Raise the Dead

by Briana Michaels

  A wolf, dark and huge, straddled a body. His hackles raised. His teeth bared. The animal snarled and barked and growled while covering the body under him, protectively.

  “Holy Divinity,” Constantine whispered. “This is impossible.”

  “No, it’s not. It’s her. It’s gotta be her.” If it wasn’t, then Uriel was most likely going to lose a limb for nothing because he was going to get that wolf away from her even if it cost him his hand or face. “We have to distract it!”

  Constantine was onboard with this too. He waved his arms and wings at the wolf. Whistling, he tried to get it to come over. The wolf didn’t budge. “This isn’t working.”

  The animal howled. The sound shattered Uriel’s heart. He only ever heard one creature howl like that: Lucifer. Uriel tipped his head back and joined the wolf’s cry and damned if Con didn’t too.

  When their voices died out and Uriel gasped for air, the wolf lowered his head and stopped growling. Uriel dropped to his knees, his heart hammering as he continued to smell his female’s scent under the musty odor of wolf. Con offered his hand for the beast to smell. Cautiously, the wolf scented him then started licking his knuckles. The animal was bleeding. His coat soiled in blood around his neck and behind one ear.

  “Heal him,” Uriel whispered.

  “Already on it.”

  The wolf’s injuries closed up within a minute and he started wagging his tail. Stepping back, he whined and pushed his nose into the body he was protecting. Dark auburn hair encrusted with dirt and blood, lay across a mangled, bare back.

  “Oh Sweet Divinity.”

  The wolf nudged the female’s arm and she groaned.

  Uriel felt light headed. “Eve,” his voice trembled. Holy Hell, what happened to her? Two bloody stumps were all that remained of her wings. They looked like they’d been hacked off with a blunt blade. Rolling the body over, she moaned again and that’s when the floor dropped out from under Con and Uri.

  “Eve,” Con choked.

  It was really her. Uriel wasn’t imagining it. As Constantine started checking over her extensive injuries, Uriel swept the hair from her face so he could make sure she was real.

  Her cheeks were soft and warm. Sweat and blood covered most of her skin but her scent grew stronger.

  Or maybe that was his panic growing stronger.

  “Someone’s going to pay for this,” Uriel growled.

  Constantine didn’t say a word, instead he focused on pushing healing energy into her. “She’s not responding right. This is going to take me a while and I don’t know how much energy I can lend.”

  Uriel growled.

  “I’ll give her my last fucking drop,” Con snarled at him, “But I can’t do it like this. Something’s off.”

  Uriel scooped her into his arms and tried to take off. The wolf bit down on his leg and yanked, ripping the flesh clean off his calf.

  “You can’t take her away from him. They’re connected,” Con said. “Don’t you feel it?”

  Uriel didn’t feel anything but the swish of his blood pumping wildly and the burn of just having his flesh ripped off his leg. “Grab the animal then.”

  This idea was probably going to cause Constantine to lose an eye or half his face by the way the wolf could chomp, but he did it anyway. And damned if that animal didn’t allow him to pick him up.

  They took flight.

  “Take her to the brotherhood’s new campus,” Uri commanded. “Lilith can help us.”

  “No, we should take her to Hell. Lucifer’s fires will work on her better.”

  “Shit, you’re right.” But to get there was going to be a struggle from here. There was only one known Hell hole in the human realm and it wasn’t close. “We need to work on her faster than we can get her to Hell.” Uriel cut right and headed towards another set of mountains. “We need to work on her now. She’s barely breathing.”

  Her sharp wing bones, bit into Uriel’s forearms. The idea of someone hacking Eve’s wings off had Uriel ready to commit genocide. Landing on a ledge, he scanned the dark area for predators before laying her on her side. He couldn’t bear the thought of laying Eve on her wingless back, and he couldn’t very well lay her on her belly with the gaping slashes across her chest.

  Constantine gently placed the wolf down and the animal scurried over to lay next to Eve. He howled once more and the urge to join in confused the shit out of Uriel so he didn’t follow through. The wolf nudged Eve’s arm and laid flush against her back and started whining again.

