Alice's Insurrection (Alice Clark Series) (18 page)

“Just hold strong!” Kokabiel yelled over the clanging of metal and screaming of injured Fallen and Angels.

“I’m sorry, my brother.” Briathos whispered as he killed another Angel.

“Why are you apologizing?” Jake asked.

“They were my family; don’t you feel anything about what we’re doing?” Briathos asked in between swings of his sword.

“Of course we do.
I just meant, not really time to apologize to each one, especially at the rate you’re going,” Jake said. Briathos snickered at the implication that he was killing a high volume of his so-called brothers.

“I suppose I am still stuck in my old ways.”

“As many of us are, brother.” Penemue said as he backed into Briathos, protecting his blind side along with Kokabiel. Many Fallen lay at their feet, moments away from being sent to the abyss. They fought with honor, for the right reasons and for the good of all kind; mankind, Fallen and Angel. Angels collapsed, bursting into light as they traveled back to heaven. Alice spun in a wide circle as her panic surged through her like cancer.

“He’s close” Alice yelled.

Yes, I am.
Rogziel spoke to her mind. She scanned the bodies burrowed in between cotton and charcoal wings.

“Then come out where I can see you and stop playing games you coward!” Alice screamed into the air.

“As you wish!” Rogziel said as he slammed his sword fiercely down toward her. Cole and Jake both stopped the blade with their own.

“You never did like to play fair
,” Jake teased.

“You know what you
’re doing here doesn’t matter. The End of Days will come and both your Fallen and your human kin and all those alike will perish into the abyss where they belong! This battle is what breaks the final seal, and there is no stopping what is to come!” He swung his sword, Alice countered.

“We have the right to exist
, you pompous bird boy!” She was running thin on insults as well as patience. This had all gone on for far too long. Too much pain had been dealt, too many deaths in the name of God. Alice focused on Rogziel and all the Angels connected to him, opening the floodgates of all her pain on them. They clutched their heads in agony, giving the Fallen a momentary advantage. As she latched onto the Angels, she searched through them for their connection to God, as planned.

“If God wanted your pathetic existence to continue
, He would change your fate, but God has spoken and His justice will be upheld by the law of our kind!” Rogziel bellowed.

Alice went to argue but she felt a tug inside of her, the light that had grown as she had healed each of her Fallen, was growing
much faster as if it were about to burst. Her wings sprang out from her back, crippling her temporarily from the brutal pain of the bones breaking as they separated in her back to allow her black wings to unfurl. Her mental hold over the Angels was dwindling as she fought to keep hold. She moaned in pain as the glow began to project out of her like the sun’s rays searched the earth. The pain was earth-shattering, forcing her to let go of the hold she had over the Angels. She could feel herself rise into the air almost like a platter being set in front of Rogziel and there was nothing she could do to fight it. She sucked in a final breath, attempting to give herself a chance not to meet her end when so many needed her. Something was calling her. Someone.

“No
,” she whispered.

You cannot survive this, you were not meant to live. Lay your sword down, except your fate and I promise to consider your proposal.

He’ll kill me, he’ll kill them all if I do that!
Alice’s voice screamed back at the booming voice in her head.

I do not wish
My children to be dying, not humankind or Angels, regardless of their faults. Trust Me as you once did as a young child, Jane.

Alice eyes filled with
tears, anger and pain. She exhaled, causing her to breathe heavily while debating her course of action. She finally stopped fighting the light radiating in her chest. She looked at Cole with tearful eyes and just as the light inside her erupted, blinding them all for a moment before vanishing, Rogziel ran through the Angels and Fallen fighting below her, climbed upon their heads and drove his sword through her with astounding malice. He grabbed a hold of one of her wings and began tearing it off. She was completely immobilized.

COLE

“No!” Jake and Cole screamed
in unison. Cole caught Alice’s body as it crumpled to the ground and all fighting ceased. “Alice? You have to wake up. You have to!” Jake checked her pulse as Kokabiel, Penemue and Briathos ran up to see their savior lying still in Cole’s arms. Just like the painting she had drawn, the one they all thought represented Sariel’s demise; there it was before them. It was their savior’s death, when they needed her the most.

“I’m sorry
, Cole…” Jake began to say.

“No!” His entire body was shivering as his heart crumbled into rubble.
The emptiness promised from God’s gift if either were to die, filled him up until he couldn’t breathe. Insanity was nearing as grief and rage flowed through him. He set Alice gently onto the ground and headed towards the smug Rogziel.

“You can’t kill me, I just keep coming back.”

