Soul Corrupted

by Lisa Gail Green

  “Where the Hell else would I be?” I snap. “I have to figure out a way to save Noah. At least over here I have tools at my disposal.”

  I focus on the screen I’ve called up before me as he sits near me, but not too close. At least he’s using good judgment for once. “Show me Noah,” I say, and the screen obliges by zooming in on my house. It’s a lot better location than my imagination would’ve picked.

  He’s in my old room. But why? My chest squeezes, forming a lump in my throat. “See? He does miss me,” I say.

  “I never doubted it,” Josh answers, reaching for my hand, but retracting it when I ball mine into a fist.

  “Can we get sound on this thing?” I ask.

  Noah’s voice surrounds us. “I knew you’d be in Heaven, Grace, but an Angel? Shit. I shouldn’t be surprised. Everyone you ever met thinks you walk on water. Now you probably do.”

  I stare at my baby brother, willing him to say it. Say how much he loves and misses me. And then I’ll know that him killing someone and becoming the Antichrist is just a stupid story cooked up by that she-devil, Keira. I believed her when she said she had feelings for Noah, but maybe she was trying to hurt me. Maybe I’m still just the same, old, naïve Grace. I’m okay with being naïve if it means she was lying. I reach for the shell still on the chain around my neck and rub it between my fingers.

  Noah rummages through my drawers, scanning and tossing clothes and papers onto the floor until the room looks more like his. “There’s got to be something here, something to prove you were human. That you made fucking mistakes like the rest of us.”

  I try to swallow down the lump in my throat, but it’s lodged tight.

  “It doesn’t matter.” Noah straightens and brushes the wild hair from his face. “I’m going to come out on top this time. They might all be here because of you, Grace, but I’m going to make it about me for once. Hear me? I’m something special now. I always was, but you just didn’t notice. Keira!”

  I sit up straight when he shouts her name like he’s summoning a—well, a Demon. But she doesn’t appear. Instead, a black rose pops onto my old desk with a yellowed scroll attached. Noah unwraps it, furrowing his brow, and reads.

  “Show me,” I whisper, willing the screen to zoom in, and it does.

  Dear Noah,

  I’ve been forbidden from visiting you for awhile.

  I want you to know I didn’t leave because I wanted to. I’ve searched for love my entire life…and my entire afterlife. I even told myself there was no such thing when it eluded me for so long. That love was a myth made up by the desperate. But inside I never really believed it. It just hurt too much thinking I didn’t deserve it. Now I know I was just looking for you. You were worth the wait.

  You treat me like I’m worthy of love and attention. I don’t know if I am, but it feels nice for a change. At first, when you kept reminding me that I’m a Demon, I was angry. Then I realized that in your mind, being a Demon doesn’t change the person you are inside.

  Now that I’ve found you, I don’t see how I can possibly give you up—even for a short while. It may very well mean my demise if I give in and come to you now, but I don’t know if I can behave. I’ve never been very good at it.

  I think I’d rather die in your arms than live another three centuries in Hell without you, so I doubt I’ll be able to resist if you call for me again.

  Love,

  Keira

  I can’t read Noah’s face. He sits staring at the paper, trembling slightly, but I can’t tell if it’s with rage, love, or fatigue. Then he crumples it and tosses it into the mess on the ground.

  “So,” he sits on my bed, knocking off the pillows and stuffed animals, “you waved your Angel wand and now I can’t have what I want. Is that it, Grace? You found a way to take away my connection to Keira. I bet you feel like the hero who saved me, don’t you?” He laughs, and I cringe at the lack of humor in it.

  Josh reaches over and his hand tightens around my fist, feeding me strength.

  “Well fuck you very much, Grace. Now I know what’s out there, so I’m going to get what I want no matter what you do. Hear that? I’m going to harness the power of Hell. Shit, I’ll take over Lucifer’s throne if I have to. I will have everything in spite of you.”

  “Off,” Josh orders the screen. He turns toward me, kneeling by my side, but the room is spinning and I don’t know if it will ever right itself again. “Grace?” he asks, gently.

