The Holy Dark

by Kyoko M

  “Shit. We’ve got to clear them out.”

  Myra dug inside her pockets, withdrawing a wrinkled up piece of paper and a lighter. “I can give you a shot at your girl, but we’ll need a distraction. I’ll blast the bastards and you head for her while she’s occupied.”

  “Okay. Get ready.”

  I edged towards the doorway again, searching for an advantage, but then I spotted Belladonna towards the right side of the hallway. She had something the size of a square coaster in her hand, something electronic, but she was too far away for me to see what it was. She signaled for the seven demons on her side of the wall to hold and then darted over towards the door. She slapped the device onto the seam where the doors locked together and then it dawned on me. A satchel charge. Ah, hell.

  “Down!” I shouted, pushing Myra flat to the floor. An explosion rocketed through the lobby, swallowing us in a blanket of smoke and shaking the ground beneath us. I covered my head as I heard pieces of the roof above crack and hit the tile. Metallic clangs followed, and I lifted my head to see several chunks of the door embedded in the far wall across from us. Dammit.

  “Ready?” I asked Myra. She nodded.

  I leapt to my feet and rounded the corner, firing my shotgun wildly into the thick of the demons. I managed to take out two before they whirled and returned fire. I hit the floor on my belly and Myra stepped out from behind me, igniting the page of the Holy Bible.

  A wave of pure white light burst outward in a semi-circle. The demons barely had time to scream as it hit them and their bodies disintegrated into ash and cinders. Belladonna rushed towards the mangled doors to the bishop’s office, slipping inside. I raced after her, shotgun aimed at the back of her furiously bobbing ponytail.

  The two angels who had been guarding the bishop lay on the ground, impaled by parts of the door. I couldn’t tell if they were still alive or not. The bishop stood behind his desk with a sawed off shotgun in his hand, the barrel resting on his forearm for steadier aim. He no longer looked like a benevolent clergyman, but rather an ancient warrior.

  “You are not welcome here,” he said to the fallen angel pointing a Glock 17 at his balding head. “Leave this place or die.”

  Belladonna smiled and glanced between the bishop and me. “This is the welcome I get entering the house of the Lord? How cold.”

  “You haven’t even begun to see cold yet,” I said. “Your men are dead. You’re not going to get the coins. Put the gun down and step away from him.”

  She ignored me. “Bishop, if you would be so kind as to tell me where the coins have been hidden, I will leave this place without causing any further harm.”

  “The only harm you truly cause is to your own soul. May God have mercy on you when Judgment Day arrives.”

  “I’m not interested in mercy. The coins or your life. Decide.”

  “My dear, I am willing to give up my life to serve the Lord. Do as you must, because I will not betray Him.”

  Her ruby red lips stretched wider in a patronizing smile. “Very well.”

  Two things happened at once: the bishop and I pulled the triggers on our guns, and Belladonna ducked. She bent at a perfect ninety degree angle so that both shots missed, and then her long leg swung backwards, kicking the shotgun out of my grip. I didn’t hesitate. I threw myself at the bishop as soon as I saw her arm lifting the Glock towards him.

  I tackled him to the floor behind the desk, crying out as the shot hit my vest between my shoulder blades. The force smacked his head against the bottom of the desk, knocking him out, but at least he was still alive.

  I scrambled for the sawed off shotgun he dropped and aimed at Belladonna just as she flipped the desk over, smashing it to pieces against the far wall. I stared down the barrel, panting from exertion, unable to hear anything but the blood rushing through my ears. My legs were awkwardly spread in front of me, but there was no way she could shoot me or the bishop and live to brag about it. We were in a good old fashioned Mexican standoff.

  “You are quicker than I anticipated,” Belladonna said. “Michael must have coached you on how to fight. He always was a brilliant teacher.”

  “Yeah. So what’s it gonna be, Bella, darling? Are we gonna shoot it out or not? Because I haven’t got all damn day.”

  She stared at me for another handful of seconds. Then, surprisingly, her shoulders slumped a bit. “It wouldn’t be much fun this way, would it?”

