Daystar (63 page)

“Yes!”

Andy grabbed her hand and rubbed it between his.
 
“How about you make something for me?”

Belial nodded.
 
“What would you like?”

Andy thought it over.
 
“Make me cymbals.”
 
He outlined the shape.

Belial focused and two silver cymbals formed in front of her.
 
Andy lightly tapped them together, feeling the force of the sound.
 
He grinned.
 
“Perfect.
 
Make some more, make them sharp on the edges.
 
If anyone nears you, throw them like discs.”
 
He mimicked the motion.

Belial nodded.
 
“Okay Andrealphus, I will!”

Andy turned to face the angels, hearing them draw closer.
 
He lost his smile and grew tense.
 
His toes curled.
 
They sang loud enough for him to hear, though Belial could not yet.
 
There were many on their way, beamers at the forefront.
 
He
hated
beamers.
 
He drifted away from her, putting space between her and the oncoming force.

Andy set his jaw as he saw the first flashes of light.
 
Their attacks would be swift, unable to be easily blocked.
 
“Belial, create that surfboard again.
 
I want you being able to leave fast.”

“Yes, Andrealphus!”
 
Belial surrounded her body with several hundred cymbals.
 
She moved a few out of the way and recreated her silver surfboard.
 
She stepped on it and the metal pooled over her feet, holding her in place.

Belial looked to Andy.
 
She could see he was tense.
 
“I love you, Andrealphus.”

Andy smiled.
 
“Love you too.”

“I…I am sorry for being here, for distracting you.”

He waved his hand.
 
“Do not be.
 
I don’t want you anywhere else.”

She smiled slightly.
 
“You are a liar, but I appreciate it!”

Andy gave her the thumbs up.
 
He hummed and rolled the edges of his cymbals together, sending the sound out, listening for it to bounce back against his wings.
 
He frowned.
 
The force coming was immense.
 
He squinted into the light of the sun; forms began to stand out.
 
He made a face.
 
“Close enough.”
 
He curved his wings around his body to capture sound.

He lit up light blue and shifted ethereal.
 
He smiled and brought the cymbals together.
 
The sound crashed into his wings and reverberated out, clear to him as if it had been waves of fire.
 
The surge rocketed through the firmament and slammed into the first wave of angels.
 
The beamers scattered, their formations torn asunder.
 
Andy smiled as some became visible around the edges of the sunlight.
 
“I see you now.”

He aimed and brought the cymbals together in a crescendo of taps.
 
The first blow hit the angels as they regrouped.
 
The smaller waves that followed kept them from regaining their balance.
 
Andy grinned.
 
Chaos reigned.
 

The beamers wheeled about and rushed him.
 
The sky lit up bright as they shot concentrated rays of sunlight.
 
They crashed into his position.

Andy hurled the cymbals like Frisbees; they sliced through wings and arms.
 
He curled his limbs in and threw them out as he snapped his fingers and toes.
 
Sound ripped into the attacking force.
 
He flapped his wings, cracking and popping the feathers.
 
The percussion sent beamers sprawling, bleeding from eyes and ears.
 
They were stunned, unable to do anything but cough and blink.
 
Metal discs soared past him, tearing through the prone angels he ignored.
 
Belial threw them as fast as she could make them.
 
Andy grinned.
 
“Good girl.”

He jumped into the knot of angels, a blur they could not catch.
 
He punched an angel’s shield and the force of the surge sent hundreds tumbling for miles.
 
He snapped at another group and their equipment fractured under the stress.
 
He whistled and beamers bent in agony as the sound liquefied their insides.
 
Andy cracked his body like a string of firecrackers.
 
The sound hammered on the angels as if he punched with a thousand fists.

Belial careened into him.
 
Andy caught her.
 
“Belial, what—”

“Cover!”
 
Belial wrapped him in her wings.
 
A plume of flame split around them and churned, twisting and engulfing everything else.

Lucifer grinned and circled the pair.
 
He came to a rest and smiled at the remaining angels.
 
A jet of fire roasted everything between them and the sun.
 
Lucifer beamed.
 
“All clear but the embers.”
 
He patted Belial’s head.
 
“Doing okay, kiddo?”

Belial smiled.
 
“Yes, Lucifer!”

“Good.
 
Andy?”

Andy poked his head up.
 
“Yes?”

“Can you outrun sunlight?”

Andy shrugged.
 
“I have never tried to go that fast.”

You might have to.”

Andy eyed him.
 
“Why are you taking your time flying and not just teleporting there?”

Lucifer smiled.
 
“Warming up on these angels is enjoyable.
 
Good luck you two.”
 
He saluted and soared towards the sun.
 
Already angels regrouped.
 
Lucifer hummed and sent a spurt of flame ahead of him, clearing the air.

Andy leaned back.
 
“Well, that was a bit anti-climatic.
 
I was just getting into my stride.”

Belial squeezed his hands.
 
“I am sure there will be more.”

Andy shrugged.
 
“Still, freaking upstaged.”

Belial laughed.
 
“I think it is okay to be upstaged by Lucifer.”

Andy smacked her butt.
 
“Yeah, yeah.”
 
