by C. L. Coffey
That was the one area of the park I didn’t want to go into. It was effectively Mardi Gras land and I had seen enough of the Mardi Gras’ Jester to know that if I saw him in whatever ruined state he was in now, I would have nightmares about him for weeks.
I held my face up into the rain, closing my eyes as I tried to sense which way Joshua was. Far from heading right into Mardi Gras land, I had to go left. This was almost as bad, I discovered, as I walked along the deserted paths, dodging the neglected piles of rubble, to the DC Super Heroes section of the park.
This had once been my favorite part of the park, especially the Batman ride it had once housed. That was one of the only rides that had been salvaged and re-homed. Now there was a gaping hole in that part of the landscape. The entrance arch that depicted several superheroes still remained standing, although the sculpture was now fading away, covered in graffiti.
Behind it was an open space which once had a fountain and a giant Superman statue – both long gone – and behind that, just in the distance was what was left of the Joker’s Jukebox Ride. The cars still remained, but the creepy Joker figure that had once sat upon the jukebox in the centre, surveying his DC World was thankfully missing.
It wasn’t the lack of the Joker that had caught my attention, however. It was the remains of the Gotham City Hall, or more specifically, the light shining from the Gotham City Hall. It had been years since power had last been on in this place, and it was also supposed to be closed off for trespassers – hence the barbed wire fencing I had driven through.
There was something about this I didn’t like, as I ducked behind the arch to peer over at the structure. It struck me, as I tried to make something out, that maybe I should have asked Michael for help. Yes, Joshua was my responsibility, but I had no idea what was in there. In fact, as I hurried over to an overgrown bush to duck behind, behaving like I was in some form of action movie, if I actually had a phone on me, I would be using it.
The sound of someone screaming in pain brought my attention back to my current situation, and out of the what ifs. I had made my choice and I was going to have to deal with it. I was miles away from anywhere, with a broken car, in the middle of a category four hurricane – and the one thing I knew for certain? That scream belonged to Joshua.
To hell with it. I continued on, my eyes darting all over the structure in front of me, looking out for a guard or sentry. I worked my way past a pile of rubble which had once belonged to the City Hall, and bypassed the steps up to the main entrance to the only room that was still intact on the attraction. I fought my way through the overgrown bushes around the side to peer in through the only window into the room.
I couldn’t, for the life of me, remember what had been in here originally. The other buildings in the theme park had been left exactly as they were. As I passed them, they had been full of water damaged furniture, computers and tills that would never work again – there had even been a stand where you could purchase a photograph of you surviving the ride, still with all the mock up photos in there.
This room, while still showing the watermarks on the wall, along with the weeds growing through any available gap in the place, had all the contents cleared to the side, blocking the only exit out of there. One way in, one way out.
The first thing in there I actually noticed were the two guys at the back of the room, their eyes trained on the door in front of them, evidently awaiting my arrival. They had a look of a mercenary to them: shaven heads, muscles that bulged out from beneath the black, skin-tight t-shirts they wore, and a look in their eyes which had me convinced they had killed before. On a plus side, it looked like they were unarmed.
My attention switched to the other person in the room, and I was thankful for the growl of thunder to cover my gasp of surprise. “Her?” I couldn’t help but mutter in disbelief.
It was the leggy barmaid from the bar who had been flirting with Joshua. For a moment, the only thing I could focus on was the dress she was wearing. Don’t get me wrong, it was gorgeous. It looked like it was made of silk, and clung to her curves perfectly. It was the color of ice, and looked like it would be see-through the second it got wet. It was gathered around the waist, with beautiful crystal detailing, and the skirt hung down around her to the floor. As she moved back a step, it also showed off a ridiculously high and revealing slit that went nearly all the way to the waistband.
Crazy, I know, but this was the kind of thing you would wear to your prom – not in the middle of a hurricane, in the middle of a deserted theme park, in a decrepit room which looked like it wasn’t going to withstand this hurricane, what with the iron work creaking under the strain around us.
She took another step back, shaking out those luxurious auburn tresses, but my eyes fell to the thing in her hand. I had to wipe the rain out of my eyes to make sure I was seeing it clearly. It was a sword. Then, before my eyes, it shrunk to a dagger.
Who the hell was this woman?!
She leaned forward, bringing the dagger up in front of her face. With his arms tied behind the chair he was seated on, his chin resting on his chest, was Joshua. He was breathing heavily, which I was taking as a good sign, until the woman leaned over and grabbed his hair and yanked it up, bringing his face up to look at her.
I couldn’t see her lips to attempt to guess what she said to him, but his two word response was obvious, even from where I was.
I looked between the two henchmen and the woman, considering my options. Sure, they looked unarmed, but that didn’t mean that they couldn’t move to Joshua and break his neck the second I shot the woman. I wasn’t certain I could take the two of them out quick enough to eliminate them before she did something.
I was edging towards taking her out first, and hoping they would either be too surprised, or would try to locate me instead of focusing their attention on Joshua, when the woman, without any warning, took the dagger and stabbed it in Joshua’s shoulder, causing him to yell out in pain. She left it there for a moment while she said something else to him as he gritted his teeth, then, with another yell from Joshua, slowly twisted it.
