“I think what Raphael said is right,” Gabriel said.
“About acting instead of reacting?”
“Aye.”
“Wisdom comes from the strangest of places,” Michael mused. “I would not have thought that Israfel would have thought of such a thing.”
“I think we sometimes forget that he saw most of what went down back then. They did have music in Eden, after all.” Gabriel’s smile grew.
“You are right.” Michael gave Gabriel a brief, soft kiss. “So what do you think we should do?”
“I think we should find out where Semjaza is, first off. Then pick a good, defensible spot, and I’ll go and pretend to be all alone.” Gabriel chuckled. “Alone with Remi, but without the rest of our Brotherhood and without Shateiel or my Seraphim.”
Michael nodded. “And we will conceal ourselves so he is unaware that we are close by.”
“Aye.” Gabriel considered his options for a moment. “Maybe we should have Ish and the boys with us too.”
Michael raised an eyebrow in eloquent query.
“Well, he wants ’em back, yeah? So it’d be a perfect opportunity for him. Take care of Remi, take care of me, and get his wife and kids. He’d see it as a prime chance.”
Michael frowned as he turned that over in his head. Gabriel could almost see the cogs and gears turning.
“As you say.” Michael sounded resigned. “At the conclusion of this, however, you and I are taking a month to be alone on our island.”
“That’s a bloody good idea.” Gabriel kissed Michael’s forehead. “We ain’t really had the chance to properly explore our bond, yet.”
“I had thought the same thing. I confess that I am irked at the timing of all this.” Michael nuzzled Gabriel’s cheek. “We are so newly bonded, I wished to spend more time alone with you celebrating it. Not chasing after Semjaza and his ego.”
Gabriel laughed loudly at that. “Aye, and his ego’s bigger than all of Europe.”
“Yes.” Michael pulled back and smiled at Gabriel. “What shall we do first?”
“Get Raziel to find Semjaza?”
“All right.” Michael nodded.
“And then we finish this.” Gabriel nodded in emphasis.
“It will be nice to have it over with,” Michael mused. “Long have the Grigori and their leader been on the edges of our minds.”
“Aye.” Gabriel ran his hands down Michael’s back.
“Mm, Gabriel, what are you doing?”
“I am touching you, Mishka,” Gabriel said, laughter in his voice.
“I see.” “That okay?” “Yes, you may continue.”
“Thanks, you’re ever so kind.” Gabriel chuckled as he leaned in and kissed Michael again, soft and slow.
Michael pressed close to him once more, and the kiss deepened as they stood together on the shore, the moon and stars shining their dim light down on them. In the distance, there was a rumble of thunder, and the wind coming off the sea picked up, growing stronger and colder.
“Maybe we should go indoors,” Gabriel murmured between kisses. “I don’t want you to get a cold or anything.”
“I was about to say the same of you.”
“I don’t get sick, though,” Gabriel protested. “You do. You use so much of your power with Venatores, protecting their locations, their safe houses, you’re spread a little more thin than me. So you get sick more easily.”
“How did you come to that conclusion?” Michael asked, looking confused.
“I used my giant Archangel brain.” Gabriel grinned broadly.
“I fear your giant Archangel brain is wrong this time, however.” A smile tugged at the corner of Michael’s lips as he spoke.
Gabriel feigned an expression of shock. “Nonsense!”
“I fear that you are, on occasion, wrong.” Michael grinned. “Very rare occasions.”
“Well, so long as they’re rare.” Gabriel hugged Michael close against him.
After several minutes, Michael pulled out of the hug and took Gabriel’s hand in his. “Let us go back to the cottage,” he suggested.
“Aye, okay.” Gabriel pulled his cigarettes out of his pocket and lit one. “So,” he said around the cigarette, “are the locals okay with us hiding out here?”
“They have been very kind,” Michael said. “The cottage we are all staying in is apparently a bed-and-breakfast during the summer months. That is why it is so large. The monks are overwhelmed to have us here, and Israfel has been spending every moment with them that he is not with Raphael. They are enjoying a lot of time spent in song.”
“I ain’t surprised, really. Israfel can make music happen anywhere.” Gabriel grinned. “So you’re okay with him being Raphael’s boyfriend now, then?”
