Abaddon moved smoothly to his feet, releasing Lucifer reluctantly as if his hands at the Devil’s throat acted on a whim of their own. Lucifer fled the moment Abaddon no longer restrained him. With a wave of his hand Raphael returned Abaddon’s illusion of humanity. Angelina rushed over to take Abaddon’s hand, holding it to her face and kissing his palm. Catherine stared at the Angel of the Abyss with renewed awe.
“He…he can wipe the King of Hell out at any time he wishes and yet…”
“Not true, Sister Mary Catherine,” Raphael broke in gently. “He cannot.”
“But…but he could,” Catherine protested excitedly. “I am even more confident of our mission. Why did Lucifer think this demon inhabiting the little boy would be a match for Abaddon?”
Raphael met Catherine’s gaze squarely. “The demons Lucifer created to plague this world were conjured from pure darkness. They have no fear. Their sole reason for existence is to cause pain and anguish. Lucifer forged them to feed off the palpable evil earth supplies in abundance. Lucifer was created from light with free will. His very name means light. Because of that he can fear. He is a coward.”
“But…but you just said he created the demons. Surely…”
“They have no other will besides his,” Raphael cut in. “Our mission is just as dangerous whether Abaddon can eat Lucifer’s lunch or not.”
“He is a fearsome one, just the same,” Catherine replied, mildly annoyed at the way Angelina embraced and drew Abaddon back toward their table.
“Watch this, Sister.” Raphael reached over to take her hand.
Catherine’s body jerked, her muscles and tendons contracting in reaction to Raphael’s brief glimpse of the war for heaven. She watched Abaddon breach the line of Lucifer’s host with terrifying abandon. Raphael released her, ending the vision before Catherine’s consciousness was blasted from her skull. Catherine’s eyes blinked rapidly. The world she knew swam back into recognition. She glanced furtively from Raphael’s reassuring smile to the approaching Abaddon.
“My brother is indeed formidable. These demons have none of the weaknesses Lucifer’s host had that day.”
“I…I think I understand. Thank you for showing me, Raphael.”
“Show you what?” Angelina asked.
“Yes, Raph, show her what?” Abaddon sat down, allowing Angelina to sit on his lap. She began picking at her food.
“He was trying to make me understand why these demons we must face are far more dangerous to us than Lucifer himself,” Catherine answered. “Raphael also showed me a brief glance of your battle against Lucifer’s host long ago.”
Abaddon’s eyes blazed for a moment, not in anger, but in regret. He nodded his head in understanding. “It was my sole purpose - yet so brief a moment. If not for Raphael’s guidance over these past eons, I doubt I could have survived. Lucifer may be right. Raphael has probably told you our success is not a foregone conclusion.”
“May I see too, Raphael?” Angelina leaned over the table with outstretched hands to a suddenly reluctant Raphael.
“Very well, Sister Angelina.” Raphael clasped Angelina’s hands.
Angelina’s eyes closed tightly. She shuddered as Catherine did before her. Raphael tried to pull away but Angelina clutched his hand tighter. Raphael looked at Abaddon in surprise. He forced Angelina’s hands away. Angelina collapsed against Abaddon, her breath coming in trembling gasps. Abaddon stroked her face, his hands a cooling balm.
“Oh, my Lord,” Angelina whispered. “You were magnificent.”
“Raphael told me Lucifer’s creations may be much more difficult for you to defeat,” Catherine said.
“My brother is right. It is what our Father created me for. Sister Mary Catherine, you must get away quickly once you expel the demon. Sister Angelina will help you bring the child out to Raphael.”
“It will be very bad once the demon is free,” Raphael added. “The child’s life depends on how fast you two can bring him to me.”
“Why can’t you both be right there with us?” Catherine asked.
“Our touch would kill the child immediately,” Raphael answered. “You must expel the demon and get clear, Sister. The exorcism will be unavoidably dangerous.”
