by Rae Foxx
There was a lot of murmuring. I was sure people were asking questions of their friends and the people nearest them, but nobody stepped forward to come out with anything. I nodded and looked at Michael and Gabriel. "You want to take over?"
Joel stepped forward. "I will if you don't mind?"
I nodded my head. Joel was the organizer, the spell caster. Gabe and Michael were more like warriors and investigators. While they would probably do fine with the spell, Joel was more likely to have success.
He looked at the Fallen. "You're going to have to trust me."
Asmodeus shot me an unsure look. I shook my head and addressed just my part of the group. "Guys, you have to give it your all. If you don't want to do this, you'd be doing us more good by leaving now than by joining and resisting the link." I looked from face to face. "If you leave now, there will be no repercussions. I know it's hard to trust after so many years of mistrust and suspicion."
A couple of lower Fallen disappeared. I understood. Archangels and Fallen were considered enemies. We tried to lessen that stigma by being open with our relationship, but it hadn't done much good over the years.
Michael addressed the angels. "The same goes for all of you. If you're not all-in, go now. You won't be punished. It's okay to be nervous."
We lost a few on that side, too. Nobody I knew. It was better that they go.
"Everybody feeling good?" Joel asked. This time, people seemed more confident. He grinned. "Let's do this." He took my hand and Lucifer's. "Just because I've never done this with both Angels and Fallen, it would be great if you guys would stagger. There are more angels, but let's put a Fallen between an Angel, eh?" He raised his eyebrows and the Fallen exchanged alarmed looks, but they shuffled around until all Fallen were between angels and we formed a large circle in front of the gates.
"Open yourselves. Lucifer here on my left will start. He's going to allow the power inside him to be accessed by the person on his left. When he's ready, he'll nod at Quentin there and Quentin will connect their power."
Quentin nodded his understanding.
"Now, don't pull his power into you," Joel cautioned. "Just grab it and make yourself open for Asmodeus on your left to grab it."
"I'm ready," Lucifer said. He nodded at Quentin, a minor angel. Lucifer gave no reaction to his borrowed power being accessed. I knew he would've never let a stranger grab his power. He would've had Michael or Gabriel stand on his left instead.
Slowly, each angel and Fallen connected until it was my turn to take the bulk of the power from Michael on my right. I delved into him and saw it immediately. A braided rope of massive energy and magic. Gently, I grabbed it with a tendril of my power and weaved my energy into the existing rope. With a small tug, I pulled it toward me, then turned to Joel. "Here we go," I whispered.
He smiled, and my magic tingled his aura open so he could grasp the flow. The braid of immense power was awe-inspiring. "Is it enough power as-is?" I asked.
Joel shook his head. "No. We've used this many to go back nearly a day and it was difficult. All angels that time, of course, but this is some massive magic we need to perform. We'll have to use the souls."
I nodded. We'd agreed beforehand to try without the souls. Sending all the souls for rebirth without processing them and weeding out those that needed to be kept far away from humans wasn't the best idea.
But it was our only idea.
"Okay, Luc and I will begin, then. When the power is at its peak, we'll transfer to you."
Joel nodded. I took one final look around the circle, then focused my energy on Purgatory. We used the gigantic rope of power and directed it through the gates and into the mystical realm. Closing my eyes, I did my part while Luc did his. We'd decided he should work on the River, because by now it probably had more souls in it than Purgatory, and he was a little more adept at the rebirth thing than I was.
Asmodeus helped us both, acting as a focus, helping the edges of our power stay sharp while we gathered all the souls in massive magical webs.
Before, when we'd tried to fly to the ends of Purgatory, it had been impossible. Physically, I wasn't sure the river could ever end.
Magically, with this much power, creating a web around every soul contained was easy. I did it in minutes.
"Ready," I whispered.
I felt Luc brush against my consciousness. We needed to connect, at least for a few moments, to combine our webs in the River and Purgatory and complete the rebirths.
