Chapter 17

The desert was cold at night, bitterly so, but it was worse for the demons. These were creatures that until recently were immortal and didn't have to care about such trivial things like warmth, and sleep, and the need for water. My plan had been to spend the night somewhere dark and enclosed where we wouldn't be so exposed to the elements.

Instead, we were flying over the desert—a whole legion of demons led by a former angel.

Hekata insisted the Pyramids of Giza were close. Maybe for her, that was true. For me and the others the trip felt like an age. A small eternity spent flying over a sea of dunes, and dirt, and the hollowed out remains of the small settlements we came across.

In all this time, I hadn't spotted a single human, nor had I encountered signs of them. No lights, no fires, there weren't even aircraft in the sky. It was dark and eerily quiet… but the pyramids themselves eventually came into view, and it was then that I regained some hope.

Each of the monolithic structures was brightly lit and visible for miles. There were city lights nearby, twinkling in a manner that mirrored the stars floating overhead. Finally, civilization. Finally, humans.

They're not all dead.

It was a morbid thought, and it came entirely on its own. I hadn't wanted to concede to the idea that they might all be dead; those actual words hadn't crossed my mind. But I had clearly been considering the thought, and it made me shudder.

"There," said Hekata, her voice shrill against the wind. "We are close, now."

I relayed the message to Missolis, who looked like she was faring a little better than the rest of the rebels at her back. Many of the demons we were bringing with us couldn't fly and were being carried by those who could. That set-up had been manageable in Hell, where muscle fatigue wasn't a problem. But it was a problem now—and a big one, too.

These demons were exhausted.

We couldn't get to Helena soon enough.

"I think I see it," said Missolis, pointing at a spot of light beyond the pyramids, away from any city lights and roads. It was a shimmering bubble in a sea of darkness, and even from this distance, Missolis was straining to look at it directly.

I nodded. "Remember what we talked about," I said to her.

Missolis nodded. "I will. And my demons will behave."

"I know. Come on."

I dove towards the light, which by now I could tell was clearly a source of true Light. In fact, as I neared it, I started to pick out figures standing near the bubble. There were angels, at least six of them, Light bouncing off their armored rose-tinted pauldrons, chest plates, and weapons.

Dammit, Micah.

I had asked him to make sure there weren't any weapons present, but he had clearly been overruled by Azrael, who stood at the front of the group of assembled angels. She was difficult to miss with her dark hair and her glowing sword of pure Light. I asked Hekata to stay behind me as I swooped closer to the ground, aiming to land directly ahead of Azrael and the rest of the angels.

Behind her was the portal Micah had built for us. It was a dome of semi-circular Light that danced, and sparkled, and shimmered. Inside the Light I saw Helena—a familiar courtyard of stone, and vines, and flowers. It was still day over on the other side of the portal, and the sunlight only served to intensify the colors coming through from the other side.

Such vibrant green, and rose red, and blue.

It felt like home… until Azrael demanded I take no further steps toward her. She had her sword in her hand, but she wasn't holding it in a threatening manner.

Still, I raised my hands. "It's me, Azrael," I said.

"I know who you are," she said after a pause. Her voice was sharp, and curt, and though she looked every bit how I remembered her, there was something different about her. There weren't any scars on her face or any marks that I could see, but there was a kind of tiredness to the Warrior's eyes that was hard to miss.

One by one, and then very quickly, the demons I had brought with me all this way began to land behind me. Azrael and her angels watched them all, eyes rapidly darting from side to side. The angels were stoic, though, and while they too had weapons drawn none of them raised them against the demons.

This was a show of force, a warning maybe.

At least I hoped that was all it was.

I swallowed hard. "If you're here, then you've spoken to Micah?"

"Micah waits on the other side of the portal," she said.

I couldn't see him, but I knew he was there. He had to be. "Are you going to let us through?"

Azrael's gaze lowered, and she tightened her gauntleted grip on her sword. "You convinced Micah, but I am not so easily swayed. I wanted to see this army of demons for myself."

"This isn't an army. We're refugees."

"Which is it, then? You convinced Micah that this army was going to help us drive back Lucifer and his sycophants. Now you claim it is not an army, that you are refugees. All I see are demons."

"Well, hello to you too," said Hekata.

I turned to look at her and urged her to stop talking with my eyes. "Azrael," I said, "you don't know what we've been through. You don't know what I've been through. I know you don't trust them, you probably don't trust me, either. But I'm begging you. Let us through, give us shelter at Helena, and I promise you they will fight against Lucifer."

"I don't buy it. Demons rebelling against their master? Impossible."

Hekata spat on the sandy dirt. "Lucifer is not my master," she snapped. "I have no master, angel."

Azrael didn't look the least bit pleased with that outburst. She looked ready to raise her sword and bar our entry, but Missolis intervened, coming up between Hekata and me and placing a hand on my shoulder.

"We are the first rebels, Azrael," she said. "We rebelled against God, and for breaking Her rules we were broken and cast out. Then we rebelled against Lucifer's banner in Hell, rejecting his ideals and his goals. And when Lucifer arrived to break us all out of our eternal damnation, we rebelled once more, choosing not to go with him and the rest of our kind and instead throw ourselves at the mercy of angels."

Azrael's eyes darkened. "Is that supposed to impress me?"

Missolis smiled at her. "I don't expect you to be impressed," she said. "I know what it's like to be a Warrior. To be filled with a kind of righteous purity that burns in your chest like a white-hot flame."