“Raph can heal the child of anything if he still lives. Since I have no prior experience in battle with Lucifer’s new flock, I will be the unknown entity in this.”
“You will not be defeated, my Lord,” Angelina stated.
“Sister Angelina, please remove yourself from Abaddon,” Catherine directed. “You wear the robes of a nun. It…it is sacrileges to paw over him.”
Angelina sat up and turned her attention to Raphael. “Put me in the clothing of a simple concubine, Raphael, so Sister Mary Catherine is no longer offended.”
“What of your mission, Sister Angelina?” Abaddon’s liked the young nun’s spirit more with each passing moment. “The ones we are to save will take comfort in your appearance as representatives of the Lord.”
“Very well.” Angelina reluctantly shifted to her own chair. Raphael chuckled over the exchange. “When will we go to the little boy, Raph?”
“At dawn tomorrow, when amber light first breaks over the horizon. We will ask for a place to stay until then. You two must rest while Abaddon and I stay on guard.”
“Why not go now?” Catherine asked. “Why give Lucifer time to prepare?”
“Dawn is his weakest time. He cannot prepare,” Raphael reasoned. “Lucifer has nothing to base any preparation on.”
“According to the bible, the Lord sent you to expel the demon Asmodeus from Sarah. Why…”
“Asmodeus was one of the fallen,” Raphael interrupted with a short laugh, “and a horny one at that. He followed Lucifer but was not created by him in a cauldron of evil. Lucy has gained immense power since those days. He hid while I bound Asmodeus back to his realm. I was probably a little overconfident when I came down this time. I paid for it. It wouldn’t have mattered much though. He kicked my butt.”
“With all the legends of exorcisms, I thought some of them might be true,” Angelina said.
“Humans conjure their own demons,” Raphael replied. “They are very adept at torturing themselves. I imagine they can also exorcise their creations.”
“Hello, Raph?” Angelina waved her hand in good spirits with her mouth half full of food. “Sister Mary Catherine and I are human.”
“Right you are, Sister, my apologies. In any case, no exorcism has been done on any demon created by Lucifer. They are far too ambitious and powerful to be cast out by just anyone. That is why my Father sent us to help Sister Mary Catherine. Her purity and selflessness is a powerful weapon.”
Angelina took Catherine’s hands in hers, tears starting at her eyes. “I am sorry, Catherine, for upsetting you with my behavior. Raphael is right. You are a saint on earth if ever one existed. I owe whatever sanity I have to you. I will be more circumspect with your guidance. I confess I desire the Archangel Abaddon more powerfully than I can say in words, but I will not betray you.”
Angelina grasped Catherine’s hands tightly, holding them to her face as she knelt. Catherine, at first surprised by Angelina’s honesty, then knelt with her.
“It is nothing, Sister Angelina,” Catherine whispered. “I’m sorry to have been so arrogant in my posture toward you. The Archangels’ presence has thrown me off too. I think what we have before us dwarfs all our petty personal differences.”
Catherine stroked Angelina’s tear stained face. “We must be strong though in what we do. Let us put these other things behind us. I will need you if we are to save the souls inhabited by Lucifer’s demons.”
Angelina met Catherine’s steady gaze. “I will not falter, Sister.”
“Do you think it tacky if I continue to make sarcastic remarks when you backslide, Sister Angelina?”
“Not at all, Sister Mary Catherine, as long as you are not offended when I answer in kind.”
“I welcome it, Sister Angelina.”
“From your lips to God’s ear, little Sister,” Raphael declared.
Chapter 5
It Begins
Catherine clutched the little boy’s body to her tightly, her eyes closed and her lips reciting familiar prayers over and over. Angelina gripped Catherine under the armpits, glancing up at the apocalyptic battle enjoined above their heads. She dragged both bodies out of the demolished hovel. Angelina risked short glances at the battle enjoined over her head as she pulled the crying child and Catherine toward what was left of the entrance. All had been calm only moments before.
