Between Heaven and Hell Read online

  “One angel threw stones at you. Ramael took you to the palace for your protection.”

  “That’s Michael’s story you’re telling me. Surely you can see through his lies.”

  Adryel felt so torn. If Michael was conspiring against Lucifer, then Ramael was too. Could it be true?

  She stepped toward him. “Why would Lord Michael want to harm you?”

  “To silence me.” He jutted his index finger into the air. “He knows that I—that we—speak the truth. It’s as I said this morning, Adonai’s plan is flawed. He doesn’t see it, the council doesn’t see it, and they have to be stopped. I had hoped that argument alone. . .”

  Adryel heard Ami giggling in the corner, but she worked to keep her gaze focused on Lord Lucifer.

  “. . .would carry the day, but it seems as if force will be required.”

  “But Lord Michael, he—”

  Lucifer held up a hand for her to stop. “He commands the conspiracy, and your pair is his lieutenant.”

  “Ramael would never—”

  “He commands the guards. He ordered them to drive my students from the square.”

  “I was there. Your students were throwing stones. Spectators were being injured.”

  “He ordered his guards to draw their swords.”

  “How else would they have stopped?”

  “One student died in the square. Others were injured. Two may never walk again. Defenseless young angels, targeted because they knew I speak the truth. Your pair ordered his guards to surround the Institute. You saw them. They plan to attack us, surely you know that. How many will be injured? How many will die then?”

  Shouts rang through the building. “Soldiers! Soldiers are advancing toward the school.”

  Lucifer dashed from the room. “Bar the gates. Man the walls.” His orders echoed through the hall.

  Adryel followed, her thoughts a jumble, warring voices in her head.

  It was all true. Lord Lucifer had been attacked. He had been dragged out of the square. The council had met without him. She had seen the injured students. She had seen the guards outside.

  But his supporters had thrown most of the rocks. . .Ramael had to protect those in the square. . .And Lucifer was taken for his own protection. . .The students had attacked the guards. . .It was a conspiracy. . .

  She held the sides of her head as though she could stop the contradicting thoughts from dashing around her mind, but it didn’t work.

  Ramael had warned her Lucifer would claim there to be a conspiracy.

  “So I would think him paranoid when he said it,” Adryel mumbled the words to herself.

  More shouts echoed through the halls. “Guards are advancing from the rear!”

  She scurried up to the parapet and looked over the wall. Reinforcements had arrived. Instead of the squad she had passed, several companies of soldiers in full battle armor filled the street.

  Ramael never questioned Lord Michael. . .He’d tried to pull her away from Lord Lucifer. . .He wanted her to stay away from the Institute today.

  But Ramael wanted to protect me. . .

  She spied him, dressed for battle, his golden armor glowing, even on this cloudy afternoon. He stood behind the first line, where the road began to climb the small hill, a position that gave him a clear view of everything on the wall and in front of the gate. She ducked so he would not spot her. Then she peered over the wall.

  Two students slowly approached the guards, walking toward the entrance. Adryel recognized them both. One was a power. His name was Handriel and he was in her logic class, probably her best student this term. The other was an angel, a second year. She had taught him the year before.

  A guard called for them to stop, and they hesitated. The guard stepped in front of them, barring their path. Adryel could see the students gesturing toward the school and the guard shaking his head. They appeared to be arguing.

  The guard pointed in the other direction, and the students turned, starting back the way they had come.

  A shout rang out from the wall. “Let them pass, pig!”

  As the guard turned his head to look, one of the students spun around, grabbed the guard’s shoulder, and pounded him in the face. Handriel bolted, pushed through the guards, and raced for the entrance. The first student snatched the guard’s sword from his hand and, waving it wildly, followed his friend, dashing for the gate.

  “Stop them,” Ramael’s voice boomed. “Stop them.”

  Several guards pursued the students and surrounded them. The student waved the sword above his head. It wobbled, too heavy for him to control, and he grasped it with both hands.

  Never even held one, before, Adryel thought.

