Evenstar (52 page)

Ladriam reached out and touched Paimon’s shoulder.
 
“You are happy now?”

“Very much.”
 
Paimon nodded.
 
“But I wish to make a petition.”

Lucifer set Chronos down and looked him in the eye.
 
“Yes?”

“Furcas, I…I wish him to be Archangel.”

Lucifer watched Furcas play with his children of air and water.
 
He looked back to Paimon, curious.
 
“Reasons?”

“I love him.
 
I do not want to lose him in the hosts when we do finally return to Heaven.
 
I want him to be as strong, no,
stronger
than I am,
smarter
than I am.
 
Please Lucifer.
 
Give him my ward if you have to.
 
Make my wings his if needed.
 
I
cannot
lose him.”

Lucifer looked at Ladriam.
 
She nodded.
 
Lucifer helped Paimon to his feet.
 
“Bring him here.”

Paimon drew Furcas over.
 
Furcas looked bewildered.
 
“What?”
 

Paimon pushed him to Lucifer, but Lucifer passed Furcas to Ladriam.
 
She touched the leaves and dirt in his hair and smiled.
 
She hugged him and placed her hands on his back.
 
The area shimmered and new wings appeared beside the two he already had, but these new wings were not blue.
 
They shimmered deep purple, almost red.
 
Ladriam let him go.

Furcas looked over his shoulder and stared in shock.
 
He opened his wings and felt the first wave of new energy.
 
He floated without having to flap his wings.
 
He stared into the sky and saw the links of energy and matter that united the universe.
 
He gaped and stared at his hands.
 
To his new eyes, symbols appeared on his flesh, inscribed in light.
 
He focused and they surged with radiance and fire.
 
He saw in possibilities, dreams, and change.
 

Paimon hopped up and down, giddy.
 

Furcas looked from Paimon to his wings and back.
 
“You asked for this?”

“I did!”
 
Paimon nodded.
 

Furcas grinned.
 
The two bounded off.
 
Furcas exploited his new strength and tossed Paimon around.
 
Paimon did not resist; he let his lover do as he pleased.

Lucifer and Ladriam sat down.
 
They leaned on one another, content to watch their children play.

Andy, Chronos, and Ifrit destroyed things.
 
Ifrit lit things on fire and Chronos made objects decay and age.
 
Andy pointed at rocks, metal, anything, to see what the two boys could do.
 
He pointed out a tree stump.
 
“That!”

Belial dropped on his head and knocked him to the ground.
 
She got her arms and legs around him.
 
“Got you!”

Andrealphus jumped away with her.
 
They landed and bounded again.
 
The two smashed down on boulders, pulverizing them.
 
They looked up to see Paimon and Furcas wrestling around on the ground.
 
Furcas laughed; he enjoyed having the upper hand.
 
He kissed Paimon and the two plowed into a tree.
 
Belial and Andy sat on a boulder and watched them, bemused.
 

Andy looked over at Belial.
 
“Do you want to…you know, do that, together, just you and I?”

Belial shrugged.
 
“Sure.”

“I mean, we do not have to if you do not want to, but it looks fun and maybe…”
 

Belial kicked him off the remnants of their rock.
 
She grinned.
 
“You talk too much!”

“I should speak less?”

Belial kissed him.
 
She threw her arms around his shoulders.

Andy pulled back.
 
“Maybe we should ask Lucifer?”

“Why?”

“To gain his blessing.”

Belial giggled.
 
“Andrealphus!
 
You are silly.”
 
Her attention span ran out and she left him.
 
She dashed into the fields to play with Nix and Ra.
 

Andy stared after her, disappointed.
 

Paimon and Furcas threw stones at him.
 
“Just do it, stop talking about it.”

***

Lucifer and Ladriam watched their children play as time slipped past.
 
They laughed at their antics and doled out praise to a newfound ability.
 
Lucifer was proud of everything they did; he wanted to see it all.
 

Ladriam let him watch while she became lost in thought.
 
As she looked at everything around her, at herself…she grew uneasy.
 
She took Lucifer’s hand.
 
“Lucifer.”

Lucifer looked away from their children.
 
“Yes?”
 
She looked sad.
 
He became worried.
 
“What?”

“Something does not feel right to me.”

“What do you mean?
 
How can anything not be right?”

Ladriam chewed on her lip.
 
“I…” she replayed her last conversation with Him in her head.
 
“I do not think this was supposed to happen.”

Lucifer was confused.
 
“How could that be?
 
It has happened.”

Ladriam looked at the sky.
 
“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

She shook her head.
 
“No.
 
I love
you
with everything I have.
 
I was supposed to grow up, that was all I was told.
 
This…this…loving you cannot be what He meant by that.
 
I think I have disobeyed.”

“I do not understand.”

Ladriam kissed him.
 
“I need to contact Him.”

