by Danae Ayusso
Persuader and Precious appeared in my hands. “You’ve met the girls,” I said, and he rolled his eyes. “Funny story, I was going to name them Dolce and Gabbana, but it just didn’t roll off of my tongue.”
Angelus nodded. “But of course.”
“Smart ass,” I grumbled. “For a brief moment you met The Misericorde of Garadiel,” I said and held the duke’s blade out for him.
“No thank you,” he said and refused to touch it so I set it down.
After an hour, the impressive pile of weapons stacked up on the floor in front of the couch had him shaking his head in disbelief. He pointed out which were angelic and which were demonic, told me the story behind the ones that I didn’t know. Needless to say, Angelus was both impressed and terrified of his demon. I told him I was a badass bitch, but he obviously didn’t believe me.
“I don’t want the archangel dagger,” I blurted out, and he raised an eyebrow. “If I take it, if you give it to me, you will never wield angelic weapons again. That is why you still haven’t given me Karael’s blade.”
Angelus nodded. “You are much smarter and astute then your dossier gave you credit for, and they are strappy.”
“Whatever,” I snorted and rolled my eyes; arguing shoes and fashion with Angelus was like arguing what the color blue looked like with a blind person, it was a losing battle before it even started. “Do you think we will walk away from this?” I asked, making myself comfortable in his arms.
Softly he sighed and kissed the side of my head. “If we are lucky, we will walk away...most likely we will limp away. I did not know that you had a private arsenal in your little hands, even the Gods would be envious of the gifts your father has bestowed you with.”
That’s sweet, but not really helpful.
“Your daddy gave you a gift that supersedes all of this crap,” I informed him.
“Really?” he mused. “And what’s that?”
I looked up at him and smiled. “Me,” I said before brushing my lips against his.
Standing on the busy Midtown Manhattan sidewalk, looking up at the hundred-story building, with the angel I’ve waited countless centuries for, and my entire existence to give and feel love with, next to me was surreal.
In less than an hour we would either be dead or would be free to live our lives. I had never been a philosophical person, nor had I been one of those people that put faith in the powers that be, in those that abandoned us eons ago and that no longer answered our prays and cries for help. After witnessing what Angelus went through thanks to his dossier, how his prayers and pleas for guidance went unanswered after his father tossed him into Hell then apparently took a vacation... It was too much.
Seeing Angelus unconditionally follow his faith and the belief and trust that he had in his father and his blind will, and then to just be abandoned like that... It doesn’t sit right with me, and it honestly pissed me off.
And with all that said, I was seriously in need of some faith right now. The plan was practically suicide. Everyone, including the Norse Gods and Goddesses, were in complete agreement that this was suicidal, but we hadn’t a choice. I was tired of just living for Zion and everyone else, I wanted to start living for my angel, for us, but I couldn’t do that, we couldn’t start forever together, with our lives being held over our heads by Upper Management. If we were to only have hours together, a measurable amount of time together, loving each other and being loved by the other, and we died side by side, I could honestly say that I was somewhat content with that because I got to experience what I never thought I’d know: love.
When did I turn into such a ridiculous, slightly masochistic romantic?
“Do we have time for pie?” I mumbled, scratching my wrist.
Angelus looked over at me, and I met his gaze. “No. Are you ready?”
“The question is, Chief, are you?” I smirked then wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him into me, and kissed him passionately. While our lips battled, my fingers scribbled on the back of his neck the needed runes to pull off this little endeavor. When I pulled away from him, I bit his lip as I went then smirked.
He shook his head in resignation. “Was that really necessary?”
“Maybe, maybe not,” I said then licked my lips, making sure that I didn’t miss any of his delicious essence. “But since I’m not a dude or an angel that sprays thus I can’t mark my territory in the traditional sense.”
“Ew,” he said and made a face causing me to laugh. “As backwards as your attempt at romance was, I mean…seriously, as you would say, do not attempt it.”
I loved making him uncomfortable, it was the highlight of my day.
“Yes, Master,” I bowed, and he slapped me on the ass much harder than I had anticipated, and it made me jump. “Ow.”
“Do not call me Master,” Angelus said with a cocked eyebrow. “Not even when I am controlling you,” he added, and I bit my lip, picturing him completely naked. “You will always be the master to my heart,” he whispered, caressing my head, and I whimpered, trying to keep from crying. That was the most romantic thing he had ever said to me.
“Okay,” I whispered and smiled when he winked at me then turned his attention to the sky.
I wasn’t entirely sure what we were waiting for, Angelus only told me part of the plan, and the part he told me I wasn’t looking forward to or in complete agreement with. I rather just blow everyone up, go back to one of his many Angel Caves and ride him into the early morning hours. But no, he said my plan would be option Q, W, or X if I was lucky.
He was no fun.
