Evenstar (4 page)

“So all of you can heal?”

“Yep.”

Dread crept upon her.
 
“Then why aren’t the others here?”

Andy stroked her hair.
 
“We had a plan to split up if the shit hits the fan, like it did.”

“Why?”

“So the Archangels have to divide their attention.
 
They cannot track all of us.”

“But the others can run and get away too?
 
They’re miles away from there by now right?”

“Yes, but going as fast as we did is
my
thing.”

Dahlia rubbed her eyes.
 
“What do you mean?”

He shrugged.
 
“After the war, we came here.
 
We got different talents.”

“What kind of talents?”

“Berith can manipulate stone and metal.
 
Furcas is the same when it comes to electronics.
 
Paimon and Furcas can change shape at will, the rest of us can’t do that.
 
It’s kind of complicated.”

Dahlia managed a smile.
 
“Patience and Faith.”

“Don’t forget your uncle.”

“Paimon’s my uncle too?”
 
Dahlia took in his expression.
 
“Uncle
Pai
.”
 
She made a face.
 
“Oh, Paimon, Pai, yeah I get it.
 
I swear to G—I swear to
someone
that they’re going to get beat on.
 
Who else were they?”

Andy smiled.
 
“They mentioned something about being your prom date and Driver’s Ed instructor too.”

Dahlia sighed.
 
“If I find out that every person I was ever close to was those two in disguise, I am going to have a mental
breakdown
.
 
Are they always jerks?”

He laughed and regretted it.
 
“Pretty much, that’s them.”
 
He rolled to his back and let her use his shoulder like a pillow.
 
Andy rubbed her arm.
 
“They’ll be okay.”

Dahlia sniffled.
 
“Sure.”

Andy smiled and squeezed her gently.
 
“My birthday present would have been perfect for right now.”

“Oh yeah?
 
Why?”

“It was camping stuff.
 
Self-serving really since I love camping.
 
It was top of the line equipment too.”

She laughed.
 
“Well, it’s the thought that counts.”

They stared at the sky together.
 
Andy lowered his voice, “You made all of that and this.”
 
He touched the ground.

Dahlia snorted.
 
“Bullshit.”

“No way, totally true, scouts honor.
 
I watched it happen.”

“If
I
created the universe how could you have watched it?
 
Where were you?”

He smiled.
 
“In Heaven, though we didn’t know it as Heaven then.”

She looked at him funny.
 
“How could you not know what it was called?
 
I thought you said you were an angel once?”

“No, I was an
Arch
angel.”
 
He smiled.
 
“It wasn’t until we learned of Hell that any division between Heaven and Hell was created.
 
We thought we were whole and alone until you came.”

Dahlia frowned.
 
“But Lucifer said Hell didn’t exist.”

Andy shrugged.
 
“True, the Hell that you’re thinking of does not exist.
 
The real Hell, well, think of it as Shangri-La, the Promised Land, give it what name you will, it’s a faith thing.”
 
Andy laughed and winced.
 
“Heaven and Hell are…” he struggled for the words.
 
“Their own realms I suppose you could call them.
 
States of being different from one another and complete on their own, yet not complete in light of the other.”

Dahlia rolled up on one arm.
 
“Andy, what the fuck are you talking about?”

“Venn diagram time!”
 
He moved to his stomach slowly and drew two circles that mostly overlapped.
 
“Heaven and Hell on the outside.”
 
He pointed towards the large overlapping spot.
 
“That’s us right now in the middle ground; it’s the universe as you know it.
 

“The two circles used to be completely separate, in theory anyways.
 
Like I said we didn’t even know about the other realm.
 
And really none of us has proof that Hell even exists; it’s just guesswork on our part.
 
You should ask Paimon to try and explain it sometime, but only if you want a headache.”
 
He smiled.
 
“The only one who knows for sure is Lucifer, and he never talks about it,
ever
, so he could know something that we don’t, but maybe not.
 
You see there are some blank spots in our memories and—”

Dahlia put her hand on his mouth.
 
“You’re confusing me big time.
 
Give me an explanation in a sentence.”

“Lucifer and you created the universe by making your respective realms, Heaven and Hell, overlap.”

“I have a realm?”

“Yeah.”

“Sure.”
 
She stared at the sky and thought about it.
 
“Why did Michael call me Ladriam?”

“That
was
your name…it’s really complicated.”
 
He took in her expression.
 
“Look, you’re not going to get it until you get your memories back.
 
So no more talk of that hard stuff, ask me something practical or silly or something.”

Dahlia was too tired to disagree.
 
She thought of a question.
 
“Do you have to eat or do you just like to eat?”

Andy smiled.
 
“Just like to.”

“So, you guys don’t age?”

“Nope.”

“What’s the biggest difference between you and the not fallen angels?”

He stared at the sky.
 
“We’re nice and they’re evil douche bags.”
 
He laughed and winced.
 
“In all seriousness there are two differences.
 