“How do you do that?”

“You say His name.”

Lucifer looked confused.
 
“His
name
?
 
He has a name?”

Ladriam nodded.
 
“Yes,
       
.
 
I am always able to contact Him that way.”

Lucifer repeated the word.
 
“
       
?”

Why can’t we hear it, Furcas?

The name was burnt from all our memories.

Dahlia grew cold.
 
Oh.

Ladriam shook her head.
 
A presence hit her senses, strong and overwhelming.
 
It searched for her, knew her, saw all that she had done.
 
She cringed.
 
“I thought you would have been told too.
 
The fact that you were not while I was, this worries me.”
 
The presence grew angry and then bitter.
 
“Lucifer, I have done something I was not meant to do.
 
I am in trouble.”

Lucifer held her hands.
 
“How can you think this thing?”

Ladriam pointed to their children.
 
“They should hide and this place should hide.
 
Now
.”

Lucifer frowned.
 
“I do not understand you.
 
You are a gift from Him.
 
This place is a gift.
 
How can any bad come of it, of us?”

“No, you do not see.”
 
She shook her head.
 
She called for the children.
 
They came and ringed her.
 
The Archangels followed behind.
 
She looked at her glowing children and kissed each one in turn.
 
She took Gaea’s hand.
 
“We love you, but you must hide, all of you.
 
Now.
 
Come out for no one but your father.
 
Gaea, watch over them all.”

The children vanished, leaving the Archangels stupefied.
 
Ladriam swept her arms out and a red pulse of light blanketed the world and raced up into the sky to encapsulate the planet.
 
She looked at Lucifer.
 
“Maybe you are right, maybe everything will be all right, but it might pay to be paranoid.”

Booming and light accompanied the arrival of Michael, Barachiel, Jegudiel, Selaphiel, and Raphael.
 
Michael landed in front of Lucifer.
 
He looked grim and confused.
 
“We have been told to bring you all back.”
    

Lucifer raised an eyebrow.
 
“By whom?”

“Him.”

“He spoke to
you
?”

Michael looked torn.
 
“He has made me speaker.
 
You have been gone for some time, Primangel.
 
But you will retake the position once you return, I am but your second.”

Lucifer nodded.
 
He took hold of Ladriam’s hand and smiled.
 
“You will like Heaven.”

Ladriam nodded weakly.
 
Her eyes drifted to Raphael.
 
The Archangel was gaunt.
 
He took her other hand.
 
The other Archangels looked disappointed to be leaving their world, but not worried, not unhappy.
 
As one, the group vanished.

***

Paimon struggled to stay at Lucifer’s side as Lucifer played the violin.
 
The pressure of the sound strained his senses.
 
His ignored the pain, eyes fixed on his body.
 
He clenched his jaw and focused on Furcas.

Lucifer glanced down.
 
“Any change?”

“No.”
 
Paimon gasped.
 
“Gaea needs more.”

Lucifer played on, though his concern for Paimon was apparent on his face.
 
He hoped Gaea knew what she was doing.
 

Red light spiraled down from the earth and rushed to the Sanctuary.
 
Gaea concentrated.
 
She focused the energy on the red shield around Furcas and Dahlia.
 
It was weakening, but not failing.
 
Gaea strained.
 
Her daughter Ceres attended her.

The radius of death spread for miles around Lucifer and it crept ever outward.
 
Lilliam caught and caged in Solomon Soldier compounds watched their captors vaporize.
 
They themselves did not vanish, but the destruction song left none unscathed.
 
They bucked and writhed.
 
Their eyes shifted to red and black.
 

Thanatos and his son, Aita, felt the change from deep within the City.
 
Thanatos looked to the surface and sent his son in search of Whitney.
 
Aita found her with Helion; the two swam in an underground hot spring.
 
Whitney wore no clothing and blushed at Aita’s arrival.
 
Helion stood, unembarrassed.
 

Aita gestured to Whitney.
 
“Thanatos and I require your presence.”

Whitney peeked over the cover of Helion’s wing.
 
“What do you need?”

“We are headed to the surface.
 
There are Lilliam there that need to be collected.”

Helion could feel the destruction song, even deep under the earth.
 
He frowned.
 
“It is not safe for her there.
 
That song is death.”

Aita gestured to Whitney.
 
“Our kind is immune.
 
I promise safe passage.
 
No harm can come to her.”

Helion did not move.
 
“Why her, do you not have others?”

Aita shook his head.
 
“We have so few of our kind.
 
We need a flier, she is also familiar with the surface, and her scream may come in use to us.
 
We need to rescue Lilliam.”

Whitney lowered Helion’s wing.
 
“I will go.
 
It’s all right, I trust him.”
 
She formed a billow of mist to obscure her nakedness.
 
She kissed Helion on the cheek.
 
“Be back soon.”