  I arched an eyebrow. “Fun?”

  “Bullets are quick. It would be lights out for whoever doesn’t outdraw the other person. Perhaps you’d like something a little more intimate.”

  “…are you coming on to me?”

  Belladonna made a scoffing noise in her throat. “I’m talking about a duel, you simpleton.”

  “Ah. And why in the hell would you want to have a duel with me?”

  “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested to find out why Belial is so in love with you.”

  I couldn’t stop a bit of shock from sliding across my features. She’d said love, not lust. Most people implied that the two of us were sleeping together, not that he had genuine feelings for me. Maybe she knew more than she was letting on. “What makes you think he’s in love with me?”

  Her brown eyes darkened several shades. “Let’s just say the name he called out sure as hell wasn’t mine.”

  The blood drained out of my face. Everything clicked into place. Her rage, her vendetta, all made a lot more sense with that puzzle piece. Belladonna had given up her grace to sleep with him, and Belial hadn’t even been thinking of her at the time. I could see how that would make her hate me more than before.

  “You’re a bad liar,” I replied. “You just want to kill me slowly so you can enjoy it.”

  She shrugged. “Transparency has always been a weakness of mine. Do we have a deal or not, Seer?”

  I weighed my options. She was faster and stronger than me in every way. She’d still wipe the floor with me. However, taking guns out of the equation could at least give me a slim chance of survival.

  “Alright,” I said. “We both toss the guns on opposite sides of the room. You’ve got the Judas dagger and I’ve got a pretty sweet knife of my own. Sound good?”

  “Sounds perfect.”

  I gathered my legs beneath me and carefully stood, keeping her in my crosshairs just in case. I maneuvered away from the bishop’s motionless form. The ruined doors to the office had swung inward after I burst through them earlier, so there was cover from the firefight outside. I’d heard gunshots. Myra was outside taking care of business. Good girl.

  “On three,” I said, eying the angel. Cold sweat dripped down the back of my neck, stinging when it touched the bruise from where she’d shot me in the vest. If she double-crossed me, I had a tiny chance of making it out the door before she could blow my head off.

  “Three.”

  I chucked my gun to the left side of the office. To my surprise, Belladonna’s spun towards the right. She’d kept her word. Ye gods.

  Instead, she reached towards her belt where her dagger hung sheathed on a thick brown leather belt. I went for the knife I’d pilfered from the armory. It was only about an inch shorter than Belial’s favorite one, so I had some familiarity with it.

  Belladonna stepped towards me first, her gait slow and graceful, like she had muscles in places she shouldn’t have. “I must say, I have been anticipating this moment, Seer. Moloch assured me that the angels would finally eliminate you. He said that my actions would inspire others to fall. He understands a lot of things, but not angels. I knew they wouldn’t kill you. My brethren are soft-hearted to a fault. I knew I’d get a second chance to kill you.”

  “They’re not your brethren anymore. You killed the gentlest angel in the cosmos. I would say you’re going to have to spend the rest of your days living with that, but I’d be lying.”

  She cocked her head to the side. A couple of loose strands of red hair fell against her pale forehead. Her lips twitched. “Such bra
very in your voice. You truly think you can kill me, don’t you?”

  “Doesn’t matter what I think. It’s what’s going to happen. I’m Jordan Amador. I make bad people dead.”

  “Am I to assume you haven’t added your name to that list yet?”

  “I will pay for what I’ve done wrong someday. I’m not afraid of it. You may be pretty poison, but I’m not going to die today unless I take your sorry ass with me.”

  “So be it.”

  She vanished on the spot. I didn’t fall for the illusion. I whirled around and parried the blow aimed at my chest. She was beyond quick, but I also knew her technique. Angels had always been the strongest beings on the planet, so they tended to forget that sometimes strategy could win over speed or power.

  “Impressive,” she said, stepping back a couple paces. “How did you anticipate my attack?”

  “Belial’s blood also gave me some of his memories. He’s studied things other than your naughty bits, in case you forgot.”

  The superiority vanished from her features. Irritation filled in for it. “You should learn to bite your tongue, human. I might cut it out before this fight is through.”

