The Rift

by Skn Hammerstone

  But what did I know? After yesterday I felt like I didn’t really know either of them. If I knew Jesse as well as I thought; shouldn’t I have not only realized he was an angel but also noticed when his feelings towards me changed?

  I had believed Joshua to be cruel and angry, yet when he thought no one was paying attention, he made sure that I was safe and comfortable in his own way. His anger and sarcasm seemed like a front he put up to hide the feelings he truly had.

  I didn’t really have time to think about that now. Jesse was watching news from America in the living room area and it looked grim. Images of thousands of demons spreading across the country along with the huge cloud flashed across the screen. The government was trying to get everyone out but it wasn’t going well. Canada was protected for now with a line of angels, as was Mexico and both oceans.

  It seems that they were trying to contain it inside of just one country. There was no telling how long that would last though. Joshua was sitting at the table in the kitchen, leaning his head into his hands. I walked down the stairs and over towards the kitchen. Jesse looked at me as I passed, but said nothing.

  This was going to be different. I was used to his cheerful voice always making sure that everything was alright. If he wasn’t going to talk to me, that was going to change. Joshua, however, took this as an opportunity to gain all of my attention despite the fact that he looked exhausted. I don’t think he was doing nothing when he was awake the night before.

  “I hope you slept well,” he stated.

  “I did, thank you.” In truth, I hadn’t slept that well in a long time which was odd considering I should be too stressed out about the world ending to sleep.

  “I’m aware. That’s why I stated it instead of asking,” he smiled like he knew something I didn’t. Well, he probably knew a lot of things I didn’t. “That will probably be the last time you will sleep well for a long time. We will be leaving within the next hour.”

  “That soon?” I asked.

  “The angels aren’t going to be able to hold back all of Hell for a long time. Not when every time they send a demon back to the afterlife it comes right back. I want to get you to a safe place as soon as possible.”

  “Why is it so important that I be safe?” I wanted to know.

  “Because you’re special,” he answered.

  “You mean because my soul can mend the veil?” I didn’t really like that idea.

  “No. I wouldn’t go to these lengths to protect a tool for Michael and Raphael. You are special to me,” he said.

  “Is this that reason that I can’t know until you absolutely have to tell me?”

  “No. It is that reason where you mean too much to me for me to let you become their pawn,” he said it in a way that made it seem like he had known me for longer than he actually had.

  “Why would I mean that much to you?”

  “That is the one answer that you will never have.”

  42

  The man sat at the desk in the lobby, calmly arranging keys, not realizing he was being watched until he turned around. He gave a startled gasp, dropping several keys on the floor.

  “Lord Daniel,” he stammered. It was the general from the demon army. He was tall with blonde hair and blue eyes and was extremely strong. He leaned against the desk, nonchalantly playing with his slight beard.

  “I know he’s here,” there was a hint of a British accent. He wasn’t a native but he definitely spent a lot of time there. Enough to start talking like them.

  “Who?” the man attempted to fake ignorance. Daniel didn’t wait for the right answer or give the opportunity to give a new one. He grabbed the man by the throat, easily pulling him across the desk. Several people in the lobby noticed, but they made no move to help him. They were too afraid. With the news pouring out of the United States, they knew what he must be.

  “You know exactly who I am talking about,” Daniel hissed in the man’s face. “Let me into his room.”

  “I… I don’t,” the man stuttered nervously. “I mean…”

  “Let me in now or I will snap you in two.”

  43

  Joshua grabbed a leather jacket out of a closet and put it over one of his arms as we prepared to leave. Usually when I had seen him as Joshua he wore a black suit but now he dressed the same as he had when I thought he was Nicholas. The room phone rang just as he was about to open the door and he paused in contemplation.

  It rang again and he picked it up.

  “Hello?”

  “Lord Joshua. This is the lobby,” it didn’t sound like the man who had been working there the day before.

  “What do you need?”

  “They are here for you.”

  “Who? How many of them?”

  “Just one. He is a beast of a man, well over six feet tall. He has blonde hair and a beard. He is on his way up to your room now.”

  “Where is he exactly? Can you find him on a security camera?” Joshua moved across the room, away from the door.

  “He is in the elevator. He is holding a gun to Mr. Thomas’ back!”

  “Alright, get everyone out. This person is extremely dangerous.”

  “Is he one of the creatures from America?”

  “He’s not from America. He’s from Hell.” Joshua hung up the phone in irritation.

  “Who is he?” I asked.

  “His name is Daniel. He’s also a fallen angel and Job’s personal servant. He leads the armies of Hell. If Job sent him, he is desperate. We can’t go out the way we came in.”

  “How are we supposed to get out then?” Jesse questioned. Joshua looked around the room, moving even farther away from the door. I felt that awful trapped feeling that you get when something terrible is coming and you may not get out in time.

  “What are we going to do?” I doubted that all of the questions were really helping Joshua right now but neither Jesse nor I had ever been in a situation like this before and I think we were both hoping Joshua had. He moved over to the window and opened it, letting in a draft of cold London air.

