The Angel Side Read online

  “How did you find out?” I asked as René ripped the towels from my hands. Dipping a rag in the warm water, René shot me a contemplative glance.

  “Since it all started, really. But I thought with vodka and your pills, it would go away, and it did for a while. Then we moved here, and it all came crashing back.” René sighed as she wiped blood from my dad’s forehead.

  “You know Alastor and Ra weren’t the only Demons here. Your mother was nice enough to keep bugging me to sober up and take care of you as I had promised. I would try to ignore her with another bottle, but she always found a way to get my attention. She’d move your picture around, write ‘Renétta’ with a slash between Ren and Etta on the bathroom mirror with my favorite lipstick, reminding me that she named you after me. But I would just drink more. Every time I looked at you, it was as if I were looking at your mom and seeing her write her little reminders of what a failure I was. You have to understand I never meant to hurt you, but I wanted it to stop, and you seemed to be the source of it all. I assumed if I could get rid of you, you’d take it with you.” René wrung out the rag in the pitcher as she released a heavy sigh.

  I had known in North Carolina Alastor had messed with René and fueled her alcoholism, but I never imagined in an attempt to help me, my mother only made it worse. Persephone’s little reminders had been what drove René to hate me to the point of abuse, furthering my descent into madness. I had never put much thought into René’s side but hearing it now, I understood why she had done the things she did.

  “When I left, I thought it would end. But your mother followed me. She told me your father had been hurt and lay dying. I got to the house just as a Demon and an Angel were leaving. When I rushed into the house to check on your father, there were these three people standing over him, watching as your father lie there screaming in pain. I thought they were killing him. I loved your father so much. If they were going to kill him, they would have to go through me. So I pulled the vodka bottle from my purse and rushed toward them, but the man in the middle stopped me. Without a word he told me what I needed to do. I needed to sober up and stand back, because you and your father were going to need me. So I did.” A tear rolled down René’s cheek as she gently stroked a rag against my father’s bloody, unfurled wing.

  Squeezing her shoulder, I hoped the contact would comfort her. René placed a hand on top of mine, giving it a soft peck, then nuzzled her cheek against our hands. It had been a rare glimpse of the woman I had known before our world had been invaded by Angels and Demons. I had missed the old René and not knowing if I’d ever see her again, I took advantage of the moment. Flinging my arms around René, I sucked her into a hug I’d been dying for her to give me for years. Whether she had the same feeling or simply sensed my desperation, René tightly wrapped her arms around me in return.

  “Sorry it took so long. My sister Cathy wouldn’t stop talking.” Amy announced, breaking up René and I.

  Stepping back from the couch to give Amy room, René put her arm around me. A blue flash ignited between my dad and Amy’s hands.

  “Come on.” Amy gritted through clench teeth as she gave my father another jolt.

  The air had been thick with fear and anticipation, followed by relief when my dad finally opened his eyes.

  “That bastard. I have to go,” Dad said, gripping his head as he slowly sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the couch. Relieved, René and I rushed to his side as he attempted to stand.

  “You’re in no condition to go anywhere. What happened?” René asked.

  Seeing my father hesitate at the realization René had been in the room while his wings were out, I chimed in. “She knows, Dad. What happened?”

  “The gates were attacked. We were overwhelmed, and that stupid husband of yours got in my way. I have to go back.”

  “What do you mean Ra got in your way…in the way of what?” I panicked, releasing my hold on him.

  My dad didn’t need to say a word. His stare said it all.

  “Is he okay?” I yelled.

  “I don’t know. Once he pushed me out of the way they engulfed him, and next thing I know I’m on Amy’s porch. Look, I have to go. You girls stick close to one another. I’ll be back.” Leaving a small dust cloud behind him, my dad took off for the Heavens.

  Ra had been a firm believer that every individual in the ranks should be able to handle themselves no matter the situation, no matter how many enemies they were facing, but teamwork would ensure a victory. For Ra to shove my dad aside and send him home meant defeat had been imminent.

