by Meg Collett
After she found the keys she left the room, closing the door quietly behind her. Ophaniel and Iris were asleep on the pallet in the kitchen. Michaela crept by them, careful not to make the floorboards squeak.
Outside, Gabriel, Raphael, and Simiel stood in a huddle on the far side of the charred clearing. The moon was a little brighter tonight behind the souls, giving off a filmy kind of glow. The angels stopped talking as Michaela approached. “Where’s Uriel and Zarachiel?” she asked.
“They went to the rock cliff. I think she’s trying to convince him,” Raphael said. He sounded like he had no clue why Zarachiel would refuse help. Simiel looked just as confused, but Gabriel watched her carefully, his eyes saying he understood far too much.
“Michaela,” Gabriel said. “We’ve been talking, and we want to keep fighting.”
Michaela knew he wanted to find any way to keep her alive. He’d do anything. “You want to let the fallen use their bone swords?” she asked, knowing the answer already.
“It’s only right,” Raphael answered instead. “It’s the only way to have a fair fight.”
“Is it fair, though?” Michaela asked. “Those angels are following orders. They’re scared and confused. We can’t kill them. They’ve done nothing wrong.”
“Trust me, Michaela,” Simiel said. “They are not scared and confused. They want us dead.”
Michaela shook her head. “We can keep fighting, but please, not the swords.”
Raphael and Simiel pressed their lips together. She could tell they hated it, but they nodded their heads in tense agreement. Michaela hugged each of them. Raphael patted her awkwardly on the back.
She stepped back and looked at Gabriel. “I want to go for a ride,” she said. His brow furrowed in confusion. “In Clark’s car. It was always so relaxing before.”
Gabriel nodded. They left Raphael and Simiel behind as they threaded through the woods, hand in hand. Gabriel was tense and upset. She sensed that he wanted to ask her what she’d decided about her wings, but he couldn’t find the words. She made it easy for him.
“I’m not doing it,” she said. Gabriel’s responded with tense silence. “I may need my wings to return to Heaven, but I don’t need them to go home. You’re my home now, and I’m perfectly fine here without them.”
It was a half-truth, but it made Gabriel relax. He wrapped his arm around her waist and tucked her beneath his arm. “Are you sure that’s what you want?”
“It feels awful, and it takes my breath every time I think about it, which means it’s probably the right decision. Aren’t those always the hardest?”
“Our entire existence has been hard,” Gabriel said.
Michaela shrugged. “I’m starting to get used to it.”
“You won’t be saying that in a few minutes.”
Michaela’s mouth dropped open in shock, and the back of her neck burned. “Gabe!” she exclaimed, swatting his arm. “You’re dirty.” She laughed at Gabriel’s satisfied smirk.
The tension between them eased, and Michaela felt like everything was finally getting back to normal. They walked in peaceful silence. It didn’t take them long to reach Clark’s car where he’d carefully concealed it in the undergrowth.
“So, are we doing something illegal?” Gabriel asked, grinning crookedly at her. “Are you trying to corrupt me?”
Michaela laughed as she rounded the hood, clearing away the branches. She unlocked the door. “I think it’s pretty clear you’re already the bad one.” She opened the door and got in. “Besides, he said I could.”
Gabriel settled into the seat next to her, tightly tucking his wings against the car’s seat. “I doubt that.”
The car roared to life, the steering wheel vibrating beneath her hands. “I’m serious!”
“You wouldn’t lie to me, would you?”
Michaela glanced at Gabriel. His previous playfulness was gone. This was a serious question and not at all about Clark’s car. Checking both directions, she pulled out, bumping up onto the deserted service road’s shoulder.
Her silence was an admission of guilt, but she wouldn’t lie to him now and deny it. They both knew she had a plan. Gabriel accepted her lack of an answer as he watched the darkening woods pass them by. Michaela drove without headlights, weaving through the park’s back roads, which were narrow and twisting. The radio was a hopeless jumble of static and emergency warnings. She was about to give up when she found an old rock station. A man’s crooning voice filled the car, and Michaela relaxed and let herself enjoy the ride.
