'Anytime you're ready, Sariel,' Chris told his inner self nervously.
'Thank you, Chris. I'm taking over...now.'
Chris sat back mentally and observed events. Sariel walked slowly over and stood between Natalie and Lilith.
“You will harm no one else today, Fallen,” he said loudly. The demon whipped around and saw what she thought was Chris protecting Natalie and threw back her head, roaring with laughter.
“Ah, so the street urchin, at least, has a spine. How brave of you, Chris. You know, I think I like you. Even after the trick with the hot coffee. It won't stop me from killing you, of course, but I'll make it quick. You deserve that much of a reward for your fearless gesture.”
Chris felt a flash of anger and wasn't sure if it was his or Sariel's. “Arrogance. That was always your weakness, Lilith. Here lies your sister, the best friend you could ever have, and all you show is arrogance. What a sad creature you are.”
There was a moment of stunned silence, both from the demon and from the team. Chris could almost hear them thinking: shut-up, shut-up, don't provoke her. But he wasn't the one doing the provoking. Sariel was. And then Lilith reacted.
“How dare you! Do you know who I am? I am the right hand of Lucifer, the future ruler of all Creation. I am the first female angel that God ever created. And you dare speak to me like that, you worm?” She actually rubbed her massive, clawed hands together. It sounded like sandpaper rubbing against metal. “Oh, forget that quick death now, you little cockroach. I'll kill you first, slowly, for your insolence.”
She stepped toward him, and Chris looked down and watched as Sariel pulled the sword hilt from his pocket. The he looked up at the demon.
“I have something for you, Lilith.” He held it out to her on his open palm. “This is the reason that we came to this shrine in the first place.”
The demon stopped and peered down at the hilt. “What is this?” she asked, obviously intrigued. The hilt reflected her flickering halo of fire and glowed with an other-worldly light. “Well, I'll admit that it's pretty, but if you're trying to bribe me, child, it won't work. I'll simply take it from your broken body when I'm done with you.”
Sariel sighed dramatically. “The fact that you don't recognize this only proves that you are not as wise and as powerful as you would like others to believe. Here, let me show you what it does.” He glanced over at the judge and the others and muttered “Get ready.”
Judge Hawkes nodded slightly. He, at least, seemed to know that Sariel had returned. Chris saw him speaking under his breath to the rest of the team.
Sariel closed his hand on the hilt and held it as though it were actually a sword. He brought his other hand up and closed it over the hilt as well. He bowed his head over his hands and Chris almost choked on the wave of sorrow that welled up inside of him coming from Sariel and his memories.
This was part of the weapon that had struck down his brother. This was also part of his chance for salvation. He looked up at Lilith who was hesitating, staring down at him in confusion. No more innocents will die because of you, he thought. No more pain, no more suffering will you cause.
“Father, give me strength,” he murmured...and he burst into light as bright as an exploding star.
The demon fell back, shrieking in agony as the silver light slammed into her. The shrine rang like the inside of a bell, echoing louder and louder until the ceiling began to rain dust and debris down on them.
Sariel stood revealed in all of his broken glory. As tall as the demon, he held the hilt like a sword, and the ghostly image of a blade, wreathed in flame, extended out and down as he pointed it at the cowering demon.
“No more, Lilith. Do you hear me? No more!” Chris cringed in his mind at the wave of rage that smothered him in darkness. Sariel's anger was beyond imagining. But he wasn't out of control like he'd been when he had attacked Anna. His hatred was as pointed as a blade, aimed solely at the demon, at the deaths she'd caused and the others she planned to cause. She had to be stopped, sister or not.
Lilith reared up, squinting into the light and fire burst out around her. “Sariel!” she exclaimed with loathing. “You cannot be here. You are banished and accursed, traitorous dog.”
“Traitorous? Aye, perhaps,” he snapped back. “But I have a chance for salvation, sister. Something that you will never have.”
From the corner of his eye, Chris saw the team gathering up Natalie and their things and running for the stairs. He felt a wave of relief. At least they're out of harm's way, he thought.
