by Richard Hein
“What are we going to do?” the kid asked.
My gaze flicked across the archives, looking for anything to help us. Beautiful bookcases of stained wood, ancient tomes nestled within. Rows of tables receding into the distance, large enough to seat a dozen around them and heavy enough to have stopped a car at speed. The twisting archways that held up the impossible roof above, lined with gold leaf that glowed in the unwavering electric light. All of it untouched by the battle. How long had Sanctuary stood? I wasn’t even sure. The OFC itself was ancient, and its accumulated knowledge pressed in around me. I’d worked the archives, same as Daniel had, same as every intern had. I hadn’t taken to it like he had, but it had been a part of my life.
A part I couldn’t just give to Michael. If Plan B worked, Sanctuary would be severed from the real world, trapping him here — right up until I destroyed Sanctuary and replaced it with a universe of my own. I’d be burning down the only home I’d ever known, even if it was a home that had thrown me out.
I turned to face Kate. She made a grab for me, though I was a hair beyond her reach. Without her glasses, it was easier to see the fear in her eyes. The resignation. If Michael had his grip deep inside her mind, she’d never be able to walk out. I could exorcise her. I hoped that would push her beyond his reach, but that would only work if I could sever the link between Sanctuary and our universe. Otherwise he’d be able to return to Earth and reassert control once more.
“Samuel?” Daniel whispered. “I don’t mean to press, but he’s coming.”
The creak of the stairs we’d descended filled my ears, the only sound I could fixate on. I could see the orange glow of his blade lighting the stained, weathered stairs.
“Go,” Kate said. Her voice trembled, thin ice about to crack and plunge her to the frigid depths below. “He won’t kill me. I’m… I’m a tool for him.”
“It’s not impossible,” I said with a shake of my head. “I don’t think he can read your mind, just control your actions, otherwise he’d have been able to do a lot worse a lot quicker with the stuff you’ve been told. We… we can figure this out.”
“You can’t die for me, Samuel. I forbid it. Just get out of here. Figure a way to stop him and get me free once you’re gone.”
I pressed my eyes closed. A dizzy rush washed over me as my heart quickened. I thought I’d lost Kate once, thought I’d failed to protect her. I spun the ring on my finger as I watched her lips press into a thin line of resignation. Plan B faded from mind. What was the point if everyone was dead and I left Kate to the likes of Michael?
“You’re not going to, are you?” she said.
I wanted to reach out, to take her hand. Likely she’d try to tear it right off. I shook my head instead. “I can’t leave you to him, Kate.”
I’d expected an argument, some protest. Instead she snorted. “Damn right.”
I turned to Daniel. “I can send you home, Daniel. The last train back to reality could be boarding.”
“You can’t be serious,” he said, pacing. “He… It killed Christina. What can you expect to do to it?”
The fingers of my right hand clenched. I could feel little runners of sweat tracing down the back of my neck and the tremble of my heart that had nothing to do with adrenaline. It was a fear like I’d only known once. Even the thought of staring down Michael was a candle next to the blazing sun of dread that was snaking through me, seizing at my limbs. “I’ve got one trick up my sleeve.”
“Russian roulette with an Archangel,” Kate said softly. My eyes went wide. She smiled. “You said the longer someone is possessed, the more they share traits.”
I looked away and nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s true.”
“You also said the thing inside Lauren was powerful. You never said how you stopped her, but I think I can guess. It was too powerful to kill by any means but Magic, wasn’t it? You’ve used magic before.”
My heart twisted at the words I couldn’t deny.
Daniel took a slow step back. “Samuel? You… You can’t.”
“Daniel’s right,” Kate said. “I’m glad you’re not leaving me here, but not like that. Swapping my life for yours isn’t something I can live with. What’s left of the OFC needs you. I…” She sighed. “I don’t even remember chunks of my life because of Michael it seems. I don’t have anyone left because of his plans for me. I’d rather not have someone die for that. For me.”
“It’s also obscene,” Daniel protested. The gun in his hands shifted in a rather uncomfortable way, the tip coming up just a fraction. “You have to be better than them.”
