Part of me wanted to point out just how fitting that metaphor was, but another part—a smarter part—helped me convince myself that now wasn’t the time for wisecracks.
“And you think I’d do much better?” I asked.
“You’re dead, Luther. You have no more ties to Earth, so why not take your place by my side? Fulfill your destiny and take on the role you were meant to inhabit?”
“You’re wrong.”
“Am I?” asked Lilith. “So Asmodeus didn’t stab you to death and you’re not currently a ghost trying to fight off insanity?”
“It’s temporary.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it.”
“Look Lil, I don’t expect you to understand. But I’ve got unfinished business on Earth and I can’t just leave. Not while these problems still exist.”
“And what’s so important that you’d risk your own realm falling to ruin?” asked Lilith.
“What do you even need me for?” I asked. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but cambions aren’t exactly real popular down in Hell. They hate you, sure, but they also respect your power and what you’ve done. You may have been human for a hot minute, but you became a full demon—the first of humanity to fall. But me? I’m nothing but a half-breed to them, part of an inferior race. They’ll never see me as one of them.”
“And you don’t think they fear and respect you as well?” Lilith chuckled. “Luther, you fought both Azrael and Belial and lived. You escaped Purgatory. You trapped Asmodeus in Cocytus. You’ve had a personal audience with the Morningstar himself.”
“You’re telling me that they’re impressed with the things I’ve done?”
“How could they not be?” asked Lilith. “The Court’s had some more frequent meetings as of late in light of some of the craziness going on. And your name is spoken of in whispers. Our realm is at a time of relative calm, but there’s no telling how long that will last. Lucifer banished Raum, but his followers are still out there. Maybe they’ll fall apart without leadership, but that’s not a risk I want to take. And it’s something you could help me avoid, plus cement our relationship with the other Hell Lords.”
Me, down in Hell, ruling for all eternity with Lilith by my side. Sure, it was Hell, but I’d be the man in charge. I could make my realm whatever I wanted it to be. Didn’t have to be a torture dungeon like Asmodeus had done, it could just be a place where souls could live out the rest of eternity in relative peace. I could make it into something different, help a lot of people that way.
But there was still Dakota and the baby. No matter what, I couldn’t let Pyriel get his hands on them, couldn’t let him twist that kid into something terrifying.
Lilith could sense my hesitation. She stood from the throne and descended the steps, coming closer to me. I looked away and then she put her hand on my cheek, turning my head back towards her. She stared up at me with her yellow eyes.
Mostly, Lilith was fierce. But in that moment, I saw something else in her gaze. There was a softness I’d never seen in her before. She’d opened herself up to me, maybe even more than she’d done when she was with Asmodeus all those centuries ago.
“I’ve trusted you this far, Luther. I took a chance on you. I came through for you and now I need you to come through for me. Isn’t it time to just let go? To leave Earth and the humans to whatever fate has in store for them?”
Her hand moved from my cheek to the back of my head and she pulled me down towards her. Our lips connected and I felt a charge go through my body. I wrapped my arms around her as I let myself become absorbed by her kiss. My hands moved over her body, feeling every inch of her, and hers did the same.
The fire started burning within me. My mind became clouded with passion, pushing all coherent thoughts to the side. I wanted her, I wanted this. I wanted everything to be done. I wanted to forget all about the angels and the nephilim and Pyriel.
Fuck it all, I’m done.
But I couldn’t do that. I stopped, despite Lilith continuing. She was kissing the side of my face and moving down to my neck, starting to pull open my shirt. I didn’t react, though, and my hands left her body, falling to my sides.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, finally realizing I stopped participating. “Don’t you want me anymore?”
I looked down at her. I did want her, but something was missing. I couldn’t only live in one world, I had to finish what I’d started. I sighed. Why did my sense of duty have to kick in right when things were getting interesting?
“It’s not that I don’t want this, not that I don’t want you. But I have responsibilities back on Earth. Until I take care of some unfinished business, I’ve got to put all this on hold. If I don’t, the results could be catastrophic. Not only for Earth, but for Hell, too.”
“You’re not making any sense,” said Lilith.
“Just trust me on this,” I said. “If I don’t take care of things, we may not have a realm for me to come back to.”
She sighed and rested her head against my chest. “And how much longer do you think I can go on?”
“What do you mean?”
“You keep pushing me away, leaving me in the dark,” said Lilith. “This is the shit Asmodeus pulled. I put up with it once before, and I ended up imprisoned. Just be careful, Luther—because I won’t put up with it a second time.”
There was a flash and suddenly, I was back in Chicago, standing outside the mechanic’s garage. I looked up in the sky and saw the moon was full and had a red tint to it. That didn’t strike me as a very positive omen.
I had to find Alistair and Tessa, hope they’d made some progress on bringing me back to life. Gabriel was right, the rage was growing within me. If I didn’t end this soon, there was a very real chance I’d fail at fulfilling my promises to both Dakota and Lilith.
I started down the street, walking in the direction of Logan Square and Tessa’s place. That’s where they would be, and it was time to see if I could do something to speed things along.
