Angelus (28 page)

Angela refused to feel sorry for him now. He'd made his ultimate choice.

Wind barreled across the courtyard. The stained glass of the cathedral's windows exploded all at once with a deafening roar.

People ducked screaming beneath a hail of rainbow-colored shards.

Angela fell on her knees with them, half covering herself. Pieces of glass struck her skin and left cuts that burned in the icy air.

Two more angels touched down next to Angela, seeming to converge on her with determined eyes. Long coats covered their bodies and brushed the ground as they walked. They held up shining metal bows with arrows that sparked at the tips.

Angela still crouched, holding the Glaive. She wasn't fast enough to swing in time.

Two of their arrows whistled through the air above Angela's head. Painful cries and the cold thump of bodies hitting the stone ground echoed around her. Blue light flashed, and souls in the shape of spheres flew toward the angels.

The wind grew more violent. Another groan that rumbled through to Angela's soul shivered everywhere, as if reality itself screamed with her. Her blood-red hair whipped into her eyes, and she gritted her teeth. Her lips hurt so bad. She must have bitten them by accident. Blue blood dribbled
like liquid salt into her mouth. The shouts and cries of the priests and novices and the swarming crowd mixed with the howling gale. Words in the Tongue of Souls were barely audible.

Suddenly, a male angel with chestnut-colored wings landed directly between Angela and Lucifel. He lifted his bow and arrow, notching it so swiftly and expertly his arms were like a blur. He pointed it straight at Angela's face.

She barely had a chance to duck this time.

With a lethal whirring sound, the arrow shot right into her left arm.

A sword could have been driven right through Angela's shoulder. She screamed even louder, sinking to her knees and clutching at her wounded arm manically. A burning sensation wormed its way through every inch of her skin. Fire exploded throughout her chest. Warmth gushed from her wounded skin. She clenched her jaw, fighting off the mind-melting agony as she broke off the arrow shaft sticking out of her arm.

Thump.

A man dropped beside her, right next to Angela's face, an arrow pierced straight through his chest. Blue light flashed around him, and his spirit materialized as a sphere and shot in the angel's direction.

Those revolting monsters,
Angela's mind moaned.
They're not getting away with this.

Angela still clasped the Glaive, but her left arm now felt dangerously weak and heavy as iron. Blue blood gushed through her fingers.

Another angel dashed in front of Lucifel and approached Angela quickly.

The arrow hadn't been enough to cripple her severely.
Certainly that was unusual enough to cause alarm even if she weren't the Archon.

She staggered to her feet, using the Glaive's pole end to help herself stand.

The pain in her arm and shoulder was excruciating.

Come on, Angela. You can do this. You have to do this. FOR EVERYBODY.

A shrill scream that sounded like an innocent child's rang through the air. Hot anger burned in Angela all at once. She cried out savagely, summoning her strength and bearing down on the angel. He dodged in time to avoid losing his head, but the Glaive caught the tips of his wings. He slammed to the ground, bleeding, his handsome face contorted with shock. Now at least ten other angels nearby whipped their gazes in Angela's direction. They circled her as one glittering, murderously beautiful cotillion. All the world turned into feathers and sparking arrows.

Angela ignored the pain and swung the Glaive over her head, finishing with its great blade pointed at one of the angel's throats. He glared at her, but glanced around in sudden fright and leaped into the air as if he sensed a different danger.

Another groan shivered up through the earth. All of Luz seemed to rock on its foundations.

The wind screamed and cried.

A noise like stones chewed by a giant erupted, and the bricks and cobblestones of one entire building peeled away. St. Mary's Cathedral buckled at its heights, and the spires cradling the feathered serpent began to collapse as if in slow motion. The creature flew up and into a blackness behind it that was absolute except for the enormous galaxy of buildings and spires of Malakhim, spinning so that the city now
took up most of the sky. The angelic city seemed close enough to touch. Even windows in individual towers could be seen.

Angela fell to her knees again amid the piercingly bitter wind. She stared at the angelic city, disbelief overwhelming her.

Finally, weakness rushed upon her like a flood.

Angela gripped the stone beneath her as the Glaive collapsed in her hands into a puddle of blue blood. Droplets whipped away in the maelstrom. Angels fought against the gale around her and sought out whatever human survivors were left in the courtyard, their beating wings almost equal to the storm. Some of them lifted from the ground and flew like gigantic birds of light and perfection toward Malakhim, dipping and diving into the ruins with wanton abandon, lifting up again with snowy nets of bluish souls. This was the beginning of the end for Earth, and for Luz, and for all humanity. The crack of crumbling masonry and stone echoed through every inch of the air, reverberating out into the rest of the doomed city.

