He swallowed the lump in his throat thinking about it.
“But what’s the big deal about Uriel getting skinned alive, stabbed, and filleted wide open? I mean, we have Constantine to heal him and the rest of us, right?” Gabriel turned his attention to that Angel next. “It doesn’t matter if Con suffers great pain every time he heals one of us.” Gabe’s jaw clenched, “Bet some of you didn’t know that, did you? That if Constantine heals you, he’s making an exchange. Your pain has to go somewhere. It doesn’t just vanish. Con takes it on himself.”
Constantine stiffened. His eyes hardened.
Yeah, Gabriel knew Constantine’s secret. He figured it out after the day Michael cut into Uriel’s head just to fuck around with his brain matter and when Constantine healed him, he’d been laid up with a “migraine” for a week that had him puking and blind.
“We’ve all made sacrifices,” Gabriel said in a low tone. “And I might have cursed you, but I gifted each of you I had to do that to.” He spun around and shoved a finger in one Angel’s direction, “Your talents are not from our Creator. They are from me. And if you think otherwise, search inside yourself and know your fucking truths. Do the math.” He glared over at another, “You weren’t a straight shot with your arrows until after I had to curse you.” Gabriel looked over at another brother, “You think you got your superior strength from lifting boulders? Fuck that. You got it because I had to weaken you in another way.”
He could have gone on and on, but Rave said, “Enough.”
But it wasn’t enough. They needed to know. They all needed to take a good hard look at where they were standing right now. Gabriel used the words Michael had drilled into each of them from day one of entering this sect. “Know. Your. Place.”
He spread his arms out wide, “You’re either with us or against us. Choose the side you’re willing to die on, because today you’ll find out if you made the righteous decision.
“Eve’s still alive,” someone shouted. An Angel pushed his way through the tightening crowd. “We were told Lucifer ate her. You… You said she was dead.”
“I lied,” Gabriel confessed. “And I’d do it again to save her.”
“You betray the trust of your brothers by lying about one meaningless female.”
“I never had your trust,” he said. “None of us truly trust each other.” If they argued then they were the fucking liars here. “And she’s far from meaningless.” She’s everything.
Eve took that as her cue, “Lucifer deserves to be saved. He’s the holy trinity of powers. That’s why Michael hates him. That’s why Michael has him under lock and key. Lucifer has the power to rise above all of us as the ultimate leader of Angels. The Ruler of the Righteous.”
Several Angels started mumbling and arguing amongst themselves. “No fucking way am I going to follow that animal,” someone snarled.
“He doesn’t want followers,” Eve barked back. “That still doesn’t change the fact that Michael isn’t someone you should be bowing down to.”
Gabriel wished she’d have kept her mouth shut. Any attention drawn to her was bad attention as far as he was concerned.
“We were told he ate you,” an Angel by the name of Anthony pushed his way through the throng of Angels. “You don’t look dead or chewed on.”
Eve’s wings snapped in irritation. “He saved me. They all saved me,” she slowly swept her hands in her pack’s direction and stumbled like a drunk.
Damn, what was wrong with her? Why was she acting so lethargic?
Gabriel grew angrier. They should have never brought Eve into this war – no matter how badly she wanted to be part of it, or how many times Lazarus insisted she was a strong Angel – this was too dangerous of a situation to have placed her in.
Anthony tilted his head and studied her for a moment longer than Gabriel was comfortable with, “Why would they do all this for you?”
“I’m the reason mankind has souls,” Eve’s voice rose above the ruckus, “And those souls are tied to us now. For better or worse, our energy and theirs are linked. It was my purpose. Nothing can undo it.”
Gabriel felt a whoosh of regret sweep over him. Fuuuuuck. Why would she confess this now? Why would she confess it at all? Instincts raged and Gabe, Con, and Uriel circled around Eve with their blades drawn to protect her.
