Locked (The Heaven's Gate Trilogy) (22 page)

I stole a glimpse of Michael.  He stood like a statue, watching
me, waiting.

At first I thought my ears had deceived me.  But then he
repeated himself, so quietly I could have mistaken his words for the steady hum
of the diesel engines idling in the train yard just beyond the factory’s walls.

“You don’t know what to do with her.”  He tried to say it in
a matter-of-fact way, but a tone of triumph crept into his voice.

He lifted his head, waiting for Lucas to respond.

Lucas flapped his wings impatiently from across the basement,
where he’d retreated.  “It doesn’t matter.  We will figure that out soon
enough.  The most important thing is keeping her out of your hands.”

I snapped my head around, struggling to my feet and wheeling
to face him.

“Why? If what you say is true, it doesn’t matter where I am,
or who is with me.  The prophecy will be fulfilled.  You yourself said it can’t
be avoided.”

Lucas pressed his lips together in a thin, bloodless smile. 
“God has been known to change his mind.  He stayed Abraham’s hand at the
altar.  It might amuse him to allow one of his misguided henchmen to intervene
again. I can’t take that chance.”

“I don’t understand.  What does that mean?” I demanded, my
voice rising as hysteria crept in.

“Do you want to tell her, Michael, or shall I?” Lucas said
smugly.  Michael crossed his arms in front of his massive chest, stone-faced.

“Very well.  Hope’s a smart girl.  Perhaps she can figure it
out on her own.”  Lucas’s wings unfurled and in an instant he was at my side. 
“Hope, who is Michael?”

I felt as if my very life depended upon my answer.  I looked
plaintively to Michael, but he looked away. I dragged my gaze back to Lucas,
willing myself not to flinch as I looked him in the eye.

“God’s warrior,” I whispered softly.

“Very good,” Lucas purred, circling me once again.  “And as
God’s warrior, what is he sworn to do?”

“Protect the innocent,” I said, hesitantly, the words
sounding strange on my lips.  “Battle Satan and the Fallen Ones.”

“Right you are,” Lucas said, encouragingly, continuing to
circle.  “So think, Hope, and think very, very hard, for your life may depend
upon your understanding.  If Michael found the person who was the key to
Heaven’s defeat – the one by whose hand the Fallen would rise –
what would
Michael do
?”

The ground seemed to shift beneath my feet as I realized the
answer to his question.

“Say it, Hope,” Lucas exhaled in my ear, cherishing each word
as he said it, relishing my disillusionment. “What would – what
must
–
Michael do?”

A sob caught in my throat.  I reached up to my cheeks.  They
were bathed in tears.

“Say it!” Lucas bellowed, the rusted hulks of machines
echoing back his command.

I gasped for air between sobs, forcing the words from my
lips.

“Kill me,” I said, choking on the words as I said them.

“Louder!” Lucas shouted with glee.  “I want to hear your
world falling apart.  I want to hear your heart breaking!  Say it again!”

I wanted to shriek my denials, tear out his eyes for having
made mine see the truth.  But most of all I wanted to deny him the sight of my
pain.  Slowly I steeled myself, swallowing the sobs before they could escape my
throat.  Taking a deep breath to steady myself, I squared my shoulders and
gathered my courage to walk across the earthen floor to where Michael stood. 
Mustering my last ounce of strength, I raised my hand and struck him across the
face as hard as I could.  The red outline of my palm sat accusingly on his
cheek until the flush of anger rose and spread across his entire face.  His
eyes flashed, his nostrils flared, and his jaw strained, but he said nothing.

“Kill me,” I said, derisively, my voice no longer shaking,
before turning to walk away.

Lucas’s slow, deliberate clapping echoed into the night. 
“Quite a show.  I don’t think I could have planned it better if I had tried.” 
Then he gave an exaggerated yawn.  “But I’m afraid I am out of time.  It’s time
for you and me to go, Hope.”

Michael’s blue eyes bored into us both.  “I told you, you
can’t have her,” he said, the vein in his forehead throbbing.

