by C. L. Coffey
We hurried towards the exit. As we drew close, my heart leapt into my mouth. Michael was circling Lucifer who, somehow, had Joshua held against him, the tip of his sword pointed at this throat. “Joshua!”
“Just trying to help out, darlin’,” he said, trying to sound cheerful even when the blade was drawing blood.
Without any warning or preamble, Lucifer moved. With his supernatural strength, he flung Joshua at Michael. Michael caught him, but like all his movements so far had been, it was clumsy. With his attention on Joshua, he wasn’t looking at Lucifer. Instead of trying to escape, Lucifer employed my tactic, charging at the three of us. I stepped to the side as Raphael shoved Paddy out of the way.
I was still trying to work out what was happening as Paddy began screaming. I looked up and found myself staring in horror as Raphael moved forward, putting himself between Paddy and Lucifer. My screams joined Paddy’s as Lucifer’s sword went through Raphael’s chest. With the sword protruding from his back, Raphael fell limp. It was only Lucifer's grip which kept him upright.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The Price of Life
Lucifer pulled his sword out just as Michael appeared, charging with a battle cry which sounded alien coming from the archangel. Raphael dropped to his knees as Paddy frantically wrapped her arms around him, angling her body to try to protect his face from the rain. Then I was beside them, but it was already too late. “You don’t have time,” Raphael said, weakly. He had already lost all the color from his skin and his eyes were losing focus. “You need to leave before Beelzebub, before I…” he trailed off.
“No,” Paddy said, stubbornly shaking her head. “You’re coming with me.”
“Patricia,” Raphael reached up, his bloody hand cupping her face. “I’m not going anywhere. You have been the light of my life for centuries. Until I met you, I was simply existing with no real purpose,” he coughed, blood trickling from his mouth. “I could spend an eternity telling you how much you mean to me, but we don’t have it. We have seconds before Beelzebub’s spirit…” he coughed again. “My journey is over, but yours is still going. I love you.”
“Raphael!” she sobbed. He didn’t hear her, his body going completely limp in her arms.
I had to wipe the tears away so I could see. “Paddy, you heard him, we need to go.”
“No!” she snapped.
I looked up, finding Michael and Lucifer still locked in combat, Joshua somewhere between us, making his way over to me. I shook my head, then grabbed Paddy, ignoring her screams of protest as I tried to drag her towards the exit. My attempts were futile: in my current condition, I was barely strong enough to move her alone, but she was desperately clutching tightly to Raphael. I let go, wiping tears away with the back of my hand. I needed to get her – get us – out of there, but I didn’t have the heart, or the strength to separate them anymore.
The choice was taken away from me when I heard Joshua’s yell. I spun around, my eyes drawn to Michael and his fighting. He was… bad. He looked how I assumed I looked when fighting: unsure, uncertain, trying to counter attacks rather than get the upper hand to get his own blows in. It was like his body and his mind weren’t communicating.
I locked eyes with Lucifer and he smiled at me. In that moment, as his attention was on me, but he was keeping control of the fight, I knew he was holding back and would be able to take Michael out if he wanted to. My fingers curled around my sword and I dashed forward, ignoring my protesting body. Lucifer dodged a swing from Michael, raising his sword in time to stop my own. I didn’t stop, instead continuing my attack as best I could, despite my fatigue, Michael also joining my efforts.
There was no plan, no silent communication between Michael and I. I hadn’t realized just how I had subconsciously been aware of it before, until it was no longer there. We’d been a lot more in sync with each other than I’d ever cared to admit. As if he knew what I was thinking, Michael’s eyes narrowed and his intensity picked up. He was still lacking the finesse, but his strength was there.
I paused, just long enough to meet Lucifer’s eyes once more. Something had changed. That smug certainty had left him. In fact, he looked worried. The expression was quickly replaced with fear when Michael finally disarmed him, sending Lucifer’s sword clattering far out of reach.