Michael nodded. “Yes. I do not see the attraction, but if Raphael and Israfel are happy, that is what is important.”
“Aye.” Gabriel led the way up the path from the sand to the street of the village. “Has Ish said anything to you about Hiwa?”
“No. Should she?”
“I don’t know.” Gabriel took a long drag of his cigarette. “She’s not stupid. She’s probably realized that his tattoos ain’t just ’cause he’s got a fetish.”
“Why would someone have a tattoo fetish?” Michael sounded bewildered.
Gabriel bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. “Different strokes for different folks, as the saying goes.”
“Perhaps.” Michael shook his head. “Humans are odd. Likable but odd.”
“Oh aye, ain’t no arguing there.” Gabriel did laugh then, shaking his head in amusement. “I reckon they’ll always confuse me.”
“Less so than they do me.” Michael led the way toward the cottage. “You are more accustomed to their foibles and quirks than I.”
“And yet. You live in a building with a whole bunch of them.”
“Not as much now that I have you.” Michael ducked his head, looking away. “Now that we are together, I spend the majority of my time with you on our island.”
Gabriel gave him a one-armed hug. “Fuck, I love you.”
“Language. I love you also.” Michael hugged Gabriel back, then opened the front door of the cottage. “Do you think we will be able to get a few moments alone?”
“We can try.” Gabriel reached out with his power. “The others are in the kitchen and living room. If we make a run for it, we can get up the stairs right fast.”
“As you say.” Michael broke into a jog, running up the stairs toward the bedrooms, having taken Gabriel’s suggestion very literally.
Gabriel closed the front door quietly, biting his lip to keep from laughing too loudly. Then he went up the stairs and followed Michael into the bedroom they shared. After closing the door behind him, Gabriel sat down on the bed beside his lover.
“You are so very fuckin’ adorable,” he said, laughing softly. “So adorable.”
“I am not, and language.” Michael frowned for a moment, then ruffled Gabriel’s hair.
Gabriel reached up to fix his hair, then tugged Michael in for a kiss. “I say you are, so you are.”
“There would be little point in arguing, I suppose,” Michael said.
“Nope.” Gabriel grinned, lying back on the bed, holding Michael on top of him. “It’s your cross to bear.”
“I find that I can endure.” Michael wriggled a little to get comfortable, then rested his head on Gabriel’s chest. “Gabriel?”
“Aye?”
“Are you happy?”
“Apart from this Semjaza business, aye, I am. Are you?”
“I am very happy.” Michael ran a hand up and down Gabriel’s arm. “You make me happy, da bao. And you being happy is also what makes me happy.”
“You’re such a romantic,” Gabriel murmured, kissing the top of Michael’s head.
“You are my muse,” Michael said.
“Oh aye? A big, muscley, sweary, cranky muse with a bloody big sword?”
“There is more to
you than that,” Michael chided. “You are kind and honest. You are compassionate and friendly to all. You see the good in everything as well as the bad. You are intelligent and witty. You are very handsome,” he added, his voice turning shy, “and you frequently make me feel wonderful in the bedroom.”
Gabriel made an “aww” noise. “I know you hate the word, but you really are adorable. You see me with rose-colored glasses, but that’s totally okay, ’cause I don’t want you to take ’em off and run away from me.”
“I would not run away from you.” Michael pushed himself up on one arm, looking down at Gabriel with a very serious expression on his face. His voice was earnest and full of sincerity, and Gabriel chuckled and pulled Michael down for a kiss.
“I know. I were just teasing you a little. That’s all.”
“Oh. That is all right, then.”
Gabriel smiled into the kiss and ended it. “Plus, you always make me feel better when I’m angry or brooding or something like that. There ain’t many beings who’ve been able to do that over the forever that we’ve lived.”
“I see.” Michael smiled. “It is no hardship on my part.”
“And I’m well glad of that.” Gabriel tugged Michael down for another kiss.
Chapter Nine
RAZIEL followed Uriel as his lover stormed out of the pub and headed inland, away from the village and the sea. The wind was harsher up here on the hillocks and mounds of inland Iona, and the grass whipped back and forth sharply. Raziel had to break into a run to catch up with Uriel.
