“I cannot wait for the day you go to meet the master you decided to serve. That will be a well-deserved life sentence. Hell has a very special place for the depth of your depravity,” I smiled, taunting him.

“Shut up!” Seven screamed from her place next to Aliah. This time her voice was shrill and ugly, shrieking into the charged air between our side and theirs.

She was standing next to Aliah, almost hiding behind him. He kept his body so that it shielded her without having to put his arm around her and I wondered what their relationship was. He whispered in her ear after her outburst, calming her…. centering her…. controlling her…. and even though it was just for a brief second, he seemed to have the desired effect on her that he wanted. She melted into him, letting his words float over her like a hit of her favorite drug.

“Ah, finally,” Aliah announced, although maybe four minutes had passed since we met them on the football field.

My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach, and my lungs stopped functioning. My chest constricted painfully and my vision blurred into confusion as six more Fallen walked across the field roughly holding my parents and Tristan. The evil Angels held multiple swords to each of them as they walked across the field and in front of me.

For at least a full minute I saw red…. like the actual color. My vision blurred into a hazy nothingness of rage and I fought the urge to rush at the six capable Warriors and fight my loved one’s way to freedom.

I shook my head, focusing my vision back on the people I loved most in this world and stopped thinking things through. I let an ancient battle instinct take over that had been passed from generation to generation since the beginning of time, finally landing on me and readied myself for what would be the most important battle of my life so far.

My eyes met my parents, who stood with unabandoned resolve, ready for whatever fate they faced. And then flickered to Tristan’s who mirrored their resolve. I took a second to stare at him and forced myself to believe he was actually ready to die; but his emerald green eyes shimmered with a strong belief in me and if it wasn’t me that could save him than he could face death. He was willing to die for this….

My heart contracted at the thought of it. The impossible thought of it. I would never let him die from my war. Never.

“A human, Aliah? Really?” That’s low for even you.” Serena growled, her shoulders trembling with barely restrained anguish.

“Really?” Aliah asked dryly. “You really think there is something too evil for me?”

Laughter bubbled up in Seven again and the sound was hauntingly refreshing in the midst of all the thick battle tension. And because of that, she seemed even more disturbing. I hated the brightness of her light and the depth of her evil mixed together. She shouldn’t be able to keep both.

“Off you go, my pet. Say goodbye to your brother and I’ll meet you at home,” Aliah murmured to her sweetly.

“Seth won’t you come with me?” Seven asked, her bottom lip trembling in a pout.

“No, Seven,” Seth growled, his voice husky from a complexity of emotion I couldn’t even comprehend.

I began to tremble then, looking across the field at my parents and Tristan, at hearing the turmoil in Seth’s voice. I needed the battle to begin now, I needed to move into action and save some people. My eyes cut to Tristan’s again and held his gaze for a moment, promising him I wouldn’t let anything happen to him.

“Till next time then,” Seven smiled wickedly at Seth and then she shot across the field to cup his face in her hands.

The rest of us stood shocked for just the second it took for her to place a kiss on his cheek and then shoot up into the sky. Seth’s eyes followed her but he stayed next to me, he stayed with me to fight.

And I could literally feel the war waging inside of him to follow her.

Thankfully, with Seven’s movement the battle began. Serena descended on Aliah with all of her heavenly power and the rest of us followed suit. Swords were drawn, metal met metal, and the sound of Shadows shrieking and screaming filled the air.

The black sky opened up and snow poured from the dark clouds in a violent blizzard of ice and wind. I let my light extend around me so that I could be as strong of a fighter as possible. Lightning cracked overhead and flashed; striking images of good versus evil all over the field came in short glimpses through the darkness.

Seth and I worked together in perfect unison, fighting off Fallen and Shadows alike. Evil seemed to be everywhere, attacking from every direction. I moved so fast and struck out my sword so quickly that it felt like I was fighting blind. I struck before I could see what I was striking at and I blocked before I could see what was coming. I was engaged with the one remaining evil Star, matching her sword swings exactly with mine, while also fighting off the relentless flow of Shadows that thickened the air into a black choking blanket around me.

I had one goal and one goal only and that was to get to my parents and Tristan.

It was impossible to see who was winning or who was fighting who. We were a jumbled mess on the football field.

A Shadow sliced against my lower back and my knee fell to the soggy floor. I swung my sword up over my head to meet my opponent and made it just in time. She had swung down straight with all of her power and the viciousness of her blow jostled and unnerved me. I dug my toe into the ground and sprung forward, knowing she would be off balance because of the power she put into her swing. Without thinking things through too closely, I swung my sword out to the side and across my chest. I hit her weapon at just the perfect place near the hilt and knocked it out of her hands. I let the momentum of my swing turn me in a full circle and then while she still watched her blade fall to the ground with wide eyes, my sword connected with her neck and sliced all the way across.

