Evenstar (7 page)

Belial smiled.
 
“I’m a fucking fallen angel!
 
I’ve been alive
forever
!
 
I don’t care about your stupid laws.”

Jacob nodded.
 
“Understood.”

Celeste scowled at him.
 
“Jacob!”

Jacob threw up his hands.
 
“I have no idea what’s going on right now, but those guys were trying to kill us earlier.
 
I
don’t want to die!”

“That’s the spirit!
 
Let’s not die tonight!”
 
Belial marched towards the road.
 
Sirens wailed in the distance.
 
She grabbed Celeste and pulled her towards the tree line.
 
“Come on, Jacob.”

Celeste pulled back on her hand.
 
“But, the police can help us.”

Belial shut her eyes.
 
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
 
She put Celeste into a headlock and squeezed.
 
Celeste passed out.
 
Belial threw her over her shoulder and ducked into the shadows; Jacob followed close behind.
 

Headlights flashed at them.
 
A beat-up car hit its brakes and skidded in the gravel.
 
Tracy leaned out.
 
“Found one and it still had its keys!”

“Lucky us.”
 
Belial smiled.
 
She opened the back door and threw Celeste in the backseat.
 
She motioned for Tracy to move over into the passenger side in the front.
 
Jacob got in the back with Tokala.
 
He buckled Celeste in.
 

Belial checked their rearview mirrors.
 
“If any of you get carsick don’t barf on me.”
 

She put the car in gear and spun it around.
 
She floored it and raced out of the driveway.
 
Police and fire trucks came into sight.
 
Belial turned off the headlights and drove down a hidden side road.
 
The car bounced dangerously, but she kept it in control, able to see in the darkness.
 

Tracy closed her eyes.
 
Jacob kept his eyes on the speedometer.
 
Belial grinned as they hit the highway behind the police.
 
She got their car in the fast lane.
 
“Let me know if you see signs going southeast.”

A car veered into their lane.
 

“Fuck off!”
 
Belial snarled.
 
She did a double take.
 
The driver wore the characteristic white and iron of the Solomon Soldiers.
 
She cranked on the wheel and cut across traffic.
 
The car followed.
 
Belial watched them in her mirrors.
 
“Everyone
duck
.”

Jacob and Tracy got low in their seats.
 
Iron bolts pierced the car where their heads would have been.
 

Belial cringed.
 
“Jacob, pull the ones out of the back of my seat please, thanks.”

Jacob kept low and grabbed at the metal.
 
He held the bloody bolts in his hand.
 
“What do I do with them?”

Belial looked at him in the mirror.
 
“Don’t let them touch Tokala, but besides that I don’t fucking care.
 
Start a collection if you want.”

Jacob gulped.
 
“Kay.
 
They can’t touch him because they’re iron right?”
 
She nodded.
 
He dropped the bolts under the seat and stayed low.
 
“So you’re a fallen angel, he’s a fairy or something, and Dahlia is involved in this somehow?”

Belial swerved the car.
 
“Jacob, I’m kind of busy right now.”

He nodded.
 
“I can’t help it.
 
I talk when I’m nervous.”

Belial slammed on the brakes.
 
The chasing car swerved and plowed into a truck.
 
She snickered and hit the gas.
 
“As long as I don’t have to answer, talk as much as you like.
 
You guys can sit up now.”

Jacob did not change his position.
 
“Those people are trying to kill us.
 
No one’s tried to do that before.”

A phone went off at Tracy’s feet.
 
Everyone’s eyes swiveled to it.
 
Belial held out her hand.
 
“Yours?”

Tracy shook her head.
 
“No, I lost mine and my purse.”
 
She handed the phone to Belial.
 

Belial flicked it open.
 
“Yes?”
 
There was angry shouting on the other line.
 
She smiled.
 
“Your men were killed,
violently
.
 
Have a nice day.”
 
She broke the phone into pieces and tossed them out the window.

Jacob popped his head back up.
 
“Why didn’t you keep it?”

“They probably are able to track it somehow.”

“We could have used the phone though.”
 
Tracy looked through the glove compartment and pulled out a set of pistols.
 
She shoved them back in the glove compartment.

Belial shook her head.
 
“Good idea in theory except all of our phones were destroyed back at the house.
 
Paimon might have one, but he probably blew it up accidentally.”

“Paimon?”
 
Tracy looked over.
 
“Was that Monty?”

“Yes.”

“Yeah, he lit on fire and made this huge explosion.
 
He threw fireballs at the angels.”

Belial smiled.
 
“Sounds about right.”

Jacob looked at Tokala and Celeste.
 
“Can we contact our friends or family?”

“No.
 
I am
not
drawing more of your kind into this.
 
People are going to get killed and you guys need to accept that real quick.
 
If you want your loved ones to stay loved and alive then you
do not
contact them.
 
This is dangerous for you too; I already have to modify my plan to include you guys.”

“Plan?”

“Go east; well that was the original idea.”
 
She checked signs along the road.
 
