Divinity Falling

by Nour Zikra

“Addy . . .” I stood too and pulled her against me. “You can’t go.”

  My hands trembled on her hips; I didn’t want to let go.

  “Listen.” She rested her hand to my chest and gazed into my eyes. “It’s going to be okay.”

  “How do you know that? A minute ago, you were dead.”

  “I know because when I died, I saw a green hill over acres of stunning land, and billions of fireflies flew around me. And you know what I felt? I felt light, like every pain I’ve ever gone through disappeared. That was when I knew I’d be okay, and I woke up.”

  Fireflies. Yet again, God did not let me down.

  “We have to find Lucifer,” she repeated. “Adriel, I was the weapon—or actually, I was more a shield than a weapon, and Lucifer didn’t want anyone to realize that. But when I killed myself, I disconnected our tie.”

  I stared at her, trying to sort everything out in my head.

  She pulled away from me long enough to grab the angel’s sword I’d thrown on the ground. “Don’t you see? We can actually kill him now!”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  ADELAIDE

  The green, immaculate hills upon which the glimmering fireflies had danced never left my mind, not even as I searched for Lucifer. I thought of how the sun’s intoxicating warmth had wrapped around my body, and my skin tingled. Unlike hell, where I’d felt suffocated by the heat, this warmth had enveloped my being and made me feel whole. If the Garden of Eden was real, the place I had visited was it.

  Colors, some I had never known existed, caressed my senses in the form of flowers and butterflies. Winged angels had sung in the distance, their voices pure. Light had carried me.

  Then Grandma Di’s face appeared before me. She looked younger than I remembered. Her curls were long and bouncy, and not a wrinkle marked the corners of her smiling lips. She took my hand, and we drifted over the hills together. Sometime later, I heard her voice inside my head, saying, “You have more to live for, sweetheart. God is sending you back.”

  That was the last thing I remembered of heaven.

  Coming back from that place, I didn’t feel like I’d died and come back; reborn was a truer word. I felt tears—happy tears—in my eyes and hope rising in my chest.

  Without my demonic double, I couldn’t sense Lucifer anymore, which meant he also couldn’t sense me.

  I sucked the cold air in and let it fill my lungs. For the first time ever, my body shivered, truly shivered.

  Adriel marched beside me. His eyes didn’t wander from me for more than a second. Every chance he got, he leaned in and put his hand on my back, steering me through the bloodbath around us.

  “You’re cold,” he said, looking at the goosebumps on my arms.

  I grinned. “I know. It’s great.” It wasn’t the most appropriate thing to say in such a setting, yet I couldn’t help myself. The happiness that filled me helped me stomach the dead bodies around us. I saw them, but they didn’t make me lose hope.

  Just as Adriel kept glancing at me, I kept glancing at him, examining the way the blackness in his eyes was diminishing. Every few seconds, the color faded more until his eyes were entirely human. I didn’t know how he had done it, but then again, I didn’t know how I was alive either.

  Too many angels—good and fallen—demons, and humans packed the street, making it impossible to walk in a straight line.

  I lifted myself on my toes and scanned the nearby faces. “Do you see him anywhere?”

  “Not yet.”

  Reed wasn’t far. He knocked a fallen angel to the ground and stabbed him in the chest. When he straightened up, he spotted me and smiled, but the smile only lasted a second. He turned on another fallen angel, strong as ever.

  When I looked back at Adriel, he was kneeling by a fallen angel’s corpse. I was surprised to see she was a girl with long hair. Unlike most of the fallen angels I’d met, she wore a worn-out shirt. Three knife wounds marred her body, as did a bullet hole in her shoulder. Her honey eyes stared at the sky, unflinching. The only sign she wasn’t human was her thick, black blood.

  Adriel touched the fallen angel’s wounds, applying blood to his fingers.

  I tapped his shoulder. “What are you doing?”

  He rubbed his bloody fingers over his eyelids and above his cheeks. “Making sure no one can see my human eyes. If I keep my eyes down, the black blood might conceal the white around my irises and fool some demons.”

