by Rae Foxx
Gabe appeared with a black backpack full of guns and other things I couldn't see. "Put those in here," he said. "Just in case. And I don’t think you’ll need to carry any yet, either. If at all. Depends on where we have to go.”
They loaded all of the rifles into the large duffel, and I was more than glad to let Gabe carry the heavy bag. Once zipped, he put it on somewhat like a backpack and took our hands. "Ready?" he asked.
"Beyond ready," I said. Lucifer growled.
Gabe rolled his eyes at his old friend and we disappeared. In half a second, I blinked, and we stood outside an old church.
"Where are we?" I whispered. The surrounding woods were utterly silent as the moon bathed the clearing in light.
Gabe shrugged. "Somewhere in the Appalachian mountains."
Michael walked out of the church. "Hey, guys. It's all been too easy so far. I'm waiting on something bad to happen."
I rushed forward. "What did you have to do?"
"Gabriel told us you held a press conference," Lucifer said. I gave him a sharp look, but he had a ghost of a smile on his face. He was actually teasing Michael. Wow.
"After Zerachiel gave me the location, I had to approach carefully. He didn't know what Raphael had done to the location to protect the Scythe. But so far, all I can find is a protection spell on this clearing which repels anything alive. Since we ported directly inside it, it doesn't work on us. Then, there was a locking charm on the church door, but I think it had something on it to allow someone with good intentions in." He motioned toward the church. "It was no problem, getting past it. I haven't tried to pick the Scythe up, though. I can see a glamour on it, to make it look like a pretty wooden cross. It's set up out of the way so that if someone makes it into the church, it's not immediately accessible. I took down the shelf that it’s on, so we can try to pick it up."
The inside of the church was primitive, with roughly hewn wooden pews worn smooth by years of butts sitting on them. Michael had set up a floodlight in the corner. Sometimes the way we mixed technology with magic amazed me. We were here to perform powerful magic, using a light powered by a big battery.
Lucifer chuckled as we entered. I gave him a sharp look. "I half expected to be turned to dust," he whispered. "Feels like I should be reverent in here."
I giggled at his facial expression. Lucifer never acted nervous, but this was the closest he ever came to it. Even though I was elated to finally be out and doing something toward finding Ariel, I made myself stop smiling. "I think it's all the magic coming from the Scythe," I said. "I feel it."
Michael gave me an incredulous look. "You do?"
Walking forward, my gaze was pulled straight to the cross. A wooden shelf from the wall had been ripped down, just as Michael had described. A basic cross, carved from a single piece of wood, rested in the middle of the shelf.
The altar, larger than the shelf on it, stopped me from moving forward anymore. I pressed against it and peered at the cross, enchanted. "It wants me to pick it up," I whispered. "It calls to me."
I hadn't had much to do with Cain and Abel. I knew them, watched them grow up, but at that point, we were barely getting Abaddon off the ground. The population of the Earth realm was in the single digits for so long that we'd had plenty of time to prepare. God had warned us how populated the Earth realm would become, and it was just us Fallen to prepare.
When God allowed Lucifer to tempt Eve, and she chose free will, we knew that meant that people would make bad choices and we'd have our jobs cut out for us.
I wasn't paying attention the day Cain killed Abel. They'd both made offerings to God, and he preferred Abel's.
And Cain lost his ever-loving shit. Killed his brother with a farming scythe, causing God to curse him to wander forever. He wandered, all right. Enough to help populate the Earth realm. Pretty much everyone is a descendant of Cain, now.
The artifact of the first murder. In my opinion, the actual original sin. Lucifer and I had always disagreed with the edicts of heaven that Eve's free will—eating the apple—was a sin. But, that's why we were the rulers of Abaddon. Because we were rebels. Freethinkers.
And we did have a penchant for loving sin.
"It sings," I said. The call of the Scythe made me sway in place. "I understand why Raphael hid it."
Lucifer pulled me away from the altar. "Why are you so bothered by it and none of us are?"
I shrugged him off and returned to my spot pressed against the wood of the altar. "I don't know." Chills danced down my spine. "Let me try to touch it."
