CounterPoint

by Daniel Rafferty

  Uriel’s lieutenant marched through the entrance to the cottage where the door once was. He was immediately flanked by six angels on each side. Amber immediately sided herself with Ariel, still willing to go with him to the end.

  “Ariel. I have orders to obtain and deliver you to Uriel along with the Bassett family.”

  “I’m sorry, lieutenant, but that’s one order you’ll be disobeying tonight.”

  “Ariel. Amber. We are colleagues. We’ve helped run this world for an eternity. I don’t want to see any harm come to either of you but unfortunately you have crossed a line that you can never stand behind again. You have gone against the word of God and as such must receive the maximum penalties available from Heaven. As his accomplice, you must suffer the same unfortunate fate Amber. Please don’t make this anymore difficult for me than it already is. I don’t want to fight you Ariel, but I will obey my orders and take you in whatever way I have too. The same goes for you Amber. Consider this carefully in the next few seconds as time is truly of the essence.” The lieutenant stood and waited patiently, though he already knew the answer. He held his white gloved hands together in front of him, waiting for it to begin.

  David stood in full view of all the angels as he listened to the exchange between the two. He figured there was no more point in hiding or running anymore. With Mary’s frail physical state, they wouldn’t get far. He felt a warm hand on his shoulder and turned round, wanting to reassure his mum that no matter what, they would be staying together.

  What he saw though was not his mum. She was still trying to help Mary up off the chair while Claire tied her shoes. Standing behind him was a beautiful, six-feet tall blonde, blue-eyed lady. Her long blonde hair looked so straight you could use it as a ruler. She was dressed in a brilliant white top and trousers, finished off with a long white trench coat and black jewels strung around her neck. She put her finger up to her lip, indicating for him to not make a sound. He didn’t know what to feel, whether she was friend or foe, though she was obviously an angel. Not that it mattered anymore. She glided forward, her high heels breaking the silence ahead of her. Those in front of her stared, Ariel and Amber looked confused. Clearly they didn’t know who she was either. She placed herself at the other side of Ariel and looked directly at the lieutenant flanked by his bodyguards. Her aura was clearly felt.

  “We need some privacy boys. Sorry,” she said sweetly. She snapped her fingers and the lieutenant’s six bodyguards exploded violently, forcing David to shield his head for protection. Ariel and Amber looked stunned. David stepped a few feet back, wondering if this was someone else entirely who wanted to capture them. He had chunks of angel all around him and the walls. Not much would surprise him now.

  “What’s happening David?” whispered his mother urgently.

  “Shush,” said David, looking round quickly and putting his finger across his lip.

  “I believe you want to take these two….angels….and this prized family to the rear of me,” she looked around the room. Her eyebrows rose at the ubiquitous destruction. “Clearly I missed the best parts of tonight’s festivities. But not to worry. I’m sure I’ve already made and impact and that’s only to start with. Tell that darling Uriel out there hiding in the trees that if he wants this family, he’ll have to come and get them himself.”

  The lieutenant looked at her, unsure as whether her threat was sincere or just the usual ego posturing he was accustomed to.

  “Right now, dear,” she said, raising her arm to emphasise that at another snap of her finger he could be next. He quickly vanished. She turned to Ariel, an angel she had heard of many times but never met in person. “We don’t have much time. If I know Uriel, he’ll be storming through that door any second now. With our combined firepower, particularly mine, we can win this fight and escape to safer grounds. I know you don’t trust me. Why would you? However, you’re in a no win situation at the minute and I have two guys out the back finishing with some stragglers.” Seeing the look on Ariel’s face, she elaborated. “The angels surrounded this building. You think they wouldn’t try and come through the rear entrance to the cottage? Who do you think was covering the back? We’ve a vested interest here, in the high stakes. We can stand together to get out of here and leave the probing questions to after! Agreed?”

