by CC Bridges
As he grew closer, Gabe recognized another presence on the web. He tasted something sour and realized this was the man who’d invaded his mind, only then Jeff had called him friend.
“I’m here,” he told Jeff, shielding them both from the invader. Somehow Jeff’s friend was keeping Jeff here. Gabe opened his mind to Jeff, hoping he would reach out and link back.
Jeff’s mind united with Gabe’s as if they had an angel bond between just the two of them. In an instant, Gabe understood the threat, saw Chase’s avatar as Jeff saw him—the handsome young man with the perpetual smile. The pleasant face was a farce. The powerful hacker could destroy them both with a thought.
The attack came in a wave that hit Gabe first, since he was shielding Jeff. For the briefest of moments, Gabe looked at Rocco’s face as his lover smiled at him. They were standing back at the student center in college, and Rocco leaned forward, just about to kiss him. Gabe wrapped his arms around Rocco’s waist and could actually smell his aftershave as he reached up.
“Gabe, it’s not real.”
No, but Jeff was. The illusion of Rocco shattered around him. Gabe bound himself even more tightly to Jeff. Chase was smart, trying to split Gabe from his lover. But he’d chosen exactly the wrong thing. Gabe had Jeff to thank for having the good memories back.
Jeff’s rage matched his own, their emotions linked so snugly it was as if they were sharing one mind. How dare Chase take something so private and use it as a weapon? He spent his time haunting the minds of others; he didn’t even know what it was like to live.
“If his weapon is illusion,” Gabe said to Jeff, down that intimate mental link, “beat him with the truth.”
Jeff lit up at his words. “Stay close,” Jeff ordered. He started to weave their answering attack.
Gabe watched as Jeff began to program. Here in the net, it was more than numbers and variables in a sequence. Jeff strung together light and song, creating a latticework of netting that hummed. Jeff looked magnificent—his face brilliant, his eyes alive and his hands constantly moving. This seemed like a truer version of Jeff, his mind and heart captured by electrodes, instead of his physical body.
Jeff slammed his fist against his palm. His creation dissipated and then surrounded the image of Chase facing them in the net, building a cube around his smiling visage. Chase laughed and moved his arms, as if setting up his own programming. Jeff’s work, however, stuck. Chase frowned, unable to get rid of Jeff’s code. Parts of his face began to unravel, pixels of lies being torn away and sucked into the lattice of the cube.
The semblance of the healthy young man disappeared in chunks, ripped away to leave only a figure crawling where Chase had stood. The body had been twisted and changed, with ports implanted down the figure’s pale wasted arms, his legs atrophied into nothing. Had Chase chosen this? Had he preferred the world of the mind so much that he’d destroyed his own physical body?
“No.” The word was so soft, Gabe wasn’t sure he heard it. Chase disappeared completely, and Gabe felt all trace of his presence fade as well.
“We need to hurry before he reassembles his code.” Jeff pulled Gabe back.
They also had some unfinished business to deal with. “Jeff. Why?”
Jeff’s guilt hit him through the mental link. Gabe saw it all, once again lost in a memory, this one not his own. He saw the demon Nazaro dump Gabe’s body in Jeff’s living room, heard him threaten Kayla if Jeff didn’t do what he had asked.
“I had to,” Jeff said. “I owed them everything for Kayla.”
It hurt to have it confirmed, to hear from Jeff’s own mind that he had betrayed Gabe. But how long had it been since Kayla said those words to him? That she would do anything for those she loved? Gabe couldn’t blame Jeff for a promise made long before they’d known each other. Right now, he’d willingly give himself up for Kayla too. He was glad she was home and safe, far away from the danger.
“But you came for me,” Gabe told him. Jeff could have let Gabe go, completed the deal, and moved on. Instead he risked everything by whirling through the net like this.
“Kayla’s idea,” Jeff explained. Gabe saw her, fists clenched as she berated her father for his inaction.
“You have a smart child.” A smart, beautiful, brave little girl.