I took a few steps, but then something happened. For some reason, my movements became sluggish. Felt like I was up to my waist in mud. Images flashed before me, images of a different place. Cracks started to form in my perception of reality.
What the hell is happening to me?
I started to wonder if I was losing it, if the pull of the spirit world was too much. Maybe this was it, maybe my mind had started to break. But I was wrong. It wasn’t that, it was something much worse.
The moonlit streets of Chicago started to fade, replaced with a cathedral of some sort. I saw a group of people before me. Two women held in chains—Dakota and Shelly. I looked around the room and also saw Morrison, wearing a look of shame on his face. Then there were men in black with clerical collars.
One of them stepped towards me, he had blond hair and a goatee, with bright blue eyes that flashed with angelic power. But not an angel—another of Pyriel’s flunkies.
“Hello, Luther,” he said with a twisted smile. “My name is Father Elliot Ramsey of the Opus Dei. Welcome to Rome.”
29
Gabriel arrived in Punta Santiago, one of the many towns in Puerto Rico still struggling to recover after the devastation caused by the hurricane. “Puerto Rico” was the most specific location Zadkiel provided. Not even Luther’s torture efforts could provoke him to give information he didn’t have.
And so, Gabriel had gone through the island with a fine-toothed comb, trying to sense the slightest presence of soulfire. Normally, angels had the ability to detect each other, but when trapped in a human form, it became harder to find them.
Harder, though not impossible. If in close enough proximity, Gabriel would be able to sense his brother. Once he did, he could free Raziel from the prison Pyriel had turned his body into.
Gabriel had been all over the island until finally coming to Punta Santiago. Though the hurricane was some time ago, looking at the landscape, one would think it had just occurred. Gabriel knew he would look a little out of pla
ce walking about the streets in his white suit, so he altered his clothing, appearing instead as a man clad in a T-shirt and shorts with sandals.
He walked through the streets, his head moving from side to side as he observed the people working to rebuild the homes that were destroyed by the storm. It wasn’t long before he saw someone stand out.
The man was shirtless and on a rooftop, laying down boards to repair the roof which had been torn off. He held a large plank over one shoulder as if it were nothing and the way he was perched on the peak seemed like an unnatural stance for a human. His blond hair was shaggy and he sported a beard.
“Impressive, isn’t it?”
Gabriel looked to the source of the voice and saw an old man sitting in a chair outside one of the rebuilt homes. Gabriel walked over to him and jerked his thumb over his shoulder towards the man.
“You know him?”
The old man shook his head. “Not really. No one does. He just showed up one day and began to help. Works harder than anyone else, refuses any offer of food or money.”
“Where does he live?”
The old man shrugged. “Who knows? Every time I see him, he’s always working. One night, I couldn’t sleep. I went for a walk, saw him still working.”
“Do you know his name?”
The old man shook his head. “Whoever he is, it’s as if he were an angel sent by God himself.”
“You’re half-right.” Gabriel looked over his shoulder at the stranger. He turned back to the old man and offered him a smile. “Thank you, you’ve been very helpful.”
“Vaya con dios,” the man said as Gabriel left him.
The phrase almost made Gabriel want to chuckle. ‘Go with God.’ He was starting to wonder just whether the Divine Presence was still with them or not. Would Pyriel’s mad scheme have even been possible if the Presence were watching over Heaven?
Gabriel went back to the house the stranger was working on and looked up at him. He stood there staring, waiting for the stranger to notice him. It took a few minutes and finally, the stranger caught sight of Gabriel and did a double-take. He stopped his work and stood, studying Gabriel, tilting his head to the side.
The man climbed down from the top of the house with incredible speed and stood in front of Gabriel. Now that Gabriel had the opportunity to look in the man’s eyes, he saw they were blue, but faded. Not like the pure blue of most angels.
There was also something else. Gabriel hadn’t noticed it before, but the man sported several tattoos on his chest and arms. They would look like exotic designs to any mortal eye, but to an angel, it was clear that they were Enochian binding sigils, designed to lock an angel into human form.
“Do you recognize me?” asked Gabriel.
“No, but…I can’t explain it,” said the man. “Something about you…it’s familiar…”
“Care to take a walk? I’d like to talk to you about the work you’ve been doing here.”
The stranger rubbed the back of his head. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m very busy.”
“Please,” Gabriel insisted. “Five minutes of your time, it’s all I ask.”
The stranger sighed and then nodded. “Okay. Five minutes, no more.”
“Thank you.”
The two walked down the street from the house, moving towards the shoreline. There was a fishing pier, damaged in the storm. It hadn’t been fully rebuilt yet, and was like a grid stretching out onto the sea. They walked down it and Gabriel studied the stranger’s movements. A regular human might have difficulty balancing themselves on these beams, but this man walked with confidence and grace. Even if a strong wind came, Gabriel doubted it would interrupt the man’s gait.
“My name is Gabriel, by the way.”
“Nice to meet you, Gabriel.”
There wasn’t a name offered in reciprocation. Gabriel decided to ask for it. “And you are…?”
The man paused and looked up at the sky. He looked confused by the question, as if it were asked in a language he’d never heard before. Finally, he looked back at Gabriel and shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“Where are you from?”