  The student swung at the guard, but he stepped to the side, and the student hacked at the air, then the guard struck him across his back. He cried out as the guard’s sword cut into him, and he staggered as the back of his torn shirt quickly turned red. His weapon clattered to the ground as he swayed and then crumpled on the pavement.

  “No,” Handriel screamed.

  His sentiments were echoed by the students at the wall. “Murdering pigs,” they shouted. “Killers!”

  As they screamed insults, Handriel picked up his friend’s sword and plunged it into the guard’s chest. The guard gasped, teetered back, and fell to the ground.

  Adryel, shocked, held her breath as she watched the chaos continue.

  “One down,” someone on the wall shouted, and a loud cheer went up from the students.

  Handriel yanked the sword from the guard’s body and turned to challenge the others.

  “Don’t do it,” Adryel said to herself. “Drop the sword, Handriel. Drop it.”

  “Stop that angel.” It was Ramael’s voice again. “Second squad, advance.”

  Five soldiers surrounded Handriel, their swords drawn.

  “Kill them,” someone screamed. “Kill them all.”

  Handriel raised his weapon and dashed forward, directly at one of the guards. He swung his sword with both hands, missing as the guard stepped out of the way. He spun around and attacked again, but the guard parried his strike, deflecting the blow.

  The angel on the ground called out for help, and an aid worker rushed forward. The guard turned his head to look, and Handriel charged a third time.

  “Defend yourself,” Ramael shouted, but Handriel thrust his sword into the guard’s stomach. As the guard’s cloak turned red and he began to fall, he brought his weapon down across Handriel’s neck, severing his head from his body.

  Adryel screamed, covering her eyes, while a collective gasp from the students lining the wall was quickly lost in cries of outrage. She peered through her fingers at her student’s body as stones and broken bricks began to fly, most falling far short of their targets.

  Both students—her students—dead or dying. Frightened schoolboys against trained soldiers. Ramael had ordered it. In front of her very eyes. Without even attempting a peaceful approach.

  Lord Lucifer had been right. They were coming for him, for all of them. And Ramael, her pair, was leading the charge. Would he see her as part of the problem too? Would he order her decapitation as effortlessly as he had ordered that of a mere schoolboy?

  Tears stung her vision, but then her eyes narrowed as another thought occurred to her. How could she have been so blind? Ramael had laughed at Lord Lucifer, had criticized him, now he had come to take him away. Once Lord Lucifer had been silenced, they would all be at the mercy of the humans.

  It was all clear to her now. . .she could see him, right in front of her. . .Ramael sending his soldiers to kill defenseless children. An anger rose up in her unlike any she had ever known. She felt betrayed. Wondered if it was he who had changed or she who had never really known him at all.

  She needed no more proof. No more convincing. Her heart began to race. Adryel felt as though she were all alone in a dark tunnel. A pounding in her ears fused her own thoughts with the angry voices outside until she could not clearly discern betwee
n the two.

  She heard Ramael’s voice, faintly, as if he were far away, barking an order. He was no longer her pair. . .her love. . .her caring companion. . .he was a. . .a. . .

  “Killer!”

  The word was shouted aloud, though Adryel could not say if it had come from her or from the crowd below. It no longer seemed to matter as she bent to pick up a rock, her muscles quivering as she lifted the heavy piece of brick that had once lined the quad. Eyes shuttered tightly, she drew her arm back and heaved it across the wall, aiming blindly toward the soldiers.

  A cheer went up from the students.

  “Another one down!”

  She scooped up a larger rock now and looked over the wall, intending to aim this one, to make it count, just as one of her students shouted triumphantly, “It’s their commander. Adryel has killed their commander.”

  She gasped as she spied Ramael on the ground, blood gushing from a wound on the side of his head. A broken brick lay beside him. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as she processed the sight in front of her. What had she done?

  Shouts of praise rang out along the wall, but Adryel began to wail.

  “No! No, no, no.” She collapsed to the ground as the rock slipped from her fingers. Tears streamed down her face as the truth, suddenly set apart from the chaos around her, came crashing down on her. She buried her face in her hands. “What have I done? What have I done?”

