Angels of War (Angels of War Trilogy Book 1) (24 page)

Daisy fought until her arms ached. Once again fire filled her lungs. She deployed her shield, its gold and silver gleamed so bright the darkness shrank away. Twisted bodies began to collect at her feet, huge black eyes, now dead, stared into death. Body parts and gore splashed her armor. Through the haze, Okura fought the Screamers.
 

The Samurai’s active sword became a silver swoosh against the gloom. Beyond the angel Okura, Wrath moved into the building upon his damnable steed. Fire spewed from the mount’s wide black nostrils.

Okura drew his short sword and cut down monsters from both sides. The Screamers started to thin out. He shuffled backwards to reach Daisy Lane.
 

Daisy drove her sword into a Screamer and flung the beast away from her. She turned as Lord Wrath, twenty feet away, rode further into the building camouflaged by the Screamers. Wrath dismounted his steed and headed for Okura. The herald drew his weighty sword and aimed the sharp tip at Okura’s thigh.
 

“Okura!”
 

Okura turned at Daisy’s voice. Wrath plunged his sword down into Okura’s thigh. His wings shot out from behind his broad back and trembled from the blow. He stared at his thigh in shock. Okura’s lips pulled back in pain. Wrath plunged the sword down further. The tip cracked the concrete floor beneath Okura’s leg. Undead soldiers spilled into the building with drawn swords to join the fight.

Okura thrust his sword at Wrath’s mid-section like a toddler’s attempt to fight off an adult with a wooden spoon. Steel fangs clamped down upon his hand. A scream escaped his throat. Surprise etched his face as the exquisite pain forced his voice to reach a pitch to rival a mesa soprano.
 

He turned to Daisy Lane. A few soldiers headed off for Daisy who remained across the large office with her back against a wall. “Run. For God’s sake run, Daisy. Don’t wait for me. I’ve done my job.”

Daisy winced at the sword driven into Okura’s right thigh, and a Screamer with fierce teeth locked on his sword hand. Okura found himself trapped. She realized any attempt to save him would mean her life also. She screamed at them all until the building’s foundation shook, raining loose masonry upon the hellish combatants.
 

Wrath lifted his left hand, opened his palm to unleash a heavy black-spiked chain. The ebony links wrapped around Okura’s body, pinning one wing, leaving the other wing to twitch like a dying gnat’s. Okura struggled for a brief moment and fell to the floor. The heavy chain rattled around his body and reverberated across the room like thunder.

Wrath yanked his blade from Okura’s thigh, and pointed the wicked blood smeared weapon at Daisy. He turned and walked toward the front door with Okura in tow. The Samurai struggled against the chain. Black Army soldiers closed around Wrath to secure his exit. The others turned to face Daisy Lane.

Daisy sheathed her beautiful sword and braced her shield concave side against her right shoulder. She drove her body through the wall and into the pitch-night. Once outside the building, she spread her wings and took flight into the air. Arrows zipped by her head so close, she figured one would hit her. The building dropped away. The frustrated minions screams filled the night air.
 

She began her search for the one with the ability to hold together the entire universe. Her green eyes took in the city as a scream burst from behind her. Okura’s voice rose into the blackness. A chill assaulted her body. She moaned, turned away, and pressed on.

Daisy floated from the building and her friend. The one she coaxed from Japan to fight against the scourge poised to take over the entire planet and Heaven. Their small souls did not compare to the larger picture they faced. The most terrible prospect conceivable would be to exist as slaves to Satan, or thrown into Oblivion, and Hell’s eternal fires. She recognized Okura’s sacrifice, to give his life, and return to Heaven with no wings for Heaven’s safety and eternal glory.

White light flickered a distance away underneath a church belfry. Upon the belfry, crouched and near slumber sat Lucia. Beneath her, enemy undead soldiers scaled the wall like cockroaches. Daisy Lane’s heart thumped hard from the adrenalin shot through her veins, she refused to lose anyone else to the rescue. Once again, she drew her sword, and threw herself into battle.

