by Craig Taylor
Clara howled in protest. “Take me with you! Allow me to be reborn! I’ll continue your work. I’ll do anything!”
The demon flapped his wings in response, ascending high into the sky followed closely by his companions. He disappeared into the clouds without ever looking back. She screamed, enraged. Her voice echoed through her purgatory, alone and betrayed, in the silence and light of the sanctuary.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The car broke down not too far from the sanctuary. They didn’t know if it was just a coincidence so soon after leaving the safety of the light, but they were now forced to continue on foot.
David led the way, with Amanda and Patricia behind him, Jason following close behind and just in front of Matthew. Charles hadn’t been with them since the sanctuary, but they all felt him, watching and guarding.
The sun sat above the mountains before them. In any other situation, the day would have been perfect. Just a group of friends out hiking, a beautiful sky and nature surrounding them: green trees, light-blue sky and birds singing early-morning choruses.
David admitted that he didn’t know where they were going or what they actually had to do, other than get away from the sanctuary as far and as fast as possible, so that was the direction he led them–away. They walked, deep in thought, trying to imagine what the darkness wanted with Jason—and how to stop them getting him.
Matthew told them he had a sense that they needed to just move, that there was no actual place to go. He said everything was unfolding as it should. It was up to them to respond to circumstances, because they were the key to it all. He admitted himself that he didn’t know; it was just a feeling, that their actions would control the outcome.
They tramped through scrub for some time and then came to a large clearing. The adults each carried a backpack laden with water and food. They were bags prepared in case of a need to escape, ready to go at all times.
Jason was the first to notice that the birds had stopped singing. When he told the others, they were suddenly aware that silence had fallen over the entire forest. No noise, no wind, and a coolness despite the shining sun. They knew they were about to be confronted.
The demon landed in front of them, silently, in a rapid descent from the cloudless sky. He was black as night and almost regal in appearance. His wings stretched high above him and his taut skin glistened in the sunlight. His black eyes scanned them slowly as he landed on the ground. His eyes stopped on Jason. He stepped behind Patricia, pushing against her leg.
Six smaller angels descended and stood behind him. They stared at the group. It was clear that they wanted to destroy them, but had to wait for the command.
David stepped forward. He showed no fear when he spoke. “Get out of our way! We are not afraid of you! You will take nothing from us, demon!”
The demon smiled, revealing a line of large, pointed yellow teeth. His gums were covered in coagulated blood. He tilted his head to one side, like a child examining an exciting discovery he’d found in the garden. Suddenly, he spat. A huge glob of red slime hit David on the chest and began to run down his shirt.
He jumped backwards and tried to flick it off with his hand. It burned, and he had to remove his shirt as quickly as possible.
The demon laughed. “You are so weak that just my spit leaves you half-naked and vulnerable. I will take what I came for and kill the rest of you; I haven’t decided who will be first.”
Matthew moved to the front of the group. He’d been running from this demon in his dreams long enough. He knew it was the same force that had been chasing him and he was ready to strike back.
The demon looked down at him with pity. “Ahh, Matthew,” he hissed. “You’ve had your chances to come back, and I still offer you your place here among us. You can be defeated here with these fools, or can celebrate victory with us. Just speak the word.”
Matthew waved in the direction of the demon, attempting to release the same power that he had used with Charles to defeat the black angels they encountered. He defeated them then, and this was just another messenger of the darkness. He didn’t realize the strength of this demon.
The demon was unmoved. He struck Matthew down with a dismissive wave. Matthew fell, stunned and in agony, but alive. He lay completely vulnerable at the demon’s feet. He could feel the black energy probe his soul.
The angels laughed in unison. The traitor was hurt; the master would finish him in his own time. They would feast on his blood after the others were dealt with. Their eyes were all on the demon.
Jason screamed when he saw Matthew hurt. His eyes opened wide. At first he hugged Patricia as hard as he could, but then he got angry. He punched his hand out toward the demon furiously, from behind the protection of Patricia.
The demon saw him and realized what he was doing. He moved to the side, letting the black angels absorb Jason’s rage—a blinding light shot from Jason’s palm, temporarily blinding everyone. It struck the black angels and enveloped all but one of them.
His upper body was outside the light, his legs trapped inside. The light sliced him in half; he screamed and flapped on the ground, then the demon stomped on his head to silence him, crushing his skull.
The others screamed as their wings burned. They flapped around, colliding with each other, desperate to escape the light. The light seeped into them like acid. They fell to the ground and their remains burnt to embers, then ashes.
As the wind caught the ashes and blew them into the air, the demon smiled at first, then broke into laughter. He shook his head in disbelief.
“My, my. Haven’t we grown up, Delit?”
Patricia and David looked at each other, confused.
The demon laughed again. “You are pitiful! You still don’t know why I’m here!”
Neither one answered him.
