Raise the Dead

by Briana Michaels

  Michael saw them all for what they really were: Foolish, self-absorbed, lambs for the slaughter.

  A means to an end.

  Mankind got lucky last time, but their luck was running out. As was time.

  He’d spent the past several years hidden among the humans, learning their ways, studying new magics, and kept himself concealed as often as possible.

  Spending so long trapped in a dark space, Michael now felt most comfortable in desolate places. The catacombs in Paris were a poor substitute for the dwellings he preferred, but it had a tremendous amount of sustainable energy so he’d made an exception.

  Now came another exception: playing nice with Divinity.

  The Angel’s Holy Territories were no more. Angels blended in with humans, ate the same foods, breathed the same air, drank the same wine. Disgusting.

  “Sari,” Michael tossed him a friendly smile.

  Sitting at a table in the middle of a swanky restaurant, Sari’s business suit cost more than the maître D’s yearly wages. He didn’t get up to greet Michael. Actually, his gaze shifted around like he was worried someone would notice them together. This was a surprise visit, after all.

  “Do you know who I am?”

  Sari wouldn’t look him in the eye. Instead, he carved into his glazed salmon with a fork. “I heard you were out, Michael.”

  “Have been for a while.”

  “Hmmph,” Sari sipped his white wine and said nothing.

  It took Michael a couple years to learn who the newer Angels were. Sari was a monitor. He patrolled large cities and reported back to his boss – Lilith – which of the Angels weren’t doing their job as guardians.

  “I only wish to help,” Michael made sure to keep his tone sincere.

  “We’ve done just fine without you.” He wiped his mouth with a navy-blue napkin.

  Kudos for this fucker keeping his shit together. Sari should be scared to death right now to have an ancient, sentenced-to-an-eternity-in-a-prison-and-escaped Angel sitting across from him. Instead, Sari was as cool as a cucumber. Either Michael’s reputation had been diluted over the years, or this naïve young Angel was an idiot.

  Michael was struck with a vision of pure fantasy – he envisioned stuffing that napkin into Sari’s mouth, dropping his pants, bending him over the table and shoving his face into that glazed salmon while he fucked him in the ass in front of everyone enjoying their over-priced lunch. Then he’d take that sweet little butter knife and stab Sari in the jugular, dump the wine from the glass and fill it with his blood to chug. Once his point was made, Michael would leave this shitty five-star elegance and go grab a taco from the food truck six blocks over.

  “You are aware of Lucifer’s breakout.” Michael pulled his gaze away from the butter knife.

  “Lucifer cannot leave Hell.”

  “You don’t give him enough credit.”

  “Or you give him too much.”

  “Be that as it may, you know evil has grown. I was told Hell’s walls cracked; Lucifer’s control has wavered. His malanum are out.”

  “They are not his malanum,” Sari defended the fucker. “Malanum are a byproduct of humanity.”

  “Malanum are the effects of one’s actions on this earth,” Michael leaned forward and steepled his fingers, “Lucifer lets them out on purpose.”

  Sari kept his face expressionless and put a roasted carrot into his pretty mouth.

  “I’ve been watching and studying his Hounds. The Devil is up to something.”

  “He’s in Hell, where he has been locked and bound since the dawn of the new age.”

  “You mean since he locked and bound me.”

  “You had it coming, Michael. You know that. It’s why you feared him so much.”

  The nerve of this motherfucker. Talking like he was there, like he understood anything. Sari didn’t have a clue about shit. His ignorance and arrogance would cost him. Michael nearly leapt across the table and ripped Sari’s throat out with his bare teeth. Instead, he let the comment go. For now.

  “I wish to seek audience with the Divine Factions.”

  “Not possible.”

  “I have news they’ll wish to hear.”

  “Then they’ll hear it through me.”

  “The end is coming.” Before Sari could object, Michael growled, “Look around you. The malanum have changed. The energies are off. And mark my motherfucking words, Lucifer will be out of Hell soon, if he’s not already.” Michael had set up as many lures as possible to give that cocksucker no choice but to find a way out of Hell. “He’s plagued the world with evil – and is using his malanum to do it.”

