Chapter THIRTY-ONE
Landon
"The last time we spoke?" I raised my eyebrows. The last time we had spoken had been only hours before I'd gone into the Box. How could this shade of the demon know about that?
"On the top of the mountain, at the temple," he said. "Ah, I see you're surprised. The universe is filled with things you don't understand. I have lived for over a thousand years, and even I am still in awe of it at times."
"So, you know what's happening outside of this place?" I asked, turning my head and glancing back at Avriel.
He laughed. "Not in so much detail. The senses are clouded. I hold the memories of thought and word. I remember our battle." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "It has been so long since I've felt a touch, even one made in violence. I was mortal once, did you know that?"
I nodded. "Avriel told me that you two speak sometimes."
"Yes. I despise that seraph with every spark of fire that burns in my heart and soul, and yet even in that hate I find myself overwhelmed with loneliness. For all the power given to me by Lucifer, his trap is that he damned me to a hell all the same."
I could't imagine being him. For as difficult and painful as the mantle of diuscrucis had been, at least I could love and be loved. At least not everything I drew near was destined to die.
"You asked me where I saw myself in ten thousand years," I said. "You asked me why I was working so hard to save mankind." I hadn't given it much thought. I had been too busy acting on instinct, following my gut and my heart into the rabbit hole. "I can't help but think about the people I've known. The sacrifices they've made. Josette spent seven hundred years fighting for the goodness of God's creations. You've spent over a thousand years fighting to tear them down."
"And for what, child?" Abaddon asked. "What have I achieved? What did she achieve?"
"Nothing." It had to be that way. It was my job to make it so. That wasn't the point. I looked up at the Statue behind him. "That never stopped her. It never would have stopped you."
"It is what I was made to do. Yet, I have become tired of it."
"Have you?" I asked. "If you remember then tell me, why did you run?"
He recoiled as though I had used the revolver on him.
"What?"
"Why did you run? I had the Deliverer to your neck. It could have been over for you, but you took off."
His face darkened. I realized I needed to be more careful. I wanted him to help me, and pissing him off wasn't the way to do it. He turned his back to me, and fell to his knees once more.
"Where do we go when we die, diuscrucis?" he said. "Heaven, Hell, Purgatory. These are places, destinations. A continuation of the path we travel from the moment our soul catches its first spark of life. You and I have made that journey, but tell me, child, what comes after?"
I took a few steps towards him. He didn't react. "I don't know," I said.
His laughter was deep and full of sorrow. "You don't know... Neither do I. For one as old as I am, the idea of the unknown is more frightening than the idea of being trapped." He raised his hand to his lips, kissed it, and waved it out towards the Statue. Then he rose and faced me again. "You should appreciate the sentiment. It is a balance... between my hatred of being, and my fear of not being. The Beast promises to end all of that. Here, and out there. All I need to do is help to set him free. You weren't supposed to follow me." He looked back at Clara. She was still standing with Avriel, her hands on her hips and her expression impatient.
"I won't let you touch her," I said.
"Do you really think you can stop me? You aren't even armed."
"I have the Beast's power. I don't need a weapon." It was a bit of a bluff. I had no idea how to fight him with it.
"You don't know how to use it against me. Oh, you've done well so far, but this is a large step to take."
His essence began to ooze out around him, a semi-solid mess of darkness that formed an intricate pattern at his back.
"Wait. I don't want to fight you. That isn't why I came."
He seemed surprised. "No? Then why bring the seraph?"
"I know you can hide yourself from Ross. I know you can hide others."
He laughed again, a deep booming sound of wisdom and years. "What can you offer me, diuscrucis?"
I swallowed the growing lump in my throat. I had nothing to bargain with.
"Well?" His power continued to spread, moving out to the sides to slowly encircle me, but leaving me a clear path and a clear head.
"An end," I said, the idea coming to me in desperation. "A true end. You can't trust Ross to do as he says. You can't trust him not to enslave you when this is over. You've said I have your respect - I ask you to trust in my word. If you help me against him, I'll put an end to your existence. I'll find a way."
My heart pounded while he considered. Every second of silence only made me feel more vulnerable. Finally, he nodded.
"Here is our deal, diuscrucis. I will guide you to the Beast, but you must walk my path, and it is on you and yours to survive. It is not an easy path, and I will not help you. If you aren't strong enough to walk it you will never be strong enough to defeat him, or end me. When you defeat him you will have the power to end me here, and I know you will do it. How you will keep your promise out there... not with a blade, for I will not go willingly despite my desire. Do you understand?"
I'd made so many promises I wasn't sure I could keep. What was one more? "I understand."
"Promise in blood."
He took three steps towards me, a dagger appearing in his hand. He cut his palm and offered me the blade.
