“Oh yeah, it is.”
“Perhaps you should ask him to join us. I would imagine he would be quite affected at seeing his countrymen so.”
Hiwa nodded. “Piotr, Michael wants you to join us here.”
“All right. Have you got my clothes?”
“Yes.”
The eagle swooped down to the ground then and Hiwa dug out the clothing that Piotr had given him back in Kadykchan before they left. Piotr shifted from eagle to man in the blink of an eye and quickly dressed, shivering in the cold. Michael frowned and held up a hand, releasing a ball of light that warmed the space around the three of them instantly.
“I do not want you to become ill,” Michael said.
“Spaseeba, Holy One,” Piotr said. When he was dressed, he bowed. “Spaseeba for coming.”
“I always come when my beloved nephew calls.” Michael smiled. “Now,” the smile faded from his face, “what can you tell me of this place?”
Michael was deliberately keeping them occupied, Hiwa realized. By having them relay what had happened and what they’d found, neither he nor Piotr were aware of what Gabriel and Samael were doing. Casting a quick look over his shoulder, Hiwa saw that the two Archangels had used their power to dig a large grave and were now carefully laying the bodies of the dead within it. Samael’s expression was full of heartbreak and sorrow, while Gabriel’s was a combination of rage and sadness. Hiwa understood how both of them felt all too well.
He turned back to Michael and Michael laid a hand on his shoulder and the other on Piotr’s. “These are terrible deeds that have been done here,” he said. “But we will send these souls to joy and safety, and then we will cover this place with wildflowers.”
“That is very kind,” Piotr said.
Michael sighed. “Not as kind as I wish. But it is all we can do, I fear.”
“I found two hard drives while I was looking around,” Hiwa said. “Uncle Raz or Ondrass might be able to dig something out of them.”
“Undoubtedly. Nevertheless, this place has seen too much despair. First during the purges of Stalin and again with Transom’s actions. I will not allow it to be used so again. The Earth weeps for these souls as do we. Can you see?” Michael indicated the pellets of ice falling from the sky. “Her tears freeze as they fall, but they are still tears.”
“What do we tell the others?” Hiwa asked.
“The truth. There is no reason to conceal anything. This is another tragedy committed by this company that they must pay for. We will finish here and return to Kadykchan, where we will gather your brother and my Venatores. Then we will all go back to Portland. I will suggest that we go to Colorado in two days. You will all need that time to reflect, I think.”
“Thanks, Uncle.” Hiwa felt as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
“It is nothing to thank me for.” Michael peered at him closely. “Have you been sleeping enough?”
“Four hours a night. I never sleep more than that.”
Michael frowned. “That is not enough, young man.”
“It’s all I can manage,” Hiwa said.
“I will speak with Raphael about this. You should have at least eight hours a night.”
Hiwa couldn’t stop the smile he felt tugging at his lips. “You know something, Uncle Mike? You are awesome and I love you.”
Michael looked surprised. “I am not so awesome. But I love you also. You and Ahijah both.”
“Isn’t he the best uncle ever?” Hiwa said to Piotr who was watching them.
“I am in awe of your relationship,” Piotr said. “I had not thought such a thing was possible, and here we are.”
“Perhaps we should concentrate on sending these poor souls to a better home instead of small talk,” Michael said.
Hiwa turned around and saw that Gabriel and Samael had filled in the grave. They stood together, heads bowed, Gabriel blond and pale, Samael bald and dark. Hiwa could see from the set of his shoulders how sad Samael was, and he walked over to the Archangel of Death and took his hand in his own.
Samael raised his head and gave Hiwa a small smile. “Will you say a prayer, gentle Hiwa?”
Hiwa nodded. “Okay.”
“THEY WERE all dead?” Ahijah was horrified. He looked at his brother closely, seeing that Hiwa was hiding just how much he’d been affected by the things he’d seen at the gulag.
“Every last one,” Hiwa said.
“Fuck!”
“Language,” Michael said.
“Sorry, Uncle Mike.” Ahijah ran his hands through his hair. “I can’t believe it.”
