Evenstar

by Darcy Town

  Paimon laughed and looked at Furcas from the corner of his eye. “You’re so high maintenance.”

  Furcas managed a smile. “I’m not always.”

  “Yes, you are. Don’t lie.”

  Furcas rested his chin on Paimon’s shoulder. “Okay, it’s true.”

  Paimon jumped across a dry streambed. “And anyways, you’re not ugly.”

  “I am ruined.”

  “Scars are coming back in. You’re a trendsetter.”

  Furcas closed his eye. “I like this side of you. What is it called? Nice?”

  Paimon snorted. “Well, what do you expect of me? You are finally are out camping with me!”

  “I detest camping. I’d rather die.”

  Paimon’s expression turned stony. “Don’t talk about dying.” He stared at the forest around them as the sky lightened. “I thought you were dead, you fucking shit.” He blinked back tears. “You went in there without me.”

  Furcas tried to shrug. “Didn’t have a choice. You would have done the same if you could have.”

  Paimon glared at the trees. “No, I wouldn’t have. That’s the difference between you and me.”

  Furcas’ voice got quiet as his energy ran out, “You knew the danger when I bonded with her.”

  “I didn’t expect it would happen.”

  Furcas rolled his eye. “Now who’s the idiot?”

  “Shut up, gimpy.”

  “Fuckwad.”

  Paimon grinned. “Cripple.”

  Furcas bit his neck. “Bitch.”

  Paimon smiled. “Oh, this is going to be fun.” He hummed.

  Furcas held on to Paimon’s neck. “I can choke you with one hand, just keep that in mind.” He opened his eye wide and stared at the forest around them. “How long was I out?”

  “Hours.”

  “What happened?”

  Paimon puffed his chest out. “I saved the day.”

  Furcas smiled. “Of course you did.”

  “I did!” He glanced back at Furcas. “You helped, so I guess you can have some credit too. You saved enough time for Andy to get in and get her out.”

  Furcas frowned. “Andy? I don’t remember that.”

  “No shit, you were being Uriel’s science experiment at the time.” Paimon’s cheeks flushed. He shook his head. “Helion got Andy inside the shield. I got in right after with Dahlia’s pendant and started wailing on the Archangels. Like the Hulk. I ruined Uriel’s face for you.”

  “Uriel? Michael was the one that did it.”

  Paimon shuddered. “Uriel hurt you, and he enjoyed it. I don’t care what Berith says, Uriel is mine to kill.”

  “I think Belial will fight you for that right.”

  Paimon smirked. “Well I’ll watch then.”

  “So what now?”

  “We’re still on plan.” He gestured towards the woods. “Heading south.”

  “Paimon.” Furcas sighed. “I’m dying.”

  Paimon flinched. “What did I say not a minute ago?”

  “Not to talk about dying.”

  “Good.”

  “But I am.” Furcas clapped his hand over Paimon’s mouth. “I know you remember what happened when Lucifer was impaled last time.”

  Paimon bit Furcas’ hand. “He didn’t die. That’s what I remember.”

  “But he was dying and would have without aid. My wound is far worse.”

  “He also gave up. You’re not going to give up. You have something to live for…hopefully more than one something.”

  Furcas sagged. “Did have, but my face is screwed. My chest and stomach are terrible. I can’t even handle knowing how bad they are. Oh and half of my left arm is missing. And let’s remember that you’re the only doctor I have out here. I am so fucked.”

  Paimon stomped through the undergrowth. “You are such a dick.”

  “I still have one of those don’t I?”

  Paimon smirked. “I hope so. Otherwise I am dumping you here and now.”

  Furcas laughed and cringed as he bled through his stitches. “Your sewing is atrocious; I don’t even need to see it to know.”

  “Sorry I was more worried about your life than your face.” He squeezed Furcas’ hand. “I’ll…I’ll redo it later or something.”

  “Apology accepted.” Furcas closed his working eye. Paimon hummed. Furcas smiled and passed into an unconscious, dreamless state.

  ***

  Raphael touched Uriel’s face and his wounds healed. He dropped his hands and backed away from the tall Archangel. Uriel grunted at him and looked to Michael and Gabriel.

