by Unknown
“You didn't think Hell going sub-zero would be important to a fire faerie?” I huffed as we trudged forward. Thankfully the bone path was still there and still unaffected by the rest of the landscape. It was clear of snow completely.
“I was more focused on Dad, I guess,” Sebastian said.
“I hope you can talk some sense into him, Mom,” Dominic added.
“Me too,” I sighed, “but Azrael has always been stubborn.”
“Pot. Kettle,” Kirill gave me a squeeze.
“Watch it, lion,” I teased back. “I could simply take two steps away from you and you'd freeze your ass off.”
“Da,” he grimaced, “probably literally.”
Then the Ice Blocks came into view.
I'd thought the cell blocks of Hell had previously been disturbing. With every monster known to man and every nightmare, from the most horrifying to the most strange, filling those limitless cells, it was hard to look at and I often walked by with my eyes set firmly on my feet. Now, it was even more disturbing. Not exactly more frightening, just more disturbing.
Because now those evil scenes, revealed through the translucent ice, were frozen.
No demons flew through the sky to watch over the prisoners. No screams echoed hauntingly through the thick ice. Nothing moved but the the drifts of snow piled around the base of the blocks and nothing was heard but the cruel wind whipping through the path between Ice Block One and Ice Block Two. I gaped at the frozen souls, faces stretched in silent screams, as things chased them or tore at them in immobilized attack. It was like visiting a wax museum in the middle of the Antarctic.
“What's going on?” I whispered as I looked around. “Has Luke gone crazy too?”
“Grandpa is a little busy taking care of Dad,” Sebastian gave what I was beginning to recognize as his trademark shrug.
“So he let Hell go to... well, to Hell?” I asked.
“Kinda,” Dominic nodded. “He had to put everything on ice so he could give Dad his full attention.”
“Yeah, literally on ice,” Sebastian chuckled.
“We're almost there, you'll see for yourself, Mom.” Dominic ignored his brother.
And we were almost there. I knew it because we were passing through the Mountains of Madness, which normally whispered your worst fears to you in your own voice. There were no whispers anymore but the shrieking wind was still a bit unnerving. I peered up at the sheer cliffs of snow-capped stone with trepidation. I hadn't been so unsettled by Hell since my first visit.
Then we were standing before Luke's mansion, where the cold abruptly ended, the snow stopping in a perfect line about twenty feet from the imposing front door. From that point forward, everything was as I remembered it.
I breathed a sigh of relief and toned down my heat as we huddled on Satan's doorstep. Sebastian gave a dramatic knock. We waited and then he knocked again. We waited some more, casting concerned looks at each other, and then finally the door was thrown open and an irate blonde woman was revealed.
She was very pale, with spots of feverish color in her cheeks. Light from the house haloed her body, making her look like a martyred saint. Which I guess was kind of appropriate since she was the Holy Spirit.
“Holly?” I asked hesitantly and her face fell into amazed circles, both eyes and mouth going round.
I looked over her disheveled self with my own surprise. Normally Holly was perfect, like in every way possible. She wore perfect suits or perfect dresses, everything pressed and not a wrinkle or stain to be found. She had perfect hair styled perfectly and perfect skin, usually with just a hint of perfectly applied make-up. She was like a celebrity who was always on the look out for the paparazzi.
The woman who stood before me now was far from perfect. Her hair was pulled back in a careless ponytail and it was slowly working its way free in frazzled clumps. There were bruised circles beneath her eyes and the aforementioned spots of pink in her cheeks, though those were fading now. Then there was her outfit; sweatpants and a T-shirt. A T-shirt! This woman never wore T-shirts. Hell had indeed frozen over.
Oh, and the T-shirt read: Hell if I know.
“Hey, Grandma,” Sebastian smirked. “Guess who's coming to dinner?”
“Oh, you are so my son,” I smiled at him fondly as Holly fainted. “Holly?” I rushed over to her. “Holly? Holly!”
“What in hell is going on here?” Luke came running over and then stopped short. “Vervain?”
