The Crystal Lake

by L. J. LaBarthe

  “Babbling in terror most of the time,” Gabriel said.

  “Huh.” Danny appeared to digest that. “Well, he got on fine with the ladies.”

  “That old rascal,” Haniel said, laughing.

  “Do you mind?” Angelique asked. “It wasn’t like that. I just think he was happy to talk to someone who didn’t scare the crap out of him.”

  “We can talk about Penemuel later,” Raziel interrupted smoothly. “Now we need to give you a crash course, Archangel-style, in Latin.”

  Michael had drawn up three chairs and placed them in a triangle, facing each other. “Please sit,” he said to them.

  Angelique shrugged and grinned at Lily. “What’s the saying? In for a penny, in for a pound?”

  “That’s the one,” Lily agreed. With Danny and Angelique on either side, she moved to the chairs and sat down.

  “This will feel odd,” Raziel said, “so I advise you all to close your eyes while we do this.”

  Lyudmila watched in fascination as the ten Archangels formed a circle around the three. Each Archangel reached out and placed a hand on his neighbor’s shoulder and held out his other hand over the three heads of the humans sitting in the middle of the circle. As the ten hands joined together, power began to pulse, a light of silver, pure white, gold, red, blue, bronze, purple, green, and pink. The light flared brighter and brighter until Lyudmila could not look at it. She turned away just in time to see Adramelek rush from the room, looking as if he was going to be violently ill.

  “A Fallen One cannot abide the presence of the power of Archangels,” Markus said to her in an undertone.

  “And what of yourself and your master?” Lyudmila asked.

  Markus shrugged. “It’s extremely uncomfortable. You will notice, your majesty, that Lix Tetrax and Melcherisa have been absent since your arrival. They cannot abide the power at all. Ondrass remains because he is energized by his recent trip to Hell. I remain, because where he goes, so do I.”

  As clearly as if she’d seen into his soul, Lyudmila realized the truth of Markus and Ondrass’s relationship. “You love him.”

  Markus bared his teeth. “That’s a revolting word. But yes, if you must use it, I suppose it’ll do.”

  Lyudmila smiled at that. “It’s no great shame to admit, Markus.”

  “For you, maybe not.” Markus shook his head. “The Archangels are finishing up their spell.”

  Lyudmila turned back to the scene of the ten Archangels in their circle and saw that it was true. The color that had coalesced around the light was fading. Soon the room was back to normal, lit only by the light bulbs overhead and the sunlight that streamed through the windows.

  “Whoa,” Lily said. “That was… what a head rush.”

  “Tell me about it,” Angelique said. “But this is amazing. Will we be able to keep this ability when we get back?” she asked as she looked at Raziel.

  Raziel looked at Michael. “It’s up to your boss to decide that one.”

  “It’d be damn helpful with all those translations and cold cases written in Latin,” Angelique said.

  Michael hummed. “I will consider it while you are away. Be sure to dress warmly. Even though it will be summer in Britannia, I do not want any of you to catch a chill.”

  “Yes, sir,” Lily, Angelique, and Danny chorused.

  “Well, then.” Raziel stepped back. “Go with Agrat and get changed, and while you do that, Ishtahar can chop off my hair.”

  “You will look very handsome,” Ishtahar said to him.

  “I’ll look ridiculous,” Raziel said. “I’ll look like Nero!”

  Gabriel burst out laughing. “Just don’t take up the harp while you’re gone.”

  Raziel looked offended. “I would not. Honestly. The very idea. I am not a musician.”

  “But you’ve got a lovely singing voice,” Uriel said.

  Raziel’s expression gentled. “You old softy,” he said. Then he squared his shoulders and gestured toward the door. “Shall we?” he asked Ishtahar. “I’m sure in this palace we can find a bathroom.”

  “Of course.” Ishtahar took Raziel’s arm, and together they left the boardroom.

  “And now we wait,” Samael said.

  “Aye.” Gabriel sat down on the boardroom table. “And when they’re ready, we send ’em back in time.”

  Declan coughed a little diffidently, and when the Archangels turned to look at him, he shrugged. “I don’t mean to ask what probably is going to sound like an obvious question to you guys, but it isn’t real obvious to me. If you can throw folks back in time, why don’t you just go back in time to before the Grail was stolen in the first place and move it?”