  Lucifer had followed her onto the wall. He placed his hand on her shoulder, and she gazed up at him from behind her fingers.

  “What have you done? Why, you’ve killed him, dear girl. He’s dead.”

  Shaking her head, she covered her eyes again and began to rock back and forth. “No. Not Ramael. Not Ramael,” she moaned. “It can’t be. . .I’ve killed Ramael. I’ve killed my love.”

  “You had no choice, Adryel. You did the right thing,” Lucifer whispered in her ear. “You stood for the truth, for what is right.”

  She turned away from him, bent sideways, and retched as the excited voices from the street seemed to fade into the distance.

  “They’re pulling back.”

  “They’re retreating.”

  Adryel fought for her breath, but was losing the battle as her mind triggered another round of sobbing pleas. Not Ramael. Anyone but Ramael. . .please let it not be true. . .

  “We’ve won.” A cheer went up from the students. They leaped into the air, their arms raised in victory.

  “You did it, Adryel. You’re a hero,” one shouted. “Our hero.”

  The truth could not be denied any longer. She had done it. . .the cheering students had said so. Lucifer had said so. . .

  He slipped away as the students converged on Adryel, hugging her, praising her, lifting her to their shoulders, carrying her down the steps and into the quadrangle, she wrestled to escape, she needed to go to Ramael, maybe she could save him. . .but those in the quad rushed to join those who bore her down the stairs. She was powerless, surrounded, held tightly, and, in spite of her struggles and her cries, she could not loose herself.

  The students cheered and danced. Someone brought ale and they drank. Adryel cried, but no one seemed to notice. She struggled, wanting to dash through the gate to Ramael, but they would not allow her space enough to get away. They had her fenced in, oblivious to her sorrow, while they drank toasts to her, proclaiming hers to be a victory that would be recounted for centuries to come.

  Finally, she gave in to the numbness inside her, and, after almost an hour, the celebration wound down, allowing her to creep back onto the parapet. The guards had pulled back to their original position, and Dariel stood in the place of command. Ramael’s body was gone, but she could make out a bloodstain on the pavement near a piece of a broken brick.

  The one she had hurled in anger.

  ***

  A while later—though she couldn’t say how long—Lucifer arrived, a young angel at his side, and found Adryel, slumped against the wall of her office, sobbing. He knelt on the floor beside her and placed his hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

  “This is Mia.” He gestured to the angel beside him. “She was still in the city when Ramael was injured. She slipped through in the confusion that followed.” He turned to her. “Don’t be afraid, Mia. Tell Adryel what you saw.”

  Mia crouched beside Adryel. “I. . .I was behind the line of guards.” She looked to Lucifer, who nodded at her to continue. She took a deep breath and faced Adryel again. “Two of my friends wanted to pass, to reach the Institute, but they were turned back. They broke through the line, and Ramael ordered the guards to stop them. They killed one of them. We. . .” a tear ran down her cheek, “we were going to be paired.” She sniffed and wiped her eye.

  “Students began to stone the guards, and they pulled back from the wall. A brick came sailing over it then, and struck Ramael on the head. He collapsed. I don’t know who could have thrown a heavy brick that distance, but. . .”

  She swallowed hard, took another breath. “The guards all gasped, and I. . .I cheered. I’m sorry.” She squeezed Adryel’s arm. “I didn’t know.”

  She sat back on her folded legs, shaking her head. “They carried him away, around the corner—in the confusion, I managed to sneak through. They laid him in the street, and one of them knelt down and tried to stop the blood. Then, Lord Michael came striding toward the Institute, a company of soldiers behind him. He stopped when he saw Ramael. He had a little smile on his face.”

  “A smile?”