42

Through Lucia’s fogged mind rose a deep guttural language. Before the rescue, Temeculus dipped his thick yellow fingernail into a red liquid contained within a human skull used as a bowl. He poked her arm before he carried her down into his throne room. The poison, still lingering in her veins, made her thoughts thick and slow. Too tired to go on she stopped at a church for safety. The escape with Okura drained her.
 

Sulfur and dead flesh filled her nostrils with a strong odor, causing her eyes to water. She struggled to pull herself from the exhausted grogginess. A cold and dead-dry object touched her ankle, driving a frigid knife through the heavy haze she wallowed in to jerk her back from her dark sleep.
 

Her brown eyes snapped open.

Lucia’s gaze fell upon an undead Roman soldier. Its worm eaten hand held her ankle in a painful grip. She lifted her hand, in her tiny grasp appeared a silver dagger. She drove the blade into the monster’s rotted eyes. The beast howled in pain, released its hold upon her ankle, and tumbled to the street below.
 

Other undead soldiers picked up Lucia’s scent and scaled the church brick façade to capture her. She kicked out her foot and struck one upon the head. He fell after the one she stabbed in the eyes. Others clamored around the tower belfry. Clawed hands reached out for her. She unfurled her wings for flight like a hapless baby eagle. Her right wing struck the tower bell. An unmusical note tumbled into the night air as the clapper clanged against the lip.
 

Another hand shot out from the crowd, this one seized her black hair. Another grabbed her thigh as she gagged from the putrid stench around her. She jabbed out with her dagger to no avail. The undead soldiers closed in.
 

The tiny angel fought until someone seized her hand from behind. Hands seized her ankles, human voices rose from below. Someone shouted to throw her down to them. The guttural voices grew as she struggled against the cold hands locked around her wrists and ankles.

Daisy Lane paled once the bell’s heavy toll reached her ears. She pushed her wings harder as the Key fought the soldiers who surrounded her. Daisy lifted her body high, screamed a war cry, and drove down upon the enemy. All eyes rolled up at the angel who dove from the night skies like a hawk. Her blade gleamed with light as she struck down the Roman soldier who held Lucia’s ankle.
 

She fought them, kicked them, and hacked them down until they fled from her. Lucia landed on the tower ledge. She trembled, tears streaked down her face from eyes widened in horror.

Daisy Lane landed upon the ground. She cut down a few humans who dared to challenge her. The others scattered away into the darkness. Her anger rose so strong she thought froth would bubble from her mouth. Lucia remained pressed against the belfry.
 

“We leave this place now,” Daisy said from below. She floated up to the Key and outstretched a hand wet with gore. “They will return, mistress. We must leave.”
 

The Key reached forward and grasped the angel’s hand. Daisy pulled Lucia to her, wrapped a firm arm around her waist and flew upwards. She fled Los Angeles, and the angel Okura.
 

43

Joan stood atop a five-foot high wooden platform overlooking a twelve-acre training field. She wore the Guardians battle fatigues without the white beret. The ten thousand troops before her sported the same light and dark gray uniform. Other platforms sat next to hers with two soldiers on each one, dressed the same as her. The Guardians, armed with wooden swords, stood at attention and open ranks.
 

The mock swords weighed the same as the swords they would carry into battle. Joan planned to train them first in sword strokes and stance. She lifted the training sword above her head.
 

“This is a gladius, a Roman sword used for hacking and stabbing. I, and the others standing upon the platforms, will teach you the basics of stance, and the thrust and hack, followed by more complicated maneuvers.”

The angel swung her wooden blade about, flipped the faux weapon in her hand, and assumed a pose for battle. “Soon we will be in combat, and I need you all to understand what you will learn here. President Wallace told me you are the smartest troops around, do not prove me wrong.”

A powerful hoorah exploded from the troops. The motivational shout rose and echoed into the cool morning air. The troops assumed the stance Joan took. Drill sergeants, who wore their legendary campaign hats, walked into the ranks and corrected their stances.
 

Joan thrust her wooden gladius forward. “Into the solar plexus.”
 

The troops performed the thrust. She retrieved the sword and sliced the air as if cutting off an invisible enemy’s head. The troops did the same. She trained the Guardians for two hours. They practiced on their own before she moved to their next training phase, blocks and parries.
 