I was silent for a few wrenching beats of my heart, staring up at one of the windows set in the wall, filled with a friendly pink glow that led to nowhere. “I’m tired of running,” I said at last, running a hand over my face. Everything felt so tired and ragged. I pressed a hand to one of the twisted stone pillars that dotted the library, letting the coolness whisk away some of the heat pounding through me. “I messed up with Lauren and look where that got her. Something just as bad has its hooks into Kate, Daniel.”
I turned on him and took a step, pulling myself to full height. “It’s more than Kate, though. It’s Sanctuary. I’m not going to let that tool have my only real home too. Is that what you want?” I waved a hand at the books, at the well-outdated computers and the splendor of one tiny corner of Sanctuary. Daniel’s eyes tracked around in silence. “I couldn’t live with myself if I let that asshole keep this. Could you?”
Daniel’s eyes fell. He took a slow breath. “Magic, Samuel,” he said. “You know what that means.”
“Better than you,” I snapped. “You want to stop me, go ahead and try. You won’t like the result.”
The gun lowered, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
“He’ll see it coming,” Daniel said. I could hear the pain in his voice, the revulsion at what I was about to do. It went against everything he’d ever been taught. I couldn’t blame him, but I’d rather lose myself than lose Kate. Lose Sanctuary. I’d already tumbled down to the bottom of the spiral after Lauren. There wasn’t any further to go. “He sees the future.”
“Not here,” Kate said with a shake of her head. Obsidian hair flashed through the air. I reached up to push it back behind her ear with a sad smile, and caught the punch I knew was coming before stepping back. “Michael said his ability to see the future was limited to our universe. Right? I think…” She sucked in a breath. “God, I hope it’s limited to just back home. You’re sure he can’t read my mind?”
“Guess I’ll find out,” I said, shaking out my arms and wiggling my fingers. They were tingling. That wonderful cocktail of adrenaline was dulled by the clawing horror aching within me, a million little needles pricking at my skin. Every breath was labored, voluntary and forced. I was somewhere beyond fight or flight, where rational thought had melted out of my ears and dribbled onto the floor. If it hadn’t been for Kate standing there, I wasn’t sure I could do any of this. “It’s been fun. Daniel, get ready.”
“For what?” he asked, frantic.
I met his face and gave him a cold, harsh stare. “For what comes after in case something moves into my head.” His eyes widened.
Michael stepped into view, an angel of vengeance. I shared one last lingering look with Kate, trying to save the look of those eyes in my memory forever if this went poorly. Her smile was wan.
“That’s far enough,” I said. To my surprise, the Archangel paused. My heart ached with the thunderous force it beat with inside my chest. “What’s it going to take for you to give up your hold on Kate?”
“Father above, not this again,” Michael said. He strode forward, casually slinging his blade of flame across one shoulder. Golden eyes watched me as his head twisted to the side. “You mortals don’t have much of a concept of inevitability, do you?”
“Free will, stubborn, et cetera,” I said.
“Christ above, Samuel, how do you think this ends?” The Archangel rolled his smoldering eyes, and reac
hed out with one hand pressing the tips of his fingers to the surface of the table next to him. His shoulder twitched, and the thick wooden table, as heavy as some European cars, tore apart beneath his strength, legs splintering free. Ancient computers tumbled to the ground in a cacophony of cheap sheet metal and electronic squeals. I didn’t blame him, all in all. Those old things pissed me off too after working for a few companies that had refused to upgrade.
My eyes flicked up to his, trying to keep my fear in check. He could pop my limbs off like an angry child getting the wrong toy on Christmas morning. “For something that’s been around the block a few thousand times, you haven’t learned much about us.”
“Really,” Michael said, drawing out the syllable, eyebrows raising. “I knew the perfect leverage for you, Samuel. It wasn’t even all that difficult. Something beautiful, something broken, something that needed to be saved.” Its grin was all blinding white teeth. See, do you think she stuck with you these last few days because of your dashing personality? Not one bit. I freed her to do what she wanted back there. Those tiny little hands around your throat? All her.”
