Evenstar (78 page)

Andy scowled.
 
“What the fuck!
 
Be tagged!”

Furcas weaved and rolled.
 
“I’m a cripple, leave me alone!”

“I am faster than you, give up!”

“Fast feet maybe, but your other reflexes are poor!”
 
Furcas jumped and dodged.
 
Andy ran around him in a blur.
 
Furcas tracked him and avoided his blows.
 

Andy broke off and ran down the road.
 
He threw a barrage of cobblestones at Furcas.
 
Furcas put up his good hand and knocked the stones out of the air; he lost his balance and tripped.
 
Andy tapped his back and ran off.
 
“You are it!”

“Not again!”
 
Furcas threw his flowerpot in frustration.
 

Ouroboros and Leviathan ran up to him.
 
They jumped up and down.
 
“We can help!
 
Let us help!”

Furcas smiled.
 
“Where’s Paimon?”

***

Paimon slid along the outside of the palace wall.
 
Gaea stayed at his side; the pair held hands and spoke in hushed, excited tones.
 
Gaea raised the plants, making them hard to see.
 
Paimon heard swearing.
 
Belial jumped from rooftop to rooftop in her dress, perforating the roofs with her heels.
 
She was not it.
 
Paimon kept his head low.

Gaea made a face.
 
“My siblings are helping someone.”

“Which ones.”

“Levi and Ouroboros.”

“
Furcas
.”
 
Paimon raised his head.
 
Water blasted him in his face sending him up the wall.
 
A chunk of ice shaped like a fist knocked him into the garden.
 
Furcas hit the grass grinning.
 
Paimon shook out his ringing head.
 
“That does not count as a tag!”

Furcas skidded to a stop.
 
“I know.
 
I just wanted to smack you around.”

Paimon scowled.
 
“I see how it is.”
 
Gaea grew a tree under Furcas, launching him into the air.
 
Ouroboros caught Furcas and he hovered.
 
Gaea and Paimon waited for his attack, tense.

Leviathan tackled Gaea in a wave of water, flooding the garden.
 
Paimon sloshed away.
 

Furcas picked him out of the water and flew straight up.
 
He turned Paimon around and bit him on the cheek transferring the fire.
 
“You are it.”
 

 
Paimon kneed Furcas in the stomach, dropping both back into the water.
 
“I’d say that was cheating with three against two, but you don’t really count as one with pieces missing do ya?”
 
Gaea grabbed Paimon and the pair dashed off.
 
Furcas sent a hailstorm after them.
 
He rubbed his bruised stomach and grinned.
 

***

Gabriel aimed his machine at the planet below.
 
He got a lot of energy readings from one spot.
 
He focused the weapon there.
 
He flew in a circle.
 
No one waited with him besides Uriel and Barachiel’s underlings.
 
Gabriel did not find them interesting, so he ignored them.

Gabriel fidgeted; he did not like being here.
 
He wanted to get this over with.
 
He interfaced with the machine and fired.

***

Dahlia ran past a garuda bakery and skidded to stop to gaze at the candies in the window.
 
Lucifer tackled her to the ground.
 
“Ha!”

Dahlia lit up blindingly bright.
 
Lucifer held his head.
 
Their eight children screamed. Furcas and Apple swayed on their feet.
 
Their eyes flashed neon red.

The ground vibrated and went still.
 

Dahlia lay gasping underneath Lucifer; she sucked in air, her clothing plastered to her body from sweat.
 
Lucifer picked her up.
 
“PALACE NOW!”
 
He ran with her limp in his arms.
 

Dahlia regained sight.
 
“They fired it, Lucifer.”

***

Michael punched Gabriel, sending the Archangel flying.
 
The planet now had a crater the size of a football field, shallow, but molten red.
 
He glared at Gabriel.
 
“You were supposed to wait!”

Gabriel rubbed his jaw.
 
“There was no harm done.”

“Now they know!”

“Now we know too, it works.”

Uriel stared at the machine.
 
“Let us fire it again!
 
The Fallen will have to come out of hiding.”

Michael grimaced.
 
“The plan is to destroy the place, not engage.”

Barachiel frowned.
 
“If they do not engage we will not see what effect it has on them.
 
What if we destroy the planet only to find both Primangels restored?”

Michael paled and shifted the spear in his hands.
 
“That could happen?”

Gabriel nodded.
 
“Possibly.
 
It is all hypotheses anyways.”

Michael stared.
 

Selaphiel folded his arms.
 
“Why do you not ask Him?”

“He does not reply.”
 
Michael frowned.
 
“If they do not appear fire warning shots.
 
If they still do not come, full intensity until that planet is no more.
 
We defeated them before, we can defeat them again.”

***

The Fallen gathered inside the palace.
 
Dahlia leaned on Lucifer, she was weak and light-headed.
 
Apple and Furcas rested on the floor, similarly affected.
 
Lucifer held Dahlia’s hand and watched her, intent on catching any sign that something had changed.

Leviathan, Gaea, Ouroboros, Titan, Ifrit, Nix and Ra waited with them.
 
