Hell's Angel: Guardian Angel Book 2
Chapter 17

I could be extremely cynical at times, but I liked to have faith that people were generally good. That faith was coming right back to bite me in the ass. I knew feeling so many raw emotions at once had weakened her, but we were still outnumbered and now I was out a sword.

Dwelling on my own misfortune, I wasn’t paying nearly enough attention to what Vega was doing, so I was caught off guard when a thin black whip lashed out. It wrapped around my throat and warm, wet tracks of blood drizzled down to the collar of my shirt. My fingers worked at the tight coil but it was like barb wire against my skin and I couldn’t get the whip off. The magic was stronger even then the chains she’d used to restrain Michael.

With a flick, she used the whip to throw me down. My wings didn’t do much good as I plummeted a hundred feet, smashing into branches that cut into my skin before finally crashing to the ground.

My body felt broken, every inch of me screamed in pain. I tried to push myself into a sitting position, but my tired arms felt like limp noodles and gave out on me. I collapsed, my cheek getting abrasions from the rocky ground as dirt filled my mouth.

Ominous growls sounded above my head. I peeled my eyes open weakly and blurred shapes clouded my vision. I squinted and looked up into a heavy head, like a buffalo, with a feline face. Long teeth dripped with saliva only an inch away from my face. I froze with my heart pounding in anticipation of possibly getting my face ripped off.

A low snarl behind me sent shivers racing up my spine. The soft fall of paws padded along the ground and my battered body immediately curled into a defensive ball. I barely saw the lithe wolf jump over me to tackle the catty beast. Grunts and growls ripped through the air and sent goosebumps skittering up my arms.

I crawled painfully to my feet and leaned against a scratchy trunk. I had no weapon and my power was tapped out. Loki had the feline-bison-thing occupied, and the clang of metal told me Michael was busy up above the treetops, so that left a horde of flightless monsters to me. I grabbed a fallen branch from by my feet and leaned on it like a cane. It would do until I could figure of my next move. Widening my legs into a defensive stance, I used the tree for support and hefted the branch like a baseball bat.

Three or four hulking shapes bounded towards me. They were a cloud of fur and feathers, scales and spikes. The only titan that I could see clearly looked vaguely like a human-sized monkey. It was copper colored with a long tail that could wrap around me several times. The pinched face has the same ruby eyes as most of Vega’s other monsters and long sharp teeth that didn’t go with its primate appearance.

When the monkey got close, I swung with everything I had. Six months hadn’t been enough to turn me into some muscled Amazon, but it was enough to startle the titan and make it falter. The lead titan and its companions reared back and studied me, figuring out the best approach. In all honesty, a straight attack by the four probably would have been enough against me and my makeshift club, but I was glad for their caution. They were smart enough to know to be wary of a goddess, and stupid enough not to

realize that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.

One of the shapes, black skinned with scales and six legs, made a loud screech. Its eyes were neon green slits like a snake. Something resembling a smirk crossed its lipless mouth. That look on its face distracted me for just an instant. I looked up in time for a tiny flurry of pure white pieces of fluff to caress my face. They were light as snow but warm and solid. I caught one between my thumb and forefinger and the downy softness kissed my skin and my heart skipped a beat. For a second, I’d assumed it was cotton raining down, but the little fluffs were feathers and no titan’s wings were that pure.

I only spared a glance at the titans on the prowl and let my eyes dart to replace Loki. His powerful jaws clamped onto the other animal’s throat and his massive black head shook. The feline dropped, dead. Satisfied I wasn’t abandoning him, I launched into the sky. My ethereal wings churned the air beneath them and held surprisingly steady as I maneuvered through thick tree limbs.

I burst through the top branches like a bullet, twigs breaking off against my already bloody skin to fall into the thickets below. Pain exploded in my eye socket and something warm and wet, too thick to be tears, crept down my cheek. Blackness consumed my head for a moment and I was dizzy. Another strike to my chin filled my mouth with the taste of copper.