With water and sweat dripping from his face, breathing heavily, Lucifer sank to the ground. At the same time, Michael raised his sword again. “Wait!” I yelled. The sword hovered millimeters from Lucifer’s skin. Michael glanced back at me. “He’s still human. The vessel he’s using: he hasn’t been using it all that long. There’s still a chance Luke is alive in there.”
The rain had washed all the gel from Lucifer’s hair and it hung down, sticking to his forehead. From under it, Lucifer glowered up at me. “Did you need to tell him that?”
I ignored his words and focused on the archangel beside me. “We can’t risk it, Michael.”
“Darlin’, I don’t think we have time for this,” Joshua said, creeping forward. “We need to get out of here.”
With a scowl, I nodded my head. “Joshua is right. We need to get out of here and go somewhere where we have the time and privacy to decide what to do next.” I wasn’t sure how true that statement was. We were still waiting for something to happen with Beelzebub and Raphael, and I was certain that countdown was quickly running out. But even if we only had seconds, we still couldn’t just take Luke’s life. “Michael, let’s get back to the convent.”
“You should be dead,” Michael said, all of his attention on his brother. “I killed you.”
“You tried,” Lucifer shrugged.
“No, I succeeded. You were dead.”
I let out an impatient sigh and frowned at Michael. “You know this really isn’t the time to have this conversation,” I told the archangel. “Things are literally about to start exploding around us.”
“Then how did you survive?” Michael demanded, ignoring me.
“We’re really doing this?” I asked him in disbelief.
Again, I was ignored as Lucifer gave Michael a sly grin. “Why don’t you ask daddy dearest?” Before Michael could ask another question, I pulled the necklace from around my neck and placed it around Lucifer’s. He let out a hiss as the metal touched his skin, and even though he kept his head up and his eyes locked on Michael’s, there was no mistaking the pain in them.
The reaction sparked something in Michael, but his response was not the one I was after. “I guess the how is unimportant now. But brother, why, after all this time, are you continuing to act in the same way?”
“Why are you?” Lucifer shot back at him. “You’ve been living amongst the humans for all this time and yet you still continue to remain blinded by them. You have watched how they have behaved, proved, that they are inferior to you. Meanwhile, our father has sat there, watching it all unfold, and doing nothing to set things right.”
“That is not His job,” Michael said.
“This is really not the time to have this conversation,” I cut in, stepping between the pair.
I knew as I turned my back on Lucifer it was the wrong thing to do – seconds too late to stop him from leaping to his feet. By the time I had turned around, he already had Joshua in a headlock.
All of a sudden, there was an explosion behind us, and once more, I found myself being propelled forward. My arms caught the brunt of it as I managed to stop myself from eating the ground. I wasn’t sure if it was caused by Beelzebub or Raphael, but the force had hit some of the mausoleums around us, sending rubble and dust up in the air and hindering sight. Without stopping to work out the extent of my injuries, with a roar of determination, I was back on my feet, seeking out the others, just in time to witness Lucifer’s body collapse over Joshua. I stumbled over, my unsteady legs full of lead and my head full of cotton wool, collapsing to my knees beside the pair. I pulled Lucifer off, shoving him to the side so I could check on Joshua. There was a line of blood on his temple. “Joshua!” I c
ried, feeling the immediate relief as he started to cough and splutter.
Pushing back the lightheaded feeling the adrenaline was giving me, I turned my attention to Lucifer. He wasn’t breathing. Swearing loudly, I pulled the necklace off him. “Angel?” I heard Michael behind me. It was my turn to ignore him as I tore at the wife beater Luke was wearing and thrust my hand – and the necklace – at his heart. There was no reaction. “He’s dead,” I muttered, the exhaustion and cold starting to seep into me.
“Dead?” Michael said, repeating the word as though he was unfamiliar with it. He dropped down beside me, his own hands running over Luke’s chest. I don’t know if he expected to prove me wrong.
“We need to get out of here,” I said, firmly. “Now,” I added through gritted teeth. “Get Joshua out of here.”
