by Alexie Aaron
“I understand.”
Mia took a deep breath and said, “Now.”
The wood burned quickly, and the shaft broke. Sariel, no longer having the spear to brace him, crumpled, but the angel caught him and eased him to the ground. He kneeled behind him to keep the upper portion of the spear from doing more damage while Mia pulled the spearhead out of the wood floor.
Mia was pleased with her helper. She worked quickly, taking the spearhead again in her hands and pulling it away from the artery as she slipped it out of Sariel’s thigh. She cut part of the ventricle out of the last elemental heart, sliced it on one side, and wrapped it around the damaged area of the artery. She then closed her eyes as she held it in place. She spoke old words she had learned from the healing mages, and her hand glowed as the dragon became one with the archangel. She pulled her hand away and released the tourniquet. She saw that the blood moved again through the artery without leaking. She closed the wound, paying special attention to knitting his damaged muscle tissue together.
“Sariel, move your toes,” she ordered.
He did so. Mia was so happy, she hugged her helper before concentrating on Sariel’s shoulder. She worked quickly but meticulously. Soon, Sariel could be laid back on the ground. Mia moved her hands over him and healed other smaller punctures. When she had finished, she asked her helper, “Is there anyone else who needs my help?”
“Gabe!” the angel called. “Show the healer your hand.”
The other massive angel walked over and unwound the bandage.
“That’s a bad burn,” Mia said. “Fortunately, we have a lot of heart left.”
Gabe sighed as if he was annoyed by having to be administered to. Mia ignored the lug and worked on his hand until it was on the way to being healed. “I take it this is a dragon burn. I’m amazed that you guys took down three dragons, and only one of you got burned.”
“It’s not that we don’t have skills,” her helper said.
Mia picked up the dagger she was using. “Um, I think this belongs to one of you. It’s a bit bloody,” she said, wiping it and then holding it out by the blade.
Gabe took it.
“Thank you for your help. If you would excuse me, gentlemen, I have to release the mages, and then I’m going to pass out,” she warned and did so.
Raphael motioned to his helpers. The women picked Mia up and laid her gently on the banquet table. “Time for me to see what I can do. Azrael, you may find this pet of our brother’s quite interesting. She originally was engineered to kill Abigor. But fate has intervened, and she’s evolved into something amazing.”
“I’m well aware of this one,” Mia’s helper said, walking over. “If she’s not calling for the light, she’s traveling towards it. How many times has she been on your butchery table?”
“A few times. The Gray Ladies and Michael patch her up on a regular basis. The human body is so fragile. This one is a fighter.”
“She’s bossy,” Gabriel said, cleaning his knife, “and dangerous. Let her die.”
“No can do,” Raphael said. “You saw what she can do. She saved them.”
“Only after releasing a demon who almost killed them,” Gabriel argued. “Kill her.”
“I don’t think that’s wise. Lucifer likes her. Abigor is bound to her. She is a brilliant healer, and I like her. I only wish I found her first,” Raphael said.
“How did Michael find her?” Azrael asked, taking off his helmet and shaking out his hair.
“Evidently, the chit had the nerve to demand Altair be forgiven and given his wings back. It was a deathbed request from a loyal servant.”
“She’s that one,” Gabriel said. “That took some nerve.”
“I think she felt she had nothing to lose. She was already heading for the light. She used her eternal soul as a bargaining chip. It worked,” Raphael said.
“So Michael owns her?” Gabriel confirmed.
“Not really, she just thinks he does. You can’t own these hybrids. Her body has served us well. She has been an incubator for the chosen one. She calls him Brian. He’s a handful. And she’s given birth to Varden.”
“He’s come back?” Gabriel said. “I like him. Hate his brother, but Varden, he was a good chap.”
“Tell us more,” Azrael asked.
“She killed Ruax in minutes in Lucy’s little comic arena. Altair was there and witnessed it.”
“What was our newly restored archangel doing in Hell?” Gabriel asked.
