by J Moon
The archangel simply gave a look that said I know. Now more than ever he needed answers. He needed to reconnect to his source of strength. With his battery waning, he needed to feel the spark of all life.
As Langston and Zora continued to panic around him. He walked out of the club without a word of goodbye, pulled open the doors of The Ark, climbed in and said, “Ascend.”
Gabe marched straight to Evelyn’s office, and she was waiting for him, door open. The look on her face stern and grave. There had been only three times he had seen that look on the Dominion’s face, which was the great rebellion, Jophiel’s death at the hands of Balthazar, and when the demons decimated the Anointed.
Gabe breathed out hard before he looked at her. “Did you see?”
Evelyn straightened herself. “Yes, I did.”
“It was Uriel, she stole the staff.”
Evelyn shook her head in disgust. “I don’t know what could possess her to do such a thing. Someone or something must’ve gotten to her.”
“She wanted to trade the staff for the black rune. Uriel wanted to get away, most likely from you. None of this is making any sense.” Gabe shouted. “Ev you know I don’t ask for much but there has been a lot you haven’t been telling me.” He took a dominant stance in front of her and balled his fist. He was angry. None of it made sense. “I need to know answers now.”
Evelyn edged closer to Gabriel. “She is one of the Anointed. We only found this out from the Thrones sitting up high. Her blessing has been hidden even from us.”
Gabe shook his head. “Well I’ll be damned.” He looked down and murmured to himself. “Ms. Carter I knew you were remarkable.” Gabe cast his steely gaze back at Evelyn. “So she’s one of the few left. That doesn’t explain why the demon needs her.”
“That’s the thing she’s not just an Anointed. She is a direct descendant of Moses.”
“They knew all along and told us nothing,” Gabe didn’t even try to conceal his scorn.
Evelyn shut him down quickly. “Watch your tone Gabriel.” She looked him over once and could tell he had spent too much time with the humans. He was sweaty, jittery, browbeaten and almost at his wit's end.
Of all the archangels Gabriel and Michael loved to spend the most time with the humans, and over the centuries she has allowed them, her favorites, some levity.
This time was different.
This mission and his time on the mortal plane had worn the spirit of the archangel. She could sense how tainted his essence was. For a moment she thought about pulling him, but deep down she knew there was no other archangel capable of finishing the mission.
Gabe snarled, “So the demons think they can use her to control the staff.”
Evelyn nodded in agreement, “Exactly.” Evelyn’s face was just outside the pool of warm yellow light cast by the ivory-shaded reading lamp on her desk, but Gabe knew the lined, higher ranking angel’s face was reflecting, in fluctuating degrees, the skepticism, irritation, and impatience she felt with him.
Gabriel paced. “But what for?”
“I don’t know Gabe but that staff is blessed and powerful. They could use her to enact any miracle, conjure any natural disaster, bring famine or disease across the world. Anything. It’s limitless.”
“I don’t understand,” Gabe started. “The staff was only supposed to be a conduit. A purposeless symbol of faith to the Creator. The Creator has the power, not the staff.”
“True but the staff was also a covenant with Moses. That the Creator’s wonder and power would be with him if needed.”
It all began to make sense to the archangel, “And since Nia is a descendant of Moses. The covenant is kept with her.”
“Bingo!”
Gabe shook his head, “No bueno.”
Evelyn leaned in closer to Gabe, until they were mere breaths apart. “I know one thing for certain. You must do everything in your power to retrieve that staff, or if need be you must eliminate the girl.”
Gabe’s lips moved to question her, but he already knew her response. The mission is imperative. If he can’t get the staff, then he would have to kill Nia. The archangel couldn’t accept this. It absolutely couldn’t happen.
He focused his thoughts instead to something greater. Though he knew he had to stick to his duty to protect mankind, he had to wistfully believe that through the strength of the Creator, he can complete this mission and save the girl.
