THE SACRIFICE

by Patricia Soto

“Where is he?” I whispered.

“You seem to have invoked motivation in the demons.” A voice suddenly spoke, coming from my side. I turned my head and saw God standing at a window, His hands crossed behind His back. I looked past him and realized that Shangri-La was…empty.

“Where is everyone?” I whispered.

“Fighting demons.”

“Why? What about Jason?” I murmured.

“He is also fighting the demons.”

“Is there…anyway…he can die?” I whispered, looking at God’s back. He did not turn around.

“I believe so.” Tears began to well up in my eyes.

“God. Father, send me down there. Please. I must protect him,” I pleaded. This time, God turned around.

“No, Leslie. You are not well,” He said.

“Please. I must protect him. I cannot lose him again,” I cried.

“Leslie, please understand. You are not well. If I send you down there, you will surely be banished to Hell’s Pit once more and I doubt you will be breaking out this time.” I slowly got up. I felt exhausted with just that maneuver.        

“Leslie…” God said. I looked at Him.

“Father, I have to.” God sighed and raised His hands. I was gently pushed back down on my bed.

“Father!” I cried, “I must protect Jason!”

“Pray, Leslie. And he will be protected” He said. I couldn’t move; I was glued to my bed. Tears sprung out of my eyes.

“Father!” I screamed, “Please!” God turned His back on me and once more continued to look out the window.

“I’m sorry, Leslie. But I do not want you to go back to Hp. I saw what they did to you. And it hurt me so much to see you suffer but there was nothing I could do. I assume it must’ve hurt Jason even more. He became callus, aggressive, a dope fiend. All because of you, Leslie. He missed you dearly. How do you think he would react if he came back from the war and realized you had once more been banished to Hp? He would hate me. He would want to be disavowed into nothingness.”

“Father…” I whispered softly. I was so thickheaded; I did not want to listen. I knew I had to save Jason.

“Father. I am the strongest. You yourself have witnessed testimony to the things I have done” I cried. 

“I know that, Leslie. And I also believe you are the strongest. But the damage done to you over 100 years of being in Hp does not just go away in a couple of weeks.”

“Father…”I continued to cry. God turned around and looked at me, His gentle face smiling.

“Get some rest, Leslie. For tomorrow shall be a better day.”

“Father! If the angels can die, why did you send them? Does that mean they will go to Hell’s Pit?” I whispered. God stopped in His tracks.

“I am afraid so, Leslie” He said quietly.

“Father! They do not deserve it!” I cried, “Please do something!”

“Lucifer will not listen.”

“Lucifer” I whispered. It was then that I remembered that in my past life, Lucifer had possessed me.

“Have a good rest, Leslie” God said and closed the blinds, blocking out the five sun’s rays.

“Lucifer” I whispered once more,” Lucifer, I invoke thee upon my soul.” God whirled around, wide eyed.

“Leslie! No!” He pleaded. He raised His hands but one hand broke free of His grasp and pushed Him back.

“Do not do it, Leslie. I beg of you” He pleaded, pools of brown sadness pouring from His eyes. I continued to chant my invocation. I felt an inescapable grip tighten around my lungs and work its way throughout my body.

“God, help me” I breathed as my eyes rolled to the top of my head. Darkness.

“Welcome back, Leslie.” I slowly opened my eyes and turned my head in the direction of the vibrations coming toward me. Lucifer sat on a throne of skulls. Some of them were still alive. Their eyeballs, which reflected fear and agony, frantically whizzed around the room.

“Lucifer” I whispered.

“That’s me” he said and gave me an evil smile.

“Send the angels back to Heaven” I said weakly, still on the ground. My eyes watered; the fumes were unbearable. I inhaled and fumes slipped into my lungs, clutching them and squeezing them, driving the air out of my lungs.

“And why would I do that?” Lucifer asked. He got up from his throne and walked toward me. My eyes followed his every movement, despite the burning pain. He laughed.

“How does it feel to be back in Hell’s Pit, Leslie?” he asked.

“Send them back, Lucifer,” I demanded. Lucifer stopped in front of me. I looked up at him, tears streaming down my cheeks. He crouched down and came face to face with me. I was forced to look into those cold, black, lifeless pits of his.

“Do you know what angel’s tears are worth down here?” he whispered. I did not take my eyes off of those empty pits that led nowhere.

“No” I whispered.

“Let’s just say, that having millions of actual angels is better than tears.”

“I think you might find him…special” Lucifer said and grinned wickedly. Tears sprung out of my eyes but they were not tears of irritation; they were tears of sorrow. I knew who Lucifer was going to bring out…

“Jason” I whispered softly. Jason appeared. He was trapped in a glass encasement that had a striking resemblance to God’s reincarnation machine.