“I am tired of this same shit for centuries,” Vega’s voice hissed in my ear. Her hand wrapped around my throat, choking off any air supply. “Let’s see how well your army fares when they see firsthand how weak their princess is.”

My ears popped and the noxious green clouds brightened to plum purple. The trees vanished and we were closer to the ground. Two meaty titans had Michael restrained while another with thirteen long tentacles kept Loki, now human again, immobilized. The rest of Arcadia’s warriors fought below.

Thunder rumbled and everything froze. Several thousand pairs of eyes looked up to watch the show. “This is a rare spectacle indeed, the death of a goddess. Today I execute my vexatious little sister.”

She whirled me around to face her and shoved her hand into my chest cavity before my long ponytail smacked my cheek. Her long fingers encased my heart like a cheesy vampire romance on TV. My jaw dropped open in a gasp of pain and my wings stopped working as my extremities shut off in my body’s attempt to keep my heart pumping. My waning power put up defenses that she crashed through like wet tissue paper.

I was obviously harder to kill than almost anything else, but even I still needed a heart to function. The idea of death, at least my own, had never really freaked me out; I guess part of me had always known there was more. Now, my mind couldn’t even fathom the idea of the nothingness that awaited me if she pulled away while she still held my heart. Vaguely, I wondered how the other goddess would fare without the vital organ considering she was already a heartless bitch.

Bright white light engulfed the entirety of the battlefield, giving gloomy Hell the appearance of daylight. My eyes watered briefly and I peeked over my shoulder when the cleared. Dozens of angels like Michael hovered behind the gorgeous goddess they served. They must have found a hole in Vega’s defenses and Thesis’ mouth was pulled into a hard line and one deep red eyebrow quirked up. Vega’s grip squeezed spastically and my body pulsed. My head snapped back to the front and I grabbed her wrist weakly to try to keep her from doing any more harm. I licked my cracked, bloody lips.

“Vega, enough of this. Release Lyra.” Her accent was so commanding. She sounded even more regal than the last time I’d spoken to her, almost British, but with more authority and confidence than anyone had the right to have. Her order left absolutely no room for argument.

Vega sneered at Thesis. “So, Mother, you’ve come to defend your favorite daughter, have you? Did you forget that precious little Lyra is the one that left? Yet still you take her side.”

The goddess of creation was not affected. Her eyes narrowed. She obviously didn’t like being questioned. “I have no favorite daughter; you have both disappointed me in different ways. Lyra, however, is my heir and I will command my warriors to aid her.”

“Made so because you favor her above all else in your creation. Forget for a moment that I never wanted to lead, but you started all of this, created the stupid completion to please her. Well, Mother, you’ve chosen to have her lead all because of the impending Darkness. Let’s see if you were right to fear it so much.”

Thick clouds pregnant with thunder blocked out everything else. Twilight created monsters out of shadows and the monsters themselves became even more terrifying. Gloom enveloped Vega and the shadows around her stretched outwards like some dark corona. The aura she projected seemed to suck away all light and color as it bled further from her at its core. It felt like my body, my heart especially, was being smothered in a black hole.

“Have no mercy on the former princess of the City,” Thesis’ voice boomed, making me wince.

Something behind me on the queen’s frontline caught Vega’s attention and her hand slipped from my chest with a gross slurping sound. I just barely saw her widen her arms like a welcome as my body dropped, too weak to fight gravity. Great. I was falling, again.

Strong arms held me and powerful white wings circulated the poignant air. My first thought was immediately Michael, but the eyes looking at me with only a hint of concern were a bright, neon green, not the chameleon grey ones I adored. This new angel had sharp planes on his masculine face, his mouth stretched into a tight line and a few strands of black hair that hardly grazed his forehead. He carried me gingerly to the door of Arcadia’s arena, which resembled 1945 Hiroshima.

