Rise From Darkness

by Ciara Knight

  Forras looked to Gremory as he left. “Bury her alive.”

  ****

  “We have to hurry.” Alexander handed the vial of Amethyst liquid to Boon as he exited the woods.

  A wave of fear and horror welled up inside him. He stumbled from the grief. “Something’s wrong.”

  Boon reached out to steady him.

  Maybe it was a wave of his powers returning as he left the cursed land behind him. He stood for a moment waiting for his head to clear.

  No. Something was wrong.

  “I feel it too. Alexander I think everyone’s in trouble back home. I can fly faster than you. I can take this to Grace and join you—”

  “Yes. Here take it. But when you’re done try to find Bruce. I think he’s in trouble too. I’ll help Gaby. Between all of us maybe we’ll have a chance.”

  “What did Herak do to you? Are you really Alexander Lorre?” Boon studied him with a wicked grin.

  “Yes. We’ll talk later. But for now, go my friend and save the woman you love.”

  Alexander felt a tinge of heat in his cheeks.

  Boon looked back at him, eyes wide. He accepted Alexander’s hand and smiled. “I take it you know.”

  “Yes. And I’m sorry. Now spread your Raven-like wings and fly as fast as you can.”

  “You’ve read too much Edgar Allen Poe.” Boon said as he pushed from the ground.

  Alexander took a deep breath and took off. His wings released from confinement with a sigh of relief. How did Herak live so long in that place?

  Boon was right. He could fly faster. There wasn’t a sign of him in the clear night air. Spreading his wings out farther Alexander hurried back home to find Gaby. The sight of her would bring such relief.

  The wind caressed his feathers as he flapped vigilantly through the few clouds he encountered. This was as close to Heaven he could get. For now.

  Crossing the ocean, land came in sight and he worked harder to bridge the gap between them.

  A flash tore through his mind.

  Dirt.

  Gasping.

  Gaby.

  His wings folded without warning as he plunged toward earth.

  The vision played over and over again. His heart pounded against his chest. The folded wings shook but wouldn’t extend. He gasped and fought to stay in the air but the solid lump in his chest was forcing him toward the ground.

  The same lump that had caused him to fall the night of the crash. The weight that kept him from flying for a year.

  No. He had to fly. Gaby was in trouble. Fighting to stay up he kicked and flailed his arms like a bird but still his wings were paralyzed with fear.

  It was too late. He smashed against the ground with the force of a meteor. Dirt and mud flung up all around him. Arms and legs were twisted beneath him. He couldn’t move as the ground shook beneath him. But it wasn’t the physical pain of the impact that kept him from moving. It was the weight in his chest.

  “Gaby.” The whisper barely left his lips and he tried to roll over. The dream he had was coming true and there was no way to stop it. No way to reach her in time.

  He felt each struggled breath she took. Her nails clawed the inside of a box. Screams and moans of terror filled his head. The sound of dirt hitting the box in a rhythmic pattern sent chills through his body. They were connected somehow. Dreams, feelings, and physical pain they experienced together.

  He rolled over onto his knees. There was nothing else he could do. Even if he could fly, there would be no way he could reach her in time. There was only one thing left to do. Let her go. Pray to God to take her quickly and painlessly.

  Doubled over he brought his muddied hands to his face and clasped them together. His body convulsed with the thought of never seeing her again. Never holding her in his arms. Forever separated by the two worlds. Still, he had to save her the only way he could.

  Alexander sobbed as he began. “Dear God.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Alexander looked up to Heaven and continued to pray. “Don’t let her suffer. Please take her home. I realize now that this was never in my hands. Only you can save her.

  There was no way to reach her and hold her as she passed. Short choking breaths echoed in his mind. He cried out breathless as his chest constricted. Death was at her door. The connection between them would soon be severed forever.

  “I would rather suffer for eternity than cause her further pain. P-please take her.” Collapsing to the ground, he continued to sob as he dug his hands into the mud.

