Demon Gate: Beyond the 9th Circle: The Rapture Was Just The Beginning. (15 page)

Vince weakly raised his sword.
“No,” the queen hissed from the rafters,
“STOP!"
Gretchen pulled her sword back and let
loose aiming for a single point where both
swords would intersect and shatter the barrier of
despair that kept them imprisoned.
Just before contact, the hive queen
dropped from above, landing on one knee. A
single clenched hand hit the concrete floor; the
other arm was extended outward, its hand closed
around a black sword, her gaze settled on the
ground. As she lifted her gaze she inhaled with a
menacing snarl. She was met by Vince and
Gretchen, each stood with swords at the ready,
both blades swung for the hive queen and struck,
she wavered like a pillar of smoke in a stiff
breeze.
“Where did she go?” Vince rhetorically
asked.
A dark tendril lashed out and struck
Vince’s hand causing him to drop his sword;
another shadowy tendril lashed out and knocked
the glowing sword from Gretchen’s hand.
As the celestial swords hit the ground, a
pulse of light as bright as the sun shot out and
sped off in each direction chasing the darkness
away. Vince and Gretchen quickly reached
down; Vince rolled as he reached for his sword,
and quickly got to his feet, the hive queen stood
helpless against the wielders of the celestial
sword. Vince and Gretchen did not hesitate, both
swords sliced through the air with lethal ferocity
and into the hive queen, her skin started to peel
and flake off as the effect spread through out her
body, turning her into a pile of volcanic-like ash.
Spencer and Jessie, now freed from the
darkness that held them began to breathe,
strength returned to their limbs. Spencer weakly
stood and approached the pile of dust that only
seconds earlier was a hive queen.
“It’s odd that we haven’t seen any
demons other than the hive queens.”
“It is a little unsettling.” Jessie admitted.
“Do you think Lucifer took most of his
cronies when he ran with his tail tucked firmly
between his legs?” Gretchen asked.
“It’s possible.” Spencer conceded.
“I think we should fall back to the mall.”
Vince advised.
“I agree, though I think we should go for
a resupply first.” Spencer commented before
heading out of the factory. As Spencer greeted
the diluted light of day, he signaled Rodney, who
was secluded in a dilapidated building at the
corner of Wall Avenue and 24
^th
Street, to
rendezvous at the Hummer and then moved out.

The Hummer passed over a long overpass
that crossed over the train yard before heading
through an abandoned neighbor hood on the way
to the I-15 on ramp.

Passing into Layton the Hummer turned
off I-15 at Hill Field and turned right and through
the main street intersection into a Wal-Mart
parking lot. There were a small number of cars
that sat abandoned for the last week, some still
had rotting corpses inside; some were
dismembered and some look like an animal
attacked them, their torsos looked torn open.

The Hummer stopped in front of the
groceries entrance. Nearby a tarp covered several
decaying bodies.

“Spilt up, get anything you can that isn’t
spoiled: food, water, medical supplies.”
Spencer and Vince headed in each
grabbed a shopping cart and rushed into the body
of the store. They were slapped by the pungent
odor of spoiled food.
Passing into the store Gretchen turned to
Jessie, “Why don’t you go with Rodney and
Halley to get more food, I can handle the medical
supplies.”
Jessie nodded and followed Rodney and
Halley. Everybody grabbed a shopping cart and
headed in. Gretchen slid over a white counter
into the pharmacy area.
Vince and Spencer walked down the
snack food aisle and Vince looked to make sure
nobody could hear them.
“Is it me, or does Gretchen look like she’s
putting on a little weight?” Vince asked.
“I hadn’t noticed.” Spencer casually
replied.
Vince gawked.
“Seriously?” Vince asked,
“I’m too busy watching you stare
longingly at Jessie.” Spencer declared.
Vince shut his mouth after letting it hang open
awkwardly.
“You noticed?” Vince smiled.
Spencer nodded.
After half an hour, the shopping carts
were gathered outside the store and the supplies
were loaded into the hummer before heading to
the mall on the other side of I-15.
Spencer pulled into a loading dock on the
side of the superstore that opened into the mall,
and unloaded the supplies and returned to their
base of operations in a sporting goods store on
the lower level just off center court.
Gretchen finished unloading some of the
supplies before she tried to slip out without being
noticed, but Jessie didn’t miss Gretchen’s exit.
Jessie would have followed but had to finish
unloading the supplies.

In the bathroom Gretchen emerged from a
stall with a small thermometer-like object in her
hand, she hid it when someone unexpectedly
entered the bathroom.

