The Rift

by Skn Hammerstone

69

  “Lord Raphael has been moved to a secure location.” Jacob, the young angel ran over to Gabriel and stopped in front of him. “General Michael and his angels have arrived with Lord Joshua and his souls.”

  “Where are Jesse and Lady Rachael?” Gabriel questioned.

  “On their way,” Jacob answered.

  “What about Job and General Daniel?”

  “General Daniel has been spotted half-way across the water. Job has not been seen yet,” he told him.

  “I want all scouts looking for Job. He is our main target,” Gabriel instructed.

  “Yes, my lord,” Jacob left the room once again. Rachael and Jesse walked into the completely glass command room located high above the ground. Alexander was sitting in a chair, his cane stretched out in front of himself, his jaw clenched in what seemed to be anger and irritation.

  Several other angels of high power as well as a few that were for protection purposes also stood or sat in the room. Far below the darkness of the writhing mass of Hell moved towards the facility, crawling up the shore of Sicily and destroying the people and buildings they came across on their march.

  It was very evident where General Daniel was. He was the only one mounted on an enormous hellhound at the front of the army. Job, however, was nowhere to be found.

  “General Michael will be leading his angels towards the main army,” Gabriel began to explain. “Lord Joshua will be attacking the left flank with his souls and the facility will be attacking the right flank, led by me. Rachael, you and Jesse will be going with Lord Joshua, by his request.”

  Jesse frowned but Rachael was indifferent to the placement.

  “General Michael is on his way up,” Jacob came back into the room.

  “Thank you,” the doors to the room opened again and Michael walked in, flanked by half a dozen rough looking angels. The trained and vicious warriors of Heaven.

  “General Michael,” Gabriel bowed his head slightly in respect as did the rest of the room, except for Rachael. Michael sent her a glare and she met it with an amused look.

  “Has Job been located?” Michael questioned.

  “Not yet General,” Gabriel answered.

  “It is vital that we find him. Job and Daniel are our primary targets. Without them, the army falls apart,” Michael instructed. The doors opened once again and Joshua came in, Avery as his only soul. He was dressed completely in black, a sword hooked low on his hips, nearly touching the floor, and a long black coat.

  All fatigue and distress that had been so evident in Rachael’s room the night before was gone. He looked dangerous with a limitless source of inner energy.

  “Look who finally decided to arrive,” Michael was even more hostile towards Joshua than Jesse had been.

  “I got here at the same time as you General Jackass,” Joshua informed him.

  “I’m sure. That was why I was here waiting to welcome you,” he spoke sarcastically.

  “I don’t believe you have been educated in what welcome means,” Joshua continued walking until he stood by Rachael.

  “Let me educate him,” Rachael pulled Joshua’s head down to kiss him. Jesse looked on in quiet but simmering anger.

  “Don’t ever welcome me that way, Michael,” Joshua stated.

  “I wasn’t ever planning on it,” Michael assured him.

  “We will have time to be educated in what the word welcome means later and Rachael that is not what it means, just so we’re clear on that,” Gabriel told them.

  “I’m aware,” she lifted an eyebrow. “I just don’t really care.”

  “Elizabeth will be back soon to fix what she did,” he added. Rachael crossed her arms.

  “I can’t find anything wrong with the job she did.”

  “What job?” Joshua questioned.

  “She gave me back my power and my memory, darling. It’s not a bad thing,” Rachael sat down in a chair and put her feet on a table.

  “It is a bad thing. You aren’t you anymore,” Jesse told her.

  “Maybe you didn’t know me as well as you thought you did.”

  70

  Joshua and Jesse walked down one of the hallways in the facility, making sure no one was listening to their conversation before they began to talk.

  “Something isn’t right about her,” Jesse stated.

  “I don’t think I’m seeing what all of you are. She seems normal,” Joshua denied.

  “She is excited about this war. She can’t wait to hurt someone and sink her knife into them,” he wasn’t going to give up.

