Angelus

by Sabrina Benulis

One of the demons flanking the angel’s side twisted his trident on the curve of the angel’s neck. He flinched as a spot of blood welled from the cut. “Speak, you arrogant crow,” the demon hissed. “The Prince of Hell commands you.”

  The dull noise in the room expanded, taking up every spare inch of space. Kim’s vision swam. Angela wasn’t going to execute the angel—so he hoped—but even she would sense the angel’s pride wasn’t making her look like much of a leader, either. Angela breathed hard and glanced around, finally settling her gaze on Kim. They both knew she couldn’t afford to lose the fear that kept her subjects in awe of her. Her expression was almost asking permission of him to behave more forcefully.

  Kim shook his head in denial.

  Now Sophia gave him the sign he’d been waiting for. She retrieved two silver barrettes from her thick hair.

  So she’d agreed to meet him as he’d asked. He offered Sophia a nod in reply.

  Thankfully, Angela didn’t notice. She seemed to think, at war with herself. Angela’s memories of Kim were somewhat unchanged, and Kim knew she trusted him and Sophia above everyone. Her feelings had stayed intact, despite her inability to remember many of their past moments together, and Kim was grateful. But a sick feeling tied his stomach into knots when he thought of how returning her memories to her might change all that. Angela didn’t need him, she just thought she did, and for Kim it was an illusion worth sustaining. He certainly couldn’t rely solely on his appearance to justify his place by her side.

  The obsidian reflected his pale face an even chalkier hue than usual. Being trapped in Hell alongside Angela wasn’t to his advantage, despite his heritage as a half-Jinn. Tiredness glazed his amber eyes. His black hair had grown out ragged and uneven, and the red streak in his bangs had faded away to a splash of color above his nose. With no sun to mark the passage of time, he’d been sharing in Angela’s nearly sleepless nights.

  All he wanted was to thrust all of Hell aside and embrace her forever. Instead, he had to survive by Angela’s side as an anxious shadow.

  Even for him, that was no longer good enough. The Book of Raziel had to be opened. Waiting was no longer an option for anyone.

  Kim pressed a hand against his pocket. Inside, the metal crow’s foot talisman warmed his thigh. He wasn’t sure if accepting any demon’s help, especially this demon’s, in returning Angela’s memories was smart, but there was little choice left. Besides, Kim couldn’t stand watching her suffer anymore. Angela had nightmares and waking visions almost every day. She spoke of being torn apart in her dreams, of the pieces of her body being flung throughout the stars. Fear plucked at him every time she spoke like that.

  Was Lucifel’s Grail—the emerald green Eye now a living part of Angela—responsible for such visions?

  And whose eye had it been in the first place?

  Perhaps that question best remained unanswered for now.

  Uncharacteristic shouts erupted throughout the chamber. The more vocal demons had started to openly clamor for the angel’s death. Right when the arguments reached a feverish pitch, Angela stooped down and leaned in close to the terrified angel’s ear.

  The angel gave a start at whatever he heard. He raised his face to Angela’s, observing her with keen fascination. Had he expected her to be someone else? Maybe Lucifel? Obviously, he’d expected to die instead of being mercifully spared. Angela would never execute anyone. Kim could only ponder what she might have said to the angel that finally goaded him into speaking.

  “I’m not a spy,” the angel said slowly.

  The escalating furor of the room died as if a switch had been flipped. Silence descended once more. Braziers set in the rock flickered.

  Lilith sat up with renewed interest.

  The angel glanced around before turning to Angela again. “I’m not a spy,” he repeated louder, perhaps hoping that every last demon in Babylon would get the message. “I was sent on a harvesting mission to Earth and accidentally entered a new portal. You believe there are no more ways to travel between the Realms? You’re wrong. Heaven and Earth are now permanently connected at the linchpin of Luz, and one city stares at the other across a divide that lessens by the hour. Hell will join them soon. The Realms are on a collision course. What hasn’t crumbled is about to collide with what also remains. And then . . .”

  No one spoke. Kim sensed there hadn’t been such silence in Hell since it had rested empty before Lucifel’s reign.

  A harvesting mission? What could that mean? A chill ran up his spine.