Bodies were everywhere, some tending to injuries but most completely still. Randall was the first to reach me, dodging around small skirmishes, but even the majority of Vega’s titans were now fascinated with watching their mistress defy the goddess of creation. My cupid knelt beside me and cupped his hand against my cheek. His skin was wet and warm and I didn’t want to acknowledge the implications of that. His wife arrived a few seconds later and squatted down on my other side, both of them drinking me in with their eyes as they tried to ascertain that I was okay.

“Where’s… Max?” The words came out slowly in a breathless rasp.

Cassi sighed, almost relieved despite the dire circumstances. “Thor has her. He is taking his role as her protector very seriously. He does not wish to fail you.”

I nodded once and swallowed against the sandpaper that coated my throat. Vega turned her full attention to our mother and I was thankful for the reprieve. Randall helped prop me up and Cassi ran a comforting hand along my brow. With a moment to breathe, my body started to repair itself. The gaping hole in my chest slowly knit back together as bones snapped back into place. The tight band around my lungs melted away so I was able to get some air without too much pain. My body and power were too damaged to heal instantaneously, but it was enough that I could fight back any of Vega’s titans or the goddess of Hell herself.

They helped me climb to my feet and I leaned heavily on Randall. I quickly surveyed the battlefield, but everyone seemed transfixed on Vega and Thesis. Thesis’ weapon of choice was a long broadsword made of a single cut of sparkling diamond. The sword radiated pure white light. Vega squared off haughtily against our mother. Her face was set with her mouth in a hard line. She uncoiled a whip made from the same black aura that leaked out of her.

The guardians buzzed around like angry wasps, laying waste to Vega’s titans. Despite everything they’d done, the bloodbath was almost barbaric. One particularly beefed up angel seemed a little too giddy when his razor sharp blade decapitated what looked like a very fluffy polar bear. My stomach dropped from the carnage.

I flexed my still aching wings and rose up higher to get a better vantage. I searched the ground for Loki and the tentacle thing that had him first. Loki was still technically a titan and Thesis’ guardians weren’t sparing any of them.

I spotted him squaring off with the monster that had held him captive, which was now done to seven writhing arms. Loki was still human, and I don’t know where he got a spear, but he struck into the round core of the thing where all of the tentacles stemmed from. It went berserk, twitching as the arms shriveled into the body, like a spider when it gets sprayed with bug killer. Satisfied it was dead, Loki turned and ran back in my direction.

Loki skidded to a stop in front of me and I let my wings fold back. I dropped down a few feet or so and his large hands circled my waist to keep me steady. His charcoal shirt and dark slacks were both shredded into ribbons but he didn’t seem to notice as his gaze fixed solely on me. Deep black eyes filled with no small amount of concern twisted my stomach into knots. He scanned over me, stopping at my chest before letting out a small breath. “Thank the gods you’re alive,”

I opened my mouth to reciprocate the sentiment, but his searing hot lips descended onto mine. My hands automatically gripped his muscled shoulders as heat coursed all the way to my toes. It was incredible that in the midst of all this, I could still be so torn on my feelings for Loki and Michael.

I pulled back and licked my chapped lips. This wasn’t the time to be concerned with whatever passed as my love life. “I’m glad you’re okay, too. I was worried about you.”

Loki shot me a rakish grin. “Let’s worry about you for now, Princess.”

I pursed my lips, but a new presence distracted me from my annoyance at the title. Familiar heat warmed me all the way to my fingertips. I stepped further away from Loki and turned to see my guardian angel smoothly alight next to Cassi. He didn’t step closer and stood so frozen that I would’ve though him a statue except for the fact that his hypnotizing grey eyes carefully scanned me from head to toe. His nose was now broken and his mouth pressed into a hard line. Time seemed to stand still as I waited for him to make eye contact or say something.

That was close, Lyra-Rose.

I sighed and my heart hiccupped. With all of the adrenaline from the fight, I hadn’t noticed how erratic my heartbeat had become worrying about his survival. Now, though, I realized the heavy burden that had been lifted seeing him alive and whole. More emotion than even I knew what to do with poured into my gaze so he could read everything I was feeling. You’re telling me. But now the cavalry’s here.

