by Wall, Nathan
“How is that for a girl?” She tightened her grip on the sword.
“Glorious,” Set coughed, falling forward onto his knees, “but it was not enough.”
Athena swiped. Set rolled forward. She missed. He sprang to his feet, jumped off the wall, and rotated into a spinning kick. Athena’s faceguard shifted, rippling from the impact. He punched her into the wall, pinning her there. Set’s blades protruded over his hands.
A headlight washed over him, dragging an empty train behind it. He pulled her from the wall and elbowed her head. He flew through the hole above just as the train hit her.
“Now, where was I?” Set stumbled, regaining his balance. A mass of super-chilled air froze his aurascales. Horus crashed in front of him. Set recognized Osiris’ HALOGUARD. “That’s where it went. Doesn’t quite fit you.”
Horus kicked his uncle—breaking the ice—into the river. Set tried to fly, but his aurascales were out of sync. He crawled up the banks to Athena’s waiting feet.
“You again,” he sighed.
Athena’s sword tapped his chin. She swung for his neck. He rolled forward, kick-jumped to his feet, and knocked her into the water. Horus landed behind him. His claw snared Set and he tossed him up through the bridge.
Set landed and again skidded to a stop. Athena soared from the river and flew toward Set, sword first. He jump-kicked, swiping her face with his foot. She rolled to a halt. He tried summoning his wrist-blades, but his aurascales still wouldn’t conjure weapons or wings—a result of the HALOGUARD’s frozen weapon.
Athena’s sword was at his feet. He picked it up spun to his six, slicing Horus’ HALOGUARD. He severed one claw, but the sword dematerialized in his grasp and moved back into Athena’s. Set slid between Horus’ large, spread legs. Athena sprinted, leapt off Horus’ shoulder, and smashed into Set, stabbing her sword through his shoulder. She twisted.
Set screamed, “You bitch!” His faceguard rammed hers, splitting her helmet. He rammed her once again and she let go. He yanked her sword from his shoulder and drove it through her knee, pinning her to the bridge. His wrist blades formed. “Finally.” Set backhanded and split her faceguard open, gashing her cheek. He took off before killing her, not wanting to deal with Horus’ HALOGUARD.
“Kill him,” Athena yelled to Horus.
Set glanced back, seeing Horus lift off. He cut down to the streets, flying between buildings. The HALOGUARD was faster. Set chucked an idle car but Horus blew it to pieces.
“You’re ruining everything, just like your father.” Set evaded a swipe of Horus’ energy blade but not a kick. He crashed through a bank window. Glass fell from him like rain as he pushed to his feet. “Think, nephew. Try to see the bigger picture.”
“You murdered him.” Horus stormed into the building and crushed Set through the wall and out the other side.
“I do what’s necessary. He never did.” Set clung to Horus’ armor and was then thrown like a rag doll. His head throbbed. “He isn’t the saint everyone remembers.” Set’s aurascales were scathed and his exo-armor shredded. “Your HALOGUARD is evidence of that.” He propped against a light pole and wheezed.
“What do you mean?”
“Osiris was a bad man, just like the rest of us.” A static charge assembled into a broad sword. “Search the database. When you see it, you’ll know.”
“Liar.” Horus charged forward, cutting Set’s blade in two and crushing Set into the street with a HALOGUARD claw. “Your words may end up being true, but you’ll die none the less.”
A battle chariot de-cloaked behind Horus and discharged several energy blasts. Horus bounced down the street, his armor splintering. The chariot did it again. It released several crystallized arrows from a turret underneath. The HALOGUARD’s Magnetic shields diffused some of the blasts, but not the full force. The armor splintered.
Set pulled Horus from the broken HALOGUARD with one arm. His faceguard dispersed so he could get a clean look at Horus’ naked face. “You resemble your mother more than your father. That’s probably why you’ve shown more tenacity than Osiris, but not his skill in a fight.”
Horus gingerly punched at Set, but his uncle twisted the blow and turned him around. Set’s arm curled around Horus’ neck and removed Osiris’ piece of the forge. His wrist blades elongated.
