The Daughter of Zion

by Elicia Hyder

  She looked at the jar. “But there’s so little.”

  “We need to make sure it works on whatever is inside them. You have a whole army to cure, remember?”

  She nodded. “Nana, can you hand me a spoon?”

  Kathy went to the cutlery draw and returned with a teaspoon.

  “It should only take a drop,” the Father said.

  “What’s happening?” Nathan asked, wide-eyed.

  “You’re gonna be our guinea pig,” Iliana said, dipping the spoon into the jar. She let almost all the liquid drain off it before holding it up to his lips.

  Nathan recoiled. “What is it?”

  “You don’t want to know.” Grinning, I crossed my arms. “But if you don’t drink it, you might die.”

  “He booby-trapped us, didn’t he?” Nathan asked.

  “Yes. Drink,” Iliana ordered.

  Nathan obeyed and coughed when he’d swallowed the liquid. “Shit, that stuff’s awful.”

  Iliana and I stood back, watching the spot in his chest. Slowly, it fizzled away. She squealed and hugged me.

  “It worked?” he asked.

  “It worked,” the Father said.

  “Hey, Nate, you just drank a bunch of strangers’ tears and snot,” John called across the kitchen.

  Nathan gagged. “Seriously?”

  Iliana laughed. “We need to get this stuff to Cassiel.”

  I offered it to her. “I think you should be the one to take it. After all, it’s your creation.”

  “Agreed!” James cheered.

  When she reached up to take it, I held onto the jar. “I’m proud of you too.”

  She smiled. “Thank you.”

  “Me too,” added Taiya loudly.

  We all laughed.

  Together we walked to the infirmary. The whole group trailed behind us. They gathered around the window as Iliana took the crystal water to Dr. Swain.

  The doctor lifted an eyebrow. “This is it?”

  Iliana held it up against the light from the overhead bulbs. “This is it.”

  The Father came in behind us. “It may not look like much, but I think you will be quite impressed with its results.”

  Dr. Swain took the jar and unscrewed the lid. “What’s the dosage? How do we administer it?” The smell made her head snap up. “Whoa.”

  “Start small, that’s all we have,” I told her. She took a syringe and vial out of her bag. “Five milliliters to start?” she asked.

  When she held up a syringe, I nodded. “Looks good to me.”

  She poured the liquid into the vial, stuck the needle inside it, and drew the liquid into the barrel. She took a deep breath and picked up Cassiel’s IV line. “Everyone say a prayer.”

  I glanced down at the Father. “You heard that?”

  He chuckled.

  Dr. Swain pressed the plunger, sending the crystal water in through the IV. She dropped the syringe into the sharps container and stepped back beside the three of us. Iliana took my hand. She was trembling.

  When Fury drank the crystal water in Nulterra, it was an immediate and explosive reaction. Shattering the veils around reality and tearing down walls between worlds.

  Here, nothing happened.

  I worried that was a bad sign.

  The doctor’s eyes were on the monitor. The rest of us watched Cassiel’s face for any change. Any sign of life returning.

  Beep…beep…beep…

  Cassiel’s heart rate increased first.

  “My god,” the doctor said, checking Cassiel’s pulse in her wrist. The blood pressure cuff inflated and released. “Her blood pressure is rising.”

  Iliana’s hand tightened around mine.

  Cassiel’s temperature dropped.

  104.6

  103.9

  102.4

  Dr. Swain pulled the blanket down to Cassiel’s waist and opened the front of her gown. With a gasp, the doctor dropped the fabric and stepped back with shock.

  Cassiel’s entire abdomen oozed puss and bloody black sludge from the gaping hole in the center, but the webbed veins of necrosis wrapping all the way around her sides were beginning to shrink. Slowly, but visibly, even for the stunned human.

  The Father walked over and stood beside Dr. Swain. “It’s working.”

  As the infection shrank, the black diffused to a dark purple. Then it turned from green to light brown to yellow before finally fading into the creamy peach tone of her skin. Scar tissue crept across the open wound until it closed.

  A sniff made me look up. Dr. Swain was crying.

