Godforsaken: Book 1 (Shade of Light) (20 page)

He put his right hand over her shoulder and
pressed her against him. They looked out the window at an empty
spot, at a dense darkness. Even the sword of moonlight was unable
to breach its defenses.

“Where did you go today?” she broke his
thoughts.

“I was in Eden, preparing it for war,” he
replied unfazed.

“You think that it’s inevitable?”

“Lucifer lingered too long to let this
chance slip through his hands,” he boded. “With you he can reach
the garden. If the archangels kill you, which means breaking of the
Torah rules, then he will rise against Heaven anew. The world has
no choice but to face him now.”

“It’s inhuman business,” Lily remarked.
“What is mankind supposed to do about this?”

“Lucifer’s rising can’t remain unnoticed.
You’ve been in here all day long, you don’t know what’s going on
outside.”

“What’s out there?” She forestalled
worriedly. “Samael, what is it?”

“Earthquakes, tsunami, death all over the
world. Chaos,” he exhaled, excited. “I’m not the only one who has
business on Earth. A lot of Lucifer’s fellows have power in a lot
of countries. They have flinched. Inflation, crisis, economy, oil.
They have a big influence on all of these factors.”

“Will it reach here, too?”

“It’ll reach everywhere. Now my brothers are
discussing how to move the war away from Earth and man,” he
explained.

“Will you help them?” Lily asked
impatiently.

“This is not my war, Lily,” Samael hissed.
“I just want to protect you. Nothing else is of interest to
me.”

“But if the angels fall, you won’t be able
to protect me alone,” Lily thought aloud, her voice shaking.

“It’s madness to get involved in the war
with Lucifer as powerful as he is. Here we need some tactics. The
problem is that Heaven and Eden are separated now. I can’t take my
army and rush to rescue Heaven, and Heaven can’t come to my aid
either–”

There was a knock on the door, interrupting
Samael. Both of them stepped back. The door opened and Raphael
appeared behind it.

He looked at them from head to toe with a
strange expression on his face. Though Samael’s wing covered Lily,
she still felt shy looking into Raphael’s eyes.

“We can go now,” Raphael said to Samael with
a faded voice.

“We’ll be there in a minute,” Samael
replied.

Raphael nodded indifferently and hurried to
close the door after him. As soon as he was gone, Samael unwrapped
his wing from Lily.

“Where are we going?” She asked stunned,
watching Samael putting his clothes on.

“We’re going to Dudael, the prison where
Azazel is now,” Samael explained calmly, sitting on the bed. He
picked up his shoes and went on. Lily still stood surprised in
front of the window. “Azazel is the previous keeper of Eden. After
the War in Heaven, when Azazel assisted Lucifer, God ordered
Raphael to lock him in Dudael till the day of the great judgment.
Only Raphael can take us into the prison.” He stood up and faced
Lily. Samael propped his arm behind her back and whispered, “Azazel
knows something that we need to get from him, otherwise I can’t
save both you and Eden. I don’t want to put you in peril, but I
won’t run the risk and leave you here alone. That’s why I have to
take you with us.”

“No!” Lily said confidently, looking into
his eyes. “I’d rather die with you then stay here alone. I’ll
come.”

The loneliness, the emptiness, even the
pressing walls would kill her before Lucifer’s fellows arrived, if
she stayed in that church. The church had power like it was a
living thing, Lily dreaded staying in it alone.

Samael smiled sneeringly. “Get dressed,” he
ordered.

Lily hurried into her shirt. There was
something she wanted to tell Samael, but she didn’t know where to
start.

“Samael,” she said dubiously.

He rolled his eyes on her.

“I’m sorry that I believed Beelzebub,” she
began weakly. “He told me you were dangerous and I don’t know what
occurred to me, but a strange sense in me made me follow him–”

“It’s not your fault,” Samael interrupted.
“I told you that unearthly creatures aren’t allowed to use their
power on Earth, but that doesn’t mean that we obey the law
completely.”

“You mean to tell me that Beelzebub used his
power on me!” Lily suspected.

“He used to,” Samael attested. “He squeezed
your mind and made you believe he was the right person to follow.
But you resisted him,” he smiled affectionately, “just as you did
to me in the car at our first meeting.”

