by BJ Sheldon
“Lillith!”
I heard Sean’s voice clearly in the darkness, and my chest tightened significantly.
“Lillith!” he cried again.
He skidded to a stop and dropped to his knees beside her body. He began to yell her name again. His voice cracked with grief.
“Sean. You need to get out of here!” I yelled. Dorian was keeping Raja preoccupied for the time being. But it wouldn’t last, and I shuddered to think what would happen if Raja managed to get his hands on my best friend. “Sean! Go!”
Sean refused to listen and stayed steadfast at Lillith’s side. He lifted his head and stared me in the eye. I knew what he wanted.
Revenge.
I nodded. He didn’t need to say anything. I understood.
My sword raised, I jumped into the fight with Dorian against Raja. Together, we pushed him back, pressing harder each time to weaken him, or at the very least, slow him down. We kept him on the defensive, rarely allowing him the opportunity to be on the offensive. We knew if we were going to have a chance to defeat him, it would need to be when he was caught off guard.
Raja spread his fiery wings and leapt high into the air.
“Coward!” I screamed, following him in flight.
Dorian, being unfortunate enough not to have been born with wings, was left helplessly on the ground below. Upon glancing down in his direction, I could clearly see the frustration in his body language.
The race to catch Raja began. We flew through the Badlands, soaring past the large formations, and at times low amongst the brush. Our wings beat hard against the cold air surrounding us. It was so cold, in fact, that I almost expected to see steam rising from the fire that made up his wings.
He made a sudden left, and I had to backtrack to continue the chase.
Glancing down, I could see the battle had raged on without us. The Hybrids of Shamsiel and Azazel continued to fight to the death. They each advanced, weapons raised, all in an effort to defeat their respective enemies.
My eyes again focused on my enemy, who was just ahead of me.
Raja’s flying ability was swift and efficient. But my wings weren’t merely designed for decoration. They were strong and agile. My three hundred years on Earth had given me plenty of time to perfect my aerial skills, and I was determined to use them to catch the evil bastard who’d just killed my friend.
Although I was able to keep up, I was unable to reach him to engage in combat. My mind raced, trying to come up with a way to beat Raja at his own game.
Then, I had an idea.
I opened my mind and reached out to Dorian. He was clearly grieving for his sister, but he’d accepted her death, as well as his own, years ago. Dorian knew there was more at stake than their own demise.
He listened to my idea and agreed it was our best chance. As I prepared to put my plan into action, I asked how Sean was doing. Dorian told me Sean had yet to leave Lillith’s side. Their relationship had seemed unusual to me. They didn’t appear to like one another when she was alive, and he enjoyed nothing more than making her remaining time a living hell. But at the root of it all, they’d been friends. Odd, unlikely friends, but friends nonetheless.
Deciding on a different course of action, I descended and headed back to where Sean stood vigil over Lillith. I was sure Raja would soon realize I was no longer in chase mode and come after me. In fact, I was banking on it.
Just as I’d hoped, Raja began to pursue me. I continued my course straight for Sean and Lillith and acted as if I was unaware of Raja’s presence. But I knew he was there. The flames licking off of his wings against the dark sky made it virtually impossible not to notice where he was at all times.
The ground grew close, but I didn’t slow my descent. To the casual observer, it might have looked like I was going to crash.
From the corner of my eye, I could see Raja gaining on me quickly. He held my sword firmly in his hand, clearly ready to run me through the moment he caught up.
Focusing back on Sean, I could see he had finally stood and taken a few steps back from Lillith’s body. His hands seemed to hang limply at his sides as he stared expressionless down at our fallen friend.
But Dorian was nowhere to be seen.
My grip tightened around the hilt of my borrowed sword. I aimed for Sean, flying as fast as my wings would take me. He finally looked away from Lillith and redirected his gaze on me. He seemed unaffected by my rapid descent.
I nodded once, and he nodded back.
Just when it looked as though I’d hit the ground with full force, I pulled up, flying mere inches over Sean’s head.
Raja, in turn, tried to do the same.
Sean raised Gladys over his head, aimed, and pulled the trigger, striking Raja squarely in the chest.
It was nothing more than a flesh wound and was hardly fatal, but it had been enough to catch him off guard. He landed with force, shaking the ground beneath him. He took his eyes off of me for a split second while he inspected the bullet hole.
Then, he began to cackle. It was maniacal and frightening. His eyes lit up with revenge, and they zeroed in on Sean.
Raja raised my stolen sword, holding it straight as if to point at his target. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
He took a step in Sean’s direction, grasping the sword with both hands and raising it over one shoulder, ready to strike. I made an abrupt turn in the air and flew toward Sean as quickly as I could to protect him.
Suddenly, Dorian was in the air, holding half a Chakram in each hand. He soared above Raja’s flames, and with a single, smooth movement, sliced off his hand, the hand that held my sword.
Both Raja’s hand and my sword laid a few feet away from where Sean stood.
Raja’s reaction was delayed, as if he himself couldn’t believe what had just occurred. The disbelief in his eyes was clear, but it quickly turned to rage.
He flew at both Dorian and me with Lillith’s sabre, pouncing on us with an anger we’d not yet seen.
