Musing over Agrat’s revelation, Gabriel’s eyes widened as he realized that Michael’s feelings for him explained a very great deal. Michael had kept his distance from Gabriel, and because Gabriel spent a reasonable amount of time in the company of others of the Brotherhood, Michael had kept his distance from all of them. Michael was scared, Gabriel realized, with a sudden flash of insight that surprised him, because Michael had never really loved anyone as intensely and as privately as he did Gabriel. Locked in his secret love, pining silently, Michael had withdrawn himself from the Brotherhood and thrown himself into his work.
Of course, Gabriel thought with a wry chuckle, Michael was considerably less worldly than Gabriel himself, and he probably did not realize that Agrat, with her powers and gift, would intuit his emotions just as easily as Haniel, Archangel of Love, had done. Which was why Agrat had told him, so that he would truly know just how much he meant to the eldest Archangel.
It was humbling, Gabriel thought, to be loved so much for so long. Humans would never understand such tireless emotion, but humans, whose lives were but the blink of an eye to an Archangel, were fickle in their choices, and their preferences were fleeting. Gabriel knew that he himself could be fickle and more than fleeting when satisfying a need or desire, but Michael was more prone to living like a monk and abstaining, when Gabriel was quite happy to indulge himself.
The need to see Michael, to hold him, to kiss and touch him, was so strong, then, that Gabriel let out a loud breath. “Michael,” he murmured into the warm column of air he coasted on. “My Michael.”
Fuelled by determination, Gabriel folded his wings back and dived. The rush of air along his feathers, in his hair, felt like warm strands of silk, and Gabriel didn’t hold back the loud, exhilarated whoop as he shot toward the earth like a comet. He angled his descent, aiming for the backyard of the subdivided mansion that Michael owned, and when it seemed as if he would careen at breakneck speed headfirst into the grass, Gabriel flared his wings high and wide and came to land in a half crouch on the neatly mowed lawn.
Standing, giving his wings a little shake and then furling them back, Gabriel couldn’t wipe the grin from his face. It wasn’t often he played like that, cutting his landing so close when his descent was so rapid, but oh, it was exhilarating. As he straightened, rolling his shoulders, Gabriel became aware that he had an audience.
Half a dozen men and women were staring at him, wide-eyed, their expressions a mixture of awe and wonder. Children were clustered about the adults, also staring at him, and Gabriel realized he’d landed smack bang in the middle of a Venatores family picnic.
He considered his options for a moment, then smirked to himself and bowed gracefully. Without looking back, he sauntered toward the door that led into the foyer of the mansion. Not that he needed to look back; he could feel the weight of the awed and amazed gazes heavy on his back.
At Michael’s door, Gabriel tapped lightly once, then moved into the apartment, materializing in the middle of Michael’s bedroom-cum-living room. He looked around, raising an eyebrow as he took in the reams and piles of paper on nearly every flat surface, and Michael, expression agitated, shuffling stacks to and fro.
“So, y’know they have these things called computers? And they’re really useful for storing data neatly and tidily?” Gabriel drawled.
“Technology does not like me, Gabriel,” Michael replied. “I am perfectly fine with the situation as it is.”
“Yeah, you look it and all.” Gabriel moved to Michael and gently tugged him into his arms and kissed him. “I missed you. I love you. Come to bed.”
“Gabriel?” Michael’s mental voice was full of confusion.
“Yeah?”
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah.” Gabriel started to tug Michael back toward the bed.
Moving willingly enough, kissing back with growing enthusiasm, Michael hummed. “As you say, then. But then I must return to my paperwork.”
“Awesome. I say then that we get naked and have sex.”
“Gabriel.” Michael’s mental voice sounded faintly embarrassed. “It is not proper to say it like that.”
“Don’t care. Want you, love.”
Michael’s lips curved in a small smile as he kissed Gabriel. “I love you, da bao. You know this, don’t you?”
“Aye, I do.” As he hit the bed with the back of his legs, Gabriel sat down, pulling Michael onto his lap. “You know I love you too, yeah?”
“Yes.” Michael straddled Gabriel’s lap, arms around his neck. “But we should go somewhere more private. I do not wish the humans to hear us.”
