Angels of War Battle of Archangels (Book 3) (Angels of War Trilogy) Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Prologue

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  19

  20

  21

  22

  23

  24

  25

  26

  27

  28

  29

  30

  31

  32

  33

  34

  35

  36

  37

  38

  39

  40

  41

  42

  43

  44

  45

  46

  47

  48

  49

  50

  51

  52

  53

  54

  55

  56

  57

  58

  59

  60

  61

  62

  63

  64

  65

  66

  67

  68

  69

  70

  71

  72

  73

  Epilogue

  Angels of War

  Battle of Archangels

  Andre L. Roberts

  Copyright © 2016, Andre L.Roberts

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN:

  ISBN-13:

  For my aunts, uncles, and cousins

  Prologue

  Daisy Lane fought them, cutting into their rotted flesh, and they fell by the hundreds. Then he came from the pit. A horrible roar preceded him, like a million lions giving voice. Satan’s call shattered eardrums, forcing the combatants to the ground as the black armored monster emerged from Hell.

  Joan’s face tightened in horror and sorrow as the black prince and his minions escaped their dark dimension. The Guardians recovered from Satan’s call, scrambled to their feet, and threw themselves back into combat.

  Daisy turned to Joan. “This can’t be.”

  Joan remained silent, her wings spread from her back and she hurtled towards Satan. A scream rose from her throat, drawing the dark beast’s attention.

  Satan swung up his sword in defense while transforming to thirty-feet tall. Undaunted, Joan raced ahead, her speed unbroken.

  Satan struck the archangel down.

  Daisy opened her mouth and screamed. The fighters paused as Joan’s headless body twirled to earth. Her armor glinting, her detached head turning slow as the white horsehair plume hung limp and lifeless from her helmet. She thought she caught Joan’s eyes blink a few times, then close over in death.

  Joan’s head and body vanished before they struck the ground. Mayhem followed her death, the Guardians rushed forward and the Ghost Soldiers broke their malaise and fought like Hell spawns. Their hounds lunged forward crashing their black horns into knees and sinking their wicked teeth into flesh.

  The battle cacophony lifted into a great clamor. Local civilians rushed into the fray, plucking up swords from fallen Guardians and throwing themselves into the fight. Many killed the monsters from Hell, and many died for their valiant efforts.

  Daisy fought hard with Juggernaut by her side. She turned to see Maria go down. A sword stuck in her neck, Jason vanished in a group armored in black. She lifted her hand, a golden horn appeared and she blew the call to retreat.

  The Guardians who remained alive fled the field and rode their warhorses up into the darkness. When Daisy finished her call for retreat she and Juggernaut alone, faced over a million soldiers from Hell. The ghoulish army formed a circle around the two angels, swords and spears aimed at their angelic bodies.

  She lowered her horn, her chest tightened. Her hands ached from the constant killing. She stared at Juggernaut who kept his blood-smeared sword at the ready.

  “Wait, do not kill them.” Oni shoved his way through the thick mass of soldiers, his black armor steaming with blood. He removed and tossed his fearsome helmet to the ground. “Submit yourselves to Satan and realize your defeat.”

  Daisy licked her dried lips. “Oni, traitor.”

  Oni sheathed his sword. “Daisy, look around you and at the sky. You are defeated. Drop your weapons.”

  Juggernaut nostrils flared. “Daisy?”

  Daisy dropped her sword to the bloody filth at her feet. “We will fight again, Tobias.”

  Tobias dropped his weapon. “So we will.”

  Oni nodded. “Now, kneel. The both of you.”

  Daisy chuckled. “Now you’re asking way too much of us, Okura.”

  Oni’s frown deepened. He waved at his soldiers. “Beat them into submission.” He turned his back and walked away. His soldiers closed in on the two angels and pummeled them to their knees with armored fists.

  Daisy and Juggernaut would not fall. Yet, a blow to Daisy’s head sent bright sparks across her vision. Her world swirled and she hit the ground and curled up into a ball. She braced herself against each blow, a bone cracked, pain flared in her right arm. She refused to scream. Juggernaut grunted next to her from the blows he suffered until he fell silent, and soon, she slipped into a deep blackness herself.

  1

  Oni hated them all, and if possible would have conquered Heaven with one word.

  The black archangel remained silent after Satan scolded him before a million soldiers. For a moment he thought the battle for Heaven would began in earnest, until Michael made an offer to Satan, an offer the dark one accepted.

  Oni took in the scene before him with hard eyes. Michael handed his sword to Daisy Lane who stood next to Juggernaut. Next, the archangel stripped off his golden armor and turned himself over to the Hell guards who slipped manacles over the archangel’s thick wrists and ankles. After Michael’s turnover, the entire Hell Force marched away from Heaven’s glorious gates.

  The Hell Force trudged along green hills towards a nearby forest thick with oak trees. Satan halted the army and handed the chains to Oni and leaned over in his saddle.

  “I want Michael hidden so deep, not even God would want to try and find him.” Lucifer spurred on his warhorse and the entire army marched off to prepare the siege works intended to lock in God’s kingdom for six months.