  Con dropped down and got to work. Hours passed and he’d made good progress. Her breathing was steady. Her heart rate was up. Her wounds had closed over. But her wings? Those stumps turned black and charred looking.

  She fluttered her eyes open. “Did I make it?” she whispered.

  Uriel got in close to her face while Con continued to give her energy. “Make what?”

  “Did I make it to Lucy?”

  Uri and Con glanced at each other before they both shook their heads. Eve started crying. Covering her face with her hands, she sobbed.

  They didn’t know what to do with her besides hold on until she was ready to talk. Uriel had a thousand questions – Where has she been? What happened to her? How did she get all the way out here?

  And why was she only concerned about getting to Lucifer when he wasn’t the only one who’d lost her? The answer was too awful to speak about, which was why they agreed to keep it a secret...

  Uriel snapped out of the memory of what ended up being the worst day of his fucking life. Scrubbing his face, he pushed himself up and told Lazarus, “I’m going to Hell to be with Lucifer.”

  Because Eve could not.

  Chapter 8

  Busting out of the throne room, all work abandoned, Constantine booked it towards the sound of roaring thunder. Lucifer.

  The air shifted. Energy cracked.

  Parts of the hallway crumbled.

  Gabriel bolted out of another room and they both teamed up in a sprint to the prison.

  “I need backup in here!” Reggie screamed.

  They picked up speed and Con’s teeth clenched. His imagination ran wild with what could possibly make Lucifer lose his shit like this. The fact that he dropped straight into Hell could mean—

  “Help me!” Reggie hollered. The Gatekeeper was already inside the prison doing his damndest to get the Devil out of there. He’d have better luck stopping a freight train going at full speed than halting Lucifer.

  Constantine’s heart froze. The Devil was nearly vantablack and looked scary as fuck. Flames coated his arms, his tendons popped out of his neck, thick as ropes, when he roared again.

  For all the strength Reggie possessed, he was no match for Lucifer. The Devil broke free of the Gatekeepers hold and charged deeper into the prison, practically dragging Reggie behind him.

  “What do we do?” Kalen yelled.

  “Stay out here,” Constantine yanked the gate open and ran inside with Gabriel.

  “Lucifer!” Con’s aggressive tone made Lucifer growl. He never liked being ordered around. Satan ruled himself, no one else ever got that privilege. “Lucy! Eyes on me, motherfucker.”

  They needed to get him out of there before he did more damage to Hell, the malanum, and himself. Gabriel hooked his powerful arms under Lucifer’s armpits and kicked his lower back to make him bend back. Gabe tightened his hold when Lucifer bucked. “Stop, Lucy!”

  Nope. Lucifer wasn’t listening. He yanked and popped his shoulder out of the socket. Gabriel doubled-down. Lucifer screamed again. Constantine stood in front of him, both hands clamped tight onto Lucifer’s head. “Lucy, focus! Eyes. On. Me.”

  Holy shit, the Angel looked evil as fuck. There was no other way to describe it.

  “He’s turning feral,” Gabe grunted. “Shit… I feel it. I can fucking feel him, Con. Do something, quick!”

  Shit, shit, shit! He didn’t want to do this… he really didn’t, but—

  WHAM! Con pushed a bolt of ener
gy into Lucifer strong enough to knock him and Gabriel to the floor. A lesser Angel wouldn’t be able to recover from a blast like that. But Gabe and Luce weren’t lesser, they were two of the strongest in all divinity.

  Shit!

  Malanum crept closer. They should be running away and hiding, fearful of getting wiped out, but these evil bastards were drawn to the light emanating off Lucifer. The last thing they needed was a horde to get too close to this danger and end up annihilated.

  It was a sad day in Hell when an Angel was actually trying to save evil from being destroyed. Jesus fucking Christ, how could this get any worse?

  Don’t answer that.

  Constantine dropped down and clutched Lucifer by the throat and jerked him. “Don’t you lose yourself, Asshole. You’ve got the world depending on you.”

  Lucifer said nothing. Now in animal mode, he knew no language, only primal instincts. Another roar ripped out of his throat and he tried to break out of Gabriel’s tight hold. Mouth opened wide, Lucifer’s roar rumbled the walls of the prison and Con slammed him with another jolt. “Lucy! Remember who you are!”

