by JK Ensley
“He didn’t even have to ask me. It just happened. Like it was… ordained or something.”
“So you married him?”
“Yes, but not by custom’s law, at least not yet. Vybius said God had joined us together because it was His will. Viatrix has gone to procure my ceremonial shift as we speak. The ritual will be in a few hours. Anyway, once the manacles were exchanged, that’s when this happened.” I made a motion to encompass my new hair and skin.
“I cannot believe this. How can any one human be so naïve, so hopelessly stupid?” she yelled. “Jenevier, you ignorant little brat, I left you in the Nether and—”
“Welcome, fair Valencia. So very glad you could make it back in time for the nuptials,” Vybius said as he quietly entered the room.
The silver-haired Vanir rose cautiously at his greeting.
Valencia? Where do I know that name? Valencia? Who… Who was it? Where have I… No… Valadrog’s daughter.
“Valencia? You mean, you’re—”
“Yes, my sweet Jenevier.” Vybius smirked, keeping his gaze locked with hers. “This is Valadrog’s long lost daughter. Varick’s little sister, back from the dead.”
Chapter 22
Ahriman
(ARR-ee-mon)
Everything happened so fast, it’s as a blur.
I was still trying to assimilate this new revelation. I was thrilled with the knowledge that Vareen’s daughter was alive and here with me. I wished only to see the look upon her face when she heard the news. Then I noticed my two friends were faced off against one another. The scene wouldn’t click together in my head.
“What’s going on? I don’t understand. Why take up opposition? Are you not brother and sister as well?”
“He’s not my brother,” Valencia snapped. “Look at him, Jenevier. Can you not see him?”
“Of course I can see him. He’s as beautiful and as ethereal as you and Varick and Vareilious. He’s the Angel who saved me from the void, held my hand, bathed me.”
“What have you done, Vybius?” she hissed.
“Valencia, my dear, it is as she says. I only nurtured her, took care of her when you thoughtlessly abandoned her upon the street.”
“Jenevier, think. Did you eat or drink anything from this man’s hand?”
“Yes, I did. Now that you mention it, he made me tea when I finally woke and breakfast the next morning. Yet… why haven’t I eaten since? How is it I’ve gone days with no thought of sustenance?”
While I was pondering her question and my subsequent answer, Valencia lunged at me, slapping me across the face. The unexpected blow sent me flying. I heard the two Vanir locked in combat as I rolled upon the floor, screaming from the searing pain running the length of my cheekbone. It felt as if acid had been put to my flesh. I heard a door slam. Giant hands pulled me to my feet.
“Get up, you fool. I cannot hold him for long. He’ll be back soon, with reinforcements. You must change now. I’ll need your help if we’re to get out of this with our lives and heads intact.”
I jerked free from Valencia and shoved her. “What’s wrong with you? You… you crazy Angel! Why did you strike me? And why did you attack one of the only beings who yet loves me, the only man who helped me?”
“Look around you, stupid girl,” she spat. “What do you see now?”
I followed her waving hand, gasping when I saw my lovely room had vanished. In its place was a filthy cave full of muck and mire and stench.
“I-I don’t understand,” I mumbled.
“This is reality. This is what you saw when you fainted, when your mind went into the void. And the void is where you should’ve stayed. We could’ve found you there. I delivered you to the Nether, Jenevier. I had to make ready your arrival—confirm which realm I was to deliver you. You alone walked from that peaceful place, freely strolled right through the very gates of hell. Did you hear me? You’re in hell. These people are the fallen ones, dark Angels. Vybius’s real name is Ahriman, Angel of darkness, death, and destruction. His voice pulled you from the void and his drink made your eyes continue to see what they wanted to see. He wasn’t reading your soul, little girl, he was eating it. They all were. I don’t know who else you’ve met, but your loving husband, I believe, is Apollyon.” She huffed out a sardonic chuckle. “Varick’s gonna love that,” she mumbled. “Apollyon is Angel Prince of the other regions, Minister of Death, Wreaker of Havoc, and Guardian of the bottomless pits of hell. And that, little Princess, is who you are to wed. His is the manacle you now wear in place of my brother’s.”