  I jump to my feet, the shell and chain falling to the carpet, my hand ripped from his grasp. He still has a lot of explaining to do before I can think about trusting him again, but while I can blame Josh for many things, I can’t blame him for this.

  It’s crystal clear that Mr. Griffith was right. This is all my fault.

  Chapter 33

  Keira

  If I stay by Lucifer’s side, he can’t accuse me of working against him, so that’s where I am. I may have done things Lucifer would end me for, but I’m going to do my best to prevent him finding out.

  Besides, watching the Boss torture Irma Alvarez is an event I’d rather not miss.

  “So, you were wrong,” Lucifer says with a dangerous grin. He’s just supplied the woman with an iced tea. She’s sweating all over his sofa. “We have the Antichrist and it isn’t Lucy.”

  “Not true,” she squeaks, taking the glass. “It was that loathsome boy who interfered,” Alvarez continues groveling. “He slowed the process down. You promised me I’d be alone with her.” She shakes a finger in Lucifer’s face.

  Apparently, that’s the last straw for the Boss. I clap with glee as he takes her stubby, little finger and twists until she’s on the ground, iced tea spilled all around as she screams through her wheezes.

  “You did have time alone with her, Irma. I didn’t say I’d give you years. While you took your time, our sweet, little Keira here managed to sway the perfect Antichrist. Come here, Keira.”

  I don’t like being brought into this. I’d rather let the Boss do his thing than participate, which is a new feeling for me. It’s unsettling to feel so at odds with something I used to enjoy. But I obey.

  Alvarez glares at me with red-hot eyes, but I could care less. “You undermined me,” she says, trying to breath through the pain as Lucifer’s grip remains on her finger.

  I shrug. “I’m a Demon. I did my job.”

  “‘Atta girl,” Lucifer says with a wink. “Now, what to do with Irma here?” he tsks.

  “Do with me?” Irma simpers.

  Lucifer leers and the shadow of an enormous, black, horned monster flashes over his face, dwarfing the pathetic woman on her knees.

  Predictably, Irma cries like a baby. “No. Please. I’m supposed to return to Heaven at your side. I can still be invaluable during the End Times.”

  I scoff at Irma as she continues on. I hate her. If she’d done her job I could still be with Noah.

  My rage builds to a crescendo and I focus it all on her. “End her,” I say.

  Irma shakes her head, making her curls bounce. “No! What about Gracelyn and Joshua?”

  Lucifer releases her and she claws at the sofa until she’s seated again, lying back and breathing so heavily her nostrils flare.

  “What about them?” I ask. “You’re grasping at straws. Give it up.”

  Lucifer grins at me and conjures a machete, which he clutches in one hand as he stalks toward the cowering woman.

  “Grace—she’ll be desperate to save her brother,” Irma says, standing and scrabbling at my hand, trying to put me between herself and the blade.

  I shove her away from me with my Demon strength and she ends up on her knees again before Lucifer.

  Then her words sink in, and I see it. I see why Josh made the deal with Lucifer in the first place. Grace would do anything to save Noah—even give herself up to Lucifer. But then she’ll be in Hell, under the Boss’s control…and she really won’t be able to do anything. I can’t let this happen.

  “She’s full of nonse
nse,” I say, daring to butt in. “End her, Lucifer. I’d like to watch.”

  Lucifer slices downward and Irma’s head rolls to my feet, lips still moving in silent babble. Ugh. Before I can complain, her entire body disappears.

  “Where’d she go?” I ask.

  “The Pit.” Lucifer wipes the machete on a monogrammed hanky and tosses it in the air where it disappears as well. “An eternity of torture.”

  I sit on the sofa, relieved.

  Lucifer slips into his throne. “The thing is, she was correct on one count.”

  “What’s that?” I ask, sitting straighter.

  “I do like things tidy—and leaving Grace and Josh to enjoy Heaven? That’s not my style.”

  “Still,” I stall, trying to come up with a counter argument. “How do we reach them in Heaven?”