  Guilt swept over me as I thought about my last words to Ra before he went off to battle. I had been horribly heartless, and it may have cost the only man I’ve ever loved his life. Heavy with worry, I fell to the couch, blankly staring off into space, when suddenly the windows exploded as if a bomb had gone off. Rat-like Demons flooded the living room as René, Amy, and I stood back to back, ready to fight.

  “I don’t usually kill women, but for you I’ll make an exception.” A raspy voice came from the back of the crowded room. Waltzing through the mob with a sinister grin, a Demon I knew all too well locked eyes on me.

  Memories of a life I’d rather not remember flashed in my head. Wailing, charcoal beings of what were once Angels and Demons ripping each other to shreds as they clamor atop one another forming peaks in the sea of the forgotten. Each mist reaching for any kind of relief as their soul endured pain far beyond excruciating. Others lie on the pinnacled ground or tuck away in corners tearing away at their own flesh in an effort to end the misery. Gut wrenching screams fill the air so thick, leaving no room for echoes in the canyon.

  Miles above on the cliffs sits Lilith, The Lady of Purgatory, on her throne of dismembered wings and horns. Surrounding her and the ledges stands her cloned army of female guards. Yellow stolas drape over their elongated, fur covered bodies. Jagged fangs drip with an oozing acid, burning the tortured below. Their fluorescent, powder blue eyes methodically scan their collection of the damned. Should a spirit get too close to the top, a flick of Lilith’s long, knobby fingers begins a blitz of serrated polearms raining into the throngs. Some are foolish enough to attempt to beg her for mercy. But no relief, no quarter, no sanctuary or death will come; only more pain and suffering. It had been Purgatory.

  I prepared to give the gigantic, cornrowed beast a speech about what would happen if she broke my deal with Lucifer, when my dad and the Arches appeared, surrounding Amy, René, and me.

  Drawing their weapons, the men closed in tighter around us. Bumping into me, I smiled as Ra glanced over his shoulder to see what he’d touched. Without as much as a smirk back, Ra coldly turned his attention back to the horde. I began to protest his icy demeanor when I noticed unlike the other Arches, Ra had only one wing visible.

  “Back off!” Ra snarled when I touched his back, searching for his wing.

  I jumped back, assuming he had barked his order toward me.

  “Now, now. You’d think you guys would have realized you’re no match for me and my ladies. Just ask dear Rahovart. Tell me Rahovart, what does it feel like having someone else carry you in order to flash? Hurts the masculine ego of yours, I bet.” Lilith taunted as yellowish-orange sparks burst from Gabriel’s wing.

  “Get down!” Ra cried out, shoving me down as a ball mace whizzed past my head.

  Scrambling to my feet, the hardwood flooring next to me splintered into the air as someone grabbed me by my waist, pulling me up.

  “Hold on!” my dad yelled as he prepared to flash with me in tow. Sparks flew overhead as a sword ricocheted off his flared wings. Fending off the attack, my dad dropped his hold on me. Darting behind Uriel, I ripped out two feathers from his wings and tossed them to a cowering René.

  “Get up and fight!” I screamed at René, stealing another pair of feathers for myself.

  “We’re outnumbered! We need to get out of here! Grab the women, and go!” Uriel shouted over the melee. When I turned to grab the closest A
rch, a searing pain cut through my spine. My knees buckled, and my body collapsed.

  “Ra!” I cried out, when a dark shadow cast over me.

  “He can’t help you now. Did you really think you and your bastard children would take my throne?”

  “I don’t want it. You can have it.” I bit out as the Demon stood over me, pushing the point of her sword into my chest. With Ra and the others engaged in full battle they had been unaware of my predicament. Any cry for help had been drowned out by the sounds of fighting.

  “Dad!” I tried to call out, but the white hot pain coursing through my body turned it to a whisper.

  “Oops. Time’s up.” Lilith said, looking in front of her.

  Using every ounce of strength I had, I tilted my head to follow her gaze. Ra had gone berserk, his eyes filled with rage and bloodlust as he cut his way through the mass of Demon rats, toward us. Behind him, my father, in an equal rage, finishing off anyone who made it past Ra.

