A Serpent's Kiss

Chapter Seventeen

“Arloh stop!” the voice momentarily deafened her ears and the ground shifted beneath her, slightly rolling the man out from under her. Turning, she saw the smoky form of Shamesh, flanked by an army of other demons. He advanced forward and she took up a defensive position, hissing madly. “You’re a sly, evil, manipulative serpent and you don’t care what danger you bring to the rest of us. You’re madly trying to escape who you really are angel human. Get back down to the underworld. Your chance to attack will come tomorrow.”

Arloh was not going to sit through a repeat of what Apophis had just lectured her on. The taste of blood was still on her fangs and now her attention began to return to her panting victim. As if in slow motion she turned and made a beeline for the prostate figure.

The next moment, her side was singing with pain and she was staring up at the sky. Something radiant was above her and the rain dripped of a lethal blade. Her eyes fought to adjust to the ball of light and she began to make out a pair of eyes, a nose and a mouth. An angel. With her strength, she hurled the body away and heard the satisfying thump as the angel landed heavily on the ground. She was up in a spring and glanced around.

Light momentarily blinded her retinas but she slowly saw shapes forming out of the luminescence. Darker shadows marked the demons that had moments before flanked

Shamesh.

Coloured flashes exploded in front of her eyes as a warm agony lanced through her. Turning her head, she saw a knife protruding from her abdomen. Using the muscles in her head, she grasped the handle in her mouth and wrenched it out, watching in horror as black, thick blood bubbled from the deep wound. A red mist formed before her and she blindly thrashed around, unable to feel anything but a fierce throb of rage. Her tail connected with something solid before meeting air again.

Slowly the mist cleared and she saw an angel propped up against a fallen tree, a gold liquid trickling from its mouth. It began to move slowly and painfully, towards the man. Arloh didn’t stop the angel, she knew it was dying. The angel came to rest by the man who was by now shaking. With a single finger, the angel swiped it through the blood by its mouth and placed the golden liquid onto one of the puncture masks. Incredibly, the wound began to close over. The angel repeated the procedure on the other wound and it too closed with great speed. With a sigh, the angel collapsed and disbanded into thousands of little particles that went swirling into the air.

Arloh moved. She headed past the couples locked in combat and followed the road that she knew would lead her to town and past the school she once went to. People saw her and tried to run but she repeated the treatment she had given the man on them. Gradually, she noticed winged figures coming to rest gently beside the figures and brushing their hands over the bodies. They were supposed to die so she could prove that she was a real demon and not a human. Her jaw clenched and she launched herself at the nearest one. Her mouth connected with the angel’s throat and she could taste the sweet blood as it poured into her mouth. Carelessly she tossed the limp body aside, moving onto the next angel who was moving towards her.

She dealt with it in the same way but each time she killed an angel, two more appeared. Soon she was surrounded but she didn’t panic. Instead, she focused all of her energy and aggression into cutting their lives. It soon became an automatic action and when she finally came to, she saw she was surrounded by swirling particles of light.

Her body told her to keep moving until she found more angels. By now, she could see demons spilling out of the cracks in the ground and angels swirling in the turbulent skies ahead. They were meeting with roars and yells and thuds. None were directly attacking her an she wondered if a particular powerful angel was waiting in store for her. Surely the angels would know of her violence and power when they saw their fallen comrades.

It turned out she was right. As she veered around a corner, she found herself in an empty road that stretched into the distance, partially blocked by swirls of dark clouds that actually seemed to be sitting on top of the houses that lined the road. Slowly she moved forward, feeling something odd, something that felt terrifying yet familiar.

A figure stepped out of the fog ahead of her and in that moment, Arloh knew who it was that faced her.

“Gabriel,” she hissed to herself. “Gabriel!” she hollered, this time making sure he could hear her. “How good of you to sacrifice yourself to me!”

He took two steps forward and stopped, shouting a response. “I can see beauty in evil. I can hear purity in darkness. I know it’s you Alaura. Come back with me and I can end the blackness that eats your heart.”

Arloh felt her stomach tighten, maybe with anger, maybe with guilt. But she was a demon and killing Gabriel would sever the final connection to the human world. Her mind whirred. She had to find a way to trick him. Something that he would not expect from the girl he still clearly loved.

Gabriel edged closer, tentative. Arloh decided to turn back to the form that Gabriel was fighting for. That of Alaura, a girl from another lifetime. The sudden change altered Gabriel in his tracks and he could only stare. “Is this what you came for, boyfriend?” she taunted.

“You’ve changed Alaura,” he murmured, his eyes never leaving her face.

“Not Alaura. Arloh. Of course I’ve changed you stupid boy. I waited for you for months and you never came. The moment you choose to stage your heroic rescue is the moment I realise I hate you as a demon should hate an angel. I’ve spared you once because my human heart couldn’t face killing you. Now that’s changed.” As she spoke, she began to transform back into the body she would use to kill Gabriel.

