Courageous: Afterlife Book Four Read online

  "And you listened to him?" I asked. "You did what he told you to even though you knew it was wrong?"

  Mick nodded. "I was blinded by jealousy. I wanted you so badly and was so afraid of losing you that I never thought about the consequences. I was blinded. I thought if I could only be with you then everything would be better. You know I would do anything for you, do anything to keep you."

  Rahmiel sighed deeply. "Now he wants you to return the favor, doesn't he? He is cashing in now for all he has done for you. What have you promised him, Mick? What is his price?"

  Mick didn't answer; he shook his head then glanced briefly at the baby.

  I screamed. "NO!!!"

  CHAPTER 36

  "YOU PROMISED HIM the baby?" Rahmiel asked with a petrified voice.

  Mick still didn't say anything. Tears were rolling down his cheeks. "I didn't know what to do," he finally said. "Azazel came to me one day after the wedding. He had taken the shape of a big black wolf and when I was walking across the yard behind the castle he called to me from the forest. I went in there and met the wolf. I told him I was done with him, that I didn't want any more to do with him, but he told me that I owed him.

  " 'You have all you want now, don't you?' he said. 'You married the girl you dreamt about. Now it is time for me to have what I want.'"

  Mick shook his head. "I was so scared at that moment. I mean of course I knew deep down inside that he would eventually want something from me. I guess I thought I could somehow avoid it. That I could manage to take my bride and son to Heaven before Azazel demanded something in return. But there he was staring at me with his big eyes of fire in a black wolf twice the size of me. Then he said those awful words. 'I want your firstborn child.' "

  Mick hid his face in his hands and cried. I looked at my baby and held him tighter to my body. I couldn't figure out if I should yell at Mick or cry in fear for my baby. I did both.

  "How could you be so stupid?!" I yelled. Then I cried.

  Rahmiel approached me.

  Mick lifted his head and stared into my eyes. "It was either him or you," he said.

  "What?"

  "I asked Azazel to please not ask for the baby and then he said that he would settle for Meghan, for you instead. He wants your powers."

  "He is after the baby because any child coming from you will have your powers as well," Rahmiel said. "And Mick's."

  "But ... But I would have done it. I would have gone. I would have sacrificed myself, Mick. I would give my life up any day for our son."

  "That is what I was afraid of," he answered.

  "So you made the decision for me?"

  Mick nodded while biting his lip.

  Turmoil was outside of the door and someone was yelling. Rahmiel looked at me, and then picked me and the baby up. "We must hurry," she said. "They're getting closer."

  More yelling and turmoil. "We will fight for you, Meghan," Rahmiel said. "We will fight for you and the baby."

  Voices came through behind the door and then a flock of figures streamed through.

  "And so will I," said a voice.

  I smiled widely. It was Hjalte Havskäg, the old Danish Viking from my self-defense class. He was swinging his swords and wearing a thick leather breastplate. He looked very combative.

  "And I," sounded the high pitched voice of Mrs. Higgins.

  "And I," said Professor Grangé who had screwed his head back on in honor of the occasion.

  "And so will I," said Mrs. Ohayashi and tried to smile through her narrow black eyes.

  I was taken aback and surprised by everyone’s sudden appearances.

  "What about the other students?" I asked Rahmiel thinking mostly of Abhik.

  "They won't touch them. They're only here for him," she said and looked at my baby.

  He stared at us both with his blue eyes. I pulled the blanket further up to cover his head. A tear escaped my eye while my stomach churned. The prospect of losing him now that I just gotten him terrified me. But one thing was certain, I thought as I stared at the crowd surrounding me.

  I wasn't going down without a fight.

  CHAPTER 37

  THERE WAS A grumbling and groaning right outside of the door now and we realized it was too late to escape. It sounded like a huge animal approaching. I started to shiver. Suddenly hundreds of small shadows were on the walls surrounding us. The groaning turned into roaring as the shadows grew larger and larger. I felt chills running down my back; my heart was pounding in my chest. An eerie feeling struck me and filled me with fear and despair.

