Demon Breathing Down My Neck

Chapter Twenty-One: Eternal Life

Hurtling our bubble away from the beam as fast as I can, I bring us to an abrupt halt at the edge of the enormous Silverwing. Transparent energy hums in flowing waves over its metallic surface. I focus on coils of black smoke that stretch out endlessly in all directions. At the edges of my vision, unseen creatures stir in the dark fog.

My rainbow coated finger slowly paints a white line through the air. It crackles and hisses. I struggle to hold the bubble completely still in the buffeting wind. The white line flickers. My wrist burns as I re-stabilize it. I hate opening portals in midair! I would go to the ground, but there's probably bunch of raging house demons roaming around down there...

Athanasia flashes out of the sparkling light. She glows so much she's like an emerald star, blindingly bright in the murky evening. Glimmering energy armor gives the raging storm swirling over her body a sickly green tint. Her shimmering wings thunder boom as she catapults over to us.

We hurtle backwards as fast as I can go. The halfway finished portal sputters out into sprays of white sparks. Jesus!

Athanasia flies so quickly the light rays from her wings stretch out behind her. She catches up to us in a flash. She circles around us, a green blur my eyes can barely track. Her voice is almost lost in rushes of wind. "What have you done?!"

I struggle to maintain a focus on her she moves so fast. I whirl around and around until I get dizzy. "Scared of angels now?!"

She stops in midair, her eyes burning with emerald flames. "What have you done?!"

"Defeated you!"

"How did you bring our computer systems down?!"

I maneuver our rainbow bubble around, debating when to take off. How fast is she?

Athanasia points upwards. "Is he in there?!"

We fly backwards twenty feet. "Why don't you go back up there and look for him?!"

She flashes forward until she is a couple of inches from the rainbow wall. "Where is he?!"

"Have fun trying to figure that out!"

"You have no idea what you're messing with! Whoever this is, he's no angel!"

"That's what he wants you to think!"

"He's too smart for an angel!"

"The only thing that really matters is he's helping me and not you!"

"Then, where is he now?! Why isn't he trying to save you from me?!"

"Wouldn't you like to know!"

She circles around our floating sphere in the blink of an eye, then sharpens her energy claws together in my face. Green sparks crackle onto the thin rainbow barrier separating us. "You either tell me or die. The choice is yours."

She's fast. I fly us backwards again to test her speed. "I'm not telling you anything, Mrs. Thor-actually, I think I'll call you Mrs. Ugly." My tone darkens. "Because anyone who tortures babies is ugly. No matter how beautiful they try to be."

Athanasia blurs through the air after us. A microsecond later, we are face-to-face again. Her hard green eyes shift to black holes. She growls, "You're going to answer my question."

She's too fast. I'm going to have to fight. "I don't answer ugly people's questions."

She glares at me and her voice softens into a singsong. "I dare you to say that again."

I stare straight into her bottomless eyes. "I also don't leave ugly people alive!"

Athanasia's flesh pales to a deathly gray. It stretches taught across her narrow cheekbones. Wrinkles pop out all over her face. Her perfect little jaw jerks sideways out of its joints. Six-inch fangs slide out of her rotting gums. Her brilliant, scarlet hair thins out into white wisps. Her energy armor causes her hair color to take on a sickly green hue. Rough liver spots grow over her sagging skin.