Godforsaken: Book 1 (Shade of Light) (15 page)

She felt like herself again, the way she
reasoned she had been before she had met Beelzebub. Something had
worn off her since Samael had appeared, a power that had been
squeezing her head.

“I don’t want to come with you,” she
squealed, trying to free her arms from the guards' grasp. They were
protecting her from the creature, Samael, but it was Samael's
protection she longed for now. It didn’t matter who Samael was–a
human or an angel, or even a devil. She felt that somehow, it was
better to die at his hands than live like a princess in hell.

Beelzebub glanced at her, surprise written
on his face. “You don’t understand what you’re talking about, Lily.
He,” Beelzebub pointed to Samael, “isn’t the right one to follow.
Did you forget that he tried to break your line, to kill your
predecessors?” he reminded her.

“Why should I believe what you say?” Lily
smirked. Beelzebub opened his mouth to reply, but it remained open
with no sound.

“Release the girl, Beelzebub,” Samael’s
hoarse voice echoed through everybody’s head again, this time
sounding angrier.

“Samael, you can’t. We should consider this.
You have to follow the rules signed in the Torah,” Beelzebub
roared. “You know the punishment if you break the law, you’ll be
locked away forever like Azazel.”

Samael didn’t reply or even move. He waited
patiently, as if he hadn’t even heard Beelzebub.

Lily heard noises from the real world. The
sound of car horns, wandering through the air from the other side
of the dust barrier, but nobody dared to drive into the circle
where she was. It was understandable. Who had seen such a
phenomenon before?

“You have to remember, we can use the power
on Earth when somebody moves against us.” That was Kali, who closed
his right hand into a fist so hard that his nails dug into his
palms.

Samael kept silent again, but Lily saw black
smoke gathering around his right hand. He lifted off from the
ground and took an attacking stance.
Something terrible was
going to happen soon
, she knew. She felt her stomach flutter,
and fear flooded her body as she imagined a fight between such
inhuman creatures.

“Kali, don’t you dare–” Beelzebub was about
to give an order, but the man had already made a lunge toward
Samael. Kali himself jumped high up into the air, higher than
humanly possible. Lily saw a glittering sword appear in Kali's
right hand while he was still in the air. At the same time, Kali
swooped down toward Samael. She looked ahead in fear, a shriek
escaping her. Only a second's delay kept Kali’s sword from slicing
Samael into two parts.

What happened the next moment Lily didn’t
realize at the time. She had to wait for understanding until it was
already over. The black smoke that had been gathering around
Samael’s hand formed itself into a dark gray sword just before Kali
reached him. Then Samael deftly sprang to his feet, faster than
light, and an invisible but powerful wave escaped Samael. The wave
slowed down time. Kali fell in slow motion. Samael struck.

Lily saw the gray winged creature standing
victorious, hiding his eyes behind his brown ruffled hair, with a
long black sword in his right hand. Behind him, Kali tumbled down
on the asphalt, parted in two. In no time, his body smoked and rose
up. Mingling with the air, it vanished in the dust.

Lily uttered a short scream and clapped her
hands to her mouth. The other guards made a step toward Samael,
preparing themselves for the upcoming fight. But Beelzebub, who had
been watching this performance with malicious eyes,
interrupted.

“Stop!” he howled loudly, and Lily could
swear that his voice quaked the even cars waiting outside the dust
circle. “You prats, do you realize what you're dealing with?” he
went on in indignation. “This is not just any dog of heaven. He’s
one of the archangels of The Great Nine.”

Everybody stood still, as if it was rooted
to the ground. Beelzebub made a step toward Samael, but only one.
Try as he might to look fearless, his eyes betrayed him – he was
scared of Samael.

Samael lowered his wings and they folded
against his back.

“The girl is going with me, Beelzebub,”
Samael spoke in the normal way this time, through his mouth. He
scowled at Beelzebub, as though he was trying to force fear into
him with merely his look.

Beelzebub nodded reluctantly. Then, Samael
raised his inhuman eyes on Lily. “Get into the car,” he ordered
fiercely.

