Taking her hand firmly in his, not quite believing that she was there beside him again, Rue gestured toward the spiral of brick. “Shall we go?”
She smiled up at him. “I thought you’d never ask.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
They were waiting for them. He should have known they would be. The second they stepped from the place between the worlds into Serafina’s apartment, there they were. Simeon – his red hair glowing in the light streaming from the windows at his back – frowned at them. “Did you think we wouldn’t know?” His voice, choral and indignant, wrung a little squeak from Fina.
“Tone it down, brother,” Michael instructed in a much more soothing tone. He stepped forward to take Serafina’s hand. “Allow me, my dear. We’ve all heard so much about you from Ruvan. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you face to face. I am Michael.” He gestured to golden haired Gabriel behind him. “This is Gabriel and the disappointed one is my colleague Simeon.” He smiled, his moonshine eyes gleaming, “He’s always disappointed.”
Rue had dropped to his knees. “My lords,” he stammered.
“Get up, Ruvan,” Gabriel pulled him to his feet.
“Yes,” Simeon snapped, “you need to explain.” His furrowed brows nearly met over his brilliant blue eyes. “What were you thinking?” He flung out a hand as if to encompass every decision Rue had ever made. “Abandoning your post? Delving into the depths? Enticing Azrael away from his duties! Do you know the trouble that caused? Four days here on the surface when no one died! No one!”
“The authorities were beginning to take notice,” Gabriel mused.
Michael nodded. “It’s been the highest volume of devotion we’ve seen in eons.”
Simeon shook his head in scathing negation. “Be that as it may, it was irresponsible. All to save a mortal who was doomed at any rate?”
“To save Serafina,” Rue corrected, sidling in front of her, blocking her from the princes’ view. “I would do it a hundred times over if only to give her a few more days with those who love her here on earth.”
“Unrepentant!” Simeon snarled.
Rue merely lifted his chin, defiance in every line of his body and every shudder of his wings. He knew what it looked like and he knew the punishment.
Michael, his moonshine eyes reminding Rue a little bit of Lucivar’s silver and gold spirals, studied them without a word. He turned to have a silent exchange with Gabriel, who spoke for both of them. “Simeon would have us strip you of your wings forever, Ruvan, drop you with no memory in some mortal city and wash our hands of you.”
Simeon sputtered off to the side, but said nothing.
“No!” Serafina shoved at Rue, shrugging his wings out of her way. “No, you’re not going to do that to him.” Hands fisted on her hips, she glared at the trio of heaven’s princes. “He did it to save me. If you want to punish someone, punish me.” She held her hands out to them. “Go ahead, I’m doomed already. I let Asmoday trick me. Go ahead, take me away.” She looked over her shoulder at Rue. He could see the tears she refused to shed. “It’ll be a bad enough punishment for him anyway.”
Michael nodded and took her hands in his. Rue felt frozen. He couldn’t move, couldn’t yell, couldn’t even think as the Archangel grasped Serafina’s hands and the room erupted in golden light. A rush of warmth, a chorus of angel voices and the light dimmed. Fina still stood there, her hands in Michael’s.
She blinked, as if just waking. “What?”
He bent to kiss her forehead. “You’ve been taken, Serafina. I have taken your humanity.”
Rue started forward. “You mean...?”
Gabriel nodded. “She is mortal, yet not human. She has been marked for our purpose.” He reached out, tugging up her sleeve. A small pair of angel wings, as meticulously inked as any of Joss’ work, adorned her upper arm. His voice rang. “You are now an Ascended, Serafina, charged by Heaven’s princes to guide and guard humanity. Find those pockets of evil and stamp them out, bring the light of Heaven’s love into the darkness.”
“What about Rue?” she demanded, fingers brushing over her new mark.
Simeon shrugged. “What about him? He’ll return to Hell’s Gate and his duties. You will stay here and help us in the upcoming battle.”
“It’s that late, is it?” Rue asked, understanding beginning to bloom.
Michael nodded. “You are but the first volley in a much longer war.”
“Then take my wings.” He twined his fingers with Fina’s. “She’s going to need help. She is a guide, someone who inspires others to goodness, but she’ll need a guard. The demonkin and Asmoday himself will be focused on her now that she’s been angel-touched.”