  “Agreed,” said Ariel, taken aback by this unearthly beautiful blonde who had the power to destroy specialist angels with the click of her fingers. For now his biggest concern was getting the family to safety so he really had no choice. It was either side with her or against her and face defeat anyway. He was sure Nuriel, the angel of fire, was still present behind the battle-lines providing long range artillery.

  “Let’s walk outside to meet him. This place is depressing,” she said, before turning round to look at David, “if you could stay here darling, we won’t be a moment.” David watched as the three of them marched out, Ariel taking centre place as they stood a couple of metres from the cottage.

  “What’s happening out there now?” cried Claire, desperate for information.

  “I’m not sure but I’m gonna find out,” whispered David. “Stay here and don’t move.” He walked towards the blown out window on the left side of the house, enough to see out to where Ariel and the others had taken up position. He saw a squadron walking up towards them. It was that lieutenant guy again, he thought. This time with some more bodyguards, though his mannerisms suggested he was somehow less sure of himself. Amber stood firm, her back arched straight in perfect posture. Though the character that stood out the most from this grouping was the women bathed in white. Everyone else was in predominantly dark black coloured clothes.

  “Mum, what’s happening?”

  “I don’t know love, try and stay calm,” soothed Catherine to her only daughter. The situation was beyond her comprehension, but at the moment that didn’t bother her as much as the state her mother was in. This woman was very elderly and being carted around the country by humans and angels alike. Her health was still deteriorating rapidly. She was having trouble breathing. Catherine was infuriated that anyone thought they had the right to mess around with her old, frail mother. She had worked all her life, sometimes two and three jobs at once. She deserved a peaceful retirement, not to be dragged into something out of a badly written novel. Her blood boiled the more she thought about it. Just who the Hell did all these people think they were? This was her mother, her family and yet angels were dictating the rules. Uriel suddenly appeared before her eyes right beside Mary. He placed one hand on her shoulder and they both vanished. It was over in less than two seconds. Catherine and Claire both jumped up and ran out towards David.

  “You tell Uriel I demand he appear here now,” growled the blonde haired female majestically.

  “My superior does not always inform me of his forward scheduling issues,” replied the lieutenant in a small but cocky voice.

  She was not distracted by this but by the sight and sound of three humans running towards them as fast as they could. Ariel swung round to see what was going on. Amber kept her eyes on the other angels, just in case.

  “They’ve taken her! They’ve taken my mother!” squealed Catherine, tears streaming down her face.

  Claire was right behind but lost for words, trying to keep the large lump in her throat down. David looked furious, his face red and swollen. He looked like he was about to explode. His heart was pounding hard and fast as he looked in every direction for a sign; anything. A brief flash of light appeared just in front of his lieutenant and mere footsteps away from them appeared Uriel, with Mary in tow. She was in the same chair she vanished with. He held a blade to her old, wrinkled neck. David shot forward without thinking but was thrown back towards the cottage by Uriel’s lieutenant. Ariel and Amber squared up to Uriel with force. Taking a human hostage and threatening to kill her was anathema to everything angels stood for. This woman was innocent and more to the point she was to be protected as Ariel finally rethought.

  “You would
n’t dare!” said the blonde female confidently, beating Ariel to it. “You went to too much trouble to apprehend this family. For whatever reasons, you’re bluffing.”

  “You’re wrong,” he smiled, too confidently for Ariel’s liking. He knew this angel well. “While we would obviously prefer to incarcerate the family, we always had to be careful due to Mary’s extreme power. This has been quite diluted after the London incident. One should never think that the will of Heaven will be dictated to by any inhabitant on this planet, human or otherwise. I think I ought to make an example here of this one. She’s had her life anyway, and don’t worry, I’ll make sure she goes straight downstairs.”

