Authors: Darcy Town
Dahlia strained to stay awake, fearing what would come if they slept.
She shifted her position; her body ached.
The heat from the fire had burned her left side, leaving her bare patches of skin red and blistered.
She’d puked up everything she’d been given to eat or drink.
The smell of burning flesh sent her into spells of nausea.
She winced as the flames burst forth again, not for her pain, but for Andy’s.
Andy seemed to be unaware of his body.
He spoke Belial’s name when he had enough of a tongue and mouth to do so.
Dahlia watched him as the flames died once more.
With each flame burst, it took longer for him to recover.
He mumbled to himself, his thoughts elsewhere.
Helion leaned towards Andy, seeking to give him comfort but ordered to be silent.
The human that worked on Helion broke his fingers with snaps.
A weak whimper escaped Helion’s lips.
The man wiped his brow.
“This one has an amazing pain tolerance.”
Another human flipped channels on the TV.
“Look, see in Portland,
finally
.
I
told
you something was going on, the news just didn’t want to switch, but it’s all over the radios and web.”
The man at Helion’s side squinted and nodded.
He turned back to Helion.
“Tell me who caused that.
You are allowed to speak.”
Helion gasped.
“Furcas and Paimon.”
The man watching television leaned closer to the screen.
“They’re in the database.
We had them both for a time.
Very damaging to the Lilliam, especially the one called Furcas.”
The torturer looked to Helion.
“Where are their lamins now, demon?”
Helion shook his head.
“I don’t know!”
The man sighed.
“You are the most pathetic fallen angel we have ever come across.
Why is it that you know absolutely nothing?”
Helion dropped his gaze.
“I was just a guardian angel until recently.”
The man at the television looked over his shoulder.
“So who’s the one in the flame seal?”
Helion tried to stifle his answer, but he had no way of getting around it.
“Andrealphus.”
The two men looked Andy over.
“Andrealphus?
We had you for a while didn’t we?
Had you raze three whole villages to the ground.”
Andy stared at his chained hands.
“You’re not trash, not trash.”
The torturer poked Helion with a blade.
“Helion, who does he continue to speak about?”
Helion gulped.
“Belial.”
A new group of men walked in and surveyed the room.
A man in black broke away from the group.
“Any results?”
The torturer shook his head and stood.
“No, sir.
He has not given us the location of the one called Ladriam.”
The new man gazed at Helion and Andy, and then turned to Dahlia and Whitney.
“Why haven’t these two been questioned?”
“They are weak, barely any Lilliam blood.
What would they know?”
The man in black sat down near Dahlia and Whitney, and they leaned away.
Andy snapped out of his ramblings and eyed the man.
The man in black smiled.
“You may call me Brian.
What are your names?”
The girls kept quiet.
Brian snapped at Helion.
“Their names.”
Helion stuttered.
“D—Da—Dahlia and Whitney.”
Brian clasped his hands and smiled at Whitney.
“Do you know what you are?”
Dahlia spoke for them, “No.”
Brian switched his gaze to her.
“Why were you with these two?”
“We thought they were two handsome guys that wanted to go camping.”
The lie slipped easily out of her mouth.
“Can we go now?”
Brian laughed and looked at Helion.
“They must be pulling in all that they can save.
Still so weak though, it’s odd.
I read in the report that the others were defending these two?”
The man at the television nodded.
“Yes, they were defended by the dead Lilliam that we sent in.”
Brian looked the girls over.
“Have they been checked thoroughly?
Did you question them at all?”
The man dropped his gaze.
“We’ve focused on Helion and Andrealphus.”
Brian grabbed Whitney’s hand.
“Get them stripped.
They could be carrying something of value.”
Two assistants pulled at clothes until Dahlia and Whitney were down to their underwear.
Brian ignored Whitney.
His eyes were drawn to the coiled silver bracelet and red pendant that Dahlia wore.
He touched the bracelet with a pencil.
“Lilliam construct.”
He looked at the pendant.
“Similar.
Who gave these to you?”
Dahlia met his gaze.
“Some friends.”
“Be more specific.”
Dahlia swallowed, her throat dry and cracked.
“The pendant is from a childhood friend and the bracelet was from a former boyfriend.”
The man watched her eyes move.
“She speaks the truth, but not all of it.
Fallen, why do you travel with these girls?”
Helion fought with the words that spilled out of his mouth.
“To get them to the City.”
“Why?”
“They’re important.”
Helion broke into a sweat.
“Which one?”
Helion trembled.
“Dahlia.”
“Why?”
Helion screwed his eyes shut.
His pores bled.
His black eye pulsed, and his white pupil expanded.
Helion gasped.