“Somewhere…far from here.”
“But you don’t know where?”
He shook his head once again. “No. To be honest, I don’t remember much up until a few months ago. I do get…flashes, sometimes.”
“Flashes of what?”
“Memories, maybe. Or something I saw once, maybe in a photo or a movie. A city of crystal in the clouds…”
“Maybe it is a memory,” said Gabriel. “An old man in town, he told me you’ve been doing good work here, but that you refuse any sort of payment. And that after all this time, no one knows anything about you.”
“I’m not here to socialize, just to help.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I just feel like…like this is the kind of thing I should have been doing for people my whole life.”
It was an interesting response. In all the time Gabriel had known him, Raziel had an affinity for humankind. He felt a responsibility to them. Perhaps now that he was cut off from his memories and his true power, that responsibility had formed the backbone of his identity.
“Does the name Raziel mean anything to you?”
He blinked at Gabriel and once again, looked up at the sky, staring at the clouds. No response came this time, not even a perplexed expression. It was almost like he didn’t even hear the question—or just didn’t want to answer it.
“What about Luther Cross?” asked Gabriel. “Or Dakota Reed?”
Still nothing.
Gabriel leapt gracefully from the beam he stood on to the one where the stranger was. He came up beside him and placed a hand on the stranger’s shoulder. The man wouldn’t acknowledge it, wouldn’t even look at Gabriel.
“What about Pyriel?”
That finally got his attention. The stranger turned and looked at Gabriel. The blue of his eyes was stronger now, almost humming. But the effect only lasted a few seconds before it faded. Gabriel could have sworn he saw the tattoos briefly flash as well, trying to contain the angelic power within this body.
“I’m sorry to do this,” said Gabriel as his hand dropped to his side. His eyes began to glow bright blue as azure sparks traveled down his outstretched arm. “But it’s the only way.”
The sparks erupted into flames contained in Gabriel’s palm. He grabbed the stranger’s hair with his free hand and then slammed his flaming palm against the man’s chest. The stranger howled in pain as the blue flames spread out over his torso and traveled down his arms. Gabriel could feel the sigils resisting his efforts to burn them away, but he wouldn’t let that deter him.
The man screamed in agony, his eyes burning with white fire. A faint blue glow appeared just under the surface of his skin. Gabriel’s wings started to emerge from his back as he continued to channel his soulfire against the sigils.
Slowly, they started to catch on fire. Little by little, the soulfire burned away the marks, reducing them to ash that fell off the man’s flesh and were caught by the wind, vanishing into nothingness as they blew away.
Gabriel cut his power and both he and the man fell from the bridge and into the water. Except they didn’t land in the water. Instead, they just rested on the surface, as if it were completely solid.
With his breathing heavy, Gabriel slowly got to his feet. He shook his head, still feeling dizzy from the experience. The sigils Pyriel used to bind Raziel were powerful. Removing them may have even been impossible had Gabriel not been an archangel.
He walked over to the stranger, who lay on his back with his eyes closed. The tattoos were gone and when Gabriel looked at the surface of the water, he saw a displacement in it, in the shape of wings extending from the stranger’s back.
Gabriel knelt down and touched the man’s face. When he did, the man’s eyes suddenly opened. They were a deep blue, the same as Gabriel’s. No longer the faded color they
were before. He gasped when he opened his eyes and looked up at Gabriel.
“It’s been a long time, brother.”
“Too long.” Gabriel offered his hand. “Welcome back, Raziel.”
Raziel accepted the hand and with Gabriel’s aid, climbed to his feet. They both stood on the surface of the water now, and their little display had drawn a crowd. People stood on the shore, watching them with rapt attention. Some even bowed in prayer while others made the sign of the cross.
“Maybe we should take this somewhere a little more private,” said Gabriel.
Raziel nodded. Light emerged from their backs, forming into wings, and it quickly took them from the site beside the pier. No doubt there would be a lot of conversation kicked up over this little encounter, but no one would be able to prove it and it would simply be viewed as a hoax or mass hallucination.
The angels flew further from land, getting far from the shore. Raziel descended first, landing atop a buoy floating in the middle of the ocean. He was perched on the tips of his toes and his wings curled around his body. Gabriel descended in front of him, maintaining a hover position just above the water’s surface.
“After we retrieved Luxton’s soul from Purgatory, I went to Pyriel and Zadkiel about it. They must have known I would learn the truth, so they struck first,” said Raziel. “Pyriel marked me with those symbols, trapping me inside my human form, and then they cast me out into the world.”
“A lot’s happened since you’ve been gone,” said Gabriel.
Raziel looked at his brother with concern in his eyes. “Tell me.”
Gabriel floated closer and placed his hand on Raziel’s head. It was a faster method of transmitting the information than going over it all in detail. Within seconds, Gabriel’s memories flowed over Raziel’s eyes and he learned everything that had happened since his disappearance.
“By the Holy City…” muttered Raziel, pulling away from Gabriel’s hand, cringing the whole time. “If only I’d been here…”
“There wouldn’t have been anything you could do,” said Gabriel. “But now we have a chance to put things right. To stop Pyriel before this gets out of hand.”
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