“Delit has lived many times, throughout the history of man. He is a traitorous angel of the dark. He was planted among you, expected to perform his duties when asked, but he failed. He became enamored of the light and broke away, but in the end we accomplished his task without his help. We have tried to destroy him many times, unsuccessfully.”
“Now he will die with the rest of you.”
David looked down at Jason. “Did Elizabeth know this?”
Jason nodded. He spoke now with a voice of a demon, dry and coarse. His eyes were completely black, the bright blue vanished. His features distorted and his appearance became much like that of the demon before them.
“What he says is true, but of course he speaks in half-truths. It is true that I originated from the darkness and was sent as a plant to help with the day of Legion, but Elizabeth came to me before I could do any damage. She showed me compassion and nurtured me, then sent me out into the world as this boy.”
“Jason wasn’t adopted,” Patricia said. “He was born to his mother and father.”
He nodded. “This body was conceived naturally by his parents, but Elizabeth, who came to the hospital that night, knew their child would die. It died within minutes of birth, so she took him to the light from his mother’s womb and I entered the body.”
“There he hid for a few years, until we found him,” the demon interrupted.
“And here we are,” Delit replied. “Ready for battle, I assume.”
The demon laughed again even louder. “There will be no battle Delit. You will die and they will die.”
The demon opened his mouth wide. Instantly a black cloud emerged and swirled around his head. At first they thought it was smoke, but soon realized the mass was made of individual bodies.
Patricia stepped back. She saw red eyes peer at her as they swirled faster and faster. Hundreds of eyes were focused on her and only her.
The demon stood as though in a trance. His eyes had rolled back in his head; a sickly yellow color was all they could see. Jason, or Delit, st
udied the swirling mass of black above him.
“They’re getting stronger!” he shouted. “They’ll attack soon. This demon is nothing but a vehicle for them. He has power, but they are the danger. They are gathering the strength to attack us, and they’re getting there.”
Amanda picked up a large branch and smashed it into the demon’s head; He didn’t budge. One of the mass swooped out and covered her face with his half-formed body. She screamed, trying desperately to pull it off, but her hands passed through it. She scratched at her face, cutting through her own skin with her nails. Her flesh smoked and burned to the bone.
“What do we do to help her?” David screamed at Delit.
He shook his head. “Nothing! Run away. Your deaths are part of the plan, but they want me dead first to stop my interference.”
The demon returned to the mass, and Amanda fell to the ground. Her flesh was gone, exposing her blackened, charred skull. The flesh of her neck was cauterized to her spine. David turned toward the demon. He wanted to smash what he could, but he knew it would be of no use.
“Run!” Delit shouted. “You have to get out of here. I am not what they want, only an annoyance they want removed.”
He grabbed David by the arm. “You have to keep her safe!” he shouted, motioning with his head toward Patricia. She stood frozen in fear, staring at the huge mass of evil swirling around the demon, getting louder and louder. “There’s no time to explain,” Delit shouted. “Get her out of here!”
David grabbed her by the arm and pulled hard. She snapped out of her trance and ran with him without looking back.
The mass decreased in size and slowed, retreated back into the demon’s mouth. His consciousness returned and he was furious.
“I don’t need the help of Legion to defeat you, Delit,” he shouted.
“I think you do,” Delit shouted back.
Charles Barker and Matthew appeared behind him. Charles had returned to his true form. His black wings rose high above him, his feathers flowing back and forth strongly in the wind. Matthew had regained his strength.
Cre opened his mouth to summon the mist, but nothing came. His eyes filled with rage and he issued a blood-curdling scream that filled the forest. Hundreds of birds took flight from the tree tops to escape the danger.
“They are too weak,” Charles smiled. “You are reckless, Cre. You should have waited before coming to us, but you are so desperate you are not thinking clearly.”
While he spoke, Matthew swooped around behind Cre and wrapped his arms tightly around him so only the demon’s head and shoulders were visible. Cre struggled, but when Charles wrapped them both in his wings, he knew he was trapped.
Cre could feel the demons thrashing inside him, struggling to get out, but they were weakened from their exposure to the light.
Jason shed his child’s body and stood before Cre in his own form. He was the most impressive of all the angels present. He stood over seven feet tall, his ebony skin shining in the sun like wet river stone.
He dropped to his knees and began to speak quietly to himself. Cre struggled vainly against the grip of the other two. Legion were draining Cre’s strength from him, for their own survival.
“Delit,” he pleaded. “It’s not too late. Set me free and we will rule together. The four of us will have unimaginable power.”
Delit ignored these words and chanted louder. Cre recognized the words of the light and screamed. He knew Delit was invoking the power of angels to eradicate the darkness before him.
Cre looked above him, hoping to see black angels coming to his aid, but saw only hundreds of white angels circling, answering Delit’s call. He knew he didn’t have much time.
