Mercy for the Fallen (14 page)

“Here we go.” Adam’s face was grim as he called forth his sword and used it to shatter the glass, taking care to break free all the jagged pieces that might cut us on the way through. 

No alarm sounded, and the voices approaching from below didn’t give any sign that they cared one way or the other about the sound.  Adam stepped through the window first, his dark wings unfurling to hold him aloft the moment he took to the open air. 

“It’s our turn now, sweetie.  Hold tight to Mommy and everything will be fine.”  I opened my arms to her, marveling again at how big she’d gotten.  Not that I had any trouble with her weight, thanks to my angelic strength, but she was definitely bulkier to hang onto.  I emerged from the tower, remembering to keep dim as my snowy wings spread wide.  A quick look around showed no one in sight, and I quickly spotted the general direction where the river waited. 

Only as soon as we climbed higher, tiny dark shapes appeared in the distance, moving fast in our direction.  I was reminded of Raum’s demon army and tried to pick up the pace, but it was like trying to fly through water.  It would have made more sense if it was the wind keeping us back, but it was like an unseen current of molasses, thick and gloppy, slowing me down every time I aimed for the river.  “Why is it so hard to get out of here?” I yelled through gritted teeth. 

“It’s like a roach motel,” Adam called back.  “You know, roaches check in but they don’t check out.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”  I could hover in place without being too taxed, but forward progress was slow going.  Not so for the black winged creatures rapidly gaining headway. 

“It’s an old… never mind.  Focus on hitting that outcropping of rock we came out of before and I’ll keep them off your back.” 

I didn’t have much choice but to do as he said, each few feet I gained a shallow victory as the Keepers closed the distance on us. 
Just keep swimming, just keep swimming…
I heard the simple cartoon song in my head, encouraging me to keep that forward momentum going.  I could do this.  It might take a while, but we’d make it if I could keep focused on the task at hand. 

“Christ, what are those things?”  I heard the shock in Adam’s voice as the air around us was filled with the beat of leathery wings.  I know I shouldn’t have looked back, I should have just focused on the rocks in the distance, but it became impossible to leave my back turned to them, knowing instinctively what they were.  I’d seen them before. 

“They’re soul eaters,” I replied.

“No, they can’t be.” 

They were though, I could feel it in the pit of my stomach.  And they were hungry.  They had thin bodies with oversized heads, and dark leathery wings, like a bat’s.  The one I’d seen at Lucifer’s beck and call had fit in the palm of his hand, but these were as big as Nelo if not bigger.

“Hold tight to me, Bunny,” I spoke in her ear.  “And don’t look.”  If we somehow survived this, I didn’t want her to have nightmares.

“They’re getting bigger.  Mercy, dammit, what did I say about your fear?”

“I can’t help it, they scare the crap out of me!”

Adam turned his back on them, his blue eyes looming large before me.  “You have to stop it or they’ll grow big enough to swallow us whole.  Just calm down, it’ll be okay.  I got this,” he offered a lopsided smile, and I tried to match the courage I saw there.

“I’ll try.”

“I could quote Yoda or some shit at this point, but this is more my style.”  Adam leaned past our daughter’s head to kiss me, sending a burst of soothing Grace in that brief contact before he pulled back with a wink.  “I’m going in, you’d better scoot.”  He gave me a shove toward the mountain, turning to face the soul eaters head on. 

Feeling better, I turned back to push my way through the soggy air (that’s not quite right, but I don’t know how else to say it), Dori’s voice egging me on in my head. 
Just keep swimming, just keep swimming. 
The sounds of a skirmish reached my ears, but I did my best to ignore them.  Adam could handle it, I’d seen him take on a half dozen armed angels before, he definitely knew his way around a sword.  

The inhuman shrieks of pain made me flinch, but I tried to take heart whenever they split the air, each cry a blow of success for Adam.  Harder to ignore were the grunts of pain I recognized coming from Adam, and I risked a look behind to see how he fared. 

Adam was fighting three of them, and there were many broken bodies littered on the snow below.  There were bite marks on his legs and one of his wings dripped blood, but he doggedly held them back.  We would make it, as long as no more showed up to fight.  While I watched in horror, the soul eaters he engaged gave an ear-splitting shriek and ripped themselves in two.  Where he’d been fighting three were now six, each as big as the first three.   

