Evenstar

by Darcy Town

  Lucifer scowled. “Michael ever the coward.”

  Dahlia leaned into Lucifer, and he wrapped both arms around her. She kissed his chin. “I believe Michael will use it now out of fear.”

  “What does He say?”

  “He has not spoken since the Fall, not to them at least.”

  “He has not?”

  Dahlia shuddered. “He speaks to me only.”

  “He knows where you are?”

  “No, not now, but He seeks me out.” She shivered. “He wants me back.”

  Lucifer held her tighter. “I will not let them have you for the prison.”

  Dahlia shook her head. “I would rather the prison than what He wants.”

  Lucifer frowned. “He wants something other than that?”

  “Same deal as before, memories wiped and back in Hell at His beck and call.” She made a face. “It is what He always wanted. He could not force me to obey as He could to you. He could not make me return to Him. Consequently, He thought He could drive me back through the pain.”

  “You could stand it.”

  Dahlia shook her head. “No, no I really could not stand it. It was not my pain that held my resolve, it was yours. That He punished you.” Her eyes neared black. “He hurt you and you did nothing to Him. He sought to punish you endlessly. Even if I had taken the deal, you would have been left to suffer.” She gnashed her teeth. “That is deplorable.”

  Lucifer stared as her face changed with anger. He rubbed her shoulders. “What He did to you is unforgivable.”

  Dahlia looked up and her eyes returned to their normal red. “We are not talking about forgiveness. We are talking about giving in to what He wants. I never could have if it had meant your continued torture.”

  “Then you would have if He had let me go.”

  Dahlia stared at her feet. “Perhaps. But the war made that null and void. You freed yourself and in doing that I had no reason to give into Him.”

  “How did you know of the Fall?”

  “I was not as cut off as you might have thought. Blinded by pain yes, but nothing in Heaven is truly apart from the rest. The feelings, sounds, all of these things seeped in over time and I learned of what had happened to you and the rest. I did not know of what went on outside of Heaven, I had no idea what your status was, but the Archangels would speak of you from time to time, so I knew that somewhere, somehow you lived on.” She shook her head. “That kept my hope alive and after a time, the part of me sheltered away from the pain devised my way out.”

  “How did you get out?”

  Dahlia gave him a wry grin. “Before you locked me in I saw a possible escape route in the prison. I memorized it and took the memory with me into the darkness.”

  Lucifer eyed her. “What do you mean? How could there have been a flaw? It went straight from Him to Andrealphus, Paimon, and Berith.”

  “True, but does that mean He has no flaws? No, there was a way.”

  Lucifer frowned. “I was there. I did not see a defect.”

  “And you were highly distraught, so was He when He designed it.”

  Lucifer considered the point and nodded. “What part had the failing?”

  “The physical components pulled from this planet.”

  “Then why did you not escape immediately?”

  Dahlia blushed. “I could not remember once I was locked in, I forgot. I could not think, I could not remember, I was just the agony.” She shook her head to rid herself of the memory. “The physical pieces used to create the prison meant they were a part of my plane as much as of yours. There is a link in them, a way into my realm.”

  “Hell. But He said it no longer existed.”

  “He lied. I found my escape eventually and slipped out.”

  “Did He see you?”

  Dahlia frowned. “Was He watching me?”

  “Yes.” Lucifer looked away. “At least He was in there with you when we were tossed from Heaven.”

  Dahlia shuddered. “If He was, I was not aware, but I would think that if He was, He would have stopped me.”

  Lucifer held her. “What happened to your body?”

  “In Hell everything is matter. I became everything and in that nothing physical was left. I had just my consciousness again and that is all that I had when I fled to here.”

  Lucifer kissed her forehead. “Do you know how to get your wings back?”

  “No, but I know who does.”

  “Who?”

  She looked up at him. “Raphael.”

  Lucifer snarled. “That useless piece of shit?!”

  Dahlia shrugged. “Useless except for that I think.” She pushed Lucifer back to the ground. “Try and think of a way to capture him alive. We do need him regardless of what you might think about his capabilities.”

  “Why are you not thinking of it too?”

  Dahlia kissed down his stomach. “I have other things to reflect on at the moment.”

