by Riley Hunt
“What I meant to say is that this isn’t your first attempt at bringing up this issue.” Gabriel carelessly slipped that tidbit into the conversation. “You, Vex, are like a little hamster, running around and around on the same damned wheel. You can’t stay in your lane, can you?”
The bastard knew who I was. I couldn’t wait to tell the people of Helius what the Angels were truly like. Psychopaths, weirdos, and liars.
“Is that how we know each other? I remember nothing from my past or even my true name.”
The smile on his face refused to die down, and it sent chills shooting down my spine. No one should be this happy in such an awkward situation.
“Would you like to know? I have the power to fill in the missing pieces of your memory. It would be easy to bring those memories back to you.” He twiddled with his thumbs as they rested against the top of his desk.
“I’m sensing that there’s some sort of catch. No one would just offer that up for nothing.” My throat felt like sandpaper.
Ana whispered into my ear, “I have a terrible feeling about this. Don’t make a deal with an Angel.”
Gabriel tsked. “Now, that isn’t what a member of the lower Angel rank is supposed to say, but I could fix that as well. You would do better in a higher pay grade.”
Ana was confused. “A promotion? But I thought only the most holy and loyal got to ascend.”
“I’m sure you don’t want to be stuck reaping for all eternity. How boring would it be?” He yawned. “I am able to make all your eternal dreams come true—a reinstated memory and a promotion to a full-blown Angel. You could be in Heaven by the end of the day.”
“For what?” I sneered.
Did I really want to know what the terms of this deal were? Was Ana considering it? I honestly had a hard time telling what she was thinking. Her face had looked angry for the entire trip, and this moment was no different.
“For your silence, of course,” he replied casually, as if this was something he did every single day.
“A bribe?” Ana replied.
Gabriel shrugged. “If you choose to call it that… then, I suppose it would be.”
“That’s not very angelic of you,” I spat out. “I thought Angels were supposed to do things the right way—the holy way.”
“As if someone from Helius could tell the difference between right and wrong. Those are just simple rules that the people of Earth have come up with. The afterlife is more complex than those two paltry words.”
Ana spoke up before I could answer him. “We will not be bribed. There is something seriously wrong, and you trying to buy our silence just proves how corrupt you are.”
“You do not speak for me,” I answered. “I mean, if you can make the deal a little sweeter than…”
Ana shot me a nasty look. Her lips pulled into a tight line, and I had been around the Reaper long enough to know what that meant.
“Okay, never mind. She does. Her opinion is both of our opinions,” I quickly corrected. I didn’t want Ana to slap me. Again.
“Is that so?” Gabriel asked with a smirk on his face. “This is your last chance to turn back and choose the right path.”
“Yes,” we said in unison.
“Then you will be treated like fanatics and confined for all eternity.”
He snapped his fingers, and three portal doors appeared then swung open. A herd of lower-level Angels stormed inside, each of them wearing the pure white uniform.
Two beefy Angels lunged at me and grabbed my arms. I stomped on the closest toes I could reach, and he tumbled to the ground with a groan, but the other slammed me into the wall of steel cabinets.
Ana had a better time than I did. She swung around and punched the first Angel right in the nose. The man squealed in pain as blood spattered into the air like a mist. Another lackey whipped out a baton from her leather belt and swung it down toward Ana’s head, but she blocked it with her forearm. She kicked the woman in the stomach but was too distracted as another Angel grabbed her and slapped on a pair of golden handcuffs. Ana bucked and wouldn’t stay still.
“You’ll pay for this,” Ana yelled.
“Will I?” Gabriel inspected his nails as if he had some sort of dirt underneath, but I doubted Angels ever got their hands dirty. “And who will make me pay? The two of you? You can’t even fight off a couple of Angels. Pathetic.”
I elbowed someone in the side of their ribs and launched toward Ana, but a hand wrapped around my throat to yank me back. As I tried to swing around, another Angel placed my hands into gold handcuffs with symbols carved into the metal.