  Gabriel tossed around the hairpin that Michael had pulled out of his eye. He stabbed it into his own hand; it would not pierce him. “Try it again.”

  Michael stabbed himself; the pin would not go into his hand. He glared at the metal. “When she had it, the damn thing went straight into my fucking eye.”

  Gabriel looked at the pin thoughtfully. He scratched his fingers through his auburn hair. “Maybe it is not the pin, but the wielder?”

  Michael shook his head. “Ladriam had no memories, no gifts and certainly no wings, but there was this pendant she wore. Maybe that necklace is the counter to your pendants.”

  Gabriel shrugged and sat down on the ground. “Possible. It would not be surprising that we would think in the same vein. If that is the case, I will need to develop mine further to counter for theirs.” He stared off into space. “That will take some time. Without their version I do not know what I am dealing with.”

  Uriel fumed. “We do not have time for this! They are scattering, it could take lifetimes to find them now!”

  Gabriel looked bored. “What about Helion?”

  Barachiel shook his head. “He has dropped off of the register. He is gone, Fallen, lost his wings.”

  Gabriel nodded. “Well that is easy then.”

  Uriel paced. “Just say it.”

  “A lamin.” Gabriel stared at his feet.

  Barachiel nodded. “Helion will capture her for us and whoever else he is with.”

  Michael grinned. “How fast can you make it?”

  Gabriel looked at Barachiel. “You still have his seal and sigil in the register?”

  “Of course.”

  “Not long at all.”

  Uriel made a face. “Can you make the lamin so that we do not have to use a human interface? The human wielders ended up handing Lucifer every one of the other lamins!”

  Gabriel gave him a blank look. “It is a physical object that works on a physical creature in the physical realm. Explain to me how we can use it and I will do it.”

  Uriel glared at him and walked away.

  Michael swung his spear, causing them to duck. “Once the lamin is complete, give it to me. I will send it down.”

  Selaphiel stalked over. “So what are you going to have Helion do? You cannot kill Ladriam or we start this all over again. You said that Helion was not even with her when you left.”

  “He is following her with one of her human friends. We could use the girl as a hostage.”

  Selaphiel frowned. “Why do you not leave the human out of this? Just have Helion grab Ladriam and run.”

  Barachiel frowned. “Run? From Andrealphus?”

  Selaphiel’s mouth formed an O. “Forgot about that.”

  Raphael spoke softly, “They planned ahead and knew you would come. Of course they would give her to Andrealphus. None of us can catch him, no one can.”

  Michael got in Raphael’s face. “Any other tidbits of information you want to share since you seem to have so much insight?”

  Raphael stared at the floor and shut his mouth.

  Michael turned to Gabriel. “Forge it. I will deliver it. For now, we will get Helion to kill Andrealphus, grab Ladriam, and turn her over to the Solomon Soldiers. They can hold her until you.” He pointed at Gabriel. “Figure out how to get around this new pendant of theirs.”

  Selaphiel looked towards the throne. “What does He think?”

 
; Michael tossed his spear from hand to hand. “He has remained silent, so we go forward.”

  “I go to pray.” Selaphiel grabbed Jegudiel by the arm and pulled his brother away.

  Uriel watched them go. “Soft and stupid.” He looked at Raphael. “Worthless.” He saluted Michael. “I will increase patrols. If any of the Fallen use their gifts they will be spotted.” He looked at Gabriel. “I want more of those pendants. Regardless of their supposed counter measures, they were effective.”

  ***

  Dahlia rode on Andy’s shoulders as they hiked through rugged terrain. The sun hung in the sky directly overhead and would have beat down if not for the billowing clouds that painted the sky white. They ran into no one and heard no noise of human origin. They had spent the last few hours going over the more colorful bits of his history.

  Dahlia tried to digest all that she’d heard. “So she’s Ishtar?”

  “Yeah.”

  She mulled that over. “But Belial doesn’t have anything to do with sex. Isn’t Ishtar a sex goddess?”

  Andy shrugged. “We took some liberties on the descriptions. Everyone likes sex, so it made sense at the time.”

