A Fire in the Heart

by L. J. LaBarthe

  “Sweet thing,” Declan said gently after a few moments, “you’re not alone.”

  A sound like a sob came from Lily, and Liam watched as she clung to his brother, her shoulders shaking as she cried into his shirt. Declan stroked her hair with one hand and murmured to her in a quiet voice, too low for Liam to catch what he was saying. He could imagine, though. Liam might be good with the dead and showing them compassion, but his brother had the talent of comforting and consoling the living.

  After several moments, Lily pulled back from Declan, and Liam could see that her weeping had subsided.

  “Thank you,” Lily said.

  “Darlin’, you don’t need to thank me. I may not be a part of this pack, but I am your friend, and in my book, friends take care of each other, like family does.”

  “What he said,” Liam said.

  She gave them both a shaky smile. “I appreciate that.”

  “How do you feel?” Liam asked.

  “Very, very tired,” Lily said. “And my heart hurts. Adramelek’s helping with that.”

  “Can I ask how?” Declan began. “I don’t want to pry, but he is an Archdemon.”

  “I know. He’s teaching me how to use magic to protect myself from breaking apart while I work through what happened. I don’t… what I mean to say is that I do not want to lose myself. I do not want to stop being Venatores. I want to keep being in this pack, being Jelly’s beta, working against the darkness. I want to be able to keep living in Salem, in the house that Michael owns, and I want to be able to shift without losing my heart or mind. Michael said I could have another apartment in the building, which is good.”

  “So Adramelek’s teaching you magic, huh? Well, if Mike’s okay with it, then I am too.” Declan gently ran a hand over her hair. “Now, I ain’t so great with emotions, so I’m saying sorry in advance. But here’s what I think. I think we should get the biggest, most expensive pizza this town has to offer delivered here, and we should all eat it and talk about happy times and have a bit of a bonding session. What d’you think?”

  Lily nodded. “That sounds very good, actually. Thank you, Declan.”

  “You’re very welcome, sweet thing.” He smiled at her.

  “Maybe, first, if it’s all right, I’ll just have a lie down?”

  “Of course,” Declan said.

  “There’s a bed….” Angelique began.

  “It’s okay, I was just going to lie down on the couch by the window,” Lily said. “I don’t really want to be too far away from you all.”

  Angelique nodded. “Sure. I understand. I’ll find you a pillow, and Baxter can rustle up another blanket.”

  “On it, boss,” Baxter said.

  Liam smiled at his lover and moved to sit down on the couch as Lily got up and went over to the one by the window. In a low voice, he said to his brother, “That was amazing.”

  Declan shrugged as he got to his feet and then sat down on the couch. “Her heart’s breaking, bro. She’s in so much pain, I can almost see it. She needs lots of hugs, lots of smiles, lots of love. And she’ll get that, because these people—even your dick of a boyfriend—are damn good folk, and they care about her a lot. She’ll be all right.”

  “How do you do that?” Liam wondered. “You manage to see what’s going on so clearly. I’ve never been able to.”

  “Dunno.” Declan leaned back and sprawled on the couch. “Selana used to say I knew how to read people, so maybe that’s it.”

  “Like you were going to be good as a horse for a loa?”

  Declan grinned. “Dude, she is going to flip her shit when she hears about that!”

  Liam chuckled softly. “I know.”

  “Anyway, there’s shit you do that I can’t, and I’m not talking about your Necromancy. You can see between the lines of what people say, read what they’re not saying. I can’t do that. Well, not as good as you can, anyway. And you’re pretty good at tracking.”

  “So are you,” Liam said.

  “Yeah, I’m pretty awesome,” Declan said.

  “And so modest.”

  Declan winked at him.

  Baxter and Angelique came to join them then, and Liam looked at the two of them curiously. “How is she, really?” he asked softly.

  “Actually,” and Angelique sat down on the carpet, “she’s a ton better since Dec hugged her. I was terrified she was going to kill herself. Now I don’t think she will.”

  “She’ll be heartbroken and mourning for a very long time,” Riley said softly. “But I must say, Adramelek is wonderful with her. I think I’ll have to revise my opinion of at least some demons.”

