Ashes of Eden

by Mandi Konesni

  It seemed harder this time, her expression pinched as her eyes darted behind closed lids. He could see her fingertips moving against her thighs, as if she were casting spells or something and needed the visualization to remain centered.

  After a few tense minutes, she finally opened her eyes, a worried look on her face. Hesitantly, she took a few steps into the room, still holding his hand like she intended to apparate them out the second something seemed off. When nothing happened, she relaxed, but only slightly.

  Once they could take a look around, Raziel let out a low whistle. The shelves in here were metal, and stacked damn near on top of each other. Rows and rows of them that seemed never ending, stretching from wall to wall. In between, there were narrow walkways left for someone to get through, but you would have to either be alone, or go single file.

  Raziel had no doubt it was intentional. Bare bulbs dangled overhead, but they didn't dare turn them on. Their enhanced sight would have to be enough. Moving closer, Raziel checked out the labeling system. It seemed extensive.

  Each row of bookshelves was numbered by year, like Rosslyn had been. On the shelves themselves, the items were broken down by letters, he assumed based on topics. Some were labeled with the names of the Pope who had been in the papal residence at the time, so those books were likely his personal records.

  Now that he'd seen it, the insane guesses at the numbers of records stored here didn't seem so insane after all. This was hoarding to the eleventh degree. These records were extensive, history dating back centuries. Since the newest ones were stored towards the front for expedience, he didn't even want to hazard a guess as to what year the written records actually began.

  "When did they say the relic was interred here?"

  Baylin thought for a moment before murmuring, staring around with wonder on her face. So, 1582. They had a long way to go. He'd begun walking that direction before she seemed to shake herself out of it, hurrying to catch up to him. Once she did, she apparated them forward. Checking the labels on the rows, they were still a bit away from the general area they needed to be in.

  A few more times, and they were near enough to start walking, checking each as they passed. Once they found the row for 1582, Raziel relied on his instinct to guide him, since they had no idea what it'd be filed under.

  Left, then a right. Down a narrow, dusty corridor. The tingling on his skin was almost a burning now, making his hair stand on end from the energy of whatever they were chasing. This was so much different than the other relics they'd found that Raziel felt uncertainty creeping in.

  Was this truly the Grail? Or something more sinister? Was he lying to himself to convince his own mind that it'd be safer somewhere else, when he hadn't been told what the end game was for these objects?

  It was disconcerting, and left him with a feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach that tightened into a knot the deeper they traveled into the maze of the archives. Something didn't feel right, but he couldn't help himself, he had to see what the hell this thing was. Call it morbid curiosity, or a death wish, either way the result might be the same.

  Finally, they got to a point where the feeling began to fizzle out if he went a few paces past. It turned into an asinine game of hot or cold. Some of the items here were books or leather wrapped scrolls, others were heavy cases. He ran his fingers over the edges, waiting to feel the stronger jerk to his senses that told him he'd found it.

  He landed on a thick metal case, a serious looking deadbolt securing it shut. Whatever was in this case, they didn't want it being accidentally opened. Too bad that was exactly what he had in mind.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Raziel may have lost many of his powers when Tarin attacked him, but his strength was as good as it had ever been. While he'd lost his angelic strength, it'd been replaced by Leviathan strength, so they evened out.

  It took a few tries, but he was able to snap the lock after bending the metal back and forth enough times to weaken the joint. Tossing it aside, he pulled the case out fully, drawing up to his knees as he lifted the lid. Immediately, a golden light suffused him as he scrambled backwards, heart racing.

  It couldn't be. They'd been told this was destroyed. That the abomination had been wiped from the annals of time, and no one would ever set eyes on such a blasphemous, evil object again so long as angels walked the earth. Clearly, that was a lie. But why? Why lie about something like this? Why keep such a portent of hatred and sin in existence?

  Baylin's hand curled around his shoulder, squeezing in a comforting gesture before she knelt next to him, inching closer to peer into the box as well. Confused, she went to reach for it, but stopped when he roughly grabbed at her arm, preventing her from touching it.

  "Don't... don't touch it. It's ultimate sin."

  While she pulled her hand back, she moved to sit more comfortably. If this was a relic they needed, she was likely wondering how they were supposed to take it if no one could touch it. The box was broken now, so they couldn't just leave it in there and hope it stayed fully shut until they could pass it off to Gabriel. Letting out a shuddering breath, he shook his head, taking a moment to gather his thoughts.

  "You've heard the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, yes? The story of two cities so full of sin and wickedness that my Father struck them down to cleanse the stain they left on humanity? Most stories tell of two angels being sent to remove Lot and his family, the only virtuous man left, who treated the visitors with respect and dignity. What they don't share is this... when the time came to get the family out, the townspeople were closing in, demanding Lot give the 'foreigners' into their keeping."

