I raced to reclaim my blade.
The fallen angel was upon me. His shadow darkened the space where my sword lay, where my body lay on the ground. I hit the floor on my back and kicked him in the stomach as I ground my teeth. He staggered back.
Sim watched me from the bed with her amber eyes. No panic controlled her gaze, more of a serene watchfulness like nothing of interest was happening at all.
I grabbed my sword and leapt to my feet. I wouldn’t wait and let him regain his composure. I would strike. I would be wild and dangerous. Maybe I might scare him. Maybe he didn’t care if I hurt him.
I couldn’t kill him, although that thought hadn’t crossed my mind in that moment. At the time, anyone could be killed, that included me, and I wouldn’t let myself die.
My sword ripped into his stomach and cut a long, shallow tear from hip to hip. Blood seeped out the color of tar.
I swept my blade up into the air and brought it down upon him again, but this time, he was ready. He gripped the sharp edge in his fist. His thick blood dripped down the blade like black paint.
The door opened.
Nash’s face was full of surprise and unease. I didn’t know if all that worry was for me or for himself when Lucifer found out that he let me die in my bedroom.
I dropped to the ground and pulled the sword down with the weight of my body. The fallen angel screamed as the blade slid across the palm of his hand.
He raised his dagger. Nash grabbed his wrist and twisted until a loud crack resounded.
“Ahh!” His grip loosened on the dagger, and Nash caught the handle. In seconds, the blade was against the angel’s neck and pressed into his skin.
“Shh,” Nash said. “That’s enough. If you don’t leave this house, I’ll saw at your neck with this dagger until your head hangs from your torso by a thread. I’ll do so much worse than the demons who’ll find you and put you back where you belong.”
“I don’t belong anywhere anymore,” said the fallen angel. He glared at me with a hate that couldn’t be trumped by anything. His eyes looked predatory like those of the angel that killed my parents. But he was not that beautiful monster.
Nash removed the dagger from the angel’s neck. The creature darted away from us. He leapt through the window. The glass shattered around his body. I rushed to the window. He hit the ground, landing on his feet like a cat from a fence.
“You let him go?” I eyed Nash. What the hell was he thinking? That angel was after me. Now he had the opportunity to strike again.
Nash looked at me unapologetically. “You look like you could use some coffee.”
“I don’t drink coffee unless it’s mixed with one of twenty different flavors and has ice in it.”
“Tea, then,” he insisted and motioned to the door.
NASH poured the tea into the cup in front of me at the coffee table. He sat in a chair alongside the sofa, and watched me until I picked up my cup and sipped.
The tea scalded the roof of my mouth. Nash sipped his like the heat didn’t bother him at all.
“What was all that about?” I asked. “What if he comes back?”
“He won’t,” said Nash.
“How do you know that?”
“They’ll find him before he has the chance. He must have escaped, but they’ll put him back.”
“Escaped from where?” I blew on my tea to have something to do. My hands trembled. I placed the cup back on the coffee table before the liquid spilled over the edges.
“It’s better that you don’t know. It’ll be easier to do what Lucifer asked.” Nash sipped his coffee.
“What do you mean?”
“When you make them fall.”
“But if he escaped,” I said, “what’s to stop him from coming after me again?”
“Oh, they’ll make sure he won’t escape again.”
“Shouldn’t we tell Lucifer?”
Nash’s eyes darted to mine. “Not unless you want him to be tossed into the Pit. I can make that happen. But I don’t think it’s necessary. You handled him quite well.”
He might have killed me if Nash hadn’t shown up, but the way Nash smiled told me to take the compliment. It was the first he had given me.
“He was an angel of low rank and fallen, but that was impressive how you were able to hold him off alone.” His smile held charm and a look of danger to it like the smile of a comic book villain.
Nash was very critical of my training. He wasn’t afraid to discuss my weaknesses. But now he beamed like a boy who finally taught his dog to play fetch.
“You’re ready,” he said.
