by Darcy Town
The fire left the throne and snaked a tendril around Dahlia’s neck. She bent her head against the fire and cringed. She had eyes only for Lucifer. “You will be okay.”
Lucifer pointed at her. “While you are subject to his wishes? This is not my desire!”
“Nor mine!” She shouted at him. “But what would you have me do? I cannot suffer your pain any longer! I willingly lose myself to give you a chance at life.”
“Dahlia, you said you would never do this! You told me that you could not bear it! Do not allow him to take you!”
Dahlia turned away and sank to her knees in sobs. “Heal him and get this over with.”
Raphael put his hands to Lucifer’s back. He pulled out four bright blue feathers, the points as sharp as needles. He examined Lucifer’s wing scars, sensing the muscle and bones underneath. He smiled.
Raphael plunged all four feathers into Lucifer’s back.
Energy surged into Lucifer’s body. His vision doubled and blurred. Bones and feathers grew, mending together. Four of his six wings reformed, prismatic and thrumming with power. Halos of light and blue fire formed around his forehead, ankles and wrists.
The wounds that marked his skin healed instantly. His body burned bright. He sought to draw forth the energy, to scorch all around him, but the collar stole his energy away.
Dahlia spoke from her spot on the ground, “You are healed. They will no longer hurt you. You will live.”
“Doing this hurts me!”
Her eyes bored into his. “I’m sorry, Lucifer.”
“Dahlia, stop this!”
Dahlia looked over Lucifer’s head to Raphael. “Do this now. I can bear the wait no longer. Take them.”
Raphael stepped past Lucifer and walked to Dahlia. Lucifer lunged, but the collar held him back. He found himself muted, unable to do anything but watch. His eyes blazed blue, his wings blinding everyone but Archangel. He had more energy than all the Archangels combined, but he could not raise his voice or a hand to save her. The collar deadened his intentions as if he did not have any at all. He sat on the ground dull-eyed.
Raphael put both of his hands to Dahlia’s face, cupping her chin. He placed his forehead to hers and enfolded her in his wings. The area lit up brighter than the sun. Dahlia’s wings went white, her hair a pale pink, and her red eyes to cherry. She changed, her face appeared younger as if the years in the prison and the damage had been scrubbed away and she was a fresh Dahlia again. New as the first time he saw her.
Lucifer wailed, but the noise escaped his lips as a hiss.
Raphael let Ladriam go.
Ladriam fell to her bottom and stared at the world around her, wide-eyed and new. A hesitant smile touched her lips. She looked past Raphael to the fire beyond. She gaped, laughed, and twirled to her feet. She bowed before the fire. “I have form. Then the creation has occurred, this thing that you desired?”
LADRIAM.
Ladriam looked at the fire with adoration and love. Dahlia no longer, she was without a memory beyond her formation in Hell. She twirled and danced innocently across the steps surrounding the throne. “What is this place? It is new to me.”
HEAVEN. YOUR NEW REALM.
“New realm?” Ladriam stopped and stared at the throne. “What of Hell?”
HELL IS YOURS NO LONGER. I DESIRE YOU TO JOIN ME HERE, ALWAYS.
A second throne of gold and light appeared beside His. Ladriam eyed the thing with wonder. “Such beauty you always create.”
FOR YOU.
Ladriam smiled and flitted above the ground. She flipped in the air and soared on four wings. She landed back on the ground. Her eyes caught on Lucifer. “Oh.”
Lucifer’s chest swelled with hope and love. Surely, she would see and know him.
Her eyes slid away without a hint of recognition. She turned to Michael, Uriel, and the other Archangels. “Many more like me!”
NO, YOU ARE MORE.
“We appear the same.”
COME TO ME.
Ladriam grinned and ran up the stairs. She took a seat near His throne, not taking hers. She reached out and touched the fire. It licked her hand. “Beauty.”
I REFLECT YOU, LADRIAM.
