Page 14

14

DIANA

M y nightmares weren’t fictional—they were reels of today’s battle, played on a loop in grotesque details. They struck me like physical blows.

Fighting beside Lucifer, planting the bombs all over the compound. Ares flying on my back as we mowed down enemy soldiers. My flames engulfed their targets, leaving nothing but ashes and charred remains. Me ripping vampires’ throats out. Angie’s neck getting sliced open. Judas sinking his teeth into her throat, drinking her blood. Bain’s emotionless violet eyes trailing something unseen as it floated away from them…

My mind was trapped in a living nightmare that wouldn’t stop. I tried to wake up, banging on my consciousness to take over and pull me out of sleep….but some force kept me here. The imagery got worse the harder I tried to fight. Painful flashbacks of the past assaulted me, opening old wounds and bringing long forgotten pain to the surface.

Angie’s lifeless body. Running through the woods in New York to get away from my men. Azazel being shot out of the air. His wing tearing. Mal killing me. Stabbing Desmond when he attacked me. Desmond trying to choke me after he came back to life. Leaving the guys with Mal.

The pain became too much to bear, and I silently pleaded to the universe to make it stop. Suddenly, my psyche went dark. Black nothingness blanketed everything as a quiet, steady voice in the back of my mind took root. The voice wasn’t male or female. It didn’t sound old or young. Or familiar in any way. It echoed from every corner of my psyche, so loud yet barely a whisper. The voice’s words rattled me to my core, holding a truth I couldn’t deny.

Many will battle, but two will fight

Both are dark, and neither is light

Righteousness doesn’t always prevail

Sometimes in victory we fail

Wickedness is within us all

Sometimes the mighty must take the fall

My body felt as if it was hurtling through space and time. Images of all the people in my life flashed before my eyes, and I wondered if this was even a dream anymore. Nothing about this felt remotely like a dream, or a nightmare.

I appeared in a barren wasteland. This couldn’t have been earth. The sky was various shades of red and orange, and there was no sun. The light just…existed. There were no trees or grass. No animals or houses, or scenery. The ground resembled clay, with deep, dry cracks. It was also littered with corpses and painted in blood.

This wasn’t a wasteland…it was a battlefield.

I walked through the carnage at my feet. Some of the bodies were stabbed, lying in pools of their own blood. Others were torn apart, missing heads. Some were mauled so badly I couldn’t even tell what kind of paranormal being they were. No one was alive. The vacant eyes of both side’s soldiers stared at me as if they could see through me, to my very soul.

As if they knew I was the reason they lost their lives.

A figure stood in the distance, wearing a red robe. As I got closer, I saw Red’s haggard face. His olive skin was waxy and dull, the dark circles under his eyes almost black. I was taken aback by his gaunt face and sunken in eyes. He was no longer the silver fox from the club. Or even the demon who revealed himself in JFK Airport. He was…hollow looking.

Hollow but not weak. I felt his magic radiating off him like electricity crackling in the air. His anger was a simmering pot, coming to a boil so it could burn me. Something felt off. I shouldn’t be here. The feeling intensified with each step I took toward him. I tried to slow down. To stop and turn around. But that same force that kept me in my nightmare pushed me forward until we stood feet apart from one another.

“So you’ve come…” he trailed off. “Was all this death worth the fallacy of putting your father on the throne?”

I tried to answer him, but my own thoughts didn’t come out. It was as if my words were pre recorded. Like I was watching a television show.

“We settle this now, Red. You and I,” I growled with an intensity I didn’t know I had. “Enjoy your last breaths.”

“When I defeat you, you’ll wish for death. You’ll pray for an ending to your eternal suffering, but that end will never come. Death is too easy a punishment for a want-to-be usurper. For a foolish girl who followed her father’s ego. But I can’t say the same about your men.”

White hot anger rose inside me, but no words left my lips. How dare he threaten my men. How dare he even speak of them.

I’m doing this for them, my own voice rang through my psyche.

What did that mean? What was I doing for them?

Red threw a bolt of magic at me. When it hit my chest, the entire scene faded out, leaving me in darkness again. The voice from earlier echoed through my mind again, as ominous and mysterious as before.

The time is coming, Diana.

