Angelus

by Sabrina Benulis

  Python awakened to a place so unlike the one where he’d fallen asleep, the two were barely comparable.

  The Luz Institution’s meagerly civilized surroundings had still been miles away from the oppressive, echoing space he found himself in now. Python caught sight of thousands of skulls set in the stone walls and didn’t move another muscle for a long, long time. Then he tried to move and found he couldn’t. His body was paralyzed, and the stone beneath him bit any exposed skin with jagged pebbles.

  He was back in the catacombs beneath Luz? How? What had happened to him?

  A strange heaviness had taken over his limbs and his thoughts.

  As Python’s eyes adjusted to the strange light in the cavern, he remembered Sophia’s frightening face and the winged Kirin’s horn as it pierced through his chest. It had missed his heart, thankfully. In another stroke of good fortune, his demonic blood had healed him rather quickly.

  That still hadn’t prevented him from being poisoned. Python had always longed for a winged Kirin as part of his personal menagerie. The very idea that their horns were tipped with slow-acting venom fascinated him. How irritating that the same poison that enthralled him now coursed through his own veins.

  Fear rippled through him all at once. Python breathed, turning his head slightly.

  He could hear someone else breathing beside him. Certainly it was whoever had brought him to this rank little den again.

  “Awake, finally?” a familiar voice said with a low and throaty hiss.

  It was her. Python went rigid. His heart threatened to stop beating. It was her of all creatures, and here he lay, weak as a trapped rat.

  Troy appeared above him, her chalk-white face and phosphorescent eyes mesmerizing in the odd light of the catacombs. Her single wing tested the air gently. She bared her teeth, exposing their reddish stains. She’d fed on something recently. Python could only guess at what, considering her appetite was large. He remembered that well enough from her time as his pet.

  “You brought me here?” Python said to her groggily.

  Troy sat beside him. She licked her bottom teeth before speaking. “Yes . . . I dragged your body from the institution myself and brought it here. For safekeeping.”

  Python laughed. “And what do you plan to do? Cage me in the darkness below Luz? Turn me into a new Lucifel? The second you drop your guard, I’ll crush all your bones with one snap of my jaws—”

  Now it was Troy’s turn to smile—and in that awful Jinn way that wasn’t a real smile at all.

  “Really?” she said. “Will you? But I don’t think you’re in any kind of position anymore to make threats.”

  Python clenched his jaw. His let his voice turn murderous. “Let me go NOW.”

  “Oh, I don’t think so,” Troy said. She settled down beside him. “I’m not giving you up anytime soon. I made a promise to you, Python. Do you remember it? I told you I would destroy you—and I promised myself that I would then destroy Babylon afterward. I warned you fairly, and you made your choice when I became your slave. It’s as if you wanted me to devour your heart someday. I’m flattered.”

  Python’s heart raced. “Listen to you,” he hissed back. “You speak madness. Release me, and I will give you Babylon myself. You can rule as the new Queen of the Jinn, just as I always planned.”

  “Why?” Troy said, her ears pressing back into her hair. “So that I can be a puppet lorded over by you? A pawn and an eternal slave to a serpent? No deal, snake. I like you here just fine, and here you’ll stay. I’m not done with you anyway. Once I’m done, we can figure out what to do with the rest of you.”

  Now Python felt fear sink its knifelike teeth into his nerves. He would have shivered if his body wasn’t so unresponsive and numb. “What are you saying?” he muttered.

  “I’m saying that your game is officially over,” Troy said so softly. “Babylon is already being emptied as we speak. Juno is the new Jinn Queen and we’re gathering what’s left of the loyal Clans to re-create the city that used to be my namesake, just as we’d always dreamed.”

  Python let out an incredulous laugh. “Lies. Utter nonsense. As if my mother would allow such a thing—”

  “Oh, she’s never said a word. In fact, I doubt she ever will again,” Troy said.

  For Python’s benefit, she lifted a dark arm from a body resting next to him.

