Rapture Falls (45 page)

“You fool”, she whispered close to his ear, the half breed looked to her face and she took an involuntary step backwards, his face simply scared her, here was the monster. “What did I tell you” she heard an unpleasant pleading tone in her voice, “He will end us all, you can’t kill him
yet
only us”

“LUCIFER” her name boomed from the rising grand Archangel, “You would side with this filth” he raged “You would stand against your brothers, against me child” Gabriel was now fully erect, the air between them sparked and crackled, the wind howled around them flinging up earth and debris
in a spinning tornado that encircled the ancient stone structure and grew rapidly in strength. Suddenly a flash of movement quicker than Gabriel could turn hit him full speed from behind, McCullum came through the swirling winds wielding a lethal blade in both hands above his head before plunging it full force and wordlessly into Gabriel’s back. The Archangel staggered forward and fell to his knees, his face drawn and pale as the life force ebbed from the wound. Baine struggled to his feet and moved towards Gabriel,

“No, not yet” Lucifer grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him backwards, “He’s not weak enough yet”

As if to prove the point Gabriel was already rising,

“I am older than this
world, did you really think that usurping me would be that easy
Lucifer
, did you really believe that you could stand for even a second in m
y shoes”
Gabriel raised his head to the heavens and
roared
.

Suddenly they felt a strange distancing from their surroundings, the floor felt real but the sky above them darkened, the fields around them faded and retreated, the clouds above them opened and thick snow fell dumping great heavy flakes
that blurred their vision. This new world was about a quarter mile wide in circumference, the green fields beyond this boundary were untouched although a little distant as though they no longer belonged.
The land began to swirl as if struggling to focus, Baine, Lucifer and McCullum stood back to back, suddenly they were all aware that they were not alone, shadows and shapes slipped and slithered, moved and formed large solid masses.

“LOOK”, Lucifer screamed above the wind and noise, she pointed to Gabriel, he was shaking and still screaming, his whole body looked wracked with pain and inconceivable effort, blood still seeped from his
knife
wound that would not close, “Almost” she shouted in Baine’s ear.

The world around them was no longer their own and they no longer belonged in it,
the heavy snow fell choking the light from the sky, the dark shapes began to ascend the hill towards them black and hungry. Lucifer could only make out a few of the figures, monsters and demons crawled and fought each other, snapping and slashing with lethal teeth and claws. These were the worst of the worst, the damned souls of purgatory driven mad by eons of isolation, their flesh scorched and torn from self-abuse. These creatures were once angels
who were expunged to the vast soulless empty plains, the armies of heaven had never used them before, they were always considered to be the ultimate nuclear deterrent. Gabriel had summoned them now using every ounce of his power, Lucifer had been sure that if they made him mad enough, if they caused enough injuries if they broke through the last vestiges of his serenity it would render him vulnerable enough to finish him for good. Now all she needed to do was to allow Baine enough time to finish this, but that meant taking on the un-holy hoard that approached and to stay alive. She looked to her detective, his eyes were steady but distant, she stood on tip-toes and kissed him fully on the mouth, hard and strong, his eyes cleared, his arms grew strength as they encircled her waist
and pulled her close. She stood back from him and drew her knife
the wicked blade glistened eager for purpose, McCullum followed suit
, she took his hand and they turned together to face the incoming.

             
Baine had watched the events unfold before his eyes but without really seeing anything, all he could see was his dancer lying broken and brutalised, just what horrors she had endured because of him broke his newly formed heart. Lucifer had told him that they needed to get under Gabriel’s skin, to turn his attention away from the rational, to take his focus away from his waning powers and open a small window of opportunity to end his life, but she had not foreseen his dancer. It was Gabriel who had destroyed his rationale in a heartbeat, any
semblance of a plan had disappeared as soon as he had seen her wrecked body.
But there was still time damn it
,
he thought
, he watched as Gabriel knelt panting for breath, Lucifer took McCullum by the hand, she turned to him with a last look, he nodded,
I’m still here
,
he transmitted to her,
go do your thing,
she nodded back and then they were gone charging down the hill weapons raised ready for war.
He
stepped
towards the recuperating
Archangel, his steady footsteps changed to a roar as he charged. He dipped low and hit the rising Gabriel with his shoulder smashing the angel back to his
feet;
he threw left and right roundhouses as fast and as hard as he could, all pretence of finesse long forgotten. His fists shattered into Gabriel’s face again and again breaking against the concrete skin, the skin shredded from his knuckles and he felt no pain.
Gabriel staggered backwards under the
assault;
he got up a left arm to block a blow and threw a right that caught Baine in the stomach shattering two ribs instantly, Baine rolled with the impact spinning right. He raised a side kick whipping his leg hard from the waist
and catching Gabriel flush on the side of the head, the impact shuddered up and into his hip. They faced each other circling, Baine limped heavily to his right his left arm holding his broken ribs, Gabriel’s face was a bloody mess his nose was spread across his face, his lips mashed back against his teeth, his left eye completely closed.

