“Welcome.” Gabriel took a bite of his apple, chewed, and swallowed. “Summer doesn’t want to let up,” he said.
“Pardon?”
“Outside. It’s nearly time for winter, but the summer’s refusing to go. Not that I’m complaining, ’cause I ain’t. Sun, surf, sand—best things about living here.”
Michael smiled. “I see. It is very lovely here, no matter what the weather is.”
“Aye.” Gabriel took another bite of his apple. “Have the Venatores and my trackers reported in?”
“No. I do not expect them to, not until they have finished the mission.
They are very experienced, and they know what to do. It is a routine situation they are going to deal with, after al . A simple cleanup operation after a mudslide, and I am certain that there will be little in the way of danger.”
“Aye, I agree. Though you were totally fretting beforehand, so what changed your mind?”
“I was not fretting.” Michael frowned. “I do not fret.”
“Okay, you were totally panicking.”
“Gabriel. I do not panic.”
“Whatever you want to call it—what changed your mind?”
Michael opened the bottle of iced green tea and took a long drink.
Gabriel ate some more of his apple, wondering if Michael was stalling and why.
Finally, Michael sighed and answered. “I was worried. I am always worried about my Venatores. I have worried over them for centuries, since I began to use them as adjuncts to our Seraphim warriors. Frequently, they have been as children to me, adopted children to be sure, but I have loved them all and watched them as a parent might. But as with all children, they grow up and leave home and make their own way in the world. I have never liked that part of their growing up. But it is time for Angelique’s pack to do this too, and I realize this even as I dislike the reality of it. It seemed to me that it would be best to let them come into their own, so to speak, with a simple mission such as this, so that the next one is not so stressful for me to endure.”
Gabriel had finished eating his apple while Michael spoke, and he threw the core into the trash can. Then he moved to Michael, cupped his face, and kissed him. It was a sweet, gentle kiss, tender and loving, and full of understanding. When it ended, Gabriel rested his forehead against Michael’s.
“I hated that part of Mira and John’s growing up too.”
Michael touched Gabriel’s cheek. “It is always difficult to watch the mortals we love grow old.”
“And die,” Gabriel added.
Michael nodded. “As you say.”
Gabriel kissed Michael’s lips again, then kissed his cheek. “Let’s go for a run. I don’t want to talk about depressing things, particularly the mortality of our loved ones.”
“All right.” Michael smiled. “I understand.”
“Aye, I know you do. You always did.” Gabriel returned the smile.
“Even when I couldn’t say what it was that upset me, you always knew.”
“You are very kind. I merely did not want to be insensitive to your needs.”
Gabriel pulled Michael into a hug. “You never are. Even before we got together like this, you were always there for me.”
Michael hugged him tightly. “As you are always here for me, and always have been.”
Gabriel tightened his arms around his lover. “I love you, Mishka,” he whispered into Michael’s close-cropped dark hair.
“And I love you, Gabriel.”
THE SUN was setting in a beautiful display of gold and red as Michael and Gabriel returned to the sprawling beach house that was their home here on the private island of Belle Coeur. Gabriel was in a very good mood, a mood that soured the moment he reached the return veranda and heard Shateiel, his lieutenant, yelling in his head.
“I can hear you,” Gabriel grumbled, both out loud and telepathically.
“What’s up?”
Shateiel’s voice traveled effortlessly over the miles, sounding for all the world as if he were standing only a few feet away, when Gabriel was well aware he was probably in Indonesia.
“Sir, I don’t mean to bother you, but there’s a problem in Brunei Bay. A group of angry humans are trying to raise fire demons and make them do their bidding.”
Gabriel swore. “I’ll be there in ten.”
Michael gave him a hug. “Go now,” he said to Gabriel. “The sooner you settle the problem, the sooner you can come home to me.”
Gabriel wrapped his arms around Michael and kissed him hard, nipping his lower lip and making a low purring noise into Michael’s mouth as Michael melted against him, kissing him back with just as much intensity. After a few moments, Gabriel reluctantly broke the kiss and lightly brushed the back of his left hand over Michael’s flushed cheek.
