[The Watchers 22.0] Everlasting Fire - Between Worlds

by SJ West

  “I think we need to go back to Laed-i and tell Mom and Dad what happened here,” Liam suggests. “Maybe they’ll know what to do.”

  I turn to Will because I know this is probably where we’ll have to part ways.

  “I don’t suppose you can go with us to see my parents,” I say to him. “I know they would both love to see you again.”

  Will shakes his head. “You know that’s not how this works. I have to go back to Heaven now that I’ve fulfilled my duty.”

  I lean over and kiss him briefly on the lips.

  I don’t say anything, and neither does he. What’s there to say? We both know I’ll have to die before we can see each other again.

  I expect Will to phase back to Heaven right away, but he doesn’t. In fact, all that happens is that the resigned expression on his face turns to one of confusion.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask him, sensing things aren’t the way they should be.

  “I can’t phase back to Heaven,” he says. “That’s never happened before.”

  “You don’t think Cal went to Heaven and opened the seal, do you?” I ask urgently.

  Will shakes his head. “No. That’s not possible. Only descendants of Lilith can go to Heaven while they’re still a part of the living world. This is something different.”

  I reach out and take one of Will’s hands with mine. “Then come back to Laed-i with us. Maybe my parents can help you figure out what’s happening.”

  Will nods his head in agreement because there’s really nothing else for him to do.

  I can’t say I’m unhappy Will is unable to phase back to Heaven because that would be a lie. What I really hope is that he’s allowed to stay with me for a while longer, so we can figure out what’s going on between us. Considering the way he kissed me back a little while ago, I’m certain he feels the same spark I do when we’re together.

  As I phase us to Laed-i to seek out my parents, I send up a silent prayer to God to watch over Cal. I don’t know what having the seal is doing to him. I just pray that it doesn’t destroy one of the best people I know.

  Chapter 19

  (Helena’s Point of View)

  I have to admit, I do feel a small amount of remorse for what I’m doing to Liana. I don’t gain any pleasure from seeing her in so much pain, but if she would just do what I want, the pain would go away. Then we would both be able to get what we desire most. Yet she remains stubborn and refuses to open the Seal of Silence in Heaven for me. In a way, I admire her strength to withstand so much torment, but I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. I may have taunted her about being Malcolm’s child too, but he is the only person I know who was able to live with a hellhound bite and not go insane or ask my father for help. For a thousand years Malcolm refused to give into Lucifer’s demand that he kneel and beg him to remove the curse. Reluctantly, Lucifer admired my sister’s husband for remaining so strong.

  After Liana left, I decided to stay in my replication of Cade’s seaside cottage to see if she would come back to me. I didn’t soothe her pain as much as usual in hopes that she will finally give in and do what I ask of her. Even if she still refuses to do that simple chore, at least she’ll be forced to visit me more often and break up the monotony that has become my existence.

  As I stand on the front porch of the cottage, I watch the rain as it falls over the ocean. It’s only then that I notice something out of place and wholly unexpected in my home. I feel my pulse quicken as my heart begins to race uncontrollably because my worst nightmare is being realized. I vaguely begin to wonder if my domain is playing tricks on my mind or if I’m actually seeing my son for the first time since his birth.

  Far out on the horizon, I spy Cal flying through the sky toward me. I begin to feel a mixture of jubilation and trepidation at the sight of him. How did he get here? I know he doesn’t have the ability to phase, and the fact that I didn’t feel him the moment he entered my realm is puzzling. Why is he here? As far as I’m aware, he still doesn’t know I’m his mother. He believes Jules gave birth to him and that Ethan is his father. If he doesn’t know who I am to him, why is he seeking me out now? What does he want?

  I try to push him out of my domain for his own sake, but for some unknown reason it doesn’t work. I can phase somewhere else inside my domain, but there’s no guarantee that he won’t follow me. The only course of action that makes sense is to stand exactly where I am to find out why he’s in Hell.

  As Cal continues to fly through the sky using his wings, I begin to notice a trail of electricity following in his wake like glowing streamers. The closer he gets to where I am, the easier it is for me to feel the shell of energy surrounding him. When he lands feet first on the white sandy shoreline, I watch in wonder as he stretches out his white wings and stares directly at me. I hear myself gasp when I see his face. I expected to see his father in his eyes, but all I see is the pulse of pure white energy.

  “Who are you?” he asks me, yet his voice doesn’t sound like I remember from Liana’s and Anna’s memories of him. It sounds distorted and much deeper.

  “My name is Helena,” I reply, not wanting to give away anything about our true connection to one another. “Who are you, and why are you in my domain?”

  Cal looks around at his surroundings before returning his otherworldly gaze back to me. “My name is Cal. Is this Hell? Are you Liana’s aunt?”

  “Yes,” I reply. “You didn’t answer my question. Why are you here?”

  Cal looks confused as he struggles for a reply. “I’m not sure. I just felt drawn here after I took Liana’s seal from her.”

  “You did what!” I scream. I’m not upset because all my years of planning have been ruined. It’s the fact that my son now has the seal and decided to come to the worst place in the universe for him to be right now. “You need to leave,” I state fiercely. “You need to leave right this minute!”

