We Are War

5. Laughter in the tombs

From what Ezekiel could tell everyone seemed to have the collective idea of hell as a very hot place, as if somehow the lord of hell liked to keep his place steaming like a sauna. It was all an imagination by humans, something they had come up with while writing the bible and reciting it over the centuries to everyone they knew. But what Ezekiel had come to realise it was different for all the souls that ended up in there, and despite he was not in hell this was a little bit too close to hell for his liking, he was in the gray area between hell, earth and heaven – some called it purgatory some called it limbo – angels had no name for it but a battlefront. It was where the war between demons and angels had been going on for millennia. It was cold and wet place, the scenery was gray and the cities that there had been built during the time there had been anyone trying to live there, mainly the souls that had dumped there for being not good for any destination of afterlife, had been abandoned long time ago. There was still a soul or two living in some of the cities, trying to make through the hard times the best they could. They couldn't escape the fate they had, they weren't able to leave the war zone – they were stuck there.

Just like Ezekiel was stuck there right now. Humans at least got it right when they filmed all those movies with fire tornadoes, Ezekiel had seen couple of them raging on in the suburbs during his time hiding in the city. And right now he was running from the radioactive black rain, he hadn't known it before, not until now, but the rain in here was highly radioactive and poisonous even for angels. He would heal from it, but he could feel the effects, he needed to breathe, and he would bleed from normal weapons, he felt almost like a human – and he certainly had learned to not be outside when it was raining. The clouds were gathering on the sky and by the dark look of them he was about to be poured in once more. The first few drops of rain landed on the poorly paved road and the angel scowled, he went to run. It wasn't but minutes after that when the sky was pouring down and he managed to make it under what used to be a house, he assumed, before he could get wet, he did get some drops of the water on his clothes but so far he had figured it only mattered when the water got on his skin. Clothes provided some cover, but not much. Much like with normal water.

"Do not be angry with the rain; it simply does not know how to fall upwards", he sighed out the words, watching up to the sky and oh he wished he could see something blue, and sun maybe, or normal rain! Anything but the grey clouds and the grey world around him. But his eyes caught onto something else on the sky, the frown deepened on his face, today wasn't going to plan. He cursed, a funny thing he had learned from the humans, there were no known curse words in the angelic language. But he cursed, in English, his eyes searching the area for safety – he found none. He'd need to enter back into the rain again. He pulled out his sword, Ezekiel trusted his old issue of a saber, especially when it was good to cut into demon skin – it was holy, it would hurt like hell for demon to be cut with it. He would need it too, the two figures in the sky could see him as well. They were there to kill him, and they were diving down through the deadly rain to get to him. Ezekiel had no other choice but to engage.

They were yelling at him in demon language, slicing through air in such a speed it would've been sickening to watch for a human. And Ezekiel couldn't help the grin tugging on his lips as he watched it over his shoulder every now and then, running through the desolate street and finding a place where he could be of upper hand – his clothes were starting to get soaked and his hair was turning black from the rain, but he still saw the humour in the situation. If Valentine, or some of his other human world friends, would be here he'd have called out for the demons to make a superhero landing. That was a cool line! No angels appreciated his good humour.

The two did land, and they did a rather nice superhero landing as well, but Ezekiel didn't have time to marvel at the beauty of it, the two demons were on him as soon as their feet touched the ground and he had to defend his his life with all he had. The came from each of his sides, with swords in their hands, a simple tactic, keep him fighting both sides and wear him out enough to have him make a mistake. But despite his carefree nature Ezekiel was a warrior, he was trained by the best and he knew how to play dirty, even if Genesis disliked him a lot Ezekiel still practised a lot with Valentine and Genesis. Three people combat was always good practise, not just one on one. He blocked the attacks from his left, drawing all his energy so he could grab the smaller one of the demons and using the energy from pushing out his wings to slam the two of them into the ground. It was enough to knock the blade from the demon's hand, and surprise him. The black rain was especially rough on angel wings, Ezekiel had used his wings to shield himself from the rain the first times it had happened, just like he always did when it rained, now... his feathers were starting to fall off – angelic type of a cancer?

