Slowly, Anael shook her head. “No,” she answered after a moment. It took her a few seconds to elaborate. “I will be fine, I think. I just need to… adjust, I suppose.” She sighed, her wings drooping slightly and her chin dipping towards her chest. “Gabriel?” She glanced up at him from the corner of one eye. “How strange was it for you?”
“Not as much as I expected it to be,” he answered candidly. “I had already spent significant time here, though, so that may have had something to do with it.” Not the most comforting answer, perhaps, but he wasn’t going to begin lying to her now. It would help no one, and it would quickly lose any of its comfort if she had a harder time adjusting than Gabriel did.
“Once this is done with, we can stop adopting angels under weird circumstances,” Jack sighed wistfully.
“You kidnapped me,” Gabriel reminded him without missing a beat.
“It was only sort of kidnapping. You decided you liked us,” Siobhan argued in return.
Despite herself, Anael laughed quietly behind one hand.
CHAPTER FOUR
With two archangels living in the manor, everyone else seemed slightly on edge. Well, everyone else save for the Vampire Lords, who had nothing to be concerned about, and Siobhan and Jack, who were both on reasonably good terms with both archangels.
Everyone else, though, remained slightly convinced that the archangels were going to try to kill them all at any moment. Siobhan supposed it wasn’t an entirely baseless concern, though it grated on her nerves a bit, if only because she was pretty sure she could cut the tension with a rusty butter knife.
She took to essentially using Gabriel as a jungle gym as often as she could get away with. If he wasn’t killing her, despite her insistence on draping herself over him, sitting on him, pestering him incessantly, using him like furniture, and climbing him if the opportunity presented itself, then she figured eventually everyone else would get the point that he wasn’t harboring any murderous intent.
Despite that, Jack felt the need to inform her, “One of these days, he’s going to punt you across the yard, and everyone is going to laugh.”
She pouted at him, her eyes large as she batted her eyelashes. “You’d come scrape me out of my crater afterwards, though, wouldn’t you?”
Jack heaved a melodramatic sigh. As if he was making a solemn vow, he placed a hand on his chest. “I promise, I’ll come scrape you out of your well-deserved crater after you torment him into throwing you like a fastball.”
Siobhan pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. “My knight in shining armor,” she sighed, pitching her voice to something high-pitched and breathy.
“Are you both done?” Alistair demanded. “You are grossing me out.”
*
It was a day like most others, if Siobhan ignored the way her head pounded (and she had gotten rather good at that, all things considered). Casually, she was sitting on one of Gabriel’s shoulders because she knew he wasn’t going to throw her off. She was reading, though mostly she was skimming through the words halfheartedly, most of her attention focused on keeping the signal quiet for as long as she could manage.
It would be different in an actual combat situation. She knew that. It would be louder then, and so much stronger, and it would be capable of fighting back. But that wasn’t an excuse not to practice.
“That can’t be comfortable,” Gabriel remarked eventually, leaning on the balcony’s railing. He didn’t clarify whether he meant her choice in seat or her choice to tamp down the signal as long as she could just to see if she could do it.
She shrugged distractedly and flipped the page of her book. “I need to practice,” she reasoned.
“Not to your own detriment,” he argued, stretching two wings out from the shoulder she was sitting on. “You don’t need to hurt yourself.”
“Meh.” Carelessly, she waved it off.
Eyes narrowing slightly, Gabriel turned his head to scowl at her. She pretended not to notice for a moment, before she slowly looked at him. She tried very hard to look innocent, and she failed spectacularly. Even so, she still tried to sound innocent as she asked, “What’s that look for?”
“You’re not an expendable party,” he stated flatly. “Stop acting as if you are.”
Siobhan rolled her eyes, but dutifully, her efforts to silence the signal stopped. “There, happy?” she sighed, letting it buzz once again. Given how quiet it tended to be, it wasn’t a particularly noticeable difference. “You are such a mother hen.”
Gabriel scoffed and rolled his shoulders, and Siobhan fumbled her book and then clutched at one of his wings before she tumbled off of her perch.
“Why is everyone so worried about me trying to get better at this?” she groused, resituating herself but not yet bothering to hop down from her seat, despite her seat gradually deciding to be uncooperative. “Why is everyone making it into such a big deal?”
“Shock and amazement, we care about you,” Gabriel deadpanned in returned, jerking one wing in to swat her with the joint of it. “My apologies if this distresses you.”
She swatted the side of his head. “Don’t be a dick,” she scolded mildly.
“Don’t be a stubborn martyr,” he returned in much the same tone. “The effort is appreciated and acknowledged, but if we find you passed out in a heap because of it, we’re all going to be rather irate.”
Siobhan closed her book and brought it to her chest, as if in apology. “Oh, yeah. I would hate to make anyone irate.”
Gabriel rolled his shoulders again, and with a yelp, Siobhan flailed and tumbled down onto the balcony.
Alright, so her assessment that he wouldn’t toss her off had maybe been a little misjudged.
