by Jill Cooper
We stood in the center, with our backs up against one another. Even Markus shuddered at what was going on. “As soon as I get my hands on a weapon,” Markus said, “you’re dead.”
And I thought that might not be too far off. Lucifer stood; his arms raised above his head. This quieted the crowd into a small roar. “Fellow-subjects, we have reached the end of our games. Amara has chosen Markus as her champion.”
He paused as the crowd grew so loud that even Lucifer was drowned out among the cheering, and foot stomping. Their faces contorted with hatred and malice for me. They resembled monsters of old days, more than the humanoid faces they always wore. Some demons cupped their hands around their lips and screamed out my name in vengeance.
“Cathal, the betrayer! Kill the angel! Kill! Kill!”
The crowd whipped itself into a frenzy. If this mob laid hands on me, I would be torn limb from limb, feather by feather. Vasper kept close as Markus chortled with glee. “It seems you’re going to meet your end now, angel. And I’m going to get my hands on top prize.”
My blood boiled at the notion, but I knew it couldn’t be true. Amara would rather be dead than shackled to Markus for eternity. She was in trouble. And that meant I had to get to her, somehow. I didn’t see a way, and that crumpled my spirit more than anything.
Lucifer was ready to speak again. “But first, a little feast. Troll hounds straight from the underworld, are here and famished. I promised them a small meal. An angel, and a wayward demon.” He spat the words out as if Vasper was even worse than I was.
Unsure of himself, it made Vasper take a tenuous step back.
Vasper and I exchanged nervous glances. If ever there was a time to denounce our friendship, now would be it. Instead, Vasper stood strong and tall. “I honor my allegiance in the gladiator games.” He was stronger and had more integrity than some humans I had met along my mission on Earth.
I was proud to stand with him despite the differences between us. Maybe it was those differences, that bounded us together tightly as brothers.
“Markus may be escorted off the premises.” Lucifer lifted his hands and the guard entered the arena.
A thunderous cry caught my attention. I started at the sound—a female voice—angry and determined. Could it be her? Could it really be Amara finally ready to stand up to Lucifer?
The answer was a brilliant yes. Her gown fluttered in the breeze as she jumped down into the arena—seemingly out of nowhere. Her face was set in stone as she walked to the center and gazed up at the center box where Lucifer stood. “Are you too afraid, Father? That your chosen champions cannot face a few troll dogs? Is Markus himself afraid of a fight?”
In her regal gown, Amara was not dressed for what was to come. But there she was anyway, and she took long strides to reach my side. I didn’t know what to say, how to respond. I could tell her how stupid she was to be in the arena with me. Or, I could tell her how brave she had been to join me.
Or how eager I was to be with her again, touch her. My very soul craved parts of her, neither of us realized existed when we started this game between us. Now, I was weak at the sight of Amara. All I wanted was to bask in her beauty and watch her tremble beneath my touch.
I didn’t say those things, because instead, Amara took my hand. I saw the look in her eye. A look I wasn’t sure I’d ever see again. I didn’t know how she’d reached a decision so quick, but maybe she knew her heart better than I thought she did.
Everything I felt, and everything she needed, it passed between our eyes in an instant.
Lucifer slammed his hands down on the balcony railing. The red glinting fireworks in his eyes churning faster and steam rising from the flesh of his hands. He was so angry; the flame of hell couldn’t be controlled.
“So be it, my darling daughter, Amara. If you stand with the angel, you will die with the angel.” With the clap of his hands, the guards blew their horns. Chains pulled trapdoors open and a thunderous stampede of paws like stone met the dirt floor.
“Such a pity,” Lucifer said. “To waste your life on such a cruel thing, such as love.”
“It’s not callous, Father.” Amara’s voice rang out loud and vigorous. I was proud of her. So proud. “It’s truth.”
Lucifer sneered. “What would you know about truth!”
Troll dogs raced for us. Thick green hides protected their bodies and their flat pointed ears flicked back and forth. Red eyes blinked and wide jaws showed off how razor sharp their teeth were. If we weren’t careful, this would be over before the battle even began.
