Genesis: Falling Angel (22 page)

“Are you thinking of Gabriel?” Leon whispered. “I remember that encounter, you know. I remember it well.”

I said the only thing I could think of. “Lucifer wants you at his right hand.”

He paused. “You’re lying,” he said, voice small.

“Lilith tells me everything, remember? Imagine the power. So many will worship and adore you. The humans and demons will bow to you and the angels will fear you. You will be unstoppable.”

The surprise had rendered his grip lax, so I took the opportunity to switch our positions. Before he could stop me, I held his wings in the same grip. I struggled to stay in the air with the weight of both of us. I planted my foot firmly on his back.

With one sharp tug, I tore his wings from him. They turned to dust immediately, and he began his long fall to earth. The fall would not kill him, but I certainly would later. I would let him suffer a while longer. The pain of having your wings torn from you was agonizing. He would be paralyzed this time.

I dove toward the ground, stopping to land on my feet. I walked past the moaning form of Leon. That was probably the second time he’d had his wings torn from him. I made my way inside, passing by Noah. Morrigan and Flint remained unconscious. Or they were dead despite Leon’s claim that he was to keep them alive. It was hard to tell. I turned my attention back to the dragon.

“How are you?”

He grimaced. His chin was crusted with blood. “He snapped my spine. What do you think?”

“Well, you’re well enough to be angry.”

“I can’t help you any more than I already have. You handled Leon so easily. I was knocked down before I could land a good hit.” He leaned forward, showing something that I had not noticed before. Metal from the collapsed wall had pierced his back. “It’s in my heart. I know it is. I’m afraid to pull it out. I don’t know if I could heal. Dragon hearts are too fragile.” He glanced up at me with glazed eyes. He was obviously trying hard to stay awake. “Just come back for me once Lilith is dead. I’ll hang on till then.”

I almost said something to fight him, but he was right. The two of us were dead either way. If we lost against Lilith, she’d kill us. If w
e won, we’d be dragged back to Hell. At least in killing her, we would save millions. I nodded curtly and continued down the hall. Behind me, I heard a soft
thump
, like a body finally collapsing on the floor. I didn’t look back.

Chapter 27
– Adrian

I figured that I’d found the place once I found the stone door. It loomed over me, bearing characters and symbols that I had not seen since dominating earth. I read some of it, but stopped after a while. Most of it was praises to Satan. Some of it was praises to Lilith and her children. My name was mentioned once or twice. Well, my old name. I’d almost forgotten it. We all took earthly names upon returning to earth.

The door was sealed firmly. I tried to bury my fingers between them, but they hardly budged an inch. Lilith and Gabrielle were surely inside. For all I knew, the ritual would commence at any moment. I slammed my full weight into the door, using all of my strength. I tried reciting the words on the door to appease it. I offered it some of my blood. Nothing happened.

Then it hit me. Of course the doors wouldn’t open with those stupid attempts. The door wanted Lust, not Adrian. So I crept close to the door, whispering with power behind my words, “I am Adrian, son of Lilith. Open.”

Nothing happened. I kicked at the stone in frustration and only succeeded in nearly breaking my foot. I began to think of another strategy when the ground began to shake. The door crumbled into a small pile of rubble.

It was almost worth all of my effort to see the shock on Lilith’s face. Her features twisted in anger. Suddenly, I could see the reptilian monster that she truly was. It was a form I had never seen before. I was disgusted with myself. All the time I’d spent wit
h her turned from nightmare to Hell. I put a hand over my mouth to stifle the urge to vomit.

Gabrielle was chained to the ground. The engraving beneath her was hard to make out with her sitting on part of it, but the mean
ing was clear. I knew the word, or rather, the name. I eyed Lilith’s blade and tossed my own sword aside. There was no point in using a weapon against her.