“Can’t fight your way out of a paper bag, can you?” Gabriel rolled his golden eyes. “Very well then, here is my gift to you.” He extended a hand, pulling a celestial blade from the place between the worlds. “Here,” he said, pressing the hilt of the long dagger into her free hand. “Rue can show you how to use this. It will bend to your will, but I want you to promise me that you will not leave it behind.”
Mutely, she nodded.
“I think we’re done here,” Simeon announced. He turned to Rue. “You are certain about this?”
He nodded.
“As you wish it.” Simeon gestured and that blinding light once more filled the small living room. When it faded, Rue’s wings were once more nothing more than ink on his skin. “When you pass from this world to the next, you will both become true Ascended Angels, those charged with battling the denizens of Hell. We –,” he gestured to the seraph princes, “ –hold the Covenant. We cannot interfere, but you are of the earth and not bound to such promises.”
“Nice loophole,” Fina murmured.
Michael grinned, “Isn’t it?”
Gabriel nodded. “It’s not over. In fact, it’s just beginning. You both saw the passways from Hell into the mortal realms. Rue, you know more than most what lives in the corners of the darker halls.” A chill skated up the former angel’s spine at those words. All the nightmares of mankind lurked in the depths. Which would Asmoday and Lucivar loose next on mankind? He was certain that the demonkin were nothing more than the advance guard. Cannon fodder, if you would. Gabriel continued, “Call on us, if you have a need. We’ll send more to you as they are chosen.”
Rue stood at attention, fully embracing the duty they laid on his shoulders—the general of Heaven’s army here on earth. “I will not fail you.”
“You never have, Ruvan,” Michael assured him.
They turned to leave. “Wait a minute,” Fina grabbed Gabriel’s wrist. “When you said that I wasn’t human anymore, did that also mean….” She trailed off.
He nodded. “Yes, Serafina, that means you’re healed. The Ascended do not succumb to such illnesses.”
“Cured?” Her fingers trembled on the angel’s wrist.
“Cured,” he repeated. Rue reached into his tunic for the vial, warm against his heart. Gabriel shook his head. “Keep it, Ruvan. You never know when you’ll need a miracle.”
His hand fell to his side.
Michael took one more look around the little apartment. “I would suggest getting a larger place soon, Ruvan.” One corner of his mouth tipped up as he regarded Serafina. “I think you’re going to need more room soon.” Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment, making the prince laugh. “Shall we leave, my brothers?” He stepped into the beams of sunlight and disappeared.
Gabriel clapped Rue on the shoulder. “Call on me when you have a need.”
“I will.”
He too shimmered once in the light and vanished.
Simeon shuffled his feet on the worn carpet. “I took the liberty,” he began, handing Serafina a note that had been sitting on the kitchen counter, “of making certain that your loved ones here worried less than they might have otherwise.” He bowed stiffly and vanished.
Rue looked down at the note in her hand. In Simeon’s beautiful script it explained how Rue had come back and whis
ked her off to Switzerland on the chance that the specialists there could do something for her. It asked them not to worry and assured them that she would be home for the holidays no matter the outcome. On the bottom, Dan had scrawled a demand that she call him as soon as she got in. He also promised to not hurt Rue. Much.
“I didn’t think he had it in him,” Rue murmured.
“I’d better call Dan right away.”
He nodded, catching her when she would have stepped away from him. “One moment.” He reeled her in, pulling her against him, reveling in truly feeling her. He tipped her face up to his, pausing with his mouth a breath away from hers. “Dan can wait. This can’t,” he murmured and closed the distance between them.
Laughter lit her eyes when she pulled back. “Just one question.”
His arms tightened on her. “Just one?”
She nodded to her arm. The delicately etched wings almost seemed to glitter in the sunlight pouring in through the windows. “How are we ever going to explain this to Joss?”
He threw back his head and laughed.
* * * *
“Well, that went better than I thought it would.” Lucivar settled onto his throne. One of the little dragonkin slipped out from under the seat to stretch under his hand.
Asmoday looked up, frowning. “Uh, didn’t we lose this one, boss?”
The devil chuckled, the sound of rattling bones. “We lost nothing other than an opportunity to corrupt one of the first Ascended.”
