The Crystal Lake

by L. J. LaBarthe

  Michael shook his head. “I confess I do not understand the sport. Balancing upon a wooden board upon the waves of the sea seems most foolhardy.”

  “It gives a lot of humans joy and happiness,” Gabriel said.

  “Indeed.” Michael chuckled. “I confess that my lack of appreciation for it has to do with my lack of balance. Baxter tried to teach me to surf, once. I fell off the board every time.”

  Gabriel blinked and then he burst out laughing. “I wish I’d seen that!”

  “I am glad you did not. It was humiliating.” Michael squared his shoulders. “Let us go to Waikiki.”

  “Right.” Still laughing, Gabriel moved.

  Iolana was waiting for them. When they arrived on the beach at Waikiki, she called Gabriel’s and Michael’s names and waved them over to join her. It was a blustery day, and the seas were rough, churning and crashing onto the shore.

  “No surfing today?” Gabriel said after they’d said their greetings and he’d introduced Asaf, Vel, and Camael.

  “Not today,” Iolana said. “The rips are too strong. But I like to watch the waves, so here I am.”

  “You are looking well, miss,” Michael said.

  “I’m pretty well, Michael, thanks. Before you get to the latest crisis, I already know. We had a volcanic eruption the other day. The lava did its thing, and the city was about to evacuate when the lava just… evaporated.”

  “Evaporated?” Michael echoed, astonishment all over his face.

  “Yeah. It was damn weird.” She shook her head. “All the scientists are running around trying to figure it out.”

  “More bizarre weather,” Gabriel mused.

  “As you say.” Michael looked thoughtful. “Has there been anything else untoward?”

  “No, not since that.” Iolana looked at them, her expression shrewd. “So, what’s wrong?”

  “The Holy Grail has been stolen,” Michael said.

  Iolana’s face paled. “You’re sure?” When Michael nodded, she shook her head. “Damn. Damn.”

  “Indeed,” Michael said.

  “I like how he doesn’t scold you for something he’d scold me for,” Gabriel said.

  Michael shot him a confused look.

  “Never mind,” Gabriel said. “We’re working on fixing things and getting the Grail back,” he said to Iolana, “but it’s taking time.”

  “Do you know who took it?” she asked.

  “Naamah,” Gabriel said.

  Iolana’s eyebrows shot up. “The succubus? Why? What does she want with it?”

  “What does anyone who does something like this want?” Gabriel shrugged. “World domination. Power. The usual.”

  “Well, I don’t want to be ruled by a succubus, thanks all the same,” Iolana said. “Though now I know this, I know what I’m looking for. If I find anything strange or weird, I’ll call you. Or should I call Raz?”

  “Raz is busy with something,” Gabriel said. “So aye, call us.”

  “Okay. Well, I won’t keep you. I bet you’ve got tons to do,” she said.

  “That’s God’s honest truth,” Gabriel agreed.

  She gave him a quick hug, then hugged Michael. “Go on with your bad selves,” she said, grinning as Michael looked confused at her choice of words. “I’ll keep in touch.”

  “Thanks. You’re a good lass,” Gabriel said.

  “Nice to meet you three,” she said to Asaf, Vel, and Camael.

  “And you, miss,” Vel said.

  “Oh, I do like them when they’re polite,” Iolana said with a bright laugh. “Go. I’ll talk to you later.”

  Gabriel gave her a little bow.

  Michael hummed. “Where next, Gabriel?”

  “Let’s go see Saadi, then Khenbish, then Wilara,” he said.

  “As you say.” Michael turned to Iolana. “It was a pleasure to see you again. God be with you.” Then he was gone.

  “See you later,” Gabriel said, and she waved. Then he moved, following Michael to the Dubai desert. He could feel that the other angels were following him as well, and he approved of that. He did not want them to loiter long in places where they would be without him or Michael. They were good soldiers, Gabriel thought, but they definitely needed a few history lessons from Penemuel.

  At least the desert was a dry heat, Gabriel thought, as they emerged in the world out the front of Saadi’s home. He was still sweating, though, and he shifted, trying to ease the rapidly heating steel of his armor.

  Saadi was waiting for them, much as Jihu and Iolana had been. He bowed low to them and then spoke in Arabic as Gabriel moved to introduce the three Seraphim.

