by Rae Foxx
She nodded frantically. "That... It sounds wonderful. I've wanted to break away from him for years."
Nudging Lucifer out of the way, I perched on the coffee table, knee to knee with Genevra. "Tell me." I shot Lucifer a little side-eye. "I understand difficult men."
He scoffed and even though I couldn't see him properly, I knew to my very soul that he rolled his eyes.
Genevra softened ever so slightly. "He wooed me at first," she said.
Sighing, I gave her a sympathetic look. "He's a charming man." Ugh. Raphael was a lech, but he was charismatic. That was true.
She nodded. "He had these beautiful plans. Of an Earth where humans aren't as tempted. Everyone would know God was real. All the different religions, they think they have different Gods, but it's all Him, you know?"
I nodded, knowing all too well. The religions that touted a one true Creator, they all had it right, but the devil was in the details.
Literally.
"Only the atheists, they're gaining a huge foothold," she said.
"Preaching to the choir," Michael said. "We do what we can to show them the Light, though."
Genevra's eyes lit up. "Then you understand where Raphael started. He wanted to expose Lucifer, Lilith, Abaddon. Show people what sin truly bought them. Is it worth it for an eternity of damnation?"
"Well, that's not exactly how it works," I said. “Souls didn't spend eternity in Abaddon. They either rehabbed and tried again, or they became demons. There was not an eternal damnation, per se.”
"Yes, we know that, but the humans don't. He wanted to give them proof. He's been showing himself to humans for hundreds of years in different ways. He was trying to stay under the radar."
"Why didn't he just do some major expose of himself?" Michael asked. "On live TV or something?"
Genevra chuckled. "He went down that route for a while. Before television was invented, all he could do was show himself to different people, but he knew he'd never get enough angels on board to make it a mass thing. So he had to be sneaky. if hundreds of humans around the globe suddenly had the same story about a very tall, brunette, muscular angel with wings of gold appearing to them, well, there's only a handful of Archangels with brown hair. And only you guys have gold wings."
It made sense. He couldn't get enough support from the angels to support himself. "But if he blows the lid off of Abaddon, and demons pour out, he doesn't need support. He'll have to hide from all the angels, probably be killed, but the job will be done."
"He thinks, in the end, when it's all calmed down and the demons are all dead. All the humans will become followers. No more atheists. No more religions that worship trees or animals, or what have you. He believes he'll be a martyr. A saint," Genevra said.
"For fuck's sake," Lucifer muttered. "What a dolt."
I chuckled at the very Lucian word. "Indeed."
Genevra shrugged. "He was compelling. And once I knew things, and helped..."
"You got in too deep."
She nodded frantically. "I want you to know, I wouldn't have chosen this, had I known how far he'd go. I thought he just wanted to find new and creative ways to build followers. Not blow the gates of Hell wide open."
We spent several minutes grilling her on specifics, but it drilled down to her knowing lots about his motivations, his feelings, and dreams, but very little about Raphael's actual plans. He held them close to himself.
When I was sure we'd gotten all we could from Genevra, I nodded at Michael. "Okay, she's done."
Before he did his work on her memory, I did the same thing I had with Ezekiel. "When this is over, use your second chance at life to make something good of it. Help humans. Raise your child with honor. We will be watching."
She wouldn't remember it, but my words would stick with her. She'd just never know why.
15
Taking Ezekiel and Genevra back to their hidey-holes was simple enough. Returning to figure out what the fuck to do with Uriel was another story. Lucifer, Michael and I stared at him with the ward up.
"Give him to Joel?" I suggested.
Michael winced. "I don't know. Joel's very by the book. He will turn him over to the angelic courts."
"He'll end up Fallen," Luc said. "And free."
Considering what I knew of our creator, I had to disagree. "God will possibly kill Raphael for this. He might kill Uriel, too."
"Then we end up with his soul in Abaddon," Luc said. "But we aren't there to make sure it's handled well."
