Leo’s fingers suddenly wrapped around the chain and ripped the necklace from my neck.
“What the hell is this?” he asked. I tipped over from the force of his pull and Zev caught me. The headache stopped along with the voices. I snatched it back from him, stuffing it in my pocket. Zev’s eyes widened at the seal.
“It doesn’t matter! It saved all of our lives.”
“I trusted you this morning when I shared my nightmare. Why would you keep this from me?”
“I knew how you’d react,” I said.
“You acted like you saw the light like you wouldn’t repeat this same mistake in Lemuria!”
“I was in a tough spot and didn’t know what to do. They were going to murder us.”
“What happened to waiting on God?” His words stung and I didn’t answer. “I saw the smug expression Azazel gave you. It was a gift from him, wasn’t it?” Leo said.
“No.”
“Then how did you get this?”
“Belial,” I said with a gulp.
“Wow, her second boyfriend,” Cicely said with a snicker.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“Sorry doesn’t fix a compromised prophet.” While what he said had a ring of truth, his failure to see his shortcomings intensified the anger bubbling within me.
“If you want to talk about a compromised prophet. It was your idea to steal from the Vatican. We wouldn’t be in this situation if it weren’t for your selfish actions.”
“I made a mistake, but I never said God told me to do it. Nor did I keep secrets.”
“I’m not the one who has an alter ego who gets triggered by Slate.”
“He trained me, Crystal and Rain to be assassins. I thought we had all of their cues out of our heads. I was wrong. I had no idea Cicely and Baran were like me as well.”
“That makes us even.”
“No, I reverted to that because of mind control. You made a conscious decision to choose the seal.”
“I did it to save us!”
“You’re not who I thought you were.” Leo sighed.
It appeared to everyone I had joined forces with the fallen. If they only knew half the story, they’d understand, the trauma of the past three years.
Leaning against Zev, I passed out.
* * *
Several hours later, I awakened to the magenta rays of the setting sun pouring in on us. Everyone was getting out of the truck. We had reached Georgia.
Climbing out, never felt better with the scent of fresh air.
I reached in my pocket. To my horror, the seal was missing.
Before I could open my mouth to voice my complaint, Leo’s father sprinted out of the bar.
“Son, we have to get out of here. These monsters..!”
“They what?” Leo said. His father was out of breath.
“Broke in—they are destroying everything!”
“My mother is in there!” I said, dashing forward. Leo gripped my shoulder to slow me. I shook myself free, running inside.
The echo of furniture being tossed around downstairs filled the air. I descended the stairs, stepping around remnants of broken vases, sofa cushioning, and broken. She was nowhere in sight. My heart paced faster. Scanning the room, in a corner, I spied Asmodeus and the Seirim, blocking her.
“Where is she?” the Seirim threatened, snatching her chin.
“I’ll never tell you, you disgusting demon, In the name of….” Her voice grew muted. Her eyes moved to me, widening. She shook her head.
“If you don’t cooperate, we’ll kill you,” the Seirim said, raising his hooves. A tear rolled down her cheek.
“Wait!” I cried, rushing out. The Seirim turned with a grin. Asmodeus blocked me with a force pinning me to the wall.
“Now you have a front-row seat!” the Seirim said, turning back to my mother. “I’m going to hack her to pieces!”
“Take me instead.” I pleaded.
“I want you to suffer just like you made my mother suffer!” he said. Leo and Zev ran in behind me, freezing in place.
“Stay back, you fleas!” Asmodeus said. He waved his hand with the same magnetic force, gluing Zev and Leo to the walls.
He shifted his hands. We fell from the walls, gasping. Getting back up, Zev and I ran at the Seirim from both sides. Before we could reach the Seirim, Asmodeus smote us. His blows sent electricity through our bodies.
Belial appeared in the room and gripped Asmodeus by the neck, glaring at him. Asmodeus twisted his hand in another signal. A horde of demons appeared in the room, climbing on top of Belial, knocking him to the ground. He dropped Asmodeus while they covered him.
