Lucifer's Pride

by G. P. Ching

  Mike stared at the door, a hail of emotions pinging against his heart. “It’s a moot point. I can’t heal her. I haven’t finished the third challenge.”

  “The third challenge is mine to give. So, I’m asking you, Michael, will you accept your role as Healer with or without saving your aunt’s life? You came here to save her. Will you stay despite it?”

  He scratched his jaw. Every part of him wanted to punch Henry in the face. How dare he suggest his aunt wanted to die? But the more he thought about it, the more he admitted to himself that he didn’t know for sure what she wanted. Tears welled. He blinked them away.

  “I’ll do what she wants me to do.”

  “Will you choose to become the Healer regardless of her answer?”

  Mike ground his teeth, forced himself to breathe. “Yes.”

  Death smiled, and the effect was truly frightening. “Good. Then find out the truth.” One white-gloved hand reached for the doorknob. Mike flinched as Death gave the base a little kick to unstick it from the jam. And then they were in Aunt Millie’s room, her tiny body stretched out on the bed as he’d left her. The place where the demon had sliced open her chest looked infected, with black veins running in all directions from the wound. Mike’s body was there too, frozen next to her, staring at the triquetra. Gabriel hovered over both of them, a look of intensity in his blue eyes.

  “Millie, I’m here to take you home,” Henry said.

  Mike’s aunt sat up, or rather her soul did, popping out of her body and stretching her arms above her head as if she was waking up.

  “Michael?” she asked. She turned toward Henry. “Who are you?”

  “I am Death. I’m here to take you to Heaven.”

  “You don’t have to go,” Mike added quickly.

  His aunt looked around her then, noticing her infected body on the bed. Her eyes widened. “I’m dead, honest and truly? That thing that was here… it killed me?”

  “Yes,” Henry said.

  “No,” Michael added. “Not yet. You can still be healed.”

  “Or you can move on to Heaven. That’s where you’re headed, Millie. There’s no need to be afraid.” Henry folded his hands in front of his hips.

  This made her smile, and Mike’s heart sank.

  “Are you dead too?” she asked him.

  “No. I’m fine,” Michael said, and then he forced himself to add. “I’m… here to help you through this. Whatever you decide.”

  She smiled. “Oh, you must be an angel. You only look like Michael.”

  “You must choose, Millie,” Henry said. “Whatever you want. It’s up to you.”

  “It would be nice to see Momma and Pops again, and my sister. I miss them so. And to be done with the pain.” She rubbed her wrists. Michael understood why. She never talked about it with him, but her arthritis had worsened over the years. And she refused to take medication.

  It was all he could do to hold himself up. He nodded.

  “But I couldn’t leave Michael. I’m all he has in the world.”

  “He’d be okay,” Mike said softly. “You’ve taught him how to survive and he’s making plenty of money to support himself.”

  She nodded, her finger pressing into her lips.

  “Anything you want is fine,” he said, suppressing a sob. “Michael will be taken care of.”

  Henry held out a hand to her as if he were asking her to dance. Mike felt like he was being ripped apart. He closed his eyes. He had to do what was best for her. He’d become the Healer. He’d move forward, carry on the work his father had started, and he’d remember her always. She wasn’t his. The choice she made had to be her own, but how it hurt him. As big as Mike was and as strong, the hold his aunt had over him was supreme. He loved her and wanted the best for her.

  “If I have a choice, I choose to stay,” she said. Mike opened his eyes. She had not taken Death’s hand. “There are things I still want to do. Raising Michael is only one of them. That job is almost done. But there are more children out there, children who need an advocate. I can be that person. And my work at the library, it’s more important than books. If you could see the folks who come in there looking for help… I can’t abandon them. I can’t. Heaven will have to wait.”

  Mike could barely contain his smile.

  “Very well.” Henry folded his hands at his hips again, looking mildly disappointed. “Lie back down, Millie.” Her soul disappeared again. He turned to Mike. “Lay your hands on her, but know this, Soulkeeper, your ability to heal comes at a price that only you can pay. Good luck.”

