I would have said something, but another contraction brought me to my knees.
“Come,” Leif said, and he took my arm, leading me gently through the jungle. “We don’t have much time.”
We were making a faster pace now that Leif had taken over Met’s job in supporting me. Leif was almost bearing my full weight, and I have no doubt he would have carried me if not for Margot’s furious glaring on my other side. We headed closer to the field. I could hear the sounds of the raging battle more clearly now.
I heard the moment when Met joined the fight. Uriel, still engaged in a fierce sword fight with Malach, gave an incredulous shout. “Metatron! What in God’s name are you doing here?”
“What my heart compels me to do, Uriel!” Met crowed. “My soul desires the protection of the innocent, so that is what I’m doing!”
My heart leaped as I heard Alex shout to Met. “Is she okay?”
“She’s fine, young Sorensen,” Met replied happily, through the ching ching ching sound of swords clashing. “Your dear old dad has finally shown up.”
“About time,” I heard Alex breathe out in relief.
I heard the clash of swords, and I peered desperately through the trees as soon as there was a gap in the foliage. I could make out the bodies as they fought, and I frantically sought out Alex. He was okay - bleeding from several deep cuts, and his movements were slower but more brutal. He was fighting hand-to-hand with Vane. Vane’s cold, supercilious face showed no signs of tiring. Nate was alive too - I’d been worried, but it seemed that he was saving his breath, and putting everything into the fight, taking on two other Percuitait. Malach and Nimue moved together as if they were dancing, anticipating each other's steps. They feinted, and corralled the enemy where they were subdued and trussed up by Nimue’s whip, and hacked to pieces by Malach’s sword.
Uriel was fighting Metatron now, their swords clashing with devastating effect. Uriel was no longer impassive, or even reluctantly accepting of the side he’d chosen - he seemed downright shocked at the turn of events. He stepped back as Met, jumping around like Yoda with a lightsaber, spun through the air and lunged towards him, deflecting the blow at the last minute.
“You have joined the side of the Antichrist?” Uriel asked, horrified. “You are sanctioning the destruction of the planet?”
“Pish,” Met scoffed, as he performed a dazzling one-handed cartwheel over Uriel’s head. “Not all of us think that is what is going to happen, Uriel.”
“The Guardians too? They have joined the side of Darkness?” Uriel was incredulous, as he held out his sword to block Met’s lunge.
Their weapons met with a crash. Met laughed. “I don’t think you’re picking up what I’m putting down here, Uriel. You seem to be on a different page than the rest of us. You’re reading a different book.”
Vane swept through the battlefield, shouting manically. “Don’t be swayed, Uriel! You have chosen God’s path, don’t let them deceive you!” He darted off, aiming a kick towards Nimue’s right as she was winding up to take out another Percuitait.
The pain overtook me. I screamed, and slumped in Leif’s arms, and couldn’t see anything else.
“We have to hurry,” Margot said, and I could hear the worry coloring her tone.
Leif picked me up in his arms as if I weighed nothing. “Let’s go,” he nodded Margot ahead of him.
“Where?”
“Straight ahead.”
The thick jungle cleared out, and I could see a basic wooden structure up ahead. My brain didn’t seem to be working correctly, but I guessed that I wasn’t going to make it to the med center. Leif moved quickly, and we shot out from the jungle and into the clearing ahead.
I could see the field clearly. The Percuitait were still fighting desperately, but now, there were only five of them left. The most vicious of them fought on, each taking one of my friends. The blows were vicious, blood flowed freely, and neither side was giving an inch.
“Stay strong, Crusaders!” Vane screamed, veins in his neck bulging. “The fate of this world depends on it! We must destroy the girl!”
“See, Uriel?” I heard Met murmur. “Do you see?”
Uriel had stopped fighting. His flaming sword hung loosely by his side, eyes locked on Met. I couldn’t fathom what his expression meant.
Leif carried me forward, and I felt another presence brush by me like a ghost. I looked ahead, and saw the ghost of Hannah Savage standing by the stable doors.
As if today could get any weirder.
