Raise Hell

by Briana Michaels

  Michael pushed open the doors and stepped outside. Blood was the first thing he smelled. Metal clanking was the first sound he heard. Unsheathing his sword, Michael wasn’t wearing a stitch of armor as he pushed off the ground and flew over to the courtyard.

  Complete. Chaos.

  Blood, bodies, wings, swords – all scattered on the red-stained ground.

  Raphael soared down ahead of him, a mighty roar ripping out of his throat as he dove down into the center of the battle.

  Michael’s panic settled a little with that. The Scourge was made for this. And if Raphael actually had all four of their powers caged in his body now, he could easily wipe out the entire brotherhood if he let himself loose.

  Would he have the nerve to do it? Michael couldn’t wait to find out.

  Something barreled into him from behind and Michael dropped his sword. His spine cracked and stars burst in his vision a second before he fell from a height of seventy yards in the air. Big hands grabbed him by the wings and Michael felt something sharp cut into his back.

  Twisting like mad to get free, Michael roared and flapped his wings – which quickly snapped and broke, no thanks to Lucifer.

  This. Mother. Fucker.

  Raphael had chosen poorly taking this abomination’s side and unchaining him. He’ll pay for that later.

  Michael screamed in fury and Lucifer showed no mercy. Teeth bared, Lucifer wrapped his body around Michael to prevent him from flying. Then he tore at Michael’s wings, breaking them in several places. The two Angels tumbled to the ground in a blur of black and white wings.

  Lucifer rolled away and hopped up to his feet, scrambling for a discarded blade. His massive wings were stiff and curled to shield his back and sides as he faced Michael.

  “Get up, Michael. Face your fate with both fists.”

  All around them, Angels fought each other. Screaming, dying, praying, begging.

  Michael didn’t give a flying fuck about a single one of those fools. If there was going to be only one victor here, he’d do anything to ensure it was him. His eyes darted around as he searched for a weapon.

  The adrenaline rush was intoxicating. Lucifer’s first battle high felt glorious and the fun had only just begun. All around him, death and pain and wrath, along the heady scent of spilled divinity, permeated the air. It seeped into the ground, staining the grass red.

  While still facing Michael, he cautiously scanned the area for his pack. They were the reason this war started. Lucifer tried to spare them this, and they’d come with swords raised anyway.

  Why did that light him up inside?

  He found Gabriel over by the apple tree, fighting two Angels struggling to block his blows. One of Gabe’s wings hung loose on his back. He was so focused on his enemy the injuries didn’t slow him down at all.

  Above, Uriel was in the air with another Angel, and had the fucker by the throat. The other members of the Scourge were sticking together and had cornered several Angels against one of the buildings. But where were Constantine and Eve? He has her safe and far away from here, Lucifer figured. Thank. Fuck.

  Bringing his full attention back to Michael, Lucifer smiled. The bastard was trying to find a weapon and there weren’t any. When Michael dove to the ground to snatch one out of the hands of an Angel’s freshly severed arm, Lucifer kicked the hilt and sent it flying.

  “How’s it feel to be helpless and surrounded, Michael?”

  Lucifer stalked forward, ignoring the slices and hits to his wings from others around him. Grabbing Michael by the throat, he spun the Angel around, pinning his arms behind his back. With a jerk, Lucifer snapped a few more of Michael’s bones.

  Michael’s knees buckled for a second, but Lucifer held him up and forced him to face the mess he’d made. “You call yourself a leader,” he growled. Something sharp pierced Lucifer’s left wing but he didn’t give a shit. The pain kept him focused. “You’ve led your brothers right into a war with each other.”

  “You did this,” Michael growled. “You fucking destroyed everything I’ve made.”

  Lucifer marched them both forward, making their way through the fists swinging, the swords clanking, the blood and guts and feathers flying. Lucy didn’t fear death, but going by the way Michael kept trying to rip free from Lucifer’s clutches, it was obvious he didn’t have the same courage.

  “Tell them to stop,” Lucifer commanded.

  “Not on your life,” Michael sneered. “Let them all fucking die.”

