by Maya Nicole
I moved down the stairs, feeling like I was on display. I suppose I was, being the daughter of their crazy queen. Were all these demons on her side freely, or had they been brainwashed into supporting Lilith?
I reached the bottom, and my dad stepped beside me.
"You look beautiful." He took my hand and set it in the crook of his arm. "Just remember to breathe."
I nodded and let him lead me onto the dance floor. He took my hand in his, and I put my head on his shoulder. Now would be the perfect opportunity to do what he asked and kill him.
"I'm proud of you, Danica Marie. I don't think I've ever told you that." I could only hear his voice, despite the room that was filled with music and chatter. We were in our own little bubble. "I should have been around more."
I shut my eyes and willed myself not to cry. "I love you, Dad."
When the song ended, he wiped the few tears that had escaped away from my face. Then he led me to a dais at the front of the room. Lilith was already sitting in one of the chairs, a crown perched on her head.
"My daughter, how beautiful you are tonight." She gestured to a chair to her right.
I took my seat and looked around the room. If I didn't know we were in Inferna, I would have never guessed the room was full of demons.
I was just about to excuse myself to the restroom so I could get ready to attack when I saw Tobias at the perimeter of the room. I grabbed onto the arms of the chair.
Lilith noticed him as well. She snapped her fingers, and two men grabbed him by the elbows and dragged him across the room.
I looked wide-eyed at my dad, and he shook his head. Lilith stood and walked down the five steps where the men with Tobias stopped and shoved him to the ground.
"Where are the rest of you?" She sounded angrier than I had ever heard her sound.
With all attention on Lilith and Tobias, I reached down and took the piece of glass out of the makeshift holster I had made. I held it next to my leg, waiting for the perfect moment.
I knew that whatever I did to Lilith would hurt Lucifer, but it surely couldn't kill him. He was an archangel. Archangels were indestructible. At least, that's what I kept telling myself.
I continued to reassure myself as the guests parted with hushed murmurs and gasps. Reve was walking towards us, and the room went silent.
No one moved to stop him, not even Lilith's guards. They all seemed to be in some kind of trance. Where were Olly and Asher?
"Boy, what do you think you are doing? Stop this madness immediately." She pulled a long dagger from one of the guards near her when her command didn't work.
"What's wrong, Lilith?" Reve had a deadly glint in his eye.
She straightened her back and stepped back up the steps. I stood and prepared myself. She was so focused on Reve that she wasn't paying my dad or me any attention.
I glanced over at my dad, and he nodded his head. He mouthed, "I love you."
I didn't want to do it.
I lunged towards Lilith, just like I had practiced in training at the academy. At the same time my shard of glass dug into her neck, she turned, and the dagger she was holding went into my side.
I'm sure a scream came from my lips, but I was in shock. The room suddenly came to life as Reve lost control of whatever he was doing to the demons.
I fell to my knees as Lilith pulled the dagger out and stabbed me again. My dad was on his knees, crawling in our direction. A flash of black fur flew over us and took out one of the goons that had been going for my dad.
My entire body felt like it was on fire as the dagger was pulled out for a second time. Or maybe it was a third time. She reared back again to stab me, but then her face froze in a scream as something hit her from behind.
She fell down the stairs as her body was engulfed in flames so hot that it felt like my own skin was burning.
My eyes landed on my dad. His hands still had tiny flames on them as he collapsed forward.
"No!" I scrambled as fast as I could on the blood-covered marble floor to him. "Dad!"
I rolled him over and put my ear near his mouth. He wasn't breathing. I collapsed back on my ass. The rest of the room was in chaos.
Bring him to me. The voice entered my head, and I looked around, thinking someone was talking to me. I was hallucinating from the blood loss. And the grief. The grief was making it hard to breathe.
I coughed and felt like I was about to pass out. I had been stabbed way too many times in my short life.
I barely even felt the pain anymore. I was going numb. It was the end of the road for me.
