Godforsaken: Book 1 (Shade of Light) (27 page)

“Who’s he?” Lily whispered into Samael’s
ear.

“That is Gabriel,” he replied mildly, hiding
her from the angel with his shoulder. “What do you want?” he cried
to the angel. “What has disturbed you?”

“The girl,” Gabriel uttered.

“You know that you have no right to kill
her,” Samael said bravely. “You’ll be exiled from Heaven like I
was, Gabriel. There is nothing for you here. You’d better take your
army and get back to Heaven.”

“That's not really relevant. I came here to
take control of the chaos that you and Raphael have caused, to
rebuild the ruins you made, and to take care of her,” he jabbed his
forefinger toward Lily. “It’s an order-”

“Whose order?” Samael cut him off. “Did God
give you such an order?” Gabriel delayed for a second. “No order
was announced, was there? Don’t even try to fool me, brother.”

“Don’t call me brother,” Gabriel roared.
“You stopped being my brother the day you betrayed Father and left
Heaven.”

He definitely hadn’t forgiven Samael. Lily
still couldn’t see his face, the brightness of the sun rising
behind him left his face in shadow. The dawn. Lily remembered that
Michael had mentioned something about this to Raphael, when she had
been lurking behind the door in the church.

“
With the day’s first early light
touching the sand of the desert, help will fall down from the
slumbering sky.”

Here was the help he had spoken of. Michael
had sent Gabriel to capture her. But why? Samael might be right,
that the archangels wouldn’t let God lose, even to the point of
sacrificing themselves for his victory. And that meant killing
her.

“Yes, of course,” Samael muttered.

Lily noticed gray smoke gathering around his
right hand. Samael was preparing to fight, his sword was gaining
strength. Lily glanced at the white angel fearfully.

“Get him!” Gabriel ordered shortly, and his
pets, the huge winged dogs, charged toward Samael.

They encircled Lily and Samael and started
to box them in, but Samael’s sword wasn’t ready yet. His left hand
was holding Lily behind his shoulder with a tight grasp, and his
eyes scanned back and forth, assessing the situation. Lily knew
that Samael was a mighty creature, but fighting so many enemies and
a powerful archangel at the same time might be pushing his
abilities to their limit.

The ground began to quake. Uttering a low
shriek, Lily grasped Samael’s hand. Gabriel’s army stopped and
looked around. If there was anything approaching them, it should be
coming up from under the ground. Lily’s eyes looked down at the
sand instinctively. The sand began flowing like a huge yellow
ocean, and then swirling. A lot of whirls materialized on the
ground.

“What’s going on, Samael?” Lily managed with
difficulty.

The answer was in front of her eyes. Within
a second there were a lot of explosions on the surface, sand
erupting into the air. Lily spotted human creatures growing out of
the ground like plants.

Gabriel’s dogs withdrew and gathered quickly
around their commander. Lily and Samael remained between Gabriel’s
army and the growing creatures. This was definitely the worst
morning Lily had ever had.

The quaking stopped, the dust lowering back
onto the ground, Samael remained still. From the sand, a dozen
warriors had grown, led by a huge black-haired man – Gaap. His
flaming yellow eyes regarded Samael and Gabriel.

Another man came up to Gaap walking lazily.
Lily couldn’t have forgotten his face; black spooky eyes, curly
hair, and a round face. It was Beelzebub. As he stood beside Gaap,
he put his left hand on his shoulder, turned around and winked at
Lily.

“I see the party has just started. I do hope
we aren’t late,” he teased indignantly.

“You have no business here, Beelzebub,”
Gabriel replied.

“We’ve got as much business here as you do,
Gabriel,” he protested. “We all know that the girl is the reason
for this nice meeting.” He raised his right hand and opened it
wide. “The only difference between us is that you’ve come to kill
her, and we’ve come to rescue her.”

“I believe that Samael still has some kind
of honor,” Gabriel held his hand out toward Samael. “some loyalty
to his Father.”

Silence fell. Everybody was waiting for
Samael's response. His word would solve the unsettling situation.
He looked at Gaap and Beelzebub, then at Gabriel sharply.

“As I said, I won’t let you kill her. Even
if I have to betray you again,” he announced tonelessly. “This is
not about you or Lucifer, this is about her.”