Gabe paced again, snapping his fingers, forcing himself to concoct a strategy to bring this mission to an end. As he felt the light in his essence charge it began to come to him. Patiently, obstinately, refusing to be taken off of this mission, he began to lay out his agenda.
“First I’ll visit that abandoned factory on the outskirts of town. Legion has made a stronghold of it and I’m sure that’s where he’s keeping her. If not I’ll shake down that crooked snake Owney, his human liaison, it’s through him that he has been able to spread his power across town. Between the two I will find her and the staff. Once both are safe I’ll see to it that Uriel is brought to justice.”
Evelyn was pleased. “Very good.” Gabe was gaining his reassurance and was able to think logically without being plagued by the human emotions. She walked over to her desk, hands clasped, carefully considering Gabe’s plans. Just as Evelyn started to ask him a question, she looked over to see his chest heaving rapidly, as silver trickled down his nose. “Gabe what’s the matter with you?”
Gabe looked up at her and said, “I don’t know.” His feet became heavier and the archangel felt like he was being pulled and tugged.
Billowing up from where Gabe stood, was a cloud of smoke that quickly latched onto him, pulling his arms across his chest, as it squeezed. Lightning and thunder cracked as Evelyn’s office began to rumble. He looked down to his feet and he was sinking. Something was pulling the archangel down to Earth.
“Gabe?” Evelyn called. “Someone grab him! Gabe,” Evv cried again.
Suddenly the cloud became massive, it stretched out and filled Evelyn’s office. Once Gabe was fully concealed, it devoured the archangel, and snatched him down to Earth.
Chapter Thirty-One
The next thing Nia knew, she was being tossed to the ground hard like a rag doll, once she materialized mid-air. She tumbled to the floor. As the brief blur of teleportation faded, and Nia looked around to see pipes and heard the hiss and drip, it dawned upon her she was back in the Cola factory.
She looked up to the striker cyborg defiantly, “The archangel is going to whip your ass.”
In a calm passionless voice, the striker said. “He will do nothing. We have you and we have the staff. Operation Heaven Reign will proceed as planned.”
“Heaven Reign?” Nia parroted as the striker turned and locked her into the room.
The cyborg fell quiet; it only stared at her once she was sealed behind the bars. “Wait….what is Heaven Reign?” she asked again with a sense of dread filling her.
Nia ran to the cell and clung onto the bars as she slowly sunk into the depths of despair while watching the cyborg walk away.
Moments later Legion strutted smoothly into Nia’s cell and stood before her. “So very nice to see you again Nia. I told you it wouldn’t be long before we have you.” The demon paused and smiled. “And now you’re here.”
She was crouched on the far wall with her head buried in her arms. Once she saw Legion, she stood up. Nia studied her abductor intently. He appeared before her human, with perfectly parted auburn hair, piercing blue eyes, and a pompous expression. He looked like a rich gentleman. A man from old money. His accent was slightly British, it had an air refinement, and hint of malice. She hadn’t notice this much in their first encounter. As he stood before her, his demeanor was calm, almost too calm.
It was unsettling.
“Why do you need me?” Nia asked.
“Because you are an anomaly, Nia. An anomaly that’s required for this operation.” He said with his voice remaining cultured, soft, yet sinist
er.
“Huh? What does that mean?” Nia asked Legion.
Legion stood in front of her and said, “You are one of the anointed.”
Nia stood to her feet, because she was determined not to cower in fear to this demon. She clung on to the hope that the archangel would save her, and when he did, she knew it would be best if she had information to give him.
“What is Heaven Reign?”
Legion circled her. “Nia Carter will use the staff of Moses to open the gates of Heaven. The League will ascend and the Heavens will rain the bodies of annihilated angels. With all angels and agents of SMITE eliminated, the League will reign supreme over the Heavens.”
“Tuh,” Nia said at how ludicrous the plan was. “But what about the Creator? What if he just kicks you back out again?”
