The Angel Side (14 page)

“So, you’re going to give her up to us to make her whole again? Just like that, Lucifer?” I snapped my fingers.

“She is my
twin
sister. Despite what you believe
,
I do love her. Besides, what good is she to me if she doesn’t exist?
After all, she and I are connected beyond bloodlines.
Since
she is no longer human, any injury she sustains, so shall I. Or do you not remember
coming close
to
killing us both during the ‘Great Divide’?
” Lucifer bit out.

During the battle of the Great Divide, Abihail stood with the Arches, taking Lucifer and his army on. As if she had been a seasoned warrior, Abihail slew traitor after traitor until she stood face to face with her brother. Ready to kill him for his transgressions at the price of her humiliation, she raised her sword at him. Deflecting her blows, he tried coaxing his sister into joining him in ruling the Heavens and Earth.

Infuriated with the denial of his offers, Lucifer struck back at her. Fearing for my wife’s safety, I stepped in
with my shield
, blocking a blow aimed at her head
.
As I did so, Abihail came under my arm, slicing Lucifer. As the blade grazed his skin, a wound not only opened on his chest but
on
hers as well. Assuming he struck her, I went berserk. I flailed my sword in a blind rage, but my strikes barely grazed him as he danced around each swing.

Tired of playing games, Michael had snuck up behind him and pierced his back
.
  Abihail’s blood-curdling scream echoed over the clash of metal on metal. Spinning on my heels, I turned expecting to find her in the clutches of a traitor. Instead
,
I found
her alone on the ground, wounded
,
and crying out in pain. I flashed to her side, pulling her into my lap to inspect her injuries, when again she cried out in agony. Terrified, I looked to Michael
,
and
it dawned on me. Every strike Lucifer received manifested on his twin sister, Abihail. To kill him would mean killing her.

As much as I wanted him dead for what he had done, I wouldn’t risk Abihail’s life for the notch on my belt. Flashing to Michael, I stopped his blade from further penetrating Lucifer’s back as I called out for a stand down. My order to retreat may have saved my wife, but it allowed Lucifer and a third of our ranks to flee.

“Love her? If it weren’t for you sending Lilith after her, we wouldn’t be here having this conversation!” I snapped back.

“I had nothing to do with it. A deal is a deal
,
and I honor my deals to the fullest extent. Lilith has her own agenda. She’s been trying to take
over
our worlds
with her feminist band of
rats
since she
rose above taking orders from punks like you
. And believe me I have every available Demon searching for her as we speak. She will pay for this transgression. I’ll have Lilith praying to Father for
mercy
.”

Lucifer’s fraudulent protest of innocence hadn’t fooled me. If he truly had nothing to do with the turn of events, it would only be fitting
for him to
put his life on the line to save his sister.

“If you feel so strongly
then
why don’t you come with me? Oh
,
that’s right
.
Y
ou’d rather send someone else on a suicide mission
!
” I yelled
,
digging
my finger in
to
Lucifer’s chest.

“Enough! You must leave at once
,
my son. We don’t
have much time.” Father boomed.

“Saved by
the
big man again,” Lucifer hissed under his breath as I turned to Father.

“Fine.
But I won’t leave without saying goodbye to her first.”

“No need to say goodbye. You’re not leaving without me.” Etta’s voice chimed behind us.

“Etta! How long have you been standing there?” I asked
,
rushing to her.

“Long enough to know I’m not going to
let you go
to Purgatory
alone.”

“You need to stay here
,
my child.
It’s not safe for you to leave these gates.
” Father said.

“All due respect
,
Father, but it’s my soul. If I’m going to die again, I’m going to die fighting for it. Besides, do you know how to navigate through Purgatory’s labyrinths of the tortured, valley
s
of despair, chambers of doom, or halls of madness? I’m the only
one
here who can
get us out. I’m going.”

Etta’s knowledge of Purgatory’s layout would be helpful
,
but I had serious reservations about her escorting us
along
with the challenges I had already been facing. I readied myself to protest
,
but the look in her eyes told me I’d be in for one heck of a fight.

“I’m not going to be able to talk you out of this
,
am I?” I asked.

“Nope.”
Etta raised her chin in defiance.

“Astaroth.
Nicor.
Make sure these two come back to
us
alive.” Lucifer
barked
,
then
faded away.