  Uriel snorted. “Because as it turns out, where we thought it was, it wasn’t. Remember? The damn Grail in Saint Catherine’s was a fake.”

  “Yes, but if you’d gone back to then and found that out, you could have done something about it,” Declan said. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m giving myself a headache with this conversation.”

  Liam patted his arm. “It’s all right,” he said.

  “If I may.” Ondrass stood up. “Actually, I will, regardless of whether I may or may not. Young man, a questioning mind is a good thing to have, but let me put it to you this way. Doing things in the past is a risky endeavor. Hunting for the Grail via time travel would involve covering vast distances and using a lot of power. Who knows what things the feathery ones could change? I don’t particularly want to wake up and find out that they’ve done something that had ripples so vast that they destroyed Hong Kong. That would make me quite sad, as I rather enjoy Hong Kong. As roundabout as it seems to you, this plan of Raziel and his band of merry angels is actually the one with the least amount of tampering and the least potential to change the present by their actions in the past.”

  Declan stared at him. “Yeah, officially got a headache now,” he said. “But okay, I understand. Sort of.”

  Uriel shot Ondrass a dark look. “Apart from his descriptions of me and my choir, he’s pretty much right. It’s the lesser of two evils, so to speak.”

  “Quite so,” Ondrass said. “And you love the way I describe you all.”

  “No, I don’t,” Uriel said.

  “Shame,” Ondrass said. “Oh well. Perhaps you should invest in a sense of humor while in the past.”

  “Ondrass,” Michael sighed, “be silent. Uriel, do not rise to his words. Declan, do you understand now?”

  Declan nodded. “Yeah. I’m pretty sure I do, Mike.”

  “Good. Now”—Michael looked around—“let us proceed.”

  Chapter Six

  WHEN RAZIEL, Lily, Angelique, Danny, Uriel, and Shateiel reentered the room, Gabriel let out a low whistle of surprise. He was impressed.

  “You all look like you just stepped out of a painting,” he said.

  Raziel smoothed a hand down his tunic. “Ishtahar had a lot of choices of clothing in those trunks.”

  Uriel and Shateiel stood in their armor, helmets held under their arms, grinning at each other. “We should put our headwear on, so our hands are free,” Uriel said. Shateiel nodded and donned his helmet. Uriel did the same. They walked to the middle of the boardroom and stood, hands resting on the pommel of their gladiuses sheathed at their hips. Raziel joined them, his blue-and-dark red tunic and toga matching the red of the cloaks that they wore.

  Lily and Danny, in plain brown wool tunics, Lily with a stola in a darker shade of brown and Danny holding his cloak, moved to stand beside Raziel. Agrat, dressed similarly to Lily, stood in front of them, and Angelique, in a tunic and stola in shades of pink, white, and deep blue, joined her. Her hair was elaborately styled, strings of pearls woven into the braids that were coiled and curled around her head.

  “You look beautiful, Angelique,” Michael said.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “Don’t get into trouble,” Declan said.

  Angelique stuck her tongue out. “I wasn’t going to. You don’t need to be
all jealous while I’m gone, you know.”

  Declan frowned at her for a moment. Then he was moving, swiftly striding to her, cupping her face in his hands and kissing her hard. He let her go and stepped back. “Be careful,” he admonished.

  “Well,” Michael said, obviously surprised by this turn of events and not sure what to say about it, “perhaps we should begin.”

  “Aye.” Gabriel stepped forward, joined by the rest of the Brotherhood. They formed a loose circle around the little group in their Roman clothing, the trunks stacked up beside them.

  Gabriel took a deep breath and let down his shields. He could feel the other Archangels doing the same, and soon they were joining their minds, merging with Raziel’s and Uriel’s as all ten of the Archangels concentrated. They focused on a spot not far from Vinovia where the little group going back in time could take stock of the land before entering the town. It was a lot of power, Gabriel thought, as he felt himself beginning to sweat. Moving oneself through time and space was one thing, but this was moving a small group and several heavy trunks as well. He struggled with it, the weight of what they were doing feeling as if they were moving a small mountain.

