Redemption (Stand-Alone, Spin-Off to Reaper Series), page 32
“SHUT YOUR FILTHY MOUTH!” Eve roared.
Having completely lost her temper, her heart racing and her blood boiling, Eve flapped her wings once and launched through the air, flying straight for Belial, all reason having left her mind. As she shot towards him, Belial grinned maliciously, and then he abandoned his human form in an instant and towered overhead as the burning, crackling, electric blue fire that was his true self. With Eve so much closer now, he began to crash down on top of her, burning so hot that he would incinerate her in seconds. Eve tried to stop, tried to get out of the way, but Belial was just over her head now. Her hair stood on end from the energy that radiated from him and she could already feel the intense heat as he fell upon her.
Suddenly, before Belial could engulf Eve, Elohim threw himself between them, raising his hands up to Belial in a two-handed gesture of stop. As soon as Elohim did this, it was as though the blue fire crashed into an invisible wall, stopping dead in its tracks, pushing hard against the unseen barrier. Elohim was straining with the effort of keeping Belial at bay, but managed to hold his ground and keep the barrier intact.
Elohim looked sideways at his daughter, his green eyes full of worry for her. He then pulled one hand away from holding the barrier intact and thrust his palm at Eve. Eve then felt an invisible force drag her away with great speed out of the crater and drop her somewhat roughly several yards away. Eve landed on her feet, but in her surprise at the sudden movement, she lost her balance and fell. However, she quickly pushed herself up to her feet once more and stood far from the crater, horrified at what she was seeing. Belial was almost of equal strength to her father, the creator of the universe, savior of all Angels. Belial was pushing down on the invisible barrier with increasing strength, Elohim’s knees beginning to bend under the weight and pressure.
All of a sudden, Belial pulled up and away from the barrier, which sent Elohim off balance. In the same fluid movement, a branch of blue fire shot out from the main body of flames and swung at Elohim, connecting with him like Belial had swung a giant bat. Elohim was knocked sideways, cartwheeling through the air, but he spread his wings and halted his progression, immediately facing Belial again and raising his hands.
The street suddenly seemed to explode with a white light and Eve was knocked clean off her feet, sent soaring backwards through the air. She didn’t know how far she flew, but she eventually hit the side of an abandoned police vehicle and flipped over it, crashing face down on the street on the other side. Quickly climbing to her feet, shaking off the dizziness, Eve looked over the car towards the crater she had last seem her father.
Now all she could see was a blinding light that emitted continuous strobes of gold, red, blue, and even brighter white from its center. Eve could occasionally see movement within the center of the glow, but what she was seeing, she had no idea. She could hear the roar of fire and shouts from her father, but there was nothing to tell her what was happening within, or who was overpowering the other. As the battle raged, unseen, the street been to shake and crumble, the parts of road that had not already been broken by the earlier impact now beginning to break apart. Even from as far away as she was, easily forty yards down the street, Eve could easily feel the blistering heat of the raging battle between Elohim and Belial. The heat was so intense, the closer buildings were creaking loudly as the steel inside of them began to bend and expand. Tires on cars all along the street were exploding as the rubber melted, the paint on the cars exposed to the heat blistering and peeling. The road continued to crack and manhole covers all up and down the street, one being rather close to Eve, suddenly exploded upward, launching into the air as fountains of steam burst out of the unseen water pipes under the road and fired the heavy steel covers high into the sky, where they then began to rain down on the street below, tearing apart cars and cracking the street open further still as they impacted heavily with anything in their way.
“Father!” Eve cried. She wanted to go help, she was already moving to do so, but she had to make herself stop. She knew the immense power of the two that were now clashing. If she got too close, she might easily be destroyed. That was why her father had told her to stay back. He didn’t want her to become collateral damage.
As the battle raged, Eve suddenly noticed a large number of bright flashes coming from behind her. She turned around and came face to face with Gabriel, who was looking grim, and a small army of Angels in silver armor standing behind him.
“Gabriel!” Eve cried. “It’s Father! We have to do something!”
