“No stipulations at all?”
“You must first bring him to Raphael’s office so that he can remove his duties as angel of death. They must be passed to another or death will no longer exist,” Michael added.
“I look forward to this,” Job smiled.
“Just bring them both fast,” Michael said. “Because the next step is allowing humans to join the hunt.”
“Well won’t that be fun,” Job decided. Michael looked irritated. “I’m guessing you don’t think so.”
“Just do what I said,” Michael told him.
“Fine,” Job turned back to the smoking rift. “You will have him by the end of the week.” Job disappeared back inside the rift.
“The earth is going to be overrun by demons within the week,” one of the angels next to Michael stated.
“I know,” If the angels were not at their end, they would never have made a deal with a fallen angel.
35
Joshua took us to an airport. Out of the back window of the car I could see a dark cloud spreading out behind us.
“Demon hoards,” Jesse explained. “They will continue to pour out of the rift until they have covered the entire globe.” Joshua parked the car and shut it off.
“They will be dragging the edges of the rift behind them, tearing the veil even further until they will be able to enter the City of Chaos, Hell, and the Earth from anywhere,” Joshua added to Jesse’s explanation. “It’s going to be full out war. The angels are going to be fighting to push the demons back and keep them contained until a way to close the rift can be found. Until then, no one will be able to die.”
“Why?” that seemed odd.
“Because everything is now one. The afterlife and life.”
“Essentially everyone is already dead now,” Jesse said.
“Or all of the souls that were dead are now alive,” Joshua stated.
“All of them?” Avery included? Would I see my brother again?
“They will be working with the demons. No one wants to die so they will be doing everything they can to find the one’s that they loved.” Joshua opened his car door and got out. I glanced back at the cloud again. It was growing quickly. It would only be a matter of hours before it reached us.
“We need to keep moving,” Joshua was already several feet ahead of us. I hurried to catch up as did Jesse. The airport was chaotic with people trying to escape the cloud that was coming towards them. I don’t think any of them knew what it actually was.
“The end is coming!” A man held up a sign to anyone who passed by. “Judgment day is here!” Well at least one person knew what was actually happening.
“You two stay here,” Joshua told us. “I’m going to get us tickets to as far away from here as we can get. Do not leave this area for any reason. If anything comes that could possibly be a demon or even an angel, Jesse, go straight to where I am. I will be right there.” He pointed to a line of people.
“And do not talk to anyone. Jesse, if anything should go wrong; guess who gets to be the angel shield. If anything happens to Rachael and you’re not dead; you will be. I will not be gone any longer than four minutes.” Joshua moved quickly over to the line. He would be able to see us for most of the line but once he went to buy the tickets, he would be out of sight.
“So,” I began. “You’re my guardian angel. How many other people do you guard?”
“None actually,” he admitted. “I am the age that I humanly appear to be. I was born solely for the purpose of protecting you and you only until I die.”
“Aren’t angels immortal? It’s not like you would just die,” I think I knew the answer to this one.
“Angels can die if someone kills them. If anyone threatens your life or wellbeing, I will give everything and anything, even my life, just to make sure they never touch you,” he told me.
“Anything? Even selling me to the angel of death?”
“Don’t be mad at me for that. It was the only thing I could do. I knew you were going to die and there was nothing I could do. I had to do it. Joshua was the only one who could make sure that you didn’t die. That’s the reason why he isn’t sitting in solitude, ignoring the other angels right now. Your soul is supposed to have the ability to repair the rift. I told him that so he would buy you.”
“But he didn’t want you for that reason. There’s something else that he has in mind but it wasn’t part of the deal for him to tell me. His only obligation is to make sure you don’t die and keep me appointed as your guardian.”
“Isn’t that nice,” I turned around to see Job standing behind us. “Where’s Joshua? I’m sure he’d like to greet his old friend from Hell.”
“Don’t talk to him,” Jesse gripped my arm tightly, moving his body in front of mine.
“I brought a few friends along while I’m waiting for another one of my friends,” he motioned to several demons who were moving out of the crowd towards us. Joshua had just started to buy his tickets. Job had purposely waited until now to make his move.
“What is your move young guardian? I don’t have much time to kill you. I just need the girl,” Job continued.
“Run!” Jesse pulled me in the opposite direction that Joshua was in. We didn’t really have a choice though. Job’s demons were on that side.
“You cannot escape me,” I could hear Job and the demons behind us. “I will catch you and I will take you to your fate.” We turned down a hallway, knocking into a lady carrying flyers about the end of the world.
“Who is he?” I asked.
“Did he leave you alone again?” Job asked from behind us. “Such negligence. I would never leave you alone.”
“He’s a really dangerous dude. He was one of Raphael’s right hand men until he decided that he should rule heaven instead of Raphael. Raphael kicked him out of the City of Chaos and Joshua locked him in Hell. He swore that as soon as he got out, he would take over and finish the job that Lucifer failed at.” We ended up in some area filled with shops, although there weren’t any people there. No one had time to shop for souvenirs when the end was on its way.
