CounterPoint

by Daniel Rafferty

  Ariel almost crash landed on the deck of the ship next to David and Lilith, with Amber slowing him down.

  “Well,” said Lilith clearly impressed, running a hand through her thick blonde hair, “you definitely deserve more credit than what I afforded a mere angel.”

  Ariel, who was still on his knees, slowly rose and simply stared at her.

  “You on the other hand,” she continued, looking at David, “are a worrying enigma. To display that kind of power is troubling.”

  “To a demon, you mean,” replied David helping Ariel steady himself.

  “No, my dear boy, to everyone. There is a power within you so strong it does not belong to any human. I only hope you can exercise control over it as you did today. If not, you could quickly become our enemy,” she said.

  “Demons,” said Amber rolling her eyes quickly. She was also worried about what she had just witnessed but now was not the time to be turning on each other. They weren’t even in Dublin yet and Ruchiel’s calming measures had ceased. The storm, rain and wind had returned in force.

  “This ship’s dead in the water,” said David, pointing to the fact the lightning bolt used on the creature had also short-circuited many of the ship’s electrical systems. Standing there in the darkness, with the torrential downpour, the four of them made for a sorry sight. Not only that, the rough choppy waters had also returned and the ship was swaying from side to side. A flash of light lit up David’s face as Ruchiel appeared between them all.

  “Now I’m sorry I left so abruptly but we had multiple freak waves heading towards New York City and that could not be allowed. Ariel, I don’t know why the powers in Heaven want this family so much. I do however have a deep respect for Pravuil and if he is supporting you then I shall render assistance also. I’ll get you to your destination but then I really must be off. The planet has reached a level of chaos unprecedented and the weather fronts are almost uncontrollable. My staff can’t handle it on their own.”

  “That would be most welcome,” replied Ariel. Ruchiel was a powerful being and was willing to help; at this point they couldn’t reject help from anywhere.

  “Excellent. David, Lilith – I recommend you seek shelter on the bridge. You would not be impervious to the effects of this as angels would be,” said Ruchiel walking away from them towards the tip of the bow. Whilst he had some intrigue as to whether David could actually withstand this he thought it was better to not take such an unnecessary risk. He held out his arms like he was about to preach a sermon to the masses. All around, the sound of high speed winds began intensifying rapidly. Ariel and Amber’s clothes looked like they might be ripped off them as they stood there calmly. With the wind now mustered, he directed it forward. There was a momentary lull of complete silence with no wind, then a sudden burst occurred and the ship charged forward powered by the winds of Earth. Breaching through the water at speeds afforded to no human constructed engine in existence, the Irish coastline was soon visible and getting bigger rapidly. Ruchiel remained standing at the bow of the ship in the same position, his robes flying high with the wind.

  They would soon arrive in Dublin port.

  Chapter 36

  Michael sat in his luxurious office. The magnificent floor to ceiling window behind him was hidden by closed curtains. Sitting before his desk were Raphael and the Moirai, otherwise known as the Three Sisters of Fate; very stern, old looking women. All three had pointed faces, glasses and short black hair wrapped in a tight bun, at least when they were here on Earth.

  “….and therefore it is necessary to cleanse the planet once and for all,” finished Michael. They had charged into his office demanding a meeting, one of the few creatures in all of creation who could get away with such ignorance.

  “Michael. The Human Experiment is vital to the continuation of existence. Do not believe you have the right to toy with it as a child would. You are not God. Do not speak to us as if we have the intelligence of a mere human.”

  “Madame Atropos, I insist what I speak is the truth. Evil has become unquantifiable on this planet.”

  “Rubbish,” she replied again, straightening her black robes as she stood up with her other two sisters, “I’m warning you Michael, if this madness continues then my sisters and I will have to intervene on a global scale. You should also be aware that Death is not amused. She isn’t coming to see you, but asked me to inform you that if this continues then she will be calling in for a little chat,” she said in a cold threatening tone. No archangel on one planet was going to dictate the rules of Fate to her, even if this was Earth.

  Michael’s reply was a silent stare as he stood and watched them walk down the corridor towards the exit.

  “That could have gone better.”

  “The Moirai are just sabre rattling. They’ve tried it before and took no action. If we hold firm with them, they’ll back off and go annoy some other world.”

  “They tried it before with God, Michael. He’s not here now. We might not have the same effect on them.”

  Michael made Raphael acutely aware he did not like hearing this. They had a duty to rid this planet of evil. Celestial beings were a mere formality in the process of running a world; they did not have the final say on internal matters. He expected nothing more than a temper tantrum from them considering they had no formal power or degree in the running of Earth. That executive power lay with him alone. His thoughts were interrupted as the double doors to his office flung open, and an aide raced up to his desk.

  “Sir, we just got reports the Leviathan was set loose in the Irish Sea. It tried to attack a ferry but thankfully Ruchiel was in the area and was able to thwart it.”