Michael reached down, plucking Joshua from the ground. His eyes fluttered open at the motions and he looked completely disorientated as Michael scooped him up in his arms. “Get him out of here. I’ll get Paddy.”
I didn’t wait to see Michael disappear, instead seeking out Paddy. She was still with Raphael’s body. The explosion had moved the pair further away from me. I could hear sirens now. It had taken long enough for someone to react to the explosions in the area.
With the dust still in the air, I made my way over, not realizing until I was almost upon them that Paddy was still conscious – she had just wrapped herself around Raphael’s body. Her lips were moving, repeating the same words over and over, even though there where was no sound escaping her mouth: Raphael.
“Paddy,” I said, prodding the saint gently. “We need to go. You need to let go of Raphael now.” She didn’t respond, but I knew she heard me as her grip on her partner tightened.
I laid my hands on Paddy. There was no time for being gentle as I tried to tug her away from Raphael. “No!” she screamed, her fist swinging at me.
Before I could move, Michael appeared from nowhere, pulling me out of the way. He wrapped his arms around me and then reached down for Paddy, yanking her. The force was enough to completely remove her from Raphael’s side. She screeched in anger, lurching back towards Raphael’s body, but Michael was quicker. Just as the explosion came, we were whipped out of the blast zone and the next thing I knew, we were in the convent in Michael’s office.
“I need to collect the angels,” he said, then disappeared before anyone could stop him.
I turned; feeling disorientated, but spotted Joshua. “I don’t feel too well,” he mumbled.
I was happy to see him upright, but his skin tone was floating somewhere between gray and green. “Bathroom’s that way,” I said, pointing in the direction of Michael’s bedroom and the en-suite in there. Joshua stumbled off in the direction I had indicated and I turned my attention to Paddy. She was on her knees, crumbled over, crying so hard, she was starting to hyperventilate. I kneeled down beside her, wrapping my arms around her.
Abruptly, Paddy stood, shaking me off. “No. I need to be alone.”
As the door closed behind her, Michael and Gabriel suddenly appeared in the office. I got up, hoping I looked determined, rather than as exhausted and in pain as I really felt. “I just need to put some boots on and then I’ll be ready.”
“Ready for what?” Michael asked. He regarded me with wariness. “You are injured and have wounds that need seeing to.”
I shook my head, folding my arms. “These wounds haven’t stopped me yet. We need to get back out there and find him.”
“Find who?” Gabriel stepped forward, alert again as his hand went to his sword. “I was protecting the angels: they are all accounted for.”
“Why does this require a guessing game?” I asked, raking my hand through my wet hair in frustration. “Raphael. We need to go out there and find him, or whatever new vessel he’s in.”
Michael and Gabriel shared a look, before Michael stepped forward, forcing me to look up at him as he placed his hands on my upper arms. “Angel, Raphael is dead.”
“That’s what I thought about you,” I declared, stepping back. “That’s what you thought about Lucifer.”
Before I could break Michael’s hold on me, his grip tightened slightly. “Raphael is dead,” he repeated, his tone flat. He swallowed with effort. “What happened with me wasn’t the same. Raph…” he swallowed again. “Raphael sustained an injury he wasn’t able to escape from. He’s gone.”
I stepped back, registering that the heel of my palm was rubbing at my heart, but not really feeling it. “He can’t be,” I whispered. I felt numb. I had been so sure that he was alive, like Michael had been. There was a noise from behind me, and I slowly turned, spotting a blurry figure. Something clattered to the ground. Feeling dazed, I blinked, then helped clear the remaining blurriness with my fingers. The thing on the ground was my second sword. I’d forgotten I’d been holding onto it. I looked up: the blurry figure was Joshua. I’d forgotten about him too.
He was standing back in the doorway, rubbing his palm up and down his hip, watching us with a guarded look. As the exhaustion seeped through me, I walked over to him. “Are you okay?” I asked him. He still looked a little green. “I know zipping from one place to another is not a pleasant experience.”
He nodded slowly, the wariness still there. “I think I should probably go home. I think I need sleep.”
