“I love you… have loved you for a very long time, da bao. I do not understand entirely what you see in me, for it seems likely you could do so much better than settle for this. But I will not give you up now that you see fit to be mine.”
“It’s not settling, solnyshko. My sun, I love you. More than I know how to say.”
“As you say, then.” Michael rocked slowly against Gabriel’s body. “I want you, Gabriel.”
“Then take me, Michael.”
Michael growled, and Gabriel felt the brush of power as Michael got them both naked. Michael’s hands were warm on Gabriel’s skin as Michael caressed every inch of him that he could reach, and Gabriel arched eagerly into the touches, his own hands fisting in handfuls of strong russet-colored feathers as Michael’s wings flared.
Hooking a leg around Michael’s hip, Gabriel gave a little buck up into Michael’s body as Michael continued to pin him down, his meaning unmistakable: fuck me.
Michael groaned, slicking himself with a thought, and then Gabriel was groaning, wrapping his other leg around Michael’s hip as Michael slowly pressed into him. Gabriel’s head fell back on the pillow, and he bit his lip to stop himself from crying out as Michael began to thrust, slow and hard, taking his time.
“Michael,” Gabriel gasped, clenching down on Michael’s cock each time Michael was balls to ass inside him. “Michael!”
Michael groaned, and a moment later, Gabriel hissed as he felt Michael’s mouth on his neck, teeth grazing. His nails dug into the spans of Michael’s wings as his hands slid over them, and as Michael worked a hand between them to wrap around Gabriel’s cock and stroke, Gabriel let out a soft cry.
“Gabriel,” Michael moaned against Gabriel’s neck, his thrusts slowly speeding up.
“Bite me,” Gabriel panted, tilting his head to give Michael better access to his neck.
“You are certain?”
“Aye. Please, Michael.”
A moment later, Gabriel cried out as he felt teeth sink into his flesh. He felt, rather than heard, Michael’s ragged moan, and he clenched down once more on Michael’s cock and rocked desperately into his hand, coming thick and hot a moment later.
“Gabriel,” Michael gasped, his rhythm faltering. A few more thrusts, and Gabriel felt Michael’s orgasm as Michael whined against his neck and came.
They lay together, panting, touching, not quite ready to speak just yet as they basked in the languid afterglow of their orgasms. Finally, however, Gabriel pulled back enough to look Michael in the eye.
“I should probably go soon,” he said with great reluctance.
“I know.” Michael smiled, touching Gabriel’s cheek with gentle fingers. He pulled out of Gabriel’s body and rolled off him to lie on his side. “I understand.”
“Okay.” Gabriel sat up, running his hands through his hair. “Can I quickly borrow your shower?”
“Of course, da bao. Whatever you like.”
“Thanks.” Gabriel leaned down to give Michael a quick kiss then got off the bed and went to wash. Ten minutes later, he emerged, dressed and with damp hair.
“You are going home?” Michael asked. He had used the time that Gabriel had been in the shower to get dressed as well.
Gabriel nodded. “Aye. I need to see my kids before we all meet up before dawn and get this show on the road.”
“As you say.” Michael hesitated a moment. “You will be careful tomorrow, yes?”
“Of course.” Gabriel grinned. “Always careful, me.”
Michael snorted at that. “I believe you, although millions would not.”
“That’s very generous of you, solnyshko moyo.” Gabriel moved over to him and gave Michael a gentle kiss. As the kiss ended, Gabriel smiled. “So I’ll see you in several hours.”
“Yes.” Michael smiled in return. “I love you.”
“Love you too.” Gabriel stepped back, out of reach of the temptation of Michael’s body and Michael’s kisses, knowing that if he didn’t leave then, he wouldn’t be able to until it was time to reconvene with the rest of the Brotherhood before dawn.
“Later,” he said and disappeared.
“HEY.” Gabriel walked into the living room, nodding to Samael who was sitting in one of the armchairs, his expression reflective. “How’re the kids?”
“They are well.” Samael smiled in greeting. “They are sleeping. They wanted to wait for you, but I did not know how long you would be, so I suggested they sleep now and you would wake them before we had to leave to meet at Tzadkiel’s.”
