by S. J. West
“Anna,” Malcolm says with urgency. “Don’t do this. Come home with me. We’ll figure something out.”
Lucifer, Jered, Desmond, and Daniel phase in around me like a protective circle hoping to shield me from myself.
“Anna,” Lucifer begs. “Leave this place. Don’t let Levi win.”
“Win?” I ask incredulously. “How can dying a horrible death be considered winning?”
“Think about it, Anna,” Lucifer says. “By now the human body he’s walking around in is completely putrefied on the inside. He’s suffering a pain that few people can even imagine. Let him live in his decaying hell. If you kill him now, you’re simply releasing him from his pain. Let him live, and I promise to bring Andre back to you.”
“You’ll bring him back to me anyway,” I say knowingly. “I’m through with people using the ones I care about against me. You say you love me, and I don’t doubt that you do. Whether or not I kill Levi, doesn’t really matter, does it?”
“It matters,” Malcolm says, looking fearful for me but not of me. “If you kill him now, we might lose you forever. Don’t let him have the final satisfaction of knowing his death will destroy the last bit of goodness left inside you.”
“It won’t destroy me,” I say, feeling more in control of my actions than ever. “I will kill Levi because he deserves no less from me. He took my best friend’s body, murdering him in the process. He tortured you until you hung like a piece of raw meat in that prison cell. He almost killed Vala and Catherine. Millie’s death is the last straw, Malcolm! I can’t allow him to live any longer and I won’t!”
Everyone around me starts to speak at once, begging me to stop and reconsider my next course of action. It becomes obvious to me that the one thing they don’t seem to realize is that I am thinking clearly. I’m thinking of all the ways I can end Levi’s life.
But, where is he? The first time I saw him in the guise of Auggie was at the Tribute Ball, in this room.
Then it dawns on me. That actually wasn’t the very first time I saw Levi.
The last time I saw Auggie, right before he left to meet up with Gladson, I remember seeing a slight shimmer behind my best friend just as he transported away. That had to have been Levi in his angelic form, right before he killed Auggie.
I phase to the terrace right outside my bedchamber in the home I shared with my papa.
I find Levi standing near the edge of the veranda, looking out at the city.
“I wondered how long it would take you to figure out where I was,” Levi says, as he turns around to face me.
Atrophied muscles are sliding down Levi’s face, exposing bone. Rotted, black blood is oozing out of every orifice like rats trying to escape a sinking ship. Levi’s body is shaking uncontrollably, and I know Lucifer was right in his assumption about the level of pain Levi is experiencing. But it’s not enough for me. There has to be a way to make him suffer even more. I need to hear him scream. I want to watch him experience insufferable pain. I begin to walk towards Levi with a singular thought reverberating inside my mind. Kill Levi.
I feel someone grab my arm and pull me back.
I turn to see Malcolm.
Before he can even say a word to me, I lift one leg and kick him as hard as I can in the middle of his gut. Malcolm flies through the air, over the edge of the terrace.
Without pausing, I turn back around and continue to make my way over to Levi.
Someone else grabs my right shoulder, trying to spin me around to face him. I whip around and push Jered in the chest so hard I hear bone crack as I fling him backwards through the closed doors leading into my rooms. He crashes through them landing somewhere in the space beyond.
I turn around once again, aggravated beyond comprehension by their ceaseless attempts to stop me from reaching my target.
When I feel someone wrap their arm around my waist, all of my hate, all of my frustration at being denied the one thing I want in that moment erupts like a volcano.
“Get the hell away from me!” I yell, pushing at the arm around me with so much anger I completely lose control over my powers.
I feel the arm disintegrate in my hands as it turns into black ash.
I stop and look down at my hands. They glisten in the light of an afternoon sun with sparkling black ash. The ash of an angel.
Slowly, I turn around to find a pile of the ash directly behind me.