The world shrank around them as the Brotherhood closed in. A whistle of an arrow sang through the air just before Gabe heard a small grunt behind him. He turned, heart galloping in his throat, and saw Eve holding her neck – her mouth opening and shutting like a fish out of water.
An arrow pierced her throat and nearly went clean through. Blood poured out, dripping down her fingers as she clutched her neck.
Gabriel. Went. Berserk.
With a war cry, he spun around and started swinging. In one act of violence towards the female he loved, Gabriel turned into a killing machine.
And if he had his way, there would be no survivors.
Chapter 57
Constantine grabbed Eve and took off with her. The sooner he got her to safety, the sooner he could heal her. Behind him, Gabriel roared in a way he’d never heard an Angel sound before. It was gut wrenching. Terrifying.
Inspiring.
“Get her out of here!” Uriel hollered. Blocking arrows with his wings, Uriel took the brunt of the attacks and that sacrifice broke Constantine’s heart. Uriel would die for them. And today might be the day that actually fucking happened.
“Hold on, Eve,” Con shot into the sky with her and winced at every arrow that pierced his wings and back. Below, he heard the bellows of Angels as they fell, one-by-one, from Gabriel’s wrath. He didn’t have time to see which side was winning. Con could feel the pain of all his brothers as if he was single-handedly taking their agony away from them and putting it into his own soul.
It was excruciating.
In his arms, Eve grew heavy and he figured she must have passed out from blood loss. If that arrow had struck her jugular, she was going to bleed to death before he landed someplace safe. If it was tipped in poison, he’d have more problems.
Angels chased after them. There was no way he could fight and fly at the same time while keeping Eve shielded. Holy Merciful Hounds, this wasn’t going to end well for anyone.
Another arrow pierced the top of his wing. Constantine grunted and flew faster. Movement caught his eye and he saw Rave keeping pace with his bow and arrow. “Go! Go!” Rave roared as he shot an arrow into whoever was behind them. Rave shot a second, then a third. “Go! I’ll hold them back!”
Constantine didn’t have time to debate it. He flapped his wings as fast as he could, using all his pain to fuel his efforts to save one of the few Angels he could say was worth this much sacrifice. Anyone with as much compassion, fire, and empathy as Eve deserved to be fucking saved. “Hang on,” he said – and Con wasn’t sure if he was talking to himself or Eve at that point.
He slammed into the barrier dividing this realm with another and nearly lost his grip on Eve. He plummeted about fifty feet before catching air beneath his wings. Crash landing onto a beach, he made sure to wrap his body and wings around them both to lessen the hit of the ground.
Con grunted and yelled as they slammed into the sand and started rolling. When they stopped, Eve was on top of him and they were right where the waves crashed upon the shore. The arrow, at some point, had embedded even deeper into her neck and it made Con feel so fucking guilty. Salt water splashed on their bodies and faces; blood was everywhere.
“Come on,” he rasped. “Stay with me.”
Unresponsive, her eyelids were slits, her body limp.
With a prayer, he held the arrow in one hand and her neck in the other. As he pulled the arrow through, Constantine immediately pushed his healing energy into her. “Come on, Eve. Please don’t leave us. Not now.” Not ever.
He had no idea when the fuck he’d become so attached to her, but Con was an obsessive Angel and whether he was willing to admit it or not, he�
��d fallen in love with her. She’d come to the brotherhood with every intention of becoming one of them and that’s just what she did.
It hadn’t taken training or combat lessons. It took her showing kindness to the Angels who’d been given none.
Concentrating, Constantine envisioned her flesh closing back up, her heart pumping slow and steady, her veins sealing and reforming. He gave her every bit of grace he could to make her live through this.
Within a few heartbeats, Eve’s chest rose and fell and her hand twitched.
Relief flooded him and he rocked back on his haunches. “Eve. Can you hear me?”
She coughed and blood spurt out of her mouth. Con rolled her over onto her side so she’d not choke.
“Con,” she rasped. “Shit…” her fingers sank into the wet sand as she tried to grip onto something to steady her. With a loud, gurgled gasp, more blood shot out of her mouth and she tried to crawl away from him.