  Looking down, he stepped out onto the narrow ledge beneath the outside of the window. I turned sharply as the door to the room rattled behind me like someone was trying to get it. Like Daniel was trying to get in. Joshua looked back.

  “Get out here now!” I saw no other option so I ran across the room, Jesse right behind me. Joshua moved to one said and held his hand out to me. I took it and stepped out onto the ledge. The drop to the street below was at least fifteen stories. Heights were not my biggest fear but they did not hold a place of comfort in my heart.

  Jesse came out onto the ledge beside me and Joshua shut the window. We were now trapped up here on this narrow ledge.

  “That’s at least a 150 foot drop,” Jesse estimated. “What are you doing?” Joshua ignored him and moved over to the very edge of the ledge. It ended about seven feet after the window. Since I wasn’t about to let go of his hand, I came with him, as did Jesse, who took my other hand and held on tightly.

  Joshua leaned over the edge. An old fire escape was attached to the wall about 20 feet below us. Joshua turned back to me, letting go of my hand. I wasn’t too keen on letting go but he didn’t give me a choice.

  “Trust me,” he stated. Then he jumped. I stifled a scream as he disappeared over the edge.

  44

  Daniel broke the door down with ease and walked into the pent-house, stepping over the arm of the man from the desk, who lay dead in a pool of his own blood. He knew Joshua was in there somewhere. If Job wanted him to bring Joshua and some human girl, he would bring them to him. No questions asked and no mistakes.

  He kept his gun out for intimidation purposes, moving swiftly around the room. Joshua had done a good job making the place look like it hadn’t been lived in for a while but Daniel knew better.

  “Joshua!” he deliberately began to knock over lamps and tables, smashing them on the floor. “I know you are in here! Come out and I might spare the life of your soul.
”

  45

  I moved quickly to the edge of the ledge. Joshua was folding a pair of black wings back into his back in the middle of the fire escape, completely unharmed. I breathed a sigh of relief until he turned back to me.

  “Jump Rachael. I’ll catch you.”

  “No, I can’t,” I began to back up. Maybe Daniel wasn’t as bad as I thought. Maybe he was a really nice person.

  “Yes you can,” he told me.

  “No,” I answered, bumping into Jesse.

  “You have to,” Jess stated. A loud crash came from inside the pent house and I turned towards it.

  “Sorry Rachael. Whatever it takes,” I heard Jesse say. Had I known what he was about to do, I wouldn’t have just stood there. I didn’t know, however, and I fell off the edge as Jesse pushed me.

  46

  Daniel threw a lamp across the room and it shattered against a wall.

  “Show yourself!” he shouted. He pushed a vase onto the floor and it smashed into hundreds of pieces.

  “Come out and fight!”

  47

  The falling sensation ended when Joshua caught me. I held onto him as he backed up to allow Jesse room to come down. Jesse jumped, his white wings only spreading for an instant, just allowing him enough momentum to glide down to the fire escape, before he folded them into his back once again.

  “Follow me,” Joshua ordered. Still holding me, he began to move down the stairs of the fire escape.

  48

  Daniel heard a loud clank and turned sharply. It had come from outside the window. A smile grew on his face and he threw the window open, stepping out onto the ledge. He looked down at the fire escape but there was no one there. He turned around in confusion but there was no one outside of the building.

  49

  Joshua had put me down once we got to the bottom of the fire escape and then we had run out of the hotel parking lot and down the road to a train station. I had a feeling that we would end up using quite a few different modes of transportation before we got to where we were going.

  The train station was crowded and chaotic. It seemed that the demons had broken through the line of angels by the Atlantic Ocean and they were now making their way towards Europe. This time Joshua didn’t leave us to go get the tickets. He brought us with him, paying the 120 pounds completely in cash.

  “Now boarding; non-stop train to the English Channel,” the announcer stated. Joshua led us to the train and we got into the first class car. No one else was in our box and I began to relax again as the English countryside passed by the window.

  50

  Daniel knew Job was behind him in the destroyed pent-house even before he spoke.

  “You have failed me, Daniel,” he stated.

  “I am sorry, my lord,” Daniel answered. He wasn’t truly sorry. He was shocked that he hadn’t caught Joshua. He had never failed a mission before. But he wasn’t sorry. He just wasn’t too keen on Job’s forms of torture for failing him.

  “Sorry isn’t good enough,” Job moved so he was standing in front of Daniel. “You let him escape.”

  “Give me more time.”

  “More time?” he remained calm. “You had your chance and you did not do a very good job.”

  “I know where they are going,” Daniel had to keep Job satisfied or someone else might be leading his armies.

  “How did you come upon this information?”

  “Joshua keeps several paintings here. All of them are of the same place.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I am very sure,” Daniel answered.

  “And you know where this place is?”

  “I do.”

  “Do not fail me this time Daniel and do not come back without him or I will blow you off of this Earth and make sure you are devoured by your own demons.”

