Star, who reached out from Hell to instruct us. It is Lucifer who taught us how to taste the fruit of the vine. It is he who replaced abstinence with indulgence, ignorance with curiosity. It was Lucifer who liberated our spirits, encouraging our biological, spiritual, and intellectual ascent, and directed us toward the hidden forces of nature. He is our salvation, and we are his, for the time has come to undo the wrongs of the past and release our father from his unholy bonds.’
The crowd stomps and grunts, their rants causing the porous soil to flood. Across the street, the four owls continue staring, gasping great wheezes of breath.
Dominique fingers the sword, her arms trembling.
Lilith waits until her legion quiets. ‘And now, Yahweh has sent another messenger of pain. But fear not, for the arrival of this Hunahpu shall not cause you more despair. Devlin, your true savior, shall use the Hunahpu’s powers to unseal the Gates of Hell, releasing our father, the archangel, Lucifer!’
Wild stomping and grunts, the crowd trampling one another as it tries to move closer.
Lilith motions for silence. ‘Patience. The blessed resurrection shall be upon you soon enough. Until then, you may take one revolution around Lucifer’s light before returning to your dwellings.’
Dominique watches, dumbfounded, as the procession of the tortured circle slowly around the glowing alabaster tree, their colorful orbs absorbing its energy, glowing brighter as if sucking in its warmth, feeding off the tree’s light.
And then the beings depart, grunting and shoving one another, the bipeds jostling the slower amputees as they return to the village.
Remaining hidden, Dominique uses the smart-binoculars to zoom in upon another object, this one anchored in close proximity to one of the tree’s dangling lower limbs.
It is a wooden cross, supporting a crucified figure.
The head is obscured in a crown of thorns, the blood bleeding blue.
Jacob…
42
Dominique waits until the streets are deserted, then waits ten minutes more.
Moving out from hiding, she hurries down the avenue to the lake, slipping and sliding in the gray mire.
She steals a quick glance to her left. The smooth, quicksilver surface of the lake sparkles crimson, reflecting the ceiling embers high overhead.
Must hurry… before the demon sentry in Jacob’s holographic program appears.
She jogs faster, adrenaline and fear distracting her brain from the physical pain, the double-edged sword gripped firmly in both hands.
Twenty years of existence, twenty years of nightmares. For six years she has watched her son prepare for war within this same hellish environment. But this is no holographic program, and she is not Jacob.
God, please let him still be alive.
She races past the alabaster tree, hurrying to the cross and its unconscious crucified victim.
‘Jake? Jacob, honey, it’s me!’ She reaches the wooden cross’s base, gazing up at its crucified figure – who slowly opens his iridescent eyes, a smile appearing on his angelic face.
Dominique’s jaw drops. ‘Devlin…’
The Seraph spreads its wings, then leaps off the cross, his feet pouncing on Dominique’s chest, his talonlike toenails puncturing her environmental suit.
And then his wings stop flapping, and he leans in closer, staring at her, his dark expression quizzical. ‘You’re not Immanuel?’ He straddles her chest and sniffs her neck, his nostrils inhaling her scent. ‘First-Mother! Where is your other son? Tell me now, or I’ll kill Jacob.’
‘I’ll tell you… but first… I want to see him!’
Devlin’s wings beat the air, lifting him off Dominique’s chest. Regaining his feet, he pulls her up by the hair, then drags her toward the calabash tree.
Jacob is on his back, his throat and limbs pinned beneath the tree’s thickly knotted alabaster roots.
‘Speak now, or he dies.’
‘Manny never made the voyage. I took his place.’
Devlin’s eyes blaze violet. ‘Impossible.’
‘It… it’s true.’
‘ Arrgggghh!’ Devlin clubs her in the back of the head, sending her crumpling to the oily ground- unconscious.
The Seraph closes his eyes, allowing his mind to slip inside the nexus. Lilith is waiting for his consciousness within the dense white haze.
Immanuel is not here, Mother. The twins have altered the past!
It doesn’t matter, as long as the portal to Hell is unsealed and Lucifer is resurrected.
But it takes the presence of both Hunahpu twins to unseal it.
You forget, we still have One Hunaphu. His presence, combined with Jacob’s, will provide all the energy needed to open the gate.
Yes, but we cannot tap into his energy field while he remains within his protected domain.
This time he’ll leave. We’ll lure him out using his loved ones.
The pain jerks Dominique awake as Devlin drags her by the hair toward the luminescent white tree.
The Seraph stands before the immense trunk, flapping his wings. ‘Open your eyes, One Hunahpu. I want you to gaze upon the face of your beloved soul mate as I violate her before your God!’
The being punches Dominique across the back of her shoulder blades, the crushing blow dropping her to the ground.
She feels the Seraph’s talons shred the remains of her environmental suit down the back, then screams through her regulator as he pulls her pants down, exposing her bare buttocks.
She gags as powerful hands lift her hips to his naked groin.
‘Unseal the portal, One Hunahpu, or I swear to Lucifer, I’ll rape and torture her every minute of eternity!’
Two pinpoints of aqua blue appear in the gooey white sap, the outline of a face revealing itself just beneath the surface of the calabash bark.
Ripples appear on the lake, and the surface begins undulating, as if something large is disturbing the depths.
Devlin stares at the exotic liquid. It’s happening. The portal’s opening!
Jacob opens his eyes.
The subterranean ceiling is alive with flames that leap away from the broiling embers like solar flares. He attempts to sit up but finds a great weight pressing against his throat, more resistance binding his upper torso and limbs to the ground.
He hears his mother’s cries. Feels his father’s presence.
Closing his eyes, he slips into the nexus.
Jacob Gabriel’s mind enters the frigid white mist and he is afraid.
It’s been an eternity, my love. Have you missed me?
The haunting whisper tickles his ear. He can smell the jasmine, then he sees her eyes, radiating a bright Hunahpu blue.
The lithe form moves out from the mist, her swollen breasts pressing against the sheer fabric of a vermilion-colored negligee.
Her gaze is drawn to his right arm, which is still raw and bleeding from the last attack. Come closer, cousin. Let me lick your wounds.
Jacob backs away.
Still frightened?
Devlin… is the monster my son?
