by Kailin Gow
Even if he didn’t fight me back at all, there was no way I could get closer enough to him to push my crucifix to his black, leathery skin. A scream began to form at the back of my throat, despite my willingness to remain strong.
I needed help; Asher or Brax or Moore… help me.
But my shout was a silent prayer that went nowhere. Osidian continued his approach, unhurried, unworried and rather pleased with himself.
“I’ve heard a lot about you, Lux.”
“And I you.”
We stared at each other, sizing each other up, analyzing each other.
“Let’s see if all I’ve heard, all I’ve been warned about has been true,” he said with a challenging sneer.
“Not so fast.”
Stunned, I turned to find John standing several feet behind me.
“How…?” The question that begged to be asked stuck on my lips. It didn’t matter now how or why he was here. The important thing is that he was.
“Osidian has eluded me for far too long,” he said with a wink. He turned to Osidian. “Haven’t you?”
“This isn’t quite your end of the jungle, John. Don’t you have a Franciscan monk to save somewhere?”
“I do believe it is you who is playing in the wrong end of the jungle, Osidian. Though I may have been stationed elsewhere for all these years, this is a battle that I have always sworn to win. Added to that is the very prey you’ve chosen to pursue.” John gave me a knowing glance, causing Osidian to frown.
“Yes, Osidian,” John went on. “This is my daughter, Lux. You didn’t really think I’d just sit back in Italy while you opened the portal here and made a shriveled crisp out of her, did you?”
“The truth is I didn’t really think about you one way of the other. The portal is open, John. Despite all your little teachings and all your precise planning, it’s open. Neither you nor Gordon nor Markus could stop it. And that Dr. Kingsley… if anything he was always your weakest link. You're better off without him.”
“When the world is rid of your kind, Osidian, I’ll be better off.” John pounced on Osidian with surprising force.
I fell back and watched as the two masters battled it out, each giving back what the other offered. Just when I thought John was a goner, he’d rebound and send Osidian reeling back. And just when I thought the fight was finally over and Osidian was about to turn to dust, he pushed John back and was ready for another round.
I knew this was the only opportunity I was going to get to close the portal. I reached for the jugs of Holy Water and turned to the ever widening portal. As I pulled off the cap of the jugs, I heard and even felt the cry that came from Osidian. My attempts to close the portal had rendered him all the more ferocious and savage.
With a quick and uncompromising swipe of his claws he sent John flying back into the wall. His eyes remained wide with horror for a moment then he slumped down to the ground.
I wanted to cry out, but there was no time. Osidian descended on me like a wolf onto a sick fawn. All he needed was a quick flick of his finger and he’d rid me of my crucifix. I was helpless and he knew it.
With the jug of Holy Water still in my hands, I splashed some into my palm and tried to spray Osidian, but he just snickered at my feeble attempt.
“And to think you're John’s daughter,” he said with a condescending sneer. “I would have thought he’d raised you smarter than that. I would have thought he’d trained you better than that. Turns out you're no better than all the simpleton demon slayers who do well with the light stuff, but can’t deal with the real demons who threaten to take over.”
With those wise words, he slashed his claws out at me, cutting through the skin of my shoulder. I didn’t even have time to utter a cry of pain before another lashing came. I stood up and blocked the next punch he threw at me, but its force made me fall to the ground. He was immediately on me, while I brought my legs in to hurl all my strength against him, sending him back where he knocked jugs of Holy Water to the ground. On hearing the wail of pain and horror from surrounding demons, I knew the jugs were spilling in the right direction. They were spilling Holy Water directly into the portal.
Osidian was not done with me, and he got up with a fury and rushed me with a speed I’ve never seen a demon possessed before. “You have slained many of us since you were just a mere babe. Now it is time for you to pay,” he snarled, his eyes turning red. Osidian’s claws ripped through my jacket and sliced the skin of my arm, but I still managed to kick over the few remaining jugs on the ground. The cries of fury and rage rose into the air as the flow of demons dwindled down to nothing and the demons left out on the field were soon to be trapped with no way of returning from where they’d come. I stumbled up and tried pouring more holy water around the portal. With my last strength and breath, it was the only way to close the portal off. Moore and Brax couldn’t do it, and Asher was too far from the portal. I did not have much time.
I made it almost completely through the rest of the portal perimeter when I felt a sharp burning pain suddenly hit me like a block of brick. It was so intense, I dropped the holy water jug I was holding and crumbled to the ground.
I felt something wet and warm drip down my clothes and could barely see it was red. Blood. My own.
Suddenly, I couldn’t hear anything, and my vision became fainter and fainter.
“Lux!” a male’s voice called. It was Moore, and he was running to me, his face looking so worried. Asher was right behind him.
Then I saw it, but I couldn’t scream. I had no voice. It felt numb, paralyzed. Osidian was behind Moore, and as the portal was closing, I saw Moore desperately trying to get to me, but he was stopped. Osidian had grabbed hold of him, and before the portal could close, Osidian pushed Moore in.