“Leslie!” he shouted through the glass. A dozen demons were in there with him. They began tearing at his flesh. Jason screamed in agony.

“Stop! Stop it! You are hurting him!” I cried. Lucifer shrieked with laughter.

“I am hurting him??” he shrieked and continued to laugh. His laughter abruptly ceased as he fiercely gazed into my eyes.

“It is what we do down here, Leslie. One hundred years here and you still don’t understand?” he asked. I looked down at the ground as Jason’s screams tore through my ears and heart. I could not bear to hear him suffer. Tears slid down my cheeks. I slowly pushed myself up. Lucifer remained crouching on the floor. He got up and looked at me, smiling cheerfully, while I stood cowering in fear of failure.

“Let them go. Send them back to Shangri-La” I whispered.

“Why, Leslie? Give me one good reason and I just might send them back.”

“Because…” My gaze shifted to Jason. I took a deep breath and looked at Lucifer again.

“Amor vincit omnia” I said quietly. Lucifer’s smile disappeared.

“If love conquers all, you silly girl, then why does your God allow humans to suffer? Why did He let you suffer while you were alive? Why did He take your mother and grandmother from you? Why did He let your father abandon you? Why did He let Jason leave? Why has He not yet shut down Hell Pit’s gates? Why did He let Jason come down here? Why did He let you come here? And why did He let you stay here for one hundred years? Where is your God when it comes down to these things, Leslie? Why does your God choose to remain silent and not do anything? And why, did He…let you break out…of my domain?” Lucifer asked through clenched teeth.

Because, Lucifer…” I started to say, then moved closer to him. My eyes locked onto Lucifer’s and a blue cloud of fire sparked from my hand.

“My God does not need to perform great acts to show that He has power,” I growled. Lucifer’s face twisted into fury.

“Demons! Attack!” he shouted. I stepped back. The demons who had been attacking Jason were now on the move toward me. Jason slumped lifelessly against the glass, pools of blood draining from his body. I raised my arms, palms up, and out emerged blue clouds of fire. But the demons appeared to have evolved. They dodged the clouds with the quickness.

“You cannot stop us, Leslie. We are more powerful than ever before! You helped us. By breaking out of Hell’s Pit, you created an exit. An exit through which we could feed and obtain energy from humans. We never thought we would create such chaos that God would send down His precious angels. We thought He would leave all the work to exorcists. And now that we have sent millions of angels down here, we have drained them of their powers and abilities. Just like we did to you. So thank you, Leslie!” Lucifer shouted, as swarms of winged demons began to crowd around me.

“Shut up!” I cried angrily. I shot out clouds and hit some demons, but it was useless. There were too many. I was tackled to the ground and one winged demon with talons dug its claws into my back and lifted me up. My flesh slowly tore from my bone. I bit my tongue as I was dropped to the ground.
           
“Name your price. Before I have to kill you,” I breathed. Lucifer walked up to me, bent down, and pressed his hand to my cheek.
           
“You are weaker than when I left you. He seems to have made you weak. Love, seems to have made you weak,” he said softly,” And one more thing. You cannot kill me.”
           
“What makes you think I cannot succeed?” I asked.
           
“If you kill me, you kill your precious God. Because without me, there is no God and without Him, there is no Hell.” I was silent. Lucifer got up and paced around the caverns. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jason twitch. My eyes flickered toward him.
           
“Jas?” I called out. Lucifer looked up and eyed Jason, who in turn curled his fingers. My heart thumped in my chest.
           
“Do not get your hopes up, Leslie. We are in Hell’s Pit.” Jason slowly lifted his head and looked around him. One of the demons growled. Jason turned around. Our gaze met and I felt so much love for that beautiful face, I was willing to give up anything and everything for him.
           
“The one thing that infuriated me the most, Leslie, was the fact that you broke out of Hell’s Pit. That really pissed me off.” Jason’s head drooped. I swallowed and continued to stare at him.
           
“And now that I have you back here, I’m not going to let you go. Both times you died, you deserved to come here. And I am going to make you suffer for every little thing you did wrong. All those soldiers you killed? 1000 years of pain for each one.” My eyes flickered to Lucifer, then back to Jason.
           
“You should have listened to Christ. He was right. You are not well enough to face me. And you say love conquers all, does it?” he asked. I nodded.
           
“Love, has fucked you, Leslie. Because of love, you are here. And because of love, you are never leaving, ever again.” My eyes flickered over to Lucifer, my vision blurry with tears. I blinked, and a single tear escaped and slowly slid down my cheek. 
           