  Hjalte Havskäg stood in front of me with his sword held high. He too was groaning and growling. Rahmiel had her hands around me. The feeling of hope and love coming from her was fighting with the feeling of despair and emptiness coming from the Se'irims approaching us. They were trying to suck all the joy and life out of me while they slowly came closer and closer. Suddenly some of them attacked. They changed from shadows on the walls to small hairy creatures with pointy teeth and long nails. Two of them attacked Hjalte Havskäg. He swung his sword and cut them in half with a huge roar. More black hairy creatures threw themselves at him from all directions, even coming down from the ceiling, but with his sword he managed to fight them off and send them back where they came from.

  More emerged through the walls when Mrs. Higgins stepped up. She had a stick between her hands that she swung and spun in the air, hitting the Se'irims with such a speed they were knocked back. But soon they were back on their feet, attacking again. Professor Grangé soared into the air and started spinning so fast he created a tornado that he spun right into the flock of black creatures and soon they were taken into the air, sucked up and blown out in the top of it.

  Mrs. Ohayashi lifted her hands and out from them flew small stars, small balls of fire faster than any weapon could shoot. Millions of small fireballs that looked just like stars were shot against the creatures knocking them out, tearing them to black beads, which were destroyed when Mrs. Ohayashi or someone else stepped on them. There was whining and screaming everywhere, while Raphael and the Angel Guards blew the creatures back with their light shining from their hands, floating like rivers of fire.

  Even if we were outnumbered by maybe thousands I was beginning to think that the creatures didn't stand a chance. They didn't seem to be a match at all to us. But they had just begun. Ten of them or maybe even more were now on top of Hjalte Havskäg scratching him with their long nails, shrieking and screaming. He was yelling and fighting, swinging his sword, but not hitting any of them. I watched with horror as they pierced his body with their nails. He roared in pain when they pulled him into beads and parts of him started floating into air. I gasped while Rahmiel held me back, her strong arms around me. I fought to get free. Then she spoke to me in my mind.

  Don't Meghan. Be still. You have to protect the baby.

  I looked down at the incredible creature in my arms. He was so tiny, yet didn't seem affected at all by what was going on. He was staring at me, grabbing my finger and squeezing it.

  Raphael grabbed Hjalte Havskäg's beads and managed to put him back together while Mrs. Ohayashi protected them from attacks shooting her small balls of fire. A flock of Se'irims tried to get to us from behind, but the Angel Guard blocked their way and then he kicked them causing them to fly into air. They shrieked and screamed as they hit the walls and ground. I stared at the scene. We were completely surrounded; thousands maybe even tens of thousands of hairy black creatures surrounding us as far as I could see. They kept streaming through the walls, floors and ceilings filling up the entire room. I stared at Mick and Jason standing on each side of me looking as afraid as I felt inside.

  Suddenly I heard a small still voice in my head.

  Where is the baby, Meghan? Give me the baby.

  I knew that voice. I had heard it before. At night in my chambers, whispering that I should watch my back, in the funnel of the tornado whispering the same thing. And in the dark forest when I had faced him for the first time
, when he asked me to bow down to him and I had refused. Now it was laughing. I gasped and scanned the room to see if I could spot him anywhere. I clutched my baby in my arms thinking desperately about how I was supposed to get out of this? Was there even a way out for me?

  CHAPTER 38

  I'M ONLY COMING to get what is rightfully mine, the voice continued to whisper. I felt fear rise inside of me, an anxiety so big it caused my entire body to shiver. I felt Jason's hands on my shoulders and looked at him. He was frightened but I could tell he tried so hard to be strong for me. I tried to smile when suddenly the entire room felt incredibly hot. It was like there was a fire and it seemed that the heat caused the Se'irims to grow and their groaning became louder. Instead of attacking they all drew backwards while the floor suddenly opened up. Slowly the bricks melted by the heat from the fire that was now licking the floors from the giant hole. The fire was turning, spinning fast, and we all backed up. Then the Se'irims all jumped into the hole where they melted together. From being many small creatures they now grew into a huge black hairy mass that kept spinning and turning and growing in front of us. The Angels made their lights shine brighter in order to force the darkness to disappear. I stared into the big black mass and saw a face within it. It was a face I had known. It was Portia. She was laughing and smiling. Then it changed again into Jason's stepdad, then Adrian and then finally Mick. I looked at the real Mick and saw the anxiety in his eyes. He tried to pull backwards, but the black mass had surrounded us and made sure we didn't get away. It was constantly moving, spinning around us, on top of us, beneath us. It oozed through our bodies while whispering and filling us with hopelessness and despair. The Angels and teachers were trying to fight it with swords and weapons, but in vain.