  “Not possible.” Sari wiped his mouth with a napkin again and took another sip of his white wine. “Lucifer and his brothers are the reason Faith even exists in the first place.”

  “And what is Faith but a means to gain more power?”

  Angry, Sari leaned across the table with a scowl, “You are here because of the stories spun about you too, or you would have faded long ago.”

  Yeah, Michael knew that. Didn’t mean shit to him though. Fuck, he hated how confident and fearless Sari was. He’d be harder to push around. Not that Michael didn’t enjoy a challenge, but still. Lilith had done a number on her warriors. She was a strong leader. The cunt.

  “A wolf will play nice with a dog,” Michael smirked, “and when the dog lets down its guard, the wolf will devour it. It’s called baiting.”

  “A shepherd will break the legs of lambs to keep them from running off. He’ll call it protection. It’s actually called tyranny.”

  “There are two sides to every story, Sari. Lilith told you one side... hers. Understandable, given that Lilith hates me too and Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” Michael pulled out a roll of money and placed two one-hundred dollars on the table. “But I’ve only ever had divinity’s best interests at heart. The Brotherhood was my home and I loved my brothers as best as I could.”

  “You treated them like experiments.”

  “I treated them like equals.” And that was the fucking truth. “Warriors don’t always protect with a shield and sword. Sometimes, to defeat an enemy, one must understand what makes them tick. Then they must build a weapon that can unhinge their foe, bit by bit, until there is nothing left to defeat.”

  “The only enemy I see here is you, Michael.”

  That almost hurt. “You’ll see that I’m right about Lucifer. He’s dangerous. He’s coming into this world and he’ll destroy it all. Infect it, one soul at a time. His malanum spread evil like a plague with no cure. When the day comes that you see I’ve been right about him, I hope you and the rest of divinity will realize you’ve put faith in the wrong Angel. Lucifer cannot save you. He can only damn you. And while you’ve sipped from the cups of Faith and grown comfortable with the Devil as your source, you’ve also given him total control over your fates. If he damns the world, you’ll be damned too.”

  “Then we’d truly be equals,” Sari raised his glass in salute. “I hope the Devil does get out. He deserves freedom.”

  “Lilith has raised a fleet of fools then,” Michael rose to his feet. “I only hope that by the time Lucifer arrives here, it won’t be too late to save you all.”

  He walked away from Sari and left the dipshit to his meal.

  Once out of the restaurant, Michael turned the corner and gave his orders to a malanum possessing a homeless man’s body.

  “Here,” he slipped him the butter knife taken from the table when Michael left the money. “Contaminate and use this on that fool sitting at table seven. When you do, tell him it’s from your Master… Lucifer.”

  Michael headed down the street to go get those tacos from the food truck he loved.

  Chapter 4

  With his leathers unzipped and hung low on his waist, Gabriel splashed his face with cold water. He was seriously pissed off. Lucifer had sent two women down to Hell for Gabe to fuck.

  Like that was going to happen.

  Gabriel barel
y spared them a glance before sending them right back up to the human realm where they belonged. He would never fuck a Medium. Gabe had standards and those two women didn’t come close to meeting any of them.

  “He’s only returning the favor,” Reggie said from the doorway.

  Gabe splashed more water on his face before giving his attention to Reggie. Gladiators had a gift for never losing their exotic charm. Same with Vikings.

  “I’m fine on my own,” Gabriel dried his face off and tossed the towel onto a chair. “I don’t need anyone.”

  Reggie chuckled, “Didn’t Lucifer say the same to you once?”

  “That was different.”

  “How so?”

  “It just is.” Gabriel didn’t need to explain himself to this guy. Fuck that.

  “Look, if you’d rather a male, I can go ask–”

  “No!” His chest heaved as he tried to simmer down his rage. Clearing his throat, he rolled his shoulders back and said, “No, thank you. I’ll be fine.”

  “Let me know if you change your mind then.” Instead of turning to leave, Reggie stayed right where he was, blocking the door with a nonchalant vibe of I’m-just-keeping-an-eye-on-you.

