Raise Hell

by Briana Michaels

  It took Gabe great effort to obey that merciful command. Slowly, he loosened his grip on Rave's neck and shoved him back with a hiss.

  Con took over the conversation, "Explain, Rave."

  "Michael took Jude, Raphael, Nikolai, and Cassian."

  "Took them where?"

  Rave shook his head. "Down below."

  Gabriel bit the inside of his cheek. ‘Down below’ was code for the place Michael did his experiments.

  "They're the Scourge.” He looked over at Con and watched the color drain from his face. "And Michael used Constantine's healing powers to help them survive whatever transformation they went under." It was the only thing that made sense.

  "Fuck," Constantine began pacing. “That’s what I was tied to down there?”

  Rave shrugged, "We thought that's who you were up there – we thought you were them. I couldn't see a face, just blood and wings. I saw a bloodied Angel struggling and assumed it was those things Michael turned our brothers into. I ordered the shots. I didn't know it was Uriel. I swear."

  “Those things?” Holy Divine Light, is that how Rave thought of the Angels that made up the Scourge now? Things? Not Angels. Not brothers…. Things. And he hadn’t hesitated to strike them down without a second thought.

  “They’re not Angelic anymore. At least… they didn’t look that way,” Rave bristled and ordered everyone to stand down.

  “All because they don’t look like us anymore doesn’t mean their hearts have changed. They’re still our brothers,” Gabriel argued. “And if they’ve been cursed, we might be able to break it and free them from whatever power Michael is ruling them with.”

  “They need to be put down,” growled another Angel. “They’re tainted. Ruined.”

  Gabriel's anger mixed with his guilt and sadness - the result was a superb case of nausea. "We can't let Michael get away with this," he whispered. "He must be stopped."

  "Yeah, but how?" asked another Angel.

  "I don't fucking know, but we must think of something."

  "Kill him," Rave growled. "Death is the only thing that'll stop him."

  "No, it’s not," Constantine face turned red with rage. “Michael's put spells on himself that make him nearly invincible now. Killing him will not be easy... maybe not even possible for one of us."

  "Shit," said another Angel.

  Gabriel tipped his head to the side and studied Rave. Something felt off with him. Then again, something was off with all of them at this point. Gabriel had a terrible buzzy feeling in his veins and his thoughts were cloudy. "I don't feel right." He hadn't meant to say it out loud.

  "Me either," Rave frowned.

  "Neither do we," said two more Angels.

  Gabriel spun around to see Constantine with his back turned and his head buried in his hands. "Con?" No answer. "Con," Gabriel marched over and grabbed him by the shoulder.

  He was cold to the touch. Icy cold.

  Constantine’s wings drooped and he vomited all over the grass. What came out was black and thick and stunk like Sulphur. Gabriel’s eyes widened when he felt something slam into his system that rocked the marrow in his bones.

  There wasn’t time to block it.

  There wasn’t time to do anything.

  Uriel could barely breathe. Holy mother of pearl, every inch of him screamed in agony. His vision was hazy. His wings were deadweight on his ruined back. He trudged through the wild overgrowth on the edge of the realm, stumbling along blindly.

  He tripped on a tree root and started pinwheeling forward. Slamming down on his hands and knees, every bone in his body felt like it shattered. Holy fucking creations, how could he still be in so much pain? For a little while there, after that final push from Constantine, he was actually able to function – breathe without the stabbing in his chest, walk without the agony in his thighs, and his wounds didn’t burn so badly.

  But something had gone horribly wrong between point A and point B. Out of nowhere, there was this terrible pull of energy and with it, all his healing came undone. Uriel’s wounds ripped open again and he was bleeding out.

  Damn, he hadn’t gotten this fucking far to quit now. Exhausted and weak, Uri crawled on the ground like a wounded animal. His wings drug across the ground, leaving a blood trail behind him.

  Being alone scared him more than anything. He had no way to defend himself. His vision darkened more with every breath he took. He could no longer stand. His breathing became labored and he was sure this was how he was going to fucking die.

  “Lucifer!” Disintegrating at a rapid pace, he put everything he had into his next holler. “Eve! Help me!”

