God's Gone AWOL

[6] Sodom and Gomorrah

The sun hadn't quite set yet, but the air was already cooling down. Overhead, the blue sky was gradually fading into a light shade of orange. A gentle breeze sent soft ripples through the sweet-scented grass, making the world seem a lot more peaceful than it actually was.

They had found a nice little grassy hillside right in the middle of nowhere that they could ruin. The whole group was milling about, getting everything set up for the destruction spell they were about to use. Lucy and Hephzibah had spread a wide sheet of fabric down over the grass to act as the canvas for the main magic circle. Bentley and Atticus were busy painting the lines in with their own blood. Xander was marching up and down the hill setting up additional containment flags, brooding as always.

Their plan of action, although effective in theory, wasn't guaranteed to work in the slightest. Atticus and Bentley were going to combine their juiced-up magic and cast an extremely powerful destruction spell; one that had only ever been used once in the entire history of the four realms. So they had to set up all sorts of additional protection and containment charms all over the surrounding hillside so as to avoid wiping out every living being in a ten kilometre radius —including themselves. The blood seal on the ground was designed to keep anyone except Bentley and Atticus away from the epicenter of the spell: partially to ensure the safety of everyone else, but also to ensure that nobody touched either of them while they were maintaining the magic. It wasn't much, but it was the best they could muster with the small amount of resources they had.

"Remind me again," said Hephzibah, "Why we're doing this out in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere?"

"Ye think destroying the 'it' is gonna be easy?" said Lucy, "Whether'r not we actually succeed, there's still going to be a massive explosion of energy. And I doubt anybody here has good enough insurance to cover the property damage,"

"I know all that, dipshit," Hephzibah replied, "What I meant was why are we here? You, me and Xander,"

Lucy glanced over in Xander's direction. The two made brief eye contact before the latter looked away.

"In case the massive explosion draws attention, which it undoubtedly will," Xander answered, "Bentley and Atticus are going to be pouring all their energy into the destruction spell, and won't be able to defend themselves if someone shows up t'try and stop it,"

"So I've got to protect the bitch who cheated on me as well as her new lover. Isn't that nice?"

Atticus' hand faltered as he traced the last lines of the spell. But Bentley didn't even seem to notice the offhand remark, so he decided that he shouldn't be too bothered either.

"Hey, I don't wanna be here either," said Xander, "But we're trying to stop an invasion here —actually maybe even an entire attempted massacre, so just play along,"

"Xander, have'ye said anything to the rest of Hell's High Council?" Lucy asked, "About what we're doing?"

"Obviously not. They'd throw a fit and try to stop us if they knew,"

There was a lot at play right now, and Xander had about a dozen reasons not to tell Hell what was happening. First, they couldn't know that Atticus had control over the 'it'. If even the slightest rumor escaped, it could lead to Heaven discovering that they had a way to wield the most dangerous weapon ever known to exist. The risk of telling anybody was just too great. Secondly, because he couldn't mention Atticus, he wouldn't be able to explain the sheer reality of the threat that Camael posed. It would be nearly impossible to convince his fellow demons that the 'it' really needed to be destroyed if he couldn't back up his argument.

And if he couldn't convey the magnitude of the situation, then there was no reason for the rest of the council to believe him. Smythe, Yardley and Knox were all reasonable. They might take his word for it, but Wingo and Eleazar were both much harder to convince. And Naz... well there was no saying what Naz was thinking about at any given time since they never spoke or showed any sort of emotion. No matter what, it was easier to ask for forgiveness than it was for permission. So he just avoided mentioning anything so he didn't have to convince them to give up the 'it' for any reason.