Legion looked down his long narrow nose at her, disdainfully. His gaze was bone chilling, and intensively analytic. “ We have intel that he no longer resides above. Besides he has already cast us out before, eons ago.
His word said we shall never return.
His word commanded life in his name.
Once his word is proved fallible he would be powerless. No more light and life. This world will return to what it was once before. An eternal void of darkness. We will control that.”
Nia didn’t like the sound of that. The image that followed the demon’s words held her speechless for a moment. She curled her lip. “I’m not doing that? There is no way you can convince me.”
Legion took an intimidating step in front of her. “You will do as told or be annihilated.”
Nia took a step towards Legion, to square off with the demon. Her sphinxlike statue, and haughtiness amused him. He grinned at such a boldness.
Nia poked her chest out. “Kill me then. I’m not going to be the one that allowed you to take over Heaven or Earth.”
Legion snarled before he moved, as swift as a lick of a flame, to seize Nia by the forearm. She pulled her arm back and he held it squarely within his ironclad grasp as he studied her. There was resiliency in her eyes. He knew her words were true and her resolve was unwavering. His nostrils lifted, as he gently, like an animal sniffed her fear in the air. With this scent, he could tell her soul was sweet yet strong. It needed to be broken. Legion slapped her hard across the face, and she fell to the concrete floor with a loud smack.
Suddenly the room became a blur to Nia.
Her cheek stung fiercely as if it had been burnt.
The demon squatted on his haunches as Nia touched her mouth. She looked at her fingers and saw blood on them, then she looked back at the demon. Her sight slightly fuzzy. It had been a while since the Brooklyn girl had been hit so hard. Still defiantly she cursed as she spat blood beside her.
“You think you’re so tough don’t you?” The demon asked as he cocked his head to the side. He stuck his nose in the air, and inhaled a big whiff. “All I smell is the stench of a rat, and all I see is a filthy rat in front of me. Bred from generations of poor and uneducated crumb snatchers, from the slums of New York.”
He stood and began to pace. “Let me guess your mother probably had you at a young age, she was a dumb girl fooling around with a broke and clueless boy. Maybe she spent her life working two or three jobs just to pay rent for a piss and shit of an apartment. What is your father? Is he a city bus driver? A janitor? No maybe a factory worker. Whatever it is I’m sure he comes home every day with the horrible stench of failure, working night and day plus overtime, only to be rewarded with crumbs, and when you were a little girl you probably wanted to get away from all of this didn’t you? You dreamed of going to college and getting a nice job like all the smart girls you saw on tv, but you didn’t quite make it, huh?”
He started to chuckle. “You will most likely end up just like your mother and father. Pregnant in no time, with no education, working night and day for crumbs. That stench that has been given to you would be passed to your children.”
Nia laid on the floor, trembling in silence. All of the demon’s words struck her like icy daggers, tearing at her heart. Then she realized that this was the demon’s greatest power, the fear and the destruction of one’s soul. She was hurt but she refused to let him win.
Instantly she thought of Pop, and how hard he worked day in and day out to provide for his family. The spirit of his silent strength became her resolve.
She wiped her jaw with the back of her hand.
Nia squared her jaw and said, “You can say all you want about me or even my family. You won’t win. I guarantee it.”
The smile on Legion’s face and his cold blue eyes twisted in genuine shock.
She had pissed him off.
With a flick of his wrist, a cable shot out his arm, and inserted itself into the back of Nia’s head. She rolled over to her knees as she felt a surging pain in the back of her neck.
Images of her life flashed through her head, like pictures, but they were memories. Nia could feel the demon inside her head. He was searching for something. Suddenly it stopped. Legion recoiled the cable in his arm. Silently in a blinding crack of white light, Legion vanished.
Nia leaned back against the wall. The stone was cold. Under other circumstances it might have been uncomfortable, but she didn’t care at the moment, she needed to center her thoughts.
Nia sat with her head almost buried between her knees as she stared at the concrete floor. This was an evil she had never seen and the whole situation was a level of crazy she’d yet to experience. A few minutes later, the demon came back with a man in his clutches. Something was hurled to the floor at her almost contemptuously.
