Heaven's Lies

by Daniel Caet

  “Your voice, it was your voice that called me, I woke up and thought it was a dream, but your voice summoned me here!” he finally said when he could take his lips from hers.

  “I know,” said Becca, smiling. “Somehow now I have more control over my powers and I couldn't spend a second more away from you.”

  “God, I've wanted so much to hear you say that!”

  “It would have been nice if you tried to talk to me instead of pissing me off.”

  “I'm sorry, I think I'm not very good when it comes to expressing my feelings and your reaction made me suspect that you had closed all the doors.”

  “Men! You can be pathetic creatures most of the time.”

  “Be careful!” he replied with a sneer. “You sound dangerously like my mother when you talk like that.”

  “I think it won't be possible for me to escape from that, I carry it in my blood,” Becca laughed.

  “Let me make you forget all that at least for tonight.” And his hands began to traverse her body under the cloak.

  “Wait, give me a second,” Becca asked and, pulling away from him, raised her arms as she closed her eyes and invoked the newly discovered power to flood her body. In response a kind of blue light rose around the clearing as if it were a wall, just for an instant disappearing straight away. “It's a very basic spell, but it will make no one can see us. And now, where were we? Oh yeah! You were going to make me forget…” And that night Becca forgot about her family, her problems and even her own name to respond only to the names he gave her.

  Becca woke up to the noise of the birds that had noticed the dawn before her. They had spent the night lost in each other's body in that clearing, but Becca did not remember being cold or, in any case, did not remember that she had cared. She found herself waking up under one of the trees on the edge of the clearing and covered only with her cloak. There was no sign of Eustace and for a second she wondered if she would have done something again to get him away, but, suddenly, the figure of Eustace shirtless and barefoot jumped beside her giving her a death scare.

  “Good Morning! I thought you would be hungry,” he said as he put on the ground in front of her a bunch of blackberries and strawberries with a delicious look.

  “For a second I thought you were gone, that maybe I …”

  “I have no intention of getting away from your side anymore,” he replied giving her a kiss on the mouth that made Becca's body shiver again with the memory of the previous night. “But you better eat something or after all the exercise last night you will not be able to walk.”

  “Very funny,” said Becca, sticking out her tongue and attacking the strawberries as if she were a little girl.

  “By the way,” Eustace continued as Becca ate, “I think your barrier spell has disappeared. This morning I saw a kind of blue glow, as if something vibrated.”

  “Yes, I'm afraid that for now I only know the basics and I still don't control my power enough. Our mothers are doing their best for me to learn at full steam speed, but it is easier said than done.”

  “I'm glad you already refer to Liliath as your mother.”

  “Well, that is what she is, monster or not, she is the woman who carried me.”

  “You shouldn't be so hard on her,” Eustace replied in a conciliatory tone. “I am aware that she has done terrible things in her past, but, at least since I have known her, she has also done much good.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I think it will be better if she tells you, you need to give yourself the opportunity to meet your mother.”

  Becca didn't want to reply, she didn't even keep asking. She did not want her mother's figure to destroy that moment that was almost magical to her.

  “I think we'd better move,” said Becca, although her body asked otherwise. “They will be waiting for me for my lesson today and they will wonder where I am.”

  “I am convinced that my mother will have a clear idea of where you are and why you are late,” the man replied, laughing maliciously.

  “I don't doubt it, but it won't be me who makes a comment about it,” she said as she got up and dressed. “Will you come with me to the village?”

  “Of course! I have already told you, I will not leave you alone.”

  And holding hands, they left the clearing in the direction of the village.

  The way seemed very short because in reality Becca did not want to separate from Eustace, but they finally reached the village and headed to the house where Sadith was staying. There, one of the women in the house told them that Sadith and Liliath had asked her to tell her that they were waiting on the platform on the top of the mountain as every day. Becca said goodbye to Eustace and started to head towards the platform when a deafening noise filled all the air causing everyone to put their hands to their ears. Becca's body tensed immediately upon recognising what that rumble meant.

  “What happens?” cried Charice, who had left the house she used as a school.

  “Quick, hide, go back to school and hide with the children!” shouted Eustace.

  “Why? What happens?”

  “There's no time, run and hide!” cried Becca. Charice obeyed without questioning and catching a boy who had gone out to the square after her, she locked herself back in the school as Becca asked. The sound suddenly stopped and it was as if Becca had become deaf until a crystalline and sweet voice filled the square and rumbled in her mind.

  “Finally! You've been very hard to find, girl.”

  Becca turned in the direction the voice was coming from, but an intense glow hid the figure of the person speaking to her and Becca put her hands in her eyes.

  “Who are you?” cried Becca. “What do you want?”

  “Excuse me,” the woman's voice answered and the glow ceased to reveal its owner, a woman dressed in a silver robe, with long, straight hair of an intense blond color and a face that could have come out of any of the magazines of fashion of which Charice was avid reader. My name is Jofiel and, in reality, I have come to bring you a gift, one of incalculable value. The eternal rest,” she said with a perfect smile on her face, but she did not intend to hide the sincere threat.

