by Eve Langlais
I finished my toiletries and walked out into the main living area. My men turned like one person, even though they stood on opposite sides of the room, and their smiles of welcome warmed me and melted my doubts.
They care, and when the moment’s right, I’m going to tell them what I feel.
We joked and chatted over breakfast, the only somber moment coming when Simon and Gene mentioned meeting with the forces aligned against those in Heaven and Hell who would see me dead.
“So does this mean we’re going to war?” I asked.
“Hopefully not. If we can show the Legion of Darkness and the Army of Light that we outnumber them, then maybe we can avert an all out war.”
I had my doubts, but I wouldn’t rain on Simon’s optimism. I knew he did all this for one reason only-to protect me.
All too soon, Simon was kissing me goodbye with promises to meet up with me later. I didn’t bother calling my roomies to warn them I was coming, I just had Gene drop me off.
I hugged him to me tight, an odd sense of uneasiness making me say, “You’ll be careful?”
“Don’t fear for me. I am much harder to kill than you’d think.” Not exactly reassuring words, but apparently it was the best I’d get. He kissed me soundly. “See you in a few hours. And remember, if you need me, just make a wish.”
I warmed at his words even as he popped out of sight. How did I ever get so lucky?
I swallowed that internal thought when I walked into chaos. The apartment looked like a herd of animals had rampaged through it. A rotten egg miasma in the air made me pull my shirt up over my nose to filter the smell, but it did nothing to block the visual chaos. The cushions on the couch were scattered and torn. Broken glass glittered all over the floor and went well with the shredded books. My heart sped up, not in fear for myself, but trepidation for my friends who should have both been home.
Maybe they weren’t here when it happened. I walked further into the scene of destruction, trying to momentarily deny the inevitable conclusion. The message scrawled on the wall of the dining room took my last hope away.
The blood they’d use to write still glistened wetly and even ran in rivulets in some spots.
We have your friends. If you want them to live, then you will exchange yourself for them. Tell no one or they will die.
I clenched my fists to keep from screaming, my elongating nails biting deep into my palms. In all the scenarios that I’d run through my head, I’d never actually imagined anyone coming after my friends. They were innocent, and I was even more naïve. My first impulse was to call the guys for help, but the blatant threat stayed my hand. I wouldn’t be responsible for their death, not when their only fault was to befriend a hybrid misfit.
Tears threatened to spill as I realized what I needed to do-and my choice wouldn’t please my lovers. However, if I wanted to die, my conscience free and clear knowing I’d done the right thing, then I needed to act as I saw fit.
Decision made, I wondered how I was supposed to find the bastards who’d kidnapped and, judging by the blood, harmed my friends.
I approached the macabrely painted wall and saw embedded in the plaster, a slim dagger pinning a piece of paper. I yanked the blade out and grabbed at the note as it fluttered down.
Blood shall get you to where you need to go.
Great. I held the sharp edge over the palm of my hand, but hesitated. Can I really do this knowing I’m going to die? It tore at me. All my life I’d fought against that invisible specter and now that I’d finally beaten the Grim Reaper, Murphy’s Law had caught up to me and was laughing in my face. I thought of my friends-Lana who deserved a chance to sing and eventually embrace her siren side. And dear Claire, whose cute bunny side deserved someone to love and cuddle her. I couldn’t sentence them to death.
The dagger cut cleanly into the palm of my hand, and red blood welled up coating the blade which warmed in my grip.
Unlike Gene’s seamless form of transportation, this method wrenched my body in what seemed like every direction at once, and with a sickening lurch, I left to meet my fate-and greet death after running for so long.
“The time is now,” Gene boomed, his voice amplified by magic. Not that he truly needed to, considering those he addressed had power enough on their own to hear him if they wished.
The king of the gnomes stood, his red pointed hat giving him a height he would have otherwise lacked. “Attack without provocation? It is one thing to retaliate, but to go preemptively on the offensive seems foolish.”
Simon growled. “So you would sit here while they plan the death of the one person who may fulfill the prophecy.”
