Seals

by Kim Richardson

“Do you really think we can beat them?”

  It was hard to tell.

  “It’s not a question of if anymore. In fact, it’s not a question at all. We just have to.”

  “What about Metatron’s plans?”

  David spotted a higher demon making its way slowly toward them. It meandered toward them like it didn’t think they posed any real threat.

  “What about Metatron?” David’s blades twitched in his hands.

  “Well, did you hear anything about them? About how he’s planning to destroy the archfiends and win this thing? David? There’s something behind me, isn’t there—?”

  The higher demon pulled out a death blade faster than a flash of light, but David was already moving.

  He knocked the death blade with his own weapon and slammed into the surprised higher demon. They both went down in a cloud of dust. David caught of glimpse of its laughing face, and a wildness spread in him. His blades flashed, and then there was a squish of metal in flesh and a crunch of bone. Black blood sprayed from the demon’s severed neck, and David slammed his other blade down into the demon’s head. The higher demon went limp, and David jumped up, pumped with adrenaline.

  “I don’t know anything about Metatron’s plans,” said David. “It’s not like the guy trusts me or anything. I’d doubt he’d even tell me his brand of cigars. I’m just another grunt to him.”

  “I think we’re all grunts to that guy.”

  Jenny kicked a small imp in the face and sliced his throat before he could run off. The creature fell.

  “I just don’t see how we’re going to win this war. We’re seriously out numbered.”

  David knew Jenny was right. He had done the math, too. The demons outnumbered the legion twenty to one. It was crazy.

  Suddenly, the ground trembled and moaned like the roar of a hundred thunderstorms. An explosion of earth and dust created a giant cloud, and hundreds of severed demon limbs and bodies fell to the ground around them.

  “What in the souls was that?”

  David cocked his head toward the dust cloud.

  “I guess we’ve got our answer.”

  The cloud dissipated, and Metatron stood in the middle of a small crater with a devious smile on his face. There was not a speck of dust on his suit. His female entourage danced around him, cutting down any demons that had survived the blast.

  David smiled impishly. “He’s a jerk, I’ll admit that. But you can’t deny the man’s got some serious moves.”

  Jenny rolled her eyes, drew her sword quickly, and perforated the neck of a goblin-like demon.

  “Oh please. We’ve all got moves. All he has is a bad haircut and oily skin.”

  They both burst out laughing, a strange sound amongst the wails of the dying. But all too soon, their little burst of hope died.

  Cries erupted like wind, and David thought it was another one of Metatron’s homemade bombs. But what he saw sent a cold shiver through his body.

  The dead demons’ bodies began to twist and move. They began mending themselves and stitching their limbs and heads together until they were whole again. The only signs that they had been dead were the semi-dried stains of blood on their bodies. Otherwise they were as good as new.

  “This is not real. It can’t be.” Jenny’s voice came out like a whisper.

  “This can’t be happening.”

  David watched horrified, transfixed, as demons that had suffered blows that no otherworldly creature could have survived didn’t stay down. They kept getting back up.

  “They’re not dying,” said David, astonished and disgusted at the same time.

  “They’re different. They’re stronger somehow.”

  “This isn’t just a regular fight anymore,” he said slowly. “We’re fighting what won’t be killed.”

  “But how can that be?” Jenny jumped back as one of the imp creatures she had killed a few moments ago, and that technically should have stayed dead, started to screw on its severed head like a plastic doll.

  “What’s giving them this new strength? How can they stay alive?”

  “I don’t know.”

  This was something new. The archfiends had to be responsible.

  The angels had fought with all they had, but the demons kept coming. And soon fear spread like a wildfire, and the battalions broke apart. Some angels ran. But most stayed, determined to fight till the end.

  Piles of angel bodies accumulated on the ground. The demons cheered, cutting and slicing the already dead angels just for the sick and twisted pleasure of it. And when the angel souls rose from their fallen bodies, the demons ate them savagely. Although they were already drunk on the souls they had ingested, they wanted more.

