The Bone Cup

by L. J. LaBarthe

  Lilith and Agrat nodded. “We’ll be waiting for you,” Agrat said.

  “There’s one more thing,” Lilith said. She looked at Agrat. “Do you want to tell them?”

  “No, but I will anyway.” Agrat took a deep breath. “There’s a traitor in our midst.”

  “Pardon?” Michael looked as shocked as Gabriel felt.

  “We don’t know which angel it is, but there’s one working with Naamah. We got a look at the wings and felt the aura of the Grace. Whoever it is managed to keep out of our sight, but Naamah gloated about having an angel working for her.” Agrat looked miserable. “Her children confirmed it too.”

  Lucifer hissed. “This is very serious,” he said.

  “You know this means death for the angel in question,” Gabriel said.

  “I do. But… are you certain? You could not be mistaken or be misled by Naamah’s machinations?” Michael suggested.

  “We’re certain,” Lilith said. “I know you don’t particularly care about my word, but trust Aggie’s. There is an angel working with Naamah, which makes him or her a traitor, not just to Heaven, but to Earth, Hell, Purgatory and all of Creation.”

  Michael looked stricken. Gabriel took a deep breath and nodded. “Aye, all right. We’ll investigate. Keep your own eyes and ears open, too, yeah?”

  “No, Gabriel, I thought I’d walk around wearing a blindfold.” Lilith rolled her eyes. “Of course we will, you dolt. I know you’re all a bit shocked by this turn of events, but you don’t have the time for the leisure of a lengthy adjustment. You need to move fast and you need to move now.” Her gaze swept the assembled. “All of you, not just the Archangels.”

  Adramelek saluted her and Lucifer gave her a deep bow. Lilith inclined her head once. “Good,” she said.

  “You must go,” Michael said, stepping forward. His face was pale, but his expression was resolute. “Do not rouse suspicion. Even if she is occupied now, she may send for you to join her.”

  Agrat looked ill. “I damn well hope not. I don’t want to watch her parading around like that. I don’t think I’d be able to stop myself from trying to kill her.”

  “Me neither,” Lilith snarled. She was flexing her fingers like talons.

  “That is my job,” Michael said smoothly. “For now, concentrate on keeping yourselves and your niece and nephew safe.”

  “Okay,” Agrat said. “I’ll be glad when this is over.”

  “As will we all,” Adramelek said.

  “Be well, beloved Agrat,” Michael said. “And you, Lilith.”

  “I’ll tell Shateiel you’re okay,” Gabriel added.

  Agrat and Lilith both nodded.

  “Oh, one thing before we go,” Lilith said. “Adramelek?”

  “Yes?” The Archdemon quirked an eyebrow.

  “Please use shields next time you and my lord have intercourse. We could hear the echoes in Purgatory. You frightened the monsters,” Lilith said sweetly.

  Much to Gabriel’s amazement and amusement, both Lucifer and Adramelek blushed. Lilith started to laugh, Agrat joining in.

  “We’ll remember,” Adramelek said. “And we will see you soon, Lilitu, Agrat.”

  Agrat reached out a hand, flicked her fingers, and the connection ended.

  “One thing.” Adramelek held up a hand. “We don’t have a way in yet. Or do we?”

  “I reckon Raz’ll have something figured out by now,” Gabriel said.

  “If you say so.” Adramelek did not sound convinced. “What if he doesn’t?”

  “Then we go in using our powers as a battering ram,” Gabriel said.

  “That’s blunt enough,” Adramelek said. “All right.”

  “Well,” Michael said, exhaling a slow, deep breath. “Now all that is left to do is listen to reports, determine how we are to attack, and then to do so.”

  “I reckon that sums it up pretty well, aye,” Gabriel said. “You coming back upstairs with us, Adramelek?”

  “Not just yet. Soon, though. In an hour or so,” Adramelek said. He was still blushing.

  “Then we will see ourselves out,” Michael said. He gave Lucifer a curt bow, which was returned. Then he turned on his heel and made for the door.