I lift my gaze and meet the shell-shocked eyes of Desmond first. I hear Jered moan from the direction of my rooms where he landed, unaware of what's just happened.
“Oh Anna,” Lucifer says, staring at the ash at my feet with a stunned expression. “What have you done?”
Malcolm phases back onto the veranda, holding an arm around his waist with an expression of intense agony on his face. He looks at the black ash at my feet. Then lifts his gaze to meet my eyes.
Neither of us has to say a word. We both know who it is I’ve just killed. The knowledge feels like the final blow of a hammer sealing my fate.
It was Daniel.
Malcolm doesn’t seem to know what to say. He just stands there staring at me in horror, an expression I never thought I would see on his face when he looked at me. I feel my world fall completely apart, like a mirror that’s been shattered and simply can’t be put back together again. I just murdered a friend, a father, a protector of my family whose only purpose for the last one thousand years was to await my birth. How could I ever face Linn or Bai again? How could I explain to them that I killed a man they both loved with one careless thought in anger?
I hear a fount of uncontrollable laughter behind me.
When I turn around to face Levi, I see him doubled over in mirth because of what I just did. I didn’t think it was possible, but my anger and hatred of him instantly multiplies a hundred fold. I phase over and grab him by the throat, squeezing it just hard enough to keep him from laughing.
Malcolm and Lucifer phase in on either side of me as I hold Levi’s life in my hands.
“Anna, stop,” Malcolm begs. “If you kill him, you let him win. Is that what you really want to do?”
“Malcolm’s right,” Lucifer says to me. “Levi wins two ways, Anna. Not only does he help destroy the good still left inside you, but he also finally finds a way to hurt me.”
I look over at Lucifer, waiting for an explanation to his last statement.
“I love you, Anna,” Lucifer declares verbally for the first time. “And against all odds, you love me too. Don’t destroy the one opportunity I have to be part of a real family. Please, don’t let Levi take you away from me. You’re my daughter. If you let him destroy you like this, he destroys me too.”
I stare at Lucifer because I can’t believe how pathetic he looks. He’s begging me to give him a life when I know he’s destroyed more lives than I can probably count. I find it strange that he considers his own needs more important than the revenge my soul demands.
If I don’t go through with this now, Daniel would have died for nothing. I may not be able to bring him back to life, but I can at least make sure his death wasn’t in vain. When I look over at Malcolm, I know he won’t be any help to me in what I need to do to Levi.
There’s only one person I know who can help me now, and I know she’ll welcome me with open, non-judgmental arms.
I tighten my grasp on Levi’s neck and phase us both directly to Hell.
Chapter 14
When I reach Hell, I find Helena waiting for me. Her long blonde hair is pulled back into a severe ponytail, making her face look more pinched than usual. She’s also wearing a leather outfit identical to mine except that it’s red in color. The smile on her face tells me that she was expecting my arrival. I’m not sure how she knew I would be coming to her, but I really don’t care. The room she’s fashioned for our reunion is a replica of the prison cell Levi used to imprison Malcolm. It seems fitting and just that Levi should meet his demise in such a place.
I unceremoniously toss Levi into the middle of th
e room. He makes a mess on the all-white floor as he sprawls out on all fours gasping for breath. His putrefied blood smears everything he touches, making random streaks of black, and filling the room with his foul stench.
“Sister,” Helena says, with an elated smile, “I thought you might be coming for a visit. I hope you don’t mind me choosing this particular background for our little fun together.”
Bearing witness to Helena’s happiness is a bit disconcerting. It contorts her facial features to a point where the expression looks more like a mask. But what more could you expect from someone who wasn’t actually real.
Helena raises her right hand and crooks her index finger at Levi. I watch as his body is jerked up into the air with his arms and legs spread as wide as they can be without breaking him apart, forming an X.
“Well, well,” Helena says with her arms folded beneath her breast as she walks around Levi, “how the mighty have fallen, Levi. I must admit it saddens me to see you in such disarray, so helpless and vulnerable. I thought you of all people would meet death with more dignity than this.”
