by David Estes
Clifford’s aim was near-perfect, and when she reemerged in the valley the first person Taylor saw was Gabriel, who had just cut an enemy angel to the ground with his sword. “Go, now!” Clifford ordered, pushing her firmly from behind. Before she had a chance to respond, he was gone.
Taylor ran in a half-crouch towards the love of her life, hoping to avoid instant death by an angel blaster—dozens of orbs of light filled the sky. In her peripheral vision, she could see Chris and Kiren using their own fiery swords to deflect the deadly light rays, while fighting the nearest angels. They were outnumbered and their enemies were beginning to surround them. Taylor’s ability to get to Gabriel was their only hope.
When she got within ten yards, Taylor yelled, “Gabriel!” It was obvious that he heard her—his head perked up and there was a change in his fighting style, an urgency to swiftly defeat his current opponent. Gabriel pushed the angel back into a group of ten more attacking angels, momentarily throwing them off balance and allowing him to follow the sound of Taylor’s voice.
He whirled around and, in less than a second, had scooped her up and leapt into the air, wings fully extended and undulating, as they raced across the sky. “No!” Taylor cried. “You have to use me! I am the only hope!”
“I’m not going to lose you again,” Gabriel said firmly.
Taylor clutched his face with her hands, tilting his chin down, until his eyes met hers. She could almost feel the heat of the fire in her eyes. “Use me, Gabriel. You know you can. They will all die if you don’t. Let me do this.”
Upon hearing her words, Gabriel’s heart split in two. He had vowed he would never allow her to be hurt again, used again, but he also owed these angel spies, as well as the demons, his life. Taylor was his life, so putting her at risk was logically a fair payment if it was done for the greater good. And she had volunteered. She was doing it for him, for Samantha, for humanity. She was being brave…and he had to, too.
Abruptly, he stopped in midflight and accelerated back in the direction they had just come from. “Hold on!” he yelled, his voice rising above the sound of air rushing past them and the noisy fight below. Moments later, he landed next to a very surprised Christopher, who was fighting back to back with Kiren, who was standing overtop of Sampson, protectively. The demons were completely surrounded now, and on the verge of being taken hostage, at best, and being killed, at worst.
Ignoring the battle around them, Gabriel ordered, “You all need to teleport out of here immediately. Get the rest of the demons at the gate to do the same. Once we’ve cleared the field, teleport back out with some of your friends and grab the prisoners.”
Chris looked at him like he was crazy, but, while blocking jabs from an enemy angel, said, “Consider it done.”
After getting confirmation from Chris, Gabriel shot back into the air and out of the melee, trusting his demon friend to handle the rest. He soared for the empty center of the battlefield; thus far, the entire fight had taken place at either end of the valley. He knew they had to work fast and were relying heavily on Chris to get everyone out of harm’s way. Dionysus would quickly realize what was happening and would either order a retreat, or send the full cavalry to kill Gabriel and Taylor.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chris wondered how Gabriel planned to clear the field, as he had put it. He also wondered how in the hell Taylor had ended up on the battlefield and why Gabriel had not flown her to safety yet. However, with the world collapsing upon them, he had no choice but to trust Gabriel’s judgment.
While Chris was thinking about his encounter with Gabriel, Kiren yelled to him. “I’ll take care of Sampson, you worry about the Elders,” she said, while holding off two angel attackers with her short, fiery daggers. She touched a foot to Sampson’s unconscious body and vanished, along with him; she likely took him directly to the Lair’s medical center.
Chris performed a dangerous, short-distance teleport to get closer to the five demon Elders, who were fighting at least a dozen angels. Teleporting at such close range was risky, because it gave less time for him to change his trajectory if he was going to miss his target landing spot. In a worst-case scenario, one could accidentally teleport into the same space being occupied by someone else, thus intermingling body parts with each other, like Siamese twins. Chris, however, had performed such maneuvers countless times in battle, and was able to appear within a few feet of the nearest Elder without incident.
He yelled, “We all need to teleport out now!”
The nearest Elder asked, “But what about the mission?”
“We’ve done our part, the rest is in Gabriel’s hands,” Chris said.
“Okay, let’s do it. Move now!” the Elder commanded. Like a light bulb that unexpectedly burned out, all six demons disappeared, their enemies left swinging bright swords at the empty air.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Dionysus was enjoying this very much. Through the impenetrable, one-way Command Center glass viewing booth, he was able to use his super-human angel eyes and ears to watch and listen to the reactions of his enemies in their cliff cave. He saw and heard every moment: he witnessed the dead angel’s crash landing, heard Sampson’s miserable plea, and watched their horrified faces when he made his announcement about executing the filthy angel spies.
It was a rare opportunity indeed to see the head of the Demon Elders in such a precarious position, but of everything, he most enjoyed the verbal sparring of Taylor and Gabriel when she agreed to give herself back to the angels. He certainly never expected the demons to give Taylor back that easily, but for just a moment, he thought they might do just that. Instead, Clifford did exactly what he expected them to: He sent Gabriel and his friends to try to free the prisoners. Now they were about to be crushed in a perfectly laid trap.