  I told myself they were going to save me as they had every other time before. This had simply been another notch in my battle belt. Turning back to my would-be killer, I smiled victoriously.

  “Enjoy your afterlife.” She returned my smile with a wink as she thrust her sword deeper into my chest.

  With a deafening whistle, the Demon and her legions disappeared.

  “Ra. Help.” I gurgled as blood filled my mouth, dribbling from my lips down my chin.

  “Etta! No! No! No!” Ra came crashing down beside me, cradling me to his chest. Tilting my head, Ra brushed my hair aside.

  “Baby girl? You’re gonna be okay.” Seconds later my dad appeared next to Ra. As hard as I tried, I had been unable to focus on their faces. Everything spun and blurred as the world turned into a darkened kaleidoscope.

  “Where’s Amy?” Ra shouted then returned his attention to me.

  “I took her to the house where she’d be safe.” Gabriel replied.

  “Well take Etta there already!” Ra roared.

  There were a million and one things I needed to say to Ra as I lay dying. I wanted to tell him how sorry I was for what I said earlier, and I didn’t mean a word of it. How I never once regretted marrying him and loved him more than any words would be able to express. The thought of the life we had flashed before my eyes as I clung to his toga.

  “We can’t. She’s too injured. Her body won’t be able to handle it.” Uriel said.

  “Then go get her!” my dad yelled, grabbing Uriel then shoving him.

  The chaos around me seemed to make what had been happening all the more bleak, as I fought to breathe through the clog of blood in the back of my throat.

  “It’s going to be okay, my love. We’re going to get Amy.” Ra kissed my forehead as I coughed up what seemed to be a gallon of blood all over him. My eyelids became overwhelmed with a sudden heaviness I’d been unable to fight.

  “You’re going to be okay. We’re going to get you fixed and by this time tomorrow, we’ll be on that vacation you’ve been asking for. We’ll be swimming with dolphins, basking in the sun, and drinking enough virgin daiquiris to give us brain freeze for a week. Just hold on, honey.” Ra pleaded as my world faded to black.

  Chapter Six Ra

  “Open your eyes, honey. C’mon. Stay with me.” I said, shaking and tapping Etta’s jaw. I tried to keep a smile on my face as if all would be well but inside, panic and self-loathing had taken over. Why hadn’t I reacted sooner to the attack? Why did I let her out of my sight? I had been so worried about staying away from her to drive my point home I had broken my promise to protect and make sure no harm ever came to Etta.

  “Is she?” Uriel stood above us.

  “No! No! She’s just passed out, is all. C’mon, Etta. Fight for me. Fight for us. You can’t leave me. C’mon. You gotta fight. Please! Please! Open your eyes! God damn you, Etta! Fight!” I begged through a flux of streaming tears, rocking her limp body back and forth as I kissed her blue lips. My usage of Father’s name had been received with a choir of gasps, but I didn’t care. Etta’s stubbornness had brought me to a breaking point. All she had to do was open her eyes.

  “Step aside!” Amy ordered as she knelt beside me. Unable to let go, I held Etta’s limp body close to mine.

  “Ra! Let her go. I have to see her wounds.” Amy pushed me aside. John and I stood shoulder to shoulder and watched as Amy put two fingers against Etta’s throat. As Amy lowered her head, John held my hand in his.

  “Well, fix her!” I screamed, jerking my hand from John’s hold.

  “I can’t.” Amy sobbed as a stream of tears flowed down her cheeks.

  “Bull!” I grabbed Amy’s hands, rubbed them together, and placed them on Etta’s chest, but nothing happened. Amy yanked her hands from mine and ran for Gabriel.

  “I can’t raise the dead, Ra!” Amy yelled.

  “She’s not dead. Try again.” I went to reach for Amy again when John snatched me up in a full nelson.

  “She’s gone, Ra. Etta is gone!”

  “No!” I slid out of John’s hold and sagged to my knees, pulling Etta into me. Succumbing to my emotions, a wave of tears rushed from me.

  “Ra. Ra!” Gabriel crouched before me. “Intake.”

