Scorn of Angels (34 page)

“Wrong,” said Persephone through tightly clamped teeth. She lashed out with blade and whip, was parried and countered. She redirected the attacks and returned with her own. “You betrayed us, Ishtar. And I will never forgive you for it!”

“I don’t need your forgiveness! I don’t want your forgiveness!”

Persephone twisted and cut, her blade scoring deeply into Ishtar’s arm. “Then stop talking and fight!”

Ishtar snarled and swore and launched a fresh series of attacks, while all around them, Descended Angels fell from the sky, screaming in pain from severed limbs and hacked-open bodies.

The fight was going badly, Lucifer realized. His army was winning to be sure, but it was taking much longer than it should. He could not fail—he
would not
fail. Tribunal wanted his army to kill all the other Descended and destroy the humans before Tribunal got done with Epiphenia. It was the only way he could make up for his failure to stop Nyx.

Lucifer’s sword appeared in his hand. He looked down at it and realized what it meant.
That bitch is gone. She went through the Gates of
Heaven.

A deep, heavy rage possessed Lucifer then. An envy-filled hatred for Nyx and everything that she had become, everything that he should have been. It was so deep and so strong that it threatened to explode Lucifer’s chest. He roared, and for the first time since Nyx had cut him open and stolen his sword, joined the battle.

“We will destroy them, my master!” screamed Lucifer as he launched himself skyward and hacked one of Nyx’s Descended in two. “We will destroy them all!”

Then Tribunal and Epiphenia vanished, and the brilliant white light that had been driving out from each of them disappeared, plunging the broken remains of the city of Firozkoh into darkness.

Tribunal looked around. The air was gone, replaced with a thick, freezing gas that stunk of sulfur. There was no vegetation, no life, and no sign of humanity. There was not even solid ground to stand on. The thick gas around them just coalesced into a liquid that was not water. There were only two people present—himself and Epiphenia, both standing lightly on top of the mass of liquid.

Tribunal looked up, his gaze piercing through the hundreds of miles of clouds and into the sky beyond. When his eyes turned back to Epiphenia, he seemed surprised. “Why?” he asked, “are we on Jupiter?”

“Because you and I both know that we can’t fight this fight on Earth,” said Epiphenia. “Not without destroying it.”

“And you don’t want to destroy the humans?” said Tribunal. “How touching.”

“Most humans are far more deserving than you, you spoiled little princeling. In any case, you don’t want to be
seen
destroying the humans,” said Epiphenia. “And since Earth is God’s favorite playground, he might just notice if you unleash the sort of power you’re going to need to destroy me.”

“Say what you like, “ said Tribunal. “I’m going to destroy all of Creation, including you.”

Epiphenia smiled. “Good luck with that.”

Tribunal smiled back nastily, and the gasses around them swirled and turned red as he launched his attack. Epiphenia raised her own energy in defense, and once more the battle began.

Persephone and Ishtar broke apart and stared at one another in the darkness. All around them, the Descended stopped fighting each other and went still. For the briefest of moments, there was silence. The Descended on either side looked at each other, unsure whether to continue their battle.

Then Tribunal’s voice erupted in their heads.
“I will return. And when I do, let none of the traitors be
standing.”

“Shit,” muttered Persephone. She raised her sword.

“You heard him!” bellowed Lucifer. “Kill them all!”

Must do something must do something must do something…
Persephone blocked a dozen cuts from Ishtar in the time it took to think the thought.
If only we could get rid of them and keep them from coming back at
us…

Persephone pulled out her whip, cracked it, and opened a pit to Hell. She spun away from Ishtar, cut off the nearest enemy’s wings and threw him down. He fell, screaming with rage. Persephone caught two more before they realized what she was doing.

“You don’t need to kill them!”
she sent.
“Just drop them down to Hell
again!”

In the space of a heartbeat the one pit became fifty, then a hundred, then a thousand, until there were so many they merged into one giant pit into Hell, bathing the area with a glowing red light. Persephone’s Angels changed tactics, killing where they could, cutting enough to send others down into the pits, or, if they were falling, dragging others with them.