  All at once, Death was gone. Mike felt himself drawn back into his body, sitting beside his aunt. Time started again. He dropped the triquetra. His aunt wasn’t breathing.

  “If you passed the initiation, I recommend you use your abilities quickly,” Gabriel said. “She doesn’t have much time.”

  He placed his hands over his aunt’s heart, making sure his skin touched hers at the neck of her pajamas. He wasn’t sure how he knew he needed to do this, but his gut told him the healing wouldn’t work as well through material. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen, and then energy flowed. It rushed from somewhere deep inside him, flowing easily and unrestrained, straight to her heart. His light circulated through her body and the black wound started to heal.

  But the more he gave her, the darker the room became. He blinked rapidly. “Gabriel? What’s wrong with the lights?”

  “Nothing’s wrong with the lights. You’re going blind. That’s your price.”

  “What?” Mike almost pulled his hands away, but he could tell it was too soon. His aunt wouldn’t live if he stopped now.

  “Relax. It’s temporary. You’ll be blind for the length of time you healed someone. No biggie.”

  “No biggie? Are you kidding me?”

  Completely blind, Mike heard rather than saw his aunt take a deep breath.

  “Michael? Michael? What’s wrong? Why are you in my room?” she said. He could no longer smell Gabriel.

  He rubbed his useless eyes. “I’m sorry. I had a nightmare.”

  She pulled him into her arms. “Me too. I dreamt I was dead.” She laughed. Thankfully the hug lasted long enough for his vision to return. Not fully, but enough so he could see vague outlines.

  “Sorry to wake you. I’m fine now. I’ll go back to bed.”

  “Okay.”

  He stood and exited his aunt’s room… straight back onto the English moor. He blinked repeatedly until his vision returned, Henry and the door exactly where they were before. The door disappeared.

  “Well done,” Death said. With a snap of his fingers, they were on the veranda in front of his castle. Time… Mara was seated at a garden table sipping a cup of tea wearing a broad-brimmed hat the color of a dandelion. Beside her, the spider from the cave shifted into the dark-haired woman in the bright red dress. Fate, or Fatima as she’d called herself smiled at him.

  Mara held out her white-gloved hand. “The pocket watch, please.”

  He pulled it from his vest pocket and handed it to her. She glanced at Henry. “One minute to spare.”

  “Imagine that. In the nick of time.” Henry crossed to her and laid a passionate kiss on her mouth that made Mike blush.

  “Don’t mind them,” Fate said. “Newly married.”

  He nodded awkwardly. “Is that it? Have I passed the initiation?”

  Fate stood and formally raised her teacup. “Congratulations, Michael Carson. Soulkeeper, Healer, descendant of God’s generous gift. You will heal with your right hand and command the strings of fate with your left. Lead wisely.”

  The three immortals raised their glasses to him, clinked them together, and each took a long drink. “Would you like to stay for tea?” Henry asked.

  “I’d better get back. The Soulkeepers need me. They don’t know.”

  “One thing before you go,” Fate said.

  Mike was inwardly amused. As if he had any control over this coming and going thing…

  “Fr
iends are a rare gift.” Fate glanced at Mara and Henry. “All the power in the universe can’t replace the magic of true friendship.”

  He waited. No one said another word. The three stared at him as if they had all the time in eternity to sip their tea.

  “Okay,” he finally said.

  The three smiled, and it was as if a cannonball landed in his stomach. He flew backward, the silver scales shingling around him and spitting him out in his bed on the other side. Gabriel was there, hovering over him with an expression like he’d scored the winning lottery ticket.

  18

  Reunion

  Was it just Hope or was the bus getting smaller? She tried to eat the slice of pizza in front of her, feeling like the walls were pressing in. There were too many bodies, too many murmuring voices in the cafeteria. Especially the one attached to a certain angel who insisted on sitting across from her.

  “I was impressed with the way you handled the demon today,” Damien said. “You may not be the Healer anymore, but your instincts are still sharp.”

  Hope gave him a curt nod but concentrated on her pizza, picking the pepperoni off before taking a bite.

  “There’s a place in the city that’s supposed to have the best pecan pie in the world. Do you want to check it out when we’re done here?”