Bring him to me. The voice was more commanding this time. I looked up at the ceiling. It sounded an awful lot like Morgan Freeman.
I needed help.
I pushed myself to my feet and stumbled a little. How was I supposed to get my dad somewhere when he weighed way more than me?
I looked down at my wounds. My dress was now crimson. A laugh bubbled out of me at the sight.
I fell forward as a sense of peace washed over me. I caught myself on my hands and knees and felt the air stir around me. I turned my head.
Wings. One of my angels was here to take us. I smiled as the wings moved.
Bring him to me.
I looked at my dad and wrapped my arms around him.
"Danica! Wait!" I could hear Tobias, but I couldn't bring myself to pay attention to him.
My sole focus was on my dad.
The wings beat with more force, and I felt myself being lifted into the air. My dad felt abnormally light for being a grown-ass man, and I wrapped my arms around him tighter just in case.
I shut my eyes as we flew towards a window and broke through. I don't know where my angel was taking us, but wherever it was, I knew I'd be safe.
Chapter Sixteen
"Danica." The deep voice sounded in my ears, and I groaned. Not again. "It's time for you to wake up."
My eyes fluttered open, and I took in the white room that was the last place I wanted to be. What had happened? Was I actually dead this time?
"Where am I?" I sat up and took in my crisp white gown. I knew exactly where I was.
"Judgment."
I stood and looked at the ceiling. If this was judgment, then I was screwed. I had just played a part in killing my own mother. My eyes went to the diamond-encrusted door.
"So, this is it? If it opens, then I'm an angel, and if it doesn't..."
"It will open. You've always been an angel. Your father's angel."
I laughed and wanted to cry at the same time. My father.
"Is he... alive?" A tear slid down my cheek, and I sat back down on the bed. "He did this fireball thing, and then he stopped breathing."
The voice made a sound in his throat and then cleared it. "He threw most of the light he had left at her. He is recovering at the celestial hospital."
"Aren't I supposed to lose all my painful memories?"
"Do you want to lose them?"
I walked towards the door and put my hand on the handle. "I don't want to forget all the good."
The room went silent, and I bit my lip as I turned the handle. I half expected it not to turn, but it did, and the door opened into a very brightly lit hallway. I stepped out, and the door slammed shut behind me.
The hallway was long, with several doors. I walked towards what looked like an elevator. I tried a few doors along the way out of sheer curiosity, but they were all locked. Were there dead people inside? What happened if they died and the door didn't open?
I pushed the up button since there was no down button. The doors slid open, and I stepped inside. Every surface, including the floor, was encrusted in what looked like diamonds.
This was not what I had expected. I actually wasn't sure what I expected, but everything covered in diamond-looking stones wasn't it.
I pushed the only button and looked closer. I wasn't a diamond expert, but they sure did look real. That or someone had too much fun with a Bedazzler.
The elevator ride seemed
to go on forever. I couldn't help but giggle over the fact that the elevator was going up. Did the hell elevator go down?
The door dinged and slid open to a large white room that was filled with chairs and people. As soon as I stepped out of the elevator, there was a ticket dispenser.
"You have got to be kidding me." I pulled one out.
B102.
I looked up at the ceiling where a number was displayed. They were on A24.
Maybe they would be faster than the DMV. One would hope, with it being Heaven and all.
I made my way to an empty seat next to a little old man, who immediately turned to me.
"Oh, dear." He shook his head and clucked his tongue. "Too young. Too young, I tell ya."
I raised my eyebrows. "It was for a good cause."
"You remember? I don't remember a lick past my ninetieth birthday." His eyes went wide, and he shook his head again. "Whoooooeeee. I can't believe I made it to the pearly gates."
"You had pearly gates? I had a diamond-encrusted elevator."
In response, he burst into laughter and slapped his leg. Why had I never spent more time talking to senior citizens? They were hilarious.
