Not Together
She watched in shock and dismay at Michael’s gasp as the clawed hand penetrated his back. He stood staring at her, an oddly calm look in his eyes. He didn’t seem to be in pain, simply confused.
Ava could not look away as Reya held Lilith’s body high in the air, waiting for the life to leave the sister warrior as she squeezed her heart.
A clawed hand held his heart. He gurgled once and collapsed to the ground.
She watched as Reya tossed Lilith’s body to the side and she followed it as it bounced off the floor. She was dimly aware of the arrows that were striking the fallen angel.
The same clawed hand that held Michael’s still warm heart stabbed down into her right shoulder blade, forcing her to her knees. She could not fight back.
She had slowly gotten to her knees, fighting her own body with every movement. A stab of pain shot down into her right shoulder blade and she couldn’t move. She could barely watch what was happening in front of her.
Bea’s arrow was in the air before Reya had unceremoniously tossed aside Lilith’s body. It struck the angel in the back of her left shoulder. She turned with an angry look as two more arrows lodged themselves into her chest with enough force to knock her to her knees. As the angel rose back to her feet Bea sent two more arrows at her. Reya knocked one to the side but the second pierced the front of her right side. Bea nocked another arrow but hesitated as Reya laughed at her.
She was being forced to walk awkwardly to the Arc, led like a puppet by the claws in her back.
Ava heard Reya’s laugh and looked up to see the fallen angel slowly pull the divinium arrows from her body, a crazed look on her face as she stared at Bea with furious amusement. She began slowly walking towards her girlfriend.
Bea backpedalled slowly as she fired another arrow at Reya. The angel swatted it away and leered at her. She felt herself shudder as images of her life with Ava began to pass before her. Her steps grew heavy as her body began to give in to despair.
Reya turned to Ava with a sick smile on her face as she continued to advance on Bea. “You cannot win, Halo Bearer. I killed that traitorous demon over there. I can kill you too. Give me the Halo and perhaps I will show mercy.”
Bea heard the taunting and felt herself grow stronger as rage overtook her.
No! We’re still alive!
She would not go down without a fight and she drew her arrow.
Ava looked on helplessly as Reya taunted her and advanced on the love of her life.
“Mercy,” laughed Reya gesturing towards Bea, “will be a quick death for this one.” Bea fired another arrow at her that went through her bicep and lodged into her side, temporarily pinning her arm. The angel growled at her.
“On the other hand,” Reya said sadistically, eyes narrowed and with snarl towards Beatrice, “you have disrupted my plans enough.” She pulled the arrow out.” I am going to enjoy killing you slowly. You have been more trouble than you are worth.” She looked back towards Ava. “I will make her suffering last beyond time!”
That was the wrong thing to say.
Adriel collapsed, writhing on the floor. The claw released her and she could move again.
Furious lightning struck Ava, sparking her brain while thunder jolted through her body. Clarity washed over her as the Halo sang out and burst into life, washing the amphitheater in golden light. Her animalistic scream echoed across the room as she charged at the angel with Halo-enhanced speed.
Reya smirked as the Warrior Nun reached her, thinking to end it quickly with a brutal counter attack.
A final divinium arrow struck her in the side of the neck just as Ava was in range to attack. She stumbled from the blow as Ava sliced into her arm with the Cruciform Sword. The angel flailed wildly as she backed away, catching Ava with a glancing blow, knocking her away.
Bea was right there with her bo-staff, divinium blades affixed to each end, slashing over and over into the angel’s lightly armored legs and arms. The sister warrior sidestepped a lethal punch and retreated as Ava returned with her sword, slicing into Reya’s gut. She pulled the sword loose as she dodged another swing from the angel’s spiked gauntlet.
The divinium blade on the staff penetrated into her back, between the ribs that made up Reya’s bony armor. Bea twisted as she ripped the blade out, continuing her spin with a blow to the back of the head. Reya turned to face her only to feel the sting of Ava’s sword as the Warrior Nun stabbed her again in the back. The angel turned again and a throwing knife hit her in the back of her neck.
They were doing well; the angel could not mount an offense as she was forced to give way to strike after strike from the fluid pair. But she was healing continuously and the Halo was draining and their bodies were growing tired.
Bea swung hard again with her staff but Reya was ready. She caught the weapon and held it in place as she swiped with sharp claws across Bea’s stomach, causing the sister warrior to shriek in pain. As she scrambled away she dropped her staff and grasped for her abdomen. The wounds were shallow but blood still flooded over her hands.