  There was an awful ringing in his ears, followed by muffled noises. His heartbeat swished lazily in his ears and he felt like he was sinking to the bottom of the ocean again.

  Collapsing face-down in the dirt, he gripped the satchel Constantine gave him and tried to figure out how he was going to have his last act on earth be destroying whatever was in the fucking sack. Please, he prayed silently, someone help me.

  Heat burned his limbs and back. With a final exhale, he closed his eyes and succumbed to his fate. His body ascended. It felt like he’d been catapulted into the sky. The wind was strong. The speed of his body shooting through the sky was the strongest he’d ever experienced.

  I’m going into the unknown, he thought. Uriel went limp as he let himself go.

  Quickly scooping Uri up and taking to the skies, Lucifer was glad to have his wings back. This was the first time he was using them and they worked magnificently. As he raced through the sky, he soared way ahead of Eve in only a few beats of his wings. When he landed in front of the cottage, Lazarus was already holding the door open.

  He must have known we were coming, Lucifer frowned. Had Laz heard the screams too, or was it because he was all knowing? Whatever. Didn’t matter. “He needs help,” Lucifer rushed forward and laid Uriel carefully down on the bed. “Fix him.”

  “He’s not broken. He needs no fixing.”

  Lucifer barked like a vicious animal and jammed a finger in Laz’s face. “He is bleeding out! You fix this. You know everything. You know how to make him better.”

  Laz didn’t even flinch. “If you two want him healed so badly, do it yourselves.” The Golden Winged Asshole walked away and grabbed an apple before heading outside.

  Eve rushed into the cottage and slammed the door shut. “Is he going for help?” she asked. “Does he know how to fix Uriel?” Eve dropped down on her knees by Uriel’s side and grabbed his hand. “Oh my stars...”

  Lucifer watched Eve’s pained expressions. Saw the way her gaze sailed all over Uriel’s body like her eyes couldn’t latch onto any one injury for too long. He swiped a hand over his face and tried to think this through, “Lazarus isn’t going to help. He said if we want him healed, to do it ourselves.”

  “What?” Her demeanor went from frazzled to furious, “How are we supposed to help him?”

  How would I know? Lucifer leaned down to inspect Uriel’s injuries. So many wounds, so much blood. Lucifer’s heart pounded wildly…

  “Hey, 666, can you hear me?”

  Curled on the ground, 666 stayed silent with his clawed hands hiding his face and wings shielding his body. So much of him bled, he felt like his essence was seeping out through the holes in his abdomen. No thanks to the spells placed on him, his healing process was painfully slow and made him groggy and nauseous.

  “Come on, make some kinda noise so I know you understand me. There’s not a lot of time.” Uriel clanked a cup against the cage bars. “He’s going to come back soon. Drink this, okay? Trust me and chug it. This will help numb you. I’d give you something for the healing, but that’s Con’s handy work. I can’t do that stuff. Hey… 666… come take—”

  666 was still ignoring the Cager’s temptation when he heard Michaels distinct footfalls come down the dungeon steps. “What the fuck are you doing, Uriel?”

  666 stayed quiet and didn’t move a muscle. And while he remaine
d curled in his cage, having been reduced to an animal with no words that could form from his tongue, his eyes welled and body trembled with what he heard…

  The cup crashed to the floor and a body slammed against the bars. “You would aid an animal like that?”

  “No, sire!”

  A sound of flesh pounding flesh resonated in 666’s ears. Moving his hand slightly out of the way, he watched what was going on just beyond his reach.

  Uriel’s wings crunched against the cage, some of his feathers bent and protruded through the bars. Michael pinned him there and…

  666 sat up in shock.

  Uriel was impaled through the gullet with a sword. Michael’s sneer was cold, his teeth gleaming in the low light with a cruel and heartless smile. “Compassion is for the weak. Are you weak, Uri?”

  “N-n-n-no, sire.”

  Michael yanked the sword out of Uriel’s body and stabbed 666 with an icy stare. “Know your place,” he growled. “There is no room for compassion in a warrior. Lose it or lose your place here.”

  Uriel fell to the ground, gasping for air and holding his hand over his stomach.