It isn’t going to be enough,
Persephone thought, as more of her own Angels fell and Ishtar once more charged.
But it may buy us a little more
time.

On the surface of Jupiter, Epiphenia and Tribunal hammered at one another with so much power that the gasses around them lit on fire and the planet, so much bigger than the Earth, shook. Tribunal was raising the amount of power he used with every moment, and for now, Epiphenia was matching him.

I won’t be able to much longer, though,
Epiphenia thought as she raised her own power, sending it to him from a dozen different directions. He repulsed them all, though he wasn’t having an easy time of it. She could see from his face that it was becoming a strain.
When will he use it?
Epiphenia wondered.
When will he bring together his true power and use it on
me?

And how much more time can I buy
Mother?

The path to Heaven is easy for a soul. Those who are destined for Heaven feel the pull, the strong desire to be in God’s presence. They rise up through the Gates and begin the long, slow climb to Heaven. They grow lighter and more filled with the love of God and the joy of knowing that they go to an eternity of bliss.

For Angels, the journey back up to Heaven is a time of cleansing, of releasing all thoughts of Earth and Creation, and focusing their entire beings on nothing but the joy of being in the divine presence of God.

And how the fuck am I supposed to do that?
wondered Nyx.

She flew upwards, strong and steady, her wings beating hard and fast. She was not the only one to go through the Gate. A group of Descended had followed her, each one clambering, not after Heaven, but after her.

They would fall soon, she knew.

She had made this climb so many times, before God had made the Universe. Even then, there were other places, other dimensions beyond that which God had made or controlled. The Angels used to visit them, to see things that could not even be imagined by humans. Nyx had ridden on the tail of a comet, passing through the primordial gasses that made up a world in a dimension that God had not created. She had stood on the surface of worlds made of glass, and others where the lava fires still burned across the planet.

And every time, filled with the wonder and joy of what she had seen, she had flown through the Gates, and turned all her thoughts toward God, to seeing him again, and sharing her adventures, and basking in his love.

What happened to me
anyway?

It wasn’t like she had not been happy for the first eon, or even the first ten. She had done God’s work, sat at his feet in Heaven and worshipped him. But then, somewhere, sometime, when she had been journeying though the universes that existed beyond Creation, when she had watched God preparing to build a world, sometime in there she had wanted more.

I just wanted to make my own decisions. To go without asking, to decide without consulting, to know that my will was my own and not some divine implantation that God had placed in me without my knowing, the way Tribunal placed the desire to love
him.

Nyx’s wings were growing heavier, and every beat of them was beginning to hurt.

The other Descended were far below her, struggling to fly at all. Three had already fallen. The last few were flying farther behind.

How the fuck do I leave this all behind
? Nyx wondered.
I’ve hated God for longer than there’s been
time.

Her wings now felt like lead, and some of the feathers were beginning to fall out, making it even harder for her to get any upward momentum.

I can’t fail. I can’t quit. I can’t let everyone down.

I need to get to
Heaven.

The next flap of her wings failed to bring her any higher. On the one after that she started sinking.

Oh, no. Please no. I have to get there. I have
to.

Still she sank down; still feathers fell from her wings, and still with every flap the wings grew heavier.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no! I am Queen of Hell! I will not fail at this. I must get to Heaven! I have to stop Tribunal! I have to save
Creation!

The Gate to Earth, so far below before, was starting to draw closer. Nyx was gaining speed, she realized. Fortunately, the Descended below her were falling even faster. Only one was left on this side of the Gate, and as Nyx watched it fell out of the Path to Heaven and back to the mortal world beyond.

I can’t do this! I can’t fail! They’re all depending on me! I have to help them. I have to see
God!

I have to see
God.

I can’t think of them. I can’t let them distract
me.

So stop fucking thinking of yourself and concentrate.
With brutal strength born of eons in Hell, and twenty years of unspeakable torture in the bottom of the lake of Fire, Nyx concentrated her thoughts on a single, driving idea.
I want to see God, and feel his divine presence in front of
me.

I want to see God and feel his divine presence in front of
me.

I want to see
God.

Her wings felt lighter.