“Really?” she flirted, gliding across the aisle and into the seat next to her. “You wanna maybe,” she slid her hand up Gabriel’s thigh. “Spend some quality time?”
“They could wake up.”
“Not for eight solid hours. The plane could burst into flames, crash into the ocean. We could all get eaten by sharks. They’d sleep right through it. There are about ten hours left on this flight. That gives them all kinds of time to wake up, eat and prepare themselves.”
“Eat?”
She pointed to her duffel in the overhead compartment. “I brought snacks.”
Gabriel grabbed her face and grinned. “Damn it, you are the best.” She kissed her and began fiddling with her belt buckle. “What’s this pants crap?”
They woke up to the sound of individual chip bags being placed in front of them on treys. Bottles of water and sandwiches accompanied them. “It’s crunchy peanut butter with strawberry jam because that’s my favorite,” Wendy informed them. “I also have chocolates for dessert.”
“Well, aren’t you two perfect for each other?” Lucifer quipped. “Shared unhealthy eating habits as well as a penchant for using your powers against the rest of us.”
“I’m sorry,” she claimed. “But you were all too rowdy. Snapping at each other, being rude. Valerie was right, you needed a nap.”
“Who are you?” Allydia asked, having fallen asleep before Wendy had boarded the plane.
“Gabriel’s new playmate,” Lucifer told her.
“Girlfriend,” Gabriel corrected.
“Really?” Allydia asked. “I didn’t think you were capable of monogamy, Messenger. Are you finding it difficult?”
“No.”
“It’s okay if you are,” Wendy assured her. “Allydia, I made a sandwich for you, too, but Gabriel just told me you can’t eat regular food.”
“That’s all right, I brought my own.” She pulled a blood bag from the cooler next to her and began to drink.
Wyatt averted his eyes. “Still not used to that.”
“Thanks for the food,” Valerie said through a mouthful of chips. “But, don’t fuck with me like that again.”
“Cross my heart,” Wendy giggled.
They ate in silence for the next several minutes, all of them anxious about the upcoming battle. All except Wyatt, who no longer wanted to die, but wasn’t one hundred percent against it, either.
The jet landed in the middle of the desert, as per Gabriel’s instructions. The planes carrying the army of vampires were already there and as Allydia headed toward the door to leave, she turned to address Lucifer. “Would you mind?”
“Not at all.” He exited first and looked up to the midday sky. He took a deep breath and as he exhaled, the sky became overcast with thick, dark clouds. Now safe from the sun’s radiation, Allydia went to join her general and assemble her soldiers.
“Neat,” Wendy approved as she and Gabriel stepped onto the sand.
“You’re not the only one with tricks up their sleeves.”
“You ready for this?” Valerie asked as she and Wyatt walked to meet the others.
“Not at all,” he admitted.
“Yeah, me, neither.”
They made the short hike to the ruins of ancient Babylon. As they drew closer, the ground became greener. There were palm trees and shrubbery all fed by the Euphrates River.
“You can set up right here,” Gabriel told Wendy, who nodded and began placing large amethysts in a circle.
“So, this is Babylon,” she said. “Pretty.”
“It’s buried a few miles down. Is that an issue?”
“Not as long as I’m right on top of it.” She poured the Goofer Dust around the stones and set candles in between. “Crap in a hat!”
“What?”
“I didn’t bring a lighter. I knew I was forgetting something.”
Gabriel chuckled. “Girl, I got you.” She waved her hand, lighting all the candles at once.
“Goddamn, you are handy.”
“And here come the vampires,” Valerie groaned, leaning on her sword. The others turned to see thousands of the creatures, somehow their allies, headed toward them, Allydia and another woman in the lead.
“They really will do anything she asks,” Wyatt said.
“You just figuring that out now?” Gabriel asked.
“I told you,” Lucifer groused. “They worship her. They revere her as a mother, savior, judge, jury, and executioner. She’s a god to them. It’s disgusting.”