Jesse pulled me behind a counter. The demons ran into the room a few seconds later, not noticing us. They spread out, looking for Jesse and me.
“We have to stay here until Joshua finds us. I’m not exactly trained that well. I might be able to take the demons but I don’t stand a chance against Job,” Jesse explained. Job still hadn’t come in but he couldn’t have been that far behind the demons.
“No, you don’t really stand a chance against me,” Jesse and I quickly stood up to find Job behind us. The demons began to come back over to us.
“Come now. Have I ever hurt you? Joshua let you be tortured by demons but I promise you they were not my demons. Now, I will take you back to Anna. She’s still alive. Your brother Avery is with her. You’ll be fine. You can even bring your guardian. You don’t need the angel of death hanging around,” he tried to convince me to come with him.
I didn’t answer. Jesse refused to answer as well. We had nowhere to go, no options, and no weapons. We could only hope that Joshua figured out where we were.
“Let’s just start with a normal conversation,” he said, sensing our hesitation. “How are you today Rachael?” I almost answered. I almost began a conversation with him. I would have if Jesse hadn’t suddenly opened the elevator several yards away and ran, dragging me with him, inside. The door began to close as soon as we got inside.
“You will come with me eventually,” I could still hear him before the elevator began to move. Both Jesse and I sat on the floor of the elevator as it began to slowly move up through the airport.
“That was really close. Let’s never do that again,” Jesse said.
“I agree. Never again.”
I had no idea what floor the elevator was going to and I doubted that Jesse knew either. It was kind of a “who cares as long as we are getting away” type of thing. We didn’t have to decide as it suddenly came to a stop and began t
o go back down.
“No way,” Jesse started to get back up again, anticipating another run in with Job, but he was knocked back onto the floor as the elevator once again came to a stop. The door opened and Joshua was standing in front of it, waiting.
“Oh, thank God!” Jesse and I both got up now.
“Did I not tell you to stay where I put you? Imagine my surprise when I return to that area and neither of you were there,” The displeasure in his voice didn’t really matter to me now. He had locked Job in Hell once which meant he was more powerful which meant even if Job found us, we were safe.
“Job is here,” Jesse explained. I stepped out of the elevator, walking a few steps past Joshua.
“Where in here?” Joshua asked.
“Here in here,” I answered as Job and his demons came out of an elevator across the airport.
“How nice,” Joshua turned around and Jesse got out of the elevator just before the door closed.
“Isn’t this a fortuitous meeting,” Job walked towards us, his demons behind him. “I had no idea you were here. If I had known, I would have put on a nicer suit.”
“What can I say? Everyone just wants to please me,” Joshua moved in front of Jesse and me, his arms tense at his sides. He was preparing for a fight that he knew was coming.
“It would seem that way,” Job tilted his head to one side and then the other.
“It’s so nice to see you again. If I had more time, I would have gotten you a welcome home gift,” Joshua seemed to be focused on Job but by the unease in the demon ranks, it was most likely that he had more than one focus.
“I know the perfect one. Give me the girl,” Job ordered.
“Ah, that’s never going to happen. Now if you will just excuse us, we were on our way to our plane,” Joshua started to walk forward.
“Not so fast,” Job stopped him. “You know why I am here and you know that I am not going to leave until I have what I want. No matter what I have to do to get it.”
“Are you willing to die for it?”
“Are you?” There was no warning, no signal, and no reason. One second the sign proclaiming the end of the world was in the man’s hands and the next it had flown across the airport and hit Job in the face. Job angrily batted it to one side as his demons took a few steps back.
“That was very rude,” Job raised one hand and made a sweeping motion towards Joshua. The kiosk displaying travel option brochures was torn out of the ground and thrown at Joshua, who easily dodged the heavy metal and glass object.
Joshua made a similar gesture and all of the glass in between him and Job shattered, sending millions of tiny shards in Job’s direction. Job held up both hands and the cloud of glass stopped just inches away from his face before it fell on the floor, breaking into even more pieces. Job then sent a searing stream of fire at Joshua who walked right through it, moving even closer to Job.
“You really should know better than to attack me with something I use on a daily basis,” he made a sharp motion and Job’s head jerked to one side like he had been slapped.
“Your ego was always entirely too large.” Job returned the gesture, also beginning to walk closer to Joshua.
“I guess maybe when I’m as old as you I might learn to contain it,” a long dagger fell out of Joshua’s sleeve and into his hand.
“You will live to be as old as me and even older because you will never be able to escape your fate,” Job held out his hand to one of his demons who handed him an ornately carved walking stick. Job removed his own dagger from the top of it, holding it out to one of his sides in a defensive position.
“We could end this now. Just go our separate ways. No one is going to win here. I mean, it’s not like either of us is actually going to die although I believe your ancient soul might be ready for retirement.”
“I’m not going to give up until I get what I want.”
“It’s always about you, isn’t it?” Joshua threw the knife at Job and while Job was preoccupied with knocking it out of his way, a chain that held up a sign high above us came flying down, wrapping itself around Job’s neck.