Etta snapped her attention to the two Demons standing
to her far right
, waiting for the next part of their plan. A shiver ran up my spine as Nicor and Etta shared a brief warm smile.

“I need to make some preparations. I’ll meet you two at the entrance in a day.” I said
,
dismissing
a swell of jealousy
.

Unable to flash behind Heaven’s gates, they exited through the war room’s back door. Once I had been sure they were gone, I started making my way to the front door with Etta in tow.

“Rahovart!”
Father called. I pivoted in time to catch my sword.

“You’ll need it.” Father continued. With a knowing nod, I said goodbye to him and crossed the threshold of the war room for possibly the last time
.

My anxiety level skyrocketed as I thought about walking into an unknown territory with my wife and two Demons. Saying I hadn’t been happy about working with
Nicor
and
Astaroth
would be the understatement of the century
,
especially after witnessing the flirtatious smile between
Nicor
and Etta.
I didn’t want either of
the Demons
near any part of Etta.

Not to mention I had been considered
a traitor
once I found my way back home to Heaven. Having caught my share of those who had betrayed Lucifer, I
assumed
there must have been a price on my head. B
oth
Astaroth and Nicor
had reasons to want
me dead
,
and
neither
was
above
killing me
.

Astaroth served under me as a Duke with forty legions beneath him.
Unhappy with his rank
,
he’d constantly contradict any order I gave.
If I said one thing, he’d say another. On more than one occasion he
openly spoke against my competence
. He had been
nothing more than
a hot head whose mouth had been unable to cash the checks it wrote. But no matter the punishment I’d inflict, he’d be right back at it the next day taking his aggravation out on one of the brothel succubae.

Mutilation and torture had been a couple of ways he’d show
n
one of the girls a good time. I beseeched Lucifer to let me kill Astaroth after he mutilated one of my favorite girls to
the
point of her death, but he refused. It had been a personal slap in the face. Though the beady eyed, goat horned, badger talked a big game,
he
had his purposes on a battle field. With a simple wave of his hands, Astaroth summon
ed
the dirt beneath us into large boulders, hurling them incredible distances. Other times he’d create walls and mazes making any advance on him and his legions near impossible.

Nicor had been the exact opposite.
Serving under Alastor, I
had
very few
dealings with him. I did have enough to know he
rarely spoke a word. H
e
preferred to
connive
in silence. You never knew what he
was
think
ing until he put it into action
,
making him a sneaky
,
formidable opponent.

Even if
Lucifer’s Demons were on the up and up and had no intention of doing me harm, I still had other concerns. With only one wing, I would not be able to flash to Purgatory’s borders. If it weren’t for Etta insisting on tagging along, I might have been able to catch a ride with another Angel. I contemplated asking for a ride despite Etta being with me but
didn’t
know for sure if Etta’s liquid state would handle flashing. We would have to make the
full day’s
trip on foot
through the Wastelands. The whole situation put me on edge.

“Where are we going?” Etta asked as she tried
keeping up with my determined
,
long strides
.

“Since I have a wife who doesn’t want to sit back and let me do what I do best, we need to go to the armory and get you a weapon and shield so you don’t get yourself killed again!” I snapped at her then turn
ed
around and continued marching toward the armory.

“Ra, wait up.” A cheerful Etta shouted as if we were going on nothing more than a leisurely stroll through the park, infuriating me further.

“Do you not get it? This isn’t a trip to a picnic.” I chided, towering over her.

“
Relax
.
We’ve got this.
” Smiling, Etta ignored my verbal attack.

“Etta,
I love you
,
but sometimes all you
do is
get
in my way. I need to concentrate
,
and I can’t do that if I have to worry about a target on my back!
”

I
was
unable to tell if
Etta
had been crying
,
but her facial expression said she would be if not in a liquid state.

“I! I! I! That’s all I ever hear from you. You think I
enjoy
this? Oh
,
yeah, let’s have
Lilith, the woman who tortured me for centuries
,
kill me so I can be torn apart. I’ve been to Heaven, Hell, Earth
,
and Purgatory
,
Ra
,
and believe me I never had any intention of walking back into the place I fear the most
.
S
o get
the stick out of your butt
,
and shut up.” Etta exclaimed
, flipping me the bird
as she
stormed off ahead
of
me.

My
downri
ght stupid
ity for letting my tongue slip and
causing another fight between Etta and
me
had been overwhelming
. With the mission at hand, I had no idea how much time we had left together
,
and I didn’t want to spend it fighting
as
we had
done during
her last day on Earth.

