Airs & Graces (31 page)

“I haven’t seen much to the contrary,” I said.

“You’ve only met him a couple of times and – ”

“Sodom and Gomorrah,” I cut him off. “I saw the whole thing through your eyes.”

“Ah… yeah… that sucked.” He smiled broadly. “Did you see the plague of fire raining from the sky though? That was some of my best work…” I pushed past Gabriel, smacking him lightly in the chest as I went out into the bedroom leaving the pack behind. I didn’t think I would be needing it, and there wasn’t really anything left in it but clothes that would slow me down.

“That was pretty cool right?” Gabriel called at my back, trying, I was sure, to lighten me up, but I stopped cold. I wasn’t listening to him, the screams of burning men, women, and children echoing in my ears from that horrible, horrible memory. Tab took me in and nodded, satisfied. My eyes clung to his familiar, modern look, and it helped to beat back the awful surging and roiling around in my head.

“You ready?” I asked, balling my fists into my jacket pockets to hide their fine trembling.

“I am,” he agreed.

I nodded and mentally pulled up my big girl panties, prodding Iaoel. I felt her stir, and I thought at her,
Bitch you better be on your game, because if I die, you’re up for grabs again.
Out loud I said, “Let’s do this.”

“Well, she’s no fun today,” Gabriel muttered, and the world disappeared into a swirl of colors and lights only to disappear into gray, water-stained concrete walls and the dank smell of earth, mold, and disuse.

I went to stand near Tab and kept my hand on my knife, unsnapping the holder around the hilt. Tab brought out his wings and folded them against his back. I turned back to where Gabriel had stood in jeans and a faded black band tee a minute before and blinked. He was in full shiny metal armor, a vision of strength and honor.

“You know, you look bitchin’,” I said. “You could almost pull off regal, but you got one thing stopping you.”

Gabriel’s grin got wider. “Oh, and what’s that?” he asked.

“Your shit-eating grin ruins the whole effect.”

Gabriel threw back his head and laughed, the sound rich and vibrant and lifting towards the ceiling which was so vast and so high up you couldn’t see it. It echoed something fierce in here, wherever here was.

“Where the fuck are we, anyways?” I asked, more to fill the void and ringing silence left behind when Gabriel terminated his laugh.

“Chernobyl,” he answered.

“The fuck? Are you serious?” I cried, outraged. Tab’s hand fell on my shoulder, but I had my eyes locked on Gabriel, whose grin turned wolfish.

“Relax, Cupcake. You ever know the person holding Iaoel’s Grace before you to be sick?”

I blinked and really thought about it. Come to think of it, I never had. Not so much as a case of the sniffles.

“No…”

“Reason for that, you aren’t exactly human anymore. Angels aren’t affected by pesky things like radiation sickness.” Tab’s hand fell from my shoulder, and I felt both hot and cold at the same time. It was still creepy as fuck knowing we were in the middle of a radiation dead zone.

“We close to the reactor?” I asked.

“As close as you can get. No humans in this part of the zone for miles and miles,” he said.

“Why? Why bring us here?”

“For Tabby’s sake, and yours too. Didn’t think you guys would like the collateral damage. I’m not
that
big of a dick.”

“Collateral damage?” I echoed.

“He believes you won’t hand over the keys, Child. And we’re certain we’ve been watched. A night of rest is one thing, but Hell’s forces aren’t going to give up on the keys easily.”

My attention snapped towards the voice in the dark, past Gabriel’s shoulder. A form materialized, stepping out of the dark, bronze armor gleaming softly, at which point I started looking for the source of light. Finding none, really.

“Don’t hurt yourself. We’re doing it for your benefit,” Gabriel explained.

“Raphael, right?” I asked the new Angel. He nodded and smiled some. Pleased, I think, that I readily identified him.

“We’re really hosed aren’t we?” I whispered to Tab. Even if this somehow went down well, if what Lucifer had said was true, I’d never really gotten out of his sight. Raphael and the rest came armed for a fight, and whether we did this conversation at the frat house, or here, it wasn’t just Tab they were expecting.

“It depends, Adelaide…”

“On?”

“What you chose.”