  “Who wrote the stories down, you?”

  “I wrote a few, others we had commissioned. Paimon wrote some, but his tend to be really fucked. He likes leaving weird things for humans to find, it’s sort of his personal game against the human race.”

  “Patience did always laugh during our ancient history unit, but so did Faith actually.” Dahlia stared at the unending forest around them. “Andy, how do you know where we’re going?”

  “Good memory.”

  Helion dive-bombed them. Whitney laughed and threw pinecones at the pair on the ground. “Got you!”

  Dahlia covered her head. “Stop it already! Seriously, how many times can that be fun?”

  Helion and Whitney laughed and soared up into the sky.

  Dahlia smiled. “Glad they’re having a good time.”

  Andy shaded his eyes as the sun broke through the clouds. “He needs it.”

  Dahlia watched Whitney. “She accepted him real fast.”

  “How could you not, he’s completely harmless. Besides, she’s partially Lilliam, it feels good to be around us.”

  Dahlia looked into the sky. “Huh.”

  Helion flew in corkscrews. Whitney shouted something down at them, but they were too high up for Dahlia and Andy to hear.

  Dahlia’s stomach grumbled. She rubbed her belly. “I should have eaten more last night.”

  Andy looked up at her. “I’ll find you something it eat. Sorry, I forgot.” He lifted her off his shoulders and set her down.

  Helion and Whitney noticed and they dropped to the ground. Helion looked around. “What is wrong?”

  “Nothing.” Andy smiled. “They’re yours to guard. I’m getting food.” He turned east and ran, becoming a blur.

  Helion smiled and hopped from foot to foot. “Want to fly, Dahlia?”

  Dahlia grinned. “Only if your lover says yes.”

  Whitney blushed. “Who says that’s what we are?”

  Dahlia laughed. “I was running through last night’s events and I distinctly remember coming downstairs to find Helion in just his boxers and you in his shirt and pants, which you’re still wearing. I think I can guess what you were doing.”

  Helion went red too. “It’s not our fault. You and Lucifer were doing the same.”

  Dahlia looked at him. “So?”

  Helion wrapped his wings around his chest. “Things happen when you two are intimate. We weren’t given fair warning.”

  Dahlia laughed. “We have to send out a warning prior to fooling around?”

  Helion nodded, dead serious. “Yes.”

  Dahlia frowned. “Why?”

  “When you two get close things change. You influence the environment around you.”

  “Like what.”

  Helion’s brow wrinkled as he thought of examples. “How do you think life was created?”

  Dahlia looked at the grass under her feet. “Evolution?”

  Andy jumped into the clearing. “Lunch!” He handed Whitney and Dahlia two plates of pancakes, silverware, and a mug of coffee each. He looked at everyone’s expression. “What?”

  Dahlia sat down and set her plate on a stump. “Helion just implied that I created life on this planet and it’s because Lucifer and I had sex.”

  Andy nodded. “So?”

  Dahlia stuffed a pancake in her mouth. “So? Can you do that?”

  “Doubtful, but I wouldn’t know, never had the pleasure.” Andy sat on a log beside her. “You and Lucifer do create things when you get intimate. I’m guessing you didn’t go all the way last night because I think we would have seen more than just turtles and a white forest.”

  Dahlia went red. “How does everyone know what we may or may not have done last night?”

  Andy grinned. “I don’t think you quite get what you are and the influence you have on everything around you.”

  “Yeah, okay.” Dahlia sighed. “So what’s the threshold? When do we reach the danger zone?”

  Andy pulled out a can of pop from his pocket. He tossed one at Helion. He cracked his open. “You start making stuff change when you kiss.”

  Dahlia pointed at him. “I knew there was something weird! Those flowers in the field and I saw these weird moths one time. I made those?”

  Andy nodded. “Making out increases the radius and intensity. Sex, partial or otherwise, and you start making big changes and affecting a larger area. To put it in perspective, the first time Lucifer and you fooled around you populated the entire planet with flora. The second time you created fauna. The third time sentient creatures, the Lilliam.” Andy grinned. “I should have brought you a cigar for this. Dahlia, you’re a mommy!”

