by Rae Foxx
19
Mary reached her hand toward Ariel and plucked a hair from her head, then put it in a bowl in her hand. Michael waved his hand and the bowl floated in midair as a flame appeared underneath it.
Mary chanted. "Est in potentia moveri. Et quod corrumpere exercitum. Affer mihi magicae, ubi usus agam respectu boni."
Lucifer squeezed my shoulder, then walked closer to Mary. In my distraction, I didn't feel Raphael gathering up his and Lucifer's power. I should've expected him to try something, but I was so engrossed in seeing if it worked with Ariel that I let my guard down.
Rookie freaking move.
He blasted a wave of energy outward that surprised me. My grasp of the massive amount of power at my disposal faltered, and his cage broke. I focused everything I had on making sure Ariel's cage didn't. We had to have her power for the final step of our plan.
We no longer needed Raphael, though. We had what we needed. He could go.
I turned to him and smiled. "I promised myself I'd be the one to kill you."
I'd wanted to watch them do the spell to get Ariel's power and shove it into Luc. I was worried it would hurt Ariel somehow, but unless we destroyed Raphael's realm, we would always worry that someone could take her away and take her there. We needed to be able to keep her safe. Now that everyone knew how much power she had; others might try to get to her. To corrupt her or use her. We couldn't let that happen.
His realm had to go.
And now he had pushed the itinerary. I chuckled. "Not smart," I whispered.
Grabbing a bit of power from the flow, I lashed it out at Raphael. When the cage had broken, he'd lunged for his girlfriend and son. "None of that, now."
I wrapped the power around him and lit it on fire. He screamed as his skin blistered. He tried to lash out at me, but our combined power was still stronger than his with Lucifer's. I deflected his attempt to break my hold on him and walked forward. "I told you that your behavior would determine how you died. And you brought my daughter to me, finally. We can make sure she's safe and whole now. And your entire plan..." I sighed and held out my arms. "I know you can't enter Abaddon but let me tell you how it looks."
Bending over, I used the magic to lift him into the air and lay him on his back on an invisible table of air. I put my mouth next to his ear. "It's like it never happened. Abaddon is full of demons. All of them, back where they belong. And the humans don't know it ever happened."
He struggled against my bonds.
I looked down at him and considered how I might hurt him. He needed to suffer as I had while I worried about the safety of my daughter.
"Dad!" The little boy's voice broke my intensity. I remembered who I was.
Of course, I was Lilith, Queen of Abaddon. I could be cruel, cold, and a little bit insane. It would've been all too easy to have tortured him until his death.
But since my last Earth cycle, I was something more as well. I was now a mother.
And that little boy's cry reached me. I couldn't murder his father in front of him.
But that didn't mean I couldn't murder his father at all.
With a wave of my hand, I created a box around both of us. It was impenetrable and soundproof. His son wouldn't ever know what happened here.
"Now," I whispered. The silence inside the box was deafening. Soon, Raphael's fear gave way and he began to pant harder and harder. Soon the space was filled with his fear-laden breaths. "Do you have any last words?"
He shook his head. "My legacy is larger and farther spread than you know."
I arched an eyebrow. "Your Nephilim? I know all about them."
He smiled. I couldn't tell if there was an edge of defeat to his smile or if it was something more. Maybe he'd done something I still didn't know.
It didn't matter. Enough was enough. I conjured a knife and held it in my hand, weighing the blade and letting Raphael know what was coming.
"You know it's not so easy to kill an Archangel," he said.
I slapped my forehead in mock surprise. "Oh, yeah. I forgot." I threw the knife in the air, and while he watched it turn over and over, I tied a whip of magic around his throat. With a jerk of my arm, the magic constricted and cut through his neck.
His head hit the grass under my feet with a dull thud, but there was no blood. The magic had cauterized the wound.
But that wasn't enough. He was unconscious but could have been healed.
I delved into him. I found his aura, which was so mixed with colors both good and bad that it was deep, dark gray. Gross.
