Color of Angels' Souls (45 page)

Allison was frightened, but she was no wimp. Jeremy's stern tone brought her back to her senses.

“Me, make a scene? Hysterics? Jeremy, who do you take me for?!”

Pleased with her response, he gave her a quick kiss.

“For a courageous Amazon warrior. Trust me. We'll find a way out of this.”

Allison nodded. It was the type of thing people said when they were in a desperate situation. There was nothing Jeremy could do, and both of them knew it.

They walked to the Capitol, which wasn't far from the Mandarin Oriental. After a few minutes, Allison asked Jeremy to set her down, so that she could profit from her last moments of freedom. As they walked along, Allison couldn't help but feel they were leading her to the gallows. She took the time to look at everything around her, taking in every last bit of the luminous, multicolored world superimposed over the living. She knew full well that the first thing Flint would do was pervert her, pervert her so absolutely that she would never again be able to contemplate the simple joys of life. It would all be replaced by gluttony and hatred. She held back her tears. Jeremy sensed her distress and squeezed her hand.

When they entered the Senate chamber, the Angels quickly grew quiet. A heavy silence slowly fell over the assembly. The two young Angels were illuminated so brightly by the love that united them, that several Blues in the audience began crying. All present could sense what was about to happen. Since the previous evening, Allison and Jeremy's tragic story had been the talk of the town. Everyone knew that Michael had married the two Angels, but that Mephistopheles was about to steal away Jeremy's beloved. And that Jeremy could do nothing about it. It was high tragedy, as if Shakespeare was rewriting
Romeo and Juliet
, except this time the drama was painfully real.

It was Mephistopheles's sinister laughter that broke the silence.

“Well, it looks as if the hero of our latest episode has arrived! Come here, my little Allison. Our friend Flint is most anxious to … taste you. He made me promise not to touch you in my present incarnation.” He bent over and whispered: “I think he's afraid to lose you, because if I did, you'd be so horrified you'd go absolutely insane!”

Allison was about to step forward, resigned to her fate, when Jeremy made a sign to her to stop. Jeremy stood in front of Mephistopheles and raised his eyes in defiance toward the giant.

“What do you want?”

Mephistopheles raised a crimson eyebrow.

“What could you possibly mean?”

“C'mon now, enough of your games!” Jeremy snapped impatiently. “Stop taking us for fools! Enough of these melodramatics!
The young lovers rent apart by cruel destiny, the girl condemned to a fate worse than death
… all we need now is an orchestra of violins! My question is simple. I know you couldn't care less about Allison. What do you want? In exchange for her.”

The second eyebrow on the red devil's forehead rose to join the first. All the Angels in the assembly were on the edge of their seats, fascinated by the standoff.

“You're really starting to annoy me,” growled the red Archangel. “I thought my red minions would have to tear her from your arms, while she sobbed uncontrollably and you lashed out at my guards, quivering with rage and fighting on with every last ounce of strength in your body, until my superior forces finally overwhelmed you. With a bit of luck, the blue Angels might have flown to your rescue and we would have had a good old-fashioned brawl. So what is this? What's happened to your burning passion? Your enraged indignation? Your steely resolution? I'm
so
disappointed!”

“With someone like you, it's best to keep a cool head,” Jeremy replied. “So what is it you want?”

Cheated of his fun, Mephistopheles hissed angrily. But soon a big smile appeared on his face, revealing his fangs dripping with spittle.

“What do I want, annoying little Archangel? I want you to die, of course!”

The whole assembly held its collective breath, shocked by Mephistopheles's reply.

“Of course … that's just a manner of speech,” said the Devil. “It's so difficult to actually
die
here. Let's just say that I'd like you to … disappear!”

“You agree to let Allison go free, and in exchange, I agree to die, to disappear, is that it?”

“Exactly. My plan to bring you over to the Reds was foiled. But with Khan, we will now have an extra Archangel on our side, and that can make all the difference in the world. I would have preferred two extra Archangels, but as they say on Earth, half a loaf is better than no bread at all. Once you're out of the picture, we will be five red Archangels versus only four Blues. It sounds like a fair deal; wouldn't you agree?”