We were caught, and there was nothing we could do about it.
At least, not yet.
Chapter Seventeen
Ana
Betrayed and hurt.
I couldn’t believe Gabriel had done this to me! My heart thumped as I paced back and forth in the small, confined cell. The cell was all gray and apart from a chair, a place to wash your hands while sitting on a metal toilet, and a single bed, it was almost bare.
They hadn’t bothered separating Vex and me. I assumed eventually they would, unless they meant to make us suffocate in the tight space together. The bed was small and would only fit one of us, and there was only one white pillow and a thin sheet to cover the hard surface. The air in the cell was stale and cold. They had intentionally made it that way; everything in Limbo was always in the middle. It stayed a nice seventy degrees all the time. In this cell, it was cold enough to see our breath.
I sat on the bed in a huff, leaning forward to put my face in my hands.
“Don’t worry. We’ll get out of here,” Vex consoled with a soothing voice. He sat down next to me and patted my back.
“Gabriel was my friend, the only one I trusted and had connected with since the beginning of my existence,” I choked out, the betrayal sour in my mouth.
“People are sneaky as a fuck. That includes Angels.” Vex leaned into me with his shoulder. “We just need to keep going.”
“How the Helius are we supposed to do that?”
I looked up into his emerald eyes and saw the hope still there, even though the depths of my being felt as though all was lost. We were screwed. We needed to throw in the towel and beg for forgiveness before I got unmade, and who the hell knew what they would do to Vex? What were they going to do to an already fallen Angel? Throw him in eternal confinement? Were we there now, in our own Helius?
“I don’t know,” he answered, his shoulders sagging somewhat and that confidence muting in his eyes.
I chewed on my lip, lost in thought, and tried to focus on my breathing. Worry was creeping over every fiber of my being, and I needed to calm that shit down.
“We need to prepare for all possible outcomes,” I mumbled, chin falling into my hands. “Like them unmaking me or turning me into a Fallen Angel.”
The cold air seemed to seep into my bones. I looked up at the vent to see ice forming in the grate above before shuddering and rubbing my palms down my face.
“You know, Helius isn’t so bad.” Vex leaned back against the wall beside me. “I mean, most of the fun people go there. You’ve got clowns, Instagram influencers, and don’t forget all the Daemons.”
He was trying to comfort me, but at that moment, I just wanted to wallow. In my heart, I had a feeling that this would one day happen. I had a penchant for getting myself in trouble. Only this time, it felt like I’d had a real reason, a purpose. It hadn’t felt like I was doing something wrong. It had felt good. We were trying to help the souls of the realms.
The minutes then hours seemed to ebb away slowly, but I knew what that meant. We had been here for what felt like an eternity, but it would only have been five minutes on Earth. I wasn’t sure how comforting that was. t least my belongings and the apartment would still be there for the next hundred years while I was confined in this hell hole. But the horror of staying here for an extended period while they took their time deciding what to do with us did not sound appealing.
Chills shot down my spine. That was it. No more wallowing or sorrow. It was time for action. Time to escape.
“We need to get out of here,” I croaked through the dryness of my mouth and the ever-increasing cold.
“How?” Vex asked, seemingly less affected by the temperature. He put his arm around me, rubbing my shoulders and letting me absorb some of his natural heat.
“W-w-we need to call for a judgment.”
My teeth chattered, and I leaned greedily into Vex, thinking for just a moment that I would love to wrap his entire body around mine. As I lifted my chin to look at him, his breath warmed my frozen face. And for the first time, I realized that he was so beautiful, as beautiful as an Arch Angel.
Oh, holy Helius. The thought pressed into me like a giant weight. He wasn’t just any fallen Angel. He was a fallen Arch Angel, one of God’s trusted few, one who’d had a personal relationship with the Big Guy upstairs.
I only knew of one fallen Arch Angel, the one God had once loved the most, and the one all the others hated.
Lucifer.