Icy chills darted down my right hand as I moved it closer and closer to the cross. As soon as I touched it, it should've turned to the Scythe, but I couldn't get my hand close enough to it. A freezing feeling spread through my body, focusing on my chest. But more than that, the ice wanted to wrap around my soul, my aura.
"It's too cold," I whispered, drawing my hand back. As desperately as I wanted to wrap my fingers around it, as desperately as it wanted me to, I couldn't bear the cold. "I've never felt anything like that." I tried to describe the sensation. "It hit my soul as my hand got closer," I said. "I know that makes no sense, but that's how it felt. Like my heart of hearts was freezing inside me."
Michael, Gabriel, and Lucifer looked at me aghast. "Is it still pulling you?" Michael asked.
"It is. But the feeling of cold is still in my chest. I can bear to resist it now." The song of the Scythe, still eerily lilting in my head, threatened to sway me, but I focused on the feeling of cold to dissuade it.
Michael stepped forward and held his hand out, moving slowly toward the cross, but when he got within inches of it—closer than I was able to–his hand simply deflected to the side.
"What the hell?" I whispered. "Any cold?"
He shook his head. Gabe nudged between us and tried to the same effect. His hand went glancing off in the other direction.
They stepped to the side so Lucifer could move forward and try.
He reached forward, and when he was still a couple of feet away, he grimaced. Pausing for a second, he breathed out and pushed forward, as if forcing his hand through a thick substance. His fingers wiggled and he had to pause again. Breathing hard and deep, he clasped his right forearm with his left hand and pushed forward again, mere inches from the cross. Wiggling his fingers and groaning with effort, the muscles on his right forearm bulged as the knuckles on his left hand turned white.
Unsure what else to do, I grabbed his right arm in both of mine and pushed. Instantly, my body was bathed in the icy feeling. I cried out, shocked that he was able to stand the pain of the cold, but if he could do it for our Ariel, so could I.
Gabe wrapped his arms around me, and Michael did the same for Luc and as a group, we pushed forward.
Lucifer's hand moved millimeter by millimeter as the cold pounded through me. When my chest felt frozen solid, the cold began to seep through my brain. Crying out, I pushed as hard as I could, and with a relieving blast of warmth, Lucifer's hand wrapped around the cross without any obstruction.
"Holy shit," I gasped, eyeing the cross in Luc's hand as I leaned over, hands on knees, and panted. My body thawed quickly, the warmth bringing tears to my eyes. Turning my head, I realized Lucifer's cheeks were soaked with tears as he stared at the cross.
"Why?" Michael asked. "Why only you? And why is it still glamoured?"
By all we knew of magic, it should've turned to the Scythe by now.
"Does it sing for any of you?" I asked. Having finally caught my breath and the cold was a horrible memory already.
They shook their heads. I reached out my hand for Luc to put the cross in it.
He moved slowly, setting the base of the cross in my palm so that it stood upright. As soon as the cross touched my skin, the music stopped and the wooden, carved cross turned into a dark, nearly black, partially eroded, farmer's scythe. I had to close my fingers around it to keep from dropping it.
"Whoa," I whispered. "Why me?"
"Intent," Micha
el whispered. "I don't know why Gabe and I couldn't touch it or feel it at all. Luc, could you have eventually grabbed it without our help?"
He shook his head, stricken. "I like to think I'm stronger than any, but I was near giving up when Lilith touched me. And again before you two did. Without all four of us, I don't think we could've gotten it off that shelf."
"Intent?" I questioned.
"Michael and I." Gabe motioned to the other Archangel. "Would never use this scythe for personal gain or anything, really, other than fixing this current situation we're in. We'd find a way to hide it when this is over."
"I wouldn't either," I said. "The power rolling off this thing is impressive. In my human body, I can tell if I funneled my little bit of power through it, it would make me nearly as strong as I am as a Fallen. If I used it as a Fallen? There's no telling how powerful I'd be." But I never would have used it. Nobody should be that powerful. If they were then they'd be pissing off God, and though I didn't mind disagreeing with him, I didn't want to piss him off.
