“Yes, my lord,” said Betaazu.
He shifted his weight, and his face and lips contorted as though he was struggling to say something. Finally he cleared his throat.
“My lord, if you’ll forgive me for being impertinent…but there is something I’ve been curious about, something I’ve been meaning to ask you…”
“Yes?” said Beelzebub lazily. “Say it. What is it?”
“Why her?” asked Betaazu.
The servant-creature cowered behind him as though he had gone too far.
“Why this girl…this angel? Rumors of Asmodeus’ downfall have reached deep into the Netherworld. I’m sure you were aware that the demon tried to recruit this particular girl-angel. But she didn’t turn. She’s loyal to the legion.”
“Not for long.” Lord Beelzebub’s face twitched with annoyance and anger.
“Asmodeus was a fool, and he deserved what he got. Demons have always been too arrogant, too self-absorbed to see the real value of things—a fault from their angel days, I’m sure.”
He leaned back into his chair.
“She is unique. Not just amongst her own kind, but in all the worlds. It is that uniqueness that makes her a creature of unparalleled power.”
Betaazu raised his brows. “But why, your lordship? What’s so special about her? I sensed her energy. It was strong, yes, very strong, but I didn’t sense anything else that would strike me as exceptional. She is no fiend.”
The Lord Beelzebub smiled.
“No, she is not like us…not yet. Asmodeus thought he knew what he had; he thought he knew what he was doing, but he was a fool. Yes, she had the exact amount of elemental essence mixed with the exact amount of angel and demon lifeblood to make her the most powerful angel that ever existed…but in his eagerness to seek power for himself, he failed to learn the real truth, the real secret about where she comes from. About her bloodline.”
He paused for a moment, pleased at the intrigued expression on his officer’s face.
“Her bloodline has been traced back to the beginning of all things, to the very first archfiends, before we were cast down to this prison and replaced by archangels. Before my brothers and sisters were destroyed. I’ve traced her bloodline back to those times.”
“Once the transformation has taken place, she will become an unstoppable bringer of death. The darkness will feed on her energy. It has a life of its own—it wants to live. With her alongside us, the Order of the archfiends will be stronger than it was when we warred with the archangels. We will destroy the archangels, the angels, and all the living things that are so dear to them in their precious mortal world. No trees, no water, no humans—only darkness and fire will remain. And then, my dear Betaazu, we will rejoice in the darkness and live forever.”
Betaazu smiled. “Yes, my lord. I believe we will.”
“Imp!” cried Lord Beelzebub.
The shadow creature stepped forward, keeping its eyes on the ground, trembling.
“Yes, your eminence,” it said. Its voice was high-pitched and wailed like the sound of a dying animal. “I am your humble servant. Your wish is my command. Anything you ask, my lord. Anything at all. I await your instruction.”
“Yes, yes, yes. What of the reapers?” said Lord Beelzebub impatiently. “What do you have to report, imp?”
“Yes, of course, your eminence,” said the imp, bowing again with due reverence and nearly scraping the ground with its head. The creature raised its red eyes for half a second then lowered them again.
“The reapers are assembling, my lord. Cities around the mortal world have been affected by the reapers’ scythes. Many souls have been taken.”
The imp began to laugh, a sick, wet laugh, pleased with what it was telling its master. “One hundred thousand denomites have already found hosts.”
“And can you control the denomites?”
Kyton lifted his gaze to his master for a moment, fumbling his fingers nervously.
“Yes, my lord. The reapers control them. Reapers…reapers are magnificent creatures—”
The rest of the imp’s words died under Beelzebub’s threatening glare. The creature had said too much. It cowered low and flattened its long, gangly fingers on the ground.
“Thank you, Kyton,” said Betaazu, and he kicked the imp in the stomach with his boot.
Kyton went sprawling to the ground and howled in pain. He shifted back into a low bow, almost in prayer and flattened himself as low as he could.