  “That’s your job, Keira.” Lucifer conjures a glass of whisky, swirling the liquid as the ice cubes clink. “I have a feeling you can find a way to reach them. I’ll expect either Grace or Josh for coffee. You have one hour.” He raises the glass to his mouth. “Cheers.”

  Chapter 34

  Josh

  “Grace?” I’m worried she’s lost it. She’s been standing in the middle of the room for ten minutes straight, staring at the blank screen.

  “I can’t let this happen. I think I know what I need to do.” She finally looks at me, acknowledging my presence.

  “Good. What can we do? I’m all in.”

  “Not you. I don’t need your help.” She moves to push past me, but I grab her arm.

  “Grace, wait, please. Don’t leave me like this. Talk to me. I thought we’d be okay now that you know I didn’t really want to break up. I could never cheat on you. I don’t want anyone else. Ever.”

  Grace turns to me with a sad sigh, cupping my face in her hands. God that feels good. Tiny bits of electricity travel through my nerve endings, sending my body into overdrive. I want to throw her down on the couch and make mad love to her right now. But I’ll wait until I know she’s okay.

  “Josh, I love you.” She kisses me tenderly on the lips, pulling back slowly, leaving me in an even bigger state of desire. “But I can’t be with someone who keeps lying to me. Shh.” She presses the pads of her thumbs against my lips to silence me. “I know you did it all for me. To protect me. But I didn’t want protection. I wanted you beside me because, with you, I could’ve survived anything.” Her eyes water, but she fights the tears back.

  “You still can. We can do this together, Grace. We can do anything together.” I grip her waist and pull her closer.

  She shakes her head. “No, Josh. It’s too late. Even if you swear you’ll change and never shield me again, I have to help Noah and it—” She stops mid-sentence, sucking in her bottom lip.

  “It what?” I press, holding her tighter. I’m not letting go until I know what she’s thinking.

  “It means I can’t think about our relationship right now. We’re going to have to wait until I’ve dealt with this. I don’t come first, Josh. Neither do you. We have a job, whether Mr. Griffith likes how we do it or not. We’re talking about the end of the world.” She pulls my face to hers.

  My brain is stopped short by her kiss and all else goes out the window while we stand there in each other’s arms. It’s the first time in a long time that everything’s felt right.

  But she pulls away again. “Thank you, Josh. For loving me in your own way. You’ve given me the courage to do what I have to do.”

  She backs up a few steps and the glow of transportation surrounds her but quickly fizzles out. She seems frustrated, and the glow appears again, but it dissipates even faster the second time. “Grace, wait. We need to talk more first. What are you doing? Where are you trying to go? I want to help.” I realize how hypocritical that sounds. She’s turned the tables and isn’t telling me the plan. And it does suck.

  She takes a deep breath and turns toward me. “Good. Because I need you to do something for me. If you love me you’ll do it without hesitation.”

  I nod, throat dry. I have a feeling I’m not going to like this.

  “I need you to send me down to Earth. I’m blocked from doing it on my own.”

  “But—”

  She narrows her eyes at me. I have to show her I do love her. That I’m not giving up on us or on Noah. So I do it. I send her to Earth.

  I’m about to set out to find Mr. Griffith again when I realize I can’t. I can’t let him see that I let her go. If he finds out, Grace will be banished from Heaven for breaking a second rule, and it’ll be all my fault.

  But if he doesn’t know, he can’t throw her out, right? There’s one thing I can do right now to help Grace. I can distract him. I can pull his attention away from whatever she’s planning.

  Lucy. Her situation’s been eating at me from the sidelines. I left her with Ms. Alavarez. Maybe I can distract Griffith and save Lucy.

  I focus on the ball of light and will myself back to Earth, to Lucy’s house.

  “Josh!” She tackles me with a hug when I enter her room.

  “I take it you’ve cleaned up downstairs,” I say, searching over her shoulder for evidence of whatever horrible things she’s done. “Where’s the body?”

  “I thought you got rid of it,” she says, examining me with that awful eye. “She was gone when I got upstairs. Then you were gone, too. What the Hell’s going on?”

  “It’s magic,” I say, all the lightbulbs going on in my head at once.