I heard a crack, and pain shot through my abdomen as I hit a hard floor. All the air left me gasping, barely able to breathe. Intrusive thoughts drowned me, pushing me into the tide of my mounting anxiety. Darkness surrounded me, and I wasn’t sure if I was alive or dead.

Is Red coming after me? Did any of that actually happen?! Why was I alone in battle?

“Honey, wake up,” a smooth voice ordered me as large hands gently shook me. Turning my head, I opened my eyes and saw the feet of my empty bed in front of me. Five faces rushed my field of vision, talking over each other in complete chaos.

“Diana, are you okay?” Azazel passed his hands up and down my limbs, then lifted my shirt. “She has a healing wound, most likely from a blunt force magical strike. Why is there blood on her feet?”

One of them helped me sit up, and my mouth dropped at the bright red blood staining my bare feet… With shaking hands, I lifted my shirt and saw the wound he referred to. It was almost healed, but why was it there to begin with?

“Who’s blood is that? What the fuck is going on?” Desmond growled as he checked out what was now just a burn mark.

“How did you kick me out of your psyche? One moment, I was there and the next, I was literally thrown out,” Bash explained to all of us.

“She was in bed, and then she was gone. Maybe you were forced out when she traveled?”

“Why did you go somewhere without me? You promised me you’d only time hop with me,” Ares asked, hurt lacing his question. “Why are you so cold?”

“Guys, put a sweatshirt on her, then lay her in bed. I called a healer. Her fathers are on their way,” Zaz’s concerned voice stated as they carried me to bed.

I was barely in bed for a minute before Michael, Lucifer, Mom, and Quelier barged into the room.

“What happened?” Michael sat on the edge of the bed, immediately putting his hand to my forehead. He seemed to look better, if not a little tired. His color came back to his face, and his eyes were their usual ice blue again. “You’re pale and your skin is freezing…”

Lucifer stood by the edge with Mom, holding her tightly as she sniffled. Quelier and Bash whispered to each other near the door, and my PA’s eyebrows met his hairline. Something wasn’t right.

“I…I’m not sure exactly what happened.” I was unsure of how to describe the situation. “I thought it was a nightmare—at least it started as one—but then it felt as if I was stepping into the future?”

I continued to explain what happened with as much detail as I could. They all listened intently, and there was a momentary pause as they all took the information in.

“So you said you felt your body physically moving to the battlefield?” Quelier asked. Even at this ungodly hour, he was dressed professionally in slacks and a button up shirt, with a pair of horn rimmed glasses.

“Yes…”

“Which would explain why you suddenly disappeared,” Mal continued. “I felt you kicking and mumbling something, then I woke up and you vanished before my eyes.

“The only time I’ve ever seen you disappear like that is when you time travel,” Ares jumped in. “Remember, in New York? You just went poof from the bathtub and left us all.” The concern in his voice was mirrored on everyone’s face.

“So you traveled forward in time,” Desmond said in a foreboding tone.

“Obviously not on purpose,” Lucifer jumped in.

“The disembodied voice sounded an awful lot like a prophecy or a vision,” Azazel jumped in before Desmond could respond. “You didn’t come back with an injury, but sometimes visions can be so strong, they can leave physical imprints. You’ve been channeling other people’s powers, and it’s very possible you channeled mine.”

The cryptic expression on his face left me with more questions than answers. I had the feeling he knew more than he was letting on.

“With Judas and Bain, I touched their hands to channel their powers.”

“And maybe now you don’t have to be in physical proximity to the host. Your powers grow stronger every day, Diana. Azazel was in the bedroom next door to yours, and I heard him gasp right before Mal ran in screaming at us you were missing.” Somehow Desmond’s tone became even graver. “This is why I’m so adamant about your training. You aren’t controlling your magic.”

“Okay shadow man. I highly doubt you have complete control over those things,” I barbed him. The shadows in question slithered their way down his legs, inching toward my bed. He promptly waved his hand, and they dissipated.

Desmond’s throwing stones in glass houses. It’s getting on my nerves, Lucifer linked me.

Yeah Dad, join the club .

