The kiss ended and Liam rested his forehead against Baxter’s. “I can’t wait until we can go home and sleep in our bed.”
“Together. And stretch out. I always feel like I’m going to roll off these things. They’re so narrow.”
Liam smiled. “I’m so fucking glad you’re okay.”
Baxter touched his cheek and Liam leaned into it. “I am too, big guy.
I am too.”
They lay together in companionable silence, listening to the muted beeps of various machines in the room and the sound of each other’s breathing. It was perhaps an hour later when Israfel bustled into the room pushing a wheeled cart, and Liam’s mouth began to water at the scent of food.
“Hi! Raph said you were hungry and then he told me what you could and couldn’t eat, so then I made up a meal for you guys and I hope you like it all!” Israfel pushed the cart to the side of the bed and then reached to pull up the nearby overbed table. “Are you still hungry?”
“I’m starving, Iss,” Baxter said.
“Awesome. Well, not awesome, but that means you’ll eat everything, which is definitely awesome. Right?”
“Right,” Liam agreed, trying not to laugh. Israfel’s enthusiasm for everything was as infectious as it was amusing.
Israfel started laying out food on the overbed table. Liam’s eyes widened as he took in the meal: two steaks with what looked like a mushroom sauce, a large bowl of garlic mashed potatoes, a green salad with feta cheese cubes, and a loaf of fresh baked bread. There was also a large pitcher of orange juice and a bowl of what looked like chocolate mousse.
“Whoa,” Baxter said. “Are you sure you’re not the angel of cooking?”
Israfel laughed. “No, no, I’m the Angel of Music! I love to cook, though, so I do. Cooking’s fun, and sometimes I compose while I’m cooking, so I multitask!”
“It looks amazing. It smells even better,” Baxter said. He reached for the overbed table and Israfel obligingly pushed it closer. “Thanks, Iss.”
“You’re welcome! Just let me know when you’re finished, and I’ll come take the dishes away.” Israfel gave them both a little salute. “Press that panic button. Raph says it’s not a panic button, but I can’t remember what he said it actually is, so panic button will have to do. You know which one I mean?”
“Yeah,” Liam nodded. “No problem. Thanks, Iss.”
“Anytime! Enjoy!” Israfel gave them both a wave and practically bounced out of the room.
“He is amazing,” Baxter said. “God, I’m hungry.”
“Then eat,” Liam said. He picked up a knife and fork. “If you don’t, I’ll eat your share.”
“No way! I’m a mighty predator. I’ll wrestle you if you try and steal my steak!” Baxter grabbed his cutlery and began to cut a piece of the steak.
“Okay, then, mighty predator,” Liam said, laughing.
“Can’t talk, eating.”
“That sounds like the best plan of the day.” And with that, Liam began to eat his meal.
GABRIEL LISTENED to Raphael’s report on the condition of Danny and Baxter, keeping his expression impassive. He was greatly relieved to hear that Baxter was doing well and that his physical therapy sessions had gone excellently. Danny’s continuing coma was a concern, but Raphael didn’t seem to be too upset by that, saying that the body took as much time to heal as it needed to and sometimes it couldn’t be forced. Gabriel accepted that and made a mental note what to tell Michael.
It had been five days since he’d last seen Michael, and Gabriel had kept his distance. Angelique had called Michael on his cell phone and yelled at him for several minutes without pausing for breath. Her words had been colorful, and Gabriel had frequently started in surprise, usually when she called Michael one of many choice names. She had finally ended the call by shouting, “You’re a fucking idiot, a drama queen, and a self-absorbed martyr, and you don’t deserve anyone, not the Venatores and not Gabriel, you selfish fuckshit!” Then she’d hung up.
Gabriel could only imagine how horrified Michael had been by her language.
It hadn’t done anything, though—Shateiel had reported that Agrat had sought Michael out and spent several hours with him, returning to say that Michael still felt responsible. In the end, Gabriel had decided there was only one thing left to do.
He went to Heaven.