“Ask him, I don’t pay attention to politics,” Raphael said. “All I know is that the blood that flows through this body is superhuman. The demon is gone. I replaced it with crone genes which Mia stubbornly refuses to acknowledge. She has angel DNA – I’m not sure how, but her grandmother on her mother’s side has our wings - and birdman. I know, I know, that’s a disappointment, but remember their healing mages can work through Mia. And as you’re very aware, they won’t work through us anymore. I mean, we can help the humans but not our own.”
“Tell me about the flaws. There are always flaws in hybrids,” Gabriel stated.
“Tendency to develop aneurisms and heart failure. This one had been existing on the energy from a ghost for years. He turned sour on her and that caused some problems. I fixed it on Michael’s request, but it still acts up from time to time.”
“If the demon was gone, how did it return?”
“Ask Michael. There is a report that someone sent Mia back in time into her body that had the demon still in it. She hitched a ride back in Mia’s mind and hid out in her spine. They were operating on Mia when they were surprised by it.”
“Why were they operating on her?” Gabriel asked.
“Michael asked me to kill her,” Sariel said, approaching the others. “I crushed her with my boot holding her down.”
“But she’s not dead. How interesting,” Azrael said.
“It was her choice to die. Michael told her she was a threat to Heaven and Earth because of her thirst for vengeance – which now we can attribute to the hidden demon. She asked to be killed, and I started to do just that when he stopped me.”
“I wonder why he stopped?” Gabriel asked, looking closer at the hybrid as if he could see the reason on her sleeping face.
“I wonder why he even started?” Azrael asked. “She is so valuable. She can heal us, and her loyalty is with Michael. Lucifer likes her. Abigor loves her. And then there is Roumain. She keeps him busy with all his little plots.”
“He was testing me,” Sariel realized. “How is he doing?” he asked, turning the focus away from Mia to Michael.
“He’s healing. I put him in a crystal chamber so the evil from the elemental hearts can leech out. Sariel, you may want to wear a crystal for a while.”
“Misfit did me a solid. Give her a good set of wings. Michael ripped out Victor’s.”
“I’m connecting the dots now,” Gabriel realized and lowered his voice. “She was part of the attack on the Risen. It takes a perfectly matched pair of birdmen to make a waterspout. I bet Michael hasn’t put this together yet.”
“He has been busy,” Sariel defended his general. “Mia fights for the balance. She knows we’re understaffed, so she’s works with a covert group of birdmen and humans to undermine the Cynosura whenever she can.”
“I still don’t like her,” Gabriel said.
“Good,” Sariel said. “Stay away from her. The last thing she needs is you filling her mind with military tactics. I want her to stand down, enjoy her little ghost-hunting group, and produce a few daughters. But she has to be able to protect her brood. Give her wings, Raphael.”
“Did Michael have any particular set in mind?” Raphael asked.
“Guardian class,” Sariel said.
“Guardian class aren’t a good fit for her,” Raphael said. “This is a warrior.”
“Haniel has a nice set of wings. Get a feather from her,” advised Azrael.
“What!” Gabriel was outraged. “You’re not putting archangel
’s wings on this… this…”
“Misfit,” Sariel filled in. “Actually, if she agrees, I think that it would be a perfect fit. Haniel is all about nurture and harmony.”
“And she’s handy,” the beautiful archangel that brought Mia from the human world said, walking over. “It’s time to soften her edges. Too long this child has been stripped of her femininity. She has hidden her assets.”
“She’s a warrior,” Sariel reminded Haniel.
“So am I, but you don’t see me skulking around in the mud. Give her my wings, and this will help her to appreciate what God has given her.”
“She was engineered by the Council of Women as an assassin,” Sariel reminded her.
“God created us and the Council of Women. I think they need to be reminded that they are not goddesses but servants of God.”
“Here we go…” Gabriel said and crossed his arms.