Michael was about to protest, but Mephistopheles raised his hand to quiet him.

“No! This is between me and Jeremy. No one else can interfere. If he wants to save the girl he loves, then he must decide: His life or hers; it's up to him. Because once I have the girl in my power, I'll make her endure fifty years of living hell. And when she comes back to him, she'll want one thing, and one thing only: to disappear for all eternity.”

Jeremy knew full well that he'd been trapped. Give his life for Allison's … yes, it seemed reasonable. Allison trusted Jeremy, and didn't say a word. The only problem was that, this time, Jeremy couldn't think of a plan. He had thought that Mephisto would ask him to come over to the dark side, not eliminate him. He was about to open his mouth to agree with the deal when …

“THAT'S ENOUGH!” thundered Michael. “We will never allow it! Assassinate an Archangel, when this is the first new one we've had in eons?! Come now, Mephisto, have you lost your mind or what? It's out of the question.”

Mephistopheles gave him a sly look.

“
Assassinate
him? Never! Who ever said such a horrible word? My prey must be given the chance to defend his life and liberty! I'm afraid you misunderstood me. I propose a duel, of course!”

“A duel?” uttered Uriel, who had shed a tear himself when he'd watched Allison jubilantly accept Jeremy's marriage proposal. “Between you and the young Archangel? That's like asking a five-year-old to fight a bulldozer. Get real!”

“Really, now!” said Mephistopheles, pretending to be hurt. “I see that our esteemed blue colleagues see evil everywhere. No, not a duel against me.” He pushed a dark-red Angel out to the middle of the floor. “It will be a battle to the death between my protégé, the magnificent Khaaaaaaaan! Who will represent our side against the champion of the Blues, the one, the only: Jeeeerrrreeeemyyyy!”

The old fiend yelled out the names as if he were presenting two boxers in the ring. The assembled Blues and Reds all began to murmur excitedly. Jeremy could see they all liked the idea. Liked it a lot. And Khan suddenly looked even more massive, with his muscles bulging like steel cables beneath his crimson skin, staring down at Jeremy from all of his seven feet.

“In addition,” Mephistopheles added casually, “the red Archangels and I would like to make an offer to the Blues. If our champion wins, we will govern the world for ten more years. If he should lose, we will hand over control to the Blues.”

“It was our turn to take over anyway,” Michael snapped in rebuttal.

“Yes, but we will give you control not for just ten measly years, but for thirty years!”

The blue Archangels could only stare at first, astounded by his offer. Then they began to talk over the deal with the red Archangels. A heated debate began. While they were talking, Allison pulled Jeremy over to one side, as if she thought it might keep everyone from overhearing them.

“You can't fight that killer, Jeremy! He'll chop you to bits, and I'll be like Isis, that Egyptian goddess who roamed the Earth looking for the fourteen pieces of her husband Osiris's body that were hidden by Seth! Why don't we just run away together, Jeremy? We'll tell him that you never wanted to be an Archangel anyway, and we'll promise not to tip the balance in favor of the Blues. Because all you and I want is to live happily together!”

Jeremy only looked at her, his eyes filled with love.

“I know,” she sniffed. “I'm babbling, right?”

“Just a little.”

“I can't live without you, Jeremy!”

Her cry of pure anguish sent a shudder through the Angels around them, who had been hanging on their every word.

“I've been training,” said Jeremy, who looked much more calm than he actually was. “I'm not afraid of Khan.”

“Well I'm afraid for the both of us,” Allison retorted. “Listen, Jeremy: We love each other. If getting me away from Flint means watching you die, I'd rather just tell him right now that I'm all his.”

Jeremy smiled tenderly, sharing with Allison all the love that she felt for him.

