by J. K. Coi
Cassiel looked at him with an odd expression. “What do you care?”
His mouth snapped shut. “I don’t.”
“Lucifer wouldn’t, that’s for sure.”
His blood seethed with the heat that threatened to explode from him once again. “I said get the hell out of here.” He clenched a fist hard into his thigh. “If you want a go at me, don’t worry, I’ll be more than happy to oblige. But I swear, if you come between me and what’s mine right now, I will not only come after you, I will decimate every angel in my path along the way. Completely eradicate the race you schemed so well to make free. For the next hundred years everything in this world and every other one I can get to will burn. And I’ll make you personally bathe in the ashes.”
God help him, he meant it. The only thing keeping him from making good on his threat here and now was the urgent need to save Amelia.
Cassiel nodded, his gaze returning to her as well. “I hope she lives, because we’ll need her strength to bring you down,” he warned. “Make no mistake, this isn’t finished and you will see me again. The world wasn’t meant for monsters like you, except as a means to an end.”
“Well, you got your end, but I hope you’re familiar with the saying ‘be careful what you wish for.’ It’s about to bite you in the goddamn ass.” He gathered a small fireball in the palm of his hand. The power was absolutely his to control. It felt completely natural, flowing through him effortlessly as if he’d been born to it.
“Perhaps you should have tried harder to keep me reined in, Cass, because I’ll tell you…there isn’t a force anywhere that can stop me now.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Cassiel disappeared before the fireball struck him, but it didn’t matter. There’d be time enough for revenge, especially if Amelia died.
He carried her off the muddy trail into the shelter of the woods, where the storm had more difficulty penetrating the thick canopy of trees. There, he knelt on the ground once more, cradling her to him tightly.
He pressed his lips to her forehead and tried to smooth the hair from her face, but Amelia didn’t respond. Her heartbeat had slowed to almost nothing and her skin was so cold, even enveloped as she was in the oven he made for her with his own body. He feared every one of her wheezing breaths would be her last.
Only an Archangel…
Looking out into the roiling black sky, Gabriel roared, demanding to be heard, demanding to be obeyed. “Michael!”
A long moment passed. Just as Gabriel became certain the Archangel wasn’t going to show, a flash of light heralded Michael’s arrival.
The angel stood staring down at Amelia, his expression impassive, as if the woman lying broken and dying before him was an uninteresting speck of dust on the toe of his shoe that he couldn’t even be bothered to wipe away.
“What are you looking at? Heal her,” Gabriel commanded.
Michael’s gaze lifted and locked with his own. “I cannot.”
“You will not,” Gabriel sneered. “Why? She did your dirty work for centuries. She went through hell for you. She’s one of you. An Archangel.”
“Which makes her transgressions all the worse.” Michael paused. For a split second Gabriel was certain he saw a flash of regret cross the angel’s face. “Amelia went against our decree, and I cannot help her now.”
“That’s bullshit. You knew this was going to happen. You knew how all of this was going to shake out from the beginning, and you let it happen. If you didn’t want Lucifer to rise, maybe you should’ve gotten off your ass and done something about it, instead of leaving everyone’s fate in the hands of one woman, no matter how strong and brave she is.”
Gabriel shook his head. “And you think she failed you? All Amelia did was show some compassion, trust her own instincts and refuse to kill for you anymore. She remembered that she actually has a soul. You see it as a weakness, but this woman’s pure heart is the only thing that might actually save your pathetic race in the war you’ve brought on yourselves.”
Michael’s gaze remained direct and unwavering. He refused to respond.
“Damn you,” Gabriel yelled, his anger and frustration doubling as Amelia stopped shivering in his arms, becoming much too still. “Heal her!”
“Again, that is something I cannot do.” He paused.
Gabriel wondered how far his new powers would take him against an angel of Michael’s caliber.
“The decision has been made that the two of you are to be expelled from the ranks of the Archangels, hunted down and destroyed.” Michael spread his wings in a wide arch and took a step forward.
Gabriel tensed, ready to defend Amelia to the death, but Michael didn’t draw his sword. Instead, he looked down at her and this time the softness in his expression was more obvious. “It shall be my report to the others that no one remained on this battlefield when I arrived here today.”
Gabriel let out a breath. “You’re letting us go?” He wasn’t sure what to think.
“Consider it a reprieve.”
Could it be the Archangel wasn’t as unaffected by basic human emotions as he pretended? Even so, Gabriel wasn’t stupid enough to believe that Michael’s olive branch was anything but temporary. He knew that, when they met again, they’d not only continue to be on opposite sides—but Michael would bring reinforcements.
Worried about Amelia, Gabriel glanced down, needing to see with his own eyes that she was still breathing. She had to live. He would accept no other option.
When he looked back up, Michael was gone.
It didn’t matter. She was all he cared about. The only thing that mattered. Could he save her?
There was only one thing to try. He was an Archangel now too, after all. Consequences of that be damned, Gabriel would take advantage of the power if it meant he could do something for Amelia.
Gathering her closer, he started to sing.
What came from inside him wasn’t anything like the heartfelt lullaby a young boy had once written for his sister, or even the hard, mocking music of an angry rocker. It was the desperate yearning of a fractured soul.
By the second round, Gabriel’s song changed. The words died out, but the tune carried on.
Despite the transformation, his voice sounded the same to his ears. But he couldn’t deny that it felt different. It felt powerful. He began to believe he could heal Amelia’s wounds, although the possibility that he might also be able to use his angel song to send planes crashing out of the sky or make buildings crumble to the ground wasn’t lost on him.
