by J. K. Coi
Still, Lucifer’s curse could not be denied. If Lucifer returned, he would ravage Gabriel’s world, turn angel against angel once again. She couldn’t let it happen.
Amelia had wanted more time before being forced to take action. Time to find some way of reversing the inevitable, of stopping Gabriel’s dark evolution. If she were honest, she’d selfishly wanted a moment for herself. Instead, time was ticking away from her, and now she had to face the fact that her hesitation had only made everything much worse.
Gabriel grasped her arm and spun her around to face him. “What is it?” he demanded, glowering down at her. “Tell me what happened. What did I do this time?”
Stepping back, she squared her shoulders. She needed to retreat, withdraw into herself to gather her strength and prepare. “My barriers are down,” she admitted. “I need to get them back up and get us out of here as soon as possible if we’re going to spare your friends an unexpected visit from a mob of rogue angels.”
“We can’t let that happen.”
“Exactly.” She nodded, closing her eyes. Drawing on her power, she breathed out, letting her wings unfurl behind her.
“Good God. I don’t know if I’m going to get used to that.” Gabriel cleared his throat. “If your force-field thing is already down, what good does it do us to fix it now?”
“It’s only been a few minutes. I’m hoping they haven’t been able to pinpoint our location. Even if they sensed the flare of energy, it would take a little while to narrow down exactly where it was coming from, unless they were already right on top of us.”
“And if they’re on their way? I won’t put Lila or Sam in danger.”
She paused. “If they’re coming, then I’ll do my best to protect your friends. I promise you.”
“Damn it, Amelia. That’s not good enough.”
“I know.” She resolved that no matter what ultimately happened between Gabriel and her, she would honor her promise to keep those he loved safe.
But first…
Turning away from his dark glare, she concentrated on the task at hand. When she was certain her wards were back in place, they quickly dressed. Amelia followed Gabriel down the hall. Taking his hand before they reached the staircase, she waited for him to face her. “What are you going to tell them?”
He grunted. “What can I tell them? They aren’t going to believe the truth. I don’t even want to believe this shit.”
“It will be safer for them if they don’t become involved and can’t be used against you.”
“I know that.”
He didn’t sound happy about lying to his friends.
Shaking his head, he started down the stairs. “I’m not sure what to say, but maybe I should just tell them the truth. Angels are looking to kill me. Lila’s Catholic, so it wouldn’t go over very well and she’d have another reason to kick me out of the house. But at least we wouldn’t have to worry about putting them in the middle of this thing.”
Amelia couldn’t tell if Gabriel was joking or not, so she kept her mouth shut and followed him downstairs.
They approached the kitchen to the smell of dinner cooking and the sound of Lila and Sam arguing. A long, haunting whistle from the train passing by a few miles away filtered in through French doors that had been opened to the crisp October night.
Gabriel halted in the hallway just outside the large warm room. He should have felt ashamed that he’d been reduced to eavesdropping on his friends, but didn’t.
“I don’t know if I can do this, Sam.” Lila sounded like a completely different person. She was usually a lively, vibrant woman full of joy and laughter. To hear the grief and pain in her voice tore Gabriel’s heart out and almost brought him to his knees. “Part of me still doesn’t want to see him.”
“We’ve been through this before, Lila. You know you have to do it. He’s hurting too.” Sam’s voice was calm, encouraging, full of love. Gabriel was glad for it. She needed someone who could help her get through this. It obviously wasn’t going to be him.
Amelia’s fingers grazed his arm and he was reminded of the urgency of their situation. He stepped into the bright kitchen, breathing in the mouthwatering scent of Lila’s pot roast. David and Lila’s kitchen had been Gabriel’s favorite room in this house. The first thing they’d done after buying the place was to make the kitchen extra large and open by tearing down some walls. David had always joked that he wanted to be sure there’d be enough room in here to host an entire little-league team.