The little man scoffed. “And if she’s not the one? Are we prepared to rile the forces of Heaven and Hell just because you like the taste of her honey pot?”
Simon roared and would have leapt on the gnome had Gene not held him back.
Gene, however, felt the same frustration as Simon. The time had come for them to stop cowering and take a stand. Yes, part of their reason was selfish, he and Simon both loved Beth, but it was more than that. After several millennia of division, it was time to look for a better way, and regardless of what the gnome king said, sitting back and waiting was not an option.
Apparently he wasn’t the only one who thought so.
Queen Mab stood in all her splendid, golden glory and before her powerful gaze, all quieted and waited for her to speak. “The Ifrit and Ice Dragon are correct. We can no longer allow this state to continue. The walling of Heaven and Hell, the separation of good and evil, has to stop. Do we know for sure this girl is the one? No, but if she is and we do nothing, in effect allowing her to be killed, then we may lose our chance to restore the balance. So I ask you again, are you with us or not?”
Gene held his breath as he waited for the response. By throwing her support behind them, Mab had effectively silenced those who would have sat on the sidelines. Her words challenged them and also made it clear that those who abstained would not be kindly regarded.
His sigh of relief was washed away by the voices that rang out promising their support. Simon slapped Gene on the back and Gene almost fell over with his friend’s enthusiasm.
Gene knew he should be happier, but he couldn’t dispel a sense of unease. He longed to escape this tedious back and forth game the rulers played and check on Beth. She’s fine and I’m turning into Simon, worrying about her safety all the time. Besides, if she needed me, she’d make a wish.
But no matter his reassurance to himself, he couldn’t stop the niggling doubt, and judging by Simon’s faraway expression, he wasn’t alone.
But politics forced him away from his unease.
Chapter Ten
I landed in Limbo on my knees, dry heaving and spitting. Not exactly an elegant way to arrive.
“And this is the abomination who is supposed to change Heaven and Hell?” said a guttural voice. The question was followed by a kick in my ribs. The force of the blow threw me back, and I lay on the dusty ground sucking in air.
A musical voice, that would have sounded beautiful if not for the condescension in its tone, replied “Yes, it’s hard to believe this human born creature has the power to destroy the status quo.”
Their insults really annoyed me. Wasn’t it enough I’d bravely decided to trade myself for my friends, did they have to degrade me, too? I sprang to my feet as anger fired up my adrenaline. I found myself facing the epitomes of good and evil. On the left, there was a huge black demon, replete with horns, coal red eyes and a general nasty demeanor. On the right was perfection itself in the form of a male angel with curly blond ringlets, eyes of a summer blue sky dressed in a white gown; the purity of which matched that of the angel’s outspread wings. What a shame the pretty exterior didn’t extend to its interior.
It baffled me that a creature thought to be good could be involved in something so evil, but as my father once told me, good and evil were all in the perception of the perpetrator. I hadn’t understand what he’d trie
d to explain at the time, but the wisdom he’d imparted made sense later when I met the doctors who experimented on me. They too thought they worked for the good of man. I disagreed.
But questions of right and wrong would have to wait. I had a more important mission. “Where are my friends?” I asked boldly.
The two beings stepped aside and I saw my friends, tied to stakes with gags stuffed in their mouths. Claire with a cut on her temple stared at me with eyes round with fright, her cheeks marked with tears. Lana, her face battered, looked fierce and I knew, if she could free herself, she’d say to hell with giving up. She’d fight to the death.
My heart squeezed tight. “I came as you asked. Now let them go.”
Then came the answer I’d expected. “Why would we do that?” replied the demon. “Once you’re dead, I look forward to taking the feisty one back to Hell with me. While Gabriel here has shown an interest in the little bunny.”
“That wasn’t the deal.” My fury bubbled inside of me. Had it just been me against the demon and angel, I was pretty sure I’d prevail, but behind my friends I could see the demonic horde on one side and the angelic detachment on the other. Hot damn, just what is it they’re afraid I can do? That’s some serious backup considering they’re just going up against one hybrid misfit.
