Angel Exalted

by C. L. Coffey

  “It is an important question, and if you need to have time to think about it, you may have it,” the girl told him.

  “I’d rather just hear the question,” Joshua said, frowning.

  “Yes, I suppose that is fair,” the girl agreed. She half turned, looking out to the water, before looking back to us. “Your idea to lock Lucifer away in Joshua’s mind was genius.”

  My eyes widened. “Okay,” I said, drawing out the word. “Thank you?”

  “I do not like seeing unnatural death. Although it is true that, twice now, Lucifer has found a way to avoid his death, and in doing so, he has created chaos and suffering for humans. Even locked away now, that will never go away. But the world is safer with him in there,” the girl said.

  “I don’t have a problem with him being in here.” Joshua tapped the side of his head. “I’ll keep him here until my last breath.”

  “And that is where the problem lies.” The girl folded her arms, fixing us a stern look. “You do not have the mental ability and strength to keep him in there. Lucifer is far too powerful for a human to battle on their own.”

  “Stick him in my head,” I immediately declared. “You don’t even need to ask. Let’s do it now.”

  The girl shook her head. “In order to move him, we would have to release him and force him to possess you. The second we release him, he is gone, and we will not be able to trap him like that again.”

  “Then what are you saying?” I asked as I mimicked her posture.

  “There is only one way this could feasibly work. To keep Lucifer trapped for eternity, Joshua would need to be alive for eternity, and he would need your constant support to help maintain the prison you’ve built Lucifer.”

  I looked at Joshua, my eyes as wide as his. “I’ll protect Joshua until the end of time. Regardless of whether or not he’s my charge, I love him.” I chewed at my lip, the guilt stirring in me as I acknowledged that, the only reason that he would have to live for eternity with Lucifer trapped in his head, was because I put him there.

  “While it pleases me to hear that, ultimately, that decision belongs to Joshua,” the girl said. “It’s his life – his eternal life – that we are discussing here.”

  Joshua shrugged. “It’s not really a decision, is it,” he said, although he didn’t seem upset about it. “If I say no, Lucifer is unleashed on humanity once again. I couldn’t live with myself if I made that decision.”

  “You would be dead,” the girl shrugged, nonchalantly.

  Joshua screwed his face up. “Yes, I would. I would have to make that decision now, and then I would have to stand by that until I died; whether that was in an hour or another eighty years. But I wouldn’t live with that decision, because that’s not the choice I’m making.” He ran a hand through his hair. “The fact is, this is a decision greater than me. There will probably be days when it’s tough, but this is Lucifer we’re talking about. I’m not even going to second-guess my choice on this. I’ll do it. This is a situation where literally everyone but Lucifer wins.

  “And I’m standing right by his side as he does it,” I said, firmly, glancing back at Metatron. He was still scribbling away, but his eyes were fixed firmly on me.

  The girl broke into a wide, toothy smile. “I was hoping you would say that.” She walked over to us, placing a hand in each of ours, and leading us out of the surf and further up the damp sand. “But I have to ask,” she added as we walked. “Are you two prepared to spend eternity with each other?”

  “Yes,” Joshua said, looking over the girl’s head to meet my gaze.

  I smiled back at him. “You bet I am.”

  The girl released our hands, clapping hers together excitedly. It was the first time I’d seen her act anything like the eight-year-old she was. “Perfect. In which case, Joshua, I declare that you are now the Patron Saint of New Orleans, and Angel will remain your guardian angel. A real guardian angel.”

  “I – wait… what?” Joshua stammered.

  “Real?” I repeated. “You mean an archangel?” The girl nodded. I gaped at her. “You can do that?”

  “I already have, and Metatron has noted it down. Now, three things to remember. First,” she held up a finger. “An angel can renew a vessel, but a saint cannot.” Up went the second finger. “Second. You’re going to need to strengthen that prison of Lucifer’s on a regular basis. I would suggest going no longer than a week. And third,” she said, as the third thing shot up. “Saints are not human.”

