Chapter 28
Lazarus~
My sword was coming down again when everything stopped. Demons were no longer multiplying, instead they were on their knees, their howls unlike anything that I’d ever heard before.
However, they weren’t the only ones on their knees.
I turned away from the battle just in time to see Elisabeth collapse, but before I could get to her, she threw her head back, let out a penetrating shrill of her own, and my chest felt like it was being kicked in when I saw rays of a blinding white light shooting in every direction, and they were coming from where her heart would be.
I watched as the impossible was happening, and I had no idea how I was still standing.
The sounds of war were also no more. There were no more wails of destruction, no more sounds of metal on metal, no more war cries...no more anything. The only sounds echoing around us were those of the demons, their shrieks of pain loud enough to rattle my eardrums.
Still, I needed to get to Elisabeth, but when I made a step forward, another explosion of light shook the earth, and I watched helplessly as her body pulled the energy back, causing her to collapse onto the ground, and I refused to let it end like this.
Racing forward, I ignored everything around us, then dropped to my knees, gathering Elisabeth in my arms. She was limp and pale, and even though the blood flowing from the left side of her mouth should have concerned me, I ignored it.
CPR wasn’t a real thing in this place. Whatever had just happened, it was beyond what any of us could do for her.
Still...
“Baby, wake up,” I begged, not caring who was watching. “I need you to wake up for me, Elisa.”
When she didn’t respond, I placed my hand on her chest, praying for a steady rhythm against my palm. Praying for any signs of life, really.
“Lazarus, she cannot hear you.”
I ignored Michael, refusing to believe such a thing. Not only did I still feel that she was with me, but Ramiel had also said that Elisabeth and I had been destined for one another, and there was no way that anyone could convince me otherwise. Especially, after all that I’d seen.
“Elisa, open your eyes,” I ordered, my voice a raspy tone of emotions that were threatening to incapacitate me. “I need you to open your eyes, baby. We need to go home...take us home.”
“Lazarus-”
“She’s not dead!” I roared as I looked up at the angel, and that’s when I noticed that nobody else was around anymore. Even the demons had vanished, leaving only me, Michael, and Elisabeth.
“You are no longer needed here,” he said, making panic rise in my throat. “You are done with your quest.”
I immediately began shaking my head. “No...no.”
“It’s over, Lazarus,” he said calmly, though his voice still sounded otherworldly.
Before I could argue some more, I jackknifed awake, back in my own bed, but as I looked over, Elizabeth wasn’t lying next to me anymore, and my hands started shaking beyond my control.
Even though I knew that it was pointless, I jumped off the bed, then went in search of her everywhere.
When I didn’t find her, I returned to the bedroom, then slid down the wall, my head in my hands.
She couldn’t be dead.
As I sat on the floor of my bedroom with the frantic beating of my heart the only sound in my ears, the only thing that was saving me right now was how I knew that Elisabeth wasn’t dead.
While I didn’t know where she was, I knew that she was still alive.
I could still feel her in the fundamental parts of me, and as long as I didn’t feel like I’d been ripped in half, I still had hope.
I also had to calm myself enough to think clearly.
Whatever had happened to her, it’d been a divine act of God, and so it’d stand to reason that she was somewhere holy, somewhere sacred.
I immediately thought of all the churches in the city, but who was to say that she was even here?
Considering everything that had happened, she could be in God’s kingdom, the true holy land, but I had no idea where that’d be.
My ignorance was coming back to haunt me, and it was probably no less than I deserved, truth be told.
I dropped my head back against the wall, and I let out a hollow laugh at how I had mocked Elisabeth’s choice of discipline after our first night together. I had dismissed her work in a way that made me feel like the biggest fool now.
Just then, it hit me.
Her work.
I jumped up from the floor, got dressed as fast as humanly possible, then grabbed my wallet, keys, and credentials, racing out the door as quickly as my feet would take me.
While St. Dymphna wasn’t exactly a church, it was close enough.
I knew enough about the facility to know that it had its own chapel, priests, and nuns.
There was also the fact that many of those who had fought with us had been patients from St. Dymphna, another thing that I was going to have to wrap my mind around eventually.
I had labeled the poor souls as crazy, and regret really was a motherfucker.
As I headed towards the hospital, I did more than pray that Elisabeth was there; I begged.
I begged God, I begged every angel in Heaven, I even begged the cosmos, which was stupid since God was already everything.
Still, that didn’t stop me from praying, begging, and even bargaining with Him to bring her back to me.
I was willing to try anything at this point, and I was even willing to trade my life for hers.
I could see now how the world needed more Elisabeths than it needed assholes like me.
I also wanted to believe that God wouldn’t have put us through all of this just to take her away from me, so she had to be somewhere that I could find her.
If she was anywhere else in the world, I’d never find her, but at this point, maybe that was the penance that He had in mind for me.
Truth be told, I wouldn’t blame Him for making me suffer if that’s what was happening now.
Taking liberties that Elisabeth would probably read me the riot act for, I parked in her reserved parking space, then raced towards the door, praying that my credentials would get me inside.
While I had no idea what time it was, the darkened sky was proof enough that it was after-hours, and I honestly had no idea what I’d do if the guard didn’t let me in.
When I finally reached the door, I banged on the glass, and the security guard immediately made his way over. I pulled out my credentials, placed them in front of his face, then said, “There’s an emergency, and I’ve been called to help out.”
“Called by who?”
“Dr. Batya,” I lied. “She should be here any minute.”
Just then, a tall blonde walked into the lobby, and I felt a wave of relief when she recognized me. Through the glass, she asked, “Dr. Copeland, is everything okay?”
“Dr. Batya called me and asked me to meet her here,” I lied again. “An emergency consult of some sort.”
“She’s not here,” she stated, though she didn’t sound like she was doubting me.
“I must have beaten her here,” I replied, the lies just flowing freely now. “Would it be possible for me to wait for her inside?”
I read her nametag, and Juliette was kind enough to give me the benefit of the doubt. Turning to the guard, she said, “He’s fine, Milo. I’ve seen him here on occasion over the past few weeks, helping Dr. Batya with something.”
With bated breath, I watched as Milo unlocked the front doors for me, and the relief that I felt was unlike anything that I’d ever experienced before.
I also didn’t think that it was an exaggeration to say that I was fighting for my life here.
I needed to get to Elisabeth like I needed to take my next breath, and every single entity in Heaven knew it, too.
Once I was inside, I asked, “Would it be alright if I visited the chapel until Dr. Batya got here?”
Juliette gave me a surprised smile. “Most people don’t know that we have one.”
“I know everything about this place,” I informed her. “After all, Elisabeth and I are more than just professional colleagues.”
Her brows shot upward in a bit of shock, but now that my feet were back on solid ground, I figured that it wouldn’t hurt for the truth to be out there. “Oh...well, that’s nice.”
Ignoring her sputtering, I repeated my question. “So, would it be alright for me to wait in the chapel?”
“Of course,” she answered once she shook off her surprise. “Do you know where it is?”
I didn’t, but in the event that Elisabeth was in there, I didn’t want any spectators getting in the way. “I do,” I lied.
“Well, just follow the signs,” she advised, and I was sure that this was God’s work. “You can get turned around in here pretty quickly at night.”
“Thanks,” I said, then did my best not to run through the hallways like a crazy person, probably the only crazy person in this place.