Luciel teleported the twins into Remuel and Zakreel's arms as she gripped Drakken's curls in a vicious hold, making him hiss at her.
"Take me through the portal," she demanded. The emotional pain she felt made her feel as though she teetered on the brink of insanity.
"I can't." He tried to pry her fingers from his hair. She only snarled, bringing the tip of her blade to his frozen heart. "Damn-it, Luciel! I don't know the incantation to opening portals. Do you, Master Guardian archangel?"
A shred of sanity gripped her. She released his hair. "No. But there's a portal out in space you can breach. Remuel, Zakreel . . ." She turned to the dragons in human form. "I'm going to trust you with the lives of my sons. If we don't make it back...separate them. Don't let Devon fall into the wrong hands...and give . . ." she began to sob, "Give little Luke lots of love. He's so fragile."
"You'll make it back," Zakreel said, his sapphire eyes swimming with moisture.
Luciel caressed his wavy golden locks and then Remuel's blood-red ones. "Thank you...both...for helping us."
Then she hugged and kissed her babes, touching their tiny fingers and kissing their little toes, fearing she would never see them again. They began to cry, breaking her heart. She was almost tempted to stay...leave Davariel to his fate, but that thought suffocated her.
If you go, we go together, my love. Death itself will never separate us.
"Drakken! We leave now!"
She had purchased the latest in Master Guardians' mode of deep space transportation. The black Viper was in the transportation hangar just outside of the mansion. She'd just had it transferred the night before. How little the bliss had lasted. Davariel had been right.
My baby. Hang on. I'm coming for you.
She didn't dare lock onto his life force. If he were engaged in battle, the distraction of feeling her could cost him his life.
She settled herself into the black tear-shaped Viper, teleporting her black jumpsuit uniform onto her nakedness and allowed Drakken to sit in front of her.
Gleaming black glass rotated sealing them within the Viper. She felt Drakken's energy vibrate as he locked onto Megdoluc, through the portal of the Faerie realm; then they were out in space. The stars swirled, then blurred as they hit peak speed, bending time and space just right so that it only took two minutes to reach the demon planet.
They were the longest two minutes of her life. Her mind replayed every moment after Davariel's rescue. They'd grown so close during that brief time. They'd loved intensely, but also fought occasionally. She smiled remembering one such moment when she was trying to coax him to try chocolate pudding. He'd wrinkled his nose and accused her of trying to feed him the babes' poop. She became so incensed that he would think her capable of such a disgusting thing, that she'd flicked him with the spoonful of pudding. It landed right on his pretty little nose, making her laugh. He didn't like that one bit and retaliated by slapping the bowl of pudding onto her chin and breasts. His peals of laughter reverberated throughout the dining room. They'd ended up tussling on the floor, smeared in chocolate, when she'd grabbed his face and kissed him. After getting a taste of chocolate from her smeared mouth, he smacked his lips, amazed, and asked her if she had more.
Oh, Dava, my sweet love. How wrong everyone was about you being a wretched demon.
She sensed Megdoluc looming before them.
Drakken tried to slow them down, but Luciel overrode his power. The Viper streaked across Megdoluc's sky like a blazing comet, creating a crater a mile deep into the crust.
"Fuck," Drakken cursed! "Are you trying to get us killed? That won't help Dava none!"
But she was already rushing out of the viper, sword in hand. She'd projected a protective bubble around herself and fought through the hurricane-like winds. Not bothering to stop for Drakken, who wasn't as powerful as she was, she pushed forward, seeking the portal of the gates of hell. It was as good a place as any to start her search. Levitating out of the crater had been easy, even though she hated to levitate. It gave her vertigo.
When she came upon the frozen ocean, she frowned. This couldn't be right. Davariel had held her captive in an underground cave-like room.
Her heart twisted in agony at the memory. Just a little more than three months ago. How things had changed. She was supposed to kill Davariel and here she was trying to save him...again.
She turned to see if she could find a cave and stopped dead in her tracks. There was a little she-devil standing not that far from her. She was golden from head to toe and resembled a pretty nymph. Luciel's eyes narrowed. There was something vaguely familiar about her facial features, but the wind blew her long blonde hair across her face, partially covering it.
Luciel might have killed the creature if she weren't so anxious to find Davariel.
"He's through there." The she-devil pointed out to the ice. "Close to the funnel, there's an entrance to another realm. The realm of truth."
Luciel's training warred with her desperation to cast all caution aside to find her love before it was too late. "How do I know you're not lying?"
"Devils don't always lie. There can be cruelty in the truth." The golden beauty leaned back on a rock, cocking her head to the side in a very familiar gesture. "You love Davariel. I want you to help him."
Luciel narrowed her eyes. "Why?"
The she-devil looked down and parted the hair that had draped across her. There was a long ugly scar marring the skin between her pert breasts. "He is all that remains of the love I once dared feel. I do not want that part of me to die."