  Python’s insides turned to ice. He gritted his teeth and shut his eyes, burying the pain of the fact that his mother was very likely dead deep inside and not succeeding. It tormented him instead. It swallowed his soul and colored the world. But, oh, he refused to scream like he wanted to. “What did you do to her, you feathered rat?” he spat at Troy, though in reality his voice now sounded so weak.

  “Ah, not me,” Troy corrected him gently. “This—” She held up the arm again. It was clearly ravaged. “This is Juno’s work. Far too messy and unfocused for a seasoned veteran like myself, yes?”

  Now, as if out of nowhere, Juno appeared beside Troy and stared down at Python curiously.

  “I told you once upon a time,” Troy said to Python, “that I would devour your heart first. However, I’m sorry to say I had to work from the bottom up. In the meantime, I’ve been enjoying my hours spent here, because as you can see, the souls that used to swarm the catacombs have gone. They all left Luz, flying into Malakhim like a flock of glowing jewels. I wonder . . . Angela must have called them. So, as you can imagine, your stay would be quite lonely if I hadn’t thought of delivering your mother to you.”

  Python wanted to say so many things. Instead he said nothing. Because it was obvious nothing good could come out of trying.

  So—she’d been eating him piece by piece. Python hadn’t felt any pain because of the Kirin’s venom numbing his flesh.

  He was about to open his mouth to say something witty and profound. But he chose in the end not to say a word. Troy didn’t look disappointed in the slightest. Python knew their kind well enough to understand Troy was enjoying this dark little pocket of existence beneath Luz. He also knew now that he should have never helped destroy only Troy’s namesake city in the past. He should have spread his campaign against the Jinn to encompass all of Hell, never stopping until every last one of the lethal vermin was dead or caged.

  Yet that no longer mattered, because Python had chosen differently.

  He’d gambled with Troy and Juno and the Archon in a vicious bid for power, trampling over everyone and everything. And he’d ultimately lost.

  Troy stretched her wing and regarded him with clear irritation. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to return to my meal,” she said. “It’s been a few days and I’m rather hungry.”

  Troy dipped down out of sight.

  Juno turned and stalked away, appearing supremely bored with the grand spectacle that was the slow end of Python’s life. He winced as he felt a dull tugging on his body.

  He thought of the Archon, and his mother, and how he’d wasted so much of his life on hating, and wanting, and hurting. Where had it all gone wrong? Python wanted to blame somebody—perhaps his mother, Lilith, as usual. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to do it this time when faced with the truth of what he’d done and how many lives he’d crushed. And then, mercifully, enough time passed that Troy was practically kissing him—though of course it wasn’t kissing. Instead it was teeth carving the last of him to pieces.

  And that was when Python at last let his tenacious hold on life go, and with it any idea of repentance, and choosing to be arrogant to the end, no longer thought of anything at all.

  PART SIX

  Return

  The Eternal Year Has Begun

  I’m home.

  Thirty-five

  THE AMERICAN CONTINENT THE NEW ERA

  Sophia clasped the hourglass tightly to her chest, trying to protect it from the pouring rain.

  Slowly, she looked up at an old brick-and-mortar mansion sitting at the edge of the university’s grounds and watched as the windows in the upper floor l
it to a cheerful golden color. Sunset was approaching, though the gray sky meant that what had been a reasonable gloom during the day now shifted to a velvety night. It hadn’t been her intention to get caught in the rain like this, but all those days she’d spent in Luz’s typical gloom had gotten her used to being soaked to the skin.

  Sophia continued to watch the window and think, allowing the water to drip off her hood and slightly into her eyes.

  Then, she made up her mind.

  She walked up the sidewalk and past the well-manicured landscaping, then climbed the steps onto the porch, stretching out her free hand to use the brass knocker. Sophia’s heart quaked inside of her. It threatened to leap from her chest as the door swung open.

  Angela stood within the door frame. She scanned Sophia up and down, lifting an eyebrow. “Can I help you?”

  “Yes, I—”

  Sophia paused. Angela looked the same, except that her eyes were now a brilliant green. “Yes,” Sophia said again, “I’m here about the request for a portrait model? I’ve modeled before . . .”

