CounterPoint (20 page)

He held up his hand signalling the final thirty angels to begin advancing forward. He turned round to look at Uriel one more time before vanishing and appearing in the middle of the squadron line advancing. His long grey coat flew and fluttered in the wind as the storm around them intensified. Catching a glimpse of the oncoming squadron Ariel knew that this would be it; they were out of options and tactics. It would be a fight to the death, and the death would fall upon him and his comrades. His only hope for the Bassetts was for Pravuil to appear as he intended to and squash the situation once and for all.

“Amber, get the Bassett’s and leave. We’ll try and hold them off,” shouted Ariel, while Johnny and Sandra rallied around him. All that was left. Johnny had to step over Martin’s body. Martin had flung himself in front of Johnny and Sandra when the fire-bolt came raining down. From this day on their lives had changed. They were at war.

Rousing Mary from her battered brown leather armchair, Catherine and Claire tried to hurry as much as they could; they knew they possibly had only minutes left. David was keeping watch at the entrance to the room with the long blade Ariel had given him at the ready. He also had two vials of special oil ready to launch in some angel’s face if they dared come near him.

“They’re retreating,” whispered David, mesmerised by the ensuing battle outside.

“The angels?”

“No, our guys.” He felt his knees shake and go light. They might not have as much time as he thought. Damn. Ariel, Amber, Johnny and another human hunter rushed in through the front door which was now hanging by one hinge and slammed it shot. Ariel reinforced the doors strength and a visible line of light appeared at the top and transcended to the bottom of the door and the windows around the house. A huge jet of fire seemed to engulf the front of the house. Raging, angry orange and red flames blocked the view from the windows. It was as if the house was in a roaring oven. Then, a huge shockwave penetrated the house, windows and doors exploding inwards. The door was blown off its frame and engulfed Johnny, pinning him to the floor. His agonizing groans bolted through the air like lightning. Ariel had managed to use his angelic powers to steady himself against the blast; Amber took slightly more of the impact, nothing being as powerful as her boss. Ariel immediately levitated and expulsed the door from the room that was over Johnny. Blood was everywhere and he could tell that he wouldn’t be able to heal him. These injuries were angelic in nature and were performed by one of the greater angels in the hierarchy. It was beyond his control.

Uriel’s lieutenant marched through the entrance to the cottage where the door once was. He was immediately flanked by six angels on each side. Amber immediately sided herself with Ariel, still willing to go with him to the end.

“Ariel. I have orders to obtain and deliver you to Uriel along with the Bassett family.”

“I’m sorry, lieutenant, but that’s one order you’ll be disobeying tonight.”

“Ariel. Amber. We are colleagues. We’ve helped run this world for an eternity. I don’t want to see any harm come to either of you but unfortunately you have crossed a line that you can never stand behind again. You have gone against the word of God and as such must receive the maximum penalties available from Heaven. As his accomplice, you must suffer the same unfortunate fate Amber. Please don’t make this anymore difficult for me than it already is. I don’t want to fight you Ariel, but I will obey my orders and take you in whatever way I have too. The same goes for you Amber. Consider this carefully in the next few seconds as time is truly of the essence.” The lieutenant stood and waited patiently, though he already knew the answer. He held his white gloved hands together in front of him, waiting for it to begin.

David stood in full view of all the angels as he listened to the exchange between the two. He figured there was no more point in hiding or running anymore. With Mary’s frail physical state, they wouldn’t get far. He felt a warm hand on his shoulder and turned round, wanting to reassure his mum that no matter what, they would be staying together.

What he saw though was not his mum. She was still trying to help Mary up off the chair while Claire tied her shoes. Standing behind him was a beautiful, six-feet tall blonde, blue-eyed lady. Her long blonde hair looked so straight you could use it as a ruler.  She was dressed in a brilliant white top and trousers, finished off with a long white trench coat and black jewels strung around her neck. She put her finger up to her lip, indicating for him to not make a sound. He didn’t know what to feel, whether she was friend or foe, though she was obviously an angel. Not that it mattered anymore. She glided forward, her high heels breaking the silence ahead of her. Those in front of her stared, Ariel and Amber looked confused. Clearly they didn’t know who she was either. She placed herself at the other side of Ariel and looked directly at the lieutenant flanked by his bodyguards. Her aura was clearly felt.