  To his left, Haniel grunted, and Gabriel shot him a quick glance. The Archangel of Love’s face was drenched in sweat, and his expression was one of intense concentration. Beside him, Samael stood, forehead beaded with moisture, looking as if he were trying to move a continent with only his mind. Gabriel felt much the same as his fellows looked.

  In the middle of the circle, the little group became surrounded by light. The light pulsed, expanding, then contracting, and then with a loud hiss like a vacuum, they were gone. The light died away in a sudden rush, ending on a loud pop.

  Remiel staggered, sitting down heavily on the nearest chair. His chest was heaving as he panted from his exertions, and Ishtahar rushed to him, her expression worried. Michael took two steps to the boardroom table and leaned against it, and Gabriel could see that his lover was shaking.

  He felt drained, exhausted, and he took the few steps to Michael’s side, feeling as if he were walking a mile. Leaning against the table, Gabriel murmured, “Are you all right?”

  Michael looked up at him and gave him a weary smile. “Merely tired, Gabriel. Are you all right?”

  Gabriel let out a quiet breath. “Tired, like you. Like all of us. That was fucking hard.”

  “It was.” Michael was, Gabriel thought, too tired to scold him for language. “I think we should all rest now.”

  “Amen to that,” Metatron said. He wasn’t far away, sprawled on the floor, leaning against Tzadkiel. He looked exhausted. “I haven’t done something that hard in millennia.”

  “Excuse me,” Liam spoke then. Gabriel started. He’d forgotten that there were others in the room.

  “Aye?”

  “Why are you guys so tired?” Liam asked.

  Remiel chuckled weakly from his chair. “We had to throw a group of people and boxes that weighed approximately two-and-a-half thousand pounds back in time some two thousand years. Think of it as throwing a cannonball from one side of Yerevan to the other.”

  Liam blinked. “It was that difficult?”

  “Harder,” Raphael said. He shook himself. “We need to rest. Tomorrow, we will be back to normal, but we have exerted a lot of energy in a short time, first with giving Angelique, Lily, and Danny the gift of speaking and understanding Latin and then with moving all of them and their necessary boxes through time. We must all go and eat carbohydrates and drink plenty of water.” He turned to fix Gabriel with a knowing look. “No alcohol tonight.”

  Gabriel pulled a face, and then he chuckled. “I didn’t actually want any.”

  “And that’s the sign of the end of the world,” Tzadkiel drawled. He shook his head as he got to his feet from where he sat, Brieus and Sophiel rushing to help him. “I’m going home to Savannah. I’ll be back in the morning.” He looked at his lieutenants. “Move us, please?”

  “Of course, boss,” Brieus said. The next moment, they were gone.

  “I’ll go, too,” Haniel said. “I’ll go spend the evening with Penemuel. I’m sure he knows a good restaurant or two.” He vanished then in a rustle of feathers.

  “I will return to the sick in Lyudmila’s building,” Raphael said. He still looked tired.

  “I’ll come with you,” Israfel piped up. “So will Tabbry. Won’t you, Tabbry?”

  From the doorway, Tabbris nodded. He said nothing, however, and Gabriel quirked an eyebrow. Tabbris and Israfel moved to Raphael and took his hands. Then they too were gone, teleporting to the apartment building.

  Lix Tetrax, Melcherisa, Adramelek, Ondrass, and Markus came back into the room. “You all look dreadful,” Adramelek said.

  “Thanks,” Gabriel said.

  “You’re welcome!” Adramelek grinned. “So, they’ve gone?”

  “Yes.” Michael straightened and took a deep breath. “We will all leave and meet back here in the morning.”

  “All right,” Ondrass said.

  Lix Tetrax stepped forward. “Who needs to go back to Lyudmila’s apartment? I’ll move you. I said I’d help Raph.”

  “I did too,” Melcherisa said.

  Lyudmila, Eleanora, Piotr, Declan, Liam, Baxter, and Riley moved toward them.

  “Thanks,” Baxter said. “Appreciate it, demon dudes.”

  “Demon dudes?” Melcherisa asked.

  “Sure,” Baxter said.

  “You… are very strange,” Melcherisa said.

  “Let’s go to Belle Coeur,” Gabriel said, murmuring to Michael as the others began to talk among themselves.