“What's up, Lucifer?” I gave him a hesitant smile.
“What did you do to my wife?” He glanced around. “Hello, Kirill... boys.”
“Hey, Grandpa,” my boys chimed together.
“Luke,” Kirill nodded.
“I didn't do anything to Holly,” I answered the Devil. “She just fainted.”
“Holly?” Luke knelt beside his wife. “Holly, sweetheart, are you alright?”
“Luke?” She blinked her eyes open. “Oh, Luke, I dreamt that Vervain had returned from the dead and she was pregnant again.”
“It wasn't a dream,” Luke glanced up at me and Holly's eyes followed. “She's here. She really is here.”
“How?” Holly sat up abruptly and grabbed the front of my shirt. “How are you alive?”
“My daughter, Samara went back in time to find me and bring me here. I need to change this future, Holly.”
“Well no shit,” her eyes widened and her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, I apologize for the profanity. Don't repeat that, boys,” she pointed her finger at my little angels and they shared an astonished look before laughing their asses off.
“Come on, darling,” Luke helped Holly to her feet.
“You fix this, Vervain,” Holly pointed that finger again except this time it was at me. “You fix him. You make Azrael better.”
“I'll try my best,” I whispered as Luke pulled his wife into an embrace. “Is he here? Can I see him?”
“Of course you can,” Luke smiled and angled himself so he could wave a hand towards the back of the house. “He's in the library.”
“The library?” I lifted a brow.
“It's where they spend all day,” Holly huffed. “I can't do this much longer, Vervain. There are cheese puffs everywhere. Cheese puffs in the Devil's house! You fix my son right now!”
“Yes, ma'am,” I nodded and then turned to Kirill and my sons. “You guys wait here with Luke and Holly, okay?”
“Be careful,” Kirill whispered to me right before he kissed my cheek.
“I will,” I nodded and squeezed his hand before I started down the hallway. I glanced back to see Luke ushering everyone into the kitchen.
“Come on, all of you,” I heard Satan say. “Let's make some hot chocolate.”
I shook my head and padded across the thick, Persian carpet which ran the length of the hallway. A few steps brought me to a beautifully carved wood door with a gold handle. I turned the knob and quietly pushed it open as I took a deep breath, preparing myself to deal with any insanity that I might find on the other side. A blast of sound hit me like a slap in the face and I stood frozen in the doorway, not quite sure what I was seeing.
Azrael was sitting in a leather gamer's chair on the floor. The kind with no legs to it, just a curved bottom, built in speakers, and a cup holder on one side. I could see the back of Azrael's head, his long legs stretched out before him, and his hands gripping a game controller. In front of him was a huge, flat-screen TV mounted directly over the built-in bookshelves. On its surface, men in combat gear were running with assault weapons as flashes of bombs went off all around them. The sound of explosions, helicopters, and artillery blared out of speakers set all over the room.
“Get your ass moving, Cid!” Azrael shouted into his headset as I gaped. “I don't have time to babysit you.”
“Stop busting my balls, Az!” Came Cid's voice, loud enough that I could hear him through Azrael's earpiece.
Cid was a demon, warden of Ice Block One actually, and his voice prompted the most insane t
hings to start circulating through my head. Things like; Holy hellfire, Azrael is playing Halo with demons! So many jokes! Then came the ridiculous questions; Why is Cid somewhere else while he's playing Halo with Azrael? Where is Cid? Does Cid have a house somewhere in Hell? Is it cold there? How do they have an internet connection between the cold Cid house and the warm library where Azrael sat in his infantile chair? It went on and on until I finally blinked away the thoughts and shut the door behind me with a loud slam.
Azrael's headset only had one earpiece, with an attached microphone snaking down his cheek. So he was able to hear the door slam, even above all the noise his game was making. He glanced back over his shoulder, started to say something, and then stopped, dropped his game controller, and turned around in a daze.
“Vervain?” He whispered.
“Get it together, man!” Cid's voice came again. “What are you doing?”
