“This is Jiao,” said Adriel. “She’s going help us get to Hell.”
Jiao raised an eyebrow. “I’ll do nothing of the sort.”
Adriel lifted his hand into the air and opened his palm. Between his fingers was a small packet of green moss.
Jiao’s eyes went wide. She reached up and tried to grab the packet.
Adriel lowered his hand, and Jiao snatched the packet from his grasp and held it to her face.
“Aramoti Tea,” she cooed with reverence.
“I’ll let you have that if you help us.”
“Oh, alright,” she said. “And I won’t ask you why you want to go to that dark, evil place.”
She turned and walked back behind the partition.
I raised my eyebrows at Adriel. “What did you mean I’m like her?”
Adriel sat on the floor at one of the low tables. “She knows tea magic.”
“I don’t know tea magic. How can she see you?”
“Just like you she can see beyond the Veil.”
“Did her mother sell her soul to the Devil?” I asked.
“No, she sold her own. She’s a witch.”
Like my mother. I couldn’t understand why anyone would drink demon blood. The stuff smelled like bile and was thicker than human blood, not that either sounded appetizing.
“How does an angel know a witch anyway?”
Adriel looked uncomfortable.
Jiao came back with a pot of tea. She poured the tea into each of our cups without spilling a drop. “Drink slowly. If you rush it, you could end up killing yourself.” She looked at me. I guess Adriel didn’t really need the warning.
I took a sip of the tea. Nothing happened at first, but the more sips I took, the more the world around me became unfocused. Things in the room started to change or disappear.
I blinked. I was in a different room. Jiao was gone, but Adriel was still with me. The room became darker. The legs of chairs were around me. Demons played at a pool table on one side of the room. Only some looked like men.
A horned bartender served drinks to demons in the forms of men and women sitting at the bar. The room smelled like beer and old carpet.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” The bartender pulled a shining, silver switchblade from his pocket.
The demons at the pool table stopped playing and stared at us. A few of them removed weapons from their belts.
Adriel and I got up from the floor. The tips of Adriel’s wings reached the ceiling. Adriel lit up like a glow stick in the dark room.
The demons closed in on us. One grabbed my arm. His skin was black and blistered. Pointed teeth grinned from his too-wide mouth. A tail whipped behind him.
Adriel took the demon’s wrist and twisted it until he knelt on the ground. Another, this one looked human, jabbed a dagger at Adriel, but he dodged the blade, picking him up and throwing him against the wall.
When the other bar patrons saw this, they backed away.
“Come on.” Adriel grabbed my arm in his gloved hand.
We ran from the bar and out onto the street.
“I recognize this road,” I said. “Nash’s house is a few blocks that way.” I pointed, and Adriel followed me down the street.
I hastened down an alley that cut across to Nash’s house. I didn’t want any demons seeing an angel walking through Hell. What if they alerted Lucifer? The bar patrons might do that.
Adriel kidnapped me twice, but I didn’t want him thrown into the Pit. I wasn’t sure what his motives were, but he was trying to protect me in the best way that he knew.
I opened the door, and we walked into Nash’s house.
“Nash!” I called.
He rushed up to me. I thought he would hug me, but he pulled back. “What is he doing here?” Nash looked toward Adriel.
Adriel stood in the doorway. “I wasn’t going to leave her,” he said. “And I’m not leaving without the Twinblade.”
I turned to him. “The Twinblade?”
“I saw you take it.” He glared at Nash. “Return my weapon.”
Why didn’t Adriel come when we took the sword? He had to know I wouldn’t have fought—
I backed away from Adriel. “You are with Raphael.”
“No, I’m not,” said Adriel. “You know that.”
Did I? Why would Nash send us after Adriel if he wasn’t our enemy?
Nash’s eyes seared into Adriel like fire into flesh.
No. Anger drove Nash. Adriel would never deliver me to Raphael. “Did you send us after him because you hate him?” I asked.