“Are you saying that because you don’t want to talk to Lucifer?” I asked. He told Bob a week ago that I wasn’t ready with such finality that I thought I’d never be.
“I did talk to her,” said Nash. “She trusts my judgment. We have a special relationship.”
I wondered what special relationship Nash shared with the Devil. It must be really special if she trusts him with one of her most powerful weapons against the angels: me.
“So, does that mean, we’re fighting Andromeda?” I asked.
Nash nodded. “Which means you need rest.”
I looked down into my cup. “I don’t think I can go back to sleep.”
“You can sleep on the couch. I’ll stay and watch over you. You’ll feel tired once you lie down.”
“It’s been hard to sleep in general. I’m used to sleeping with the television on.”
“I can tell you a story.”
“Like a bedtime story?” My eyebrow quirked up.
“If you want to call it that.”
I set my mug on the table and laid down on the couch. I closed my eyes as Nash’s voice filled the room.
“Once there was an angel. She was the most beautiful angel in the heavens, and she was named after a star.”
“A Bible story?” I pursed my lips.
“No, this isn’t in the Bible.”
I turned my face back to the ceiling.
“The beautiful angel had a beautiful heart, but she also had a weakness for a fellow angel who convinced her that everything she knew was a lie. So, she used her charm to rally other angels to fight to reveal the truth.
“The battle went on for hundreds of years, but the angels didn’t feel the passage of time. But they did feel their wounds, cut with Arcadian Steel weapons. Friend stood against friend. Brother against brother.
“And then the revolutionaries lost. Their wings burst into flames, and they plummeted to Sheol. No god looked down on them with mercy.”
“The most beautiful angel, that was Lucifer, right?” I yawned.
“Yes.”
“But I thought the angels rebelled because Lucifer didn’t want to be ruled by God?”
“Is that the story they told you?” Nash’s voice was low and soothing.
I slipped into sleep. Fear and exhaustion caused me to melt away. As I drifted, I recalled the way Nash looked at the walls of the tunnel where the images of the angels falling from Heaven were etched. Sadness glazed his eyes. I wanted to ask him about that sadness, but I couldn’t stop myself from sinking.
THE ice pack fell from my shoulder for the seventh time, and I left it on the pillow as I strummed the silent notes on my guitar.
“Are you in a band?” Adrianna perched on the end of my bed. Her blonde hair was pinned back and wound in an elegant bun. Her long, green dress pooled to the floor. Her lips were painted ruby red.
“No,” I said. “I’m not really friends with a lot of people my age.”
She frowned.
“Is there something I can help you with?” I eyed her.
“I thought I’d help you pick out something to wear for tonight,” she said. “That way you don’t have to wear a ratty old t-shirt and jeans.”
“Thanks.” I glared at her.
“Sorry. Kiran says I don’t possess an awful lot of tact. But I wanted to help. Nash enjoys his dinners. We try to make them special.”
“I’m not getting dressed up just to have dinner,” I said.
Adrianna’s lips formed a hard line. “Nash wasn’t too pleased when you showed up dressed like you were going to a rock concert.”
“Is Nash always so controlling?” I asked.
“He’s the leader of our team.” She got up from the bed and opened the closet door. “And because of him, we’ve ferried thousands of demons and fallen angels back to Sheol.”
“Except when you kill them.”
“That doesn’t happen very often.” Adrianna pulled a long red dress from the closet. “Nash has done this for a long time. Sure, he might be a little bit of a control freak, but he’s an expert at what he does. That’s what makes him so enticing and, well, his looks don’t hurt.”
“I thought you were with Kiran.” I looked at her, puzzled.
“I don’t want to be with Nash. Doesn’t mean I don’t have eyes. This one should do.” She pulled a dress out from the closet.
The red dress was the one Nash laid out on my bed my second night in Sheol. “Fine.” I grabbed the dress from Adrianna and closed the bathroom door behind me. Ten minutes passed before I figured out how to get the dress on without stepping on the skirt from the inside. I managed to zip the gown up myself to my great relief.