Once Gabriel was his prisoner again, Dionysus was confident he could convince Taylor to turn herself in. If there was one thing that Dionysus had learned over the years, it was that love was a powerful force. And he was more than willing to exploit its power whenever possible.
He focused his attention back on the battle, and he watched Gabriel break away from the demons towards the angel prisoners. As instructed, the angel guardsmen allowed him to reach the captives unobstructed. Now was the time. “Initiate the trap,” he commanded.
Commander Lewis, his second-in-command, radioed in the order and then they watched as the real fun began. Dionysus was impressed with Gabriel’s hand-to-hand fighting ability and he allowed himself to reminisce about how different things might have been had Gabriel not been turned by the demons. Ahh, the power of love, he reminded himself. Oh well, he could still find a use for Gabriel, he thought.
The tide was slowly turning and he knew Gabriel would be captured soon. That’s when something completely unexpected happened. Two new forms appeared on the battlefield, one disappearing again almost immediately. Even without his super-sight, Dionysus knew instantly who it was: the girl.
It was almost too good to be true, and because of this, Dionysus, usually quick to act, was mesmerized for a minute as he watched Taylor run to Gabriel. The Head of the Archangel Council snapped out of his trance when he saw Gabriel lift her off the ground and race back towards safety. Damn, he thought. It was too late.
Just as he was about to order some of his attackers to chase after Gabriel, he saw him turn around and fly straight for the heart of the battle. “What is he doing?” Dionysus hissed under his breath.
He was speaking to himself, but Lewis heard him and asked, “Who, sir?”
Dionysus looked at the Commander sharply, startled by his question. He locked stares with him. “The target of this entire mission, who do you think?” he reprimanded angrily.
“Oh,” was all Lewis was able to mumble, clearly taken aback by the fierceness of the rebuke.
Lewis walked away, jabbering into his radio about capturing Gabriel before he could escape again. Dionysus watched him for a second and then, turning his attention back to the fracas, he s
aw Gabriel land next to the two young demons and say something to them. He couldn’t make out what was said, probably because Gabriel was using his powers to block any eavesdroppers. The kid was smart, he had to give him that.
When Gabriel sprang back into the air with the girl, Dionysus could hear Lewis shouting orders into the radio, instructing all available personnel to chase him. There was nothing he could do but watch.
To his surprise, the demons teleported away from the fight just as Gabriel landed in the middle of the battlefield. Something wasn’t right. Then it dawned on him: Gabriel was going to use the girl against him. With Commander Lewis still yelling various attack commands into the radio, Dionysus frantically charged towards him, tackling him to the ground. He wrenched the radio from his hands, pressed the talk button, and ordered, “All units retreat. Imminent threat detected. Retreat!”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Taylor craned her neck to try to see what was happening in the battle at the angel gates, but could only see flashes of light and swarming bodies. With his angel-vision, however, Gabriel was watching intently, waiting for the right moment.
He spoke quickly. “Okay, Chris and the rest of them are out. I’m going to try to shoot high enough to avoid the angel prisoners, but low enough to destroy the angel army. I’ll try to be gentle, but brace yourself anyway,” he instructed.
Taylor sat down and pulled her knees to her chest and then wrapped her arms around her legs. Satisfied that she was in a safe position, Gabriel lifted a couple of feet off of the ground, using his wings to hover in midair. He pointed an arm towards Taylor’s balled-up body. Immediately, she felt the tingling sensation that she had experienced when he had first connected with her aura back at the University of Trinton. It was a completely different experience than when the angel snipers had nearly sucked the life out of her just a few weeks earlier. This time, in stark contrast to the agony she had experienced—it had felt like her soul was being ripped from her body and with it, each of her internal organs—this was a pleasant feeling. She couldn’t help but laugh, as the feeling was like being tickled with a feather under her feet. Her body glowed softly, along with her nine rings, her ankle tattoo, and presumably the snake tattoo on her shoulder, until she looked more like an angel than a human. The glowing became brighter and brighter until she was forced to close her eyes.
Gabriel extended his other arm towards the now-confused angels that had tried to trap him and his friends while attempting their daring rescue. Just as he was about to fire the weapon, about half of the hundred or so angels burst upwards into the air upon receiving an order from the Command Center. Likely the order was to Retreat! or Get the hell out of there! as Dionysus realized what was happening. The other fifty angels were not as quick, or lucky.
From Gabriel’s hand, a wide pillar of light swarmed across the battlefield and into the dozens of stunned, earth-bound angels, instantly vaporizing them. As planned, Gabriel managed to generate the base of the light-pillar a few feet above the ground, which he hoped would spare the lives of the weakened angel spies, who, in their current state, were unable to get to their feet. Gabriel watched cautiously as the angels who had managed to avoid instant death flew directly back to the mountain, in full retreat. His gaze lingered on the retreating angels for a few seconds longer to ensure they didn’t try to double back, and then Gabriel rotated 180-degrees to take stock of the battle at the demon gates.