Nash’s eyes darted to mine.
“Return my weapon,” Adriel said again.
“Over my dead body.” Nash withdrew his sword.
I stood between them. “No!”
“Lia, make this bastard fall,” said Nash, through gritted teeth.
“I’m not doing that, Nash. He saved me. He saved you.”
Adriel smiled from the doorway. “It seems you’ve had this place warded.”
“Yeah, I did,” said Nash. “So, sons-of-bitches like you couldn’t get in.”
“You’re not doing right by her,” said Adriel. “She shouldn’t be out fighting angels.”
“I have to,” I said. “My soul belongs to Lucifer.”
“What?” Adriel had a pained expression on his face. He hadn’t known the details of my deal with the Devil. Now he understood why I was backed into a corner. “No.”
I nodded. “I have to do this, or my soul will be damned.”
“What’s she doing here?” Chandra stood on the landing on the second floor. Adrianna’s hands were on her arms as they shook from the sobs.
She shrugged Adrianna away and raced down the steps towards me. Chandra plowed into me. I stepped back to steady myself. Nash got between us, and Adrianna held Chandra’s arms.
“How dare you come back?” she screamed. Tears leaked from her eyes. “Alex is in the Pit, and it’s all your fault. If you hadn’t been so hell-bent on going after an Archangel, he’d still be here.”
“Chandra, let’s go.” Kiran approached us from the hall.
Tom was behind him. His head was down. He hugged a large book to his chest.
“No,” said Chandra. She pointed at me. “You did this. And if they weren’t here to protect you, I’d tear your flesh into a million pieces and eat it.” She wrenched herself free of Adrianna’s grasp and marched out the front door.
Adriel flinched away from her as she passed. Had she noticed an angel standing in the doorway?
“It’s okay,” said Adrianna, but her voice was weak. She didn’t believe her own words. She only used them to comfort me, but I didn’t deserve comfort.
“No, it’s not,” I said, “I need to be alone.” I rushed up the stairs and collapsed on my bed.
Sim sneaked out when I opened the door.
Chandra was right. All those poor souls that risked everything to help me were spending an eternity in the Pit. And I was the one who wanted to go after an Archangel.
I put my face in my pillow and screamed.
Uriel knew we were coming. That’s why he was ready for us, and if he knew, that meant Raphael knew too. We couldn’t win. Our plan to pick off his followers was dashed. We only collected ten angel weapons, including Adriel’s Twinblade.
But now that Raphael knew what we were up to, the next time we went after an angel weapon would be our last.
I stood before the Pit. No light could enter it. Darkness was a theme in the music I listened to.
I used to think darkness was the night sky or the reflective surface of a turned-off television screen. It’s hard to imagine nothing.
The Pit wasn’t darkness. It wasn’t a room with the lights turned off. Nothing lie beneath that darkness.
I wished I could reach in and pull Alex out of that hell, but he became part of it. That was my fault.
I stood at the edge of the Pit. In a moment of terror, I thought I might jump. No more battles would be fought becau
se nothing would be left to fight over. My breath caught as my foot inched forward.
I shook my head and drew my foot back. An ironic smile crossed my lips.
“I knew you wouldn’t jump.”
I whirled around.
An angel stood behind me. His eyes were gray. The long, light brown locks hung limp around his angular face. His skin was unblemished. Soft, white wings were tucked at his back. The light around him didn’t set me at ease.
I drew my sword.
His eyes latched onto the flash of steel. “That’s not the reaction I usually get from humans.” His lips curled into a smile.
“What do you want?” I asked. Why wasn’t he lunging at me?
“Just to talk.”
An instrument hung at his side. A long, silver horn. No weapon. He didn’t come to fight me, but still I didn’t sheath my sword.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“My name is Gabriel.”
Shit. I was talking to the Archangel, Gabriel. “Are you with Raphael?”
Gabriel smiled. “I am.”