  “Stop being my annoying shadow. I’m fine. The worst is over.” Like Hell it was. Even as Gabe said the lie, his dick twitched to prove him wrong.

  “How about a tour of your new kingdom, sire?”

  “I’ve seen Hell. I was here when Lucifer raised it.” Funny, raise meant to bring to a higher level and give strength was so totally different than raze as in what they’d done to the Angel Sects after the war, which was demolish and destroy.

  Lucifer raised Hell. Gabriel razed Divine Structure.

  “Come on,” Reggie jerked his head, “I wanna show you something.”

  There was absolutely nothing in Hell Gabriel hadn’t seen already. If this was a ploy to lure him into a dark closet, he’d stop that train before it left the station. “I’m not fucking you.”

  “Christ, you’re a cocky sonofabitch,” Reggie laughed. “I’m not fucking you either. Your ass is too small.”

  “My ass is perfect,” Gabriel frowned. Seriously, one could chip a tooth on the muscles back there.

  “Too small,” Reggie rolled his eyes. “Even with guys, size matters.”

  Gabe had no idea why he was having this conversation, or why he suddenly felt self-conscious about his glorious ass. Snapping his wings back, he followed Reggie out of the room.

  They went down the hall, past the prisons, into a sauna, through a wall, and into a tight-fitting hallway that they both struggled to fit in because of their size.

  Funny, when Hell was first constructed, it was so small. There weren’t many evil souls to watch and contain in the beginning. But now? Hell was an endless kingdom. Dark, glorious, powerful, and dangerous, but a true kingdom.

  Gabriel envied Lucifer’s ability to make something from nothing. Gabe strived to be like Lucifer in the ways of adapting, but he sucked at. He was too set in his ways. Too stunted by his ever-present guilt. Too resentful.

  “Ouch, shit!” Reggie shook his hand. The smell of singed flesh tickled Gabe’s nose. “Touch this will ya? It’ll open for you.”

  Curiosity now piqued, Gabriel brushed past Reggie and their bodies melded for a moment while Gabe squeezed past him. Pressing a hand on the wall, fissures lit up like red spider webbing and the seal broke.

  “Good, now push it.”

  Gabriel shoved the stone. It moved effortlessly out of his way and they stepped into a room that he never knew existed. Six sconces mounted to the walls immediately lit up. His breath caught. His heart sank. “Holy shit.”

  Reggie joined him in the forgotten room and they both stared at the larger-than-life carving of a female with wings. “I don’t think he ever stopped loving her. Even after you all sent him his ladies.”

  Guilt was a hot bucket of lava poured onto Gabriel’s stomach. “She’s gone,” he said in a growl. “Has been since… since forever ago.”

  “He would tell me stories of her,” Reggie leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. “He said she was killed in that war of Angels.”

  “Yeah,” Gabriel cleared his dry throat. “She was.”

  “But here’s the thing,” Reggie’s eyes narrowed, “Luce would keep an eye on everyone that came through the prison. Always expecting to see her soul eventually. When she never came down here, he hoped she would have gone up to Paradise, but Uriel swore she wasn’t there either. So where did she go?”

  Gabriel’s throat grew tight. He stared at the carved face of the most beautiful Angel to fall from Divinity. He brushed his fingertips across her stone cheek. He wished it was warm, but it was hard and cold. So typical. Gabriel dropped his hand. “How much did he tell you about her?”

  “Everything, I assume.”

  “Did you read the book?”

  “No.”

  Gabriel wasn’t sure if he was relieved or not about that.

  “Lucifer wouldn’t let anyone read the Book of Angels. He said it was too sacred and absolutely off limits.”

  “It was also called the End of Days. Constantine wrote it. It was the complete story of how we went to war with our brotherhood. How we became a…”

  “Pack,” Reggie encouraged that word like he knew it was something Gabriel didn’t like to say.

  “Something like that,” Gabriel rubbed the back of his neck and looked towards the doorway. He wanted to get out of here. It was getting hard to breathe. “I was the one who started the Battle of the Brotherhood. Eve confessed her purpose and someone shot an arrow into her throat. I saw red and went ballistic.”