  Kim’s pulse beat like a drum in his ears. If this angel spoke the truth, he, Sophia, and Angela were much closer to Luz than they’d probably ever thought possible. Angela did her best to appear unruffled by the news, though the mention of Luz in particular seemed to cause her true concern. Her brow furrowed. Perhaps she was trying to remember something crucial.

  “Lies,” she ended up saying, certainly aiming to poke the angel into explaining further. She turned her back to him. “Why would such a thing happen so suddenly?”

  “Lucifel’s breach into Heaven clearly instigated it,” the angel retorted. “When she took the Throne of Heaven, the dimensional destruction accelerated.”

  Lucifel sat on Heaven’s Throne?

  Now Angela turned back around, a clear expression of alarm and worry tightening her features. Even Lilith sucked in a sharp breath. The spider on her shoulder scuttled anxiously to her other arm.

  The Council devolved immediately into a fury. Voices clamored. Angela was seemingly too lost in her thoughts to demand order with either her aura or her voice. Kim could read her thoughts plainly now. If that was the case, and Lucifel ruled Heaven, then what had happened to Israfel, Heaven’s former Archangel who’d followed his sister back home? Was he dead? Imprisoned? Anything could be going on. Ever since Angela took Lucifel’s place in Hell, she’d been searching for an escape. She just didn’t know it. Getting out of Hell and stopping Lucifel had appeared impossible to Kim, and he’d never bothered mentioning it, and he’d obsessively sought ways to open the Book of Raziel, and without accidentally destroying Sophia, before the worst happened.

  Perhaps they were all too late.

  Sophia often spoke to Kim of how she and Angela had raced after Lucifel on the great plain that spread throughout Hell. Her description was so vivid, Kim could always feel the Kirin beneath him as if he rode it himself, and Sophia’s arms gripping his waist. He could hear Angela’s scream of frustration and defeat as the portal closed with a clap and a tremendous explosion of light. Lucifel and Israfel had entered that light, returning to Heaven. Back to the angelic city that had revolved before Hell like a wheel of fire and stars.

  Angela pressed a hand to her green eye, struggling to hide what Kim knew to be pain. If she wasn’t careful, the visions would take her. He struggled to stay seated while a cold sweat chilled his forehead.

  The angel already looked at Angela suspiciously.

  “Do you speak the truth?” Angela demanded of the angel, displaying her emerald eye again. It was a struggle to keep the pain out of her voice, but she was accomplishing it admirably.

  The angel examined her, obviously trying to gauge the trustworthiness of what must have been Angela’s promise to spare his life. “You’re the Archon, aren’t you?” he whispered back, his voice steady with awe.

  Angela nodded.

  “The Devil herself is indeed in Heaven,” the angel said quietly. “That, the collapsing dimensions, and the equal surprise of Prince Israfel’s return caused a grievous divide. Then our nightmare began. Archangel Zion abdicated and Lucifel’s worshippers rose swiftly to power, taking advantage of fear to imprison Israfel and set Lucifel on the throne. Of course, most angels do not wish Lucifel to rule. But we are all running out of time, and desperate souls make desperate choices. Both family and friendships crumble as everyone turns on one another in their panic. If you are the Archon, why do you let the chaos continue? If you haven’t chosen to let the universe die, why not accomplish what yo
u must to save it?”

  Angela stared at him.

  What could she say? She no longer knew how to open the Book, and even if she remembered, Kim knew something else held Angela back. Whenever she regarded Sophia, Angela seemed sorrowful. Her tone always became more gentle, and her stance around Sophia was always more protective. Deep down inside, her spirit certainly remembered a terrible truth. He couldn’t imagine what it might be.

  Most of the demons believed the Book of Raziel could not be opened at all.

  Kim refused to accept that. But regardless of how the deed could be accomplished, and where the Lock and Key to open Sophia might be found, Angela alone could accomplish it. The great angel Raziel had arranged everything that way, after all. But that didn’t mean Sophia was exempt from suffering. Immortal in a unique way, she could not die like a human despite the worst tortures. Often, the more rebellious demons examined her with calculating, hungry eyes.