Lucas feigned surprise.  “Why of course, what was I
thinking?” He turned to me with undue courtesy. “We’ll ask Hope what she would
like to do.  Hope, do you want to go with me, or with Michael?”

Quickly, I shot back, “I want to go home. Alone.”

Lucas’s laughter pealed like bells.  “Don’t be ridiculous,
child.  That is something neither one of us will allow.  Now make your choice. 
Come with me and take your chances, or go with Michael, to certain death.”

A train rushed by, the rhythm of its wheels on the track
sounding so ordinary that I could almost forget what I was being asked to do.

“He’s lying,” Michael said tersely under his breath so that
only I could hear.  “I won’t hurt you, Hope.”

“I don’t have all night, Hope,” Lucas called impatiently. 
“Make your choice.”

I turned to look at Michael.  I wanted to believe him…but how
could I? Michael’s eyes mirrored back my own fear and regret.  I opened my
mouth to speak, but he simply shook his head.

“The choice is not hers to make,” Michael said as he
stretched his arm to the heavens, a flaming sword materializing in his grip. 
Tongues of fire licked about the corded muscles of his arm, but they did not
burn him.  He swung the sword down in a brilliant arc that lit the entire
basement.

“Step aside, Hope,” he muttered, his eyes locking in on
Lucas.

I scuttled back into the shadows, away from the fiery
spectacle.  Lucas had drawn his own sword, which burned with a cooler, silvery
heat.  He waved his other hand in silent dismissal and suddenly, the mass of
black shadows that had hovered around us vanished into the night.  Only Michael
and Lucas remained, circling one another, swords sparking, like lions waiting
for the strike.

Lucas’s lip curled up as tossed his sword from hand to hand,
wheeling about.  “The Key, and the chance to do you in with my own hand?  This
evening has turned out to be quite promising.”

Michael’s nostrils flared as he bit back his response, never
taking his eyes off of Lucas.

Lucas lunged, trying to catch Michael by surprise, but
Michael was ready, parrying the blow easily and moving with the grace of a
dancer, not even seeming to feel the clash of metal on metal.  Lucas heaved
again, a great downward fall like an axe, but Michael caught him, crossing
swords and hurling Lucas away in a shower of sparks.  Lucas tumbled in the dirt
like a rag doll, and then scrambled to his feet.

Michael took the offensive, striking before Lucas had
steadied himself. Lucas barely managed to raise his blade, a brilliant blaze
igniting the sky as flame fell upon flame.

“He’ll lie to you,” Lucas panted at me as he broke away from
Michael.  He was dragging his sword behind him, the tongues of fire licking his
wrist and entwining themselves about his rippling arm.

“He’ll tell you he won’t hurt you.  He’ll tell you he didn’t
even know.”  Michael lunged after him and Lucas stumbled backward, desperately
trying to outrun the reach of Michael’s sword, until there was nowhere else
left for Lucas to go.

Lucas’s eyes were wild as he shouted his last words to me. 
“Don’t believe a word he says, Hope.  He loves mankind.  He may even love you. 
But he loves God more.  He’ll never allow you to live, even if it breaks his
own heart.”

Michael roared, a primal sound torn from his gut, as he
brought the flaming sword down on Lucas’s head.  My hands flew to my eyes,
recoiling from the violence.

Then, nothing.  Nothing but the sound of Michael’s ragged
breathing.  His gasps for breath echoed about the cavernous room for what
seemed like ages.

I slid two fingers apart to peek.  There was no flame.  No
sword.  No body, no evidence that Lucas had even been here.  Only Michael. 
Ordinary Michael, teenage boy, looking for all the world like he had done
nothing more than run a hard sprint in PE.

“Let’s go,” he said in a business-like tone, striding toward
the staircase.  I dropped my hands, staring after him.

“Hope,” he said, an edge to his voice as he turned to look at
me, one foot already poised on the first step.  “I said, let’s go.”

I opened my mouth, a smart retort in mind, but all that came
out was a foreign keening that made even my own hair stand on end.  My hands
flew up, trying to stop the sound from escaping my throat, but it just grew
louder and I began to shake.