  It wasn’t mud. Soft dirt ran through his fingers. He opened his eyes to see the sand, twisted limbs of old trees, grass, and moss of Florida. The distinctive smell of the Florida ocean breeze mixed with pine sent his heart soaring. Never had it looked so beautiful.

  The sand had been moved. It looked freshly packed beneath him.

  He’d used an old angel power to travel between spaces. The power must’ve been granted back to him. It wasn’t too late. He could save her.

  Sand exploded around him as he clawed the ground. “Hold on, Gaby. I’m here!”

  The vivid dream of the graveyard came back to him as he dug. This had been foretold to him in a dream.

  The sand spilled back in as he scraped it from the hole. There was only one choice. Concentrating all his energy, he punched down into the earth. His fingers stretched out in an attempt to feel something.

  Anything.

  Nothing but sand.

  “Gaby.”

  Two of his fingers raked across a rough hard edge. A root of a tree? A jolt of electricity raced through his body. Flexing his wrist, he grabbed hold and pulled. Still she remained trapped beneath the sand.

  He released his hold and ran his hand down. It was a box. A makeshift wooden coffin.

  His pulse hammered against his neck as he dug his other hand down gripping each side at one end. With his last ounce of energy, he yanked the box from the Earth.

  Ripping the lid off, he snatched her out into his arms.

  Sand cascaded from her face. Ropes bound her wrists. Hair gray from dirt, face white as the moon, but she breathed.

  “Gaby? I’m here my love. I’m here.” Brushing hair and sand away, he embraced her. “Thank God.” He whispered.

  He scanned her dirty clothes for wounds but found little blood. They’d bound her wrists and buried her alive.

  As his head lifted, their eyes connected for the first time. Hers had changed. Death danced across her pupils. Her eyes were black as night. She’d experienced the after-life. If just for a moment.

  She sat frozen in his arms. Pupils fixed. “Gaby.” He swept her face with butterfly kisses. The gritty taste of dirt and salt brushed his lips and tongue. “Please, be okay. I love you with every breath of my being.”

  He continued to stroke the coarse sand from her hair as he rocked. Pulling tighter he yelled into the night, “Death, release her! I command it!”

  Power surged through him. Pressing his lips to her forehead, he concentrated on the darkness. With every current of energy leaving his body, the darkness faded. Yet her eyes remained a black hole.

  “Listen to me.” Alexander took her face in his hands. Soft droplets of sweat fell from her hairline onto his skin. “Fight, Gaby. I can only do so much. You are stuck between two worlds, baby. Don’t let death win. Rise from the darkness and you will be in my arms once again or go home to Heaven. Just don’t stay with death.”

  Alexander continued to rock as they sat below the moss covered old oak trees. “I love you more than all the stars in the sky, but please, go home if you must.”

  A silver spark shone in the center of her eyes. “Yes, Gaby. Fight.”

  Silver spread from the center with a wave of blue behind. Almost the natural color of her eyes. Alexander’s heart pounded against his chest, tears smeared his vision.

  “A-Alex—” Gaby rasped.

  “Yes, baby. It’s me. I’m h—”

  Something grabbed Alexander from behind. He flew backwar
d across the sand and slammed against a tree. Gaby ripped from his arms and landed against a tree root.

  “Well, ain’t that touching?” Forras snarled. “You think you’ve put a wrench in my plans but don’t worry. There’s more to this show.”

  Forras raised an ashen deep-lined clawed hand overhead. Gremory and several other demons stepped out from behind the trees intermittently dispersed around the graveyard. Each one displayed a different menacing look, some with horns, and others with tails, but all full of evil.

  “I’m not sure how you got past them, but I’ve got you now.”

  Anger welled up at the sight of them. But Alexander stayed it. He bit his tongue sending a trickle of iron tasting liquid down the back of his throat. There wasn’t a chance he’d win a fight against all of them while protecting Gaby. Not even with his renewed powers. There had to be another way.

  The demons stepped closer as Forras ran his claw down Gaby’s jaw line. His four dark horns glistened in the moonlight, a set of two on each side of his head. Skin resembling old worn leather hovered over blood orange eyes. A beak nose hung over sharp extended fangs, peering from hard lips. Alexander choked down a rancid taste but remained calm.

