Evenstar

by Darcy Town

Uriel tucked it into his breastplate. He smiled and threw himself at her. Belial jumped into the air and flipped over him. She whipped her bladed hair around scoring his armor, ripping at loose pieces. He grabbed for her hair, but she was away before he could catch her. He checked his pendant, still in place.

  Belial leapt at him, kicked him in the ear, and flipped off. He groped for her ankle. She grinned, grabbed his arm, and kicked him in the side of head as she swung around. “Brothers are so alike!” She reached for the pendant, but jumped away as he swiped at her. She flipped back to the pitcher’s mound.

  Uriel grimaced and faced her. “I am nothing like Berith.”

  “You’re right, he’s better. He can actually catch me.”

  Uriel charged. Belial dove at his feet, tripping him. She jumped on his back and clawed at his neck. He caught her by her hair and threw her out towards the grassy field.

  Belial landed on her feet. “You’re too slow, Uriel. That armor you so love is cumbersome! Why don’t you take it off for me?”

  Uriel looked her over and stood his ground. “I have caught you before, Belial. I can do so again, and this time everyone will see you beg.”

  Belial’s body went rigid. A mirthless smile split her face. “It is my turn, Uriel. Mine.” She ripped her finger blades off and sent them flying at the Archangel as she rushed him.

  Uriel ducked as she jumped. He reached up for her foot and caught it. He wrenched her leg, dislocating her knee with a pop. Belial twisted herself out of his grasp and jumped away, landing with a stumble. She pushed her knee back into place. He did not give her time to recover. He slammed his fist into her ribs, throwing her towards the bases.

  Belial ripped up second base and threw it at his face. She spit blood into the dirt and dodged as he charged.

  Uriel missed and came to a stop, taking in her condition. “You are hurting.” His eyes lingered on her bruised ribs and he smiled. “That color has always suited you.”

  Belial wiped blood from her lips. “Your blood suits me better.”

  Uriel licked her blood off his fist, savoring it. “You taste better with age. Does everything about you taste better?” He looked her up and down.

  Belial shook. She balled her hands into fists. “You’ll have to live without knowing.”

  “I do not think so.” Uriel charged. He feinted left and clawed at her bare stomach. His nails raked her flesh.

  Belial jumped onto his back and locked her legs around his neck. She scratched at the pendant, pulled, but it was trapped securely under his armor. She let out a screech of frustration.

  Uriel laughed and punched upwards. He hit her in the chin. Her head snapped back. He grabbed her hair and dragged her face to his. He tore her neck open with his teeth. He threw her to the ground and kicked her across the grass as blood sprayed out of her wound.

  Belial got to her knees and held her throat. She tried to stand as the wound healed. She fell back to her knees, coughing up blood.

  “Darling.” Uriel kicked her in the stomach, launching her a few feet. “Do you not like my kisses?”

  Belial’s neck healed, but her body was painted red. Her blood covered the grass. She crawled backwards, her fingers on bladed points. Her eyes darted over his figure. Her limbs shook, and she slipped on her own blood.

  Uriel saw and laughed at her. “Just give in again.”

  Belial stopped and sat back on her heels, her expression unreadable. “I’d rather die.”

  “I will not let that happen. You are entertaining alive. I enjoy the fighting spirit. You were so boring the last time in comparison. No fight then whatsoever, just a lot of crying, begging.”

  Belial held a bladed hand out in front of her, warding him off. “Fight me fairly for once, Uriel.”

  Uriel shook his head, wings pumping. “There will never be fairness between us, slattern.” He kicked, breaking her arm and sending her sprawling. He smirked. “Tell me, does that fool Andrealphus still love you?”

  Belial clenched her jaw and pushed herself backwards along the ground. She kept her eyes locked on his face. She held her arm, but the bone did not heal quickly. Her blood loss weakened her.

  Uriel stared at the cameras. “I hope he is watching.” He leaned in. “After I am done, no one will want you but me.” He grabbed her ankle and pulled her across the grass. Belial dug her claws into the ground; they snapped as he jerked her towards him.

  He stood over her. Belial stared up at him, bloody and weakened. “Uriel…”

  Uriel bent over and punched her across the face. Her head rolled to the side. He grinned. “You do not change, not in the end. Weak.” He grabbed her by her hair. He ripped it all out in chunks and smiled as clean, soft blonde hair grew in to replace it. “Better. You are not a warrior, darling.”