The Thrones were on guard at the entry to God’s private chambers, and Gabriel waited patiently until they told him he could go in. It wasn’t often that Gabriel came to speak to his maker about anything—particularly his personal life—but he had a feeling that Michael would hide from everyone for the next thousand years if Gabriel didn’t do something, and he was out of ideas.
God was silent as Gabriel laid out his case and his reasons, and when he’d finished, Gabriel waited, biting his lower lip and wondering what the decision would be. Final y, the Voice spoke, deep modulated tones that were both masculine and feminine, full of warmth and love and compassion.
“I will speak with him,” God said. “And he will obey. In two days, you may search him out.”
Gabriel bowed low. “Thank You, Most Holy.”
God had not replied, and Gabriel had bowed his way out of the room. As the gold doors quietly closed behind him, Gabriel had turned to the Thrones and thanked them for going to the trouble of getting him an audience with God, and then made his way back down to Earth.
He decided to go to visit with Shateiel and Agrat instead of returning to Oregon. He’d spent so many days with the Venatores that he felt a little worn out by their youth and energy. He knew too that he’d have to go to visit Max and Minnie, but he was putting it off. He had a feeling the information they’d have for him wouldn’t be good, and he wasn’t really in the mood for that yet.
Shateiel and Agrat were seated in their lush tropical garden, sprawled on the thick grass, while koi swam in the creek beside them.
Birds sang their hearts out from the branches of the tree that shaded the two angels, and there was an air of peace and serenity that Gabriel found himself craving. He smiled sheepishly as he teleported into their garden and asked, “Mind if I join you?”
“Of course not, Gabe,” Agrat said with a warm smile on her beautiful face. “Make yourself comfortable.”
He did, lying down on the grass beside them and trailing his fingers in the water of the creek, smiling as the koi brushed against him. “I went to see God. About Michael.”
“Ah.” Agrat regarded him solemnly. “What did God say?”
“That He’d take care of it.”
“Then Michael will be able to rejoin life,” Shateiel said, his mental voice calm. “He is too old do to this sort of thing—hide from existence like a naughty child who has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
What happened was not his fault. It is a bit selfish of him to say that it is.”
“That’s what Angelique said.”
Agrat laughed. “With much more swearing, I’m sure.”
“Oh aye. She rang him up and yelled at him and called him every name under the sun. I bet he fainted at some of her language.”
Agrat laughed harder. “It’s good for him. Angelique’s quite a character, isn’t she?”
“Aye, she is.” Gabriel smiled. “I call her Trouble.”
“A fitting nickname.”
“If I may, sir, when do you plan to seek out Lord Michael?”
“God said two days, so I’ll go in three days. I’m not actually sure where he is right now, though. He’s shielding himself.”
Agrat rolled her eyes. “He’s so over-the-top about his guilt sometimes.”
“I wager he is at a poor church, helping the parish, or at an orphanage, helping there. Somewhere that help is needed and where there are children,” Shateiel said.
“Mm. You’re probably right on the money there.” Gabriel sighed.
“And there’s still much I have to do.”
“Tzadkiel told me that this Transom Corp went bust because
they speculated too much on grain production and there was a drought in Spain that wiped out most of the crop,” Agrat said.
Gabriel frowned. “That shouldn’t have been enough to do it. It’s a mega corp.”
“I know. I’m sure there’s more too. Tzad seemed to think so, but that was his first hit. He and Raz were going through everything—after they made copies for Lucifer.”
“How did he take all of this, do you know? Did Lilith tell you?”
Agrat sighed. “She did. And he did not take it well. He was enraged at the notion of humans using his demons to make new hybrid creatures to keep us all out of Earth.”
“Well, I’m enraged they did it with the humans and the animals, so we’re all on the same page of rage,” Gabriel drawled.
“You are not alone there, sir. Ondrass and Adramelek were quite peeved, I understand. Lord Uriel said that Ondrass was enraged as he is fond of dogs, and Adramelek was just as enraged as he is fond of cats and dogs.”
“I never thought I’d see the day when two Archangels and two Archdemons united their powers to burn something up,” Gabriel mused.
“But I completely agree with what they did. Let’s not have anyone find remains and decide to start this shit all over again.”