Azrael yanked the headset off and threw it aside as he stood to face me. He came forward two steps and just stared at me as I stared at him. He didn't look crazy, a little more menacing perhaps but that could be due to the goatee he was now sporting. His baby blue eyes sparked and then went diamond bright as his face shifted, briefly flashing his death mask beneath the skin. The angelic script on his cheek began to glow electric blue and his black wings unfurled with a whoosh of air.
“Hey, you,” I whispered.
“I've finally done it,” he whispered back as he closed the distance between us. He didn't touch me, just angled his head to look at me from all sides. “I've gone completely insane and have begun to hallucinate. I knew it was just a matter of time but damn, this is better than I expected.”
“Cause I'm not a hallucination, Azrael,” I laid my hand to his cheek and he flinched as his eyes went as wide as a panicked horse's.
Then he started screaming.
I shrank back and stared at him in horror as he fell backwards over his chair, his wings stretching out to cushion his fall. I reached out to help him and he screamed more, twisting away and knocking into the TV. The TV stayed put but his wingspan was huge, nearly crossing the entire room, and with him flailing about like that, he knocked down everything that wasn't secured. Each crash startled him more, making him bounce about the room like a pinball. A pinball with wings. Which I guess would be a golden snitch.
“Azrael!” I shouted and went forward. Again he flailed away and ended up sprawled on the floor in a backwards heap. “Az, it's me! I was brought forward from the past. Look at my belly, Az! I'm pregnant with Rian. Remember? I'm from the past, I haven't returned from the dead. I'm not a zombie.” He kept screaming so I slapped him hard across the face. “Snap out of it!” I growled and he immediately went silent.
“Vervain?” He whispered again.
“Yeah, it's me.”
“It's really you?” His eyes began to fill with tears.
“It is,” I opened my arms and he rolled forward into them.
He didn't speak anymore, just cried and cried and cried. I held him and stroked his hair, humming to him softly. His hands clenched around me, his whole body shaking as his wings encircled us. I just closed my eyes and laid my cheek to the top of his head. I was getting to be pretty good at riding out the crazy.
It took a long time for Az to cry himself out and then even longer for him to let me go and lift his face to look up at me. Then we just sat together as he touched me. His hands crept over my face, my neck, and my arms. They roamed my body in dispassionate pats and heavy strokes, more about reassurance than pleasure.
“How?” He finally whispered.
“Samara came back for me,” I said gently. “She brought me forward so I could see the future and change it since the ring won't allow her to go back and change the past.”
“Tricky,” he gave a short huff. “She's always been a wily one. Takes after her daddy.”
“She does kind of,” I nodded in surprise.
“Why does that shock you?” He cocked his head at me.
“According to her, Arach wasn't really there for her,” I shrugged.
“After your death perhaps,” Azrael conceded, “but before that, he was a huge part of her life. Arach loves his children. How could he not?”
“And what about you?” I lifted a brow. “What about our children?”
“I love my children too,” he whispered.
“Really?” I cocked my head at him. “Because when I knocked on your door, I found them alone with a story about how their father went kinda crazy and had left them to go and live in Hell.”
“Maybe I did,” he sighed, sat back, and ran a shaky hand over his wild hair. It hung down to his shoulders in loose waves and I knew it was because he'd neglected it, like he'd neglected our sons. It made me think of Kirill's shorn hair and how differently people mourn.
“Thank you for Nick, by the way,” I brushed the unruly locks back from his temple.
“Nick?” He frowned. “Oh, yeah, you thanked me for that a long time ago.”
“Well, thank you for looking after him,” I sighed. “For bringing him to Shehaquim.”
“That was our boys,” he swallowed hard and lifted a hand to my cheek. “You gave me twins. After all I put you through, you gave me my own children. Two at once.”
“Yeah, they're something else, aren't they?” I chuckled.
“They remind me so much of you, especially Sebastian,” he laughed. “Though Dominic is a complete mama's boy.”
“Yes, I spent some time with them on the way here,” I nodded. “We did good, I think. We raised them right.”
“We did,” he agreed with a smile. “I've missed you, Carus.”
