Plague of Angels (18 page)

It was near dawn when Nyx and Persephone came screaming out of the sky like two hawks, diving down on the home of Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna. Both were clad head to foot in their black, scaled armor, their swords blazing with black Hellfire and their whips leaving trails of black sparks.

“Now!” shouted Nyx. “Now we will destroy them all!”

She pulled in her wings and reversed, and Persephone did the same, their spiked heels aiming for the roof. Nyx’s plan was to break through the roof of the house, terrorize Polycarp and kill everyone in his house. Then, they were going to flay and crucify him as a warning to the others.

They were nearly at the roof when the wind took them. Both Nyx and Persephone could easily fly through a gale, but this was different. This was a divine wind and it picked the two of them up and threw them into the sea like a pair of albatrosses shot from the sky.

“Asshole,” muttered Nyx as she paced the room, drying her hair. “Dog fucker. Pig fucker. Goat fucker!”

“God, you mean?” said Ishtar.

“Of course God! That… that…”

“Shit-licking bum-boy of a beast-fucking swineherd?” suggested Persephone, shaking the water out of her wings.

“Yes!” said Nyx.

“You knew it was going to happen,” said Ishtar. “You’re the one who told us that we can’t attack them directly.”

“It didn’t happen in Arcadia!” protested Nyx. “I killed a temple full of Christians and nothing stopped me!”

“Really?” said Ishtar, her eyes lighting up. “We can kill them now?”

“Yes!”

“About damn time!” said Ishtar. She thought about it. “Why now, though?”

“Because the rules have changed!” snapped Nyx. She stopped then, realization washing over her like the sea had a few hours before. “Fuck! Shit! Fuck!”

Ishtar and Persephone stood back, watching closely. For the next hour, Nyx proceeded to destroy everything in the temple while screeching like a fishwife and swearing in twelve languages, including two only heard among the demons of Hell.

When she finally ran out of steam, she glared at the other two Angels. “The rules haven’t changed. The agreement is: `They shall go unfettered by Angels. They shall have free will and free choice, and they will choose for themselves which actions to take. No Angel shall order, compel, or lay hands on those who build my church. Not everyone is helping to build the church. And the ones who aren’t, we can kill.’”

“Ooh…” Ishtar rubbed her hands together. “Can I kill some of those disgusting men you’ve made me fuck? And their toad-like offspring?”

“Do what you like,” said Nyx, “Just don’t invite reprisals against your temple.”

“Isis’s temple,” grumbled Ishtar.

“Whatever,” snapped Nyx. “We need people to oppose them. We need people to fight and kill them, so keep building up Isis’s temple. I’m going back to Rome. One of my priests was embezzling, and I am very much in a mood to make an example of somebody right now.”

“Don’t overdo it,” advised Persephone. “Too much divinity and they become complacent. Keep the miracles few and far between and they’ll worship you all the more when they come.”

“This isn’t about miracles,” snapped Nyx. “The money he was taking could build new temples! I could gain more followers.”

“Followers aren’t everything.”

“They are for me!” snapped Nyx. “Have you forgotten what this is all about? Have you forgotten that we have a chance at Paradise, if we can defeat the Christians?”

“We haven’t forgotten,” said Persephone, her voice gentle.

“Send a vision to the priests telling them to bring you more followers. Tell them to give the money they have to the poor and raise more for a temple in the poor areas.”

“Which ones? There are poor all over the world!”

“All of them!” Persephone shook her head. “Your problem, my Queen, is that you are used to being in charge instead of being worshipped. Your priests do the work, and you supply the miracles, punishments, and protection. And you have as much fun as possible.”

“Fun doesn’t get me followers.”

“But it does get you laid,” said Ishtar, coming closer. “Especially when you visit me.”

“Hey!” said Persephone. “What am I? Chopped meat?”

“You certainly look like it after your ‘wedding night’ ritual,” said Ishtar.

“At least I don’t have to geld my High Priests to keep them in line.”

“No, you just have to fuck them.”

“Behave,” snapped Nyx. “I’m going back to Rome. The last Bacchanalia was a success against the Christians and I can use it again. Meanwhile, I’ll have my priests build a new temple to Nyx in the area. Every time we take one of his off the map, we replace it with one of mine.”

“Well, I can certainly help with that,” said Ishtar, spreading her own wings. “I’ll let you know which areas I’ve killed all the Christians in.”

130 A.D. – Egypt

In private cabin of his ship, Emperor Hadrian finished fucking the beautiful Antonius with a loud moan and collapsed onto the other man’s smooth back. A moment later he rolled off, though his hand stayed on the younger man’s body, caressing him as the gentle motion of the Nile beneath them rocked the ship.