“I’ll be back soon as I can.”
“I hope so,” Michael said. “I will wait for you in our bed.”
Gabriel bit his lip, made a frustrated noise, and then concentrated.
He blurred into his armor, then teleported to join Shateiel.
Shateiel was standing with his sword point at a man’s throat. The man had the wide, wild-eyed look of a fanatic, and he was shaking, not, Gabriel realized, with fear, but with rage. He clenched and unclenched his fists as he stood glaring at Shateiel, not blinking. A few feet behind him stood three more men and a woman, al four of them held in the grips of Asaf and Vel.
“What the hell?” Gabriel demanded, striding up to his lieutenant.
Before Shateiel could answer, the man twisted his head to sneer at Gabriel, and ignoring the sword point at his throat, he raised one arm and pointed an accusing finger at Gabriel, jabbing at him as if it were a spear.
“You! Filthy Archangel, you and the others of your Order, traitors to humanity and to Earth, making deals with demons and succubi and Satan himself! You brought this on us, you’ll ruin us all! You’ve made it so we’re static; humanity hasn’t done anything, hasn’t advanced beyond what technology and knowledge it had before the Seventy Years War began, and then you all made it worse! Worse! There can be no peace with Satan or his minions, none!”
Gabriel’s eyebrows shot up. He could feel them, even as he blinked a few times, then looked at Shateiel. “I seem to have gotten the wrong end of the stick about what all’s going on here.”
“Sorry, sir. I didn’t have a lot of time to elaborate. They want to raise demons so they can kill them—the demons, that is—as a sacrifice, and find a way into Hell to try to kill Lucifer Morningstar.”
“Huh. So they want to die, then?”
“We won’t die!” the man shouted, spit le flying from his lips. He was shaking so much, he was practical y vibrating, and a droplet of blood appeared at the base of his neck as Shateiel’s sword point pierced his skin. He seemed not to notice, too focused on Gabriel. “We are armed with righteousness and the good of all humanity! Demons and angels cannot work together. Heaven and Hell cannot have a truce. You’ve doomed al of us to living forever in a bubble of technology and knowledge that stops at 2012!
And now it’s 2085, and what have we to show for it, we, the people of Earth?
Nothing! Nothing except broken cities, destroyed cultures, natural disasters, and more monsters, demons, angels, and evil than was here before!”
Gabriel stared at him. He was genuinely stunned; the man’s diatribe had shocked him. It was not entirely false; things had stopped progressing when the war started, because no human being nor any Earthly government was prepared to deal with a full-blown war between angels and demons covering the surface of the planet. But the war was over now and had been for three years, and things were beginning to move again; human research into technology and knowledge and science were all beginning to renew their march onward toward further enlightenment.
“What should we do, sir?” Shateiel asked. His mental voice was colored with bewilderment. Gabriel couldn’t blame him, for he felt the same way. He honestly had no idea.
“Let me get Tz
ad,” he said. He sent his thought out, deciding to ask Raziel to join them as well.
“He said what?” Tzadkiel sounded as astonished as Gabriel explained what was going on. “But that… you do know that isn’t true, don’t you? Certainly advancement paused, but that was all it was: a pause. Now the pause button is off, and things are moving again.”
“This has been discussed quite a bit in the media,” Raziel added.
“Humans are excited about the potential and possibilities that peace is bringing. Only last week a remarkable invention was patented and released, designed to clean stagnant water without using fossil fuel and make it drinkable, thereby providing clean, fresh water to communities who were without.”
“Tell this guy that. He’s a zealot. He’s got the whole fanatical thing going on, and I’m half expecting him to start talking backward, like someone playing a Led Zeppelin record backward for shits and giggles, only this bloke’s serious. It also wouldn’t surprise me if his head started spinning like a top and he spat green pea soup at us.”
“We’ll be right there,” Tzadkiel said.
Five minutes later, he and Raziel were standing with Gabriel, Shateiel, Vel, and Asaf as the fanatic and his four companions repeated their grievances, this time much louder and with much more swearing.
“Well,” Raziel said, turning to the other angels and ignoring the shrieked ranting. “This is certainly new.”
