THE TRAGIC + DIVINE

by MELODY FELIX-PRIETO

  “Chose your next move wisely,” Zane warned. “None will save you from death.”

  “I’ll have to kill you first then,” Milo growled.

  An arrow shot from the balcony pierced through Zane’s skull it smashed into pieces. Zane’s body turned to ash and crumbled all over the stage. Panic ensued as the bidders ran for their lives out of the theater. More arrows were shot into the crowd injuring many and instantly killing a few of the wealthy bidders. The angel guards attacked Milo, but many were stabbed by Eli, Trent, and Lee who came out from behind the theater curtain.

  Milo took my hand, we ran backstage fighting through rope, sandbags, and pulleys towards the exit door but it was instantly blocked by more angel guards that rushed to the site.

  Eli came in from behind. “Ah shit, mate!”

  Milo froze as he calculated his next move. He quickly tied my waist with a stage rope that was hanging by a pin rail. He kissed me goodbye then cut through the rope. I screamed as I flew to the top of the theater until I reached a metal bridge that was connected to the stage grid. I used every ounce of strength to climb over the rail until I was safely on the bridge.

  I looked down. Eli took out two obsidian blades from his holster and looked at Milo who had his weapons ready. They nodded in agreement then Eli whirled around and kicked one angel guard out of the way. At the same time, Milo stabbed a different angel guard right in the neck until he turned to rock. I held my breath as I watched them take on the rest of the angels. Milo kicked an angel right in the gut sending him crashing through the theater curtains.

  Alva flew down from the top balcony, slipped a ninja sword from her back with the same obsidian stone and sliced the head of every angel who crossed her path with great skill and power.

  Suddenly, the bridge rocked. I held on for balance and looked up, Dylan was staring down at me, his wings stretched out.

  “How many times do I have you catch before you to realize there is no way out?” he asked menacingly. “You’re becoming a pain in the ass.”

  I tried to ease myself on the rail as I backed away slowly. I whirled around, took off into a sprint, but Dylan leaped over me and landed in my path. I ran in the opposite direction. Dylan swooped me up like an eagle and flew over the theater. He held me tightly so I wouldn’t fight back.

  As I looked down into the theater, I screamed out, “No!”

  Milo, Eli, Alva, Trent, and Lee were overpowered by a swarm of angel guards.

  CHAPTER

  30

  I stood on the platform, shaking. I didn’t want to die. The angels’ eyes glowed with hunger. They stood below me at the foot of Stone Mountain waiting while they watched me intently, devouring every inch of my body. Their malicious shouts and unearthly howls pierced through my ears.

  Zane was dead. They wanted revenge.

  Alva, Eli, Trent, Lee, and Priscilla were each kept inside a cage made of obsidian. Any time Alva tried to touch the bars, she was shocked. My hands and ankles were shackled. A collar wrapped my neck with a leash held by Scarlet. She wore a long red dress that reminded me of Jessica Rabbit. Milo was brought onto the stage by Dylan and forced on his knees. He was shirtless, his black jeans torn and battered. His long dark hair hung loosely around his face. Dylan was going to kill him. As for me, I was going to be fed to the angels like lambs to a slaughter.

  The angels grew quite and genuflect before Luke as he walked onto the platform. Luke pulled out an obsidian dagger from Dylan’s holster and admired it in silence. He tilted the dagger its blade gleaming under the moonlight.

  I held my breath for a long time waiting for something to happen.

  “Obsidian is a beautiful stone,” Luke finally began. “Sharp when fractured, it can cut through anything”—Luke made a slashing motion in the air—“it’s a hell of a weapon. But deadly to us. The only substance on Earth that can kill an angel.”

  Luke pointed the blade at Milo.

  “I had many plans for you, my boy,” Luke said, his eyes blazing with disappointment and contempt. “You could have led the greatest army the world will ever know. You were, after all, an archangel before your fall. One of the greatest warriors Eden ever produced. It’s a shame, really. A waste of talent. I hate to do this. But the rules are clear. Death to traitors!”

  Luke raised the dagger into the air, the angels followed pumping their fists and chanted “Death to Traitors!”

