by Stone, Leia
The strongest urge to get up and walk back over to the gate, overcame me.
Lucifer hovered over me, shoulder and wrist bleeding, and black oily magic crawling all over his skin. “Get. Up,” he ordered.
I did, not because he’d forced me, but because it was a better position to be in to fight.
Without warning, he thrust his hands out and a gust of wind shoved into me, dragging me backward so hard that I didn’t stop until my back had slammed into the invisible gate. The wind knocked out of me, as my wings and back smashed against the glasslike surface that protected Heaven.
‘Hold me up!’ Sera commanded. I did as she asked, barely able to plan my next move. Lucifer was gliding on the tips of his toes like a total psycho, coming right for me.
Sera shot out a major burst of light, but when it hit Lucifer, it merely fell away as if he’d erected his own shield.
Shit.
Sera went rapid-fire then, blasting him with several beams of light, but none of it seemed to make a difference. Just as his hand came around my throat, I jerked my wrist forward to stab him in the eye. He wrapped his other hand over mine, grabbing Sera’s blade in the process. Blood poured over the blade as he gripped her and looked into my face like a lunatic.
“If I didn’t need you, I’d gut you like a fish with your own knife,” he whispered as I struggled to take in small gasps of air. He was going to choke me to death.
‘Oh no! He’s doing magic on me again!’ Sera screamed in panic.
I tried to yank her away from his hand, but the monster held on, even though it must have hurt. He covered her blade with a black blobby mass again, diminishing her light.
No.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. I was supposed to kick his ass. I was supposed to be capable of killing him.
I wasn’t ready after all, and the realization crushed me.
I failed Lincoln, myself, all of Heaven.
Spots danced at the edge of my vision, and I wondered if he even realized he was choking me to death. He looked so enraged, I didn’t think he was in his right mind.
“You can kill him. You are his only equal,” the strange male voice from before murmured from behind me.
Lucifer’s grasp on my neck lessened then, and I was able to suck in a precious amount of air.
“Shut up, Metatron!” Lucifer seethed. “She’s an untrained child who is too soft at heart to fully embrace her power. She’ll never be as powerful as me.”
Metatron. I’d heard that name before. In the Bible, maybe. I didn’t care right then who he was; I only cared that his words had given me a small amount of hope, and they’d distracted Lucy.
Gathering my courage, I reeled my head back and then slammed it forward, cracking Lucy right in the nose. Reddish black blood spurted over his mouth. Then I shoved my knee into his crotch and dropped Sera on the ground; she was covered in black magic and, unfortunately, was useless to me for now. Holding my hands out, I created a small black magic orb in one hand and a white one in the other.
Now I was the psycho. I was the one who’d lost my shit.
When Lucy lunged for me, I slammed my hands together on either side of his face, crashing the black and white magic into his head. A shrill scream ripped from his throat as thunder cracked overhead. His demons turned their focus away from the gate, and on to me in that moment.
I was trying to figure out how the hell I was going to survive this situation if they all jumped me, when I noticed Raksha, very quietly, crouched behind one of the giant trees. She’d created a portal to Fallen Academy, and Lincoln and Michael had just walked through it.
My backup had arrived.
Thank God.
And Raksha was still on my side. I never should have doubted her.
Fifteen
As soon as Raksha created the portal, she spun away from it, going to the far side of the meadow where the demons were stationing themselves. I hoped I was the only one who saw what she’d done. She’d saved my life.
Lincoln, Michael, Raphael, Uriel, Gabriel, and a sea of Fallen Army were flooding through the portal now. They all looked confused at first, but then they seemed to quickly recognize what was going on and started to fight Lucifer’s army.
My two magic balls to either side of Lucy’s head had done something to him. By the way he was shrieking, I hoped it had liquefied whatever brain he had, but it may have only caused temporary pain and disorientation, because he was looking more alert by the second.