  51

  The train stopped about half a mile from the actual English Channel, but it was visible from where we were. I stepped off of the platform with Joshua and Jesse and we began to walk towards the channel. In the sky, far in the distance in the direction we had come from, I could just make out the growing cloud of darkness above the demon army.

  With the cloud that close, I could tell that both Joshua and Jesse were on the lookout for any demons or angels. However, from New York to the English Channel we had only run into one enemy. I didn’t think I was anyone’s priority right now with a war going on.

  Jesse seemed to be worn out and I didn’t blame him. I was feeling the results of everything that was going on as well. Even Joshua looked like he had a huge weight resting on top of him. It took us about fifteen minutes to get down to a ferry. I was starting to just resign myself to the fact that everywhere we went there would be a ton of people trying to get out.

  “Three tickets to France,” Joshua told the woman at the ticket booth.

  “You’re just in time, that’s the last ferry to France today and those were my last three tickets,” she typed into a computer system. “Thirty pounds please.” Joshua took thirty pounds out of one of the pockets in the leather jacket he was now wearing and gave it to the woman who gave him three tickets. Where did he get all of this money? He seemed to be able to just pull it out of thin air.

  “You have a very distinctive accent,” the woman said. “Are you three from America?”

  “Yeah,” Joshua answered. He didn’t really seem too interested in talking to her.

  “Have you seen the news recently?” she wanted to know.

  “No. I don’t really watch the news,” he was trying to end the conversation politely but she wasn’t taking the hint.

  “It’s insane. Some kind of religious war. I never believed in all of those angel and demon things but some of the things I’ve been seeing on the news have changed my mind. Everyone is saying it’s the rapture.”

  “You don’t believe in angels or demons?” Joshua had something in mind and I don’t think she was going to like it.

  “Not exactly,” she admitted.

  “What if one was standing right in front of you?” he leaned towards her, resting against the counter.

  “Oh,” she blushed and put on a smile. I think she thought he was flirting. “You mean an angel?”

  “No,” the strange face I had seen in the City of Chaos flashed for a few seconds on his face complete with the fangs, deformed features, and eyes of liquid fire. The woman gave a sharp squeal and backed up.

  “Your ferry leaves in half an hour. You wouldn’t want to miss it,” she was obviously terrified.

  “Thank you,” he walked away from her and I began to walk beside him.

  “Was that completely necessary?” Jesse asked.

  “Of course not. I just find it amusing when these human women try to get someone interested in them before they even know who they are.” I almost stopped walking when he said that. The jealousy, the strange feelings towards him. But did I even know who he was? Everything he did surprised me. Why was I so drawn to someone I didn’t even know? That made me think of Jesse. I knew him very well and yet I hadn’t seen the way he felt about me or had I? Had I just hidden it somewhere in the past in one of the holes in my memory? I shouldn’t have been so shocked, especially after that memory of what he wanted his future to be. He had told me then; I just hadn’t listened. I hadn’t wanted to listen.

  There were still so many spots in my life that had no memory. The ECT had accidentally brought back some things but not everything. I didn’t even know what I was doing here. I didn’t even know who I was.

  The ferry was small but not as small as most ferries as it was going across the English Channel and not some random river. There were quite a few people getting on the ferry already and most of them appeared to be British. They wanted to escape too. We all wanted to escape.

  “I should probably call my mom with the time we have. I didn’t really tell her where I was going or that I was even leaving. I mean, she knows what I am but that doesn’t stop her from worrying.”

  “
That would not be a good idea,” Joshua sat down on a bench.

  “Why not?”

  “Because Job took her,” he answered.

  “How do you know?” Jesse looked like he was torn between protecting me and saving his mother.

  “Remember how I told you about how I can hear the souls?” Joshua rubbed his throat anxiously. “Her soul is begging me to take it. It has been for the past 12 hours. She’s in agony and there’s nothing I can do for her.”

  “We have to help her!” Jesse decided immediately.

  “We can’t Jesse. It’s like having to leave Anna.”

  “It’s my mom! I can’t let this happen to her!” Jesse insisted.

  “I wouldn’t care if it was your wife; you are not going back there to get her because I don’t need yet another soul screaming in my head!” Joshua snapped.

  “You may be a heartless creature and you may not care if it was your mother who was suffering…”

  “Do not assume that you know who I am or what I would do or what I have suffered!” Joshua shouted angrily, standing up. “You have no idea what I have been through! You know nothing!”

  “I know that I don’t want to watch my mother die!”

  “Do you think I wanted to watch my mother die?” Jesse didn’t answer him and I didn’t know what to say either. Joshua swallowed hard. It had been an accident that he had told us. “It’s your choice. Rachael or your mother.” Joshua sat back down, trying to regain his composure.

  “You know what my choice will be,” Jesse was upset now.

  “If I had doubted your answer, I wouldn’t have given you a choice,” Joshua informed him. Was he trying to make me the bad guy here? Joshua was making it so that I was the only reason he couldn’t go to his mother.