Something pulled at his senses, threatening to take him away from Jeff. Gabe tried to listen but keep himself grounded in the net with Jeff. He heard his siblings, the angels putting out the call to war. There were so many of them, and the cacophony hurt.
Before he could warn Jeff, Gabe heard Ian’s voice, belatedly realizing it came from a simple link with the outside world. “Jeff, we have a bit of a situation out here.”
Jeff’s attention shifted, and Gabe could see him retreat a bit, go back to the business of rescuing Gabe. “Demons on to you?”
“No. There are angels. Hundreds of them coming down from uplevel. Demons coming out to meet them. This might be a good time to rescue your boy.”
Of course the angels would come to find him. He’d startled them all by rejoining the network when he was supposed to be dead. It was the kind of insult the angels couldn’t let go. No demon should be powerful enough to steal one of them. Instead of finding the God AI, Luca had triggered the wrath of Metatron itself.
“That idiot. He’s brought war to Old Trent,” Gabe said, not knowing if his words carried to Hank and Ian down the link.
Jeff’s mind slid against his like a caress. “Gabe, you gotta tell me where you are, where your body is, so I can send the map to Ian and break the security systems.”
Gabe forced himself to concentrate, though part of his mind was already being pulled away, the voices of the other angels a presence he could no longer ignore. He called up the memory of being bound and carried by the demons as they descended on the center of the complex. They’d taken him to the tallest building, the only one with floor-to-ceiling glass windows.
Jeff took the memory and formed a grid out of it, translating it to a form Ian and Hank could understand. “Got it. Ian, follow the map. I’ll be disabling locks and sensors in front of you.” Jeff dropped the connection, focusing on Gabe. “You get back inside yourself. We gotta get out of here before all hell breaks loose.”
“You mean Heaven. And it’s already broken.” Gabe cherished this connection for a moment, brushing against Jeff’s thoughts like a kiss before hurtling himself away. It hurt to lose this closeness. How easy it would be to share thoughts down this bond, to never have a misunderstanding with his lover. But as the connection to the Angel Network took its place, Gabe realized such a union could have its downsides as well.
Gabe fluttered back into the network, trying to hurry back. His mind had detangled from Jeff’s, but the bond seemed to have shaken some memories loose, much like when the memory block dissolved. There wasn’t time to sort through them all now, but Gabe cradled the new knowledge for the unexpected gift it was.
Slipping back into his body was even more of a shock. He had grown used to being air and moving as quickly as thought. Sinking back into flesh made him feel heavy and stupid.
“Dammit!” A demon crouched next to a slumped-over Luca on the floor, shaking him. Luca didn’t even twitch, and his eyes were rolled back in his head.
“Unplug him,” Gabe rasped out, unsure why his voice sounded so hoarse. He wondered if his body had been screaming. “Only way.”
The demon turned and glared at him but actually pulled the connection out of Luca’s port. Almost instantly, the demon king sputtered back to life. “Nazaro… what?”
“We got a bit of a situation, boss. Angels. Lots of ’em. Dig?”
“Damn them.” Luca pushed to his feet and moved to look out the window. “I was so close.”
Gabe laughed. “They only let you think you were close. Kept you out of it until they attacked.”
Luca didn’t even look in Gabe’s direction. He turned to Nazaro. “Call in all the reserves. Let them know we’ve got a fight on our hands.” Lu
ca unbuttoned his carefully tailored jacket and shrugged it off before freeing his set of oversized wings. He pushed open the window and took off into the sky.
Nazaro gave Gabe a smile and a wink, then headed out the door, leaving Gabe bound and alone in the room. Gabe groaned and pulled on the bands holding him tight. He was useless, stuck here while the battle raged outside.
Before he could grow too impatient, the door swung open and Hank stumbled inside. Ian fell in after him, firing off one last shot from his energy rifle while Hank palmed the mechanism and the door closed. Gabe let out a deep breath, relieved they’d found him.
