The Wind-up Forest

by L. J. LaBarthe

  Gabriel felt his smile grow soft and fond. “You’re so romantic, solnyshko.”

  “Not as much as I should be, I fear.” Michael kissed Gabriel’s cheek. “Come, let us get dressed and go to work. If we are very lucky, we can be intimate once more before Raziel and Uriel summon us to Archangelsk.”

  “I fucking love this plan.”

  “Language,” Michael said.

  Gabriel laughed. He sat up and pulled clean clothes to him, watching as Michael did the same. They dressed, then left the bedroom together, walking very close to one another, frequently bumping into each other. He would never get enough of this, Gabriel thought, as the two of them entered the library. He would never want another love.

  “ALAS, WE do not seem to have made much headway,” Michael said, dropping his pen onto the desk.

  “No.” Gabriel turned away from the window where he’d been standing, watching the sea. “I mean, we can’t really, yet, can we.” It was not a question. “We don’t know enough to make any plans, only guesses.”

  “As you say.” Michael leaned back in the leather upholstered chair. “And yet, I feel guilty that I have not been more diligent in ensuring the Grail was safe.”

  Gabriel moved to sit on the edge of the mahogany desk. “Same. But we couldn’t do everything, we ain’t omniscient. I keep telling people this, by the way, and no one believes me. We ain’t gods. We’re the servants of one, aye, but that doesn’t mean we’ve got the same power.”

  “Where is this coming from?” Michael asked.

  “Nowhere, really,” Gabriel said. “It was just on my mind right now is all.”

  “As you say, then.” Michael reached over and took Gabriel’s hand. “So what should we do now?”

  Gabriel grinned at his lover, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. “Have a quickie?”

  Michael blinked, and then he laughed, a light blush coloring his cheeks. “You are insatiable.”

  Gabriel leaned down and murmured against Michael’s lips, “So’re you. And I need to store up our sexy times and our hugs and our kisses for when we don’t have time to enjoy ourselves like this.”

  Michael smiled. “I do not think that can be stored up, da bao.”

  “I’m willing to try, though,” Gabriel said.

  “And I have no objections.” Michael closed the small gap between them and kissed Gabriel soundly. He tugged Gabriel from the desktop onto his lap, and Gabriel hummed happily into the kiss, winding his arms around Michael’s neck.

  They kissed for several long, blissful minutes until the sound of Uriel’s voice sounded caustically in their heads.

  “If you two aren’t too busy, you could come and join us in Archangelsk.”

  Gabriel sighed with regret as he ended the kiss. “We’re on our way,” he thought back.

  “It seems we will have to postpone our… quickie,” Michael said.

  “Aye. But not for long,” Gabriel said, as he climbed off Michael’s lap.

  “No. Do not forget a coat, Gabriel,” Michael said, as he stood up.

  “You either, Michael,” Gabriel retorted, even as he pulled his peacoat to him and tugged it on.

  “Of course not, da bao.” Michael smiled slightly, using his power to pull his own coat to him.

  “Good.”

  Once they were ready, Michael took Gabriel’s hand and teleported the two of them to Archangelsk and the place where, not so long ago, they had met a group of snarling Arctic wolves protecting underground caverns that had held kidnapped angels imprisoned.

  It was snowing when they emerged in the world. That wasn’t really surprising—it was always snowing somewhere in Russia, no matter what time of the year it was. The war between angels and demons had done some subtle things to the world’s climate, and Russia had not been exempt from those changes. Gabriel shivered as cold wind blew down from the Arctic, causing the snow to flurry around him and Michael.

  “I cannot tell where they are,” Michael said. His teeth were chattering in the cold, Gabriel realized, and so Gabriel pulled in a thick, wool scarf with his power and draped it around Michael’s neck.

  “Hopefully they’ve got some coffee,” Gabriel said, as Michael tugged the scarf tighter. “It’s bloody freezing.”

  “Language. And it is. Thank you for the scarf, Gabriel.” Michael shoved his hands into the pockets of his coat. “It is very different from Belle Coeur.”

  “Over here,” Raziel called, and Gabriel peered through the snowfall to see the shape of the Archangel of Secrets and Mysteries ten feet away.

