Chapter 19 — It’s time

Lana:

I scream in my head as Apolliana raises her hand and pushes power into Michael and Rafael. Both males fly back as if struck and slide across the floor.

Lucifer grips me tightly, but I let my power cover him until his hold begins to loosen. Unfortunately, Apolliana uses his affection for me to her advantage because I know that he’s holding back from hurting us. His eyes glow fiery as he tries to fight me without doing me any harm, but Apolliana is too powerful. As Lucifer begins to lose consciousness, I conclude that Apolliana has finally gained full control of my being.

I almost vomit when she reaches for her weapon and aims it at Lucifer’s neck.

Before I can do anything, Michael rushes forward and intercepts my strike.

A feeling comes over me as I look off in the distance and feel my sisters call me.

Stepping back, I give Michael a venomous look and flash out of the room.

It doesn’t take me long to get to where the call is coming from. Jaw tight, I materialize deep into the bowels of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City. Humans believe that this is where Jesus’s tomb is. Though Jesus is indeed a fictional character, the place is a temple. The Creator created the temple to hold the seals of the horsemen. It’s the epicenter for the rise of Abaddon.

The temple looks like an old Egyptian tomb with its earthy, stone interior and archaic wall paintings with old, faded writings. Unfortunately, the language written on the walls no longer exists. Only the most ancient beings would be able to interpret what they say.

As I move through the vast cavern, hanging torches light up until I stop in front of one of the walls. I slide my hand across the faded words until my fingers stop over a round opening. To anyone else, the opening would look like another chip on the stone, but to me, it’s the space where I would insert the key to a secret compartment on the wall.

Lifting my hand, I release my claws and puncture my index finger. A small drop of blood pools from the cut, spilling down my finger. As soon as my finger touches the opening, all of my reservations disappear. Power settles inside of me and pulls me close until Apolliana’s identity and mine are standing side by side. For a moment, we remain separate until the power begins to stitch us together. It’s not a painful experience. In fact, the tighter the power draws us to each other, the better I feel. It’s like parts of me that I didn’t know were missing are now where they should be.

Apolliana’s mind merges with mine, expelling the madness and any human weakness I hold until I’m who I was always meant to be. I’m no longer bogged down by empathy or love. All I feel is a sense of purpose as I take a satisfying breath and prepare to end all living creatures. This is what I was created to do. I am the destroyer, and I will fulfill my legacy.

Vitality courses through my vanes until I’m the being of destruction that I was meant to be. My lip quirks with arrogance as I open the compartment and pull out an old scroll.

As carefully as I can, I unroll the scroll and recite the ancient scripture. As soon as I do, a buzzing sound fills my ears. Locusts explode across the room, darkness covers the land, and the earth begins to burn.

The ground shakes and shudders until it’s cracking open and clouds of power erupt around me, submerging me inside slick, white armor that sticks to my body like liquid silver.

Stepping forward, I hold my hands above the horsemen’s seals and channel my power into it until they each break apart. Power bursts forth from each seal until it sails off and searches for its masters.

As soon as the power clears, my sisters appear before me. Each one is wearing angelic armor that is similar to mine. The armor covers them from head to toe. Their helmets have angelic wings molded on the sides and half-masks shaped like a dove's face. The only thing you can see is their glowing eyes and the bottom half of their faces. However, I don’t need to see their faces to know what their human exteriors look like. I know that War has honey-colored eyes, Death has scarlet-colored hair, and Pestilence’s eyes are two different colors.

Each woman steps forward with their dove-colored wings extended and flaming swords held tightly between their fists. War’s eyes, armor and sword, are the color of crimson. Deaths are black, and Pestilence’s glow neon green.

I smile at each woman. “War, Death, Pestilence. It has been a long time.”

They each give me a respectful bow keeping their swords at their sides. War steps forward and looks me over, “Estamos aqui para tu servicio, hermana.” We are here at your service, sister.

I give them an approving nod as I step forward and pace in front of them. “Before we begin, there are several obstacles we need to eliminate—our mates being one of them.”

Pestilence sneers with disgust, “Why should we waste our time on them? They are nothing of importance.”

My lip curls with derision. “Because they are trying to find a way to circumvent our plans, and we have to make sure that is not possible.”

“I agree. I think we need to rid ourselves of our ties.”

My lip quirks, “I know exactly where to begin,”

At my words, each woman grins slyly.

“Follow me,” I mutter before I snap my fingers and transport myself to another place. As I apparate into the room, I slip out of my armor and into my human attire.

I look at my quarry and smile as my sisters, and I emerge from the shadows of the large house.

Bree is sitting on the living room couch, a wine glass in her hand as she scrolls through her cell phone. I look around, gratified to find that Fallon is not there. I’m sure he went to Lucifer’s defense as soon as he discovered what occurred. Stepping forward, I watch my sisters approach the couch and surround it, caging Bree in. Bree is oblivious of our presence until I’m literally standing before her.

Her head snaps up, and her body goes on alert for a moment as she sees me standing there. After a moment, she melts back in her seat and places her hand against her chest, “Jesus, Lana, you scared the shit out of me.”

I smile as I come closer, making her stiffen with alarm when she finally notices that I’m not exactly the Lana she knows. Her body trembles, and her curls shift as she notices the other women in the room. “What the hell is going on, Lana?” she mumbles breathlessly as she searches for somewhere to run.

“Hello, sister,” I mumble as we step closer.

Bree looks around, her eyes growing wild and her heart beating fast. “Seriously, Lana, what the fuck are you doing and who are these women?”

I wave my hand toward each woman, “These… are my sisters. Let me introduce you to Death, War and Pestilence.”

My sisters’ eyes glow with malice as they circle Bree like sharks circling their prey.

Bree’s chest heaves as she looks into my eyes, “Please don’t do this, Lana. You’re my sister, and I love—”

I grip her throat tightly, interrupting her words. Bree chokes and clings to my wrist as I raise her to her toes. Her phone falls from her hand with a thud as I pull her to me and whisper a chant. Within seconds her body stops failing, and she slumps to the floor. I hover my hand over her prone form and encase her inside of it. “She will be the first to die as soon as we open the final seal,” I tell my sisters, “For now, we’ll transport her to the Holy Sepulchre.”

Pestilence scowls down at Bree’s unconscious form, “We still need the blood to open the final seal and bring forth all destruction.”

I nod, “That is our next stop. Just make sure they do not suspect our motives.”

They nod as they prepare to fight.

It’s time for our mates to reap what they sowed.