“I'm sorry, baby,” I leaned forward and gave him a chaste kiss. “I wouldn't wish this on anyone but especially not on you.”
“I knew the risks when I decided to be with you,” he sighed.
“I like the goatee,” I changed the subject before we started playing the blame game.
“Do you?” He stroked his chin.
“Yeah, it's kind of sinister sexy,” I laughed.
“Thanks,” he grinned and then went serious again.“So what do we need to do to fix this?”
“I have to find out why I didn't stop Arach from going to war,” I repeated my mission to him. “He says I didn't seem to have the heart to fight him, I just went along with it, and if I had stopped him, I'd-”
“Still be alive,” Az whispered. “Yes, something did happen. I remember you being heartbroken but you wouldn't tell us why.”
“So you don't know?” I exhaled harshly in disappointment.
“No, I don't,” his face settled into serious lines. “But I know who does. There was someone with you that day. I remember you coming home with him and when you refused to tell me what happened, he clammed up as well. He'll know what went wrong, what hurt you.”
“Who?” I frowned. “Who was with me?”
“Trevor's son... and yours,” Azrael smiled gently. “Vero. He was with you. He knows what hurt you.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I wanted to go and find Vero right away but Holly talked me into staying long enough for a quick meal. She said the future wasn't getting any worse and the past wasn't going anywhere so we had time to eat. It was a valid point.
Luke fixed us all something light (pizza and salad) while Holly hugged her son and cried. I didn't think Azrael's descent into the World of Warcraft, oh excuse me, the world of Halo, was cause for tears but evidently it had been the only thing that kept him partially sane. As soon as he stopped playing, he would go into a near catatonic state broken only by bouts of screaming, like I'd witnessed earlier. He would only eat while he was playing his game, and then it was distractedly. His preference was for cheese puffs, which annoyed both of his parents to no end. He would only speak to you if you were playing the game with him and your voice was coming through his earpiece or to tell you to bring him more cheese puffs. So Luke and Cid had immersed themselves into the game with Az in an effort to ke
ep him from being entirely alone.
Halfway through our pizza (Luke hand tossed the dough while singing opera because he insisted that it improved the flavor), Holly produced some photo albums and passed them over to me. Pictures me, smiling broadly while holding two chubby baby angels, gleamed up from the pages of the well-loved books. There were also shots of Azrael, his arm around us or holding one of the boys. Then pictures of Luke and Holly, as well as shots of Kirill, Trevor, and our children. I got to see Lesya and Vero as toddlers.
There was one photo in particular which held my attention. It was Trevor, giving his lopsided grin as a little boy straddled his shoulders, tiny fists full of Trevor's curls. Those honey eyes shone brightly from both of their faces and Vero's curls were an exact replica of his father's.
“He looks just like Trevor,” I whispered.
“Yes, they could be twins,” Holly smiled and shot a look at my boys. “I think Sebastian and Dominic resemble their father too, though I see hints of you in their faces.”
“Where is he?!” Cid came bursting through the front door, wearing only a pair of jeans and a parka. He was in his human guise, with pitch-black hair, swarthy skin, and vivid green eyes. A gaming headset clung to his cranium for dear life, its wire trailing behind him as he ran into the dining room and continued his hysterics. “Where's Az? I heard him screaming. Is he-” Cid stopped and stared at all of us, his gaze finally settling on me. Then he fell backwards in a dead faint.
“Why do people keep doing that around me?” I grimaced.
“Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one,” Holly huffed.
“Is someone going to help him?” I looked around the table and Dominic got up and went over to the demon.
“Uncle Cid?” Dominic patted Cid's puffy, blue, parka-clad shoulder. “Hey, Uncle Cid? You okay?”
“Huh? What? What happened?” Cid sat up and blinked, then focused on the roomful of people once more. His eyes slowly slid over to me and his mouth fell open. “Well roll me in glitter and call me a vampire!” He shot to his feet. “It's the god damned, motherfucking, Godhunter!”
“Hey, Cid,” I waved a happy hand at him. “How's it hanging?”
