The Gates of Gabriel

by Marie-France Leger

  He cupped my face, unravelling the piece of white cloth from his pocket. With shaky hands, he placed it in my palm and closed my fingers.

  I watched him pull out Gabriel’s beaming white feathers, holding them over the cup. He mumbled a few words to himself, stretching his neck to the sky. I could hear the shakiness, see the trembling of his hands. Then just like that, Gabriel’s feathers crumbled into dust. I peered over to look into the cup, and gasped. Inside was a vortex of shimmering white liquid, glistening like snow.

  Beau pulled me in close, leaning his forehead against mine. I felt the warmth of his breath against my lips.

  “I don’t…” he began, shaking his head. His grip on the nape of my neck was tense. “I don’t know what’s going to happen next. I don’t – I’m sorry for everything that’s happened to you.”

  In that moment, my life flashed before my eyes. Everything from the past few months came flooding back like a tidal wave. Why did it have to be me? Why was I destined for this life? Why did my mom have to die… for something unknown. What awaited me? Death, maybe? And when I do drink from this cup, how do I possess such a great deal of power without hurting myself? I’m human… I’m a mortal… I’m… I’m nothing.

  I pulled away from Beau, allowing the wind to slice the heavy space between our faces. The waves crashed harder against the rocks, calling out to the sea. The only light that surrounded me beamed from inside the chalice.

  I looked into Beau’s twinkling grey eyes, finding nothing but pain. Only it wasn’t his… it was a mirror of mine.

  With tentative movements, I smoothed out the cloth Beau had given me. On it was a scribble of dark words in a language I couldn’t comprehend.

  I wrinkled my face in confusion, swallowing hard. “I don’t understand.” Was I supposed to?

  “It’s Latin.” Beau said through pursed lips, looking down to the chalice. “Gabriel told me that before you drink from the Holy Grail, you have to say these words. It will allow the grace to be consumable. You have to believe you are divine, that you are willing to do whatever it takes to fight on our side of this war.”

  Divine… What a laughable thought. Me.

  “I know, Maya. I know.” Beau read my thoughts. “It’s impossible to believe the impossible. But you were chosen,” he pushed the chalice towards me. “I don’t know what comes next, but I will be by your side. That, I swear on my grace and the Heaven’s above. I promise that I –”

  “Maya!” A shrill scream called out behind me, carried by the winds.

  When I had those nightmares that kept me lying awake for weeks, I only equated them to fragments of past trauma, maybe even movies I’d seen… Never a warning. I would have been a fool to believe something was actually following me, something or someone wanted me dead. No, it couldn’t be. I have way too active of an imagination, I thought.

  But they were real.

  They were warnings.

  I recognized that scream, the desperation of his voice. I hadn’t heard it in a while, but every memory I had of it unlocked in an instant. His wail exploded in my brain like a ticking time bomb, ready to erupt. It was only a matter of time until I turned around to face who was standing from a distance.

  The wind blew the red locks from her visage, exposing a sharp nose and scarlet lips. A vacant hole indented her cheek, black and charred. The clicking sound of her tall boots blended with the crashing waves. Beside her, Braum’s sluggish body struggled to keep her pace. His knees were dusted with bruises and his legs were plastered in bloody cuts. Every step he took appeared to hurt more than the last, his face twisted with agony. His torso was bare with an inverted crossed carved in the centre of his chest, infected with oozing yellow pus.

  I almost gagged at the sight.

  Braum was a walking corpse.

  I threw my hand over my mouth as she approached Beau and I, stopping close enough that I could see all the damage she evidently inflicted on Braum.

  I read his eyes. He didn’t say anything, but tears waterfalled down his cheeks as he held his frail arm in one hand.

  Then she blocked my view of him.

  “I don’t think we’ve officially met.” She flashed the most daunting smile, a smile of snakes.

  Though the wind howled and the waves screeched, I could still hear her name clearer than anything else around me.

  “I’m Marina.”

  Chapter 43

  Port Hope, 30 Minutes

  “Braum…” I couldn’t manage to say anything else. I was encompassed by the gruesome scene that was Braum.

