by Cassie Ryan
Michael? As in Archangel Michael?
Holy shit!
Jez’s mouth went dry and she gripped her sisters’ hands tighter. What had they gotten themselves into?
A large Archangel with a muscular, sleek build, mocha skin, and piercing green eyes joined Lucifer. Standing side by side, their eyes were identical, even though the rest of their features were very different. They were a study in dark and light, but while Lucifer’s power bit at her, making her resist the urge to shudder and cringe away, Michael’s power flowed over her in a seductive, enticing warmth. With power like that, someone would willingly walk off a cliff for just the privilege of basking in its warm embrace.
“Greetings, followers of Lilith.” Michael’s deep voice washed over Jez, calming her and chasing back her fears. When her sisters’ grips on her hands loosened, she knew they were experiencing the same thing.
Jezebeth steeled herself against her reaction to the Archangel and clenched her jaw before she cleared her throat and gathered her courage around her like a cloak. “We have come to ask—”
“We already know why you’re here.” Michael’s voice was kind, but Jez refused to succumb to the supernatural calming effect of his words. She needed all her wits about her for this meeting.
Lucifer paced a slow path back and forth in front of them giving the impression of languid, slow movement, while still seeming impatient. He moved like liquid sin, and Jez was sure succubi and incubi everywhere wished they could move half as well. But the eerie energy pouring off him was enough to remind Jez that for all his beauty, there was something evil lurking beneath that handsome exterior. “Ladies, we are well aware of Semiazas’s activities, and they will be curtailed . . . for now.” He stopped in midstride and met each of their gazes in turn.
Jez swallowed hard. If there was ever a time for them to be diplomatic and not piss someone off, now was the time. But with the volatile and vastly different personalities of her sisters—including herself—Jezebeth wasn’t so sure she could bank on such a thing happening. “Why only for now?” she ventured.
Lucifer cast her an impatient look, and the edges of Michael’s lips quirked as if he were trying to hide a smile.
“Semiazas will be imprisoned for his crimes, but there are more powerful forces at work here, ladies.” Lucifer raised one eyebrow at her as if making sure she wasn’t going to interrupt again.
Jez clamped her lips closed, resisting the urge to do just that.
“Prophesy,” Lucifer said slowly. “Armageddon prophesy to be exact.”
“Fuck.”
Jez snapped her head toward the sound of Reba’s quick curse, but since she agreed with the sentiment, she didn’t bother to shush her, not that shushing Reba ever did any good.
Lucifer laughed. “Very eloquently put, Reba. From the expressions on your sisters’ faces, I’d say they agree with your very astute assessment.”
Reba scowled, and Jez sighed. She needed to move things along before one or more of them said something to set off the powerful demon or Archangel in the room, which meant all of them would end up dead. “Do you think we could move past the dramatic theatrics and get on with why exactly we’re here, since I don’t think it’s for the reason you agreed to meet with us?”
Lucifer’s green eyes narrowed, and this time it was Michael who laughed, the warm sound echoing through the large room like a sudden wave of spring. “Calm yourself, brother. They have every right to know what they are agreeing to.”
Lucifer didn’t look like he would agree, but finally he nodded. “All right, ladies. Here’s the situation. Armageddon could be at hand.”
“Could be?” Amalya’s voice held an icy slap that made Jez wince, since pissing off the Prince of Darkness and God’s right-hand warrior wasn’t exactly a good idea under any circumstances.
Michael smiled. “Yes, could be. If it comes to pass is up to you four.” He held up a hand to stop Lucifer from speaking, and once Lucifer gave a small nod, Michael continued. “The four horsemen have been imprisoned in Atlantis at the bottom of the Aegean Sea since before the beginning of your recorded time. If they are released, then Armageddon begins, and the outcome is decided at the expense of untold human suffering.”
“The horsemen?” The words scraped out of Jez’s throat as she tried to make sense of Michael’s words. “As in Pestilence, Death, War, and Famine? Those horsemen?”
“Exactly.” He nodded as if she were a prized student.