"Lucifer?" Michael asked. "Can you say you'd put it right back under powerful spells and hide it?"
Luc stared at the Scythe. His gaze hadn't left it from the moment it was revealed. He turned and looked me deep in my eyes. "No," he said. "I'd use it for Ariel, absolutely, but then I'd keep it."
I smiled at my life-long partner. "And that's why it doesn't want you to have it, my love. Because can you imagine how volatile you could become with that much power?"
He squinted his eyes and pursed his lips. "No, I think I'd be a delight."
Another joke from the mighty Lucifer. I could've gotten used to that. Michael and Gabriel burst out laughing and clapped Luc on the back. "That's one way to describe it," Gabriel chortled.
"Okay, boys. We have the Scythe. Now what?"
"Now, we use it to find Ariel, then we use it to kill Lucian's body," Michael said. "I've got what we need right here." He grabbed the shelf the cross had been on and tossed it onto the closest pew before picking up a stack of maps and a bit of rope. "Now, I'm not sure how this thing will work. If we need to use it to perform the spell or if we need to use it to cut your hands or both, or what."
"Let's use it every possible way to increase our chances," I suggested.
Everyone nodded without speaking. Michael spread out a map of the Earth realm. "First, let's see if she's in this realm."
I studied the Scythe. "It's pretty dull," I said. "I'll need someone to do it for me."
Gabe took my hand, and I held out the Scythe. We all held our breaths for a second to see if he could even grab it, but now that I'd broken the spell over it, he picked it up with no problem.
The wooden handle of the tool had long ago rotted away, so he positioned his hand about halfway down the blade, then pressed the tip to my skin.
Closing my eyes, I gritted my teeth and ignored the agonizing pain of a dull, rusty blade cutting jaggedly into my flesh.
Gabriel moved fast, so the worst of it was over in seconds. Opening my eyes, I smiled shakily and congratulated myself on not crying out in pain.
Blood pooled in the palm of my hand. Gabe handed the Scythe to Lucifer. When his hand closed around it, he sucked in a sharp breath. "Damn, this thing is powerful."
I chuckled and arched an eyebrow at him. "Told you."
He made quick work of cutting his hand. Of course, he was able to do it himself. The show-off.
When we both had a fair bit of blood in our palms, we carefully touched our hands to each other's, mixing the blood and coating our hands with it as Michael quickly tied the piece of rope to the Scythe.
"Now, coat the Scythe," I suggested. We were running blind, but it seemed like a safe bet that coating the Artifact with our blood would help.
While Michael held it out with the string, Lucifer and I ran our palms all over the Scythe. The blood dripped to the ground, but it also coated the blade, which soaked it up.
"Didn't expect that," I whispered and watched the blood disappear. When we'd wiped as much as we could off of our hands and onto the blade, I grabbed the rope. "Luc, hold it below mine with your bloody hand."
He did as instructed, then we moved the Scythe over the map of the Earth realm. There was no spell book to tell me what to say. "Funnel your power into it, that which you can access," I whispered. Doing the same, I focused on the Scythe.
My eyes rolled back in my head, and I became simultaneously aware of two realities. One, in the church in Anywhere, Appalachia. The other, in a rich, green field of tall grass. A man walked toward me with his arms out. A man I recognized. "Abel?" I asked, shocked to my core.
Lucifer, Michael, and Gabriel gasped. When I spoke to Abel, I spoke to them, too. "Don't worry," I said. "I'm seeing something amazing, just be patient."
Five hands touched me, on my back and shoulders. "It's okay," I whispered, feeling them but seeing Abel.
"How are you here?" I asked.
Michael tried to say something to me. "You three, shush and wait," I reprimanded them. Abel smiled with amusement, possibly knowing why I was saying strange things to him.
"Sorry," I said. "My mates are in the Earth realm with me and they can hear me speak but don't know you're here."
He held out his hands to indicate the world around him. "Tell them what you see."
"I'm standing in the most lush, vivid green field of grass I've ever seen," I whispered. "It's beautiful. And Abel is here."