  His chest heaved up and down. A croak escaped his mouth, loud enough for me to hear but not loud enough for me to understand.

  Beau stepped in front of me, shielding me with one arm. A beaming white hue radiated underneath his palm, fizzling at his fingertips.

  “Leave, Marina.” He demanded.

  A crisp laugh rose from her throat. “No, I think I’ll stay.”

  She tugged on Braum, pulling him directly in front of her. In a swift movement, she wrapped her arms around his chest and ignited a flame, slowly carving a symbol over his heart. His deafening screams ruptured my eardrum, echoing through the air.

  Without thinking, my feet began to run in his direction. I need to help him, I can’t let him die! But Beau grabbed my waist, pulling me behind him roughly.

  “Look at him!” I screamed at Beau, spitting through chattering teeth. My eyes watered, my body shook.

  No matter what Braum did in the past, he didn’t deserve to die like this. This couldn’t be his fate, it couldn’t be. No one deserved the wounds he wore, the wounds she gave him.

  Braum’s exhausted body fell to the stone. Marina laughed, grabbing him by the hair and pulling his limp stature erect.

  “Give me the girl, angel.” She seethed. Her eyes flashed red as she stepped forward. “Let me end your agony.”

  Beau clenched his fist in fury. “I let you slip once. That won’t happen again.”

  Marina dropped Braum from her grasp, allowing him to fall to his knees. She dusted off her hands, licking the blood off her fingers.

  Her eyes met mine, intensifying the longer she held my gaze. The red hue radiating from her pupils bled into my psyche like fire, burning all of my thoughts away. My head thumped in pain following a synchronized pattern, rattling against my skull. A heat waved surged through my body, tangling itself into all my emotions. Tears began to flow down my cheeks, painting my face, though anger filled my veins. Sadness overwhelmed me as I looked to Braum, pleading through silence. And yet, when I glanced at Beau, a pulsating feeling surged below, sending goosebumps to my skin. What is happening to me…

  Marina smirked in the distance. “My, my. The angel hasn’t been honest with you, has he Puritas?” She spat.

  I darted my gaze to Beau, trying to control the tsunami of emotions I felt, but he wouldn’t look at me.

  “What is she talking about, Beau?” I asked.

  No response.

  “Beau!” I demanded in a heated rage. “What is she talking about?” My thoughts wouldn’t silence.

  “Tragic, really.” Marina chimed in. “Girl meets boy, girl falls in love, boy uses her to get over a heartbreak and flaps his merry wings home.” Her laugh echoed in my brain.

  I didn’t know how to feel, how to process anything. My heart thumped in my chest, an overwhelming sensation of jealousy flooded my core. Heartbreak? Home? Beau was in love?

  “A long time ago,” Beau whispered, reading my thoughts. He turned to look at me, his eyes dark as ink. He reached out to touch me but I moved away from him.

  A raindrop hit my forehead, then another, and another. The grey clouds enveloped the sky, sealing away any trace of sunlight.

  “Maya, it’s time.” Beau said, grabbing hold of the Holy Grail.

  “You know I met her, Beau, Rosanna… Rosy, I believe you called her?” Marina’s words coiled around my brain, asphyxiating my sense of rationality.

  Rosanna… Rosy. Rosanna…
Ros… R. R. The engravement in that ring he kept in his car. The one I asked him about that made him stiff. The reason why he didn’t do attachments. She was the reason. There was a girl. A girl that wasn’t me.

  My eyes narrowed as I looked to Beau, but he stood frozen, looking down to the stone.

  “Oh, she just broke your little heart to pieces didn’t she, Beau? And you couldn’t recover, you still can’t. And Maya’s your only way home, away from her for good.” Marina’s gaze slithered to me, her red eyes darkening like crimson. “The only woman you have ever loved… is a demon.”

  The urge to hurl myself over the cliff grew stronger. I imagined myself, my fresh blood splattered against the sharp peaks, plastering the stone like paint. My remains would float into the sea, baiting the creatures of the trench. That would be easier, easier than the life God recklessly bestowed on me. I don’t care about this, I don’t care about anything or anyone. The world can burn.