“Don’t start,” Gabriel warned.
In the distance, they could see them coming; the military vehicles approached like a herd of wild horses, loud and fast. Valerie lifted her sword, igniting it in a burst of flames. Wyatt began gathering energy from the blackened sky and Lucifer clenched his fists.
Wendy got on her knees in the center of the circle and began to chant, “Praesidio in loco isto.”
“Get ready, kids,” Gabriel said, stepping forward. “Shit’s about to get dicey.”
Chapter 35
Allydia stopped and faced her soldiers, an army of the undead, ready to kill or be killed for their Queen. They halted and knelt before her as she began to address them, none of them looking her in the eyes.
“My finest warriors, you humble me with your willingness to fight. You honor me with your sacrifice. I am proud beyond words to call you my children. Some of you may die here today, far from home and for a cause you may not see as your own. Take solace in the fact that what you do here is just and I am grateful for your contribution. Take pride in knowing that until your dying day, you served your Queen well and you will not be forgotten.”
The crowd cheered, standing as she turned away. “Assume your positions!” Phindi called.
Lucifer stepped away from his siblings to speak into Allydia’s ear as she approached. “If anything happens to my brother, I will hold you personally responsible.”
“If anything happens to your brother, I will rip out my own heart with my bare hands.”
As a swarm of drones flew overhead, Lucifer rocketed up to meet them, swatting them into each other, exploding them in the sky above. When the last craft was disabled, he moved on to the vehicles, pouncing on them and lifting them up before dropping them on the enemy soldiers below. He was a one-man army, plowing through LUV’s, tanks and DPV’s. All that was left were the golem themselves, which he was useless against in his host body. He rejoined the others as Wyatt pulled bolts of white-hot lightning from the clouds and threw them into the crowd. The army of monsters was stunned, but got up and kept coming.
“Well, that’s unsettling,” he complained.
“Stay behind me,” Allydia instructed.
“I can take care of myself.”
“Nothing living can harm them. If they get close, I’m the only one here that can protect you.”
“Ready!” they heard Phindi shout. The vampires were in formation, stationed between the Gate and the golem. As the enemy got closer, the vampire general raised her hand. Her soldiers nearly vibrated with excitement, hungry for the fight that was to come. “Remember, if you can’t get their heads off, just the bottom lip will do!” The general dropped her arm. “Attack!”
The vampires raced to the opposition, hacking off heads with swords as bullets began to fly. Vampire’s carrying no weapons flung themselves on enemy combatants like spider monkeys, tearing the bottom lips from their vacant faces and watching in amazement when they fell.
“How is that killing them?” Wyatt wondered.
Lucifer folded his arms. “They’ve been marked with the Word of God, enslaving them to the one whose blood was used in the ritual. One of Lilith’s spells. Always with the blood magic, that one. She was obsessed with trading one life for another. Or many. Isn’t that right, Your Majesty?”
Allydia shot him a look.
“The Word of God?” Wyatt asked.
Lucifer nodded. “One of His names. Considered sacred by humans of certain religions, though it matt
ers little to Him what people choose to call Him. Imagine if the bacteria in your gut had a name for you. Would you mind?”
Suddenly, an explosion boomed above them, the grenade crashing into the invisible wall Wendy’s protection spell had put in place. It was hit with another and another and Wendy’s arms began to shake as she chanted louder, the shield weakening with every blow.
The fighting between the two armies continued. Vampires were slaughtered en masse with bullets through the heart. Golem were torn to shreds by vengeful vampires. The battle drew closer to the Gate and as the wall began to thin, a stray bullet got through, hitting Wendy in her liver. She bled out and as the light from her stormy eyes faded, the wall dissolved, leaving the Gate and the siblings vulnerable.
“Wendy!” Gabriel cried, rushing to her girlfriend’s side. She pulled the bullet from her body with her mind and placed her hands on the wound. Her skin glowed and the wound slowly healed, but her eyes remained closed. “Wake up. Please, wake up.” Gabriel’s heart pounded in her ears and her mind raced. She thought she might hyperventilate. “Lucifer,”
“Yes, sister?” he answered, crouching next to her.