  Belial stared at the ground, panting. Jacob, Tracy, and Celeste screamed at her from the sidelines. She did not look up.

  Uriel pulled his hands back and examined his work. “Almost like before.”

  Belial rolled in a blur. She jumped up his frame, grabbed the sword from his back, and ripped it off. She threw the sheath in his face and swung the blade in an arc. Uriel leapt back, but not fast enough. The heavenly forged sword tore through his armor like paper. His breastplates and chainmail fell to the ground, leaving him bare-chested. Belial landed on her good leg and swung again.

  Uriel caught the blade and pulled, bringing her to him. He caught her by her throat and squeezed her neck, cutting off her oxygen. He threw his blade towards the stands. He touched his bare chest; the pendant hung around his neck unprotected. He smiled. “I was going to get undressed anyways. You have sped things along, sweetheart.” He wrapped a wing around her and smelled her hair. He licked her cheek. She leaned away from him. He slammed his forehead into hers.

  He heard a shout and turned. “What now—”

  Tracy plowed into his face. Celeste reeled on the sidelines from tossing her friend. Tracy held on to Uriel. She pulled on the wing that held Belial. “You let her go!”

  “What is this thing?” Uriel laughed and ripped Tracy from his shoulder. He tossed her to the ground, knocking the breath from her lungs. He smiled, but his expression turned to horror. His pendant hung from her horns, torn off by his throw. It dangled in her face.

  Tracy stared at it in shock, then at him. She gasped and crawled away. Uriel roared.

  Belial swiped at his face sending him back. She grabbed Tracy and launched her through the air, away from the Archangel.

  Tracy soared towards the seats. She closed her eyes before impact. Jacob slammed into her, knocking both off course. He secured her in his arms. His airstream reformed around them. He flew wildly, without control, sending both careening up the concrete stairs. He blasted up into the air and they flew into the stadium lights.

  “Come back!” Uriel snarled and opened his wings to give chase.

  Belial jumped on his back and punched him in the head. His scalp opened up, bleeding. She grinned.

  Uriel grabbed her by the hand and tossed her. He jumped into the air.

  Celeste caught Uriel by the foot and hauled him towards the ground, her strength holding him in place while Tokala bit at his legs. Belial raced by, leapt up Celeste’s shoulders and onto Uriel. She brought a fist down on his left-most wing.

  The snap of bone was audible throughout the stadium.

  Uriel threw his head back and howled.

  Belial jumped back and punched, fracturing ribs. He fell to the ground and held his sides. She kicked him in the face and shoved him into the ground. She caught hold of a flapping wing, ready to break it.

  Uriel pushed himself up and punched her in the stomach. Belial brushed him off and drove her knee into his chin. He staggered. She kicked and snapped his left leg, then his right. She knocked him to the ground and took hold of his ankles. She picked him up by his feet and slammed him into the ground, wings first. Two more cracked, shedding feathers. She hissed. “How does it feel?”

  Uriel screamed in ago
ny and rage.

  She jumped on his chest and gripped his jaw in her hands. She spit in his face. “Tell me what it feels like. Speak to me, sweetheart!” She broke his collarbone with a snap of her fingers. “Do you like it? Does it feel good?” She stabbed at his chest with her talons. “Are you enjoying this? I am, baby.”

  She jumped off and kicked his ribs. The force sent him rolling. She ran after him and screeched, “How does it feel to be helpless?” She kicked him. “How does it feel to be broken?”

  “You…” Uriel sucked in air and fought nausea and pain. He pushed himself up on his hands. “You can never do to me what I did to you.”

  “I can do far worse!” She broke his nose with a kick. She pushed him to the ground face first and snapped his last unbroken wing over her knee. She placed her foot between his shoulder blades and wrenched. The wing tore loose in a spray of blood and tissue. Uriel screamed into the ground. She lifted the wing over her head and tossed it away like garbage. She rolled him to his back. She put a knee to his chest and drove her left-hand talons into his rib cage. “I can get inside you, baby. I can feel you.”

  She sliced his forearm open and wrapped her fingers around the glistening bone. “I will make what is yours mine, darling. Look at me, baby.”

