Evenstar (17 page)

“So Tokala is Lucifer’s relative?”

Belial took a deep breath.
 
“Yes, Jacob.
 
He’s Lucifer’s great, great grandchild.”

“Oh.”

Belial looked at the prince fondly.
 
Stress slid from her features.
 
“Lilliam are very long lived.”
 
She grinned at Tracy.
 
“Guess how old Nodin is.”

Tracy shook her head.
 
“I’d really rather not know.”

Belial made a face.
 
“No fun.”

Jacob looked at Tokala.
 
“How many Lilliam are there?”

“Millions and millions, most are only very distantly related to Lucifer.”
 
Belial dumped sugar into her coffee mug.
 
“The majority of Lilliam are many generations removed and quite young by our standards.
 
A lot live in the City fulltime, though some live on the surface or in the water.”
 

Celeste yawned.
 
“How come no one has found these cities?”

Belial smiled.
 
“It’s really easy to trick the average human, but we’ve been found before, moved, and rebuilt.”
 
She chugged her coffee.
 
“We used to have the City on the surface, but we came under attack far too often.
 
So it went underground.”

The others grew quiet and thoughtful.
 
Their food arrived.
 
Tokala woke up; he saw his waffles and smiled.
 
Celeste tucked a napkin in his shirt and helped him sit up.
 
Tokala gazed at her fondly until she frowned and nudged him away.

Jacob grinned as his order arrived.
 
“I haven’t had a malt milkshake in years!
 
Awesome!”
 

Belial stared into her empty coffee mug.
 
“That’s what Andy would have said.”

Tracy looked over at her as she started in on her breakfast.
 
“Miss him?”

Belial shrugged and looked away.
 
“He’ll be okay.”

Tracy leaned on her elbow.
 
“Not what I asked.”

Belial frowned.
 
“Of course I miss him.
 
But, we were arguing when we all got split up.”

“Lover’s quarrel?”

Belial made a face.
 
“Why does it always come down to that?”

“What?”
 
Tracy chomped through bacon.

“
Love
.”

Celeste looked up from her plate.
 
“That’s what people tend to feel when they like to spend time together.”

Belial flexed her fingers.  “Sure.”

Tracy frowned.
 
“You don’t like love?”

Belial picked up her butter knife and stabbed the table.
 
“I don’t believe in it.”

Tracy shrugged.
 
“Well there’s always just sex, that’s fun.
 
You don’t have to be in love to have that.”

Belial looked sick.
 
“I really don’t want to talk about this.”

Jacob got up.
 
“Bathroom.
 
Come on, Tokala.”
 
He helped the prince up and left the girls at the table.

Tracy tried to catch Belial’s eye.
 
“Are you okay?”

Belial shook her head.
 
“I’m fine.
 
I just don’t see why sex needs to get brought into everything.”

Celeste put her fork down.
 
“Why do you bring violence into everything?”

Belial sliced her menu in half.
 
“I
don’t
!”
 
Her hands shook and words spilled out in a jumble, “If he can’t be around me and just be content then I don’t want him.
 
Not at all!
 
Sex is wrong for me.
 
I don’t care what anyone else does.
 
I don’t care what
he
does!
 
I don’t owe him anything!
 
Why can’t he just be happy with me as I am?
 
Why can’t he just forget about sex and be friends with me?”
 
Belial’s eyes blurred with tears.
 
She wiped her eyes and ran outside.
 

Tracy and Celeste stared gape-mouthed.
 
Tracy got up; Celeste grabbed her wrist.
 
“What are you doing?”

Tracy gestured after Belial.
 
“She’s upset.”

“She’s a demon.”
 
Celeste scoffed.
 
“They don’t have feelings!”

“Who made you the expert all of the sudden?”
 
Tracy glared at her.
 
“Try having a little empathy for once, Celeste!”

Rain had started to pour outside.
 
Belial stared at the storm.
 
She smelled unnatural energy in it.
 
“Uriel!”
 

Lightning leapt across the sky and thunder clapped, drowning out her screams.
 
Belial fell against the side of the building and scraped at her face.
 
Rain obscured her tears.
 
Unbidden, the pain and memories came back.
 
Belial scratched at her chest.
 
She scrubbed at her skin.
 
“I am stronger, harder.
 
I am stone and blade.
 
I cut, I am not cut.
 
I break, but I am not broken.”
 
Her chin trembled.
 
She slapped herself.
 
“I pierce, I am
not pierced
.”

Tracy saw her and knelt by her side.
 
She looked at Belial with concern and pulled her into a hug.
 

Belial went still.
 
She stopped her tears and gently pushed Tracy away.
 
“Finish your meal, I am fine.”
 
Belial could not meet her gaze.
 
“Thank you, I…go back inside.”

Tracy nodded and backed away.

Belial stared at the mud around her.
 
Despair gnawed at her, the feeling that did not die.
 
She was thrust back to the time when she’d been naïve, open, and scared.
 
Hopeless and defenseless again.
 
Belial squeezed her eyes shut.
 