“You give me such pleasure,” he whispered to Antonius. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Nor I without you.” said Antonius, kissing him back. “My Emperor.”

The door to the cabin burst open and Nyx, in full battle armor, with wings widespread to cover the walls of the small room, yelled, “You pitiful excuse for an Emperor!”

“My lady Nyx!” protested Hadrian, his guts tightening with fear. “My goddess, what have I done?”

“You dare issue an edict protecting the Christians?” yelled Nyx. “You dare say that they cannot be harmed?” She grabbed Antonius, her taloned hands digging through the flesh of his leg. “I will destroy everything you love, old man, then I will destroy you!”

“No, please,” begged Hadrian, as Nyx dragged the screaming Antonius off the bed, crimson blood smearing the sheets. “Don’t hurt him! Please don’t hurt him!”

Nyx, dragging the wounded boy by one foot, walked out of the cabin and straight into the attack of ten legionnaires. She drew her sword and made one wide sweep with it, cutting through armor, weapons, shields and flesh, and sending a wide splatter of blood over the deck. Four of the legionnaires died. The others retreated, horrified. They stopped when they heard their Emperor’s ragged pleas, and prepared to advance again. Nyx kept walking. Her next swing decapitated two more of the legionnaires, their blood spraying from their still-standing bodies as their heads flew into the air. She reached the edge of the deck, and turned back to Hadrian. “You pissant! I should fuck you the way you fuck your bitch here, but I wouldn’t dirty myself with your flesh!” She raised Antonius in the air with one hand and sheathed her sword with the other. “The river is full of crocodiles, tonight,” she said. “I brought them here just for this occasion.”

“I beg you, Lady! I’ll do anything.” The Emperor was on his knees, not caring who saw.

Nyx thrust the talons of her now-empty hand into Antonius’s groin, tearing off his still-damp genitals and ripping open his belly and chest in a single swipe. Antonius’s screams went higher and louder as his guts coiled out into the water below. Hadrian jumped up and ran forward. Nyx let him come almost close enough to touch his lover, then threw Antonius over the rail. He splashed into the water below and the air was filled with the roar and hissing of the crocodiles. Hadrian fell to his knees, covering his face and wailing as the roars and growls of the crocodiles feasting filled the air.

Nyx grabbed Hadrian, pinched open his mouth and poured a disgusting concoction down his throat. The Emperor gagged and choked, trying to vomit it back up. Nyx clamped her hand over his mouth, forcing him to swallow or choke to death. “That,” she hissed in his ear, “was made of the blood, shit, piss and puke of an old man who has been dying by inches, in indescribable pain, for the last ten years.” She rose up and let Hadrian drop, writhing, to the deck. “You will come to my temple every month and you will kneel in worship. You will persecute the Christians and, if you do so, I my consider taking the disease from you.” She kicked him hard enough to send him skidding across the deck, knocking over the remaining legionnaires. “Asshole.”

Nyx flew off into the night, leaving the gasping, vomiting Emperor on the deck.

A.D. 165 – Rome

“It is true,” said the strong young soldier kneeling before Emperor Marcus Aurelius. “Again and again I see these Christians coming to our classes, challenging our teachers. They claim stoicism is a fable! They claim our teachings of virtue and the denial of vice are nothing compared to that of their petty little desert god.”

“Please, Caesar,” said the middle-aged man beside him. Like the young soldier, this man was strong and fit. He carried the scars of several battles on his flesh, and had a tattoo from one of eastern legions on his arm. Unlike the soldier, he was dressed for teaching. “They dare to claim that their teachings are equal to the Stoics, and are insinuating themselves into the great families of the empire. They must be stopped.”

“They will be,” promised Marcus Aurelius. “Let the word be spread. Christian teaching will not be allowed to contaminate our empire. They will not corrupt our children with their preaching of weakness. They do not understand true virtue, and therefore cannot understand the avoidance of vice. They may pray as they like, but will not be allowed to spread their teachings.” He sighed. “Rome is weak enough already. We will not have it weakened further.”

“Thank you, O Caesar,” said the young and old man together. They kissed the hem of his robe and backed away before leaving.

“That was well done,” said Persephone, once they left the audience chamber.

“It was necessary,” said Nyx, who was wearing the older man’s flesh. “He has no vices, as near as I can tell. He doesn’t believe in any of the Gods and he wouldn’t believe in me even if I showed myself. So if you can’t appeal to a man’s vices to corrupt him…”

“Appeal to his virtues,” finished Persephone. “Very good indeed.” Inside Nyx’s head, she added,
“My Queen.”

“Good enough for now,” said Nyx. “Let’s see how many he kills.”