I had to help him. 

Through it all, Eve had remained quiet, nestled in my arms, but at the last shriek she’d let go of me to cup her hands over her ears.  “I need you to hold onto me, I need to help Adam.  Can you be brave and do that for me, Evie?”  I sent her some soothing Grace and she nodded, her arms circling around my neck. 

It was far easier to fly back to his side, my maneuverability was fine as long as we didn’t try to leave Githa.  Summoning my sword, I struck at the soul eater closest to me, its attention firmly focused on getting around Adam to get to me and Eve.  My sword sliced through its wing, sending it tumbling to the rocks below with a screech. 

“Hey, this is easier than I thought,” I crowed over my quick success. 

“I said get to the mountain!” Adam growled over his shoulder at me. 

“No gratitude…” I murmured, slicing at the little bugger trying to chew on my boot.  My blade bit into the top of its shoulder and it shook its head in confusion before trying to attack my foot again in the exact same way.  I just waited for it to get into range, lifting my foot higher until I could lop its head off. 

“These things aren’t too bright, are they?” I called out to Adam who’d dispatched two more.  It was easier than I’d thought it would be to fight them.  As long as I stayed away from their teeth, or tried to deflect them with my boot, they weren’t too hard to manage.  It might have been harder if they were smaller like the one who got into Ben, then they could swarm and…

“Oh no…”  The soul eater I was fighting broke apart into a dozen tiny creatures, enveloping me in a cloud of teeth and claws.  They swarmed over me, biting and trying to burrow into my mouth and ears.  Tiny hands tore at my hair, ripped at my wings, it was all I could do to stay aloft and try to keep them away from Eve. 

“Adam!”  I screamed, spitting as I bit down on one tiny creature who ventured too close to my teeth. 

“There’s too many of them,” he grunted, and I saw that the others had all broken apart too.  We were surrounded by a cloud of tiny monsters, each desperate to bite and claw their way inside of us.

“Ow!” Eve yelled when one of them pulled her hair.  I rolled my arm, trying to tuck her into the safety of my shoulder, but she wriggled out of my grasp.  “Shoo!” she scolded, swatting the tiny creature on the head.  Her lips puckered up and a whistling trill emerged, reminding me of how Lucifer had called one to Ben’s aid.  To my utter surprise, it squeaked and disappeared in a black puff of smoke.  “Go away, shoo!” she said again, repeating the whistle with duplicate results, utterly unafraid of the terrifying little beasts.  

I tried to copy the whistle, flicking one with my middle finger and it rolled away, disappearing before it completed the spin.  Adam caught on as well, and in less than a minute of whistling, we stood alone above the mountain tops, our path clear. 

“Evie, how did you know how to do that?” I asked, holding her close in a celebratory hug.

“That’s how I always make them go away when they try to bite me.  The angel told me how to be safe here.  He was an angel, wasn’t he?”

“That would’ve been good to know before we left the keep.”  Adam rolled his shoulders with a wince. 

“You didn’t ask,” she blinked, all innocence. 

“Can’t argue with that logic,” he allowed.  “Alright, team, we’re not out of the woods yet.  Let’s beat feet for the rocks, I won’t feel better about this until we reach the mouth of the river.” 

It was slow going though, it felt like hours before we reached the crevice in the rocks and climbed inside to the relative safety of the crossroads.  Still, we got there in one piece, and the tiny bite marks had mostly healed thanks to our Grace. 

“We made it.”  I let out a breath of relief, leaning against the frozen wall.  One thing was for certain, I didn’t feel all that cold after struggling so hard to get there, especially with Eve tucked in close to my body. 

“No time to rest, we’ve got to keep moving.”  Adam’s voice was calm, but I could see the tension in his shoulders. 

“What’s the big deal?  We know how to take care of the soul eaters if they show up again.”

“That’s what form the Keepers took here on Githa.  The whistle command might not have any effect if something
else
tries to stop us on the way out.”

“Oh.” 

“It’s time to play the quiet game again,” Adam smiled down at Eve, chucking her under the chin.  “And for this round you’ll have to close your eyes.”