I reached out blindly with my left hand, found Tab’s in the dark, and gave it a squeeze. “I won’t let you down,” I said. I caught the smile that caused at the edge of my vision, but another Angel was coming forward, out of the dark, to step up beside Raphael.

“Uriel,” I said, recognizing the redheaded linebacker from the frat house couch. Except he looked super badass in copper chainmail, holding a longbow that was nocked but not drawn, with a wicked-looking arrow.

“Hello,” he greeted, inclining his head. He smiled at me, and I gave him a tentative smile back.

Michael came out of the dark next, and my heart picked up speed. He looked down his nose at me imperiously, and I swallowed hard.

“Give me the keys,” he said imperiously, and I smiled bravely.

“Ask nicely,” I demanded, and Gabriel grinned like a fucking maniac behind the Archangel of Archangels’ back. Michael frowned.

“Give me the keys,
please
,” he said, scowling.

I shook my head. “Sorry, Mikey, you’re just going to have to go fuck yourself,” I told him. He opened his mouth to speak and the light flared bright and brighter. I put up my hand to shield my eyes from where it came from, the ground shook with a furious peal of thunder, and the light swelled, then dimmed down to something tolerable… It was my amulet, and it had just reacted as hard as when Lucifer had joined the party the couple of times before, although with how fast the amulet calmed its shit, I was betting that this was bad. Really, really bad.

“Oh shit…” I breathed. Tab’s wings snapped out, his sword cleared his sheath, and my knife cleared mine. I tucked myself into his side and gave Iaoel a swift mental kick, but she was alert. I got a sense of a mixture of dread shot through with a hopeful sort of glee.

“Shit. Lucifer maybe,” I said, and Michael snarled.

“How do you know?” Raphael asked.

“Because the last time the amulet reacted that strongly, that loudly, it was him, and Iaoel is entirely too fucking happy about it. Seeing as those two were butt buddies…” I didn’t finish my thought. I didn’t need to, because they were coming, and the Archangels were suddenly standing with us instead of against us.

“Protect the keys!” Michael barked.

Tab said in a low soothing voice, “Stay by my side, Adelaide.”

“I got you,” I said and gave him a half smile like I actually had any ability to back him up. My inappropriate humor was back in full force.

“The girl has the keys,” Tab lied. “So if you wish to protect them,
protect her.
”

There was no more talking after that, because there was a rumble, and light blazed, lighting up the cement and pipes and high-domed ceiling and the stuff of nightmares hanging in mid-air about twenty paces out.

The next step started with a sound somewhere between tearing metal, and the worst death metal band ever. I covered my ears, for all the good it did. Then it was like the air was torn apart, little crackles of reddish lightning signaling the start of some sort of portal opening, belching brimstone-smelling smoke. It just kept expanding out, a portal of roiling viscous blood; opening up, yawning wide. I felt myself go pale, flashing on the memory of Tab being dragged back into just this kind of Hellmouth. It was so much worse close up.

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!” I heard myself say, voice strangled by fear.

“Whatever comes next, whatever comes now, remember your training. I’ll be right here. You’re not alone.”

“I got you, Tab. I mean it, I’m not going anywhere either. It’ll be a cold day in Hell before I do.”

“They’re coming,” Gabriel intoned. Uriel leapt, the backdraft from his wings causing me to duck as he took flight. The portal exploded outwards into the room, and there hadn’t been a nightmare invented that was bad enough to cover the creatures that came pouring out. It was going to be a bad way to die, but I wasn’t going to go down without fighting. A massive arrow took flight, the snap and twang of the bow echoing above the howls and cries of the slavering creatures pouring out towards us, and one of the beasts at the fore crashed, sliding forward with an arrow in its chest, leaving an oil slick of black blood in its wake.

Iaoel started in, a vision overlay taking over my sight, and I cried out, “Tab! Incoming from the left in three – two – one! Now!” He swung up and out and met a creature who had leapt down at us from the wall. A trumpet blasted, and light glimmered from above. I glanced up and saw Gabriel, one of the long, old fashioned trumpets to his lips, cheeks bellowed out as he sent out another deafening blast. The creatures from Hell fell to the ground, writhing, and I cried out, covering my ears with my forearms, as the rent in the fabric of worlds above us tore even more, letting more pure white light into the dank underground. It sounded like a flock of birds, but it wasn’t… Gabriel had called in some of the cavalry.