“If you can’t see the truth, you’ve no use for these.” Set dragged a blade across Horus’ right eye and split it in half. His nephew fell in agony. He was tempted to end Horus, but the Jarrod issue could wait no longer. “We’ll finish this one day.”
Set flew back to the roof where Austin was slowly waking and the chariots followed. The back hatch of one of the crafts hissed open. Raphael stepped out with a few angels and the human girl in tow. He seemed none too happy with the damage to the city, or the fact Michael had been alerted to the situation. His arrival was surely imminent.
“Claire,” Austin said, lunging for the human woman.
“You took longer than I expected,” Set chuckled, pulling Austin away from Raphael.
“Too much collateral damage.” The angels around Raphael remained stoic in their aurascales while he spoke. “It’s obvious you can’t get the job done.”
“I’m working on it.” Set’s aurascales grew additional plating, anticipating a fight. “It’s almost done.”
“If you wanted that, it would’ve been so by now.” Raphael nodded. The angels took offensive positions, amusing Set. “I’ve longed to wipe that smile from your face.”
“You could never stomach a little urgency.” Set monitored his perimeter. “When the pressure is on, Raphael collapses. What are you going to tell Michael?”
“You betrayed us and let Gabriel take the fall.”
“And what, you’ll just wait around for Lucifer to free himself?” Set laughed. “There’s a thought. Loyalty means nothing to you.”
“Says the one with no intention of honoring our alliance.”
“What are these?” Set asked, pointing at the other angels. “Cherubs? Please. They may be clothed as guardians, but they’ll never be that. Just as you’ll never truly be an Archangel. You’ll always be the sniveling coward who had to lie his way to the top, never really able to handle confrontation or get bloody. When that time comes, you remain flaccid and unable to perform. That’s why I had to finish Osiris.”
Austin wobbled to his feet but Set pushed him down near the edge of the roof.
“Austin!” Claire cried.
Set looked at her. “If you’ve no intention of keeping with the plan, then why did you bring her?” He stepped away from Austin, leaving him exposed after seeing Lian and Jarrod watching the action from across the street. There was one last chance to coax the beast. “That’s right. You’re a coward. We just had that conversation. You can’t finish the job.”
“Be quiet,” Raphael ordered.
“Make me.”
The two exchanged blows and when it was obvious Set was going to win, the other four angels stepped in. Set drove his wrist blades up through the jaw of one angel and sliced another’s throat. Raphael rammed a bostaff into Set’s back, releasing a surge of sparkling purple electricity. Set fell to his knees.
“Am I still weak?” Raphael barked.
Set screamed in agony. “Yes.”
Raphael pulled away. “If that’s the way you want to play it.” He detached the remote to the Deliverance. His thumb slid across the remote. Set collapsed onto his face. His aurascales tore from his body, ripping apart his skin. “It stings, doesn’t it?”
Set curled into the fetal position, naked and whimpering. A necessary pain to get what he wanted: Raphael thinking he was in control.
Austin stared at Set’s raw flesh and exposed bone. Their eyes connected. Set provoked, “The changeling and girl yet live. Coward.”
“You can let us go,” Austin pleaded.
Raphael lifted him by the throat. “Shut up.” He looked at Set when the Assassin gargled something unintelligible. “I can’t hear you,” Raph
ael said.
“Pissing your pants?” Set burst with laughter.
Raphael put Austin down. Set could tell he was squirming at the thought of killing Austin. One more nudge should do it.
“Look at your leader,” Set said to the other angels. “He’s incapable.”
There was an eerie calm for a few seconds. Raphael nodded. “OK.” He shoved Austin over the side. “See, I don’t care.”
Claire screamed and was restrained by the other angels. Her muted cries were overtaken by others from across the street. The changeling was dead, but would it be enough to stir a response?
Chapter Forty-Seven
Jarrod VIII
Numbness and silence, that’s all there was. Twenty years of brotherhood extinguished like a pistol bolt to the head. Anger bubbled through next. It wasn’t aimed at the perpetrators, but inward. Jarrod tormented himself because he should’ve fought to leave. He’d allowed himself a dash of hope and with that Austin met his demise.
