At The Gates

Chapter Sixteen

Time running out, my research job was half-ass at best, but I did find out a few things.

The last guardian of God’s throne, who Akrasiel alluded to, was none other than the Archangel Metatron. The highest in the hierarchy of angels, he was God’s personal scribe and right hand wingman. It was his job to pass on God’s word to the rest of the Choir until the Big Guy up and poofed. He would definitely have the power to alter the course of the battle.

If what Akrasiel said was true, we were still pretty much screwed. Stationed in Heaven, right beside God’s throne no less, I had no way of reaching him, or even getting a message through. Even if I could, I had no idea what it would take to spur him into action. If an angelic revolt in Heaven hadn’t woken his ass up, then what the Hell was I gonna do to top that?

I’d also managed to dig up a little info on Akrasiel. He was actually the Archangel Raguel. Apparently, it was his place to keep all the other angels in line.

He sure wasn’t doing a good job.

With God gone, I couldn’t be certain that was still his angle. His cryptic commentary made me think he didn’t really want me to succeed, but at the same time, you never know with supernaturals. There’s always a hidden goal in everything they do, which is why they never just come out and say things plainly. As such, there just wasn’t any way to be sure whose team he was playing for.

Worn out, my mind a useless jumble of nonsensical theories and ideas, I headed for the gate to leave Hell when a burst of static exploded inside my head. Recognizing the faint sputter of a telepathic connection, I answered, but no one replied.

Without warning, a glistening blue portal appeared in front of me. Already on edge, I jumped back with a squeak; I might have even tinkled a little. My fright turned to anger a split-second later as I recognized the source.

Rachelle peered out of the gate, her face ashen. “We need you, Frank. The Nephilim have attacked DRAC again.”

She turned and exited the other side and I nearly ran her over in my haste to get through. We popped out in the cool desert night and I could have sworn it was the 4th of July.

Flashes of red and blue energies seared through the air, lighting up the sky as though it were day. Screams of rage and agony joined the cacophony of battle sounds. Over by the DRAC installation that was buried deep beneath the desert sand to avoid detection, stood what remained of the organization’s military force.

Scarlett and Katon were a blur on the front lines, wreaking havoc upon the enemy. The gleaming trails of their mystical swords were conspicuous in their absence, but that didn’t stop them. They barreled into the lines with a fury, blood and bodies flying in their wake.

At their sides were the few remaining DRAC wizards with any real power. Although nowhere near the might of Rahim, their spells were taking a heavy toll on the Nephilim. They’d opted for explosive magic that left black smoke and flash fires behind, helping to confuse those who survived the initial blasts.

The human security force, while immensely underpowered compared to the opposition, used the DA slayers to help even the odds. Set up smartly to take advantage of the Nephilim’s clustered formation, deadly, magically-enhanced bullets peppered the half-breeds like sideways rain. It was surprisingly effective.

While not a tactician, Rachelle did great by bringing us in behind the gathered Nephilim. Though they hadn’t brought but a fraction of their army, they still had us way outnumbered. Unfortunately, my being able to sneak attack them wasn’t gonna be enough to even things out. It’d have to do though.

Too exhausted to pull off any more magic, I was gonna have to do it the old fashioned way. Committed, I left Rachelle behind and charged forward to put bullets into their backs. Amid the chaos, it took them a while to even realize I was there. I’d emptied two clips before I even got an ugly look. When they finally did notice, they responded with a vengeance.

A dozen bolts of mystical energy sizzled toward me at once. Fear and adrenaline kicking my body into overdrive, I managed to avoid the first volley, ducking and dodging as the glowing spears whipped past.

Their surprise worn off, the second barrage was more on target. I slipped the first two by jumping over them, but a third grazed my side and sent me into a spin; right into the path of the rest. Unable to get out of the way, I tucked into a ball to minimize the target space and hoped I didn’t get hit anywhere vital.

Just before they struck, a shimmering blue portal appeared in front of me. It swallowed the bolts in one hungry gulp. I hit the ground at the same time Rachelle opened up a second portal in the midst of the Nephilim army.

The bolts exploded from the portal and crashed into the unsuspecting half-breeds with a resounding boom. My maniacal laugh was probably louder.

Obviously clueless as to what had happened, the Nephilim focused on me continued to blast away. My eyes on Rachelle to be sure she was still paying attention-she had a habit of wandering off mentally-I stood and fired. As the spears neared, they were once again intercepted and turned back upon their force.

Magical explosions bombarded the Nephilim from all sides as the slender mystic varied the locations with a thought. I continued drawing their attacks to me as Rachelle stayed out of sight and redirected everything tossed my way.

Katon and Scarlett realized what we were doing and ordered our folks to advance. Random blasts tearing at their flesh and morale, the front line violently cleaving through their ranks, the Nephilim broke. Those capable of dimensional travel ported away, leaving their friends to find their own ride home.

No longer being bombarded, I surveyed the field until I saw someone I recognized. Thinned as it was, it didn’t take long.