“I must apologize for my overzealous nature, my lord, we imps are too—”
Betaazu kicked him again.
“Shut up, Kyton. Lord Beelzebub doesn’t want to hear your useless ramblings, imp.”
Kyton coughed and said to the ground, “I only live to serve his lordship.”
The archfiend grasped the edges of his chair to keep his temper in check.
“And what of the key?”
Kyton cleared his throat. “The key, my lord? Oh, yes, yes, of course. The key. How foolish of me. Right. We’ve isolated the key to a specific location. It’s only a matter of time until the key is found and secured, your lordship.”
The archfiend narrowed his eyes. “I hope, for your sake, that this time you are correct, and not sending the imps on another one of your fool’s errands.”
“No—I mean—yes—I mean—” Kyton paused. His voice shook. “It’s not a fool’s errand. I mean, yes. I am a fool, but not this time. I’m sure about this location, your lordship.”
The imp shifted his gaze to his master.
Lord Beelzebub looked at the imp creature for a moment longer.
“We’ll see. We’ve been waiting millenniums for a chance like this. Prophecies mean nothing. Prophecies can be changed and broken. This is inevitability, and it will come to pass. She will be strong enough to kill every last angel in the legion. The darkness in her will break the walls between life and death in the mortal world.”
Betaazu smiled evilly. “This is our opportunity. We have a chance to succeed where everyone else has failed. We’ve seen where demons like Valkmeer, Moluk, and Asmodeus have gone wrong. They were too hasty, and now we have learned from their mistakes.”
“We will rise again,” bellowed Beelzebub. “The Dark Gods will rise again.”
He rose from his throne, and his great black leathery wings spread wide above his back. He was a magnificent and terrifying god of darkness.
“And what about the non-believers, my lord?” inquired Betaazu.
Beelzebub crushed the globe in his hands in an explosion of dust.
“The demons will be dealt with,” said the archfiend. “If they don’t wish to join us, then we will destroy them.”
Chapter 8
Crimson Massacre
When Kara regained consciousness, she was relieved that the vega had not killed her. She had not disintegrated, and her mind was still intact. She looked around. She had expected to find Vegas alive with tourists, skyscrapers, fluorescent lights, taxis, buses, and the clinking of slot machines.
She hadn’t expected to find herself in a dead city.
Instead of a city bursting with bright lights and people—it was dark, quiet, and ominous. It looked as though the entire city had suffered from a major power outage. But where were all the people? Papers and dust blew through the streets, and fires burned in the dumpsters and buildings. Billowing black smoke clouded the skies. The only source of light came from the setting sun, which spilled rays of orange light from behind the mountains that surrounded the city. The hot dry air smelled of smoke and decay. A green street sign read, Las Vegas Boulevard.
Las Vegas was a ghost town.
Kara looked down at herself. She, too, was a ghost, just like this town. Things had not changed or improved. She had hoped the M-5 mortal suit would have provided her with a real, solid, mortal body. But it hadn’t. She was still a specter.
Kara had also hoped the use of vega might have recharged her memories. But she still couldn’t remember the moments bef
ore she had died. And the more she dwelled on it, the more it bothered her. How did she die? Why couldn’t she remember?
A sudden pain seared her back between her shoulder blades, like the sting of a large wasp. But when she reached over, expecting to grab a giant bug, there was nothing there. Her fingers were empty, and the pain vanished.
“Kara? Are you all right?” David had re-integrated right next to her.
“Yes, I’m fine,” she answered, and thought nothing more of it. “Just an itch. It’s gone now.”
“No, I mean,” said David, and he lowered his voice, “with the other thing.”
Kara didn’t like the look of pity she saw in David’s face. If she still had her elemental abilities, he wouldn’t be treating her like a weak little girl. It angered her. She wasn’t weak, and she would prove it.
“I’m fine,” she lied.