I gulped and took a step back before I realized how close I was to the Pit. I cringed as I imagined my descent and thanked the stars it didn’t happen. “Then you know who I am.”
“I do.”
“So, you know if I touch you, your pretty feathers will turn to ash.”
His smile didn’t fade. “I don’t know what the Devil’s promised you, but you’re on the wrong side.”
“I’m on the side that wants my parents’ murderer dead.”
Gabriel’s eyes softened. “Raphael can be reckless with his ambition.”
My grip on the hilt of the sword tightened. Gabriel spoke as if Raphael had gotten a speeding ticket. “As soon as I find Raphael, I will make him fall.”
Gabriel glanced toward the Pit. “You think they’re your friends, don’t you? Demons look out for themselves. I would send every one of them to oblivion. That’s what I’ll do to the ones you call friends. But if you come with me, I’ll have no reason to kill the roaches in the basement.”
And Nash wouldn’t have any reason to keep fighting. He and the others would be safe. But everyone who died would have to go to Sheol. I couldn’t make that decision for them. It wasn’t right.
“I won’t go with you,” I said. “And if you stay a second longer, I’ll do everything in my power to keep you down here, and we both know how little that would take.”
Gabriel stood strong, but his eyes twitched. “That’s disappointing.” He kicked off the ground and darted into the sky. The light emitted from his body. I shielded my eyes.
THE next day, I strolled around the backyard. My head was down, and my hands were in my pockets. Sim walked along with me, occasionally stopping to try to catch something I couldn’t see.
I hadn’t told anyone about Gabriel’s little visit. It worried me that I didn’t. Was I really considering Gabriel’s offer? It would mean safety for my friends, but, no, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t be the reason all those souls ended up in Sheol, including my parents.
Wings flapped above me.
Adriel landed by my side. “I’m sorry about what happened yesterday.”
“Where did you go?” I asked.
“I watched from the sky. That is, when the thick clouds of Hell didn’t roll in to block my vision.”
“You didn’t sleep.”
“I didn’t need to.”
I wondered what it was like to watch the world sleep every night for your entire life, but I had a more burning question.
“Are you one of Raphael’s followers?” I asked. “Please, tell me the truth.”
A few days ago, Adriel wounded another angel to save me, but I couldn’t shake the thought that he might want to deliver me to Raphael himself. Bob said as much back at the motel when I first met him.
Adriel seemed hurt by my question. “No,” he said. “I don’t follow Raphael or Michael, for that matter. I’ve been away from angel politics for a long time. I haven’t walked through Heaven’s gates in many years.”
“Then why are you following me? Why are you protecting me?”
“I’m trying to save you from Raphael. I want to stop him.”
“Then why not just kill me? Destroy his weapon.”
“I won’t do that.”
I wondered if he could. Could an angel kill a human without falling from God’s grace?
“The Twinblade, that’s how you found me,” I said.
“Yes, once I discovered that you meant it no harm, but that you were using my blade as a trap, I followed you.”
“So, you’ve been following us this entire time?”
“It’s not like I had a choice. You had my weapon, but I would have followed you anyway. You shouldn’t be doing this, Lia.”
“Doing what?”
“Making angels fall. Only God has the right to punish his children.”
“Then why did he give me this power?”
“God didn’t give you this power.”
I stopped in front of him. “If that’s all true, why are you protecting me?” I folded my arms.
“Because,” he said, “I’m your guardian angel.”
“My what?” I raised an eyebrow.
Adriel held my eyes. “When Sydriel went missing, I took her place. Sydriel was the angel you saw when you were four, much too old to still see angels. I didn’t want you to see me. It wasn’t right, so I watched from afar.”
“Sydriel was my guardian angel?”
Adriel nodded. “No one knew she was gone for a long time, a decade. That’s when I started watching you.”
“If Sydriel was my guardian angel, then why would she leave me?”
“I don’t think she did,” said Adriel. “Sydriel has been a guardian for centuries. She has never left her charge.”