  Kim shuddered. He couldn’t imagine how it would feel to exist in pieces after desperate demons tore you apart.

  “The harvesting mission to Earth that you mentioned,” Angela reminded the angel. “Explain to me what that’s about.”

  But the calm of the room had given way to renewed discussion, arguments, and turmoil, and it drowned the angel’s voice. Kim could barely hear himself think, and it was now clear Angela had to voice her decision about the angel’s fate for everyone to hear before a riot broke out.

  “Silence,” Angela proclaimed, her voice echoing. “I’ve heard the prisoner’s full confession. And this is my judgment as Prince of Hell.”

  Some of the noise died down.

  She stole brief peeks at Kim and Sophia. If Sophia appeared fearful and abnormally pale, Kim was certain he looked the same.

  “As it stands right now,” Angela continued, “I do not find him guilty of conspiracy against the Realm of Hell. It is my judgment that he remain in our prison near the onyx mines, and that after ten days he will be released to return home if he can, and without any opposition whatsoever. If his life is taken on the great plain by a Hound, then fate will have given us our justice. It is so ordered.”

  The angel let out a relieved sigh. But the demons’ collective irritation erupted like a volcano.

  Lilith stood this time. She gave Angela one long, forced smile before she escaped Kim’s side, walked into the throngs, and vanished, her servants trailing behind her. Her disdain for Angela’s decision was evident, and it appeared to spark even more discontent. Immediately, a general consensus was reached by the demons of the Council.

  The Book of Raziel must be opened. A tumult of voices demanded answers from Angela.

  Angela sat back on her chair, rigid as a statue. Even if she trembled inside, Kim couldn’t help but marvel at how she kept her voice calm and steady. “There is no way to open the Book,” Angela replied for the thousandth time, repeating it over and over.

  “Archon!” the angel shouted, and he shot Angela a desperate look as he was escorted from the chamber. “Do what you must! Or as you well know, all of us are doomed to death—”

  His words finally faded away, as his distance and the noise in the chamber increased.

  Sophia stared at Kim, her eyes taking on a deep and fathomless darkness.

  Her delicate hand grasped the jewel pendant resting on her chest.

  They nodded at each other now as the turmoil in the room showed no signs of dying down. Yes, it was time to act.

  Four

  Cold air wafted up through the tunnel leading back to Babylon. To Kim’s right, the Styx River foamed and bubbled powerfully. Pentagrams pulsed the length of the passageway, hazing the fog to a strange purple shade. The Council was over, and Kim had had every opportunity to return to Angela’s side in safety. Instead here he was, prepared to behave with incredible foolishness.

  Well, this was something he had to do.

  He’d deliberately stopped at a narrow passageway, not very far from where Lucifel’s guardian Thrones used to rest. He actually wanted to run. The innermost depths of the Dead Tunnels always struck him with horror. But he’d decided to steel himself. Taking a deep breath, he looked around for anyone who might be watching.

  No one. He was alone.

  Kim entered. Pitch-black shadows threatened to swallow everything.

  Carefully, he navigated down a deep and much narrower passageway of smoothly carved stone. Demonic hieroglyphs spattered the walls in haphazard patterns, glowing weakly. Kim understood enough of the language to make out the words danger and punishment, and it took all the courage within him to continue moving. A strange sensation of watchfulness oppressed him. The air tasted stale.

  Dim flickering embers hid in the uppermost recesses of the rocks near the ceiling. Kim followed them, careful not to lose sight of the path they marked.

  This was the hidden and more dreadful path to and from Lucifel’s Altar, but also the quickest one. Even so, most demons never used it. The last time Kim had walked through was months ago when Python had forced Angela into a slow march to free Lucifel from her prison.

  Kim had strolled a mere hundred feet when the worst began. Bodies of angels and demons had been melded into the walls. Most were alive, but they remained eternal statues. Arms and wings jutted out of the stone at odd angles. Hair hung ragged and dusty. Skin had taken on the deathly color of white marble.

  Their eyes followed Kim in the darkness.

  The hair rose on the back of his neck. Despite the deep silence, he seemed to hear thousands of voices calling his name and questioning his presence. He glanced around, but the whispers faded from his mind like half-forgotten dreams.