  So was Iliana.

  The color returned to Cassiel’s face last. Her breaths had deepened, but she didn’t open her eyes.

  “One more dose of your power wouldn’t hurt if you have it in you, Iliana,” the Father said.

  She nodded and flexed her fingers a few times as she walked to the bedside. She recovered Cassiel with the gown before letting the white light surge in her hands once more. She carefully lowered it to the center of Cassiel’s abdomen.

  With a powerful gasp, Cassiel shot up in bed so fast she nearly knocked heads with Iliana.

  Our friends in the hallway erupted into cheering. Ionis squealed, jumping up and down. Everyone was hugging.

  The doctor covered her mouth with her hands.

  I was so relieved I feared the weight of the whole situation might go out through my knees. I grabbed the nearest body to me for support.

  Jett.

  With a laugh, I put my arm across his shoulders. Fury joined us, and I pulled her against my side.

  Iliana took Cassiel’s hands to calm her. “Cassiel?”

  Cassiel’s bright blue eyes were now clear. No longer painted with black. They darted frantically around the room but stopped when they passed over the Father. “What…what are you doing here?”

  “Welcome back.” He hugged her, but she was too stunned to even move her arms.

  “Back? Back from where? What happened?”

  “You’ve been unconscious for days,” Iliana said, sitting down on the edge of the bed beside Cassiel’s legs. “We almost lost you. A few times.”

  Cassiel’s hands went to her stomach. “I remember being shot.” She looked at me, as I was always the cause for gunfire around her. “Then I woke up here.”

  I walked toward her bed. “Congratulations. You were our first test subject to create a cure for a poison devised by the Morning Star to kill us all.”

  “What?” she asked, horrified.

  “The Morning Star created a new poison called hydrogen necroxide. He melted down one of the swords to add helkrymite to the compound. We almost lost you for good,” I said.

  “Iliana kept you alive until she could create crystal water,” the Father added.

  Cassiel was amazed. “Crystal water?” She looked at Iliana. “That isn’t possible. No angel is powerful enough to create it without the auranos.”

  The Father put his hand on Iliana’s head. “Yet this one did.”

  The doctor lifted the vial. “Yeah…we need to get more of this stuff.”

  “How are you?” I asked Cassiel.

  She looked bewildered. “I feel great. Confused, but great.” She lifted the neckline of her gown to her nose. “I smell really bad.”

  “Hydrogen necroxide binds to our red blood cells and causes our bodies to rot from the inside out,” Iliana said.

  Cassiel gagged. “I’ve been rotting?”

  “For three days.” The doctor shook her head, amazed. “I can’t believe you’re alive.”

  “Who are you?” Cassiel asked.

  The doctor extended her hand. “Dr. Leona Swain. I can honestly say, it’s been a privilege to treat you and experience all this.” She looked over at me. “Thank you for convincing me to stay.”

  I bowed my head slightly. “You’re welcome.”

  “Now about that crystal water…” Her eyes cut toward the jar again. “How can we get more of it?”

  Iliana laughed weakly. “I’m gonna
need one hell of a nap first.”

  “You’ve earned that, little girl.” The doctor picked up the jar. “Can this stuff cure Blackmouth Fever?”

  “Crystal water can cure anything,” Cassiel said.

  “Wow.” Dr. Swain raised the jar toward me. “I think I just changed my fee.”

  Slowly, our friends began to trickle in behind me. Sloan grabbed the side of my shirt, and I pulled her against me. I kissed the top of her head. “Your timing couldn’t have been any better.”

  “We have Reese and Shannon to thank for that,” she said.

  “I was going to message you guys, but Adrianne advised against it,” Reese said.

  “Communication is too dangerous with Michael and Chimera,” Adrianne explained, coming into the room. Her kids were sitting in the hallway. Luca and Taiya sat with them. “They’ve always watched this place, but I’m sure it’s even worse since the shit hit the fan last night.”

  “What exactly happened?” I asked.

  “Dad came to me in a dream last night,” Sloan said. “He told me what had happened here with Cassiel and warned us about the new weapons of Legion Nine.”