One, we’re no longer tethered to Him, the almighty.
 
Our minds and our bodies are our own.
 
We can disobey or agree at
our
will, not His will, that’s the biggest piece.”

“You disobey therefore you’re Fallen?”

“Eh, sort of.
 
Our bodies changed a bit too.  Losing our wings was like going through puberty, it affected each of us differently, some of us got sick for a while, and others were fine.
 
Visibly though the only difference is the wings.”
 
He patted his shoulder.
 
“They aren’t there just to be pretty.
 
The more wings you have, the more power you can access.
 
So when we lost our wings we lost access to the ethereal realm and all of the powers we had there.”

“You seem to be fine though.”

“We are, thanks to you.”
 
He poked her.
 
“With only one realm, we would have been fucked, probably dead and gone after the Fall.
 
But when we were thrown out of Heaven, we had someplace to escape to that wasn’t entirely ethereal.”

“Didn’t the Archangels just follow you?”

“Oh yeah, you can bet they did.
 
They tried to enter this place, but couldn’t without getting sick.
 
Then they tried to destroy the planet and couldn’t do that either.”

“Why?”

“You and Lucifer are Primangels.
 
What you created together was stronger than anything the Archangels could throw against it.
 
They couldn’t actually get in here, healthy, until today—”

“Wait, back up, I’m a prime
what
?”

He shook his head.
 
“More big kid stuff.”

Dahlia pinched him.
 
“Patronize me again and I’ll, I don’t know, but I’ll think of something bad.”

He grinned.
 
“It means that at one time you were super badass, sufficient?”

“Fine, whatever.”
 
Her face brightened.
 
“Okay answer me this.”

“Go for it.”

“What is the deal with you and Belial?”

Andy closed his eyes.
 
“Nothing.”

She smiled and shook his shoulders.
 
“Liar.”

“No really, there’s nothing.
 
That’s the problem and it’s frustrating because I don’t understand why!
 
She acts like she loves me sometimes, and then she acts repulsed when I try and make any progress.
 
I’ve just given up for the most part.”

“So you do love her?”

“Yes.”
 
Andy opened his eyes and stared at the stars.
 
“Lucifer fell in love with you as soon as he saw you.
 
His world became you and you were everything to him.
 
We loved you too, but in a different way and I couldn’t understand what he felt until I saw Belial.”

“Wasn’t she there with you at the beginning?”

He smiled.
 
“Yes, but she was different then.
 
For one, she was a guy.
 
I loved her anyways, but I didn’t realize how much until she wasn’t the same as me anymore.
 
It’s only gotten worse the longer we’ve been around each other.
 
She drives me crazy!”

Dahlia’s mouth opened then closed.
 
She looked at Andy.
 
“So she’s like Furcas and Paimon?”

“Nope.
 
She’s a girl all the time.”

“How?”

“Long story.
 
No, I’m not being patronizing.
 
You changed her.
 
You changed a lot of things.”

“That’s why something bad happened?”

“More or less.”
 
Andy looked her in the eye.
 
“We’ll get your memories back, you’ll understand.
 
They are in your head somewhere.”

She remembered the sheer terror of her one unchanging nightmare.
 
“I don’t think I want them all back.”
 

“I don’t know if you have a choice in that.”

“Yeah…”
 
She yawned.
 
“How can I be tired right now?”

He smiled at her kindly.
 
“You’ve had a long day.”

“Do you sleep?”

“Not unless I want to, so get some rest.
 
We’ll be up and moving soon.”

She yawned.
 
“Where are we going?”

“Lilliam outpost.
 
From there I can arrange transport to the City and we’ll meet up with everyone else there.”

“Lilliam?”
 
Dahlia frowned.
 
“The city?”

He shook his head.
 
“Another time.
 
Digest what you’ve learned and go to sleep.”
 
He patted her head.
 
“I’ll be keeping watch, so don’t worry about anything.”

“You said you can’t move though.”

He smiled.
 
“I have a few tricks up my sleeve to keep us safe if anything comes up.”

Dahlia rolled her eyes and got comfortable.
 
She tried to keep her eyes open, but her body was fatigued.
 
The emotional and physical roller coaster of the day was too much.
 
She nodded off and slipped into a dream of stars and space.

***

Paimon sat by Furcas’ side and stared at his body.
 
His chest convulsed; his mouth twitched.
 
He had been able to get the fingers Uriel had torn off back on, but the arm and eye lay on the grass by his side.
 
The spear wound in Furcas’ chest gaped wide open.
 
None of that would heal.

Paimon knew all about spear damage.
 
They’d had to deal with it when the spear had injured Lucifer at the Fall, but the reality of it wouldn’t sink in.
 
He couldn’t accept it.
 
He tried sticking Furcas’ forearm back on for the third time, but it did not reattach.
 

Paimon touched Furcas’ face.
 
His jaw and cheekbone poked through the rent skin and muscle.
 
“You’re going to be
so
pissed off.”