“Excuse me, my lord,” Galina interrupted politely—the only one of them so far to remember the respectful address. “But what do Armageddon and the horsemen have to do with us? We only came to warn you of Semiazas’s activities before he kills off the entire human race on earth.”
Lucifer snorted. “No one wants Armageddon to come about, not me, not Michael, and certainly not our Father. This world is a playground for those of us who rebelled and a grand naïve experiment for those who didn’t.”
Michael cast Lucifer a long-suffering look, but remained silent. This seemed like a familiar argument between them.
“Don’t you see?” Lucifer continued. “Rather than flip the switch and risk the entire thing, we want to exercise the loophole and use a test group, as it were, to prove the world is worth saving.”
“And we’re the test group?” Jez’s last word ended on a squeak.
Michael held up a hand. “You have to willingly take on this responsibility, and the contest would be between you four and Semiazas. He will be imprisoned for his crimes and as soon as he is free, he will hunt the four of you down to seek revenge, which is the beginning of the Armageddon prophesies.”
Jez swallowed hard. “What happens then?”
Michael exchanged a glance with Lucifer before continuing. “We will separate the four of you to protect you the best we can until the prophesy begins, then only our Father, Lucifer, and I will know of the contest. The four of you will have to make your way to safety, find each other, and prevent Semiazas from releasing the horsemen, however you can.”
Reba snorted. “Yeah, that sounds like a walk in the park. Can’t we just do something easy like turn the world inside out or get Lucifer to make up with Daddy?”
Jez’s gaze snapped toward Lucifer as she waited for all four of them to be killed where they stood, so she wasn’t sure how to react when he laughed and slowly clapped his hands. “Bravo. That’s just the kind of spunk and fire all four of you will need to win.” His heavy gaze settled on Reba, and he raked a sensual gaze over her from head to toe. “Perhaps when this is decided, little one, you’ll come back and pay me a visit.”
“Not likely,” she bit out, making Jez cringe.
Lucifer only smiled and exchanged a look with Michael that told Jez there was much more they weren’t being told. “There is always a way to win, ladies, but . . .” He held up a finger. “There is a catch that I think you missed.”
Silence descended, and Jez gritted her teeth, waiting for another comment from her sisters that thankfully never came.
Finally Lucifer smiled, making him resemble a hungry predator looking at his next meal. “None of you will know about this test. You might find clues along the way, but your choices must come from free will and selfless actions. Any allies you make along the way can help you, but neither Michael nor I can directly interfere other than to enforce the rules.”
“Rules?” Jezebeth found herself asking.
Michael nodded. “If any of the four of you fail—Armageddon begins. Any of the four of you can kill Semiazas if you can, but not before all four of you have stopped the horsemen. And Semiazas can not die at the hand of anyone else. Otherwise—”
“Armageddon begins . . .” Jezebeth didn’t realize she’d spoken until she heard the words. “And you said we have to willingly sign on for this. What if we don’t? What if we refuse?”
Lucifer spread his hands wide. “Armageddon begins.”
Jez snorted. “So we have no choice.” She exchanged a glance with her sisters
, seeing the same frustration she felt mirrored in their expressions.
“There is always a choice,” Michael said softly. “You may not like the options, but there is always a choice.”
A wrench of vertigo pulled Jezebeth nearly in two and she sucked in a breath to keep from throwing up as she realized she was back standing in front of Michael where he’d frozen the fight scene with Semiazas.
“Crap. I think I liked it better before I remembered any of that.”
Michael smiled, but the expression was sad. “Your memories will fade again, little one, at least most of them. Anything you’ve learned on your own will remain with you. You have much left to do, and your sisters must pass their own trials before this is done.”
Jezebeth sighed as weariness settled over her, and a fresh longing for her sisters twisted inside her. “Why did you try to kill Semiazas? Isn’t that against the rules?”
“He mortally wounded Gabriel—which supersedes that agreement and earns him death. As the right hand of God, it is my duty to avenge her.” He shrugged. “You intervened, which transferred the sentence to you. However, you have preserved the contest, and saved Raphael in a selfless manner, so we seem to be back where we began.”