“You!” Gabriel roared, irritated, and made a
step toward the couple.“You are the Father’s biggest mistake!”

“And to think you said that Father never
makes mistakes,” Gaap remarked, grinning wickedly. Beelzebub
laughed, shaking his head.

Gabriel’s right hand twitched and a bright
sword formed from the rays of sun. Then he opened his wings,
throwing sand into the air with a swish. Beelzebub stepped away
from Gaap. Fear flooded his black eyes, but he stood his ground.
Unlike him, Gaap at least looked brave. Taking out his long sword,
he marched ahead to meet the white archangel’s wrath.

“Let them have me,” escaped from Lily’s
mouth. Samael looked at her, taken aback. He forgot about everybody
surrounding them. “You shouldn’t have to do this,” she went on
absentmindedly, “I mean, you’re not even a part of this. It’s their
war, you have nothing to do with it.”

“I’ve got everything to do with you,” Samael
reminded.

“I love you, Samael, but I’m mortal. After
all, you will have to let me go one day. You’d better do it now so
nobody will hurt you or, rather, send you to the Island of the
Dead. You’ve done too much for me already. I want to return what I
owe you.”

Lily burst into tears and she averted her
eyes.

“Before I met you I was dead, Lily,” Samael
said with a low voice. He put his hand under her chin and raised
her head to face her blue, mournful eyes. “My life has just begun
with you, and you want them to take it from me?” He balled his
hand, his eyebrows arched and anger briefly twisted his expression.
“There is no unearthly creature – not even God himself – that can
take you away from me.”

As he finished, his gray sword shone in the
sunlight, ready to slice some heads. The last expression she saw in
his eyes was rough and full of confidence. He wheeled around,
raising his sword into the air. The power in the sword created a
mighty wave and tossed several of Gabriel’s men backward, but the
archangel was powerful and stood his ground. Under the shadow of
Samael’s force, Lily saw Gabriel’s narrowed and irritated eyes.
They were green too, but not as wise as Samael’s.

Now there was no way back. The battle had
begun in earnest. No words could be said anymore, only the strength
of arms would be able to end the fight once and for all.

Gaap lifted his sword above his head. It was
an order of attack. His men rushed ahead toward Gabriel’s small
army. Some of them jumped high into the air, reaching the angel in
a second. Gabriel roared like a furious beast and wheeled his
sword. In the same instant an insane wind arose, then he struck,
tossing three of Gaap’s men backward. They fell to the ground,
dead. Their bodies melted immediately and were swallowed up by the
sand.

The battle was on. Samael was covering Lily
with his body. She saw four opponents fall from his strikes, then
her eyes turned to Gabriel, who was fighting Gaap and Beelzebub.
Every time Gabriel’s and Gaap’s swords met, a loud clatter
reverberated through the air, mingling with the angel’s angry
roars. Everywhere she looked drops of blood clung to the air, as if
there was no gravity to pull them down onto the ground. Lily had
found herself in an unbelievable world, surrounded by unreal
creatures fighting each other brutally. Voices and yells echoed
over the desert, crazy winds stirred sand up and mingled with the
blood. The endless clanging of strikes sounded everywhere.

Following the battle, Lily’s eyes witnessed
one of Heaven’s dogs gnawing the throat of an accomplice of Gaap’s.
The man was already dead, the dog let it go. Its huge, completely
black eyes looked around wickedly, and it spotted Lily. Her stomach
lurched at the malicious sight. She tightened Samael’s arm
protecting her, and leaned against his back. The dog opened its
muzzle, and displayed its long, slobbering teeth covered in
gore.

“Samael,” Lily hissed, but her voice was too
low and the gray-winged man didn’t hear her.

The dog bent its head forward, sniffed
angrily, and set off in a run toward Lily. She stood petrified, not
knowing what to do. Run or fight? But how she was supposed to fight
against such an unearthly creature?

As the dog was half way toward her, Lily saw
one of Gaap’s men in the air swooping toward that winged animal.
That was it, Lily thought, but the evil animal was smarter than she
had expected. It spotted the enemy, and it launched itself into the
air using its hind legs and seized the enemy’s throat with its
sharp teeth. They both crashed down to the ground; the body of the
man began melting, and the dog spit the rest of him out of its
mouth.