I smiled, and his face softened. "You remind me of my great-granddaughter."
My smile fell, and I looked away. I had never experienced an actual family before. No doting grandma that let me eat popsicles before breakfast. No grandpa to take me on adventures in the backyard.
He reached for my hand, and I let him take it in his soft wrinkled one. "It'll be all right, dear."
I sure hoped so, because my heart was bruised and battered enough.
I'm not sure how long the wait was. Time seemed to function differently in Heaven. Not once did I feel hungry or that I had to pee.
B098 flashed on the ceiling, and my kind-hearted old man of a seatmate, whose name was Jack, stood.
"That would be me. Take care of yourself now, you hear?"
I smiled and then bit my lip nervously, waiting for my number to flash on the ceiling. Was this the part where they told me how much darkness my soul had and how long it would take to get my wings? I needed to get back to Earth.
I tried to look back over my shoulder at my shoulder blades but wasn't flexible enough. They had been slightly tingly since I sat down. I figured it was all in my head.
This whole thing might have been all in my head.
B101 flashed overhead, and I shut my eyes and took a steadying breath before standing. There was a single white door on the far side of the room where people had been knocking and gaining entrance.
What if this was some kind of social experiment to see who were followers?
I glanced around the room, and there were no other entrances. The elevator even had disappeared and just was a giant glowing area on the wall that people walked out of.
I approached the door and knocked softly. It opened, and I walked inside to find a desk and two chairs. I sat down and waited.
And waited some more.
There was a whole lot of waiting going on. My stomach should have been doing somersaults or churning up some bile, but instead, I felt oddly at peace. I could see why so many chose to stay in Heaven.
The door opened, and I turned. Holy shit.
"Brooklyn?" I stood, and she smiled back at me. "Holy shit!" I smacked a hand over my mouth. "Crap, I don't think I'm supposed to say that here."
She laughed and sat down across from me, opening up a laptop she had. I didn't know whether to be in awe over the fact that she was sitting across from me looking better than ever or the fact that laptops seemed to work in Heaven.
I guess if cell phones worked from Inferna, then MacBook Air having a stronghold in Heaven wasn't so much of a stretch.
"I would say I'm happy to see you, but I'm not." She reached her hand across the desk, and I took it. "I mean, I'm glad you're here and not elsewhere."
I laughed. "I had my doubts."
She typed on the laptop, and her eyes widened. "It says here you already have your wings. But that can't be right."
She typed lightning fast and then looked at me, her eyes wide.
"What?" I looked over both my shoulders. "I think I'd know if I had wings. Wouldn't I?"
"I would think so. But this definitely says you are an archangel. Your trajectory is Los Angeles Celestial Academy, Class I, year two." She turned the laptop so I could see the screen.
"Bull shit." I pulled the laptop towards me and stared at the screen that had my picture, date of birth, date of death, and the information that said I was an archangel.
"What am I an archangel of? Fucking up? Surely this is just Morgan Freeman's way of playing a joke on me."
Brooklyn gave me a confused look and then pulled the laptop back towards her. "There is a flag on here." She double-clicked on something, and I waited as her eyes scanned the screen. "It says instead of sending you to the Earth entry point, that I am to take you to the hospital to see your dad, Oliver, and Asher."
I gripped the arms of the chair and fought off the panic that was churning in my gut. "What's wrong with Olly and Asher?"
She shook her head and shut the laptop. "It doesn't say. If they’re in the hospital, that's a good thing. That means they’re healing."
She stood, and I jumped up. She walked around the desk to the same door we had entered and opened it. It led right outside.
I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was. I could deal with glowing monkeys, cotton candy-smelling gremlin-lookalikes, and even shapeshifters. Throw a door that opened to somewhere different than before, and I was flabbergasted.
"I'm not tripping out on acid, am I?" I followed her out the door and stopped. "The ground. Is it clouds?"
