by Sam Cheever
Thank Him for that. I couldn’t feel you at all, it scared me.
I nodded, earning a strange look from my sister, who’d dropped down into the sand beside me. “It’s Emo.”
She bobbed her head in understanding and lay down on her back. Her chest still heaved with the effort of running and she was rubbing the demon mark on her wrist.
That was when I realized mine was throbbing. My eyes widened. Holy shit, Emo, I think we need to get out of here now! Where are you? We’ll try to come to you.
I’m with Bob, Ralph and Captain Lee in the streets. We couldn’t find you so we decided to do what we could out here. It’s really bad, Astra. Worse than before... I don’t think the humans have much time left.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw the air shifting and swirling in the mist. The colors of fire danced on the particles and began to take shape until the Serpent’s lithe form appeared.
He was only a few yards away from Darma, who had her eyes closed and was totally oblivious.
Shit! I gotta go, the devil’s here!
Astra! Where are you...
Darma! Up! Now! We’ve got to get out of here fast!
To her credit she didn’t argue. She shot to her feet and I grabbed her hand. Without thinking I used my power to jump us both over the river. We landed hard on the stony soil of the other side and banged up against the jagged face of the cliff from the momentum of our landing. On that side of the river the cliffs ran almost up to the water. What little ground there was looked nearly impassable.
I suddenly realized I’d put us into a dead end. A rumble of evil-saturated laughter in my head told me I was right, even before the air started to swirl with color again.
Come to me, children.
Our frantic gazes swung wildly around, looking for a way out. A difficult task was made even more difficult by the clogging mist. We really couldn’t see more than a few feet away in any direction.
With my limited skill in space shifting I was more than reluctant to try to shift us to the top of the cliff. Especially since I couldn’t visualize where I wanted to go. I’d probably embed us into the rock wall by mistake.
I had an idea. It was a stupid idea and I didn’t know if it would work. But hopefully it would at least buy us some time. And it was the only option we had at the moment.
I grabbed Darma’s hand and spoke quickly into her mind. Take a deep breath and hold it, no matter what.
I saw the frown in her mind and the beginnings of an argument.
Just do it! We don’t have time to argue.
The Serpent fully materialized and Darma shrieked. He was mere inches from her.
I acted without thinking. There was no time to plan and calculate. The Big Guy save us, we needed to get the hell away from there.
Breathe now! I shouted into her mind.
Suddenly movement and sound stopped. I knew when it returned our world would be ugly and cold. I didn’t know how to prepare my sister for what she would experience. All I said was, the water’s gonna be cold and it’s gonna try to suck us down the river. As soon as we hit it we need to merge power and create a bubble. I think, if we can stay at the bottom for a while we’ll lose him.
The bottom! Astra have you lost your frunkin’...
Sound returned in a roar as we hit the frigid water in the raging center of the Angel City River. Almost immediately I felt Darma’s hand start to slip away from mine as the river’s power sucked her away from me. I could barely hear her scream over the river’s angry growl. I couldn’t throw out my power to lock us in place until I was sure I would take her with me. That meant I had to have a stronger grip on her wet, slippery arm.
I grabbed at her and we went under, shooting several feet down the river and banging up against a sharp rock before I felt her cold skin under my fingers again. I pulled my power forward to give me more strength and started reeling her in. I managed to pull her an inch closer before the river took her again.
The roiling water swung her around and she went under. One flailing foot found my cheek as she was swept away from me.
The blow nearly took me down. I saw stars for a moment and thought I’d pass out. But another kind of pain jolted me back out of it. I took the sharp rock in my stomach and the blow robbed me of breath.
Struggling to breathe, I searched frantically for Darma. I thought I saw a small speck of color up ahead in the water and prayed it was her. Pulling my power forward I used it to propel me toward the spark of color in the water. I glanced off a few more half submerged rocks as I sped through the roiling water but, finally, I could see Darma. She had her face out of the water, struggling to stay above it.