*
The view from the roof really was incredible. If not for the series of increasingly odd looks they got getting up there, Siobhan would consider making it her regular relaxation spot. As it was, though, most everyone else in the manor had looked at her and Jack as if they were singing show tunes in the kitchen as they made their way up. Ah, well. For the moment, at least, she was content to enjoy the view of the midnight sky and not let anything else bother her, splayed out on her back with her fingers twined with Jack’s.
There was the sound of feathers in the air, and Gabriel landed delicately at the edge of the roof. Siobhan and Jack both began to sit up to look at him.
“While I hate to disturb your peace—”
“Let me guess,” Siobhan sighed, cutting him off. “There’s another remote-controlled angel wreaking havoc.”
Gabriel nodded once. “Got it in one,” he confirmed. “Do you need anything other than the dog, or shall we simply get going?”
“Just the dog,” Jack replied, getting to his feet. He offered a hand down and hauled Siobhan upright.
“I’ll go get him,” she groused, brushing her clothing off briefly before she bolted off to fetch him from the kitchen.
*
Siobhan would never get used to the sight of rubble in a residential area. She had barely been able to deal with it in Chambersburg. It hadn’t sat well with her in the town they fought Anael in. And it wasn’t sitting well with her there in… whatever city it was. She could see skyscrapers in the distance, and there were houses in both directions on either side of the road.
It was a quaint little street, honestly. The porches were little more than stoops, and the yards were tiny, but the lawns surrounding the neat little houses and tidy little duplexes were green and well-tended, and the gardens were simple but cared for. There was no egregious maintenance being done on anything, and Siobhan could imagine in her mind’s eye a school bus dropping a herd of children off in the middle of the afternoon on the street corner at the stop sign.
The street was quiet, and it didn’t deserve what was going on. For a moment, Siobhan wished it was much earlier in the day, so she could at least comfort herself with the knowledge that most of the occupants were likely at work or school. Just past midnight, though? She knew those odds were slim
.
Wherever the angel was, they were a bit more ambitious than Anael had been. Her own destruction had been localized. This one, however, looked to have been systematically badgering at each house along the street before flying off to have fun elsewhere, so even out of range of the signal, Siobhan, Jack, Barton, and Gabriel were still standing in the path of destruction.
Gabriel crouched, and without even needing a command, Barton snuffled at the archangel vigorously for a moment before he wheeled about on his hind legs. He sniffed at the air, and then his hackles gradually rose and his ears flattened. He bared his teeth just briefly before he took off at a sprint, cutting over a stoop and across a small yard. The others followed in short order.
They chased him along a side street, through more yards, and around a pond that had once been decorative, though it had certainly seen better days. The grass around it was torn and soggy and smoking in places, and the water had flooded awkwardly into a crater in the center of the pond, baring the edges of the pond.
Barton kept running until, finally, he hopped over a downed tree, landed on a downed streetlight, and began barking furiously at a roof across the street as he balanced on the light like it was a balance beam.
Siobhan stared across the street to the roof in question, where smoke was pouring from the broken chimney and dust hung thick over the shingles. There was a distant beat of wings, and the dust cleared like the parting of the Red Sea, revealing the angel standing on the roof. She was familiar from the confrontation in Belleview. Oriphael.
Structurally, she looked identical to Anael. Siobhan was adapting to that quirk, but it was still a little unsettling. That was where the similarities ended, though.
Oriphael was pale, true, but with a golden cast to her skin, and her short, smoothed hair was chestnut brown and curled against the back of her neck. Her wings were a nearly matte shade of brown, the dust in the air making them lose nearly all of the little sheen they had. Her eyes were pale enough that they barely even glowed, and Siobhan couldn’t pinpoint their color.
Siobhan had not fought her in Belleview. Jack, however, had. He heaved a sigh and grumbled, “Oh, great. It’s the shrieking banshee.”
There was no time for any other conversation, as Oriphael lunged from the roof, aiming straight at them. Barton surged forward and crashed into her, throwing her to the ground. They tumbled over the cracked asphalt, Oriphael’s forearm caught between the dog’s teeth as she held him at bay, away from her face.
“No eating!” Siobhan snapped before she dropped down to sit behind the uprooted tree, hoping that, if she wasn’t immediately visible, it would offer her some modicum of extra safety while she dealt with the signal.
It was just as loud as it was in the fight with Anael and the fight with Gabriel before that, and instantly, Siobhan’s head began to throb. She dropped her head down to rest against her knees and dug her knuckles against her temples. Stubbornly, though, she kept wrestling with it, conjuring up every ounce of her willpower she could manage as she tried to tamp the noise down.
Much like last time, it argued right back. The signal got stronger until it was nearly all Siobhan could hear, save for the way Oriphael screamed in outrage behind her before she shouted, “Get off of me!”