  “What’s wrong? Alexander doesn’t want to play?”

  Forras pulled Gaby’s face to his and planted a kiss. Gaby squirmed under him.

  Unable to subdue himself any longer, Alexander leapt across several graves and slammed into the side of Forras.

  “That’s better. Now let’s have some fun.” Forras smirked.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Demons surrounded Alexander.

  “Stop!” Gaby screamed.

  Forras’ distinctive scent of rancid rotting fruit and bile intensified the drive to free herself. Coarse rope fibers scratched and cut into her skin as she tried to pull free. The more she scraped against the prickly tree bark, the more they loosened.

  Her skin itched and burned, rubbed raw from the ropes. Blood trickled from small cuts. But it wouldn’t stop her. Nothing would. She used her blood to lubricate her hands.

  The only chance any of them had was if she freed herself and reached the gun lodged in the back of Forras’ pants.

  Feverishly, she worked against the rope. Droplets of water dripped down her back and face. Sweat stung her eyes. She raised her shoulder and attempted to mop her face only to fail. She winced in pain.

  “Boon, Grace. If you’re out there you need to hurry before—” Her whispers were cut short as the demons closed in around Alexander.

  Forras led the pack. His four horns and large frame were something from nightmares. Gremory swished his long tail, extending it into the air like a whip. He forced Alexander back as he lassoed it in the air and snapped it down next to Alexander’s feet. The rattlesnake-like end hissed each time it hit the ground.

  Bile rose in her throat as bones cracked and skin stretched. Before her horrified tear-filled eyes, the rest of the pack transformed from human form to demonic creatures.

  Carson changed from a varsity jock to a monster with deadly, razor sharp spikes running down his spine and across his knuckles.

  Donn stalked around the other side. His two horns curved like a ram peaking from behind tree trunks.

  Still secured by the ropes, she was forced to watch from the sidelines. She heard Forras refer to the two demons she didn’t know as Berith and Nybis. Berith’s scarlet flesh and burgundy eyes flickered with orange light as if his skin was fire. Nybis, his dark slits that passed as eyes shone yellow, as he moved like a cat from tree to tree overhead, preventing Alexander from soaring to freedom.

  Nybis jumped to the tree directly over Alexander. Claws snapped from his hands ready to strike.

  Gaby searched for something, anything to help Alexander. She licked her dry lips, trying to think of a way to draw attention from Alexander to herself. “Why? Why do you want to torture and kill us?”

  Forras turned on her. “Did you enjoy the ride? I heard some of my blood seeped in. How does it feel to be half demon?”

  Gaby choked as the terror of the nightmare tried to resurge. “There’s nothing demon about me.”

  “You can lie to yourself, but I know you feel my blood in your veins, begging you to come to me. It lives off your fear and anger. Give yourself to it. Become powerful and control your own destiny. I’ve already marked you as mine.”

  Her skin crawled but there was something more. Different.

  Every sound and smell in the woods amplified. Scents of oranges from an orchard a mile away, pine and even the musty smell of old dead tree limbs mixed with bitter body odor and foul demon breath. A scratching noise caught her attention. She looked down to find a palmetto bug scurrying across a leaf. Distant bird squawks and dog barks startled her. Were these demon senses? Her demon senses?

  No. It couldn’t be. Her mother was an angel, father a hunter.

  “I’ll never join you. Never. So if that’s your plan you can untie me and let my father go.”

  “Sorry. He’s already dead.”

  Intense burning blanketed her skin. Something was changing. The smell of burned rope fibers filled the air. Looking down, she watched the ropes fall to the ground. She grasped a nearby tree and stumbled forward.

  Forras stood glaring at her in disbelief.

  She shuffled a few more feet, toward Alexander.

  Forras landed in front of her and grabbed her by the jaw.

  Hot blood pulsed through her body. Eyes closed, she visualized a warm turquoise light twinkle, then flicker near her heart. It expanded and twisted through her body until it burst forth, filling her with comfort. Eyes opened, the warm turquoise light shone bright, blinding her.

