When Angels Fall (35 page)

“It’s not your place, Michael,” Jehoel said.

“I’m
fresh out of fucks
to give about where my place is, Jehoel,” Michael said. “That ended the moment Heaven made a move against Gabriel. Now do what you came here to do, or be gone. Either way,
I’ll
see
you
in a minute.”

Jehoel turned and flung his hand toward Gabriel and Dani. Gabriel felt as if he’d been doused with warm water, but nothing more. He felt Dani jerk beside him and worried that Jehoel may have been right.

He turned her to face him and looked into her eyes, “Dani, do you love me?”

Dani stared at him in confusion, “What?”

“
Do you love me
?” he repeated
a bit nervously
.

“Of course I love you,” she said, sardonically. “I thought that had already been established.”

Gabriel
turned back to Jehoel, “I guess you were wrong.”

“This can’t be,” Jehoel said in fear.

Gabriel smiled, “And yet it is.”

“Hey, Jehoel,” Michael called out, making Jehoel look at him. “Run.”

At Michael’s words, Jehoel disappeared.

5.

“
What the in the hell was that all about?” Dani said after Michael had vanished to follow Jehoel. “What was that angel trying to do?”

“Jehoel is the Angel of Presence. He removes false love from the hearts of others.”

“False love?” she asked. “You thought my love for you wasn’t
real
?”

The thought that he hadn’t believed that she really loved him kind of offended her.

“I thought Jehoel may have had a point about infatuation,” Gabriel admitted. “I
am
an
Archangel
; one of the most powerful creature
s
in the universe under God. It’s not
unthinkable
that you would be infatuated with me. Being around
any
angel can be overwhelming for a human.”

“I’m glad you think that I have the emotional restr
aint of a twelve year old girl,”
Dani said snidely. “And your love for me, Gabriel? Is it still intact or where
you
just infatuated, because I have an idea that that wave of energy Jehoel threw out was aimed at
both
of us.”

“Dani, my love for you is real,” he said, laying his hand on her cheek. “Of
that
I never I had a moments doubt.”

“Glad to hear it,” she said, taking his hand. “Now let’s go find out if there’s any food in this house. I could eat an angel.”

1.

Dani was halfway through a fried egg sandwich when she saw Gabriel’s eyes narrow as he pulled his sword from its sheath.

“Really?” Dani said in frustration, and laid her half eaten sandwich on the kitchen table. “Something else already?”

Gabriel nodded, “Another angel,” he said and rose from the table.

Dani was shocked when they stepped into the living room. This angel hadn’t waited outside for Gabriel; this one had come right into the house. And he was the biggest son of a bitch she’d ever seen in her life!

She’d thought the vampire hunters, Damon and Gunner, were huge, but this angel would tower over them by almost a foot. His head nearly brushed the living room ceiling.

“At this rate, Lucifer won’t get the chance to kill me,” Dani said to Gabriel. “I’ll starve to death before he ever gets here. First no lunch yesterday, and then no dinner last night. Now this big bastard has ruined my breakfast.”

The huge angel glared at her, “You should fear me, child.”

“Why should I do that?” she asked, feeling completely safe. “I’m standing behind Gabriel.”

“
SHUT UP!”
the angel roared at her
,
and Dani felt a familiar tightness in her throat. Apparently Gabriel and Michael weren’t the
only
angels able to take away a persons ability to speak. The sensation was gone almost immediately.

“No, Rashnu,” Gabriel said. “You don’t get to control my wife.”

“Give me the last Daughter of God, Gabriel,” Rashnu said. “If you do, then I won’t have to hurt you. You can still walk away from this unharmed.”

“Umm…do they smoke
crack
in Heaven?” Dani asked Gabriel. “He
does
know you’re an
Archangel
, doesn’t he?”

“G
abriel is
nothin
g. He is an outcast of Heaven that God cares nothing for anymore,” Rashnu said venomously. “If God wanted Gabriel to live and the last Daughter of God to survive, He could have stopped me from coming down here; He did not.”

“You’re right, Rashnu,” Gabriel said calmly. “My Father
could’ve
stopped you from falling to Earth. Don’t you think it’s odd that He didn’t?”

Rashnu smiled an evil smile, “Maybe it’s because he wants me to kill the last Daughter of God and finally end this experiment.”

“That’s one theory,” Gabriel agreed, nodding his head. “Or
maybe
my Father just expects me to kill you. If that’s the case, then He’s not wrong. You take one little step towards my wife and I will
end
you, Rashnu.”

Dani
didn’t know about Rashnu, but
she
believed Gabriel, no matter how calm he appeared to be.

“You were too weak to kill Lucifer,” Rashnu said. “You barely had the eggs to kill Sraosha last night. I’m willing to bet that you won’t even
try
to kill me.”

“Last chance, Rashnu,” Gabriel warned.

Rashnu smiled at Gabriel and lunged at Dani. Gabriel swung his sword with a lightning quickness and removed Rashnu’s head.

2.

“I killed Jehoel,” Michael said, walking through the front door a few moments after Gabriel had taken Rashnu’s head. “I found him in the…
Holy shit!
” he exclaimed when he saw the headless body lying on the living room carpet.