She looked as solid as if she were in life, but she seemed utterly unfamiliar to me. In life, she’d been a swirling vortex of hate and destruction, so it made sense that now she’d processed all her pain and trauma, no negative energy surrounded her. Her aura glowed around her bright-white.
“In here,” she whispered, smiling at me. “You’ll have your baby here.”
“Hannah,” I managed. “You’re here.”
“Here to help. You’ll need all of us. All of us together, all the different souls you can get.” As quick as she appeared, she was gone again. The doors to the stables creaked open.
Margot grunted. “You can’t have your baby in the freaking stables,” she muttered.
“I think it’s too late for anything else,” I said through gritted teeth. The pressure was getting unbearable. “This baby is coming out right now!”
At least the stables were clean. It was Revelations, after all. Our horses were the most pampered in the country. Leif carried me inside and made to lay me in the biggest stall.
“Hang on!” Met appeared at the door, bustling in with a blanket. He lay it down on the pile of hay in the corner, and Leif set me down on it.
“Met,” I panted. “What the hell are you wearing?”
“Do you like it?” Met asked, preening, smoothing down the nurse’s outfit he was suddenly wearing. “It’s vintage. A genuine British midwives outfit from the nineteen-forties. Wartime,” he added, adjusting the little watch pinned to the lapel. “I thought it was fitting.”
“Christ-on-a-bike,” Margot snapped. “Now is not the time.”
I couldn’t concentrate. The contractions rolled through me, constant, never easing off, and I writhed and groaned in agony. “Ahhhhhhh!” I screamed out. “I don’t care what he’s wearing! This baby is coming now!”
Margot ducked between my legs and checked my business end quickly. “You’re at ten centimeters,” she said brusquely. “The baby is crowning. Time to push.”
I screamed, and bore down. “Alex!”
“He’s on his way,” Met promised, holding my hand.
“He is finishing Vane,” Leif said darkly. “His human side desires the opportunity to end the campaign of terror that he’s waged on you.”
“What?” I panted out, confused.
“He wants to be the one to take him out,” Met translated.
“He has to get here! I can’t do this without him!” He was the one who watched all those videos.
“You’re doing fine, Eve,” Margot said encouragingly. “Quick breaths. You’ve got about thirty seconds before the next push.”
The pain was excruciating. I screamed for a long, long time, as white-hot needles poked at me right in the vagina. “Met!” I writhed. “Can’t you heal me?”
“Not unless you want your vagina to close over, doll,” he winked at me. “And I am dulling the pain a little.”
“Not enough!” I screamed. “Oh God, why is this so painful!”
“You gotta push him out, Eve.” Margot looked at me from between my legs. “The pain of contractions is part of that.”
“I don’t need a damn explanation! I just want it to be over!”
“Concentrate, peanut. Breathe. Like the videos taught you. Breathe, focus.”
“I never watched the damned videos!” I screamed, arching my back in pain. “Alex!”
The stable door banged, and I looked up. But it wasn’t Alex that walked in. It was Uriel.
I didn’t
have anything left in me to be scared, the pain was too overwhelming. Uriel stopped at the stall door and stared at me, his expression hard and assessing. He stood still, motionless, like a marble statue, for a good long minute.
Then, from behind him, Nate appeared.
“You see?” Nate murmured to Uriel.
Uriel nodded wordlessly, observing me for a while longer.
“We need souls to form the barrier when the gates of Hell open,” Nate said. “Will you help?”
Uriel turned to Nate, his golden curls swinging softly. He nodded. “I’ll gather whoever I can.”
There was a flash of light, and he was gone.
“Nate,” I whimpered. “Where-”
And suddenly, Alex was beside me, his warm hand wrapped around mine, the other one brushing my damp hair off my sweaty face. “I’m here, woman,” he rumbled. “It’s over. Vane is gone. He is just mist tainting the southern breeze now.”
It was hard to feel relieved about that, since my lower half was being ripped apart from the inside out. I screamed as the next contraction shook me, and Alex counted in my ear as I pushed. I followed the sound of his voice like a blind man, one two three four five six seven eight nine…
I pushed. The burning increased. I was on fire.
