Almost Alive (26 page)

             
She was struggling not to cry, but her emotions overflowed quickly and tears streamed down her face.  She wasn’t an evil mastermind.  She was just a scared little girl sick of hoping and dreaming and willing to take desperate measures to save her family.  I envied her passion, but I couldn’t let her have what she wanted.

“Your mom wouldn’t want this.”

              “She wouldn’t want to be in a coma for years and years either!”  She wiped her eyes and her nose dry and balled up two tight fists.  “You have no right to judge me.  My life and my loved ones are worth fighting for.  You threw everything you ever had away.  Don’t question my methods.  At least I had the balls to live!”

             
I didn’t know what to do, besides killing her.  I couldn’t do that though.  Julian wouldn’t want his sister dead.  Maybe he would understand, but he wouldn’t forgive me.  Besides, I don’t think I could do it.  It’s not like she was evil.  She was just insanely naïve.  There had to be a way to convince her. 

Suddenly,
a giant thud echoed through the barn.  I dared to hope that it was my salvation and turned to face him.  I had seen a variation of the ferociousness in Julian’s eyes before, but it had never intensified to that degree. 

“Julian!
”  Scott exploded with a sadistic glee.  He even reached out his arms for a hardy hug.  “It’s good to see you—”

I screamed at the sound of Julian’s gun firing off again and ag
ain.  Scott was close enough for his blood to spew on me.  Scott was blasted off of his feet and landed flat on his back. 

Julian might have hesitated before, but every
reservation was gone!  It was…Pretty hot.  “Let her go!” he hollered.

             
Maria was glaring at her brother, but he wasn’t paying her any mind.  I didn’t understand that there was still a real threat until Scot t got back on his feet as if nothing were wrong.  “That’s not very nice, Julian.  And you wonder why I won’t visit.”

             
Julian took aim.  “The next one goes straight through your head.”

             
“I’m trembling,” he mocked.

             
Julian glared.  I think Scott was right about Julian’s hesitation.  He never completely explained how deep their connection was, but he had a promise he had to keep.

             
I screamed as the gun fired again, but Scott had moved so quickly that Julian missed.  Scott maneuvered quickly across the room while Julian tried to shoot him, but it wouldn’t have mattered how good of a shot he was.  No one was that fast.  Scott appeared in front of Julian and knocked the gun out of his hand.  Julian grunted and tried to punch him, but Scott dodged it and began to laugh.  “You still can’t kill me, Julian.”

             
He slowly began reaching in his back pocket.  “Oh, I don’t know about that.”  He exploded onto Scott with a knife.  The first swipe cut Scott across his chest, but he couldn’t manage another strike.  No matter how skillful and precise his movements were, Scott was just a little bit better.

             
Julian’s last attack ended when Scott grabbed his hand and began to squeeze it.  Julian grunted from the pain, but he held on as long as he could until the knife fell from his broken fingers. 

“I showed you everything you know,” Scott said.  “It doesn’t matter if you want to kill me.  You’re still incapable.”

Julian roared and then head-butted his former teacher and friend.  It made Scott stumble back a tiny bit, and Julian took that moment as a golden opportunity to attack.  They were both trained in the same fighting style.  I didn’t recognize it, but it was a lot of leg work.  Julian kicked Scott again and again, but he blocked every attack.  He even took a few to prove that he could.  While he was changing his standing leg, Scott acted quickly and returned the head-butt and knocked Julian down to the ground.  I was concerned if Julian’s skull were fractured.

             
“That’s enough!” Maria yelled.  Scott surprisingly gave Julian a final blow to the gut and walked away as he held himself and coughed up a cup of blood.

             
“Maria, you have to stop this.”  I grabbed a hold of her and shook her.  “Why would you help demons?”

             
She narrowed her eyes in at me questionably before smiling at what she believed to be foolishness.  “They’re not what you think.  The bible has slandered them.”

             
“You’ve been bamboozled!”  Julian held his stomach and struggled to get back on his feet, but he fell to his knees.

             
“And you’ve been a fool.  Stop fighting, Julian!” She pushed me away so she could desperately beg her brother.  “What you’re doing isn’t safe.”

             
“Letting a demon eat my soul is ‘safe’?”

             
“Remember how powerful you used to be?”  She raised her head and smiled from the admiration.  “You were untouchable!”

             
“I was unstable!  How many fights did I get in?  Remember the drug use?  Remember the people I hurt?”

             
“Nobody would touch you.”

             
“Everyone was afraid of me!” 

             
“You could have healed Mom.”

             
Julian’s anger with her subsided as her greatest motivation was revealed.  I don’t know if Julian could have healed their mother, but he held a certain amount of guilt about it.  “It doesn’t work that way.”

             
“If I can bring back the dead, I’m sure you could heal Mom.”

             
“Stop it, Maria!”  He wearily struggled on his two feet and began making his way to his delusional sister.  “You did not bring me back from the dead.”

             
“Of course I did.  I sold my soul to do it!”

             
There was complete silence, but I was certain that I heard Julian’s world shatter.  “What?”  He stumbled to his sister and grabbed her face with trembling fingers.  Then his forehead gently collided with hers’ as he silently prayed for God to turn back the hands of time and undo the monstrosity that she had performed.  I had never seen so much pain in a person’s eyes and his torment reflected into Maria’s in the form of tears.  “Maria, no!” he begged quietly.  “Tell me that you did not do that!”

             
“They gave you back to me.”  She touched her brother’s face adoringly.  I knew that she loved him so much that she was willing to do anything for him, but certainly not in spite of him.  “The only condition was that you didn’t come alone.”