I wanted to know why they feared me. And then I wanted to make it come true. I’d had plenty of time to ponder the words of the prophecy and I had a theory, one that didn’t fully form until I found myself in Limbo again. All around me, the greyness called to me, it sent tingles throughout me and I could almost hear it whisper-/blood/. A plan unfolded in my mind-the odds of it succeeding were pretty slim and relied on several unknowns, but the consequences of doing nothing loomed over me even worse.
The demon laughed. “And who are you going to tell? You came here alone, you stupid Nephilim.”
“I am not a Nephilim,” I stated. I pushed my wings out with a shower of grey feathers and straightened my spine. The angel Gabriel’s eyes widened. I tilted my chin stubbornly. “I am a Hybrid Misfit, and I am done taking shit from either one of you. If you won’t free my friends, then I guess I’ll do it myself.”
I launched myself in the air before they could grab me and with a rapid flap of my wings, hurtled towards my friends. I yanked the dagger I’d hidden on my person when I’d arrived under the guise of puking and sliced at the bonds that held my friends.
I’d no sooner pulled Claire’s gag free than she shouted, “Behind you!”
I ducked without looking and swept my feet in a semicircle. I snagged the black demon who staggered, revealing the angel with a gleaming sword behind him. I rolled on the dusty ground vaguely noticing a rumble. I hopped up to my feet and sprinted away from my friends in the hopes of luring my foes after me. It worked, kind of. While Gabriel and his demon friend stalked me with furious eyes, I could see their respective armies advancing on my friends.
I wanted to scream in frustration. But I hadn’t given my friends enough credit, for while Claire was a bunny and low on the food chain, Lana wasn’t.
Free of her gag and more pissed than I’d ever seen her. I halted and gaped as a sudden breeze, smelling strongly of brine, ruffled her green tinged hair. I could see her aura swell as she gathered power. Then she opened her mouth and sang. Even though her melody wasn’t directed at me, I staggered under the weight of her anger. It halted the advancing army in its tracks, but not the two advancing on me.
The moment had arrived, did I fulfill the prophecy in the way I’d deciphered it, or did I call for help, and postpone this moment to another time?
I am not a coward. And I’m tired of running.
I met the angel and demon, my gray wings and clothing a symbolic mix of the two strains of DNA bound to me. I was neither good nor evil; I was just me, something in the middle. I danced for my survival. Hopping and twisting to avoid the fatal blows they threw at me, I waited for my moment.
There to the left, I saw it. I raised my arm and blocked the black slashing claws of the demon. Burning pain shot up my arm as he opened a large gash in my flesh, the blood instantly welling. My arm fell limply to my side just as the angel with his silvery sword sliced at my other unprotected arm.
I grinned as I sank to the ground on my knees, my blood spraying from my matching wounds. I peered up at the beings, one so ugly it hurt and the other so bright it hurt even more. “Thank you,” I said through the pain scalding its way through my system.
The demon frowned at me, but the angel’s eyes opened wide and he stared down at my blood which dripped in fat plops onto the grey, dusty ground.
I could still faintly hear Lana singing and as I stared down at the lifeless surface that soaked up my blood like I sponge with nothing in return, I realized, a tad too late, that my theory was perhaps wrong. I don’t understand. I translated the fairy Queen’s words; Hail the blessed one for her blood shall destroy the boundaries. I was certainly bleeding, but unfortunately, I didn’t hear or see any sign that I’d fulfilled anything other than my own death.
I slumped forward onto the dusty ground as my life force leached from me to disappear into the parched wasteland. The shadows of the pair who’d struck the killing blows, covered me.
I made a wish. Gene, I need you.
Chapter Eleven
Simon saw Gene’s face blanch.
“We need to go now,” the Djinn announced. “Beth’s in trouble.”
Simon clasped his friend’s shoulder and without a word of warning to the assembly, they popped dimensions right into a scene of nightmare.