“Good deal.” Gabriel nodded, sprawling on the couch. “Did you fill them in?”
“I did.” Samael sighed. “Gabriel, I tell you truly, I am not happy about this situation.”
“Which bit? ’Cause there’s a lot of it that I’m not happy about, either.”
“Our… alliance with the Archdemons.” Samael’s expression became grim. “Also the reason for it. Humans should not seek such goals. No one should. There is no ‘overlord’ of humanity. There are rulers and governments of races of men, but no single despotic ruler. Has history taught nothing?”
“I think it’s taught plenty to the majority of humanity.” Gabriel shook his head. “Sometimes, though, we get random ones who think they’re above everything. Like this Bob Taytton.”
“Which leads us to make strange bedfellows with Archdemons.” Samael’s lip curled. “I understand the necessity, Gabriel. I dislike that there is a necessity at all.”
“No argument from me.” Gabriel sighed. “Have you spoken with Remi at all?”
“I have.” Samael steepled his fingers together. “He is greatly relieved to have Ishtahar home. He was very worried for her, you know. Not that she could not defend herself, for we know that she is more than capable. But that she could have been used as a hostage to force our hand to some decision that would have been catastrophic.”
“I get that too.” Gabriel looked seriously at Samael. “Ish volunteered, though. She might be immortal, but she’s still human. She still has free will and freedom of choice.”
“Intellectually, Remiel knows this. Emotionally, it is difficult to reconcile.” Samael smiled a small smile. “You know how he adores her. Would you not feel the same as he if Michael were to undertake a similar mission?”
“Oh fuck yeah.” Gabriel laughed softly at his own vehemence. “And we would have argued long and loud about it, but at the end of it, if he’d been bound and determined to do it, I couldn’t force him not to.”
“You understand, then.” Samael nodded. “You love Michael as Remiel loves Ishtahar. She loves Remiel as much as he does her, and Michael loves you as much as you love him. It is obvious to anyone with eyes to see.”
Gabriel felt his cheeks grow warm as he blushed. “Be that as it may, I don’t think we need to gossip about my love life.”
Samael laughed. “Very well. Although I do not recall the last time I have seen you blush. It must be… oh, many hundreds of years ago.”
“Do you mind?”
Samael laughed again. “Forgive me,” he said. “I will stop teasing.”
“Thank you.” Gabriel pulled a face and changed the subject, returning to the topic of the impending confrontation with Bob Taytton and his followers, both demon and human. “I hope this battle or whatever it ends up being doesn’t last long.”
“As do I.” Samael sighed. “At least we are prepared.”
“Aye, that’s true enough.” Gabriel stretched his legs out as he pulled his cigarettes from the ether. Lighting one, he sighed. “I hope this all is over quickly, quietly, and easily.”
“Yes.” Samael raised an eyebrow, tilting his head to one side as he regarded Gabriel’s left hand. “Are you wearing a wedding band on your finger, Gabriel?”
Gabriel blinked, then spluttered as he choked on a lungful of smoke in his surprise. “Uh, yeah.”
“Sorry, I did not mean for you to choke,” Samael said in contrition.
“’S okay.” Gabriel banged his f
ist on his chest and cleared his throat—several times. “Yeah, it is. A ring, I mean.”
“Michael gave it to you?”
“Aye. He made it for me,” Gabriel elaborated.
“I am very happy for you, Gabriel.” Samael smiled. “Truly, I am. I had been concerned that this might be a mere infatuation for the two of you, that, tired with the short life spans of humans, you had turned to each other knowing that you would both live forever. I am glad that my fears were unfounded. I ask that you forgive me for having them in the first place. They do not reflect well on either of you, and they reflect even more poorly on me.”
“Sammy.” Gabriel leaned forward, gripping Samael’s lower arm with his free hand. “It’s fine. I hadn’t considered that idea, actually, but I can see how it might enter someone’s thoughts. But it’s not the case here. I love him, he loves me. He’s wearing my ring, which, yeah, I made for him out of the heart of a fallen star, and I’m wearing his, which he made for me out of his power. And now we will stop talking about this ’cause I feel ridiculous having this conversation.”
