“What’s been going on?” Gabriel asked.
“Well, we got here as planned. Agrat and Arthur were already here, and I swear I’ve never seen two more smug folk in all my existence. Agrat said we were in for a wonderful surprise and Arthur burst out laughing, and then the next thing we knew, all these law enforcement agents had showed up.”
“Uri said the Feds were here,” Gabriel said.
“Yeah, and Interpol, MI5 and the UN.” Tzadkiel shook his head, his expression now one of wonder. “I don’t quite know how Arthur did it, but he got them all here and now they’re doing a raid.”
“I wonder,” Angelique began thoughtfully, “I wonder if his contacts with these people is from before, when his mother was stealing the Holy Grail.”
Gabriel snapped his fingers. “I bet it is at that.”
“Good call, Angelique,” Tzadkiel said, smiling at her.
“What are Brieus and Sophiel doing?” Michael asked then.
“They’re liaising. I’ve left them to provide assistance. The guy from the UN knows Raziel, apparently, so he vouched for all us, and the MI5 guy said that Arthur had spoken about what I do as an Archangel, so they were all quite happy to see us—for backup and for added intelligence. And we were happy to provide it.”
“So where’s everyone, then?” Melcherisa asked.
“Uri and Raz are with the raiding parties. Ishtahar and Agrat are guarding the coven. Hiwa and Ahijah are going through the cells. Oh yeah”—and now Tzadkiel grimaced—“Transom already had their experiments underway. There’s a set of cells underground. The FBI team isn’t really equipped to deal with that, so Hiwa volunteered. Considering what they knew about Transom, I think the law enforcement people were very happy to let him and Ahijah take care of that.”
“Ondrass and Adramelek have gone with Markus to speak to Mr. Edwards,” Michael said.
Tzadkiel quirked an eyebrow. “Well now. That’s a conversation I’d like to eavesdrop on.”
“No need.” It was Ondrass. He joined them, his expression one of satisfaction. “We had a nice little chat. He offered us a great deal of money to get him and his family out of here to somewhere safe. For some reason, he seemed quite fixated on the Cayman Islands, so I had a word to Arthur about that. Arthur’s gone to tell the Interpol officer.”
“What did you speak of with this man?” Michael demanded.
“I told him that I was not going to be bought, certainly not by a creature such as him. I do have standards, after all. Then I told him that he should enjoy his time in custody and the period of respite that his sentencing will give him, because after that, I’ll be paying him a visit and he will have a very unpleasant time for the length of his incarceration, which should, I would think, last the rest of his natural life.”
“I bet he didn’t like that,” Tzadkiel said with a chuckle.
“Indeed not. I did, however, and that’s more important to me.” Ondrass smirked. “So how do we proceed now?”
Before anyone could answer his question, Raziel appeared, the rustle of his feathers as he joined them loud in the early morning. “I’ve managed to get a concession out of the humans over there,” he said without preamble, jerking a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the representatives from the FBI, MI5, Interpol, and the UN. “They’re willing to turn the coven over to us in order to reverse the synthetic magic. Tzad here and myself with Remi as witness are to question them and take their statements. Then they have to go to The Hague. I don’t think most of them will end up in prison, considering what Jonathon told us a few days ago, but some of them certainly will.”
“What about their records? Transom’s, I mean,” Gabriel said.
“I’ve taken care of that,” Raziel said. “I took all the data relating to the synthetic magic and the experiments, and given the rest of it over for use in the trials. Believe me, there was plenty left that can be used in court. I don’t want the details of those experiments being used by anyone, for anything. And I certainly don’t want that synthetic magic to be experimented with either.”
Michael nodded. “That is very wise. I am glad.”
“So really, we can go to Guam any time we want,” Raziel said.
“Guam?” Declan asked.
“That’s where I have a laboratory, and it’s extremely secure. A good place to do what we must,” Raziel said.
Liam cleared his throat. “If it’s okay with you guys, I’ll bow out of the interrogations.”
“Same here,” Baxter said.
“I think I can safely speak for my whole pack and say we’ll stay at home,” Angelique said.