  “Maybe you’re just not happy because she didn’t choose you,” Joshua refused to listen to the accusations. He had no reason to believe them.

  “What? Because she kissed you? Well in that case she chose me too,” Jesse informed him.

  “What are you talking about? She wouldn’t do that,” he stopped walking.

  “But she did. This is what I’m trying to tell you. Something is wrong with whatever Elizabeth did to her. She did something different and it has messed her up,” he insisted. Convincing Joshua that Rachael wasn’t perfect was like trying to swim against the current in the ocean.

  “Other than that, what makes you think she is changed?”

  “She and Elizabeth had this short, weird conversation after she got her power. Elizabeth wanted to make sure she remembered absolutely everything. But the way she worded it was more like she wanted her to remember something specific. Rachael knew exactly what she was talking about and agreed even though they have supposedly never known each other until recently.”

  “Anything involving Elizabeth is not good,” Joshua agreed. “That woman is pure evil and if she’s messed with Rachael, she is going to pay for it.”

  “I’m sure, Mr. Avenging angel, but right now we need to fix Rachael,” Jesse continued.

  “She hasn’t done anything that merits fixing yet,” Joshua contradicted. “If she does something she shouldn’t, then we will know something needs to change.”

  “Did you know that she ends up with me in every single future she has?” Jesse was going to get Joshua to believe him no matter what it took.

  “According to who?” Joshua demanded.

  “According to Alexander. Rachael knew that yet she is still making you believe that she is going to end up with you. Explain to me why the normal Rachael would do that.”

  “She wouldn’t,” Joshua realized.

  “Even Gabriel thinks something isn’t right. Raphael refuses to believe it though. He is the one who told Rachael to reverse what had happened with you. He keeps pushing her towards the path he doesn’t want her to go on and expects Alexander to fix it and put her back on the right path.”

  “I don’t think that it was just Raphael ordering her to do it. She went far beyond reversing it,” Joshua corrected him.

  “That was because of your angelic trance. I don’t think you realize quite how strong it is, but considering it depends on how much power you have, you should have a pretty good idea,” Jesse told him.

  “Well maybe you think she wants to be with you because of the same thing,” he wasn’t buying that she would only want to be with him because of some angelic trance.

  “Mine isn’t that great. I’m just a guardian. We weren’t meant to be that strong,” Jesse said.

  “I just can’t listen to you,” Joshua began to walk again, leaving Jesse behind. Jesse turned in irritation and went the other way.

  71

  The armies were grouped inside the facility which now overflowed with angels and souls. A few angels were left, still fighting against the demons, but they were quickly being pushed back towards the facility. They were less than a mile away now and the cloud that traveled above them now loomed over the entire planet.

  There was no light anywhere except that from the burning buildings in the path of the demons and the fiery lightning in the cloud. Up close it seethed and churned like a living thing above their heads.

  “This, for many, is your first bat
tle and for many it will be your last. Necessity calls for this. The Earth is now consumed by the forces of Hell and we must stop them. Compared to them, our numbers are few. Compared to their power, ours is great,” Michael stood in front of the huge army, his voice projecting across the entire facility and into all of the rooms where the angels restlessly shifted.

  “We are not fighting just for Earth and we are not fighting just for Heaven. We are fighting for peace and humanity. We are fighting for everything that we hold close and everything that is light in this dark place.”

  “We are fighting for the innocent children who now march towards us as the vessels of demons who threaten to tear them apart. We are fighting for the women who cry for their dead. We are fighting for the men who suffer for protecting their families.”

  “We fight for freedom, we fight for peace, we fight for victory, and we fight for light. Together we will march against the armies of Hell and together we will drive them back into the pit that they crawled out of. For God and his salvation to humanity!”

  “For the survival of this world! For each and every one of us! For light and peace! For the defeat of Hell! We will crush them under our footsteps and suffocate them under our power. Now go! And do what you were trained for! Save Heaven and save this Earth!”

