by Linda Foster
She craned her neck to get a better view of her surroundings, her eyes scanning the ground for an easy exit point as he pulled her along with him. The angels in front of them looked around just as nervously, fidgeting as they waited, but when they spotted Adrian they turned, relief in their faces. They stared at him with such respect and love that it made her queasy. What in the Heavens made them think that what they were doing was okay?
“I’m glad you came,” Adrian whispered, and it made her jump. There was a sparkle in his eyes as he looked out over the field, and his lips turned up at the corners while he waved to his admirers. Then he glanced back down to her, with that gloating look on his face. He loved all of this attention, she realized, and was relishing their admiration. Buying into it. Believing that he actually was better than the Creator. She forced yet another smile, not quite as convincing this time. In her head, she was already imagining different ways to wipe that infuriating smirk off his face.
Of course that was the least of her problems right now. Seraphine continued to follow behind, and Kali sent her a nervous look. How were they going to sneak away if he kept her at his side?
Eventually, they joined with six others at the front of the crowd, near the cliffs. The sound of the waves continued to get louder with the building storm, and a loud clap of thunder shuddered through the air just as they came to a stop. Kali looked over and saw Byleth, Astaroth, Bael, Cresil, Shax, and Stolas kneeling to the side, apart from the rest of the group. All six were high-ranking angels in Heaven, and from where they stood, she had to assume that they were high in honor here as well. She narrowed her eyes in dislike. Some of them had been her friends. Her equals. And now … Adrian nodded to them, and they stood as he finally released his grip on Kali. He gestured for her to join those six and she moved toward the others, catching their mixed expressions of confusion and disgust.
She ignored them and held her head high, pretending that she belonged there, and taking her place at the end of the line.
Find the information and get out, she repeated to herself. Just a little while longer. She locked eyes with Seraphine in front of her, and noticed the girl’s hands twitch. When she saw the slight rising of the thumb, she suppressed a smile. A thumbs up. How very inappropriate. Seraphine had always been that way – slightly more … human than the rest of the angels. Almost too much. If nothing else, though, she was an ally. And she was staying toward the front of the crowd, which was perfect. If they had to make a run for it, at least she wouldn’t have to search for the girl.
“My loyal followers!” Adrian abruptly bellowed. The crowd instantly quieted down. “The time has come for us to move forward with our plans. The changes I promised will come about. We will take back Heaven by any means necessary, and once we dethrone the Creator, we will extinguish the humans, the flaw He released onto the world.” He paused and put his hand over his heart, dropping his eyes in mock sadness, and Kali’s heart burned with fury over his arrogance and deceit. The shock was wearing off, and anger over what he was doing began to set in. Were they actually buying this act? This self-importance, masquerading as teamwork? She glanced at the faces in the crowd, and quickly realized that yes, yes they were.
“Humans only care about themselves,” he sneered. A darkness she had never seen before crept over his features – pure hatred – and she sucked in a quick breath. The way he spoke brought out a new side of him, a sinister and loathsome side she hadn’t known he possessed. It left her wondering how she’d missed it. “They are weak, selfish creatures that don’t deserve the gift of life. Once we are rid of them and the Creator is dethroned, we can restore our home as we used to know it. Everything will be right again! Angels will no longer have to pledge or sacrifice their lives to protect the humans!”
Kali glanced around her again as he spoke, and watched the faces. Her fellow angels, her friends. Beings she had known for her entire life. How had he convinced so many that this was the right way? How did they not see that this was madness? That they were dooming themselves, and Heaven along with them?
“Prepare yourselves!” he announced, his voice booming as he raised his arms. “For tonight, we invade Heaven and go to war! Tonight, you fight for me!”
Her jaw snapped shut so hard that she bit her tongue. What? Tonight? He was starting an all-out war, tonight? That word rang in her skull as the image of fighting in Heaven played in her mind. Michael had sent her down here to find out what Adrian was up to, and when he planned to start, but they’d never imagined that it would be so soon. They’d never thought that he might actually be planning to invade Heaven.
And what if they succeeded? Could he actually get past the gates, and into her homeland?
No, she would never let him do such a thing. She had to get away and warn Michael. He would be able to fix this … right? A war in Heaven. The thought was preposterous.
Yet the crowd cheered. Tonight, she thought again, her heart racing. She was out of time, and her mission had barely begun. Worse, she still didn’t know how she was going to escape to warn Michael, or how exactly Adrian intended to take down the Creator. Their lord was immortal, which meant Adrian couldn’t be planning on killing Him. So what, then? She needed to find out, and then she had to get out of here. Get to Michael while there was still time to do something about it.
Get back to Heaven before Adrian and his minions did.
She began to move slowly toward Seraphine. At this point, even if they got the information they needed, she wasn’t going to be able to leave without suspicion. Adrian had her cornered, and she was certain he’d done it on purpose. She’d never get away.
Seraphine, on the other hand, was an unimportant part of the army. She could go warn Michael herself. It was the only solution. When the time arrived, and they had everything they’d come for, the girl needed to leave, and go to Michael alone. Kali would think of something, some way to distract them while Seraphine was gone. In the meantime, the other angel needed to start her escape.