  “My, my. Someone’s still touchy about sleeping with the enemy.”

  “You are not one to talk.”

  “Oh, see, actually I am, because I didn’t boff Lucifer’s favorite lieutenant. You did. So call me all the names you like because it won’t change the fact that you’re the guilty one, not me.”

  “Am I truly supposed to believe that you managed to resist temptation for that long? He has been after you for years. You were on the run with him last October. Do you expect me to believe that he didn’t seduce you the way he seduced me?”

  “I don’t care what you believe. You had a family. You had a cause. You had honor. I know people who would kill for those things, and yet you let all of it go for one carnal desire.”

  She rushed me. The attacks were high and wild, aimed at my face, my neck, my collarbone. They were also sloppy. I’d finally worked my way beneath her skin.

  Her voice came out harsh and ragged in between the strokes of her dagger. “You don’t know who I am. You don’t know what I’ve been through. You have no right to judge me. I was loyal. I was righteous. I did every single thing my superiors ever told me to do and I did it without question. And what did I get in return for my exceptional services? An eternity of servitude to a bunch of ungrateful bottom-dwellers. I served in every major war this world has seen. I’ve been stationed in every country. You’re all the same—selfish, egotistical, shallow mortals with more interest in yourselves than in anything else. I refuse to believe you were made in the Father’s own image because you’ve corrupted it so much. My family died in your stead, and half of you don’t even have enough faith to believe in us.”

  “And how is joining Moloch going to change any of that?”

  “Your kind will get the punishment you deserve. You will see the true horror of war and slavery. You will pay for your sins and a new world order will be established. I am not naïve. Moloch is going to lose. After this war, both sides will have enormous casualties, but the human race will be put in their place. The angels will no longer have to be your caretakers once everything is out in the open. We will be free.”

  I shook my head. “You damned your own soul just because you’re tired of babysitting mankind? Hope it was worth it.”

  “It will be. I promise you that.”

  She darted forward, dodging as I swiped high at her head. She shoved the dagger into my right shoulder. I cried out as the silver burned all the way through the muscle. Sharp, gut-wrenching pain sizzled through my arm. I dropped my blade, clutching the wound as blood welled outward, spreading through the shirt and soaking my abdomen in seconds. The hot liquid flooded down to my wrist and coated my fingers.

  Belladonna watched me squirm with relish, twisting the blade just a bit for her own personal enjoyment. I collapsed to my knees in front of her, trembling from head to toe from the intensity of the pain. Black splotches blotted my vision. I tried to steady myself by pressing my palms to the floor.

  The fallen angel knelt in front of me with her hand still on the hilt, smiling as she stared at me. “Any last words?”

  I took several convulsive breaths in order to speak. “Con la sangre, te ato a este lugar. Caminar no más hasta que el hechizo se rompe, puta.”

  Then I slapped her in the face with my bloody right hand.

  Red light enveloped the handprint on her cheek and then on the braided rug where I’d left another marking in my blood. Belladonna crumpled onto her knees with an anguished shriek of pain as the spell took hold of her.

  I stumbled backwards out of her reach and grimaced as I pulled the dagger out of my shoulder. The blood spurted forth even faster and thicker, drenching my entire arm in seconds. I pressed my left hand over it and poured my healing energy into it enough to slow the bleeding. It made me lightheaded, but at least I was still alive.

  Belladonna struggled against the bonds that held her, trying several times to gather her toned legs beneath her to stand, but every time she did, a bolt of red light flashed and yanked her closer to the floor. Her dark eyes glittered with hatred as she glared up at me. “Let me out of this. Fight like a woman, not a coward.”

  “It’s not cowardly to strategize. You would know that if you weren’t a self-involved, arrogant git.”

  I closed my fingers around the dagger and then punched her in the face as hard as I could. She jerked to the side as the blow landed, cutting her cheek open.

  “That was for betraying your brothers and sisters,” I said quietly. I reached back and punched her again—this time in the temple.

  “That was for helping that monster take the lives of people you once swore to protect.”

