“Is this a joke to you?” I scolded.
“Back off!” John stepped between Etta and me.
“I’m sorry. It slipped.” Etta dropped the scutum, slapping her hands over her mouth as she gave a muffled apology.
“I didn’t mean to—”Etta sheepishly continued as she tried to pry the war hammer from the grey boulder behind me.
The sounds of her sniffles between grunts, as she tried freeing the war hammer, pained me. Pushing John out of the way, I attempted to grab Etta by her shoulders, but my hands only moved through her. Frustrated my hands had passed through, I stepped to her side.
“Look at me.” I said.
“No. You’re being mean.” Etta sniffled, turning away from me.
“I’m being mean? This isn’t a game, Etta. This isn’t the same as fighting Demons in your living room. Lilith and her Guardians don’t have the rules or guidelines we do. Their job is to keep souls in, not let them out, no matter the cost. Etta, they will not hesitate to damn us all. Do you not understand the chances of any of us surviving are slim to none? I’m sorry I yelled at you, but there is more at stake here than just your soul, and I don’t think it’s too much to ask for you to calm down and try not to kill me.” I yelled in her face as I sent a sideways punch to the megalith. The rock cracked and fissured, releasing the war hammer.
“I said I was sorry. It was an accident. You don’t have to yell at me as if I’m a little kid.”
“Then quit acting as one!” I yelled, throwing my hands in the air as I marched away. Nicor and Astaroth appeared with weapons drawn. Instincts kicking in, the Templars flashed as we ran to Etta, encircling her with our wings flared and weapons at the ready.
“Where’s the threat?” Astaroth growled.
“No threat present.” John replied.
“Not how it sounded to us. Why are you all walking out here?” Astaroth inquired.
“If you must know, we can’t flash with her.” I said, relaxing my stance. Etta came around and stood next me as I took notice of Nicor glancing between the war hammer and shield then back to Astaroth.
“Don’t.” I warned.
Sensing a possible fight, the Templars took position in front of Etta and me. At a standstill, tension between Demons and Angels filled the Wastelands. I watched as Nicor and Astaroth passed nervous glares back and forth between each other and us. If either Demon made a wrong move, thirty two Angels would descend upon them, and no one would come to their aid.
“He wouldn’t dream of it, however, Nicor is a little concerned your precious cargo may not know how to properly wield a weapon with such impressive power. One simple misstep and she’ll kill us all.” Astaroth said, lowering his broadsword.
Glancing at Etta twirling the war hammer as if it were a baton and air bashing the scutum, I understood Astaroth’s concern. Etta’s childish approach might have posed a great risk to all parties. I would have to rein her in and hope I didn’t make a mistake by giving her Nicor’s weapon and scutum.
“Stand down. We have more things to worry about. Guardians have been known to recon these areas. Keep your eyes and ears open.” I ordered the troops, stepping beyond them. The Templars lowered their staves as they took position behind me.
“So this is the girl Lilith finds so threatening? I seriously doubt she’d be able to keep from tripping over her own feet much less sit on the throne, and all they’re worried about is Guardians.” Astaroth said to Nicor.
“Something else we should be worried about?” I asked with a hint of suspicion.
“Humph. The Guardians aren’t the threat out here.” Astaroth replied. With an inquisitive glare I urged Astaroth to continue his thought.
“You don’t know, do you? Story time, Nicor?” Astaroth’s mouth widened with a wry grin.
“Don’t know what?” John chimed in.
“You all might want to gather around and listen, so you’ll know what it is we are facing.” Astaroth nudged Nicor.
The Templars gathered around John and me, waiting to hear whatever Astaroth and Nicor had to tell us. Peering over my shoulder, Etta continued dancing about, distracted from her surroundings with her new toys. I thought of charging over to her and commanding she stop and attempt to pay attention, but a warmth in my chest told me if these should be our last days, let me do what I do and allow her to enjoy them as if nothing were wrong.
“Well, get on with it.” I said, turning back to Nicor and Astaroth.