Michael huffed slightly. “I would not permit you to attend in any case. These are serious matters and you have already suffered much anguish from your earlier experiences with Transom Corp. I will ask Asaf and Vel to take you back to Salem.”
“Um, can I ask a favor?” It was Lily.
“Of course,” Michael said.
“Would you mind terribly if I went to Portland and spent some time with Ondrass and Adramelek? If that’s okay with them?”
“It would be our pleasure,” Adramelek said, giving Lily a shallow bow.
Michael pursed his lips. “All right. But do not harm her, any of you.”
“We would do no such thing!” Ondrass looked insulted. “Lily, my dear, we’ll all be on Guam for a while, but when we return to Portland, I’ll have Markus come and collect you for a week at my building.”
“That would be wonderful,” Lily said. “Thanks.”
“You’re most welcome.” Ondrass inclined his head to her.
“So now we just get down to the nitty gritty of dealing with witches?” Gabriel asked. He looked around the little group and saw that everyone was nodding. The mood seemed to be positive, for the most part, although Gabriel was privately surprised that no one had grumbled about missing out on a fight. Still, it was a good sign, and even better that this whole situation had been resolved with a minimum of bloodshed. Better that human laws deal with these human transgressions, he thought. Angelkind and demonkind shouldn’t be dealing with everything as if they were some sort of ultimate law provider.
Protecting and guiding humanity had always been their order; Gabriel felt distinctly uncomfortable at the idea of having to become some sort of police force as well. This outcome was much better and he was grateful to Arthur for having the initiative to do what he had: inform the law enforcements of the world about the situation.
“Gabriel?” Michael touched his arm and Gabriel smiled at him.
“I was just thinking that this situation, with Interpol, MI5, the FBI, and the UN, is far, far better than what we were gonna do. I think it’s better that humans deal with these other humans. Oh aye, there are things that we need to deal with, and we will—those witches and the experiment victims—but the rest of it should be dealt with by human courts.”
Michael nodded. “I concur. I confess that I am greatly relieved to see that this situation is well in hand.”
“Brieus just let me know that there are other teams in New York and other towns here in Colorado, and the offices of Transom’s business have all been raided,” Tzadkiel said.
“Right, I’ll go and make sure nothing sensitive is left for human eyes,” Raziel said. “They can have everything except the data about the magic and the experiments.”
“Just a moment, Raziel,” Adramelek said. “You might want to leave them the data about the treatments that cure terminal illness. I’m sure that humanity as a whole would be grateful to have that information.”
Raziel nodded. “You’re right. Okay, I’ll go deal with this, and I’ll be back here in two hours.” He gave them all a quick, shallow bow, and then he vanished.
“Asaf, Vel, come and join us, please,” Gabriel said.
A moment later, the two Seraphim were there. They bowed to him and then saluted. “Yes, Sir?” Vel asked.
“You two are to take the Venatores, Declan, and Liam here back to Michael’s h
ome in Salem, Oregon,” Gabriel said. “Stay put, to keep an eye on the place, just in case.” He wrinkled his nose then and laughed. “And I didn’t mean to rhyme.”
Asaf grinned at him. “It was a good rhyme, sir.”
“Well, as long as it was a good one.”
“We’ll take care of things, sir, you can count on us,” Vel said. He gave Gabriel another salute. “Shall we go then, young humans?” he said to Angelique and the others.
“I think that’s a damn good idea,” Angelique said.
“Then we will speak later,” Michael said to her.
She nodded and moved to stand close to the rest of her pack. Gabriel watched as Declan and Liam joined the little group, and as Asaf and Vel laid their hands on the shoulders of the young people, he smiled in farewell. A moment later they were gone, and he let out a slow breath.
“Now then,” he said, looking at Tzadkiel, “introduce us to these people who are running the raid.”
Tzadkiel nodded. “Okay. Oh, and Gabe?”
“Yeah?”
“Arthur’s still involved with them somehow, so don’t let on that he’s from Purgatory or that he’s the nephew of an angel. I think that might make things difficult for him, and who knows when we might need his contacts again in the future.”