His best friend laid sprawled out over the street in a puddle of his own blood, and there’d be no healing this time. He knew it because Austin’s soul lingered severed from his body. The powerful lure of Austin’s soul coaxed a blue shine from Jarrod’s skin.
Lian’s cries slowly came into focus. “Damn you.” She tried clawing her way out of Jarrod’s clutches. “No… No… NO!”
Jarrod stared at the shimmering static of Austin’s bluish essence. He effortlessly curled Lian into his body and yanked her away from the hole in the side of the building. They plowed into the outer hallway.
Lian slapped him. “Snap out of it.” It did little to deliver her desired effect. “What are you going to do about it?”
Everything. Maybe nothing. The plan hadn’t quite been pieced together. He knew what he wanted to do. Rip them limb-from-limb and devour whatever it was that made them tick. Grow more powerful and feared than any being in creation. DESTROY EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING UNTIL IT WAS ALL JUST AS NUMB AND SILENT AS HIM.
But that’d be easy, and wrong, and that wasn’t what life was about or what Austin would’ve wanted. It hurt to fight against it. Not just some pussy ass, don’t harm a fly Buddhist shit. It literally fucking burned like pressing your face into boiling grease.
He felt the aurascales moving. Jarrod turned away from Lian. Get a grip. He pulled his hair, railing against his inner force. The hallways lights flickered in response to his surging power.
“When are you going to fight, Jarrod?” she asked.
“I am fighting it!” he yelled. The walls cracked down the hallway, knocking Lian to her feet when the jagged lines passed. “You think this is easy?” Jarrod stood. Her soul flared beneath her flesh the more afraid she became. “I told you all what I was and none of you listened. Why. Won’t. You. LISTEN?”
Jarrod punched the wall and pulled his hand from the plaster.
“Leave me, Lian, if you know what’s best for you. Before you end up like Austin, Sanderson, my mom, and all the rest. Go now. Please.”
Face it Jarrod, we need each other, Ryan said. The urge to feed on souls subsided with his gentle voice. I can be what you fear. You don’t have to do it alone.
“No,” Jarrod replied. “You’re wrong.”
“Is he?” Lian asked, standing behind Jarrod. She knelt and hugged him. “I understand it.”
I know you can hear me, Lian.
“Shut up,” Jarrod ordered.
Ryan didn’t care. Jarrod is good. You know this. It pains him to do what’s needed. I’ve seen you work. We’re alike, Lian.
“No, we aren’t.” She squeezed Jarrod harder, crying into his back. “I don’t want to kill people.”
You think I do? I’m needed, Lian.
“Lian, you need to go,” Jarrod urged. It was coming together: Set’s reason for letting him live, Ryan’s eerie suggestions, and Lian’s ability and desires. His mother’s words about the world coping. This was what she meant. “Don’t listen to him.”
Jarrod won’t give you Austin back, but I will. Those words pulled air from her lungs like a vacuum. It was out there and there was no taking it back. Lian jumped away, no longer crying. She understood the message. Jarrod looked at her, concerned. She wiped the tears away, oddly calm. Yes, Lian, Jarrod is stronger with me. This wall, it’s cracking. I’ll be out eventually, but not soon enough to help Austin. Think about where you want to lay your head. Help me.
“Don’t.” Jarrod ran away, but it was a dead end. Lian calmly followed. He went to burst through the wall, but a crippling pain shot up his spine. Ryan paralyzed him. “Please, Lian.”
It’s gonna happen eventually, Lian. You can’t fight fate, but you can choose how to get there. FREE ME.
His pain subsided. She knelt by his side, holding his face. “Jarrod,” she said calmly and kissed his cheek. “I love you like a brother.” Her tears flowed again. He shook his head, struggling. Her eyes turned back and her hair rose to static.
The numbness was replaced with chilled spikes stabbing through his muscle and bone. Darkness overtook the light. It was as if he was being shoved into a box. The aurascales controlled his body. The ghoulish, skeletal face of his helmet emerged.
Do you feel it? Ryan asked. What it’s like to be subordinate?
Jarrod’s eyes opened, but it wasn’t him moving the body. It was as if he watched remotely, with goggles relaying live feed. He tried moving his arms and legs. Nothing responded.