I’m coming Darma.
This was, without a doubt the most idiotic idea you’ve ever had. And that’s saying something.
I mentally bristled. Hey, I got us away from the Serpent didn’t I?
She laughed in my mind ...and brought us to his doorstep in the next world. We’ll be lucky to survive your rescue.
Hey, I never said it was a perfect plan. I reached out and could almost touch her, but the river kept swirling me away from her and I didn’t seem to have the strength anymore to fight it. My legs and arms were growing numb with the cold and I could tell that Darma was having the same problem. She’d been clutching a large rock to keep from being washed farther down the river but her face was going slack and her grip was loosening. I wasn’t sure I’d get to her in time.
Finally she screamed, Frunk this! in my mind.
Something powerful reached out for me and I slammed up against the rock Darma had been hugging.
Let’s do this!
I nodded and fed my power into hers, which was holding us together on the rock. Her power grabbed mine and I gasped as the incredible weight of it flowed over and around us. It felt like lead as it encased us in a thick, seemingly impenetrable bubble. As the bubble closed, the sound of the river died away to a muffled rumble that sounded distant. Warmth started seeping back into our clammy limbs.
Darma allowed her head to drop onto the rock. Long strings of blonde hair obscured her face. “Thank Him. Warmth and relative silence at last.” I heard her mutter.
“Amen, sister,” I replied.
Something on the cliff face high above caught my eye and I had a revelation. Laughing I shook my head at my own stupidity.
Darma looked up, “What?”
I reached a weary arm toward the lights which shone like a beacon on top of the opposite cliff. “Salvation is only a space shift away. Right under my nose and I couldn’t sniff it out to save our lives.”
She followed the direction of my pointing finger and I watched as realization hit. Who better to help you shake off the Prince of Darkness than an angel of the highest choir. A slow grin slid onto her pale face.
“Shall we?” I asked with an answering grin.
“We shall,” she replied.
A second later we were standing on the ground above the Angel City River, looking down at the Serpent standing on the opposite side. I knew we were backlit by the soft light from my father’s house, easily visible. But it no longer mattered. The Serpent’s red, malevolent gaze pierced the mist as it focused on us. We stared the Evil One down, gaining confidence from the dense, rhythmic sound of angel’s wings, which split the night above our heads.
He will not always be there to protect you, my children.
No... we said almost in unison —but he’s here now.
Seraphim James Phelps landed softly behind us, bathing us in the soothing glow of his white, angelic magic. We felt the uplifting warmth of his hands as he moved between us and placed a hand on each of our shoulders, frowning down at his nemesis on the rocks below. When he opened his mouth to speak the sounds of the river far below us vanished under the power of his voice. An illuminating beam of light shot from him to light the lone figure below. “Be gone from this place, purveyor of evil. This is consecrated ground and you and your minions are proscribed from entering it. You have no poiso
nous power here.”
The Devil raised his countenance to us and, under the angelic light surrounding him, his horrendous face was fully revealed. Three sets of fire-filled eyes viewed us with dark intent. Wide nostrils sat flat upon a face covered in scales, over a mouth that was nearly as wide as the scaly face. When he opened his mouth to speak flames erupted from it and several rows of razor sharp black teeth were visible beyond the parched lips. Horns curved from the sides of his head, the deadly looking points sitting close to the sides of his head, just above pointed ears.
His hands were claws and his feet were cloven hooves. He was every child’s nightmare in physical form. For the first time in our experience he opened his horrific mouth and spoke outside our minds. The voice was rusty with disuse and jagged enough to tear across our nerves.
“The veil drops, Seraphim James. Your world dies. Soon you will lose your hold on this world entirely. And I and mine will rule.”
Our father smiled a beatific smile. Its glow was like acid to the form below, but the Devil stood firm against it. “Your kind of evil will never again rule this world, Serpent. Unfortunately for mankind, you will always dance on the fringes, tainting its goodness with your foul stench. But you’ll never be able to entirely snuff out its goodness. Not as long as we have breath in our bodies.”