  Other than Devin and me, no one knew he had turned back into a human.

  I moved through the crowd, realizing a bit too late that I couldn’t see Reed anymore. Pushing people and demons aside, I searched for him. Every time a demon came toward me, I lashed out at them with the sword I’d taken earlier and kept moving, not waiting to see if I’d killed them or not.

  Reed hadn’t been more than ten feet away. He couldn’t have gone far. Unless . . . unless he was hurt. I lost the feeling in my hands and began looking for his face through the many corpses on the ground. I kicked through the bodies. Some were missing limbs and others were missing heads. One decapitated head lay facedown. From the back, it looked like the shape of Reed’s head.

  My heart stopped, and my breath caught in my throat. No, I thought. Not like this. He can’t die!

  Not wanting to touch the head, I used the sword in my hand to turn the face around. When green, frozen eyes gazed back at me from the pasty face, I let out a heavy breath. It wasn’t Reed.

  Circling, I found myself far from Adriel. He caught sight of me, his eyes going wide, just as someone called my name from behind.

  I turned around and saw Lucifer five yards away. He wasn’t alone.

  “How in the world did you break the tie?” he said, holding Reed against him and moving his snake-engraved sword with the curved blade to my brother’s throat. In his other hand, by his side, dangled a pale head. But it wasn’t just any head; he clutched Madadel’s long locks in a fist, giving me a clear view of the last grim face the angel wore.

  Words choked in my throat. I watched Reed be still while his eyes fixed on me, pleading.

  “Must I repeat myself?” Lucifer’s eyes looked darker than ever before, if that were even possible. His hand moved a sliver. If I hadn’t been holding my breath, I wouldn’t have noticed the sharp edge of his sword inch closer to Reed’s flesh. “How did you break the tie?”

  “I died,” I muttered.

  All the muscles in my body became numb and helpless. I was acutely aware of the sword in my grip and knew I needed to act, but in that crucial moment, I lost my senses. I froze.

  “Do not lie, child. You damn well know that is not possible.”

  “It . . . it’s true. I killed myself.”

  “But you cannot get hurt; you heal. Tell me the truth, or your brother loses his head like his angel!” He pushed the sword into Reed’s skin.

  A pit formed in my chest as I watched a red, bloody line form on my brother’s neck and heard him squeal.

  “No! Please, please, stop! I’ll tell you everything. Just, please, don’t hurt him!”

  Everyone seemed far away. All the angels were too busy to notice us.

  Lucifer didn’t flinch. His empty eyes stared at me, waiting.

  “I swear I’m telling the truth. I did kill myself. I saw my twin—the demon thing you put inside me or whatever you call it. I got it to confess everything, and it told me that if I think I’m dead, I really die. You probably didn’t think of that when you put that thing inside me.”

  “You are still lying. How else would you be here right now if you truly died?”

  “I swear I’m telling the truth. I did die. Then something happened that brought me back. God wanted it. I don’t exactly know why, I just know that he did.”

  Lucifer’s nose creased when I mentioned God, but he didn’t budge.

  “You have been such a disappointment.” He put his mouth to Reed’s ear and whispered something. When he looked up at me, he chuckle
d. “I just told your brother how he is going to die in a minute. If you care to stop his death, you will end your life this instant.”

  “Let him go first.”

  “I do not trust you, daughter. If I let him go, I would be letting both of you go.”

  “And I don’t trust that you’ll let him live.”

  He smirked. “We think alike, do we not?” He pressed the sword harder against Reed’s neck, causing more blood to trickle out.

  Tears escaped my eyes. “Please . . .”

  “I want you dead, child of mine. You could have chosen to be by my side, and I would have given you everything. I would have handed you the world and made you its queen. Instead, you chose to cut our tie, and I cannot have others know I can be killed.” He said the last part in a low voice.

  “Then you’ll have to kill me yourself.”

  Lucifer lowered his sword. “Very well.”

  He drew back, letting my brother go while still holding on to Madadel’s head. Reed started running toward me when Lucifer raised his weapon and plunged it forward. Reed let out a sharp breath and froze. It took me a second to see why.

