“Wrong?” Uriel asked, raising an eyebrow. “Nothing is wrong. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some falling to do.” She smirked again. “All the cool kids do it.”
“You can’t fall,” Michelle stated the words so sharply, Uriel actually stopped moving. Then the archangel whirled around.
“And why should I not?” Uriel poked Michelle in the chest. Hard. “You’re not the boss of me. I quit. Resign. Throw in the towel.”
“You can’t do that either.” Michelle dropped the broken angel wing to the ground.
“I can do whatever I damned well please, Michelle.” Uriel snorted. “I’m the biggest, strongest, baddest mama jama in Heaven, and right now, I’m about to pull a Lucifer and do whatever the fuck I want.” Uriel’s wing extended, and as she did, emerald fire sprang from her feet.
“Lucifer is not to be envied, nor followed,” Michelle said, shaking her head. “She abandoned the cause.”
“Well, I’m about to abandon the cause. Y'all can suck it sideways.” Uriel made a wiping motion with her hands. “Because I’m done.”
“Can you just hold on a teensy second?” I asked, looking over Uriel. She seemed like a twisted ball of energy, like a coiled spring just ready to explode or a jungle cat ready to pounce.
“For you?” She nodded toward Michelle. “Or for her?”
“For me.” I smiled. “Because I’m totally lost.”
“Ain’t it the truth?” Uriel threw an arm around my neck. “We’re all lost, kitten.” She shrugged. “But what do you want to know?”
“Who is Jophiel?” I asked.
“The Archangel of Wisdom.” Uriel shrugged. “Got any other brain busters?”
“And why did she kill everyone?” I said, turning over that in my mind. “Because I thought angels were the good guys.”
“Angels are dicks.” Uriel snorted. “Including me and especially including her.” Uriel jerked a thumb at the Archangel of Justice. “There’s no good. No evil. No right or wrong or just. There are just a buncha slobs.” Her eyes twinkled. “Hell, for all we know, God is a slob just like one of us.”
“I guess I’m not following.” I took a deep breath.
“Here’s the thing. Miss High and Mighty likes to put on a pleasant picture, but angels have been defecting for years.” As Uriel started to say more, Michelle huffed, loudly, drawing my eyes to her.
“That isn’t true. Only Jophiel has defected.” Michelle snorted. “She’s barely an archangel. She has the title, but no power.”
“She is the Archangel of Wisdom, and rather than follow you, she chose to join the Darkness.” Uriel didn’t look at Michelle as she spoke. Instead, she met my eyes as she touched her temple. “Think about that.”
“So, the wisest angel abandoned us?” I asked, dread filling my gut. “That seems really bad.”
“It is bad.” Uriel laughed, delirium filling her voice. “It’s so fucking bad I could scream.” She screamed. “And I’m dumb enough to still think we could win without her.”
“Is that why you guys have been losing, why Dred pushed so far into Heaven?” I asked, suddenly confused.
“I doubt it.” Michelle crossed her arms over her chest. “Jophiel defected only a few days ago.”
“She just defected, and in that time you guys got owned?” I took a deep breath and hoped that the loss of the archangel hadn’t royally screwed us. “How long had you stood before that?”
“Millennia.” Uriel sighed. “Michelle doesn’t get it, but without Jophiel we’re pretty much fucked. She made all the plans, all the defenses. She knows how to beat us." Uriel gestured toward where we’d come. “That gate rift bomb? That has Jophiel all over it.”
“Why would Jophiel defect?” I asked, not quite understanding. “Something had to have happened.”
“Cause she’s a tool.” Uriel jerked a thumb at Michelle. “No, not a tool. An entire toolbox full of tools. She’s a big old box of tools.”
“That isn’t as helpful as you’d think.” I sighed.
“How did she get you to come here?” Uriel got really serious as she spoke. “Was it torture?”
“Well—”
“Jophiel said we needed you to win, needed your help.” Uriel glanced at Michelle. “She wouldn’t hear of having your stain on our hallowed shores, blah, blah, blah no one cares.”
“So Jophiel defected, just like that?” I asked, suddenly understanding.