She didn’t know how long they drove, but she kept an eye on the gas tank. She didn’t want to use too much. Eventually, she found a spot to turn around. Once she faced the other way, she paused, letting the car roll to a stop before she lifted the emergency brake and turned down the music.
The engine was loud, and the night was pressing in around them. Gabriel hadn’t said a word the entire trip. Michaela looked at him now. “Gabe, you know I love you. I’d never want to lie to you. But I have to do something you won’t like, and I can’t tell you what it is because you’ll try to stop me.”
Gabriel didn’t look back at her. Instead, he watched the road in front of them. “Maybe I’ll stop you anyway.”
Michaela sighed. “Can you just trust that while you may hate what I have to do, it’s the best thing?”
Finally, Gabriel looked at her, his eyes burning into her skin. “No, Michaela. ‘Hate’ isn’t the right word to describe how I feel about these ideas I know are forming in your head. I hated Lucifer. I hate Abel. I hate riding in cars. So, no, 'hate' isn’t even close.”
Michaela sighed. He wasn’t giving in. “Will you at least let me go when the time comes?”
Gabriel’s nostrils flared. His hand snaked out and locked over Michaela’s wrist. “Absolutely not. I will never let you go. Remember that when you do this thing you can’t tell me about. I will be coming for you, and I’ll get to you no matter what.”
“Gabe, I—”
Gabriel pulled her across the console, lifting her into his lap so that she was sitting sideways with her legs still in the driver’s seat. Her head pressed against the ceiling as she looked down at him, her eyes wide. He dove in, kissing and nibbling the side of her neck. He ripped her jacket over her shoulders, mercilessly wrenching her arms back. The sound of fabric tearing filled the car as he jerked her shirt open.
The chill from the window pressed against her back, but the heat coming off of Gabriel’s wings warmed her front. She shivered as Gabriel’s hand found her breast. He rolled her nipple through his fingers, squeezing until she gasped. His other hand snaked through her hair and yanked until her neck craned back, brushing the glass behind her. Gabriel devoured her skin, marking her with his kisses.
His hardness pressed against her bottom as he pulled her tight against him. His hands were all over, touching every inch of her. He pressed his hand between her legs and cupped her through her jeans.
“Are you ready for me, Michaela?” Gabriel growled right into her ear. She was trembling, her legs spreading for his hand. She nodded quickly. “Are you lying?” he asked, the words hot against her ear.
“No,” she breathed.
“I hope you’re not, because this is going to be rough. I’m going to make you sore.” His words sliced open her stomach, filling it with a searing, fluttering sensation. The pressure was building inside her. She rocked against him to relieve the tension, moaning at the friction caused by her jeans. “I’m going to make you ache, so that when you do this thing you won’t tell me about, you’ll remember me and what I’m about to do to you.”
Gabriel popped open the button on her jeans and ripped the zipper down. He pulled them halfway down her hips and left them there. The material was unrelenting and kept her legs squeezed tightly together. She squirmed, trying to move the denim down.
“Don’t move,” he commanded, his voice rough.
He bucked up his hips and undid his own pants. Michaela wrapped her arm aro
und the headrest behind Gabriel as she fought to position her legs in the driver’s seat. Gabriel didn’t let her find her purchase.
He lifted her hips and guided her over him. She knew what he was about to do. Her breathing was shallow as he worked himself over her, teasing her and making her insides pulse.
“Gabe,” she moaned. “I think you’re too big for it this way.”
“Exactly,” Gabriel purred in her ear as he slammed her down his length.
Her head hit the glass, her cry silent. Gabriel took her breast in his mouth as he moved beneath her. Every stroke made her groan as she clung to the headrest. He felt impossible inside her, filling her and expanding her. She was tight around him, even tighter in her sideways position.
It was wild and reckless, but it was better than it had ever been. Michaela held on as her body erupted over and over. When he was close, he lifted her hips and slammed her down one last time. His chest went rigid, and he threw his head back. She felt the hotness from him filling her up and smiled.