  Milo glared disdainfully at Luke, he kept an unusually calm demeanor given the circumstances.

  “Non-serviam,” Milo growled.

  “What was that?” Luke fired back maliciously.

  “Non. Serviam.”

  Gasps and insults echoed through the crowd. The angels cried for Milo’s death. A sob escaped my lips, I turned away. The angel guard turned my head and forced me to watch. My face paled with fear growing with every second that ticked by. Luke placed the blade on Milo’s cheek then traced it down to his chin leaving a trail of blood and sizzling smoke.

  Milo repressed the pain.

  The angels roared in approval. Dylan pulled Milo by the hair and drew his head back with one hand, with the other he grabbed another dagger from his holster. This was it. Milo was going to die. The last image on my mind before my own death. I hated all of them; the angels, Dylan, Scarlet, Luke. They were all power-hungry monsters without a shred of humanity.

  Luke cupped Milo’s chin and took in his scent one last time.

  “May God have mercy on your soul.” Luke’s smile slowly crept into a sadistic grin. With a nod, Luke gave Dylan the green light to proceed. Like an obedient dog, Dylan brought the dagger to Milo’s hair. Right at that moment, the ground began to rumble. A bright light flashed above blinding everyone. The smell of lavender and chamomile permeated my nostrils. A warmth overwhelmed me followed by a sense of peace that swept my body.

  I looked up to the sky using my hands to block the light. Then I saw them. White-winged angels in metallic body armor pouring down from the sky in droves. Gold and silver specks covered their wings like glitter that shined gloriously.

  The white-winged angels collided with the fallen. The sounds of wings and metal clashing rattled the Earth. Some of Luke’s angels immediately scattered, and flew out of Stone Mountain. A fallen angel was stabbed mid-flight by a white-winged angel then fell to the ground like a bomb.

  Scarlet yanked me back with the leash and dragged me across the rock platform. I took hold of the leash trying to loosen its grip. Gasping for air, I kicked and screamed to break free. My vision was beginning to blur, as the collar around my neck tightened with every step Scarlet took, I was afraid I was slipping. Darkness began to envelop my mind when a white-winged angel landed in front of Scarlet and sliced her shoulder with his obsidian sword. Scarlet moaned in pain, white smoke sizzling from her wound, then took flight.

  The angel quickly approached me. He ripped off the leash with his hands, then broke the shackles with his sword. I blinked to regain focus, my sight slowly returning to me. I froze when I saw him, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Mitch was smiling down at me.

  “Mitch,” I gasped. “You’re an angel.”

  “Call me Michael,” he smiled warmly regarding me with concern. Michael jumped back into battle. I staggered to Milo who had been abandoned by Dylan then untied the rope laced with obsidian. The flesh around Milo’s wrists was raw, bloodied, and irritated with marks. He cupped my chin with his trembling hands, searched my body for injuries, then hugged me.

  “I’m so sorry, Alexis,” he said his voice cracking. “I’m sorry for everything that’s happened to you.”

  “I’m fine.” I clung to his body, then quickly pulled away.

  “My sister,” I croaked. I turned toward the cages rushing to open them. Eli, Trent, Lee, and Alva jumped straight into the battlefield. Alva took out her ninja sword and swiveled left and right slicing angel heads. Eli knocked anyone out of sight who got close to her. I watched as Trent picked up one of the angel’s head—the body twitched on the ground—th
en he quickly sliced its hair off draining it of life. Lee came in and stabbed the angel’s body right in the heart.

  Aware the fallen were losing, Luke spread his wings then took flight dodging the white-winged angels. He fled Stone Mountain like a coward.

  “He’s getting away!” I cried out.

  “Let him go,” Milo said. “We’ll get him soon enough.”

  “Priscilla” I rushed to my sister’s cage that had been left open for a few minutes, but she remained inside. Her face was pale, her mind distant and unaware of what was happening.

  “What’s wrong with her?” I asked Milo.

  “She’s still high on Angel’s Ash. The effects take a while to fade,” he said. Milo picked up Priscilla and carried her away from the battlefield.

  “How are we going to get out of here?” I asked.

  “There’s an entrance on the other side of the field. We’ll have to take a van. I can’t fly with both of you,” Milo said.

