“Look,” Rahim cried out, pointing to a pile of broken Nephilim not quite ten feet from us.
A glow similar to that of the gate glimmered in the pile of bodies, its source hidden under ravaged flesh, its rays piercing the ruin that lay over it.
“Over there too,” Katon added, gesturing to another similar glow obviously emanating from Adam’s skull.
I yanked Eve out and saw that she too was glowing and everything clicked. The mystery of how the pieces went together was answered; they didn’t. They just needed to be close enough to each other, their presence enough to trigger the gate. “Get those other bones and bring them closer to keep the gate open.” Rahim and Katon responded immediately and ran off after them. In my head, I called out for Poe.
“McConnell is already on his way, but he isn’t the only one,” the mentalist’s even voice reported.
My eyes snapped to the sky. Like a flock of birds shooed from the bushes, the air was full of darting shadows that raced toward the opening gate. Vampires led the way but the Nephilim who could fly-and there were a whole bunch of them-were close behind, and gaining.
In the race to reach Heaven, the two groups stopped fighting, concentrating only on being the first to cross the finish line. The clouds surrounding the gate roiled, flashes of lightning blurring the sky in defiance of their presence.
Without Scarlett to race ahead to Uriel, we were gonna have to do it ourselves. “Change of plans,” I shouted to Rahim and Katon as they returned. “You guys try to hold the gate. I’m gonna go for Forcalor.” Our odds still slim to none, I thought it best to seek out my old mentor rather than risk Uriel killing me in the heat of battle. That would suck.
“No one is going anywhere!”
An explosion of force followed the words and the world around me whipped into frenzy. Like a nuclear blast, a wall of kinetic energy trampled over us, leveling everything in its path. I slammed into the ground hard as if I’d been hit by a giant flyswatter. My skull felt as though it was gonna leak out my eyes, my body tingling with pinpricks of shock. I couldn’t get my arms or legs to respond. They lay there trembling as though not connected.
Through the haze of my wobbled mind, I saw Azrael as he came to stand before us. The fiends had done him no favors.
Claw marks ravaged the left side of his narrow face, flesh hanging from his cheek and forehead. His skull was visible beneath the wounds, soft white amidst the oozing black seep. His body was no better off. His robes were shredded, their tattered remnants wet with growing stains of blood. He held a crippled hand out before him, the last two fingers little more than dripping stumps, teeth marks visible in the remaining flesh of his palm.
“You are dead, demon.” He spoke through clenched teeth. The swelling at his jaw pretty much confirming it was broken.
I cast a quick glance to where Katon and Rahim lay and neither seemed to be able to get up either. They floundered about trying desperately to stand, their legs in rebellion.
Azrael stepped over me and glared down, infernos in his eyes. His uninjured hand shimmered with obsidian energy that threw sparks in every direction, and he raised it to strike.
“Not so fast, Azrael,” a thready voice warned from behind the archangel.
Old Grim spun about and glared. Akrasiel-Raguel- stood there bold in his golden armor, his intricate sword pointed toward Azrael.
Azrael just laughed, the sound muted by his injured jaw. “You’re too late to balance the scales, Raguel.” He gestured to the dark forms that flew toward the gate to Eden. “The Tree is in its final throes and will soon die along with your pitiful dream of Heaven.”
“It’s not dead yet,” Akrasiel countered while casting a sideways glance at me.
“You think the little demon prodigy has it in him to save the Kingdom?” Azrael shook his head. “You’re as big a fool as Lucifer for believing this runt could be the Anti-Christ. Worse yet, Raguel, you’re an incorporeal fool whose time has passed.” He waved his hand at the archangel. A tendril of energy snapped out and passed harmlessly through Raguel as though he weren’t there. “Without God and Satan in the world, you’re nothing but a ghost.” His laugh whistled between his teeth.
“I might not have the power to stop you, but sometimes all it takes is a distraction to turn the tide.” He winked, a satisfied smile springing to life on his lips.
Azrael looked to me then up toward the gate. Silent explosions, like cascading fireworks, were highlighted against the cloudy backdrop. Vampires and Nephilim alike fell burning from the sky. A fetid rain of flesh and blood followed. I didn’t need to see him to know it was McConnell, the gray tracers a sure sign.
While it thrilled my heart to see the cowboy doing a good deed, I knew he couldn’t hold out for long. Surprise working in his favor for the moment, it wouldn’t be long before he succumbed to his wounds, his magic tearing them open wide. If that didn’t kill him, the surging wall of vampires and half-breeds who slipped past his defenses would.
Azrael shrieked and looked back at me as if weighing his options. I must not have made the cut as far as his priorities went. He turned and loosed a burst of energy at Raquel, the sparking bolt of blackness scouring the archangel’s presence away, its power dispersing the angel’s ethereal image.
Without another word, Azrael leapt into the air and streaked toward McConnell, an obsidian trail of shadows swirling in his wake.
Azrael gone, I crawled my way to my feet, finally able to function somewhat. Rahim and Katon did the same. We staggered toward one another, all of us stumbling as though we were drunk. I could only wish.
Despite the head start of everyone else, I was confident we could still get to the gate first, with Rachelle’s help. I just wasn’t sure what we could do when we got there. Looking into Rahim’s eyes, I saw he was running on empty, Katon only slightly less weary. I knew where I stood and it wasn’t good.
“You ready for this?”
Both nodded without hesitation despite knowing we had no chance. Talk about balls.
As I sent a message to Poe, I glanced up and saw Azrael plowing his way toward the gate, bowling over vampire and Nephilim alike in his rush. McConnell’s energy had begun to slip, the wall of explosions I’d first seen now little more than the flicker of candles. He was running out of power, his body defying him.
The storm around the gate had grown worse, the first signs of its deadly fall beginning to manifest. Lightning flickered through the clouds with such tenacity that the entire sky seemed purple. Azrael was right, the Tree was on its deathbed, thunder its death rattle.
Rachelle’s voice sang inside my head and I started to give her our locations when a thought sparked to life, cutting through the murky gloom of my defeatism. I told her to wait a second and looked to Rahim and Katon.
“I’ve an idea.”
Rahim shook his head. “We don’t have time to get laid, Frank.” He glared at me impatient.
“Though that’s a great idea, it wasn’t what I had in mind.”
McConnell’s explosions now gone from the sky, the first in the wedge of Nephilim and vampires reaching the gate, there was no time to explain. I gave Rachelle coordinates and hoped dearly I hadn’t just helped to screw the pooch.
As a shimmering blue portal appeared before me, way too small for any of us to fit through, Rahim snarled, his eyes flickering red as he realized I’d gone ahead with my plan. Katon just stared as I dug in my pocket and yanked out the vial of my uncle’s blood.
I popped the stopper and stared at the shifting blood inside for just a second. A frustrated sigh slipped out and I growled, then made up my mind to hurl the open vial through the portal. It spun and zipped through the passage, a scarlet arc whipping about behind it as it flew out the other side of the portal and careened into Heaven.
“What are you thinking, Frank?” Rahim asked with a graveled stutter, his ursine face just inches from mine. Katon stood behind him, his sword wavering in my direction, fury and confusion engraved upon his dark face with equal measure. He’d always thought I’d betray them one day, believing I still owed a debt to Baalth. He might be right about the betrayal, but in my defense, I’d never do it on purpose.