My breath gushed out at her words. I knew they were true, my new room proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt. I looked at my still marked finger, tears blurred my vision, rage pulsed through my veins.
“Least you stuck with royalty,” she sneered. “You’ve got a thing for Princes, huh?”
I glared at her. I think I hate her. My vision blurred, consciousness threatened to leave me. I may be standing in the middle of hell, but I had only just found my heaven… and it was all a lie. A strange numbness started at the tips of my fingers, spread up my arms, covering the whole of me.
“We cannot kill them. Not here. They are Angels and we are but Vanir. I’ve sent Vareen as strong an image as my abilities would allow. The best we can hope for now is to stay alive until we find a way to escape. I’m almost certain the portal is blocked by now—”
“How could you just leave me here?” I interrupted.
“What? What did you just say?” She turned on me, eyes flaming. “How dare you blame your ignorance on me? You’re so caught up in yourself and your little make-believe fairytale world, you refuse to see anything else. This fiasco, little lady, is your own doing. You never pay attention to what’s going on around you and you never have. That’s how you always seem to find yourself in trouble. You stroll along with blinders on, only to look up one day and realize you’re knee-deep in a pit of vipers. And anyone fool enough to follow you around, well, they get hurt as well. Your ignorance has wrought more pain than just your own.”
She was right. I knew she was right. I skipped into hell the exact same way I skipped through life, oblivious to everything truly important. I have only ever seen the beauty and the goodness, ignoring the bad and the ugly. I was in a world of my own making. I chose to see exactly what I wanted. Now… I would die for my naïve stupidity and take Vareen’s lovely daughter with me in the process.
“Nooo!” I screamed.
The change ripped through me as painful as the realization of what I had done. My chest heaved and Vashti’s fluid-filled muscles rippled with the watery smoke that was my angelic mask.
“Are you ready, then?” Valencia asked.
“I’ve never been more ready.” Venom dripped from my perfect lips.
“Control yourself, Angel. This isn’t about vengeance. Remember what my brother and Vareilious taught you. We’re to make our way to the portal, nothing more. We will have to fight our way through, but you will not hunt anyone down. Got it? The main objective is to get out alive. It won’t be easy. They’re much stronger since they’ve fed off your pure soul… none more so than Ahriman and Apollyon. They have your scent now. And if what you’ve told me is true, you and Apollyon share much more than that.”
She was right. I could feel him calling out to me, screaming my name throughout all hell and beyond. And all I truly wanted to do… was answer him.
“The portal is just past where you thought the temple was. If we get separated, head there and nowhere else. Got it?” She grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to focus on her ethereal blue eyes. “Jenevier, if I lose you, I will not waste time looking for you. Understand me? Just go to the portal.”
“I understand, Valencia. I’ll make it to the portal.” My voice sounded flat, minus all emotion, dead in my throat. “You just take care of yourself.”
She jerked the door open… and we stepped out into the pitch black darkness of hell.
Chapter 23
Apollyon
Gone were the jewel-encrusted streets. Gone was the vibrant sunlight. The only things left in this place were filth and screams.
I flexed my shoulders, letting my lethal wings spread out beside me.
“Let’s do this,” she whispered.
We headed toward the temple unabated. Valencia moved with the stealth of a lioness—darting from boulder to wall, always advancing. I felt their presence tingling within the tips of my razor-sharp wings before I actually saw their eyeless black pits—smelled their rot and decay.
We fought and slashed and annihilated demon after demon. All that crossed our bloody path fell before us. But these weren’t the Angels we feared. They were yet to come.
A volcanic mountain loomed before us. Valencia motioned for me to follow her around it, then darted further into the darkness. I looked to the peak of that rumbling fire pit and briefly tried to picture it as the ethereal temple I’d imagined it to be only hours ago.
If it was all in my imagination… how did I walk into a volcano and reemerge, unscathed?
