by M. R. Forbes
“A few minutes of your time. That’s it.”
I stood there, trying to think of the trick, the angle she was using to take advantage of me. I looked at the Chalice, and then looked back at her. She didn’t need to take advantage of me. There was nothing I had that she couldn’t take. I walked over to her, pulled the other folding chair around so I could sit across from her, and planted myself in it.
“I’m listening,” I said.
“Like I said, I’ve been waiting for you for a long time. Since before you even existed in fact. That day at the Museum, the day I took the Grail, I didn’t know that it was you, the too polite security guard, who would be the one. I had thought I would be stalling the archfiends for years, perhaps centuries while I waited for you to arrive.”
“Why were you waiting for me?”
“I want your power,” she replied. “I need your power, if I am to do what needs to be done.”
“I have a feeling you could just kill me and take my power,” I said.
She smiled, a warm sweet smile that confused the heck out of me. She was evil, right? “It’s not a power that can be taken,” she said. “You have to share it willingly.”
“Why would I ever want to do that?” I asked. “You’re the most powerful evil in this world. You used the Chalice to arrange the devastation of mankind.”
She reached out and put her hand on my leg. I could feel the warmth of it through my jeans. “You of all people should know that evil is subjective,” she said. “Is it evil to kill in order to save? Is it evil to lie in order to protect?”
I couldn’t really argue with that. “So you’re saying you aren’t really evil?”
She took her hand away. “What I’m saying is that the word evil is just that. Look at the seraphim. The reason Hell exists is because they hold the capacity to do bad things, just as some demons have capacity to do good things - your friend Rebecca for instance. I have done things that you would call evil, but I had also done my share of good. What I need from you has a purpose that I believe is good, even if others might disagree.”
“What purpose is that?” I asked.
“To end the war, of course.”
“You can end the war with the Chalice. You can end the war by sitting here, talking to me. The archfiends will destroy the sanctuaries and all mortal life will cease to be.”
Another smile. This one was much more placating. “That’s only true under the assumption that I want the demons to win. That’s only true if we are speaking of the same war.”
I was lost. Who did the Demon Queen want to win, if not the demons? What other war was there?
“I don’t understand,” I said.
“Balance,” she said. “It’s all about balance. You. Me. This world. Heaven. Hell. Purgatory. Good and evil. Every one of these things is a gyroscope, turning and spinning in a perfect choreography of chaos and order. Yet, if that is true, then why do you exist? Why do I exist?”
It was back to the question of why I am? “Balance,” I replied
“Yes, that is part,” she said. She waited for me to tell her the rest.
“I don’t know,” I said. I looked over at the Chalice. Time was not a luxury I had right now to be partaking in her riddles. “Is there a purpose to this?”
She pursed her lips, looking thoughtful. “I was afraid I might be moving too fast. That it was too soon.” She was talking, but not to me. Her yellow eyes dilated and focused, as if there were someone else in the room with us. “I can’t be sure I’ll have another chance.” It was like sitting with someone while they were on the phone. “You’re right. It’s a risk, but I have to take it.”
She blinked once, then leaned forward again and put her hand up to my face, moving too fast for me to pull away. Her soft, cool palm pressed against my cheek.
“There isn’t much time,” she said to me. “I will tell you this once, and I need you to remember it.”
Her eyes locked onto mine, and I found that I couldn’t pull away. The black slits resting inside the yellow orbs captured me, held my soul in a way that left me powerless, and defenseless. While I had feared the Demon Queen and her power, I had still badly underestimated it. She could have taken my head from my shoulders and I wouldn’t have noticed.
“I do not know how long it will take. It may be days, it may be years, it may be millennia. The day will come when you will no longer eat, no longer sleep, and if you aren’t careful you will no longer feel. You will sense the balance in your soul, and what was once familiar will become alien. You will question the balance, question the war, and question yourself and everything you see around you. You will search for answers. You will scour the world to find the true purpose of who and what you are. Some you will find, and some you will need to determine for yourself. Remember that you are free, that you have your own will and your own choices. Remember these words, search for your answers, and then find me again.”
She pulled her hand from my face, keeping her eyes locked with mine. I had so many questions, but only one of them managed to find its way from my brain to my lips.
“How will I find you again?”
She leaned forward, keeping her eyes on mine until she was too close for me to focus on them. Warm lips brushed against my cheek, then slipped back to my ear. “When you are ready, you will know. I will be waiting.”
My eyes closed of their own volition as she whispered, my body and soul absorbing as much of her essence as it could manage. “Reyzl,” I said, fighting to speak above the chaos churning through my being.
“Let him send his army. I am prepared. Take the Chalice, and hide it as Dante has asked.” I felt her hand lift mine, push open my fingers, and place something in it. “Pour this into the Chalice before you step into the Rift. It has been blessed by an archangel and will permanently negate the power of the crystals. Once you step through the circle be prepared. Reyzl has betrayed you.”
She backed away from me. I opened my eyes and looked down at the object she had placed in my hand. It was a vial of blood. Her blood.
“Who are you?” I asked, looking up. Gone. I should have known.