  Mick's face spoke to me. "Just give him to me," it said.

  I shook my head. "Never."

  "Tsk, tsk, Meghan. You know better than that, don't you? You know I always get my way in the end. Somehow, some way."

  "I don't care. I'm not giving him to you."

  With a roar the mass grew larger and stared down at us. His eyes were huge and filled with fire. It didn't look like Mick anymore, more like an animal of some sort. "You can't fight me, little girl. If you don't give him to me, I'll have to take someone else."

  The face hissed, and then gnashed his teeth at us. Rahmiel sent me calming thoughts. Remain at peace at all times. If you let yourself get stirred up inside you won't be able to fight him.

  The mass now changed again. This time it was the face of my father looking back at me. I felt a pinch in my stomach. I knew he hadn't been well, I knew he had been drinking and depressed for a long time. Had Azazel gotten to him? Was he the one keeping him in this state of anguish?

  "Meghan," my father called out. He seemed so confused and filled with despair. He was in a dark room. I felt his confusion, sensed his misery. It broke my heart. I stepped forward. "Leave my father alone!" I yelled. I was crying now. "Just leave him alone!"

  "With pleasure, Meghan. If you give me what I came here for. What is rightfully mine."

  I shook my head. "No," I said. "Never."

  I cried heavily now and looked at my son. Then I looked at Jason. He was crying too. I lifted the baby and handed him to Jason.

  "No," he said while shaking his head. "No."

  "I have to," I said crying. "I have to go."

  "Please don't do this," Meghan," Jason pleaded. "There must be some other way." He looked desperately at Rahmiel.

  "Meghan don't," she said. "Don't do it."

  "I have to," I said looking at Jason holding my child in his arms.

  "Let me go instead," he said.

  I caressed his cheek, then leaned over and kissed him. "I can't let you do that," I said. "There is no way I'll ever let you do that."

  Tears were streaming down my cheeks as I looked at the people I loved. Jason, the baby, even Mick. Then I turned and floated towards the dark mass growing out of the giant hole in the floor. Underneath it fire was crackling, an endless fire burning from the pit of hell.

  "Here," I said. "Take me."

  CHAPTER 39

  IT WAS WITH great anxiety and a heavy heart I floated towards my new destiny. I felt this was the only solution, the only way I could see this end and still live with myself. I had no idea what awaited me but was prepared for it to be bad. At least he could no longer hurt anyone I loved.

  As I floated towards the fire and black mass of shrieking small creatures I felt a growing despair in me. The hopelessness grew the further I got away from Rahmiel, the further I moved from the light into the darkness. Voices were whispering in my head, laughing, filling me with emotions. Feelings like jealousy, greed, anger, bitterness grew and grew in me and the closer I got the less I was able to fight it. Soon I was overwhelmed with fury and sadness at once. It was so strong it pulled me downwards towards the fire; it was sucking all life out of me. I heard screaming voices as the hole in the ground opened up beneath me looking like a giant volcano with nothing but death and despair in it. An endless screaming coming from the many tortured souls spending eternity there, being eaten up in a constant torture of the numbness, of the complete absence of love and hope.

  Then I started falling. Falling into the crater and the burning fire, feeling nothing but gloom.

  "NO!" I heard Jason scream behind me. "Don't let her do it! Do something!"

  I hardly noticed since I was almost drawn into a different world, taken over by thoughts and emotions but suddenly something happened behind me. Turmoil broke out and there was yelling. Someone grabbed my neck and pulled me back while screaming.