Grabbing it, I yanked it from his body and held it tight while I transported us into Abaddon. "Asmodeus," I called.
Seconds later, my brother appeared at my side. Closing off the web of magic around Raphael's soul, I handed it to my brother. "You know what to do."
Raphael's aura pulsed, colors flashing through it as he realized he wasn't going to be destroyed. Oh, no.
He was going to be processed in Abaddon, like any other evil soul that had ever existed.
"Did you think you'd get the beautiful escape of oblivion?" I whispered to his terrified aura. "No, no. Enjoy our hospitality while I go take care of your little realm."
I watched Asmodeus walk away with the object of my life's biggest frustrations, then joined everyone outside the gates again.
Ariel and the little boy were crying. Mia looked furious. Lucifer glowed with his own power. He looked like he was about to spontaneously combust with the weight of it.
"Ariel is resisting," Gabe said. "Mary's still trying." He pointed to Lucifer. "And he obviously got his power back."
I delved into Mary. "Let me help," I whispered.
She nodded.
Using the connected power of the angels, I pushed into Mary's power and bolstered it. She repeated the words in Latin and grabbed hold of the power I offered.
Ariel gasped and clutched her chest. I rushed forward and held out my hands, but she squeaked and hid behind Mia.
Mia crouched down and held both children close. "Do not come any closer!" she yelled. But she was human. She couldn't do anything.
"I promise, we won't hurt you. None of you. You're innocent in this."
She didn't reply as she stared me down. I dropped to my knees, hoping to distract all of them long enough for Mary and Lucifer to complete the spell and get Ariel's power. Combined with the power we still held; it would be enough for Lucifer to destroy Raphael's realm.
I hear them chanting, and Ariel gasped again. I focused on her aura and was nearly driven speechless when I realized I could see her magic leaving her. Silverish notes of deep burgundy wisped out from her body.
It was an eerie sight, and one I wasn't too happy about seeing. It felt wrong, using her power.
I still didn't know that we had any other choice.
Her power hit Lucifer like a ton of bricks.
He yelled out and reached blindly. "Help," he gasped. "I can't hold it."
Immediately, I jumped to my feet and grabbed him, as did Michael and Gabe. We linked to each other and helped him hold the flow of magic. I directed it and wove it into the thread of magic linking us to the host of angels and Fallen.
Once he was stabilized, I turned to Ariel. "Are you okay?"
Tears streamed down her face. "What did you do?" she whispered.
"We had to borrow your power for a little while, sweetheart." I knelt again. "We'll give it back soon. I'm so sorry."
She already didn't trust us. Taking her power first thing wasn't exactly the way to go, but it would've been all too easy for Mia to grab her and disappear forever.
I wasn't losing her again. "Let us do a little bit of magic and we'll give it back, okay?"
Ariel nodded solemnly. "Hurry," she whispered. "I don't like this feeling."
Lucifer crouched beside me. "I know how it feels. Like your arm just fell off or something."
A smile ghosted at her lips as she looked at her father. "Who are you?" she asked.
Luc's face softened
. "I'm your father. I've been searching for you for your entire life."
She looked at Mia questioningly.
I waited for the woman to respond. If she told Ariel anything but the truth, she'd have been in danger of being burned to a crisp.
But she spoke true. "He has," she said. "He won't hurt you."
Mia glared at me. "He better not."
We stood. "He won't. We just have a bit of work to do and she'll have her powers back and we can stop all this madness."
Mia nodded. "Fine."
"There," I said. "Try to do it."
"Do you have a trinket that would let you return to the place where Raphael kept you?" Lucifer asked. The only indication he gave that he'd nearly burned to a crisp was a slight twitch of his finger.
She nodded. Reaching into her pocket, Ariel pulled out a coin and handed it to us. "I have to touch it with my blood."
Mary whistled. "Blood magic. He got this from a Nephilim."
"How does this work?" I asked.