“Salvation?” She cackled insanely. “From whom? Your Father? When we breech the gates of Heaven, all of the hosts of angels will be begging my master for his salvation, not your pathetic Father's. Strike me down if you can. I am eager to tell your brother that the one who dared defy him walks the Earth once more. He will turn this world into a glowing cinder, and reap souls by the billions.” And in a swirl of flame and ash, she attacked.
Sariel barely had time to bring up his pale blade to counter Lilith's lightning-swift strike. Sparks of red and silver burst around the weapons as they met and both of them were flung back from the impact.
The demon snarled as her surprise attack failed. She backed away, keeping her blade up, and gestured with her left hand. The floor rumbled and Sariel stared downward as cracks appeared in the ground. Wisps of smoke rose out of the openings, flickers of flame and clouds of soot erupted from them. Lilith chuckled with satisfaction as something crawled up through the fire.
“Did you think you faced a lesser angel, Sariel? I am one of the most powerful of the Fallen. If you seek to defeat me, you must defeat my minions first.” And out of the smoke appeared a nightmare.
Leather-like wings, talons and teeth; the creature Lilith had summoned looked like a miniature version of herself. It giggled and slavered as it stood there, ready to attack.
“An imp, Lilith?” Sariel sounded unimpressed. “Do you see to frighten me with this...irritant?”
The demon laughed again. “One imp is an irritant, perhaps. But a dozen or more are something else.” And Chris saw that she wasn't lying. More of the little nightmares were crawling out of the earth. Soon, an entire group of them were ranged beside the demon, half her size, burning with fire and eager to attack.
“Counter this if you can, Sariel. They will devour even you in your mortal form.”
“Perhaps, sister. But you too seem to have forgotten whom you face. Have I not been called the Angel of Death? There is a reason for that.”
Angel of Death? Chris filed that away for later discussion.
Sariel made no gestures, and Chris heard no thoughts from him, but the air around them was suddenly filled with music. It was not beautiful though, or heavenly. It was a funeral dirge, dark and brooding, and bursting from the air around Sariel came troops of his own.
Wispy, filmy creatures floated on the air, like someone's idea of what ghosts should look like. But they weren't ghosts. Each one had a face with a gaping maw for a mouth, and they began a mournful wailing that somehow blended into a scream promising death. And each one carried a silver scythe in bony hands; scythes that seemed eager to kill.
Lilith gasped and stepped back. “Seraphim! But how?”
“I have my followers, as does my brother. Surely you knew that?” He looked at the floating creatures and pointed at the howling imps. “Destroy them, in Heaven's name,” he commanded and the seraphim swooped in to attack.
The imps met them, screeching and tearing at them with their talons. But the scythes flashed and the seraphim wailed...and the imps died. All of them.
As the last of the demons fell, the seraphim vanished, leaving black blood and little piles of embers in their wake. Lilith snarled in frustration.
“Enough of this, then,” she cried. “I will deal with you myself.” And she aimed her sword at Sariel, releasing a blast of fire that burned white-hot with immense power.
Sariel fell back, his one good wing coming forward to shield his b
ody. Chris smelled burnt feathers and Sariel cried out in pain as the fire struck him. He rallied and swept his wing toward Lilith, flinging the fire back at her.
She screamed and side-stepped her own flames and Sariel rushed forward, sweeping his phantom blade across his body just as the demon brought up her own. But Sariel had only feinted and instead of slamming into Lilith's blade, his sword swept lower and sliced off her hand. She screamed with agony as the twisted sword and the hand holding it fell to the ground, and then Lilith dropped to her knees.
She grasped her wrist with her remaining hand and looked up into Sariel's blazing blue eyes. “You have me beaten, brother,” she hissed while her face was distorted with pain. “Kill me then. Send me back to my master so that I may give him the good news; that he may have his revenge on his accursed brother. And I will be at his side to see you fall.” And she spat on the ground in front of him.
Sariel reached down, grabbed Lilith by the throat with his left hand and lifted her, writhing and gasping so that he was staring at her, face to face.
