Daystar (52 page)

Berith shook his head.
 
“Okay?”

Andy brushed him off.
 
“Belial, this is the coolest thing ever.”

Belial hopped.
 
“I did something!”

Andy flicked his wrists.
 
“Now try the talons.”

Belial focused.
 
“Rowr!”
 
She splashed Andy’s face with liquid metal.
 
“Sorry!”

Andrealphus shrugged and wiped his cheeks.
 
“No worries.”

Apple sidled up to Belial.
 
“Come with me.”
 
She grabbed her hand and flew through a solar flare, leaving Andy and Berith behind.
 

Belial let the metal slip from her skin.
 
She smiled.
 
“Did you want to talk about something?”

Apple bit her lip.
 
“I just have to tell
someone
, but you can’t say anything.
 
Promise?”

Belial nodded.
 
“Yeah!”

Apple got to the other side of the sun.
 
She touched her abdomen.
 
“I’m pregnant.”

“You are what?”

Apple frowned.
 
“Pregnant.”

Belial stared wide-eyed.
 
“What is that?”

“With child?
 
Uhm…”
 
Apple thought about it.
 
“Bean.”

“Yeah!”

“I am going to have one of those.”

“A Bean!”

“Yes.”
 
Apple’s eyes narrowed.
 
“Wait.
 
Not
a
bean, Bean…I mean a kid.”

“Oh.”
 
Belial nodded.
 
“Right.”

“Like Gaea, you know Lucifer and Dahlia’s child.”

“Yeah, yeah.”
 
Belial nodded.
 
“Whose is it?”

“Berith’s of course!”
 
Apple grinned.
 
“I got pregnant before the conversion.
 
I didn’t notice until I really started to concentrate on my blood stuff, I have two heartbeats now.”

“Let us go tell him!”

Apple grabbed her wrist.
 
“No!”
 
She shook her head.
 
“He will not let me fight.”

“Oh.”
 
Belial nodded.
 
“Okay.”

Apple eyed her.
 
“You do know we are going into a big fight, right?”

“Yeah.”
 
Belial grinned.
 
“Andrealphus told me.”

Apple looked her over.
 
“Belial, have you seen anyone die before?”

“No.”
 
Belial scratched her head.
 
“But I can handle it!”
 
She jutted her chin out.
 
“I am tough.”

“Right.”
 
Apple sighed.
 
“Sorry, Belial.”

“For what?”
 

Apple punched her in the nose.
 
Belial touched her face; blood seeped out between her fingers.
 
She looked at Apple confused.
 
“Why did you do that?”

“Did that hurt?”

Belial’s eyes filled with tears.
 
“Yes.”

“You are going to feel a lot of that.
 
You are going to have to cause pain, Belial.
 
Killing is a lot of pain.
 
Can you handle it?”

Belial wiped her mouth.
 
“I—”

“I didn’t think so.”
 
Apple grabbed her wrist.
 
“Come on, I’m taking you back to Andrealphus and he is taking you home.
 
You shouldn’t be here if you can’t fight.”

“No!”
 
Belial pulled back on her.
 
“I do not want to leave, Andrealphus!
 
Lucifer and Dahlia said I could go with him.”

Apple pulled on her again.
 
“Come on, Belial!”

Belial yanked her hand back.
 
“If you tell Andrealphus to take me back, I will tell Berith about your bean!”

Apple froze.
 
“Fuck.”
 

Belial frowned.
 
“Do not make me leave, Apple.”

Appleadris sighed.
 
“You used to be the most badass killer I’d ever seen.
 
Berith is a wrecking ball, but you…”
 
She smiled.
 
“You were brilliant, you had no problems dealing with or doling out pain.
 
But you are not that same girl anymore.”

Belial folded her arms.
 
“I can relearn it.”

“You shouldn’t have to, Belial.
 
None of us should ever have had to fight.
 
We all did it out of necessity, but you don’t have to now.
 
You can keep yourself free of it.”

“I will not leave, Andrealphus!”

“That’s admirable, I’d never leave Berith, but I can fight beside him.”
 
Apple frowned.
 
“Don’t drag Andrealphus down by being a liability.
 
If you can’t fight, be able to defend yourself.”
 
Apple concentrated and sheets of blood and bone formed armor over her skin.
 
“Protect your body so that he does not have to.”
 
She let the armor drop and made a shield.
 
“You will need to defend yourself and possibly defend him too.
 
Make sure you can do that or all you are doing by staying is putting him in danger.”

Belial nodded.
 
“I will.”

Apple nodded.
 
“Good, practice, no more of this silver liquid stuff, that won’t stop anything.”

Belial frowned.
 
“I do not know what to make.”

“That is part of the problem.”
 
Apple looked her over.
 
“You have an amazing talent, but without knowing what you need you cannot use it to your advantage.”
 
She bit her lip.
 
“When the angels come we need to debilitate them, if they wear or use anything with metal, strip them of it.”

Belial looked at her hands.
 
“But we did not have metal in Heaven.”