She rolled her weapon in her hand. “As you can see, I’m still a ghost; nothing’s changed. But you can stop staring at me like you think I’m going to break down, ’cause I’m not. I’m fine.”
David studied her. “I thought maybe with an M-5, that maybe it would have worked—”
“Yeah. Well, it didn’t.”
Kara shook her head impatiently. She was angry at the world all of a sudden. It was an anger that she couldn’t control.
“Just stop mothering me, okay. I’m fine.”
David glanced at her sideways, but said nothing. She could see he was confused by her behavior, but she didn’t care. She didn’t want Jenny or Peter to start treating her differently either, like she was the weakest link.
“What happened here?” asked Peter, breaking the awkward silence.
He moved down the street carefully, taking it all in.
“It looks like a bomb went off, or a giant riot of some kind. Where are all the people—?”
As if in answer, the city shook violently as a nearby explosion tore more stone and steel apart. The buildings shuddered as the city trembled from another impact. Then it was calm again.
Jenny lifted her bow from her back and carefully nocked an arrow. “I don’t know what happened here, but my gut feeling is demons or something else supernatural.”
“I’ve never heard of demons burning entire cities on their own,” Peter shrugged. “I don’t know, but it’s not their style. I could be wrong, but I don’t think demons did this.”
Jenny aimed her bow at the empty street. “Well, style or no style, something bad happened here. And it smells worse.”
“It did indeed,” said Peter.
“I guess Sin City ran out of sinners, eh?” David pulled out a silver soul blade from the folds of his jacket. “Too bad. And I was feeling especially lucky this evening. I thought I might have taken a break from work, once we’d neutralized the situation, and tried my luck at one of the casinos. I’m an awesome poker player.”
“You are?” said Kara.
“That’s right,” David smiled. “What can I say? I’m a natural at poker, and some women like that.”
Kara looked at him, irritated. “What women? Women with very low expectations.”
“More like dead,” muttered Jenny. She and Kara smiled.
Peter walked away from the group. He halted and held up a globe in the palm of his hand. The globe shone bright yellow, like a little sun.
“I’m getting really strong energy readings. Something really big, big enough to cause a huge gap in the electromagnetic field.”
He looked up from his contraption. “It’s off the charts. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Kara looked behind her. She had a sudden sense that something was missing. “Guys? Where are Ashley and her team? I thought they were coming with us?”
“They’re in Chicago,” answered Jenny, scanning the street. “There was another threat there as well, so Ariel sent them there to check it out. What? Did you want her to tag along with us?” she added with a laugh.
“I’d rather swallow my own tongue,” said Kara sarcastically, thankful not to have to deal with sour looks and spiteful remarks from Ashley.
But something else now was bothering her. She felt uneasy, restless. A darkness was engulfing the city. It was as if all the life were being snuffed out in a wave that spread out and just kept on spreading.
She measured the lifeless street one last time and said, “Will someone tell me what this new threat is, before I explode? I could tell Ariel was unnerved by it. She said it was something the legion never hoped to confront… What did I miss here?”
Jenny lowered her bow, her green eyes darkened in the fading sunlight. “Reapers.”
Kara narrowed her eyes. “Reapers? You mean like The Grim Reaper? The angel of death? That mythical creature that wears a black hooded cloak? The one that uses a scythe and—”
She broke off. She had the strangest feeling she’d seen one. Was it in a forest? But that was impossible. She’d only just got back. What was wrong with her? Was she was beginning to feel the repercussions of being a wraith herself? Her mind was failing.
“Yup, that’s the one,” said David, watching Kara carefully. “They exist. Yes, they, we know of seven, maybe more. And they’re no angels. Reapers are death demons from the lower planes of the Netherworld. They use the Scythe of Death to sever the ties between the soul and the body. They kill the mortals and take their souls.”
“Take?” repeated Kara.
“Exactly, they steal them. And it’s always been a bit of a mystery what really happens to the souls.”