“Ahh, but you weren’t unscathed, my love. You were utterly destroyed.”
I turned to find Apollyon gracefully leaning against a huge stone—smiling at me with the face of my beloved Vindicus.
“How is it I see you as mine Angel still?”
“Because, my love, I am your Angel. I will always be your Angel. The beauty of my world may’ve been an illusion, but my love was real, is real. It remains as eternal and undying as the Angel whose heart it resides within.” He touched a spot on his flawless chest for emphasis. “Only you, my sensuous wife, have changed physically. And I must say. I’m just as pleased and aroused with this enticing angelic body as I am with your lovely human form.” He ran his tongue across those lethal teeth. “Promise me one day when all this is behind us, you’ll come to me as Vashti. Promise me you’ll love me always, no matter your form. Throughout the ages, Princess Anicee, never have I been so desirous of a woman. You stir me, Jenevier. You are mine and I can never let you part from my side. Your absence will destroy me, leave me shattered. You know I speak the truth. You feel as I do. We are a new creature now, a new being. Only together are we whole. How can you possibly leave me? How can one survive without the other? I won’t let you go.”
He lunged for me. I slashed him with a blow that would’ve left any man, Guardian, or demon lying upon the ground, rent in twain. The only thing to spill forth from this majestic creature was amused laughter.
I half sprinted, half flew around the burning mountain and ran headlong into the soul-eater.
“You have the nerve to appear before me as Vybius?” I yelled.
This time I didn’t hesitate. I tore at his flashing eyes, ripped at him with my deadly wings. Ahriman tried in vain to seize me. He failed but he did not retreat.
I could see the light from the portal, but between me and it laid a vast army of the Underworld. The Prince among them was to my back, and within my grasp was their beautiful soul-eating warrior. This was what I was trained for, what Vashti was made for… fighting evil. Albeit perhaps not immortal evil, but evil nonetheless. I didn’t slow in my assault, gaining inch by precious inch.
Valencia was nowhere to be seen. I could only hope she’d managed to escape while I was stupidly listening to the lying tongue of my recently betrothed.
Vybius seized my wrists and pulled me against him. “You cannot kill me, foolish child. And there’s no way for you to escape. Give up this futile battle. Take your place by our Prince’s side. Or come to my bed, where you truly belong. Either way, you will be worshipped as a goddess.”
“Close your vile mouth, dog. I hate you above all creatures, living or dead,” I hissed. “You… You fed from me! You dined upon my soul while you nursed me with sweet words and tender caresses. How could you do that to me, Vybius?” I restrained my burning tears. “I will kill you. If not this day, then one day soon. I swear it.”
I slashed a wing across Ahriman’s beautiful face and shot up into the blackened sky. Now that I could see the open portal, I had but to think it and instantly I was standing before it. As I took my last step toward freedom, a giant hand grabbed my tinkling crimson locks, pulling me back into the darkness, firmly holding me there.
“You cannot leave me, my love. This is our wedding day.”
I could almost reach out and touch the enchanting forest of Vanahirdem. I was so close.
Demons and Angels alike backed away. My immortal lover held me fast, kissed the top of my head, tightening his trembling embrace.
“I thought you loved me,” he whispered sorrowfully.
I was terrified beyond sanity, completely absent words. Yes, I loved this man. Of course I did. My heart didn’t change with my vision. It couldn’t. My re-creation was not undone by the truth of my surroundings.
“You love me still. I feel it within you. I feel it within me. I know you, tiny Angel. We are one. Do you now deny your heart?”
“No, Vindicus. I do not deny my heart, cannot deny it.”
“Then why do you fight me? Why do you choose now to leave me?”
“You lied to me!” I could no longer hold in those burning tears, they cracked my voice. “Everything, it was all a lie. Your deceit, your betrayal… it far outweighs the pain Varick left upon my shattered heart. I never knew true pain, Vindicus, not until you, not until your poisonous love ruled me.” I stopped fighting, stopped resisting. I just went limp within his mighty arms. “Everything was a vicious lie,” I whispered in despair.
