Of Light And Shadows

Chapter Fifty Four...

Jia couldn't move. She couldn't scream or shout or even flinch away from the knife poised over her heart. The shackles had complete control over her. She'd cut her wrists to shreds trying to wriggle out of them.

Seeing Lucifer bust his way through the door to the dungeon she'd been held in was both exhilarating and terrifying. The sight of him made her heart soar, but then it dropped like a lead weight as the jaws of Satan's trap snapped shut around him.

If Lucifer didn't put the shackles on there was no way Satan would kill her. He needed her to destroy God for him, but her mate didn't know that. She couldn't open her mouth to tell him it was a lie because her body was frozen.

Lucifer's anger faded in an instant, replaced by fear and resignation as his true form slipped away. Michael's expression morphed into alarm as the demon prince knelt before his father and held out his wrists.

"You can have me. Please let her go." Satan laughed and slipped the knife back into its sheath at his calf, sliding Jia from his lap and forcing her to stand.

"This is fun, isn't it? See how easy it is when you play the game?" The shackles clicked as they were unlocked from around her wrists, her power flooding back to her with such force it left her dizzy. She felt her wings strain and burst from her back in a flurry of shining feathers, her true form lighting up the room with an unearthly glow.

Lucifer took his chance, lunging forwards to punch Satan in the throat. The shackles dropped to the ground with a clatter as they fought. Jia tried to grab them but Satan's boot crunched into the side of her face and sent her sprawling. Michael and Lauviah jumped in to help, one engaging with Satan while the other went to pick her daughter off of the ground.

The room spun as Jia tried to sit up, helped by a delicate hand at her shoulder. She leaned over and snatched at the shackles, but Satan noticed and kicked them away from her, hooking them over his boot and lifting them out of reach. In the next second he was using them to bludgeon Michael.

Jia scrambled away from the fighting, heading for the door to try and give herself enough space to reach out to God. With her powers back she needed to warn them of what Satan was planning. She ran to the top of the stairs and through the broken door to stand in the dark beyond, taking a deep breath to drown out the sounds of fighting behind her.

She reached out with her mind, searching for her Inner Light and calling it forwards to summon a connection to her creator, straining to find the right ley line with no moongate to channel her power.

My Nephilim, came the whispered voice in her mind.

Satan plans to use me to destroy you, she pushed out quickly, hoping the message landed with enough impact to make God call an Angelic army down on Satan's ass.

Yes he does. I have known for some time.

So call your army!

My power does not work that way. I do not command armies, I create life. I give free will. My creations make their own choices and shape their own futures, as was always intended.

But Satan has the binding shackles! He can force us! Jia's thoughts grew frantic as she realised God wouldn't intervene. Being forced isn't shaping our own future.

Free will is a potent thing. You can overcome, Nephilim. All of you can. And then the deity withdrew from her, their cryptic message still lingering in her thoughts as she growled with frustration and turned to Lauviah in the dark.

"God knows of Satan's plan but won't help us," she said aloud. "We're on our own."

"Not quite on your own," an unfamiliar voice called from the shadows. A bright light lit up at the end of the windowless corridor, illuminating the silhouette of an Angel that looked almost identical to Archangel Michael, except his eyes were a startling blue.