  “Where was Lucifer at the time?”

  “Back in a cage with Michael and another Angel who was put through some nasty stuff.” He didn’t want to talk about this. What’s done was done and there was no going back to fix or change a damned thing. Now, he needed to focus on ruling Hell while Lucifer adapted to the human world, so they could split up and go after Michael and end this thing for real.

  That book had been sacred. It told the true story of Angels and the fall of the Divine. But it also told the first true love story and that shit was fucking precious and priceless and Gabriel hated that his name was in it at all. There were things in there that could be used against each of them. There were things in there that, should mankind get their grubby hands on it, could change the entire belief system and wreck the work they’d spent so long on.

  That book should have been destroyed, not kept like a prized possession. And yet, no one would have told Lucifer he couldn’t have it. In a way, they all wanted to cling to that story, because it was their beginning, as much as it had been their end.

  Recently, after they confirmed Michael was out, Lucifer called off the hunt for the book.

  Gabriel didn’t like the idea of their story leaking, but Lucifer argued that it didn’t matter anymore. As long as humans believed in something, it would be enough to continue sustaining Angelic energies. He was willing to risk letting the world know that the Devil was a good guy… that he’d fallen in love… that he was the first to bring desire to the world…

  But he also had a big hand in bringing love, compassion, empathy, and fucking humanity, too. The world owed Lucifer so much and they’d never know the half of it.

  Lucifer chuckled, “Can you imagine someone actually reading a story about me as the good guy for once?”

  Gabriel hated himself for what he said in response: “They’d never believe it.”

  As those words tumbled out of his mouth, Gabriel saw the hurt flash in Luce’s eyes. He hadn’t said it to hurt him.

  But having lived so long among humans, Gabe knew how skeptical and set in their ways they could be. Besides, Lucifer had set everything up to become the most infamous bad guy known to man. It’s how he was able to keep people in line. Do bad things, go to a bad place. They created guidelines and morals and all the things used to navigate the spiritual realm now.

 
; So no, it would be a cold day in Hell should someone read a story portraying Lucifer as the ultimate hero instead a terrifying villain.

  Gabriel turned to leave the cramped room and Reggie slammed his arm against the doorway to block him. The Angel nearly lost his shit right then and there. “Watch yourself.”

  Reggie deadpanned him, “No disrespect, sire, but I’ve got a real bad feeling right now. Look, Lucifer is my best friend. The only one I’ve ever really had. And something tells me that there’s more to that Book of Angels story than what any of you have shared.”

  Gabriel didn’t have to answer him. He was the ruler, not the servant. “Get out of my way.”

  Reggie let him pass. “If she’s still out there, Gabriel, Lucifer will find her.”

  That caused him to freeze. “What makes you think she’s still out there?”

  “Call it the Devil’s intuition,” Reggie’s smile was cold and hard. “He made us all in his image. That means we’ve got his instincts. My guts says there’s more to that story.”

  “No, there isn’t.” Gabriel walked away.

  “What if he finds her out there?” Reggie’s voice carried through the tight hallway. “Aren’t you at all scared of that possibility and what it might do to him? He’s fucking fragile enough as it is.”

  Gabriel stopped dead in his tracks. “Are you calling your maker weak?”

  “I’m calling him what he is,” Reggie was right behind him now. “He’s off balance, hurting, and yeah, he’s weakening. I care about him more than you’ll ever understand.”

  Gabriel’s possessiveness grew. He needed to get out of here before he did something he’d regret. Like re-arrange Reggie’s face.

  “If there’s something you know about Eve,” Reggie warned, “you better fucking tell me so I can prepare to catch Lucifer’s fall. Because he will fall, Gabriel.”

  “There. Is Nothing. To. Tell.”

  “For your sake, I hope you’re right.”

  Gabriel couldn’t walk of out there fast enough. It was too hard to breathe. Too hard to think. Reggie was right, Lucifer was too fragile and unbalanced. And he had hundreds of Hell Hounds and Gatekeepers depending on him for energy to do their jobs. Damnit, why’d they agree to let him out at all? This was a mistake. One they couldn’t afford.