"I'm in Heaven," he corrected. "But I guard this place. This is the fount of magic that supplies the Scythe. Magic and Power, as you know, depends on the wielder. It can be light or dark, but at its core, unfettered, it's simply beautiful, as is this field. This grass could be nutritious or poisonous, depending on how it's prepared. You may use this Scythe as you see fit. It is in your hands now. You do not need spells or sacrifices. The magic will do your bidding.”
"But?" There was always a catch.
"It is not infinite. You must choose wisely. It has never been used by one such as yourself. Raphael came close, many, many years ago, but managed to refrain. If you are in dire need, you may use the magic, but when it is done, this place, this beauty, will dissipate into the realm in which it is used and will be no more."
"I have to use it," I whispered. "I have to find my daughter."
He inclined his head. "The magic whispers to me. It knows more than it can say, and it agrees with you."
"I thought it was neutral?" I asked with a suspicious smile.
Abel chuckled and shrugged. "It is. But it knows so much, who are we to say what is proper for magic to do? It wants you to use it to find your..." He cocked his head as if listening. "Is it saying Aria?"
"Ariel," I murmured. "Her name is Ariel."
Abel nodded. "Yes, of course. It wants you to use it to find her, but as I said, it will do your bidding. If you want to tell it to blow up a building, it will. Or plant the entire Earth realm with seeds of growth and food, it will. It will do whatever you say."
"I wish I could do something like that to help the Earth realm," I said. "But I will be selfish. I must find my daughter."
"It is not selfish. If you planted the world in seeds, it would feed many, of course, but it would cause chaos and panic. And people are easily panicked."
That was true. "Thank you for your guidance," I said.
"One last thing." He picked a blade of grass and handed it to me. "If you use the Scythe to find your Ariel, this will grow heated as you get closer to her. When she is close to you, it will burst into flame and you will know the magic is no more."
"How do you know?"
He shrugged. "It speaks to me. Sometimes it's very specific."
I couldn't explain the surge of joy at having spent this time with Abel. He was nothing more than a man in Heaven, one I'd not spent much time thinking about... ever. Yet the thought of leaving him saddened me.
"Don't be morose," he whispered. "All is not lost."
With a wave, the image in my head disappeared a
nd my full conscience returned to the church. Lucifer, Gabriel, and Michael stared at me all three of their faces were terrified.
Blinking, I looked from one to the other and chuckled. "Abel says hi."
Their scared trance broke, and all three tried to hug me at once. The hand not still holding the Scythe out was squished against my body. "Okay, okay." I laughed and pressed kisses wherever I could reach. "I'm fine."
When they pulled away, the hand that had been trapped between us clutched a long piece of emerald green grass. It was the wrong color green; unlike anything I'd ever seen growing naturally.
"The Scythe will only work once. In all its existence, it has never been used," I explained. "I can will it to do what I want, and this blade of grass will grow hotter and hotter until we find Ariel. Then it will burst into flame and the power of the Scythe will be no more."
Shock covered their faces. "Finite?" Michael asked. "How, in all this time, has nobody used it?"
Gabe stared at the ugly, unimpressive tool. "Raph must've gotten to it before any other angels or witches."
I cleared my throat. "Ready to do this?"
They squared their shoulders and stared at the tool. "Do it," Lucifer said.
"Okay. Let go of the rope." He looked at me in surprise but did as I asked.
Grabbing my small thread of power, I focused it into the Scythe. "Please show me where my daughter is," I whispered. "Show me the blood of my blood and heart of my heart."
Lowering the Scythe, I moved the rope so the tool would swing over the map. Then I tried my best to keep my hand still and let it move where it wanted rather than where I influenced it.
It only took a fraction of a second. The Scythe stopped swinging, lifted as if an invisible person put their hand on it, and rested the very tip of the tool on the map.
Michael lunged forward. "It's in the northeastern United States."
He turned to the closest pew and ruffled through the maps. "Here," he shouted and set a map of the eastern half of the US beside the Scythe. We waited to see if it would move. "Please," I whispered. "Show me where to find the blood of my blood."