Samael laughed. “Of course, Gabriel. I would not wish to impugn your manhood.”
“Good. Excellent, even. Let’s keep it that way.”
They talked quietly for several hours until the clock ticked over to 4:00 a.m. Samael uncurled himself from the armchair and stood.
“I promised to wake Mira and John,” he explained, and Gabriel nodded.
“All right.” As Samael left the room, Gabriel stood up and concentrated, his form blurring from the casual jeans and T-shirt he wore into his armor.
Chain mail was cold, Gabriel thought as he rolled his shoulders to settle the weight of it. The links brushed over his skin between the cuffs of his gambeson and the reinforced boiled leather of his vambraces buckled around his lower arms. Buckling the heavy breastplate with his crest enameled on it in blue and white, Gabriel sighed. He knew that both his children had never seen him in his full armor—at least, not that they could remember. Both had been very young when he had last worn it in their presence; John an infant and Mira a toddler.
“Papa?” Mira’s voice was full of sleep, and Gabriel turned, resting his gauntleted hand on the pommel of his sword sheathed at his waist.
“Mornin’, my sweet one.” He smiled at her.
“You’re going to war.” It wasn’t a question. Mira stared at him, her blue eyes wide. “And it’s a bad one.” That wasn’t a question, either.
“Pops.” John stepped into the doorway to stand beside his sister. Behind them, Samael stood, silent and still, his form shimmering for a moment as Gabriel watched, blurring into his own armor.
“Aye, we are. And most likely it will be a bad one.” Gabriel was serious as he looked from one to the other. “I want you two to promise me you’ll stay out of it, if it comes to that.”
John and Mira shared a long look that Gabriel couldn’t begin to decipher. Finally, they looked at him, wearing nearly identical expressions of determination.
“No, Pops,” John said, “we can’t promise that. Okay, we’re not soldiers. We haven’t been trained in combat or anything like that. But we can do other things. Uncle Sammy told us that Uncle Raph is setting up medical centers and that Auntie Agrat and Auntie Ish are helping out with them, along with Uncle Remi. Now, we’ve both studied history. Wars get covered in history class in school. And we’ve watched the news. Things are getting bad, all over the world, and that might just be coincidence, or it could all be a part of this thing you’re involved in. Everything we learned in school talks about how medical staff are always limited, how the need exceeds supply.”
“So, we’ll go to Uncle Raphael,” Mira took up the speech, “and we’ll help. Whatever he needs us to do, we’ll do it.”
“Even if it’s janitor work,” John added.
Gabriel closed his eyes for a long moment. He was so overcome with pride in the two of them that he wanted to weep. When he opened them again, he saw that they were looking at him anxiously.
“C’mere, you two,” he said gruffly, and they rushed to him. He wrapped his arms around them both and hugged them as tight as he dared, not wanting to hurt them.
“You are to be commended,” Samael said softly. “You have raised remarkable children, Gabriel.”
“I am the luckiest of God’s creations,” Gabriel agreed. “I’m blessed beyond the telling of it.”
He pulled back enough to look at his children seriously. “Okay. I’ll get one of my Seraphim to take you to wherever Raph sets up shop and have him assign you things to do. Do what he says and don’t argue ’cause I think we’re going to be getting a lot of wounded. And when I and the others of my Brotherhood are done with protecting Oregon, there’s gonna be a lot of human refugees of all ages needing help too.”
“Yes, Sir,” John said, saluting smartly. Gabriel hugged the two of them again, swallowing hard against the lump in his throat.
“Pack what you’ll need,” he said as he finally let them go. “Sammy and I have to go to Tzad’s now, but when Raph comes back to Oregon, someone’ll take you to him.”
“I hate to interrupt,” Samael said, “but Agrat has just spoken with me. I have relayed the decision of John and Mira to her. She says she will collect them when she and Ishtahar come to Oregon with Raphael and his people.”
“Good.” Gabriel nodded. He took a deep breath and smiled at the two young people standing in front of him. “I am so proud of you both,” he said softly. “And I love you both very much.”
“I love you too, Papa,” Mira said, hugging him tightly once more. She stepped back and brushed a tear from the corner of her eye. “Right. I’ll go pack.”
