Chloe's Guardian

by Cheri Gillard

  They only had seconds—if that—before Satarel located them. Horatius didn’t have time to wait for backup. “We have to go. Satarel broke through.”

  Chloe mewled. Kaitlyn hopped back on Horatius’ shoulders. He put his arms out for Chloe.

  “Come. We must go.”

  She stepped closer just as a purple glow lighted the features of the white stone effigy in front of them. Horatius snatched her into his arms and took off. It was so fast, he barely noticed the tomb in which they were hiding belonged to his old friend Mary, Queen of Scots.

  CHAPTER 22

  With the battle overhead all but lost, Horatius couldn’t leave the way they’d come in via the cathedral ceiling. Instead, he skipped straight past the stone wall behind them, turning east over the Thames to take refuge in Saint Paul’s. But a fierce battle was clashing there as well. Ramiel and Turel—Fallen who’d taken human wives like Satarel—were annihilating the sentries of Saint Paul’s.

  Horatius again used a slingshot maneuver, going wide and low around Saint Paul’s to double back towards Saint Margaret’s Church. He cursed several profane words. Fallen were pounding its sentries, too.

  St. Martin-in-the-Fields was no different. Horatius sprinted through the city, frantically looking for a safe haven in which to gain Sanctuary. Not a single church, mosque, or synagogue was without conflict raging in the heavens over it.

  He ducked into the suburbs for a quick look and couldn’t help it when several more expletives exploded from his mouth. There was no approachable Sanctuary. All hell was breaking loose over London.

  Giving the girls what he hoped was a reassuring squeeze, he swung around a small Episcopal church. A pair of Pure defended hard against a pair of Fallen. He gave it a wide berth—and flew headlong into the path of Satarel and four of his demons. The delta formation, with Satarel in the van, came right at them.

  Using all his might to both strengthen the protective field around the girls and to catapult them out of the sector, Horatius shot straight up, rattling the roofs below with an supersonic boom.

  It was a maneuver Satarel could easily duplicate. He and his four companions rocketed up right after them, making Horatius’ sonic boom sound like a popping cork.

  They zoomed past Horatius and spun around to face him. Two held back and took up positions behind them.

  “This can’t be good,” Kaitlyn said in Horatius’ ear.

  Horatius had no time to answer. He focused all of his attention on the five demons surrounding them. The trio slowly moved in space, the enemy moving with them and keeping an equal distance from them, while Horatius struggled to develop a strategy.

  “Give those girls to Asbeel. My interest is in you,” Satarel boomed. “Surrender your power to me and Asbeel will see them safely to the ground.” Asbeel had a hungry expression that told Horatius he still had a taste for human women.

  Horatius could feel Chloe tremble against him.

  “Don’t you go and compromise anything now,” Kaitlyn whispered in his ear. “Don’t worry about us.”

  “Shut. Up. Kaitlyn,” Chloe said. “Oh, God! I don’t want to die like this.”

  Horatius pulled her in closer hoping to help her feel safer. “Let us go now,” he yelled, “and Michael might be more lenient on you.” He tried to make his bravado sound like a true threat.

  Satarel laughed so hard his purple aura pulsated. “You think you are of greater value to the Celestials than you really are. You could have been much. I would have made you great. But you are not. So do not waste my patience. Give Asbeel the girls.” His laughter stopped and his face petrified into steel with hatred.

  Don’t think for one moment you can get away. Satarel was in Horatius’ thoughts. Do not resist me anymore and I will make sure Asbeel shows a little more mercy than he is inclined to do.

  I have to do something. Now!

  Just as quickly as he let the thought form, the five around him moved. Two shifted to positions directly above and below him. The other three moved into a triangle around him.

  Satarel laughed again. “Beat you,” he said in a teasing voice. “We have all the time in the universe to play. But I might tire of it. And then, I will get mean. And I am not nice when I am mean.”

  Horatius bolted straight back between the two demons forming the triangle with Satarel. He didn’t think about it. He just did it. He used every fiber of his being to add power to the thrust. He even took some of the power from the protective field for more of a boost.

