by Jill Cooper
He let up on the gas and off in the distance he saw a rising golden light coming from the horizon of the city. Above the skyscrapers and into the clouds, the light shone in a luminescent vortex aimed right at them. Amanda squealed and bent forward at the stomach, grabbing at something hurt, hurt badly.
In an instant, Duncan felt it too, but probably not as strong as the empath. A sonic wave of power erupted from the clouds in a golden light and threw the pursuing demons back like ants on a blustery picnic day. A flutter of eagle’s wings like that of the angel soared in the distance. He had to drive toward it. Didn’t know why or how he knew, just that he did.
The fissures behind them were no longer expanding. Lourdes, for now, had given up—or had been put in her place. Mike gave Duncan an exasperated, slack jawed look and Duncan felt their luck too. Maybe priests didn’t have a direct line to God, but it seemed Amanda Blood knew an angel. Maybe that angel even owed Amanda her life.
Duncan started the car forward again at a crawl. Cautious. Didn’t know if the demons would lunge again. The further the tires spun, the easier Duncan relaxed and the tension just ran out straight out of him.
Amanda pushed her hair back with a long exhale. Her green eyes a little clearer. Duncan had a boat load of questions for her, but for the moment, thought he’d let it keep. He’d allow victory, for lack of a better word, just sink in.
The light of the angel in the distance beckoned them home.
2: Amanda Blood
The city had no idea how close to destruction it had come, but Amanda felt it deep inside. Now the shadow of death was receding like an ocean tide. The car drove toward the bright light, as Duncan called it, but he didn’t see it the way Amanda did. She doubted anyone could. The warmth and amber dust danced inside like tiny fairies. It had its own song, but not one she could discern with her ears.
Her heart and soul heard it. Like a cherub strumming his harp, that’s how Amanda knew it was no ordinary light. It came from an angel, maybe even more than one. Now they were headed toward it, like it was a spotlight, the Bat-signal, and thinking that made Amanda think of Jessica.
Jessica loved superheroes. A story where the hero always won, Jessica always said. For someone who craved happy endings so much, she hated romantic comedies, where they were pretty much guaranteed. Her sister, Jessica Blood, the realist.
The old protector of her family and now she was gone? Lost forever, so Lourdes would have them all believe.
Amanda wouldn’t, she couldn’t. She’d find a way to get Jessica back if she had to travel the world for a solution. If she had to rip a hole in the veil of the underworld to do it. When it came to Jessica, Amanda would stop at nothing, because that’s the very thing Jessica would do. They protected each other. Had each other’s back. Amanda owed her, but more than that, Amanda loved her.
Needed her to survive.
I’m going to come get you, sister. I promise.
They drove through the city and Amanda allowed herself to relax. The streets were calm, a man strolled with his dog, but over his head, a dark cloud hung. They passed a chubby girl nursing a coffee and donut, but no one could see her pain just by looking at her, but Amanda felt it.
Alone, desperate. Sad.
The city was rife with it, but it was normal human down-on-your-luck stuff. It made them all such easy targets for the demons and their promises of lies. A drug that brought the promise of happiness, euphoria, pleasure, all the while chipping at their very soul until nothing was left.
They passed by brick red buildings with signs ‘open for business’ in the window while others were having close out sales. Businesses may be on the brink of closing forever, but the strip clubs seemed to be doing okay. Blinking lights outside, with a scrolling marquee, it was a thing you’d expect to see in Vegas. And the lines?
Wrapped around the building as if people were waiting to see a blockbuster movie.
The light grew brighter and filled the windshield. Amanda shielded her eyes and Duncan squinted, the closer they got. “Want to tell me what that was back there?” Duncan asked. “Jessica was…gone. The demons were around us. We were goners and then you screamed—.”
“And they all fell back,” Amanda admitted softly. “If I knew what it was, I’d tell you, Duncan. But I don’t know. The only non-passive thing I can do is exorcise a demon with my hands, you know that.” It scared her. Whatever it had been, it damn well terrified her.
