Chapter 19
Elisabeth~
“Elisssssheva...” the voice hissed, a dark tone resting just underneath the syllables. “Elisssssheva...my child, we are here for you.”
I stood at the edge of the chasm, one step away from the crumbling jagged edges.
The smoke rising from its depths wasn’t hot like I’d always suspected, but then again, I also didn’t know what was really down there.
I had no idea what the darkness held, but I also wasn’t scared.
Whatever was down there, it couldn’t get to me unless I jumped, and I wasn’t about to do that.
“Baby, what are you doing?” I turned to see Lazarus standing a few feet behind me, his wary gaze glancing at the huge crater before me. “Step away from the edge.”
“It’s okay,” I assured him. “I’m fine.”
Lazarus began shaking his head. “No, Elisa. You’re not.”
“Elisssssheva...” came the voice again, making me turn from Lazarus to see where it was coming from. “Elisssssheva...come to me. You will be safe, child...”
That was a lie.
I wasn’t sure how I knew it, but that was a lie.
“Elisa, do not go to them,” Lazarus ordered. “I mean it.”
Turning back towards Lazarus, I said, “There’s only one. There’s only one of him.”
“I don’t care,” Lazarus snapped. “Do not go to the other side.”
Then I heard Ramiel’s voice as if he were standing next to me. “Free will, Elisheva.”
However, before I could look for him, the white smoke turned black, and instead of red eyes greeting me this time, a pair of white ones stared back at me over the chasm, and I was hit with the sensation of evil dancing over my grave, but all I could think about was Lazarus standing too close behind me.
“Elisheva,” the voice said, no longer a hissing echo in my ears. “Elisheva, you have disappointed us, I must tell you.”
“Elisa, get back here,” Lazarus ordered again, and I faintly wondered why he didn’t just come get me if he was so upset about me being this close to the edge.
“How?” I asked, my eyes focused on the entity before me. “How have I disappointed you?”
“You’ve chosen to believe only one side, and that simply will not do,” he answered.
“Why does it matter what or who I believe?” I challenged. “I’m just one woman.”
“Do you still believe that?” he asked, his eyes turning into a smoky white that seemed to keep disappearing. “Do you honestly believe that you are nothing more than a common woman?”
Before I could answer, Ramiel’s voice was back. “Free will, Elisheva.”
“What do you want?” I finally asked. “What do you want from me?”
“We want what it is inside you that made Him choose you,” he answered candidly.
“Elisa, no,” Lazarus called out. “Quit listening to him. C’mon, let’s get out of here, baby.”
“He is still trying to save you,” the voice said. “After all these years, he is still trying to save you.”
Ignoring both Ramiel and Lazarus, I asked, “And what makes you think that I’d ever go with you? What makes you think that I’d ever hand over such a gift?”
Those white eyes looked past me to Lazarus, and I felt pain unlike anything that I’d ever experienced before hit my chest before he even said the words. “Because we will spare him if you do.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Lazarus practically growled. “It’s a trap. This is all a trap.”
“No, you won’t,” I said, my chest still feeling tight. “You’ll spare no one.”
“Because you think that he’ll fare better if we go to war?” he questioned. “Do you think that he can save you, Elisheva? Better yet, do you think that you can save him?”
“Elisa!” Lazarus roared. “Get us out of here now!”
“See? He knows,” the voice taunted. “He knows the truth, and he is trying to keep you from hearing it. His doubt in you will be your downfall if you do not come to us willingly, Elisheva.”
I immediately began shaking my head. “You’re lying. He doesn’t doubt me.”
“Then why is he staying safely behind?” he asked pointedly. “Why are you the only one standing on the edge of what is to come, child? Why are you the only one branded? Why is he still untouched?”
While those were all good questions without answers, I knew for a fact that they had nothing to do with Lazarus’ lack of faith in me. Whatever was said here, I could feel how Lazarus felt about me, so his love for me was a foundation that couldn’t be shaken.
