bedeviled & beyond 02 - bedeviled & bedazzled (40 page)

“No! He’s not dead.”

Mistaking my vehemence for irrational denial he gave me sad eyes. “I’m sorry, Astra, your mother blasted him pretty good.”

I pushed to my feet. “He’s not dead, Emo. He’s talking to me in my head. I need to get back to him.”

Emo grabbed my arm.

I jerked it away and glared at him. “I’m not delusional, Emo, he’s alive but not for much longer. I need to heal him. Are you going to help me or not?”

He sighed and nodded. “What do you need me to do?”

I reached down into the neckline of my filthy, tattered sweater and grabbed my cross, yanking it off over my head. “Use this, call for help. My father can’t hold them off much longer.”

He took the cross but he looked at it like it was a wriggling supra demon. “I can’t use this, Astra.”

I glared at him, “You have no choice, Emo. Just do it!”

His hand was shaking as he clutched the cross. I patted him on the shoulder and turned away, praying he’d do the right thing. Glancing quickly around, I attempted to get my bearings.

Emo had pulled me behind a large rock but we were only about twenty yards away from the cliff face where Enoch and my mother still fired away at the angels.

I pulled a protective bubble around me and ran back to where I knew Dialle lay on the ground, near death.

Thinking we were both dead or at the very least unconscious, my mother had turned back to the business at hand and wasn’t paying any attention to us. I knelt down beside Dialle and placed my hand over his chest. As I started driving my power into him I felt the daemon hickey on my neck spark and, as he grew stronger, flare into life. Finally he stirred beneath my hands and when he opened his eyes I placed a finger over my lips and jerked my head toward my mother.

He sat up, resting his dark head in his hands for a minute as his chest heaved. A moment later, he shoved to his feet with my help. Nodding, my devil pulled away from my sustaining grip with a frown. He looked so serious I couldn’t resist giving him a little nudge to see if he was back.

I shuffled my mental drawers.
You look like you’ve seen a frog, Dialle
.

Har, Astra.

I grinned.
Sorry, just wanted to see if you were ready to kick some ass.

His lips curved upward in a sensuous smile.
Is it kiss your ass time already?

Not kiss...
Then realizing he was teasing me I shook my head.
Shall we get this bitch?

He frowned in the direction of my evil parent.
Are you sure you are up for this, Astra? She is your mother.

I tried not to let my feelings show as I nodded.
Emo’s calling for backup, hopefully all I’ll have to do is distract her until they take care of Enoch.

He nodded.
Then let’s do this so we can get back to kissing ass.

Dialle and I lifted our hands, pulling our power forward together and launching it toward my mother in a dense stream of deadly energy. If she hadn’t been tied to one of the Universe’s most powerful angels it probably would have finished her off. Instead, it just pinged off a very strong power bubble and blasted the rocky ground on either side of her.

But it certainly got her attention. She looked only mildly surprised to see us again when she turned around. We continued to fire at her as she headed for us, unbelievably, growing as she approached. By the time she got within ten feet she towered over us. I didn’t think royals were able to expand like the higher level angels did. Which meant it was probably a side benefit of being tied to an angel as powerful as Enoch. Dialle and I kept firing as we backed up.

She kept coming. The shimmering chain between her and Enoch just grew to accommodate the distance as she walked.

Another power arrow joined ours and Emo soon came shoulder to shoulder with us. They flanked me and the three of us gave my mother everything we had. Other than a quick ripple in the protective bubble when Emo upped the ante, she hardly seemed fazed at all by our impressive efforts.

I wondered again what the source of her incredible power was.

Our backs came up against the giant rock Emo had used to shield us moments earlier and I realized we’d have to split up to get around it.

Together we were barely holding off her power arrows. Separated we were dead.

“Where’s the cavalry, Emo?” My voice sounded just a bit shrill.

He shrugged.

I peered suspiciously at him, “You did call them right?”

Frowning, he handed the cross back to me.