“Genocide ain’t a new thing for them,” Gabriel said. “Remember what the kids found in Yaak?”
“I know. I know I shouldn’t be shocked, but I am. I hope they’re going to the worst part of Hell, the people who did this?”
Gabriel and Michael shared a look. Then Gabriel turned back to him and nodded. “They are, aye.”
“Good.” Ahijah shook his head. “I can’t… children, too?”
“Aye, ’fraid so.” Gabriel sighed. “It was terrible, Ahi. Your brother was wise to not take you along.”
“Probably. I’m still pissed off, though. Shocked, horrified, all of that. Damn.”
Angelique joined them. “Riley’s really upset,” she said in a soft voice. “I think we need to get out of here. I need to get him to Raph.”
“What troubles him?” Michael asked.
“What you guys reported, I think it triggered a PTSD memory.” Angelique was pale and her dark eyes were hooded. “He needs Raph.”
“As you say.” Michael turned to Gabriel and Samael. “Let us get them together and return to Portland at once.”
“Aye,” Gabriel said. Then he moved to Angelique and hugged her. “How’re you holding up there, Trouble?”
As Ahijah watched, Angelique hugged Gabriel back, almost clinging to him. “I’m all right. I’m angry and I’m shocked, but I’m also not surprised. I don’t think I’m going to be really surprised by anything these people do to others now. Not after what we saw in Yaak. Not after Hiwa’s report. Did Piotr go back to Armenia?”
“Aye. He wanted to be with Lyudmila. I reckon he needed her comfort.”
“Yeah, understandable.” Angelique huffed a sigh and pulled out of Gabriel’s embrace. “Let’s go to Portland.”
“Before we make our report to everyone, can we grab a shower and something to eat?” Hiwa asked.
“I do not see why not,” Michael said.
“And Raph,” Angelique said.
“As you say. I will let him know now so that he is ready for us.”
“Thanks, boss.” Angelique raised her hand and put two fingers between her lips, then whistled shrilly. The rest of her pack jogged up to join her, and she grinned at them. Ahijah watched the little group closely. They’d lost one of their number not so long ago and yet they were still as tight-knit a unit as he’d ever seen. He could see how much the four of them trusted and respected each other and, more than that, how much they cared for each other. He was so proud to know them then that his heart felt full of emotion.
“You okay?” It was Hiwa.
“I’ll live.”
“You look tired.”
“I am.” Ahijah let out a slow breath, not quite a sigh. “It’s been a very busy and emotional few days.”
“Tell me about it.” Hiwa’s voice was like gravel on steel. “I swear to you, Ahi, those fuckers who did that shit… I want to hurt them. A lot.”
“So do I,” Ahijah said. “I didn’t see it, and it’s probably better that I didn’t, but you’re pretty upset by it and you don’t get upset easily. So I can imagine how bad it was.”
Hiwa shook his head. “I feel like I need to scrub out my brain. The things I saw are going to haunt me for a while. I’ll have nightmares. And Uncle Mike wants me to sleep eight hours a night! That’s just madness!”
Ahijah stared at him. Then he burst out laughing. He couldn’t help it. After a moment
, Hiwa joined in, and the two of them leaned into each other as they joined the Venatores and Archangels. It felt good to laugh, Ahijah thought, a lightening of the load. As they all took hands, the Archangels standing behind them, Ahijah thought that the world would be a far better place without Transom and others who thought like them. Prejudice of any kind was repugnant.
“We go now,” Samael’s voice was soft and comforting, and Ahijah took a deep breath. The snowy gray town of Kadykchan vanished, replaced with the blackness that was where they went to during teleportation, and then everything was sunlight as they appeared in Portland, on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.
“It’s so much warmer here,” Hiwa noted.
“I’m melting!” Baxter was tugging off his coat and hat. “Gah, this is unbelievably hot!”
Ahijah laughed. “We’ll be in Ondrass’s climate controlled tower of power soon.”
“Tower of power? It rhymes. I like it.”
“I’ll see if I can think of some more rhymes for you,” Ahijah teased.
“Thanks!” Baxter grinned at him.