Less than fifty feet from me, I spied the massive bulk of Jorn. Braver than most of his companions, he stood his ground, his meaty fists wailing away in a circle at anyone who came close. Shirtless-a sight that will forever live on in infamy in the annals of my memory-his arms and shoulders were covered in pustulant, bubbled wounds. The side of his face, I could see, was seared black, pieces molting off as he moved.

Scurrying around his feet was Zellick. The little guy stepped out quick from behind Jorn’s shielding mass to lash out with his dagger, before leaping back to safety.

Venai was probably another fifty feet past them. She held a flickering portal open at her back as she screamed for Jorn and Zellick.

An idea sprang to mind. I called for Rachelle to pass on a message for Katon to follow me and headed off. As quick, and as low, as I could, I closed the intervening space. Venai spotted me just as I came up behind her companions. She shrieked a warning, but it was lost in the white noise of battle.

A smile plastered across my face, I waited until the weasel popped up for another round of hit and run before doing anything. He saw me just as I pulled the trigger.

“Remember me?”

His eyes went wide as the bullet pierced his cheek. They were wider still when the back of his head exploded in a conflagration of red and gray. The spray showered Jorn in warm chunks as Zellick dropped at his feet. Venai screamed again and left the portal, racing toward us as fast as she could manage, her wounded leg slowing her down.

Jorn spun around to see Zellick crumpled in the sand. A horrible look of despair washed over his round face as he fell to his knees without even looking at me. He picked Zellick up like a child, and pulled him to his chest, showering him with tears.

Seeing the big guy crying, I felt a little bad about shooting his buddy; but only a little. The bastard had no problem going after my cousin or sticking me in the back, so why should I care? He’d reaped what he’d sown.

Venai almost on top of me, I leveled my gun toward Jorn’s head and waggled a finger at her. Katon arrived right then, moving to stand beside the big guy, his hand on his huge shoulder.

“We’ve got some business to discuss,” I told her with a wiggle of the gun, making sure she understood I would do the same to Jorn as I had Zellick.

She froze, but her glare was hot enough to melt steel.

“C’mon now, you don’t get to be a hypocrite. You and your buddies were looking to whack my cousin, so get down off your high horse.”

Venai growled, but her glower took on a shade of resignation. “I won’t give you the key piece.”

Before I could say anything, Scarlett stepped up behind her. She wrapped her arms around Venai’s thick waist and lifted her into the air as though the half-breed weighed nothing. Venai’s eyes popped wide as Scarlett took her for a ride, flipping her head over heels before slamming her hard into the ground. She hit with a manly grunt.

Scarlett stood over her with a vindictive grin, her fists clenched. “Bitch!” She didn’t look like she was done.

Katon, catching the imploring look I gave him, left Jorn where he was kneeling and went to pull Scarlett off Venai. She put up a little bit of a fight, but it was halfhearted.

Once Scarlett was away from her, Venai looked up at me, her face dusted in sand.

“I don’t want the piece,” I told her, continuing as if we hadn’t been interrupted.

She looked at me like I’d just outed Brad Pitt. “You lie!”

“Of course I do, I’m a demon, but I’m serious this time. You can keep the damn thing. In fact, you can have ours too.”

“What?” The question was asked in triplicate. Katon and Scarlett stared at me like I was out of my mind while Venai just stared in disbelief.

“We’re not giv-”

I waved Scarlett quiet. “Look, Venai, as things stand, we’re at a three-way standstill. You have a piece, we have a piece, and the weres have a piece. What that means is none of us are going anywhere near Heaven before the world goes kaboom.” Gesturing to the Nephilim who lay dead around us, I laughed. “We can do this all day and it won’t change the outcome one bit. Seeing how we’re all gonna die anyway, who cares?”

Her eyes met mine and I saw a tiny crack of reason squirreled away in there. I went to work on it.

“The Nephilim are in just as much danger as the rest of us. If the weres win, they’ll cut down the Tree of Life and we’ll all become mortal. That includes you. At that point, it won’t matter how many of you there are; you’ll all die. You won’t pass Go, you won’t collect $200, and you won’t be going to Heaven.”

The crack slit wide. “What do you want?”

If only getting laid were so easy. “A truce of sorts.”

Scarlett shouted and stepped forward. Though Katon pulled her back, he looked a bit reluctant. He stared at me with questioning eyes, wondering what I was up to. Scarlett just looked like she wanted to kill me.

Venai shook her head. “Why? What do you get out of giving up your piece?”

“First off, I get to live. That’s pretty high up on my things to do list. I’m not gonna get to do it much longer if something doesn’t change soon.” I waved my hand in the general direction of Eden. “Second, your people aren’t looking to commit genocide like the weres. While it’s not the ideal solution, from our perspective, letting ya’ll win is easily the lesser of the three evils we face. We can always renew hostilities later.” My gun still trained on Jorn, I shook it to make my point.

Though she didn’t even blink, I could tell she was thinking it over. “So, you just hand the bone over and we go our separate ways?”

“Kinda, yeah, but I won’t be giving it to you, at least not here.”

The glare back on her face, Venai got to her feet. A finger of warning to Scarlett let her stay there.

“Then what do you propose?”

“You go back to your people and tell them I’ll be at the gate shortly to hand over the key piece. You have to make sure they’re ready to deal with the weres though, because the second I pull the piece out, it’s gonna rain furballs.”