Angelina had clung to Catherine’s hand tightly. Raphael silenced the guards around the hovel as they approached at dawn, rendering them unconscious. Abaddon waited, his hands twisting around the handle of his sword in anticipation of fulfilling what he had been created for. Gone was any vestige of human simulation. The Angel of the Abyss struggled for patience, his glistening black wings arching powerfully around him. Abaddon hunched forward, his scarred visage pulsing with need. Angelina kept sight of him until the two nuns entered the little boy’s abode.
Angelina mouthed small prayers inside the small room to ease her nagging doubt. Everything appeared neat and clean with no indication of anything out of the ordinary. A small boy clothed only in a loin cloth sat on a divan in the middle of the room. He smiled at the two nuns with innocent curiosity, his brows knit handily as if surprised. Catherine returned his smile, bowing in greeting.
“I am Sister Mary Catherine. This is my friend, Sister Angelina.”
Catherine, with Angelina close behind, moved step by step closer to where the little boy sat, his countenance unmarked by anything hinting at demon possession. As the boy straightened in his chair, Catherine ran forward, wrapping her arms around him and bearing him to the floor. The little boy screamed in pain. Seconds later, Angelina rushed forward to Catherine’s side. The small housing burst outwards in splintering waves.
Something writhed from the child’s body, its screams enhancing the child’s as the boy collapsed into Catherine’s arms. Catherine sobbed, gasping for breath, tears streaming from her eyes. Angelina pulled with all her might, moving the two entwined figures backwards. Angelina risked another glance upwards, sweat dribbling from her brow. The manifestation sported four appendages working as arms and legs. A head of nightmarish proportions jutted from the mammoth neck attached to its huge torso. The creature balanced itself upon mangled hooves of entwining tendons and muscle. The mawkish coloring of its body pulsated with red highlights of mottled tone. It reached toward Catherine and her burden with a rage never witnessed by anything human. Angelina stepped between the creature and Catherine without hesitation, her hands lying gently against her sides, knowing she could forestall the demon only a moment longer.
* * *
“No! Don’t drop your sword, brother,” Raphael screamed out, his eyes darting in frustration between Abaddon and the creature.
Abaddon had watched the unfolding drama in mesmerized fascination as first Catherine gripped the child with Angelina attending. When her touch expelled the demon Abaddon did not blink as the dwelling burst into dust around him. The Archangel of the Abyss grinned in admiration as Angelina stepped between the creature and Catherine. A ferocious growl issued from the depths of his throat so intense four legged curs howled a mile away. The demon arched a clawed hand toward Angelina which would have decapitated her. Abaddon dropped both sword and shield in his fury to reach the demon. His body smashed into the creature with a force so powerful the combatants catapulted a hundred yards beyond the splintered dwelling.
It was that vision Angelina glimpsed as Raphael rushed forward to take her burden. Angelina released Catherine and the child, only to run headlong toward Abaddon and the demon. Raphael called out to her, his voice carrying in the cool dawn air stridently. Angelina turned only momentarily. She waved at the beleaguered Raphael briefly before continuing on to the battle. Raphael cursed her as he gripped both Catherine and the child in his arms. His healing power coursed through him into both the child and Catherine. Raphael smiled ruefully at the rebellious Angelina, mouthing a plea for God to spare her ignorant life.
The demon howled in dreadful bliss as Abaddon bore him to the ground, narrowly missing a host of identical slum hovels surrounding the child’s abode. Demon claws raked Abaddon at frightening speed, leaving gory tracks down the Archangel’s face. Abaddon caught the demon’s wrist in one hand, breaking it in half as if it were a rotted twig. Howling in pain, the demon lurched away from Abaddon. The Archangel beckoned to the demon, his face aglow with completion. Every fiber in Abaddon’s body vibrated in anticipation.
