Angels of War Battle of Archangels (Book 3) (Angels of War Trilogy) Page 28

  Angels in the millions packed the area beneath the palace. All knelt once she emerged from the palace doors. Michael and Gabriel stood on the steps and fell to their knees also. The land around the Kingdom became green and bright. No longer did the Hell Force fight at the gates.

  Joan’s lips curled up into a smile as the throng rose to their feet. A cheer exploded from amongst them. She took the steps down one at a time, faced Michael, and drew his sword. “Here,” she said.

  Michael returned her sword and took his. “You accomplished the task.”

  “Yes. Now I must go talk to someone, Michael.”

  Michael smiled. “Go.”

  Joan flew from the Eternal City and up into the white clouds. Her wings shone bright along with her armor. She headed for earth. The black clouds pulled away from the planet. The waters blued and the grass became green. She flew over oceans and forests. In the distance two angelic lights glowed.

  Joan soared over the earth until she reached Israel. She landed in the desert to face Maria and Tobias along with several thousand warriors.

  Maria rushed up and hugged Joan. Tobias wrapped his big arms around them both. “Joan, they vanished,” she said.

  Joan laughed. Tears once again spilled from her eyes. “The battle is done,” she said.

  Maria smiled and cried. “What does that mean?”

  “This means good bye for now.”

  Tobias shook his head. “You’re going back to Heaven.”

  “Yes,” she said.

  “What happened to Daisy Lane,” Tobias said.

  “She betrayed us and now resides in Hell.”

  Maria hugged Joan and held her in her arms for a few seconds longer. “I’m going to miss you.”

  Joan took their hands. “Keep the faith you two. The battle will return one day. So continue to protect the earth. No more sleep. This time you stay as you are.”

  Tobias saluted Joan. “Take care angel of war.”

  Joan straightened and returned the salute. “Take care.” She spread her wings and flew off into the sky bright and crystal blue. She stared at the beings on the ground until they became as small as ants. She soared up into the vast blue and returned to Heaven.

  Joan landed before Michael who stood at First Gate. She unstrapped her sword, relinquishing her jeweled weapon to him. “Michael. Father, I love you.”

  Michael hugged Joan tight. “I love you too, baby.”

  “I have to do this.”

  “I know,” he said.

  Joan pulled away. The First Gate opened and the Eternal City sat before her, golden and pearlescent. “Don’t forget,” she said and kissed Michael’s cheek.

  Joan walked towards the gate and into the light. Her angelic thoughts faded off in increments. Light filled her mind, a great peace she slid into like a warm bath. Two beings stood near the gates, one tall with broad shoulders, the other short. The three figures hugged each other and vanished into the Eternal Kingdom.

  73

  Maria arrived to Washington, D.C. along with Tobias. Both angels flew in from Israel a few days after Joan’s final visit. Maria left the Guardians with General Gold and his army. Gold’s warriors needed more training and the Guardian’s combat experience made them more than suitable to be instructors.

  Under a bright cloudless sky she wore a Wrangler jeans outfit complete with Stetson cowboy hat and brown cowboy boots. Her black hair hung loose to the shoulders. She stared at the devastated city spread out before her. Months would pass before the city healed from the war.

  Next to her, Gunnery Sergeant Tobias Green stood draped in his Marine dress blues. He wore a dark blue uniform jacket trimmed in red. Medals gleamed on his left breast in neat rows. A white cap with black brim sat on his head and around his waist sat a white belt held together by a brass buckle polished to a mirror gloss. He also wore blue pants with a red stripe sewn down the outside legs. On his feet sat black shoes buffed to an immaculate shine.

  The American flag flew high over the battered White House. Soldiers guarded the entire city and jets patrolled the skies. Volunteers did their best to clean the dead bodies from the city streets.

  General Black emerged from the White House front door and crossed the once green lawn. Somewhere along the way, the grass turned yellow and brown, smeared with dried blood. General Black stood strong in his combat uniform. Several armed soldiers joined him as he approached the angels.

  Maria shook General Black’s hand. “Congratulations, general,” she said.

  General Black stared at the White House for a second. “Thank you, Maria. I’ll be interim president until new elections begin.”

  Tobias saluted the general. “Well, sir, you’ll do a good job.”

  Black returned Tobias’s salute. “Thank you, Gunny Green. Also, Patricia’s sacrifice will always be remembered.”

  Maria sensed the lump in her chest. She forced down the emotion along with the tears about to pour. “She is now in peace and joy, general.”

  General Black gazed at the two angels. “I don’t know how I will ever thank you three. Joan included.”

  Tobias eyes wetted and refocused. He settled his gaze on the general. “Continue to be a good man, sir.”

  “Well, I’ll do my best, Gunnery Sergeant. An officer’s position is open for you. We can use your leadership.”

  “I’ll consider the offer, sir.”

  “Do so. The heavy fighting is done. But a few human factions are still in operation.”

  Maria turned to face a few old men dressed in suits amble from the White House front door. Several Secret Service officers armed with rifles came outside with them. One old man carried a Bible in hand. The large group stopped before General Black.

  The bald one who looked the oldest swept his eyes over the angels, nodded and returned his gaze to the general. “General Black.”

  “Yes, Senator Lumpkin?”

  “I apologize for the abruptness of such a sacred occasion. Raise your right hand.”

  General Black raised his right hand and placed his left on the Bible. The senator swore General Black in as the interim president of the United States. After the fifteen minutes swearing in, the old men walked off surrounded by their Secret Service agents.

  General Black snapped to attention and saluted both the angels. “Maria and Gunnery Sergeant Tobias Green, thank you for your service.”

  “You’re welcome, general,” Maria said. The angels returned the salute.

  “Time for me to go to work. Gunnery Sergeant, be in my office within two hours.” General Black turned and headed off to the White House with his security team in tow.