She laughed and looped her arm through mine. It looked like Earth, except everything was clean and shiny. The ground felt a little like the recycled rubber they put on playgrounds.
"Welcome to the Great City."
I looked up in awe at the tall skyscrapers that appeared to go on for miles and miles into the sky. I had no concept of what Heaven would be like, but it definitely wasn't what I was seeing. Where were the cute little cherubs floating on clouds?
Walking with Brooklyn, a sense of peace washed over me again. There weren't many angels walking or flying around, so it was quiet. We didn't walk far before we were at one of the giant skyscrapers, and I followed Brooklyn inside.
"This is where I leave you." She gave me a hug and pressed the button for the elevator. "It will take you straight to the floor the hospital is on."
I hugged her. "Will you ever come back to Earth?"
She gave me a sad smile and shrugged. "I don't think so. Take care of yourself. Tell Cora I said hi."
The elevator doors slid shut and began its ascent. Soft harp music played over the speakers, and I snorted. I shouldn't have been laughing. I was dead. My dad and boyfriends were in the hospital.
The door opened, and I stepped out to a reception area. "I'm here to see Lucifer, Asher Thorne, and Oliver Morgan."
The woman at the desk looked up from her computer and smiled brightly at me. "Ms. Deville! It is such an honor to meet you!"
She stood and took my hand in hers. I raised a brow but followed her down the hall. She opened a door and led me inside.
"How is he?"
"He isn't well. He is healing very slowly, and the other archangels are dealing with the aftermath of demons on Earth. Only they can heal him." She patted my arm and then shut the door softly behind me.
The room was quiet and dim. In a bed in the center was my father. He wasn't hooked to any machines, but he didn't look good at all. His skin was pale, and the age lines on his face showed prominently.
Not that he had a lot of age lines to begin with.
I approached the bed and sat down in a chair. He looked so frail under the covers. I took his hand and squeezed.
"Dad?" He showed no signs of waking up. "I've seen Heaven and hell within a few days. I really need a hug right about now." I squeeze
d his hand and moved the chair closer. "Please be okay."
I put my head on the side of the bed, my hand still holding his. Suddenly, the gravity of the situation hit me like a ton of bricks. I’m dead.
My tears fell in a never-ending stream that had me turning my head into the sheet. Would this mean I could never return to my normal life again? Was my body on Earth or down in hell where it had died?
The intake in Heaven really needed to amp up their explanations.
"Please, Dad. Wake up."
A tingling sensation shot up my arm, and I sat up. With my free hand, I scrubbed the tears blurring my vision.
Oh, fuck. My hand was glowing.
My dad's eyes fluttered like they were trying to open. "Dad?"
He let out a pained moan, and his hand squeezed mine. "Healing."
"What?"
"You're healing me." His voice was raspy.
"I'm what?" My voice went up a solid octave, and I looked at our hands again. My hand was definitely glowing, but I didn't feel anything besides a slight tingle, which I thought was an effect of being dead and all. "How is that even possible? I don't know what the fuck I'm doing!"
"Language." He tried to laugh and ended up groaning instead.
I looked at my father lying in the hospital bed and choked on a sob. I had almost lost everything. I had lost everything. I wasn't even alive anymore.
"It's all over now." He sighed and squeezed my hand. "She can't hurt us anymore."
I looked at him and tried to control the tears swimming in my eyes. They fell anyway. "Are you-"
"I'll be fine. You should go find your boyfriends. You haven't seen them yet, have you?" Here he was lying in a hospital bed needing his newly turned angel of a daughter to heal him, and he was worried about me seeing my four lovers.
I shook my head and looked down at my hands. "What if this changes things?"
He looked thoughtful and pushed himself up to sit against the headboard. He patted the spot next to him.
My father wasn't the most affectionate, and I stared at him blankly before he patted the bed again. I crawled onto the bed and settled in next to him. I leaned my head against his shoulder.