  Beau jumped in front of me, blocking my view of Marina. I struggled to get away from his grip, but he was too strong. He held me in place, cupping my face.

  “She’s getting in your head, Maya. Please, look at me.” He spoke desperately.

  I couldn’t. My eyes swelled. Wrath engulfed my being.

  “She’s a demon, these are their tricks. They play with your head, your emotions, fears, everything! Maya,” he breathed, rubbing my tears with his thumb. “Maya, listen to me.”

  Fury. “You loved a demon, don’t give me that shit Beau!” I spat. Blades of red fire flashed in beats all around me. I didn’t want to drink from the Holy Grail, I didn’t want to become the Puritas… I don’t want to avenge my mother.

  I glanced at Marina who kept her gaze fixated on me, twirling her fingers in a circular motion. A growing orb began to form, spanning into a dark silhouette… a silhouette covered by a dark hood. My… my nightmares.

  I tumbled backwards, placing a shaky hand in front of my face as the figure approached, faceless and slender.

  “B… Beau,” I choked, unable to rip my eyes away from the shadow. “Beau!”

  My surroundings spun into a spiral of green fern and thick branches. I was back in the forest.

  “Get back!” I yelled, searching for a blade-tipped rock, anything sharp, anything that could protect me.

  But there was nothing.

  A tar-like mud softened over my core, enveloping my middle like thick ribbons. I began to submerge, deeper and deeper into the ground as the figure stopped right in front of me, pulling out a silver blade.

  “No!” I screamed, flailing my arms.

  The figure crouched down, eye level with me now. The crooked trees whispered to me, preparing me for the pain.

  “Who…” I stuttered, my eyes burning with liquid. “Who are you?”

  The figure watched me behind a shaded mask, then carefully lifted its hands to remove its hood. I gasped, recoiling as far as I possibly could go, but the mud trapped me in place.

  “Hello, Maya…” The figure slithered, her familiar brown hair burnt and scraggly. Her complexion was the same, her bone structure was sunken, her eyes… were not hazel. They were black.

  She laughed, placing the blade to my throat. It was the same laugh I heard in my nightmare, the same laugh that escaped my throat instead of a scream.

  The dark figure was me.

  ◆◆◆

  My throat was a caged inferno, my screams straining my vocal chords. I shut my eyes, preparing for death, inviting it. But then, the world around me spun into the familiar precipice. I was no longer a prisoner of heavy tar, but of the cold stone cliff. A surging burn erupted in my arm, engulfing all sense of reality. I felt the weight of Beau’s hand wrapped around my wrist, pricking my skin like pins and needles. Through blurry vision, beams of white light penetrated each viewpoint of my eyes, blinding the atmosphere once again. Has the rain stopped? Is the sun out?

  Ringing erupted in my ear, tuning out my surroundings. Time slowed; all my instincts were heavily sedated. Through squinted vision, I made out the hazy silhouette of Beau, marching away from me towards a glob of red. A dance of black and scarlet twisted in the air as distant screams echoed through the winds.

  Maya! Maya… A male called.

  Maya… Grail… Drink…

  “Beau…” I mumbled, reaching out.

  My emotions slowly settled as I regained my vision. Through the violent rain, I saw Beau kneeling over Marina’s body with a hand around her throat. Braum was lying further off in the distance… unmoving.

  I covered my mouth with my hands.

  “Maya, the Grail!” Beau yelled.

  I used whatever strength I had to push myself off the cold stone, scrambling to my feet. The white hue radiating from the Holy Grail was shining in a concaved crevice.

  Growls and shouts of pain sounded from Beau’s end. I turned to see Marina straddling him, choking him with a chain of red fire.

  I didn’t give it a second thought. “Beau!” I yelled, sprinting towards him.

  Through the hazy grey and pattering rain, I caught a glimpse of his eyes. They were hollow, the darkest shade of ebony. Black veins crawled up his arms, making their way to his neck.

  Beau mouthed something to me, a word he’d said to me before. It barely escaped his lips, but I heard it in my mind, loud and clear.