Gabriel looked up and saw her wicked grin. She was sweaty and flushed, her hair in disarray. Her breasts had his teeth marks all over them, and her lips were bruised. He smirked at her and slapped her bare ass.
She gasped, squinting her eyes at him. “It’s my turn to be rough next time.”
“Oh, please, anything but that!”
Michaela rolled her eyes at Gabriel before she pulled herself off of him. The zipper and button of her jeans were ruined as was her shredded shirt. Gabriel already had his jeans back up and on when she shot him a glare.
“How am I supposed to walk back inside the cabin like this?” She motioned to her ruined shirt that left her breasts exposed and her jeans hanging low and revealing on her hips.
Gabriel leaned back in his seat with a lazy grin. “You’ll have a lot less than that when I’m finished.”
“We are finished.” Michaela rolled her eyes at him like it was obvious. The car was still running as she released the emergency brake. She shifted it into first and pulled away, already feeling the soreness between her legs Gabriel had promised.
“No. That was us just getting started.”
29
Gabriel kept his promise. By morning, Michaela’s body was limp and languid in the back seat of Clark’s car. She could only imagine Clark’s horror if he knew what had happened back there. She was smiling at the thought when a tap on the window made her flinch in surprise.
But it was only Gabriel, peering in with a satisfied grin on his face. “I would give you these.” He held up a set of new clothes for her. “But you look too sexy laying naked back here.”
Michaela tried to scowl as she sat up, exposing herself to him while she rolled the window down. His eyes darkened knowingly as she reached for the clothes with one hand and covered herself up with the other. “No more!” She laughed. “Hand me the clothes.”
Gabriel passed the clothes through the window. “I’m pretty sure you begged me for it the last time.”
Michaela lifted her hips and pulled on her new set of jeans Gabriel had brought her. He was right; she had begged him for it last time and the time before that and before that. It had been a long night full of love and desire. She ached with it between her legs, but it was perfect and memorable. If this was the day, Michaela thought, thinking of the vision, it was a good day to end on.
Tugging the AC/DC shirt over her head, she asked, “So no one saw you get these clothes?”
“Oh, no,” Gabriel said, picking at his fingernails. “Everyone is up. Clark was already drinking, but he managed to stumble around and find some extra clothes for you.”
“Gabe!” she accused, laughing for a second before she turned serious. “But why was he drinking?”
“Why does he ever drink?” Gabriel shrugged. Michaela moaned, pulling on her jacket and her boots. Today was not the day for Clark to be wasted. She needed him to execute his part of the plan. She emerged from the car and into the icy morning air.
“Ready?”
One word. It took one word to separate their amazing night from what would come today. With that word, Gabriel drained the playfulness from the air and stifled it with apprehension. Her joking lover was gone, replaced by the General of the fallen angels. Maybe they’d let themselves forget last night, but today they were at war. The night was gone now, today would be another battle, but it would be the last battle. Michaela kept this part to herself.
She dragged a hand through her hair. “Let’s go.”
They trudged back through the woods, careful to step on bare spots of ground. Michaela led the way as Gabriel cleaned up their tracks leading into the cabin. When she reached the burnt edge of the clearing, tension built in her body. Today she would lie and deceive Gabriel. Today she might die.
Stop being so dramatic, she told herself. Maybe today wasn’t the day. It could be like any other day. She looked across the clearing and sighed.
“Today is not going to be like any other day,” she said.
When Gabriel looked at her questioningly, Michaela pointed to the side of the cabin. Clark lay on his back making a snow angel on the ground. Except it wasn’t snow. It was soot. He was making a sooty angel in the ground he’d fried hybrids with.
He sat up when they approached, his body swaying. Next to him was a half-empty handle of Jack Daniels. “Hey! Guess what?” he slurred.
“What?” Michaela asked. She offered him a hand and pulled him up. He swayed some more.
“I’m drunk.”
