Revelations (Bloodline Series) (38 page)

“It
won’t. I’m sorry…I have nothing against you. I just don’t want to stay here.”

“I
understand that,” I told him. “But we’re here if you need us. Seriously.”

“Thanks.
I’ll stop by again soon.”

As
soon as he left Lily turned to face me. “You’re being very nice to him. Are you
feeling okay? Do you have a temperature?”

“I
told you we’d worked things out. We’re not the best of friends, but we’ve moved
on. I know what it’s like to be heartbroken, Lily. I just wanted to offer my
support.”

“It’s
very good of you.”

“This
is the last of them,” Elizabeth said, placing the last two plates in the
dishwasher. “How are you both—?”

Before
she could finish her sentence, Eligos reappeared. His eyes were blood red. My
heart started racing, and my legs felt as though they had turned to jelly. The color
drained from Lily’s face, and I could see her shaking. Elizabeth closed her
eyes and took a deep breath.

“They’re
here,” Eligos told us. “It’s time.”

Oroan,
Vetis, Unsere, and Eaven appeared behind him. A second later, Danny and Hecate
ran into the room, quickly followed by everyone else.

“Where
are they?” Danny asked.

“They’ve
started in Kansas; they’re currently on farm land. If we can intercept them
there, we can reduce the number of human casualties,” Vetis answered.

“People
need to flee,” Lily blurted out.

“They
can’t…they’re frozen. The only people on earth still able to move around are
you guys,” Unsere explained.

“I
don’t understand,” Lucian said.

Unsere
quickly explained to us how Ballantine had frozen people in time. The whole world
had basically come to a standstill. The only reason we were able to move around
freely was because Lucifer had cast a barrier spell sheltering us from its
effects.

“We
need to leave, now,” Eligos commanded.

Jake
grabbed hold of Lily. “I love you. You’re the most important thing in my life,
no matter what happens; never forget that,” he told her.

“I
love you too,” she smiled, tearfully.

“Everyone
grab a human,” Unsere said, clearly nervous.

I
looked around one more time at the house, and all my friends before Vetis took
mine and Jake’s arms.

We
arrived in the middle of a large field. All seemed peaceful…the landscape was
so beautiful. It was midafternoon, the sun occasionally peeking through the
gaps in the dark rain clouds. The grass rustled in the slight warm breeze. I
don’t know what I’d expected to see when I arrived, but this certainly wasn’t
it. From the looks on the guys’ faces, they hadn’t expected this either.

I
was beginning to think there had been a huge mistake. As I was about to voice
my thoughts, hundreds of thousands of demons appeared in perfect formation
behind us, their lines stretching further than I could actually see. Winged
creatures hovered above them, silently waiting. Buer came and joined us,
standing by Eligos’s side.

“They
should be coming right over that hill in a matter of minutes,” I heard him tell
Eligos. “I hope your people are ready.”

“We’re
always ready, you know that.”

“I
didn’t mean your army.”

“They’re
as ready as they can be,” Eligos told him plainly. “Is she with them?”

“I
believe so.”

“Then
for me, it’s almost over.”

Buer
didn’t respond, and I had to wonder what Eligos meant by his last sentence. Did
he really believe Keira would kill him? Surely not. She’d had the opportunity
to in Ohio, yet here he was. Hecate stood on the other side of him.

“I
want you to stay close by, do you hear me?” she told him.

“You’ve
always been a good friend; I don’t want anything to happen to you. Concentrate
on keeping yourself safe. Do not concern yourself with my welfare. You know my
position.”

“Yes,
and I’ve decided I won’t allow you to do it.”

“You
don’t have a choice.”

I
was becoming more and more confused by the second. What had I missed? I shook
my head and took to looking out at the large hill in front of us.

“I
don’t think I can do this,” I heard Olivia tell Jared.

“You
can; if we stay close together, we’ll survive, I promise.” Although he tried to
comfort his sister, you could tell his promise was almost empty.

I
turned to look at the others. Vetis seemed to be experiencing REM; I guessed he
was speaking with Lucifer.

“Call
your weapons!” he shouted, opening his eyes. “They’re here!”

I
faced the hill again and watched as hundreds of beings descended, coming closer
with every second that passed. I swallowed hard and held my hand out in front
of me. A beautiful battle axe appeared, bestowed with the power to kill a
person or creature’s soul. This was my weapon of choice.

We
waited until Ballantine’s warriors were around a hundred feet away from us. Eligos
stepped forward, his swords in hand. “NOW!”

Chapter 50

The
First Charge

Keira

I
walked beside Ballantine through the beautiful Kansas fields. Behind us, farms
were ablaze…before us, the ill-fated population of the world.

“Your
friends are here,” Ballantine told me.

“How
do you know?”

“I
can sense them, there are so many. This will be more difficult than I thought,
but we must push through them.”

“I
don’t feel anything.”

“That’s
because you are part demon. A pure angel can feel a demon’s presence; the more
of them there are the stronger the feeling. I guess they are all waiting just
beyond this hill.”

“Oh
God,” I said, taking a deep breath.

“You’ll
be fine.”

“Remember
our deal Ballantine; if anything happens to Eligos....”

“Don’t
remind me,” he replied sadly.

“Sir,”
a man said, approaching. “There’s an army waiting for us just past this hill.
Should we attack?”

“Take
your section and begin your descent; the rest will follow,” Ballantine
instructed.

“Yes
sir.”

A
moment later hundreds of people began to run up the remainder of the hill, then
they disappeared from view.

“Shouldn’t
we be there with them?” I asked.

“Not
yet.”

“Why?”

“Trust
me.”