There was about to be an incredible baby boom on Earth.
Rebirths weren't instant. Luc used the incredible power to yank the magic from every soul all at once, and they shrank, essentially becoming baby souls within seconds.
That part was fast. He quickly yanked the magical net in, shrinking it and drawing the power toward our circle of angels.
It hit us like a freight train. Every angel, including me, Luc, and Joel, the focus points, were knocked off our feet.
But the rope of power held. While we acclimated ourselves to holding more power than any of us could've ever imagined, all those souls began to disappear.
This was the slow part for them. They'd go to the astral plane on Earth, unconscious and unaware. Their little souls would attach to pregnancies, people in comas, and near-death experiences. Some of them would merge with the existing soul and memories, and awaken as a new, fresh person. Some would begin again and essentially be the same people they'd been before.
But it took time. When we finished resetting time, most of the souls would still be searching for a new home.
I turned my attention to the torrential flood of power. The rope had disappeared underneath the blazing glory that was the power of millions of souls.
As we linked hands again, Joel took over the direction of the flow. "It's too much," he called out. "Michael, Gabriel, I need you!"
Luc and I jumped to the side, holding hands and Michael and Gabe put their hands on Joel's shoulders. "We'll help you guide it," Gabe said.
I wished I could help, but I couldn't imagine how they were going to do this.
As it turned out, because of the connection, I was able to see it happen.
And it was glorious.
Joel cast a net of his own, but it went far beyond what we'd done to harness the soul power. It was more like an immense ward than a net. It swept through Abaddon, Purgatory, and the River. The energy and magic covered the Earth and stretched out through all the stars and moons, planets, and asteroids. It stretched to Elysium, to every nook and cranny in Earth and its connected planes.
"Does this connect to other planes? That other people have created?" I asked.
"I already thought of that," Luc said with his arm around me. "He said only the ones that operate with the same time lineation as Earth."
My heart sank. "So, not Raphael's realm." I'd hoped it would reverse time and give me back some of Ariel's childhood.
He shook his head as the magic began. My stomach lurched as the ground rumbled under me. I'd never felt the ground move like this. Not in Abaddon.
And then, time stood still. Though I knew through our connections, both personal and the one we'd made for the flow of power, that they were somehow unraveling some sort of weave, physically they looked frozen. Gravity ceased to exist, and for the first time, I wondered how gravity worked in Abaddon, given we weren't technically on Earth. Laughter bubbled through my mind, but my body was weightless, floating a few inches off the ground alongside the others.
I tried to turn my head, but the ability to move had left me. I didn't breathe. None of my muscles worked.
Not even my eyes would shift. All I saw was the spot I'd been staring before it all began. Joel, Gabriel, and Michael.
As time stretched—or as it reversed—I began to count, curious how long this was taking. My body felt no need to breathe, move, or react in any way. Everything but my mind, and the flow of power, was in a state of true stasis.
By the time I counted to a thousand, I was beginning
to wonder how much longer it would take. I was frozen, inches off the ground, while Michael, Gabriel, and Joel wrestled with the magic.
The flow of power began to wane. They were using so much power that they'd begun to use it up. Would they be injured by this?
Had we taken on too much?
When my mind had worked my emotions up into a good panic that I couldn't vent because everything was frozen, everything changed.
They completed their un-weaving, and the world snapped. I landed lightly on my feet and my panic dissipated. I looked around. The flow of power was gone.
"I have no power," Lucifer mumbled.
Turning to look behind me, I gasped. "The gates," I said.
They were closed.
"Everyone scatter!" I shouted. "Now!"
The Angels and Fallen disappeared. I waved to Michael and Gabriel, then grabbed Lucifer's hand and moved us inside Abaddon. We waited just inside the gates where we could observe the entire entry area.
I had no idea if they'd taken us to the appropriate time, but demons milled about everywhere inside the gates.
Thousands of them. Hundreds of thousands. We turned and looked at them, all of them confused and moving a bit slow.
