by Jenny McKane
They were ready to go in three days. Like before, Sunny rode with Gabriel. Eli opted to come along, too, but he drove his own truck.
“I don’t want to stick around much after you go through,” he admitted. “The stress would probably give me grey hairs. Or kill me. Or both.”
At least he was going to be seeing her off. In all, she’d spent almost two months training there and almost a month now working with the obsidian poisoning as a failsafe should anything happen to her in a fight. Despite all that, Sunny still didn’t feel ready. Not at all.
She tried not to let her nervousness manifest into anything obvious, but when her nails had been bitten down to the quick and she wouldn’t stop drumming her bloody finger stumps on the window beside her, Gabriel seemed to have had enough.
“You need to stop,” he growled.
She froze. “What?” She had an idea of what she was doing that was making him so crazy.
“Stop worrying. Stop fiddling. Relax.”
She snorted at that. “You’re not going into Hell,” she said plainly. “I think I’m allowed a couple of annoying habits as my countdown begins.”
Gabriel didn’t respond, but he didn’t argue, either. She took it as a good thing and kept her fiddling, only now she was quieter. Her thoughts raced around between what she remembered and what she was supposed to know--layouts, ministers, the “who’s who” of Hell--and what was scaring her. The unknown. Screwing it all up. Failure. Death.
Never before had the stakes been so high and Sunny was starting to feel like she was cracking under the pressure.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
She did. But she also didn’t.
“Probably not right now,” she answered truthfully.
Gabriel nodded and didn’t pry.
About an hour later, still on the road, she wanted to talk.
“Who’s the bigger bad guy here--Camael or Azrael?”
It was a question that had been plaguing her. There were different ways of looking at the situation, and a different bad guy for each view.
On the one hand, to Sunny, Azrael was her focus. He’d locked Gideon up and taken his freedom for what appeared to be nefarious purposes. As far as Sunny knew, Azrael had been the orchestrator of the death of a lot of Hunters around the country and had a rap sheet a mile long full of foul deeds. In this game, Azrael was her ultimate bad guy.
“Depends, I guess,” Gabriel answered, expressing much of the same thoughts she did. “But my mission is Camael and other fallens. Demons are always a bonus, but my task is what I’m supposed to focus on.”
“Do angels fall a lot?”
Maybe it was a bit of angelic pride or perhaps it was a hush-hush secret, but Michael never talked about fallen angels. To be honest, though, Michael never talked about much with Sunny. She’d always had to deal with a lack of information and relied on herself to fill in the gaps, or just wing it.
Gabriel seemed hesitant to answer and she wondered if she had just stumbled into a taboo subject.
Just when she was certain that Gabriel wouldn’t answer, he did.
“It used to be very rare,” he said, his voice quiet and slow. “But the numbers are drastically increasing in this generation and part of my task is to figure out why.”
“Is it a secret?” She got the feeling it was.
Instead of denying it, Gabriel answered her by ignoring the question and looking out over the steering wheel.
“It’s not something any of us are proud of,” he replied finally.
“Last question,” she said, and Gabriel just rolled his eyes at her, as if saying yeah right. “Has Camael officially fallen?”
“No,” Gabriel said. “I haven’t been able to find direct proof or involvement yet. Rumors. Circumstantial evidence. Dead ends. Nothing concrete yet.”
“And when you do find it?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“Nope,” he said, finally laughing. “You’re out of questions.”
Knowing she was defeated, Sunny put her earbuds in her ears and listened to music for the rest of the long drive. It was late at night when they rolled into downtown Vancouver and Gabriel checked them all into their hotel rooms. Gabriel, Eli, and Sunny each got rooms and Gabriel said Selah would join them when she was ready.
*****
The next morning, Eli was pounding on her door just as Sunny was in the midst of a good dream that involved a beach and some serious sunshine.
“There’s a gym down the street,” he began. “I’ve reserved the mats for us. Let’s go.”