“Breathe, my love,” Alex whispered in my ear. “It’s almost over.”
“The head is out,” I heard Margot’s voice from between my legs. “He has dark hair, Eve, just like yours.” She looked up, grinning at me. “That’s the hard part done, but you’ve got a bit to go. Next contraction, push hard.”
I nodded, panting. When the next one hit, I took a deep breath and gave it everything I had. It felt like my whole body was stretched out, my skin paper-thin. I pushed and pushed, gripping Alex’s hand and squeezing with all my might, and when my strength failed me, I opened my mouth and screamed and pushed even harder.
I was giving birth to the world.
With a final jungle cry, the pain eased off, and everyone in the stable stall gasped.
“It’s a girl!” Margot’s eyes were wide with delight. “A girl!” With absolutely no ceremony at all, Margot lifted her hands and dumped something warm and wet on my chest.
“Oh!” I was dumbstruck. “Oh, my God!”
“God is with us,” Malach echoed in an awed voice. Several other voices murmured in hushed tones.
But I only had eyes for my baby.
She was perfect. I examined her carefully and in total, overwhelmed awe: Little pink fingers and chubby cheeks, smooth, dark caramel-colored skin, and a shock of dark hair on her head. Completely covered in blood and goo from head to toe. She opened her eyes and mewed like a kitten. Her eyes were a startling icy-blue.
“My love,” Alex kissed me on the mouth briefly and went back to gazing in awe at our baby. “She has your hair. Beautiful, chocolate locks.”
“She is beautiful,” Nate whispered from my other side. Remembering vaguely I was supposed to be worried about her paternity, I looked back down on my baby. Her mouth was puckered in the cutest yawn I’d ever seen. It was nearly the last thing on my mind, but I gave Nate a smile. “She has your lips,” I told him, touching her little mouth. “And your skin coloring.”
“She has Alex’s eyes,” Nate replied, smiling. “That’s a recessive trait. It couldn’t have come from me.”
“She is all of us,” Alex rumbled, brushing a kiss on his daughter’s forehead. “The holy trinity. Angel, demon, and human.”
Margot poked her head up from where she was working between my thighs. I’d almost forgotten she was there, but she was doing something that involved a little tugging, and a tiny bit more pain. “Have you thought of a name?” she asked. There was a smear of blood on her cheek.
I gazed down at my daughter again. “I hadn’t wanted to tempt fate,” I admitted.
“I have some suggestions,” Alex said slowly.
Nate coughed delicately. “So do I.”
I looked down at the perfect face resting peacefully on my breast. My baby was so warm and unbelievably soft and beautiful. “How could you come up with anything that matches how incredible she is?” I asked softly. “What could possibly match her complete perfection?”
“Janet is a lovely name,” Met suggested. “Or Susan.”
I pursed my lips and shook my head silently.
“Fine,” he muttered sullenly. “I’ll save them for my own children then.”
“I was thinking... Raven,” Alex said. “Or maybe Orielle.”
“Better.” I nodded. “But still not quite right.
Nate cleared his throat. “How about Aurora?”
I giggled. “She’s not sleeping beauty, Nate. It’s a nice name, but… I was thinking I’d go a bit old-fashioned.” I peered down in between my legs. “What do you think, Margot?”
Margot sat back on her haunches, and wiped the blood from her cheek. “How about Lilith?” Margot suggested. “She was the first human, you know.”
“Lilith…”
I looked down at my sleeping baby. Her perfect little bow lips were puckered up, her fat cheeks squished up against my breast. Her eyelids had the lightest pale-blue tint to them, and they quivered slightly as if she were already dreaming. I hoped it was about happy things. Warm milk, smooth skin, safe arms, happy future…
“Lilith.” I said it again and nodded. “I think that’s it.”
“Lilith,” Alex whispered to me. “A perfect choice. I love it.” He dropped a kiss on her tiny head.
“I love it too,” Nate murmured, stroking her chubby cheek. “It’s just right.”