  Taking Michael’s hand in his own, Gabriel picked his way through the snow to Raziel’s side. “Cold,” he remarked.

  “I know.” Raziel shook his head. He was wearing a bright-green woolen hat and matching scarf. “We’re down here, in those caves that were used when Uphir and his buddies were kidnapping and selling angels.”

  “Dare I hope you’ve got coffee down there?” Gabriel asked as Raziel led them to an irregular-shaped opening in the ground.

  “We do, and it’s nice and warm down there. The shifters who live here have turned what was once an evil place into one of good. It’s a den for winter hunting, now.” Raziel gestured at the hole. “Just jump on down.”

  “After you,” Gabriel gestured, and Raziel grinned. He moved to the edge of the hole and jumped, and Gabriel followed suit, Michael a few moments behind him.

  The cavern they found themselves in was warm and inviting, and Gabriel immediately felt at home. There were old couches and rugs scattered around, an old portable TV and stereo, a bar fridge and microwave oven, and a large hot water urn. Beside the urn were mugs, tea bags, and jars of coffee. Sachets of sugar were scattered around the mugs. The cavern was lit by candles, and their light made everything soft and golden, adding warmth. There was an old radiator plugged into what appeared to be an electricity generator and several small tables, some with ashtrays, others with coasters.

  “Nice,” Gabriel remarked. “Seriously,” he added, as Raziel looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “It’s very homey. I like it.”

  Raziel nodded. “They fixed it up really well,” he agreed. “Painted the walls, put up some hangings, laid down old carpets, cleaned up the original furniture, and now it’s a safe haven for the shifters in this part of Russia.”

  “So, who else is here then?” Gabriel asked as he sat down. Michael sat down beside him, sitting very close, and Gabriel shifted the simple couch they sat on around a little so that Michael was closer to the radiator.

  “Uriel,” Raziel said, sitting down on the floor on an old Indian rug. “He’s outside with the shifters on guard duty. He’s in a mood.”

  “Uriel’s always in a mood,” Gabriel said.

  “True, but today he’s in a stinker of a mood.” Raziel pulled a wry face. “I don’t know what crawled up his ass and died, but I don’t like it.”

  Gabriel laughed. “He’ll get over it. He’s probably really wigged out by what happened in the forest.”

  Raziel pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yeah, that’s probably it. I have to tell you both, I am extremely worried.”

  “About what, specifically?” Michael asked.

  Raziel shook his head. “Everything. Dryads suddenly popping up to give us information, brass keys in trunks of trees, the Holy Grail being stolen, us having to work with Archdemons, being told that the sacred is becoming the profane. That is the part that most worries me.”

  “It does have a certain touch of a portent of doom,” Michael agreed. “Yet, I do not know what we can do. We do not know who has the Grail or what is intended by it. We know nothing more than it is gone.”

  “What I don’t like is that this all feels like it’s happened before.” Gabriel stretched out his legs. “Something bad happens. We find out about it. We end up getting help from the Archdemons. We save the day. Then we have a few months of relative peace and quiet and the whole bloody cycle starts all over again.”

  “That’s because everything is
a circle,” Raziel said. “Time is not a line, Gabriel. It moves in waves, circles, backward, forward, and side-to-side. Sometimes, it moves inside out. If it did not, we would not be able to travel through it.”

  “I have no idea how that works,” Gabriel admitted.

  Raziel sighed. “Sometimes, it is a trial being a genius.”

  Uriel stomped into the chamber then and sat down beside Raziel. “It’s fucking cold out there,” he said as he pulled out a cigar from the inside pocket of his coat. “The wolves are getting anxious.”

  “Why?” Gabriel asked.

  “Language, Uriel,” Michael said.

  “They can smell something they don’t like. I don’t know what, because I reached out with my power, and I couldn’t feel a damn thing, and I’ll use whatever damn language I damn well like, so shut your cakehole, Mike.”

  Gabriel and Raziel exchanged a long look. “I see,” Gabriel said. “Uri, were you hunting for Archdemons?”

  Uriel scowled. “Of course I was. I know we have to keep in touch with those smug shits-for-brains. I thought that might be what it was.”