“That’s it?”

I nodded. “I’m not greedy. I just want to wake up alive tomorrow.”

She looked to Scarlett, then back to me. It was clear what she wanted to know.

“I’ll never hear the end of her bitching, and you can guarantee she’ll be kicking down your door after the dust has settled, but she’ll go along for now. Won’t you, Scarlett?”

Venai looked to Scarlett again and I nearly disfigured my face trying to get her to agree with me. Scarlett went back and forth, glaring at both of us, but she finally relented. She knew me well enough to know I had a plan. Unfortunately, she also knew me well enough to realize it probably sucked and would likely end up getting us killed.

She was probably right.

A quiet sigh slipped from Venai as she looked to where Jorn kneeled, cradling Zellick’s body. “I’ll do this, but you and I aren’t finished. You will pay for Zellick’s death.”

A wise-ass remark hopped onto my tongue and I nearly choked swallowing it. Though I rarely listen to my own advice, it wouldn’t help things to antagonize. So instead, I took a handful of steps back and lowered my gun.

“I’ll be around.” At least I hoped I would be.

Venai didn’t waste any time. She summoned a portal beside Jorn and pulled it over them, Zellick still in the big guy’s arms. In just a second, all three were gone. Less than a second after that, I was on my ass, staring up at the spinning desert sky.

Scarlett stepped over me, a vicious snarl marring her beauty. “What the Hell are you thinking?”

“That this would be a lot less awkward if you weren’t trying to put your foot in my ass.”

She kicked me. Hard.

“How dare you give away Heaven.” She pulled her fist back to finish the job.

“Whoa, whoa, easy there.” I raised my hands in surrender. “I’m not giving anything away. Help me out, Katon.”

The enforcer walked to my cousin’s side and stared down at me. He didn’t look any more inclined to listen than she did. Rachelle came up behind them, and peeked around. It was hard to tell if she meant to rescue me or just watch.

“If you’ll stop beating me, I’ll explain.”

Scarlett growled, but she relented and slowly lowered her fist.

I climbed to my feet. “We don’t stand a chance against either army, let alone both. We got lucky here because they underestimated our abilities.” I pointed to the remaining members of DRAC who stood huddled together like refugees from a liberated concentration camp. “That won’t happen the next time. If the were-critters are busy fighting the Nephilim though, we can sit back and pick our moment.”

“Doing what?”

“Stealing the key out from under them.”

Scarlett drew in a deep breath and let it out slow as if I was starting to make some kind of sense to her. It’s happens every once in a while. “How?”

I nodded toward the mystic. “With Rachelle able to open a portal pretty much anywhere, we wait until the pieces are together, then port there and hit whoever has it with everything we’ve got.” A toothy smirk on my face, I continued. “Once we have it, we open the gate to Eden and make a mad dash for it, key in hand. As soon as we’re in, Uriel can seal Eden behind us to keep the rest of the clowns out.”

It was obvious Scarlett liked the idea, but she wasn’t sure. Katon voiced his concerns and Scarlett’s as well, no doubt.

“We’re not much in the way of reinforcements. Are you thinking we can turn the tide against Gabriel?”

“No, not really.” Scarlett started to complain, but I cut her off. “There is someone who can and he’s already there; Metatron.”

Scarlett whistled, a bemused smile crossing her lips. “I always knew you were crazy, but this plan of yours confirms it. Metatron has been comatose since God left.” The smile melted away as her voice hardened. “He couldn’t be bothered to help when Gabriel and Michael were slaughtering angels at the very heart of Heaven, so what makes you think he’ll care if a few more die?”

“You don’t think we can wake him?” I’d hoped for some optimism.

Scarlett shook her head, a tear rolling down her pale cheek. “It would take the return of God to draw him from his emotional slumber.”

That wasn’t gonna happen, but I couldn’t think of anything else we could do. “Do you have a better plan?”

Rachelle stayed quiet as Scarlett shook her head. I looked to Katon, who stared at the ground.

Sighing, I climbed up on my soapbox. “Look, I don’t want to die, but if I have to, I’d rather do it thinking we had a chance. Even if that chance is as slim as me getting to sleep with Megan Fox, it’s got to be better than nothing. The last thing I want to do is sit around and mope until the Winter Wonderland of Death comes to wipe me out of existence. Is that how you want to die?”

Katon raised his chin and met my eyes. There was fire there. “I’m in.”

Scarlett grinned at his approval and nodded. “If there is a chance I can spill Gabriel’s blood then I’m in as well.”

Rachelle just smiled. I’d probably have to remind her of what we decided later, but for now, her smile was good enough for me.

“Hey, Rachelle, I need a lift.”

“Where are you going?” Katon asked.

Scarlett looked at me, the same question etched across her face.

“I need to do a couple of things, plus I have to get Eve. Besides, somebody needs to tell the weres they’re invited to the shindig. You can’t trust those party animals to show up on time.” I smiled and waved. “Stay here and get the troops ready. I’ll be back in a bit.”

While Rachelle whipped up a portal, I grinned. “Take me to Hell.”