  “Always…”

  And with that, he let out a single, puncturing cry, and slammed his hand against the stone beneath him.

  An energy so powerful pushed me into the air, sending my body flying back. I landed on my side, scraping the length of my arm on a pointed rock. A piercing pain cracked the back of my skull, sending sharp zaps down my spin. The ringing in my ears grew louder than ever, chanting a stinging white noise.

  The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth. My eyes fought to stay open, but it was no use. Everything was spinning, everything was falling, I couldn’t breathe… I can’t –

  Beau…

  ◆◆◆

  A raindrop slipped into my mouth, then another, and another. I had no telling of how much time had passed since my body shut down. The skies were still painted with grey clouds. I pushed myself off the ground and scratched my eyes, peering down at the blood dripping from my forearm. A wet grime coated the back of my neck, trickling down my back. I placed my shaky fingers to the back of my head, feeling an open sore underneath my hair.

  What happened…

  Flashes of my memory resurfaced. A brute power flung me through the sky, a rippling energy that Beau caused when he slammed his hand onto the stone.

  Beau.

  Through the heavy rain I caught a glimpse of him in the distance, his body lying still on his back.

  I scrambled to my feet but crashed down when my legs gave out. A sharp rock lodged itself into my thigh. Tears filled my waterline, spilling down my face as I scrunched the fabric of my sweater and took a deep breath. In one quick movement, I pulled out the rock and yelped in gruelling pain. Blood flowed out of my exposed skin, staining the stone with goopy crimson. I used the sharp edge of the rock to cut a piece of my sweater, and tied it with pressure around my thigh.

  With whatever strength I had left, I slowly crawled towards Beau.

  Marina’s motionless body was further away, face down.

  “Beau,” I let out through dry lips.

  I reached out to touch him but was shocked backwards. A white ring circled the perimeter of where there bodies lay. With that, an invisible barrier encompassed them, trapping them inside.

  What… What is this? No… No!

  “Beau!” I yelled, slamming my hand violently against the barrier. A wave of transparent glimmer rippled in front of me but never broke.

  “Beau!” I cried. Beau wake up, wake up, I know you can hear me, I know you fucking hear me! Wake up, I need you, I… I need you.

  Moments passed and his inert body began to stir. Through weak eyes, his head turned to me. He flashed a small smile, reaching out a feeble finger.

  You
aren’t dead. You aren’t dead, you’re still with me.

  “Beau…” I released, shaking.

  Then it happened.

  All I could do was watch.

  A black vine emerged from beneath the stone, coiling itself around his mouth, slamming his head down forcefully against the rock.

  His eyes, dark as a raven’s wing, shuddered rapidly with pain.

  Hundreds of black veins stemmed from beneath him, encasing his body like a cocoon. They wrapped around his legs, his arms, his neck, piercing his sides with their thorned edges.

  The scream wouldn’t escape my throat. Maybe it was tired of yelling. Maybe my breath couldn’t handle one more second of air.

  I watched blood pool beneath him, pouring out of his skin like magma as the vines twirled beneath his flesh.

  The ringing continued.

  The rain continued.

  The clouds were grey.

  But his eyes were not.

  An erratic rumbling broke the stone in front of me, opening a black hole underneath Beau’s twisted body. Red hues radiated from inside the pit, violent flames cascading upwards.

  Beau… No… Beau!

  A combination of rain and tears glossed my vision, coating my eyelashes. I choked on my breath, banging against the transparent barrier. Everything around me spun in nauseating motion as I begged… and I begged.

  With whatever strength Beau still had left, he managed to turn his head slightly to me, struggling to reach out.

  The last thing I saw of Beau Gabriel was the flash of crimson in his eyes, before the black hole swallowed him into an abyss of nothing.

  Chapter 44

  Port Hope

  I couldn’t move.

  I couldn’t breathe.

  I didn’t want to.

  I stared into the empty space of nothing. Just a concave dent of black ash, floating in the space that once held Beau’s body. Not a trace of him was left…

  There was nothing.

  Nothing to hold on to, nothing I cared to hold on to.

  Beau was gone.