Alice's Insurrection (Alice Clark Series) (14 page)

ALICE

Alice knew it was taking
a toll on Cole because of their link to each other, but she was privileged to be with someone so strong. She had chosen a while back not to under-estimate him again and she planned to keep that promise to herself and for him. She had hoped she would feel better soon so she could take Briathos back to the university and let out her aggression on a canvas. He needed to breathe in the love that was developing between himself and her teacher. She wanted him to see her as much as possible before the End of Days became yet another horrid reality that they all had to face. She had yet to see the Four Horsemen but she knew, based on the news, that they were roaming the earth, causing more havoc then the Fallen ever had. Her mind was filled with their hardship and choices to do good or evil deeds, and somehow she was still reminded of the good flowing inside of each of them. With each memory the light in her beamed brighter than before, even brighter than what it was before she forgave those who gathered on her property and lined up in front of her small, beaten garage. Her once eerie house seemed warm and loving to them all and she could see it, too. Yet she hoped the memories would cease soon, as it was taking its toll on her mind and body. When she finished her soup, she crawled back onto the couch, laying her head on Cole’s lap carefully so as not to disturb him since he had finally fallen asleep. She stared at the TV until she was lulled off to sleep, joining him.

Alice rubbed her eyes and looked around the Field of the Damned yet again. “Oh
, give me a break already,” she said hopefully.

No rest for the wicked.
Rogziel’s voice was thick with cruelty.

“Seriously.
What does the master of destruction want now?” she sneered.

Always a pleasure to hear a new nickname but let’s cut the pleasantries.

“Let’s.”

I thought you’d like to know
that the fifth seal has been broken. Those who were killed in the name of Him await justice. I’m sure you can count how many seals are left until the End of Days, abomination.

“Look who has nicknames
, too. You don’t scare me, Angel. He just may forgive His children and I know that’s why you are trying to speed up the process of the End of Days.”

I hold no fear in my heart.
I know what the righteous and just want and soon so will you and all your pathetic kind, as well.

“You know this effects more than just the
Nephilim.”

All of your kind; the bastards, their kin, their sirens and all the selfish souls you call mankind.

“Wait,
you’re using us to kill all those that are human?”

I’m doing what He deemed should be done.
I feel nothing for your kind, the breeders who made you and the filth they breed with.

“Does He know what you are doing in His name?”

He knows all. Don’t you think if He wanted to save you all He would have done so by now? Oh you did, how sweet.

“Name the place and time where I can end you for good.”
Her voice was steady though it dared to falter. How she wished that Cole was standing next to her with all his strength and love.

Where
our last battle was, the Field where your kind is lost to eternal damnation. When the sixth seal is broken, the Fallen can guide you as to when. I await our final meeting where I will end this imprudent title you carry and after I end you and send the vile creatures to the abyss, the Lamb will open the seventh seal and end mankind’s existence for good.

“We will be there, waiting.”
She felt his presence dissipate until it was fully gone and she crumbled to the ground shaking. Tears flowed from her eyes, betraying her strong will with fierce precision. The charcoal gray sky around her returned to the beautiful purple wisps of clouds that it had been when she and Cole first met in this alternate dimension, or dream, depending on who was interpreting it. When she looked up, she saw Cole running across the gold field toward her, she stopped crying for a moment to appreciate the beauty as he glided effortlessly across the field.

“Alice!”

“I’m all right,” she mumbled. Cole scooped her into his arms and she threw her arms around his neck, giving in to her emotions for just a short moment.

“What happened?
I couldn’t find you but I heard voices.”

“Rogziel, he was here, sort of.
He said the final battle would begin once the sixth seal is broken, here in the real world.”

“Just breathe
, Love,” he said, holding her tightly. “We’ve made it this far. We can make it all the way. You’re the one, he wouldn’t provoke you like this if he didn’t think it was true.”

“I hope you’re right.
So many lives depend on me.”

“I am right.
You’d better start believing it too, for all our sakes.”

She buried her face in his neck
, breathing in his ocean wave scent, which calmed her down immediately. He sat down upon the grass, scooping her into his lap and running his fingertips down her arm and back up again. She knew it was true in that moment; everything in her life was leading up to these moments. Something about Cole made it all feel right, that everything in her life was preparing her to save all kinds, to save their love which would last forever. Though she had been angry with Him her entire life, she had always felt a connection to Him and she knew that was her lifeline to convince Him to save all His children. And her connection to Cole was all the proof she needed.