  “I—what?”

  “You’re a mom. You have millions of family members now! Isn’t that cool?”

  Dahlia held her stomach. “I gave birth to millions of something?”

  Andy laughed. “No, you were all old school and things just popped into existence. This whole pregnancy nonsense started with the fourth generation Lilliam. I wonder if you’d get pregnant this time though since you’re a human now.” He mulled it over. “You didn’t last time; you two just did your thing and you created eight kids, if you can even call them kids really. They’re more like energy forces. Ra was light; Gaea is life itself, four elements, that kind of thing.”

  Whitney raised her hand. “I’ve heard those names before, I know I have.”

  Dahlia nodded with her.

  Andy grinned. “Well yeah, what do you think they were doing, napping? They’re gods as far as any mortal creature is concerned and they acted like gods.”

  “So that’s what the Lilliam are, my eight kids?”

  He shook his head. “More than that. They went on to have their own creations, divisions of themselves. Apple for example is fourth generation. Her great grandmother is Gaea, making her great, great grandfather Lucifer and making you her great, great grandmother.”

  Dahlia rubbed her temples. “Right, Apple is my great, great granddaughter.”

  “Yep.” Andy grinned and rubbed her shoulders. “Apple’s parents’ generation was the first to remain in the flesh all the time. There was a lot of spontaneous creature creation, I guess they got bored or something. Anyways, they’re all long lived and you can pretty much find them anywhere on the planet including under the water and in the air.” He looked at the sky. “You know all those fairy tales you read as a kid?”

  Dahlia put her head in her hands. “Andy, time to shut up.”

  He punched her arm lightly. “Mommy angry?”

  Helion hugged her. “Congratulations, Dahlia!”

  Dahlia grimaced. “Helion, if I knew you weren’t such a dolt, I’d think you were being sarcastic.” Helion frowned and Dahlia hugged him. “I’m kidding. Thanks.” She looked at Whitney. “What no hugs?”

  Whitney cut up her pan
cake. “I’m just sucking this all in frankly. I don’t understand nearly half of what you’re talking about. I never went to church and angels are something that my grandma has on needlepoint with pithy phrases like ‘bless this house.’ Helion, come here.”

  Whitney gave him half of her pancakes. He grinned and stabbed at his. She watched him eat and shook her head. “My boyfriend’s an angel, that’s pretty much the level of acceptance I’m at right now.”

  Dahlia finished her breakfast off. “Does this mean that Whitney’s like, my granddaughter times a billion?”

  Andy smiled. “Yes, but not on the human side.”

  Dahlia and Whitney shared an incredulous look. Andy opened another pop. “Humans weren’t created by you and Lucifer. Gabriel and Michael created humans. As Fallen, we have a duty to exterminate them. No offense you two, but we’ve killed more humans than I can even remember.”

  Dahlia and Whitney went quiet. Andy put his arm around Dahlia. “We were a little shocked when you turned up reborn into a human, but it was a great hiding place.”

  Whitney leaned on Helion. “Why do you kill humans?”

  “Humans were created with the sole purpose of destroying the planet and Dahlia’s babies. They consume, they kill, they use and pollute. They are hardwired to act this way. If left on their own, with nothing to kill, they turn on each other and would eventually off themselves. The impulse to war is in a human’s basic design. What’s worse is that they can be completely decent people, and then their kill button is switched on and they turn on you.”

  He looked at the sky. “It’s our fault they were even allowed to breed and disperse. We weren’t sure what they were at first. It was only when the angels turned them on and they started wiping out entire colonies of Lilliam that we realized we had a problem. But by then they’d moved, bred, and developed the weapons that Gabriel and Michael gave them. They created entire cultures and religions devoted to wiping Lilliam out. So we fought back, we slaughtered them and razed their cities. But, and this is my crowning achievement, we started to fight back with ideas too.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like our own religions, the truth, not the stuff the angels were feeding them. Paimon figured out that if we got humans on our side and they interbred with Lilliam, we could turn off all the bad stuff.” Andy took Dahlia’s hand. “You were our moon goddess, our green mother. Lucifer was Ouranos, he was the horned god.”