  We ran across the field when Scarlet swooped in from above and grabbed Priscilla out of Milo’s arms. I halted in fear, one wrong move and it was my sister’s life.

  “Take me,” I pleaded. “I’ll exchange my life for hers,”

  A wicked smile spread across Scarlet’s mouth.

  “She smells so good…” she purred breathing in Priscilla’s scent. Scarlet opened wide revealing her fangs and sunk her teeth into Priscilla’s neck and ripped a piece of her flesh off. My sister screamed in pain, blood gushing down her throat.

  “No!” I cried.

  Scarlet let go of Priscilla’s body, she hit the ground hard. I rushed to my sister. I placed my hands over the wound, blood gushing through my fingers as she gasped for air. I tore the remainder of my skirt and applied pressure to Priscilla’s wound.

  Milo launched at Scarlet and kicked her right in the chest. Scarlet flew back but regained balance with her wings.

  I kept my focus on Priscilla who was holding on to life. I cried, scared out of my mind, Priscilla was going to die in my arms.

  “Alexis, is that you?” she whimpered.

  “Yes, it’s me.” There was an ache in my throat, raw and painful.

  “Tell mom I love her,” she coughed gagging on her own blood.

  “Don’t talk like that. You’re going to tell her that, not me,” I cried. “We’re both going home, you hear me? Just stay with me.”

  “Home,” she whispered and smiled through bloodstained teeth. “Tell mom I’m sorry.” In a flash of a second, her eyes went blank. She was gone. Dead.

  I wept, hot tears rolling down my cheeks. I placed my ears over Priscilla’s chest in denial she was gone. “No, no,” I sobbed.

  Carefully, I lifted her head and stroked Priscilla’s hair until I felt nothing but darkness. I turned to Milo who was in a heated fight with his crazy ex-girlfriend. With one blow, Scarlet knocked the dagger out of Milo’s hand and smashed her fist into his chin. Milo’s body flew back about fifty yards and smashed into a tree trunk leaving a hole in the bark. The tree groaned as it cracked in half and came crashing down.

  I watched as Scarlet took out a small apothecary bottle from her bra, the one Alva captured the demon Lilith. When she opened it, black smoke swirled out of the opening. Lilith took shape quickly transforming into a beastly creature; her eyes black as coals, her mouth full of jagged teeth.

  I froze when Lilith drifted over to me, but instead of running, I clung to my sister’s lifeless body refusing to let her go. Then the smoke suddenly engulfed my body. I felt the stinging pain all over, like fire burning my flesh off. Lilith was suffocating me, sucking every cell of life out of me. I caught a glimpse of Scarlet frozen in a trance; her dark eyes rolled back almost as if she were in control of Lilith. Growing dizzy from lack of air, my mind slowly began to darken. I made the mistake of opening my mouth. Lilith’s spirit began to swallow me whole.

  Then, Milo sprung forward in a flash and knocked Scarlet to the ground. Opening my mouth to gasp for air, I held on to the last shred of energy I had inside to reach for the dagger a few steps from me.

  I low-crawled, Lilith weighing my body down as she continued to enter me, I grabbed the dagger, slowly rose and walked behind Scarlet and stabbed her in the back. She spun around, her demonic eyes bloodshot and furious, and slapped me across the face so hard I fell back knocking my head on the grass. Scarlet pinned my hands behind my back, and raised her fingernail ready to slash my throat.

  As I lay there waiting, almost inviting my death, Scarlet’s eyes bulged in horror. I looked down, the tip of a sword was hanging out of her belly. A black liquid trickled down the bodice of her dress. Milo pulled the sword out, Scarlet fell to the ground, her body convulsing and gagging as she held on to the last ounce of air in her lungs right before her skin hardened and turned to rock. Lilith shrieked then vanished into the night sky.

  I grabbed my head and winced in pain.

  “Come here.” Milo pulled me into his chest. In the distance, I heard the blaring sounds of police sirens.

  “It’s over,” Milo whispered.

