Tim Marquitz - At The Gates

That sounded positive.

“As it is, the Tree of Life struggles to maintain its integrity. The insertion of additional forces into the Garden may well be the tipping point that sounds its knell.”

Hey look, another challenge. Never enough of those in my life. I sunk deeper into my chair, rubbing at my temples. “Will the storms worsen?”

He shook his head. “They will end with the Tree’s death.” He paused and I could imagine the guillotine slicing down. “However-” Kchunk! “-the ruin of Earth is the least of our concerns. Should the Tree of Life fall, the children of Heaven and Hell will suffer for its destruction.” A slow, deep sigh oozed from him. “We will all become mortal.”

It took a second for his words to sink in, my mind unwilling to register their meaning. Thoughts tumbled from my mouth, in no particular order, and I took a second to string them into a coherent sentence. “We’d be human?”

“Not quite, though certainly close enough that the difference would be negligible. We would fall sick and age, become infirm and die as all mortals must. Though we’d retain our magic, it would be limited by the frailty of our bodies, its use a grindstone upon our remaining years. Given the aggressive nature of our kind, we would likely soon become extinct.”

My stomach churned as I thought about that, my head spinning like I’d been on a three-day binge. While I didn’t have a whole bunch of power to give up, my magic humble and only recently acquired, I had gotten damn used to the idea of living a long, sexually-unfulfilled life. As rarely as I got laid, another eighty years just wasn’t gonna cut it. That’d be like three more times.

“So now, all I have to do is figure out a way to end the war in Heaven in order to stop the storms from devastating Earth while at the same time, I have to keep the Tree of Life from dying or we become mortal.” I sank further into my chair, my brain threatening to commit suicide by leaping from my eyes. “Maybe I missed the memo, but I don’t remember being promoted to the savior of the universe. I sure as Hell didn’t get the pay raise or the sexy spandex outfit.” In it just as deep as me, I looked to Longinus, hoping he’d throw me a bone; one that didn’t require me to get on my knees. “You’re willing to bet your immortality on me succeeding?”

He smiled and shrugged. “I am not the man I was once, Triggaltheron. The cold embrace of Death has sobered my perspective. While I do not relish the loss of my strength, I believe I can find peace growing old with my daughter.” He turned to her, his smile beaming off his face.

Karra hugged him quick and mussed his long beard playfully.

The sweetness of it almost made me gag. I hid the look of disgust as they turned back around, cheese plastered all over my face.

Though I couldn’t fathom the changes that had turned Longinus from conquering lion to sedate lamb, I had to respect his decision, even if I didn’t like it.

After he’d given me the location of Adam’s grave, I thanked him and prepared the gate for their departure. Longinus ushered Karra toward the backroom, his hulkish form blocking her from sight once more. It was just one more disappointment piled on top of an altogether shitty day.

I sighed as she pulled open the door and motioned her father inside, her eyes catching mine with a sideways glance.

“Go on ahead, I want to talk to Frankie for a minute,” she told him.

My heart stuttered at her words. We had a lot of history, the most recent not so great. No matter where the conversation went, it would be awkward.

Longinus narrowed his eyes and looked back and forth between us a couple of times, then gave an amused chuckle.

“Good luck in your quest, Triggaltheron. I suppose we’ll know soon enough if you succeed.” He bowed shallow, and then went to the portal.

Power flickered in the room as the gate amped up and whisked him away, though I can’t say I actually saw him go. Uncomfortable about checking out Karra while her father was around-the threat of horrific death a surprisingly effective deterrent-I took full advantage of her watching him leave, her back turned to me.

Dressed in a pair of blue jeans that took form-fitting to new depths, and my imagination with it, I admired her shape in the fluttering light of the portal. Oh, what I would have done for a jar of Vaseline and a Slip N’ Slide.

Her pink T-shirt fit snug, the toned muscles of her back defined by its tightness. Her wild blond hair, the tips dyed black, ended just above the gentle curve of her neck. The pale flesh called to me and before I knew it, I had taken several unconscious steps toward her.

Longinus gone, she spun around and I shut my mouth quick, covering it with my hand to hide any drool that might have run amok. She smiled and took my other hand, leading me back to the living room. There, she pushed me down onto the couch and dropped beside me. Our thighs pressed together, mine tingled at the contact. The subtle scent of her perfume entrenched itself inside my nose and I found it hard to concentrate. I found a lot of things hard right then.

“I’m sorry we haven’t had a chance to talk since…you know, but it’s been hectic catching my father up and getting him settled. Now’s probably not a good time either, but I wanted to speak with you before you ran off, just in case…”

Even though she’d let the last part hang, the words flowed over me like a gentle breeze. Like a politician in an off-election year, I didn’t hear a single one of them. My peripheral vision combat-honed, I stared into her hazel eyes, but all I could see was the glory of her ample chest. It was a pleasure in pink.

“Yeah…busy…uh huh.”

She just laughed at me and leaned back in the couch to look over at Chatterbox. “I see you’ve kept the old boy. How you two getting along?”

“ Maaaassssstttterrrrrrrrr,” he mumbled in an airy voice, once more doing his best to bow.

My eyes suddenly focused, I looked to Chatterbox then back to Karra, the door of realization slamming into place. I’d never really thought about how Karra had managed to manipulate me in her quest to resurrect her father. She’d always been a step ahead, but there it was right in front of me; Chatterbox.

We’d chased the clues Michael had picked from his undead brain, ultimately finding the trap by following his directions. They’d all been programmed in from the start. The sudden sense of it all settled over me. I sat back and whistled low.

“You dropped Chatterbox into the grave with me on purpose.” I’d presumed Reven had set up the resurrection spell and Karra had simply triggered it by dousing Longinus in Lilith’s blood, but it never occurred to me that it was Karra’s spell to begin with. “You’re a necromancer.” It explained why Chatterbox was still animate, having survived Reven’s death.

She gave a half-nod-shrug as an easy smile graced her lips. “A useful profession when you’re trying to bring your father back to life, don’t you think?”

Couldn’t argue with the logic, but necromancy wasn’t an easy skill to master. It took a lifetime to become powerful enough to raise someone like the Anti-Christ. Things started to make sense. “Is that why you disappeared, to learn how to bring him back?”

She nodded. “Among other reasons. While he never said anything, I couldn’t imagine your uncle letting me stay close to you in Hell, after what he’d done to my father. I was scared and angry, and I wanted Lucifer to pay. At the same time, I was worried he’d sense that and come after me, maybe even hurt you in the process. There was no way I could have lived with that.” She loosed a quiet sigh, her thigh pressing harder against mine. “I fled Hell and took up with Reven to learn necromancy, but I never wanted to leave you behind.”