Daystar (11 page)

Selaphiel snapped razor-sharp teeth at her.
 
“Shut your mouth!”

Belial flicked out claws.
 
“Shut it for me, Selaphiel!”

Dahlia screamed.

She felt it, the pain, and the wounds Lucifer took in Heaven.
 
Through the blood on her skin, they linked.
 
Dahlia punched at the ground.
 
“Craven, vile!
 
He is helpless!
 
Stop!
”

Apple stirred in Berith’s arms.
 
She bucked and clawed at her skin.
 
Her wails joined Dahlia’s cries.
 
Her eyes flashed deep red.
 
Blood touched the corners of her lips.
 

Berith panted.
 
“What is wrong with her?”

Gaea looked between Apple and Dahlia.
 
“They were linked some time before, yes?”

“Through blood.”

She watched Apple.
 
“Then they share in this.”

Berith held her tight.
 
“What can we do?”

“Nothing.
 
Their fates are tied.”

Apple thrashed out of his grip and hit the ground.

Dahlia looked to the stars.
 
They wailed in a silent song.
 
The Light Bringer suffered; their source and companion tortured.
 
She felt their anger.
 
The destruction song hummed in her chest, seeking to be drawn out.
 
Dahlia held her heart, fighting with her desire for revenge and despair.

Raphael took a step closer.

Belial tensed.
 
Andy stopped her and shouted, “Dahlia!
 
Raphael nears you!”

Dahlia shook her head.
 
She did not care.

Selaphiel stepped between Raphael and the Fallen.
 
He held twin blades of light, deadly as the spear itself.
 
The Fallen did not doubt that he knew how to wield them.
 
He kept his feet moving, ready to strike at anyone that came near.
 
His toes passed through the ashes and bones of Barachiel.
 
Disgusted, he made a face and kicked the material away.

Raphael stopped just over Dahlia’s shoulder and watched the fight that raged inside her.
 

Dahlia’s pain grew, but she did not release the song.
 
She squeezed her eyes shut, knowing her children were on the ice behind her and her friends were there as well.
 
She put her hands to the ground and kept her lips shut.

Raphael smiled.

***

Lucifer had no piece of him that was untouched or free from blood.
 
The Archangels threw his limp body before the throne.
 
He could not raise his head.
 
It was a struggle even to breathe, to see.
 

The fire at the throne descended and purred.
 
LUCIFER MORNINGSTAR, MY
FIRST
.

Lucifer shuddered.
 
He pressed his hands into the ground to push away.
 
He fought against the presence of the light and the fire.
 
A whip slashed across his fingers.
 
Lucifer pulled his hand into his chest, cradling it against the mass of cuts and wounds there.

The fire engulfed him.
 
Lucifer joined into a commune with Him.
 
What had once been pleasure, love, and joy, had turned to agony, hatred, and revulsion.
 
The fire swept through him, leaving nothing free or unscathed.

YOU ARE EVER THE FOOL.

Lucifer spoke through torn lips, “To choose love is not the decision of a fool.”

IS THAT WHAT YOU BELIEVE YOU DID?

“She is free from you.”
 
He managed a smile.
 
“She is free and that is enough.
 
She will protect our planet.
 
I know it.”

The fire roiled and laughed.
 
OF COURSE SHE IS NOT FREE.
 
SHE IS CHAINED TO YOU.
 
NOW I WILL HAVE BOTH OF YOU, FINALLY ONCE MORE, MY PAIR OF PRIMANGELS.

Lucifer swallowed blood.
 
“No you will not.”

SHE WILL COME, LUCIFER.
 
SHE WILL TRY TO SAVE YOU AND WHEN SHE DOES, I WILL HAVE HER.

“No.”
 
Lucifer blinked.
 
“No, she will not do that.”

LUCIFER, I KNOW MY CHILD AS I KNOW YOU.
 
SHE WILL RAGE AND COME FOR YOU EXACTLY AS YOU CAME FOR HER.
 
SHE WILL FAIL EXACTLY AS YOU FAILED.
 