She looked at him, the fear in her eyes unsettling him. He’d never seen her afraid.
She choked back tears, her voice shaky as she spoke. “I think I’m in love with her.”
“Oh, fuck this shit,” Valerie blurted, stepping outside the circle and swinging her flame-engulfed sword, lopping the heads off every golem she came across. Wyatt, too, stepped away from the group, throwing balls of lightning at the soldiers as they swarmed.
“Remember what I said,” Lucifer warned, jumping up and grabbing Allydia by the arm.
She shot back, “Wyatt is the most important thing to me in this world. I will not fail him.” She went after her beloved, planting herself between him and the monsters.
Horror covered the face of one of the vampires, seeing his Queen put a human before her own kind, before her own life, filling him with anger and disgust. He ran off, deserting her and her cause, unwilling to risk himself for a Queen whose heart was not fully with him and his people.
“Please be okay,” Gabriel whispered as she put her ear to Wendy’s heart. She couldn’t hear over the sounds of the battlefield. She pressed harder but nothing. She put her fingers to her wrist to feel for a pulse. It was there. Faint, but there. After a few seconds, it got stronger and she opened her eyes.
“You were right, dying is really unpleasant.”
“Are you okay?” Gabriel fretted.
“I think so,” she said, struggling to stand.
“Stay here. Get the spell back up if you can.”
“Where are you going?”
“To fight,” she said, marching toward the action. “I’m in a mood.”
She raised her hands, determination and rage coloring her face. As she concentrated, the remaining golem burst into flames. It didn’t kill them. They carried on, shooting and fending off vampires. Eventually, the flames went out, Gabriel being alive rendering her powers all but useless against them.
“It was you,” Wyatt realized. “In the theater with Lilith’s demons. You killed those people.”
“Lecture me about it later.” Just then, Spade came barreling through the crowd, pistol drawn, a smug grin plastered on his five o’clock shadow covered face.
“We meet again,” he smirked, pulling the trigger and shooting her twice in the stomach.
Allydia held Wyatt back as he tried to rush him. “She will heal.”
“And you,” Spade scoffed, approaching Lucifer. “Flying. Impressive. Let’s see if you can survive a straight shot to the temple.”
As he pointed the gun at Lucifer’s face, the shot ringing out and the bullet being released, they heard Wendy cry out, “Subsisto!” The bullet stopped in mid-air and fell to the ground between the two men. Lucifer sneered.
“How is that possible?!” Spade spat.
“He’s the one that can’t be hurt by supernatural creatures?” Wendy asked.
Lucifer nodded.
“Interesting spell. My grandmother told me about a witch who could work it, back in the day. Not easy.”
Spade shot again, and again, while Wendy easily stopped the bullets. “What are you people?!”
“There’s no way to straight remove it,” Wendy continued. “All you can do is,” She held her hand out, palm facing him, and flicked her wrist, pointing her fingers toward herself. “Transuerso.”
“What did you do?” Spade demanded.
Lucifer stepped toward him, his face twisted in an evil grin. He slapped him and laughed. “She shifted the warding to herself. I knew a Tituban witch would come in handy. A lesson for you, Wendy. My Father will occasionally put people in our lives for a purpose. As for you, Mr. Spade, sadly, your time here has passed.”
The general tried to run, but Lucifer snatched him by the hair. “A coward on top of everything else? Shameful.” He threw him to the ground.
“Lucifer,” Gabriel called, clutching her bleeding gut, unable to move from where she’d fallen as she healed.
He gave her a sideways glance in acknowledgment.
Through heavy breaths she all but ordered him, “Make it hurt.”
He smiled again and returned his gaze to the the fallen general. “As you wish, sister.” He tore off Spade’s right arm first, assuring he wouldn’t be firing his gun again. He plucked off the other, then his legs, reveling in the savagery of it. He was nearly laughing as blood sprayed in all directions.