  The army began to march forward, the weapons and armor forming a metallic chorus, as they moved towards their death. The front walls of the training facility sank into the ground as they moved out. The demons were coming from all sides as Michael and his angels moved towards the front.

  Gabriel led the young angels he had trained towards the left and part of the back and Joshua and his souls glided across the earth towards the right and the rest of the back. The facility stood in the center of the angelic army as the one last place of refuge on the Earth. The roars of the hellhounds, the creatures that had crawled out of the endless void that was Hell, echoed across the battlefield along with the growls of the demons.

  Demon General faced Angel General as they advanced towards each other, one on a hellhound and the other on foot. There was no fear in the eyes of any of the demons as they ran towards the angels, excitement racing at the thought of their pure blood. Rachael and Jesse moved beside Joshua as the gap between the armies closed.

  “Fire!” Gabriel was the first to call the order. A volley of arrows streaked across the sky, embedding themselves in the demon front line. His angels immediately began to fire at will. Michael’s angels were next, sending a mist of arrows into the opposing forces. Joshua was last, his order barely a whisper. A storm of fiery arrows rained down on the demons from his loyal souls.

  The demons didn’t bother with arrows; many of them didn’t even use weapons. They attacked like animals, using their teeth and claws to tear apart their victims. It wasn’t animalistic if they were animals. Many of Gabriel’s angels had never seen a demon outside of their textbooks and the first few rows began to turn back, trying to escape.

  “Remain steady!” Gabriel ordered. “You cannot fall back!”

  “For all of us,” Joshua stated. The whisper moved through the ranks of souls briefly before Joshua began to run towards the demons with a battle cry. The souls followed suit, crashing into their enemies. Rachael immediately began to attack and kill anything that came across her path. Thousands of miles away the demon dead would be crawling back out of the Earth along with the angel dead.

  Jesse struggled to keep up with Rachael. Even if they were demons, he found it hard to kill or hurt any living creature, no matter how evil. Joshua didn’t even look at the things he was destroying as he carved a path through the ranks. The demons swiftly realized who he was and began to try to avoid his sword.

  Michael’s army collided with Daniel’s frontlines and the well-trained angel warriors easily pushed their enemies back with minimum casualties. Gabriel’s students were struggling. They went down one after the other and were devoured by the demons. Gabriel himself, however, had no issues as he sent demon after demon back to Hell.

  Michael launched himself off of the ground, his silvery wings spreading as he flew straight for Daniel. Their swords clashed, sending red and silver sparks into the air. Joshua sliced through a demon and then slid under the chest of a hellhound, slashing its legs as he went. Rachael stabbed the hunting knife into a demon’s throat and pulled it out, continuing through the army, searching.

  “Rachael?” she spun quickly to see the woman who had masqueraded as her mother for seventeen years.

  “Are you that ready to die?” Rachael questioned.

  “You wouldn’t kill your own mother!” She didn’t sound sure.

  “I don’t see my mother,” Rachael whipped her knife across the woman’s face, leaving a seven inch gash.

  “What do you mean? I am your mother!” Rachael added another cut across her stomach.

  “I would think that you would be smart enough to realize I met my real mother,” she knocked the woman’s weapon out of her hand. “I guess not.” Rachael cut off the woman’s right hand and ran the hunting knife across her legs.

  The woman fell to her knees, screaming in agony and Rachael pushed her to the ground with a boot to her chest.

  “You tried to kill me three times but I will only kill you once.” She straddled the woman and stabbed the hunting knife in her shoulder, pinning her to the ground. “It doesn’t feel good does it? Imagine being stabbed 27 times. But wait; you won’t have to.” Rachael pulled the knife out and stabbed her again.

  Jesse kicked a demon back and forced it to the ground before turning to find Rachael. She stabbed the woman three times in a row, listening intently to each cry of pain.