“Let’s finish this” Baine managed spitting out the blood that was worryingly flowing out from the inside, Gabriel nodded and they limp
-
charged to the centre of the stones.

             
Lucifer risked a glance back to the ancient burial chamber as she ducked under a scaly arm tipped with fatal talons, Baine was
struggling to hold
his own against Gabriel even though Gabriel was wounded and weakened as much as possible, she stepped back
with a fluid dancers grace and sliced the knife through the air with a straight horizontal arm that sliced the creatures throat open in a
gushing
red line. She stood back to back with her love fighting the clawing and snapping things that flew out of the darkness, the snow continued to fall
turning to a crimson slush on the ground,
they were
soon
both soaked through,
bodies’
blood
and limbs lay at their feet in testament to the battle.
Her arms were already beginning to ache and tire, McCullum seemed impervious to their predicament the strength that she passed to him now powered through his veins and not hers. The swarming sea of black figures showed no signs of dissipating, for enemy that they cut down two more seemed to rise up in their place, as far down the hill as she could see they kept coming.
It was becoming more and more apparent that her life and their future were increasingly in doubt, she had been sure that they would walk away from this intact and together. A spiked reptilian fist crashed into the side of her face as she was distracted, she sank to her knees spitting blood onto the cold wet ground, her senses rang loudly spinning her thoughts. The same fist began its violent descent arching downwards in a killing
blow;
she barely had time to raise a protecting arm before the impact shredded her flesh, one arm hung loosely and useless. She turned to face her end when the hulking shadow of her detective filled the sky above, he struck the creature repeatedly shattering bones and splattering a foul green ooze
across his clothes. Suddenly she was airborne as McCullum picked her up with a gentle ease and placed her over his broad shoulders he turned and begun cutting a swath through the monsters as they retreated back towards the stones. Lucifer tried her best to cut and slash at their attackers covering the rear from her prone position, they edged slowly back the hundred or so yards through the blizzard, whichever way they turned the wind seemed to scream in their faces. The ancient burial chamber at the top of the hill seemed untouched by the weather, a mini tornado whipped viciously around the clearing preventing access by any of the battlefields inhabitants. Slowly they reached the
top;
the two figures inside of the inner circle were barely visible
amidst
the flying debris, McCullum fought
valiantly
against the wind, staggering against the tide. The sea of dark creatures appeared to pull back, seemingly
unwilling to approach the stones, she watched as they retreated back down the hill,
they were safe for now but had nowhere further to pull back to.

             
They traded blows, hard and heavy, tearing, ripping and breaking, Baine could barely lift his arms, he had swung and swung and all that was left in him now was an impotent rage. He staggered scarcely able to maintain an upright position, for all of the damage that he had inflicted he had taken more, his healing ability was shot, it could no longer cope and had seemed to falter. By contrast Gabriel was getting stronger by the minute, he seemed to gain from every inch that Baine lost, his wounds were healing quickly, his swollen features and broken bones were knitting and reforming at an alarming rate.
Baine still moved towards him, he swung a looping right barely clenched fist but Gabriel caught it easily, Baine sank against the angel, all strength gone. Two fast concrete blows took the last of his defiance, he could only feel the coppery taste of his own blood as it ran down his throat, Gabriel grabbed him by the throat with one hand and brought their faces together.

“It would appear that you have all underestimated the grand archangel after all” Gabriel’s voice boomed above all, “You are all worms beneath my feet, the wind that blows cannot
move the mountain you pathetic child”

“You took her” Baine managed through a broken mouth

“I freed you, I tried to set you above them, to place you with me, to show you the universe” Gabriel spat incredulously

“You took her” Baine whispered.

He was raised
high
as Gabriel took him
in both hands
lifting him effortlessly above his head, the archangel
’
s screaming obscenities lost to the rage before he was slammed into the ground, suddenly he was raised again and slammed back down, three times then a fourth, Baine could no longer see beyond the spinning stars that circled his head.

McCullum had watched all of the unfolding incredible events from a great distance, his mind still existed somewhere in the deep dark recesses, he was
serene;
wherever he was it was beautiful. There was no fear here, no hate, no hunger, no worries, only a warm love that wrapped itself around him draping him in a velvet fog of bliss
. Somewhere in the distance it was still possible to view the world through his own eyes, he had no interest in reality anymore, but yet he could not close the blinds completely. There was always an annoying crack of light that nagged and gnawed at him however hard he tried to ignore it. After an eternity of paradise he suddenly found the light seemed a little closer, it wasn’t possible, was it, the light grew brighter, scared he turned and ran for the confines of the darkness, to head back into the black. All of a sudden he could not run fast enough, the light burned at his back, racing closer and closer, he ran faster and faster lungs burning legs pumping, the heat from the light was scalding him now, burning and stripping his flesh. The ground beneath him was light, the air around him was light, he was light as it overtook him, exploding around him, blazing the darkness away, suddenly in the light he saw, his actions, his
crimes
, his mother.