  “Or”—and Michael was on his feet, his sword in his hand—“it is more of those men who chased Lyudmila and Piotr on the train.”

  Gabriel swore and leapt to his feet, Uriel and Raziel doing the same. All three had their weapons in their hands. “We should take a look,” Gabriel said. “In pairs,” he added. “Watch each other’s backs as well as the landscape.”

  Uriel grunted. “Good point. C’mon then, Razzy.”

  “After you.” Raziel gestured to the hole in the roof of the cavern, and Uriel flared his wings and flew out.

  “You go east, we’ll go west,” Gabriel said. “Keep in touch.”

  Raziel nodded. “Right.” Then he was gone, soaring up through the hole to join Uriel above.

  Michael touched Gabriel’s shoulder. “Da bao, I have a bad feeling about this.”

  Gabriel nodded. “So do I,” he said.

  Michael smiled faintly. “That does not make me feel better.”

  Gabriel chuckled. “Sorry. Let’s go take a look.”

  Michael flared his wings. “As you say.”

  Chapter Four

  ANGELIQUE WAS scowling. She went through the motions of a high-impact workout, her body moving automatically even as her mind worked at a mile a minute. The sight of ten Archangels had shaken her, and Angelique disliked being shaken. Even more than that, she disliked not knowing something. She suspected that something was wrong, but had no idea what it might be. She knew that Venatores were to expect the arrival of two brothers who were friends of Gabriel, and she was suspicious, worried, and annoyed.

  “Jelly, hey.” It was Lily.

  Angelique stopped moving, nodding her thanks as Lily held out a bottle of cold water.

  “What’s the matter?” Lily asked.

  Angelique rolled her eyes. “Oh, not a lot. I’m annoyed at Baxter’s bullshit, I’m curious about what’s got the Archangels’ feathers in a knot, and I’m suspicious about these two dudes that Anna said we’re supposed to be prepared for.”

  “Hm, yes, that is a lot to be stressing over,” Lily said. “You want to talk about it?”

  Angelique sighed. “Yeah, okay. Let’s start with Baxter.”

  “All right.” Lily moved to a bench nearby and sat down. As Angelique sat beside her, Lily faced her best friend. “What about him?”

  “You know he’s crushing on Michael, right?”

  Lily nodded. “I think a blind man on the dark side of the moon would know. He isn’t exactly subtle.”

  Angelique laughed. “He’s an idiot, and he needs to go back to basic training. I don’t think Marine school teaches you how to be obnoxiously obvious.”

  “Yes, well. He knows that he has no chance.” Lily ran her hands through her short cropped, white-blonde hair. “Intellectually, he knows. He knows that Michael’s heart belongs to Gabriel. Emotionally, though, well. Emotions aren’t always smart.”

  “God, ain’t that the truth.” Angelique took another swig of cold water. “I want to hit him with a clue by four, Lily. I mean, I flirt, but I know the limits. I know that if I push too far, Gabe will incinerate me on the spot, and I don’t want to be a barbecue dinner.”

  Lily nodded. “Yeah. So what are you going to do?”

  “I have no damn idea.” Angelique shook her head. “I need to do something, though. He’s in our squad and I’m alpha. I need to make a decision on how to deal with this.”

  “You could ask Riley to talk to him, about the unhealthiness of the situation?” Lily suggested. As Angelique shook her head, Lily hummed thoughtfully. “No, that wouldn’t work. I think you’ll have to sit down and explain in simple words just what it means when angels bond and just how close Baxter is to the line of a painful death at the hands of the Archangel of War.”

  Angelique snorted. “You think that’ll work?”

  Lily shrugged. “If not, I can get Danny to sit on him.”

  Angelique burst out laughing. “Danny would just love that.”

  Lily grinned. “I’d make it up to him. Seriously, though, Baxter needs to know that this crush he has, while understandable, isn’t going to have a happy, feel-good ending. I know he’s lonely, I know he misses being part of a pair. When his partner died in the war, he went to pieces, you remember?”

  Angelique nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Yeah, so, he needs to meet someone new. Someone who challenges him, who intrigues him. Someone who he finds gorgeous and interesting.”

