Revelations (Bloodline Series) (7 page)

Eligos
grabbed our arms and pulled us both away from the pile of stones and rubble. He
raised one of his hands, and the stones began to rise slowly into the air. A
few minutes later, Carver’s lifeless body became visible. I helped Elizabeth
pull him away and then Eligos let all the debris fall back to the ground.

“Carver,
Carver, can you hear me?” she said, stroking his face. “Please talk to me.”

“Elizabeth,
those beams of light, they—” Eligos started to say.

“Don’t
say it…please, please don’t say it,” she cried.

“Elizabeth,
I’m so sorry,” I whispered, putting my hand on her shoulder.

“I
thought he was right behind me. We ran to get under your shield; when I turned
around I saw him get hit and the building collapse on him. I couldn’t get back
to him—there were so many people around me, I couldn’t move.”

“It
wouldn’t have mattered, you couldn’t have saved him,” Eligos told her softly. “It’s
not your fault.”

“I
don’t know what I’m going to do,” she cried, looking down at him and stroking
his face again.

“We
need to move him,” Eligos told her as nicely as he could. “You need to lay him
to rest.”

“I
know, I know.”

“Is
there anything in particular you want done for him?”

“I
want him buried in my garden; I want him close to me.”

“Then
I will make sure it’s done,” he said.

“Thank
you.”

He
closed his eyes and went through REM…a moment later Brad and another man
appeared next to us. Eligos told them to take Elizabeth and Carver’s body back
to her house and bury him, but Elizabeth wouldn’t go with them.

“I
can’t watch him being buried…I just can’t. I can’t be there while that’s
happening,” she told me.

“Then
don’t. You don’t have to be there.”

Eligos
nodded to Brad and the other guys and they disappeared, taking Carver with
them.

“I
want revenge, Keira. Fifteen years we have been close friends. I trusted him
with everything, and now…now he’s gone. I want the person responsible.”

“Err,
Elizabeth you—”

“Why
did this happen? What caused it?”

“Lucifer
went to Heaven, so God attacked Hell full force,” I told her.

“Why
did he go there?”

“I
don’t think I can say.”

“Rubbish,
I’m your family…you can tell me anything,” she said, rather hurt.

“It’s
an angel that’s starting the war on earth. Lucifer went to confront God,” I
whispered.

“Then
I want to meet this angel. Lucifer did what he had to do; this is not his
fault. God had no right to attack us like that when it’s one of his own that’s
the bad apple.”

“The
angel would kill you in seconds,” Eligos told her. “Especially when you don’t
have your power anymore.”

“I
want to meet with Lilith,” she said, her previously upset tone turning to one
of pure anger. “And I want to meet with her now!”

Eligos
and I looked at each other for a moment.

“I
said now!” she shouted loudly.

“Elizabeth,
I know you’re upset, but now isn’t a great time to—” I tried to say.

“I
don’t care when is a good or bad time. Take me to her.”

I
looked at Eligos again, and he nodded to me. I took her arm, and we walked back
to the palace with her. Lilith was on her own in the main hall, looking out of
the window with a very sad look on her face.

“I’m
sorry Elizabeth,” she said, turning to face her. “I’m so sorry.”

“I
want in on this; if I die so be it, but I want in,” Elizabeth said. “I want my
power back…I want revenge.”

“Then
you shall have it,” Lilith said without hesitation.

She
walked over and took Elizabeth’s hand. Her whole body glowed a brilliant white
for several seconds as Lilith returned her power.

“You
will find you’re as strong as you used to be,” Lilith told her. “And you can
stay on earth as long as you please.”

“I
will have a physical form while I’m there?” she confirmed.

“You
will, just like Keira and Eligos.”

“Thank
you.”

“But
be warned—you follow Keira’s and Eligos’s orders. You don’t do anything without
talking to them first. You must support them, not be stupid and reckless just
to get your revenge. You would put all of them at a bigger risk than they
already are.”

“I
give you my word I will do as they say. I just want to be there when this fight
takes place. I want to kill as many of his followers as I possibly can, and I
want to watch this bastard, this ‘leader’…I want to see him burn.”

“Then
go,” Lilith said before turning her attention to me. “I trust you are okay with
this?”

“More
than okay—it’s nice to have another strong person on our side, and besides that,
she’s my family,” I said.

“Then
all of you go. I’ll be in touch soon.”

We
decided it best to return to earth straight away. Elizabeth could not bear the
thoughts of going home yet and seeing Carver’s newly dug grave. We arrived
outside the house. I noticed Elizabeth pinching herself and then saw her smile
slightly.

“I
thought you were physical when you came to see me,” I said to her.

“No,
just a visible spirit.”

“Why
though…why aren’t you like us?”

“I
did something very stupid; I don’t want to talk about it yet, but basically I
didn’t keep my end of the deal.”

“The
deal you made with Lilith?”

“Yes.
So it was part of my punishment, I could be physical in Hell but not in any
other realm. It was either that or lose my powers forever. The only reason you
could actually see me when I came here was because Lilith cast a spell allowing
you to. She wanted me to be the one to talk to you, to set you on the right
path to finding out what was inside you. But I guess I messed up there too; as
soon as I got back I was sent to the pits.”

“What
was the deal?”

“I’ll
tell you later,” she said, looking away from me.

“Okay,
so are you a demon now?” I asked.

“I
don’t know actually.”

“No,
Elizabeth, you’re not,” Eligos told her. “You’re just...there is no nice way of
putting this. You’re just a walking dead person, but with a strong power.”

“Oh,
right,” she muttered.