With no weapons among us, we were in serious trouble. Our very lives were in jeopardy, but with Amara at my side, I couldn’t regret our choice. Her choice.
“We stay together as one unit,” Vasper said. “Stay tight. Form a circle. We’ll have to defeat those troll dogs with our bare hands.”
“I have a few tricks up my sleeve,” Amara said. Reaching beneath her dress, she tendered me my golden lasso. In her other hand, her mother’s sword.
The implications formed a lump in my throat. Alabeth’s sword. Over a thousand years ago the great angel had been killed and now, here Amara was—wielding her sword in a final stand against Lucifer.
She used the sword to unbind my wings and then Vasper’s. It gave us an edge, if ever so slight, and the crowd booed and hissed at her decision.
“If you think I’m not going to turn on you the moment I get my chance,” Markus whispered out of the corner of his mouth. If Amara heard him, she said nothing, which wasn’t really her style.
“If I’m not already dead, I’ll give you your chance.”
Markus laughed, but the troll dogs were on top of us. Vasper took to the sky and I watched him dive for a troll dog with strength and a fierce spirit. Very rarely did he tap into that side of his personality, but it was that ability to control his natural instincts that would’ve made him a good husband for Amara.
If her heart hadn’t already chosen me.
A troll dog came for me. Its head was low to the ground, and its giant body charged like a freight train. Overhead, I spun my golden lasso and it shimmered against the backdrop of hell as if a little piece of heaven was with me.
The crowd booed and whipped itself into full blown rage. “Kill Cathal! Kill the angel!” They were on their feet, yelling and heckling. I thought with time I could win them over, it seemed I was completely wrong.
I snared my troll dog’s neck with my lasso and pulled it tight. The dog bucked, throwing its head around, side to side, trying to get free. I gripped the rope hard and used it to pull myself up onto the giant beast. Twirling the rope in my hand, I fashioned a tight noose around the animal’s throat and cut off his oxygen supply.
Lying down on the animal, I strained to hold on tight. He clawed at the ground and called out in pain with what breath he had left. The troll dog rolled over and pinned me beneath him. Groaning, it felt like my ribs had been smashed into pieces.
The muscles in my arms tensed and I pushed with all my might to move the troll dog, but it collapsed on top of me. Hopeless, it was hopeless...
I smacked my head against the dirt floor as I tried to pull my aching body free, then a shadow covered me.
Markus’s laughing face came into view and in his hand a dagger that dripped blue with poison. “Now, you’re mine, angel.”
Pinned beneath a dead animal, I couldn’t disagree with that.
23: Amara
“Amara!”
Hovering in the sky above me, Vasper called out. There was a bruise on his cheek and a cut across his forearm, but otherwise, he was okay. He didn’t need to warn me; I saw what was playing out with my own eyes. Cathal pinned beneath the troll dog, and Markus lorded over him.
But no, this wouldn’t happen now. This wasn’t how Cathal would meet his end. This was our beginning and I wouldn’t let it slip through my fingers.
With a quick flap of my wings, I glided over to Markus. With a flourish of my arms, my wings snapped and I threw out
my legs in a powerful kick. The soles of my boots crushed flat against Markus’s chest before his overhead swing collided with Cathal. Markus’s eyes were drawn together with anger as he was pushed back.
Through the grit of his teeth he shouted, “You!”
As if somehow being me was an insult?
“You traitorous half-breed angel!” His wings flapped quickly to stop his movements. He hovered in midair and I swooped in, my arms forward, gripping my mother’s sword tight. With a scream, Markus rushed towards me. We met in midair. I drew my arm back and slashed my sword at his abdomen. He gripped my hand with his free one and I drove him back under the dominant force of my wings.
Remembering what I had told Cathal about Markus’s old injury, I sunk my fingertips into his shoulder and squeezed until my fingernails ripped through his old scar. Markus screamed and lost control. Both of us hurled towards the ground and Markus slammed into the dirt. I landed on my feet like a cat in my peripheral vision saw two shadows approaching from behind.
