Anarchy, Burning(ONC2022 Entry)

Part 7- Maria

Maria falls back, hitting her head. For a moment, she stares up at the sky while Fryga Olsen and a strange man argue. Aside from a bit of disorientation, Maria feels good. She feels a hint of the light still rippling through her veins. The power of the divine, straight from heaven. Euphoria mixed with unlimited confidence. She remembers the exhilarating feeling of soaring through the sky. A natural high from on high.

The taste of blood brings her back to reality.

"Get out of my way, Elijah. I don't want to hurt you, but I will."

"She's wounded and under my protection."

"Protection? From you?" Fryga laughs that annoying laugh that sounds like she's about to talk shit about you. "You really don't know who or what she is, do you?"

"She's an angel..."

"Ha!"

"Where's Jack?" Maria asks as she gets to her feet.

She looks around. They're on the water in a boat being battered by angry little waves. Bodies are everywhere and the city is on fire. A bridge lays in ruins and the largest hellspur she's ever seen lights up the night like a glowstick.

"Where's Jack," she asks again much louder this time.

Fryga and Elijah stop their arguing and turn their attention to her. His cheeks darken and he looks away. Fryga tries to maintain eye contact, but her gaze keeps wandering down. Elijah picks up Maria's jacket. Clearing his throat, he holds it out to her.

"I'm going to ask one more time. Where is-"

"Who the fuck is Jack? Some other poor idiot whose trust you've betrayed?"

"He's my neighbor... we were in a car accident," Maria tries to remember, but it's all fuzzy. "I borrowed his jeep."

"Your friend from the accident?" Elijah asks. "He didn't make it."

Elijah's voice brings it all rushing back. They'd hit a hellhound and that idot was playing with his seatbelt instead of wearing it. She had been stuck, but Elijah pulled her from the wreck, then got her heart pumping again when her body decided to give out on her. Elijah saved her life.

"So you doomed another soul?"

"Fuck you, Fryga."

"You did that already, bitch, before you got me locked up."

"You're a criminal, you deserve to be locked up." Maria regrets the words even as they spill out.

"What?" Fyrga growls.

Her eyes become white on white, iris and sclera bleeding into one another. Throbbing blue veins bulge from her pale skin as her arms swell to twice their original size. Two horns bust out of her cheek bones in a spray of blood.

"Oh my god. What are you?" Elijah says as he stumbles back, forgetting about Maria's naked body.

"She's a demi-demon and a car thief," Maria says as she calls on the light to empower herself. She feels her halo manifest, filling the air around her with a soft yellow nimbus. "Fyrga, this isn't the time or the place."

"Why not? I've had four years to dream about the day I get to put your head through a wall" She takes a step forward.

"Because it's Judgment Day... and I can barely feel the light."

"Perfect, so this will be a one sided fight." She takes a second step then pauses, the bulging veins shrinking and one of her arms returning to its normal size. "Wait. I feel fire coursing through me like I just took a hit of the good shit. You fucking demi-angels should be brimming with light."

Fyrga fights to regain control, negating the change before she can fully give in to the hellfire. Maria puts out what little light she has left before it can deplete her reserves. They stare at each other, their shared past a minor thorn in their side when compared to the evidence of a dark future looming over them.

Fryga looks to the New York skyline then back at Maria. Her eyes linger on the woman's nakedness. Elijah offers the denim jacket and Maria takes it, suddenly feeling exposed.

"Where's heaven's hosts? The sky should be swarming with you self-righteous pricks."

"I don't know... The prophecies say that the final days will see war demons and battle angels fight for the dominance of the human realm and the fate of mankind." Maria tries to cover herself with the jacket, using as much of the denim to cover as much of her top and bottom as the fabric will allow. "Hell is here, but heaven is a no show... I can barely feel its light. It's almost as if the gate has been sealed."

"Just like angels to be late to the party..."

"That was one time, Fryga."

The pale woman scoffs.

"Ummm, excuse me." Elijah leans against the railing of the ship, his arms shaking slightly. "Can someone please tell me what's going on?"

"It's the end of the world as we know it!" Fryga sings, jamming on an air guitar. She sneers at Maria's condescending look. "What's with the big guy, he your side piece or something?" She asks, gesturing towards Elijah.

"He's just a good Samaritan."

"How biblical."

"Must you be a bitch?"

"Yes!" Fryga snaps.

Maria fights the urge to smack the woman. Fyrga Olsen has always had a knack for driving her up a wall. The thought that they once had a real intense, real physical relationship, seems unbelievable. They were younger then and Maria was a newly minted Demon Hunter. She had no idea going undercover to infiltrate a ring of car thieves would put such a strain on her emotions. She never thought she'd fall for a-

"Hello?" Elijah moves away from the railing, his eyes a little too wide. "I need answers, because I don't think I can wrap my head around this."