The fire brushed her face, her hair. It surged into her thoughts, searching for any scrap of memory, any sign of a trick. She was blank, empty, His to fill. She had no memories past her life in Hell. The fire surged into the air, roping around itself. The Archangels bowed to the throne as the fire roared with new colors.
MINE. PURE AND PERFECT, MY LADRIAM, WORTHY OF ME FINALLY, UNSULLIED. MINE.
Ladriam smiled and rested her head on the ground. She stared out over the angels in Heaven and listened as the choirs began to sing. It was a lullaby of innocence. She closed her eyes and hummed along.
Lucifer silently screamed.
***
Tuesday
Belial sat in a grassy courtyard, open to the starry sky above. She massaged her neck with one hand. She practiced creating metal blades and shields with the other. She focused on the work, blocking out the sensation that crept through her flesh. She found it hard to breathe. Her muscles cramped; the bruises on her skin were growing. The cancer was eating her alive from within.
She had donned a catsuit with the zipper up to her chin, but she knew it would be a matter of time before the marks showed on her face. Belial hissed involuntarily. She would be out of options at that point.
Helion and Andy sat side by side against a stone wall. They watched her, uneasy.
Apple stepped over to them. “Something is not right with her.”
Andy’s eyes flicked up. “How so?”
“Her blood, it is not like yours.”
Helion frowned. “We have always been different.”
Apple shook her head. “No, this is not that. I feel something else.”
Andy stood up. “Can you figure out what it is? She seemed sick earlier, throwing up and feverish.”
Helion got up from the group. “Enough of examining my sister.” He padded over to Belial and wrapped his wings around her. “A walk?”
Belial nodded, glad for the distraction. She turned to him, her body protested at the movement. Helion helped her stand, covered her with his wings so that none could see her wince or stumble. He walked her to the cover of a giant weeping willow. They stepped through the curtain of hanging branches. “You are worse.”
Belial nodded. “It is much worse.”
“Let me see.”
Belial unzipped the suit down to her navel. Helion examined her skin. He touched her bruised flesh gently. The darkness retreated at his touch. The twins stared.
Belial doubled over in agony. “It hates you!”
Helion jumped back. She clawed at him. “Don’t leave me.”
“Of course I will not!” Helion picked her up and jumped into the branches of the tree. “Am I damaging you?”
“You are damaging it, it is damaging me.” Blood and bile painted her lips red and black.
“That is a small comfort for the pain it gives you in response.” Helion wiped her mouth with his hand. “Belial, I do not know what to tell the others. They are beginning to notice.”
Belial nodded. “Good. When I turn, one of them will kill me.”
Helion’s face froze. “No.”
Belial grabbed at Helion’s shirt. “If Dahlia cannot bring Lucifer back to do it, then you must take my life from me, Helion.”
“No!”
Belial burst into tears. “Please promise me Helion, please.”
Helion squeezed her to him. “I cannot.”
Belial pressed her face into his chest. “I do not want them to have to fight me, Helion. I do not want to hurt them. Please, I would rather it be you.”
“You won’t fight them.”
“It has already tried, Helion. It seeks to infect Andy; it drives me to touch him. I cannot now for fear that it will pierce my flesh and attack his. He doesn’t understand why I pull away.” She looked into his eyes. “I
do not lie.”
Helion touched her bare hand. “May I see? Allow us to join?”
Belial nodded. The twins linked, their shared soul reconnected. Helion felt her body mapped on his. He ran a check and saw that what she said was the truth. He cut off contact, his face pale. “You do not lie.”
“There is nothing to solve it.” Belial zipped up her suit. “I can only hide it for now.”
Helion shook his head. “There has to be something.”
Belial smiled slightly. “Maybe your crazy eye can fix me.” She pointed to his pitch-black eye with the white pupil, a direct result of Dahlia’s manipulation to take him from angel to fallen angel. The pupil contracted and expanded.
Helion brushed back her hair. “Of course it can, I just have to figure out how.”
Belial touched the black skin that framed the eye. “This blot has been growing.”
He nodded. “I do not know why.”
She frowned. “It is not what I have is it?”
“No.” Helion shook his head. “Mine is a benign mark.”