"We can't kill him." Gabriel had a point. "It's high treason to kill an Archangel, even in circumstances such as this."
God was fond of his Archangels. We were the first. Raphael and Uriel's actions would wound him. "He probably already knows," I mused. "He's not completely omniscient like people think, but he's damn close."
"If these two aren't using magic to block their true thoughts, they’re idiots," Luc said. "We all learned how to do that thousands of years ago."
"Well, we can't stand here in this bloody barn and stare at him until the demons break loose either." Michael turned away from Uriel to face us. "It's going to have to be Joel. We don't have time to babysit him to make sure he doesn't break out of this temporary prison."
It wasn't exactly some high security wizard prison, our little barn. He had a point. I sighed and let my head drop. "Joel!" I shouted to the ceiling. "We need you!"
He appeared a few seconds later. "I live to serve," he said dryly. "You've got to stop summoning me like a servant."
"I'm sorry." He was right. He wasn't my husband to order around like the other three. I chuckled to myself at my joke but didn't say it out loud. They wouldn't have found it as funny. "Can you take Uriel? Give him to the courts to determine his fate. They can force him to speak the truth. Maybe God will take notice and intervene with Raphael."
Joel gave me an incredulous look. "God hasn't intervened in anything since Jesus came home. He did a big, huge thing, which should've had the effect Raphael is going for here. Humans stoically hate to admit there is a higher power." He shook his head. "But I digress. He won't intervene."
"Yeah, we don't truly think he will either. But he will punish Uriel," Lucifer said. "That much we're confident on."
Joel chuckled. "Yep. Agreed."
He took Uriel to Heaven and out of our hair. With a wave of his hand, Michael cleaned up the barn and removed all the blood. It had been getting rancid there. "I don't know about you guys, but I need food and sleep."
It was almost twilight, and I'd lost all track of the days. Without any leads or possibilities, we had nowhere to go. Nowhere to look.
"Maybe if we all rest, something new will come to us tomorrow," I said. There was nothing else to try. My poor human body was near breaking down. I felt the strain of the magic on it, too, even with the barrier I'd put in place.
We all needed showers again. I wasn't sure if it had been one or two days since we last took one, all of us in the bathroom together before we went after Ezekiel and Genevra. Or had it even been a whole day yet?
However long it had been, I felt gross, and though I could magically clean my body, I craved the feel of hot water rushing over my skin.
"I'm going to order pizzas," Luc said. My stomach growled on cue. I moved me and Luc to the kitchen and Gabe and Michael followed of their own accord. We could've magicked ourselves some dinner, but the food had to come from somewhere. We didn't have the ability to create it out of thin air. We didn't like using magic for things like obtaining food, because it might take it out of someone else's mouth. Better to do the right thing and pay for it, even if that meant another forty-five minutes.
Now that I had nothing driving me to the next task, my hunger and exhaustion moved to the forefront of my mind. "I'm going to shower while we wait."
Gabe grimaced. "I'll join you."
We trudged up the stairs and into the bedroom. "We need a home on Earth," Gabe said. "Somewhere we can go even in our angelic bodies. Like a vacation."
"We could start using human brokers again," I suggested. We used to reveal ourselves to one human, carefully chosen, to do things on Earth for us. They owned our properties, made business deals, and dealt with any offspring we might have had as humans. Of course, I'd never had any, but others had. The children of two angels in their human cycles had always been human. Another reason I'd assumed Ariel would be.
But then, Luc and I weren't normal angels, either.
I stripped slowly as the water heated up. Gabe watched. "If I wasn't so tired, I'd take you right here in this shower."
Goosebumps danced across my skin as I smiled at his words. "If I wasn't so tired, I'd let you."
Too bad for both of us, I didn't have it in me. If I laid down on this floor, even on my knees, I would've been fast asleep.