“Yup, she wanted you to come. What’s more, she wanted us to help you.” Uriel looked at Michelle. “Tell him I’m lying.”
“You are not.” Michelle sighed. “Yes, it is true, I did not want you. Now though, with Dred able to break in and the Archangel of Wisdom helping him, we need you.”
“Right, okay.” I took a deep breath and rubbed my temples. This had just gotten a lot harder than I’d thought. “Then we need to do some things my way.”
“Arthur, that is not—”
“Michelle.” Uriel turned toward the Archangel of Justice. “I want to hear his plan. If it sounds good, I’ll stay. If not. So long and thanks for all the fish. Are we clear?”
“Yes.” That single word seemed to hurt Michelle, but if it bothered Uriel, it didn’t show.
“Good.” Uriel gestured at me. “Tell me your plan, Builder.”
“I think we get some of the people from hell to help us.” I waved my hand at the surroundings. “It’s obvious some very basic stuff could move things in the right direction. You don’t have stat boosting sculptures or rune work for one. You also need healers, smiths, craftsmen. Unless I’ve not seen them, you don’t have any of those, do you?”
“We don’t,” Uriel said with a nod. “Not anymore anyway. All dead. That’s who the forces were after. Not that we had much of a force to begin with.”
“Right, so we need some, and Hell has some. We bring them here.”
“And after you’ve sullied Heaven with Hell’s rejects, what then?” Michelle asked, anger filling her voice.
“Then we figure out how the hell to raise my affinity with you guys’ armaments so we can give them to me and I can crush Dred.” I shrugged. “How does that sound for starters?”
“I like him. He has pizzazz.” As Uriel spoke, her menu orb appeared over her head. “Guess I’ll stay.” Her eye flashed with mirth. “If only to see how much he annoys you, Michelle.”
9
“You’re sure you’re okay with this, Michelle?” I asked, looking over at the Archangel of Justice. “You can still say no.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I cannot.”
“Yeah, you can.” We stood just in front of the rift connecting Heaven and Hell, and while I couldn’t see all the way down into the depths of Hell, I could feel the rush of sweltering heat from below. It was weird. I’d only been in Heaven a few hours, and already I found myself accustomed to the more moderate climate.
“If I do, Uriel will leave. We cannot lose the Archangel of Forgiveness. She is the strongest among us.” Michelle looked over at me. “I have not won in millennia, and Jophiel said to trust you, to bring you aboard. Not heeding her has cost me so much already.” She put her hands on her hips. “And we need their skills, much as I hate the idea of demons coming into Hell.”
“Good.” It was weird though, as I let her words roll around in my head, I was brought back to something my aunt said after they’d taken me in. She’d told me that people often did things they didn’t like because it made those around them happy, and to suck it up when people asked me to do things I didn’t like.
Now those words rang truer than ever, and I realized that as much as Michelle didn’t want to let demons into Heaven, she needed them. What’s more, she was trusting me. Both of those felt like heavy burdens, and for a moment, I wondered if I could shoulder it.
Then I decided I didn’t care. If I couldn’t Gabriella would remain with Dred, and I couldn’t let that happen.
“Good.” Michelle offered me her hand. “Let us go get your crafters.”
> I took her hand, and as I did, she stepped off the edge. We plummeted down through the air, and for a second I worried we’d slam into the ground. Only as it rushed up toward us, Michelle unfurled her awesome wings, catching us in midair and slowing our descent.
A second later, we were back in the sweltering heat of Hell. The sky crackled overhead, swirling around the hole in the sky overhead.
“Let us be quick,” Michelle said, looking me over. “And as I said before, only three may come. I will not be able to carry more.” She met my eyes then. “And not Samael.”
“Why not?” I was suddenly confused. “She’s a great blacksmith, and we will need her.”
“She is fallen.” Michelle crossed her arms over her chest. “I cannot have her back. It will send a very powerful message to the angels who have stayed. That cannot be allowed to happen. Not if Heaven is to remain a well-oiled machine.”
“Fine.” I thought about fighting, but it hardly seemed worth it. We could only bring three back, and of them, one had to be Sally, and the other had to be Annabeth. It’d always been a tossup between Maribelle and Sam, and I’d leaned more toward Maribelle, anyway. After all, the angels had their own magical weapons.
