“Yes, that’s what she said to your Aunt Lilith and me as well.” Agrat projected a thread of calming power, filling the room with a subtle warmth, a sense of safety and protection. She was pleased to see the two relax a little, look less scared of her and, she realized, less haunted. “What troubles you both, dear ones?” she asked. “I can see you’re both worried.”
“Mother wants to corrupt the Holy Grail,” Morgana said.
“And we don’t think that’s a good idea,” Arthur said.
Agrat, for the second time that afternoon, was astonished. “I thought you agreed with her.”
“We have to say that,” Arthur said. He sounded bitter. “But she told us so many lies, Aunt Agrat. She told us that you were evil and that you and Aunt Lilith deserved to die. And now here you are, and you’ve both been nothing but kind to us. Aunt Lilith is even kind to the Purgatory residents, which Mother never is. They hate her, you know. But they seem to adore Aunt Lilith, and Mother told us they’d hate her too.”
“Yes, Lilitu is very concerned about them. So am I. Do they have to be shackled?” Agrat asked.
“Mother says so.” Morgana shrugged.
“And what your mother says, goes,” Agrat mused.
“Yeah.” Arthur looked around the room. “She’s had us do so many weird things. We didn’t know why. She had me go and buy books and really old pottery and gold. Then she had a force of monsters go up to Earth and kidnap a human. Mother sacrificed him, poured his blood into a part of the Holy Grail. I was really scared she was going to kill one of us for that. Apparently the spell she’s using says she needed the blood of the firstborn child of a shaman.”
Several things fell into place in Agrat’s mind. “And you two are twins, but which of you is the oldest?”
“I am,” Morgana said in a small voice.
“Oh, sweetheart.” Agrat sighed and shook her head. “I am so sorry.”
“The human fought her, though,” Arthur said. “I was glad about that. I’d hoped he’d kill her, but she was too powerful for him.”
“What would you have done if he had killed her?” Agrat asked.
“Set the monsters free. Tear down this house. Ask the angels and demons not to kill us. Give back the Holy Grail.” Arthur twisted the hem of his shirt around the fingers of his free hand. “We were born in Purgatory, this is our home. This house isn’t. We used to live in a cottage several miles away. My best friends were a minotaur and a vampire, and then when we were thirteen, Mother killed them and moved us here. She said we had more important roles in life than wasting our time with the monsters. But they were our friends.” The last sentence was plaintive.
“She killed the fairies who were my friends,” Morgana said. Agrat was shocked to see tears coursing silently down her cheeks. “She set them on fire. And she laughed while they burned, screaming. She made me watch!”
Arthur let go of her hand and slid his arm around her shoulders. Morgana collapsed into him, weeping, and he held her tight, his expression one of pain and rage.
“I think,” Agrat began, “that we can help.”
Arthur looked at her sharply. “Don’t joke with us, Aunt Agrat.”
“I promise you both that I’m not.” Agrat cleared her throat. “Lilitu and I are not… invested in Naamah’s plan.” She took a deep breath. “She killed our sister, Eisheth. Eisheth was a sweet, gentle soul who lived only to serve others. She spent her life with the stars, comforting those who died and singing songs with the living. There wasn’t a bad bone in Eisheth’s body, and Naamah killed her.”
Arthur bit his lip, looking so much like his sister had when they’d stood at Agrat’s door that Agrat blinked several times. Finally, he nodded, his hair falling into his face. He pushed it back absently as Morgana sat up, wiping her eyes and nose with the back of the sleeve of her dress.
“So you’ll help us escape from Mother?” Morgana asked.
“I will.”
The two of them seemed to sag in on themselves, as if that one question had been keeping them upright. All the tension and fear poured out of them, like water from a bucket, and Agrat saw now only two young people, frightened and lonely, reaching desperately for help from anyone who gave them a kind word. Her anger at Naamah surged again and Agrat tamped it down. There would be time enough to express that rage later.
“I have a few questions, though,” Agrat said gently. “I need some information.”
“We’ll tell you what we know,” Arthur said.