I jumped out of the chair and raced over to the pedestal, grabbing the Chalice from the platform and running back towards the Rift. I had expected that I would have felt something from holding an object of such power, but it could have been a Chinese knockoff for all I knew. I laughed when it occurred to me that maybe it was, and the Demon Queen had just played me for an even more complete fool than Reyzl had. This whole thing had gone from crazy to crazier over the last few minutes, so I wouldn’t have been too surprised.
I stopped right before the circle, taking the vial of blood the Demon Queen had given to me and holding it over the Chalice. I hesitated to use it, unsure if I would be doing the right thing or just falling for another demonic trap. She had said an archangel had blessed the blood, and she hadn’t been lying, but Josette had told me all of those guys were staying up in Heaven, and I trusted her, so how could that be? Still, it was such an unbelievable statement that I found myself believing it. After all, the Demon Queen had let me live and I knew Reyzl wanted to kill me. It was a flimsy bit of logic, but it was all that I had.
I used my thumb to push the cork out of the vial and dumped the contents into the Chalice. The moment it touched the wood it began to hiss and steam, leaving a smell of sulfur and incense behind. I felt a shockwave that ran through my entire body, and deep within my soul I understood that I hadn’t been deceived. Now I just had to somehow deal with Reyzl.
I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths, taking hold of my Source and pulling its power to me, preparing it for use. I had no idea how I was going to use it, but I had been warned of the impending ambush and I needed to be ready.
I took one last gulp of air and stepped forward.
Chapter 30
It was one step into the circle, another step out of it. I didn’t wait to get my bearings before I tried to propel myself away from the Rift, to put some
distance between Reyzl and myself and get a better idea of what I was up against. It was a wasted effort. As soon I had cleared the circle a pair of hands wrapped around each of my arms, and a knee came down on my back to push me to the ground and hold me in position. My assailants bent me backwards, twisting me upwards at an awkward and painful angle. It caused me to drop the Chalice, sending it tumbling to the ground a few feet away. Reyzl bent over from the waist and scooped it up into his hand. He held it up over his head, admiring it in the light of the flames coming from the Rift. His eyelids fluttered minutely. I could only guess he was realizing what I had helped the Demon Queen do.
He recovered from his discovery and turned to me. “Thank you, Landon,” he said with a surprising sincerity. I suppose he was grateful I had done his dirty work for him. “I had suspected that filthy hell-spawn would be expecting me to stab her in the back again. That being the case, I just need one more thing from you.” He started walking towards me.
I tried to focus my will, to make myself stronger so I could break free of my captors. Another wasted effort, I was in too much pain to get my mind where it needed to be. I glared up at Reyzl as he approached.
“You’re in for a surprise if you think killing the Demon Queen will be so easy,” I said.
He crouched down in front of me so we were at eye level. “Since she was expecting my betrayal, I can only assume she’s prepared for my arrival,” he said. “Don’t worry about me. I’m aware of that bitch’s tricks. That’s why I couldn’t let you keep the Chalice. That’s why I need to do this.”
His arm whipped out, the blessed dagger I had dropped gleaming in the firelight. I felt the coldness of the blade as it dug into my neck, and then the warm wetness when my blood began flowing from it. Reyzl placed the Chalice under it, collecting my plasma.
“With your blood, I have no need to waste time with crystals,” he said.
I closed my eyes, trying to convince myself that I didn’t need to breathe. The wound was already healing, but my trachea was still wide open. I knew I had to stop Reyzl from doing whatever it was he planned on doing with my blood. I tried to focus again, reaching for my Source and coming up empty.
“Having trouble concentrating?” Reyzl asked, laughing. He stood and whispered something to whoever was holding me. I couldn’t see them, but I could see the archfiend dip his finger into the Chalice, could hear the sucking sound as he fed my blood to each of them.
“Delicious,” one of them said. I knew that voice.
“I’ve never tasted anything like it,” the other agreed in the same voice, confirming their identities. I had run into them once before, when they had tried to kill me before I had ever left Purgatory. Mephistopheles's Collectors. What were they doing here?
Reyzl crouched down again, dipping his finger in my blood and taking it into his own mouth, making a show of the violation. “You have no idea how powerful your blood is when combined with the power of the Chalice. If you had, you would never have made the deal with me in the first place. I’m so glad you did though. I would have been happy enough if the Queen had taken care of you for me, but everything has worked out more perfectly than I could have dreamed.”
What power did the blood give him? Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good for the balance, or for me. I struggled against the fallen angels that held me, but their grip was iron.
“Now if you’ll excuse me,” Reyzl said. “I have an army to summon and feed.” He stood, kicked me in the face, and started walking away.
“What should we do with him?” one of the angels asked.
“I have what I need. Kill him,” he replied.
When one angel released my arm, the other one grabbed it, jerking me to my feet. I could see him now, his silver hair falling over his elfish face. He was wearing the same leather duster, though there was no sign of his wings. He circled around in front of me and drew his sword.
“Landon. I can feel you are here. What is happening?” The voice in my head was forceful, powerful. Josette. She was still alive!
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“For the moment,” she said. “We are chained to the ladder by the entrance. Obi is injured. Reyzl said he has plans for us.”