“We came to help, but I don’t know what we can do,” Gabriel said, sounding uncharacteristically helpless. “If we get too close to the battle, we might all be destroyed. But we can’t allow the fight to continue, because Father will not kill Belial if doing so means destroying the Earth.”
“But we have to do something!” Eve insisted. “If we just let them keep fighting, eventually Belial might overpower Father!”
“I know,” Gabriel said darkly. “And if we don’t act soon, Belial’s Demons will be at full strength and come pouring out of the vortex.”
“What are our orders, Commander?” an extremely tall Angel standing at Gabriel’s right asked.
“We need to weaken Belial somehow, Sandalphon,” Gabriel replied. “And, if at all possible, close that vortex.”
“There are still humans in the area, too,” Eve said. “They might get hurt.”
Gabriel nodded once, then turned to face the Angel named Sandalphon. “Take your unit and clear out every human within a mile of this area. And do it fast.”
“At once, Commander,” Sandalphon replied. Then he signaled to his unit with one hand and they all flew up into the air and separated, heading off at breakneck speeds to get the humans to safety. This left Eve, Gabriel, and a squad of roughly one hundred Angel soldiers standing in the street, all of them cringing with every fresh explosion, flash of light, and blast of heat that came from the struggle nearby.
“Are these all the soldiers you brought?” Eve asked, knowing full well that Gabriel commanded tens of thousands of soldiers.
“I have more in reserve,” Gabriel explained. “I’m hoping we can contain this without risking more lives than I have to. If the Demons begin to invade, I will call on every soldier we have.”
“You might have to,” Eve said grimly.
“The rest of you,” Gabriel said loudly turning to face his soldiers. “Station yourselves around the vortex. If anything comes out of it, anything at all, you destroy it immediately. Understood?”
“Yes, Commander!” the entire squad shouted together.
“Be careful up there,” Eve interjected. “There’s a powerful updraft underneath the vortex, it could suck you up into it, and there’s no telling what’s on the other side.”
Gabriel nodded. “You heard her. Stay clear of the underside, stay vigilant. Stay alive. Lava elasa apila pa’id!”
“A’FIDES!” the Angels shouted back in earnest, their voices booming as one.
Weapons and shields suddenly materialized in their hands and the Angel soldiers all shot up into the sky toward the fiery maelstrom. Gabriel turned to Eve, still looking grim.
“I’m glad to see you have your wings back, Eve,” Gabriel said. “But I hope it wasn’t just so you can die with the rest of us. If any Demon that comes out that vortex is even half as powerful as Belial, then it may take more than every soldier at my disposal to stop them.”
“I’ve seen what Belial can do,” Eve said, “and I’ve seen what can slow him down. I severed his arm before, and it took him a few seconds to reattach it. It’s not much, but it might give your soldiers a chance.”
“Hopefully not too little,” Gabriel replied. “We need a plan. Something to turn the tide. So we’re not just standing here, waiting to be attacked by his hordes. If I can get close enough, perhaps I can distract Belial long enough for Father to stop him.”
“Gabriel, if you get too close to that energy, you’ll die!” Eve cried.
“I know,” Gabriel said. “But if it’s the best chance we have, then I have to take it.”
A small silver axe suddenly appeared in each of Gabriel’s hands and he planted his feet firmly, as though about to start running. He extended his wings and stretched them out, ready to boost himself forward.
“If I succeed,” he said to Eve, “tell Father I hope I made him proud.”
Gabriel began to run, but Eve quickly grabbed his arm and held him back.
“Stop, you idiot!” she shouted, slapping him in the side of the head.
“Eve, what are you doing?” Gabriel demanded, cringing slightly under the slap of her hand.
“Me? What are you doing? You’re gonna kill yourself on a slim chance!? You’ll likely die before you get within twenty feet!”
“Well, what else do you suggest?” Gabriel snapped. “What the Hell else can we do?”
Eve suddenly had a thought. That thought began churning around inside her head, forming into something much more like an idea. She remembered something that Gabriel had said earlier that day, while they were at the bar.
