Evenstar (29 page)

The girls appraised him.
 
Celeste smiled.
 
“You’re like a human shaped jellyfish.”

Jacob half-smiled.
 
He stood on his own two feet.
 

Belial waited for him to look up.
 
She flashed him.
 

Jacob shot backwards, wind blowing up the clothing and hair of those around him.
 
He hit a stand of toys, but was blasted up to his feet before he touched the ground.
 
“I can’t control it!”

Tokala laughed.
 
“Calm down.
 
You’re an elemental.
 
Your emotions and powers are intertwined.”

Jacob closed his eyes and the air around him stilled.
 
He breathed in and out slowly.
 
“So what do I wear?”

Belial clapped her hands.
 
“You go naked or—” she pulled Tracy’s dress off.
 
“Make a toga out of that.”

Tracy covered herself.
 
“What the hell am I supposed to wear?”
 

Belial pointed at the excess woven knives and smiled.
 

Tracy shook her head.
 
“
No way
.”

Belial picked up the blades.
 
“You won’t get cut because that would be unlucky.”
 
She grabbed Tracy’s wrist and wrapped her in a curling sheath of blades, starting at her pelvis.
 
Tracy froze, petrified.
 
Belial pulled at the metal and braided it over one shoulder.
 
She stepped back.
 
“Righteous.
 
Makeup time!”

Belial pulled an entire stand of makeup over.
 
“Do yourselves up, trashy streetwalker to the max.
 
Jacob, you don’t have to, but if you’d like, there’s some nice shimmer powder for your skin.
 
It’ll bring out the glow lights I think.”

Jacob shook his head.
 
He tied the red material around his waist.
 
“No thanks.
 
If Tokala doesn’t have to, I’m not going to.”

Tokala grinned and turned into a giant fox.
 
“I don’t need a costume.”
 
He settled on the floor at Celeste’s feet and closed his eyes.
 

Celeste put on lipstick.
 
“Why are we dressing up for this anyways?”

“Half of religion is the show.”
 
Belial covered her eyelids in black powder.
 
“In the old times there were contests of gods, my god is better than your god kind of thing.
 
The better the show, the better the god.
 
People were a lot easier to please then though.”

“So, we’re making you out to be a god?”

Belial shook her head.
 
“Nope!”
 
She dabbed her lips with burgundy lipstick.
 
“We’re here to promote Lucifer and Dahlia.
 
I am just an avatar tonight.”

“Why don’t you just storm in there and kill people?”

“I’m trying to make a
point
and I
like
to dress up.
 
Plus, it will really piss off the Solomon guys
and
it’s preparing the way for our repossession of the planet.
 
The humans need to get used to us being in control again, they need to learn that we get angry easily.”
 

Jacob frowned.
 
“Repossession?”

Belial grinned.
 
“Now that Dahlia’s here, it’s only a matter of time before she gets her powers back, and once she does we’re going to have a final purge of our own.
 
What?”
 
She looked at their shocked faces.
 
“All is fair in war and genocide.”

Celeste picked out a tube of mascara.
 
“It’s love and
war
.”

“Same thing.”
 
Belial rubbed gold dust on her neck.
 
“When is this game thing starting?”

Jacob looked at a clock.
 
“Fifteen minutes.”

Belial broke a bottle of expensive perfume over her head.
 
“Well I’m ready.”

Celeste dropped her makeup to the floor.
 
“Me too.”
 

“One sec.”
 
Tracy held up a finger and curled her eyelashes.
 
She stared at herself in the mirror and fluffed her hair.
 
She glanced over at Belial.
 
“I guess I’m ready.”
 

Jacob adjusted his toga.
 
“Me too.”

The Chulyin shifted to a raven and flew out of the store to scout ahead.
 
Tokala got up and padded alongside them.
 
The group walked out of the store and started in the direction of the stadium, the roar of the crowd audible.

Belial let Tokala go on ahead.
 
She turned to the trio.
 
“If you feel the need to vomit or faint, fine, but do not run, do not hide.
 
Fake your superiority if you have to.
 
Do not get separated or things will go badly for you.”
 
She made sure they were watching her.
 
“I am going to do something that will get the angels’ attention.”

Celeste frowned.
 
“Why?”

Belial smacked her lips.
 
“Because I’m supposed to and as far as I’m aware my orders to draw their attention still stand.”

Jacob folded his arms.
 
“You guys got your asses kicked last time.”

Tracy nodded.
 
“Yeah what do we do then?
 
You guys couldn’t do anything last time.”

Belial pulled off one of her knives and shaped it into a circle.
 
“They have these pendants around their necks that make them invulnerable.
 
If any come then I’ll have to get them off, which will make them vulnerable.”

Celeste grinned.
 
“Sounds simple.
 
Then we beat them up?”

“No.
 
The angels are my responsibility, got it?
 
I don’t want any of you doing anything stupid.”
 