  “Markus is too, actually,” Angelique said. “And Ondrass. Actually, the whole guild are amazing with her.”

  “That’s true. They do seem to genuinely like her, and they don’t seem to be trying to get her to join Team Evil,” Riley said.

  “This whole thing, these postwar troubles we seem to face every so often have made those guys the most unexpected allies,” Liam said. “If you’d told me a few years ago that me and Dec would be working with a bunch of Archdemons, I would have told you that you were insane.”

  “Damn right,” Declan agreed.

  “Yeah, same here,” Angelique said.

  “Necessity makes for strange bedfellows,” Riley said. “And those bedfellows can sometimes become friends, beyond being allies.”

  “That’s pretty profound there, Biggles,” Liam said.

  “I think you’ve hit the nail on the head,” Declan said. “Which is to say that yeah, I think you’re right, Riley.”

  Riley gave them all a shy smile.

  “So,” Declan said, “what about that pizza?”

  “HOLY CRAP.” Gabriel had listened with growing surprise as Michael relayed to him what had happened with Danny. “So he’s really gone?”

  “Yes, he has really gone.” Michael sighed heavily. “I did not realize he was so unhappy. When I looked into his thoughts up there on Ondrass’s roof, all I could see was anger and pain. He had been hurting for a very long time.”

  “What about Lily?”

  Michael heaved another sigh. “I do not know. I hope very much that the remainder of her pack will be able to help her through this time, but she and Danny were mated as well as married. I have not often seen a mated couple survive after a breakup such as this. Oh, the one who leaves survives well enough, but the one who is left….”

  Gabriel shook his head. “Bloody hell.”

  “Language. I fear that they should not be part of the next wave of missions, either,” Michael said.

  Gabriel frowned at that. “You mean Angelique’s pack? I disagree.”

  “Pardon?”

  “Lily’s grieving right now. She’s got her pack, aye, and her friends, and from what you tell me, the Archdemons, too. I’m a bit dubious about them, but they may know something about helping her that we don’t. But if we deny the pack the right to fight, that’ll set off a lot of resentment and make things worse. I reckon you let ’em fight. Besides, revenge might be the best medicine for young Lily.”

  “Revenge is not good for anyone,” Michael said.

  “Sometimes it is. A way to focus and redirect the pain and work through it. Anyway, it’s all we’ve got to give her right now.”

  “I do not agree.”

  “A compromise, then?”

  Michael eyed him warily and Gabriel grinned.

  “Ask ’em. If they want to fight—and I bet you they do—ain’t it better to ask first before telling them that they can’t? And it might be something that Lily’s holding onto as a lifeline.”

  “That does not make sense, Gabriel.”

  “Course it does. Look, she just lost her husband and pack mate. She won’t blame the rest of her pack or you or the Venatores or anyone we work with, but she will blame the Transom people, you mark my words. And she’ll want to get her revenge on ’em. I say that’s healthier than her trying to kill herself out of grief, don’t you?”

&
nbsp; Michael looked away. “As you say.”

  Gabriel sighed. He wanted to comfort his lover, but he wasn’t sure how to. And he could tell that Michael didn’t want to talk about it anymore, the way his jaw was clenched and the stiff set to his shoulders.

  “I wish to be alone for a time,” Michael said, as if he’d read Gabriel’s thoughts. “I will join you in a little while in Portland.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.” Michael looked up at Gabriel and gave him a tiny smile. “I will be all right.”

  “Okay. Let me know if you need anything.”

  “Of course.” Michael gave him a shallow bow and then vanished, the sound of rustling feathers loud in the wake of his departure.

  “Bloody hell,” Gabriel said to himself. For a moment, he wondered what he should do, but then he decided he would go and see how Lily was for himself. He concentrated and teleported to the center of Portland and emerged in a narrow alleyway, hidden from human eyes. Nonchalantly, he walked out and donned a pair of sunglasses as he emerged on the street into a bright and sunny day.