I wrapped my hand around his, and we shifted from Eden to Edom. The sky above us swelled with charcoal clouds that rolled over each other like angry waves on the shore. Explosions of lightening illuminated the body of each cloud, causing them to reveal the humanoid shape in each, and the deafening thunder that accompanied each shook the ground, causing the stunned crowd watching in terror to scream and run for cover. Purple and gold bolts of lightning slammed into the top of Central Hub; each bolt caused pieces of the roof to explode on impact, knocking free the large satellite dishes and reception towers covering the perimeter of the roof. Over and over the bolts of Norse-fueled display of raw power slammed into the building, causing the glass to ripple from the strain and employees to run out the doors, stumbling over each other as they looked upon the sky in awe and terror.
The power in the building blinked on and off and that was our cue.
Carefully we moved through the crowd hand in hand, they seemingly unconsciously parted for us as we floated above the ground with each step. Security was barking out orders, trying to evacuate the building, alarms were blaring and warning lights flashed, painting the area in dancing red lights.
“Now?” I whispered and Angelus nodded. Here goes nothing. “Jam lucis orto sídere, Deum precémur súpplices, Ut in diúrnis áctibus Nos servet a nocéntibus,” I chanted and Angelus rolled his eyes.
“I feel like I am at mass,” he mumbled before smirking as his wings unfolded from behind him.
“Shut up,” I hissed before giggling. “It isn’t funny.”
Smart ass, I am so smacking that little muscular ass of his tonight for that one….if we survive.
“Stop!” the guards called out, but Persuader was already in my hand, and I was pulling the trigger. Each bullet slammed into the security guards heads, picking them up off of their feet, sending each flying through the air in the opposite direction. Their bodies convulsed slightly, the area around their eyes illuminated orange and white before burning away leaving only smoldering, charred sockets.
Angelus looked over his shoulder then back to me, shaking his head. “What part of flesh wound did you not understand?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Oops, my bad.”
“That is believable,” he scoffed, and with the flap of his wings, he was off of his feet, hovering, waiting for me to join him.
“You’re no fun,” I huffed before making a face at him and unfolded m
y wings, blindly slamming my fist into the face of a guard that ran out from the side hall towards me. His body flew backwards, slamming into the large metal support beam where it embedded into the metal. “Remember, this is your plan,” I reminded, flying past him—that was totally a lie, but if it failed, I was so blaming him for it.
Up through the hundred-story center of the building we flew; narrowly avoiding the catwalks spanning the width of the building and the guards firing bullets at us from each level as we passed. A few took flight, jumping at us as we sped past, a streak of black and a streak of white, flying and moving around the other in a slightly erotic and beautiful, sensual and deadly, aerial display. We split each catwalk and instantly found ourselves next to the other again once it was behind us. I sent simple throwing daggers out to the sides of us, and the demonic blades slammed into the throats of the guards leveling their guns at the unusual pairing bringing their house down around them.
“If I did not know any better,” Angelus mused, flipping around, a sword appearing in his hand, and at a reversed angle, he pulled it upward, sheering through the wing of the angel that was catching us, “I would swear that you have done this before.”
“Really?” I scoffed, rolling my eyes and I put two bullets in the heads of the demons quickly closing in on us from above. “You find now, now of all times,” I complained, pushing myself back from Angelus seconds before one of the bodies dropped between us, “to find a damn sense of humor?”
“I am a very funny angel,” he informed me.
“In your own mind,” I retorted and made a face before I shot at him.
Angelus leaned his head to the side, and the bullet missed his ear by only millimeters, and slammed into the head of the demon behind him, sending her plummeting to the lobby below.
When we reached the broken glass ceiling, thanks to Thor and his awesome atmospheric display of sheer Norse God power, of the roof, we hovered there, our wings flapping, bullets flying past us from below.
“Oh come on,” he said, “only an angel with an amazing sense of humor could have found you beautiful when your nose was shattered and sitting off to the side of your face and you were swollen up as if you had the mumps, and let us not forget that you were blind as a bat.”
My mouth fell open. “Oh no you didn’t,” I growled.
He held his hands up in surrender. “Okay, bad joke. Sorry.”
“If we survive this, you are so never getting laid again.”
His mouth twisted into a contemplative pout. “Why am I doing this again then?” he asked with a mischievous smirk.
“Never again,” I reiterated and flicked his nose, trying to keep from laughing, and he smiled.
“Father, help us,” he sighed as the smile fell from his face and he looked at me with pained eyes. “If this does not work, it was always you, Zion.”
“It will work,” I reminded him, “because it was my idea.”
“But of course,” he dryly agreed. “Now or never,” he said then folded his wings away behind him and dropped.
I followed.
The air rushed up around us, and Angelus’ feet touched down on the glass catwalk moments before mine did. We quickly erected ourselves, and stood back to back, with weapons in hand. Why he didn’t use guns, I didn’t know, and I hoped and prayed that he was proficient with a sword or I would end up killing him myself. I eyed the ten guards each of us were facing and tried to keep the thought of trying to protect my angel from my mind.
Angelus can take care of himself. He did in Hell so he can do it now.
“Remind me again why I get the angels?” I grumbled as Precious appeared in my hand.
“We flipped a coin, remember?” he said, and I could tell he rolled his eyes from his tone; real problem was that he didn’t want to kill his kin if possible.