“So you’re not going to kill me?” She winced at the small sound of hope in her words.
“No, little one. As I said, you preserved the contest so we are for all intents and purposes back to where we began.”
“Okaaaay.” She shook her head trying to figure out where that left her and her sisters, not to mention everyone else. “What’s going to happen to Gabriel and Raphael . . . and Noah?”
“Without intervention they will all die. My sword was coated with holy water, which bought Raphael some time, but Semiazas’s knife was made from the same holy fire as my sword. Semiazas stole it from Lucifer, who imbued it with his blood.” His gaze cut to Gabriel’s still form. “It isn’t within my power to know her fate.”
“And Noah?”
“If things resume and nothing changes, he will fight Semiazas to save you, and he too will die.”
Jez shoved her hair out of her face and glanced past Michael to see the glimmering that marked the edge of Uriel’s property. A small glimmer of hope curled inside her gut and she snapped her gaze back to Michael’s. “Wait. Whenever I went back through to Lilith’s lair, I was healed from any injuries. Something to do with the other plane healing me back to my original form; won’t that work for Gabriel and Raphael?”
Michael straightened and smiled before he stepped back and disappeared as the scene resumed.
Raphael crumpled to the side, clutching his chest, and Semiazas’s bellow of pain echoed around them, rattling the earth beneath their feet and churning the blue waters of the sea at the bottom of the hill.
Noah ran forward, shoving past Semiazas to step in between her and the demon.
“Wait.” Jez held out her hands wishing she could freeze the scene as Michael had done. “We need to get Gabriel and Raphael through to Lilith’s lair before they die.”
Semiazas pierced her with a hate-filled gaze, and Jez resisted the urge to recoil.
“She’ll die if you do nothing, Semiazas. Is that what you want?”
Uriel stepped forward and knelt near Gabriel’s still form. “She’s right. The portal to Lilith’s lair contains healing energy left over from the Garden. It may save Gabriel.”
Semiazas ran his fingers gently over Gabriel’s cheek before he stood and stepped back. “Save her, and I’ll spare you.” His gaze bored into Jezebeth. “If she dies, I’ll torture and kill everyone you’ve ever cared for before I come for you. Understand?”
Noah shuddered in front of her, and she reached forward and laid a gentle hand against his back hoping he took the silent hint and didn’t antagonize the demon.
Jezebeth nodded once, more to say she understood the threat than she agreed—not that Semiazas needed her buy-in for that particular plan.
Raphael groaned, and Uriel seemed to snap to attention. “Noah, carry Gabriel: I’ll get Raphael. We need to take them through the barrier, quickly.”
Jez kept her gaze on Semiazas, resisting the primal instinct to run as she watched Noah gently pick up Gabriel’s limp form.
Jez slowly backed away from Semiazas, the raw pain on his face scaring her more than anything had so far. But finally, a slow tingling bit at her skin and her foot found thick, soft grass instead of dirt.
“Follow me,” Uriel’s command was soft, but laced with steel as Jez glanced around at the sudden Utopia they’d stepped into.
He hefted Raphael’s form higher in his grip and started across the expansive lawn that sat in front of the large brick three-story.
Noah followed quickly behind Uriel with Gabriel tucked gently against him as the cool, salty breeze ruffled his sandy blond hair.
A large weeping willow sat against the far corner of the yard, and as soon as Uriel reached it, he ducked behind it and disappeared.
Jez cast a quick glance back at the portal where they’d entered, which now was only a pristine ocean beach, and then scanned her gaze over the brick three-story house and the lush lawn of Uriel’s property. Too bad they hadn’t come here under better circumstances. She, like Noah, would’ve loved to look around and gain more insight into Uriel.
She nearly ran into Noah’s back before she returned her attention forward and quickened her pace to stay close as they followed in Uriel’s footsteps.
So much had happened since the pestilence demon had found her, and now thanks to the memories Michael had returned, she realized how much had happened even before that. She wanted to tell Noah everything before her memories faded as Michael had warned, but one look at Gabriel reminded her discussions would have to wait.