  Scared, yet exhilarated, her body shook. The light faded for a moment then surged forward again. Staring into Forras’ eyes, she released the light. Bolts of turquoise fire sprung from the center of her body escaping through her eyes and hands.

  Forras flew back, crashing into a gravestone.

  Alexander ran to her side.

  “Ahhhh! No!” Forras cried out holding his hand tight against him. “What have you done?”

  Smoke lingered carrying the scent of burned rubber and ash.

  He held up his transformed hand. Crusty dried up holes existed where three claws use to be. “I don’t know how you did it. But I’m going to tear you apart.”

  Alexander pushed her behind him.

  She spotted the gun a few feet away and dove for it.

  Lifting it, she shot Berith. He erupted into a fiery inferno then disintegrated into a puff of ash. Pulling the hammer back, she squeezed the trigger again. Nybis collapsed to the ground, screeching like a dying cat but still alive.

  Forras charged her, knocking Alexander to the side. She fired again. A clear shot to his heart. Nothing happened. She fired again. Still Forras remained upright, his clawless hands outstretched.

  He pulled a long branch from a nearby tree and slammed it against her side. She slid sideways along the ground. Blood filled her mouth and she spit it out.

  “I hoped you wouldn’t accept my offer. I have big plans for you.” Forras bent down, his nose almost touching hers, his foul breath polluted the air as he flashed his festering incisors.

  “When I go to Hell, you and your lover will be a special gift.” He gestured to Alexander struggling to his feet. Only to be held back by Carson and Gremory.

  “There’s no way they can deny my demands when I deliver not only an earthbound hunter, a fallen angel, but also a girl with a favored destiny. That’s right. I know Heaven is using you for some twisted purpose,” Forras spat as he said Heaven.

  “What are you talking about? You’ve gone mad.” Gaby struggled to stand.

  “Don’t even try.” Forras’ maimed hand clutched the branch tighter. “When I deliver you the prince will reward me with power. I just hope old Alex boy over here stays in Hell long enough to see you die before he’s jerked topside again.”

  Forras lifted the branch higher and swung with
vengeance. She closed her eyes and held up her arm in a last ditch effort to defend herself. Nothing struck her. Opening her eyes she discovered Forras had disappeared. Boon stood in front of her. His body reflecting the moonlight, as his wings merged with the dark shadows. A giant raven with a smile of hope.

  “Time for a fair fight,” Boon said, his tone filled with contempt.

  Forras jumped to his feet and lunged forward at Boon. Boon slammed a fist into Forras’ gut sending him flying back fifty feet to the ground. Forras spun around in surprise.

  “You? You would dare defy me?” Forras’ face morphed from stunned to enraged. “I will curse you for this. You will rot on this planet forever.”

  “Never.” Boon grabbed Forras.

  Alexander used the distraction to send Gremory and Carson flying back into the woods. He raced for Gaby until Forras broke free and slammed into his side.

  Forras signaled to Carson, Gremory and Donn hovering in the shadows. They burst forth and restrained Alexander again.

  Gremory snapped his tail hitting Alexander in the face. The snake’s slivering tongue sounded as if it slithered in her head.

  Donn rammed his horns into Alexander’s side as Carson struck Alexander’s face with his spiked knuckles, sending the fallen angel to the ground.

  They lifted Alexander off the ground and slammed him into a tree, splintering it into pieces.

  Boon tossed Forras into the air. The demon crashed onto a rock, smashing it to dust. Boon jumped on him only to be thrown to the other side of the graveyard. The more they fought the more strength Forras seemed to gain.

  Echoes of trees ripped from their roots to be used as weapons, or rocks smashing against one another filled the air.

  Gaby shut her eyes trying to force a vision of the immediate future. Nothing came. At a loud roar, her eyes opened. Boon was gone. He had disappeared.

  Forras’ grasped Alexander’s neck with his left hand, and raised the missing sword at Alexander’s throat.

  “When I run you through with the angel killer, your love will perish. Finally, justice will be done.” Forras smiled with sick pleasure.