“You tried to seduce me with your power,
too?” she turned to steel, her jeans in her hand.

“Sorry to say that, but yes,” Samael sighed.
“I was caught by surprise, discovering that your mind resisted me.
Never before had anybody been able to resist me. But you did.
Putting two and two together, I came to the conclusion that you had
to be the heir of Eve, as only unearthly creatures and the
offspring of Eve could do that.”

“How many other girls did you seduce with
your power?” Lily wondered.

“I told you this much, and you’re wondering
about the number of girls?” Samael chortled and stood up. “I liked
sinning once upon a time, and, I’m sorry saying this, there were a
lot.” With a serious and apologetic air he tore his eyes away from
her. Then, he heaved a silent sigh and walked out of the room,
gripping his shirt, leaving Lily lying on the edge of the bed.

Lily opened the door and slowly stepped into
the hall. Her ears strained for any sound. Samael and Raphael stood
beside the altar like they were praying, but Lily was sure that
Samael wouldn’t pray to God for help. There was some kind of steel
inside him, he was too proud of himself to bow his head to anyone,
not even the Creator.

She slid in noiselessly, but her appearance
didn’t remain unnoticed. Samael tore his eyes from the altar and
peered back over his shoulder. Although there was a large distance
between them, she could still see his anxious eyes.
What was it
for?
All the way down to the hall, Lily had been thinking about
the prison they were going to – Dudael. What was she supposed to
see there? Would it be like hell? What would happen if something
went wrong? If she remained there forever, that would mean neither
Lucifer nor the archangels could get her. The world would avoid the
war. However, this was a life and death situation.

Samael hurried to meet her. He took her hand
into his. They were standing in the middle of the hall, staring at
each other, and if Raphael wasn’t there, Lily would have thrown
herself into his arms again. His magical look turned everything
upside-down inside her.

Lily spotted Raphael giving them a concerned
look, and dropped her eyes. Samael put his arm on her back. Then,
he glanced at Raphael, who still wore his staple black cassock, and
nodded.

“Lily,” he traced his finger on her cheek,
“I want you to stay close to Raphael. Do you understand me?”

“Why?” she whispered worriedly.

“Azazel has been imprisoned for a very long
time,” Raphael spoke up. The monk was already beside them. Lily
hadn’t heard him approach, and she wondered whether he had used his
power to appear next to her in an instant. “He has created his own
eerie world in there. Maybe it’d be beyond your imagination, but
you might see things you haven’t even seen in your worst
nightmares.”

“His creations can’t attack Raphael. They
won’t touch the Angel of Light,” Samael gently tried to explain.
“You’ll be safer with him than with me. I just want you to follow
him everywhere he takes you if something goes wrong in the
prison.”

“But what about you?” Lily asked.

“He can better take care of himself if he’s
alone,” Raphael answered. “It’s something he has managed very well
during his long existence.” Samael glared at the monk, but Raphael
only grinned. “Believe me, you’ll be safe at my side. I’m invisible
there, and I can hide you beneath my camouflage.”

“Why don’t you hide him too?” Lily
demanded.

“I can hide earthly creatures only, Lily,”
Raphael sighed. “I’d like to help my brother, but it’s beyond my
power.”

Lily looked from him to Samael. The
green-eyed man nodded. “You have to stay near Raphael, Lily.”
Samael took her by shoulders. “Don’t let the things you’re going to
see in there crawl into your soul.”

“What am I supposed to see there? Devils?
Fire? Tortured souls? Dead people or–”

“No, Lily,” Raphael cut her off. “There are
a lot of people who accepted immortality but were sent to be locked
in Dudael. Azazel seduced them and trapped them there. But they
aren’t human anymore, though they still look like human beings. Try
to look deep into them. It’s impossible to believe what man is
capable of when he’s immortal and locked away forever without God.
Don’t let them seduce you,” he finished vaguely.

“You’ll work this through,” Samael assured
her, and took her into his arms. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah,” she muttered dubiously, her
miserable eyes hidden in his chest. She put her arms around his
neck.

“Fine,” Samael announced. “Lead us,
Raphael.”

“Where is that prison?” Lily asked. She
tried to move back from Samael, but he kept her strongly to his
chest. “How are we going there?”