  Bewildered by his statement, I turned my focus back to Etta when Gabriel grabbed my chin.

  “If she’s gone here, where would she go? Intake, Ra. She’s at the gates.” It took a few seconds for Gabriel’s words to resonate, but I had no way of getting there on my own.

  I had suffered greatly during the earlier attack on the gates. A group of Lilith’s Demons had descended on John. In an attempt to save him, I turned the horde on only myself. Unable to defend against them, they got me to the ground when Lilith came up from behind. With a foot against my back, Lilith had ripped my injured wing from me. Fortunately, Father had been able to save me before I started to fall to Hell, but the loss of another wing had left me permanently grounded. Except with the help of a fellow Angel, I’d never flash again.

  “Take me to her.” I pleaded.

  “You guys clean up, I’ll take him.” John said, stepping behind me. With an optimistic smile, I held onto John as he took off for home.

  On the way I kept telling myself Etta would be at the gates waiting to start her eternal life with me again. Though I didn’t want her to die, I’d been unable to help the macabre thought that it all had to be a blessing in disguise. I would no longer have to worry about living in two worlds or how I would even be able to see her after losing my wings. She’d be able to take comfort in the fact I’d be given a desk job, and she’d never have to wait for me to return from a mission or spend her nights worrying if I would ever return. We’d even be able to start the family she’d always wanted. We’d finally have our ‘happily ever after’.

  John and I approached the gates in record time only to find them deserted. Had she already made it through? No. The process can take days, sometimes weeks, to get through intake. Confused, I ran up to one of the guards. Believing I still held the title of Arch, they knelt before me.

  “Get up. Did a female with long brown hair and almond shaped brown eyes just come through here?”

  “No, sir. Intake has been shut down after what happened earlier. We just finished fixing the gates. No telling when intake will be up and running again.” The first guard answered.

  “What in Father’s name—?” the second guard took a step back then rushed to the alarms. As the alarms sounded I turned, expecting a horde of Demons rushing the gates again. Nothing could prepare me for what I saw coming toward the gates; a raging wall of water.

  All of our oceans were located in the southern part of the Heavens, and the gates were located at the most northern point, making a tsunami impossible. Stunned and speechless, I stood watching as the massive wave crested just before reaching the gates. The water rushed through the golden bars, sweeping me off my feet and into its depths. Fighting against the tide, I tried swimming to the surface, but the riptide pulled me deeper.
/>   Water swooshed into my mouth and into my lungs. Instinctually I gasped for air, only filling my lungs further. Heaviness took over, and I found myself succumbing to a watery death. And then it struck me; I had to be dreaming. Etta hadn’t died. I still had my wings. I must have been having a nightmare. It was the only explanation. No longer wanting to fight it, I let the water take me. Knowing I would wake up, I released my last breath as something dove into the water next to me.

  Father hooked me by my arms, rescuing me from the deluge. As we broke the surface, the wave receded, leaving Father and I drenched and lying on the ground in the middle of Baptist Square. Frightened, a crowd formed around us and marveled as I coughed up sprays of water. Father leaned over me with a worrisome stare. Like a child, I flung myself into Father’s arms, breaking down as he tightened his embrace.

  Part of me wanted to rip into him about why Etta had been taken. At the age of twenty-two she deserved to live a longer life on Earth. As long as she was on Earth, she would be safe. The deal she made with Lucifer ensured he would leave her alone until she returned to Heaven. Once she crossed those gates, it would be game on. Lucifer would be back to claim his sister for his wife. Should he get his hands on her, his first task would be to impregnate Etta. His children would tilt the scales of good versus evil, and mankind would fall, fulfilling Lucifer’s age-old adage ‘If you can’t weed them out, breed them out.’ But Father’s love swept away any anger I held against him.

  “I’m not dreaming am I, Father? Etta’s gone, isn’t she?” I sobbed.

  “No, my son, this is not a dream. As for being gone, none of us are ever gone.” Father replied, petting my head.

  “Then where is she?” I said, looking up at Him.

  Father looked in the direction of the gates.