  The girls passed out with the G-force. He turned during the explosive plunge backwards and followed with random, spontaneous reversals, moving through the heavens to nowhere specific but away.

  He dropped altitude and zipped over the rooftops of Cairo, Egypt. He needed to land in a populated area. They skimmed past the tops of a date palm grove. In the distance three Fallen retreated from a battle over a mosque and disappeared into the clouds. Is Satarel calling in everyone to assist him?

  As soon as he thought it, Satarel’s voice came into his head. Fool! You are mine!

  Satarel was right. He was a fool. He had to get out of there.

  He couldn’t outmaneuver them and he knew it. Not without doing something out of the ordinary and unprecedented.

  Before any Fallen could reach his location, he had to be gone.

  He left the Chronos Band, rematerialized in the Corridor, and plunged back into time without a thought. He couldn’t even know himself where they were going.

  The stars shone and twinkled brightly in the silent night sky. Beneath them a dense forest flitted by in a shadowed blur. Horatius didn’t know where they were and didn’t want to know.

  Both Chloe and Kaitlyn started to rouse.

  “What happened?” Chloe said in a drunken voice.

  “Did we make it?” Kaitlyn asked.

  “We aren’t out of danger yet,” Horatius said. He headed northwest without thinking about it. It just seemed the right way to go.

  Chloe squirmed as she became more alert. “We have to go back. Now. We can’t leave my house burning with my family in there.”

  Horatius didn’t know what to do about the fire. The longer they were away the more difficult it would be to intervene. But he couldn’t jeopardize the girls’ safety more. He needed to get them to a safe place, and then he could go do something about the fire.

  “I’ll take you somewhere safe.”

  “Take us home. Benji and Michelle and Nana and Mom aren’t safe. We have to go.”

  They were over a body of water now and Horatius could see a glow on the dark horizon that meant civilization. At least when he skipped through the Chronos Band he’d stayed in a time lit by electricity.

  “Just a little bit farther,” Horatius said. The island of light was growing bigger in the distance.

  Kaitlyn said softly, “This is incredibly beautiful.”

  “How can you even think of that?” Chloe said.

  Two bright lights appeared in the sky between them and the city’s glow. Horatius pulled up short and stopped. The two lights soared up to them—Jabamiah and Haziel, a Guardian he didn’t know very well.

  “We thought you were going to protect the Dixon girl,” Jabamiah said. “Not destroy her.”

  “My house is on fire. Make him take me back. I need your help.” She almost leapt out of Horatius’ grasp.

  “We heard your cry for help, Child.”

  “What you have done with Kaitlyn is unacceptable,” Haziel said to Horatius. “How am I supposed to keep my ward safe with you taking her where she does not belong?”

  “I am sorry, but—”

  “Silence! There is no time. Your father is moments away. We cannot address your transgressions now. We are to escort you back. They is angry.”

  In one short episode, Horatius had probably undone all his effort to gain redemption. He flew forward and took up a position between the two Guardians that towered above him.

  “Prepare the humans for trave—”

 
; A demonic howl swept over them.

  A legion of Fallen appeared in the sky. Their purple glow illuminated the sea slapping below them, turning it into a dark bruise. It tinted the Pure violet.

  “I meant it when I said you are mine,” Satarel said. “I will give you ten breaths of the blond to give up the humans, or I will see to it all of you cease to exist.”

  Kaitlyn sucked in a deep breath and held it.

  “They is not going to be pleased,” Jabamiah said.

  Satarel laughed. “I do not answer to They. Free choice, remember? And I freely choose to annihilate you. Time’s up. She just breathed for the tenth time.”

  “I did not.”

  Chloe turned toward Horatius and squeezed her arms around his neck. Kaitlyn reached down over his shoulder and laid her hand on Chloe’s head.

  “Goodbye, Cello,” she said. “I tried not to breathe.”

  Chloe grabbed Kaitlyn’s hand tightly in her own and started to whimper.

  CHAPTER 23

  If Chloe was going to die, at least she’d be with Kaitlyn when it happened.