I
continued to walk up the hill. I could hear people shouting, the sounds of
metal banging together, and cries of pain. This was the sound of war…the sound
of death.

“Try
to shut it out,” Ballantine told me. “I know it’s hard, but it will drive you
crazy if you don’t.”

“Believe
me, I’m trying.”

“Stop,”
he said, taking my arm. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver
necklace. A beautiful charm hung from it…two silver doves with beautiful amber
gemstones for their eyes. “This belonged to my wife. Doves were her favorite.
She said she loved what they represented.”

“The
holy spirit?”

“Yes,
but also peace, love, promise, and purification. She especially loved their
eyes. She loved everyone’s eyes…she saw them as windows to the soul. She
referred to our children as her doves. They filled her with love and happiness.
I bought her this not long after we started dating. I knew I wanted to spend
the rest of my life with her, and told her that
she
was
my
dove,
sent to me directly from Heaven. She never took it off.”

“It’s
beautiful.”

“I
would like you to have it.”

“What?
I can’t take that…it means too much to you.”

“Keira,
she would want you to have it.
I
want you to have it. Because of you, I’m
going to be able to bring happiness and peace to a lot of people. Before you
joined me, I thought this would take decades, wiping out one small city at a
time then moving on to the larger ones while all the time more people were being
born, growing up, repopulating the earth. Because of you we’ve been able to
step up, to move forward.”

“Why
me?”

“Because
of how powerful you are. You have the power of both Heaven and Hell. Just one
of you is equal to around a hundred thousand of these people. If you use it
correctly, you can help us push past any army that Hell may send. You’re feared,
Keira, even by those who love you.”

“I
don’t know if I can do what you’re asking me to do. I don’t know how, and when
I use my powers, sometimes it drains me. It’s just so strong,” I explained.

“I
understand. But remember, you’re not alone; I’m an archangel too. I’m not
asking you to do all this
for
me, I’m asking you to do it
with
me.”

“If
I can, I will.”

“Then
take this. It means so much Keira; what you’re doing will mean so much to
people. Please, it represents peace, and that’s what you will give people once
this is over.” He draped the chain around my neck and fastened it. “It suits
you,” he smiled. “It’s nice to see it worn again.”

“Thank
you,” I whispered.

“Take
good care of it Keira.”

“I
promise I’ll never take it off.”

He
nodded and then turned to look at the hill. “Shall we?”

“Let’s
get this over with.”

Again
I walked beside him until we reached the top of the hill. The first wave had
descended, and when they finally came into my view my heart sank. I looked down
at the battlefield. I’d expected to see our people in the fight of their lives,
but everyone lay motionless. I watched as hundreds of them began to dissolve
into the air. All those people were gone. It had happened so quickly. The realization
of what was happening hit me like a ten-ton weight.

I
saw all my friends standing amidst the partially dissipating bodies of our
troops, all of them staring straight at us. I was relieved to see them standing
there, to know they were still breathing. But I was also angry and upset at how
many lives had just been lost. I couldn’t control such a mixture of emotions.
The angel showed itself, the golden vine-like markings appearing on my skin.
Now it was my turn.

Ballantine
attempted to raise his arm to give his followers the go ahead to attack, but I
stopped him.

“Wait,”
I said before stepping forward.

“What
are you doing?”

“Watch.”

Chapter 51

The
Evil Princess

Eligos’s
Story

We
met our attackers head on, slicing and dicing our way through them. They were
stronger than I had imagined, which probably had something to do with either
Keira or Ballantine. I also hadn’t realized just how many demons had joined
him. That worried me a little…the guys and girls may struggle a little with
them. It would take more of their strength and power, which meant they would
tire much quicker. I quickly pointed this out to Vetis, who then set about
telling as many of our demons as possible. I hoped they would concentrate more
on wiping them out, meaning the humans would only have to deal with the
spirits. They still had power, bestowed on them by the angel, but they were
easier to take down.

The
guys stayed as close to each other as possible, each of them trying to kill as
many as they could but also keep themselves and each other safe. Lily was using
her power of telekinesis to throw some of the attackers away from her, or
directly into the path of someone with a soul destroyer. Although she had one
of her own, which she could summon at will, it seemed she much preferred to use
her power. Lucian, Danny, and Jake were wielding their swords, slicing through torsos
or decapitating their foes. Olivia, Marley, and Beth chose to use their magic
over their weapons. They stuck together, throwing fire, plasma, energy,
whatever it took to destroy the spirits vessels and force them to leave.

I
watched as our enemies’ souls rose from the inhabitable stolen bodies. They
rose into the air, possibly searching for another body to take over. But once
they reached a certain height, they literally received the shock of their
lives. Lilith and Lucifer were watching, casting spells to make sure nobody
escaped. They had created an overhead barrier; as soon as a soul touched it, it
was instantly obliterated. This was God’s wish. Thankfully, that was something
we didn’t have to worry about. We could just concentrate on what was in front
of us. It was nice to know we were being aided from afar.

As
I was about to turn and try and find some of the others, a huge demon attacked,
the same kind of demon Lilith had come to Keira’s house to destroy. This was
going to be interesting. It snarled at me and struck out with its powerful
claws. I managed to evade his attack and threw electrically charged energy at
it. The creature howled in pain, but it didn’t stop it from continuing its onslaught.
Danny noticed the creature and instantly joined in the fight, throwing energy
balls continuously from one of his hands while the other sent flames shooting
towards it. Danny kept it distracted while I charged towards the creature,
climbing on its back and raising my sword. With one powerful blow the beasts
head was severed from its neck, its soul destroyed. I jumped off before the creature
evaporated.