Seeing Belial overpowered worsened my angst. The seal flashed before my eyes in a vision. Searching for it in my mind, I located it inside of a closed, dark denim space—Leo’s pocket. Focusing on it, it floated out of his pocket to me. Clasping it, I close my eyes, sliding the ring around my finger. A bright burst of colors danced around, in a whirlwind of energy lifting me off my feet.
The demons turned to me like soldiers when my feet hit the ground. A powerful force coursed through my veins straight to my fingertips. Leo and Zev’s mouths were wide open.
“Leave my mother alone and get out of here!” I said to them. The Seirim dropped my mother.
Leo tackled me from behind. The seal slipped from my finger, severing the connection and it rolled away. Squirming to wiggle myself free and retrieve the ring, I attempted to lift him off me. He was too heavy to lift and wouldn’t budge.
Zev sat up, his gaze moving from mom, the ring to me.
The Seirim snickered, raising his hooves to attack. My mother closed her eyes, singing a praise song as he gashed her neck wide open. She fell over, coughing up blood still singing to the best of her ability until her eyelids folded. Asmodeus and the horde gathered around her corpse, lacerating her to pieces of meat and consuming her flesh and bones, leaving nothing to bury, then vanished.
“No!” I whimpered, soaking the ground with tears. Zev shoved Leo off, wrapping me in his arms. We held each other, exchanging tears. We walked upstairs out of the bar, joining everyone outside. Leslie’s eyes widened when she saw us crying and rushed to embrace me.
From the corner of my eye, Cicely beamed while she watched with Baran.
“Maricel, I’m sorry!” a voice said. I turned to see Belial. Tears welled up in my eyes.
“Sorry doesn’t bring my mother back!” My voice rose with a tremble. My heart seemed as if weighed more than I could bear. I lost the will to stand and stumbled, Belial caught me, holding me. I clutched him.
“Goodbye, Belial,” I whispered.
“I’ll still be here for you when you need me,” he replied and faded.
“Now you know how it feels to have someone taken from you. God has brought judgment on the wicked!” Cicely said.
“Shut up!” I shouted.
“You’re an inconsiderate piece of trash!” Leslie hollered, pushing her. The two yelled at one another. Erich jumped in the middle.
“It doesn’t matter if she died, she was a heathen anyways!” Baran said.
“Shut up, about my mother, before I pound your face in!” Zev said, moving to pounce.
“You guys, calm down, this is what they want us to do fight, be divided!” Crystal said.
“She was on the wrong side,” Leo’s father said. Leo walked out of the bar, running his fingers through his hair. Between his father’s words and seeing his face, only worsened my growing hatred.
“All of you are going to pay for this, especially you!” I pointed to Leo.
“Maricel—”
“Don’t speak to me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t bother apologizing, snake. I’m done with you and this, I’m leaving,” I said, walking away. My brother and my friends followed.
“Please, we’re stronger together,” Leo said, taking my arm.
“N
o, I’m at my weakest, you killed my mother! I knew I should’ve never trusted you!” I slapped him across the face. He rubbed his face.
“You’re just like the rest of Flo. You belong with them. Stick to your little “cult” and stay the hell away from my people and me. I hate you!”
His face quivered, and he kicked the ground as he watched us lave for the cattle truck.
Warren fired up the cattle truck, and Kevin joined him in the passenger’s seat. Erich closed the back and sat by his wife. Caroline placed her hand on my shoulder.
“Maricel, I’m so sorry,’ Caroline said, I didn’t answer her, shutting my eyes to squeeze back tears.
The truck rolled down the hill, leaving the Georgia countryside. I had no idea where we were headed but as long as it were as far away from Leo.
When I had lost my father, it had been different. He was always distant. Losing my mother felt like a part of me had died.
CHAPTER 9
FLASHBACKS
My mother must be in heaven, dancing—reunited with our ancestors. If only I had died too, this entire nightmare would be over.