Agrat snorted lightly. “Do you really think eradicating this organization will be so easy? As you said, it’s a mega corp. It’s probably reformed under a new name and trading in different markets, looking for ways to start the whole process off again.”
Gabriel sighed and rubbed his face with one hand. “Great. Well, I’m not passing that speculation on to Mike. He’ll just take it as a personal insult and addition to his guilt and disappear again.”
“Perhaps it would be wise to wait until we all have the full report from Lord Tzadkiel and those from Miss Minnie and Mr. Max. Are we anticipating a report from Lucifer as well?”
“Don’t know about the latter, but Raz should have something for us too. We’re all going to have a lot of reading to do.”
“And the Venatores reports as well,” Agrat said. “Do your Necromancer and tracker do reports?”
“Verbal ones.” Gabriel shrugged. “I don’t ask for paperwork from them. They’re not soldiers, and they don’t just work for me. If I got ’em to do paperwork, they’d never get anything else done, and they have a lot of jobs that call for their talents.”
“I see. That is sensible, then. Declan gave me his report on things and I found it very concise. The place—The Betterment Project?—seems to be a new kind of evil,” Shateiel said.
Gabriel thought about that. “I think it’s not so much a new kind of evil as a different one. That’s my opinion anyway, I could be wrong.
We’re all used to demons an’ how demons recruit humans and some of the monsters, like some shifters or witches or what have you. But this time, it’s all humans. The whole thing is the doing of a bunch of humans who hate us as much as they hate the demons. We ain’t really seen that before.
I don’t like it, but it’s their choice to hate us. We can’t stop ’em.”
“And there’s no point trying to force them to think otherwise,” Agrat said. “That just makes people angry. No matter whether they’re human, angel, demon, or monster.”
“Aye.” Gabriel nodded. “Ah well. I guess we’ll know more when Raz and Tzad make their formal report.”
“Truly,” Agrat said.
THREE DAYS later, feeling nervous and knowing he shouldn’t postpone any longer, Gabriel went to Nigeria and sat on a log in the yard of an orphanage.
Michael had just finished helping the carers put the children to bed, and now he was approaching Gabriel, walking slowly and with his head down.
Gabriel sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He had the feeling that this meeting between them wasn’t going to be one of the better ones.
He was surprised, then, when Michael sat down in front of him and took Gabriel’s hands in his own.
“Gabriel, forgive me. I spoke harshly and without thought or care. I do not blame you for what happened, and I do not blame our relationship.
I was… distraught, and my thoughts were awhirl.” He shook his head and sighed, looking at Gabriel and giving him a small smile. “Angelique’s rather brusque phone call followed by God speaking with me led me to see things more clearly.”
Gabriel let out an explosive breath. “So you don’t still blame yourself for what happened? That’s what worries me, solnyshko.”
Michael hesitated. “Not entirely. Oh, I will worry regardless, you know this. But I am aware that what transpired was not out of my own doing or by my own hand. Humans have free wil , I was reminded, and sometimes what they choose to do with that free wil is bad and evil deeds.”
“Aye.” Gabriel gently tugged one of his hands free and reached out to touch Michael’s cheek. “And everyone’s okay or on the way to bein’ okay.”
“Danny is still in a coma, I am told,” Michael said.
“Aye.” Gabriel sighed. “Raphael said that if he ain’t stirring soon, he’ll have to start using his mojo to induce consciousness, but he’s being careful because being a shifter, Danny’s metabolism might react badly to magic used on it so intimately. And that made loads more sense when he said it.”
Michael nodded. “I understand what you are saying. I hope very much that he is all right.”
“Aye, we all do.”
Michael bit his lip, hesitating before he continued. “Are we… are we also all right?”
“Oh, Michael.” Gabriel pulled Michael into his arms and kissed his cheek. “Aye, we’re all right. I understand and it’s okay. Just, next time you get all Saint Michael the Cranky-Pants, don’t act like our relationship’s the reason for bad stuff?”
Michael clung to him, nodding against Gabriel’s shoulder. “I promise. Can we go home now?”
“You ain’t needed here some more?”
“No, I have finished all that I promised.”