“
DAMN IT!
” Angela screamed so hard, her voice went hoarse in an instant.

Lucifel stood only a few feet away. Angela had no chance now.

“Are you really so sad that I'm taking everything away from you?” Lucifel said. “But that's your reward for being too weak to end the cycle that started with your death. This—all the destruction you see around you—
is entirely your doing
.”

“Listen to yourself,” Angela screamed back. “But I suppose the old legends are true. You're just too proud to think clearly. If it weren't for me, Lucifel, you wouldn't even exist.”

Lucifel flinched slightly, but in a second she returned to
her characteristic hardness. “You're delaying the inevitable, causing others to suffer more. As always.”

“No,” Angela said between her teeth.

“Yes. Raziel helped put your soul in this body because he must have believed that human beings were different. That there's something within your pathetically weak spirits that could grant this universe a spark of hope. But I can see the truth. Nothing there is any different from the angels, whether they live in Heaven or Hell. So now the long drama can finish at last. I will see to it that there're no more attempts to right wrongs that should have never occurred. If you're too weak to vanish, I can help. All you have to do is stand still.”

This isn't working. I've lost the battle here. If I don't act quickly—

Lucifel halted. She must have noticed the fire burning behind Angela's left eye.

Angela shifted her gaze to the feathered serpent trying to latch itself on to other parts of the crumbling cathedral.
Come to me,
she thought. And now the pain felt like a fireball trying to work its way through her head.
Come to me. You belong to me now.

The serpent looked directly at her with its enormous ruby eyes.

It screeched, and the powerful echo shuddered through to Angela's bones. In a minute it was descending toward her. Though the creature had no wings, it slithered through the ether as if the air were made of tree branches, and its enormous coils destroyed everything in its path once it hit the ground. The platform built for the horrendous sacrifices crumbled like sand. Angels parted before the creature in waves. Even Lucifel was forced to dash aside, though her face suggested she'd return.

Angela took her chance. She gripped the serpent's enormous platelike scales and climbed onto its sinewy back.

To Malakhim,
she thought, making sure to catch the serpent's gaze again as it looked back at her.

And then they were off, and everything passed beneath her in a blinding blur.

The sudden powerful wind forced Angela to lay flat on her stomach, clinging to the serpent desperately. Its great body undulated, and fire and fierceness shot through her at the memories that started to come rushing back. The last time she'd seen these creatures had been during her vision of Raziel's death, as an endless rain of feathers and blood fell through the sky.

She hoped history wouldn't repeat itself. Clenching her jaw and tightening her grip, Angela prayed that they would make it to the city unnoticed.

The beast shot through the ether toward Malakhim like an iridescent comet. A shimmery haze in the air peeled back before them as the stars grew larger and the angelic city took up more and more of the sky.

Now she knew—there was no way they'd escape notice.

Angela could now make out individual buildings, including a white tower with innumerable balconies and strangely twisting spires. If she peered closely, she could see the glittering stairway—the bridge to Ialdaboth—where Raziel had
fallen to his death. Above it, a swirling cauldron of energy and black mist signaled the entrance to the Realm of Ialdaboth itself.

Angela's heart raced. This was really happening. She was going to make it farther to Heaven than any human had ever dreamed or dared. Angels flying toward Luz began to appear in front of her on the horizon, not merely as black dots in the distance anymore, but so close that Angela could pick out the multicolored gems on their wings' cuffs. The city glittered behind them like a gigantic glowing planet, infinitely larger than the moon had ever appeared in Earth's sky. Only the upper hemisphere of Malakhim had been visible from Luz. Now Angela realized the city's lower half was just as enormous, and the entire metropolis was an artificial pinwheel galaxy of crystal and light. Angela gaped at how angels on the lower half seemed to fly upside down.

The city was like a planet in more ways than she'd ever guessed.

Suddenly, the serpent screeched as if in warning.

A flock of angels approached them fast now. Angela held her breath. Her hair whipped behind her like a great red flag. She stared unflinchingly at the angels in the lead, catching the gazes of more than a few.

They must not have expected to see a human on the serpent's back. Shock blanked over one face after the next. Some of the angels paused midflight and notched dreadful arrows to their bows, but it was too late.

Angela squeezed her eyes shut as the serpent collided with its former caretakers.

Something hot splashed back against her skin. The serpent screeched, and Angela was certain she heard it champing its jaws. Sickening snaps reverberated through her. Then
the creature shuddered, and a weight seemed to hit its back behind her.

Angela opened her eyes. As she'd feared, blood rained from the sky. The corpses of angels fell like shooting stars into the ether. One passed by her with his wings in tatters, screaming as he plummeted to the Abyss.