“We need some privacy boys. Sorry,” she said sweetly. She snapped her fingers and the lieutenant’s six bodyguards exploded violently, forcing David to shield his head for protection. Ariel and Amber looked stunned.  David stepped a few feet back, wondering if this was someone else entirely who wanted to capture them. He had chunks of angel all around him and the walls. Not much would surprise him now.

“What’s happening David?” whispered his mother urgently.

“Shush,” said David, looking round quickly and putting his finger across his lip.

“I believe you want to take these two….angels….and this prized family to the rear of me,” she looked around the room. Her eyebrows rose at the ubiquitous destruction. “Clearly I missed the best parts of tonight’s festivities. But not to worry. I’m sure I’ve already made and impact and that’s only to start with. Tell that darling Uriel out there hiding in the trees that if he wants this family, he’ll have to come and get them himself.”

The lieutenant looked at her, unsure as whether her threat was sincere or just the usual ego posturing he was accustomed to.

 “Right now, dear,” she said, raising her arm to emphasise that at another snap of her finger he could be next. He quickly vanished. She turned to Ariel, an angel she had heard of many times but never met in person. “We don’t have much time. If I know Uriel, he’ll be storming through that door any second now.  With our combined firepower, particularly mine, we can win this fight and escape to safer grounds. I know you don’t trust me. Why would you? However, you’re in a no win situation at the minute and I have two guys out the back finishing with some stragglers.” Seeing the look on Ariel’s face, she elaborated. “The angels surrounded this building. You think they wouldn’t try and come through the rear entrance to the cottage? Who do you think was covering the back? We’ve a vested interest here, in the high stakes. We can stand together to get out of here and leave the probing questions to after! Agreed?”

“Agreed,” said Ariel, taken aback by this unearthly beautiful blonde who had the power to destroy specialist angels with the click of her fingers. For now his biggest concern was getting the family to safety so he really had no choice. It was either side with her or against her and face defeat anyway. He was sure Nuriel, the angel of fire, was still present behind the battle-lines providing long range artillery.

“Let’s walk outside to meet him. This place is depressing,” she said, before turning round to look at David, “if you could stay here darling, we won’t be a moment.” David watched as the three of them marched out, Ariel taking centre place as they stood a couple of metres from the cottage.

“What’s happening out there now?” cried Claire, desperate for information.

“I’m not sure but I’m gonna find out,” whispered David. “Stay here and don’t move.” He walked towards the blown out window on the left side of the house, enough to see out to where Ariel and the others had taken up position. He saw a squadron walking up towards them. It was that lieutenant guy again, he thought. This time with some more bodyguards, though his mannerisms suggested he was somehow less sure of himself. Amber stood firm, her back arched straight in perfect posture. Though the character that stood out the most from this grouping was the women bathed in white. Everyone else was in predominantly dark black coloured clothes.

“Mum, what’s happening?”

“I don’t know love, try and stay calm,” soothed Catherine to her only daughter. The situation was beyond her comprehension, but at the moment that didn’t bother her as much as the state her mother was in. This woman was very elderly and being carted around the country by humans and angels alike. Her health was still deteriorating rapidly. She was having trouble breathing. Catherine was infuriated that anyone thought they had the right to mess around with her old, frail mother. She had worked all her life, sometimes two and three jobs at once. She deserved a peaceful retirement, not to be dragged into something out of a badly written novel. Her blood boiled the more she thought about it. Just who the Hell did all these people think they were? This was her mother, her family and yet angels were dictating the rules. Uriel suddenly appeared before her eyes right beside Mary. He placed one hand on her shoulder and they both vanished. It was over in less than two seconds. Catherine and Claire both jumped up and ran out towards David.

“You tell Uriel I demand he appear here now,” growled the blonde haired female majestically.

“My superior does not always inform me of his forward scheduling issues,” replied the lieutenant in a small but cocky voice.