“Come along children,” Michael said. “Let us get indoors and proceed to the top floor. Take what nourishment you need and Raphael is waiting for you as well.”
“Yes, Uncle Mike,” Ahijah and Hiwa said in unison.
“Such well-mannered boys,” Angelique said. “Okay people, let’s move.”
“I MUST go to Heaven,” Samael said to Gabriel. “I have been summoned.”
Gabriel nodded. “No problem. I’ll let you know when we’re moving out to Colorado.”
“I appreciate that.” Samael hesitated a moment before he continued. “God is upset,” he said. “He is aghast at what transpired in the gulag. I am deeply concerned by this, for He has seen atrocities before.”
“That doesn’t bode well for what we didn’t see,” Gabriel mused. “We saw the end result, not what led up to it.”
“I know. I fear that this is not going to end well,” Samael said. He sighed and looked away. “I must go. I will return as soon as I can.”
“Safe flight, Sammy,” Gabriel said.
Samael turned back to smile at him. “Thank you, Gabriel.” He gave Gabriel a small bow and then he vanished.
As soon as he was gone, Gabriel let out a slow breath. He felt as if his heart had been scrubbed raw by steel wool. The bodies of the dead had been more than a little discomforting, the remains of the humans and shifters that they had buried illustrating to Gabriel just how horrific their deaths had been. They had not just been shot; they had been doused in gasoline, as if some great hand had tipped jerry cans over the gulag, and set on fire. Some of them had been dismembered, and Gabriel didn’t want to think too much about that.
He was angry. He knew it well enough, after all; it was the emotion he felt most often. Even when he was happy, there was still a lingering thread of vast anger within him. He knew this was part of what he had been made and so it hadn’t ever really bothered him, but now he also felt the frustration of not being able to unleash his fury with his power and his sword and destroy the ones who had done the deeds in the gulag.
“Gabriel.”
Gabriel turned at the sound of his name and saw Michael standing a few feet away. Michael’s face was calm, although his eyes were full of sadness and compassion. As he had done earlier with Hiwa, Michael held out his arms, and Gabriel went to him, pulling him into a crushing embrace, feeling Michael’s arms around him just as tight. And then he felt the shift of teleportation as Michael moved, and when they emerged back in the world, they were on Belle Coeur, standing in the warm beauty of one of the small, sheltered coves on the south side of the island.
“I thought you would need this place of peace,” Michael said. He didn’t let Gabriel go, but he relaxed his embrace a little, pulling back enough so that he could look into Gabriel’s eyes. “I could feel your distress through our bond, da bao.”
Gabriel nodded. “Aye, I do. Thank you, solnyshko.”
“It is no trouble. Do you wish to speak of it?”
Gabriel heaved a great sigh. “What’s to say? You know why I’m upset.”
“I do.” Michael echoed the sigh. “I fear I do not know what to say on the matter. Those poor souls, Gabriel. I hope very much that they find comfort in the Land of Light. Heaven should be a balm for them.”
“Aye, I do too. You know that Lucifer’s gonna have the most epic tantrum when he hears about this?”
Michael canted his head to one side. “Why? Lucifer cares little for humanity.”
“There were shifters among the dead,” Gabriel said. “He likes shifters.”
“Oh.” Michael pursed his lips and then shook his head. “If he rages, as you suggest, I do not think he will be alone. I think others—our Archdemon allies, for example—will be just as angry. More for what we did not see. Transom Corp. has used demons in their experiments, and just because we did not see any among the dead in Russia does not mean that there were none. There were so many”—and Michael’s voice wavered a little—“so many bodies that we could not be certain that none were demon without closer examination. Many of the shifters were midshift, I saw half a dozen thus.”
“So did I.” Gabriel let go of Michael with one hand and rubbed his face with it. “Lordy. What a place. In some ways, it was worse than when Stalin was running the show in Russia.”
Michael sighed. “I feared that might have been the case. Has history taught Transom nothing?”
“I think history has only taught ’em that they hate us.” Gabriel looked around the cove, taking in the serene beauty of the place. “Somewhere like here, for instance, would be lost on ’em. They’d see only the potential to make money by building a resort—chopping down trees, building a harbor and a huge resort facility for the very rich.”
