Scorn of Angels (33 page)

“No,” said Epiphenia. “But
that
will.”

Tribunal looked down just in time to feel Nyx’s fist connect with his nose. The punch, reinforced with Epiphenia’s power, smashed the bones on his face in a spray of red blood. The force of it sent his body flying backward to land in an awkward heap on a pile of broken mud bricks and stones. Nyx stood before him, her wings spread wide, and Arcana’s head, which had been attached to Tribunal’s belt, dangling from her fist.

“Persephone!” Nyx screamed. “Hold them here! Epiphenia!”

“Go, Mother!” shouted Epiphenia and sent her power into Nyx. Nyx rocketed skyward, directly to Heaven’s Gates.

“Stop her!” Tribunal shouted, his voice strangely nasal. He cast his power toward Heaven, to block the entrance and keep Nyx out.

A massive force caught his power, engulfed it, and slammed it back on him. The force of it crushed his body into paste. Tribunal, now pure spirit, rose up out of the bloody, messy remains of his flesh and faced off against Epiphenia. “I will destroy you,” he hissed.

“I know,” said Epiphenia. “But I will hurt you first.”

And as Nyx raced toward Heaven with a thousand Descended hot on her trail, and Persephone rallied the remains of Nyx’s army to fight Lucifer’s forces, Epiphenia’s blade whirled through the air and smashed into Tribunal with all the power of Creation behind it.

Chapter 16

P
E
RSEPHONE’S BLADE CUT
through the head of one of Lucifer’s Descended with a single swipe.
“Kill them all!”
she sent again.
“Keep them from killing the humans!”

When did I start to care so much about the humans?
she thought. But the idea of the Descended destroying them wantonly made her furious.

“Spread out!” Lucifer’s bellow shook the ruins around them. He threw himself into the air after Nyx. “Kill these fucking traitors and then kill all the humans! Move!”

Two-and-a-half million Descended Angels screamed out their battle cries, and the sky shook with the unending thunder of their blades clashing and whips cracking. Wings flashed and silver blood sprayed over the earth.

And in the midst of it all, not moving a muscle, Epiphenia and Tribunal faced one another, their eyes locked. The power that was flying between them was so strong that any Descended that happened to be thrown into its path was instantly turned to dust.

“I will destroy you,” said Tribunal again. Epiphenia said nothing and threw more power. The air between then glowed brilliant white with the force of it. And in Kabul the humans marveled at what must surely be the sun rising in the middle of the night.

It was afternoon in Heaven. The light was pleasant and bright, and the presence of God cast a warm glow over everything as it always did. The souls and Angels went about their business happy in their ignorance that everything was ending, and that all time would be rewritten.

Archangel Michael stood at the Gates, welcoming souls with a kind word and a gentle touch. Tears streamed down his face, and he did nothing to staunch them. Several souls asked him what was wrong, but he could only shake his head and smile through his tears.

On the mountain where he, Gabriel, and Raphael had sat and talked so many times before, Azrael sat in silent contemplation. He was the Angel of Death and release from suffering. He had been among the most feared among the angels, and the most welcomed. For a thousand years, at God’s command, he had stayed away from the Earth, letting the souls find their own way to Heaven or Hell without his guidance. It had been God’s will, and God’s will was to be obeyed, happily.

Only Azrael wasn’t happy.

Tribunal was not in Heaven. And why that was important to Azrael he could not say, but it was. Tribunal had gone down to Earth. And shortly after Tribunal had left, Azrael had found himself not only thinking about the Earth, but also feeling what was happening there.

There was suffering. Terrible suffering, and it wasn’t just humans who were feeling it. Thousands—no, hundreds of thousands—of Angels were suffering, too. They were Descended Angels, it was true, but they were still Angels, and Azrael could feel the pain of each one. He longed to follow Tribunal; he longed to go down to the Earth and see what was making his brethren suffer so much. But he was not allowed. No Angel of Heaven was allowed to visit the Earth.

So why are all the Angels of Hell there?
Azrael wondered.
They were blocked, too. Has something
changed?

He wanted to talk about it, to tell all of Heaven, but something blocked him from speaking whenever he wanted to mention it. It was extremely frightening.