  Michael slowly prowled around the cage, clanking the bars with his bloodied sword to keep the beast’s attention.

  666 growled low in his throat. Right now, he wasn’t an Angel. He was the Beast. The dark presence that gnashed his teeth and clawed the stone floor, gouging and shredding it into dust.

  “He heals on his own or not at all,” Michael sheathed his sword and bent down to pick up the cup Uriel dropped. Dipping his pinky into it, he licked the residue and frowned. “A numbing agent?” His head snapped to Uriel’s direction again. “That’s going to cost you, brother.”

  666’s fear clawed his conscience. For the first time ever, he actually cared about what happened to someone else in this horrible place. And when Michael picked Uriel up by the neck and slugged him in the stomach, 666’s growl rumbled the underground prison.

  Michael laughed and fake-whispered, “I think he likes you, Uriel.”

  Uri screamed, his head thrashing back. “Please! Stop!”

  666 sat up even more. His stomach roiled when he realized that Michael had stuffed his hand inside Uriel’s gaping wound.

  Michael laughed through gritted teeth, “Bet you wish you’d sucked that numbing magic down yourself now, huh?” He wrenched his hand out of Uriel’s body and dropped him to the ground. Turning to walk away he said, “Get your ass up and go to the tree.”

  “Michael, please!”

  666’s eyes fluttered shut with the pity he felt. No male should ever have to beg for mercy like that. Uriel had done nothing wrong.

  “Move your ass, Uriel. If I get there before you do, the price you’re paying will double with every second of my time you waste.”

  666’s chains clanked as he tried to move closer. Reaching out, he wanted to tell Uriel to stab that fucker in the back. Hack off his head. Pulverize and annihilate him. But with the reversion Michael forced upon him, 666 was incapable of speech at the moment.

  And Uriel hadn’t turned around to look at him anyway.

  Instead, 666 watched that Angel crawl away on his hands and knees, leaving nothing but a blood trail behind.

  “You flew.”

  Shaking his head to get the memory out, Lucifer focused on Eve. “Yeah,” he gulped. “Didn’t realize I was in the air with him until my ears popped.”

  “You soared,” she didn’t look at him while she spoke. Instead, Eve was peeling some of the bandages away to inspect Uriel’s damage. “Because you healed. You healed both of us.”

  What was she getting at?

  Eve stood and put her hands on her hips. “I think it was your fire. We were in those black flames of yours, Lucy.”

  “Should I try it on him?”

  “I think you better. He’s not going to last like this.”

  Lucifer opened that part of himself up and let his flames out. They dripped like black liquid off his arms and fingertips. Maybe he should make a circle around Uriel? Picking the unconscious Angel up, Luce placed him on the floor in the center of the cottage and walked around him slowly. His black fire burned and scorched the floor.

  Eve stepped across the flames without fear and crouched down by Uriel’s head. Placing two fingers on the side of his neck, she frowned, “His pulse is fading. I can barely feel him.”

  Lucifer enticed his flames to burn hotter, higher. “How about now?”

  “No,” she said with a hint of panic.

  Lucifer tried to get the flames a little stronger, but if he went any more than this, he might burn the house down. “Now?”

  Eve didn’t answer.

  “Eve! Is this helping?”

  She still didn’t answer.

  Lucifer’s arms dropped and his flames immediately followed his command and fell to the ground like spilled black liquid. Tints of blue and purple swirled like acid as the fire skated low on the ground. He didn’t see any of that though.

  He was too busy watching Eve kiss Uriel.

  A possessive growl erupted from his throat.

  It wasn’t fair of him to act so territorial. He didn’t own Eve.

  But he sure as shit didn’t share Eve, either.

  Swallowing his jealousy, Lucifer wasn’t sure what to do. Seeing Eve kiss another was both infuriating as it was intriguing. And as if her mouth worked miracles, Uriel’s hand slowly rose and rested on the back of Eve’s head, keeping their mouths locked.

  Lucifer froze. He didn’t breathe. Didn’t blink. Didn’t make a motherfucking sound.

