by catt dahman
Danny handed me something he had kept all this time: the huge iolite gem he had gotten from the Duchess. It glittered and danced in the firelight. The demons all took notice. It was large enough and powerful enough to set free a whole busload of demons, souls or not. It would open the doorway fully.
I whispered and told Dinah to go along and find Coral and Dana.
“You hold a great deal of power, Alice. What will you do with that?”
The demons called out promises and trades for the gem, for they couldn’t take it from my hand. They could grab one of my friends and threaten to harm him, but then I would use the stone to blow them to pieces. The stone had the power to release Satan from his prison of ice; all of the demons could all have free reign again. With this, I could burn away a full quarter of hell if I wanted. So many choices lay before me
I said, “Virgil came here as an angel. He was another being. I want him as a mortal with a soul. I want him to come with me if he wants.”
“Impossible,” Satan snapped. The others mumbled obscenities.
“He could. He was sent here as an angel. He could become mortal and leave,” Cory nodded, and Cassie agreed, “He can’t leave as an angel, but he can leave as a man with the iolite.”
“Those aren’t the rules. Getting that girl was stretching things,” Satan said, “You can’t break the rules.”
“You do. You always lie and trick people and break rules and slip under them. Well, I want to slide under a rule, too. I did the mission, and I deserve some sort of reward so it can all be packed into this request,” I said, stomping my boot.
Satan sneered at me.
“And Dinah wasn’t one of the dead or condemned here, so she was outside the rules. As for Virgil, he was here as one being, and he can convert to another since he has never been human and mortal.”
“Do you know what you ask of him? He will suffer as a mortal, be judged when he dies, will lose his powers, will be nothing more than a human,” Michael said.
“And didn’t the angels get into trouble for not recognizing the goodness and wonder of humans?” I asked, “but it is Virgil’s choice.” I was scared of his answer. “Michael’s argument was valid, and one day, Virgil could be an angel again. Would he want to be a mortal?But I am simply offering him the chance. If he can’t go through the pain of change or doesn’t want to go with me, then I will go on with my life. But I demand he have a choice.”
“Demand?”
“Ask most humbly?” I backed down.
“Vine?”
“Yes. Yes, I wish to transform and give up my status to be a lowly human. I have discovered they are quite lovely, brilliant, and good hearted.”
“Are you sure, Vine? Do you know the pain you will suffer?”
Vigil stared at the ground, “I know what the pain will be. I accept it gratefully.”
“Bad pain? A lot?” I asked.
Satan chuckled, “Your Vine will scream with the pain.”
“We’re ready. Let’s do this,” Samael said, stretching. Behind him appeared other demons, and Dantanian prepared for battle. I barely had time to hug and kiss Cory and Cassie before Virgil pushed me to the opening to my world. I said, “I love you Cassie; take care of Cory.”
“Love you, Alice. Thank you for bringing him to me.”
“Go. The fight is nigh. God willing, I will join you, but I can’t promise what will come out of the opening, so be ready,” Vigil kissed me and pushed me harder. I managed a quick thanks to Michael and handed him the giant gemstone.
Chapter Forty: True Mission
I leaped head first into the hole, and Limmerfer leaped with me. I held him as we spiraled, seeing places we had been, frightening images of the past few days, and scenes of the future. I saw Cassie and Cory, hand in hand, eating mushrooms and dancing. They looked really happy. I saw their children, but hid my face in Limmy’s soft fur since I just couldn’t look at the progeny of human-caterpillar even if I did like them both. It was hell, but they were abiding their sentence, and it seemed okay. I hoped the kids kind of took after Cory, but at least they had a family. I thought Cory would be good to Cassie and treat her well. It was a feeling I had.
I trembled when I saw an image of what happened when I left the cavern.Astaroth, Samael, Belial, Wyrmwood, and Beelzebub, plus scores more of the demons, followed the orders of the hateful Satan and attacked Virgil, Danny, and Michael. Blood flew as claws and swords flashed. They so wanted the iolite. But it needed a silver band, and I had slipped that part to Virgil before I left. They might get the gem but would still be missing a part of the puzzle they needed.
My parents raised no fool.