Gabriel’s limp arm hung down past Noah’s waist, her dark blood soaking into the front of his shirt, and Jez darted forward to lift the Archangel’s arm and gently tuck it across the woman’s stomach.
Noah stopped and captured Jez’s gaze, the storm-cloud gray of his eyes boring into hers. “Everything will work out. You’ll see.”
She didn’t know if she believed him or not, but she forced a smile and watched as he stepped past the weeping willow and disappeared.
21
Jezebeth stepped forward, and sudden tingling seared through her entire body in a breathless rush, causing her to stumble. When she caught her balance and glanced up, it was into a scene of pandemonium.
Noah was in the process of gently lowering Gabriel onto the floor of the giant underground cavern that made up Lilith’s lair. Uriel had stripped off Raphael’s shirt and was examining his still-closing wounds from the sword.
The cavern was filled with echoing noises of several beings speaking at once while incubi and succubi bustled around in what appeared to be confusion and chaos at the interruption of their morning meal.
Jez raised her fingers to her neck, not surprised to find the jagged wound from the truck accident totally gone and in its place, smooth, unbroken skin. There weren’t even any remnants of blood left behind on her neck, although her clothes were another matter.
She walked toward Noah, relieved to see the bruises that had marred his face and neck were now totally gone. He had peeled Gabriel’s shirt away from her wound and was examining the now-closed wound and remaining severe bruising with wonder. Jez frowned as she glanced down into Gabriel’s pale face. The Archangel’s eyes were still closed, although her breathing was deep and even. She’d held out hope that once through the portal, both Archangels would be fully recovered. Apparently some injuries were more than even the portal could handle.
Noah glanced up, his gaze imploring. “Jez.” He took her hand in his and warm comfort curled through Jez’s gut. “The wound is closed, but there must be more internal damage she’s going to have to heal with time.”
Jezebeth forced a smile and began to answer when words directed her way stopped her in midmotion.
“Welcome, Jezebeth. It’s been a long time . .
. sister.”
Jez glanced toward the sultry voice to see a redhead who reminded her of a harem girl complete with the I Dream of Jeannie outfit, only in scarlet red rather than pink. A possessive instinct roared through Jez and she stepped closer to Noah. “Evelin.” Jez stiffly bowed her head before meeting the calculating green gaze of the woman who stood before them.
“What have you brought with you?” The distaste was evident in both Evelin’s tone and in her gaze as it raked over Noah.
Noah slowly stood until he towered over the newcomer’s smaller form. “I’m Noah, on a special assignment for Lilith. So if you’ll just be a good messenger and let her know we’re here, I’d appreciate it.”
Jezebeth tightened her grip on Noah’s hand as if to warn him about being too forward with the snide woman in front of them.
Evelin’s full lips curved, but the smile never reached her eyes, which flashed with barely suppressed fury.
He raised his brows as he met Evelin’s gaze unflinchingly—an action that filled Jez with a surge of pride and satisfaction. Even in the midst of injury and death, Evelin had come to play political games, but Noah had done his research. If he hadn’t corrected Evelin’s phrasing that Jezebeth had brought him, his position as her protector and champion would’ve been in danger, and Noah would’ve been free game for any succubi or incubi, including Lilith herself.
Damned politics.
Jezebeth glanced down at Gabriel’s still form and anger snapped through her veins. “You’re done here. Move along, Evelin. Now.”
The woman’s green eyes narrowed and an evil smile barely curved her lips, but she nodded once and turned to go.
“Silence!”
All sound and movement inside the cavern stopped suddenly, and Jez glanced up to see Lilith emerging from the entrance to her private chambers. Her face was pale, her features drawn.
The queen’s gaze was locked onto Gabriel’s still form as she darted forward through the throng knocking people aside in her hurry. When she reached the Archangel’s still form, she dropped to her knees, running her hands over Gabriel to assess the extent of her injuries. “Jezebeth, what happened?”