“There will be no returning from where you are going, sister. Killing you would be a reward that you do not deserve. I could send you into oblivion for your unspeakable crimes, but Natalie still loves you and such a fate would wound her deeply.” Lilith's self-satisfied smirk was purely evil. “And so I will send you elsewhere. And one day, when you stand before God, you will face His judgment. May He be more merciful than I would be in His place.” He dropped her and she collapsed in a heap.
“But where are you sending me?” she gasped, sounding terrified for the first time.
“I will bury you up to your neck beneath the ice of the Frozen Sea. And if the forces of Hell ever storm Purgatory, racing across the frozen waters, yours will be the first face they see. May they have joy in the sight, for your master will not. He will be wild with rage at your punishment, and that is when I will strike.”
“No! You cannot do this!” She tried to stand, but her stump was gushing black blood and she was too weak to rise. She began to crawl away from him.
“It is done,” was all that Sariel said and Lilith's demonic form was engulfed in a blinding silver light. There was a last tortured scream...and she was gone.
And Chris was back in control of his own body again. He staggered at the sudden change in height and barely managed to stay upright. A slow throbbing at his temples warned of the headache to come but he ignored it.
'Is it over?' he asked.
'This battle is over, Chris. The war goes on. Go. Your friends are waiting outside. You need to get some place safe so that you can eat and rest. I have a prisoner to make arrangements for at home. We'll talk again soon.'
And with that, Sariel's presence was gone from Chris' mind. He sighed, suddenly exhausted. Then he picked up his flashlight from where it had fallen near the altar, stuck the hilt in his pocket and slowly made his way toward the staircase.
Halfway up the steep stairs, Chris was met by Beatrice and George. They both grinned and welcomed him.
“The judge told us to wait here, in case you needed a hand,” George said.
“Thanks, folks,” Chris replied. “I'm okay. Just a bit tired.”
They let Chris go by them and followed him up toward the top.
By the time he'd made his way up the remaining steps to the surface, Chris was staggering with fatigue. He stepped out into a bright sunrise. Nothing had ever felt so good. Even the building heat was a relief after the bone-chilling cold of the shrine. He almost fell but, immediately, several hands were helping him to sit and he looked up to see Judge Hawkes, George and the rest of the team staring down at him. Everyone seemed to be smiling with relief.
“Christopher! You made it,” the judge said. He sounded both relieved and pleased.
“I did, sir,” Chris answered him faintly. He looked around. Natalie lay on a blanket nearby. Someone had erected a tarp to keep the sun off of her. “How's she doing?” he asked as he gratefully took a canteen from the judge. Water never tasted so good.
“She's doing much better than we expected. She's actually just sleeping at the moment. I'm sure, once we get her to a hospital, that she'll make a full recovery.”
They had been speaking quietly, but Chris saw Natalie turn her head and stare at him. He struggled to his feet and walked over to her. With a smile, he knelt down beside her. She returned the smile weakly.
“Hey Chris. How ya doing?” she asked weakly. Chris offered her a drink but she shook her head slightly.
“I'm good, Nat. Don't worry. Everything's okay. Judge Hawkes says you'll be fine once we get you patched up.”
Her shoulders twitched as she brushed that off. “What happened to Angie?” She watched him anxiously.
Chris noticed the others listening intently and spoke a little louder so that they could all hear. They deserved to know the truth. He noted that Rabbi Eddleson was up and looking fine, although he seemed a little fragile.
“He didn't kill her, Natalie. Sariel, I mean. He couldn't let her go back to...you-know-who, and report that his brother was on Earth and he didn't want to destroy her, so he imprisoned her instead.”
“Imprisoned?” Natalie sounded confused. “What prison could even hold a being that powerful?”
Chris sighed. “Purgatory, Nat. Purgatory. Sariel and his followers will keep her there, safe and sound and away from Hell, until all of this is over. And then, God will make His own judgment on her fate.”