* * *
We had driven until we reached Mobile Alabama and spent the last two weeks, hiding in an abandoned train station. There were at least twenty unread messages from Leo asking if I were okay and that he now stayed in Columbus, Ohio.
* * *
Leo had rejoined Flo, helping fish and hunt. They had set up a new trading system, much like the one they had in Georgia.
He sat on a hill beneath a Magnolia tree overlooking the village, staring at a picture of me. My possession of the seal confirmed his suspicions, yet he was disgusted with himself for failing me with my mother’s death.
Cicely waltzed toward him in white pumps and a toggle coat. She had taken the time to curl her hair, wear pearls, apply mascara, lipstick and eyeshadow, enhancing her distinct features. He hadn’t seen her dressed or made up since he had left her.
He shoved the picture into his pocket.
“Leo, don’t be so hard on yourself,” she said, crouching beside him and clasping his chin. Her skin smelled of citrus akin to the citrus fields they would walk as teens.
“I was convinced I was a prophet, that she and I had something special…” His voice trailed. She placed her finger on his lips.
“It’s okay, Leo. I forgive you. I’ll help you forget,” she whispered. She drew away from his ear and stood. Although it was winter, she wore a fitted brown dress beneath her coat. Her heels emphasized the length of her long legs. He stood, holding her by her tapered waist. Cicely touched his face, gazing into his eyes. Their lips inches apart.
Before their mouths could merge, she faltered into him with a scream.
Her head fell from her shoulders, rolling to the ground next to his foot. He held her squirming body in search of its head as her blood spurted all over him. Trying to stabilize her flailing body, he clutched her in horror. After a minute, her body crumpled to the field.
His eyes moved up to see Belial, grinning. Leo struck at him, Belial flew away into the distance.
From afar, Belial and a legion of demons set fire to Flo’s camps. Cries rang out in the air.
He burst downhill. Dark, heavy smoke filled his lungs. He coughed, running through the camp. Bodies laid everywhere. He burst through a tent to see Deacon impaled on a tree log with his wives. Rivers of blood covered the grass and tents.
Turning around, he noticed the Seirim, dangling his brother upside with a saw in the other hand. His father laid on the floor, gasping. Asmodeus stood over him with a rock raised ready to bash his head. Leo froze.
His father grabbed a gun not too far from him and shot himself in the head. Pieces of his head sprayed the tent. Leo ran at the Seirim. Belial came from behind, picking him by the collar and choked him. The Seirim sawed his brother from the crotch up in half and tossed his remains beside his father.
“I should kill you, but you’re already dead,” Belial said with a grin.
“How did you find us?” Leo gasped from his hold tightening. “My girlfriend, Maricel, sent us with the Seal of Solomon.”
“No!” Leo shook his head.
“We’ve always been together. She warned you’d all pay, an eye for an eye,” he said, tossing Leo, he rolled until he lay there watching all of Flo ravaged by the orange flames. All he knew had been defiled, slaughtered, and burned to the ground. His jaw tightened with his clenched fist.
“I will destroy her and all she loves. I will kill her!’
* * *
Sunday morning, I walked the old tunnels of the train station. I’d lost both parents and was unsure if my other was truly proud of me when she died.
From afar, I heard whistling. Zev staggered around the corner. His eyes were bloodshot from a hangover. “Zev, you need to stop drinking,” I said. He walked past me, and I gripped his arm.
“Where are you getting this booze from anyways?” I asked. He shook himself free.
“Stop nagging me, Maricel. I can see why nobody ever stays in your life,” he said. I released his arm, squinting to control my tears. He swaggered away, whistling. He didn’t mean it? Did he? It must be the alcohol. Hearing that was the last thing my heart could take.
Erich noticed me with my head down and walked over.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“No, everything hurts,” I said. Erich pulled me in for a hug and clutched me.
“Maricel, I’m so sorry about your mother and Leo.”
“Leo?”