“You will do as told or your father will be annihilated.”
Nia looked down to the floor and cried out. “Pops!”
With the life of her father now threatened, Nia knew she had little to no choice. Where in the hell is the archangel, she wondered to herself.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Zora and Langston were mostly quiet during their long walk back home. Langston looked over at Zora who already was on her third cigarette for the night. The look on his face said it all, he was worried. She looked back over to him, reflecting the same fear and concern. With his hands in his pockets he asked, “Do you think he will find her?”
Zora took a long pull from her cigarette and blew out hard. “I’m sure he will.”
Looking down at the sidewalk, he asked: “Zora what are we going to do?”
Zora looked over and became transfixed with Langston’s beauty, even in his sadness. His dark slick curls combed back effortlessly, and his innocent face that looked so pale and tired under the moonlight. She looked over and their eyes met. “Be ready when he needs us. We got to let everyone know what’s going on. If those monsters have that staff, there is no telling what kind of chaos is heading to Harlem.”
Langston nodded. “You're right.” Then he thought for a moment and followed up with, “But what will we tell everyone?”
Zora rolled her eyes to the Heavens as she shook her head. She flicked a bud on the ground. “I don’t know. Together we’ll think of something to get everyone out of town. You know me. If the whole world is going to hell...I ain’t weeping. I’ll be too busy sharpening my knife.”
A car motored past them, then quickly swirled on two wheels, coming to a screeching halt as it stopped. Three men got out and as they marched towards them, another car pulled up on their right. Zora looked over to Langston in horror. The men descended on the two of them quickly and pulled them into the cars.
Josephine was a bundle of nerves as she stomped back towards the Cotton Club. In the chaos and confusion of the shooting, she had been ushered out of the club. Gabe had ran out at a furious pace. She wanted to connect with the others to make sure everyone was all right.
“Jose are you crazy girl? Why are we going back after they done shot up the place? Do you want to get arrested?”
“I have to go back. I don’t know what happened to my friends.”
Ida folded he
r arms as she stood in front of Josephine, blocking her from walking further. With a roll of her neck she said. “Josephine Baker have you lost your ever-lasting mind?”
Josephine pointed her finger, “No I haven’t but I’m going to go upside yo’ head if you don’t get out of my way.”
Just as the words left her lips, a silver Rolls Royce Ghost skidded to a stop just to their left. All at once the trunk and front passenger door swung open.
Ida froze as two men pulled up behind them and got out the car. She tapped Josephine’s side as she stood almost paralyzed, glaring like a deer caught in the headlights. “Josephine do you know those men?”
“No,” Josephine mumbled. In only mere seconds, the men were upon them. Josephine batted her long eyes as they approached. Seduction had been the biggest weapon in the performer’s arsenal and it was a weapon that has kept her alive time and time again. “Can I help you fine gentlemen?”
Both men were quiet as they marched towards them. Already Josephine could sense what was coming but as she turned to run the other way, she ran right into the arms of a six foot hefty Shepherd.
A bear arm wrapped around Josephine’s stomach, and she bucked in his arms, trying to get herself free. Josephine learned from her days growing up in St. Louis how to fight. Kicking and screaming, she pummeled the face of the other operative, and Ida hopped on his back.
Somehow Josephine fought herself away free as her capturer’s right hand fell. The hand that was pulling her by her stomach was now up to her chest. Josephine saw this as her moment to fight down and dirty.
Josephine bit down hard on the man’s right hand, she didn’t stop until her teeth ripped through flesh and she tasted metal. He cursed loudly in pain as he let her go.
“Come on Ida let’s get out of here!” Josephine shouted as she reached for Ida’s hand.
Ida was swinging off the back of one of their attackers like a monkey. With brute strength, he straightened his back and sent Ida tumbling to the pavement. Once Ida hit the ground, she stopped moving.