Haniel proceeded to lecture them all on her favorite subject, the Glory of God, as Raphael prepared Mia’s body to receive the wings.
Mia’s ribcage needed to be fortified to handle the wings. He motioned for Sariel. “I need you to work your magic. Etch these bones with protection.”
“She’s had this done before. It seals her heart. That means all she loves now, she will continue to love deeply. That includes Abigor and Roumain.”
“And Michael. I watched her work on him. She loves him. He sentenced her to death, and she still loves him. She’s more like Haniel than I realized. Will she be able to love her new children?” Raphael asked.
“Children are the exception to my spell. She will love her new children as much as her three boys. Did I ever tell you how she lost her little girl?” Sariel asked.
“No.”
“Let me tell you how the council nurtures their assassins…”
~
Ted kept looking at his phone, hoping for some word on Mia. He had to have faith that she would be fine. But even if this wasn’t to happen, he still needed to find the perpetrators of the candle assault. He needed to protect the children.
Ted ran all the data several times in his head. He asked himself who would benefit most by the whole group of them disappearing into the past. That’s when he hit upon the idea that it wasn’t the adults who needed to disappear. It was Brian, Varden, and Luke. The volo candle was ingenious. Send them into the past, and make sure that none of them meet their spouses - or delay the meeting, or bring it forward, anything to disrupt the existing timeline. They all assumed it was an attack on Mia or, perhaps, Burt’s midlife crisis as a paranormal investigator - the one case that got away.
When he shared this with Orion, the elder birdman looked stunned. “You know, if we didn’t all meet, not only would our children not be born, but Mark Leighton would complete his prophesy.”
“This is diabolical. Who thinks forwards and backwards besides Roumain? Who stands to make a lot of money on this?” Ted asked.
“Gerald Shem or someone like him,” Orion answered. “This brings us back to Quazar. We must find him.”
They had a half an hour before their appointment with Shem, so the two walked to where Brian had seen Quazar. Ted searched the building tops and confirmed that it wasn’t an adornment that Brian saw. There was nothing that, even in a child’s imagination, would resemble a cat-faced gargoyle.
“I was tempted to contact Jeff, my nose-admiring friend at the dark vault,” Ted began, “but I read that dog-faced gargoyles don’t like cat faces, so he probably wouldn’t have any viable information.”
“Don’t count those coffee-guzzling granite pusses out. They hear everything. I learned a lot about Roumain from listening to them gossip.”
“Anything I should be worried about?”
“He wasn’t supposed to be cast out of Heaven with the others.”
“You mean he’s a fallen?”
“Yes. Didn’t you know?”
“Mia suspected. She couldn’t find a classification of entity that he would fall into. So what happened if he wasn’t originally on team Lucy?”
“He picked a fight with Raphael. Raphael became the golden boy after Lucifer left. Michael had to keep the peace, so he suggested rather strongly that Roumain leave on his own accord. Michael didn’t want Roumain to be humiliated, so he offered him Purgatory. He’s been there ever since.”
“Mia thinks she’s headed there when she dies.”
“But she’s not Catholic,” Orion said.
“I don’t think it matters. I’m counting on her driving the old boy nuts and getting an early release.”
Orion laughed so hard he developed hiccups.
Chapter Thirty
Mia opened her eyes. She had no clue where she was. She was laying on a cool hard surface with her head on a silk pillow. The ceiling and walls were made of a white milky stone of some kind. She turned to her side and found herself locking eyes with Michael.
“You would think with all your connections, you could get a private room,” she said.
“And I thought someone had brought me flowers, but it was you.”
“Whoa, that’s a great line. How are you feeling?” Mia asked, raising up on one elbow.
“Not horrible, not comfortable, but not horrible.”
“I’m sorry about the demon.”
“You didn’t know this would happen. You came to me for help, and you know the rest.”
“I think we have to put all that behind us and move on. I’m worried about your heart. Mind if I examine you?”