  “Why?” he asks, still looking confused. “Tell me why you want me to leave. Help me understand what’s happening to me!”

  “You’re just going to have to trust me,” I tell him as calmly as I can. “You can’t be here. You have to go!”

  “But …” Cal looks around at the beach, the ocean, and then back to me and the cottage. “This place. It feels like I belong here.”

  “Well, you don’t! This is my home, and I’m telling you to leave. Get out of here!”

  Cal stands his ground, but not for long. A bolt of lightning pierces the air right above his head and strikes his body in one continuous stream of pure energy. I know what’s happening. Hell is feeding my son the nourishment it believes he needs from me. My domain is acting on instinct and lavishing its power on my … our … one and only child. I close my eyes and will the energy inside my realm to stop what it’s doing, but it’s almost like the power I’ve stored up all these years is thinking for itself and deciding what it will and will not do. Right now, it’s deciding not to follow my commands. My domain views Cal as my heir and wishes to give its new master all the strength it can so he can fulfill his destiny.

  Finally, I’m able to stop my domain from funneling all of its energy into Cal, but I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to keep it in check.

  “Cade!” I scream, hoping by some miracle he can hear my desperate plea for his help. Please, God, let him hear my call. “Cade, I need you!”

  I’ve cried for Cade to come back to me thousands of times since our last parting, but he hasn’t returned to me yet. Not once. I have no idea if he was allowed to hear my cries for his help those times, but I do know he heard me this time.

  Cade suddenly appears beside Cal on the sand. Briefly, he looks over at me. In that one glance, I already know he won’t be able to stay. He looks down at Cal and lifts our son to his feet. Before I can even say one word to him, he phases Cal out of my domain, and I know one of the two times he promised we would see each other again has been lost forever. He told me after Cal was born that he would only be able to see me two more times before things c
ame to an end. Now I know I’ll only see him once more for all eternity.

  Suddenly, I let out a scream so loud and powerful, that it causes the illusion of Cade’s home by the sea to disintegrate, only to be replaced by a hollow landscape of cracked, scorched earth and dark stormy skies. I hold onto my rage because I know if I don’t, I’ll crumble in grief. In one instant, I lost both my son and the love of my life yet again. Why does God hate me so much? Doesn’t He realize I’m only doing what Lucifer made me to do?

  “Of course I know that, Helena,” I hear Him say behind me. “I’ve always known that.”

  I whirl around and face God for only the second time in my life. My first encounter with Him was during my time on alternate Earth when He had Raven phase me to Heaven to have a little chitchat with Him. To be honest, I didn’t even know He could enter my domain without my permission.

  “Why would you think I couldn’t come to Hell?” He asks me, sounding amused by the limitation my mind had set for Him.

  “Stop reading my thoughts,” I demand irritably. “It’s annoying.”

  God looks at me for a moment before He begins to laugh. Once He’s done, He says, “Now you know how it feels to have someone invade your most private thoughts without giving that person permission first.”

  “It’s different when I do it,” I defend myself. “No one expects me to play by the rules of common decency, but You’re the one who invented them, so You should know better.”

  God smiles at me, which suddenly makes me feel nervous.

  “I’ve always appreciated your candor, Helena. You’ve never been afraid to say exactly what’s on your mind. It’s one of your most admirable qualities.”

  “Admirable …” I say, mulling over His use of the word and finding it an odd one to use when referring to me. “Why are You here?”

  “You had questions you wanted Me to answer,” He replies. “I thought I would come answer them for you.”

  “Then why do You hate me so much if You know I’m only the way my father designed me to be?”

  “I don’t hate you, Helena,” God says simply.

  “Then why torment me by forcing me to see my son and Cade for such a small amount of time? Don’t You know how much that hurts me?”

  “I sent Cade because you kindly asked Me to allow him to hear your call,” God tells me. “You needed his help with Cal before your son absorbed too much of the power you have stored here in Hell. I thought that was what you wanted, Helena.”

  “It was, but it used up one of my two chances to see Cade again!” I say agitatedly. “Now I’ll only be able to see him one more time.”

  “Don’t you believe it was worth it to get Cal out of here?”

  I don’t reply because I know I don’t have to. He can already see what I’m thinking.

  “How did Cal get into my domain if he can’t phase?” I ask. “What is the seal doing to him?”

  “Just like the seal connected you to Liana, it is now connecting Cal to you. But since he’s your son, the link is much stronger, and your domain was welcoming the new vessel it found to share its powers with. Even though he isn’t physically here, Hell is still strengthening him so he will become its new master one day.”

  “Then have Anna take the seal from Cal,” I state. “He might die from her doing it, but his father can bring him back to life.”

  “Even if Cal willingly wanted to give Anna the seal, it will not leave his body. It likes its new home too much to give it up, Helena. It’s found its new master.”

  “Then what can be done to help him?” I ask desperately.

  “That’s something you’ll have to figure out on your own, but there is a solution. You simply have to have a little faith that you’ll find it before it’s too late.”

  “Are you saying I need to have faith in you?” I scoff. “You do realize who you’re talking to, right?”

  God smiles at me. “How could I forget?”