The air behind my mother exploded with light and she turned, shrinking rapidly back to normal size. Throwing me one last look, she said, “We’ll finish this later, Astra,” and returned to Enoch.

We ran after her.

Giving a happy little yell, I high fived Emo as I looked at the sky above. The air above the ledge where we stood was so filled with the celestial army that we could barely look into it. Their light burned the night away and seared outward to cleanse the skies of another, more sinister kind of darkness. More importantly, Myra’s familiar form floated beside my father’s.

Dark worlders screamed and roared below the ridge, hopefully dying by the hundreds as a deadly white energy speared them from above.

I prayed the king and his guard had the good sense to take cover. Knowing King Dialle, I was pretty sure those particular rats were already streaming back toward the Court.

My mother was only momentarily stunned. She turned to Enoch. “Call your dark army and let’s finish this.”

Enoch stood at the edge of the cliff. He whipped his massive wings once, and then again, and pulled his horn from under his shimmering robes, lifting it to his lips.

The horn blared across the skies, bringing answering tones from all directions, and the sky was suddenly even more congested than before.

The dark angels’ energy was slightly less bright than the Celestial Army’s, but certainly no less powerful.

Enoch turned to my mother. “It has come to this, Danika. All of our planning and plotting. You deceived and turned against me and now angel fights angel in the skies.” His dark head dropped to his chest and he shook it, his hands clenching into fists at his sides.

A bright light flashed down on him from the sky and he cried out, lifting his face and raising his arms to meet it with his own power. He briefly pushed the force of attacking angels back, but they quickly started gaining ground again. Their combined energy was extremely powerful, and he was tired and less motivated.

He turned his head and gave me a sad smile. “I am sorry, Astra. I don’t think I could have killed him in the end.”

I nodded and stepped forward, half tempted to stop him, but knowing it was for the best. “Go in His love, Enoch, if not with His blessing.”

His eyes streamed with tears and he gave me a brief nod.

Then he turned back toward the celestial army and lifted his arms and wings high into the air. He raised his face to the sky as if in supplication and dropped his light. He didn’t make a sound as he was consumed by the white light of the celestial army.

Too late my mother realized what he was doing. “No!”

She watched him fade away and quickly severed the chain between them so she wouldn’t follow him to Hades.

Then she turned to me, her eyes dark and filled with anger. “This isn’t over between us daughter.” And then she was just...gone.

I slumped to the ground. My heart was filled with such pain I wasn’t sure I could endure it.

The battle raged on in the sky but the dark angels were sorely outnumbered and I knew it was only a matter of time until they were subdued.

Emo and Dialle both knelt beside me and each placed a hand on my shoulder but other than that they just let me grieve.

A warm light filled the air around us and I looked up to meet my father’s tearful face. I leapt into his arms. “He was sorry in the end. He didn’t want to kill you.” Most of all it seemed important to ease my father’s pain a little.

He nodded and gave me a sad smile. We held each other for a few more moments and then Myra joined us. She patted my father on the back and gave him a sad smile. Then she offered him the best comfort she could. “He died honorably, James.”

My father nodded and swiped at his wet cheeks. “How goes the battle, Myra?”

She straightened her slim shoulders, returning gratefully to a role she was comfortable in. “The last of the dark ones have been taken to Peter. I doubt he’ll treat them kindly.”

My father shook his head. “It’s such a shame.”

I looked at Myra. “Hey, what took you so long to get here?”

She rolled her eyes, “Enoch had someone on the Council. He instigated delay after delay. Making us report and explain and then report and explain again.”

She smiled at Emo. “It wasn’t until Emo launched that very shaky and colorful request that we were able to convince Him that we were being delayed on purpose.” She looked at my father, “It was Vance.”

Emo and I both laughed, “Vance?” I said, wrinkling my nose. “No wonder he turned bad with a name like that.”

Myra glared at me. “Behave yourself, Astra. Anyway, Cherubim Vance should be on his way to see St. Peter by now too.”

My father sighed. “What of your mother, Astra?”