Barton yelped as he was tossed aside, though he landed on his feet, claws dragging across the asphalt as he skidded. Jack threw himself into the fight next, catching an arm around Oriphael’s middle and using his momentum to drag her down to the ground. From there, he scrambled to pin two of her wings with his knees, his hands wrapping tight around her wrists and slamming her hands down to the ground.
She was practically shrieking by then, her two free wings still beating as best as they could when they were partially pinned to the road. Soon enough, she managed to slam one knee into Jack’s back, destabilizing him just enough that her two free wings could hoist her partially off of the ground, and she tossed him aside before she launched herself skywards.
Gabriel, not in the mood for playing any games of tag just then, launched himself after her. They drew even and he backhanded her with, perhaps, a bit more strength than intended, as she was sent careening back towards the ground. She hit the road like a meteor, the asphalt cracking and cratering around her.
She was fine, though. She wrenched herself out of her crater, fingers hooked into claws and ripping into the asphalt. Before she could get off the ground again, Barton seized one of her wings in his teeth, shaking his head as his jaw tightened. Oriphael stumbled back a step as the dog began to back up, and then she wound up right back on the ground as Jack kicked her square in the chest, knocking the air from her lungs.
She recovered quickly, rolling aside before Barton could land on her and flapping her wings twice to launch herself back to her feet. She beat both pair forwards, forcing Jack to rear back and halting his approach. When she heard claws on the asphalt behind her, she hopped into the air, did a flip, and landed behind Barton instead.
The mutt turned to peer at her, his ears pinned flat and his teeth bared savagely. He certainly wasn’t the most pleasant sight, and she kicked at him, only to need to wrench her leg back as he caught her ankle in his teeth.
While she was distracted and balancing on one leg, Jack punched her in the throat, caught her by one arm as she reeled back, and tugged her back in close so he could land a second strike against her sternum.
Finally, she ripped herself free, blood dripping from her ankle.
“No eating,” Jack said sharply, the dog jerking to a halt mid-step at the command. He huffed out a put-upon noise and licked his teeth, but dutifully, he made no efforts to actually maim Oriphael.
Gabriel landed again behind her, meaning she was rather effectively penned in between the three of them.
The signal was still rattling, though, still shrieking and buzzing, filling Siobhan’s head like smoke in a jar. The Metatron was angry, though that wasn’t all of it. He was offended, and Siobhan could feel it, like gossip in a dark hallway. But that sort of back alley cattiness had never scared her before, and it certainly wasn’t going to scare her then.
And… finally! Siobhan squeezed her eyes shut tighter, and with a force of will so strong she was surprised it didn’t manifest into a physical entity, she wrangled the signal into silence, as if she were squeezing her hands tight around it and choking off its air. The sounds of the fight going on behind her snapped back into clarity, as if a sheet muffling the world had suddenly been ripped away.
Oriphael made a very peculiar sound then, caught somewhere between a gasp and, “What?” One hand rose, as if out of reflex, until Barton hopped up on his hind legs to seize hold of her arm and pull it back down to her side.
Gabriel’s hands landed on her shoulders for just a fraction of a second before he lifted them just slightly so they hovered on either side of her neck, poised to strike at a moment’s notice.
Oriphael fell still very reluctantly, Barton’s jaws still wrapped around her wrist and Gabriel’s hands on either side of her neck.
He asked his question very simply. “If you aren’t being controlled, what will you do?”
“My duty,” she snapped, her wings flaring open behind her. “Not all of us have forgotten what that duty is, brother. I—”
He didn’t offer her a chance to finish her speech. He simply tightened his hold and twisted his hands to one side, and Oriphael’s neck snapped with a click and a crack. He let her go, and she crumpled to the ground in a heap, Barton letting go and scampering back a few steps as she toppled.
Siobhan sat up as the signal abruptly ceased, falling silent so quickly that her ears rang for a moment. She sat up, peering cautiously over the edge of the fallen tree to make sure there weren’t going to be any surprises, and then she stood up slowly, dusting off her pants and shirt as she did.
“That was abrupt,” she observed, digging her knuckles against one of her temples.
“How’s your head?” Jack asked, wringing his hands together just slightl
y as he looked at her.
Siobhan waved him off. “No worse than I expected,” she replied. There was no time to get into it beyond that, as the street’s residents, terrified but curious at the sudden lack of noise, began creeping back out.
That was their cue to head back to the manor and let everyone else know what had happened. Gabriel picked up Oriphael’s body and whisked that away first, leaving Jack, Siobhan, and Barton to mill around for a moment, mimicking the nervous bewilderment of everyone else on the street.
It was best to blend in until they were gone.
*
If Osamu had to pick a room he felt the most ‘at home’ in, it would not be the suite he had claimed as his own on the next floor up. There wasn’t anything especially unique about that suite. They all looked the same; they were all identical and generic, and none of the Lords had put much effort into customizing them. They were all still a touch unsure of what would be happening in the future. Would most of them go back to sleep? Would they all stay awake and rule by committee? No one was sure, and trying to make plans to act on in the midst of that lack of surety seemed ill-advised and hasty.
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