And noise.
Simon winced as a siren’s song vibrated loudly around them. It only took a moment to take in the scene and it wasn’t hard to figure out what had happened given the players. The stakes with hanging strands of rope stood sentry to Lana who sang her siren’s heart out. Claire, brandishing a dagger, stood by her friend, protecting her from two armies that while frozen for the moment, were fighting against the siren’s spell. All that, however, paled at the sight of Beth’s form crumpled on the ground. Even worse, the figures of a demon and angel stood over her, their arms lifted to deliver fatal blows.
He let his fury go. “No!” With a roar of rage which thundered and shook the ground, his dragon burst forth. It startled the pair who thought to end his one’/s/ life, and he gave a snaggle tooth grin as they turned to face them with their puny weapons.
Now they die.
Simon wasn’t the only one enraged. Gene finally lost his cool, his human form disappearing in puff of smoke to reveal his true Ifrit shape. Massive, and formed of a black cloud with glowing eyes, Gene’s voice boomed. “Death to the ones who hurt my beloved. War to those who supported them!”
Simon bellowed in agreement, the ground before him frosting a path to the two whose life would be measured in seconds. Gene whirled from the leaders leaving them to Simon’s mercy-or lack of. While the Djinn threw devastating bombs at the armies, Simon lumbered after the heads of the angelic and demonic forces.
Ice dragons might not get involved often, but when we do, the enemy dies.
The cowards finally stopped scurrying to face him. Simon spared them no quarter. He inhaled and blew out, directing the stream of icy breath. He froze the demon and angel, turned them into living sculptures, unable to move, unable to scream, but able to see their destiny approaching. Simon grinned, a fearsome sight on his dragon visage, then, with a sweep of his paw, he shattered them.
Turning about to aid Gene in destroying the armies who’d gathered, he discovered the tides had changes. Their newly found allies from the meeting had joined them. Ranks of fairies, gnomes, dwarves and a host of other creatures advanced on the armies of Heaven and Hell, who in turn backed away, their resolve wavering without their leaders to bolster it.
A flutter of movement caught Simons’ eye and he turned, only to have his eyes caught by Beth’s still corpse. His rage evaporated in a wave of grief, and he shrank back into his male form. He’d barely changed
before was running to her side. He knelt beside her.
Across from her prone body, Gene fell to his knees as well.
“Oh, Beth,” he whispered.
Simon couldn’t stand to see her lying face first in the dirt. Gently, he turned her body with Gene’s aid so she lay on her back.
He couldn’t stop his tears from falling, and they fell on the ground atop the blood sprouting green grass.
What the fuck?
And then shit happened.
As Simon watched with disbelieving eyes, the green fuzz spread outwards from Beth’s body and the blood pooled around it. Simon stood to look and watched as the vivid emerald color rolled across the open plain, its shocking appearance stopping the combatants in their tracks as they watched with slack jaws.
But that wasn’t all. From the ground turned green, vegetation sprouted. Flowers in a rainbow of colors popped free of the ground along with twigs that grew into small saplings with leaves of every color.
Simon pivoted, his eyes tearing as he realized that in giving her life, Beth had woken Limbo. And when the ground quaked a few moments later, it wasn’t hard to surmise that the walls penning Hell and Heaven, good and evil, had come down.
She’s freed everyone. He wished he could be happier at the thought she hadn’t died in vain, but he was dragon and selfish. He would have forsaken just about anyone or anything to have her alive.
A gust of wind blew up out of nowhere and he turned at the tickling breeze’s insistence. He gasped.
Beth floated above the ground in an upright position. Her arms were spread wide and her head tilted back. She wore a beatific smile and when she opened her eyes, they blazed with a violet light. He sank to his knees, his eyes brimming with tears. Later he’d castigate himself for being less than manly, right now he couldn’t contain his joy that Beth lived, despite her actions.
I honestly thought I was going to die. I lay there face first in the ground and listened to Lana sing, cursing my stupidity.