“If I stay here, will you promise to send every single angel back to Shangri-La, including Jason?” I dropped my gaze and stared at the ground, the only sound coming from Jason as he struggled to get up. I stood quiet and waited for Lucifer’s reply. I finally looked up. Lucifer’s eyebrows rose as he met my glance. I held my breath. 
           
“Are you well enough to fight?” he asked quietly. I stared at him.
           
“W…What?” I choked out, tears welling up in my eyes.
           
“Yes. Are you well enough to fight? Or are you still weak with love?” he sneered.
           
“I…I don’t understand” I said. Lucifer impatiently rolled his eyes.
           
“I will take your offer. On one condition.”
           
“What’s that?” I breathed.
           
“You command my army against your city of angels.” Tears rolled down my cheeks, past my lips, and hit the ground. Small rubies sprang up.
           
“I…I can’t…” I muttered. Lucifer’s eyebrows rose once more.
           
“Then I guess Jason, will just have to suffer like you did” he said and snapped his fingers. Demons were on the move toward Jason, who was still slumped against the glass. I cried out, jumped up, and moved toward Jason. Claws slithered from out of my knuckles as I raised my fists and slashed at the demons.
           
“Stay away from him!” I screamed and started to shoot out fire.
           
“Let her, children. Let her bid her last good-byes” Lucifer said loudly over the demon’s growls. The demons withheld and stepped back. I ran over to Jason and sank to the ground beside him. The claws slid back into my knuckles.
           
“Jason” I breathed and cradled his beautiful face in my hands. His eyes half-closed, he looked up at me.
           
“Leslie” he mumbled weakly, his head starting to droop again. I raised his face up to mine. I stared deeply into his eyes, and saw myself reflected in his beautiful blue pupils. Tears welled up in my eyes as I stared back at the girl reflected in his eyes.
           
“Jason…I’m sorry” I whispered and pressed my lips to his forehead.
           
“What’s going on? Why are you sorry?” he muttered. My eyes searched his.
           
“Oh, Jas. I’m sorry,” I said again. I pulled him closer to me, and pressed his head to my chest, so that he could hear my dead heartbeat. Jason’s hands weakly grasped my waist as he pulled away from me.
           
“Leslie, I love you,” he whispered. Tears sprang out of my eyes as I threw my arms around him and squeezed him tightly.
           
“I love you too, Jas. I love you too,” I whispered back.
           
“That’s quite enough, Leslie” Lucifer barked. I clung on harder to Jason, never wanting to let go. A firm grip enclosed around my arm.
           
“Papa says you must go” one of the demons growled.
           
“No” I whispered.
           
“Leslie, what’s going on?” Jason mumbled weakly. I was pulled away from Jason. I jerked my arm out of the demon’s grip and ran back to Jason.
          
“Forgive me” I whispered and kissed him. A sharp stinging pain tore through my side as I was tossed aside. Jason was lifted from the machine and taken away.
           
“Jason” I breathed. My eyes studied his beautiful face one last time, until he was finally carried from sight. I slumped to the ground and buried my face in the dirt, sobbing, the pain in my side throbbing.
           
“Enough, Leslie! I have enough rubies as it is. Feeble angels crying. Nothing better to do than cry” Lucifer sneered. I stopped crying and weakly got up, anger boiling inside me.
           
“You” I growled and ran toward Lucifer’s grinning face. I flew up in the air and pounced down on him, blades outstretched. Lucifer lazily flicked his wrist and I was thrown backwards against the walls. I fell to the ground with a loud thump, pain shooting throughout my body.
           
“Save your energy for the war. And keep that anger fueled” he said, grinning. Determined, I got back up and fire sparked from my palms.
           
“How do I know all angels are safely back in Shangri-La?" I demanded, walking closer to where Lucifer sat.
           
“Poor Leslie. Drained, weak, helpless. Her love is gone. Her god must render her a heretic. Her only exit from Hell, and she came back to save her fellow angels. Mind you, God certainly doesn’t consider you an angel anymore now. Does He?” Lucifer sneered, grinding his fingernail on a skull.
           
“Shut…up” I snarled. Lucifer waggled his finger at me.
           
“I have seen what you are capable of, Leslie. Why keep millions of feeble, vulnerable angels? When I can have the fallen angel herself?” he asked.
          
“You will regret this, Lucifer,” I said through clenched teeth.
           
“You cannot kill me, Leslie. No matter how powerful you are.”
           
“Who said I would kill you? You are powerless without your demons” I said. Lucifer opened his mouth and shrieked loudly with laughter.
           
“My demons?” he shrieked and continued to laugh.