  CHAPTER

  31

  Priscilla was laid to rest on a Friday, twenty-eight days after my seventeenth birthday. The funeral was more painful and depressing than a movie. All the residents of Dixon came to pay their respects, few truly saddened by my family’s loss, others only there to get the 411 on Priscilla’s cause of death. Members of our church and our neighbors bombarded our home with plates of sandwiches and casseroles. The nosy old lady who lived next door brought baked macaroni and cheese. The young couple from across the street brought a pan of homemade brownies. Even my dad flew out from Los Angeles to attend. His hair had grayed since the last time I’d seen him, his features were gaunt and tired.

  Isaac held on to my mother’s hand, he wore black pants and a black long-sleeve dress shirt. He glanced around at the people with curiosity. He’d never met Priscilla, the news his older ‘sister’ died had no effect on him.

  My eyes were red and puffy from crying. I stared at the shiny black wooden coffin in front of me. My mother chose to have a closed casket and told anyone who asked Priscilla had been attacked by an animal—at least that’s what the news reported. For the most part, it was true. Scarlet was an animal, a bloodthirsty animal who murdered Priscilla right in front of me. But no one will ever know that. My body was rolling with an array of emotions; sadness, fear, disgust, but none flourished like anger. I was angry my sister was dead, angry the angels and Luke—Lucifer—got away.

  Suddenly, within my turmoil, I felt a sense of peace. The smell of lavender and chamomile rich in the air. I looked up and saw Mitch—or Michael—on his bike. He was standing by a small mausoleum with a mourning angel draped over it. I broke away from the ceremony and stopped a few steps away from Michael.

  “Why doesn’t anyone know about what happened?” I demanded, moving my hands using sign language as fast as I could until I realized my mistake. I’d forgotten Michael could talk.

  “We have no control over what happens here,” Michael explained.

  “And Luke? Why is he still free?”

  Michael remained calm. “We’re watching him closely.”

  “That’s not good enough.” I shook my head. “He should be dead, sent to wherever the hell the angels go when they die!” I exclaimed trying to keep my voice low.

  “You don’t understand, Lucifer is under the protection of the human government. The angels of Eden have no jurisdiction here. We can’t apprehend him without starting a war with the fallen and their human allies. Millions of innocent people will die in the cross fire. It’s what we’ve been trying to avoid for centuries.”

  “People die every day. And you stand by and do nothing!” My grief was quickly replaced by anger.

  “We try to save as many as we can,” Michael said with sadness. “The population on Earth has multiplied over the last fifty years. The number of archangels coming from Eden is limited. We can only be at one place at a time. We must choose wisely
who is worthy of saving.”

  Worthy? The angels pick and choose who is worthy of their time? “Then why did you save us?”

  “Milo asked for our help,” he said. “He served as one of my soldiers in Eden before his fall.”

  Milo. The sound of his name sent flares through my veins. All of the animosity, despair, shock, horror, frustration suddenly came tumbling on me like a pile of rocks. I blamed him for what happened to me.

  “I know that’s not what you want to hear. But it’s the best we can do. I’m so sorry for your loss,” Michael said then hopped onto his bike and pedaled away.

  “Hey,” I heard Eddie’s voice. “What was that about?”

  “Uh,” I turned around. “Micha—er—Mitch was paying his respects.”

  “Look, I know this isn’t the right time for this, but I feel I need to ask.”

  “Ask me what?”

  “How angry are you?” Eddie’s eyes were cold and tight. “How badly do you want revenge?”

  I looked into his eyes wondering if he was joking. But he was serious.

  “Revenge?” I asked. Since leaving Stone Mountain, the thought hadn’t entered my mind.

  Eddie raised the sleeve of his black dress shirt to reveal the Templar cross branded on his forearm. The Knights Army insignia.

  “When you’re ready, come find me.” Eddie walked away and got into a black truck parked across the street from the cemetery. A man who looked to be in his forties, dressed in black cargo pants, a black long sleeve and aviator glasses who reminded me of Chuck Norris was waiting for him outside.

  For a moment I stood there motionless watching the truck as it turned the corner out of the Dixon Cemetery. My sister’s death was a senseless tragedy that could have been prevented if she hadn’t involved herself with Eli, to begin with. Or maybe it was the other way around. Maybe Priscilla would still be alive if I hadn’t been involved with Milo.