  “I cannot speak for long,” Saadi said. “I have much to do. I have been asked to keep an eye on the dead by Raziel.”

  Gabriel blinked. This was the first he’d heard of it. To judge from Michael’s surprised expression, he wasn’t the only one who was hearing this for the first time. “Raz spoke with you?”

  “He telephoned before he left. He said that he would be out of touch for some time, but that you, Jibril and Mikael, would be in contact soon,” Saadi said. “And lo, thanks to Allah, here you are.”

  “Aye, well, what are the dead doing?” Gabriel asked.

  “Nothing, yet.” Saadi sighed. “They are restless, though. The spirits are frightened, Jibril. They cluster near to my home, seeking reassurance through proximity. They will not speak of what they fear, but it is easy to tell they are scared. So I comfort them as I can and watch and wait for them to tell me what troubles them.”

  Michael pursed his lips. “We know a young Necromancer who may be able to divine what is going on as well,” he said. “We will speak with him when we return to Yerevan, Gabriel.”

  Gabriel nodded. “Aye. I think Liam’s a good one to deal with this.” He turned back to Saadi. “Do you need anything?”

  “You honor me, Holy Jibril.” Saadi gave him another bow. “I have all that I need. My family and I are content.”

  “If anything comes up or you need something, call me, yeah?” Gabriel reached out and took Saadi’s right hand in his, shaking it firmly. “Just shout my name and I’ll come.”

  “You are most kind, honored one.” Saadi inclined his head. “Thank you.”

  “My pleasure.” Gabriel stepped back. “Well, shall we go on to Mongolia?”

  “As you say.”

  “Thanks again, Saadi,” Gabriel said. “We wouldn’t have realized about the dead otherwise.”

  “We all serve the same Lord,” Saadi said. “Allah and peace be upon you.”

  “Peace and Allah be with you,” Gabriel replied.

  “And so to Mongolia,” Michael said. “This has been an interesting day.”

  “That’s one way to put it,” Gabriel agreed. “How are you three doing?”

  Vel shrugged. “It’s interesting. I’m learning a lot, sir.”

  “Me too,” Asaf said.

  Camael nodded. “This is far more intimate than our usual interactions with humans, sir.”

  “Good,” Gabriel said in approval. “Come along, follow us to Mongolia.” With that he moved, teleporting to the steppes where the yurt of Khenbish, the Mongolian shaman, was situated.

  “Forgive me, honored ones,” the young woman who met them at the opening to the yurt said. “Khenbish is in a trance state at this time and cannot receive anyone.”

  Gabriel shot Asaf a dark look as the angel spluttered in outraged surprise, muttering, “Doesn’t he know who and what we are? How can he refuse to see us?” Gabriel turned back to the young woman and gave her a shallow bow. “We understand. Does he have a message for us?”

  She nodded. “He told me to tell you that the heart of the land is beginning to compensate.” She smiled a little ruefully. “He did not explain this to me. I hope it that you understand his words, great ones.”

  “We do,” Michael said. “Thank you, miss. Do you require anything?”

  “No, we are all well here.” The young woman bobbed a curtsey. “Thank
you for asking.”

  “Please give Khenbish our respect when he comes out of his trance,” Gabriel said.

  “It would be my honor to do so,” she said. “Safe traveling, honored ones.”

  “And good fortune and peace to you and yours,” Michael said.

  Gabriel strode over to Asaf and gripped his shoulder in a vise-like grip. The angel yelped as Gabriel closed his steel-covered fist on him, but Gabriel was annoyed and he hauled Asaf some distance away from Khenbish’s yurt.

  “Here’s a wee tip,” Gabriel growled, spinning the younger angel around to face him. “It’s more in the nature of a fucking order. Don’t look down your nose at any of these people. They are the best of humanity. They deserve your fucking respect and your honor, not your scorn.”

  Asaf quailed and dropped to his knees. “I’m sorry, my lord.”

  Gabriel growled. “You’re on latrine duty at the apartment block that Lyudmila owns. In between lessons with Penemuel.”

  Asaf bit his lower lip. “All of the latrines?”

  “Fucking yes, why are you questioning a direct order?” Gabriel was amazed.