Vasper had freed Cathal. He was okay. I breathed a sigh of relief.
“You’ll pay for what you have done. All of you.” Markus took in the sight of us.
But I backed up as the troll dog approached him from behind. Markus never saw the beast coming. Not until the shadow breached his face. With a gasp, Markus peered up into the inside of the troll dog’s mouth.
The crowd went wild with cheers and boos and I felt conflicted. It wasn’t a painless way to go. That much was evident from how Markus’s arms shook out and his sword dropped to the ground. I picked it up and handed it to Vasper. “Be ready,” I said to him.
When the troll dog was done, he tossed Markus’s body to the side. Rearing up on its hind legs, it made itself a perfect target. “Now!”
Cathal lassoed his head to hold him still. He gripped the rope over his forearm for leverage and planted his feet in the dirt.
Vasper and I stabbed the beast in the stomach, but it would take more than one stab to end him. The troll dog threw his head back and Cathal went flying through the air. His wings spread as he tried his best to control his fall but still collided with a rear wall.
Watching his body fall like a doll, sent waves of fear through me. “Cathal!” My voice is as wretched as I felt. With the troll dog collapsed onto the ground, I ran for Cathal. I rolled him over and placed my hand against his chest.
His eyes were closed so peaceful, like he was asleep…or worse. In terror, I called out his name and with a slow blink, his eyes opened. With relief, I sighed. “What hurts?” As I speak, I run my hands through my wings to collect a bit of golden dust.
“Everything,” Cathal moaned.
Everything, I laughed. Without thinking about it I leaned in close and gave him an open mouth kiss. Urgent. Searching. My arms cradled him and delicately I swept my fingers across his skin. Where I did so, my fingers left a trail of gold dust, healing him.
I was part angel and now that part of me had awoken and would never be put to sleep again.
The crowd went eerily quiet, but it all faded away. Cathal put his hands through my hair, and I sunk deep into his chest. He moaned in pain and I only wanted to help him. To heal him and make him better.
So I did.
I curled my fingers through my black wings and pulled out the granular angel dust. At least now, I had a name for what it was. I knew what it could do. I used it to heal the angel I loved.
It felt as if the crowd was holding its breath, attention so thick in the arena it choked me. Cathal was able to breathe easier. I nuzzled his face with mine and whispered my words of love. “I choose you.”
“Oh, Amara.” His words a soft murmur, spoken directly to my heart.
“You’re an angel?” Vasper sounded confused, but I didn’t detect any judgment.
I nodded. “Half angel.” My tone is apologetic. I had spent my life thinking I was one thing and taught to hate what I actually was. As it turned out, I was something in the middle. Something neither side would ever accept.
Vasper shook his head with a small smile. “I always knew there was something different about you.”
I rose to my feet and helped Cathal up. Handing him my mother’s sword, I watched a small smile spread across his face. “You have your lasso and your sword. Now you can choose to leave hell and I won’t force you to stay.”
“I’ll leave, but only if you come with me.”
There wasn’t much to think about, but what he said took so much love, it melted me. If I chose to stay, he would really stay here for suffrage and torment? My heart swelled and the love ran over.
I took his hand and gawked at Lucifer. His face was set rigid, but his eyebrows quaked. He’d erupt soon. Part of me wanted to apologize to him—that I couldn’t be the good, dutiful daughter that he’d molded me to be, but I remembered the truth.
What he was, what he had done, how I had been created in the first place.
How could anything good come from that?
He pointed his finger. “Leave now and you’ll be an enemy of hell forever! The demons of the underworld will hunt you until you’re dying breath! They’ll bring me your head, Amara, and on that day, I’ll weep for what you could’ve been.”
I stared into Cathal’s sweet face. Pure and innocent, maybe not naïve, but he had a quality I so desperately wanted for myself. I took his hand in mine and our wings broadened together.
“I can get you out of here,” Cathal said.
And it was like music to my ears, but there was something else I still had to do.
