Eve Langlais: Hybrid Misfit

Gene held his breath as he waited for the response. By throwing her support behind them, Mab had effectively silenced those who would have sat on the sidelines. Her words challenged them and also made it clear that those who abstained would not be kindly regarded.

His sigh of relief was washed away by the voices that rang out promising their support. Simon slapped Gene on the back and Gene almost fell over with his friend’s enthusiasm.

Gene knew he should be happier, but he couldn’t dispel a sense of unease. He longed to escape this tedious back and forth game the rulers played and check on Beth. She’s fine and I’m turning into Simon, worrying about her safety all the time. Besides, if she needed me, she’d make a wish.

But no matter his reassurance to himself, he couldn’t stop the niggling doubt, and judging by Simon’s faraway expression, he wasn’t alone.

But politics forced him away from his unease.

I landed in Limbo on my knees, dry heaving and spitting. Not exactly an elegant way to arrive.

“And this is the abomination who is supposed to change Heaven and Hell?” said a guttural voice. The question was followed by a kick in my ribs. The force of the blow threw me back, and I lay on the dusty ground sucking in air.

A musical voice, that would have sounded beautiful if not for the condescension in its tone, replied “Yes, it’s hard to believe this human born creature has the power to destroy the status quo.”

Their insults really annoyed me. Wasn’t it enough I’d bravely decided to trade myself for my friends, did they have to degrade me, too? I sprang to my feet as anger fired up my adrenaline. I found myself facing the epitomes of good and evil. On the left, there was a huge black demon, replete with horns, coal red eyes and a general nasty demeanor. On the right was perfection itself in the form of a male angel with curly blond ringlets, eyes of a summer blue sky dressed in a white gown; the purity of which matched that of the angel’s outspread wings. What a shame the pretty exterior didn’t extend to its interior.

It baffled me that a creature thought to be good could be involved in something so evil, but as my father once told me, good and evil were all in the perception of the perpetrator. I hadn’t understand what he’d tried to explain at the time, but the wisdom he’d imparted made sense later when I met the doctors who experimented on me. They too thought they worked for the good of man. I disagreed.

But questions of right and wrong would have to wait. I had a more important mission. “Where are my friends?” I asked boldly.

The two beings stepped aside and I saw my friends, tied to stakes with gags stuffed in their mouths. Claire with a cut on her temple stared at me with eyes round with fright, her cheeks marked with tears. Lana, her face battered, looked fierce and I knew, if she could free herself, she’d say to hell with giving up. She’d fight to the death.

My heart squeezed tight. “I came as you asked. Now let them go.”

Then came the answer I’d expected. “Why would we do that?” replied the demon. “Once you’re dead, I look forward to taking the feisty one back to Hell with me. While Gabriel here has shown an interest in the little bunny.”

“That wasn’t the deal.” My fury bubbled inside of me. Had it just been me against the demon and angel, I was pretty sure I’d prevail, but behind my friends I could see the demonic horde on one side and the angelic detachment on the other. Hot damn, just what is it they’re afraid I can do? That’s some serious backup considering they’re just going up against one hybrid misfit.

I wanted to know why they feared me. And then I wanted to make it come true. I’d had plenty of time to ponder the words of the prophecy and I had a theory, one that didn’t fully form until I found myself in Limbo again. All around me, the greyness called to me, it sent tingles throughout me and I could almost hear it whisper-/blood/. A plan unfolded in my mind-the odds of it succeeding were pretty slim and relied on several unknowns, but the consequences of doing nothing loomed over me even worse.

The demon laughed. “And who are you going to tell? You came here alone, you stupid Nephilim.”

“I am not a Nephilim,” I stated. I pushed my wings out with a shower of grey feathers and straightened my spine. The angel Gabriel’s eyes widened. I tilted my chin stubbornly. “I am a Hybrid Misfit, and I am done taking shit from either one of you. If you won’t free my friends, then I guess I’ll do it myself.”

I launched myself in the air before they could grab me and with a rapid flap of my wings, hurtled towards my friends. I yanked the dagger I’d hidden on my person when I’d arrived under the guise of puking and sliced at the bonds that held my friends.

I’d no sooner pulled Claire’s gag free than she shouted, “Behind you!”

I ducked without looking and swept my feet in a semicircle. I snagged the black demon who staggered, revealing the angel with a gleaming sword behind him. I rolled on the dusty ground vaguely noticing a rumble. I hopped up to my feet and sprinted away from my friends in the hopes of luring my foes after me. It worked, kind of. While Gabriel and his demon friend stalked me with furious eyes, I could see their respective armies advancing on my friends.

I wanted to scream in frustration. But I hadn’t given my friends enough credit, for while Claire was a bunny and low on the food chain, Lana wasn’t.

Free of her gag and more pissed than I’d ever seen her. I halted and gaped as a sudden breeze, smelling strongly of brine, ruffled her green tinged hair. I could see her aura swell as she gathered power. Then she opened her mouth and sang. Even though her melody wasn’t directed at me, I staggered under the weight of her anger. It halted the advancing army in its tracks, but not the two advancing on me.

The moment had arrived, did I fulfill the prophecy in the way I’d deciphered it, or did I call for help, and postpone this moment to another time?

I am not a coward. And I’m tired of running.

I met the angel and demon, my gray wings and clothing a symbolic mix of the two strains of DNA bound to me. I was neither good nor evil; I was just me, something in the middle. I danced for my survival. Hopping and twisting to avoid the fatal blows they threw at me, I waited for my moment.

There to the left, I saw it. I raised my arm and blocked the black slashing claws of the demon. Burning pain shot up my arm as he opened a large gash in my flesh, the blood instantly welling. My arm fell limply to my side just as the angel with his silvery sword sliced at my other unprotected arm.

I grinned as I sank to the ground on my knees, my blood spraying from my matching wounds. I peered up at the beings, one so ugly it hurt and the other so bright it hurt even more. “Thank you,” I said through the pain scalding its way through my system.

The demon frowned at me, but the angel’s eyes opened wide and he stared down at my blood which dripped in fat plops onto the grey, dusty ground.

I could still faintly hear Lana singing and as I stared down at the lifeless surface that soaked up my blood like I sponge with nothing in return, I realized, a tad too late, that my theory was perhaps wrong. I don’t understand. I translated the fairy Queen’s words; Hail the blessed one for her blood shall destroy the boundaries. I was certainly bleeding, but unfortunately, I didn’t hear or see any sign that I’d fulfilled anything other than my own death.

I slumped forward onto the dusty ground as my life force leached from me to disappear into the parched wasteland. The shadows of the pair who’d struck the killing blows, covered me.