“
I
killed Rashnu,” Gabriel said, laughing. “But thanks for getting Jehoel for me. It was very sweet of you.”

“What… how did he…
shit,
” Michael stammered.

“I take it Rashnu was
somebody
in Heaven?” Dani asked.

“
Yes,” Michael said, watching Rashnu’s body as it turned into a mist and evaporated. “Rashnu is…” he said and then corrected himself. “Rashnu
was
an Angel of Judgment.”

“And what exactly is an Angel of Judgment?”

“He decided what level of Heaven a human soul belongs in,” Gabriel said. “
And
he was a direct superior to Sraosha.”

“I guess that takes care of the angel Sraosha was obedient to,” she said to Michael.

Michael nodded, “I guess so.”

“Maybe that will be the end of the angel interference in this mess,” she said.

“We can only hope,” Michael said, walking into the kitchen. “Excellent, leftovers,” he said, snagging Dani’s leftover breakfast sandwich from the table and taking a big bite of it.

“Michael!” Gabriel snapped.

“What?” Michael mumbled through another big bite of the sandwich.

Dani laughed, “Never mind, s
eeing someone get their head cho
pped off kind of ruined my appetite anyway. Maybe I’ll have better luck with my next meal.”

3.

They had three peaceful days after Rashnu made his appearance. Three days that Dani’s life was not endangered. It was
so
peaceful that Dani nearly forgot what they were doing staying in Woodlawn, living in the empty house of strangers.

Michael had left on the day that Gabriel had killed Rashnu and they had been alone together every since. On the
ir
third day
alone
they were sitting in a swing under an old shade tree in the side yard.

Dani had her legs curled up on the swing and her head on Gabriel’s shoulder, “What’s it like to die?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never died,” Gabriel said. “But I would have to assume that the momen
t of a human’s death is scary.
So scary in fact, that some of the
m
have decided to avoid it altogether.”

“How can they do that?”

“Man has created the Rapture. The belief that when the Hour the Apocalypse comes, God will pull the Righteous into the Heavens; body and all. It’s only a myth. Believe me when I tell you that
no one
is getting off of this world alive.

“The Apocalypse will happen. The day will come when my Father will cleanse the Earth with fire. All the
volcanoes
on Earth will erupt simultaneously and the waters will boil.

“Lava will cover the Earth and
all it its inhabitants will
choke to death on
black
ash or burn in pools of fire; e
ven the Righteous. Only then will God proceed with the last Day of Judgment.”

“When will the Apocalypse happen?”

“There is no set day, as humans seem to think,” Gabriel said. “It will happen on the day that God’s disappointment in humanity outweighs His love for it.”

“Are
you
afraid to die?”

“I’ve never been confronted with the possibility
of
my own
death
before now,” he said. “But no, Dani. I have no fear of dying. I
only
fear for
your
life, not my own.”

“But if you die, we
both
die.” she said.

“I told you not to worry about that,” he said, kissing the top of her head. “You’re not going…”

Before he could finish his words, several angels; all moving with the speed of small comets, smashed into the land with enough force to cause the front porch of the house to crumble and crash to the ground.

Seven angels were now in the yard in front of them; all of them bearing swords of their own.

4.

“You have
got
to be joking,” Gabriel said to the angels. “I distinctly remember bind
ing each of you and sending you all
to Tartarus.”

“I guess someone with more power than you decided in was time to set us free,” Abaddon said.

“The only thing that has more power than me is God Himself,” Gabriel said. “And I highly doubt my Father had anything to do with your unexpected release.”

Dani asked nervously, “Who are they, Gabriel?”

“How rude of me. Allow me to introduce you,” Gabriel said politely. “This is Abaddon, an Angel of Destruction,” he said, pointing to a tall angel with long blonde hair. “Gadreel, an Angel of War,” he said, pointing at a short, bald headed angel. “Mastema, an Angel of Hostility,” Gabriel said, waving his hand toward a slim angel with tight brown curls.

“Bernael, an Angel of Darkness and Evil,” Gabriel said, pointing out a tall dark-skinned angel. “This is Semyaza, another Angel of

War,” he
said, nodding to a very
muscular
angel with shoulder length, straight light brown hair.

“Orobas, the Angel of Beasts,” Gabriel said, pointing to a beautiful golden angel with short jet black hair.

“And this is Mephistopheles,” he said, nodding at an angel who’s beauty nearly equaled Gabriel’s. “His name literally means
He who loves not the light.
Which is ironic, seeing as how he
escaped
from the
darkness
of Tartarus to come
out
into
the light.”

“Why do they have swords?” she asked.

“Because we a
re
warriors,” Semyaza said. “And we’re here to kill the Archangel Gabriel.”

“What?” Gadreel said in surprise. “That’s not what I agreed to. I was told to come and collect the last Daughter of God.”

“And how did you think we were going to accomplish that?” Bernael asked. “You knew Gabriel was protecting her.”

“I was told that he’d be willing to hand her over.”

“And who told you that?” Michael asked
,
appearing in the yard behind the angels.

“Rashnu,” Gadreel said.

Mephistopheles roared, “Gadreel!”

“What? If you want to go against Gabriel you go right ahead, but I didn’t sign on to die
today
,” Gadreel said and then turned to Michael. “Take
me
back to Tartarus.”