But Kali didn’t get far before Adrian snatched her hand and pulled her back beside him. He had twisted away from the larger group of angels, turning his attention to the six standing next to him. To Kali’s relief, Seraphine had moved again, managing to edge her closer and closer, until she was within earshot of the more private conversation.
“Once we leave, those of you who have created human armies will go to them,” Adrian said, his eyes filled with a sick excitement. Human armies? Kali clenched her teeth and cast a shaken look at Seraphine. Was that what had been going on with the humans over the last several years? Adrian was building armies? “Give them the locations of the avenging angels. Tell them that the time has come. They must attack and kill the avenging angels. Their orders are clear: Leave no survivors.”
He’s planning to kill all of the avenging angels, Kali thought, feeling the weight of that statement like a blow to the gut. The Creator’s personal favorites. The ones he’d trusted to protect the humans. And they would never see it coming, because they had no idea that anyone was so unhappy.
They’d be attacked by the very men they’d been sent to protect. Would they even fight back? Would they be able to? And what would happen when they were dead? Her eyes flew to the crowd, her mind trying desperately to calculate how many angels were there. These were the angels who had been sent to Earth, or at least some of them. How many avenging angels were left?
And what would the Creator do without them?
Then another thought rushed into her mind, and she gasped. She was an avenging angel. Had he planned to have her killed as well? Her desire to punch him in the face became overwhelming, then, and she clenched her fists against her sides as he continued to address his leading angels.
“While the six of you lead your human armies against the angels on Earth, I will lead the attack in Heaven with the legion of angels we have gathered here. Once the angels that oppose us are dead, the Creator will have no choice but to step down. He will no longer be the most powerful. An
d I will be free to take my rightful place as ruler. When we have all accomplished our missions, I will send a group back down to Earth, to assist you in eliminating the humans once and for all.”
Kali stepped back, horrified at his words. So that was how he planned to do it. He was greedy and self-centered, she’d known that – to some extent – but she’d had no idea how far it went. The fact that he would throw away all of his angel brethren, just to win himself a throne, shocked her to her core.
They had to warn Michael, now.
Her gaze darted to Seraphine, who was off to her right, and the stunned look on the girl’s face clearly said that she’d heard it all as well. They had gotten what they wanted, that was the good news, but Kali was still trapped. Seraphine needed to leave immediately, without her. She must have had the same thought, because she threw Kali one quick, intense look, then turned and darted through the crowd, back the way they’d come.
Kali watched her go, her heart flailing against her ribs. Please get back soon, she begged silently. She would do her best to keep Arian and his army here, but didn’t know how long that would work. Or what they would do if they discovered her. Seraphine had to get back to Heaven and warn Michael in time for him to gather the forces of Heaven. If she was lucky – if they all were – he would get back to Earth in time to stop Adrian and his minions. Before they could follow through with their plans.
In the meantime, she had to do everything she could to stall them. Keep Adrian and his followers here.
“Were you going to let your human armies kill me too?” she asked, turning her attention back to him. It didn’t really matter, as she already knew the answer. But she had to buy Seraphine some time, and part of her wanted to hear him say it. There was a piece of her heart that thought it might all be a mistake. But if he said that he was actually going to let her die …
“It would’ve been a shame, but yes,” he replied, completely at ease with the thought of ending her life. She bit her lip, trying to hold back her anger. “I can’t afford any leniency, even to you, so you can imagine how relieved I was when you made the right choice before it was too late.”
“You’re heartless!” she snapped. Louder than she’d meant to, but she was far too angry at this point to hold back her disgust. The fact that this angel – her friend – would throw away her life that easily hit her in a place she hadn’t thought it would. And it infuriated her.
“Excuse me?” he asked, tilting his head to the side. The eyes of his six lieutenants zeroed in on her as well, and the angels nearby began moving closer.
She’d made a mistake, she realized, speaking so loud, and blown her cover. Already. But now that it came down to it, she couldn’t bring herself to care.
All she felt was anger at what he was doing.
“You don’t care about anyone except yourself!” she shouted, jutting her chin forward and finally jerking away from him. “You’re doing this for your own good, not that of the angels! You want them to fight – and die – so that you can rise up.”
His face twisted into a scowl as he turned his body toward her, giving her his full attention. Her outburst was drawing a crowd by this point, and her eyes darted between Adrian and the group closing in on her.
She gulped. No hiding who she was now, but at least she was proving to be a great distraction, and as long as they didn’t kill her before Seraphine got back, it just might work. She spared a glance at the field, still full of angels waiting for Adrian to give his orders to attack Heaven. Why hadn’t he sent them off yet? How much longer would he keep them there?
“Don’t you understand?” he asked, taking a step forward. Kali took an involuntary step back, then cursed herself for letting him intimidate her. It was unbelievable, and she hated to admit it, but she feared him at this moment. The dark snarl that crossed his features wasn’t the expression of an angel. It was the expression of a monster. He didn’t care about any of them, or how many lives he’d destroy in this pathetic attempt to rule Heaven.