"This must affect them the way it does humans," Lucifer said. "They don't know what happened or remember anything."
Asmodeus walked up. "They also don't understand why there aren't any souls here," he said and chuckled. "That was fun."
"Let's see if it worked," I whispered.
18
It didn't take long to find out. I knew where Raphael had stood when he had Ariel open the gates, so I kept my eyes on that spot. Memories of what happened the last time flashed through my mind, so I forced myself to focus on our plan. We'd gone over it a dozen times. It was solid. It would work.
I kept repeating the plan in my mind, ready to go at any second. As soon as Raphael appeared, I grabbed Lucifer and shifted us directly in front of him, outside the gates. By the time we appeared, I already had my power ready.
Lucifer had wanted to do this part, but we'd anticipated the possibility that he'd lose his borrowed power when we reset time. And he had, to his chagrin. He had to have been itching to get his power back. I would've been.
As we materialized in front of Raphael, Luc lunged forward and grabbed Ariel, then jumped back as I slammed a shield in front of him so Raphael couldn't lash out at him or Ariel in his frustration. At the same time, I wrapped Raphael in a web of magic so tight it would cause him immense pain to try to break out of it. I only had my power to work with, and Raphael had both his and Lucifer's energy and magic. We had to move fast.
Raphael snarled, his beautiful face distorted in his anger, and I knew that he'd realized we'd united against him. Finally. I felt the might of the Fallen and angels appear behind me as one force. They quickly connected again, the way they had done before to share the power to get the souls, and I felt the control of that power shoved into my aura. I used it to strengthen the web around Raphael.
Ariel began to scream. Her high-pitched, shrill voice was beyond terrified. "Don't hurt him!"
Lucifer tried to talk to her, but she was beyond reasoning.
"No!" Raphael shouted. "She's scared."
Lucifer put her down and held out his hands. "Nobody here will hurt you, sweet girl. We love you."
She stopped screaming and looked at Raphael. "What do I do?"
"Run!" Raphael shouted.
She looked at him again with wide eyes as Lucifer darted forward to try to grab her again, but she disappeared.
"Bring her back!" I yelled. "Now!" I had to hope she'd gone to Mia, or the rest of our plan wouldn't work. We had to get her back here. But, as long as she was with Mia, we'd planned for this contingency. We'd expected Ariel to run.
The last time I'd seen her, she'd been terrified of us.
He smiled, and this close to him, finally able to look him in the eyes, I knew.
Raphael had gone completely insane. His eyes had a crazed look in them, like someone whose mind had broken for good. "Why?" I whispered. "Why would you do this? You've united the might of Elysium and Abaddon against you. For what?" I wanted to understand how he'd gotten here.
"They had to know," he said. His voice was broken and guttural. He'd turned into a demon inside without any help from us. "Don't you see? They had to learn. The stupid, weak humans. They lived their lives, each of them going an entire existence without knowing there was something bigger, something more powerful. They're sheep, and they don't respect us." He bared his teeth like some sort of feral animal.
"Close off your realm." Lucifer stepped forward. He stood tall and proud. He might not have had his power back yet, but he was still the King of Abaddon. He was still the leader, the Fallen Pride of God.
Raphael laughed. "Lucifer Morningstar. My big brother. I showed you, didn't I?" His deranged laugh grated at my nerves. "I finally showed you. You've had it coming since the dawn of time."
"Raphael," I said in a sing-song voice. He snapped his gaze back to me. "Lucifer isn't running the show today. You don't seem to understand. We have all the power now. We have the demons. We have you. If you don't bring your girlfriend and the kids out, we're going to destroy the realm with all of them in it. And then we're going to destroy you." I leaned in closer. "And your soul will be mine."
I smiled as menacingly as I could manage and hoped that threat would get through to him.
Well, not so much a threat, not truly. If he didn't pull Mia and the kids out of his special domain, I would kill him. But of course, I wouldn't do a damn thing to endanger Ariel. They'd come out on their own eventually, but it would save a lot of time and heartache if he helped us out and called to them now.