Something cold twisted in my stomach. My eyes found Kate’s. “I didn’t want to kill you,” she said, glancing away.
“Tell the truth,” Michael commanded. His golden eyes flared like miniature suns. Kate took a shuddering breath and I started forward. Daniel’s firm hand yanked me back by a shoulder.
“You’re… just so damn frustrating. I wanted answers to my life. You sweep in, this guy that knows things that can maybe help save my life and set things straight and you keep things from me and lie and push everyone away. It’s hard not to be a little intrigued and hate you at the same time. Maybe I wanted to punch you. Only a little, though.”
My heart sank.
“It took years to set up all the pieces,” Michael said, “but I can rid the world of this foul place. It’s going to be nice to be able to breathe freely again without your sort of rabble running around, you know. Not that I breathe, but metaphorically. I’m going to piss on the last flames of your organization and snuff out whatever calamity you all were about to be responsible for.”
“What calamity?” Kate asked. She leaned forward, straining to take a step, but it looked like a hurricane was driving her back, keeping her rooted at a steep angle. She snarled and snapped back straight. “I’ve seen… things. It’s people fighting them. Not you. You’ve broken our hands and kicked us out into the streets defenseless.”
Michael pressed a cigarette between his lips. I hadn’t seen where he’d drawn it from, it had just appeared in his fingers. He flicked his sword blade up, dragging the edge across the tip. He took a long draw as he dropped the flaming blade across his shoulder.
“Truth is, no idea,” he said, gesturing with his cigarette, a haze of smoke filling the air with his words. “If Sanctuary continued, the world would have been proper boned. That much has been seen by my boss, who doesn’t fly down from his holy throne just to tell me what the bugs on earth are doing.”
“Look, whatever you believe is going to happen—”
“Believe?” Michael spat, gliding forward with a frictionless gait. “This isn’t some guess, some act of faith. The Father knows. This is a surety, an absolute truth, a foundation of reality.” The creature looked away. “I’m not a fan of the killing, but a few dozen for a few billion? Oh hell yes it is better this way, and if you were in my boots you’d see it the same.”
“It didn’t occur to you to come talk to us instead of barging in with your damnable angel pep squad?” I shouted. “We could have done something. Figured out what the issue is and sat out on the sidelines or something. I don’t know.”
“Seriously?” the Archangel asked sardonically. “Your whole little organization is based around finding every extra-dimensional thing and bashing its construct in and sending it home. There’s no discussion, no treaty, just brutal and excessive force. A threat is a threat and is dealt with accordingly. See, you even know that, on a cellular level in that alcohol-soaked brain of yours. You said it in my car. There is only the enemy. You never should have listened to your woman’s words.”
My lips twisted. Hands clawed at me, and I found Daniel yanking at my jacket to keep me from hurling myself at the Archangel. “Did you have anything to do with Lauren? Did you whisper to her as well?”
The Archangel blew a ring of smoke. “Oh hell yeah. Every vessel in its place, Samuel.”
I flicked up a hand, palm outward. The ring on my finger flared into blue light. The air shimmered like pavement on a summer day. Michael had a moment to look surprised.
“Let there be light,” I snarled, and tapped the focus of my ring. It wasn’t a magical capacitor like the squirt gun, but a focus, a magnifying glass for my willpower. Anger and magic flooded out of me as I tore open a conduit between this universe and some distant one and slammed it through the ring, right into the heart of a star. I’d needed magic to free Lauren, and had burned it out of her with magic. Now, for the second time in my life, I juggled armed nuclear weapons, not knowing if I’d be me when I was done. The ring honed my fury and the call of my magic as I ripped open a bit of another reality. A wave of superheated plasma flashed across the air between us, consuming the Archangel and washing him from sight. His scream was lost to the rush of air that flooded into the sudden vacuum. Tables around him burst into flame and charred away in a breath. Glass exploded. Books kindled into colorful flame. Computers arrayed around us sparked before melting to slag.
