“That would make sense,” said Gabriel. “I only remembered because Arkial asked after Michael.” He shook his head, bemused. “Either way, I found out that it is God who is turning our minds away from Earth. He has plans there he does not wish to share.”
“You found out?” repeated Raphael, his eyebrows going up. “God didn’t tell you himself?”
“No,” said Azrael. “But Tribunal, who is God’s Self…”
“You mean God’s Son,” said Michael.
“And God’s Self,” said Gabriel. “He told me of God’s plans.”
“If God doesn’t wish to share,” said Azrael, “why would Tribunal share it with you?”
Gabriel frowned. For the first time in a very, very long time a new feeling crept into his mind. He looked at the others and could see they were feeling it, too. It was something very rare in Heaven. Rarer even than Tribunal’s impatience.
Doubt.
“Raphael,” said Michael. “What did you find out?”
“It isn’t just us,” said Raphael. “I went among the Angels who love to visit Earth and tell stories of the things they have seen there. None of them have thought of Earth in a thousand years.”
“Not since Tribunal came back,” said Michael.
“Exactly,” said Raphael. “Save for a short period of time a short while ago.”
“Eleven weeks?” guessed Michael.
“Yes.”
“All of them?”
“Yes.”
Michael frowned. “Why?”
“God was distracted?” suggested Azrael, smiling. All three of the Angels smiled back, knowing he was joking. There were certainly times when it appeared God wasn’t paying attention, but God was never truly distracted. He could, when asked, tell you exactly what had happened anywhere in the universe at any time of the day, from the movements of the smallest ant to the explosion of the largest supernova in the sky.
“So if God is behind this,” said Raphael slowly, “he let everyone think of Earth for one moment of one day, then took it all away, but not so well as to take away the fact that we noticed it.”
There was silence around the table. Then Michael stood up. “I think I shall talk to God.”
“A very good idea,” said Azrael. “I will do the same. You take the stairs, I’ll take the path.”
“Gabriel, Raphael,” said Michael. “Can you find out what was different in Heaven on the day that we all remembered Earth?”
The other Angels nodded.
“I think we should go now,” said Azrael. “And I think we should go quickly.”
“I think you are right,” said Michael. “I will meet you all in the Greenfields eating room tomorrow at midday. Keep it in your mind. We are meeting at midday to taste the new crops.”
The other Angels agreed and stepped out into the night.
At midday the next day, Michael and Azrael sat in the Greenfields eating room and looked at one another, puzzled.
“I know we were meeting here,” said Azrael. “And I know there was a reason, but for the life of me I cannot remember what that reason was.”
“Neither can I,” said Michael. “And given that neither of us forgets anything, ever, I find that very strange.”
They were still frowning at one another as Raphael and Gabriel arrived and sat at the table. Azrael leaned in close. “You were right,” he said. “Something was different.”
“Right about what?” asked Michael. “What are you talking about?”
Azrael and Raphael exchanged looks of concern. Raphael said, “After we eat I would like to talk to both of you.”
The food was excellent. The chef was from Japan and had a way of blending rice, avocado and cucumbers with spices that delighted the Angels’ palates. Michael and Azrael talked happily about the food for most of the flight to the grove. Raphael and Gabriel kept silent until they were all in the grove and Raphael asked Michael and Azrael to sit on the stone. Then Raphael put his hands on Michael’s head and closed his eyes.
“It’s there,” he said. “Just like with you, Gabriel. Hold on a moment.”
Few pains were enough to make the Angel of Battle cry out, so when Michael actually yelped, Azrael’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. Michael fell forward from the waist, catching his head in his hands and resting them on his knees. When he sat up, he was blinking madly, as if trying to clear a storm of dust from his eyes.
“Are you all right?” asked Raphael.
“No,” said Michael, and the fury in his voice was unmistakable. “I am not all right. Do Azrael.”
Azrael actually screamed in pain, the noise of it echoing through the little glade and the forest around them. The trees absorbed it so none of his scream left the mountaintop, but all four of the Angels looked nervously around and listened for sounds of anyone coming before speaking again.