He let her go. He’d done all he could for her anyway. The rest was on her at this point.
“Thank… you….” She stayed on all fours, breathing heavy. “We have to… go back…” she rasped. “Can’t… leave the others… to fight this…”
Con closed his eyes with sorrow. The female was unstoppable.
It should have turned him on, but instead it scared the piss out of him. Courage like hers could get her killed. She was the most hard-headed, single-minded Angel he’d ever met – which said a lot.
A shadow cast down on the ground to their right and Constantine reached for his sword, only to realize it wasn’t on his waist anymore. He must have dropped it during the crash landing. Shit!
Rave slammed down, his boots crunching into the wet sand, his body crouched to keep balance, wings flexed to slow his fall. Breathing heavy, he yanked out two arrows from his thigh and tossed them into the sand. “They won’t find you now.” He limped over to them, “I shot down all who followed. The rest stayed back to fight on the ground.”
“Holy shit,” Constantine hated that brothers were dying left and right. “I’ve gotta go back.” He needed to help them.
“We’ve gotta go back,” Eve said. Her throat was still healing, her skin patching up and leaking blood every time she talked.
“You’re not coming,” Con growled. “We can’t afford to lose you.”
She turned red-faced, “I have to take ownership that part of this whole thing is my fault. I’m not going to let you all go down without me. All or none, Con.”
Rave arched a brow at her before looking over at Constantine. “Loyal to the bone, I see.”
He nodded and began looking for his sword. “We can’t be distracted by you, Eve.” He knew it sounded harsh and he held a hand up, “Don’t get mad at me for saying that, alright? It’s the fucking truth. You’ve got me, Luce, Gabe, and Uri all tied around your little finger. Not a single one of us won’t lay our lives down for you. And if you go back in there, I can’t guarantee you won’t get hurt again. I can’t spend more of my energy on healing you… not when I’m going to have to divide it among the brothers who survive this battle.”
He knew she wanted to argue with him, but instead she bit her lip.
“Gabriel was hit pretty bad. One of his wings was almost severed. I saw it happen before I took off to have your back so you could get Eve out of there.”
Holy shit. He needed to get back there, pronto. Constantine found his sword and sheathed it.
“I’ll stay with her,” Rave said. “I’ll protect her until you return.”
Con didn’t know if that was a good idea or not. But Rave had been on their side this whole time, there was no need to suspect he’d switched loyalties now. He hated Michael as much as they did. Always had. And going by the blood seeping down his legs, he wasn’t in good enough shape to go charging into battle. “How bad are you hurt?”
“My legs aren’t half as bad as the stab wound Michael gave me in my back. It’s fucking with my ability to shoot arrows.” He turned so Constantine could see the damage.
“I can’t heal you yet,” Con confessed. “I’m too weak.” He hated saying that out loud. But something was draining him fast. Constantine figured it was the entire brotherhood because they were all hurting and their instincts would have them searching for energy to heal enough to get back up and fight more.
A warrior only stopped fighting when they were dead.
Rave waved him off, “Save your energy for Gabe and the others. I’ll be fine.”
“Thank you.”
“No… thank you, brother.” Rave’s tone was genuine, “You did what we could not – you’ve taken a stand not just for yourselves, but for everyone.”
Constantine spared Eve one last glace. “We’ll come back for you,” he vowed. Then he took off to finish what his brothers started.
Chapter 58
In a test of fealty to Michael, Raphael impaled Lucifer with a spear through his ribs. Lucifer screamed from the excruciating pain but didn’t fall to his knees. Not even when Raphael ripped the spear out with a twist and yank.
Holding his side, blood gushed and he wheezed while sucking in air. With Michael staying close to his back, Lucifer couldn’t use his fires to heal yet. Breathing through the pain, he sucked it up and carried on.
Michael led Lucifer and Raphael back to the dungeons. They went without a fight, carefully keeping the façade of captor and captive.