Her head lolled forward and then fell hollowly to the ground before her body crumpled and followed.

I suppressed a sob and kept moving without looking back at my victim. Shadows had been the extent of my killing up until now, save for the kindergarten hamster that met an untimely and accidental death at my hands years ago. Even if she was evil, even if she had turned her soul over to the Darkness…. she was still a Star, an unnamed and dead Star.

And I was responsible for her death.

I didn’t have much time to think about it though as I was met with another of the Fallen, this one a huge Warrior that had helped drag my parents here. My saber met his and we fought each other just a few feet from where my parents and Tristan still knelt, living at least. They were only guarded by two Fallen now, and I assumed the rest had needed to join the battle…. which was a good thing.

A very good thing.

The bad thing was that my parents were definitely still unarmed and Tristan was in serious danger.

So was I.

This Warrior was unbelievably strong. My muscles ached and trembled from the effort to continue to fight and hold him off. My feet started to slow and the Shadows had worked their icy cold death into my veins making me feel sluggish. I kept Tristan in my peripheral vision at all times to motivate me to get to him, but this Warrior was determined to end this battle quickly.

Iced bits of snow whipped against my face as the blizzard consumed the air around us. My hair was slicked across my throat and forehead and my clothes were soggy and dripping water. The ground wasn’t softening even with the light of our presence heating it while we fought; the cold temperature of evil seemed to win out even against the ground.

And it seemed it would win out against me too, as I failed to meet the Fallen’s swing in a fatal error and stumbled awkwardly to the ground. I stared up into his black eyes, with his gray haze surrounding him and my mind found complete clarity. He raised his sword high above his head and stepped on my sword so I was helpless to defend myself.

I closed my eyes not giving myself time to think about the end, but it turned out my moment of zen wasn’t necessary. Seth let out a battle cry of fierce determination and when I opened my eyes again he had flipped through the air and decapitated the Fallen Warrior before the bad guy could turn around and realize he was in trouble.

Seth reached for my hand and sprung me to my feet. I shot him a grateful smile before picking up the long broadsword of the headless Warrior and tossing it with extreme accuracy to my dad who stood only five feet away.

I foolishly continued to watch him as he caught the sword in his strong fingers and then turned it on the two Fallen guarding him. His arms came up expertly and he crossed the sword in front of him once, taking out the first one and then turned around gracefully to take out the second. They had barely registered he had a sword yet before they were dead, their souls now imprisoned in the seventh circle of Hell where they belonged.

My father kept the sword and moved into the battle, while my mother stayed near Tristan to protect him. I fought my way back to my first kill and then picked up that sword and tossed it at my mother’s feet.

The clanging sound of metal meshed with the whipping wind, but as I turned to help Seth destroy the Fallen he was fighting, I decided it was less. The Fallen looked around a little skittishly with several of their’s dead and my parents and Tristan free.

And then suddenly Aliah let out a cackle of laughter that resounded louder than even the clash of metal on metal. My eyes flew to his as he flashed me a sinister grin and got the upper hand of Serena. His sword plunged into her side, cutting through her like it was nothing. He abandoned his sword, still in her as she fell to her knees on the football field. There was a signal, something said or gestured and then the remaining Fallen had taken to the sky and were fleeing. Even the last few of the Shadows retreated back to wherever they came from and left us alone.

I looked up to see Jupiter descending rapidly, his hair disheveled, his sword bloodied in the thick black goo of the Shadows. He had been defending us from the sky, keeping the numbers of Shadows we met to a minimum. Thank goodness for Jupiter and whatever extra aid we could get.

I didn’t wait a second more, I couldn’t. I flew to Tristan with my supernatural speed and flung myself into his arms. I enveloped him in my light, warming him and letting him feel the intensity of my inner heat. He pressed his body against mine, his strong arms wrapping themselves around me with a ferocity of feeling. I felt his heart pound against my own as it tried to beat its way out of my chest. I choked back a sob and promised a jumble of things to him over and over through streaming tears.

I hated that they got him, that they brought him into this mess.

He dipped his head against my neck, nuzzling me with his nose and the scruff of his jawline and I forced our bodies even closer together.

“How did they even get you?” I cried, promising myself it would never happen again. My voice was thick with emotion, raspy and hoarse from the effort of battle. My whole body was shaking with exhaustion, but I couldn’t let Tristan go, I couldn’t take my arms off of him. And he seemed just as eager to hold me to him. In a strange way his arms felt like the safest place I had ever been.

“It’s my own fault,” he answered sounding so much more calm than me. “I wouldn’t leave. Your parents wanted me to, everyone else had gone, but I had to know you were Ok. I had to see you. They came after your parents and I was like this extra bonus,” he explained. His voice wasn’t even shaking, he was completely calm and comforting me. Tristan had almost died and he was comforting me!