  Suddenly a light barrier of intense red colour rose between Becca and the creature and Liliath's voice echoed in the square.

  “Have you come here to have your ass kicked, Jofiel? Your lord loves you little, then.”

  “Well, well, look who's here. The red witch. Do you really think your power will be enough to protect your bastard from me?”

  “She is not alone, Jofiel,” Sadith's voice said from the other end of the square.

  “But, of course. I should have assumed that you would be here too. The black witch always close to her sister.”

  “I almost like that name, Jofiel, but I'm getting tired of hearing you, so it's going to be time for you to go,” Sadith said, raising her hands.

  “If I were you, I wouldn't try because this time it won't work. Your double banishment spell will not work with me or any of us anymore,” she said, raising her right arm causing her tunic sleeve to be lowered, leaving her white arm like milk bare. On her skin, symbols that Becca thought resembled those of Helel's books began to shine. “It has taken us some time, but we have finally managed to find the perfect counter spell, your power of exile is useless.”

  The two women looked at each other without showing any emotion, but somehow Becca could feel the tension that those words had caused and she knew that was not good.

  “But I'm not here to talk to you anyway, but to the bastard. Look, little one, I've even brought you a souvenir.” The creature threw a lump on the floor of the square that rolled almost to Becca's feet leaving her horrified. From the ground, looking at her with eyes of utter terror was Marcel's severed bloody head. “It took us a bit to find someone who could take us to you. Of course, it is not that he wanted to collaborate, but the threat of death of her husband and her little girl helped, and finally told us that you were somewhere in Romania. We began
to look for traces of supernatural energy, and here you are. Of course, I must say that I also had to kill both the husband and the girl, it was not fair to let them live with the pain of losing their beloved Marcel.”

  Those words caused Becca to lose control and a single scream of absolute anger came out of her throat for the family that had lost their lives for her. Immediately, Becca felt the energy that accumulated inside her, but this time it did in a more intense way than she had ever felt. She could feel the hatred for that creature that mocked the lives of all those for whom her safety had been more important than their own lives, grew and grew without reaching a limit and seized her body. And yet, there was something different. This time that immense energy did not control her but it was her who had control, who could use it as an instrument of her revenge. The flames immediately spread like snakes around her and formed a real ball of fire that wrapped everything around.

  “Well, the girl has teeth, do you really think that these fireworks will help you?”

  “Becca, no!” shouted Liliath, making the threat of approaching her, but Sadith grabbed her and stopped her.

  “Wait,” she whispered. “This time is different, look at her power flowing around her, we have never seen anything like it.”

  Suddenly the flames devoured Becca's clothes and covered her body as if it were a living and roaring robe. Her eyes turned the same intense red of the flames and her voice echoed throughout the square as she approached the creature.

  “Jofiel, whore from heaven, listen to my voice because these will be the last words you will hear! For the life of all those whom you have tortured, killed and destroyed, for the love of those who have given everything to see your destruction, I condemn you to be no more, not even the memory of your existence will remain! I condemn you to burn in the fire of hell, in the flames of my anger for all eternity!”

  In an instant the fire emanating from Becca's body surrounded Jofiel who began to scream trying in vain to protect herself with her hands while the flames devoured her robe first and her flesh later, until finally they formed a ball of flame of a deep red that drowned out the light that gave off what was left of her body and there was not the slightest trace of her presence. Becca's body, completely naked in front of the place where the angel had once been, remained still when the flames disappeared and only Eustace dared to approach her and cover her with a blanket while whispering something in her ear. Becca looked at him without saying anything, but nodded and the man took her in his arms while she took refuge in her neck and he took her inside the house where Sadith was staying. The two women ran after him and Charice followed. The man laid Becca on a bed and stroked her face as if trying to see if she was conscious. Liliath immediately entered through the door and sat on the bed next to Becca, taking her hand and causing Eustace to separate immediately to give them some space.

  “Are you okay? Can you hear me?” asked Liliath visibly worried.

  “I am perfectly well, just somewhat tired. I suppose that such efforts are not as simple for me as for you, but at least this time I have not lost consciousness.”

  Liliath looked at Sadith with a visible face of concern.

  “I don't think you understand Becca,” Sadith said, approaching the bed as well. “Liliath and I can banish angels when we combine our power, send them to limbo or, in some cases, back to heaven and they are not able to leave there for a while until their energy regenerates enough to return to earth. But we cannot end the life of an angel, extinguish its light. Only an angel can kill another angel, in some cases a demon, but never a human. The power you have shown out there has never existed in any of the members of this family.”

  The words made Becca's hair stand up. She somehow knew that the power that had taken hold of her was not normal. The way in which she had consciously summoned that power of destruction, the way in which the desire to kill had taken hold of her was something she had never felt.