“After your banishment, Rahovart, not only did Master lose his right hand Demon but his heir as well. With you out of the way, Lilith took the opportunity to work her way into Master’s close circle, and then to his bed. It didn’t take long for her to push for marriage. As his wife, the throne would automatically go to her should Master fall. She thought she had been a shoo-in when Master called the generals in for an announcement. She believed Lucifer would be announcing their engagement and her succession. Instead, Master simply skirted the matter, making no changes to the line of succession. All of Lilith’s talk about marriage and children backfired right in her face.
She wants to remove males from any and all position of power, starting with Lucifer, followed by the Big Man. But it wouldn’t happen if she didn’t have control of a soul with a rightful claim to the throne. With promises of a new world order, a seat on the throne, Lilith worked her charmed on Alastor, drawing him into working for her. But he failed.
After the Alastor mess, she planned on Ra’s temper killing Etta again, sending her back to Purgatory. It goes without saying that failed as well. So Lilith has taken matters into her own hands. Story has it she knew Etta would meet the same fate as her if she met a violent death on Earth. But, now that she’s made a move out in the open, revealing herself, Lilith has no other option than to try and ensure Etta does not regain her spirit. She’ll be watching our every move and may attack at any time.” Nicor explained in a solemn tone.
The weight of his words hung heavily on me. But mostly I had been made a sucker. I had been tired of the games, underhanded dealings, and constant lineup changes. As if it hadn’t been reason enough to snap, knowing we were walking into Lilith’s trap sent me over the edge. Stress combined with frazzled nerves: the urge to vomit took over.
Shoving everyone out of my way, I braced myself against the massive stone, expelling the contents of my stomach. Between heaves of vomit, the thought drilled deeper into my subconscious. Gritting my teeth, I tried to hold back the bile and anger. With my reality of our impending deaths sinking in, I had been unable to hold back any longer. Releasing a guttural scream, my fists pounded my head before finding their way to gripping my hair as I dropped to my knees.
“Ra! What’s wrong?” A frantic Etta took to my side.
Shaking with rage, clenching my jaw, and seething, I glared up at her aquamarine eyes. I should have found peace in her gaze but what had been a jovial Etta seconds before my outburst had been replaced with a terrified and confused girl.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Etta cautiously asked. Biting my bottom lip I scanned the bunch closing in around me.
“Answer me, Ra! You’re scaring me!” Etta glided a few paces away from me. John took position next to Etta, ready to strike should I make a threatening move. A flock of Templars and the two Demons flashed in front of Etta as I gripped my shield and sword and staggered to my feet.
“Ra. Please tell me what’s wrong?” Etta sobbed.
Turning my back to them, numbness swept over me as I surveyed the northern horizon. Beyond the peaks, our fate awaited. But fate wouldn’t get Etta. I would get her soul intact without loss of life…even if it killed me.
“You. Let’s go.” I pointed to a Templar in the crowd.
“No. We stay together! Bad things only happen when we’re separated, Ra. Don’t you see that? If we stay together, we can do this.” Etta pleaded as I gripped around the Templar.
With an air of arrogance I lifted my chin and puffed out my chest.
“Don
’t you dare!” Etta commanded.
“We’re all going to die. I can’t allow it to happen. ” I said, shooting a glare at her over my shoulder seconds before the Templar and I flashed.
Chapter Eight Etta
The bastard! Leaving me…again. Time to remind him who he is messing with. Knowing Ra’s stubbornness, he ran off to Purgatory to get my spirit without me. I had faith in his fighting capabilities, but he would be unable to navigate through the terrain once inside the gates or find my essence on his own. Only I had the ability to pinpoint my soul’s exact location.
I understood Ra was upset with me for acting childish but what he didn’t know was I had been blocking out the voices, cries, pain, and screams of my fractured pieces. Everything they said, heard, and felt, I did as well. It was as if my mind had been quartered by four invisible horses, making the simplest of thoughts near impossible.