  “Don’t worry,” he heard himself say. “She’ll free you . . . somehow. Someday.”

  Angela often spoke to him about how she longed to find a way to rescue these poor souls. Yet she feared that dislodging them might kill them even faster.

  This could have been that angel’s fate if Angela had spurned being merciful.

  To live like this—no one deserved such a Hell. Kim paused in front of an angel who looked much like the one Angela had pardoned. With a shaking hand, he brushed some hair from the angel’s marble white chin.

  The angel’s wings twitched and his eyes snapped open.

  Kim jumped back, gasping for breath. He steadied himself with a hand, waiting awhile to summon his bravery again. At last he continued on until he found what he’d been looking for.

  He stared up at a demon imprisoned in the stone. The demon appeared fast asleep, his black hair hanging in his face. Tears blurred Kim’s vision and ran hotly down his cheeks. He turned aside, squeezing his eyes shut and allowing himself the time to sob quietly. He refused to move, even as a set of footsteps broke the eerie quiet. It was Lilith again, and she paused beside Kim to also stare up at Mastema, the imprisoned demon who had been his foster father.

  Mastema had been second only to Lucifel before she’d escaped, and he’d been one of the strongest supporters of her insane ideals. Kim had feared Mastema and the power he wielded as much as he adored him.

  Kim’s soul felt like it had been stabbed.

  “Was I too hard on you at the Council?” Lilith said almost too softly to Kim. There may have been a note of true regret in her voice. But it was unlikely. “Perhaps my words were a bit harsh. Calling you ignorant and so on. Believe it or not, it hurts me to see you so sad. I may be a demon, but more than anyone, I know what it is to grieve.”

  “What do you want?” Kim said. Wasn’t the pain in his voice enough for her?

  Lilith sighed. “I knew I would find you here. Whether you’re a half-breed or not, we’re both on the same side, aren’t we? What I want is what you want, and that’s what’s best for the Archon. Why must we always be at odds, Kim? I shouldn’t have said you were useless to the Archon. So sorry. Can’t you overlook that?”

  Kim bit his lip. Wanting what was best for Angela had nothing to do with locking away her memories. And it was hard to accept an apology from a demon
, especially an obviously insincere one.

  Best to stay silent for the moment.

  Lilith crossed her arms and continued to stare up at Mastema, who never stirred in his eternal jail. “But can you deny what a relief it is to have him here at last?” she ventured. “Finally, one more threat to the Archon has been extinguished. And Mastema’s light was always a flame too easily snuffed out. If it weren’t for his supporters, I would have done away with him long ago.”

  Kim closed his eyes. He rubbed at his face. She only spoke the truth. “Now that I see him like this, it’s hard to believe I feared him so much,” Kim whispered.

  “Oh,” Lilith said, “you weren’t alone in your fear. Mastema was a shadow, after all. Lucifel’s. In the end, however, like all shadows he disappeared with the rise of a new sun, and that is the Archon’s.”

  “Even so,” Kim said. He stifled another sob. “He was like a father to me. My real father was a devil, a Jinn who deserved to die for the torment he caused my mother and me. Mastema was the one who gave me the courage to get rid of him once and for all . . .”

  “But only to use you like a pawn,” Lilith rejoined quickly. “Mastema’s love was always a conditional one. His first and last obsession was Lucifel. He knew that only a half-Jinn like yourself, someone who was neither angel, nor demon, nor full-blooded Jinn, could unlock Lucifel’s adamant chains. If it weren’t for that, he would have let you die in poverty like a dog. And for murdering your blood father, now you have a Jinn relative hunting you who will never stop until you go the same route. Troy, I believe her name is? That was Mastema’s legacy to you. Only death. He deserves his fate, here in the final darkness.”

  “He would have wanted me to kill Angela,” Kim said. He shook his head. “He saw her as a threat to Lucifel.”

  It was his only justification for allowing this to happen.

  “So I did what was necessary,” Lilith said softly. “And you’re foolish to regret it. The Archon must reign unopposed. And I will get rid of whoever stands in Her way, by whatever means necessary. Mastema was only the first of many . . . if need be.”