“No, my love, not everything. I beg your forgiveness for what deceit I played a role in, but I did not lie to you. Think back. Remember every single word I said. From the moment you entered my gate until this moment with you locked in my arms. I did not lie.” Apollyon turned me so I was looking directly upon his flawless face, into those beautiful sapphire eyes. “Look at me, my love, and know I speak the truth. This is who I am. I’m the same as when you first looked upon me and could only stutter.” He smiled, not only with his mouth but with his eyes as well. He melted me.
“Are you Angel or devil?” I whispered.
“I am both. It depends on what I need to be. You don’t need the devil in me, Anicee. I am now, and will always be, only your Angel.”
“But… I do not wish to live in hell.”
“Has anyone harmed you? No, my love, they have not. I would cast them into the pit and forever from your sight if they dared try. Hell is your state of mind. Only your eyes have changed. If you wish it, this place will forever be Vandermil to you. You need only say the word.”
I pushed against his sculpted chest with what little strength and will I had left.
“Don’t fight against me, tiny Angel. I will not force my Anicee to stay by my side. I feel the heartbreaking conflict waging within you. You love me truly. You are terrified to stay and you’re just as terrified to leave. Jenevier, I am the Prince of this realm. Call me Apollyon or Vindicus, it matters not to my heart. I am yours, eternally… I am yours. I cannot undo what you have caused within me and I would kill anyone who tried. It’s an exquisitely painful gift—love. I will always thank you for the blessing of it, and the curse of it as well.”
Instantly, the light was turned back on. I saw Vandermil in all its glory once more.
“See what you wish to see. Think what you need to think. You are my wife, my Princess, my Anicee. Your place is at my side. If you choose to stay with me, we will rule this realm together. No harm will ever come to you. I am Apollyon, your loving husband. No Angel or demon can stand against me. You will always be safe. You will always be happy. And I will shower you with more love than any mortal could even possess. Do you owe them such allegiance?”
“I owe allegiance to no man, save the one of my choosing.”
I pressed, halfheartedly, against the Angel I truly loved and turned back to see the portal and the dense forest beyond.
“Look into my eyes, Jenevier. Listen closely to my heart.
I am an awesome Angel and I am immortal. We are joined in every way, throughout all time and eternity. I can never hate you and I will never force you with any matter. If your heart still beats for Vanahirdem, I am patient and unwavering. I will not make you choose. I will wait for you, my only Princess.”
With his promise of eternal love still floating on the air, Vindicus released his hold upon me. The force with which I was pressing him sent me unexpectedly flying backwards through the open portal into the forest of that holy city. I landed on my backside and immediately changed back to Jenevier. Scrambling to my knees, I frantically crawled toward the fading doorway where my loving husband yet remained, just on the other side.
Noooo… Vindicus… don’t leave me. I cannot breathe when you’re gone. Why? Why did you release me? My heart was screaming in my head, a special lexis for my husband alone. He heard every tortured word. I choose you, Vindicus. Of course I choose you. How could I not? Never remove your arms from me. Never let me go, ever again.
Only my hand made it through the portal back to hell before massive arms caught me around my waist, pulling me back from the darkness I so desperately sought. But my lover, my treasured husband, had already seized my proffered hand within his realm. I could feel his heart crumbling, feel it mirrored in my own chest as I was slowly pulled away.
I screamed out in pain. Pain enough to be nauseous. My arm was being torn from my body as my soul shattered within. And then Apollyon, my loving Vindicus, released me before I could be rent in twain. The force with which my current savior was pulling me, now unhindered, sent us both tumbling through the vast forest of Vanahirdem.
“I have you now, my love. I finally have you back and I’m never letting you go again.” Varick wept openly, bitterly, joyously.
The whole of his immense weight had me pinned to the ground as he covered my face with soft kisses.
“Okay… Okay… That’s enough.” I half growled. “I’m fine now. You can let me up.”
“Apologies, Jenevier. I just never thought I’d see you again. When I learned you had to fight your way through the Underworld, I feared you would be lost forever.”