She was not distracted by this but by the sight and sound of three humans running towards them as fast as they could. Ariel swung round to see what was going on. Amber kept her eyes on the other angels, just in case.

“They’ve taken her! They’ve taken my mother!” squealed Catherine, tears streaming down her face.

Claire was right behind but lost for words, trying to keep the large lump in her throat down. David looked furious, his face red and swollen. He looked like he was about to explode. His heart was pounding hard and fast as he looked in every direction for a sign; anything. A brief flash of light appeared just in front of his lieutenant and mere footsteps away from them appeared Uriel, with Mary in tow. She was in the same chair she vanished with. He held a blade to her old, wrinkled neck. David shot forward without thinking but was thrown back towards the cottage by Uriel’s lieutenant. Ariel and Amber squared up to Uriel with force. Taking a human hostage and threatening to kill her was anathema to everything angels stood for. This woman was innocent and more to the point she was to be protected as Ariel finally rethought.

“You wouldn’t dare!” said the blonde female confidently, beating Ariel to it. “You went to too much trouble to apprehend this family. For whatever reasons, you’re bluffing.”

“You’re wrong,” he smiled, too confidently for Ariel’s liking. He knew this angel well. “While we would obviously prefer to incarcerate the family, we always had to be careful due to Mary’s extreme power. This has been quite diluted after the London incident. One should never think that the will of Heaven will be dictated to by any inhabitant on this planet, human or otherwise. I think I ought to make an example here of this one. She’s had her life anyway, and don’t worry, I’ll make sure she goes straight downstairs.”

“You bastard!” roared Catherine, Claire unable to restrain her anymore. She ran forward, being caught by two other angels guarding Uriel. David and Claire tried to intervene more but they were no match for the angels. The feeling of being totally powerless was gut-wrenching. Mary looked up at Catherine, her eyes filled with the tears she was trying so desperately hard to fight back. She kept mouthing ‘Dublin. Dublin. I love you’. Catherine’s heart felt like it was breaking in half. Her own mother was mere footsteps away from her but she could do nothing. This bastard was holding a blade to her mum’s neck; this old lady who should be in her bed and sleeping at this time.

“What exactly is it you want to get by threatening this woman?” asked Ariel, trying to defuse the soaring tempers of everyone around him. He knew that those family members would die for Mary; that was the human way. He didn’t see the point in a useless death; unfortunately, they had to look at the bigger picture.

“I’m planning to show this family a lesson. You don’t dictate to angels. You don’t disobey Heaven. Because if you do, then
this
is what happens!” he blasted back. In what was almost time slowed down, Catherine remembered looking at her mum one last time. She mouthed ‘Go home’, as a single tear slid down her face. She then glanced over at David and Claire, her only two grandchildren. They had cared and supported her through the years when her health was deteriorating. She smiled broadly. Closing her eyes she briefly saw David and Claire breaking the bonds of their captives and charging towards her. She knew it was too late. The time was now. The feeling was here. This was the moment. And then it was gone.

Mary’s head dropped forward completely. A small steady stream of thin blood drained down over her brown blouse and grey knitted cardigan. Her old ‘granny style’ glasses as David and Claire called them fell to the ground. They had tried to get her to replace them for years but she always refused. Catherine, David and Claire all ran and fell to the ground as they approached her, putting their hands on her shoulders and legs for comfort. They were weeping uncontrollably, shocked to the core by this vile, heinous act of murder.

Ariel stood and watched. He had acknowledged something. There had been a change inside him, something had shifted. He felt differently, perhaps even emotional. Amber must have sensed it in him as she turned to give him a curious stare. With a sudden, unprecedented fury, using all his angelic might, he propelled himself and Uriel down the entire slope to the base of the forest. The fierceness of the blast tore at Uriel’s clothes and boots. The trees around them were blown backwards. His bodyguards and lieutenant immediately swung into action but Amber and the blonde haired woman countered them. The blonde haired woman withdrew two long red blades from her cloak and elegantly, effortlessly, sliced the lieutenant in half.