  The two giant angels moved together to form a barrier between them and the dark glowing army. Their huge white wings met in the middle and blocked her view. But she could still see the radiance of their fiery swords, which outlined their silhouettes through their wings in blinding white light. The swords roared like coal furnaces as they moved defensively in front of them.

  Horace’s face was so way beyond intense, she had never seen him so dangerous. He tightened his embrace and moved his thumb ever-so-slightly to caress her arm as though trying to comfort her.

  She wanted to be brave, but how could a girl be brave when facing an army of demons? Very nasty demons. Very nasty ferocious demons. Very nasty ferocious demons who were starting some kind of chant and moan and wail that reignited the terror so badly, Chloe feared the sound could kill her.

  Horace moved backwards, floating away from the two angels in front of them. When the first ball of flame pierced the big angel on the right, the fire burst through his back with an explosion of sparks and tongues of fire. It sputtered out just before reaching them.

  The mass of purple demons closed in around them from the sides, encircling them so even though Horace had backed away, no way were they escaping. They were surrounded.

  Horace pulled Kaitlyn off his back and wrapped her in his embrace with Chloe. He seemed to be making himself as big as possible, folding his body and wings around the two of them to protect them as best he could.

  The demons were toying with them, taking their time, enjoying their pleasure in seeing them destroyed. The angel who had taken the ball through its center was smaller than before. The other took several flaming arrows into his torso. With each one he shrieked and grew more translucent.

  “It’s okay,” Horace said. “Be not afraid.” At his words, something flowed into Chloe’s blood like a sedative. Peace coated her cells. The horrid, taunting sounds of the demons didn’t seem so gruesome somehow.

  “Everything will be okay,” Kaitlyn said as she stroked Chloe’s hair.

  Horace suddenly jerked sideways with a hit from a fireball, taking the girls with him and loosening his grasp on them a fraction. He shuddered against them, but he didn’t cry out.

  Horace’s father yelled, “Whether you choose to transfigure now or I drive you back to your earthly form myself, you will transfigure. And then I will have your head.”

  Chloe peeked out just as the last evidence of the two angels flickered like a dying florescent bulb. Vapors of them were still trying to valiantly deflect the oncoming missiles. They were nearly gone. Chloe couldn’t understand why the demons all stood back and watched instead of just getting it over with.

  The Fallen are hesitant to outright defy They.

  She thought Can you hear me?

  “I did not mean to intrude. Wanted to make certain…you were comforted.” Horace's words were coated with pain. “Please. Forgive me.”

  “Of course,” Kaitlyn said. “If there is anything to even forgive.”

  “I guess I’ll see my family soon,” Chloe said just as another ball of flame came tearing at them. She closed her eyes.

  Horace jerked with the impact, sending them tumbling through the air. His grip on them slipped. She grabbed onto Horace and Kaitlyn and tried not to scream. Kaitlyn wrapped one arm around Chloe and the other around Horace. She was whispering something Chloe couldn’t make out.

  “Horace, stay with me,” Chloe said into his ear.

  He kept them just over the surface of the water, but his eyes were closed and his face was rigid with concentration.

  The waves reached up and splashed them they were so close to the water’s surface. The skin of Horace’s arm was no longer bright with light.

  “Saint Michael, guardian of the souls of men, conqueror of the rebel angels, be with us in our last moments.” It was hardly audible, but Chloe could hear Kaitlyn now. The words couldn’t compete with the terror, but maybe, somehow, she wasn’t as afraid when she heard Kaitlyn’s courage.

  “I used to hear my aunt pray,” Kaitlyn whispered. The water crested over their toes. “It’s so cold.”

  A flaming arrow shot through Horace. He convulsed. They dropped and the water rose up their legs. As they went into the sea, what was left of Horace’s golden radiance glowed only a moment and sputtered out. He was nearly unconscious. He went face down into the water. Chloe and Kaitlyn struggled together to get him turned over, dogpaddling in place, panting and crying.

  “Horace!” Chloe cried.