With focus steeling his voice, he willed her to get better, force-feeding his strength into her through touch and prayer and song.
Finally, she stirred. His voice broke as he murmured her name. “Wake up.”
When she opened her eyes, it seemed to take forever for her to really see him. And then she let out a raspy cough. “When did you get so bossy?”
Realizing he’d been holding his breath, Gabriel sighed.
He paid her objections no heed as he pushed aside the edges of her jacket and shoved up the hem of her shirt. Her body was riddled with gashes, but they’d closed over and would heal. He wondered if she would even be left with any scars.
“Damn it, Amelia.” His relief tasted like a mouthful of copper pennies. He kept touching her wherever he could reach, needing to make sure she was really okay.
She chuckled softly. “There you go damning me again.” Pausing, she stiffened in his arms. Her expression sobered as she gazed into his face, searching.
Amelia understood. She could see it in his eyes. The knowledge. The power. Lucifer’s power. A mountain of anger and hostility. But also fear and love. For her.
And if he could love…
As if reading her thoughts, Gabriel shook his head. “I don’t regret it.” She knew he was warning her not to get her hopes up.
“I still have a responsibility, you know.” Lifting her fingers, she trailed them lightly across his stubborn jaw as a giddy sense of relief and joy fl
ooded her with warmth. “But after everything you just went through to save me, it seems in poor taste to return the favor by killing you. At least right away.”
“You might at least wait until you get your strength back.” His eyes glinted with the slightest trace of humor, but his lips were pressed together in a thin line and his expression remained stubborn and guarded. “Not to mention it would be inconvenient to be forced to fight another battle to the death so soon,” he agreed. “I could use a rest first.”
She nodded. She touched his cheek, his brow, brushed his dirty hair off his forehead. “And such a shame to do anything that might mar these beautiful new angel’s wings.” Moving lower, she hesitated before plunging her fingers into the perfection of his jet-black feathers and sighed at the feel of their delicate softness.
The thick muscles in his wings tensed. Abruptly, he took her hand, the tenderness she’d sensed in him vanishing. “I don’t think you can call anything about the angel of death beautiful. Evil and terrifying, yes. Monstrous—”
“Beautiful,” she insisted.
His jaw clenched. “It’s a lie. Don’t do that to yourself.”
“No, it isn’t. I see you, Gabriel. I know you.”
He winced at the sound of his name. “Not the same.”
She shook her head. “No, neither of us is the same, are we? Your accession has changed everything. Lucifer’s freedom has released all the angels to feel emotion once again. And do you know what? I’m glad for it. I’ve changed too. I could never go back to a life where I was unable to appreciate the amazing talent of your voice, or feel this love that’s so strong it makes my heart sing. I could never go back to a life that would have me hunt down and judge my own kind without the benefit of being able to experience mercy.”
“But what of the angels who’ll fall off the deep end and terrorize—”
“I’ll do everything in my power to keep that from happening, but even if it means another war is inevitable, I won’t stand with Michael and the Archangels if they insist on trying to strip us of our emotions again. Those feelings are too valuable to sacrifice to the nothingness.”
“And what of me?”
Amelia was going to have more than one battle on her hands. For allowing Lucifer’s resurrection, the Archangels would never let her live. But gazing into Gabriel’s brown eyes, even seeing the sharp red centers that were now a part of them, she knew she was making the right decision. She trusted him to do what was necessary to continue to be worthy of that trust.
“Here you are before me, a powerful Archangel in your own right,” she said. “But you’re still you, Gabriel. Still a man who cares, who takes responsibility. Still a man who loves.”
“I love you,” he agreed, his scowl fierce. “Everyone else can go to hell for all I care.” She opened her mouth to object, but he put a hand up and continued. “You showed me that there were things worth fighting for and gave me the strength to make my own destiny.”
Gabriel pulled her close, kissing her deeply. She felt his need, even his darkness. She felt his love flowing between them. When he broke away again, there was an iron determination in his eyes.
“I made a choice back there,” he said. “To live, and to fight. But it’s not going to be easy, and I don’t want to do it without you. You have to know that every breath, every thought, every step from this point forward is marked by the evil that I willingly accepted into my soul. Lucifer is a part of me now, and there isn’t anything I can do about that. In fact, it’s a war I could lose at any moment. What’s left of my humanity and my heart resides in you. You’re what I need to stave off the darkness.”
She shook her head. “No, you don’t need me.” He opened his mouth to protest, but this time she shushed him and smiled. “Lucifer should have destroyed you completely when the two of you merged, but he didn’t. He couldn’t. Because you’re stronger than he is. You will continue to control your own destiny because it’s who you are. You don’t need me,” she continued, linking their hands together, “but I’m here anyway. I’ll always be here.”
Gabriel smiled. “Then let the battle begin.”
About the Author
J.K. Coi is a multi-published, award-winning author of dark and sexy paranormal romance and urban fantasy. She lives in Ontario with her amazingly supportive husband and son, and their cat, who is the undisputed ruler of the household. While she spends her days immersed in the litigious world of insurance law, she is very happy to spend her nights writing dark and sexy characters who leap off the page and into readers’ hearts. Please visit her at www.jkcoi.com, and if you’re a real glutton for punishment, see what she’s up to by following her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jkcoi.
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ISBN: 978-1-4268-9191-5
Copyright © 2011 by J.K. Coi
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