  “Then we’ll go down together, shall we?” Lucifer’s grip tightened around Michael’s chest to keep him restrained, and he marched them deeper into the heart of the battlefield.

  Chapter 59

  Gabriel. Saw. Red. That’s all his vision allowed. There was a buzzing in his ears, lightning in his veins, and even his eyeballs had a motherfucking pulse.

  He decapitated Daniel. Sliced the Angel’s head clean off.

  A shadow fell from above and Gabriel looked up just in time to dodge a dead body crash through the clouds. Uriel was still in the air, his bloodied sword dripping as he caught his breath. The male looked fierce. And heartbroken too.

  A roar tore through the air. Gabriel pivoted just in time to see an Angel named Haven charge straight towards him. Like a bird of prey swooping down, a mass of black wings and hair attacked Haven from above.

  Holy shit! Constantine?

  The thud of Haven’s skull smacking the ground, the crunch of his face as Con pulverized it, the scent of blood wafting in the air –

  It fueled Gabriel’s bloodthirst. His brothers were with him. He could absolutely win this war with them by his side.

  Flames kicked up all around the battlefield. The Brotherhood buildings started to crumble. The earth moved and shook and cracked. Fissures were made in the ground and some of the Angel’s dead bodies fell into them.

  It began to rain. The sizzle of the fires when water hit those flames sounded like screams and hisses. The Elemental Angels must be in on this too. Great. Winds kicked up, the rain sharpened and each drop felt like it cut and burned on Gabriel’s skin. The flames doubled down and ate that wind up until the blaze ignited every fucking thing – the trees, the wooden buildings, the grass, the bodies…

  Smoke thickened and stunk of burnt feathers and wood and flesh.

  We’re all going to die. There was no control here. Too much hate, too much anger, too much fury and fealty to the wrong fucking Angel.

  And maybe they all should die. No one here was perfect, and wasn’t that supposed to be the point of an Angel? Divinity was supreme and nothing about this was holy anymore. It was curses and resentment. Fear and chaos. Sheep and wolves.

  At least I’ll die a fucking wolf, Gabriel winced at the pain from his nearly severed wing.

  Darkness loomed over them. Clouds gathered. Lightning cracked across the sky. Flames turned black like the ones Lucifer—

  Ohhhhh shiiiiit.

  Holding Michael against his chest, Lucifer stood in the center of the courtyard with his massive black wings extended out, eyes glowing like a predator in the night, and his body was nearly swallowed in darkness.

  He looked terrifying. Unstoppable.

  Extraordinary.

  Lucy tipped his head back and let out a roar so mighty, every Angel rocked back on their asses. Holy Divine Creations, Lucifer looked…

  Fuck, this was bad. This was really, really, bad.

  Gabriel approached Lucifer carefully. The brother was shadows and flames – darkness danced along his skin. His body pulsed, eyes glowing bright blue, and… hand-to-the-creator, Gabriel could have sworn his body was trying to morph.

  Behind him, Gabriel saw Jude, Nikolai, and Cassian trying to hold back Raphael, who was going apeshit with rage. Lucifer turned his head a notch. “Calm,” he ordered in a deep, rumbling voice.

  “Fuck…. You…” Raphael wrenched free from the others and started marching towards them. Gabriel ran to block Raphael, but the Angel swung out and moved the air hard eno
ugh to send Gabriel backwards. The whole earth started spinning way too fast and Gabe felt nauseous from it.

  “What’s happening?” Uriel stumbled too. “The fuck is this?”

  Michael laughed like he didn’t give a shit that his life was in his enemy’s hands. “You’re all fucked.” His teeth were bright white against the blood splattered all over his face and white tunic. “You have no idea what’s in store for this world, you traitorous, weak ingrates.”

  “Shut. The fuck. Up.” Lucifer growled.

  Gabriel slugged Michael right in the jaw. It was a cheap shot, but he didn’t give a shit. He’d been wanting to do that for so long, he figured he should take the opportunity now, because Michael wasn’t going to be alive much longer.

  “I hate you,” Gabriel seethed. “I hate what you’ve done to us. I hate what you’ve made us do.”