The noise and din doubled and redoubled, and I took a deep breath and stayed with Tab as the fray intensified around us. It was going to be a long, nasty; drawn out fight, and we were in it for the long fucking haul. The good news? Iaoel was on fucking board with the ‘keep Addy alive’ part of the plan. Halle-fucking-lujah. At least there was that.

Chapter Ten

Tabbris

I was too busy to comment on Adelaide’s guess as to who was coming. Her warning proved to be perfect timing, and I cut through the attempted ambusher cleanly. I didn’t expect to see Lucifer anywhere near this fight. He might be the Prince of Lies, but I believed he genuinely wanted no part of a battle with Michael until the time was right. He wasn’t done playing the long game, and this wasn’t the final gambit. It was an attack, but he didn’t need to accompany the legion he set on us. This was either to frighten Adelaide, to convince her I couldn’t protect her, to turn her more against the Archangels, or to weaken us – or some of all of the above.

What did follow the Demons and horrors of Hell through the portal, though, were plenty of other Fallen. None of them were Lucifer, certainly, but it was still more than a sufficient number to have Adelaide’s amulet glowing as brightly as it had in Auschwitz. Unlike the Demons, any of these could be a threat to anyone of our number, even singly. Worse, their joining the fight hadn’t lessened the numbers of the Demons any.

Adelaide continued to do her part, trusting that the Archangels’ self-interest, as far as protecting the keys was concerned, would keep her well-guarded. She called out placements to me, and I whirled and spun, cutting Demons down faster than I would have on my own. In training, keeping up these visions had tired her quickly, but she showed signs of improvement – and despite Iaoel’s presence, even with the confirmation from Adelaide that she was active currently, I didn’t once think to doubt that it was Adelaide in control.

I lost track of her words the first time I clashed swords with one of the Fallen. Listening over the howls of the Demon brood was one thing – and sometimes difficult enough. My ears were now filled with the sound of the blades, blessed and damned, striking off one another. Focusing on combat where a single wrong move could spell the end of the fight, while still having to fend off Demons, took all the concentration I had.

The enemy had numbers on us by a huge margin. Even with Gabriel’s call, only so many had responded. Thankfully, with Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel, we had an edge in power that no single one of our current enemies could match. Gabriel had also chosen the site well. He’d suggested to Adelaide it was merely for the sake of our – to him – delicate sensibilities, but it was also somewhere deep and solid enough to make sure we could fight defensively, without worrying about something just tearing through the walls at our backs. We circled around Adelaide, with the archers and better healers also on the inside of the circle, so our swordsmen could protect them, while those who were the most capable in weaving protections and blessings guarded us from the arrows and enchantments of the enemy.

While not a bad swordsman, Raphael took his place among the healers, sitting in a meditative stance while the battle raged around him. Bathed in the warmth of his healing light, even when our enemies did score hits, or their enchantments started to set in, they often didn’t last long. He wasn’t one I’d had the opportunity to fight alongside, at least against foes who posed any real threat, so I had to say that the effect was reassuring.

Even if Gabriel’s “bull” analogy had been about intelligence, Michael was fitting the image aptly. He crushed and cut his way through enemy ranks, leaving the defensive lines free to make sure nothing escaped his wrath, daring anything or anyone to challenge him. He never got too far away, always remembering the goal and falling back to take his place in the circle, before rushing into the fray again. While he was a better tactician than that when he needed to be, he clearly didn’t feel like anything here was enough of a threat to him, personally, to warrant an excess of caution, and perhaps he was hoping to send a message. I guessed that he was also hoping that Adelaide was right and Lucifer was, indeed, listening in or watching. Our foes were, to their credit, smart enough to bait him a few times, leading him away to try to create a gap in the line, or trying to lead him into a trap where he wouldn’t have his back guarded. For now, the line held, and, unfortunately for our opposite number, while their tactics possibly should have worked, they also demonstrated that Michael’s confidence in himself was also not unfounded. He came back with some new cuts, but nothing that wouldn’t heal, and never anything to compare with the harm he dished out.