“Just hold on to me tight,” Samael smiled
wide. Regardless of Raphael's and Lily's worries, Samael seemed to
be brimming with anticipation for the upcoming journey.

Lily realized his meaning. They were going
to take her to Dudael in the way the angels used to move –
appearing and disappearing in light or flame. They were about to
travel as Samael had on the highway when he had stolen Lily from
Beelzebub, or as Michael had when he disappeared from the church in
the morning using bright light.

Lily’s stomach turned to water. Astounded,
she looked around just in time to see Raphael’s cassock change into
two wings, bright white and as beautiful as Michael’s. They grew on
his back as if shaped from the very air, and then a heavenly light
broke the roof open. Raphael shone, his blonde hair became pure
gold, its brightness blinding Lily. He closed then opened his brown
eyes. Lily saw Heaven mirrored in them. His kindness made his eyes
more beautiful. But she didn’t see any of the confidence,
cleverness and seduction she had seen in Samael’s playful eyes.

Lily peered at Samael. His gray wings were
already opened and ready to take her far away. Now she felt a jolt
of happiness in her soul. It didn’t matter where they were going to
take her, it only mattered whom she was going there with. With
Samael, Lily felt ready even to go to Hell and face Lucifer
himself.

Raphael’s wings gave a wave, preparing them
for the upcoming unearthly flight. Lily tightened her hands around
Samael’s neck, her heart thrumming as if it might break out of her
chest. Samael’s smile had already faded away. Now, he bore a
serious look, his green eyes were narrowed and darkened.

Within a second, Lily felt her feet lifting
from the ground. Samael had covered her with his gray wings, and
then they were rushing up into the cloudy sky with impossible
speed. Lily didn’t feel the wind in her face. Their speed was
extremely high, and the city under her feet was lost in a second.
It seemed to her that they were darting up inside a vacuum pipe
with invisible walls.

The picture before Lily’s eyes was changing
too fast. At first she saw a glimmer of the city beneath, then it
got lost behind the endless clouds they had passed through. Lily
had flown in a plane and had been above clouds before, but even so
she had never seen such a beautiful place as she was seeing now.
The vivid rays of sun made the clouds look like endless cotton as
they stretched toward the horizon. The air was warm.

For a moment the time lengthened. Lily
looked around flabbergasted, and then everything disappeared, as
though somebody pulled a gloriously beautiful picture away from her
view. Now she was swooping down like a bullet, no, faster than any
bullet could manage. She tried her best to look ahead. There was a
desert laid out in front of her. Just a second separated her from
hitting the sands. She closed her eyes tight and shrieked in fear.
But all was well as Samael, holding her tightly, tore through the
sands like paper and drilled deep into the ground.

Feeling some courage in his arms, Lily
opened her eyes. Now they were rushing down through a tunnel in the
ground. Raphael's heavenly light shone brightly, illuminating their
way. She tried to look at Samael. His gray wings had uncovered her
now. It was as though Lily was being carried by a great eagle.

In next to no time, Lily felt their fall
slow down. Before she could examine their new whereabouts, they had
already landed. Samael had yet to let her go. Finally, he lowered
her warily to the ground.

“How do you feel?” he asked. “Is your head
swimming?”

“No, I guess I’m fine,” Lily muttered,
displeasure in her voice. She removed her hands from his neck,
feeling giddy.

“Fine,” Samael said dryly and came up to
Raphael.

The monk wore a bright white cassock now,
and he laced his hands together as he stared ahead. Lily spun
around to gaze in the same direction, but there was nothing there
except foggy darkness. She peeked up; the darkness mingled with the
air and hung heavy above her. She couldn't see the ceiling, but it
might be close enough that she could reach it if she tried. Lily
dared not to raise her hand up. The ground was dry and solid. The
light coming from Raphael was weak at her feet, and she couldn’t
see the color of the ground.

“We’re going into that fog?” the worried
words escaped from Lily’s mouth.

Nobody answered. Raphael raised his hand and
stretched out toward the fog.

“
Exhibes
,” Raphael hissed in a hushed
voice. A bright light rose up from the ground and stood amidst the
darkness, dispersing the dim fog.