  More malanum crept closer. Reggie started forcing them back. Once he started swinging his scythe, the malanum ran away.

  Fury felt like a windstorm in that prison. Ash and dust kicked up and got in their eyes. Lucifer’s flames ate that air and turned wild – dancing along his body and Gabriel’s as well. The fire started spreading.

  “He’s going to burn it down!” Gabriel kicked out and hammered the back of Lucifer’s knees. The Devil buckled and went down.

  Constantine and Gabriel grabbed ahold of him and managed to drag Lucifer towards the gates. Con kept his eyes locked on Lucifer’s and – holy mother earth – the pain in that Angel’s eyes was fucking excruciating.

  “We’ve got you, brother.” By no small miracle, they got him out of the prison and Reggie slammed the gate shut and locked it.

  “Luce!” Sara called from the entrance. Kalen and Jack flanked her.

  “Stay back, Sara. He’s dangerous right now.”

  Lucifer showed them how right Con was about that. He let out a desperate sounding howl and ripped himself away from Gabriel. Popping his shoulder back in the socket, he growled deep and showed all his teeth. Crawling on his hands and feet, he stalked towards Sara like a predator.

  “Get her back!” Con yelled. “Think of the baby!”

  Sara didn’t budge. Holding onto two of her Hounds for balance – or courage – she stayed right where she was and allowed the Devil to come closer. Lucifer barked and it was scary as fuck. Holy Hell, it had been a long goddamn time since Con saw him this destroyed. To know it was still possible for Lucifer to revert fast was heartbreaking. If Michael found out… he’d use it against him to make Hell collapse.

  Or worse.

  Con watched with bated breath as Lucifer prowled closer to Sara and her Hounds. Jack looked furious and aggressive, Kalen looked cautious and protective. Sara, on the other hand, slowly reached out to Lucifer. “We’re here. Smell us. Know where you are. Know who you are, Luce.”

  You could have knocked Constantine over with a feather. He watched Lucifer crawl to her. He reached out to snatch her arm. Eyes locked on hers, he scented the underside of her forearm, up to her elbow, then rose to his feet and closed his eyes as he continued to scent her belly, chest, collarbone, and neck. He threaded his fingers into her hair, burying his nose in the crook of her neck.

  He visibly relaxed. The blackness covering him faded in some spots.

  “That’s it, big guy. Never forget who you are.” Sara didn’t embrace him. Con found that odd. He expected her to at least touch him back, so when she kept her arms to her sides, Constantine glanced at Gabriel and nearly gawked.

  Gabe, too, was now splotched with inky black threads across his chest and up his neck. He gasped for breath. His wings were rigid. “Brother, are you okay?” He offered Gabriel a hand and pulled him to his feet.

  “I feel sick,” Gabriel propped himself against the wall and started puking.

  “Bloody Hell,” Jack sheathed his blades. “The fuck is happening?”

  “I have no idea,” Constantine was torn between which brother to help. Both were in bad shape and he didn’t have enough energy left to heal both. Those power jolts he slammed Lucifer with zapped most of his energy. “Lucifer,” he stepped closer, “can you hear me?”

  “Yeah,” His face was still buried in Sara’s hair. His shoulders remained tense, “I’m… I hear you, brother.”

  Thank the Creator, Lucifer had his speech back. Constantine closed the space between them. “Break away from Sara and look at me.”

  “Can’t… yet.”

  “Can you tell us what the fuck happened to make you go animal?”

  Lucifer’s voice dropped deeper than ever before, “Michael… found an Eve lookalike. Just… as he did… my Darling.” Lucifer shifted and pressed more of himself against Sara. She was so much smaller than him, but she wasn’t intimidated at all. It was as if she’d done this before.

  Con made a mental note to ask her about it later. Right now, he had a much bigger issue, “An Eve lookalike?”

  “Tried to… drag the bitch… into Hell… with whatever… malanum was in her… couldn’t…. something went… wrong.”

  Fuuuuuuuck. Con’s heart tried to abandon ship and jump out of his throat.

  “It’s not a lookalike,” said a gravelly voice from behind Sara and her Hounds. “It’s her.” Uriel had finally arrived to the shitshow.