He quirked a single eyebrow. He didn’t have as much faith in his brothers-in-arms. Michael was a warrior, and sitting back while the others from Thesis’ army dispatched hundreds of titans seemed to make him almost restless. But I was his first priority, and I was fine with him taking a breather from the battle to stand guard over me.

“I just want this all to be over,” I said out loud. Yes, I was being whiny, but the last few hours-hell, the last year- had drained away my resilience. “Let Thesis deal with the Darkness in Vega and I’ll try to replace some semblance of normal in my new immortality.”

“Uh, Ly,” Randall stuttered, “I don’t think that’s gonna happen any time soon.”

Fear colored my best friend’s crystal blue eyes and to his left, Cassi looked like she was about to vomit. My stomach plummeted before I even turned around to see Thesis caught in the inky tendrils that radiated from Vega. She had a mad look in her turquoise eyes and her hair danced wildly, a living flame.

“That isn’t good,” I groaned.

An angel I recognized as the captain of the palace guard swooped toward the pair of goddesses. His thin mouth was set in a hard line, a scar pulling the corner down toward his hard-set jaw. Cool determination kept his face deadpan as he swerved through monsters to reach his goddess. From what I remembered, the angel was a bore with white-blue eyes like a husky who never smiled. But he was a damn good warrior and served my mother unfailingly.

The Darkness that expanded from Vega at its core wrapped around the guardian like thick tar. He froze and even from where we stood I could see his pale eyes widen. The black energy pulsed, rippling along until it coursed through his body. The angels’ commander grimaced in pain, his teeth clenching to hold back a scream. This man was tough, stoic, so whatever she was doing was beyond painful for him to show any weakness at all.

“I was just going to send Lyra to the abyss,” Vega snarled. “But this is going to be even more memorable. It’s not every day one kills the goddess of creation herself. General Gabriel, I’ll even kill you first to spare you from witnessing your greatest failure.”

Thesis met Vega’s cool stare steadily. She didn’t seem afraid of her psychotic daughter, like she was sure Vega wouldn’t have the power to do it. But Thesis had known for thousands of years that this war was coming. We’d all witnessed what the Darkness could do. That she could still be so calm was asinine.

Thesis’ lavender eyes narrowed as she scowled at Vega. “Enough of this. End this ridiculousness now.”

Vega’s full lips turned down in a pout. “You do not order me around. In case you haven’t noticed, I have the advantage.”

“Yet I, Daughter, have more power than you.”

Thesis’ eyes slipped closed and a bright flash like the one that had announced her arrival exploded. A diamond mushroom cloud spread around the Darkness, absorbing it. The handsome general smirked from within his bonds.

White spots danced in my vision, but something looked off with her sparkly magic. The Darkness wasn’t dissolving like it was supposed to. After a few seconds in which it looked like Thesis could single-handedly end this mess, her power bubbled like when I tried to heat spaghetti sauce. It popped, oozing that thick blackness that sucked away any light. The shining mist of Thesis’ power mutated until it was just as inky as the rest of Vega’s aura. General Gabriel’s smug smile faded.

“I suppose you assumed I’d be that easy to get rid of? I’m offended. You spent eons dreading this day. It’s why you wanted to groom pathetic little Lyra to be a leader- as if. You can’t be stupid enough to think that some pixie dust would work. Let’s see if I can do any better.”

The demonic wings at her shoulders flapped and blood red fire expanded out in a scorching wave. The smell of cigarette smoke burned my nostrils and intensified when the cyclone of flames twisted around Thesis. The scent of charring flesh made my eyes water and my head ache. I wasn’t sure if the roaring in my ears was from the whoosh of fear making my limbs numb or the fire as it devoured a goddess. My stomach roiled and bile burned its way up my throat.

The bright flames flared black before slowly fading. Thesis was gone, not a trace of her left. My mind fogged up from the sheer impossibility of it all. Vega had done it. She’d killed the goddess of creation. I was weak, not too much of a threat to my sister and I knew it. But Thesis was older than time itself. Vega should not have even been a threat to the queen of everything.