  “I would rather kill you both.” Lucifer pulled the sword out of my brother.

  Reed fell on his back, blood oozing from his chest, and turned his face toward me. He took heavy, short breaths, his eyes wide.

  I rushed forward, tears in my eyes and a never-ending scream in my throat. This isn’t happening. This isn’t real. Before I could reach my brother, someone pulled me back by the collar of my shirt.

  “Let go! Let go!” My brother needed me, and I was ready to kick and claw my way to him. “Let me fucking go!” I felt the blood drain from my face as I realized what had just occurred.

  The person stopping me moved in front of me, and I saw it was Adriel. The black blood covered most of his eyes. Without hesitation, he pointed a dagger at my chest. There was a hardness to his jaw, one that made me take a step back.

  “Kill her,” Lucifer said, “and then let’s get on with this new world.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  ADRIEL

  Reed gasped for air, reminding me with every ticking second that he had little time. The more he tried to breathe, the heavier each breath sounded.

  I maintained eye contact with Addy. Though her face had paled and she had tears streaming down her cheeks, I looked to her for guidance. She didn’t know it, but she was the only thing keeping me collected. I studied the arches of her brows, the flickering of each almond eye between mine, and I considered what Addy would do if she were me.

  Lucifer’s eyes bored into my back. I felt them without needing to look over my shoulder. “Kill her, and then let’s get on with this new world,” he said.

  What would you do, Addy?

  Reed was dying. If we didn’t get him to a hospital or Michael in the next few minutes, he would be gone. And I was the only one left who could make a move. Besides, if I didn’t do anything, we were all dead for sure.

  “What are you waiting for?” Lucifer’s steps were heavy as he moved closer. “Must I do everything myself, you incompetent bastard?”

  Addy looked behind me, her mouth hanging open.

  Another step closer.

  I spun around—dagger still pointed ahead of me—saw Lucifer a couple of feet away, and made a mental calculation. What would Addy do? I knew the answer. She would fight with her last bit of fading strength. That was why she was alive right now. God made no mistakes. He brought her back for a reason. He saw goodness in her and the will to keep fighting for everybody who couldn’t.

  Now, it was my turn. I had let Jenna kill Matt without so much as trying to guide her in the right direction. I wouldn’t make the same mistake now. Fighting for a life—that was what mattered.

  Another step. Lucifer glanced at my face and did a double take when he noticed my eyes. “What the—”

  A harrowing scream shook the earth. Through my peripheral vision, I saw Addy dash forward. She raised her sword, which she wasn’t holding properly, high into the air. Her hands shook. I envisioned the weapon slipping from her loose grip and feared Lucifer hurting her like he had Reed.

  “Addy, no!”

  Lucifer grinned. He held his sword steady in his hand.

  Addy thrust her weapon forward. As expected, Lucifer intercepted the hit. Steel clashed against steel. Addy’s sword flew from her hand and landed with a loud thud several feet out of reach. She staggered back.

  Without missing a beat, Lucifer lifted his sword. “I made you; now I end you. I am pleased to see you go.”

  Addy looked to her brother, and I knew she was giving up, something she never did.

  I felt my arm move, but it took me a second to realize what I’d done. My dagger flew from my hand. I watched it soar in the air for what seemed like many minutes, although it was only a second. I didn’t dare look away. A blink of an eye, I feared, would disrupt the weapon’s trajectory.

  Lucifer brought his sword down, leveling it with Addy’s neck.

  Reed struggled with another heavy breath. Thump thump, thump thump. My heart drummed in my ears.

  “Addy, duck!” I screamed.

  The dagger I’d thrown at Lucifer somersaulted halfway before finally landing. Right. In. His. Heart.

  Addy fell on her back, Lucifer’s sword missing her head by a second.

  “What . . .” Lucifer looked down at his bleeding chest, the corners of his lips twitching upward. “You cannot kill me!” Madadel’s head slipped from his hand and rolled like a ball for several seconds before coming to a complete stop. With his hand free now, Lucifer pulled the dagger out and released a hysterical laugh. “An eye for an eye; I killeth thy brother, and you kill I.” His eyes shot to Addy’s face as he collapsed.