  “Oh, and I second the motion for silencing charms or some shit like that,” Gabriel said over his shoulder as he left. “I mean, I do love me some sex, but generally, I like it to be when I’m having it, not listening in.” He chortled at the chagrined expressions of Lucifer and Adramelek. “Later.” And then he followed Michael out of Lucifer’s study and Hell and back up to the tropical heat of Aranuka in Kiribati.

  Chapter Twelve

  RAZIEL TOOK a sip of the nearly cold coffee that he remembered Chloe bringing to him an hour ago and pulled a face. “Yuck,” he said to himself. Still, it was coffee, and he needed to keep working.

  He was seated at a long table littered with ancient books and manuscripts. At any other time, Raziel would be thoroughly enjoying himself; right now, he was too worried to fully appreciate the priceless collection of the works of humanity from all walks of life and history. Opposite him sat Uriel, engrossed in a scroll from Mesopotamia; a little farther down, Barakiel and Kokabiel were sat poring over a book of ancient maps taken as rubbings from finds in Aztec temples. Penemuel sat reading a book bound in dark green leather that was nearly ten inches thick, and beside him was Haniel, tapping away at the keys of a laptop, his eyes glued to the screen. Metatron was opposite him, reading through a stack of books written by holy men and women from all religions, all over the world, all through history. Chloe sat at the far end of the table, peering at a microfiche reader. She was squinting a little and rubbing her forehead absently with one hand. Raziel hoped she was not giving herself a headache.

  He leaned back in his chair and raised his arms over his head. They had all been working practically nonstop for the last three days. Between them—once Metatron, Haniel, Kokabiel, and Baraqiel had joined them, teleporting in from Belgium—they had managed to read the entirety of works housed on the very bottom floor of the British Library’s rare book collection. Now they were halfway through the next level. There was one more to go, and Raziel wondered if they would ever finish reading and if they would find what they sought.

  The idea to bring the two Grigori and two Archangels from Belgium to London had been Uriel’s. Thinking tactically, Uriel had immediately seen what Penemuel, Raziel, and Chloe were reluctant to—that more pairs of eyes were needed, especially when those eyes were owned by beings who understood every language that ever existed.

  “We can get more done,” Uriel had said, and Raziel smiled to himself as he remembered how earnest his lover had been. “I don’t mind reading from sunup to sundown, but I’ll be buggered if I get a fucking headache just because you three are suffering from some sort of scholar’s snobbery.”

  “I beg your pardon!” Penemuel had exclaimed, and then Raziel had started to laugh, realizing that Uriel was right.

  And so an hour later, their numbers increased by four, they had begun their task of researching in earnest.

  In the course of their readings, they had learned a great many things, some very exciting, some frightening. But nothing related to what they needed most: a way into Purgatory.

  Raziel lowered his arms and drained the coffee. It was stone cold now and he sighed, crushing the Styrofoam cup and tossing it into the nearby wastebasket. He got to his feet and stretched once more, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet.

  “Anyone want coffee or tea or something?” he asked. “I need another cuppa.”

  There were shakes of the heads from most of his companions, but Chloe raised her hand without looking away from the microfiche and said, “Tea, please,” and Uriel said, “Yeah, coffee for me, baby.”

  Raziel nodded and made his way to the staff office and the hot water urn.

  He turned it on and leaned against the small sink, waiting for the water to heat. He could use his power to do it, but right now, Raziel didn’t
feel like exerting himself. His most important muscle was his brain, and he needed it in peak condition. He set up three mugs, popped a tea bag in one and coffee granules in the other two, added sugar to the tea and one of the coffees, and waited for the water to boil.

  He had the thought that it wouldn’t be at all surprising to find what they most needed at the eleventh hour. He wondered if perhaps the information they needed was being deliberately kept from them—not by Naamah, no—but by a higher, more powerful force.

  Raziel had been thinking a great deal in the last few days in between reading and had come to some rather startling conclusions. He realized that the continual alliance between the Archangels and the five Archdemons and Markus who made up the Guild of Glass Knives was being permitted, even encouraged. That he had been unable to speak with God had planted a seed of almost heretical thought in Raziel’s brain, a seed that had taken root and quickly sprouted. Raziel was now convinced that God and Lucifer had made a deal, a private deal that was at once both simple and profound. It had to do with both of them being tired of war, of conflict, with both of them weary of Apocalypses designed to wipe the slate of existence clean and start all over again. And most of all, it had to do with God being content with governing Heaven, setting his Archangels to watch over Earth and Purgatory, and Lucifer being content with governing Hell.

