Beyond (7 page)

As his
wristwatch beeped to the stroke of midnight, he plunged the dagger right through her hear t .
She gasped deeply . Her eyes burst open to see his proud , evil grin , and they continue d to stare eve n after her last breath. Crimson r ed liquid spread swift ly , soaking he r dress .

Maneuvering his right hand into the cu t, he yanked her heart out and held it gloriously in the palm of his hand.
Blood seeped between his fingers and slithered down his arm. With both hands, he squeezed the liquid out of the heart into a cup that was half filled with holy water.
“
This is thy blood of the covenant. W
hoever drinks thy blood has eternal life , and the lives of the dark shadows.
”
After he blessed it, he pressed it to his lips, closed his eye s, and drank , letting t he thick fluid flow down his throat .

Without warning, his
body seized, jerking him around like a limp doll .
N
umerous candles were knocked to the ground.
The building started to burn on contact, the flames rising high er and high er , spreading uncontrollably .

Thunder roar
ed and lightning str uck right through the alt a r , breaki ng it in half. The being ’
s head tilted back as his lips parted. A dark funnel of black smoke spiraled into his mouth from above , as if he was swallowing a mini tornado .

The dark shadow
demons were now inside him . All he had to do was find some poor human souls and have th ese spirits enter through the ir weaken ed heart s ; but for now , he would let them be.
He had a plan.

Opening his mouth again
, he said, “
Come to me , my children.
”
S
moke spiraled upward as it exited out of his mouth. T
he demons settled on the ground.

“
Follow me, ”
he ordered , proud of his creations .
“
You can call me...Master.
No ...
call me God.
”
Gliding down the aisle, t he shadows followed obediently, unmindful of the fire blazing around them as if hell had broken loose.
As the blistering flames screamed behind him, sco rching and burning everything in sight, he strolled out with the creatures known as the dark shadows.

Earth angels were created to look after
God ’
s beloved humans , and a special council of Earth angels known as the Curators was formed. The Curators were different from the other Ea rth angels. Though they too had no wings, their powers were stronger than the Earth angels ’ were , but less so than the Twelve.

By
protocol, the Curators ’
coun ci l m e t four times a year.
There were one hu ndred members , each representing a state or a country.
The meeting was held near Nubilus City, a meeting place created fo r Earth angels.

Callum
stood tall behind the podium and straighten ed his white robe—a standard wardrobe , mandated for wear when the m e eting was held to show equality. H
e waited for the Curators to take their seats in a circular auditorium. Looking out into the vast sea of white, he exhaled sharply as their eyes waited for his explanation for this meeting.

Not wanting to be the bear
er of bad news, he took a deep breath and spoke .
“
I ’
ve called this emergency mee ting.
A group of rebel Earth angels are taking matters into their own hands. They have already kill ed a special soul , a nd who knows how many more?
”

A
loud commotion erupted; Callum banged his gavel several times . S
ilence filled the room .

“
Do yo u have any proof?
And how many are there?
”
Mark from Australia shook his head in disapproval.

“
I don ’
t know how many there are , and I have no proof…
only a word from someone I trust. He wish es to be anonymous . He has seen it with his own eyes.
”

“
What would you like for us to do ?”
Venna from the Unit ed Kingdom asked .

“
We need to go back to our own countries and inf orm the other Earth angels about them.
Since it ’
s nearly impossible to find the angels with the h oly s oul s , w e need to locate these rebels.
They call themselves Angelus Pugnator s , otherwise known as angel fighters.
I also believe they are working with someone powerful , and perhaps a few of us are aiding them .
”

“
This is outrageous.
You are accusing one of the Curators?
”
Matthew from Italy blurted.

“
They are angels themselves. How could they kill their own kind?
”
May from C
h ina questioned , he r eyes filled with rage.

“
Perha ps…we should let them be ,”
Luke from France said.

The room
rang with their loud opinions .

Callum banged
on the gavel.
“
Order! Order!
Order!
”
The room finally quieted down.
“
We need to calm down.
Luke , you ’d better have a good explanation for your comment.
”

“
These children with h oly s ouls are the cause of all these problems . You can ’
t deny that there have been a lot more activities from the demons because of them.
The Earth angels already have enough to deal w ith from these selfish, needy humans.
D
o we need to add on e more thing to their agenda ?
”

“
The Earth angels do not need to be concern ed with d emons.
Katherine and her venators are deali ng with them, ”
Callum interjected .

“
Speaking of which, Claudia is one of them now , i s she not?
”
Christian from Spain asked.

“
Yes. She has bravely killed Aliah. T
hey are hoping she will be a gr eat asset to their venator team, ”
Callum replied.

“
I guess it was a good thing Lucy kept her a secret from the Royal Council. Perhaps she was a gift from them. Only angels with Holy Spirit souls can defeat G
od ’
s first angels, ”
Hae Jin from South Korea commented .

“
I think not. Had they no t be en born, we wouldn ’
t be in this mess. Aliah wouldn ’
t have gone through all that trouble to escape from Between, ”
Franklin from New York suggested.

“
There is no point arguing about ‘
what ifs.
’
Let ’
s ju st fix the problem, ”
Callum spat .

“
And what exactly is our problem? I say we do nothing and let the venato rs handle the Angelus Pungator…
or whatever you call them, ”
sneered Mejeani from South Africa.

“
If we sit back and do nothing, you are washing your hands o f what you could ’
ve avoided. Y
ou neve r know what they are capable of .
There is great power in numbers.
This may get out of hand , and this group of Earth angels may come back to haunt us, ”
Callum retorted.
“
I ’
m looking ahead . Again, I don ’
t know who is ai ding them.
”

“
How do you know and what proof do you have that one of us may be aiding them?
”

“
We, the Curators, are the only ones who hold the knowledge on how to summon the dark shadows. What I ’
m about to say is the truth. The dark shadows have been released, ”
Callum informed them .

Loud gasp
s fil led the room , followed by dead silence .