  Nathan smiled. “We woke up when the bedside lamp exploded. Not sure what he did to it.”

  “He was afraid you would think you were only dreaming. We tried to teach him how to mess with electricity so you would know he was really there,” Iliana said.

  Nathan chuckled. “Oh, we had no doubt. He almost burned down the house.”

  “How did you escape?” I asked. “I can’t imagine they just let you walk out of the house.”

  “Michael was the most irrational I’d ever seen him this morning,” Adrianne said. “I’m not sure what he and Azrael were arguing about, but Michael stormed out. During lunch, Azrael got a phone call and left in a hurry. Something was going on at the base.”

  “Samael and Huffman.” I hadn’t realized I’d said it out loud until the whole room fell silent.

  “What about Samael and Huffman?” Nathan asked.

  I tensed and exchanged an uncomfortable glance with Fury. “Samael and Huffman were executed today.”

  A wave of shock and horror pulsed through the room.

  “No,” the Father said with a gasp.

  Tears welled in Sloan’s eyes. “They’re dead?”

  I nodded.

  “Are you sure?” Nathan asked.

  “We watched it happen,” Fury said.

  “What do you mean dead?” the Father asked.

  I swallowed hard. “The poison contains helkrymite. Samael is gone.”

  The Father’s knees faltered. Iliana grabbed him and eased him down next to Cassiel. Nathan swore and raked his fingers through his hair.

  I returned my watery eyes to Adrianne. “That’s why Az left in such a hurry. It happened at two o’clock.”

  We were all silent for a while. Nathan held Sloan as she cried. Adrianne hung her head and turned to look at her kids out in the hall.

  The Father held Cassiel. “What about Sandalphon?” she asked quietly.

  “We have no news on Sandalphon. But that also means we have no news that anything has happened to him. He must be safe, or they would have told us,” I said.

  “We were able to escape because of them,” Nathan said. “They gave us a window to get out of that house.”

  “You’re right. Their last acts on this Earth saved the lives of others.” I put my arm around Fury. “They would have wanted that.”

  “True,” she said.

  “That doesn’t explain how you all wound up together,” Anya said.

  Adrianne hugged her arms. “Michael disabled my car as soon as he realized we were gone, I’m sure. It died in the middle of I-40, and we barely got it to the side of the interstate. Thankfully, we were near an exit, so we walked to a gas station. Low and behold, guess who we found?”

  Shannon waved her hand.

  “I can’t believe I’m going to say this…” Adrianne looked mildly guilty as her eyes slid toward Shannon. “Thank you for rescuing us.”

  Shannon leaned toward her. “Come again?”

  “Thank you for rescuing us,” Adrianne said again, sounding slightly less grateful.

  Shannon smiled. “You’re welcome.”

  We’d never hear the end of it.

  “We were really lucky you were there today,” Nathan said to Reese.

  Gabriel shook his head. “That was too fortunate for it to have been luck. Someone was watching over you all.” He looked over at the Father. “Any idea who that might be?”

  “I really don’t, but I’d like to find out,” the Father said.

  “What time was it?” I asked Nathan.

  He thought for a moment. “We’d been driving about three hours, so probably around three.”

  “It was Iliana,” I said.

  Her brow rose. “What was me?”

  “You’re right.” Sloan took Iliana’s hand. “We were on the side of the road when I felt your spirit.”

  “Somehow, you made Reese and Shannon stop at that exit.” I looked at the Father. “Did you know she could do that?”

  “It’s well within the power of an Angel of Life to move the energy of the universe to protect others. Doing it without intention…that is remarkable,” he said.

  Iliana blushed, and Sloan hugged her.

  Nathan put his hands on his hips. “So what now?”

  “Now, I’m afraid we prepare for the fallout. The Morning Star will come after us. He’s probably already on his way,” I said. “Adrianne, do you have any insider information?”

  “Michael doesn’t tell me much, but I know they’ve been working around the clock this week. They’re preparing for something.”

  “War,” Gabriel said.