“Lilith. That’s it. Well done, Strawberry,” Met kissed me on the cheek, and straightened up. “Righto, compadres. Let’s get our asses into gear. We’ve got work to do.”
I glanced up at him and noticed that Met’s midwife outfit had disappeared. In its place, he wore shining golden armor.
There was a soft rumbling in the distance.
“Oh,” I mumbled again. “I almost forgot. We’re all going to die.”
I’d given birth to the Omega. The gates of Hell were about to open.
Chapter 17
The rumbling started immediately. At first, it was just a sound in the distance, coming from deep below us. But after a while, the tremors began, and the stable started to shake.
Adrenalin shot through me, chasing away the tired, contented feeling that had sunk in after I had my baby.
“We have to get outside,” Malach ordered. “We must form a barrier around the caves. Our only hope is to hold the souls back for long enough that we can re-create the borders of Hell, and seal them back inside.”
Nimue put her hand on his arm. “The other demons in Hell are ready,” she said softly. “They can only re-create the boundary when the pressure has eased. We might need to let a few souls loose on Earth, to ease the burden.”
“Like a pressure valve,” Zel nodded. “It might work. If, somehow, we can let out the least destructive souls, then the world might have a chance of surviving. It’ll still be wrecked, but it’s our best chance.”
I clutched my baby tighter and tried to struggle to my feet. Alex caught me, and lay me back down. “What are you doing?”
“I’m getting up, honey,” I replied testily. “I’m not lying here while the world is smashed to pieces around me.”
“Eve, no,” Alex glowered at me. “You can’t go out there.”
“The hell I can’t.”
He pointed at Lilith, sleeping peacefully in my arms. “What about her?”
“She’s coming too,” I stuck my chin up. “We’re going to help.”
“Eve, please,” he pleaded. “Nate, back me up here.”
“She’s right,” Nate shrugged. “She’s in this, too. Both of them. Lilith is the Omega. There’s something powerful in her. I don’t know what it is, but I think she’s supposed to be here.”
Alex growled and put his arm around me. “You’re going to stand behind me this time,” he said fiercely. “
No going into the circle. No breaking the boundary.” He fixed me with a steely glare. “Promise?”
I nodded carefully. “I promise.”
“Okay.” We all filed out of the stables.
The entrance to the Develians was a stone’s throw away, and good thing, too, because despite my bravado, I didn’t think I could walk any further. My coochie felt like it had gone twelve rounds with Mike Tyson. I was swollen and raw. I couldn’t imagine how much worse I’d be feeling if Met and the boys hadn’t quickly funneled some healing energy into me. I probably wouldn’t have been able to move at all. As it was, I was exhausted. The healing energy was keeping me on my feet. Just.
We hurried past the trees on the border of the stables, and around the corner to the Develians entrance, stumbling as we went as the ground began to shake more violently. The jungle opened up into a beautiful little clearing, the perfectly trimmed and lush green grass ringing the rocky black hole in the middle of the field.
The clearing was packed with people, all watching the hole intently, trying to keep their balance over the rolling earth. The rumbling was getting louder.
Zel and Dale were there, shouting orders at their remaining army. From my quick glance, I could see all sorts in there - fae, vampires, and a few burly figures that looked human, but could be anything. One of the biggest men jumped in fright as the ground shook beneath him wildly, and he began to tremble uncontrollably. The next thing I knew, he’d burst into a massive ball of fur and claws. Suddenly, a brown grizzly bear replaced the man who had been standing there moments before.
On the other side of the hole, Uriel stood before a small crowd of glowing, winged creatures.
My heart leaped. Uriel had brought angels in to help. My hope quickly faded when I realized how panicked they looked.
A tall angel with silver hair called out to Met as we approached. “Voice of God! Will this work?”
“Why does everyone keep asking me that?” Met grumbled, uncharacteristically grim. “For the last time, I’m not a bloody Seer.”
The ground rocked beneath our feet, and suddenly, the earth made an awful, groaning sound.
Revelations: The Last War Page 20