KOKABIEL

Kokabiel sat alone on his
couch, debating his part in what was to come. Penemue would stand by Alice to the end even if it was to spend an eternity in the Abyss, whatever that really meant. A knock at the door stirred his consciousness.

“Hey, can I come in?
I brought alcohol,” Jake said, shaking a whiskey bottle in front of his face. Kokabiel opened the door all the way and walked back to the couch. “What’s the deal, Kokabiel, you’ve been cooped up in this apartment all day?”

“I wonder if we made the right choice, creating
Nephilim, let alone the mostly Fallen who are my and Penemue’s kin. We’ve lost so much already.”

“We all have.
We have to believe they will save us all, if not, we have nothing to live or die for.”

“I’m just feeling solemn.
I’ve made many mistakes but I don’t regret Elizabeth, or my son, and because of this, I feel I won’t be saved.”

“If you hadn’t, who would tell Him that all children make mistakes, even His?
Who would have healed our savior’s wounds? Who would stand against what the Lamb is doing to all of His children?”

Kokabiel stared at his coffee for a long moment while running through the questions Jake had offered to him. “She’s changed you
, brother.”

“Yes
, she has, she has changed us all.”

“Hit me
,” Kokabiel said, nodding to the whiskey in Jake’s hand.

“There is the Fallen I know
,” he said while pouring whiskey into the coffee mug. “I apologize in advance, not all of me has changed.” He drank from the bottle.

“Yes
, well, you wouldn’t be you if you weren’t defiant.” They both laughed boastfully, even in a moment so fragile. They had always gotten along as they both were the ‘don’t give a damn’ sort. Another knock echoed through the apartment and Jake bounced up to get it to find Penemue at the door.

“Penemue.”

“Jake.”

“We are drinking.”

“Sounds good to me.” Penemue stared at Kokabiel, concerned as he entered.

“He’s fine, nothing whiskey won’t fix.”

“I’ll miss this, whichever way this ends up, I will definitely miss whiskey,” Kokabiel said.

“Me too
, and beer,” Jake threw in.

“I’m shocked
,” Penemue said with his usual cold stare, before breaking into a large grin.

“Tonight we drink and tomorrow we live each day as if it were our last
,” Jake said with a nod.

“Until my dying breath,” Kokabiel said raising his glass.
“We fight for the lives of our children.”

Penemue
poured himself a glass, “And for our kind.”

“And for those we have lost along the way
,” Jake said with glossy eyes holding the bottle up.

“The bottle, really
, Jake?” Penemue asked.

“Would you love me any other way?” Jake joked.

“And to Alice,” Kokabiel said.

“And to Cole,” Penemue added.

“Here, here,” they said in unison before slamming their drinks.

And may God have mercy on all our souls.
Kokabiel’s voice rang through all the Fallen as he hadn’t dared to block a single one.

COLE

Alice awoke feeling relaxed and
refreshed for the first time in weeks. She rolled over, wrapping her arm and leg around the very sound asleep Cole. She had never felt more alive, more loved than in that moment. She didn’t dare wake him as she could feel his love for her emanating from his soul while he slept, and he was peaceful in his slumber. She stifled a giggle and wondered if when she slept, he felt the same thing. Even with such impending doom, she could only feel love wash over her like a waterfall, cleansing all her wounds and emotional turmoil . Cole’s eyes opened sleepily, with a high eyebrow raise.

“What is so funny?”
his raspy voice asked.

“You’re just adorable is all
,” she said with an enormous grin plastered across her face.

“Oh
, I am, huh?” His sleepy grin turned into his trademark wolfish grin quickly, and she began contemplating running out of the room. She managed to get one leg off of the bed before he pounced on her, pinning her to the bed. They both smiled with such love for each other, they wondered if any human could fathom or handle a love like theirs. Cole wrapped his hands along her jawline, pulling her in gently before pressing his lips against hers with a feverish need. A familiar electric surge coursed through her body, causing her to gasp against his lips. That was all the permission he needed to take her and she went willingly.

PENEMUE

Paul awoke with a pressure
in his head and though he opened his eyes, his vision remained blurry. “Oh…,” he moaned as he began to focus on the empty bottles lying on the ground around Jake’s body.