“Okay.” Gabriel moved them with a thought to a long-forgotten, abandoned town. All that was left of it now were a few broken-down walls, tumbled stones, and rough brick with knee-high grass growing unchecked. The ruins were few, but they were enough for Gabriel to lean on, holding Michael tightly to him.
“Where did you move us to?”
“I have no idea. Some town in southern Oregon that humans have forgotten about. There’s no human habitation for miles, solnyshko. It’s just you and me and the elements.”
“I see.” Michael nipped Gabriel’s lower lip, sliding a hand beneath his shirt to stroke his fingers over Gabriel’s abs. “I am grateful no one is around.”
“Maybe a moose,” Gabriel purred as he slid his own hand beneath Michael’s shirt. “A coyote.”
“I do not think they will care what we do as long as we leave them be.”
“Probably not, no.” Gabriel growled, want rising within him, and both hands gripped Michael’s shirt and pulled, ripping and tearing the fabric. Shoving it from Michael’s body, he ran his hands over Michael’s skin, kissing him hungrily, artlessly, biting at his mouth and making small, primitive noises of hunger and need.
“Gabriel,” Michael gasped, arching into the attention, fisting his hands in Gabriel’s shirt. “Gabriel!”
“I love the way you say my name.” Gabriel’s mouth latched onto Michael’s neck, sucking and nibbling, and Michael mewled, a sound that came from low in his throat. Tipping his head back to expose more of his throat to Gabriel, Michael’s fingers clutched at Gabriel’s shoulders, and Gabriel bit down hard.
Tasting blood on his tongue, everything went red. Gabriel’s wings flared, silver shining around the black and gray feathers, his next growl coming from his chest in a rough, primordial rumble. Against him, Michael became pliant, whimpering half-formed phrases and pleas for more, harder, don’t stop, please don’t stop, don’t ever stop.
Gabriel used his power to get rid of the rest of their clothes, his wings twining with Michael’s. As the spans slid together, feathers rustling and tangling together, Michael raked his nails down Gabriel’s sides as Gabriel bit his neck a second time. The urge to raise a circle of power, to claim Michael as his bonded then and there was so strong that Gabriel was trembling violently as he forced himself to pull back from Michael’s neck.
“Da bao?” Michael’s cheeks were flushed with desire, his pupils dilated.
“I just. I need a minute.” Gabriel raked a hand through his hair. “We keep it going like this, and we’re going to be consummating a bond between us that we ain’t even voiced.”
Michael’s expression became confused and then cleared as he said, “Ah. I understand.” He touched Gabriel’s cheek in a tender caress and leaned forward to kiss his forehead. “You wish to bond with me still?”
“You have no idea how much.” Gabriel shook his head at himself. “Actually, I had no idea how much myself. Not until about ten minutes ago. I want you, Michael. We’re old. Ancient. We were made for a specific purpose, and we have powers that no one not of our kind could ever begin to understand. We don’t physically age. How could I ever love anyone else, having loved you once? Let alone all the times we have fucked?”
“Language.” Michael smiled despite the scold. “I know what you mean. This is probably the worst time to do the ritual, however. It takes more time than we have t
o spare.”
“Aye, I know.” Gabriel sighed. “So, as soon as this war, battle, whatever it ends up being, is over?”
“Yes.” Michael nodded. “You have my word on it. And… this.” He held out a small black velvet box.
Gabriel took the box and opened it. Inside was a ring, white gold, plain and unadorned, but it shimmered with power that Gabriel knew instantly was Michael’s. The shimmer spoke louder than words that Michael had made the ring, and for a moment, Gabriel was speechless. He carefully took it from the box and slid it onto his ring finger, then cupped Michael’s face between his hands.
“I do,” he said simply. “An’ I will have one for you.”
“You do not have to,” Michael began, but Gabriel cut him off.
“I want to.”
“As you say.” Michael kissed him gently. “I believe we were doing something?”
Gabriel laughed softly, full of joy. “Aye, solnyshko, we were.”
“I love you very much, da bao,” Michael said, “and I would like it very much if you would take me. Here. Now.”