  “Huh?” What did that have to do with anything… My eyes bulged. “Wait a minute! Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

  The girl winked. “Have fun with that.”

  My eyes shot to Joshua, he looked as stunned as I did, but he was also sporting a huge grin. I turned back to the girl to thank her, but she had already gone. “Do you feel any different?” I asked Joshua.

  He held out his hands, looking at them, but shook his head. “To be honest, I don’t really feel like ‘me’ here, so I don’t know.” He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me to him before kissing me. I kissed him back, hard. For the first time, I didn’t feel like the kiss was taking place on borrowed time. We had a future. When Joshua’s lips finally left mine, he left me wanting more, and trying to catch my breath. “I can’t wait to do that for real,” he mumbled at me.

  “I love you,” I told him. “Now, please go and wake up so we really can do this for real.”

  Joshua grinned, then he stepped back from me. Like the girl, he disappeared.

  I sucked in a deep breath, grinning like an idiot. I was an archangel. Me? Somehow, I had done it. And Joshua was a saint? I was so happy, I laughed, clapping my hands. We had been through hell and back, and somehow survived it. What’s more, Joshua and I could finally be together, and we wouldn’t be breaking any covenant to do so!

  I let out a whoop of joy, punching my fist in the air, before dancing around like someone with no care in the world. As I turned on the spot, wiggling my butt and arms, I discovered I wasn’t alone. I stopped suddenly, nearly losing my balance and falling into the water. “Metatron?”

  His eyes were darting about, looking side to side, as though he expected someone to appear. I took two steps towards him, frowning. He looked terrified. “Are you okay?” I asked him. He waved his arm, urging me to follow him, so I did, moving to where the water was only just lapping over the white sand. “What’s the matter? Was that angel wrong?”

  For the first time, he wasn’t writing in his book. He pointed at his mouth and shook his head. He had no voice? I was about to ask him, then he gave one quick scan of the area, before dropping to a crouch, his back to me. Using the top of his pen, he started writing something in the sand.

  I stared down at it, not sure if was understanding the words. “What do you mean, that’s not an angel?” Metatron gave me a pointed look. “No way!” I exclaimed. Metatron merely gave me a solemn look. “Oh, wow,” I whispered, dropping down to my knees. “Oh, wow!” I shook my head. “Then why do you look so terrified?”

  The fear returned to Metatron’s eyes. Then he wrote something else in the sand. Something which had me as scared as Metatron.

  Do not trust Grace.

  My eyes scanned the words three times before the water lapped over the top of it, washing them away. “What does that mean?” I asked, forcing the words out.

  Metatron just looked at me before he moved so suddenly, I didn’t realize he had shoved me until I went flying backwards into the water. And then everything went black.

  It was just before dawn when I awoke. My neck and shoulder blade had a terrible crick in them, and my feet were full of pins and needles, but overall, I felt much better… physically, at least. Yawning, I stood, easing out the discomfort in my neck, while trying to get feeling back in my feet. Joshua was still asleep, but I was hoping that was because it was still early.

  I wandered over to the sink, ignoring the fact I was still in the room where autopsies normally took place, and wash
ed my face. The cold water took away the last of the sleepiness from me, and I turned, ready to finish off what was left of the pizza, when my blood ran cold.

  Standing in the doorway, was Paddy.

  “Veronica,” I whispered. She was the only one who knew where we were, and she had been perfectly clear when it came to her feelings about Joshua.

  Paddy gave me a look of pure venom. “You have Lucifer trapped in there and you plan on leaving him like that?”

  I held up my hands but nodded. “Paddy, I know what you’re thinking, but Lucifer is trapped. So long as I’m by Joshua’s side, he’s going nowhere.”

  “You have no idea what I’m thinking,” Paddy snarled at me.

  “I think you’re thinking killing Joshua will stop you hurting for Raphael-”

  “Don’t you dare say his name!” Paddy yelled at me.

  I froze, but not because of Paddy.