…Father has suggested there might be a way to banish Belial from this universe.
“Gabriel,” Eve almost shouted. “You said before, at the bar, that Father might be able to banish Belial. How?”
“Eve, we don’t have time for this,” Gabriel replied.
“HOW!?” Eve shouted, making Gabriel’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise at her vehemence.
“If Father can force Belial back to his own universe,” Gabriel explained, still shocked, “then Father could seal our world off to him, just like he once did with Abzu. Belial would be trapped in his dead universe, unable to come back, no matter how powerful he becomes. But Eve, look!”
Gabriel gestured to the raging battle that was taking place down the street, emitting loud bangs and cries of pain, the blinding light still flashing, rendering the movements within impossible to distinguish.
“What do you think Father is trying to do over there?” Gabriel demanded. “He’s not trying to kill Belial! If he was, then Belial would already be dead and so would every living thing on Earth. Father is trying to force Belial out of this universe! But Belial is too strong to allow it to happen. I need to do something, anything I can to help. If I can distract Belial for even a moment, then Father can banish him. Now let me go!”
“No!” Eve cried again, grabbing Belial’s arms. “No, Gabriel, I have an idea!”
“What?” Gabriel asked. “What is it?”
“You won’t like it,” Eve warned.
“I don’t like any of this!” Gabriel shouted in frustration.
“We need Belial to go back to his own universe before we can do anything about keeping him there,” Eve began. “But he won’t allow himself to be pushed out. So we have to make him go willingly.”
Gabriel looked like he wanted to pull out his own hair. “That’s your idea? Just how are we supposed to do that, Eve?”
By way of reply, Eve just pointed over Gabriel’s shoulder. Gabriel turned to look at what she was pointing at, up in the sky. When he saw it, he simply looked confused.
Eve was pointing at the flaming vortex.
“What about it?” Gabriel snapped, clearly becoming impatient.
“Someone needs to make Belial chase them through it,” Eve said. “Someone needs to go in there and retrieve the souls he stole from the Garden. Once his Demons aren’t growing stronger, neither is he. And he’ll get mad. He’ll rush in there to stop whoever took back the souls.”
“And then Father can seal the vortex!” Gabriel finished for Eve. But then a thought occurred to him, one that made him screw up his face in distaste. “But whoever goes in there might not come back. If Belial catches them before they can return through the vortex, Father will have no choice but to seal them in the other universe with Belial. Who would volunteer for a suicide mission?”
Eve squared her shoulders and Gabriel already knew what she was about to say.
“I’ll go.”
Gabriel was already shaking his head. “No. No way, Eve. No.”
“I’m not asking for your permission, Commander,” Eve snapped.
“I don’t care!” Gabriel shouted. “The answer is NO! I’ll do it.”
“I’m faster in the air than you are, Gabriel!” Eve argued. “If anyone has the best chance of getting in and out, leaving Belial in the dust, it’s me. You know it!”
“I don’t know it!” Gabriel argued back. “The answer is no!”
“Gabriel,” Eve said, her voice softening as she reached out and took his hands. “Please. This is all happening because of me. If I hadn’t given Javan intelligence, then Belial could never have used him to get this far. If I hadn’t trusted Javan again, then he couldn’t have used me to make his drug that Belial is going to use against all humans and Angels. This is all my fault. Please, Gabriel, please let me do this. Let me fix my mistakes.”
Gabriel stared at his sister for a long time, an internal struggle raging within him, the soldier side of him fighting hard against the side that was Eve’s brother. Finally, Gabriel threw up his hands and shouted, “Fine! But you better come back, Eve. If I lose you again…”
The sentence was left unfinished, apparently too difficult for Gabriel to even say aloud. Eve threw her arms around her brother and hugged him tight, tighter than she could remember doing in a long time.
“Thank you, Gabriel,” she whispered. “I’ll come back. I promise. Just make sure Father closes that vortex the first chance he gets.”