Daisy Lane approached the field with the Key next to her. The larger angel, dressed in a white leather outfit, took long confident strides. Her face remained solemn as she stopped behind the wooden platform.

“We lost Okura.”

Joan jumped off the platform and approached Daisy Lane. “I understand, but we needed to get her back.” She patted Daisy’s strong shoulder. The angel remained silent.
 

“Go help train the troops. I’ll talk to you soon,” Joan said. Daisy nodded in silence and walked off to the training area. Joan and the Key stood alone.

Joan gazed at the clear skies. High delicate clouds slipped overhead, she turned her gaze to Lucia. “Well, you kept us busy around here. I’m glad you’re back safe.”

Lucia folded her slender arms. Her huge brown eyes swept the training field. “I need for someone to explain to me what is going on? I wake up, and find Maria battling Black Angel. Black Angel kills my adopted parents and snatches me, and throws me in a chamber, and then two angels rescue me. This can’t be the Rapture.”

Lucia frowned. “And, you’re training…them,” she said. Contempt dripped from her voice as she gave the troops an inimical glare.

Joan scrutinized the smaller angel. Heat glowered underneath her brown skin. “Them…are allowed to fight a battle against Temeculus. God promised the Guardians armor and weapons from Heaven and the appropriate power needed to fight the Black Army. They are going to fight those minions from Hell, so I think the Guardians deserve your respect. Because you’re not going to join in the battle, now are you?” Joan said. Her voice trembled as she fought to control her anger.

The Key bit her bottom lip, her long eyelashes lowered. “No.”

“Okura is in Hell’s Cathedral, captured. He sacrificed himself to bring your little arrogant ass to safety. Can you comprehend what he did, Lucia?” Joan’s voice cracked. “You’re nothing more than a Virtue. Your kind can’t even fight to feed yourselves. So don’t comment on who will fight and die to help protect you.”
 

“I understand,” she said. “Does Lucifer’s lover understand?”

Joan sucked in air. A pang knotted her stomach. “Those stories are centuries old and she is here with us. God forgave her.”

Lucia’s eyes glowed silver like two crescent moons. “So you say, but don’t be a fool and trust her. Now tell me what is going on here?”

Joan blinked back her anger. “Something happened in Hell. Temeculus decided to jump-start the Second Coming with Satan’s permission. Therefore, he needs you to open the back door.”

The Key’s thick black eyebrows furrowed. “He’s planning on sacrificing me after the door is open.”

“A normal satanic ritual,” Joan said. She fought against the callousness rising in her voice.

“He needs my voice, but he must kill me first. I’m not giving my life up so easy.”
 

The troops applauded as Daisy’s voice rose into the air. The drill instructors ordered the Guardians to take a fifteen-minute break.
 

Joan turned on Lucia. She studied the young angelic creature. “The world does not revolve around you. So try to stay alive until this battle is over and General Temeculus defeated. In addition, are you willing to give your life? Do you even comprehend what dying in battle means?”

“I’ve died before, Joan.”

Joan harrumphed. “God never allowed you to die a horrible death. You’ll be on this planet until everything is complete. I don’t think the fight will be over so quick.”

Lucia shifted her eyes towards Daisy. “Why don’t you ask the traitor? She might be hiding a secret.”

Joan glanced at Daisy, their eyes met for a second. “God forgave Daisy, and me.”

“You never did anything wrong, Joan,” Lucia said. “As for Lucifer, always be careful.”
 

“Of course, Satan is no dummy to send his second in command out here with no alternate plan in place.”
 

The Key brushed hair from her baby face. Tears welled up in her eyes. “I can’t overstate the importance of saving their souls, Joan, as many as we can. Do you understand your job, the delicate balance and power placed in your control?”

“I understand and I don’t need a spoiled angelic brat to tell me.” She made this major problem a personal one. She tried not to get too close to the mortal souls around her. Despite the effort, her eternal love for William and Charles spilled over to the ones she swore to protect.
 

Joan reasoned God’s creatures did not deserve Satan’s unhinged violence on earth. She fought with her emotions, doing her best to hide them in a place deep inside. Her presence on earth called for some callousness to get her job done. Otherwise her natural tenderness would kill them all.

“Am I being used, Joan?”