General Gabriel called out an order and the guardians swarmed. Michael became restless at my side. His warm hand slipped into mine as monsters straight out of a nightmare appeared to battle the guardians. The angels were an impressive sight to behold, but Vega had gone truly insane. She laughed, a crazed banshee with more Darkness and power streaming outwards by the second. The long whip in her hand undulated like a living entity, seeming to grow even longer. She circled it around her head once and flicked it out and everything happened in an instant. The dangerous tip struck the commander’s throat and an electric current raced along the braided leather.

The general’s body spasmed wildly like a fish on a hook. She snapped that damned whip back and let it fly once more. This time when the tip hit the general, a shower of sludge green dust rained down in place of the angel. The acrid small if death permeated the air for the second time as Gabriel joined his goddess in the abyss.

Everything seemed to stop. Without their commander, the guardians stumbled. Vega’s dark monsters converged around their mistress as my godly sister laughed manically. The humans stirred, the uneasy break in the battle with the “normal” titans drawing to a close as the craziness of Vega becoming the personification of Darkness decreased.

“Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap,” I mumbled. “Now what?”

Michael squeezed my hand and let out a giant whoosh of air. “Now you are the queen and the other angels will follow you as I do.”

I turned to him in a rush, my eyes wide and brows drawn in confusion. Covered in dirt and grime, my clothes in shambles, I was hardly what anyone would call regal. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Exactly how it sounds. With Thesis’ passing, the responsibilities of the throne fall to you. The queen rules absolutely, but the guardians need a leader, and without the general, they will look to you.”

Even as he said it, I could see the lost looking angels pressing in on me more tightly with expectant looks on their handsome faces. I chewed my bottom lip for a minute. Commanding humans that knew me as their queen before I even knew who I was, whom I’d spent the last six months with, was one thing. But commanding angels? That was asking a lot.

My eyes darted around the depressing scene before me and my brain worked at a lightning pace. Vega was insane, and not everyone was in a state to fight her and the new monsters that had stemmed from the Darkness; her titans were bad enough. While she reveled in her new power, I called the guardians to attention. “We have warriors that are too injured to stay. Vega has become more powerful than even creation, and I’m not expecting anyone to give up their lives when this seems like a lost cause. I want a small company of guardians to get all of our hurt and anyone else that wants to go out of this realm. Take them somewhere safe. Take them to...” I was at a loss. Arcadia was gone, and humans couldn’t go to the City or back to the mortal plane. But the definitely couldn’t stay in hell, either.

“The Garden,” Michael’s voice cut in. “Take them to Eden.”

The Garden of Eden, the original paradise for modern humans. There’d been people before Adam and Eve, cavemen and Neanderthals, but the ones in Eden had been the first to experience emotions and understanding. These people lived rather than just survived from base instinct. While Eden had been a utopia, it also held them prisoner, limiting free will. I hadn’t wanted that for myself, so I wasn’t going to do that to my humans. The Garden had long fallen into the world of folklore, but it still existed, a tiny island deep within the Bermuda Triangle. I’d completely forgotten about it, like the rest of humanity, until Michael mentioned it.

“Perfect. Take our wounded and anyone else who doesn’t wish to stay and keep them safe. The war’s going on here, but that doesn’t mean the titans won’t try anything on Earth.”

A dozen angels saluted me and flew off to gather up anyone that was hurt. The rest, along with every able-bodied human, immersed themselves back into the battle. When we were alone, I turned back to Michael. “I need to replace Max and make sure she gets to Eden. Take care of things here for now. There’s no one I trust more to lead my people.”

He grabbed my hands before I could walk away and pulled me around to face him. “Lyra-Rose.” He looked like he wanted to say something else and my heart pounded away at the intensity of his expression. I licked my parched lips and his silvery eyes quickly darted down to them and back up. He withdrew his hand slowly and took a step back. I couldn’t help the sinking feeling in my stomach, but I ignored it. “Stay safe.”

I nodded. “I will. You, too. I’ll see you soon.”