Belial waited until they nodded.
 
She turned and walked towards the stadium.
 

Celeste followed on Belial’s heels, dancing from foot to foot, anticipation stirring her blood.
 
Belial skipped along with her.
 

Tracy shook her head.
 
“They’ve become quite the pair now that they both have someone else to beat up on.”

Jacob tightened his toga.
 
“Better someone else than us.”
 
They wove through late-arriving fans and ticket hawkers.

The stadium parking lot was packed.
 
Despite the riots and violence, people flooded to the game, looking for something normal when everything frayed at the edges.
 

Belial spotted Solomon Soldiers.
 
She stopped and watched them; their backs were turned to her.
 
The men and women held signs and preached about Revelations and demons.
 
Most people walked on by and ignored them, but with the riots in the cities, some stopped to watch and listen.
 
Belial pointed.
 
“See, we
compete
for attention.”
 
She smirked and kept walking.
 
“Glad to know they’re nearby.”

She found a back entrance and kicked the door in.
 
Tokala sniffed out a route.
 

Feet pounded on cement above their heads.
 
Belial danced.
 
“Crowds, so many warm bodies!”
 
She ran up to Tokala and hugged his furry neck.
 
“This is going to be so much fun!”

Tokala yipped in response.

Belial ripped a door off its hinges.
 
She sashayed into the stadium, still invisible to those around her.
 
The field spread out in front of her.
 
She soaked it in.
 
The first inning started, and the team took to the field.

Belial glanced over at Tokala.
 
“I’ve seen this game before!”

The pitcher threw the first ball.
 
The bat cracked and the baseball soared into the crowd.
 
The batter ran for first base.
 
Belial dropped her invisibility and leapt on him like a cat.
 
She pinned the batter to the ground.
 
She grinned, hopped up, and stepped on his back, keeping him down.
 
The team gaped.
 

A security guard rushed her, his gun drawn.
 
“Let him—”

Belial eviscerated him with a swipe of her claws.
 
She held the dead security guard upright by holding on to his neck.
 
The stadium went silent, frozen in shock.
 
She splattered blood and guts across the ground, forming in an elaborate symbol.
 
She turned to the stands.
 
“I claim this field for Lucifer Morningstar!”

The team on the field backed away.
 
Security guards poured onto the field, but Belial did not give them a second glance.
 
They aimed their weapons.
 
Tokala leapt at the nearest group.
 
They took one look at the giant fox and turned, running away.
 
Celeste dove into the second group coming in from right field.
 
Men went flying, hitting the ground unconscious and bleeding.
 
She took punches and shots, unaffected.
 
She worked her way back to the doors they had come in through, compelled by a rage that would not allow her to stop.
 
Tokala barked and followed her.
 

Belial dropped the corpse of the eviscerated man.
 
She picked up the man she had stood on and shook him.
 
He screamed.
 
The crowd, jolted out of their initial shock, got up from their seats, and ran for the exits.
 
Belial amplified her voice so that it filled the stadium, “
Sit
.”
 
The command forced the people back into their seats.

The cameras cut away from her.
 
She looked at the various camera crews around the stadium.
 
“
Continue to broadcast
or I start killing lots of people.”
 
Her face reappeared up on the jumbo screens.
 
She grinned and hopped from foot to foot.
 
“So cool!”
 

She gestured towards Jacob.
 
“Make sure this is going out on the TV.”
 

Jacob ran into a dugout to check a screen.
 
He walked back on the field, gave Belial a thumbs up, and took up a spot next to Tracy.
 
Tracy looked at everything nervously.
 
The men in the stands were torn between staring at Belial with fear or leering at Tracy with lust.
 
         

The manager of the home team walked out on the field, his movements slow and cautious.
 
“What are you?
 
What do you want?
 
Cash?”

Belial grinned.
 
“I’m here to challenge your gods to a fight.”

The man looked confused.
 
“
What
?”

“Which one do you believe in?”

The man frowned.
 
“I’m an atheist.”

Belial pouted.
 
“It’s appreciated I guess, but
boring
.”
 
She looked at the batter who was petrified in her embrace.
 
“Which one do you believe in?”

“God.”

“Yes, they’re generally all called that.
 
Which one specifically?”

“The Ch—Christian God.”
 
He held up the cross that was around his neck.
 

Belial pulled it off.
 
“I hate humans using our symbols as your own.”
 
She slipped the cross over her neck and looked at the sky.
 
“Christian God, I challenge you.
 
If you’re real, smite me!”
 

Belial held her hands out, embracing what would come, but nothing happened.
 
She shrugged.
 
“I guess he doesn’t care for
you
much.”
 
She smiled and threw the man towards the dugout.
 
“I win!
 
Next?”

 
An angry man in the crowd shouted, “Thou shall not test God!”

“Why not?”
 
Belial whirled around.
 
“It’s so damn
funny
to watch your expressions as nothing happens!”