‘Get me to Shea!’ Sera yelled from her place on the ground. She was still covered in that black magic, which seemed to have disabled her power, but at least she could still speak to me. Reaching down, I picked up my blade, and shouted my bestie’s name. She was right by Noah and Lincoln’s sides, scanning the crowd, looking for me.
When she heard my voice, she spun and I threw Sera into the air, hoping like hell she’d know what to do with her, or at least keep her safe while I could deal with Lucy. If Sera was the key to this gate, and only I could open it, then we shouldn’t be together anyway.
Lincoln’s head snapped in my direction when he heard my voice, and then his gaze fell onto Lucifer, who was now at my feet, clutching his head. I’d never seen so much rage in my husband. His entire face went red as he started running my way, his blue glowing sword outstretched.
Whatever my attack had done to Lucifer wore off at that moment. The Devil popped up onto his feet, wings outstretched, and grabbed me by the upper arms. My attention had been on Lincoln, to make sure he didn’t get killed, and now I was being pulled upward into the air. My wings flapped like crazy to pull against Lucy, but he was too strong, his wings pumped as we went higher and higher.
I built up that mixed silvery gray magic between my palms, as he kept my arms in a viselike grip, face bearing down on me.
“I hate you!” I screamed over the wind, directly into his face. “I’ve always hated you. You’re a foul monster, and I can’t wait until you’re dead.”
The magic burst from my hands with a sharp snapping noise, and wrapped it around his lower legs, binding them together. He growled in frustration, releasing one of my arms, and grabbing my wing in a grip so tight, I yelped in surprise.
“And I’ve seen nothing but wasted potential in you, Brielle.”
A tightening pinch wrapped around the wing he held. Then he let go of me, and I dropped like a stone in water.
What the hell? Looking back over my shoulder, I saw a black inky band on the wing he’d touched. I couldn’t fly, and I was plummeting to the ground.
Shit!
I flapped my one good wing like crazy, to try and slow my fall, but I was going to hit the ground any moment and break a shit ton of bones no doubt. All my one-wing flapping was doing was throwing off my balance, making my descent more wobbly.
“Brielle!” Lincoln boomed, and then he zoomed into the air before me. I barely had time to register his blur of motion before he reached out, grabbing my arm. The force of my weight falling, and Lincoln’s sudden grip on my arm sent a flare of pain slicing through my shoulder blade, making me certain that it had just popped out of its socket.
A wail of agony ripped from my throat as the stinging sensation crawled up my entire arm. Lincoln’s face contorted in misery as he quickly flew me down to the ground and let me go, so I could cradle my arm to my chest. My entire right arm was on fire, but I was alive with no broken back, so that was a plus.
Where the hell is Lucy?
I looked around me, stunned at the realization that I was sitting in the middle of a war zone. One of the archangels had conjured a Celestial orb, which was floating in midair. The Fallen Army soldiers were dipping their blades into it, and slaying Lucifer’s demon horde, all while the other angels beyond the gates of Heaven waited and watched.
My eyes flitted around the space, searching for Shea and Raksha. I spotted my bestie fighting back to back with Noah, and relief crashed through me knowing she was okay.
But when I finally
found Raksha, my stomach sank. Lucifer had a knife to her throat, and she was conjuring another portal.
No.
I stood upright, still cradling my injured arm, which was slowly losing all feeling. “Lucifer!” I roared, and I could have sworn my voice had amplified with some untold power. “Let. Her. Go!” I stalked toward them as the rage built inside of me.
He was a coward. He was going to escape, and let his people be slaughtered. Fine. But he would not take her.
Lucy looked over at me and grinned, holding the blade tighter across Raksha’s throat. I snapped my good hand out, and flicked my silver energy whip to life.
“Let’s kill him!” Lincoln growled beside me, his sword glowing a bright blue.
Maybe this was what it would take, the two of us together. I simply nodded. I was 90 percent sure Lucifer wouldn’t kill Raksha; he clearly needed her to open his portals, or he would have done it himself.
Raksha was trying her best to open the portal, but with Lucifer’s knife so tight on her throat, she couldn’t move much. When she met my gaze, my heart broke for her. There was so much fear and desperation there; it reminded me of my first days down in Hell.