  Oni held the heavy black chain in his left hand, his gloved fingers rubbing against the cold metal. For a brief moment he wanted to charge against Heaven’s walls on his own. He swallowed a deep breath, calming his nerves and slid his eyes up the chain to who sat at its end.

  The archangel Michael stood with lowered head and closed eyes. Michael’s muscular body, sheened in sweat from the march, remained erect. His silence, unpredictable like a sleepy lion, unnerved the Hell guards who surrounded him.

  Oni drew his sword and pointed to an iron cage built on four wheels. Six massive horned horses stood attached to the carriage. Over one hundred Hell guards, the thousand eyed, bull headed monsters, positioned themselves around the scene.

  “Open the cage,” Oni said. A guard swung open the gate to the carriage. “Get in, Michael.”

  Michael worked his way into the cage and sat on the metal floor scattered with straw. His brown eyes regarded Oni with a cool stillness.

>   Oni tossed the chain into the metal box. He closed the door, securing the clasp with a large padlock. He handed the key to a guard. “You’re foolish for this sacrifice. Lucifer will torture you for all eternity.”

  Michael nodded. “I’ve known Lucifer before you existed, Oni.”

  Oni sheathed his sword and turned to the guard. “Follow me.” He walked towards his mount, a black warhorse, and climbed into the saddle. He jammed his spiked spurs into the animal and they rode off from Heaven’s green pastures. The carriage rumbled behind Oni, followed by the one hundred guards on horseback.

  The fallen angel studied the scene around him. Demons in the millions sat in clumps, camping out around the kingdom’s massive white walls. He frowned as the demons defiled the pristine outer lands. Every beautiful plant and flower would be gone by the time the attack commenced. The green grass, once thick and lush would become a churned up muddy mess. Hell’s minions cared less for beauty. They spat, shat, and cooked their horrid meals where they pitched camped.

  Oni turned and gazed at the kingdom, a pearl amongst a soon to be pigsty. Angelic guards remained at their posts as the carriage and a hundred horses galloped away and up into the white clouds. The golden towers remained aglow from God’s eternal love. The glow seemed stronger as he raced his warhorse into the sky. He turned away from the Eternal Kingdom and focused on his task at hand.

  He snapped the leather reins and his warhorse dug in and ran faster as the carriage rattled behind him. Hooves from a hundred mounts rolled like thunder, trailing as he pushed up beyond the kingdom, headed for Hell’s vastness. He recalled a perfect spot to chain the archangel to. Any rescue attempt by lesser angels would be impossible.

  Oni doubted Satan would keep his promise. Six months to wait for an attack when the forces sat ready to invade gave the God lovers a chance to recover. Michael offered himself up to be a hostage in exchange to leave the mortals alone.

  The enemy stalled to regain their momentum. Joan died, the Guardians defeated, and the American military splintered once the Hell Force broached the Large Hadron Collider. He expected the demons to become lazy and carless after their victory, and their momentary weakness exploited.

  Oni turned the reins, his beast shifted into black clouds so thick visibility turned to zero. He remembered the way, a place he found when he roamed Hell to gauge its size.

  Oni learned Hell expanded beyond his imagination. He wondered why God created such a place? He figured the Almighty expected Lucifer’s betrayal. Or in boredom decided to make another creation and thought better. Oni concluded this particular place became a basement to Heaven. A realm Jehovah used to store dusty memories and relics for destruction later on. Hell did own an exceptional furnace.

  The black clouds broke, and beneath the cavalcade spread a rocky land built from black and barren rock. The riders remained airborne, traveling over the desolate world.

  The rocks below, sharp as broken glass and meant to be impassable, rose like punji sticks from the ground. The harsh land stretched on for miles beneath a sky crowded with black clouds. Intermittent fireballs erupted from the sky, streaking like meteors to the ground to explode in red and orange flames. Oni smiled. God found himself in a creative mood the day he thought up the place they raced over.

  He missed his family. Kimmie and his boy Sochi resided somewhere in Heaven, lost amongst the sheep with big dumb smiles decorating their faces. They remained oblivious to the doom perched outside those jeweled gates, nothing more than babes unaware of wolves soon to eat them. He would continue to love his family, even in their vegetative states.

  He turned his warhorse and what he searched for struck up from the ground in the distance. The muscular beast beneath him began to buck from the dark power the place held. The pillar towered high. A mountain built from razor rock topped with a flat surface. Upon the table sat one lone tree, black and petrified. Branches spread out from the stone trunk like broken fingers on a malformed hand.

  Oni led the group to the tower, a flattop lording over the land and positioned in its hardened center. They landed near the disfigured tree and dismounted their warhorses. The dark archangel stood before the tree adorned with metal ringlets and black rusted chains. He turned to the carriage. A guard unlocked the gate, grasped Michael’s chain, and hauled him from the box.

  Oni took the chain and yanked the archangel towards the tree. He ordered the guards to chain him to the petrified object. He stood by as they spread Michael’s arms and legs and pressed his back against the cold wood.