The two guards on both her sides stepped
away from her. First, Lily peered into Samael's green eyes, but it
lasted only a few seconds. She gathered her senses momentarily, as
if somebody had jabbed her in the back.

Lily opened the door quickly and flung
herself into the backseat. She heard some voices and the sound of
police cars from opposite the dust wall. Then the door closed, and
the world muted with that.

Samael headed toward the driver door, saying
something back to Beelzebub, but Lily couldn’t hear him. The only
thing she noticed was that if Beelzebub thought he had even a small
chance against Samael, Beelzebub would tear Samael apart. But
daring to attack Samael meant certain death. He was walking deity,
his gray sword held tight in his hand. He didn’t even look at
anybody. She caught a glimpse of his flaming eyes – they were
beautiful and dreadful in equal measure.

The two guards who had been looking after
her stepped aside as Samael reached the door and opened it. The
sounds of the outside world poured into the car again, the high
wind howling, but silence reigned again once the door was shut. The
car was filled only with Samael’s scent now. His sword vanished in
the air like the smoke it had been.

Samael brushed his hair out of his eyes and
turned the key, and the engine came to life. He threw the car into
reverse, drove back quickly, and then pushed the pedal to drive.
Lily was thrown back against the seat as the car started off with a
screech, forcing its way through the dust barrier. There was a
traffic jam opposite the wall in spite of the early morning.

Despite Lily, who was left to stare out the
window at the police cars and fire engines, Samael rushed away
without devoting his attention to anyone or anything else. Lily
glanced back at the scene. The dust had already settled down, but
neither Beelzebub nor his followers could be seen. She looked
ahead; opposite the windshield there was New York, illuminated by
the morning sun.

One dangerous stranger had replaced by
another. Only heaven knew what Samael had intended to do to Lily –
would he love and embrace her like he had done that night, or would
he kill her in the same way he had killed her
great-great-grandfather? He must have had some kind of reason for
it. The reason itself, Lily hadn’t conceived yet, but she could
never grasp it. Samael might steal her from Beelzebub for his own
purpose, as she was the key. The question was what for?

Now Lily was in the same car with only hell
knew what kind of creature. She felt a jolt of nervousness in her
hands and legs. Looking down on her palms, she saw her hands
shaking. Her heart began hammering like she was a rabbit being
pursued by a wolf. The wolf in question kept silent as he drove the
car back to New York. Lily wished he would speak first and break
the quiet, but soon it became clear that the gray-winged man wasn’t
going to start a conversation.

“Where are you taking me?” she dared to
speak as the pressure of the silence became almost unbearable.

Samael glanced in the rear-view mirror and
Lily saw his eyes had changed back into a normal human’s. They no
longer frightened her as they had before.

“To the city,” Samael murmured, a surprising
firmness in his tone. “I need to hide you now.”

“You aren’t going to kill me, are you?” Lily
blurted out. She felt a flutter in her stomach. The seconds seemed
to stretch forever until Samael finally replied.

“As I recall, I just saved you,” Samael
reminded her, sounding displeased. “If I wanted to kill you, I
would’ve done it in the company of those assholes.”

“But you killed my–” she croaked, “You
wanted to break Eve’s line. I’m her heir, aren’t I?” Samael didn’t
try to justify himself or even protest. He kept driving, his hands
on the wheel, wholly unfazed. “Please, tell me,” Lily resumed,
“what has changed in you, that you don’t want me dead?”

Instead of answering, Samael looked up at
the sky. Lily hadn’t noticed that the sun had vanished behind angry
clouds, or the morning’s lucid sky had disappeared in the endless
gray. Was it coincidence, or was Heaven itself mad at what Samael
had done down here, on Earth?

“We’ve got to wait now. I can’t take you
back home,” Samael said. He tore his eyes away from the sky. “They
know.”

“Yeah, I think I’ve already guessed that,”
Lily muttered. “Do they need me too? The angels, I mean.”

“The bet is about you,” Samael's voice was
curt.

“Bet? What does that mean?”

“Not now. Keep your questions for the next
time,” he said coldly, but then added gently, “baby.”

Baby?
Lily wondered whether he had
feelings for her or if this was just a performance. But she hadn’t
signed up for the angels’ and demons’ war, and she definitely
hadn’t signed up for being the key that unlocked something only
hell knew of.