  “How does that feel Mother?” Rachael let out an evil laugh and ended the woman’s life with a last stab to her throat, the blood spurting up over her hand.

  “Enjoy Hell,” Rachael stood and kicked the body away, killing another demon. If Jesse had any doubts about Rachael being changed, they were gone now. Joshua spread his wings and flew to the hellhound’s back, killing the four demons who rode on it. He then raised his sword and stabbed into the creature’s head.

  It gave one last roar and fell onto the ground. Joshua jumped at the last second, landing lightly and folding in his wings before moving onto the next set of demon possessed humans. Rachael had spotted her next revenge victim a few yards away and had moved over to them, beginning in the same way she had with the last one.

  A slash to his face. It was the demon who had tormented her in the asylum and in the high school.

  “Got your power back did you?” He asked, already knowing the answer to his question before he asked it.

  “I got everything back, Judas,” his eyes widened at the mention of his name. The momentary pause was enough for Rachael to add another gash to his face.

  “Revenge isn’t going to solve the world’s problems little queen,” Judas told her.

  “No, but it makes me happy,” she stated. Judas tried to fight back, charging at her, his fangs ready, but instead he found himself eating the blade of her hunting knife. Blood spurted as he coughed and sputtered, trying to gain his breath.

  “It makes me very happy,” Rachael pulled out the knife and Judas fell back on the ground. In the pit in New York his demon soul woke up with a scream of pain before he began to drag himself out into the world again. A demon went to stab Rachael from behind but she rammed her knife into it without turning.

  It gave a shriek and fell onto the ground. Jesse immobilized another demon but still couldn’t find it in himself to kill. He passed the carnage of Rachael’s latest kill in shock. No one else was killing like this. It was brutal and unnecessary.

  Raphael knew what Elizabeth had done but he refused to tell anyone. He had his own plan. Rachael grabbed a demon by the throat and stabbed her knife into his stomach, twisting it several times, smiling in its face as it moaned in pain and fell.

  She was enjoying this. It was pure pleasure for her to kill. A child ran by, a crazed look on his face. J
esse was pretty sure he had more than one demon inside of him. Rachael raised her knife but Jesse grabbed her arm to stop her.

  “What are you doing?” She demanded.

  “He’s a kid! You can’t kill him!” Jesse told her.

  “He’s a demon!” She wasn’t going to listen. She pushed against his arm but even with all of her power she was physically weaker than him.

  “Let him go. He has more than one demon in him and they are fighting each other. He can’t function in any way. He isn’t going to hurt anyone,” Jesse insisted.

  “You’re pathetic,” Rachael pulled her arm away from him but took a few steps away from the boy, slashing a different demon’s throat.

  “Yeah. I call it compassionate but whatever works for you,” Jesse followed her again, knocking a demon aside.

  “I’ll see you soon, angel of death,” a demon choked out his last words before falling back onto the ground. Joshua shook the blood off of his sword and glanced around the battle field. Michael’s forces had continued to progress and his own souls had torn their way through the lines.

  Gabriel’s angels were not fairing so well. The ones that were still alive were running for the facility. Most of them were dead on the ground. Joshua began to move in that direction as his souls were doing fine and a single whisper by him would be heard by all of them. He passed the mangled body of the woman who had masqueraded as Rachael’s mother and frowned at the overkill.

  Maybe Jesse had been right. Joshua didn’t think about it for long as he jumped off of the ground and descended on the demons like an enormous bird of prey.

  Daniel shouted angrily, spreading his wings as his hellhound fell under a blow from Michael’s sword. The two angel generals now moved in a furious battle of their own, high above the rest of the war.

  Neither one drew blood from the other as they were almost evenly matched. Higher above the battle the dark cloud was churning even more violently than before as the wrath of Hell became greater in its struggle to cover the light.

  Rachael turned sharply with a cry of pain as a demon bit into her back. Jesse was there immediately to run his sword through it. It fell, dead on the ground.