“I expected more of an argument,” Michelle sighed. “You seem to love arguing with me. It’s infuriating.”
“Look, I’m just trying to do my best with what I’ve got.” I shrugged as we made our way to the Graveyard, and when I knocked on the door, I heard a squeal of commotion inside.
As the door opened, I saw Buffy the goblin merchant standing there with a shit-eating grin on her face. “Well, look what the cat dragged in.” Her grin got wider. “Let me guess, you need supplies.”
“Actually, we do.” I nodded to her. “How’d you guess?”
“Everyone needs supplies, and they just got ransacked.” Buffy walked over to us and put her hand out and looked at Michelle. “I’ll be happy to help you with supplies.” She smiled. “Just tell Buffy what you need.”
“Well, this is unexpected.” Michelle looked from the goblin to me, and when I shrugged, she turned her eyes back to the goblin. “Why would you help us?”
“For the money of course. So much money.” Buffy put her arm through Michelle’s and while the archangel looked like she didn’t want to be touched, allowed it. “But enough of that. Let’s talk about what ol’ Buffy can do to help you.”
Michelle shot me a “help” look, but I ignored it as I waved to her. “I’ll be back in a bit, okay?” With that, I left them to chat. I’d just make sure I looked over any contracts before Michelle signed them so I could keep Buffy from skinning her alive. Then again, maybe not. Heaven was kind of lame.
As I walked into the town, I was immediately surprised by how little it changed. I know I shouldn’t have been because, realistically, I had only been gone a few hours, but I don’t know, it had felt longer.
Still, as I made my way through the bustling streets, I could tell things were going to change. There were more workers for one, and a lot of the angels were already up and on their feet. Many of them were working under the tutelage of demons. Was this because of Lucifer?
I wasn’t sure, but whoever had gotten the angels and demons to work side by side was a damned genius and definitely needed to talk to Michelle.
“Hey, Sally!” I called, waving at the healer as I approached. “How goes the healing?”
Sally turned to me, her deep blue eyes flashing as her long golden hair whipped around her body. One hand went to her heart as though she was trying to keep it from racing out of her chest.
“Arthur, you scared the bejeezus out of me!” she exclaimed, eyes sweeping over me. “I thought you were in Heaven?” She gave me a wry smile. “Did they kick you out already?”
“Nearly so,” I joked, moving toward her. “You’ve done great work. When I was walking around, I saw most of the angels were better. It’s insane.”
“There were only a couple hundred.” Sally shrugged, her cheeks flushing. “And we had a lot of help. Ever since Lucifer threw their leader into a volcano, they pretty much do as she says.” Sally covered her mouth conspiratorially. “She commands them with an iron fist.”
“Yeah, getting tossed into a volcano has a way of making you listen.” I shuddered at the memory. “Anyway, that’s sort of why I’m back.”
“To throw someone in a volcano?” She arched an eyebrow as confusion spread across her face.
“No.” I shook my head as I reached out and took one of her hands in mine. “I came back for you.”
Sally’s cheeks flushed as she met my eyes. Then she swallowed, once, twice, three times. “You left Heaven for me?”
“Yeah.” I nodded, my free hand sweeping out toward the few injured angels that remained. "You thought this was bad? You haven’t seen anything. Heaven is a goddamned murder pit, and they have no healers.”
“Oh.” Sally looked away from me, eyes distant as she took in the scene. “Right, of course.” She nodded slightly. “I’d be happy to help.” The thing was, she didn’t sound happy, only I didn’t know why.
“That’s great!” I hugged her. “You’re the best.”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “Let me just gather some things and tell Crystal—”
“About that.” I kicked absently at the ground. “She can’t come.”
“Oh?” Sally stared at me for a long moment, and when I didn’t respond, continued, “Why not?”
“I can only bring three people, and the other two spots are for Annabeth and Maribelle.” As her eyes bore into me, she nodded.
“Crystal will not be pleased.” She said it like she was also not pleased.