“It’s very billowy,” I said as I exited the bathroom.
“It’s supposed to be that way,” said Adrianna. “Trust me, you look great. But your hair.”
“Yeah, my hair is always a problem.” I ran a hand through my brown hair to the dyed red tips.
“I can fix that.” Adrianna brushed through my long hair and used bobby pins to pin it back and away from my face.
“Now makeup.” Adrianna clenched a zippered bag. A grin split her face.
“No makeup,” I said.
Adrianna frowned. “It’ll make you look more even.”
Dark circles began to grace my eyes a few weeks ago.
“At least let me do your eyeliner,” she said.
I shook my head.
“At least take out that nose ring.” Her hands were on her hips.
“The nose ring stays,” I said.
Adrianna pouted. “Suit yourself, but next time, you’ll let me give you a fresh face. You look like you haven’t slept in days.”
I moved with the care of a tightrope walker, not wanting to trip over the long dress. I managed to get to the landing of the stairs without tripping, which was more of a feat for me than swinging a sword.
The dining table was set, and platters of food were in the center. Kiran, Tom and Chandra were already seated. Nash walked in from the kitchen. His eyes washed over me, and I thought I saw his lips twitch at the corners.
He approached me, and I stood with baited breath. He touched the small of my back, and a flush swept over me. When he pulled my chair out, I sat in a hurry. A tiny ball of air gathered in the center of my chest and didn’t dissipate until Nash took his seat at the opposite end of the table.
I sipped my soup in silence. Nash stole the occasional glance at me. I knew that because I was eyeing him too. Was it that much of an improvement?
I hated Adrianna for making Nash’s good looks so glaringly obvious to me. I noticed before, but her closeted conversation made it a fact I could no longer avoid. Added to that were her knowing smiles from across the table. I blushed and cursed myself for it.
“So, where are we going to fight this angel?” Chandra took a bite of her food.
Tom held up a finger as if to say wait a minute. He wiped his lips with a napkin and left the room.
“Won’t Raphael know if Andromeda’s weapon is taken?” I asked.
“Not unless she tells him.” Adrianna put her fork down. “But that’s unlikely. She has no reason to suspect us. She’ll probably think it’s archeologists.”
“Do archeologists often find angel weapons?” I asked.
“If they do,” said Chandra, “they’re not alive long enough to tell about it.”
At least one demon found out I’m in Sheol. Was it such a stretch to think Raphael might find out too?
“You’re quiet, Nash.” Chandra turned her eyes to him.
He looked at me from across the table. “I’m worried about the demons we discovered in the graveyard. Someone freed them from the Circles and tried to hide them on Earth.”
He didn’t mention the demon we found chained up and questioned by fallen angels. Didn’t he think that was worth discussion too? He didn’t want to tell Lucifer about them either. Why was he protecting those angels?
Tom returned with a large book. He opened the tome on the table, pushing aside the platters and dishes. Across both pages was a map. He pointed to a place on the map somewhere in South America. I didn’t recognize the place. I had never been anywhere but Louisiana…and Hell, of course. I skirted by in geography, remembering locations and names for tests and quizzes and forgetting them in the weeks to follow.
Dad was always critical of education, specifically the institutes of education. “Schools ruin curiosity,” he’d say. He never had to explain to me what he meant by that. He didn’t want school to destroy my sense of wonder.
When you’re forced to memorize boring facts that don’t matter much to anyone anymore, you tend to lose your interest. When it came to topics outside of school, I wanted to absorb information with voracity. I bet if Rock was taught in school, I wouldn’t have grown up listening to Black Sabbath and Machine Head.
But Mom always said I needed to do well in school. I could understand that too. I did want to go to college one day.
“Where exactly are you pointing?” I asked.
“The Galapagos Islands,” said Tom. “Andromeda’s Chains. That’s where we should find them.”
“Do we have a more exact location?” asked Nash.
