Angelus

by Sabrina Benulis

  Those revolting monsters, Angela’s mind moaned. They’re not getting away with this.

  Angela still clasped the Glaive, but her left arm now felt dangerously weak and heavy as iron. Blue blood gushed through her fingers.

  Another angel dashed in front of Lucifel and approached Angela quickly.

  The arrow hadn’t been enough to cripple her severely. Certainly that was unusual enough to cause alarm even if she weren’t the Archon.

  She staggered to her feet, using the Glaive’s pole end to help herself stand.

  The pain in her arm and shoulder was excruciating.

  Come on, Angela. You can do this. You have to do this. FOR EVERYBODY.

  A shrill scream that sounded like an innocent child’s rang through the air. Hot anger burned in Angela all at once. She cried out savagely, summoning her strength and bearing down on the angel. He dodged in time to avoid losing his head, but the Glaive caught the tips of his wings. He slammed to the ground, bleeding, his handsome face contorted with shock. Now at least ten other angels nearby whipped their gazes in Angela’s direction. They circled her as one glittering, murderously beautiful cotillion. All the world turned into feathers and sparking arrows.

  Angela ignored the pain and swung the Glaive over her head, finishing with its great blade pointed at one of the angel’s throats. He glared at her, but glanced around in sudden fright and leaped into the air as if he sensed a different danger.

  Another groan shivered up through the earth. All of Luz seemed to rock on its foundations.

  The wind screamed and cried.

  A noise like stones chewed by a giant erupted, and the bricks and cobblestones of one entire building peeled away. St. Mary’s Cathedral buckled at its heights, and the spires cradling the feathered serpent began to collapse as if in slow motion. The creature flew up and into a blackness behind it that was absolute except for the enormous galaxy of buildings and spires of Malakhim, spinning so that the city now took up most of the sky. The angelic city seemed close enough to touch. Even windows in individual towers could be seen.

  Angela fell to her knees again amid the piercingly bitter wind. She stared at the angelic city, disbelief overwhelming her.

  Finally, weakness rushed upon her like a flood.

  Angela gripped the stone beneath her as the Glaive collapsed in her hands into a puddle of blue blood. Droplets whipped away in the maelstrom. Angels fought against the gale around her and sought out whatever human survivors were left in the courtyard, their beating wings almost equal to the storm. Some of them lifted from the ground and flew like gigantic birds of light and perfection toward Malakhim, dipping and diving into the ruins with wanton abandon, lifting up again with snowy nets of bluish souls. This was the beginning of the end for Earth, and for Luz, and for all humanity. The crack of crumbling masonry and stone echoed through every inch of the air, reverberating out into the rest of the doomed city.

  “DAMN IT!” Angela screamed so hard, her voice went hoarse in an instant.

  Lucifel stood only a few feet away. Angela had no chance now.

  “Are you really so sad that I’m taking everything away from you?” Lucifel said. “But that’s your reward for being too weak to end the cycle that started with your death. This—all the destruction you see around you—is entirely your doing.”

  “Listen to yourself,” Angela screamed back. “But I suppose the old legends are true. You’re just too proud to think clearly. If it weren’t for me, Lucifel, you wouldn’t even exist.”

  Lucifel flinched slightly, but in a second she returned to her characteristic hardness. “You’re delaying the inevitable, causing others to suffer more. As always.”

  “No,” Angela said between her teeth.

  “Yes. Raziel helped put your soul in this body because he must have believed that human beings were different. That there’s something within your pathetically weak spirits that could grant this universe a spark of hope. But I can see the truth. Nothing there is any different from the angels, whether they live in Heaven or Hell. So now the long drama can finish at last. I will see to it that there’re no more attempts to right wrongs that should have never occurred. If you’re too weak to vanish, I can help. All you have to do is stand still.”

  This isn’t working. I’ve lost the battle here. If I don’t act quickly—

  Lucifel halted. She must have noticed the fire burning behind Angela’s left eye.