  ***

  The island of the first generation Lilliam was surrounded by large waves and fast winds. Night obscured half the island, while the other glowed with bright afternoon sunlight. Gaea watched her brothers and sisters. They were assembled on the island, each reverted back to their angelic form. They ran up and down the beach as winged children, except for Ra.

  Ra chose to look like a teenager, her body bedecked in shopping bags and jewelry, even her wings had gold chains attached to them. She sat down next to Gaea and grinned. “Have you gone shopping?”

  Gaea looked her over. “Shopping?”

  “The humans took my gold so I went and got theirs, but I found these other things too! These shoes and purses! You shop for them.”

  “What do you need purses for?”

  Ra opened one and candy spilled out onto the ground. She snapped up chocolate as it rolled away. “They have these sweets now! Like ambrosia!”

  Phoenix blasted over their heads and landed in the sand. Set followed her. Ra grinned at her daughter. “Phoenix was the one who showed me shopping.”

  Phoenix sighed. “More like shoplifting.”

  Set bowed to Ra. “Hello auntie. Phoenix said you wanted an update.”

  “Yes!” Ra took a step towards him. “Where are my pharaohs?”

  Set shrugged. “We have had our hands full with other things. I could not watch all of your dirty convert corpses.”

  Ra snapped in his face. “They had my gold all over them!”

  Set held up his hands. “They’re just dead guys!”

  Ra blasted him into the water. Phoenix raced between them. “Mom, calm down!”

  Gaea laughed. Chronos plopped down in the sand beside her. “You have seen Mother?”

  She nodded. “She is doing well, not restored, but well.”

  Chronos looked at the sky. “Ouroboros says the Archangels have been watching from beyond the shield. They have hosts of angel moving in as well.”

  Gaea frowned at the sky. “The shield is stronger than ever, they cannot hope to get through. Do they just watch?”

  Chronos nodded. “So far that only, it is eerie. They do not fear us seeing them.”

  Ifrit sat down on Gaea’s other side, making the sand turn to glass. “Perhaps they will turn the humans on all at once?”

  Leviathan danced across the water. “Then we will kill them all at once! You know Daddy wants to!”

  Ouroboros laughed. “Look, the giant metal birds in the sky are back!” Fighter jets tore through the sky overhead. Ouroboros chased them; he flew alongside one, and waved at the pilot. “They have humans inside!”

  Leviathan nodded. “They have similar creations on the water.”

  Titan felt his materials at work in the machines. “They are tools, human tools.”

  Nix called down from her place in the trees. “Should we destroy them?”

  “Only if they attack us.”

  Gaea shook her head. “Perhaps we should go below ground to the City?”

  Ra danced up, eating candy. “Hey, we are Skittles!
”

  The others looked at her. Chronos shook his head. “What?”

  She held out her hand. “We’re rainbows!”

  Ouroboros sucked the candy from her hand. The candies swirled inside his semi-transparent form until they made a rainbow. Ra laughed and dropped into their age group. She dropped her purses and chased Ouroboros.

  A jet fired a missile at them. Nix flew from the tree to intercept it. She enveloped it in night and the missile disappeared. She looked back at her siblings. “Perhaps going below would be a good idea.”

  The Lilliam children winked out of existence.

  ***

  Furcas pulled Paimon’s stitching out of the pink baby blanket. “What did you do to it?”

  Paimon pulled on his pants. “Crochet.”

  “That’s nice, but this is knitted.” Furcas looked at the blanket sadly. “Oh well, I do have a lot more.” He tossed it to the side and rolled over, pulling his long hair in the process. “Ow! See, this is why I cut it to begin with.”

  Paimon grabbed Furcas by his hair and pulled him over. “And this is what I miss about it. I think you should keep it like this.”

  Furcas scowled. He grabbed his hair and bound it back in a ponytail. “I’m getting it cut when I find a stylist.”

  “I can cut it.”

  “No thanks, I’d rather have it shaved off.”

  Paimon made a face. “Okay, one-eye.”

  Furcas scowled and adjusted his leaf skirt. “Do not remind me.”

  Paimon poked him. “Sorry, stumpy.”