  “I made you do nothing,” Michael hissed. “You all had your free will. A gift,” his voice rose, “That I was responsible for.”

  Gabriel felt the familiar heavy weight of guilt rest on his shoulders again. “A gift,” he growled. “Free will is only a gift if we can actually use it. You never gave the brotherhood much of an option there.”

  “Sure, I did,” Michael wheezed under Lucifer’s restraining arms. “You chose to obey.”

  “Because you’d punish us if we didn’t!”

  “You still had the option you weak, scared little bitch.”

  Angels began to gather around Lucifer and Michael. “You damned us,” said Raphael. “You’ve set us all up for eternal suffering.”

  Again, Gabriel’s guilt gut-punched him. He rolled his shoulders back and looked at all the survivors left. Closing his eyes, he focused his energy and spun it into metaphysical vines that grew from his body and traveled to several brothers left standing. The energy slithered and twirled around their feet, up their legs and waists, and wrapped around their necks before shooting down their throats. The Angels tipped their heads back with their mouths wide open.

  Gabriel took their curses back. If he was going to rebel, it would not be with any more bloodshed. It would be with peace. This was Gabriel’s peace offering – a curse-free existence.

  When it was over, the Angel’s dropped to their knees breathing heavy and blinking hard. “What did you do?” One of them asked.

  “You are no longer cursed. I took it back. I took it all back.” Gabriel spun around to face Michael again. “I won’t even shove a curse into you, sire. You’re damned enough as it is.” Then he looked over at Raphael with an apologetic frown, “I cannot lift yours, brother.” That didn’t mean he hadn’t tried. But whatever Raphael was now, damned wasn’t it.

  Cassian, Jude, and Nikolai held Raphael back and the Angel looked unlike anything any of them had ever seen before. It made Gabriel sick to see a once proud warrior turn into a vicious animal.

  On that note, he swung his gaze back to Lucifer. “What do we do with him?”

  He had a feeling he wasn’t going to like Lucifer’s answer.

  Chapter 60

  It took a lot of self-control for Lucifer to not tear Michael apart, one pound of flesh at a time. He wanted to force that bastard to undo the magic that made Raphael into the thing standing before all of them. To see the struggle in Raphael’s eyes killed something in Lucifer.

  He had a feeling it was his conscience.

  And in an effort to regain some of his compassion back before he turned into an absolute monster, Luce closed his eyes and prayed for guidance.

  “What do we do with him?” Gabriel’s question echoed in Lucifer’s head.

  “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” The black fires rose and spread into a circle, enclosing the dead, the damned, and the survivors.

  Michael wasn’t putting up a fight at all. It made Lucifer uneasy. Surely the sack of shit would want to at least try to fight his fate. Then again, what would be the point? If this was how it was fated to end, Michael was given fair and ample warning that Lucifer was coming for him.

  Raphael dropped to his knees. His limbs shaking as he struggled to gain control of his powers. “Help,” he grunted.

  A light bright enough to pull Lucifer’s gaze away from the tormented Angel flashed from the sky. “Mother. Fucker.”

  Lazarus landed with the grace of a giant swan. His glittery wings reflected a blinding light and several Angels had to shield their eyes from the glare. Laz took one look around and his jaw clenched. “Such a waste,” he grumbled. “Worse than I ever dreamed of.”

  He stalked over to Michael and grabbed the bastard by the throat, tipping his head back so he was forced to look Lazarus in the eyes. “Today is not your day.” He let go of the Angel and turned to face the others. “You have a choice, brothers. Think long and hard before you commit, we shall return.” Lazarus turned his full attention to Lucifer, “What will you do with him?”

  “I want him to suffer as he has made all of us suffer.” Lucifer didn’t have to think about that answer. It’s all he ever dreamed of.

  “You don’t wish to kill him?”

  “Death will only ease his conscience.” Lucifer tightened his hold on Michael. “I will give him what I wished others would have given me…”

  Lucifer wanted Michael to suffer, but he also wanted to show him mercy – that was the one thing Michael never gave to any of them.