  It was a nice day for a walk, Gabriel decided, as he began to make his way toward Ondrass’s tower. There were quite a few citizens of the city out and about, and there were various vehicles on the road, although the traffic wasn’t too heavy. He crossed the street and continued on his way, stopping briefly at a food truck to buy himself a Vietnamese pulled-pork sandwich. The scent of it as he waited in line made his mouth water; even though he didn’t need to eat to survive, Gabriel enjoyed food a very great deal. He paid the polite server for his sandwich, and when it was handed to him, he lifted it to his nose and inhaled the fragrance of spices and cooked meat deeply.

  Purchasing a soda as well to wash his sandwich down, Gabriel started walking again, eating as he went. He listened to the chatter and sounds of life in the city, noticing with some satisfaction that the people of Portland were, for the most part, content. They had recovered from the shortages of the war—food, water, amenities—very well indeed, and many of the refugees from other states and from Canada had decided to stay and make a new life for themselves here in Oregon’s main city. Gabriel took another bite of his sandwich as he crossed the street once again, rounding a corner and walking down the wide boulevard that the entrance to Ondrass’s building was on, and he nodded politely to people as he passed them.

  One little girl, holding her father’s hand, waved to him, and Gabriel grinned and waved back, making her smile. He chuckled softly as he passed the pair and made his way into the lobby of the building.

  Adramelek was there, smoking a cigarette, curls of silver-gray smoke wafting toward the ceiling. As Gabriel removed his sunglasses and shoved them in the pocket of his jacket, he raised an eyebrow at the Archdemon.

  “Michael isn’t with you?” Adramelek asked.

  “No, he’s gone off to think,” Gabriel said. “Why?”

  “He does know that one of his Venatores is breaking apart right now, doesn’t he?”

  “Lily?” Gabriel was alarmed. “What’s the matter? Apart from her husband leaving her.”

  “Oh, you have heard, then.” Adramelek shook his head. “Gabriel, I’m confused. And I don’t like being confused. This child is human—shifter. She should matter as little to me as any other shifter, particularly one who works for Michael and is so damn loyal to him, and yet here I am, and my Guild as well, finding ourselves fretting over her every tear.”

  “It’s called compassion,” Gabriel drawled. “I’m sure you ain’t forgotten it.”

  “You’re hilarious. Of course I know what it is, but my point was that she belongs to Michael. Her soul is Heaven’s. And yet, we of Hell are bending over backward to try to help her. It’s… unusual.”

  Gabriel squinted at him. “Maybe it’s ’cause of her time in Hell?”

  “Possibly. So are we going to kill the idiot who broke her heart?”

  “Ah, no, no, we’re not.” Gabriel shook his head in amusement. “We’re going to ignore him and let him go about his life as he chooses and make sure Lily’s okay. He’s left the Venatores and the service, so his life and his decisions don’t revolve around what goes on with us. Lily and her pack, they still work for Michael, so they are our concern.”

  Adramelek sighed. “Fine,” he said. “If that’s the way you want it.”

  “Aye, it is. So how is Lily?”

  “Upset, of course. Ondrass has given her and her pack and your two magical boys a room to use, which is all beauty and tranquility and stuff like that. Frankly, it’s a little too prissy for my tastes, but then, I’m much older than he is.”

  Gabriel laughed. “Are you going to tell him you think his furnishings are prissy?”

  “He already knows. You’re here to check in with the pack, I take it?”

  “Among other things, aye. I want to see what headway’s been made with our megacorp of doom.”

  “Raziel and Uriel are at CERN, working with a professor on a rather interesting theory about changing magical DNA,” Adramelek said. “Ondrass and I returned a few days ago, just in time for Danny to decide he was going to be a peasant. Raziel seems to think he’ll be away for some time, but between what he’s doing and the very great deal of data we have to go through, I believe we’ll be doing a lot of reading for at least a few weeks.”

  “I see.” Gabriel shook his head. “I hope he manages to work out how to report his findings without confusing everyone. Not all of us are Doctor Science like he is.”

  “Oh, I think Uriel will take care of that.” Adramelek gestured toward the row of elevators. “Shall we go up? I’ll take you to the room where Lily and the others are.”

