Evenstar (56 page)

Furcas handed Lucifer the key and helped him upright.
 
Lucifer crawled back to her.
 
He cinched and locked her shackles and closed the seals that Berith had made.
 
He set pieces around her ears and neck, rendering her deaf.
 

The words she spoke to him were supplied by Furcas’ memory, “Lucifer, I forgive you.”

Paimon handed Lucifer the mask and turned away.
 

Lucifer stared at it, unable to look at her.
 
His hands shook.
 
He would see her face only this last time, but he could not gaze upon her.
 
He could not bear to see her pain and fear.
 
It was a memory he did not want.

LOOK AT HER, LUCIFER.

Lucifer held the mask like a bowl beneath her face and looked up.
 
He fell to his knees.
 
Furcas kept him from slumping over on his side.
 
Lucifer undid the locks and seals, intricate parts, on either side of the faceplate.
 
He reached up to work on the locks on either side of her face.
 
His hand brushed her cheek.
 
He flinched.
 
He buried the pain and the love away.
 
Furcas steadied him.
 

Ladriam sucked in air, terrified.
 
“Lucifer, you must promise me one thing.
 
Protect our children.
 
Do not let them be killed or left to this fate.
 
Promise me please.
 
Do just that and
live
.”

Lucifer looked down and nodded once.
 
He spoke to Furcas, though it was meant for her, “Know that I imprison myself in this deed.”

He set the mask over her face and locked it.
 

The darkness drew Furcas and Dahlia into her nightmare.
 
Her eternity in a prison forged by those she loved.
 
Lucifer’s face, the last she saw for time without end.
 

***

The Fallen waited in the Sanctuary.
 
The small door to Gaea’s room was closed and locked against them.
 
Berith sat next to the door to the palace.
 
Apple rested on his lap, asleep against his chest, a content smile on her face.
 
Helion curled his wings around himself, looking asleep though he was not, his eyes ever on Belial.
 
She sat with Andy, close, but not touching.

Lucifer paced the length of the room.
 

Paimon crocheted, Dahlia’s teddy bear was at his side.
 
The pink baby blanket in his hands originally one of Furcas’ creations, almost finished.
 
He fiddled with the hooks.
 

Belial watched him and snorted.
 
“Why are you doing
that
?”

Paimon glared at her.
 
“I want to, shut up.”
 

Belial reached for Dahlia’s teddy bear.
 
“What’s up with this dirty thing?”

Paimon pulled it out of her reach.
 
“None of your fucking business!”
 
He untangled the skein of soft yarn and his stitching came out.
 
“Irritating!”
 
He reached for the yarn and it broke.
 
He scowled at Lucifer.
 
“This is probably your fault.
 
Everything I touch is breaking!”

Lucifer spared him a glance.
 
“
Your
body ate the violin.”

Andy rubbed his temples.
 
“I don’t want to hear anymore about this violin thing!
 
Paimon, you’re still a gardener, you just can’t make exploding plants, big deal you couldn’t anyways unless you wanted to get on angel radar.”

Paimon threw a crochet needle at him.
 
“
You
don’t have the death song of the fucking universe in your fucking stomach!
 
You can’t destroy
everything
on
accident
!”

Andy snorted.
 
“Yeah, but I’d probably complain less if I did.”

“Not if you lost your ‘oh look at me I can age things’ ability.”

Andy laughed.
 
“Yeah, because
that’s
super awesome!”

Berith rumbled.
 
“Can you two not be quiet for a vigil for two whole minutes?”

The pair looked at him.
 
“We’ve been doing well for several hours, thanks!”

Berith stretched.
 
“Just take a nap.”

Lucifer leaned against the small door to Gaea’s room.
 
“I will not ask again for you all to be silent.
 
Why is it that Helion is the only one with his mouth shut right now?”

The others went back to being quiet.

Belial got up, grabbed Paimon’s skein, and untangled it for him.
 
She patted the spot by her side and Paimon took a seat next to her.
 
She reworked the break in the yarn and held the ball while he crocheted.
 

***

Michael and Gabriel hovered over the planet outside the shield.
 
They focused their gaze on the wasteland that now blanketed a circle of a few hundred miles.
 
They shined in the darkness of the night.
 
Michael pointed.
 
“How?”

Gabriel shrugged.
 
“We did lose the destruction song when Lucifer fell, it has been there.
 
You were never given the creation song from Him either.
 
So he probably still has that hidden away as well.”

Michael glared at Gabriel.
 
“You have no sense of when not to say certain things.”

Gabriel nodded.
 
“True, but that does not negate my statement.
 
Have you petitioned Him again?”

“Of course, but I cannot be Primangel while Lucifer lives.”

Gabriel stared at him blankly.
 
“Then kill him already.”

Michael seethed.
 
“Yes, it is that easy, Gabriel.
 
I will snap my fingers, and then he will be dead!
 
We cannot find them!”

Gabriel looked around.
 
“The weapon is ready, well nearly so, why not fire it?
 