“I’m sorry.” I sighed. “It was like pulling teeth to get you three up there.” I shook my head. “You’ll understand when we get there.”
With that, I made my way toward the center of town. I’d expected to find Annabeth there, but she was noticeably absent. Usually, her sculpting setup was by the fountain, but it wasn’t there either. That was odd. I wondered where she went.
10
Fifteen minutes later, I still hadn’t found Annabeth, but I had found Maribelle. She was admonishing a group of angels who didn’t seem to know how hammers and nails worked.
“No, you idiots!” Maribelle hollered, gripping a hammer in a white-knuckled grip. “You hit the nail in one smooth motion so you can drive it into the wood and not bend the fuck out of it.” She put a nail against a board and smashed it with her hammer, driving it into the wood with one stroke. “Like that.” She threw her hands into the air. “Honestly, it’s like you’ve never seen a hammer before.”
“Well, they’ve likely not seen a hammer before,” I said, approaching.
“Well, that’s just pathetic…” Maribelle stopped as she turned and saw me. “Arthur! I thought you were in Heaven?”
“I came back to get you,” I said, smiling at her.
“You did?” Maribelle asked, suspicion filling her features. “Why?”
“Because I need a carpenter,” I said, nodding toward her. “And you’re an awesome carpenter.”
“Okay, good.” She let out a breath of relief. “For a moment, I thought you just came back for another foursome.” She rolled her eyes. “That was a onetime thing.”
“Yeah, I figured,” I mumbled as the memory of her and her two apprentices flashed through my mind. At the time, we’d been overtaken by the power of Lust, and it had driven all sensibility from our brains. It was especially strange because of all the women I’d been with, Maribelle had been the most, um, boy crazy. She’d also seemed the most disgusted by seeing other women naked. Not that I’d tried to recreate the moment or anything…
“Anyway, I’ll need some help.” The blue-skinned Maribelle gestured at the angels who were practicing driving nails into wood. It was almost comically bad. “These gals suck. I’m assuming Heaven isn’t much better.”
“It’s worse.” I shrugged. “And you can’t bring anyone else. I just need you and that
pretty brain of yours.”
“Of course you do.” She rolled her yellow eyes. “And you can lay off the compliments.” She gave me a sly grin. “They’re unnecessary.” As she licked her lips, I felt my body react as all the blood in me rushed south.
“Right, okay.” I shook off the sudden need to see just how unnecessary they were and sighed. “Anyway, I need to find the last of our party. Do you know where Annabeth is?”
“Oh, um…” Maribelle looked heavenward as she started to think. She tapped her chin a couple times with one stubby finger. “Isn’t she still with the dwarves?”
“That’s right,” I said, suddenly feeling bad. Annabeth had been with the dwarves. I’d meant to pick her up, but I never had. Worse, now that I’d traded Wrath’s teleport ability for Dred’s healing power, I couldn’t click my heels together and go get her.
“Well, that seems like it’ll be the trip.” She smirked at me and ran a hand through her long red hair. “Let me know when you’re ready. Until then… I’ll be trying to teach these nitwits.”
“Right, okay. Sally is coming too, so if she comes looking for me, let her know.” As Maribelle nodded, I turned and made my way back toward where I thought Buffy and Michelle would be. Last time I’d been here, Buffy had the only Nexus Gateway Conduit, and with it, she could transport me to the dwarven stronghold.
It took me a few minutes longer to find them than I’d have liked, and when I finally did, I was surprised it was in the mess hall.
“So, then she comes over and smacks me in the chest with a wing and is all ‘it’s not even my wing,’” Michelle mocked in a perfect rendition of Uriel as she tossed back another gulp of ale. “What did you say this stuff is again?”
“Ale.” Buffy eyed the angel carefully. “And maybe you should stop. You’ve only had one, and you’re all…” the green-skinned goblin waved a hand at Michelle. “This.”
“What do you mean? I feel great,” Michelle said, finishing the drink in another long gulp that caused dribbles of fluid to spill out from the corners of her mouth. She reached up and wiped the froth away with her forearm as she set the mug down. “What other flavors are good?” She hiccupped.
The Builder's Wrath (The Legendary Builder Book 4) Page 6