“You didn’t hear?” he said. I shook my head. “I’m sorry to say; I spoke to Rain this morning. He said Leo is dead,” he said. The words echoed in my head. I let go of him and ran further down the tunnel.
“Maricel wait!” Erich called after me.
Around the next corner, I saw Leslie.
“I’m so sorry Mar, I heard about what Erich said, he told me his village burned down,” she said, hugging me. As she held me, her body grew scaly and rough. I let her go. Asmodeus. I opened my mouth to scream, but he covered my mouth, pinning me down, I grew tired and passed out.
* * *
Azazel towered over me while I laid on the floor, his eyes were a pale blue color.
“I want to show you something,” he said. I blinked, adjusting my eyes. He still, appeared blurry.
“This might help?” He handed me my glasses.
“Thank you.”
“You’re cute in them, in a bookworm way. Come with me,” he said, scooping me up.
“Where?”
“To Antarctica.” I shook, growing terrified as I wasn’t dressed for the extreme temperatures fearing frostbite.
“I’m not dressed for the weather.”
“You will be when we get there.”
A portal appeared within my room.
“Are you ready?”
“Just get on with it,” I said.
“I missed you, Mar.” Although I had managed to suppress my feelings for him, being in his arms was reminiscent of old times of world travel.
He stepped through with me, we glided through a wormhole. A mass of energy wrapped around us, noises, and images of time flying past us.
We landed on the ice of Antarctica where penguins waddled past us. Azazel was right about climate-appropriate clothing.
“What brand is this?”
“Eve’s clothes when she got kicked out of the Garden of Eden.”
“To think I’m wearing the first woman’s clothes. This amazing.”
“Nimrod used to wear Adam’s clothes to go hunting. That was part of his secret to being able to kill giants.”
“Are you saying in these I’ll be a giant slaying machine?”
“Don’t get too happy. As long as I’m around, you’re not slaying any giants.”
We walked across the ice together, coming to what appeared to be a megalithic structure in the shape of a pyramid made of ice. There was a wheel—I t
urned it. The ground beneath our feet shifted and opened, we dropped, sliding down a tunnel. A scorching heat rippled through my body, melting my flesh.
“You tricked me!”
“I want you to experience the pain I suffered,” he said. I struggled to stand as I crawled on the hot ground, burning my feet, hands, knees like coals of fire. The stench of rotting flesh and sulfur filled my nostrils. Screams, I could neither determine if human rang through my ears. Amongst the flames, demons beat disfigured skeletons, ripping body parts off then putting them back together in a game of torture. Those were once people.
A demon who resembled a giant locust with long hair and a tail of a scorpion hissed, turned to me, stalking closer. Azazel moved in the way of us.
“Don’t touch her, she’s with me,” he said. It hissed, raising it’s stinger and flicking near my face, stopping inches.
Azazel picked me up once again, flying upward we landed on the ice. This time we sat in the North Pole.
“What the hell was that?”
“Part of hell?”
“You took me to hell?” I jumped up.
“It was nowhere near as painful as it truly was. Be glad you weren’t a permanent resident. Imagine that for all of eternity with no chance of escape. That was me until I was jailbroken.” I shook my head. “Remember visiting stone hedge, the pyramids of Giza, and other structures?” he asked. I nodded.
“They were activated by our energy merging since we traveled the ley lines. Now the Lemurian Oder when ready can open a portal to hell.”
“You used me! “
He laughed, shaking his fist at me, his eyes now an orange color.
“In a few more months the gates of hell will open. There will be nothing holding back all demons from terraforming the earth.”
“That’s wicked.”
“Humans will have their turn then God is next.”
“God?”
“Yes”
“After we open Hell’s gates. We have the technology to defeat God and his army, throw them in hell and lock them in for our reign.”
“You’re disgusting.”
“Thank you. After the pole shifts, the earth will stand. Its magnetic field will be lost. Maybe I’ll give you a front-row seat. I’ll return for you,” he whispered.
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