Lucifer stared at Mia with an intense gaze. "Is this the only way in or out of the realm?" He leaned forward so his nose was nearly touching hers. "I will know if you're lying."
"No," she said shakily.
I nearly chuckled. Lucifer was the Lord of the Morning, after all. He was damn intimidating.
"This is the only one," she whispered.
"If you have found a way to lie to me, I will possess your soul and own it forever, do you understand that? I have that power."
She nodded rapidly. "I believe you," she whispered.
He stepped back and looked at the coin. "Then I should be able to destroy this. With Raphael gone..."
"Gone!" The little boy piped up for the first time. "What do you mean gone?"
He clenched his little fists and glared at us. "What did you do with my Daddy?"
Ariel began to cry. "Where's Daddy?" she asked Mia.
Hearing Ariel call that monster her father gutted me. How dare he? He told her he was her father? As if he could hold a candle to Lucifer.
Mia knelt and gathered them both close. "It's okay. He's had to go away for a while. But you're safe. They won't hurt you."
I ached to hold Ariel and comfort her. But I was a complete stranger to her. Mia was the only mother she'd ever known. Tears filled my eyes, but I blinked them back.
Lucifer turned to me, hiding his face from the other angels and Mia. His eyes were full of tears as well, but I knew he didn't want anyone to see.
Michael and Gabriel gathered close. "What do we need to do?" Michael asked in a hushed voice.
"I'm not completely sure. We'll blast this thing with magic and see what happens." Luc looked at me uncertainly. I shrugged. "We have to try. Otherwise, we'd have to go there and try to do it from there."
He focused on the coin, but nothing happened. "Let me try." I took it from him and held it up between two fingers. Lucifer pushed control of all the power over to me. I nearly trembled feeling it running through me. It wasn't like the power of the souls in Purgatory, but it was still pretty heady.
Lucifer most likely had tried to blast the coin. It needed something with more finesse, though. I trickled the smallest strand of magic into it and worked my way around until I found the spot where the magic to open and close the realm rested within the coin. For such a small object, it held a massive amount of power.
Unfortunately for the coin, so did I. I filled it with more and more power until it began to strain the confines of the spell on the coin. Then, I directed the magic to branch out and search for weak spots or points of exit while still feeding more and more into it.
If we couldn't destroy it by attacking it, then we'd destroy it from within.
It took more time than I would've liked. Ariel and the boy, whose name I still didn't know, sat on the grass with Mia and leaned against her.
Eventually, the coin began to grow warm. I used another tendril of magic to support it without it touching me. Heat began to radiate off of the silver circle until we all felt it.
"Everyone get back," I exclaimed. "I think it's going to blow."
Mia jumped up and pulled the kids back.
But the heat from the coin kept growing. "Luc, if I keep on, this explosion might be more than I can contain," I said.
He, Michael, and Gabriel conferred beside me and soon threw up a ward around the coin and me.
"Lilith, if it gets bigger, it might incinerate you as well," Gabriel said. "You're going to have to stop."
I couldn't step back through the ward or it might've severed my connection to the coin.
But he was right. The energy in the coin was going to explode, and I was the only thing in its path. "Get the kids out of here!" I screamed, no longer sure even the ward they'd put up would hold it. The angels would recover from any blast outside the ward, but the children wouldn't.
"I'll take them to the Academy," Joel barked. He pointed at someone and a female angel ran forward and put her arms out. Mia took her hand and her son. Joel held his hand out to Ariel. As they disappeared, I noticed Ariel trying to squirm away from him.
At least she'd be at the academy where the Nephilim could keep her safe. They wouldn't kill a child.
20
"Everyone scatter!" I yelled. The angels and Fallen took off, the angels going to hide behind Purgatory's gates and the Fallen into Abaddon.
All my focus was on keeping the energy in the coin from exploding. Somehow, it had flipped, and instead of me feeding energy into the coin, it was sucking the magic from us. "It's draining me," I said in shock. I didn't know how much longer I could hold on.