“Come
on; first I need to introduce you to everyone, and then I need to update them,
so you will get to know everything too. Then…then I desperately need to sleep.
This has been an exceptionally long, hard, confusing day,” I sighed. “The time
difference and travelling between here and Hell hasn’t helped.”

“Yeah,
I want to know why the hell you have an angel inside you. So let’s go.”

We
walked inside the house; everyone was still in the living room. I looked at
Marshall, and was pleased to see that his head was better. He had obviously
decided to trust Hecate and let her heal him.

“Thank
God,” Lily said as we walked in the room. “We’ve been here waiting for you.”

“Sorry,
I had things to take care of,” I told her.

“Who
is your friend?” Beth asked me, smiling warmly.

“Guys,
this is Elizabeth.”

“As
in your ancestor?” Tyler asked.

“The
very same,” Elizabeth said to him.

“Wow,
you don’t look much older than us,” Lucian added.

“In
appearance I’m thirty three.”

“Can
I ask why you’re here?” Lily asked her.

“I’m
with you guys now. I’m on your side, and I’ll fight with you whenever you need
me.”

“Really!”
Jake and Lucian said in unison.

“Yes,”
she told them, smiling.

“What
brought this on?” Hecate asked before walking over and hugging her.

“Carver
is dead.”

“Why?
How?”

“Can
we all sit down, and then we can tell you everything?” I said.

All
of us got comfy, and I started telling them everything I knew. I decided to
start off with when I’d seen the church so that Elizabeth could understand
everything. The looks on their faces were sometimes unreadable. When I was
explaining what happened in Hell after Lucifer went to Heaven, Hecate burst
into tears, along with Elizabeth. The others tried to comfort them while I
continued to explain. I told them all about Ballantine, which got a weird
reaction.

“Are
you seriously trying to tell me an angel is causing all these problems?” Lucian
gasped. “Are you
really
serious?”

“Deadly,”
Eligos told him.

“I
don’t believe it. Well, I do…I know you’re not lying, but I just...I can’t...angels
are supposed to be full of love and kindness. They are supposed to watch over
us, not come here and try and wipe us all out.”

“No
disrespect, but that’s something you would expect demons to do. You know, that’s
what religion teaches. God and angels are good—Lucifer and demons are bad,”
Marley said.

“Just
goes to show, doesn’t it?” Hecate said rather smugly. “Sometimes religion gets
it wrong. We demons, we aren’t always the bad guys.”

“No,
I know that. I wouldn’t think that for one second these days. I just...don’t
get it.”

“Neither
do we,” I told her. “Lucifer has asked me to try and find out why he is doing
this before I attempt to kill him.”

“Why
can’t God just kill him?” Tyler asked. “He is supposed to be the most powerful
being ever.”

“If
Ballantine was to stand in front of Him, then He could. But he isn’t going to
do that, is he? He will most likely be hiding in another realm. God and Lucifer
can only kill their own people in their own realms. God can’t come to earth
long enough to fight him, same as Lucifer couldn’t if it
had
been a
demon doing this. Don’t ask me why, it’s just more stupid rules that I don’t
understand or agree with,” Eligos explained.

“But
if God made the rules in the first place, why doesn’t He change them?” Olivia
asked.

“Rule
number one,” Elizabeth said. “‘Under no circumstances can the following rules
be changed or broken by anyone, including God and Lucifer, without extreme
consequence. Those who seek to break the rules shall be put on trial. These
acts may be punishable by death no matter what their status, age, or job may
be.”

“How
do you know that?” I asked her.

“I
read, quite a lot. I’ve spent a lot of time in the palace library; you can read
all the rules of Heaven and Hell in a book there. But believe me, it will take
you a long time to read it. There are a lot.”

“What
other rules are there?” Lily asked her.

“Oh
God, now you’re asking. Erm…well, once you’re married in Heaven or Hell, you
are married for eternity—”

“Yes,
we knew that one,” Tyler said.

“Erm…no
member of Hell, obviously excluding Lucifer, can travel to Heaven, and vice
verse with God and Hell. You never, ever defy a royal; you could very well have
your soul destroyed. Once you have served your time in the pits if you commit
another crime, the punishment is the destruction of your soul or an eternity in
the pits. There are so many it’s unbelievable…I could sit here all week telling
you and not cover half of them.”

“Wow,”
almost everyone said.

“I
need to talk to you all about something else too…I wanted to tell you before,
but then we had all the angel business and I didn’t get round to it,” I
started. “Before the episode with the angel, I had a meeting with Lilith and
Lucifer. They told me they had pulled a demon in for questioning, and he said
that apparently...Salem is next.”

“What?”
Most of them gasped.

“Apparently
the demon said that the people here weren’t going to be possessed that they
would just be killed, unless…we handed ourselves over.”

“Rubbish!”
Tyler snapped. “Absolute rubbish! They would still wipe everyone out.”

“He’s
right,” Lucian added.

“I
know. I’m so sorry I didn’t mention this earlier, but with everything that
happened….”

“We
can understand why it may have been put to the back of your mind Keira; you had
a hell of a lot to deal with,” Marley added.

“Everyone
needs to be extra vigilant,” I continued. “Constantly be on your guard. This may
be a load of lies just to frighten us, but I don’t want to tempt fate or anything,
so please just be careful.”

“We
will, don’t worry,” Jake told me. “We’ll stay alert.”

Everyone
fell silent, trying to take everything in and mentally prepare themselves for a
possible attack.

“Err
guys, would you mind if I called it a night? It’s been a long day?” I asked
them all.