  “A wonderful idea. Can you move us?” Michael asked.

  “Aye, I can manage,” Gabriel said. “Did you overdo it on the magic?”

  Michael bit his lower lip. “Perhaps a little.”

  Gabriel sighed. “Michael….”

  “Do not scold, Gabriel.” Michael slipped his hands into Gabriel’s. “Simply take us home. Please?”

  “I can’t refuse you anything,” Gabriel said. He was worried, but he kept his tone light. “We’re going. Now.” Before anyone could say anything, he’d moved himself and Michael, and they emerged in the world in the living room of the house on their private island retreat.

  Michael let out a huff of relief and sat down on the comfortable sofa. Gabriel waved a hand, opening the windows and pulling back the curtains with his power, and then he joined his lover. He raised his arms, a silent act that spoke louder than words that Michael should in no way feel obliged to restrain himself from a cuddle. The speed with which Michael moved into his embrace made Gabriel realize his beloved needed the physical contact as much as he did.

  They sat together in companionable silence as it grew gradually darker, the scent of the sea heavy on the gentle breeze that blew through the open doors and windows. As the sun set, the light changed color, transforming from clear to soft gold to burnished orange to a dimness that gradually shifted into the soft darkness of early night. The stars came out, and Gabriel could see that the sky was clear. The twinkling light of the stars and the soft glow of the moon were more than enough illumination for him to see clearly.

  In his arms, Michael let out a long, slow sigh and snuggled closer. Gabriel tightened his arms around his lover as he felt Michael press a kiss to his shoulder.

  “We need to eat,” he said in a soft voice.

  “I know. Can we do that in perhaps ten minutes?” Michael asked. “I wish to remain like this for a little while longer.”

  Gabriel bent and kissed the top of Michael’s head. “Aye, we can. I like being like this, too. You still wiped out?”

  “Pardon?” Michael shifted a little, looking into Gabriel’s eyes.

  “You still exhausted from overdoing it?”

  “Oh. No. I simply feel weary. As Raphael said, once we have replenished ourselves and rested, I will be well. You worry too much.”

  “Aye, ’cause you don’t worry about yourself at all.�
� Gabriel growled a little and pulled Michael back into a tight embrace.

  “You are very sweet, Gabriel,” Michael murmured.

  “If you say so.” Gabriel slowly stroked Michael’s hair as they lapsed again into that comfortable silence.

  Perhaps a quarter of an hour later, Michael stirred and slowly pulled out of Gabriel’s arms. “Forgive me,” he said. “I fear that I am becoming hungry.”

  Gabriel smiled fondly and ruffled Michael’s hair. Michael immediately reached up to fix his hair, and Gabriel laughed.

  “Nothing to forgive, solnyshko. I’m a bit peckish myself.”

  “Why did you not say something earlier?” Michael asked.

  “Because I like sitting here with you like this more.” Gabriel disentangled himself from Michael and stood up to stretch. He made a contented noise as his back popped. “Ooh, that’s good. So, let’s go see what’s in the kitchen.”

  “As you say.” Michael got to his feet and took Gabriel’s hand in his own. Hand in hand, they walked from the living room into the kitchen.

  The fridge proved to be full, and Gabriel rummaged around in it, suddenly ravenous. He pulled out steak, potatoes, corn cobs, and a salad kept in an airtight container and set them all on the counter. Michael, humming to himself, began to heat up the frying pan, pouring in oil and garlic, then some finely chopped chili. The scent of cooking spices filled the air, making Gabriel’s mouth water.

  He licked his lips as he resumed his investigation of the contents of the fridge, pulling out a small tub of raspberries and a small tub of cream. Michael smiled at him as he cooked up the steaks, putting the corn cobs and potatoes on to boil beside the meat. Soon, the kitchen was full of the smells of cooking, and Gabriel moved to sit at the breakfast bar, watching Michael cook.

  “I fear that dinner will not be anything elaborate,” Michael said as he sprinkled some Chinese five-spice powder over the steaks.

  “You sure?” Gabriel grinned as Michael quirked an eyebrow at him. “What’s that?” He looked at the bottle Michael now held.

  Michael’s eyebrow rose higher. “This is balsamic vinegar, Gabriel.”