Agrat stood and moved to them. She gathered both of them in a hug, feeling their surprise as she wrapped her arms around them. She realized then that neither of them had been hugged by an elder before, and her heart broke for these two pale children living in terror.
“Aunt Agrat?” Arthur asked, his voice uncertain.
Agrat let them go and resumed her seat on her bed. “You’re my niece and nephew. My flesh and blood. I wished only to hug you both. That’s all.”
They looked at each other. Then Morgana smiled shyly and turned to Agrat. “It was nice.”
“Yeah.” Arthur cleared his throat. “So, what are your questions?” His voice was rough with emotion.
Agrat took her cues from the two of them. “First of all, where is Naamah keeping the Grail?”
“In the basement,” Morgana replied. “There’s a temple to her set up down there. They’re in a crystal case.”
“There’s a way into the basement from the kitchens,” Arthur said. “And the bookcase in the living room is a secret door.”
“Huh.” Agrat digested that. “Thank you. Now, we know she only has one more part of the Grail to corrupt. What does she need to do for that to succeed?”
Arthur’s upper lip curled. “Regicide.”
Agrat was puzzled. “She needs to kill a king or queen?”
“Not just a king or queen,” Arthur said. “Royalty of a particular sort, so a prince or princess would work too. It has to be either Prince Michael of Heaven, Chief of the Archangels, or Lord Lucifer, King of Hell.”
Agrat felt her mouth drop open. “What?”
The two opposite her nodded.
“Holy crap,” Agrat gasped. She needed to tell Shateiel this, and soon. Not to mention get word to Lucifer.
“Her seneschal, a shifter named Arkady, said Lucifer would be too difficult, because he never leaves Hell. But Michael’s on Earth a lot, so he’d be easy to lure down here,” Arthur said.
“Fuck,” Agrat swore. “Okay. That answers a lot of questions.”
“And…” Morgana took a deep breath, now looking so frightened that a feeling of dread settled in the pit of Agrat’s stomach. “She has an angel serving her. The angel has been giving her information about what is happening on Earth and Heaven.”
All of her suspicions began to scream at her, and Agrat leaned forward. “Do you know the angel’s name?”
“No,” Arthur said. “We’ve only seen him. We don’t know anything about him.”
“Can you describe him?” Agrat asked.
“He’s tall,” Morgana said slowly, “and he has short hair, a sort of light brown color. He has pale skin and bright blue eyes.”
“Like you and Aunt Lilith,” Arthur said.
“His wings are gray, he has them out all the time,” Morgana said. “I’ve seen him wearing armor and weapons, so I think he’s a soldier.”
It wasn’t much. The description could fit any number of angels. Agrat suppressed her disappointment and smiled at the two of them. “Well, that’s a help. Thank you both. I don’t know how to thank you properly, but you have done us a great favor.”
“Just let us go back into Purgatory when everything’s done?” Morgana pleaded. “We just want to be with our people.”
Agrat rested her right hand over her heart. “On my honor, as an angel and as your aunt.”
“We should go,” Arthur said. “If we linger too long, Mother will get suspicious.”
Morgana nodded and got to her feet. “Thank you,
” she said. She moved to Agrat and embraced her, hugging her tight. Agrat hugged her back.
“No, thank you, both of you,” Agrat said.
“Please save our people,” Arthur said.
“I will,” Agrat replied. “I’ll tell Lilitu.”
“Why do you call her that?” Morgana asked as she paused on the threshold.
“It’s her original name,” Agrat said. “She was Lilitu before she was Lilith. Not many remember.”
“I like it,” Morgana said. “It sounds musical.”
“It does, doesn’t it?” Agrat agreed.
“We need to go,” Arthur said.
Agrat stood and walked them the short distance to the door. She saw them out and then took a deep breath.
“Now that was interesting,” Lilith said, entering the room.
“Fucking hell!” Agrat jumped, startled.
Lilith burst out laughing as she closed the door behind her. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you like that, Aggie. I heard the twins talking, so I hid and listened. No one else was around, which was lucky for them, because I would have killed them.”
“How much did you hear?” Agrat asked.