  "As dawn rose that day, one of the angels remained behind in order to provide Lot's family cover so they could escape. Her name was Daphiel. Most stories make it seem like the event was instantaneous. That Lot and his family escaped just in time, his wife looked back, turned to salt, you know how it's told. They don't tell you that not all of the townspeople perished immediately. The city was burning, yes, but just like wildfires, people go to higher ground, they try to evade what's happening."

  "They skinned her alive, Baylin. Her partner was bound by oath to protect Lot and his daughters at all costs. He had to listen to her screams and pleas, knowing he couldn't go back. Once it was done, they bound one of their worst books of spells and incantations, of the darkest evil, in angel skin. The Requiem Codex was the greatest blasphemy. Created out of murder by an act of ultimate sin... and of ultimate sacrifice."

  "Neither of us can touch it, not even an edge, we can't take the risk. Only a pure soul can handle it without being corrupted fully. You're part demon. I'm now nothing more than a monster. What we could potentially unleash on the world would be catastrophic. Daphiel gave her life to destroy the evil that walked the earth then. We can't turn around and accidentally release it now."

  When he looked at Baylin fully to see if she truly grasped the enormity of the situation, he was surprised to see tears tracking down her cheeks. She scrubbed a hand over her face to brush them away before her shoulders stiffened, spine straightening as she seemed to find her strength again.

  "Then we leave it in the box. We'll flash to one of the previous meeting points with Gabriel and get it to him immediately, no waiting. It's not safe here on earth, not if it's that dangerous. We can give him the crucifixion spike as well, rid ourselves of both of them. While we have him, I think you should ask him a few questions about this mission of yours and what exactly it's supposed to be leading to, because frankly, I think the story you got has quite a few gaps in it."

  She was right. The woman was brilliant, he loved that about her. They had to remove it, even if the risk was high. It was worse to leave it here, knowing how dangerous it was. Getting it to Gabriel fast was their only real option.

  Taking her hand when she offered it, he took one side of the box as she took the other. Watching her close her eyes, he waited for the now familiar jerk of the world spinning as they apparated. It didn't come. Opening hi
s eyes to look at her, he saw panic.

  "Raziel?!?! Something is blocking us!"

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  This didn't bode well. He watched as she tried a few more times, getting more upset each time she couldn't make their escape. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed strange sparks of light each time, like phantom flashes of energy. Turning his head, he focused on them as she tried once more, before clarity hit. There was an etched pattern in the floor, invisible to the naked eye.

  Each time she tried to apparate, it seemed to activate whatever it was, and he recognized the pattern. This was a devil's trap. Used in churches and holy places to trap demonic spirits, it was utilized mostly during exorcisms to prevent demons from simply apparating out once they'd been caught. Turned out, it was also great for protecting items from demons, as once you took something, trying to apparate with it would activate the traps. Smart. Too damn smart.

  Even letting go of the case didn't help now that their little demon alert system had been set off. They were locked down in the secret archives in the Vatican Library, holding a relic that could not see the light of day. It was simply too damn dangerous. Raziel couldn't see any way out of this, though. He knew these traps. Even if they tried to run, they couldn't leave the boundaries of the pattern with or without their prize.

  Hearing frantic footsteps, he groaned. Security was on their way. He had no idea what the punishment was for being caught here. He assumed it wasn't a fine or a single night in jail. Especially not with the clear evidence that they weren't human literally at their feet. It wasn't as if they could simply turn them over to the regular police, could they? Demons would just apparate out of the cells the first chance they got.

  Within minutes, they were surrounded, guns pointed at them from both ends of the narrow corridor. Raziel put his hands up when commanded to, spotting Baylin out of the corner of his eye doing the same.

  As they were herded back to the center aisle, guards remained at their fronts and backs, preventing them from taking off anywhere. It wasn't as if they had the option, regardless. As long as the Requiem Codex remained here, he would as well. Sooner or later, he'd figure out a way to retrieve it and return it home safely.

  The Vatican police force, the Gendarmerie Corps of Vatican City, had their own precinct for the Holy See. Only in rare occasions were outside authorities called in, otherwise things were handled within the city itself. They even had cells to toss criminals and rulebreakers in while they decided what to do with them. To no one's surprise, these also had demon traps on the floors. He'd have been more surprised if there weren't. Baylin had attempted to get them out a few times before giving up, even after he'd told her it was unlikely.

  Instead, he paced. After awhile, he dropped to one of the steel benches, leaning his head back against the concrete block wall. They'd been moved here, to the tiny precinct, after being rousted from the archives. He assumed they wouldn't hear anything until morning, at least. If at all. They may just leave them here to rot, seeing as how you couldn't really come up with a decent punishment for demonic entities while still honoring your own commandments, not really

  With nothing but time on their hands, Raziel broached the one question that had nagged at him since the beginning of this. He wasn't being snide or judgmental, he truly wanted to know the answer, and hoped Baylin took it as such. "Why are you helping me? You could have walked away at any point, yet you're still here. Surely there's nothing in this for you."