  “Sir,” Vel began, but Gabriel cut him off.

  “Do you want to be joining him?”

  “No, sir!”

  “Then shut up!”

  Vel shrank back, hiding behind Camael, who looked frightened. Gabriel shook his head and hauled Asaf to his feet. “Come on,” he said. “We don’t have time for this shit. Wilara’s our final visit, and if any of you so much as look at him funny, I’m grounding you to work in sewer cleanup in Birmingham for a year.”

  “Why Birmingham?” Michael asked softly as the three angels clustered together.

  “It was the first city that came to mind.” Gabriel was still annoyed. “Bloody hell.”

  “Language.” Michael smiled then. “Still, you have scared them into good behavior.”

  “Are you….” Gabriel trailed off, not sure how to ask the question.

  “I approve of your orders and your punishment for the failure to carry them out,” Michael said. “If that is what you were going to ask.”

  “Aye, it were.”

  “Then set your mind at ease. Let us go to Australia.”

  “Okay.” Gabriel looked over his shoulder at the three Seraphim. “Follow us,” he ordered.

  “Sir, yes, sir!” they said, saluting smartly. Their show of military respect appeased Gabriel slightly, and he concentrated and teleported from the flat lands of Mongolia to the red desert of inner Australia.

  Wilara sat at his waterhole, as he had the first time that Gabriel and Michael had met him. His dog lay at his feet, tongue lolling out as Wilara scratched behind the animal’s ears. “Heard you coming,” Wilara said without preamble as they walked toward him. “Problem again, eh?”

  “Yes,” Michael said. “It is good to see you, Wilara.”

  “You too, Archangel. No, don’t bother with introductions,” Wilara said as Gabriel turned to gesture to the three angels to move closer. “There are so many of you, I’d forget your names. They all rhyme, too. Bloody confusing!”

  Gabriel laughed. “Fair point,” he said.

  “I’m afraid I don’t have anything to report,” Wilara said. “The Rainbow Serpent woke for an hour and grumbled, and I thought we’d have a problem—a big, earthquake problem. But he went back to sleep, so I was bloody relieved. I’m keeping an eye on all the spirits and ancient elders. If anything happens, I know what to do. Call you, Michael here, or Raziel.”

  “Not Raziel,” Gabriel said. “He’s out of range right now.”

  Wilara took that in stride. “Righto. Then I’ll call you two.”

  “Thank you, Wilara,” Michael said.

  “No bother to me, Mike. Happy to help. We need to keep this old planet of ours turning—and neutral territory—for some time yet, right?”

  “Right,” Gabriel said.

  “Want to join me for billy tea?” Wilara asked. “I got me water boiling, it’ll be ready in ten, I reckon.”

  Gabriel and Michael shared a quick look. It was with a sigh of genuine regret that Gabriel shook his head.

  “We can’t, I’m afraid. But we’ll take a rain check on that, if we can?”

  “No worries, mate. Any time,” Wilara said. “So, I guess I’ll be seeing you again in a little while?”

  “As you say,” Michael said. “To take some tea, if nothing else.”

  “I look forward to it.” Wilara moved to them and shook their hands. “Good to see you two again. Have a good flight.”

  “Thanks. And blessings to you and yours,” Gabriel said, not entirely sure the sentiment was the right one. Wilara’s smile was answer enough, however, and Gabriel smiled back, even as he prepared to move to Yerevan.

  “Catch you on the flip side,” Wilara said, touching the brim of his Akubra hat.

  “Definitely,” Gabriel said. Then he moved, feeling Michael and the three younger angels moving with him.

  Yerevan was cool, the sun beginning to set. Gabriel took a deep breath and shifted his sword belt a little. “Right. Asaf, get to latrine duty. Camael and Vel, find Haniel and ask him to take the three of you to Penemuel tomorrow morning. Dismissed.”

  They saluted him, though Asaf looked more than a little chagrined. Gabriel watched them go and shook his head. “Youth,” he muttered.

  Michael laughed. “Indeed. Shall we go up to brief the others? Then we could spend some time together, alone?”

  Gabriel smiled at his lover. “I like that idea. No. I fucking love that idea.”

  “Language,” Michael scolded. He slipped his hand into Gabriel’s. “Let us go up to see the rest of our Brotherhood, the Venatores, shifters, and Adramelek and his people.”