“I don’t want to,” she pouted, sounding sleepy.  Was it her nap time?  I had no sense of the time of day anymore.

“Well, that’s part of the rules of the game.  Your mom has to do it too.”

“Are you sure about this?” I asked over the top of her head.  “Maybe we should try this just holding hands so I can help if I need to.”

“No, our best bet is to make as small of a target as possible.  I’m hoping the Grace keeps everything at bay, but we also don’t know if my brother left us anymore surprises designed to keep us down here.  So quit your complaining and come here where you belong.”  He opened his arms, and I bit back the retort that leapt to mind, keeping Eve sheltered between us as I wrapped one arm around his shoulders. 

“Now close your eyes.  Both of you.”

I didn’t want to.  Not because I was curious about what there was to see, but because I wanted to keep an eye out in case something else came after us.

“Trust me, Mercy.” 

I did.  He’d brought us safely so far, and maybe it was for the best if I kept my stupid imagination out of the picture.  I tucked my face into his neck, closing my eyes tight.  “Let’s go.”

There was even more resistance this time as he flew over the river, heading back the way we’d come.  It was like we were flying through sludge, and I could feel the strain in his muscles to keep us aloft.  Not that I thought it was all that much harder for him to do while carrying us, I had the feeling it would be just as hard for any of us to try it solo.  This place was designed to keep people in, even without the Keepers’ interference.  

I wasn’t sure how far we’d come when I felt his energy start to falter.  I did the only thing I could think of, sending him a surge of my Grace like a bubble to envelope us.  To my surprise, I felt Evie do the same, her Grace merging with mine.  Like a rocket, we shot ahead, cutting smoothly through the air with much less effort on Adam’s part.  Before I knew it, we were free, collapsing onto the wet rock at the bottom of the falls. 

Adam rolled onto his back, breathing heavily, but I didn’t feel the least bit tired from supplying the burst of Grace and Eve appeared to be no worse for wear. 

“That was fun, let’s do that again!” she declared, her face alight with exhilaration.

“That’s my girl,” Adam breathed, still winded, but amused by her outburst.

I was more worried about how spent he was, laying flat on his back like his shoulders were pinned to the rock.  “Do you need some of my Grace?” I whispered.

“No, I’m good.  I just need a minute to catch my breath.”

I didn’t mind taking a breather either.  He didn’t seem concerned about anything else coming after us, and Eve had settled down to watch the water, her eyes growing heavier once the excitement faded. 

“
Did you mean that stuff you said to Isobel back there?” I asked once her head drooped onto my chest. 

“It’s a bit preachy for me, but more or less.  Like I said, by and large the Big Guy is more forgiving than people give him credit for.  He’s not concerned with punishment on an individual basis, He’s got more important fish to fry.  It was her own guilt keeping her there.”

“Then why did it take you so long to forgive yourself for what happened to Mariah and the baby?”

His eyes narrowed.  “That was different.  Isobel was just a kid.  She made a bad call while under extreme emotional duress.  I knew what I was doing, and I did it anyway.”

“I don’t think He wants you to keep punishing yourself for it until the end of time.”

“So you’re speaking for God now, are you?” Adam scoffed, his eyes half lidded.

“I’m the Clarion, aren’t I?”

He considered that in silence for a few moments before looking up at the reflections the water painted on the ceiling.  “You know for a while there I might have believed that, but I don’t think he’s done punishing me yet.”

“Why not?”

His bright gaze found me again.  “Do you really want me to answer that?”

I shook my head, looking down at Eve’s sleeping face, anything but the power of those eyes.  “I thought you were happy for me and Parker,” I said softly.

“That doesn’t mean it’s not torture for me to see you with him.”

“I’m sorry.  I never wanted to be a torture for you.”

“Eh, it’s okay.  Give it another couple hundred years…  You never know what the Big Guy has planned for us, right?”

I couldn’t think in those terms, not yet.  Did I consider the possibility that we might find our way back to each other again someday?  Yes.  Did I feel confident enough in that eventuality to tell him to be patient and wait for it?  No. 

“Did you ever think maybe I’m not the right one for you?” I asked.

“Not for one second.”