  “The guards will remain, Michael. Over one hundred of the best trained. No one will find you. If they do, the power here will force them to climb up this tower. And by the time they get to you, they will be too weak and bloody to do nothing else but die.”

  Michael smiled. “Oni, if you knew the secrets in my head. You would convert now and kneel before God.”

  Oni backhanded Michael with his armored glove.

  Michael laughed, his muscles bulging against the chains and Oni struck him again. “Only God can kill me, Oni. Cut off my head, my body will return to Heaven. Draw your sword and try.”

  Oni unsheathed his blade and cut. The sword sliced across Michael’s chest. The archangel screamed in pain from the burn. “You will be tortured, Michael.” He sheathed his black weapon. “Torture him. Make him scream like my family screamed at their deaths.”

  Oni mounted his warhorse. “I will be at the gates when they fall, Michael. I will return and cut off your pretty head. When you arrive to Heaven, I will cut off your head again and again and again.” He cracked the reins and rode up into the caustic air. The one hundred guards formed a circle around the tree. They pointed their spears at Michael and closed in.

  Oni rode faster. Hot rage enwrapped him. Michael’s screams reached his ears and brought him some satisfaction. Yet he awaited his biggest pleasure. God in chains and Heaven burned to the ground.

  2

  Daisy and Tobias approached Heaven’s army once Satan led Michael away in chains. Inimical stares riveted the two angels who neared the army adorned in bright armor.

  Daisy stopped before a tall and powerful archangel wearing a helmet resembling a bear’s head. Hard brown eyes gazed from the viewing slots. Long black hair fell over his muscled shoulders.

  “Gabriel,” she said. Her muscles tightened.

  Gabriel’s eyes held the scene before him, at Michael chained and being led away towards the hills. He lifted his golden spear, a horn blared and the army turned to post behind the kingdom’s high walls. “Jehovah wishes to speak with you.”

  Daisy nodded.

  “Follow me, Daisy. Tobias, clean yourself and return to earth.”

  The archangel Gabriel did not wait for Tobias to answer. He turned on his sandaled heels and walked through the massive First Gate amongst the armored warriors. Terrible laughter rose in a raucous roar behind them as the demons vanished beyond the hills with their prize.

  Daisy bowed her head. Heat flushed her face crimson. Her shame rose to such a height she wanted to shrink into a mustard seed. She kept her head down, focusing on the golden bricks embedded in the ground at her feet. She walked behind Gabriel who moved forward, brisk, with head held high.

  Daisy forced her head up and studied Gabriel’s armor, his arms and thick calves carved in muscle. The archangel’s silence hung heavy around her, more powerful than if she endured a verbal lashing. She lowered her head again, averting the stares from the other angels. Whispers reached her ears. She closed off their accusatory tones and continued her walk along the golden path to the palace.

  Gabriel stopped at the palace first step. He turned to Daisy. “This is the second time you have graced these holy steps, Daisy Lane. Do not make this a habit.” He lifted his spear and pointed up the pearl staircase.

  Daisy placed her foot on the first step and trembled. An electric power coursed through her body. She began her climb. She laid her eyes on the beautiful archway atop the one thousand steps to reac
h the palace door guarded by two huge angels.

  She thought about Joan. How her friend charged ahead to attack Satan unleashed. No one expected his arrival, and by the time they discovered The Plan, it unfolded. To worsen matters, a human outsmarted them, a Satanist. Anger percolated within her and the hot emotion cracked her shame.

  Daisy reached the landing and faced the archway. The angels guarding the entrance remained silent yet gave her side-glances. Her anger heightened. She turned back to gaze at the kingdom from where she stood. The place spread out beneath her in all its pearlescent glory underneath a bright sky. On the kingdom’s edges Hell’s minions camped. Cooking fires burned and harsh laughter tainted the air once laced with sweet music and songs.

  She turned and walked into the palace, past the great columns and artwork. Angels packed the halls, along with other supreme beings ranked higher than the archangels. Smallness flowed over her and she realized these individuals who sat protected and tucked behind the walls depended on her for their safety. She became appalled at their arrogance.

  Her breath shortened. Hostile stares fell upon her, and she thought they regarded her either in awe or contempt. She walked ahead and stopped before another archway where two strong angels stood with golden spears in their grasps. Before her a long golden walkway stretched ahead and at its end sat a bright golden throne where a figure draped in white light rested.

  “Approach,” the figure on the throne said.

  Daisy removed her sandals and stepped barefoot on the warm golden tiles. She padded ahead. Deep warmth flowed through her body, her nostrils filled with air laced in honey and clovers. No angels sang in the palace hall. She continued on, sensing where her toes touched against the gold tiles at her feet. A strong joy filled her spirit and the tiny hairs along her arms stiffened, her green eyes brightened.

  She stopped five feet from the throne, her head down. She refused to stare at Him, even though the light He gave off did not blind her. His sheer power overwhelmed her spirit, a tiny match flame against the sun. She accepted how inconsequential she seemed to the entire universe.