“All the relevant details. So Michael or Lucifer, hey?” Lilith’s expression was grim. “That won’t happen.”
“No, it won’t. I think you and I need to get in touch with Shay and Lightbringer as soon as possible.”
“Agreed.” Lilith pursed her lips. “Naamah went out into Purgatory, I was told. I checked, and yes, she’s out doing some sort of disgusting ritual with these good souls. We should get in touch with our beloveds right now.”
Agrat sat down on the floor and crossed her legs beneath her. She held out her hands and Lilith sat down in front of her and took her hands in her own.
“Ready?” Agrat asked.
“Ready,” Lilith replied.
“THIS IS ridiculous!” Melcherisa threw down the pen he had been holding. “They are sending the information as they get it, which is lovely, but there’s no pattern that I can see!”
Tzadkiel looked at him, seeing the frustration in the set of the Archdemon’s shoulders. He felt much the same. They had taken over the boardroom in Ondrass’s suite, and now nearly every available surface was scattered with notes, computers, and one wall had been given over to a giant whiteboard, upon which were pinned photographs and more notes.
“There is unfortunately a lot of information,” Sophiel said. She sat at one of the computers, her hair pulled back in a thick braid. “But there is a pattern. It is difficult to find, but it’s there.”
“What have you found?” Tzadkiel looked at her.
“All the antiquities that have been bought are, as we know, related to the Grail and the King Arthur tales. They’ve all come from the Middle East or Asia, usually by the black market. The maps indicate that the rest of the world has been ignored. Apart from that explosion in Paris, which, we now know, was a deliberate act designed to draw attention away from what Naamah had her people doing.”
“Okay, but this is old news,” Lix Tetrax said.
“I just wanted to start us on common soil,” Sophiel said.
“Ground,” Brieus said. “Common ground.”
“Whatever.” Sophiel rolled her eyes and he laughed. “As I was saying, we know what sort of things have been bought or stolen. And yes, some of them have been stolen, a few from the museum in Kabul in Afghanistan or the Egyptian Museum or places like that. We also know, thanks to you two, the totally unnecessary and wholly gross information about Lucifer and Adramelek’s sex life, and that’s an image no amount of brain bleach will ever remove.”
Melcherisa and Lix Tetrax laughed at that. Tzadkiel, however, sighed. “We don’t need to know about that part of things, Sophiel,” he said.
“Sorry, boss. Anyway, we know that Naamah’s interested in witches with a lot of power. The information Lyudmila’s friend got from that Russian witch points to it, and the fact there’s demons loyal to Naamah lurking around the house of Max and Minnie.”
“Yes, I had Camael go and join Asaf and Vel there,” Tzadkiel said. “I feel that three angels to give assistance are better than two.”
“Agreed. However, the information that Max is sending me here simply correlates what we already know about these antiquities. What we need to focus on now, I think, is what the ritual for the last part of the corruption of the Grail involves. I don’t think we want that to be a mystery.” Sophiel paused. “The first part was sororicide—killing one’s own sister. The second part was homicide—killing the eldest child of a shaman or magic user. What is the third and final part?”
Silence fell.
Brieus broke it by standing up and walking to the door of the boardroom. “Well, while we consider that, I’m going to get us all coffee.”
“We need Penemuel’s information,” Lix Tetrax said.
“Yes, we do,” Tzadkiel said. “And Baraqiel and Kokabiel’s too.”
“They have a lot of resources at their disposal,” Sophiel agreed.
“And we need to be sure that the dead are all right,” Tzadkiel said. “I hope very much that young Liam has had some success on that score. The spirits and souls of the departed should not be troubled further now they have passed from life.”
“I agree with that,” Lix Tetrax said.
“Then we are at an impasse,” Melcherisa said. “And I’m still fucking frustrated.”
“We need to research,” Sophiel said. “We know a lot more than we did, yes, but we need to know what this third ritual is. And we need to find our way into Purgatory.”
“Fine. The last thing Lix and I can work on,” Melcherisa said.
“Oh?” Tzadkiel looked at him.