  David felt sick. There was no stopping them.

  “Stay together,” Metatron commanded.

  “Don’t run. We must fight! Where are you going! Guardians come back!”

  The legions broke apart.

  Although a small group of angels protected the big archangel, it wouldn’t be enough. A few hundred angels were nothing compared with the tidal wave of unstoppable demons. They wouldn’t last more than a few hours. The archfiends were going to win.

  They were all going to die.

  “David, we have to get out of here!” Jenny sliced off the head of a massive lizard-like demon. But as it hit the ground, tendrils of black mist shot up from the neck stump, grabbed its severed head, and pulled it back on.

  “This is so wrong!”

  Jenny kicked the creature’s head one last time and then jumped over to David.

  “David, we can’t stay here. They’re slaughtering us. We need to leave and regroup. David!”

  But David ignored her and didn’t move. Even as retreating angels came crashing into his shoulders, he stood still and scanned the area. Jenny shook and pulled him, but her shouts were empty. He was completely preoccupied. He had to find the source of the demons’ power. He had to find whatever it was, for Kara.

  Something had happened to change things. It was like something had started feeding the demons with supernatural power intravenously. Whatever it was, it had to be near. It had to be close. If he could find it and break the connection, then maybe…

  Barely aware that Jenny was still trying to get his attention, David watched as Metatron and his legion of angels ploughed through a wall of lesser demons. He was fierce and every great blow sent dozens of broken demons hurtling through the air. But how long could the archangel keep it up? How long could any of them keep this up? Every time a demon went down, they got back up, but the angels’ souls were devoured when they fell, and they stayed down. At this rate, it wouldn’t matter if they won because the angels were being annihilated.

  A new wave of spider-like demons emerged from a hill in the east and scurried over the battlefield toward more unsuspecting angels. The air felt heavy and thick, like a fog had suddenly materialized.

  David looked up. Above the battlefield a web of shadows spread like a network of thin strings. He followed the black threads.

  Six giant creatures with black wings stood in a circle on the perimeter of the battle.

  Even in the distance they were enormous, bigger than archangels, and David knew instantly that these were the archfiends. Black tendrils shot from the fingers of their outstretched arms and spread over the battle like a giant web of dark power. He could see the tendrils moving and pulsing like veins as they supplied the creatures with an endless supply of power.

  A shudder went through him, but he knew what he had to do.

  “David?” Jenny followed his gaze. “What are those things?”

  “Archfiends.”

  Metatron beat a creature to a bloody puddle nearby.

  “Metatron!” David bellowed.

  Metatron stopped pounding the creature and looked up. His face was unreadable, and his shades were smeared with green-black blood.

  David pointed to the sky with his blade and then to archfiends standing at the edges of the battle. The big man stiff
ened as he surveyed the webs in the sky above them. He turned back to David, his brows furrowed, and David knew the archangel understood what they needed to do.

  Metatron bellowed orders and charged into a gang of lesser demons and imps. With one stroke of his sword, he severed six demons in half, and they fell at his feet. His legion formed two lines on either side of him and slaughtered every creature that came close. They drove the beasts back until there was a clear path through the fallen bodies, a clear path for David.

  “Jenny, get ready.” David only had only a few moments before the demons reformed. It had to be enough.

  “We don’t have much time. You’re going to have to trust me.”

  “Get ready for what? What is it that we need to do?”

  Jenny stared at the archfiends, almost transfixed by fear.

  “We need to break the connection.”

  “What?”

  “Come on, hurry!”

  Most the other angels ran in the opposite direction, but with Jenny at his heels, David charged over the path of demon bodies that Metatron had cleared and headed straight toward the great winged archfiends.

  Chapter 21

  Freedom Run

  David ran like the devils were at his heels because he knew that they soon would be. He heard Jenny’s tread behind him, but he didn’t look back. He didn’t want to break his momentum and slow down even for a second. He only had a few moments to reach the nearest archfiend.

