Angelus

by Sabrina Benulis

  He strode toward the mirror, gazing at it in curiosity.

  It was clear he wasn’t leaving anytime soon. He circled and paced for what felt like an eternity. Eventually, his back turned to Nina and Fury. The angel’s mahogany-colored wings and hair were familiar—he must have been the same angel patrolling the skies near Memorial Cemetery.

  Nina, Juno’s thoughts whispered into her mind, on my signal—attack him. I’ll do the rest.

  Are you sure? Juno, he’s dangerous—

  I’m sure. Trust me.

  That was hard to do when Juno was still little more than a chick. But Nina had few choices when it came to obeying her master. She tried to calm herself, taking deep breaths. Time seemed to slow.

  Juno’s eyes glowed back at her briefly from a corner of the room and then blinked out again.

  The angel spun on his heel, suspicious. Another odd but howling gust of wind penetrated the tower.

  NOW! Juno’s voice rang.

  Two

  Nina had no time to rethink what came next. The fear would have stifled her. She burst from the darkness, Fury behind her, both of their talons aiming for the angel’s eyes.

  He turned, tossing a crackling wave of energy in their direction.

  It fanned at Nina like blue lightning.

  Fury screeched and dropped to the ground quickly. But Nina found her mark, slicing the angel across the face with her nails. He whipped out his bow and arrow almost too fast to see. His perfect teeth gritted together, and his chin bled. The arrow glowed fatally and shot in her direction.

  Nina let herself plummet to the floor. The arrow whistled past, striking the wall with a vicious burst of light.

  Despite the painful brilliance, Juno exploded from her hiding place and slammed into the angel. Her weight pitched him to the floor on his back.

  BOOM.

  Juno bit his hand before he could reach for another arrow. The sharp smell of more blood hit Nina. But the angel only screamed once before Juno’s nails threatened to cut off his air for good. This was an incredible opportunity. If Juno acted right, they could find out so much important information, or better still, they could learn where Angela might be. Nina could only watch eagerly, her avian heart thrumming like a bee’s wings.

  “Talk,” Juno snarled. A deadly light brightened her eyes more. Now she looked much more like her aunt.

  “A Jinn chick?” the angel whispered hoarsely. “Little feathered rat!” He tried to spit in her face. Juno clamped down harder on his throat.

  “Talk. I won’t say it again,” she snapped at him. Only Nina and Fury knew how afraid she probably was right now. Her subtly shaking wings gave her away. “Why are you in Luz?”

  “I could say . . . the same about you . . .” the angel wheezed. When Juno’s lips lifted, revealing her sharp teeth, he managed to stammer a better answer. “Reconnaissance. The Realms are colliding slowly. Archangel Zion sent us to investigate before his abdication. The human priests have been cooperating with us to flush out any evil creatures in their city before we leave it to its fate.”

  At the word abdication Juno looked confused.

  The angel continued with obvious reluctance. “Now the crown of Heaven has been passed to another.”

  “To who?” Juno said.

  The angel’s lips sealed tightly this time. Obviously, he wasn’t going to offer anything further.

  “To the Archon?” Juno offered.

  The angel smirked. “She doesn’t need the crown of Heaven. She already has one in Hell.”

  Nina had to keep herself from gasping. Angela was still in Hell—but on Lucifel’s Throne. Then where was Lucifel? Was it she who now ruled Heaven?

  A deep chill worked its way through Nina’s soul.

  Juno tilted her head, seeming to think. Carefully, she reached down and broke first the angel’s bow and then each adamant arrow. Finally, she leaned in very close to his face. The angel breathed hard and fast as Juno sniffed the cut on his chin. Hunger was written all over her face. Earth wasn’t hospitable to Jinn, angels, or demons. In the human Realm they often suffered the longer they stayed, and after a few days, Juno’s hunger must have been immense. Rats might not have been enough for her anymore.

  Nina watched in tense silence. Fury limped to her side, also silent.