Spade howled, the pain so intense it brought tears to his eyes. “My employer won’t stop!” he swore. “He’ll find another way! He will destroy this place!”
Gabriel walked up, inspecting the holes in her shirt. She sighed and stood over him, looking him in the eye. “You let me worry about Cain.”
Lucifer plunged his hand into Spade’s gut, pulling out intestines like a magician pulling scarves from his sleeve. The man convulsed, blood sputtering from his mouth. He went ghostly white, his eyes glazing over. Finally, he stopped moving, the life leaving him. When he was dead, the last of the golem fell, their lives having been intertwined with his. The battle was over.
Chapter 36
Only nine-hundred vampires remained. They lined up their fallen and paid their respects, Allydia and Phindi watching as they said goodbye.
“Africa,” the Queen told her general. “The entire continent. And the Middle East. They’re yours now.”
“Your Majesty?”
“Duchess Phindi, Ruler of The Old World’s, yours and mine. Second only to me, you answer to none of my Governors anywhere in the world.”
“That is too great of an honor, my Queen.”
“You deserve it. You’ve proven yourself loyal and worthy. You’re strong. A leader.”
“I am humbled. It is a privilege.”
“It’s what you’ve earned.” She held back the urge to shed tears as she watched her people mourn. “Do you know how old I am?”
“You are the first of our kind. I assume you must be thousands of years old.”
“Yes. Almost as old as humanity itself. I’ve seen wars, famine, and plague. I’ve seen the rise and fall of nations and empires. Through it all, I’ve maintained our way of life. Us, the vampiric race. I’ve kept us out of human affairs, for the most part, separating us from their petty skirmishes. But, this…I couldn’t ignore this.”
“May I ask why, my Queen?”
“The people I traveled with, you saw what they can do?”
“The man that wields lightning as a weapon? The woman that heals herself from death?”
Allydia nodded. “They’re not strictly human. They’re something else, something older. It devastates me to see my people die and more to see the ones that did not suffer the loss. But, these people speak for something higher. I could not refuse them.”
“Higher? What could be higher than you, my Queen?”
“Only one thing.”
She was taken a
back. “You speak of a Creator?”
“We called Him ‘Elohim’. I thought my father had invented Him. An easy explanation for the things in life he couldn’t account for. I only believed him after my stepmother made me this.”
“You talk of God.”
She nodded.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“You’ll say nothing. I trust only you with this.”
“Why not tell the others? Forgive me, my Queen, but this is--”
“The ability to believe what one wishes without actually knowing keeps people sane,” she told her. “I’m old enough to remember a time when God spoke directly to humans. They took His words out of context, bastardized His commands, killed each other for the right to call themselves His. The only true difference between us and the humans is that we feel more deeply. Imagine the zealotry that could emerge, the harm they could do to each other. Better God remain a vague idea than something tangible to be acquired like love or fear. You will keep this to yourself, yes? My faith in you has not been misplaced?”
“Of course, Your Majesty. I serve at your pleasure. And…do you serve God?”
She laughed. “I serve no one. But I do respect Him.”
The vampires boarded the planes, leaving their comrades where they lay. Allydia joined them and they took off, heading quickly back to the States.
Once she was sure the vampires were out of sight range, Gabriel waved her hand at the makeshift memorial, then at the pile of golem, setting ablaze the thousands of bodies, Spade’s mangled corpse thrown in with his soldiers, his dead eyes seeming to stare her down as they burned.
Back on the jet, Valerie curled up in a window seat and closed her eyes. “Hey, witch, any chance of getting another one of those power naps?”
Wendy giggled. “I thought you said--”
“Girl, I know what I said, but I’m tired as hell.”
“All right, then. Somnus.”
Valerie passed out, a light snore the only sound she made for the rest of the trip.
“So, problem solved?” Lucifer asked.
Elohim Page 12