With the chaos in my head I needed to figure out how to get to Purgatory’s gates before Ra entered. Without the capability of flashing, it left me with only one mode of transportation. When I first spotted Ra at the gates of Heaven, I had been filled with so much happiness I swelled. I had to shake off my emotions. I needed to get happy again.
With the voices chiming in with their different opinions about what to do and the distressed chattering of the Angels behind me, finding my happy place seemed futile. Fighting for a moment of clarity, I swung the war hammer around, concentrating on how to handle it if I should encounter a foe, when a tickling sensation manifested in my hands, followed by a rippling effect.
“Hold the scutum tight to your body. Raise it until the top reaches the bulb of your nose.” A coarse voice whispered in my ear. Looking at what might have caused the sudden sensation, I saw two clawed hands inside of mine, one squeezing my hand around the war hammer, the other around the straps of the shield.
“Get away from her!” Dad shouted above the rest. As the Demon’s body turned to face my father, my insides swished around making me giggle.
“It’s okay, Dad. Nicor won’t hurt me.”
Ignoring my father’s threat, Nicor turned back to me, “Look up. Never down. The tip has the same poison as an Arch’s wings, so be very careful. Tuck the hammer in, spike outward, head inward. You don’t need a lot of force to drive the spike into a skull, so gently bring it over your shoulder, perpendicular with your body, and then simply tap the spike into your target. Like so.” With Nicor controlling my arm, it came up then down in one fluid motion, as if he had been tapping a nail into a wall.
“If you’re surrounded, once you’ve tapped the enemy in front of you, make sure you have a firm grip on it. Don’t yank the spike out. Move it upward and back, using the head to slam the one behind you but never, and I mean never, let the head hit the ground.” Nicor repeated the movement a few more times before stepping back.
“Now, you try without my help.” Nicor said, crossing his arms over his chest.
I gave it a go, hitting myself in the face with the hammer. Dad rushed toward me, only to be held back by Nicor’s outstretched arm.
“Let her try it again. Tap the boulder.” Nicor instructed.
Turning to the boulder I gave it a small tap causing it to break into halves. The tip had stuck in one half, ripping it out of my hand. In a flash Nicor caught the war hammer before it hit the ground.
The group held their breath in anticipation. Uriel warned what would happen if Nicor ever got his hands on his war hammer, but I hadn’t been worried in the slightest. At any point in time I was sure Nicor had the ability to snatch his former weapon from me and disappear. Yet, he hadn’t.
“Again.” Nicor kept his steely gaze on me.
Everyone except Nicor watched with concern as I gave it another go, this time without error. As fun as learning how to use my weapons had been, I still hadn’t found my happy place. Suddenly the craziest of ideas dawned on me.
“Nicor, you’re a water Demon!” I exclaimed joyously. Nicor flashed a Cheshire grin and nodded his head in agreement.
“Dad, you go get the other piece of me and bring it to the gates. Nicor, you and I are going on a little journey.”
“You’re not going anywhere. Ra said we can’t flash with you in your condition. And how do you know about the other piece?” My dad rebutted.
“You can’t flash with me, but a water Demon can and what better water Demon than the king of them all. Oh, and Dad, sound travels faster through water. I hear everything.”
“Where are you going?” Dad replied, brushing off his embarrassment.
“I’m going to get my husband before he does something stupid.”
“The coward ran. He can be anywhere. Think about this, baby girl. Is he worth risking your whole existence for?”
With the millions of negative things someone might say about my husband, Ra, coward hadn’t been one of them. My dad never hid his feelings about Ra. I knew he didn’t trust him and believed I’d been able to do much better but the truth was, there was no better. Ra had been the only Angel or Demon I ever wanted to be with. Despite our troubles, I loved him wholeheartedly. As much as I wanted to stand up in Ra’s defense, I hadn’t wanted to waste any more time on petty disagreements.
“Without him, I have nothing to exist for. Now, stop arguing with me. I’ll meet you at the gates once you’ve gotten my other piece. Nicor, you ready?”