“My sentiments exactly
,” Kokabiel said.

“You’d think you two would be able to handle your liquor by now
,” Jake said with a chuckle.

“Har har
,” Kokabiel said. They all laughed at their condition. A group of Fallen with what humans called a hangover. One of the many things they were able to enjoy since the fall, though their days were numbered at this point and they were all feeling the strain of that. Paul sat upright, rubbing his bloodshot eyes and remembering the last few day’s struggles. He hoped his daughter was doing better than he was. Because of their new connection, he could feel the happiness emanating from her soul, and through her connection to them all, he could tell by looking at the others that they did too, without any effort to do so.

“She is remarkable
,” Kokabiel said.

“That she is
, brother,” Paul replied with a fatherly glow about him, even through the hangover he was dealing with. Jake sat up and ventured into the kitchen to make them all some coffee. He mumbled to himself some random rock song that was stuck in his head.

“You seem chipper this morning
,” Kokabiel observed.

“Well
, I have been making drinking one of my more fun qualities over the years. Those hangovers don’t really bother me anymore. If anything, they make me feel more alive. Now this is the time to heavily drink coffee, my brothers,” he said, passing a mug of coffee to his Fallen brothers.

“Anytime is a good time to drink coffee
,” Kokabiel said, accepting his mug of strong roasted coffee. They sat in silence drinking their coffee while willing away the symptoms of a night filled with too much drinking.

“It’s sort of sad that a half breed can tank a bottle of vodka and function the next day and we split a few bottles of whiskey and are in such horrid condition
,” Jake said with a laugh.

“True
,” Kokabiel said. They smiled at all the ways she proved herself to be stronger and better than all of them. Paul was always amazed at her ability to persevere through anything she was forced to go through. He thought it was mostly a gift from her mother, but he hoped it was something they both gave her.

A surge started to surface under their skin and Paul sat upright
, willing that familiar feeling to stop. “The sixth seal?” It stopped as soon as the words left his brother’s lips.

“Just a warning
. The Lamb is close to opening it and we are far from ready for this battle,” Paul’s concern dripped from him like madness.

ALICE

Briathos had told Alice when
she emerged from her bedroom of bliss that the time for opening the sixth seal was near. She decided to go work at school and bring him along so that he could see Theresa at the very least, one last time. They rode in silence along the winding roads that would eventually lead them to the AIH. She hadn’t really taken the time to process that it was highly probable, regardless of the outcome of the battle, that she would never see this place again or any other earthly place, or Max. A tear escaped her eyes and she wiped it away quickly. With all that was going on and with all she felt she was compelled to do, she hadn’t had the time she wanted to spend with Max. A strong part of her was hopeful they could win, but a piece of her was sure she would be dead any day now, they all would be.

“It’s a heavy burden to carry
,” Briathos said, interrupting her vicious thought cycle.

“Excuse me?”

“It’s a heavy burden to be who you are and do what you are asked to do. I hold you in the highest regard, as your strength and bravery are astounding. Even now you are making sure I get my goodbyes, putting me before your own needs and wants. I have no doubt you are, in fact, the savior as I have never met anyone more selfless, except a long time ago, and He is the cause of our current difficulties.”

“You are not comparing me to the Lamb, are you?”
She was flabbergasted.

“Why would that be such a difficult thing for you to believe?
You are doing for our kind what he felt he was doing for his. On a basic level, it is the same.”

She didn’t respond
; she only continued to think about that idea with great depth. She wondered if that made her the false Christ as that would bring her an entirely new bundle of problems, at least in her mind. Then, a whisper in her mind gave her hope since the Lamb did save mankind so perhaps she could, too. Unfortunately, because of His prophecy to return, His gift could come full circle, killing most of mankind and all of the Fallen and their kin. She didn’t understand why it was always a choice to eradicate the opposing sign. She now knew that He was very real and a part of her had always believed it was true, but the rest of her was furious with Him. She felt it was a little overkill to allow most of His children to be condemned and only save those with blind faith in a Being that has never showed a sign of humanity. She was getting angry again and she felt the concern of her riding partner as it leaked out of her. “Sorry Briathos, sometimes I let my emotions take control of me.” She looked ashamed and felt that way too. She pulled into the parking lot of the university.