“They’re safe and happy,” I told her, hoping she knew that I meant her wife and child.
At my words, she wept with relief. In that moment, Lucifer pulled the blade from her throat and chucked it at Lincoln. My husband jerked to the side and dodged it, but it was enough of a distraction for Lucy to grab Raksha and start backing her into the open portal with him.
No!
With a flick of my wrist, I reached out and wrapped my whip around his left thigh. It coiled and tightened around the Prince of Darkness like a snake, stopping him. Lincoln ran forward, intending to jump into the portal like a crazed maniac no doubt, when Lucifer thrust his hands at him. A shock wave of energy slammed into Lincoln and me so fast and hard, that everything went black as I felt myself falling to the ground.
* * *
When I came to, the first thing I noticed was that everything hurt. My shoulder the most, but everything hurt, like I’d been hit by a car.
‘Have you ever wondered if Michael styles his hair, or if it’s just naturally that… bouncy,’ Sera’s voice came into my mind.
I moaned, peeling open my eyelids to find all four archangels standing over me.
“Lincoln,” I croaked, trying to sit up, but a wave of dizziness slammed into me.
“I’m here,” my husband groaned. I followed the sound of his voice to see that he was laid out next to me, while Shea, Chloe, Luke and Noah hovered over him.
My attention briefly shifted to the battlefield. Once so beautiful, it was now riddled with dead bodies. Some of them our own.
“Is it over?” I asked, trying to sit up again.
Raphael bent on one knee, his eyes watery with unshed tears. “It is, and you… you prevented a catastrophic war. You changed history, Brielle.”
Holy shit. Did I? I drove Lucifer off, and didn’t open the gate. I didn’t let him control me.
I laughed nervously, unsure of what to say.
Reaching out, Raphael pulled me up slowly, so I was standing. As he did, golden light shot from his hand and into my body, chasing the pain away. He was healing me. Against the rules, against his orders. I knew he’d already healed Lincoln and broken the rules but I just wasn’t use to this Raph.
He clicked his tongue. “You ripped the tendons and ligaments in your shoulder. That will take some time to heal.”
I tried to pull my arm back. “You don’t have to.”
His hands clamped down to hold me still. “I want to. I have free will too, and I will use it to the fullest from now on.”
Michael nodded. “We all will. We’re with you, Brielle. Until the end.”
‘I love him,’ Sera sighed.
I tried not to laugh at my infinity weapon’s comment, since no one else could hear her. What the archangels said was so overwhelming, I felt emotional and had to rein it in to keep from crying.
When Shea broke through the archangels’ barrier to deposit Sera at my feet, Raphael released me so I could go to her. I felt much better, still sore, but it was manageable. On the other hand, my weapon was still covered in the sickly dark magic.
“I’m going to need Mr. Claymore’s help. Sorry,” Shea confessed.
Waving her off, I shrugged. “It’s fine. Thanks for keeping her safe.” I realized then that once Lucifer had seen I wasn’t going to help him, he’d put that blanket of dark magic around Sera to make her powerless, so I couldn’t use her against him.
A loud gong sounded from behind us, and we all spun around surprised. The gates were opening. One of the angels—Lucifer had called him Metatron, I believed—walked toward us. He was the extremely tall one, with dark hair and green eyes, and in his hands was a giant wooden treasure chest with a golden latch.
“Metatron,” Michael said his name with what seemed to be a hint of admiration in his voice.
The man set the trunk down, and embraced Michael tightly. “I’ve missed you, Brother. We all have.” He pointed to the gathering of angels standing just inside of the open gate.
“Hello, old friend,” Raphael greeted him. They all took turns embracing, including Gabriel and Uriel.
I stood there, dumbfounded that I was casually chilling with archangels after just saving Heaven from going to war. How was this my life?
“What’s that?” Michael asked.
Metatron gestured to the wooden box resting at his feet. “This is a gift for your wife, from the Creator.”