  Con’s heart dropped out of his body and splattered on the stone floor. “Shit.” His gaze darted around to each of his brothers. Uriel winced and lifted one shoulder; the jig was up. “Look, we can explain.”

  “We?” Gabriel pushed away from the wall and snatched Con by the neck. “You knew? You fucking knew she was out there?”

  “She was at your house,” Lucifer growled. “Yours, Gabriel”

  Con watched the panic dance across Gabe’s face. It pissed him off big time. “You knew too, didn’t you?”

  Gabe’s jaw clenched and he didn’t respond. Instead, he pushed past everyone and left without saying a goddamn word.

  “What the fuck…” Lucifer peeled himself away from Sara, “do you mean…” he turned around slowly with a menacing glare, “he knew too, Con?”

  Constantine closed his eyes and confessed. “We found her a long time ago.”

  He braced for Lucifer’s wrath to hit him full force. If Lucifer tore him into shreds for keeping that secret of betrayal, so fucking be it. Con deserved death. He deserved a lot more than that, actually…

  “She’s dying!” Uriel yelled in mid-flight. Con didn’t need the commentary. He could see from here how pale she was, how cut up and nearly dead she was. The wolf in his arms was a hefty beast, and looked like he’d seen a few fights himself.

  Holy Divinity, how was this possible? What was Eve doing here in the human world, and in a desert of all places?

  The sooner they got her someplace safe, the sooner Constantine could heal her. And then they could bring her down to Lucifer. Holy Hounds of Mercy, this was a miracle. A gift. A blessing. He just hoped they could save her from death…

  How had she lived through what those bastards did to her? And what about the pack of wolves? Con flapped his wings harder, faster, and lead the way to safer Holy ground. The world had changed in a thousand ways over the centuries, and now there was actual magic in the ground of some areas. Rituals performed by humans to honor gods and divinity fed the magic well. Faith was already a powerful force. Constantine was going to have to draw from that energy to fix their girl.

  Uriel dropped down and kept her close to him. His face was chiseled stone – a stoic expression he rarely held long. Con touched down and gently released the wolf. The animal barked and circled around Eve.

  Kneeling, Constantine started shoving energy into her. She screamed. Blood sprayed like a fine mist from her mouth. She shook her head hard, eyes peeling wide a
s she clawed the air. Her screams of agony had Constantine second-guessing himself.

  “Don’t stop!” Uriel yelled. “Keep going! Look at her!”

  “I am,” he said. And Eve wasn’t receptive to his energy like she should have been. “I think it’s hurting her.”

  “Not possible.”

  “Look at her.” Eve’s skin was ashy. Her breaths raspy and labored. The design carved into her chest was smoking.

  “What do we do?” Uriel cradled her head. “No way can we just let her suffer like this. There must be something we can do.”

  Con was at a loss. He had no clue how to fix this.

  “Damnit.” Uriel bent down and pressed his lips to hers.

  Constantine couldn’t breathe as he watched.

  The kiss lasted a year. At least it sure as shit felt that way. Uriel kept his mouth pressed to Eve’s and his head moved ever so slightly. After ten years – or maybe it was only ten seconds – Eve moaned and raised her hand. Con caught it. He didn’t know if she was trying to reach for him or Uriel, but he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to hold some part of her right now too.

  They’d been without her so long. Lifetimes. The world had evolved and bloomed, but the four brothers barely noticed because, deep down, they were dead inside.

  This was the first spark of life Constantine felt since the day the brotherhood fell.

  Uriel pulled back from Eve’s lips and she whimpered.

  “Con,” her glassy, bloodshot eyes slowly found him, “can’t… push energy… into me like that…not… work anymore.” Her eyes rolled in the back of her head.

  His divine light couldn’t work on her but Uriel’s fucking kiss got her breathing harder and made it possible for words to fly out of her pretty little mouth? This didn’t make a lick of sense.

  Uriel’s soft tone was rushed, “Do you trust me?”

  Con nodded like an ape, too stunned to speak, too confused to catch on fast enough. Eve’s head slowly lolled in a nod too, and Uriel’s breath punched out of him. He deadpanned Constantine, “Don’t question this, okay? And if she says stop, we stop immediately, no matter what.”