“Come back from this.” He lifted a sword from the ground and slid the blade down his shoulder, severing him in two. Jake ripped his wings from his body. Cole waited for the familiar glow to lift from the shell that carried the Angels away. He swung his sword at it repeatedly trying to will it to the abyss. Penemue lifted Alice’s head onto his lap, rocking her body back and forth, tears swarming his face. They all felt the weight of their loss. Alice had died trying to save them all, if only so they could truly live. The Angels remaining began to spring into the air and fly off to wherever heaven was, as their true goal had come to pass. All that was left were the Horsemen standing wickedly before the Fallen, gathered around Alice’s body. Now that the Fallen’s savior was gone, it was only a matter of time until the toll of the seventh seal took hold, ending the world as they knew it and sending all the Fallen, sirens and kin to the abyss for eternity. Cole cursed God as he screamed in agony. His chest felt heavy and his soul felt deserted. God’s gift was raining hell on him. The sky began to rain and all anyone could do was stand around their savior’s body and mourn the loss, knowing the End of Days surely would be upon them all, and as they had no hope to save themselves without her, they didn’t feel deserving of salvation either.

ALICE

Alice shot up, gasping for
air. She looked around the dark space that seemed to be filled with an eerie fog.
The damned.
She thought. She never thought it looked so eerie for them but she supposed it made sense, as it had to her the times she visited. She wished that she could call out to Cole, to her family. She had failed even before she had a chance to save them; she’d failed them all.

You’re not damned.
Yet.

Oh good, more talking in my head.
She said, aggravated.

This is how I communicate; only
Angels and their heirs can hear My voice.

I suppose that makes sense.
So, to be clear, you’re God, right?

The voice laughed
, similar to the way Santa laughed. She thought it suited him since she had thought neither were real for the longest time.
I’ve been called that before. I’ve been called many things. I am the Creator, as I like to say.

So I’m dead, huh?

Yes, you are. Your soul is in a limbo, I suppose, awaiting judgment.

Though she knew it was true
, the words still stung deeply.
What about my family? The Fallen? Oh my, and Cole?

Are you not concerned with your own fate?

Not if I can trade myself for their fates, their lives.

I can’t tell if that is from being part human or part
Angel.

Who says it’s not both?
She spun around searching the darkness for the figure attached to the voice.

Why do you think they should be saved?

Why do You think they shouldn’t be?

You’re a fiery one
, aren’t you?

Alice cracked a smile.
I’ve been called that before. Look, I don’t want You to save them because I love them.

Oh no?
The voice questioned.

I want
You to save them because You love them. They are Your children, and children make mistakes. They love You unconditionally, even though You banned them from returning to You and You damned the loves of their lives and their children to an eternity of hell, all while sending them to the abyss as if any one part of that wasn’t enough punishment. Sure, not all of them are good, but neither are humans and I know You love them, too. We just want to exist, to live in some form or another, to love, to be loved. I just want You to reconsider.

Anger raced through His booming voice.
My children betrayed me, left our home to pursue things that were not theirs to pursue. They taught humans the sort of things that cause war and chaos.

But they taught them how to heal and love too!
Alice’s voice quivered.

They purposely had
Nephilim children in Enoch’s family line, hoping their so-called savior could sway Me when he himself could not. That doesn’t sound like they learned from their mistakes, but more likemanipulation to get something else they wanted that I deemed they could have. What say you?

They only did that
because they had no other choice. Like parent, like children, they had to learn the technique somewhere.

You dare say such things to
Me?

What have
You ever done for me? I was cursed the day I was born, for You to hate me because of what I was and not who I was. I was repeatedly punished for it with no reprieve. I have loved Your children, even the ones You deemed to be damned for their existence or their choices. They had their own needs and wants. I have lost so much; do You feel nothing for me?

Perhaps.

You’re not going to make this easy, are You?

Should I?
By all means tell Me if I should. My children betrayed Me, knowing the consequences. What are Your terms?
The voice asked.

I’m sorry, what?

You are here to bargain for your soul, as you are half human. What are your terms?

Alice thought long and hard and she felt
He knew what she would ask before the words left her lips, so to speak. Her life slowly flashed behind her eyes, all of the horrible memories and all of the good. As she spoke, her voice was strong yet laced with love, as if her soul itself was pleading for them all. She felt it in the warm light inside of her that her destiny was staring her in the face, waiting for her to reach out and accept it.
Forgiveness, given to the Fallen who have proven worthy and the wives and children who have been sentenced to an eternity of hell in that horrid place I was drawn to my entire life. Stop the End of Days and the massacre of mankind.

Is that all?
His voice laughed again.
And what of your soul, Alice?