  “Great, I’ll put an order in on ‘find-me-a-man dot com,’” Angelique said drily.

  Lily laughed. “If you think that’ll work, by all means. I was thinking that these newcomers might be a good distraction. If one of them is gay or bi and finds Baxter interesting and cute, well, who knows what could happen.”

  Angelique wrinkled her nose. “Baxter’s thick as two short planks, Lily. Who would want to date that?”

  “Someone who sees a kind heart and a gentle soul behind the Marine-cum-Venatores. Someone who loves Baxter’s smile and warped sense of humor. Someone who sees things in him that we don’t.”

  “Yeah, the impossible.” Angelique sighed. “Which brings me to these newcomers—why did Gabe tell Anna and not me? I’m the ranking Venatores here.”

  “Because you were training,” Lily said reasonably, “and because we were all awed by all those Archangels, Anna didn’t tell you immediately. But she has now, so you can delegate responsibility for making sure these two have a place to sleep and all that sort of thing.”

  “I suppose.” Angelique looked over the garden. “I’m being a bit silly about this, aren’t I?”

  “About the newcomers? Yeah. About Baxter? Hell no.”

  Angelique grinned. “I feel better now.”

  “I live to serve,” Lily said, giving Angelique a salute. Then they both laughed. “So, the last thing. This mystery that has ten Archangels flying off together, pretending that they’re going for an afternoon flight, when we know full well they don’t do that. At least, not together in a flock like that. Some of them like to show off, but not all of them, and certainly not Michael. Something is happening and I have a feeling that we’ll be in the thick of it before too long.”

  Angelique grunted. “I was hoping you’d talk me down from worrying about that.”

  “Sorry.” Lily leaned back against the bench. “You didn’t make me beta to your alpha because I’m sexy.”

  “Well, that was part of it.” Angelique leered, and Lily laughed again. “Seriously, though, you’re right. If it was just me, I’d brush it off. That you’re concerned too, well… this could be seriously bad juju.”

  “I think,” Lily began, “that we’re going to be sent into the field on some very uncomfortable undercover missions. Why else would Gabe and Michael train us to fight an angel? We don’t do that. We fight demons. We kill demons. The only thing I can think of is a Fallen One, and they are scary bastards.”<
br />
  Angelique nodded. “I was thinking along the same lines. What does Danny think?”

  “Same.” Lily sighed again. “Although he’s more fatalistic. He hasn’t been the same since the war. Shell shock lasts a long time, sometimes.”

  “They call it PTSD nowadays,” Angelique said. “But I’ve noticed it too. The war took a toll on our squad. How is it that you and I are the only ones who stayed relatively sane?”

  “Oh, that’s easy,” Lily said. “We are awesome, obviously.”

  Angelique laughed. “That was never in doubt, babe.” She sobered. “Is Danny going to be okay for undercover work?”

  “I think so. I think he’ll be better when he’s in the field again. We haven’t had any big missions for a few years now.” Lily took the water bottle from Angelique’s hand and took a drink. She swallowed and handed the bottle back to Angelique. “That’s a big part of it. He thinks he failed and so he’s being punished. He made me promise not to bring this to Michael, so since we’re private right now, I’m bringing it to you, and you can bring it to Michael.”

  “Gee, thanks,” Angelique drawled.

  “Don’t mention it. Anyway, once he’s out in the field again, he’ll be fine. Riley will never be free of the ringing in his ears from that IED, but he’s managing as well as he can. And Baxter, well, he had his suicidal urges for a year or so and now he’s switched his attentions from wanting to die to wanting to be boyfriends with Michael. Which, even if Michael was single, I don’t think would happen, because of that whole humans or non-angels and angels thing being verboten.”

  “He’d just say that Ishtahar is human and that she’s with an Archangel,” Angelique pointed out.

  “To which I would say that Ishtahar is immortal and can’t have children anymore and hardly counts as a regular human since she’s been around for centuries.” Lily shook her head. “God, I hope the newcomers are hot, sexy, and gay. And one of them likes Bax.”

  “Yeah. Maybe then I won’t have to shoot him,” Angelique said.

  Lily quirked an eyebrow. “Really? You’d shoot him?”