  He could see that it stood at the edge of a cliff just below the volcano. It was female, he was certain of that. A crown glimmered in the gray light on top of her flowing black tresses. Metal armor covered her upper body like a tight bodice, and black veins pulsed under her gray-colored skin. Her beautiful cold features were sculpted and refined, unnaturally perfect. She radiated power. David could feel it all around him. It pushed him back like some sort of force field.

  She immediately made him think of Kara. It was obvious now, when he looked at her more closely. The dark gods had infected Kara with a poison that would morph her into something that looked like this great fiend.

  He remembered her sadness when she had first showed him the veins that covered her trembling hands. He had felt a cold chill down his spine when they had spread to her face and the rest of her body. He knew she had been terrified she would turn into a monster.

  Kara…

  David ran harder.

  He would make the poison go away. He would find a cure to help her. Something. It was his job to protect her. They were soul mates, and he desperately wanted the old Kara back. He’d do anything to make her pain go away. Heck, he would even rip off those cursed wings if he had to. He’d kill all of these wretched archfiends with his bare hands if it meant he could get her back. He would do anything for her.

  David sprinted.

  Kill them all. He hit the wall of darkness that surrounded the female archfiend like a cold mist and pressed on. He didn’t even know if the legion could defeat the archfiends, but he didn’t care. He could only hope that Metatron had a lot more of those bombs, or something better. Right now he had more pressing matters.

  He had to break the connection.

  He had to destroy the archfiends’ web. It was the only thing he could do to help the angels. It was a long shot. God knows if it would even work. But he would take the chance or die trying.

  He wasn’t sure what he was going to do exactly.

  Some of the demons who had been destroyed were already on their feet again. Soon they’d be fighting, and his path would be gone.

  He had less than thirty seconds.

  He made a wild dash.

  Running was the right thing to do, wasn’t it?

  He was so close now that he could see the wicked smile on the archfiend’s face. He was nearly overwhelmed by the smell of death that exuded from her, her unfathomable beauty, and the cold, icy power that she radiated.

  The air around him became cool, and a high-pitched ringing began to reverberate in his head. The ringing in his ears worsened with each step, and he couldn’t hear Jenny behind him anymore. But he couldn’t look back. Not now. He was nearly there. He only hoped she wasn’t too far behind. He would need her help.

  David was a lot of things, truth be told, but he wasn’t a fool. The female thing scared the crap out of him. He didn’t want to die, but if his sacrifice helped save Kara, he would do it. He gripped his soul blades in both hands and dashed toward her.

  Her yellow cat-like eyes had no kindness in them. If she was surprised to see him, it didn’t show on her stone-cold face. She didn’t move a centimeter. She didn’t even move her head, but she followed him with her eyes. Tendrils of black power poured out of her into the battle, never missing a beat.

  Could she multitask?

  He didn’t wait to find out. Maybe she felt that he wasn’t a threat, but merely a tiny little insect.

  That would be her mistake.

  He didn’t aim for her face, or her chest, but hurled his soul blades into the creature’s hands.

  She winced as dark blood spurted from her outstretched fingers. And then the black tendrils flickered and vanished.

  David looked to the sky. Although part of the web shimmered and faded, the shadow branches from the other five archfiends still remained strong. But there was a gap in their web. He had damaged it. And the fact that he actually could make a difference filled him with hope. He had given some of the angels enough time to recover and regroup.

  “You did it! You really did it!” Jenny sounded astonished.

  David slowed to a jog, impressed by his own perfect aim. It had been way too easy.

  And then the archfiend turned her head in his direction.

  Her yellow eyes bored into his as she inspected him, really inspected him. She smiled a wicked smile that made David freeze. She turned her gaze casually to the blades sticking out of her hands. They were nothing but tiny, annoying splinters. She pulled them out, one by one, and tossed them away.