  Addy didn’t wait to make sure he was dead. She jumped to her feet and ran to her brother with a fierce look in her eyes.

  Taken aback by what I’d done, I moved toward the devil and lingered above his body.

  “You have killed your friend,” Lucifer muttered, looking at me.

  “You are not my friend.”

  “Go to hell.”

  “No, thank you.”

  He reached out to grab my foot, but his arm sank to the ground. The black in his eyes reverted to its old brown, pronouncing him dead. In another lifetime, had he not been what he was, he could have passed as Addy’s brother.

  I rushed to Addy’s side. She was struggling to keep pressure on Reed’s wound and mumbling words like “Don’t die.”

  “Come on. We’ve got to get him to a hospital. They’ll hopefully be functioning normally again now that humans have their souls back.” I lifted Reed and carried him in my arms.

  “We’re not going to make it!” Addy said, a cry vibrating in her throat.

  “Don’t say that!”

  We hurried past the demons, angels, and humans, all of whom had stopped fighting at some point. They stared at us and at Lucifer’s body, all of them confused.

  “Get out of the way!” Addy screamed.

  Fallen angels started disappearing into thin air. Going back to hell, I hoped. Even the angels reacted to Lucifer’s death. They clapped their wings together in a cheer and twirled in the sky.

  “Move!” Addy pushed people aside. “Go away!”

  She bumped into Devin but didn’t notice.

  “Addy?” he said.

  For a fleeting second, she looked at him. Then she kept moving, not stopping to take in the fact that his eyes had returned to blue. That all the humans who had been turned into demons had changed back to their true selves.

  “Move!”

  Reed’s gasping was getting rougher.

  Ignoring the chaos around us, I scanned the parked cars on the street ahead. “Addy, where’s your car?”

  “It’s gone. I’m driving the Chrysler now.” She pointed at a shiny black car and ran in its direction.

  “Hold on,” I told Reed as
I followed her. “We’re getting you help.”

  Reed’s only response was another gasp. I felt his body quiver in my hands.

  “Do not take him to a hospital. He will not make it,” a calm voice spoke.

  Both Addy and I turned at the same time. Michael stood with his arms crossed over his gold-plated armor. He neither smiled nor frowned. He moved toward me and planted his hand on Reed’s chest. “It is his time to go.”

  “No.” Addy shook her head and grabbed hold of Reed’s hand, almost pushing Michael away. “Heal him!”

  Michael looked between her and Reed. “I cannot. It is his time. God has a different plan for him now.”

  Addy forced Reed out of my arms and slumped on the ground, cradling him. She stared up at the archangel, more tears flooding her now-red eyes. “You healed that woman. Why can’t you heal him too?”

  Reed’s gasps were growing fainter.

  “Are you punishing me? Is this because I sold people’s souls?”

  I put my hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged me off.

  “Don’t take him away from me. He’s all I have!” she cried.

  “You should say your goodbyes,” Michael said.

  Addy shook her head again. “No!”

  The color in Reed’s face was fading, and he was getting quieter.

  “Addy, please,” I begged. “Reed needs you now.”

  As if coming to her senses, her eyes shot to her brother. “I’m so sorry, Reed. I’m so sorry.” She pulled his face toward hers. Saliva dripped from the corner of her mouth and landed on his neck. “I love you.”

  Reed blinked once, seeming to pass a silent message to his sister, then closed his eyes.

  Addy hugged Reed to her chest and let out a piercing, inhuman sound. It came from deep within her throat. I felt my heart break for the fourth time since a week ago, when Jenna had killed Matt. Tears flooded my eyes, reminding me of my humanity.

  I wasn’t sure how much time passed with Addy sobbing before her body finally surrendered and she sat still, tears trailing down her face and raining over Reed. I wasn’t sure about anything, except that there was nothing calm about Addy’s stillness. Though she was suddenly quiet, I felt her internal scream threatening to explode.