  The internal alarm I seemed to have acquired when Joshua became my charge was bleeping at me. I turned my head to look at Joshua at the same time as Paddy did, and I realized it wasn’t my alarm, but the bleeping on his machines. Joshua was awake, pulling the wires from his bare chest.

  Things started moving in slow motion. Paddy raised her sword, ready to attack Joshua. I screamed at Paddy to stop. Then I was next to Joshua. In the millisecond it took me to realize I had the ability to transport, Paddy’s sword came down. I grabbed Joshua and got us out of there.

  The next thing I knew, we were in the middle of a football pitch. I looked around… the Superdome?

  That wasn’t important. I turned my attention to Joshua who was clutching at me. “Are you okay?” I asked, urgently, pulling away.

  The short answer was no.

  There was a cut running from his shoulder blade down to his hip, blood pouring from it. “Joshua!”

  “I don’t think it’s that deep,” he winced, trying to give me a reassuring smile.

  “Then why do you look like you want to throw up or pass out?” I demanded, pressing my hands against it.

  “Probably because ten seconds ago I was in a morgue being attacked by a saint, and now I’m at the Superdome,” he told me. “I thought everything was going to be okay now?”

  “Stay here,” I said, half registering his words as something caught my eye.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” he called after me as I took off at run across the field at a speed which would have had Sean Payton begging me to be a wide receiver for him. I had spotted a bunch of bags stacked at the sidelines, and one of them looked like a medic’s bag.

  I was right. I snatched it up and ran back to Joshua, pulling out his phone and calling Cupid as I did, grateful I had committed his number to memory. “I need you and Henry at the Superdome!” They appeared, with Michael, at the same time as I unzipped the bag.

  “How did you get here?” Michael asked, looking around in surprise.

  Before I could answer, Henry dropped down beside Joshua. “What happened?” he cried.

  “Paddy happened!” I told him, pulling out the contents of the bag and thrusting several items over to him. “Veronica told her.”

  “Veronica wouldn’t do that,” Cupid disagreed.

  I looked up at him with a frown. “Paddy all but admitted it.”

  “What happened?” Henry demanded.

  “I just told you, Paddy-”

  “No,” Henry cut me off. “To Joshua.”

  “What does it look like?” I snapped. He had stopped doing anything and was staring at Joshua in confusion. “Paddy tried to kill him, and I only just got us out of there, but as you can see, she slashed him before I did.”

  “The cut is healing,” Henry said, pointing at the wound.

  I stopped and stared. He was right. The blood had already stopped. I looked at Joshua. “It was real?” he muttered, before lifting his hand to look at it, like it was covered in something invisible.

  I fell back, heavily, into a sitting position. “Oh, my…!” I gasped. I stared at Joshua, flicking on my ability to see auras. “It’s gold.”

  Behind me, Michael gasped. I turned: this was the first time I’d seen him look surprised. When I looked back to Henry, he wore the same expression. The only one who didn’t seem to understand what was happening was Cupid.

  “Last night, while I was sleeping, I met with…” I frowned, chewing at my lip. I know who the young girl had implied she was, but I had met her before when I had gone to see Mama Laveau. Had she been a child then, or had she been… God? Was it presumptuous to think that was who she was? Why would God lead us to an angel who had left Heaven? What if I was wrong? Would that be blasphemy? “She was angelic,” I continued, playing it safe. “She looked eight, so I’m not sure who she was.”

  “There is only one who can grant a sainthood,” Michael explained, gently.

  “Joshua is a saint?” Cupid asked in disbelief.

  “Thanks,” Joshua grumbled. His wound, although no longer bleeding, was being dressed by Henry now. Apparently, saints had accelerated healing too.

  “I’m sorry, it’s just that sainthoods aren’t given out lightly,” Cupid apologized, though he still looked amazed.

  “I think that’s the reward to agreeing to keep Lucifer permanently locked up in my head.”

  Henry stood. “If Veronica led Paddy to Joshua, as you say, I shall return to the morgue in case they ask where you are.”

  “What are you going to tell them?” I asked.

  Henry looked at us all before shaking his head. “Nothing. I’ll let you all decide on your next steps before sending them after you.”