  Angela shifted her gaze to the feathered serpent trying to latch itself on to other parts of the crumbling cathedral. Come to me, she thought. And now the pain felt like a fireball trying to work its way through her head. Come to me. You belong to me now.

  The serpent looked directly at her with its enormous ruby eyes.

  It screeched, and the powerful echo shuddered through to Angela’s bones. In a minute it was descending toward her. Though the creature had no wings, it slithered through the ether as if the air were made of tree branches, and its enormous coils destroyed everything in its path once it hit the ground. The platform built for the horrendous sacrifices crumbled like sand. Angels parted before the creature in waves. Even Lucifel was forced to dash aside, though her face suggested she’d return.

  Angela took her chance. She gripped the serpent’s enormous platelike scales and climbed onto its sinewy back.

  To Malakhim, she thought, making sure to catch the serpent’s gaze again as it looked back at her.

  And then they were off, and everything passed beneath her in a blinding blur.

  Twenty-nine

  The sudden powerful wind forced Angela to lay flat on her stomach, clinging to the serpent desperately. Its great body undulated, and fire and fierceness shot through her at the memories that started to come rushing back. The last time she’d seen these creatures had been during her vision of Raziel’s death, as an endless rain of feathers and blood fell through the sky.

  She hoped history wouldn’t repeat itself. Clenching her jaw and tightening her grip, Angela prayed that they would make it to the city unnoticed.

  The beast shot through the ether toward Malakhim like an iridescent comet. A shimmery haze in the air peeled back before them as the stars grew larger and the angelic city took up more and more of the sky.

  Now she knew—there was no way they’d escape notice.

  Angela could now make out individual buildings, including a white tower with innumerable balconies and strangely twisting spires. If she peered closely, she could see the glittering stairway—the bridge to Ialdaboth—where Raziel had fallen to his death. Above it, a swirling cauldron of energy and black mist signaled the entrance to the Realm of Ialdaboth itself.

  Angela’s heart raced. This was really happening. She was going to make it farther to Heaven than any human had ever dreamed or dared. Angels flying toward Luz began to appear in front of her on the horizon, not merely as black dots in the distance anymore, but so close that Angela could pick out the multicolored gems on their wings’ cuffs. The city glittered behind them like a gigantic glowing planet, infinitely larger than the moon had ever appeared in Earth’s sky. Only the upper hemisphere of Malakhim had been visible from Luz. Now Angela realized the city’s lower half was just as enormous, and the entire metropolis was an artificial pinwheel galaxy of crystal and light. Angela gaped at how angels on the lower half seemed to fly upside down.

  The city was like a planet in more ways than she’d ever guessed.

  Suddenly, the serpent screeched as if in warning.

  A flock of angels approached them fast now. Angela held her breath. Her hair whipped behind her like a great red flag. She stared unflinchingly at the angels in the lead, catching the gazes of more than a few.

  They must not have expected to see a human on the serpent’s back. Shock blanked over one face after the next. Some of the angels paused midflight and notched dreadful arrows to their bows, but it was too late.

  Angela squeezed her eyes shut as the serpent collided with its former caretakers.

  Someth
ing hot splashed back against her skin. The serpent screeched, and Angela was certain she heard it champing its jaws. Sickening snaps reverberated through her. Then the creature shuddered, and a weight seemed to hit its back behind her.

  Angela opened her eyes. As she’d feared, blood rained from the sky. The corpses of angels fell like shooting stars into the ether. One passed by her with his wings in tatters, screaming as he plummeted to the Abyss.

  The wind shrieked against her, and Angela knew the serpent was now ascending vertically.

  Amazingly, three angels had managed to land on the serpent’s back. They ran across the serpent’s scales toward Angela, even with its body almost as straight as a tree trunk. Their sense of balance and grace was terrifying. Then the serpent twisted its body sharply in the opposite direction.

  One of the angels lost his balance and fell off.

  He spread his ebony wings and caught the ether, circling back to land next to Angela again.

  In a second, the serpent plucked him from the air, shook its head, and flung him aside like a broken doll.

  An angel streaked after him, yelling frightfully and obviously enraged and horrified.