“But Mephistopheles is right, Allison,” he said softly. “This is between him and me. Even if you offered yourself to him naked on a platter, he wouldn't even look at you. Everything he has done up until now has been with one goal in mind: to lure me over to his side, even though I still don't understand why it's so important to him. Or to make me disappear. He wants to throw the whole world out of balance, Allison. This is about much more than just you and me; we're just two little cogs in his well-oiled machine. It's all part of his sick plan. But even the little cogs have their own free will. And I'm going to do everything in my power to stop him from winning—do you hear me, Allison?” He pulled her into his arms, and she could no longer hold back her tears. He too was moved when he felt her warm body against his. He could never live without her!

“I'm going to win. For you. For us. For this world. And the world of the living. Michael is right—we have to reestablish the equilibrium. And ten years is nothing. In fact, even thirty years might only just be enough!”

He kissed her soft, pink lips, tasting the salt from her tears, then turned away to face Mephistopheles.

“Very well. I accept the duel. Michael?”

“The blue Archangels accept as well,” he said reluctantly. “The winning side will control both worlds for ten years if you win, and for thirty years if we prevail.”

“When do we start?” Jeremy asked Mephistopheles, as he was hoping to spend a little more time with Allison.

“I wouldn't want your little cronies to play any more dirty tricks on me,” snarled Mephistopheles, as he glowered at the blue Archangels. “So let's begin immediately! I'll meet you at Nationals Park!”

Jeremy knew the place, a well-known baseball stadium in town that could seat at least forty thousand. That should be plenty to hold all the active Angels in the city.

The deafening noise of thousands of pairs of rustling wings filled the chamber as the Angels all quickly poured out of the Capitol building. In a matter of minutes, the news had spread throughout the entire city. A duel. Even better, between two Archangels. And the outcome would decide whether or not the Angels' world would tip in the favor of the Blues or the Reds. Plus there was a great love story thrown in to boot. Who could ask for anything more? The city quickly reached a fever pitch. Even the most disinterested Angels shook off their stupor to find out what all the noise was about …

Michael carried Jeremy to the stadium so he wouldn't have to waste any of his power flying (and because Jeremy still wasn't too sure of his celestial airworthiness). Uriel flew along with them carrying Allison. They landed on one side of the enormous field of grass inside the stadium, and Mephistopheles and Khan landed on the far side. The stands at Nationals Park were packed in a matter of minutes. There were Angels everywhere. The only things missing were the popcorn and hotdog vendors. Einstein, who had just heard what was going on and could hardly believe his ears, hurried over to Jeremy and Allison.

“I came as soon as I heard,
ach ach, Junge
, I just knew there was something special about you! But how did you ever manage to get yourself into such
Scheiße
?”

“I'm not really sure myself.” Jeremy gave him a weak smile. “But you were right about one thing: getting mixed up with the old Angels wasn't such a good idea.”

While Allison and Jeremy told an astounded Einstein about everything they'd been through, the Archangels were doing something absolutely incredible: They filled the stadium with Mist, until the entire field was covered with a thick layer of densely compacted blue and red vapors, about ten feet thick. They had thought of everything, even building a stairway on each side of the platform for the two adversaries.

“What are they doing now?” asked Allison, wringing her hands in anguish. “And where did all the Mist come from?”

Tetisheri, who had remained with them while the Archangels were preparing the stadium, explained it to them: “Archangels don't need to be above, or even anywhere near, the living to use their Mist. They can make it come right to them. What you see there is the Mist of Washington —a small portion of it anyway. And now they're preparing the field so that each of the fighters can use the Mist to try and trap his adversary. The strongest, or quickest, can transform the Mist to make a pit full of blades appear beneath his opponent's feet, or a steel trap, or whatever he can think of to immobilize his enemy.”

“So that he can eat him, is that it?” Allison asked in a trembling voice. “Mephistopheles wants Khan to eat Jeremy?”

“I won't lie to you. I know that you saw the duel between the Chimeras, and you know that Caligula was one too. Yes, that's what he's hoping Khan will do.”

Allison was desperate, didn't know what to do, where to turn. Jeremy took her in his arms one last time, kissed her passionately, whispered in her ear that he would love her for all eternity, and then, proud and courageous, he walked tall over to the platform, which now looked like a Roman arena.