“I think it’s time we tortured some demons.” Melcherisa turned to Lix Tetrax. “Shall we?”
“Oh yes. That sounds far more entertaining and profitable than getting a headache squinting at those infernal computer screens.” Lix Tetrax got to her feet. “You angels keep working on the books, and we’ll go out with the people.”
“Our people,” Melcherisa added.
Tzadkiel ran a hand over his head. He couldn’t see any reason to stop them, and they really did need to know how to get into Purgatory. So he sighed and inclined his head. “Good hunting to you,” he said.
“And to you.” Melcherisa held out his hand to Lix Tetrax, who took it. “We’ll report when we have something.”
“Hopefully that will be soon,” Lix Tetrax said. They vanished.
Tzadkiel turned back to the maps and the whiteboard. “All right,” he said, half to himself and half to Sophiel and Brieus, “let’s do this.”
Chapter Ten
“SO THE dead are okay now?” Angelique asked Liam.
“Yeah, I think so,” Liam said. “Whatever the Archangels did, it really helped. They’re much more relaxed and willing to talk to me.”
“I am glad to hear that,” Raphael said.
“So am I. I was really worried.” Liam looked around Notres Dame des Neiges. It was still beautiful, but the atmosphere of fear and anger that had filled the air was gone, replaced with the calm serenity of those who had died and gone on to another life. The cemetery was empty of other living people, and Liam was quietly relieved that they were alone there.
“Do you need to talk to more dead people?” Baxter asked.
Liam yawned. “Not today, I think. Tomorrow. I’m exhausted.”
“We will move you to the nearest town with a hotel,” Raphael said. He shot a quick glance at Tabbris and Israfel, who stood several feet away, their heads close together. “I assume that my companions aren’t arguing.”
“Is Tabbris always so mouthy?” Angelique asked.
“Oh yes.” Raphael laughed. “Generally, he’s worse.”
“Oh God,” Angelique said with a dramatic shudder. “I think I’d punch him in the head.”
“Uriel has, on countless occasions. Raziel too. Tzadkiel sometimes and Gabriel frequently.” Ra
phael looked at the two angels again. “They do not have the patience for him. He’s lonely, you see.”
“Everyone’s lonely,” Angelique said bluntly. “You live with it and you move on. You make the best of things or you fail at life. So excuse me, but I don’t have much sympathy for angel peacock over there.”
Raphael regarded her thoughtfully, but said nothing. Liam cleared his throat and changed the subject. “I hope we can find somewhere that sells good food. I’m getting tired of stale burgers from gas stations.”
“Real food,” Baxter enthused. “A steak.”
“A rare steak,” Lily said. “God yes. A bloodied rare steak.”
The Venatores looked as if they’d seen the face of God at that remark, and Liam began to laugh. “Okay, well, are there any steakhouses around here, Raph?”
“I’ll check. Where is your brother?” Raphael asked.
“Dec’s still checking out graves with Riley and Danny. He’ll be along,” Liam said.
“Don’t tease him about being a Yorkie,” Angelique said to Baxter.
“What? I can’t help it. He’s so tiny and furry. He’s like… lunch.”
Liam burst out laughing again. “Please don’t tell him that.”
“I won’t. But he looks like a giant hedgehog.”
“Bax, you’re an idiot,” Angelique said.
Lily laughed. “He’s not wrong, though.”
“Not wrong about what?” Declan said as he walked toward them, Riley and Danny following close behind. He had changed back to his human form, which, Liam thought, was probably just as well. Declan didn’t think much of Baxter, and he was prickly about his shifter shape on a good day. Putting Baxter’s teasing together with Declan’s most sensitive spot would only lead to violence, of that Liam was sure.
“Nothing important. We were talking about going somewhere for steak,” Liam said.
Declan grinned. “Steak, huh? Yeah, that sounds awesome. And a burger. And fries.”
“Oh fuck yes,” Danny said with relish. “God, yes. And loads of ketchup.”
“Then I see I must take you to a town of a greater size than the one I had thought to take you to,” Raphael said. “I cannot deny that steak is a good idea. You all need iron, after all.”
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