Belial coughed up blood and smiled. “You always did like showing off by being strange.”
Helion rocked his sister. “Me? You were the one who decided to change to a female and prance about.”
“Oh, I am not the one who made up the new songs for the guardians, tricking them into singing them!” Belial cringed. “You and Uriel were so close then.”
“We all were.”
Belial wiped away gray tears. “I do not have long, Helion. Do not let Uriel have any piece of me when I die. I fear if he does it will not be the end for me.”
Helion nodded. “I am going to kill him.”
“Rip out his heart for me.”
Helion clenched his jaw and nodded. “He dies before you do.”
“Helion—”
Helion’s strange eye pulsed and darkness spread across his cheek like spilled ink. “He dies before you do. That is how it will occur.”
Berith knocked on the tree trunk, catching their attention. “It is time.” He looked away. “Belial, you do not need to come.”
Belial jumped from the tree and hid her pain. “You need me.”
Andy shook his head, his worry for her apparent. “No we do not.”
Belial folded her arms. “Who can you guarantee to come? Can any of you guarantee an audience?” They shook their heads. Belial choked back ooze. “I can bring Uriel. He will come if I am bait.”
No one could disagree with her. Helion stood behind her. “As soon as Uriel comes, we move her behind the shield. The sight of her will be enough to keep him there; she does not need to actually fight.”
Andy searched Belial’s eyes for answers. He nodded. “That is acceptable.”
Apple and Berith linked hands. “The fact that more of us will be there will be cause for him to call for others.”
Whitney looked between them. “Are we just knocking some heads about or are we going all out? Do we get to kill anyone?” The others turned to her. She had a sheen to her skin, a super-hard coral exoskeleton. Her fingers tapered into blades of obsidian.
Berith smiled. “You are fierce, Whitney. We fight to distract, though if you have the chance to kill then please, by all means, kill.”
Whitney smiled. “Oh good.”
Apple looked her over. “When did you become bloodthirsty?”
Whitney frowned. “Dahlia told me everything.”
Belial struggled not to throw up. “Can we get this going now?” She looked to the sky. “Shall I go alone at first?”
Helion grabbed her hand. “Absolutely not.”
Apple stepped up to her. “We go together.”
Nix appeared by her side and put her arm around Apple’s shoulders. “Just us girls until Uriel appears.”
Belial nodded and leapt into the air. Apple followed behind, Whitney and Nix were right after her.
Apple reached for Belial’s hand as they soared up through the atmosphere. Belial pulled away. Apple frowned. “I know you are sick with something.”
Belial went rigid. “I am fine.”
Apple flew ahead of her and looked back. “You are not. I do not know what is wrong, but something is wrong.”
“How would you know?”
“Blood is my area. Yours is infected. If you would let me see—”
“No!” Belial held back tears. “No.”
“Why?”
“It is none of your business!”
“I just want to help, Belial.”
“You can’t!”
“How do you know?”
“You are not a healer!” Belial met her gaze. “If I thought for an instant that you could do anything I would let you help me, Apple. I would, but I do not think you can do anything for me.”
Apple sighed. “You are right. I am not a healer, but I cannot just do nothing about this.”
The foursome crossed through the shield. Belial gazed at Apple. “You can sense I am worsening?”
“Yes.”
Belial nodded. “Then keep a close watch on me. That is what you can do for me.”
Apple frowned. “Of course.”
Belial flicked open her gunmetal gray wings. She forced a smile. “Plug your ears.” She screeched. She let the sound die. “Uriel, I am here for you!”
Uriel flashed into view. “I heard you call for me, dear. Have you given up? Are you ready for me finally?” He spotted Whitney, Nix, and Apple. “Playmates?”
Belial swayed. His presence made the darkness inside her throb.
Uriel noticed. He touched his chest. “So close, so near. Come to me.”
Apple’s eyes darted between the pair. “Belial, get back.”
Belial’s vision doubled. Her body responded to his nearness, wanted to become closer with him. She was revolted. “I cannot.”