  I huff in annoyance. “How exactly am I supposed to find the solution when I’m stuck in here?”

  God holds out His left hand and wiggles His fingers at me as if silently indicating He wants me to place one of my hands into His.

  “Why do you want one of my hands?” I ask Him, suspicious of His motives in wanting to touch me.

  “I need you to put a little faith in Me right now, Helena,” He says gently. “I only want to help you.”

  “Why would You want to do that?” I ask, even more suspicious now than I was a few seconds ago.

  God sighs sadly. “Why wouldn’t I?”

  “Because I’m Hell,” I say, stating the obvious. “I was made to hate You. Why would You care about what happens to me?”

  “You are more than Lucifer made you to be, Helena. You’ve grown beyond even your own expectations of yourself. Let Me help you along your journey of self-discovery, and perhaps we’ll both win in the end.”

  “Win what?”

  “Peace.”

  “I’ve never been much for peace.”

  God grins. “Yes. I’m fully aware of that, but I know that even you yearn for it. Right now, the only thing that will give you peace is helping Cal. I can help you do that, but you need to give Me your hand. I promise I won’t bite it.”

  “What is that? Godly humor?”

  “Why? Was it too much?”

  “Too corny, but I’ll give you an A for effort.”

  God wiggles the fingers of His outstretched hand once again, indicating that He’s still waiting for me to comply with His demand.

  I place my right hand in His and wait to see what He does next. To my great surprise, He gives me a large ruby ring with multiple stones in the setting and slides it onto the middle finger of my hand.

  “This ring will give you the ability to leave your domain,” He tells me. “I know how much you like the color red, so I thought rubies would suit you well.”

  “What’s the catch?” I ask as He lets go of my hand.

  “There is no catch,” He tells me. “I’m trusting you to use it wisely, Helena. I want you to help your son. After you’ve accomplished your task in figuring out what will help Cal, simply take the ring off your finger and you will automatically return here.”

  “Are You going to give me a hint as to what it is I’m looking for that will help Cal?”

  “No.”

  “I thought you were supposed to be the benevolent one,” I say, finding His answer somewhat rude. “Aren’t You supposed to help those in need?”

  “You’re quite intelligent, Helena. I have faith you will figure things out on your own. All I can do is wish you the best of luck. And remember, if you need Me, I’m only a prayer away.”

  God phases out of my domain, leaving behind a lingering scent of sweetness that I’ve only ever experienced in Heaven.

  I look down at the ruby ring He gave me and shake my head at it. God does indeed work in mysterious ways.

  I’m not entirely sure what it is I need to find that will help Cal, but God seems to believe I’ll stumble across it eventually. Just before I phase, I send up a silent prayer to the All Mighty, hoping He knows what the hell He’s doing by setting me free. The act makes me laugh. I’m sure He’ll be able to see the humor in such a prayer.

  If there’s one truth that’s plainly obvious to me, it’s the fact that I won’t be able to solve Cal’s problem all on my own. I’m going to need some assistance, and I know exactly who to go to for help. I just hope I haven’t burned too many bridges in the last couple of years.

  When I phase into the castle on Laed-i, I feel thankful that I’ve been here before. I was, after all, the one who arranged the marriage between Jules and King Manas to pay off Xander’s gambling debt to him. I remember speaking with the king in this very living room and finding his barbaric ways very suitable to my needs at the time. Now I’m here to seek help from two women I trust to aid me and my son.

  “Helena?” Jules says to me as she, Malcolm, Anna, and Ethan all stare at me in shock.

>   “Your eyes aren’t deceiving you,” I tell them, not needing to read their minds because their expressions say it all. “I’m not an illusion.”

  “How are you here?” Malcolm asks. Thankfully, the confusion caused by my presence is distracting him from the hatred he feels toward me. I can’t say I blame him for despising me. After all, I have been torturing his daughter for the last two years.

  I hold up the hand with the ring God gave me. “Your father gave me this little heavenly trinket and told me to be a good girl while I’m away from home.” I look at Jules, who seems to be the only one who is also wary of my presence, not just surprised. “I’m here to help our son,” I tell her. “He’s in trouble, Jules, and he’s going to need us both.”

  Jules stands from her seat on the couch and walks over to me.

  “I did what you asked me to,” she says. “I never told him about you or Cade, but now I wonder if that was the right thing to do. Maybe if he had known who his true parents are, he wouldn’t have taken the seal from Liana.”

  “What’s happened in the past can’t be changed now. We all knew he would be powerful,” I tell her. “Now we just need to find a way to help him deal with what he’s been given. Do you know where Cade took him?”

  “Cal’s up in his room resting,” Jules replies. “You should go up there and see him.”

  “You know I can’t,” I tell her. One of the reasons I couldn’t keep my son is because my love for him might inadvertently kill him, just like I killed Cade. “I can’t risk it being that close to him.”

  “I don’t think he’ll be waking up for a long time,” Jules assures me. “You should go up there, Helena. Trust me.”

  I look over at Anna and see her hatred for me clearly written in her eyes. I’m not sure my sister will ever forgive me for what I made Liana suffer through, and if she doesn’t, I can’t really say I blame her.