Ava screamed as she charged in again, leveling a kick into Reya’s chest and forcing her to drop Bea’s weapon. Reya kicked out and tripped the Warrior Nun, scratching her claws across the woman’s back as she fell. The angel reached out to grab her when Bea hit her hard twice in the side of the head with her spinning bo staff. Ava pulled away.
From a kneeling position, Bea stabbed Reya in the gut with the divinium blade of her weapon.
“Bea!” shouted Ava. The sister warrior turned to see Ava running towards her. She quickly withdrew her weapon and braced it over her knee. When Ava stepped on the end the sister warrior pushed and catapulted the Warrior Nun into the air. Ava flipped over the fallen angel and swung hard at her head with her sword. The blow cleanly split the top of Reya’s face in half and the angel staggered.
Blood and brain and flesh leaked down the front of the Reya’s face. But she was upright and moving. Bea gagged when she saw each of the eyes move separately and in opposite directions. Then she stared with wide eyes as the angel’s face terrifyingly started to slowly stitch itself back together. Reya screamed, a blood-chilling sound called up from the depths of hell that reverberated throughout the room. With the scream came a massive pulse of invisible power the pushed Bea along the ground and sent Ava flying up the ramp towards the flickering Arc.
Before the angel’s face was complete, Bea was up and moving. She swung hard at Reya, who caught her staff in one hand and, impossibly fast, pulled Bea close, slamming a hard knee into her stomach, forcing the air out of the sister warrior’s lungs. She swiped a clawed hand down along Bea’s exposed back, causing a silent, airless scream as she fell to a knee. Reya grabbed her right arm and yanked on it and Bea heard and felt the pop as her shoulder dislocated.
Ava stood up; shaking her head and her eyes went wide with horror at the sight before her.
“You will give me the Halo or watch while I tear her apart!” Reya’s face was savage. She glared at Ava, teeth bared. She had Bea bent over, her right arm in hand, threatening to rip it clean out of the socket. Bea’s face was twisted into a mask of pain that intensified every time Reya moved. Her blood was everywhere. Reya raised her clawed left hand; one swift blow would sever Bea’s arm from her body.
“Stop!” shouted Ava. She could feel her eyes burning with tears as she watched Bea’s anguish. Reya looked at her, a sadistic smile on her otherwise angelic face. Ava took in the scene for one more moment. “Alright,” she said meekly. “Please —please just let her go.”
“No Ava!” shouted Bea, immediately wincing in pain as Reya pulled on her arm. Ava’s dark chocolate eyes locked with Bea’s amber across the room, a sad look upon her face.
“I’ll give you the Halo,” she said. Then she forced herself to look up at Reya.
Reya let go of Bea and allowed her to crumple to the floor. “Alright Halo Bearer,” she sneered as she took a step towards her, “give it to me.”
Ava removed the ring and lifted it in her hand, her blood dripping to the floor. “Here it comes,” she said simply. And she raised her hand above her head and tossed the Halo to Reya with all of her might.
Reya reached out for the ring, a look of sheer ecstasy on her face at the thought of truly controlling the mighty weapon’s full power again for the first time since the dawn of the humanity.
“I win, Halo Bearer!”
Ava collapsed, and the Halo soared.
Behind Reya, Bea stood, and the Halo sang.
And as it reached Reya’s extended hand, the Halo flared. It seemingly erupted in flame upon contact with her fingers and passed right through, taking the fallen angel’s fingers, hand and most of her forearm with it.
And as Reya screamed, the Halo flew into Bea’s outstretched left hand and burst into life.
Ava watched with pride from her spot on the floor as Beatrice became the next Halo Bearer. The newest Warrior Nun. She was in awe as she watched her lover attack, wielding the Halo like it was a part of her—as if she was the angel called down from heaven to slay the demon in front of her. It was the sexiest thing that Ava had ever seen.
A strong slash down with the glowing ring cut right through Reya’s armor. Another quick strike up and to the right across Reya’s exposed torso sprayed angelic blood across the room. A third slash back across Reya’s chest left the angel reeling.
But Bea was already greatly injured and the Halo was already running low. Ava watched as the new Warrior Nun turned towards her, shouted her name and with unerring accuracy tossed the Halo back in her direction.
Ava focused everything she had on the Halo flying through the air. She was faintly aware of the strong backhand by the fallen angel that had sent Bea flying across the room.
She focused on the Halo.
She could see in the unfocused portion of her vision where Bea had landed, unmoving.
She focused on the Halo.
She was aware of Reya making quick moves towards her in a desperate effort to get the weapon before Ava.
Ava focused on the Halo. She called out to it with every fiber of her being; willing it, praying for it, begging it to land in her paralyzed hand that was lying outstretched on the floor.