But of course, it wasn't enough. He didn't care about my threats. He knew I'd never hurt Ariel. Raphael stared at me and smiled. "I don't believe you."
Time to reveal how much we knew. "Her name is Mia Schmidt. She was pregnant the last time I saw her," I said. "And I'm going to peel her skin from her body one layer at a time until it's gone."
That got his attention. He stared at me with wide, angry eyes. Some of the insanity seemed to recede as he focused on me. "You wouldn't. She's pregnant."
I smiled wider. "Even better. I'll keep her alive, then, and when she has the baby, I'll take it." I wrapped my arms around myself and closed my eyes. Rocking back and forth I smiled and looked down as if holding a baby in my arms. "I'll raise it since you deprived me of raising my own child. Then, I'll peel her skin off. Once she's nothing but exposed muscles and nerves, I'll begin to unravel them. Have you ever done that?" I chuckled and shook my head as if having a fun conversation with a friend. "Man, it takes forever, but the screams..." I sighed. "They're great."
Raphael looked more and more horrified as I spoke.
Putting my hands on my hips, I squinted at him. "Your plan was creative; I'll give you that. You fooled all of us and had some careful planning." I shook my head and tutted at him. "But it lacked a certain panache." I dropped my voice and sneered. "It needed more blood."
He swallowed. My words had worked. I'd never taken the skin off of someone in my entire long life. The thought was repulsive.
He stuttered. "I-I can't get her here with this magic wrapped so tightly around me."
"Yes, you can," Lucifer said. He'd been watching me with a smile on his face as if he enjoyed letting me work. He wrapped one arm around me. "I know you better than you realize. There's no way you haven't linked with her. Bonded. Tell her to bring the children and come here, now. If you do as we say, you have my word she and the children will not be harmed. I'll restrain Lilith."
Raphael looked from Luc to me and back.
Lucifer cocked his head. "You know I'm not lying. I wouldn't."
Raphael nodded. "And me?" he said boldly.
"You?" He had the audacity to ask. As if we'd do anything but kill him. "You're going to die, either way we go," I said in a girly, soft voice. "How you act now determine
s how gruesome your death is."
He looked from me back to Lucifer, then nodded behind us. "They won't let you torture me."
I looked over my shoulder to see the angels massed behind us. Michael, Gabriel, and Joel stood front and center with their jaws set and their arms crossed. They looked pretty damn pissed to me.
Joel held up one finger. "Yes, Raphael. Yes, we will. You are no longer an Archangel. You are no longer an Angel. You are a Fallen, and as such, you belong to Lucifer and Lilith."
His tan complexion paled. Raphael looked from angel to angel, but nobody gave him an inch. "You can't do that. I'm one of the original Archangels. I'm an Elder."
Lucifer leaned forward. "Not anymore. You're mine, now."
I giggled. "Fun, isn't it? Now, what'll it be?"
He swallowed and looked me in the eye. His insanity still floated behind his eyes, but fear overshadowed it. "Fine," he said. "I'll do it."
Raphael blinked several times. "She's coming."
"Get ready," I called over my shoulder.
I still controlled the flow of power, but our job wasn't done yet. Michael disappeared and as Mia appeared, her stomach swollen with another of Raphael's children, and my daughter holding one hand and their son holding the other, Michael reappeared with Mary in tow.
Throwing up another web, I wrapped Mia and both children in it. "Don't be scared," I called. "We won't hurt you."
I looked at Mary. "Do it!" I shouted. We had no time to waste. Ariel was incredibly strong, and right now she was waiting on Raphael or Mia to tell her to move or act before she did anything. But if she figured out what we were doing, we were all fucked. The power radiating from her was massive, nearly as much as we wrangled already.
An unheard-of amount. It scared me for her future. How would we teach her to use this much power? How would we raise her when she was so strong?