  The other angels remaining on the serpent’s back looked at one another, nodded, and dropped off its body. Angela heaved a sigh of relief. Her heart now beat so fast and hard it felt like it might explode. Those angels had at least managed to escape with their lives—maybe because they’d chosen to plummet out of reach.

  But where can I go once I’m in Malakhim? Where are the souls loyal to me that Lucifel imprisoned?

  Angela thought of the souls also trapped within Luz where the Cherubim had died. They had wanted to help her but had been too afraid of Lucifel’s power.

  She had to try summoning them. But how?

  Maybe it was too late.

  Angela’s body jolted on top of the serpent. She shouted in alarm. Quickly, she looked back over her shoulder, her hair whipping into her mouth. Fear coursed through every inch of her body like a spreading wildfire. Lucifel stood on the creature’s back and stalked in Angela’s direction, her wings great and gray as two storm clouds. Her balance and grace put the other angels to shame. The serpent rolled to the side, but Lucifel held her ground so easily, she didn’t even crouch. Her stony face promised Angela all kinds of pain for the trouble she was causing.

  Angela turned back to the city and peered at the vortex marking the entrance to Ialdaboth.

  Maybe if I enter the portal, it will shake her off. I have to try. Otherwise—

  Angela was already out of time. Lucifel sprinted for her and was going to be right on top of her any second.

  Just in time, Angela remembered her wounded shoulder. She’d been so entranced by the city, and so overwhelmed battling the angels, that she’d forgotten her pain. She gritted her teeth, pressing her hand against the blood of the wound where the arrowhead remained embedded in her flesh. She didn’t have enough energy for the Glaive. The pole and haft lengthened only halfway, and Angela was left with a jagged crystalline spear.

  She grasped it with a hand tightly and turned around.

  Angela grunted from the force of Lucifel bearing right down on her.

  She lifted the spear lengthwise and pushed back at Lucifel.

  It was enough to throw the angel off guard, and Lucifel’s face twisted with rage. She grabbed the spear, trying to tug it from Angela’s grip.

  Perhaps because half of Lucifel’s concentration focused on keeping steady, she couldn’t quite seem to wrest the spear out of Angela’s hands. Instead, they continued to fight each other, pushing and pulling for seconds that felt like an eternity.

  Toward the vortex to Ialdaboth—hurry! Angela thought. Her left eye blazed like a flame and she sent her thoughts to the serpent with as much force and power as possible.

  Now it began to bank to the left.

  Lucifel’s eyes went wide and she lost her footing. She rolled, her wings flapping thunderously as she flattened to the serpent’s back and struggled to hold on to the creature’s smooth scales.

  Angela didn’t have the option of fighting with her now. Instead both of them held on dearly as the serpent twisted backward. Angela felt her stomach rise in her throat. Her skull was ready to shatter from a million pounds of pressure. Rapidly and upside down, they were approaching the northern hemisphere of Malakhim.

  The serpent was flying straight for the vortex at Ialdaboth’s pinnacle, just as Angela had hoped. They were already nearing it, and the feel of the wind ripping at her flesh, and the burning pain of ether against her eyes, threatened to knock her unconscious. The bridge’s glistening, spiraling steps led up, and up, and up until they stopped at the platform where Raziel had hurtled to his death, and a swirling mass of raging black cloud, and greenish ether, and flickers of lightning and starlight congealed.

  Beyond, a portal as dark as starless space beckoned. It pulsed like a beating heart.

  Angela squeezed her eyes shut again. She screamed as the wind tore at her with icy claws. She briefly reopened her eyes to the beginning of the giant glass stairway that matched the one that had appeared in Luz, all those terrible months ago when Angela had allowed the souls trapped in the Netherworld to escape to Heaven.

  The serpent spiraled up and around the bridge.

  The vortex at the peak waited as a disc of utter blackness. Clouds of purple and gray streaked by lightning surrounded its flashing mouth.