“Back atcha, Pops,” John said gruffly, hugging Gabriel briefly. He stepped back to join his sister and smiled. “Talk to you soon?”
“You bet.” Gabriel smiled warmly as they left the room and turned to Samael. “I really am the most blessed of God’s creations.”
“It is not purely a blessing, Gabriel.” Samael moved to stand beside him. “You are the one who raised them.”
“You helped,” Gabriel pointed out. “Remi did too.”
“Then we three have raised remarkable children to adulthood.” Samael smiled gently. “But it is you, Gabriel, who is the principle carer, and thus it is you who is the principle one responsible for them. Now come, we must go.” He was gone a moment later.
Gabriel shook his head and followed Samael to Tzadkiel’s.
Chapter Fifteen
THEY hovered over the clearing in the forest, silent and invisible to all eyes except those of their own kind. Gabriel was frowning thoughtfully as he surveyed the terrain, taking in the angle of the incline of the foothills that the forest grew on, the density of the trees, the neatly mowed lawns surrounding the well-kept old church that was fronted by a long, gravel drive.
“Azure Mountain,” Tzadkiel reported the exact location. “Northern Adirondacks.”
“Thank you.” Gabriel reached out with his power, searching for traps hidden from sharp Archangel eyes. “Michael,” he thought to his lover, “there’s a group of twenty demons hiding in the trees behind the church building. There’s also some sort of energy coming from the ground beneath the church.”
“There are sigils to prevent us entry, Sir.” Shateiel hovered close. “I can see them—they have been repainting them.”
“There’s also circles and spells to keep us from going too close,” Uriel huffed. “Do they know we’re coming?”
“No. I believe this is part of the paranoia of this Bob Taytton. If one is planning a global takeover, one would be prudent to make sure that no one could interfere.” Michael surveyed the area with narrowed eyes.
“Well.” Gabriel flared his wings. “Let’s go and disappoint him.”
“Pardon?” Michael turned to stare at Gabriel in surprise.
Gabriel grinned. “We’re going to interfere.” Before anyone could protest, Gabriel swooped down to the clearing, making himse
lf visible as he landed, his sword in hand. A moment later, he heard the unmistakable sound of several pairs of wings rustling behind him, and his grin widened.
“This’ll be loads of fun.” Loudly, Gabriel called, “Okay, demons, we know you’re there. Why don’t you save us all the trouble and just come out? We could hunt you down, but that’s boring.”
“Gabriel,” Michael said, sighing, “must you banter with them before you kill them?”
“Aye.” Gabriel nodded. “It puts ’em off balance.”
“As you say.” Michael rolled his eyes as Gabriel looked at him. “And pay attention, they are coming.”
“I know. I got eyes in the back of my head, me.” Gabriel turned to face the group of demons who were slowly walking toward them, keeping close to the church building. “Well now. If this ain’t a bizarre plot twist, I don’t know what is. Demons staying near a church, Archangels kept away from it. Your master inside, then?”
“Gabriel, you’re a pain in the ass,” growled a male demon. “You know the revolution is coming. We will rise out of Hell and take over the Earth and this plane will be our playground, just as Hell is our home. You and your kind,” the demon spat with derision, “will be banished to Heaven, and Earth will be a new Purgatory.”
“That’s the plan?” Gabriel blinked. “Wow, you lot really are delusional.”
“There are sigils, Archangel. Powers and spells to keep you out and keep you from stopping what is happening.” The demon smirked. “You cannot break them.”
“Oh yeah?” Gabriel raised his sword. “If so, then I couldn’t do—”
“Wait.” Michael placed a hand on Gabriel’s arm. “If I may.”
“Of course, Sir,” Gabriel said graciously. “You are the CO here.”
“Thank you, General.” Michael winked quickly, and Gabriel hid his laughter behind a cough. “I will give you one warning.” Michael turned to face the demons, his face as bleak as winter. “Leave. Now.”
Laughter met his words, jeering and derision, and Michael shook his head. Gabriel hefted the flat of his blade on his shoulder. “Tell the others, Gabriel,” Michael murmured in an undertone.
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