Evil - Chapter 33
“So, let me get this straight,” Director Frente said as she leaned into her desk, ping-ponging her eyeballs between Kimberly, Margaret, and me.
This is a portal fantasy series with mythological roots and action-adventure tendencies. You can search through all my work on my website.
It's not easy being the Antichrist.
Anjelica’s mother never told her that she was a demon. Now, all she wants is her old life back, but that’s not possible for her. Not after what she’s seen.
Anjelica used to be a popular cheerleader with an awesome life, but that was before an evil cult of demons tried to use her blood to open a portal to Hell and start the Apocalypse.
She was rescued from that fate, barely, and because of the imminent threat to her life, her saviors ripped her from Los Angeles and brought her to a safe house in the middle of nowhere.
They said it was for her own good, but she would rather be dead than stuck in boring, old Bronard, Missouri. She was from the big city, so a sleepy, rural life wasn’t for her.
She longed for excitement.
So, when she met a young witch with a mysterious past who promised to show her everything she knew about opening portals and traveling between distant lands, they bonded immediately
I mean, what’s the worst that could happen, right?
It’s not like they would open an intergalactic gateway to another planet and get thrown into a brand, new world with no way to get back to Earth, right?
Join Anjelica in her own solo adventure and find out what happened to her immediately after the events in Magic.
Then, finally, with much consternation, she pointed to Kimberly. “You’re a fairy.” She turned her finger to Margaret. “You’re a witch.” Finally, her finger landed on me. “And you’re a demon.”
“I’m a pixie, actually,” Kimberly said. “There’s a difference.”
“And I’m technically only half a demon,” I added. “The other half is human, I think. I never really got confirmation on that.”
“But you’ve got me pegged,” Margaret said with a smile, snapping her fingers to produce a little flame. “Though I’m not very powerful…yet.”
Director Frente leaned back and scratched her head. “I have to admit, this is the strangest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Really?” Kimberly said. “I mean, you have travelers popping up from other planets, and this is the strangest thing?”
“Well, yeah.” The director stood up and began to pace. “That’s just science, I think.”
I laughed. “It’s not science. These travelers have stumbled into the secret passages built by the gods that allow them to slip between worlds.”
She pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose. “Gods? Now you’re saying there are gods?”
“Duh,” Kimberly said. “You have demons, for one, which means you need angels, and then gods, and—it’s a whole intricate system. You can’t believe in one without the other.”
“I even know an angel,” I added. “Kimberly and I both do. Though I guess she’s also a demon. I don’t know. Cross breeding gets tricky.”
“This is giving me a headache.” The director pulled out a bottle of pills and downed several without water. “Is there a plan in all of this?”
“Aren’t plans kind of your thing?” Margaret said. “We’re just giving you the information. I can tell you, though, that if I’m a witch, then there’s a good chance that the members of the royal family are witches, too.”
“Wonderful.”
“I think this is good news,” I said. “I mean, you’ve been trying to fight fire with fire, but if the king and his family are witches, then you’re not even playing the same sport.”
“She’s right, even if she’s mixing metaphors,” Kimberly said. “We need to make contact with the magical creatures on this planet. Maybe they can help us neutralize the king’s powers.”
“This planet doesn’t have magical creatures,” the director scoffed. “If it did, I would know.”
“I met a guy in a jail cell that seemed to think there were,” I said.
“Oh great, so I’m supposed to take my advice from a drunk in a jail cell.”
“He wasn’t drunk.” I paused. “At least, I don’t think he was.”
“Ma’am,” Kimberly replied, standing to her full height, “what you don’t know can just about fill the Grand Canyon.” She stepped forward. “You might not understand that reference, but I guarantee there are monsters in this world.”
“I can’t plan a rebellion on the possibility of magic—not without proof. That would be lunacy.”
Kimberly disappeared in a puff of smoke and reappeared across the room moments later. “Hello, I am all sorts of magical.”
Margaret snapped her fingers, and fire burned from the palm of her hand. “Same.”
“Put that away,” the director grumbled. “I’m not saying you’re not magical. I’m saying there’s no magic on this planet.”
“There’s magic on this planet. I’m sure of it.” Kimberly furrowed her brow. “Go ahead and plan your little war. I’m going to find the magical folk in this city. You’ll need them if you want to win.”
“I want to go with you,” I said, hopping up from my seat.
“It’s too dangerous,” Kimberly said. “You’re one of the most recognizable people on the planet right now. Besides, if anyone outside of this room found out I was looking for magic to help the cause, the rebellion would turn into a laughingstock.” She lifted her chin toward Director Frente. “The director proved that.”
“I’m not going to be stuck here in this place while the whole world keeps spinning outside of these walls,” I shouted.
“You won’t be stuck here. I need you and Margaret for something else, anyway,” Director Frente said. “We have a meeting with the president of Risyl, a nation that has been at war with King Ulthar for years. If we can gain their resources, it will go a long way to legitimizing our cause.”
“Then we both have our missions, it would seem,” Kimberly said.
***
“President Achel is a wise and noble leader,” Director Frente said after we had landed in the small airport where we would meet our Risylian envoys. “Pragmatic and compassionate.”
The door to the private jet opened, and we walked out onto the tarmac, where three long black limos were parked. Two dozen men and women in dark sunglasses and black suits stood outside the limos, staring at us intently.
One of the agents opened the door to the last limo in line, and a woman, wearing a bright blue fur coat, stepped out. Her white hair was done up in a 1950s beehive, and her lips were black as the night. Her eyes were ice blue but not cold, and when she saw Director Frente walk toward her, her deep scowl broke into a bright smile.