“Lux, I love you!” Moore cried, his face looking shocked with what was happening.
Tears were streaming down my face along with my blood, making my shirt wet with blood and tears. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t cry out that I loved him too.
Asher was trying to grab Moore’s hand, but it was too late, and Asher couldn’t get pulled in. As he turned away from the portal, another hand reached out to grab Moore’s. It was Brax’s hand.
Brax looked over at me, his face grim, but determined. He held onto Moore’s hand with all his strength. It wasn’t enough, and he was falling into the portal with Moore. Asher leaped onto Brax’s legs, trying to anchor him and keep him from falling in further, but Asher was being pulled in, too.
I was slowly fading. As I clung to the remaining threads of consciousness that remained, I was distantly aware of John finally bringing Osidian to his knees. As the portal closed, John took out a flask of holy water and shoved it into Osidian’s mouth, causing the demon to burst into flames. I wanted to smile, to celebrate the victory, but one look from John’s face, and I knew something was terribly wrong.
That was when I reached up and felt my neck. My throat had been ripped out, and I was dying.
Epilogue
Consciousness came back in tiny wavelets, letting me hear the goings on around me, but not allowing me to respond. It was a frustrating no man’s land. But even more frustrating than my intermittent consciousness was my shattering sense of defeat. In all my life I’d never felt so powerless. We closed the portal and John killed Osidian, but something felt different. There was pain and an overall feeling of heaviness surrounding me.
Through the grief and pain, I heard Asher mumbling as he wept. He called out my name, though I couldn’t make out what he was saying.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, finally sounding coherent and intelligible. “I tried, Lux. I really did. I wanted nothing more than to save you; to save all of them. And now it’s all lost. What am I going to do now?”
I felt his hand over mine, his fingers wrapping around mine and crushing them in a grip that was painful. “I know I’ve never been the best of friends with Moore or Brax, but you have to believe me. I would have done anything to save them. It just ha
ppened so fast… too fast. They were swept into the portal. The force was too strong.”
My heart wanted to console him, to tell him everything would be all right, but that same heart ached for the immensity of my loss. Brax and Moore…
Tears streamed down my cheek.
“But worst of all,” Asher went on, “Is losing you. I don’t know how I can live with the knowledge that I failed you.”
My lips parted and I spoke the words of reassurance and tranquility, but no sound came out. Though I could see his fingers still wrapped around my hand, I could not feel his touch; his warmth. I rose, thinking my subconscious being had taken over, but as I continued to rise, high enough to look down and see Asher kneeling before my limp and bloodied corpse, I knew this was more than a mere loss of consciousness.
I’m here, Asher, I wanted to say, but the words still refused to sound.
A rush of wind blew through my hair and a trail of sparkling dust wafted through the air. The scent of sugar and sweetness tempted my nostrils and suddenly I was carried to another world.
“My dearest, Lux.”
The sound of any voice should have alarmed me, but I was soothed and calmed.
“Yes, Lothario.” This time my voice resonated loud and strong.
“You’ve stepped to the other side.”
“Have I died?”
“To the mere mortals of this earth, yes. They’ve lost the human being they’d come to know as Lux.”
“My parents…”
“I believe they’ll understand what has truly happened to you. They know of your nature. They know of where you’ve come… and where you should ultimately go. Worry not for them.”
I turned to him, my darling guardian angel. “Lothario, have I become immortal?”
“It was not in the plans. This was not how your destiny was to play out.”
“But now that I’m here…”
“I know what you will ask.”
“Then will you grant me permission?”
“Unfortunately that is something that I cannot do.”
“Lothario, they both mean so much to me. They’ve given so much to fight at my side, to try to keep the demons at bay. I would never have closed the portal without either of them. Please, Lothario, you have to let me go after Moore and Brax.”
“I understand all that you owe them, and all that they’ve done. The outcome of this latest battle saddens me greatly, of that I assure you.”
“But…”
“But it is best that you forget about them.”
“You know I can’t do that. I could never…”
“You are young and resilient. Life will bring new people to you, new experiences, and these will fade away.”
“That’s lame and you know it. For all the years I’ve given up having a normal life, for all the sacrifices I’ve made, this is how I’m compensated? Not even a helping hand in retrieving the young men who’ve given their very lives to fight demons.”
“What do you propose to do, Lux? Enter the portal yourself and go after them?”
“That’s exactly what I propose.”
A thick mist flowed between us, obscuring my vision of him and bringing a cool breeze. Was this the life of an angel? Was this being immortal?
“Entering the portal could be dangerous, even for one who is immortal. Is this really a risk you want to take? Are you truly prepared to give up what you have on the off chance you save them? Under these conditions, just finding them could prove impossible.”
“I have to try, Lothario. No matter how slim the chances, I have to try. What is the use of living eternally if it is to be with the guilt of having let them down?”
“I should have known you wouldn’t give up so easily.” He grinned and though I knew he didn’t want me to go through with this, I could tell he was proud of me nonetheless.