  In one kiss, he felt like he just lost everything…

  Chapter 41

  Scared shitless, kissing Uriel was the only thing Eve could think of, which felt lame. But Lucifer’s fires weren’t working and she thought for sure those black flames were for purifying and healing. That certainly had been the case for her and Lucy earlier. For that fire to have worked on her and Lucifer earlier meant they were somehow connected. Her heart leapt for joy at the thought.

  It also ached something awful as her lips pressed to Uriel’s.

  The moment she felt Uri’s hand cup the back of her head, she wanted to weep with joy and regret. Lucifer’s growl ricocheted around the cottage. The heat level in the tight space made it hard to breathe. But something in her blew wide open when Uriel slid his tongue inside her mouth.

  She made a guttural, undignified groan.

  Maybe it wasn’t the fires that healed, she thought. Maybe it was the other actions they’d taken. With that thought slithering around in her mind, Eve deepened her kiss and held the side of Uriel’s face. How an exchange like this could be so powerful was a mystery. Still, as she continued to twirl her tongue around Uriel's, there was a definite shift of energy and she saw no reason to stop.

  If anything, she wanted to dive in, head first.

  Pulling away, she glanced down at Uriel to check on him. His eyes were barely opened, but his breathing was a little steadier. "It's working," she said, "this exchange is helping him. Put your fires back up and get in the circle with us, Lucy."

  With a low growl, Lucifer obeyed even though she knew he didn't like it. Did he genuinely not want to help Uriel, or was he jealous over something? Seriously, what could possibly make Lucy jealous in a situation like this?

  "Talk to me," she said while carefully untying the various bandages on Uri's torso. "Why are you growling like that, Lucifer?"

  "I don't like your mouth on him the way it was on me."

  Eve kept undoing the bandages as she flicked her gaze up to him. "You are jealous of affections?"

  "I don't know what I am." Lucifer crouched down and helped her get the rest of the bloodied cloth off the silent Angel. He sucked in a breath once Uriel was completely bare and they saw how extensive the damage was.

  Eve had to tear her eyes away from Uriel for a moment. His body was so badly sliced, she feared she'd be sick. "Would you let him suffer like this?"

  "I would not wish my
worst enemy to suffer like this," Lucifer frowned. "I'll eat my jealousy until I choke upon it. Fix him however you can."

  No pressure there. Eve bit her bottom lip and tried to figure out what to do. "We healed with your fires. Why can't he heal the same way?"

  "It was more than my fires," Lucifer confirmed what she feared.

  "Then we must do this for him."

  Lucifer bared his teeth.

  She didn’t have time for that petty shit, "Help or leave. We owe him this," she said. "I owe him this. Uriel helped me more than once while I was in that cage with you."

  Lucifer’s demeanor completely changed. With a loud exhale, he swiped his hands down his face and crouched again. "Agreed. What must I do?"

  "I don't know," she frowned. "Kiss him, maybe?"

  Lucifer cocked his head back and winced. "Are you serious?"

  Uriel coughed and groaned. Blood slowly seeped out from under his wings and pooled around his body.

  "If you can hear me, Uriel. Hang on. We're going to make this right." Eve leaned down and kissed him again. Now, both his hands raised and held onto her. Eve broke away to see Lucifer seething mad. "It's working," she hissed. "Make your flames higher. Burn this house to the ground if that's what it takes. And stay with me in the circle. Don't leave us, Lucy." Eve carefully slid her hands down Uriel's body, kissing him along his throat and the side of his neck.

  Lucifer's voice was deep and demanding when he growled, "Touch his thighs."

  Eve blindly reached down and ran her hands over Uriel's thick thighs. He had a fine dusting of blond hair. They'd already taken his pants off when they'd un-bandaged him.

  "He's hard," Lucifer said in low tones. "Grab his cock."

  Eve hesitated. She didn't think that was quite necessary right now, but when she broke away from kissing Uriel and saw that all his wounds had closed up and stopped bleeding, she looked over at Lucifer. "This is working!"

  "Looks like it."

  Who would have thought Angels could heal from this kind of exchange? It felt... crazy. Eve's head started to spin a little but when Lucifer grabbed her right hand and placed it on Uriel's cock, she couldn't stop the groan that flew out of her mouth and into Uriel's. The Angel's hips rose slightly, encouraging her to pump him.