Extending my hand to Vasper, I asked him, “Come with us. There’s nothing for you here anymore.” I was afraid what would happen if he stayed.
He resisted, gazing at each of us and back up at Lucifer. If he stayed, he was dead. Vasper had to know that.
At that precise moment, Lucifer raised his hands and shoved his palms open at us. A rush of fire rolled through the arena like it had a mind of its own. I gasped and held up my free hand defensively. Magenta ran through the arena. “Amara! Amara! Don’t do this.”
In front of me, the fire stopped. I gasped and gaped down at my hands. Had I done that? Somehow I’d managed to combat fire with my own untapped power? Turning my attention to Cathal he wore an open mouth expression.
“I don’t know what it is you can do, how about we figure this out together?”
Guards in the arena marched toward us. We didn’t have a lot of time.
“Don’t hurt her. Don’t!” Magenta stood between the guards and us.
“Magenta, no!” I cried out. My heart broke at what was she was doing.
“I didn’t give you life, child.” Magenta’s tone was morose and tears filled her eyes. “But I can give it to you now, if you’ll let me.”
There was so much to say, but there wasn’t time. I looked at Vasper. “Now, Vasper!” My fingers fanned out at him. “Please!”
“Vasper,” Cathal warned, gazing at the closing troops.
His friend from the arena sighed and took both of our hands. All of our wings expanded and a golden hum radiated from Cathal and from me. I had never felt that kind of warmth, not the kind born of fire, but born of purity.
Of light. Truth. Hope.
Cathal’s rope glimmered and with a surge of wing power lifted off the ground. The hem of my dress fishtailed with sparkles of gold.
And an instant later, we were gone. Where we’d end up, I wasn’t sure.
But I was free of Lucifer. Finally, I was free.
Epilogue: Amara
Earth was a tranquil place, more than I had ever imagined. For me, earth was a battlefield. I’d only ever gone there to claim a soul or fight a demon. If Lucifer wanted a gifted child because the Angels had wanted him, I had gone.
I had never allowed myself to see the beauty. How a simple field of grass could calm my soul. Now in Cathal’s arms, we laid in the grass and dandelions tickled my bare toes. The wind blew on my shoulders and I listened to the sound of the gentle stream. T
he smell was pure and sweet—lavender. Nothing had been as freeing as this.
I didn’t know where we’d go, or how we’d even get there. We were together. For now, that’s what was important.
His arms wrapped around my waist, he kissed the nape of my neck. My heart soared and my skin tingled. I moaned at the feel of such pure peace and close my eyes, enjoying the hot rays of the sun beating down on my skin. Cathal’s hands slid down my hips and down my thighs. Eyes open, I watched the lovely stream and listens to the gentle trickle.
“I didn’t know life could be so perfect. This how humans feel? All the time?” I felt guilt and remorse for what I had done for one thousand years and all the souls I’d claimed in the name of Lucifer. I didn’t know what I had done.
“Not all the time,” Cathal said. “There is hardship. And struggles. Sometimes humans are their own worst enemy. They hurt each other, fight, but when they find love, it can be beautiful. Just like this.”
I leaned my head back so we could kiss. He stroked my jaw, and I got comfortable, nestling into him. He leaned his chin on the top of my head and our fingers intertwined. “It’ll be dangerous.” I swallowed hard. “I can’t ever go back home, not that I want to, but they’ll search for me. They’ll want me dead. The secrets I know of hell, it makes me a target.”
“I know.” Cathal stroked my hair.
“And now that you’ve laid with a demon? That we’re together, what will heaven say?”
“Half demon.” Cathal smiled as he corrected me. He touched my chin and brought my face close to his. “And they’ll be made to understand, one day. We’ll both be welcomed into heaven once they see how pure your heart can be. It won’t be easy, but I know you can do it.”
I had so much to make up for. So much atonement that needed doing.
“For now we live as humans? No powers, no wings?”
Cathal nodded. “For now, until everything settles down. Until we can shake hell from our trail, we live as normal a life as possible.”