THIS TIME THOUGH, ONE WILL NOT ESCAPE AND LEAVE THE OTHER.
 
YOU WILL BOTH STAY WITH ME.

Lucifer shook his head.
 
“She will not come.”

SHE WILL.

“You do not know!”

YES I DO.
 
I AM HER CREATOR.
 
I AM YOURS.
 
NOTHING YOU DO IS A SURPRISE TO ME.

“She escaped!
 
You did not foresee that.”

I LET HER ESCAPE, LUCIFER.
 
I SHOWED HER A WAY OUT, MADE HER THINK SHE HAD CREATED IT.
 
I ALLOWED IT TO BE.

“You
lie!
”

I HAVE NO NEED TO LIE IT IS THE TRUTH.
 
SHE THOUGHT HERSELF CLEVER.
 
SHE THOUGHT SHE HAD TRICKED ME, THIS WAS AS I WANTED.

“Why?”

YOU WOULD HAVE STORMED HEAVEN ENDLESSLY IF YOU HAD THE ABILITY, BUT YOU DID NOT.
 
YOU WERE WITHOUT POWER, WITHOUT YOUR WINGS.
 
ANY GRANTING OF THAT POWER AFTER THE FALL WOULD HAVE BEEN MET WITH SUSPICION.
 
YOU WOULD NOT HAVE COME, BUT THIS, THIS IDEA IS PERFECT.
 
SHE HAS POWER NOW AND SHE WILL COME WEILDING IT, THINKING SHE RECOVERS IT ON HER OWN.

“She is wingless!”

SHE NEVER HAD HER WINGS TORN, LUCIFER.
 
SHE IS SIX-WINGED STILL.

“She is not, she cannot come here.
 
You will
not
get her!”

SHE WILL REMEMBER THEM IN HER DESPAIR.
 
SHE WILL REFORM AS ANGEL.
 
SHE WILL SEEK THE POWER AND ONCE SHE HAS IT, SHE WILL COME TO ME.

“Then she will
destroy
you!”

SHE CANNOT DESTROY ME AND SHE IS NOT FOOLISH ENOUGH TO TRY.
 
SHE WILL SUPPLICATE HERSELF BEFORE ME.
 
SHE WILL OFFER ME HERSELF JUST AS YOU OFFERED YOURSELF.
 
I WILL TAKE HER MEMORIES.
 
SHE WILL BE PERFECT AGAIN.
 
THEN I WILL HAVE HER, I WILL MAKE HER MINE IN THE WAYS YOU MADE HER YOURS.
 
I WILL DO THIS WHILE YOU WATCH, WHILE YOU STAND ON OBEDIENT.
 
I WILL PURIFY HER WITH MYSELF.

There was truth in the flames.
 
Lucifer tried to get off the ground.
 
“You will not succeed.
 
She will
never
give herself to you!”

SHE LOVES YOU, LUCIFER.
 
SHE WILL GIVE ANYTHING,
EVERYTHING
TO SEE YOU FREE FROM THE PRISON.

“She will sense your lies.”

NO, LUCIFER, FOR I WILL NOT LIE.
 
YOU
WILL
BE FREE FROM THE PRISON.

“Then I will warn her—”

I THINK NOT.
 
IF YOU ARE NOT OBEDIENT, SHE DIES, THOUGH I WILL HAVE MEASURES IN PLACE TO FORCE YOUR PARTICIPATION.

“You cannot force my participation!”

I HAVE BEEN THINKING ON THIS FOR MUCH TIME, LUCIFER.
 
EVERYTHING IS IN PLACE.
 
EVEN NOW, SHE IS CONTEMPLATING THIS.
 
SHE NEVER COULD STAND TO SEE YOU IN PAIN, A WEAKNESS.
 
IT IS PERFECT, FLAWLESS.

The fire churned with anticipation.
 
Lucifer could feel its glee.
 
“She
will
outsmart you!
 
She will
defeat
you!”

YOU CANNOT OUTSMART ME.
 
I KNOW EVERYTHING.
 
THE ONLY VARIABLE, MY LUCIFER, IS TIME.
 