  Raziel was utterly convinced now that Lucifer no longer wanted lordship and dominion over humanity or to assault the Gates of Heaven. Lucifer had been in Hell for so long that he was bound to have grown accustomed to it; after a while, he would have become fond of it. Having the Archdemons, including Adramelek, who Raziel knew that Lucifer was extremely fond of, working with them was strong evidence in favor of Raziel’s convictions.

  The urn hissed, pulling him out of his reverie, and Raziel prepared the coffees and tea, and then carried them out of the staff room and to his companions. He smiled to himself as Chloe muttered something that sounded like a thank you, and Uriel merely grunted.

  Metatron had used his powers to encourage the humans who worked in the library to look elsewhere while they were conducting their research and not to ask questions about these strange visitors. That had been easy. The sheer size of the research task had been daunting. The basement levels of the library covered a good four city blocks, and Raziel had been amazed by the number of books housed in the temperature- and climate-controlled levels. One day, he thought, as he sat down and opened the next book on his pile, he would like to come here and spend time just wandering, basking in all the knowledge and information.

  “Oh my God!” Chloe suddenly yelled. She leapt to her feet, her chair clattering to the floor and startling all of them.

  “Chloe?” Penemuel asked, blinking owlishly at her.

  “I think… I think I’ve found something,” she said. She looked at them, her eyes wide and bright, and she pushed her bright blue and black streaked hair back from her face.

  “What have you found, dear?” Haniel asked.

  “A map. It’s a weird map, and I can’t make out all the details because the print is really bloody tiny, but… I think it’s a map into Purgatory from Earth.”

  Silence fell, and Raziel found himself gaping at her in stunned shock. And then he too leapt to his feet, joined by the others, and as one, they raced to crowd around her and stare at the microfiche.

  “Holy crapperoo,” Uriel breathed, leaning in to stare at the screen. “It is!”

  “Let me see,” Raziel said, pushing his lover aside. He stared at the screen, using the slider to move the map up and down. He didn’t want to get his hopes up.

  It was old and it was written in Enochian, Aramaic, Hebrew, and Latin. “Fuck me with a spoon,” Raziel breathed. “She’s right.”

  Penemuel shoved him aside and peered at it, pursing his lips. His eyes grew wide as he stared at it, his face bathed in the bright blue light of the microfiche reader’s screen. “My word! Chloe, this is extraordinary! But I didn’t know you read all these languages,” he said, turning to look at her.

  “I read Latin, Pen,” she said. “I figured the rest were the same thing in many different dead languages.”

  “And you’re absolutely right,” Kokabiel said. He was reading over Penemuel’s shoulder. “Hot damn!”

  “We need a printout of this,” Raziel said, taking control of the situation. “Lots of printouts of this.”

  “And I’m happy to do that for you,” Chloe said, “if you all get out of the damn way!”

  A little sheepish, Raziel stepped back, shooting the other angels a sidelong glance. They were all looking a little embarrassed, and as Chloe sat down again and began to access the commands that would enable the map to be printed, Uriel moved to stand close by Raziel’s side.

  “That was a fucking good stroke of luck,” he said.

  “And it just adds more fuel to my theory,” Raziel said.

  Uriel huffed. “That weird one about God and Lightbringer and Heaven and Hell?” Raziel had filled them all in when they had taken a short break the previous day.

  “Yes.” Raziel pushed back his hair.

  Uriel hummed. “You might be right.”

  Raziel looked at him, raising an eyebrow. “You didn’t think so yesterday.”

  “That was then. This is now. I’ve been thinking about it and you made a damn good case. I’m not totally convinced yet, but I’m mostly there.”

  “So am I,” Haniel said. His handsome face was serious. “Truly, Raziel, it makes a great deal of sense. I admit, you stunned me when you first broached it, but… I think you’re right.”