  Furcas punched Paimon in the face. “You’re an asshole.”

  Paimon kicked him lightly. “Still want me to try and knock you up?”

  Furcas blushed. “Shut up.”

  The Sanctuary door opened and Lucifer and Dahlia stumbled out, she hung off Lucifer’s arm. Paimon pointed and laughed.

  Dahlia gave the pair a once over. She shook her head. “And I thought you two could not get stranger.”

  Lucifer ignored them and looked around the Sanctuary. “This place is a mess.”

  Paimon rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well, I think it’s safe to say that part is your fault.”

  Lucifer opened the door to the rest of the palace. “We need to talk soon.” He stuck his head out. “COME.”

  Dahlia pushed him aside. “NOW.” She laughed. “I can do the voice too.”

  Lucifer tossed her back with a grin on his face. Dahlia kicked him into a wall, cracking the stone. Lucifer tossed her to the ground, sending up dust. Paimon and Furcas gaped. Dahlia laughed it off and threw a chunk of stone at Lucifer’s head. Lucifer grinned and chased her around the room. Paimon and Furcas knotted together to avoid them.

  Helion got to the room first, Whitney at his side, panting. The pair gaped at the near-naked foursome. Dahlia leapt for Whitney. “You are alive!”

  Whitney hugged her. “You have red eyes!”

  Dahlia squeezed her. “That is the first thing you have to say to me?”

  Whitney pouted. “I’m undead, so your comment was a little insensitive too.”

  Both girls laughed and knocked into Helion. Helion picked them up and moved out of the way. Andy and Belial arrived holding hands. The room went quiet as everyone looked between them expectantly. Belial smiled. “No we did not do it, so stop smirking, Furcas.”

  Paimon sighed. “Obviously. No one says do it unless they’re a virgin or a twelve-year-old. What did you do, Andy? Talk the whole time and miss out?”

  Andy grinned. “Fuck off, Paimon.”

  Berith and Apple reached the door behind them. Apple crawled over Andy and hit the floor. She was disheveled, bruised, sweaty, and smiling. She hugged Dahlia. “Never got a chance to say it, but thanks for healing me.”

  Dahlia hugged her back. “You are welcome.”

  Furcas smiled at Apple. “Welcome to the red-eye club, we number three.”

  “Two and a half.” Paimon coughed.

  Furcas stomped on Paimon’s foot.

  Apple looked at Furcas’ eye. “Weird!”

  Berith pushed his way inside. He bowed to Lucifer and Dahlia. “You made the surface eventful.”

  Lucifer lost his smile. “Did many humans die?”

  Berith grinned. “Probably. Flora went wild. Cities have a lot more park space now.”

  Lucifer scowled. “Shit.”

  The Fallen did a double take. The only one not looking surprised was Furcas. Belial scratched her head. “What?”

  “Dahlia says we cannot kill any more humans.”

  Dahlia held out her hands. “Sorry to rain on your death parade, but Gabriel made humans like batteries. Whenever one dies, the Archangels amass the energy the human collected from the planet and feed it into a weapon they built. So each time you slice and dice, the Archangels are just getting stronger.”

  Lucifer nodded. “They are going to fire this weapon at the planet, we think.”

  Paimon gaped. “My brother designed a fucking ray gun to blast the planet?”

  Dahlia frowned. “I do not know if it is gun shaped, but yeah basically.”

  “That stupid fucking shit!” Paimon stomped out of the room. “Ungrateful, brat, idiot, fuck face!” Crashes followed his progress of attacking furniture. “Waste of space, mouth breathing sibling!”

  Furcas smiled at everyone else. “We’ll be back.” He trailed after Paimon.

  Tracy and a bruised Jacob passed him in the doorway. Tracy head butted her way in. She carried a baby in a sling on her back. She jumped on Dahlia. “Dahlia!”

  Dahlia hugged her. “You have horns, and you are gold!”

  Belial took the baby from Tracy’s back. “Big chubby baby! Oh yeah, Dahlia, some of your friends are Lilliam now, long story. Baby of death! Eater of souls! Death baby!”

