The Rise of the Fallen (The Angelic Wars Book 2) (7 page)

Arrogant bastard, he
thought and then realized that he should be feeling some relief.
Obviously this guy, whoever he was, didn't know about Sariel. With a
flash of insight, Chris somehow knew that that was why he was still
alive.

Finally, all five staffers
rose to their feet at once. Before they could advance or take any
action, the man waved at them languidly and they froze, statue-like
and still.

“
Please, my
friends,” he said in a pleasant, smooth baritone. “Please,
don't get up on my account. I approve of you rising for a guest, but
I'm not as formal a fellow as I appear.”

From behind the stranger,
the door to the cockpit began to open. The man made a slight gesture
with his right hand and it slammed shut again.

“
We don't need any
interruptions from your beloved Judge Hawkes or his oafish cook, now
do we?” He raised his voice. “Stay in there, adjudicator.
I'll attend to you momentarily. I wish to have some quiet time with
your servants first.”

“
We aren't servants,
whoever you are,” Natalie said forcefully. Chris turned his
head slightly to watch her, while keeping an eye on the man. “We
are friends and colleagues.”

The stranger looked at her
in a friendly fashion.

“
Oh, my dear
Natalie. Don't be so naive. That fellow uses whomever he needs to, to
achieve his ends. Surely you must know that by now.”

At Natalie's surprised
expression, he smiled broadly. “Oh yes, I know who you are,
dear. More importantly, I know who dwells within you, clasped on to
your soul like a leech. Sucking on your essence for her own
satisfaction.”

Natalie scowled and Chris
saw her steady herself against another twist of the plane's motion.
She narrowed her eyes and stared at the stranger in determination.
And then her eyes widened with surprise and the man laughed.

“
No, no, I don't
think so. I don't want Gloriel to interrupt our time together. Let
her sit in there and contemplate her impotence.” He made an
indifferent gesture. “She's only an angel, after all. And not a
very powerful one at that.”

“
Why you...”

Natalie surged forward and
he smiled as she too froze in place.

“
Uh uh, my dear. No
heroics, please. Making me angry is very unwise, I assure you. Would
you like proof? Allow me.”

He turned and looked down
the aisle at Margaret. She whimpered as he caught her eyes and
squirmed against her bonds, desperately trying to escape. Chris stood
a few feet away in the aisle and he felt some slight compassion as he
watched her obvious terror.

“
This...thing
foolishly tried to curry my favor by acting precipitously, killing
your air crew. I did not request this action.” He tilted his
head slightly and narrowed his eyes. “Did I, you idiot?”

Margaret's whimpers became
louder and she thrashed violently in her seat.

“
Be silent,”
he said with disdain. “You disgust me.”

He looked around at the
others. Again his eyes passed over Chris with no interest at all and
his anger smoldered even stronger. But his fear rose as well, making
the breath catch in his throat.

The man looked at Natalie
again. “Do you know who I am, my dear?” he asked,
sounding genuinely curious. She might have been frozen in place, but
Natalie could still speak.

“
I don't know who
you are,” she snarled. “But I know what you are.”

“
What I am? Oh my,
how crude. Then tell me, child. What am I?”

“
You're one of the
Four Horsemen. You're a son of the Devil.”

At her answer, the man's
face went blank. And then he grimaced and his flint-like eyes glinted
with a red light.

“
The Devil. I loathe
that term. Be careful when you speak to me, little girl. Especially
about my beloved father.” He relaxed and smiled again. “But
full marks for the guess. It's very close to the truth. Did little
Gloriel give you the answer? If so, she's of slightly more
intelligence than I gave her credit for. How surprising.”

He turned his gaze back on
Margaret.

“
Yes, one of the
Four. Can you guess which one? Observe and I'll give you a hint.”

His face darkened and he
lowered his brows as he stared at the flight attendant. She had time
for one last whimper and then she screeched in agony.

Chris gasped in horror and
he stumbled back, falling into an empty seat. He watched Margaret's
face swell enormously and take on a greenish cast. And then black
spots appeared all over her skin, spots that rapidly expanded into
running sores, boils that leaked yellowish pus. The stench was
stomach-churning and Chris clapped a hand over his mouth and nose,
trying uselessly to block it out.

Margaret convulsed
massively one last time, and he actually heard bones snapping as she
twisted unnaturally in her death throes. And then she sagged in the
seat, her mouth gaping open, mucus dripping thickly on to her chest.

Natalie had turned her
head to watch and Chris saw her face become pale and she averted her
gaze as Margaret died. She looked back at the stranger.

“
Yes, I know who you
are now,” she said to the man. He smiled and raised an
inquiring eyebrow. “You're Pestilence, aren't you?”

“
Ah, very good.”
He clapped his hands lightly together. “Although I must say, I
gave you a rather large clue. But no matter. It is gratifying to be
recognized even so.” He glanced over his shoulder at the door
to the cockpit.

Chris had been so focused
on the man, and on the horrible death of Margaret, that he hadn't
paid any attention to the banging at the door as the judge and Chef
tried to break out. The stranger looked a bit irritated.

“
Honestly, how
impolite are some people?” He shrugged and turned back to stare
at Natalie. “Well, I'll deal with them soon enough. Now, seeing
that you've managed to figure out who I am, I am going to reward you,
my dear.” His voice was gentle.

“
I don't want
anything from you, demon,” she snapped at him.

Chris stood up slowly from
where he had fallen. He avoided looking at Margaret's body and he
tried to ignore the smell of decay that was wafting from her
direction, Instead he watched Natalie.

She was shaking, not from
fear obviously, but in a futile attempt to get loose of her invisible
bonds. Chris could see the staff members doing the same. The stranger
ignored them all and continued to focus on Natalie.