Michael rubbed his brow, puzzling through this latest turn of
events.  “Shock,” he muttered, expecting no answer.  “You’re in shock.”

He covered the distance between us in a few strides and
pulled me down to the ground, squatting next to me as he held me by the
shoulders.

“It’s going to be okay,” he soothed, brushing his thumb
against my hairline.  The unexpected gentleness of his gesture made me wail all
the louder.

“Shhhh,” he urged.  “Shhhh.”  Then, carefully, he pulled me
into his vast embrace.  I tried to push away, but he only held me tighter
until, defeated, I gave in.  His impassive chest absorbed the great sobs that
wracked my body, his heat enveloping me and sinking down into my core.  I
howled against him until my throat was too sore to make any sound; then, I
shook in silent agony.  Slowly, slowly, my body gave up its grief, the spasms
of anger and fear gradually succumbing to hiccups and sniffles.

He tilted my chin up.  Through swollen eyes, I could see him
inspecting me.  Finally, satisfied by what he saw, he deposited me back on the
ground and backed away from me, rising to his full height.

“Better?”

I watched him warily, nodding.

“Good,” he said, looking quickly at the sky.  “It will be
dawn soon.  We need to leave here unobserved.  Lucas’s crew won’t be looking
for him quite yet, so we have the advantage.”

He paused.  “Do you understand what I am saying, Hope?”

I shook my head numbly.  Nothing made any sense any more.

He grunted with barely concealed impatience.  “We’re running
away, Hope.  You and me.  And we need to get out of here. 
Now
.”

I looked at him with disbelief as he stood, stretching to his
full height. 

“Why don’t you just kill me now and get it over with,” I
demanded, refusing to stand.

His cheeks flushed.  He shoved his hands deep into his
pockets and kicked at the dirt, softly cursing under his breath.

“I don’t think that will be necessary,” he said tersely.  He
reached down, pulling me up by the armpits and shoving me toward the stairs. 
“Now, walk.”

I somehow managed to stumble back through the factory and to
the car, wordlessly handing the keys to Michael when he held out his palm.  In
the passenger seat, I pressed my cheek against the cold glass and looked at the
leafless trees that had stood sentinel all night.  In dawn’s first blush, they
seemed reassuringly normal, shrinking in the distance as we pulled away.

Normal.  How could anything be normal, after what had just
happened?  I wanted it all to go away – my aching body, my raw throat, and
especially my lingering terror.  I longed for the oblivion of sleep – sleep in
my own bed – hoping I would wake up and find this was all a dream.  But instead
of turning North through the city and toward home, Michael steered the Audi
away from Atlanta.

“Where are we going?” I asked, a tremor in my voice.

“To the airport,” he said, offering no further information.

Ask him why
, the little voice in my head urged. 

Funny
you should show up now, after all the fun is over,
I
snapped back at him in my mind.  When Henri didn’t rise to the bait, I sighed
and shifted in my seat so I could better watch Michael.

“Why are we running away?”  I demanded.

He looked at me out of the corner of his eye, deciding
whether or not he should answer me.  “Now that they know you are here, the
Fallen Ones will hunt you down.”

“So you’re going to protect me?” I quipped, sarcasm dripping
from my voice.

“Yes,” he replied coolly, never taking his eyes from the
road.

“Why should I believe you?” I challenged, straining against
the safety belt.  “Why should I believe you when all you’ve done is lie to
me?” 

Careful, girl
, the voice warned.  I watched as Michael clutched the
steering wheel tighter, his knuckles turning white.  
Even he can be pushed
too far.

“I told you the truth about protecting you.  I didn’t know
about the Mark.”

Lucas had warned me that Michael would say that. I could
barely stand knowing that Lucas had been right, could barely stand knowing that
in this upside-down, mixed up world he might actually be on my side.  I knew I
was in danger, but some crazy impulse drove me on.  With nothing to lose, I
unleashed my anger upon Michael, almost daring him to finally turn against me.