Michaela rolled her eyes. “I thought you were fixing Camille’s wings today?” She said the words meaningfully to emphasize her point. Clark was supposed to wait until right before the angels were leaving for today’s battle before he repaired Camille. It was a very important part of her plan.
A heaviness settled in Clark’s eyes. Apparently, Michaela had ended his fun like Gabriel had ended hers. He clenched his jaw, looking much more sober. “Will there be a battle today?”
“As soon as everyone is ready,” Gabriel said.
Clark met Michaela’s gaze, his eyes full of hurt. “Then I’ll wait until things settle down afterwards to mend her wings,” Clark said, lying to Gabriel.
In that moment, she regretted telling him. He’d lost too much to bear the weight of her plan. She’d thought he would be her best option to tell Gabriel and the others her revised plan after it was already over, but now she wished she’d told Iris or Zarachiel instead.
“That’s a good idea,” Michaela said. Her eyes fell to the angel Clark had made in the soot. The wings were full and perfectly shaped. For some reason, it made her want to cry.
Gabriel had been silent through their exchange, his face hard and unreadable. He walked away, calling over his shoulder, “I’m going to prepare the others.”
Once he was inside, Clark reached down and picked up the bottle of whiskey. He offered it to her. “You might want a few drinks.”
Michaela unscrewed the cap and took a long swallow. She didn’t feel the burn of the amber liquid like she normally did. Instead, her body was a hollow shell, an empty husk.
She’d sacrifice it all today for a home she didn’t belong to anymore.
30
When Gabriel said he wasn’t letting Michaela go, he’d meant it. He didn’t even bother putting his armor on. Today, he wouldn’t be fighting. He watched the preparations for the day’s battle with a grim face, his hand clutching Michaela’s.
Gabriel told the fallen not to bring their bone-laced weapons, but his commands had been halfhearted at best. He didn’t share Michaela’s views of mercy. How could he ask his soldiers to not arm themselves with the most lethal weapon they had when the enemy wasn’t fighting fair?
When everyone was ready, Gabriel gave the signal to his fallen. They answered with their high-pitched calls that cascaded around the cabin. Once he was certain everyone was prepared, he lifted into the sky, tucking Michaela against him.
She didn’t say a word or ask where he was
taking her. No matter what her plan, Gabriel would be there when she tried to pull it off. He wouldn’t keep her from fighting her battle, but she wasn’t going to get herself killed in the process. He drew the line there.
The other Archangels led the fallen up into the sky, climbing the miles up to the battlefield. Instead of following them, Gabriel skimmed the tree tops, following their trajectory to the place beneath where the fight would take place.
Raphael led the fallen today. He’d fought side by side with them each battle, and Gabriel knew his fallen angels would listen and obey the Archangel, because he’d asked them to. They respected good soldiers, and Raphael was one of the best.
He sat Michaela on the ground when they reached the spot. His visibility was limited, but Gabriel would be available should something important happen like the fallen breaking through the holy angels’ ranks and into Heaven.
Michaela regarded him quietly for a moment. He felt her eyes on him like a thousand tiny suns. He needed her warmth and her light to live. No matter what he had to do, she would not be dying today.
“You can’t stop me, you know,” Michaela said softly, like she’d sensed his thoughts. They may not be linked telepathically anymore, but she knew every flicker of emotion that passed over his face.
He gritted his teeth and focused on the sky. She was wrong; he would stop her. He would keep her safe. Nothing else would be possible.
“I can’t let the fighting start, Gabe. I can’t risk someone dying,” Michaela whispered.
Gabriel whirled around, the anger a tight fist in his gut. It tightened his throat and pounded inside his head. Earlier that morning, he’d told himself to stay calm no matter what, but Michaela was carelessly tossing away her life. “It’s a war, Michaela. Angels will die.”
She shook her head sadly, like she couldn’t make him understand. Regret filled her eyes, and that worried him the most. “That’s not how we fight. Who will run this world and protect these people if we kill each other off? Are we not better guardians than that?”