“Cerro Azul, located at the base of the volcano. We might have to explore the surrounding area too.”
I hoped Cerro Azul wasn’t an active volcano. A militant angel was after me. I didn’t need to be worried about lava too.
“We’ll have to fly there.” Tom closed the book.
“Fly?” I remembered Adriel and his wings.
“On a plane.” Tom raised an eyebrow.
“Can’t Nash open a portal?” I moved the food around on my plate.
“He would have to open a portal in the Circles to get to Cerro Azul right now. Sheol spins like a disk over Earth. That’s why we have to be careful about our calculations when returning. Like Earth rotates around the Sun, Sheol doesn’t remain in one place, and it moves very quickly. I don’t want to go backpacking in the Circles.” Tom took the book off the table. “I’d rather take a plane.”
So, Sheol moved. That explained why Nash didn’t know we’d end up in those caves when we returned. On Earth, we barely moved a mile from where Nash opened the initial portal, but in Sheol we moved more than an hour’s walk to Nash’s house.
“How long are we staying?” I asked.
“Hopefully, only a couple days,” said Nash.
“But that sounds like a lot of ground to cover in a couple days,” I said.
“Not with this.” Adrianna reached into her bag and withdrew a glass orb that looked like a fortune teller’s crystal ball.
“What is it?” I asked.
“The Orb of Metatron.”
“Who?”
Chandra sighed. “She doesn’t know anything, does she?”
“Metatron the Archangel,” said Kiran. “He never had a weapon of his own. He grew distrustful of his fellow angels so he designed this orb to detect angel weapons. That way he would know if they were near and meant him any harm.”
How were they able to get such a powerful defensive weapon from an Archangel? I dismissed the question. Of course, they fought Archangels in the past. That’s why Lucifer qualified this team to help me in my task. Maybe Metatron was a fallen angel?
“The orb will glow when we get near Andromeda’s Chains,” said Adrianna. “That’s how we’ll kn
ow for sure we’re in the right place.”
ELEVEN
I packed my bag the next morning and pulled on a pair of black jeans from the closet and a loose, white shirt. The jeans looked like they came out of a fashion magazine. I put on a pair of laced up boots that covered the hem of the jeans. The outfit didn’t seem like the right attire in which to fight Archangels, but what was?
Bob promised to take care of Sim for me. I pet Sim before I left and told her that I would be back. I hoped I would be back.
After we jumped through a portal back to Earth, we needed to take a plane to Ecuador. I guess there are no planes in Hell, which is odd since there were cars. But, there were no cellphones either, and Nash didn’t have a computer or television.
You couldn’t say Sheol was technologically behind because of the modern-day selection of cars and sleek look of the architecture. Sheol was technologically selective. I’d have to ask about that.
I was afraid to step through the portal again. I felt a nauseating pull when I stepped through my first portal and headaches and queasiness when I jumped through the portals with Nash. The pull was undeniable like the Earth wanted me, but the tug weakened the more portals I entered. Would my body gravitate to Sheol now?
I tried not to think about it as I stepped through. Instead of the pull, what met me was more of an unsettling push like someone shoved me in the hallway at school. I stumbled as I came out on the other side. I felt dizzy.
I opened my eyes. The world was bright and colorful, not like the dull, cloudy gray atmosphere of Sheol. My head felt like someone crashed cymbals right next to my ears.
I rubbed my eyes as the sun blurred my vision. I breathed in and noticed that the air, although chilly, was less cold and dry than in Hell.
My back was to a wooden fence at the end of an alley. A large, rusty dumper blocked the view of the street.
“Come on,” said Nash. “We have to get to the hanger.”
The hanger was a couple of blocks down the road. Tom wanted to send us straight to the hanger, but Nash said it wouldn’t be smart to let other demons see us enter a portal right behind the distillery. One demon knew about me, Nash wanted to keep it at one. Tom grumbled as he wheeled two bags of luggage.
The Wings of Heaven and Hell (The Arcadian Steel Sequence Book 1) Page 11