And then, something did change, and all of Heaven felt it.

Nyx reached the outer Gates of Heaven and threw herself against them. The barrier Tribunal had placed on them was still there, and just as powerful as it had been before.
“Epiphenia!”
she sent.
“I can’t get
through!”

“Soon,”
sent Epiphenia.
“Be ready!”

“Easy for you to say,” muttered Nyx. She turned in the air and looked down to where a thousand of Lucifer’s Descended were winging toward her. She hesitated a moment, then tied Arcana’s head to her belt by her hair. “Sorry.”

“You’re forgiven,
” sent Arcana.
“Assuming you get us out of here
alive.”

“Yeah, well.” Nyx drew her sword—Lucifer’s sword, really—and whip. “Let’s hope so.”

The first of the Descended was nearly as fast as Gabriel, God’s messenger had been. He was not, however, a good fighter. Nyx took both his wings in a pair of cuts and let him fall, screaming, to the Earth below.
Like that will kill him,
she thought, as the next six Descended came upon her.
Whiner.

Her blade clashed with theirs, and more silver blood sprayed into the stratosphere.

Well
, Persephone thought.
This is going
badly.

“Fall back!”
she sent to her army, for they were hers to command, now.
“Attack in waves, in and out. Keep them busy for as long as
possible!”

Her army responded, the Descended tearing away from the battle, only to swing back and attack again. After each attack, there were fewer of them, but it kept Lucifer’s army too busy guessing where the next attack was coming from to launch out after the humans.

Just like the poor bastard cavalry in Jerusalem,
thought Persephone, remembering how the Muslim defenders had fought so desperately against Nyx’s Crusaders in the hopes the women and children would escape.
Wonder if we’ll fare any better? Do we deserve
to?

She shook her head. No time to think that way.

“There you are, bitch!”
crowed Ishtar, falling on Persephone from above with four other Descended behind her.
“Time to die!”

Persephone spun in the air and lashed out, her whip opening a cut on Ishtar’s face. “Keep fighting!” Persephone screamed as her world narrowed to the blades in front of her. “Don’t let them escape!”

Tribunal had to exert effort, now. He was pouring all the power he could at Epiphenia, but it wasn’t enough. He couldn’t break through her defenses, couldn’t destroy her and clear the way to fulfill his true desire.
Stupid thing,
he fumed.
How dare she stand against me? How dare any of
them!

He turned his power to blast upward at Nyx, who was trapped before the Gate of Heaven, but it was immediately reflected back at him, staggering him with its intensity.

Twenty yards away, Epiphenia smiled.
It’s time, Mother.

With a thought, she gathered all her power and hurled it at Tribunal. The force of the blast burned through his defenses and started ripping at his form, ethereal though it now was. He roared in pain and surprise and threw up a wall of defense that stopped Epiphenia’s power dead.

“NOW!”
sent Epiphenia. She turned her power upward and directed it all to the Gates of Heaven in the microsecond that Tribunal was distracted. The blast ripped upward through the sky, turning half the Descended racing for the Gates into dust and narrowly missing Nyx. It slammed into the force that blocked the Gates of Heaven, smashing it wide open.
“GO
NOW!”

The Descended Nyx was fighting stared, mouth wide at the Gates of Heaven. Nyx took the moment to cut off the Descended’s left wing, sending him spiraling down to the earth.

“Good luck, Mother!”

“Kick God’s ass!”
sent Persephone.
“And
hurry!”

Nyx drove herself up and through the Gates of Heaven, which she had not passed in longer than the universe had existed.

Persephone twisted in the air, intercepted Ishtar’s blade, and ran her own right back along the length of it, trying to drive the point into Ishtar’s face. Ishtar flew backward and parried, then charged forward once again.

Bitch.
Ishtar thought as she struggled to kill the person who had once been her best friend. It was a chant in her head now:
Bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch.
She parried the blade and cut low, hacking for Persephone’s stomach while her whip sought Persephone’s eyes. Persephone dodged the whip, parried the blade, and used her own whip to lash four feathers out of Ishtar’s left wing.

“I will kill you, bitch!” snarled Ishtar. “We could have had everything! We could have had Paradise! And you fucked it all!”