When I reached the armory
,
Etta had already gone through some of the racks of swords, axes, and various other weapons of skull destruction.

“None of these will work. I can’t hold onto them.”

“I’m sorry
,
but this is all we have.” Uriel explained.

“I can’t go unarmed.” Etta pouted.

“Then maybe you should stay home.” I
suggested
.

Etta rolled her eyes at me then turned back to the rack of morning stars.

“Maybe if I concentrate really hard.”
Etta spoke to herself
,
leaving me no room to convince her to stay
.
If she insisted on going with Nicor and Astaroth accompanying us on our mission, I’d have to arm her. And then I remembered something.

During the Great Divide, Father stripped the fallen’s issued weapons.
Fearful the
y
would be able to take
over the Heavens s
hould they ever retrieve their
weapons, Father ordered they be
stored in
a
vault
hidden in the armory.

Nicor
, Angel of the Seas, sided with Lucifer
,
resulting in the loss of
his
war hammer and scutum shield. If anyone had the ability to use
his weaponry
, it had to be Etta.
That in
itself
posed a great risk. If Nicor g
ot a hold of
the
H
eavenly weapon
ry
and shield
s
, the resulting damage he
could
inflict on
my world would be endless
.
Yet I
was
unable to allow Etta to travel
with us through the Wastelands
defenseless
.

“Open the vault.” I
said
.

“No.” Uriel snapped around
,
giving me a warning glare.

“Open the vault, Uriel.”
I ordered
.

“I know what you’re thinking
,
Rahovart. I don’t think it is very wise to—”

“I didn’t ask your opinion, Brother. Now open the vault.”

“Fine.
But if Nicor gets a hold of his war hammer, it falls on your head.”

Uriel went to a large tapestry depicting the
G
reat
D
ivide
which hung
on the back wall of the armory. Only the Arch
e
s knew Father hung it not to remind us of why we were fighting but to cover the entrance to the vault. Uriel
motioned
for
Etta to follow him then disappeared behind the tapestry.

“It looks like a meat tenderizer and ice pick had a baby made of glass. Are you sure this will work?” Etta asked, pushing past the tapestry.

“Believe me. I’ve seen it in action. One hit with the face can shatter bone into dust
,
and one swing of the pick can pierce through any armor. Should you have more than one enemy, use the sides of the shield; they are just as sharp as any sword. Now promise you will be careful and bring them back.” Uriel replied.

“I promise. Thank you.” Etta kissed Uriel on the cheek then exited the armory.

“Thank you, Brother.” I said.

“Remember
,
Rahovart, should Nicor get a hold of those, it will be devastating to all of us.”

“Not to worry.” I said with a nod
and
raced to catch up to Etta.

“Let the quest begin.” Etta said in a baritone pitch as we walked through Heaven’s gates.

With a raised eyebrow, I gave her a curious glance
at
which Etta giggled. Nearing the gates, I spotted a
large
group of
A
ngels
gathering around brandishing weapons only the High Templars
carried
;
staves. Centered in the group I spotted John’s marred wings.

“John? What are you doing here?” I asked.

Following protocol, the Templars swiftly a
bout-
faced, knelt, and bowed their heads. Protocol called for each Templar to introduce
themselves
after which I would be expected to spew some old world phonetics, allowing each one to rise to their feet and “look upon me”. After spending so much time in the
company of humans, I understood why they had given up on formalities. They
stalled what needed to be said and
were a
complete
waste of time.

“You all may stand and speak.” I blandly said
,
waving off the trivial tradition
.

John rose first, “Arch Angel Rahovart, we, the
High
Knights Templar
Choir
,
are
here to accompany and assist you in your quest.” In unison the platoon gave
a
deep “
Aho
!”
and pounded once on their shields
. This is what I didn’t have time for. On any other occasion I would argue
I
could
handle it myself and their help wouldn’t be required, but Etta’s essence had been at stake, and I didn’t want to be stuck with two Demons and no back
-
up.
If they were willingly to put their souls on the line without
coercion
I
would
gladly accept
all the help
I was
able to get.

“Drop the
pomp and circumstance
. We’re on a bit of a crunch.” I said
,
glancing at an excited Etta
,
smiling
,
as she watched the display with
childlike wonderment. Even in the direst of situations she found something to smile about. In
that
moment, I envied her.