  Raphael jumped from his armchair and stood beside the aide, eyeing him up and down.

  “The Leviathan attacks a passenger ferry and we’re only finding out about it now!” shouted Michael at the aide. He nodded to Raphael who vanished.

  “Sorry, sir, but the attack on headquarters has left us short on troops on the field and the general chaos in each department at the minute…”

  “Save it. Leave. Now!” shot Michael, watching the aide scurry off.

  “The ferry has already docked. No sign of the Bassett family,” said Raphael who had just reappeared.

  “Damn it!” shouted Michael, blasting a lamp into the wall narrowly missing one of his bodyguards still stationed in the corner. None of them moved in the slightest.

  “They are now no doubt on route to their Dublin mansion. Michael, once they get there…”

  “Raphael, take a full army and descend upon that house. I don’t care if you have to burn it and the entire city to the ground. Mary may be dead, but I don’t want to take the chance any other Bassett possessing her abilities,” gritted Michael, his face red and full of anger.

  “Yes, sir” replied Raphael.

  “Raphael. We go to war tomorrow. This mess needs to be cleaned up tonight”

  “It will be.”

  Chapter 37

  Amber jumped out of one of the two jeeps they had ‘borrowed’, as Lilith put it. Inputting the numbers into the keypad the mansion gates began to open. Once in, Ariel would strengthen them, they should be safe until the real battle began. The flimsy human device beeped as she entered the six digit manual code. A green LED light flashed across the keypad and the gates hissed open. She waved the car on forward, wanting to secure the rear just in case any undesirables tried to breach the entrance while the gates were open.

  A flash of lightning, raping the dark sky above, brought reality into stark focus. The moment the lightning occurred, it lit up the brickwork of every house in the street. Those facing the Bassett mansion clearly showed dark figures behind every window. Hundreds of them. They were already surrounded. Amber knew the only reason they would be waiting was because their General hadn’t arrived yet. Once he did, then it would begin. The likelihood of this entire city being destroyed was immense. She had to think of a way of getting the local population out of harm’s way. Ariel and David
were already heading into the mansion.

  “What’d you see?” said Catherine, jumping out of the car with Sandra in tow.

  “Angels, a lot of them. We’re surrounded,” replied Amber watching as the gates closed before her. Turning round once more to scan the house’s facing the mansion rain dribbled down her forehead. “We need to prepare this place for the coming battle. Catherine, I need you to find out why your mother wanted us to come here. What is it about this house that makes it special? Please hurry.”

  Catherine nodded. She knew right away the place to start – her mother’s bedroom. She knew this would be a difficult experience under any circumstances. The door at the end of the long corridor upstairs was her mother’s bedroom. Hearing the door handle click as she pressed it down, she paused momentarily to steel herself, then walked in, closing it behind her. The room was exactly as it always was. It never changed; Mary’s ever-loyal care worker not only looked after her but always kept her bedroom in pristine condition. The beautiful warm cream walls, adorned with photos of family events throughout the years, showed her devotion to all of them. Sitting on the super queen size bed, Catherine pulled out the drawer of her bedside cabinet to reveal a thick diary. Catherine rested her full hand on the front of the diary, a silver gleam shot through the book unlocking it. Her mother truly was gone; this was a sacred diary and Mary had bequeathed it to Catherine in her will. Catherine tried to push that thought to the back of her mind. They were all on a dangerous mission now and Mary was gone. There would be time to do proper grieving later, one way or the other.

  The diary itself was dated all the way back to Mary’s childhood. She decided to look for the first date of moving into the house, which was just before she was born. Skimming the pages, one was turned down, its title:

  January 5th, 1966. Our New Home.

  “Oh I wish we had gotten into our new home before Christmas. It would have been nice to spend our first Christmas here instead of in that bedsit. Seamus of course was right though, the house would have been even colder than with Seamus’s parents. They hadn’t even finished the heating!!! It is still great to be here though, a lovely new house all to ourselves. The excitement!”

  She skimmed further through the pages, not picking up anything until the word demon, underscored with a few red lines, stuck out at her.

  “What a day. We’ve christened our baby girl, and the day was amazing with our family and friends all turning up. Seamus had to leave tonight to travel to London for an important meeting the next day. He really is going somewhere with this job, but it is taking up a lot of his time. But, on to more important matters. I had just the most surreal experience there with a demon. She had flowing blonde hair and just appeared in my bedroom late this evening. At first I was startled and pinned her against the wall with all the mental strength I could muster. It was a hard struggle, this demon was very powerful. After she protested greatly, I released her to hear what she had to say. She says she came to warn me that there would be a war in the near future and my children and grandchildren would all be involved. Apparently this will be war like no other, not involving tanks or guns, but treacherous angels who have lost their way. I asked it why she was so concerned about angels being treacherous as surely it would be in a demons benefit for their greatest enemy to go rogue. The demon told me the most sinister thing. These angels plan on releasing Armageddon, when there is no such need. She doesn’t know why they are planning it, only that it will be happening and my family will be involved. Obviously I don’t believe her. Angels and demons, let them fight among themselves. I doubt the planet is under threat of total destruction. After telling me this she vanished before my eyes. Something I have never seen before, I didn’t think it was possible until now. I’ll be contacting Johnny first thing tomorrow to tell him. We’ll need to keep note of this. It was definitely a high ranking demon.”