  “Jenny, get back!” cried David. He braced himself and pulled the spare soul blade from his boot. It was coming.

  The archfiend appeared to be amused by this annoying little angel. With a flick of her wrists, and before he even had time to blink, she sent a bolt of darkness crashing into him

  Jenny’s cry echoed in his ears as he felt the searing pain and was lifted in the air. Then blackness and white-hot pain like he’d never felt before. The smell of death and decaying bodies washed over him and inside him. He felt as though his body had been ripped apart. Another wave of pain hit him, and he went down into the blackness of a bottomless abyss.

  The world around him vanished.

  Was this death? Was this his true death? If only he could have seen Kara one last time…if only he could have told her how much she meant to him, how much he truly cared…

  But then sick inhuman laughter replaced the ringing in his ears, and the pain stopped.

  “You wish to die at the hands of a dark god,” said a voice looming over him and everywhere at once.

  “It is an honorable death. I prefer honorable enemies to ambitious ones, and you have refused to submit. I admire your courage, and so I will grant you a quick death, angel boy.”

  David slowly got to his feet, amazed that his weapon still hung in his hand. But he made no move toward the archfiend. He let her talk.

  “Touch him again, and I will send you back to wherever you came from.” Jenny stood behind David with her bowstring taut and three silver arrows nocked and ready.

  The archfiend female threw back her head and laughed. “Your weapons cannot hurt me, spirit of the heavens.”

  She lifted her palms and showed David and Jenny that the wounds on her hands were gone. They had healed themselves.

  “I’ll take my chances,” said Jenny with a fierce grin.

  David took a careful step back and whispered. “Jenny, don’t be stupid—”

  “Yes, please be stupid, Jenny,” said the archfiend.

  �
��I miss killing things, especially defiant little angel specks. How wondrous it feels to be out and killing again, removing the filth from this earth.”

  “Look who’s talking,” spat Jenny.

  The archfiend didn’t lose her smile.

  “You angels have always been foolish and insubordinate. You’ll never learn. Even after all these years, you still don’t know when to admit to weakness and bow down to your gods.”

  Her beautiful face furrowed. “And then you tricked us and caged us like beasts. Perhaps luck was on your side, and you cunning little specks managed to fool us once. But never again.

  “We only wish to repay your kindness. We will destroy this foul little world you cherish so, and we will destroy Horizon and all its creatures.”

  David caught a glimpse of Metatron sneaking up behind the dark god. He was hiding in a group of dead-but-waking demons, and she hadn’t seen him yet.

  David suspected that these powerful creatures probably had eyes in the backs of their heads or could sense danger before it hit. He had to keep her focused on him.

  “Sorry to disappoint you, giant-woman-person,” began David. “But that’s not going to happen because we’re going to stop you.”

  The archfiend’s smile widened, and just as she made to flick her wrists again, Metatron’s sword perforated her neck.

  Metatron moved so fast that David could hardly follow him. He appeared on the other side of the archfiend and struck another sword in her abdomen, just below her breastplate. The archfiend roared, but when she whirled in anger, Metatron was already gone.

  David smiled. He wished he could move that fast.

  Metatron stood in front of her now and hurled his short dagger at the archfiend’s head.

  But faster than humanly or supernaturally possible, she caught his blade easily and tossed it away. With a flick of her wrist, she sent a helix of darkness at the archangel, and he went down entangled in black shadow tendrils. Metatron screamed, and the archfiend spread her wings and landed on the ground next to him. Her face twisted in a mask of fury and hatred.

  David sprinted to help Metatron, but something slammed into him and whacked him on the side of the head. David fell to his knees for an instant and blinked the black spots from his eyes. But then he managed to get up and swing his blade into the face of the creature that had knocked him down. It had thick brown leathery skin and a mouth with too many teeth. It hissed at him and staggered back with a large gash exposing raw, wet flesh across its cheek.