Slamming the door in his face, Sunny tamped down on her rising temper. She was not interested in more sparring. Her body was not interested in more sparring. Her mind was not interested in more sparring.
But Eli was stubborn as hell and he’d make her life miserable if she resisted. So, submission it was. At least for now.
It wasn’t that things had necessarily changed between her and Eli since their talk about his past, but Sunny found herself less likely to take things so personally from him. He really did have a stake in this--he didn’t want Sunny to die at the hands of demons. He’d already lost too many to that.
Training went as most trainings did. Sunny had decent footwork and stayed upright for a while he pressured her with strikes. Sunny ate plenty of punches through her misjudgment, but in all, she was doing much better than when she’d begun.
“Progress, Sunshine,” Eli said as they were leaving the gym. The place had showers and a hair dryer that Sunny had taken advantage of, as they were meeting Gabriel for lunch at a small bistro somewhere in the city.
It didn’t take long for Eli to find the place and he stopped at the front door.
“Not coming in?” Sunny asked, stopping short when he didn’t follow her.
He shook his head. “I’ve got some errands to run while I’m in town,” he said, entirely vague and undescriptive. Knowing better, Sunny didn’t push. “I’ll see you later today.”
Just as Eli turned to go, he froze, getting only two steps from the door. From where she stood behind him, she watched Eli’s back tense and his muscles go rigid.
“What is it?” she whispered, knowing something was wrong.
“Get Gabriel now,” was all he said and Sunny didn’t press any further. Not worrying about looking foolish or weird, she ran through the doors into the restaurant and scanned the dining room, looking for the handsome archangel with the dirty blonde hair. She found him after a few seconds and darted through the dining room to the table. He looked up and when he began to greet her, his face fell when he took in her expression.
“Eli needs you outside,” she blurted out before he could even get the question in. Gabriel didn’t hesitate and sprang from his chair, dashing for the door.
Sunny was close on his heels when they ran a few steps down the sidewalk. Eli was no longer in front of the door. He was down the street some ways, standing in a modified fighting stance, his knuckles white across the top of his fist. Gabriel smoothly walked up behind Eli and placed a hand on his shoulder. It must have had a calming effect because Eli relaxed and allowed Gabriel to walk in front him.
The person they were looking at stood with his hands looped in the pockets of his jeans. He was in his 40s with curly brown hair that fell to his shoulders. He wore an emerald sweater and a collared white shirt. He had a goatee on his face and even from where Sunny was, she noticed the specks of grey in his beard. The stranger had a smile that didn’t quite meet his eyes as he took in Gabriel’s approach, obviously not having felt very threatened by Eli’s hostile attitude.
“How on Earth did one of Metatron’s failures end up with you, little brother?”
He was sneering now and Sunny bristled at the way he spoke of Eli. Gabriel didn’t take the bait. He approached the man slowly and with an air of nonchalance. But Sunny could feel the tension around them crackling.
This was huge.
“Funny meeting up with you here,” Gabriel said sof
tly. “Camael.”
Chapter Twelve
It was a showdown of sorts.
Gabriel and Eli were squared off with the archangel Camael. Nobody really spoke much for the first thirty seconds, or at least that’s what it felt like for Sunny. She could hardly believe what she’d heard and maybe they were actually speaking and she just wasn’t keeping up with it. Her brain was in a tailspin. What the hell was happening right now?
“What are you doing here, Camael?” Gabriel’s voice was smooth but, having spent as much time with him as she had, Sunny knew the tension when she heard it.
“Am I not allowed to move freely?” The other archangel, obviously older and bristling with power, had a carefree air to him. But Sunny knew better.
“You’ve been called home numerous times, and you’ve failed to answer,” Gabriel replied.
Camael gave a shrug of his shoulders. “I’ve done nothing to warrant any inquiries, brother, I assure you.” The lie flowed from Camael’s tongue like honey. Even Sunny knew he was lying.
“So, you should have no qualms with returning.”