I already knew what kind of plans the archfiend had for Rebecca, and I could imagine what he would want with his longtime nemesis. Why he wanted Obi, I didn’t know, but just the thought of what the demon was going to do to them was the worst torture imaginable.
“I’m so sorry this happened,” I said. “I’m so sorry. Reyzl has me. I’m going to die.”
“No,” she replied, her voice commanding. “You cannot. Not yet.”
The angel held his blade back, preparing the blow that would remove my head. “You were lucky the Outcast saved you the first time,” he said. “You won’t be so lucky again.”
“There’s nothing I can do,” I shouted back to Josette, even my mental voice panicked at my imminent decapitation.
Then it hit me. In my current state I couldn’t focus enough to pull my Source to me, so instead I pushed myself to my Source, feeling the shift from one realm to another. The world faded into a translucent mess. My current location on Earth had no counterpart in this dimension. Instead there was only pure white, the absence of everything, like the wall at the end of the beach. I could see the fuzzy transparency of the mortal world frozen in time, moments away from the end of everything.
“Landon.”
I turned, and she was there, in all of her heavenly glory. Not the fallen Josette, but the angel Josette, in lustrous white robes, her ivory wings stretched out wide from her back.
“Josette. I don’t understand what’s happening,” I said. It was all too much. She floated over to me and put her arms around me, holding me as I cried. “I’ve failed,” I told her. “You, Rebecca, Obi, the sanctuaries and the balance. I can’t stay here forever, and when I go back, I’m going to die. It will all be over, and it’s all my fault.”
She stroked my hair, and kissed my forehead. “It isn’t over,” she said. “You will not die. It is not my Lord’s will.”
I looked up at her, my vision blurry with my tears. “There’s nothing I can do.”
She used her finger to wipe the droplets away from my eyes. “There is something you can do,” she insisted. “Summon the Beast.”
The Beast? She must mean Ulnyx. With a thought, he was there. He laughed when he saw that I was crying, my state of hopelessness leaving me too weak to control him.
“I knew you would blow it,” he said. “When you die, my soul will be free to find another host. I doubt your sidekick will be able to resist me.”
His words snapped me out of it. I reached out with my power and constricted it around his neck, lifting him off the ground and choking him. “Your soul will never be free,” I shouted, my anger flaring.
“A demon can absorb the power of another demon,” Josette said. “You trapped his soul when he tried to take your body. You can take his power for your own.”
Ulnyx’s expression turned fearful.
“How?” I asked.
“Kill him,” she replied.
So I did. I wrapped him in my power, twisting and crushing and pressing in on him, watching as his body was compressed into nothing more than dust. He had no chance to speak, no chance to beg. My power was unequaled here, and he didn’t stand a chance. I could feel his soul floating unhindered by his shell, but unable to escape. I pushed it toward me on a gust of air, a small black cloud of energy. I brought it to my face and took a deep breath, taking it in for the second time.
Memories flashed before me, years and years of memories. Ulnyx was born a werewolf, killed his parents, and slaughtered his brother, the leader of his pack. His thirst for blood and destruction was insatiable, his need to destroy unending. His power was the power of pure evil, and I brought it into me, absorbed it into my soul and took it as my own. It wasn’t a painless process, the inherited memories vile and disgusting, threatening to drive me mad. I releas
ed a guttural growl, an angry howl. I could feel myself changing, losing control. I looked at Josette.
“Why?” I asked her, feeling betrayed.
“There is no other way,” she said. She continued to float before me on her angel wings, her beautiful, calm, loving existence the only thing keeping the demon’s evil from overwhelming me. “I will protect you fellow. I will save you, so that you can save your world. I believe it is His will.”
She reached out and took my hand, which I now saw was the clawed hand of the Great Were. I could feel the pressure building in my soul, could feel the darkness creeping in on me. I was only part demon. I was never meant to do what I had just done. I couldn’t survive it and keep my sanity.
She took the hand and put it to her face, kissing the grotesque, demonic palm. “Godspeed, Landon Hamilton,” she said. She took my evil claws and raked them down her face, cutting deep into her flesh. The black lines of the demon poison blossomed across her skin.
“No,” I cried, the passion of my emotion holding the darkness back for the moment at least.
“I love you brother,” she said. “Look after my daughter.”
She opened her mouth, and a burst of light shot out of it, catching me off-guard and splashing against my face. It blinded me with its brightness, and pressed hard against me like water from a fire hose. I couldn’t. No, shouldn’t turn my head. I opened myself up to it, opened my mouth wide and accepted the flood. Again, I was overcome with memories and images, Josette’s childhood, her mother and father, her brother, the pain of her violation, her death, her hundreds of years as an angel walking among the mortal, her unrequited service to God.
Then, the unexpected: her brother an archfiend, her capture, her torture, her pregnancy, and her daughter. Sarah.
I fell to the ground, my mind a battleground between good and evil, Ulnyx and Josette. I could feel them both vying for control of my soul, their memories conflicting and washing through me: death, destruction, love, charity, anger, selflessness, Heaven, Hell. Somewhere in the mix I rediscovered myself, regained my own identity, and stepped between them.