The white angels descended and surrounded him. He felt their light burn into his flesh. Their purity was too much for him. He screamed, and the demons within him screamed his name.
The hundreds of white angels gazed at him with compassion. He returned their looks with contempt, confirming he would not turn to them for salvation.
The most impressive angel approached Cre. Its light suffocated him, making it impossible to breathe. The angel raised its wings, increasing its brilliance.
Cre’s eyes boiled and burst. He screamed for his fellow angels, but knew that the light surrounding him stifled his voice.
The angel spoke to him. “Cre of the darkness, you have made your choice and will pay the consequences.”
The white angels began to sing. In beautiful harmony, they slowly sang the ancient words of their chant. Their mellifluous voices rose and fell, creating a flawless wall of sound. Cre screamed as the sound waves rippled over his body, tearing the flesh from his bones.
Matthew felt something against his stomach. He looked down and saw one of the black creatures of Legion cut through Cre’s back with a long, sharp talon. It sliced into his flesh. Matthew was trapped against Cre by Charles, still holding on.
The black creature looked up at him and smiled. Its yellow smile told Matthew exactly what it was going to do. The creature sliced Matthews’s stomach open. As soon as the wound opened, the creature flowed through into his body, followed by all the others.
Cre screamed and chanted the language of blackness, but knew his fight was over. He could feel Legion abandon him and move into the body of the one holding him. He had been left to die in the light knowing he would never be reborn. He also knew now that Legion had known this would happen. They were meant to be carried by the one called Matthew. He had grown strong in the light, but his blackness still offered them hospitality. They would use both to their advantage.
Matthew slipped from beneath Charles’s wings unnoticed. He moved sideways to allow Charles to hold Cre tighter, then vanished into the trees behind them. The last thing he heard was Cre’s last, defiant scream. He cursed the white angels, then fell silent.
Matthew knew that Cre had been purified by the power of the light. He would never be reborn, never again raised up. His spirit had been obliterated.
Matthew felt awesome power flow through him. He was corrupted the instant Legion entered his body. He could not fight such strength, could not deny the power offered to him.
He felt the supremacy and knew it was for him. He started to plan the self-serving acts he would commit, the pain he would cause the world. Never before had he felt such amazing power flowing through him. All he needed to do was retrieve what Legion had been sent for. It would all be his. He would rule.
Anger and rage filled his being as he became more aware of what he had to gain—and how Patricia stood in his way. He could clearly see the plan of the darkness and what had to be done. The bitch, Patricia, would be destroyed.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
David and Patricia sat in the small motel room and stared at the walls. Neither one had spoken since they checked into the room an hour ago. Patricia sat on the bed; David sat on the small chair by the door. They tossed their bags on the floor and locked the door as soon as they walked in.
They had managed to hitchhike out of the forest. They ran as fast as they could for as long as they could and came to a road. A forestry worker almost hit them with his truck and skidded to a halt. He was about to get out and yell at them, but saw the terror in their eyes and decided against it.
They literally ran to the truck and jumped in the cab. He didn’t even ask them what the matter was until they hit a paved road and headed toward the nearest town. He assumed they were being chased by a murderer or something, but didn’t want to ask them and get involved. Their story of a rock fall didn’t sound right, but he didn’t argue. He dropped them off as soon as they found the motel.
Patricia was about to say something when David suddenly got up and walked out the door slamming it behind him. She wanted to ask him what he was doing, but wasn’t going outside to see.
She had never seen anything so frigh
tening as Legion. The blackness, the malevolence that it emanated was so overpowering, she thought she would suffocate. She felt like she was being pulled into a bottomless pit containing all the negative energy ever collected.
She wondered how she had become involved in all of this. A few days ago, she worked in a dingy office at a public hospital. Now she was on the run, from what she could hardly describe.
She jumped when the window lit up behind the drawn curtains. She realized a vehicle had pulled up, then she heard a horn and David calling her name. She pulled a corner of the curtain back and saw a motor home parked by the door. David waved to her.
She picked up both bags and ran outside. David had opened the side door and she climbed in the back. She slammed it closed.
“Where did you get this?” she asked.
“Let’s just say the guy in room 24, who is busy with a prostitute, is going to be pissed when he gets up in the morning.”
Patricia climbed in the front passenger seat as he pulled out of the parking area.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
He shook his head. “I don’t know, but I do know we have to keep moving. I can feel them getting closer.”
“Me too,” she replied. “I was trying to deny it myself, but I can feel them peering inside me. It scares me to death.”
David didn’t answer. He knew there was nothing he could say to assuage her fears. He was aware he had no idea what was going on, or what they were to do. He only knew they had to keep moving, and could figure out what Legion wanted with them later.
He drove until the sun came up over the horizon, having no idea where they were. He knew they headed north, according to the little plastic compass stuck to the dashboard. There was a little hula doll which wiggled its hips next to that, but it annoyed him so he knocked it off.