But nobody was around. I'd told everyone to leave.
I nearly jumped out of the ward when Lucifer's voice came from right behind me. "Hang on," he said. "I think the realm itself is eating the energy. I'm about to pull life force from the demons in Abaddon."
"Shit!" I yelled. "I told you to scatter!"
I looked over my shoulder, but as I did, the coin surged. I no longer had to hold it up with magic, it rotated in the air on its own, so full of might that it didn't need support.
"We're not leaving you." Gabriel held his hand out but couldn't go through the barrier of the ward. "Ever."
I rolled my eyes but couldn't help but love each of them.
"You can do this," Michael said. "You're going to have to cut the flow of magic and step behind the ward at the same time. I'm going to try to move us away the instant you step through, hopefully, faster than the blast itself."
"If I let go of this coin and the magic it's hiding, it will explode."
"We know. That's why you have to move fast." Lucifer held out his hand. "Come on, babe. You can do this."
I'd never been less sure of anything in my entire life. There was so much power flowing through me into the coin that I felt faint. I wasn't sure I'd ever felt faint before! What a mess we were in. And I wasn't sure it would work at all. After all this, that damn coin might end up on the ground good as new.
"Okay." I sucked in a nervous breath. "There's not anything else we can do. But please. I can't choose. But two of you have to go. If this blast gets me and whoever pulls me out of the ward, someone has to be alive to care for Ariel." I gave them the severest looks I could over my shoulder. "I mean it, and you cannot ask me to choose."
"Luc, you're her biological father," Michael said. "Go."
Luc walked around so he could look me in the eye. "I'll be close," he whispered. "And if it was for anybody ever created other than Ariel, I'd never do this in a million years." He held his hand out again but couldn't reach through to touch me. "I love you, Lilith. I've loved you since we were newly created, and I'll love you until the stars explode in the night sky."
"Shit, Luc." Tears streamed down my face. "Way to break my heart."
He shrugged. "I need you to try really fucking hard not to die."
I burst out laughing and as he disappeared, to go behind the gates, me laughing was the last thing he saw.
Mich
ael and Gabriel took his place.
"We both insisted on staying," Michael said. "But one of us has to go. You're right. Ariel will need us."
I nodded. "I know."
"So, we played rock, paper, scissors while Lucifer made a sappy ass of himself," Gabe continued.
I had to laugh again, but the strain of holding the coin was getting to me. It was growing heavier and heavier, yet I wasn't exactly holding it up. It had to have been the weight of the power flowing, even though it was becoming less power. "Hurry, my loves."
Gabe smiled. "You're the best thing I've ever had in my life," he said. "I'll see you soon, okay?"
I nodded and he disappeared.
Michael held his hands up. "Looks like it's you and me," he said. "You ready?"
"More than. It's weakening me."
"I can't push my hands through without weakening the ward," he said. "You have to jump out as fast as you can." He looked around. "I think you can spread your wings. There's room in there."
I nodded, understanding what he meant. "I'll launch myself into you, propelling us backward, and you can shoot us straight into Purgatory as it blasts."
"Yes." He smiled. "You can do this."
With my back to my third love, I let the magic drift to my fingertips and spread my wings wide. Crouching, I used my legs and wings to propel myself backward. I felt the ward glide down my body, and the second it hit my fingers, the magic coming from the angels and Fallen, through me, cut off. The coin no longer had anything keeping it from blasting all that magic and energy outward.
In that fraction of a second, as my body collided with Michael and the world began the fuzzy, blinky color-changing weirdness that happened for such a short time while we moved from one location to another, I saw someone appear in the ward.
And then we were gone. I didn't see who it was. We appeared in Purgatory with angels all around us as the biggest explosion I'd ever felt rocketed the area outside the gates of Purgatory and Abaddon.
It didn't take long to dissipate, and even though we were protected by the virtually impenetrable gates, enough of the magic broke through to knock all of us off of our feet.