Sean dropped to the ground and belly-crawled toward my sword. He grasped it by the hilt and held it tightly in his hands.
“Skyy!” he shouted, tossing it toward me as hard as he could.
In one fluid motion, I grasped the hilt of my sword as it floated toward me, and spun toward Raja. I brought the blade down once, slicing off one of Raja’s wings. My feet planted and my body pivoted, I swung the blade back up, taking Raja’s other wing with it.
Raja screamed. It was a primal roar originating somewhere deep in his chest. Everyone on the battlefield heard, causing the fighting amongst the Hybrids to come to a complete halt as they all watched in utter shock.
The inference wasn’t lost on anyone who was witnessing it.
Raja could now be killed.
But it quickly became clear that the loss of his wings didn’t make him any less deadly. He turned with fury in his eyes and with his remaining hand swung his sabre at Dorian’s head, but Dorian was ready for any retaliation that Raja might dish out, blocking every potential blow with his Chakram halves. Dorian’s speed and agility kept him out of range of Raja’s sabre.
The clanging of metal grew louder as time passed, both men trying to conquer and finish the other in dramatic fashion. But they seemed to be evenly matched.
I glanced up to where Azazel stood as he looked down and watched his protégé fighting for the cause. His gaze met mine, and there was a moment of recognition that chilled me throughout. I wanted to look away, focus on the fight happening right in front of me, but his eyes were drawing away my attention.
A loud cacophony of grunts brought me back to reality. Somehow, Raja had pinned Dorian down, bent backward against a small rock formation. Dorian had positioned each Chakram into a V-shape, stopping Raja’s sabre from slicing his shoulder. But Raja was strong, even with only one hand, and his blade pressed down, growing closer and closer.
Gunshots rang out in succession until all that could be heard was the click of an empty weapon.
S
ean had seen that Dorian’s life was in danger. He knew that Raja, being an angel, couldn’t be killed by any mortal means. But he also knew that unless he did something, Dorian would die, thereby diminishing any chance we had of defeating Raja and Azazel.
The placement of bullet holes to Raja’s back was impressive and tight. Sean had arranged them directly between where Raja’s wings used to be. It would have killed a mere human instantly.
But Raja wasn’t human.
Raja pulled back and away from Dorian, turned, and lunged at Sean. Raja almost seemed to take flight, even without his wings to assist him.
The sabre slid into Sean’s torso like butter and came out through his back. Raja’s hand never left the hilt as he stared into the dying eyes of his victim, only inches away.
Sean stared down at the sabre penetrating his chest. And then he smiled defiantly, just as Lillith had, glaring back into the face of his killer.
“Was it worth it?” Raja asked Sean. “Was it worth dying for a losing cause?”
Sean opened his mouth and tried to speak. He struggled, his breathing heavily labored. Blood trickled from his mouth. A forced smile spread across his dying lips as he finally spoke, gasping between words.
“Skyy. Will. Destroy. You.”
Sean glanced over and found me, staring in disbelief at the entire scene. His smile remained for only an instant. His eyes then froze, and his chest expanded one last time.
Sean was dead.
Chapter 25
I heard screaming. At first, I wondered who it was coming from, but then I realized the howls of anguish came from me.
Dorian rushed at Raja with even more fury than before.
But I couldn’t move. I stood frozen as I stared down at Sean’s lifeless body on the dirt beside Lillith.
He’d been the best friend I’d ever had.
His last words demonstrated his unfailing belief that I could do anything. He truly believed I was some kind of superhero, someone who had the ability to save humanity from evil. Sean had more faith in me than I’d ever had in myself. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that faith made me a better person.
Just knowing him had made me a better person.
Raja had swiftly pulled the sabre out of Sean’s chest and kicked him over with his foot like he was nothing more than a rag doll before he went back up against Dorian. The image would be forever engrained in my mind.
My greatest fear had been realized. Someone I actually cared about, someone who was able to put up with my shit on a daily basis, and someone I considered my best friend, was dead.
And it was all my fault.
Sean should have never come along. I told myself that because he wanted to come, it had been the right thing to do. But things were rarely that simple. I should have told him no. I should have told him it was too dangerous. I should have told him to stay behind and live a long, boring life.
But instead, I’d been selfish. I had wanted him with me for no other reason than that I was comfortable with him.
And I’d been scared.
I was still scared, at that moment, more than ever.
A voice emerged inside my head. At first, I was unable to make it out; it sounded like someone shouting at me from a distance. But as it grew closer, I was finally able to understand the words.
“Skyy. Can you hear me?”
“Lillith?”
It couldn’t be. I glanced over and gazed at her body lying on the ground next to Sean.
“I don’t have much time,” she said. “But there are things to say.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You don’t need to. I just need you to hear me. When I walked around inside Sean’s mind, I discovered some things about him that I think you need to know.”
My emotions were churning.
“The day he met you, he didn’t take a wrong turn. He’d been driving around for hours looking for a secluded place to kill himself. Gladys was tucked under the passenger seat. When he saw your trailer, he was going to turn his car around and keep driving. And then he saw you. Got to know you. And he began to live. You gave him purpose in his lonely life. You were his real life superhero, and his reason to go on. So, don’t ever think for a minute that his death is on your head or that it’s your fault. It’s not. His life was your doing; his death was his.”