  “Eustace, Charice, could you leave me alone with my mother and my aunt?” asked Becca for the first time using those familiar terms in public, something that did not escape anyone.

  “No, I will not leave you alone!” replied Eustace.

  “You have nothing to worry about, love, I promise you that I am well,” Becca replied, gently taking his hand and using that expression of tenderness for the first time and feeling good about it.

  “Come, Eustace. Becca knows what she is doing, don't worry,” Charice said, gently taking him by the arm and driving him out of the room. When they were alone, Becca looked very seriously at the two women.

  “I accept that what has happened out there is not normal, especially since I know that the way it made me feel is not normal either. When I have seen Marcel's face looking at me with that expression of terror, a single desire has dominated me, revenge, and that is what has triggered everything else. You can't explain it and I don't know how to justify it. I need help and you know it as well as I do.”

  “No! If you're going to say what I believe, the answer is simply no,” Liliath replied.

  “Mother, you know there is no other way out. I need help, I need someone to help me understand this power, otherwise I will never completely control it and end up becoming a danger to everyone. If you don't want to help me, do it for the rest of our family. Look what happened to Marcel and the rest of his family, his little girl. We have become a target for the archangels and now I have understood that the only reason for this is me. As long as I remain alive, they will continue to come for me and for everyone that matters to me and all I can do is be prepared.”

  “Prepared for what?”

  “Prepared to defend myself, to defend you. Ready for a war that I have not asked for, but from which I cannot escape. And there is only one person who may help me understand all this. Besides, you promised me that you would help me find him anyway.”

  “I know, but what you don't understand is that you can't trust him. It is obvious why he wants you to approach him, what he hopes to get out of all this. What makes you think he will help you?”

  “Precisely that, he needs me.” Becca's words shut up Liliath, who realised that she had lost that argument before it began.

  “Liliath,” Sadith interrupted. “You know she is right, that this is something that was going to happen sooner or later. It is a risk, it is true, although I am not so sure that Helel's intentions are as simple as you conceive them, but, whatever it is, Becca has a great advantage, she is not alone. She has us. She has a family.”

  Liliath listened to Sadith with regret, but finally agreed to Becca's wishes although she made it clear that she would not leave her alone with Helel at any time, something Becca agreed to.

  “Very good. In that case, where do we start? How do we find him?”

  “We can’t," Sadith replied.

  "What? But, I thought you would help me!”

  “Yes,” Liliath interrupted,“but Helel is protected by all the power he has absorbed from the underworld, if he wants to hide there is no creature in this world that can find him. Well, almost none.”

  “We have a friend with the most special talent that can help us locate him.”

  “Perfect. And where is your friend?”

  "In Madrid.”

  Becca insisted by any means possible that they go to see that woman immediately, but Liliath refused until she had fully recovered her strength, so Becca had to spend the next three days in bed without moving and under the strict supervision of Eustace and Charice who took turns not to leave her alone. As much as that delay frustrated her, the reality was that her body was grateful and she had no choice but to resign. Finally, on the fourth day Liliath entered the house to tell her to prepare to leave. Becca intended to prepare her luggage, but the woman indicated that she would not need it, all she needed was comfortable clothes. Becca put on the first jeans she found and a thick wool sweater and boots, took her coat and went outside the house. There, Sadith and Liliath were waiting for her, dressed in long coats, high heeled boo
ts and painted as if they were Hollywood stars, which made Becca feel ridiculous with her outfit. Eustace and Charice were also there, but, to Becca's luck, and surprise as far as Charice was concerned, they looked pretty normal.

  “Are you ready?” asked Liliath and Becca nodded. “Then, let's go.”

  Liliath guided them to the forest and Becca assumed that another group of gypsies would wait for them to bring them back to civilisation and some means of transport that would take them to Madrid, but, to their surprise, the woman took them out of the way and among the trees towards the skirt of the mountain. After a half an hour walk they reached a strangely smooth rock wall that had drawn lines on it. At first, Becca could not see what they represented because the strokes were very faint, but as she got closer she understood what they were.

  “This is a door!”

  “Exactly, it's the same type of door we used in Egypt to get to the underworld,” Sadith said.

  “Or the door you showed him in Rome,” Becca continued, looking at Liliath.

  “That's right,” said Liliath, smiling. “There are doors like this spread all over the world. Some are disabled, but others can still be used if you know how. Almost all the legends of the world have a real basis. This forest has always been considered a gateway to hell by the locals and you see that they were not so wrong. The woman approached the stone wall and began to whisper a few words that Becca could not hear as she pulled a small knife from her coat pocket. In an instant a cut was made in her hand and she rubbed the blood by the drawing that represented what the doorway would be. Immediately an intense light filled the space bounded by the dim lines and Sadith told them that they should hurry and enter the light. Eustace did not lose a moment and obeyed followed by Charice and Liliath.