  “Aye, okay. Thanks.”

  They went to the elevators and stood in silence after Adramelek pressed the call button. When the doors opened, Gabriel entered, and waited as Adramelek pressed the button for the fourteenth floor. As the doors silently closed, Gabriel leaned against the rear wall of the elevator and sighed.

  “Postwar world isn’t turning out too well, is it?” Adramelek’s voice was somber.

  “I want to disagree out of habit,” Gabriel admitted. “But it’s beginning to look like that, aye.”

  “I’ve noticed that down on the street here, people seem to be doing all right. But going out into the world, and especially in Switzerland and France where CERN is, there’s a lot of hardship. Now, I’m not a touchy-feely sort of Archdemon, but I was one of the Thrones once upon a time, and some parts of being an angel made by God just don’t ever go away.” Adramelek shook his head. “I feel for these people, Gabriel. And I want to hate that, I do, but I can’t. What has that war done? What have we all done, with our eons of fighting back and forth in a never-ending war for souls? When really, it didn’t matter what Heaven or Hell did, as freedom of choice and free will determines what an individual person will do and where they’ll go when they die. All this pointless fighting, all this pointless death, and now, after a truly terrible war, where everything on this planet stopped—all the science, art, culture—all stuck in a stasis with no new innovations until the war ended… what have we done? Do we have the right to be here at all?”

  Gabriel looked at him sharply. “You agree with these Transom fuckers?”

  “No, I don’t. I love this planet. All of us do. I just don’t think any of us are worthy to call ourselves guardians or protectors or guides because we’ve done a frankly terrible job of all three.”

  Gabriel sighed. “Aye, can’t deny that. We’ve tried, but….”

  “But. Yes. So what will we do once we’ve taken care of Transom?”

  “I think,” Gabriel began, choosing his words with care, “that we’ll have to be more diligent about not fighting each other and be more attuned to the needs of the planet and its residents. Earth ain’t our playground, and we’ve all been using it that way for too long. Doesn’t matter that angels and demons came first; Earth wasn’t made for any of us, it was made for the animals, plants, and humans. We�
�re allowed to visit and make ourselves at home, but like some guests, we’ve gone and taken too much for granted. We need to stop that and start being the protectors and guardians we’re all supposed to be.”

  Adramelek regarded him thoughtfully, and Gabriel felt himself squirm under the weight of that gaze. Finally, Adramelek nodded.

  “Yes, I agree. So does Lucifer, for whatever value that has for you.”

  “More than you might think. He and God have this little alliance, and while I ain’t sure it’ll last, I think it’s the right thing to do. It has to be done, and we have to change how we behave here on Earth, or else we might as well all fall on our swords.”

  “Agreed.” Adramelek straightened. “Which is what my Guild think as well.”

  “I’ll have to sound out the rest of my Brotherhood on this, but I reckon they’ll agree, too. Mind you, I’ll do that after we’ve taken care of the Transom people.”

  “You’re God’s messenger, Gabriel. You’ll know when the right time is.”

  Gabriel had almost forgotten that part of his duties. He smiled ruefully and nodded. “Aye. I’ll do my best, anyway.”

  “Which is all any of us can do.”

  The elevator chimed then and came to a halt. A moment later, the doors opened, and Adramelek gestured.

  “After you.”

  Gabriel stepped out, and once Adramelek joined him, he followed the Archdemon down the wide corridor to the room where Angelique and her pack were staying.

  Inside the room, Gabriel was astonished to see how pale and wan Lily looked. But that astonishment only grew, for as soon as she saw Adramelek, Lily leapt to her feet and ran to him, throwing herself into the Archdemon’s arms. Gabriel wondered if his eyebrows could climb any higher up his forehead as he watched Adramelek hold her close and murmur gentle words to her as she shook in his embrace, obviously wracked with tears and emotions.

  Adramelek met his gaze, and Gabriel leveled a curious stare at him. Adramelek shrugged slightly and then said, “She needs to heal, Gabriel.”

  “Aye, ain’t denying it.”

  “Gabriel, hey.”