Nonetheless, I knew the answer.
“Because he’s not me,” I told him. “Because he’s not safe from the edge the way that I am, and so what good would he do me if he let you guys take him?
” I shook my head condescendingly, a smirk on my lips.
“Lazarus doesn’t doubt me, nor is he scared of you.
He’s being smart, something that you’re not giving him enough credit for. ”
“Elisa, I will not tell you again!” Lazarus yelled. “Get your fucking ass over here now!”
Just then, the ground beneath us shook, and the black smoke coming up from the chasm was white again, and while significant, I wasn’t sure what it meant.
However, before I could think about it some more, I felt Lazarus grabbing my arm, yanking me back from the edge, his recklessness causing panic to build deep in my gut.
“What are you doing?” I bit out as I looked up at him.
Instead of answering me, he said, “Let’s go, Elisa.”
“You cannot save her,” the voice called out from beyond the smoke. “You’re a fool to believe that you can.”
Ignoring the voice, Lazarus’ dark eyes stayed glued to mine. “Everything that they say is a lie,” he said. “It’s all a trap to make sure that we lose. Do not listen to any of them, Elisa. Not even Ramiel.”
That shocked me. “What?”
“Only me,” he said. “You trust only me.”
A sinister laugh echoed all around us, and we both turned to see the voice surrounded by six more sets of eyes, only theirs were red like in my earlier dreams, leading me to believe that the voice was important somehow.
“It seems as if you are now being pulled in three different ways,” the voice mocked. “Whatever are you going to do, Elisheva?”
I processed his words, but they didn’t sound right.
I didn’t feel as if I was being pulled in three different directions.
In fact, I didn’t feel as if I was being pulled in any direction, right or wrong.
Truth be told, it felt as if it was all of them that were lost. If felt as if they were the ones all trying to figure out what to do next, not me.
I felt as if my feet were planted firmly on the ground, no threat anywhere.
Then it hit me.
It was God.
Whatever Ramiel was, whatever his message was, he still wasn’t God.
Even if Gabriel were to come down and present himself to me, he still wasn’t God.
If it was true that I had a direct line to His ear, then it would stand to reason that I had a direct line to Him period.
So, I wasn’t being pulled in a bunch of different directions because I couldn’t be. My faith was too strong for that.
“Baby, let’s go,” Lazarus repeated as he looked back down at me. “We need to go.”
“You for him,” the voice said again, his tone no longer mocking. “You for him, Elisheva.”
Looking over, Lazarus said, “I’ll never let you have her.”
“You cannot stop this,” the voice fired back.
“Yes, I can,” Lazarus argued. “I know that I can.”
Just then, Ramiel appeared, making the ground shake again, and unlike at the hospital, he appeared in full form, and Lazarus yanked me back just in time to avoid the swipe of his wings, a sight that had stolen my breath.
He looked like a warrior that was more than prepared to go into battle, and though he looked completely different from his human form, he still looked the same.
“You’ve no right to be here,” Ramiel told the voice. “Be gone with you.”
Unintimidated, the voice said, “This began with your interference.”
“These are His children,” Ramiel replied coolly. “They are not yours.”
“Not yet,” the voice taunted. “Not yet...”
A scream erupted from my chest as I came awake, and my hands frantically searched for the lamp on my nightstand, and I ignored whatever was falling to the floor as I struggled to turn on the light.
Lazarus’ arms were also around me before I could even lean back against the headboard, my chest heaving painfully, the lingering scent of sulfur burning in my lungs.
“Baby, I’ve got you,” Lazarus whispered vehemently. “I’ve got you, Elisa.”
Even though his words brought a small measure of comfort, my hands were still shaking, my lungs still struggled to breathe, and I still felt like evil was licking at my feet.
“Lazarus...” I panted, words coming hard.
“I know, baby,” he said softly. “I know.”