I saw red.
Without thinking of the consequences, I sprinted back around to the front of the attraction, charged up the steps, and kicked the door to the room open, taking aim at the guy on the left. For once, my arrow met its target and he dropped to the floor, dead. I had reloaded my weapon and had it trained on the redhead before anyone knew what I was doing.
The second henchman took a step towards me, but I shook my head. “You take another step, and she won’t have a head.” I flicked my eyes over at the woman. “Now, bitch, step away from him.”
With her back still to me, she held her hands up, and turned to face me, smiling. “Hello, Angel.”
“Joshua, are you alright?” I asked, keeping my attention switching between the two threats in the room, and ignoring her greeting, despite the fact I had no idea how she knew my name.
From the corner of my eye, I could see Joshua watching me. “Nothing a couple of hours alone with you wouldn’t fix,” he muttered, trying to give me his famous smirk, but only managing to pull off a grimace.
“I’ve told you, quit with the flirting,” I responded, forcing myself to smile.
The redhead rolled her eyes. “Oh, for crying out loud, get a room already.” Then she laughed. “Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot. You’re not allowed.” I stared over at her, unable to keep the surprised look from my face. “You think I don’t know about those stupid rules?” she asked me, laughing.
“How?” I started to ask, then shook my head. “No, first, untie him.” She took a step back to Joshua, but I stopped her. “Not you. Tweedledum,” I frowned, nodding at the henchman. “You can keep your skanky hands well away from him.”
The guy looked over at the woman, and upon receiving a nod of approval, stepped forward and untied Joshua. As soon as his hands were free, he grasped the dagger that was still protruding from his shoulder. I lowered the bow a fraction as I started to yell,
“No!”
In less time than it took for me to blink, the henchman had moved from the back of the room to me, disarming me and sending the bow skittering across the floor. I then actually blinked, and he punched me so hard, I swear I could feel my brain vibrating in my head as I hit the floor. Nothing human could move that fast, which meant one thing...
“You’re angels?” I gasped, staring up at the two redheads who were staring down at me.
“Technically, I'm an archangel. I haven’t fallen yet, unlike my colleagues here,” she told me, gesturing to her henchmen.
The two figures slowly became one. “Who the hell are you?” I groaned.
“Angel,” she tutted at me. “Does Michael allow you to use Hell out of context like that?” At my startled look, she crouched down in front of me, sweeping my wet hair from my face in a motion that was almost motherly. “Yes, I know who Michael is, although I'm not surprised to see that you don’t know who I am.” She leaned forward, whispering into my ear. “Lilah.”
My mouth fell open. “You’re Lilah? But Michael said you had fallen.”
She cocked her head, stood up, and smoothed out the skirt to her dress. “In the flesh, although,” she laughed. “This isn’t my actual flesh – I couldn’t risk Michael bumping into me and recognizing me. And no, I haven’t fallen.”
“But I thought angels couldn’t kill people, or you’d fall?” I muttered.
“Who said anything about killing anyone?” she asked, with a twisted smile.
I shook my head. “No, Michael said that you had fallen.”
“That pompous ass doesn’t have a clue. I left that convent, yes,” she explained. “But I haven’t fallen, yet. I still have my wings.”
My head was already throbbing without trying to work this out. “But if your vessel isn’t dead, then you must be possessing her. Angels can’t do that.”
Lilah rolled her eyes at me. “That’s a load of crap. If you wanted to possess someone, you could, just like you are that body of yours. It’s probably better manners to do it your way, but this is so much more fun.”
“I don’t understand. Michael said you fell because you slept with your charge – you broke a rule.”
“I haven’t fallen,” she said carefully. “Yes, I did sleep with my charge, but that won’t make you fall. It’s just going to piss Michael off enough to throw you out.”
“Hang on,” I muttered. I needed to keep her talking long enough for my brain to formulate some form of plan to get us out of there. “I'm confused. Where does Joshua fit into all this?” I looked behind her to him, almost wishing that I hadn’t. He was leaning against the pile of rubble behind him, his hand pressed tightly to his wound as he watched us.
Lilah paced back and forth for a few minutes, the clicking of her heels was the only thing I could hear over the storm that was still raging outside.
“Joshua is a key,” she told me, eventually.
“The key to what?” I asked, slowly pulling myself into a more upright position. “Is that why I need to protect him?”
Lilah laughed. “God knows why you’re protecting him. He’s a key, not the key.”
I was definitely getting a headache, and it wasn’t from the hit to the head. “You make no sense, you know that?”
“I know,” she smiled, leaning back down to me. “But this is where the bad guys go wrong in the movies – they tell you their plan too soon, and just in case – I'm not about to make that mistake.”
The second time she pulled away from me, it sparked a memory. “You’re the one who killed me!” I exclaimed.
“For God’s sake,” she muttered, rolling her eyes. “Don’t tell me – you’re a blonde under all that red? I'm an angel, not a fallen angel. You can’t stay an angel if you kill someone, idiot.”