Our father pulled us close, up under his softly beating wings and the warm glow of power surged from him, pulling our power with it to stab at the clogging veil around us and suffuse the monster on the ground below us.
For just a moment in time the veil flinched away from that place and the power tore through it to wrap around the suddenly writhing figure across the river. He fell to his knees in the rocky soil, the sand around him glistening red with his blood.
He turned bleeding eyes up to us at the last and fire spewed from his grimacing mouth. You cannot fight the veil, Seraphim James. It consumes all light and kills all who embrace it. Your kind will wither and die among the bones of your precious human race. And I will dance upon your fallen bodies as I enter this world for the last time. I will rule all.
He writhed one last time on the ground, looking to me like he was a heartbeat away from death. But I knew that was not possible. My father’s voice met his across the space and the Serpent flinched. Nay, Swine. Your veil falters and will die. Your conduits even now fight their fate.
We shall see, light one.
I blinked as the Serpent disappeared and my father sighed. His light died and he shivered, telling me better than words how little his brave words had meant. I looked up at him. He had a small cut on his lip, with blood running from it. “Rough day?”
Reaching up, I healed it without thinking.
He nodded touching the spot I’d just healed with his finger. “Thank you, daughter.”
“Darma and I are conduits.”
He was staring at the spot across the river where the Evil One had been standing but he jerked as if stung. His beautiful blue eyes swung to me. “Both of you?”
We nodded.
He sighed, lifting his wrist to show us his own mark.
Tears flooded Darma’s eyes. “But you’re an angel of the highest choir. How is that possible?”
Our father shrugged, “My soul was tainted when I fell. Though He has forgiven me and taken me back, the taint will always ride my soul. The Serpent needs only the slightest taint to gain a foothold.”
We all stood in silence for a moment, staring across the river. Then Darma, most likely in an attempt to lighten the mood, swiped angrily at her tears and gave me a pointed look. “Well that explains how he got Astra. But what about me?”
“Hey!” I objected, grinning.
My father looked at her in shock, his blue eyes wide. But then he apparently got the joke and chuckled, shaking his blond head. “Come. Let’s go inside. The night grows cold.”
As if to prove his point Darma’s teeth clanked together. “Wait until I tell you about Astra’s bright idea to get us away from him. She nearly killed us.”
He placed an arm around each of our shoulders and we started toward the house. I reached around him and pinched Darma hard on the ass.
She jumped in a very satisfying way. “Ow!”
I laid my head against his warm, comforting shoulder. “Thanks for coming to our rescue.”
He leaned down to kiss the top of my soggy, debris-infused head. “My pleasure. But where is your guardian?”
I jerked in surprise. It hadn’t even occurred to me to call Flick. If it had been Myra I’d have called her in a heartbeat. “I don’t know. I didn’t call him.”
My father opened the door for us and we all walked into the softly lit fortress. Warmth permeated us as we entered and Darma’s shivering lessened. He looked down at me, concern written all over his face. “I’m sure it hasn’t been easy for you changing guardians, Astra. But you need to trust him.”
I shrugged, suddenly realizing my father had quickly discerned something that even I hadn’t figured out yet. I didn’t trust Flick. I’d been treating him more like a butt boy than a guardian, dragging him around with me to clean up my messes. But I wasn’t ready to admit that to my father. I wasn’t sure how much of an influence he’d been in the decision to change out my guardian. “He’s been really sick. I just got used to doing without him.”
My father nodded, “The Devil’s Plague is devastating our ranks. I’ve lost fifty percent of my army.
“Yikes!” I looked at my sister and saw that she was completely dry. Apparently she’d decided to embrace the finer points of her power. “Can they be healed?” Her instincts always went right to healing.