“Okay.” Gabriel made sure no one was watching and then teleported, moving them straight to the beach on their island of Belle Coeur.
It was cool there, the sky overcast and gray, but the sea was calm, almost like liquid metal. The overcast seemed to somehow make the colors of the plant life around the beach more vibrant.
“Shall we go into the house?” Gabriel asked. “It looks like it might rain. I didn’t realize when I moved us.”
Michael got to his feet and took Gabriel’s hand in his own. “I would like that.”
Hand in hand, they walked from the beach to the house, and Gabriel unlocked the french doors with his power. It occurred to him that it was a little ridiculous to keep locking the doors, but old habits did die hard after all. Once they were inside and the door closed behind them, Michael suddenly shoved Gabriel back against the wall and kissed him hard.
“Mishka?” Gabriel was a little confused by the sudden onslaught of passion.
“Do you wish me to stop?”
“No, I’m just wondering where this came from.”
“I love you and I have behaved badly. I wish to reconnect with you, intimately. Talking to one another is wonderful, being together is even better, but I feel that being intimate would be perfect at this moment.”
“Oh. Then I’m all for that.”
Gabriel groaned as he felt Michael’s hand on his skin, snaking beneath his shirt. He wound his arms around Michael and pulled him even closer, nipping his lower lip and pressing his thigh against Michael’s groin. The moan that elicited made heat surge through Gabriel, and he slowly rubbed his thigh against his lover.
The next thing he knew was the sound of tearing fabric and Michael had ripped off his shirt. Gabriel broke the kiss, panting a little, and laughed. “Eager, eh?”
“Hush,” Michael said. His cheeks were pink.
“But I thought you liked me loud, baby,” Gabriel teased.
Michael nipped his shoulder and Gabriel groaned again, using his power instead of his hands to get Michael’s cl
othes off and away. He felt a familiar surge of energy from Michael as the last of his own clothing was removed, and naked now, skin to skin, the two of them pressed against each other, rubbing, too hungry for one another for any finesse.
“This is gonna be over before we start,” Gabriel warned.
“That is fine. We can do it again after a short rest.”
“I’m all for that.” Gabriel lowered his head and nuzzled the curve of Michael’s neck and shoulder, breathing in the scent of him. He felt Michael’s hands on his hips, and he growled, nipping Michael’s skin.
“I want you inside me,” Michael said, and Gabriel was impressed that his lover could still form a coherent sentence. The only answer he himself was capable of making was a rough growl, and he turned them around, pushing Michael up against the wall.
Using both brute strength and his power, Gabriel lifted Michael and let out a contented purr as he felt Michael’s legs around his hips. Slicking his cock with a thought, Gabriel pressed close, and taking himself in hand, he shifted until he was where he wanted—needed—to be, and slowly thrust into Michael’s hot, strong, willing body.
Michael’s head fell back against the wall and he let out a long, keening cry as his blunt nails dug into Gabriel’s shoulders. The sound of his passion skipped Gabriel’s ears entirely, going straight to his cock, and he felt the urge to fuck Michael hard and fast, to bite his neck, draw blood, taste Michael on his tongue. He felt a hand in his hair, and he groaned, giving in to his urges and fucking Michael with an almost brutal rhythm, panting against Michael’s neck as Michael arched into him, clenched around him, held on to him tight.
“Gabriel,” Michael gasped, and the sound of his name said with so much need, desire, and love made Gabriel groan once more. He worked a hand between their sweaty bodies and wrapped it around Michael’s cock, stroking him in time with each of his hard thrusts.
At the same moment, Gabriel bit down on the skin at the base of Michael’s throat, biting hard, and was rewarded with a loud, wordless cry. He tasted blood and sweat, and before he knew it, Gabriel felt his orgasm building within him, curling low in his bel y. Michael let out another of those passionate cries, and Gabriel felt warm wetness on his hand. Michael’s orgasm only served to trigger Gabriel’s own. He stiffened, muscles tensing as he came so hard that he saw stars, and it was several moments before he felt able to move.
Archangel Chronicles 7 - Shot In the Dark Page 19