Chronos ascended to the surface.
 
Paimon and Berith paced.
 
They stared at their partners; worry painted their features.
 
Helion circled overhead, Belial chewed on her fingernails, and Andy fidgeted.
 

Chronos materialized in the room.
 
He held a piece of molten rock in his hand.
 
He handed it to Titan.
 
“They have fired something through the shield.”

Dahlia and Lucifer’s eyes met.
 

Berith touched the rock.
 
“Strange.”

Lucifer leaned in.
 
“What?”

“It is not so much destroyed as changed.
 
I do not recognize this substance.”
 
The rock was dark, almost oozing, and it did not cool.
 

Dahlia recognized it.
 
She thrust her hand in the material.
 
It swirled around her skin and sank into her flesh.
 
She shuddered and closed her eyes.
 
When she opened them, she looked healthier.
 
She gestured to Andy.
 
“Theories of Hell, if you want some, go to the surface and bathe in this stuff.”

Paimon perked up.
 
“What’s this now?”

Dahlia held her hand up.
 
“You guys had Heaven with your cold light, electricity, sound.
 
Hell is dark matter, warmth, sensation, and mass.
 
Their weapon is converting the material here to my realm.
 
Though I wonder if they know that.”

Lucifer touched her brow.
 
“Does this hurt or harm you?”

Dahlia shook her head.
 
“I do not think so.
 
When they fired, the sensation was like a dislocation, being in too many places at once.
 
This created material is benign, to me at least.”

Dahlia lit up.
 
The earth shook.
 
Furcas and Apple hit the floor in a daze.
 

Paimon dove for Dahlia and tied her discarded pendant around her throat.
 
She stopped glowing.
 
Her eyes turned blue.
 
She gasped.
 
Furcas and Apple shook off the effects and regained their footing; their eyes changed back to their regular colors.
 

Paimon looked between Dahlia, Furcas, and Apple.
 
He nodded, satisfied.
 
“Thought so, the three of them are linked physically and energetically.
 
Fuck with Dahlia, fuck with them.”

Dahlia looked at her hands and broke a finger.
 
The break did not heal.
 
“Huh.”

Lucifer healed it for her.
 
“I do not like this at all.”

Chronos went to the surface and back.
 
“They fired again.”

Paimon frowned.
 
“I want to see what we’re dealing with.”
 
Chronos grabbed him and the pair departed.
 

Belial folded her arms.
 
“So are we fucking them up or what?”

Lucifer and Dahlia stared into each other’s eyes.
 
Dahlia sighed.
 
“We have to go out there and destroy that machine.
 
I do not think we have a choice.”

Lucifer nodded.
 
“You are vulnerable.”

She grabbed the pendant.
 
Lucifer stopped her.
 
“I do not want you tied to the planet, not if it means that it can hurt you.”

“I will get hurt either way.”

Paimon and Chronos reappeared.
 
Paimon was pissed off.
 
“Gabriel.
 
He’s sitting just outside of the shield taking potshots at us.
 
I waved, but he didn’t see me.”
 
He frowned.
 
“Michael did though.
 
They look like they’re preparing to invade.
 
They have an army up there.”

Belial jumped from foot to foot.
 
“Then we fuck them up!”

Furcas leaned on Paimon.
 
“Yeah, that worked out real well for us the last two times we engaged.”

Berith smiled.
 
“We did not get to use our abilities then.
 
There is no reason not to know, we no longer need to hide.
 
Dahlia is as strong as we are, she is aware.
 
We are together, nothing prevents us.”

Andy nodded.
 
“I agree.
 
We have yet to see what we can do against them when we’re really trying.”

Belial grinned.
 
“Please?”

The Fallen looked to Lucifer and Dahlia.
 
Dahlia pulled the pendant off.
 
“I do not want to be the cause of you being weakened.
 
I am strong this way.”
 
Her eyes flashed back to red.
 
“I can and will fight beside you.”

Lucifer looked uneasy, but nodded.
 
“I would rather have you near than separated again.”
 
He looked to his Fallen.
 
“A fight is the only course.”

Dahlia lit up as another warning shot made contact with the ground.
 
She fought against it and stayed upright on her own.
 
She thrust her head up and looked towards the stone ceiling.
 
Her body vibrated.
 
She clenched her teeth.
 
“We must shield the City, the planet itself.”
 
She looked to her children.
 
“Do this.”

Gaea frowned.
 
“We should fight
with
you.”

Dahlia shook her head.
 
“If we cannot protect the City there is nothing to fight for.
 
Tell your children the same.”

Lucifer looked grim and addressed Gaea, “Buy us time, we
will
take the weapon apart.”

Gaea nodded and the Lilliam children dissolved except for Titan.
 
The other seven focused their attention on putting up a barrier above the City.
 
Dahlia felt it go up.
 
She lost her glow and sighed as the angelic beam was stopped in the atmosphere.
 

Titan concentrated and the City sank deeper into the ground.
 
He shook his head and disappeared out of sight, intent on shoring up the City walls.