Jessie asked.
“I was just going to the bathroom.”
Gretchen lied.
“Are you alright?” Jessie asked poking
her head into the bathroom.
“Nothing’s wrong.” Gretchen assured.
“I don’t know, you’ve been acting a little
weird lately.” Jessie asked.
“I’m fine,” Gretchen snapped; she only
wanted to get rid of Jessie.
Jessie wasn’t buying it. She noticed that Gretchen
was trying to hide something and reached for it,
Gretchen tried to stop Jessie but to no avail. It
was a pregnancy test.
Jessie held up the test “Is this why you’ve
been acting so odd lately?” Jessie asked in
disbelief.
“What’s it to you?” Gretchen demanded.
Jessie read the result and for a moment was
unable to breathe. She looked at Gretchen; her
eyes were wide open in surprise.
“You have to tell him,” Jessie practically
ordered.
“What would I tell him?” Gretchen asked.
“I don’t know,” Jessie admitted, “I’d start
with ‘you’re going to be a father’.” Jessie
retorted. “Spencer has the right to know.”
“What am I going to do?” Gretchen
asked. Tears welled in her eyes, a totally new
type of fear was creeping up her legs.
“What are you going to do?” Jessie asked,
“How are you going to handle prenatal care?”
“I don’t know, if we’d seen Michael in
the last few months he might be able to tell us
something.” Gretchen suggested.
Jessie’s concern turned to compassion
and she wrapped her arms around this girl who
had become like a younger surrogate sister to
comfort her.
“I’m sorry,” Jessie apologized.
Gretchen just stared vaguely into the
middle distance, she was wondering how she
would tell Spencer, but at length she decided to
forgo revealing her pregnancy, for now.
“How far along are you?” Jessie asked
taking a step back.
“I don’t know, I’ve never been pregnant.”
Gretchen retorted as tears began streaming down
her face.
“You had to noticed missing your…”
Jessie began but was abruptly interrupted when
Vince approached the half open door of the
bathroom and poked his head in.
“Somebody is coming.”
Gretchen dropped the pregnancy test into
the trash on her way out. Vince lead the way
back to the food court exit where Spencer was
watching a man approach. He wore a long offwhite cloak and he had something strapped to his
back, it was a sword.
“Michael?” Vince called, hoping the man
would confirm that he was who he appeared to
be.
Spencer readied his weapon, Vince and
Gretchen summoned their celestial swords in
case this was Lucifer in disguise; but he just kept
coming, undeterred by the threat of the celestial
weapons.
“Wait!” Spencer said lowering his
weapon and approaching the man they believed
to be Michael, as Spencer got to within striking
distance the man spoke.
“Spencer, I come with news of the sword
you gave me.” It
was
Michael, he drew the
sword, it looked different. It now looked more
like a Templar Sword, the golden hilt formed an
elaborate crucifix with a plum-sized opal in the
center, the blade was mirror polished platinum.
“The sword did not survive the
purification, and it shattered, but there were
several large fragments that we were able to use
to forge a new sword.” Michael turned the sword
tip down to hand the sword to Spencer.
“This is the eternity blade, the power in
this sword is far beyond that of the celestial
sword and has been entrusted to you. With its
power you might be able to defeat Satan when
you face him again.” Michael urged.
“You want us to face him again?”
Spencer asked in disbelief. “We don’t even know
where to start looking. Where was God when
Satan attacked?”
A look of sadness and regret washed over
Michael as he recounted the story leading up to
the events in New York six months earlier.
“God sends His apologies for the way
things happened, but their salvation was forfeit
long ago.” Michael explained his voice betrayed
grave regret for what had been allowed to
transpire. “We learned that Satan was planning
an attack, so we were forced to initiate the great
rapture to save as many as we could. Satan, was
also collecting souls, but for a dark and sinister
purpose, I fear.”
Spencer confirmed, “We met him in
Farmington, he said he was recruiting.”
Michael’s eyes opened wide in shock.
“How much of his plan did he tell you?”
Michael asked.
“He plans to storm the gates of Heaven.”
Spencer replied.
“It’s as I feared.” Michael said.
Spencer hung his head down, he was still
afraid of what Lucifer may have in store for him,
but most of all, he was afraid of what was ahead.
He remained in silence for several seconds before
Michael broke the silence.
“For thousands of earth years evil has
been on the rise, growing ever stronger, many
civilizations that were blessed with great
knowledge were destroyed because they chose to
serve the great deceiver.” Michael said earning a
glance from Spencer.
“So, this has happened before?” Spencer
guessed.
Michael shook his head,
“Not like this. We had to bear witness to
the wickedness of mankind and the fall of many
civilizations that would not forsake Lucifer. The
