Revelations (Bloodline Series) (6 page)

“I
want her now! I swear I’m going to reach down the bitch’s throat and rip her heart
and lungs out with my bare hands.”

“Calm
down, you will get your chance,” he said, moving a little closer to me.

“Why
did she come…what was the point?”

“She
was obviously trying to start an argument between us. She just wanted to piss
you off, see what you’re capable of. I think she’s trying to make out that she’s
not scared of you, of any of us.”

“Well
she should be. The next time I see her—she dies!”

Chapter 6

Finally
An Answer

Keira

We
were away from the house for almost half an hour. It took me that long to calm
down, and I knew Eligos was worried that I wouldn’t snap out of it. In the end
though, he just held me against him, and no matter how hard I fought, he wouldn’t
let go of me. I finally broke down in tears, remembering how I felt when I first
lost my dad, how upset and angry I was. It was only when the tears stopped that
the angel went away, and I was normal again.

He
took us back to the living room of my house, where Marshal sat with everyone
holding an ice pack to the back of his head.

“What
happened?” I asked him.

“When
you went away before, and the guys were explaining things to us, they took a
break for a few minutes, and I stood outside to have a smoke. That’s the last
thing I remember until Hecate found me.”

“He
was unconscious in the field behind your back garden. He’s taken a knock to the
head, but other than that he is okay,” Hecate told me. “I’ve offered to heal
him, but I don’t think he trusts me very much…you know, with me being a demon.”

“Well
that’s up to him—if he would rather be in pain, let him,” I said, rather
coldly.

I
didn’t mean to sound so heartless, but all I could think about was Marimay. She
had been so close to me and yet I didn’t kill her; I didn’t get my revenge, and
now it was all I could think about.

“Keira,
sweetie,” Jake said. “We know you must be terribly upset right now…it’s been
one hell of a day for you, and us. But please, don’t be off with us.”

“I’m
sorry.”

“I
think we need to talk about
you
now,” Lucian said to me. “We’ve been
patient, but we need to know what is going on with you. All that before—the
lightning, the cars blowing up, the tornados—Keira, it frightened us all to
death. We’re all scared of saying anything to you, to be honest, or being close
to you. We need to know what we’re dealing with.”

“Do
you think I like this? I don’t know why this has happened to me…I’m still
waiting to find out.”

“I
didn’t mean—”

“Keira,”
Eligos interrupted. “Lucifer is ready to talk.”

“About
time,” I said, relieved. “Let’s go.” I took his hand and returned to Hell.

When
we arrived, Lilith led us upstairs to the second floor and into a beautiful,
cozy room I hadn’t been in before. It was furnished with large black velvet
sofas and a beautiful dark wood coffee table. The walls and carpet were a rich
red. Paintings of Lilith and Lucifer hung on the walls, along with others that were
scenic; one of a beautiful river running through snow covered mountains and one
that looked like it could have been a botanical garden. A fire blazed in a dark
grey and white marble fireplace with gothic candles at either end.

“Sit
down,” Lucifer said as he walked into the room. “I have much to tell you.”

I
sat facing him with Eligos beside me; a moment later Lilith sat beside Lucifer and
took his hand in hers. I knew this was going to be bad news, and he obviously
didn’t want to have to tell us.

“Everything
that’s happening now...I guess it’s all my fault.” He looked at me and Eligos
in turn.

“No,
it isn’t,” Lilith told him.

“Let
me tell them, my love,” he said to her. “Around two thousand years ago a soul
came to Hell. Yes, I know, before you say it, hundreds come here every day. But
this one was different,” he started, sitting back and getting more comfortable.
“He didn’t belong here.”

“If
he didn’t belong here then why was his soul sent here?” I asked.

“Because
God willed it. Let me explain. Now, this man wasn’t from earth…he was from
another realm called Mayanna. He looked very similar to a human man; in fact,
you would think he
was
human until you looked at his eyes. Anyway, this
man had committed murder, which, of course, is a sin. But his reason for it was
just. He lived with his wife and five children, three boys and two girls all
under the age of thirteen. His brother’s wife and her three very young children
also lived with him, since his brother had been killed in a war and she couldn’t
manage on her own. He was a good man—he brought home food, looked after them
all, worked hard; everything a good husband and father should do. One night he
went out for a walk, leaving his family safe at home. He was only gone about an
hour, an hour and a half at most. As he was walking across the fields heading
back to his house—”

“They
had houses two thousand years ago?” I asked.

“Keira,
this is another world; to tell you the truth, they are much more advanced than
the human race. All the science and technology you have now they had a long
time ago. So yes, he had a house, and a big one at that.”

“Wow.”

“Now,
where was I? As he was walking across the fields heading back to his house, he
heard his wife and children screaming and crying. He ran as fast as his legs
would carry him and rushed inside. His sister-in-law was dead on the floor,
covered in blood, along with his three sons and her two sons. All of them
seemed to have been butchered—”

“That’s
awful.”

“He
heard his other children cry out again and ran into the next room. Five men were
there, beating his wife, his daughters, and his sister-in-law’s seven-year-old
daughter. He tried to fight them off using anything around him to hit them. He
attacked them with furniture, knifes, everything he could, and killed two of
them. His wife fought with him as best she could, and in the end the other
three fled, but not before fatally wounding his wife. She died in his arms.”

“Oh
my God,” I said as my eyes started to fill with tears.

“Lucifer,
please carry on,” Eligos said, intrigued.