The wind blew the hair away from her countenance and Luciel looked into a feminine version of Dava's sweet face.
Luciel's jaw dropped. His mother? The angel turned succubus?
Again, the pretty nymph pointed out to the frozen waters. "Only the strength of your love will help him defeat the demons. Go. Hurry...before it's too late."
Luciel used her powers to levitate once more. Her heart pounded in her ears as she tried to keep the memory of what he'd looked like the last time he was rescued from here at bay.
He'll be fine. He'll be fine. He's got reapers with him this time. He's not alone. Plus, he's a damned good swordsman. He can do this.
She soared over the vast ocean feeling lost because it was about as vast as Earth's. So much time elapsed, and, just when she was ready to give up and lock onto Davariel, she spotted the funnel.
It was astonishing. The frozen waves, resembling canyon walls, measured about a hundred feet or more. The thought of what it might have looked like before it froze terrified her.
About half a mile in, she saw the center. The black hole yawned down into blackness, deep and never ending. Something rippled over it and she realized that there was a translucent barrier. The black inside the funnel also appeared to be moving, as if it were alive.
She let herself down on the edge of the hole and began to approach its center, her love for Davariel propelling her along in blind desperation. It wasn't until she felt herself drowning, that she realized she had gone under the barrier. Water filled her lungs. All she could do was think how she had failed her love...and her sons.
"Davariel," she screamed, startling herself! She could scream?
Luciel floated upside down over the surface of the frozen water, only to fall onto it a scant second later. She felt confused as to what had just transpired. The reflection in the shimmering ice revealed something glowing behind her. She gaped, astounded, at a pair of wings made of fire blazing on her back. Turning her head, sure enough, there they were. She had wings like an angel, only made of blue-white fire.
The Realm of Truth?
The sound of clashing metal drew her attention, leading her to the entrance of a passageway. Gripping her divine sword, also covered with magical blue-white fire, she raced to the source of the sound.
She came upon an immense cathedral-like chamber. To her dismay four reapers already lay slain on the ground. Not far from them was a beheaded fallen angel. Abdiel and Eriel fought valiantly against a fallen angel each and poor Dava battled three.
Behind Davariel, a good twenty paces from him stood a strange mirror. There was a strange whirling motion within the glass. It looked like the heart of a tornado, and made a thunderous sound. The Realm of Shadows. Davariel had opened a small portal.
She gathered her power about her and slowed time. She could hear her heartbeat and every breath she drew as she moved through a gel-like substance. Her sword went flying in a spiral, splitting one of the fallen angels in two. Davariel also shocked her, using the same ability and beheading the other one. Time fell back into place. She could only do that for short spurts. Eriel killed the angel he was battling, just as Davariel sliced through his remaining foe.
"Davariel...I love you!" She screamed from the other side of the cavern.
His smile lit his breathtaking face. She suddenly realized he had his black wings once more as he opened them and flew straight toward her; such a beautiful sight, with his enigmatic blue eyes and blonde hair billowing behind him.
There was a rushing in her ears, like an approaching wave of immense magnitude. Davariel was engulfed in a horde of hundreds of thousands of devils, too many for Eriel and Abdiel to be able to dispose of with their reaper powers. They flew toward the portal, taking him with them to their deaths...or whatever lay beyond the portal. Luciel locked onto his life force and teleported herself behind him.
They were falling. She was trying to hang onto his waist, attempting to lock onto the familiar surroundings of the cave, but it was no longer there. There was nothing around them. Even the Devils had evaporated without a trace.
Somehow, Davariel managed to grip and haul her up into his arms. His beautiful black wings began to hum behind him, halting their fall.
He looked around the swirling dark purple mist, then looked at her. "Luci! Why, my love? Why did you follow me in here? There's no way out."
She buried her face in his neck sobbing. "I can't live without you, Dava! I just can't!"
His hands caressed her back as he kissed her hair. "It's alright, my love." His kisses feathered across her cheek, licked the tears that flowed from her eyes. "I love you. Just hold me, baby."
Luciel sighed when Davariel's petal soft lips caressed hers. She touched her tongue to his upper lip when he bit down on her lower one. They both groaned in unison. Davariel kissed her as if sampling the sweetest fruit, the tip of his tongue delving repeatedly into the heart of her mouth. Luciel wrapped her arms tighter around his neck and braced her feet against the backs of his thighs. Her heart beat frantically as she angled her hips and then pushed herself down onto him. Davariel arched his back in pleasure and broke the contact of their lips to look into her eyes.
Her eyes roved over his face as her fingers tangled in the wealth of gold that spilled down his back. "We go as one, Davariel."
His bright eyes shimmered and a few tears spilled down his flushed cheeks. "Yes, my love."
His wings stopped humming and his mouth fused to hers as they dropped. Luciel linked her mind deeply to his, experiencing his life and allowing him to experience hers, all the while their souls sang to each other an ancient song of eternal love.
Then there was nothing. Only darkness...silence.