“I think we can stand here all day and debate what happened, but is anyone else concerned about the fact that Diana met Red on her own ? No one on the battlefield was alive, and out of the five of you—” she gestured to my men, “None of you were there to help her!” Mom shouted, her eyes wet with unshed tears.

Michael got off the bed, wrapping his arms around her from behind. “Don’t worry, beautiful. Whatever it was, it will never come to pass. Diana would never put herself in a situation like that, and her men will always be with her,” he comforted her as he gave me a stern look.

The future isn’t set in stone, Di. We’ll do everything in our power to make sure that never comes to pass, he linked me.

I wanted his words to be true so badly…but I had a feeling what I saw was inevitable. It would come to pass, the question was, when? My stomach sank as the realization set in…Azazel’s prophecy was true, I would be the one to face Red in the end.

Dr. Greene walked in, her light blond hair gleaming in the room’s soft lighting. “All the boyfriends can leave except Azazel. It's too crowded in here.”

All four of them left with varying degrees of sullen faces. Right now, I really appreciated her no-nonsense tone. Being in a relationship with five other people was a whirlwind of emotions. Sometimes they ate me up, and it was easier to calm down alone. Azazel gave her a basic rundown of what happened, minus some key details about who gave me the wound.

We still hadn’t caught the rat, and no one outside of our inner circle was beyond suspicion.

“Aside from a scar, you’ll be okay,” she told me. “I want you to get some rest.”

“Preferably without your penis parade crowding you,” Lucifer spat.

“THAT WON’T HAPPEN!” I heard Ares yell on the other side of the door.

Sigh. He’ll be glued to me for weeks now, guarding me like a hawk.

Zaz’s bright, fresh magic flowed through the room. I felt him cast a silencing spell to ward out sound, and a change in the wards that cloaked the room.

“Can you fade out, Dr. Greene?” he asked. She nodded, promptly leaving before he reverted the wards back.

“Diana, the voice you heard…what did it sound like? You didn’t give much detail on it,” Michael asked. He and Zaz shared a meaningful look, and I wish I knew what they were saying to each other through their mindlink.

“I can’t describe it, sort of like every voice, but no voice I had heard previously? It didn’t have a distinct gender or accent that made it stand out.” I hated giving him half answers, but it was the best I could do.

“You don’t think…” Lucifer cut himself off. The three of them stared at each other, and my mom had had it with the cloak and dagger shit.

“Do you mind sharing aloud, so all of us may hear your thoughts?” she snapped.

“I’m sorry Marilyn, I will soon. Can I touch your hand and try to see your vision for myself, Honey?”

I nodded, and Zaz scooted toward me so he sat right next to me. He gripped my hand, and within seconds his eyes were a milky white. When he came to, his face had that unreadable expression again. I hated it, because it gave me the unwanted feeling that he was hiding something from me.

He promised he wouldn’t lie to me anymore…

“I didn’t see it, but I did see a flashback of you and Marilyn at the beach.” He smiled at me. “Tomorrow I can ask Ares to broadcast it with you”.

“I think it’s time you rested, Di,” Michael said. “We can talk more in the morning.”

Everyone said their goodbyes, leaving me and Zaz behind. The guys came back in, and they set up a rotating guard schedule. I didn’t have the heart to tell them they couldn’t stop my body from spontaneously timehopping. That was on me.

“Zaz, do you want the first shift?” I asked him in an effort to pry more information out of him.

“The fuck he is. I want the first shift,” Ares growled. He climbed into the bed, pulling my body to his and holding me tight, as if it was enough to keep me here.

“I’ll take the next one,” he offered as Ares scowled at him.

We had so much to do tomorrow, including holding an army-wide meeting to welcome them to Pit-13. Everyone promptly went to their own rooms to tuck in for bed. Despite my best efforts, my brain wouldn’t power down. I kept thinking of what I saw. The blood soaked battlefield…the corpses of my soldiers…the glaring absence of my men. My stomach soured at the millions of potential reasons they may not have been with me, each one bad enough to leave a bad taste in my mouth.

What I saw may have been a vision or a prophecy, but it felt like an omen of what was to come.

The only thought that allowed me enough peace of mind to go to sleep was that the future could always change. And I’d make sure this version never came to pass.

I’d do anything to keep my men safe.