Where’s the battle? was his initial reaction, but then, realizing that Chris had once again fulfilled his role by getting all of the demons to teleport out of harm’s way, Gabriel fired the weapon once more, this time higher, into a flock of ascending angels. They had clearly also received the order to retreat and were caught in midflight while trying to escape. The angled light-beam cut down scores of enemies before fading away, leaving the night sky empty in its aftermath.
There were still hundreds of angels taking flight, but they had managed to spread out sufficiently to decrease the effectiveness of the weapon being used against them. Gabriel randomly charged and fired the weapon two or three more times, eliminating a few dozen more enemies, and then he followed the survivors with his eyes until they had been absorbed back into the mountain.
He waved his arm once in the direction of the Lair, signaling Chris to start the rescue operation. Rapidly, his concern switched back to Taylor, who had fallen over and was lying in the fetal position. Thinking she was injured, he rushed to her side and gently brushed her hair from her face. When she opened her eyes, he asked, “Are you hurt?”
The warmth of her smile filled his heart with relief. “That was incredible,” she said. If he didn’t know better, he would almost think that she was talking about another part of their relationship. Curious to talk to his girlfriend about what she was feeling, but wanting to get to safety as soon as possible, he gently lifted her body in his arms and soared into the air. As they rose, the bright floodlights were extinguished by some unknown angel technician, once more restoring the night to its natural state of darkness.
Gabriel looked back once and could still see twenty-six softly glowing forms, evidence that the angels spies were still there where he had left them. As he watched, however, the lights began to disappear in bunches, until there were none left. Mission complete, Gabriel thought.
Looking back at Taylor’s still-smiling face, he said, “We did it.”
She replied, “I couldn’t be happier. We make a great team.”
Under the light from the soft glow of his natural skin, Taylor looked even more stunning than usual. Her face radiated love and he knew that his own face reflected back the same love. Unable to hold in his curiosity any longer, he asked, “Why does it make you happy when I use your aura, but cause you so much pain when another angel does?”
They reached the cliff cave where they had started the evening; it was now deserted, as Clifford had likely teleported back into the Lair to monitor the aftermath of their unexpected mission. He had taken Samantha with him.
Gabriel lowered Taylor’s feet to the ground and put his arms around her waist, searching her eyes for the answer. Her arms remained around his neck, clinging to him. “You don’t know?” she replied. “Couldn’t you feel it?”
Gabriel tried to remember what it felt like to connect with her aura. In the heat of the battle he was more focused on strategy: hitting his enemies, protecting the prisoners, etc. He hadn’t been very in-tune with his feelings. But now, as he looked into the beautiful brown eyes of this intriguing and fearless girl, his feelings came rushing back to him: warmth, love, mercy, happiness, satisfaction. It was a smorgasbord of the best feelings that life had to offer and he, like Taylor, immediately knew the answer to his question.
“Because you are my soul mate,” he replied, answering his own question.
She smiled. “Exactly, and you are mine. My lommel.”
Gabriel sighed, kissing her deeply. When they pulled away, he said responsibly, “I guess we should get back inside to debrief the mission.”
“I don’t think they’ll miss us just yet. I think we’ve earned a little alone time,” Taylor said, pulling his shirt off. She tugged him to the cave floor.
He couldn’t argue with that. “Lommel…,” he said softly, wrapping his arms around her.
PART III
“To all my friends, present, past and beyond
Especially those who weren't with us too long
Life is the most precious thing you can lose
While you were here the fun was never ending
Laugh a minute was only beginning
Ever get the feeling you can't go on
Just remember whose side it is that you're on
You've got friends with you till the end
If you're ever in a tough situation
We'll be there with no hesitation
Brotherhood's our rule we cannot bend
When you're feeling too close to the bottom
You know who it is you can count on
Someone will pick you up again
We can conquer anything together
All of us are bonded forever
If I die you die that's the way it is”
Pennywise- “Bro Hymn”
From the album Pennywise (1991)
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Seething fury rippled under his seemingly calm exterior. A raging fire tore through his bones, burning into the very marrow of his being. How many lives did Gabriel have? He didn’t care that a few of his angels had been killed—they were replaceable. What really pissed him off was that his weapon had been used against him. The demons had dangled the ultimate prize right in front of his face, like a matador waving a red flag at a snarling bull, and then whisked it away, leaving him as the foolish, snorting bull.
Stay calm, he thought.
Dionysus sat cross-legged on a mat, in a bright, empty room. He was meditating, trying to channel his anger and frustration in a positive direction. So far it wasn’t working. The anger relentlessly boiled up, dangerously close to overflowing. He took a deep breath. Under his breath he repeated, “Anger is wasted energy,” over and over again until his wrath had subsided. All he needed was a new plan. Something to focus his energy on. Something to rally his troops behind.
How do you draw a rabbit out of a hole? He, of course, knew the answer to this foolishly simple question: bait. But he had already tried using the angel prisoners as bait and, while the result was not as he had hoped, he still believed the strategy to be sound. He just needed more concentrated bait. But who? The answer popped into his head rapidly, probably a result of the intense level of focus that meditation gave to him. He smiled evilly, sprang to his feet, and rushed out of the room. A day and a half had passed since the New Year’s Eve massacre and he knew that the Council was growing restless. It was time to call a meeting.