“I do believe you’re flirting with me,” Michael said.
Mia looked around her as she sat up. “All this week, I’ve woken up in the strangest places. Where are we?”
“Raphael’s crystal room.”
Mia slid over and put her hand on Michael’s chest. She lowered her head and rested it on the archangel. “Your breaths are deep, strong, and clear. And your heart is beating slowly.”
She lifted the cover and looked at his abdomen. His skin was growing back over the dragon-heart patch. “This is going to take some time. Maybe you’ll want to restrict your activities until this returns to normal.”
“Yes, Mia,” Michael said. “Now lie back down, you’re bothering me.”
“If ever you question the love and loyalty of Raphael, remember today and push those thoughts away from you,” Mia said. “I know you don’t like to think of yourself as weak and vulnerable, but when I arrived, Raphael was physically holding all your innards inside.”
“Yes, Mia. Time to shut up.”
Mia rolled over and lay with her back to Michael. He could see the line of her spine through the tunic that she had on. Raphael had done a masterful job of reconstructing her spine. She had faint traces of trauma to her back, but she was whole again. He ran his finger down her spine.
“Careful, big boy,” Mia said.
He stopped. “I wasn’t.”
“Good.”
The door opened, and Raphael poked his head in. “How’s our patients?”
“I’d like to go home, please,” Mia said.
“As soon as Sariel’s sound enough to transport you.”
“Isn’t there anyone else?”
“Not that I’d trust with you right now.”
“Geeze, break out in demon pox twice and no one wants to hold your hand.”
A low rumble started deep in Michael’s chest, and he started laughing.
Raphael looked amused. “Now I understand why you put up with Misfit here.”
“Do you have a place here where I can do some research?” Mia asked.
“What are you looking for?” Raphael asked.
“I’d like to find out the proper way to address the Council of Women. I figure there may be a protocol. Also, to look into the hierarchy of the group.”
“Why?” he asked, curious.
“Short history,” Mia said. “Forgive me if you already know this, but I want to make sure we’re all on the same page. I’m some kind of failed experiment of genetic manip
ulation. I was engineered to have certain skills, and my life was structured so I would develop a cold bitter hatred if not become a psychopath. You, better than anyone, know that psychopaths aren’t made. They are born that way. But they did their best to place me in a cold home where I was unwanted and scorned by my peer group. I escaped that home, but they continued to follow me and kill everyone I loved. Flash forward, I didn’t become the type of assassin they wanted. It could be that the Neyer gene of fence-sitters was too strong, or maybe because of another entity’s interest in me, or just dumb luck. A few days ago, a volo candle sent me back in time to when I was twelve. There was no pivotal moment there to correct, so I don’t think I was sent there by them. But while I was there, my grandmother Fredericka Cooper took out a contract with a group of Other assassins to kill me and bring back my heart as proof. I guess, either they wanted to start again or feared I was going to expose them.”
“I saw the contract in her memory,” Michael said. “I can confirm that Mia is telling the truth.”
“Who signed it?” Raphael asked, curious.
“My grandmother.”
“That had to sting.”
“Oh yes.”
“So what do you wish to accomplish?”
“I suspect that the entire group isn’t guilty of these crimes. When I was possessed by the demon, my thoughts leaned to threatening them with certain assets I may have at my disposal. But now she’s gone, I can see reason. I would like to have them investigate my claims and punish their own. Also, I would like them to stay out of my children’s lives. Prior to the candle incident, I had Mother Nature’s protection. I can’t always count on her minions to have my back. It’s not how I want to live out my life. I would like them to stop playing games with me and mine.”
“Do you think they manipulated time to kill you?” Raphael asked.
“I did but now realize there is a possibility that my grandmother just took advantage of the situation.”
“Do you know who played fast and loose with time?” Raphael asked.
“We have suspicions but no hard evidence yet. My husband, Altair, and Orion are working on that problem. I feel the best use of my time is to talk to the council.”