There was nothing now, no wind nor earth, not even the sound of monsters crawling through the dirt. Hailey couldn't even hear her own heart beating. All Hell had been unleashed but she saw none of it.
Nothing else mattered but Alex.
He collapsed in front of her, collapsed in her arms like a felled tree, stiff, unmoving. Hailey cradled his head to her chest, inhaling his scent as the last few whiffs started to die away. The life was slowly leaving those beautiful, dark eyes. Hailey could not speak; no words would form in her heart as it broke apart, shattered, delicate little bits of it piercing the very soul that held the remnants of her quivering form together. Blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth, stained his skin in one red streak, and then the breath left his body. She felt it fade.
He was taken from her, ripped away. Hailey could not scream nearly enough to bring content to her soul.
She felt physically sick, as though she was dying too. The force that tethered her soul to this world for eternity evaporated, and then there was nothing. A vast emptiness consumed her. What could life hold now that Alex was gone? Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, some form of the afterlife...Just let it take me up and rip me apart, Hailey thought.
Alex sacrificed his life for her; he stood in front of a lethal weapon, held in the hands of his mortal enemy, for some simple human he was charged with looking after so long ago. He defied all expectations and broke boundaries to love her unconditionally.
Hailey could never make it up to him now.
Her reason for existence was gone.
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Cavalry, Matthew 27:46
An odd sensation really, watching a man with whom one had been well acquainted since birth face execution of the cruelest kind. Dinah watch as two thieves were lifted into the air, pinned upon wooden crosses, adjourning a central person who beheld a crown of thorns pushed into the top of his head. He was labeled only as "King of the Jews". How demeaning a title for someone who lived his life so selflessly, she thought. He would most certainly argue with you if he could see it.
Men and women flocked to the site of his execution at Cavalry Mountain, his followers. Dinah tried her best to comfort them, but what advice could she offer? How does one human being comfort another when they are, in fact, at fault for such depression?
For some time, they had hope. She wished his miracles had been welcomed. Dinah believed that humanity was ready for something new, something this man they called "Jesus" gave them. Whether it was as real as he said or not, it certainly gave them a reason to stand against the persecution or their people and the oppression they faced daily from Roman reign.
And now it was gone, cut out from their hearts with a dull blade, leaving gaping wound that no mortal items or wishes could suture.
"Save us! If you are who you say you are, then save us!" The thief to Jesus's right cried out as he painfully pushed up on the iron nailing his feet together. Blood poured from the three nails embedded in his body, but it was not enough to cause to death. This position the Romans put them in, the act of crucifixion, suffocated a human being to death by curling their centers in on themselves. They was no respite from it. Only death.
"Does it matter now? We are all dying!" the other thief cried out. "Let us die in peace at least."
The two men at Jesus's sides said nothing more as they quickly gave up the fight for life and drifted into oblivion. Dinah watched with contempt as Roman guards poked and prodded his body, sticking spears in his sides because he would not die. Dinah could see the confusion behind their eyes. Perhaps he will prevail? Dinah thought. Perhaps it is not too much to hope for my own redemption?
She was pulled from her thoughts as Jesus mumbled from the brink of death, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?"
"Why has God forsaken you indeed," Dinah mumbled as she turned away from the scene. There would be no miracle, she knew. She began making her way through the throng of sobbing followers down the hill, inching closer to Jerusalem, and she never looked back.
If God was willing to sacrifice His own son, to let evil consume him as much as any other human being, then there was no reason to believe God would commit any favors for Dinah or Lucifer The years would drag on and on, and humans would place their faiths in gods, angels, demons, and those beings, too, would interfere with the desires and lives of mortal man when they had no right to.
There was no reason to believe God would care about their futures or their desires, so she wouldn't wait around for a miracle to save them. Dinah would create her own future.
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Present Day
"He is dead, dear. Why not leave him be now?"
Just hearing Michael's voice was grating to her. Hailey had had enough of him, but also enough of too-long life. How long had she been kneeling there with Alex's head cradled in her lap? How long had she waited in the shadows for his return? How long had he been forced to wait for her?
Her tears soaked his raven hair and left streaks down the sides of his face. Through watery eyes she managed to spy the necklace he gave her only days ago. It was twisted around lying in the crook of her neck, so she saw only the back at the moment, horns and a halo, red wings, very similar to the ones she now sported from her own body.
Even after death, he still had her whole heart.
"Darling, we really must be going now. Lucifer is gone. There is nothing left for you here. You don't really want to die, do you, darling?"
Hailey shot her head up and glared at Michael, voice seething from her clenched teeth. She hoped the hate was evident on her face. "Please, call me "darling" one more time so I can rip your head off with my bare hands." The bastard wouldn't even let her a moment to grieve! Couldn't she have that much at least?
"Do you really think I can't see your weakness right now?" Michael edged closer to Hailey, holding her chin up with the tip of his sword. It caught the necklace, which Michael promptly cut and flicked off her neck. It landed somewhere to her right in the dirt. The action made Hailey shake with fury. "With him gone, who will protect you from the horrors of God and humanity? No one, except me. I simply ask that you try to see some reason here."
Hailey shook her head adamantly, further annoying him. Michael would never be even half the man, angel, that Alex was, and he would never accept that she was not afraid of death; she even welcomed it, now more than ever.
With all the determination in the world and no hesitation, she grasped the hilt of Alex's sword in her left hand and her own blade in the other. She called upon the element of fire to engulf them both.
"I told you I would make you beg for mercy before you die. I intend to keep my word." Hailey stared Michael down. Mount Ararat began to crumble beneath their feet. Michael's monsters were summoned, surrounding them both with cries and shrieks of a demonic nature. Hailey dug deep within herself and willingly left Alex behind her. She took a brave step toward her final battle.
Perhaps in any other woman there would have been some hint of hesitation, of fear, of cowardice. Not Hailey. She was the oldest human being upon Earth. She was hand-crafted and chosen by God to end Michael and restore the world to a place of balance in the universe. She was the living embodiment of courage and persistence despite the sin that coursed through her veins. But most importantly, she was Dinah, Lucifer's wife, and she would not stand idly by while his murder took control of their world.
Michael raised his sword, encased in ice, and smiled widely, fangs on full display. He would hold nothing back. Neither would she. "Shall we begin then, Miss Hailey?'
"Oh, absolutely."
Both parties took a giant leap forward, blades raised, monsters roaring. The power of evil would end today.
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Author's Note: Leave a comment to let me know your thoughts! :) We have only one chapter and the epilogue left now. Is that crazy or what?!
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Original Sin
RomanceIn the Garden of Eden, Eve listened to a snake and ate the forbidden fruit. Because of this action, they were banished. This is the story everyone was lead to believe, but it's only half the truth. There was Adam and Even, and then there was their d...