“Not until you come out of it, remember?” Gabriel whispered back.
Eve gave Gabriel one last squeeze, then stepped back, smiling as she studied his face. For all she knew, this was the last time she would see it.
Then she spread her wings and took off into the sky, leaving the raging battle on the ground below. Eve flew as fast as she could towards the vortex, her eyes set firmly upon its center. Eve swooped into the upward draft of the vortex and flapped her wings hard as she felt herself being lifted faster and faster, directly into the swirling fire. She passed by the circling soldiers and heard their cries of surprise and horror as she sped upward, and then she reached the center of the vortex.
And vanished into the unknown beyond.
29
THE FEEDING
W
hen Eve had flown through the vortex, she had been flying straight up into the swirling fire as it lay horizontally. Now, as she burst out of the other side, she found that she was flying low over the ground, the portal behind her standing vertically. Before she could take in the scenery, however, Eve felt a sudden and powerful pull beneath her. She fell out of the sky and landed heavily on the rocky ground.
“Ow!” Eve cried angrily. “What the Hell?”
Pushing herself off the ground and onto her knees, Eve could feel gravity fighting to pull her back down. Wherever she was, the gravity was a lot stronger than on Earth. Fortunately, she was still able to move. She hoped she could still fly. Eve took a moment to look around and decide on her next move. When she looked at the landscape, she suddenly understood exactly what humans often expected when they thought of Hell.
Everywhere she looked, the scenery was dead. There were no plants, no animals, not even a single blade of grass. The entire area looked like a Hellish version of Mars. The ground was a scorched red and black, with similarly colored stones and boulders sticking out everywhere, like the planet had terrible acne. The remnants of Javan’s tower lay scattered everywhere, debris of largely varying sizes already sinking into the ground as the rough wind buried it all under the red sand. There were no hills or mountains to be seen anywhere, but it looked as though the terrain had taken a terrible beating from asteroids, as there were countless craters of vastly different sizes everywhere Eve looked. It was difficult to see very far, as the wind was fast and powerful, tugging at Eve’s hair and clothes, almost strong enough to rip off her very wings. The wind also seemed to be full of the scorched dirt that made up the ground, carrying the small particles everywhere it went, getting in Eve’s eyes and forcing her to squint and shield her face with her arm.
As Eve looked up at the sky, she saw that it was wildly different from Earth’s calm blue, but was rather a dark and ceaseless storm of dark red and orange clouds, rolling and crashing together, swirling away in the distance as they formed tornados and hurricanes. Thunder boomed constantly and lightning cracked the sky in half every few seconds, forks of lightning bursting out of the clouds everywhere Eve turned. One burst of lightning suddenly raced out of the sky and struck the ground only a few yards away from where Eve presently kneeled, causing her to jump in surprise.
Better keep moving, she thought.
Forcing herself to her feet, fighting against the pull of gravity, Eve stretched out her wings to test them in this new environment. After flapping them a few times, Eve figured she would still be able to fly. The gravity was stronger, but that just meant she would have to flap more, which might use more energy, but that was the least of her worries. What really concerned her was if she would still be able to fly as fast. Especially if Belial came for her.
When, Eve silently corrected herself. When Belial comes for me.
Rising to her feet, Eve squinted through the burning wind for a sign of where to go. Everywhere looked the same. Everything was flat and burned and dead. The sky rolled and boomed and, far in the distance, Eve saw what looked like a cluster of small asteroids punching through the clouds, burning like miniature suns as they plummeted into the ground over the horizon, the explosions so powerful that the wind seemed to suddenly change direction as the concussion wave rolled over Eve.
“Holy crap!” Eve cried to herself, shielding her face with her arms again as the wind rightened itself and resumed its endless race across the barren landscape.
Suddenly, over the booming of thunder and the scream of the wind, Eve heard a new sound. It sounded eerily like a shriek, but not at all human. It was more like some unseen beast hiding in the darkness, calling out in hunger as it longed for prey. High pitched and threatening, Eve heard the sound again, a banshee summoning her to death.