“He played with my memory,” said Azrael. “Tribunal played with my mind.”
“Yes,” said Michael. “Why?”
“To make us not ask about Earth,” said Raphael. “To keep our minds from going there.”
“Agreed,” said Gabriel. “Why?”
“Because he’s hiding something,” said Azrael. “What is he hiding?”
“I don’t know,” said Raphael. “But I do know what changed during the time when we all remembered the Earth.”
“What?”
“Tribunal wasn’t in Heaven.”
“What?” Surprise filled Michael’s voice. “How do you know?”
“Because we sat down and went back through our memories of that time to see whose presence we could not feel,” said Gabriel. “Tribunal was the only one not here.”
Azrael frowned, the expression changing his mainly pleasant face to fearsome. “Where did he go?”
“Not to Earth,” said Raphael. “Or to any of the other planes open to Angels.”
Azrael’s expression grew darker. “There’s only one plane that isn’t open to Angels.”
“I know,” said Raphael. “So what does the Son of God want in Hell?”
Michael nodded. “And why doesn’t he want his Father knowing about it?”
“And how does he keep his Father from finding out?” put in Azrael. “God sees everything.”
“But he doesn’t always notice things,” said Gabriel. “If you ask him, he’ll be able to tell you what happened, but it doesn’t mean he was watching it at the time.”
It was Michael’s turn to frown. “Does he have enough power to make God look the other direction?”
“I don’t know,” said Raphael. “I don’t know how much power he has.”
Azrael stood and began pacing the length of the clearing. “Let us assume his power is an order of magnitude as great above ours as ours is above mortals in their human form.”
“More,” said Michael. “He has the power to turn all the eyes in Heaven away from what he is doing. And to keep God distracted as well.”
“So how do we find out what he is doing?” Azrael reached the edge of the clearing, turned and paced back. “How do we stop someone who can distract God?”
“We can’t,” said Michael.
“Then who can?”
“God,” said Michael. “We just have to reach him.”
“And how, exactly, do we do that?” asked Gabriel.
“I can think offhand of two things that might work,” said Michael. “First is, we wait until Tribunal goes away again, then we get to God before he comes back.”
“Which may be a long, long wait,” said Azrael, still pacing the clearing. “And if he already has plans in motion, it may be too late to stop them by the time we see God. Choice two?”
“We take the block off of everyone’s minds,” said Michael. “We spread the word of what is going on, and we get everyone to fly to the mountain to tell God. Tribunal can’t stop us all.”
“You hope,” said Azrael.
“I hope,” admitted Michael. “Thoughts?”
“I can teach you how to remove t
he block,” said Raphael. “If we free the other Angels and teach them how to do the same, our numbers can increase exponentially instead of arithmetically.”
“Good idea.” Michael surveyed the other Angels and saw the grimness he felt reflected in their faces. “I suggest we begin with the strongest.”
“Agreed,” said Azrael. “And let us hope he doesn’t notice long enough for us to reach God.” Azrael stopped pacing and looked off into the distance. “I wonder what is going on on Earth, anyway?”
Arcana was eating breakfast with a trio of young prostitutes in a Florentine brothel, listening to the stories of how they ended up there, when she first felt the change. Her eyes went at once to the window, though of course there was nothing to be seen. She closed her eyes, listening around the world to see if she could detect where it was coming from.
“Hey.” One of the girls touched her arm. “Are you all right?”
“I am…” There! “Fine,” said Arcana, rising to her feet. “I am just fine.” She tossed a purse of gold on the table. “Take yourselves out of here. Build a home for yourselves.”
She walked out of the brothel, ignoring the girls’ cries of thanks. Her eyes, ears, and mind were all tuned to one thing only.
I can feel you, Nyx. And I am coming for you!
Chapter 8
The last part of the journey out of Hell was the most difficult. It was a brutal climb up sheer cliffs against forces so strong flying wouldn’t work in spite of all the strength of the Angels’ wings. Worse, a single slip would send an Angel hurling back down to where the gate opened, which for Nyx and Persephone meant a pretty certain devouring by the Mother of Demons.