  Angela had no more thought for what was going on with Lucifel. All she could see was the darkness about to swallow them. Her eyeballs pulsed and her entire body throbbed and hummed. For a brief moment, she felt like a million hands tore her into a million more pieces. And then what followed was a blackness so all-consuming it leached through to her soul and tore at it like the very teeth of death.

  Thirty

  How long had she been here, floating like this?

  Angela felt herself curled into a ball, her knees tucked under her arms. That same beautiful song Sophia loved floated around her in muffled notes. Was she dreaming? But Angela knew she’d been in this place before, so very many times.

  “Open your eyes, Angela,” a gentle male voice echoed around her.

  Angela obeyed.

  She was nowhere, surrounded by darkness and silence. She couldn’t even quite remember what had happened or how she’d come to this place again.

  Yet as Angela thought and time seemed to pass with aching slowness, a blue light appeared in front of her. Was she imagining it? No—the light was now growing brighter and taking shape. The familiar contours of arms, legs, and wings appeared. A strange burning sensation filled Angela’s chest. Her heart ached so punishingly. Then, Raziel’s magnificence took form at last.

  The Supernal angel’s red hair dazzled her eyes and his midnight blue coat didn’t just twinkle with gems now, but with real lights that cast their brilliance into the suffocating shadows around him and Angela. The four wings on his back and the two wings on his ears fanned gently in some mysterious breeze Angela couldn’t feel.

  The angel smiled graciously.

  No wonder Israfel had fallen in love with him. He was so gentle and charming, and even at a confusing moment like this, his presence soothed and healed. Angela hesitated, then smiled back. But the uncertainty in her made it hard to be so hopeful so soon. Did she even have the right to hope anymore?

  “You’re doing well, Angela,” Raziel said. “I’ve been watching over you for so long, unable to share my deepest thoughts. But now my spirit has its chance to speak to you within the shelter of your mind before the end. And what a journey it has been for us both . . .”

  His voice shivered through her sweetly.

  “I always knew,” he continued, “that you would make the right choices. I believed in you . . . and now my belief has been justified. You have only one step left. Now it’s time to bring about the end of a tragic cycle of misfortune. A Revolution that Lucifel could never have imagined is ready to begin. The Ruin of the old universe wi
ll be the foundation for the new. The time has arrived to retake the crown stolen from you so long ago.”

  “I’ve been told I need to create new stanzas to the Angelus to save this universe,” Angela whispered. Now, all the horrors that had passed were returning to her little by little. As well as a sense of utter helplessness. “But what can I do? The souls that can help me—Lucifel stole them away. And those who are still free remain beyond my reach. And even if they came to me, I wouldn’t know what to do.”

  Raziel leaned down and kissed Angela gently on one cheek, then the other. His lips were so soft and warm.

  “You’re speaking as if you are all alone, Angela. Think hard about what it means to have the friends you do. They’re risking their lives for your sake. Believe in them, like I’ve always believed in you. Call to them, and they will come. Now . . . I must leave you. You no longer need my protection, Angela. It’s time that you stand as your own person without the shadow of my spirit burning within you.

  “But to see yourself clearly, you must have the strength to withstand the truth.”

  Raziel’s body began to disintegrate into millions of azure sparks. From the hem of his coat up to his blood-red hair and wings, he disappeared. Soon, all Angela had left was the ghostly memory of his voice, still echoing in her head.

  It’s time to reclaim what is yours . . .

  Without warning, the burning sensation in Angela’s chest grew almost unbearable. It was like a sun threatened to burst from her and brighten everything a thousand shades of white. She closed her eyes and listened to her heartbeat and then deeper to the hum of blood in her veins.

  There. She could hear it. A song.

  As if a dream spread out before her, Angela seemed to stare at herself in a giant mirror, her eyes shining back wide and glassy. A strange pain cut through her like the blade of a jagged saw. Angela looked different, and yet without a doubt—this was her. She was taller in the reflection, with the same face, but her hair hung long and pure white. She wore a black robe with white jewels, and her large green eyes flashed like emeralds in the sun. Wings in the colors of bronze, red, and gray trailed decorously from her back.