I shrugged, “She’s probably in the shadows by now. But before she left she let me know she wasn’t finished with me. Happy thought that.” I frowned.

Prince Dialle stepped forward. “I’ll send my guard in to search the shadows Seraphim James, we’ll find her.”

My father nodded. Turning to Myra he said, “Have the mess down there cleaned up and see to the report on those witches. I want a full accounting of their activities in the big book. They must pay for their actions when they arrive at the gates.”

Myra nodded and turned, spreading her beautiful wings and taking off. I watched the play of colors over her wings, stared at the way they swayed in powerful arcs as she split the night sky at an unnatural speed and found myself teetering on my feet.

Dialle caught me when I almost fell. It occurred to me that I hadn’t slept or eaten for a couple of days. My eyes suddenly wouldn’t stay open.

My father gave Dialle the eye. “See her safely home and leave her to her rest.” His gaze was very stern and Dialle got the picture. No funny business.

Damn!

Dialle swung me into his arms and I suddenly found myself locked in space and time. He lowered me down until something wonderfully soft touched my back.

I settled down into my bed with a sigh.

Dialle pulled my boots off and folded the covers over me.

He touched a lingering kiss to my forehead. “Sleep well, Astra. And when you wake I’ll help you get rid of those giant panties.”

Half asleep, I grinned, followed by a jarring moment of fear that sometime during all my fighting and crashing somebody might have seen the giant white granny panties. Specifically someone named Emo. Fortunately, in the end the thought wasn’t horrifying enough to keep me awake.

With a happy sigh, I tumbled into the arms of Morpheus. Granny panties and all.

~SC~

I was in the woods again, under a fat moon. The clouds were skittering across the face of it at an accelerated rate, as if they were agitated. In fact the general feeling of the place was one of apprehension and dark anticipation.

Part of me wanted to stop walking. To turn around and leave the wood. But another part of me needed to face whatever was coming so that I had a better chance of beating it back.

I reached the place where the trees thinned into nothing and stood there, just at the edge, feeling my heart pounding in my chest. The air around me pulsed with the deep base of my heartbeats.

Ba boom, ba boom, ba boom, ba boom...

The reverberation grew until it became the thunderous sound of hundreds of witches chanting and I suddenly knew with a clarity that came from true vision what I would see when I entered that clearing.

It was all I could do to step through the last line of trees.

The crowd of witches was pressed tightly together, swaying with the rhythm of their chants. They were faceless, formless, creatures of the night. Purveyors of an evil so profound that it couldn’t bear a human face.

They stood shoulder to shoulder and hip to hip in the small clearing, filling it completely. From the altar in the center to the black line of dense trees at the clearing’s edge, the space was filled to capacity.

Somehow, however, a pathway opened for me and I walked through the crowd unimpeded, without being touched by any of the dark celebrants. When the last line of witches parted for me and I could see the altar I was not surprised to see myself on it.

Like before, I wasn’t alone.

I was naked, on my back and entwined in obvious pleasure around a long, lean golden body with silky black hair that fell in soft curls and waves around a darkly whiskered face which was nuzzling my neck and therefore hidden from my view.

Though I couldn’t see the velvet of his black gaze or the finely chiseled planes of his well-formed face, I felt as if I knew that long, golden form like I knew myself.

We writhed and moaned upon the altar, our passion obvious to all who watched. I smiled at the sight and silently celebrated its passage through the pages of prophecy.

There was movement above the altar and I glanced up to find nearly transparent forms of silver floating above our heads. The angels’ gentle heads were bowed as if they were in pain and their hands clutched, clawlike, at their shimmery gowns.

There was a trail of silver liquid down their nearly transparent faces.

Angel’s tears.

Shed only for the most catastrophic of events.

My gaze flew to the spot where I knew my aunt would be.

Her robes covered her from head to toe and only a single dark red lock of hair fell from the front of the hood and rested across her breast in a soft curl. Her arms had been upraised in supplication to the dark purpose but she lowered them and reached to push back her hood.

My Aunt Deirdre’s face emerged from the dark, rough cloth.