  I hit her in the mouth, hard enough to draw blood. “And that was for being too proud to ask the angels for help. I don’t care that you slept with Belial. No one’s perfect. But I know what it’s like to be stuck with a burden that’s too heavy to carry. You could have saved yourself before it came to this, Belladonna. Soldier or not, you should have known better.”

  She spat a mouthful of blood in my general direction. It splattered near my shoes in a messy blob. “You presume to lecture me with all that you’ve done? You’re a killer and a traitor. Your hands will never be clean, even if you somehow stop this war.”

  “I never wanted clean hands. The only people with clean hands are those who never do anything. I’d rather do what’s right and be dirty than never help those in need. Now say a prayer. Where you’re going, I don’t think they have churches.”

  I reared my arm back to deliver the final blow. “For Gabriel.”

  She squeezed her eyes shut and shouted right before I swung.

  “Gabriel’s in Hell!”

  I froze. “What did you just say?”

  She coughed and spat again; her head still hung low, voice ashamed. “His soul was not destroyed by the dagger. He is a prisoner in Hell.”

  The air in the room thinned. That had to be why I was having trouble breathing. “You’re lying.”

  “I heard Moloch speaking to one of his flunkies. Gabriel is being held by Mulciber in Pandemonium. You cannot destroy an angel’s soul. Believe me.”

  “Why the hell would I do that? You’re just trying to save your scrawny neck.”

  She met my gaze. “It’s not cowardly to strategize.”

  I whirled around, raking a hand through my matted hair to get it out of my face. “He can’t be in Hell. I would have heard the demons talking about it. They’re worse than a sewing circle. Or TMZ.”

  “They didn’t want to tip their hand. What do you think Michael would do if he found out his brother was still alive?”

  “He’d do the same thing I’d do,” I whispered. “March down there, kick in the gates, and drag him right out.”

  “Precisely. If you spare me, I’ll tell you how to get Gabriel back. I swear it.”

&nbs
p; I turned. “That’s your Ace in the hole, huh? You sold us out, and now you’ll just sell Moloch out. Your word means as much as camel shit in the desert.”

  “I am giving you the chance to redeem yourself, Seer. Are you telling me you’d rather see me dead than save an archangel of the Lord? I am your best shot at rescuing him. Now do we have a deal or not?”

  I knelt in front of her. Her brown eyes never wavered. She was audacious, but it didn’t sound like she was lying. A delirious spot of hope opened up inside my chest. I could save him. I could save my best friend.

  “I believe you,” I said in a soft voice, resting one hand on her shoulder.

  “But that’s not enough to save you.”

  I stabbed her in the chest, below her left breast, at an angle beneath the armor. It was a strong upward thrust that hit its target. She died instantly. Her body sagged onto the floor. Her sunshine locks settled around her head like a crown. I wiped her blood off the dagger, staring down at the broken angel before me.

  “Vaya con dios, bitch.”

  I hobbled over to the office entrance and knocked on the metal door to the rhythm of “Shave and a Haircut.”

  Several seconds later, Myra appeared. Her russet eyes settled on the angel’s motionless form.

  “Is it done?”

  I nodded. “It’s done. But we’ve got bigger problems.”

  “Bigger problems?” she asked incredulously. “We just stopped an army of demons from securing coins that can murder angels. What could be bigger than that?”

  “Gabriel’s soul is in Hell and we’re gonna bust him out.”

  “…well, shit.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  MICHAEL

  “Are you certain you want to do this, Michael?”

  I exhaled. “Absolutely not.”

  The archangel Raphael patted my shoulder. “Best of luck, brother. If it is any consolation, I have your back as always.”

  “Thanks, Raph.”

  Under any other circumstances, I’d be perfectly fine with what I was about to do. After all, being Commander of Heaven’s Army wasn’t just about fighting and deploying soldiers. It meant being an orator more often than not. I had studied the works of Plato, Aristotle, Moses, Abraham Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, Maya Angelou, all of the people who knew how to inspire and educate with their words. I was nowhere near as good, but if given enough time, I could string together a sentence. I only hoped that talent would resurface for me now.