“Aye, and I have no idea what to do about it,” Gabriel said.
“Indeed,” Raziel said.
“Can I make a suggestion?” Asaf said a little diffidently.
“Please,” Gabriel said. “’Cause I’m at my wits end here.”
“Why don’t we show these people the truth? Take them somewhere where they can see with their own eyes what’s going on?”
“Do you think they’d believe what they saw?” Gabriel asked.
Tzadkiel made a clucking noise with his tongue. “That’s a point.
They might just say that we used our powers to make them see what we wanted them to see.”
“Fuck,” Raziel said. “My suggestion is much less benevolent.”
“And it is…?” Gabriel quirked an eyebrow at him.
“Mind wipe.”
Gabriel stared at Raziel. He didn’t quite dare to bring himself to look at his other companions, certain they looked as stunned as he was.
“Excuse me,” Tzadkiel said, “but did you say mind wipe?”
“Yes.” Raziel ran his hands through his shoulder-length dark brown hair. “Shit, I don’t know. They’re total y convinced of what they’re saying.”
“Sir, if I may…. I’m not certain you could do that anyway. They’re human and still have free will,” Shateiel said.
The shouting of the five humans had grown louder and was now in Malay as well as English, and Gabriel winced. “There is that,” he agreed.
“And—” Whatever it was Tzadkiel was about to say was cut off as a group of nine police officers came rushing toward them, weapons in their hands. Eight of them went immediately to the fanatics, who began to shout insults at them and throw handfuls of sand, and the ninth made his way over to the angels.
“Forgive me, Holy Ones,” the police officer said, giving them a bow.
His English was impeccable, with only the slightest trace of an accent. “We have been chasing these five individuals all day. They’re wanted on charges of theft, murder, arson, and suspicion of drug trafficking from Thailand.”
Gabriel found himself blinking in surprise all over again. Tzadkiel, however, smiled at the police officer and returned the bow.
“Then I am glad we could be of assistance, Officer.”
“The Nation of Brunei is in your debt, Lord Archangel,” the policeman said.
“No, no, nothing is owed,” Tzadkiel replied. “We’re just glad that justice has been served. I, particularly, as the Archangel of Judgment and Trials, am glad to see that law and order are still at work.”
The policeman beamed at him. “It is our honor to serve,” he said.
“And mine to do so as well.”
“With your permission, Archangels, we will take these five into custody now.”
“Of course,” Tzadkiel said.
The policeman saluted, Tzadkiel returned it, and Gabriel looked on, bemused, as the five fanatics, still shouting and cursing, were half dragged, half led away by the Brunei police.
“Now that was a little unexpected,” Raziel said.
“You don’t bloody say!” Gabriel shook his head. “I guess we can all go home, then.”
“You should get used to things like this, Gabe.” Raziel grinned at him. “I have a feeling this is how it’s going to be with the humans for a while as they get used to the whole peace in all dimensions thing. Baby steps, adjustment, all of that.”
“Oh good. So we’ll all go gray because of stress and incomprehensible situations like this one,” Tzadkiel drawled.
Raziel laughed. “Times like this, I’m so glad I’m the youngest.
Seeing as this has all been sorted out satisfactorily, I’m going back to Uriel.” He vanished, the sound of rustling feathers loud in his wake.
“I reckon that’s our cue,” Gabriel said. “Let’s hope things are quiet now.”
“Amen, sir,” Asaf said. Beside him, Vel nodded.
Shateiel saluted smartly. “If I may, sir, before you leave, my wife wanted me to extend an invitation to you and Michael to come to dinner at our home one evening. Perhaps in three days’ time?”
“Tell Agrat we’d be delighted,” Gabriel said.
“Where’s my dinner invite?” Tzadkiel teased. He laughed as Shateiel looked at him, wide-eyed. “I’m joking, Shay. It’s fine. I’m heading over to Tokyo to meet up with Sophiel and Brieus. We plan on doing a sushi tour, so that’ll be grand.”
“Have fun,” Gabriel said.
Tzadkiel nodded and vanished as Raziel had.