Michael’s lip curled slightly. “That would diminish the beauty of this place and harm the wildlife who takes sanctuary here.”
“Aye.” Gabriel stepped back and took Michael’s hand in his. “Let’s walk a bit, Mishka. I feel a bit… restless.”
“As you say.” Michael twined their fingers and gave Gabriel’s hand a gentle squeeze. “Where shall we walk?”
“Along the headland?” Gabriel nodded in the direction of the rocky promontory topped with bright green grass.
“That sounds lovely.” Michael smiled at Gabriel, and Gabriel felt a great many of his concerns and cares drain away with the warmth of his beloved’s smile.
“Do we need to get back to Portland in a hurry?” Gabriel asked.
“I do not think so. We are not going to Colorado for a few days. We can spend one day and one night here on our island. Indeed, I think it would be prudent to do so, for it is not just my Venatores or the boys who need some peace after what has happened lately, but us as well.”
“You know”—and Gabriel swung their hands a little as they began to walk—“it’s been a bloody age since I’ve seen Hiwa upset about anything. He was shocked to the core.”
“Language. And yes, you are right. For a moment, when I held him in my arms and comforted him, it felt as if the years had faded away and he was once again a frightened child, bloodied and bruised after a beating from his father’s hand.” Michael’s voice became cold. “Semjaza did terrible things to his children, Gabriel, things that no father should ever do.”
“And he did terrible things to his wife,” Gabriel said. “Things no loving partner should ever do.”
“Indeed.” Michael sighed and shook his head. “I am glad he is in Hell. I can think of no other place that would provide him with what he so richly deserves.”
“Aye.” Gabriel fell silent as they walked, climbing the steep and pebble-strewn path up to the headland. At the top, he let out a loud breath and gazed over the ocean. The dark blue depths were surrounded by lighter blue waters, topped here and there with foaming white. With his Archangel vision, Gabriel could see whales frolicking in those waters, and he smiled in spite of his mood as he watched
the great giants of the sea play with delight in their world.
There were dolphins too, and schools of fish of every color and size. Here and there were sea birds, those who could travel great distances over the ocean, such as the albatross, and others who had ventured out in search of food, such as seagulls. The sea sang her song of joy in creation and all who lived within her, nourished by her, rejoiced along with her. Gabriel felt the sea wash away the fury that had filled him, dampening it to its usual dull roar at the back of his mind and Grace.
He inhaled deeply as he felt his muscles relax, scenting the tang of salt and brine, the sweeter smells of the sea life that only an Archangel or another being with powers could experience. And he felt Michael’s hand in his, warm and firm, his fingers twined with Gabriel’s own as they stood together, gazing out over the ocean and her children.
“Do you feel better, da bao?”
Gabriel nodded, turning to face Michael. “Aye. Thank you.”
“There is, as you say, naught to thank me for.” A smile tugged at the corners of Michael’s lips. “This place is a blessing for us both, I think. Our little piece of private joy and tranquility, to remind us of just how wonderful the world and all of creation is.”
“Aye.” Gabriel gently tugged Michael’s hand, drawing him closer. “I feel a certain sense of inevitability about this,” he said, growing serious. “About what we’re going to face down in Colorado. I think this is gonna be the decider in whether or not we can continue to do our duty and serve the Earth and all life that lives here.”
Michael’s face was a study in grim seriousness. “I agree. This new magic may be too powerful or too different for us to combat. Transom may indeed represent the beginning of a new age here, a new age in which there is no magic. I hope very much that we prevail, but it is, as you say, as if we are standing at the precipice and we do not know who will win.”
Gabriel rested his forehead against Michael’s. “I’ll admit I’m a bit scared. Not for us, but for all of those who ain’t angelkind. What’ll happen to shifters, monsters, witches? Where will they go? Will they be banished to Purgatory or will they be shot out into space and die in a vacuum? There’ll be so much pain and death, and I don’t think we’ll have ever seen the like of it before.”
A Candle in the Sun Page 7
