Evenstar Read Free Page A

  Everything was going wrong.   He looked at Belial and guilt consumed him.  
    Paimon shouted in the background, his howls drowning out the sound nearby.   Helion covered his ears.   Everything felt like the war again, confusing, bloody, pure anarchy.   A low whine escaped his lips.   He looked to Whitney and whispered, “I am sorry.”   He ran for Belial.
    Andy tackled him.   “Where are you going?”
    “Belial!”
    Andy saw Belial over Helion’s shoulder.   His eyes took in her ruined legs and face, gouges running up and down her body.   Andy wanted to scream, to run to her, but he could not.   He tore his gaze away.   “She will heal on her own.   We need inside that net!”
    Helion reluctantly looked back at the dome.   “How?”
    Andy pulled Helion to his feet.   “You’re still an angel.   You’re not one of the Fallen.   You can get in.   Just get me in there too!”
    “But how?”
    Andy jumped on the guardian angel’s back and wrapped his legs around Helion’s waist.   “Fly!   Get me as close to Dahlia as you can!”
    Helion spread his wings, trusting Andy.   He leapt into the air.   He gained altitude and held on to Andy’s legs.   “Hang on please.”   He folded his wings and dropped like a rock.   The pair breached the net.   Andy screamed as the shield pushed at him, but Helion kept his grip firm and got them through.   The pair rammed into Michael.
    Helion latched on to Michael’s head.   The Archangel screamed in frustration and anger, the angel in the way of him and his goal of finally killing Lucifer.   Michael bucked.
    Helion’s vision shifted with each movement.   Through the shaking, he saw Whitney upright and mobile.   He managed a smile.   Pain like fire ripped through his stomach as Michael tore at him with his hands.  
    Helion drove his thumbs into Michael’s eyes.   He opened his wings to confuse the Archangel.   He pumped them, making Michael lose his footing.  
    Andy took his chance to jump.   He hit the ground and swept Dahlia into his arms in one motion.   He could no longer resist the pull of the net; he was thrown out of it and beyond Helion’s sight.  
    Lucifer watched Dahlia go.   A smile briefly passed his lips as she escaped to safety.   The smile turned to a grimace.   He doubled over in agony.   His spear wound burned and ate away at his flesh, though Dahlia’s healing had slowed the decay.   Whitney grabbed his arm and pulled him across the grass in painful jerks.   Lucifer fought the urge to howl.
    Helion tore at the pendant around Michael’s neck.  
    Michael caught hold of Helion’s broken wing and flipped him to the ground.   Helion felt the bones in his wing break, the pain barely registered.   Michael put a foot to Helion’s back and pressed him to the earth.  
    Helion shuddered; he knew what was to come.  
    Lucifer covered Whitney’s ears and made her look away.   He met Helion’s gaze.   “You will survive it.”
    Michael twisted and tore, ripping Helion’s left wing from his back.  
    Helion wailed.
    ***
    On the grass, Belial’s eyes shot open.   “No!   No !”   She crawled across the grass, her legs still down to the bone.   Her eyes fixed on her twin brother.   She reached out to the blurry figure beyond, his cries driving thoughts of her own pain aside.   “Helion, you’ll be okay!   Helion, it will be all right.   I’ll help you.”   She coughed up blood.   “ Helion !”   Weakness overcame her and she fell unconscious.
    ***
    Michael threw Helion’s wing in front of the angel’s face so that he could see the bloody and broken feathers.   Helion could not think or breathe.   There was only pain.   He heard Belial and fell to his side crying, reaching for the wing and sister he had lost.  
    Michael stomped on Helion’s hand, breaking his fingers.   “ She will be next, believe me.”  
    Helion cried in frustration.  
    Michael leaned down and grabbed Helion’s hair.