“Rhetorical?” I smirked.
“Always.”
And with that, I pulled the trigger.
The four shots tore through the closest in the angelic rank, but that was all I could get off; the angels were faster than I expected. A short sword appeared in my hand and the Duke’s stiletto in the other, and I blocked just in time to avoid taking a sword to the neck. I kicked out with my left foot and caught charging angel number two in the chin, pulling him up off of his feet and over the railing. His unconscious body flipped around in the air before his back slammed down on one of the catwalk railings, the snapping of his spine echoed throughout the space and clashing of swords.
In a blur of silver and black, I parried the deadly angelic blades and ducked, leaned to the side, nearly bending myself in half, slicing upward, taking advantage of their openings, cutting off various body parts as I went: arms, hand, fingers, head, leg, and foot. I was getting covered in more blood than I would have liked. I felt as if I was in a damn Tarantino movie. Angelus kept bumping into me, and his grunts were confirmation that he was still alive and doing what he should have been: killing the demonic guards so we could gain entry into Upper Managements’ conference room.
With one angel left, I wrapped both of my bloody hands around the hilt of my sword and readied my stance. Quickly I glanced down to make sure I wasn’t going to roll an ankle on a finger or something, and that is when I saw my shoes. My eyes widened and I shrieked. “Mother fuckers!” Precious and Persuader were suddenly in my hands in a blur of silver and black, and I was unloading their clips into the angel in front of me and blindly firing over Angelus’ shoulder, unloading Persuader into the remaining demons.
When my clips were empty, I screamed in frustration and Angelus wiggled his finger in his ear. “It is a good thing that I did not need to hear,” he complained.
“Shut up,” I whined. “Look what they did to my shoes!” I stomped my feet in the blood, covering them in even more of the disgusting substance.
“They are fine and you know it.”
“Mind over matter, asshole,” I growled then punched him in the shoulder.
Angelus shook his head. “I am never buying you shoes again.”
I didn’t think about that. “You can buy me whatever you want, whenever you want, just don’t give them to me and let me take them from you so you can keep getting them for me,” I strongly suggested and smiled wide.
He shook his head as he wiped some smudges of blood from my cheek.
“Are you ready?” I asked.
Angelus shook his head. “No, but when will we be? We might as well go out in a blaze of glory, as you would say.”
“Sullen ass angel,” I mumbled under my breath, and he nodded his agreement.
I wrapped my hand around Angelus’ and we ran across the bloody catwalk. He pushed his free hand out in front of him and the large steel and glass doors exploded inward. Loudly I chanted under my breath, invoking the demonic blood of my mother and the angelic magic of my father—two things I never thought I’d ever say—and forced the building wave of energy from my chest and into the room in front of us.
The gathered members of Upper Management from both sides flew through the air, their bodies smashing into the floor to ceiling windows lining the massive conference room. Some of them broke through the windows, their bodies flailing as they dropped a hundred-stories in a daze to the pavement below. Those that opened their wings were quickly greeted with a bolt of purple and gold lightening. The ones that didn’t take the hundred-story header laid on the floor in a daze.
Angelus snapped his hand out, startling me, and a gold throwing dagger flew from his hand and slammed into the throat of the man staggering to his feet off to the side of us.
Stolas’ body flew through the air before slamming into the wall. A gurgling of darkened blood spewed from his mouth.
My eyes widened and I smacked Angelus on the back of the head. “Really?” I scolded.
Angelus looked over his shoulder at me and shrugged. “Did I fail to mention that I am the jealous type?” he asked with a smirk.
Okay, that is hot as hell, messed up in ways that we should really talk
about, but hot.
“Who’s next?” I snarled, waving my guns at them.
The elevator doors in the back of the conference room signaled their arrival and the doors opened. We readied ourselves for reinforcements and the remaining members of Upper Manager turned to regard the intrusion, but the elevator car was empty.
Luck was finally on our side.
“You think that this is some kind of game?” I demanded. “Well guess what, now we are playing by our rules!”
And the Oscar goes to Zion!
Before they could say anything, the remaining members of Upper Manager were consumed in black and red flames. Their screams abruptly ended as quickly as they began as their bodies turned to ash in mere seconds.
Angelus pulled me behind him and protectively stood in front of me.
Slow, condescending, applauding filled the space and the walls of cracked glass rippled, the shards of glass pulled up from the floor and replaced themselves on the rolling sheet of glass, leaving smooth blackened windows in their wake. The black leather high back office chair spun around and the woman sitting in it smiled at us.
“Very impressive, Children,” she said.
“Lucifer,” Angelus snarled.
“It has been centuries, Brother,” she mused and slowly uncrossed her long, tone legs then recrossed them the other direction. I was jealous of those red leather Gucci pumps and suit; only the devil could get away with wearing that much red and still look good.
“We want our contracts,” Angelus demanded. “We have played your game, and you cheated, thus all contracts are null and void.”
I screamed when the silence had gotten to be too much for me and Lucifer glared at us. “Do I have your attention now?” I mused.