“So you will help me?”
“I can show you how to enter the portal, however greatly that prospect saddens me.”
“I’ve fought through plenty of battles, this last one being the more arduous of all. I’m strong, Lothario, and I think I can do this.”
“Hades is not going to be like any battle you’ve even known. Be prepared for the worst. Be prepared for a fight that will tax you to the limit.”
“I will, Lothario.”
“This past battle cost you dearly, Lux.”
“I know, and I’ll keep that in mind.”
“You’ll be outnumbered like never before.”
I nodded, realizing he was trying to get me to change my mind. “Moore and Brax will be there. They’ll help me.”
“If you can find them.”
“They’ll help me find them. I trust them, Lothario, and they trust me. No doubt they are already anticipating my arrival. They know I’ll do anything to save them.”
“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t give you fair warning.”
“I’d never do such a thing.”
“The danger now, lies in the reopening of a portal. You’ll have to consider the risks involved in opening the same portal again, or attempting to open another more distant one. Either way, you’re going to need added protection.”
“More than being immortal?” I didn’t want to sound naïve, but I would have thought being immortal saved me from… well, mortality.
“Yes,” Lothario said, answering my unasked question. “You’ll succeed in living on, no matter what happens to you down there, but in what condition and under what circumstances? Satan can easily make eternity a punishment rather than a treasure.”
I looked at him, and was moved by the depth of his concern for me. “I realize that.”
“In order to give you added protection, you’ll need an Angel Mark. It’ll save your immortal soul, but it is not something that is easy to come by. If you’ll be patient and let me put the wheels in motion, I can help you get one.”
I was pleased beyond words. My heartbreak and loss were painful enough without having to constantly question my ability to save myself. With the added protection, I could enter the portal with a greater assurance of victory.
Brax and Moore had disappeared into the portal. It would take superhuman ability to save them now. The sacrifice was immense, but now I’m ready. Reborn. Reclaimed. I was now able to help save them as an angel.
“And one more thing,” Lothario, my angel from childhood said, “You’re not supposed to die yet, Lux. Neither are Brax and Moore. Think what you will about that. It seems you have the advantage of fate on your side. And something all immortals dream of...a second chance.”
****
Lux, Brax, Moore, and Asher’s story continues in
Book 4 of Beautiful Beings Series
Angel Mark
December 2012
Beautiful Beings
PLAYLIST
Calling All Angels http://amzn.to/un5ZAJ
Angels Within Temptation http://amzn.to/spNo8R
Mercy OneRepublic http://amzn.to/v6qHqd
Someone to Save You (OneRepublic) http://amzn.to/sXkg7a
Someone Like You Adele http://amzn.to/sxFhCj
Haunted Evanescence http://amzn.to/utDeVC
Imaginary Evanescence http://amzn.to/tMpmXD
Weight of the World http://amzn.to/un1wSe
Burned (Better Than Ezra) http://amzn.to/s7bTml
Special (Better Than Ezra) http://amzn.to/sHXetD
If you like Beautiful Beings, you may want to try:
From Bestselling Author Kailin Gow comes
FADE
"My name is Celestra Caine. I am seventeen years old, which makes me a senior at Richmond High. I never thought this would happen to me, but it has… I’m one of those people you see every day, go to school with, remember seeing at the supermarket or the mall, and then one day you don’t hear about them any longer. They’re gone, and eventually, you forget them."
http://www.kailingowbooks.com/#!__dystopianbooks
From Bestselling Author Kailin Gow comes
DE
SIRE
A Dystopian world where everyone’s future is planned out for them at age 18…whether it is what a person desires or not. Kama is about to turn 18 and she thinks her Life’s Plan will turn out like her boyfriend’s and friend’s – as they desired. But when she glimpse a young man who can communicate with her with his thoughts and knows her name…a young man with burning blue eyes and raven hair, who is dressed like no other in her world, she is left to question her Life’s Plan and her destiny.
http://www.kailingowbooks.com/#!__dystopianbooks
From Bestselling Author
Kailin Gow
Wicked Woods
Briony had to move to Wicked Woods, Massachusetts to live with her Great Aunt Sophie after her family disappears on vacation. The woods at the edge of Aunt Sophie’s inn are filled with secrets and inhabitants both seductive and deadly. Among them is a beautiful boy name Fallon who saves her one night in the woods. As Briony gets closer to Fallon, she learns he has a secret, as do most of the residents of Wicked Woods…
http://www.kailingowbooks.com/#!__wickedwoods
BITTER FROST
All her life, Breena had always dreamed about fairies as though she lived amongst them… beautiful fairies living amongst mortals and living in Feyland. In her dreams, he was always there – the breathtakingly handsome but dangerous Winter Prince, Kian, who is her intended. Then she sees Kian, who seems intent on finding her and carrying her off to Feyland. If she is his intended, why does he seem to hate her and want her dead? And her best friend Logan has suddenly become protective. Things are getting strange…