Its eyes found Lily again. Her heart leaped
into her throat, and she shrieked loudly, seeing its monstrous
eyes. Even Gabriel’s and Gaap’s attention turned to her. Samael
covered her with his left hand quickly and wheeled around to face
the dog where it was already airborne. It flung itself against the
gray angel, Samael let Lily’s arm go and lifted his hand toward the
animal. It was as though he caught the falling dog and slammed it
into the ground, but Lily clearly saw that Samael hadn’t touched
it. It was his supernatural power at work again.

He looked back at her abruptly, held out his
hand to her and Lily grabbed it swiftly. Samael hid her behind his
back again, and hoisted the sword to a defensive position.

“Samael,” Lily cried out fearfully.

“Don’t panic,” he replied, turning around to
look for approaching enemies. “Just stay close and I’ll protect
you.”

Lily only nodded absently.

The blood and dust globs soaring in the air
distorted Lily’s view. She hadn’t noticed where one of Gaap’s
partners had come from, only that he was now attacking Samael. He
had obviously overestimated his own strength. Samael blocked his
strike then sliced him into two halves.

“Whose side are we on?” Lily asked looking
distraught at the sight of the melting body. “I thought we are on
Beelzebub’s side.”

“We’re on our own side,” Samael told
her.

Though her diameter of vision was small, it
was clear from the clashes and howls echoing around that the battle
was in full play. The smell of blood flooded Lily’s nostrils. She
felt sick, but tried to hold herself up. Her confused eyes were
searching for any danger that might emerge from the stormy battle.
She raised her hand, her face contorted in disgust as she saw her
hand was colored red from the blood. On any other ordinary day she
would’ve shrieked endlessly, or rather collapsed to the ground in a
state of hysteria, but not now.

The dust around them cracked open, and from
the gap Gabriel emerged, illuminating Samael and Lily with his
wings’ light. He was like the sun amidst the storm of battle, but
his furious eyes were a reminder that the sun yet burns.

Gabriel’s sword sparkled, ready for the
fight against his youngest brother. His light attracted Samael’s
attention, and Samael spun around to meet his enemy. With a snarl,
Gabriel rushed toward him. The ground quaked under his feet, and
even the suspended blood drops were pushed aside by his loud and
powerful voice. Samael held his sword in front of him, his free
hand stretched back to Lily and pushed her backward. Lily was
tossed aside and slammed into the sand face first. She turned her
head to see what happened to Samael, but the brothers were out of
her sight, only the sounds of clashing swords reached her ear. But
that sound meant Samael was still alive.

There was no time to lay down and gather
strength. Lily had to stand up. She struggled to pull herself up
and was on all fours when somebody grasped her back and lifted her
on her feet. Thinking it was Samael, Lily turned to face her savior
with a blithe smile, but upon seeing Beelzebub instead her smile
faded away.

“Let’s go, Lily,” he said, squeezing her arm
tight. “Don’t be foolish this time. The servants of Heaven will not
let you alive. If you want to live, then you have to come with
me.”

“I can’t leave Samael alone,” she
spluttered.

“He’ll join you afterwards,” Beelzebub said
suspiciously, and hauled her far from the place where Samael was
struggling against Gabriel.

“Stop, I don’t want to go with you!” Lily
fought to free her arm, but it was no use. “Let me go!”

Beelzebub didn’t even acknowledge her
protests. Lily peered back over her shoulder desperately, hoping
that Samael would notice Beelzebub's actions, but instead Gaap’s
comrades were encircling Beelzebub and Lily. They had no intention
of fighting against Gabriel's army when they could just take her
instead. The only person who would want to save her was the keeper
of Eden, but he was alone fighting two enemies.

It’s said that when the last bit of hope
leaves you, you should try to find God’s light above you. Lily
looked up in search of help, wondering if maybe God would send
someone to rescue her. She didn’t know whether it was God’s will,
but in that same instant a dark shadow fell over her and Beelzebub.
She heard an echoing voice speaking in Latin. Her eyes searched
frantically, and upon looking at Beelzebub, she realized that
somebody was nearby. Somebody who was enough to make Beelzebub
stand at attention, stopping him from running. They halted.