great leviathan promised protection. He deceived
them and when the wrath of God was upon them,
he abandoned them.”
“How many civilizations did he deceive?”
Spencer asked
“Many: the Romans, the Hintu, Atlantis,
Mu, the Itory, the Mayans, the Olmecs, the
Lemurians.”
Spencer raised the sword to look at the
blade, and in it he saw himself, but his hair was
graying and a dignified gray beard graced his
face. At his feet there were thirteen children and
in front of them were more children, each group
of children was a newer and newer generation.
Soon Spencer was lost in a veritable sea
of successive generations of children.
Spencer lowered the sword and crinkled
his brow in thought.
“Why does God need us to look for
Satan?” Spencer finally asked.
“Darkness surrounds Satan. No single
light, no matter how brilliant, can dispel all
darkness. Some shadows will remain.” Michael
said, his analogy was succinct.
“I doubt he has given up recruiting you,
Spencer.” Vince surmised.
And then it came to him.
“I think I know where he is.” Spencer
finally asked.
Spencer recalled what Lucifer said before he
vanished.
“You win this round, Auf Wiedersehen.”
The devil said, his voice echoing through
Spencer’s mind.
“Germany.” Spencer declared.
“How do you know?” Michael asked.
“When we last faced him he fled, but not
before saying ‘Auf Wiedersehen’.
“That helps a little, but he could still be
anywhere in Germany.” Michael commented.
“You know, before the world went to hell
a friend of mine mentioned an interesting story
that I didn’t find very credible until now.”
Spencer began. “The story was about a castle that
Hitler had built back in 1929. It was originally
called
Fortress of Solitude
. I remember hearing
that in 1925 a Nazi soldier found his way into an
underground vault where the Itory sealed a tome
containing the darkest of black magic. He used it
to summon a demon from the lowest circle of
hell and used it to build a fortress. The demon did
so against his will, and in retaliation the demon
summoned a million of the most evil spirits from
hell to possess the castle; it basically gave the
castle a consciousness of its own. Eventually
Hitler went insane.” Spencer recounted.
“The castle was later renamed
The Devil’s
Castle
. To this day nobody knows where it is.”
Spencer said.
“I’m willing to bet that is where Lucifer is
building his strength for his attack.” Michael
guessed.
“But if nobody knows where it is, then
how do we expect to find it?” Spencer asked.
“The only demons that will know where
the castle is are the princes.” Michael said.
Spencer gazed off into the distance, his
thought lingered on Gretchen and the vision he
saw in the eternity blade.
“Do you know where the prince is?”
Michael nodded.
“New York City.”
”Find him, defeat and bind him. Most of
his troops have been recalled to hell, but the
threat still remains. Use caution. We have to end
this war before it reaches the gates of heaven or
all is lost.”
Spencer strapped the eternity blade to his
back.
“Be warned, as soon as we find Satan’s
earthly fortress, God will launch a preemptive
strike. Escape if you can, we will give you what
time we can.”
Spencer nodded and walked back to the door
where Vince, Gretchen and Jessie were waiting.
“What’s going on?” Jessie asked.
“We’re going after your prince.”
Jessie smiled.
The Hummer sped up Hillfield Road
dodging a few cars left abandoned when their
owners were slaughtered. Crossing Antelope
Drive, the south entrance to Hill Air Force Base
lay ahead of the band of friends.
The Hummer burst through the south gate
shattering a crude barricade that the army built
the day civilization ended.
Gretchen took a right onto Eleventh Street
and headed to the end of the road where a hangar
stood open, several planes stood ready as though
the base was in the middle of scrambling
fighters, six F-22 Raptors stood ready just inside
the hangar, a C-5 Galaxy waited just off the
runway.
“They must have been killed just before
take-off.” Vince guessed.
“Garza,” Rodney began “Where are we
headed?”
“Newark Air Port.” Spencer replied.
“Do we know how to fly?” Halley
wondered aloud.
“I do.” Vince declared drawing a gaze
from everybody gathered in the hangar.
“I was in the Air Force.”
Vince stepped forward.
“Give me time to do the pre-flight.”
It was just about noon when the enormous plane
lifted off the runway and took to the sky.
Vince plotted a new course into the
planes onboard navigation system and they were
on their way.
Spencer sat next to Gretchen on the
passenger deck. Jessie eyed Gretchen, Spencer
could tell something was on her mind, but now
was not the time to talk about it.
Gretchen looked down at her lower
abdomen as the plane rocketed through the air,
she was wondering what effect flying would have
on her unborn child, but saw no alternative and
pregnant women used to fly all the time, she just
would just take things easy she promised herself.