  Dahlia looked past Tracy to the baby. It was pitch-black with silver eyes; it had a pair of red horns. It laughed at Belial and a fork tongue snaked out to touch her cheek. Dahlia nodded. “Now that is some demon spawn. Yours?”

  Tracy swelled with pride. “Yes. Nodin says they’ve never seen anything like it! They think it’s a new type of Lilliam, how cool is that! We think we’re going to call its type a demon, just for fun.”

  Dahlia gaped at Tracy. “So you and Nodin huh.”

  Tracy blushed and showed her a ring made out of diamond. “We’re engaged.”

  Belial twirled the baby around. “What’s its name?”

  Nodin stepped in. “Satan.”

  Tracy rounded on him. “We have not decided that yet.”

  Belial grinned. “That’s perfect! Satan!” The baby laughed, Belial hugged it. “Baby Satan! Baby Satan!”

  Helion sidled up to Andy and watched Belial. “She is in good spirits.”

  Andy grinned. “She told me she loved me.”

  Helion smiled and looked away. “Good.”

  Jacob took Tracy’s spot and hugged Dahlia. “Dahlia, queen of the damned. I’m so proud of my Squeegee.”

  Dahlia rolled her eyes. “So, what are you?”

  “I’m a sylph.”

  Dahlia grinned. “Are they always covered in scratch marks and suspect bruises?”

  Jacob shrugged. “I had a good time with some other sylphs, um, earlier.”

  Belial handed the baby back to Tracy and burst out laughing. “You got mauled! I told you so!”

  Jacob grinned. He stepped out of the way as Celeste entered behind him. Tokala had his arms around her waist; he let go as she stepped forward.

  Dahlia and Celeste eyed one another.

  Celeste’s eyes turned red. “I was a fucking idiot, and I’m sorry for yelling at you! Apparently, I have a temper problem being a berserker! But I know that now, so I’m working on it!”

  Dahlia laughed and hugged her. “No worries. It is understandable. Everyone is going through some shit at the moment.”

  Celeste sighed. “Thank you.”

  Dahlia gave her friend a squeeze and let her go. She frowned. The sight of Celeste made her think bac
k to recent more human events. She turned to Lucifer. “What did you do to Dillon?”

  Lucifer took a step back.

  Apple got between them. “We…uh.”

  Berith pushed her out of the way. “We murdered him and we are not sorry about it.”

  Dahlia and her once human friends gaped. She went over the memory. “Well, he was a dick.”

  Celeste looked back at Tokala. “They said he tried to rape you, so fuck him.”

  Whitney hissed. “He tried to rape you? I hope his death was painful!”

  Tokala coughed. “It was.”

  Jacob nodded. “He was a creep anyways.”

  Dahlia shrugged. “True.” She shook her head. “We have other issues to deal with.”

  The room got quiet. Dahlia stepped up next to Lucifer. “Whether or not the Archangels fire this weapon of theirs, we need to find a way to get restored, all of us. He will not leave us alone for long. He knows I escaped, I can only imagine that Michael has informed Him that Lucifer and I are together again.”

  Whitney raised her hand. “Are you talking about God?” The others nodded. She smiled. “All right, I’m getting the hang of this.”

  Andy folded his arms. “What can we really do if He focuses all of His power here? He never has before, but now?”

  Berith nodded. “He will obliterate us.”

  Lucifer shook his head. “He wants Dahlia back. He will not obliterate anything while she is here.”

  Dahlia nodded. “This place has always been a bargaining chip, even before I escaped, and He knows it. He will not destroy everything if He thinks He can use it as leverage. For this reason—”

  The eight first generation Lilliam children appeared in the room. Dahlia and Lucifer stopped their speech. Gaea looked around. “Sorry for the bad timing, that sounded important.”

  Dahlia shook her head as tears sprung to her eyes. She ran for her children. Lucifer followed. The other Fallen backed out of the room quietly. Ra jumped on Lucifer; Ifrit wrapped Dahlia in a hug.

  Dahlia kissed and hugged each one. She stepped back into Lucifer and looked at all eight. “I am beyond happy to know that you all live and you thrived!”

  Chronos nodded. “We followed your instructions.”

  Leviathan grinned. “We only came out for Daddy!”