Two halves of my platinum ring fell to the ground as the conduit shattered.
The archives around us burned, the roar of flames filling my ears. Michael slumped to his knees, a blackened figure hardly recognizable. He sprawled forward and collapsed to a floor warped by the intense heat I’d summoned.
I gasped and fell backward, only to be caught by Kate. Black dots swam across my vision. My limbs twitched as she laid me to the floor. At some point I’d apparently taken a dip in a lake of sweat. I tried to suck in air, but only managed a pitiful wheeze. Smoke ripped at my lungs. The books I’d wanted to save burned around us, the final insult to everything. I would have laughed, but I was positive my lungs would have collapsed to ash if I’d tried. I need to put the fire out, I thought, head cradled in Kate’s lap.
The fires winked out. All of them. I blinked.
A blackened hand slapped down on the twisted stone ground, the flesh already lightening. Golden eyes smoldered as they lifted up to fixate on me, burning with enmity. The luminescent aura exploded from his back, wings unfurling and dragging the twisted, charred form to its feet. Black fuzz swirled away from it on a nonexistent breeze, but Michael was healing fast. Golden hair cascaded down from his burned skull. White robes flourished, the char sliding off like a non-stick coating. Its fingers twitching as it watched me.
With a howl, it lunged forward.
Kate threw herself at it at the same time. Whatever damage I’d done had broken Michael’s focus on her for the moment. She jumped and tackled the burned Archangel, throwing her arms around it and carrying him back down to the floor.
“My parents?” she snarled, hands curling around his throat. “My brother? My entire life was just a setting for your stupid plan?”
She hauled back a fist and landed it straight into his nearly-invulnerable face.
The molten blade flashed into radiance in its twisted hand.
I scrambled forward, limbs still twitching, and threw myself atop the two of them. I was nearly spent, the well of my will tapped, but I tossed it down at Michael. Kate’s will was there beside me, tempest of rage and hatred, the conduit between her and Michael’s home established as I felt her try and exorcise the creature. I gasped as the enormity of his own will washed over me, a wall of jagged rocks to be broken against. It was like trying to push the ocean around with my bare hands. Yet, wounded as he was now, I found a single step of purchase, and stood against the onslaught.
I grabbed at Kate’s will and twi
sted it around mine. My hand found hers, warm and familiar now, and we both went back to Michael’s throat. We battered against that rocky shore, stronger than the sum of our parts.
Michael laughed beneath us.
The dam within me tore apart. My will, my rage, poured into the dark place my mind had visited once before at the end with Lauren. I funneled it all into the exorcism. Visions flashed into my mind, pictures of white and gold and beauty to make my heart rip. Its home. Kate shuddered beside me, a strangled cry pulling free from her lips. I was a force of nature, a hurricane of power slamming against Michael’s will, pressing him back through the conduit to his home. The laughing died as his blade vanished, and the creature hurled his mind against us in earnest.
Shock twisted through me. We were holding our own. I had no idea how, but the two of us were nearly managing to exorcise one of the Archangels. His will was immense, a golden mountain that would not break, though. Kate and I slammed against it over and over but Michael would not shift. If we failed, he’d throw us back to Earth and Daniel would be left to face him alone.
Her frustration filled my mind, like the sensation of one of my own limbs. I could feel her within my mind, a part of me as our wills entwined. There had never been a successful group exorcism, but it was still a marvel I could reach out and touch her with my consciousness. I could sense her need, her pain and anger as much as I could feel my own lingering hurt from Lauren’s death. As real as my own, and no less a part of me. My heart twisted from it, the pain so new and ancient at once.
Kate, I whispered in my mind. I felt her shiver beside me, against my consciousness.
Samuel? Kate answered. Is that you? Your mind is almost as strong as his.
Not strong enough, I thought, grinding my jaw. We’re going to lose this. If we do, he’s going to send us both back to Earth. I need you to dig in.
I’m pretty well entrenched here, she thought. I could feel her amusement. I think my brain might tear apart if I do much more here.
Remember what I said. It’s a contest of wills, but that only gets you so far unless…