He nodded in agreement and there was no malice in his voice, but Amanda felt his surge of adrenaline. Didn’t he trust her? Didn’t he—He thought the drugs Vaughn pumped her full of corrupted her. Amanda felt that surge of emotion as clear as day. She swallowed hard and stared out the window.
Was it true? Aunt Gwen always said, if corrupted, Amanda would be as explosive as a time bomb.
If they were going to help Jessica, they had to work together. Had to trust each other, but Amanda didn’t know how to make him understand. She understood just because she felt. How could she explain something like that?
“It could be the drugs messing you up,” Father Mike said from the rear seat, leaning forward. “It might settle as you heal, get the drugs from your system.”
A ‘but’ hung between them; Amanda didn’t have the answers. She didn’t have the truth, so she didn’t say anything. All she could do was nod and hope, for now, it would be enough.
They arrived at the dome of light, behind a café and Duncan slowed the car down to a crawl. Pulling it beside the curb, he cut the engine and no sooner did he do that, than the light from the angel disappeared.
Duncan raised an eyebrow. “Maybe she didn’t want to meet with us after all.”
“She did.” Amanda gazed out, looking around the sidewalk and the front of the café. It was a casual, but homey place with bushes out front and a white painted door. It made her feel warm and squishy inside. “She’s here, around the back.” Amanda opened the car door and stepped out, but a wave of dizziness overtook her.
She steadied herself with a hand to her forehead, but Duncan grabbed her arm anyway. A toothpick twirled in his mouth, it hadn’t been there a few minutes ago. “You okay there, princess?”
He didn’t say it in a condescending way. All Amanda felt was worry and concern. The weight of responsibility was already bearing down on him. Amanda wished she could wave her hand and make it disappear.
“I’m good, just been through a lot the last few days. Maybe after this, we could get some French fries? And pie?” Amanda said with hope. “I haven’t eaten anything in a few days.”
“We’ll get you whatever you need.” Father Mike said warmly. Amanda liked him, but she couldn’t read him like she read others. Unless of course, there just simply was nothing to read at all.
That idea unsettled her. She knew Mike was a good person. He dedicated his life to fighting demons. He left his church long before they met and formed his own renegade group of like-minded souls.
But she didn’t know him. Not really.
Duncan led them down the simple, nondescript alley. A chain-link fence surrounded a dumpster that smelled of days old coffee grinds and sour milk. In the middle of such normalcy, the angel stood front and center. When their eyes fell upon her, Duncan and Father Mike’s steps slowed and Amanda took up the approach. Even though she was tired and her legs wobbled, Amanda outstretched her hand and continued.
The angel, who was once Vaughn’s prisoner, stood tall, elegant, and grand. Her hands clasped, perfect posture and her hair glowed like a flowing river behind her. Her white robe was cinched with a golden rope and her white feathered wings, like those of an eagle, folded simply behind her as if an elegant train.
What would others think of the angel if they saw her? Amanda only felt spellbound.
“Others cannot see me as the three of you see me. For they don’t believe. You may call me Mariam,” The angel extended her hand to Amanda. Her perfect fingers splayed, with smooth round nails and Amanda was mystified as she touched them.
So soft, gentle and smooth. Like they had never known hardship, but Amanda knew the truth. She knew what cracks splintered Mariam inside.
“For what you did back there for Amanda, and just now for us, thank you.” Father Mike’s voice softened and for a brief moment, Amanda felt his absolute awe. Like he’d go down on bended knee if the alley wasn’t so filthy.
“I did what I could, but the fight is coming.” She gazed past Amanda at Duncan. “You will carry the biggest burden of all. Carrying Amanda and rescuing Jessica from the underworld, won’t be easy. She’s on the move and Lourdes will make sure she doesn’t sit still. That would make Jessica vulnerable. To find her, you will need to anticipate her next step.”
Duncan shifted his weight from one foot to the other, his eyes cast down. There was so much sorrow in the alley, that Amanda felt stifled. Thick and heavy like a blanket, it weighed them all down.