             
I silently gasped to myself, and that was the only sound heard for a while, but I could feel the words he wanted to scream through the atmosphere.  His hands fell to his side, and he began breathing heavily through his nostrils while he stepped away slowly and shaking.  Julian was in denial about her having powers, and it turned out that she was pulling his strings ever since he came back.  No wonder why she was so supportive through his darkest days.  She shoved him into the abyss! 

He was so furious with
her; I thought Julian was going to snap.  “Well, all my demons are gone now!”

             
Maria slowly began to shake her head and then braced herself.  “Balthazar.”

             
Nothing noticeable happened for a few seconds, and I waited anxiously and terrified.  Then, Julian winced in pain and began stumbling backward until he dropped to his knees.  He lifted his hands and stared at them like he was whacked out.  “What’s…?”  He fell forward on his hands and started grunting. 

“Julian?”
  I ran to his side and slightly slapped his face to get his attention, but he was gone.  He had broken out in a serious sweat.  He was wheezing like he was hyperventilating, but he wouldn’t open his mouth to properly breathe.  His pupils dilated until there was barely any blue left in them. 

“
What have you done?” I yelled to Maria.

             
“He’s been asleep,” she said coldly.  “I’m waking him up.”

             
He unclasped his lips and began screaming through his gritted teeth. He felt on his chest and his stomach like there was something inside.  I didn’t see anything, but I followed his lead and felt on his body to find what he was looking for.  His body was on fire. 

I felt something and pulled my hand away. 
Something pulsed out like it was trying to touch me.  “Julian…?”

And then he threw his head back and screamed.  I didn’t mean to abandon him, but I was
frightened.  I crawled away on my hands and knees.  What I was watching wasn’t human, and it was so much worse than before.  He beat on the ground, and it shook and began to crack.  The lights in the room began flickering.  Julian leaned back and hollered up to the ceiling.  It was like his back was no longer bound to the rules of his spine.  His chest expanded, and his ribs began to break as something tried to break through. 

             
“Looks like the boss is finally coming in,” Scott said. 

“Your boss
?”  I had to find a way to stop whatever was coming.  I couldn’t let them use him like that.  He was finally free.  I looked at Julian’s gun that was knocked on the floor.  I wasn’t going to shoot Julian, but maybe I still had time to escape with him. 

I got on my feet and
blasted off straight into a backhand from Scott.  I never even got close to doing anything and ended up on my back.  Scott loomed over me just to gloat.  “Don’t leave before it gets good.”

Good?  It was torture!  Julian’s bones were cracking and breaking.  After the transformation, I didn’t know if Julian w
ere going to have a soul left.  If the burning of his soul were anything like what I experienced, he was going through hell.  And when the transformation neared its end, his agonizing scream turned into a sadistic laugh.  It was the most haunting sound I had ever heard.  Then, he covered his face and began to chuckle into his hands. 

I rolled over and crawled to Julian
, though every fiber of my being was telling me to run away until I was south of the border.  He was still laughing and freaking me out, but there had to be some part of him that would remember me and who he was.  “Julian?”

There was complete silence as he slowly pulled his fingers away just e
nough for me to see one of his eyes.  “Not anymore.”

             
“Lord Balthazar!”  Scott and Maria fell to their feet willingly out of admiration, but I dropped with my nose to the ground trembling from fright.  I felt like my tongue was falling into my stomach while my stomach was trying to be vomited up through my mouth.  I was completely and unfortunately aware of his power and stature, and I knew that he wasn’t my friend.  He was hardly even Zariel’s colleague.  He was as glorious as the sun, and I was a drop of water evaporating in the glory of his magnificent horror.

             
I heard Julian stand up, but I couldn’t bring myself to look.  I thought I would take pleasure in Zariel being that low, but I shared her pain, and it was awful. 

“Rise.”
  I knew he wasn’t talking to me, so I remained on the ground and hoped that he wasn’t going to demonstrate his wrath on me.  “You, my glorious child, have done well.”

             
“And is Julian safe?” Maria asked.

             
“Of course he is.  His soul is still intact.  I shall make this body immortal.  He’ll never have to die and go to hell ever again.  We have freed each other.”

             
“And my power?”

             
He paused for a moment.  “I have someone special in mind for you.”

             
I began grunting and pressed my fingers into the concrete as I fought the overwhelming fear that was upon me.  I had to somehow force Maria’s head out of the clouds, but I couldn’t even get my face off of the ground. 

“Just
tell me what you want me to do,” Maria said.  She was practically worshiping him!

             
“Summon Ra, my second.  You will die and bring them with you.”

             
“No!”  I screamed, but I still couldn’t move.  Zariel was mortified that I even opened my mouth.  I was just as scared, but I couldn’t let her become like us!  “Julian, you cannot convince your little sister to kill herself.”

             
There was quietness, but I could feel his rage and utter disgust louder than any words could have been.  He was offended and revolted, but it was so much greater than that.  “You, lowly demon, dare to speak to me?” 

I screamed as he gripped on
to my jaw and held me up eye level.  His pupils were still dilated.  His eyes pierced through my flesh and into my soul, and that’s what he despised.  “Interesting.”  But even though his hatred for me was palpable, he grinned bigger than I think his face was. “He loves you.  Did you know that?”

             
“No…”  I took a deep breath and then forgot how to breathe immediately.  Every word from his lips should have been counted as a lie, but I wanted to believe him.  I needed to.