Lila looked up at him. Gabriel winced to see her expression so pained. Her brown hair had been pulled back into a tight bun, making the dark circles under her eyes and the white pallor to her normally radiant skin more obvious. Her eyes were filled with such sorrow, sorrow that went so deep, it had left a mark on her that might never heal.
He didn’t know what to say, what to do.
She gasped, hand covering her mouth as if she needed to keep in the pain, but her harsh sobs burst through anyway. “Gabe.” She choked out his name, the tears already streaming down her face as she stepped around the kitchen island toward him.
His hesitation evaporated and he strode across the room, reaching for her, needing to hold her close. “Lila,” he whispered, burying his face in her hair, his own tears coming hard and fast. “Lila. God, I’m sorry.” There were no other words. David was dead and Gabriel couldn’t take his place under the ground no matter how much he wished he could. His apology wouldn’t ever be enough, but right now it was all he had to give.
She clutched him so tightly, as if letting go wasn’t an option. Gabriel was relieved she hadn’t turned him away. The possibility had scared him more than he’d been prepared to admit. They had known each other since the tenth grade, and although their friendship developed primarily because of David, he loved her like a sister.
He should have done more to keep David safe, and he would have done anything now if it would keep Lila from hurting like this.
“I’m sorry if I hurt you,” she whispered.
He shook his head, the words caught in his throat. “No, don’t. Please don’t.” His voice rasped from his throat. “I understand how you must hate me, but I needed to tell you how sorry I am. David’s death is my fault. I should have—”
Lila reached up, framing his chin in her hand. He could see himself in the dark pools of her glistening eyes, the agony etched in his own face.
“It wasn’t your fault, Gabe. Forgive me, but I blamed you because I needed to blame someone. Does that make sense? It was wrong, though. I was so angry, and so—” She gulped back a sob. “It didn’t seem fair that he had to be the one…”
“No, it wasn’t fair. It should have been me.”
“No, that’s not what I meant. It took me a few days to realize that I’d let my pain hurt others. You aren’t to blame. And I never wished it was you who died instead. God, I’m so sorry, Gabe. And I am glad you’re here.”
He wanted to accept that and let it go, but he couldn’t. When he left this house tonight, he knew it might very well be for the last time. He couldn’t bear to say goodbye when there was still anger and hurt between them. “Why did you tell Sammy just now that you couldn’t see me?”
Swiping the tears from her cheeks and chin, she said, “It’s not what you think.”
“Why, Lila?”
She sighed and stepped back. “Because I knew this would happen. I knew you’d reduce me to a sniveling, blubbering mess. It’s been so hard to be strong, but I have had to be for Tony’s sake. He doesn’t understand everything that’s happened, but he needs me so much right now.” She hiccupped. “Gabe, I knew seeing you would be like looking into a mirror, reflecting my loss back and me and making the pain impossible to bear, and I can’t afford…mustn’t give into it—not yet.”
Gabriel’s jaw clenched. He understood. In fact, he felt the same. Seeing how much Lila was hurting brought his anger closer to the surface. “Amelia and I have to leave.”
Lila’s mouth dropped open in s
hock. “Wait, no! Oh, Gabriel, I was wrong and inconsiderate. It doesn’t mean that I don’t want you here now. Please stay. You know this house is as much your home as—”
He put a hand over her mouth until she stopped talking. “You weren’t being inconsiderate. No. Don’t apologize to the likes of me, Lila. You know better than that by now. You’re entitled to feel however the hell you feel. But that’s not the reason we’re leaving.”
“Then why?” Sam piped in, stepping closer behind Lila.
“You both just got here.” Lila was looking Amelia up and down, frowning as if she were responsible. Did she think Gabriel was disrespecting David’s memory for the novelty of a new lay? If only it were that simple.
He shook his head. “It’s not what you think, but I can’t tell you—” Before Sam could object, Gabriel continued. “Please, just listen. I need you both to let us go without asking any questions. I’ll be back in a few days. If you still want me to come back, that is.”