"You don't know what you're talking about, demon."

Missolis shook her head. "I was once like you, Azrael. That same fire burned inside of me. I am asking you now, one Warrior's heart to another. Let us in, let us rest and heal, and we will fight for you. All of us."

I could tell Azrael still wasn't entirely convinced. All she could see before her was rabble. Demons. Creatures she had been taught to hate, to fight. She was a Warrior, built to see everything as friend or foe. How was she supposed to see demons as friends when it was coded into her very being that she should destroy them at every turn?

Hekata suddenly took to the air, shooting into the sky like a bullet. This made Azrael pull her sword up, and when she did, the rest of her angels mirrored her movements; some of them raising Light shields as well as their swords

"What are you doing?!" I yelled.

Hekata became night for an instant, melting into the darkened space between the stars. Out in the desert, the night sky had been filled with light, and color, and the shimmering majesty of the cosmos. Here, so close to all those man-made lights, the night sky was dark and treacherous. And the night held a secret.

"Hellion!" yelled Hekata.

"What?!" I called back.

"She's spotted a Hellion," said Missolis. "We've been followed."

"Followed? By who?!"

Missolis pointed toward the pyramids. There, not far from where we were, I saw shapes. "Who do you think?" she asked.

"I knew it," said Azrael. "I never should have allowed Micah to open this portal. Angels, we are leaving."

"No!" I gasped, racing towards her. "Azrael, wait."

Azrael gave me the tip of her glowing blade. "Not one more step," she warned, forcing me to back up.

"Azrael… it's me."

She shook her head. "A lot has changed since the last time we saw each other. We are not the same angels."

"But please, we don't have anywhere to go and many of these demons are exhausted. If you don't let us through, we'll be slaughtered out here."

"Do you have any idea what you're asking me to do?"

"Yes, I do."

"You're asking me to?—"

"I know exactly what I'm asking you to do, Azrael. I'm also here to tell you, these demons are not your enemy, but the ones coming down on us are. They will come for you after they're done with us. The question is, will you be able to withstand them on your own?"

Azrael watched me carefully, though her attention was divided. She lowered her sword and closed the distance between us so that she could speak quietly. "Come with us," she said, her voice a harsh whisper. "Do it now while their backs are turned. We do not need their kind in Helena."

I shut my eyes. "I can't turn my back on them," I said. "I would not have survived or escaped Hell if not for them."

She was conflicted. The angel inside of her wanted to help, but the warrior cried for caution. This wasn't the Azrael I knew that much was clear; her responsibilities then had been to enact Helenas orders, now she was the one giving them, and the decisions she had had to make weighed heavily upon her. Her weary eyes met mine, silently begging me to not force these demons on her bastion.

What had these angels had to endure in the year that I was gone? What horrors did Lucifer inflict upon them? There were no marks on her body, not that I could see… but where Missolis had scars on the outside, Azrael wore hers on the inside.

Finally, after a tense few moments of consideration, Azrael stepped aside and raised her sword. "Demons of Hell!" she yelled, "To me. Come through the portal if you value your lives, but don't rush this gate. I will cut you down if you do."

"You heard the angel," said Missolis, relaying the command to her rebels… only the rebels didn't look entirely convinced. They were looking at each other, exchanging cautious—maybe even dissident—looks. I had warned Micah against allowing Azrael to come out here swords-blazing. It wasn't going to look good, and it wasn't going to exactly foster an aura of trust between the two groups.

Azrael had done it anyway, and now Missolis' rebels didn't seem exactly keen to go through the portal to safety.

This problem was only made worse when a bright flare of Light erupted in the sky. It was as if the sun itself had ignited spontaneously and was looming high above us, blazing with the fire of creation itself.

My stomach sank, and all the blood drained from my face. All around me, demons hissed and snarled and tried to scurry away from the Light. Azrael and her angels raised their gauntleted hands to shield their eyes, but—unlike Micah's earlier appearance—no-one wept at the majesty of the creature slowly descending from the heavens.

Lucifer.

Lucifer was here. His arrival didn't inspire awe or tears of joy. The demons panicked, now stuck deciding between Lucifer and Azrael—and which was less likely to kill them. Helena's angels made the situation worse by raising their weapons once more.

"We need to go," said Azrael, grabbing me by the shoulder. "Right now."

"Missolis!" I screamed, "Get your rebels out of here!"

I could hear Missolis trying to get control of her force, and some of them were listening and rushing for the portal. Others, though, were too scared of Lucifer's Light and too distrustful of Azrael's to know where to go.

I turned to Azrael. "Make sure these demons get through," I said.

"What are you doing?!"

"I'm going to hold him off to buy you time."

"Sarakiel, that's insanity!"

"I know, but I made a promise, and I'm not going to break it. Now, round them up—go!"

Lucifer was descending on our position, and his demons were seconds behind him—just far enough away from his Light that they weren't affected by its potency. Instead of heading for the portal, and towards safety, I took to the air to join Hekata, who didn't seem to be trying to flee either.

"This is your chance to get somewhere safe," I said.

She shook her head. "We aren't safe as long as he still breathes."

"We can't kill him. You know that."

Hekata gave me her eyes. "We are both mortals now.Maybe he is as well."

"And if he isn't?"

"It will be more fun dying to find out than hiding under someone else's skirt."