“You’re going to learn that sometimes we don’t get what we want.” Joshua made a hand motion and Job was lifted off the ground and pinned to the ceiling as other chains from around the room flew across him to restrain him.
“This isn’t over,” Job’s voice was far away.
“It is for me,” Joshua began walking again and Jesse and I hurried to catch up. The demons moved out of our way, too afraid to mess with the angel of death after he had tied their leader to the ceiling. I had known that angels must be powerful, but I didn’t expect anything like that.
Joshua handed the tickets to an airplane attendant, who accepted them without a word, shock and horror on her face. The airport terminal had cleared out during the fight between Job and Joshua. With the veil torn open I guess the angels weren’t worried about staying undercover. Joshua pushed me ahead of himself into the tunnel. It lead to the plane that we were taking.
“Last call for the late flight to London, England,” a voice came over the intercom.
“England? That’s not anywhere near…”
“Everything is completely sold out. People just want to escape. This will at least get us out of America. It will be overrun by the end of tomorrow.”
36
Underneath the thick, black cloud with its fiery lightning, the demons advanced. Every step they took blackened and burned the ground beneath their feet. Souls of the dead walked with purpose among them, each with a living loved one in mind. The army was vast with millions of demons and souls marching across the land. Everything behind them was burning in eternal fires brought from Hell.
At the front of the line was an angel. An angel with black wings. He was powerful and heartless. A fallen warrior of Michael. The demons and the dead followed his every command as he led them to power. The right hand of Job.
“Sir,” a demon cautiously approached him, keeping his eyes on the ground.
“What is it?” the angel was uninterested in anything this creature had to say to him.
“The hellhounds are ready,” he answered.
“Send them out.” The demon nodded and moved back through the army. The farther back he went, the worse the destruction. People lay screaming in agony as he travled. The black demon spawn chose their hosts as they rose from the rift, slamming themselves into the humans. The screaming would end immediately, a pattern burned into the possessed as they stood, a red glint shining in their eyes.
The demon continued even farther back to the very edge of the rift where it spiraled down into a deep, black abyss.
“Are you ready?” he shouted. An ear piercing shriek erupted from the pit.
“Lord Daniel has given the order. Rise and make yourselves known to the world!” A chorus of wolf-like howls added to the shrieks and the demon began to back up as the ground began to shake. “It is finally our time.” A huge paw with ragged claws gripped the edge of the pit before the rest of the first hellhound emerged. It was a good 15 feet high with matted black fur, red eyes, and row after row of bloody fangs. It roared its victory as another hound climbed out beside it. They began to come out one after the other now, each one attached to the others and to something behind them by a harness made of liquid fire.
They moved forward, their enormous muscles straining to pull the thing they were attached to. One hundred of them in total crawled side by side, dragging the edge of the shimmering black veil behind them. On the other side of the pit, another group of them had come out, dragging another piece of the veil in the opposite direction. Two more groups came from the remaining sections, also stretching the opening in the veil. They formed a massive circle on the inside of the much bigger circle of demons.
37
“Please fasten your seatbelts and put your seats in the upright position. We will be landing in London in 20 minutes.” I was startled awake by the announcement, immediately sitting up when I real
ized I had been sleeping on Joshua’s shoulder. I could have sworn I had not been doing that when I fell asleep. Jesse was asleep across a row of three seats, the pillows from all three seats’ compartments under his head.
“Get up angel boy,” Joshua told him.
“But I don’t want to go to school mom. It’s miserable there. I already know all of the stuff they are teaching me. Why do I have to go to school if I’m an angel? Can’t I just watch her by being invisible?” Well that was an interesting announcement.
“I am not your mother,” Joshua informed him.
“What?” Jesse slowly opened his eyes and then quickly sat up. “Well that’s just gross.”
“Oh, you think it’s gross for you?”
“Uh, yeah,” Jesse answered.
“How adorable,” he was being sarcastic again. It was how he was most of the time. He glanced around the airplane, his eyes stopping on an elderly woman who was nervously holding onto her tightly strapped seat belt.
“Do you see her?” He asked.
“Yeah,” I said.
“She is 89 and is terrified of flying. So terrified that she was supposed to die of a heart attack when we hit turbulence 3 hours ago. But because of the rift, she never felt a thing and she will remain on this Earth for another 10 years before peacefully passing away in her bed at home with her family and friends. It didn’t stop her soul from begging me to reap it for the past 3 hours though,” it was rather random but it was obviously torturing him.
“Do all of the souls beg you to reap them?” Jesse wanted to know.
“Every single one. The body is like a cage to them, restricting them and binding them to where ever the human wants to go. When it is finally over for the human, the soul cannot wait to get out. It’s how I know when someone is supposed to die and when I am supposed to collect their soul. They never stop screaming for me until I come. Wars are always a time of great agony with constant voices coming from all parts of a battle field. This is going to be the worst one to date.”
The Rift Page 10