  “Do not trouble yourself, petty little humans. I have been waiting for centuries for this moment. It matters not if he is drowning when I behead him.” Satarel glowed a deeper, darker illumination, then swept down away from the rest of the army and floated over the three of them bobbing in the water. “Your end will not be so swift. Ponder that while I have my pleasure.”

  Satarel reached inside of Horace’s chest, passing his vaporous hand through him. Satarel held his heart a moment, then Horace, who’d opened his eyes wide for only that second, twitched and went limp. Satarel yelled in some frightening language then snatched out his hand. The flaming sword in his other hand flickered and became a sword made of shining steel.

  As he raised the blade over Horace, a growl in the demon’s throat grew into a howl.

  “No!” Chloe screamed.

  Kaitlyn prayed, “Saint Michael, defend us in the day of battle!”

  Sudden terror filled the demon’s eyes. Just before the blade touched Horace’s neck, a massive angel of light shot past, taking away Satarel with a direct hit punctuated by sparks and a sonic boom.

  Chloe screamed and grabbed Horace to her, pulling his dripping head up onto her shoulder as she continued to struggle to stay afloat herself.

  A cacophony of noise exploded around them.

  “Look,” Kaitlyn said peering into the sky.

  A multitude of brilliant white stars floated like a net in the sky above them. Each light was the vertex of a triangle, and the side of each triangle was part of another triangle beside it.

  The stars took on more distinct forms and faces, arms, and wings solidified. Fiery swords, arrows, maces, and lances manifested in their hands. In front of the entire formation was a group of a dozen angels with a main leader. The one in front was the most wondrous thing Chloe had ever seen in her life. He was beautiful and terrifying, magnificent and overwhelming. She couldn’t take her eyes off him.

  “Unfathomable,” Kaitlyn said. “You're Saint Michael, the archangel, aren't you? I called for you.”

  The majestic being smiled at Kaitlyn, then spoke with a voice that vibrated the ocean.

  “The prayers of the meek are powerful, Satarel. More powerful than you.”

  Satarel was smaller than before and less radiant, but he took his place at the head of his army, now dwarfed by the new host of celestial beings.

  Satarel spat unknown words at the white angel, but they
were clearly something ancient and undeniably profane.

  “Disperse your army,” the huge white angel said. “They will not tolerate any more defiance without great consequence. This is your one chance to retreat. Or we will wipe you from this sector for a hundred years.”

  A unison battle cry went up from the brilliant host.

  The ranks among the demons became restless, their agitation visible and palpable.

  All at once, a shout went up from the back of the demonic formation. Something began to swell, rippling forward like a tidal wave. The legion separated, dividing to form an aisle. Each demon turned toward the new passageway.

  A powerful blast ruptured the newly cleared center. A being almost as magnificent as the leader of the Pure appeared in their midst. All the dark ones dropped their heads in obeisance to the creature.

  The being’s purple throbbed so dark the hue was black except at the very edges of his radiance. His long massive sword had the hilt in the center with flaming forked blades on both ends.

  Chloe had to turn away, her breath caught in her throat. The creature twisted her insides with panic and torment. Horror repelled her gaze, while at the same time something lured her to turn back toward him.

  “Michael,” he boomed across the sky to where the white giant angel hovered.

  “You have come at Satarel’s bidding, Lucifer? Who rules as prince of your principalities now?”

  “I come to protect what is mine.”

  Chloe couldn’t help but watch.

  “Don’t look at the purple ones,” Kaitlyn said. “They are evil.”

  Michael thundered an ancient phrase and the angels behind him repeated the cry. Then all at once the army of angels charged at the demons. Flaming missiles shot through the air. The water glowed below with brilliant reflections. The angels collided against the demons. Weapon crashed upon weapon, holy against evil, Pure against Fallen. They clashed swords, launched fire balls, and pummeled one another with flaming maces. All the collisions created lightening that cut the sky into pieces. Explosions erupted and mushroom clouds blew beings across the sector. Static cracked the air, thunder shook the atmosphere. Fire and smoke spewed as blistering weapons collided with other weapons or with Celestial bodies. The forces unleashed split the heavens and filled the space with blazing particles.