The tankless water heater Lucian and Connie had installed was a blessing. I stood under the spray until my skin was wrinkly. My worried mind wouldn't quiet, even though the exhaustion was making clouds push in the edges. Where was Ariel? What was Raphael feeding her? Had he found someone to care for her? I couldn't picture him being particularly maternal.
If she appeared on Earth, would I feel her? Would I know?
I reached out with my magic to try to sense her, but it resisted.
Damn. I knew I'd pushed myself too far when even my magic didn't want to go out to play, and after three decades of not being used. It was normally very eager to be of use after an Earth cycle. As it lay dormant inside us, it recharged and reconnected with the Earth itself, giving us more power and vitality. It generally lasted about five centuries before it began to wane, and when it was too weak, it would launch us into our next Earth cycle. We never had warning specifically when it was happening, but we usually had a general idea and could prepare ourselves.
"Lil." Michael's voice pushed through my thoughts a few minutes later. I'd gotten in the shower with Gabe, but Michael stood beside me now, a concerned look on his face. "You fell asleep."
I took my arm off the shower wall. "Wow," I whispered, and my voice came out as a croak. "I didn't even wash." I laughed and grabbed the shampoo. "I don't think I've ever fallen asleep standing up, in all my lives."
Michael took the bottle from me and turned me around. "Just try to stay upright. I got you."
Closing my eyes and focusing on staying awake, I let him lather my long dark hair.
He grabbed the removable shower head and rinsed the suds out. "You've always had hair that made me want to keep my hands in it," he said. "Silky."
I hummed low in my throat, barely keeping my mind focused on his words. When he turned me to rub my loofah all over my body, I opened my eyes in surprise. I hadn't even realized he'd stopped stroking my hair and lathered up with my body wash.
My gaze drifted down. I knew caring for me like this turned him on. He'd always gotten off on pampering me. All part of his loving nature.
He lifted one of my legs as I balanced myself with my hands on his shoulders. Running the loofah down the inside and up the outside, he washed me better than I usually washed myself.
Did anyone wash their legs this thoroughly? That was what shaving was for. I giggled as he hit the inside of my ankle. It tickled.
His efforts relaxed me and put me into a state of contentment. I wasn't exactly happy, but my sleepy mind pushed the panic and worry away and let me enjoy my husband's devotion for a few minutes.
When he finished my legs, he kept one held up and moved the loofah between them. We'd showered together many, many times over the years, and he knew exactly how to wash my sensitive lady parts. As an angel, I was impervious to most diseases, but Michael and I had spent numerous Earth cycles as a married couple. He'd learned where to and where not to apply soap.
He wasn't as tired as Gabriel. When he finished spreading soap over me, he dropped the loofah and grabbed the showerhead with one hand, holding my leg with the other. I was so relaxed, I balanced on the other but let him hold most of my weight by leaning against him.
When the soap rinsed away, he replaced the spray of water with his fingers. I jumped, surprised by the surge of pleasure when he put his fingers directly on my clit and squeezed.
"You're swollen," he whispered into my ear.
I hadn't realized how turned on my body had become while I dozed on his shoulder and he cleansed me. Now that he'd fully woken me up, I felt the tingles that indicated my body wanted a release, and now. My nipples had hardened at some point and ached to be touched.
Michael saw me arch my back, pushing my chest into his, and couldn't resist. He let my leg lower but kept his hand there. I moved to the corner of the huge shower, where we had put a shower seat. As Connie and Lucian, we'd figured we'd want it when we had kids, either toward the end of my pregnancies or the kids might use it. I was glad to have it now as I rested my foot on it.
Michael wrapped his lips around one tight nipple and sucked it softly again. His fingers didn't let up, squeezing and pressing on my clit as it began to pulse with the inner pleasure that indicated a strong, sharp orgasm was building. "Keep going," I whispered, reaching between us to grab his hard cock. He had to lift his mouth off of my nipple, but I wanted his dick in my hand more than I wanted his lips on my nipples.
Stroking him in the water, I squeezed his base, the way I knew he liked it. He moaned and watched my small hand glide over his thick cock as he continued to press his finger against my clit over and over.