“No, but when they shift to this place they gain partial flesh and what they carry with them transforms.
 
I have seen their blades, I have been stabbed by them, and they were most definitely metal then.”
 
Apple tapped her forehead.
 
“Think it over, get ideas before they attack.”

“Okay.
 
I will, Apple!
 
I
promise
.”

Apple took Belial’s hand and continued their flight around the sun.
 
She looked over at Belial.
 
“Look I didn’t want to upset you, but you have to know this is serious.”

Belial nodded.
 
“I know,” she spoke softly.
 
“I will do what I have to.”

***

Helion and Whitney spiraled in the frigid air over the southern ocean.
 
Free of responsibilities for the moment, they found they had a lot of free time.
 
Whitney closed her wings.
 
Helion caught and carried her.
 
He gave her stomach a raspberry.

Whitney shrieked and pulled on his hair.
 
“Don’t!”

Helion grinned and dove for the water.
 
“How about I dump you in there?”

Whitney looked down.
 
“No!
 
Helion, you drop me and I will hit you right in the nose!”
 
They soared past icebergs as they made their way south.
 
Helion flew meters above the water.
 
Whitney eyed him.
 
“Do not dump me in.
 
That’s ice water down there!”

Helion waggled his eyebrows at her.
 
“True, but I think you’ll find it warm.”
 
He dropped her.

Whitney did not have time to open her wings.
 
She hit the water, gasped, and splashed.
 
She looked at the icebergs to her right and left, but around her, the water steamed as warm as a hot tub.
 
She looked up at Helion.
 
He appeared rather smug.
 
Whitney pointed.
 
“You are a show-off.”

Helion swooped down to grab her hand.
 
Whitney pulled him into the water.
 
Helion swam for her and wrapped his arms around her.
 
“I am not showing off, I am testing my limits.”

She pushed him away and leapt into the air.
 
“Test them with your body, not mine.”
 
She turned away and smiled, landing on the closest block of ice.

Helion leapt on it and reached for her.
 
Whitney turned it to stone and jumped away as the iceberg flipped, sending Helion plunging into ice-cold water.
 
She stuck her tongue out.
 
“How does that feel?
 
I’m testing my abilities too!”

Helion shot out of the water, his teeth chattered.
 
“I did not dump you in ice water.”

“You could have.”
 
Whitney spiraled straight up into the clouds.
 
“I am mad at you.”

Helion bit his lip and followed.
 
“Sorry!”
 
He searched for her in the clouds.
 
“Whitney?
 
I am sorry!”

Whitney jumped on his back.
 
“Apology accepted I guess.”

He held her legs and tilted his head back.
 
“I find my desire to make mischief has increased.
 
I will attempt to tone it down.”

Whitney grabbed his hair.
 
“Just know that I hate practical jokes and I am merciless in my revenge.”

“Duly noted.”
 
He soared higher with her on his shoulders.
 
He grinned as sunlight hit them.
 
“Where do you want to go now?”

She shrugged.
 
“I kind of like flying aimlessly.”

Helion nodded.
 
“All right, aimless it is.”
 
He sang as they soared.
 
Whitney smiled and tapped out a beat on his skull.
 
Helion eyed her.
 
“What are you doing?”

“Your songs never have a bass line, no drums.
 
Are all the songs in Heaven like that?”

“Yes.”

“How does anyone dance?”

“No one dances.”
 
Helion swooped.
 
“We sang, we flew, and then started again with the singing.”

“Boring!”
 
She laughed as he flew in loops.
 
“I think I would pass out from boredom there.”

He shook his head.
 
“No, I am positive you would liven it up.”

Whitney shrugged.
 
“Yeah sure.”
 
The clouds above them parted and they stared up into space.
 
Whitney squinted at the light in the sky.
 
“Is that Dahlia and Lucifer?”

Helion swung Whitney around until she was in his arms.
 
“No.”

“Who else would be up there with wings?”

Helion frowned.
 
“None from this place.”

Whitney shielded her eyes from the sun.
 
“They are small.”

“Children.
 
The new Archangels.”
 
He let her go and flew above her.
 
“They are the ones that Paimon and Furcas mentioned I bet.”

Whitney shuddered.
 
“They sounded creepy.”
 
She looked away from them.
 
“They look like they enjoy causing pain.”

Helion dipped down and held her hand.
 
“They cannot hurt you, Whitney.
 
None of the hosts in Heaven can hurt you.”

She smirked.
 
“I am not that badass.”

He shrugged.
 
“I will not let anyone hurt you.”

Whitney pulled back on his hand.
 
“I do not want to go near them, Helion.”

Helion searched the skies.
 
“Dahlia and Lucifer should be made aware of their presence.”

“Shit.”
 
Whitney gasped.
 
“What if they are here to attack them?
 
We need to warn them!”

Helion’s grip on her hand was like steel.
 
“They are two Primangels at full power.
 
They cannot be damaged by those two
children
.”
 
They watched as the children blurred and left their line of sight.
 
Helion frowned.
 
“Let us find them and see what they are up to.”