Abruptly, I pulled back. I was wrong—I had to be.
Or was I?
All the puzzle pieces connected. His lost memories. Lucifer’s disappearance. The Angels calling him brother. Adam.
Vex chided me and pulled me in closer. He smelled of honey and ash. Intoxicating. “Don’t be silly. Let me help keep you warm.”
His eyes locked onto mine, and there was an intentness in his gaze that was deep and full of longing. As I stared into those eyes, all the earlier thoughts of Lucifer and fear melted away. I had to just be thinking crazy if I thought he was anything like Lucifer. It was impossible, but the recent betrayal had me questioning everything I’d thought I knew. Now, Angels were bad, Helius wasn’t…
And me?
“Ana?” Vex called out gently in his grumbly voice.
Not up for conversing, I only offered in response. My mind needed to work out these equations.
He cupped my cheek, and. with the slightest touch, turned me to look at him. “It’s going to be okay,” Vex whispered with such confidence that I almost believed the honey he was selling me.
“How do you know?”
“Because I will make sure that you will get your happy ending where you can be grumpy, wear all the black clothes you want, and listen to your records. And nothing will stop me.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.” Vex leaned over to kiss me. His lips gently caressed at first but then turned stronger.
I welcomed the heat and the fluttering sensations in my stomach as tingles erupted throughout my body from my groin. Bits of pleasure flooded my body, the ache that began in my nether regions growing as he deepened the kiss hungrily. I was so lost in it. He kissed me over and over.
Desire and swirling emotions burned through my veins, threatening to overwhelm me. The warmth of his skin. How did I not realize how warm he was before? As I straddled him, not breaking the kiss, I allowed his hands to slip underneath my shirt and roam. When the tips of his fingers brushed against my nipples, my back arched. I wanted more. I needed more.
A fire was brewing inside of me, and it wanted out. It wanted to rage and burn. It was lust, and it was beyond anything I had ever felt before. I whimpered against his lips and grabbed his shoulders, barely aware as his hands slipped into my jeans, touching that wet, sensitive part of me. I’d wanted no one so badly in my entire life—my entire, everlasting life.
“Well, this is an interesting turn of events,” a voice said from behind me.
Panting, I pulled back from Vex. He was also trying to regain his composure, breathing equally heavy.
I turned, quickly shifting to the side, out of Vex’s lap, to face Michael.
“Just trying to stay warm.” Vex shrugged, letting one side of his lips curl upward in a smirk.
“You never change.” Michael grinned as they shared some type of male satisfaction. “Even without the memories, he’s still in there somewhere.”
I watched Vex closely. There was a flicker of interest in his eyes. Michael knew who he was.
The thoughts from earlier seeped back into my mind. All the Arch Angels knew him, and they knew him well. That was never a good thing.
“Why don’t you tell me who that is?” Vex asked, leaning backward to show he wasn’t concerned with Michael’s presence.
He might not be, but I sure as Helius was. Michael was whom upper management sent when they wanted to banish a Reaper from existence. The room was no longer cold, but a chill was penetrating my bones once again.
“There will be enough time for that soon. Shall we?” Michael gestured to the door and walked through it, not waiting to see if we followed, but of course we did.
We didn’t enter the Hall of Judgment to stand before Ephraim, as that was a place for only souls. Instead, we stood in a different hall, one not dissimilar to where Eve lived. There was an open space with circular white marble columns and a bright blue sky overhead with a raised podium and a place for the defendant to stand. Behind it, there were two rows of marble benches lined up—just like a human courtroom, only more Angelic.
Phanel sat behind the raised podium. He stared me down with ice-cold eyes and a bitter smile pasted on his cherub-like features. He always looked pissed, and I always just thought it was because he damn near looked like a baby, or at least had a very baby-like face. It couldn’t make him popular with the ladies.
He bent his neck forward, his eyes squinting as his gaze shifted to Vex, and then his appearance changed as his eyes widened. Why did they all keep staring at him?