  Slowly, Juno licked the blood from the angel’s chin. She closed her eyes, as if savoring the taste. The angel stared up at her, both transfixed and terrified.

  Her hand struck him powerfully across the face again.

  The angel screamed before falling unconscious, his head thumping back against the stone floor.

  “That’s for letting my people starve for millennia,” she muttered. “I’m not like you, angel. Things have to change—in a good way.”

  Juno climbed off his chest and shook out the feathers of her wings. She truly resembled an indignant queen, even if a small one.

  Nina and Fury looked at each other.

  They both let out a sigh of relief that sounded like a croak.

  Juno arched her wings proudly and turned, nodding at the mirror. Her hunger and the angel were already forgotten. The fear that had made her wings tremble had also misted over her bright eyes, but she seemed to be recovering fast. “What are we waiting for?” she said brightly to Nina. “I guess it’s time to leave.”

  Nina strutted over to the angel and examined his pale face. There was no telling how long he’d be unconscious. And now, their presence would be known.

  Reconnaissance? She looked to Fury. That didn’t explain why all the human souls had disappeared.

  Fury hadn’t bought the angel’s explanation either. She stared off into the distance, seeming disturbed.

  Nina’s mind raced. Her bad feeling was becoming worse. Somehow, it didn’t seem beyond some of the officials in Luz to try bargaining with these angels to save their skins. She could only wonder what the price happened to be for their help. Probably nothing good.

  Her thoughts switched over again to the human spirits trapped in the cemetery and harvested by angels. What did they possibly need them for?

  Nina hadn’t prayed in a long time. Even so, she hoped her feelings could find their way to Angela through so much distance and danger. She glanced at the angelic city on the horizon, and another shiver worked through her body that was born from something other than the icy chill. Despite its beauty and grandeur, Heaven didn’t seem quite so heavenly right now.

  Angela, we need you. Open the Book of Raziel quickly, before it’s too late. I don’t understand—what are you waiting for? What’s happened to you?

  Faintly, like the farthest echo imaginable, she could have sworn an answer reached her.

  Nina wasn’t sure she liked what she heard.

  Three

  HELL THE CITY OF BABYLON

  Deadly tension filled the Council chamber as the imprisoned angel was brought forward.

  He was tall like the demons but boasted blond hair and wings. Shining metal cuffs—the mark of a soldier—protected his wing bones and a few decorous gems glittered near his shoulders. Of course his weapons had been taken some time ago, and his hands had been secured by adamant, energy-repelling manacles.

  Kim watched with the others in stark silence as the demons flung the prisoner before Angela. A dull echo rang throughout the chamber as his knees hit the stone. Two sharp tridents jabbed immediately afterward for the angel’s neck. “You will kneel before the Prince of Hell,” one of the demons said maliciously.

  The angel obeyed but stared ahead. The demons who’d poked him continued to stand guard anyway. Side by side, their shared heritage with the angel was more obvious than ever before. These guards were from the younger generation of demons, and though their skin was a dark copper color, and their eyelids glowed with phosphorescent paint, their features and the angel’s were close to identical.

  Angela shifted position on her onyx throne, crossing her legs. Half of her face lit up in the dim bloody light of Lucifel’s former Altar.
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br />   The angel’s wings trembled, and even the guards beside him drew back for a second.

  The obsidian walls gleamed around Kim and the presiding demons of the Council like dark mirrors. In them, Angela on her great throne appeared to reflect a thousand times over, looming over every demon present. Her face had always been rather lean, and though now it appeared even more sharp and resolute, her large eyes—one blue and one a deep emerald green—and her knee-length, blood-red hair softened her features, reminding everyone that she was still human and young. Yet Angela was the Archon, and that remained the crucial difference. Now, she wore the heavy obsidian crown and the authority to prove it. Her dominating gaze said everything.

  Kim wondered if this was how Lucifel behaved before she’d been caged.

  Angela continued to stare at the angel with a look that might incinerate rock.

  What was she thinking?