The Halo hit the ground short of its mark and skidded to a halt a mere inch away from Ava’s fingertips.
Reya’s grin was gruesome as she closed in.
Ava focused on the Halo.
It jumped.
And landed just on the edges of her fingertips. The Halo again sang and burst into life as it released a blast of power that sent Reya flying. Ava moved instantly. She grasped the Halo and the Cruciform Sword and launched herself at the fallen angel.
Reya had brandished a divinium dagger and used that and the armor on her ruined arm to hold off Ava’s attacks. She seemed content to simply wear Ava down and allow the Halo to run out of power. And Ava knew it.
“It’s too bad Adriel’s not here,” Ava taunted, “I think he would have enjoyed watching me kill you.”
Reya sneered. “You fool, there is nothing in this realm that can kill me and unlike Adriel, I have nothing to fear from the Tarasks.”
“I’m pretty sure I have something that can kill you,” Ava responded, flourishing her sword by Reya’s face.
Reya laughed. “You have learned nothing. Just as you cannot die in my realm, I cannot die in yours.” As if to prove her point, Reya charged. Ava impaled her with the Cruciform Sword as Reya pushed her divinium knife into the Warrior Nun’s gut.
“And now, Halo Bearer, I will watch you die and you still have no way to kill me.”
Ava spit a mouthful of blood onto the angel’s twisted face and smiled at her. She brought the glowing Halo up to the angel’s throat. “Sure I do,” she said, her face turning grim as Reya’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Semantics.”
She shoved the Halo into Reya’s neck, slicing clean through. The angel’s head rolled down the ramp as her body crumbled, knife still in hand, smoke rising from the cauterized wound between her shoulders.
Blood flowing freely from her wound, Ava shuffled over to Bea as quickly as she could before the Halo drained completely. She knelt down next to the woman she loved and had to briefly turn away as she spat out the blood that had been filling her mouth.
“Oh my God, that was so hot,” Bea joked weakly. Ava gave a brief laugh before she winced in pain. She laid her head down on Bea’s shoulder so that they were face to face.
“You did it Ava,” whispered Bea. She moved her good hand and placed it on Ava’s face, her trembling thumb caressing her cheek. “I’m so proud of you.”
“We did it,” corrected Ava. “Warrior Nun Beatrice.”
Bea smiled at her. “I think I’m dying,” she observed quietly. “These injuries should hurt more.”
“I think I am too,” said Ava. “There’s not enough juice left in the Halo for either of us.” She looked at Bea—her protector, her best friend, her lover and sighed.
Chocolate mixed with amber in the space between them as they gazed into each other’s eyes. “I love you, Ava, and I’m so sorry we couldn’t have more.”
“I love you too, Bea,” Ava replied simply. “But there’s nothing to apologize for. We don’t need a happy ending to have had a happy life, right?” She smiled. “And as short as it was, I can’t imagine anyone could have been happier than I was with you—except for you getting to be with me, of course.”
Both women broke out into soft laughter, tears streaming down their faces. Bea’s laughter caused a close-mouthed cough as blood dribbled out onto her own cheek. She wiped it away slowly.
The smile left Ava’s face for a moment as her eyes continued to glisten. “Bea,” she said softly, voice breaking, “I want to go home.”
Bea gave her a small smile and continued to gently stroke her cheek. “We are home, so long as we’re together.”
Ava chuckled and smiled one more time. “They can’t beat us, Bea. Not together.”
“I know that.”
“Ava! Bea!” Camila called out to them as she and Yasmine sprinted across the room. They watched her as she almost slipped in the pool of blood that had been steadily increasing around them. “Yasmine, go get help!” the young nun ordered as she kneeled down at Bea’s other side. Yasmine immediately turned and ran to the elevator.
“Hi Cam—Hello Camila,” said Ava and Bea at the same time. “You missed quite the show,” continued Ava. “I made Bea the next Warrior Nun.” Camila looked to the older woman.
“Yes,” confirmed Bea, speaking slowly, “but I found the Halo a bit boring—so I gave it back.”
“Your injuries,” whimpered Camila as she looked over their ruined bodies.
“It’s alright, Camila,” comforted Bea.
“Yeah Cam,” said Ava, “but I need you to do something for me.”
“What’s that?” asked Camila, tears beginning to run down her cheeks.
“I need you to take this.” She weakly lifted the Halo from off of Bea’s chest. Camila looked unsure as her eyes went back and forth between the two women.
“She’s right, Camila,” agreed Bea. “It should be you.”
Camila swallowed thickly and slowly reached for the Halo…