  “Thank you, for everything,” I told him.

  Henry nodded, then disappeared.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  How it Ends

  “What are our next steps?” Joshua asked. I leaned over to help him to his feet. He groaned, but considering he had just been attacked by Saint Patrick, he was holding up very well.

  “We need to speak to Paddy and Veronica again,” I said, simply.

  As I said it, the two of them appeared. “Speak to us about what?” Paddy asked.

  “This has to end, Patricia,” Michael said, stepping in front of me and Joshua.

  “Nobody but Raphael calls me that,” Paddy told him, her tone and expression cold. “You certainly don’t have that right. Nor do you have the right to stop me from finally killing Lucifer.”

  “Joshua is a saint, like you,” I bluntly told her. “He’s not just a human anymore.”

  Paddy shrugged. “I guess that means I won’t lose my sainthood when I kill him.”

  “Are you hearing yourself?” I asked her. “You’re talking about killing an innocent human!”

  “You just said, he’s not human,” Paddy snapped. “And even if he was, I highly doubt he’s as innocent as you claim he is.” She glowered over Michael’s shoulder at Joshua. “How many people have you killed, detective?”

  “It doesn’t matter what the figure is, the answer is too many,” Joshua responded.

  “Joshua!” I hissed at him.

  “No,” Joshua told me, shaking his head. “I’m not going to stand here and pretend I’m completely innocent, because I’m not: Paddy is right. I have sinned. I have killed someone, and it doesn’t matter if that was to protect someone else in the line of duty. The fact is, I have killed someone. And the answer to that question will always be, ‘too many’. He stepped to the side of Michael, but thankfully, had the sense to stay just behind him. “But the reason I was given a sainthood is because I have Lucifer locked up in here.” He tapped at his temple. “It sure as hell doesn’t make up for any life I’ve taken, but I do have every intention of keeping Lucifer locked up in here for eternity.”

  “Or,” Paddy gave a nonchalant shrug. “I could kill you and Lucifer now and we don’t have to wait for the inevitability of him escaping and taking more loved ones from people.”

  “That’s what this is about? Isn’t it?” I realized. “This still comes back to vengea
nce for Raphael.”

  “Of course it does!” Paddy yelled. “Raphael is not here anymore, and if Joshua hadn’t have gotten in the way, Lucifer wouldn’t have had the opportunity to survive. If I do this, then everything will be right again.”

  I stared at the petite redhead in dismay. I hadn’t known Paddy long, and we hadn’t been particularly close, but I had considered her to be a friend. The woman in front of me now was someone I didn’t recognize anymore. Paddy had been strong and kick-ass. She had a presence that made up for the fact she was barely over five feet tall.

  “What if it doesn’t work?” Joshua asked.

  “Doesn’t work?” Paddy snarled. “If you die, he goes too.”

  “It does not work like that, Patricia,” Michael said, somehow retaining his calmness.

  “Do not call me that!” Paddy screeched.

  “You cannot guarantee that killing Joshua will kill Lucifer,” Michael continued, patiently. “If that fails, you will have to live for eternity knowing that you killed.”

  “No,” Paddy disagreed, vehemently. “I will live for an eternity knowing that I did everything I could to stop Lucifer from returning, again. I will make things right.”

  “You said that before,” Joshua spoke up again. “But what if it doesn’t?”

  “Doesn’t what?”

  “Make things right,” Joshua explained. “You’re still hurting from your loss, and I understand that, but even if you do kill Lucifer, it doesn’t mean you’re going to stop hurting. That type of pain doesn’t go away that easily. “

  “You have no idea what I’m feeling,” Paddy spat at him. “If you did, you would do the same thing.”

  This was just going in circles. I kept my hand close to the hilt of my sword – just in case – and then stepped around Michael. “Lucifer has been gone for millennia and look at what has been done in his name.” I shrugged. “Look at what has been done in God’s name, and He’s been here the whole time. Paddy, we have found a way to end this without any more violence. So, let’s end this. Here and now.”