  Gabriel teleported them straight into Ondrass’s palatial suite of rooms.

  Chapter Ten

  “SO, YOU want me to hang out in a cemetery and talk to the dead?” Liam asked.

  Michael hummed. “In essence, yes. I feel that these warnings should not be ignored. The spirits should be consulted to learn more of how the theft of the Grail has affected the psychic realms as well as the physical.”

  “And what do you want us to do?” Adramelek asked.

  “You have not had any luck in getting to Purgatory?” Michael asked.

  “No.” Adramelek rested his hands on his hips. “And I’ll tell you, Archangel, I find it highly suspicious that we can’t.”

  “Explain,” Michael ordered.

  Adramelek rolled his eyes at Michael’s tone of voice, Gabriel noted. But he moved to sit down in one of the comfortable armchairs and rested his hands on his knees.

  “It feels like we’re butting our heads against a brick wall,” Adramelek said. “I know the boundaries between realities are strong, but we Archdemons can get between Hell and Purgatory or Hell and Earth or Earth and Purgatory. Just like you Archangels can. And now, Purgatory is locked up tight and nothing breaks through.”

  “We tried,” Ondrass said, “we used all manner of magics and spells, and Adramelek even asked Lord Lucifer to see if he could do it, but he couldn’t.”

  “Neither could Lilith,” Lix Tetrax reported.

  “This is disquieting news,” Michael said. He looked at Gabriel. “Perhaps we should try.”

  “Good luck with that,” Adramelek said. “I don’t think you’ll have any more success than we did. I need to drop back home for an hour or so after this little tête-à-tête anyway.”

  “As you say.” Michael looked over at Liam. He stood between Baxter and Declan, with Riley a few feet away. All four of the young men looked apprehensive.

  “Michael,” Liam said, “what am I supposed to be asking the dead, exactly?”

  Gabriel chuckled at that. “I don’t know that there’s anything you can ask them exactly, Liam. Best you can do, I reckon, is to ask if they’ve noticed anything weird. Chances are they’ll say yes. Then get ’em to tell you what that weirdness is. Declan, Baxter, and Riley will write dow
n what’s said and then we’ll review it.”

  “Intel gathering, right,” Declan said. “So, where do you want us to start?”

  Gabriel looked at Michael and shrugged. “Here?”

  “I see no reason not to,” Michael agreed.

  “Yerevan has a cemetery,” Gabriel said. “I know you don’t speak Russian or Armenian, so maybe Lyudmila and Piotr should go with you to translate.”

  Liam nodded. “All right, that’s fair. I bet some of the dead speak English, though.”

  “Perhaps. Still, let us not take any chances. Take her majesty and Piotr with you,” Michael instructed.

  “Okay.” Liam leaned back against the windowsill.

  “While Adramelek is visiting with his majesty in Hell, Melcherisa, Lix Tetrax, and Markus will accompany me.” Ondrass stood up with languid grace and strolled into the center of the boardroom. “Now that I have consumed one of these foolish demons, I am able to recognize and identify the auras of those who have thrown their lot in with Naamah. We will find them, interrogate them, and… probably eat them.”

  “Hold off on the interrogation bit,” Adramelek said. “Get them together somewhere out of the way, like an abandoned warehouse or something. Wait for me to get back from Hell, and then we’ll all have a little chat with them and give them some options.”

  “Of course, Adramelek,” Ondrass said, giving the Archdemon a courtly bow. “That seems to be far more sporting. For us.”

  Adramelek laughed. “I’m glad you agree.”

  “Well. While you’re doing your thing,” Gabriel said, “Camael will be available to move Liam and the others to cemeteries as you need. Michael and I have things to take care of, and Haniel will be in London with Penemuel for the moment. If you can’t get one of us, Metatron, Tzadkiel, Remiel, and Samael are available—Raphael’s still with the sick, so unless you get hurt or something, try not to holler for him. He’s got his hands full as it is.”

  “Yes, sir,” Baxter and Riley said in unison, and Liam and Declan nodded.

  “If that’s everything for the moment?” Gabriel looked around the assembled, relieved that no one seemed to want to add anything. “Then Michael and I will be off.”