  Her face goes blank like a sheet of ice. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m an Angel and I was sent here to try and help you so you don’t become evil.” I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to tell her the truth. Take that distraction, Mr. G.

  “An Angel? An Angel who helped me kill someone?” She narrows her normal eye at me.

  Right. “Well, that wasn’t a someone. You know how you were so sure she was evil? She was. She was a Demon and she’s not dead. You can’t kill a Demon. At least not that easily.”

  Lucy does the unexpected—she nods and smiles. “I’ve suspected you were something, Josh. I thought Ms. Alvarez might be a Demon with her shadows and all. My book describes them. But that didn’t quite fit for you.”

  “You mean you knew?” I can’t believe this.

  Lucy pokes my chest, forcing me backward. “I notice things, Josh. Like auras and people who aren’t really there, remember? I’m not some naïve kid, you know.”

  “Yeah. You kind of are, Lucy.”

  She laughs as she turns toward her desk and opens the top drawer to rummage around, but it’s a cold sound, not her usual giggle. I wish she’d look at me. But then I change my mind, because when she does turn around, she’s holding something horribly familiar and yet totally new and the temperature in the room seems to drop ten degrees.

  I back up a couple of steps, eyes locked on the ten-inch dagger she’s holding. A dagger with a hilt made of an old, weathered cross of wood secured to the blade with twine. That can’t be what I think it is. Where the Hell would she get a cursed blade capable of killing both Angels and Demons? The only one like it disappeared when I died for Grace. And it was different, more ornate.

  Lucy stalks toward me, responding as though she heard my questioning thoughts. “I made it. I admit I didn’t think the Angel-killing part wouldn’t be useful yet. I didn’t want to have to kill you, Josh. I like you. But I’ll get over it.”

  I force the glowing ball around my body again and disappear, reappearing downstairs. What do I do? I have to take care of this. I can’t just run away again—there’s no one left to run to, anyway. As I’m considering my next move, a chaotic thumping sound from the other room makes me jump and I rush to the kitchen.

  Big, black birds are throwing themselves against the glass like they’re trying to break into the house. Behind the mass of black feathers looms a menacing sky, the color of a fresh bruise.

  These are the signs Mr. Griffith told me about in the pool hall that ind
icate the Antichrist’s arrival. One quick glance outside proves they’re crashing into the other houses as well. The sky’s full of them. I back away from the view. Grace said it happened, that Noah is the Antichrist. But hearing it and seeing it are two different things.

  “Josh?” Lucy’s voice startles me and I look up to find her at the mouth of the kitchen, both eyes focused on me. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “You didn’t?” I squeak. Usually threatening to kill someone is meant to be scary.

  “You’re here to take my power away. I can’t let you do that. It’s amazing what you can find on the internet.” She tsks softly and slowly moves toward me. A bird crashes into the window behind me. “My book had the instructions.” She holds up the book and waves it. “All I needed was a blade used to kill a virgin and a holy cross. They were easy to get on the internet. This cross is supposedly blessed by Saint Francis—at least, that’s what the ad said. Though I guess that part doesn’t matter if you’re an Angel.”

  “I’m here to save you, Lucy. I don’t want to take away your power, just help you use it right.”

  She hesitates.

  “Lucy, put down the dagger. You don’t want to hurt me. We’re friends.”

  Lucy lets the dagger fall to her side, but doesn’t let go. Still, it’s a move in the right direction.

  “Oh, Josh. I have no room for friends in my new life. Friends betray you. That’s what my book says.”

  “Books don’t always tell the truth.” Though it seems to have gotten the dagger recipe pretty head-on. “What else does it say?”

  “It says all kinds of stuff about using the blood of the Antichrist or whatever.” She slices her palm suddenly and I wince. She doesn’t seem to feel the dripping wound as she continues. “But my magic blood should help me kill just about anything.”

  “No, Lucy. Please, let me help you. I wouldn’t lie to you.” I can’t believe how badly this is going.

  “Oh, Josh. I wish I could trust you, but it’s so obvious you’re wrong. I’ll tell you what, though. I’ll let you help me anyway.”