“I’d like it very much too.” Gabriel kissed Michael hungrily, leaning back against the rough brick of the ruined wall, ignoring the scratch of stone against his skin and letting his focus be solely Michael. Michael flooded his senses, and Gabriel could not remember ever having felt so content.
Michael moaned raggedly, tugging at Gabriel’s shoulders, turning them so that Gabriel was pressing Michael into the uneven surface of the wall. As Michael’s hands slid over Gabriel’s chest, Gabriel gripped Michael’s thighs and, using brute strength and power, lifted Michael, wrapping his legs around his hips. Slicking his cock with a thought, Gabriel positioned himself and thrust into Michael hard.
Tight heat gripped him, and Gabriel, panting, mouthed at Michael’s shoulder as Michael’s hands fisted in the feathers of his wings. Rocking into his lover’s body, Gabriel couldn’t restrain the loud, needy moan that tore from his throat.
“Gabriel,” Michael gasped, flexing around Gabriel’s cock, locking his legs together at the ankles behind Gabriel’s back. “Gabriel, harder.”
Biting at Michael’s shoulder, Gabriel rolled his hips and complied, fucking Michael harder, faster, as desire, pleasure, and need burned through him. Michael’s hands in his wings, his body against Gabriel’s, his muscles clenching around Gabriel’s cock, and his own cock rubbing against Gabriel’s stomach, the taste of sweat-damp skin as Gabriel bit Michael’s shoulder, the sound of Michael’s moans and cries of pleasure—it all collided in Gabriel’s brain, and he came hard with a shout.
Michael came a moment later, the warm splash of come on Gabriel’s skin making Gabriel shiver pleasurably. Slowly, he pulled out of Michael’s willing body and set him down on his feet.
“And that were a fittin’ way to say ‘I love you, don’t die’,” Gabriel said.
Michael shot him a concerned look and sighed. “I was hoping you would not be thinking the same thing as I was. As I am,” he amended.
“I can’t help it.” Gabriel touched Michael’s cheek with gentle fingers. “I’ve only just realized how much you mean to me, Mishka. How important you are to me. I don’t want to lose you so soon.”
“And you will not, Gabriel.” Michael cupped Gabriel’s face in his hands, resting his forehead against Gabriel’s. “We will make sure neither of us is mortally wounded.”
“Okay.” Privately, Gabriel wasn’t sure that he’d be able to keep himself from getting badly injured, considering that whatever fighting there would be, he would be in the thick of it. He had never been the sort to watch from afar, sitting in his tent and watching his soldiers fight and die; Gabriel had always led his forces himself and knew that his reputation would precede him. Perhaps, he thought, it would be enough to make any demons looking for a fight think twice or maybe, just maybe, make them decide to run away.
Michael bent down to retrieve his pants, tugging them on slowly and regarding the ruins of his shirt with some amusement. “I fear I will need a new shirt,” he said.
Gabriel blinked, and then he laughed. “Sorry about that. I got carried away.”
“There is no need to apologize, da bao.” Michael balled the fabric up in his hands. “I too was lost in the moment.”
Gabriel nodded. “I guess we should get back and see what Tzad and the others have found out.”
Michael nodded in agreement. “Probably.”
Gabriel didn’t move. “Right, then.”
After what felt like an eternity, Michael leaned in, kissed Gabriel’s cheek, and murmured, “I will see you there. I will go home to change then join you at Tzadkiel’s home.”
When Michael was gone, Gabriel let out a quiet sigh and looked at the ring on his finger. It still shimmered a little with the yellow-gold of Michael’s power. Gabriel decided to make a ring for Michael himself, using his skills as well as his power. He reached out, searching the heavens for a dying star that would land somewhere in the far north of the world. Once he located one, Gabriel kept an eye on its passage as he got dressed and moved to Tzadkiel’s home.
“WHAT are you doing here?” Uriel’s greeting was less than gracious.
Raziel stood up, brushing sand from his jeans. He’d been sitting against the wall of the city of Eden, smoking and waiting for Uriel to arrive. Now that he was here, Raziel could see just how tense and angry Uriel was.
“Waiting for you.” Raziel shrugged. “It’s been quite a while since I looked at my handiwork.” He gestured at the walls that surrounded the city of Eden.