“Is this about David’s killer? You can’t be trying to find this guy yourselves?” Lila’s eyes turned pleading. “Gabriel, don’t do anything stupid.”
“Yes, Gabriel. Let’s not do anything stupid.”
They all whirled around, Lila letting out a little screech of surprise and fear.
A man stood on the deck just beyond the French doors leading out to the back patio. Gabriel had never seen his face before, but he knew immediately who the trespasser was.
Amelia rushed forward. She hauled Gabriel back when he would have thrown himself through the screen door.
“You,” he spat, jerking his arm out of Amelia’s grip. “You’re Donato.”
“Who else would I be?” The angel laughed with a little too much good humor. “I understand you’ve been looking for me?” His expression was one of gloating. This angel had obviously been spending enough time on earth to have acquired some interesting emotions. Too bad they’d turned him into a deviant, homicidal maniac. “Coincidentally, I’ve been looking for you too.”
Gabriel caught a small flash of light out of the corner of his eye. Two of the angels from the airport appeared at the entrance to the kitchen. Cassiel wasn’t among them.
Lila gasped. Sam took her arm, quickly pushing her behind him.
As much as Gabriel wanted nothing more than to wrap his fingers around this asshole’s throat, the showdown couldn’t happen here, it couldn’t happen now. He had to stay in control of his rage. He owed it to David to make sure Lila and Sam weren’t put in any more danger.
Amelia’s gaze was fixed on Donato, but the other two angels were closing in behind them, blocking off the exit.
“I gave you a chance to give him over without violence, Amelia.” Donato lifted his hand and the center of the window screen began to burn, the black mesh melting so that it spread outward, making a man-sized hole large enough for him to step through. “But I’ve changed my mind. I’m glad now that you turned me down. I’ve decided it’s going to be much more satisfying to take him from you.”
Lila pushed forward. “I don’t know who you people are but—”
Gabriel threw Sam a dark look of warning. The other man understood and clamped his fingers around Lila’s arm, hauling her back behind him with a hiss.
Donato ignored them both as if the humans didn’t exist.
Amelia slowly put herself between the angel and Gabriel’s friends, opening her hands at her sides in a show of truce. “Don’t do this, Donato,” she pleaded. “There’s still time to make the right choice.”
“And what choice would that be, sweet Avenger? Do you really want to be at the mercy of the Archangels for the rest of eternity, expelled from this realm that should be ours by right? Do you want to go back to feeling nothing, to leading a meaningless, empty existence?”
She shook her head. “It doesn’t have to be meaningless. Not if we can help these humans, keep them from repeating our own mistakes—”
“Why would you even want to do such a useless thing? If it wasn’t going to take so long, I’d be glad to step back and wait for the stupid animals to kill themselves off and leave this world to us. It’s going to happen eventually, but eventually isn’t good enough anymore. I’m no longer willing to let Michael unilaterally decide to lock us all away for our own good.” He laughed. “You know, I worried at first that you were actually going to do your duty and kill the human yourself, but I should have realized emotion would be your downfall, make you soft, and you would hesitate.”
Gabriel jerked around, searching for the truth of Donato’s words in Amelia’s eyes. He didn’t want to believe it but he could put two and two together just as well as the next person. Amelia had been adamant that Lucifer’s soul could not be awakened, but it was too late to stop that runaway train. Had her Plan B been to kill him?
“Amelia?”
Chapter Fifteen
Amelia glared at Donato, but she didn’t rise to the bait. Silence was her answer.
As Donato turned to face him, the crazy angel’s eyes were a little too bright, his expression already ripe with sick triumph. He stepped through the burned-away screen door and nonchalantly entered the house.
Gabriel saw red. Goddamn, he hated these fucking angels.
Rage mounted as he heard Lila’s small cry of fear. Sam had moved to hold her, guiding her back into the farthest corner of the room, as far away from the intruders as he could. Thank God for his level head, but it only made Gabriel angrier that his friends were being threatened in a place where they should have been able to feel safe.