For the first time in centur
ies, I caught myself praying. It was in my mind, of course. I asked for help. Maybe it was for the Almighty to send Gabriel or Michael or give me some crazy strength. Maybe it was for Him to snatch Gabrielle up before things got worse. Maybe it was for Him not to forsake us all. To top it off, I asked Him for forgiveness. I knew the ritual would corrupt Gabrielle, and so I prayed that her soul would remain pure. I could handle Hell, so I asked to be sent to Hell in her place. I realized then that He probably wouldn’t answer the prayers of a demon, so I ended it there.

Gabrielle looked at me with such joy that my heart nearly broke. She expected me to save her again, unaware of the task at hand. She expected us both to live. Then her eyes darkened. Most likely, it was because I had come alone.

“Don’t try to play games with me, Adrian. You can’t pretend to be the loyal follower. I smell blood on you,” Lilith hissed. She had Gabrielle by the hair, and the knife was positioned at her throat. “Take one more step and I’ll slit her throat.”

“You’re pretty hideous,” I noted.

She snarled. “This form was given to me when I decided to speak with the serpent in Eden. I was told this was what my soul looked like. Once our souls are displayed on the outside, then we know who is wicked and who is good. I did not deserve this form, though I’m sure you do. I’m sure your soul is black.”

“Just because Adam tossed you aside for Eve doesn’t mean that you can walk around preaching about souls. Eve was pure and as beautiful as her soul. Yours was the black soul. Your soul was black and marred by sin the moment you opened your eyes to the garden,” I replied.

She threw the knife at me. I had almost lost hope in getting it away from Gabrielle’s throat. “Don’t you dare speak her name to me! You are nothing but a child that severely needs discipline.” She slithered forward. Her black, forked tongue tasted the air. “What of my children?”

This time, she sounded slightly concerned. I had a feeling that it was just because she wanted allies to make the fight short. “Morrigan and Flint are out cold. Noah’s on the verge of death. Diamond’s throat is probably healing still. Judas is sleeping. Leon’s growing his wings back. But I’m here, mother. Your so-called servant is here. I’m here to finally do what no one has been able to accomplish. I’m here to kill you.”

She did not lash out. “It’s not too late, Adrian,” she said in a voice that I assumed was supposed to be gentle. “You and I, we can rule. If Leon couldn’t fight you and come out as the victor, then no one will be able to defeat you. We shall rule this earth forever. That is, until it crumbles. Then we can begin our assault on the heavens. All you need to do to redeem yourself is this.” She pointed to the knife at my feet. “Take that knife, slice her throat open, and let her blood fill every crevice of this name.”

I lifted the knife, smashing the blade against the wall until it was completely bent out of shape. Lilith screeched as she came at me. She clawed at me, eyes wild with hate. Her claws raked over my chest, throat, and face. Her teeth snapped at me. I tried to push her away, but her strength was greater.

I looked over to Gabrielle, who sat there watching us with some sort of acceptance. She had already given up on me saving her. She’d lost faith in me. No, I couldn’t allow that to happen.

Lilith pinned me
down. “You could’ve been a king. Didn’t you always claim that you deserved to rule? Didn’t you always want the power that it entails? You are a fool to toss it all away!”

“There was no power for me. Lucifer w
ould be king. He was cast into Hell for a reason, and he needs to remain there. We all need to return home. This is not our world to control. We should be tempting the humans as we always have, not forcing them into sin.” I managed to switch our positions. “Choice is what matters here. Humans were created by God to be beings with the ability to make decisions for themselves. God, angels, and demons are meant only to nudge them in different directions. They can’t be forced to do anything. They will die under our rule, and we
need
them!”

She threw me off of her, and I slammed into the wall on the far side. I was sure I’d left an Adrian-shaped hole in the wall. She came closer, slamming her fist against my jaw. Once I was down, she lifted me back up and slammed me against the wall. “Correction,
son
,” she said, spitting the word like a curse. “You need them. The Fallen and I don’t need them, and we are the only ones that truly matter here. We are the strongest, the best suited for the task of erasing all traces of God’s influence. It was for us all along.”

She pulled me
back, slamming me against the wall once more. My head snapped back, knocking against the hard surface. I didn’t give her the satisfaction of hearing me cry out. Every time I tasted copper, I swallowed the blood. I kept my eyes open, locked on hers. I had to be defiant. I had to at least say I tried.