The wind shrieked against her, and Angela knew the serpent was now ascending vertically.

Amazingly, three angels had managed to land on the serpent's back. They ran across the serpent's scales toward Angela, even with its body almost as straight as a tree trunk. Their sense of balance and grace was terrifying. Then the serpent twisted its body sharply in the opposite direction.

One of the angels lost his balance and fell off.

He spread his ebony wings and caught the ether, circling back to land next to Angela again.

In a second, the serpent plucked him from the air, shook its head, and flung him aside like a broken doll.

An angel streaked after him, yelling frightfully and obviously enraged and horrified.

The other angels remaining on the serpent's back looked at one another, nodded, and dropped off its body. Angela heaved a sigh of relief. Her heart now beat so fast and hard it felt like it might explode. Those angels had at least managed to escape with their lives—maybe because they'd chosen to plummet out of reach.

But where can I go once I'm in Malakhim? Where are the souls loyal to me that Lucifel imprisoned?

Angela thought of the souls also trapped within Luz where the Cherubim had died. They had wanted to help her but had been too afraid of Lucifel's power.

She had to try summoning them. But how?

Maybe it was too late.

Angela's body jolted on top of the serpent. She shouted in alarm. Quickly, she looked back over her shoulder, her hair whipping into her mouth. Fear coursed through every inch of her body like a spreading wildfire. Lucifel stood on the creature's back and stalked in Angela's direction, her wings great and gray as two storm clouds. Her balance and grace put the other angels to shame. The serpent rolled to the side, but Lucifel held her ground so easily, she didn't even crouch. Her stony face promised Angela all kinds of pain for the trouble she was causing.

Angela turned back to the city and peered at the vortex marking the entrance to Ialdaboth.

Maybe if I enter the portal, it will shake her off. I have to try. Otherwise—

Angela was already out of time. Lucifel sprinted for her and was going to be right on top of her any second.

Just in time, Angela remembered her wounded shoulder. She'd been so entranced by the city, and so overwhelmed battling the angels, that she'd forgotten her pain. She gritted her teeth, pressing her hand against the blood of the wound where the arrowhead remained embedded in her flesh. She didn't have enough energy for the Glaive. The pole and haft lengthened only halfway, and Angela was left with a jagged crystalline spear.

She grasped it with a hand tightly and turned around.

Angela grunted from the force of Lucifel bearing right down on her.

She lifted the spear lengthwise and pushed back at Lucifel.

It was enough to throw the angel off guard, and Lucifel's face twisted with rage. She grabbed the spear, trying to tug it from Angela's grip.

Perhaps because half of Lucifel's concentration focused on keeping steady, she couldn't quite seem to wrest the spear out of Angela's hands. Instead, they continued to fight each other, pushing and pulling for seconds that felt like an eternity.

Toward the vortex to Ialdaboth—hurry!
Angela thought. Her left eye blazed like a flame and she sent her thoughts to the serpent with as much force and power as possible.

Now it began to bank to the left.

Lucifel's eyes went wide and she lost her footing. She rolled, her wings flapping thunderously as she flattened to the serpent's back and struggled to hold on to the creature's smooth scales.

Angela didn't have the option of fighting with her now. Instead both of them held on dearly as the serpent twisted backward. Angela felt her stomach rise in her throat. Her skull was ready to shatter from a million pounds of pressure. Rapidly and upside down, they were approaching the northern hemisphere of Malakhim.

The serpent was flying straight for the vortex at Ialdaboth's pinnacle, just as Angela had hoped. They were already nearing it, and the feel of the wind ripping at her flesh, and the burning pain of ether against her eyes, threatened to knock her unconscious. The bridge's glistening, spiraling steps led up, and up, and up until they stopped at the platform where Raziel had hurtled to his death, and a swirling mass of raging black cloud, and greenish ether, and flickers of lightning and starlight congealed.

Beyond, a portal as dark as starless space beckoned. It pulsed like a beating heart.

Angela squeezed her eyes shut again. She screamed as the wind tore at her with icy claws. She briefly reopened her eyes
to the beginning of the giant glass stairway that matched the one that had appeared in Luz, all those terrible months ago when Angela had allowed the souls trapped in the Netherworld to escape to Heaven.

The serpent spiraled up and around the bridge.

The vortex at the peak waited as a disc of utter blackness. Clouds of purple and gray streaked by lightning surrounded its flashing mouth.

Angela had no more thought for what was going on with Lucifel. All she could see was the darkness about to swallow them. Her eyeballs pulsed and her entire body throbbed and hummed. For a brief moment, she felt like a million hands tore her into a million more pieces. And then what followed was a blackness so all-consuming it leached through to her soul and tore at it like the very teeth of death.