in an abandoned cabin. None of them had eaten in a week as everything in the forest was dying. The animals had become rabid and with no weapons and every market closed off. It made it impossible. Their hunger and thirst were worsening so much, they had considered going to drink from the poisoned river.
* * *
Leo had landed himself in prison after he had been caught loitering, having lost track of the days wandering streets and sleeping where he could lay his head.
They had deprived him of everything, only keeping him alive to torture him trying to make him renounce Christ, and asking for him to give up the location of other saints.
He planned to escape with each day that had passed. From a distance, he looked up to see Tess standing outside his cell.
“I see you got yourself into more trouble,” she said. He didn’t answer her.
“What did you do to Crystal and Zev?” he asked. She shook her head.
“I have nothing to do with where they went. I’m here to set you free.” He stared at her, still scowling.
“How would that benefit you?”
“Leo, have you forgotten
your mission?”
“No.”
She handed him food. He took it from her biting into it,
“You have to kill Maricel, and I know where she is.” She laughed.
“Where?”
“The opportunity will present itself, at the upcoming gala my husband and I are putting on in honor of the Hell’s gates opening.” She handed him a slip of paper with an address and date. Men came and unlocked the doors of the prison. He followed her out.
* * *
As Leslie drove through Louisville in a car, she had found abandoned. It had been a month, and no Erich was in sight nor the rest of her friends.
She swerved at the sight of a figure in the road as rain pounded the car hood. Stopping beside the man, he was drenched, his dark-hair soaking wet and he looked up at he—Erich. His eyes widened at her.
“Get in,” she said, unlocking the door for him. Erich nodded and climbed in.
“Leslie, I’m sorry, he said.” I’ve really missed you. She grinned, leaning to kiss him. His hand wrapped around her neck, tightening. She squealed, kicking and managed to open the door rolling onto the road, crawling away ahead of the car.
Erich drove forward, and Leslie struggled to stand, hobbling forward. The car sped after her. She fell off a drop off rolling into a forest ditch. Erich rushed down to have a look at her, touching her face. Her body remained motionless. He laughed and sped away, to hunt the other saints.
* * *
“Who to trust? Who to believe? I tossed and turned, trying to fall asleep. Voices spoke in my room while shadowy figures watched me.
I opened my mouth to shout. Nothing came out. Hopping out of bed, I ran out of the room, down the winding staircase headed for the front door. The front door was already hung right open. Just inches from it, it slammed shut in my face.
I ran for the back door. It locked itself as well. I rushed for a window downstairs.—it sealed itself shut.
Sprinting upstairs, I opened my window, which was three stories, and looked down. If I jumped it’d be pure suicide.
Closing my eyes, I turned around backward with my arms out, bracing myself to jump when a hand grabbed me back, covering my mouth, and spun me around. My eyes popped open to see Azazel.
“I told you, I’d see you again,” he said, placing his hand on my forehead. I grew faint with his touch and passed out as he flew away with me disappearing into the night air.
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