Tendons and bones knit in the demon’s wrist, even as the furrows disappeared from Abaddon’s face, leaving only the layered soul scars. Angelina knelt not twenty yards from the battle, her hands clasped absently in front of her. She was pitched backwards to the ground as the demon and Archangel clashed like continental plates beneath the earth’s surface. She crawled with her arm upraised against the falling debris, trying to focus on the intricate template of death before her. Hours passed as moments until the air itself began to shimmer in protest. Angelina lay immobile, her body drawn up into a fetal position as she squinted out from her upraised arms at the cataclysmic movements.
The demon, its body dripping gore, screamed as yet another of Abaddon’s thunderous blows ripped upward into its ribcage. It looked around wildly for succor not forthcoming before noticing Angelina’s sprawled figure. Launching toward the helpless nun was the last act of Lucifer’s creation. Abaddon cried out, victory echoing from his throat like the bell on judgment day. He gripped the monstrous head with his massive hands, wrenching the creature’s head from its shoulders. Abaddon leapt from the demon’s back, black wings flapping in exaltation, his gore covered body throbbing in the excitement of the kill. He raised his arms up and his sword and shield whipped into his grasp in a blur of frantic power.
“Uh oh,” Raphael whispered, shielding Catherine and the crying child with his body.
* * *
“Who is next?” The Archangel of the Abyss challenged. “Come Lucifer with all your hallowed demons of darkness! Come, oh mighty cowards of shadows! Face me - all of you at once!”
Abaddon raised his right fist and lowered his head. The threads of reality became viewable to the naked eye as Lucifer’s form plunged into view. Abaddon bellowed in triumph. He reached Lucifer’s body instantly. Dropping his shield, Abaddon plucked the Lord of Hell from the earth in one shaking fist.
“Time to pay in the coin of the realm, Lucy,” Abaddon mocked the Lord of lost souls.
Abaddon flung Lucifer to the ground again, raising his glowing sword up slowly to strike the last blow of eternity.
“Mercy!” Lucifer screamed in anguish.
“No mercy this time, my brother,” Abaddon answered through gritted teeth.
Raphael closed his eyes. Angelina’s body shivered at Raphael’s psychic touch. “You must stop Abaddon, Sister. All of reality rests on you.”
Angelina lurched to her feet. She ran headlong toward the poised figures, Lucifer in supplication and Abaddon prolonging the blow to end all creation. Angelina ripped open her robes and straddled the body of Lucifer, her hands clasped in prayer. Abaddon paused in rage at the sight of Angelina. The nun threw aside the rest of her robes, opening her arms to Abaddon, her naked breast heaving.
“Sheathe thy justice in me, my Lord,” Angelina cried out, her eyes sparkling in anticipation. “I will quench the fire of thy righteous anger with my blood.”
* * *
Angelina knelt across the prone body of Lucifer, hands lowered, head bowed. Raphael, nearly a hundred yards away, shook his head in awe at the young nun’s act. Catherine grasped Raphael’s hand.
“Sister Angelina is formidable, Raphael.”
“She is indeed.” Raphael nodded, unable to look away from his still seething b
rother.
* * *
Abaddon lowered his arms, the seemingly unstoppable rage built within him, spilling out in a steady flow of desire. After a long moment Abaddon reached down and ripped the Lord of Lies from beneath Angelina’s off balance body. Abaddon shook the helpless Lucifer with disgust.
“You owe me pain, Lucy,” Abaddon said finally, flinging the devil as if he were a small rock toward the horizon.
Abaddon gathered Angelina in his arms, shield returned to its place at his back and sword sheathed. Angelina lay passively in Abaddon’s grasp, lightly touching his temple with the fingertips of her left hand.
“You have done what no other power on earth could, little sister.”
“You want me, my Lord.” Angelina leaned her head against Abaddon’s chest. “I am yours now and forever. I did what I had to do.”
ARCHANGEL Page 5