“I’ll see you all later,” Gabriel said and took his leave, returning to Michael on Belle Coeur.
He shed his armor in the laundry, carefully hanging his chain mail on the door handle, then throwing his sweaty gambeson and undertunic into the stainless steel washbasin. From the laundry, he ducked into the bathroom and took a quick shower, then, with a fluffy white towel slung low around his hips, he sauntered into the bedroom.
He paused on the threshold as his gaze fell on Michael. Michael was naked, seated cross-legged on the bed, eyes closed and hands resting on his knees. He was meditating, and there was a ray of sunshine that streamed through the windows and shone directly on him, coloring his skin golden brown. There were times Michael took Gabriel’s breath away, and looking at him now, watching him as he breathed, as dust motes danced in the sunlight, Gabriel felt his heart give a giant lurch in his chest as he felt such a surge of love for Michael that it made him momentarily dizzy. Michael was beautiful and perfect, he was strong and powerful, muscular and brave, generous and kind, sweet and loving. He was intelligent, compassionate, and an absolute terror with a sword.
“You are back,” Michael said, not opening his eyes, and his voice jerked Gabriel out of his love-filled reverie.
“I’m also a bit front,” Gabriel teased.
Michael opened his eyes and smiled. “You are silly sometimes.” He held out a hand. “Come and sit with me and tell me what happened.”
“Gladly.” Gabriel shed the towel and moved to join Michael on the bed, sit ing in front of him and crossing his own legs so their knees touched. He took Michael’s hands in his and told him what had happened in Brunei, noting that Michael looked just as astonished at the tale as Gabriel still felt.
“And these people were genuinely convinced that we had made everything… stop? Technology, knowledge, science, art, music, literature… everything?”
“Stasis, aye.”
Michael’s expression grew sad. “Then we have failed somehow.”
“How, pray?”
“If they do not all
understand this is a wonderful new present that will lead to an even more wonderful future, then we have failed to explain properly how this is so. I will speak with Tzadkiel later, and perhaps we can do something with the media to explain better what has transpired since the Grail was taken and then returned.”
“Without mentioning the Grail or any of the other shit that went along with that whole mess with Naamah and Purgatory, I bloody well hope,” Gabriel said.
“Language. And yes, of course. There are some things that we cannot tell them, of course there are.”
“Okay, then.” Gabriel leaned forward and kissed Michael gently.
“Now, I’m home, so didn’t you promise me some hot lovin’?”
Michael promptly blushed. “I believe I did.”
“Awesome.” Gabriel let go of one of Michael’s hands and reached up to curl his free hand around the back of Michael’s neck, gently tugging him forward so Gabriel could kiss him properly.
“It is awesome to be with you at all,” Michael said.
“Hush.” Gabriel kissed Michael again.
“Don’t hush me, Gabriel,” Michael said, but he moved, crawling into Gabriel’s lap and wrapping his arms around Gabriel’s neck. They kissed for several long, blissful moments, each kiss more passionate than the last, and Gabriel decided he couldn’t wait any longer. He laid Michael back on the bed and covered him with his body, sliding his hands over Michael, caressing every inch of him that he could reach. As he felt Michael’s hands drift down to rub at his wing joints and gently tug at his feathers, Gabriel groaned and slicked himself, his hard cock pressing against Michael’s.
“Take me, Gabriel,” Michael said, his voice a breathy moan.
“Gladly.” As Michael wrapped his legs around Gabriel’s hips, Gabriel positioned himself and slowly thrust into the tight heat of Michael’s body, letting out a long, loud moan as muscles gripped him, as he felt Michael everywhere, on him, around him, against him. His mouth crashed down onto Michael’s in a hard, hungry kiss, and Michael kissed him back, giving as good as he got.
No, Gabriel thought as they moved together, caught up in their mutual passion, desire and love, he would never tire of this. He would never tire of Michael, of being with him in every way possible, not even after the last star had fallen from the sky. He was Michael’s and Michael was his, and every moment together was a gift, a blessing, and Gabriel cherished all of it.
Archangel Chronicles 7 - Shot In the Dark Page 8