That will draw them out.”

Michael looked pensive.
 
“It has not been tested.”

Gabriel remained expressionless.
 
“Only one way to test it.”

“It could make them stronger.”

“Doubtful.”

“But it could.”

Gabriel nodded.
 
“Yes.”

“Then we wait, for now.”
 
Michael stared at the planet.
 
“They will do something to reveal themselves soon enough.”

***

In the darkness of cold and pain, Ladriam lost her mind and Dahlia lost it with her.
 
The two beings of Ladriam and Dahlia connected in that moment.
 
The memories and consciousnesses unified into one being.
 
Her inception as Primangel, to imprisonment, to her birth as a human.
 
She remembered the conversations, the images, the actions.
 

Two sides of one being, Primangel Ladriam and human Dahlia overlapped, fitted perfectly.
 
Dahlia saw herself mirrored.
 
Ladriam nodded, Dahlia nodded.
 
Dahlia-Ladriam reflected on her existence.
 
They reviewed what it had been and what it had become.
 

Ladriam-only was a past, while Dahlia was a future.
 
She wanted to be Dahlia, a child of hope, love, and laughter, not a creature of betrayal and pain incarnate.
 
The mirroring fused and Dahlia was one, a Primangel, yet human.
 
Powerful, but without access.
 
Long in memory, but filled with the short-lived imperative that made a human a human.
 
She was a hybrid, a part of all.
 

But now, she screamed, stuck in the pain.

Furcas hauled her into his memories.
 
Damn it!
 
Stay with me, Dahlia!

Dahlia clung to the light that personified Furcas and the pain retreated.
 
Her sight returned to Heaven.
 
She saw through his eyes.

Lucifer slumped in front of her prison.
 
He was a drained vessel.
 
His meaning had been sealed away.
 
He stared at the empty mask that covered her face.
 
The fire on the throne rushed to engulf the prison; it covered the metal and slipped inside to watch her.
 
Silence reigned in Heaven.
 

Belial wept uncontrollably.
 
Uriel reached out to hold her.
 
She pushed him away and ran for Andrealphus.
 
Andy enveloped her in a hug.
 
Uriel glared at the pair, jealousy painted his features.
 

Michael walked up the steps and put his arms around Lucifer.
 
“Come away.
 
This was for the best.
 
Come away, Lucifer.
 
Retake your light and purpose.”

Lucifer shook his head.
 
“I have no purpose.”

Michael whispered to him, “Lucifer, you must.
 
We need you.”

“
She
needed me.”

“She is broken, gone.
 
She is nothing but impure.”

Lucifer wheeled on Michael and picked him up by his throat.
 
“
I
am nothing,
you
are nothing.
 
She was
everything
!”
 
He dropped Michael and turned back to the statue, cold inside.

“Lucifer.”
 
Michael was relentless.
 
“Lucifer, you did as He asked, you obeyed, that is all we can do.
 
There is a reason for everything.
 
You trust and obey.”

Lucifer’s voice dropped to a whisper, “I
know
.
 
Obey is
all
I can do.
 
We live only to obey, only to worship that which is Him.”
 
He looked at Ladriam’s prison.
 
She had lived for herself, only for herself.
 
She had been far more than he had ever dreamed of being.
 

Michael touched his shoulder.
 
“Then please, take up your light.”

Lucifer shuddered.
 
“Only if He orders it.”

Michael lit up and spoke for Him, but he did not address Lucifer, “The one known as Belial.
 
Archangel, but a reminder of the sin, take its wings off and hurl it out of Heaven into the wastes of that place.
 
Let it linger in our sight no longer.”

Belial froze in fear.
 
The other Archangels turned to her.
 
Andrealphus pushed her away, unwilling to do as ordered.
 
Belial stumbled, terrified.
 

Paimon grabbed her by her wrists.
 
She did not fight him; she seemed stuck in a daze.
 
He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.

Michael and Barachiel looked at him confused.
 
Michael pointed.
 
“Take her wings off as ordered, Paimon.
 
Why do you delay?”

“I…”
 
Paimon shook his head.
 
His nose bled as he trembled.
 
He couldn’t hold it back anymore.
 
“This is
wrong
, that—what we did to Ladriam was wrong.
 
You were wrong!
 
This is all not supposed to be!”

Michael shook his head.
 
“It is what happened.
 
It cannot be any other way.”

“It
should not
have happened!”

Michael frowned.
 
“Should?
 
What does this
should
mean?”

Paimon looked at Lucifer in desperation.
 
“You know I am right.”
 
He stared at Andrealphus and Berith.
 
“Belial did no wrong and Ladriam was innocent.
 
To do
this
thing is the sin.
 
You know this is truth!”

Michael lit up as God spoke through him, “Paimon, you have lost your right as Archangel.
 
Stand down and hand Belial over.
 
Archangels, if he does not stand down, subdue him.”

Paimon snarled.
 
“I will not stand down and commit this evil thing!”