  “You bastard!” roared Catherine, Claire unable to restrain her anymore. She ran forward, being caught by two other angels guarding Uriel. David and Claire tried to intervene more but they were no match for the angels. The feeling of being totally powerless was gut-wrenching. Mary looked up at Catherine, her eyes filled with the tears she was trying so desperately hard to fight back. She kept mouthing ‘Dublin. Dublin. I love you’. Catherine’s heart felt like it was breaking in half. Her own mother was mere footsteps away from her but she could do nothing. This bastard was holding a blade to her mum’s neck; this old lady who should be in her bed and sleeping at this time.

  “What exactly is it you want to get by threatening this woman?” asked Ariel, trying to defuse the soaring tempers of everyone around him. He knew that those family members would die for Mary; that was the human way. He didn’t see the point in a useless death; unfortunately, they had to look at the bigger picture.

  “I’m planning to show this family a lesson. You don’t dictate to angels. You don’t disobey Heaven. Because if you do, then this is what happens!” he blasted back. In what was almost time slowed down, Catherine remembered looking at her mum one last time. She mouthed ‘Go home’, as a single tear slid down her face. She then glanced over at David and Claire, her only two grandchildren. They had cared and supported her through the years when her health was deteriorating. She smiled broadly. Closing her eyes she briefly saw David and Claire breaking the bonds of their captives and charging towards her. She knew it was too late. The time was now. The feeling was here. This was the moment. And then it was gone.

  Mary’s head dropped forward completely. A small steady stream of thin blood drained down over her brown blouse and grey knitted cardigan. Her old ‘granny style’ glasses as David and Claire called them fell to the ground. They had tried to get her to replace them for years but she always refused. Catherine, David and Claire all ran and fell to the ground as they approached her, putting their hands on her shoulders and legs for comfort. They were weeping uncontrollably, shocked to the core by this vile, heinous act of murder.

  Ariel stood and watched. He had acknowledged something. There had been a change inside him, something had shifted. He felt differently, perhaps even emotional. Amber must have sensed it in him as she turned to give him a curious stare. With a sudden, unprecedented fury, using all his angelic might, he propelled himself and Uriel down the entire slope to the base of the forest. The fierceness of the blast tore at Uriel’s clothes and boots. The trees around them were blown backwards. His bodyguards and lieutenant immediately swung into action but Amber and the blonde haired woman countered them. The blonde haired woman withdrew two long red blades from her cloak and elegantly, effortlessly, sliced the lieutenant in half.

  Mary’s family remained oblivious to the fight raging around them: angels exploding and being thrown every way and shape. Nor did they see Ariel storming past in all-consuming fury and Uriel being sent into the air. They simply knelt round Mary in silence. Catherine picked up her glasses and squeezed them tightly. Hot salty tears stung her eyes and dove downwards over her roaring red cheeks. David and Claire held each other’s hands for comfort. Claire was devastated. She had always been an emotional child and this would have a grave effect on her for possibly the rest of her life. She was crying so hard David tried to soothe her, as she sounded like she was going to vomit.

  At the bottom of the hill, Uriel lay on the ground panting as Ariel jumped up, staring down at him.

  “Nuriel, attack!” he roared, propping himself up on his elbows to meet Ariel’s eye.

  “Ah no darling, I do not think so,” said Lilith, her voice encompassing the entire clearing. She shot steam of white energy into the sky to meet Nuriel’s fire blast he had just launched. The two energies exploded in the night sky lighting up the forest for miles. Blasting herself off the ground, the white haired woman hurled towards Nuriel, trading blasts of pure energy with each other. Rising higher into the sky, her long hair rose up as she offered her hands up in what almost looked like prayer. She dived down towards Nuriel and launched a larger, more veracious white lightning attack straight into his chest. The trees around and below him were torn from their roots.

