Plague of Angels Read Online Free PDF Page A

and coiled her serpent’s body around Tribunal’s neck. She could not give Him a true embrace, so she gave Him what she could. Nyx was determined to stay with Tribunal as He endured the agonizing final moments of His human life.
    The darkness around them grew deep enough to dim the torches of the soldiers. The crowd’s cries faded to sniffles and silence as they, too, realized what must be happening. A few faint flickers of lightning in the distance gave bursts of grey and shadow to the blackness around them. Thunder rumbled across the sky.
    Then the first real sheet of lightning ripped across the darkness, blinding everyone as the winds howled and the rain slammed down on the earth, pounding the flesh of the faithful and the soldiers alike, and driving the weaker members of the crowd to their knees. Again and again the lightning flashed and the thunder roared as the earth itself mourned Tribunal’s passing.
    Directly above, the sky was ripped open, as if talons had punctured the flesh of the sky, and then shredded it. A brilliant light, far brighter than any the earth had seen, shone down directly onto the cross.
    It was the light of Heaven, and Nyx knew that none of the mortals could see it.
    “They come for me,” His voice rang in her head again. “Go, now.”
    From the gash in the heavens, five golden-skinned Angels with massive, pure white wings began to descend. Fair, ethereal robes billowed about them, defying gravity. The fabric clung to their perfect forms, their beauty in stark contrast to the earthly gore down below. They too were invisible to mortal eyes.
    Nyx uncoiled from His neck, and her serpent body fell to the wet, muddy earth below the cross. She slid away, faster than any human could see. In the darkness, hidden behind a rock, she changed form and became Mary once more. She dashed back to the hill, forcing her way through the crowd with elbows and shoulders and just enough of her own power to make the people move out of her way.
    She reached the front of the mourners, praying she was not too late. She kept her hood low over her face, and her eyes away from the Angels above. There was little chance they would recognize her, and she suspected they were too concerned about their mission to stray from it. Still, she knew she must not draw their attention.
    She turned her eyes to her Tribunal, hoping that it was not too late. His eyes were starting to grow dull, and she could see the fire in them passing out of His body. Still, He saw her, and for one moment, He smiled again.
    “I love you,” she mouthed, silently. She found herself crying, which Angels never did, not even in mortal form as she was now.
    He looked up to the clouds, and the heavenly light shone on Him. As Nyx watched, His smile crumbled, replaced by something close to despair.
    “Father,” he gasped, and all the bitterness that He had held since she first met Him poured out into his words. “Why have You forsaken me?”
    His body shuddered, and the last of the strength went out of it. As she watched, His spirit slipped the bounds of His false flesh and began rising toward heaven.
    “No!” Nyx cried, willing Him to stay for just a moment longer, even as she knew He was gone.
    “My Father has made His decision,” Nyx heard Tribunal say in her mind. And for the first time, unrestrained by a mortal body, she felt His true power. It shook her to the core, even as she realized that He sounded flayed, as if someone had torn open His soul the way the scourges had torn open his flesh.
    “He has betrayed me.”
    “My love,” she sent back. “What must I do?”
    His voice filled her head, and the power of it filled her with the desire to obey, no matter what the cost to herself. Part of her rebelled against it, as she had rebelled against Heaven, but she forced that part into silence, listening to her lover’s instructions. “In three days His judgment will come to pass. And when you stand as the sole Angel on this earth, speak the