  He glanced briefly at Sophia for answers, but she was pretending not to notice him. As usual she stood in the shadows behind Angela’s great throne, her thick curled hair and silver dress drenched in the darkness. But her storm-gray eyes and pale skin still somehow gleamed, catching whatever light remained to her. A necklace with a white jewel pendant sparkled like a star set on her chest.

  The acidic air stung Kim’s throat. He turned aside, coughing into his hand. Beside him, the Great Demon Lilith turned and shot him an irritated glare.

  She’d been smiling at the impending drama, gently stroking a giant glistening spider that sat on her knee like a cat. Kim shuddered and turned away just as quickly. He could hear the spider chittering in contentment.

  “There, there,” Lilith whispered. She sat back deeper into her ornate chair, giving the spider’s legs longer strokes. Finally it had enough and scuttled up her arm to perch on her shoulder, at last coming to rest far too close to Kim for comfort. “It will all be over soon,” Lilith said, her silken voice dripping with anticipation.

  The demon turned and looked pointedly at Kim.

  He had no choice but to look back. Lilith was always striking, but tonight she was even more so than usual. Her dark skin blended almost seamlessly with her ebony dress, and her orange eyes seemed to burn with a fascinating inner fire. Someone had braided her inky hair. He doubted Lilith had done it. She wasn’t the type to lift a finger for herself.

  “Uncomfortable?” Lilith suggested, her voice high with amusement.

  “Not at all,” Kim whispered.

  Lilith smiled. “Well, forgive me, but your shaking hands say otherwise. You should have told me you hated spiders. What a shame, yes,” she said, turning to the spider and cooing at it. “He hates you, and you haven’t done a thing to him.” Then she added darkly, “Yet.”

  Kim struggled to appear unconcerned. “I’m surprised you decided to come to this Council,” he said, aware that his words sounded even more suspicious than he felt.

  “I never miss a good show,” Lilith murmured. “Especially when the Archon is starring.”

  Should he press his luck? He had to try to find out the truth for Angela’s sake. He knew she was suffering, even if she couldn’t tell him anymore.

  “Perhaps it wasn’t wise for you to come,” Kim began.

  Lilith peered at him sharply. “What do you mean? What nonsense are you about to annoy me with?”

  “Well, there are rumors that you’re controlling the Archon. That She’s little more than a puppet ruler with you pulling the strings. That makes you a target for Lucifel’s remaining worshippers, and—”

  “And?” Her voice burned like her eyes.

  “It’s common knowledge your son, Python, desires the Throne of Hell. No one would be surprised if you’re doing what you can to keep him off it. Who can really blame you?”

  Lilith said nothing. Her sensual lips sealed into a tight line. “I knew I shouldn’t have started a conversation with you,” she finally said, sighing. “You’re as ignorant as the rest of your race. Ah, wait, I’d forgotten. You’re the only half-Jinn unfortunate enough to be alive.” She narrowed her eyes at him, as if trying to pierce him with her words. “I wonder what it’s like to be in love with a woman who barely remembers who you are? If you’ve decided to become Angela Mathers’s knight in shining armor now, you might as well put an end to the dream today. I think it’s painfully clear you’re about as useful to her as a common fly.”

  The spider on Lilith’s shoulder chittered again. Surely, it couldn’t understand the word fly? Then again, Kim wouldn’t have been surprised if that spider had once been human itself.

  “Yes, I suppose you’re right,” Kim said, but not meaning it in the slightest. He’d never give up on Angela. Neither would Sophia.

  And at last he was certain he’d struck on a solution.

  Months ago, when Lilith had forced Angela to drink angel blood to peer into her mind, Kim had feared there’d be lingering aftereffects. He’d not only been right, but the worst had happened: Angela lost most of her memories. She no longer remembered chunks of her former life on Earth in the city of Luz, or much of her hellish journey to rescue Sophia from Python’s clutches. In Angela’s mind, she had been the Prince of Hell for a while, and it was a lie Lilith intended to nurture. Lilith was transparent enough. She wanted prosperity for Hell. She wanted control of that prosperity. And she didn’t need anyone to know about it.