  "No!" a voice said. I felt arms on me and was pulled backwards. It took awhile for me to return, to be able to see properly who had pulled me out.

  It was Mick. He was crying. Sobbing and screaming. "I can't let you do this!" he said.

  "I have to," I said and tried to break free from his grip. He held me tighter. Then he put himself in front of me. "I love you Meghan," he whispered. "I have always loved you and I always will."

  Then he turned his back at me and shot himself through the air and dove directly into the big crater.

  "No!!" I screamed.

  Immediately after he was gone, the hole closed up with a loud almost slurping noise sucking Mick and all the black hairy creatures with it.

  Then everything went quiet and I saw nothing but stars.

  A bright light woke me up and I felt myself smiling. Light was a good thing, where there was light darkness had to yield, someone had once told me.

  I opened my eyes and looked into the shinning face of Rahmiel. Her love and mercy filled me with joy. Then I froze and sat up.

  "The baby!"

  Dizziness forced me to lay down again even if I wanted to get out of bed in a hurry. Rahmiel put her hand on my chest and I was immediately calmed down.

  "Jason is taking care of him," she said and pointed at the bed next to me where Jason was lying with the baby on his chest. They were both sleeping heavily. Jason was even drooling slightly. "The baby kept him up all last night, and didn't fall asleep until this morning so I think we should let them get some rest, don't you?"

  I chuckled, and then nodded. "I bet they both need it."

  "So do you," she said. "You've been unconscious almost twenty-four hours."

  I exhaled. "Is it all over now?" I asked.

  Rahmiel nodded. "It's all over. They're all gone. I guess Mick's sacrifice was enough for them."

  I thought about Mick then I was filled with guilt. "Will he be okay?" I asked knowing it was a stupid question.

  "It was a big sacrifice he made. I don't think anyone is ever okay in that place." She stroked my cheek. "But that doesn't mean you should feel guilty about it. It was the right thing for him to do."

  "So now what?"

  Rahmiel looked at Jason and the baby. He was snoring now.

  "Now you take care of your family and enjoy your life in eternity. You owe that to Mick. Don't let his sacrifice go i
n vain. He would want you to be happy."

  Tears were piling up in my eyes. I wiped them with my arm, when suddenly there was a sound, like a small babbling or giggling coming from the baby. I turned and looked at him. His eyes were open and he was looking at me. I jumped out of the bed and approached them. His sounds had woken up Jason too. He smiled widely when he saw me. I took the baby from his chest and held him close to me. I inhaled his scent and closed my eyes. I felt Jason's hand in mine. I leaned over and kissed him.

  "Have you thought about a name yet?" Rahmiel asked.

  I looked into Jason's eyes and smiled. He smiled back.

  "I was thinking Mick," he said.

  "I was thinking that too."

  CHAPTER 40

  "ARE YOU NERVOUS?" I asked as I watched Jason correct his jacket for the fifth time.

  "No, not at all," he lied with a smile. "I can't seem to get this jacket to fit me right." He stretched it once again, pulling the sleeve. Rahmiel had provided it for him since we thought Jason needed to cover up his wound from being stabbed when he died.

  "Relax," I said and kissed him. Little Mick was babbling in his crib. I handed him his bottle. We decided to give him milk and food to make sure he would be able to enjoy it when he grew older like we did. It meant we had to change him as well, but neither of us minded doing so.

  "It's just my parents," I said and lifted up little Mick.

  Jason exhaled. "How does this look?" he asked. "Does it cover everything?"

  I nodded. "Most of it at least." I grabbed his waist and kissed him again. It made him loosen up; I sensed how his entire body relaxed. I looked into his eyes.

  "Ready?" I asked.

  "As ready as I'll ever be."

  "Then let's go."

  We streamed through the walls and into the air outside the castle. With the baby in one arm and Jason holding my other hand I shot all of us through the air towards Earth almost with the speed of light. A few seconds later we landed in the front yard of my childhood home. There were lights on and I could hear voices. I smiled at the sound of my parent's voices and pulled Mick towards the house. Then we streamed through the door.