“Ah,” Asmoday breathed, his pulse kicking up a little in excitement. “It’s time again for another Cleansing?” He rubbed his hands together memories of the last Cleansing dancing in his head. It had been millennia. The last time he’d been allowed to run free it had been chalked up to a plague. He chuckled. It had been a plague, a plague of evil. “I loved the Dark Ages, my Lord.”
“Didn’t we all?” Lucivar tapped one finger against his chin, his silvery gold eyes narrowed in thought. “Vampires and zombies are rather popular nowadays, aren’t they, Asmoday?”
“Yes. Humans seem to look at vampires as something to desire now. Sex symbols. Zombies, yeah, they’re gaining in popularity, though the werewolves and bloodsuckers still have top billing.”
“Something to be desired?” He shook his head in disbelief. “Well, then, perhaps we should remind them of what they truly are? Release the lamia and empusa from the Grecian halls. Let us also send out the incubi and succubi, keep them confused.” He nodded. “That will do for now. The demonkin have made enough inroads?”
Asmoday shrugged. “They’ve gotten through in several places. A few of those places are stronger than others. I was going to send some imps through soon to stake out a few havens for them. I’ll send the lamia and empusa through instead, let them settle. The incubi and succubi can’t stay out in the human world, but they’ll be able to give us some information.
“Yes, that will do for now. Let’s raise the level of terror. They think they’ve shined the light of science into every crevice of darkness. There are no myths anymore. There are no demons and the only evil they believe in is in the hearts of mankind. It’s time to show them that there are more than shadows in the darkness and more evil than they can ever hope to wash away in the light of science. Release the dogs of war, Asmoday. We are on the forefront of the first battle and it is a battle I intend to take. Send Mammon to me. I believe I can use him to corrupt a few more souls.”
“Yes, my Lord.” The demon of money could definitely be useful. He was a master at spreading greed and discord.
“I hear we’ve had some news from Ruvan and his erstwhile bride.”
“Yes, my Lord. She’s expecting. A girl, I believe.”
“Let’s make sure we send something to the little mother, Asmoday. A bouquet of lilies, perhaps? I love lilies. They remind me of funerals. A rattle for the little one when she arrives, perhaps?”
“I’ll see to it, my Lord,” Asmoday assured him, rising.
“One more thing, Asmoday, before you go.” Lucivar stood, his face rippling, his form shimmering. Huge white to black wings folded away. His face twisted revealing a human countenance with simple gray eyes and aquiline nose. A goatee drew itself down his chin. Tattoos scrawled themselves from shoulder to wrist. After a few moments he stood in black boots, jeans, a sleeveless t-shirt with a screaming demon head on the front. He was no longer Lucivar, Lord of Hell and fallen angel. He now looked like Luke Coven, lead singer of the band Hell’s Gate. The real Luke Coven had made a deal with him a decade ago – fame, fortune and talent in exchange for using his likeness whenever He wished. The real Luke snickered whenever the paparazzi puzzled over his around the world sightings. As long as it kept him in the news and in the public eye, he never thought of the consequences of making so close a deal with the Devil.
The demon gave him the once over. “Perfect, my Lord. Though, didn’t Luke have an earring last time?”
“You’re right, Asmoday.” He adjusted that, a silver skull punching through his left ear. “Now, five year old boys still like Hot Wheels, right?”
“Small cars that go too fast are always a big draw.”
He nodded and snapped His fingers pulling a brightly wrapped gift from thin air. “It’s only right that a father should bring his son a gift for his birthday. After all, it isn’t everyday he turns five.” He winked at the demon and turned, stepping through a portal of shadow that appeared at a command. “Hold the fort, Asmoday, and put some of our plans into place. I’d like to taste the fears of humanity again as I walk among them.”
Asmoday bowed low. “Of course, my Lord. Your command.”
Luke nodded and disappeared through the portal, the door shutting behind him with a small pop.
With a spring in his step, Asmoday headed out of the throne room. It had been a long while since he’d been able to craft such wonderful wickedness and while he was perfectly willing to follow his master’s plans, he did have a few schemes of his own to put into practice. While the cat’s away, he thought, smiling to himself.
The End
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