He wasn’t the angel she’d thought he was at all. She didn’t know what he was.
“You’re right, Adrian,” she snarled back, glaring at him and ignoring the fear in her heart. “I don’t understand how anyone would follow you on this mission.” She had to keep him talking. Seraphine had to have reached Michael by now, and Kali had to keep Adrian and his group busy until the two of them returned with the hosts of Heaven. They couldn’t let this fight get back to her home, or let Adrian’s followers get to the humans. If they did, they would murder hundreds of unsuspecting avenging angels.
“You’re smart, Kali,” he muttered, taking another step toward her. This time she refused to move back, though every part of her being was telling her to run away. Her heart was pounding in her chest, but she tried to keep the fear from showing on her face. “You’re strong. Beautiful. Perfect. Why, if He’d created such perfection already, would He make something so flawed? Why would He give them what we deserve? He has chosen them over us. I would never make that kind of mistake. Those mistakes only opened the other angels’ eyes to the truth. When I rule, I will treat the angels as they should be treated. Surely you can see the wisdom in that reasoning.”
He looked so casual, discussing the imminent deaths of thousands of angels and humans, his hands out to his sides and a smile on his face, but the irritation in his eyes shone through. Once more he moved forward, and now there was less than a foot between them. Where was Seraphine? Kali’s lungs felt like they couldn’t get enough air, as if they were being cut off by the panic building in her chest. The girl needed to hurry, or Kali was going to be done for.
“I am smart, Adrian,” she replied, narrowing her eyes and closing the gap between them with one small step. He grinned and laughed as if amused by her attempt to prove that she wasn’t intimidated by him, but she growled back. It was time for someone to stand up to him, and she was as likely a candidate as anyone. “Smart enough to know my place. Maybe it’s time you learn yours, because it’s not on the throne of Heaven. No real leader would kill his people just to further his own selfish agenda.”
“A few must be sacrificed,” he said without any emotion. Disgust for the being she’d once considered her friend rolled through her. How could he be so callous about the lives of his own kind? And where was Michael? Her gaze shot to the clouds for just a moment. Come on Seraphine, she thought. You should be back by now.
“And your own followers? They’ll die too,” she hissed, pushing past her hate and motioning to the army he had gathered. She knew that he didn’t care about their lives, but she had him to keep talking. She expected Michael and Seraphine to show up at any second, and couldn’t keep her eyes from darting between Adrian, his followers, and the angry storm clouds as they argued. The faith she held for them to arrive was diminishing by the second, and every time lightening shot out above her head, her heart raced, hoping it was the angel light of the cavalry. But all that followed was the rumble of the thunder shuddering through the sky.
“Again,” he repeated slowly, not even flinching at the idea of his army being slaughtered, “sacrifices must be made for the greater good. It’s that simple.” Her eyes went to his followers, who seemed equally unaffected by what he said. These angels were actually willing to give their own lives for something like this? They would follow Adrian, knowing he planned to sacrifice them? In her mind, she envisioned him sitting on a throne atop his fallen soldiers, with a smile on his face. The image made her blood boil.
“You have no idea what you’re doing!” she exclaimed. “All you’ll accomplish is massive, unnecessary death, for your ego! And I won’t allow that to happen!”
“How exactly do you plan to stop me?” He laughed, his whole body shaking, and Kali clenched her teeth together. “You’re strong, but you aren’t going to be able to fight your way out of here.” He motioned to the field behind him, where most of the angels had gathered to watch. She followed his gesture with her eyes. He was right – there was nowhere to run
. And Seraphine was taking longer than she should be.
Then another, worse thought occurred to her. What if Seraphine hadn’t made it? What if one of Adrian’s followers had seen her flee? No, she told herself. She couldn’t think that way, or she’d be lost. Seraphine would come through, she assured herself, and Adrian would be finished before he was able to carry out his insane plans. She had already stopped him from leaving on schedule, she was sure of it.
“I don’t have to,” she replied quietly. His smile faltered at her change of tone, and she felt a sick sense of smug satisfaction. She wasn’t sure where her backup was at this point, but it was the last argument she had in her favor – the idea that someone would come for her. She pursed her lips and crossed her arms, deciding to play it for all it was worth. “Seraphine has already left, to go warn Michael. He’ll be here any second to stop you. That will be the end, Adrian. Give up now and he might show you mercy. Though I don’t believe you deserve it. Not after what you’ve been planning.”
His mocking expression froze, then twisted into disbelief and fury.
“That was a mistake,” he growled as he lunged toward her. She jumped backwards and pulled up her bow and arrow, the weapons materializing out of thin air as she called them to her. When her feet hit the ground again, she was pointing an arrow at his chest.
“Don’t even think about it,” she snapped, stopping him in his tracks. She couldn’t battle her way out of here – there were simply too many. She just had to stand her ground until backup arrived. She didn’t want to hurt anyone if she didn’t have to, but she had to defend herself, and they didn’t have to know that she wouldn’t use lethal force. If they attacked, she would fight back. But she would do it without causing any serious damage. There were plenty of ways to subdue an opponent without killing them.