“Jarrod?” Lian asked. Her voice seemed to echo through an empty hall.
“I’m here,” he yelled. She couldn’t hear him.
I’m alright, Ryan responded. Lian sighed with relief. I’m intact.
“That’s a lie,” Jarrod protested. “That’s not me.”
***
Two more angels attacked. Ryan stabbed through the first’s heart and cut the second’s throat. Before the angels’ lives completely halted, he stood over them and drained their auras, just as he’d done to the fifteen previous.
Invincible. Nothing could stop the juggernaut he’d become. Every time he drained an angel of what they were, he obtained their skills, memories, and power. It was all he’d ever dreamed of.
“We need reinforcements!” Raphael yelled. The chariot he’d piloted had crashed when Ryan broke through it to free Claire, allowing her to return to Lian unharmed. The real target was what Raphael carried. It was something powerful. An unlimited source of power, souls, and light. It sang to Ryan like a Siren on the ocean. “You.” Raphael trembled as Ryan approached.
“Me,” Ryan laughed.
Stop, please. No more, Jarrod pleaded. Ryan tuned him out.
“You’re Raphael, correct?” Ryan asked, shredding the chariot in half with his bare hands. It was fun, the ease of it all. “What is it I’m drawn to about you? I see inside your aura, but it’s cowardly and frail compared to what I can taste at the tip of my tongue. What is it?”
“The Light of Souls,” Set replied. Ryan turned around, unable to keep from noticing Set’s pecker dangling free in the wind.
“Would you cover yourself?” Ryan averted his eyes, turning back to Raphael. “The Light of Souls.” He sifted through the memories of every angel he’d just consumed. “Yes. You have the key to the light.”
“Set, what are you doing?” Raphael crawled over broken glass and stumbled to his feet. He manifested a sword and shield. “You fool. You’d give him the light?”
“What did you think this was all about?” It noticeably pained Set to walk. “Killing Death would only delay the end. Freeing him and making him more powerful than we can imagine leads to more possibilities.”
“You orchestrated this?” Ryan looked back at Set, impressed. “Why, thank you.”
“Much obliged.” Set bowed.
Ryan turned back just in time to dodge Raphael’s sword. He slid to the right, then left and right again. Raphael’s sword stuck into the faded limestone brick building and Ryan took him by the throat.
“The key,” Ryan insisted. Raph
ael shook his head no. “Now’s not the time to grow a spine.”
“It’s the perfect time,” Raphael grunted. Ryan slammed him into the ground. The remote to the Deliverance bounced out of Raphael’s grasp.
Set stepped toward it, drawing a snarl from Ryan. “May I have that?” he asked politely, pointing at the remote. Ryan nodded. “Thank you.” He scooped it up and stood by Ryan. “I’ll need one more thing.”
“What?” Ryan barked.
“His thumb.”
Ryan stepped on Raphael’s neck. “Which one?”
Set shrugged. “For the life of me, I can’t remember.” Ryan severed both of Raphael’s hands and then pinned him to the ground through the gut. He placed both hands to the sides of Raphael’s face and drained his aura. Raphael’s body turned to ash and his starstone fused together.
Set swiped Raphael’s thumb across the remote and his aurascales returned, healing his wounds. Soon he was covered with the green sentient armor which sprouted a silver exoskeleton.
“Where’s the key to the light?” Ryan asked, pushing Set to the ground. “I can’t find it on him.”
“It should’ve detached from his aurascales when you killed him.” Set crawled backwards. Ryan moved so quickly, he was a blur. He appeared behind Set. “It should be there.”
“Find it.” Ryan shoved Set into Raphael’s ashy corpse and starstone. The Assassin worked feverishly to find the key. His hands fumbled. “I’m growing impatient.”
“Imagine my sentiment,” Michael said. Both Set and Ryan turned around. The Archangel leader stood with brilliant, unblemished armor, his eagle faceguard almost translucent. “Set, what’ve you done?”
“Shit, time ran out.” Set hung his head and stood. He stepped equidistant from Ryan and Michael. “What no one else had the courage to do.”