Natalie held his gaze for a long moment and then seemed to wilt. She closed her eyes and nodded once. “It's better than she deserves, I know, but I'm glad. Somewhere inside of that monster was a girl who I loved once. Maybe...maybe one day she can be redeemed. I hope so anyway.”
Chris sincerely doubted that, but he said nothing. “You can rest now, Nat. I'm sure help will be here soon.” He turned to the judge. “Speaking of help, how do we get out of here?”
Judge Hawkes smiled and walked over to a backpack. “The local group that helped us should be at the rendezvous location in an hour or so. Happily, I knew there was no cell coverage out here, so I had one of my new toys packed before we left. Just in case.”
He rummaged around in the pack for a moment, pulled out a metallic object about the size of a shoe-box and carried it over. He knelt down next to Chris and Natalie and both of them watched him curiously as he pressed a few buttons on top of the object and extended an antenna up about two feet.
“A direct satellite telephone,” he announced proudly. “It will use any satellite in the network to relay our signal to whomever we wish to speak to.” He winked at them. “Strictly hush-hush tech, they tell me. Ah, it's good to have friends who like to tinker.”
They watched closely as the judge flipped a switch and tapped out a code on the keyboard on top of the phone. The device immediately started to beep loudly and the judge frowned.
“What's wrong, sir?” Chris asked. He was afraid that they might have to hike back to the road after all and that trip would be very hard on Natalie. He wished that Sariel had hung around long enough to heal her, but somehow he knew that the angel would be out of touch for some time.
“Hmm? Oh, nothing, Christopher. I have a message waiting. Strange. Very few people know this number.” He tapped a few keys and suddenly they heard the sound of static from the device. Then someone began speaking. Chris recognized Martin's voice.
“Judge Hawkes, it's me. This is the third time I've tried to contact you without success, so I'm leaving this message. I pray that you and the others are all right. I don't have any time left. They are almost through the door of the vault, so I'll be brief.”
There was a brief moment of silence and Chris muttered “The vault?”
“It's a safe room under the Nest, Chris,” Natalie whispered and then Martin began to speak again.
“They must have known you had left, your honor. They came in force last night. I've never seen so many of the Fallen. There were dozens of the damned and at least four Fallen an
gels. There were wights and something I've never seen before. Shape-shifters, I guess you could call them. Werewolves. They rolled over the security guards like they weren't even there. We had no warning. Tyler and Jacob were on patrol. Judge, they're gone.” Chris gasped and Natalie cried out. The judge's face went white.
“I don't know if they are dead or captured, but they disappeared under the claws of those...creatures and I didn't see them again. Eliza and her pack slowed them down enough for us to seal the Nest, but they were overcome.”
Chris felt tears start in his eyes. The dogs were gone? His friends.
“The staff held the doors while I got the rest of the children down to the vault. They are slamming and clawing at the door now and I can only assume that the staff has fallen as well. It's just me now. We'll fight to the last, you know that. But if you are still alive and hearing this, I'm afraid we are done.” There was another pause and then, “Ethan, it's been an honor serving you. I'll see you on the other side. And please, forgive me for failing you. Good-bye.”
There was another short burst of static and then a click followed by silence.
Everyone looked at each other in horror. Natalie was weeping silently. Chris knew tears were streaking down his grimy face but he didn't care. He was focused on Judge Hawkes' face. His expression was one that Chris had never seen on the man before. Grief and despair. He looked like a broken man.
“Martin,” the judge whispered and he sat back on his heels and stared at the phone in disbelief. None of the team said anything and Chris realized that they had all lost friends and were trying to digest the horrible news.
Tyler and Jacob, Chris thought. Eliza. Chef. Mrs. Stiles. His new family, all gone.
After a few minutes of silence, Beatrice was the first one to speak.
“Judge Hawkes? Sir?” The judge turned his head and looked up at her standing over him.
“What do we do now, sir?” she asked, obviously desperate for orders.
The judge stared at her blankly for a long time. Then he looked at the others. Everyone was waiting for him to do something and those looks of desperation seemed to snap him out of his grief. He picked up the phone and stood slowly.
Confronting the Fallen Page 27