“You are one hard SOB to find, you know that?” Hank pulled the lever that undid the restraints over his arms. He bent to undo the clasp on Gabe’s legs.
“Thank you.” Gabe rubbed at his wrists, the blood rushing back into his hands. He flexed his fingers, needing that strength to return.
“What about this thing?” Ian tapped the halo, which was still connected to the computer panel and the dangling network jack.
Gabe reached up and tore the wire out, wincing as it sparked. “I need it for just a little while longer.” Already he could hear the angels shouting tactics to each other, leaving their formations to attack the demons coming to meet them. “Go back to Jeff. I have to do this myself.”
“You sure about that? We had to fight our way in here.” Ian’s voice sounded so far away. Already the angels’ voices were beginning to overtake everything. There were so many of them, coming right for Old Trent.
“I have to. I’m the only one who can stop the angels.” Gabe flexed his wings, releasing them into the space of the room. His shirt had already been ruined, so he shook off the last threads of fabric. Running for the open window, he ignored Hank shouting after him, just spread his wings and took to the air.
Gabe couldn’t enjoy the freedom of flight, the way it felt to soar with nothing but air beneath his wings. No, right now he had to focus on the battle raging through the skies and find some way to stop it without getting himself killed in the process. In retrospect, he probably should have grabbed one of those energy rifles Hank and Ian had.
Demons streamed out the windows, their dark wings spread wide to catch the air. Most had projectile weapons, strong enough to knock an angel out of the sky. A group of demons stood on one of the lower roofs, gathered around an odd-looking device—another meld of old tech and new, gunmetal gray and shiny golden glastic. He had to duck out of the way at the last moment when they aimed the device his way and blasted bullets at him.
Clever of them, but Gabe wished they hadn’t noticed him. He flapped his wings, fighting for higher ground. Gabe couldn’t let himself get hurt before doing what he needed to do. The angels wouldn’t stop just because he asked them to. Gabe had to find the leader and get that angel to order a retreat.
If it were only that simple.
Gabe banked and dived, dodging demons and buildings in his need to get higher, to where the angels flew. It felt almost like his old life, fighting demons in the skies to protect Heaven. He pushed another demon out of the way, sending him crashing into a wall.
“Sorry,” Gabe muttered. He was really only trying to help.
The angels plummeted from the sky in organized formation. Their gold and platinum wings would have gleamed with the light of the sun up in Heaven. Here they were no less impressive, bright where the demons were dark.
Gabe fought through the voices and streams of data coming from his halo. It seemed he couldn’t quite manage it now. Perhaps Luca had damaged it with his experiments. Or maybe Gabe couldn’t control the halo now that his memories were complete.
“Flank that demon.”
“Behind you, Raphael 7238.”
“Spears on kill. No quarter.”
He tried to shake their words from his mind. “Where is the leader?” he asked, forcing himself into the Angel Network. It had never been so difficult to do that before.
Two angels sped past him, tackling the demon who’d almost been close enough to take Gabe down. Neither had time to respond to his query. Gabe winced as he heard the crack of the demon’s neck breaking. These demons were no match for the angels, especially the newer seraph mods with their impenetrable skin.
This had to stop. He knew the angels would overwhelm the demons, and what would happen to Old Trent without them? Gabe had to concentrate, dig through the data zipping through the network. His halo ached—the pressure on his forehead seemed almost unbearable. There was no way he could sift through all of this at his usual speed, especially while flying and trying to keep out of the fight.
An idea hit him so hard, Gabe nearly tumbled out of the roll he’d tucked himself into to avoid being hit by more projectiles. He put in a request to find out where most of the commands were coming from, not asking the other angels but the network itself. Gabe should have thought of this earlier.
Now it was a simple matter to follow the commands. Gabe climbed higher and higher, out of the thick of the battle, to the top of the very highest building. There, a single angel crouched, his platinum wings extended as he surveyed the entire field. Gabe came down hard on his feet, out of breath and throbbing with pain from the halo.