Uriel smiled, triumphant. “I knew you would come to me eventually. Your heart calls to you.”
Belial pointed her body away. “I wish you dead.”
Uriel leapt for her.
Apple collided with him. She grabbed the scruff of his neck and threw him away. Her hands flicked out fast and a whip of blood slashed in his direction. “Whitney, pull her—”
Whitney slammed into Apple. She had a fresh cut beneath her eye. Apple moved Whitney aside and turned to face the new threat.
Samuel bowed. “Greetings Archons of Hell, Heaven says hello—”
Nix bound him in shadows that sucked his light away. She threw him towards the stars. “Fuck off!”
Uriel used the distraction to dive for Belial.
Helion, Andy, Titan, and Berith joined the fight. Helion snatched Belial from the air and dove for the shield. Belial grew still at Helion’s touch. Black liquid dribbled out of her mouth. Uriel flashed through space and grabbed Helion’s ankle.
Whitney landed on Uriel’s back. “Don’t touch my man!”
Uriel tossed her away. Whitney turned around and threw out her hand. A meteoroid the size of a car slammed into his chest, throwing him back towards space. Helion passed through the shield into safety.
Whitney’s eyes burned silver and a ring of giant glass shards formed around her. “Who wants some!”
Titan mimicked her creations, creating a similar ring of rock.
Nix wove together a net of night. “Is Uriel coming back?”
Berith flew by her side, his eyes out for his brother. He held his black sword at the ready. “He will definitely be back for more.”
As if cued, Uriel recovered and swung around. He held two glowing swords. His eyes caught on Berith’s blade. His face showed a slight tremor. “The bitch brought you weapons?”
Berith smiled. “But of course.”
Uriel sneered. “At least she gave you something before she gave herself to Him.”
Berith masked his emotions. “Less talking, more fighting.”
Uriel’s eyes flicked over Titan and Berith. “We have both Primangels now, what is the point in this?”
Berith smiled. “When have you ever needed a point to fight?”
Uriel’s eyes narrowed. “What is going on—”
Whitney slammed a shard into his crotch. She followed it up with a glass-covered fist to his face. “Pervert! Rapist! Abusive son of a bitch!”
Uriel licked the blood from his face in shock, realizing that Gabriel’s pendants were useless against them now that they had wings again. He tore off the pendant and whipped it into Whitney’s face. He parried her blows and caught her on the chin with a punch of his own. “Stronger than before, good. I want the exercise.”
***
Andrealphus, Nix, and Appleadris circled Samuel.
Samuel whirled his whip, ready to strike if one came near. His eyes were drawn to Andy. “It is you.”
Andy knew exactly what Samuel was. “Ah, it speaks.”
Samuel sneered. “A greeting for one’s sibling?”
Apple flicked her wrist and slashed at him with a bone whip. Samuel hissed and darted out from between them.
Nix caught him in her net. She flung him back.
Andy flew for him and grabbed on to his wings. He punched Samuel in the ribs and threw him towards deep space.
A meteoroid flew past their heads as Titan leant his aid to Whitney.
Apple reached out and grabbed hold of the blood in Samuel. She wrenched and his body came under her control. Apple grinned and forced Samuel to turn towards Uriel. “Attack that one.”
***
Ladriam danced from foot to foot, her eyes caught on Lucifer as they had repeatedly over the course of her dance. She faced the fire. “Why does this one wear a neck halo?”
IT IS HIS DESIGN.
“His design?”
TO OBEY, HE WAS CREATED TO OBEY. THE HALO AROUND HIS NECK IS A SIGN OF THAT PURPOSE.
“Oh.” Ladriam skipped over to Lucifer and leaned down to look into his eyes. “He is pained. Why are you pained, Archangel?”
Lucifer could not answer. He sent all of his emotion into his eyes, willing her to remember. She stared at him confused.
Ladriam turned and danced away, but her eyes went back to him once more. “He is mute?”
The fire swept down from the throne and came between them.
LADRIAM.
She grinned and turned towards the throne. “Yes?”