“Uri. Hey, hey, Uri, wait!”
Uriel snarled something unintelligible and kept walking. Raziel sighed and trotted alongside him.
Before long, all signs of civilization had fallen away, and there was nothing but gorse, heather, and patches of trees. In the distance, Raziel could see rocky outcroppings and hear the almost constant pounding of the sea against the island. Gulls flew overhead, calling raucously to each other, and the sky was darkening as evening fell rapidly.
Finally, Uriel stopped walking. Raziel waited, biting his lower lip to see if Uriel would explode in a rage or if he would take wing and fly up into the clouds above them.
Uriel did neither. He turned to face Raziel, his expression contorted by a conflict of emotions: anger, confusion, and a little hurt.
“Why,” Uriel began, his voice soft, “why didn’t you tell me, Raziel?”
Raziel blinked. “About which, specifically?”
“The Grigori. The Nephilim.”
“Oh. That.” Raziel took a deep breath. “Because I was scared you’d rush off with your sword drawn and get into trouble,” he admitted. “And also because I haven’t been back long, and hunting down Ahijah took quite a while. I was summoned to talk to Penemuel while we were looking for Ahijah. So it wasn’t like I was purposefully keeping it from you. It was mostly a case of not having a window of opportunity to tell you between my return to Iona and the meeting in the pub.”
Uriel was silent for a long while, gazing out over the wind-tossed grass. When he broke the silence, it was nearly full dark.
“I know it’s not your fault,” he began, “and I know you would have told me if we hadn’t been apart or if we’d had a moment between you getting back here and that meeting. I don’t like this whole business, Razzy. I don’t like how this century is turning out. It’s been war, demons, dealing with fucking Archdemons, kidnappings of our own kind, and now this. Semjaza, Azazel, Penemuel, Kokabiel, and Baraqiel. Five Grigori at once, and if that isn’t enough to digest, there’s a dozen Nephilim wandering around, probably being hidden by Ahijah, Ishtahar’s kid.”
Raziel reached out and took Uriel’s hand. He gave it a gentle squeeze. “Are you angry because you’re feeling impotent?”
Uriel frowned. “I am not impotent! I am a damn sex legend—you said so!”
Raziel silently berated himself for his choice of words. “No, no, no, that’s not what I meant. I mean, yes, you are a sex legend and legendarily sexy, too, but right now, are you feeling angry and frustrated because you can’t do anything that you would normally do, like go out and smite someone? That sort of impotent.”
“Oh.” Uriel frowned as he mulled that over. “Yeah, I am. But you better not be humoring me about being a sex legend.”
“I am totally and completely serious that you are a sex legend, babe,” Raziel said, schooling his expression to one of earnest sincerity. “I am often bowled over by your bedroom prowess.”
“Okay, that was a bit much,” Uriel said, raising his free hand. He laughed, then shook his head and pulled Raziel into a hug. “It was a good sentence, but your delivery was off.”
Raziel laughed and hugged Uriel back. “I didn’t know quite how to phrase it, to be honest. I mean, you’re fantastic in bed. Sex with you is great. What else do I need to say?”
“That I give great head?”
Raziel nodded. “Yes, dear, you give great head. In fact, that 1980s song about the subject was truly written about you.”
Uriel snorted. “You’re ridiculous.”
“You love it.”
“Yeah, I do.”
Raziel hummed contentedly. “So, you’re not pissy?”
“I am pissy, yes,” Uriel said, kissing Raziel’s cheek, “but I can’t do anything about it, so there’s no real point in fixating over it.”
“You know, too, that God would probably be displeased if you did chop all the Nephilim’s heads off,” Raziel pointed out.
“Fuck, I forgot about that.” Uriel sighed. “I don’t want God to be angry at me. Ever.”
“You’re such a good boy, Uri,” Raziel teased.
“Oh really?” Uriel lifted Raziel up, hefting him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “Still think I’m a good boy?”
“Uri! Put me down!” Raziel protested, laughing.
Uriel patted Raziel’s ass. “In good time, baby.”