“Alaura, you do not hate me. It’s the curse of the demon blood talking. Come on. We can end this chaos,” he gestured to the storm around them. “Heaven did not want me to come and save you. I defied them in choosing to come to you.”

Arloh faltered. Of all the things she had expected Gabriel to see, this was not one of them. “You were banished to save me?” she croaked in her foul demon voice.

“Yes because heaven was not important to me. You are.”

Arloh shifted uncomfortably. This was the second time she was mentally prepared to kill Gabriel but couldn’t. Speechless, she just stared at him. He took a step forward but as he did so a shape came flying out of nowhere and wrapped itself around Gabriel, slowly squeezing the life from him. Arloh gasped as she saw the hatred on Apophis’ face as he slowly crushed the angel to death. Already, Gabriel was turning blue and a tear snaked down his face.

It was the tear that undid Arloh and she launched forward, sinking her teeth into Arloh’s thick flank. Apophis reacted by uncurling himself and using his tail to propel Arloh backwards. She tumbled backwards, rolling and pounding into the pavement. Through blurred vision, Arloh saw Gabriel seize the chance and break free, a shining knife appearing in his hand. He slammed it into Apophis’ side and the snake collapsed. But he wasn’t dead. Arloh could see how fast he breathed. Suddenly, with crystal clarity, she foretold his next move.

“Gabriel!” she bellowed just in time. He responded quickly, leaping backwards as Apophis’ head rose and snapped at the air where Gabriel had been milliseconds before. Gabriel’s hand plunged the knife again into his enemies’ body. Flinching, Arloh watched as Apophis collapsed again. Nothing happened for a few moments and then Arloh was startled to see the serpent speeding towards her. In one powerful motion, Apophis’ caught her tail in his jaws and began hauling her away. Her head began to ring with words that he was chanting and Arloh froze as she realised what he was doing.

“Stop!” she screamed, thrashing from side to side. “I need to talk to Gabriel! I can make him stop this war without any more dying! Please!”

Her words fell on deaf ears. Apophis moved forward, rapidly gaining speed. Behind her she could see Gabriel sprinting after them, following the trail of sticky blood that was leaking from the demon that held her. One final struggle against Apophis and then she fell still.

Twisting her body, she saw the space between two trees start to ripple and then a world that was all too familiar to her began to form behind it. Demons began to push through the liquid gateway and began to converge on Gabriel. Arloh tried to scream in warning but her voice was trapped inside her. Her eyes filled with tears as she watched the black mob of insects and demons converge on the boy who had done so much for her. A single drop dribbled down her cheek, burning its way through her scales. Memories of him saving her from other angels, from Apophis, for protecting her, forced their way to the surface. Now she was unable to do the same for him. She realised that Shamesh and Apophis had been right, she was not a demon. Arloh had wanted Gabriel to die. Alaura needed Gabriel to live.

Her body momentarily went rigid as they crossed through the barrier but Apophis did not let go. Roughly, he dragged her over the ground, not caring whether she hit it or not. Twisting awkwardly, Arloh could see a building grow from nothing to some sort of huge church before her. Racing nearer, Arloh saw it was more of a castle made from black glossy jet and spiked towers on which gargoyles sat.

Inside it was dark, damp and in a state of decay. Finally Apophis let go of the terrified Arloh and returned to his human form. The moment his human legs returned, he veered sideways and Arloh saw a dark sticky patch of blood on his trousers. A similar stain was growing on his arm.

“Carashna!” He was screaming in desperation now. “You she – devil! Get out here!” At first, Arloh thought he was delirious with pain and loss of blood but as she watched, a huge shadow seemed to grow from the darkness. A high wail shattered the atmosphere and Arloh closed her eyes, blocking her ears against the inhuman, agonising cry.

Apophis’ hand, sticky with blood clamped down on her shoulder and she was hauled to her feet roughly and pitched forward. Slowly, she opened her eyes, fearing what she would see. Small beady eyes appeared inches away from hers and a long beak complete with many rows of razor sharp teeth gnashed at her face. Pungent decay emanated from the body and Arloh coughed in revulsion.

“I sense a ceremony is wanted Apophis. You finally found someone you can control.”

“Shut it you old crone and perform the ceremony. I have about a hundred angels coming for me. I am not going to let this one get away.” He turned his eyes to Arloh.

“It’s too late serpent. You’ve already lost me,” she snarled. “I am Alaura and Gabriel has saved me from you.” Alaura. The name sounded wonderful on her lips and her inside glowed despite a searing pain.

Instead of an answer, she was hauled meters into the air by a pair of talons and thrown onto a marble slab. Leather bonds were fastened around her wrists and ankles. A sacrificial lamb. A sacred bull. An Aztec sacrifice. Arloh screamed as loud as she possibly could before a gag was shoved into her mouth. It tasted of grease, dirt and filth.

“Shhh my beautiful one,” the disgusting voice crooned. “It will be over soon. Apophis, here’s the knife.”