  She ripped the arm bone out. She bit one end off, making the point razor sharp. She spit the excess in his face and pressed the bone against his stomach. “Look at me baby, darling. I love you.” She jabbed him, blood welled up at its point. “I love you.”

  “Bi—bitch.” Uriel reached for her with his working hand. “I will kill…”

  Belial grabbed his wrist and held him down. “No, no. Don’t be bad, you were doing so well.” She pierced him in the stomach.

  “Darling, you are so pretty when you’re bloody.” She stabbed into his hip. She screwed the bone into his leg, fracturing both under the pressure. “Make some noise for me. I want to hear how much you enjoy this, baby.”

  Uriel spit up blood, but made no sound.

  “Don’t you like hearing your own words?” She jabbed him in the chest. “Don’t you like what you created, my love?”

  “You are ruined!” Uriel struggled to speak, “You cannot undo the past. I broke you, you are mine!”

  Belial slashed at his face. “I am my own!”

  “How you must hate yourself!” He laughed. His eyes glinted from pain. “You are nothing more than my leavings! Nothing more than trash, garbage! No one wants you but me, Belial! You are worthless! Refuse! Waste!”

  “I’ve accepted that, Uriel. I’ve accepted what I am now, but you haven’t…” She jammed the bone into his left hip socket and twisted. She smiled at his pain; her eyes glowed silver. “In the trash, all used up, I know, but you…you…” Her voice dropped into a growl.

  Uriel stared at her, fear edged into his features. “Be—”

  “Come fucking join me, darling!” She slammed the bone into his pelvis.

  Uriel screamed.

  ***

  Dahlia, Andy, Helion, and Whitney watched the television in horror; they were as shocked as the Solomon Soldiers that held them captive. The fires had stopped; no one moved. Everyone stared at Belial and Uriel. The TV volume up as far as it could go.

  Helion cried in a low whine.

  “I—I—” Andy stretched towards the screen as tears poured down his face. “I didn’t know. I didn’t know! I never knew! Why didn’t you tell me about him? Why didn’t you say anything! I just thought you didn’t, that you didn’t want me—I didn’t know why!” He squeezed his eyes shut. “I’m sorry.” He shuddered. “I’m so sorry!”

  Helion rocked on his heels. “It was my fault. My fault. My fault.”

  ***

  Lightning ripped across the sky over the stadium, thunder followed. Uriel’s angels broke through the atmosphere. They wore no pendants, but they were willing to die for their Archangel. Belial looked up, her body covered in blood. Beneath her Uriel still breathed, still bled. Holes punctured him from head to toe.

  Belial stood. Her tongue slipped out between her lips. “I will kill all of you.”

  Uriel opened his mouth; his lips and tongue were torn, but he still formed words, “I will come back for you, Belial.”

  “I look forward to it.” She grinned and glanced down at him. “You’re right, that does not get tiresome.” She kicked him away from her.

  Seven angels landed on the field, blades drawn, fully armored. Already weakened and sickened, they did not unfold to their full height.

  She stood between them and Uriel. She grinned. “Come to me.”

  The earth opened up at the angels’ feet and swallowed them in a single motion. She stepped back. Hephaestus erupted from the earth and gestured for her. “You are relieved.”

  She pouted. “Why?”

  “Lucifer is still healing, but the rest are missing. We need your help.”

  Belial’s smile slid off her face. “Of course.”

  Jacob landed beside her with Tracy in his arms. Celeste ran over with Tokala and the Chulyin. Belial looked back at Uriel. “What about him?”

  Michael and Raphael entered the atmosphere with sonic booms.

  Hephaestus shook his head. “Time to depart.” He began to glow and lost his form. He encircled the group in light and they disappeared into the earth.

  Michael and Raphael landed at Uriel’s side. Michael picked up Uriel. Raphael grabbed Uriel’s lost wing. The two said nothing, took off, and returned to Heaven.

  ***

  In the City, the Lilliam greeted Belial and the rest with exultation and cheers. Tracy rolled out of Jacob’s arms, tore off her bladed dress, and jumped naked into Nodin’s arms. Nodin looked her over and grinned, much appreciative of her new appearance and naked body.