Under normal circumstances I would want to slap her – the blonde jokes really pissed me off – but now, I was remembering other things from the night I was murdered. Like the dagger I was stabbed with. A dagger that looked exactly like the one that had been in Joshua’s shoulder. “I remember you, and I remember that dagger,” I told her, shaking my head.
She let out an exasperated sigh. “They gave you a bow, so you have clearly been in that armory. Please tell me you have seen those swords on display in there?”
“Michael’s and Lucifer’s,” I nodded. “Michael’s had turned black from killing Lucifer.”
“So they are teaching you something,” Lilah muttered, shaking her head slightly. “Swords go black when they’re used to kill. Even I can see from here, underneath Joshua’s blood, that blade is white.”
I glanced over at the blade, which was still in its dagger form, and sure enough, under Joshua’s blood (which made me wince), it was white. “Then how..?” I trailed off, as I met Joshua’s eye.
Lilah looked over my head at the fallen angel who was standing behind me. “She doesn’t remember you,” she told him. “Maybe you should refresh her memory?”
He stepped around me, and my eyes went from his steel toe capped boots, up his black combats, to the hand that hung by his hip, holding a small, black dagger. As I stared at the metal blade, it grew in front of me. Before my brain could register what was happening, he slammed it down, into my thigh. I screamed in pain, clutching at the bloody wound.
“Why?” I sobbed, wishing I was strong enough not to be crying.
“I’ve told you,” Lilah said in exasperation. “I'm not telling you my game plan.” She began walking towards Joshua. “But it is time to get that plan under way.”
I was staring at my hands, watching the blood slowly seep through my fingers. I didn’t think it had caused enough damage to kill me, but if I was going to make a move, this was it. The fallen angel was still standing in front of me. I could see his boots just in my line of sight, my blood pooling at the end of the tip of the sword, hovering just above his right foot.
I had one option and I was going to take it. With a speed that amazed even me, I brought my fist back and punched the one place I prayed would hurt enough for me to be able to slow someone of his size. My fist went up and connected with his privates hard enough to lift him from the ground. His hand released the sword to grab his injured parts and I lunged for the sword, grabbing it and swinging it with all my might. He hit the floor before he knew what I was doing.
A fraction of a second later, I was flying backwards through the air, only to land on a collapsing steel beam, sending part of the wall crashing down around me.
All I was aware of was pain. Every inch of me hurt, and it was a good job I didn’t need to breathe, because the wind had been knocked right from me. It was like someone had hit a mute button, then as the air started to return to my lungs, so too did the sound to my ears. The thunder, the rain, the howling wind, a cackling laughter, and someone shouting my name.
That someone was Joshua. He was only a few feet from me, trying to drag himself over to my side as he clutched at his shoulder. The laughter stopped and a heel came between me and my view of Joshua, kicking him back away from me. “You want to be paying more attention to yourself then to her,” Lilah told his crumpled form. “I'm about to kill you,” she stated simply.
I watched, unable to muster any strength to move as she bent over and, with her eyes on me, wrapped her hands around his neck. He was struggling to pry them away – he would have been struggling, even if she didn’t have supernatural strength.
“The plan was about to unravel when you sent that old coot away,” Lilah told him. “I wasn’t sure how to get you out of that precinct, but I was right when I guessed you would believe the cop if he told you she had returned to her home. But then again, even if he wasn’t one of the Fallen, he can be quite persuasive – he’d have sent you out if he had to. And then I set that tree falling too late and I thought again I had failed and killed you in a car wreck. You were unconscious way too long. But now … now I get to squeeze the life right out of you.”
There was a cop working with the Fallen? He was one
of the Fallen? I could feel the tears trickle down my face. I had failed in my duty to protect Joshua and I had failed to recognize a fallen angel for what he was. To add insult to injury was the fact that I had stupidly allowed myself to fall for Joshua, so she might as well have been squeezing the life from me.
I swallowed away a lump in my throat, tearing my eyes away from Joshua’s dimming stare, and up to the ceiling. “Help me,” I begged. “Please, God, help me.”
I didn’t expect an answer, and I didn’t get one. My eyes dropped to the ground in front of me, falling on the dagger, still gleaming from Joshua’s blood, just behind Lilah. I raised my hand, merely inches from the ground, and held it out towards blade, willing it to come to me.
The dagger wobbled.
Refusing to believe I was hallucinating, I glanced over at Lilah. I could see her staring into Joshua’s wonderful blue eyes, grinning sadistically as he clawed at her hand. With a frown, I focused my attention back on the dagger. Come to me.
It flew across the room and landed in my hands. Ignoring the fact every inch of my body was screaming in pain at my movement, I forced myself to my feet and launched myself across the short distance.
Before I knew what I had done, I was looking down at Lilah. She was on her knees. The dagger had at some point turned into a sword and was protruding from the centre of her chest, a red patch slowly growing out around it.
I looked up, meeting her green eyes, only to find she was smiling at me. “Thank you,” she told me, her voice quiet.
I let go of the sword, stumbling back away from her in horror as what I had done began to register with me. “Thank you?” I repeated, more in shock than trying to work out what she was doing.
“This was the plan all along,” she told me. “I would never have killed Joshua. I couldn’t for this to work.”