Of course, compared to everything else that has happened, thought Nyx as they clawed their way up the cliffs, this really hasn’t been that bad.
Above them the earth stirred and shook, and a hole opened in the world, sending sand and rocks to pummel down on them. Nyx and Persephone crushed themselves against the cliff until the portal finished opening, then climbed up once more.
“At least this time I don’t have to shove Ishtar’s fat ass up the damn portal,” grunted Persephone as she hauled her way up the jagged rock of the earth toward the sunlight. “Where does this one come out?”
“Wherever I want it to,” said Nyx. She pulled herself up the rocks, the power of Epiphenia that coursed through her making the climb easy.
“And where do you want it to come through?”
“Someplace nice,” said Nyx. “I want some sunshine to plot my revenge in.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Nyx topped the cliff and pulled herself onto the surface of the Earth.
The sun was indeed shining. And all around them was green, lush jungle that sang with life. The air was humid and loud with the buzz of insects. Persephone pulled herself out of the hole. It began to fill at once, until it had vanished entirely, replaced with only a small, burned patch of ground, ten feet wide. Nothing would grow there for at least a hundred years, Nyx knew. Then new earth would cover the old, new seeds would sprout, and new life would bloom over the dead ground below.
“That way,” said Nyx, pointing to a spot where the jungle thinned and blue water shone. Persephone yelped in joy and ran through the woods. Nyx grinned and watched her go. A moment later she heard Persephone splashing into the water.
Nyx let her armor fade to nothing as she walked through the jungle, inhaling all the scents and gorging her eyes on the colors and the light. She could feel the life all around her, could sense it, from the smallest insect in the air to the largest whale in the ocean. She could feel the soft plants bending beneath her bare feet as she strode through the jungle, then the coarse grains of the sand and the sharp edges of shells on the shore. Then she was in the water, and the coolness of it enveloped her like a blanket, washing away the dirt and grime and gore of Hell. She walked in until she was immersed, her hair floating around her in a halo of white and green. She began swimming, twisting in the water and letting the last of Hell wash from her.
Persephone swam up underneath Nyx, wrapped her in her arms and kissed her deeply. Together they breached the surface of the sea.
“We have things to do,” said Nyx as Persephone closed in for another kiss.
“They can wait,” said Persephone. “Please.”
Nyx tried to protest, but Persephone’s body against hers was a very powerful argument in the other direction. She kissed Persephone again, and together the two sculled their way to the shallows until they touched land. They laughed as they crawled out of the ocean to the dry sand, still kissing. At last they reached a flat spot. Persephone waved a hand and the sand flew from Nyx’s body and her own. She kissed Nyx on the lips, then the neck, and began working her way down. Nyx sighed in pleasure and lay back against the hot sand. She closed her eyes and felt the sun shining through her eyelids. Persephone kissed her breasts and Nyx moaned in pleasure. Her head turned and her cheek touched the sand.
Pain.
Blinding white pain that drove everything else away. Nyx screamed, her body convulsing and her cheek stuck hard against the sand.
Lucifer opened the door to the blade room and looked inside. In the middle of the floor, bloody and bleeding, lay Ishtar.
“Crawl to me, bitch,” said Lucifer.
Ishtar pulled herself onto her hands and knees, ignoring the pain as one of the spinning blades hacked through her side. Another one sheared off part of her wing. She moved forward anyway. Half a hundred blades cut into her as she crawled across the floor. Silver blood, guts, bone, and feathers sprayed through the room. Lucifer watched with a smile. He blocked the doorway so she could not cross the threshold to escape the blades that ripped into her. Ishtar went forward until she was on her knees in front of him, blades spinning and hacking into her from all sides.
“Beg,” said Lucifer.
For a reply, Ishtar knelt up, opened the black pants he wore, and took him into her mouth. Lucifer moaned. “This will not earn you forgiveness,” he said, though he didn’t move.