“But now I need to get Tokala to a good healer and the only one I know of that’s working aboveground is in Arizona, so that’s where we’re going.”

Jacob looked at the iron bolts.
 
“He’s an elf, or something isn’t he.”

Belial laughed and merged onto a highway heading south.
 
“Pointy ears and everything.”

Jacob pulled back Tokala’s hair.
 
“Whoa.”

Tracy hugged her knees to her chest.
 
“His brother Nodin, he’s one of these fairies too?”

“Yep.”
 
Belial looked at them both.
 
“Now shut up and get some sleep while you can.”

Jacob nodded.
 
“Wake us up when you need to switch off.”
 
He took in her expression.
 
“You don’t sleep.
 
Got it, right, that makes sense.
 
Okay.
 
Goodnight.”
 
He closed his eyes and sank into an exhausted sleep.

Tracy stared out the window at the starry sky.
 
Her lips curved into a slight smile.
 
“A fairy.
 
No wonder Nodin was an amazing lover.”

***

Lucifer’s mood swung between agonized terror and anger, but he was too weak to do anything about either.
 
Berith carried him like a baby; it was humiliating when he had enough sense to think about it.
 
Lucifer could barely hold on to a coherent thought, the pain in his chest was all consuming.
 
He scratched at Berith’s arm.
 
“Dahlia!”

Berith grimaced and ignored the gouges, his attention on Apple.
 
She scouted ahead, her form barely visible in the pre-dawn light.
 
They moved into suburban areas, using the human population as cover and a shield.
 
They’d already avoided two Solomon Soldier patrols.
 

Apple ran back to them.
 
Her red eyes were luminous in the darkness.
 
“Clear and enchanted.
 
No one’s going to hear him shout.”

“Good.”

Apple touched Berith’s bloody arm.
 
She scowled and stopped him.
 
“Again?”

Lucifer rolled his eyes to her.
 
“Dahlia?
 
Dahlia?”

She touched his forehead.
 
“Calm yourself.”

A quiet came over him.
 
Lucifer blinked and recognized her.
 
“Appleadris, we need to turn around.
 
I am ordering both of you to turn around.”

Berith shook his head.
 
“No, for the two hundredth and third time,
no
.”

“You are my Archangel, obey me!”

Berith snorted.
 
“Sorry, lost that title when I lost my wings.”

Lucifer grabbed Berith’s shirt collar.
 
“I will hurt you.”

Berith smiled.
 
“Fine, but you can’t right now, so why don’t you just be quiet.”

Lucifer seethed.
 
The panic flooding his body was far worse than the pain.
 
He struggled to get out of Berith’s grip.
 
“Put me down.”

Berith sighed.
 
“Why?”

“I can walk.”

“Really.”
 
He set Lucifer down on his feet.
 

Lucifer set his jaw and stubbornly took a step.
 
Pain clawed at his insides.
 
He fell to the ground and curled into a fetal position, focusing on the wound that would not heal.
 
Madness possessed and overwhelmed him.
 
“Dahlia!
 
Dahlia!”

Apple plugged her ears.
 
“I can gag him again.”

Berith shook his head.
 
“He will eat it and choke on it like earlier.”

Lucifer stretched an arm out, thinking to crawl north.
 
Berith watched him writhe on the ground.
 
“I wish we had some of Paimon’s tranquilizer darts.”
 

Apple smiled.
 
She pulled out a set of syringes from her jacket pocket.
 
“Talking about these?”

Berith took one and eyed it.
 
“Why didn’t you mention it before?”

“I was hoping he’d come to his senses.
 
I didn’t want to use them unless he became a raving lunatic.
 
The pain is only going to increase, yes?”

Berith nodded.
 
“It will get worse, but he was not like this last time.
 
Last time he gave up and tried to die,
silently
at least.”

“Dahlia!
 
Dahlia, I am sorry!”
 
Lucifer looked at the moon.
 
“I love you!
 
Dahlia, where are you?
 
Michael, I will kill you ten thousand times over!
 
You and your spear, I will break it and smash it into your head.
 
I will erase your presence.
 
Dahlia!
 
I am coming to save you!”

Berith stabbed Lucifer in the back with one of the tranquilizers.
 
“
That
qualifies as raving.”

Lucifer went limp.
 
He stared at the fading stars.
 
“I. Oh.
 
Berith?”

Berith picked him up.
 
“Yes?”

“I think I am going to pass out.”

“Okay, Lucifer.”

Lucifer looked at him with blurry eyes.
 
“You will keep an eye out for Michael.
 
If he comes, I will kill him!
 
Only me!
 
He hurt Dahlia.”

“Yep.”

“Good.”
 
Lucifer closed his eyes and slipped into a comatose daze.
 
Drool seeped out of his mouth.
 

“So…”
 
Apple skipped along beside Berith.
 
“Some date this is.”

“Date?”

“Yes.”
 
She smiled.
 
“I assumed when you whispered all those lovely words to me while running through the woods that we’d be dating now.”