Camael chuckled and rolled his neck to the side. Was he preparing for a fight?
“And you, little brother? What are you doing in the city of portals? This is not your territory,” Camael said, turning the tables. “Certainly, there’s an interesting story as to why you’re here, as well?”
Gabriel said nothing. Of course not, he didn’t want Camael knowing they were in Vancouver to access the portal--to send Sunny into Hell. Up until that moment, Camael hadn’t noticed Sunny standing there. His dark gaze fell upon her and sized her up quickly, obviously finding her wanting.
“What’s with you and riffraff?” His voice held a sneer that Sunny didn’t miss. “Always taking in pathetic lost ones that serve no purpose.”
Chewing the inside of her cheek so she wouldn’t mouth off and get blasted into dust, as Camael was still an archangel as far as she knew, Sunny let him insult her and saw that Gabriel didn’t exactly rise to the occasion to defend her. He cast a casual glance behind her and just shrugged.
“You know me,” he said. “Always had a soft spot for misfits.”
Asshole. Sunny knew she shouldn’t let the act that Gabriel was putting on affect her, but it did. The words stung her, even if she knew they were for show. Gabriel was letting Camael assume things about him, it was part of the act.
It was okay. He didn’t really think she was a misfit, she assured herself.
Eli looked downright furious and Sunny wasn't so certain that he wasn't going to launch into an attack on Camael.
“Still keeping company with demons?” Eli was the one speaking now, and he was talking to Camael. “There's a rumor floating around that you're switching sides.”
Camael hid whatever he felt well. Despite a flicker of anger crossing his brows, he did not respond to Eli's words.
“Charming how your pet thinks it's allowed to speak,” Camael said.
Sunny was suddenly proud of herself for how she handled Camael insulting her. Eli did not do as well.
“Scum,” Eli said between clenched teeth. Sunny was standing behind him but could tell everything in his body was tensed. There was no way that Eli could win a one-on-one fight with an archangel, and he was crazy for pushing it like this. But Eli was angry. It seemed that whatever was going on between them, and between Gabriel as well, had a long back story that Sunny was not privy to.
“Watch your back, little brother,” Camael said.
“Are you threatening me?” Gabriel's hands had not unclenched. Would he attack Camael in broad daylight? Sunny wasn't sure that was a good move.
“Of course not,” Camael laughed.
The sound was grating and fake, and Sunny rolled her eyes despite herself.
“I'll be seeing you soon,” Gabriel said. It seemed like a threat and a promise all wrapped into one.
In the end, they skipped lunch. Selah was still not there, and Eli still had things to do. Gabriel wasn't much in the mood for eating, and neither was Sunny. So they returned to the hotel, where Gabriel brooded and ignored Sunny the rest of the afternoon. She ordered more room service than she could possibly afford, chalking it up to a training expense. Gabriel would pay for it, and she knew for a fact that the archangel had more money than he knew what to do with. A few extra appetizers and a couple more desserts that she could actually finish was small change compared to what he could spend.
He did, however, give her the 24th cut before dashing off to his room and holing up in there. He left her to recover alone, and at first Sunny was nervous that she would black out or get sick everywhere without being able to get to the restroom.
But she did fine, relatively speaking. Sure, she got sick and threw up in the toilet, but she wasn't so disoriented or near unconsciousness that she could not handle herself. She almost felt downright proud of herself. Maneuvering on her own two feet, on her own strength, after receiving another obsidian cut made her feel like she was getting better, that she was getting stronger.
She knew better than to be under the false presumptions that she was now strong enough to wage war in Hell and come out a victor. But that wasn't what she was doing, anyway. She was traveling to Hell and needed to stay alive to free Gideon. And with her recent improvements in sparring and in obsidian immunity, she was beginning to feel like it wasn't such a fool's errand that she was on.
She was, for the first time since starting everything, cautiously optimistic.