“Relonia!” she said with a light wave of her white-gloved hand. “It’s so wonderful to see you again. It’s been too long.” She kissed Director Frente on both cheeks and then pulled her in for a quick hug before turning to us. “The two of you need no introduction. Your speech is all anyone can talk about. It takes a lot to surprise me, and even I was taken aback.” She shook my outstretched arm with both of her hands and did the same with Margaret.
“It’s very nice to meet you as well, ma’am,” Margaret said.
“Please, call me Ynez. All my friends do, and I do hope we can be friends.” She stepped back and admired all of us. “Well, shall we get started? I’ve prepared a room in my private hangar. I know this spycraft is a bit gauche, but if King Ulthar found out we were talking, especially before I had a chance to speak with my allies, it would not be a good thing. I hope you understand.”
“Of course,” Director Frente said. I didn’t understand, not at all, but then I wasn’t an expert in international diplomacy, so I just nodded my head and pushed Margaret’s wheelchair toward a hangar that was surrounded by a cadre of guards.
One of the guards at the vanguard walked forward and opened the door, while another ducked in to secure it. When she came out and nodded, President Achel walked inside, and we followed. Next to the black jet docked in the space, there was a large conference table covered in food and drink. I had been eating nothing but café food for days, and the sight of sandwiches and chips—that hadn’t been made the night before and left out to rot—nearly brought a tear to my eye.
“Please sit,” President Achel said, and the three of us followed her to our seats. “Now, what can I do for you, Relonia? Your call was unexpected, to say the least. Though, much of the past week has been unforeseen.”
Director Frente took a sip of water. “Once, long ago, you took a meeting with me…after I left my former post…and told me that while you were with my cause in spirit, your support must be private until such time as we had the means to make our move. I believe that time has come.
“I have spent the last several years building the infrastructure, and we now have hundreds of agents throughout the capital, and thousands more all over the country.” She turned to the two of us. “And now, these ladies have helped turn public support to our favor. We believe we put enough pressure on the capital to force its implosion, but we are still small and need allies to push from the outside. More importantly, we need those who will acknowledge our new government when the king surrenders.”
President Achel listened with growing consternation on her face, and when Director Frente finished, she thought for a moment before speaking. “Relonia, how long ago did you leave the service of the king?”
The question caught me like a punch to the jaw. Director Frente worked for the king? How could she—
“Seven years ago,” Director Frente replied. There was a heavy sadness to her words, and when I tried to catch her eye, she avoided me.
President Achel took a sip of water. “You were his minister of war if I remember correctly.”
“Undersecretary, Madam President.”
“How many times did you sit across the table from me, a table just like this, and demand my surrender?”
“I—it wasn’t—I’m not sure.”
“Twelve,” the president said sternly. “You sat across from me and demanded my surrender a dozen times, and every time I told you no. I told you that we would defeat your king and that he would regret waging war against the free states of Risyl. For those seven years, I have stood by those words, but I must admit that our will is faltering. Bread rations are meager already, and the king just took Tyim, our third biggest port. I don’t know how much longer we can hold him off without help. So, I am inclined to assist you. However, I should tell you that the king’s son, Prince Yimnit, has come to negotiate the terms of our surrender, just like you did so many years ago, and I am seriously considering taking him up on his offer.”
Director Frente didn’t seem surprised by this. She simply nodded. “I know why he is here, and while I need your help destroying the monarchy, I came to ask your permission in something more personal. I need your consent to kidnap the prince while he is on your soil as a bargaining chip for the king’s surrender.”
“You wish to poke the bear. His retribution will be swift and brutal.”
“You can withstand his assault. The king has always had an air of invincibility to him. Margaret cracked that veneer, and losing his son will crack it further. The king rules by divine right, and until now, that has never been questioned. I’m saying we should question it. The best part is that you will not be implicated. This will be a rebellion operation, and when we are successful, you can condemn it all you want, though I would prefer if you used it as a chance to throw your support behind us and helped us bring more allies to the cause.”
“You were always a cunning chess player,” President Achel said. She turned to me. “The director puts a lot of her faith in you, and you haven’t said anything, either of you. Tell me, why should we believe in you?”
I looked over at the director, who gave me a slight nod. “I’m not sure you should, frankly. There is certainly nothing in my history that shows I’m qualified to be a symbol for a whole movement—” If the director was upset with me for telling the truth, she wasn’t showing it. “—but that’s the position we find ourselves in. If I have learned anything in these past weeks, it’s that you have to play the cards you are dealt. I don’t know much about your world, but I know things have been the same for a long time. What we—Margaret and I—represent, well it’s a catalyst, isn’t it? Something that disrupts the status quo and allows for the system to change. The catalyst isn’t a change in and of itself. It’s just an agent of change, and for better or worse, that catalyst is us. I’ve seen things change already in my short time on your planet, and I know enough to know that if you don’t take advantage of that catalyst and strike quickly, then you’ll lose that spark, and you’ll have to wait for the next one, and who knows when that will be?”
“It sucks,” Margaret added when I stopped to take a breath. “It sucks that you have to rely on us, but it sounds like you are in a bad way. I doubt my father will be kind to you if you should surrender, especially since you have defied him for so long. Your back is against the wall, and here we come, two stupid kids who should definitely not be symbols for any kind of resistance. We’re offering you something to rally behind, an out, and maybe, just maybe, a chance to change the solution that’s been stagnant for so many years.”
President Achel thought for a moment, stroking her chin. “Well, that was quite an eloquent speech. I can see why you have inspired your people.”
“They are not my people,” I said. “My people are back on my Earth. But there are good people here, and they need our help, both yours and mine.”
She nodded. “I will talk to the Triumvirate and try to see what we can do. We have all been beaten back to the brink. Maybe we have enough for one last charge.” President Achel eyed Director Frente narrowly. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
This is a portal fantasy series with mythological roots and action-adventure tendencies. You can search through all my work on my website.