Evenstar (79 page)

Dahlia shook out her hands.
 
“Now what?”

***

Michael looked at Uriel.
 
“Are yours ready?”

Uriel nodded.
 
“Yes.”

“Good.
 
Paimon scouted, they will come soon.”

Gabriel concentrated, tweaked his instruments, and fired again.
 
The light hit a shield in the air and was repulsed.
 
He frowned.
 
“That is strange.”

“What?”

“Look.”
 
He fired again.
 
“Countermeasures.”

“Can you get through it?”

Gabriel nodded.
 
“I need time, but yes.”
 
He fiddled with controls only he understood.

***

Lucifer and Dahlia eyed their grandchildren and great grandchildren.
 
Behind the two Primangels, the Fallen waited in silence.
 
Lucifer and Dahlia shared a look, that of agreeing parents, they turned to their family.

Lucifer shook his head.
 
“Absolutely not.”

Set threw a lightning bolt.
 
“Why?”

Dahlia folder her arms.
 
“No means no, Set.”

Anansi hissed.
 
“We cannot stay here and do nothing!”

Lucifer frowned.
 
“That is not why we ask you stay behind.
 
The City
needs
a line of defense.
 
We are only taking volunteers to the surface.”

Odin stood by his father Set.
 
“We
are
volunteering.”

Lucifer sighed.
 
“No.
 
We take only those that are not needed
here
.”

“Our children are not expendable!”
 
Agni threw up fire.
 
“Is that what you are saying?
 
That they can go fight but we cannot?”

“No!”
 
Dahlia took Lucifer’s hand.
 
“But if we die, the Lilliam will need their leaders intact, not dead, and gone.
 
You are the first generations; you
must
lead from the City.”

Persephone stomped her feet.
 
“We should lead on the battlefield as well!”

Phoenix and Spider shared a look.
 
Spider stepped forward.
 
“A representative or a few should be on the surface with you.
 
We
cannot
let our families go without being there to help.”

Lucifer and Dahlia relaxed, having hoped it would get to this point.
 
Lucifer nodded.
 
“I agree.”

Dahlia squeezed his hand.
 
“We will allow Aita and Thanatos to come with us with their hand-selected warriors.”

Thanatos looked at his son.
 
“Why must my son go?
 
I can go alone.”

“I will go with you, father!”
 
Aita glared at his father; Persephone held him back.

Dahlia looked at father and son.
 
“We need leadership over the undead and someone to aid the crossover for those that are too injured for healing.
 
It would be too much to expect one of you to do both.”

Lucifer jumped in before the others could speak.
 
“We also will need to control the air in this battle.
 
That is where it will be primarily fought.”
 
He looked to Furcas, Paimon, and Helion.
 
“We will have the sylphs, wraiths, and banshee to help us there as well as collect the injured.
 
Healing is our priority.”

Persephone stepped forward.
 
“I will go with my husband.
 
I can heal
and
work with the undead.”

Lucifer looked to Aita and Persephone.
 
“Then you both will work under Helion.”
 
He waited for their assent before turning to the others.
 
“The angels will more than likely have the pendants and nets that we briefed you on before.
 
Paimon believes that attacks of sound and energy are the only way of breaching the pendants’ protection and getting through their immunity from physical attacks—”

Agni paced.
 
“Then I understand why the physical elements are staying down here, but why are you keeping fire and light.”
 
He pointed to himself and Phoenix.
 
“Below ground.”

Berith stepped forward.
 
“They will use the light of the stars and fire as weapons against us.
 
We must take away their light.
 
We must control the environment; we must remove anything they can use as a weapon against us.
 
Having either of you aboveground would be disastrous for us.”

Lucifer nodded.
 
“They will use you against us.
 
I am sorry.
 
Nix, Titan, Ouroboros, and Chronos’ children are the only ones that can come to the surface with us.”

Agni threw up flames but did not fight further.
 

Paimon took the gap to interject, “Besides stripping them of light, we need to hit them with sound.
 
I think it’ll fuck with their heads.”

Aita nodded.
 
“We no longer have sirens, but we do have the wraiths and banshee.”

Dahlia nodded.
 
“If we can disorient the angels we have a chance to get the pendants off.
 
With those off they will be vulnerable to physical harm, they will be mortal.”

Neptune looked to the ceiling above them.
 
“They fight on ice.
 
You will need ice elementals.”

Dahlia frowned.
 
“They will fight back with flame, and you could lose many.”

“The benefit will outweigh the loss.”

Dahlia did not look convinced.
 
Lucifer stepped forward.
 
“They may come, but they must wait in reserves, only fighting with vulnerable angels that come to ground.”

Dahlia pointed at the Lilliam.
 
“But no one besides Fallen will engage the Archangels.”

Lucifer nodded.
 
“They are to be left to us.”
 
He looked to the second and third generation Lilliam.
 
“The rest of you need to make this City prepared for an invasion and an evacuation.
 
Their weapon is trained on the area above the City and unless we can stop it, the City will be destroyed.”