He opened his mouth and then closed it abruptly. He looked toward Michael and the other Angels just beside us while we walked up the path to the defendant’s podium. Gabriel, Ariel, and a few others littered the left side of the courtroom.
A few turned their noses up and kept their eyes sharp and predatory. Gabriel, however, avoided looking our way.
“Come forward,” Phanel commanded dispassionately.
We obeyed, shuffling our feet up to the podium. Vex took my hand in his and gripped it firmly, trying to reassure me and tell me it was going to be okay.
“Hello, Phanel.” I smiled meekly, shoving down the fear. I was tired of cowering to these hypocrites. If they were going to banish me to Helius, so be it. I would find a new beginning there. I would hate leaving Limbo, but it would be better than them unmaking me.
Would they?
I squared my shoulders and met his gaze. His lips formed a thin line at my insolence.
“You are both accused of treachery and sabotage. I’ve been brought proof of it.” He raised the inky pebble-looking device between his fingers to show the barely-occupied room. “Furthermore, you,” he paused, pointing toward me, “have been accused of consorting with the dark. The worst of the dark. The Prince of Darkness.”
“Fuck.” I snatched my hand out of Vex’s and turned to look at him. My mouth gaped open, and I couldn’t think, couldn’t move. He really was Lucifer. Had he really lost his memory, or was this all a trick?
Vex looked puzzled. His eyebrows raised, and eyes wide. He shook his head then narrowed his lids. “You’re lying. I can’t be him.”
“You’re calling me a liar, brother?” Phanel chortled, throwing his head back. His smooth, chubby face turned red from the force.
“If I may,” Michael interrupted. “Lucifer now believes he is Vex after his memory was tragically lost in an unfortunate accident.” Michael shot a worrisome look at Ariel, but all she did was shrug.
There were a few murmurs of agreement and head shaking from the other Arch Angels. Apparently, this bit of information was only privy to Michael and Ariel.
“Restore him,” Phanel commanded, flexing his fingers in front of him. His nostrils flared just a shade. “I find it very interesting that this information was not known to anyone else.”
“It wasn’t relev—”
“As always, the Angels play by their own r
ules,” Phanel cut him off. “Restore him.”
“I don’t think that is wise,” Michael implored, a warning dripping from each syllable. His shoulders squared.
“I said—”
Michael flicked his hand toward Lucifer. His jaw clenched, and his lips pressed so tightly they appeared unnaturally white. “As you wish,” he gritted through his teeth.
The air changed. It was hot and suffocating. There was no Angel standing next to me. I stole a quick glance at who had previously been my ally. His red, glowing eyes were fixated on Michael with deadly intent. Every one of his features had changed to something sinister. The look would keep even the evillest up at night.
I didn’t have time to think. His wings, black and thick, shot from his back, and he whipped through the air, landing on top of Michael with an audible thud. The other Angels scattered.
“Order in the court,” Phanel commanded, beating his pummel down, but everyone ignored him.
“You meant to imprison me in my own mind.” Lucifer grabbed Michael by the throat and lifted him in the air. “You’ve always been intolerant of me, Michael, but I never thought you could stoop this low. How petty and so very human of you.” He angled his face away and spat on the ground.
“Human? I am an Arch Angel. You are the one who is pathetic and weak.”
“Weak?” The red glow of his eyes burned into Michael’s as he screamed, “Yet I still possess the power to take away your existence with a mere wave of my finger.”
Michael’s eyes grew wide, like inflated balloons ready for takeoff. “We did the right thing, the just thing. If you had been in our position, you would have done the same,” Michael choked out, his face turning an alarming shade of purple. The veins in his throat protruded out of his skin, looking as though they would burst at any moment.
“According to whom?” Lucifer hissed, bringing Michael’s face closer. “To our absent Father? He doesn’t care for you, and you are all his faithful puppets.”
“Lucifer!” Ariel called. “Stop this nonsense at once.”