Three more days went by with her training in the morning, taking a cut from the obsidian blade in the afternoon, and her finding something to do or eat in the evening. Sometimes Eli came by to hang out with her, and sometimes she ate alone. Selah popped her head in when she was in Gabriel's room one time, but then disappeared again.
“What do you suppose that’s about?” she asked Gabriel, who shrugged.
“She's a demon,” he said, as if it would explain everything. “This is what she does. Don't think for one second that she's in any of this to help. She's in it for herself, and that's what you should be as well. That's what I am, that's what Eli is. We are all in it for ourselves, and we try to align our goals as best we can.”
Gabriel was different after his run-in with Camael. He was more closed off, a little less patient, and his tongue was a lot more barbed. She wanted to ask him if he was okay but knew better. He would never tell her if he wasn't, and he'd likely yell at her for prying. Eli had no answers, either.
“I could only imagine, I can only guess at what their relationship is like,” Eli had said when Sunny asked him. “Theirs is not a strong brotherhood, and for Gabriel to be on his tail, trying to prove that he is a fallen angel, it has to wreak havoc on him. Camael did not seem surprised in the least to see Gabriel, while the opposite was true for Gabriel. It's pretty obvious to me that Camael is one step ahead of him.”
She hoped it didn't spell disaster for them. There were no charges brought up against Camael yet, but that could quickly change. But to get charges brought up, Gabriel needed proof.
They were still in their Vancouver hotel when Sunny reached the 30th day of the obsidian immunity. To her, it was a momentous occasion. To Gabriel, however, it was another day, another cut. He did put a warm hand on her shoulder and squeezed it after he delivered the cut. But he left the room abruptly and left Sunny to recover for the next two hours on her own. She was a model of efficiency when it came to recovering from the blade cuts now. As soon as she felt the sickness coming up on her, Sunny would move to the restroom and wait it out. For the most part now, she did not vomit. But she did feel nauseous and weak for at least a half-hour. She was no longer in danger of losing consciousness, but she felt sick and fuzzy-headed, as if her brain was working slower.
“That might not change,” Eli had said. “It has been quite a while since I've been cut with my obsidian blade, but I do remember that I still feel sick and woozy for at least a little while. The blade is poison to you, remember that. So
even though you have immunity, taking a huge dose of it could still likely kill you. This is in case of small punctures, nicks, minor cuts. Don't forget that.”
*****
At last, the day had come. Or would come in the morning, as it were. Selah had returned with news that the timing was right, that her father was away visiting another realm for at least three days. She said it was the perfect time to use the portal to cross into the demon realm and get situated before Azrael returned.
This is what Sunny had been working for, so she was not ready for the panic and the fear that sparked in her chest. All of a sudden, she wanted nothing more than to have at least another week and a half to two weeks to prepare. Her eyes darted around the dining room as they settled in for a meal together for the first time since arriving in Vancouver.
Sunny's very own Last Supper. She had no appetite. She could hardly hold a decent conversation, while Gabriel and Eli seemed normal. Selah kept her eyes on her phone, texting and replying constantly. Sunny was almost surprised at how easily a demon princess could assimilate to very human technology.
Gabriel kept the conversation light, and Sunny knew it was because Selah was there. He did not want to give anything away to the demon princess, and she seemed in no mood to give anything on her side away either. It was the strangest sensation, Sunny not knowing who was being honest and truthful. She knew that most likely, both sides, Angel and Demon, were keeping their cards close to their chest and not wanting to reveal anything important.
But Sunny trusted Gabriel, and that was that. She did not trust Selah.
When the desserts were taken away, Gabriel paid the bill. He put an arm around Sunny and gave her a half hug, leaning closer.
“We'll meet in the lobby of the hotel around 5 in the morning,” he said quietly. “Okay?”
Was he really giving Sunny an option? She doubted that, so she nodded.
“I will leave Eli to walk you back to the hotel,” Gabriel said as he took his leave.
Selah stood and followed him. Gabriel seemed to be aware of the fact and did not stop her. Sunny raised an eyebrow. Odd.