  Varen slapped his brother Tokala on the back. Jacob and Celeste were swarmed with Lilliam, curious about the new arrivals. Tokala pushed through his siblings to keep Celeste in sight.

  Belial waded through the crowd. Her mind switched courses. She found Berith. “Where are the others?”

  Berith handed her a towel. “Furcas and Paimon have not returned, we have no way of reaching them. Andy, Dahlia, Whitney, and your brother also have not returned.”

  She wiped her face and closed her eyes. “Was Furcas injured in the battle?”

  “Terribly.”

  Belial opened her eyes. “So without Furcas, I have to find her.”

  “We were hoping.”

  She concentrated and felt for Dahlia’s presence. “I see a room, but…” She squinted against a headache. “Nothing else.” She looked towards the palace. “How is Lucifer?”

  Berith shook his head. “I do not know.”

  ***

  Hephaestus joined his cousins in the Sanctuary and reclaimed his seat. “She is safe.”

  Spider nodded at him. “Thank you for collecting her.”

  Hephaestus rolled his shoulders. “We will need her when he wakes.”

  The group focused on Lucifer. His wound knitted together slowly. They combined their energy, that of the physical and material. They drove it into his body, forcing out the angelic infection that prevented him from healing.

  Lucifer twitched as his muscles grew and bones locked into place. His eyelids slid open. He tried to sit up.

  Thanatos pushed his shoulders back down. “Do not.”

  Lucifer nodded, too weak to speak. He looked at his grandchild; his head rolled to the side and he stared at the sealed door to the tiny room beyond. He reached for it. Thanatos grabbed his hand and placed it back on the dais.

  The cousins drove out the last of the spear’s residue. The wound sealed shut. Lucifer sat up. He touched his chest, the pain gone. He took a deep breath. “Thank you.”

  The cousins nodded. They stood and faded out, returning to the formless energy that they resided in. Ceres and Spider remained behind. Lucifer eyed them. “You stay?”

  Spider nodded. “I must see to Belial.”

  Ceres helped Lucif
er stand. “I must see to you.”

  Spider passed through the wall.

  Lucifer gripped Ceres by her shoulder. “Has she arrived?”

  Ceres shook her head. “She has not. Furcas and Paimon are also missing.”

  Lucifer ripped the door to the palace off its hinges and stormed out. The King and Queen waited outside with their cousins and children. Lucifer did not speak to them; he pushed through the royal family. As he walked, he shifted to blue. The Lilliam followed him cautiously.

  Lucifer reshaped the palace to his will, bringing him to the Grand Promenade. He stormed towards the Old Road, leaving fire and steam in his wake. Lilliam went to their knees; they did not look upon his face. His eyes focused straight ahead.

  Belial and Berith stood at the entrance of the Old Road. Berith looked back at him, while Belial focused on the passageway. Lucifer grabbed Berith and threw him into a pool of ice water. He took Belial’s hand and turned her around to face him. She reeked of angel, her hair pink with blood. He brought her close and sniffed her hair. “Uriel.”

  Belial nodded slowly. “I got a wing off.”

  Lucifer smiled grimly. “Where is my Dahlia, Belial?”

  Belial squeezed her eyes shut. “I see a room, but it is hazy. She’s not moving around.”

  “Are Andy and Helion with her?”

  Belial shook her head. “I can’t tell. There is something blocking me. I cannot see where she is.”

  Lucifer let her go. “Keep trying.”

  A high-pitched cry drew their attention to the Old Road. A solitary boy stumbled out of it, bleeding and bruised. He wore the armor of the Chulyin. Lucifer stalked over to him, and the City Guard parted. Lucifer lifted the boy to his face. “The Chulyin were with the Mother. Were you?”

  The boy gasped and pressed Paimon and Furcas’ lamins into his hands. “The Chulyin are dead.” He was too tired for tears over his sister. “The others taken away, including the Mother.”

  “By whom?”

  “Solomon Soldiers, many of them.”

  Lucifer threw the boy to Berith. He erupted into flame and fell to his knees. Raging, untamed madness swelled in his body. He could not think, his mind overtaken by sensation. The flames on his body mirrored the terror and anger he felt inside. He knew what happened to those captured by the Solomon Soldiers. Their methods of interrogation had become, if anything, more violent and depraved the longer they were in existence.