  Mia nodded. “He ordered the others to take up their positions. ‘I’ll take care of him,’ he said. He bent over Ramael, then he looked up.” She met Adryel’s gaze. “He said it was a waste of time. They threw Ramael in the gutter. He was moaning, begging, ‘Help me, Lord Michael, help me. . .’ But Lord Michael shook his head and walked away. He was whistling as he strolled back toward the palace. After a moment, Ramael stopped calling. He stopped moving. I crossed the street, and I felt his wrist. . .He was dead.”

  “Lord Michael was his friend.” Adryel shook her head in disbelief. “Ramael was in pain, and Lord Michael discarded him?” The image was more than she could bear, and she began to sob again.

  “Where were you, Mia?” Lucifer asked softly.

  “Across the street, Lord Lucifer, hiding in a doorway. . .I saw it all.”

  “Michael loved Ramael.” Adryel looked up through her tears. “Why would he leave him to die in the—”

  “Jealousy.” Lucifer cut in. “We all knew Ramael was brighter than Michael. He was the one who developed all of their plans. Ramael always gave him credit, but they were Ramael’s ideas. Michael’s only advantage is that he is an archangel. He knew it was only a matter of time before Ramael replaced him.”

  ***

  Lucifer and Mia walked through the hallway toward his office. As they reached the stairs leading to the quad Lucifer placed his hand on her shoulder.

  “Thank you for telling her what happened and—”

  “I told her that her pair was dead, and I blamed Lord Michael as you asked.”

  “Was it not Lord Michael’s fault?”

  “I did not see Lord Michael. Dariel was walking away as I sneaked around the corner, and I had thought, perhaps, he had pushed Ramael into the gutter.”

  “Dariel might profit from Ramael’s death, a promotion, perhaps, but it doesn’t matter.” Lucifer shrugged “Dariel follows Michael’s orders.”

  “What will happen if she discovers he is alive?”

  “Is he alive? Was he moving, was he breathing when you last saw him? Was he calling for aid?”

  “No, Lord Lucifer.”

  “So, in all likelihood, he was dead. If he survived, you will say you had been certain he was dead. You can be happy you were mistaken. . .She will still hate Michael.”

  An hour later, everyone, except for a few who stayed at watch on the wall, assembled in the quadrangle. Lucifer stood on the steps leading to the Commons. He had insisted that Adryel stand beside him. />
  Ami glared at her as she joined them on the steps. “Fluke,” she growled.

  Lucifer held up his hand for silence. He began by again describing the Plan of Creation and its flaws, the assembly murmuring agreement with each point he made. He then told about the conspiracy against him, against them, against the truth.

  “And you have seen it with your own eyes. Two of your fellow students cut down at the gate. Innocents. Their lives stomped out in a show of force and a threat of violence.”

  “Kill the guards.”

  “Attack the palace.”

  Again, Lucifer appealed for quiet.

  “These deaths have not gone unanswered. They, too, have felt the sting of loss. Ramael, one of the chief conspirators was brought down by a stone and died in the street. You saw it. You witnessed it.”

  Cheers rang across the quad, and Adryel felt the tears spill over onto her cheeks.

  “The stone was hurled by one of our own—Adryel.” He placed his hand on her shoulder. “An act of great courage. An act of great loyalty.” His voice dropped. “Ramael was her pair.”

  The assembly fell silent.

  “She did her duty. She put her devotion to the truth before all else. She is a hero.” He paused. “So she is. So should we all be.”

  ***

  “A hero?” Ami threw herself into a chair, a disgusted expression on her face. “It was a lucky throw. I saw her toss that brick over the wall. She wasn’t even looking at what she was doing.”

  The assembly had ended and she, Beliel, and Maliel were in Lucifer’s office, waiting for him.

  “Is he really dead?”

  Beliel shrugged. “I don’t know. Doesn’t matter. We needed something dramatic to rally the troops and to hold them together for a couple of days. Even if it was an accident, even if he’s alive, it’ll serve the purpose.”

  “I am told Ramael has died. The reporter is credible, and I have no reason to doubt her.” Lucifer had been standing at the door, listening. Now, he strode into the room. “But Beliel is correct. It doesn’t matter. Adryel has credibility with the students now. I can leave her in command when we depart.”