The demon didn't stand a chance though, too young and too foolish, with the blade off his hand the man didn't seem to know what to do. He was sputtering and moving to claw at Ezekiel's face, grabbing onto the angel's shirt – so he could drive their heads together and knock Ezekiel off enough to get him off the man. But the angel was faster, his curved sword was pushed through the demon's chest faster than the demon could pull him down. There was a sizzling sound, a holy blade meeting sinful flesh and burning the skin while going through the man's lungs, blood and flesh.

But Ezekiel didn't have time to rest or catch a breathe, the other demon was onto him as soon as the blade went in, and the angel barely avoided getting skewered himself as the dark man collided into him. Ezekiel was able to hold onto his own blade, using it to drive the enemy's blade off his abdomen. But since the saber was in an awkward position under his body and pushing on the other blade he couldn't use it for attack, and the punch to his face broke his nose – he could hear it crack under the demon's fist. He turned his back against the demon, while they were still close to each other, and while it might've been a bad idea to turn your back to your enemy, he could use it to his advantage. His feathers were falling off, which meant the fast movement gave the demon a face full of loose and intact feathers, and while the man was shielding his eyes from them – the feathers were of a holy being, getting them into the demon's eyes would hurt as well- Ezekiel brought up his left arm and he pushed his arm back, driving his elbow into the demon's face, breaking the man's nose too and splitting his top lip.

That was enough for the demon to put some distance between them and Ezekiel got a chance to pull his wings back in, he didn't want to ruin them more then he already had. And then the demon was back to business to kill him, they struggled for a while, good old days sword combat in the middle of the ruined city. And the rain was falling harder on the both of them. It looked like it had the same effect on the demon as it had on Ezekiel, that was reassuring to see. This place was just as dangerous for the both of them. The angel's moment came when he managed to push on the demon, and with the thick black rain the ground was wet and slippery and the demon lost its footing, crashing to the ground and cursing as more of the black stuff seeped through his clothes onto his skin. He wouldn't need to worry about it for too long, Ezekiel kicked at the demon, catching him to his chest, causing the demon to lose his moment of an attack and the angel used all the strength he managed to pull to swing the saber and cut off the demon's head. The blood pumped out for a moment, mixing with the black of the rain on the ground.

Ezekiel was soaked to the bone by now, and he felt really sick, he was going to be so damn sick before he could get into the safe spot again.

He stood there in the rain for a while longer, catching his breath and calming his racing mind, it was hard to calm down after a fight, especially in a place like this, where his life was constantly under a threat. The city was surrounded by enemy forces and they would be launching heavy artillery attack on the place again come the night, they always did, it was hard to get any rest when the guns were going off. And when he wasn't sure if he could trust no one was going to barge into his little hidey hole while he had his eyes closed. But he couldn't give up now, so after he calmed down a bit he went to trudge down the street, staying in the darker grays so he wouldn't be seen so well from the sky by any more hostiles. He was already wet so there was no point in getting away from the rain anymore, and he only stopped to throw up once on his way back into his new home.

The latest safe spot was on the top floors of one of the few tall buildings still standing in the city, the demons hadn't destroyed it yet, though the angel suspected it would happen soon enough. But he found some solace by being high up from the ground, he didn't dare to fly in here, someone could see him too easily. Inside he stripped off his wet clothing, washing them under some cold water and placing them in the corner to dry out before he would wear them again, he had couple of blankets to throw on himself so he could keep moderately warm until that. And he had a Sherlock Holmes story to read for his grand audience today. The hope of rescue was still in his mind, he had got the message, Iliad – but he had been here for a while now, the longer he'd stay here the closer the demons got. He needed to move from hiding spot to a hiding spot every couple of days, he was slowly dying from the radioactive rain and at times he thought he was going colour blind too, there was no colours in this world, or if there was he didn't see them.

If it took Valentine too long to come here... he wouldn't make it, even if he would get back into heaven.