He reached for this angel’s name, flipping through the data to find it since Gabe had never met him before. As an archangel mod, he was not high enough to consort with seraphs.
“Sandalphon 3435,” he said directly through the network. “I am here and alive. Stop this battle.”
Sandalphon had a face that looked like it had been carved out of stone, his skin almost marble white. His eyes glowed a brilliant cobalt blue as he turned his freakish gaze on Gabe. No other angel had glowing eyes. How far advanced were the seraph models?
“The demons captured you,” Sandalphon responded, lips not moving as his words went directly to Gabe’s mind through the network. “They used our sacred halo to try to take over our Lord. They deserve to burn.”
“It’s not the demons I speak for. It’s for the people they protect.” Gabe opened his mind, sharing not only with Sandalphon but all the nearby angels.
Mere words wouldn’t help here. Gabe called up the images, bringing them to life like Chase had used illusion inside the net. He showed them that night in Old Trent, how demons had swept in and saved him and Jeff and Kayla from the street thieves. Gabe’s heart pounded in fear as he watched Kayla take the blow meant for Trixie with her own body.
He summoned the memory of Jeff explaining about Kayla’s legs, how he had carried his broken and bloody child to the demon hospital. It might have been something left over from melding with Jeff’s mind in the net, but grief choked his throat, the horror at watching his child in pain. They weren’t his emotions, but they poured through him nonetheless.
Without the demons, there wouldn’t be the stolen goods in the market. The people of Old Trent wouldn’t have food, medical supplies, or any new tech. Ronnie appeared in his vision, with her brilliant smile and the people who counted on her for food and shelter—which she couldn’t supply without demonic help. His heart ached for her, for the loss of her only family.
Gabe’s love for Jeff and Kayla filled the link. They’d given him a home after he’d been lost. The thought of leaving them sent pain throughout his body.
It wouldn’t be enough to change the angels’ orders. But Gabe hoped he could make them think for just a little bit.
Sandalphon touched a hand to his own cheek, as if surprised to find the tears gathered there. His face held no expression as he asked through the network, “You would prefer to remain here?”
Gabe removed the halo, wincing as his ports protested the disconnect. “It is where my heart is.” He handed the golden circlet to the other angel.
The seraph took it in his hands and crushed it with ease. Only now he had to speak out loud. “You may never return to Heaven.”
“I know.”
Sandalphon looked out amongst the skies of fighting angels and demons. At the same moment, every
angel disengaged from the fight and began to fly upward. “I end this battle now, but I make no promises for the future.”
“Thank you,” Gabe whispered.
With a flutter of wings, Sandalphon was gone.
Gabe dived off the ledge, wanting to make himself scarce before the demons realized he was the only angel left to pick on. He hadn’t gotten far, wings stretched to capture the wind, when he saw Luca hovering alone, watching the flock of angels leave.
On impulse, Gabe tackled the demon, dropping Luca into a hard fall on a nearby roof. Luca rolled, catching himself on his hands while Gabe stood above him. “You will listen to me, now,” Gabe snapped.
Luca looked up, his face more demonic than Gabe had ever seen—eyes glowing, teeth bared. “Need time to gloat?”
Gabe let his shoulders drop, too tired to deal with this. “I’m the reason they left, you idiot.”
“What do you want? Congratulations?”
What could Gabe say? He could demand Luca leave him and Jeff alone, but he had no weight behind those words. It wasn’t like he could call down Heaven’s help again. “You got damn lucky this time. Don’t waste this chance.”
Luca didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t attack or call to his demons for help. Maybe the false bravado would keep the demons away from him and Jeff for a while. Gabe could only hope. He took to the sky again, leaving Luca far behind.
Chapter Seventeen
JEFF STOOD in the doorway of the workshop, watching the sky. His head ached—a leftover from Chase’s attack in the net. He’d forgotten how something that wasn’t real could affect his physical body. Then again, maybe he couldn’t bounce back like he used to. No fancy nanotech was keeping him young, and Jeff felt every inch of his forty-two years right now.