“Why’s that?”
“We think the souls are dead,” added Jenny. “But it’s not proven, so we can’t be sure. But we do know that the reapers take the mortals’ souls just before they die and leave their bodies behind.”
The hairs on the back of Kara’s neck stood up. A soul’s true death was the worst thing that could happen. It could never be born again. It was a horrible prospect. She gripped her weapon firmly.
“Why do they do this?”
David shook his head. “We don’t know. Maybe they feed on the souls, like other demons, but there’s really not much the legion knows about reapers. They’re like super rare. I think that’s why the legion’s making so much noise about them. They’re not sure how to handle them.”
“Have you ever seen one?” asked Kara. “A reaper?”
“No,” Peter answered. “None of us have. In fact, I doubt any guardian at the legion has either. Reapers are demons from the first age, before the creation of man. They’re mysterious creatures. The legion really doesn’t know much about them—”
“Except that they’re killers,” interrupted David, “soul-sucking killers, like giant bloodsucking leeches.”
Kara quivered at the image. “And you think reapers did this?”
She inspected the deserted city and wondered why soul-suckers would take the time to destroy the city and set fire to buildings. If it was the souls they wanted, why the mayhem?
“If reapers are only interested in the souls…then where are the bodies?”
“I was just wondering the same thing,” said David. “Should we be seeing piles of dead bodies by now?”
“Let’s get moving,” said Jenny. She raised her bow. “I don’t have a good feeling about this place.”
Their footsteps echoed as they passed the burning casinos, hotels, and restaurants. The smoke obscured the last of the sunlight, making it really hard to see more than a few hundred feet ahead. Ashes and debris fell from the sky like heavy rain. Kara could feel panic and uncertainty wash over her friends like a heavy paint. It was not like them to be so nervous.
To make matters worse, Kara had the eerie feeling that something or someone was watching them.
From the corner of her eye, she could see that David was watching her as often as he was scouting the streets. He was worried about her, like he expected her to collapse at any moment. While it frustrated her that David seemed unduly concerned about her, she still couldn’t shake off the feeling that they wer
e being watched. It was there, like a bad headache.
The smoke and darkness muffled the last of the light, and she knew they would be covered in darkness.
She thought she heard a scream, but she realized it was just the wind blowing through the buildings.
Five blocks further down the strip they passed dark street corners that stank of gasoline, and cars ablaze in tall yellow and orange flames.
And still, they found no one.
Kara forgot about her curious disintegration and focused on this new threat. Although she didn’t have her elemental abilities anymore, she didn’t feel like anything was missing either. The more she pondered, the more she thought it strange. Shouldn’t she feel different? Maybe she wasn’t meant to feel disconnected. Maybe she wasn’t part elemental anymore. Maybe she was just a regular angel, like everyone else.
Just like everyone else, she thought as she stared at her hand and remembered the golden electricity that had once danced along her fingertips. But now it was just a plain hand.
The sharp pain erupted on her back again. She flinched and stumbled forward.
David was at her side before she had a chance to blink.
“If you say it’s only an itch again, I might have to tie you up and check you myself.” And then he added, “Not that I would mind, actually.”
Kara smiled, but she felt uneasy. “Well, whatever it was, it’s gone now. I don’t feel anything anymore.”
“But there is something wrong.”
“I’m not sure I’d call it wrong, but I did feel something like a sting on my back.” She looked up into David’s face. “It’s probably nothing serious, so stop worrying.”
David watched her. “But it could be really serious.”
“If it was serious, I’d be in a lot more pain, which I’m not. I’m perfectly fine.
“Yes, you are fine.”
Kara rolled her eyes, but her smile widened. “Let’s keep moving, lover boy, before the others think there’s something really wrong with me.”
As they made their way forward, the smoke cleared for a moment. A mass of people, men, women, and even children, hundreds of them, stood like statues in the street and blocked their way.
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