God's Gone AWOL

[12] Necrophiliac??

"Oh you must teach me that spell once we're done here," Bentley said, returning Lucy's smile.

It was the first time they had seen one and other since their disaster attempt at destroying the soul fragment. Naturally, the two Catastrophes were delighted by their reunion, and they rushed to each other's side.

"Yes, ma'am," Lucy told her, "But right now, let's focus on that little necrophiliac of yours. Where's he gone off to?"

"'Necrophiliac??'" Bentley repeated.

"What? You're technically undead, aren't you? So am I wrong?" Before Bentley could answer, Lucy abruptly changed the subject. "Is it safe to assume that wee angel of ours is currently standing behind that great big wall of fire?"

Bentley was still left speechless by the necrophiliac remark but there was no denying that there were more pressing matters than Lucifer's choice of words. So instead of continuing that particular conversation, she glanced up at the flames. For a moment, the orange light dancing in the reflection of her red eyes. Then she nodded once.

Atticus had just reached the gate when he was abruptly tackled again. Two figures tumbled and rolled at the foot of the swirling blue doorway, each trying to pin the other down, or at least gain the upper hand. However, Atticus' new opponent was almost equally matched with himself, making it rather difficult to regain his footing.

Bentley stepped through her wall of fire and glanced at the gateway. Although sparks of lighting were shooting out from the surface, and the froth in the center was spiraling around rapidly, it was still a vibrant shade of blue. It had not been opened yet. With a sigh of relief, Bentley changed her focus back to the struggling angels on the ground. Unfortunately, she looked over just in time to witness Lucy squeezing Atticus in headlock.

"Lucy! Be gentle with him!" she said.

"Why?" Lucy replied, "It's not like he's gonna be gentle with me,"

He continued the chaotic wrestling match to the best of his ability, flipping Atticus downwards onto the rocky ground. Then he hastily pinned the angel down using his own body —something he had learned from Xander.

"My sincerest apologies, dearest Atticus," he said, "But you really aren't thinking straight right now—"

However before Lucy could finish his sentence, a sudden surge of power erupted from the center of Atticus' chest. Even though his limbs were temporarily out of commission, he could still channel power through the glowing brass locket around his neck. So he pooled his power into one large spell in a desperate attempt to liberate himself from Lucy's grip. In the end, the explosion was strong enough to send his attacker flying backwards and out of sight.

"AAAAAAAAAaaaaaaa....!!" Lucy went sailing back through the wall of fire, wailing as he went.

Now that the nuisance was gone, Atticus rose to his feet once again. He was entirely unbothered by the fact that he had just hurled one of his only friends away. He was entirely unbothered by anything at all. And without even taking the time to dust himself off, he approached the gateway once again.

And once again, Bentley threw herself directly in his path. Arms outstretched, she shielded him from his destination with an odd expression. Her unkept, tangled red hair and loose white shirt whipped around her, but she remained completely still and unmoving. If he were still himself, he may have even thought she was beautiful in her current disheveled way. But the eye of the beholder had been bleached to the point where it could no longer see anything in front of it.

"Atticus pash de Ophaniel, do you know who I am?" she asked.

He paused in his step.

On the surface her expression appeared to be one of simple concern. But there was a struggling, desperate light behind her eyes. As a creature who typically faced even the darkest challenges with a smile, the look of fear was an unusual one for Bentley.