  Surprisingly, the first thing that she noticed was how her mother kept referring to the demon as ‘it’, only occasionally using words such as ‘she’. Obviously Mary had deep ingrained beliefs regarding demons, which she could hardly blame her for. While the passage was certainly interesting, it didn’t provide any information regarding the house. Catherine was starting to worry that perhaps she had misunderstood Mary in her final moments. Maybe she meant not to come back here? She started skimming the pages once more until she found a diary entry which didn’t have the large handwritten date at the top right hand corner of the page.

  “Tonight I had another visit from it, the blonde-haired demon. It occurred at exactly the same time and in the same location. Seamus was once again away on business, I sometimes suspect does this demon arrange business for him? These meetings always seem to be last minute and urgent. I didn’t hold her against the wall this time, but I let her know that I was powerful and would protect my family. I think my display worked but I have to admit the demon has never been threatening to me. Ever. It did warn me never to leave this house. The house isn’t important; according to her it’s the land which is important. The house itself is built upon a calling beacon and she doesn’t think even the angels know it. I asked her how she would possibly know such a thing, and she only replied that it came at great personal cost to many of her brothers and sisters. She didn’t know what type of calling beacon it is, so I’m totally lost about this. I’m not prepared to put all my faith in this demon, and have told her so. I don’t know if I could even persuade Seamus to move now. Part of me has a very bad feeling about ignoring this demon. This is her second visit; she had no need to keep appearing. I imagine I’m going to struggle to sleep this evening.”

  Catherine never knew Mary had considered moving; she always treasured this house. Even when it was beyond repair, she had it demolished and a new one built upon the same land. That was it! It suddenly clicked. That’s why she would never leave here! As this demon said, the land was holy. Obviously Mary came to believe that as well. But it still didn’t tell her why her mum wanted her to come back here. She was even more confused now, and getting frustrated. They didn’t have time to be hoking through diaries with everything else that was happening.

  The light in the room went out, and it went eerily quiet. Jumping up, Catherine scanned the room. She couldn’t hear them downstairs anymore.

  “Cathy, darling.”

  Catherine was astonished to see her mother sitting in her armchair at the side of the bed. The lights on the wall glowed to a shallow brightness, just enough to make them see each other without strain.

  “Mum!” she cried, her eyes swelling up but she couldn’t bring herself to move. Part of her was heart scared, she watched her mum die.

  “Sweetheart,” said Mary, in her usual warm and loving tone when it was just the two of them. Catherine was her only daughter and their close relationship knew no limits.

  “But…you…can’t be here. I watched you...” Catherine couldn’t finish the sentence.

  “I’m not here to stay, darling, I’m only here to give you the information you’re looking for. Sit down, dear,” she motioned to the side of the bed closest to Mary.

  Catherine was shaking, but there were no tears anymore. She had cried all she could during the last few hours and had taken some medication to calm her nerves.

  “The reason I wanted you all to come back here was because here, home,” she motioned around the room, “is the only place I can appear. I was told that by our blonde friend in a later diary entry. Darling, you have a massive fight ahead. This is only one fight. There will be plenty more ahead. The family must all be able to stand firm. I know you don’t have the abilities the rest of us have dear, but you will be more important than most. It’s up to you to keep the bonds of this family together; without them I fear the worst for all of us. For everyone.”

  “Mum…I don’t know what to do. This is so far out there. It’s almost unbelievable. I’m talking to my dead mother to start with.”

  “I’m not dead, dear. I’ve just gone on to a new existence. It’s hard
to explain, you’ll realise one day. But not for a long time yet if we stick together.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “As I said, just keep it together. Help is on its way. I haven’t written anything down as I could never take the chance of it falling into the wrong hands. Even Johnny doesn’t know about this. Help is on the way.”

  “What do you mean” asked Catherine confused.

  “There’s an ancient force tasked with guarding this family. I was never aware of this, but they are aware of our location here. Lilith told me they promised they would always be watching and ready to help. My death will have sounded the alarm. I imagine they are gathering, ready to strike. Their first port of call will be this house, that’s why I wanted you to come back here. You stand your best chance here of winning the first fight. They will fight for you, and in return all they ask is that you take their opinions into account. Apparently they have been protecting our lineage since the beginning.”

  “I must tell David,” she said.

  “No, darling, you must not,” she said with authority. “David and Ariel must fight this without knowing help is on the way.”