“Just kill me and be done with it,” Levi says wearily, his head hanging down towards his chest making his words sound slightly mumbled.
Out of nowhere, I hear a loud boom that makes the walls of the room around me shake.
“What was that?” I ask Helena, never having experienced it before on any of my other visits to Hell.
“Oh, it’s our father trying to phase down here,” she says with a flick of her wrist as if his attempt is only a minor nuisance. “It’s nothing to worry about, sister. I won’t allow him to interrupt our play.”
“You can prevent Lucifer from phasing here?” I ask, slightly stunned by this new revelation.
“I can now,” Helena replies, a triumphant smile stretching her ruby red lips. “Thanks to the added power of your anger, I have more control down here than he does.” Helena walks over to me. “We are the masters of this domain now, sister. We can do whatever we want to here. With your power and my ability to manipulate it, we can do anything our imaginations desire.”
Helena holds one of her hands out to me.
“Let me help you discover your full potential, Anna, and never fear, I won’t hold you back like they tried to. You need to understand what we’re capable of together. I can help you mold your power into something beyond anything your wildest dreams can conjure.”
“Can my power bring people back from the dead?” I ask as images of Auggie, Millie and Daniel stay fixed within my mind's eye.
“No,” Helena says understandingly, “but it can serve you in other ways. What is the one thing you want to do right now?”
“Kill Levi.”
Helena stretches out her hand even further, silently urging me to take it.
I do.
She tightens her grasp on my hand and closes her eyes as if the experience is causing her immense pleasure. I hear her gasp in surprise and the smile on her face broadens.
“Oh, sister,” Helena says with glee. When she opens her eyes to look at me, they appear almost out of focus like she’s drugged. “I never imagined we would have this much power to control. Come with me and let me help you kill Levi in a way that will torment him for all eternity.”
Helena pulls me along after her as we walk over to stand in front of Levi.
“What is it that you wish to do to him the most?” Helena asks, sounding like an eager tutor in the art of torture.
“I want him to experience the same pain he put Malcolm through,” I say. “I want him to suffer more than anyone in the history of the universe ever has.”
The sound of Lucifer’s attempts to phase to Hell become louder, more desperate.
Unexpectedly, Levi begins to laugh.
“Do you even know who you’re talking about?” Levi asks me, raising his head just enough to look at me with his dead eyes.
“What do you mean?”
“You don’t know,” he says in disgust. “How pathetic.”
I rise into the air and grab Levi’s head with both of my hands, squeezing inward just enough to cause pain but not crack his skull completely open.
“What are you talking about?” I demand.
“The person who has suffered more than anyone in the history of the universe is Lucifer. If Helena is calling you her sister, then either you’re a vessel for Seraphina’s soul or you are Seraphina somehow. Lucifer was betrayed by not only his daughter but also by his father and his best friend. Why do you think the strongest angel who was ever created became so malevolent? He was abandoned by those who were supposed to love him the most.”
“I never abandoned him,” I whisper, remembering just how far Seraphina went to save her father. She gave up everything just for the chance to bring him back home. Love like that shouldn’t be trivialized.
“Whatever you say, my little dove,” Levi sneers. “Why don’t you just kill me now and prove you truly are Lucifer’s daughter once and for all. You’ve been neglecting this side of yourself for too long now. I’m just glad I can witness you’re downfall in person, and have the honor of causing it to happen. It’ll tear Lucifer apart to watch you crumble under your own hatred like he did. I just hope I can live long enough to see his expression when he realizes what you’ve become. He’ll finally pull off what he set out to do from the beginning through you.”
“What do you think I’m going to accomplish?” I ask.
“You’ll destroy what our father created. You are the destroyer of worlds, Anna. Embrace your destiny by killing me.”