  I nodded. “You’re exactly right. We need you to summon all the angels you can.”

  “Of course.”

  “We need a plan,” Cassiel said.

  Kane came forward. “She’s right.”

  The Father looked at Anya. “Send the guardians to the city. Their instinct will be to protect the people.”

  She nodded. “I’m on it.”

  “I’ll position the messengers outside the area, maybe even between here and Claymore, so they can keep us informed of the Morning Star’s movement,” Gabriel added.

  “Tell the Angels of Death I want them here. They battled the fallen here the last time and won,” I said.

  “Where do you want me?” Iliana asked.

  I pointed to the floor. “Right here.”

  She scowled.

  “You’re the prize. If we keep you here, we might keep this battle out of the city,” I told her.

  “We’ll have the advantage if they attack from the main road. We can crank up the voltage on the electric fences along the perimeter,” Kane said.

  “The demons can disable it,” Cassiel said.

  Nathan nodded. “Maybe, but the fences are rigged with tear gas if anyone, angel or otherwise, tampers with the power.”

  “Nice,” I said.

  “Whatever happens,” the Father said solemnly, “spare as many human lives as you can. Remember, those in the employment of the Morning Star know not who they serve.”

  “Nonlethal force against mortals,” I repeated. “Gabriel, go. Call everyone you can.”

  He bowed his head. “Ionis, come with me,” he ordered.

  Ionis saluted, then did some sort of ballerina twirl toward the door. When they were gone, Cassiel scooted toward the edge of her bed. “I’m not doing anything until I’ve had a shower.” Her legs wobbled when she stood, and I reached out and grabbed her arm.

  “I’ll take you,” Fury offered, rushing to help.

  Cassiel looked surprised. “Thank you.”

  “We’ll both help,” Anya said, stepping to Cassiel’s other side.

  The two sisters supported Cassiel across the room. “We’ll be downstairs if you need us,” Fury said to me.

  I smiled as they walked out.

&
nbsp; Shannon looked at her husband. “I want to find Rogan.”

  “OK.” Reese touched the small of her back as she started toward the door. “I’m really glad everything worked out here.”

  I walked over to shake his hand. “Thank you, Reese.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “I need to be going too,” Dr. Swain announced. “I certainly wish I could take this stuff with me.” She carried the jar of crystal water to the nurse’s desk. “I’m gonna lock it up in the drawer for safekeeping. If word gets out that you’ve got something like this, demons won’t be the only attackers you’ll have to worry about.”

  “That’s a good idea,” I said. “Once this is all over, we might put your research team to work figuring out a way to mass distribute this stuff.”

  “Like a vaccine…” Iliana said quietly. She looked around. “Where’s Papa?”

  No one had told Iliana that her grandfather was MIA. He hadn’t returned with Sloan and the others.

  “Yeah, where is he?” Sloan asked.

  I grimaced. “We really don’t know.”

  Her eyes doubled. “You lost my dad?”

  “Not lost, exactly. He’ll find his way back here.”

  “Warren!”

  “We’ll find him, I promise,” I said, putting my hands on her shoulders. I needed to change the subject. Fast. “Kane, can you take Dr. Swain to her car?”

  “Of course.”

  We all thanked her again before she left, then followed them out of the infirmary. Jett and Iliana helped the Father. Kathy and James were waiting in the hall with the kids and Taiya.

  “Tell me about Azrael. What’s going on with him?” I asked as we started down the hallway.

  “We didn’t see much of him,” Nathan said. “But he’s definitely not himself.”

  “He’s a puppet,” Adrienne said.

  “You know Michael is controlling him then?” I asked her.

  “I’ve known for a while. I should have listened to you all. He’s not my son.”

  “No, he’s not,” the Father said. “He’s mine.”

  We all stopped walking. It wasn’t exactly a revelation, but hearing the Father take ownership of the Morning Star was still jarring.

  He shuffled toward Adrianne. “I’m sorry you’ve been caught in the middle of all this. It’s not fair what he’s done to you and your family.”

  It was clear, she was unsure of what to say.