Michael raised an eyebrow. “For Grace?”
Metatron nodded. “In it she will find the technology needed to arm the humans with equal power to fight Lucifer’s demons.”
Equal power.
A low whistle slipped through Raphael’s lips . “Normally, the Creator doesn’t like to get involved like this. He would wait for the humans to create the technology themselves.”
Metatron smiled, and shrugged. “You know the Creator is especially fond of the mortals.”
Raphael nodded. “As are we.”
‘This is crazy,’ I told Sera. How was I just listening in on this conversation?
‘Play it cool,’ she admonished.
The angel’s green-eyed gaze fell on me. “Brielle, it’s an honor to meet you in person.” He bowed his head.
In person? Had we met before or something?
I wasn’t sure what protocol was or why he was bowing to me, so I just bowed back.
Metatron smiled. “To thank you for your service today, the Creator has a gift for you as well, but first, I’ve been instructed to give you all these.”
Pulling some disc-shaped metal pieces from his pocket, he began handing them out to each archangel, before peering over the group to where Lincoln and my friends stood. “You too.” He beckoned them forward.
Lincoln, Noah, Shea, Chloe and Luke seemed stunned, but they came forward anyway. He handed a disc to Lincoln and Noah, but not the others.
“You won’t need them,” he told the rest of my friends. “These discs allow the wearer to withstand the dark energies of the underworld, so long as it’s touching their skin.”
Lincoln’s mouth dropped open in shock. “This would’ve been nice to have last year, when Brielle was taken.”
Metatron nodded. “Yes, it would have, but it wasn’t permitted at that time. Brielle learned a valuable lesson in her time with Lucifer, one that will aid her in fulfilling her destiny.”
Everyone eyed their disc cautiously, including the archangels, before ultimately placing it in their pockets.
“Wait.” I shook my head to clear my thoughts. “So, now we could all… go down to Hell together?”
If I could bring the archangels and Lincoln down there, I could wipe out Lucy, and save Raksha!
Metatron nodded. “You can. What you do with them it’s your choice.”
Free will.
I peered at his hands. “You said you ha
ve something for me?”
He nodded, gesturing toward the gate. When my gaze followed his, the angels standing there parted, revealing Bernie. Right beside him was… my father.
A cry lodged in my throat as I broke into a run, holding my injured arm to my chest. He was a golden spectral ghost, younger and healthier-looking than I remembered him, but it was my dad 100 percent.
“Dad!” I sobbed, running full blast at the gate.
With a grin, he slowly stepped out of the gated entrance, and I sputtered to a stop a second before crashing into him. As his figure moved out of Heaven and into the in-between, his golden form solidified into a physical-looking body. It was like he was alive again.
“Hey, peanut.” He reached out and cupped my face. The second his warm skin touched mine, I burst into tears. This was all I’d ever wanted—one more moment with him, one more chance to hug him.
As if he read my mind, he opened his arms and pulled me into a hug.
I was hugging my dad. How was this happening?
I couldn’t turn off the tears; they just kept coming, pouring down my face.
“I’ve missed you. Like crazy. Mikey is a wolf shifter, and Mom’s living in Angel City. So much has happened,” I told him through my tears.
He smiled, pulling away to meet my gaze. It was crazy to see him so young and happy, like in old pictures. It felt like I was dreaming.
“I know sweetie. I watch over you guys all the time.” His voice… God, I’d forgotten what he sounded like. It was the best thing in the world to hear it again.
“I got married,” I croaked, showing him my ring with a shaky hand.
He nodded. “I know. To a good man, like I always knew you would.”
My throat tightened with emotion, and I wondered if I would ever stop crying. “I love you, Dad. Are you… happy here?”
It seemed like a ridiculous question. This was Heaven, after all. Obviously, people were happy here… right?
He stepped closer and a warmth washed over me; I could feel his love enveloping me, and it was unconditional, without reservation. Fresh tears streamed down my cheeks, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop them. I didn’t think I could ever stop them again.
