Drawing back his hand, Zayfeer fingered his sword and started climbing the steps to the church’s front doors. “Come on, Broker. You need to see this.”
Hefting myself up on shaky legs, I followed him inside.
Chapter Twelve – A Painting’s Worth a Thousand Curses
Don’t go in the creepy church, Amy.
Despite the voice of reason, I stepped across the threshold and entered the dark, sinister vestibule of my purgatory’s Immaculate Conception.
In the real world of Eden, Immaculate Conception was a beautiful catholic church complete with gorgeous stained glass windows, beeswax candles and a large wooden cross behind the pulpit.
In my purgatory, IC was empty of all but the cross and the heavy air of repressed desires.
Following the echo of Zayfeer’s shoes, I entered the nave and caught my nonexistent breath as the stained glass windows and a dozen painted pictures became animated in front of my eyes. Saints, sinners, angels and demons played out scenes from the Bible in high def.
Turning in a circle to take in all the mini-movies, I stopped when I came to a picture with a red dragon in it. “What is this?”
Zayfeer ambled over and stood with me, watching the scene play out. “The Great War between God and Lucifer.” Michael appeared and Z’s face went slack. “‘Now war arose in Heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated and there was no longer any place for them in Heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world – he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.’ Revelation 12, 7-9.”
Lucifer was the dragon pictured with seven heads and a crown on each head. Even as a dragon, he was beautiful. So beautiful, I stared.
“You’ll slay him in the end.” Z’s voice was matter-of-fact.
“Excuse me?”
“The dragon. It’s what you fear most. Lucifer and true love and all that Romeo and Juliet shit. He leaves you, you’re alone. Unloved. String the violins, yada, yada. But he’s your get-out-of-jail-free card. You slay the dragon, you’re topside before you know it.”
“Sounds very Arthurian.”
“You a King Arthur fan?”
“Only the Clive Owen version.”
Zayfeer quirked his head and one eyebrow.
The picture shifted and a pregnant woman appeared in the heavens, backlit by the sun and standing on top of the moon. A crown of stars circled her head and dozens of angels toppled from the clouds at her feet. Her features were plain and undistinguishable, but she wore a red robe. I glanced down at the sleeves of the robe I wore and saw the resemblance. As I watched, the dragon appeared and sat at her feet like a well-trained pet.
Her eyes, staring straight at me, turned ice blue.
Oh, crud. “Who is that?”
Zayfeer blew out a dramatic sigh. “This little tableau is what I was telling you about. Heaven’s plans. The dragon—a.k.a. my buddy Luc—is supposed to devour the child you give birth to because that child will otherwise alter the fate of the entire universe. But you’ve screwed up the balance of good and evil by making him give up his magic. No magic, no temptation, no sin. So now, as this picture depicts, your child will be born and he’ll cherish it as much as he cherishes you.”
Holy hot buttons. A child? I instinctively placed a hand on my lower abdomen. Not only did I blame myself for my mother’s abandonment and fear being alone, I was tormented by the idea that I would never have a family of my own. After all the evil I had done in my life, I didn’t deserve one.
“God is not happy,” Z continued. “And when God’s not happy, Heaven’s enforcer takes command.”
“Michael?”
“Yep.”
Zayfeer had to be messing with me. I was dead. This was purgatory. God or whoever was orchestrating this trip through limbo knew my hot buttons and was sledge-hammering them.
Dropping my hand from my stomach, I squared my shoulders. “What if I do have Luc’s baby? How will that change the universe?”
Z lit a fresh cigarette, gave me a respectful glance. “You and your child will redeem Lucifer. No more Hell. No more purgatory. And Heaven? Your child will rule it.”
“I don’t know what’s in that cigarette you’re smoking, but you’re killing brain cells.”
That annoying grin spilled across his face. “Don’t believe me, huh?” He cocked his chin at a painting behind me. “Have a look over there.”
A magnificent angel with gold-tipped wings bent over a grieving human woman. His wings encircled them both as if he were protecting her. His lips moved but no sound reached us. The woman looked up and I startled. My mother.