Ishtar replaced her mouth with her hand and leaned back so she could look in Lucifer’s eyes, ignoring the blades that hacked into her back. “I’m not asking for forgiveness,” she said. “I did what I was asked, I did it well, and I did it right. I didn’t know that Nyx knew another way out, and I didn’t know that she would escape your legions.” She put her mouth back to work.
“So you say,” said Lucifer. “How do I know you’re not lying?”
“My mind is open to you, Dread Lord,” Ishtar sent. “Look and see for yourself.”
Lucifer did, peeling through the layers of her mind with no more gentleness than Tribunal had shown him. Ishtar let him through, let him pull the sections of her mind apart, and never stopped what she was doing. Lucifer moaned again, but kept searching. When he was finished, he was certain that she had not betrayed him. He let her keep going until Ishtar, wondering what was to be her fate, replaced her mouth with her hand again and asked, “Now what?”
“Now?” said Lucifer. He grabbed her hair, pulled her up to her feet. “Now I have to tell Tribunal that Nyx is no longer in Hell.” He spun her around, grabbed her waist with one hand and shoved her face into the blades with the other. Ishtar forced herself not to scream as the blades cut into her face, popping open one of her eyes and ripping out a dozen teeth in a spray of blood and gore. “And assuming I live through that,” said Lucifer as he started fucking her, “we’re going hunting.”
A small, red shrike flew through Shiloh, the gray nothingness of the unbelievers. It was a place where God didn’t listen or see, but where Tribunal kept a presence.
Tribunal’s true self was in Heaven, sitting at the feet of God, learning all he could and steadily growing in power. Most of that power was dedicated to feeding God an illusion of what was happening on the Earth. A second part of it was aimed across Heaven, keeping thoughts of Earth out of the minds of Angels and souls alike. Another part blocked the doors of Heaven and Hell from A
ngelic view from Earth, so that, should any choose to venture there despite the blocks Tribunal had put on their minds, they would not be able to get back.
But a small part of himself was here, in Shiloh, listening for messages from Lucifer. So when the small, red shrike arrived, he was there and waiting. He listened to Lucifer’s message, and fury grew inside of him. The bird exploded into a red mist. The soul within it fell into Shiloh, where it would wander for all eternity.
On the mountain, sitting at God’s feet, Tribunal gathered himself together and wound an illusion of his presence throughout Heaven. No one would notice he was gone because no one, not even God, would be thinking to look for his presence. As far as they knew, he was there, sitting at God’s feet.
Tribunal rose and, with a thought, disappeared from Heaven.
“Nyx? Nyx!” Persephone shouted as Nyx convulsed on the beach.
Nyx, beyond her senses, could only scream in agony. The life essence of Epiphenia slowly slid out of her body in a stream of glittering green that spread over the earth. The sand beneath Nyx’s head turned into a verdant circle of plants that spread slowly outward as Epiphenia’s essence left Nyx’s body.
“Fuck,” said Persephone. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK!” There was absolutely nothing she could do to stop the green from sliding back into the earth. And that meant there was nothing she could do to stop the wrenching agony that was ripping through Nyx’s body.
There was a whistling noise above, and Persephone’s eyes snapped up. It wasn’t the same noise they had heard in Hell when Lucifer dropped the mountaintop on them. This was the sound of wind through the feathers of Angels’ wings as they dove down toward Earth.
They can’t have followed us from Hell yet, Persephone thought. She craned her neck to see and spread her senses wide.
I hope it’s Ishtar, Persephone thought. I would love to gut that bitch a few hundred times.
Oh, crap.
Persephone launched herself into the air, her sword and whip springing into her hands as Arcana, her white armor gleaming, and her sword flaming with all the power of Heaven, dove down on top of her. Persephone lashed her whip upward. Arcana knocked it aside and slammed into Persephone in a single motion, driving them both to the earth. They hit hard, scattering sand and shells high into the air and all over the writhing Nyx.
Scorn of Angels Page 14