Uriel grunted. “You think I buy that, Raz? You’re not here to wander around the streets and wallow in the ghosts of memories of the long dead, or compliment yourself on your skills as an architect and builder. You’re here to check up on me.”
“Can I not be economical and do all of this at the same time?” Raziel quirked an eyebrow. “Talk to me, Uri. You’re worse than usual.” His voice was gentle.
Uriel’s expression became flat, closed, and Raziel steeled himself for a long fight. He loved Uriel deeply, but Uriel’s bad temper did make it difficult to stay calm with him. Uriel’s anger simmered just below the surface of his moods, which were frequently mercurial, and he was quick to anger. The anger always flared sharply but dissipated quickly, unlike Raziel’s own bad temper, which was slow to rise. Raziel held grudges; Uriel didn’t. Sometimes, Raziel wondered if perhaps Uriel’s quick, hot temper was the better way to be. As Uriel drew in a deep breath, his expression growing sad, Raziel’s expression grew concerned. He was surprised when Uriel drew in another deep breath, let it out, and let his shoulders slump.
“Walk around the city with me?” Uriel’s question was almost plaintive.
“Of course.” Raziel smiled reassuringly, although he wasn’t entirely sure what had brought on this mood in his elder.
Raziel fell into step beside Uriel as Uriel waved a hand and the iron-bound oak gates opened. They walked slowly into the city, and the gates creaked shut behind them.
It was eerie inside the city. It remained as it had the day humanity had been driven out, the day that Uriel had sealed it from all human eyes and Raziel had protected it from anyone and anything that might try to find it. The only life that remained inside Eden was plant and animal—lush vegetation that grew almost as high as the walls, and old, old trees that had no botanical names, for they were unknown to the world beyond the city. White tigers lay in the lush grass and nearby, unicorns grazed, tails lazily flicking away the flies. In the trees, birds with brightly colored plumes sang gustily, and the air was redolent with the scent of flowers and herbs that were long extinct in the world outside Eden.
“I’m surprised it isn’t overgrown,” Raziel noted as they walked along a gently curving path.
“I take care of it from time to time.” Uriel was very quiet, reflective.
The buildings were sheathed in marble, white and gray, their towers reaching toward the sky, their designs unlike anything seen anywhere else o
n Earth. As this was the only city that had been designed by an Archangel, it stood to reason, but Raziel still found it melancholy, a reminder of what they had all lost and what they all protected.
“Has Ishtahar been back since the expulsion?” Raziel asked, suddenly curious.
“No.” Uriel shook his head. “I asked her once if she wished to. She said no. Said that she didn’t deserve to be welcomed back here. And that if she visited, she wouldn’t want to leave. I can respect that.”
“It would be difficult for her.” Raziel sighed. “It was difficult for all of us. Where did you bury Adam?”
Uriel’s jaw clenched. “The first man. Erroneous name, but humans know very little about their true history, and it’s not my job to educate them. Anyway. He’s by the south gate, with his sons and his wife.”
“You burned everything down once you buried him,” Raziel remembered as he looked around. “I remember the smoke.”
“And the following year was the Flood of Noah, and then when the waters receded, it didn’t take long for everything to grow back.” Uriel shook his head. “Enough of this. I feel like an emo.”
“An emo?” Raziel laughed. “That is one human term that I would never apply to you, Uri.”
Uriel leaned into Raziel a little and Raziel looped his arm around Uriel’s shoulders. “Good thing we can report on this place being safe.”
“The Gates of Hell are as they should be too,” Uriel said.
“Small mercies.” Raziel sighed. “Do you think this… conflict… will become a war?”
“Yes.” Uriel’s answer was immediate. “I think that the demons will be pissed that their plans were thwarted and once Gabriel kills that Bob Taytton person, they’ll boil up out of Hell using whatever cracks and holes they can find. And then they’ll fight us.”
“At least it’s not an Apocalypse.” Raziel shook his head.
“True.” Uriel gestured toward a fountain with a lion rampant standing proudly over the spigot that water gushed from merrily. Orange and white fish swam in the waters of the fountain, blue and green butterflies and golden dragonflies hovered overhead. “I always liked this one the best.”
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