Despite his calm tone, Samael seemed really
outraged, so Lily trailed off and sank back into her seat.

They were already back in the city. Lily
hadn’t tried to bother Samael anymore. She had been watching the
sky and the fast changes happening up there. Now knowing the truth,
Lily imagined what might be going behind those black clouds. The
angels were outraged, and they might come down after her and Samael
any moment.
Would they show mercy?

Lily’s cell phone rang. She had forgotten
about the phone and the text message she had sent to Nancy earlier
that night.

“Nancy,” she picked up.

“Lily, where are you?” Nancy’s worried voice
came from the other side of the phone. “Are you all right? I just
saw your message. Who was in the house?”

“I’m okay now,” she conveyed, knowing she
sounded suspicious. She glanced in the rear-view mirror, hoping to
read the proof of her words in Samael’s eyes, but the unearthly
creature seemed not to be listening to her conversation. He kept
glancing at the sky and the road. “I’m going somewhere and don’t
know when I will come back. Don’t worry about me.”

“What? Are you serious?” Nancy cried out in
surprise. “Are these your words or is somebody else making you say
them?”

“No, Nancy. Listen–”

“I should call the police. Hang on,” Nancy
urged.

“No! You shouldn’t. Everything is alright,
Nancy. I’m with Samael.” What could police do to help Lily’s
situation? She would take more lives with her – policemen’s lives,
and they wouldn't be able to help her at all anyway. She decided to
clear up everything herself.

“Where is he taking you?”

“I don’t know, it’s a surprise,” Lily lied
with a forced smile, even knowing that Nancy wasn’t able to see her
face.

Yet she got Samael’s attention. He looked at
her in the mirror, realizing who she was talking to, but said
nothing.

“Tell me, are you happy?”

“Yes, Nancy, I am. You know, I’ve been
waiting for this a long time.” Lily recalled her dreams – all her
life she had been dreaming about the man who would truly love and
protect her. Instead, she was in the same car as a creature who had
been an angel once, then a devil and who now, most probably, was
going to use her as a key for something unknown. A tear streamed
out of her eye and rolled over her cheek, down to her pale lips.
“At last I’ve found it,” she lied.

“I’m so happy for you,” Nancy said
breezily.

“I know. You're really like a sister to me,
Nancy. I’m so happy you have Mike.”

“And now you have someone with you too,”
Nancy reminded. Lily sighed desperately.
If she truly had
him
.

“Okay, I’ve got to go now, Nancy. I’ll call
you later,” her voice trembled, but Nancy didn’t seem to notice
it.

“See you. Enjoy him,” Nancy said, and hung
up.

Lily put the phone aside. With tearful eyes,
she stared out the window at the houses they were passing by. She
gulped. Just a day ago she had been a student, being sad about the
cute guy she had met in a club. And what now? She had hated her
life before meeting Samael, but was she satisfied with discovering
this heavenly world, and finding herself in the middle of a war
between angels and devils? She supposed it wouldn't be so bad as
long as Samael was with her, but he was behaving so coldly toward
her. She didn’t feel the warmth of him, like she had the night
before in her bedroom when Samael had been loving and kissing her.
Without his help, or anybody’s help, she doubted she would get
through this. The dull ache of disappointment gnawed at her
heart.

Lily wiped her tears. Maybe she was trying
to hide them from Samael, but her soul was crying loudly, and her
eyes weren’t able to veil that. Samael knew, she felt, but he
ignored her, proceeding to steer the wheel. Remorselessly, he
looked at her in the rear-view mirror.

The city had already been awake. Lily looked
at it sadly; the city was rushing on, it hadn’t felt her
disappearance from its life. One ordinary man could change nothing
in such a big city’s life. A lot of people arrived and left it in a
day, but even that torrent was unable to have an impact on the
giant city’s process.
But what if that one person wasn't a
human?
Lily wondered.

The car came to a stop. Samael leapt out and
opened the door for Lily. She wanted her eyes to meet the lovely
eyes he had had the day before, but instead she saw two green stars
in his face. Recognizing any feeling in them was impossible.