He had to do something quickly. Hell, he was even prepared to give himself up to these guys if it would mean keeping Lila and Sam safe—although that wouldn’t be his first choice.
Amelia spoke first, sliding a glance his way. “Gabriel, go. Get your friends out of here while I handle this.” Her tone was cold as she stood straight and tall in the middle of the room, and for once he was glad of her composure.
He also wasn’t buying it.
Granted, she was a lot stronger than she’d been the last time they faced off against a trio of angels bent on killing them—but that was before these guys had gotten more desperate and volatile, before dangerous emotions had warped them and their pursuit of freedom into something dark and malevolent, shrouded in evil.
Determined not to leave anyone behind, he opened his mouth to argue when Donato suddenly shot forward. Amelia met him in a clash of metal and light, her brilliant white wings appearing at the same time she manifested a suit of gleaming armor and the sword Gabriel was already well familiar with.
Donato had shown his true self as well. His large wings were dark gray, stuck through with the odd black feather. His sword clashed low on Amelia’s blade and Gabriel imagined he could feel the painful blows reverberating up his own arm.
As much as he wanted to, he didn’t have time to help her. With Amelia occupied, the other two angels began to close in on him and he was forced backward, taking position in front of Lila and Sam.
“Gabe, what’s going on? Are those wings?”
“Difficult to explain now, Sammy.”
“Angels?” Sam’s voice rose as his panic became more obvious. “No offence, man, but I always figured you would end up attracting the opposite sort of attention.”
“You and me both, my friend.” He choked out a laugh.
One of the angels lunged for him and Gabriel ducked. The other attacked with a shot to the gut that Gabriel easily dodged. Too easily. They obviously didn’t want him dead. Yet. They were playing with him, keeping him cornered. Mostly likely buying time for Donato to dispatch Amelia from the game. Digging deep, he called on his bar-fighting past and stepped forward, determined that this wasn’t going to happen.
The angels continued to taunt him, but he countered with a hard shot to the jaw of one before quickly swinging out, catching the other in the gut with his booted foot. Another few hits in quick succession and the angels fell back, probably surprised a human had managed to knock them
on their asses. Gabriel was a little surprised himself, but he didn’t hesitate to push forward, shoving the angels back with alternating slugs of his fists. And damn, but it felt good.
Apparently, Gabriel’s counterattack was enough to convince the angels they needed to step up their game. Their hits got harder. Gabriel took one in the ribs and coughed out a harsh groan.
To his credit, he was still holding his own, but it hadn’t changed anything. Gabriel still couldn’t get Sam and Lila out of the house, and he couldn’t leave their side to back up Amelia.
If only he had a sword of his own, he would love to cut a swath through these bastards so they’d never be able to hurt him and his ever again. As the thought came to him, a flutter of energy swirled inside him, like a buzzing, humming ball that bounced off the walls of his gut. He focused on it, instinctively trying to hold onto it, and as he did, it grew stronger. He could sense its heat engulfing him and radiating outward, seeking to be freed.
Amelia cried out and Gabriel swore, jerking his gaze left. Donato hit her in the face, snapping her head to the side. She stumbled, falling to one knee.
Donato’s blade bore down. She threw her arms up over her shoulders just in time to brace her weapon against his.
Gabriel’s heart jumped into his throat, but before he could move, she pivoted, swinging around on her knees, the movement throwing Donato off balance. As she pushed herself back to her feet, she swept a leg out, taking the angel down at the shins and helping him to stay down with a vicious kick to the head.
Already turning back, she engaged the other two angels, drawing them away from Gabriel, sparing him a quick, worried glance over their shoulders. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but behind her, Donato was already on his feet.
“Amelia!” Gabriel called out a warning and lunged forward, trying to fight his way to her. He heard Lila scream his name and Sam shouting at him to stop.
“Gabriel, no. Stay back!” Amelia yelled.