  “Same here. God doesn’t hide from us and certainly not from me,” Metatron added with the air of one who is grievously offended. “I am His scribe! And yet”—Metatron shook his head—“there are too many coincidences, too many strange alliances. Too many odd events that, by themselves, seem merely peculiar. But they have been coming at us fast and furious now, for some years, since the end of the Seventy Years War. I can no longer discount them as coincidence.”

  Raziel let out a slow breath. “You guys have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that. I thought I was beginning to go a bit mad in my ancient age.”

  “Oh, that’s the case regardless,” Uriel teased. Then he grinned and pulled Raziel into a hug, kissing the top of his head. “And I love you anyway, you and your giant brain and your cranky pants.”

  “My pants are perfectly fine, thank you, and not in the least bit cranky,” Raziel said with mock seriousness. He laughed then and leaned into Uriel. “And here is what we most need, when we most need it. Fortuitous, no?”

  “Coincidentally so, yes,” Haniel said.

  “Indeed.” Raziel turned to look over Uriel’s shoulder. “I suspect we’ll have to glue the pieces of this map together before we can make a study of it.”

  “Whatever,” Uriel said. “Just having the fucking thing is good. And about damn time.”

  “We will be able to return to Yerevan with good news,” Raziel agreed.

  “Ah, sorry to interrupt,” Kokabiel said, “but do you want us to go with you?”

  Raziel looked at Uriel, Metatron, and Haniel. Then he smiled at Kokabiel and included Baraqiel, Penemuel, and Chloe. “Yes. You have the right to hear what’s been discovered. You’ve all been so much help, it would be churlish of us to exclude you now.”

  Kokabiel returned the smile with one of his own, although his was shy. “Thank you, Raziel. That’s very kind of you.”

  “You might not say that when you hear Gabe get all tactical General Archangel,” Raziel said, “but you’re welcome.”

  “Tactical General Archangel?” Metatron asked, amused.

  “Well he is, isn’t he?”

  “I suppose, but that’s a colorful way to put it.” Metatron laughed.

  “It fits.” Raziel shrugged. “He’s a colorful sort of Archangel.”

  “No argument there,” Haniel said. “Good, though,” he added.

  “Yeah, we’re all p
retty damn awesome,” Uriel said. He had a cigar between his lips.

  “Uri!” Raziel gasped, horrified. “You can’t smoke that in here! The books!”

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake….” Uriel rolled his eyes dramatically and took the cigar from his mouth and pocketed it in the breast pocket of his denim shirt. “There. Better?”

  “Much.” Raziel shuddered.

  “I’ve got the map,” Chloe said then.

  “Right.” Raziel looked around. “I need a current world map and a light box.”

  “We have a light box in the room adjacent the staff room,” Penemuel said.

  “And I’ll go get a world map,” Kokabiel said. He dashed off as Raziel shot Uriel a look.

  “I hope to fuck this works. I’m really scared this is going to end up being useless,” Raziel thought to his lover. He kept his expression neutral, but he knew his mental voice was thin with worry.

  “I know. If this isn’t it, then we are launching all our power on a full frontal assault,” Uriel thought back.

  It was testament to how nervous they were that neither Raziel nor Uriel made a joke at the use of the term ‘full frontal.’ Raziel forced himself not to raise his fingers to his lips and start biting his nails as Chloe came over to join them holding a sheaf of printouts in her hands.

  “I’ve got tape too,” she said. “Let’s go!”

  Her enthusiasm only served to make Raziel’s already tightly stretched nerves stretch even tighter. He was shaking as he fell into step beside Uriel, the little group following Chloe down through the stacks and open spaces with large tables and chairs toward the room beside the staff room.

  Chloe clicked on the light and then went to the light table. She turned it on and began to spread out the printed sheets, humming to herself as she started to tape them together. Raziel closed his eyes and sent a prayer toward Heaven, a prayer that bordered on a plea for this to be the information they so desperately needed. He did not want to face the prospect of an assault on Purgatory—it would cost them energy and power and possibly lives. He felt as if he had been frozen as he watched Chloe work, watched Penemuel and Baraqiel move to help her.