HOW LONG CAN SHE HOLD OUT BEFORE IT CONSUMES HER, THE RAGE AND DARKNESS, THE DESPAIR?
 
SHE CANNOT GO LONG.

Lucifer tore at the fire around him.
 
“You will not win in this!”

AS SOON AS YOU SAW HER FACE AGAIN, I HAD ALREADY WON.

“This is not our fate!
 
There is hope.”

The fire laughed.
 
YES, HOPE, IT WILL MAKE THE RESULT ALL THE MORE PAINFUL FOR YOU.
 
PLEASE CONTINUE THIS HOPE.

Lucifer pulled away from the fire, he crawled.
 
The fire lanced him through.

IN THE PRISON YOU WILL GO, REMAINING THERE UNTIL SHE COMES.
 
YOU SHOULD WELCOME THIS, LUCIFER.
 
YOU WILL EXPERIENCE WHAT YOU DID TO HER SO LONG AGO.
 
YOU WILL JOIN WITH THE SUFFERING THAT YOU IMPARTED UPON HER.

The fire pulled back and Uriel, Michael, and Samuel grabbed Lucifer’s arms and legs.
 
They pulled him towards the prison that Dahlia had once spent an eternity in as Ladriam.

***

Dahlia felt the fire and Lucifer’s dread and anguish.
 
She heard not the words, but experienced the terror and hate through her link with Lucifer.
 
She pressed her palms into her eyes, seeking, pleading with the universe to stop this.
 

Silence reigned thick on the ice.

The first shackle was placed on his wrist.
 
Her arm went numb, a creeping cold climbed into her muscles and bone.
 
Dahlia remembered this pain.
 
His skin froze and cracked.
 
Her breaths came faster, ragged.
 
She scratched at his bindings as if they touched her flesh.
 
“Fight!
 
Fight, Lucifer!”

The starlight above her grew weak as the stars lost their essence and fire.
 
They dimmed, mourning for their creator.

Dahlia pounded her fist into the ground, sending cracks radiating across the ice.
 
“FIGHT!”

***

Lucifer’s head snapped up.
 
He fought against the pain and stared at his hands.
 
He could sense her there, the connection.
 
“Dahlia?
 
Dahlia!”

YES, CALL FOR HER, DRAW HER IN WITH YOUR PAIN.

Lucifer’s eyes were blinded with blood.
 
He shouted into the air, “STAY AWAY!”

Michael gagged him.
 
“No more from you.”

Uriel locked his feet in place.
 
The blue metal stabbed into Lucifer’s ankles with small driving spikes, leeching his strength, biting into his muscle and bone, pinning him to the ground.
 
Lucifer scratched at Michael blindly with his free hand.

Michael grabbed his hand and forced it to join with the other, shackling them together.
 
He locked them in place bringing them to the ground.
 

Lucifer bit through his gag.
 
“DAHLIA, DO NOT COME!”

Michael stabbed the spear into Lucifer’s neck.
 
“Silence!”

Lucifer looked around blindly.
 
“Michael, you can stop this!
 
You are free.”

Michael lifted up the faceplate, molded to fit Lucifer’s face.
 
He stared at his older brother.
 
“I have never been as you.”
 
He shoved the faceplate down and locked it.

The last of Lucifer’s light and air cut off.
 
He was entombed, imprisoned.
 
The fire and ice of the prison overwhelmed him.
 
The enclosed space echoed wails of pain, sounds he realized poured forth from his mouth.
 
His tears dried in the heat, froze as the cold of deep space assaulted his skin.

Dahlia had spent eternity here, suffering this way all because of him.
 
His thoughts fled as the agony became everything.
 
Through his own wails, he could hear His laughter, strong and triumphant.

***

Dahlia howled.

The stars in the sky wailed with her.
 
The universe bent and warped as it had done when she had been put away.
 
The air around her blurred.
 
Her skin glowed brilliantly white, her eyes turned black.
 
She shrieked.

All that waited on or above the ice cringed.
 
Raphael bowed into the sound.
 
He reached his hand out and touched her shoulder, his face a mask of worry and fear.