“I am not helpless anymore!”
 

Lightning lit up the clouds.
 
Belial flinched and snarled at the sky.
 
She willed her rage to come back, the fire that gave her power over herself.
 
Her heart burned and craved violence.

The rain continued.
 
Cars passed by.
 
The water at her feet rose to an inch, then two.
 
A paper flyer slipped by in the rainwater.
 
Belial snatched at it; she recognized the symbols.
 
She looked up, her eyes following the path it had taken.
 
A white nondescript car was parked and empty in the lot.
 
Belial jumped to her feet.

Tracy knocked on the window and held up the bill to the glass.

Belial ran back inside.
 
She stood in front of their table and blocked them from view of the other patrons.
 
Belial motioned for Jacob and handed him the car keys.
 
“Get Tokala out
now
.”
 
Her eyes darted around the diner as Jacob passed her, carrying the drowsy prince with him.
 

Men emerged from the kitchen.

Celeste eyed Belial.
 
“What is going on?”

“Shut up.”
 
Belial stood stock still while Jacob got Tokala to the car.
 
Belial dripped on the floor.
 
She did not take her eyes off the men.
 
She picked up napkins from the table, wiped off her face, and cleared her eyes.
 
She waited.
 

One man moved in front of the others, his gaze focused on her.
 
As he moved she saw his shielding slip, his iron armor glinted.
 
The man stared at her, Tracy, and Celeste.
 
Belial grinned, anger fueling her.
 
“Girls, keep your heads down.”

Jacob walked back in.
 
Tracy grabbed him and pulled him into their booth.
 
Belial pointed the man out to the trio.
 
Celeste followed her gaze and paled.
 
“But we’re in public…they wouldn’t do anything in public.”

“Lesson one.
 
They kill your kind
anywhere
.”

The man clenched his fists.
 
The men at his side unsheathed iron blades.
 
He looked at the diner patrons who stared between the two groups in shock.
 
He lifted up his hand and touched his ring.
 
“Wake for they are among us, destroy them!”
 
The ring flashed with blue light.
 

The humans in the diner went blank-faced.
 
They blinked and stood, moving like zombies.
 
The wait staff dropped their plates and carafes.
 
They reached for knives and forks; a few diners had guns already.
 
The humans oriented on the three at the table.
 

Celeste, Tracy, and Jacob shrank in their booth.
 

Belial jumped on a different table, and the humans walked past her.
 
“They ignore me.
 
The drones know that they cannot kill me, but they can kill you.”

Celeste pulled Tracy behind her, shielding her.
 
“What the fuck are you doing, Belial?”

“
I’m
not doing anything!”
 
Belial grimaced.
 
“This is a great illustration of what humans are, they are automatons.”
 
She stepped back as the crowd pressed in on the table.
 
The entire restaurant was on its feet.
 
Belial pointed to the humans around her.
 
“You can never be safe around them, not even if they’re your dearest friends.”

Celeste punched a man that grabbed at her.
 
She looked at the Solomon Soldiers.
 
“Call them off!
 
We have done nothing wrong!”

The leader smirked.
 
“Demon spawn and angel killers.
 
I hardly call that nothing!”
     

“Plus, he can’t.”
 
Belial stepped to another table.
 
“Angelic programming prevents a reboot.”

Celeste punched a waitress; veins stuck out on her neck.
 
“This isn’t funny!”

“Oh, I know.”

“Are you going to help us?”

Belial smiled.
 
“Can’t you take care of yourselves?
 
Having to be saved all the time must be humiliating.”

The trio stared at the twitching humans; they were slow, but getting closer and bolder.
 
Tracy held up plates between her and the reaching hands of the truckers in the next booth.
 
A man snarled and grabbed her hair.
 
Jacob stabbed the man’s hand with a fork and pulled her back.
 
The three stood on the table.

A police officer leveled his gun at Celeste’s face and fumbled with the safety.
 
Jacob slashed at another man.
 
“Belial, do something!”

Belial grinned.
 
“Oh, if I must.”
 
She leapt onto the police officer and broke his arms.
 
She dove into the crowd; she stabbed at people, her body moving in a blur.
 
Men and women dropped without a sound.
 
Belial wove through the crowd like a dancer.
 
Each slash and stab fed her desire for pain, covering over the memories she did not want.
 
She maimed without thinking, each move done many times before.

Belial stilled.
 
Every human in the establishment lay on the ground stabbed at their kneecaps, their arms dislocated, or bones broken, but they breathed still.
 
She smiled and wiped her hands off.
 
She grabbed the leader of this group of Solomon Soldiers and brought him over to their table.
 

Belial had broken and dislocated his limbs so he wobbled like a worm as she held him up.
 
“You can still speak.”

“You will burn in Hell for what you’ve done!”
 
Spit flew from his mouth.
 
“We will kill all of you; hunt you to your nests!
 
Already it has begun…
the final purge
!”

Belial rolled her eyes.
 
“Do you know how many ‘final purges’ I’ve lived through,
many
.
 
They never succeed.”