I stare at Levi for a moment wondering if what he said is true. Will his death break the final string connecting my soul to those I love? Will the act completely turn me into the monster I was warned I would become?
“Sister,” Helena says, reaching up to take my hand again as I stay floating in the air facing Levi, “come with me and let me help you teach this thing a final lesson. Let his death be in honor of those you’ve loved and lost because of him. He’s simply trying to manipulate you into sparing his life. I don’t think you would have brought him down here to me if that was your intention.”
Levi chuckles. “I don’t want you to spare my life. I want you to end an eternity of pain. Do your worst to me, Anna. I would rather spend an infinity in the Void than remain on this God forsaken planet one minute longer. Lucifer wasn’t the only one who lost the ones he loved most because of the war. We all did. Those of us who followed him into battle lost everything we ever cared about. Many of us hoped our father would give us a chance to redeem ourselves but that chance never came. He threw us out of Heaven like we were garbage, and he never bothered to look back. So, please, kill me so I can finally find some semblance of peace.”
I raise my free hand to my chest because I feel a twinge of pity for Levi. It’s an emotion I never thought I would feel for him and one I refuse to give into.
“I won’t feel sorry for you. You’ve made your own choices during your life. No one forced you into them,” I say, stoking the flames of my anger towards Levi and burying any form of empathy I might have for him. “You don’t deserve my sympathy, only my hate.”
“Then do what you brought me down here to do and be done with it!” Levi says viciously. “I’m growing bored of your inability to act, Anna. Why don’t you put your hate for me into action already? Or are you too squeamish to do the job yourself? Are you scared, my little dove? I can assure you I’m not scared to meet death. Not like your maid was. Oh how she groveled on her hands and knees, just like a dog begging for mercy.”
I punch Levi so hard in the gut I feel my hand go partially through his body. He looks at me with an expression of pain on his face, but doesn’t make a sound as part of his entrails pop out from the hole I made and hang down to the floor.
“Well,” Helena says sounding pleased, “that’s a good start. What next, sister?”
I lower my body and stand beside Helena again.
“Levi can make a lightning whip,” I say
, feeling my body tremble for the vengeance I seek. “Can I make one too?”
Helena smiles. “All you have to do is think of what you want and it’s yours.”
I concentrate on the image of Levi’s whip. Almost instantly, I have an identical one gripped in my right hand. It crackles with energy as I sling it behind me and propel it forward into Levi’s flesh.
I finally hear him scream.
The sound of his agony only feeds my desire to hear more of it. I continue to slash him as I walk around his body, doing my best to make sure every inch of his flesh feels the force of my wrath. I tell myself that I’m avenging those I’ve loved and lost because of Levi’s cruelty. I’m simply meting out a just punishment to someone who deserves no less. I reason with myself that I’m preventing future atrocities by ending his life. I feel a sense of righteous indignation as I continue to strip layer after layer of flesh from his decaying body.
It’s only when Helena gasps that my attention is drawn away from my singular task.
I look over and see her clutching at her chest.
“What’s wrong with you?” I ask, slightly perturb that she’s interrupting me.
“Something,” she says but has to swallow hard before continuing, “unexpected.”
“What?” I demand more harshly, losing my patience with her cryptic answer.
Helena looks at me and smiles.
“My, my,” she says breathlessly, on the verge of giddiness, “he must really love you to take such a risk, sister. I knew this day would come, but never in my wildest dreams did I expect to get you both on the same day.”
Before I can ask what she’s talking about, Lucifer phases to Hell, but he isn’t alone.
Malcolm stands at his side.
Helena giggles in delight, a sound that is very unnatural coming from her.
“Oh my,” she says, walking over to Malcolm to stand behind him. “What an unexpected development this is.”
Helena runs one delicate hand across the back of Malcolm’s shoulder blades and down his left arm. I watch as he closes his eyes and winces at the contact. He quickly reopens his eyes again and looks straight at me.