“What a depressing thought,” Gabriel sighed. “But okay, we can do that. I’m speaking for everyone, by the way.”
“Why?” Adramelek asked.
“Because I feel like it, that’s why.” Gabriel rolled his shoulders. “I want this shit over with. I want it done. I am fucking tired of looking over my shoulder or having nasty surprises rear up in front of me. I am sick of these megalomaniacs who resent us for whatever reason and decide they’re going to have a go at being supreme dictator of the whole bloody world. This entire fucking century has been nothing but grief, fighting, death, loss, and pain. I’m tired, Adramelek. Tired of the whole fucking lot of it.”
There was a long silence when he finished speaking and Gabriel wondered if perhaps he’d gone too far. It was true, though: he was tired, and he was sick of how much conflict there had been in this century. Now that it was nearing its end, Gabriel hoped and prayed and hoped some more that this was the end of conflict and despair, the end of misery and pain. At least for another century or two.
It was Ondrass who broke the silence. He stepped forward and bowed to Gabriel, a deep bow, full of respect. When he straightened again, Ondrass extended his hand.
Blinking in surprise, Gabriel took it in his own, and they shook.
“I agree with you, Gabriel,” Ondrass said, as they let go of each other’s hands. “I think that we’ve all become accustomed to war. There have been truces and cease-fires and then the battle begins again. All of us here, right now, in this little group, have been fighting for so long that I think we’ve forgotten when, exactly, it all began. We all need to rest. We all need peace. And we need it more than ever now that there is this truce between Lord Lucifer and the Man Upstairs. So I will support you in this.” He turned to look at the others. “No more. No more conflict. The truce our lord has made must be honored and kept.”
“Agreed,” Adramelek said.
“I’m with you,” Lix Tetrax said.
Melcherisa nodded. “What they said.”
“I, as always, am with Ondrass,” Markus said.
Gabriel nodded and looked at each Archdemon and then at Markus. He could see the sincerity in their auras and in their eyes, and he turned to Michael.
Michael hummed softly and moved to stand in front of the Guild of Glass Knives. He pressed his palms together and then he bowed to them, a movement of profound grace. “I am in agreement,” he said as he straightened. “And I join with you all in this endeavor.”
“To peace at last,” Adramelek said.
“Amen to that,” Gabriel said.
“Peace, finally,” Tzadkiel said.
Michael simply smiled.
“So,” Ondrass cleared his throat. “Let us go and speak with these law enforcement people. The sooner we take care of that and offer our assistance as colleagues of Tzadkiel, the sooner we can take that coven to Guam and begin interrogating them.”
“And the sooner we can get them to The Hague and to trial,” Tzadkiel agreed.
“And then finally we can relax,” Melcherisa said.
“A moment, before we move,” Michael said. “The Brotherhood of Archangels has worked with you, the Guild of Glass Knives, many times over the last century. It has made me realize that we are more alike than I had previously thought. At first, I resented this, for I did not want to concede that perhaps there were more similarities between us than differences. But with God’s decree of the treaty with Lucifer, I realized that our similarities are what make us work well together. Now as we move forward, and, I hope, we do not have any more crises to avert, I wish to say that I consider you all, all of the members of the Guild of Glass Knives not just convenient allies, but also friends.”
The Archdemons stared at him. Then Ondrass began to chuckle. “This is the dawning of a brave new age indeed,” he said. “Thank you, Prince. I’m sure the rest of my guild agrees with me when I say that we feel the same.”
“And the rest of my choir, too,” Gabriel said.
“Now that we all feel good about ourselves and the universe, let’s get back to work,” Adramelek said. He was grinning, however, and everyone else, Gabriel saw, grinned as well.
“Right you are,” Tzadkiel said. “Let’s get to it.”
AHIJAH STOOD some distance away from the cluster of temporary buildings that circled the building site. Transom had certainly done quite a lot in the time since Tzadkiel’s contact had photographed the area: foundations were laid, building materials were piled neatly around, and there were signs warning people to be careful and wear hard hats. None of that seemed to matter now, as the law enforcement personnel moved like a well-oiled machine, swiftly and efficiently removing people and arresting them, carrying out boxes and boxes of documents and computer hard drives.