I saw another battle. A woman was fighting with a huge sword of silver, slaying demons, setting fire to hell, burning away all the bad, and leaving some people in purgatory or in a kind of stasis but not in a place of torture and filth. I saw half of hell burned to ashes and the wicked destroyed forever. It seemed Cassie, Cory, and (oh, Lord, help us) a litter of caterpillar-surfers were watching.
The woman, tall and dark haired, was beautiful, strong, and excellent with her sword, able to flip and twist in mid-air, spin, and almost fly. She looked as powerful as any of the angels I had watched fight, but she was all innocence and peace. Cory and Cassie stood close to her and cheered. The vision faded.
If one of the demons got the gem, it would open the door to hell, and my world would be lost. I saw the possibility that demons might rule the earth, devouring innocents and spreading cruelty. That visage finally faded, too. That was terrible to see.
I saw Dantanian fighting in my dream like state. ‘Use the vorpal sword to slay the jabberwocky ‘, I heard as I spiraled to the bottom and onto the grass. I remembered how the White Queen gave Danny a special sword and wondered if it might be a vorpal sword. If so, they had a chance, not that I was sure what the word meant, but it sounded mighty.
There was Dinah, Coral, and Dana, all waiting for me. I was glad to see them, too. I intended to tell them, later about Cory, Cassie, and the Cory-pillar children.
I held my arms out, “My little girl, Dinah.” And she ran to me to be held tightly and whispered she loved me. I held her and dimly wondered how I would explain that I suddenly had a child to care for, but I knew my parents would adore her.
We all looked to the hole in the ground. It blazed purple, and then it went dark. A hand appeared at the edge, and someone struggled.
I ran to help Virgil climb out. I soaked his shirt with tears as I wept from relief. The hole closed as we held one another. Dinah grabbed us both in her little arms.
“Stop crying. It’s all done, now. Everything is set to rights. Alice, you were amazing.”
“It’s over?”
He tilted his head and got to his feet, weakly, “Sorry. I’m exhausted from the battle, and the pain of changing was…unique…like a blade so fine and sharp one can hardly feel it until a second later. But Danny held them back, and Saint Michael did some grievous damage before he left. Danny is fine.”
“You made it through your mission,” Coral grinned.
“With losses,” I thought of sweet, brave Pax, kind Annie, and funny Cory and Cassie, the gunslingers, and the White Queen. I was so sleepy and tired that I lay down on the soft grass, with Dinah beside me, Limmerfer at my shoulder, and Virgil on the other side, “I saw strange things as I passed through to here,” I said as I rested on the ground comfortably. I watched clouds.
“You saw the woman with a sword? The one who burns hell away and destroys the demons and has a great power?” Virgil asked.
“I did.”
“That was our child.Wait; don’t look so shocked. You know how odd things can be, and that is a long time from now. Danny will come get her for the greatest mission of all time. Only she can do those things. And she can only exist because I am here with you.”
I cocked my head.
“This was your true mission, Alice. Your true mission was to make sure Kitty, or Katherine, will be borne of us.” He kissed me a
nd lay back to rest.
I began to slip into a deep sleep. I was tired and satisfied with my work, and all was right with the world. Limmerfer was purring; he was soft. A kitty. Kitty. Vorpal sword. The King of Hearts and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, the March Hare and Mad Hatter, and a bunch of demons in the mix. The Duchess and the White Queen, the Red Queen, and a caterpillar.
Dreaming.
“So, Alice,” Dum had asked me at dinner, “Have you considered that maybe you are at home, in bed asleep, and only dreaming all of this?” That was confusing. Could that be true? Was that possible?
“It would be a long dream,” I said in response.
“Dreams occur in a split second anyway. Maybe we are a part of your dream and you’ll awaken and find this never happened,” Dum had told me.
I dozed, and after some time, I began to emerge from dreams of where I had been and what I had seen. I emerged from the land of talking caterpillars and lice hookers and ugly centaurs. I was afraid.
I was almost fully awake now, but my eyes were still shut. I felt Limmy’s fur next to me, and he still purred, but what if I had simply fallen asleep on the grass and dreamed? What if I opened my eyes and Virgil and Dinah were gone? My hell would be to look and find it all a dream.
But isn’t that poetic?
Ever drifting down the stream—lingering in golden gleam—Life, what is it, but a dream?
(Fort Worth2013)
Also by catt dahman