“Put him in there, Raphael,” Michael gestured to the cage. “And go in with him.”
Fuck. Lucifer would be a liar to say a part of him wasn’t triggered seeing his cell again. The place smelled of saltwater, mold, old blood, and urine.
Like a well-trained dog, Raphael did what was he was told and Lucifer had a moment of panic when his barefoot hit the familiar floor of his cage. He held steady and didn’t allow the scents and feels of this fucked up place mess with his head. He wasn’t going to keep the scars Michael tried to cut deep into Lucifer’s mind while held captive here. He was stronger than that.
But putting Lucifer back in his cage made no sense. Wouldn’t Michael want to kill him? Or maybe Michael couldn’t kill him because Lucifer was the Dark Angel fated to bring him down and fate wouldn’t allow his death?
Lucifer’s body hardened with confidence. “Still afraid of me?” he taunted. “Or are you afraid of Raphael now too?”
Michael arched an eyebrow at him and but didn’t say a word.
“You keep creating monsters for your arsenal, but what’s going to happen when the monsters turn on you, Michael?”
The sandy-haired Angel laughed. Actually laughed. “They wouldn’t dare.” He stepped into the cage with them, just like Lucifer hoped he would. Michael tipped his head with confidence at Raphael, “They respect my authority and each other too much to ever turn wings and fight against me. I’m all they have. We’re all we have.”
“You don’t have their respect. You have their fear.”
“True,” Michael shrugged. “Fear is healthy for a warrior. Courage can easily betray you – cause you to think too highly of yourself and your skill. Fear keeps one humble. Fear keeps one loyal to their protector.”
“Fear keeps you caged,” Lucifer said through gritted teeth. He didn’t also say that fear could feed courage as much as hate fed love. The more you have of one, the more you crave the other and will do whatever you must to get it.
“Chain him, Raphael. And let’s add the racking boards.”
Lucifer growled. The racking boards weren’t boards at all. They were slabs of wood Lucifer had once been nailed down to in a spread-eagle position. Michael turned to retrieve them while Raphael followed his orders.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. If Lucifer had to go through with this to keep Michael’s confidence up, then he would. But it was going to hurt like a bitch and impair his ability to fight for a while. Walking or holding a sword would be almost impossible with the injuries the racking boards made. No matter, Lucy was committed to seeing this through. He was all in now, and there
was no way out. He needed to keep Michael thinking that he was the Angel in the power seat. If that meant unholy torture, so be it. He survived it before, he damn sure would survive it again.
Lucifer tensed when Raphael stepped in front of him. They stared at each other for a heartbeat and Lucifer tried pushing some energy into the monstrous looking Angel – enough to keep Raphael steady and clear headed. The Angel’s nostrils flared, jaws clenched, eyes blazing red. Raphael struggled with whatever power ran through his veins now.
“Remember who you are, Raphael,” Lucifer whispered. “You are your own master. Not Michael. Not me. Not anyone but you.”
The Angel exhaled a shaky breath and took two steps back. “Divinity help me, something’s off. I feel too violent.” He quickly started undoing Lucifer’s binds, “We can’t let him have this much of an upper hand. And I can’t hold back my urges much longer.”
Just then, a scream echoed outside. An uproar that sounded like thunder made the earth quake. The air charged with biting, snapping, wild electricity. Lucifer wings snapped tight to his back. “What the fuck is that?”
Raphael’s smile grew wide and eyes hungry, “War.”
Michael trusted Raphael to follow orders. That Angel knew better than to disobey. The Scourge or not, Michael made Raphael and he could un-fucking-make him.
Nothing was without a kill switch of some sort.
Marching down the hall to grab the racking boards, Michael paused when he heard a sound like thunder. Dust from the dungeons puffed into the air as the earth moved and shook.
“Shit,” he veered to the left and took the stairs as he yelled, “Lock him up and get the fuck out here, Raphael!” Lucifer could wait. There was a bigger problem now.
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