“So she can be sacrificed within the City.”
Andy struggled not to let the shock on his face show.
Helion had lied under compulsion.
That was not possible.
He breathed slowly; his eyes locked on Helion.
Brian was interested.
“What for?”
Helion’s black eye swiveled on its own.
“If she dies, the Lilliam all gain power.”
The man turned back to Dahlia.
“Interesting.
What happens if she lives or dies outside of the City?”
“They do not have access to her power.”
Brian unlocked Whitney and pulled her close to him.
She pulled back from him.
Helion eyed them warily.
Brian touched her face and then the bandage around her leg wound.
“What about this one?”
“She is Dahlia’s handmaiden.”
“Is she needed?”
Helion stared at them.
“Yes, but not in the same way.”
Brian backhanded Whitney.
Dahlia threw herself at him.
“Do not touch her!”
Brian threw Whitney towards Helion.
“I don’t need to.
Kill her.”
“Whitney, fight me!”
Helion grabbed Whitney’s ankle and pulled her to him.
He grabbed her throat and squeezed.
Whitney fought him; she screamed as he gripped harder. Helion registered her pain and glowed white and gold. He ground his teeth and fought with his hands.
Whitney kicked at Helion’s stomach.
He got a hand free.
“Stop this!
Don’t make me hurt her!”
Brian smiled.
“He
is
strong.
Break her arm.”
Helion wrenched Whitney’s arm, but did not break it.
She screamed.
He pulled his other hand away from her throat.
His body quaked as he fought to regain control of his limbs.
He pushed Whitney away from him.
“No, I will not!”
Whitney crawled towards Dahlia.
Dahlia reached for her.
Brian eyed Dahlia, unlocked her, and threw her towards Helion.
“Grab her.”
Helion grabbed Dahlia by the wrists.
Brian nodded.
“Break
her
arm.”
Helion snapped Dahlia’s right arm over his knee.
Dahlia screamed.
Helion cried.
Andy strained against his chains.
Brian grabbed Whitney and hauled her back over.
“What is the difference between these two, Helion?”
Helion shuddered.
“I am Whitney’s guardian angel, not Dahlia’s.”
The man smiled.
“How odd.
Punch Whitney.”
Helion held on to Dahlia with one hand.
The other rose up above Whitney.
He flashed with light as his compulsion to protect warred with the compulsion to obey.
His arm dislocated under the strain.
He could not hit her.
Brian nodded.
“Punch Dahlia.”
Helion’s fist swung around and smashed into Dahlia’s face, knocking her head about.
Brian rapped his knuckles on the ground.
“Gouge out Dahlia’s eye.”
Dahlia jerked and crawled away in a daze.
Helion tried to kick her out of his reach, but his hands reached for her even as he did.
He struggled with himself.
“Dahlia, get away from me!”
Dahlia fell over, unable to support herself on her broken arm.
Brian shoved her back within Helion’s reach.
“No!”
Helion howled.
“Get away from me!
Whitney, stop me!
You can stop me!
Please!”
Whitney jumped on Helion’s arm as he caught Dahlia by the hair.
She bit at him, kicked, and scratched.
The humans watched, interested.
The man with Helion’s lamin nodded at the spectacle, touching the pendant thoughtfully.
Helion flipped Dahlia on her back.
His fingers crept up her cheek.
Whitney and Dahlia grabbed the hand and pushed at it, but Helion was stronger than they were.
He struggled.
“Stop!
I do not want to do this!”
“I don’t care.”
Brian smiled.
Helion’s fingernails tore through the flesh beneath Dahlia’s right eye.
“No!”
Dahlia kicked at him.
“Helion, I forgive you.”
Helion burst into tears.
Blood pooled up around his fingers.
He plunged them into her cheek.
Whitney went rigid
at the sight of Dahlia’s blood.
She closed her eyes and wailed. The noise hit the humans like a blow. The glass in the room shattered. The television blew out.
Her scream dropped the temperature to freezing.
Terror paralyzed the humans.
Helion and Andy sagged.
The sound burst the tiny hearts of the rats in the walls.
Her shriek called forth every cry of terror and despair ever uttered by living things.
The howl of a banshee drained life and curdled blood.
It stripped hope and happiness from the living.
Whitney rolled on the ground, the sound and change to Lilliam possessed her.
Her blonde hair turned white, her eyes filled with darkness.
Her heart stopped, but the sound continued.
Dahlia was unaffected by the noise.
She held her bleeding face and pushed Helion away.
She dove at the man with Helion’s lamin.
In the grips of horror, he could not defend himself.
She ripped the lamin off him and turned to Helion.
“Helion, pick up Whitney.”