No, I was certain I would win this. She had threatened to destroy everything. She had defiantly spoken the words she could never take back. In doing that, she had sealed her own fate. If I did not stop her, God would. God would not leave His creations to die. He would teach them His w
ays all over again. Perhaps He would even start a new holy book to keep his word. They were His children, and while His punishment had been cruel, they had been cruel to forget their maker.

Lilith sank her claws into my chest, right over my heart. Our eyes stayed locked on one another. “The heart is what matters most to demonic beings, right, Adrian? You can heal all you want, but without a heart, you’re nothing.” She sank them in deeper. My heart was pounding. I could feel her search in my chest for the best way to grab hold. Before she could manage to rip it out of me, I shoved her back. She flew into the far wall, crying out in her fury. She slithered over to Gabrielle almost too quickly for me to catch. She grabbed Gabrielle’s hair and tilted her head back.

Then, using the same claw that had pierced my chest, she slit her throat.

I’d always laughed at the clichés where time slows when something tragic happens. Well, I could suddenly understand it. I was frozen in place. It felt like ages before her body finally fell to the floor, blood streaming out of her neck. Her eyes were wide open. She was alive, in shock, and bleeding.

I ran to her the moment I could think again. I lifted her limp body up. Her eyes were wide with pain. Her hands limply tried to move to her throat, but I held them down. “Relax,” I said softly. My eyes were starting to burn. “You’ll go home. You’ll be ok. You probably won’t even remember any of this.”

She made no sign that she comprehended my words. Her shock was too great.

“Gabrielle, don’t fight it. Just let this human body go. You’ll be perfect again, like you wanted to be. Gabriel will be with you.”

There was a short amount of time that someone could survive from that injury. I didn’t think I had much time left. “I love you, okay? There, I said it.” I wasn’t sure if she’d heard me. She was gone.

Something wet ran down from my eyes. My hand was still coated with blood from holding Gabrielle, so I made no move to wipe it away. I thought about kissing her, but if she didn’t want me to kiss her when she was alive, she definitely wouldn’t want me touching her corpse. That’s what she was now. Not bright, curious Gabrielle. It was just a corpse. I’d tried to say things to comfort her, but I selfishly wanted to keep her. I didn’t want her to become cold again. I wanted her to feel, to maybe return my own feelings someday. I didn’t have enough time with her.

“Are those
tears
?” Lilith asked with glee. “Are you really
crying
? I didn’t know a demon could!”

She’d been watching the whole time. I realized that I was sitting on the engraving and that drops of Gabrielle’s precious blood had spilled into it. I looked for a larger pool of the blood. I cupped my hand, dipping into it.

“It’s already sinking in, Adrian. You can’t clean it out,” Lilith chided.

I brought my hand to my lips, and her eyes widened. I had wondered how it would t
aste, and I would surely go to Hell, but I wanted to think of it as Gabrielle’s last gift to me. There’s power in all blood, but angelic blood would be something else. I drank a mouthful, and instantly my body was on fire. I endured it, barely aware of Lilith laughing in the background. The burning vanished almost immediately, and pulled the chains from the ground. With Gabrielle’s body in my arms, I walked to a far corner. I put her into a position where she was lying down. I closed her eyes. Lilith was still laughing. Slowly, Gabrielle faded into nothing, and I was alone with her killer.

The blood was more potent than anything I’d tasted. It still had the coppery flavor, but there was something in it that made me feel stronger than I ever had before. This time, I flew at Lilith.
My fists slammed into her stomach, her face, her chest. She caught my fists eventually, pushing me back. We exchanged blows for a while longer, but eventually, I pinned Lilith to the floor. I raised my fist to strike her. Maybe I had needed my sword.

“You don’t even know what the last part of the ritual is!” she cried.

I paused, glaring at her.

“Sacrificing my favorite child is the final step
.” She leaned closer. “With you being the only child of mine left standing, you have surpassed Leon in my eyes.”

She sank her teeth into my arm.