Nicor put his hands in mine and before I knew it, we were landing behind a pile of rotting corpses. Seconds later, a flash of light went off behind us. Astaroth had followed.
“What do we do now?” Astaroth asked as we crept around to another pile of bodies.
“We find Ra.” I answered when I saw a Templar running up the rubble encrusted cliff side toward us.
“He told me to wait out here for him. I was getting ready to go back to the group when I saw you three.” Panting from the exertion, the Templar who served as Ra’s taxi came up beside us.
“Where did he go?” I asked.
“Found him.” Nicor said, pointing toward the gates.
With a dozen polearms aimed for his throat, Ra stood, hands clasped behind his head in capitulation. The Guardians had him surrounded. My breath hitched, and a strange pulsing in my stomach started as Lilith walked out of the gates and approached Ra. The closer she stepped to Ra, the stronger the pulse became. My spirit shouted out to me to run for Ra.
“What do you want to do? Should we wait for your father, Etta?” Astaroth asked.
Shushing him, I concentrated on blocking out my soul’s cries for help and listening in on Ra’s conversation. Their voices barely above a whisper, I had been able to make out the last thing Ra said before being led through the gates by the Guardians. What does he mean a life for a life? If Ra believed for a minute Lilith would trade my soul for his, he was a bigger fool than I thought. I had to save Ra from her clutches, even if it meant leaving my soul behind.
As Lilith turned to follow her minions, I saw a stone figure being dragged behind Lilith by a golden chain attached to her wrist. Entering the gates, the pulsating subsided to a dull throb. My soul!
“Let’s go before the gates close!” I ordered.
“What about the others?” the Templar asked.
“We don’t have time. You wait here in case they show up” I said as I took off for the gates. Nicor snatched me by the arm.
“You have got to stop touching me.” I giggled, unable to control the ticklish sensation coursing through me at his touch.
“We can’t rush in blind.” Nicor contested.
“I know the place like the back of my hand.”
“But do you know where she’ll be holding your essence and Ra? We can’t go in there weapons blazing. We need a clear, concise plan. Besides, if something happened to you, your…” Nicor paused, glancing over at Astaroth who had been watching us closely. “brother would never forgive me.” he corrected his argument.
“Lilith has my spirit, and knowing her she’ll take Ra to the dungeons. If we go now we m
ay be able to cut them off near the armory.”
Shaking his head, it seemed Nicor understood arguing with me would prove fruitless. My mind had been made up.
“Tell us where the armory is and how it looks…every detail.” Astaroth insisted.
Nicor and Astaroth closed their eyes and listened intently as I gave them every detail I remembered, starting from the gates to the armory just above the dungeons. When I finished, Nicor snatched me into his arms and flashed.
Appearing in the armory, we were met with a small force of four Guardians. With a graceful indifference Nicor spun one around, stepped up his back, and ripped off the Guardian’s head.
“Where do you suppose a spirit goes if it dies in Purgatory, Brother?” Astaroth jokingly asked Nicor as he sliced the throat of another with his broadsword. Nicor responded with a poofing motion of his free hand as he shoved his claws into the final Guardian’s chest. Staring deep in his eyes, Nicor watched with a wicked grin as the life faded from the Guardian’s eyes.
Nicor seemed to have faded into a state of euphoria as he sucked in a deep breath and slowly released it. Seeing how enjoyable the kills had been for them gave me pause. Did I make a mistake bringing them with me? Should they turn against us, would Ra be able to fight the two off?
“They’re coming this way.” Nicor whispered as he put his ear to the armory door.
“How can you tell?” I asked as I took position behind the two Demons.
“Your chest is lit up similar to the lava flows of Hell.” Astaroth said, pointing his chin to my chest. I hadn’t had a chance to look at what he was talking about as Nicor flung open the door, rushing the group of Guardians on the other side. Following him and Astaroth into the cavern, I spotted a group of Guardians pushing Ra and Lilith back when one took a swing at me.
The Angel Side Page 10