  “I do not wish to lead you,” Lucifer’s voice rose to a booming level. He knew what he must look like right now – a frightening version of Divinity. “I only wish to save who I can from the evils of this world.”

  “The Evil is you!” one Angel spurted. “Look at you!”

  Lucifer ignored the sting in his heart. “Yes. Look at me.” He shoved Michael forward, disappointed in how easy he was to push around. “I stand before you, an Angel of Mercy. I stand here, with true evil in my hands. I stand before you, not as an Angel who wishes to lead you… but as an Angel who only wishes to be seen as your equal.”

  Several scoffed at that. Others, crossed their arms with their brows furrowed.

  “I may be the fated Dark Angel to take Michael down, but that doesn’t mean I would destroy the brotherhood.” His gaze swept across the courtyard, “You did that all on your own.”

  His heart pounded fast and furious in his chest. The wound in his side was finally starting to close and it was a little easier for him to breathe – no thanks to the fire circle he’d set in an effort to heal not just himself, but every other angel there, regardless of what side they were on. All they had to do was accept his flames instead of treat them like they were toxic.

  “Look around you. See what your wrath, your hate, your fear has done.” He pressed his chest flush against Michael’s back. One arm around Michael’s chest, the other clutching his head, Lucifer slowly rotated him around to see the damage. “Who is the evil one here, Michael?”

  The Angel gave no response.

  “What will you do with him?” Lazarus asked.

  “I want him locked away,” Lucifer allowed his wings to relax slightly. “I want him permanently caged with nothing but the memories of his actions.”

  “Big mistake,” Gabriel growled. “Kill him.”

  “Death is too merciful.” And they were told he was impossible to kill anyway. To try and find a way was a waste of precious time and energy.

  “A vote?” Uriel interjected. “He ruined us all in some way, we should all have a say in his fate.”

  “I vote kill him,” Gabriel turned to look around. “Who is with me?”

  “No,” Lucifer said. “His fate is mine to decide.” And Lucifer’s mind was made up. He looked over at Lazarus and nodded, “Where do I take him?”

  Lazarus knew this moment would come. As the Angel of All Knowledge, the Golden-winged lunatic probably had something in place already.

  “There is a bigger picture here we need to see,” Laz said cautiously. “Michael is but one being. There is an entire universe to take care of and contain properly.”
<
br />   “First, Michael,” Lucifer needed this to be over with. His head was starting to get clouded with second guesses and worries that he didn’t want to give energy to. His first instinct said to lock him up and show mercy. “I need to be done with this,” he practically pleaded. “I must be done with this.”

  Or he would never be able to live without regret.

  To kill Michael would be what everyone expected Lucifer to do. He was a beast. A nightmare. If he attempted to kill Michael, he’d only prove them all right because Lucifer doubted he’d ever stop swinging once he threw the first punch. The idea of turning Michael into pulverized meat was a temptation too great to give into. No… Lucifer needed to be better than that.

  “Very well,” Lazarus looked over a huge fissure in the earth. “Where would you like him?”

  “Some place dark,” Lucifer purred, “someplace cold and unbearable. Someplace where no light truly shines and he has to suffer the rank stench of his own piss and shit.”

  That was, after all, what Michael had done to Lucifer, right? It seemed fitting he should have the same in return. Lucifer glowered at what was left of the structures in the Brotherhood. The place was in ruins.

  “This land is damned,” Lucifer spread his wings. “Feel the earth’s pain here. Feel the energy bite and sting.”

  All this was true. Like forces beyond any of their control started to swarm, everything about this place turned vile and rotten. “We all must leave and never return.”

  Dragging Michael along, Lucifer marched over to where Michael’s private chambers were located. Lazarus followed him. “Raphael,” Lucifer barked, “The choice is yours…. Brother.” He swallowed the lump in his throat, because he hated that some Angels made disgusted noises at that.

  Escorted by Jude, Nikolai, and Cassian, Raphael kept his head held high, “I’m so sorry,” he said while walking through the throng of survivors. “I would have never wished any of this upon you, brothers.”