Mariam stiffened as she seemed to even stand taller. “Jessica fought against the underworld’s wishes and for that, she will be punished. You can’t expect her to continue to resist. She is only human and it cannot be held against her. Make sure that is not part of your plan, or surely you will die.”
A slight hissing noise came from Duncan as he swallowed back hard. “Well, you’re all sunlight and roses.”
“A realist. An angel stuck on Earth this long, I don’t have a choice to be anything else.”
“What happened back there?” Mike asked. “What Lourdes did, those fissures? The Earth ravaged with the underworld’s flame? There are supposed to be limits to her power.”
“Indeed, there are, Michael Mortensen,” Miriam glided across the surface. “but those rules, those limits, have now changed. Lourdes has taken a human as the commander of her army. That human created a rip in the veil between the underworld and Earth. Lourdes’ power is growing. Things are changing. Soon, the Earth might not be protected any longer from the flames of hell.
“And Lourdes will use those powers of hell to her advantage. To get Amanda. Her blood has the power to throw those doors wide open. Lourdes, I fear, wants domain over it all. Hell. Earth. Maybe even Heaven.”
Amanda bristled as a wave of intense fear washed over her. She knew that the underworld was filled with torture and lower level demons, but hell, that’s where the real beasts dwelt. It was there Satan roamed, with monsters the size of buildings. She had dreamt of such a place before and she had no desire to ever see it in person.
“We’ll do what we can, but we’re three humans. Three.” Duncan held up his fingers. “What can we do that the angels of heaven can’t? We’re going to need some help down here.”
“Duncan.” Mike’s eyes narrowed and he grew cross. Very cross. Amanda hadn’t felt such a strong surge of negative emotion from a human since she last saw Jessica—before she was taken to Lourdes.
Miriam held up her hand. “You must understand, I’m a fallen angel.” She said the words as if she loathed them, and for the first time broke eye contact. “Vaughn, the demon, charmed me. I knew he was a demon and still, I fell from heaven for him. His dark beauty entranced me. Decades upon decades of lust and torture ruled my life. All of which is not something easily forgiven by Heaven. I have a lot to answer for and that’ll take time.
“You see, Duncan Jasper, God forgives a lot easier than angels do. If I’m to get Heaven on our side, first I must go through the trials. Then Heaven’s defenses must be bolstered. We cannot allow Lourdes to gain a foothold in heaven. If we do, it doesn’t matter how many people you save down here, all will be lost.”
There was such despair in her words, Amanda felt like weeping. “We will do what we can.”
Duncan stepped up, red hot with anger and Amanda laid a hand on his chest. Her eyes implored him, and she watched him soften under her watchful gaze. “Please,” she pleaded, “this isn’t going to help Jessica.”
He nodded and cast his eyes to the café. The anger still simmered, but he did his best to control it. Amanda felt the dull creep of a headache growing behind her eye. She thought maybe it was from emotion, but she feared it was from the drugs Vaughn forced onto her.
Miriam nodded as if she could read her mind. “The gift I gave you will ease your suffering as you head into withdrawal, Amanda Blood, but it will not completely cure you. You will suffer, I’m sorry, but you will come through to the other side. Hopefully, then your powers will balance out.”
Amanda’s interest piqued. “And what happened back at Vaughn’s? When I cried and the demons were driven back? That was me, wasn’t it?”
“Indeed, it was. Your soul has been fractured and pulled apart. Part of it, I fear, may be in the underworld itself. It is having an effect on your powers. I’d be careful, not to let your emotions get the best of you until it's restored back to its former beauty. Golden and intricate. It was quite the sight to be seen, now it is tarnished and cracked, but with time…”
Her words broke Amanda’s heart. Was her soul fractured that much? Amanda wanted to weep.
But it was time for Miriam to go. “For now, that’s all I can give you.” She gazed past Amanda and at Duncan. “Grab her food and drink, she’s going to need her strength for what’s coming. After that, it’s imperative you return to your bar, Duncan. A friend there needs your help.”
Duncan sucked in his breath; then, without warning and no good-bye, Miriam took off like a rocket into the sky. Golden smoke trailed in her wake and Father Mike let out a deep exhale.