  The only flaw in her plans was that Angela didn’t seem to know how to open the Book of Raziel anymore, and Sophia could feign ignorance forever. No one was stupid enough to harm the Book—the universe’s last chance of salvation—or the Archon who could open her.

  But time was running out. The disintegration was rapidly affecting Hell, and Kim couldn’t imagine what was going on in Luz.

  Lilith’s growing nastiness was a sure sign of her worries.

  She tapped her bare foot against the stone floor, suddenly impatient with Angela’s fearfully regal attitude.

  At last, Angela was ready to speak.

  Sophia stepped forward, emerging into the red light of the glowing pentagrams so that her dress shimmered. Her thick curls resembled a dark storm cloud, and her fathomless gaze scanned the assembled demons, lingering on certain individuals with interest—or suspicion. She lingered longest on Lilith. Her glance at Kim was briefer than he’d hoped, but for the best. She’d surely received his message. Now all she had to do was give him the sign that their meeting would take place tonight.

  “This angel was found on the Silent Plain before the Gates of Babylon,” one of the demonic guards explained in answer to a quiet question from Sophia. “We have every reason to believe he is a spy sent to infiltrate the city.”

  Angela stood and examined the angel carefully.

  Immediately, the ranks of demons thronging the chairs set around the throne stood from their seats and knelt before her. Lilith gave a heavy sigh, but tossed the fan in her lap at a servant and knelt with the others.

  High above Angela, Lucifel’s former chains swayed and clinked together gently in the quiet. There, the great angel had hung in the eternal gloom of Hell, so admired and feared by her worshippers that none dared to free her. There, her mind had wandered from darkness into what Kim knew to be insanity. It was a madness he’d never allow to touch Angela as long as he lived.

  The pentagrams around them pulsed with a dull bloody light. The beasts carved into the throne warped their shapes in the shadows.

  “A spy?” Angela reiterated. Her voice rang, shivering Lucifel’s manacles and chains again. Kim’s heart raced. The sound of Angela’s voice sent tremors through his soul. “That’s ludicrous,” she said softly. “The portals to the other Realms have all been destroyed as the dimensions are collapsing. He must have arrived here by mistake. Sit down,” she said, gesturing at the kneeling demons.

  They piled back into their seats. No one voiced their relief louder than Lilith. Seeming to have lost all sense of decorum, she brushed dirt from her dress and slid back into her chair, sighing loudly again.

  N
ow the Council was open for discussion, though Angela of course had the final say in everything, and very few dared to voice an opinion despite her lack of cruelty. Angela couldn’t kill with a touch or manipulate her own shadow like Lucifel, but there was something about her presence that overpowered every other. Fearful mystery reflected in that emerald green eye of hers, and it tended to silence a room. Only Kim, Sophia, Lilith, and Python acted relatively at ease around her. Perhaps because they were the few individuals who knew she wasn’t like the Devil at all. But the general populace of Hell trembled before its new ruler, and Kim had nearly lost his own wits the few times Angela glared at him sideways. Did she know that if it weren’t for the protective power of the Grail, she’d be hanging from the same chains that had imprisoned the Devil who’d ruled before her?

  Just another reason to bring the old Angela back.

  “He arrived here by mistake?” one of the Council demons reiterated to Angela. “So this is all just a big coincidence?”

  Angela looked at him sharply. The tension in the chamber grew by leaps and bounds. “Maybe. Let’s ask him.”

  She stepped directly in front of the angel, her boots clacking against the stone. He continued to stare blankly at her waist. His wings shook like leaves in a gale. Certainly he knew his life was in danger.

  “How did you get here?” Angela said. Her voice echoed.

  No answer.

  Muttering filled the room. Angela glared at him. “Do you understand what kind of danger you’re in right now? Tell me how you came to Babylon and why.”

  Nothing. The angel could have been made of the same stone surrounding them.