Hiwa stood beside him. Ahijah didn’t need to look at his brother to know that Hiwa was concentrating on hiding himself. He could guess why—by using a trick taught to them when they were teenagers, Hiwa was making himself appear unremarkable, someone not to be noticed or looked at twice. The presence of so many police were no doubt making him nervous, and using the spell that they’d been taught by Uriel so many millennia ago would allow him to remain and watch without being apprehended. It was that same spell, Ahijah thought idly, that he himself had used to hide his tracks when he’d taken his people into Brazil and hidden them in their little village.
“Are you that certain you’d be in trouble?” Ahijah asked, although he suspected he already knew the answer.
Hiwa snorted. “You know what I do with my life, Ahi, of course I’m certain. I hear there’s a reward for information leading to my arrest in the Interpol offices in Russia and the eastern Bloc.”
Ahijah sighed. “Don’t tell Mama.”
“As if.” Hiwa snorted again. “I’m not an idiot.”
Ahijah let that slide and jerked his chin in the direction of the buildings, where FBI officers, identifiable by the large “F B I” emblazoned across the back of their jackets, were carrying large boxes of documents. “What do you think they’ll find?”
“A lot of horrors,” Hiwa said. “I bet, once they go through this and the lawyers go through it and the press gets wind of it, there’ll be a universal cry of no mercy for Transom. I also bet that the families of those who died at Transom’s hands will be approached by some lawyer offering to launch a class action.”
“Uncle Tzad might help there,” Ahijah said.
Hiwa shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t think about lawyers.”
Ahijah barked a laugh and then coughed, trying to cover up the sound. “How you shock me.”
“Shut up.” A moment later, Hiwa spoke, and his voice was low. “So it looks like we don’t have to use ours
elves as bait to get close enough to gut these fuckers.”
Ahijah grunted. “I’m not sure how I feel about that, you know. On the one hand, can you imagine how much trouble we’d be in if we got caught? But on the other, at least we don’t have to get caught. I’d hate for that to have backfired and be made to watch them operate on you so you were a demon-monster-Nephilim hybrid.”
Hiwa gently nudged his shoulder. “I understand your concern, Ahi. Still, I’m a bit sad at the lost opportunity for revenge.”
“Yes, well, perhaps Uncle Uri will take you with him when he goes to gloat at them in prison.”
Hiwa brightened at that. Ahijah had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes as his brother clapped his hands and let out a soft whoop. “That’s a fucking brilliant idea!”
“I’m so happy for you. So now, I guess, we all sit back and wait for the slow process that is the legal system.”
“The international legal system, because Transom weren’t exactly keeping their operations small.” Hiwa shook his head. “What’s happening to the witches?”
“Uncle Raz told me that they’re going to have their synthetic magic stripped, and then Uncle Tzad will judge their souls to determine who goes to what police department.”
“Messy.” Hiwa paused for a moment. Then, “Good.”
“You are so bloodthirsty.”
“Yeah, well, the reports of what this company did sickened me, Ahi. And what I saw in the gulag….” Hiwa fell silent and Ahijah turned to face him, concern filling him as he saw his brother’s expression. Hiwa’s face was a picture of revulsion, pity, and fury, and Ahijah suddenly knew that if any of Transom’s people were left unattended anywhere in the world, Hiwa would find them, and then he would kill them.
“I don’t remember the last time I saw you so furious,” Ahijah said cautiously, choosing his words with care. “Not since Semjaza, anyway.”
“Look at it like this. A lot of angels still think of us as monsters, right? Okay, God said we were allowed to live and be free, and that’s great, but I bet you any money that some angels, if they thought they could get away with it, would happily shank us and leave us for dead. Old beliefs and hatreds don’t always die. So we’re not the same species as the ones who are known as monsters—shifters, dryads, minotaurs, all of them—but we’re regarded as monstrous and hated and feared with just as much passion as some folk feel for the monsters. So I feel a kinship. And what I saw in that gulag, what we learned about that place in Yaak… you bet I’m furious. I’m fucking enraged.”
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