“
No, I know you
don't. But you shall have it anyway. Let it never be said that a
member of the Four was without some compassion. And so I will give
you the gift of a swift death.”

Chris' heart was suddenly
in his throat. He began moving slowly, step by step, toward the man.
He didn't have any plan in mind. He actually didn't know why he was
moving at all. But he couldn't seem to stop himself. If this guy,
whatever he was, killed Natalie, he was going to have his head. Or
die in the attempt. A much more likely scenario, a little voice
inside him said.

Natalie didn't reply to
the stranger. She continued to twist and pull at her bonds. The man
sighed dramatically.

“
Not even a thank
you? Well, so much for angelic manners, I suppose. Be happy, child.
Your fate is so much kinder than what I have in store for the rest of
your companions. Like this little fellow, for instance.” And he
turned at stared directly at Chris for the first time.

Chris stopped dead in his
tracks. He felt no force around him. He wasn't trapped like the
others. The man's ebony eyes simply pinned him, like a snake's
hypnotic glare pins a mouse before it attacks.

“
And who is this? A
friend perhaps?” The man tilted his head as he had done
earlier. “No one of importance, obviously. I sense no angelic
presence within him.” He grinned broadly. “Rejoice, boy!
You are not infected by a holy parasite. You lucky child. And an
innocent, unlike those around you.”

He shook his head and
looked mournfully at Chris, who detected a wild hilarity beneath the
false concern.

“
I have no wish to
harm innocents. Indeed I don't. But we mustn't have any witnesses.
Very unprofessional, you know. However, like your dear friend,
girlfriend perhaps?” he laughed gleefully, “I shall give
you a swift death. It's the best I can offer, I'm afraid. But take it
in the spirit in which it is given and perhaps, after death, Gloriel
can take you under her wing as it were, and escort you to Heaven.”

He folded his arms and
looked around at everyone. “And when you all reach those pearly
gates and walk through, enjoy yourselves. Sing songs. Pick flowers.
For soon Heaven will fall and my father shall rule in the place of
your impotent and so upstanding and moral God. So maybe we'll meet
again one day. Let us hope for that, shall we?”

“
You're insane,”
Natalie said coldly. “Imagine that. An insane demon. Will
wonders never cease.”

The man dropped his arms
to his sides and his face twisted with fury. He took two impossibly
large strides forward and lifted Natalie up by her neck until her
head banged off of the ceiling.

“
I am not a demon!”
he spat at her. Then he shook her like a grown man would shake a
puppy and threw her to the floor. She bounced and rolled to Chris'
feet and he knelt down with a small cry and slipped an arm under her
neck to support her head.

After a moment of terrible
stillness, Natalie opened her eyes and looked up at him, a trickle of
blood oozing from her mouth.

“
I'm...okay, Chris.
Get me back on my feet.”

“
No Nat. You're
hurt. Just lay there and...”

“
He's about to kill
all of us. And I'm not going to die lying down.”

She began to struggle to
sit up and Chris, with a low moan of futility, helped her to her
feet.

The man had returned to
his original position and watched, amused once more, as Natalie
finally stood swaying, with Chris's arm around her waist to support
her.

“
I dislike insults,
dear Natalie, and I'm afraid I have a bit of a temper. So please,
don't do that again. My brothers and I are not demons. Demons are
fallen angels, as you well know, who followed my father into exile.
We are as far above those lickspittles as the archangels are above,
well, Gloriel. And insanity is reserved for humans, not hell-born
like myself.”

This time Natalie chose
not to answer, to Chris' relief. Both of them simply stood there and
stared at the Horseman.

Chris hoped he looked
defiant but he was afraid that he just looked young and scared. We're
about to die, he thought. What a frigging waste, another part of him
thought with disgust.

“
Well, the time had
come, my dears. I have to wrap this up. Once you and your leader are
gone, his organization will collapse. And whatever remnants are left
will be swept up by our servants. Finally, we can begin our
destruction of this miserable planet and our march on Heaven.”
He looked up at the ceiling and his expression was rapturous. “Oh,
what a glorious time it will be. Almost,” he giggled,
“heavenly.”

Name him, Chris,
a tiny little voice said from somewhere deep inside.

Chris jerked slightly but
the intruder didn't notice. His eyes were still closed and he was
smiling widely, lost in dreams of disease and destruction, Chris was
sure.

Name him? Name him
what? Is that you, Sariel?

Yes, it's me. Who were
you expecting? Listen. we have no time. You must use his real name.
That will lock him into his present form and lessen his powers. And
it will free Gloriel so that she can deal with him.

She can kill him?
Chris asked eagerly.

Of course not. He's a
son of Satan. But she will be able to banish him for a time. Time
enough for all of you to find a safe haven.

I don't understand.
You're back, so why don't you deal with him?

Because I'm not back. I
stand in Purgatory even now. I can only reach out to help you this
way. I cannot leave here. Not just yet anyway.

Why? What's going on?

For the love of Heaven,
Christopher, stop asking questions! You have no time left. His name
is Askalon. Use it. Name him. And I pray that Gloriel is strong
enough to stop him, once he is weakened. Now, farewell.

Sariel? Sariel!
Damn it, Chris thought. What's going on with him?

The stranger opened his
eyes and looked at them again. He continued to smile with
satisfaction.

“
And now, dear
children,” he said. “We come to the end. Adieu.”

“
Get ready to bring
out Gloriel,” Chris muttered to Natalie under his breath. She
turned her head painfully to look at him.

“
What?”

“
Never mind what.
Just get ready.”

Chris steadied her on her
feet and took a step toward the man, demon, whatever he was.