Our father shook his head, motioning with a hand for us to precede him into the fortress’ huge kitchen. “There is no cure. It just has to run its course. Although,” he glanced at me, “Flick’s plague resolved itself fairly quickly, so maybe this isn’t that potent a strain.”
I pulled my power forward too as we headed for the kitchen and dried my own clothing. It felt good to be warm again.
Darma and I sat down at the long, heavy wooden table in the center of the huge space and our father programmed hot, black coffee into the drink valet. Then he ordered up some eggs and processed meat product for us and handed the plates around.
Having used up nearly all our stores of energy just trying to stay alive and warm in the river, Darma and I ate ravenously. Our father sat back in his chair and sipped his coffee thoughtfully, watching us eat.
Finally Darma pushed her plate back and wiped her mouth. She’d apparently been thinking while she ate. “It’s a pretty strange coincidence that half of the celestial army is down with Devil’s Plague during the time when you need them to help you battle the veil and its affects.”
Father nodded. “We have thought about that, yes.”
I shoveled the last bite of food into my mouth and pushed my plate away. I’d been so busy dealing with the minutia of the problem that I hadn’t seen the larger picture. Leave it to Darma to cut through the murk to clear sky above. I nodded, “She’s right, father, it has to be connected somehow.”
“When was the last time you saw an outbreak of the plague?”
Father sipped the coffee, his fine, blond brows knitting together in thought . Setting the mug down in front of him, he wrapped his elegant hands around it as if seeking warmth. “It would have been...” his eyes widened, “about thirty years ago.”
Darma nodded, “The great wars.”
“It was a much smaller outbreak...”
I felt myself growing excited, “And only a small part of the veil descended during those wars. Father it makes perfect sense. The plague and the veil are somehow related.”
“Which means,” Darma interjected with a frown, “that if we defeat one we defeat the other.”
I nodded, “Or that the means for defeating one will lead us to the means to defeating the other.”
Seraphim James’ wings flickered with tension and his beatific face clouded. “Which means we’re al
l doomed.” He looked up. “There is no cure for Devil’s Plague.”
I grinned, “None that is known, no. But what if there is something?”
He and Darma turned hopeful faces in my direction, “What are you thinking, daughter?”
“I’m thinking about Flick! He kicked off the plague faster than usual. You said so yourself.”
My father’s face brightened, “Of course!”
Darma stood, “He must have something in his system that helped him kick it. We need to get him into the lab.”
I stood up too. “Father, will you take us to him?”
Darma nodded, “Yes, I need to see him right away. Where is he?”
Father reached a hand toward each of us. Through my guardian-protected bond I knew Flick’s current location at any given time. All I had to do was send my mind searching to find him. And I knew too how the news was going to be greeted by my earth-bound sibling.
The thought made me smile meanly.
“In his cloud I presume.”
Darma’s face paled instantly and her mouth opened to object, just as our father touched her shoulder.
And we were off.
~SC~
Flick sat at a small white table with a full plate of food in front of him. He had the fork halfway to his mouth when we landed beside the table. His brown eyes widened but the fork continued an unconcerned arc toward his open mouth.
I gave him a little finger wave and he frowned. When he’d swallowed, he picked up a clear glass filled with water and looked up at me. “This can’t be good.”
“We need your help to save the world,” I told him.
The water apparently went down the wrong pipe. He choked, spluttered and spewed it across the table. Disgusted, he waved a hand and the table disappeared. Standing up, Flick wiped his chin with the back of his hand and gave my father a small bow.
“Seraphim James.”
My father smiled and placed a hand on Flick’s shoulder. “His blessings, Flick.”
Flick cocked his head at Darma, then glanced at me with a raised eyebrow. “She okay?”
I looked at my sister for the first time since landing on the cloud. Darma’s face was as white as anything in the cloud and her eyes were wide and unblinking. She stood rigid and unmoving, her arms straight down at her sides and her feet perfectly aligned, like a wooden soldier’s. The only thing moving was her mouth, which looked like it was grasping for words that wouldn’t come.