“After
that, he tried to carry on with his life as best he could. He still worked hard
and provided for his daughters, and now a foster daughter too. About a year
later he was out looking for a gift for his eldest daughter’s birthday when he
saw two of the men from the night of the attack. He instantly lost control and
attacked them. They both stabbed him to death.” He stood and walked to the
window. “His soul came here. On that particular day, I was at the pits, making sure
everything was as it should be. When I found out the reason why this man had
been sent here I immediately took him out of the pits and contacted God. No, I
didn’t go to Heaven before you ask,” he said, turning to face me. “I can have
contact with God if I need it. It’s a spell, one that only He and I know. I
told Him this man did not belong here, and that if He didn’t take his soul to
Heaven where it belonged, I would cast him out, return him to Mayanna, and
never allow him to die. I would always give life back to him. God knew I would
do that…He knew I would stand by my word, I always do. He couldn’t allow that.”

“Why?”
I asked.

“No
person with life in them can be immortal. That’s not how it works. After a few
nasty words and a few more threats from me, God took his soul.”

“Lucifer
darling, you haven’t told them his name,” Lilith said softly.

“Oh
no, so I haven’t…I apologize. His name is Ballantine.”

“So
what has this got to do with us?” Eligos asked, a little confused.

“It
is Ballantine that has started the war,” he sighed. “God has decided that since
it was I who sent his soul to Heaven, it is for me and my people to deal with.”

“Is
this why He decided to put this thing inside me?” I asked.

“I’m
afraid so Keira. While Ballantine was in Heaven, he served God well. He became
an angel, and then around five hundred years ago he became an archangel so he
could keep other angels in check. I told you he was a hard worker whilst he was
alive, and that didn’t change in death. Anyway, a demon alone will not be able
to kill him. God knew how powerful you were just as a demon, and decided that
you would be given the power of an archangel. He said when he saw you trying to
fight it off before, He had to intervene and make it come out in you.”

“A
beam of light came down from the sky and surrounded her. It lifted her from the
ground and more or less made her unconscious for a few minutes. Then the angel took
over,” Eligos explained.

“Yes,
I believe so…that was God’s work,” Lucifer said. “He had to see if you could
handle it.”

“I
didn’t handle it well at all. My friends—Eligos, Hecate, the others—they could
have all been killed,” I told him.

“Ahh
yes, but they weren’t, were they? Because, in your heart, you love them all.
The angel will react to your feelings; if you care for someone, they will not
be harmed. Learn to control your feelings properly and you will control the angel.
You’re a strong-minded young woman, Keira. It is not like me to take God’s side
in anything anymore, but I understand why He chose you. If anyone can do this,
you
can.”

“What
if I don’t want to? Do I not get a say in this at all?”

“Keira,
even I cannot overrule God. I cannot take this away from you. I’m so sorry…this
is all my fault,” he said sadly.

“No,
it isn’t; I don’t blame you at all. You couldn’t have foreseen this.”

“Lucifer,
if he served God so well, why has he turned against Him? Why is he doing this?”
Eligos asked.

“Now
that we don’t know. God does not understand the mentality of it all.”

“How
long has He known about this? How long has He kept us in the dark, knowing it
wasn’t a demon starting all this?”

“He
found out just a few hours before He sent the church for Keira to see. Before
that, He was convinced this was all the work of a demon. Typical, thinking all
demons are evil. They aren’t. Everyone, no matter what religion, believes
myself and my people are evil torturers who will damn people’s souls for
eternity. That’s
not
true; it’s just a different way of life. I take
sinners; okay, so they don’t have all the luxuries they had in life, or would
have if they were to go to Heaven. But they can still have a good life here.
How can that make me evil?”

“For
what it’s worth, I don’t think you’re an evil person at all. I think you are
one of the nicest, most genuine, caring people I have ever had the pleasure of
meeting,” I told him.

“You’re
too kind.”

“No,
just honest. Now, where do we go from here? How do we find this Ballantine, and
how do I kill him?”

“Tracking
an archangel is not an easy task; in fact, it’s damn near impossible,” Lilith
explained. “I think the demon world needs to start gossiping. Hopefully news of
your new power will reach him, and he will come looking for you.”

“Great!”
I sighed.

“Two
of his children ended up coming here. I think we should track them down first
and talk with them.”

“I
need you to promise me something,” Lucifer said to me. “Promise me you will
find out why he has done this. I need to understand it.”

“I
promise you I will
try.
”

Chapter 7

A
Powerful Ally

Keira

After
the conversation Lucifer fell silent. He seemed genuinely upset over Ballantine,
and Lilith seemed worried about
him
. Eligos and I decided to leave them
on their own for a while, and set off for his castle. We decided to walk, but
when we got outside I wished we hadn’t. People were still crying over the loss
of loved ones. Men, women, and other creatures were all trying their best to
comfort one another. The devastation caused was unbelievable. If God was so
merciful and so loving and divine, why did He attack the realm? Why put people
through this heartache?

One
woman was trying her best to move large pieces of rubble, screaming out someone’s
name as she tried with all her strength to get to whoever it was. Nobody was
helping her; they were all too busy themselves.

“Eligos,
we have to help her,” I said before running over to her. It was only when I got
closer to her that I realized it was Elizabeth. “Elizabeth,” I said, grabbing
her arm.

“Keira…Keira,
thank God! It’s Carver; he got hit by one of those light beams. He is under
here somewhere. Please, please help me,” she pleaded.

I
didn’t know how to tell her that he wouldn’t have survived. “Why aren’t you
just using your power?”

“It’s
been taken away from me; I’ll explain later. Please help me.”