I took it from him, the coldness of it seeping deep into me. I made a quick stroke, and he clasped his hand in mine.
"It has been too long," he said, holding my hand tight while our blood mixed. I felt the immensity of the bargain clamp down on me. It filled me with a cold dread at what I might one day be forced to do.
I had to pull my hand away. For all of the demon's strength and power, he was so alone that he didn't want to let go.
"It is done," Abaddon said. "Gather your child and her keeper, and we will go."
I walked away from him, back to where Clara and Avriel were waiting.
"Well?" she asked. "I saw you shake his hand, that has to be a good thing?" She looked older again; almost the age I had been when age had stopped having meaning.
"I don't know if it's a good thing, but he'll take us. He said we have to walk his path, and it won't be easy." I looked at Avriel. "Do you know what that means?"
"No."
"He also said he remembers everything that happened to him once he was out," I said, staring into the angel's eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Avriel stared back at me, his lips moving in silence before his mind caught up to them. "What is there to say? I know what you did to me out there. I also know I forgave you. Is this a guilt that you desire to carry with you for the rest of your existence?"
"But... the Beast?" He had destroyed the angel as completely as anything could be destroyed.
"I am a shadow of the seraph known as Avriel. I felt the loss as sharply as anything can be felt here. When you have control of this place, you can finish what he started and let me be at peace forever."
"Do you think that after this, there is peace?" It was in stark contrast to what Abaddon must believe to be so afraid of it.
He nodded. "I believe it. What comes next is as much a matter of faith as what comes before."
"I'm sorry," I said.
"It is over. I was left here to protect your child and to help you defeat the Beast. That is my purpose now. It is all that I desire. If you want to feel the forgiveness that you will not claim otherwise, let me do as I have been willed."
I bit my lower lip and nodded. "Abaddon is waiting for us."
Avriel's eyes narrowed when he looked out to where he stood wrapped in darkness. "Don't forget he is a demon. He can't be trusted."
"I'm counting on you to keep a close eye on him," I said. "You know him better than anyone."
A sword materialized in the angel's hand. "As you say."
The three of us walked over to where he was standing. We were halfway to him when Clara put her hand in mine and squeezed it. "It'll be okay, dad. There's nothing this one can do that we can't handle."
She was comforting me? It worked. I squeezed her hand back. "You better believe it."
His expression was flat, though I could see the spark of fire in his eyes when they passed over Avriel. "A truce for now, seraph," he whispered.
Avriel nodded his agreement.
Abaddon took a step closer to me. "The path I take is beyond the reach of the Beast's power. Understand that you will have only what you carry in, and nothing more." His eyes shifted to Clara. "I know you wouldn't want to harm your child."
I took a deep breath, focusing and pulling in power from the air around us. If Clara was a battery, that meant I could use the power she was holding if I needed to, but it would come at a cost. We wouldn't have the luxury of waiting for her to recharge once we were in Ross' presence.
I felt the energy rush in and fill my soul, creating a throbbing pressure at the base of my spine. Unarmed, with no idea what we were walking into and only a gut full of power to fight it... I wasn't certain this wouldn't be the true test of strength.
"I'm ready," I said, looking over at Clara. She squeezed my hand again, and I returned the gesture.
"Then follow," Abaddon replied. He turned, swinging his dark essence behind him like a cloak and letting it wash over us for just an instant. It was an intentional move, a warning. He was powerful enough out here. Where we were going, he was the ultimate force.
"Can you fight him inside, if you need to?" I asked Avriel in a whisper.
"I will do my best, but I expect that I will lose. All I can do is buy you time to flee."
They weren't the words of encouragement I was looking for, but they would have to do.
We walked behind him, through the doors into the pedestal, and then up the stairs and around back. When Abaddon pushed open the door to the janitor's closet, I lost my breath.
I should have guessed that his secret path would be hidden here. I fought against the memories and emotions as he swung open the hidden door and climbed down ahead of us. Was Ross the one making things this way? Was he using what he was learning against me, to try to put me on shaky ground? I remembered that he couldn't know where we were now that we were under Abaddon's wing.
We reached the base of the ladder and Abaddon led us forward. The hallway here was unlike the one under the real Statue. It was pitch black save for a few dim sconces of purple hued flame that lined the walls, tracing the route forward into a doorway of nothingness.
"Remember, child," Abaddon said, turning back to look at me. "I will not help you once we pass through. I am only a guide, and an observer."
"Yeah, I got it," I replied, trying to calm the beating of my heart. I felt Clara take my hand again.
"Let's make them regret ever messing with us."
I couldn't help but smile. I was really starting to feel a bond with her.
Together, we stepped into the void.