  Was it possible Angela didn’t remember anything again? That she had no idea who she really was anymore? The idea seemed too ironic and cruel after all they had been through. Sophia couldn’t even use Luz to back up her case once she started talking. Luz had finally collapsed into the sea, and though the innocent souls within the city had been saved, the city itself had not. It was nothing now but a legend long gone, rotting away beneath the ocean, with only a few of its levels still connected to the Underworld the Jinn had claimed. It had taken Sophia three long years, but she’d managed to travel from one country to the next across the Earth, searching for Angela.

  She’d long suspected Angela had willed a reversal of many misfortunes and fates.

  However, the laws that applied to souls themselves could not change. Those who’d died remained dead. Those who lived remained in their current state.

  Hurry, a voice said, breaking into Sophia’s thoughts. Before she changes her mind.

  Sophia glanced back over her shoulder at a leafy oak. Nina rested as a large crow-shaped shadow in its branches, croaking impatiently.

  “Well, are you coming in out of the rain?” Angela said to Sophia. She gestured for her to enter. “Besides, I’d like to ask a question or two, if you don’t mind. I’ve seen you on campus a few times. I could swear I know you from somewhere.”

  Sophia took a deep breath and stepped over the threshold.

  She followed Angela into the foyer, where Angela graciously took Sophia’s wet coat and hid it inside a closet. Then they entered the living room, and Sophia gasped. One painting of the Supernals after the next decorated every available easel. There was Raziel’s midnight-blue coat, Israfel’s bronze wings from his youth, and even Lucifel’s burning eyes. Finally, there was a lone painting of Luz as seen from the sea.

  Sophia walked up to it, fighting the urge to start talking too much.

  “Oh, I hope those pictures don’t give you the wrong impression,” Angela added hastily. “They’re just a hobby of mine. I’m in serious classes for art, but I like to think outside the box sometimes. I guess you could say angels are a bit of an obsession.”

  “And this city?” Sophia whispered, pointing at Luz.

  Angela smiled. “I have weird dreams . . .” She sat down on a leather armchair and signaled for Sophia to sit also. Sophia smoothed down her skirt and settled into a velvet loveseat. She set the hourglass down beside her. Its metal caught the light of the lamps and threw it back in rays.

  Now Angela noticed it. Her brow scrunched in confusion and she pointed at the little oak sapling nestled in its mound of dirt behind the glass. “The hourglass is broken,” she said, pointing at a jagged hole in the glass as if Sophia hadn’t noticed. “And there’s a tree inside? Is this a prop of some kind for the picture?”

  Sophia smiled. “I suppose you could say that. My name is Sophia, by the way.”

  Angela paled a little. “You know—you really are so familiar for some reason . . .”

  “Am I?” Sophia said, acting nonchalant. “Well, would you mind if I tell you a story before we begin the session? I’m an artistic type as well, and I’d like your opinion on certain elements of the plot.”

  Angela shrugged. “Sure, as long as we’re quick. I’m kind of on a clock with my latest project. Time waits for no one, as they say.”

  “Well, for almost no one,” Sophia clarified gently. And she began the long story they had lived through, careful to change names where appropriate. And all the while, Angela listened more and more intently, her expression rapt with concentration. And very soon time had raced by them, and the clock on the wall spoke of the earliest possible hours in the morning.

  But Sophia still had to end with the song—the new Angelus. She sang it quietly, focusing on Angela’s emerald green eyes.

  The light always casts a shadow,

  The fire of life is the same that burns,

  Nectar nourishes but one still perishes,

  Fate’s wheel obeys only its turn.

  Better to dream as life’s tender pains happen

  Better the future than to break the soul’s wings

  In the Garden of Stars you will always find me,

  From the Beginning to the End, I now sing.

  “I remember,” Angela whispered when the last notes of the song faded. She had been staring at the hourglass and its little sapling. “I remember everything. The old laws have been overturned, and . . .” Angela regarded Sophia with a mixture of shock and elation on her face.

  “Welcome back, my child,” Sophia said gently. “I’m so happy I found you again.”

  She sat next to Angela and ran some fingers through her deep red hair.