A tear found its way down the side of my nose.
Lillith’s voice was gone, but her words remained.
Sean, like Lillith, died a hero’s death, just like the superheroes in one of his comics.
Suddenly, I felt strange. My entire body began to tingle, causing a bit of lightheadedness.
Raja and Dorian stopped, both staring in my direction, their mouths agape.
“What the—” sputtered Raja, stumbling backward.
Dorian’s eyes grew large as he, too, staggered back.
I felt warm, as if the sun was shining. But this particular warmth seemed to emanate from the inside. My hands felt hot, and as I glanced down to see what could be causing the sudden warmth, I noticed my skin had begun to glow.
It was subtle at first, a slight whitish light growing quickly into a bright yellow radiance that seemed to blind everyone who looked my way.
The Hybrids on both sides dropped their weapons and covered their eyes in an effort to shield themselves from whatever was happening to me. Even Dorian was helpless against the bright glow encompassing my body.
However, it didn’t seem to affect Raja’s vision whatsoever. Although he looked perplexingly at my sudden radiance, he rushed directly at me, determined to end our fight.
But I felt stronger than I ever had before.
Raja was fast, but I found myself faster, able to predict his every move. At times, it almost seemed like he was moving in slow motion. He grew increasingly frustrated at my ability to stop his every swing and thrust. Dorian jumped out of the way as I pressed Raja back, trapping him against a rock formation.
I stretched my wings behind me as far as they could go. They began to flap, slowly at first, and then gradually beat faster. The gale kicked up by the force of my wings was nearly as strong as a hurricane, knocking Raja off his feet and the sabre from his hand.
He looked up just as the end of my sword pierced him at the base of his throat.
His eyes looked to me for mercy, but I had none to give. He’d been on the wrong side of the war, and I’d won the battle.
He gurgled, choked, and then went silent, his eyes open wide with fear.
I yanked the sword out from his neck and kicked him over with my foot, just as he had so indiscriminately disposed of Sean.
The glow left my body, and I dropped to my knees.
I stared at Raja’s lifeless body and spit in his direction.
Dorian fell to my side and threw his arms around me to keep me from falling over. His arms held me tight, and we kneeled there quietly, holding one another when we heard a throat clear.
We both turned and witnessed Rami and Arna towering over Lillith’s body.
“We have to take her, Dorian. I’m sorry,” said Arna.
Dorian nodded, waving them on to do whatever it was they were going to do, and then he turned away.
Rami lifted Lillith by her shoulders, his face showing sorrow at the death of someone he once cared for as he and Arna, grabbing her feet, led the way over to a group of Hybrids stacking dead bodies to prepare for a large pyre.
I glanced around the battle scene. Skirmishes were still happening, but the numbers had dwindled substantially.
“The sword,” said Dorian, grasping me by the wrist, lifting my hand up.
I stared at it in wonder. Something so small and seemingly insignificant had caused an awful lot of destruction.
But its job wasn’t over yet.
I pushed myself up off the ground and looked over at where Azazel stood, frowning at the sudden turn of events.
The Spear of Azazel, my sword, was the only thing keeping him from taking over the world and
destroying mankind. And it was my job to ensure he never got that chance.
Chapter 26
“I’m sorry about Lillith,” I said, her words still reverberating through my mind.
“It was almost her time to go anyway. She went out exactly like she would’ve wanted to,” Dorian replied flatly.
To an outsider, his reaction may have seemed callous. But I knew he’d had years to come to terms with their inevitable deaths. They both knew they’d either die by the sword or vanish into oblivion. Their lives had been focused solely on saving humanity. There was no room for grief.
Dorian’s time was nearly up as well. He’d die for the cause. That I knew. But it didn’t mean I was ready to see him go and certainly not in the way his sister had.
I choked back my own emotion, unwilling to let him see my vulnerability.
“What’s the plan?” he asked abruptly.
I looked out over the sea of Hybrids who continued to battle one another, and then I glanced up to where Azazel reigned over his carnage. Even with Raja’s death, his expression didn’t change. He looked smug, as if he’d already won the fight.
But he’d seriously underestimated me.
“We need to cut off Azazel’s wings and kill him before he can steal my sword, run me through, and raise the Fallen,” I said matter-of-factly, my gaze never leaving my target.
“That’s not a plan,” said Dorian. “That’s a suicide mission.”
“If you have a better plan, feel free to share it with me.”
Dorian stayed silent for a moment and then spoke up.
“There’s no way that you and I can defeat him alone.”
“Then, I’ll help,” I heard a voice say. Turning, I saw Arna had joined us.
“Three against one. I’m still not sure that’s enough to defeat someone like Azazel,” said Dorian.
“You forget that I’m a Watcher. And while Azazel might be stronger, I’m more than capable of taking him on. And with your help, I think we stand a chance,” said Arna, fingering the hilt of the sword hanging from his hip.
“As long as he doesn’t get a hold of Skyy or the sword,” muttered Dorian.