“If you’re trying to do the whole carrying me off to your lair to ravish me thing, generally, it helps if you have a lair wherein to perform said ravishing,” Raziel said.
“Hush. There’s a cave not far away. How about cave sex?”
“How about you stop talking and start moving? All the blood’s rushing to my head, and I’m feeling dizzy.” Raziel squirmed in Uriel’s grip.
“Stop whining,” Uriel said, and teleported to the nearby cave. He set Raziel down on his feet, and Raziel stumbled as he felt the blood rush down from his head.
“Whoa, trippy,” Raziel said, resting a hand on the wall of the cave. “Just give me a moment, He-Man.”
“You must be getting old.” Uriel laughed.
“You try being lugged around upside down for a while and see how you like it,” Raziel retorted.
“Oh please, like that would—mphf!”
Uriel was cut off as Raziel lunged for him and kissed him hard. The momentum of Raziel’s lunge pushed Uriel back against the wall of the cave, and Raziel used his advantage to press a thigh against Uriel’s groin and rub.
He was rewarded with a low, ragged moan and Uriel clutching at his shoulders, pulling him closer, kissing him harder. Raziel smirked to himself as he used his power to get them naked, and, in a burst of sudden fiendishness, Raziel decided not to create a barrier between Uriel’s bare back and the rough stone of the cave wall.
“Razzy,” Uriel gasped as Raziel ended the kiss and bit at his neck. “Oh fuck, Raziel!”
“Getting there, babe,” Raziel purred as he palmed Uriel’s cock. “Arms up.”
Uriel obeyed, whimpering, gripping the wall of the cave, and Raziel slid his hands down Uriel’s body to his thighs, pushing his legs apart and pressing closer.
“Fuck but I love it when you’re all hot for me like this,” Raziel murmured, nipping at the curve of Uriel’s neck and shoulder. Uriel cried out as Raziel dug his fingers into his hips and with power and muscle strength, Raziel lifted his lover’s thighs so that Uriel’s legs wrapped around his hips.
“Want m
e?” Raziel purred, hands sliding over Uriel’s chest.
“Fuck yes!”
“How much?” Raziel pinched one of Uriel’s nipples, and Uriel yelled, arching toward Raziel’s hands. “M-more than... I can’t... fuck, a whole fucking lot. Raziel. Raziel!”
Raziel grinned to himself, sliding a hand down to stroke Uriel’s cock as he slicked his own with his power.
“Beg me,” he said, pressing closer, his cock nudging against Uriel’s ass.
“Raziel, Raziel, please,” Uriel moaned, arching wantonly toward Raziel. “Please, for the love of everything, fuck me. Fuck me, now, please!”
“Mm, good boy.” Raziel shifted a little and slowly pressed into Uriel’s body. They both cried out as Raziel thrust inside, and when he was buried balls to ass in tight heat, Raziel had to pause for a moment to get himself under control. It wouldn’t do to come a heartbeat after penetration, after all. At least, not today.
“Raziel,” Uriel said again, his voice rough with lust and emotion.
“Fuck, Uri,” Raziel panted as he started to thrust. “I’m not going to last long, you bastard.”
“What are you—oh fuck, yes, don’t stop—why am I a bastard?”
“Because you’re too fucking sexy,” Raziel growled, fucking Uriel hard and fast, stroking his lover’s cock in time.
“Yeah, well, that’s a gift.”
Raziel bit Uriel’s shoulder, and Uriel yelled, clenching down on Raziel’s cock.
“Fucking... stop that,” Raziel gasped.
“Then fuck me already,” Uriel retorted.
Raziel laughed breathlessly and continued to fuck Uriel, biting at his shoulder, his chest, his neck, eliciting more of those ragged, lustful cries each time his teeth sank into pale skin or his cock thrust deep into Uriel’s body. As predicted, it didn’t take Raziel long, and he was coming hard, yelling Uriel’s name as he pressed him into the rock.
Uriel lowered one of his arms, his fingers tangling in Raziel’s hair as he arched again and came over Raziel’s hand, moments after Raziel’s own release. Panting, they leaned into the wall, coming down from the high of their climaxes.
Raziel slowly pulled out of Uriel’s body and helped him stand on his own two feet. “Okay there?”
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