My inner walls began to clench uncontrollably, signaling the start of the orgasm. I lost all sense of how fast or hard I stroked Michael, but I must've been doing something good, because his hot cum squirted all over my stomach, then was quickly washed away by the shower. My orgasm exploded in my core, rocking through me in an internal spray of hormones and pleasure.
When it finished, I was more exhausted than ever. Michael turned off the water and wrapped me in my big terrycloth robe, letting it absorb the water from my body. I roused enough to wrap a towel around my head and let him lead me to the bed.
My stomach growled as I climbed in, toweling my hair and leaning against the headboard.
As if my hunger pang had summoned him, Lucifer walked in with a plate of pizza, napkin, and a bottle of water. "Thought you might want to eat in bed," he said.
I nearly cried in relief. "How are you not as tired as I am?" I asked.
"I am," he said. "I fell asleep on the couch waiting on the pizza. As soon as I shower, I'm out like a light."
The pizza tasted like the finest manna from Heaven after going so long without eating. "You realize you're chewing with your eyes closed?" Michael said. I opened my eyes to see Luc had left the room. The faint sounds of the shower coming on again told me where he was.
"I didn't realize that." The slice of pizza in my hand, which I thought I'd only taken a bite of, was half gone. "Another first. I've never eaten in my sleep."
Gabe walked in just in time to hear that and laughed at me. "When I got out of the shower, I thought you were just resting and enjoying the water. Not asleep."
I finished my slice of pizza. There was another on the plate, but one was enough to stave off my hunger. I handed it to Gabe. "Want that?" I asked.
"Duh," he said. I burrowed myself in the blankets with a fleeting thought about where they'd all sleep. The king-sized bed would hold three of us easily, but four would be more difficult.
Drifting off, my last thoughts were of my sweet Ariel. I prayed she was warm and comfortable, and unaware of her separation from her parents.
Humans Suck
16
Nothing new happened the next day, except Michael and Gabriel leaving to study the tomes in the library in Heaven for any information they could find about entering realms. Luc and I were left to keep our own counsel.
We visited Mary again, the Voodoo. I took her our big screen TV and the gaming system Lucian had loved. Lucifer cared less about playing video games. "For the little boy," I said. "Not a payment. Just a gift. These things will be good to nobody s
oon, and I thought he might like them."
Lucian noticed the boy peeking out of the hallway. "Do you want to help me set it up?"
The little guy's eyes lit up as he nodded. Luc took his hand and looked at Mary for permission. "Go ahead," she said. "In the living room."
They got busy changing out the small, ancient television for the one we'd brought.
"Can we talk?" I asked.
She still seemed wary, even after helping me before. Maybe because Luc was with me and she knew exactly who and what he was.
Writing down the address of our home and the one Michael had used when he was human, I explained we'd be leaving soon. "It may be weeks to come, but these homes will be empty, and you're welcome to take anything inside." Then, I realized she might not have the means to go get the stuff or to rent a truck or have help with the items. "Shoot. Will you have help? Someone to load anything you want out of the house?"
She studied me carefully. "Why do you do this?"
It wasn't because I still hoped for her help. "Your aura. I've never met such a purely good human. I would help you any way I can, and I know you won't use magic to help yourself." Another idea popped into my head. "I'm going to leave here and we're going to leave the properties to you in a will. Our bodies will be found soon, and you'll be left the money we have in savings and our properties. You can sell them, keep them, give them to family, whatever you want to do."
She stared at me with skeptical eyes. "It seems too good to be true."
I laughed. "Based on your aura coloring, I think you may be descended from the children of my brother. I want to do this. These items are no good to me." The thought of my daughter drifted through my mind. I sucked in a deep breath and hoped the guys would agree with this. "I do have one favor."
She harrumphed. "I knew it."
"We have a daughter, Lucifer and I."
She nodded. "She's the only reason I initially agreed to help you."