“Maybe she left me because of what I can do, because of what I am.”
“No. Something must have happened to her,” he said. “As I watched you, I tried to find out what that might be. Did you ever touch her?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I can’t remember.”
Adriel shook his head and sighed.
“Were you and Sydriel friends?”
His eyes darted to the ground. “We were on a different path, but yes, we were friends.”
“What do you do?”
“I’m of the Seraphim, defenders of the Throne of God.”
Defender of the Throne of God. Was that why he could cleave that angel’s leg off without breaking a sweat?
“So that would make you?”
“Of the highest Order.”
Whoa. Too bad Adriel wasn’t on our side. Well, he was on my side. At least he didn’t want to offer me to Raphael, but he didn’t want me fighting angels either.
I didn’t want to fight angels.
I was tired, and I didn’t want any harm to come to my friends. I knew the only way they would stop was if I was gone. Maybe I was wrong to come back here.
“If you’re my guardian angel, you’ll help me find a way out of Sheol, for good this time.”
TWENTY
I shut the front door to Nash’s house. Adriel waited for me on the sidewalk. He wore a white t-shirt and dark jeans. Black gloves covered his hands.
“We don’t have to walk far,” he said.
“What happened to your armor?” I asked.
“I had to sell it.”
“To get me out of here?”
He nodded.
“Couldn’t you have just flown me out of here?”
“I could have, but not with you. A thick dome surrounds Hell like a layer of rock. I could break that rock without injury to myself, but you would get hurt. I could also be warded from reentry. This way is better. Follow me.”
We walked down the street until we came to an alleyway and traveled into the darkness. I held Sim to my chest. Her warmth comforted me.
“Wait here,” said Adriel.
Someone stepped out from the shadows. H
e had a long, snake-like body. This was the man that Adriel sold his armor to. The thought that he had given his beautiful, shining armor to this seedy man made my stomach lurch.
“The portal,” said Adriel.
“Of course.” The man twisted his finger in the air, and a rip appeared, wide enough for Adriel and me to pass through.
“I’ll go first.” Adriel stepped into the portal.
After a few seconds, I stepped in after him.
The night was warm and humid, on the edge of autumn. We were on the side of the road in front of a forest and across the street from a small, roadside diner.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“I’m not sure,” said Adriel. “You go over to that diner and grab something to eat.”
“But I don’t have any money.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll be back soon.”
“You’re leaving?” I asked.
“I’ll be back before you’re finished eating.”
The hum of insects quieted as I walked to the other side of the street. I hid Sim beneath my jacket. She was asleep and wouldn’t bother anyone. I opened the glass door of the diner and walked inside. Cushioned wooden booths lined the windows at the front of the diner.
A plump waitress smiled and came from around the counter. “Sit anywhere you like, hon.”
I slid into the booth in the back corner though the diner was empty. I placed Sim in my lap beneath the warm coat.
The waitress came over to my table. “Can I start you off with something to drink?”
“Water is fine. Can you tell me where I am?”
She raised her eyebrow.
“I’ve been on the road all night, and I fell asleep in the car.”
“You’re in Statesboro, hon.”
“Oh.”
She studied the parking lot outside the window. “Where’s your car?”
“Uh, my boyfriend dropped me off. He went down the road to find a gas station. I was so hungry, I couldn’t wait.”
Did I just call Adriel my boyfriend?
The waitress eyed me for a moment, but smiled. “I’ll get that water for you.”
When the waitress returned, I ordered eggs and sausage. “Can I get a second order for my boyfriend?”
“Sure, hon.”
I watched the window for any sign of Adriel as I waited for my breakfast. I hoped he would come back soon. I didn’t want the waitress to call the police on me because I couldn’t pay. They might run my name and find out that I was a runaway from New Orleans.
The Wings of Heaven and Hell (The Arcadian Steel Sequence Book 1) Page 22