“My friends would never believe me if I told them.”
Duncan did a double take. “You have friends?”
Funny, but Amanda didn’t feel like laughing. Their trouble had just begun and a sickening swirl grew in the pit of her stomach. She touched her nose and saw on her fingertips a trail of blood. It seemed the demon withdrawal was starting earlier than Amanda had thought it would.
****
The café smelled of cinnamon and coffee. Swirls of nutmeg danced across the tip of Amanda’s tongue as she washed her face in the bathroom. The reflection she saw in the mirror didn’t seem much like her at all—too pale; the splattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose was too much like Jessica’s.
Amanda’s skin had always glowed, but now, dry patches across her barren cheeks and around her cracked lips had taken up residence. She steadied herself by holding onto the basin as vomit rose in her throat.
Her breath quickened. Amanda was glad for the cramped bathroom because the toilet was nearby as she wretched, her stomach heaving. She might have been a grown woman, but Jessica had always been there when she got sick, and Amanda missed having her.
The contents of her stomach swirled in the toilet, full of bubbles and a sickening green color that was unnatural. It wasn’t like she had just eaten a bag of spinach.
Yuck, spinach. Amanda did her best to avoid vegetables whenever possible. Amanda wiped the corner of her mouth with her hand and flushed the toilet. She took a deep breath to steady herself and closed her eyes. You can do this; you can do this.
I can’t do it. I can’t. Jessie!
Amanda pushed the thoughts from her mind as she exited the bathroom. The café was small and filled with cute little cat figurines on shelves, each with a coffee cup in hand. Every surface had adorable dollies and blooming flowers inside vase. She tried to focus on how homey it was and act normal, like everything was okay. On the inside, she was shaking.
If it was this bad now, Amanda didn’t want to know how she would feel by nightfall.
At the counter Duncan was paying for her cinnamon bun and already Amanda could taste its gooey warmth. As far as foods went, it was near perfect and it would be just what she needed to perk up, feel like herself.
But then Amanda’s steps froze. Something was amiss. Someone was crying out in pain.
A family at a table was having lunch, and they seemed perfectly normal. A tall slender father with peppered hair, a mother with beautiful makeup and designer clothes. She probably went to the salon every fou
r weeks on schedule, but underneath she was a cracked old house with fresh paint thrown on top.
Pill popper. Drinker.
The daughter had pigtails and inside cried with so much rage, she lashed out; Grabbed Amanda through the anger in her mind. Amanda didn’t need to lift the sleeves of her shirt to see the bruises. She felt them on her own arms as if her own bones had been cracked and fused back together. Amanda was drawn to her because of her pain and her quiet suffering.
Blond pigtails and sad green eyes when she should’ve been happy, carefree. She stared down at her food, fully retreated into herself. Amanda ambled around the table and knelt beside the girl. “You’ll be all right, you know.”
The little girl bristled. She sat up straighter and fearfully gawked at her parents. Before anyone could say anything, Amanda pushed the purple sleeve of the little girl’s dress up and saw the bruises.
“Now, just wait a second—.” The father rose from his seat, expecting Amanda to rise up too, but instead, Amanda just smiled at the little girl.
“I’m going to show you something magical.” Amanda held her hand above the little girl’s arm with a nervous jitter. She had to hurry. She heard Duncan rushing from behind; he was worried. Nervous. Amanda knew she couldn’t go around healing people in public, but this child was so little and hurt so badly.
So little and alone, like a fragile baby dove. She didn’t deserve the pain, just like Jessica didn’t deserve the life they had led. No one did.
Amanda’s fingers wiggled back and forth, stretching out. The healing energy flowed from her hand, almost as it usually did, but it was glowing brighter. Its web of ribbons sparkled like condensed busy city streets. Inside her chest, the healing energy rumbled louder than ever and Amanda could barely ignore its churning power.
It cast a glow on the little girl’s awestruck wide eyes, reflecting in their magic. The bruises on her arm faded away and all that was left was pink and perfect skin.
“Are you an angel?” The little girl asked. “I dream of angels all the time.”