***

Barachiel looked at the icy surface below.
 
“There are humans nearing the crater.”

Michael turned to them.
 
“Armed?”

“Some appear armed, but I do not know.”

Michael closed his eyes.
 
He bent light around him and sent an image of himself below.

Three separate human contingents surrounded the giant crater.
 
Local scientists of Greenland were the first to arrive and radio in the strange occurrence.
 
No one had seen a bomb blast or object fall from the sky.
 
When they looked to the stars, they saw nothing but the moon and starlight, unable to see a waiting army of angels.

Scientists from Canada and the United States of America arrived afterwards.
 
The three groups shared notes and spoke in excited and mostly worried tones.
 
The mass of liquid matter gave them strange feedback.
 
The instruments they sent into the mass did not return or send back readings, as if they no longer existed at all.
 

Michael transmitted his image to the main camp.
 
He did not waste time with pleasantries.
 
As they gaped, he sent a pulse of light through his image.
 
The light, combined with a high-pitched frequency, rendered the humans docile and blank-eyed.

Michael eyed their shovels and picks with distaste.
 
“Kill anything that is not angel or human.”
 
He disappeared from sight, leaving the humans to form ranks blindly in the snow.

***

Berith’s forge had been opened for the Fallen and they stared at the weapons and suits of armor he had covering his walls.
 
Berith lifted a double-ended scythe off its place on the wall.
 
He handed the scythe to Dahlia.
 
“I designed this for you.”

Dahlia took it, felt its weight in her hand.
 
The metal reacted to her and flashed red.
 
She moved away from the others.
 
She thrust and cut through the air, the blades made whistling noises.
 
She nodded at Berith.
 
“I like it.”

He smiled.
 
“It is designed to be wielded only by one, you, it will know what you want, it will seek your enemy’s blood.”

“Tight.”
 
Dahlia swung at a practice dummy and cleaved its wings off without the slightest bit of resistance.

Apple picked a repeating crossbow off the wall.
 
She checked it over and looked down the sight.
 
She set it on the table next to her helmet.
 
She wore the lightweight black carapace of the City Guard.
 
She fastened daggers to her body in every place a dagger could fit.
 

In comparison to her, Berith was basically naked with only a loincloth and some leather belts to pass for his clothing.
 
He stretched and flexed.
 
He strapped swords to his back.

Dahlia focused on Lucifer as he helped her into knee-high reinforced leather boots.
 
She mussed his hair.
 
He looked up and smiled briefly.
 
He kissed her hand and stood.
 
Dahlia smiled.
 
“What are you going to fight with?”

Lucifer opened his mouth to reply.
 
Berith silenced him with a glare.
 
Dahlia looked between the two.
 
“What?”

Berith scowled.
 
“I made him a weapon, but he
refuses
to use it.”

Lucifer shrugged.
 
“It is adequate, but I find it lacks a satisfying
percussion
.”

Andy stretched.
 
“Berith, I want it, please?
 
He won’t use it, but I want it!”

Belial practiced lopping off heads with a pair of katanas.
 
“If Lucifer is never going to use the morning star why not let Andy bash some heads with it?”

Berith frowned.
 
“It is for
Lucifer
.
 
I named it for
him
!”

Lucifer shrugged and reached behind a table.
 
He picked up a reinforced baseball bat.
 
“I like this more.”

Berith went red in the face.
 
“That is but a toy, made for sport only!
 
You only enjoy it for the noise it makes!”

Lucifer swung the bat at a dummy’s head; the crack was loud in the enclosed space.
 
He grinned.
 
“I cannot help it.
 
The sound is as a drug.”
 
He took a swing at another head.

Dahlia grabbed the bat mid-swing.
 
She focused and the bat shimmered.
 
It looked the same, but heavier as if made from lead.
 
Its surface had turned diamond strong.
 
Dahlia smiled.
 
“Now it is better.”

Lucifer took a swing at a dummy’s head and pulverized it; the bat still made the noise, but louder.
 
He smiled.
 
“Much nicer.”

Andy looked to Berith.
 
“Please I want the morning star!”

Berith walked to the wall and grabbed it.
 
“Fine, take it!”

Andy grinned from ear to ear.
 
He wrapped his hands around the weapon and looked it over.
 
Covered in runes, the morning star reacted to his touch.
 
Symbols lit up all along the metal.
 
He walked away from the others and practiced swinging it.
 
The spiked club smashed through practice dummies, ripping as it shattered them.
 
Andy grinned.
 
“So awesome!”

Belial looked between Andy crushing with the morning star and Lucifer swinging at things with his baseball bat.
 
“You guys have no finesse.
 
You just like big bangs and a lot of mess.”

“Damn right we do.”
 
Paimon stepped through the doorway.
 
He zipped up his leather bomber jacket and adjusted the goggles on his head.
 
Underneath his jacket, he wore overalls and steel-toed boots.
 
His jacket pockets were packed with blue vials and lengths of wire.
 
He carried a backpack over one shoulder.