  She paused in her own pacing which she'd started up once he'd sat down, before continuing, appearing lost in thought for long moments. Just as he was sure she wasn't going to answer, she moved to sit next to him.

  "Demons took everything from me, Raziel. Everything they possibly could, they ruined. My parents had the kind of love people write poems about... you'd never assume a prophet and a demon would be the perfect match, but they were. We were happy. He was supposed to return to Hell after a period of years on Earth. It was like a Sabbatical or something. Well, he met my mom, they had me. So he went off-grid and didn't return. We hid for awhile, moving often, keeping to ourselves. When I was 9 years old, they found us."

  "I can still hear the screams. When we realized they'd caught us, dad shoved me in the closet and put his clothes on me to hide my scent with his. He warned me not to make a sound. The heartless bastards killed my mom in front of us... they made him watch every indignity they could dole out before she took her last breath. I'll never forget the noise... they broke him without even laying a hand on him. When they started asking about me, he fought them as if he was running to the door, to 'get' me from a friend's house and take off again. He led them away from me, at the cost of his own life."

  "Not all demons are bad. But those that are, are the worst of evils to walk this earth. They consider my continued existence an aberration, a dilution of their bloodline. When mom died, I inherited her prophesy abilities and her guides. I fought them for a long time, but eventually realized every time they started screaming and making me sick, they were trying to protect me because the demons were near."

  "The Undoing is almost upon us... they'll start looking for me again the second they have more of their army through the gate. I'm tired of running, Raziel. Tired of hiding. For once, I wanted to be able to say I stood up and helped the good guys. That I may have, in some small way, turned the tide against evil even if it's only for this day, this week."

  "I was out on the street that night because the guides were screaming even louder than normal. They told me to find you, that you were the catalyst and I was the flame, and together we could make a difference. And I believed that. I still do. You may see yourself as a monster, Raziel... but that's not what I see when I look at you."

  His heart ached for what she had been through at such a young age, and was still going through every day. Yet something she said had him paying attention. The Undoing?

  "What is The Undoing, Baylin? And what do you mean, when they have their army through the gate? What gate? What army?" This wasn't something he'd heard of before. Perhaps it was strictly a demonic thing, but if it involved demon armies, he couldn't believe the angels weren't aware of it. That, or they knew of it under a different name, and he needed to reconcile the two.

  "The Undoing? It's the transit of Mercury across the Sun. It's mostly been in the demonic spellbooks, or so I've gathered. My dad said it was talked about like a fairy tale, because it's never happened before that things lined up perfectly. Basically, Mercury transits the sun by moving across the surface of it which is a natural occurrence but super rare, like 13 a century or something."

  "Well, this one is happening during a Blood Moon, and during the Winter Equinox as well. There's a theory that since the equinox is the longest night of the year, it is also when the doorways between the worlds will be able to remain open the longest once the seal is broken. The Undoing is the demonic attempt to bring forth their armies to overrun earth and shift the balance of the world to evil. Dad said no one would ever be fool enough to try it, though, because they didn't have a way to control the demons they summoned."

  Raziel's heart sank. He had a sneaking suspicion that, if the relics he'd been tasked with retrieving could be swayed from their original allegiances, they could be utilized in such a manner. It was the only thing that made sense. Why was it imperative to get to these items now, when they'd been safe for this long? Could Gabriel and his brothers have known about this Undoing business and simply used him as their errand boy, without telling him why it was so important?

  He didn't want to believe it, but he couldn't think of another reason why collecting these items had become so important so fast. Worse, if these demons needed a spell to open the portal or to control the demons they summoned, he'd bet his left wing there were rumors it was in the Requiem Codex. Why else would anyone want possession of such a thing? It now became even more important than ever before; he needed that damn book.

  Unsure if the traps would mistakenly capture his
brother as well if they weren't drawn properly, Raziel had avoided calling out to Gabriel up till then. Knowing that demons could swarm the earth took this from an emergency to apocalyptic pretty damn fast. Just as he'd stood and opened his mouth to shout for Gabe, he heard soft footsteps coming down the hallway. Pausing, he moved up to the bars, waiting.

  After a few moments, an older priest rounded the corner, looking harried and exhausted. In his hands were two bottles of water and a bag from a nearby sandwich shop. Someone must have suggested they might want to at least feed their prisoners, and he'd been nominated as the one to make the trip.

  As he approached the cell, Raziel stepped backward out of politeness. While these people may have respected him as an archangel, he knew full well he wasn't one any longer. With the way things were going with this Undoing nonsense, he may never earn the return of his Grace. The thought was sobering and caused a tightness in his chest he ignored.

  As the male glanced up, his face paled. Confused, Raziel looked to Baylin, who simply shrugged, before returning his attention to the priest. "I assure you, we mean you no harm. Thank you for providing nourishment, it is appreciated." He wouldn't eat, but Baylin could use the calories. He hadn't forgotten her recent bout with illness.