  Angela stiffened, but relaxed just as soon. A dazzling smile appeared on her face, and her eyes shone with a mysterious inner light. “Tell me,” she whispered. “Does the story end like I think it does? With two friends reunited forever?”

  And Sophia was about to explain, until she realized Angela was merely stating what she knew.

  Sophia brushed away sudden tears. She reached into her skirt pocket and took out Tress’s feather, the same feather the girl had handed Angela in Memorial Cemetery in Luz that cold and fateful night.

  “Where is everyone?” Angela said breathlessly, taking Israfel’s wing feather and cradling it in her hands.

  “Many places,” Sophia said. “Yet only one soul is truly beyond your reach. Mikel remains trapped in the body given to her by Israfel and Zion in Ialdaboth. It seems she’s taken on her mother’s old role as the universe’s troublemaker with enthusiasm.”

  “I see . . . and what about Troy and Juno? And Nina and Fury? And—and Kim!”

  “Perhaps you should find out for yourself. We have all the time in the world now, Angela. You made it so.” Sophia stretched out her hand. She felt herself growing taller and the mysterious fiery words of the Book appearing on her skin. “Your old Throne in the Nexus is waiting for you. Your authority is now resoundingly acknowledged. But like the universe you’ve saved, you are now free to live as you choose. Now it is the hopes, wishes, and dreams of countless souls that define this world. It can afford to be without you for a time.”

  A black rift in the air appeared beside them. A warm breeze blustered from it, tossing around Sophia’s hair.

  The winged Kirin jumped through the gap in the ether the second it became wide enough, his great paws slamming powerfully into the hardwood floor. Thunder seemed to follow his footsteps. He trotted up to Angela and lowered his nose to be petted. His great ribbed horn resembled a spike of obsidian in the lamplight.

  Angela gaped in spite of herself.

  Sophia waited for an answer, watching her.

  “Let’s go,” Angela said, smiling, “and find our friends.”

  Sophia grinned and took Angela’s hand, using it to hoist herself onto the Kirin’s shimmering flanks and between its wings, carefully grasping the hourglass as it was passed to
her again. All that remained of Luz rested in this fragile container that had once held Kim’s soul. Angela soon followed, stroking the creature’s dark mane. She rubbed the base of its horn and the beast began to nicker, eager to escape back to what for him was the blissful darkness between the Realms.

  Angela glanced behind her one more time at the ordinary room and her paintings that filled every inch of space. Sophia waited more, allowing her to say her necessary good-byes to her possessions again.

  “Until next time,” Angela whispered.

  Then, as Sophia steeled herself, Angela kicked the Kirin’s flanks and with one powerful leap into the air, they both entered the space between worlds, and the notes that now held creation followed them, singing once again of a Garden of Shadows forever lit by the souls that are stars.

  Glossary of Terms, Places, People, and Things

  Abyss: the lowest dimension of Hell. Raziel was the first creature to explore the Abyss; shortly after he returned to Heaven, he created Sophia.

  Angel: intelligent beings that reside in the upper dimensions of the universe known as Heaven; beautiful and powerful, they are thought of as the pinnacle of creation. Angels are known for having striking eyes, feathery hair, and abilities ranging from flight to telekinesis.

  Angela Mathers: a human girl discovered to be the Archon, she is known for her striking red hair, blue eyes, and preternatural skill at painting. Angela’s family abused her from a young age, and her arms and legs bear numerous scars from an attempt to kill herself that backfired, killing her parents instead. From childhood, she has had visions of Lucifel and Israfel that have since revealed themselves as the angel Raziel’s memories. Recently Angela has been trapped in Hell, forced to reign in Lucifel’s stead as Prince of Hell.

  Archangel: formal title for the angel whose authority is below God alone. Israfel was the first Archangel; the current Archangel is Zion, one of Lucifel’s children.

  Archon: arcane name for the human protected by the deceased angel Raziel’s spirit, now known to be Angela Mathers. Since the Archon is a messiah figure with the ability to ultimately save or destroy the universe, her power is wanted by various factions of Heaven and Hell for their own purposes; she is the only being who can open Raziel’s Book (Sophia).