  “Yes, sir,” Tobias called after him.

  Maria decided to take a respite from the fighting, but not too long. Enemy fighters still roamed the earth in high numbers and she expected guerilla like engagements throughout the world. The Black Army went underground like other terrorist groups. Despite their effort to destroy the Black Army, too many remained active.

  “Let’s head to Arlington. I want to visit Patricia before I go.”

  “Ok,” Maria said.

  The angels of war reached the cemetery after a thirty-minute walk. People stopped and shook their hands and thanked them along the way. By the time they arrived, families and service members roamed the cemetery in silence. The enemy desecrated several graves and volunteers worked hard to clean up the mess.

  Maria followed the path leading to Patricia Jones headstone. The fresh stone shone a bright white, a small American flag fluttered before the grave marker. F-22 jets roared across the skies, children’s laughter reached them. A fragile peace hung over the cemetery like a wound almost healed.

  “Are we ever going to get back to normal?”

  Tobias removed his Marine service cap. “No, Maria. We will never return to normal. The world has changed, pushed beyond the boundaries of reality and sanity.”

  “Well, no one can deny God is real,” she said. “Or Satan either.”

  Tobias hun
kered down to the grave. He straightened the small flag and placed a hand on Patricia’s cool gravestone. “Oh yea, no disputing that fact. What happened put a few scientists out of work.”

  “A lot of people gave so much, Tobias.”

  “True. Patricia will be missed.” He stood and slipped on his cap.

  “We’ll meet them all again.”

  “We will. I must go, Maria. I don’t want to keep General Black waiting.”

  Maria took Tobias right hand to shake. He hugged her instead and she hugged him back. “Take care of yourself my friend.”

  Tobias nodded in silence. He started up the path, stopped and turned around. “Go home, Maria,” he said. “Take a break.”

  Maria delivered a smile as Tobias headed for the White House.

  Epilogue

  Maria purchased tickets and boarded a United Airlines flight from Reagan International airport to Mexico City. She tried to sleep on the flight, but the nightmares came in terrible waves. She arrived to Mexico City weary and red eyed. The angel rented a car and drove out to the family hacienda.

  Maria focused on resuming her life. Riding her Spanish horses and helping her father make tequila. Peace filled her mind and she debated whether to play with the fragile concept. War drained her, made her almost paranoid enough to spread her wings and fly home. But Maria fought to maintain a mortal like normalcy. So she allowed the aches, pains, and the nightmares.

  Maria drove along the highways. Joan, Tobias, Daisy Lane, and Okura occupied her mind. Their faces drifted in a space within her memory. Each one taught her lessons the scholars in Heaven never imparted on her. Faith, love, hate, betrayal, came with hard messages. Messages she thought would kill her. She no longer lived as a young and naïve guardian angel.

  She transformed into a war-hardened angel. A combat veteran pushed into another world fraught with battle, yet balanced with a gentle side she promised herself to hone. Before her sat the hacienda swarmed over by workers armed with tools. Their excited voices lifted into the air.

  Maria drove up the hill to the stables. Her family stayed in the Mexico City house while the hacienda underwent repairs. She stepped out the car and walked into the stalls. Once inside, the warm hay, manure, and horse musk greeted her nostrils with their familiar scents.

  She went to the saddle rack. The workers kept the saddles in good repair, oiled and ready to ride. Maria pulled down a decorative saddle and blanket. Freedom and peace came to mind as she tossed the blanket over a white mare’s back, and saddled and bridled the big animal. Pleasure bumps played over her arms when the mare brushed her wet nose against Maria’s face.

  Maria led the mare outside the stable. She slipped a right foot into a stirrup and swung up into the saddle. With a tongue click she urged the animal away from the stable and on firm ground carpeted with green grass. The sun poured its warmth over Maria’s face. She decided not to wear a hat, wanting the gentle heat to soothe her soul.

  Soft snorts came from the mare as Maria edged her along the corral and to a path packed with hard dirt. Many continued to blame God for the freakish madness the world underwent. Others found strength from the catastrophic events, enough to make peace with themselves and the war.

  Maria gave the mare a gentle squeeze with her thighs. The horse cantered along the path. Heat waves shimmered up from the ground. She kept her angelic powers tampered to experience the natural sun glare. Fat black and yellow bees droned amongst yellow sunflowers along the roadside edges. Dust swirled up in light puffs at the mare’s hooves. A whippoorwill called out amongst the Eucalyptus.

  In the distance a lone figure crested the path. The heat waves disfigured the stranger. The person wore a cowboy hat, jeans, and a white shirt with a jean jacket draped over his right shoulder.

  Maria patted the mare’s thick neck and ran her fingers through its mane. The horse flicked her large ears to shoo away the flies. For a second one dark memory surfaced and Maria forced the thought away. She rode to heal, not to dredge forth horrors. Up ahead, the figure kept a steady pace.

  She tugged the reins and brought the mare to a stop. Thin dust curled around them, insects buzzed. Curiosity about the lone figure played in her mind, but she refused to use her angelic sight. The closer the stranger approached, memories she tried to repress edged forward.

  The stranger turned out to be a man. She took in the wide shoulders, his confident gunslinger gait. The crisp white shirt he wore accentuated his muscles. But the hat he wore poured a shadow over his angular face. His brown boots coated with thin dust looked new.

  Maria rode up to the man, stopped and leaned over. “Hello, are you lost,” she said in Spanish.

  The man shifted his head. “No, Maria,” he said in English. “I’m not lost. I’m where I want to be.”

  Maria slid out the saddle, her knees buckled and she caught the saddle horn for support. She threw her arms around him. He hugged her tight. “Jason,” she said.

  Jason held Maria. “Joan, Maria. Thank Joan.”