  “No.” Short. Sweet. To the point.

  He shifted in his seat. Jayden and Jenny were deep in conversation over the merits of Marvel vs. DC comics, completely oblivious to her pain. She stuffed more pizza in her mouth. The faster she could eat, the faster she could get away from him.

  “You can’t avoid me forever,” Damien said.

  She kept her eyes focused on the corner of the room. “I’m trying to eat.”

  “Come on, Hope. All I’m asking for is a second chance. Let’s hash this out.”

  She dropped the pizza and glared at him. “You want to hash this out? There’s nothing to hash, Damien.” He balked at the way she said his name, like it was a curse. “You may be redeemed now, an angel, and we would be stupid not to use you for the greater good. But I don’t have to forgive you, I don’t have to like you, and I certainly don’t have to date you.” She stood up. “Look me in the eye so that there is no confusion.”

  “Confusion…” he mumbled, but he met her gaze.

  “I don’t want you here. I don’t want to see you. I don’t want to hear you. I don’t want to eat with you. You may refuse to ascend to Heaven, but don’t say you’re here for me. I. Don’t. Want. You.” Wiping her hands on her napkin, she threw it onto her plate and stormed out of the cafeteria, trying not to notice that everyone else was staring.

  Once she got beyond the door, she breathed a sigh of relief that he didn’t follow her. What she’d said was true. She didn’t have to like him or date him, but hell if she could control the attraction she felt for him. It was like living your life next to an unwrapped chocolate bar and never taking a bite. Sure, it would pass eventually. But sometimes, when she didn’t have her guard up, she remembered how they’d laughed, how he’d spun her around on the dance floor and shared things that struck her deeply. Was any of it true? And the kiss. She touched her lips with two fingers and tried to forget the kiss.

  It would be too easy to allow herself to fall for him again. And then what? He wasn’t human.

  A knock came from the front of the bus, and she strode up the aisle, grateful for the distraction. She wasn’t sure who it could be. Everyone was in the cafeteria last time she checked. She approached the door slowly, ready to call upon her power if she needed it. When she saw who it was on the other side of the glass, she cursed.

  “This can’t be good,” she said. Theodor and Wendy stared at her, faces grave. Not only did Theodor look thinner, his color gave her the impression he was ill. Wendy had her arm around him like she was holding him up. And Finn wasn’t with them. She pulled the handle to let them in.

  “What’s wrong? Where’s Finn?”

  Wendy helped Theodor into a booth and shook her head. “Can you call Ms. D? Theodor had to disseminate with me to get here. He’s not strong enough to explain this twice.”

  “Of course.”

  “Hope?” Wendy said, stopping her in her tracks. “Just Ms. D.”

  Hope frowned. “Okay.”

  A few minutes later, Hope had successfully corralled Ms. D into the conference room without raising the suspicions of the other instructors or Soulkeepers. It was a hard thing to keep secret. The last time she’d seen Theodor, he was being dragged through a hole in the ground that led to Hell. And Wendy had been ejected from Revelations the day it became a new Eden. As gossip went, the fact they were both in the conference room was newsworthy. But Hope kept her mouth shut. Finn’s life could be at stake.

  “Tell me what has happened,” Ms. D demanded. She’d initially been as surprised as Hope but was similarly focused when it came to getting to the bottom of the visit.

  “It’s Finn,” Wendy began. “We think Lucifer is holding him captive.”

  Hope felt sick. “I talked to him a few days ago. He said you had protections on your place. How could this have happened?”

  Theodor held up a hand. “Lucifer didn’t take him from us. Finn walked into the cemetery on his own.”

  “What?” Ms. D shook her head.

  Wendy held up Finn’s earpiece. “We found this outside the gate. I think he intended to retrieve the obsidian dagger.”

  “Why would he do something so stupid?” Ms. D said through her teeth.

  “Somehow he knew where you hid it. He’s very powerful. He probably thought he could pop in, get it, and pop out before Lucifer noticed,” Wendy said. “He told me he wanted to try to find it before Lucifer did.”