  Sensing that he had crossed a line in killing that pathetic human termite, Uriel knew that now a fight would ensue between two of Heaven’s most respected warriors. They had both stopped, mesmerised with the battle taking place in the sky above them. Finding strength, Uriel propelled himself up and immediately engaged Ariel in extreme hand to hand physical combat. He initially had Ariel on the back-foot. The combat was fierce. In this type of situation it was considered ‘honourable’ to fight hand to hand without the use of weapons. This ensured that the best angel won. They fought their way violently up and down the hill repeatedly; vaguely registering the muffled screams and explosions coming from the top as the unknown woman in white blasted around the battlefield. It resembled something of extreme martial arts sprinkled with Heavenly force. Ariel jumped into the air and kicked Uriel across the field, while Uriel responded by catapulting himself like a bullet into Ariel’s chest, which sent him into the air before crashing down. Meeting in the middle once again, Ariel punched Uriel squarely in the jaw. Uriel clenched forward, quickly feeling Ariel’s knee pumping up against his stomach whilst being smacked in the back. He grabbed Ariel’s legs and trailed him to the ground. Both bouncing up quickly, they began circling. They eventually headed towards the top and Uriel changed his tactics in an instant. Standing slightly above Ariel on the hill, he watched as the infuriated angel charged towards him once more. Raising both arms to mid-point directly at Ariel he froze straight in his tracks and began sinking into the ground. Ariel growled at Uriel, there was no honour in this. He tried his best to blast out but he couldn’t. He had used a lot more energy the past few hours than Uriel. Eventually waist down into the ground Ariel was grateful for one small mercy. He would rather look his killer straight in the eye as he delivered the final blow.

  “Ariel, Ariel, Ariel,” smiled Uriel, his eyes wide with joy, “you always knew it would end like this, at the receiving end of my sword.” Uriel stepped forward, the smile on his face broadening. He withdrew a large angelic sword from the inside of his coat and stood directly over him. “Goodbye Ariel”

  Ariel closed his eyes, something he thought he would never do but it just seemed natural on this occasion. He heard a quick swishing sound and the feeling of hot blood. Opening his eyes he found the blood dripping onto his hands from a gaping wound in Uriel’s abdomen. He had been impaled through the stomach by an angelic sword, not his own. Behind Uriel stood David, his face bleached in white anger.

  “That” he whispered to Uriel as he drew his final breaths, twisting the sword in further, “was for my grandmother. You can die knowing you were killed by me.” He violently withdrew the angelic sword from him and watched as he collapsed to the ground. A white flash flew across his chest and began to slowly engulf his entire body before he exploded before their eyes. His explosion was far more violent than the others. A shockwave emanated throughout the field, causing the trees in the distance to croak and their branches to snap. The cottage took what looked like its final beating. The two remaining angels vanished, unable to comprehend the death of their boss by a mere human. Ariel still lay on the ground; the restricting energy
binding him began to seep away into the muddled, trampled grass.

  “David!” shouted Catherine and Claire in unison as they rushed towards him. “David, are you OK?”

  “I’m fine,” he replied, exhibiting a weak smile across his face, though they all knew it was just for show. All three looked bedraggled. David had numerous cuts along his face and hands while poor Claire even had a piece of her hair singeing. David helped Ariel up and gave him a gratifying stare. No matter what he thought of angels in general, it was clear Ariel and Amber were the exception. Catherine walked slowly back over to where Mary lay, slouched over in that now tired war-torn wheelchair. She had turned cold, Catherine noticed, as she knelt down and held her hand tightly.

  “We have to go, quickly, before reinforcements arrive,” urged Ariel, standing with everyone in a circle around Mary. Those two angels who had fled would most likely be reporting directly to Michael as they still stood here. They had perhaps only moments to flee.

  “No,” replied Catherine, “we’re not going anywhere until we bury my mother.”

  “Catherine we must...”

  “No. Nowhere, and that’s it. This is my mother here,” she commanded with tears. “She at the very least deserves a burial. We’ll do it in front of the house. I don’t care how long it takes. We’re not leaving her here alone,” said Catherine, her voice now despondent. David and Claire agreed. Claire was almost sure she caught a glimpse of emotion on Amber’s face, only momentarily. She agreed too.