He kissed her.
 
“Go back and wait where you were before, we’ll be getting more waves soon unless Lucifer defeats them all by himself.”
 
He folded his arms.
 
“He’d better not.”

Belial rolled her eyes.
 
“Fine, Andes.”

Andy looked back at her.
 
“Andes?”

“Isn’t that what Lucifer said?
 
Do you not like being called that?”

Andrealphus shook his head and smiled.
 
“Andes is fine.
 
Get your disks ready.”

***

Dahlia landed on the surface of the moon and kicked up dust as the ground cracked.
 
She watched Lucifer soar, building up fire as he went.
 
She smiled, hearing him sing even from there.

Dahlia looked at the material beneath her feet.
 
She wished Whitney were there or Celeste, someone who could empathize with the human part of her that was still shocked from time to time.
 
She smiled and knelt on the surface.
 
“I am going to ruin the moon and no one even thinks that is odd besides me.”
 
She shook her head; she would have time to reflect on things later.

Dahlia raised a fist and slammed it down, sending cracks out from her.
 
She punched and formed a narrow ravine.
 
She focused and sent a blast of red light into the hole; it drilled straight through and burst out the other side of the moon.
 
She recalled her power and stared into the hole.

Paimon and Furcas landed in front of her.
 
Dahlia looked up.
 
“You two are patrolling between here and Earth.
 
Does that work?”

Furcas nodded.
 
“Sounds good.”

Paimon ducked his head.
 
“Right-o, Dahl face.”

Furcas grinned.
 
“We’ve got your back.”

Dahlia smiled.
 
“I know.”

The pair jumped off the surface, leaving her to stare at moon rock.
 
Dahlia kicked at it. A flare of fire caught her eye as Lucifer roasted the angels around Andy and Belial.
 
She cracked her knuckles.
 
“Raphy.”

A portal opened and Raphael appeared at her side with an empty oversized jar under her arm.
 
“Ready?”

“Not yet, are you guys though?”
 
Dahlia eyed the jar.

“We’ve been ready for awhile.
 
We were starting to get bored in there and I ran out of mayo to eat.”
 
She showed Dahlia her jar and lowered her voice, “And I tried to have sex with Selaphiel, but he wouldn’t let me.
 
He’s so responsible.”

Dahlia smirked.
 
“Well we are on red alert now, so none of that.”

Raphael changed from neon pink to neon red.
 
Her skin took on stripes of maroon.
 
Her lips darkened to jet-black, her eyes had spirals instead of pupils.
 
Ice crystals and globs of tar and resin orbited her head, wrists, and ankles.
 
“I am ready and dressed for the occasion!”
 
She disappeared in a flash.

Lucifer and Dahlia’s eight children came next.
 
They landed and took in the sight, their eyes switching between Dahlia and the sun.
 
Dahlia looked up.
 
“Gaea, I need you to remain close to me.
 
I would not ask if I did not have to.”

Gaea nodded.
 
“I know.”

Dahlia hugged her daughter.
 
“You need to keep me updated on the status of life down below.
 
Sunlight is going to be coming in uneven waves.”

Gaea frowned.
 
“And if the sunlight goes away entirely?”

“I have plans for that instance, but nothing is instantaneous, so keep me appraised.”
 
Dahlia looked to the rest.
 
“Ra and Ifrit, you need to keep the temperature controlled and the sky lit up if the sunlight falters.
 
For now, I am going to shift Eden back into daylight.
 
Collect as much solar energy while you can.
 
Nix, you are blocking light if it becomes too intense down there.”

She looked to her remaining children.
 
“Titan, Chronos, Leviathan, and Ouroboros, I need you to stay below and monitor your elements, make sure the planet holds together if I have to move it.
 
Ouroboros, keep the atmosphere regulated, they need air down there.
 
Chronos, you can slow anything, including radiation.
 
Titan, if I tell you the shield is going down, put a shell around Eden and protect it.
 
Everyone has been warned to get inside; they have had enough time now.
 
Prepare in whatever way you need to.
 
Everyone go.”

Gaea stayed by her mom as the others left.
 
“What are
we
doing?”

Dahlia smiled.
 
“We are doing what you have always wanted to.”
 
Her wings moved in a blur of black, red, and silver.
 
The moon creaked beneath her, dust plumed into the air as the ravine grew and ripped through the moon in either direction.

Gaea held on to her mom to stay stable.
 
“What do you mean?”

Dahlia took Gaea’s hand in her own as the moon fractured beneath them.
 
She smiled.
 
“A rock, a place without life.”

Gaea nodded.
 
“It is.”

Dahlia stepped behind her and took both hands.
 
“Use your gift, Gaea, for creating and not just maintaining life.
 
Draw from my energy if you need to.”

Gaea’s frown turned into a cautious smile.
 
“I…what should I make?”

Dahlia grinned.
 
“I was thinking of making a few angels of my own.
 
Heaven seems to have many and I have but a few.”
 
She shaped the rock before Gaea as she kept the broken moon from dispersing too far.
 
It churned beneath them and its core glowed with the dull light of Hell.
 
Dahlia pointed.
 
“Use your imagination.”