  “This can’t be happening,” Hope said, rubbing her temple. “The spell around that cemetery gave me a headache. How did Finn even get in there? We saw humans walk right past it. We all tried to get in. It was impenetrable.”

  Wendy cleared her throat. “But that’s exactly what happened.” She placed the earpiece in her ear and tapped. “HORU play the last time you saw Finn.”

  “Yes, Wendy.” HORU appeared and projected a video on the conference room wall. Hope winced as the lock popped open for what she assumed was Finn. He was invisible.

  “Why can’t we see him?” Ms. D asked.

  “He was using magic. Would you like me to enable thermal imaging?”

  “Yes, HORU,” Wendy said.

  The recording started over, showing a silhouette of Finn’s hand in shades of red releasing the lock. He pushed open the gate. When HORU warned him about the interference, he took his earpiece out and set it on the sidewalk. Hope watched the thermal image of his foot pass over the threshold and into the cemetery unimpeded. And then he completely disappeared, as if he’d dissolved into the night itself.

  Hope shook her head. “How?” she asked Theodor. “We tried everything to get inside. What type of sorcery is this?”

  Ms. D huffed loudly. “The real question we must ask is whether he was captured before or after he retrieved the blade.” She laced her fingers together on the table. “We tried everything to get inside that cemetery. For Finn to walk right in, it’s a little too convenient. I have a feeling he was let in. Lucifer wanted to follow him.”

  “Oh no,” Hope said, as the truth dawned on her. “If it was after, that would mean Lucifer has the obsidian dagger.” She turned to Theodor, pleading with her eyes for him to tell her it wasn’t true.

  “Finn was motivated to retrieve the dagger last night,” Theodor said. “He most certainly would have disseminated directly to the place he knew it was hidden. Lucifer is extremely powerful and well fed. If the Devil let him in, I think you are right, Victoria. It was for the purpose of following him. If Finn wasn’t able to come back out, I think it’s fair to assume Lucifer has the dagger.”

  Hope’s heart took off like a scared rabbit. “We’ve got to call Mike.”

  Wendy looked confused. “I think we have more pressing pri
orities than notifying Finn’s ex-friend that he’s missing.”

  “Mike is the Healer,” Hope said, watching Wendy’s eyes widen in response. “Well, was the Healer. Last we heard, he was planning to deny the call. Until he does, he’s the last ingredient for Lucifer’s spell. If Lucifer does have the dagger, Mike is the only thing standing between him and tearing down the veil between dimensions.”

  Ms. D placed a gnarly hand on hers. “We will go to him. We’ll keep him safe.”

  Wendy leaned back in her seat. “Wow. Mike. I never thought he had it in him.”

  “There’s something I don’t understand,” Hope said. “Theodor, you mentioned you thought Finn was motivated to get the dagger last night. Why? Why then? Why’d he go alone?”

  Theodor glanced in Wendy’s direction, then let out an exhausted sigh. “Because Finn learned last night that he is the most powerful he will ever be.”

  “I don’t understand.” Hope felt like she was missing something.

  “Last night, Finn discovered that I am dying.”

  “Huh?” Wendy’s usually perky disposition visibly darkened.

  “The three of us, Wendy, Finn, and I, are linked.” He held out his arm and a symbol danced across his skin. “We are bound together. The spell allows us to share power.”

  “They’ve been training me. It helps me to learn,” Wendy said. It sounded like an excuse, like she was explaining why they’d done a bad thing. Hope supposed after what had happened with Finn, she wasn’t keen to admit she’d taken a spell into her flesh.

  “Finn found out that I am dying. Without Revelations and the star beneath it, I am aging too quickly. If it weren’t for magic, I’d already be dead.”

  “I am truly sorry, Theodor,” Hope said. “But what does this have to do with the dagger?”

  “Aside from Ms. D, Finn was the only one who knew exactly where the dagger was hidden, and he was the strongest he was ever going to be because he is linked to me. He has his power and access to my power too. And by the draw I’m feeling through our connection, I can tell you without a doubt that he is using it. Whatever Lucifer is doing to him hurts. It feels like… I’m keeping him alive. And I’m afraid, there’s not much life left in me.”