“Would you stay here? With me?” I asked. It was selfish, especially considering how small the bed was, but I wanted to stay in the convent, and I wanted Joshua with me. I caught Joshua looking over my shoulder and felt the uneasiness radiate from him. “Michael knows about us,” I told him. I turned and looked Michael in the eye. “Joshua is staying with me tonight.”
“Angel,” Michael muttered.
“Joshua is staying with me tonight,” I repeated. I certainly didn’t want to flaunt our relationship, and even if I ignored the fact I could barely keep myself upright, much less have any form of fun with Joshua, I was going to be respectful while we were in this house and keep even PDA down to a minimum. Michael nodded once. I led Joshua to the door, and gave him a reassuring smile. “You go lay down in my room. I will finish up here and join you. You might as well take first dibs on the shower too.”
The door closed and I moved over to the couch, sinking down onto it. We hadn’t been in Michael’s office for weeks, and it was in desperate need of a clean. Like the rest of the convent, it also shared the lingering smell of smoke, but it was good to be back in here, regardless of everything else that had happened.
“You should get those injuries seen to,” Michael said, growing closer.
I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees as I rubbed my eyes. “Not yet,” I replied as Cupid appeared in the room. I looked up, finding his eyes red and puffy. He’d heard, then. “How is Eugene?”
“He’s in one of the guest rooms with Henry. Veronica is in the other. He’s going to be okay, Angel. They both are.” He moved over to me, perching on the coffee table between the couches and reached out for my hands. I hadn’t noticed at first, but he had been carrying a bottle of water and a small first aid kit. I allowed him to clean up my arms, moving carefully over the blisters and damaged skin around my wrists. The feeling of relief as the holy water washed over them was so wonderful that I couldn’t keep myself from hissing, despite the somber atmosphere in the room.
I distracted myself from the pain by watching Michael as he wandered around his office. His eyes were scanning over his dusty belongings we had done nothing with, when we were joined by two other angels: two livid virtues.
“What in God’s great name have you been doing?” Zachary bellowed. “You were told to clean up your mess, not destroy half of New Orleans!”
Without giving anyone a chance to explain, Savannah jabbed her finger in our direction. “The news channels around the world are reporting multiple explosions around the city.” She stormed over, thrusting her tablet into my face, a news channel live streaming the story.
Cupid gave me a look, and then
shrugged. “This one is all yours,” he told me. He ignored the two angry angels and continued seeing to one of my wrists.
Calmly, with my free hand, I took the tablet which was still being waved in my face and set it on my knee. I turned the volume up, watching a male reporter standing under an umbrella. St. Louis Cemetery number one was behind him, surrounded by the fire and police departments as plumes of smoke curled up into the air. “… less than an hour ago. The fire department are finally bringing the blaze under control. At this point, we can only speculate what caused the explosions, but with the recent gas leak related explosions across the city, the public are beginning to speculate that arson may be the root cause. So far the authorities are not confirming or denying a link to the recent terrorist attack at the Port of New Orleans…” the reporter put his finger to his ear, cocking his head. “Randy, I’m getting reports that the Police Superintendent is about to make a statement.”
The image switched to the steps of the large building that housed the same precinct Joshua and Leon worked from. A tall man with a bald head was standing behind a podium, Leon just behind him. “Early this morning, a state-wide operation was carried out raiding over eighty bars and clubs owned by Terrence Hamilton. We seized over $46 million worth of illegal firearms, weapons, and drugs. In addition, we rescued over thirty women who were being held against their will, victims of sex trafficking. Terrence Hamilton was not taken into custody and is believed to be evading arrest. We have also found evidence to say he was working in conjunction with a former New Orleans Police Lieutenant, Philip Asmodeus, who also remains at large. Although the investigation remains ongoing, the evidence suggests that the attack at the Port of New Orleans, the explosions at the Plaza Tower and St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 are all connected.”
I cancelled the video and handed the tablet back to Savannah. “Seems to me everything was handled.”
